10. Confrontation
The one when Diane finally confronts Potter.
A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters so far, I hope you enjoy it!
The next few month passed with not that much of a difference, except for the first two quidditch games.
Gryffindor lost to Slytherin - just like I predicted - Hugo had been selected for the team as the new chaser, and Gryffindor almost tied up with Slytherin before that stupid chaser of them dove in and got the snitch. Gryffindor had won last year, but it was James final year, and he was one of the best captain Gryffindor had seen in many years, but now that Gryffindor lost him and Scorp got to be Slytherin's captain, well, it's pretty predictable which house is taking the cup this year. Ravenclaw had crushed Hufflepuff - not much of a surprise there too.
Also, aparatation lessons were starting in a couple of weeks from now, in the beginning of December, much to my delight as I was retaking the classes.
Hogwarts was getting harder and harder, the preparation for the N.E.W.T.S was insane, teachers had pretty much double our school work, and we still had the six previous years to review.
Harrison and Hill had confronted me about the whole Potter/Scorp charade about five more times, both of them were really mad, they were blaming Rose and I for tracking them on the wrong direction into getting the boys, and were really crazy angry about they 'being in love with us'. Merlin, they're so stupid, how did they bought that?
Things had changed drastically in that department though, the fan club girls didn't want our help anymore, they had changed their strategy into hexing Rose and I every now and then, nothing too major though, even though a few of them - including Hill and Harrison - were in Ravenclaw, they clearly didn't know many good spells. Anyway, I preferred it that way, at least they were keeping their distance.
I still hadn't managed to confront Potter about his stupid behavior with all the staring, howler and date ruining, he was no longer staring at me, better again, he was no longer looking at me, he would vanish after all classes, and he and Scorp had managed to find another place to hang out other than the Head's common room. I'm pretty dam annoyed with that! Specially because I have no idea what's annoying me! For so long now all I wanted was for him to ignore me and leave me the hell alone, but now that he has, it's annoying me even more, and I have absolutely no idea why!
Rose got to confront Scorp a few days after he ruined her date - yes, he also managed to do that - it was impossible for him to avoid her forever since they had head boy and girl's duty to discuss and shared a common room. After Rose's confrontation, he started speaking to me again, it took me a while to forgive him, of course, but well, there was only so much time I could spend being angry with my cousin.
Things with Antony were going fine, as I said, school was pretty nasty, so most of the times we spend together was in the library doing school work. We would kiss every now and then and talk for a bit, it's comforting, I supposed. I have absolutely no idea how, but Potter is still managing to ruin our time together, first of all, I'm so mad lately with the whole situation that every time I look at Antony I keep thinking about Potter. Antony is also on edge about the whole situation - another thing I don't get, since Potter is now nowhere to be seen when we're together - but he keeps saying that there's more to the whole thing than meets the eyes, and that he keeps staring at me in classes when I'm not looking, and I can see it bothers him a lot.
Between classes, being hexed, school work, revisions, Antony, and the whole Potter problem inside my mind I have not been able to spend as much time with Rose or the girls. Also, it has been a while since I last talked to my family, James or Fred. Things were just not exactly where I wanted them to be yet.
It's now Friday night, and I'm finishing my DADA essay with both An and Kat (Rose is on patrol) in Gryffindor's common room. I'm having a hard time concentrating since all I can think about is confronting Potter and getting it all off my chest for good, but I still have no idea how! I would have to be invisible, since he keeps avoiding me like the plague, and get him off guards, and alone, it's kind of a complicated mission. As I was thinking that for the thousandth time this week, Lily got though the portrait hole, and I finally got my answer, of course! How did I not think of that before?!
"Hey Lils!" I said calling her attention. "Can I talk with you for a moment?"
"Sure! Want to go to your room?" she said discretely pointing to An and Kat to show that we would have privacy there.
"That sounds perfect! Talk to you later girls!" I said smiling at An and Kat - they were so absorb in their school paper that they didn't even look up - grabbed my essay and my books and we made our way to my dorm.
