A/N: Bah-ba-da-baaah! Chapter 11 is here people. Thank you very much to 'Midnight LeAnn', 'HPLUVR71495' and 'Lucy-is-Great' for reviewing, tis much appreciated. And to those people who have added the story to their favourites etc.. School work has died down which has made me a tad suspicious but I've had a little more time than usual to write. Hopefully the next update will come a little sooner than this one but ya never know! Anyways enough of my rambling, on with the story, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter
Allys POV
My body clock woke me up naturally at seven. I sat up in bed and stretched, feeling the splint tighten during the action. Having it all wrapped up I couldn't see the state of it, but I can't say I really minded too much. I heaved myself out of bed and saw Lily turn to smile at me.
"Morning" she said brightly in a whisper. I smiled back at her as I moved off of the bed, awkwardly trying to make it.
"Oh, I'll do that for you" she said hurridly, waving her wand in the direction of my bed. Instantly it was made and I turned to her.
"Thanks" I said to her, really meaning it.
"Fell asleep before you could get changed I see?" she now said, grinning. I blushed a little before replying,
"I kind of gave up trying to get it off" I admitted, very quietly.
"Do you need a hand?" Lily asked, somewhat hesitantly.
"I think I'll be okay today. Just need to get my left hand into practise" I said, smiling up at her.
"Okay, well if you need a hand I'll be downstairs" she said quietly, before leaving the room. I then gathered up my school uniform before heading into the bathroom.
It took me ages to get dressed and I acknowledged defeat with the tie. Instead I left it off, putting my jumper on. I then put my sling on, knowing it would be much harder to have the sling on with the school robes. Although, I had successfully managed to get my shirt off and put a clean one on, something that slightly brightened up my day. I picked up my school bag with my left hand, but couldn't actually put it on due to the sling and my bruised shoulder. I was a walking disaster. I quietly walked down the stairs to find both Lily and Remus sitting in chairs by the stairs.
"Morning" Remus said brightly.
"Morning" I grumbled, knowing today would not be a great day at all.
"Let me take your bag" Lily said, standing up to get it for me.
"Thanks" I replied as I began to make my way down to breakfast.
Approaching the Great Hall I could see that breakfast was somewhat well underway. It had been a relatively quiet walk down to the Great Hall, and I knew that Remus was waiting for me to tell him about my hand and certain other things. However we literally just sat down at the Gryffindor table when an Italian voice came across the room.
"What the hell have you done to yourself now?!" I looked up to see Luke storming towards me, complete and utter disbelief etched on his face. I sighed as he didn't stop but took a seat next to Lily, who was positively beaming by this point.
"It's all your fault you know. You never taught me how to punch properly" I said, watching as his eyes widened at my words.
"PUNCH?!" he said extremely loudly, causing several heads to turn.
"I punched Caleb Simons in the eye" I told him, getting it out of the way quickly.
"Bludy good punch too, have you seen his eye this morning?!" I heard a voice form behind me exclaim. I turned to see Will standing there, a broad grin on his face. However, this soon disappeared when he saw my hand.
"Why the hell is it in a sling?!" he asked me, slightly shocked. I sighed again and leaned my bruised shouldered arm on the shoulder so I could hold my head in my hand.
"It's not mended properly yet" was all I said. I picked my head up to see Will frowning at me. He looked at Luke who gave him a slightly threatening look,
"Oh right, well I'll speak to you later. Well done on punching him" he added very quietly at the end, although I'm pretty sure Luke heard. At this he disappeared back to the Ravenclaw table.
"Explain" Luke demanded, ignoring both Lily and Remus who were watching the two of us with slight smiles on their faces.
"I bumped into him in the corridor a few nights ago and he directed me back to the common room. Being the polite person that I am I smile at him if I see him, which I've been told I shouldn't do" I began, saying this all very quickly. Luke was nodding in agreement to the last part of my sentence.
"Anyways so I bumped into him last night and then it looked like things might have got a bit heated between him, Sirius and James. So I told the latter two that it was okay and then Caleb put his hand on my waist which startled me, and made me slightly annoyed. So then I decided to punch him" I said shrugging. All three of them looked at me in disbelief, but it was Luke who spoke first.
"Why on earth didn't you use your wand?!" he exclaimed, lifting his hand up and gesturing round with it. He always done that when he was infuriated by something, or didn't understand something. Again, I just shrugged, as I awkwardly began eating with my left hand.
"That's exactly what I said to her" Fiona said as her and Alice took a seat next to me.
"Need a hand with the tie?" Fiona now asked turning towards me, a grin on her face. I looked down to see it still slung across my shoulders.
"Please" I said and she leaned forward and done my tie up for me, shoving it inside my jumper when she was done. She then proceeded to eat her breakfast, as if it was an every day occurance that someone had their hand in a sling and needed help with their school tie.
"Sarah is going to flip" Luke said, only now he was grinning. I groaned. I could see the words on the paper now. Fantastic.
"Right, I'll be keeping my eye on you. Jeez. Four days Ally. Four" he said shaking his head as he got up and left the table, heading for the Ravenclaw table.
"That could have been worse" I said, more to myself than anything. As I said this, James, Sirius and Frank sat themselves down at the table with us. Lily scowled but said nothing, instead choosing to just cross her arms. About 10 seconds later Susan and Lizzy drifted over, sitting themselves down at the table as well.
"What the hell happened?!" they both exclaimed at exactly the same time.
"She punched Caleb Simons in the eye" Fiona said happily. Susan looked shocked but Lizzy looked thoughtful.
"You done a good job. He's got a massive black eye" she said looking at me, a broad smile on her face. I couldn't help but return it as everyone else tucked in. However Susan was still watching me.
"But why is you hand still like that?" she said, motioning to the sling, bandages and splint. At this, every single person looked up at me, and I sighed, getting ready to tell my story.
"I guess you all want to know huh" I said looking round at them. They all nodded, a mixture of curious smiles and frowns. I felt extremely uncomfortable, but knew that it had to be done. I looked up to the staff table and saw Professor Dumbledore give a small nod of his head, as if encouraging me on.
"I haven't told you a lot about myself. Especially one thing. One thing that I've kept from you because I didn't want it to effect your judgement of me" I began slowly. All of the faces now turned to frowns but nobody said anything.
