We all have a limit to how much we take at any one time.
And Annie Black had just about reached hers.
She sat on her bed in the sixth years girls dormitory, clutching the thing that was causing her so much anguish.
It was the letter she had received during the chaos of yesterday morning.
She hated getting the letters.
Yet she read them every time.
Except, this one was different, it was...nicer?
It read.
Dear Miss Black,
I am writing to you to inform you that I am not, in fact, here to complain. I know this may sound surprising and completely out of the blue, but I would like to meet with you and I do not care whether you wish to speak with me or not, we will meet and I will get what I want. So, in answer to the question you are, most definitely, asking yourself, I will meet you in The Hogs Head this Saturday next at 11 o'clock when your are visiting the neighboring village, Hogsmeade. I do hope this letter finds you in good health and I shall look forward to meeting up with you.
Your Friend,
T.R.B
Your friend.
Annie found it insulting that they should think such a thing as them being friends.
And she most certainly did not want to meet up with a stranger, one who happens to be threatening to say the least.
Knowing that she had no choice in the matter, that she would have to meet this psychopath, she sighed, folded the letter and placed it back in it's envelope, before digging an old shoe box out from under her bed and stuffing it in there, along with all the other notes and threats she had been, so graciously, sent over the course of the summer.
Sighing, she got up from the comfort of her familiar four poster bed, making her way out the door, down the stairs, through the Gryffindor Common Room and the portrait hole, heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
On arrival, she spotted James and skipped her way over, pretending as though nothing was wrong, not wanting or needing to worry him, she would sort out the problem herself, just as she always did.
"Hey, Belle." James greeted her, smirking as he used the nickname he knew she so very disliked.
"Don't call me that." Annie replied, reaching out for a piece of toast as she attempted to hit her friend round the head, to which he dodged her attack.
"Where have you been?" Lucy asked before taking a spoonful of her granola.
"Getting dressed." Annie answered smoothly, lying through her teeth.
"Really?" Dom questioned from next to Lucy as she shoveled some scrambled eggs into her mouth.
"Dommy, do you really not know how to eat food properly?" Will, who Annie had only just noticed, asked patronisingly.
"I don't have the patience for your bullshit today, so why don't you just fuck off." Dom replied in all seriousness.
"Ooh, touchy." He muttered, earning him a glare and a few scrambled eggs flicked in his face.
"You do realise I woke you up an hour ago, right?" Lucy inquired, concern crossing her features.
Annie hadn't realised it had been that long, but she made it out as though she did, claiming that she wanted to put some effort into her appearance today.
"You? Put effort into your appearance? That's new." James commented.
Though the remark had been sarcastic, and a joke, James found himself staring at her intently, finding that she didn't look any different to normal. His gaze traveled up and down her body, stopping in places his eyes never should've been, though he couldn't deny how good she looked. Her long dark hair cascaded down her back in loose waves, her face was made up perfectly, her cherry red lips were plump and her thick lashed emerald eyes shone. She wore the standard Hogwarts uniform, but to James she looked amazing, the black skirt stopped mid thigh, her tie hung loose around her neck, the top button on her shirt undone, and her robes were too big, swamping her in the large fabric.
He averted his gaze, dipping his head slightly so nobody could spot the flush that had creeped up his neck, spreading itself across his cheeks, instead, he focused on the bowl of cereal in front of him, swirling the milk around as if it was the most interesting of things.
"James mate, you okay? You look a bit flustered." Will asked innocently.
"Yeah, fine." The boy replied quickly, scowling at his friend.
Annie, who was about to scold him for making fun of her, stared at him, curiosity bubbling as she wondered what had got him so worked up. Dom, however, hadn't failed to acknowledge the mischievous glint in Will's eyes, that had accompanied his question, she made a mental note to force him to explain it later.
"You guys wanna hang out at the lake after lessons, soak up the last of the summer sun?" Lucy asked, pushing her, now empty, bowl away from her.
"I'd love to, but I can't." Annie sighed, leaning her head against her hand in despair.
"Why the fuck not?" Dom question rudely, now devouring a bacon rasher.
"Merlin, Dommy, where are your manners?" Will spoke in mock exasperation.
