Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters, settings, plots, ect…blahblahblah. I DO however own all my lovely OC characters and, of course my own twist to the plot. I ask you to please play nice, and not steal, or I shall have to complain to your mother.
IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE:
As this story is now a year old, the plot has altered slightly in my head, and will most likely continue to change. I have made small adjustments to many of the chapters, as well as gone back and revised all of them. No major changes other than the fact that Eric is now a Hufflepuff. I'm sorry, but he just wasn't meant to be a Gryffindor. Thanks so much to Banana-Hater for reminding me that I had left the story for like, what, six months? So sorry! Also, thanks for the input from White Alchemist Taya. Thank you to ALL reviewers! You have NO idea how much I lub u! I hope you all like how Nichole's first week at Hogwarts goes!
Chapter 10:
The Exciting and Amazing First Day of School at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy
Okay, so she lied. Nichole had anything BUT a dreamless sleep. Infact, she had a quite dream-FUL sleep. If that was even a word. The result was the typical nausea and headache that she got after every 'vision' she had. Fortunately for poor Nichole, the symptoms were getting less severe as time wore on, and she was able to just sit in her bed and wait them off, instead of having to run to the bathroom and puke her guts out like the first few times.
The timing for this vision could not have been worse, as Nichole was already significantly nervous of the fact of starting a new school. A magic school. And this vision did not make her feel any more confident. In fact, it did the complete opposite.
She was sitting in a cold, dark room; a classroom of some sort, she thought. She was sitting in between Neville and Lisa, at benches with cauldrons placed on them. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat at the table to her right. She was busy following the instructions that were on the blackboard, to make some sort of concoction. She knew this professor because she had seen him over the summer and been introduced to him. He was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. He had an aura about him that made Nichole slightly uncomfortable.
There was a group of boys sitting on the far left side of the room, talking amongst themselves and laughing quietly. Nichole wondered why the professor did nothing to discipline them, as he had been strict with the rest of the class. She let her head fall back down to her paper, when she heard one of them address someone in her vicinity.
"Mudblood!" The comment was whispered loudly, so that it could be heard from her distance. She looked around for the source, and for receptor of the comment. It was a new word she had never heard before.
"Hey Mudblood!" Nichole's head swiveled around to the group on the other side of the classroom. A pale blond boy with icy eyes was staring right at her. She quirked her eyebrow, as if to say, what? He spoke again. "Yeah, you blondie! I bet a muggle like yourself doesn't even know what a 'mudblood' is. I'll be nice and tell you. It's a name for a brainless bitch like yourself who doesn't belong here!" The group of boys all sniggered, as if they found the blonde boy's comment absolutely hilarious. Nichole's mouth dropped open before she could control herself. She didn't even know this kid, and yet he was being so rude to her.
"I think your face must be spending too much time up our dear old Potion Master's ass to come out with shit like that ferret boy! Nichole's twice as smart as you, so you'd just better watch it!" Nichole turned to Lisa, surprised. She didn't even realize her friend had heard what was going on. "Don't be concerned about Malfoy, Nichole. He's a vile prat. No one likes him other than his own gang of Slytherins."
"Girls! I'm very sure what you are discussing is of the least importance. How dare you disturb my class! You, Miss…Caligan is it?" Nichole nodded. "What can you tell me about The Draught of Peace, other than what I have already generously explained in class of course?" Nichole remembered reading about The Draught of Peace in her textbook over the summer, as well as in some other books she had picked up out of interest. She told Professor Snape all she could remember about them, which was a fair bit, and got her a look of amazement from Lisa, as well as Harry, which somehow made her feel very pleased.
"…However, some learned wizards might say that this potion is slightly controversial, as it is a mere alteration of a potion quite its opposite, The Elixir of Energy. The key ingredient is simply changed from an acidic substance, like dragon's blood to a more basic ingredient, like moonstone for example, reversing the effect. It's believed-"
"Miss Caligan, this classroom already has one insufferable know-it-all, your friend Miss Granger. If you wish to share your pointless amount of useless knowledge, then do so in her company, and do not waste my time with it." Professor Snape's face was contorted in a look of disgust. Harry continued to glance back at her, and when she turned to look back, he turned to look back at the professor. At this point though, Professor Snape placed a sadistic smile on his face before turning towards Harry and speaking, "However, Miss Granger has failed to make Mr. Potter's homework acceptable. Perhaps since Mr. Potter seems so eager to divulge his attentions in you rather than my lectures, you may be more successful in this field." This comment made a good lot of the class roar with laughter, while Nichole, Harry and Hermione were scarred with embarrassment. Though Lisa and Neville were some of the few that seemed more outraged that amused, Nichole saw some of the people she knew were in either her or Harry's house cracking up. Lisa shot the Potions Master a dirty look before turning to Nichole.
"That bastard! He's another Slytherin, like those boys over there. They're all full of crap, but especially him. He's the Head of the Slytherin House. All the other students hate his classes for this specific reason. He always picks on the Potter boy, Granger and Longbottom in our year, but I also heard he made a third-year Hufflepuff cry." Lisa's kind words helped, but she could not push the laughter out of her mind.
Nichole had woken up at about three in the morning after the vision, with a splitting headache. She sat up and put her head in her hands. She sipped a glass of water from the bedside table, being careful not to wake anyone. After a few minutes, her headache had subdued, but was still dreadfully uncomfortable. She fumbled in her nightstand for some of the extra-strength Advil she had brought with her. If they didn't help with her headache then she didn't know what would. Shami walked up to her and nudged her hand with her nose. Nichole looked down at her through her fingers, and reached out to pet her.
However, the headache was the least of her prolems, what Nichole was really worried about was her vision. Nichole knew what she could do, though she did not particularly want to do it. Dumbledore had told her, and she had seen herself, that the future, the visions she saw that is, were only possibilities, not fact. The thing that made Nichole uncomfortable was that she had no idea what the other possibilities were. At least if she stuck to this horridly humiliating path, she knew what would happen. Whereas if she altered the path she had been shown, who knew what could happen! She could make things even worse for herself, or others for that matter! Dumbledore had mentioned her taking on the responsibility of altering the future's course for the better, but being careful of what she changed. How on earth was she supposed to know when to meddle and when to leave the world at peace?
But what if she could make things better…
"Argh!" Nichole groaned, as she smushed her face into her fluffy pillow. She rolled over on her side, pouted her lip, and blew out a puff of air, that blew her stray hairs out of her face. She hated making decisions. But, she thought, it was likely that this was not going to be the last time she would have the opportunity to slightly alter the course of her life. She decided to sleep on it…for another couple hours at least, and make her decision in the morning…
"Wake up Nichole! Wake Up! First day of school! First day of school!"
"Ugg. Leave me alone to die Sar…and by the way, you sound like…Nemo."
