As the Eagle Flies

Chapter Nine

After two weeks, Ronnie and Ema still were not talking to each other. Jamie and Ari began to give up hope that they would ever make up.

"I didn't start this," said Ronnie defiantly. "If she wants to be a prat about it, it's her deal."

While Ema maintained defiantly that, "I know I shouldn't've slapped her but she asked what was wrong and I bloody told her. If she's going to be a bitch now, it's not my problem."

At first, Jamie and Ari had attempted to be loyal to their respective 'best' friends; Jamie to Ronnie and Ari to Ema. But soon they both gave up and spent most of their time together.

"This is awful," said Jamie quietly. She and Ari were sitting in the common room. They knew that Ema was in the dorm and that Ronnie had stormed to the Library. "You can't talk to one of them without them bashing each other. I can't take much more of this."

"I always thought we'd be friends forever," agreed Ari. "But, in this case, forever was quite a short time."

"I just can't take it," said Jamie again. "It's too much. I can't go through this!"

"Are you okay?" asked Ari gently because Jamie looked on the verge of tears.

"No," said Jamie, dropping her voice. "This whole thing just reminds me of my parents. I don't think that Ronnie understood when I tried to tell her. I guess mages don't get divorced?"

"I wouldn't know," said Ari. "I'm Muggle-born too, remember? So your parents are divorced?"

"Yeah," Jamie sighed. "And it wasn't a nice one either. I mean, my friend Lisa's parents are divorced and they were all nice about it. You know, 'We still love you very much, and we're still friends but we don't love each other,' ... Not mine. 'Sorry Jamie, we hate each other. If we stay together, it will result in death.' Actually, the fight that decided it was quite like the one between Ema and Ronnie."

"I'm sorry," said Ari. "Was it quite recent?"

"No," said Jamie. "No. Only...I can't talk to one of them without hearing about the other, you know? That's why my siblings and I get on so well. Only, see, my sister and I live with my dad and the twins live with my mum. Well, they're my step-brothers, really, the twins, I mean, so they - I'm babbling, aren't I?"

"Sure you don't just need to get this all out?" asked Ari.

"Oh, Ari, I don't know. I just felt so secure with Ronnie but now...if she can ditch Ema like this, how do I know she won't ditch me?"

"I know," said Ari. "I felt the same about Ema."

* * *

The Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match was drawing closer and Ari felt that their chances were slim. With Ema in this sort of mood and Ari herself feeling this listless it seemed no one would be up to their usual standards.

"Ema, please -"

"No! Ari, damn it, I'm not talking to Ronnie!"

"Ema, we'll never win if -"

"Sucks for us, then, doesn't it?"

"Emaaaaa! You're being really, really, really annoying."

"Big deal. Why don't you go talk to your dear Malfoy twit like I know you want to?"

"For your information, I have not spoken to Ronnie in days. But only because she won't come near me. Jamie and I will have a good time without you then, shall we? Right. Bye." Ari marched out of her dormitory and down the stairs to find Ronnie crying with Jamie beside her, stroking her back.

"Oh, Ronnie, what's wrong?" said Ari sadly, flopping like a fish into a chair. To tell the truth, she was sick of this fight. Sick of Ronnie and Ema making each other miserable.

"Get out, DeLingues, why don't you just go have fun with your dear Potter friend?"

Ari winced, though, really, she hadn't expected to be accepted into this discussion.

"Ronnie!" Jamie scolded. "Ari and I have nothing to do with this ridiculous fight."

"I know," sobbed Ronnie. "I'm sorry, Ari." Ronnie's hair was out of its usual braid and looked thinner and duller than ever, as did Ronnie's face. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked exhausted.

"You know that this is really hard on us too, Ronnie," said Ari quietly. She did not mean to be rude, but it was time that they understood what this was doing to her. To her and Jamie.

