Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hermoine, Ron, Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and all those other amazing characters JK Rowling made up. I own Rick Kyne, Akina, Ayame Kyto and their parents and most of their friends.
Thanks again for your support and please review! :D
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Rick was in a storm, he couldn't see more than a couple feet in front of him. He ran around panic-stricken. Suddenly, he spotted some sort of tent in front of him and ran towards it. The tent was small, only maybe 10 by 10 feet. There seemed to be a magic barrier, for when Rick walked in, it was warm and the sound of rain and thunder died down. He looked up; Akina was standing there in the middle of the tent, holding a dry towel. She was wearing a long black gown, with complicated blue swirls on it. Akina looked up at him, she smiled and handed him the towel.
"Dry yourself," she said in a distant tone, "I have something to tell you."
Rick took the towel and started drying himself. He looked intently at Akina; she was even prettier close up. Akina swished her wand swiftly, "Incendio!" A blue flame burst into life two feet away from them. Akina conjured 2 huge soft pillows out of nowhere and they settled down beside the fire.
"So what did you need to tell me?" Rick asked, instinctively brushing aside a piece of stray hair on Akina's face. Akina turned around and looked at him, her eyes staring at him intently.
"I love you," she said and leaned towards Rick to kiss him.
Rick woke to a crash of thunder and sat up.
"Well, that was good while it lasted," he thought. It was 6:30 in the morning. He got out of bed, got dressed and arranged the books he needed for the afternoon on his bed. He then packed the books he needed for the morning into his bag and went down to the Great Hall, hoping that by any sheer dumb luck Akina would be there and he could talk to her.
-=-=-=-=-
Akina walked into the Great Hall, there was no one else around. Not that she really expected anyone to be there, being that it was 6:45 in the morning and most of her friends were tired from their party. It had been fun, although everyone had only talked about the age limit, Triwizard tournament, and Victor Krum. She walked over to the table with the timetables on them and shuffled through to find hers. Her thoughts were disrupted by footsteps behind her. She turned around.
-=-=-=-=-
"Hey! You're...Akina?" Rick asked, walking over to her and shuffling through the schedules.
"Yah, and you're Rick right? The guy that Chrissy had a crush on?" Akina asked, absent-mindedly flipping her hair. She looked as dazzling as she was in his dream.
"Well, we did go out. But she dumped me for my best friend Sam." Rick said, trying his best to sound casual. "She remembers my name!" he thought excitedly.
"Oh. That sucks. So you with anyone else now?" Akina asked him, pulling off a piece of hair off the front of his robes. "Sorry about that, pet peeve. My friends sometimes call me a neat freak." She gave a hearty laugh, and flicked the hair off into space.
"Oh," Rick said with a grin, his heart racing, "don't worry about it. I'm not currently with anyone, since all the hot chicks in our school all seem to be taken. Oh wait, what am I talking about, there's one right in front of me that's single."
"Thanks, you heard about me dumping Malfoy?" Akina laughed, slightly blushing.
"Yeah, Chrissy told Sam, who told me. That's basically where I hear everything; no one ever tells me any secrets or news." Rick replied, glad that Akina hadn't walked away from his attempt at flirting.
"Yeah, I still can't believe I dated that ignorant bastard." Akina said, with a look of disgust, "Well, I can try to keep you up to date with news and secrets. Being in the circle helps you know." She smiled at him.
"Being in the circle? You look like you're the center of the circle." Rick said, as people filed in.
"Well, I don't like to give off a first impression that I'm egotistic. Especially not to a guy that I might consider asking out." Akina said, giving Rick a wink, "Well I'll have to go join my friend, I'll talk to you later!" She blew him a kiss and then went over to join her friends.
Rick stood there, looking as she gracefully ran across to the Ravenclaw table. She looked back once, saw him staring, laughed and then joined her friends for breakfast.
"What are you staring at?" Sam asked Rick, snapping him out of his daze.
"Oh, nothing." Rick replied. Sam could be amazingly dull sometimes at telling whether someone was lying, but it came in handy a lot of the time. Rick waited for Sam to get his schedule before they settled down at the end of the table.
-=-=-=-=-
"Hey guys! What do you have today?" Akina asked, settling herself down at the table and helping herself to a piece of toast. "I've got Potions, Transfiguration, Divination and Charms."
"Same here," Michelle glanced over at Akina's schedule, "we have the same schedule."
