I own nothing but the romance... And yes, 'read' is spelled correctly. You'll see what I mean. =D Enjoy!
Read, Yellow and Blue
Mandy Brocklehurst, being a former Ravenclaw, welcomed any opportunity to sit and think.
Oh, who was she kidding? If anything, she was the typical Gryffindor – fiery-tempered, passionate and oh-so-impatient. But that old, beaten-up Sorting Hat had obviously seen something Ravenclaw-worthy in her brain; otherwise, she wouldn't have shared her dormitory with four other intelligent, book-loving girls.
Sure, Mandy loved reading. She loved reading the way Ron Weasley loved food. Or maybe the way Ron Weasley loved Hermione Granger. But that was a different story.
Sitting in a ramshackle, rickety old bus was not how she planned on spending her time, but with her Apparition skills being the crusty way they were, and the Floo Network being closed because of some error down at the Ministry involving escaped prisoners and easily-bribed prison guards, the Knight Bus remained her only mode of transportation. Well, that and walking, but who really did that anymore?
It being the middle of the day, the beds she was used to seeing had been transformed into comfortable fabric couches. At least, they would've been comfortable if the bus wasn't moving at two hundred kilometres an hour and being driven by a highly unstable old man by the name of Ernie. Ernie, of all names. Her uncle had been named Ernie, and he had been a walking disaster his whole life. She'd loved him to death, of course, but going near him without a strong grasp of magic, and advanced magic at that, may have been the last thing she'd ever done.
Adhering to the only real part of her Ravenclaw personality – namely, book-loving – Mandy read every newspaper and magazine in the vicinity of her seat, but even after she finished, there was still another hour before she would be able to reach her destination: her mother's house.
Mandy was a Muggle-born witch, cast into the world of magic at eleven years old when she received her letter from Hogwarts. She lived with her parents and younger brother, who unfortunately, much like Lily Potter's sister Petunia, had not inherited the magical genes. He made up for it by sending her long letters, asking about her adventures at school, and she sent him dozens of Wizarding objects – a Remembrall, candies from Honeydukes, butterbeer – in return. He wasn't too bad of a younger brother, she supposed, at least not after hearing about Lisa Turpin's apparent devil of a brother.
Mandy was about to ask the conductor about where to get some more reading material when she spotted it.
Underneath the seat across from her, its cover barely peeking out, was a book. And not just any book, too. It was at least a four-hundred-page book!
Mandy stood to get the book just as the bus lurched forward, stopped by a red light. She was thrown across the bus, nearly smashing her face in the empty seat across from her own. Thankfully, by this time of day, the bus was nearly empty, and no one important saw her little mishap. When the bus began moving in a relatively streamlined way again, she gingerly rose from the seat, clutching a head covered in wild, dark curls, and kneeled on the floor. The book had been caught in between the legs of two seats, and thankfully hadn't moved an inch. She breathed a sigh of relief and picked it up.
"My Life as a Muggle, by Daisy Hookum," she read. "By a witch?" She was intrigued. As a Muggle-born, it would be interesting to see the perspective of a witch living as a Muggle. When Mandy cracked open the book, she looked for some sort of name identifying its owner. She wasn't disappointed.
Belongs to Ernie Macmillan.
"Ernie Macmillan?" she mouthed. "Hufflepuff, know-it-all Ernie Macmillan? Reading a book about Muggle life?" Who would've thought?
Shrugging to herself – we all have our special traits – Mandy began to read.
But as she went through the book, page by page, she began to notice something. It started out with delicate little quill marks, underlining the Muggle words – pencil, cell phone, electricity – and gradually progressed to bright red ink, along with questions in the margins that seemed utterly ridiculous to someone like her, who had grown up in Muggle society, but perfectly natural for a Pureblooded wizard.
She chuckled to herself as the book became less Daisy and more Ernie. Clearly, he had some burning questions about the Muggle world, but she wondered why he didn't just ask Justin Finch-Fletchley. He was a Muggle-born, and besides, the two were like, well, a Ravenclaw and a book. They meshed together easily.
"Strange," Mandy murmured. She wondered how long this book had been littering the ground of the Knight Bus, waiting for someone to pick it up, to read the comments and questions Ernie Macmillan had added. Speaking of, when he had even left the book on the bus in the first place? How many years could he have been searching for it, or was it merely a tool to garner him more marks in Muggle Studies? She wouldn't've put it past him.
The bus screeched to a stop, but Mandy had prepared for it – like a good Ravenclaw – by hooking an arm around a secure pole as she read Ernie Macmillan's heavily edited book. The jolt surprised her, of course, but at least she didn't go careening into the window. The bus seat would've been preferable to that.
Mandy suspected someone was crossing the road, or perhaps another red light had momentarily incapacitated the bus, but when its doors opened and Stan Shunpike greeted someone hello in his strangely pleasant way, she knew she had been mistaken. She craned her neck to see who was boarding the bus, and lo and behold, it was a pack of former Hufflepuffs.
"Oi, look, mates! There's Mandy!"
She recognized the voice of Stuart Stebbins among the bunch. They had been Herbology partners seventh year, and had been good friends as well. It was nice to see a friendly face. Stuart was joined by Max Summerby, Zacharias Smith, and Justin Finch-Fletchley.
"Hold on, Stan, there's one more coming. I think he forgot his toothbrush," Justin chortled.
One last pair of footsteps bounded up the stairs, and as soon as she saw the mop of blonde hair, she knew. Ernie Macmillan.