"Nemo?"
"The fish dude from Finding Nemo…hence the name Nemo."
"Oh yeah that's your favourite movie!"
"Yep. G'Night…."
"Come on! Get UP!" Sarah was poking poor Nichole, just a little too enthusiastically, and consequently, she got a roar of anger when she poked a little too hard, and pushed her friend right off the bed.
"You are an annoying cow." Okay, so maybe not a roar of anger, but still.
"You know, on the first day of school, they usually have the house elves cook a great breakfast. Bacon, and pancakes, and pastries, muffins, cakes, French toast, fruit salad…"
"Cake?"
"Well, yes, among other things. Like once they had these divine eggs benedict and-"
"I'm up!"
"Hehehe…"
"What Sar? What could possibly be so amusingly funny at this hour of the morning?"
"Your hair."
"Oh god, it's not…"
"Yep. Heehee, here I come, I'm gonna poke you!"
"NOOOOO! BACK WOMAN! BACK!"
"Awww, wittle Nicole is scared of a wittle shock?"
"YES DAMNIT!" Nichole ran backwards to avoid Sarah's outstretched finger, hair sticking out at all angles, and nearly fell over. In attempt to salvage her balance, she grabbed onto the corner of the wall… "OOWW!"
"Alright, if you tossers will just hurry up and get ready, we may be able to actually eat something before classes start. And that's saying something. For all we know, you tarts could have Divie first!"
"Divie?"
"Divination. Trelawney may be off her rocker, but she hates tardiness. She likes to predict early deaths of lazy students. Unless of course you end up in the Potter kid's class; she loves to pick on him." Lisa spoke through the comb in her teeth as she pulled her short platinum blonde hair into gazillions of little ponytails all over her head.
"Professor Trelawney is NOT off her rocker! I am outraged that you would say such a thing! She is a professional, and very acquainted with her medium. And if you ask me, I think Harry Potter will have an unfortunate end as well."
"Izzy!"
"What? He had an unfortunate start, it seems only likely that the poor boy will crumble before anyone else. I mean, he has almost died every year he's been at this school! Anna's gang has a pool going how much longer he's going to be puttering along!"
"Anna's in Slytherin."
"What, so now she just doesn't count as a person?"
"We are getting even further into our already deep hole filled with lateness, and horrid marks for the rest of the year…"Lisa's voice droned over top of Mandy and Isabelle's arguing.
"Hmph." Mandy let out a puff of air, and glared over at Lisa before screwing up her eyes and speaking. "Right. Now I forgot what I was going to say."
Nichole reached into her toiletry bag which she had not yet unpacked and begun to attempt to run a brush through the extreme afro-ness which would be called hair had it looked differently.
"Nichole…"
"WHAT?"
Sarah jumped back at Nichole's snap, but continued. "School starts in half an hour."
"WELL THAT'S J-JUST P-PERFECT ISN'T IT! OW! DAMNIT! SARAH GIMME YOUR B-BRUSH RIGHT NOW!" Nichole burst into tears as her hair brush got entangled in her mass of hair, and given a good tug, promptly broke in half. She looked like a mad-woman in a rage. Hair sticking out with a piece of wood stuck in the back, and splinters stuck everywhere. Her eyes were blazing, but at the same time, drippy and her hand shaking as she held it out expectantly.
"Right! Now I remember! Nichole, there's a simple spell to fix that. I have the same problem all the time. Here, I'll do it today, but remind me to teach it to you. It's quite handy. It makes your hair all into perfect ringlet's without combing or anything."
"Alright then," Nichole plucked the wooded pieces out of her hair and walked over to Mandy.
"Loczek Chiwla!" Mandy waved her wand in a helix cal motion over Nichole's head, and a shower of gold and blue sparkles fell on her head. It was all good until the unbearable pain set in.
"MOTHER FU-wait it's gone!"
"Yea, sorry, I maybe shoulda warned you about that. It bugged me the first couple of times. You'll get used to it. What's a little pain with so much gain?"
"I guess. Thanks!" Nichole turned around to face her mirror. Her hair was perfectly in place. She knew for a fact that to do this manually would have taken at least half an hour.
"I will put my fist in my mouth if you tarts aren't ready in five minutes."
"Come on guys! I don't wanna see her do that again! It's revolting!"
The girls quickly got dressed and grabbed their book bags before bolting out of the dormitory.
"Argh. Do we always have to wear these things? These skirts are so ugly and these potato sacks are not very safe. You could trip over them and fall on your face."
"You'll get used to them. You only have to wear them during classes, but Fridays we're allowed to wear whatever we want under the robe."
"Well that's nice. I just spent $150 on Seven jeans. You know how many disgustingly littered movie theatres I had to clean to earn those? I sure as hell better get to show them off!"
"You have seven pairs of jeans? No wonder your trunk's so big!"
"No-no, Seven is the brand name. $150! I think that's about, what 75 galleons, right Lisa?"
"That sounds about right."
"Argh. Whoever the hell is up there, is not being very nice to me this morning." Nichole bent down to tie the shoelace of her shoe, which she had tripped over, and nearly fell down. Just as she bent down her head, a blast of purple light flew over her head, and blasted into the stair railing at the point where Nichole was standing seconds before. Nichole screamed and fell forwards onto her face. She slid down a few steps before straightening up and turning around.
Two girls were standing at the top of the girl's stair case. The one on the left was taller and had curly strawberry blonde hair. The one on the right was more petite, and had long straight black hair. Nichole recognized these girls from the night before at the feast. Now that she had got the 411 on them from the girls, she wasn't surprised to see Cho holding a wand in her right hand. Mandy turned around and stared up the staircase, her eyes filled with hatred.
"I never thought you'd stoop so low as to have your tiny little bum sticking straight up in the air!"
Cho stared back at Mandy with a conceited smirk on her face. "How dare you speak to me so rudely! I've done nothing to deserve such behavior. Imagine, after the most horrid summer of my life, I get this on the first day back!" There was a false tone of despair in her think voice. The last word had barely escaped Cho's lips when when Mandy shouted right back at her. If the blast in the staircase hadn't already caught the attention of any last stragglers in the common room, then Mandy's shouting certainly did. The students watching had obviously completely forgotten about the time, and stood frozen with their mouths hanging off their hinges. Nichole simply assumed, from the atmosphere, that despite how much Mandy hated Cho and Marietta, that this did not happen often.
"You tried to bloody-well blow poor Nichole to pieces!"
Marietta strode down the staircase with extreme poise, before stopping infront of Nichole. She placed her hands on her hips and stared down her nose at her. "I'm terribly sorry Nichole, but it was an accident. I bumped into Cho's wand arm and," she gave a short, sarcastic laugh, "Well, you know the rest of the story. Lucky you were tying your shoes at the time." Her bright blue, almost purple eyes glinted with mischief as she spoke.
