An lonely end...?
Disclaimer: This is a fict based on an RPG forum that belongs to Cal, Hannah, Faye and me. Gabriel and Chase belong to me©; Bri and hunter belong to Callie©; Rea and Jonathan belong to Hannah©; and Emma and Liam belong to Faye©. All the other Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling©.
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Gabriel looked around as the sound of laughter and playful voices surrounded her. Everyone was in a good mood as the plates begun to get filled with food magically. It was around noon, on lunchtime and the Great Hall was full. Almost everyone was there...
She glanced along the four tables filled with students. On the Ravenclaw table, Emma was sat laughing with a few girls she knew, occasionally getting blushed and blowing invisible kisses to Chase on the Gryffindor table, his blue eyes overflowing with tenderness whenever he looked at her...
On the Slytherin table, Rea and Bri were in a similar mood. Rea was whispering to Hunter's hear and he giggled with something she had told him, then he gently brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her longing lips, holding her close, as he told something to a guy right in front of them. Rea never seemed so happy, her expression was peaceful as she laughed. At their side were Bri and Liam. Bri had her typical don't-mess- with-me face, but though she seemed cold and distant, she was holding hands with Liam, he was stroking her skin with his thumb. No matter how much Bri had tried to hide it, everyone could see that she was different, happier... she was loved and cared for, that was Liam's life mission. She looked at him when he called her, and Bri granted him a special smile, one that she only made for him, when she was with him.
Gabriel locked her glanced again on her plate, pushing it aside. She wasn't hungry. Water was still dripping from he cloak and her hair, dripping to the table's dark wood. She felt chilled, the damp slowly freezing her body when she leaned her head on her arms, looking to nowhere. Outside, a roaring summer storm twisted and turned, the rain poured heavily and lightnings travelled on the dark sky magically hovering on the ceiling of Great Hall.
"What a way to celebrate our last the hours in Hogwarts..." someone at her side said. "This storm is really out of purpose! Who thought of a day like this in July?" Gabriel sighed and moved her head, so she could be looking at the Slytherin table, her eyes watering slowly.
...Almost everyone was there...
Rea noticed Gabriel's saddened and lost glance and poked Bri, getting her attention. Both looked at the wet girl. Gabriel noticed their glance on her and she rose her head a bit. Rea slowly nodded no and Bri snorted. "Eat something. You'll need it." That message ranged on Gabriel's mind, she knew it was Bri sending it. "I'm not hungry..." Gabriel replied back, again hiding her face on her arms as the girls looked at each other. Hunter, suddenly noticing Bri and Rea's glance on Gabriel, looked around, frowning.
"Where's T?" he asked squeezing Rea a bit to get her attention. He wasn't there.
"I don't know..." Rea sad sadly looking at Gabriel and sighed. "I don't know."
Gabriel suppressed a tear that was trying to leave her light brown eyes, holding her head, trying to shield herself from all the laughter and happiness around her. She didn't want to hear that, she didn't want to be there. Memories from the previous weeks, from the previous months, invaded her mind with an overpowering strength, making her travel to her past...
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She had to admit, no matter for how long she lived, that year was always going to be on her mind, present on her memories like a burning mark... She had had a rough beginning; a new girl on a new country, in a new school far away from everything she used to know and carrying a dark secret. Bri, at first, didn't make her life easier, as for a while she seemed to hate Gabriel. The old Gryffindor/Slytherin hatred was still very alive then. But later, after many adventures that drew them closer, Bri, Rea, Emma and Gabriel became a very special group of friends. Her best friends ever, the only ones Gabriel had... her new family. Then the guys came in as the rush of the Yule Ball got to them all. Among the confusion of searching for the perfect dress and date asking, all of them found themselves in love... That thought bought him to her mind.
Jonathan
Gabriel could still remember the first time she had saw him... she was on the Hospital Wing when Rea brought him in, a childhood friend. He seemed a bit oblivious on why he was there but still then... Gabriel felt a shiver. Even then, right in the moment she first saw him, her heart had skipped a beat. His black hair shone in the morning light as his warm brown eyes managed to melt her with a single glance. And when he talked... when he took her hand... she had felt like hiding herself under the covers, as she felt blushed at the point of thinking she'd enter in spontaneous combustion. He seemed embarrassed then too, as he also didn't say much. That was the moment in which her life was going to change, filled with a whole new level of emotions and feelings.
She knew it had been love at first sight, for both of them. Not used to it, as she always bragged to be guy-independent, Gabriel found herself thinking about him a lot, though he was Slytherin. She tried to hold on to that fact, trying to prevent her feelings to grow, but that didn't last for a day. She had to admit, she was in love. Every time he looked at her, every time he said a word to her, she blushed and felt her heart burn with a pleasant heat. And then, when he had asked her to be his date for the ball... when they kissed for the first time... the night they shared on his secret place looking at the stars, holding each other... that special moment on his dorm, feeling him kissing her, holding her tenderly on the moonlight... all those moments were burned deep into her brain and that made her ache. This time she left the tear slip down her eyes, travelling on her cheek until it dropped on her hand. Her heart ached so bad. She was so sorry now...
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Everything was like a fairytale. She had Jonathan and Jonathan loved her, like she was the most precious thing in the world. She loved to be treated like that though things weren't easy. They had only a few times to be together. Besides the fact that she was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin, fact that made everyone stare at them, he was one year older than her, which meant that they didn't have classes together and when they tried to sit side by side, to hold each other on the Great Hall, everyone stared at them. The only happy moments they had, were between classes and at morning or night, when they ran away from everything and everyone to be together.
She had always made her best to keep up with situation, as he always compensated her for their lost time, in a way only he knew. To hold him, to kiss him, was like to reach heaven on earth. His warm eyes, always looking at her with love, made her feel fulfilled and able to overcome everything. His warm soft fingers travelling on her smooth skin always made her shiver and giggle... she treasured and longed for every one of those moments.
Then it all had happened. On the night of the Yule Ball, Ciaran, Bri's father, and Roberto, her own grandfather, put to practice their plan, a way to kill them. After managed to spook Gabriel and Bri at the Gringotts Bank, while the girls ran away, Roberto attacked her, wounding her, replacing Gabriel with another girl, that taking the Polyjuice potion, had as her mission to break the group. After a fight in which the boys – Hunter, Liam, Jonathan and Chase – almost died fighting against the two dark men, Gabriel managed to get loose form her captivity and run to the castle, in time to make the men retreat without killing them... but all of them nearly died. She had hugged Jonathan then, wounded and covered in blood and cried on his chest, asking him never to leave her. The pain she felt on her body was nothing compared to the pain of seeing him die and loosing him forever. Then they went to the ball and tried to have fun.
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But days after it, she couldn't ignore the dark thoughts that hunted her mind and her dreams, making her wake up night after night screaming and covered in cold sweat, wanting desperately to have Jonathan there to calm her down, to tell her that it was only a dream. Ciaran and Roberto were still there, somewhere waiting for their next chance to try and kill them... and that frightened her, not as much as for herself, but for her friends and Jonathan... They could be caught up in a fight that mostly belonged to her and Bri. And she wouldn't stand loosing not even one of her loved ones. Those thoughts hunted her for days and Jonathan had already noticed... She always admired how much he cared about her and slowly their started to see each other less, their times together were fewer and fewer. Gabriel made it on purpose. She didn't want to see him. She had promised herself, for all the love she had for him, to protect him. And to protect him, the best way was to keep him away from her.
Slowly it started to kill her to make things go on like that. It always made her cry to see his pain and saddened face whenever she made up an excuse so they couldn't be together. Everyday she night fell on her bed crying, hugging herself, longing for him as she pushed him away day after day. Everyone had noticed her strange behaviour and Jonathan's saddened expression that grew day by day. He used to confide in Rea, asking her not to tell Gabriel. He was despairing for not knowing why she was acting like that, painfully wondering if it had been something he had done or said to her that was now driving them apart. Every time he tried to talk to her, she fled. And he always cried. If he only knew... she was only trying to protect him...
