- For the 'Forum Wide Competition' at the HPFC Forum.
#6: Write about a missing moment in a HP character's life. Must be written in first-person.
House: Ravenclaw
The character I chose was Leanne (a Hufflepuff in Harry's year). All we know about her is that she was Katie Bell's friend and that she witnessed her friend being cursed after she touched the necklace. I decided to expand a bit on their friendship and write Leanne's point of view of the incident.
_Snippets of a Missing Friendship_
-x-
We'd known each other since we were young girls, even before we started Hogwarts.
Our friendship started in a sweating, hot, clothes-sticking, annoying summer day. Even at eight, I preferred winter.
Mum wanted me to meet her friend and her nine-year-old daughter. Apparently she believed we would both be best friends, despite how awkward I was as a child. I remember I had my best flowery pink dress on, and on the way to the big yellow house with a white picket-fence, all I wanted was to strip and jump in the cool river next to our much more humble home. Of course, Mum didn't agree with me.
Katherine (as my mother called her) surprised me. Against all my suppositions (of her being a fancy, stuck-up brat), she looked just as desperate as me when her mother opened the door for us. Her cheeks were flustered and she looked as if she had been forced into the horrible blue dress. Of course, our mothers didn't see that.
Yet, in the end, they were right.
As children with a common goal tend to do, we united against them, deciding to pretend we were the best of friends, to make them stop bothering us and making us dress into pathetic dresses to impress each other. Together, we chatted away about how unfair our life was.
Soon, and before we noticed, we were talking about our dreams, wishing upon shooting starts, sleeping at each other's house, using nicknames, giggling about boys, and doing what real friends did.
Before we noticed, we were Katie and Anne.
-x-
KATIE AND ANNE - Me & You
One moment can change a lifetime.
-x-
"Katie?"
"'Leanne, there you are! I've been waiting for you forever! Come with me, I want you to meet Fred and George. Isn't it wicked that they look exactly the same?"
"Yeah, wicked!"
-x-
KATIE – You're so lame.
LEANNE – Am not.
KATIE – Are too.
-x-
She was my friend. Not my best friend, my reliable friend.
I forgot that for a boy. It was all my fault.
-x-
"Hey, Leanne."
Zach – my fellow Hufflepuff and lifelong crush – asked, sweeping his hair in a totally wicked, yet absent-minded way, "Do you want to go to Honeydukes?"
Instead of telling him yes, I simply blushed and mumbled, "Hmm, no. I'm waiting for Katie. She went to the restroom." Honestly, how much longer would she take?
Instead of being upset, Zach simply waved goodbye to me, before jogging back to meet his friends. As if the world was joking with me, Katie Bell chose that exact moment to come back.
"Hey, a little longer, and I thought you'd drowned in the toilet, " I whispered sarcastically when she reached me. Instead of burning me with a much better comeback, she remained silent, avoiding my gaze.
I noticed she had a parcel in her hand and ironically thought she had met some random boy on the way back from the loo (who maybe even saved her from drowning), he of course fell in love with her at first sight and handed her the parcel as a proof of his affection.
"So, who's your new conquest?" I asked. If I wasn't getting too much action, I could at least live trough my famous Gryffindor Quidditch player friend. Perfecting the theory was always a good thing before zooming into practice – or so my parents told me (though I bet they didn't have snogging in mind when giving me that advice).
Instead of answering me, she ignored me.
"Katie?" I nudged her, forcing her to look at me.
"What?" she snapped. Obviously, someone wasn't in a good mood.
"Who's that from?" I patiently enquired. If it was chocolate, I wanted my share. It was only fair, since she made me lose another opportunity to make Zach fall madly in love with me.
"I've got to take it to Hogwarts." Her voice – mechanical and emotionless - scared me. For the first time since she had returned, I noticed something wasn't right.
"Katie?" I urged, half-hoping she would doze off and make fun of me for falling into her stupid trick (it wouldn't be out of character). She didn't.
