Author's note- This is my first ever story so please be nice while reviewing it. I love constructive criticism. A lot. BTW, do you think my story and chapter have familiar names? Well, they're lines I plucked from my favorite poem, "How Do I Love Thee?" By Elizabeth Barret Browning. If you can guess the meanings pertaining to my story, I will give you my own personal props!
Disclaimer- Everything that you recognize, characters and all, belongs to JK Rowling. Everything you don't recognize belongs to me, including the plot.
By Sun and Candlelight
Chapter One: A Passion to Put to Use
Deirdre Kaleigh relentlessly rolled out of her bed and absentmindedly walked to her bathroom. It was early, she realized, and wondered why she was up in the first place. As if on cue, her little brother Brian, who was actually about a whole foot taller than she was, came bounding into the room.
"Deirdre!" He yelled; a big smile was spreading across his freckled, tan skin. "School, it's today." He stood there, the poor child, ruffling his dark curls. He was waiting for a response from his sister. Deirdre just crossed her arms.
"So what?" She said, shifting her wait from one foot to another. It wasn't even light out yet. How could her brother have so much energy already?
"It's my fourth year! I'm out of the drudges of the underclassmen…and I can go to the Yule Ball!"
"Who told you that fourth year marks the beginning of the upperclassmen?"
"Sean did. But, I could've figured it out on my own. It's an profound milestone in our school career."
Sean was Deirdre and Brian's older brother. He was 19. Three years older than Deirdre. He was a top journalist for the Prophet, but was training to be an Auror. To Deirdre's dismay, her friends loved to come and visit her on holidays to see Sean, who was in their eyes incredibly handsome. He was a staggering 6'2 and had dark brown hair cut to the length of his well-defined jaw. In addition to that, his eyes were the color of Tigers Eye with splashes green around his irises. Sean graduated top in his year, a real gem in their parent's eyes. This was something that they rarely let their other children forget.
"Hmph, I suppose. Is that all?"
"Yeah."
"Er…Get out then."
Deirdre finished getting ready to leave and lugged her heavy trunk down the stairs. She quickly checked her appearance one more time in the hallway mirror before heading to the kitchen for breakfast. She pulled her long mass of brown waves into a loose bun pilled atop her head. Deirdre wasn't one to wear make-up. She would put on the occasional coat of mascara, but foundation wasn't her thing. Nothing matched her olive-brown skin tone quite right. She thought that beauty was mostly on the inside, and that's all she cared about as far as looks go.
She glanced into the kitchen to see her family eating. Her mother, Johanna, was born in Israel. Deirdre liked to imagine that she looked like her uniquely gorgeous mother. However, her mother had intense topaz colored eyes while hers were a cold, slate blue. She loved to watch her mother's crazy curls bounce around her bronze, tan skin as she laughed. Her father, Aidan, was born in Ireland, and had the palest, ruddiest skin of anyone. He was quite a sight at 6'0, but still was not as tall as his eldest son, Sean. He rubbed his belly as Deirdre plopped down in the seat next to Brian, who was enthusiastically chatting about his upcoming school year.
"I don't know who I'll ask though, mum." He pushed a hand through his hair, an annoying nervous habit that made Deirdre roll her eyes. "I mean there's always Kiri though, as a last resort." He glanced nervously at Sean who just smiled.
Kiri, a pretty Cambodian Ravenclaw, was the younger sister of a best friend of Deirdre's, Teva Mian. Kiri was a fourth year, like Brian, who had just recently formed a "subtle" attraction for the poor thing. Apparently, she and Brian were acquaintances of some sort, but Brian hadn't actually begun talking to her until the end of last term.
"Oh, come of it, Brian!" Deirdre said, throwing her hands in the air. "We all know you fancy her. There's no use covering it up."
Her mother scowled at her. "Deirdre, honestly, you needn't be so rude. Who Brian likes is none of our business anyways. What's gotten into you today?" She stood and began clearing everyone's finished plates. Deirdre took a bite of her toast and crossed her arms. Her mother quickly went around the table, kissing her family goodbye, and went to work. Johanna Kaleigh was a healer at St. Mungos, and often had to arrive there early.
Her father flicked his wand and sent all of their dirty dishes to the sink one-by-one, and they started cleaning themselves.
"Listen, Deirdre." He said in his "let's get down to business voice". "I can't fly to school with you two today, so you'll have to look after Brian on the train. Sean will go with you and see you off. Think you'll be all right?"
Deirdre was confused but nodded. Her father had seen his children off every year since Sean's first term. She figured he must not be able to do it this time around because of his job. Aidan Kaleigh worked at the Ministry of Magic in the Dept. of Mysteries, a description that can only be discussed by members of that field and the Minister himself.
Mr. Kaleigh left swiftly, using the family's Floo Powder, an item that is only used for special emergencies.
Sean glanced at his watch, nearly knocking the table over when he realized how late it was. "We've got to go!" He yelled, racing to the cupboard to grab broom and flying jackets for his siblings. They shuffled out the back door where they kicked off into the air. The sky was still mostly dark, and they would all need to fly a long way to make it to King's Cross Station. Lucky for the Kaleigh children, they were all experienced fliers. Sean used to play on the Ravenclaw team as a Beater, whereas his two younger siblings play on Gryffindor, Brian as Beater and Deirdre as Keeper.
They made their conversation light, talking of Quidditch, what else? There were four other people on Gryffindor's team. James Potter played as Seeker and Captain to the team. There was also Sirius Black, the team's other Beater, who also played as trusty sidekick and best friend to James. Then there was Lily Evans and Elsa Eklof, the best Chasers at Hogwarts.