* * *

Ronnie looked up at Ari, seeing how tired and sad she looked. Thinking back to the perky, sarcastic, and happy girl whom she had met in Madam Malkin's, Ronnie felt miserable. Ari was pale, her hair, while still in its ponytail, was limp, and Ronnie could have sworn she'd lost some weight.

Jamie, too, looked incredibly tired and pale, and her eyes seemed less vividly different - the blue one appeared to be fading to gray while the green one to brown, though Ronnie didn't know if that was just her imagination or not.

"I know," said Ronnie. "I'm so sorry. I really am. I don't want to be in this fight either. I get enough of it at home."

"Ronnie..." began Jamie tentatively, "...Ronnie, why don't you try to talk to Ema?"

"No," said Ronnie stubbornly. The truth was, she was slightly ashamed of how she had reacted to Ema's rudeness. But she was also determined that Ema was being a spoiled prat and there wasn't any way she was going to let that go. "She won't listen," she said, which was true enough. "And she started this."

"Oh, Ronnie, maybe no one started it, maybe it just happened," said Ari despairingly.

"She slapped me!"

"You slapped her back."

"She...she's...look, you two, she was horrible to me! She was an insufferable git and you know it."

"Look," said Jamie in a pacifying tone. "I'm not going through this. Ronnie, you and Ema are free to talk to us and work with us but I'm not listening to you guys bash each other to pieces."

Ronnie's eyes filled with tears.

* * *

On the night before the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match, Jamie had a dream. She dreamt that Ronnie had killed Ema during the night and was insisting, "She started it! She slapped me!" At which Ari yelled, "You didn't have to kill her! Flitwick's going to kill me!" Then they were both lost in a sea of glittering stars.

Jamie woke with a start and a cry.

"What is it?" Ari's voice came. Jamie heard her jump out of bed and pull back the curtains of Jamie's. "Oh, my God. Jamie, what's the matter?"

Jamie was sobbing, though, really, this was not uncommon." I...I...oh, Ari, I'm so sorry. I had a nightmare. I didn't mean to wake you." She told Ari her dream.

The two of them walked down into the common room to talk. Jamie was still quite shaken. "I heard that dreams always have a meaning. I'm afraid it's a warning," she sobbed, hiccupping.

"I'm sure it is," said Ari. "But I doubt that the warning is that Ema's going to die. I think...I think it's more that Ronnie and Ema are growing farther and farther apart."

"But I lost you, too!" cried Jamie.

"I guess that means that the four of us could all be split. Jamie, I won't let that happen..."

"What, should we be wary of Flitwick, then, too? Because you said he would kill you?" said Jamie with a slight giggle.

Ari jumped to her feet. "Flitwick!" she shouted. "That's it! I can't believe we never thought of it before! We'll go see Professor Flitwick. C'mon!" She dragged Jamie out of the common room.

The journey through the dark was not pleasant. The girls soon found that the school looked much less inviting by night than by day. As they tiptoed through the corridors, Jamie began to feel worse and worse. It seemed that Ari had no thought in her head for anything but asking Flitwick what it was all about.

Then Jamie voiced her biggest concern of all in a timid voice: "What if we're caught?"

"We'll be okay, don't worry, Jamie, we'll just tell the truth. I'm sure it's allowed...we're almost there. And it's for a good reason...Almost there -"

"And what," said a cold voice, "are you two doing out so late?" Severus Snape was standing behind them.

"Please, sir. Jamie had a dream -"

"Come," said Snape, clearly not in the mood to listen. He grabbed each girl by an arm and dragged them down to his office where they were told to wait.

"Oh, Jamie, I'm sorry. This is my fault," said Ari whose eyes beginning to tear as well; Jamie was crying openly.

"Well," sniffled Jamie, "if we're expelled, at least we'll be away from the fights going on here."

"We...we...they wouldn't expel us, would they?" said Ari, beginning to cry as well, though knowing that they were jumping to irrational conclusions. "Jamie, I don't know why I dragged you out here. I don't really don't know what came over me. This could have waited for morning. I really don't know what possessed me to get us into such trouble."

