October arrived with its usual chilled breezes that carried away thousands of orange and reds leaves, floating like sparks under the cloudy skies. Much to the student's chagrin, it also meant that the work load had nearly doubled and many were forced to spend late hours on the library writing long and tedious reports for the many courses they were taking. And it seemed that as Saturday approached, bringing with it the first outing to Hogsmeade, the ambience felt more and more desperate, the longing to step out of the these heavy stone walls and dizzying homework becoming tangible.
A book landed heavily in front of her on the long wooden table, her favorite and most frequented table in the library. Sigrid looked up, deep brown eyes easily finding her friend's sky blue ones, looking at her almost expectantly. It was already dark outside, classes having ended a couple of hours ago.
"You are still here?" Eowyn's voice reproached her, her friend's thin pale arms crossing over her chest, her long blond hair falling in neat waves that perfectly framed her beautiful face. Sigrid rolled her eyes, not even attempting her annoyance.
"I haven't finished McGonagall's report." Was all she provided as an answer, delicate fingers placing back a strand of hair that had rebelliously fallen out of her long braid.
"You'll never finish McGonagall's report, Sig!" Her friend complained, even though she could very well see the little smile playing at the corner of her lips, almost making fun of her as she let herself drop onto the chair directly in front of her. "You always work until the last minute, and frankly I don't know how, because you are the most organized person I know!"
"Oh, sush!." She chastised, fighting her urge to roll her eyes as she simply closed the open books piled in front of her and threw her parchment full of annotations carelessly inside her bag before fixing her attention once more on her impatient friend. "So why are you here? I know you did not come to study."
At this Eowyn's eyes twinkled with a newfound excitement that Sigrid knew could only bring either trouble or humiliation for her.
"No." She hurried to say, already standing up before her friend quickly pushed her back down.
"You have not even heard me yet!" Eowyn complained, and she crossed her arms, giving her friend a skeptical look as she gave her chance to speak.
"I heard that the Slytherins are running their Quidditch team trials right now, and I thought that maybe we should go check them out. You know, see how they fly and what their strategies are. I refuse to lose against them this year, Sig!"
"Are we even allowed to go there? Would that not be cheating?" She was already dreading the thought of sitting there in the Quiddicth field and hearing her friend talking on and on about how they could do to win this year. In all honestly, she could not have cared less about who won the House cup that year, but apparently that was all that Eowyn could think of. She did not want to waste her evening sitting there just watching, but then again, if it was the Slytherin Quidditch team they were watching, it meant that Thranduil Lasgalen would be there, and something about him still immensely ignited her curiosity and fascination. He still showed up for their potions class regularly, but had never again sat next to her, Eowyn taking her usual spot by her side. He sat at the front of the dungeon, to one corner, always surrounded by his Slytherin followers, and never participated in class either, never raising his hand or answering any questions posed by Snape.
"It is not as if it is forbidden to watch the Quidditch trials, Sig. Come on! Pleeaassseeeee." Her friend begged, already standing up and starting to drag her out of the library.
"Fine." She agreed half-heartedly, following her friend out of the library and through the endless stone corridors. "But you owe me a butterbeer in Hogsmeade this weekend."
"Deal!" Her friend squealed, her long golden hair cascading messily down her back as she nearly ran down to the Quidditch field, Sigrid having to hurry in order to catch up.
When they arrived there, the trials had already started, a bunch of students already flying in their brooms at a speed that made it almost impossible to discern a single face. To her surprise – no, she wasn't really surprised at all- Elladan and Elrohir were already there waiting for them, sitting at the lowest row of seats, were they could pass almost unseen by the rest of the small spectating crowd.
"I knew you would come." Elladan teased Eowyn as soon as they sat down, silver eyes grinning along with his playful smirk. "You could not handle the curiosity of not knowing exactly who would be your competition."
"Oh, shut up, Peredhel." Eowyn replied, not able to hold back a small laugh.
"Do you want some treats?" Elrohir chimed in, his eyes sparkling with the same playfulness as his identical twin, holding up a small paper bag filled with all sorts of deliciously looking pastries.
"I'd be turned into a Grindylow before I accept something edible coming from either of you, Ro." Sigrid said, trying not to laugh at the twins' exaggeratedly offended expression.
