I'm BAAAAA-aaaack!
Please allow me to express my deepest regrets about leaving you all in the lurch like that! I honestly never ever meant for 3 whole months to pass before I posted again! Be advised, dear readers, that I will be trying to post about every two weeks, but life has this pesky habit of getting in the way.
That being said, I want to thank you all for your ongoing support in my absence! It's most of the reason I came back.
Not, without further ado, The Trials of a Lioness!
Hazel's birthday party finally arrived. The party had grown to include more people than anticipated, so Hazel had sought permission from Professor McGonagall to hold it in a large abandoned classroom in the Transfiguration hallway. The professor consented, but insisted that Hazel and her friends were entirely responsible for cleanup.
So, after dinner that Thursday night, Hazel dressed in an adorable purple A-line dress and had Veronica do her makeup and hair and made her way to the classroom. Felix had put on some music and hung the decorations and hung a giant banner that said, 'Happy Birthday Hazel!' on the far wall.
"Bon anniversaire! Do you like the room?" Felix said as she pulled him into a hug.
"Felix, it's absolutely perfect! Thank you so much!" she exclaimed, looking around at the impeccably decorated room. Felix and Veronica had agreed on a theme, 'Evening Enchantment,' even though Hazel thought having a theme was a bit cheesy. Everything was decorated in shades of dark blue, purples, with some pinks and greys here and there. A layer of balloons coated the ceiling, their ribbons dangling down and tickling the tops of everyone's heads.
"Pull one down." Felix told her, motioning to the ribbons. She pulled one and, on Veronica's instruction, popped the plum-colored balloon. A small stage, no bigger than a salad plate, floated in front of her on which some small figurines told an abridged story of Cinderella before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Hazel clapped when it was over, looking back to Felix who explained.
"There is a different story in each purple balloon. The blue ones contain fortunes, and the grey ones are facts about you that people might not know."
Hazel's eyes looked up and she grabbed the nearest grey balloon she could find, popping it and hearing Veronica's voice explain that she didn't like cauliflower.
"That's true! This is incredible!" she hugged Veronica and Felix in turn before going to make the rounds.
Most everyone was already there and she grabbed some punch (that had been spiked with firewhiskey by an unknown source), making the rounds through her Beauxbatons acquaintances and friends from other houses. From Gryffindor Lee, Angelina, and, much to her surprise, George had shown up. He greeted her with a smile and pulled her off to the side to speak a bit more privately.
"I'm really sorry about everything that's happened these last few weeks." He apologized.
"It's not your fault." She offered, shifting uncomfortably. She was dying to ask how Fred was, and as if he read her mind he answered her.
"I tried to get him to come tonight. Told him there'd probably be a bunch of people here and that it's your birthday and you're still our friend and he would regret skipping it." His hands were deep inside his pockets and he seemed to find the floor very interesting, as his gaze was fixed there.
"He didn't budge." She assumed.
"No. He's incredibly stubborn, especially when he knows he's wrong. But he did give me this to give to you." He handed her a small blue box from inside his pocket and she took it gently, opening the lid and gasping at what she saw.
"He bought it when you two were still together. He's just been staring at it for weeks. Told me to give it to you." He muttered, watching her reaction intently.
Inside the box was a bangle that looked like a small daisy that one had happened to twirl around their wrist. The band was green like a stem and the daisy's petals were pearlescent white and soft to the touch despite being made of metal. Hazel was in awe at the magic that had undoubtedly gone into its construction. She bit her lip as she felt tears well in her eyes, but she blinked them away.
"Can you tell him that it's…just wonderful. I love it." she asked of George, who nodded and promised to pass along the message before making his exit.
Not wanting to lose it among the small mountain of gifts that were precariously piled on a desk, Hazel slid the bracelet onto her wrist. It fit perfectly.
"Ooh, that's pretty! Who's it from?" Veronica asked from over her shoulder.
Hazel cleared her throat, "It's from…Fred." She said, saying his name for the first time in weeks. Before Veronica could comment further, Hazel continued, "Please don't tell Felix."
"Okay. I won't."
The party continued until half an hour before curfew, when Professor McGonagall popped her head in to inform them they had half an hour to clean up. Everyone pitched in and clean up took no time at all. Felix offered to walk her back to the common room and she consented, hoisting the bag of presents onto her shoulder. Veronica winked at her, stole the bag of gifts, and walked back with Angelina.
"Did you have fun tonight?" he asked as they set out.
"I did. Thank you so much, this was probably the best birthday at Hogwarts I've ever had."
He smiled, "I am glad."
They walked in silence for a while, the only sound was the wind whipping through the corridors. Hazel could smell the crispness in the air and wished she'd brought a jacket. When they hit the Fat Lady's corridor, Felix put a hand on her arm to stop her.