Lisa was the furthest down the stairs, and was meticulously picking at her nails, seemingly bored. Nichole stood up, and was about to apologize for the trouble, as she was rather intimidated by Marietta, when Lisa spoke. Her voice was louder than usual, but kept its sophisticated tone. "Why don't you keep your bullshitting mouth where it belongs? God knows you'd make a much better profit."
Marietta's mane of hair swished as she turned her head 90 degrees to face Lisa instead of Nichole. Her brown eyes narrowed. "Watch it Turpin. Things are different this year. I complain to the right person, and there are serious consequences for you. I trust that you won't be crossing me again, is that right?"
Nichole noted that her voice had lost its sugary touch, and had dropped considerably in pitch. In fact, she looked simply evil, like one of the devil's minions come up from hell. Marietta brushed past Lisa and continued down the stairs and across the common room to the mirror. Cho followed suit without another word or glance back.
"Good Morning Miss Caligan. How are you enjoying out wonderful school so far?"
Nichole smiled. She resisted the urge to laugh, for this tiny little man came only to her waist, and had a high, squeaky voice. "I like it so far." Nichol was lying through her teeth when she said this however. The incident in the common room this morning shaken her more than just a little.
"Your timetable Miss. I've got you first, so be sure not to be late!" She glanced at the first column. Monday.
Charms. Potions. Potions. Lunch. Divination. Defence Against the Dark Arts. Defence Against the Dark Arts. As she finished scanning the rest of the page, she heard groans erupt from alongside her.
"I can't believe we got landed with that perverted bastard on Monday morning!" Mandy reached across the table and grabbed Lisa's timetable from her clenched fists.
"Ew. For two periods too. Bad luck Lis. But, hey, I told you you should have taken Muggle Studies, then we'd have the same timetable. What'd you get Nichole?" Mandy's eyes widened as she scanned the paper. "Ouch. Well, at least you share some classes with me today. Speaking of which, we should be going about now."
Lisa led Nichole up several flights of stairs and down two left turns before entering a brightly lit classroom that was half full of students already. The two girls took places halfway up the aisle as the tiny professor from breakfast entered.
"Hey, Lisa, what's that little guy's name again? He's the same proffessor that handed out timetables."
"Oh, that's Flitwick. He's also the Head of Ravenclaw. He's very nice, so long as you don't piss him off too often. Then, it's bad marks for you."
Nichole nodded. Wishing to make a good first impression, she opened her Standard Book of Spells Grade 5 to the introduction. She titled a piece of lose leaf Intro to Charms with a brand new pen. Lisa watched with a smile on her face as she wrote Monday September 2nd, 2005 on the upper left corner.
"Okay, first of all, you should buy some real parchment soon as possible, or you may find your homework walking right off your page; same with your muggle pens. The words may simply sink right into the paper." When Nichole continued to look at her with a blank stare, she continued. "There's so much lose magic around here that unprotected muggle objects are very easily tempted. After all, it's so much more fun for the words to go floating about, than to just sit on a page all day."
Nichole nodded in comprehension. "Second?"
"Oh yes, as I said before, Flitwick's a nice guy, so therefore hardly ever makes us read or heaven help, write notes. We mostly just do spellwork."
Nichole swallowed. That was most definitely far, far out of her comfort zone. Nichole could take excellent notes, and she could memorize most anything. She didn't have a problem practicing spells alone by herself, or with Hermione there to help her, but here, in front of everyone?
If she made a mistake, everyone would see…
"S-Spellwork?"
"Yea, we learn lots of funny little things in his class. Like last year, we learned a charm to de-boogie your nose! It was quite funny. However, we usually just review on the first couple days."
Nichole's mind was now frantically scrambling to remember all of the spells she had so hastily memorized over the summer.
"Good morning class! Hope your summer was alright! Now, today we start your OWL year…"
Nichole was absorbing everything that Flitwick said, but she was also reviewing every spell she could remember in her head. If everything about these OWL exams were true, Nichole was in for one hell of a year.
"So, today, we will be reviewing Summoning Charms! There are cushions in that box over there. Get to it!"
Summoning Charm? Summoning Charm.
SUMMONING CHARM! THE SLEEPOVER!
"Shuddup. Here, try this, the summoning charm. More complicated but-"
"More complicated! That's a fourth year charm you idiot! That's impossible for her, she's never even passed first year!"
"So anyway, the incantation is Accio, the object you are summoning. Watch. Accio book."
The Captain Underpants book flew from the blanket at her side, to her hand.
"Neat."
"Nichole, bad things can happen when-"
"Just ignore her, GO!"
Nichole looked around the room for a target, she then spotted Sarah's stuffed pink bear sitting on her bed beside her.
"Accio bear." The pink bear flew into her outstretched arm, while Meghan and Sarah stared at her in amazement.
"Shit. That's some funky stuff you've got going on there."
Nichole was laughing inside at the wonderful memories of that night. That was the time when her life had completely changed. Forever.
"Nichole? Did you hear? My god, you do know how to do a summoning charm right?"
Nichole's head snapped up. "Wha? Oh. Yes, of course. Accio Cushion," Nichole had barely flicked her wrist, and mumbled the words without even looking in the direction of the cushions. Nichole looked around the room, hoping beyond hope that her spell had worked. How humiliating would it be if she was the 'new kid that failed the review class'? Nichole's head was turned to the right, facing the bookshelf on the far side of the room when out nowhere…
"Ugh!" The cushion came hurling at her head from the other side of the room.
Lisa broke out laughing. "Wow. Guess you're not the morning type person. It's unfortunate that we'll have Potions first thing on Wednesdays."
"No I am definitely not a morning person. I can never pay attention in school until about 10 am. Something that could be potentially problematic this year."
"You mean it wasn't in the past?"
"Let's say I have a freakish mind, and a talent for memorizing things. Except for French verbs of course."
"You studied French in that muggle school? I remember a bit from when I went to France for Christmas break a few years back. It's such a beautiful language."
"And beauty does know pain."
"Girls! Now I don't mind a bit of chit-chatting, but I would prefer if you were to concentrate a bit harder on your work as well!"
"Yes Professor."
An hour and a half later, Lisa and Nichole had met up with Hermione, Harry, Ron and Neville for their Potions lesson. Nichole was shaking, inside of course, with just a tad of hand-twitchiness. She had her plan set. She was here to learn, that was the purpose of school. And that is what she would do. She would ignore all of the Malfoy boy's whispers, and keep her head down to avoid scrutinization by Professor Snape. It couldn't possibly go wrong! Her plan was foolproof. If the professor hated know-it-alls, then she would give him no reason to think she was one. She was standing beside Lisa, slightly apart from Harry, Ron and Hermione. She caught a bit of their conversation before the dungeon door slid open to reveal the dreary, dark classroom Nichole had seen in her dream.
