Chapter 9 – A day in Hogsmeade
Mariana woke up earlier in the morning. She looked around and saw the sun shining pleasantly and she decided to get up and take a shower. When she returned from the bathroom, already dressed, she found Lavender awake, too. Hermione, Parvati and Julianne (their other roommates) were still asleep.
"Hi. Such a beautiful morning, isn't it?" Mariana greeted Lavender. She nodded.
"It is. Actually, I think I'll go for a walk before breakfast. Don't you want to go with me?" she asks Mariana. Ana agreed, so both of them quietly left the dormitory and slowly headed outside.
They didn't meet many students, most of them were still asleep. When they reached the Entrance Hall, Lavender stopped.
"Oh no, I've forgotten my sweater and it seems cold outside. Would you mind if I go back and take it?"
"Not at all, just hurry!" Mariana told her and she turned around and hurried back.
Mariana looked around and decided to inspect closely the painting that hung on the wall.
"Hey, isn't she that new girl?" she heard someone say. "Of course, the one that hangs out with that Potter and others," said another voice. She turned around and spotted two girls standing in the middle of the hall and staring at her.
"You are Mariana Summers, right?" asked one of them.
"Yes, that's me," Mariana answered.
"I'm Pansy Parkinson and this is Milicent Bulstrode," the girl added. Mariana saw that they were wearing silver-green Slytherin ties and wondered why they were talking to her. 'This is strange, Slytherin students usually do not talk to Gryffindor ones, and I don't even know these girls…although they surely seem a bit familiar. I must've seen them somewhere before,' she thought.
The girl named Pansy continued: "We saw you with Potter, Granger and Weasley and we really think you could do much better than that," she said. "We could be your friends," Pansy said smugly, clearly thinking what a great offer had she just made.
Ana decided that she really didn't like this girl's attitude. „No thanks, I already have friends, and they're great," she refused Pansy's offer, which made Pansy angry. „Well, stay with the losers, if you want. But you'll see you made a mistake," she said threateningly.
„They aren't losers, in fact, I think you are," Mariana talked back, because Pansy upset her greatly with her stupid act.
„How dare you," Pansy yelled and pointed her wand at poor Ana. Before she had time to pull out her wand or do anything, Pansy said some spell and a streak of blue light came out of her wand, aiming right at Mariana. Ana knew she should jump aside and avoid it, but somehow she felt like stuck in that place.
In the last moment she felt someone grab her arm and pull her out of the way of the spell. It crashed into the wall nearby and simply disappeared. Mariana looked at her savior and saw it was a handsome boy around her age, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He stood now in front of her, shielding her from Pansy and her wand.
"Leave her alone, Parkinson," he said menacingly. Pansy frowned, but slowly lowered her wand down and threw Mariana one last glare before leaving. The other Slytherin girl, Milicent Bulstrode, who had been only watching until then, followed her.
The boy turned to face Mariana. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said. "Thank you for helping me."
"No problem," he smiled. "I'm Alex Brown."
"I'm Mariana Summers, nice to meet you." Then an idea occured to her. "You said your name was Alex Brown? Aren't you by chance related to Lavender Brown?" He smiled again.
"She's my sister. Why do you ask? Do you know her?" Mariana nodded.
"Yes, she is my classmate. We're both in the same year in Gryffindor."
"I'm in Ravenclaw, in fifth year." Right at that moment they heard someone running down the stairs and in the next second Lavender appeared.
"I'm sorry it took so long," she started saying, "but I was-" Then she stopped when she noticed Alex. "Oh, morning, brother," she greeted him. "What are you doing here?" Before he had the time to answer, Mariana did instead: "Well, some Slytherin girls wanted to bully me, but Alex helped me," she explained.
"Some Slyherins bullied you? I'm so sorry for leaving you here," Lavender apologized.
"It's not your fault, really. They were just stupid. Shall we go now?" Mariana asked and Lavender nodded. Ana thanked Alex once again and then she and Lavender left the school. They took a walk around the lake for a while and then went back to their dorm. When they returned, other girls were awake too and it was time for breakfast.
Hermione and Mariana met Harry and Ron in the common room and went to the Great Hall for breakfast together. When they came, Mariana's eyes wandered to the Ravenclaw table and she saw that Alex was already there. He saw her looking at him and smiled at her. She smiled too and waved, then started eating her breakfast. Ron frowned at Alex but Mariana didn't notice.
