Year 4 Part 6

It took me forever to get to sleep, but luckily it was Sunday so we were able to sleep in until well past noon. As soon as we both woke up we threw our clothes one and rushed down the stairs, looking around the Great Hall for the others. We saw Amber and Cad at the Gryffindor table, Matt and Molly sitting next to them in a clear breach of dining decorum.

Keeli picked up her pace, hugging Matt from behind. She must have said something in his hear, because I heard him respond.

"Amazing what a bit of rest will do." he smiled, hugging her back.

Cad gestured for me to sit next to him but I gently shook my head, turning around to head down the staircase to the dungeons. Just as I was walking up the stretch of wall that led to the Slytherin common rooms it slid open, Louk nearly running me over with his speed walk.

"Amelia!" he sounded surprised at first, but pulled me into a hug once his brain registered who I was.

"Just making sure you guys were okay." I hugged him back, finally letting myself breathe a sigh of relief.

"Slept in a little, but otherwise fine. No complications with your roommates?" he asked once he pulled away.

"They're used to us sneaking out." I shrugged. "The others are in the Great Hall."

"Good, I'm famished." Damian commented as he passed by us.

Once his friend's back was to us Louk pressed our foreheads together and took a deep breath, as if calming himself. "Remind me to be mad at you later for charging a Dementor on a broom."

"I'll mention it right after you're done yelling at me for this." I tried to chuckle. "I need you to not be mad at Cad."

"No." he stepped back like I'd burned him.

"Please, Louk."

"Absolutely not."

"What is yelling at him going to do about it?" I asked as he started to storm off.

"So hopefully he never does it again!"

"Yes, because Cad always listens to you."

"I'm not going to let him get off scot free with this."

"He won't. Molly got hurt, half of us almost died; I know he feels bad about it. I promise I'll sit him down and have a long talk about it but please no more fighting."

"What, like I didn't get to fight last night?" he scowled. "I wasn't the one that got to make sure you got out alright? Didn't get to have my opinion heard about the splitting up idea?"

"I'll do whatever you want, Louk." I took his hand. "I promise. You just have to promise not to fight. I'm sure we'll talk about it, and you can make sure your voice is heard, but no personal attacks. No calling him names or anything like that."

He closed his eyes and sighed so forcefully it was practically a growl before finally returning the slightest bit of pressure on my hand. "Fine, but you owe me so monumentally you might be paying me back until your fifty."

"Thank you." I hugged him again but he pushed me away after just a few seconds.

We headed up to the Great Hall and sat with the others at the Gryffindor table. Despite the stares of the other students burning into our backs it was so nice just to sit with everyone and relax, there was a lot of laughing and joking around. We seemed to have all temporarily agreed not to talk about it at lunch and instead kept the topics to Quidditch or homework. Only once we were all done eating, had all fetched our things from our respective common rooms, and all huddled in the second floor corridor did the elephant in the room finally get his notice.

"I'm, uh, sorry about yesterday." Cad was looking down at his feet, turning his quill over and over in his hands. "I shouldn't have brought you all. And Molly, I'm really sorry you got hurt."

She shrugged, scratching a line off on one of her essays before looking up. "No permanent harm."

"And sorry for dragging you out there, Aims. I know you really didn't want to go." he looked up at me with the cutest expression, like a puppy who was just caught gnawing on your wand.

"It's...fine." I sighed. "Just please keep in mind everything that happened when you decide to go on a field trip next time."

"I will, and I'll get everyone extra nice Christmas presents to make up for it." he smiled, casting a glance at Louk when he thought he wasn't looking.

"It's fine, right Louk?" I asked pointedly.

"Sure." he scowled, pulling his essay closer to him and ignoring the rest of us.

After that everything just seemingly went back to normal, the rest of the day being spent catching up on the homework we hadn't been able to do the day before and browsing catalogues to catch up on the Christmas shopping we'd also missed out on. Keeli helped me pick out the gifts for my sisters but it was harder finding something for my brother, and I was still debating on it at the breakfast table Monday morning.

"I just wish there were more magical things geared towards living with Muggles. Half the stuff would be confiscated by the Japanese Ministry the second he gets back." I scowled at a listing in Witch Weekly.

