Dark World
CHAPTER THREE: AFTERNOON
"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."
Marcus Aurelius
We reached the door to the to Professor Binns classroom. I stood open mouthed as the two twins walked past. They turned around and George followed my gaze.
"Oh, Binns is just a ghost." I trotted after them.
"You mean a ghost teaches?" I hissed. Fred rolled his eyes.
"Of course, what better teacher could teach it? After all he's seen most everything that happened." The two left me at Jill's desk, they walked away snickering softly towards the back. I cocked my head and then rolled my eyes shrugging. The two redheads were a mystery all their own, right now I had my hands full with school.
"What were you doing with them?" Jill demanded as I sat down between her and Amy.
"They were helping me with my paper." I explained as the bell sounded for tardiness. Sighing I pulled out the huge history book I had bought for the course and opened it to the designated page. I began to wonder though, as the lesson dragged on, were all Hogwarts teachers this boring?
I found myself still staring at the professor even after the bell had sounded. Jill had to shake me to bring me back to reality. I started as she shook me awake. She sighed and dragged me off, Amy still trailing us.
"Did you hear?" She asked.
"Hear what?" Jill and I asked at the same time. Amy grinned at us.
"There may be a Halloween Ball." She said proud to know something before us. I looked in disbelief at her.
"You mean it's not a regular thing?" I asked. She stared back, "Snowdem always has a Homecoming, a Halloween Ball, a Winter Ball and a Farewell Ball." I explained.
"What's a 'Homecoming'?" Jill asked.
"Well, traditionally it's for Muggle high-schools when all their graduates come back from college and come to watch a football game etc." I explained, "But the American magic school changed it for us. Homecoming is where all the alumni of the school come back and you actually play another school's Quidditch team. From the houses an all-star team is selected and we play each other for a game on a Friday. It's really exciting. Then on the Saturday afterwards we have a dance, it's a big tradition in American schools, Muggle and magic." I grinned remembering past homecomings.
"Wow! I wish we had that many balls." Jill sighed as we walked into the Charms classroom. I grinned and we slid into the end of the top row of the stadium seats on the 'RavenClaw side.' Supposedly it wasn't designated because Kayla Jenkins slid into a seat on the Syltherin side next to a burly young-man. His greasy black hair was hanging in his face and his beady, crow-like eyes seemed to have nothing behind them. I shivered, he gave me the willies.
I felt half of the opposite side of the room just illuminating black magic. I sighed and singled out the few good eggs in the stash of rotten ones. One happened to be a skinny girl who looked rather malnourished as her skin stuck to her bones and her uniform hung baggily from her body. I gave her a small smile before Prof. Flitwick began to preach his lesson.
"Fooooddddddd." I moaned as we walked into the Great Hall. Jill and Amy giggled as we sat down. I piled my plate with loads of food and dug in.
"Honestly, you'd think you were raised in a barn with your manners." Kayla said passing. People surrounding us fell silent as I swallowed the food in my mouth.
"Well, if I was you I'd have been running in here as soon as food was on the table. After all I heard screwing every Death Eater takes a lot of energy." I said standing up to match her eye level. I was beginning to think I had a habit of starting things. Kayla glared at me as the RavenClaw table fell silent.
"I won't take that from you! You have no proof!!!" She sputtered.
"I don't need proof when you reek of the blackest black magic. I believe your memories slipping, Jenkins, after all I just reminded you last night that was our first DADA lesson." I hissed, my voice dripping venom as others around us fell silent to watch.
"Bitch."
"Down to insulting now are we?" I asked raising an eyebrow and leaning back. She bared her teeth and snarled, "Nice, guess we'll have to get a dog collar to go with that growl." I taunted. I heard Jill and Amy giggle but surpressed my smirk.
"Why I 'ought!" Kayla said raising her wand. I remained cool and calm watching McGonagall approach as Kayla began a hex. I gave a small smirk at her and sat down hearing her a sputter an explanation to the professor.
