James went first to the Great Hall, but she wasn't there. Then he went to the library and there was no sign of her either.
There were only two possible places: the Slytherin common room, a place where James couldn't pass by and talk to her. And the balcony on the fourth-floor tower.
James headed there. He touched the camouflaged button on the frame and when he opened the door he could see Gwen sitting on the floor with her head between her knees.
Gwen's head was hidden between her knees. As she heard the footsteps and the door opening, she didn't look up. She knew who it was. She had only told one person about this place.
James stopped and looked quizzically at Gwen. He expected her to be watching the scenery, not sitting curled up with her head down. She had a depressing air about her.
James cleared his throat and spoke, "Hey, Gwen... Why didn't you go to the dragon club?"
"I didn't feel like it..." replied Gwen after a few seconds in a barely audible tone and without raising her head.
'What happened to her? Why does she look so depressed?' thought James, noticing Gwen's tone of voice hoarser than usual. It sounded like she had been crying.
Silence reigned again, only the wind could be heard blowing through the window. James didn't know what to do. It was the first time he had ever been in a situation where a friend of his was in this condition.
A piece of advice from his mother came to his mind. He should just give his help and listen or so she said. Like with Lupin or something.
James walked over and sat down next to Gwen. Their shoulders and legs were colliding. He could hear Gwen's erratic breathing as she kept looking down at the floor and resting her head on her knees.
"Are you okay?" asked James.
"Yes," replied Gwen dryly.
"You don't look it. What happened to you?" asked James again.
"Nothing," replied Gwen.
'This girl...' thought James, rolling his eyes.
"Did your parents find out you were hanging out with me and ground you?" asked James.
"No. Our meetings at the dragon club will continue," replied Gwen.
'A better answer than the previous one...' thought James as he tried to guess what problem Gwen might have.
"Did you fight with Anastasia?" asked James. Though if this were true, it would be good news for him, though he wouldn't show it to Gwen.
"No," replied Gwen instantly.
"Mm... Does it have to do with Emily?" asked James, and silence reigned. Seconds passed, and Gwen didn't respond.
"No..." replied Gwen after a long silence. James could tell her tone was different, plus she had taken a long time to respond.
"Then it has to do with Emily," James said, taking it for granted.
"Emily has nothing to do with it!" exclaimed Gwen with a frown and looking up.
Both of their light blue eyes watched each other. James could tell that Gwen's eyes were slightly red. She had cried. He had only seen her cry once. When a stone crushed her leg she was alone on a dark altar.
"That doesn't seem to be the case. What happened?" asked James.
This week, he hung out with Emily, as he shared a group in Potions class with Snape, and noticed no difference in the girl's expressionless face.
"Nothing happened with Emily," said Gwen.
"Oh, come on. Always the same thing. Looks like I'm not someone to be trusted," said James with a downcast expression. He thought his relationship with Gwen had improved, and they would have more trust, but that seemed not to be the case.
"It's not that... I trust you," said Gwen, reaching out her delicate hand and resting it next to James'.
"So... Why don't you tell me your problem? I want to help you," James said, intertwining his fingers with Gwen's. It was the second time he had taken her hand. The first time, he couldn't think much about it, but now it was different. It was a nice feeling.
"It's hard..." said Gwen in a low tone, looking down at her hand holding James', she could tell she was blushing looking at his face would be worse. James was just as nervous though.
"It's a family secret..." she added.
"We can make an unbreakable vow. That way I can't talk," James proposed. For this, they needed a witness. They could use Emily since she's the one involved in the secret.
Gwen looked at James, and a slight smile formed on her face, "You are very extreme sometimes," she said with a chuckle, making the mood not so serious.
"We don't need that. I trust you... just let me figure out where to start," Gwen added without letting go of James' hand.
It had been a long time since she had kept the secret, and it was very painful for her. It would be nice to be able to tell one person, especially James. The person she trusted the most and who saved her.
After a few minutes, the girl took a breath and began, "I guess you've noticed my parents' differential dealings between Emily and me, right?"
"Yes. Birthdays, owls, Christmases..." said James as he pointed out various occurrences where Emily had differential treatment or just might be weirder than the average girl.
"Well, that's due to one reason... Emily is a half-blood," said Gwen staring at James.
'A half-blood...?' thought James, and his mouth slowly opened in surprise.
"Your mother is a pureblood, right?" asked James, and Gwen nodded. Marcellus Shafiq was from the Shafiq family, so there could only be one answer.
"Your father... did he sleep with a half-blood?" asked James.
"No. With a Muggle," Gwen replied, and James' face grew more and more surprised.
There were differences between pureblood elitists. They considered Muggles like cattle, like animals. Wizards with Muggle parents, on the other hand, were called mudbloods and considered third-class citizens. One step higher than non-magical people.
So it was very surprising that Gwen's father a supremacist slept with a Muggle and got her pregnant.
"So Lysandra is Emily's stepmother... What happened to her blood mother?" asked James.
"As far as I know, she died after childbirth," said Gwen in a sorrowful tone.
"So, now you're fighting with Emily because she's a half-blood?" asked James. He was sure that when he met both sisters, Gwen didn't know which Emily was her half-sister and a half-blood.
"Of course not! What kind of person do you take me for!" exclaimed Gwen indignantly, letting go of James' hand.
"Well... your attitude towards Bob and that we were superior to him, and all that," replied James.
Gwen blushed as she remembered this. Her ideals were in constant confrontation, and she got that comment out of her.
"Emily is just like us. She's very smart and could be top of her class if it wasn't for my mother's fault..." replied Gwen.
James sighed inwardly in relief. It was a great relief to know that Gwen still loved Emily, and it wasn't that she was discriminating against her sister for being a half-breed.
He was right. Gwen was a better person than Anastasia.
