~Chapter Ten- First Week is Over~
The rest of the week went by in a whirlwind that seemed like an age. Dinner that Friday night was as gloriously extravagant as all their meals had been, much to Lindsey's delight. Two tables away, Draco kept glancing at them moodily. The first Potions lesson was still fresh in his mind.
He had been appalled when Professor Snape had assigned him that foot of extra homework, but even more so when he remembered that that Cari Green girl had made a better Befuddlement Draught than him. That one simple fact really made his blood boil; it wouldn't leave his head.
Most of his thoughts revolved around how outrageous the whole situation was, how utterly ridiculous. And yet… something about that fact had him alarmingly intrigued…
No, he thought forcefully. He would not allow himself to be interested in Cari Green, he would not, he would not, he would not…
* * *
"Would you eat something, Cari? Geez… you barely ate breakfast and now you're simply picking at your dinner," Lindsey scolded her friend who was staring unblinkingly in the other direction. Lindsey followed her gaze and added mischievously, "One cannot live on eye candy alone."
This finally caught Cari's attention and she retaliated by pitching a carrot at the giggling Lindsey.
"Just read your book, why don't you?" she snapped, staring at her plate. She had made Lindsey take her Potions book but had yet to see her touch it.
"Fine," she muttered, snatching the book unceremoniously from under a napkin. She figured she would just stare at an open page for awhile to placate her.
Cari seemed to guess this and said, "And actually read it. I may not always be so willing to help you out like I do all the time, you know."
"Ooh, is that a threat?"
"Hey, I'm just saying… You know, what if Professor Snape calls on you? I personally wouldn't want to be caught off guard in that class…"
"Alright, alright, alright! Just… leave me alone," Lindsey muttered in response. Confident she had sufficiently gotten through; Cari smiled and went back to gazing around the Hall. She couldn't really help it if her eyes just happened to linger over a certain someone when he wasn't looking…
That night, after dinner was over and the students left the Hall, Cari sat in the Ravenclaw common room doing homework. Lindsey, on the other hand, sat twirling her wand like a drumstick.
"You know, you could be doing homework too," Cari said with marked annoyance. "We have the same classes with the same homework and I'm quite busy."
Lindsey shrugged. "Meh. I haven't got any motivation."
"No motivation?" Cari asked incredulously. "Lindsey, you've missed out on the first four years of your wizarding education! And you do realize you've got to pass your O.W.L.S. too?" Lindsey blinked back uncomprehendingly or uncaringly.
Cari rolled her eyes and returned to her Transfiguration assignment in irritation. It was Friday night and they had finally finished their first week of school at Hogwarts (it felt like a year) and Cari was tired and cranky, as Lindsey was loathe to do any work. She had the whole weekend after all.
Lindsey got up to check the Ravenclaw messageboard and her attention was drawn to a flyer announcing the start of quidditch practice next week. Pippy came to take a look too.
"Quidditch starting already? Geez… We'll be playing games by the week after next, I'll bet you," she said, rather tiredly. Everyone was worn out from their first week of school after summer holiday.
As darkness gradually fell revealing a clear and starry night, the girls in Ravenclaw readied themselves for bed. Cari stayed up for quite awhile reading by the stub of a candle. Eventually, as the hour grew ever later, Cari put her book down to go to sleep.
"Hey, aren't you going to bed?" Cari asked Lindsey, who still sat awake.
"Uh-huh," she mumbled distractedly. Cari shrugged and rolled over, snuggling into her blankets.
However Lindsey, who sat on the window ledge with a purring Duffer in her lap, did not find sleep for some time. High in the Ravenclaw tower the dormitory offered a breath-taking view. Lindsey sat there silently, gazing out at the grounds and the stunning stars, deep in thought.
Indeed, she had a lot to think about, having just completed her first week ever of wizarding school. Not to mention she had only found out she was a witch three months earlier. She still marveled at this.
All these thoughts were whirling in her head, making sleep impossible even if she had wanted to. But no, the only place she wanted to be right now was gazing at the crystal sky. She let her mind wander and her thoughts all seemed to expand out of her mind and sail gracefully over the shadowy, moon-soaked forest beyond.
Not three months ago she had been living alone in a box on the streets of New York City, and now look where she was. A castle in England where she got three meals a day and a bed to sleep in every night. It was like the prince and the pauper. She knew she should be grateful, and indeed she was, and yet…
Sometimes, when she allowed herself too long to just sit and think, her mind would inevitably go to that one question, that one question that had been plaguing her mind her entire life. Sometimes, she never knew one could feel so lost and alone. When she had found Cari and the Greens, she thought her days of that were over, and yet she still had that hole in her heart.
She sighed, sitting there curled up on the window seat, and gazed up wistfully at the moon. Then she slowly, so as not to wake Duffer, moved both cat and person into bed for a noble attempt at sleep.