By Adaia Swordmaiden
Disclaimer: …damn copyright…
Chapter 5: The letter and Slughorn
Dear Guinivere,
How are you? I miss you so much and I'm sorry that I haven't written up until now. Your uncle has sent some Auror friends of his to help me ward the house against every possible attack and it has taken quite a while.
Ralline is fine. She is always coming to shore to ask if you are home yet. She misses you very much but understands your condition. But I'm afraid I haven't seen Rien lately. Ralline says to tell you that he's disappeared but not to worry as he knows about your situation and is probably 'off messing with the fishing boats'. No, I don't want to know.
I have heard from Albus that there are merpeople in the Hogwarts lake. Maybe you could make friends with them?
Cochiti came back on Wednesday - she came over to see if you were home and I had to tell her that you'd gone off to-
Sirius slammed the letter face down on the table-top, cursing himself. It was Guinivere's letter and he had no right to read it. He scrunched it up and stuffed it in his pocket before getting up and leaving the library.
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"Guin? Come on - at least if you're not gonna tell me what's going on, tell me how you do a Binding Charm as well as this. Maybe it'll work on Potter's mouth." Lily tried again to pull open the curtains and, to her surprise, they did come apart. She saw Guinivere sitting on her bed, wand out. She looked tired and upset. Lily saw the jewellery box that usually was on the other girl's dresser in her lap.
"Might as well sit down," Guinivere said, gesturing next to her. Lily sat.
"Now what's the problem?" she asked. Guinivere shook her head.
"Nothing," she murmured. Lily sighed in exasperation and the two girls were silent. Then- "This was my mothers." Lily looked at the jewellery box which Guinivere had just opened. The contents lay in shadow but, as Guinivere shifted, light glimmered off something inside. Guinivere reached in and pulled out a wooden-bead necklace. The beads were painted teal, dark blue, sky blue and apple green. "A friend of mine made this for me," she said. "His name was Rien. He was always making me little presents."
"Oooh," Lily teased lightly. Guinivere smiled.
"Nah, I didn't like him like that," she said. "That would be too weird." She laughed softly. "Weirder than you know." The last part was under her breath. Lily heard but didn't take much notice.
"It's really pretty," Lily murmured absentmindedly, picking up the other end of the necklace and rubbing one of the beads. Then she let go and Guinivere dropped the necklace back into the box and shuffled around the small box until she brought out another necklace. This one seemed to be made of-
"Sea animal teeth," Guinivere commented, fingering the largest tooth. "Porpoise teeth. Shark teeth. Dolphin teeth. This one's a shark tooth. From a Great White in Australia."
"Wow!" Lily exclaimed. Guinivere smiled.
"My mother loved the sea," she said, letting Lily hold the tooth necklace as she stared off out the window next to her bed. "The necklace was hers. She travelled all over the world and she'd find a tooth of some sea animal from each one and add it to this necklace." Lily looked at her but Guinivere seemed unaware that the red-head was still there. "I've only had three friends," Guinivere said suddenly. "No-one else could understand me. All of us were different. Rien, Charlie, Rallie and Guin. Everyone thought that I only had Charlie. Rien and Rallie…" She sighed and shook her head. "They didn't even know that they existed."
"Guinivere?" The two girls jumped at Sirius' call. Guinivere looked towards the stairs. Then she got up and silently walked towards to the stairs. She jogged down and stopped a few stairs from the bottom, where Sirius stood. He looked slightly apprehensive.
"What?" she asked aggressively. Lily, just behind her, frowned at Sirius. But Sirius wasn't deterred. He brought out a scrunched-up piece of parchment from his pocket. Guinivere froze.
"You left this behind in the library," he said, holding the parchment out. "I only read the first few lines. But nothing else. I stopped when I realised what it was." Guinivere tentatively reached out and took the parchment.
"Thanks for giving it back," she replied softly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just- It wasn't good news." She forced a smile and turned, dashing back up the stairs. Lily scowled at Sirius as she came down into the common-room.
"What happened in the library, Black?" she demanded. Sirius shrugged.
"I ran into her there and said the wrong thing," he said carelessly, looking surer of himself. "She got really mad and yelled at me."
"What was that parchment?" Lily's tone was softer and more curious.
"A letter. I think one of her friends back wherever her home was has disappeared."
"What was the name of the friend?"
"Rien, I think." Lily frowned.
"Thanks," she said slowly, turning and heading back up the stairs. Sirius stared after her, confused.
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Guinivere rushed into the classroom.
"Sorry I'm late," she said quickly.
"Never mind, Miss Adair." Guinivere looked for the first time at the man at the front of the class room. Looking slightly amused was a fat, nearly bald man wearing expensive-looking robes over an embroidered waistcoat. "Take your seat."
"Uh, who're you?" she suddenly blurted out. "What happened to Professor Gordie?" The man chuckled and some of the class sniggered.
"I am Professor Slughorn," he said. "Professor Gordie was only a substitute teacher while I was still on holidays in Bali. Lovely place, even if it is infested with nagas. Now please, take your seat." Guinivere blushed and hurried to her seat next to Lily, muttering something that sounded like an apology.
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"Miss Evans, Mr Black, Mr Longbottom, Miss Sutton and Miss Adair, could you please wait?" Slughorn said called over the noise of everyone packing up only moments after the bell had rang. Guinivere looked puzzled but the others didn't. The rest of the class filed out and the five students that stayed behind went to the front of the classroom. Frank Longbottom was a tall, confident-looking boy with short, dark brown hair, dark blue eyes and a long face. Alice Sutton was round-faced with long, curly blonde hair and hazel eyes. Slughorn beamed at them. "I'm holding a little party tomorrow night in my office. I'll be telling all about my holiday in Bali, if you're interested." Without waiting for an answer he waved his hand dismissively at them and turned back to his desk, gathering together papers. "Off with you all now." Guinivere was about to ask something but Lily grabbed her arm and dragged her off. Alice followed them.
"We'll explain about the Slug Club later," Lily said and, letting go of Guinivere's arm, the three hurried out of the dungeons to dinner.
"Why are we hurrying?" Guinivere asked.
"Because Potter and his friends are planning something for at the end of dinner," Lily said. "I overheard them talking during Potions. And we don't want to get caught in the middle of it, whatever it is."
A/N: once again, so sorry not to have updated in ages. My family and I are now in Thailand again (having been in Australia) and it's been nigh impossible to get on the computer. Anyway, on with the reviewing of the reviews! Lol
elise bentwin: as usual, thanks for reviewing. Heh, nothing else to say really :hands cookie:
Hippielover459: Sorry about the cliffies. But they're so fun! Heh :hands cookie: