Fading Memories
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.
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Chapter Fourteen: Ball Gowns
I frowned and ground my teeth together, glaring at everyone around me. My plan wasn't working out at all, there had to be something I could do.
You know what you have to do.
I stared at her as she moodily played with her breakfast.
I liked watching people, her. It tells you everything you need to know about someone, and you never once have to speak to them. I didn't want to speak to her. She was nothing to me, only someone who got in the way of my dreams, my hopes, my plans.
I shifted my gaze slightly and saw that I wasn't the only one watching her, only he was doing so for a very different reason.
I could feel anger bubbling up inside me; I had given him everything. I was the one he was destined to spend the rest of his life with.
You know what you have to do.
I gripped my fork and smashed it into the table in anger.
Yes, I knew what I would have to do.
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Remus' POV
I stormed into my room, my head throbbing from where I had accidentally hit it against a wall, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang, startling the three occupants of the room. Judging from their clear eyed gazes none of them had been asleep.
I focused my gaze on Sirius, who was watching me guardedly.
"You have some explaining to do," I told him calmly.
James and Peter watched us curiously, shifting their positions to get more comfortable.
"I don't have to explain anything," Sirius said scathingly.
"Oh yes you do. I'll even trade you. You explain what the hell happened earlier and I'll tell you what just happened, and why we're going to hurt Michael Tradeborn."
Sirius frowned, but seemed to be considering the offer.
"What just happened?" Peter asked, alarmed, but I ignored him and stared at Sirius.
"Well…?"
He frowned and glared at the ground.
"Margaret asked me if I would go out with her, I said yes."
I could see that I was going to have to drag this out of him. James and Peter looked on, concerned.
"And…? Have you…?"
He growled. "No! Today was the furthest we ever went. She wanted to go further earlier but I…"
I hid a smile; he still liked her, that much was obvious.
We're such girls, I thought suddenly. Just look at what we're trying to do. We don't pull pranks anymore; we're a bloody dating agency.
Realisation had dawned on Peter and James' faces, and they looked at Sirius kind of shocked.
"Mate, you mean you… and Margaret?"
"Well forgive me for wanting to date someone who actually likes me," Sirius said sarcastically, turning his glare towards James.
The three of us groaned.
"Why are you being so difficult?" Peter asked, echoing all our thoughts.
Sirius ignored him and turned to me.
"I've done my side of the bargain, now tell me what happened?"
"After she… ran off…"
"No wait," James cut in. "What happened before she ran off?"
I quickly told them about the incident, noticing Sirius flush out the corner of my eye.
"Oh, I see," James said. "Do continue."
It took me longer to explain to them what I'd seen, what Michael had tried to do, because I had to continually stop and wait for the wall punching and growling to finish before continuing with the story. By the time I'd, finally, finished, Sirius was nursing a bleeding hand, James' voice had gone hoarse and even Peter looked disgusted.
Sirius smiled grimly. "Well I'm sure we can do something to make him regret that for the rest of his life.
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Amalia's POV
I rubbed my eyes tiredly and resisted the urge to lay my head on the table. I hadn't gotten more than three hours of sleep for the past five nights, and I knew I was likely to crash any minute now, but I had to pay attention to what Professor Flitwick was teaching us. My lack of sleep hadn't all been in vain though. I'd gone over the events of that night and had come to a number of conclusions.
1. Sirius had a really good body! Not that I hadn't heard rumours, but hearing rumours and actually seeing it first hand was very different.
2. I could breath easier now; it was clear that Sirius didn't like me any more, even if he had in the first place, which I think he didn't and it doesn't matter what my friends say, I'm right and they're wrong.
3. I do not like Sirius.
4. What happened was definitely not my fault, no matter what Michael's friends are saying. It's completely my choice how far I go, and it was good to finally see what Michael was really like.
5. I really do not like Sirius.
6. That I wish Sirius a happy life with Margaret and I feel no ill-will against either of them.
7. I absolutely, 100 do not like Sirius.
8. I actually felt freer now that I was away from Michael; no more someone monopolising my time, no one telling me what to do.