"I'm sure you'll find something." Keeli was bent over her Transfiguration work, making a few last minute changes before we had to hand it in. "Go to Diagon Alley over break. It hasn't failed me yet."

"I guess, I just don't know if he's coming for Christmas and if he's not, I want to have it through customs by then." I sighed, picking my bowl of cereal up so I could continue eating as the post came in.

Keeli got two owls, one from home and one from Transfiguration Weekly, but she just put their letters in her bag to read later while she pushed through her work. I also got an owl from home which I ripped open to read once it was safe to return my bowl to the table.

"No!" I said far too loudly as I read my Mother's pretty writing.

"What's wrong?" Keeli looked up.

"My brother isn't coming home for Christmas, and Michael is staying over the holiday then."

"I'm sorry, Amelia. Maybe you can ask to stay with Cad and them again? I'm sure they won't mind."

"That's not the point. I thought my Mum learned her lesson last year."

Keeli didn't even have a chance to respond when my sister from Slytherin came over, sliding onto the bench next to me.

"Did Mum write you as well?"

"Waste of parchment if you ask me." my sister from Gryffindor walked up too, crumpling hers in her hands.

"I'm spending the holiday with my friend Tabitha and her family. I suggest you do the same." she said simply before getting back up to join the Slytherin table.

"Are you spending it with your friend again?" my sister asked, looking over where Cad was laughing with his Quidditch teammates.

"Maybe, I don't know." I sighed.

She just nodded before walking off again, and the food vanished letting us know we had better get to class. I shoved my Mother's letter in my bag and followed Keeli to the second floor.

"Keeli, do you think I could stay with you over the holidays?"

"I'm sorry, my parents are taking Erick and I to the States for Christmas to see my Grandmum."

"Oh, alright."

"I mean, I can ask, but-"

"No, I don't want to intrude on your holiday." I gave her a smile. "Thank you for being willing to ask though."

"Do you not want to spend it with Cad again?"

"Louk won't like it." I said simply as we walked into the Transfiguration classroom.

Cad came barreling into the classroom, seconds from being late as always, his hair a mess as he gave me a wide smile. "What's this I hear about you not going home for Christmas?"

"You tell your eavesdropping friends to stay out of my business." I sighed. "Yeah, Mike's coming home for Christmas again. So far it doesn't seem me or any of my sisters are going home in protest."

"You can stay with me again!" he hugged me tightly. "It'll be great!"

"I can't impo-"

"Nonsense!" he was far too happy as he handed his work to Professor Sallow. "Trust me, Tempy will be positively dying to talk to someone about her year at school and it'll be nice to have another set of ears to go around."

"But-"

"No buts, darling, it's already decided." he patted my head as the class was called to order.

I didn't let him get away with it, however, and as we all headed together to Potions in the dungeons. "You have to let me help out in the shop then."

"That's not up to me, my knight in shining armor, that's up to my parents. Even so, probably not."

"But I can't just waltz in and do nothing!"

"You're not doing nothing." he assured me. "You'll be helping me with my homework, listening to Tempy ramble on about her classes, and keeping things happier in general."

"You have to help me pick out gifts for your parents then."

"Okay fine, I'll give you that one. I still have to get Tempy something anyway." he shrugged. "You got yourself a deal, Ravenclaw."

"Good." I nodded as we sat at our potions bench.

I spent the class helping Cad with one hand and writing a letter to my Mum in the other, using a few choice words in telling her my feelings on her decision. I had to restart the letter twice, not because I didn't have the words to say, but because I got a little too angry in a few of my sentences and my quill tore through the paper. I saw three of my four sisters in the Owlery when I went to send off the letter, and the look passed between us made it clear it would be a rather empty Christmas at our house.

Now that I knew what the holidays entold, I was honestly rather excited for them. I'd miss my sisters a lot and it would have been nice to go home, but the thought of talking all break with Tempy about her studies genuinely sounded nice. The only thing I wasn't excited about was unfortunately inevitable, and came to pass just before dinner that same day. I was walking into the Great Hall with Keeli when someone grabbed my arm, yanking me out of the flow of people to get to dinner.

