Hello my dear readers! I'm so relieved that you have all stuck and been very patient with me, I'm an 11th grader you see and with all the homework I've been getting it's been hard for me to write, but here it is at last Chapter 12! Oh and I'd love to thank for the follower, violetmermaidINFJ for the favourite, Icy Winter Pheonix for this stories first ever review, and 67 for the follow and the favourite. I'm glad you enjoyed it and well here's the next chapter. Warning this chapter is long. On my file it's 7 full pages so hope this makes up for the lost time and enjoy. ~ T. T. Zoldy
P.s Icy Winter Pheonix her mood swings are the reason why she's called the Hufflepuff Hazard. And I'm extremely glad you liked it. Your review made my day. Thank you.
Chapter 12
Birthdays and Breakups
March 31st, 1990
The Great Hall
"Morning everyone," Weave mumbled, as she joined most of the Lot at the Hufflepuff table, she looked like she'd seen better days. Holly, Amos, Mia, Clove and Cedric were missing from breakfast, either sleeping in, in the Library—Mia—or having an emotional breakdown.
"Mornin' Weaves, how's Hols?" Irys asked as she gestured to the empty seat beside her, across from Anna, whom was looking at Weave with worry.
Weave simply shook her head, her black hair drooping over her face. "My poor sister, she hasn't stopped since it happened,"
"Since what happened?" Tommy asked, looking at the girls like they each had grown three heads each.
"Holly and Amos," Weave gritted her teeth at his name, something that made the entire table bristle.
"They broke up." Anna finished, her eyes a stormy grey for her friend. "Holly's been crying nonstop since it happened, remember how I was when the Lot split for a while?" Everyone nodded and Anna made the obvious unspoken 'like that' gesture, making everyone "Oh!" in unison.
Just then, three redheaded Lions strode over to their table to see what the commotion was all about. Fred and George sat on either side of Anna, where Mia and Clover normally sat, whilst the third, older—maybe a fifth year—redhead sat beside Weave.
"What's going on here?" Fred asked, not liking the stormy colour Anna's eyes were.
"Yea, you okay Annie?" George asked, matching his twins worried expression perfectly.
Anna nodded as her eyes shifted to a lighter shade of blue. "It's not me, it's Weave's sister, Holly. Amos broke up with her and she's been crying a bloody ocean ever since. She won't stop and we can't seem to calm her down long enough to console her."
"How long has it been?" The third redhead asked from across the table.
"Oh! Sorry we forgot to introduce you, everyone this is our older brother—" Fred smiled to his twin.
"Charlie. He's a fifth year," George announced.
"The best Gryffindor Seeker;" Fred added.
"He's also currently single." George smirked and eyed the ladies of the table, whom all blushed to the tips of their toes. "Ow! Just sayin', bro." Charlie had kicked George in the shins from beneath the table and the redhead was now nursing his slight injury. Fred was silently laughing and Charlie's face was the same colour as his hair. "Anyways," George said awkwardly. "Does anyone know what day it is tomorrow?"
"April Fools Day?" Anna guessed, shrugging her lazy-day yellow cotton t-shirt clad shoulders.
"That, annnd—" George started.
"It's our birthday!" Fred finished, both beaming brightly, while Charlie rolled his brown eyes dramatically.
The girls from the table seemed all the more interested and they all leaned forward to listen.
Hufflepuff Common Room
Anna entered the Common Room and headed straight for the Girl's Dormitories. A bubbly, bright bubblegum pink haired Prefect bounced up to her and followed her.
"Hey Annie, what's the matter?" She asked the little witch with worry, her hair turning purple for a moment before returning to its bright bubblegum colour as the pair walked up the spiral staircase leading to the Girls Dorms.
"Hey Tonks, it's Hols going up to see her, and try "once again" to calm her down." Anna explained.
"Still?" Tonks bristled at the news.
Anna simply nodded and gave a huff of frustration along with a string of French curses, something she'd picked up from the streets of Paris. Tonks gave her a quick hug and Anna smiled sadly as she hugged the Prefect back, her eyes shifting to a crystal violet, like a stained glass window on a rainy day.
"Poor thing, you girls must be devastated to see her like that?" Anna nodded as they reached the top of the stairs. Anna looked to her right where Clover shared a room with a few other girls, then to her left where she found the brass plaque on the wall beside the door. The plaque that held not many words but had enough.
First Years
Tassiyanna Cloud
Mia Valentine
Irys Bones
Weaver Sprout
Holly Sprout
"I'll see you later Tonks," she told the pink haired Prefect as Tonks smiled and walked back downstairs. "Here goes nothing." She mumbled to herself as she opened the door and entered.
The room was pure, eternal darkness and Anna felt a certain feline jump onto her shoulders and purr happily. It was silence besides Holly's quiet sobs from Anna's near right. Anna closed the door and advanced into the room, not towards the back of the dorm, but to Holly's four poster.
Anna's eyes adjusted to the darkness and she found that she had the night vision of a cat as she found Holly laying upon her bed wrapped up tightly in the linen and sobbing gently.
