*Disclaimer* Harry Potter and all of it's characters belong to J.K.
Rowling, it is not mine, and I am not making any money off of this story.
Driven Under
Chapter Four
The first few weeks, classes at Hogwarts went by surprisingly smoothly for Liz. She was doing quite well in her classes, Professor Snape was noticeably more relaxed and thus nicer, one presumed from having spent the summer in Aruba on honeymoon with his new wife -who would have thought the eternally grouchy Potions Master would ever get married? - and she felt only a small pang of regret when Professor Lupin started calling her 'Miss Jordan' instead of 'Liz'. She settled into to her school routine with remarkable ease, though the same could not be said for Stephanie. Liz practically had to slap her in the face to wake her up in the mornings, since she had gotten into the bad habit of staying up very late with her boyfriend Tim. 'Doing God only knows what' Liz often thought with a small grimace. It was disgusting enough that Steph was staying out until 2 o'clock in the morning with any boy, but not only was this boy Tim Bloom, the hottest guy in their house and maybe even the whole school, but the guy Liz had dated for almost 6 months back in fourth year and still had some feelings for. They had broken up when Liz finally got tired of never seeing him after classes, since he was almost always busy with Quidditch practices or extra homework or whatever else it was he did that kept him from being with Liz. 'He seems able to spend quite a bit of time with Stephanie she thought bitterly. Oh well, a boy is a stupid reason to be mad with your best friend over.
Besides, she was too busy worrying over Steph to be pissed off at her. Stephanie's usually better-than-average grades had been slipping lately, enough for Professors Flitwick and McGonagal to be concerned enough for both of them talk to her about it. As she had later told Liz, she had simply told them that she hadn't been feeling well, her excuse for everything. On top of that, three different teachers had given her detentions within a period of two weeks. It was hardly fathomable that someone like Stephanie, who had been a pretty good student her entire career at Hogwarts, would ever end up in this position. Liz was truly worried.
The reason for Stephanie's recent downfall, though, became clear to Liz one Wednesday afternoon in September. On the way down to the Great Hall, she remembered that she had left her Transfiguration materials in the dorm, which she would need after lunch. "I'll meet you down there!" she shouted to her friends, and raced upstairs. Once she was in her room, on her hands and knees looking to see if the books were under her bed, she realized that she was not alone in the room. There was a sound that sounded suspiciously like crying coming from the bed next to hers. 'Stephanie's bed' she realized. "Steph?" she called. "Go away!" was her muffled response. Liz got up and approached the bed. She drew back the hangings on the bed to discover her best friend sobbing into her pillow. "Leave me alone!" she cried, trying half heartedly to pull the curtains back in place. Liz pulled them back open, and sat next to her on the bed.
"What's the matter, honey?" Liz asked, putting her arm around Stephanie.
"It's nothing, I promise!" Stephanie protested weakly, her sobbing having turned into light crying.
"C'mon, tell me! What's a best friend for if you can't confide in her?" Liz said cheerfully, thinking how clichéd that sounded.
"Fine, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone! Okay?"
"I promise! I swear to God!"
"Myparentsgotadivorce."
"What?" "MY PARENTS GOT A DIVORCE, OKAY?"
"Ohhh." Liz sighed sympathetically. As she understood, it was very rare when a wizarding couple got a divorce.
"Why did they have to go and do that?" Stephanie cried angrily, tears forgotten. "God, I'm so embarrassed! I don't know anybody whose parents are divorced!"
"I know plenty of people who have divorced parents!" Liz said. "Practically everyone is divorced nowadays!"
"But that's in the Muggle world!!! That's totally different!"
Liz was silent for a moment, knowing very well that Stephanie was right.
"It'll be okay, I promise. There's absolutely nothing to worry about, no one will ever know." Liz told her soothingly.
"If you say so." Stephanie said resignedly, obviously disbelieving.
