Author's Note asnd Dedication: Thank you so much for your reviews! It's really appreciated and I hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint! Jedda, my lovely, from your two sentences, I have captured brilliance! Haha! Hope you like it!
"I am free of all prejudices, I hate everyone equally." ~ W. C. Fields
Jedda Nyx Estrella~ Or, a chapter from the Darkside, 'cause we've got the biscuits, bitches.
"This is so not comfortable." I groaned, lying with my legs in the hammock and the edge of the bed digging into my spine. I could have moved, but I was to tired. Lying down was lying down, regardless.
"We should get up." Valerie said, though made no move to heave herself out of bed.
"You first."
"Luna! Luna!" Valerie called, waving her arm. Luna'd probably already gotten up and gone down to the common room by now. Fin was the one to get us up in the morning, the one who made sure we didn't oversleep. Where was she? "Come on, Jedd's. Let's go."
"Don't call me Jedd's!"
"I wonder if Fin's killed Cho yet, do you think we should go down and check on her?" Val asked, finally getting up.
"I don't know, but if she needs help I can always use that vanishing charm we learned yesterday to hide the bodies. I mean, what are friends for?" I said indifferently and graced Val with an evil smirk. I love that word…smirk. I groaned and rolled out of bed, feeling the pain in my back from the really uncomfortable position I'd been sitting in. Valerie yawned and looked at her watch and her eyes widened. "Crap! Jedda! Breakfast started five minutes ago! GET UP!"
"I'm going, I'm going! Just let me-AAAAAEECCCK!!" Something leapt out and attacked my ankles from the bottom of the bed, snarling wildly. Orla's copy of The Monster Book of Monsters had my socks and was tearing them apart. Swearing, I snatched my wand:
"Confringo! Petrificus totalus! Booyah! Did you see that…in the air! Now keep that belted…or else!" Orla just looked at me like I was psycho and could attack any given moment. It was good for these first years to develop a healthy sense of respect and awe for the upper Hogwart's classmen. And I was prone to random attacks of fury, so if I hated you enough…well, yeah. Better Orla was scared and alive then stupid and hexed.
"I bet she's just down in the common room moping around over Cedric…again," I said with distaste in my voice. "That's all she ever talks about lately: Cedric this and Cedric that…Do you think she'll ever get over that boy?" I continued. Findabhair's obsession was a constant reminder of how miserably unhappy she was. It was like she enjoyed hurting herself. Huh, and they called me emo. I may have worn a lot of black and reveled in all the emoness of the world, but I wasn't as masochistic as Fin was. Some people just needed to shut up and be happy with what they had. Fin had Oliver, and that was more then most. Besides that fact that she was depressing and irritating to talk to these days. When Fin wasn't happy, she just wasn't fun anymore.
"Nah, have you seen the guy?" Val said as she hurried to pull on a pair of jeans. I looked up with a sigh and got distracted quickly, the sky caught my attention and I zoned out for a minute or two. There was something about a dorm open to the sky…
"Hey, Jedda? JEDDA!!" Val got louder as she tried to pull me back into reality. "Do you think Fin will be up here soon? She's got to get ready and change her clothes sometime." Val asked. I felt like we were talking about the animal on some wildlife show: They've got to come up for air sometime.
"I don't know, do I look like her keeper?" I said sarcastically. I mean honestly, with the way she was acting, she could have been anywhere. Fin's answer for everything: Wander until the pavement ends. She'd show up eventually, lost in the dungeon or something like that. Something Finlike.
"Gosh, Jedda, you're a big ball of emo fun in the morning, aren't you?" Val snapped, obviously getting a little anxious. I stumbled and tripped as I pulled on the first thing I could yank out of my trunk. Oh, for Merlin's sake, how much trouble could Fin really get into? I hated mornings.
"Oh, shut up! You know I hate waking up, it's this thing with the sun and the not sleeping! And all these happy morning people!" I said grumpily, why was everyone all about the mornings? If I had my way, human beings would be nocturnal.
"Bye." Valerie called, dashing out the door.
"Hey, wait up!" I raced after her, tripping over something of Orla's on my way out the door. The Common room was not as it should have been. It looked like somebody had hit the place with a chaos inducing bomb.
"What the hell…" I trailed off and surveyed the aftermath of what had been a hexing match. The furniture was overturned, there were suspicious looking splatters across some of the white marble and few scorch marks across the carpet.
"Hey! Look, It's her potions essay! She wouldn't ever leave that just lying around, would she? I mean after that time we cheated on the last one-" Val trailed off, picking up the ink stained parchment. I grimaced, that was profoundly unlike her. Findabhair wouldn't ever leave her stuff just lying around like this, scattered haphazardly across the floor. "I guess we better sort this out for her-"
"Ahem, we're late for breakfast." I pointed out loudly.
