Effy-
It's been about 15 minutes since James left. I look down at his wand in my hands. It's a really pretty one. It's quite long and it slightly bent at the bottom. I can tell that it, like mine, is made of Holly. I wonder what's in it. I'll ask when he comes back. It's another 8 minutes before he comes back. He slides the door and I turn to look at him from where I was looking out the window. I smile. Then realise that there someone with him.
"See I came back." he says moving into the compartment to realise none other than Fred Weasley is standing in the doorway; staring at me I might add. I try to ignore the intense look he's giving me and turn to James who's putting his trunk away.
"I never doubted you for a second." I lie.
"Sure, sure." He says telling that I'm lying. He looks at Fred. "Fred." James growls at him. Fred seems to snap out of it. He pulls his trunk inside and slides down right next to me.
"Sorry, it's just your eyes are just so amazing. I can't believe I never noticed before." He says as I blush at the comment. Before I can thank him, he speaks. "Fred, Fred Weasley." He says sticking his hand out for me to shake. I that a breath and shake it.
"Effy Zambini." I say.
"I know." He says with a smirk. I look at Fred a little closer. He has soft red hair and even softer deep hazel eyes. His hair's short and I realise that for a redhead he doesn't have any freckles. He has broad shoulders and like his cousin, is very tall. He lets go of my hand and stands to put his trunk away.
For the rest of the trip we all talked about things; Quidditch mostly. Fred was impressed with my Quidditch knowledge. When the train stopped a good 3 or so hour later, James insisted yet again that he carry my trunk as well as his own. I felt eyes follow me the entire way down the train; even we reached a door and got off. I heard the whispers and I felt the glares that come my way.
"Oh my god, is that James and Fred, why are they with the monster?", "Stupid bitch, oh my god why is he carrying her bag!", "What the fuck, why aren't they scared?", stuff like that. But who can blame them? I am walking to school with the two most popular boys in school. I'm actually trying to figure it out myself. I woke up this morning friendless, human contact-less, dreading school. Now I've had a relatively enjoyable train ride, and I feel like I've at least some sort of friend. Fred slings his arm around my shoulders, I stiffen in surprise. He looks and me and smirks.
"Don't listen to what they're saying, we never do." He says. I laugh and nod.
"Yeah Ef, don't worry about everyone else, you've got us now." James says, I look up at him.
"Thank you." I say smiling up at both of them.
Once off the train we start to look for a carriage. I walk to the front of it and stroke the Thestral on its neck. It flinches a little at the touch but after a moment settles and presses it head into my palm. I smile to myself. I've always likes Thestrals. There quite elegant, despite what they represent. I feel it's warm breath on my fingers as I stroke closer to its nose.
"I know they're there, it's just weird seeing you stroke thin air." James says from behind. I find that I'm surprised that he's there. I turn to smile at him.
"I bet, but if you could see them then I would be sad." I say thinking about why I could see them.
"Effy, don't.." he start, I cut him off.
"Here give me your hand." I say grabbing his hand, placing it on the thestrals dark mane. James looks apprehensive and i can't help but smile.
"It's soft." He says in the utmost surprise.
"Yeah. They are highly misunderstood creatures." I say letting go of James's hand.
"You sound like Luna." He said smiling at the invisible animal.
"Luna?"
"Friend of our parents, she runs the quibbler with her dad." He said as though this was a funny memory and he was reciting it.
"Is that the wife of Professor Longbottom?" I ask putting two and two together.
"Yeah, Christophers mum." He said pointing to a blonde haired boy carrying a guitar on his back. "I think he's a bit of a hippy, but you can't blame him, i mean look at his parents. One loves plants and the other believes in the unreal."
"You sound like a hippie when you say stuff like 'unreal'" Fred mentioned from atop the carriage. He lounged on there like he hadn't a care in the world, lucky bastard. Then Fred's eyes flicked up and a mischievous smile spread across his face.
"Yo Sirius, your lady friend is coming this way." Fred called maliciously. James and i both turned around to see who was coming, but i'm pretty sure James knew who it was. There, walking towards us was the tall, model sized, blonde haired, blue eyed, goddess that was Ramona McLaggen. She was the schools up and coming Queen B. (B for Bitch) She was of course highly sought after but the schools general male populous. I'm not lying when i say that she is gorgeous. She does not have fake anything, except maybe her personality. She is a Gryffindor which for her is great, Gryffindors are born leaders, brave, witty and are (if you have famous parents) mostly very popular with everyone. Like i mean this chick has dated a couple of the rich Slytherin guys. No joke, the bitch is good. So it should be no surprise that she is associated with James. He is a Potter, known for being the on of the schools most sought after heartthrobs, doesn't hurt that he is now Quidditch captain.
She walks up to us and doesn't even look at me, just walks straight up to James, with a smirk that can only be described as, smouldering, and says with a voice that sounds like she drowned it in maple syrup or some other thick, rich substance.