"So Lils, I was wandering, the Potter secrets, are they here at Hogwarts or are they home with James?" I said slowly.
"Here of course! Al has them, why?" She said puzzled. Of course Potter has them... that would explain a lot on how he's managing to disappear after every single class.
"Do you think I can borrow them?" I said a little embarrassed to be asking such a thing. I have always been close to Lils, but I still felt weird about asking her for the Marauder's map and the cloak of invisibility.
"Both? Map and cloak?" Lily said astonished.
"Yes, I think I need both, is that possible?" I said hopeful.
"Well, you'll have to tell me why, of course" Lily has always been very curious, dam! "Especially since I'm assuming I'll have to lie to my brother about why I need it, I'm also assuming this has something to do with him?" Oh yeah, Lily was also very perceptive.
"Yeah.." I said blushing a little. "Well, it makes no sense at all, and I haven't told anyone, not even Rose, so you'll have to promise me that what I'm about to say won't leave this room."
"Wouldn't tell a soul." She said sitting down on my bad and gesturing for me to do the same.
"It's just... well, you know the whole howler charade, staring and so on?" I started and Lily nodded. "Well, as you can imagine that was already a lot to take in, and I've been meaning to confront Potter, but after Hogsmeade it got absolutely impossible to, he's been avoiding me like the plague and I, well, I'm really bothered about all of it and I have no idea why! It's driving me insane Lily! I just really have to get it out of my chest"
"Yeah, I thought so... I have a pretty good idea why..." Lily said enigmatically.
"Want to share?" I said after I waited and realized that she didn't intend to continue.
"Oh no, don't get me involve in all this, you'll have to ask my brother." She said smiling at me.
"Fuck you Lily!" I said crossing my arms, but I knew there was no point in arguing with her. "So, can I borrow it? I have no idea how else would I be able to confront him."
"Let's see, lying to my brother so that you can catch him off guard and yell your guts out on him?" She said pretending to give it a thought.
I looked down... this was stupid, of course she wasn't going to go along with this...
"Of course I'll help you!" She said smiling.
"Really?!" I said looking up in disbelief.
"Yes! Of course! I'll see if I can get them today, seeing that it's Friday, it's probably the best day to ask him for them, from what you told me, it looks like he's been using them a lot during the week." She said laughing.
"Oh Lily! You're the best!" I said hugging her.
I made my way back to the common room smiling, I'm finally getting what I need!
"Why are you so cheerful?" An said frowning as I sat down again next to them.
"Well it's Friday! Isn't that a good reason to be happy?" I said smiling.
"Um, NO! Have you seen the amount of homework we have?!" Kat said in disbelief.
"Well I've already finish Herbology, and I'm almost done with my Defense essay anyway, those were the really nasty ones, so..." I said shrugging.
"Oh shush Diane!" An said annoyed before she looked back to her own essay indicating that our little chat was over.
After about an hour or so, Lily came back to the common room with her backpack. She greeted us and gesture me to go to my room again.
"You two are up to something..." Kat said eyeing us suspiciously.
"Oh, don't worry about it Kat, just a regular prank!" Lils said smiling, An just shook her head not even bothering to look up again.
"There you are." She said dropping her bad in my bed. "I think my theory was right, it took a lot of convincing to make him lend them to me, and he's expecting to receive them back before Monday, so please, use it wisely." Lily said winking at me.
"Wouldn't dream to do it differently!" I said smiling.
It was James who showed me both of the Potter secrets, the Marauder's map and the cloak of invisibility, Rose, being a Weasley, of course knew all about both of them, but being a role model student, she preferred to keep her distance from those two items, especially since they're always hand in hand with some serious rule breaking. James, however, fond them to be the most useful items in him trunk. I do have to agree with James on this one...
As Lily wished me luck and left my dorm, I quickly opened the parchment, took my wand and whispered: "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good". As I said it, the lines began to appear, oh, this is ingenious! It took me about two minutes to find Potter in the dungeon with Gold and Cowan (Scorp was on patrol with Rose), Slytherin's common room, I should have predicted that.
