Hiding in Fiction

"The Lupin family is only related to the Potter's and Weasley's because of Theodore Lupin being Harry Potter's godson. Even then, it's not my side of the family that's related to them." She explained, grinning. "It'd be pretty cool to be related to the Potter's, but I am not actually related to any of them. It's fine to be curious. I'll answer any question you have, if you wish to know."

Hilary nodded.

She quickly went though her mind, trying to find any questions she might have. Harmony probably didn't realize what she was getting herself into when she said that she could ask questions, as she tended to ask a lot. For the moment, though, she had nothing.

"No more questions for now," she said, with a smile. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything later, though."

Harmony nodded and smiled. To tell the truth, Harmony loved getting questions and answering them. It helped her to realize what type of person they were by asking questions, and in return, they got to know more about her as well.

"Do you mind if I ask you anything? I'm rather curious I must admit, seeing as how I don't know much about you and we're in the same house." Harmony said sheepishly. "I feel kind of bad about that."

Hilary wasn't sure why Harmony felt bad about that. It wasn't a huge deal: they just tended to run with different crowds and hadn't really had a lot of time to talk until now.

"Sure," she said. "No problem. Ask me anything you like. I can't promise I'll always know the answer, but I'll give it my best shot."

Seeing the first look Hilary gave her, Harmony decided to explain herself better.

"It's a habit of mine to feel bad if I haven't met someone whom I see a lot," she said, shrugging slightly. "I mean, I'm going to be going to school with everyone in my year I hope, and I just want to be able to meet everyone. It's an annoying trait of mine that I tend to dislike some of the time. Anyway, I've heard that you are Muggleborn? Tell me how life was like, before you got your letter."

Hilary nodded, she could understand that. She herself had sometimes wondered why they seemed to have such a small class, and there were still people she had never spoken to.

She frowned at the other girl's question. It was a tricky question to answer, she found, and she had a hard time putting the words together.

"It's hard for me to explain," she said, realizing that there had been a pregnant pause in there. "Because, for me, I don't see it as anything but another version of what's normal. It's hard to explain, because I've never really had to think about it."

She paused, collecting her thoughts. "Entertainment is different in the muggle world," she said, remembering the biggest difference she had found when she first arrived at Hogwarts. "We had computers we could use to play games, look up information and talk to people around the world instantly. And we had televisions, which are basically boxes with a screen that shows pictures and sound, like a live play. People read a lot less, and spent a lot less time hanging around with other people. You didn't really need to, since you had so much else to do to keep you entertained. That was the biggest difference I found, coming into this world."

Harmony nodded. She wondered if she would last in the Muggle world, with the way Hilary was explaining things. Why did people read less? Were most people rather antisocial in the Muggle world?

"I apologize for such a difficult question," she said, smiling slightly. "I didn't think it would be so hard, but now I can see that I was mistaken there. Uhm...what about your family? How did they take it when you got the letter?"

"Don't worry about it," Hilary said, with a wave of her hand. "It's interesting actually, to have to think of it from a different perspective."

She couldn't help but smile when she remember her family's reaction. "Well, my sister, she's eight, refused to believe it at first. She said we were playing a horrible trick on her, and that we were all meanies. But once she realized it was serious, she was excited. She's hoping that she'll get a letter too, in a few years." She really missed her sister. "My dad still isn't overly pleased with it. He'd never tell me that I couldn't go, but I can tell that he'd rather that I was closer to home. He still hopes I'll change my mind and go to the muggle school near home."

Curiosity getting the best of her, she asked, "What about you? Was your family excited, even though you knew you were a witch?"

Harmony's own smile faltered a little, but she nodded.

"Oh yes. I was so excited when I got my letter. It just proved to me that I really was a witch, and that I was going to be attending school with others just like me." She answered, her eyes saddening slightly. "Of course, my brother and I knew that I was magic, since my mom always did it around the house to help with the cleaning when we were younger."

Hilary watched carefully as Harmony spoke of her brother. Her expression had changed, her eyes seemed sad.

She might not have had the chance so far to talk to everyone in their year, but she was pretty sure she didn't know of a male Lupin around the castle. She couldn't help but wonder...

She hesitantly asked, "Your brother...?"

She caught herself, mentally kicking herself for saying anything at all. Judging from Harmony's expression, she should have known better than to open her big mouth.

Harmony smiled at Hilary slightly, her eyes dropping to the table.

"Yes. My twin brother actually. I was the older one by a few minutes." She said, nodding her head. "You won't find him around the castle, in case you were wondering. He uh...he's dead, but I'm sure you already figured that out."

Harmony pulled out her journal and took out a photo, handing it to Hilary.

"This is us, when my mother took a picture of us while Mozart played with his camera," She said, smiling.

"I'm sorry," she said, without really thinking. She wished she hadn't. She had hated when people had said that to her.

She smiled as she looked at the picture Harmony handed her. It was a really sweet picture. The two of them looked so much alike! She knew they were twins, but even so...

"You guys are adorable," she said, handing the photo back to Harmony. She fell into silence. Dead was always a sensitive topic, and she didn't really know Harmony well enough to know what was appropriate to say at this point.

Harmony took the picture back gently, smiling as she did so. She tucked in back into her journal, and put the journal back in her bag.

