The Granger Dilemma
5. –First Taste Of Hogwarts-
The sky was dark, lighted only by the luminescent moon being partially covered by dark, grey, smoky clouds. There were a few stars scattered around but they seemed to be fading in the obscurity.
Felicia realized that she was standing barefoot, in a dark, murky forest. The shadows of the trees swaying in the wind frightened her and she whimpered in fear. Where was she? What was she doing in a forest in the middle of the night, all alone? Those were the questions in her mind which were left unanswered.
She started walking and felt the skin of her bare feet touch the dark, dry leaves scattered across the floor. Felicia felt something prick her right foot and she yelped in agony. Lifting her foot up to examine what had pierced it, she saw a sharp, pointed needle, stuck in her foot. She tried to remove the needle but it wouldn't budge and caused her to grimace in pain.
After several unsuccessful tries to remove it, she put her foot back on the ground and tried to hop on her left foot.
All of a sudden, two rough, scaly hands gripped her bare shoulders. Felicia screamed, however to no avail. One of the person's hands snaked its way across her face and over her mouth, blocking out her screams. Felicia felt revolted and nauseated at having a filthy, flaking hand on her mouth that she would have retched if she could. She was turned around to face a dark figure, most likely a man, he was wearing hooded black robes and Felicia had to crane her neck upwards to see his face. To her astonishment, there was no face to see. This hooded figure in front of her reminded her significantly of a Dementor but Dementors weren't this lanky. Felicia came to the conclusion that it was some type of monster, much like a Dementor.
The creature released his hand from Felicia's mouth and it slithered back to its original place, grasping Felicia's shoulder. She trembled in fear. Her conscience kept telling her that this was the exact person she had seen in a dream while at The Burrow. However, Felicia, pushed her conscience away and demanded, "What do you want?"
"What do I want? Hmmmm…." the creature drawled in an vicious tone. "What do I want? I want a power that has been given to you!" The creature shook Felicia. She yelled in fright.
Trembling, she whimpered, "Please, don't hurt me."
"Oh, I won't hurt you, I wouldn't dare…..not until you retrieve my son from under the veil!" the creature growled at her.
"What are you talking about? I don't know how to rescue your son from under the veil!" Felicia snapped back.
"Well, then you'll have to be tortured won't you?" he sneered and shouted, "Crucio!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Felicia screamed as she fell off of her bed, waking up many of the girls who were peacefully slumbering in her dorm in the process.
Hermione rushed over to her twin sister and shook the still screaming Felicia, trying to wake her up. "Felicia! Wake up!" When Felicia still did not awake, she motioned for Parvati, to pass her the jug of water on the bedside and poured some of it on the shrieking Felicia's face.
Gasping for air, Felicia awoke, a hand on her chest. Her heart was thudding so hard she wondered if everyone in the whole of the wizarding world could hear it.
"I bet the entire Gryffindor Tower woke up to the sound of your shrieking Felicia!" Parvati exclaimed, still looking stunned at how loud Felicia had been screaming.
"Why were you yelling so much?" Lavender huffed, "I was having such a wonderful dream, and then you had to wake me up with your shrieking!"
"I'm sorry you guys," Felicia sighed, "I just had the most horrible nightmare!" Her hand still lay on her chest, even though her gasping had subsided.
"Are you all right now Felicia?" Hermione asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, it was only a dream….nothing real," Felicia remarked trying to reassure herself that it was definitely just a dream. But it had been so frighteningly realistic that she knew she wouldn't be able to forget it soon.
The other girls watched anxiously as Felicia gingerly got up, massaging her hip, as she'd hit the floor quite hard when she had fallen off. She felt slightly grumpy and awkward when they were all staring at her like that and snapped, "What're you all staring at?" Felicia frowned. Mornings weren't her favorite part of the day. "I'm not an animal in the zoo that you can ogle at!" With that said, she grabbed her clothes. Striding into the bathroom, she slammed the door shut behind her.
As soon as she had closed the door, she kept her ear on it and just as she predicted, she heard a low mumbling and murmuring in the room. She knew they were talking about her, behind her back.
She'd only been at Hogwarts for a week, and she already despised Parvati and Lavender. They had to be the most annoying and irritating girls in the whole of Gryffindor! She hated listening to them gossiping each and every night about which boys were going out with which girls and other silly things that made her want to throw her pillow at them, so that they'd shut up.
