A/N Hello All! Soooo...new chapter! First off though I do want to thank anyone who has decided to follow and/or favorite this story. I really do appreciate it. Also I am trying to get more chapters up more often but unfortunately adulting does have to come first. Thankfully, though a lot of my schedule has really opened up a bit. The last year was really hectic for me with wedding planning but that is now behind me and my focuses are now on my various writing projects. My main one is my own original story but I've made this one my second main project and all other projects are more on the back burner for the moment. I have a lot of plans for this story that will go all the way into the main Harry Potter storyline, possibly beyond it. I'm really excited on figuring out how to take my characters and add them into the genius that we all already know and love. So with that being said I do present Chapter 11.
All legal disclaimers apply... i.e. JK Rowling owns Harry Potter characters but I own all of my characters.
Chapter 11
Arella walked nervously towards the library where she was meeting Jack for their study date. She wasn't exactly sure why she was nervous, she'd been alone with Jack during their date in Hogsmeade. Besides, she knew that there would also be other people in the library with them. Still, there were plenty of butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. As she walked down the corridor towards the library she saw Remus and Peter coming towards her; both wore identical exasperated expressions on their faces.
"What's wrong with you two?" Arella questioned when they got close to her. She had a feeling whatever they said had something to do with the two missing Marauders.
"James and Sirius are planning on spying on you during your date," Remus shook his head as he explained. "They said they are protecting your virtue. And while I'm completely on board with that idea…I'm not okay with their execution of it."
"So, those two are hiding in the library then?" Arella questioned as her mind shifted through Remus's memories. She could see James and Sirius sitting near the front of the library pretending to study as they waited for both her and Jack Harrison to arrive.
"Unfortunately," Peter confirmed, shaking his head in disbelief. "We tried to talk them out of it but they wouldn't listen to us."
"That's okay," Arella sighed deeply, annoyed at the two missing Marauders. "I'll deal with those two chuckle heads."
"Good luck Ella and have fun," Remus smiled at his friend before he and Peter headed off to the Common Room. Arella watched them for a moment before she shifted her bag on her shoulder and continued to the library. The library was quiet and didn't have too many students studying within it. It was easy for Arella to spot James and Sirius. To her they stood out like sore thumbs since they so rarely visited the library.
"And what are you two studying?" Arella asked as she approached the table the two Marauders were sitting at. They were attempting to blend in but failed miserably as it was obvious Sirius was not reading the book in front of him since it was upside down and James was making poorly drawn doodles of Lily. "So you're studying 'How to read upside down' and 'drawing Lily Evans 101'?"
"No!" both boys protested quickly, startled that Arella had caught them. Sirius had immediately dropped the Potions book he had been holding while James tried to hide his doodles.
"I know why both of you are here and I am asking nicely for you to please piss off," Arella said calmly as she looked between the two boys. "I can take care of myself thank you very much."
"Hey, we're just trying to protect the innocent virtue of our dear Ellie," James protested indignantly.
"By hiding in the library and spying on me? Oh yes, that's a brilliant strategy," Arella questioned. "You both stand out since neither of you ever come to the library."
"We come to the library!" Sirius protested quickly. Arella glanced at Sirius and then just shook her head.
"Rarely and I'm sure it's only to spy on other students, mainly my best friend," Arella stated deadpanned. "Now both of you leave before I make you regret being here."
"I'm not afraid of you Danvers, your specialness doesn't affect me," Sirius smiled smugly, which caused James to also smile smugly.
"Do you want a repeat of clown boy?" Arella threatened calmly. "That wasn't specialness Black."
"You promised not to mess with my hair," Sirius argued defensively, reminding her of the promises she had made around his birthday.
"And you said you'd warn me if I was in any kind of danger," Arella retorted back; clear blue eyes glaring straight into sharp grey ones. "And I know that Jack isn't a danger so both of you can leave me alone. If there is a problem I will let you know." James and Sirius both exchanged a glance for a moment before looking back at Arella.
"Sorry Ellie but Sirius and I are here to study for Potions, not spy on anyone," James smiled as he pointed to the potions book he had set aside when he was doodling.
"Liar," Arella retorted with a snort as she glared at James. "Now please leave before I turn you both into my personal flying pet monkeys." She glared at both boys in an attempt to get them to leave. Sadly, this didn't work. Apparently, flying pet monkeys were just too interesting for James Potter.
"Flying monkeys?" James questioned as he glanced at Sirius, excitement in his eyes as he thought of what he could do with flying monkeys. "What are flying monkeys. Wait! How would you turn us into flying monkeys? I need to know this Ellie, that would be the most epic prank ever!" In his excitement he dropped his doodles and gestured wildly.
"Just leave," Arella begged while shaking her head.
"Sorry Danvers, we're not going anywhere," Sirius chuckled as he watched his friend. He had to admit the idea did sound intriguing.
"Again, clown boy will return if you do not leave. Might even bring back that love potion Lily cooked up," Arella commented, arching her eyebrow as she did so. She looked between the two boys gaging their reactions.