9. I'm a liar, and a bad one at that. I like Sirius. I more than like him… A lot more… Probably a lot more than a lot. But I refused to say the 'L' word, because that just wasn't possible. Plus, he didn't like me any more, so I'm probably doomed to spend the rest of my life alone, a spinster.
10. No matter how much pleading or threatening Michael does I will never get back with him.
11. I am a sad sad person for liking someone who doesn't like me and who now has a bitch of a girlfriend.
12. I will never let anyone know of these conclusions, because that is the best way to not get hurt, particularly the ones about Sirius. No one will ever know about them.
I slumped in my seat. I was pretty sure I would be able to sleep tonight; if not I'll just get someone to knock me unconscious.
Sirius sat stiffly next to me. He'd moved his chair as far away as possible from me and not one word had been spoken between the two of us since Sunday.
That wasn't to say I hadn't tried, but no matter what I said he just looked at me coldly, even angrily, and didn't say a word.
"Okay class, you may go now, but remember that I want that assignment by the end of next week."
My head jerked up. Well… that was quick.
I grabbed my stuff and headed for the door, walking just behind my friends. I hadn't told them much of what had happened, but they seemed to get the gist. Rebecca had offered to beat up Michael for me, and even Rose had seemed to want to do something, but I'd told them 'two wrongs don't make a right'.
I saw Sirius walking up ahead and my insides seemed to curl. I watched as he greeted Margaret, who had waited outside the classroom for him, and disappeared up a different hallway, away from his friends.
I sighed and followed everyone back to the tower.
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The weekend, and the three weeks following it, seemed to fly by in a rush of homework, sleep and more homework. I managed to catch up on all my work at the beginning, even getting ahead in some lessons, and spent the rest of the time focusing on getting new piles' of homework done and revising for the upcoming exams. I now managed to sleep at least eight hours every night.
I tried not to dwell on anything else but my work, but no matter what I did I still felt sad whenever I saw Sirius and Margaret together, working, talking or just plain snogging. I soon found that the best way to avoid seeing any of these was to just avoid the Griffindor Tower. This meant that I spent some time nearly every day in the library or somewhere out on the Hogwarts grounds.
Sometimes my friends would join me, but I couldn't stand the pitying looks they gave me, as though they knew exactly what was going on in my head, so, no matter how bad I felt about it, I would sometimes avoid them too.
Along with time flying by, disappearing without a backward glance, the Easter Ball was zooming closer and closer each day. Normally I would have been excited about the prospect of dressing up, but what was the point? I would just be left on my own for most of the time anyway.
I'd told my friends just yesterday about my decision not to go to the ball and I'd never seen them get so angry before. After the yelling had quietened down Lily told me that she would stay behind with me if I didn't go. I knew that she had a date for the ball and I didn't want either her or her date to be miserable as well, so they'd made me promise that I'd come with them, date or no date. Today was the day we were going shopping for our dresses.
It was the second Hogsmeade visit so far this year, and we could all see the tension on the faces of the teachers as they organised an escort for each group of students. There were also a set of new rules that had been placed on the noticeboard in the Griffindor Common Room.
1. We had to go in groups of five people or less.
2. We had to have a teacher escort for our entire time in Hogsmeade.
3. We were only allowed out for one and a half hours.
4. Obey any commands your accompanying professor gives you.
Professor Dumbledore had given us a brief talk yesterday at dinner on what we should do if anything were to happen, which left everyone feeling worried, almost scared.
I didn't mind these rules, they seemed fair to me, considering the danger we possibly faced from exiting the grounds. Rebecca seemed annoyed by the time frame in which we were to find a dress, but we'd convinced her that there was no reason to be worried.
Because Lily was a Prefect she had been given the task or organising which Griffindor groups went at what time, and had managed to get our group down as one of the first groups to go. From what she had told me Remus and James were going down later in the afternoon, so there was no chance of us accidentally running into them.