Hermione was all right, but she was such a goody-two-shoes! She was every teachers 'pet' and they all adored her. Well, there was one exception, the potions teacher. Felicia knew he was going to be her least favorite teacher. She detested him for giving her a weeks worth of detentions in their first lesson, but she only received it because she stood up for Hermione when he had been picking on her. Felicia had called him an unfair, cynical, despicable teacher. She knew she shouldn't have said that the minuite it had come out of her mouth. Professor Snape's face had gone unimaginably crimson, like the colour of Ron's hair and with droplets of spit flying out of his mouth, his eyes blazing like a dragon, he had growled at her to wait outside the potions classroom and told her that he'd deal with her later. Felicia's punishment of course was a week of detention. It was only her second week of Hogwarts and she had a whole amusing set of detentions to go through each evening.
Another reason that Felicia was starting to dislike Hermione, was because she had found out that she, Felicia had feelings for Harry. Felicia knew that Hermione had a much better chance of snagging Harry because she was already one of his best friends. How was Felicia supposed to compete against that? She only knew him for a mere couple of months.
After brushing out her straight as a rod dirty blonde hair into a ponytail, Felicia stepped out of the bathroom and decided to go for a walk around the lake, alone, before breakfast.
Harry yawned and stretched as he sat up in bed. Pulling the curtains of his four-poster bed apart, he got off unwillingly and sauntered towards the window. The sun was shining brightly over the Hogwarts grounds, not a single cloud was distinguishable in the crystal clear blue sky. Putting on his glasses, he noticed a person walking outside in the grounds.
As he climbed onto the window sill and made himself comfortable, bringing his knees to his chest, Harry realized that it was Felicia walking outside. He wondered why she was awake so early. There was something about Felicia that was very different from Hermione. He knew he had different feelings towards both and he had no idea who he would choose in the end. Harry had known Hermione since first year and he knew her very well. She was intelligent, slightly insecure, friendly, fussy, plain and yet she had an innocent beauty to her. Felicia, on the other hand was very confident, doesn't care what anybody thinks of her, speaks her mind, mysteriously pretty and had such an alluring smile and flirty charms.
Harry knew he would have to choose between the two. He knew that Hermione had feelings towards him, but he didn't want to jeopardize their friendship. He didn't exactly know but had a hunch that Felicia had feelings for him because of the way she had flirted with him back at the Burrow, but she was so outrageous and had such a fiery temper that he sometimes felt frightened of her. Though Harry did feel like laughing when he thought about how a boy like himself who had escaped Voldemort five times could be afraid of a girl his own age. He quickly banished that thought out of his mind because he didn't want to seem big-headed.
After getting dressed, Harry decided to finish off his homework while waiting for Ron to wake up. After a while though, Harry realized he couldn't concentrate with Neville's thunderous snoring and decided to go down to the common room and finish off his homework there.
Felicia galloped across the lime green fields, the wind blowing forcefully over her body. She loved this weather; the bright sun, the cool winds. She jumped into a bed of daisies and buttercups and just lay there, breathing in the scent of the fresh air. She felt full of energy and even the thought of detention tonight didn't seem to ruin her happiness at that moment. She didn't need any company to feel happy, just mother nature and all its beauties.
She was just thinking about the prophecy and how it was that out of the millions of girls in the world, she was picked to be the one to have the ability to retrieve people from under the veil. It was quite unimaginable. Why her? Why Felicia? Her mind went back to her dream that had occurred twice already. Felicia wondered whether she should tell Dumbledore about it. After all, on her first day at Hogwarts, the headmaster had called her up into his office and told her that she should tell him if anything bothers her. If she sees anything unusual. Felicia wondered if there was anything more to this prophecy that she should know.
However, Felicia cringed at the thought of Dumbledore chuckling at her and telling her that her terrifying dreams were just silly childish nightmares. With that thought, she decided that she wouldn't tell these dreams to anyone.
She got up and strolled towards the lake. Down the stone pathway she lowly sauntered, feeling relaxed. Felicia picked up a stone and skimmed it across the water, it bounced four times before it plunged into the water.
"Nice one," a male voice with a foreign accent remarked behind her, making Felicia jump.
"God, didn't your mamma ever teach you not to sneak up on people like that?" she snapped at him, hands placed firmly on hips, her temper getting the better of her.
"I wasn't sneaking up on you!" the boy protested. He looked about Felicia's age and had dark brown, hair that flopped over his forehead which made him look like he'd just gotten out of bed and hadn't combed his hair.
