Author's Note/Warning: .:Enter Roman, stage 'one-step-to-the-left':. And now the story starts to get weird
Disclaimer: .:Le' sigh:. Deadly serious, I don't own Harry Potter in anyway, although I wish I did. Thomas is currently in posession of himself, and Roman still owns herself and me.
Rating: 'Tis still PG-13 .:Grins:.
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"Mummy, where are we going?" Nessa asked, happily skipping along at her mother's side.
Elena smiled – it was good to see that Nessa had forgotten all about her silly notion of another sister: that had been really strange!
"Well, hun, I'm taking you to a special sort of school, if you want to call it that. It's where you're going to begin your magical education," she explained to her daughter.
"Oh good!" Nessa exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Will I get to see Arness there?"
Elena laughed. "Maybe, if you lucky," she replied, "although I doubt it – your sister is further along than you are..."
Nessa smiled cheerily, and watched the building they were nearly ready to enter – she couldn't see anything special about it, but if her mother was taking her there, then it had to be something good!
Gently grabbing Nessa's hand, Elena muttered a few words under her breath and stepped through the doors. Nessa's eyes widened in surprise – they were standing in the middle of wide field, wild flowers swaying gently in the soft breeze. Not too far away was a group of children, all laughing and racing around.
Nessa followed her mother's lead, and began to head over to them, constantly looking around, her big eyes taking in as much as possible. As they neared the group, Nessa heard a voice call out, frustrated.
"Roman! Not again! How many times do I have to tell you not to hit Jeremy with your broomstick!?"
Nessa peered curiously around her mother and spotted a red-haired girl with a top hot perched carefully on her head standing in front of an incredibly frazzled looking woman.
"But I didn't do anything!" the girl was explaining earnestly, blinking innocently up at the woman. "It's not my fault he got in the way of my broom!"
The woman merely shook her head. "You don't fool me, Roman de la Croix!" she pronounced, and pointed at a spot a couple of metres away.
"I want you to sit over there, and don't move so much as an inch off that spot!"
The girl grinned cheekily and turned on her heel, flouncing over to the indicated spot and plopping unceremoniously onto the ground.
Nessa giggled, and quickly pressed her hands over her mouth, glancing up at her mouth to see if she'd noticed. Fortunately, they had just reached the frazzled woman, who was turning to greet them.
"Elena, my dear! It's been so long since I last saw you!" the woman called, embracing Elena.
Nessa's mother laughed.
"I know, Delia," she replied, pecking the other woman's cheek. "Now, I've brought you a new student, my little girl Nessa," she continued, reaching behind her and gently pulling Nessa to the front.
The woman knelt down in front of Nessa, smiling gently.
"It's nice to meet you at last, dear," she said kindly. "I'm your Aunt Delia."
Nessa looked at the woman in awe.
"You mean I have an auntie?"
Aunt Delia laughed.
"Of course you do, dear – I'm your mother's sister," she replied, gently folding Nessa into a hug.
The girl relaxed slowly, and impulsively kissed her Aunt on the cheek.
"It's nice to meet you, auntie," Nessa said shyly.
"You too, dear – now, why don't you run along and play for a bit, while I talk to your mother?"
Nessa nodded agreeably and began to scramble away.
"Isn't she a little darling?!" she heard her aunt say, but ignored it, eyes firmly fixed on the girl with the top hat who appeared to be waving a stick around.
"Hello," Nessa said shyly. "What are you doing?"
The girl looked up and grinned. "I stole your auntie's wand," she replied, obviously having followed the conversation. "I thought it'd be fun, but it won't do anything! I think it's broken..." She pouted slightly, and placed the wand onto the ground.
"Are you allowed to play with wands?!" Nessa asked, eyes wide – her mummy always said that she'd get her own one day, when she was old enough, but that she wasn't yet and must leave the wands alone.
The other girl laughed. "Of course I'm not," she replied, squinting up at Nessa. "But that's never stopped me before..." She grinned and patted the ground next to her.
She watched Nessa settled down before sticking out her hand. "I'm Roman," she introduced herself.
Nessa giggled. "I know – I heard Auntie telling you off before! I'm Nessa," she replied, holding out her own hand.
Roman grabbed hold of the offered hand, and began to examine it carefully. Nessa started giggling, slightly nervously.
"What are you doing?" she asked softly, watching Roman hold her hand an inch away from the other girl's nose.
Roman grinned and dropped Nessa's hand, now studying her face intently. "You know what, Nessie?" she said after a moment. "You've got a really cute nose...why are you wearing a skirt?" she asked suddenly.
Nessa blinked at her, confused. "Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" she asked nervously, smoothing her skirt with her hands.
Roman tilted her head and studied Nessa again. Suddenly, she burst out giggling. "Of course, I forgot you were new!" she managed in between giggles. "Most people learn pretty quickly not to wear skirts around me..." Roman looked positively devilish.
Nessa stood up and started to edge away slightly, looking a little worried. "Why? What do you do?" she asked, curious in spite of herself.