"We've got Potions and Transfiguration in the morning with you guys. Care of Magical Creatures and then Charms with you guys again in the afternoon." Steve said, between mouthfuls of pancake.
There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows, carrying the morning mail. Akina looked up to see Arum, but she wasn't carrying any ordinary letter. It was a Howler.
"Oh god!" Akina gasped, making Steve, John and Michelle look up at Arum.
The letter fell down onto the table beside Akina's plate and burst into flames.
HEY AKINA!
I'D JUST LIKE TO SAY HI TO ALL OF MY FRIENDS FROM HOGWARTS. I MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH. HAVE FUN! LOVE, AYAME KYTO
There was silence everywhere.
"So..." Steve and John said at the same time.
The usual noise level resumed.
"Well I guess we'd all better get going for Potions. Don't want to be late to Severus' class on the first day." John said, finishing off his last piece of toast and licking his fingers. They liked calling Snape by his first name just to spite him.
And so Michelle, Akina, Steve and John got up and left the Ravenclaw table. Akina looked back at the Hufflepuff table and saw Rick looking at her. Instinctively, she gave him a smile and then walked off to the dungeons with her friends.
-=-=-=-=-
Rick threw his Herbology and Charms books onto his bed and put his afternoon books into his bag. He had never been really that great at Herbology, being a bit of a klutz. He passed Sam as he went down the stairs to the Great Hall. Like in the morning, he was one of the earlier people to go down for lunch. He glanced over at the Ravenclaw table and was disappointed to see that Akina wasn't there.
-=-=-=-=-
Akina peered over the edge of her bed, where Michelle was flipping all the contents of her suitcase onto her bed, trying to find her Divination book.
"Don't tell me you're already this badly organized on the first day of classes." Akina said, looking in her mirror to check her hair and makeup.
"I can't find my goddamn Divination book!" Michelle said, seemingly ignoring Akina, "Just go to lunch, I'll be there once I find my book."
"If you say so." And so Akina took off for the Great Hall. As she stepped in, she saw Rick standing there looking around with a look of disappointment.
She grinned to herself and snuck up behind him.
-=-=-=-=-
"Looking for someone?"
Rick spun around.
"Gee, don't creep up on me like that," Rick grinned at Akina's smiling face, "That scared the hell out of me."
The Great Hall started to fill up with people, and Akina turned around to see Steve and John waving at her.
"Look, I can't talk right now. I'll meet you right outside the Great Hall tonight after dinner okay?" Akina asked Rick, a concerned look in her eyes, "I need to talk to you about something."
"Oh, sure." Rick said, "I'll talk to you later then."
Akina looked relieved and ran off once again to join Steve, John and Michelle, who had found her Divination books by now and had settled down in their usual spots along the table.
She couldn't believe it. How could she be falling for this ordinary Hufflepuff that she hadn't even noticed once for the past three years? Sure they'd talked once or twice before, but he'd been nothing as charming as he was today.
"Well," Akina thought to herself as she helped herself to a generous helping of lamb chops, "I do suppose this will be a good change; after all, anyone has to be better than Malfoy. But what am I doing? I basically either have to make something up for tonight or I'm telling him that I have a crush on him. He'd probably think that I'm some weird egotistic popular girl who goes around falling for any guy that she meets."
-=-=-=-=-
Rick felt nervous and excited about talking to Akina again tonight. He looked up and caught her looking at him. Akina blushed slightly and smiled at him before going back to eating her lamb chops.
"Am I imagining things?" Rick thought aloud, "or does it seem like Akina is starting to take a liking to me? Well, whatever it is, I'm going to tell Akina that I love her tonight. She'll probably think that I'm another one of her pathetic admirers who have been drooling over her for the past three years and haven't worked up enough guts to tell her."
"Well aren't you?" Sam asked, with a mouthful of potatoes, "except for the fact that you've been drooling over her only since this summer after Chrissy dumped you."
"Well don't you have the greatest ways of dampening my mood?" Rick said to Sam, with a hint of bitterness in his voice, "what happened to you and Chrissy in the end?"
"Oh, she dumped me as well. Saying that I was getting too old, whatever that meant." Sam said half-heartedly, munching on his lamb chops.