"These are from the kitchen, Sig, its safe to eat them. All we did was steal them from it." Elladan declared proudly, and suspiciously she allowed herself to take one of the pastries from the bag, about to give it a generous bite when Elrohir interrupted her once more.
"Or perhaps we did do something to them, did we not, Dan? I cannot seem to remember?" He mocked, his face a mask of faked confusion, making her automatically drop the pastry back in the bag with its sibbligns.
"I dunno, Ro, did we?"
"Nevermind, I'm not having any of those." She concluded, her eyes sweeping once again through the flying students as the small crowd suddenly erupted in cheers, leaving her slightly confused for a second.
"What happened?" She could hear Elrohir asking Eowyn silently. Apparently the younger twin had been too preoccupied counting his pastries to noticed what was going on around them.
"Someone just scored." Was Eowyn's short explanation, and Sigrid let her deep brown eyes follow the lean flying figure cheering along with the crowd near the goal posts.
"I despise her." She heard Elladan muttering to her right, shaking his head disapprovingly.
"Who is she?" Sigrid asked, her eyes still studying the girl that just managed to score the first goal in the trials. She had long dark hair, nearly black, falling perfectly straight in a single ponytail, and even thought she could not make any specific featured from the distance, she could tell that she was indeed very beautiful.
"That's Alexis Sonnet, she's a fifth-year, and has been in the team for the pat three years I think. And she always scores first in every single match." There was a deep stain of bitterness in Elladan's voice as he spoke that only made her chuckle in return, receiving a glare from his silver eyes.
"And who is the keeper?" She hurried herself to ask, searching to deviate the conversation, her eyes once again flying up to stare at the clumsy looking student guarding the goals posts, who seemed to be lacking some confidence and instead looked positively scared right were he was. A few meters above, she could see the tall figure of Thranduil sitting still on his broom, seeming to be carefully observing the trials from high above. Was he the captain? She was not sure, but he must be, right?
"That one is Bernny Bouchard. It's sad that he's the only one trying out for keeper this year." Elladan laughed, silver eyes filled with mirth. "They might have a very good set of catchers, but with poor Bernny it will not be hard to score."
She laughed too, the Slytherin crown once again erupting in a round of cheers as Alexis Sonnet scored a second goal, leaving the poor Bernny with his small rounded face all red with embarrassment. Alfter a while, or what seemed like an eternity to her, the flying students finally descended back to the ground, meeting in a small circle, no doubt to hear the results of the trial. As she had guessed, Thranduil was indeed the captain of the team, the rests of the students circling around his tall lean figure as he spoke to them, even though she could not hear a single word he was saying through the distance. His long silvery hair looked as perfect as ever, looking almost white under the ghostly moonlight, his face always serious, impossible to catch a single emotion, a single thought through that marbled pale skin.
"So that is Downy, Kim, Bouchard, Park, Sonnet…"She could hear Eowyn listing silently the names of the students who had apparently made it to the team, but she did not manage to hear all of the names. Something else had caught her attention in the middle of the field, something that to her horror and shock made her stomach tie into a tight unpleasant knot, accompanied with a feeling she had never experienced before, but was now utterly sure she disliked. The Slytherins were now walking back towards the changing rooms in silence, some of them dragging their brooms carelessly behind them, their emerald robes glistening in accordance to the nightly-lit grass. Alexis Sonnet had one of her pale thin arms wrapped around Thranduil's middle as they walked, seeming to be clinging to him in a way that made her suddenly have the urge to break that delicate arm into pieces. The dark haired catcher was smiling up at him saying something she could not hear, a green monster appearing in her stomach as she saw him lean down to kiss her lightly.
"Ha! So Lasgalen has a new girlfriend." She pretended not to have heard Elrohir chanting mockingly, seeming to enjoy the situation she clearly was not. "Oh, Slytherin girls are going to be crushed."
