Chapter One:
"You're kidding right? Derek you can't be serious!" I cried standing up from the arm chair I was sitting in. Derek's eyes were filled with a mixture of hurt and anger.
"Why? Why do I have to be kidding? There is nothing wrong with her," he replied, I rolled my eyes and turned to face the fire place, watching the final few embers go out.
"There's nothing wrong with her…right, I forgot you are blind to flaws," I said.
"Please, I am not blind from flaws, yours shine through clearly," he hissed. My skin ran cold and I could feel tears starting to well up but I pushed them back.
"Let me rephrase that, you are blind to flaws when the ones that are there are truly horrendous," I replied.
"I thought you would be happy for me Rosalie Noelle," he said dejectedly. I closed my eyes feeling two tears start to run down my cheeks.
"If it wasn't her…if it was anybody else, I'd be happy for you," I replied my voice shaky. I felt his hands on my shoulders, turning me around and pulling me into his chest. "She's not going to let me near you. How am I going to survive this year without you?"
"It's not going to be like that Rose, I promise," he hugged me, and I hugged him back wishing this moment would stay forever. But of course he pulled away and sat back down on the couch, "I think I love her Rose."
"Love her? You've only been dating for a day!" I replied harshly.
"You don't know, you've never been in love. You never will be, not with the way you act," he said.
"Please, Derek, I'm only acting like this because I care about you and I don't want to see you get hurt," I said sitting next to him but he stood up and walked across to where I had been standing. I dropped my eyes to my lap, I wasn't getting through, if anything I was making everything worse.
"You don't even know her," he whispered.
"I know her enough. I've seen what she's done to other guys. Don't you remember what she did to George?" I asked.
"He did something stupid and lied to her about it," Derek replied.
"To protect her in case Umbridge questioned her, which she did just that, and then she didn't get in trouble only Fred and George did," I said, "she is a user Derek open your eyes and see that please. Stop being such a stubborn person!"
"I will, when you stop being such a stuck up-" he stopped.
"No, finish it," I ordered standing up.
"When you stop being such a stuck up bitch," he hissed before turning on his heel and taking off up the stairs to the Boy's Dormitory. I stayed rooted to the spot as tears spilled silently down my cheeks. I turned slowly and walked to the portrait hole, pushing it open I walked out into the hallway and down the hall ignoring the Fat Lady's protests. My whole world was turning itself upside down before my eyes and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
The rising sun's first few rays danced across the Black Lake, barely touching my skin, yet they began to chase away the cold, bitter October night air. I had been standing out watching the moon set since about three after a heart wrenching conversation with my best guy friend Derek. I shook my head trying to erase the conversation of the memory.
Okay, maybe she's not that bad…just a bit stuck up…what does he see in her?
The sun was steadily rising, I felt the evening wind finally die down and shook of the jacket I had been wearing dropping it to the ground by my feet. It was so peaceful at this time, hardly anyone was up and those who were must have been eating dinner for the grounds were deserted.
Why can't real life be as calm as this? It's so nice, so quiet, as though nothing can go wrong in the world.
A flash of movement, by the edge of the lake, caught my attention. A black cat perched herself on the rocks closest to the water. I stared at it for a moment before the sun hit its fur at just the right angle and I saw a streak of purple in its fur.
"Hey Stormy, have a nice time?" I asked, she nodded flicking her tail toward one of the rocks next to her. With a sigh I walked over and sat down. "It's so quiet this time of day," Stormy mewed at me and I glanced over, her grey eyes staring me down. "What?" She rolled her eyes and leaped off the rock into the air, transforming into my best friend.
"Your avoiding something again," Stormy said, turning to face me, her black hair swinging around her shoulders as she adjusted her clothes. The streaks of purple in her hair were more pronounced in her human form then in her animal form.
"No, not this time Stormy," I replied standing back up and facing the lake again. Stormy had been my best friend since first year. We all called her Stormy because of her eyes. Her real name was Cecilia, we had a lot of the same interests, on top of being in the same year, which is why we clicked so early. Stormy was the same height as me, about five foot five inches. She had long black hair which she had decorated with streaks back in fourth year, her aunt hadn't minded of course. Then again it totally fit here. It gave her that wild side look.
"I know you better than that. What is it?" she asked coming up and nudging my shoulder.
"Just thinking. It's not uncommon for me to be out here early. You know that Miss animagus," I teased, that was the extremely unique thing about her. She was an animagus, unregistered that was true, but I just thought it was cool how she could transform into a cat when she wanted to.
"Normally you see the sun rise and go eat, but the sun is up and yet we are still out here," she reasoned, "that alone tips me off." It was my turn to roll my eyes at her in fake exasperation but I did my best to make it look real.
"You are overanalyzing the situation sweetie," I replied looking up at the pink sky, "I just thought I'd enjoy the natural beauty. We don't know how much longer we have till all we are going to see is grey snow clouds."
" Rose, you can lie yourself out of almost any situation. Bad grades, detentions, you name it you can lie your way out of it. Yet, you haven't figured out that when you try to yell at me you fail at it," she stepped in front of me holding my gaze. "So you wanna try telling me, honestly, what is going on?" I let out a quiet sigh, she had won this round.
"I-"
"Rose! Stormy!" a voice behind us called, turning around I spotted Derek jogging down the path towards us.
Great…just who I don't want to see, when I want to see him I can't find him and when I'd rather be anywhere but with him he is around every corner? Why can't I win?
"Hey Derek!" Stormy called, "Don't think this conversation is over," she whispered to only me as Derek closed the distance between us.
"Hey, what's up? You two not coming to breakfast or what?" he asked. Derek stood over Stormy and me by about three inches. His wavy brown hair was askew, but his brown eyes glimmered in the morning sunlight.
"We were just about to come in. Right Rose?" Stormy said, looking at me causing Derek to turn towards me.
"Yeah…we were just talking about how hungry we were," I replied dropping my eyes to the ground to avoid Derek's penetrating gaze.
"Perfect. Oh, I forgot to tell you two last night. Harry moved the DS meeting up an hour tonight. We are starting at eight instead of nine," Derek said turning up the path towards the school.
"Did he say why?" Stormy asked as the three of us fell into step with each other, as we always did.
"Something about patrols. Apparently Umbridge has moved up curfew and hour, and with Malfoy running rounds now, Harry would rather not risk members of the DA getting caught," I saw Stormy's eyes light up at Malfoy's name and I smiled to myself. She and Malfoy had been dating for about two years now, and as happy as I was for her, I'd known the Malfoy's before I came to school. My guardian, Matilda, had taken me there many times since she was friends with his mother. I didn't trust his father and I didn't trust him. But I put up with him, for her and her alone.
"Is it always gonna be like that or just the next couple weeks?" I asked before Derek could ask Stormy why she was blushing.
"Just the next couple weeks, until Umbridge gets tired of this method of trying to find us," he replied looking at me again but I stared at my feet. "Hey Rose, about last night…"
"Just forget it ok?" I said harshly, snapping my head up and staring at the school. I could tell he didn't want to just let it go, but he did for my sake. Our footsteps echoed as we crossed the bridge connecting the grounds to the schools main courtyard. Each of us lost in our own world of thoughts, we entered the Great Hall to start yet another day.