"Honestly Ron, you are so tactless!"
"Me? Tactless?"
"You were attacking her about her Quidditch team for goodness sake!" Ron and Hermione continued to bicker as the group found their way to their seats near the back of the class.
It wasn't until Harry muttered, "Oh, shut it, the both of you already!" that they hushed and took their seats. Nichole watched the scene from the next table over, which she shared with Lisa, and Neville. The class remained silent as they set up their cauldrons. When the class had stopped shuffling, and all eyes were upon the Potions Master, he spoke.
"Before we begin today's lesson, I find it of the utmost importance to remind you that you will be writing your OWL at the end of June. As I only accept the top students into the NEWT class, some of us will very surely be saying goodbye." He looked straight at Neville as he said this. Neville, dropped his head, and fidgeted with his wand under his desk. Though Nichole had already heard this lecture once today, she listened intently, and waited for the instructions to appear on the board. Once Nichole started making her potion, her hands began shaking as she waited for the rude whispers to begin from the other side of the classroom. As she was allowing her potion to simmer for seven minutes, she opened her Potions textbook to the index to find some information on Moonstones for the essay they had been assigned.
"Mudblood!"
Nichole did not acknowledge the whisper. She continued to read as the calls went on.
"Hey, Mudblood!"
"Ow!" A paper had suddenly hit her in the side of the head. She turned toward the source. The blond boy was to blame of course. She sent him a death glare before turning back to her book.
Two minutes later, another paper ball hit her in the head. Fed up with the results of her 'foolproof' plan, Nichole bent over to pick up the paper. Her curiosity overruled her logic, and she opened the paper. As soon as she read what was on it, she wished she hadn't. Her hands shook as she read the note. It wasn't just mean, like her vision had been, but the note was stuffed to the brim with evil and hate!
Dear Blondie,
You must know what a mudblood is? If you don't you must just be far beyond stupid. You should pay me respect, because I could make your life a whole lot more difficult if you don't. You know a man named Micheal? Cause I know a few things about him, and I know that it's all your fault he's gone.
So long for now Sweetie,
XxOo
Nichole glanced over at the Malfoy boy, the note still held tight in her hand. Micheal. How on earth did he know about her father? He couldn't possibly know about his murder. And surely not why he was murdered? For she didn't even know that. Determined, Nichole grabbed her quill, and wrote underneath the message.
Not that it's any of your business, but what do you know about this 'Micheal' person?
She levitated the note with her wand under her desk over to the boy. She watched as he smirked, then grabbed his quill to write back. After a few short scribbles, he tossed it back to her, obviously not scared of detection from the professor.
First, don't play dumb with me. You suck at acting. As for what I know about him, as if I'd tell you. I will tell you this though.
You have no one else to blame for his murder other than yourself.
Oo-Oh. Did the nasty boy make you cry?
Nichole stared at the note. Her beliefs now were confirmed that this boy was bluffing. She knew that Voldemort had murdered her father, no one else. She had heard Dumbledore tell her mother herself, in that vision nearly a month ago.
"Mrs. Caligan, I'm sorry, but we've found his body just this morning. I believe that the Death Eaters acted on previously gathered information from Voldemort. They were most likely trying to get information on your ancestry, and possibly your daughter from him using barbaric methods."
Unless…could it possibly have something to do with her?
Nichole didn't notice Professor Snape standing over her until it was too late. "Miss Caligan, passing notes on the first day of class? Tisk, tisk. I'll have you know right now that I do not tolerate this type of behaviour in my classes, nor do any of the other professors at this institution." He held out his hand expectantly for the note. Nichole handed it over. He scanned the page, then looked down at Nichole. He turned to Malfoy and spoke. "What is the meaning of this! How dare you! You-" he turned back to Nichole, clearly angry now. "Both of you, to Dumbledore's office THIS INSTANT!"
Malfoy appeared outraged, and the rest of the class had looked up from their work, muttering among themselves.
"Malfoy?"
"-never-"
Malfoy spoke, a whine in his voice, "But sir, I-I."
"GO! And you, Miss Caligan, to make up for your disruption of class, you will write me a four foot long essay on the Draught of Peace for tomorrow." Nichole opened her mouth to speak, but Professor Snape cut her off. "You may use the rest of the class time you will be missing to get a good start on it. I expect nothing less than exceptional work from my students. You may leave."
Nichole numbly got her books and left the class, trying very hard not to cry.
Kicked out of class on her very first day? AND it was her fault her father was dead. Maybe ignorance was bliss. Nichole now wished very much that she had never meddled with her future-past now. As Nichole shut the door to the dungeons, she slumped against the cold stone wall. Out of nowhere, Malfoy appeared in front of her. He stood with his arms crossed, looking her up and down.
"Great job, getting us kicked out of class, mudblood."
Nichole gave a frustrated cry, she was soo tired of this little shit.
"Excuse me? Me get us kicked out of class? Who was it that was chucking paper all over the classroom? Who started it? And how dare you speak to me as if-as if I was some sort of-second-class citizen! You-walking around like you own this whole castle! And using such rude words like that! Haven't you ever-" She was cut off as Malfoy shoved her against the stone wall. His face was barely inches from hers, and she could fell his breath on her neck as he spoke. His left hand was on her shoulder. If gripped her tightly, and was pulling her blouse to the side, making her feel self-concious and uncomfortable. His other hand held her upper arm tight against the wall. He was glaring at her with the utmost anger. Infact, Nichole was beginning to feel just a little scared.
"You just have no idea what you have just done by letting Snape see that note, do you? Do you know what was in that note! How important it was that no one else, especially him, see it!"
"I-I don't understand. You were just-just bullying. How is that so important-other than now the teacher knows you're a-a mean boy with a horrible temper!"
Malfoy just stared at her. "You think I was bullying you? That's what you think?" He started laughing quietly.
"Well-yes, that's what Lisa said that you were a-a not very nice person, and what else was I supposed to think when you go tossing the word 'mudblood' around everywhere."
Malfoy quirked his eyebrow, and looked slightly taken aback. "You-you know what a mudblood is? Turpin told you about me already?"
Nichole rolled her eyes, and without thinking, rambled on. After all, it was rather hard to concentrate with him pressed up against her so close, and no matter how nasty he might be, Nichole had to admit, he was rather attractive. "Well, yes, Lisa told me all about you just now and you yourself told me all about m-mudbloods." She had glanced down at her blouse, the buttons on which were beginning to become strained, and she wondered just how much Malfoy could see from his vantage point.
"What? I never-Lisa wasn't even talking to you. You were too busy being a perfectly behaved student writing and everything…"
Nichole's eyes widened. Ohhhh shit. Had she really just mixed up the two potions classes she had seen? How could she be so stupid!
