Part 11: Dear Diary

Blakely approached me later the next day. His face was tight and strict as if he were mad about something. But I had no idea what.

            “Vela,” he stated.

            “Blakely.”

            “We’re having another practice tonight down at the pitch. Do you feel prepared to join us?”

            I opened my mouth to answer, but no sound came out. I personally didn’t know what to say. A had a slight headache at the moment, but that’s because lately my ability to sense auras had been on the fritz. It was as if I was losing my magic. And right at that moment my head was throbbing with all the conflicting emotions I felt in the auras of all the students in the Hall.

            My head had almost fully healed overnight and I was more energized than before. At least I wasn’t being terrorized by Voldemort’s stupid nightmares.

            “You know what? I will,” I exclaimed bravely.

            “That’s the kind of attitude we need in order to defeat Gryffindor.”

            That was the last thing he said before walking off. By exclaiming my readiness to play again so easily, I felt that nothing could possibly ruin my entire day. For some unknown reason, I wanted so desperately at that moment to make up with Cho. And I would.

            I marched right over to her table. She was sitting with her back to my face, eating and chattering on merrily with her other friends. Once they saw me, they immediately stopped chattering and glared at me with venoumous gazes. Marietta, the friend next to Cho, nudged her hard and motioned with her head at me.

            I heard her whisper, “I know.”

            Biting into her sandwich, Cho barked, “What, Drea?”

            She spit my name out bitterly like a vile curse word.

            “Can I talk to you? Alone?”

            Obviously slightly pissed, she nodded her head and got up from the bench. She followed me put into the hallway that led to the Great Hall and into a corner where others wouldn’t eavesdrop. She crossed her arms and glared at me.

            “Everyone hates you, you know. You’re not the ‘fascination’ you used to be around here back in the beginning of the year.”

            She put quotes around the word “fascination”.

            I glared right back at her with the exact same amount of malice she was displaying to me.

            “I know, Cho. Do you think I haven’t noticed that already?”

            She sighed and uncrossed her arms.

            “What happened to us, Drea? We used to be the best of friends! Now our fighting’s on and off, on and off. It’s ridiculous, I tell you!”

            “Kind of obvious…”

            I smiled at her sympathetically and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She grinned right back at me. I could tell that, underneath her bitter exterior, she still longed to be friends with me.

            “It’s just…things have been so hectic. And you…well…you…you…”

            “What?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Look, whatever it is you want to tell me, tell it to me. You know I’ll listen. That’s what friends are for, right?”

            “W-we’re…still friends?”

            “Yes. You know I wouldn’t give up that easily on you!”

            “Hmm…still…I wonder…”

            “Just tell me.”

            “Alright…well…you’re just so…over the top. You know…eccentric…”

            “And exactly what is wrong witth being eccentric? It’s who I am, and, Cho, I can’t change that. No matter how hard I try.”

            “And to top it all, the boys are constantly drooling over you. I have to say I’m�"”

            “Jealous?” I finished for her.

            “Yeah…what’s your secret?”

            I was taken aback for a moment, my heart piercing woth guilt. How could I have never told her that I was part Veela? And would she even believe me? She was my best and closeset friend, after all. I should’ve been able to tell her anything. Yet…I neglected this one tiny detail.

            “It’s…it’s kind of complicated…can we go to the Common Room?”

            “Sure…but why?”

            “Let’s just say my secret’s one that’s meant to be kept quiet.”

            She followed me like an eager puppy dog as we trudged up the stairs.

            “Flaggerhorn,” I muttered at the portrait. It slid open and I hurriedly stepped through with Cho literally clinging to me.

            “Okay…now…tell me.”

            “That’s going to be…kind of hard considering it’s in my blood.”

            “Your blood? What’s that got to do with it?”

            I inhaled a deep breath and closed my eyes, obviously not to see her reaction, of course.

            I quickly got it over with.

            “I’m part Veela.”

            I cringed and waited for her to gasp in disgust, but the gasp never came. Instead, I heard her burst into giggles.

            I slowly opened one and then the other, quite sure it was safe.

            “Well,” she said breathlessly, “that certainly makes a lot of sense. I’m not surprised either. Last year in my fifth year, Hogwarts hosted the Triwizard tournament. The girl who represented a French school called Beauxbatons in it was actually part Veela herself.” With a grin, she added the following: “And believe me, did she attract a lot of attention!”

            “So…you’re not…mad at me?”

            “More like ‘dead relieved’! I thought there for ages you had taken some contagious love potion or something. This actually makes a lot of sense compared to some of the other nonese I’ve heard…”

            Very obviously, something immediately told me that her friends had been telling her that I was probably some troll in disguise or something.

            “Friends?”

            “Of course!”

            And that was probably the last time we fought during the end of the year.

 

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            I know it sounds ridiculous that we made up that fast, but…we were really true friends. And you can’t deny true friendship, especially when it’s lingering around right under your nose, waiting for you to just get over yourself and grasp it already.