She, Rea and Bri ended up having a huge fight, as Rea confronted her about her behaviour towards Jonathan, on how she was making him suffer. Gabriel always denied whatever Rea said, but after Rea hit her on the face, tears of weeks of loneliness and suffering jolted form her eyes as she slipped to the floor. She had told the girls why she was pushing him away and they told her that wasn't the best way to protect him, but what was done was done. She couldn't go back, Gabriel had started thinking that Jonathan was starting to give up on her... Rea respected Jonathan's wish of not letting Gabriel know about his pain but it was heart braking to see them like that, both of them.
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And only a few weeks remaining to the end of the school year, Ciaran and Roberto had made their last attempt to kill them. This time the girls were alone. Drawn by the commotion during the night, Jonathan appeared in the battlefield as the girls combined their powers in one single powerful attack that blew everything away. Roberto died in the process and Ciaran got very wounded but managed to run away. Jonathan had also been blown away and wounded, having to spend a few days on the Hospital Wing, most of them unconscious. That was the braking point to Gabriel.
She remained right beside his bed, day and night until he regained consciousness. It was dawn when he woke up, Gabriel was still deeply asleep on the chair beside the bed. She looked exhausted and Jonathan didn't want to wake her up. He just remained silent, observing her at he pale light. Like she felt something out of her safe world of dreams, she woke up, seeing him sat on the bed, his head bandaged, looking at her, reaching for her hand. She quickly got up, not letting him touch her and called Madam Pomfrey to see him. Her gesture made tears appear on his eyes and on seeing it, Gabriel's heart broke into pieces. She slipped to the floor outside the Hospital Wing, letting the hot and salted tears go down her face. He had got out of the Hospital Wing two days after.
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Gabriel attention was drawn away from her memories to a huge thunder that struck outside, a loud roaring sound flew through the silent corridors and echoed on the Great Hall, making many students shiver in fright. That night had been much different than this one. Another memory occupied Gabriel's mind, a much more recent one, one of the most painful... Only three weeks ago, Gabriel had made up her mind. Ciaran was still alive and could still try to attack them again and that time someone could get killed. She had to stop it, Jonathan had to steep away from her forever or else she would loose him to the hands of death. Closing her eyes, she saw it all again...
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... She was looking to the nothingness across the lake in front of Hogwarts. It was a peaceful late spring night. The silverish water was still, reflecting the shinny stars and the big round moon, making diamond- like reflections. Golden fireflies were flying around her, as she sat at the roots of Jonathan's tree. She looked up, to a special hidden branch where she and Jonathan used to sit, silent and hugged to each other, just watching all that beauty. She looked to the grass again, she couldn't remember about those moments now. "You have to do it. For his sake..." a voice on her mind reminded her. She had sent FireWing to him with a message, to meet her there. While she waited with her heart on her hands, she was making her best not to fall apart...
Finely she hard steeps on the grass and turned at him. He was there, beautiful as he always had been, his body shinning with the moonlight. His face though, had a heart braking sadness that per moments made her hesitate.
"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked with a weak and sweet voice, his eyes sending her silent messages that were making her fall apart inside.
"Yes, we need to talk." Gabriel tried to control her voice, making it be cold and distant. "We need... we need..."
"What do we need?" Jonathan asked and approached her as Gabriel's voice started to fail on her. "We need to end this once and for all!" she said in a loud voice, as a cold breeze ran among them. The silverfish leafs of the tree moved and whispered above them as heavy silence feel. Some leafs fell from the tree, floating between them until they fell to the water softly. Gabriel avoided looking at him, she didn't want to see him hurt.
"...What?... Phoenix..." he tried, his face more pale than the moon above their heads.
"Don't! Just... don't." Gabriel bit her lip and clutched her fists for courage. "Don't call me that.... Just listen and don't interrupt me." She said and thought, "While I still have strength to say this... oh my god... I don't want to do it..."
Jonathan nodded in agreement, stopping in front of her, but not very close, respecting her space. Gabriel felt chilled before she started saying all she wanted to say... it was hurting her so much inside. The only thing she wanted, as to run now to his arms, feeling him holding her tight...
"Jonathan... we... we have to brake up." She started to talk faster, as not to loose her courage. "I'm sorry, but this isn't working anymore. We barely see each other, and then there's the whole Gryffindor/Slytherin thing... I just can't take it! It's too much pressure, professor MacGonagall and professor Snape, they are against us and that can affect our grades... I have to pass this year, with flying colours..."
Gabriel knew she wasn't making sense at all, that she was using a bad excuse... but Jonathan had to be away from her. Her firmly clutched teeth were avoiding her to start crying, to start saying what she really meant... that she loved him and needed him, and all that was only for his protection, because she wouldn't stand to see him die because of her.
"Phoe... Gabriel... why are you doing this to me? To us?" Jonathan pleaded with a calm voice, but despair was all over it. "I need you..."
"You don't need me Jonathan, you only think you do... and love..." her nails burring deep into the palms of her hands "... love doesn't last forever. Mine didn't."
Gabriel felt a cold electric shock going up her body, freezing her heart. She felt like coughing and felt sick, as those words left her mouth. She knew she had gone pale, her face white as a ghost and looked at him, trying to maintain her distant posture. What she saw made her want to die. His expression, his inner pain, was all over him. Jonathan's brown eyes were open wide with a shocked look, his arms pending along his body, his mouth open and wordless as shinny silvery tears formed and started to drop on his sweet face. Unconsciously, Gabriel's hand went to her chest, grabbing her shirt tight, holding her necklace. Holding back her painful tears, she wished he wouldn't reply... his words would only make it worse and more painful for both of them. She saw him shallow hard, closing his fists, closing his mouth. "Gabriel..." he called but his voice was almost silent.
"It isn't working Jonathan!" Gabriel started to yell, finely crying. She couldn't stand it anymore. She was slowly killing them both. "Don't you get it? IT'S OVER! I don't love you anymore!" she cried even more, her tears sliding down her neck, her lips tasting its salty taste. "Please turn away... go way! Don't make me say anymore..."
"I don't believe you!" Jonathan yelled back, tears also falling.
"I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!" she yelled with all her pain. "IT'S OVER!!!" Gabriel turned her back at him, moaning under breath. It was hurting her so much. She waited a few seconds, her back turned at him before she started to walk away, hugging herself. "Please forgive me..." she kept thinking.
"Gabriel..." he called, his voice shivering with pain and revolt. "Gabriel! PHOENIX!!!"
When she heard him call her, she ran faster so couldn't hear him. It was done. Jonathan had to be hating her right now... she didn't look back, she didn't have the courage to. She ran and ran, tears blinding her eyes, until she reached the castle. She ran inside, going up the marble stairs, running over whoever stood on her way. That included Rea and Bri that were almost knocked down the stairs.
"HEY!!!" Bri retorted. "Watch it!" but Gabriel didn't look at them nor did she respond.
"Something's wrong..." Rea said, trying to reach her on her thoughts, but Gabriel had blocked her mind.
She entered her common room still running and closed the door of her dorm with a loud bang, locking it. Then she fell on the white fresh sheets of her bed, curling as much as she could, finely crying out all the pain she had been feeling. She grabbed the sheets, pulling them to her, her tears making them get damp as she cried until she was too tired to cry and could only moan... her heart was broken.
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She had cried all night under the moonlight when it had happened and she didn't get up by morning... she just stayed under her covers, unable to cry anymore... she was tired, she hadn't sleep at all and didn't want to move from her bed. She felt numb, all of her. She didn't react when her roommates tried to make her leave the bed, but she didn't have the strengths. She had been in the same position for hours, her face and pillow still damp from all her tears.
Eventually, on the next forming she had got up, she had classes. Bri, Rea and Emma tried to cheer her up, but it was useless. Gabriel was a shadow of what she had been one day. Days had passed and she didn't see him, she was still drowning on her pain and guilt.
