A/N: And so, before writing the story that has been gnawing at my brain for the past few months to get Fred back among the living, I offer you readers the moments of my upcoming main protagonist of such story during her Hogwarts years.
She's not a trickster... Nor an immediate good friend of our favourite comical duo... But destiny sure has a way of getting her into trouble – preferably the trouble caused by a pair of menaces running about.
No real main plot going on here besides building friendships with the help of random events that Laurel Grant went through in her teen years.
Chapter 1:
If only I had a brain...
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
The fearful are caught as often as the bold.
- Helen Keller
~September 14, 1990~
To this day I can't remember exactly how I possibly had gotten my little twelve-year-old buttocks in that horrible mess. And between then and now I've gone through feeling absolutely blessed for it, and regretted it extensively. However, none of that mattered back then. I could only think of the dangers lurking in the shadows, my ears perked for any sound that would indicate we were not alone. You heard me right. I was not by my lonesome at the time. What kind of fool would walk into the Forbidden forest at night anyway, let alone by herself?
Two redheaded boys from my house, Gryffindor, were walking in front of me that night. And to the complete opposite of my terrified expression, they appeared relaxed and, dare I assume, even excited. My fingers were crawled stiff from my tense muscles around the black fabric of one of their robes. Fred and George Weasley were their names. Quite infamous among the whole school from the very first day they stepped over Hogwarts' threshold. But like everyone else, I couldn't figure out who was who, and in that particular moment, I didn't give a damn.
I remember thinking to myself of what an idiot I was for following them. Why I had done it, was beyond me. Perhaps it was the loyalty I supposedly had, that I went after these two. Were we friends? Not bloody likely – Not at the time, anyway. Probably because of my loyalty to my House, teachers and fellow students got me to do it? I simply didn't want them to get us into trouble, since they were known to cause mayhem wherever they went. And, quite honestly, I didn't want these two to end up getting hurt because of their own foolish desire for adventure.
I just wished I was watching boring day-time television, or cooking for my dad who was most likely perched in front of the fire back home on his farm by then, with a good bourbon in one hand and a cigar in the other. Or even cleaning the stables with my bare hands would sound pretty good about now. But most of all, I wanted to go back and read comic-books – Yes, comic-books. I'd take a crazy dressed person with his undies over his clothes and a cape bellowing after him in the wind while fighting for justice over Dumbledore, any day.
"Guys," Laurel Grant whispered, eyes scanning her dark surroundings for anything suspicious. Too bad though, to her everything looked suspicious right about now. Even the smirks on the Weasley twin's their faces when she stumbled up between them to look them in the eyes did. Although that could be the feeling their smirks always caused. Fingers clenched tighter around the fabric of the one on her left. "Where are we going?" She asked them, right before she heard the snap of a branch on her right, and quickly whipped her head into that direction.
"You look kind of pale-ish there, Grant –" The one on her right responded teasingly.
"...you're not going to puke, are you?" The left one continued, amusedly.
"I'd feel allot better if we were walking out of the forest," She replied, turning her head back to them while her eyes lingered from where the sound had come from. "Instead of venturing in it."
"Where would be the fun in that, right George?" The one on her left chuckled lightly.
"Where indeed, Fred." Came from the other with a shrug and a grin shared with his twin. At least she now knew it was Fred's robe she was holding. Yet that didn't bring any consolation to the fact they were walking in the Forbidden forest, with only their wands to defend themselves. And she didn't know about them, but she was a pretty mediocre witch. Granted, she had an affinity for charms, but that was as far as her skills with magic went. She still remembered the shame she felt when she accidentally flooded Snape's classroom with foam after a potion went terribly wrong. Not the first impression you'd like to make.
"Why are you two coming here, anyway." She asked, swallowing the lump of nerves and fear a little deeper down her throat, but they got stuck and the nauseating feeling in her stomach lingered.
"No reason," Fred shrugged. "Besides that we wanted to."