"Can i have a word, James." She says with a smile.
"Yeah." James says with a shrug.
The two walk off to a distance so that we won't be able to hear them and turn to each other to talk. I sigh and climb onto the carriage. Fred smiles with glee, the dude looks like he needs popcorn.
"Is she really worth that much excitement?" I ask pulling my book from my bag and flicking to the page i left it at.
"Oh it's not like that." he says giving me a pointed look. "I'm just an observer of the complex relations of Miss Ramona McLaggen and dear Mr James Sirius Potter."
"The complex relations? Are they together?" I ask, my finger marking the spot in my book. Curiosity moving my attention away from the novel.
"No. But yet, yes." He says in a very criptive way. "They are on and off. They split before summer and they owled every so often, but the relationship is a bit one sided."
"On whose part?" I say joining Fred's eyes as they watch the couple on the ground.
" Well James thinks Ramona is too shallow, but Ramona thinks that James is Gods gift to the planet, and James likes this. It fills his huge-ass hot-ego-balloon." He said laughing at his own joke, i joined him, but less enthused.
"So James just likes being liked by someone as pretty and popular as her. And Ramona likes James because he is Quidditch captain, popular and a not to mention a Potter. Also lots of other girls will envy her, so this makes her seem/makes her feel better than everyone else. Filling up her huge-ass hot-ego-balloon." I say trying to clarify. Fred looks at me with his biggest grin yet.
"You're catching on, i didn't think about the envy thing, that's good. But do you want to know something weird?" He says looking at the two rather intensely. I don't need to answer, he knows i want to know. "They both know."
"Know what?"
"Well James knows that Ramona is only dating him for all the reasons we previously discussed. And Ramona knows that James only likes her because he think she's outrageously beautiful."
"But doesn't that bother her?" I ask thinking about how i would feel in her situation.
"No. She doesn't mind because she likes herself for all the same reasons James does, airgo, James thinks she's shallow." Fred explains. "One day they'll come down to breakfast so close and cuddly that you can't see any space at all in between them, other days, they won't even look at each other, other days they are friendly. It is a strange and rather exhausting affair."
"Yes, it sounds like." i say agreeing as i stare at the pair. They seem to be having a calm conversation.
"But my darling Effy, It is what i thrive on for gossip. Other peoples gossip if so dull and dry. As so James's, other than him being family and my best friend, his gossip is complex and there are lots of little details and things to keep up with. It's like a tv show." He says ecstatically and drapes his arm, yet again around my shoulders. I stiffen still not used to human contact. But he doesn't seem to mind.
"Most of the gossip is about your family anyway, it's hard for it not to be."
"Ah, you speak the truth my little wolf pup." he says with a laugh. It was a strange comment. My werewolf lifestyle had never been used like that. I look at James and Ramona and wonder what they are talking about, then the carriage in front of us leaves which means ours will leave in about a minute. They both realise and come back and climb into the carriage. They both sit on the opposite bench to Fred and I. Fred looks gleefully at the two, yet doesn't ask. Obviously waiting till it was polite to be impolite.
"How was your summer Fred?" Ramona asks in her rich voice.
"Lovely." He said his gleeful tone almost gone. His posture too had changed, he now sat further back in the bench and slouched nonchalantly. "How was yours?"
"Absolutely amazing." She said and then launched into a ten minute, one sided discussion about why it was so amazing. I'll summarize.
France, Spain, New York, California, Thailand. With lots of shopping money.
After this considered waffle, which i thought would be rude to read through as much as i would have liked. There was silence. It was broken again by Ramona. Bloody chat-a-box.
"So when are quidditch try-outs?" She asked James, which gave me time to raise and eyebrow with Fred, who joined me in the motion. She said something useful, ok, maybe she wasn't so bad.
"See today is Sunday, so on Wednesday." He said looking at the sky as though a calendar was up there.
"Are you excited to boss around Fred." she said playfully winking at Fred who i don't think could help but blush. This did earn a malevolent grin from James -who had been mute and expressionless the whole ride- aimed at Fred.
"Oh yes." He said only looking at Fred, then an idea hit him. "Effy you should try out!"
This did not sit well with Ramona. But i think she decided it was better not to insult me in front of James.
"I didn't know you played!" She said in fake astonishment. This was not a 'I-didn't-know you-played-that-is-so-cool sort of thing. No. This was a I-didn't-know-werewolves-were-aloud-to-play-quidditch. Or a, I-didn't-know-you-liked-falling-from-high-heights thing. She was being fake nice, Fred knew, by the look James gave her, he knew, but know one said anything.
"Yeah i've been playing for years." I said meekly.
"So you should tryout." Fred said encouragingly.
"Yeah." James Chimmined in.
"Maybe." i said giving them a small smile. "My style of flying is a little strange."
