V
Audrey always thought that the Gryffindors were rather funny – Hermione's friends even more. Ronald Weasley couldn't, by life of his, find any kind of grace. He lacked tact social and Audrey could pay to see her grandmother having to be in the same space than him – Audrey could bet in who would get mad first. He was crude and rude, and she liked to push his buttons.
It was easy. She only had to use her slytherin uniform and see him get angry instantly.
Harry Potter was another story.
Of course, she knew who he was before. She had heard all kind of story, even more since arriving in London in August; and back then she had pictured him in a lot of ways, and none of them lived up to reality.
Harry was almost a head shorter than her and was so skinny that he looked at least two years younger. His hair was always a mess, but he had nice eyes, and even if his despise for anything-Slytherin-related was obvious, he mostly kept it to himself. On the only occasions she had talked to him, Potter had been polite and kind. She supposed he was cute in the same way that a puppy would be.
But, again, both were terrible funny.
Their reactions even funnier.
"You WHAT?", Weasley said, loudly enough to make Madam Pince angry. He lowered his voice and went back to Hermione, sounding angry as hell, "did you told her?!"
"No!", Hermione answered quickly. "Audrey, how you do know about it?!"
"You aren't as subtle as you like to think when asking Madam Pince about it", Audrey shrugged and pushed a chair to sit down. She rested her chin on her hands and pretended the best thoughtful face she could; Ron seemed to get even angrier.
"Had you been eavesdropping on us?", he asked. "You little…"
"Hey!", Audrey called, but she wanted to laugh. "I wouldn't call eavesdropping. More like hearing how loud a Gryffindor can talk. That's completely not my fault if you start talking by my side like I'm a stupid slug. Besides, you keep being rude to me, I'm not going to help".
"We don't need your help!", Weasley was getting increasingly outraged, like the fact of Audrey knowing something he didn't was terribly offensive.
She opened her mouth to give one hell of a sassy remark, but Potter beat her up. "Who is he?"
Audrey blinked at him. "What?"
"Who is he? You said you know. So, who is Nicolas Flamel?"
Audrey smiled prettily at him – the smile – and Potter's eyes grew the size of a plate. "Not so quickly, Potter. There's something you three could do for me".
Potter grunted, but Ron looked murderous. "Of course, you little snake, of course you would want something. I bet you want him to not play in the next quidditch game so Slytherin can win the Cup!"
Audrey frowned. "…What?", she blinked at least twice before getting back in the tracks. "No! Ok, listen, I couldn't care less about the Cup, honestly. To the hell with that. But there's something I need and you three can help me".
Hermione took a second to think, before she sighed. "What you want, Audrey?". She looked terrible disappointed, like Betty Fairchild when Audrey had the first place in the list of The Prettiest Girls in The Class.
"You know how gryffindors hate slytherins, right? So, this is the problem. We firsties are the easiest target, and your dear veterans aren't going easy and us – me and Sophie – had gotten the worse because we don't have a pack to rely on. So, if some of them see me around you three – specially you, Potter – they could think I'm cool and all that, and maybe they will stop. This is all I'm asking".
"You want help to be left alone?", Harry asked, slowly. "How bad are you two getting it?"
Audrey thought for a second, absently playing with a lock of blonde hair. "Bad. Sophie already got into three detentions because she doesn't stop getting into fights, and we are in the first year. She can't know I'm asking it, because she is too proud, but will help if the gryffindors start liking me – and, by extension liking her, and what better way than be friends with the boy-who-lived, hero of quidditch, etcetera? Besides, no one is going to mess up with us if we are around you three"
Harry looked rather uncomfortable by it, and Hermione was a bit dazed. Ron was furious. "Get lost, Blanchard. We don't need you".
"Oh, you do", she said. "Because you aren't going to find Flamel that easy. Really, Weasley, I just want to get away from those bullies of yours. I'm not even going to ask why you want to know about Flamel so badly!".
"Deal", Potter said, and extended his hand to her, even if looked like someone selling his soul to the devil. "You can hang around us. Can you please tell us about Flamel now?"