"Looks to me like you were!" Felicia shot back, cocking an eyebrow while frowning slightly. Then she added, "Then what are you doing out here? At this time?"
"I was taking my daily jog around the lake," the boy replied and smiled a bit too smugly for Felicia's liking.
"Whatever," Felicia rolled her eyes and picked up a stone. Aiming with one eye closed she threw it, making it bounce seven times before going into the water.
"Wow, you seem quite good. Is stone skimming a hobby of yours?" the boy asked and picked up a stone himself as he threw it, making the stone jump far more than Felicia's had.
Felicia really didn't feel like having company, as she had come outside to be alone. Why wouldn't this boy leave her alone and continue with his daily jog, if that's what he really came out for. "Look, I really don't feel like talking right now, so do you mind?" Felicia posed raising her neatly plucked eyebrows. She hoped that he would get her message and buzz off.
"Nope, I don't mind," the boy remarked grinning and much to Felicia's great annoyance, sat down on the plush grass of the bank. She thought she saw a light smirk playing across his lips, as if he was enjoying just how much he was frustrating her.
"Urgh!" Felicia grumbled, clenching her fists. She decided she would find herself another spot and started rapidly walking away.
Felicia found a nice spot, far away from the boy and crouched down. Cupping her hands, she put them into the water. Suddenly, she felt two hands on her shoulders and she shrieked as she fell into the water.
Gasping for breath, she plunged out of the water, sending ripples in every direction. To her astonishment, there was the boy again and he grinned like a Cheshire cat and remarked, "I was just about to warn you not to drink the lake water because it's unhygienic."
"I wasn't going to drink it you idiot!" Felicia shouted at him as she made her way back to the shore and when the boy extended his arm to her to help her out, she pulled him headfirst into the lake. Getting out of the water in great haste, Felicia started swiftly making her way back to the castle. Her clothes clung to her and she was feeling quite chilly, even though it was a warm day, with the bright sun shining. Her teeth started chattering.
Felicia hadn't planned on jumping into the lake, or else she would have never worn white. She cringed at the thought of walking through the groups of students to get to the common room for a change of clothes. She knew they would all guffaw at her behind her back. Though she couldn't say that she wouldn't snigger if someone walked by her drenched to the bone with their underwear on parade.
When the boy had placed his hands on her shoulders, she had gotten a vivid flashback of her dream last night. Felicia shivered as she reminisced it. The dream frightened her more than she could imagine, and that bothersome boy had just reawakened her fear and anxiety.
The boy pulled himself out of the water and hurriedly ran after Felicia. "Hey, wait up!" the boy cried, but Felicia didn't even turn her head. Catching up with Felicia, taking long strides alongside her and panting, the boy apologized, "Look, I'm sorry about that, I had no idea that you'd be so frightened and-"
Felicia interrupted in vehemence, "Look mate, I told you once, and I'll say it again, leave me alone!!!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself," the boy remarked, as if he hadn't heard Felicia. "I'm Leonardo, but you can call me Leo" he grinned at her.
"I don't care who you are!!" Felicia yelled at him, "Why can't you leave me alone?!? Go away!"
"But you see, I can't."
"Why can't you?" she growled at Leo, her eyes blazing with anger and irritation.
"Because, I've helplessly fallen in love with you," he told her, looking straight into her eyes.
Felicia felt strangely uncomfortable under his scrutiny and briskly replied, "Oh don't be absurd!" She started walking again.
Leo followed, walking right beside her, "I'm not being absurd, it's love at first sight."
Felicia stopped and turned to look straight at Leo and she raised her eyebrows in disbelief, "Love at first sight? Who do you think your kidding here? Huh?"
"In Italy, we guys believe that if our hearts skip a beat when we see a girl, and if we feel a tingling sensation at the pit of our stomach, then that means we've fallen for her, head over heels."
Felicia rolled her eyes for she knew he was just trying to irritate her, "Oh please, don't talk nonsense, you are not in love with me!"
"Oh but I am, I truly am," Leo replied and put a hand on her shoulder as they reached the colossal front doors that lead into the large entrance hall. "How can I explain my love for you?"
"I am really not in the mood for this," Felicia snapped, "Do you mind taking that hand off of my shoulder?" she raised her eyebrow and brushed his hand off of its position on her shoulder.
"At least tell me your name, so that I can savour the mellifluous sound of it as I utter it ardently while daydreaming about you," he pleaded with her.
