Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will. Thanks for asking.
Author's Note: Hey, new story right? First one ever too (unless you count the one that I co-author with BabyBlueEyes10), but who really cares. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story. Please, please, please don't forget to review. I thrive on them.
Love. The one thing most sought after by humans. For centuries, people have written about the powers of love and all the feelings you get when you fall in love with something. There are books that even tell you how to fall in love. Along with all those who believe in love and all the mysterious powers it possesses, there are also skeptics, me being one. I, Eden Maria Windsor, have never loved nor been loved. And let me tell you, those books that try to teach you how to love, do not in any way shape or form work. I say this from experience, of course. I have read every book ever written about love and have tried every trick in the book. And after all of my extensive research in the matters of love, I have gotten nowhere. In short, my love life is nonexistent.
Ever since birth, I have had the love of no one. When I was born I was brought up in a family that didn't even have the word love in its vocabulary. My parents got married only because my mother, Victoria Welsh, got extremely drunk one night and went home with my father, Edward Windsor. Needless to say, one thing led to another, and three months later my parents, seventeen at the time, were married, and another six months later I was born.
My parents fought constantly about everything, from things like my mother's wandering eye to not filling up the ice cube tray, and of course their popular favorite, the fact that my mother was a witch. And when I say they fought, I mean full out screaming and hitting, my mom would even send a few hexes my father's way. My dad hated that my mum was a witch. He tried to keep her from doing magic, but of course, that only provoked my mum to use magic for everything.
When I turned three, I started exhibiting behaviors that suggested I took after my mom more than my relatives had originally thought. Despite inheriting my mother's striking features, I also got her magic. I would make things blow up or disappear without even meaning to. My dad took notice of this rather quickly, and not even a month after my birthday, he packed his bags and moved out.
After my dad left, living with my mom became almost unbearable. My mum used my newfound powers to her advantage. She began to train me to do her biddings for her. While I cooked and cleaned, my mother sat on the couch all day and drank away her sorrows.
When my fourth birthday rolled around my parents had finalized their divorce. Let's just say I have never particularly had a "happy birthday". My dad agreed to pay child support, but my mother never supported me with that money, she only supported her liquor cabinet.
About five months after the divorce, my mother's drinking had gotten worse. No matter how much I begged her to stop she just wouldn't. My mother's liver eventually failed and she was put into the hospital where she died. When the question of where I would go, my father immediately said that he did not want me at all. So I moved into the Willowbrook Home for Children in London, by the time I was five.
For eleven years I have seen so many couples come to Willowbrook to try and find that one perfect child that they would call their own, and every time I was passed over. They would always say, "It's not that she isn't adorable, there is just something strange about her and she's just not what we are looking for." They really couldn't have been closer to the truth. I was strange, ever since I developed my powers. And ever since my dad left because of them, I have tried to fight them and be as normal as possible.
I never told anyone that I was a witch, the owners of the orphanage didn't even know. So you can understand my surprise, when on my eleventh birthday a letter arrived for me. Not just the surprise that I actually got a letter from someone but also said letter was from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, inviting me to attend school in the fall.
I could have never in a million years dreamt of a place where the use of magic was tolerated, let alone encouraged. Not too long after I got my letter, a man by the name of Albus Dumbledore, a professor at Hogwarts, came to discuss my attendance at the school with the owners of the orphanage.
Professor Dumbledore persuaded them to let me attend this school and before I knew it, I was thrown into this entirely different world that I didn't even know existed. I packed my things and said goodbye to Willowbrook and only returned there for summer holidays.
Enough of me telling you about my oh so tragic past, let me fill you in on my present life. Well, to start out with the basics, I have long dark brown wavy hair that hangs down to my waist; I have crystal clear blue eyes, and a relatively athletic body.
Over the past five years that I have spent at Hogwarts I have met several very interesting people. However there was one person that I met on my very first day at Hogwarts that made a lasting impression on me, my best friend, Leigh Carlisle, who is the complete opposite and my other half.
For example, I am not the most outgoing person to ever grace the planet, but Leigh; she is the most outgoing, outspoken person you will ever meet. This might sound rather sentimental, but Leigh is the closest thing that I have had to family. She is like a sister to me. Leigh and I share everything with each other.
