The Animal in Your Eyes
"I'm late, I'm late, bloody hell I'm late again, McGonagall's going to kill me, out of my way!" Willow screeched, half talking to herself, half talking to everyone else around her. She ran quickly, looking down as she thought up a million and one excuses that would never work, "I'm sorry professor my alarm didn't...no...But I thought today was Herbology so I was all the way out at the greenhou-...no, that won't work either, think, think! Professor, wouldn't ya know it but Hagrid stopped me in the hall and had to tell me about his-, OW!"
She was abruptly stopped from her "excuse making" when she ran head-long into another student. He was tall, with neat brown hair and vibrantly blue eyes, but right now he was sprawled on the hall floor with Willow, whom was in what appeared to be a rather uncomfortable position with her face planted firmly on the stone floor. He got up first, took her gently by her shoulder's and lifted her to a standing position once again. She attempted to recompose herself, an effort which grew exponentially difficult once she saw how striking he was. "I am terribly sorry, I was in such a rush to get to Transfiguration, McGonagall is going to kill me." She stated awkwardly as she attempted to straighten her cloak as her ever-growing hair encroaching around her face, threatening suffocation.
"No worries dear, by the way, my names Dameon Pierce, I just got here and was on my way to Transfiguration as well, you wouldn't happen to want to, escort me so to say?" His voice was melodious, flowing sweetly as he talked to her. He brushed a stray lock of wild hair out of her face. Not only was he sweet and gentle, but also extremely handsome, that's it, she had decided, Willow was in love, well maybe not really, but she could hope.
"Ah...absolutely, I mean, I would love to, you know what, coming to think of it, you could be just the excuse I need. So follow me, and act lost." She said, concocting her excuse in her head this time.
"That should be quite easy, I was lost, lucky I ran into... well, not pun intended, lucky I ran into you, or I think I would have missed my first lesson. And if I may say without offending you, I am very glad you ran so late, I might not have met you otherwise." He expressed this in a way that Willow thought he would have been almost embarrassed but he retained every once of composure that could be expected from someone that was just plowed down by a striking sixteen-year-old girl.
They walked very slowly to Professor McGonagall's class, getting to know one another, and seeing as Willow was involved, flirting shamelessly of course. As they approached the door Willow turned on him, "Ok now, I need you to just follow along, I have everything worked out, so just play along, ok?" She asked convincingly.
"Um...I guess, but are you planning on telling me what your going to tell her?" He asked stupidly.
"Uh...no, wasn't planning on it, you will know soon enough, just play along, ok?" She said hurriedly, McGonagall could see them any minute.
"Yeah, Ok, You are quite intriguing Willow, I just thought you should know that." He told her, shaking his head slightly and laughing under his breath.
"Well, thanks." Willow said concisely taking it the only way she knew how, as a compliment.
She reluctantly opened the door to see Professor McGonagall glaring at her, "Well Miss Lupin, I believe we have a new record for inconsiderate punctuality, I have not had a student dare to come in my class this late in seven years since the Potion's lab exploded and student's were everywhere." She alleged coldly, as Willow grimaced at the thought of students everywhere. "Well do you have even a remotely valid excuse or are you just late?" Professor McGonagall asked impatiently.
"Well professor," Willow began expertly, inhaling a large breathe. If there was anything she was good at it was excuse making and story telling, she was in luck, "I was coming though the hallways running from the common room, far before the last chime sounded, and I ran into (she suppressed a giggle) Dameon here, and found out he was on his way to the same class as I was, but this was only after we deciphered his schedule, you know how impossible those things are, then we finally figured out where this wonderful young man was supposed to be going, and as you can imagine, by then, we were dreadfully late. So we hurried as fast as we could, and still only managed to make it to you by right now. So as you can see Professor, I had no choice but to help him, my manners had to go to one cause or another, and aiding a fellow student seemed to be of such importance, I could not, with an untainted conscience, do anything but help him."
"Well aren't we the good samaritan, do you give that sort of stuff to your father, cause I am willing to bet he wouldn't accept a load like that, take your seat Miss Lupin, you too Mister Pierce, and be prepared to catch up on what you missed." Professor McGonagall retorted sarcastically to the teenagers, whom both immediately scurried to the back of the room and took a seat next to one another.
"Well that certainly was an interesting Transfiguration class," Kalli began, "McGonagall was fuming at you two. By the way I'm Kalli Willow's cousin, and this is Ron, Hermione, and Harry, my boyfriend." She added, pointing to all of them in turn an making Harry blush slightly.
"So mate, have you been sorted into a house yet?" Harry posed, the thought just hitting everyone else as well, they were all Gryffindor's, die-hard one's to boot, and to Willow the thought of her new friend joining any other house but hers was destroying, and the thought of him in Slytherin was simply unthinkable.
"Not just yet actually, I'm supposed to go to Dumbledore's office now and have the hat sort me, thought he was batty at first when he said that, then I saw the hat and let's just say it made a believer out of me." Daemon explained cooly, Willow raptly attentive. "Anyway, I should be heading off, I will make sure to stop by the Gryffindor common room regardless and let you know the news." He voiced to everyone, the turned to Willow, "I'll see you then, right?" He said as she squeezed her arm lightly.