"Straight to the point, I'm whats known as an Etoileige. The whole eye colour changing thing that I told you? Thats true. But they change because of what I am. Nobody quite knows why. But that's just the way things are" I said shrugging. I looked up at Lily and saw her smile at me reassuringly.
"My mum was an Etoileige. It gets handed down in the family. You can only be an Etoileige if you're a girl though" I carried on explaining, seeing I had everybodys startled attention.
"Etoileige roughly means people of the stars. The name comes from our ability to....glow". I very reluctantly said the word, my mind being unable to come up with any other word.
"When a very strong emotion overtakes the body, a glow is emitted. Normally its linked to pure happiness" I continued on. Now I was in the flow of things I decided to go the whole way.
"Being an Etoileige gives me special abilities as well as a different temperature. Namely intellect, speed and another one. None of you apart from Alice have seen the speed side of things" I said, now turning to said person. Her eyes widened and I knew she knew what I was talking about.
"That day with Fiona chasing us?" she asked, apparently very shocked. I nodded my head and she merely just gaped at me. I turned back to the others to see them all looking slightly confused.
"It's better if I show you, along with another one" I said slowly, thinking things through in my mind. Speed would be much better illustrated by show, as well as the shape shifting. Although, I would probably have to speak to Professor Dumbledore about that one. Hmm. I would speak to him in one of my frees. Oh. Almost forgot about my hand. I guess that one would have to wait. I looked up to see everyone still looking at me and I smiled sheepishly at them.
"You didn't say anything about temperature" the quiet voice of Remus said. I turned to see him, a small frown on his face. I sighed and reached out my good hand to him. He looked at it a little puzzled.
"Feel it" I said and I watched him as he slowly reached out and took my hand. His eyes widened and I could see he now knew what I meant.
"My body runs two degrees hotter than normal. Specifically 39°C" I explained. They all looked shocked and Remus dropped my hand. I felt a little awkward sitting there, the rest of them still staring at me.
"Do you have to stare at her?! She's not a circus show!" Lily exclaimed, frown on her face. Everyone snapped out of it then and began eating their breakfast in complete silence.
"Its a lot of information to digest I know, sorry for not telling you sooner" I said, beginning to get up. Eight pairs of eyes followed me, but Lily also got up.
"You don't need to apologise" I heard Remus say. And I turned to see a small smile lighting up his face.
"We don't think any differently of you at all, do we?" he said, now turning round to the others. They all shook their heads in agreement, James and Sirius looking at him thoughtfully.
"Thanks" was all I could think to say to them. I couldn't believe they had accepted it that easily. I thought it would take a while to sink in, yet here they were telling me that it made no difference to them.
"So when are we going to see this speed thing?" Fiona asked, somewhat excitedly.
"This afternoon?" Susan contributed eagerly.
"Erm, yeah okay then" I replied, a little hesitantly admittedly. Boy, were they in for a shock.
The rest of the day flew past, and before I knew it we had finished our last lesson of the day. In truth, the day had been a bad one for me. The sling meant that I kept getting weird looks in the corridors, I couldn't write, and I couldn't use my wand. However, I was determined to try it out with my left hand, I just needed a quiet place to practise
"Now we have tonight to look forward to!" Fiona said happily, skipping along ahead of us. She then stopped and turned to face me, Lily and Alice (Susan and Lizzy had disappeared to their common rooms to dump their stuff off).
"When you guna show us Ally? I really wana see" she began to moan. Fiona had been asking me all day, and I was extremely suprised by her eagerness to see it.
"Now?" I asked her and she beamed.
"Well, lets go down to the Entrance Hall and get Susan and Lizzy first, if thats okay with you?" Lily asked, turning towards me. I nodded my head, it would be much easier if I could just show them all at once. We trudged down the stairs but couldn't see them their yet. Glancing down at my watch I saw that it was only 5 o'clock which meant that we had a while before dinner.
"So where are we having the sleepover tonight?" I asked curiously, remembering how I had zoned out during that conversation.
"North tower" Lily replied simply. I turned to look at her, a slight frown on my face. North tower?! Wouldn't that be cold? And wouldn't we be found?!
"Thats the usual place. Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. Besides, we won't get caught or anything. If there was a chance of that, Lily wouldn't have suggested it" Fiona told me, poking her tongue out at Lily who returned the gesture. Alice just rolled her eyes, although there was a smile on her face as she done so. We hadn't been waiting there long when Susan appeared from behind us and Lizzy appeared infront of us.
"Ready?!" Fiona said excitedly. I just nodded my head, giving her a small smile. We began to walk outside, and I could feel the fresh, cold air stinging my cheeks. We hadn't been walking very far when we bumped into the Marauders.
"And where are you six off to then?" James asked, hand flying to his hair as he grinned at Lily.
"Ally's going to show us now" Fiona said excitedly. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her enthusiasm and I looked up to see Sirius raise an eyebrow.
"Great, where we off to then?" James replied now looking at me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lily open her mouth to protest and decided to save the argument.
"It's fine Lily, really" I told her earnestly and she just frowned as we carried on walking. We made our way over to the lake and I decided this might as well suffice.
"Okay, here will be fine" I said to them all and they all stopped to turn round and look at me.
"Right, I'll carry on walking over to where the tree is" I said pointing to a low tree roughly 50 metres away. I grinned to myself as I thought of a way to further emphasise my point.
"How long do you reckon it'll take for me to get from the tree to where we're standing now?" I asked them and I could see them all frown.
"Running at a sprint?" James queried and I nodded my head.
"10, 15 seconds" he guessed and I grinned.
"Okay" I said before I began making my way over there. However I stopped abruptly after a few paces.
"Could you hold this for me Lily?" I asked taking my sling off. She frowned, obviously thinking it wasn't a good idea but I shoved it in her hands before walking. I decided to keep my pace steady walking over there, taking careful control of it. Nonetheless, as soon as I hit the tree I took one deep breath and ran. It was so nice to just let it go, not trying to be careful about my speed. I came to an abrupt stop right in front of James....in approximately 2 seconds. His eyes widened as he took a step backwards.
