"The Reunion" by Quidditch, Anyone?
Not The Same
Okay, okay. Perhaps kicking a man in the you-know-whats, publicly announcing that my career is a total failure, and running away from my former best friend like a puppy about to be fixed isn't the best start to this thing they all call a 'reunion'. I had a tiny ray of hope that this would have a classic Sleeping Beauty happily-ever-after ending and somehow I would be rescued by Prince Charming and be carried away on a shining white hippogriff. Instead I'm now hiding in the girls' loo, trying desperately to stop shaking and, more importantly, fix the heel that had twisted in my rush to hide behind a human boulder. I use a quick repairing charm, but it still seems a bit uneven compared to the other. Funny, I used to be so good with this sort of thing.
I look in a slightly speckled mirror hanging over the faucet, which drips in rhythm to each second I'm counting down until this is over. I don't look like me at all. Not just outside, though, but I can tell just at a glance that I've become somewhat hollow and worthless. My eyes are like matted slate without any shine. I learned long ago that over time, a person's most common facial expression becomes permanently etched into their face. By the time we're old enough, we can tell an autobiography by wrinkles and lines. I wonder what mine says.
Oh, God, this is so depressing. Stuff it, Hermione, you're not some nitty-witty, over-emotional gal. Just go back out there. So I turn around, only just realizing which bathroom this is. It's the one attacked by the troll when the boys and I first became friends. Last time I saw it, it was all splinters and dust. I guess I thought it was like my life at the time; just waiting to be repaired, because it could be such a lovely bathroom if it just had the chance. Once I graduated, I thought I could at last make something of myself. But the truth was, every bathroom in this school now looked the same, like us. I myself didn't remember what it was until now. I guess in that way, all ugly and overlooked was probably the most recognizable state it could be in.
·~··~··~·
"This is so God awful. I canceled my hair appointment for this, and I have yet to come to realize why I came."
I try to creep silently down the hall as the voice breaks to light a cigarette. My heel makes me stumble and the clatter can easily be heard in the echoing corridors.
A tall, bleach-blond figure emerges from a cluster of shadows. She's so skinny, the fag in her mouth looks like a cigar. In front of her I can only make out the backside of a man; short, stalky, and black-haired. I don't know who this man is, but I'm sure of the woman.
"Hermione? That you?" the toothpick asks.
"Er, yeah, yeah it's me. Is- is that you-"
"Yes, yes, it's me, Parvati," she drawls out haphazardly while she breaths in a lung full of smoke. The stalky man mutters something like 'I'll be at home' and leaves.
"Wow. You look... er..." I fail to grasp words.
"I know, I've been told," she replied tonelessly. She blows artfully out the side of her mouth. "No one can believe that 'cute lil' girl' grew up to be," Parvati laughs darkly. "Well, me."
I don't really know what to say, so I stop trying.
She nods her chin up at me. "What you up to? Prob'ly most brilliant witch in Europe..."
"Actually I'm a fashion designer," I reply quickly and dryly. No point in being warm and fuzzy, I guess.
She takes a long look at me and sucks on her cigarette again. "Well... I'll be."
I half-smile, half-smirk.
"Well, I as much as I hate it, guess we better get back in there," she sighs.
"Yeah, yeah I guess. Ah, Parvati-" I begin awkwardly.
"Mmm?" she raised her eyebrows.
"Erm, I don't exactly think you're- you're allowed to, umm," I hesitate. She just looks rather blank for a minute, then snaps to it. "Oh! Right, right, right." She takes it out of her mouth and smashes it into the marble floor with her rather lofty choice of footwear. Then she smiles and starts to join to crowd in the Great Hall. I look down at the ashes and paper and could almost scornfully laugh. Guess we've all changed, eh?
My author's note is going to be short and sweet. Why? Because it seems whenever I say something, it comes out wrong.