"You know, you're really starting to piss me off." Dom said angrily, placing her fork down and turning to face the annoyance full on.
"Am I?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Annie just rolled her eyes and turned back to Lucy.
"James, Will and I have detention tonight." The girl replied, explaining why they could not spend time with them this evening, even though they wanted to.
The three of them had received a weeks worth of detentions for yesterday's prank, but it had looked as though it had pained Professor McGonagall to remove ten house points from them, each, apparently the devotion to her old house hadn't dissipated.
"Oh okay, I could do with catching up on some work anyways." Lucy said, her demeanor still happy, despite her slight sadness that they couldn't come, though she understood why.
"Tomorrow?" Annie asked, smiling as Lucy beamed.
"Yeah." Was her elated response.
Annie often felt as though they left Lucy out a little bit, seeing as she very rarely got into trouble, even when she did help aid her and James in their escapades, and wanted to make up for the fact that they hadn't the time tonight.
"Besides," Annie spoke, jokingly. "you've got Dom to keep you company."
Lucy snorted at that, giggling and mumbling something like 'if she's not asleep by ten o'clock'.
It was a well known thing that Dominique Weasley like to sleep, and eat, in fact, that was probably all she did, sleep, eat, repeat and maybe go to a few lessons in between, although she did enjoy drawing and anything artsy, so if she wasn't doing any of those other things, you could usually find her curled up somewhere, sketching in her journal.
Annie giggled at her friend's response, turning in the direction of James, who was still solely focused on the Cheeriowls in his bowl.
"Hey, when does Quidditch start?" She asked, poking him in the shoulder, knowing that the subject would improve his mood.
As she had suspected, James's head snapped up and he looked at her, a shine to his eyes that was always present when he spoke about his favourite thing, Quidditch.
"Tryouts are this weekend, we're down a chaser." He replied, gesturing animatedly.
James was the newly appointed Gryffindor Quidditch team Captain and he played the position of Keeper. Annie wasn't as invested in the sport as her best mate, but she would go along to games and support her house and friends, Will and Dom were on the team too, together they made up the beater duo, though they managed to get along better on the pitch.
"Are you excited for your first practice as Captain then?" Annie inquired, already knowing that he could get very anxious about things.
"Yeah...but it's gonna be hard, I reckon." James answered, staring at his cereal again.
"Maybe, but I know how good you are and you have great leadership skills." She spoke, putting a hand on his arm reassuringly.
"Thanks, Belle." He said, smiling slightly, though Annie could tell that he was still extremely nervous.
James was like that, he could be arrogant and cocky, causing mischief or driving everybody up the walls, but then, under the surface, he worried about things like exams and Quidditch just as much as the next person. People saw what he wanted them to see, a confident boy who didn't need to study immensely to achieve decent grades, but all Annie saw was a kind, sweet, caring boy who only wants to please everybody around him and who would do anything to protect his loved ones.
Annie looked at James, her eyes running over him, she would in no way say that her friend wasn't good looking, he was, from the tips of his luscious, chocolate locks to ,what she guessed was, a Quidditch toned body beneath the crisp white shirt he wore. His glasses lay as they always had, crooked across the bridge of his nose, his crystal eyes danced whenever he spoke about something he loved, and his boyish smile was infectious, his laugh being the same, so anytime Annie was around him and he belted out a chuckle, she ended up doing the same.
"Does anybody know what lesson I have first?" Dom asked, having finished her breakfast and sat bored, with her head leaning on her hand.
"Where's your timetable? Don't tell me you've lost it already?" Lucy accused, raising an eyebrow scathingly.
Dom looked at the wooden table, her face contorted into sheepish smile and from next to her, Will out right laughed, his sniggers echoing down the Gryffindor table.
"How is that funny?" Dom questioned, folding her arms.
"Because it's so very you, loosing your timetable two days into the beginning of term." He said, catching his breath.
Dom, instead of retorting something back, sat there, looking intently at the hysterical boy, she could've sworn there was underlying endearment in his sentence. She wanted to believe that she was going crazy, but the fact that he'd affectionately put his hand on her wrist underneath the table, made her think that it was him who was crazy. The worst part being, that he hadn't even noticed he'd done it.
