Mortem

CHAPTER 1

A RETURN TO HOGWARTS

September 1st 1977

Time passed slowly as Hedone stared at her hands during the Prefect's meeting. The Head Boy was advising everyone on the best places to catch students after curfew was. He also warned them to never open broom closets without using 'Homenum Revelio' unless you wanted to be traumatized for life.

"And that's it. Now onto the patrol schedules, we shall be intermixing the houses as the Headmaster wants to reduce house prejudice and promote unity. These shall be put up by the end of the week, so be sure to check that. Now, any questions?" asked the Head Boy.

No one said anything in reply, so that was the end of it and the 5th year prefects headed back to their respective common rooms and the 6th and 7th year prefects started patrolling following last year's schedule. Her parents had been delighted to find out she was made Prefect. She, on the other hand, had mixed thoughts about it. On one hand, it would help her in securing a job at the Ministry faster and get her more recognition but on the other, it meant human interaction.

She and Regulus Black, the other Slytherin prefect of 5th year headed back to the common room together. They had no special relationship of sorts. They had merely interacted in classes when told to. This was surprising considering the two shared many friends. "So, how was your summer?" inquired Hedone. "My mother and brother had a huge fight and my brother left, leaving me alone to fend for myself in that God forsaken house. The word may be spectacular?" quipped Regulus sarcastically.

"Oh"

"I'm sorry. I really don't know what came over me. I didn't really mean that" apologized Regulus. "No, it's quite alright. Everyone need to let go sometimes. No offense, but your parents do not seem the nicest." she replied.

"Yes well, can we not talk about this? How was yours?" asked Regulus. "It was nothing special, really. But it was fun" she replied.

"Hmmm". They walked back together in complete silence as neither had any clue on how to continue this conversation. They finally reached the common room and inside, Hedone sighed in relief. "This was beginning to get really awkward" she thought to herself.

"Well, I suppose I shall see you tomorrow. Have a good night." said Regulus.

"You too" she said back.

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September 2nd 1977

Hedone awoke the next morning pretty pissed after being used to sleeping in for one of the greatest two months of her year. Waking up early wasn't even so necessary. Unfortunately for her, her only dorm mate and lovely best friend Freya, just happened to be a morning person. It ought to be illegal for a person to be this cheerful at 7 am.

"I swear on Merlin's only pair of skinny jeans, wale me up at 7 one more time and I won't hesitate to fucking Avada Kedavra your arse. At least they won't require you to wake up early in Azkaban. The dementors would be nicer to live with than you" Hedone grumbled.

"Oh come on now, it's merely a matter of opening your eyes, getting on your feet and going 'Chuck Chuck'. Put a smile on your face and perhaps comb your hair, oh and definitely change and let's have breakfast" Freya said with a very insistent and slightly threatening smile on her face.

A very scowling Hedone was dragged over to the great hall by the ever-so-positive Freya.

"Hey. I'm gonna say you're here very unwillingly?" guessed Severus Snape, a sixth year Slytherin who was hated by most of the Hogwarts population but who Hedone found to be interesting and fun company.

"Oh, how could you even think such a thought! I'm clearly in the greatest of spirits and I am oh-so sure that our day shall go as well as Filch's attempts at banning Peeves" Hedone responded. "I'd say it's quite obvious that I'd like to do nothing more than throw myself off the Astronomy Tower than do this ever again"

"Oh, Eddy shut it, won't you?" Freya then began one of her never ending rants on the current mill of gossip at Hogwarts. It turns out Gilderoy Lockhart, a Ravenclaw 2nd year student, was planning on how to eradicate the monster that lived in the Shrieking Shack. It was a wonder that he even got into Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaws themselves were confused as to why a boy as pompous, arrogant, foolish and cowardly as him was put in the house of the wise and the curious. Hedone used to wish at times that he was put into Slytherin just so she could see the different ways her house would put him in place.

Professor Slughorn walked up to them and handed them their timetables. Most of the fifth years were nervous for this year as they had to take their OWLs. "Now Ms. Burke, Mr. Black and Ms. Prewett, my Slug Club meeting will be held next Saturday at 6 pm. Please do try attending" he requested.

