With a red flush rising from her neck to her freckled face, Lauren Elliot shamefully buttoned her shirt up. Her skin felt feverish and the back of her neck was burning- like it did when she knew she was going to get in trouble. She was almost positive that her face was matching the dark red hue of her hair. As quietly as possible, Lauren tugged her pleated skirt over her hips and tucked her blouse in. Lauren could easily charm the wrinkles from her clothing and take the frizz from her hair, but there was nothing she could do to get rid of those purple splotches dotting her neck… and shoulders… and collarbone… and, well, other places. She gingerly poked one of the hickies that resided under her earlobe.
"I look like a cheetah," She breathed, trying to fluff her hair out to hide the marks. As much as she tired, she couldn't cover them all. Hissing in frustration, Lauren wondered if she could get a friend to help her hide her more prominent hickies with makeup. But, Lauren thought as she tightened her blue and bronze tie, that would require explaining last night. She slid on her Mary Janes, determined to put her knee-high socks back on before Transfiguration started. Lauren grabbed her bag and was about to step out of the Room of Requirement, when she had to glance back to make sure her one-nighter was still sleeping.
James Sirius Potter was staring at Lauren with a bemused expression on his face. The sheets pooled around him and his arms were taunt and crossed behind his head. His voice sounded like warmed honey to Lauren when he chuckled, "Hey."
"Hey," She muttered back, inwardly cursing herself for being shy. He saw her naked last night, for Merlin's sake! The silence was awkward and they stared at each other, brown eyes meeting green until Lauren looked away. He was Morgan Enfin's boyfriend, and Lauren was the "slut" who slept with him.
"Look," James' started. "About last night-"
"I won't say a word to anyone," Lauren interrupted. "Morgan would have my head,"
At the mention of his girlfriend, James flushed and casted his green eyes down; "Try cicatrix remotionem. It covers the mark really well, you won't even be able to see it."
"Thanks James," Lauren felt oddly comforted by the fact that he was looking out for her, sort of. She left before the conversation could continue on; leaving the two of them wishing they hadn't left things unsaid.
With a shaking wrist, Lauren held her cedar wand against her neck and muttered, "Cicatrix remotionem." She felt a light tingling on the area of the mark but other than that, she didn't feel or notice anything. Her neck was as smooth and pale and freckled as it was yesterday. With a relieved grin, she pointed at every visible mark and recited the incantation and watched as each mark effortlessly blended back to normal. With a smug smile, Lauren straightened her skirt in the mirror and rushed off to Charms. She was proud of herself for mastering that spell in a matter of minutes. Charms was one of her worst subjects, she wished she could tell Professor Flitwick what she had just done!
The bell sounded right when she slid into the classroom and her short teacher had his back to the class. Ignoring the stares from a few of the Hufflepuff girls (and pointedly looking away from Morgan's table) Lauren took a seat next to her best mate, Angel.
"Where have you been?" Angel asked, twirling her pastel purple hair around a pencil. Since there was nothing in the rules stating you couldn't use Muggle hair products, Angel wrote to her mum every other week asking for new hair dyes.
"Out," Lauren responded, yanking a quill from her bag. "Why do you ask?"
"You didn't come back to the dorm after the party in Gryffindor tower and you skipped breakfast this morning. You never do that,"
"I headed to the kitchens after the party," Lauren lied. "I was peckish and was hoping I could get something small. I guess I just fell asleep,"
Angel puckered her lips but didn't say anything. She stopped Lauren from pulling out her parchment and pointed at the board.
"We're reviewing silencing charms today for our OWLs." Angel reminded.
With a groan, Lauren shoved her quill back into her satchel and yanked out her wand instead.
"Angel, is it bad that I would rather take notes than practice charms?"
"You always say that about DADA," Angel laughed.
The two Ravenclaws stayed silent as Flitwick explained how important it was for them to have their silencing spells in their memory because of its importance.
"Alright, can everyone partner up and move to the side of the room please?" Professor Flitwick declared as he moved desks towards the back of the room. Angel bumped Lauren's hip with her own and mouthed, "Partners?"
"Obviously," Lauren mouthed back. She felt Angel's eyes on her neck and felt that troublesome burn. Instinctively, Lauren touched her neck and narrowly caught what Flitwick was saying.
"Now listen to your partner speak, then jab your wand out, like so," He demonstrated by pushing his arm out. "And say silencio."
For the remainder of the class period, the two girls practiced the spell out on each other. Lauren struggled, flinging her arm out forcefully and harshly saying the incantation only silenced Angel for two minutes. When the bell rang and Flitwick simply told them to practice, Lauren couldn't have been happier.
"At least we have something fun now," She said as she hoisted her satchel up onto her shoulder.
"I think you're the only girl to find Potions fun," Angel grumbled as they left the room. Lauren's eyes skimmed the corridor and fell onto Morgan and James, walking upstairs, towards McGonagall's classroom.
"Oi! Lauren, get your head out of the clouds," Angel snapped, nudging her best friend in the shoulder. "We have to head down to the dungeons."