We headed down to the entrance hall silently, each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts; plus it was just too early to do anything more than sleepwalk. To fit all the groups in we had to be at the entrance hall by eight am. When we reached the hall I saw sixteen small groups of five, standing huddled around the edges of the hall. No one seemed particularly conscious and there were few people talking.
Nikki led us over to a spot on the far side, near the door, and we waited in silence for the teachers to arrive. None of us wanted to break the almost tense silence that had enveloped the hall.
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We didn't have to wait long for the teachers to arrive and we spent just over five minutes arranging who went with who. We had Professor McGonagall as our escort.
I yawned again, covering my mouth, as we lined up fir the carriages, shuffling forward sleepily until we were at the front.
We sat in the carriage in silence and I began wondering, once again, how we had managed to fit six people into one carriage.
None of us saw the worried faces of four people looking down from the Griffindor tower as we disappeared out of the grounds, or the grim look on Professor Dumbledore's face as he stepped out to watch the last carriage disappear.
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Sirius' POV
We watched as Amalia and her roommates left for Hogsmeade, most likely to get anything they needed for the Ball. As soon as their carriage disappeared off the grounds we sprung into action. We'd spent most of the night planning our attack, and now we were more than ready to teach Michael a lesson.
We'd spent the last three weeks watching him, finding out his habits, anything we could use against him, and we were now more than ready.
We knew that at eight-thirty am every day, rain or shine, he would get up and go for a run around the great lake. He would do five laps before heading in for breakfast.
It was at this moment, just as he enters the castle, when everyone's sure to be up and about, that we will strike.
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Amalia's POV
About half way to Hogsmeade Rebecca had finally cracked under the silence.
"So…" She said, drumming her fingers on the windowsill.
Professor McGonagall looked at her briefly. "What are your plans for today?" She asked us politely.
"Just looking for everything we need for the ball," Lily told her.
Professor McGonagall nodded and looked back outside. We weren't too far away now. Rebecca and Rose began to play Rock, Paper, Scissors quietly in one corner.
Five minutes later the carriage dropped us outside the one of the clothing store's located in Hogsmeade. It seemed no one had arrived at this particular store yet, more luck to us, so we dug right in.
Rebecca, Rose and Nikki seemed to have more luck with them. They found a number of dresses they liked almost immediately. Lily took a while longer, but she too was soon with the others in the dressing room, trying their choices on. I wandered around for a moment longer, not seeing anything that took my fancy. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I'm unlikely to wear every again, especially if I didn't even end up going to the Easter Ball. Also the lack of spending money I had would stop me buying any dress, no matter how well it suited me.
I wandered towards the back of the store. I'd seen a sign that said sale items. I figured that would be a good place to start.
I riffled through the racks they had on display, finding three pretty dresses that were also reasonably priced. The others were still trying one of their many dresses on. The first one I tried on was a simple back dress, with shoestring straps, that fell just past my ankles. I didn't mind this dress, mainly because of it's simple elegants.
The second dress was gorgeous, in my opinion. It was yellow, strapless, that flared at the waist. It had a number of layers underneath that made it flare out more than others.
The third one was my favourite. It had a plunging neckline that stopped just under my breasts, where it was slightly belted. The top half had a floral design, with orange and blue flower embroidery. The bottom half fell gently to the floor and had two layers. The bottom layer was silky and was a deep blue colour. The top layer was see through if you picked it up, with the top half also a deep blue colour and the bottom half orange. The only downside to the dress was that it was too long.
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Sirius' POV
I crouched down behind the suit of armour. I could see James off to my left, further down the hall way, also hidden behind a suit of armour, and I knew Peter and Remus were around here somewhere, also hidden.
All we had to do was wait for the signal.
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Amalia's POV
"Amalia? You got one yet?" Lily's voice came through the door to my dressing room.
"Yes," I yelled back.
"Come on then! Let us see!"