I took two sugar quill from my stock and slowly chewed them as I observed the map to see if there was going to be any change in scenery, after about ten or fifteen minutes though, I understood he had beat me again, he wasn't leaving the common room, not without his two special items anyway. So I called it a night and went back downstairs to start my History of Magic essay.
I kept a tab on the map every hour on Saturday, but Potter had clearly decided it was safer to stay in his common room all day, I didn't even see him in the great hall for breakfast or lunch, Merlin that boy is cleaver.
I put my brain to good use and realized that the best chance I have to get a hold on his schedule is through Scorp, maybe he would let something slip that would help me, maybe quidditch, Potter wouldn't miss it, I'm sure of that. With that thought in mind I search for Scorp in the map on Saturday afternoon, and found him on the library with Gold.
I made my way to the library, with a few books in hand to make a good cover, and sure enough, there he was.
"Hey Scorp! Lea!" Ever since Lea Gold got to be on my potion table, we had gotten on first name basis. "Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not! take a seat, we were just starting our potion's essay, have you done yours already?" Lea said smiling.
"As a matter of fact, no, I haven't." I said smiling and joining them.
We stayed working in silence for a while, I wanted to have the perfect timing. After about an hour, everyone was pretty close to ending it, so I took my chances.
"Hey, Scorp, how's quidditch going? Next match coming soon?" I asked pretending to be curious.
"Yes, it's next weekend as a matter of fact, Ravenclaw!" I, of course, knew that, everyone in Hogwarts knew that.
"Great! feeling confident?" I asked smiling.
"Yes, very! We have a smashing team this year, right Lea? Best chaser team in years!" Scorp said winking at Lea - and I notice she blushed a little.
"You bet!" Lea was also a chaser, like Scorp in Slytherin's team.
"Practicing a lot I presume?" I said trying to get some useful information.
"Of course we are! We have a practice at eight actually, I was kind of hoping it would rain, what do you think are the odds?" Scorp said looking though the window.
HA! Quidditch practice tonight! I will get him then!
"I don' t know, 50/50?" I said looking at the window as well, using the opportunity to hide the smirk on my face, it was one of those days that were pretty hard to predict.
"Yeah, that's what I though... " Scorp said before turning back to his essay.
"Why the sudden interest in quidditch dear cousin?" Scorp said about a minute after looking at me suspiciously.
"Just a topic to start a conversation." I shrugged simply. "This essay is making my head burn.
He seemed to buy that, good.
I was writing my last paragraph when someone called me.
"Hey Di, want to join me?" I looked up and saw Antony smiling sweetly and pointing to a table with a few Hufflepuff on the far left.
"I'm almost done actually." I said looking at my nearly finished paper work. "Wanna go for a walk?"
"Can't, I really need to get started..." Antony said looking down - I could see he was a bit disappointed with my answer. "Maybe after dinner?"
"Oh, sorry... I promised Lily I would help her with sixth year's charm material." I lied.
"Well, I'm done here, need to find Al to discuss a few tactics. Lea, want to join us?" Scorp said clearly uncomfortable and getting up.
"Sure!" Lea said getting up quickly, she shot me an apologetic look and disappeared right behind Scorp.
"So, seven year is not really helping us out hum?" Antony said seating sad next to me.
"Not much..." I said. "Maybe we could seat together at dinner?" I offered.
"Yeah! I would like that!" Antony said relieved.
"Great! Want me to go to the Hufflepuff table tonight?" I said smiling.
"That'll be perfect!" Antony said, gave me a small kiss and got up. "Well I should be going."
"All right, see you later then." I said smiling.
"Hey Di?" Anthony called me already a few steps away.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think you could maybe bring Katherine?" He said in a low voice.
"Katherine as in Katherine White? My roommate?!" I asked confused.
"Yeap, I think my friend Daniel sort of has feelings for her, so I thought, you know..." Antony said smiling sweetly.
"Really?!" I shouted excitedly earning a look from Mrs. Prince. "I'll figure something out!" I whispered smiling.
I stayed in the library for another ten minutes or so, figured I might as well finish that essay since I now know that I'm finally getting Potter alone at night, now I just have to figure a way to get Kat to join me at Hufflepuff for dinner and my night should be just perfect!