"Before we get all the way back to the Fat Lady, I have one more surprise for you." From inside his jacket he extracted an impossibly large package, which was beautifully wrapped in white paper.
"For you." He said, handing it to her. It was large, thin, and perfectly square and she had a sneaking suspicion that it was a vinyl record of some sort. She carefully tore the wrapping away and gasped loudly, nearly dropping it.
It was The Beatles' Abbey Road, signed by all four Beatles. From the wear on the corners it had to be vintage and all Hazel could do was stare at it, her jaw at her feet.
"Felix…I…I don't know what to say." She said dazedly, looking up at him gratefully.
"You don't need to say anything. The look on your face was much better than silly words could be." He said, stepping closer to her and brushing her hair out of her face as he lowered his voice. "You look so beautiful tonight."
She looked up from the album at his face. The look in his eyes was soft and kind, and his hand lingered on her cheek. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to kiss her and she was shocked to find that a small part of her wanted to kiss him too.
She stepped away from him suddenly, "I'm…not ready." She explained, swallowing hard and her left hand finding the bracelet on her right wrist.
"I understand." He said nonchalantly, taking a step back of his own and raising his hands innocently.
"I should go inside before curfew." She said, awkwardly pointing to the Fat Lady portrait.
"Of course," he took her hand and kissed her fingers gently like the handsome prince that he was. "Good night, Hazel. And happy birthday."
"Thank you, Felix. Good night." She said as she watched him walk away. She let out a long sigh before turning and entering the common room, going straight up to her bed and falling asleep before her head hit the pillow.
The next day was a Practical day in Transfiguration, and Hazel was forced to share a workstation with Fred. She hadn't bothered to take his gift off that morning, as she'd woken up twenty minutes late and had to rush down to the Great Hall to get breakfast. As a result, her uniform was rumpled and her tie crooked, but the bracelet remained perfectly perched on her wrist.
She'd rolled up the sleeves of her jumper and white button down shirt, as the temperature in the Transfiguration classroom was always about twenty degrees too hot. As a result the students were lazily attempting to transfigure pairs of slippers into rabbits. Not much work was getting done because of the heat. Even Professor McGonagall was slumping a little at her desk.
Hazel kept her attention on the slippers and tried to ignore the cold breeze coming from Fred's part of the table while she practiced the wand motion for the umpteenth time.
Fred kept his mouth clamped shut and tried to ignore her as he worked on the movements, but he caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye and he couldn't help but look.
On her wrist was the bracelet he'd bought in Hogsmeade a few weeks prior. He'd been staring at it since she'd broken up with him and it had strangely gone missing from his room last night, her birthday. He rounded on her quickly, grabbing her wrist tightly and forcing her to drop her wand on the table.
"Where did you get this?" he demanded, his brown eyes a raging inferno. She looked up at him.
"Ow! George gave it to me last night." She explained and the vice on her arm disappeared as Fred bounded across the room to his brother. They were out of earshot, but Hazel could tell from their animated conversation that Fred hadn't sent the bracelet with George. Her heart sunk as she realized he'd probably never meant for her to have it.
She focused on trying to master spell until he came back.
"Happy birthday, I guess." He muttered angrily. His words were so laced with rage that she didn't respond. If she had, she would've told him that it was the best present she'd ever gotten and that she missed him and wanted more than anything to be his friend again.
Instead, she remained silent.
That evening, as she sat half-listening to the hurried French conversation taking place next to her and staring off into space, Hazel noticed a flash of red hair heading toward her. Her heart momentarily stopped, but started again once she realized which Weasley it was. It was George, who had a disconcertingly large scowl on his face. He sat in the open spot next to Hazel and she looked at him quizzically.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Protesting." He answered simply, tucking in to the table.
"Protesting what exactly?"
"Yours and my brother's pig-headedness. You two need to get your heads on straight and be friends again, this whole bloody situation is driving everyone mad. Lee and Angelina miss you, Fred misses you, I miss you. The only one of us you talk to anymore is Veronica and that's not bloody fair."
Hazel sighed, biting her lip and choosing her words carefully before responding, "I know it's not. But what happened with me and Fred created a complicated situation and I thought it would just be easier if I took myself out of the picture."
"But we don't want you out of the picture! We want you in the picture, front and center with a big stupid smile on your face!" George joked, shoving her shoulder a bit.
"If you can get Fred to talk to me again, then I'm in. But I highly doubt that will happen."
"Trust me, mate, I'm one step ahead of you." He said with a smirk before changing the subject to what everyone else in the school was talking about: the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament. "Are you excited for the First Task?"
"Surprisingly, yeah. What do you think it'll be? Veronica thinks it'll involve hippogriffs, since Hagrid has tons of them." She speculated.
"As it happens, I happen to have some insight into exactly that question." George bragged, his smirk becoming smugger as she perked up.
