I stared over at Sam from across the table we were sitting at. She was fidgeting slightly in her seat, and hadn't met my gaze since we got here. I looked down at my cup of tea.
We had ended up going to a little coffee shop about a five minute walk from the parlour.
"Um, J-James." My gaze shot up to her face. Her cheeks turned red and she dropped her eyes slightly.
What is up with her? I mean--wait a minute...
"Yeah?" I urged her on warily.
"Well," she fidgeted some more. "I wanted to talk to you about, um," and more. "About last night." She finished it very fast, almost tumbling over her own words.
I sighed with relief. "All right."
"Well, I wondered if you were, well, if you were angry at me."
"Why would I be angry at you?"
"I found out about your secret." she looked almost ashamed of herself.
"Look." I told her, and her eyes met mine. "Someone was bound to find out sooner or later, right? I'm just glad it was you, and that you told me."
She seemed taken aback. "You mean, you're not mad at me?"
I snorted. "Of course not. You saw an ad on the television and put two and two together. What's there to be mad about?"
She smiled and said quietly, "That's good. I thought you wouldn't trust me anymore or not want to talk to me anymore or something."
I rolled my eyes. "Seriously Sam. I wouldn't be angry with you. You're like, my best friend since I joined with the parlour." I pushed a few unwanted memories to the back of my mind, and continued. "To tell you the truth, I'm actually relieved that you found out. I know that I can talk to you about it. It just feels better knowing that you know and that you won't tell."
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(Enter Sam)
I couldn't believe it. He wasn't mad! He still trusted me! He actually said it made him feel better with me knowing his secret!
...He said that I was his best friend!
Aaaaahhh, I was walking on the moon.
"Sam?" My eyes shot to his face. I must have been zoning...
"Yeah?" He gave me a wyrd look for a second, then said, "Sorry, you just seemed to be zoning off. Did you sleep well last night? You look tired."
Those eyes...
I snapped out of it and shrugged. "Well, I didn't sleep too well, but I'm just happy that you're not angry at me."
He seemed to e considering me for a moment, then said slowly, "Right."
Was there a hint of sarcasm in that?
He continued after a short pause. "We should get back. It's 9:45. Shop opens soon, we need to get everything ready."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go."
And we set off towards work.
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(Enter Harry)
That's it. I was officially freaked out. It was beyond obvious. Every time I looked over at her across the room as we worked, or when I walked through the waiting room while she was behind the desk, she was staring at me.
I mean staring at me.
Uuugh...girls.
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After work, Sam decided to head straight home, while Derrin and I hung out. Before leaving, she mumbled something under her breath that no one could hear before blushing madly and hurrying out the door.
Derrin and I stared at each other for a moment before he said, "Man, I think she-"
"Likes me?" I interrupted. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
He laughed. "I mean, blimey! I've never seen her like that around anyone! And I've known her since she was six! She usually lives up to her look. I-if you know what I mean..."
"Yeah." I sighed. "Phweee. Ever had a girlfriend, mate?"
He seemed to be thinking for a second before answering, "Once. Her name was Pavarti. She was one in a million... didn't much like her sister, though..."
I went bug-eyed. Sitting up straight in my chair, I asked Derrin in an amused voice
"Pavarti? Pavarti Patil?"
He sat up a little straighter, too. "How did you know that?"
I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. Derrin stared at me, perplexed.
"What in the bloody hell is so funny?"
"Hahahahaha...Ooooh...hehehehe..." I sighed, regaining my breath.
"Sorry, mate. Only I went to school with her and, well...small world, isn't it?"
He stared at me suspiciously for a moment before saying slowly, "You went out with her, didn't you?"
I laughed again, though at as loud or as long as before. "Hell no. But my friend Ron--" I cut off, then said in a lower, calmer tone, "well, he went to a ball with her once. Don't worry though, she didn't like it one bit."
Derrin seemed to know that something was troubling me. So he tried to cheer me up in a way that only he would've thought of.
"Want to go to the graveyard?"
I looked up at him. "What?"
"Want to go to the graveyard? It's supposed to be haunted. I've only been there once. Didn't see anything though. You and I should go up and sneak in tonight."
Without warning, memories of Ron wafted through my mind, how he would be vehemently refusing this offer with pale features.
Well, he's in your past now, right?
"All right." I said with a slight grin.
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As the two boys headed out the door, one locking it behind them, the office of the parlour remained quiet.
The two boys disappeared down the street.
There was a rusting of an unseen cloth and two bodies appeared in the middle of the office.
Hermione had grabbed Ron by the wrist and was attempting to drag him to the door.
"Come on, Ron. Let's go! We'll lose them!" she hissed through clenched teeth.
But Ron refused to move. With a pale face, he said to Hermione, "I'm not going to some bloody graveyard! And I think Harry's gone mental! I mean, after what happened last time he visited one..."
"Oh, Ron, get a grip! Listen to yourself! If Harry can go into a graveyard after what happened when Voldemort came back, then you can! Nothing's ever happened to you in a graveyard before so why are you scared? Come on!"
After much persuading and no luck, she finally sighed, gripped Ron's wrist even harder, and disapperated.
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Derrin and I were both walking through gravestones and memorials. It all seemed to have a serene, gothic beauty to it. I felt very, comfortable here. I didn't make sense. But whatever.
Maybe I was in good company. I had been unofficially dead for over a year.
As Derrin and I walked past a particularly large statue of an angel, he said in a hushed voice, "Creepy, eh?"
"Not really. I think I rather like it."
He gave me a wyrd look, then muttered, "Yeah. Well, you would."
I had just opened my mouth to reply, when several things happened at once. There was a loud crack! behind us and we both spun on our heels to see what had caused the disturbance. Before we had gotten half-way, however, my world was enveloped in green. Evidently Derrin's was too, for I could faintly here him shouting as if from an echo. "-the bloody fucking hell is going on?"
Then a hauntingly familiar voice sounded in my ear. "I warned you, didn't I? You can never see them again. You let them find you, didn't you boy? Hehehe, typical. For what is Harry Potter without his dear friends?"
The green turned red, no. It was beyond red. The light surrounding Derrin and I turned a deep, dark crimson. With the almost purple tinge of blood. Pain coursed through my body and I screamed. Derrin screamed, too. It was pain so intense that I felt as if every cell were being attacked by rust dull needles. But in no place was the pain so intense than on my back. It felt as if it were being ripped apart slowly and tortuously. the pain defeated that of even the cruciatus curse. Derrin's screams seemed to halt and I could vaguely feel him twitching on the ground beside me.
I fell, or maybe I had always been on the ground. But the lights faded, and I was left in a deserted graveyard. A faint chuckle echoed through my mind before my world, too, turned to darkness, and I fell into the warm embrace of unconsciousness.