"You're spending the holiday with Cad?" Louk's scowl was deep set and angry.

We'd just had an entire double Herbology class together and he hadn't said anything, so I knew one of his housemates must have told him after we'd parted to drop off our stuff.

"Maybe?"

"You didn't think to tell me?"

"Well, you're not my keeper, for one." I closed my eyes and pushed my anger down. "Because I knew you'd be mad."

"I've been biting my tongue all semester because you keep asking me to, and now you couldn't even bother to tell me this?"

"My brother is coming home for the holidays, the bad one, and it was either Cad's house or stay here alone. Keeli's family is going to the States and-"

"Did you think to ask me?"

"Louk, you don't spend the holidays at your house. You always go to Damian's."

He pursed his lips, clearly realizing he wasn't a viable option. "Still, I had to hear it from someone else."

"Louk, I'm sorry. It was Herbology and I just wanted some peace and quiet working with the Gillyweed, okay? It's been a rough couple of days and I'm trying my best to keep my head. But I thought about how I could start making it up to you." I took a phial out of my bag, handing it to him carefully.

He raised an eyebrow as he took it, reading the label. "Amortentia? Why the hell are you handing me love potion?"

"I told you I brewed some, and I know you're curious."

He scowled again, narrowing his eyes as he contemplated his transparency. Finally he rolled his eyes and uncorked it carefully, closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply. A small smile graced his face, wiped away the second he opened his eyes and remembered I was watching.

"What do you smell?" he asked me suddenly.

"Uh, parchment." I stuttered. "The apothecary in Hogsmeade. Sometimes I smell anemone flowers, my favorite ones?"

"Hm." he corked it again.

"Going to torture me?"

"Did you ask Cad what he smells?"

"I haven't even told him I finished it yet."

He nodded, slipping the phial into his pocket. "I smell parchment too, like the library, and peppermint, and...you know the way the air smells after it rains?"

I smiled. "I know you like to go on walks after it rains."

"And…" he glanced up at me. "I don't know. I can't place the other one."

"That's okay. Now that you know what they smell like, you'll know when you find them again." I didn't push it, having a good guess at what he was lying about. "Remember drugging is still illegal though."

"I doubt I'll ever have a need for it." he shrugged.

"Just remember I know the antidote, so poison someone I don't know." I teased.

"If you're staying there again, are you going to the Greys' New Years party?"

I looked down at my feet. "I- I don't know."

He shook his head as he walked past me to dinner. "You really are a terrible liar."

I sighed as I followed him, sitting next to Keeli thoroughly moody. She handed me a scroll tied with a purple ribbon before I could even get a word out. "Someone brought this by for you."

I looked around the Hall and saw lots of kids opening similar scrolls as I untied my own. I read quickly, hopping out of my seat and taking the four steps it took me to get to the Slytherin table.

"Louk?" I tapped his shoulder to get his attention from the conversation he and Damian were having.

"Amelia?" he sounded confused for obvious reasons.

"Would you like to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me?" I showed him the invitation. "It's this Friday night, before the train leaves."

"I- you're asking me to a party?" he tilted his head.

"Yes. I'd like it if you went with me. If you want, I mean." I added quickly.

"No thank you." he said simply before turning back to his food.

Even Damian's look was perplexed, but all he could give me was a shrug before turning to his own meal. I sighed before turning around and sitting back down, stuffing the invitation in my bag's front pocket to get buried in about two dozen books.

"What had you running off in such a hurry?" Keeli asked, placing a slice of roast chicken on my plate for me.

"Oh nothing. Louk is really upset about the last few days."

"Well I figured that when he pulled you out of a crowd like a fisherman snagging a prize catch."

"Keeli, why are you such good friends with Matt?"

She thought for a second, chewing slowly. "Well, because he's so nice to be with. Everyone else is always so busy, and I don't mind really, but it's nice just to always have someone there. We just sit together and talk or I read to him from a Transfiguration book while he bakes. I don't feel like I have to try with him at all."

I nodded, stabbing a potato with my fork and twirling it around slowly. "Would you say Matt challenges you?"