"I made that to be about 2 seconds" Lily volunteered, a smug look on her face. I shifted a little uneasily on my feet, waiting for someone else to say something.
"That was bludy amazing" James exclaimed, after a few seconds silence.
As we walked back up to the castle the others all asked me questions about it, only a few of which I was actually able to answer. They asked me to run a few times before Lily told them to quit making me act like a monkey and made me put my sling back on, scowling whilst I done so.
"It's for your own good" she said in a sing song voice. She then started laughing at my expression and skipped off to talk to Alice and Susan who were slightly ahead of us.
"How's the hand today?" I heard Sirius say from behind me and I turned to see him fall into step beside me. I frowned,
"It hurts a little" I admitted, attempting a shrug but failing to do so properly. I shivered a little in the fresh air and noticed that Sirius was only in his school shirt.
"Aren't you cold like that?" I asked him, the frown still on my face. He turned to me, smiling,
"Nope, it's not really that cold out". He looked down at me, and I think he could see the slight shivering motion.
"The whole temperature thing" I explained, seemingly correctly interpreting his silence.
"Oh" was all he said as we carried on walking. I could see him open his mouth to say something and then shut it again. I smiled a little to myself, wondering what it was that was stopping him.
"May I?" Sirius asked suddenly, stopping walking. I too stopped, and I had a feeling I knew what he meant. He looked down and saw that he was standing ony my right hand side, the side with the dodgey hand and so he moved round behind me to stand on my left hand side. I didn't respond to his question verbally, instead choosing to extend my hand. He hesitated before very gently taking my hand in his own. I felt a slight shock go through me at the initial contact and looked up at him. I saw a slight frown on his face as he looked down at our two hands. The contact of his slightly cold hand on my own very warm hand must have startled him (as it did so many other people) and he slowly began to softly move his thumb over my skin. It was a soothing motion and he moved his eyes from our hands to my eyes. I noticed that his eyes were a very light grey today, with a slight blue tinge to them. He gave me the lopsided smile before he spoke,
"I thought you said you were cold?". His reaction startled me a little, this wasn't something I expected him to say. I couldn't help but laugh a little by his words, and I could see his smile broaden.
"I am a bit" I replied, a smile on my own face now. I was very aware of the fact that we were still holding hands, as we carried on walking up to the castle.
"You said your normal temperature is 39°C right?" Sirius asked after a few moments silence.
"Yup, thats right" I confirmed. He nodded his head but didn't say anything else as we came closer to the castle. Once we could see the others waiting for us Sirius slowed his walking. I heard him sigh audiably, giving my hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it. I hadn't realised that he had been keeping my hand warm until he had let it go, when I felt the cold air hit it again. We walked up to the others in silence, and I noticed how both Fiona and Lizzy had been watching us. However, I didn't quite have time to think about this as Professor Ford had been walking towards us.
"Miss Turner" he began, smiling. All the girls instantly turned to him and smiled and I could faintly hear a sigh of exhasperation come from the direction of the boys.
"See you later" Remus said quietly, and I turned to smile at him as the boys disappeared, all shaking their heads.
"Yes Professor?" I asked politely, turning my attention back to him.
"If you could come to the Hospital Wing after dinner" he said. I couldn't help but sigh a little at what he said though, feeling that it couldn't be something very good.
"Of course sir" I replied politely, a little sullenly admittedly. He gave me one last smile before disappearing up the stairs.
"Hand?" Fiona asked, still watching his retreating figure.
"I'm guessing so" I said with a shrug. I turned to the girls to see them all still staring after him.
"You know, I almost prefer the back half of him to the front" Susan said, before breaking out into giggles. I shook my head slightly, but there was a smile on my face.
"Oh, I nearly forgot. I asked Mandy if she wanted to come tonight. She's kinda on her own after Jess left. That's not a problem is it?" Susan asked, looking round at everyone. All the others shook their heads smiling, I just stood there not knowing who Mandy was at all.
"Course not! Right shall we go get our stuff and shove it in the tower before dinner?" Alice asked, an excited tone to her voice.
"Sounds like a plan, meet you guys up there" Lizzy said, dashing off down the corridor, bypassing the Great Hall. The rest of us began the walk up the stairs and I wondered what I was needed for in the Hospital Wing.
We quickly got up to the common room and dashed upstairs to get our stuff. I didn't know what to bring with me, not that I would have done so well packing it or anything. I watched as the other girls simply got their pyjamas and took their duvets off the bed piling them on the floor.
"Here, I'll give you a hand" Lily said helpfully, jumping over the pile in the middle of the room to get my duvet for me.
"Thanks" I replied as she literally threw everything onto the floor.
"Right" she said as she waved her wand at the pile, causing it all to shrink rapidly. She then proceeded to stuff the now very small pile into her pocket and we made our way out of the common room and up to North Tower.
I had never been up to the tower before but the area round it seemed pretty deserted. It was a bit of a climb up and I only just restrained myself from running up the stairs, regardless of the others knowing about it now. After a few minutes of walking silently up the stairs I was the first one at the top. Lizzy, Susan and another girl I presumed to be Mandy were already there and they smiled up at me as I entered.
"Hey Ally" Lizzy greeted happily, beckoning me further into the room.
"Ally this is Mandy, Mandy, Ally" Susan introduced and I smiled politely at the girl.
"Pleased to meet you" I said happily. The girl returned my smile and I took a moment to take in her appearance. Mandy was the same height as Susan, with black hair loosely curled and blue eyes. She was extremely pretty and I'm sure that she got a lot of attention from the boys here.
"You too" Mandy replied, her smile broadening as the others came into the room.
"Hey guys" Fiona said as she bounded into the room, throwing herself down on Lizzy's duvet.
"Oi get off you lump" Lizzy said grinning, now softly kicking Fiona. I watched as Lily got out all of our stuff and re-sized it before beginning to lay it all out. It didn't take her very long and soon the whole floor was covered in soft duvets. It seemed that Lily had multipled the number of duvets present, as they were quite a few layers laid down on the floor.
"Right, extra food run" Lily said, taking charge of the situation. Fiona and Lizzy remained on the floor as Alice, Susan and Mandy all said at exactly the same time,
"We'll come". This made them three burst out laughing and the four of them began to make their way out.