Leigh has wavy blond hair that rests on her shoulders, with the biggest green eyes you will ever see. She is one of the prettiest girls at this school and all the boys are in love with her. Leigh is the "it girl" of Hogwarts. And I? Well, I am the "it girl's" weird best friend who just sits there quietly and minds her own business. Every girl wants to be Leigh's best friend and every boy wants to be her boyfriend.
Don't get me wrong; I like being the weird best friend. It is a title that I have come to terms with over the years and most of the time; I don't really mind being ignored by the majority of the student population.
This is another way that Leigh and I differ. She has dated over seventy-five percent of the male population at Hogwarts, where as I have never had a boyfriend. We are literally like polar opposites. Leigh has always been comfortable around boys and she has never had a problem with just going and sitting in a group of boys striking up a conversation. I, on the other hand, have made it a point to steer clear of boys completely. Boys make me really nervous and I just make a complete idiot of myself when I am around them, so I have spent the last five years of school making sure I am never in close proximity with members of the opposite sex.
This being said, let me fill you in on the current predicament that I have found myself in. Here I am, on the Hogwarts Express on my way to school, sitting in a compartment with four boys. Me, alone, with four boys. How did I get into this sticky situation? Well, I was running late, as usual. When I got onto the train, I couldn't find Leigh anywhere. I walked up and down the train trying to find an open compartment, but every single compartment was filled, except one.
This particular compartment had four boys in it, and these four boys just happened to be the Marauders, the most popular boys in school. I didn't know much about them, other than they were popular, fellow Gryffindors, and most of the girls swooned over them. I really didn't want to have to ride all the way to Hogwarts in there, but I didn't especially want to stand the whole way either. So, against my better judgment, I approached the door and ever so lightly knocked. As soon as I knocked, the four pairs of eyes inside were looking at me in a curious way.
I slid the compartment door open slowly and froze as I looked into those questioning eyes. "What do you want?" said the black shaggy haired boy sitting by the window on my right.
"Padfoot, don't be rude," the sandy blond boy said to the boy sitting next to him. He turned to me and smiled, "How can we help you?"
I looked down my fingers as I felt my face getting hotter and hotter by the minute. "Stay calm," I said to myself. "Umm… all of the other compartments are filled and…" oh God, they just keep starring at me, "…well, I was just wondering if I could sit in here, because I really don't want to have to stand." I held my breath awaiting their answer. They finally stopped looking at me as they turned to each other. I heard one of them mumble something but I couldn't quite make it out.
The boy with the sandy blond hair finally turned to me with a kind look on his face. "Of course you can sit with us. We wouldn't want you to have to stand." He turned to the boy he called Padfoot and signaled to him to scoot down. The boy reluctantly shifted his body closer to the window as I took my seat. "Hi, I'm Remus Lupin," the sandy blond haired boy said as he extended his right had out to me.
"Hi, I'm Eden Windsor," I responded, grasping his hand and smiling at him.
He released my hand and then turned to point at the boy sitting directly across from me. The boy had extremely messy dark hair and glasses, "This is James Potter," Remus told me. James said hi and waved at me. Remus then turned to the boy sitting next to James, "This is Peter Pettigrew." Peter was a stout mouse like boy who looked like he was more nervous than I was. Peter hesitantly waved at me and then sunk back into his seat and looked out the window. "And this is Sirius Black," he said pointing back to the black haired boy sitting against the window.
The boy suddenly sat up at the sound of his name. Just looking at Sirius I could tell that he had the kind of attitude that said, 'I'm better than you and I know it". He extended his hand out to me and said, "I am the Sirius Black. Nice to meet you."
I took his hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you too." His black eyes looked me up and down like he was trying to find out everything about me just by looking at me. When I realized that I was now starring at Sirius, I slowly pulled my hand away from his rough hands. I had never really looked at the Marauders, but I have to say all the chatter I have heard about their looks were true. They were rather attractive, but I didn't see what the big deal was, especially about Sirius. I had always heard that he was drop dead gorgeous and he could make you fall in love with him with just one look from those big beautiful black searching eyes. These accusations are clearly not true because I am definitely not in love with Sirius Black. Besides I thought Remus and James were just as cute as him, maybe even cuter and I could tell already that they had better personalities than Sirius.
"So what year and house are you in?" asked James as I snapped out of my train of thought.
"I'm a sixth year Gryffindor," I said feeling really embarrassed about the fact that I have gone to school with these people for the past six years and have even been in the same house. I really am a huge loser.
