A/N: Well there! Polly want an update? Yay! Let's bring out the chips and crank up some tunes. It's reading time! Sorry for the delay for this chapter. I've been….preoccupied (on a cruise!).
Chapter Ten: Helena's Listful Choice
Harry paced the tiny space between his bed and Ron's bed, rubbing his temples. He ignored the poundings of Ron and Neville outside the dorm, trying to get Harry to let them in to "talk".
It was around eleven at night on a Monday; a few days after he broke things off with Helena. Those few days were like hell for everyone—well, almost.
Their circle of friendship broke. Helena clung to Hermione and Cassandra like a frightened girl at Chuck E. Cheese. Harry and Ron stuck together like the two amigos they were—are. Well, sort of.
Harry, being Mr. Moody again, wouldn't really talk to anyone, save for grunts and moans. He would go to class and eat almost one meal a day. After classes were done, he would lock himself in his dorm, leaving his poor roommates to sleep outside in the common room unless they could break his genius lock spell.
Helena was quite the opposite. She was as bright and chipper as ever. She didn't eat a lot but that was acceptable; she was a self-conscious teenage girl. The only difference was she wore better everything—clothes under her robes, make-up, jewelry, and very sexy hair styles that made Harry's heart beat with sorrowful pain every time he thought about her.
Bad Harry. Don't think about He—that bitch of a witch. She is nothing but a vomit flavored Bertie Bots' Every Flavored Bean that was chewed up and spat in a pile of doggie dung. She cheated on you and probably slept most guys at this school. Harry's eyes pricked with oncoming tears. He rubbed his sleeve against his eyes. He stopped pacing and collapsed on his bed with a heavy thunk.
How was he ever going to get over her?
Harry sighed and reached under his bed for a box. As he brought it from under, he sat up. Slowly opening the box, he smiled.
With a flick of his wand, a blank canvas appeared. He took some painting materials from the box and began to paint in black and red.
Helena sighed from the chair she was lounging on in the quiet common room. She was "reviewing notes" for a potions exam the next day.
Cassandra, who was sitting on the floor facing her brown haired friend working a Care of Magical Creatures paper, raised a thin black eyebrow. "Something amiss?"
"Yes, I can't seem to sort out my life. It's like a train wreck!" She sighed again, dramatically.
A loud plop of books crashing down made the two young women look up.
It was Hermione holding two large books with several other just as large books scattered about her of the floor. She groaned and bent down to pick them up just as someone pushed her from behind.
The rest of her books went flying and she fell face first into the luckily carpeted floor.
"SHIT!" she roared as she got up and dusted herself off. "Whoever did that is so going to hell when I'm done killing them!"
"Bad day, Mione?" Helena asked as she and Cassandra scampered to help their frizzy haired friend.
"Thanks guys." They nodded. "I think everyone is out to get me. My life's like a train wreck or something!"
Helena raised a hand. "I hear ya sister. Say no more. Say no more."
"Care to explain your mess?" Cassandra offered to Miss Granger.
The three sighed in unison as they sat down.
Hermione finally gave in after a few moments hesitation. "Why not? It's not like it's a big secret or anything."
"Go on," Helena urged.
"It's because of YOU!" Hermione pointed a finger to the purple eyed witch. "You are the cause of this whole mess. I want things back the way they were before. I want to hang with Harry and Ron again. I want everything to be fine; like they were before you cheated on Harry for like ten others!"
Helena bit her lip.
"Can I say something?" Cassandra asked meekly.
"NO!" Hermione shouted. Then she turned back to Helena. "You're such a conceited bitch! YOU BLOODY WHORE!"
Helena sobbed quietly.
"Shut up, both of you!" Cassandra yelled as she threw down her quill. "You two are acting like babies. What are you? Two? Three? I even think Arabella acted more mature than you! I can't help you with that. But I can help you stop fighting. I'm going upstairs, and you two are going to talk this out; like civilized adults. NOW!"
True to her word, Cassandra grabbed her things and jogged up the stairs.
The remaining two witches glanced at each other. Hermione's toffee eyes gleamed fierce with emotion while Helena's purple were speckled with left over sadness.
The toffee eyes faded into a less, yet stronger, emotion: regret.
"Oh Helena! I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean what I said. It was perfectly horrid of me. Please forgive me!" Hermione begged.
Helena smiled sadly. "Of course, but you were right. I am a whore, sometimes. I need to stick with one guy, but I never can. There's so many to choose from!"
"You should make a list," Hermione the Wise advised.
