《Treacherous | Hermione Granger Book II》|23| Chapter Twenty-Three
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Saffron was spending all of her time during her first month back in the school agreeing to meet up with people. But, she would take that any day of the week over what had happened throughout the bulk of the previous year.
The Charms Club meeting would have been enjoyable if Saffron's mind wasn't so fixated on other matters. The group consisted of Olly, Padma, Lisa Turpin, Terry Boot, Ernie MacMillan from Hufflepuff and Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin, who was probably the nicest Slytherin Saffron had met to date. The practised the slowing Charm, which proved to be quite tricky. Amanda launched objects down from the ceiling and the students had to slow it down so that it fell gracefully onto their cushion.
It was different in comparison to class. There were far more collaborative activities and suggestions as to how best to practice the charms were open to the room. It was more of a social club than anything, which Saffron was alright with, as she got on with everybody quite well - even Lisa and Terry who Saffron had garnered the impression from, within the past month, that they didn't particularly like her.
Once their hour was complete, Amanda merely nodded at Saffron, indicating to her that their arrangement was still on. That was a relief to Saffron, as throughout the entirety of the period of Charms she felt certain that the woman was going to come up with some excuse to back out of it. Those negative thoughts were the product of not being used to having an adult do anything remotely nice for her. Living in Squires, where only her brother was treated with even an ounce of respect had created a mindset where she was used to disappointment. But her time in Hogwarts was slowly but surely eroding those seemingly inherent thoughts in her head. Having Amanda follow through with the agreement was another step in the right direction in that process.
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But just because Amanda was on board with the proposed meeting didn't mean that her Maya, Rachel or Rowan was on board.
After their shock at hearing that Amanda was running the Charms club part-time in the school, the three of them expressed their doubts about meeting her. Similarly to Saffron, they doubted whether or not she actually cared, seeing as she hadn't reached out to them at all. They were only meeting her because Saffron attended the Charms club meeting. On top of that, both Maya and Rachel weren't sure they wanted to hear what she was going to say.
"We've gotten this far without hearing about them," said Rachel tentatively, an hour before they were due to meet up with Amanda. The siblings sat in the relatively empty Great Hall, at the Ravenclaw table as they usually did, still debating whether or not they were going to go. The 'them' Rachel used referred to their parents. She was presenting the point that they hadn't managed to live for such a long time without much knowledge of their parent's lives before they died, that they could continue to do so happily. "What if she says things we don't want to know?"
"At least we'd know though," countered Rowan, as per usual, he learned more on Saffron's side of things, that they ought to give Amanda a chance. He, in particular, had more of a vested interest seeing as Amanda had been named his Godmother. "If we have the chance to find out more about them, we have to take it,"
"We don't have to," Rachel shook her head and pursed her lips. "We don't, we just don't go and that's that,"
"Well, I want to go," retorted Rowan hotly. Saffron shook her head bracingly at Maya, who had been oddly quiet during the discussion. Another argument between the twins was brewing yet again. "Just because you want to do something doesn't mean we have to do it too,"
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"I could say the same thing to you," Rachel rolled her eyes at her brother. "And don't act like you're going to be happy with what you hear, she'll say one thing about mum and dad and you'll burst into tears like you always do,"
"Leave him alone, Rach," snapped Saffron, frowning at her, as her response had caused Rowan to hang his head down and pull the sleeves of his jumper over his hands. She hated how Rachel used his emotions against him. Just because he was a boy didn't mean he couldn't show emotion. "Rowan and I are going," She placed her hand on her brother's sleeve consolingly. "It's up to you two what you want to do,"
"I can see both sides," said Maya finally. Her voice seemed to have a calming effect on the twins, for they both focused their attention onto her. "I can, but . . . but I think we owe it to ourselves, or at least our old selves to hear her out," She paused and looked at Rachel who still had apprehension etched upon her face. "Think about how many nights you spent wishing to hear from one of the people in the photo? I can't even count how often I thought about it, and even though the four of us live here now, for the most part, I think the people we were when we lived in Squires needed this. So we have to give it to them, does that make any sense?"
Rowan nodded. "That's why I have to see her because we've never had this chance before. It's important,"
"We can't just decide to forget that mum and dad existed," Saffron directed this point mostly at Rachel, who seemed to be leaning towards opting to have that mindset. "They were here, and Amanda . . . she knew them, we can't just forget that,"
"Well, I'm not going to be the only one to not go," said Rachel irritably. "And I'm not pretending they never existed, I think about them everyday, but it . . . " Her voice broke off hoarsely. "It's hard,"
"I know, Rach, I know," pouted Maya consolingly. "But hopefully, hopefully, this will make it easier. Even just a little bit,"
"Let's go then," said Rowan abruptly. "It's almost time, and we don't want to leave her waiting,"
Saffron and Maya nodded and stood up after their brother. Rachel hesitantly followed, and as they left the Great Hall, Saffron left with the feeling that answers to questions they hadn't even asked yet were about to come their way. Similarly to Rachel, she wasn't sure how much she wanted to hear it all, but the very fact that she could find out made that a non-issue. She had to know. Then maybe, just maybe, she could pieces together why their parents left them behind with no plan whatsoever.
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