Chapter 27
Isabel dropped her off at the platform and left. Fifth grade began like this. As soon as she got on the bus, she was pulled away by Lily. Lily's first reaction when she saw her hair was surprise.
"Beautiful hair, is this magic or?"
"Hairdressing potion. I can give you the shop if you want."
"Not yet, I'm very happy with my current hair color."
Perhaps because of time, she was not so upset now. Lily also kept silent about the conversation between the two of them. There was also Snape in the carriage. Only Lily was nice to people from other colleges. He was polite to Ayala perhaps because of Lucius.
"Sev and I may not be able to sit with you for a while. We are going to the prefect's carriage. Perhaps you can come with us? I think we can bring one person in."
"I won't bother you anymore, you two don't have to worry about me."
Professor Slughorn once said that she had a good chance of becoming a prefect, but when she thought about her final grades last semester, she gave up hope. It would be strange if she could be given the title of prefect with those string of A's.
Thinking about this semester's OWLs gave her an even bigger headache. She now had no idea what she had scribbled on the test paper.
Snape was a very competent prefect, but he was the one who deducted points from other houses. Gryffindor's prefects were Lily and Potter, and Potter wished that everyone in the school knew that he and Lily were both prefects.
It's his ability that he can pursue her for five years and not give up even after being rejected countless times.
As Ayala expected, all the professors except Professor Flitwick showed concern for her in the first class, especially Professor Slughorn. Only after she repeatedly assured him that she was just not feeling well on the day of the exam and had performed poorly did the professors let her go.
Professor Slughorn was very satisfied with the potion she and Snape made, which was as good as usual, and said to her:
"If you feel unwell again during the next exam, please tell me and I can apply for another chance to take the exam."
"Thank you, Professor."
The astronomy class she hated the most finally came. Looking at the familiar observatory, the emotions that Ayala had suppressed with great difficulty came back. The moonlight tonight was exactly the same as the night when Albus took her to dance. She no longer had the mood to observe. She put away the telescope and found a corner to stay there silently.
But this class was with Gryffindor, and Lily soon found her, but Lily looked very unhappy.
"Lily, what's wrong with you?"
"Does Sif often play with the Luo Er siblings?"
Ayala recalled and nodded.
"He almost always hangs out with the pure-blood-centric people in Slytherin."
He is almost one of the few half-bloods who can get along well with Slytherin. Most of the Slytherins are pure-bloods with only a small number of half-bloods. Unless these half-bloods are very powerful like Snape, most of them will be bullied. The bullying problem within Slytherin is very serious. They will also bully people from other colleges, especially the Muggle wizards in Gryffindor.
"He and his friends bullied Mary today."
Ayala motioned for her to continue.
"He started changing since third grade, and now I hardly recognize him."
Ayala didn't know what to say. These two were childhood sweethearts. It must be hard for them to see friends who grew up together become like this.
The relationship between Snape and Lily became increasingly strained. Now, even when Slytherin and Gryffindor were in the same class, the two would not be partners. Usually, Ayala would be with Snape or she would be with Lily. There was no third option.
Ayala found this very strange, but if she didn't go to class with Gryffindor, Snape was the only Slytherin willing to partner with her, so she had to endure it in order not to be alone.
After a while, her relationship with Severus actually improved, mainly because Severus thought her potion skills were very good and her grades were much better than those pure-bloods in Slytherin. His original words were:
"You are much better than those idiots who only care about pure-blood supremacy."
Everything in the wizarding world seemed peaceful and beautiful, but things were beginning to crumble behind the scenes. Now she finally knew why Lucius had become so strange. Narcissa's latest letter to Ayala told her that Lucius had become a Death Eater and had begun to do some dirty things for that man in secret. It was said that Lucius's father had been loyal to that man since school.
The afternoon after learning the news, Lily told her another story.
"Dumbledore created an organization to fight Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix. I plan to join it, along with Potter and Black."
There were too many Blacks around, and it took Ayala a while to remember that this Black was Sirius Black. After all, the Black family is almost a Death Eater family now. Apart from the Black who likes to rebel against the family, there is also this Gryffindor Black.
"What does it take to join the Order of the Phoenix?"
"Dumbledore invited me, but he said that we won't have any missions while we're still on campus. Many graduates have already started carrying out their missions."
I have to say that Lily really trusted her too much. After all, she was a pure-blood Slytherin, and she had close contacts with Death Eater families like Black and Malfoy. What if she turned around and told some Death Eater?
According to Lily, many Gryffindors have secretly joined the Order of the Phoenix, and many are waiting to fight against that person and the Death Eaters after graduation.
Ayala was not interested in either camp. To her, it didn't matter as long as she was not endangered. Moreover, because of Albus's disappearance in the fourth grade, she had more or less hatred towards Dumbledore, but when she thought that Albus's soul was in Dumbledore's body, she felt love again. She couldn't figure out the difference between love and hate.
It was another Hogsmeade day. She arrived at the Hog's Head Pub early and ordered a bottle of butterbeer. The portrait of the girl was still there. She sat down next to the portrait, and the girl looked at her with a smile.
"May I have your name?"
"My name is Ariana, hello, I remember your name, Ayala, right?"
"Do you know me?"
"As I recall, you and Albus were friends, but you haven't been around since his other friend arrived. I didn't realize you were so young."
The owner of the Hog's Head Inn heard this conversation and looked up at her. He said to Ariana:
"What are you talking about, Ariana? This girl is no more than sixteen years old. How could you have seen her?"
Ayala sipped her butterbeer while wondering who had cast the Obliviation spell, her own parents, or someone related to her.
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