Intriguing

by TheUnwrittenGirl

Chapter One - Curiously Mute

James

"...And then Rose started fuming. I mean, you could really see the smoke coming ou- James? Oi, James are you even listening? Mate!" Fred yelled as he shook my arm.

I blinked, and shook my head. "Uh, yeah? What was that?"

"I was talking about Rose and that little situation she's got with Malfoy." He reminded me.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Wha- Oh. That. Right, sorry mate. Just a bit-"

"Bored? Out of it?" I nodded. He clapped me on the back and said, "Can't blame you there. With all our homework finished, there's nothing much left to fuss about. Sure, we could start planning a new prank. But we're still on probation from McGonnagall." I groaned, remembering the last prank we commenced. We had gotten 4 weeks of detention and had to scrub down heaps of random classrooms and a few bathrooms. Without magic too! Unfortunately, our wands were taken away by McGonnagall. But luckily on our third night of detention, we managed to make decoys and give them to McGonnagall while we had our real wands. Normally, our detentions would've been helping Hagrid out. Because good Merlin knows he'll need it at his age. But detention wasn't too bad. However, we did get an earful from the old crow.

The prank we did wasn't even all that bad. We just managed to move all the owls from the owlry to the Great Hall. No big deal.

Okay so maybe it was a bit of a big deal, considering that they did make a bit of a big mess. From a certain owl end kind of mess, if you know what I mean. It took all the teachers hours to get all the owls back to the owlry. Mostly because it took them a while to realize that there was a barrier that was keeping them in.

Honestly, I don't think I'll understand how they haven't figured it out sooner. It seemed just about obvious.

"I can't believe the old bat gave us four weeks of detention. It was so boring once we fixed up all the rooms the minute she left." I said.

"I told you not to do it." Dominique said from across the table as she munched on her lunch. "You could've been sleeping in your beds by then rather than hanging out in a random classroom."

Fred narrowed his eyes at our cousin. "You don't have to rub it in, Dom."

She shrugged, "I'm surprised she only gave you 4 weeks. I would've given you a month."

Fred's jaw dropped. "A month!?"

"Yes," She said nodding, "a month. They were in the Great Hall, for how many hours? A couple? You shouldn't have placed that shield that kept them all in. It was such a mess, and I had to hear Miss Cruella Deville over there in Slytherin shriek and have her mess up my ear drums."

"Miss Cruella Dewho?" I asked.

"Natalie Bennett." She replied, like it was the most obvious thing. Not.

"Ohh, that girl. I went out with her on a Hogsmeade weekend back in our fourth year." Fred said, recalling a memory before cringing. "Yeah..It wasn't fun at all." He shivered."At least we didn't have detention with Professor Patil. Merlin, that woman drives me mad." I nodded in agreement.

"I know right! Last year she said I was going to die." Dom said, looking appalled.

"She's just like Professor Trelawney..." I said, remembering our previous teacher who had decided to resign after our first year at Hogwarts. Apparently, she predicted that she just had to resign and go on some kind of seer workshop over in Egypt to enhance her so called seer everyone knows that Pavarti Patil, now our Divination professor, had charmed Trelawney's tea which directed her to resign from her job and give it to Patil. I told Aunt Hermione about that..She wasn't surprised. But she was surprised at the fact that Patil hadn't gotten a job to be a part of that girl's magazine, Witch Weekly. "But then again, they both predicted the same thing about everyone. Professor Trelawney said Dad was going die. Look at him now! Married to a retired Professional Quidditch Player, has three kids, a big family, and likes to spend his Sunday afternoon talking to old portraits of the people Al and I were both named after."

"But technically, he did die." Dom implied. "But then came back to life afterwards."

"This is Uncle Harry we're talking about. The same one that's got a room just dedicated to the past. I swear, he's been through the weirdest shit ever." Fred remarked.

"Fred!" Dom said incredulously.

"What?" Fred exclaimed as he held his hands up. "It's true. Ain't it, James?"

I nodded. "Indeed. It's true. Dad told us so much stories. Who knew all of that actually came in handy when we had to take History of Magic." Fred nodded in agreement. "Dad once told me he grew up living in a cupboard under the stairs in his Aunt and Uncle's house. Until he was eleven."

"A cupboard?" Dom and Fred replied in astonishment.

Fred shook his head, "Uh-uh. No. I don't think I could ever live in a cupboard. D'yo even know how tiny one is?"

"How barbaric." Dom said, wrinkling her nose.

I shrugged. "It couldn't be helped. He had to stay there because the Dursley's made 'im."