We ate quickly and headed out to the greenhouse with Prof. Sprout for Herbology. The class was more upbeat than other classes and I enjoyed it more than any other. Grunting Jill pushed the last of the disgusting goo out of the plant's stem. I stirred it in with the rest of the glop we had been collecting. One last final stir and we were done as the bell rang. We rushed to the professor and handed her our buckets and grabbed our books to rush out of the room towards the entrance of the castle. The two houses hurried down to the Potions dungeon not wanting to be late for the most prejudice teacher of all.
"Welcome to your last year of potions. I'm glad to be ridding the lot of you from my class." I raised my eyebrows at the teacher. He really hated the RavenClaws, for he kept going around and sneering at their work and the Hufflepuffs didn't seem to get any better treatment. I concentrated on his aura and found it to be quite pure with a hint of decaying black magic. I smiled, so the rumors at school were true about the Death Eater turned spy.
"Ms. Carter! What are you smiling about." I snapped out of my thoughts. I looked at him a grinned.
"Just remembering rumors about you at home, Professor." I said giving him a smirk and turning to Jill who was copying the ingredients quickly.
"What are we making again?" I asked wiping the sweat off my brow as I rolled up my sleeves thirty minutes later. I stirred the contents of the cauldron and Jill poured the diced moth's wing into the potion. Jill grumbled.
"Some kind of protective potion," She glanced at the board, "A 'Anti-Aveada Curse Jelly'." She read and shivered at the name. A cold chill ran up my spine at the word 'Aveada' and remained there for a while. Instead of being told to empty our cauldrons the professor directed us to rub the half-solidified gel over our collarbones. We did as commanded and then we had to dump the rest of the gel into a large cauldron in the front of the room. The two houses exchanged a mixture of frightened and confused looks.
"That was odd." Jill said leading us back up and out towards the gatekeeper's house. Care of Magical Creatures, I had thought was going to be my favorite class and before we were halfway through I knew it would be. Hagrid had brought some centaurs from the Forbidden Forest for our first lesson in how to treat such types of creatures. Soon enough it was time for dinner and as the bell sounded we waved good-bye to Hagrid and dashed into the castle.
Jubilant cries and people waving crowded into the main halls. Jill grabbed my hand and I grabbed Amy's and we ran to the Great Hall laughing. Out of breath and full of laughter we sat down panting at our normal seats at the RavenClaw table.
"Boys and girls." Dumbledore's voice boomed over everyone else's. "We all fell silent and looked up at him, "We are happy to announce this year we will be holding a Halloween masquerade ball." The room erupted into cheers and hoots of approval. Dumbledore raised his hand for silence and the noise died down, "This year we will be asking for volunteers for the music. Anyone interested can sign up on the sheet posted on his or her dormitory door. The volunteers will need to put their name, grade year and their classification, instrument, singing, conductor, etc." I found myself thinking about singing but shook it from my mind. I defiantly wasn't good enough, "The volunteers will be judged by Prof. Sprout, Prof. McGonagall, Prof. Flitwick, and Prof. Snape. The teachers will decide who will is the best and the chosen volunteers will play as a group and singly. And now," He snapped his fingers, "Let's eat!" The hall again flew into an uproar of chatters and excited squeals.
"So, Sari, will you do anything?" I shrugged at Amy's question.
"Doubt it, how about you two?" I asked. Amy giggled and blushed.
"I might try and play the violin. Jill can play the flute." I looked at Jill beside whose face was a little bit red.
"I might play." She mumbled, "I don't know what to play though." At that I lit up.
"You could play one of the songs from Titanic!" I said excited. Jill raised her eyebrows.
"What?" I blushed.
"It's a Muggle movie." One of the girls from beside us explained. I nodded.
"It's a really corny chick flick, but the music is soooo pretty!" I told her, the girl beside me nodded.
"And Leonardo Di'Caprio is sooooooo hot!" She cried her face becoming glazed over with a day dreamy look.
Making a face, I turned back to Jill, "I have the soundtrack, we can listen to it when we get back to our dorm."
"Well, if you know it so well, why don't they play it and you sing it?" The girl beside us asked. I shrugged.
"I can't sing that well. Compared to Celine Dion I suck."
"Well, not many people know who she is here. You 'ought to try it!" The girl insisted. I sighed and Amy smiled at me.
"Come on, Sari! It'd be fun to at least try." I looked at the girl beside me and Jill and then back to Amy.