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Gabriel snapped out of that memory that made her feel worse, getting immersed again on the sounds around her. She looked around as to flee from the next, and most painful, memory that was now trying to enter her mind. The lunch went on, Rea and Bri still seemed happy and talked with their loved ones, like no one else was there. They didn't know how lucky they were... the only one that could, more or less, understand what she had gone through was Emma. She and Chase, like she and Jonathan, were from different houses. But the Ravenclaw and the Gryffindors always had good relations, it wasn't like her and Jonathan... everyone had always been against their love.
Gryffindors and Slytherins should never be together.
Again Gabriel's face sank among her arms. The memory had succeeded to enter on her mind. It hurt like a recent scar that had been bleeding for hours... five hours to be precise...
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On that same morning, the main topics of all conversations among all Hogwarts' students were the end of classes. That was their last day. Gabriel couldn't say she was trilled that classes were over, but wasn't thrilled either for going home. She would be apart from her best friends for two months, away with her parents in Australia... Everyone's bags and trunks were made and now lay in the entrance hall, as everyone entered the Great hall for breakfast. Her friends, except Emma that waved when she got in, weren't there. Gabriel sat at the table, eating without much hunger when the owls came swarming in, bringing the morning mail as usual. Her pet phoenix FireWing was among them, bringing her a letter. It was from her parents. Inside lay her plane ticket for that same day. Gabriel sighed and put it on her pocket opening the newspaper that another owl had brought.
She read he news without interest... it was only to maintain her mind occupied when she got to the middle pages. Her jaw dropped open as she begun to read.
Ciaran
Ciaran had been caught by aurors in Hogsmead on that same morning. She felt flooded with an unannounced happiness. He had been caught and was now on Azkaban! She took the paper and ran at Emma, showing it to her. Than she ran out of the Great hall, she had to find Bri, Rea... and Jonathan. Transforming her Gryffindor robes into Slytherin ones, she managed to enter on her rival house and find Bri.
"Look! It's all over!" she passed the paper to Bri, feeling like crying with joy. "He won't attack us anymore! Isn't this great? Finely now... now I can tell Jonathan why I pushed him away! Where is he?" and looked around trying to spot him.
"He's... outside..." Bri had said while a huge happy smile spread on her lips. It was over.
Gabriel had then ran all the marble staircases until she got outside, so she didn't see him. Of course!!, she slapped her forehead thinking, then she ran to the lake.
She ran as fast as she could, she needed so much to find him, to finely tell him the truth... to finely kiss him after all that time apart. Softly it started to rain, but she really didn't care. She was actually happy it was raining!... But getting near the lake, voices forced to slow down her steeps. She approached slowly, not making a noise. Near the lake, she saw Jonathan. He was facing the lake and someone was near him. A girl using a Slytherin cloak with a hood. He was speaking in a low voice, the rain falling on his shoulders. Gabriel hid herself behind a tree and listened.
"I can't take it..." he was saying, his voice slow and calm. "She broke up with me, no matter how much I said I loved her... and I did. Now I'm not sure anymore."
Those words froze Gabriel's heart on that moment, as her mind blocked from everything else, only listening to his voice. The girl said something, but Gabriel didn't even listen to her.
"I... don't know. I'm so confused... my feelings aren't... not the same for her anymore! We are not together, she doesn't love me... I have to move on... find some other person to love." The girl approached him then and hugged him tight, as he leaned his face to her.
Gabriel turned her back at the scene on that moment. She grabbed her stomach hard, she felt sick and her strengths were leaving her fast. Tears were running from her eyes mixing with the rain that got thicker and stronger, as it started to thunder. She couldn't bare to stay there one more second. She had lost him. Turning into her phoenix animagus form, she flew away under the rain... flew around for hours, feeling the rain soaking her wings, his words echoing on her mind second after second.
She lost the track of time, crying and flying, chanting a sad song with her phoenix voice until Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, flew to her and forced her to go back to the castle. When she entered on the great hall, lead by the phoenix, she was all wet but no one noticed as she sat on her table and her head disappeared among her arms, letting her tears fall again.
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Again Gabriel came to reality as silence was heard on the Great hall. All students were looking at the teachers' table as Dumbledore rose in his night-blue robe with silver starts and moons. Fawkes was on his shoulder.
"And another year is over." He started. "It's time for our students to go home and see their families, to enjoy the summer sun and the Quidditch World Series. This year's house cup winning team, the Hufflepuffs, will have a lot to celebrate I'm sure..." Some students laughed and the Hufflepuff table made an infernal noise of applauses and screams but Gabriel maintained her plain face. She didn't care even if he said that the world was about to end... She actually hopped for it.
"This year many stories, many actions occurred and unknown heroes were born." Gabriel had noticed her had looked at Bri, Rea, Emma and at her. She avoided looking at the head master. "And I'm very grateful to them." Dumbledore made a slight bow towards them, though no one knew to whom he was bowing. "Many of the students here present won't be here next year, which is a shame..."
"Oh please shut up..." Gabriel thought. "It's already hard as it is... don't remind me..."
"But like many things that happened this year, not everything is what it seems. See you all in two months, my dear students. Have a good summer!" all the students got up and applauded, throwing their hats to the hair. Gabriel just made a weak applause. Minutes later, the students were getting out of the great hall in a huge crowd.
Gabriel dragged herself outside, looking at the noise of students making plans to their summer at home, dragging trunks and bags.
He wasn't there... and if he was, she wouldn't have strengths to face him.
So, unnoticed, Gabriel stepped outside into the rain. It was pouring heavily now, but she really didn't care. Her shoes looked like small ponds, freezing water was going down her spine again, but she really didn't care. With her head down inside her hood she made her way to the lake again, where hours ago she had lost all her reason to live. The lake was moving with the storm this time, reflecting the raging sky. She leaned against the big old tree, hugging herself tearless. She didn't have more of them to cry. She took her hand from under the cloak's sleeve and a shinny dagger glowed with the sudden light of thunder. She approached it to her eyes, observing how sharp it was. She slowly lowered it, the sharp dagger turned at her... dangerously near...
"STOP!!! What are you think you're doing?" a voice echoed on her mind. "Phoenix, throw it away!" another voice joined the first.
"Chill girls... this is not what you think... I'll be with you in a sec. I need to do this alone." And blocked her thoughts from Rea, Bri and Emma. She looked at it again and tuned at the tree stabbing it one time... two... three times, time and time again as tears finely came to her with every stab. She could barely see what she was doing and only moaned when the dagger was misdirected and she cut her hand, a small light cut, she didn't even feel it at first. "Ouch..." she moaned as an almost invisible thread of blood slid from her finger. She cleaned it against her cloak and continued her work. Minutes later, she made her final stab on the wood, leaving the dagger deeply buried on the wood and stepped way looking to the tree.
"Here lays my heart..." she whispered tracing the carving on the tree and taking her red necklace, she left it on the dagger. Putting her cloak over her head again, she ran away, determined not to come back there... never again.
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The rain kept pouring after she left and the tree leafs danced in the winds, showing and hiding shadows until one fell to the ground, coming from the sky. It approached the tree and a pair of shadowy fingers traced the letters. There was a heart deeply carved into the tree's wood. Inside it said:
"Phoenix
&"
But it didn't say more. The heart was broken in two. Taking the precious necklace and pulling out the dagger, that shadow touched the heart.
Gabriel joined her friends on the journey down to the train station. She tried to show a happy face, to forget the pain and how much she would miss the three girls, but everyone knew she was pretending to be happy.
"Me and Hunter will spend the summer together, I already spoke to my mom!" Rea was saying. "It will be great!"
"I hope Liam gets go over my house. I'll have to take care of my mom, now that Ciaran is in jail." Not even a slight trace of sadness was noticeable on Bri's voice, as her dark eyes lit up when Liam took her hand.
"Of course I will." the boy said.
"I dunno..." Emma looked at Chase. "Dad likes to go out the country, but I guess I'll have at least one free week... we could get all together then!" she seemed thrilled. "What do you guys say?"
"And you Gabriel? Will you join us?" Rea asked. "You could stay in my house for a couple of days..."
"I can't." Gabriel answered avoiding looking at them. She was near the window, looking outside, to the raindrops on the window. "I'll be off to Australia today... in the minute I get to Kings Cross. Have fun." And sighed.