"It's true! I promise! Now we're both going to march our asses downstairs and have some lunch, and we're gonna act like everything is just peachy!" Liz said firmly but with a smile, knowing how much her friend hated the word 'peachy'.
Stephanie laughed. "Okay, let me clean myself up first, and then I supposed I can manage an appearance at the Great Hall!" she said with a grin, as she got up to go to the bathroom.
Liz shook her head in amusement. 'One thing to be said about the girl is that she sure can change her mood easily' she thought to herself as she joined her friend in the bathroom to check her makeup.
Liz and Stephanie walked arm and arm into the Great Hall, laughing and talking in whispers, the picture of friendship. They sat down at the Ravenclaw with the rest of their friends. "Wow, what did you do? Steph's been acting depressed for the past two weeks, I thought maybe she was having extended PMS or something," Tim whispered in her ear, gesturing across the table to where Stephanie was talking animatedly to Carrie. Liz punched him playfully in the arm. "You better hope that I don't tell her what you just said, I guarantee your ass would be in the doghouse for the rest of the year, maybe longer!" she with mock sternness. They both bust out laughing, causing Liz to be reminded of just how cute the way Tim crinkled up his nose when he laughed was. 'Stop that,' she told herself, 'you just make things more miserable for yourself when you think things like that!'
"You're a hoot, Liz, don't forget that!" Tim told her, giving her a small hug. 'How that hell am I supposed to forget about Tim when he says things like that!' she thought, feeling her knees go weak at his touch. When he released her, she glanced involuntarily at Stephanie, who happened to be giving her a very evil look. "Hey, what's wrong, dahling?" Liz asked her with a laugh. Stephanie blinked, and smiled. "Oh nothing, just staring at your gorgeous face!" she said, reaching over to pinch Liz's cheeks. Everyone around them burst out laughing, Liz and Stephanie the hardest. At that moment the bell rang, and they all rushed out of the Hall together, hurrying to get to class. Liz couldn't help thinking just how great her friends were.
**************************************************************************** *** "Dammit!" Liz exclaimed, looking around at her friends' arms, full of books. "I forgot to get my books!"
"Geez, Liz, you forgot to get them when you went upstairs? What a ditz!" Julie said loudly, playfully knocking her friend in the side.
"Oh, shit, McGonagal's gonna be so pissed!" Liz cried, already racing down the corridor towards the Ravenclaw tower, leaving her laughing friends behind. 'Real funny, it'll take me at least 10 minutes to get back to the dorm, even if I run the whole way! Not to mention that I have to actually find them, which could take forever, and then run all the way back!'
She quickened her pace. She could be pretty fast when she wanted to be, which was a definite advantage in a place as gigantic as Hogwarts. Unfortunately, running as fast as she could around a place that contained numerous staircases and twisting corridors resulted in feeling not so good, as she discovered when she finally reached her room, panting so hard she had to sit down on her bed for a few moments before feeling up to looking for her books.
After turning the room upside down, she finally found them in the top drawer of Stephanie's bureau, remembering that she had lent them to her last week when she accidentally left hers in the classroom. She leaped downstairs and out of the common room, books tightly in her arms, feeling a bit angry with Steph for being the cause of all her current misery. She almost broke into a run, but stopped and started walking. 'Oh, what the hell, I'm screwed anyway.' She thought bitterly. 'Thanks a lot, Steph.' Then a pang of guilt stabbed her, and she remembered that just an hour before, Stephanie had basically poured her heart out to her, telling her something that she had kept hidden for months.
Liz slowed her pace, feeling considerably more kindly towards her best friend. Lost in her thoughts, she strolled almost leisurely towards that Transfiguration classroom. Suddenly,
*SMACK*
Liz was flung onto her back onto the floor, books flying out of her hand. She heard a familiar groan, and realized who it was that she had just rammed into.
"Professor Lupin?" she called, still lying on the ground.