"Oh, right!" We rushed out the door, Fin's scattered belongings forgotten for now.
"She's probably with Olive, now that I think of it. Yeah, Olive's got her." Val, after coming to this conclusion halfway to the Great Hall, seemed in a much better mood. She was probably right, too. Oliver Wood was Fin's constant companion lately, flanked by Fred and George. Gryffindor freaks. I personally thought Oliver was way better looking then Cedric, but…well, I was me and she was Fin.
"OH! SCHWING! Check it out! They have WAFFLES!! I love it when they have waffles!" Valerie grabbed me around the neck and hugged me.
"Ouch! What the heck!" Why did I get to be the one receiving hugs! I hated this surplus of joy. Too much happy, get it off me! Fin enjoyed random outbursts of excitement, I didn't share her views. "They're just waffles! And what are you doing with all those toaster strudels?"
"I'm saving them for Fin when she comes down. You know she loves the icing filled ones." Valerie said pleasantly, heaping the strudels onto the empty plate where Fin usually sat. "Hey, look! Olive!"
"Have you seen her?" Oliver panted desperately, his face as white as a sheet. Uh oh.
"Seen who?" Val muttered through her mouthful, still reveling in her state of waffleness.
"Findabhair."
"Oh, she's with you." Val said confidently, pouring chocolate syrup and ketchup over her waffle tower. Oliver gave her a confused look and shook his head.
"Does she look like she's with me?" He asked, rolling his eyes impatiently.
"She probably went somewhere to get away from you." I grumbled. Oliver was one of those happy morning people. He deserved to be punished.
"Thanks." He snapped sarcastically, but his heart really wasn't in it. I knew sarcasm, I was the queen of sarcasm. And the only reason for Olive not to have taken serious affront to my comment was because he was worried.
"That's where I would go." I grinned up at him angelically, a stretch but worth the effort to see the look on his face. Booyah. Valerie looked up at him and smiled, still certain that the morning was pleasant. After all, it had waffles.
"Ifmm she's not vith 'ou, she 'ust be vith 'Edric. Duur! 'Illy Oliwe." Valerie seemed incapable of getting through a sentence without waffle in her mouth. I turned back to Oliver and translated:
"If she's not with you, she must be with Cedric. Duh! Silly Olive." I shuddered, silly sounded like such a weird word coming out of my mouth. I suddenly wished I hadn't said anything, as I saw the expression of jealousy flash across Oliver's face. There was a loud swell of voices and I looked towards the entrance to the Hall. About thirty Hufflepuff's had arrived, Cedric Diggory's typical entourage. And they looked agitated, buzzing around him like a little hive of bees.
"What's got their knickers in a twist?" Val said, turning in her seat for the first time.
"I don't know, but he better have Fin with him." Oliver growled as Cedric emerged from the crowd, panting.
"Cho!" He called, running over to our table. I felt a surge of relief that I didn't have to see Fin's face when he said that name. Cho Chang, scummy as always, sat up and popped into her alluring girlfriend pose. Tart. Findabhair and Valerie could pussyfoot around the really horrible insults if they wanted, but that was what Cho Chang was(and would always be, in my opinion).
"Yes, Ceddy?" I couldn't take it and burst out laughing. Valerie made a retching sound and mimicked poking her fingers down her throat. I was paralyzed by laughter, my giggles unstoppable. Cedric seemed to relax somewhat when he saw Cho and strode forward to hug her. Oh, I could see the pain on Fin's expression just at that tiny gesture.
"Hey!" Oliver shouted, glaring at Cedric. "Hey, Ceddy?"
But Cedric didn't really look like he gave a damn about whatever Oliver had to say(per usual), but gave everything about the empty seat beside Valerie. He practically tripped over Cho in his horror. Val looked down at her plate and back up at him and made a face.
"Fin?" She asked, her chipper mood returning. She even moved to place another strudel on the plate.
"Tell me she's with Oliver." Cedric muttered, staring at us with a look like a man whose about to swing from the gallows.
"No, she's not with Oliver. We thought she was with you." I responded, my feeling of unease growing. Cedric's already pale skin went an ugly shade of ash gray and his body tensed from head to toe.
"What is it? Cedric?" There was no reason to panic, she was probably just lost in the dungeons…Pretty boy did tend to be…cool and level headed in a crisis. Oh, shit!
"No, no, no, no…" He was shaking his head now, stepping back from me.
"You lost her?!" Oliver snapped incredulously from behind him, and Cedric whipped around to face his livid expression.
"She was with you the entire day yesterday and you didn't see them take her?" That was odd, instead of looking as though he wanted to rip Olive into little pieces like he normally did, Cedric kind of looked like he was going to be sick. He stumbled and grabbed the table, taking huge breaths.