"Everything we do is dictated by motive," She told him. "The fact that you desire something, means that there's a reason for it. We don't do something, just because we simply want to," She reasoned. "People are more complicated than that."
"Sheesh," Fred voiced, eyeing Laurel incredulous. "You always like this?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" She countered perplexed, unconsciously straightening her back in a more comfortable position to face him.
"Guys, you've got to see this." George's voice called out, and Fred was quick to turn away from Laurel's frowned stare, and hiked towards were his twin was standing. The brunette huffed at being rudely ignored, but then soon noticed the fair distance between her and the boys. Her back regained the tense muscles, eyes glancing around and over her shoulder before she swallowed loudly and made a small sprint for it.
"Wait up!" She called after them, her voice a pitch too high. When she finally reached them, she saw what had kept them from walking further ahead. They marvelled at the scene of a wide valley in the middle of the forest with a single small, and leafless tree standing smack in the middle of it.
"Ever tell you wide open fields freak me out even more so," She mumbled to the boys. "Then dark forbidden forests?"
"I bet you're even scared of spiders," Fred smirked teasingly.
"Of course not," She scoffed. "I'm not that kind of girl."
"Good," George replied, shooting her quick glance with an unnerving kind smile. " 'cause you've got one on your shoulder."
"What?!" She shrieked, jolting right up straight and began smacking at her shoulders to get rid of the supposedly spider. "Get it off!" She continued, but stopped when she took notice of the two snickering redheads. "Very funny." She scowled, realising they tricked her.
"Not that kind of girl, huh?" Fred grinned from ear to ear.
"Okay, I don't like spiders," She confessed sourly. "With their furry little bodies, and their sticky webs, and why do they need all those legs anyway? I'll tell you - for crawling all over your face in the middle of the night they do."
"Come on," Fred laughed. "Let's go check out that tree."
"Why?" Laurel responded, letting herself get dragged along by Fred with little physical hesitation, but her face became paler the further away they got from the thick density of the forest. She felt like she'd been robbed from the only shield she had.
"What's life without a bit of excitement?" He replied, and the girl studied him for a moment.
"You're of your rocker," She finally told him, pulling her arm free. "Both of you." She finished, turning to George as well. Fred walked on ahead, while George came to a slow stop.
"We've been called worse," George replied smiling, leaning in towards her when she reached him. "Don't worry, if anything weird starts happening, we'll leave."
"Great, now that you've soothed her nerves," Fred began. "You'd like to take a look at this."
"That's not a tree," Laurel gaped, blue eyes wide with shock when she got a better look of what they were slowly approaching. And even though it was still early September, she could feel an icy breeze slicing through her robes, creating shivers that crawled over her back. "That's a scarecrow."
"Thank you, Captain obvious," Fred replied. "You're going to tell us the Forbidden forest is forbidden next?"
"You always this charming?" She growled at him.
"Actually, no," Fred grinned. "You seem to bring out the best of me."
"Prat." She fumed under her breath, trying to ignore the chuckles from the redhead. And at the same, time tried not to look too closely at what stood before her, towering over her from its thick pole. The scarecrow worn a ragged brown jacket, and a brown potato bag as a head with a drawn on face, along with greasy white gloves. Hay sticking out of every hole.
"Sorry to inform you, mate," George said, studying the scarecrow with a sneer. "But you're ugly."
"Careful, Georgie," Fred said. "Think it just winked at you."
George slowly backed away from the scarecrow, smirking at Fred. "Think it's falling for my exceptional good looks?"
"You mean – my exceptional good looks," Fred replied. "Maybe," He continued, reaching out for the scarecrow's arm. "you should ask it out-"
"Don't touch that!" Laurel yelped, scaring the twins into jolting up and quickly turning to her.
"Why?" Fred asked when he figured nothing bad was about to happen, even though Laurel had shrieked like she'd seen a boggart.
"What usually happens when you poke something with a stick?" She asked them grimly, looking both in the eyes. When they looked at the other, and turned back to her with a comical shrug, she continued. "It pokes back."
