My very first Harry Potter story! Well, that I've posted, anyway...
Boring beginning, I know, bare with me. Right now we're just setting up the characters and getting to know them, and I promise after this (if anyone shows interest) we will actually get down to a story. I only did one other character/OC story once, and it got zero reviews, so I'm kind of nervous to do this. Please, let me know if you'd like to see more, or if you absolutely hate it, or... Any other opinion. But do it nicely. And I know Roman is generally a man's name. I know that. You don't have to tell me. Thank you so much for even reading this far, and first person to review gets a shoutout. And maybe the second. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Hint: Reviews put me in a good mood. PS, EXTREMELY OC REMUS ATTITUDE HERE! I MEAN LIKE, HIS OPINION ON BEING WITH SOMEONE YOUNGER. ABSOLUTELY NO TONKS HERE!
Enjoy!
Something hit Roman in the back of the head and she rolled her eyes, still facing forward, listening to Professor Lupin talk about kappas. She was tapping her foot on the floor, ignoring the usual whispering from the boy behind her, Jason Peters.
She sighed, grumbling angrily, trying to hear what Lupin was saying- she knew the lesson was important, as the contents of the lesson were NEWT-level- but Jason wouldn't stop irritating her. Lupin, who had been leaning on his desk with his palms braced behind him, turned his back to dig in his desk drawer for something. Roman took this opportunity to turn around and growl, "Jason, so help me God, if you don't stop throwing bits of parchment at me I will break my foot in your face!"
Roman had thought she was whispering, but, judging by the loud, ringing laughter, everyone had heard what she said. Jason, who had been grinning at her, suddenly frowned and she turned around in her seat, glad she had set him straight. She looked up- a shadow had just been cast over her desk- and saw Professor Lupin, smiling lightly down at her. "Everything okay?" he asked, and Roman was relieved to hear that he didn't sound angry. She nodded solemnly, sticking the tip of her Sugar Quill in her mouth. "Peachy, Professor," she said, and he looked over her head to Jason, and then back to her.
Jason said, although he didn't really sound confident, "She wouldn't."
Roman shrugged, and looked Lupin straight in the eye. "He's got to sleep sometime," she said simply. Lupin smiled down at her and moved to the front of the class, continuing his lesson on kappas as though there had never been an interruption.
Jason did not bother Roman for the rest of the lesson, so her notes increased in quality. Then, when Lupin dismissed the class, Roman shoved her things in her bag and stood up. The other girls in the class went to great lengths to make themselves look extremely pretty just for school, but Roman didn't feel the need. She had tied her hair in a tight bun directly on top of her head with a scarlet and gold Gryffindor tie, so that strips of it showed through her dark brown hair. She wore her regular white Oxford shirt and black skirt, with tights underneath because she didn't like the possibility of someone seeing up her skirt. Roman wore no makeup. She didn't need it.
As she started for the door, her best friend, Belle, yelled from behind her in a singsong voice, "Ramona! Ramona Whitney Michaels!" Roman rolled her eyes and spun on her heel, glaring.
Nobody in this entire school called her Ramona. It was the stupid name her mother had given her and she hated it. She thought, however masculine the name was, that Roman was better, so that was what everyone referred to her as. She actually liked that name, so that's who she was. Roman Michaels.
Roman and Belle were the only two students left in the room now, and they had a free period next, so they took their time getting out of there. Lupin was watching with interest.
"Don't call me Ramona," Roman said, glaring at Belle, a short girl with short blonde hair and short arms. She beamed up at her and skipped out of the door. No one could figure out why they were friends. Belle was short and girly and extremely shy; Roman was tall and strong and wanted to be famous. She was Muggle-born, so she hoped that even after getting her education at Hogwarts, she would be an actress in the Muggle world. Lupin smiled minutely at Roman's retreating form and gathered the papers up on his desk, sighing.
"Please join the Quidditch team."
"No."
"Please join the Quidditch team."
"No."
"Please join the Quidditch team."
"No."
"Please join the Quidditch team."
"No."
Roman, a book for her Transfiguration class open in her lap, forked another bite of peach cobbler in her mouth, looking straight down at her book. Oliver Wood, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, went through the same routine every time they were in the same room, and every time Roman said no.
