Like most love stories, Cress' began with a kiss. The wrong kiss, some may say, but a kiss nonetheless.
It was a kiss for the books, the kind of kiss that makes you forget everything else but the feel of their lips and skin against yours, moving against each other with perfect synchrony. It was everything a fifteen year old girl could ever dream of, filled with love, lust, and everything in between. It was the kind of kiss that Cress had the only ever read about in the romance novels she would sneak past librarians into dark corners of the library.
Of course, Cress would've enjoyed the kiss a great deal more if the lips her boyfriend was treating so well were hers.
Like most tragedies, Thorne's began with a foolish decision that, of course, seemed perfectly reasonable to the young, and also foolish, protagonist.
The simple movement of an object from one position to the other, was how he would later describe it. Theft was how the more sensible people at Hogwarts cared to name it.
He didn't mean to do it, truly. It was just that he had never seen one of those up close before, only ever seen images of it in Muggle Studies. A laptop was how they called it, he recalled.
According to Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles, it could access a wealth of information with just a few clicks of the right buttons. It was a diamond in a coal mine, so who could blame him for trying to make it his?
However romanticized dreamers may make them out to be, at the end of the day, these beginnings don't matter, not really. No one truly falls in love at first glance, and no one can tell what moments matter and what moments don't until they're over.
No, beginnings don't matter at all. What counts after it's all said and done are the beads of moments that lead those beginnings to the inevitable end.
September 1st
Cress lays on a blanket of soft grass, watching the sun fade into a sky of purples and greys. Her thoughts had been relentless with doubts since she had witnessed the scene, not trusting what her eyes deemed true. It probably wasn't even Sean, she said over and over in her mind, until the words blended together into a meaningless chant.
Of course it was him. The distinct way his soft brown hair stuck up at the nape of his neck, how he always tied his blue and silver tie around his neck instead of under his collar, the oh-so familiar way he slid his fingers through that girl's hair, down her back and arms, as if he was trying to memorize every inch of her body.
The slideshow of images kept playing over and over in her mind, taunting her.
When she had made the decision to stay at Hogwarts for the summer, she had been so sure of their relationship, of their unbreakable love. She felt like such a fool now. How on earth was a 3 month relationship going to endure the challenges of distance?
The faint sound of crunching leaves causes Cress to bolt up from her thoughts, instinctively drawing her wand in defense. A few yards away from her, she spots a tall figure in a black cloak. God, she thought everyone was at the feast already.
"Who are you?" Cress calls out, pointing her wand. Her hand trembled slightly, betraying her fear of the mysterious figure.
The figure snapped around at Cress' voice, exposing their gentle, familiar features.
"Cress? What are you doing here? The Grand Feast started ages ago; I was wondering where you were where you were," said Natalie, running up to Cress.
Cress let out a breath of relief and put her wand back into her hair.
"I'm sorry; I just needed some time for myself, you know?" Cress said, sitting back down.
"What's wrong? Sean was looking for you; he seemed really worried," Natalie said, taking the spot beside her.
"Sean doesn't give a shit. He doesn't give a shit about me or about us or about anything else in his miserable little life," Cress growled, putting her head in her hands.
"What do you mean? Cress, what happened?"
"He, um- he cheated on me. Right there, at the gates, in front of everyone. It's like he didn't even care who saw. Can you believe that? He never fucking kissed me like that," Cress spit out.
Then, before she could stop them, sobs erupted from her throat. Her entire body shook from the tears, and Natalie's arms were immediately around her as she whispered words of comfort.
"I waited for him. I waited all summer," Cress wailed. All the kisses in spring, all the love letters exchanged during summer vacation now seemed so fragile, reduced to memories that only served as a sharp pain in her chest.
"I know, I know. You're too good for him; this isn't your fault."
"I know, I know. I just don't know what to do. I loved him so much."
"Well, you're not going anywhere near him like this. C'mon get up, let's go inside," Natalie said, pulling Cress to her feet.
"I don't want to go into the Great Hall right now." Cress stumbled after Natalie's quick pace, holding on to her arm.
"And that's why we aren't going in there. I know a place."
Cress stared after her best friend in confusion. In the 5 years they had spent at Hogwarts, they've been everywhere together; what place could she know of that she didn't?
Natalie maneuvered them past the Great Hall and down several flights of stairs to the Hogwarts basement.
"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but where the hell are we going? Isn't this the Hufflepuff common room?" Cress asked. Natalie gently pressed a finger to her lips and smiled as they neared a large painting of a fruit bowl.
"Look at this," she said as she raised her hand to the gleaming pear. Then, quite oddly, she began to move her fingers gently against the image, almost tickling it.
The painting began to giggle and move against her hand, until it, quite literally, magically turned into a green doorknob. She leaned up and turned the doorknob, exposing an exact replica of the Great Hall, plus an array of kitchen counters and stoves pressed against the stone walls.