The other looked among each other. They would never guess the pain she was feeling inside. When they got to the train station, it was still raining, but it was a soft rain. Student and luggages were quickly transported to the train.
"Come on Gabriel!" Bri called, trying to protect her hair from the rain. "Run! We still have to find a compartment free of first years!"
"You... go on! I want to see if they'll place FireWing in a nice spot. I'll go in a second." Gabriel said back, water dripping for her clothes and from her golden brown hair. Bri nodded and got inside.
Gabriel stood looking around, to the moving crowd trying to see him. She had to see him one last time... but as the crowd slowly disappeared, she didn't see him. Jonathan wasn't on the train, she was sure of it.
"You're going to miss the train!" Gabriel tuned around to see Hagrid's massive figure.
"I... I... was just waiting..." Gabriel tried.
"No more waiting... up you go!" Hagrid took her and placed her at the door of the train. "It is leaving now, you have to go."
"But you don't understand!" Gabriel pleaded. "There's one student that isn't on the train!"
"Everyone is on the train... except a few students that went home earlier, some seventh years... Now inside you go! The train is leaving! See you next year!" Hagrid smiled and waved as the train started to move.
Gabriel made her way to where the others were and occupied a place near the window, leaned her head against it, hugging her wet clothes.
"You want help with that? I know how to used the Impervious charm pretty well!" Liam offered, partially in a joke.
Gabriel nodded "no", without looking at him, watching her own breath making drawings on the window. Later the guys left the compartment to find the guys of their class, leaving the girls alone. Eventually, Emma went to search some of the girls of her house, leaving Gabriel Bri and Rea alone... but by that time, Gabriel had fallen into a deep dreamless sleep.
"She's getting sick..." Bri said noticing Gabriel's pale face but pink coloured cheeks, as she shivered lightly.
"She's getting feverish." Rea agreed and pointed her wand at Gabriel. "Impervious!" she whispered and Gabriel's clothes dried in one second. "But being all wet since this morning is not what is making her sick." Rea said and placed her fingers on Gabriel's temples. She had done it once to Bri... to enter on her mind and see her dreams. She could do it again. A rush of images and sounds filled her mind as she joined with Gabriel's sleeping one. Minutes later she let go of Gabriel, pale as a ghost, almost tripping over her cloak, having a frightened look on her face.
"Rea? What? What was it?" Bri asked worried, seeing her friend pale.
"Oh... my god Bri!" Rea said opening the door and leading outside. "We need to find him!"
"Hey sleepyhead... wake up!" Gabriel's eye opened to Emma's touch on her shoulder.
"What?" Gabriel opened her eyes looking around eagerly, but closing them again.
"The train stopped, we're on Kinds Cross." Emma said with a dazzling smile, dressing her cloak and went to a window. "Look! My dad is here! Hey dad!" and waved.
Gabriel rose stiffly and realised her clothes were dry. She got out of the train dragging her bags and trunk out after Emma that ran outside to her father's arms. Gabriel knew no one was there for her. She looked around, wishing that all she had lived had been a dream, that she had just arrived from a long trip across England. She was dragged around to meet everyone's fathers and mothers, but she tried to flee after they crossed the magical gate into the Muggles world.
"Can't you stay a bit longer?... I mean, we will only see you again in two months." Bri asked, a servant was there to pick her up and take home.
"I can't... my train is about to leave. I have to go to the Heathrow airport, my flight is in half an hour." Gabriel had said and hugged them all. "You please take care... and write me! I'll send FireWing to you, he will make the letters come to me, ok?" she again made her best not to cry. She was being parted of her sisters, of her family.
"We will..." Bri promised while Rea hugged her tight, helped by Emma. "You take care... and rest a lot, you need it." Rea ordered with a smile. While Gabriel spoke with Emma and Chase, Rea kept looking around, flashing a worried look at Bri.
As the others began to steep away, Gabriel pushed Rea apart for a second. She bit her lip, holding back her glittery tears. "Just tell him... that I still love him. And always will." And turned away as a train on track five made its final call. Gabriel dragged her bags to it, everyone looking at her strange uniform. She didn't change into Muggle clothing. She walked along the train, going to the first compartments just to feel the rain on her again. She stood there for a while as her luggage was carried to the train. She stepped in.
Rea, Bri and Emma ran to the train. "Gabriel!" they called and she appeared at the door and they took her hand. "Goodbye! We will miss you!" The train began to move slowly, smoke making the girls steeped away from it.
"I'LL MISS YOU TOO!!!" Gabriel yelled above the train's noise, tears falling again, as he remained at the door, her cloak flying as she waved, her tears flying from her face. So they wouldn't see her cry, Gabriel leaned turned her back at them and leaned against the door. Why did she have to loose everything? Why?... why she...
"Phoenix!!" Gabriel opened her eyes when she heard someone calling her name... it was her name... and she looked back as the train moved faster and faster. " PHOENIX!!!!"
Someone was running after the train, calling for her.
Jonathan
He was running after the train! Her eyes opened wide and she leaned out again, the train's velocity bringing them apart. Gabriel watched him run without responding, though her heart was skipping several beats. She turned her back at him, not wanting to listen. Why was he there... now? On the end of it all?
"It was Rea!!!" he cried out again running as fast as he could, but the train was taking her away. "PHOENIX!!!" Gabriel hugged herself when he called her name again and again... Jonathan finely stopped, he could never stop the train and tears spilled out of his brown eyes and he gathered all his strengths together for a last cry. "I LOVE YOU PHOENIX!!!"
A painful lament left her mouth when she heard it and she looked back, willing to believe. "Jonathan!!!!" she called back entering the train, crossing it before the astonished passenger's eyes, going to the last compartment. "JONATHAN!!!" she called again in a painful voice, her golden brown hair floating around her as she climbed the train's gate and jumped from the train, turning into a Phoenix before she hit the ground and flew to him, only morphing back to a human among his longing arms.
Jonathan held her in a tight embrace, both of them wet and crying, their tears mixing together. "It was Rea... it was Rea..." he kept saying on her ear. "On the lake, I was talking to Rea... she told me everything. I'm so sorry..."
"No, I'm the one that is sorry..." she cried out, her tears almost preventing her from speaking, as she sobbed lost in his tight embrace. "I only... wanted to..." but words left her mouth like she was choking and didn't make sense at all.
"Sshhhhh..." Jonathan whispered softly with a smile, placing his warm finger on her lips, looking deep into her orange-ish brown eyes. "Rea told me everything, you don't need to explain."
"But on the lake..." Gabriel tried and again he stopped her from saying a word.
"I was confused." He tightened the embrace like to make her listen. "You had pushed me away... you didn't heard it all. I saw you fly away but I couldn't reach you. You never listened to what Rea and I talked after I saw you, after Bri told Rea using, her mental powers, that you were looking for me and the news that Ciaran had been caught."
"I'm so sorry to have hurt you Jonathan..." she kept mumbling against his damp chest, as she felt him hug her waist tight, pushing her closer, stroking her wet hair.
Jonathan forced her to look up at him, putting his thumb under her chin. "I still love you... and always will." And made her reach up so her lips could meet his in a longing soft kiss, as their hands travelled on their bodies trying, drawing them closer, until no one could tell them apart. No one... nothing would brake them apart again.
--------
"It turned out fairly well, don't you think Fawkes?" Dumbledore asked to the big Phoenix on his shoulder, as both looked at a fainted image on the lake. There they could see a train station and two people hugging. He smiled and turned back at the image as it disappeared from the lake's waters. He looked at a huge tree near that lake, still with that wise calm smile on his wrinkled face. "This isn't needed anymore." And passed it hands on the tree's wood and turned back at it, coming back to the castle.
On the tree was carved a full heart with the words "Phoenix & T Forever" inside, formed by a golden lion and a green snake's bodies. It started to glow as the sunrays hit it and the silvery leafs of the tree begun to sing a sweet lullaby and danced in the summer breeze...
The End!
