A/N: Well it is nearly the end of Easter and this is your penultimate
speed-update - one on Tuesday, then one on Friday at which point we will be
back to normal. K? Right, thanx to Child-of-Scorpio (wow, I am honoured
that you could be bothered!), First Light of Eos (I like James, then Remus,
then Sirius, then Peter. And yes James will return SOON), Invisible Voice
(my mistake was in thinking I knew you through-and-through. Only now have
I realised that you have, er, 'hidden depths'), chocoliciouz (yes, that was
the general idea... lol) and Egypt'sStar (well just dont let go of that
cliff. :D and Remus was always reasonably human, I think.) Well anyway,
this is an... interesting chapter. I am not sure whether I like it or
whether I think it is too cliché. Review anyway!
Ooh also thanx to RedRaspberry - I was literally just about to update when
your review came thru!
Default B/N: subliminal message: Sev is a gorgeous god. WORSHIP HIM!!! ...except for First Light of Eos Nowt else to say really. Though you might want to kill me for the cliffie *grins*" Chapter 27
I emerged from the portrait hole at ten o' clock and found Robert waiting. "So this is Gryffindor tower, then?"
I smiled. "Yeah."
"Cool. We have to drop through one of the missing stairs to get into our common room."
"Surely not!"
"Well, OK, that's just a short cut. I've forgotten where the actual entrance is. Somewhere ridiculously far away from everything else."
I laughed and we began to wander around aimlessly, talking about little things and joking. Suddenly there was a loud 'Miaow' by my feet.
"Holy crap," Robert said. "Mrs Boris - Pringle."
He grabbed my hand as the cat ran off and muttered something. A tapestry swung forward and revealed a small cubby hole. He pulled me in beside him and we were concealed.
"Lumos," I said quickly, casting light into the dingy hole. "How'd you know about this?"
"Oh, some of us found it in first year. There're quite a few like it round the school and Pringle never seems to know about them."
"I see."
We sat in silence for a minute, then I whispered, "How will we know when he's gone?"
"There's a hole up there. I'll look out when it seems he's probably moved on."
At last he stood up. "Gone," he confirmed, peering out. I stood up too. "You just shove this to move it," he said, but just as I began to push it, he reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. My heart began to beat a little faster, and then he leaned forward and kissed me.
For a first kiss, I had to say it was slightly disappointing. I had expected more romance, or more thrill, or more... something. Certainly not something that seemed so entirely... well, boring.
Of course I didn't say that to him. Nor did I mention it to Juliet, Rebecca or anyone else. It was just... slightly... well, worrying, I supposed. Was I just too hard to please? Or was I right to expect more? Were Robert and I just incompatible, or was this the best I was going to get?
It was a question that worried me for the next few days - no wonder people sometimes called me obsessive, I thought, but really this was an important issue. Was there something wrong with us... or just me?
Luckily, it was soon Christmas and that distracted me. I did not go home, as usual - it was one of the best times of year, when Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew went away and Juliet, Rebecca and I pretty much had the Gryffindor common room to ourselves, save a few others.
As usual, my present from Petunia was a Mars bar, which I gave to Juliet, who found Muggle sweets more exciting than I did. My parents had sent me a book and fifty pounds 'to spend on something exciting for myself'. I could hardly blame their helplessness in buying presents now. So few muggle things were very useful to me, and they could not shop in the wizarding world. I usually got money for Christmas.
We spent a large part of the holidays having snowball fights and, unusually, flying. None of us were very good, but we had fun zooming around at a low height and not having to shoot goals or catch Snitches. Meals during the holidays were always fun - the teachers tended to extend their own table and we would sit with them. I had always been able to have a laugh with teachers just as well as students, with the exception perhaps of Professor Sherwin, Potions master and Head of Slytherin house and the Divination mistress, whose name I did not know. Even Dumbledore was easy to talk to, if you forgot the fact that he was headmaster.
It was only three weeks, however. Everybody returned to school in January, and the corridors were again filled with flying sparks, loud voices and laughter, as well as tears or depression from those who had suffered over the holidays. Voldemort had struck a few times over the holidays, and most wizards had at least some connection with someone at Hogwarts. It was chilling.
I had been expecting to hear that Petunia's long-standing boyfriend, the repulsive Vernon Dursley, had proposed, but didn't. That cheered me up, imagining her sulking and counting the days until her birthday in April - the next 'opportunity'.
