Just One of Those Days: Part Two

Chapter Four

~*~Angel~*~

Last time:

And then it was like the kiss before never took place, we were back to goofing around and flirting shamelessly.

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Next Morning, Wednesday (July 24th, for all those who are wondering)

Victoria's POV:

          I had never had Warren sleep in my room before.  I've had him over my house, of course, I've had the whole gang over, but I've never had a guy, besides Jamie and Nic, sleep over.  So I was beginning to learn more and more.  Like the fact that Warren snores, snorts, and talks in his sleep.  Quite loudly actually.  His snores were as random as his comments, during about one in the morning I was awakened by, "AHHHH!  FERRETS!  AHHHH! THEY'RE GOING TO GET ME! *pause* Ohh…that's nice…"

          I didn't know what he was dreaming, but I didn't want to know either.  I had managed to fall back asleep only to be reawakened at 3:24 by his snorting and snoring.  At about eight in the morning, there was a knock on the door.  "Coming…" I said groggily.  I opened the door, no doubt in my mind that my hair was in every direction possible.  It was Orli, "'Lo Orli," I greeted with a yawn.

          But he wasn't looking too happy, "Where is he?" he demanded with a clenched fist.

          I raised an eyebrow, "Who?  Warren?" I looked in his sleeping twin's direction.  "He's still asleep, on the couch."  Orli headed straight inside, "Don't ask to be invited in or anything…" I said, but he either didn't hear me or didn't care.

          He was looking quite livid.  Oh dear, this wasn't going to be pretty.  Orlando always got mad at Warren for the silliest things, flirting with me, giving kisses, little things.  Things that most people would see as harmless, but not Orli, he took them personally.  I heard him muttering things like, "He's going to die…I'm going to kill him…" stuff like that.

          "Orli…" I said warningly.  "Don't do anything you'll regret later…"

          "Oh don't worry, I won't be regretting this at all, the little shit is dead meat!" he said, a weird kinda evil grin on his face.

          I gave him a skeptical look, "And what, pray tell, did the little shit do?" I asked, crossing my arms.

          Orli turned bright red, then trying to regain composure, said, "He pissed me off!"

          I rolled my eyes, "Thanks, because I couldn't figure that out on my own.  What did he do?  You're not touching a hair on his pretty face until you tell me what he did," I said sternly, letting him know I was serious.

          He didn't seem to appreciate me saying Warren had a pretty face, but he looked down, finding a newly found interest in his feet, that, or my carpeting.  His expression was moderately perplexed, I assumed he was weighing his options.  Finally he smirked, "Alright, you win Tory, you always do.  I promise not to hurt him, just let me get some payback."

          I smiled, okay, I had no qualms with that, "Fine," I said.  "Have your fun."

          That weird, evil smile crept back onto his handsome face as he snuck over to the couch.  He leaned over, getting very close to Warren's ear.  Taking in a deep breath he screamed as loudly as he could, "WAKE.  UP." each word getting the privilege of its own sentence.

          Warren jumped up like a sleeping cat that just got a bucket of water dumped on it.  And if he was feline, I'm sure he would be hissing and spitting right now.  I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing, that was the funniest thing I had seen in awhile.  "Morning Warren," I said smiling.

          He was still in what seemed to be shock, his breathing was quite irregular.  Orli was wearing an arrogant smirk, "Yes…good morning Warren…" he said.

          Warren was regaining his composure slowly, but he was regaining it nonetheless.  He looked to his brother, "What the hell was that for?" he managed to breath out.

          "That," Orli began.  "Is payback!" And with that he walked out of the room, much more pleased then when he had entered.

          Warren looked at me, "He came in here just to do that?" he asked me in disbelieve.  I merely nodded, smiling.  Warren groaned, "He's mental…I swear…" he muttered.  I laughed.  There was an add moment of silence that followed.  The night before flashed into my mind.  That kiss, Warren's lips…oh god…I hadn't fought back at all.  I mean, it's not like I wanted to…but still…Orlando…

          "Warren?" I asked tentively, though part of me, actually most, wished I had just kept my mouth shut.  He didn't say anything, just waited for me to continue.  "About last night…" I began.