"Oh really? Care to share?"
"Alright, but you have to promise to keep this to yourself." He said, leaning closer and lowering his voice.
"I promise, now spill!" Hazel agreed excitedly. She had a mischievous light in her eyes that George hadn't seen in weeks.
"You remember my brother Charlie? He works in Romania…"
"Yeah, I met him at the World Cup."
"Exactly, well, he came for the cup but stayed to help import some things he works with for the Tournament."
"Import what? What could he possibly work with that would be applicable to the Tournament?"
George's smirk turned into a face-cracking smile, "Charlie works with dragons."
On one of the rare afternoons when Hazel found herself without homework or plans with Veronica or Felix, she sat in an archway in the Transfiguration courtyard reading her mother's seventh-year diary when she stumbled across an interesting entry.
'December 12, 1976,
I got an interesting letter from home today. My father seems to have gotten it into his head that I should get married the second I graduate. Apparently he's been talking to Harold Ogden of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey, whose dimwit son Martin graduated last year. He wants to buy Ogden's and incorporate it into Nithercott's. This would nearly double our profits for the low low price of one daughter.
I've always known my father would try to marry me off to a good wizarding family, but not so soon! I'm barely seventeen! This whole situation is making me think of taking the Sirius way out. I'm going to be sick.
Daniel's written me again. His mum isn't doing too well. Her cancer is back and more aggressive than last time. I only wish I could be there for him. He's too sensitive and kind for this to happen for him. I'm making a point to spend some serious time with him over Christmas; he could use some major cheering up.'
Hazel knew that Grandma Amelia had battled cancer before Hazel was born. It was horribly ironic that what had actually killed her was a car crash. Her suspicions from that summer were all but confirmed as well; her mother's parents had been trying to set her up with Felix as a way of brokering a business deal.
Luckily, once her grandfather had figured out exactly how much the winery would've cost him out of pocket he dropped the idea and Hazel was free to like Felix without worrying about any strings attached.
And like him she did. Despite her best efforts, she was finding herself more and more attracted to him. After the birthday party and Fred's reaction to the bracelet, she decided it was best to move on. Fred wasn't going to forgive her anytime soon, so their road back to friendship was a long one. From where she currently stood, there was no end in sight. He was mad at her and he was going to stay mad at her as long as she was Felix's friend.
She reread the diary entry and looked up at the cloudy November sky. She heard some shouts of "Potter stinks!" and looked in that direction to see none other than Harry Potter stalking across the courtyard toward her.
"Hello Harry." She greeted. To her knowledge, she'd never exchanged more than five words with The Boy Who Lived, so the reason for his visit was a bit of a mystery to her.
"Hi Hazel. Erm…I was told to give you this." He fished in the pocket of his robe and extracted a letter with familiar handwriting on it. The look on his face was troubled to say the least. Given his history, she wasn't surprised.
"Snuffles? Why did he send you this?" she asked, looking up at Harry as he shrugged the way that all teenage boys shrug.
"He said I should give it to you so he could save an owl a trip."
"Okay. Thanks, Harry. And erm…good luck next week." She said, taking the letter from his outstretched hand. Considering that he was the boy's godfather, she didn't know why she was surprised to find out Sirius had been in communication with Harry.
"Thanks, I'm gonna need it." He mumbled before stalking away. Hazel opened her letter from Sirius. It was much shorter than his first letter, only half a page long at most.
'Dear Hazel,
After my last letter I can understand your terse reply. I did not mean to upset you, and have included a small something for your birthday. I am sorry I could not celebrate it with you. Perhaps one day I can take you around London to your mum and my favorite haunts.
The real reason for this letter is that I would like to talk face-to-face. I will meet you in the Gryffindor Common room on the 22nd at half-past midnight. There have been some suspicious happenings going on and I just want to clue you in.
Anyway, I am fine and still in good spirits. Hope your birthday was spectacular!
Love,
Snuffles'
She smiled, knowing he was still in her grandparents' stills. Absentmindedly, she wondered how much longer her grandfather would put up with him staying there and where he would go once Angus's patience ran out. She looked in the envelope and pulled out a wallet-sized moving photograph of Sirius and her mother sharing a pint. He had taken the photo himself, turning the camera around to take the picture with one hand and holding his pint in the other, clinking it against her mother's.
She smiled and tucked the picture in the pocket of her robes, heading back inside the castle.
So, two days before the first task, Hazel found herself in the empty common room reading a book and waiting for the last few people to vacate so she could talk to Sirius alone. She was laying on the floor directly in front of the fireplace, basking in the warmth like a cat.
It was twenty-five after midnight and she saw that the common room was mostly empty when she popped her head over the back of the couch. Save for a particular redhead sitting in an overstuffed armchair, staring at her.
