Impossible Love

Chapter Six – That Was Unexpected

As the stone gargoyle descended, Lara tucked away her notepad and quill in her satchel and fastened the buckles. Jamie didn't bring a notepad and was leaning against the wall with predictable calmness.

"Only 29 days until the Halloween Ball, Hepworth –"

"Excellent counting skills there," interrupted Lara. "I can see why you do Arithmancy."

"I was about to say: do you think that gives you enough time to sort out a dress, a date, your dance skills and your hair?" said Jamie with a wicked smile.

Lara rolled her eyes. They'd just had a meeting with McGonagall about their roles at the ball, and the visiting Ministry dignitaries. In front of the headmistress, Jamie was all polite professionalism, but now he was back to his usual irritating self.

"Oh gosh, Jamie, I'm not sure. Do you think it'll be long enough for you to sort out your personality?" said Lara in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Jamie laughed in surprise.

"Touché."

The Head Boy and Head Girl walked down the corridor in the direction of the Great Hall. It was time for dinner (or tea as Lara called it), and then they had a prefect meeting to brief the team about the Halloween Ball plans. Normally Hogwarts just held a Halloween Feast, but this year the school was holding the biggest event it had held in years. Students were buzzing at the prospect, and speculation was rife about the entertainment, the guests, the food and the rumoured later curfew.

A screech sounded from behind a classroom door.

Lara and Jamie looked quizzically at each other and approached the entrance.

"Ow, you stupid cat!" screeched a girl's voice from inside.

Opening the door, they stepped inside to be greeted by a strange sight, even by Hogwarts' standards. The Slytherin 1st year girl, who'd been particularly rude to Lara in the Library, was wrestling a tabby cat into what looked like a Muggle spider costume for dogs.

Jamie laughed, and the girl stopped in surprise, letting the cat dart off into a corner of the classroom with the costume trailing behind it.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing, Rosier?" asked Jamie in as stern a voice as he could manage.

"N- n- nothing," she responded.

Lara ignored her and went over to the cat. With a few noises of encouragement, she managed to coax the cat out of the corner and into her arms. Disentangling the cat from its outfit, she threw the costume to Jamie who caught it deftly.

Jamie held it up and pulled a confused face.

"What is this?" he asked the girl.

"It's a spider outfit," she replied quietly.

"I can see that," said Jamie in exasperation. "What were you doing trying to force your cat into it?"

The first year looked embarrassed and tugged the sleeves on her school jumper over her knuckles.

"Greg and Francesca were teasing me about being rubbish at magic," mumbled the girl.

Jamie's face softened as she continued.

"I said that I could transfigure Bellerophon into a spider, because Fran hates spiders, and obviously I can't actually do that yet, so I was trying to get him into the outfit to trick them."

She had barely drawn breath during this confession and shot a look at the cat that plainly said 'traitor'. Bellerophon was now perfectly tame and enjoying the head scratches Lara was providing.

"Lisette, I've told you not to listen to them," said Jamie gently. "Stunts like this won't fool them and won't make them your friends."

Lisette Rosier blushed deeply and nodded.

Lara felt sympathy for the girl. Starting at Hogwarts was hard enough, constantly feeling like you weren't quite sure of yourself, without the added pressure of a family name like Lisette's. So much must have been expected of her before she'd even started.

"Here," said Lara, holding out the cat for Lisette to take. "We'll keep hold of the costume, and I think you need to come clean to them."

Lisette took the cat off Lara, nodded again and started to head towards the door.

"Wait," called Jamie.

Turning around, Lisette looked at Jamie.

"Don't let any thing like this happen again, ok? And come and speak to me if they're being nasty."

The girl left. Waiting for the door to shut firmly, Lara and Jamie finally released the smiles they'd repressed.

"Poor girl. Did you see the state of the cat in this costume though? Where did she get it?" chortled Jamie holding it up.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say it looks like it was from Amazon.

"Never a dull moment here," said Lara smiling, electing not to mention Amazon to the pureblood James Burke.

Jamie strode towards the door, only to hold it open for Lara to walk through first.

"Oh … thanks, Jamie," Lara said surprised at his old-fashioned chivalric nature.

Ahead, Lara could see Neville was heading in the same direction as them: The Great Hall for food. Jamie also spotted this and smirked.

"Look, Lara … there's your favourite –"

"Professor Longbottom," called Lara, loud enough for Neville to stop and turn around.

Neville was wearing a grey shirt with a maroon jumper over the top. His boots betrayed the tell-tale sign of mud, although his hands were freshly scrubbed clean. His face revealed a hint of nerves as they approached him.

"Ahh Lara, hello, James," Neville nodded to them both.

Lara decided she was tired of waiting to hear from him, and she figured now was as good a time as any to ask him about when their next meeting would be. Plus, there was something about arguing with Jamie that always fired her up to take no shit from others. Not that Neville was likely to give her any.

Tucking her hair behind her ears, Lara steeled herself and began.

"Professor, when's our next meeting going to be? I know you said you'd be in touch, but it's been nearly a month now and you haven't."

Stood next to Lara, Jamie's eyes widened at her bluntness.

"Oh … erm … yes, of course. I'm sorry. I … I meant to owl…" said Neville tailing off into silence.

Lara waited. She was determined to get an appointment time out of him, but she couldn't help think that his stumbling awkwardness was pretty cute.

"How about after dinner?" offered Neville eventually with an apologetic smile.

"I don't think I can actually do then. We've got a prefect meeting to lead this evening," said Lara gesturing at Jamie.

"It's fine," interrupted Jamie, "I'll lead the meeting, if you give me the notes you made. I know you've waited a while for this as it is."

That was an interesting little dig at Neville.

"Only if you're sure," replied Lara. Turning to Neville, she continued, "I'll see you after tea, Professor. Say about half 7? Perfect."

Lara walked off down the corridor leaving a slightly dumbstruck Neville and a bemused Jamie in her wake. On a whim, she decided to roll her hips ever so slightly as she walked, so that her body almost sashayed away, highlighting her curvaceous figure.

Go me.

Jamie jogged to catch up with her, still holding the spider costume. He looked admiringly at Lara, impressed with her display of sass. It reminded him more of the traits of his own house than her Hufflepuff origins.

"Merlin, Missy. Where did that come from? I thought it was you who were about to give him a detention."

Smiling more to herself than to Jamie (who she chose to ignore), Lara was pleased with her confidence and felt ready to face Neville once again.