"Miss Jordan?" he replied, lifting himself of the ground and brushing off his robes. He walked over to Liz and offered his hand. She took it, and he hoisted her off the ground.
He smiled. "I'm afraid we're going to have to stop running into each other like this!"
She returned his smile, very aware of how close they were standing. "Yes, if you weren't so nice, I would almost be inclined to think that you're trying to send me to the Hospital Wing!" she said teasingly, feeling a bit flirty.
'NO! You are NOT feeling a bit flirty, because he is DEFINITEDLY NOT some teenage boy that you can shamelessly flirt with, Liz! He is your TEACHER! JUST STOP IT!' her inner voice cried angrily. Liz took a step away from him, lowering her eyes to the ground. "Well, I've got to be going now, I'm already late for Transfiguration! I'll see you later, Professor Lupin!" she said hurriedly, turning to go. He caught her by the arm.
"Hold on for a second, Miss Jordan, I was actually hoping to speak to you about something. Come to my office with me, please." He said.
'YES! He invited me to his office! We'll be all alone! YES, YES, YES!!!' 'NO WAY LIZ! You are just coming to his office to talk about school or something! Besides, you quit thinking about him like that a loooong time ago and you will STOP it, NOW!'
Her face must have shown her inner conflict, because he assured her that he would write Professor McGonagal a note telling her why she had missed class.
"Okay, then, let's go!" she said brightly, forcing herself once and for all to keep any thoughts of her professor strictly professional.
"My office is just around the corner. Let me get your books and then we'll go," he said, bending over swiftly to pick them up.
"Thanks, Professor!" she said with a smile as he handed them to her.
"No problem at all!" he said with a wink, and then headed towards his office, Liz walking by his side.
'He winked at me, he winked at me!' 'STOP IT, STOP IT!'
A/N: Whew, that was a long one! LOL! Thanks for your reviews everyone, hopefully I've gotten the hang of making the spacing and stuff come out right on ff.net, but if it doesn't, I assure you I've tried! Anyway, keep reading and reviewing!
*Lori*
Driven Under
Chapter Four
The first few weeks, classes at Hogwarts went by surprisingly smoothly for Liz. She was doing quite well in her classes, Professor Snape was noticeably more relaxed and thus nicer, one presumed from having spent the summer in Aruba on honeymoon with his new wife -who would have thought the eternally grouchy Potions Master would ever get married? - and she felt only a small pang of regret when Professor Lupin started calling her 'Miss Jordan' instead of 'Liz'. She settled into to her school routine with remarkable ease, though the same could not be said for Stephanie. Liz practically had to slap her in the face to wake her up in the mornings, since she had gotten into the bad habit of staying up very late with her boyfriend Tim. 'Doing God only knows what' Liz often thought with a small grimace. It was disgusting enough that Steph was staying out until 2 o'clock in the morning with any boy, but not only was this boy Tim Bloom, the hottest guy in their house and maybe even the whole school, but the guy Liz had dated for almost 6 months back in fourth year and still had some feelings for. They had broken up when Liz finally got tired of never seeing him after classes, since he was almost always busy with Quidditch practices or extra homework or whatever else it was he did that kept him from being with Liz. 'He seems able to spend quite a bit of time with Stephanie she thought bitterly. Oh well, a boy is a stupid reason to be mad with your best friend over.
Besides, she was too busy worrying over Steph to be pissed off at her. Stephanie's usually better-than-average grades had been slipping lately, enough for Professors Flitwick and McGonagal to be concerned enough for both of them talk to her about it. As she had later told Liz, she had simply told them that she hadn't been feeling well, her excuse for everything. On top of that, three different teachers had given her detentions within a period of two weeks. It was hardly fathomable that someone like Stephanie, who had been a pretty good student her entire career at Hogwarts, would ever end up in this position. Liz was truly worried.