          He immediately knew what I was talking about, "Yeah, about last night…Tory if you don't want me to do that again, I won't.  You know that right?  I'd never try to force something out of you," he told me.  And even though I didn't really react to it, I was extremely grateful to hear him say that.

          "I know."

          "I also know that you and Orli are probably going to hook up this year, and if you don't, you should.  But now I'm just going to be like one of the jealous boys at Hogwarts…" his face now wore a look you didn't often see on him.  Sadness.

          "Let me think about it awhile…okay?  I mean, who I want to be with…" I said.

          He nodded, then smiled again, "Anything for you love!  Now I better get back to my room and get changed!" he said, romping out of my room.

          I laughed as the door shut.  But I was confused, this was all too much.  I had never really thought of Warren as anything other than a really good friend and a fun person to flirt with; same with Jamie and Nic.  I began to wonder, what if it wasn't Warren?  What if it was James or Dominic and one of them tried to kiss me?  Would I have denied them, would I have reacted the same?  I suddenly began feeling rather impure, almost whorish.  Don't get me wrong, I'm 100 percent virgin, hell I haven't even had a boyfriend before.  So now, letting a boy that I wasn't even dating have my first kiss, and yes, by the way that was my first kiss (on the lips at least), I just felt as if something was wrong, whether it be with me or not.  But there was nothing I could do to change the past, now I just had to decide whom I was going to be with.

          I came to the conclusion to worry about it later.  Right now I just wanted to get into some real clothes.  I turned around, to head for my dresser, and nearly screamed as I saw a very large red bird tapping outside my window.  Once I calmed down, I realized it was Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix.  Well, blimey, why was he here?  I opened the window to let him in and he flew to my bed and got rather comfortable.  I walked over to him, "What are you doing here Fawkes?" I asked with a smile.

          He looked at me for a moment, then held out his leg.  Attached to it was a letter, one that I assumed was from Dumbledore himself.  But this was rather odd.  Why didn't Dumbledore use an owl to send me a letter?  I was almost nervous to read its contents in fear that he was telling me I was expelled or something.  I unfolded the note:

Ms. Malfoy,

          I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to be a prefect for this year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  I don't doubt that you'll do a fine job!  On a more personal and urgent note, I'd like for you to arrive to school as soon as you possibly can, there are a few things I wish to discuss with you in person.  I ask that you come when it is convenient for you, but the sooner the better, today or tomorrow would be preferred.  Please send a reply back with Fawkes and don't worry, he's in no rush to leave!  By the way, a list of the duties and privileges of being a prefect are also enclosed with this letter.

Until I see you-

Professor Albus Dumbledore

          I was a bit surprised by what I had just read.  I had to arrive to school ASAP?  I mean, he just told me I'm going to be made a prefect, so it's not like I'm going to be kicked out.  Better go see Mum about this one. 

          I threw on a t-shirt, wasn't sure which one, but I think it had a Nike swoosh on the front.  Black soccer shorts followed suit and then some socks as I ran out the door—and straight into someone's back.  It wasn't Jamie or Nic, it wasn't the twins either.  I pulled myself off the ground, muttering an apology as I went to pass.  But whomever I hit didn't want me to leave, for as I went to move, this unknown person grabbed my arm, rather forcefully at that.  "Watch where you're going Malfoy!" he said callously.

          Garrett Zabini.

          Figures.

          I shot him a look, but then a quick flashback came to mind and I burst out laughing.  He narrowed his eyes, "What's so funny?" he spat.

          I quoted Dominic, "Garrett Zabini, the amazing bouncing ferret…" I said with a smirk.  He was seething!  His teeth shown only a little as he bared a snarl.  I was too busy laughing to stop him as he shoved me quite violently into the wall.  "What the—" was all I could get out as he covered my mouth with his hand.

          "Listen here you little mudblooded whore!" he said in a deadly quiet tone.  "If you ever bring up what your no-good-beat-nick father did to me, I swear I will make you and all your little friends pay more dearly than they could ever imagine.  Understand?" he finished with a smile.

