Chapter twenty-two: Andrew's Stalker
As they had spent most of their Christmas holidays (which had been extended as someone had tinkered with the rail road the Hogwarts Express took), Lemo, Barry, Andrew and Andy lay sprawled out on the couches in the common room, discussing the current problem: Andrew was being stalked. Lemo shook her head,
"I think you should take it as a compliment, I mean not many people can say they've been stalked before..."
Andrew looked at her,
"That's because no one would want to be stalked by someone and wouldn't be proud of it if they did!"
Lemo shrugged,
"It's been harmless."
"Until now," Barry looked the most serious he ever had been, "This person has taken it to a whole new level! Last night I couldn't sleep and something swooped into the window-"
Lemo scoffed,
"What was it? An owl?"
Barry ignored her,
"And it like morphed into a human figure in a cloak and it just stood there staring down at Drew. And then it started to stroke his face, it was-"
Andy stood up,
"No one touches my man but me!"
Andrew grinned,
"Kinky..."
Andy hit him on the back of the head,
"No."
Lemo frowned,
"It touched you!"
Andrew shivered,
"Yea...It's been doing every night and it occasionally whispers in my ear-"
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Andy demanded.
"Why didn't you tell all of us earlier?" Lemo asked
"I didn't want you guys to think I've gone insane!"
"Mate, I don't think you're the insane one...Tell them about the letters..."
Andrew shivered,
"I've been recieving love letters written in blood." Andy retched, Lemo coughed and stared. "Plus they broke the frame that has that picture of Andy and I..." Andrew tried not to look guilty as Barry mouthed at him 'Oh yea blame it on your stalker, you clumsy asshole!' Andrew mouthed back at him 'Don't say anything or I'll tell Lemo what you have under your bed!' Barry eyes grew round, 'What about yours!'. Lemo popped her head between the two,
"We all know what you too have under your bed. We're not stupid."
Andrew frowned,
"Why would you know that?"
"Andy and I were trying to figure out how best to jump out at you two a few months back and then Seamus and Thomas walked in. So we hid under the beds." Lemo sighed, "Good times. Turns out Thomas and Seamus needed to get change..."
Andy giggled,
"Thomas wasn't great, but Seamus surprised us-"
Andrew and Barry clapped their hands over their ears. Lemo and Andy laughed; men were so gullible.
Barry cautiously withdrew his hands,
"Anyway...Back to Andrew's stalker and the reason we bought this up. Andrew's latest note informed us Don's rat has a particular hiding spot. We all know it'd make Don's day if we found his rat." The rest nodded, "Only problem is...It's in the Forbidden Forest."
"And could possibly be a trap..." Lemo added. Barry shot her a look as Andy's eyes grew round,
"Y-You think this stalker could be dangerous?"
Andrew put an arm around her,
"Hey it could be just a Slytherin playing a joke..."
"Then why are we checking if Don's rat is where they say it is?" Andy asked.
"Because there is the possibility that it might not be, we just want to be sure..." Barry explained. Lemo nodded. "So shall we go tonight?"
Andrew checked his watch,
"Eh, I guess so..."
A/N This next bit is written by Charlotte Taylor (Lotte Tegan) several weeks ago! (Sorry I changed a bit to work in with the story...But other than that it's yours Lotte Smotti!)
"Why did we bother?" Barry asked, looking over to Andrew whose face was etched in fear.
"Because Don loves that bloody rat..."
"He hardly remembers he has the bloody thing-"
"And we need to find the girls - we should never have split up in the first place."
Barry nodded in agreement. Moments later they both jumped in fright at a scream in the distance. Andrew paled and whispered, "Andy!" and took off towards the dirrection of the sound, leaving Barry to keep up with him.
Slowing after a while they found themselves in a clearing covered in streaming moonlight.
"What...Is...That?" panted Barry to Andrew, pointing towards low trees that had twined their boughs together forming a large arc and from the centre of the arc hung a large, thin, black bat with it's wings tucked up as if sleeping. Andrew shuffled uncomfortably.
"Listen," Barry whispered, in the silence of the forest, "It's Lemo!" Barry cried and ran forward, Andrew was about to stop him when a glint of metal caught his eye, it was Andy ring. The one he had given her for Christmas, in the pale moonlight it continued to flash it's colors. Andrew's heart skipped a beat as he grabbed the ring off the ground and ran to catch up with Barry.
Both boys breathed a sigh of relief when the saw Lemo, who was cradling Andy's head on her lap. It looked as if Andy was out cold.
