*A/n: Just finished babysitting my little cousin…joy…and I'M GOING TO THE BEACH WITH CINDY THIS SATURDAY!!! YAY! Thx Anasazi! (Yes I'll try doing my work today…kinda) In this Chapter some new characters will come (to stress Helen out some more. Lol). As for the votes… Helen/Harry and Helen/Malfoy are tied up. I think I know who Helen will eventually end up with BUT I'll still be open to suggestions! Ahhh I'm so excited about tomorrow! I wonder what bathing suit I should wear…AH! Florida…at the beach…during spring break…I KNOW I'M GOING TO SEE TONS OF GUYS! Hehehe. I have to go get my camera ready. Lol.
Chapter 3: "Parties, worries, and break ups."
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"My house." Bianca answered with a hint of pride in her voice. "You want a wild party, you're about to get it."
It was wild indeed: loud hip/hop music, a hundred teens were either getting drunk by the bar or dancing up a storm…and of course making out on the sofas.
"So, what drinks do you guys want?" Bianca asked, getting behind the counter.
Helen noticed the confused looks on their faces.
"Four lucky drivers and a jello shot." Helen said "No everclear."
"Fine."
Bianca fixed up their drinks.
"Helen!" Kevin called, pushing past a lip-locked couple and giving her a hug. "Wanna dance?"
"Yeah." Helen followed him but turned back around when she saw the real bartender get behind the counter. She turned to Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione.
"Don't order any drinks without me if you don't know what it is." She warned.
Harry looked around at all of them, took a sip, and shrugged.
"You wanna dance?" he asked Hermione.
"Umm okay." She said nervously. Soon afterward Ron and Ginny were asked to dance by some other partygoers.
But the Hogwarts students weren't used to this kind of dancing.
Dirrty, dirty dancing.
But they quickly got the hang of it and even Hermione let loose a bit. They continued grinding and drinking for a few more hours.
*A/n: I'm horrible at describing dance scenes so…this is as good as it gets really. Lol.
"Uh Ginny…what's that you're drinking?" Helen asked.
"The chhhherrry magiciiian." She slurred.
"How many of them did you drink!" Helen shouted.
"O-onnly four." Ginny replied, holding up seven fingers. "It's just cherrrrries. No alcohOL."
"Do you know why they call it the cherry magician?" she said angrily, taking the drink away from Ginny.
"No." she hiccupped.
"Because after the first few sips you can't tell that it has alcohol because all you can taste is the cherry flavor!" Helen got Ginny off the stool.
"Well I d-didnnn know! She ordered it foOoOr me." Ginny pointed to a short redhead. Helen scowled.
"Hey I didn't know the kid couldn't take a lil drink or five." The Lindsay Lohan clone grinned evilly.
*A/n: No offense to L.L.
"We're going!" Helen yelled to Ron, Harry, and Hermione, who had really been enjoying themselves.
"So soon?" the redhead said in mock sadness.
"Move, Paige." Helen yelled.
"What's wrong?" Kevin asked, stepping between the two girls.
"This bitch won't get out of the way!" Helen growled.
"Kevin." Paige purred. "Nice to see you."
Helen looked as though she was going to attack Paige but Kevin held her back.
"You won't have to see her again." Kevin mumbled.
"Wrong!" Paige said cheerfully. "My parents and I are moving to England, so you'll be seeing me at Hogwarts!"
Helen's face paled. Kevin led her and the others to his car and drove them back to Helen's.
~*~
Kevin, Ron, Hermione, Helen, and Harry sat in silence. The only sounds were coming from Ginny, retching in the bathroom.
"I'll stay up with Ginny, you guys go to bed." Helen said quietly.
They started to argue but Helen held out a hand to quiet them.
"Juju's making a special tea to help her feel better. Don't worry; she'll be fine with me."
They went to their rooms upstairs, except Kevin whom Helen thanked for the ride and watched him drive off. This day had been a disaster, fight with Dumbledore, Ginny getting sick, Hermione flipping out when she saw the house-elf (that was before she found out Juju was like Dobby; free), Paige going to Hogwarts…the only good thing that came out of it was getting Harry to notice Hermione (which had been her goal since her conversation with Harry the previous year.) which worked very effectively and her plans for the next day was sure to be a success.
When Ginny came out of the bathroom (looking slightly queasy still) Juju gave her the tea which helped instantly.
"I'm sorry I didn't heed your advice." Ginny apologized.
"Don't worry about it." Helen tried to laugh. "First time for everything."
"So what's the agenda for tomorrow?"
"Beach BBQ." Helen answered.
"Awesome!" Ginny squealed, then turned green and ran back into the bathroom.
This was going to be a long night.
~*~
Helen yawned and rolled off her bed. Mornings were not her thing. She did her usual morning activities and went downstairs to find that (surprisingly) everyone was already seated, eating their breakfast.
"Am I dreaming?" Helen joked, helping herself to an apple-cranberry muffin. "You guys adjusted to U.S. time better than me?"