"Sorry," he called back. "I almost forgot my –"
He paused when his eyes fell on Mandy. The hand that had been holding up his toothbrush dropped to his side.
"Brocklehurst?" he choked out.
"Hi, Macmillan," she said, unsure of what was wrong. She held out My Life as a Muggle to him. "Er, here's your book, I –"
He snatched it from her. "Where'd you get it?"
"It was under the seat over there," she pointed. "Sorry."
She looked away from him awkwardly, and her eyes narrowed when she saw the identical smirk imprints on the faces of the other men. "What?" she demanded.
"Nothing," said Stuart. "Come on, boys, let's go find some beds."
"You stay here, Ernie," called Justin, as they walked away. "Guard your toothbrush." Their laughter could be heard as they bounded up the steps to the second floor.
"So..." said Mandy, the gears in her brain beginning to put things together. "What's with the red markings?" She gestured to his book.
He looked at it blankly. "Oh," he realized. "Er, I just had a few questions, you know, about Muggles."
"Isn't Justin a Muggle-born?" asked Mandy. He blinked, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
"Er...yeah. But, eh, I wanted to ask someone else, you know." He scratched his head. "A second opinion," he clarified, twirling his toothbrush between his fingers nervously. Mandy's gaze fixated on it. She had read many books about psychology, and right now, he was displaying some classic signs of nervousness. The question was, what was he nervous about? Was there something in the book he didn't want her reading? Or something else entirely?
"Well," she said, standing up, still holding the pole, effectively moving closer to him, "I'm a Muggle-born. You could ask me some questions." She smiled a little, her lips turning up at the corners. When his face flushed pink, she knew she had struck a chord.
"I – I wouldn't know where to... begin," said Ernie.
"How about – hmm – how about television?"
"T-television?" He flipped through the book quickly. "There's nothing about television in here."
"Then the book's outdated. Anything about videos? DVDs?" she asked, peeking over his shoulder.
He shook his head. "No."
"Well," said Mandy, lowering her lashes in a way that she'd practiced in the mirror, "DVDs play moving pictures... you know, photographs. Except, instead of photos, you can watch them over and over on the television."
"Uh-huh," said Ernie, clearly interested. "Won't the people in the pictures get bored?"
Mandy slowly shook her head. "They aren't separate people, like Wizarding photographs. They are just us, but in a moving picture. They have no mind of their own."
He nodded. "I think I understand."
"Good." She tilted her head, appraising him with dark eyes. "Is there anything else you wanted to know?"
Almost instantly, he was nervous again. "I –"
Mandy sighed. "Alright, Macmillan, spit it out. Why did you really highlight all those questions? And don't give me codswallop about extra learning."
His eyes widened. "What do you –"
"You fancy me, don't you?" she asked. "You've fancied me since seventh year, when I called you out for being a know-it-all. Because I'm the first girl who's ever proven you wrong."
"I –"
"And you asked all those questions so you could talk to me," she continued. "You forgot them on the Knight Bus after seventh year, and now, almost five years later, I'm right here and bam! Your childhood crush is back. Is that everything?"
He blinked, dazed. "H-how did you –"
"I suppose I'm a Ravenclaw through and through," grinned Mandy. "Didn't think so before, but thanks for convincing me."
His lips parted. Too much information, combined with the realization that the woman he'd fancied at eighteen was still the one he fancied at twenty-three looked as if it was going to combust his brain.
"Sit down, Macmillan," she ordered, and he obeyed. She kind of liked commanding him. It awoke the dominatrix in her. Anyway...
"Do you like me or not?" asked Mandy, her voice soft as she looked him in the face. He blinked. It seemed as if that was all he could do.
"I..."
"No stuttering," she murmured.
He looked as if he was going to say something, but he stopped. Instead, he nodded. She pulled back triumphantly.
"Thought so," she said airily. But then, her face was pensive. "I always thought you were a know-it-all arse, Ernie Macmillan, but you've proven me wrong today. I like the fact that you like me so much you're willing to ask silly Muggle questions just to be able to talk to me." She sat beside him, her leg brushing his. She could see the effect she was having on him, and to be honest, it was a rather powerful aphrodisiac. And gosh darn it, he was so cute when he blushed like that!
"I like you too," she said sweetly, kissing his cheek. "There's a lovely little pub near to my mother's house. Would you like to join me for a drink later?"
"Are you –"
"Asking you out? Yes." She took his hand in hers. "Would you kiss me now and stop talking?"
Ernie's mouth opened and closed for what seemed like the billionth time. She waited expectantly. His cheeks were as red as ever. Or, as 'read' as ever, if you were the punny sort of person...
"Well?"
He leaned forward, and then his lips were on hers. She very nearly gasped. Where on Earth did Ernie Macmillan of all people learn to kiss like this? He was the Draco-freaking-Malfoy of Hufflepuff! Oh, Merlin! Forget like, she was in love! As Mandy melted into the deliciousness that was Ernie's kiss, he smiled against her lips, pulling her closer. How was it possible that he was more confident about kissing a girl than he was talking to one? And men thought women complicated!
"Told you," said Justin, who was standing a fair distance away from the couple. Max sighed to himself. Stuart and Zacharias grinned. "It was only a matter of time before those two became the Badger-and-Eagle of the Snake-and-Lion pair. Merlin's hat, they're really going at it. Has Ernie been practicing on his pillow?"
"Nah," said Stuart. "If I know Mandy, I think she's been practicing on her mirror."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. If you don't mind, could you please leave a review? Anons and members welcome. =D