Audrey shake his hand a bit and smiled sincerely by the first time in that week. "Oh, of course. Deal is deal, right? Anyway, the thing about Flamel: he is old. My grandpa said he is a famous alchemist, like, old as a mummy, because he created something called the Philosopher's Stone, that can make you immortal and awfully rich. Isn't cool?"
Potter looked like he had taken a shock, and Audrey could swear his eyes were as big as his glasses. "Oh no", he said, "that's bad".
"Why?", Audrey pouted. "Oh fine, not my problem. Do you want me to leave now? Because I can leave now".
"Yes, please!", Ron said loudly.
Hermione jumped on her feet, her long, bushy hair bouncing wildly. She looked really, really excited – Audrey didn't think she had ever seen her as excited as that, but before the girl could say anything, she had sprinted down the corridors of the library. Audrey watched her go for a second. The boys looked at each other.
"Should I get worried?", Audrey asked. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Oh no, you just are born wrong", Ron said acidly. He didn't know, of course he didn't, but that stung hard. Audrey sucked on air.
"Leave her alone, Ron", Harry said, apparently noticing that something was wrong – like Audrey almost hexing Ron into oblivion despite having no idea about how doing it. He doesn't know, he doesn't know, she told herself.
"I'm going. See you around, Harry!", Audrey said cheerfully, almost too cheerfully.
She ran away from the library.
Her mind was swirling in a thousand of directions and none of them were good.
"Are you going to the match?", Sophie asked while they worked in the Potion's class. Audrey had put her hair in a tight bun, not wanting it to get burned or worse while working with a cauldron. Sophie was by her side, careful measuring the ingredients – they had come to a silent agreement that Audrey would mix and stir things, while Sophie worked with anything that needed to be measured.
"I don't know. Slytherin isn't playing, why should I go?", Audrey said, carefully mixing the potion in clockwise direction, like Snape had said. "Are you?"
"Because it's fun, fat-head. C'mon, if you don't go, I'm going to have to sit with Pansy!".
Audrey waited to reply because Snape passed by their desk, his dark eyes critically looking at the way that they worked. Audrey smiled at him, but was useless – her charm, normally unstoppable against adults, never worked in Snape. He kept looking as sour as always.
"Fine. Why do you want to see all the games so badly?"
"I want to play next year", Sophie said, throwing some roots into their potion. "Chaser or seeker, I think. I need to know what I'm going against".
Audrey never played quidditch well. Her father had been a beater when a teenager, played for Hufflepuff and all that, but his love for the sport hadn't been passed unto her – Audrey could fly pretty well, but throw a ball while doing it was completely another story. Besides, bludgers scared the hell out of her. "Do you know how many players became disfigured because of quidditch?"
"Do you want something cooler than a quidditch's scar?"
Audrey frowned. "I would prefer to keep my good looks, thank you very much".
"Whatever you say, prom queen", Sophie rolled her eyes, as she often did with Audrey. "I think we finished".
Audrey slowly got a little flask of their potion, signed their names on it and closed it carefully.
"What's the deal with Potter and Weasley?", Sophie murmured to her, narrowing her green eyes. "They keep looking at us and whispering something. Do you think they are going to try something? Oh, would be so fun punching the golden-boy's face. I bet Malfoy would do my homework until I graduate".
"No, he wouldn't. God forbid someone hurt the target of his undying passion", Audrey snickered. "And don't worry about them. They were cool, mostly".
"Do you still with that idea of yours about Malfoy being in love with Potter?"
"Absolutely", Audrey confirmed. "The whole enemies-turned-lovers dynamics. Just wait until we get older".
Sophie had to hold back her laughter.
The afternoon of the match was a boring one. The weather hadn't got much better, to Audrey despair, and she had to put her best coat to fight off the cold. Sophie was almost hopping on her feet while they made their way out of the castle, arms intertwined. Audrey's head was already hurting when they arrived because Sophie couldn't stop talking about all the things she would do next year, when she would be able to have her own broom.
Her dad had promised her a Nimbus or something like that – Audrey had no idea at all about broom's brands, so she just agreed when Sophie discussed the benefits of having a Nimbus, like Potter's.