"What happened?' Andrew asked Lemo.
"We heard something behind us, so we both panicked and ran, then Andy tripped on a root," Lemo replied sheepishly.
"What was behind you?" Barry asked, putting an arm around Lemo who shrugged,
"I don't know, thank god she was here to help us."
Andrew looked at Lemo quizzedly,
"Who?" he asked.
A cloaked figure walked out from behind a nearby tree,
"I didn't mean to scare them, I was only trying to warn them," said a familiar voice.
Both boys jumped, the cloaked figure lowered their hood. Andrew and Barry gasped,
"Lotte Tegan? What are you doing out here?" Andrew asked.
Barry nudged Andrew nodding slightly at Tegan, her face was pale and tow small fangs rested on her bottom lip. Her usually black rimmed green eyes were a violent shade of red. Barry glimpsed a shimmer of somthing wet on the chest of her black cloak and gulped, could it be blood?
Tegan ignored Andrew's question,
"You guys should leave immediately, something strange is roaming the woods," Lotte Tegan smiled shyly, "After all it is a full moon." As if on cue a howl echoed through the forest, Lemo squealed. When no one actually said anything, (They just settled for staring at her) Tegan continued, "Well now that you boys are here, Barry you can carry Andy back to the castle."
Andrew looked offended,
"I can carry her myself!"
If it was possible Tegan's cheeks pinked ever so slightly,
"I was hoping I could talk to you briefly."
Lotte looked at Andrew pointedly,
"Don't worry, Barry can carry her."
Andrew looked back at Tegan,
"Sure."
Andrew and Tegan watched Barry lift Andy off the ground as Lemo trotted along beside him, 'helping' by carrying Andy's left arm.
Andrew turned to face Tegan,
"You wanted a chat?"
"I...I... just wanted to say I was sorry for the past week," Tegan stampered, as Andrew looked confused. "I was your stalker," she explained, "But tonight, I finally go it, you love Andy and that there is no way I could make you leave her, and I'm sorry I thought I had a chance..."
Andrew stared at her,
"You were my stalker?"
Tegan nodded silently,
"I'm sorry if I scared you."
"Um, okay. Apology accepted..." Andrew cleared his throat nervously, "I guess I better get back...Have fun...Doing whatever you're doing and I'll see you in the common room later..."
Lotte Tegan nodded. As they stood there in silence, Andrew turned to leave, keeping his eyes on the ground, he stopped. Still looking at the ground Andrew turned back around,
"Why me? I mean, I thought I was lucky enough having one girl her could stand me...I mean I'm so...Annoying. I snore, never clean up after myself, I have a sick mind, not overly smart, I lose everything that is nailed down, I-"
"You treated me like a human being, you didn't seem to care I was like this."
Andrew frowned,
"Like what?"
"A vampire, a loner, me."
Andrew finally looked up to see her expression,
"No one's perfect."
Lotte's eyes seemed to have faded and her face more pale, she leaned heavily on a nearby tree,
"In someone's eyes you are. Maybe more than one person. Unfortunately that doesn't cover vampires. We're not programmed to be loved, we're horrible creatures that ruin other people's lives. That's why I will always be the loner."
Andrew shifted uncomfortably,
"You don't have to be, you can come sit next to us tomorrow morning at breakfast if you want."
Lotte smiled weakly,
"I'd like that," Lotte leant over and gently kissed Andrew on the cheek, who jumped, "I just wanted to see what it'd be like."
Andrew looked around quickly making sure they were alone,
"I won't become a vampire will I?"
Lotte smiled,
"No, don't worry," Lotte wheezed slightly.
Andrew now looked at her more carefully,
"Are you okay?"
Lotte raise up a hand,
"I'm fine, just need to go find a wild pig or something, then I'll be fine."
"Oh, okay..." Andrew nodded, "I better catch up." He then walked briskly away.
As soon as Lotte could no longer hear Andrew's footsteps she collasped on the ground and lay on the fragrant earth, cold and still she lay. Her breathing slowly stopped until she became completely still, her unseeing eyes dull, yet open, and a deathly pale color was her face. Never lived, never loved. Thus she died, a stake driven through her heart. The blood that Barry had seen on her cloak had been her own.
Barry Saucepan Trival Fact: (Not on purpose) In both 'Barry Saucepan and the Unessary Sequel' and 'Barry Saucepan and the Escaped Manic' have a guest writer in Chapter 22