Roman hesitated for a moment and then shrugged. "Just remember, you asked for it," she warned Nessa, grinning and getting to her feet.
Stepping over to Nessa, she grasped the waist band of the skirt and hoisted it upwards, until it was barely long enough to cover anything. Whipping off her top hat, Roman produced a needle-and-thread, and quickly put a few stitches into the skirt, holding it in place. Taking a step back, she began to admire her handy work.
"Not bad," she mused, eyeing Nessa and grinning. "Not bad at all!"
Nessa took a quick step backwards and nervously toyed with her skirt, seeing if she could pull it a little lower.
"Umm...I can understand why skirts are a no-no around you, Roman," she said softly, looking up at the other girl a little shyly.
Roman grinned cheekily. "What's the matter, Nessa?" she teased lightly, seeming for all the world at least twice, if not three times her age. "You've got lovely legs!"
Nessa laughed gently. "You're a nutter, Roman," she replied quietly, blinking up at the girl.
Roman frowned lightly, and watched Nessa carefully.
"I don't scare you?" she asked, sounding confused. "You're not going to go running away, yelling for mummy?"
"Why would I do that?" Nessa asked in reply, looking a little confused herself.
Roman continued to watch Nessa, and a wide grin slowly began to form.
"Ness, my dear, you and I are going to get along famously!" she pronounced, smiling like the Cheshire Cat.
Nessa gave up on her skirt and flopped unceremoniously back onto the ground, smiling up at Roman.
"So, what do we do in this place anyway?" she asked.
Roman smirked and sat back down.
"We're here," she began pompously, "to learn the basics that any good little witch or wizard should learn."
"I could learn that at home," Nessa replied, wrinkling her nose and pulling a silly face.
Roman reached over and poked Nessa in the ribs.
"Don't do that – you're spoiling your looks!" she told her with a grin.
Nessa scrunched up her face some more, and was about to reply when she heard a screech from somewhere behind her, and hands began pulling her up.
"Roman, you horror!" her Aunt Delia was crying. "Can't I leave you alone for two seconds without you terrorising someone!?"
She reached into her robe for her wand, and froze when she couldn't find it.
"My wand! Where's my wand gone?!" she shrieked, letting go of Nessa and searching her robes frantically.
Nessa opened her mouth to tell her aunt, when she caught sight of Roman shaking her head. Quickly, she shut her mouth again before Aunt Delia could notice.
Suddenly, her aunt stopped her search and looked accusingly at Roman.
"It was you, wasn't it," she stated, eyes narrowing ominously.
Nessa piped up quickly.
"Honestly, Aunty, it just slipped out of your robes and landed over there," she told her, widening her eyes slightly and pointing at the wand. "I was going to tell you, but you were so busy talking to Mummy..." Nessa trailed off and pretended to look at the ground, actually peeping up at her aunt through her eyelashes.
"Oh! Oh well, in that case," her aunt blustered, grabbing her wand from the ground and patting Nessa reassuringly on the head.
"Don't fret, child – you didn't do anything wrong. Unlike others I could mention!"
Delia cast a dark look at Roman, who grinned impudently back at her, and turned back to Nessa, using her wand to cut through the stitches Roman had put in – or, at least, that was the idea.
"Damn it all!" Nessa's aunt exploded after trying for ten minutes to cut the threads. "I don't know what you've done to them, Roman de la Croix, but by Merlin if you do this again..."
Aunt Delia left the threat hanging, and stalked off, yelling at young witches and wizards left and right.
Nessa held onto her meek pose for a few more moments, just to make certain that her aunt was gone, and then she lifted her head and grinned at Roman.
"How was that?"
Roman blinked.
"Well! You certainly had me fooled!" she exclaimed, looking delighted. "Where have you been all those other times when I needed a hand?" she asked, grinning slightly.
Nessa giggled.
"So, now what do we do?" she asked Roman, starting to feel a little bored.
Roman glanced at Nessa, examining her again, and grinned mischievously.
"Now we go find Jeremy, and see what he's up to," Roman said, leaping to her feet and grabbing hold of Nessa's hand.
"Oh, Jeremy!" Roman called in a sing-song voice. "Where are you?"
She winked at Nessa as they both heard a groan from somewhere to their right.
"Not again, Roman," a boy's voice whined. "You don't want Miss Delia finding out!"
Roman chuckled softly, sneaking around to where she thought the boy was hiding.
"Ah, but Jeremy, I have had some luck," she replied, grinning almost maniacally. "I've made a new friend, and she just happens to be Miss Delia's niece..."
She pressed her finger against her lips, indicating to Nessa to be silent for a moment.
"Aw, that's not fair!" Jeremy whined, from almost directly in front of them.
Nessa grinned, and carefully slipped her hand out from Roman's, sidling off to the other side of the tree. Roman nodded approvingly, and then said, "Of course it isn't!"
With that, she pounced around the trunk and began chasing Jeremy, laughing madly.
Nessa giggled and chased after them – and so the first day at school was spent, Nessa with a mightily shortened skirt, Roman happy and Jeremy...well, he wasn't the happiest little boy that day.
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