It was an everyday September morning inside the Great Hall. Everyone was sitting in their house tables with their friends, happily chewing down their meals as they waited for classes to start. All that could be heard was the clattering of cutlery on the golden plates, and the happy chatter of hundreds of animated students.
That is, until the longest, shrillest of shrieks sliced right through the ambience.
The shriek was soon followed by a body. A hufflepuff 5th year girl with bright orange hair was running at breakneck speed down the Hall. Everyone silently stared at her, and almost in unison looked towards the entrance she had ran through.
As if on cue, there was a huge crash outside the entrance of the Hall, and a giant dragon thundered through, giving out a deafening roar. The whole Hall then erupted into screams and chaos like a stepped on anthill, students running in every direction. The professors instantly sprung to action, rounding the beast and throwing every spell they could think of. Yet the more they fought, the more they came to notice that there was something… odd about the creature. It was the color of parchment, it had no scales, and it looked extremely cartooney. Almost like a parody of itself. Before long, though, they managed to subdue the strange animal. Subdued in this case meaning that at a certain point it just disappeared into thin air. The professors all stared at each other, pretty much at a loss. Awkward silence followed, everyone trying to make sense of what just happened.
A sudden loud clatter made them all turn to the sound with a start. It was the same orange haired girl from the beginning, one of the golden plates wobbling at her feet.
"Sorry," she winced, "sorry, real sorry about this."
"You!" McGonagall was utterly bristling, "Why is it always you?"
"It's not always me, professor! Sometimes it's Black! Only I do way cooler stuff."
"Bitch!" Someone somewhere in the hall said.
"You - will come with me - to my office," McGonagall said between gritted teeth. She seemed to be having trouble talking without screaming.
The girl gulped, shrinking her head to her shoulders as she followed the professor to her office while mumbling, "But I'm not even gryffindor…"
"Nice going, Sammie," said a mocking Sirius Black as she walked past him. She would've given him a couple of choice swear words, but due to the professor's presence, she settled for mouthing "wanker" at him. He snorted to James Potter's shoulder.
The next few hours went on uneventful. It was now break time, and a fidgety, blonde gryffindor awaited nervously outside McGonagall's office. The door beside her finally creaked open, making her squeak in surprise. Out marched the transfiguration professor, closely followed by Pomona Sprout, the hufflepuff head. A few steps later, came out the orange haired mischief maker.
"Oh! Samira!" Exclaimed the blonde in perhaps an overly dramatic tone, "Oh, I'm so glad you're out!"
"Calm down, Arlene. I wasn't in trial for murder or anything like that. Jeez," the hufflepuff - Samira - rolled her eyes and started walking. Arlene followed.
"B-b-b-but, what did McGonagall say?" Arlene asked with wide, scared blue eyes. It was almost scary how huge her eyes were.
"I'm not expelled, if that's what you're asking. But it was nothing spectacular, really. I just explained to them that my original goal was to make the dragon move inside the paper, not out of it! And so she took 10 points from hufflepuff for endangering students. But then she gave them back for 'an impressive bit of magic'," she made quote signs with her fingers, "'Cause I did make that spell myself, you know? So yeah, I guess it all balances out in the end," she shrugged, then suddenly added, "Bet you wouldn't've been able to pull that off, huh, Black?"
Just as Arlene was about to think that they probably had tortured her into losing her mind, out of the blue, Sirius Black simply appeared next to Samira.
"How the bloody hell did you know?" He asked, astounded.
"I can smell mediocrity," she wrinkled her nose and grinned, "also, that thing is getting too small to hold you both; I caught flashes of your feet now and then."
"I told you," a voice was heard, then James Potter materialized next to Arlene a second later, making her jump out of her skin, "that this was a bad idea."
"And I told you to just let me go by myself with it!" Sirius told James over Samira.
"Hell, no! Who knows what kind of havoc you'd wreak by yourself with such a powerful tool? You'd probably harass half the female population in the school and get it confiscated!" He fondled his invisibility cloak lovingly.
"… I resent that, Prongs."
"And I am being subjected to your harassment because…" Samira extended it to a question.
"Right, business!" James clapped his hands together and picked up his pace so he was facing the girls, walking backwards. "We want to buy the copyrights of your little spell."
Samira quirked an eyebrow, "Buy?"
"Potter, Black, and Abdullah!"
They all turned to their names and saw McGonagall glaring at them from the end of the hallway. They glanced at each other, and gave purposely guilty grins.
McGonagall made a tight line with her lips and pointed at them, "I do not want to hear about any of you, you hear?"
"Why, professor!" Sirius slung his arms over James, "How can you neglect yourself the joy of having to deal with our charming and magnetic personalities?" He gave her a winning smile.
"I mean it, Black! All three of you! Stay off the radar!" And with that, she turned and left.
