Notes - I'm going on holiday tomorrow so I won't be able to write or upload for a week but I'm going to try to write another chapter and upload one later today :)
Chapter Seven – Things I Almost Remember
Song for the chapter – Once Upon a Dream – Lana Del Rey Version (for the darkness of it)
A while had passed and exams had been and gone. They had a week til they had to find out how they had done which wasn't worrying Fred and George at all, in fact they were that happy that they were already planning a prank on Filch to celebrate, but Ora was incredibly worried. However, she wasn't worried about the prank, in fact it was the only thing she was excited about, it was her exams. She thought that she hadn't done well even though she had studied every night up to the first exam and then crammed before each other one.
"You've done fine! In fact, I bet you've done brilliant!" Fred replied to her worries when they were sat next to the lake as the twins and Lee tickled the tentacle of the squid who lived there.
"Really? How much?" George said, getting serious.
"Guys! Can you not bet on my exam results being shit or not!" Ora said grumpily.
All three nodded at her but then turned to each other and Ora could have sworn she saw money change hands but she didn't care enough about the bet to attempt to stop it again.
"I think I'll go and see how their last exam went," Ora said offhandedly to the group and nodded over to Harry, Hermione and Ron who were sat under a tree, talking.
She walked over to them and they seemed to stop their conversation when she arrived, "Hi guys! How did your last exam go?" She asked.
"It went really well!"
"It was bloody awful!"
"I don't know whether I studied enough to get an amazing grade but we'll see."
She got a chorus of answers and replied, "Great! Apart from you, Ron. I can't imagine your mum will be happy when you give her that answer, you should probably change it."
"You're right. Er, it went amazingly!" He said unconvincingly, but it was enough to subdue the topic as they talked for a bit but Ora sensed they wanted to continue their conversation from earlier so she left them to it and walked back to Fred, George and Lee.
"Let me guess, Hermione did well, Ron didn't and Harry wasn't sure?" George asked, unusually interested in his brother and friends' exam results.
"Yeah, why?" But before Ora got a reply she saw them exchanging money, "Oh, you were betting." She got nods back before turning her head back to the Golden Trio, "Do you think they're up to something?"
"Nope." Lee said.
"Who cares?" Fred and George replied together.
"Well, what if it's something serious and they get into trouble? You know they were the ones that set fire to a professor's robes and took on a troll, and the year's not even over yet, don't you?" She asked rhetorically.
"They'll be fine!" Fred said, reassuring her.
"I think I preferred it when you were worrying about yourself," George added.
"What if it's something dangerous, which based on the other events, it more than likely is!" Ora asked with worry in her voice.
"So what? They can handle themselves, I promise!" Lee added to the discussion this time.
"Okay, but if someone gets hurt, I'm killing all three of you." Ora said as they laughed at this, believing it to be a joke until Ora added, "I'm being serious." And they abruptly stopped.
After tickling the squid had become boring to Fred, George and Lee, they stood up to go to the Gryffindor common room and Ora trudged after them.
Her worrying from the day before seemed to slip from her mind the next day as she woke up to her room-mates shouting 'happy birthday' in her sleeping face.
"Ugh, why would you wake me?" Ora asked, turning over onto her back.
"Ora, it's your birthday!" Kimbra shouted once more, hoping it would sink in this time.
They all stared at her closed eyes for another twenty seconds before she quickly sat up and shouted, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!"
They all laughed at her and she immediately got washed and changed and ran downstairs. She was excited because, not only was it her birthday but, it was also the day that Fred and George had planned their prank on Filch and this was their birthday gift to Ora.
When she reached the bottom step, she saw Fred and George were not there even though they had arranged to meet ten minutes ago and they were usually on time. So, she made her way to the Great Hall and was about to sit down before she was tackled into a hug from behind by her brother.
"Happy 14th birthday, sis!" Walt shouted in her ear.
"Thanks, Walt!" She replied through laughter.
"Here's your present!" He was still smiling while he passed it her.
She quickly unwrapped it and smiled with joy at what she saw, it was a huge assortment of goodies from Honeydukes and were all her favourites.
"Thank you!" She said as she opened a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and handed him one.
She also took one for herself and they looked at each other, waiting for a reaction from the beans they had eaten.
"Ew, that was horrible!" Walt said while spitting it out.