Nichole fidgeted under his strong hand, "I-um, nevermind, so, about this note. What's so important about-about it?" Nichole's blouse was slipping off of her shoulder, and the top couple of buttons were becoming very tight across her not-exactly-small chest. "You know what, actually, first-you-you kind of, kind of, have me-um… Could you please move your hand." Nichole looked down, blushing.
Malfoy glanced down at her shoulder where his hand was, then pulled her blouse back onto her shoulder and moved his hand to her arm. "Well, I'm terribly sorry for being so ungentlemanly."
"About the note…" She trailed off, and stared incredulously at him. The boy had stepped closer and was blatantly starting down her blouse. "Excuse me! Do you mind?"
"Well, see, Snape will tell my father what I said in that note about Micheal, and, well, I'm not exactly supposed to know, especially not tell you of all people about what I learned eavesdropping..." Malfoy had not even bothered to look up from her blouse as he spoke, and as he dwindled off, he moved his head even closer, his hair now brushing her forehead.
Nichole breathed in sharply. She could not belive this. She was practically being raped in the hallway of the school! She tried to shove his head away, but could barely move her arms because of how he had positioned her under his arms. At second look, it appeared as if he was looking down her blouse with some sort of…intrigue was it? "Malfoy! Have you no shame!" She lifted her knee, and stepped on his toe, causing him to jerk and stare at her face again.
"This…" He moved his arm to her neck and pulled on the silver chain which was attached to the silver raven pendant.
"Hey!" She lifted her now free arm to swat at his, but he elbowed her small wrist away.
"This…You actually have it. Where did you get this? Do you know what this is?"
Malfoy was looking her in a very strange way, as if he'd seen her in a new light.
He was looking at her old necklace as if it was a precious diamond or something. I mean, it was expensive and nice, but seriously, a man staring at a piece of jewelry like this made her almost question whether he was gay. "My grandma gave it to me, not that it's any of your business, you homo." She grabbed it from his hand and attempted to shove it down her blouse where it belonged, but he stopped her by grabbing her wrist.
"Your grandmother gave you this?"
"Yes. Will you please let go! You're hurting me!"
He softened his grip. "You have to be lying. You found this in some antique store in England, or worse, you must have stolen it!" He spat the words out on her face.
"No! Why would I do that! It's been in my grandmother's family for years!"
Malfoy dropped her wrist. "So you could say that it's some sort of family heirloom."
"Well, sure, but I wouldn't use a fancy-shmancy word like that."
Malfoy appeared lost in thought. His face had a look of disbelief plastered on it as he rambled on, "So that's why! Bloody hell this is going to be interesting. So you're not a muggle-born then?"
Nichole scowled. "What's why? And yes, both of my parents were muggles."
"Well, see, I was just being an old tosser saying that it was your fault your father was dead, but maybe as it turns out, I'm actually right. And as for your parents-well, your mother that is, being a muggle, that's what you think."
"That's ridiculous!"
"No, it really might be true! I-well I can't tell you, father will disown me."
"You know why my father was killed by You-Know-Who?"
"That, I do. And I can tell you that it has a lot to do with that old antique. And also, have any strange dreams lately? After all, now that I think about it, it seemed like today you almost knew I was going to be harassing you, so you tried to ignore it." He quirked his eyebrow at her.
This was just so not fair! Malfoy knew more about her than she did! And he had just met her. But he had heard a lot about her by the sounds of it, from his father? But how did his father relate to all this mess? "How does your father know that my father was murdered, and why? And how do you know so much about me?"
Malfoy now began to look uncomfortable. He let her go from his grasp, and she was now standing freely against the wall. "That's not for you to know. How come you're so stupid anyway? As for that other stuff, like your necklace, most wizards would know, they just wouldn't believe it. I guess you could say it's some sort of legend, most believe it to be myth. So did I until I heard my father-"
"Legend about my necklace? Wait-stupid!"
"Yes, legend. God, are you deaf too? And you don't know anything even about yourself! Any wizard that knew anything about that necklace you've got wound around your neck would not take it lightly to be skipping about so carefree while wearing it. Especially if-never mind, you have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?"
Nichole pondered for a moment. "No, I really don't. But, it would be nice for you, or anyone for that matter to tell me!"
"I can't. If someone found out I told you…I don't even know what would happen to me. And besides, I can't be the person to tell you."
"But no one will! Do you have any idea how frustrating it is knowing everyday that there is something about yourself that you just can't figure out! Every day more and more weird stuff happens to me that I can't explain. The more questions I ask, the more questions I get! Dumbledore attempted to explain things to me, but he just gave me more questions to answer! And god, don't even get me started with my mother! And the way everyone is acting is just making me feel like there is some horrible…I don't know…curse, hanging over my head!"
"When your grandmother gave you the necklace, did she say anything else about it?"
"Well, she gave me a letter that she said would explain everything on my sixteenth birthday."
"There's your answer. You'll find out everything you need to know then."
"Why won't you just tell me!"
"Because! The story behind that necklace will not have a happy ending for you! There's a reason that the secret is kept from the wearer for so long. It is kept from them until they are deemed mature enough to accept the responsibility that will be placed on their shoulders. Your shoulders. Besides other reasons, tell me, how gifted are you at decision-making?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, for example, if there were two people you loved on the verge of death, and you could save one, but only one, how would you chose which one to save?"
Nichole cringed, and remained silent. She looked down at the ground.
Malfoy smiled. "That's what you should work on. You're going to have to learn how to make decisions, and not regret them. You will have to be confident, and strong. That's why I can't tell you, and that's probably why Dumbledore won't tell you. Have you ever heard the saying 'ignorance is bliss'?"
Nichole smiled. "Yes."
"Well, stop being such a bumbling, worrying idiot, and just forget about it!" He heard the commotion inside the potions classroom. "Good luck on your paper. And by the way, sorry for getting you in trouble, I was just…well, it's not important." He turned and walked down one of the other dungeon hallways leading deeper into the school.
"Wait! What's the other reason?"
Malfoy didn't turn back, instead he hung his head and stared at the cold stone floor. "Because I already know what it's like to have someone dictate your destiny to you, and you be helpless to change it." He kept walking, and when Nichole saw him turn a corner, she sat down in the hall and waited for the potions class to adjourn. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were some of the first few students out of the classroom. Meghan followed with a couple of other Gryffindor girls. Nichole smiled and stood up to greet them.
"Fun class?"
Meghan bounded into her and gave her a big hug. "Oh yes! It was just wonderful to see you get kicked out of class! It was priceless! And I love potions here, if you can set aside the fact that the prof is totally fagetted asshole! You get to make such interesting stuff, not just like, Easy Bake Oven, like at home! Nichole, I actually gutted a newt! Isn't that cool?"