            Cho seemed somewhat hesitant around me, though. It’s as if she were willing me not to blow my top off. I kept wondering what her other friends had told her about me that made her tread on eggshells in my presence. I highly doubted it was anything good, though.

            She and I went our separate ways. I felt her aura relax. So, she was tense. What is it that she isn’t telling me? What did those b*****s tell her about me? It better not be that I’m some kind of mountain troll…’cause if it were, they’d really get it then!

            I ducked into the library where it was quiet and I could have some decent thinking time for myself instead of being glared at by all the other girls. The dusty, ancient smell of books filled my lungs. I inhaled the smell, which I loved. Despite my Gothic-girly exterior, I was real smart and I a sucker for a good book. I can probably read through one with a think spine of eight hundred pages in a single day. That is, if I’m concentrating hard enough, of course!

            Madam Pince gave me a hard, cold look as I passed by her desk. Her look said, “You better not harm my precious books.” I gave her simply a soft smile indicating that I meant no harm. I delved myself into the high maze of shelves that expanded throughout the room and immediately relaxed. I felt the wisdom of the centuries lurking within the corners, whispering its secret knowledge to me in the tongue of books.

            I sank deep into a squishy chair that melded to my body’s slim shape. I grabbed a book from one of the nearby shelves and found it was a book I had never heard of before. Of course, you come across a lot of books in the wizarding world like that, so it was no apparent surprise. But this one was downright strange.

            Instead of being dusty and yellow, the book’s pages were crisp and clean looking. I swept a hand gingerly over the cover. It was Black and silver with tinges of purple and midnight blue. Ravenclaw’s symbol was embedded on the cover. Very strange, indeed. And you know what was stranger? Check this…

            I opened the book to the first page, which had the same symbol from the cover. I quickly flipped the page, eager to find out whom the author was. It simply said:

 

The Darkest Depths:

The Diary of Valonia Faye Cachet Jonquil Vela

 

            It couldn’t be by sheer coincidence that this woman happened to have the same last name as me. She had to be related to me! There was absolutely no other explanation possible. Then…how come I had never heard of her before? My parents had never told me about her…maybe they didn’t want me to know. Maybe it was some forbidden secret…something that had scarred them…forever…

            I didn’t know. I was thinking dramatically rapidly. And, believe me, that is definitely not a good combination for one’s self.

            I flipped through the pages, but gasped loudly. They were all blank! I could tell right away that this was no ordinary book. And, somehow, I felt an immediate connection to this book in many ways, but most of all in spirit. It was meant just for me. That’s why it had appeared here. It wanted me to find it. And it wanted me to read it because, undeniably, it flipped open itself in my lap and turned to the first page, which was a diary entry. Fine, spidery script had been scrawled across the page by an elegant and poised hand of a well-mannered young woman.

 

30^th December, Saturday, 1901

 

My dear sweet Diary,

 

          This is the first time I have ever written in a journal this fancy. I am glad Julius gave it to me this past Christmas. I said to him straight in the face that I would treasure it the most among all the wonderful gifts I received. I cannot wait to return to Hogwarts! I so miss the friends I have in Ravenclaw house. They are the sweetest, most intelligent people I have ever met in my life! Much better than that horrendous Aunt Eleanor of mine who literally keeps insisting everytime I see her during the holidays that I begin to act like a proper lady now that I am sixteen years of age. I still feel very much like the child I truly am. I feel I shall always remain a child at heart, despite my maturity level and age. Nothing will ever change this heart of mine! And nothing ever will, I assure you, Diary!

 

          Before I go, I shall tell you one secret I have never told anyone before in my entire life: I have secret abilities to “feel” a person’s mind, persay. I cannot read them, but I feel their feelings and personality brimming to and fro. I am an Enchantress. The first of my kind (at least so far in my family). I have read and researched them in all the materials I have ever acquired. I am so special and unique! I know we shall be the best of friends, Diary!

 

My sincerest wishes to you,

Valonia Faye Cachet Jonquil Vela

Daughter of Duke Eleaszar Hesperus Philemon Vela

Duchess of Raven’s Helm

 

              A shiver shook me and I wrapped my cloak around me tight. She…she was like me…but how? How come my parents neglected to tell me about this? And why in the world did I find Valonia’s diary here of all places? My family did originate from England, after all, but I had never heard of a place called “Raven’s Helm”…it must be a wizarding town or village hid from Muggle eyes. It must be cleverly hidden, too.

            Now I knew where our riches came from. I knew my family had been wealthy, but I had never known where the wealth had come from. And now I knew that noble blood flowed within my veins. The noble blood of thousands of years of Enchanters and Enchantresses just like me. I now knew that there had been one other in my family who had powers exactly like mine. She kept them secret from the rest of the world, though, while my parents had known about mine since my birth.

            I couldn’t wait to figure out this mystery. I glanced down at the page I had been reading minutes before, but all evidence of words had disappeared.

            What the heck…? Maybe…maybe the book only shows me what it wants me to know. It wanted me to know that I’m not alone in my powers. There was another just like me years ago.

            And I wondered what else the book was to show me in the near future.