"You know, I always love it when she automatically leaves Orwell out of the picture," James smiled at Arlene. The blonde blushed.
"I know right?" Samira agreed, "It's like her eyes just scan right over her. You're a gryffindor and one of my best friends! You'd think that you would be part of some of the action."
"Well, one of us has to be the sensible one," Arlene replied serenely, "In your case, that role is played by Remus, isn't it?" she addressed the boys.
"Most of the time, yeah," James answered, "But even he gets in on the action once in a while!"
"I'd rather not draw attention to myself," she said meekly.
"I still don't get how you're the gryffindor and she's the hufflepuff, Orwell. Seriously," Sirius chuckled. Arlene hid part of her face behind her long wavy curtain of hair.
"So, anyway!" James turned brightly to Samira, "What say you to our offer?"
"You didn't actually make an offer," Samira said with raised eyebrows, "And since I'm pretty sure we're not talking about cold hard cash here, I'm forced to ask: What's in it for me? If anything at all."
"Why, Sammie!" Sirius put an undignified hand on his chest, "I am slighted that you would thing we'd be so egotistical! Of course there is something in it for you!"
"And that would be?"
"Why, eternal glory, of course!" James put his arm over her shoulder.
Sirius followed suit, also slinging his arm over her, "Just picture it!" His free hand extended towards an imaginary horizon, "All the wonders we could do, bringing pictures and drawings to life! All while using your spell!"
"Uuuuuhuh. And how exactly will people know it's my spell?"
This seemed to freeze the dreaming duo. Samira smirked inwardly, "Are you just gonna scream 'This was brought to you by Samira Abdullah!' every time you use it? 'Cause if that's the case, I'd rather keep it to myself-"
"W-we'll think of something!" James said urgently.
"Y-yeah! Something identifying!" Added Sirius
"Yet non-incriminating!" Finished James.
"Yeeaaaah," Samira slowly released herself from the boy's hold, "You go ahead and figure that one out." She walked backwards, facing them as she retreated, "Then come to me and we can talk business, yeah?" She smiled and waved at them, then gracefully turned on her heel and jogged away, closely followed by Arlene.
Classes throughout the day continued without a hitch, until finally came the end of the day. It was friday, so there was that extra amount of energy in the atmosphere anticipating the weekend. Samira and Arlene made their way to their usual spot by the lake, under a huge shady tree, who's branches hung low enough to jump to. Samira stretched leisurely as Arlene plopped down to the soft grass. It was a perfect summer-is-ending-but-its-not-cold-yet day, bright and sunny, nice and cool, perfect amount of wind. Then the hufflepuff started something that to many onlookers would look like stripping. But she would take off all her uniform garments down to her shoes and socks to be left in the lycra shorts under her skirt, and a black tanktop beneath an unbuttoned white school shirt. Everything else came off for the sake of comfort. Then to escape the ogling eyes of surrounding males, she'd proceed to climb the tree with the agility of an overgrown cat. Arlene saw her friend straddle a thick branch with her legs, then lean forward, resting her weight on the branch like an actual resting feline, then take out her wand and proceed to amuse herself with a slow spiral trail of sparkles from the tip of it. The blonde rolled her eyes and chuckled, thinking how easily her friend could get lost inside her own little world.
"Hello, Orwell," a sweet tenor was heard. She shifted her head back enough to see Remus Lupin smiling down at her.
"Oh, hi, Lupin!" Arlene smiled back, not getting up. She was naturally jumpy and uncomfortable around boys, but Remus was one of the few boys that didn't make her extremely nervous. She'd had the opportunity to talk to him more often than his conspicuous friends. If there was any boy she was on even better terms with, it was perhaps Peter.
Remus looked around a little bit, "Um, where's Samira? I thought she'd be with you…"
Arlene sighed, and simply pointed at the tree. As if on cue, Samira's head swung down in a shower of leaves. Remus jumped forward with arms outstretched, thinking for a wild moment she was going to smash her head, but she was still straddled to the lowest branch, so she hung upside down with her arms crossed like an angry possum.
"I thought you we're going to fall," Remus breathed shakily, arms still outstretched.
The girl's angry upside down pose was instantly shattered with a goofy grin, "D'aaaw! You are so adorable!" She squealed and pulled him in a hug, never caring that in her current position, Remu's rapidly blushing face was positioned right at her breasts, which were a choking hazard, to say the least. "But chivalry will get you nowhere!" She finally broke off the embrace and resumed her angry front, "You can tell that lot: cold hard cash, or no dice! Are you okay, Remus?"
The boy's ears were still beet red. "Uh, yes, yes! I'm fine! Ahem, anyway, you have the right idea. They did send me here to… negotiate," it looked like it gave him physical pain to be doing this, "And so, James an- ahem! I mean, Messers Padfoot and Prongs offer you a single bequest of your choice, in turn for your spell." He finished, rubbing his arm, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but there.