The reason for Stephanie's recent downfall, though, became clear to Liz one Wednesday afternoon in September. On the way down to the Great Hall, she remembered that she had left her Transfiguration materials in the dorm, which she would need after lunch. "I'll meet you down there!" she shouted to her friends, and raced upstairs. Once she was in her room, on her hands and knees looking to see if the books were under her bed, she realized that she was not alone in the room. There was a sound that sounded suspiciously like crying coming from the bed next to hers. 'Stephanie's bed' she realized. "Steph?" she called. "Go away!" was her muffled response. Liz got up and approached the bed. She drew back the hangings on the bed to discover her best friend sobbing into her pillow. "Leave me alone!" she cried, trying half heartedly to pull the curtains back in place. Liz pulled them back open, and sat next to her on the bed.
"What's the matter, honey?" Liz asked, putting her arm around Stephanie.
"It's nothing, I promise!" Stephanie protested weakly, her sobbing having turned into light crying.
"C'mon, tell me! What's a best friend for if you can't confide in her?" Liz said cheerfully, thinking how clichéd that sounded.
"Fine, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone! Okay?"
"I promise! I swear to God!"
"Myparentsgotadivorce."
"What?" "MY PARENTS GOT A DIVORCE, OKAY?"
"Ohhh." Liz sighed sympathetically. As she understood, it was very rare when a wizarding couple got a divorce.
"Why did they have to go and do that?" Stephanie cried angrily, tears forgotten. "God, I'm so embarrassed! I don't know anybody whose parents are divorced!"
"I know plenty of people who have divorced parents!" Liz said. "Practically everyone is divorced nowadays!"
"But that's in the Muggle world!!! That's totally different!"
Liz was silent for a moment, knowing very well that Stephanie was right.
"It'll be okay, I promise. There's absolutely nothing to worry about, no one will ever know." Liz told her soothingly.
"If you say so." Stephanie said resignedly, obviously disbelieving.
"It's true! I promise! Now we're both going to march our asses downstairs and have some lunch, and we're gonna act like everything is just peachy!" Liz said firmly but with a smile, knowing how much her friend hated the word 'peachy'.
Stephanie laughed. "Okay, let me clean myself up first, and then I supposed I can manage an appearance at the Great Hall!" she said with a grin, as she got up to go to the bathroom.
Liz shook her head in amusement. 'One thing to be said about the girl is that she sure can change her mood easily' she thought to herself as she joined her friend in the bathroom to check her makeup.
Liz and Stephanie walked arm and arm into the Great Hall, laughing and talking in whispers, the picture of friendship. They sat down at the Ravenclaw with the rest of their friends. "Wow, what did you do? Steph's been acting depressed for the past two weeks, I thought maybe she was having extended PMS or something," Tim whispered in her ear, gesturing across the table to where Stephanie was talking animatedly to Carrie. Liz punched him playfully in the arm. "You better hope that I don't tell her what you just said, I guarantee your ass would be in the doghouse for the rest of the year, maybe longer!" she with mock sternness. They both bust out laughing, causing Liz to be reminded of just how cute the way Tim crinkled up his nose when he laughed was. 'Stop that,' she told herself, 'you just make things more miserable for yourself when you think things like that!'
"You're a hoot, Liz, don't forget that!" Tim told her, giving her a small hug. 'How that hell am I supposed to forget about Tim when he says things like that!' she thought, feeling her knees go weak at his touch. When he released her, she glanced involuntarily at Stephanie, who happened to be giving her a very evil look. "Hey, what's wrong, dahling?" Liz asked her with a laugh. Stephanie blinked, and smiled. "Oh nothing, just staring at your gorgeous face!" she said, reaching over to pinch Liz's cheeks. Everyone around them burst out laughing, Liz and Stephanie the hardest. At that moment the bell rang, and they all rushed out of the Hall together, hurrying to get to class. Liz couldn't help thinking just how great her friends were.
