A/N: Keeping with the books, the only uniform the students have to wear are the black robes. I wasn't too keen on everyone having identical clothing like in the movies. Also, Harry Potter ness don't belong to me, but the original chars do!
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"God, why did it have to be today? Why couldn't it have been tomorrow, or the day after? Of all days, why did they put double Herbology on a Monday? I hate Mondays!"
She stopped her long sprints for a moment to lean against the wall, her breathing coming in quiet gasps. The only thing that could possibly be worse than being in Herbology was getting to it. There had never been a problem getting to any other class, Kiarin knew the halls of Hogwarts like the backs of her hands. Not even on the first day of classes had she gotten lost. Of course, there were some days when things didn't go as planned and a staircase decided to move itself to some unknown destination, but finding an alternate route was never a challenge.
But then there was Herbology. The only place that she couldn't get to, on a regular basis even. It didn't matter how often her friends drew little maps on her textbooks or how often she was sent to detention for tardiness, it simply never seemed to stick in her mind just how she was supposed to find the side door out of Hogwarts that led to the green houses. One time she'd tried to go out the front entrance and walk around the perimeter, hoping to find an alternate route. Not only had she been late to class that day, she'd missed it altogether and ended up being late to a detention from a previous tardy.
Topping it off was the day of the week she hated most. Monday. It was impossible for her to wake up properly on that day. Her weekends were spent having fun followed by homework cram sessions with her friends and it had to be interrupted by the beginning of another week filled with school. Not to mention the fireplaces in the dormitories held a very strong sway over her just-five-more-minutes instinct. In previous years, Mondays had never been a problem. She'd sleep in just fine, knowing that Professor Binns was never aware of her anyway. But this year things were different.
She looked around, trying to find some sort of landmark, some painting or statue, that would tell her where she was and which way she should go. Nothing. Not even a ghost floating along the halls to give her a hand. Hell, even Peeves would have been something.
"Might as well just face the fact that I'm never getting to that class on time. I don't know how I'm ever going to pass my Herbology OWL. That's if I ever manage to get to it in the first place!" A smile creeped across her flushed face. "Well, I guess there's no point in going since I'm already late. I guess that leaves only one thing to do – find some food!"
Kiarin walked down the hall at a more leisurely pace now that she didn't have to worry about broken nails and grass stains. As she walked she kept an eye out for any stray teachers who might give her loaded schedule yet another detention to stomach. Or worse, knock off points. She didn't care much about the detentions, it gave her something to do aside from homework and she was the only one involved, but she couldn't bear the thought of what the other Hufflepuffs would say if she was the cause of their already pitiful score going any lower. Then again, that was probably the very reason she didn't have points taken off. Professor Sprout was probably ashamed enough at their House Cup losing streak of seven years to incur any more ridicule from the other Houses.
She looked down at the small silver pocketwatch that had once belonged to her father. Class was definitely already under way. She let it hang back down from her jeans and continued to walk down the halls, her eyes taking in the occasional unfamiliar painting, adding onto the blueprint in her mind in case she ever wandered down this way again.
She stopped in front of a door that looked to be much older than all the others. It was somewhat shorter than the classroom doors and the varnish had begun to wear away, leaving stripes showing the old brown wood underneath. Curiosity bubbled up inside of her. Her hand reached for the rusty doorknob.
A rustle of clothing sounded a little ways down the hall, her whole body snapping to attention at the thought that a teacher was about to walk down the halls. Kiarin was infamous among the teachers for her constant tardiness to Herbology and any teacher that saw her now would instantly know just where she as supposed to be.
She took a deep breath and turned the rusty knob, pushing all her weight against the door and its equally rusty hinges. It took less effort than expected, but made more noise than she wanted. A low groan echoed out behind her as she dashed into the room, throwing the door behind her as she ran, not waiting to see if it closed or not, hoping to find a decent hiding spot in whatever room it was she's stumbled into.
It took a few seconds before her eyes could adjust to the blinding light that streamed from the glass panels overhead. Squinting, she could make out an array of plants and trees all around her, the sun filtered through their leaves and branches to create mosaics on the mossy ground. A series of steps, growing louder by the second, brought her focus back to the issue. Not knowing what else to do she jumped over a fallen stump, hoping its large size would conceal her…
… and jumped right on top of a boy sleeping behind it.
He woke up with a half-startled half-pained oomph and Kiarin quickly clamped her hand over his mouth, pressing a finger from the other hand to her lips, signaling him to be quiet. His eyes were filled with amusement as she poked her head up just far enough so her eyes could look at the door. Her stomach filled with a whole new dread as she realized with horror that the door hadn't closed at all and was still a full foot from being so. Whoever it was out there would easily know where she'd gone, all they had to do was look straight through the gap and they'd be looking directly at the stump.