When Sophie started making a beeline to where Daphne Greengrass was sitting, Audrey held her back and turned them to the other side, where she could see Ron's red hair shining under the sun. Sophie seemed horrified when she saw that Audrey was leading them unto Gryffindor territory, but Audrey paid her no mind.
"Hi Hermione, hi Ron", Audrey said happily, throwing herself by their sides. Then she saw Neville there, his eyes as big they could get and fixed on Sophie. "Hi Neville. How is Trevor?"
"Uh, nice. I thought I had lost him yesterday, but he was just under Dean's bed", the boy said, and Audrey nodded, but his eyes were still locked into Sophie.
Just for precaution, she had kept Cat safely locked up in Slytherin's dungeon as much as she could – the fact that most of the other's slytherins girls liked her cat was just a bonus.
"Blanchard", Ron said grumpily, but Hermione smiled at her, so Audrey thought that everything was fine.
That was when things started getting complicated, because Audrey's least favourite housemate choose this time to arrive. Draco Malfoy was the biggest drama queen she had ever met, having as his favourite catchphrase the infamous "I'm going to tell my father!". Audrey thought he was a brat, and that was something since she had been raised around spoiled children since she could remember. Draco was a mix of evil, chaos and nice blonde hair.
"Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?", he said to Ron, his voice dripping venom. Audrey looked worriedly at Hermione, but she was just as transfixed by the game as Sophie, who had been screaming as loudly as her lungs could.
"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team? It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money — you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."
Audrey sucked on air and held onto Ron's arm, but he had his eyes fixed onto the game as much as the other girls. Audrey was getting anxious – that wasn't how she planned to spent her afternoon – she didn't even want to come to the blasted match, why couldn't she had stayed reading safely inside her dorms?
But what surprised her the most was Neville – who was more of a bunny than a lion – standing by himself.
"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," he stammered.
Audrey gulped. What was she supposed to do? She had no idea about how break up a fight.
"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Malfoy.
And then everything went to hell. Ron jumped out of Audrey's gaze, and went directly to Malfoy like a cat jumping on his prey. Audrey's screamed but no one heard her – except by Neville, who jumped over his seat to help Ron. Audrey managed a few of "Stop it!", but it was as useful as swinging a white flag.
However, something snapped hard inside her. She felt it before she knew what was, and her voice sounded louder than usually it was, and the feeling of magic, running in her veins – not normal, common magic, that was warm and safe, but magic nonetheless. She had always felt her magic swirling just under her skin, asking to be free, but nothing like that.
It was like having ice, sharp and cold, burning into her bones.
"Stop it NOW!"
The boys stopped their fight and looked over her, a bit confused about what was happening, a dazed look into their eyes. Ron had an ugly nosebleed, but Malfoy probably wasn't going to open his right eye for a while; Neville was a mess of newly made bruises and scratches, while Crabbe and Goyle looked rather unscathed.
Sophie looked at Audrey, suddenly extremely interested. "How in hell you did that?"
Audrey's dad always had told her that she had the freedom of telling him anything. Before, she never had the necessity of hiding anything from her dad – from her little mischievous at school to childhood crushes, she would happily tell him anything because her dad was more of a friend than a parent. She trusted him with her life easily, and never ever had her told him a lie.
She knew she was supposed to tell him what happened at the game – when she had made five fighting boys pay attention to her. Audrey knew deep down that he was supposed to know and tell her if what was happening was normal or not.
But she didn't.
She locked it up deep inside her, deep enough to fool herself as if nothing had happened.
"I still have bursts of magic sometimes", she had lied by the skin of her teeth to Sophie. If anyone asked, that was also what she was going to say.
Because what more was there to say? She had no idea at all about what was happening to her.
Maybe was a mom's thing.
But, honestly, Audrey would rather not know.
a/n: so this a new chapter. i've already written all of the first book and i'm finishing the second one, so i can keep up frequently updates for now. anyway, what do you think of it? do you like audrey? i would love to know! also, this chapters had a bug or something like that and wouldn't show at all, so I had to post it twice. Sorry about that!
with love,
star
