I made my way to the Great Hall where I found Susan sitting by herself hunched over a plate of eggs. I walked calmly over to her and sat at her side.
"You were pleasant." I said.
"Please, Ruby." She said. "I don't really feel like talking right now."
"You don't feel like talking?" I asked. "Because you just verbally massacred the man I have been seeing for months."
"He's a horrible person." She said.
"He is not." I insisted. "You didn't even give him a chance. It's like you saw his face and went off on an angry attack."
"Why does it have to be him?" Susan asked. "You could have someone much better. What's so great about him?"
"I don't really know." I said truthfully. "There's just something about him that I really enjoy."
"You should reconsider." She told me.
I sighed. "Susan, you're my best friend. I don't want our friendship to end over a guy. If you really don't want me to see him anymore then I won't. I won't give it a second thought."
Susan opened her mouth to speak.
"But," I continued. "As my best friend I would hope that you wouldn't ever ask me to give up something that makes me happy."
She pressed her lips together and averted her eyes. I grabbed a piece of toast and walked absentmindedly to the library. I walked inside before I remembered I had no homework. It had become habit to spend time in the library after breakfast on Saturday mornings. I felt stupid just turning around and walking out especially since a group of three Hufflepuffs were staring at me. I continued walking in and headed to a cluster of book shelves. I looked over the contents pretending to be looking for something in particular.
I settled on picking up a copy of Powers You Never Knew You Had and What To Do With Them Now You've Wised Up. No matter how much time I spent in the Wizarding World I was always entertained by the silly titles of some of the texts.
I found an empty table and sat down with the book. Most of the texts inside explained powers that were circumstantial. I knew of all the powers but few wizards possessed them. Parsel-tongue, Seer, and Animagus were all explored and all of the cool things they could help you do were explained. I already knew I possessed none of these powers since Susan and I had tried each of them upon discovering them in first year.
I was reading in depth about Salazar Slytherin's abilities to speak to and control snakes. Since then it has become a trait associated with Dark Wizards mostly linked to Slytherin's genealogy.
"I really am sorry." A person said.
I looked up to see Susan sitting in front of me. I closed the book and pushed it to the side.
"You should be." I said. "You were really rude to him. And to bring up the moment with James Potter, I was ashamed that he knew we were best friends."
Susan sighed. "I still just don't understand why you have to like him. He's…him."
"He puts on a good show but when it's just he and I he's a completely different person." I said with a shrug. "I'm not saying it just happened. I had to chisel through his stony façade. The thing that I think really broke through was that I didn't think what James did to him was funny. It's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to him and that memory is filled with a lot for him. It was because of that episode that he and Lily stopped being friends. He'd probably kill me for telling you this but…he's a pretty sensitive guy."
A small smile spread across Susan's face. "There is no way he's sensitive."
There was a sort of chuckle in her voice as she whispered.
"Don't tell him I told you." I whispered back with a smile and a shake of my head. "So do you think you could give him a second chance? One where you don't bring up the most painful memory he has?"
"Are you really this serious about him?" She asked.
I nodded my head. "I think I am."
"I can't face him again today." She said with a worried look on her face.
"Oh, of course not today." I assured her. "I think it's best if you two have a bit of a cooling off period. And if your potion grades start to plummet again it's your own fault."
"How long have you two been keeping this secret?" Susan asked.
I shrugged. "It started out as him helping me with defense but then I started to like him. Then something happened just before Christmas holiday and I hated him. Then Mid-January something changed…so probably around then. That was when we first kissed."
"Ew." Susan said sticking her tongue out in disgust. "That can't have tasted good."
I shrugged and smiled a devious smile. "He generally tastes like apple."
Susan made a quieted gagging sound.
"Though, on Valentine's he had a chocolate cherry combination going on from the picnic." I reminisced.
Susan stood up holding her stomach as if she was about to be sick. "I really don't need to know any of this. You're disgusting."
I smiled, satisfied with the reaction.
"I'm going to find Mark." She said. "More wedding stuff and finalizing Easter plans. It's coming soon."
She turned and left me alone in the library. I looked at the book sitting to my side and no longer had any interest in it. I was suddenly drowsy which wasn't that surprising since I had hardly slept the night before.
I walked through the corridors and up staircases to the Ravenclaw commons. I walked past the few students sitting around the tables already getting a start on assignments. I entered the empty bedroom and curled up under the covers of my bed fully dressed. I let my mind wander until I slowly and suddenly fell asleep.
When I woke up the skies outside were grey and raindrops were hitting the windows. I pulled the covers up to my chin while I watched streams of water flow over glass. I smiled when I imaged the drops turning into flowers.
"Are you awake yet?" Susan whispered from the door.
I turned over to look at her. "I thought you were with Mark."
"I was." She said. "It's nearly five."
"Is it really?" I asked sitting up. "I didn't sleep very well last night."
"Why couldn't you sleep?" Susan asked. "I was the one under the impression that you had been lying to me about detentions. I'm glad I didn't understand what was really going on."
"I dreamt that you beheaded Severus." I said.
Susan's eyes went wide. "Oh. Not a bad idea…a bit messy though. I don't like it."
"You promised to give him another chance." I said. "No thoughts of dismemberment."
"You're right." Susan agreed. "I apologize. So, anyways. The reason I came up here is because Mark and I had been looking through magazines all afternoon. He hated it. But, I think I've found the perfect dress for my bridesmaids."
She ran to my bed with a magazine clutched in her hand, her pointer finger separating the pages as a marker. She sat on top of my covers and opened to the page. She pointed immediately to a peacock green knee length dress with a metallic shimmer and a deep purple ribbon tied around the waist. The straps were made of purple tulle and slipped off the shoulder.