"Ginny told us we were going to the beach. That got us up quick." Ron laughed.
"Where is Ginny anyway?"
"Having some more of Juju's tea to get rid of that hangover…"
And so they went to the beach and had a blast catching rays, (the British natives definitely needed it), eating hotdogs, (no burgers because of the mad cow disease scare), chips, and more drinks (Helen was in charge of ordering this time).
*A/n: *sigh* I worry about the plausibility of it all…don't worry though. I'm going to work this all out…I hope.
They spent their week going to parties, clubs, parties, clubs, more parties, and more clubs! On their last night (while waiting for Lupin and Vance to come pick them up to take them to headquarters), Harry brought something to Helen's attention.
"Er…Helen?" Harry whispered.
"Yeah."
"Um…what's behind that one door on the third floor that's glowing?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll show you." Harry said, climbing up the stairs with Helen following behind.
"There."
Helen's eyes went wide in shock. She'd lived in this house for twelve summers (her family had the house built when she was almost four years old) and she'd never seen anything like this. There wasn't even supposed to be a door there!
Suddenly it swung open, emitting weird mist.
"Okay by the look on your face, I'm guessing that wasn't supposed to happen."
"No way." Helen said, whipping out her wand and taking a step forward.
"Wait! Are you sure you should?" Harry cautioned.
"Since when did you start to think before you act?" Helen joked.
"Since Sirius died."
Helen nodded. Harry took out his wand as well and they entered the room.
It was bare…except for one thing…a giant limestone slab, seven feet high.
"Oh my God," Helen whispered, moving closer. "I recognize those."
The slab had 78 rectangular ridges into which 56 of them had gold cards in them. 22 were missing.
"Bellatrix used one of those cards as a portkey…" Helen said slowly. "They have tarot inscriptions on them…"
*A/n: The gold card was the clue from Chapter 16 of the first story of the series!
Helen reached out and traced a finger down it. Harry touched the gold but when he rested a hand on the stone itself he was thrown across the room.
"I guess this is another one of those objects only sacred keepers can touch at all times." Helen muttered.
"And another thing Voldemort will come after you for. I think it's time to get Dumbledore."
~*~
Tomorrow would be September 1st, the first day of her last year at Hogwarts. Worries about adulthood scared her enough without the thoughts of her parent's last words to her in a dream.
'Your journey is just beginning. But after next year... you will see that things will be better.'
Meaning this year wasn't going to be a walk in the park; especially after discovering that weird limestone thing in her house. Dumbledore hadn't told her anything, no surprise there.
"Helen."
"Yeah, Hermione."
Hermione sat beside Helen's bed at headquarters.
"I wanted to thank you for that week at your home. The look on Harry's face when he saw me in all those club outfits and bathing suits." She giggled.
"No big. That's why I did it." Helen shrugged "Harry needed something…or someone to distract him."
Hermione nodded in half understanding…poor innocent girl.
"So… how are you and Dumbledore?" Hermione asked, knowing full well about their previous disagreement.
"Same I guess." She shrugged.
"GO TO BED!" Mrs. Weasley shouted as she knocked on the door.
Helen decided to do what Mrs. Weasley said. She was tired and stressed out already. It didn't help that she and Kevin broke up. Yeah…the bastard cheated...
*flashback*
"I was drunk! I didn't know what I was doing!" Kevin explained in a pathetically pleading voice. "Honestly, she slipped something in my drink!"
"How could you be so stupid as to drink ANYTHING she offered you?" Helen screamed.
"So I'm stupid now?"
"Yeah, dumbass! I call cheating something that won't be scoring you any points in the brains department!"
"Helen, I said I'm sorry. She used a potion on me! I didn't voluntarily do it!"
"You expect me to believe that? Paige's main goal in life may be to make my life miserable but she wouldn't stoop so low as to do THAT. Nicki wouldn't either. Sure, she'd get you drunk but she wouldn't do anything illegal."
"Why do you think it was Paige or Nicki?"
Helen was taken back. Who else would stoop so low?
"Was I not supposed to accept a drink Bianca gave me?" Kevin mumbled.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
"So you see, it wasn't my fault."
Her best friend betrayed her again. God! What the hell was wrong with Bianca? That bitch! That stupid fucking bitch!
"Helen…"
"I'm going to Hogwarts," Helen stated numbly. "Afterwards I'm planning on moving to England to live there permanently."
"But that means I won't be able to see you—"
"Exactly. You and Bianca can rot in hell."
*end of flashback*
Helen sighed. She wasn't sad about what happened. She was furious. After all those years of being friends, making compromises, forgiving them for all their crap…and they stabbed her in the back. No worries. No one was going to break her heart again.
*A/n: I'm soo not a fan of cheaters and I believe once a cheater, always a cheater...but should she make an exception for Kevin since he claims his drink was spiked? Let me know in the review section or email me or send me an IM under the sn AntiRaisin2468