"So….no flying monkeys then?" James asked glancing at Sirius; he looked like someone had kicked his puppy. "Not going to lie, that would've been kind of cool." Arella took a deep breath and shook her head before walked off to find a place to sit far from the two boys in hopes of getting some semblance of privacy. She was actually surprised to see Jack towards the back of the library already waiting for her.
"Hey Ella," he greeted as he stood up; he had a big smile on his face that made his dimples come out.
"Hey Jack," Arella smiled back, her nerves suddenly returning. He gestured for her to sit across from him. Arella sat down and began to take out her Charms homework; it was the only class they actually shared together. The pair then started discussing their homework assignment, the differences between various detection charms. They had to pick two charms and discuss the differences between them and their effectiveness. The pair decided to do research on four different charms; this way they both learned the material, and then they would each write about two. They spent two hours just talking about the homework; each of them bringing up different points for each of the four charms. Towards the end though Jack started moving off topic and asking her questions about her life more. Arella had to keep a lot back since she really couldn't talk about being a Luciane. Arella also learned that Jack made her laugh, a lot. He was a funny, sweet guy who just seemed so genuine with her. After two hours of work and about a half hour of just talking Arella realized how late it was getting and the pair started to pack up their things. They left the library together, neither aware of the two Marauder shaped shadows following them. When they had to part ways to return to their respective Common Rooms Jack decided to take a chance and boldly leaned down and kissed Arella. The moment their lips touch Arella's mind is flooded, almost violently so, with thoughts and images from Jack's mind. The sensation is so uncomfortable that is it's almost painful for her. Visions of their study date flashed through Arella's mind followed by their date in Hogsmeade. She heard his thoughts about how pretty she had looked, how smart she was and how he just liked being around her; that she was easy to talk to. The bombard of this pushed so forcefully into Arella's mind that it took everything within her to not push Jack away from her. Thankfully the kiss didn't last long but Jack did notice that Arella was cringing when they parted.
'Oh no...did I do something wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have kissed her' Jack thought immediately and as he opened his mouth to ask Arella what was wrong Arella stopped him.
"Sorry... I have a bit of a headache. I'm pretty prone to migraines," Arella covered up quickly, trying to keep her tone apologetic and smooth. She didn't want him to think that this was his fault that she was having problems.
"Oh, do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" Jack asked concerned, his hand holding onto her upper arm as if to steady her. He rubbed his thumb against Arella's shoulder and used his other hand to brush a few stray hairs away from her face.
"No, I have something to take in my dorm. Madam Pomfrey gave me a supply so I wasn't constantly going to see her," Arella smiled appreciative of his concern.
"If you're sure..." Jack seemed a bit apprehensive but a Arella shook her head slowly.
"I'm sure Jack, thank you though. Really I'll be fine," Arella smiled back at him. He truly was a sweet guy and she did feel bad about lying to him but it was still too soon to trust him with the truth about what she was. "Anyway I should head up to my dorm."
"Yeah, of course...um perhaps we could do this again?" Jack asked, his voice was a little uncertain and it actually made him very endearing to Arella. His sweetness was a very attractive quality.
"Yeah, I'd like that," Arella's cheeks warmed a bit and she knew she was blushing.
"Until then," Jack's dimpled grin emerged for a moment before both of them went their separate ways, Arella to the Gryffindor Common Room and Jack to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Unknown to Arella, however, Jack was followed by two of her year mates, one James Potter and one Sirius Black.
Upon returning to the Common Room Arella is immediately surrounded by her friends with questions about how her study date went. Mina was the most curious of the three while Alice and Lily stayed more in the background; both knew Mina would get the juicy details first. The four sequester themselves away from the rest of the Common Room for some privacy. Mina and Alice sat across from Lily and Arella in their little corner.
"So...?" Mina grinned anxiously. "How was your date?"
"It was fine Mina, we mostly worked on our Charms homework. He was very insightful for it actually and I think the assignment turned out really well," Arella shrugged, knowing her response would annoy Mina. True to her knowledge of her friend Mina immediately became exasperated.
"Seriously Ella! You two studied the whole time?!" She scolded as she threw her hands up in the air. "Have I taught you nothing?"
"You've taught me plenty Mina, but I'm not you. I don't go for intimacy right away," Arella retorted with a snort. Arella and Mina could be very night and day sometimes.
"Did he at least give you a good-bye kiss?" Mina demanded to know as she gave her friend a very pointed look, one that read she would be giving poor Jack the riot act if had not.
"He did," Arella replied cautiously, unsure how to explain what had occurred.
"But?" Alice inquired as she sensed her friend's apprehension.
"It was weird actually," Arella sighed tiredly. "It started out for brief second as nice but then I was just bombarded with these images and thoughts. All of them were coming from Jack and I couldn't push them out of my head. It was actually pretty painful because there was all this emotion behind it and it was like he was pushing his thoughts into my head. So yeah it was a bit weird and very uncomfortable for me." Arella sighed, a little defeated by this turn of events. "I had to lie to him because he could tell that something was wrong. Told him I had a headache and that's why I had an pained look on my face."
"Ella...I'm sorry," Lily said quietly as she leaned over and hugged her friend. "What are you going to do?"
