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A/N: Thanks to those people who have reviewed! This story isn't turning out nearly as complicated and as long as Hidden Flames, so there won't be that many chapters, and the chapters aren't that long either.
pyro-2389: Thanks so much for your review! It really gave me the extra push to finish this chapter, since no one else seemed very enthusiastic about this story.
violet: Thanks!
Staphanie: Um... when you read it I still hadn't introduced the characters in the prologue, and I fixed it now. Anyways, you'll find out more about the characters in this chapter.
LaUrEn321: Thanks for your review!! I do hope that this is funny.
Joy: I know you're screaming, "This one sucks monkey butt!" Lol. Well, I hope you like this chapter better!
amanda-gurl-- Thanks! This is still going to be about Sirius/OC, since he's my favorite character!
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---Chapter One: Encounters---
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The normal morning rush to get to breakfast in the Great Hall before classes started was taking place. As usual, I got up from the table as soon as the tide of people started flowing in. I always got up and ate early, since there wouldn't be as many chattering, happy people around. Because I was such a horrid, jealous person, their companionable conversations made me extremely annoyed.
Anyways, back to the subject. Actually, was there ever a subject to begin with...?
'Oh, stop it before you hurt yourself,' a voice in my head snapped at me. Since I'd been in touch with this voice for a long time, I knew that it was the wiser side of me, and I obeyed it nearly all the time. I had named her Lexie. 'Stop describing me. Why don't you just think about the present?'
Right. It was already the beginning of my last year here at Hogwarts.
Blimey. In all my six years here so far, I can't rightly say that I did anything worthwhile. After all, my days were only filled up with whatever thing I could think of for myself to do while normal people were socializing with each other. I hadn't made a single friend so far, and I doubt I can even call anyone my acquaintance. Well, there goes six years.
But that's okay. I don't need any friends. I have myself.
I left the Great Hall silently and made my way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to quickly grab some minutes of reading before class started. I don't know why, but I have an obsession with sitting on a toilet with my feet pulled up while reading. It gives me a sense of security and safety. Really, no one will be bursting into the girl's bathroom—Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, no less—and charging inside random stalls to find me. Nobody would bother. Nobody would even notice if I were missing, like the time when my older brother accidentally locked me up inside a pyramid while we were visiting Egypt (had it really been accidental?). It had taken two days before somebody noticed and came back to get me. It was a good thing I hadn't panicked.
'Hadn't panicked? Did you see yourself? You were running around the tombs like a headless chicken until I told you to get a grip.' I firmly ignored Lexie's sniping voice. ANYWAYS, the one good thing about that trip was that I actually had a bit of attention from my parents.
'That was because they were upset that you made them buy more entrance tickets to the pyramids they had already visited so that they could find out which pyramid you were in to get you out.'
So ANYWAYS, the whole point of that particular story was to come to the conclusion that I can probably count on one hand the number of people in this school who actually know my name.
Oh, well. There's no point in moping about my life, since I am the one responsible for it. 'Wow, that's right! I can't believe you were right today already! It usually takes a couple hour ...' Lexie snickered in my head. I reached Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with 30 minutes before classes started, so I promptly took a seat on one of the toilets, pulled my legs up, groped around in my bag for my current reading material, and settled down comfortably to start reading. The gurgling of the pipes echoed around me. Moaning Myrtle, true to her name, cried loudly in the next stall, though I ignored her. We'd reached an understanding after a while: I leave her alone in her misery, and she leaves me alone in my ordinariness.
The book I was currently reading was cheesier than the usual romance novel, though I didn't really care. I liked reading about how guys fell for girls and girls fell for guys. Though almost all the time the main characters had distinguishing traits, just like the girl whom I was reading about now. I couldn't relate to characters like that.
Selene wasn't beautiful, but she had a certain charm and allure that radiated off of her body through each of her graceful movements. And her smile... her smile was like the sun shining through the clouds on a rainy day. It could be so sudden and unexpected, but its radiance and pure beauty was undeniable. Selene's smile transformed her face from passing to nothing short of stunning. She glowed
Now that was probably just a bunch of crap. Really, how can someone's face be fully transformed by one smile, even truly happy smile? People use this in stories all the time, and I don't buy it. A smile is a smile. A plain face is a plain face. There's no changing it. A person is either beautiful or not.