I smiled. "It's much better than pink."
"That's it?" She asked angrily. "It took hours to find this dress and all you say is 'It's better than pink'?"
"Alright." I said. "I really like it. I think it will look really nice with my hair as well as any other color of hair and any kind of color accents you want with the rest of the wedding. Except pink. No pink."
"That's better." She said closing the magazine. "It's out of one of the muggle magazines my mother sent and they are orderable. I think we can get you and the other girls sized over Easter when you all help me pick out my dress and then we can send in the order."
"Have you thought about your dress at all?" I asked.
"I want it to be white." She said. "That's all I know. I've looked through magazine after magazine and hated everything. Everything now a days is too poofy and not in a good way."
I nodded my head in support.
"I want something vintage." She said. "Like 1940's but they are impossible to find unless you want a used wedding dress. What if it's cursed? I don't want a used cursed dress."
"Of course not." I said shaking my head.
Susan squinted her eyes into slits. "You're mocking me."
I smiled and she hit me softly on the top of my head with the rolled up magazine.
"Stop it." She said. "I've been so busy finding your stupid dress that I haven't even thought about mine the way I should have. My dress is supposed to be the important one. I'm supposed to be a princess."
"I think we're already there." I said.
"You just wait until you get married and we'll see how calm you'll be." She almost threatened. "You laugh now but you'll have a difficult bridesmaid who puts down all of your ideas."
"I don't put down all your ideas." I argued. "And who says I'll have bridesmaids?"
"What are you going to do without bridesmaids?" She asked.
"Elope." I said simply.
"That's stupid." She said throwing the magazine on her bed and folding her arms over her chest.
I laughed at her. "Shall we go to supper?"
She nodded her head and accepted my change of subject. I still felt I was too young to be considering marriage. I would be lying to myself if I said I didn't think the idea of Severus in a tuxedo was entertaining but it was still a bit early to be thinking of pledging the rest of my life to him. It was all very final.
Susan and I went to dinner and I tried to feed ideas for her dress. She decided she liked lace and that's as much as she would accept from me. She was more worried about the shade of white. She showed me two dresses in a magazine she brought with her that looked the same to me but she claimed one was ivory and the other was antique white.
After dinner we went to the library with more magazines and looked at more identical shades of white and she picked apart every single dress until she hated them.
"Well, that one's nice." I said pointing to a lacey beaded dress.
"The bottom is too fluffy." Susan said. "I already have big hips I don't need that making them bigger. And what's with the sleeves? Are they stuffed with a Christmas ham? They are huge. Also the lacey type fabric around the neck? I want to show a little bare skin other than my face and hands. Is this 1836?"
"Alright, alright," I said. "It's horrible and I'm sorry I suggested it. But to be fair you didn't like the last one because the sleeves were too limp, the bottom was too tight, and there was too much cleavage."
"They were both ugly." She said turning the page. "I just want something like Grace Kelly, you know?"
"Grace Kelly had lace up to her neck." I said. "The skirt was also puffy. I think it probably strongly resembled the dress I just…"
"I'm not saying I want her dress." Susan said. "I just want something with the essence of her dress."
"Whatever that means." I said resting my head on my hand.
"I'll just know when I find it and none of these ugly dresses are it." She said flipping quickly through the pages.
"Why don't you take a break for a bit?" I suggested. "We could go for a walk around the grounds."
"I can't take a break, Ruby." She whispered rather hysterically. "I'm getting married in July. That's four months from now and I don't even have my dress picked out!"
"Shhh." I hushed. "We'll find a dress when we all go shopping before Easter. Your mother will help."
"And my gran." Susan added.
"And your gran." I agreed. "And your cousin, Tabitha and your friend from home, Molly, and your aunt you said was coming too, right?"
Susan nodded her head.
"We'll all help you." I said placing my hand on her shoulder, I could feel the tension. "There is no way the six of us will let you leave there with an ugly dress. You just need to calm down. Come for a walk with me."
Susan closed the magazine and nodded her head.
After a quick stop at our dorm to drop off magazines and grab coats we walked down to the school grounds. I breathed in deep of the chilly March night air.
"Am I really that crazy?" Susan asked.
"I'm really close to having you sent to a Psych ward." I said with a slight laugh.
"I'm just really nervous." Susan said. "I've had dream after dream where it's my wedding day and I don't have a dress, or I don't have a cake, or I don't have a venue. I am so over paranoid that I'll forget something or I don't have time to get something that I freak myself out."
"I promise you won't forget anything." I said. "You have too many people helping. Besides you said that your uncle's sister-in-law is making your cake so you don't have to worry about that and you're getting married at Mark's parent's estate. They have an estate. And stables. And a huge home…with staff. It's going to be beautiful so you don't have to worry about that."
Susan breathed out and I watched the cloud of her breath dissipate on the breeze. "I'm still really afraid of the dress. I haven't even come close to liking anything."
"We will drive all over England if that's what it takes to find your perfect dress." I said. "Or I'll just charm you so you think anything white is pretty."
"Is that even a charm?" She asked.
"Where there's a will, there's a way." I smiled as we came to a stop on the edge of the Black Lake.
"Are you going to bring Snape?" Susan asked after a moment of silence spent watching the surface of the water bubble and swirl from the creatures that lived within.
I sighed. "If the thought of him coming makes you even more stressed than you already are then I won't."
"I want him to come." She said.
"You don't have to say that." I told her.
"I mean it." She said. "If you like him, then he can't be that bad. I'll give him another chance and I'm sure we'll be fast friends once I don't explode on him and insult him."
"Well, thank you." I said not sure that she really meant what she was saying. "It means a lot."