"We might as well meet you down in the Great Hall for dinner" Lily said finally, before disappearing down the stairs. I was aware that I was still standing and so I slipped my shoes off before sitting myself down where Fiona and Lizzy were sitting. I looked up to see them both looking back at me, grins on their faces.
"So, you and Sirius were holding hands earlier" Fiona began with a statement. I blushed as I remembered how I thought the two of them had been watching me.
"He just wondered about the temperature thing" I said quickly, my cheeks still feeling very hot. Fiona just grinned at me.
"That was his excuse for holding your hand all the way up to the castle?!" Lizzy exclaimed, moving forward slightly. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks again at her words, nodding hesitantly. I shifted my arm about awkwardly in the sling, not quite knowing what else to say.
"That's a new excuse for him" Lizzy commented, looking over at Fiona who nodded. My mind suddenly reeled back, allowing me to remember the conversation me and Fiona had on the way down to the Hospital Wing after my fall.
"You said that he had been acting....unusually?" I asked, looking directly up at Fiona. She nodded to confirm this.
"What makes you say that?" I asked slightly curiously.
"Sirius can get any girl he wants. And I mean literally any girl" Fiona began,
"He doesn't even need to try at all. One smile, one wink, and one cheeky comment and he has them. He knows exactly what he's doing. It's the first week and he hasn't got a girl yet. Highly unusual. Sirius seems to like you, but he's not acting like he normally does" Fiona ended, looking at me. I blushed a little towards the end of her explanation.
"So what makes you think he likes me then?" I queried, my voice quite quiet. Fiona shrugged and sighed.
"I don't. It's just a guess" she told me, although there was a small smile present.
"And you think your guess is right?" I asked, smiling despite myself. She nodded.
"Besides, we've been watching you two" Lizzy chipped in. I turned my head to look her, a puzzled expression on my face. Her eyes widened a little before she continued.
"What?! Just wanted to confirm our suspicions!" she said, defending herself and Fiona. I just laughed at them and they then joined in with me.
"Right, dinner" Lizzy said, jumping to her feet, extending her hand to help me up. I thankfully took it and she seemed shocked.
"You're really hot!" she exclaimed. Fiona burst out laughing,
"It sounds like your trying to chat her up!" she managed to spit out. This made me laugh and Lizzy just pushed Fiona over.
"Come on you" she said, now poking Fiona with her foot.
"I'm coming, I'm coming" Fiona said at last while I slipped my shoes on. We slowly left the tower, talking and laughing the whole way down.
Entering the Great Hall we could see no sign of the other girls and so we sat ourselves down at the top of the table, near the doors. We had just began eating when a lone owl swooped in and landed in front of me.
"Odd time for mail" Fiona remarked. It took me a while to realise that it was actually Sarah and Phil's owl. I frowned slightly, remembering how I had only sent my letter off yesterday. I thought they would be in France by now.
"Hi Fleur" I murmured to the owl who nudged my hand to make me stroke her. I gently patted her before taking the letter. She then blinked at me once before taking off. The writing on the front was that of Sarah's and I opened the letter, curious as to what was inside.
'Ally,
Mum's slightly mad. Thought I would write you a quick warning - Si'. I frowned at the odd beginning and wondered what Sarah could be mad about.
'Nathalie Marie Turner,
I have just been informed that you have sustained a fracture to your hand. I was told that this was due to a 'trip up the stairs'. You know as well as I do that I don't believe that at all. After speaking to Maddie she told me most injuries sustained in that area are from punching. You have been brought up to be a young lady, not a young hooligan! There is absoloutly no need to go round punching anybody WHAT SO EVER. You had your wand on you I presume? So why not use that instead?! Not that I am condoning that sort of behaviour. Two visits to the hospital wing in the space of two days? Keep yourself out of trouble young lady.
Sarah' I groaned out loud. I should have known that Maddie and Joe would have found out. They would have needed to know to put it on my medical record.
"What's up?" Lizzy asked, slightly bemused. I shoved the letter in her direction and her and Fiona quickly scanned through it, before they burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?". James, Sirius, Peter and Remus appeared, all looking curiously at the letter in Lizzy's hand. Fiona looked at me as if to ask my permission and I just nodded my head.
"Nathalie Marie Turner" she began reading it out loud.
"Nathalie Marie? Nice" James told me, grinning. I just rolled my eyes. She then continued to read out what Sarah had written to me, the boys laughing by the end of it.
"Did you read the rest of it?" Lizzy asked, turning to me. I just looked at her and she shoved the letter back in my hand.
'Oh Ally,
Mum wasn't happy when she found out! So come on, who did you punch and why? And if you don't tell me Luke will! Apart from that, I hope everything is going well for you. You'll have to write to us and tell us all about it, we've only heard Luke's dodgey versions of the place! I'll speak to you soon little sister,
Max
x
Ally,
Oh dear, I'm afraid you made Sarah a leetle annoyed. Me, not as much. Max said he'll teach you to punch properly when you arrive home, yes? I think that might be a good idea. We hope to hear from you soon, telling us all about school yes?
Love,
Phil
x'
I read the rest of the letter and couldn't help but smile a little at Phil's very good attempt to write in english. I looked up to see both Fiona and Lizzy smiling at me. The boys had disappeared off further down the table, and looking up at the entrance to the Hall, I could now see Lily, Susan, Alice and Mandy coming over to us. They all took a seat and eagerly started eating.
"A little late for a letter isn't it?" Alice queried, looking at the letter in my hand. I then proceeded to read it out, by which time everyone was laughing again. Even Lily couldn't help but laugh. We continued to eat our dinner talking and laughing as we went. I kept my eye on the door, waiting for a certain someone to arrive. I didn't have to wait long for him to come in.
"Luke" I said to him as he passed, standing up to properly face him. He spun and gave me a guilty smile. I waved the letter in front of his face and he took it off of me, smiling as he read it. He finished and looked up at me.
"You so wrote to Max didn't you?" I asked him. I saw Luke sigh, casting his eyes round the girls I was sitting with, all who were watching him. I saw his eyes linger on Lily who blushed and looked down. Luke smiled somewhat cockily, and I rose my eyebrows at him. He just shrugged, grinning.