But even I can't deny that there's a charm to reading things like the above, like even someone ordinary can be special. I don't have to buy it to enjoy reading it. That's how I dream of myself. I like to imagine that I have a brilliant smile that will change my face into something gorgeous and ethereal. When I was younger, I even tried looking in the mirror and smiling at myself. But there's no change in my features. My nose doesn't become regal or aristocratic, my eyes don't become larger and brighter, and my cheekbones don't get any higher. See? Those romance books are cheating reality (even though I love cheating on reality). Why am I such a hypocrite? Hm... actually, if I think about it, almost everyone is a bit of a hypocrite—
Okay, enough with the random ramblings of my wandering brain. I crossed my legs and fell to reading my romance book until the bell rang. I didn't mind going to class all that much. Everyone would be there, and I wouldn't feel like such a loner. During break hours, everyone gets to do whatever they want with whomever they want, and no once wants me, so I end up as a loner. But during class time, everyone is forced to sit in the classroom, and I'm not so much of a loner. I'm just a part of the crowd, and I love being a part of the crowd. For that matter, I love being part of anything. So the whole point of this long rambling was to show that class time is actually very enjoyable.
My logic. It's undeniable.
'You're thinking again, aren't you?' Lexie mocked me nastily. It was a good thing that I had become very good at overlooking her.
I quickly gathered up my things and left the bathroom quickly, heading for the Transfiguration classroom. The Ravenclaws had double Transfiguration with the Gryffindors today. McGonagall had hinted at starting animal transfigurations today, and I didn't want to be late. What if she was going to teach us how to be Animagi? I'd always wanted to be either a falcon or a panther. They're both incredibly sexy.
Bloody hell. I shouldn't be thinking of animals like that. Maybe it was a sign of how desperate I was.
Quickly slamming the visor down on one of my oldest knight friends and ignoring his cries ("Come back here, Ellison! I know you did it, I just know it!"), I briskly walked towards McGonagall's classroom.
Slipping silently through the door, I took a seat at the back of the classroom, my usual spot, and waited for the rest of the class to file in. In came Zoë Fielding with her train of admirers and worshipers all slavering on her heels. Doesn't she ever get tired of them? Lily Evans, the queen of Gryffindor and the Head Girl this year, came stalking in next, her pale cheeks red with anger. Probably angry at James Potter. Lily and I used to be almost-acquaintances. She used to say hi to me in the hallways. But when fourth year rolled around, and Lily had a sudden beauty spurt, which immediately elevated her to some pedestal that was too high for her to see me. Well, that's how the world goes: on and on with never a moment to lose.
It sucks monkey butt.
Professor McGonagall's sharp voice jerked me back to attention.
"Sit down, sit down," McGonagall said briskly, rapping her knuckles against her desk. For a moment, the room was in a sort of organized chaos while students scrambled to get to their seats, and then silence reigned. I could practically taste the anticipation in the air. Everyone was expecting another show of McGonagall's Animagi skills.
She shattered everyone's painful hopes the next moment.
"I have done some rethinking over the night," McGonagall stated crisply. Everyone groaned at that statement. This would not bode well. "Rethinking" often meant that the teacher had decided to try something easier to avoid having so many students miss classes because of some injury, deformity, or abnormality caused by spells gone wrong.
"And," she continued, ignoring the class's groans with the expertise of years of experience, "I've decided to push back animal transformations until next month, due to several students who refuse to act their age in my class." Here she gave a pointed look at the famed Marauders, the golden pranksters of the school. "Therefore I will go along with my better judgment. Because of the immature behavior of the said students"—she gave another pointed look at the Marauders—"I have devised a much better study program. This, however, has nothing to do with transfiguration skills. Instead, it is focused on improving behavioral patterns and morality of students."
Since I was sitting in the back, I could see everyone in the class sink down in his or her seats, cringing away from the inevitably horrible behavior-improving study program. It was almost like a wave.
"All of you shall be observing a teacher, any teacher, for this project. Your assignment is to closely follow any one of your professors and take notes on his or her reactions to various situations. Hopefully, a close examination and investigation of your teachers' exemplary personalities will train you all to become more mature, responsible, modest, and reliable," McGonagall finished up in a satisfied voice.