That last line had made her giggle, even though she was heated at this Leo, she couldn't help laughing at his enunciation and the way he had said it. "My name is Felicia," she remarked and smiled at him while rolling her eyes. Then she started walking away, but as she glanced back out of the corner of her eye, she saw him gazing at her with such adoration that it frightened her. Could he really love her? No, that was impossible, she thought. Really, how could that guy talk such nonsense? Didn't hearts skipping beats and tingling sensations only occur in fairytales or muggle-romance novels? With that though, Felicia placed Leo firmly out of her mind and rushed up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower to get a change of clothes before heading down for breakfast.
Hermione came down the steps from the girls dormitories and entered the common room. She was just in time to see Felicia come in through the portrait hole. By the looks of it, Felicia was drenched. "What happened? Was it Peeves, with his water balloons?" Hermione asked as Felicia walked by her, greeting her with a quick 'hi'.
"No, it wasn't Peeves," Felicia replied and opened the door to the dormitories. "I fell into the lake."
"Oh my God! Are you all right?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide with shock. She came up to Felicia and looked her up and down as if she was checking for bruises.
"Oh stop acting like a mother hen," Felicia snapped and rolled her eyes, "I'm fine!"
Hermione felt slightly hurt by Felicia's remark but she brushed it aside and said, "All right, I'll see you in the Great Hall."
"Yeah, sure," Felicia answered before taking the steps three at a time to the girls dormitories.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall and sat in her usual place at the Gryffindor table, opposite Harry and Ron. As soon as she sat down, both Harry and Ron abruptly stopped talking. Hermione looked at them suspiciously but decided to let it go. She told them about Felicia falling into the lake.
"What??" Harry remarked almost choking on his glass of orange juice.
"She fell into the lake??" Ron asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Hermione replied, "Though she didn't tell me why."
"Lucky the giant squid didn't get her, or else she'd have been a goner," Ron gulped.
"Definitely," Harry nodded in agreement, "Though I wonder how she fell into the lake you know, unless somebody pushed her," he paused, "Or she could have tripped, I guess."
"Good morning everyone!" Felicia greeted them all as she took a seat next to Hermione. She raised her eyebrow questioningly at their silence.
"Hermione said that you fell into the lake, what happened?" Ron anxiously asked.
"Oh, that, don't worry, it was kind of an accident," Felicia informed them reminiscing Leo.
"An accident? No one could accidentally fall into the lake unless they were blind!" Harry remarked.
"Look, can we change the subject, I don't want to talk about it!" Felicia snapped. All of a sudden, Felicia saw Leo walking into the Great Hall. He looked unimaginably good looking in that school uniform. His hair still looked ruffled and he glanced Felicia's way at which Felicia instantaneously turned and started buttering a piece of toast for herself. Hermione leaned over to get a look at what Felicia's eyes had been glued to a second ago and she saw Leo, laughing with a group of his friends at the Slytherin table.
"Who's that?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, just this guy," Felicia briskly said, her cheeks slightly colouring.
"Someone you happen to know?" Hermione posed nonchalantly, but a slight smirk played across her lips.
"No, not really," Felicia replied and shrugged. She hurriedly bit into her piece of toast so that Hermione would not ask any more questions. For the month and a half of summer vacation plus during the week of Hogwarts, Felicia had noticed that Hermione was quite the curious type and asked many questions, as if she was constantly trying to figure out something. Felicia found this odd because firstly, she had never been asked so many questions in her life. Secondly, Felicia was usually really laid-back and didn't ask questions at all, even during class. This made her wonder how a pair of twins such as Hermione and herself could be so diverse. It seemed rather peculiar.
Felicia gulped down her glass of orange juice and announced, "See you all in class!" She hurried out of the hall and went up to Gryffindor Tower to get ready for classes which would commence in almost fifteen minutes.
A/N : Well, that's all folks! This is the new chapter! Please read and review to tell me what you think! Your opinion matters! As long as it isn't too rude or obnoxious which some haters on ff.net seem to be. Thanks to all my reviewers! You brightened my day! All I can say is keep the reviews coming and I'll keep the chapters coming!
A special thanks goes out to:
Anji : Thanks for all your lovely reviews! You rock! You are such an inspiration to me! Your writing is excellent!
Vinny a.k.a Grace : Thanks a lot for all your reviews!
Quintus : Thank you for reviewing!
Roque : Thanks a lot! I think you reviewed every single story of mine! It really means a lot to me!
Thanks to all the other reviewers which I didn't have the time to mention because I'm going to be up to the neck with exams soon, so I must revise!