My anxiety grew – something definitely wasn't right. I noticed she held strongly onto the parcel.
"Hey, Katie, let me see that," I said, before gripping it and pulling it away from her. Unfortunately, I didn't succeed, for she clinched to it even harder.
"Let me see!" I repeated, curious, and worried about what was so special about it.
She was not giving up, and neither was I. We were still fighting for the brown package when it ripped open.
Inside, there was a necklace. Before I had time to ask her who it was from, or who'd given it to her, she screamed. It was piercing, sharp and wounded – it scared me shitless.
I froze.
-x-
LEANNE – Did you hear about that stupid Gryffindor kid?
KATIE – You'll have to be more specific, Anne.
LEANNE – The one who froze.
KATIE – When Trish fainted?
LEANNE – Yeah.
I'd never do that.
-x-
You never think you will freeze– but when things happen, you do. When someone faints, or your best friend is screaming at the top of her lungs, you can't do anything but stare.
Or maybe that's just me. Because I'm a Hufflepuff, and what does loyalty serve for when someone is dying?
Maybe I should've screamed – yelled for help – but I didn't think. I couldn't think. All I did was stare.
Eventually help came (I can't remember who, or when; I just remember the noise and the frenzy of the snow around me) and the screaming stopped.
-x-
KATIE – If you weren't a Puffle, which house would you like to be in?
LEANNE – I don't know, I don't think I fit anywhere else. What about you?
KATIE – Hufflepuff, of course! You're just and loyal – I think I can do that too.
LEANNE – Sure.
KATIE – Hey! Don't laugh.
LEANNE – I just think it's very just to hex Susan because she was staring at your beau.
KATIE – Shut up.
-x-
HUFFLEPUFF
Just, loyal, human.
-x-
When I was younger, my father used to tell me logic was the key to everything. That if I tried to analyse every possibility, I would always find a solution.
But when the only possibilities were Katie living or dying, how could I not hope and pray, like a petty hypocrite for Merlin to let my best friend live.
"It wasn't your fault," Paul kept whispering in my ear, as I tapped my foot systematically; I didn't dare to stop. It was if it was keeping me sane while I waited.
I could feel the skin of my lower lip starting to give from my constant biting. I wanted to curl in a bed and cry myself to sleep, until someone came and told me Katie was fine.
Of course, that would be unfair and un-characteristic – Hufflepuffs were just and loyal.
But then, I wasn't too much of a Hufflepuff anyway. I'd spent my last minutes with Katy silently blaming her because I hadn't got to spend more time with a boy.
How stupid.
"Yes it was," I whispered. My own voice scared me (it was loud, and loud things reminded me of her piercing screams). "I should have noticed something was wrong, instead of daydreaming about Zacharias Smith."
"Yeah," he answered, surprising me by his mean honesty. "But, Lee, I mean, we all make mistakes. How could you have guessed there was a cursed necklace in the parcel?"
I couldn't. Still, I should've done . . . something. Something more.
Paul wrapped his arm over my shoulder cautionary. I let him. I didn't really care about giving him false hopes right now. All I wanted was for Katie to wake up.
And was it so wrong to want someone to hold me while I waited?
-x-
LEANNE – You know, Katie, I love you lots and lots like chocolate frogs!
KATIE – That's so lame.
LEANNE – So? We're best friends.
KATIE – Until death do us part.
LEANNE – Don't joke!
KATIE – Sorry, sorry. I love you too.
-x-
It's not fair but it's human, so I cry, and he holds me.
Maybe one day, I'll stop hearing the screams.
Maybe one day, I'll laugh at all this with Katie.
One day.
(But, now, all I can do is hope.)
Thoughts? Reviews are welcome. :)
. . .
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I am a little unsure about this one. I tried to focus on the "missing moment" (what happened before Katie was cursed and why were the two friends fighting over the anonymous parcel) but I also wanted to show snippets of their friendship.
I hope this wasn't too confusing.
Also, thank you to pippi55 (Slytherin) for being my lovely and very patient Beta.