"I was wondering when I'd get you alone." Fred said, tenting his fingers in front of him. Hazel briefly thought that he resembled a movie villain and had to banish the thought to keep from laughing as she noticed Leia sleeping on his lap.
"Why?"
He sighed and got up off the chair, eliciting a disgruntled meow from Leia who skittered up the girls' stairs. "George told me to come apologize so you would come back to our little group." He rubbed the back of his head and looked away from her, "So…I'm sorry. I overreacted and pushed you away and made a mess of everything."
Her heart was in her throat, but she managed to croak out, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't've-"
"Don't start with the shoulds and should nots. We could be here all night." The corners of his lips twitched up into his characteristic smirk and Hazel's heart started racing. He was trying to mend fences, what she had been hoping for weeks, but at the worst possible time. If Sirius arrived and Fred was still here, what would Fred do? He knew Sirius was harmless but he was still a wanted man with a price on his head, and with the twins' recent financial woes courtesy of Ludo Bagman, she didn't know what would happen.
"Yes, we could be."
"I'm also sorry about your birthday present. And what I did to your wrist, I really didn't mean to hurt you."
"Oh, you didn't. Did George tell you…?"
"Yeah, he gave me your message." He looked bashfully at his feet and shuffled them against the carpet. They stood awkwardly for a moment before she broke the silence with the question she'd been dying to know the answer to.
So…are we friends again?" she asked timidly.
"No."
Her heart dropped like a lead balloon. The small flicker of light she'd seen at the end of the tunnel was snuffed out as he walked toward the boys' stairs. At the last second he turned, one hand on the stone archway as he added, "But we'll get there. If you come back, of course."
That flicker of light came back as a ray of pure sunshine and suddenly the tunnel didn't seem so long. Her heart soared and she put her fingers to her lips, which were spread in a large smile. She was so giddy that she didn't hear the fireplace spit and sputter behind her as Sirius' face appeared in the flames.
The man had to clear his throat thrice before she came back to the ground.
"Oh! I'm sorry Sirius, I didn't see you there." She said quietly, kneeling before the fireplace. His face looked fuller than the last time she'd seen him. His hair was combed back neatly and she took this as an excellent sign of his living condition.
"I haven't got much time, and there is much I need to tell you. There are strange things happening at Hogwarts, Hazel, and while they don't exactly pertain to you it is important that you know about them. These are dark times." The visage of her mother's cousin half-whispered quickly.
"You sound like Moody. What's going on?"
"Harry's name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, the events at the World Cup, Bertha Jorkins' disappearance, all of these things individually do not add up to much but together…it's beginning to look like last time."
"Last time what, Sirius, you're being awfully cryptic." Her knees were beginning to ache against the stone hearth and she wanted to go upstairs and tell Veronica about what had just happened with Fred.
"The last time He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rose to power."
Hazel's blood ran cold upon hearing those words. She had suspected something of the like when she'd seen the Dark Mark plastered on the front cover of the Daily Prophet, but had hoped her grandfather was right in his assumption that it was just drunken antics gone too far.
"As I mentioned, this doesn't particularly pertain to you. I am sure that you are perfectly safe for the moment." He assured her upon seeing the look of fear that crossed her face.
"But what happens when that moment is up?" she asked ponderously, not really looking for an answer. Sirius gave her one anyway. He hadn't meant to scare her; just warn her.
"When that moment comes, Hazel, I know you will be as brave as your mother was and do what's right. You will have your friends and grandparents and me by your side. There is no need to fear the future. You should focus on your present, enjoy being young!" the face in the fire said.
"Oh right because being young is so great." She said dryly, with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
Sirius laughed, "I know for a fact that it isn't, but out of curiosity what makes you say that?"
"I've got some…relationship issues." She shifted uncomfortably, unsure if she wanted to spill all of her secrets to him.
"I was no stranger to those in my time," he said wistfully. "Perhaps I can be of some help in this regard?"
Hazel sighed, figuring she had nothing to lose before she heard a noise coming from the boys' stairs.
"Someone's coming! I'll write you about it!" she said quickly. Sirius nodded quickly before vanishing. Hazel stood and brushed the soot off of her knees and hands before turning around to see Fred, clad in his pajama bottoms and a Quidditch tee, standing in the archway.
"I thought I heard something…voices, you know." He muttered, ruffling his red hair and looking at his feet bashfully.
"I have no idea to what you are referring." She smiled at him, looking at him as if he was crazy.
Fred shrugged and turned back toward the stairs.
"Hey Hazel?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Yes Fred?"
"Next time tell Sirius I said hello." She could hear the smirk in his voice and she couldn't help but smile as well.
"Mum's the word, eh?" she replied, grabbing a book off of the coffee table and plopping down on the couch.
"As you wish." He muttered to himself before climbing the stairs once more.
Go ahead, tell me how much you missed me!