Ron looked at Meghan in shock, then turned and said loudly to Harry so that everyone could hear, "Merlin, and we thought Hermione was mad."
Nichole laughed then spoke, "You'd better watch it Ron, Meghan has quite a violent disposition."
"Shall we go to lunch?" Hermione asked. She turned to Lisa and Nichole, "You guys are welcome to join us if you want."
Lisa shook her head. "I actually have a charms club meeting, and I know Mandy does too. But, why don't you go ahead and meet up with Sarah in the Great Hall, and you guys can all hang out."
"Yeah, do you know what her last class was?"
"No, maybe Arithmancy or Herbology?"
"Well, if you see her, tell her I'll wait for her in the Great Hall!" Nichole called, as she strode in the opposite direction from Lisa, heading towards the front entrance of the school."
Nichole sat down at the Gryffindor table along with Sarah, who met up with them outside the Great Hall. After they had finished eating, Nichole groaned. "Well, I guess I should go and get at least a start on that paper before Divination."
"Yeah, honestly, we all know he hates Gryffindors, but what's he got against you?"
"Ronald, don't speak poorly of your professors!"
"For bloody Merlin's sake, it's not as if he can hear you Hermione!"
"Well, I can hear you, so I suggest you watch your language!"
Harry rolled his eyes, "So do you want some help with your paper, Nichole? I'm not gifted at potions, but maybe you'd want a tour of the library?" he looked down and blushed. Why did he want to be alone with her? It wasn't as if anything could happen, she'd made it clear that she was committed to her relationship with Eric. And besides, even if something could happen, maybe it wouldn't be advantageous for Harry to initiate it. It wasn't as if he didn't want something to happen, it was just a matter of him being confident enough to actually get the job done. "I'd just love to ditch the old married couple for an hour or so."
Nichole flashed him a smile and moved her arm off of Eric's to grab her bag from under the table. With a quick kiss on the cheek, she stood up from the table. "Thanks a bunch, I really appreciate it." As she turned to speak with Eric, she did not hear the conversation between Harry and Ron
"The library? The bloody library? Don't you think that's more of a job for Hermione?"
"Well, Hermione seemed to be a bit preoccupied. And it's not like anything is going to happen!"
"Well, I should hope not, after all, she is dating my cousin whom I don't even remember, so I'll be sure to kick your arse if anything does."
"Oh please, Ronald! Will you behave yourself!"
Nichole and Harry had settled themselves at a table in the large Hogwarts library, and were surrounded by the musty smell of books. Much to Harry's delight (hahaha) he had helped her locate the potions section, and she had found a variety of volumes on The Draught of Peace. Unfortunately, after only writing down the date, title, and some preliminary notes, conversation had drifted from the topic of potions. For the past thirty minutes, Harry had explained every aspect of Quidditch that he could, to Nichole.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure about three of the Ravenclaw team members left last year. They'll probably be holding try-outs. You should go."
"Well, I'm not much of a…sporty person. I mean, I love dancing, but that's about it. I am very sure that me attempting to fly a broomstick could be charged as first-degree murder."
"Hey, how about I teach you how to fly? I'll tell you, it's nothing like that horrible ride from the Dursley's. Leisure flying is much more fun."
"Yeah, sure that sounds great." Although Nichole replied enthusiastically, her heart was not in it. Her mind dwelled on her discussion with Malfoy. She thought back to her past conversations with Dumbledore, as well as her mother. What could everyone be so intent on hiding from her?
Even though she knew it was wrong, and selfish, Nichole took refuge in spending time alone with Harry. He experienced strange things as well, and he had told her how many secrets had been kept from him in the past years. Nichole had still been unable to tell her friends about the visions she had, yet she was able to tell Harry. Even though she had only known him for a few months, Nichole felt a strange sort of bond with him. They had not talked about the night with the Dementors since the day after it had happened. Nichole had a lot of wonderings, and even if Harry could not answer her questions, she thought it would at least be nice to talk about them.
"Harry…does Dumbledore keep secrets from you? I mean, of course he does, he doesn't have to tell anyone anything. But…does he keep secrets about you from you?"
Harry laughed, "Well, if I don't know about people keeping secrets about me from me, then I mustn't be Harry Potter. When I was eleven, the whole of the wizarding world knew everything about me, and I had no clue. And that's just the beginning. But Dumbledore…Yeah, I think he knows a lot more about…you know Voldemort and me kind of stuff then he lets on."
"Doesn't it bother you?"
"I guess it does to some degree, but on the other hand, I really trust Dumbledore, and so I figure if it was all that important he'd tell me. But…I dunno…lately he's been acting strange, not even making eye contact with me most of the time. I would've thought that after last year…"
"The graveyard; you still see it sometimes don't you?"
"How…how'd you know?"
"Well, a while back, in one of those weird dream thingies, I remember being in your room one night, and hearing you talking about…about that boy…named Cedric, and Voldemort. At that time I thought you were just some crazy sleep-talker, but that was before I knew anything about…well, anything, as it seems now!"
"Yeah, I did see that night a lot over the summer. But now I have even stranger dreams. About long corridors and doors that are always locked. They make no sense really."
"Well, they must make some sense! After all, I thought the first few visions I had were just pointless dreams, and when they actually happened, I just deemed them as coincidences."
"I guess. What do you think they mean, Miss Dream Expert?"
"I am far from an expert, I mean, I am totally flunking the 'Using Visions Wisely' class. Just look what I did today?"
Harry looked puzzled. "What did you do today?"
"Well, if I would've just ignored the vision I had last night, and gone about my day as planned, let's say, that I would be a bit shaken, but not nearly as humiliated as I was getting kicked out of class. Oh, and I wouldn't have learned a whole new bunch of stuff that now I just really wish I didn't know!"
"So, you had a vision about Potions class today…last night?"
"Yes."
"But you didn't like it, so you decided to change it?"
"Exactly."
"But then you ended up making it worse."
"Right as rain."
"And I thought I was the only freak in this school."
"Well, you are most certainly wrong, I think I may be even more of a freak then you are!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"We should probably continue the 'Biggest Freak in Hogwarts' contest later, or we'll be late for the winner of the 'Stupidest Class in Hogwarts' contest."
"Divination?"
"Yes, maybe she'll take to predicting your early death today."
"I take it you mean the professor? Does she really do that to you?"
"She's a crazy old bat, it doesn't mean anything, or I would've been dead by the time I was thirteen."
"Aren't we actually doing dreams? We had to buy The Dream Oracle."
"Perfect for you."
"No. Waste of time for me. I already know what all my dreams mean, seeing as I don't have to interpret them. I see them as they are…I mean…will…be. How odd does that sound?"