My jaw dropped. She wanted us to stalk a teacher so we could improve our sinful natures? She must have been getting stressed out, what with the Marauders and all those Marauder wannabes.
"You will be working in partners, since there aren't enough teachers to go around for all of you to have an individual one. You can all stop looking for your friends," McGonagall proclaimed sternly, "because I will be doing to the pairing."
I must have been the only one who sighed with relief. If she was going to partner all of us up, then I wouldn't have to worry about being left partner-less. Everybody else burst into an immediate objection.
"Settle down," McGonagall barked. "This is exactly the kind of behavior that I have been working to cull out of students. I've already made the pairs, so there is no use complaining now!"
"Aw, but Professor—!"
"Why can't we just do animal transfiguration?"
"Please?"
The whole room burst into whining complaints and protests, but nothing would sway McGonagall's decision. She merely pulled out a piece of parchment, adjusted her spectacles, and started reading off partners.
"Sarah Delgado and Heather Viogna!" The two girls squealed with delight—they were mutual friends and preps.
"Diana Glico and Remus Lupin!" Diana looked as if she was about to faint with delight, while Lupin just looked distinctly creeped out.
I only half-listened for my name. It didn't really matter who I was put with, since I didn't know one person better than the next. It was a twist of fate that I landed with the person I did.
"Sirius Black"—I could practically hear the intake of breaths of anticipation from most of the girls in the class—"and Alexis Ellison."
Wait. That was me. Yes, Alexis Ellison is me. Had I heard right? I was paired up with the undeniably hot, suave, charismatic, magnetic, and most-wanted bachelor Sirius Black, one of the famous Marauder pranksters?
Most girls would have considered it a dream come true. Instead, it was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life. Heads turned and probed around the room, obviously looking for me.
"Who's Alexis Ellison?" I heard Black say quite loudly.
Then, in an equally loud voice, I heard his best mate James Potter reply carelessly, "I dunno. Must be new or something."
I could have just shriveled up and died right there. Yes, attending Hogwarts for six years is definitely classified as new.
Professor McGonagall looked as if she was about roll her eyes at Black and Potter's words. "Alexis, would you please raise your hand?" But even McGonagall was looking the wrong way. She was staring expectantly at somewhere near the window, while I was sitting on the other side of the room. Even the teacher didn't know me. Honestly, did she even have to the right to almost roll her eyes when she didn't know who I was either? She took roll everyday, for heaven's sake.
Since everybody had directed his or her gazes towards the point where McGonagall was gazing, it was several moments before anybody noticed my hand in the air.
"Oh... there you are, Ms. Nelson," Professor McGonagall said, evidently flustered.
"It's Ellison," I muttered. "Alex Ellison." But nobody heard me.
"So, she is your partner, Mr. Black," McGonagall finished up. Sirius Black glanced at me and ran a disinterested and almost disappointed look over me. I schooled my face into an expressionless mask, hoping that Black would at least have the intelligence level to refrain from making a degrading comment while I was present. I knew exactly what he was thinking, and it was somewhere along the lines of: "Why her?"
So, as McGonagall finished up the rest of the pairings, I sank lower and lower into my seat until I was sure only my forehead was showing. I could practically feel the jealous glances that girls directed at me. Worst of all, Black made no movement to come sit by me, as other people were doing for their own partners—and I wasn't going to be the one to get up.
"Now, get together with your partners and discuss your project. I want all of you to come up with your own individual methods of observing a particular teacher, and at the end, you must turn in a detailed report of your professor's personality, habits, and character, along with an assessment of yourself and how you plan to improve your sinful natures," McGonagall asserted. "You have the rest of the period to talk over this project. Once you have decided on a teacher to observe, come up to me. It is on a first-com-first-serve basis."
Great. Just dandy. I darted a quick glance towards Black, but he wasn't looking at me. He was lounging easily back in his seat, laughing with his friends with a wild abandon.
Lucky me. Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky. I was going to have to go over there.
'Well, duh,' Lexie twittered. 'Now get a move on.'