Ora laughed at her brother and said, "Bubblegum flavour!" And then stuck her tongue out at him rather childishly.
"I got sick flavour." Walt said with the same disgusted expression he wore when he first put it in his mouth.
"So, what have you got from lover-boy?" Walt asked in a mocking way.
"Shut up, Walt! And him and George are giving me the gift of laughter with a prank they set up on Filch! It's not happened yet though. In fact, I've not seen them yet." She said while looking at the Gryffindor table and noticing that they still weren't there.
"I wonder where they are." Walt added, also looking confused towards the table, "Anyway, I better get back to my table, they're having a celebration of sorts in the Slytherin common room to celebrate getting through our first exams for the first years and the last exams for those in their 7th year."
"That's great! So, are you making friends again?" Ora asked.
"No, but I'm going to the party anyway!" Walt said, laughing as he spoke.
Ora then laughed with him and they separated ways.
She sat near Harry, Ron and Hermione as they all beamed at her and bid her a 'happy birthday'.
"Thanks." Ora replied sullenly, wondering where Fred and George were.
"What's wrong, Ora?" A voice from behind her asked.
"Missing us?" Another voice asked, and she immediately recognised the voices as Fred and George.
"Where have you been?!" She asked as they gave her slight hugs and sat on either side of her.
"We were just tying up a few ends to our prank for later." George said in cheeky way.
"Happy birthday by the way!" They shouted together.
She laughed and thanked them before turning her attention to the owls that had flown in delivering post.
Ora became excited as she noticed three different owls land in front of her, one of them belonging to her parents who decided to buy an owl from Diagon Alley when they bought Jude for her so they could send letters to her without waiting for Jude to arrive with a letter first from Ora.
But, the other two owls, she recognised as owls that belonged to the school and wondered who within the school was sending her letters and a package.
She opened her parents letter which read,
'Dear Ora,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We hope you have an amazing day! Try not to get into too much trouble with Fred and George, we don't want to remember your birthday in years to come as the day that you got expelled! I think you'll find the present is to your liking!
Lots of love,
Mum and Dad
xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Fred and George were reading it over her shoulder and laughed at the part about getting into trouble. Clearly, Ora's parents knew the twins too well.
They turned back to Ora who was opening her present quickly. It was a new jumper that she had asked for and a new book about clairvoyance and the connections it has with mythology. This was, of course, a muggle book and therefore the information would largely be incorrect but she was interested in it, nevertheless.
She then looked at the other two letters and one package that remained and opened the one that had come without a package first. This read,
'Dear Ora Fia Wrenne,
I must admit of my liking for you through a letter brought to you on your 14th birthday. I hope you don't think this to be strange but my parents would not approve of me openly admitting my attraction to you, not to mention this attraction could pass over the summer. Within this letter, I simply wanted to make you aware that you are liked a lot by someone you know and to wish you a happy birthday.
From,
Z
xxx'
Fred and George had been reading this as well and turned to Ora with fixed expressions, George's was softer and was beginning to change into a smile but Fred still did not look happy.
"Oooooo! Who'd you think it's from?!" George questioned attempting to hold in his laughter.
"If this was part of your prank, it's not funny." She replied seriously, looking between Fred and George.
"It wasn't, we swear!" They said in synch as they held their hands up in surrender.
"Then who is it from?" She asked curiously, looking through the letter once again.
"What's wrong, Fred? Looking a little flushed." George asked his twin, despite knowing why he looked flushed.
He was angry and confused. Who was this 'Z' person and why were they admitting their love for his Ora? 'No', he thought, 'she's not my Ora'.
"Nothing, I was just thinking who it could be." Fred replied in a sad, quiet sort of voice which Ora hadn't seemed to notice.
She tossed the letter into the pocket of her robes quickly and then went to open the other letter.
It was a small, simple note that said,
'Ora,
Happy birthday,
from,
someone who wishes you the best.'
This confused Ora even more so than the love letter. Who could this one possible be from now?!
"That's weird." Fred said.
"I'd say it was more mysterious." George added, thinking about it.
Ora then looked around to see if anyone was watching her open her parcel to attempt to catch those who had sent it. This was because it was obvious that the people that had sent her these things must have been within the school as they used the Hogwarts owls.
But who was it? This would annoy Ora to no end.
"Open your parcel!" Fred said with anticipation to what she had been sent.