The room was filled by a bustle of house elves cooking and cleaning. Their presence was unnoticed with the exception of a few wry glances from the busy elves.
"Whoa; what is this place?" Cress asked in awe. Hogwarts had become her home over time, but it still managed to surprise her after all this time.
"This is the Hogwarts kitchen. Apparently, all the Hufflepuffs know about it, but refuse to share the information with the rest of us. You know, not all of them are as honest as they make them out to be," Natalie said, as she stepped into the portrait hole.
Cress followed after her into the hectic room, weaving around tables and elves as they went.
They neared a door at the back corner of the kitchen, and Natalie quickly pulled her into the dark room.
Cress fumbled for the light until she found the hidden switch behind a rack of plates. "Why did you bring me here?" asked Cress, surveying the room.
"You need to get some anger out of you." Natalie pulled a stack of plates out of the rack, and handed one to Cress.
"I really don't think this is a good idea," said Cress, observing the white plate in her hands. She never was an angry person. Even now, all she felt was pain and humiliation.
"Listen, you aren't going anywhere until you do something about those emotions you always keep pent up. Aren't you mad him? You trusted him, and he went and stuck his tongue down some random girl's throat. That really shows how much respect he was for you and the relationship you guys had. He's nothing but a cheating, manipulating piece of sh-"
"Shut up," Cress snapped. She grasped her plate and threw it against the floor with more strength that she thought she had in her. Woah. Natalie was right; that did feel good.
"YEAH! Don't you feel at least a little better now?" Natalie exclaimed.
"Not really, but keep those plates coming."
Cress began smashing plate after plate down to the floor, watching each one break into a million little pieces.
"You know, part of me feels like I'm doing my house a disservice," Cress said, looking over.
Natalie was leaning against the opposite wall, giving Cress a little smile. "Don't worry. We can fix these when you're done. Ever heard of
Reparo?" She smiled and waved her wand.
Cress gave her an exasperated look and picked up yet another plate. More confident now, she grasped it tightly before swinging it against the wall.
The plate crashed against a shelf filled with goblets leaning up against the opposite wall, sending it toppling down with a deafening crash.
Cress let out a small scream before staring at the mess she had made in shock.
"Oh no! Oh my God! Okay, okay, this is bad. We can fix this! Oh no. Don't worry about it. Cress, you pick up the rack, and I'll start fixings these damn goblets. Everything is going to be okay," Natalie said, pulling her wand out.
"I'm so, so, so sorry. I didn't think it'll do that," Cress apologized. Fear was coursing through her veins now as she quickly began picking up the mess.
Then, just as suddenly as the mess had been made, the doom slammed open and a booming voice filled the room.
"What is the meaning of this?" bellowed Professor Ladar, the Head of Hufflepuff. Cress dropped the rack she was holding up, sending it crashing to the ground once more.
"I- we um-" Cress stammered out. She had never, ever been in trouble at Hogwarts. Her shy personality and Muggle-born roots caused her to be one of Hogwarts most behaved, if a little forgettable, students.
"We were just going to clean this up; you don't have to worry about us," explained Natalie, casting Cress a worried glance.
"Oh, that's where you're mistaken. Both of you, my office now," said the professor sternly, heading out the door.
The walk to her office was unbearable. Cress almost couldn't feel the floor beneath her feet as she walked next to Natalie. Her stomach felt as if had been infested with gut-eating eagles.
"Professor Ladar, I don't mean any offense when I say this, but my friend and I aren't even in Hufflepuff, as you can note by our ties. We're Ravenclaws so maybe you could let Gremlum deal with us?" Natalie pleaded.
It was a well-known fact that Professor Gremlum, Head of Ravenclaw, tended to be a little more lenient with his students that he probably should be. Unfortunately, his Hufflepuff counterpart wasn't as forgiving.
"While gracious is your offer to take yourself out of my hands, I am perfectly happy to deal with you myself," replied Professor Ladar as she opened the door to her office.
"Sit," she commanded. Cress obeyed, shrinking in her seat at Ladar's stern stare.
"Now tell me, do you have any reasonable justification for your actions this evening?"
"We were being reckless, and we are sorry. But if you would just allow us to get back down there, we could clean our mess up in a jiffy," pleaded Natalie.
"And what exactly would you learn from that? You two will serve a week of detention, helping in the kitchens before every dinner, breakfast, and lunch. Understood?" Professor Ladar said.
Unfortunately, Natalie didn't get the "agree-and-leave" memo.
"But Cress hasn't ever even gotten a warning in her life. Clean record until now, so maybe she can get a little less?" she asked boldly. At that moment, Cress could feel her soul dying.
"That's great for her! Maybe two weeks will be enough for her to get a nice taste of trouble, huh?" replied the professor.