"Who took her!? What are you talking about?!" Oliver's expression really couldn't decided whether it wanted to be furious or frantic. He turned towards us and pointed. "You lost her!"
"We did not!" I shouted, slamming down my goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Wait…" Val looked up for the first time, addressing Cedric. "She's not with you?"
"How could you let her out of your sight!?" Cedric roared, shoving Oliver hard. Several heads turned and I stood up quickly. As much as I would enjoy a good scrap and a chance to see Diggory flattened all on the same day, this was not the time or place.
"Watch it, Hufflepuff!"
"You great git, Wood! This isn't about House feuds! She's your girlfriend, you're supposed to take care of her!" Pretty Boy snarled viciously, grey eyes as hard as flint and bright as silver. Underneath all that acting, he looked desperate.
"But…Olive!" Valerie wailed, "You're a Keeper! Isn't it your job to keep things?!"
"She's gone, where's she gone?!" Oliver had rebounded from Cedric's shove and was shouting back, furious.
"She's at the bottom of the lake!" Cedric groaned, clutching his skull like he was having a massive migraine.
"That's silly, why would she be at the bottom of the…" Realization donned on Val's face and she looked from Oliver to Cedric for a second before turning back to Oliver and wailing: "But you're a Keeper!"
"Yeah, and he's a Seeker!" Oliver growled at Cedric, poking him in the stomach. "So, he should go find her-"
"And Fin's a bloody Chaser!" I shouted over their bickering. "What does Quidditch position have to do with any of it?"
"I-" Cedric was looking green again.
"He-" Oliver waved his arms uselessly before coming up with a satisfactory comeback: "It's all your fault that she's down there, isn't it? This is all about that stupid cup! I'll kill you, Diggory! I'll crush-" Fred and George had arrived just in time to break things up.
"-Crush his bones to make your bread. Yes, we know Oliver. Now calm down before you hurt yourself." George grumbled, grappling with Flyboy's wind-milling arms.
"Easy, mate. It's nobody's fault, they've taken Ron, too." Oliver didn't look like he believed them, and I'm sure if either of them let him go, he would try to kill Cedric. At this point, Diggory didn't look like he would have minded in the least.
"Do, do, do, do do do do da!" Val hummed, along to the Twilight Zone theme. Cedric still looked like he was going to be sick as they dragged Oliver back to the Gryffindor table. I leaned over and set a hand on Ced's arm.
"Just remember when you feel like rubbish, it could always be worse. The goblet could be half empty and cracked." I reassured him. Cedric gave me a bleak look of despair. What? I was just telling things like they were.
"I thought the glass was supposed to be half full." Val said, looking confused.
"People who believe that kind of bollocks are delusional. Hey, why isn't she-" I pointed to Cho. "Coming over to reassure you?" I asked him, watching Cho chatter to his popular friends.
"She's socializing." He muttered, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger.
"While your over here bawling?" Val asked.
"I am not crying." He snapped , wiping his eyes. "They're crying-"
He gestured over to where Roger, Anastasia, Olympia and Danica were sobbing unashamedly into their breakfast's. Ravenclaw's are known for three things: Wit, physical attractiveness and last but not least…melodrama.
"B-But no… I love my mamma Fox!" Anastasia wailed, burying her tear-stained face in Davies shoulder.
"She was always so funny-" Danica whimpered, lips trembling.
"What does that make us, chopped liver?" I snorted, rolling my eyes.
"How do you think I feel? My cutest player's life is in the hands of HUFFLEPUFF!!WAAAOOHH!" Roger broke off with a sound like a beluga whale sneezing and collapsed into an inconsolable fit of histrionic proportions. Cho's head whipped around at the phrase 'cutest player' and she sneered.
"She probably doesn't want you to save Fin," Luna interjected quietly. I jumped in surprise, I'd totally forgotten she was there. "Cho is jealous."
"I've got to go." Cedric got up and stormed off.
"Hey, Ced!" Val called, standing up and hefting her plate of strudel. "You know, if Fin drowns, you have to find me a new best friend. And then, you have to share this strudel with me-"
"And I'll shank him." I said quickly.
"-And Jedda will shank you. So, no pressure!" Val sat back down and grinned, shoving strudels in her pocket and humming.
"How can you still be happy?" I asked incredulously. Her consistently sparkling optimism was staggering.
"It's a waffle morning and I have strudel's. What's not to be happy about?"
"I don't think he'll be able to bring Fin back if he looks like he does now." I pointed to where Cedric had kind of curled into a fetal position at the edge of Hufflepuff table, head between his knees. If I squinted, I could see him rocking back and forth. Well, crap!
"Eh, he does that. He'll be fine in a few minutes, you'll see. After all, it's not his queen of Ravenclaw like Cho. If it was, I bet we could have conned Fin into helping us knock Cedric unconscious and paying off the merpeople to drown Cho. YEAH!" Val squealed, rubbing her hands together. Suddenly, her face fell.