          Oh I understand alright, I understand that you're a spoiled, rotten bastard who's about to lose the one thing that defined him as a 'man.'  And I would have said that if it weren't for the fact that his hand was covering my mouth.  I suppose he was expecting me to nod my head, instead, my knee so gracefully, not to mention forcefully, found its way to his crotch.  He was in such shock when it happened it took a few seconds for his mind to register the pain.  When it did, he backed away, gasping for air.  Oh, don't think I'm done yet, you miserable prick.  With one more kick, this one connecting with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, he was on the ground.  That's right about when Orli opened his door.

          "Tory!?  What the hell?" he asked, staring at my handiwork.

          Warren was the next to emerge from the room, he saw Garrett on the floor and burst out laughing, "Alright!  Tory's kickin' Zabini's ass! AHAHAHAHA!"

          I smiled, and chose to leave the scene with a great amount of poise.  I continued walking down the hallway, to Mum's room, as though nothing had happened.  As I passed the stairwell I waved to Nic, who was just coming downstairs, looking slightly confused as he heard Warren's non-stop laughter.  I reached Mum and Dad's door and gave a knock.  Dad opened it, "'Lo Pumpkin, up early I see," he said with a yawn.  He and I are too alike.

          I smiled, choosing to ignore the pet name this time, and handed him the letter from Dumbledore, "Fawkes delivered it this morning," I told him.

          He wore the same expression I held when I first saw it.  He skimmed through, picking up the important details, prefect, get to school as soon as possible… "I wonder what's going on?" he said more to himself then to me.

          "Where's Mum?" I asked.

          But just then she wondered out of the bathroom, dressed casually and ready to go.  "Right here," she answered.  She raised an eyebrow when she saw the parchment in Dad's hand, "What's going on?"

          "Dumbledore sent it via Fawkes.  Wants Tory to get to school right away," Dad explained, still sounding confused about the whole situation.

          And humorously enough, Mum just shrugged, "Then we better finish our shopping, shouldn't we?" she said nonchalantly.

          I smiled, "Right, I'll go tell Jamie and Dominic!" and with that I left, taking my letter and shutting the door.  Jamie was coming down the stairs this time, "Mornin' babe!" I greeted.

          He yawned in response, "What's going on over there?" he asked, motioning towards my room.  I looked, Warren was still laughing, but now Nic had joined in, and Orli looked like he was struggling not too.

          I mimicked Mum and shrugged, "Zabini was bothering me, so I taught him the hard way to leave me alone," I said.

          Jamie smirked, "I should have guessed as much,"

          "You should have," I agreed.  "Dumbledore sent me a letter with Fawkes this morning," his eyebrows perked up at the mention of our Headmaster's beloved bird, but he didn't interrupt.  "Says I made prefect and he wants me to be at school ASAP, apparently he needs to tell me something urgent."

          "Really?"

          "Really."

          "Have you told Nic yet?  Or Warren or Orlando?" he asked.  I shook my head.  "Well, this is certainly news isn't it?  I wonder what's up…I mean your parents are here so it's not like he's going to tell you that something bad's happened to them and you're a prefect, so he's not kicking you out…"

          "I know, I was thinking the same thing," That was a lie, truth be told I was actually thinking how cute Jamie looked in his Quidditch boxers and white wife-beater shirt.  He was adorable, despite his disheveled look.  He must have slept oddly on his pillow because his naturally messy hair was matted to his head on the left, but he still looked good.

          Dominic chose to come running up to us at that time, "Tory, I can't believe you beat up Zabini! AHAHAHA!  That was great!  Warren's still laughing!"

          James and I rolled our eyes, "As said many times before, you're a twit," I said smiling.

          But he didn't even get a chance to defend himself, as Garrett came walking over, "You spiteful, little bitch…" he said, still sounding as though he didn't have all his voice back yet.