She looked away, the image still engraved in her mind and she could not find it in herself to even participate in the conversation as she followed Elladan Elrohir and Eowyn back into the castle, the three of them still talking about what would be their game strategy for this year. She even tried to reason with herself, telling her that it should not have bothered her at all to have seen Thranduil Lasgalen kissing Alexis Sonnet. She did not even know him! Had never even talked to him once! And yet somehow it did bother her. And of course he would have a girlfriend, he was simply the most handsome, most popular, most admired Slytherin who so happened to be the seeker and captain of the Quidditch team, Head of his house, top student in his class, heir of a well known family of stupidly rich and influential wizards, and was now to be a professional Quidditch player. What had made her even think that there was a change he would be single.
They marched all the way up to the Gryffindor tower, Sigrid not once even pretending to be listening to their conversation any longer, and as soon as they had reached the common room, she hurried to sit a the farthest corner of the room, by one of the largest windows overlooking the grounds, and quickly drew out her books and halfway written report, diving into them as an excuse for no one to talk to her. And to her relief no one did, all of them once again assuming that she was only worried about her homework, none of them even noticing that her mind was completely out of the written words in front of her.
The next day came by with what seemed to be a fresh start, Sigrid happy to find that she felt once again untroubled, somehow managing to put that green monster that had appear so suddenly and unexpectedly back inside a little deep box in the farthest corner of her mind. The chilled air drummed against the window panes, carrying dried leaves off al tonalities of gold and red with it as she and Eowyn lazily made their way down into the spacious common room. It was finally Saturday, and frankly she could not wait one more second to be outside the castle walls and strolling around the charming little town of Hogsmeade.
"It's so bloody cold outside today." Was all Elrohir said as a greeting as he met them at the end of the small staircase by the fireplace, wrapping his red and gold scarf securely around him.
"Where's Dan?" She asked, quickly finishing up buttoning her cloak and grabbing a few things before starting to head the portrait hole. She checked her pockets quickly, counting one a few couple of galleons, but that would be enough money for their trip today. She did not have very much. Her father had been struggling for the past years after the death of her mother, but they had enough to live happily and that was all she cared about.
"I've no idea." Came Elrohir's reply as he shrugged, clearly not interested in his twin's affairs at the moment. "I just want to go get some breakfast. I'm starving."
"Sigrid!" A little voice called behind her, and she immediately turned, just in time to see her little sister approaching quickly down the small staircase, already dressed in her day clothes.
"Can I come with you? please? I want to go to Hogsmeade too." Tilda begged, her large blue eyes pleading with that puppy dog look she had learned to master over the years, and it did'nt matter that her sister was now eleven years old, that looked still fit her perfectly.
"Tilda, you know you can't until you're a third-year." She explained again, watching as the girl rolled her azure eyes and crossed her arms rebelliously.
"But there's nothing to do here. I want to go too!."
"I don't make the rules." She laughed. "Go outside with Bain, maybe walk around the lake, that's fun isn't it?" She suggested, but from the look that the girl threw her her suggestion had not sounded fun to her at all.
"I guess I'll do something with Frederica. Maybe Legolas will join us too." Tilda's face fell as she spoke, and Sigrid's curiosity had her biting her tongue in order to force herself not to ask about her sister's friendship with the younger Lasgalen. "Will you bring me something, Sig? A sugar quill? Please?"
"Alright." She agreed, turning back and hurrying to catch Eowyn and Elrohir who were already marching down the stairs and towards the Great Hall.
Breakfast went uneventful, Sigrid happily chewing on her toast as she read the Daily Prophet, but nothing new seemed to have happened – or at least nothing that she considered merited her attention and interest- and sooner than she had expected she found herself walking excitedly down to the Entrance Hall, followed by Eowyn and Elrhoir, as McGonagall counted them as she let them walk in a line outside into the chilled grounds and towards the small nearby town.
"It's really cold." Eowyn complaied as she braced her dark winter cloak tighter against her, burying her chin in her red and gold scarf.
"Told ya." Elrohir teased from behind her. "Eh! Strider!" She heard Elrohir yelling, completely uncaring of McGonagall's disapproving look at his behavior as he hurried to catch up with Aragorn who walked a couple of meters in front of them, the two of them already laughing about something and positively seeming to be up to no good.
"Do you want to head to the three broomsticks?" Eowyn suggested as they made their way down the crowded little alleyways of the town, students hurrying to get into any business in order to get out of the chilled October wind.