"Right now...I'm going to try to make this work. Maybe I just need to create better barriers for my mind or something. I'll figure something out," Arella sighed determinely.
"You know...I can't help but think about the fact that you can't read Sirius's mind. At all, you said it yourself that it's like he's on a different channel from you," Mina pointed out.
"Mina does have a point," Lily agreed but then added quickly. "Not that I'm saying you should be with Black or anything but it is something that might be worth investigating."
"Maybe there's like only a select few people that you can be with and Jack just isn't one of them," Alice added her input as well. It was a curious fact that Arella couldn't read this one person's mind but everyone else was an open book for her.
"I don't know... perhaps it's time I did some more research on Luciane. I wonder if the library has much information on Luciane," Arella mused.
"It should have something at least, I can help you look," Lily offered.
"I'd like that Lily, I really don't know all that much about Luciane and Professor di Orcus is more focused on teaching me to control my power than anything else," Arella replied.
***Meanwhile...***
Sirius and James followed Jack Harrison for a bit before they finally cornered him for their interrogation. They had watch the pair during their study "date" and while, yes, Jack seemed like a nice guy this was Arella they were talking about. She was a Luciane and an important person to the Marauders since she was Remus's best friend. James would also add that she was Sirius's crush but he knew that was a lost cause to get Sirius to admit that.
"So Harrison...saw you with Arella in the library today," James said conversationally as he and Sirius moved to walk on either side of Jack Harrison. The Ravenclaw fifth year looked at each of them for a moment.
"We had a date, what's it to you?" Jack demanded becoming very defensive about the whole situation. He now had to wonder if there had been something between Sirius Black and Arella Danvers. Was this why these two had followed him?
"Just making sure you're treating our friend well," Sirius commented with a shrug while he gave Jack an almost glaring look. Jack glanced back at Sirius and for a moment he recalled the rumors he had heard from Adam St. Croix about Sirius and Arella. The rumors didn't sit well with him at all; Jack really liked Arella and he wasn't going to just stand by and let Sirius Black push him around. The Ravenclaw Beater stopped walking and turned to Sirius and it became pretty apparent that while Sirius was a pretty fit guy he was definitely much shorter than Jack's six foot two frame; something the Ravenclaw was currently using to his advantage.
"Arella is my girl so maybe it's you who needs to stay away," Jack stated boldly as he stared down at Sirius. Sensing that this was about to escalate much farther than James had intended this to he immediately stepped between the two glaring fifth years.
"Oookkaay, Arella is just a friend of ours. Remus, you know Remus Lupin right?" James asked as he subtly pushed Sirius away from Jack. He'd already seen his friend ball up his fist and was clearly ready to punch Jack Harrison; probably in the face too. Jack nodded, he and Arella had talked about him being her best friend growing up so he knew about her friendship with him. Seeing the bloke nod James continued "Well then I'm sure you also know that he's Arella's best friend. Well that makes her our friend too."
"Hence why I took Ella to the dance Harrison," Sirius smirked, although it was clear that it wasn't a nice or laughing smirk but a definite smug one.
"Some friend," Jack muttered as he continued to glare at Sirius, he had a feeling that if this was about Remus Lupin then he would also be here; not just James Potter and Sirius Black. Based on Sirius Black's smirk it was clear to Jack that, at least on Black's end, there was more to the story about the Halloween dance. James scowled at Sirius for a moment, the guy was just not helping matters.
"He took her because Remus couldn't, he was sick during the dance and so Sirius took her instead," James explained as he looked back at Jack. "All we're doing is watching out for our friend, you're the first bloke she's ever really gone out with and we don't want to see her get hurt. That's all."
"I'm sure it is," Jack retorted unconvinced. "Arella is my girl, so you need to stay away from her." He glared at Sirius one more time, as if to make a point, before he turned and continued back to his Common Room. This time James had to physically stop Sirius from going after him. It was obvious that the whole 'my girl' remark had pissed Sirius off.
"Who the bloody hell does he think he is?" Sirius growled as James forced him to move away and start towards their own Common Room.
"Where the bloody hell do you get to come off as a jealous git?" James retorted. "Truth is Sirius you're not dating Arella, Harrison is." Sirius stopped and looked at James.
"I know that James, I know I'm not dating her. And they've only had two dates, if you could call them that," Sirius snapped quickly.
"Look mate, this seemed like a good idea before but now... it really wasn't," James ran a hand through his messy hair. "Danvers can be with whoever she wants to. And you, well Sirius, you're just going to have to accept that. It's not like you have any claim on her. You said it yourself, you're just friends." Sirius scowls for a moment, he knows his friend is right. He had no claim to Arella, he's never gone to her and made any kind of intentions known to her. Hell, right now he wasn't even sure that they were actually friends considering she wasn't speaking much to him since the letter incident. Shaking his head Sirius just stormed away from James, he needed to think and needed some place quiet to do so. James just watched Sirius storm away. He knew that his best mate needed some time to just think about what he wanted. Maybe Sirius would finally admit that he had feelings for Arella Danvers.