"Oh no, but that's alright. I have textbooks and classroom debates for that, I like having someone who I don't always have to think so much with. Matt just...is, you know?"

"I think so." I said slowly, finally sticking the food in my mouth.

Keeli left me to my thoughts through dinner, and afterwards we split ways to study in our own prefered places. Everyone would be meeting up in the second floor corridor to study together but I wanted the peace and quiet of the common room instead of the chaos we always managed to achieve.

It was a perfectly peaceful night of scribbling in my notebook and doing a few experiments with my cauldron, confirming my thoughts on a few ingredients I could potentially use to bolster the existing Veritaserum Antidote that was in our textbook for the seventh year. Keeli came in just a few minutes before curfew as we usually did and we went upstairs to the dorm together, her going on about how she was sure next time she'd be able to get a Patronus down no matter what scary death monster was breathing down our necks.

I had my wand lit with my curtains drawn, reading through Moste Potente Potions for the thousandth time for ideas when I heard a knocking on the window. I sighed and extinguished my wand, stepping into the moonlight to see Cad's grinning face hovering just a few inches away.

"Cad, I'm not really in the mood tonight." I sighed as I pushed open the window.

"Come on, you can't tell me you don't need a little space?"

I looked into the room to see the others snoring peacefully, stepping aside to pull on my heaviest coat and scarf before climbing onto the windowsill. He took my hand and smoothly pulled me behind him, waving his wand so the window closed behind me. I huddled behind him in the positively frigid weather as we left the grounds, landing on his favorite stretch of cliff in no time at all. He made quick work of setting up a little spot for us to sit, huddling together with me under the blanket despite our thick coats.

"Bit nippy, isn't it?" he chuckled.

I pulled the blanket over our heads like an igloo, the jar of flames sitting between us. "Let's get the wind off of us for a second, give ourselves a chance to warm up."

"I'm always up for a good fort." he smiled. "So, what has you and Louk so hot and bothered?"

"Oh nothing." I looked down, playing with the edge of my scarf to give my hands something to do.

"I don't see you wearing that unless it's a Quidditch game." he smirked.

I looked down and noticed I was in fact wearing his scarf, and the very next inhale I took the scent of it made my cheeks flame red. "Oh, yeah. I didn't realize I was wearing it."

"Hey, I certainly don't mind." his smile was always quick when he saw I was embarrassed. "So, were you guys fighting over what happened in the Forest?"

"I appreciate you being there for me, but I don't really want to talk about it."

"Sure. What do you want to talk about then?"

"You and Amber spend a lot of time together, right?"

He shrugged. "Not really."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean we hang out when it's the whole Quidditch team, but usually she spends time with her friends and I spend time with mine."

"But you two seem so close."

"We are."

"I don't follow."

"You know there's always just friends you have that...you don't have to say anything to, you know? You know they'll be there when you need it and that's all that matters. Amber and I are mates for life, but that doesn't mean we have to spend every second of every day together."

"I guess I just thought everyone spent as much time with their housemate friend as I do." I shrugged. "Keeli and I barely leave each others' side."

"It would drive me nuts." he shook his head. "Even my closest friends I need some time from, you know?"

"Not really." I admitted. "I'm usually with you, Keeli, Louk, or by myself."

"Nothing wrong with alone time, but I appreciate the time I get with you."

"Being around Louk is always so...draining I guess. Sometimes we can just sit together and read, or we'll debate about something and it's honestly the best thing, but sometimes I feel like it takes all my energy just to be in a room with him."

"You know, some people are like that. Makes sense to me why you might want some space from him."

"Well, to be fair sometimes there's days where I want space from everyone."

"Oh don't I know it." he chuckled. "It's a Ravenclaw thing, don't worry."

"Do you think all those House superstitions are right?"

"Not all of them, but I do think sorting is more important than just who you live with."

"If you're living with the same people for seven years, it's bound to affect you somehow."

"Well of course it does but if you put every first year's name in a hat and drew their roommates like that, it'd be a bloodbath. Imagine if Louk and I were put in the same dorm room, or Amber and you."