          I was still smirking, "What's that Zabini?  I can't hear you, you've seem to have lost your voice…" I trailed.  But what happened next, was quite the surprise, Garrett pulled out his wand.  I was a bit taken back, "What?  Did the blow to your balls give you temporary, or in your case, permanent brain damage?" I said sarcastically.  "You'll be expelled from school for using magic before the start of term!"

          "You think I care?  A small price to pay to rid the world of one more mudblood!" he shot back.

          "I wouldn't do that if I were you…" a voice as smooth as silk said from behind.

Dominic's POV:

          We all turned to look, and standing behind me was a girl I'd never seen before.  And wow, I always thought Tory was beautiful, but if she and this mystery girl stood side-by-side, Tory wouldn't stand a chance.  Ya know how right after it rains really hard, there are two effects: mud and a magnificent rainbow?  I'm sure you can manage to figure out which girl goes where, but if you can't put two and two together and make four, I'll spell if out for you, Tory wouldn't be the rainbow.

          I mean, blimey, this girl was amazing.  She had a tall slender body, snow-white skin, short russet hair that's bangs were pushed off to the left, almost covering her eye.  She wore a sky blue tank top and short white shorts (I imagine those were her pajamas).  Everyone, expect Zabini, seemed to be transfixed, even Tory.

          Zabini's wand didn't falter, "Who are you?" he demanded.

          She nodded her head in greeting, very elegantly, "My name is Tawny, I'll be a seventh year at Hogwarts, I'm new…" she said, her voice so calm and unwavering.

          The ferret snorted, "Are you a mudblood, like this trash her?" he gestured towards Tory.

          Tawny's pale chocolate eyes narrowed, "I'm a pureblood, and I suggest you stop calling her such things, before I get angry…" she warned.

          Zabini snorted, "What do you plan to do?" he asked skeptically.

          Tawny's eyes almost seemed to glaze over as she raised her slender arm, her finger clenched into a fist, all except her pointer, which was aimed at Zabini.  At first we were all silent.  I mean, hell, what was she planning on doing?

          My question was soon answered as a ball of white began to appear in front of her, shining more brightly than the new moon.  The blinding light was so immense I had to shield my eyes.

          "What the bloody hell are you doing!?" and surprisingly, this wasn't from Zabini, but from Uncle Draco, who had just emerged from his room.  Tawny's light immediately died away.  "Who are you and what was that?" he demanded.

          Tawny didn't seem in the least fazed by Uncle Draco's tone.  She held out her hand, "I'm a new seventh year at Hogwarts.  My name is Tawny," she said politely.

          Draco shook her hand, but didn't seem to trust her.  The moment their flesh met in the handshake, Draco gasped and pulled away, eyeing her suspiciously.  "Last name?" he asked.

          She faltered at that one. 

          Tory interrupted, "Dad, come on," she whined, "Tawny's a friend, don't worry about it.  If we're all ready, then can we please go?" she ended her request with a pleading look to her father, who seemed to give in.

          "Fine, fine, let's go," he said, heading to the front desk.  "Nice to meet you Tawny," he added quickly, but he didn't sound as if he meant it at all.

          I noted that he had his luggage in hand, "Tory?" she looked to me.  "Why's your Dad all packed and ready to go?"

          She laughed a little, "Oh, yeah, that…well, here's the deal: Dumbledore send me a letter this morning, via Fawkes, he wants me at school ASAP!" she said, sounding oddly cheery for such an odd bit of news.

          Zabini looked at her, "Have you been made a prefect?" he asked smugly.

          Tory shot him a look, "Yes, actually, I have!  Please don't tell me they elected you as one as well?" she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. 

          He snorted, "Of course I have, but I don't understand why they nominated you as one."

          "Maybe it's because I'm ranked number one in our class and last I checked, you were number four…right after James and Elijah…" she shot back.  I smiled, that was nice.

          But that stupid ferret didn't loose his grin, "Yes well, you seem to forget that I'm much higher up than Weasley…"

          I actually wanted to laugh at that.  It was true and all, I think I was ranked 24th or 25th…wasn't sure.  But what?  Did he think I cared where I was ranked?  Yeah right.