The Slug Club was a club of students who were seen by Professor Slughorn as ambitious enough to reach a high position later on in life. Quite obviously, most of the club consisted of Slytherins. It felt a little bit as though he was collecting students. Why though, Eddy never knew as she felt it was quite useless for a Potions Master to have connections to say a arthimancer who he probably would see only twice after graduation.

Either ways, she would take it to her advantage. It would be nice to have a few connections at the Ministry. It would help her reach higher positions faster. Then again, she was related to most major English wizarding families, by blood or by marriage, so she would have connections regardless of whether or not she went to these parties. The pureblood balls would benefit her just as well, or perhaps even better.

Freya always chided her for only thinking of how she could use things to her advantage but her way of thinking was quite useful. It would always come up with a way for her to get what she wanted. This was probably why she was put into Slytherin. Her mother had been delighted to find out Eddy was put into Slytherin. One, because that was her old house and two, because now a lot of her father's family owes her a good amount of money.

"Come on now, let's get to class. Professor Patil will probably give us detention if we're late." Freya stated. They headed to their Defense Against The Dark Arts. Hedone absolutely adored this class. She did wish the curriculum would stay a little more stable but wizards seem to lack sense for basic things. She was very interested in this. She did wish the school had a Dark Arts class as well but with the current state of the world, that would be a terrible idea. The Darks Arts weren't such a bad thing unless misused. Hedone liked studying subjects like the Dark Arts, Alchemy and surprisingly Divination. She liked studying things that weren't very exact. That left so much space for new discoveries. She also loved experimental magic. A lot of the time she spent with Severus would spend creating new spells. Luckily, they both reached the classroom. It wouldn't leave a good impression reaching class on the first day.

"Good morning class! I'm your new DADA professor, Karishma Patil. Before actually teaching, I'd like to simply assess your skills, theory and practical, for the first two classes. I think it'd give me an idea on whether this class has to catch up on anything or not." Professor Patil announced. Hedone was pleasantly surprised. It seemed that she'd actually be able to learn something this year. The professor they hired last year wasn't really bothered with checking their papers but more with checking out the students themselves. Needless to say, the class was hated and most students skipped class that year.

They had a theory test that covered all the basics they'd been learning since first year. After that class, they had double Potions. This was a class Hedone had very mixed feelings about. She enjoyed the actual subject and Professor Slughorn was a competent teacher but he would put her in the spotlight way too many times. She supposed she should be grateful that she would get attention from the teacher but also she despised attention.

Potions that day was surprisingly bearable that day. Her and Freya got paired that day and considering they were two of Slughorn's best students, they aced their potion. She was almost convinced the day would go well.

They went to the Great Hall and and Hedone was listening to Freya's rant on how stupid wizards were for not following fashion and makeup when suddenly she was called to Dumbledore's office. "It's only my first day back and I haven't done anything wrong. What on Earth could this be about?" she wondered. She entered his office after giving the password which was Blood Lollipops because of which she was mildly concerned.

"Ahh Ms. Prewett, I am sorry to inform you that your brother Fabian was fatally attacked by Death Eaters. Do not fret too much, he is currently being treated in St. Mungo's" explained Professor Dumbledore. Hedone was shocked. She was just frozen. Unfortunately, she was terrible at dealing with sudden emotions. So all she done then was nod her head shakily and walk out quivering a little.

Her brother, who used to buy her Chocolate Frogs and make her sugar toffee, make her go up to the roof to look at the stars and threw her on a broom from the moment she could walk was attacked and could perhaps be on the brink of death. When she finally came to that realisation, she started crying heavily in the middle of the hallway. She shook herself and told herself to get it together and that her brother would be okay and he'd want her to be normal and not sad. Still in a state of grief and shock, she returned to the Great Hall.

"Oh. My. God. What the fuck happened here? I was gone for 10 minutes." she muttered as she watched the Slytherins and Gryffindors duelling in the middle of the Hall.