James had a perplexed look on his face, "That's weird, we are sixth year Gryffindors too. How come we have never seen you around?"
I should just tell the truth and say that I am an antisocial freak who avoids contact with all boys, but I thought that might scare them. So, instead, I said this, "Oh well, I study a lot and I guess our paths have never crossed." When in reality I have had classes with these people. I guess that is just the sad reality that is my life.
"Yeah, I have seen you studying in the library," said Remus enthusiastically.
"Aren't you friends with Leigh Carlisle?" asked Peter very quietly.
"Yes, Leigh is my best friend."
Sirius, who looked like he had dozed off, sat up nonchalantly and looked like he had just thought of something brilliant. "Oh, I know you," he said pointing to you. I was a little confused. He knew me? "You are that girl that is always with Leigh who never says anything and is almost always reading a book." Wow. "Where is beautiful Leigh anyway?"
Leigh had always hated Sirius, she has told me on numerous occasions. She told me that he has tried to get with her many times and that he is a self-centered chauvinistic pig. I was definitely starting to see what she was talking about. "I couldn't find her anywhere on the train," I responded.
A slight smirk crept across Sirius's face, "I'm sure if I send the word around that Sirius Black wants to have a moment alone with her, she would come running." Without thinking I scoffed. All four of the Marauders were all of a sudden looking at me again with questioning faces. "Excuse me Miss Windsor, but what was that scoff for?" Sirius asked in a hurt kind of tone.
I looked around at all the boy's faces. I didn't know what to say. Should I tell the truth, and risk hurting Sirius's feelings, or should I make up some story and just blow it off? Might as well tell the truth; and who cares if I hurt Sirius's feelings, his ego needed some major deflating anyways. "Well, to be perfectly honest with you," I said looking towards Sirius, "Leigh doesn't like you even the slightest bit. She thinks you are a pig and she said that she would rather be single for the rest of her life than be with you for one day."
When I finished my explanation, I saw that Sirius's jaw had dropped and James, Remus and Peter were all trying to suppress the laughter. "Bloody hell Eden, that was brilliant!" exclaimed James as he gave me a slap on the back still laughing. I gave him a little smile to say thanks.
"I must say Windsor," said Sirius after he peeled his jaw off of the floor, "you continue to surprise me. I don't think you are nearly as shy as you put off to be."
"To tell you the truth Black," I responded with a slight smirk on my face, "I don't give a damn about what you think." Sirius suddenly got real quiet and turned to look out the window. Obviously this boy hadn't been put in his place very often. I thought maybe I had been a little too harsh, but I quickly got over it.
The rest of the train ride was spent talking to James and Remus. We talked about school, our holidays, and James's favorite, quidditch. I really didn't know much about it, so I spent most of the time listening to James and Remus comparing teams and brooms. Every once in a while I would glance over to where Sirius was. He never once moved out of his position looking out the window.
When we finally got to Hogwarts, James, Remus, Peter and I parted ways. They went with a sulking Sirius off towards the castle and I remained behind to try and catch Leigh. "Hey Eden!" as I turned around to see who was shouting my name, I was tackled to the ground. When I opened my eyes I found Leigh on top of me smiling down at me. "Where have you been all my life?" she asked.
I pushed Leigh of me and stood up to brush myself off. "Where were you sitting on the train? I couldn't find you anywhere," I said as she and I linked arms and started to head up to the castle.
"The more important question is where did you sit?" she said eyeing me. I told her all about sitting with the Marauders and what I told Sirius. "My goodness little miss Eden, you are such a firecracker. I am so proud of you and of everything I have taught you," I could actually hear the pride in Leigh's voice as she hugged me. "It's about time somebody put that prat in his place. I just wish I could have been there to see his face." I could tell as Leigh looked off into space that she was trying to image Sirius's face, she let out a laugh.
Once we got to the Great Hall, we made our way over to the Gryffindor table. I looked up and down the table for the Marauders, but I didn't see them. If fact, I didn't see them in the Great Hall at all. As Leigh and I took our seats, I couldn't help but wonder what those mischievous boys were up to.
Before I could even finish my thought, I felt someone sit down beside me. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked around me to see James, Remus and Peter sitting across from me and Sirius sitting beside me wearing a big smile. When I turned towards Sirius he gave me a wink. What a fool. "What do you want?" I asked coldly.