"I've got to go to Honeydukes f-." She was cut-off as a small crowd of overly excited Ravenclaw's collided with her, managing to make her ungracefully to the ground as they passed, a Ravenclaw girl also falling on the ground next to he.
Sigrid rushed to get back on her feet, throwing a hysterically laughing Eowyn a deathly glare before quickly brushing away the dirt from her black cloak.
"Sorry." Said the Ravenclaw girl without even so much throwing a look at her before rushing to catch up with the rest of the crowd of giggling girls, who were heading into the Three Broomsticks by the looks of it. Now she was sure they would have a lot of trouble in trying to find a decent table to sit.
"Why the rush?" She asked in s lightly annoyed tone, adjusting her scarf so that the wind would not chill her to the bone. "One would think that they would run out of butterbeer."
"Who knows?" Eowyn shrugged, managing to control her fits of laughter. "Do you mind if I go to Zonko's while you go into Honeydukes? I want to check if they have anything interesting there."
"Sure" She agreed. "I'll meet you here in while then."
Ewoyn nodded her head, already starting to march away and she turned around to enter the cozy little candy store that she could already see was packed with students. The chatter inside the local was so loud that she did not even hear the little golden bell ringing at the door to announce her entrance, and the smell of all sorts of magical sweets filled her nostrils as she slowly made her way through the cluttered shelves, all packed with all sorts of enchanted candy.
It did not take her long to find the sugar quills, all standing beautifully in one of the lowest shelves, of more colors and flavors than she remembered. She picked one almost randomly – Tilda would like any really. The sugar quill was not really expensive, so that meant that she would still have enough to have a butterbeer and lunch later with Eowyn – and Elrohir if he decided to make an appearance.
"Excuse me." A deep voice from behind her nearly made her jump in surprise and she turned around quickly only to find no other than the tall figure of Thranduil Lasgalen standing right in front of her, ice blue eyes fixed on her with their usual concealment, unreadable, impenetrable. She stood there, trying not to show her surprise on her face as she quickly placed a lock of her long blond hair behind her ear, not really knowing what else to do with her hands.
"You're standing in front of the shelves." Thranduil continued, throwing her a slightly puzzled look, and she was sure that at that moment she must have looked like a retard.
"Of course." She said, not really sounding friendly, slowly stepping to one side so that he could reach the shelves behind her.
"Can I ask you which of these is better?" He turned around to face her once more, his expression as composed and silent as it always was, and yet somehow the tone of his voice did not carry any of the arrogance that she had always imagined it would. She turned to face him once more, finding him pointing at the long line of sugar quills. "I see you're getting one so you must know."
"It depends on which flavor you like." She answered logically, not really understanding his question. And to her surprise the faintest of chuckles left his mouth.
"That's the thing, I don't like any."
"Then why are you getting one?" She questioned before she could even think of it, and she was sure that this time she had not managed to hide her confusion from showing on her face.
"It's not for me." Was his short reply, not giving out any details, a thick eyebrow raising high into his flawless forehead as he continued speaking. "Can you help me decide?"
"And you don't like any of the hundreds of flavors that are here?" She crooked her head as she asked once more.
"I don't like candy."
"That's impossible. Everyone likes a least one sort of candy." She spoke again before she could even stop her tongue. Everyone liked candy, right? Not all types of candy, but at leas one? She studied his face to see if he was merely having fun at her expense and laughing internally at her, but once more found herself staring at those ice colored yes that let nothing past their glacier barrier.
"Alright then," She spoke again, feeling more awkward by the second. "Then, take this one. It's my favorite." She said, randomly pointing at one of the sugar quills on the shelf and watching as he picked it in his slender hands and carefully read the label on it, his face suddenly portraying a surprisingly amused expression.
"Spicy mustard?" He read the label out loud, and it once again took all of her will power to not let her eyes widen and her face blush as he looked her over skeptically, seeming to be clearly very amused at her choice. "That is your favorite, and the best you can recommend?"
Oh he was totally judging her now , she could tell, and somehow –although she never really knew how- she managed to keep her expression firm and steady, cursing her luck that the quill she had to point to had to be the one with the most eccentric of flavors.
