Gift of a Friend

Hogwarts had been a safe haven for Cory from the moment he was old enough to attend. He had always known that he was different to his family, he wasn’t anything like his brothers and he wasn’t very good at faking that he was either. He had always been happier being himself and Harvey had accepted him for that but their other brother hadn’t been quite so understanding and Cory wouldn’t be surprised if their other siblings weren’t too sure what to make of it either. His parents were so angry when he was sorted into Gryffindor and the truth was that during the weeks leading up to the start of his first year at Hogwarts he had thought about asking the Sorting Hat to place him in Slytherin so that he wouldn’t disappoint his parents but he just hadn’t been able to bring himself to do it. He had thought that they would disown him when the hat had called out that he belonged in Gryffindor instead and they had certainly been cold towards him ever since then, colder than they ever had been before, but he was still a part of the family and that was something at least. Cory had thought back to that moment a lot during the years that had followed, he knew that his life would have been so much easier if he had been sorted into Slytherin like his brothers had been but he wouldn’t have been happy so he knew that things had worked out the way that they were meant to.

It hadn’t been easy over the last few years but it had been worth it. There were still those at Hogwarts who liked to give him a hard time but for the most part Cory tried to ignore those people. He had no interest in getting into fights especially now that his seventh year had just started. Harvey had no such problem it seemed and Cory knew that his brother often ended up fighting to defend him but no matter how much he tried to make his brother see that he didn’t need protecting it never had any effect whatsoever so in the end he had given up trying. It was Harvey who had made their parents come around to the extent that they had done during their first year and for that at least Cory was grateful. He had known that his seventh year would be eventful but he hadn’t thought that magic would end up being revealed to the world. He wouldn’t be surprised if his parents were involved in some way and he knew that he would have to try and find out from Harvey later but for now at least he knew that he just wanted to get back to normal as much as he could so he was sitting in the Common Room alone reading a book when Mira sat down next to him. Cory had made some friends in his house but there were still those who preferred to keep their distance from him. For a while Mira had been among them but he hoped that now their seventh year had started then things could get back to normal on that front too. “Are you sure you mean me?” he quipped as she said it was good to see him again, looking around to make sure that she hadn’t meant someone else. “Trust me, even with all this going on I’d still much rather be here than at home,” Cory admitted, marking the page he’d reached in his book and closing it before looking over at her once more. “Same old, same old. How about you?”

KRASIMIRA YOANA KRUM

Cory had grown used to the way people looked at him while he was at Hogwarts. From the moment he stepped on the Hogwarts Express those around him had expected him to act a certain way, they had expected him to be just like his brothers, but the truth was that wasn’t him at all. Gryffindor was undoubtedly the right fit for him and while he knew that it would have been easier if he was sorted into Slytherin like everyone had expected him to be but he was much more comfortable being around people who were like him. His parents hadn’t been happy about it, in fact no one in his family had been, and there were plenty of Gryffindors who didn’t trust him one bit but he’d made some friends and that was something at least. It had been years since he had been sorted into Gryffindor and for the most part the scandal had died down around the school but there were still students who liked to give him a hard time and there were others who liked to use it as an excuse to start a fight with his brother. Harvey always had a habit of sticking up for him even when Cory told him that there wasn’t any need for him to do so but he knew that wasn’t going to change so he had given up trying. He had some people around who knew the real him at least and that was all that Cory could ask for.

For a while Mira had been one of those, the two of them had ended up getting along well but last year she had pulled away from him and he didn’t understand why. That was why he was so surprised when she started talking to him in the Common Room although naturally he tried to make light of it. Even though things had died down a lot when it came to his presence at Hogwarts he still heard some of the things that others said about him and he knew that they gave his friends a hard time on occasion as well so he wouldn’t have been surprised if they were the reason that Mira had had a change of heart. As she said it was good to see him again whether he believed her or not, Cory felt a half smile form on his face. “It’s good to see you too,” he said sincerely. He would be lying if he said that it hadn’t hurt when she’d pulled away but he hoped that they fact that she was reaching out now was a good sign. One thing that was for sure, even with everything that was going on he would much rather be at Hogwarts than at home with his parents so he was glad that they hadn’t tried to keep them all at home although he had a feeling that even if they had tried to keep his siblings behind then they wouldn’t have cared if he had returned to Hogwarts on his own. “Your parents didn’t try and keep you at home?” he asked, knowing that at least some of the students who had returned had had to have that difficult conversation with their parents from what he’d heard. As Mira spoke again, Cory’s expression softened. “Of course I forgive you,” he said, his smile turning genuine as his eyes met hers. “Listen, I get it. You took a risk becoming my friend in the first place, of course you were going to have doubts at some point. This is our last year and I’d much rather face that with you than without you.” Mira really did mean a lot to him and he knew that there was no way that he was going to hold a grudge.

KRASIMIRA YOANA KRUM

Cory couldn’t miss the way that Mira seemed to be blushing even though she was doing her best to hide it but he knew better than to comment on it and make things awkward. He would be the first to admit that he didn’t have that many friends at Hogwarts, so many of the students still saw him as a freak for being a Lestrange who was sorted into Gryffindor rather than Slytherin and he knew that a lot of the parents didn’t want their kids associating with him. He couldn’t really blame them, after all his family didn’t have the best reputation in the world at all but the truth was that he wasn’t like his parents. His family had sided with Voldemort during the last war and even though his parents were still young themselves at the time he wouldn’t be surprised if they had made that same decision. Even now after everything that had happened his family was still influential among the wizarding community and he knew that his parents had always had certain expectations for all of their children, expectations that they had dropped for him the moment that he was sorted into Gryffindor. In a way it was a relief as it meant that he was free to be who he wanted to be rather than who they wanted him to be and they had always been hardest on Harvey since he was the oldest but he would be lying if he said that there weren’t still times when he missed his parents looking at him the way they used to. Now their eyes were cold whenever they looked at him and he still felt like they would rather disown him and be done with it but for some reason they hadn’t done so that was something at least.

“That’s cute. I heard your dad was a Triwizard champion in his day, if there’s anyone who understands the need to step up then I imagine it would be him,” Cory nodded. Mira’s dad had had to deal with the pressure of playing quidditch as well so it didn’t surprise him at all that the guy had understood when Mira had said that she wanted to return to Hogwarts. “I’ll hold you to that,” Cory grinned as she said that she wasn’t going to let anyone or anything come between their friendship again. “You’re one of the few friends I have here so I wanted to reach out but I knew I needed to give you time.” He knew that if he had tried reaching out before Mira was ready then it probably wouldn’t have gone too well so he was glad that he had waited. As she reached over and hugged him Cory couldn’t deny that he was surprised since Mira wasn’t normally the hugging type but then again neither was he. He knew not to push her away now though so he hugged her back before letting her go and looking down at the book he’d been reading as she asked if it was anything exciting. “Not really,” he shrugged, rolling his eyes playfully as she reached over and grabbed the book out of his hands. “To be honest it was just something to keep me busy for a while that wouldn’t draw too much attention. Some of the other students are still uneasy around me especially after what the Enlightened did.”

KRASIMIRA YOANA KRUM