Emilia

Emilia was a very talented witch. Although she was rather lazy when it came to her subjects, and usually was occupied with all sorts of other interests and studies of her own instead of focusing on homework, she still managed to be a straight O student in nearly all courses. Her birthday was in October, so she was one of the oldest students in her class.

Even at the beginning of her seventh year her teachers were certain she wouldn't have the slightest issues passing her NEWTS - almost 3 years before her graduation. She has been called an outstanding pupil by even the longest working teachers in Hogwarts, and those had had many of her kind. Despite her intelligence the sorting hat took a very long time to sort her, placing her in Ravenclaw in the end.

There were many things she was known for however – her grades was only a small reason. From her first day in Hogwarts she seemed different. She was a quiet, reserved girl, that rarely talked. Unlike most students who only wore them on special occasions or as a coat, Emilia wore her long, black robe continuously. Wherever she was, she seemed to be completely out of her mind.

When she learned the first basics of magic her persistence in learning already showed: after a few weeks in the library and some rather unfortunate accidents she exited her dorm with dark, long black hair, despite her natural hair colour being brown. Every attempt from teachers to prohibit the unnatural colour in her hair was unsuccessful – no matter the punishment and no matter the amount of undying her teachers performed, the next day her hair went back to black.

She was very isolated the first year in Hogwarts. She seemed so different in the way she acted and appeared, so rumours and lies started to spread about her. Envy was the very first thing she challenged, due to her outstanding performances from day one. After a certain time, students mocked her about her robe and hair.

In second grade 3 boys held her down before class and joked whether she wore anything underneath. When they forcefully opened the robe, a long, black dress with numerous ribbons and laces appeared.  She was called a freak and laughed at. Her teachers discussed it, but in the end didn't prohibit the dress.

After a few weeks Emilia started to curse the curtains around her bed to not be opened whenever she slept, and a spell prevented sounds to go through, so not even her roommates seemed to get through to her - not that they tried anyways. She spent her nights isolated in her bed. Some of her teachers were worried about her. Most however didn't care. She never badly misbehaved and due to her good grades she was barely punished.

Snape punished her rigorously in her first year, however since she showed particular interest in his class he started leaving her alone. It was a continuous pattern – wherever she was, people started to forget she was there due to her quiet, calm nature, and her traits and interests that seemed to violate rules, often in an indirect or small way, was something people got used to.

But the bullying got worse. Due to her very pale skin and her gothic appearance the rumour of her being a vampire spread. In 4^th grade someone filled her entire locker in garlic sauce. “Holy” water, aka water with itching powder was poured onto her and some classmates started screaming as if they were in pain whenever she walked into the sun to mock her.

One time someone placed a dead bat on her desk, which made McGonagall furious. She held a long speech in front of the class how disappointed she was in her students to mock a witch in such a bad manner only based on her looks – Emilia however had other plans. She placed one hand on her heart, and one on the bats chest and murmured a prayer. In the middle of McGonagalls speech the bat burst into blue, cold flames and disappeared.

Most pupils didn't recognize it, but McGonagall knew it was a spell and burying ritual from a cult that has long been considered dead. After class she called Emilia to her desk and advised her to never use such magic again. Emilia promised to, admitting she was never really interested in the religious aspects of such magic, only in their power and functionality.

The bullying didn't stop, although the amount of pupils mocking her decreased with their age. Those who continued though became crueller and crueller. Emilia therefore needed different ways to avoid them – and focused her research on a topic she had always been split about.

Ever since her divination lessons she was both fascinated and annoyed by it, since it didn't seem to be as simple as other lessons – or it was just total nonsense. However, long after the class, she did further research and experiments.

She was about to give up when she finally succeeded. She foretold one of her bullies to trap her with a spell in a hallway, and although she didn't really understand HOW she foretold it and what kind of spell it was, she used her knowledge and turned the spell around. To her delight it was a very simple, yet effective spell that would blind the opponent and made them loose their balance. When he collapsed and she realized what kind of spell he had wanted to put on her she laughed hysterically and released him from the darkness.