Anna sat down beside the crying redhead and smiled sadly. "Hey Hols, how you feeling?" Holly sat up at the sound of Anna's voice and the pair stared at one another in the eye, even in the darkness.
"Anna?" Holly sniffed. "Is that you?"
Anna nodded then realized that she couldn't see her. "Yea, it's me." Holly untangled herself from the linen in a minor struggle and she sat down next to Anna. "Are you calm enough to explain what happened? Don't go crying on me now Hols, take a deep breath and tell me what happened."
Holly scooted closer to Anna and she started calling Spirit. Anna grabbed the feline from her shoulders and handed her to Holly. Spirit didn't run, nor did she fuss, being used to the over attention when one of the girls were upset and needed something small to hug, instead she purred loudly and rubbed her head against Holly's arm.
Holly sniffed once more then took a deep breath. "Okay, so me and Amos were walking on our way to the Great Hall when we got back from March Break. Anyways, over the break we'd started arguing over the littlest things and it seemed to be getting to him like it was getting to me, so I tried reasoning with him, because I didn't want to lose him and then we started arguing over that too. I guess he snapped because he broke up with me in front of a bunch of kids in the Entrance Hall and he left me there. I was gobsmacked, the way that he'd said it was for real and he sounded like he never wanted to see or talk to me ever again and I sort of broke down and ran back here in tears."
Anna thought for a moment. "Wow, that explains why he's been skipping classes, your Mum's furious with him, Sinistra's beside herself with fury at the both of you—girls got you covered—, Binns of course hasn't noticed a thing and Higgs is worried like mad. The entire school knows because as you know,"
"Gossip travels like Fiendfyre," they chorused together.
"Thanks for covering for me Annie, I don't know what I'd do without you girls." Holly said as she let Spirit go and the feline purred and rubbed her head against Holly's arm once more before retreating to Anna's shoulders once again.
"Think you're ready to join us once more? The girls are so worried about you Hols, I mean you've been shut up here for so long. It's time to let a little light back in." and with that Anna waved her wand and both sets of velvet yellow curtains opened, blinding both witches momentarily.
oOoOoOo
April 10th, 1990
Dungeons - Potions Classroom
Holly and Amos had had a rough first month since their tragic breakup, the Lot was still together, but they didn't really seem that way until you saw one of the guys and the girls talking to one another or hanging out together, only Amos and Holly didn't talk to one another or act like the other existed even.
It was heartbreaking to watch from afar, but even worse when you heard gossip and saw it from up close. That's how it was for Anna as well as the Lot with Amos and Holly not on speaking or existence terms. It practically tore the witch half of the Lot into chaos and the wizard part into ambitious full-Muggle fist fights and verbal rows with one another. The Lot was pretty much avoided by others at all costs from how hazardous and dangerous they'd all seemed to become.
It hurt Anna the most to see her best friends in such chaos—as she was the only one to be affected by the mess—she was often seen crying or running to Minerva's office or even both. All she wanted was to help them all get back to normal, it stressed her out and the Lot didn't seem to get back to actual friendliness until nearly a month later when the Hufflepuffs had Double Potions with the Slytherins.
"Hey Tassiyanna, can you pass me that knife for a sec?" Anna had been chopping ingredients when a blonde Slytherin boy on her right had leaned over and asked the curly haired witch politely; much to the witches shock. Anna looked up from her cutting board and quickly put down her own knife that she'd been using as she reached in front of her and passed him another knife. "Thanks," He said silently with a shy smile as he returned to his work. She smiled at him and returned to her own potion.
Snape was examining everyone's potions when the blonde Slytherin walked up to Anna once more and gave her a little nudge to alert her of his presence. She looked up at him and smiled sadly before she returned to watching Snape examine Weaver and Jamie's potion, which was the Cure for Common Boils. It worked rather well and Snape begrudgingly congratulated them before Weaver skipped off to join Thomas, Holly, Clover and Irys at their table and James passed Anna and the Slytherin boy silently joining Peter, Cedric, Amos and Mia at their own table. Al appeared beside Anna and the Slytherin boy looking rather tired; Anna turned to him and gave him a sad smile, which he returned as he gave her a quick side hug before he stepped forward along with a brown haired, silver eyed Slytherin girl that Anna didn't like; Valeria Earheart.
The two had met on a rather unfortunate event Halloween night after Anna and the Lot had pranked Penelope Clearwater and Jane Aggens, one of the Lot's tripping jinxes had missed one of the Ravenclaw girls and had tripped Valeria Earheart, whom after she stood up had turned and looked around absolutely furious as she tried to find her attacker, but she couldn't cause they were concealed in their best hiding spot. Valeria had obviously suspected the Weasley Twins, but then when they declined that they had anything to do with it—rather seriously and confused too—Valeria turned to the Lot and practically jinxed everyone except Anna, Al and Jamie, whom were all fairly proficient with the Protego Charm, even as first years.