"Shut up," I muttered. "For once in your miserable life, just shut up, Lexie."
'I've been alive as long as you have.'
"Smartass," I shot back.
"Who are you talking to?"
"You, no duh," I responded rudely. Lexie merely sniggered at me. It took me several seconds to figure out that Lexie was sniggering at me because it hadn't been her that I had exchanged my last sentence with. Crap. I looked up, preparing myself for the worst. Yep, Black was standing there in all his cuteness, staring at me with a quizzical expression on his face.
I cringed.
"Sorry?" he said, obviously disconcerted by me.
"Uh... nothing," I covered up hastily. "So, uh, what do you think we should do for the project?"
Black stared at me as if I were crazy before taking a seat next to me. "I don't know."
There was an uncomfortable silence while I desperately searched for something to say. "Okay... how about we come up with a schedule first?" I blurted out the first thing that came into my mind. Grabbing several scrolls of parchment, I clumsily wrenched open my ink bottle and dipped my quill into it. Scribbling down the label, I jerked my head up towards Black, waiting expectantly.
Sirius Black was grinning at me!
Oh, wait, sorry. No, he was grinning at the girl behind me. I turned around and saw Zoë smiling and giggling from across the room. Her pretty blue eyes were alight with delight, and she flipped her hair back flirtatiously. She was the one that Black was grinning at.
I ducked my head down, embarrassed at my assumption that Black had been staring at me.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" Black's voice cut back into my mind again.
"We should make a schedule first," I muttered, letting a curtain of my brown hair fall forward to hide my face.
"What about deciding on a teacher to stalk first?" Black suggested whimsically. I fought the urge to slap him for making me look stupid.
"Okay," I agreed instead. "Which one would you like to study?"
"I dunno," he shrugged carelessly.
Well, we were certainly getting somewhere. "How about Professor Flitwick?" I suggested a bit timidly.
"Nah," he rejected, "he's too squeaky."
"Professor Gadgen?" I asked.
"He'll probably curse us," was Black's only acknowledgement.
"McGonagall?"
"I wouldn't want to catch her in her nightgown for anything."
"Vindictus?"
"You want him to be our role model? He's as spineless as a jellyfish!"
"Then you think of something!" I finally snapped. Immediately, I clapped my hands over my mouth and glanced sideways at Black to see if he took any offense.
'Come on, he didn't take too much of an offense when he thought you called him a smartass,' Lexie piped up.
"Shut up," I hissed at her.
"Excuse me?" Black interrupted my argument with... er, me.
"Uh..." I jerked up and stared at his dark eyes. "Uh..."
'Yeah, you are a regular Einstein,' Lexie snickered.
"That guy was talking too loud," I said wildly, pointing in a random direction while Black arched an eyebrow.
"Right... you do know that you're pointing at the wall, right?"
Great. Now Black thought that I was a deranged madwoman.
'It's better than being nothing, though, isn't it?' Lexie jeered. Man, I really hate the side of me that created her. She always badmouthed me like there was no tomorrow.
"So, what were you saying?" I hastened to say, twirling my quill between two of my fingers. It was a bad habit, but I couldn't stop. My quill was a special parchment-flavored lollipop on one end, so it provided the perfect weight so that I could twirl it very fast.
"We could do it on Kettleburn," he repeated. I sense a deep and rather bitter acceptance in his voice, as if he were resigning himself to work with a simpleton. I wanted to shout, "Hey, I'm as excited as you are about this project! And why Kettleburn?" I'll bet he was planning some sort of devious prank to play on the old man.
"Sure..." I nodded hurriedly, twirling my quill even faster.
'Brilliant response. Simply brilliant.' Lexie always chose the most convenient times to make fun of me. I had to get rid of her somehow.
"Let's go tell McGonagall, then," Black said, getting up from his eat with a casual elegance that I could never hope to achieve. I jerkily slammed my quill and pushed out of my seat so hard that I almost fell over. The only thing that saved me was the chair getting jammed into the crook of the desk.
Gritting my teeth, I extracted myself from the desk and hurriedly caught up to Black, who was already speaking to McGonagall.
"We've decided to do Kettleburn, Professor," Black said, smiling charmingly. Was he trying to hit on McGonagall? Oh, God.