"You were just trying to help," said Jamie, wiping her eyes. "Don't feel too bad, Ari."

Before Ari could speak, Professor Snape was back followed by Professor Flitwick, who was looking unusually grave. He stood on a chair and looked down on the girls with a stern expression bordering on anger.

"Explain," he said, glaring at the pair of them.

Jamie burst into new sobs but Ari managed to keep herself collected enough to explain through her tears. "Sir, we're really sorry. It was my fault. Jamie had a nightmare. We were thinking it meant something. In the dream, though, I'd said something about you and I was thinking that it meant we should talk to you about the problem, you know? So I dragged Jamie out. I really wasn't thinking, I know. It's my fault. I knew it couldn've waited till morning and -" Ari stopped, knowing that she was babbling.

The anger left Flitwick's eyes, though he still looked stern. "Girls, let's go up to my office. Severus... excuse us..."

* * *

"I want to tell you first," said Flitwick, "that nothing gives you freedom to roam the school at night."

Jamie and Ari nodded.

"However," continued Flitwick, "I would like to hear your dream before inflicting horrific punishment on you. Jamie?"

Jamie took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She chanced a quick glance at Ari, who was looking very upset as well.

It was unusual for Flitwick to be stern, let alone angry, as he had been downstairs. Flitwick had made a joke - that had to be a good sign - but it was a Professor Snape type joke, and Jamie didn't know what to make of it.

However, she didn't have time to brood. She had to get them out of trouble. Taking another deep breath, she explained, "Sir, I dreamt that Ronnie had killed Ema because Ema slapped her. Then Ari said to Ronnie, 'why did you kill her?' or something like that, 'now Professor Flitwick's going to kill me!' and then they disappeared in all these glittering stars. When I told Ari, she thought that the mention of you killing her might mean we should talk to you about what's been going on."

Now Professor Flitwick looked genuinely interested. "And what has been going on?" he asked, almost gently.

"Sir, Ronnie and Ema have been fighting," said Ari as Jamie started to cry again. "Ronnie got an eagle from her grandmother and wouldn't stop talking about it. Ema got really jealous and finally told Ronnie that, when Ronnie asked - that she was jealous, I mean - am I making sense?" She looked questioningly at Flitwick, who nodded. Ari continued, "Then they were basically really mean to each other. Ronnie said something and Ema smacked her and Ronnie hit Ema back. This was two weeks ago and they haven't spoken since."

"Hm..." said Flitwick thoughtfully. "I would guess that the separation of your two closest friends is causing you two a lot of pain. Now, about your dream...I speculate that Miss Malfoy killing Miss Potter is merely a strongly developed replay of what went on the night of their fight. The mention of me...I don't know...I would guess that Ari was right, that it did mean to speak to me and the two of them disappearing..." He smiled gently at Jamie, "...probably means you're lonely and that you're worried that they will also break apart, or that Miss DeLingues here will leave you."

"That's it?" said Jamie, nearly fainting with relief.

"Dreams don't tell the future, Miss Lastroni, they give advice, they tell the past and they show fears and desires we never knew we had."

"Thank you, Professor!" said Jamie crying anew with relief.

"But we must still deal with your being out of bed tonight," said Flitwick, becoming stern again and making both girls wince. It was one thing to be scolded by someone who scolds regularly but quite another to be punished by one whom you're used to being 'the good guy'. At least that's how Jamie felt.

Flitwick continued, "I will of course be writing to your parents - don't worry, I'll tell them the whole story, I'm sure they'll understand. But they do need to know what's going on. Twenty points will be taken from Ravenclaw and a detention for each of you. I'm sorry, but, as you know, nothing is a good reason to be out of bed. Well, almost nothing. Anyway, good night."