"I think you might be confusing inanimate objects with actual living things." Fred mocked her, grabbing the arm of the scarecrow. Laurel gasped and held her breath, while George lazily eyed his brother trying to scare her. "See?" He mocked, followed by a loud screeching howl resounding in the nightly sky. Now, all three faces were drained snow white, staring at each other terrified.
"What's the off chance that was just a wolf?" Fred asked, eyeing George who turned to look at the forest behind the scarecrow. Even from where they were standing, he could see the glowing orbs leering from the darkness between the trees.
"Slim to none?" He suggested, backing away slowly to grab Laurel by her hand. She jumped at his touch, but immediately held on to it when he began running back to Hogwarts, with Fred by their sides. In the far back they could hear the hollering sound echoing again.
"If you're going to say I told you so," Fred warned Laurel, already beginning to pant from the quick sprint.
"How about we discuss this after we're safely back in the castle?" She told him, breathing just as hard, if not worse.
"Sounds good to me." George replied, looking over his shoulder, breath hitching at the sight of the amber eyes gaining in on them. In a split second he tripped over the root of a tree, letting go of Laurel's hand and falling face-down into the mud.
"George!" Two voices chorused.
For a moment George's heart stopped, and his panting breath hitched in his throat once more. He clenched the dirt underneath his palms, listening to the distant sounds of an owl, and the whistling wind in the trees. When he heard nothing he dared not to let hope crawl within his heart, and slowly got up from the ground, afraid to make a sound. The leaves cracked underneath his palms, toes and knees as he pushed himself up. Looking up he saw Fred quickly kneeling beside him, reaching out to help him back up on his feet.
"You okay, George?" Fred asked, worry and fear evidently on his face.
"Yeah," He swallowed, looking back. Expecting to find the creature tailing them.
"The deers in the forest are getting bigger." Laurel mumbled, looking ahead in the dark with a deep frown as if she'd seen something there.
"Grant's cracking jokes now?" Fred chuckled half-heartedly. "Think the fear fried her brain?"
A loud thud, and hissing and snarling came from right beside them. The three turned around to find a tall, bend over creature with a rasping breath stepping around a thick tree. Its thin arms and legs were twice the normal size of a man, its bones pushing through its grey desiccated skin. The smell of decay and death penetrated the trios' nostrils.
"Run..." George whispered, staring at the creature like a deer caught in headlights.
It turned fully around, its golden eyes glowing in the dark, and its yellowish fangs dripping with saliva. In the corner of her eyes, Laurel could see the two brothers slowly getting up on their feet. And just then, she knew that this creature wouldn't wait much longer until it'd decide to kill them.
Before she'd even been able to draw her wand, the creature leaped forward towards the Weasley twins, fangs bared and claws reaching out for ripping flesh. "DEPULSO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, and with a sweep of her wand a bright white light appeared, and sent the creature flying and crashing against a tree far from them.
"That," Fred said with a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding. The event had snapped him and George out of their stunned state, and he turned to Laurel with a wide grin. "that was wicked!"
"Come on!" George hollered, sprinting towards Laurel to shake her out of her reverie by her shoulders. The brunette's hand trembled, knuckles turning white from holding the wand to tight, and wide eyes were glued to the creature that already began moving in its spot. "Laurel! Snap out of it!"
"W-was that a werewolf?" She managed to mumbled confusedly, looking at George with disbelieve.
"I don't think so–"
"No time, mate," Fred interrupted, appearing next to George. "I say we've been here long enough to last a lifetime, let's belt it out of here before fugly comes back for a snack."
"Count me in." George nodded, pulling Laurel along with him as they continued to run back to safety. After only a few meters they heard the dangerous deep growls when the beast exhaled long behind them. A branch snapped under its weight when it moved, and even in the dark of the night, Laurel could make out the silhouette of the man-like creature when she peeked over her shoulder.