"Your mother?" asked James, though he could already get an idea of what happened with Lysandra and Emily.
"Yes. She hates Emily," Gwen said with a hard expression, clenching her robe tightly in her hands.
James held out his right arm and motioned with his hand for Gwen to take it. It looked like she was going to say it would be difficult.
Gwen a little blushing accepted the help and took James' hand. She noticed that taking his hand reassured her.
"My mother didn't like my father cheating on her at all, especially with a muggle. Since Emily's mother died in childbirth, my father had to take over and bring Emily home. Something that my mother didn't like at all, I guess they must have had a big argument. I don't remember. I was only one year old," Gwen began.
"All my childhood, I thought that Emily was my sister and that her parents were the same as mine. I don't care now though. I still love her very much," Gwen clarified.
"The differences my parents made with Emily in our childhood were subtle. They wanted to hide it from everyone. They think it would be a dishonor to the Shafiq bloodline," said Gwen.
"What differences specifically?" asked James.
"They ignored it. Especially my mother, who pretended she didn't exist. At gatherings, she was like another member of the family, but when no one was there they pretended she didn't exist," replied Gwen.
"And you didn't know that?"
"No. I told you all my childhood, I thought we were sisters from the same parents. They didn't tell me because they thought a child might talk too much and have everyone find out the secret," replied Gwen.
'If the other crazy pureblood families found out it would be a great dishonor to the Shafiq family,' thought James.
"When I turned eleven and was about to start Hogwarts my mother told me about it. From that day on her treatment of Emily changed. She stopped ignoring her, and all the hatred she accumulated she started showing her inside the house," said Gwen, squeezing James' hand tightly.
At first, because they thought Gwen wasn't ready to know about the secret, Lysandra treated Emily as if she didn't exist so as not to raise suspicions and so that her little firstborn wouldn't see anything strange.
However, once Gwen learned the secret, Lysandra no longer needed to ignore Emily, and was allowed to vent all her frustration and hatred towards the girl who reminded her every time she saw her that her husband cheated on her with a Muggle.
Gwen told him how Lysandra treated Emily horribly. She no longer had to pretend she was her daughter when she was with Gwen.
When Gwen began her first year at Hogwarts, Emily was left alone for many months with Lysandra and Marcellus. When she arrived home at Christmas, she noticed that her sister was thinner than before, she had wounds on her small arms, and her mother kept her as a servant.
Her first year at Hogwarts was not at all pleasant. When she had to go back to the castle all she could think about was that her sister might be suffering, being mistreated or locked in the closet and not eating.
James couldn't believe his ears. How could an adult be so cruel to a ten-year-old girl? Behind that facade of ice and mettle was a spiteful and despicable person. James didn't comment on this to Gwen, though.
"What about your father, doesn't he do anything? Emily is still his blood," asked James.
"No. For as long as I can remember, he pretends she doesn't exist. How will Emily feel when her father completely ignores her...?" said Gwen with teary eyes.
"Emily is strong. We have to help her," said James, trying to calm her down.
"I know. I'm already doing something to improve her situation. Or do you think I just stand by for all of last year and let my mother continue to mistreat her?"
"What did you do?" asked James.
"I threatened my mother that I would leave the house with Emily. In order not to do that you must treat her like before. No physical aggression, verbal, treat her like a servant and so on," Gwen replied.
"Very brave. What would you have done if I locked you in your house?"
"She can't do that. What would happen if eldest daughter Shafiq disappeared and didn't start Hogwarts? Rumors would run through pureblood circles raising suspicion. Besides, my father would never let that happen," Gwen replied.
"That's good. So what's the recent problem, did your mother try over the vacations something against Emily?" asked James.
"Yes. She wanted Emily to spend Christmas at Hogwarts, but I told her to come with me so that we wouldn't be afraid of her. Because of this she thought Emily was defying her and hurt her again... if it wasn't for my fault... I took Emily to a house she must hate and fear, she would have had a much better time at Hogwarts," said Gwen as tears began to fall down her face.
"It's not your fault," said James, hugging Gwen, who was still crying.
"Yes, it is," she said.
"No. You just wanted to help her," said James. Gwen continued to cry for several minutes until she finally calmed down, and they separated.
"Didn't you say that, if I hurt her again, you would leave your house with Emily?" asked James.
"Yes, but she doesn't care about my threats anymore. She said that if she ran away from home she'd go find me and bring me back. And that when she does Emily will never come back..." replied Gwen.
'She'll never come back... Is she crazy?' thought James in shock. What Lysandra had told her was that she would murder Emily and bring Gwen back to stay at home and continue to fulfill the role of the Shafiq's firstborn.
How would she murder her? Surely by blaming it on criminals or that she disappeared in mysterious ways and only Gwen survived. Creepy.
'What a crazy mother...' thought James, feeling very sorry for Gwen and her crazy family. Not even his former mother Elizabeth Rothschild would go to such extremes. James thinks that not even Sirius' mother would go to such extremes. Of killing a twelve-year-old girl.
"What if you threaten her with telling everyone the secret? You know, one interview in the Prophet and the whole magical community will know," said James.
"I already tried that. She told me I was free to do it, that my father was to blame for that problem. And as soon as she does it she'll take care of Emily..." said Gwen, shaking her head.
'Yeah, she's crazy,' thought James, remembering the few times he saw Lysandra. She didn't seem that nutty.
"What can I do to help you?" asked James.
"Help me think of ideas to keep Emily safe. We have time until the end of the year and the vacations start. She can't go back to that house for now," replied Gwen, and James nodded.
Before Emily goes back to the house with crazy Lysandra they had to find a way for her not to hurt her, since she will be there for two months.
"And come with me right now," Gwen added, taking James' hand and resting her head on his shoulder.