I found Kat seating with An and Rose in Gryffindor's common room.
"Where have you been? I've been looking all over the place for you!" Rose said getting up as soon as I got close to them.
"Erm, library?!" I said looking back at Rose as if she was mental - she sure sounded like it, who would be looking for someone this days and forget to try the library?!
"Oh, of course! How stupid!" Rose said seating again shaking her head.
"So Rose, Lily wanted me to tell you she wants to spend dinner with you!" I said loud enough so that Lily - who was seating a few chairs away would hear it, she shout me a 'what the fuck' look, but went along with it nodding.
"Why wouldn't she tell me herself?" Rose said frowning at Lily.
"Who knows? Crazy Potter's right?!" I replied a little uncomfortable. "So Kat, since An is dinning with Paul -" I started giving a 'go along with it' look at An who seemed very confused. "I wondered if you would like to join me at the Hufflepuff's?"
"Hum... sure?" Kat said frowning a bit.
"Great! We should get ready then!" I said going straight to our dorm - not before I passed Lily and whispered 'I'll be helping you with Charms after dinner in case anyone askes.' Lily nodded again knowingly.
"What the fuck is going on?!" An said locking herself in the bathroom with me five minutes later.
"Shhh!" I said putting my finger on my mouth pointing at the door.
"Kat hasn't come up yet!" An said indifferent.
"Oh right then! Anthony told me Austin has feeling for her! Asked me if I could bring her along at dinner!" I said excitedly.
"Daniel Austin?!" An said joining my excitement. "Oh he's cute!"
"I know right?! Don't tell her though, let's see how things work out tonight!" I said putting some mascara on.
"I see you're finally getting around makeup..." An said smiling.
"Oh, shove off!" I said laughing and throwing An out of the bathroom.
"Hello guys!" I said taking a seat next to Antony. "Kat will be joining us tonight, hope you don't mind." I said smiling and looking at Austin to see how he would react - he stiffened and blushed a bit before he answered:
"Not at all! You're more than welcome! Please, take a seat!" He said squeezing closer to Andrew Johnson and his girlfriend Laura Finch.
"Erm, thanks." Kat replied blushing too. Ooooohhh! She likes him too!
"It's a shame we're playing Gryffindor next, I would like to see you girls on Hufflepuff's side!" John Bates said conversationally - he's the Hufflepuff's seeker.
"Well, we can cheer for you against Slytherin!" I replied smiling. Daniel and Kat were already deep in conversation.
After dinner I made a lame excuse to Rose and the girls to go to my room, I needed to be ready to be off as soon as practice started. At eight I saw the guys though the Marauder's map making their way to the quidditch pitch, I waited until they were on the field to throw the cloak over my body and I made my way to the locker room.
My plan was to take something from Potter to make him come back after practice, something that he wouldn't notice in the locker room, but would surely notice later... Let's see... I went on examining his things.
As I looked inside his bad, I found a beautiful clasp attached, surely goblin made, I though, in Slytherin green with the following transcript in Gryffindor gold:
'Live till your skin vibrates. Your head belong in Slytherin, but your heart will always be where your family is'
Wow, it's beautiful...
It's perfect! In the hurry he probably wouldn't notice it gone, but there was no chance he wouldn't realize it along the way, and this was defiantly a valuable piece for him to leave behind and pick up later.
I took the clasp and went outside to the quidditch pitch, if I was going to wait that long, I might as well have some fun with it. I took the first seat in front of the pitch, and started looking at their training section. Boy they were good.
I was seating there for about half an hour when Scorp blew the whistle and shouted:
"Everyone, keep practicing, Potter, a word please?"
Potter made his way down and started walking in my direction, they were pretty close to me when Scorp stopped and turned to Potter.
"Al, I need you to focus! You might fool somebody else, but not me, I know your head is somewhere else and I need it to be on the quidditch pitch!" He said angrily.
"I know, I know... Crap I can't concentrate!" Potter said and kicked his broom going a little red in anger.