Disclaimer: This is a fict based on an RPG forum that belongs to Cal, Hannah, Faye and me. Gabriel and Chase belong to me©; Bri and hunter belong to Callie©; Rea and Jonathan belong to Hannah©; and Emma and Liam belong to Faye©. All the other Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling©.
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Gabriel looked around as the sound of laughter and playful voices surrounded her. Everyone was in a good mood as the plates begun to get filled with food magically. It was around noon, on lunchtime and the Great Hall was full. Almost everyone was there...
She glanced along the four tables filled with students. On the Ravenclaw table, Emma was sat laughing with a few girls she knew, occasionally getting blushed and blowing invisible kisses to Chase on the Gryffindor table, his blue eyes overflowing with tenderness whenever he looked at her...
On the Slytherin table, Rea and Bri were in a similar mood. Rea was whispering to Hunter's hear and he giggled with something she had told him, then he gently brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her longing lips, holding her close, as he told something to a guy right in front of them. Rea never seemed so happy, her expression was peaceful as she laughed. At their side were Bri and Liam. Bri had her typical don't-mess- with-me face, but though she seemed cold and distant, she was holding hands with Liam, he was stroking her skin with his thumb. No matter how much Bri had tried to hide it, everyone could see that she was different, happier... she was loved and cared for, that was Liam's life mission. She looked at him when he called her, and Bri granted him a special smile, one that she only made for him, when she was with him.
Gabriel locked her glanced again on her plate, pushing it aside. She wasn't hungry. Water was still dripping from he cloak and her hair, dripping to the table's dark wood. She felt chilled, the damp slowly freezing her body when she leaned her head on her arms, looking to nowhere. Outside, a roaring summer storm twisted and turned, the rain poured heavily and lightnings travelled on the dark sky magically hovering on the ceiling of Great Hall.
"What a way to celebrate our last the hours in Hogwarts..." someone at her side said. "This storm is really out of purpose! Who thought of a day like this in July?" Gabriel sighed and moved her head, so she could be looking at the Slytherin table, her eyes watering slowly.
...Almost everyone was there...
Rea noticed Gabriel's saddened and lost glance and poked Bri, getting her attention. Both looked at the wet girl. Gabriel noticed their glance on her and she rose her head a bit. Rea slowly nodded no and Bri snorted. "Eat something. You'll need it." That message ranged on Gabriel's mind, she knew it was Bri sending it. "I'm not hungry..." Gabriel replied back, again hiding her face on her arms as the girls looked at each other. Hunter, suddenly noticing Bri and Rea's glance on Gabriel, looked around, frowning.
"Where's T?" he asked squeezing Rea a bit to get her attention. He wasn't there.
"I don't know..." Rea sad sadly looking at Gabriel and sighed. "I don't know."
Gabriel suppressed a tear that was trying to leave her light brown eyes, holding her head, trying to shield herself from all the laughter and happiness around her. She didn't want to hear that, she didn't want to be there. Memories from the previous weeks, from the previous months, invaded her mind with an overpowering strength, making her travel to her past...
--------
She had to admit, no matter for how long she lived, that year was always going to be on her mind, present on her memories like a burning mark... She had had a rough beginning; a new girl on a new country, in a new school far away from everything she used to know and carrying a dark secret. Bri, at first, didn't make her life easier, as for a while she seemed to hate Gabriel. The old Gryffindor/Slytherin hatred was still very alive then. But later, after many adventures that drew them closer, Bri, Rea, Emma and Gabriel became a very special group of friends. Her best friends ever, the only ones Gabriel had... her new family. Then the guys came in as the rush of the Yule Ball got to them all. Among the confusion of searching for the perfect dress and date asking, all of them found themselves in love... That thought bought him to her mind.
Jonathan
Gabriel could still remember the first time she had saw him... she was on the Hospital Wing when Rea brought him in, a childhood friend. He seemed a bit oblivious on why he was there but still then... Gabriel felt a shiver. Even then, right in the moment she first saw him, her heart had skipped a beat. His black hair shone in the morning light as his warm brown eyes managed to melt her with a single glance. And when he talked... when he took her hand... she had felt like hiding herself under the covers, as she felt blushed at the point of thinking she'd enter in spontaneous combustion. He seemed embarrassed then too, as he also didn't say much. That was the moment in which her life was going to change, filled with a whole new level of emotions and feelings.
She knew it had been love at first sight, for both of them. Not used to it, as she always bragged to be guy-independent, Gabriel found herself thinking about him a lot, though he was Slytherin. She tried to hold on to that fact, trying to prevent her feelings to grow, but that didn't last for a day. She had to admit, she was in love. Every time he looked at her, every time he said a word to her, she blushed and felt her heart burn with a pleasant heat. And then, when he had asked her to be his date for the ball... when they kissed for the first time... the night they shared on his secret place looking at the stars, holding each other... that special moment on his dorm, feeling him kissing her, holding her tenderly on the moonlight... all those moments were burned deep into her brain and that made her ache. This time she left the tear slip down her eyes, travelling on her cheek until it dropped on her hand. Her heart ached so bad. She was so sorry now...
--------
Everything was like a fairytale. She had Jonathan and Jonathan loved her, like she was the most precious thing in the world. She loved to be treated like that though things weren't easy. They had only a few times to be together. Besides the fact that she was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin, fact that made everyone stare at them, he was one year older than her, which meant that they didn't have classes together and when they tried to sit side by side, to hold each other on the Great Hall, everyone stared at them. The only happy moments they had, were between classes and at morning or night, when they ran away from everything and everyone to be together.
She had always made her best to keep up with situation, as he always compensated her for their lost time, in a way only he knew. To hold him, to kiss him, was like to reach heaven on earth. His warm eyes, always looking at her with love, made her feel fulfilled and able to overcome everything. His warm soft fingers travelling on her smooth skin always made her shiver and giggle... she treasured and longed for every one of those moments.
Then it all had happened. On the night of the Yule Ball, Ciaran, Bri's father, and Roberto, her own grandfather, put to practice their plan, a way to kill them. After managed to spook Gabriel and Bri at the Gringotts Bank, while the girls ran away, Roberto attacked her, wounding her, replacing Gabriel with another girl, that taking the Polyjuice potion, had as her mission to break the group. After a fight in which the boys – Hunter, Liam, Jonathan and Chase – almost died fighting against the two dark men, Gabriel managed to get loose form her captivity and run to the castle, in time to make the men retreat without killing them... but all of them nearly died. She had hugged Jonathan then, wounded and covered in blood and cried on his chest, asking him never to leave her. The pain she felt on her body was nothing compared to the pain of seeing him die and loosing him forever. Then they went to the ball and tried to have fun.
--------
But days after it, she couldn't ignore the dark thoughts that hunted her mind and her dreams, making her wake up night after night screaming and covered in cold sweat, wanting desperately to have Jonathan there to calm her down, to tell her that it was only a dream. Ciaran and Roberto were still there, somewhere waiting for their next chance to try and kill them... and that frightened her, not as much as for herself, but for her friends and Jonathan... They could be caught up in a fight that mostly belonged to her and Bri. And she wouldn't stand loosing not even one of her loved ones. Those thoughts hunted her for days and Jonathan had already noticed... She always admired how much he cared about her and slowly their started to see each other less, their times together were fewer and fewer. Gabriel made it on purpose. She didn't want to see him. She had promised herself, for all the love she had for him, to protect him. And to protect him, the best way was to keep him away from her.
Slowly it started to kill her to make things go on like that. It always made her cry to see his pain and saddened face whenever she made up an excuse so they couldn't be together. Everyday she night fell on her bed crying, hugging herself, longing for him as she pushed him away day after day. Everyone had noticed her strange behaviour and Jonathan's saddened expression that grew day by day. He used to confide in Rea, asking her not to tell Gabriel. He was despairing for not knowing why she was acting like that, painfully wondering if it had been something he had done or said to her that was now driving them apart. Every time he tried to talk to her, she fled. And he always cried. If he only knew... she was only trying to protect him...