"Well, I have so graciously decided to forgive you for being so rude to me earlier and I hope we can become good friends in the future," he said still wearing a big smile on his face.
I turned to Leigh and gave her a "what the bloody hell is going on" look. She just shrugged her shoulders. "First off, I was not being rude to you, I was just being honest. If anyone was being rude it was you. Second, I really don't have a desire to be friends with you. So I am not promising I will be nice to you, but I will tolerate you because I like James, Remus, and Peter."
"That wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for but it'll do," Sirius said with a triumphant look on his face. He then leaned in towards the other Marauders and I could barely hear him say, "She loves me mate." I rolled my eyes and turned back towards Leigh. "Oh, Leigh," Sirius said to her, "Eden told me how you feel about me. I understand how you feel, but it will never work out between us, I'm sorry." Leigh threw her arm towards Sirius, barley missing my face, and hit him in the shoulder. Sirius rubbed his shoulder with a smile on his face, "Although, I do like my women to be a little rough."
"You are disgusting!" Leigh and I said simultaneously as Remus and James laughed.
After we had finished eating, Leigh and I made our way up to the Gryffindor common room, accompanied by the Marauders. While Leigh was busy talking to James and Sirius, I was discussing with Remus the classes we were going to be taking this year. Incidentally, we had quite a few together. Remus was really a sweet guy; I often wonder why he hangs out with fools like Black. When we got into the common room and were nearing the stairs up to the girl's and boy's dormitories, we all said our goodnights and went our separate ways.
As Leigh and I walked up the stairs to our dorm, she said something that caught my attention. "This year is going to be strange and different," she said. She was right. This year was already different from what I am used to. I stepped out of my box, and I didn't suffer a humiliating social death, like I had always thought I would. I also had the feeling that our newly formed friendship with the Marauders was going to fill this school year with excitement and fun. I decided that nothing, not even my insecurities, were going to stop me from having as much fun as possible this year. For the first time in a really long time, I fell asleep happy and looking forward to what tomorrow would bring.
I was suddenly awoken from my deep sleep by my bed violently shaking. "Oh God," I thought to myself, "I finally make friends and now I'm going to die in a bloody earthquake, just my luck." However, when I opened my eyes, I discovered that an earthquake wasn't what was shaking my bed, but my best friend, who I was about to kill for waking me up in the middle of a good dream.
Leigh stopped shaking my bed when she realized I was up. I sat up in my bed and rubbed my tired eyes as Leigh looked at me with her flawless cheery smile. "Why did you wake me?" I asked as I saw that my clock read 8:30.
"Well, my dear, there are some lovely people waiting down in the common room for us, and I thought it would be rude to keep them waiting much longer," she said as I raised my eyebrows at her, "plus I am really, really hungry." I couldn't help but laugh at her. I knew her all too well. "So, get out of bed, put on some knickers, and do something with your hair because it looks a right mess," she said pulling me out of my warm bed and thrusting my pants at me. I slipped on my pants and took my friend's advice to comb my hair, it really was a mess.
We laughed all the way down the stairs about the catastrophe that was my hair and when we walked into the common room, to my surprise, Leigh was telling the truth. There sitting on a couch were James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. "What are you lot waiting for?" I asked flashing them a smile.
James sprung off the couch and pulled me and Leigh into a hug, "Thank Merlin you guys are here! I am so hungry!" James released us from his tight grip and took off running towards the portrait hole.
James was followed by Peter and then by Remus, who as he passed me said, "Good morning Eden." I returned his smile and said good morning.
Leigh and I quickly followed but were immediately slowed down as an arm slipped around my shoulders. I looked over to Leigh who also had an arm around her. I looked up to find that the arm belonged to Sirius. "Good morning ladies," he said calmly pulling us in closer to him. "I hope you had sweet dreams about me," he threw a wink my way and I rolled my eyes, "who are we kidding, if I was in a dream it had to have been sweet," he said laughing to himself.
I looked over at Leigh who was making a fake gagging noise. We both pulled away and walked ahead to catch up with Remus. When we caught up with him, we linked our arms with his. "Hey Remus, why are you friends with Black?" Leigh asked him.
"Well he does have certain charming qualities," he said defending his friend.
"I have yet to see these charming qualities you speak of," I responded as Remus gave me a slight smile.