My own birthday came in late February - typically, on the day of the second Gryffindor Quidditch match. We had beaten Ravenclaw in a reasonably exciting match, and I wasn't too upset that I had to watch us against Slytherin on my birthday. It was always the best match of the year, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and I nearly forgot myself and laughed when I saw Sirius Black, sitting not far from me, turn all the Slytherin flags red and gold - Gryffindor colours. It was a full five minutes until they realised, and the shouts and screams of anger were perhaps even more amusing than the game itself.
I did not join in the chants of 'Potter! Potter!' from our side, though I also frowned at the similar chant 'Potter, Potter, what a rotter!' from the Slytherins. When we won, I cheered with everyone else, but as far as I could see, it was just as much down to Lisa, the Seeker, as Potter. I knew she was hurt that he had not yet asked her out, but I was not surprised. Even he had some sense, I supposed, and he did take the Quidditch team surprisingly seriously. He played around with her emotions, I knew, but he clearly didn't plan to take her out and dump her like almost every other girl in the school. I knew it wasn't a good idea to tell her that, however - she seemed not to have realised, along with everyone else, that going out with Potter or Black meant heartbreak.
Lessons went on, as did my relationship with Robert. He had given me a necklace with a silver lily on for my birthday, which had told me that he must love me to give me that. We still didn't have a particularly close or stimulating relationship; it seemed to be based more on friendship, as ever. Still, I didn't mind. It made it easier when people asked why I didn't have a boyfriend, and I did like him. Love perhaps wasn't the word... but was it ever, at our age? It wasn't like I was planning to marry him, so what harm did it do anyone?
Juliet started going out with one of the Hufflepuffs in March, and I had taken great delight in interrogating her as she had me.
"Just giving you a taste of your own medicine," I said innocently, causing her to throw a cushion at me.
Rebecca sighed. "I can see I shall have to find myself a boyfriend too," she said. "Honestly, whatever happened to our don't need a man attitude?"
"We don't need them," I said.
"They need us," Juliet finished, giggling. "And they can be good fun."
"Sometimes," Rebecca said and grinned.
The most exciting thing happening at school, however, despite all the dating, was that we were given the opportunity to learn to Apparate. I had signed up for individual lessons with a Ministry official, and was finding it great fun. Every Saturday, I went out to Hogsmeade and, when I'd learnt the theory, practised Apparating and Disapparating distances that grew further each week. Madam Vance was apparently delighted with my progress. "You'll be able to take the test in the summer," she told me. I was thrilled.
I finally got the letter to tell me that Petunia was engaged in late April - after her birthday, as I had guessed. It was not from my sister herself, but Mum - I had never corresponded with Petunia from school, as she refused to use owls. Now, apparently, was no different, although I was sure she was desperate to gloat. Personally, I saw nothing to gloat about. Vernon Dursley was fat, with no neck, had mean, piggy eyes and a bad sense of humour. In fact, he didn't have a sense of humour per se. He was also very boring. Mum informed me that Petunia was planning to tell him about me soon, but there was no telling how he would react. I was nervous. There were strict rules in the wizarding world about telling muggles about us - I only hoped I didn't get into trouble because of Dursley or Petunia. Probably he wouldn't believe her at all, I told myself, but the worry, and distress that my sister had finally gone from me into deadly dullness, kept me awake on the night that I heard.
Sleeplessness, I had learnt young, was not a force to be reckoned with - so I decided to at least spend the time doing something useful. I stumbled down the stairs to the common room, groping around in the dark with difficulty. I dropped my stack of books onto the table and was about to cast a light spell when a movement by the fire made me freeze. I tiptoed a little nearer. Potter? What was he doing there?
The firelight cast a dancing halo round his head, showing me his sleeping face. He seemed different like that - vulnerable, without Sirius Black and their little ring of admirers. He had lost, too, the arrogant, complacent smile from lessons, bullying Snape or from 'asking me out'; like he really wanted me. A small furrow in his brow suggested concentration in his dream - he mumbled something like 'no - no' and shifted but did not wake. I welcomed an opportunity to see him thus - free of sneers and bragging gestures - although I couldn't help noting - with a flicker of... surely not fondness? - that his hair remained effectively ruffled.
It was strange, this sudden, unexpected endearment. I had maintained a dignified loathing of Potter since first year, and yet like this, a small boy it seemed, I began to piece together all the reasons why girls liked him. He was good looking, certainly, and I had never denied that he had talent at Quidditch and in lessons. With his trademark nasty smile gone, I understood that maybe he did have a capacity for more than hate.