"Maybe" he said, handing the letter back to me. I then hit him on the arm (with my good hand of course).
"Although I totally agree with Phil about Max teaching you properly" he said, his grin broadening. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes, watching as he moved away to his own friends. I looked round to see that everyone had more or less finished their dinner.
"Right, I'd better go to the Hospital Wing" I said, remaining standing.
"We'll come with you" both Fiona and Lizzy said, jumping up as well.
"Meet you four up in the tower" Fiona said, and with that we walked out of the Great Hall up to the Hospital Wing.
It didn't take us too long and I sat myself down on a bed as instructed by Madam Pomfrey. Lizzy sat down on the chair and Fiona on the end of the bed. We didn't have to wait too long until Professor Ford came waltzing in.
"Good evening ladies" he greeted politely. Both Fiona and Lizzy beamed at him.
"Good evening Professor" we all said at exactly the same time. Our similarities were scary sometimes.
"I've been asked to leave you with some medication for your hand" he explained, now reaching into his bag which I had failed to notice before. He set down a box of them, and from my position I could tell they were pain killers.
"Three times a day after every meal" he explained, before getting something else out from his bag. He produced another box and moved over to stand opposite me.
"As well as another injection I'm afraid". My eyes widened. But he wasn't a doctor!
"Having a doctor in the family proves handy. Don't worry I know what I'm doing" he reassured me, preparing it.
"Right, this one isn't half as strong as the one you had yesterday. This one will take effect in about an hour and you'll just feel a little drowsy" Professor Ford explained, now holding the injection expertly. I sighed, and decided it would be best if I just took my jumper off. I took my sling off before I very slowly managed to remove my jumper. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, which was normal for me: I didn't like people seeing my scar. Somehow, everyone had failed to notice it so far. I awkwardly rolled up my sleeve, making sure to hide the scar on the inside of my arm. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I felt the needle pierce my skin, stinging as it done so. However it didn't last too long and I soon felt the pain subside and the needle come out.
"Right, now you're all done you can feel free to go. Just remember to take it easy" Professor Ford told me, a smile on his face.
"Thank you sir" I told him before rolling my sleeve backdown and putting my sling back on. I then jumped off the bed, grabbing my jumper and the box of tablets as I went. I gave Professor Ford one last smile before I walked out accompanied by Fiona and Lizzy.
"What was that thing?" Fiona questionned me as soon as we were out of the Hospital Wing.
"It's an injection. It has medicine inside it. It works much quicker than a tablet because it goes straight into your blood stream" I explained to her as we walked along. She frowned a little as I told her.
"But doesn't it hurt?" she asked, looking up at me.
"A little. It's just like a small sting and then thats it" I told her. She just shook her head and I could see she wasn't fully supportive of muggle medicine.
"Fiona's a pure blood so she doesn't really know a lot about muggle medicine or anything" Lizzy told me. I had already kind of guessed that and now it all made sense really. I was guessing James was also a pureblood as his reaction had been the same as Fiona's when he had seen me.
I had decided to run up the stairs to the tower, which meant it only took me a few seconds before I arrived. The other four were already up there.
"What did they make you do?" Alice asked grinning. I showed her the box of tablets but she just frowned.
"Tablets for my hand and another injection" I explained, flopping down on the floor. Lily, Mandy and Susan screwed their faces up appropraitely but Alice looked confused.
"What's an in-jecks-un?" Alice asked curiously, slowly trying to pronounce the word.
"It has a sharp point and like a small tube. Inside the tube there's medicine and the needle pierces the skin where the medicine is then injected into the blood stream" I managed to whittle off quickly. Alice's eyes widened appropriately.
"But doesn't that hurt?!" she exclaimed, rubbing her own arm. I nodded my head and she frowned.
"Where's Lizzy and Fi?" Lily now asked me, looking round. I grinned.
"I ran up the stairs" I told her happily. She began laughing and I joined in, just as the two of them appeared.
So far the evening had been really good. The injection had kicked in a while ago though now and I was really beginning to feel tired. Professor Ford had given me the injection at about 6.45 and it was now ten. My right arm felt extremely heavy, and I was actually thankful for the sling: it was doing a great job of keeping my arm up. It was still early though and the others all seemed pretty hyped up and alert. They had spent the most part of the evening telling me all about the people in our year, gossip as such. However, now that I was beginning to feel extremely tired my mind was slowly drifting.
"Tired?" I heard a voice from beside me say. I turned to see Lily smiling at me.
"I'm feeling the effects of that injection" I admitted, feeling very sleepy.
"It wasn't as strong as yesterdays though?" she asked me, taking in my tired expression. I shook my head,
"Nope, but it kicked in at about 7.45" I told her, and she pulled my arm to see the time.
"Wow, you've been fighting that well!" she exclaimed, a broad smile on her face.
"Just go to sleep, it's fine" she said and I laid myself down, thinking I would just rest my eyes and listen to their ongoing conversations...
I woke up to the sight of sunlight pouring in through the windows. Sitting up I felt the dull throbbing of my hand and looked down to see it was still in the sling. I must have fallen asleep in it last night then. Looking around I saw the girls scattered all over the place, all of them still fast asleep. Glancing down at my watch I saw that it was only 8 o'clcok, and besides, it was only Saturday. I very slowly and carefully heaved myself up and decided I would wander back to the dormitory to get a fresh change of clothes before breakfast: I had a feeling the girls would be asleep for a while longer yet.
The castle was extremely quiet, with only a few people up and about. Once I got up to the dormitory I decided to take a quick shower before I put on the jeans, polo top and cardigan I had received for my birthday. I couldn't really be bothered with my hair and so just left it wavy before going down to breakfast, tablets and wand in pocket.
The Great Hall was extremely empty and I took a seat, eating relatively quickly.
"Got somewhere to be?" Looking up I saw Will take a seat opposite me, smile on his face. I shook my head, but hesitated before answering.
"I, um, was going to do a bit of practise. Try using my wand with my left hand" I told him honestly, shrugging.
"Dedication" he remarked before helping himself to some breakfast. We sat in silence for a while, each of us left in our own thoughts.
"Your up early" Will said after a while.