"Not as odd as mine."
"How are yours odd?"
"Well, I forgot to mention, well, ok, didn't mention, that my…my scar kind of…twinges after the dreams. In the past when I've had pain from my scar, it's been because of Voldemort."
"So you think that your dreams have some link to Voldemort."
"I'm almost certain."
"I would say tell Dumbledore, but if he's as useful to you as he is to me, he'll give you more questions, and no answers."
"Now what's he not been telling you?"
"Oh, loads of stuff, I don't even know where to begin."
"Well, it's a long walk to the North Tower."
At seven o' clock that night, Nichole was seated at a desk in the Ravenclaw common room. She was surrounded by books she had signed out from the library, and was busily working on her essay for Snape. Professor Trelawney had not predicted her death in Divination class. In fact, she had hardly acknowledged her, which was fine by Nichole. The class had been assigned a Dream Diary for homework, which Nichole was not intent on keeping, honestly, at least. And Nichole was sure that Harry was not keen on describing his recurring dreams of corridors and locked doors in a school assignment as well.
Thinking of Harry, Nichole supposed he might be done his detention with Professor Umbridge by now. This afternoon, in Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Harry had been thrown out of class, and given a weeks worth of detention from the new DADA professor. Nichole didn't see a particular problem with her at first, though the rest of the class seemed to immediately dislike her. She had sent them about reading from the text at the beginning of class, which Nichole didn't mind. It was just like muggle school back home. However, questions started being asked as to whether they were actually going to get to practice the spells in class. When the class found out that they would not be participating in hands-on technique, a small riot broke out. Harry spoke out about 'how are we going to defend ourselves in the real world'. The professor became angry and asked him who exactly he would be defending himself from. When Harry answered Voldemort, not only did the class hush, but so did the professor.
For about a second, anyway.
Then she went on about how Professor Dumbledore was telling lies about Voldemort being back, and that Harry was just insane or something. That was when Harry had brought up Cedric Digory, and how he saw him come back. By now, Nichole was farmiliar with the whole story, but by the looks of it, Harry, had never spoken to anyone else about that night in the graveyard last year. Nichole couldn't blame him. If that had happened to her, she would probably be scarred for life, and hide in her room under the covers. But this wasn't even the first time that Harry had taken on something so frightening. Anyway, Harry had been sent off with a pink slip to give to Professor McGonagall, and the lesson had gone on without any further interruptions.
Nichole thought it was dreadfully unfair that Harry had been punished, after all, he had only told the truth. And why on earth would the ministry want to hide the fact that Voldemort was back?
The first week of school flew faster than Nichole could ever have imagined. She had divided her time between her new Ravenclaw buddies, and spending time in Gryffindor Tower Meghan, Hermione, Harry and Ron, and setting up meeting places with Eric. Saturday had come around before she knew it, and Nichole was strangely nervous about her flying lesson. She woke up early to start getting ready, though the time it took her to do her hair was cut significantly by the new spell Mandy had taught her. Though it felt like needles were piercing her skull for the second that it took for the spell to take effect, it was worth all the hair she wasn't tearing out as a result. Since it was a nice September day, Nichole pulled one of her new pairs of jeans, and a blue t-shirt. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, and applied a small bit of make-up. Just to look nice and put-together. At eight-thirty, she headed down to breakfast before anyone else in the dorm was even awake.
When Nichole entered the Great Hall, she didn't see Harry anywhere in sight. Though she was a slight bit disappointed, she paid it no mind since they weren't planning to meet for another forty minutes outside on the pitch. She headed over to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table when her stomach did a flip-flop as she saw who else was already seated at the table. Cho Chang looked up at her as she approached, and flashed her a sweet smile. Nichole made to sit down a few spots down, and across from her, but Cho spoke up.
"Nichole, come sit over here, I wanted to talk to you about something."
Nichole nervously smiled at her, afraid to make eye-contact, and slid into the bench across from her.
"Now, now, no need to be afraid. Look, if you've heard any rumors, or musings of certain people about me, keep in mind to take them with a grain of salt because you must know that everyone has different opinions and that opinions mustn't be taken as fact. I am really sorry about what happened on the staircase the other day."
Nichole looked at the girl sitting across the table. She did show remorse on her face, and she did seem honest enough. Though the things she had heard from Mandy remained in the back of her mind. "It's alright, no harm done."
"Oh, thank you! You really are very nice. Anyway, you should know something about Marietta. Now, if you haven't already heard from someone else, then you should know that she is the most evil girl in this school."
"Yeah, we already had this discussion in our dorm last night. I got the warning and all 'not to cross her or your life goes out the window' thing."
"Yes, about that. Now I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but I thought you had a right to know. She hates you. She's madly jealous, and she really just wants to see you end up like Hermione Granger, well, that's an understatement, more like Millicent Bullstrode."
Nichole gulped. "But...why? I've never done anything to her!"
Cho rolled her eyes. "Like I said, she's madly jealous. And, I mean, who wouldn't be? You are so pretty."
Nichole smiled. "Thank you. But you don't want to see my hair when I wake up. It looks like shrubbery."
"Well, you certainly handle it well. So...I've been wondering, since there have been rumors going around...what's the situation with you and Harry Potter? I mean, no one knows anything about what he does over the summer, and you, a new student, already seem to be best mates...or more with him. You can see why imaginations would run wild."
Nichole's eyes widened in fear. Her and Eric's relationship had already become strained over the summer, what with her running off to the Dursley's and all. The last thing she needed was Eric to get wind of the idea that her and Harry were doing things less than decent in their free time. "Oh no! We're just friends." Cho raised an eyebrow. "My friend Sarah is Ron Weasley's cousin. We stayed at...their house over the summer, and Harry came to visit."
At this moment Harry walked in. he spotted Nichole, and began to walk over. When he reached the Ravenclaw table, he spoke to Nichole. "Ready? I ate a while ago. I just had to run back to my dorm to grab my broom."
Cho smiled. "Oh? Going flying?"
Nichole turned back to face her. "Yes, I've never flown before, so Harry said he would teach me."
"Well, that sounds like fun. You never had flying lessons in your old school?"
"Um...no."
"Really? That's strange. What school did you go to before here anyway?"
"Oh, we were all home schooled. There were no schools near where we lived."
"Well, Harry should be a good teacher. He's the best seeker in the school. He can even beat me!"
"You're on the Quidditch team?"
"Actually, I'm captain this year. Say, if you're any good, you should try out. We're looking for a couple of chasers and a beater. I daresay, most of the Ravenclaw house is definitely not...athletically inclined, if you know what I mean. You might have a shot if you have some talent and practice. Try-outs aren't for a couple of weeks."
"Well, we'll see I guess."
"See you later Nichole."