Chandi
5. –First Taste Of Hogwarts-
The sky was dark, lighted only by the luminescent moon being partially covered by dark, grey, smoky clouds. There were a few stars scattered around but they seemed to be fading in the obscurity.
Felicia realized that she was standing barefoot, in a dark, murky forest. The shadows of the trees swaying in the wind frightened her and she whimpered in fear. Where was she? What was she doing in a forest in the middle of the night, all alone? Those were the questions in her mind which were left unanswered.
She started walking and felt the skin of her bare feet touch the dark, dry leaves scattered across the floor. Felicia felt something prick her right foot and she yelped in agony. Lifting her foot up to examine what had pierced it, she saw a sharp, pointed needle, stuck in her foot. She tried to remove the needle but it wouldn't budge and caused her to grimace in pain.
After several unsuccessful tries to remove it, she put her foot back on the ground and tried to hop on her left foot.
All of a sudden, two rough, scaly hands gripped her bare shoulders. Felicia screamed, however to no avail. One of the person's hands snaked its way across her face and over her mouth, blocking out her screams. Felicia felt revolted and nauseated at having a filthy, flaking hand on her mouth that she would have retched if she could. She was turned around to face a dark figure, most likely a man, he was wearing hooded black robes and Felicia had to crane her neck upwards to see his face. To her astonishment, there was no face to see. This hooded figure in front of her reminded her significantly of a Dementor but Dementors weren't this lanky. Felicia came to the conclusion that it was some type of monster, much like a Dementor.
The creature released his hand from Felicia's mouth and it slithered back to its original place, grasping Felicia's shoulder. She trembled in fear. Her conscience kept telling her that this was the exact person she had seen in a dream while at The Burrow. However, Felicia, pushed her conscience away and demanded, "What do you want?"
"What do I want? Hmmmm…." the creature drawled in an vicious tone. "What do I want? I want a power that has been given to you!" The creature shook Felicia. She yelled in fright.
Trembling, she whimpered, "Please, don't hurt me."
"Oh, I won't hurt you, I wouldn't dare…..not until you retrieve my son from under the veil!" the creature growled at her.
"What are you talking about? I don't know how to rescue your son from under the veil!" Felicia snapped back.
"Well, then you'll have to be tortured won't you?" he sneered and shouted, "Crucio!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Felicia screamed as she fell off of her bed, waking up many of the girls who were peacefully slumbering in her dorm in the process.
Hermione rushed over to her twin sister and shook the still screaming Felicia, trying to wake her up. "Felicia! Wake up!" When Felicia still did not awake, she motioned for Parvati, to pass her the jug of water on the bedside and poured some of it on the shrieking Felicia's face.
Gasping for air, Felicia awoke, a hand on her chest. Her heart was thudding so hard she wondered if everyone in the whole of the wizarding world could hear it.
"I bet the entire Gryffindor Tower woke up to the sound of your shrieking Felicia!" Parvati exclaimed, still looking stunned at how loud Felicia had been screaming.
"Why were you yelling so much?" Lavender huffed, "I was having such a wonderful dream, and then you had to wake me up with your shrieking!"
"I'm sorry you guys," Felicia sighed, "I just had the most horrible nightmare!" Her hand still lay on her chest, even though her gasping had subsided.
"Are you all right now Felicia?" Hermione asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, it was only a dream….nothing real," Felicia remarked trying to reassure herself that it was definitely just a dream. But it had been so frighteningly realistic that she knew she wouldn't be able to forget it soon.
The other girls watched anxiously as Felicia gingerly got up, massaging her hip, as she'd hit the floor quite hard when she had fallen off. She felt slightly grumpy and awkward when they were all staring at her like that and snapped, "What're you all staring at?" Felicia frowned. Mornings weren't her favorite part of the day. "I'm not an animal in the zoo that you can ogle at!" With that said, she grabbed her clothes. Striding into the bathroom, she slammed the door shut behind her.
As soon as she had closed the door, she kept her ear on it and just as she predicted, she heard a low mumbling and murmuring in the room. She knew they were talking about her, behind her back.
She'd only been at Hogwarts for a week, and she already despised Parvati and Lavender. They had to be the most annoying and irritating girls in the whole of Gryffindor! She hated listening to them gossiping each and every night about which boys were going out with which girls and other silly things that made her want to throw her pillow at them, so that they'd shut up.