"Oh all right, but you'll have to listen to me first and then decide." I said.
"And here's the list for the RavenClaw girls." Cho said pinning the sign up-list on the girl's dormitory doors, "Deadline is October 10, two weeks from Friday. Judging will be on the 11th and 12th." I dragged Jill and Amy passed the swarming mob of girls to our dorm and turned on the music.
"Wow, she's good!" Amy breathed as the recorded voice hit a high note and held it. I grinned.
"Yea, I don't even compare to her." I said lying on my back staring at the purple canopy curtains. Jill shut off the music.
"Sing now." She commanded, I looked at her bewildered.
"I suck, I'm not singing." I said, Jill held out her wand.
"I'll put some horrible hex on you!" I grumbled and began to sing.
"We'll stand FOREVER this way." I sung with all I had, "You are safe in my heart, and my heart will go on and on. _______________________" I finished listening to Jill and Amy finish a very seconds later behind me. I turned and gave them a hug.
"That was great." I grinned at them.
"Thank you, will be getting in touch with you soon." Prof. McGonagall said. We left and dashed towards our dorm. Throwing our selves on the beds we burst into giggles.
"I can't believe I did that!" I cried burying my head in a pillow. Tears of laughter streamed down Jill's face as she rolled over her bed.
"We were horrible! We did better in practice!" We laughed. For a two weeks we had practiced during every free minute. During my free periods I would go down to the lake and practice my singing.
"Well, that's that." Amy said as we waited for the six o'clock chimes.
"Next week is Hogsmeade! I can't wait! I'm going to get some new dress robes." I grinned at her. She looked over at me and sighed, "I wish we could wear Muggle clothes." I looked down at myself. I was wearing a pair of tight, dark, denim jeans, a tight mid-riff bearing T-shirt with strawberries on it with the word 'strawberry' in a large katakana font across the front in pink and white lettering. My hair was up in a messy bun and my black hoodie tied at my waist. I smiled at her.
"Come with me!" I said hurrying out to door towards the Great Hall. After one of the contestants came out we hurried in and towards Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Flitwick.
"Professor!" I said panting, "I was wondering if it would be okay for Jill and Amy to wear Muggle clothing as well." I asked. The four teachers looked at one another.
"We'll talk to the headmaster about the school being allowed to wear them at dinner tonight." I nodded and smiled at McGonagall's answer.
"Thank you Professor!" I said delighted and dragged my friends back out of the Great Hall. Hurrying back to our dorms we ran around a corner only to hit something and fall backwards.
"Hullo there." A familiar voice said. I opened my eyes to see George and Fred Weasley standing above me and Jill and Amy standing over to side smiling.
"Hello to you too." I grumbled standing up and helping Jill up. We brushed ourselves off and looked at the twins.
"May we help you?" Jill asked.
"Actually we would like to talk to Sari." Fred explained. My friends gave me an odd look.
"Do you mind?" I asked, the shrugged.
"We'll meet you back at the common room. Behave okay?" She said winking. I forced a blush back and turned back to the two boys as I heard my friend's steps retreating towards the RavenClaw common room. Fred put his arm around my shoulders and George placed his arm around my waist and they dragged me off somewhere towards the deserted west side of the castle.
"Now, about our products," I had stifle a giggle. They were serious about it and wanted me to really be their sales representative in America. I watched with patients as the brought out all of their creations demonstrated them for me and explained things for a couple hours. The sunlight began to fade in the room and soon they were stumbling about in the darkness.
"Lumos!" I commanded and my wand's tip flared to life. I stood and smiled at them, "I'll need a catalog before semester's end in mid-January." They grinned and came over and shook my hand.
"Thanks! You're a real mate Sari." George said grinning. I sighed and smiled.
"I know, I know. My stomach though is complaining." I said as the six o'clock chimes rang, "Shall we?" I asked opening the door for the two twins.
"Of course." Fred said and we walked towards the Great Hall. The two twins standing on either side of me. George was walking closer to me than Fred and every once and a while our hands would brush each other's. Then we'd snatch them back and blush, mumbling apologies. We neared the Great Hall and the crowd of people grew from a dribble to a mad flow. In the rush I lost the two boys and found myself in the hall alone.