Helena's eyes glittered. "What a nifty idea!" She grabbed a sheet of parchment and started writing.
After about twenty minutes later, she finished.
"Done!" she squealed in over excitement. She handed the papers over to Hermione.
"Good, but does this list really need to be seven pages long?"
"Er, it's hard to choose," Helena replied, defensively.
"Tell you what, since I'm being generous with my kindness, I'll cross off names of boys who aren't the best."
Helena nodded vigorously.
Hermione began to cross off names.
After seven minutes, she looked up. "Why is Malfoy on your list?"
Helena shrugged. "I think he's kind of cute. I sorta dig that mysterious man/ bad boy tune he plays. It's very attractive."
Hermione just smiled and went back to her work.
Ron looked at Neville. They were both leaning against the door leading into their dorm. "I wonder what he's doing in there. He's awful quiet."
Neville shrugged. "He could be stuffing himself with cheese and crackers. Or maybe he's getting pissed. I bet he's hiding a whole case of fire whiskey under his bed."
Just like Neville, always thinking about food and beer. Ron thought. Out loud he said, "There's only one way to find out." He joggled the door handle. To both their surprise, it opened.
"Whee," whispered Neville.
The two boys peeked inside and both of them gasped at what they saw.
Harry was inside painting a picture of what looked like a black and red battle scene. At least, that's what it looked like to Ron. Harry obviously wasn't the best painter on the block.
"Er, Harry mate. Why the bloody hell are you doing?" Ron asked.
"Nothing," Harry spat through gritted teeth. He tossed down his painting supplies.
"It looks like a monkey holding a loofa dog while riding a llama," Neville said as he peered closer.
"Go away," Harry moaned.
Not wanting to risk his head being chopped off, Neville did as he was told.
Once the chubby boy was gone, Ron turned to Harry. "Why the sudden interest?" He gestured to Harry's disappearing canvas.
"Nothing."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No,"
"Remember mate, I'm here for you."
"Yeah, I know—Hey look over there!"
"Where?" Ron asked stupidly, looking around. He turned back and Harry was gone. "Hey, where did ya go?"
There was no answer.
"Ok, I'm finished," Hermione said triumphantly, holding up one sheet of parchment with about eleven lines written on it.
Helena eyed the paper. "With your homework? Gosh, Mione, that only took you about three f'n hours to complete!" The sarcasm oozed off of her voice like an unpleasant odor.
"Don't be such a bitch. I'm doing this for you." She pointed to the paper and gave Helena a disgusted look. "Besides, it only took me twenty-three minutes to do my homework today, thank you very much. Unlike you, who hasn't even started hers."
"Whatever." Helena started examining her nails, acting as if the list was of little importance to her. "Just let me glance at the list.
Hermione rolled her eyes and handed over the paper.
Helena squealed and grabbed the list like a little girl on a sugar high. She read the choices out loud.
"'Hermione's Top Ten Guy List For Helena:
Billy Nelson- seventh year Gryffindor
Charlie Holler- seventh year Hufflepuff
David Meisterling- sixth year Hufflepuff
Jason Tai- seventh year Ravenclaw
Draco Malfoy- sixth year Slytherin' Mione, why is he in here?"
"He's cute, remember what you said before?" Hermione said, not meeting Helena's eye. "Just keep reading."
"Right-o. Ok, reading on,
'6. Harry Potter- sixth year Gryffindor' Sorry to burst your bubble, but N O!
'7. Ace Delmorce- sixth year Slytherin
8. Fabio Delano- seventh year Ravenclaw' Doesn't 'Fabio Delano' mean 'Bean farmer of the night' in some language? Latin maybe? Whatever. Moving on,
'9. Logan Drake- fifth year Hufflepuff
10. Adam Hornblower- seventh year Slytherin.' Wow Hermione, you out-did yourself!"
Hermione did a small bow from her seat.
"Now who to choose?"
Hermione smacked her forehead.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Cassandra sat on the windowsill, legs straddling either side of it. Her gaze drifted from the grounds to the vast nighttime sky. The stars were numerous. Each star seemed to capture the thoughts and wishes of the living as they twinkled their merry brightness.
Without knowing, she said out lout, "I wish for someone to talk to who isn't involved in this mess."
As if on cue, a piece of parchment popped onto Cassandra's lap.
Did ya miss me?
She smiled at the now familiar—yet unknown—handwriting of her anonymous friend.
She got down from the window and scrabbled for writing materials. She sighed with relief when she found a broken in two pencil(s). At least it's sharpened, she thought as she picked up on of the pieces and began to write.