Al's potion had passed with flying colours, Valeria's had almost killed the frog that the Potions Professor was using to test the potions. Al returned to Anna's table; they were sharing the table with the blonde Slytherin boy, a black haired Slytherin girl whom was anything but happy and a black haired Slytherin boy Anna already knew as Travis Bloodwell. Valeria returned to her own, steam practically fuming from her ears. The blonde haired Slytherin went next, as did Anna, both potions cured the frog and saved it's life.
"10 points to Miss Cloud and Mister Rosier," Snape said in a monotone voice, but he still managed to smile at Anna, whom practically beamed at her Professor. "Each." he added. Anna and the blonde boy returned to their table, they high fived one another in congratulations and Al gave Anna a big hug. Anna congratulated Al in his success and Al returned it as well.
Every froze in place when Holly and Amos both stood up with their finished vial of potion in hand as they both walked to Professor Snape and handed him their potion each in their turn; Snape tested them both awarded another 20 points to Hufflepuff. Amos gave Holly a small smile and Holly returned it as she moved a piece of her red hair from her face behind her ear. She then held out her hand to him which made everyone practically stop breathing. Amos smiled for real this time as he shook her hand and pulled her in for a hug which she immediately accepted as Snape dismissed the class.
Amos and Holly left for the library because "We really need to sort things out." as the rest of the Lot besides Anna went to either the Great Hall for lunch or to the Common Room to finish an essay—Jamie, Peter and Weaver with a Charms essay—. Anna giggled and bid her friends goodbye for a bit as she stayed behind to help Professor Snape clean up the mess and return the frog to normal like she always did.
As Anna returned the little frog to his terrarium, she smiled and bid the little amphibian a good job. "Good job today bud, proud of you and also thankful that I went last."
She heard a chuckle of amusement from behind her and turned to find Snape watching her. "I see you haven't given her a name yet," Snape said as he made his way beside her to turn on the red terrarium light that kept one side warm.
Anna smiled at her Professor and shook her head. "No Professor, I haven't yet. I'm still thinking of one. It's very difficult to name a female frog." Snape chuckled and nodded, then looked to be remembering an old memory before he shook his head slightly and smiled at Anna once more.
"How about Vixen?" He asked her suggestively.
Anna thought about it for a moment before she shook her head. "No, besides I'm not too fond of that name. How about we call her Boil?" Snape snorted a laugh before he thought about the name and let it roll in his head a few times before he nodded in agreement.
"I think it suits her very nicely." he said, Anna giggled and beamed. "Thank you for your help Miss Cloud. Now off you go, lunch won't be served forever."
Anna grabbed her bag and made to leave but turned and faced Snape in the doorway. "But Professor, it's always lunch time when you have a Common Room in the kitchens." she winked and left the dungeon classroom, hearing Snape's laugh from the corridors. She liked his laugh immediately.
oOoOoOo
April 20th, 1990
Beyond the Hufflepuff Common Room - First Year Boys Dormitories
After the private and still secret conversation Holly and Amos had had in the library, the Lot went back to normal. Holly and Amos were acting like friends again, but nothing more it seemed. The pair went back to reading the Daily Prophet together in the mornings and Peter did the same. James, Weave and Thomas had heated conversations over school Quidditch matches and who would win what. Mia started talking to Al more and the pair seemed to be infatuated by one another but without the other knowing. Anna, Irys, Clover and Cedric joked, laughed and the entire Lot were all super relieved that the Mischiefous Lot was whole once again.
Anna lay on Jamie's bed after a hard week of studying and gave a breath of relief, catching the young werewolf's attention. James looked up from his book to find the blackberry haired witch laying in front of him, staring at the ceiling of his four poster absentmindedly petting Spirit, whom was asleep on her stomach, he smiled at her and her fluffy feline, marked his page, and set down his book, grabbing a yellow Sugar Quill from his bedside table.
He moved forward until he was right next to her and he handed her the Quill, she looked at him with sparkling ocean blue eyes and took the quill, thanking him silently and lifting her head so she could lay her head in his lap for him to play with her hair. His fingers began threading through her thick mane of curls as she sucked on the end of the quill. "Long day?" he asked her.
She said nothing but nodded as she continued to suck on the end of her quill. He chuckled softly and smiled at her, his soft green eyes flashing a liquid gold momentarily before they returned to normal. Her ocean blue eyes flashed violet before she closed them, enjoying Jamie's fingers threading through her hair as she continued to suck on the end of the yellow Sugar Quill.
After a long period of comfortable silence, Anna spoke up. "How have you been with your transformations?" she asked as she sucked once more on the end of the sweet candy quill. "If you don't mind me asking," she added. It made him chuckle as she breathed a sigh of relief. Her eyes opened to be a bright ocean blue once more, she looked up into his green eyes and smiled.
"They're still the same, but they aren't as bad as they used to be. I'm glad you're there to take care of me Annie, it eases my mind." he told her as he moved a curly strand of her hair from her forehead. Her smile grew and her eyes closed once more, satisfied with his answer.
Well my favourite readers, there you have it, Chapter 12. I hope you all enjoyed. Don't forget to R&R. ~ T. T. Zoldy