"Okay, okay!" She replied as she opened the parcel to find a small box sat before her.
The dark blue box was square with slightly rounded corners and had gold, curly patterns on the lid.
"What is it?" George asked interestedly.
"You know it may surprise you, George, but I don't have x-ray vision." Ora answered sarcastically.
She then opened the box which turned out to be a music box which became evident when a sound began playing due to the lid being lifted.
The sound sent Ora into a daydream. She knew this music. She remembered this song. She could almost hear the lyrics in her head but could not put them together; they were too scrambled. But the words mixing in her head now constructed one of the lyrics, 'There's a land that I've heard of once, in a lullaby'. It fitted to one part of the song and she wished she could remember the rest of the lyrics but that wasn't what was on her mind at the minute.
I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream.
What she was thinking of now was, why did she know the song? It wasn't a song she had heard from the muggle world. So, why did she know it?
I know you, the look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam.
Apparently she had sung the lyrics out-loud as Fred and George were now making comments about that they had never heard her sing before and that she should sing more for them.
"This isn't the time to be thinking about singing." She started, "Who sent this? I don't know that song but at the same time, its in my memory somewhere."
Before Ora could ask more questions which would only confuse herself further, professor Dumbledore had made her jump, "I hear it is your birthday, Miss Wrenne? I hope you are not planning anything too… wild." He said behind her which made her, Fred and George turn around. He seemed to pause in the middle of the sentence to turn to look at Fred and George, clearly knowing that they would be planning something crazy for her birthday.
"And, what is that you have? A present?" Dumbledore asked whilst motioning to the music box.
"Yes, sir." She said, handing him it to look at.
"It's beautiful. It's strange." He said earning him strange looks from the trio.
"Strange, sir?" Fred enquired.
"You see, I seem to have seen this before, though I'm not sure where." He replied.
"That's weird, I feel the same, though I recognise the song in it." Ora said, looking up at the headmaster.
"It plays music?"
"Yes, sir." He gave it her back to work the box and then the tune played again.
Dumbledore seemed to be flickering between emotions, he started with a face of recognition, then surprise, and then his face returned to normal before moving his eyes to look at the teachers table and then back to the trio.
And I know it's true, that visions are seldom all they seem.
Finally, he said, "It's enchanting."
"It is, isn't it? I can't help but wonder who sent it though." Ora replied.
"Hmm, yes. Very strange." And then said goodbye and went back up to the teachers table.
"What was that about?" George asked Ora.
"Not a clue." She answered, looking genuinely confused.
They then continued eating, chatting and speculating about who had sent the letters and the parcel until they reached the end of the discussion and set off towards their first class of the day.
To say it was Ora's birthday, she was incredibly bored. She had a full day of lessons with not even an hour free apart from at lunch.
Luckily, Fred and George were in all her classes that day and so they tried their best to make it as fun as possible which put Ora in a great mood.
It had come to the end of the day, they had eaten their dinner and were going to the common room, or that's what Ora had thought.
As the common room came into view, a staircase changed direction next to them and they moved and walked onto it which confused Ora until she realised what was happening.
"Ah, is this my birthday present?" She asked with a mischievous look on her face.
"Yep!" They replied in unison, both smiling at her.
She then became very excited and couldn't wait to see what this prank was.
They reached Filch's office and hid behind a corner to ensure the coast was clear before continuing round the corner and away from his office.
"Wait, I thought we were pranking Filch?" Ora muttered with her hands on her hips.
"We lied!" They said together once again.
"What?! Are you joking?! Why not?!" She asked too many questions for the twins' liking so they put their hands over her mouth and told her what would happen so they could talk without her interrupting or asking unnecessary questions.
"We're blowing up a toilet?!" She relayed their plan back to them in one sentence.
"It's gonna be amazing!" George said excitedly.
"We've learnt what spell we're going to use for it and we're nicking the actual toilet as well! We're just blowing it away from the wall it's attached to and then running around the corner and hiding with the toilet and watching Filch's face when he hears the commotion and sees what we've done!" Fred added.
Ora laughed at this and suddenly got excited thinking about it as they were almost at the toilets that they were conducting their prank in.
They walked into the toilet and picked which one they were taking. Fred and George said the magic words and waved their wands and the toilet became detached from the wall. The two of them ran up to it, picked it up with great difficulty and then they ran to a corner they knew they would be safe to stand at without anyone noticing.