"I'm always up early" I replied, smiling at him. He returned it enthustiastically. I had finished my breakfast a while ago and decided now would be the best time to take the first tablet of the day. I noticed Will watching me and I just looked back at him. He just shook his head as if clearing it.
"So, apart from practising are you doing anything today?" Will asked me, once he had finished eating.
"Not that I know of, yourself?" I asked him, thinking it only polite.
"Only Quidditch try outs, which I should really be getting off to" he said, looking down at his watch.
"I'm sorry, I'm guna have to go, I'll talk to you later though?" he questionned, standing up and looking down at me.
"Sure, good luck!" I told him as he gave me one last smile before disappearing. I sat in the Great Hall for a little while longer, thinking of where I could practise. I decided I would try Professor Ford's room, especially as he knew quite a bit about my injury. With this destination in mind I got up and quickly walked in the direction of the stairs.
I didn't know if Professor Ford would be in his room this morning but I decided it would be better to knock before I went in.
"Come in" I heard his deep voice say and I slowly opened the door to see him packing some stuff away.
"Ah, good morning Miss Turner" he said, facing to turn my.
"Morning Professor" I replied politely, making my way further into the room.
"And what can I do for you?" he asked, leaning against his desk.
"Well, with my hand like this" I began, gesturing to my fractured hand,
"I can't use my wand. But I was hoping that if I practised a little I would be able to use my left hand. But I haven't got anywhere to practise and so I thought maybe I could ask you if I could practise in here?" I asked, relatively quickly.
"Well, when you put it like that...of course you can" Professor Ford told me, a big smile on his face. I beamed back at him,
"Thankyou very much sir" I said politely, and he turned to grab his bag.
"Right, I'm off to breakfast now, so practise away" he said gesturing around the room.
"But, don't over exert yourself" he warned before turning and disappearing through the door. I was then left on my own and decided I would start with a few simple spells. I rolled my sleeves up and got out my wand as well as the box of tablets. I placed the box on the desk in front of me and took a seat. My wand didn't feel as comfortable in my left hand as it did in my right. But still. I completely focused on what I needed to do, pushing all other thoughts out of my mind.
Wingardium leviosa I thought, pointing my wand at the box. It rose feebly before dropping. Sighing, I messily tied my hair up with one hand, ready to face a long day.
I lost all track of time and had managed to perform quite a few spells, although not all of them. They weren't up to the normal standard yet I could still do them. I was now trying my hand at the Protonous charm, thinking that it would most likely come up in lesson some time soon. My memory was strong yet my magic didn't seem to be. I was getting frustrated and was standing in the middle of the room, having made a space by moving aside some tables. I ended up getting annoyed with myself and started performing spells at random, banishing and levitating objects. In the end I half gave up and sat down on the floor leaning against one of the desks. I hadn't been sitting there for very long at all when the door creaked open.
"So this is where you've been hiding" came the husky voice of Sirius as he moved further in the room, dodging round the many desks.
Sirius' POV
The girls had been frantically looking all round the castle for her, and so we had decided to join in. I decided to use the map that we had made and easily found her down here. I was suprised by her location and was curious to know what exactly she was doing and so I slipped down and see her. I carefully maneouvered my way round the desks to where she was sitting on the floor.
"Practising" she corrected me, not bothering to move. Instead I chose to sit next to her as I puzzled over what she meant.
"Practising?" I queried, now looking round the room at the numerous amount of objects that were scattered everywhere.
"Trying to use my left hand" Ally explained and I looked down at her injured hand, chuckling as I remembered how she managed to hurt herself.
"You've had everyone looking everywhere for you, you know?" I told her after a moments silence, knowing that they were most probably still looking for her.
"I completely forgot" she admitted, leaning her head back on the desk leg behind her. Sitting there, I took a moment to take in her appearance. The sleeves of her cardigan were rolled up, exposing her tanned skin. Her hair fell messily around her rosy cheeks, and she looked oddly sexy. Ally looked over at me as I thought this and I shook my head, trying to clear the thoughts.
"So how did you manage to find me?" she asked, eyes glowing a blue green colour. I hesitated for a moment, thinking of a plausible explantion.
"Everyone split up and I took this corridor" I said with a shrug, trying to pass it off as a casual occurance. It seemingly worked as she just nodded. Not quite knowing why, I looked down to see how close our hands were on the ground, and I remembered how it was only yesterday I had that small and delicate hand in my own.
"I guess I should go see them all then" Ally said suddenly, breaking my trail of thought. Merlin, did I really just think that thought?! I was going soft. Not good. I coughed, clearing my throat, trying to restore my manly feeling, as I heaved myself up off the floor.
Allys POV
I watched as Sirius very quickly got up before spinning round and extending his hand, a grin on his face. I gratefully accepted and he rapidly pulled me up, holding my hand for just a second too long before dropping it. I thought back to my conversation with Fiona and Lizzy yesterday, blushing as I did so. I shook my head, trying to get get rid of the thought before I looked at the room around us. I waved my wand and watched as the classroom restored itself (rather slowly admittedly), feeling very pleased with my left handed magic. I then proceeded to put back all the objects I had used until the room looked back to normal. I saw my tablets on the other side of the room and turned to Sirius.
"Could you do me a favour please?" I asked, turning to him.
"Sure" he replied, a grin on his face.
"Catch" I said, before summoning the box. It was just about to whack into me when his hand extended and grabbed it. I then pocketed my wand before I spun to face him.
"Thanks" I told him, and he smiled his crooked smile before handing it to me.
"Any time" he said, making his way over to the door, holding it open for me. I smiled before stepping through it.
"So where is everyone else then?" I asked him as we walked relatively slowly down the corridor. Sirius frowned for a second before turning to me, smile on face.
"Great Hall" he told me. I looked down at my watch to see that it was now 1.15. I had been practising from about 9 this morning. Come to think of it I was really kind of hungry.
"Forgot about lunch as well?" Sirius asked me suddenly. I looked up to see him grinning, and nodded.
"Don't tell James and Fiona that then" he said, chuckling a little.
We didn't talk that much on the way down, just the odd comment or two from Sirius about my hand. On entering the Great Hall I saw that loads of people were already at lunch and I spotted the girls sitting about half way down. The boys were sitting right by the door.