When he had recovered completely, Will became aware of what he'd done and removed his hand so fast that Dom thought that he thought he might catch something by touching her, which, though she wouldn't admit, not even to herself, did hurt Dom, but only a little.
Their friends were unaware as to what happened, but just sat, waiting patiently for Dom to answer Lucy.
"Dom?" Annie asked, snapping her fingers in Dom's face, who was distantly staring at her wrist, where Will's hand had been.
"Huh, what?" She looked up, dazed.
"You gonna answer Lucy?" Annie scolded.
"Oh, um, what did you say Lucy?" Dom spoke, her tone confused and her gaze distracted.
"I asked if you'd already lost your timetable?" The redhead replied, looking at her cousin worriedly.
"Um, yeah." Dom said, rubbing her wrist, trying to calm her swirling thoughts. "So, I don't know what lesson I've got."
She sneaked a glance at Will, one that Annie didn't miss, and saw that he was staring at a spot on the table, his lips set into a firm frown, as he concentrated on the wood.
Will couldn't believe he'd done that, he hadn't even noticed he did it, he was telling himself off, but the little voice in the back of his head was beginning to get on his nerves, claiming that he had, subconsciously, known exactly what he was doing when he did it. He didn't know why it was such a big deal, it's not that bad right? Who was he kidding, he hated Dom and she hated him, right? Will shook his head, ridding himself of the troubling thoughts that were clouding his mind and looked up from the spot on the table which, apparently, he'd found very interesting, just in time to see Dom look away from him, back at Lucy.
Lucy shook her head, chuckling at the predictableness of Dom and thanking herself that she'd had a quick look at Dom's schedule when they'd been handed out yesterday morning.
"You've got Potions with us lot first, then a free period." She explained.
Dom instantly perked up at the words 'free period', a smile breaking out on her face as she exclaimed.
"Yes!"
"I take that to be a good thing." Lucy stated.
"Of course it is! I have a free period, meaning I don't have to do any work for an entire hour." Dom said excitedly, clapping her hands.
Everybody laughed her enthusiasm, the sound eventually dying out as the morning post arrived, the owls dropping letters left, right and centre. Annie sat there, rigid, awaiting the note that was sure to contain an onslaught of threats and nasty words.
But no such letter or note came, instead, the copy of The Daily Prophet landed in her lap, rolled up like a scroll and tied up with a piece of string. She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in and unraveled the newspaper, scanning it's contents. Reading through it, Annie saw something that caught her eye.
"Jimmy, look." She said to James, pointing to an advertisement in the sports section.
"What is it?" He inquired, putting down the letter in his hand and taking the paper from Annie.
"There." She pointed again.
James took a moment to look over what she'd found, his face gradually getting brighter, until he was full on beaming as he turned to Annie, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"They're scouting." He whispered, as though he couldn't fathom it. "At schools."
"Uh huh." Annie said, nodding her head and smiling almost as wide as James.
"They're scouting at schools!" He exclaimed, hugging Annie so unexpectedly that she had to grab onto him just so she didn't fall to the floor.
"Woah! Calm down, I'm gonna fall off the bench." She said as he let go of her, his face falling as realisation hit him.
"But what if I'm not good enough and I don't get in." James sighed, placing the newspaper on the table and running his hands through his hair, a nervous habit of his.
"You're kidding right?" Annie asked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow.
He gave her a look as if to say 'you're my best friend, meaning your biased', and her response was one of stubbornness, which was very Annie, she was stubborn through and through.
"No, I bet you there are better players out there." He spoke dejectedly.
"Well, of course there are." She replied, like it was one of the most obvious things ever.
"You're supposed to hype me up, not put me down." James said, exasperated.
"Just listen, would you?" He nodded. "There is always going to be someone who is better than you at something, that doesn't mean you're not good, just that someone is better. You don't give up on a test when you don't understand one question, do you?" He shook his head. "So, therefore, you don't not tryout because there is a possibility that someone will be better than you, besides, if you're good, they'll pick you and if they don't, then that's their loss."