"Amber's fine…" I tried to lie, but he just chuckled as he shook his head.

"You guys are friends, but only in small doses and that's okay. Even if it is a bunch of hullabaloo there's clearly a system to the sortings, and it makes sense that it's what they say it is. Knowledge and creativity, and daring and chivalry." he gestured to each of us in turn as he said it.

"I think the thing that affects us the most is being a scared first year and having a tenant to uphold."

He shrugged. "Probably. There's isn't a person I've met that doesn't take their house motto seriously, whether to prove it or fight against it."

"How do you enact on 'daring' and 'bravery' every day?"

"Mum always says when my brain was being put together, someone forgot to add fear." he chuckled. "I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I went with the 'cowardly' option, but it had nothing to do with my house. You?"

"Knowledge and learning are practically my two only motivations." I played with my scarf so I wouldn't have to look in his eyes. "But creativity...I don't know on that one."

"Are you kidding, you're plenty creative. I've seen your sketches in your potions notebook. You drew that really cool Wiggentree on my textbook last semester when you got bored in class."

"That's not creativity, that's drawing. Keeli is creative with all her outfits, and Amber's fashion is legendary, even Matt is super creative with his cooking. I doodle occasionally. They're completely different."

"What is it you say? Comparing yourself to others presumes there's some kind of standard for human behavior?"

"Something like that." I blushed as he got every word right.

"Just because you're not creative like them, doesn't mean you aren't at all. I like your doodles. Now every time I open my DADA book I smile because you left a little piece of yourself there."

"That's one of my favorite things about buying books second hand, you know. You always find bookmarks in old books, because people rarely make sure they're all out before they sell them. You find real bookmarks but it's more telling when you find the random stuff. A receipt, or a grocery list, or sometimes a note they passed with a friend then stuck in to save their place. It's like a little piece of themselves they left behind."

"Do you think if you're not creative enough you're not considered a good Ravenclaw?"

"I didn't do well on my exams last year, Cad. I got a P. One thing I remember my Mum saying is 'I've never seen Ravenclaw marks so low', and she always says how much the Ravenclaws in her year at Hogwarts were top in everything."

"So?" he shrugged.

"I guess I just feel like she expects more of me, considering where I was placed."

"Well, it's a good thing you know you belong right where you are."

"I do?"

"The common room situation last year? Need I remind you that there was only one common room you really feel at home in?"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess you're right." I smiled. "I forgot about that."

"See? I don't think you'd last a week in any of the other houses."

"Gee, thanks."

"Please, I saw your scowls when you spent the night in our common room. You looked like the next person to talk just a decibel too loud was going to get a potions book to the side of the head."

"Trust me they almost did."

"Woe behold to anyone who gets between you and your reading." he chuckled. "Will you ever have enough books?"

"Never." I shook my head as I smiled wide.

He returned it, looking down at the jar of flames to pause for a second. "I'm, uh, really sorry about the Forest thing."

"You've already apologized."

"Yeah but Louk hasn't torn me into pieces yet and I think I have a pretty good idea why."

"Maybe he's feeling generous?"

He just gave me a look. "Anyways, thanks for taking care of him for me. You seem to be the only one he listens to."

"Oh you'd be surprised." I sighed.

"So since you're staying over again this Christmas, does that mean you'll still come with me to the Grey's New Year party?"

"A promise is a promise."

"Top." he beamed.

"Just maybe don't mention it to Louk just yet?"

"Hey he's already spared my life once, I don't want to take any chances."

"I'm just glad you guys don't have a lot of reason to cross on the Quidditch pitch."

"Hey, I send my fair share of Bludgers his way, but so does everyone else. You know I'd never use the game as an excuse to target him."

"I know, I more meant the other way around."

"Seekers have a bit more to focus on than a few Beaters."

"Who's in the lead for the Cup so far?"

We spent the rest of the time talking about Quidditch or Ancient Runes, staying under our igloo fort to keep warm. We didn't stay out too late as the temperature was still dropping but it was nice to get away from things for a bit. He dropped me off at the tower around midnight and no matter how fun it'd been I was still grateful to wrap up in my covers and snuggle down into my bedding.