She, Rea and Bri ended up having a huge fight, as Rea confronted her about her behaviour towards Jonathan, on how she was making him suffer. Gabriel always denied whatever Rea said, but after Rea hit her on the face, tears of weeks of loneliness and suffering jolted form her eyes as she slipped to the floor. She had told the girls why she was pushing him away and they told her that wasn't the best way to protect him, but what was done was done. She couldn't go back, Gabriel had started thinking that Jonathan was starting to give up on her... Rea respected Jonathan's wish of not letting Gabriel know about his pain but it was heart braking to see them like that, both of them.
--------
And only a few weeks remaining to the end of the school year, Ciaran and Roberto had made their last attempt to kill them. This time the girls were alone. Drawn by the commotion during the night, Jonathan appeared in the battlefield as the girls combined their powers in one single powerful attack that blew everything away. Roberto died in the process and Ciaran got very wounded but managed to run away. Jonathan had also been blown away and wounded, having to spend a few days on the Hospital Wing, most of them unconscious. That was the braking point to Gabriel.
She remained right beside his bed, day and night until he regained consciousness. It was dawn when he woke up, Gabriel was still deeply asleep on the chair beside the bed. She looked exhausted and Jonathan didn't want to wake her up. He just remained silent, observing her at he pale light. Like she felt something out of her safe world of dreams, she woke up, seeing him sat on the bed, his head bandaged, looking at her, reaching for her hand. She quickly got up, not letting him touch her and called Madam Pomfrey to see him. Her gesture made tears appear on his eyes and on seeing it, Gabriel's heart broke into pieces. She slipped to the floor outside the Hospital Wing, letting the hot and salted tears go down her face. He had got out of the Hospital Wing two days after.
--------
Gabriel attention was drawn away from her memories to a huge thunder that struck outside, a loud roaring sound flew through the silent corridors and echoed on the Great Hall, making many students shiver in fright. That night had been much different than this one. Another memory occupied Gabriel's mind, a much more recent one, one of the most painful... Only three weeks ago, Gabriel had made up her mind. Ciaran was still alive and could still try to attack them again and that time someone could get killed. She had to stop it, Jonathan had to steep away from her forever or else she would loose him to the hands of death. Closing her eyes, she saw it all again...
--------
... She was looking to the nothingness across the lake in front of Hogwarts. It was a peaceful late spring night. The silverish water was still, reflecting the shinny stars and the big round moon, making diamond- like reflections. Golden fireflies were flying around her, as she sat at the roots of Jonathan's tree. She looked up, to a special hidden branch where she and Jonathan used to sit, silent and hugged to each other, just watching all that beauty. She looked to the grass again, she couldn't remember about those moments now. "You have to do it. For his sake..." a voice on her mind reminded her. She had sent FireWing to him with a message, to meet her there. While she waited with her heart on her hands, she was making her best not to fall apart...
Finely she hard steeps on the grass and turned at him. He was there, beautiful as he always had been, his body shinning with the moonlight. His face though, had a heart braking sadness that per moments made her hesitate.
"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked with a weak and sweet voice, his eyes sending her silent messages that were making her fall apart inside.
"Yes, we need to talk." Gabriel tried to control her voice, making it be cold and distant. "We need... we need..."
"What do we need?" Jonathan asked and approached her as Gabriel's voice started to fail on her. "We need to end this once and for all!" she said in a loud voice, as a cold breeze ran among them. The silverfish leafs of the tree moved and whispered above them as heavy silence feel. Some leafs fell from the tree, floating between them until they fell to the water softly. Gabriel avoided looking at him, she didn't want to see him hurt.
"...What?... Phoenix..." he tried, his face more pale than the moon above their heads.
"Don't! Just... don't." Gabriel bit her lip and clutched her fists for courage. "Don't call me that.... Just listen and don't interrupt me." She said and thought, "While I still have strength to say this... oh my god... I don't want to do it..."
Jonathan nodded in agreement, stopping in front of her, but not very close, respecting her space. Gabriel felt chilled before she started saying all she wanted to say... it was hurting her so much inside. The only thing she wanted, as to run now to his arms, feeling him holding her tight...
"Jonathan... we... we have to brake up." She started to talk faster, as not to loose her courage. "I'm sorry, but this isn't working anymore. We barely see each other, and then there's the whole Gryffindor/Slytherin thing... I just can't take it! It's too much pressure, professor MacGonagall and professor Snape, they are against us and that can affect our grades... I have to pass this year, with flying colours..."
Gabriel knew she wasn't making sense at all, that she was using a bad excuse... but Jonathan had to be away from her. Her firmly clutched teeth were avoiding her to start crying, to start saying what she really meant... that she loved him and needed him, and all that was only for his protection, because she wouldn't stand to see him die because of her.
"Phoe... Gabriel... why are you doing this to me? To us?" Jonathan pleaded with a calm voice, but despair was all over it. "I need you..."
"You don't need me Jonathan, you only think you do... and love..." her nails burring deep into the palms of her hands "... love doesn't last forever. Mine didn't."
Gabriel felt a cold electric shock going up her body, freezing her heart. She felt like coughing and felt sick, as those words left her mouth. She knew she had gone pale, her face white as a ghost and looked at him, trying to maintain her distant posture. What she saw made her want to die. His expression, his inner pain, was all over him. Jonathan's brown eyes were open wide with a shocked look, his arms pending along his body, his mouth open and wordless as shinny silvery tears formed and started to drop on his sweet face. Unconsciously, Gabriel's hand went to her chest, grabbing her shirt tight, holding her necklace. Holding back her painful tears, she wished he wouldn't reply... his words would only make it worse and more painful for both of them. She saw him shallow hard, closing his fists, closing his mouth. "Gabriel..." he called but his voice was almost silent.
"It isn't working Jonathan!" Gabriel started to yell, finely crying. She couldn't stand it anymore. She was slowly killing them both. "Don't you get it? IT'S OVER! I don't love you anymore!" she cried even more, her tears sliding down her neck, her lips tasting its salty taste. "Please turn away... go way! Don't make me say anymore..."
"I don't believe you!" Jonathan yelled back, tears also falling.
"I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!" she yelled with all her pain. "IT'S OVER!!!" Gabriel turned her back at him, moaning under breath. It was hurting her so much. She waited a few seconds, her back turned at him before she started to walk away, hugging herself. "Please forgive me..." she kept thinking.
"Gabriel..." he called, his voice shivering with pain and revolt. "Gabriel! PHOENIX!!!"
When she heard him call her, she ran faster so couldn't hear him. It was done. Jonathan had to be hating her right now... she didn't look back, she didn't have the courage to. She ran and ran, tears blinding her eyes, until she reached the castle. She ran inside, going up the marble stairs, running over whoever stood on her way. That included Rea and Bri that were almost knocked down the stairs.
"HEY!!!" Bri retorted. "Watch it!" but Gabriel didn't look at them nor did she respond.
"Something's wrong..." Rea said, trying to reach her on her thoughts, but Gabriel had blocked her mind.
She entered her common room still running and closed the door of her dorm with a loud bang, locking it. Then she fell on the white fresh sheets of her bed, curling as much as she could, finely crying out all the pain she had been feeling. She grabbed the sheets, pulling them to her, her tears making them get damp as she cried until she was too tired to cry and could only moan... her heart was broken.
--------
She had cried all night under the moonlight when it had happened and she didn't get up by morning... she just stayed under her covers, unable to cry anymore... she was tired, she hadn't sleep at all and didn't want to move from her bed. She felt numb, all of her. She didn't react when her roommates tried to make her leave the bed, but she didn't have the strengths. She had been in the same position for hours, her face and pillow still damp from all her tears.
Eventually, on the next forming she had got up, she had classes. Bri, Rea and Emma tried to cheer her up, but it was useless. Gabriel was a shadow of what she had been one day. Days had passed and she didn't see him, she was still drowning on her pain and guilt.
