Josie Johnson-Chapter 24

Instructions

Chapter 24-Alone Rosalia was just having breakfast, chewing on her porridge, while studying for her Charms test—she didn't notice the crowd of people huddled by the Ravenclaw table. "Estelle? You mean the family of that Ravenclaw girl whose always scoring high in class?" The name "Estelle" caught her attention. She walked to the crowd of people, thinking she would need to squeeze through, but she didn't. In fact, everyone backed away...as if...afraid. "What is going on?" she asked, firmly. She saw a newspaper placed on the table with the headline: "GEORGE ESTELLE CAPTURED" "Who—?" But everybody had backed away from her. "You knew?" a girl said. "I didn't know one of my relatives was a cr!m!nal!" Rosalia said. "Save it, Estelle." a boy said. "It says that the whole family are Death Eaters, so you must be one, too." "No!" "The news says it all! Sure you might not be like your family, but it says the whole family are Death Eaters. No one's going to be your friend anymore." Everyone backed away and returned to their tables. Rosalia didn't expect each and one of her friends to abandon her, but they did—even Ariana avoided her. She ran to her dorm and hid there. She rummaged through her pocket for the pocket mirror she had been given the previous year, but she couldn't find it. "Oh, where is it?" she said as tears started streaming. "Where is it?" After patting her pockets, she fortunately found the familiar emerald green pocket mirror. She opened the lid and felt herself getting sucked into the mirror and returning to a home—her Muggle home. There, she saw her past seven-year-old self, crying because of a bruise on her knee, with her mum mending it. "It's alright, Josie, dear," her mum said. "Accidents happen; this is normal. Now, why don't we go to the theater?" At this, little Josie's face lit up. "Yes, please!" They both stepped into a room, and Rosalia felt herself getting sucked out of the mirror. Sadly, she didn't feel any better. She never felt so lonely, not even in the Muggle world. At least, she thought, in the Muggle world, she had no friends to lose. Yes, she's preferred being alone, but never this alone. She sighed and put her books aside. *** Life at Hogwarts was getting worse. Everyone avoided her; her mum wouldn't reply to her letters; people glared at her as she passed; she couldn't be unhappier. But the worst came on Friday night, when she saw on the noticeboard the words "DEATH EATER ESTELLE" She gasped. Obviously, no teacher pasted that up, so it was a student. But who? She turned around to see the glaring crowd, and asked, "Who did this?" Not to her surprise, nobody came clean. "But it's true!" a boy said to nods of agreement. "No, it isn't!" poor Rosalia said. "I'm not a Death Eater! I don't work for You-Know-Who!" "Maybe you don't," a girl said. "But you're in training and just waiting for the chance! Save it! You're evil! Everyone's avoiding you for a good reason! You will never have any friends again!" The words were like a dagger which seeped through Rosalia's heart—not because she just realized, but because she was reminded. She ran off to her dorm and threw herself on the bed and sobbed the tears that burst from inside her.