"But-"
"That's all for this evening. You two can leave," interrupted Ladar, gesturing towards the door.
They both stood and walked out the door as fast as their legs could take them.
"Cress, I'm so, so sorry for that. I didn't know Hufflepuffs could be that austere," apologized Natalie as soon as the door shut behind them.
"It's fine. I know you were just trying to help. Detention won't be too bad; I happen to be fond of cooking. At least, I remember enjoying it from my time in the orphanage."
"Oh, I still feel bad. Imagine the one who got us into this; let me serve detention with you, all two weeks."
"No, no. It's fine, really. Let's just go to our dorms I'm exhausted."
Right now, all Cress wanted to do was take a hot shower and wash the day away with her strawberry scented body wash.
Of course, any hope of that happening was thrown out the window when Cress spotted a mass of Ravenclaw students huddled around the entrance of the common room.
"What the fuck?" expressed Natalie as they neared the frenzied group of students. "We need to find April," said Cress.
"Uh, I think I found her." Cress directed a hand towards the busy brunette who was trying to settle a fight between a pair of rowdy 2nd years.
April, the more diligent of the trio, had been named Prefect this summer, to nobody's surprise. She was Ravenclaw's top student and was likable enough that most of the student body has a mutual respect for her.
They quickly sauntered over to their friend, who broke out into a grin at the sight of them.
"Detention, both of you. Now go and try to stay out of trouble, all right?" April said to the mischievous boys.
The pair of troublemakers nodded solemnly and turned away. April watched them walk away with almost a look of pride before finally turning to Cress.
"Where were you two? I wanted to go looking after you two when Natalie didn't come back, but then this whole fiasco happened. Some first year lost their Muggle device, and now they're searching everyone's trunks and dorms," April ranted.
"It's kinda a long story," said Natalie, casting a worried look towards Cress. "We can talk about it later."
"Oh! Okie dokie!" April said, seeming to sense the tension between her friends.
"Yeah, um, how long are long we supposed to stay out here, exactly?" asked Cress.
"They started searching about half an hour ago when it went missing. Shouldn't be too
long now, although I sense administration is a bit wary after what happened a few years back," said April.
"Give a lonely Muggle-born some Internet, and they almost out the entire Wizarding world. Can you believe it?" Natalie says, rolling her eyes. "No offense, Cress."
"No offense taken," she replies.
There truly wasn't. The oddball who had spent months ranting on some forum about Hogwarts life had almost uncovered the best kept secret in centuries. A part of her felt that a lifetime in Azkaban was a bit excessive, but she shoved that feeling down by remembering the grave treason he had committed, all the lives he put at risk.
"Hey! There's Professor Solice," exclaimed someone in crowd.
And there Professor Solice was, all custom red robes and fury. She paused to in front of the crowd for a few moments before she clapped firmly five times, garnering the attention of all the Ravenclaws.
"We have found the Muggle device in the possession of one of my Gryffindor pupils. Head Girl, Alisha, go on and inform Professor Gremlum of this matter. The rest of you may retire to your dorms. I expect you all to be up
and ready for your first day of classes tomorrow," stated Solice with a strong, authoritive tone.
Then, as quickly as she had come, she turned and walked off, leaving a hoard of whispering students.
"A Gryffindor? Who do you think it was?" Natalie speculated.
"I don't want to start any rumors, but my best bet is on Thorne. He's the one who set fire to the kitchens last year, after all," replied April before clearing her throat and ushering the younger students into the common room.
"Huh. I never imagined he'd be stupid enough to try to steal a Muggle device like that," said Cress.
"Oh, and I never imagined you'd get over him. Remember how you had a massive crush on him back when we were 2nd years?"
"God, don't remind me. If I could go back, I'd punch some sense into Little Cress."
Cress laughed at the memory of 12 year old her fawning over that prick. Sure, he was fit, but, as she had learned a year ago, he was a complete douche. An ass with an ass is how she liked to mentally refer to him.
"Cress? Sean is coming over here," Natalie said.
"Oh my God. I really don't want to look at him right now," Cress groaned, looking over to the approaching figure.
"I'll handle him, if you want."
"Oh, thank the stars. Just don't tell him that I know. I'll talk to him tomorrow."
"I will. Now go before he gets here!"
Cress obeyed, pressing a quick hand of gratitude to her friend'a shoulder. She quickly maneuvered her way to the stairwell and ran up to the dorm rooms.
As she made her way through her nightly routine, Cress thought about a lot of things.
She thought about her cheating boyfriend, about how much her younger self would've given to even have a boyfriend. She thought about the stupidity of people, how they all seemed to want things they can't have and push away the things they do. She thought about how good it felt to have people to talk to, to trust after the lonely summer.
She thought a lot of things, but she felt more. She felt the pain, the humiliation, the betrayal, but amidst it all, she felt hope. Hope for the things yet to come.