"What?"
"Well, the murder plans just aren't the same without Fin. There's no…fun, I guess. No maniacal, deranged laughter. Hmm, I'm going to miss her."
"Calm down, Oliver! I'm going to stab you in the eye with my quill if you trip over my ankle again!" I shouted, glaring at him. He paced anxiously, this steady back and forth movement. It was like watching a pendulum swing.
"I can't! She's down there and I can't do anything about it! Her life is in the hands of that stuck-up prat, who'd just as soon let her drown as give her an autograph." He snarled out of the corner of his mouth, gripping the railing with white knuckles. I couldn't have agreed more and opened my mouth to tell him that, but Val beat me to it. She was on her feet in a second and had Oliver by the front of his robes.
"You think you could do a better job and swimming down there to go get Fin, flyboy? You, the guy who pays more attention during meal time then in any class whatsoever? You want to know why I'm calm? Because I trust Cedric more than I trust you. He knows his stuff…you, well, you don't even know enough useful spell work to turn a tea cup to a mouse!" She snapped, finally unleashing the nervous tension that must have been building behind all that smiling. And people worried about me.
I sat there and thought about it, pretty boy was a wanker but he was probably a more responsible savior then Oliver was. Besides, Cedric was more of the save-the-damsel-in-distress guy. He could pull it off and still look like he was some kind of movie star. Val was right, Oliver would have come up spluttering. Maybe if Fin had been kidnapped by something air born…but I doubted it. The truly tragic thing was Oliver cared, really and devotedly cared about what happened to Fin. Cedric Diggory was too hung up on his own life, in my opinion. A boy had to be a total idiot not to see that Fin was crushing on him: A. She sat differently, perched on the edge of her seat and tried to look as long and lean as possible(not hard for someone like her). B. She'd let her hair down and watch him from the corner of her eye. C. When she got that faraway look on her face, she was daydreaming of him. Fin was the planning head of the runespoor, she made the decisions. I was the critic, the venomous head who bitches constantly. Val was the dreamer, causing us to remain stationary for days lost in vivid imaginings. But more than that: I was the realist, I kept everyone grounded, in my own way. The world was not all unicorns and buttercups.
"What kind of a useless skill is that?" Oliver muttered angrily, "Turning a teacup into a mouse!"
"Cedric could do it." Val snapped, her expression vicious. "And that's why Fin likes Cedric better."
Oh, low blow. Very, very low. Oliver's expression fell and as he turned back to the water, I recognized the look on his face. It was the one he wore after every Quidditch game he lost: The look of defeat. It wasn't fair to him at all, he was a good guy! One of the best! But how fickle the heart of a teenage girl. The silence that followed Val's last comment stretched out longer then I'd expected, interrupted only by the champions all diving into the water.
"Bubble-head charm." I pointed to Cedric and tried to break the silence.
Oliver just stared moodily at the surface of the lake, his brows furrowed with concentration. After a few minutes of searching the water, I realized just how kind of boring this task was. I couldn't see what was going on at all. There was nothing to see, just the still surface of the lake.
"Okay, well this is just riveting entertainment." I groaned, sitting back in my seat. "It would be better if it was raining."
"Rain." Val muttered darkly, peering at the water.
"What does he have that I don't have?" Oliver growled moodily, clenching the railing tightly in his fist. I mulled that over for a moment: Cedric was the traditional, schoolboy ravishing. His grades we excellent, his manner gallant. Oliver was tall, scrawny, and cute. His top grade in everything that didn't relate to Quidditch in some way, shape or form was a T. Sometimes, if properly reminded beforehand, he remembered to hold the door open for a girl. He didn't even stand a fraction of a chance.
"Draco's more in the running then you are, Oliver." Val said bluntly, shaking her head.
"WHAT!? DRACO MALFOY!? OVER ME!?" His pale face turned a vibrant shade of puce.
"SHUSH!" We all whispered loudly, Fred and George giving him a smack on the head for good measure.
"Honestly, Oliver. Jedda's like a ray of sunshine compared to you this morning! Just keep your shirt on and don't go doing anything stupid-"
"-Like diving in, because we all know you cant swim to save your life, let alone Findabhair's." George finished his twins sentence, looking not in the least bit repentant about the valuable information he'd just shared.
"You cant swim? Really?" Val was grinning madly at him.
"I can swim fairly well." Oliver snarled through clenched teeth, brown eyes flickering dangerously.
"Fairly crap, if you ask me. He's scared of fish." Fred supplied, sighing and slumping down into a seat beside me.
"Oliver, are you really scared of fish?" I asked, trying to keep a straight face. Ah, forget it. I was the queen of smirking.
"Just leave it alone, damn you! Can you, for once, just leave bloody well enough alone?"