After the breakfast they went to their classes, then lunch and classes again. Nothing particularly interesting happened that day. When they finally returned to their common room there was a new post on the notice board. It said that there would be a trip to Hogsmeade on next Saturday. When the students saw that, all of them were glad, and Mariana was curious what it would be like. Of course, her friends had already told her about Hogsmeade, and quite a lot, but seeing it personally must be much better.
Next day was Wednesday, and when Mariana came to the Transfiguration class that they shared with Ravenclaw students, she saw that Nami was there. She had been obviously let out of the hospital, so her leg must have been okay. Nami greeted all of them nicely, and then started talking to Ron, who sat next to her.
At that moment Mariana remembered their dialogue in the hospital that she had accidentally overheard and got a weird feeling. What if Ron really liked Nami? What if he liked her more than Mariana?
"Mariana? Mariana!" Hermione nudged her in the elbow.
"Yes? I'm listening to you now," Ana turned to her.
"I just asked if you were okay, you know…you seemed a bit…sad," Hermy said with a worried look.
"Oh really? Did I?" Mariana said in a fake curiosity and forced herself to smile. She didn't want others to know about her feelings, not even Hermione. "No, it's okay. I just thought about Hogsmeade… I'm really curious what it's going to be like," she made up an excuse for spacing out.
"Well, there's a lot of interesting places, I'm sure you'll like it," Hermy said, looking a bit relieved that Mariana was okay. Ana wanted to reply something, but right then Professor McGonagall came and the lesson started.
Days came and days went, and before any of the students knew it, Saturday came too. Ana was really looking forward going to Hogsmeade with her friends. Finally, after breakfast, the long awaited event was there. Students gathered in the Entrance Hall and in small or bigger groups set off for the village. Mariana waited for Ron, Hermione and Harry and went with them. After a while, they reach their destination and she asked: "So where will we go first?"
"Oh, I must buy some new quills," Hermione announced, "and maybe also few rolls of parchment, and-" Before she could end the sentence, there was a distraction in the form of a girl from Ravenclaw, a girl with a green eyes, a girl that Mariana liked less and less everytime she saw her.
"Hello there! So how do you like Hogsmeade? I'm here for the first time and I can't wait to see everything!" Exclaimed Nami merrily.
"We just came," Ana answered coolly. Nami didn't seem to mind her distant act, and talked further.
"Oh really? I've been here for a while already, and I totally love what I've seen. Have you ever been to Ms. Pudifoot's Teashop, Ron? No? You simply must go there, it's great. Don't you wan to come with me?" She said it all in one breath.
"Uhm…okay," said Ron, obviously caught of guard, not expecting something like that. Nami snatched his hand and pulled him in the direction of the teashop; leaving Mariana, Harry and Hermione standing there. Ana blinked, then decided not to comment it. That girl sure was annoying.
"So where are we going now?" she ask once again.
"Well, we could go to the Three Broomsticks, I'm kind of thirsty," Harry suggested, and Hermione and Mariana agreed. However when they entered the inn, it seemed to be full.
"Oh, it seems there's no free place to sit left," said Harry.
"Look, there's one free table… well, almost," Hermione pointed to a table where a boy with brown hair sat. "We could go sit there," she meant.
Mariana looked that way and immediately recognized him. "That's Alex Brown, Lavender's brother," she said automatically.
"Oh you know him? I didn't think you would, being only few months here," Hermione wondered.
"Actually, I only got to know him few days before," Ana explained, "when some Slytherin girls wanted to jinx me and he helped me…" she stopped there, afraid of their reaction to this piece of information.
"What? Some Slytherins wanted to hex you?" Harry was taken aback. "Why didn't you tell us? Was it Malfoy's work?"
"Calm down, Harry, I said they were Slytherin girls…and no, he wasn't even around," Mariana told him.
"Okay, let's go sit, you can talk later," Hermione decided to end their little dialogue. "Hi Alex, can we sit down?" She asked.
"Sure," he said and smiled. "Hello, Harry, Mariana," he greeted then.