--------
Gabriel snapped out of that memory that made her feel worse, getting immersed again on the sounds around her. She looked around as to flee from the next, and most painful, memory that was now trying to enter her mind. The lunch went on, Rea and Bri still seemed happy and talked with their loved ones, like no one else was there. They didn't know how lucky they were... the only one that could, more or less, understand what she had gone through was Emma. She and Chase, like she and Jonathan, were from different houses. But the Ravenclaw and the Gryffindors always had good relations, it wasn't like her and Jonathan... everyone had always been against their love.
Gryffindors and Slytherins should never be together.
Again Gabriel's face sank among her arms. The memory had succeeded to enter on her mind. It hurt like a recent scar that had been bleeding for hours... five hours to be precise...
--------
On that same morning, the main topics of all conversations among all Hogwarts' students were the end of classes. That was their last day. Gabriel couldn't say she was trilled that classes were over, but wasn't thrilled either for going home. She would be apart from her best friends for two months, away with her parents in Australia... Everyone's bags and trunks were made and now lay in the entrance hall, as everyone entered the Great hall for breakfast. Her friends, except Emma that waved when she got in, weren't there. Gabriel sat at the table, eating without much hunger when the owls came swarming in, bringing the morning mail as usual. Her pet phoenix FireWing was among them, bringing her a letter. It was from her parents. Inside lay her plane ticket for that same day. Gabriel sighed and put it on her pocket opening the newspaper that another owl had brought.
She read he news without interest... it was only to maintain her mind occupied when she got to the middle pages. Her jaw dropped open as she begun to read.
Ciaran
Ciaran had been caught by aurors in Hogsmead on that same morning. She felt flooded with an unannounced happiness. He had been caught and was now on Azkaban! She took the paper and ran at Emma, showing it to her. Than she ran out of the Great hall, she had to find Bri, Rea... and Jonathan. Transforming her Gryffindor robes into Slytherin ones, she managed to enter on her rival house and find Bri.
"Look! It's all over!" she passed the paper to Bri, feeling like crying with joy. "He won't attack us anymore! Isn't this great? Finely now... now I can tell Jonathan why I pushed him away! Where is he?" and looked around trying to spot him.
"He's... outside..." Bri had said while a huge happy smile spread on her lips. It was over.
Gabriel had then ran all the marble staircases until she got outside, so she didn't see him. Of course!!, she slapped her forehead thinking, then she ran to the lake.
She ran as fast as she could, she needed so much to find him, to finely tell him the truth... to finely kiss him after all that time apart. Softly it started to rain, but she really didn't care. She was actually happy it was raining!... But getting near the lake, voices forced to slow down her steeps. She approached slowly, not making a noise. Near the lake, she saw Jonathan. He was facing the lake and someone was near him. A girl using a Slytherin cloak with a hood. He was speaking in a low voice, the rain falling on his shoulders. Gabriel hid herself behind a tree and listened.
"I can't take it..." he was saying, his voice slow and calm. "She broke up with me, no matter how much I said I loved her... and I did. Now I'm not sure anymore."
Those words froze Gabriel's heart on that moment, as her mind blocked from everything else, only listening to his voice. The girl said something, but Gabriel didn't even listen to her.
"I... don't know. I'm so confused... my feelings aren't... not the same for her anymore! We are not together, she doesn't love me... I have to move on... find some other person to love." The girl approached him then and hugged him tight, as he leaned his face to her.
Gabriel turned her back at the scene on that moment. She grabbed her stomach hard, she felt sick and her strengths were leaving her fast. Tears were running from her eyes mixing with the rain that got thicker and stronger, as it started to thunder. She couldn't bare to stay there one more second. She had lost him. Turning into her phoenix animagus form, she flew away under the rain... flew around for hours, feeling the rain soaking her wings, his words echoing on her mind second after second.
She lost the track of time, crying and flying, chanting a sad song with her phoenix voice until Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, flew to her and forced her to go back to the castle. When she entered on the great hall, lead by the phoenix, she was all wet but no one noticed as she sat on her table and her head disappeared among her arms, letting her tears fall again.
--------
Again Gabriel came to reality as silence was heard on the Great hall. All students were looking at the teachers' table as Dumbledore rose in his night-blue robe with silver starts and moons. Fawkes was on his shoulder.
"And another year is over." He started. "It's time for our students to go home and see their families, to enjoy the summer sun and the Quidditch World Series. This year's house cup winning team, the Hufflepuffs, will have a lot to celebrate I'm sure..." Some students laughed and the Hufflepuff table made an infernal noise of applauses and screams but Gabriel maintained her plain face. She didn't care even if he said that the world was about to end... She actually hopped for it.
"This year many stories, many actions occurred and unknown heroes were born." Gabriel had noticed her had looked at Bri, Rea, Emma and at her. She avoided looking at the head master. "And I'm very grateful to them." Dumbledore made a slight bow towards them, though no one knew to whom he was bowing. "Many of the students here present won't be here next year, which is a shame..."
"Oh please shut up..." Gabriel thought. "It's already hard as it is... don't remind me..."
"But like many things that happened this year, not everything is what it seems. See you all in two months, my dear students. Have a good summer!" all the students got up and applauded, throwing their hats to the hair. Gabriel just made a weak applause. Minutes later, the students were getting out of the great hall in a huge crowd.
Gabriel dragged herself outside, looking at the noise of students making plans to their summer at home, dragging trunks and bags.
He wasn't there... and if he was, she wouldn't have strengths to face him.
So, unnoticed, Gabriel stepped outside into the rain. It was pouring heavily now, but she really didn't care. Her shoes looked like small ponds, freezing water was going down her spine again, but she really didn't care. With her head down inside her hood she made her way to the lake again, where hours ago she had lost all her reason to live. The lake was moving with the storm this time, reflecting the raging sky. She leaned against the big old tree, hugging herself tearless. She didn't have more of them to cry. She took her hand from under the cloak's sleeve and a shinny dagger glowed with the sudden light of thunder. She approached it to her eyes, observing how sharp it was. She slowly lowered it, the sharp dagger turned at her... dangerously near...
"STOP!!! What are you think you're doing?" a voice echoed on her mind. "Phoenix, throw it away!" another voice joined the first.
"Chill girls... this is not what you think... I'll be with you in a sec. I need to do this alone." And blocked her thoughts from Rea, Bri and Emma. She looked at it again and tuned at the tree stabbing it one time... two... three times, time and time again as tears finely came to her with every stab. She could barely see what she was doing and only moaned when the dagger was misdirected and she cut her hand, a small light cut, she didn't even feel it at first. "Ouch..." she moaned as an almost invisible thread of blood slid from her finger. She cleaned it against her cloak and continued her work. Minutes later, she made her final stab on the wood, leaving the dagger deeply buried on the wood and stepped way looking to the tree.
"Here lays my heart..." she whispered tracing the carving on the tree and taking her red necklace, she left it on the dagger. Putting her cloak over her head again, she ran away, determined not to come back there... never again.
--------
The rain kept pouring after she left and the tree leafs danced in the winds, showing and hiding shadows until one fell to the ground, coming from the sky. It approached the tree and a pair of shadowy fingers traced the letters. There was a heart deeply carved into the tree's wood. Inside it said:
"Phoenix
&"
But it didn't say more. The heart was broken in two. Taking the precious necklace and pulling out the dagger, that shadow touched the heart.
Gabriel joined her friends on the journey down to the train station. She tried to show a happy face, to forget the pain and how much she would miss the three girls, but everyone knew she was pretending to be happy.
"Me and Hunter will spend the summer together, I already spoke to my mom!" Rea was saying. "It will be great!"
"I hope Liam gets go over my house. I'll have to take care of my mom, now that Ciaran is in jail." Not even a slight trace of sadness was noticeable on Bri's voice, as her dark eyes lit up when Liam took her hand.
"Of course I will." the boy said.
"I dunno..." Emma looked at Chase. "Dad likes to go out the country, but I guess I'll have at least one free week... we could get all together then!" she seemed thrilled. "What do you guys say?"
"And you Gabriel? Will you join us?" Rea asked. "You could stay in my house for a couple of days..."