"Cool." Rred said putting his feet up on the adjacent bench. I sighed and flipped open by book and began to read, stuff being polite, she wasn't why should i? This gave Ramona the opportunity to talk to James in excess about her 'absolutely amazing' holidays.
I don't think i'd ever been so happy to get off that carriage and enter the great hall.
James-
I don't know why i keep her around. I guess the douchebag inside me likes that she's incredibly pretty and popular and that she is, for lack of a better a word, easy. I just never really feel like dating anyone, so having her around solves that problem. She is labelled as my girlfriend. That is not to say we don't constantly cheat on each other. But we hardly argue and i would be lying if i said that she is a bad kisser. But did she ever bloody shut up? The talk before the carriage had been her saying she wanted back in and myself graciously obliging. i know i sound like a sleaze but if you met her, you'd understand. Which makes me sound even worse. Fred was flicking through a comic and Effy was reading. I watched her read, i stole glances. She looked very pretty sitting there and reading. Her long black curls resting in there gallant waves.
Once inside the castle i felt as though i could finally breath. I had always found Hogwarts to be a welcoming and warm place. Never had i ever really thought of it as school or a home, it was more like this was my life. Hogwarts was my life, well right now anyway. That and Quidditch. Once we dropped our bags in our dorms, Fred and I made our way down to the dining hall. We'd left Ramona with her friends and Effy said that she would come and find us. It had been Fred who had asked her to sit with us and diner and maybe meet some people, but i didn't think our friends or family would be as welcoming as myself and Fred were. But they always do surprise me. But this thought is swallowed by the when i saw my cousin Roxanne standing in front of me, with a look that i had learned to associate with pain and a strong were just about to round the corner that lead to the great hall when we were stopped by Roxanne. Roxanne is Fred's twin but they couldn't be anymore different. Roxy and Fred not only look totally different but their personalities are totally different too. Roxy is very forward when it comes to conflict. But if you piss Fred off then he'll achieve his revenge in the most mischievous way possible, and you won't even see it coming. So this is Roxy, making a scene, yet again.
"Hello Roxy." Fred says in a very bored tone.
"What's this i hear about you hanging out with Zambini?" She barks. Oh, of course.
"What of it?" I ask starting to feel uncomfortable.
"What do you mean 'What of if'! James! Zambini is a werewolf. Jesus! What do you think I'm talking about?"
"So what Roxy?" Fred says, i can see that he to is uncomfortable and offended by what Roxy had said. "Effy Is a lovely girl. Maybe if you gave her a chance, you'd see she was pretty great."
"You've only just met her!" She said her voice getting more angry.
"So. We don't have to know her that well, but we can tell that she's pretty awesome. She's our friend and we will stick up for her. Just give her a chance Rox." I defend.
"It's not worth the risk." She snaps and storms off into the great hall.
"Well that could have gone better." I say folding my arms and sighing.
"She can be such a bitch sometimes." Fred growls and stalks off after his sister. I follow him, and for the first time in my entire time in hogwarts i didn't join my family for the first meal of the year. It was like tradition, we always sat together at first meal. But Fred and i could see that the rest of our family were being told by Roxy what had just happened and for the first time i didn't feel welcome by them.
"Come on dude." Fred said as he pointed to a free spot away from our family. We sat. We knew some of the people around us and talked about our holidays and stuff with them, but the conversation seemed to die away when Effy slid into the spot next to me.
Dinner turned out to be much better than i had thought. Effy was funny and so was Fred, so we were all soon laughing at each other and the sadness that had started to grow inside me soon didn't matter and was disintegrated. It didn't take long for people to realise that we were voluntarily sitting and laughing with Effy. Some of the people next to us came into our conversations. They were less open and happy to talk to Effy then Fred or I, but that didn't matter. I could see in Effy's eyes that she was happy. It hit me then that she was such a genuine person. She didn't want to be my friend simply because i was popular, or i was Quidditch captain, or i was the son of Harry Potter. She was my friend because i was me. I looked at her as she laughed at Fred's joke, and it was like the world went into slow motion. All i could hear was her chime-bell laughter, and she seemed to glow under the candlelight from the ceiling. The sides of her eyes had crinkles and her smile was so big and gleeful that it was infectious and ridiculous. She seemed filled with light and warmth. Her hair shone in the light. The whole atmosphere changed. She noticed me staring and turned to look at me. When she saw i was smiling she gave me a knowing smile that made my toes tingle and my palms clam-up. She leaned over and gave my hand a squeeze and mouthed two words. 'Thank you.'
When i look back at this point in my life, far in the future, when everything is so different and everything is done. When i look back at this point, with her hand on mine and her smile being etched in my brain. I look back and realise that this was the point, this was the point i started to fall. When i started to fall for Effy Zambini.
Sorry that this has taken so long.
I don't know even know how long it has been. But i do love this story and i will be better at updating from now on. So please review it and tell me what you think!
Love Kitlily.
p.s. I have plan, shit will be explained.