When they were hiding, Ora couldn't help but sense the closeness her and Fred were sharing at the moment. They were brushed up against each other and Ora could feel a shiver crawling down her back instantly.
But if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.
They didn't have to wait long before Filch came running down the corridor and into the bathroom. He came back out ten seconds later looking very angry and frustrated and then ran away, presumably to get a teacher.
Fred, George and Ora ran away as quickly as their feet would take them and jolted into the common room, with Fred and George taking their toilet upstairs to sit next to their beds before coming back down to Ora.
"That was great, guys! Thanks for the amazing present!" Ora was still crying with laughter.
"You're welcome, Ora!" They shouted together, also laughing.
All three of them talked well into the night before they decided it was time to go to bed.
"Thank you for today, it's been crazy, weird and awesome!" Ora said before going upstairs to bed.
She reached her bed, got changed and laid down with thoughts swarming into her brain. Who was the love letter from? Was it a joke or was it serious? What sent the box and what did it mean? Why did she recognise the tune? And as her eyes began to close, the lyric she remembered rang in her head once again, 'there's a land that I've heard of once, in a lullaby'.
The next morning, Ora woke with the tune still stuck in her head which was immediately forgotten about when she heard shouting downstairs.
She got up, got dressed and made her way down to the common room, finding, what seemed to be the entirety of the house causing a commotion.
Ora waded through the crowd and found Lee stood next to Angelina and Alicia chatting to each other.
"What's going on?" She said them.
"You haven't heard?" Lee asked.
"No, I've only just woke up."
"It's mad! Harry Potter defeated Quirrell!" Angelina spoke loudly, over the sound of the crowd.
"What?! He attacked a professor?" She asked.
"No, no." Alicia began telling Ora about Voldemort being attached to the back of Quirrell's head and that he was after the philosopher's stone, that also had to be explained to her as she didn't know what that was either.
After Alicia had finished telling the story, Ora suddenly looked very worried.
"Wait a minute. Voldemort was on the back of Quirrell's head the entire time?" Ora began, "We threw snowballs at Voldemort! Oh shit."
Fred and George laughed from behind her as she turned and smiled realising it was them, "You are bad influences. We threw snowballs at the Dark Lord. That is pretty amazing but also if he ever become ruler of the world, we're totally dead."
But if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.
They laughed at her comment, when Fred interrupted, "We're going to see Harry to cheer him up, wanna come?"
"Sounds good!" Ora answered.
They went to the hospital wing and asked to see Harry and Madam Pomfrey allowed them to, providing they left within ten minutes.
George and Fred set the toilet down next to Harry's bed, but only after Madam Pomfrey had disappeared behind the curtain of someone else's bed, so the twins could bring it in.
After five minutes, Ora proposed that they left considering Harry was unconscious and it didn't look like he'd be waking up for them so they backed at of the door to ensure Pomfrey hadn't seen them leave and made them take the toilet back.
As they walked down the corridor away from the hospital wing, they heard shouting and some mild cursing.
"Oh shit, that's Pomfrey!" Ora said and before they could run away, she appeared at the door and asked that they remove the toilet from Harry's bedside.
They did as they were told with annoyed looking faces and abandoned the toilet somewhere on the grounds, thinking that they didn't need it anymore.
The rest of the day went by very fast and not much had happened, apart from a lot of rumours spreading about Harry Potter and what had happened that fateful night.
When Ora reached her bed that night, she was kept awake by the conversation she was having with her room-mates about the whole Quirrell/Voldemort thing and therefore didn't get much sleep.
Ora awoke to a similar conversation that they were having the night before and decided she didn't want to hear anymore of it and got changed and left the room.
Ora, Fred and George met each other in the common room to go to breakfast and were talking about packing, the year that had gone by quickly and what they were doing over the summer. They were leaving tomorrow and, as much as they all wanted to see their families, they would miss each other a lot and wouldn't see each other for another three weeks, when Ora came to the Burrow to spend some time with her favourite people.
They reached the Great Hall, had breakfast, chatted with Walt and made their way to their first lesson of the day.
The day went by pretty slowly as it was one of the worst days regarding the lessons she had. There was no potions that day, and two hours of Charms which Ora didn't appreciate.