-=-=-=-=-
Akina and Michelle entered the perfumed and smoky classroom of Professor Trelawney and took a seat in the back as usual. Divination was Akina's favorite subject. She couldn't explain why, she just felt at ease in the smoky room no matter what. Everyone settled down and Professor Trelawney began, in her usual misty voice.
"Good day, class," Professor Trelawney walked over to Akina and looked at her intently, "your mind is preoccupied, my dear. My Inner Eye sees past your innocent and carefree face to the confused soul within. Follow your heart and don't worry about what others have to say about it. Trust in the stars and do not fear the results of your actions. Everything will turn out fine in the end."
Akina breathed in the perfumed fire, she felt calm and in control. She wasn't going to spend Divination thinking up something interesting to tell Rick, she was going to tell him that she loves him tonight. Well, maybe not love.
Once Akina left the Divination classroom, butterflies started forming in her stomach. She was barely concentrating during Charms, and accidentally sent a pillow flying into John.
"Hey! That must be the first time in a while that you've misaimed. Something on your mind, Aki?" John asked, sending the pillow flying back into Akina's face.
"You know how much I hate it when you call me Aki, Johnny dear." Akina said, and sent several pillows flying with a flick of her wand to the other side of the room, where they bombarded John.
Soon Akina, John, Michelle and Steve started a pillow fight. Summoning and banishing the pillows until finally Professor Flitwick had to dismiss the class five minutes early.
-=-=-=-=-
Although tonight's dinner was one of Rick's favorites, he could barely swallow a mouthful. Sam looked at Rick with a look of concern.
"You sure you're ok?" Sam asked, stuffing himself, "Need a visit to Madame Pomfrey?"
"No, no, I'm fine." Rick said, forcing himself to swallow a bite, "I'm just tired."
"Whatever you say." Sam shrugged, his mouth half full.
-----
Rick and Sam walked out of the Great Hall together.
"Sam, I forgot my watch on the table," Rick said, "here, why don't you go and wait for my in the common room?"
"Oh, ok." Sam shrugged and walked off to the Hufflepuff common room, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
Rick walked back into the now deserted common room and picked up his deliberately left behind watch from the table. He turned around and walked to wait for Akina at the entrance of the Great Hall.
-=-=-=-=-
"I'll see you in the common room then," Akina called over her shoulder to Michelle, Steve and John. She briskly walked over to where Rick was waiting for her.
"Hey, sorry about the delay. You know-"
"Yes, when you're that popular it's hard to find a moment of peace." Rick smiled at Akina, feeling his confidence return as Akina blushed again, "Look, I need to tell you something as well."
"You know, I was at Divination today and Professor Trelawney told me: Follow your heart and don't worry about what others have to say about it. Trust in the stars and do not fear the results of your action. Everything will turn out fine in the end."
"You know, I'd be surprised if anything that old fraud says makes any sense." Rick chuckled.
"Well, she did convince me to make up my mind about one thing," Akina said, "I know this probably sounds really weird, especially since I've only known you for what? Less than a day?" She chuckled nervously.
"It can't be as bad as what I'm going to tell you," Rick said, "although I am no Ravenclaw, I do suspect we're talking about the same thing."
"Well why don't we find out," Akina said, with a slight hint of mischief in her voice, "summarize what you're going to say in three words and we'll both shout it out in the count of three. One, two three!"
"I love you!"
Rick and Akina stared at each other for what seemed like eternity, then they kissed.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning then.," Rick said, as Akina pulled away.
"Yeah, 6:30. I'll see you there. Sweet dreams, I love you."
"I love you too." Rick leaned his head down to give Akina one final kiss before they disappeared into the darkness of the hallway in opposite directions.
-----
Akina sat in bed for a long time after midnight, thinking about what happened after dinner.
"It was the weirdest thing ever," she thought to herself, "oh well, better get some sleep before tomorrow morning."
-=-=-=-=-
"What took you so long?" Sam asked, looking up from his Herbology notes.
"Oh nothing," Rick said, absolutely beaming, "well if there's nothing I'll be heading off to bed now." Practically skipping up the dormitory stairs, getting weird looks from a few people who were left in the common room.
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Well, that was chapter 2. Which is longer than Chapter 1 and the Prologue put together, but they were originally suppose to be together anyways. Read, enjoy, c&c!
And by the way thanks to: Tani for being such a mean and picky editor. I mean...helpful and nice editor. Yes, of course, that's what I was going to say...
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