"Please, Roman," he said, clasping his hands, in Quidditch gloves, together, "I'm leaving next year, and I want to know that I'm leaving someone good on the team behind."
"What about Harry Potter?" Roman asked tonelessly, without looking up at him.
"That's only one person."
"And the Weasley twins?"
Oliver sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I need someone good to play Chaser. What if something happens to one of the girls?"
Roman snorted. "What if? If something happens, I may take a position. Until then, I am an actress."
Oliver sighed and looked up at her, half amused and half annoyed. "I'm not going to get you to join today, am I?" he asked, smiling crookedly at her. "Have you yet?" she asked, finally looking up at him. He pursed his lips and shook his head. "Let me know if you change your mind."
"I'll be sure to do that," Roman replied, turning another page. Oliver stood up and walked over to join his friends, shaking his head.
"Are you worried about Sirius Black?" Belle asked Roman quietly, and Roman shook her head. "No," she said simply. Belle quirked an eyebrow, looking over at her. "Are you acting?" she asked, and Roman shook her head again. Belle threw her hands up in exasperation. "How do I know if that's not acting?"
"I guess you don't, huh?"
Belle yelled in frustration, "I don't even know why we're friends!"
Roman rubbed her temples, trying to curb her headache before it began. She had three essays to finish before her classes that day. She only had to do the conclusions on the lot of them, but she found that to be the hardest part. For some reason, Snape wanted two scrolls on werewolves and she was only one scroll in, and all that was left was a conclusion.
Belle was scratching slowly at her parchment, trying to fit a sentence at the very bottom of her scroll. Of the friendship, Belle had the brains. Roman was smart, very smart, actually, but Belle was a genius. The bell rang and Roman reluctantly stood up, stuffing her papers in her bag. She had Potions first, then DADA, the CoMC. She hoped Hagrid, who she rather liked as a professor, wouldn't mind if she hadn't been able to finish the last paragraph of the first essay he'd ever assigned.
Belle, Roman's closest friend, had Transfiguration at the same time that Roman had Potions, so they walked in opposite directions after loud goodbyes. Roman waved to a few people in the hallway after they waved back, and ducked behind a rather tall boy when Justin Peters, who had the biggest crush on Roman, walked by. Finally Roman reached the Potions classroom and slowly unpacked her things, not looking forward to the next hour.
Roman's Potions partner, Lionel Moore, seated himself next to her shortly after she walked in, and they worked together on their Shrinking Solution without issue. Lionel had always been very polite to Roman, so she tried to avoid being sarcastic around him. She didn't think he understood it anyway.
Snape dismissed the class and Roman made the walk back to Professor Lupin's classroom, and then found she was the only one in there. She stopped in confusion and then twirled around to face the doorway. Lupin smiled up at her from his desk.
"Why am I the only one in here?" she asked, moving to the desk she shared with, again, Lionel Moore. Lupin replied, "I suppose you're just early. Is my class that fascinating?" he joked.
Roman nodded, put her book on the desk, and then reached up to tighten the bun on her head with the Gryffindor tie. Holding a bobby pin in her teeth, she said, "Yeah, actually. It's my favorite. At least we've got a good teacher this year," she snorted. Lupin beamed even wider. "You think I'm a good teacher?" he asked.
"Better than that stupid Lockhart," she said, plopping herself down in the desk. "What're we doing today, teach?" she asked. He shrugged. "No idea, actually, Ramona."
Roman gasped as he grinned at her and she held up a hand. "Woah, woah, woah, woah," she said, and he laughed. "Who told you that was my name?" He shrugged again. "I heard Belle yesterday."
"You were listening in on my conversation, Professor? I'm ashamed."
"You weren't exactly doing much to hide it," he snorted.
"Still, that was supposed to be private."
"I think it's a nice name," he said, and looked down.
Roman pretended not to notice that he was blushing, and she said, "I hate it. Ramona," she spat in distaste, wrinkling up her nose. "Ugh."
Just then Jason Peters sat down behind Roman and held something over her shoulder, stealing the attention away from Lupin. He politely averted his eyes and returned to his desk, gathering up more papers. "I got this for you, Roman," he said, and she took it from him. It was a Sugar Quill. Her favorite thing from Honeydukes.
