Chapter Two
The inhabitants of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry awoke slowly the first morning of their return to the castle; a summer of sleeping in had thrown them out of the required routine.
Layne awoke to the sound of her alarm clock going off loudly as well as the site of a large, soft, white butt in her face. "….. Clyde, get off…" She murmured into the mound of fur before sitting up and sending the cat onto his face much to his displeasure. He looked up at her reproachfully while she began to pet him absent mindedly; rubbing her eyes with her other hand.
She stared at the room around her; the other's were stirring a bit, but not waking from what she could hear behind their curtains; Layne had set the alarm to go off a half an hour earlier than she'd normally have it. Her roommates aside from Holli were Parvati Patil, Hermione Granger, and Lavender Brown, none of which she spoke to all that often; she and Holli were usually secluded to their own corner of the room. It wasn't that the girls didn't like one another; they'd just never related on most things and, naturally, remained politely divided.
With a drowsy sigh, she continued to sit there on her bed; not sure if she wanted to move but well aware that she was going to eventually. It was not in Layne's nature to miss school if she could help it; she'd never ditched a single class. More than that though, she'd decided the night prior to get up early enough to take an extra long shower. For this reason, and that alone, she finally grabbed her shampoo and other bathroom products from her trunk, forced herself to her feet, and headed for the room's lavatory. Besides, waking early gave her a fair chance to wait and, hopefully, talk with a certain boy before their classes began.
It was while entering the lavatory that she glimpsed herself in the mirror and paused in order to gape inwardly at the state of her head and face. Her short hair, though not uncommon for the mornings, was a complete mess, curving up in every direction and flopping in all the wrong ways. Her eyeliner was all but dragged down her cheeks; smeared nearly everywhere and her eye brows had faded. She regularly used a special charm to color them to a complimenting brown since they were scarcely visible otherwise being astonishingly blonde; the charm had long since faded leaving her to look into a mirror which could just as easily have been mistaken for a portrait of a ghost or ghoul. "……." She hurried over to the farthest of the girl's showers and tore her clothes off as soon as entering it.
She spent about fifteen minutes washing off, particularly her face due to the drained eyeliner and what not; she also shampooed her hair twice before spending another ten minutes soaking up the hot water as well as trying to relax. She felt truly horrible that morning having had an equally traumatic evening taking place, unfortunately, on her first night back at the Castle. The adolescent male whom she had been uniquely fond of for two years hadn't even spoken to her and, to make things worse, he appeared to have gotten himself a rather fetching girlfriend. A summer of no contact from her had seemed to prompt him to neglect her completely and it was more pain than she had originally expected from her last year at school; she was devastated.
Layne had never been the type of person to outwardly worry. Irritated by unnecessary drama, she preferred to keep her problems to herself and a select few others knowing well that she hated hearing anyone complain about their issues within a public area. It was for this reason that she had departed the Great Hall the evening prior trying her best to look passive, but hating herself for not fully succeeding. A number of people from the surrounding tables, as well as her own, had seemed to notice her leaving and she was well aware that her face must have been a little stressed because they all looked a bit curious. She hoped greatly that her crush at least, had not witnessed this. The very thought of him seeing her looking as bothered as she felt by the site of him with his new girlfriend made her eyes squeeze shut and her brows furrow; tears almost hotter than the water cascading upon her body began to mix with it on her face.
While drying herself off at the far corner of her shower stall, she felt a renewed determination to speak with him and was thankful for it since she'd taken the liberty of waking up much earlier than she would have liked to in order to do so. The possibility of him never even conversing with her again was enough of a boost for her to buck up the courage to talk to him whether he had a girlfriend or not. She needed him to know that she had meant to contact him since departing the school and that she was very sorry for causing the promise she'd made to him to become impossible. She'd been angry with herself over the entire summer because of it.
She shook her head to rid her hair of any left over shower water and used the special charm she'd learned in order to color her eyebrows a darker shade. She drew on her eyeliner, brushed her teeth, checked her hair once more knowing well that she never did anything to it anyhow; the way it was layered and cut gave it natural charm, it's tips and ends fluffing out a bit.
She put on her school uniform and, after taking one final glance in the mirror to insure that everything was in order, she departing the dorm room giving Holli, who was yawning, a small wave as she did so, causing her friend to eye her suspiciously.