"I've heard that phrase so many times, it doesn't seem to have much meaning anymore," Harmony explained. "I'm really grateful that people care so much to be able to be sorry for my loss, but those who say never really knew Mozart."

She smiled wistfully. "Thank you, by the way. I always thought Mozart was the cuter one, and I'm sorry you couldn't see his face in this one. We were six when it happened." She looked at Hilary. "If you are curious, I could tell you. I will admit right now that the story obviously isn't happy, and it will definitely change your view on the Wizarding world."

Her curiosity was peaked, but Hilary was a little confused. What sort of things could have happened that would change her views of the wizarding world? What had happened to the little boy? She assumed it was something someone did, judging by what Harmony had said. But what kind of person could hurt a little kid?

"I wouldn't mind hearing it," she said, carefully. "If you don't mind telling me."

Harmony smiled slightly. "I don't mind at all. To be honest, I really want people to know because it does happen. We were rather little, six I believe was the age. My mother and father were spending time with us while we playing a game in the living room. My aunt Marie had come over, telling Mozart to get ready. She was going to take him to the park."

She looked away for a moment, before looking back. "Right there, I knew something was wrong. I knew it, and I couldn't do anything. You see, my aunt loved her Pureblood status. She couldn't stand to be a family that was anything but! Mozart...he was a Squib, a shame to her. Every time she looked at him, it was with hatred. Mozart grew so excited hearing that his Aunt was finally going to love him! A smile donned his face as he went racing to the bedroom to get ready."

Harmony placed her hand on her forehead, sighing. "I tried to talk to him, but he would hear nothing of it! He said that this was his chance to show that he was worthy of being in a Pureblood family. He wanted aunt Marie to love him like the rest of us. We never saw him again. When my aunt came back to the house without Mozart, I knew that she had done...something to him. And that I would never see my little brother again."

Hilary felt mixed emotions. On one hand, she couldn't believe that someone would want to harm an innocent child, and that someone could be that horrible to their own family. Families were supposed to love each other, not want to rid of members they didn't approve of.

On the other hand, she felt confused. She had never heard the term 'squib' before. She got the idea from Harmony's story that it had something to do with blood status, but other than that, she was lost.

"What about your parents? Did they try to find him?" she blurted out, without really thinking. "And what's a squib?"

"A Squib is someone who is born into a magical family, but they don't have magic themselves," she answered. "They know of magic, but they haven't any themselves. That's why you wouldn't have seen Mozart around even if he was alive now. He hasn't any magic."

She sighed. "Oh, we tried. Merlin knows we looked for him a lot of the time. We knew aunt Marie did it, but we couldn't prove it. She said she lost him in the crowd and searched for him, but it's a lie. Truthfully, we don't know if he's dead. Not even my cold hearted Aunt could kill Mozart. So...I'm always wishing."

Harmony had definitely given her a lot to think about. She had opened up a whole other side of the wizarding world that Hilary had never known about. But she would rather know. At least then, she might be able to do something about it, if she was ever given the chance.

"Maybe you'll find him someday," she said, never one to give up hope easily.

Harmony smiled at Hilary.

"I hope so too. I don't mean to startle or frighten you with this information, but it's the dark side to being a Pureblood. I just thought I would let you know that it isn't all what people say it is, so be happy that you aren't one." Harmony said, laughing slightly.

"I don't think being of any blood type is all what people say it is," Hilary mused, considering what the other girl said. "Purebloods, as you said, tend to get looked down at for things like what happened to your brother. Muggleborns get tormented for not having a magical family. And mixed blood seems to lean to either one side or the other. There's really no happy medium."

The idea of not knowing what happened to a family member was playing on her mind. That was worse than someone in your family dying; at least then, you knew where they were, and what had happened. But to not know... she couldn't imagine it.

"Yes. You seem to hit things right on the nose, Hilary. It's exactly true, and for one, I'm sick of how things are." Harmony said. "In the Muggle world, I've heard that things aren't easy there either, but at least they don't have total bigotry based on the blood that flows through your veins."

"Not usually about blood, though I have heard it before. They come up with some really stupid ones back home," she said. "There was one girl in my primary school who used to try and bully me because my mother had passed away. No matter where you go, someone always seems to think that they're better than you."

Harmony shook her head. Whatever happened to just living in peace with everyone?

"I don't understand why some people think they are better than others. We're all humans, and we all make mistakes. I just wish people could see that, rather than being hateful and mean. Maybe it would do my aunt some good to see the light of day." She muttered.

"People would never accept something like that," she said, with a slight frown. "Too many people enjoy seeing and being involved in conflict to just let stuff go. The other people I've come to know around here seems fairly accepting though. Maybe that's a start."

She ran her finger over a few of the dents in the table, remembering her first few days at Hogwarts, when she had been on the receiving end of some nasty comments regarding her blood status. She still didn't get why it was such a big deal.

"I guess the Purebloods feel that in order to be...higher up in the Wizarding world, they must put down those who are not like them," Harmony said, sighing slightly. "If it was up to me, all Muggleborns would be pureblood. Think of it this way: Muggleborn witches and wizards have magic that hasn't been tainted. Some Pureblood families are only that way because of inbreeding, so it dirties the blood anyway. Muggleborn witches and wizards have new blood, new magic. That's why they should be considered Pureblood."