"Dusley's? As in your Uncle Dudley Dursley?" Fred asked.

"Uncle Dudley?" Dom replied in confusion. "I didn't know we had an Uncle Dudley. I would've remembered with a name like that."

"He's my dad's cousin. The son of the aunt and uncle Dad stayed with as he grew up. He doesn't come around often and just usually sends letters or greeting cards for every holiday."

"I've only met him once, and that was during Uncle Harry's birthday. He just stopped by the house and said hi. I don't think he stayed long, did he?"

"Nah. I think he got a bit overwhelmed by all the magic and the brooms and mops moving by themselves." I replied.

"Magic? Why would he? Wouldn't he be use to-" Dom began but I cut her off.

"Muggle."

"Ah, that explains." She replied.

"Our grandmother Petunia and grandfather Vernon, Uncle Dudley's parents, are vile. I hate them. Kind of like our late grandmother Muriel."

Dom chuckled. "Dad was glad to see nana Muriel gone. And I quote, 'About time that old hag died."

"I don't remember her as much." Fred said.

"None of us hardly do. She died when we were 9." Dom replied. "But I do remember some bits of her. I swear, I remember first meeting her. One look at me and she snar-..." Dom's voice trailed off as I tuned out their conversation. The three of us sat together, trying to finish our lunch. We'd been the last people of our family so far at the table. Most of the them had left early since their classes were mostly on the other side of the castle. Luckily, our next class was nearby. We had potions.

As I chewed on a piece of bread, my eyes roamed around the room. There was Charlie and Stella from Slytherin arguing (Again), Melanie from Hufflepuff is over there trying to do her homework last minute (Not surprised), Bridget from my house is over at one end abusing the life out of her twin brother Sage's arm (He must've been trying to sabotage her new relationship with Evan), and then there's...Oh, hello. Who's that?.

At the edge of the table sat a slim figure. Pale skin and long and wavy copper brown hair. Her hair was down, framing her face, and was used as if she was shielding herself from everyone else. Her face seemed stiff, cold, and mostly...emotionless. She was...pretty. But the cold and emotionless expression she wore discouraged others from thinking so.

She sat there alone, with a book in one hand as she held her fork in the other. Just eating and reading, and minding her own business. And somehow, I was curious about her. Why is it now I only notice her? I don't think I've seen her before, have I?

But somehow, I think I have. She didn't look any younger than I was, and I think I pretty much knew everyone in the year above me.

Still looking at her curiously, I leaned forward and said, "Oi. Dom. Freddy."

The two of them stopped talking immediately and looked at me, from what I could sense. "What?" Dom asked.

I nodded my head towards the girl at the end, having their gazes move following mine. "What are we looking at?" Fred asked.

I kept my arms crossed I leaned agains them on the table. "That girl. The one sitting at the end." I replied.

"Oh." Dom let out. I looked towards my cousin, who seemed to have a blank expression on her face. She didn't look upset, or mad, or even happy. In a way, she looked sympathetic.

"You know her?" I asked.

Her head snapped back to me. "Of course I do. She's my roommate. I've been living with her since I was eleven. You both should know her as well! She's been in our year since we've all started." She said and this took Fred and I both by surprise.

"I feel like I know her, but it doesn't really come to mind." I said, with Fred agreeing along with me.

"She was your potions partner at one point. You know, that one girl with really curly hair that got you in your first detention?" Dom stated.

And it all came back to me as realization came to my face, "Ohhhh! That girl! I remember. I didn't really talk to her."

Realization came to Fred's face as well. "Wait, she was that girl? Oh, well she looks a bit different now, doesn't she?" He asked, glancing at her.

And he was right. The girl I remembered use to keep her hair in two ribbons and was very neutral around people. She didn't talk way too much like Fred and I, and wasn't too quiet. From what I remembered from our first year, she seemed to get along well with other people. She had rosy cheeks and use to be rather...Life-like, as horrid as that sounds.

But this girl...She was everything opposite of what she used to be. As if she radiated sadness, isolation, and almost...death. I shivered at the thought.

"Doesn't she hang out with those two other girls?" I asked, suddenly remembering two familiar faces I've always seen her surrounded by. "Who was it again? Noelle Fawcett and what was it? Mariah ? Melody? Melissa?"

"Melanie Bleu- I use to fancy her back in second." Fred pointed out. "She was in Ravenclaw."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Was?"

"Melanie transfered to Beuxbatons before our third year started. Apparently, her parents thought she should be around her family's origins." Dom explained.

"So it's just Noelle and her then?" I asked.