"Hi," Ana and Harry said at once. They then all ordered drinks, talked a little, and Hermione told Mariana about Ron having a crush on Madam Rosmerta once and they laughed at how funny that was.
Then they decided to go outside and look around some shops. Hermione, being the nice considerate girl she is, invited Alex to go with them, since he had sat there alone and he agreed. When they came outside, Harry spotted Cho Chang, standing alone in front of some shop and decided to go and talk to her. Suddenly Hermione remembered she had forgot to buy her quills and parchment rolls, and ran off, leaving Mariana and Alex alone.
"So it seems they all found something better to do," Mariana said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Hermione will be back soon," Alex told her with a reassuring smile and suddenly she didn't mind that much that her friends left her there. "I think you haven't been in Hogsmeade before, have you?" She shook her head no. "Would you like me to show you around?"
"That would be nice," she lightened up. So the two of them walked along the main street, and he told her names of the shops, and what they were selling. When something caught their attention they went inside the shop and looked at what they had there. They also passed by the Madam Pudifoot's Teashop, but Mariana was having such a good time that she didn't even remember Ron and Nami were supposedly in there.
The day passed faster than they would have thought and it was time to go back. Ana and Alex looked for her friends – Harry, Ron and Hermione, but neither one of them was to be found, so they decided to go back together. They had a really nice and interesting conversation while walking to Hogwarts, and got to know each other much better.
When they reached Hogwarts, Mariana saw some Hufflepuffs standing in front of the castle, but there was no sign of her friends. 'I bet they're already in the common room,' she thought. 'Or more probably, at the dinner,' she noticed it was a dinner time.
"Why don't we go to the Great Hall for dinner right now?" she said to Alex. "I'm kind of hungry."
"Fine," he answered and they made their way to the Great Hall, not expecting the shocking surprise that awaits them there. Alex, being the gentleman he is, held the door open for Mariana and she walked inside. Naturally, she turned to the Gryffindor table, where she had always sat, but then she noticed it.
Hermione, reading a book. Harry, talking to Seamus and Dean. Ron, eating his pancakes and smiling at the girl next to him. At the girl who really got on her nerves. At the girl who sat in her place.
She stopped, not knowing what to do. Alex saw that she felt uneasy, although he didn't know why. He just offered her to sit with him and his friends at the Ravenclaw table, and she gladly accepted. Not giving Ron and Nami another look, Mariana waved to Hermione and Harry who looked at her with a surprise as she went to the Ravenclaw table and sat opposite to Alex.
Ron wa looking after her slightly puzzled. "Why won't Mariana sit with us? And who's that?" He asked confused. "That's my brother," Lavender joined the conversation. "Maybe she likes him," Harry wondered out loud. "That would be nice," Lavender giggled. Hermione only smiled knowingly, but said nothing.
The dinner ended eventually and Mariana and Alex got out the Great Hall, both ready to go to their common rooms. There was a short silence and Ana felt like she should say something just to break it, so it wouldn't become an awkward silence.
"Well," she started, "thank you for showing me Hogsmeade. I had a great time…" she trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Alex looked at her and smiled and she couldn't help but think how handsome he was.
"It was my pleasure. Thank you for keeping me company for the whole day." He leaned closer to her and kissed her on the cheek. "Goodnight, Mariana," he smiled once again before leaving.
"Goodnight, Alex," Mariana whispered, touching her cheek lightly, smiling.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Hm…so, it's been a while, my dear readers…a little more than a year, I think…
READERS: armed with a variety of dangerous weapons, glare at the authoress, ready to kill that's right, you left us without updating for a whole year!
ME: scared look Uh, I'm sorry? I mean, like, really really sorry?
READERS: We don't think that will help…Prepare for your death!
ME: I won't go down without a fight! pulls out a pen
READERS: soo lame….
ME: weeps nooo, my readers just called me lame… depressed for the rest of her life
Well, anyway, it took really long, but another chapter is done…and I'm goint to start chapter 10 soon, but I'd like to update some other stories first…And I'd like to know what do you think about this chapter? It's got a new character, Alex Brown He's Lavender's brother which I made up ( I don't think she's got a brother in the book, and if she does, I just forgot it. Sorry). Do you like him? I think Mariana does…hehe….We'll see what happens next. Thanx for reading this all, bye