She made her way down the winding staircase that led into the Gryffindor common room, wondering if she should wait there or in the Great Hall. In her opinion, breakfast would certainly be the better choice since she would, undoubtedly, receive another bout of questioning/curious looks from her piers if she was wondering about the lounging area while everyone else was heading down for their first meal of the day. She didn't want her intentions to be conspicuous to anyone and thus, headed out of the portrait hole beginning her journey down the numerous staircases leading to the Great Hall.
She strode in through the large, wooden doors; not expecting the unthinkable in the least when she did so. She was mistaken in this.
Her heart almost expelled itself from her mouth as she spotted him, once again, sitting with Aspen, this time, just the two of them. Part of her froze up from the site of him smiling politely down at her causing the girl to release a sickeningly cute giggle. The blonde began to walk a bit stiffly towards an open area along one of the benches that complimented their table; she sat down and pulled an empty bowl towards herself before pouring cereal into it solemnly while trying her hardest to resist the growing urge to look at them again. Her usual confidence seemed to have extinguished itself the evening prior and the small bit of it that she'd managed to salvage was now diminishing once again.
She prodded her cereal deadly, all the while attempting to maintain an indifferent face and, once again, not quite succeeding. She resided with turning in a direction that wouldn't allow him to see her reluctantly frustrated expression even though she had a discouraging feeling that he wouldn't bother as it were. Just what the hell is this anyway?! They got up early just to eat breakfast together!!! She stabbed at her cereal unkindly. I must look like such an asshole! There's hardly anyone in here at all besides us!!!!
She ate her food quickly enough, finishing the contents of the small bowl and departing immediately afterwards, pulling her schedule out of her robe pocket in order to look it over.
Layne L. Wardell, Seventh Year
Care of Magical Creatures/ Hufflepuff: Rubeus Hagrid
Potions/Slytherin: Horace Slughorn
Defense Against the Dark Arts/Slytherin: Yule Ringwall
Charms: Leif Watkins
Herbology: Pomona Sprout
Divination: Annora Chandler
Transfiguration: Minerva McGonagall
She headed towards and out the front door of the school progressing onward to Hagrid's Hut where the Care of Magical Creatures classes always met. She would, naturally, have Neville in all of her classes and, unfortunately, she currently did not possess the guts to speak with him as she strode down the large plain of grass, cursing under her breath quietly the entire way.
She was, naturally, the first to arrive at the hut noticing that even the professor wasn't in site; he was usually about preparing his varying, if not unusual class guinea pigs whenever people started showing up. She flung her bag down and sat with a huff on the front doorstep of Hagrid's home pulling her knees up to the step in front of the one she was seated upon and placing her folded arms as well as her head upon them. Her mind couldn't seem to shut itself up even the slightest bit as she closed her eyes frustratedly. She didn't want to admit it, but Neville was acting highly unreasonable by avoiding her completely or at least ignoring her.
She thought back to the year prior in which she and Neville had spent quite a considerable amount of time together before his disappearance. Often times, the two of them would enjoy their weekends and free hours with one another; he'd even taught her a few important spells since she'd never been aware of Dumbledore's Army. The most prominent in her memory was that of the Patronus charm which had been the most enjoyable of all. Thinking back on that moment managed to bring a smile to her lips each and every time that she did so, even now.
She gently sat up and withdrew her wand from her robe pocket, pointing it in front of her gracefully. "Expecto Patronum!"
The silvery white image of a wolf erupted from the tip and landed on the ground in front of her, his head turning towards her inquiringly. She smiled even more as he trotted over and sat curiously in front of her, his clouded face looking into hers pleasantly through silver eyes and bringing a natural warmth with it that soothed her considerably. She reached out to stroke the warm, smoke-like substance that he was composed of causing his bushy tail to float happily back and forth as she did so.
The first time she'd performed her Patronus had been with Neville at her side smiling just as excitedly as she had been when this beautiful creature had emerged. She'd been happier in that moment than she had been in any other that she could recall; just the two of them laughing happily… contently. She'd give anything to relive that time again and often performed her Patronus, which was composed of it, in order to grasp it at least a little as she missed it so terribly.
She was caught off of her guard rather abruptly though as the door behind her was kicked open by a rather colossal foot sending her flying a good five feet or so onto the ground where she landed roughly, rolling another four before lying motionless in a heap; her Patronus vanishing from the doorstep. "O-Ouch…."
"AH!" Hagrid yelped, dropping the kettle that he was holding to go and check if she was alright. "LAYNE! Layne, I'm so sorry!!! M' such'a blunderi' idiot!" He said lifting her to woozy feet where she tottered for a moment before he was forced to catch her rather clumsily as she began to tilt over.