Annie hoped that he would listen to her, she spoke the truth, he was good, shockingly so, and deserved to tryout, but if he didn't think he'd get in, then he wouldn't perform as well as he can, resulting in him actually getting declined. But if he believed he could do it, he'd try harder, meaning its more likely that he gets in.
So, yes, there was a method to her madness.
James considered her words, she was right, as usual, but how could he the best he could be, when he didn't think he was good enough?
"What are we talking about over here, then?" Dom asked, moving away from her conversation with Lucy, who was just as curious to know what the two best friends were conversing about.
"Puddlemere United are scouting, at schools." Annie explained, both of them, including Will, looked to James, who was once again, staring at his, now empty, bowl.
Puddlemere United were one of Britain's best Professional Quidditch teams and had been James's favourite since he was a child. Ever since he discovered that he was better than most on a broom, he had been determined to play Keeper for Puddlemere. So, the fact that he might be able to join a summer training program, that decides whether or not you have the talent to join the Puddlemere Training Academy, or PTA for short, was a huge thing, that his Anxiety was getting the better of.
James, though most people are unaware of this fact, struggles quite badly with Anxiety and has done for a great many years, the problem first surfacing during his childhood. He often over thought everything and tended to worry over the littlest things, like when he cooks at home, whether he's left the stove on. When he was younger, he was prone to panic attacks, although those have gradually become less frequent over the years, as he's learnt to manage his Anxiety, they do appear from time to time, usually when he's overly stressed or under a lot of pressure.
He could feel his lungs closing in on themselves as he got up from the table, the idea of trying out suddenly becoming a burden as he focused on his breathing, inhaling then exhaling, making his way out of the Great Hall, ignoring the shouts of his friends.
Annie watched as James walked away, quickly and with an urgency that only confirmed her thoughts. Having learnt to deal with the situation, if he was to have and Anxiety attack, she knew to leave him for a little bit, before going and checking on him.
"Is it serious?" Lucy asked, concern laced in her voice.
"I don't think so." Annie answered, easing her worries, slightly. "Just, let him calm down."
And that is exactly what they did as they went to their first class of the day, potions.
Annie thought that if James didn't show up to the lesson she would go looking for him, but just as she was beginning to get worried, he walked through the door, sitting himself down in the seat next to her with a reassuring smile directed at her.
James was fine now, he had just needed time to himself, to calm his thoughts and focus himself, ready for the day ahead. He would explain all that to Annie later though, as he turned his attention towards the overweight Professor Slughorn, who stood, with his pot belly and walrus-like mustache, at the front of the classroom.
The day was the same as any other after that, the five of them, except from Dom, who'd had a free period, going from class to class, learning new information and trying not to sleep through some of the lectures they received.
Later on, Annie, James and Will then went to detention, where they had to polish the trophies in the trophy room, without magic, something they'd done several times before, resulting in it being less of a punishment and more of a time when they can throw water and sponges at each other.
The day then ended the same as it always did, the five of them chatting in the Gryffindor Common Room, before saying goodnight and heading up to bed.
Although, Annie got little sleep, as she was too busy worrying over what could happen on Saturday, when she went to, unwillingly, meet the person that has been causing her so much sadness and anger. The fact that she would be going alone and that it was merely a few days away was not helping either.
So, instead, she focused on happy things like, her friends and her upcoming birthday, in which she'd be the first to turn seventeen, thus allowing her to be able to do magic outside school, which Annie thought to be a great thing, so then if Ginny told her to tidy her room over Christmas, she could simply wave her wand and the task would be completed.
With those things in mind, she slowly drifted off, leaving reality behind as she succumbed to sleep.
AN:
Hello, sorry it's been a while, I may or may not have started a Marvel FanFiction over on , so if you like things like the Avengers and sci-fi stuff like that, head over and check it out, my username is Purpleslytherin. If you struggle to identify me, the stories that I have posted on this website are uploaded on there too, so that should help. In the meantime, please feel free to leave some constructive criticism or inform me of any mistakes you spot. I hope you are all staying safe. Remember to R&R!
Until next time, happy reading!
Sincerely,
Purple_slytherin xx