Hermione was all right, but she was such a goody-two-shoes! She was every teachers 'pet' and they all adored her. Well, there was one exception, the potions teacher. Felicia knew he was going to be her least favorite teacher. She detested him for giving her a weeks worth of detentions in their first lesson, but she only received it because she stood up for Hermione when he had been picking on her. Felicia had called him an unfair, cynical, despicable teacher. She knew she shouldn't have said that the minuite it had come out of her mouth. Professor Snape's face had gone unimaginably crimson, like the colour of Ron's hair and with droplets of spit flying out of his mouth, his eyes blazing like a dragon, he had growled at her to wait outside the potions classroom and told her that he'd deal with her later. Felicia's punishment of course was a week of detention. It was only her second week of Hogwarts and she had a whole amusing set of detentions to go through each evening.
Another reason that Felicia was starting to dislike Hermione, was because she had found out that she, Felicia had feelings for Harry. Felicia knew that Hermione had a much better chance of snagging Harry because she was already one of his best friends. How was Felicia supposed to compete against that? She only knew him for a mere couple of months.
After brushing out her straight as a rod dirty blonde hair into a ponytail, Felicia stepped out of the bathroom and decided to go for a walk around the lake, alone, before breakfast.
Harry yawned and stretched as he sat up in bed. Pulling the curtains of his four-poster bed apart, he got off unwillingly and sauntered towards the window. The sun was shining brightly over the Hogwarts grounds, not a single cloud was distinguishable in the crystal clear blue sky. Putting on his glasses, he noticed a person walking outside in the grounds.
As he climbed onto the window sill and made himself comfortable, bringing his knees to his chest, Harry realized that it was Felicia walking outside. He wondered why she was awake so early. There was something about Felicia that was very different from Hermione. He knew he had different feelings towards both and he had no idea who he would choose in the end. Harry had known Hermione since first year and he knew her very well. She was intelligent, slightly insecure, friendly, fussy, plain and yet she had an innocent beauty to her. Felicia, on the other hand was very confident, doesn't care what anybody thinks of her, speaks her mind, mysteriously pretty and had such an alluring smile and flirty charms.
Harry knew he would have to choose between the two. He knew that Hermione had feelings towards him, but he didn't want to jeopardize their friendship. He didn't exactly know but had a hunch that Felicia had feelings for him because of the way she had flirted with him back at the Burrow, but she was so outrageous and had such a fiery temper that he sometimes felt frightened of her. Though Harry did feel like laughing when he thought about how a boy like himself who had escaped Voldemort five times could be afraid of a girl his own age. He quickly banished that thought out of his mind because he didn't want to seem big-headed.
After getting dressed, Harry decided to finish off his homework while waiting for Ron to wake up. After a while though, Harry realized he couldn't concentrate with Neville's thunderous snoring and decided to go down to the common room and finish off his homework there.
Felicia galloped across the lime green fields, the wind blowing forcefully over her body. She loved this weather; the bright sun, the cool winds. She jumped into a bed of daisies and buttercups and just lay there, breathing in the scent of the fresh air. She felt full of energy and even the thought of detention tonight didn't seem to ruin her happiness at that moment. She didn't need any company to feel happy, just mother nature and all its beauties.
She was just thinking about the prophecy and how it was that out of the millions of girls in the world, she was picked to be the one to have the ability to retrieve people from under the veil. It was quite unimaginable. Why her? Why Felicia? Her mind went back to her dream that had occurred twice already. Felicia wondered whether she should tell Dumbledore about it. After all, on her first day at Hogwarts, the headmaster had called her up into his office and told her that she should tell him if anything bothers her. If she sees anything unusual. Felicia wondered if there was anything more to this prophecy that she should know.
However, Felicia cringed at the thought of Dumbledore chuckling at her and telling her that her terrifying dreams were just silly childish nightmares. With that thought, she decided that she wouldn't tell these dreams to anyone.
She got up and strolled towards the lake. Down the stone pathway she lowly sauntered, feeling relaxed. Felicia picked up a stone and skimmed it across the water, it bounced four times before it plunged into the water.
"Nice one," a male voice with a foreign accent remarked behind her, making Felicia jump.
"God, didn't your mamma ever teach you not to sneak up on people like that?" she snapped at him, hands placed firmly on hips, her temper getting the better of her.
"I wasn't sneaking up on you!" the boy protested. He looked about Felicia's age and had dark brown, hair that flopped over his forehead which made him look like he'd just gotten out of bed and hadn't combed his hair.