"I can't." Gabriel answered avoiding looking at them. She was near the window, looking outside, to the raindrops on the window. "I'll be off to Australia today... in the minute I get to Kings Cross. Have fun." And sighed.
The other looked among each other. They would never guess the pain she was feeling inside. When they got to the train station, it was still raining, but it was a soft rain. Student and luggages were quickly transported to the train.
"Come on Gabriel!" Bri called, trying to protect her hair from the rain. "Run! We still have to find a compartment free of first years!"
"You... go on! I want to see if they'll place FireWing in a nice spot. I'll go in a second." Gabriel said back, water dripping for her clothes and from her golden brown hair. Bri nodded and got inside.
Gabriel stood looking around, to the moving crowd trying to see him. She had to see him one last time... but as the crowd slowly disappeared, she didn't see him. Jonathan wasn't on the train, she was sure of it.
"You're going to miss the train!" Gabriel tuned around to see Hagrid's massive figure.
"I... I... was just waiting..." Gabriel tried.
"No more waiting... up you go!" Hagrid took her and placed her at the door of the train. "It is leaving now, you have to go."
"But you don't understand!" Gabriel pleaded. "There's one student that isn't on the train!"
"Everyone is on the train... except a few students that went home earlier, some seventh years... Now inside you go! The train is leaving! See you next year!" Hagrid smiled and waved as the train started to move.
Gabriel made her way to where the others were and occupied a place near the window, leaned her head against it, hugging her wet clothes.
"You want help with that? I know how to used the Impervious charm pretty well!" Liam offered, partially in a joke.
Gabriel nodded "no", without looking at him, watching her own breath making drawings on the window. Later the guys left the compartment to find the guys of their class, leaving the girls alone. Eventually, Emma went to search some of the girls of her house, leaving Gabriel Bri and Rea alone... but by that time, Gabriel had fallen into a deep dreamless sleep.
"She's getting sick..." Bri said noticing Gabriel's pale face but pink coloured cheeks, as she shivered lightly.
"She's getting feverish." Rea agreed and pointed her wand at Gabriel. "Impervious!" she whispered and Gabriel's clothes dried in one second. "But being all wet since this morning is not what is making her sick." Rea said and placed her fingers on Gabriel's temples. She had done it once to Bri... to enter on her mind and see her dreams. She could do it again. A rush of images and sounds filled her mind as she joined with Gabriel's sleeping one. Minutes later she let go of Gabriel, pale as a ghost, almost tripping over her cloak, having a frightened look on her face.
"Rea? What? What was it?" Bri asked worried, seeing her friend pale.
"Oh... my god Bri!" Rea said opening the door and leading outside. "We need to find him!"
"Hey sleepyhead... wake up!" Gabriel's eye opened to Emma's touch on her shoulder.
"What?" Gabriel opened her eyes looking around eagerly, but closing them again.
"The train stopped, we're on Kinds Cross." Emma said with a dazzling smile, dressing her cloak and went to a window. "Look! My dad is here! Hey dad!" and waved.
Gabriel rose stiffly and realised her clothes were dry. She got out of the train dragging her bags and trunk out after Emma that ran outside to her father's arms. Gabriel knew no one was there for her. She looked around, wishing that all she had lived had been a dream, that she had just arrived from a long trip across England. She was dragged around to meet everyone's fathers and mothers, but she tried to flee after they crossed the magical gate into the Muggles world.
"Can't you stay a bit longer?... I mean, we will only see you again in two months." Bri asked, a servant was there to pick her up and take home.
"I can't... my train is about to leave. I have to go to the Heathrow airport, my flight is in half an hour." Gabriel had said and hugged them all. "You please take care... and write me! I'll send FireWing to you, he will make the letters come to me, ok?" she again made her best not to cry. She was being parted of her sisters, of her family.
"We will..." Bri promised while Rea hugged her tight, helped by Emma. "You take care... and rest a lot, you need it." Rea ordered with a smile. While Gabriel spoke with Emma and Chase, Rea kept looking around, flashing a worried look at Bri.
As the others began to steep away, Gabriel pushed Rea apart for a second. She bit her lip, holding back her glittery tears. "Just tell him... that I still love him. And always will." And turned away as a train on track five made its final call. Gabriel dragged her bags to it, everyone looking at her strange uniform. She didn't change into Muggle clothing. She walked along the train, going to the first compartments just to feel the rain on her again. She stood there for a while as her luggage was carried to the train. She stepped in.
Rea, Bri and Emma ran to the train. "Gabriel!" they called and she appeared at the door and they took her hand. "Goodbye! We will miss you!" The train began to move slowly, smoke making the girls steeped away from it.
"I'LL MISS YOU TOO!!!" Gabriel yelled above the train's noise, tears falling again, as he remained at the door, her cloak flying as she waved, her tears flying from her face. So they wouldn't see her cry, Gabriel leaned turned her back at them and leaned against the door. Why did she have to loose everything? Why?... why she...
"Phoenix!!" Gabriel opened her eyes when she heard someone calling her name... it was her name... and she looked back as the train moved faster and faster. " PHOENIX!!!!"
Someone was running after the train, calling for her.
Jonathan
He was running after the train! Her eyes opened wide and she leaned out again, the train's velocity bringing them apart. Gabriel watched him run without responding, though her heart was skipping several beats. She turned her back at him, not wanting to listen. Why was he there... now? On the end of it all?
"It was Rea!!!" he cried out again running as fast as he could, but the train was taking her away. "PHOENIX!!!" Gabriel hugged herself when he called her name again and again... Jonathan finely stopped, he could never stop the train and tears spilled out of his brown eyes and he gathered all his strengths together for a last cry. "I LOVE YOU PHOENIX!!!"
A painful lament left her mouth when she heard it and she looked back, willing to believe. "Jonathan!!!!" she called back entering the train, crossing it before the astonished passenger's eyes, going to the last compartment. "JONATHAN!!!" she called again in a painful voice, her golden brown hair floating around her as she climbed the train's gate and jumped from the train, turning into a Phoenix before she hit the ground and flew to him, only morphing back to a human among his longing arms.
Jonathan held her in a tight embrace, both of them wet and crying, their tears mixing together. "It was Rea... it was Rea..." he kept saying on her ear. "On the lake, I was talking to Rea... she told me everything. I'm so sorry..."
"No, I'm the one that is sorry..." she cried out, her tears almost preventing her from speaking, as she sobbed lost in his tight embrace. "I only... wanted to..." but words left her mouth like she was choking and didn't make sense at all.
"Sshhhhh..." Jonathan whispered softly with a smile, placing his warm finger on her lips, looking deep into her orange-ish brown eyes. "Rea told me everything, you don't need to explain."
"But on the lake..." Gabriel tried and again he stopped her from saying a word.
"I was confused." He tightened the embrace like to make her listen. "You had pushed me away... you didn't heard it all. I saw you fly away but I couldn't reach you. You never listened to what Rea and I talked after I saw you, after Bri told Rea using, her mental powers, that you were looking for me and the news that Ciaran had been caught."
"I'm so sorry to have hurt you Jonathan..." she kept mumbling against his damp chest, as she felt him hug her waist tight, pushing her closer, stroking her wet hair.
Jonathan forced her to look up at him, putting his thumb under her chin. "I still love you... and always will." And made her reach up so her lips could meet his in a longing soft kiss, as their hands travelled on their bodies trying, drawing them closer, until no one could tell them apart. No one... nothing would brake them apart again.
--------
"It turned out fairly well, don't you think Fawkes?" Dumbledore asked to the big Phoenix on his shoulder, as both looked at a fainted image on the lake. There they could see a train station and two people hugging. He smiled and turned back at the image as it disappeared from the lake's waters. He looked at a huge tree near that lake, still with that wise calm smile on his wrinkled face. "This isn't needed anymore." And passed it hands on the tree's wood and turned back at it, coming back to the castle.
On the tree was carved a full heart with the words "Phoenix & T Forever" inside, formed by a golden lion and a green snake's bodies. It started to glow as the sunrays hit it and the silvery leafs of the tree begun to sing a sweet lullaby and danced in the summer breeze...
The End!