"It's… all good…" She said dizzily. "I'm good; I'm here."
Hagrid looked skeptical as she began to shake her head and brush herself off weakly. "Sorry… I didn't mean to sit on your doorstep." She apologized before seeming to realize something and adding "Well, I did… but I didn't think you were home. Sorry…"
"No need t' apologize." Hagrid said kindly. 'Though' a heard voices outside… should'a suspected they migh' be at m' door…."
Layne laughed weakly at this, rubbing her lower back as she did so. "So… what're we doing today?" She asked for the sake of conversation. "Anything too dangerous?"
"Mudringol eggs!" Hagrid beamed ecstatically; he seemed truly pleased that she had asked. "They aren' dangerous less yer not wearin' gloves."
"What happens if you aren't wearing gloves?" The girl asked warily.
"Oh nothin tha' bad…" The half-giant replied in a casual tone. "Nails cou' start burnin' and yer might have t' go to th' Hospital Wing if they do…" He chuckled to himself before stopping, seemingly perturbed by the weak smile that she was giving him. "Now whas wrong with yeh?" He said looking concerned. "Wha're yeh doin here so early anyhow?"
"Huh?" Layne asked awkwardly. "I'm fine; just finished breakfast early….."
"Nah." Hagrid said smartly. "Yeh don't look so good, som'n troublin' yeh?" He asked her with care; she was looking away with a rather perplexed expression which indicated that he'd been right on the dot.
"… You won't tell anyone right…?" She asked looking up at him hopefully and then, because of the raised eyebrow that he was giving her, she added "It's not that I've broken any rules or anything! I'm just in a bit of a predicament right now…"
She was relieved when she saw him smile brightly as though honored to help out. "Well yeh can tell me all bout' it!" He said ushering her inside the hut after picking up the kettle from the doorway. "I'll make some tea." He told her motioning for her to sit down in one of the immense chairs that complimented either side of the large, round table in the center of his home.
"Well…" She began, still looking around herself in awe at all of the enlarged household materials. "I've kinda… had a crush on Neville for a while now." She said before flinching at the sound of the kettle being dropped a bit clumsily on the stove in front of her.
"Neville?!" Hagrid asked in a surprised tone. "Blimey, nev'r though' he'd even manage ter get himself a girlfrien'!" He said with a bit of a chuckle. "Boy's so clumsy…"
"…Yeah well…" Layne continued, a bit irritated at Hagrid's statement, but aware that it was true. "I've liked him since our sixth year and I was sure that he liked me back, but… I lost his address and couldn't write to him this summer even though I promised him that I would last year…." She stared at the table in front of her fixatedly, her hands clenched tightly together. "And…. Well he hasn't said a word to me at all… He seems really hurt by it…"
Hagrid sat down in the opposite chair with a gruff sigh. "Neville's a sensitive boy if yeh ask me." He said. "I'm sure he was looking forward t' yer letters this summer… 'specially after last year; he probably needed'm." He said, pausing momentarily to dab his eyes with his sleeve.
"But… He won't even speak to me!" Layne said desperately. "I want to talk to him, but he's got a girlfriend now who he's been with practically every time I've seen him since the banquet last night!"
Hagrid's beady, black eyes widened considerably. "Y'mean ter tell me tha' he's got a girlfrien' BESIDES you?" He asked in utter disbelief. "Who?"
"Aspen Celestine." Layne said, a crestfallen tinge to her turquoise eyes as she proceeded to tell him everything from their moment of eye contact in the carriages to this morning at breakfast which, regrettably, wasn't very much. "We were close last year; I know we were…" She told him sadly. "We spent almost all of our time together and I was always really happy… he seemed happy too so… I don't understand how my not writing to him could get this kind of a reaction. He must know that it wasn't on purpose……"
Hagrid nodded heavily. "Thas true… He doesn't seem th' type ter hold a grudge… S' always had a pretty forgiving nature from wha' I coul' tell." He didn't have a chance to continue his outward pondering due to the scream of the kettle on the stove which signaled him to stand up and tend to the tea returning shortly afterwards with two steaming mugs and a rusty tray of sugar cubes. "Well…" He said in order to continue. "Seems ter me tha' it must've been some'n deeper than yer not write'n an all tha', Or else he would'n be so distant towards yeh."
"I think that too." Said Layne, who was stirring sugar cubes into her hott mug of tea. "I just don't see what it could possibly be is all." She sighed frustratedly. "And I' don't have the guts to talk to him about it since he seems just fine not talking to me, what with his new girlfriend and all… He even smiled at her this morning at breakfast…"
Hagrid chuckled at this much to the blonde's embarrassment.