Nichole followed Harry outside to the Hogwarts castle grounds. They made their way across to the pitch. They selected a spot on the grass, and Harry placed his broom down. He stood across from her with the broom in the middle.
"Okay, now you're going to command the broom to fly up into your hand. Don't be afraid, brooms can sense fear."
"W-Why? What do they do to you?"
"Well, in first year, Neville's smacked him in the face-" harry looked up to see Nichole's eyes widened in fear, and she appeared quite pale. Perhaps it wasn't best to inform her of the dangers of flying beforehand. "But you don't have to worry about that, this is a nice broom. Now, place your hand over the broom with your palm facing down, and say 'up'."
Nichole placed her hand. "Up?" The broom hovered about two feet off the ground, as if it were unsure what it was supposed to do.
Harry laughed. "You can't ask the broom whether it wants to go up or not. You have to command it to."
Nichole nodded, after all, how hard could that wood be? "Up." The broom flew upwards at her hand, and smacked the palm of her hand. "Ow!" Nichole promptly dropped the broom back to where it had lay on the grass. She smiled at Harry. "Oops?"
"It's alright. You had it! Just don't drop it. Hold it firmly."
"Up."
The broom again flew up to the palm of her hand, but this time, Nichole was ready. As soon as she felt it hit the palm, she snapped her fingers shut around it. She smiled.
"Good. Now there's the fun part." Nichole wasn't exactly scared of flying, after all, she had done it once before. She thought of it kind of like horse-back riding. She didn't like the fact that even though she was supposed to be able to control the horse, the horse was a lot bigger than she was. If the horse really wanted to, it could just say 'screw you lady!' and chuck her right off. Though the broom was much smaller, and made her much less nervous, she was still scared because she would be flying alone this time. "Now just swing your leg over the side." Nichole did so. "Now, you're going to kick off from the ground. Don't kick too hard, or you'll shoot right up in the air. Just a firm push is what you need."
"Um Harry, about what you said about brooms having, like, a mind of their own..."
"Oh, that's just old brooms. When they get old they sometimes develop a sort of temper. But this one's nice and young, and trust me, very obedient." He said, smiling.
"Alrighty then." Nichole took a firm push off of the ground. The broom flew smoothly into the air, and Nichole was slightly startled by the unique sensation. It did not take her long to realize that she in fact enjoyed flying very much. Over the next couple hours, Harry continued to teach her various flying maneuvers and introduced her to Quidditch. As Nichole threw her head back and laughed while soaring around the Quidditch pitch, she felt her worries flying away with the wind, but only for the moment of course.
By noon, Harry was walking Nichole back to the Mirror, and Nichole was having a war of emotions inside her head.
Was she allowed to have this much fun, and feel the way she did around a boy that was not her boyfriend?
Yes, of course she should be able to have fun around other boys.
But she should definitely be feeling so skittish.
And she should surely not be thinking 'Ohmygod! Did he just touch my arm? Did he mean to touch my arm?'
"Well, I guess I'll see you in Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow?"
"Yep." For a moment, it was as if the real Nichole had floated up out of her body. A mentally insane Nichole must have replaced her because she spoke again before stepping into her common room. "I had a really great time, we should do this again sometime." What was worse was that the insane Nichole touched Harry's arm as she said this, looked down, then back up into his eyes. Classic boy pick-up move. The real Nichole was flailing her arms madly, wanting desperately to slap the insane Nichole several times across the face and shout 'You already have a perfectly good boyfriend, you skank! Stop that ridiculous behavior THIS instant!'
Harry now appeared very nervous and fidgety, and just barely managed to get out an 'I'd love to', while turning scarlet red, a tone which made his emerald eyes stand out even more.
It was at this point that Nichole returned to her senses. Which meant that real Nichole had mauled the insane Nichole, and was now back in poor Nichole's brain. "Anyway, I should go, I have a lot of homework to get done."
Nichole had barely got through the mirror when she broke into a run, she was grateful that there was no one present in her dorm, because she threw herself down on her bed and cried.
Nichole knew she had a decision to make. Actually, she knew that she had already made the decision, she just had to acknowledge it. She could no longer deny that she was attracted to Harry. But it wasn't even as if she wanted a relationship with him. Harry shared a unique bond with her that she felt with no one else. Would she want to risk that? No, that she knew. But another thing that Nichole knew was that her relationship with Eric was dead, and that it had been probably for a few weeks now, just that neither of them wanted to admit it. Nichole had dated Eric for almost all of last year. And before him, she had had other boyfriends. In fact, she had never been single for much more than a month at a time, ever.
So if Nichole no longer felt anything for Eric, there was no reason to still be in a relationship with him, right? And it wouldn't hurt to give herself time to sort out her own feelings...
Later that evening, Nichole entered the Gryffindor common room through the portrait of the Fat Lady. Meghan bounded towards her.
"You went flying? How did you like it?"
"Um, actually Meghan, I really need to speak to Eric," she said, looking over towards him on a couch beside the fireplace.
"Oh fine, go ahead and place your stupid boyfriend above everything else."
"Hey." Eric rose and walked towards her. He placed his hands on her waist, but she took them with her hands and held them in her own.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" she said, as cheerfully as she could. They made small talk as they walked towards the lake, and eventually there was the uncomfortable silence Nichole knew would come.
"So, you seem like you have something on your mind."
"Actually," she said, "I have a lot on my mind." Nichole looked down at the ground. She was already crying. She had known Eric since she was a small child, and one of things she wanted to do least in the world was hurt him in any way.
"Well, this summer was pretty crazy for you."
"Yes. It was. See, over the summer..." Nichole squeezed his hand in hers. "Over the summer, I learned...I learned a lot about myself." She looked up at him, tears falling down her pale cheeks. "I'm still learning a lot about myself." She gave a small laugh. "I wonder when or if I will ever stop learning new things about myself."
"What's wrong?"
"I've changed a lot since last year...A lot of things about me have changed since last year. I now believe in and actually do things that I only ever read about in fairy tales before. I ran away from my family. I...I..." She had wanted to tell Eric about the visions for so long, but she just couldn't bring herself to. That was something that she just didn't feel he would understand. He was just too...normal.
Eric pulled her into a hug and rocked her back and forth. "It's alright. Of course you're stressed out, and scared. A lot has happened to you in a short space of time. I'm surprised that you didn't break down before this!" Nichole smiled into his chest. She was really going to miss him. She put her hands on his chest and forced herself to look up into his face.
"A lot of things about me have changed. And I think one of them is...is my feelings for you." She could feel his body go rigid as she spoke. "Eric I'm so sorry." She could no longer look into his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...I think...I think," Nichole took a deep breath. "I think we should break up."
A/N: Aw. But we all knew that had to happen eventually. Hope to see you soon for the next chapter.
Please, please REVIEW, it might make me update faster:P