They also were the other half to the Fabulous Four, which also included Deirdre and Teva Mian. These four were just like James, Sirius, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, just girls. They were all beautiful, popular, and in the same year and house! They were pretty much the dream team…if only they didn't have those naughty Marauders ruining all of their fun with sleazy, awful pranks.
The three siblings finally arrived at Kings Cross where they said their awkward goodbyes and split apart. Brian went to his dorky, forth-year perverted buddies, whilst Sean ran off to flirt with a group of his admiring female readers. Deirdre however had some serious catching up to do with her best friends in the whole world. She spotted the less than inconspicuous red locks of her friend Lily, who was already standing in a small circle with Teva and Elsa. Elsa, the pretty, blonde Swede who never missed a beat, saw Deirdre trying to reach them and dragged the rest of the group to meet her half way.
Elsa was the first to wrap her tanned, thin arms around Deirdre. "I've missed you so much, girl!" She said breaking away so her other friends could embrace their best friend. After they were finished with their hugging, the giddy girls all raced onto the train to get a compartment. They found their usual, the one that they had used every year since they were eleven. It was at the very back of the train to the left, right across from the Marauder's.
"So…" Lily said with big smile plastered on her freckled face. "I have some serious news."
Suddenly everyone was drawn in, the room was completely silent apart from the gradual click as the train started to inch forward. Teva, the bookworm extreme, even looked up from her copy of Mansfield Park to see what her friend had to say.
Lily flipped her hair. Her eyes grew large and danced around the other girls in the room. "Well, as we all know, I went to the beach in the south of France for my last week of the holiday and I happened to run into Pettigrew who was staying with his Grandmother. You see, he accidentally let something slip to me when I inquired about Black…" She rested those eyes right on Deirdre, who suddenly felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"What'd he say, Lils?" Asked Elsa, her pale blue eyes darting between Lily and Deirdre.
"He said," Lily paused dramatically, still looking directly at Deirdre. "That Deirdre and Black had been sending letters to each other all summer, and he was falling for her."
Teva ran her slender fingers through her short black hair and adjusted her glasses. "I didn't know they were exchanging letters. I didn't even know they were friends. Did anybody?"
The two girls shook their heads slowly, all looking expectantly at Deirdre. Deirdre felt like she was a fish out of water. Everyone seemed to be pushing her into a corner, and she couldn't escape. The news of Sirius's feelings was brand new to her. Yes, it was true that she'd been writing to Sirius over the summer, but it was only a friendly gesture on her end. She never sensed any hidden affection in any of Sirius's letters.
"Er…" She began, searching for the correct words. "I'm sorry for not telling you guys. It's just that I didn't think it was any big deal. We were just talking, two friends talking."
Lily grinned at Deirdre. "Don't worry about it. None of us are mad, I'm sure. What I'm not sure of is if this whole thing is completely one-sided. Do you reciprocate his feelings?"
Deirdre shook her head, but she wasn't completely sure if it was the whole truth. She'd never exactly thought of Sirius that way, and it wasn't until recently that she even considered him a friend. Before the summer, Deirdre thought of Sirius as an arrogant prat, certainly not in a friendly way. As she got to know him better through their letters, she realized that he was a better person than she thought, even though he was a little rough around the edges. She did notice, however, that in the last month following the start of school that his letters seemed to come less and less until they stopped all together.
Elsa laughed. "Deirdre, he's kind of good looking. You should go for it."
Teva joined in too, giggling uncontrollably. "Kind of? We all know he's not lacking in the looks department… it's just that temper and "bad boy" image you ought to look out for."
"He can't be that much of an idiot either." Lily said. "He likes you, so he's pretty smart and has good taste in women."
"Who's got good taste in women, my love? I know I do." Lily's face suddenly filled with tension as James Potter opened the door and walked into the room, with Remus, Peter, and lastly Sirius following closely. James took a seat right next to Lily, in which forced her to get up and take a seat next to Deirdre on the other side.
"Stay away from me, Potter." She spat, glaring daggers at him from across the small compartment. It was funny how fast the mood could change when Lily and James were in close contacts. Deirdre suddenly felt flushed and loosened her collar. It probably also had something to do with the fact that Sirius was gazing right at her. What was that look in his eyes?
"Play nice Lily, dear." James said. "I just came to inform you of our meeting in ten minutes."
Lily was seething. "What are you playing at, Potter? What meeting?"
James ruffled the back of his head, making it more untamed. "The prefect meeting. We should be there first, so I suggest we get a move on." He stood and waited for Lily at the door.
Naturally, Lily got the placement of Head Girl for our house. We could all see where this was heading. James got Head Boy.
"We?" She said, her voice sounding so weak after all of her hard jabbing. Poor girl, her worst dream was coming true.
"I'm Head Boy." He said proudly. He pulled out his badge and pinned it on. Lily sat there for a few minutes, staring in utter defeat, and then left with James. Teva and Remus, who were also prefects walked out shortly after them. That left Elsa, Peter, Deirdre, and Sirius to their uneasy drabble. Deirdre, feeling anxious because of Sirius's dark stare, excused herself, and ran to stand outside at the caboose's deck.
She took a deep breath when she finally met the crisp autumn breeze. She had to hold onto the rail hard in fear that if she lost balance she would flip over the edge. Why did Sirius make her feel so nervous? Was Lily right? Could she possibly fancy him? No. Never. However, she couldn't deny that whatever was happening, someone was making her swoon. She sat down close to the wall, pulled her legs into chest, and closed her eyes.
Authors note #2- If you liked this one, muchas gracias. Don't worry, sappy lovers of romance! Chapter 2 will be filled with plenty of juicy scandal. Still baffled about the title thing? Google the poem, it might help you understand a little better.