"Looks to me like you were!" Felicia shot back, cocking an eyebrow while frowning slightly. Then she added, "Then what are you doing out here? At this time?"
"I was taking my daily jog around the lake," the boy replied and smiled a bit too smugly for Felicia's liking.
"Whatever," Felicia rolled her eyes and picked up a stone. Aiming with one eye closed she threw it, making it bounce seven times before going into the water.
"Wow, you seem quite good. Is stone skimming a hobby of yours?" the boy asked and picked up a stone himself as he threw it, making the stone jump far more than Felicia's had.
Felicia really didn't feel like having company, as she had come outside to be alone. Why wouldn't this boy leave her alone and continue with his daily jog, if that's what he really came out for. "Look, I really don't feel like talking right now, so do you mind?" Felicia posed raising her neatly plucked eyebrows. She hoped that he would get her message and buzz off.
"Nope, I don't mind," the boy remarked grinning and much to Felicia's great annoyance, sat down on the plush grass of the bank. She thought she saw a light smirk playing across his lips, as if he was enjoying just how much he was frustrating her.
"Urgh!" Felicia grumbled, clenching her fists. She decided she would find herself another spot and started rapidly walking away.
Felicia found a nice spot, far away from the boy and crouched down. Cupping her hands, she put them into the water. Suddenly, she felt two hands on her shoulders and she shrieked as she fell into the water.
Gasping for breath, she plunged out of the water, sending ripples in every direction. To her astonishment, there was the boy again and he grinned like a Cheshire cat and remarked, "I was just about to warn you not to drink the lake water because it's unhygienic."
"I wasn't going to drink it you idiot!" Felicia shouted at him as she made her way back to the shore and when the boy extended his arm to her to help her out, she pulled him headfirst into the lake. Getting out of the water in great haste, Felicia started swiftly making her way back to the castle. Her clothes clung to her and she was feeling quite chilly, even though it was a warm day, with the bright sun shining. Her teeth started chattering.
Felicia hadn't planned on jumping into the lake, or else she would have never worn white. She cringed at the thought of walking through the groups of students to get to the common room for a change of clothes. She knew they would all guffaw at her behind her back. Though she couldn't say that she wouldn't snigger if someone walked by her drenched to the bone with their underwear on parade.
When the boy had placed his hands on her shoulders, she had gotten a vivid flashback of her dream last night. Felicia shivered as she reminisced it. The dream frightened her more than she could imagine, and that bothersome boy had just reawakened her fear and anxiety.
The boy pulled himself out of the water and hurriedly ran after Felicia. "Hey, wait up!" the boy cried, but Felicia didn't even turn her head. Catching up with Felicia, taking long strides alongside her and panting, the boy apologized, "Look, I'm sorry about that, I had no idea that you'd be so frightened and-"
Felicia interrupted in vehemence, "Look mate, I told you once, and I'll say it again, leave me alone!!!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself," the boy remarked, as if he hadn't heard Felicia. "I'm Leonardo, but you can call me Leo" he grinned at her.
"I don't care who you are!!" Felicia yelled at him, "Why can't you leave me alone?!? Go away!"
"But you see, I can't."
"Why can't you?" she growled at Leo, her eyes blazing with anger and irritation.
"Because, I've helplessly fallen in love with you," he told her, looking straight into her eyes.
Felicia felt strangely uncomfortable under his scrutiny and briskly replied, "Oh don't be absurd!" She started walking again.
Leo followed, walking right beside her, "I'm not being absurd, it's love at first sight."
Felicia stopped and turned to look straight at Leo and she raised her eyebrows in disbelief, "Love at first sight? Who do you think your kidding here? Huh?"
"In Italy, we guys believe that if our hearts skip a beat when we see a girl, and if we feel a tingling sensation at the pit of our stomach, then that means we've fallen for her, head over heels."
Felicia rolled her eyes for she knew he was just trying to irritate her, "Oh please, don't talk nonsense, you are not in love with me!"
"Oh but I am, I truly am," Leo replied and put a hand on her shoulder as they reached the colossal front doors that lead into the large entrance hall. "How can I explain my love for you?"
"I am really not in the mood for this," Felicia snapped, "Do you mind taking that hand off of my shoulder?" she raised her eyebrow and brushed his hand off of its position on her shoulder.
"At least tell me your name, so that I can savour the mellifluous sound of it as I utter it ardently while daydreaming about you," he pleaded with her.