Of course, you little wombat!
The regular pop filled her with comfort that someone cared for her.
Good. I wanted to ask you something. Do you consider us friends?
Yes, but to answer that better, I have a quote from Marlene Dietrich that I found when I was looking for a pencil. "It's the friends you can call up at four am that matter." To be frank, I've called upon you—or you me—at all hours of the day. So there.
That was so sweet. I feel so loved. Don't you love me?
Cassandra frowned as she read the last bit. She clamped her bottom lip between her teeth and wrote. Please, let's not talk about love. I'm having enough problems with that subject at the moment.
Care to explain? Remember, I'm no clairvoyant.
Clairvoyant, Cassandra thought. Where have I heard that before?
Just having troubles with Helena, she wrote.
You mean Helena Rye? Man, she's one of the best kissers on this side of Europe.
Not you too!
What?
She's been having trouble staying with one guy. And Harry found out and he dumped her. Now he's Mr. Moody—not Mad Eye—again.
I'm…sorry to hear/read that.
Do you know what time it is?
Nice way to change the subject.
Thanks, I couldn't think of a better one at the moment.
It's about three-ish.
Really? No wonder I'm practically falling asleep. Goodnight. I'll be seeing you, even thought I won't know who you are.
Goodnight my midnight queen.
The note popped into a cloud of smoke and ashes.
Cassandra stared at the remains.
Clairvoyant…
Harry balled his hands into fists. "Damn," he muttered as he stepped on owl poo.
He was outside his dorm and was slowly walking away from the window he climbed out of to a little niche in a corner.
The niche was small but big enough for a sixteen-year-old boy to sit cross legged without hitting his head on the ceiling. It was completely made of stone and very cold. Some of it was chiseled with names like H.G. and D.M 4 Ever and Will you marry me Lily? –J.P. Yes J.P. –Lily. One particular piece was chipped away so it looked like a little shelf. It acted like one too. It held a knife about the length of Harry's hand.
Harry slowly lifted the knife from its nook. He gulped as he anticipated pain and took the knife to his wrist. He slowly slit zigzag lines in his arms. He gasped as pain streamed from his arms to his chest, just as the knife did. Blood dripped from the wounds.
"Mione, I've got it! I've got it!" Helena shrieked as she jumped out of her chair, knocking it over. It landed softly on the floor.
"Got what? Mail?"
"No, I figured out who I will go out with!" She was jumping up and down like a kangaroo.
"Well, who's the lucky guy?"
"It rhymes with guy. It's none other than that totally sexy Asian, seventh year Ravenclaw, Jason Tai!"
"Good choice. Now how do you attempt to get him?" Hermione smiled smugly.
Helena just laughed wickedly.
A/N: Yay, be proud of me. I actually updated. I'll not be updating again for a couple of weeks because I have to be a counselor at two different camps. One for pre-teens and one for children preschool through I think it's fifth grade. Oh goodie. I know I risk sounding like Scarlett O'Hara, but I'll worry about it tomorrow Mammy.
Now it is time for my wonderful reviewers:
Trojan Cheese: NO MORE KELLEY! Good news, she's dead! The witch of the West is dead. Ok, I'd go on but I must scare the other peeps out there!
Umm, nice Dussel. That was special. Hey, I watched that movie. It was good but Mrs. Van Pels didn't scream like I had too. So disappointing. /sighs/
Saxifrage: But…but…but…brainwashing is fun! You know just how to make me mad. I shall now be made for however long it takes you to read this response to your review. Yes, I really do think Cassandra needs new friends SO WAIT TWO CHAPTERS! Gosh.
Yes, I don't really like Ron all that much. He's creepy. I think I should make him die. Jk!
Sorry but the drama keeps on comma—er—coming for the next couple of chapters. Just so you know, I don't think Harry and Helena will ever get back together.
Sorry Loofamin wasn't in this chapter. He won't be for a couple more. Or Dawn either. Oh tacky mushrooms!
Can I have all three Muses? PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAZZZZZ?
You suck.
Oh, as you know I'm writing that play/script thingy. If you have any ideas on it, just lets me knows.
Talula Bell: Maybe. You'll see about Ron later. Maybe even Draco. Did you get of my hints in this chappie about…certain stuff?
To everyone else out there: PLEASE REVIEW. If you do, I'll grant you one wish. Well, not really but ok.
Please leave your feedback. Any kind of help is appreciated.
Till we meet again,
S.S.