I tore my eyes away from my reflection and tentatively opened the door. When I saw that they all still wore the dresses they had chosen I opened the door fully and showed them my dress, having a look at what they had chosen as I did so.
Nikki had chosen a forest green dress that widened at the waist and fell to the floor. The straps were simple and the top half of the dress and the hem of the dress were decorated with green and pink floral patterns.
Lily had chosen a white evening gown that fell to the ground in simple, elegant waves. The edges of the straps were decorated with gold material and there were two gold straps around the waist.
Rose had chosen a pink dress. It had a plunging neckline, almost all the way to her waist, and the back of the dress was longer than the front. It was belted at the waist. Her shoes were simple shoes, pink to match the dress, and about two inches high.
Rebecca had also chosen an evening gown. It was a light green colour, with spaghetti strap's and also fell to the ground, with a long split up one side. There was another layer underneath, shown from the split, of pink material. She wore three inch high shoes that were the same colour of the dress.
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Sirius' POV
I smiled in satisfaction as I looked over our handiwork. This had to be one of the best pranks we'd pulled in a long time.
I looked around at my companions and I knew I wasn't alone in my satisfaction.
"That ought to teach a lesson," Remus said.
I felt anger building up inside me as I watched the bastard struggle to get down. When I'd heard what he'd done…
I shook my head. I wasn't going to dwell on it.
"We better go," Peter said.
Without another word we went back to our dormitory and took up our vigilance at the windows, waiting for everyone to return.
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Amalia's POV
"Wow!" Rose said.
I couldn't help grinning. "How do I look?"
"It looks great! Now we all have a dress, and it hasn't even been an hour!" Lily said happily.
I bit my lip.
"The dress is a bit long though."
"That'll be no trouble," a startlingly small lady said as she bustled into the room. She took out her wand and with a wave in my direction, shortened the dress. She handed me a pair of shoes that I swear she pulled out of thin air. "Put these on. They go specifically with that dress."
I did as I was told and had another look in the mirror. You couldn't see the shoes very well, but that didn't matter. They were nearly two inches high, and I knew I had no worry about looking short and dumpy at the ball.
Professor McGonagall came in and sat down in the chair in the corner of the room. She seemed slightly amused about something as she watched us.
"Well," Nikki began. "If we're done, let's buy this stuff and head back. The sooner we get back the sooner more people can get down here."
We nodded. That seemed logical.
It didn't take us long to change back into the clothes we'd come down in and buy our dresses and shoes. We were back at Hogwarts before the hour and a half was up.
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When we hopped off the carriage I was surprised to see what looked like nearly the entire school laughing at something. I braced myself to push through the crowd, but a hand on my arm stopped me from going any further.
"Everybody move," Professor McGonagall ordered.
A path seemed to open up for her, almost like magic, and we followed her through.
I stopped dead when I saw him. Michael. I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing at the sight.
He'd been strung up above the door leading to the Great Hall. His hands and ankles held him in place by some visible ropes. He had a red shiny apple stuck in his mouth and was completely naked, except for one, small, leaf. There was a sign above him that read:
I'm a lot smaller than I let on
When we'd arrived a couple of fellow Ravenclaw's had been trying to get him down, but none of their spells seemed to be working.
He spotted me and glared down at me, completely furious.
I couldn't help it any longer, I started to laugh.
Almost immediately I began to feel better about everything. I glanced over to see that my friends also found this sight amusing. Looking past them I spotted Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. They were all looking down at us, me, and something told me that they were the one's responsible for Michael's current situation.
I grinned over at them and gave them a wave. Hopefully they'll have taught Michael a lesson and he'll leave me alone.
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A/N: … yeah…
Well a whole lot of nothing happened here, and I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, but… well there isn't a whole lot I could do. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I wanted/pictured. I just couldn't get it to flow, though it does set up a number of things that happen later… eh hehehe.
Dresses I'm going to put links up on my profile page ASAP for the dresses each of my characters are going to wear so you can get a better picture!
Thank you everyone who reviewed! Much appreciated! It kept me going!
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