Hum... it's been a while since I last saw that boy angry, it suits him, there's a special shine in his eyes that get even more bright in contrast to his red face. FOCUS! What on earth are you thinking about!?
"Al, I know where your head is, you can't fool me, but you've been miserable because of it for what? Months now! Stop! Or do something about it and stop hiding, but for the next hour, FOCUS ON THE SNITCH!"
"You're one to talk about attitude." Potter mumbled.
"WHAT?!" Scorp shouted.
"Noting, sorry..." Potter said kicking his broom again.
Boy Scorp was angry... What was all of this about? Miserable and hiding? That seems like some serious problem.. maybe it wasn't from me he was hiding after all, maybe there was really something serious going on in his life... Well, I don't care, I want to clear what I need to clear with him!
I couldn't help but notice that Potter looked miserable indeed, he had dark shadows under his eyes, and a very sad look in them.
They made their way back to the quidditch pitch and for the next hour I concentrated on Potter. He surely was much better than before his little talk with Scorp, I hadn't notice it before, I thought he was doing just fine, but now that I saw him practicing after their little chat, I could clearly see the difference. The boy was amazing, no wonder they won against Gryffindor, It was practically ridiculous to see him training, he would let the snitch loose, follow it with his eyes for a while, and then fly incredulously fast after it, it was only a matter of seconds before he caught it again.
After an hour or so, Scorp called everybody down in the middle of the pitch, he talked to them for about ten minutes - but I couldn't hear what he was saying, they were not close enough this time - and they made their way in my direction to the changing room.
I waited for a few minutes outside before they started coming out. I decided not to follow, I was sure Potter would come back for the clasp, so I waited under the invisibility cloak outside, looking at their progress in the marauder's map.
Sure enough, in the middle of their way back to the dungeon they stopped, and Potter made his way back alone. I took the cloak off and whispered 'mischief managed' pointing the tip of my wand at the Marauder's map before I putted it save in my pocked - I didn't wanna cause any problem for Lily - I fasten the clasp in my shirt, right above my right chest, he would have to talk to me if he wanted it back, and then I made my way to the boy's changing room and took a seat in one of the benches as I waited for him.
Five minutes later, I heard him coming in.
"Looking for something?" I said slowly as he stepped inside.
I scared the guy to death, seriously, he nearly had a heart attack, he jumped about two feet away and took a minute before he was able to speak.
"How did you-? When did you-? What is going on?!" He shouted lost.
He looked clearly taken aback, as I've realized before, the guy looked terrible, the dark circles beneath his eyes suggested that he hadn't sleep in days, maybe weeks, and he was awfully pale.
"You came back for this I presume?" I said pointing to the clasp in my chest. "It's a beautiful item, I wonder why you keep it inside your bag and not outside?"
"It's none of your business." Potter hissed at me.
"Oh come on, afraid someone's going to find out that your heart belongs in Gryffindor after all?" I said smiling a bit.
"It was a gift, it's none of your business!" He said clearly irritated.
"Well, I personally think that the sorting hat did an amazing job with you, with all due respect for my family's house, you surely belong there, not courage enough inside you to be a true Gryffindor! You've been avoiding me?" I said doing a master piece in keeping my voice calm, I waited for this chance for a long time, I would take advantage of every single second.
"Isn't that what you wanted for your entire life? For me to leave you alone?!" He said looking right through my eyes.
FOCUS, he's trying to get you off your game, take your eyes away from his! With some effort, I managed to look away and stare at the wall behind him, that was a good cover up.
Crap, now the second problem, how can I answer this stupid question if I've been asking myself that for about a month now and came up with no answer.
"What's the problem? Don't have an answer for that? Jees, and I used to think you had an answer for everything! Maybe you can talk to your 'sweet little boyfriend' and see if he can help you out with that! LOOK ME IN THE EYES WHEN I TALK TO YOU!" He yelled.