"Professor Kettleburn, Mr. Black," McGonagall replied primly. "Sorry, he's already been chosen."
"Huh?" Black faltered. "Then what about Flitwick?"
"Taken."
"Folia?"
"Taken."
"Gadgen?"
"Taken."
"Vindictus?" I could tell that Black was getting desperate.
"Taken."
"Then who's left?"
Professor McGonagall smiled. It was not a very nice smile; it had more of the quality of a wildcat eyeing its prey. "Professor Delaney."
My jaw dropped. Delaney was a barmy old nutcase! Studying her.... It couldn't get any worse.
"Well, now you have your assigned teacher. Go ahead and start making plans," McGonagall advised. I swear I could hear a touch of sugary sweetness in her voice. Evil teachers.
Black blinked a few times before turning an interesting shade of puce. Then he jerked a bit and turned around, a funny look on his face. I had to stifle a little laugh at that oddly contorted expression coupled along with the color as we made our way back to our seats.
"So..." I began. "Now can we make a schedule?"
"Okay..." he replied.
Wow, this was a profound conversation.
I went back to twirling my quill as we both stared into space, an uncomfortable silence stretching between. This was completely out of character for Black. I had thought that he joked all the time and flirted with girls at any opportunity.
'Well, you aren't counted as a real girl, are you?' Lexie interjected. 'Where's your incredibly low-necklined shirt? And the tight, short skirt? And you have to be outgoing and flirty as well.'
"If being a girl is doing all that crap, then it's better off if I'm not," I muttered under my breath. I stole a quick glance at Black to make sure he hadn't heard me talking to Lexie yet again.
All the while, my quill twirled around my fingers with incredible speed, fueled by my nervousness. A single slip was all it took to make it fly out of my hand. With horror, I jerked my head around to follow the lollipop's progress through the air... and right smack dab into Sirius Black's silky black hair. His head jolted around as he felt the quill connect to with his head. And it stuck. Yes, my lollipop quill, the yummy paper-flavored one, had been flung right into Black's hair, where it was becoming tangled and stuck.
Horrified at myself, I quickly put my head back down, scrabbled for another quill, and began scribbling furiously on the parchment, flinging in whatever I knew about Professor Delaney, the Divination teacher. Out of the corner of my eye and through my protective curtain of hair, I watched as Black shot up in his seat like deer caught in headlights.
Biting my lips to keep from laughing out loud, I bent my head even lower down to the desk. Black was now giving James Potter the evil eye.
"Phgh...Hey, um, B-Black...?" I sputtered out in an effort to contain my laughter. As he turned his dark, intense gaze on me, I floundered around wildly for an actual question to ask. "Do you... do you... do you like... M-Moaning Myrtle?"
'IDIOT!' Lexie screamed. 'Of all the things you could have asked, you go and ask him if he likes MOANING MYRTLE??! Please! You are a shame! You are so horribly incompetent at improvising that I might have to start giving you lessons!'
"You're calling me the idiot?" I gasped indignantly. "You are me! That means that you can't improvise any more than I can! And you're going to give me lessons off that?"
Too late I realized that I had been a trifle loud. I clapped my hands over my mouth and stared back at Black, who was staring back at me, his eyes almost bugging out of his head and his mouth slack, obviously still reeling from the shock that I could even consider that he liked Moaning Myrtle.
"Hehe..." I laughed nervously. "About that... uh... uh...uh...uh..."
'Stop it with the 'uh's' already!' Lexie snapped after what seemed like an eternity of 'uh's.'
The bell rang.
Thank God! I was spared an answer by the bell, the regular gift from God. I quickly stuffed everything into my bag and departed at high speed, leaving an open-mouthed Sirius Black behind me. Once I was almost at the door, I glanced behind me, and the sight of Black looking so surprised and stoned with a lollipop quill stuck in his hair goaded me to run out of the classroom. I pounded along the hallways until I reached a little-used corridor. Collapsing on the ground, I panted for breath.
Then the laughter took over. Soon I was giggling, and then laughing uproariously, and then rolling around on the ground and pounding it with my fists.