"You found her then" James commented, a grin on his face. I looked at Sirius to see him roll his eyes and I felt like I was missing something here.
"Where were you hiding then?" he asked, turning to me.
"Ancient Runes classroom" I told him with a slight shrug. James looked at me curiously and Remus just smiled at me.
"Well, I'd better go and see everyone else" I said nodding my head further down the table. They all nodded and smiled at me as I moved away from them and further down the table. Fiona looked up and done a double take as she saw me approach.
"ALLY TURNER....WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" she yelled, getting up from her seat and marching over to me, arms folded.
"Erm, Ancient Runes classroom" I admitted sheepishly.
"What were you doing in there?!" Fiona exclaimed dramatically.
"Practising using my wand in my left hand" I told her, looking up at her. Her mouth made a small 'O' shape as she looked past me and further up the table.
"How did Sirius find you?" she now asked frowning a little. I was a little confused by this, seeing as they had apparently all split up.
"Didn't you all split up and Sirius ended up on the third corridor where the classroom is?" I asked a little hesitantly.
Fiona's POV
So, thats the story Sirius had used. I think I would need to have a chat with him. I had allowed my mind to drift a little before remembering I had left Ally hanging.
"Oh yeah, course" I said hurridly, beckoning her over to where we were sitting. I hadn't realised just quite how far over I had marched. Ally took a seat next to me before Lily began the questionning.
"Where have you been?! We've been looking everywhere for you!" she exclaimed. Ally have another sheepish smile before responding.
"I was in the Ancient Runes classroom" was all she said before she began to awkwardly pile up her plate. Lily continued to look at her but said nothing else on the matter and so I decided to move conversation on.
"Are you going to come and watch try outs Ally?" I asked, looking at her. She looked up but looked a little confused when I remembered that I hadn't fully explained.
"Quidditch try outs" I added and I saw the comprehension draw on her face.
"Oh, yeah sure" Ally replied happily, a smile on her face. I smiled back at her and we talked as we continued to eat.
It wasn't too long after Ally had joined us when I jumped up.
"Come on guys, lets go go go!" I exclaimed. I was about to drag Ally up when I remembered her hand and I settled for continuous tugging on her cardigan until she moved herself.
"Okay okay, I'm coming" she said in a slight exhasperated voice, although I could see that there was a slight smile on her face. I turned to the others and gestured with my hands for them to hurry up.
"Erm, Fi? Aren't you forgetting something?" Lily asked me, a grin on her face. I frowned wondering what she was talking about. She took my silence as a note to go on,
"Hmm, Quidditch try outs. What might you actually need for that?" she asked sarcastically. I thought about what she was saying and then to what I would-
"MY BROOM!" I yelled, completely annoyed with myself that I had forgotten. All the girls burst out laughing.
"Lucky for you, I know what you're like" Lily told me, and she dove into her pocket to retrieve a small item which she then proceeded to tap with her wand. I watched as it grew larger and took the form of my broom.
"Lily Evans, I bludy love you" I told her before hugging her happily. She just sighed and I saw her roll her eyes as she pulled back.
"Whats the temperature like out today?" Ally said suddenly, looking up at the ceiling. The sky was extremely clear today, although that didn't mean it would be warm.
"Kinda cold I would guess" Alice replied, also looking up at the ceiling.
"I''ll be back in 10 seconds" Ally said with a grin before walking extremely quickly out of the Great Hall where I then lost sight of her. Lily was grinning and all the rest of us looked a little beweildered.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one" Lily said quietly, looking expectantly towards the entrance of the hall. Confused, I copied her actions and was therefore suprised when I saw Ally walk back into the Hall.....with a coat. My eyes widened as I realised what she had just done.
"If your hand wasn't injured I would be forcing you to try out for the team" I told her as she walked back over to us. She laughed a little at this comment.
"It doesn't quite work like that" was all she said, and I'm guessing that it meant her special talents couldn't be used in the air. I just shook my head as I began pushing everyone out of the Hall, calling to James and Sirius as I went.
As we walked out I could see the Ravenclaws making their way inside, presumably just having finished their own tryouts. I was skipping happily ahead of the others, glad to be out in the fresh air. Looking towards the pitch I could see that it was relatively empty, although I thought I could make out the figure of our captain, Alex Merret. I bounded over to go see him and he turned, a smile on his face as he saw it was me.
"I wondered how long it would take for you to get out here" he said, looking through a few sheets of paper.
"Just had to rally up some support" I told him, gesturing to the others as he looked up. He sighed, shaking his head.
"What?!" I exclaimed, taking a step towards him to look at the numerous amounts of names he had written down.
"Nothing, nothing" was all he said, shaking his head.
I stood there talking to Alex for some time before the boys finally joined us. They immediately jumped on their brooms, releasing some of their energy and I gladfully joined them. Soaring up, the wind ruffling through my hair, I could see the girls taking a seat in the stands. However, looking a little closer I saw that Ally wasn't with them. I flew over to where they were sitting to ask them.
"Masters caught up with her" Lily said, pointing to the ground, not far from the pitch where I could now see the two of them talking.
Ally's POV
I had fallen behind everyone slightly as I struggled to get my coat on with only my one available hand. I decided I should just stop walking altogether in the hope that this might help.
"Let me help you with that" I heard a voice I recognised. Looking up I saw Will standing there, a smile on his face. He walked round behind me and held my coat, helping me to slip my left arm in. I left my right hand just underneath my coat, not feeling too bothered about taking my sling off to then hurt my hand further by shoving it in the sleeve.
"Thanks" I told him, once he had moved to stand opposite me again.
"No problem" he told me, the smile still on his face.
"How did try outs go?" I asked, now taking in the simple tracksuit and tshirt appearance.
"Great. Made chaser again" he said, grinning.
"Well done!" I exclaimed, moving forward to hug him. It seemed as if he was a little suprised at first but he hugged me back enthustiastically.
"Ouch" I said, laughing a little as I moved away from him.
"I'm sorry I forgot about your hand" Will said a little sheepishly, running a hand through his already messy hair.
"It's really okay" I told him honestly, smiling up at him.