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" I do not know why I said that. I looked back into his eyes, is that what he wanted? I can do this! I have to. "And who I date or do not date it's none of your concern! Yes I wanted you to leave me alone, but you've managed to put me into a LOT of trouble before you did that, so don't think actions don't have consequences!" I took my wand out, he wanted a duel? A duel he would get!
but he was faster than me, before I could think to stupefy him, his wand was ready and he shouted:
"Expelliarmus!"
And then my wand was off my hand and in his. Man I need to learn how to defeat him!
"What's wrong? Not too good without a wand?!" He said taking a few steps closer, oh, he's playing me now! Stupid git!
"WHY DID YOU DO IT? Why did you mess up my life like this?! Everything was just fine before you decided that it was ok to embarrass me in front of the whole school! A HOWLER?! Seriously?! A HOWLER?! And if it wasn't enough that you stared me during all classes, you've ruined my first date! WHY?! The girls weren't after you anymore, it was over!" I blurted out before I could control myself. I felt a few tears forming in my eyes as I lost completely my control over the situation.
"Your date seemed to go just fine." He said in a low voice looking down. I couldn't quite put it together, what was happening? And why did I care so much?!
"Why did you do it?! You've destroyed everything!" I said deciding to ignore his last statement.
I could feel that the tears were about to drop from my eyes, but I didn't care, I was hurt, I was being hexed because of him, my first real date in years and we still couldn't be right together because of him, he was making me go completely crazy, messing everything up!
"LOOK AT ME!" I said going in his direction, he looked, and I knew he could see it all, he could see the tears lining up, he could see all the hurt, he could see everything inside me, but for once I didn't care in showing him all of it.
"Is that what you want? You want to make me miserable?! You want to make me fail in all my attempts to be happy?" I stopped inches from his face.
I wanted the truth, I wanted my life back, and I would do everything in my power to get it back.
"No... of course not." He said a little, what was that? hurt? "What do you want from me?" He finished in a low voice.
He examined my face, he took his eyes off mine again and looked to my mouth, I felt a shiver down my spine, but he had already looked back into my eyes.
"Tell me what do you want from me and I'll do it." He said again, very slowly.
"I don't know..." I said shaking my head. "I want some piece of mind, I want things to go back to what they used to be."
He kept looking at me silently.
"I want us back to 'being us.'" I said shaking my head again, letting a single drop of tear run down my cheek.
I looked down at my feet, that statement surprised even me. 'Being us' I remember the first time he used that line in Rose's house, I thought it was so weird... but it was true, I couldn't accomplish all I had to this year and deal with this sudden change in his behavior towards me, it wasn't natural, maybe that's why it's driving me insane, I don't know.
"We can't go back to that, it's long gone." He said wiping the tear off my cheek in a single touch, making my whole body shiver again.
I looked back into his eyes, I can't explain why but that statement made me even sadder, I didn't know what else to do...
"You keep that for now." He said pointing to his clasp. "To make you remember what really matters. You give it back to me once you find your answer."
He looked back into my eyes for a few seconds, that was hurt inside his eyes, I could see it now, there were no shine in them, I've only saw them like this after what he said to me in his house over the summer.
He gave me my wand back and slowly started to walk away, leaving me alone to my tears.
It took me about five minutes to recompose and be ready to leave the changing room, there was nothing else for me there.
However, as I enter the castle again I literally bumped into Potter and fell on the ground.
"What the-?"
"Ahhh, I see Potter was not alone in his little sneaking out, was he now?" I looked up and saw Greg Harrison - Ravenclaw prefect, oh, that can't be good. "And with my future girlfriend, was he? Taking advantage of her Potter?"
Silence.
"I see, well, as much as I hate to do this Mss. Greengrass, you'll have to join Potter in detention, no student is supposed to be outside this hour, SPECIALLY you if it is not to stay with me." Harrison said in an arrogant tone.
Oh crap, add detention to my list of things to do, as if I already didn't have enough.
I said nothing and made my way to the Gryffindor common room, I need a really good night of sleep.
A/N: I know this chapter is much bigger than what I usually write and I do hope it's not too much information. Anyway, as I said this is one of my favorite chapters so far, so I do hope you enjoyed it and take the time to leave me your review on it!