Okaaay, so I originally wrote the first chapter not as a one-shot, but it took so long for me to think of what to write next that I started to think maybe it would be better that way, and then this morning I reread the beginning of this chapter and was bit by a continuation bunny, if there is such a thing. (And if there isn't, there is now. Ha.) So I finished it. I'm pretty proud of everything in this chapter.
Disclaimer/Claimer: I do not own any characters you recognize, like Hermione, Ron, Dean Thomas and Luna Lovegood. I own Sheila Duffy, Alden Kent, and all the "ideas" in this one. I'd tell you exactly what I mean, but I don't want to ruin my brilliance - I mean the surprise.
With no further ado whatsoever!
Part Two: There's No Love
Astronomy class seemed especially dull when compared to their last lesson. They were inside again, reading from their heavy textbooks. Sitting leaned against the wall, Hermione surveyed the whole classroom. Dean Thomas had fallen asleep, and Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were passing notes so obviously she wondered if Professor Duffy was blind.
Ron was staring outside, and Harry was leaning backward, with his eyes closed. But he wasn't sleeping. Harry hadn't slept for over two months, according to Ron. From out of nowhere, a paper airplane flew into Neville's lap. He didn't even glance up to see who it was. Neville was even more of a loner and outsider now, because of his relationship with Luna Lovegood. Except that it seemed to Hermione that he really didn't mind terribly.
"Now is the time for unity and trust," Dumbledore had said at the beginning of the term. "Without unity, we will not be able to stand against the evil of the world." Hermione had watched all the first years staring at Dumbledore, apprehension, but almost no fear on their still chubby and child-like faces. They had only been six when she had begun school. They probably knew everything that had happened the last few years. She thought of herself in the first year, and knew that she had been innocently excited. "I'm a witch now," she told herself whenever she was scared. "What could happen to me?" Hermione placed a hand to her forehead and rubbed it, trying to dispel the unhappy thoughts as if they were a headache.
The book sat shut on Hermione's desk. She had all ready read the chapter. Hermione was so bored; she opened it back up again and started reading the next assignment. To her surprise, when she turned to the page number, she found script that looked a lot like Ron and Harry's, obviously written before this year.
"I bet you don't even have to read this, I bet you're doing this for fun."
"Can you see me from where you are? No, I bet not, you're probably in OWL astronomy. How could one person be so smart?"
"Oh, don't start, Harry. You'll probably be there too. Hermione, it will be me you can't see."
When they wrote this, they couldn't have expected how much this would mean to me, thought Hermione. Smiling to herself, she played briefly with the idea of showing it to Harry and Ron. Harry was moody these days; he'd probably be too angry with her for "waking" him up to appreciate the humor. And Ron . . . she looked back at the paper. ". . . you can't see," he had written.
Ronald is right again, thought Hermione glumly. I look for things, but I can never see them. Harry's smile, my parent's approval, Ron's love. . .
You say I can't see
I have to agree
When you look at me
There's no surprise.
There's no love to
Be found in your eyes
Alden Kent was dangerously close to becoming an obsession with Sheila. She was jotting down a quick "To Do List" and found herself writing, "Look for Alden between classes." Worried someone might see, she hastily scribbled it out, but could not forget it, and felt silly and was distracted for the next two classes. The last class of the week – Slytherin third years – was finally over, and Sheila waited for the immense burden to leave her shoulders and for her to finally feel free.
It didn't come.
With a start, she got out of her chair and began to walk to the door of the classroom. It's the altitude, she tried to convince herself. It's only the altitude. But she had stopped getting altitude headaches several weeks ago. She halted, her hand strangling the doorknob. It began to twist and she stared at it disbelievingly. She heard a soft curse, then, "Aloh –"
By the time the spell was finished, Sheila was sitting at her desk, her reading glasses on, staring intently at the door. She resisted the urge to clear her throat. "Yes?" she said calmly and slowly, taking her reading glasses off and hoping her hand did not tremble.
His brow was furrowed and his eyes held doubt. "Your door –"
"It is rather troublesome. I'm sorry, I really should have Filch look at it." Sheila blessed the fact that the Astronomy Tower was almost falling apart. "What do you need, Alden?"
"Oh. Um, staff meeting's going on as we speak. Dumbledore's office. Did you forget?" Alden Kent asked. Well, that accounts for the feeling like I wasn't free yet. I'm not. I can't believe I forgot it . . . I'm sure I put it in my planner . . . Sheila opened the drawer and pulled it out. Friday was empty. She bit her lip and turned the page. Next week Monday was empty. The following Tuesday was empty. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday . . . she flipped through the planner. All empty. She looked up to see Alden standing before her desk, peering at the planner at first, and then at her. He gave a bit of a grin before saying, "Yeah, me too."
"What?" said Sheila, clearing her throat without realizing it.
"Little joke the seventh years play on the new teachers. Here –" He opened his hand to her and she placed the planner in it, feeling a small shiver at the small brush of contact between them. He pulled out his wand and said, "Finite Incantatem." He opened the planner and handed it back to Sheila with the smile that comes when you do something well and good.
Sheila's neat scrawl filled the pages again, and she let out a small sigh of relief. 'Staff Meeting, Dumbledore's Office, 5 o' clock.' "You see, I am not such a silly scatterbrain after all," she said to herself, forgetting for a moment that Alden was there.
"I never thought you were," Alden answered, with a smile that seemed just for her. Suddenly, Sheila was freer than she had ever been before. She was out the window, over the moon, off the ground.
They walked together to Dumbledore's office, hand-in-hand in Sheila's mind. Things were looking up.
You're not blind,
You're not blind,
It's so easy
For me to see.
Well, so, um, yeah! (disclaimer - that belongs to my "blonde at heart" best friend (love you anyways)). I wasn't going to end Sheila's lament this soon, but as I said, it was the continuation bunny, I swear . . . . Do you want me to finish up Hermione, or just leave her like this? And if you want me to write more, would you like more Sheila?
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