"Yeah, yeah," Lauren responded. "C'mon, let's go,"
Potions wasn't that bad, Lauren thought, as she stirred her Draught of Peace potion. She didn't understand why everyone dreaded it; yeah, Professor Slughorn was a bit… much, but he wasn't too bad. During the last few moments of class, he had them bottle their potions and pass them to the front.
When the bell rang to dismiss them to lunch, Angel marched right up to Lauren and complained, "I think I added too much powdered moonstone. My vapor wasn't silver, it was more of a gray."
"I'm sure you did fine," Lauren said calmly. "Slughorn is an easy grader,"
"I hope so," Angel groaned. "Mum will murder be if I get anything below an Acceptable on my OWLs this year."
They walked in a comfortable silence the rest of the way down to the Great Hall, until Angel broke the silence by announcing her need for a sandwich.
"I don't want anything but a nice, toasty bread and-" She trailed off once the entered the corridor leading to the Great Hall because beautiful and blonde, Morgan Enfin was glowering at a tall boy with black hair and glasses.
"What the fuck is on your neck James?" She screeched, crossing her arms over her chest. A crowd of people were gathering around the two, and Lauren was pushed to the front edge of it, Angel at her side.
James stayed silent, oddly calm in this situation. Morgan prowled around him, her wand in hand as she spat, "Who gave you those hickies?"
Lauren felt that burning feeling on her neck, one so hot it stung, and she felt the flush crawling on her face. If James' hickies were showing, then the spell must wear off.
"They're not hickies," James muttered, glancing at the ground. "I must've gotten bit by something,"
"I know what hickies look like James! I swear to Merlin that when I find the skank who gave you those marks, I'll-" Morgan shrieks.
Lauren was sweltering inside her clothes and her stomach was in knots. She felt like she was going to faint.
"Are you ok, Lauren?" Angel whispered, but Lauren was internally panicking. She wished she didn't turn her potion vial into Professor Slughorn. She was shaking and she turned around to try and push through the crowd.
She was a good girl. The one who was always there for her friends when they needed a shoulder to cry on. She was the one with great grades (except in DADA and Charms), she was the one who wouldn't sleep with another girls' boyfriend. And yet she did. The guilt was tearing her up inside and her eyes were getting blurry and her breathing was coming quicker. Yet nobody moved out of her way.
"You," Morgan drawled the word out and Lauren didn't need to turn around to know who she was talking to. She felt Morgan's gaze on her.
"You're trying to leave awfully quickly. Why?"
"I-I just remembered that I have to run to Professor Flitwick's class to get extra help on my Silencing charms," Lauren stuttered. "I'm anxious for my OWLs and I'm absolute rubbish at Charms,"
"She's right! I was supposed to take her there after Potions but I forgot," Angel added. "I needed a little help too,"
Lauren spun around to thank her friend when Morgan grabbed her arm.
"What. Are. Those. On. Your. Neck." She hissed through clenched teeth. Lauren swallowed hard and almost cried out from how intense that burn on her neck was becoming.
"Leave her alone, Morgan." James called out. "She's just a fifth-year, I've only spoken to her once. She was probably fooling around with her boyfriend last night,"
Morgan released Lauren and strode back to James, slamming her hands onto his chest.
"How do you know her, huh? Are you talking to other girls behind my back? Who did you cheat on me with?" She was howling now, repeatedly hitting James' chest.
"She's on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. A chaser. That's how I know her. And fine, I did cheat on you. I lapsed but you've cheated on me plenty of times."
Lauren raised her head and Angel was gapping at her.
"You didn't," She hissed, clenching her fists. "Tell me, Lauren, you didn't sleep with James Potter."
Lauren dropped her gaze from her best friend's blue eyes.
Angel began raising her voice, "You're a fucking slut. You've seen how girls like… like… you, affect other people's lives! Your parents, your aunt, hell, even me! Now you decide to be one of those home wrecker whores? That's disgusting!"
"Angel," Lauren pleaded, stepping forward to touch Angel. She didn't even see her hand go up.
The slap is what got Morgan's attention, and she turned to see what was happening.
Lauren was holding her cheek and Angel squabbled, "This is why Damian and I broke up. Because of people like you; you're no better than Hanna. Merlin, Lauren! How can you be a Ravenclaw if you're so stupid?"
Morgan turned around once more to face James, "Is she the one you slept with?"
His silence was enough answer for her. Morgan turned to face Lauren and screamed, "You think that since you slept with him means we're breaking up? Well think again, love. James and I are in love and even though we may be unfaithful to each other at times, we always stay loyal to the one who we truly care for!"
Lauren knew that Morgan's sudden change in attitude towards James was because she wanted to rub it in her face that Lauren was nothing more than a wannabe home wrecker.
"And," Morgan continued with a look of disgust. "You're trash, so don't ever try to ruin my relationship again."
With shame and embarrassment rooting her to the spot, the crowd broke apart and moved around Lauren. Slurs of "whore" and "slut" and "bitch" were thrown her way. Tears were burning in her eyes and she looked up to see James standing in his spot as well, pity building in her eyes.
"Come on James~" Morgan sang.
Lauren, deciding she wasn't hungry anymore, strode past James Potter and outside to the Great Lake, praying for the Giant Squid to take her in the lake and never let her return.