The brunette grimly looked back to what was in front of her. Two backs of the redheaded Weasley twins running for their lives. Her hand tightened itself around George's, afraid to let go of it. If she'd stumble to the ground, It might just be the last thing she'd do, but then relieve washed over her when the towers of Hogwarts came in sight.
She wanted to say something, voice her hope of safety when the world around her suddenly began to spin all about her. The stars, treetops and castle blurring into a black void of nothing. And a loud thud resounded in her ears, causing her to jolt right up in her chair. She squinted her eyes at the bright light coming from the window beside her, dubiously taking in her surroundings.
She was back in Hogwarts. Sitting at a table inside the library with a couple of books underneath her arms she had apparently used to sleep on. Turning her head, she found a familiar face leering back down on with an apparent smug expression.
"And here I thought you were the perfect student," Cassie Hughes chuckled light-heartedly, before sitting down across the table from Laurel. "Good to know even you get tired of studying sometimes."
Cassie Hughes was like Laurel, a Gryffindor student at Hogwarts in her second year. The girl had a pretty face, with freckles over her cheeks and nose, and a cute smile that created a pair of dimples in her cheeks. A pair of dark brown eyes lingered on Laurel.
"I didn't sleep well last night." Laurel mumbled the reply while running a hand through her brown hair, which was cut short, cropped in the back of her neck. "Can't believe I nodded off in the middle of the day." She sighed, rubbing her face before frowning at the sun in the clear blue sky. She felt like it was somehow mocking her.
"I didn't even hear you come to bed," Laurel said, unwrapping a lollypop while looking out for madam Prince. "Lee said the same thing about Fred and George," She put the sugary candy in her mouth, giving Laurel a hard stare. Though her seriousness worn off when she popped the candy out of her mouth to continue. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about what happened last night, do you? The boy's dormitory was covered in mud."
Laurel eyed her friend impasively before turning her attention to her book. "Don't be daft, why would I know anything about what those two big-headed gits were up to?"
"You hear that, George?" A voice said, surprising the brunette unpleasantly.
"I sure did, Fred," The second twin replied. "Apparently we're a couple of big-headed gits."
"I feel a bit offended," Fred said, sitting down at Laurel's right side while George leaned on the table to her left. Cassie seemed most amused by the sudden appearance of the twins, while Laurel released a long and weary sigh.
"Perhaps we should ask for penance for such a traumatising accusation."
"That's settled then," Fred smirked. "We'll accept your offer of becoming our personal slave as reparations for emotional trauma."
"With all the space in this school," Laurel sighed. "I figured the library would be the last one to see you two."
"It's the first place to look to find you though," George replied, then turned to Cassie. "Hello there, Cass. Always nice to see an actual cheerful face in the library for once."
"Hi to you to, George." She chuckled, eyeing her friend knowingly. "So, you were saying, about last night?"
"That's classified," Laurel deadpanned, closing the book in her hands. "And you're no Dorothy Gale, so there's no purpose for you to go there anyway." She said, and left with the books in her hands.
"Go where?" Cassie asked, frowning as she tried to figure out why Laurel would name a character from the Wizard of Oz, popping back her lollypop into her mouth.
"Who's Dorothy Gale?" Fred asked his twin, but he shrugged, not knowing the answer either.
"Must be a muggle thing then."
"Miss Hughes, what are you putting in your mouth this time?!" Madam Prince's stern voice sneered from behind the blonde, who yelped with surprise. Cassie's ears and cheeks turned bright red when she dreadfully turned about to face the librerian. She slowly popped the candy out of her mouth, and could hear the twins snicker behind her back. Sheepishly she smiled at the scowling woman looming over her, grateful looks couldn't kill just yet.
A/N: I'm awfully curious for how you feel about this first chapter. And worried I might not get the canon characters down right. But most of all, I hope I've been able to entertain you readers with this. Even for a little.
If anyone notices something off – like me getting something wrong about the wizard world, or British slang (sadly English isn't my native tongue), please let me know and I'll see what I can do about it.
Thank you for reading this till the end, and I'll try to update sooner rather than later.