I always had a weak spot for getting caught up in my thoughts. I had tried to sit down and press on with the Charms essay I had been intending to finish, but as half an hour had crawled past with only one sentence added at the bottom of my last paragraph, I gave up and returned to my place near the fire. But I was careless in my watchfulness. As I gave him another affectionate glance, I was staggered - and horrified - to meet his hazel eyes, not dozing but fully awake and clearly amused.
"Uh..."
A/N: I feel sure Eihwaz is cackling here. Remember, she is responsible for all cliffies! Review!
Default B/N: subliminal message: Sev is a gorgeous god. WORSHIP HIM!!! ...except for First Light of Eos Nowt else to say really. Though you might want to kill me for the cliffie *grins*" Chapter 27
I emerged from the portrait hole at ten o' clock and found Robert waiting. "So this is Gryffindor tower, then?"
I smiled. "Yeah."
"Cool. We have to drop through one of the missing stairs to get into our common room."
"Surely not!"
"Well, OK, that's just a short cut. I've forgotten where the actual entrance is. Somewhere ridiculously far away from everything else."
I laughed and we began to wander around aimlessly, talking about little things and joking. Suddenly there was a loud 'Miaow' by my feet.
"Holy crap," Robert said. "Mrs Boris - Pringle."
He grabbed my hand as the cat ran off and muttered something. A tapestry swung forward and revealed a small cubby hole. He pulled me in beside him and we were concealed.
"Lumos," I said quickly, casting light into the dingy hole. "How'd you know about this?"
"Oh, some of us found it in first year. There're quite a few like it round the school and Pringle never seems to know about them."
"I see."
We sat in silence for a minute, then I whispered, "How will we know when he's gone?"
"There's a hole up there. I'll look out when it seems he's probably moved on."
At last he stood up. "Gone," he confirmed, peering out. I stood up too. "You just shove this to move it," he said, but just as I began to push it, he reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. My heart began to beat a little faster, and then he leaned forward and kissed me.
For a first kiss, I had to say it was slightly disappointing. I had expected more romance, or more thrill, or more... something. Certainly not something that seemed so entirely... well, boring.
Of course I didn't say that to him. Nor did I mention it to Juliet, Rebecca or anyone else. It was just... slightly... well, worrying, I supposed. Was I just too hard to please? Or was I right to expect more? Were Robert and I just incompatible, or was this the best I was going to get?
It was a question that worried me for the next few days - no wonder people sometimes called me obsessive, I thought, but really this was an important issue. Was there something wrong with us... or just me?
Luckily, it was soon Christmas and that distracted me. I did not go home, as usual - it was one of the best times of year, when Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew went away and Juliet, Rebecca and I pretty much had the Gryffindor common room to ourselves, save a few others.
As usual, my present from Petunia was a Mars bar, which I gave to Juliet, who found Muggle sweets more exciting than I did. My parents had sent me a book and fifty pounds 'to spend on something exciting for myself'. I could hardly blame their helplessness in buying presents now. So few muggle things were very useful to me, and they could not shop in the wizarding world. I usually got money for Christmas.
We spent a large part of the holidays having snowball fights and, unusually, flying. None of us were very good, but we had fun zooming around at a low height and not having to shoot goals or catch Snitches. Meals during the holidays were always fun - the teachers tended to extend their own table and we would sit with them. I had always been able to have a laugh with teachers just as well as students, with the exception perhaps of Professor Sherwin, Potions master and Head of Slytherin house and the Divination mistress, whose name I did not know. Even Dumbledore was easy to talk to, if you forgot the fact that he was headmaster.
It was only three weeks, however. Everybody returned to school in January, and the corridors were again filled with flying sparks, loud voices and laughter, as well as tears or depression from those who had suffered over the holidays. Voldemort had struck a few times over the holidays, and most wizards had at least some connection with someone at Hogwarts. It was chilling.
I had been expecting to hear that Petunia's long-standing boyfriend, the repulsive Vernon Dursley, had proposed, but didn't. That cheered me up, imagining her sulking and counting the days until her birthday in April - the next 'opportunity'.
My own birthday came in late February - typically, on the day of the second Gryffindor Quidditch match. We had beaten Ravenclaw in a reasonably exciting match, and I wasn't too upset that I had to watch us against Slytherin on my birthday. It was always the best match of the year, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and I nearly forgot myself and laughed when I saw Sirius Black, sitting not far from me, turn all the Slytherin flags red and gold - Gryffindor colours. It was a full five minutes until they realised, and the shouts and screams of anger were perhaps even more amusing than the game itself.