* * *

Ravenclaw lost their game against Slytherin but they were not out of the running. The loss put them in second place, behind Slytherin. If they won against Gryffindor, they'd play for the cup.

The Eagle's Perch was very quiet that night. Everyone was disappointed and no one more than Ema. For the first time in two weeks she approached where Jamie and Ari were sitting and spoke.

"Look, guys. I'm sorry you have to be the go-betweens, you know. I didn't mean for it to be that way. I didn't mean for any of it to be this way. I really am sorry. And, Ari, you played a good game today."

"Oh, Ema. We love you to pieces, you know," said Jamie, "but you and Ronnie have got to make up! The Ravenclaw Four! We need the Four to it! Right now there are only two."

"Look," said Ema. "I'd love to make up with Ronnie and all that, but she started this! I'm serious!" she added as eyebrows were raised. "She came in and started nosing about what my feelings were and I told her and then -" she stopped short.

Ronnie was standing right there, watching.

"Just came nosing around in your feelings, did I?" she said with enough venom to stun an ox. "Didn't know you had feelings for me to nose in."

"See?" said Ema in frustration, turning to the other two.

"Don't you dare take this out on my friends!" shouted Ronnie. People started to turn.

"They're my friends too!" Ema screeched back. "Just because you've got a sodding eagle you think you can take our friends to yourself?"

"Ema!" scolded Jamie, looking horrified at Ema's language. As usual, everyone ignored her. In Ari's opinion, if it came from Ema's mouth it was pretty much okay. If it came from Ronnie...well, that was a different matter.

"You know something Potter?" yelled Ronnie. "That eagle is the one thing I've ever had in my life. Did you ever think about that Ema? Did you? DID YOU?!"

"Yeah, I did!" bellowed Ema as people began to either snigger or gasp. "Of course I did, Ronnie! Don't you get it? I'm jealous. I'm just bloody jealous because I'm a goddamn spoiled brat, okay?" And she stormed off to the dormitories.

"See?" inquired Ronnie, turning to the other two. "See what she does to me?"

"Don't you see?" snapped Jamie, unexpectedly siding more with Ema. It seemed she'd just had enough, wanted it to end. "You two both want to be together, right? You want to be friends, but you think Ema's insensitive and Ema thinks that you're overreacting. And, if you want to know my honest opinion, Ema's right! Ema's spoiled and all that, and she's wrong to be like this to you, but you went up there and asked what was wrong, Ronnie! Don't you see? An eagle's the only thing Ema's ever really wanted and you got one! Of course she's jealous. We're all jealous. Everyone in Ravenclaw is jealous, Ronnie! Yes, you went up and asked what was wrong and, yes, Ema was not overly polite about it. Since when do we expect Ema to be polite? Anyway, she hit you. You slapped her back. Can't we just put this behind us?" Jamie finished pleadingly.

"Is that really what you think?" asked Ronnie quietly, tearing up.

"Yes, Ronnie. I don't hate you for it. I don't hate Ema for it. But right now... play the argument you just had back to yourself, Ronnie. You asked Ema if she'd ever thought about the fact that this eagle is the only thing you've ever owned. And what did Ema say? She said that of course she'd thought about it! She understood it. She knows that she's jealous because she's spoiled. Ari thinks so too, don't you, Ari? Ari?"

Ari was sitting rigid in her chair, eyes glassy and unseeing.

"Bloody hell," whispered Ronnie. "She hasn't been Summoned now, has she?"

* * *

"I don't know," said Madam Pomfrey later. "I can only detect a very faint pulse. I can only do my best and hope that she'll pull through."

"You mean...she might die?" squeaked Ronnie.

"Oh, I doubt that," said Madam Pomphrey quickly, with the air of one covering up her real feelings. "However, it is a possibility. She's in a right state right now; moaning. It may take her much longer to wake up this time. Go back to your dormitories."

