Chapter 14

The card burst into flames with a crackle, singing the carpet and Willow hissing at it. Thorn groaned and placed her cheek in the palm of her hand as George high fived Fred. The three were in the Gryffidor common room playing Exploding Snaps, Thorn losing and practically burning her fingers off. She was never one for the card game, even when her dad and she would play. The twins seemed to be pros at the game.

"Can't we play a different game?" Thorn practically whined when George started up another game. "How about we pull out Alicia's wizard chess?"

"You're just sore because we keep beating you," Fred teased.

"No, I'm sore because my fingers are nearly getting torched off!" Thorn exclaimed exasperated.

"Excuses," George said with a grin.

Thorn rolled her eyes and got up to take a seat next to Katie on one of the couches giving the twins the chance to play each other. She slouched a little and let her head rest on the back of the couch just as Willow sauntered up and jumped on her lap. Thorn scratched behind the brown tabby's ears resulting in the kitten purring contently. As Katie read, Thorn stared at the empty fireplace seeing as no fires would be lit anytime soon since it was summer and it was already warm enough without an added roaring fire. She thought about the upcoming final exams that she would have to take as the year was approaching its end. She smiled knowing that another year at Hogwarts was coming to an end, but another one would be starting before she knew it. And it was her third year, which meant Hogsmeade trips! She sighed, thinking of all the shops she, Leila, and the twins would go to that she had heard from her dad and from the twins, who heard it from their older brothers Bill, Charlie, and Percy.

"Percy doesn't really care much for them," George had told her one day when the topic came up during dinner. She had laughed at the eye rolls both twins did when they talked about Percy and Hogsmeade.

"A waste of a permission slip if you ask me," Fred said with a sour look as he explained that Percy probably went only one or two out of the few trips the third years and up got per year.

Thorn's mind also ventured to the plans for the summer. She was excited to spend a week with the Weasleys. She had sent an owl to her dad about it and got the okay.

"I don't see why not," she had read in his response letter.

There were so many things she, Leila, and the twins could do. One being pranks of course. Then there was the possible play time with Ginny, knowing the young girl looked up to her and Leila, having been told by the twins. There was also the delicious food that Mrs. Weasley would be feeding them. Thorn's mouth practically watered at the thought. No, it was no match for her own mum's cooking, but it was close.

"Thorn? Thorn!"

Thorn snapped out of her thoughts to see Katie staring at her. "Sorry, what?" she asked the blonde.

"I asked how you feel about the fact that Slytherin is most likely going to win the house cup this year." Katie restated her unheard question.

Thorn groaned. "It's only because Snape gave the Slytherins points for nothing and took away other houses' points."

"You talking about the house cup?" Fred asked, him and George looking over to the girls, who nodded.

"It's rubbish," George scoffed. "It's only because of Snape."

"That's what Thorn said," Katie said with a laugh as she turned the page in her book.

"They even won the Quidditch cup," the twins said irritated.

"Only through cheating," Fred said.

"Not quite cheating, but tons of dirty playing," Thorn said.

"Yep," Katie said, flipping another page in her book.

It was silent between the four for a while; the only sounds coming from Katie turning pages, the sizzling of the cards from Fred and George, and Thorn's occasional sigh. Then there was the sound of Thorn's stomach growling and the other three turned to look at her.

"What?" Thorn said. "I'm hungry."

"Then let's get some food in your belly," George said, standing up with Fred.

ooOOoo

"I'm just saying it's a load if rubbish," Lee said through a mouth full of turkey. "If Slytherin's gonna," he swallowed, "win then Dumbledore's gonna need to get rid of Snape."

"I think everyone can agree on that," Alicia said.

Thorn and the twins had headed to the Great Hall leaving Katie to read after she had said she ate earlier. When they got to the Gryffindor table they found Lee, Angelina, and Alicia already there and talking about the same subject they had just been discussing in the common room ironically.

"I'm kinda getting tired of this topic," Angelina said, drinking from her cup of water. "They're going to win let's just deal with it. We've got next year and the rest of our years here."

"Angelina's got a point," Thorn said. "We've got more years and being mad about it will only make the Slytherins taunt us more."

"Are you guys talking about Slytherin winning the house cup?" Jacqueline asked as she squeezed herself between Fred and Lee. Leila found a spot between Thorn and George, placing her crutches behind her with the help from George, while Cedric found a spot next to Angelina. "I find it a waste of a house cup. Sure they got the most points, but that's only thanks to Snape and his hatred to everyone who isn't Slytherin."

"That's pretty much true," Cedric sighed. "Hufflepuff may have stood a chance if it wasn't for Snape taking too many points away."