"I-I know… that was horrible of me…" She admitted quickly; blushing and feeling ashamed of herself for sounding so cynical about the smile comment; she felt that way about it though. "I don't know what to do; I'm so bothered by it all…"
"Oh I can see tha'…" The half-giant nodded. "Yer one o' th' mos' passive people v' ever met Layne. Thas why it's so easy t' tell when yer frustrated." He told her patting her shoulder and causing her to spit out a bit of her tea from the strain of it. "M' point is this: Yeh've got not'n t' lose by try'n t' talk with'm."
The girl nodded as she wiped her chin with her sleeve, feeling much better now that she'd gotten the whole thing off of her chest and quite fortunate to have been able to do it so early in the day. She smiled up at Hagrid as they drank their tea and waiting for the other students to start showing up.
It was about ten minutes later that the first few people began heading down for their first class of the year. Hagrid and Layne were now outside preparing the Mudringol Eggs; small, squishy, emerald balls, all containing a single white spot somewhere on their surface. Layne was taking more and more interest in them as Hagrid explained them to her.
"They're amphibious?" She asked him; an excited gleam in her eyes. She had told Hagrid in her sixth year that she was fond of frogs and toads; this was also one of the things that originally had attracted her to Neville whom owned a toad by the name of Trevor.
"Yeah, bu' they can pack a wallop." Hagrid said warningly. "Think I mentioned this earlier, bu' yer nails coul' get hot an' then yeh'd have ter go t' th' hospital wing…" He looked at her questioning face. "Tha's only if the' bite yeh o'course; yeh shouldn' provoke'em."
"Well… Are they easily provoked?" Layne asked with a nervous grin knowing well that almost any creature worthy of Hagrid's class had some sort of unpleasant characteristic and being easily provoked was just one of the now naturally expected quirks.
"Not really!" Hagrid beamed happily. "They're some'o the sweet'st little things 've ever known t' be perfectly honest. Cooperate perfectly s' long as yer nice to'em."
Layne felt some relief in this, but she was still partially wary being that, like the creature's tempers, it was also common knowledge that Hagrid had a completely different idea of what was sweet and what wasn't.
"Well that's good to… know…" She said; her sentence slowing a bit at the site of Neville walking down the grassy slope to class. "……….." She watched him, trying not to look at him directly and, instead, stealing small glances out of the corners of her eyes as she helped Hagrid arrange the crates. Why isn't he with his girlfriend…? According to her schedule, the Gryffindor's had Care of Magical Creatures with Hufflepuffs. Isn't she in…? It suddenly occurred to her, much her secret delight, that Aspen was a sixth year whom would certainly not be taking part in another grade level's classes. Well that's lovely; at least he won't be gushing over her… pretty little- She stopped herself feeling guilty once more on account of the fact that, besides Aspen dating her crush, which was completely out of her hands, she really had no reason to dislike the girl whom she only knew the name, appearance, and house of.
She sighed quietly, trying to exhale all of the negative feelings that she could in order to brace herself for first period with a boy whom no longer acknowledged her existence. I'm being so dramatic… eww…
She moved over to the large mass that was her classmates in order to allow Hagrid to begin his lesson which he did with enthusiasm. "Morn'n everyone! Hope yeh all got enough rest; today's lesson's right fascinat'n." He greeted them all cheerfully while presenting one of the large crates. Fang whimpered from over on the doorstep; gazing longingly at the greenish glow that the eggs were emitting.
Layne, excitedly paying attention, was surprised quite suddenly at the feel of a hand on her shoulder causing her to hop a bit on the spot and turn her head inquiringly where in she came face to face with Holli who was giving her a goofy smile. After a pause, she replied with an awkward grin of her own; for a fleeting fraction of a moment, she had thought that the hand might belong to someone else. "You scared me." She whispered with a make-shift giggle.
"You got up ridiculously early this morning. I want to know if it was for the reason I think it was!" Holli said with another teasing grin.
"Depends." Layne said, moving over so that Holli could stand next to her. "What do you think I did it for?"
"Idiot. You wanted to talk to him didn't you?"
"Who, Hagrid? OW!!" The blonde replied, keeping her voice as low as she could, even as Holli punched her hard in the arm. Her friend hadn't seemed to catch the joking-vibes that Layne had attempted to produce. "Bitch; I was kidding!" She groaned rubbing the sore spot on her upper arm sadly.