"So you will of course be coming to the first Quidditch match of the season, Ravenclaw v's Hufflepuff?" he asked me, shoving his hands in his pockets, a grin on his face. I couldn't help but smile back at him,
"Of course" I told him, and his grin widened.
"Great, and if its a win you're most definently invited to the after party" he said, a large smile on his face.
"I look forward to it" I replied, returning the smile.
"Now that we've got that sorted I'm going to grab some lunch. So I'll talk to you later?" he phrased the last part of his sentence with a question.
"Sure" I replied happily and he beamed back at me before walking in the direction of the Great Hall. I looked towards the pitch to see someone whizzing towards me. Slightly startled I took a step back when Fiona hurtled to a stop infront of me.
"Ooooooo....you and Will Masters" she said very loudly in a very sing song voice. My eyes widened and I took a glance behind me to see that Will had turned round and was looking at us with a broad grin on his face. He seemed to chuckle before winking and then walking on.
"Fiona!" I exclaimed, attempting to whack her with my good arm but failing when she just flew to the side. She just laughed as I walked towards the pitch, her flying beside me.
"So what were you two talking about?" she asked me, and I turned to see a large smile on her face.
"Quidditch" was my short reply and I knew it had the potential to annoy her.
"Yeah, because Quidditch involves hugging" Fiona said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"I was just congratulating him on making chaser!" I exclaimed.
"Mm-hmm, sure you were" she said, before bursting out laughing. Again I reached out to whack her and she just whizzed off. I grinned to myself knowing that I could easily catch up, and so decided to go for a run. Fiona stopped not too far away and she looked where I had previously been to see if she could see me.
"Looking for me?" I asked from behind her. She jumped and promptly fell off her broom, which made me burst out laughing.
"That is so not fair" she said grumbling from her position on the floor.
"Fiona Shorts, are you going to grace us with your presence any time today?"
My head snapped up to see a boy, probably a year older than Fiona standing in front of us. His arms folded although there was a small smile present.
"Jeez, I'm coming, I'm coming" she said complaining, heaving herself up off of the floor. He laughed a little before turning his attention to me.
"Oh, I don't believe you two have met. Alex, Ally. Ally, Alex" she said quickly. Alex smiled at me, a slight twinkle in his dark blue eyes.
"Nice to meet you" he said politely, nodding his head at me.
"You too" I replied, equally as politely.
"Come on then" Fiona said, tugging at his sleeve, before jumping on her broom and zooming off. Alex chuckled and turned to me.
"Coming to watch?" he asked, as we both began to make our way over to the pitch.
"Yeah, Fiona kind of insisted" I admitted, a smile on my face. He sighed and shook his head.
"She's a lively one" he commented, shoving his hands in his pocket.
"So, you're a transfer right? And a Gryffindor I'm going to assume?" Alex asked me as we drew nearer to the pitch.
"Yes to both of your questions" I told him smiling. He returned the smile as we arrived by the stands.
"Right, I'd better go and organise all that lot" he said, wincing as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of a load of over keen first years. I laughed a little at his pained expression.
"I'm sure you'll have loads of fun" I said to him and he just grinned at me.
"I'll try. I guess I'll see you round in the common room?" he asked, phrasing it in the exact same way Will had with his departing sentence.
"Yeah sure" I replied and he smiled before walking over to the first years and beginning to shout at them. I couldn't help but laugh a little as I began to make my way up the stairs which I presumed would lead me to where the others were sitting.
Sure enough I found all the girls, minus Fiona, sitting there talking.
"Take your time" Lizzy remarked, gesturing to the empty seat beside her. I flashed a grin at her before sitting down, looking round. The stand we were in was located right in the middle of the pitch and, looking down, I could see Alex ordering everyone about.
"So, what did Will want?" Lizzys voice brought me back to the present. Looking at her, I saw her grinning at me.
"Just gave me a hand with my coat and we had a quick chat about Quidditch" I told her honestly.
"What about Quidditch?" she questionned further. Honestly.
"He told me about making chaser. And then he asked me if I would be coming to the first match of the season and-" I stopped as I remembered his invitation.
"Oooo, and what else?" she asked, nudging me slightly.
"And he invited me to the after party if they won" I admitted, a small smile on my face. Her eyes widened as she took in this piece of information.
"Will Masters invited Ally to the Ravenclaw afterparty!" she exclaimed loudly, turning to the other girls.
"We would have gone anyway thanks to Susan see-" Lily began but it seemed as if it only just clicked what Lizzy had said.
"WILL MASTERS INVITED YOU?!" she all but shouted. I flinched a little at the sound of her extremely loud voice.
"Erm, yeah he did" I told her, shrugging a little.
"But he never asks ANY girl to the afterparty!" Susan exclaimed, joining in with the very loud tone of voice.
"Really?" I asked, caught off guard and was a little suprised by this revelation.
"Yeah, really!" Lizzy told me. I was still a little suprised by this and suddenly remembered a question I had been meaning to ask someone.
"When is the first match of the season?" I asked to noone in particular.
"Middle of October" Susan said at once. All the other girls turned to look at her, and their expressions were a little suprised.
"What?! Its a Ravenclaw match, I should know! In fact, Lizzy should know to because its against Hufflepuff!" she exclaimed, now looking at Lizzy. In a slightly funny movement, Alice, Lily and Mandy all looked at her as well.
"Heey, you know I don't pay attention to these things! And Mandy didn't exactly know did she!" Lizzy said, defending herself. Mandy gave a sheepish grin and a shrug.
"So really, how do you know Suze?" Lily asked, looking very curious.
"I heard the boys talking about it the other night" she admitted with a shrug. I just turned to Lizzy to see her looking at me, eyebrows raised slightly.
Lizzy's POV
I couldn't believe that Will Masters had asked Ally to the afterparty. I mean we would have gone anyway because of Susan and now, I guess, Mandy. Every girl always tried to get Will to ask her, and Will had asked Ally like, more than a month in advance. Hmmm. Looking out across at the pitch I could just make out Sirius talking to Fiona. My mind raced back to the conversation me, Fiona and Ally had had last night. The one which involved Sirius. And I couldn't help but wonder how he would take the news.
Voila, update sooooon hopefully!