Samira quirked an eyebrow suspiciously. She propelled herself upwards, grabbed the branch with her arms, swung her legs down, then completely let herself fall in a graceful crouch. She slowly got up and walked towards the tall boy. She remembered when he was lanky and awkward, but he had grown well into himself now on his 6th year. She stood dangerously close to him, their noses only inches apart. He started blushing again. He wasn't particularly shy or prudish by any means, but there was something about the fiery hufflepuff's in-your-face-ness that almost intimidated him.
"Anything?" She asked in a low, almost sultry voice. She saw the boy visibly gulp, and had to stomp down a bubble of laughter threatening to escape.
"Yes," he barely squeaked, then he gave an awkward - forceful - jerk forward. It was all he could do not to accidentally head butt her. He inhaled slowly, and it came out as a growl, "Anything," he glared to the side.
Samira took a step back and sighed, putting her hands on her waist seriously, then turned her face to the sky, "So much for eternal glory, huh? But you know, maybe if you stopped tormenting Remus and asked me face to face, I'd consider i-"
"I don't know why we bloody well bother!" A raging Sirius appeared just to Remus' right, and stomped towards the girl with unbridled anger.
"Padfoot, wait!" James appeared a second later, but Sirius was already to Samira. He grabbed her hands and dropped to his knees. They all stared.
"See what it's come to, Abdullah?!" Sirius wailed dramatically, and everyone around slumped in embarrassment for him, "Me. Sirius Black, begging - nay - groveling, for you to take our favor and give us that spell!"
Remus observed his friend make a fool of himself for the sake of potential pranks, and he didn't know whether to admire him, or to smack and tell him to get some dignity. But he had to admit that his dangerous determination had given him a scare for a second. Not that he was worried he would've seriously hurt Samira or anything. But he did have a record of being a bit less… careful with her than with other girls. But for one, Samira could handle him just fine, and second, he would have to go over Arlene to lay a hand on the girl. The thought of his fellow gryffindor made him look at a her while the two pranksters bantered, and what he saw actually made him straighten up his back.
Arlene. Sweet, mild little Arlene Orwell had her gaze fixed on Sirius like a lion on its prey, body tense, and what surprised him most of all: She actually had her wand out. Right now she was surreptitiously putting it back in her robes, her eyes never leaving Sirius. Remus raised his eyebrows and looked away.
"You keep. Beating around. The question!" Samira said with exasperation.
"What ever do you mean, my love?" Sirius asked with his charmer smile. "OW!" He yelped when Samira hit him upside the head.
"How come he's doing all the groveling and you're on the sidelines, James?" Samira asked.
"I've always had a smidgeon more dignity than Padfoot," James grinned.
Sirius glared back at his friend, "I resent that, Prongs."
Samira gave a theatrical sigh, "I'm getting tired of games," she crossed her arms, "Will you do whatever I say or not?"
Sirius finally straightened up, towering over her, "I'm nothing if not a man of my word," he smirked.
This statement - or maybe the way he said it - greatly annoyed Samira for some reason. She glared, then roughly grabbed him by his gryffindor tie and brought his face to her, "You up for a date, pretty boy?" she asked with a wicked smile. Sirius' eyes went wide. He'd known her since his 3rd year, her 2nd, but he certainly hadn't been expecting this. She didn't give him time to answer. "Two weeks, Room of Requirement, wear something nice, bring yellow roses." She pushed him away, wordlessly walked back to the tree, and jumped up again disappearing in a spray of leaves.
The boys remained frozen for a second. Then James doubled up guffawing. He barely managed to walk over to his rapidly paling friend and slap him in the back, "Oh… oh… oh!" he gasped through the laughter, "Now you've done it, eh, Padfoot?!" then he broke down laughing again, leaning on his partner in crime's shoulder to hold himself from falling. Sirius seemed to have become a vegetable.
Samira lounged on her tree branch, amusing herself with her trail of sparkles, the leaves doing a splendid job of muffling the outside sounds. So she was surprised when the leaves suddenly rustled, and she found Arlene grunting her way up to her. She raised her eyebrows and quickly helped her friend.
"What was that?" The blonde asked once she was settled in, looking at her with wide eyes.
"My favor," Samira answered, eyeing her sparkles again.
"B-but, I don't get it. You've never fancied Sirius. Or at least you've never told me…"
"I don't! Cocky git."
"Then… I don't get it…"
Samira finally looked at her friend's baby blue eyes, and smiled, "Arlene, what are my favorite flowers?"
"White daisies," Arlene answered immediately.
"And what are your favorite flowers?"
"Yellow… roses…"
Samira beamed, "Honey, I'm not going on a date. You are."