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ameliasbones · 4 years ago

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Heirloom

When: 14 October 1979, late evening Where: Hogwarts, Prefects Offices Who: Amelia Bones

Amelia’s tone was polite enough, but her eyes told a different story. She peered at the first year, “It’s past curfew now. Off you go, back to your common area.” The sheepish Ravenclaw nodded and shot off in the direction of their tower, as though Amelia had been the most forbidding person they’d ever crossed in a Hogwarts corridor. When the student was out of sight, she breathed out an amused chuckle. It wasn’t as entertaining as acting as a Prefect in primary, but it was still something.

The watch around Amelia’s wrist read seven minutes ahead. It was an hour and a half from midnight now and an hour and a half away from bedtime, when her rounds would come to an end. Since the corridors had been quiet all evening now, apart from the single student, Amelia thought it would be alright to return to the Prefect’s offices. It was there she checked owls for professors, filed away student records, and kept Dumbledore’s schedule running. The extra tasks acquired as a third year had never been daunting to Amelia. She even looked forward to the late nights, sitting hunched over the desk in a dimly lit office while yawning endlessly. She imagined herself sitting at Ministry doing just the same. She’d never felt so comfortable.

“Lumos,” she spoke with cedar perched in her hand, pointing it at the office in front of her. She walked until she reached the desk and the lamp sitting on top of it. With a flick of her wrist, an orange flame began to dance inside of the lamp, giving her just enough light to work with. This was preferred -- too bright of a light would give her migraines and not enough, well, that’d just strain her eyes. She couldn’t imagine adding a glasses prescription to her life right now.

The first thing she sorted through, always, were the owls. Tonight there was a neat stack of them with a square parcel at the bottom holding everything up. Letters that were addressed to specific professors were set aside and would be given out during lessons the following day. Most of the owls Amelia sorted through came with the Hogwarts address and no name, though. It was her job to figure out the who, the what, or the why regarding them and report back to Dumbledore or their Deputy Headmistress.

The letters never concealed anything interesting. As always, the first opened owl came from a parent asking about their children’s grades in Potions. Amelia threw that into Slughorn’s pile. It wasn’t unusual to receive catalogues through the mail, either. The one Amelia currently flipped through was advertising new steel cooking ware. She’d never seen a steel cauldron before, huh. This catalogue was going towards the junk bin, until she decided just maybe Dumbledore would be as impressed with it as she was, and snuck it into his pile. The next letter was from a student inquiring about an exam that had already passed. “Bloody idiot,” She sighed, still giving the letter to Flitwick. There were two more like that, for different professors, asking specific questions regarding their majors. Amelia found it funny, how many people avoided face to face contact and the lengths they went to. Was she one of them now, as she was in possession of an iFlown? No, because she still had the decency to look her professors in the eye.

At last she came to the parcel that had been weighing on her mind and the desk. This was something unusual to come across. It was sad to say, it might even be the highlight of her night unwrapping the brown paper from the box carefully, like a birthday present. She should have felt guilty, knowing this present was intended for somebody else. But as said before -- it was her job to figure it out.

‘To you’ was written in calligraphy Amelia wished she had the penmanship or patience for. Still, without any indication of who it was for, she finally tore into the thick paper and peeled it back revealing an ornate, white box. This isn’t right, she hummed to herself, knowing whoever sent this planned for a specific pair of eyes to appreciate it. It looked so well thought out and sincere. They’d just have to forgive her.

Slow and with caution, Amelia began to open the box. She had herself hanging on in anticipation, at the painstaking pace she was moving, but eventually and with a tiny creak of it’s joints, it revealed it’s treasure. Upon first glance, it was only a brooch in the shape of a spider. But as navy eyes inspected further, much more revealed itself. Were those rubies decorating all eight legs? It shone gold and crimson and it was extraordinarily beautiful.

Amelia could see her nana wearing this particular piece, as she had quite an eye for jewelry. She smiled, the voice of nana Bones echoing in her head, ‘if it’s heavy, it’s quite expensive’. Never the most profound, but always the wisest, that nana. Was it heavy? Surely an expensive piece like this needed to be kept safe and returned to its owner immediately. Of course she’d alert Dumbledore tomorrow morning -- but first... “How much are you worth?” The answer was in its weight, she decided to follow the sound advice of nana.

She began to pluck it from it’s home in the box, the coldness of the metal causing a certain chill to strike down Amelia’s spine.

The was no time to register it’s weight in the palm of her hand before a bloodcurdling scream erupted from Amelia, leaving her throat completely raw as the world in front of her became fuzzy. Feeling as though a thousand pins and needles were pricking at her skin, Amelia Bones fell to the floor and welcomed the darkness that ceased the pain to exist.

#drabble*

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