Sirius Black—with a candy bar tangled in his hair!
ll----ll
Thank Merlin it's Sunday. I have a whole free day today to do whatever I want. Since I hadn't visited the owls lately, I decided to devote my whole morning to the Owlery. Digging out my trusty canvas from in my trunk, I exited the Ravenclaw common room confidently.
Whenever I visited the Owlery, I always had to bring my canvas cover for two major reasons. One, it protected me from the poop that sometimes fell without warning, and two, I had cast a camouflage spell on it so that people coming up wouldn't see me. I had figured that people might find it a bit disconcerting to find a girl kneeling under a canvas whistling in the Owlery. After the reaction of the first person who had caught me in the Owlery with my canvas cover before I had started spelling it to camouflage, I had no desire to see another reaction.
I climbed the long spiral staircase up to the Owlery. Happily closing the door behind me, I cooed a welcome to the owls, which all fluttered and hooted back at me.
Smiling gleefully, I chose a nice spot near the corner of the room, settled my canvas over my head and under my butt, and cast the camouflage spell over it. I bowed in my seat, imagining that I had just stepped into the middle of a stage, all the spotlights were trained on me, and a thunderous applause was ringing in my ears.
"Thank you, thank you!" I said to my audience. "And now, for my performance,"—another round of applause—"Sonata in C Major!" More heart-warming applause filled up the room. Closing me eyes—it was hard to imagine a grand stage filled with hundreds of people when I was looking at the wooden, poop-covered floor of the Owlery—I wet my lips and began to warble the Scooby Doo theme song. It wasn't a Sonata in C Major or anything like that, but who cares? I had gotten quite good at whistling over the years, if I do say so myself. At regular intervals, I added in several hoots, just for the owls.
With my eyes closed, I could lose myself in my imagination. I could almost see the people down in the audience, their faces lifted with enrapture at my riveting Scooby Doo version. One woman even had tears streaming down her face because of the emotion I put in.... With one last clear trill that held so sweetly it almost broke my audiences' hearts, I ended the song. Wild applause once again sounded in my ears, and I glowed with pleasure. The spotlights glared in my eyes, and I could hear cries of encore.
But then the lights faded and my audience melted away as quickly as fog dissipated under the sun, and I was left staring stupidly at the bare wooden wall opposite me. At least the owls were hooting more than usual. That could sort of be counted as applause....
Squashing down my disappointment that my audience shouting for encores was still only a dream, I wet my lips once again and cheeped out the first note to another song. Just then, the door to the Owlery banged open. Frightened out of my wits, I ducked my head under the canvas quickly, cursing myself for not hearing the footsteps. I had been too engrossed in my song.
Through a little hole in my canvas, I saw Sirius Black stride in through the open door, a look of confusion and suspicion on his face. Damnit. He had heard me whistling. Drawing myself into a tight ball and tucking the corners of my canvas in, I squinted at him, willing him to get out.
"Who's there?" he asked sharply. I sucked in my breath and tried to make as little noise as possible.
'Get out, get out, get out,' I prayed in my mind.
'He's not getting out!' Lexie whispered to me, and for the first time, she had a trace of panic in her voice.
'I know that,' I thought furiously. In fact, he was getting closer and closer. Too close. He walked around the room, and as he neared my corner, I tried to pull the canvas closer to my body.
He was almost on top of me! My heart nearly stopped when he looked straight at me. It started up again with a jerk when he looked away. Unconsciously, I breathed a sigh of relief.
'Idiot!' Lexie shrieked. 'How could you give us away?' Sirius jerked back around, his eyes narrowing, and this time I had the feeling that he could see me. He took one step nearer, and then another....
Wham! Sirius had tripped on my foot even with my desperate attempt to recoil it. And his face hadn't landed in the best place possible. In fact, it was at the moment smack-dab on the floor covered with the thickest layer owl droppings.
Horrified, I scrambled to my feet and started backing away, thanking my lucky stars that my canvas was long enough to cover my feet. But it was my canvas that was my downfall. It just had to go and make that horribly loud scraping noise! Sirius's head snapped up at the sound, his nose and forehead covered with bits of fresh bird dropping, and he leapt up, groping in my direction.