Holli's temporarily serious lip twitched slightly. "Well? Did you guys have a lover's rendezvous this morning?!"
Layne sighed irritably and shook her head; not wishing to discuss what had really happened when she'd just started to feel better. "I'll tell you at lunch. It pissed me off like crazy." She said, turning a wary head to look around them at their neighboring classmates; Neville was near the back of the mass and out of hearing-range much to her relief. She'd firmly decided to try and stop focusing on him throughout this class period and, hopefully, all the others. Naturally, she was skeptical towards her abilities to do so, but determined none the less.
"They're small now alrigh'…. But they'll get bigg'r soon enough!" The professor's voice boomed.
Layne looked at Hagrid once more giving her head and hair a shake which allowed the blonde mass to fluff a bit; it successfully caused her to produce a tiny smile while the ends tickled the back of her neck. Fluffing her hair was one thing that almost always managed to make her feel better even if, at the moment, it was more of a drying method since the locks were still a bit damp from her shower.
She watched as Hagrid continued to educate the class on the life-span of Mudringols; it was nice to see somebody so excited about something when she herself had been depressed since the evening before. What was more, she had Holli to talk to at lunch which made her smile widen a little; even if she was still in a downed mood, she at least felt better than she had earlier that morning.
As things turned out, Layne was the first to hatch one of the small, blubbery eggs. Hagrid called her up to be the demonstrator for the doubly large class; those in their "Eighth Year" were stuck with the seventh years so as to keep the old schedule. None the less, she was not intimidated by the motley assortment of faces and went forward, accepting Hagrid's excited invitation. "Com'n up Layne! Th' early bird gets th' worm!"
She strode up to the crates, slipping on her pair of Dragon-Hide gloves as she did so; Hagrid had stressed these gloves which meant that they were certainly, not to mention, incontrovertibly necessary. Looking into one of the crates, she selected a large, particularly plump egg and held it in the palm of her hand inquiringly. Its emerald surface was quite handsome, almost transfixing, but it was the translucent view of the tiny body inside that truly caught her interest. The little creature was squirming around quite frequently and she presumed that Hagrid must have known that they were going to hatch that day. "So… I just tap the white spot here?"
Her instructor nodded, encouraging her to return her attention to the tiny egg which was now moving within her grasp. She located the white spot and began to tap it at a steady rate moving her hand a moment later to steal a peak and check the inhabitant's progress. The little baby inside seemed to have paused in order to locate where the thumping was coming from, the dark figure of its head looking around curiously. Layne continued to tap its shell, increasing the beat now to encourage it. She couldn't quite make-out exactly what it would look like through the shell, but, when it'd officially hatched, she was certain that she'd find it adorable.
A couple of minutes came to pass and students had now taken to starting up their own quiet conversations in order to deal with the time. Layne, however, was starting to feel confident. The little creature was now nosing at the white spot blindly and anxiously. She eased up a little so as to avoid hurting it should it pop out; the last thing that she wanted to do was to bop it in the nose during its emergence into life. That'd be so sad…
Finally though, at long last, the small amphibian managed to break the surface and begin the tedious process of squirming out into Layne's gloved palm. It had a silky looking body of the same emerald shade as its previous home and glossy black eyes. Once it was no longer balled up in the egg, she discovered that its body was actually quite long containing six pairs of translucent fins as it curled around her fingers affectionately. "Awww dude…!" She said with a laugh, stroking its small head. "How do you tell the gender? I wanna name him…"
Hagrid, thrilled by her enthrallment with the small creature, gave it one look and pronounced it male. "Ya can tell by th' white spots on his back." He said pointing at them with a finger whose tip was bigger than the Mudringol. "Now, yeh said somethin about a name?"
"Rune." She said without hesitation. "He looks like a Rune." A grin came to her face as she suddenly envisioned Draco Malfoy trying to call her stupid and how she'd grin at him to show that it didn't bother her.
"Well done, well done!" Hagrid exclaimed, beginning to clap his colossal hands and prompting the rest of the class to do so as well. Layne, grinning like an idiot, strode back into the mass of people to where her friend was excitedly waiting to hold Rune; Care of Magical Creatures was Holli's favorite subject.
As Layne slowly eased the little Mudringol into the girl's hands, she looked up to where Neville was standing only to see that he was on his tip-toes trying to get a better look at the new hatchling. For the first time since the carriages, their eyes locked and, almost instantly, he averted his gaze.