Leila nodded slightly, hardly listening in as she scribbled her quill in her notebook. It was propped up against her good leg, which was pulled up onto her seat, to the point where she was hunched over it. George noticed and peered over her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of what she was doing. All he could see was her quill moving slowly and carefully and what looked to be a garden on a page.

George raised an eyebrow before asking Leila, "What are you doing?"

Leila jumped and looked at him with wide eyes and blush red cheeks. "Uh um I...uh..." She couldn't make a coherent sentence. She was looking between her notebook and George with worried eyes. "I...I'm d-d-drawing," she squeaked.

"You draw?" George asked, eyes lighting up at the new discovery of his friend. "Can I see?"

"I um...I..."

Thorn looked over Leila's shoulder, having heard her and George's small conversation. "Oh that's so pretty, Leila!" she exclaimed.

Leila looked at Thorn, her face growing redder. "Um uh..."

"Wow! That's great, Leila!" George said with a grin, finally getting a good view of the drawing. "I didn't know you could draw."

Jacqueline's head turned away from Fred, who was currently talking across from her, and to her fellow Hufflepuff friend. "What?" she said shocked. "Leila, you draw? How come you haven't told me-or better yet, shown me?"

"I...I...I...," Leila said, looking around at all the eyes looking at her. Her face was turning red and her breathing picked up. She hated being the center of attention, that's why she always stood behind or off to the side of Thorn and the twins when they were anywhere near a crowd. Even when she talked with Drake she always blushed and shied away from topics to do with her or compliments towards her and Drake would smile and laugh about it. She squeaked as she looked at everyone staring at her, hoping to see her sketch book and hid her head behind said book.

"Sorry, Leila," Cedric said, realizing how uncomfortable the blonde became and started up a new conversation with the others.

George looked at Leila with concern as she still hid behind her book and leaned closer to her. "I think you're a great artist," he whispered, smiling when he saw her peek one eye over her book and red covering her face.

"Th-thank you," she whispered in return.

ooOOoo

"That was the worst class to date!" Jacqueline whined as she, Cedric, Leila, Thorn, and the twins walked out of History of Magic. "Someone needs to tell Professor Binns that he's dead so that we can get a new teacher!"

"I don't know, I think he'd still teach even if he knew," Fred said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Dead or alive, I don't think you could make History of Magic any less boring."

"Mhm," Thorn agreed with a sigh.

"So, where to next?" Jacqueline asked, linking arms with Cedric and Fred as the group continued to walk down the hall.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed," Thorn said. "I am tired!"

"I hear that," Jacqueline said, high fiving Thorn.

"That sounds good to me too?" George asked, walking next to Leila as the two discussed the Potions lesson from today.

"I'm going to head to bed as well," Cedric said. "Good night guys," he said as he and Jacqueline headed towards the Hufflepuff common room.

"Goodnight, Leila," Thorn said, waving goodnight to the blonde as she headed up the stairs with the twins.

"Goodnight," Leila said with a smile. She waved goodnight as she saw George waved goodnight to her before disappearing with his brother and the brunette Gryffindor. Leila turned around and quickly ran to catch up with Cedric and Jacqueline. The three said their good nights to each other in the common room as they went to their separate dormitories ending the tiresome day.

I am really sorry for the wait. Summer has been busy with quite a lot of things from babysitting to hanging out with friends. I am also really really sorry for this chapter. I know its short, but right now I'm currently in a writer's block and this was all that came to mind for the chapter. I wanted to continue with everyone going to the Gryffindor common room, but a conversation for the group could not come to mind. I am terribly sorry. But I am kind of happy with how it came out (even though it's majorly short!). I wanted to give you guys a little bit of a look at what Leila likes to do which as you can see is drawing. I plan on using that later on in the story. It won't be anything big, but it will be cute (hopefully).

Check out my tumblr if you want a bunch of Harry Potter stuff on your dash haha ;) Also check out my polyvore: a-thorn-in-my-side. It has some outfits for Thorn and Leila, but if you like Disney I have Disney inspired outfits that you might enjoy. I have a deviantart where I plan to post pictures for the story and some of my other stories hopefully. And I just made an etsy account so look me up under MelissaLynns.

I can't guarantee when chapter fifteen will be up because as of today, this is my last week of summer and on Friday I am moving into my dorm and starting my first year of college. Super excited, super nervous, and really sad. It's a new experience for me, but I keep hearing that college will be great. For any of you who are going off to college soon I wish you the best of luck!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope to hear your thoughts on it :D Please only critiquing, no flaming. It's not really in the spirit of writing. Thank you and I hope to hear from all of my lovely readers!