Damnit! Damn, damn, damn! His hand brushed against my canvas before I could back away, and he grabbed a corner! Stupid boy! He tugged the canvas right off me, and it was only my original grip on it that kept me from losing it. Gritting my teeth, I pulled on my canvas with all my might. I didn't want to lose it here! And what if he could do one of those spells that could trace things back to the owner??
Why hadn't I ever taken the time to work out and build some muscles? Why? Why? With one hard jerk, Sirius pulled the canvas out of my hands. One part of me was urging me to jump on him and wrestle it out of his hands, but then Lexie spoke.
'Get out of here, you halfwit! He hasn't seen your face yet! Just get out! You can get another freaking cover later!' she screeched. Without another look at Sirius, I turned on my heel and ran out the door, slamming it shut behind me.
'Quickly, get down the stairs!' Lexie shouted. I took two at a time. 'No, the stair rail! Honestly, haven't you been sliding for ages?'
"Right!" I replied before jumping onto the stair rails. Thank goodness Mr. Poo told me to wear sweat pants, or it would have been excruciatingly painful sliding down. After several seconds of hard riding, I neared the bottom. Because I was still shaking and quite dizzy and scared from my encounter, I didn't quite jump of the rail the right way, which resulted in... well, you get the picture.
"OW! Bloody hell!" I cursed quite loudly. For several seconds, I was unable to move, and I merely lay groaning on the ground.
'Get up!' Lexie urged. 'You think you're the only one who can slide down stair rails?'
"I'm in pain right now! Can you give me a few seconds?" I snarled back at her. But I did get up, heaven knows how, given the pain I was feeling at the moment, and hobbled back to the Ravenclaw common room. Once I clattered into the room and slammed the door shut behind me, I turned back to the people in the room. For the first time, they were actually looking at me.
I cringed. Too late I realized that I had made a noisier entrance than I usually had. But the students were looking at me with more than just mild annoyance at the noise. A little surprise and disbelief was also mixed in. Suddenly it struck me how I might look. My hair messy and disheveled, my clothes all in disarray, my breath short and panting, flushed red... With that thought, more blood rushed to my face, and I made a break for the girls' dormitories.
"I never would have thought she would..."
"Wait, who is she anyway?"
"...Rejected for sure..."
"...Probably out in the hallways, no less..."
"...With who...?"
"...only James Potter or Sirius Black would do something like that..."
"Her? Give me a break. She's no looker..."
"Malfoy! Duh!"
"Ugh... defiled... rest of life... don't touch..."
The gossip broke out as soon as I started up the stairs. Couldn't these people at least have the decency to wait until I was out of earshot? They could make up whatever they bloody wanted about me as long as they left me alone. I had learned that it didn't really matter what conclusions people drew about me. None of them knew the truth anyway, and if nobody wanted to bother asking me about the truth, then nobody deserved to know.
I opened the door to the seventh year girls' dorm. None of my roommates were in, since it was a Sunday. Glad for the time alone, I went directly to my bed and collapsed on it. Pulling the drapes closed, I reached under my folded blankets and pulled out Mr. Poo and Kusco. Even though they were severely beaten up after years of confiding in, I still loved them.
"Do you know what just happened?" I whispered confidentially to the both of them.
"No, what?" I replied for them. Staring into Kusco and Mr. Poo's black beady eyes, I smiled and started relaying the whole episode to them. I had nothing to worry about when talking to them. They wouldn't ever hurt me. Not ever.
'Maybe that's because they can't,' Lexie's said, her voice sinister and true.
"So?" I snapped at her.
'So they don't really count.'
"So what? They can count if I want them to."
'You're just lying to yourself, keeping yourself in the dark.'
"That's how I like it," I told Lexie. "You should know that."
'Yes, I think I should.' Lexie had an amused tone to her voice. 'I'm the one who has to deal with it all the time.'
"You're the one?" I snapped. "We're the same, or have you forgotten?"
'I wish I could have forgotten.'
"Shut up," I growled. And for once, she actually did. I turned my attention back to Mr. Poo and Kusco, exasperated at myself. Or was I exasperated at Lexie...? Well, either way, it was the same thing.
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A/N: PLEASE review! The more you guys review, the more I'll write, and then the quicker that chapters get posted!