As they became louder, Kiarin realized just how irregular the footsteps were, two steps followed by three quick ones, a rustle of clothing, and then nothing for a few seconds before the steps picked back up again. She stared out into the hallway, her brows knit in anticipation before shooting up in surprise as a very loaded down Peeves tromped by the door, a pair of boots on his feet, a feat Kiarin couldn't explain as her mouth dropped. All that panic over a stupid poltergeist! And by the looks of it, it seemed some poor student was going to return to their dormitory and find their stuff missing.
A loud woosh of air escaped her lungs as she sat back down and leaned against the tree stump. She looked over at the boy who was still staring at her, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"So, uh, sorry for jumping on you. It's just, I'm kinda supposed to be in class right now and if a teacher found me, well, I've got enough detentions this week already."
His smile spread wide over his face and she noticed how incredible his blue eyes looked against his similarly blue sweater, how his nose crinkled ever-so-slightly when he smiled big like that. "Don't worry about it. I wish pretty girls could fall in my lap everyday."
Her heart skipped two beats and before she knew it they were kissing madly, arms wrapping around each other, her fingers filled with his rich brown hair. She blinked and found herself still sitting against the stump, a blush rising heavily across her cheeks.
Oh God, this can't be good. I don't even know him and here I am fantasizing about him.
She looked down at her pants, hoping her short bob would cover her cheeks enough to hide their bright red shade, and found herself staring at a bright green streak on her white pants. "Damn it, so much for avoiding the grass stains today."
He leaned over a bit to get a better glimpse of the damage. "Wow, that is a pretty nasty one, but if you ask real nice I'm sure Professor Sprout will give you some of her stain remover potion.
"That's the last person I want to be seeing right now."
"Really? Why's that?"
"Well, I'm actually supposed to be in Herbology right now. I've been diagnosed with chronic tardiness. The doctors say it isn't fatal, but I swear every time I walk in late to that class Professor Sprout just gets this look in her eye and I wonder if they took her into account when they diagnosed me."
He laughed loudly, causing a warm rush to her stomach. God even his laugh was amazing. "You know, if you go now, you won't have any problems."
"Even if I did go I wouldn't be able to find the place. I'm destined to spend my life searching for that stupid greenhouse."
"If you go out that door," he pointing to a second wooden door, this one surrounded by weeds, "you'll find the path to the greenhouses."
"But I'm already late. The first half of class must be over by now for sure."
"If you go outside and head to class, you'll find that that won't be a problem."
"How do you know that?"
"I have my ways."
"What about you?"
"I think I'll stay here a bit longer," he said, and settled more comfortably into his nook, looking as though he planned on resuming his nap.
"Oh, well, okay then." She rose and walked to the door, this one opening with considerable more ease and less noise. She popped her head back through the doorway, a playful smile on her face. "Hey, do I at least get to know your name?"
He simply looked back at her for a moment, as if he were considering a question of great importance. "It's Nate."
"Well Nate, I'm Kiarin. Maybe I'll see you again." Hopefully I'll see you again. And with that she fully exited the room, the door clicking shut behind her.
Sure enough, a few meters away was the gravel path that led to the greenhouses. She walked as quietly as she could when she got close to the panes of glass that were opaque with condensation. She took a deep breath and opened the door, praying Nate was right, and nearly collided head on with Professor Trelawny.
"Oh, um, Professor, hi. I, uh…"
"Not to worry my dear, I saw this morning that you would be late. I am simply glad that you were not hurt, my vision foretold great danger for you."
"Yea, right, exactly, great danger, barely escaped, uh huh."
She walked over to where her friends Lana and Ashley stood, rolling her eyes as she joined them.
"Don't worry, you're not actually late," Ashley explained, flipping the long, red braid that had fallen back over her shoulder, "Professor Sprout had some sort of emergency and left at the beginning of class. Trelawny just now got here. Guess her visions couldn't help her find this place on time, either."
"Haha, you're so funny." Kiarin started to tell them about the Nate and the secret greenhouse, but stopped, deciding she wanted to keep it to herself a bit longer. And as her friends continued discussing their secret mission to sneak into Snape's storeroom to 'borrow' some ingredients, all Kiarin could think about was Nate and his shiny blue eyes and when she'd be able to go back to that room again.
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A/K: Well, hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Next update we'll find out a bit more about this Nate guy, and not all of it will be good! Also, just what are Lana and Ashley up to anyway? Find out soon! And the more comments, the quicker the answers come!