Dark World

CHAPTER FOUR: A HEART OF CONFUSION

"Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing."

Marcus Aurelius

"Sari! HEY!" Jill waved from the RavenClaw table. I looked up and smiled waving slightly back. I walked over and cast a casual glance at the Gryffindor table. I saw the twins slid into seats beside their friend Lee Jordan. I sighed and sat down beside Jill and across from Amy.

"I can't wait! Next week we can go to Hogsmeade." Jill went on excitedly. I pushed my food around my plate and staring at my hand. The searing feeling that had jolted through my body when I brushed hands with the redhead was just starting to fade. The odd sensation left me feeling tingly and giddy inside. I barely caught my groan of exhaustion, I could have fallen . . . I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Damnit." I cursed myself. Jill and Amy looked over quizzically, "I've only been here for . . . God, I'm hopeless . . . Life sucks! IT'S NOT FAIR!" I cried and stormed out of Great Hall not noticing the many people staring at me. I heard hurried footsteps follow me, "Sorry about that." I apologized to Jill and Amy.

"It's alright. What's the matter though?" Amy asked as the girls trotted to keep up with my brisk pace.

"Men."

"Doesn't that always seem to be a problem?" Jill asked grinning, "Why the deal now?"

"I like a guy that I've known for THREE WEEKS!" I cried stopping and stomping my foot on the cold stone. Jill and Amy looked at each other and grinned.

"Who?!?!?" They asked simultaneously. I looked around.

"I'm not saying. The walls have ears . . . literally." We looked at the silent and gossipy paintings. We giggled and the girls dragged me towards the entrance. I pulled on my hoodie as they dragged me outside.

"So . . . What house?" Amy demanded. I sat down against a small little sapling at the edge of the lake and the other two sat down hesitantly beside me.

"Not ours." I replied.

"A Gryffindor." The two said looking at each other and back at me. I rolled my eyes and skipped a rock.

"So?" I demanded. They giggled.

"Do we know him?" I rolled my eyes again.

"I'd hope so, he is a seventh year after all." I told them and gave them a sharp look.

"Okay so what seventh year Gryffindors do you know . . ." Jill said thoughtfully.

"The Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, Oliver Wood, Jacob Winterfeld, James Nipul, Oliver Phelps (A|N: I couldn't resist!), Shaun Sun . . ." Amy said ticking guys off her fingers, "Have I mentioned him?" I shrugged.

"You have . . . Okay, it's not Oliver Wood because he's obsessed with Quidditch and you don't strike me as the girl to go after guys like that." I snorted, "Didn't thinks so. Jacob Winterfeld is cute but a little too cocky. James Nipul is a bookworm and looks like more of a friendly bloke than a romantic. Shaun Sun is going with a sixth year from RavenClaw and I think they'd marry each other in a second. Oliver Phelps is cute but too quiet. So that leaves the Weasley twins and God knows if I can tell them apart."

"Fred's the one who always talks, George is the one who executes stuff." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Gee, don't you know them well!" Amy teased. I skipped another rock and shrugged again.

"They asked me to do some customer recruiting, sales, team recruiting, etc. in America. I obliged and we get together every now and then to discuss things I should know." I paused, "Purely business." The girls looked at each other and looked back at me with big grins.

"God, I suck at hiding emotions." I said drooping my head in my arms.

"Awww, it's okay." Jill said scooting closer.

"So which one?" Amy asked putting a sisterly arm around me.

"George." I mumbled. Jill smiled.

"You two would look so cute at the Halloween Ball!" Jill grinned hugging me with one arm, "You 'ought to ask him." I sighed and looked at the large castle towering to my right.

"Maybe you're right." I said standing up, "Thanks y'all!" I hugged them both and we walked towards the castle. Halfway there I felt a shiver go down my spin like we were being watched. I turned around to look for the observer but found no one. The shiver ran down my spine again as I saw a flash of onyx black and emerald . . . and then nothing.

"Amy! Jill!" Violet cried in delight, as we came into the dormitory munching on the croissants that the house elves had given us downstairs, "You didn't get to hear! WE CAN WEAR MUGGLE CLOTHES ON WEEKENDS!!!!!!!" She squealed. Apparently after Dumbledore's new announcement everyone had forgotten about me. I smiled at my giddy friends.

"OH! Sari, you must lend us some of your clothes!" The girls said scrambling towards me. I grinned as I was attacked and forced back out into the stairwell.

"AH! HOLD ON!" I cried running down the stairs, "I won't have any clothes to lend you if I'm dead!" I shrieked as we burst through the doors of the common and my chasers jumped on the entire seventh year, female RavenClaw population and I sprawled onto the hard wood floor. We burst into laughter as some of our fellow housemates stared at us puzzled.

"Alright! I let you borrow them until we go to Hogsmeade!" I said struggling underneath a pile of seventeen year-old women.

"YAY!" They chorused.

"Sari?" I looked up at Randy O'Neil.

"Yes?"

"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you."