Roxanne raced down the hall, carefully balancing her multiple Transfiguration books in her arms. She ignored all of the other students who all raced past her, filling her ears with constant chatter and overly loud footsteps. But she'd promised to wait here, and she wasn't going to move a single millimetre.
"Roxanne!" She looked around anxiously at the sound of her name being called out. She spotted Frank amongst the milling crowd. He darted out of the way to make room for her cousins, who seemed to be having a running race. He waved his hands high in the air and she pushed through the crowd to meet him.
"Excuse me," Roxanne said stubbornly, as she tried to get through a group of third years who were carefully examining a dung bomb, "Head Girl coming through." She found this gave her little more authority, because it was really just the kids who really cared about their grades who cared about her authority as Head Girl. She finally found him.
"Frank!" She cried out, wrapping her arms around him. He leaned down slightly and kissed her on the lips.
"Roxanne," He grinned. She went the famous colour of the majority of her family's hair. Roxanne looked up at him.
"How are you? Gosh, I know it's only been a day, it's just, well…" Roxanne found herself stuttering and went even redder. Frank smiled.
"I know," He hushed her, kissing her softly on the lips. Roxanne took a step back and looked up at him, smiling widely.
"It's funny, how you know all these things," Roxanne smiled. Frank shrugged.
"Well, I'm certainly not ill-informed, am I?" He joked. Roxanne rolled her eyes.
"No, you aren't, stalker," Roxanne teased. Frank flushed red.
"Oh yes, of course I plan to stalk you every day from today!" Frank rolled his eyes.
"Ew," commented a pretty sixth-year as she walked past, screwing up her nose.
"Okay, maybe we should change the subject," Roxanne chuckled.
"Agreed," Frank nodded quickly and Roxanne laughed.
"Well, um, what should we change it to?" Roxanne asked. Frank shrugged.
"I don't know," He told her.
"That's no good," Roxanne shrugged.
"Hello!" Lola called out, hurrying towards them. Both of them were thankful for the distraction from their awkward conversation that they didn't know how to end.
"Hey, Lola," Frank smiled warmly. Lola grinned as she drew her wand from her hair. It was tied up in a messy bun, and the loose parts of her hair fell down her face almost angelically. A pencil was tucked behind her ear and she was balancing a sketch book in her hands. Her blue eyes seemed to brighten up dramatically when she saw Roxanne and Frank.
"Yeah, hey Lola," Roxanne added, smiling. Lola grinned excitedly.
"Hey guys! I'm really looking forward to classes, aren't you? I just love being at Hogwarts!" Lola informed them cheerfully. Roxanne smiled.
"Yeah, I'm excited, too," Roxanne said, trying to be cheerful. But the argument with Lara and Eliza had slowly started to consume her mind.
"I have Advanced Herbology first." Frank confided. Lola grinned.
"Lucky!" Lola exclaimed loudly, "I wish that I got good enough grades for that class. I've got Muggle Studies first."
"Me? I've got Transfiguration," Roxanne told them, making sure she joined in the conversation. Lola took out her pencil from behind her ear and began scribbling something down on her sketch book.
"What are you drawing?" Frank asked, taking the words right out of Roxanne's mouth. Lola looked up at him, rather confused.
"Drawing, of course!" She replied, laughing happily as her pencil doodled across the page.
"Drawing," Roxanne echoed. She'd never really been interested in drawing; that was Dominique's point of expertise, so she left her to it. She had always been more of a writer, personally. She loved to write and she could write all day and all night. It was her absolute favourite thing to do.
"Yeah, drawing?" Lola gave her look that expressed everything super quickly, "Is there a problem with that?"
"No," Roxanne said quickly, "It's just… I don't usually draw,"
"Oh," Lola replied. Frank looked around frantically, desperate to find something to ease the chilliness of the current conversation.
"So, Lola, what are you drawing?" Frank asked quickly. Lola smiled, seeming to have forgotten all about what Roxanne had said.
"I'm drawing a clock." Lola grinned. Frank stared at her quizzically.
"A clock?" He repeated. Lola nodded happily.
"A clock," Lola replied happily.
"Why a clock?" Roxanne asked inquisitively. Lola shrugged.
"Clocks have just always interested me," Lola explained, "Especially Grandfather clocks. I love the way that the hands move, just, it's so… elegant. Every hand and number is accepted, just like I think everybody in the world should be, you know?"
"Yeah," Frank nodded in agreement, his husky voice ringing in Roxanne's ear, "I wish it was like that. The world, I mean,"
"I agree," Roxanne said bitterly. Then they noticed that the corridor was emptying out, students rushing to get to class.
"Oh, crap, we've got to get to class," Roxanne swore. Lola stared at her sympathetically.
"We all have to hurry up," Lola sighed, "You know how the teachers are. They'll practically scream murder if we don't get to class on time,"
"Well, bye, guys!" Frank waved as he scrambled down the hall to Herbology.
"Well… See you later, Roxi-gator!" Lola called happily as she skipped down the hallway, her messy bun bouncing along as she went. Roxanne managed a weak smile before trudging off back to class.
When she arrived, the room was a mess, as usual. Most of the Gryffindors, as usual, were using their textbooks as ammunition. Notes in the shapes of birds and brooms flew around the classroom. James and Louis were playing a game of air guitar, seeing who could sing the loudest. Lucy was surrounded by her usual group of adoring fans, who had taken to reading her favourite fashion magazines aloud. Lucy lounged back on her pink fluffy pillow, stroking her Persian cat Fern, who Lucy had charmed to have pink fur.
Alice muttered something and looked pointedly in Elle's direction. Lucy let out a loud cackle, causing the other girls to join in with their matching tinkly laughs. A lot of people's heads turned at this, as always, giving Lucy exactly what she wanted; to be the centre of attention.
Roxanne tried to ignore her cousin's overly loud voice, even though it was extremely difficult.
"And I was like, 'Oh my gawd, Lara, if you're going to run away crying every time then go and apologise, then you can't be my friend. I'm sorry, but we don't take babies!' LOSER!" Lucy cackled. Roxanne spotted Lara sitting in the very front row, trying not to cry.
"What a baby," Alice shook her head, "Honestly, that whore! I heard she had sex with Ja-"
"Shut up, Alice Hannah effing Long bottom!" Roxanne growled, standing up abruptly.
"It's just a rumour!" Alice snapped defensively, holding up her book to block her face out of Roxanne's face. Alice's mousy brown, almost black, hair swung as she did this. Roxanne rolled her eyes.
"Heard about Courtney?" She laughed. It didn't take long for the dim-witted girls to figure out what she meant.
"You-You bitch!" Lucy screamed, her finger shaking in Roxanne's face accusingly.
And at that very moment Professor Gregory Windshield walked in.