Struck by his affection, "Uh…yeah, of course I'll see you there, buh byes then." At this he strolled of towards Dumbledore's office. The rest of the group turned in the other direction and headed toward the Gryffindor common room to go change into their evening cloths and get ready for a night of homework and possibly Exploding Snaps.
After returning to their dormitory Willow threw herself onto her four-posted bed and sighed deeply, Kalli mentally agreed with her by voicing what Willow was obviously thinking. "He's so cute!"
"He's absolutely heavenly Kalli, and the nicest guy in the entire world." Willow said in a dreamy voice.
"Now Willow, don't let me lose you to the dream world just yet, we still have Transfiguration homework, probably thanks to you and your absolute need to flirt, so come on, lets go into the common room and get it done with." Kalli instructed her cousin.
Willow heaved another heavy sigh then finally agreed and the two girls reluctantly headed down to the common room together to finish their load of homework.
"You know Willow, that story you gave McGonagall was quite interesting, entertaining might I say. But I would like to know what you were doing out of class so long with that boy." Ron supposed suspiciously.
Willow cocked and eyebrow at him and stated, "I was having an intelligent conversation, something not to common with you in the room." She finished with a broad grin to let Ron know she was completely kidding.
Ron simply rolled his eyes and continued quizzing Harry on the procedure to transfigure a top hat into a rabbit. Suddenly the portrait hole swung open and Dameon entered the Gryffindor common room. He walked straight through everyone's stares and over to the group of Willow, Hermione, Kalli, Harry, and Ron. He got comfortable in the chair next to Willow. "Well?" Willow asked, breaking the silence that came with his entrance.
"Well I have some bad news." Dameon stated somberly. Willow averted her eyes to the floor, she knew it was too good to be true. "You all are going to have to live with me for the rest of our time here at Hogwarts." He said through a toothful grin.
"Congrats chap!" Ron said clapping him on the back.
"The Hat must have liked you." Harry added in kiddingly.
Kalli patted him on the shoulder and she and Hermione both gave him their congratulations. Willow didn't say anything but as she caught Dameon's eyes she gave him a huge grin and looked away shyly.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning on the Hogwarts ground, the sun was shining, a cool breeze was blowing, and best of all there were no lessons. All the students sat either basking in the afternoon sun by the lake or playing games under one of the grounds numerous trees.
Willow and Dameon sat under a tree near Kalli, Harry, and Ron. Hermione was in the Gryffindor common studying as usual, apparently she was completely convinced there would be a huge test in Herbology on Monday.
"So, are you ticklish?" Willow asked not waiting to get and answer and immediately poking Dameon in his side, making him pull away laughing.
"Shameless aren't they." Ron said to Kalli and Harry, shaking his head. Kalli just giggled and Harry rolled his eyes, knowing that Ron's immense absorption in Willow and Dameon was due to Willow's attention being diverted to another person, even though Ron knew he liked someone else.
"So," Dameon began, "you live with your dad now, professor Lupin, and so does Kalli."
"Exactly, and you live just outside of London with your Mum and Dad and little sister, right?" Willow asked, a little unsure.
"Right."
"So, do you have a girlfriend back in London, or are you the uncommitted type?" Willow asked, cocking one eyebrow and trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
"Well the answer would be no, and no. I don't have a girlfriend, and I am not the uncommitted type, not all guys without girlfriends are afraid of commitment." Dameon corrected matter-of-factly.
"Oh, well I just figured guys as good looking as you may be afraid to commit if they haven't already been taken." Willow said, a hint of embarrassment in her usually confident voice.
"Well maybe I just haven't found a girl I've liked enough, I do have to say I'm a little picky when it comes to girls." Dameon said giving Willow a debonair grin.
Monday came all to quickly, and they soon found themselves in Divination, a class hated by all. Willow and Kalli climbed their way up the ladder closely followed by Ron, Harry, and Dameon.
"Now we do have to warn you Dameon, this is not what you would call, an interesting class, even though Professor Trewlawney is quite interesting, and she isn't what you would call, well, a professor." Kalli warned only half jokingly.
Kalli and Willow sat together at a small table next to Dameon, Ron, and Harry.
"Hello class," Professor Trelawney began, "Today we will be analyzing dreams, I want you to pair up and tell each other about your most recent memorable dream, spare no details, the more in depth we look into our sub conscious, the better chance we have of completely understanding it's many facets. Also, we have a new student, Dameon Pierce has joined us, would a more experienced student like to pair up with Dameon to help him catch up?"
Willow's eyes shot upward from her dazed focal point on the wall, she caught Dameon's sight, "Professor, I can pair up with Willow, surely she knows what she is doing." Dameon suggested, Professor Trelawney nodded to show her approval.
"He obviously doesn't know Willow." Ron whispered jokingly to Harry.
