Disclaimer- Did you really think, that after fifteen chapters of the same disclaimer, I own Hogwarts and all related?
Eggs and Bacon
The morning didn't look good on Jessica, and never had. The blue cotton nightgown was rumpled and slightly displaced, hanging over one shoulder and rising up the opposite hip. Her hair rivaled the thickness of the late hairstyle, the beehive and running a comb through it only made it shoot out in more directions. Yesterday's makeup, which consisted primarily of mascara and pink lipstick, was smudged throughout her entire face.
"Jesus, no wonder my younger sister used to avoid me in the mornings."
Happy to see that the dorm was empty she made her way to the bathroom, turning on the shower full blast and peeling off the nightgown and stepping into the water.
Half an hour later she returned to the dorm, her dirtied laundry in one hand while the other gripped the towel she was clothed in.
She threw the contents in her right hand into the wicker hamper beside her bed, drawing back the white curtains she hadn't bothered with earlier. She leaned down and picked out a pair of blue jeans and blue long sleeved T-shirt, along with a couple more personal items, a brush, which she hoped would untangle the rat's nest on top of her head, and the gray makeup bag in which she was beginning to think laid her life. She took them all into the bathroom, returning looking much more presentable. Her hair had been tamed and lay smoothly against her head, while her face radiated neutrality although her natural features were hidden beneath a good few pounds of concealer.
The makeup couldn't hide the somber expression on her face, however, as she recalled past events.
She had come quite close to performing an unforgivable curse on a fellow classmate, and a week before had almost killed another. The sorting hat's words once again floated through her mind. "Slytherin would be appropriate.. I know of what is to come."
Perhaps the past events were what it had been talking of, and if so, she had overcome them. For the first time in a little more than a week Jessica breathed easy.
She had overcome them, and now she could go on living her life. Now, maybe her dreams would stop tormenting her subconscious.
They didn't only include her family's accusations anymore, but they also held the sorting hat's words, and in the last week Luke falling to his death, and just last night, Peter withering under the Crucious curse.
She was sure that they would end now.
"The dead has risen, eh?"
Jessica looked up, surprised to find Lulu in her dorm.
"I could answer that if I knew the dead you speak of. Everyone in here is living, as far as I know." She raised an eyebrow at Lulu.
Lulu raised up her hands as if surrendering.
Her dark hair hung down her back in a single braid, her cheeks oddly flushed.
"What have you been up to?" She asked, noticing that her casual slacks were slightly rumpled, along with the yellow shirt.
Lulu blushed, "Nothing, why do you ask?"
"My God, never try for a job as an actress."
Lulu's face, now a deep shade of red, deepened even more. "Imetupwith.." She began to mumble.
"Speak up, girl. My hearing's never been tip top."
Lulu laughed. "Thomas and I are sort of.."
"You and Thomas?" She broke into a grin, not allowing her friend to finish and running over to hug her. "It's about time."
Despite that morning spent gossiping of events around the school, Lulu and Jessica's friendship became less involved after that. She saw Thomas frequently during class, making sarcasm filled comments with his curls sliding into his eyes, but during their free time Thomas and Lulu were much too involved with their own relationship to concentrate on their friendship with Jessica.
Jessica didn't especially mind, she wasn't as selfish as she had been while attending Muggle school, and she had other friends. Less meaningful friends, but nevertheless she wouldn't be alone.
Except for that day at breakfast.
It had been a week since she'd talked to Lulu and Halloween was rapidly approaching, about to arrive on their doorstep in a matter of days.
Although being alone was quite depressing to her, he found it as a chance to finally make his move.
For the second time in her attendance at Hogwarts, Luke Garrison pulled out a chair from beside her and sat down unwelcomed.
"Hello," She said, looking at him oddly, forcing away the thoughts of his near fatal trip down a staircase backwards.
Things were going well, she hadn't thrown a curse at him or told him to shove off.
"I was hoping to have a quick breakfast with you."
She raised one slender eyebrow, that upon further inspection, was bare in a spot near the iris of her eye. He reminded himself to ask her about it once they were on more pleasant terms.
"Why would you want to have a breakfast with me?" Her voice indicated that his insults were the cause of her question, but inside she felt like screaming "I nearly killed you, God dammit! Now you want to sit and chat with me over the most important meal of the day?" Of course, she didn't, instead she quietly waited for his answer.
"You were alone, and so was I."
She shrugged, his company was better than nobody's and she owed him, after unknowingly to him, almost taking his life. At least it appeared as if he didn't know of the incident's seriousness. She was beginning to think he was blind or dumb. Perhaps both.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Serenity, who chose to land on top Luke's plate where he had been piling up sausages and eggs, causing them to splatter all over his button down blue shirt and black trousers.
She wasn't thinking of this as she stared fondly at Serenity, though. She had a letter in her beak, addressed to Jessica.
A/N: I don't usually write two author's notes for the same story, but I thought it appropriate to thank MagicalMe, whom I spent the duration of the writing of this chapter talking to. She helped with my creativeness, if that's what you'd call it, and made me try harder to write a better chapter. You may or may not be pleased.