* * *

"Who says dreams don't tell the future?" sobbed Jamie in Professor Flitwick's office later. She could not be around her other friends any longer; Ari was gone...her life was slipping away faster than she could hold on to it.

"Oh, my dear..." sighed Professor Flitwick. "We knew this was bound to happen, you know....It's her destiny to be Summoned at the Founders' will."

"But why? Why now?" sniveled Jamie. "She's left me all alone. I can't be with Ema or Ronnie because they hate each other! I can't do this, Professor!"

There was a soft knock upon the door and Snape came in, bearing a goblet.

"I heard about Miss DeLingues," he said softly, "and guessed that certain of her friends might end up here. I prepared a tension-calming draught, should someone need it."

"Thank you, Severus, that would be a great help," said Flitwick, nodding at Jamie.

"Th-thank you Professor," said Jamie, accepting the goblet and taking a sip. Immediately she felt calmer. As she finished the potion, her worries slipped away, leaving room for pure grief to sweep through her body. She threw herself into the potion master's arms and sobbed.

"Yes, well, there are drawbacks with every potion," Snape said, awkwardly stroking Jamie's hair. He gently pushed her away from him and, putting his hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes. He examined them for a moment but didn't comment on their color. Instead he said with a quiet intensity, "Arwen DeLingues has the strongest spirit of any child I have seen in a long time," he said with a quiet intensity, only the slightest trace of irony in his eyes. "She will come through for you."

* * *

Though she did not want to, Jamie had no choice but to face the common room that night. Walking in, the entire room looked up at her, many uttering comments of sympathy. She just shook her head and went upstairs.

Ema was sitting on her bed, painting. It seemed that Ema was actually quite an artist and ever since they'd caught her drawing she'd pretty much let loose and painted quite often.

This particular painting was of a cottage with two girls in front. One of them was unmistakably Ema; Jamie didn't know anyone else whose hair was as straight or as red.

"It's for Ari," said Ema in a choked voice, before Jamie could ask. "When she wakes up."

"You made up with Ronnie yet?"

"No," said Ema, tears pouring out of her eyes. "I really want to now but she won't listen any more.

"Can you blame her?" asked Jamie quietly, thinking that if she could get each of them to understand the other's point of view they might understand. Might try to become friends again.

"No." Ema shook her head. "I've always been a bloody prat, I guess, but I was hoping..."

"Life isn't meant to be like this," said Jamie.

"I know..." said Ema, crying for all she was worth. "I know. It's not."

"Ari'll pull through," wept Jamie. "I know she will. It's the time before that happens that scares me." Then she realized something. "No, it doesn't. I'm just sad. Just sad. Snape's potion worked."

Before Ema could ask what Jamie meant by that, Ronnie came in. She ignored Ema but gave Jamie a hug. "I'm sorry, Jamie," she whispered.

Jamie nodded. There was nothing, really, that she could say. She felt so distant from her friends. No matter how they were fighting, it seemed they would always be emotionally closer. But she wasn't worried, only lonely.

"Ronnie, I'm sorry," said Ema coldly.

"When you say it like you mean it, I'll be convinced," said Ronnie equally coldly.

* * *

Ari lay at the Founders' feet, in a deep sleep. Ravenclaw looked down on her sadly. "Child," she whispered. "My child...I'm sorry..."

"Get away from her, Rowena," Slytherin hissed. "She is mine." "Salazar, please. You have no idea...this...she..." "I know enough. Get away from her." He walked over to Ari and kicked her, hard. Ari woke up and started to cry immediately, looking up at Slytherin.

"Crucio."

Ari shrieked and shrieked as though her bones were being ripped from her body. This time it was not hard to put up the show. She thought of Ema...of Ronnie...of Jamie who was sure to be all alone now and the tears came. She wanted to scream until it all went away, till the day when she would never have to see this damn room again. Wanted to cry away her troubles, weep for what could have been. Slytherin raised his wand and Ari lay at his feet, sobbing for the friendships that were.