          "Oh, he's much smarter than you," she said.  I blinked.  I was?  "If he just applied himself a little more, he'd probably be third."

          Tawny spoke up, "I'm going to ask you to leave now Mr. Zabini…" and I got chills.  Her voice was so mysteriously sexy and chilling at the same time.  Looking at her, I figured she must have been partly a veela.  She couldn't possibly 100 percent, because no one, man or woman, could resist a full-blooded veela.  But I'd say she certainly had a lot of it floating in her veins.  Every time she talked, she'd have my full attention.

          To my surprise, Zabini didn't argue, he just glared at her and left.  "That settles it, you get to hang out with us from now on if you can get rid of that ferret so fast!" I said with a smile.

          Tory held out her hand, "Hello, we haven't been properly introduced.  My name is Victoria Malfoy!  But most everyone calls me Tory."

          Tawny smiled, "And you already know my name," she replied.  The rest of us, as well, said our names and shook hands.  "It's a pleasure to meet you all…" she said kindly.

          James began eyeing her, a lot like Uncle Draco had, "You're a veela, aren't you?" he asked.

          She shook her head, "No James, I'm not," their eyes didn't leave each other.

          Orlando, I noticed, was doing the same, "You must be kidding, there's no way.  You must have some veela blood in you."

          Again she shook her head, "No, I'm in no way a veela," she repeated.

          Orlando and James were each about to protest, when Tory interrupted, "Guys, if she says she's not a veela than she's not.  She's just beautiful, that's all.  Stop making it more than it is!  Now let's go, I figure you all want to go early, right?" she asked.

          James nodded, "Yeah, just give me a minute, let me get my things," he said as he went upstairs.  Warren, Orli, and I all followed suit.  "Tory would you come with us?" James added as he reached the top of the stairs.  Tory shrugged, waved goodbye to Tawny and followed.

          "What's up?" she asked as we got to James' door.

          He waited until we got inside to answer.  After closing and locking the door, he said bluntly, "I don't trust her."

          Tory raised an eyebrow, "Why not?  What's she done that so untrustworthy?" she asked in disbelieving sarcasm.

          "Didn't you feel it?" he asked.

          "Feel what?" that was me.

          "When you touched her hand, it just send a weird shiver down my back and my instincts tell me that she's deceitful," his voice was kinda creepy.  Down James, down.

          Tory was looking at him like he had three heads, "Jamie, I swear, you're losing it…now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and pack the remainder of my things," she sounded almost indignant as she left.

          I looked to James, "Yeah, geez Jamie, I swear you're losing it," I mimicked Tory and smacked him lightly on the back of the head.  He ignored me and wore that serious "Don't-mess-with-me-I'm-really-pissed-off-right-now" look.  "Hey, James, you okay?" I asked, getting a little worried.

          He looked at me, his emerald eyes that were so much like his father's, felt like they were piercing into me.  "I don't trust that girl one little bit.  Help me keep an extra eye on Tory, alright?"

          I nodded, "Yeah, sure man, whatever you say.  But why do you think that Tory's in danger?  You're the one who felt the weird vibe when you shook her hand, none of the rest of us did," I pointed out.

          "I think Orlando felt it too, but besides that, you know Tory, she always attracts trouble.  And if she doesn't, it usually finds her."  He had a point their.  I loved Tory to pieces, but she was always the reason for us getting into trouble or why we lose points.

          "Fine, but hurry up now, I want to go."

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          Hey, sorry for the extreme delay in this chapter.  I usually don't like giving excuses for my problems, but I feel that you all have the right to know what's going on.  As many of you all know, from reading my first story (the original JOOTD), my grandmother has cancer.  Well, I'm sad to say that she recently lost her fight it and died last week.  The weeks before she was in much pain and was hospitalized.  Any free time I had, I was up in Massachusetts, at her side.  I would like to thank my good friend Robyn profusely for placing reviews for me and staying in contact and worrying about me.  That meant a great deal, thank you Robyn for your support.  For my readers, I apologize for the lateness and I hope that I didn't lose any of you.  Thanks again.

Peace out

Angel