When it was time for dinner, they went back to the Great Hall for the last dinner they would have that school year and sat down at their usual spaces on the Gryffindor table, with Ora looking over at Walt and giving him a wave which he returned.
The fact that this was to be the last time they ate the scrumptious food that Hogwarts provided for dinner until next September was not the only thing that made everyone on the table look depressed that evening; it was also due to the fact that Gryffindor was coming last in the House Cup this year and yet again, Slytherin was going to win.
Dumbledore stood at the front of the hall and everyone fell silent as he said, "Another year gone! And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were… you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts…"
"Hey," Ora began to whisper to Fred and George, "You already forgotten everything we learned?"
"Yep." They said together.
"Did we even really know it in the first place?" Fred added the last bit.
Dumbledore continued his speech, "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."
All the Gryffindors moaned at this, including Ora, Fred and George who seemed to over-act this and groaned the loudest when Slytherin was mentioned.
"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin. However, recent events must be taken into account."
"Oh shit, maybe this means Slytherin won't win?!" Ora muttered.
"We can only hope." George replied still staring at Dumbledore.
"I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes… first – to Mr Ronald Weasley." Dumbledore continued on.
Everyone in the room was now staring at Ron, who looked like he was about to burst from the redness spreading across his face.
"...for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."
Everyone cheered, but no one clapped as much as Fred and George, who were incredibly proud of Ron, though they would never admit it, but it was very obvious to Ora.
Percy then began to shout how proud he was of Ron and all Ora could think was, at least the twins are proud in a quiet, non-embarrassing way.
"Second – to Miss Hermione Granger… for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty-points."
Everyone on the table cheered yet again and Ora couldn't help but look back at Malfoy to see what his reaction was at this – a muggle-born getting awarded. She took pleasure at the view she saw, he was looking very disgruntled and annoyed.
"Third – to Mr Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."
"YES!" Ora shouted, along with many other people sat around her. They had drawn with Slytherin which wasn't a win but at least Slytherin weren't the only winners this year.
Suddenly, Dumbledore's hand was raised to quieten the room, which immediately happened.
"Don't tell me there's more points..." George said quietly to Ora and Fred as they nodded.
"There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."
Ora felt a siblings kind of love for Neville since she first met him, and found him to be extremely clumsy which only made him seem more adorable to her. That's why she stood up for him as much as she did outside the library earlier in the year. He was a second brother to her and to Walt.
So, when it was announced that he had been responsible for budging the points up enough for Gryffindor to win the House Cup, Ora couldn't have felt more proud for Neville.
In fact, she stood up and walked slightly down the table to Neville who was looking very nervous and embarrassed and hugged him tightly. Many people then joined in and all in all, Neville got a year's worth of hugs within the space of a minute.
When everyone had finished hugging Neville and had sat back down, Dumbledore ended his speech, "Which means, we need a little change of decoration." And with that, he clapped his hands together and the hangings changed from the Slytherin colours to the Gryffindor ones which made Ora very happy.
"Look at McGonagall and Snape!" Fred said to George and Ora.
They turned their heads and saw them shaking hands, though Snape looked thoroughly displeased.
But, when Ora, Fred and George had got back to celebrating, McGonagall and Snape had finished shaking hands and Snape turned to look at Ora.
He watched her jump up and down with glee and hugging everyone in her house in site and for a moment, he actually felt glad that Gryffindor had won that year.
I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream.
I know you, the look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam.
They ate their dinner and everyone made their way to their own common rooms, with Ora, Fred and George being one of the first back to theirs.
"Today's turned out to be pretty amazing!" Ora said, still excited that they had won the House Cup.
"We agree!" Fred and George shouted together, clearly sharing the same emotion as Ora.
They then went on to talk about how the Slytherins had looked when they found out they were second to Gryffindor and then moved onto the topic of those who won them points and then decided it was time for bed.
They bid their goodnights and Ora made her way to her comfy looking matress, changed and laid back, thinking about the day that had passed.
Her mind was still very much focused on who had sent those letters and so she thought about that for a while, but her mind quickly changed to focus her attention on what had happened today.
And I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem.
How amazing it had been to see the Gryffindor colours across the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall and how proud she was of Harry, Ron, Hermione and, of course, Neville. With these being her last thoughts of the day, she went to sleep with happy memories entering her head.
But if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.