Without a word she continued her way with a large smile in her face. Scared by her rather evil laugh, which she had never done before, and the magical power that radiated from her simple magic to turn his’ around, he never attempted such spells on her again. It was clear to nearly everyone, beating her in a duel was almost impossible for regular students.

Ever since then her divination skills only increased. She found empty hallways and places in the entire school she has never been in to practice and study – even during the night. First she only studied divination, later all kinds of magic. Her knowledge over other pupils and their lifes and family was growing as she foretold events she hadn't attended simply by observing waves in the water of sinks she filled, in leaves she collected in the forbidden forest and needles she dropped on bathroom tiles. She let some of the knowledge slip purposefully to scare her bullies, which worked wonders, and after a short amount of time she was left alone.

Her life could be seen almost as a success. A straight O student with lots of interests, who made her bullying stop with mere magical superiority and who had most of her teachers back.

However of course she was lonely. When she came to Hogwarts she had hoped to meet people like her, but that wasn't the case. She was extremely introverted, and although she wasn't particularly shy, she still never found a way to talk to people unless she wanted something specific – not a good way to start friendships.

In her 6 ^th year in school things slowly changed. The pupils around her grew older, and although the jokes about vampires never left her, they still decreased. She was no longer cornered in hallways and had to fight her way outside of bullies, and she didn't have to expect missing a prophesy and finding her property destroyed, drowned in fake blood or hidden. The opposite happened – her classmates started to be interested in her as they matured. They wanted to know about her abilities, and she could teach them quite a few useful things.

Having been alone for so long made it hard to adapt to new friends. At first she was very awkward, constantly struggling to find the right words, worried that every sentence she formed might be wrong and turned against her. She had always played tough, she always hid in her studies, in corners of the school and avoiding people as much as possible. She had always been an introvert, but no contact whatsoever tore on her soul. It took a long time until she accepted the few people she met as friends, and even then she never stopped hiding from other people. However it made her less worried.

After having spent years in Hogwarts, knowing more about the building than even some teachers, she stood in front of a door she had never seen. It appeared out of no where, but opening it made her wildest dreams come true. She had found her perfect hiding spot. Emilia was one of those very fortunate pupils who learned about the room of requirement.

The political situation tensed after her 6 ^th year when Voldemort might have returned. Emilia had always been glad when new rumours about Harry Potter spread, since it meant her bullies were occupied with different things. She often wondered whether she should be jealous, or just be glad she wasn't him. Emilia was lonely, had no friends and almost no one to have her back, while Harry had very many, loyal people around him. But on the other side, Emilia knew, when she left her circle, especially her age group and house in Hogwarts, many pupils didn't know her, and she was just a weird goth girl from a higher year or different house.

This time however the rumours were different, now not only Hogwarts seemed to be involved, the entire world of wizards, or at least the western world, seemed to have turned against Harry Potter.

When the triwizard tournament ended in the exact disaster her teapot had told her for months, she attempted one last prophesy before heading to bed – and was baffled by the sheer amount of evil her tea leaves portrayed. It didn't take her long to figure out why. It wasn't only Voldemort who was back, it was the way the highest politicians handled the situation.

That Harry didn't lie was obvious to her, and she wondered how anyone could even only look up to the clouds in the sky without trembling in fear. Emilia distanced herself from the occurrences, trying not to get involved in such things. But even she sometimes couldn’t stand the blatant nonsense people started spinning around Harry's story. She could convince a fair amount of pupils that Harry's story maybe wasn't the whole truth, but that there were many things about it that fit very well.

When 7 ^th grade began, Emilia had gained a few friends. None of which she would have considered close friends, and especially in the dining hall she was afraid to sit with them unless invited, but they were nice to her, talked with her in the hallways and sometimes even took her to Hogsmeade.

She never understood why she would want to go there – overall the times when pupils went to Hogsmeade were those when Hogwarts was the most silent and peaceful – but when she joined her friends, listening to their stories and jokes, she almost felt like she belonged. Slowly she started warming up.

A girl called Sally she shared her room with even made her sit with her on the bed in the evening where they talked about all sorts of things. It took her 6 years, but finally it seemed like she had arrived in Hogwarts.