That last line had made her giggle, even though she was heated at this Leo, she couldn't help laughing at his enunciation and the way he had said it. "My name is Felicia," she remarked and smiled at him while rolling her eyes. Then she started walking away, but as she glanced back out of the corner of her eye, she saw him gazing at her with such adoration that it frightened her. Could he really love her? No, that was impossible, she thought. Really, how could that guy talk such nonsense? Didn't hearts skipping beats and tingling sensations only occur in fairytales or muggle-romance novels? With that though, Felicia placed Leo firmly out of her mind and rushed up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower to get a change of clothes before heading down for breakfast.
Hermione came down the steps from the girls dormitories and entered the common room. She was just in time to see Felicia come in through the portrait hole. By the looks of it, Felicia was drenched. "What happened? Was it Peeves, with his water balloons?" Hermione asked as Felicia walked by her, greeting her with a quick 'hi'.
"No, it wasn't Peeves," Felicia replied and opened the door to the dormitories. "I fell into the lake."
"Oh my God! Are you all right?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide with shock. She came up to Felicia and looked her up and down as if she was checking for bruises.
"Oh stop acting like a mother hen," Felicia snapped and rolled her eyes, "I'm fine!"
Hermione felt slightly hurt by Felicia's remark but she brushed it aside and said, "All right, I'll see you in the Great Hall."
"Yeah, sure," Felicia answered before taking the steps three at a time to the girls dormitories.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall and sat in her usual place at the Gryffindor table, opposite Harry and Ron. As soon as she sat down, both Harry and Ron abruptly stopped talking. Hermione looked at them suspiciously but decided to let it go. She told them about Felicia falling into the lake.
"What??" Harry remarked almost choking on his glass of orange juice.
"She fell into the lake??" Ron asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Hermione replied, "Though she didn't tell me why."
"Lucky the giant squid didn't get her, or else she'd have been a goner," Ron gulped.
"Definitely," Harry nodded in agreement, "Though I wonder how she fell into the lake you know, unless somebody pushed her," he paused, "Or she could have tripped, I guess."
"Good morning everyone!" Felicia greeted them all as she took a seat next to Hermione. She raised her eyebrow questioningly at their silence.
"Hermione said that you fell into the lake, what happened?" Ron anxiously asked.
"Oh, that, don't worry, it was kind of an accident," Felicia informed them reminiscing Leo.
"An accident? No one could accidentally fall into the lake unless they were blind!" Harry remarked.
"Look, can we change the subject, I don't want to talk about it!" Felicia snapped. All of a sudden, Felicia saw Leo walking into the Great Hall. He looked unimaginably good looking in that school uniform. His hair still looked ruffled and he glanced Felicia's way at which Felicia instantaneously turned and started buttering a piece of toast for herself. Hermione leaned over to get a look at what Felicia's eyes had been glued to a second ago and she saw Leo, laughing with a group of his friends at the Slytherin table.
"Who's that?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, just this guy," Felicia briskly said, her cheeks slightly colouring.
"Someone you happen to know?" Hermione posed nonchalantly, but a slight smirk played across her lips.
"No, not really," Felicia replied and shrugged. She hurriedly bit into her piece of toast so that Hermione would not ask any more questions. For the month and a half of summer vacation plus during the week of Hogwarts, Felicia had noticed that Hermione was quite the curious type and asked many questions, as if she was constantly trying to figure out something. Felicia found this odd because firstly, she had never been asked so many questions in her life. Secondly, Felicia was usually really laid-back and didn't ask questions at all, even during class. This made her wonder how a pair of twins such as Hermione and herself could be so diverse. It seemed rather peculiar.
Felicia gulped down her glass of orange juice and announced, "See you all in class!" She hurried out of the hall and went up to Gryffindor Tower to get ready for classes which would commence in almost fifteen minutes.
A/N : Well, that's all folks! This is the new chapter! Please read and review to tell me what you think! Your opinion matters! As long as it isn't too rude or obnoxious which some haters on ff.net seem to be. Thanks to all my reviewers! You brightened my day! All I can say is keep the reviews coming and I'll keep the chapters coming!
A special thanks goes out to:
Anji : Thanks for all your lovely reviews! You rock! You are such an inspiration to me! Your writing is excellent!
Vinny a.k.a Grace : Thanks a lot for all your reviews!
Quintus : Thank you for reviewing!
Roque : Thanks a lot! I think you reviewed every single story of mine! It really means a lot to me!
Thanks to all the other reviewers which I didn't have the time to mention because I'm going to be up to the neck with exams soon, so I must revise!
Chandi