"Yes, it is. And what do you know if you don't like candy?" She replied, even though her stomach wanted to lurch at the thought of even trying that sugar quill. It must taste awful.
"Alright…." He spoke, the expression on his eyes clearly one that seemed to be greatly questioning her choice of flavor, but deciding not to fight her in the matter. Sigrid opened her mouth to say something in return but another voice suddenly interrupted them.
"Thranduil! I found them!" A cascade of silky dark hair suddenly appeared around a corner, a delicate pale arm wrapping around Thranduil's as thin hand held up a transparent bag full of something that appeared to be some sort of chocolate covered candy. The girl's eyes suddenly flickered in her direction, surprise evident in her face as she offered Sigrid a polite – yet not very friendly- smile. "Who's your friend?"
For the first time she saw a look of surprise cross Thranduil's expression as he opened his mouth to speak but not really saying anything. Of course he did not her name, why had she even thought he would.
"I'm Sigrid." She introduced herself, holding out a hand that much to her surprise the stunning girl standing in front of her took. "We're not really friends, I was just helping…" she blabbered, as she always did when not knowing what to say.
"Alexis." The girl said, and she felt glad to be interrupted in her blabber. Of course she had already known the girls name. And still, looking at the dark-haired chaser from a closer distance she somehow managed to look even more beautiful than she had the night before. Her eyes were the palest shade of green she had ever seen, hidden under perfectly curled and thick eyelashes. She was tall, but still shorter than Thranduil himself, and every single part of her body seemed to have been cut out perfectly by expert sculptors.
"Should we go?" Alexis' pale green eyes looked up at Thranduil, a pearly smile adorning her already striking face, and she saw him silently nodding his head as he took the little bag of chocolates in his hand, along with the spicy mustard flavored quill, and turned to heat towards the counter to pay.
She felt incredibly stupid as she stood there for a while, waiting for a couple of students to stand in the line first before she too headed towards the counter to pay. She did not want to stand right behind Thranduil and his girlfriend as they made the line, she already felt plain enough by simply being in the same room as that girl.
"Next in line?" she looked up from her wondering thoughts as a short, funny-looking witch called from the other end of the counter, and she hurried in her direction, her eyes quickly flickering over Thranduil and the stunning girl who were currently paying at the other counter. Alexis still had her arm looped through his strong one, but this time he too had an arm wrapped loosely around her waist as his other hand took out of his pocket what seemed to be handful of galleons.
"That will be ten sickles." The witch's voice made her attention turn back to her and she nodded her head, sticking her hand into her pocket, only to find it empty. Panic rushed through her as she let her hand search through every single corner of her pocket, and then search the other one as well. Nothing. She must have dropped what she had when that bunch of Ravenclaw girls ran her over on the street outside.
"Ten sickles, miss" The witch repeated, clearly getting somewhat impatient there waiting.
"I…"She started, letting out a long sigh before simply shaking her head. "Never mind, I guess I'm not taking it. Thanks." She said feeling disappointed. How could she have lost her money?!
Biting her lower lip and sticking her hands in her now empty pockets, Sigrid turned around and headed towards the door. She would just have to ask Eowyn to pay for her lunch and she would just pay her friend back at the castle. Well, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but still she would not be able to bring Tilda anything. She guessed her sister would forgive her easily for it. It didn't take her long to reach the door, softly pushing it open and shivering slightly as the chilled wind immediately filtered in.
"Miss!" Someone tapped her shoulder, and she turned around only to find the funny-looking witch that had helped her at the counter holding a brown paper bag for her to take. "You're leaving your sugar quill, dear."
"Oh, I didn't…" She hurried to explain apologetically, but the short witch interrupted her once more, dropping the bag on her hands.
"The young man paid for it." She said, pointing with one of her bony hands to someone outside in the street before quickly turning around and heading back towards the counter, leaving her standing there, halfway in and halfway out of the renown candy shop. Her eyes quickly looked up in the direction the witch had pointed, finding no other than Thranduil's back as he walked farther and farther away from the shop, an arm still wrapped around Alexis' tiny waist.
Here's the next chapter! Sorry for the long wait! please let me know what you think of it!
Also thank you so much to Yami for reviewing! really thank you thank you thank you!
Xoxo
ButterPen