I did not join in the chants of 'Potter! Potter!' from our side, though I also frowned at the similar chant 'Potter, Potter, what a rotter!' from the Slytherins. When we won, I cheered with everyone else, but as far as I could see, it was just as much down to Lisa, the Seeker, as Potter. I knew she was hurt that he had not yet asked her out, but I was not surprised. Even he had some sense, I supposed, and he did take the Quidditch team surprisingly seriously. He played around with her emotions, I knew, but he clearly didn't plan to take her out and dump her like almost every other girl in the school. I knew it wasn't a good idea to tell her that, however - she seemed not to have realised, along with everyone else, that going out with Potter or Black meant heartbreak.
Lessons went on, as did my relationship with Robert. He had given me a necklace with a silver lily on for my birthday, which had told me that he must love me to give me that. We still didn't have a particularly close or stimulating relationship; it seemed to be based more on friendship, as ever. Still, I didn't mind. It made it easier when people asked why I didn't have a boyfriend, and I did like him. Love perhaps wasn't the word... but was it ever, at our age? It wasn't like I was planning to marry him, so what harm did it do anyone?
Juliet started going out with one of the Hufflepuffs in March, and I had taken great delight in interrogating her as she had me.
"Just giving you a taste of your own medicine," I said innocently, causing her to throw a cushion at me.
Rebecca sighed. "I can see I shall have to find myself a boyfriend too," she said. "Honestly, whatever happened to our don't need a man attitude?"
"We don't need them," I said.
"They need us," Juliet finished, giggling. "And they can be good fun."
"Sometimes," Rebecca said and grinned.
The most exciting thing happening at school, however, despite all the dating, was that we were given the opportunity to learn to Apparate. I had signed up for individual lessons with a Ministry official, and was finding it great fun. Every Saturday, I went out to Hogsmeade and, when I'd learnt the theory, practised Apparating and Disapparating distances that grew further each week. Madam Vance was apparently delighted with my progress. "You'll be able to take the test in the summer," she told me. I was thrilled.
I finally got the letter to tell me that Petunia was engaged in late April - after her birthday, as I had guessed. It was not from my sister herself, but Mum - I had never corresponded with Petunia from school, as she refused to use owls. Now, apparently, was no different, although I was sure she was desperate to gloat. Personally, I saw nothing to gloat about. Vernon Dursley was fat, with no neck, had mean, piggy eyes and a bad sense of humour. In fact, he didn't have a sense of humour per se. He was also very boring. Mum informed me that Petunia was planning to tell him about me soon, but there was no telling how he would react. I was nervous. There were strict rules in the wizarding world about telling muggles about us - I only hoped I didn't get into trouble because of Dursley or Petunia. Probably he wouldn't believe her at all, I told myself, but the worry, and distress that my sister had finally gone from me into deadly dullness, kept me awake on the night that I heard.
Sleeplessness, I had learnt young, was not a force to be reckoned with - so I decided to at least spend the time doing something useful. I stumbled down the stairs to the common room, groping around in the dark with difficulty. I dropped my stack of books onto the table and was about to cast a light spell when a movement by the fire made me freeze. I tiptoed a little nearer. Potter? What was he doing there?
The firelight cast a dancing halo round his head, showing me his sleeping face. He seemed different like that - vulnerable, without Sirius Black and their little ring of admirers. He had lost, too, the arrogant, complacent smile from lessons, bullying Snape or from 'asking me out'; like he really wanted me. A small furrow in his brow suggested concentration in his dream - he mumbled something like 'no - no' and shifted but did not wake. I welcomed an opportunity to see him thus - free of sneers and bragging gestures - although I couldn't help noting - with a flicker of... surely not fondness? - that his hair remained effectively ruffled.
It was strange, this sudden, unexpected endearment. I had maintained a dignified loathing of Potter since first year, and yet like this, a small boy it seemed, I began to piece together all the reasons why girls liked him. He was good looking, certainly, and I had never denied that he had talent at Quidditch and in lessons. With his trademark nasty smile gone, I understood that maybe he did have a capacity for more than hate.
I always had a weak spot for getting caught up in my thoughts. I had tried to sit down and press on with the Charms essay I had been intending to finish, but as half an hour had crawled past with only one sentence added at the bottom of my last paragraph, I gave up and returned to my place near the fire. But I was careless in my watchfulness. As I gave him another affectionate glance, I was staggered - and horrified - to meet his hazel eyes, not dozing but fully awake and clearly amused.
"Uh..."
A/N: I feel sure Eihwaz is cackling here. Remember, she is responsible for all cliffies! Review!