"How did you know I love these?" Roman asked, 'forgetting' to say thank-you. Even though he wasn't watching, Lupin was listening to them talk. Jason shrugged, leaning forward in his chair so that his face was closer to hers. "I pay attention," he said. Roman frowned. "Well, thank you," she said, still sounding rather suspicious. He beamed at her, and Lionel sat down. He had short blond hair and a stern kind of face; he was just the kind of person Roman could imagine being Head Boy, except he wasn't overly-pompous like their current Head Boy, Percy Weasley.
"Hello, Roman," he said, and Roman smiled back, sucking on her Sugar Quill. "Wotcher, Lionel," she said. Lionel dug around in his bag for a moment, and then emerged with a piece of parchment full of neat, bold writing.
"I wonder if you could check this over for me, Roman?" he asked, holding it out for her. Lionel, Roman thought, was probably the most helpful person she knew. They sat together in almost every class, as the students were usually seated in alphabetical order, and he never complained about helping her when she didn't understand something, which was more often than she would have liked to admit, and almost never asked for help. "I think some of the spelling in the first half is wrong, and I know Snape'll take off points for that," he confessed. Roman nodded, replaced her Sugar Quill with a real one, and took the essay. She could feel Jason glaring at the both of them from behind them.
Slowly the other students started to file in, apparently all late at the same time, and seated themselves, but the bell hadn't rung yet, so they chatted with each other. Lionel leaned a little closer to watch while Roman fixed the very sparce spelling errors in his essay. "Oh," Roman said, just to say something, "I must've spelled this wrong only about a hundred times." He smiled at her and she handed the essay back. "Thank you very much," he said, and she nodded, turning back to face forward in her seat. Just as she was about to open her book, he stuck something under her nose.
"What-?" she asked, taking the flower from him. She gave him a questioning look and he smiled placidly up at her and said, "For helping me." With one nod, he faced forward in his seat and acted as though he had never even given her the rose. "Thank- thank you," she mumbled weakly, and carefully put it in her bag. She heard Jason sputter indignantly behind her.
Jason spent the rest of the class, once it had started, trying to get Roman's attention and grumbling at Lionel, who was as faithful as ever in helping Roman with her work. Professor Lupin was his normal cheery yet informative self, always helping students who didn't know the answers. At the end of the class Roman packed up her things after handing in her essay, planning on making a trip to the library, as it was her free period, but Lupin said, draping his sweater over the back of his chair, "Roman, could I have a word?"
Bag slung over her shoulder, Roman stopped in the doorway and turned around. "Yes?" she asked, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Is Jason bothering you? You seem distracted." he asked, rather suddenly, and Roman rolled her eyes.
"Well, he is kind of obsessed with me, and it does get annoying, but it's nothing I can't handle. Why?"
He smirked at her and handed her a scroll, which she took and unrolled. "I believe that's your Potions homework?" he said lightly, and she gasped, fumbling around in her bag. "Oh, sorry, here's the right one."
She put the Potions scroll back in her bag and handed him the right one, which he took and put in his desk drawer. She stood there, staring up at him with wide eyes, waiting to see if he needed anything else. He stared back down at her, head cocked to the side, and finally asked again, "Are you sure Jason isn't bothering you?"
Roman adjusted the strap of her bag and nodded, saying, "Yeah... He's just... Obvious, you know?" He didn't say anything as she continued. "If someone likes me," she said, and his eyes widened a fraction, "I would rather they go about it in a subtle way, instead of making a fool of themselves, you know? Less is more... When you're not me." She smiled. He nodded carefully, remembering that.
Roman pushed herself up on her toes and then fell back down, and with a short wave turned on her heel. "I'm going to the library," she said, and he smiled and nodded. "See you, Roman," he said quietly, and she waved over her shoulder.
Alright, so what did you think? Boring? Awful? Maybe some nice words? I'm just trying to get Roman's attitude out, and Belle's, and I'm trying to throw in the fact that Remus likes her but knows he shouldn.t And in case you were wondering, Roman and Belle (and I'm not positive if it's canon but Oliver is, as well) are in their sixth year.
Reviews would be the best way to get more chapters, as I've already got a lot (about ten chapters) of this written, so please, review. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you ate for breakfast, I don't care. Just some feedback. Thanks you! And like I said, first reviewer gets a shoutout!
Stay fabulous!
~Paige