"Actually, it's just her." Dom replied, looking back at the peculiar girl with a sad expression on her face.

"They had a falling out or something?" Fred asked.

Dom shook her head. "You two really don't know, do you?"

We shook our heads. "No why?" I asked. "Was the fight between them that bad?"

"No, there was no fight, I think. It's more like Noelle just shouted at her out of frustration and now they just kind of left it from there. They're sort of friends. Ish. They seem to surround each other at times, and tend to partner up with each other. But other than that, they seem to be like acquaintances rather than close friends like how they use to be."

"So she just let Noelle yell at her? For no reason?" Fred asked. Dom shook her head.

"She couldn't talk anyway." Dom replied.

"What do you mean 'she couldn't talk'?" I asked.

She shrugged. "At the start of our third year, when we all came back, everything changed. She just wouldn't talk. She avoided everyone, especially Noelle. She just preferred to isolate herself from anyone else."

I was taken aback. "So what you're trying to say, is that all of a sudden and out of the blue she decides to come back to school and avoid everyone like a plague because she prefers it?" I asked incredulously. "What, does she think she's better than everyone or something?"

Dom groaned and frantically shook her head. "No, no no! You got it all wrong." She sighed and said, "When we got back to school. She looked different."

"Like how?" Fred asked.

She slightly gestured her hand at the girl far away from us and said, "What do you think she looks like now?"

"Cold." Fred replied.

"Lifeless." I said at the same time.

"Exactly. She was never like this. She use to be such a bright and happy girl. But when me, Noelle, and our roommates saw her, we knew something was wrong. We tried talking to her, all of us tried. But she would just avoid us, every single time we tried to ask or reach out to her. She'd shake her head and then just leave. Eventually one night, we realized she's mute."

Fred and I exchanged looks, out eyes slightly widening. "What?" I let out.

"She's a mute." Dom repeated.

"No, no, I head you the first time. But you're serious? She can't...Speak?" Fred asked, before Dom nodded.

"How'd you find out?"

She shrugged. "I felt like there were times where she wanted to say something, but couldn't. And then there was one night during our second year, where all of us in the room woke up when we heard something crash to the ground. It was in the middle of the night and apparently, she knocked something over. She was moving everywhere on her bed. Squirming, flinching, and moving like she's in pain or had a really, really bad dream. She was crying too. It was terrible. We didn't know what to do. But the thing is, nothing ever came out of her mouth. Not a whimper, no words, and not even a scream. So when we tried to wake her up, she looked like she was having some kind of attack. She wasn't breathing normally. So we took her to the Hospital Wing. After we explained to Madame Bones, she told us that she couldn't speak. At all. Well actually, under certain circumstances. She wouldn't be able to talk at certain times, and would be able to at others."

"So...She does speak?" Fred asked, trying to get a clear message.

"Yes, and no. But ever since we got back from school back in our third year, she hasn't spoken since."

"So she hasn't spoken for 4 years!?" I exclaimed.

She nodded. "As far as we're concerned. We don't know if she's spoken at all, considering that no one really hangs around her." She replied before sighing. "Sometimes I wonder if she can already talk, but is so use to it that she just chooses not to."

"So that's it? She's mute." I scoffed. "Well that's not a reason to avoid everyone else." I said.

Dom sighed in frustration. "You're not getting this, are you? She's mute for certain reasons. You can't just literally know how to forget speaking. Only people with stress or anxiety can, to which is caused by certain things. From what we've figured, something happened before third year started."

I frowned, "So what happened to her then?"

"We don't know." She said, shrugging. "Like I said, she doesn't talk. She won't even write stuff out to us! You can't imagine how hard it is to live with a person like her. She doesn't smile, or give any expression at all unless it's of disgust or annoyance. She's just...Cold. I mean, she'll respond to us and be polite or so. But other than that...I worry about her sometimes." I gave a sad smile, in attempt to reassure my cousin.

I looked backed to the girl, who remained engulfed in her book. I just couldn't help but feel sympathy towards her. Apparently something so bad has happened that it literally made her the opposite of what she was. It's like she turned into a ghost.

But I was curious about this girl. Something about her made me wonder. Something about her made me so curious. Something about her made me wonder what the bloody hell happened.

"So, what was her name again?" I heard Fred ask.

"Mara. Mara Murray."

AN: Thoughts? Should I continue with it? I needed a break with my other semi-active fanfic story, so I thought that I should write this up for fun. This is just probably gonna be a novella. Not too long, or way too short.

Go ahead and read my other fanfics too!

Oh, will someone make a cover for me? Thanks...