I heard footsteps rapidly approaching. I turned my head to see that Sirius was practically running to catch up with us. He slowed down and was now walking beside me. "Moony, mate, are you trying to steal my women?" Sirius asked Remus. They had the strangest nicknames.
"He doesn't have to steal us," Leigh said starring down Sirius, "we openly give ourselves to him." We both stuck our tongues out at Sirius. We are total five year olds.
When we entered into the Great Hall, we could already see James sitting at the table stuffing his face. That boy sure did like food, he sort of reminded me of Leigh. We all took our seats around James and fill our plates as well. After I filled my plate I felt a slight tap on my shoulder. I turned to find a girl, who looked about my age, with straight light brown hair swept back into a pony tail and big brown eyes. She smiled at me and said, "Hi, do you mind if I sit there?" she asked pointing to the empty seat beside me.
"No of course not, have a seat," she quickly sat down and then turned towards me.
"Thanks so much. I just transferred here from Beauxbatons and I have had the hardest time making friends," I know what that's like. "My name is Pippa Hemmingway, by the way," she said extending her delicate hand.
"Eden Windsor," I said shaking her hand. At this point I had noticed that Leigh was listening in, so I pointed over to her and said, "And this is Leigh Carlisle," Leigh also took hold of Pippa's hand and shook it.
"Are you guys in your sixth year too?" she asked.
"Yes we are," Leigh answered. Pippa smiled and shook her head as she filled a plate for herself. As Leigh and I talked to Pippa, we learned that she was born in France to muggle parents and went to Beauxbatons for the past five years, but when her family moved to Scotland, they decided to send her to Hogwarts.
After talking a while, Pippa noticed the Marauders sitting around us. "Who are they?" she asked. "Are they friends of yours?"
"Oh, they are the Marauders," I explained, "and yes, some of them are our friends."
She had a confused look on her face, "What do you mean by some of them?"
"Well you see, James, Remus and Peter," I said sweetly, pointing to the three boys, "they are our friends. They are really sweet guys and are quite funny."
"What about that other boy?" Pippa asked pointing to Sirius.
Oh how naïve she was. "That loathsome creature is Sirius Black. He is a complete prat, and you should stay away from him at all costs," I told her.
"Why? What is so bad about him?" she innocently asked.
I put my arm around her shoulder and said, "Just trust me. You do not want to be associated with Black." Pippa nodded her head and went back to eating her food.
When we had finished eating, the Marauders took off rather quickly saying that they had business to attend to. By business, they of course meant pranks. So, Leigh, Pippa, and I decided to just go back to the common room and relax before our first day of classes.
As we walked down the corridor that lead to the portrait hole, we heard a really loud scream and then the words "get back here" come from behind us. We turned around to see who had screamed, but first we saw the four Marauders barreling around the corner pushing past us, Remus knocking me to the ground in the process. When Remus realized what he had done he quickly stopped and ran back to where I was sitting on the floor rubbing my bum. He extended his hand to me to help me up, but was distracted by the words of Black, "Look Moony! There's no time, come on!" I turned my head to see what Sirius was pointing at. Walking angrily around the corner was a green skin pink haired McGonagall. I turned back to Remus to see the terror on his face as McGonagall quickly approached us. "Just go!" I whisper shouted at him. He hesitated for a moment and then nodded to me and turned away to catch up with the others.
McGonagall passed by us without even noticing we were there, she looked really angry. After she was gone, Leigh and Pippa ran over to me and helped me up. "Are you okay?" Pippa asked, fear in her eyes.
"Of course she's okay, she is such a hard arse," Leigh said laughing at me and her corny joke. How I love my friend!
When we got into the common room, we sat down on a couch by a fireplace. Mesmerized by the flames, I could hear Leigh telling Pippa about the boys at Hogwarts and how many of them she has dated. Hearing her talk about all her previous boyfriends, made me realize that by shying away for all those years, I wasn't only keeping myself away from people but I was also keeping myself away from the one thing that I want most; love.
At that moment I decided to make yet another change in my life. I was going to put myself out there and date. I was going to try and find love at Hogwarts even if it kills me… I just hope it doesn't.
Well, there yas go. Hope you enjoyed and that's all for now. If you liked that, go read You Can't Touch This. It's pretty similar to this one. But first, leave a review.
Love to all the gypsies out there!
aMuletGirl5 (haha get the joke :-))