Willow scowled at Ron and Harry then turned to Dameon, "I would love to help you out, you can be paired with both of us." Willow said indicating to herself as well as her cousin Kalli.
"Wait, wait, wait, how come he gets to be paired with both of you and I am stuck with Ron?" Harry questioned heatedly.
"Because he doesn't doubt my ability, unlike some people." Willow said continuing her scowl while Ron exclaimed "Hey!" indignantly in the background.
Everyone pulled out their copy of "The Complete Analysis of Subconscious Manifestations by Alexa Sentaro" while Dameon moved to the table with Kalli and Willow.
Willow eyed the cover of the text book and lowered her eyebrows, Dameon examined his copy as well. "'Subconscious Manifestations' huh? Sounds like a complicated way to say dreams." he concluded.
"Of course, it's to make herself sound smarter, just like when Kalli uses unnecessarily big words just to make everyone around her seem dumb and herself seem smarter just for the fun of it." Willow included as she grinned and shifted her chair away from her cousin who looked like a viper ready to strike.
Kalli heaved a heavy sigh and decided to let the quip roll off of her shoulders, "Can we just get to analyzing dreams please, the subconscious can prove to be quite a conundrum." Kalli added, cracking a smile and throwing her cousin a shifty glance. "Willow, you go first."
"Hmm, ok, let me think of a good one. Oh, I got one!" she stated excitedly as she began her story. "Just a couple of days ago I had this strange dream that I was hiding in my living room under some giant books, and there was this penguin trying to get into the room, and not just any penguin, oh no, an evil penguin, trying to kill me! Well, I ran in the other direction and ended up in a flying car, and just as I finally thought I was safe I got bumped by another flying car, and it was driven by the Easter Bunny, who was also apparently trying to kill me. Then I jumped out of the car, thinking I had a parachute, and it ends up I just had a teddy bear, then I woke up. What do you guys think?" She inquired.
"Well if my opinion matters at all I think your bleeding nuts!" Ron exclaimed from the next table over.
"Well what you think doesn't matter, so pay attention to your own partner and stop eavesdropping." Willow scolded.
Kalli scanned page after page of the large text book then sighed to herself, "Well Will, I'm not saying I agree with Ron, but I am baffled, so lets move on, Dameon, it's your turn, unless you have any insight into Willow's um… interesting dream."
"I'm a little lost on that one too," Dameon began as he smiled at Willow, "But, well, my most recent memorable dream would have to be the one I had a couple of days ago, I was in a long tunnel, and I was jogging through the tunnel, longing to get to the end, for what seemed an extreme amount of time, then when I finally did get to the end, there was nothing visible there, but there was a feeling of complete happiness and fulfillment, something that could never be created again, and seemed so wonderful in itself." He finished with a warm smile on his face.
"Well that's a little bit easier!" Kalli thanked as she scanned the large book some more, her lips moving as she read. "Oh, here we go, ok, this says that 'your dream shows a hope, thought, or dream of your own being accomplished, something you have wanted very badly will soon be coming to you, in the form of a person, item, or achievement.' Well that's just a little ambiguous now isn't it." Kalli decided, pursing her lips.
"Pretty clear actually, just left open for interpretation," Willow concluded, "It just has to be open because some people hold the highest esteem to material things, while others to personal or public achievements, and some hold other individuals on the highest pedestal."
"Very observant of you, you have a very interesting point of view on things." Dameon complimented, as Willow thanked him with her eyes, flashing violet into his soul.
Lounging on the bank of the great lake on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Willow Lupin absorbed what could be the last sun before a winter of snow. Calmly she cleared her head, thoughts would only fog over the relaxation of the beautiful afternoon. Placidly, she took deep breaths, overjoyed to be out of the stuffy castle.
Dameon was also out on the grounds on this perfect day, but his stroll held intent and purpose, his stomach crawled with nerves, butterflies raging from within.
Quickly knocking her from her trance, Dameon Pierce tapped her on the shoulder, trying not to scare her in the process.
"What's up Dameon, getting a little sun too?" She inquired.
Dameon just thought to himself about how perfect she looked right there, sprawled out on the small bank, shorts and a tank top exposing her sun-kissed skin, just the sight of her calmed his nerves like nothing else.
"Well, I just wanted to, I had a question, I was wondering…" Dameon took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves once again, he laughed slightly as he began again, "Willow, I would love it if you would be my girlfriend, if you would like to that is."
Willow was taken back by his nervous demeanor, he was usually so calm and collected, this was a whole new side of him. She stood up, still over half of a foot shorter than him, she gave him a small warm grin and whispered, "Of course, I would love to be your girlfriend."
Sighing in relief Dameon smiled from ear to ear, "Guess that means you don't think I'm the uncommitted type anymore, huh?"
"Definitely not." Willow said confidently. She leaned in close and pressed her lips against his sweetly, he hugged her and in that instant the world fell from around them, and they were alone, together, embraced, with the excitement of whole new possibilities welling up inside of them, now was the time to live, and they planned on living out every moment exactly how they wanted. Everything was perfect.