**************************************************************************** *** "Dammit!" Liz exclaimed, looking around at her friends' arms, full of books. "I forgot to get my books!"
"Geez, Liz, you forgot to get them when you went upstairs? What a ditz!" Julie said loudly, playfully knocking her friend in the side.
"Oh, shit, McGonagal's gonna be so pissed!" Liz cried, already racing down the corridor towards the Ravenclaw tower, leaving her laughing friends behind. 'Real funny, it'll take me at least 10 minutes to get back to the dorm, even if I run the whole way! Not to mention that I have to actually find them, which could take forever, and then run all the way back!'
She quickened her pace. She could be pretty fast when she wanted to be, which was a definite advantage in a place as gigantic as Hogwarts. Unfortunately, running as fast as she could around a place that contained numerous staircases and twisting corridors resulted in feeling not so good, as she discovered when she finally reached her room, panting so hard she had to sit down on her bed for a few moments before feeling up to looking for her books.
After turning the room upside down, she finally found them in the top drawer of Stephanie's bureau, remembering that she had lent them to her last week when she accidentally left hers in the classroom. She leaped downstairs and out of the common room, books tightly in her arms, feeling a bit angry with Steph for being the cause of all her current misery. She almost broke into a run, but stopped and started walking. 'Oh, what the hell, I'm screwed anyway.' She thought bitterly. 'Thanks a lot, Steph.' Then a pang of guilt stabbed her, and she remembered that just an hour before, Stephanie had basically poured her heart out to her, telling her something that she had kept hidden for months.
Liz slowed her pace, feeling considerably more kindly towards her best friend. Lost in her thoughts, she strolled almost leisurely towards that Transfiguration classroom. Suddenly,
*SMACK*
Liz was flung onto her back onto the floor, books flying out of her hand. She heard a familiar groan, and realized who it was that she had just rammed into.
"Professor Lupin?" she called, still lying on the ground.
"Miss Jordan?" he replied, lifting himself of the ground and brushing off his robes. He walked over to Liz and offered his hand. She took it, and he hoisted her off the ground.
He smiled. "I'm afraid we're going to have to stop running into each other like this!"
She returned his smile, very aware of how close they were standing. "Yes, if you weren't so nice, I would almost be inclined to think that you're trying to send me to the Hospital Wing!" she said teasingly, feeling a bit flirty.
'NO! You are NOT feeling a bit flirty, because he is DEFINITEDLY NOT some teenage boy that you can shamelessly flirt with, Liz! He is your TEACHER! JUST STOP IT!' her inner voice cried angrily. Liz took a step away from him, lowering her eyes to the ground. "Well, I've got to be going now, I'm already late for Transfiguration! I'll see you later, Professor Lupin!" she said hurriedly, turning to go. He caught her by the arm.
"Hold on for a second, Miss Jordan, I was actually hoping to speak to you about something. Come to my office with me, please." He said.
'YES! He invited me to his office! We'll be all alone! YES, YES, YES!!!' 'NO WAY LIZ! You are just coming to his office to talk about school or something! Besides, you quit thinking about him like that a loooong time ago and you will STOP it, NOW!'
Her face must have shown her inner conflict, because he assured her that he would write Professor McGonagal a note telling her why she had missed class.
"Okay, then, let's go!" she said brightly, forcing herself once and for all to keep any thoughts of her professor strictly professional.
"My office is just around the corner. Let me get your books and then we'll go," he said, bending over swiftly to pick them up.
"Thanks, Professor!" she said with a smile as he handed them to her.
"No problem at all!" he said with a wink, and then headed towards his office, Liz walking by his side.
'He winked at me, he winked at me!' 'STOP IT, STOP IT!'
A/N: Whew, that was a long one! LOL! Thanks for your reviews everyone, hopefully I've gotten the hang of making the spacing and stuff come out right on ff.net, but if it doesn't, I assure you I've tried! Anyway, keep reading and reviewing!
*Lori*
