Die on that hill
From across the Great Hall, I saw him. My eyes always seemed to find him, wherever he was. His white hair gleamed underneath those lights, the green colored label of his jacket cutting out a great contrast against the black of his vest. Draco Malfoy, I had not known a greater hate for anyone nor had I felt a greater pull.
‘Oh, Elena.’ Jack’s voice was filled with so much sorrow I was instantly awakened from my trance. My best friend, dark-eyed, dark-haired, sighed and rose from the creaking bench. Leaving his food almost untouched, as mine was.
‘You don’t have to be so sad, Jack.’ I sighed and rose too. There was no point in lingering here tonight, my friend and I both knew we had no other friends around us. Being outcasted from the social society at Hogwarts was fun.
I followed him through the halls, to our rooms on the other side of the building. House Slytherin was a special kind of torture around Christmas time. It was as if the holiday spirit had awakened some sort of cruelty from within the ranks, fortified by the cheerful music which found no joyful tongues to sing them.
I passed several Christmas trees on our way there, and several of the students elbowed me in passing. I could not feel it anymore. As my mom used to tell me, ‘Elena, you get used to everything if you give it enough time’.
Well, it’s been two years and I’m still not entirely used to being the scapegoat around here. It was not my fault. It was Draco Malfoy’s. Everything was his fault.
I would die on that hill.
Jack was going so fast that I had to scurry along quicker to catch up with him.
‘Why the hurry?’ I asked while Jack sighed again. He had been acting like this more and more lately, and I had no idea what had prompted his sudden anger. It couldn’t have been me. He was all I had left. I was all he had left too.
Jack waited until several others had passed and stared down his nose at me. ‘Elena… you have forgotten again.’
I spewed out a little laugh. ‘Forgotten what? That we are outcasted?’
How could I?
Everyone in this building made sure we knew. Every day they made sure. It was only yesterday that the thorn in my side, Draco Malfoy, had made the potion I was brewing explode by adding a wrong ingredient without my knowledge. It was only yesterday that… wait.
Was it yesterday?
Why does it seem like-
A high-pitched sound screeched through my head. The unbearable pain slammed into me, and I doubled over from the intensity.
The explosion. The screams. Mom. Dark eyes.
Close the lid, Elena!
‘Elena?’ Jack asked again. ‘Talk to me.’
I opened my eyes. The calm had fortunately returned. I had almost forgotten where I was, but then everything got better. The dizziness faded, and I stared at my best friend again.
‘Why are the Christmas decorations up?’ I asked.
Jack stared at his toes.
‘Jack?’
‘Elena… you have forgotten again.’ At that moment, I realized he had bags under his eyes the size of Hagrid.
‘Forgotten what?’ I heard myself ask, but the world seemed wrong. A horrible feeling crept over me.
I shouldn’t be here.
‘That you are dead, Elena. You are dead.’
