AS ALWAYS, THE HARRY POTTER WORLD BELONGS TO J.K. ROWLING! HURRAY FOR YOUR IMAGINATION!
AND THE STORY CONTINUES...enjoy and write reviews!
" I've been expecting you."
" Yeah, sorry Sirius, sleep took the upper hand." Said Stephanie stepping out of the kitchen fireplace of Grimauld place, shaking soot from her sweater, as Laura bumped into her.
" How's school so far? Ron, Harry, Hermione, all ok?" asked Sirius handing Stephanie and Laura a kitchen towel, averting Laura's gaze all together, " Guess you weren't expecting me to be training you? Well this way I'll be able to get more news on Harry too, although I hear you have a new foul teacher."
" She's and awful wench, the worst." Said Stephanie looking desolate.
Sirius chuckled and replied, " Well, I am sure you'll have no problem sorting her out. Trust me, when the two of you unite with Fred and George it's all hell broken loose. To tell you the truth it's like me a couple years ago when James and I were at school."
Laura smiled a toothy smile, because it was known that Fred and George were the acknowledge king of pranks at hogwarts, because her and Stephanie liked to keep a low profile, but when the four of them and Lee put their minds to it…well, just ask the slytherins..
Sirius on a momentary brain lapse had gazed at Laura, after all it was against his will and nature that he was trying to keep things neutral between them, but seeing her smile like he had played back in his memory gave him warmth down south that wasn't normal for fall.
" Well we only have an hour, so let's get to it."
He led the way, and as he climbed the stairs with agility, Laura couldn't stop staring at those buns of steel moving in perfect unison.
" So I was thinking that today we would work with balance," He said as he opened the training room. It looked as though a giant spider had weaved rope on the bottom half of the floor, " You'll have to walk across the different paths of rope, and that will be all for today."
Sweet! My lucking day, something easy! Thought Stephanie happily, thanking god she didn't have to do some crazy kickboxing or whatever. However after 5 minutes on the rope course…WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS !
" Try and get up Stephanie." Encouraged Sirius.
" Yeah, don't you think I already would have if I could." Said Stephanie sarcastically, for every time she tried to get up she would fall again on the ropes.
" Oh come on you lazy ass, it's not so bad," said Laura who had no fallen yet, and was making her way across the room easily.
You're training her. Stop thinking of her that way. training her, training her, kissing her—no! training…damn!
Laura glanced at Sirius. He had his arms crossed and his eyebrows knotted as though he was struggling with something.
What do I say to him… how about I think he looks incredibly hot in that black t-shirt and I just want to ..No! Bad Laura! Bad! Bad! Whoa, what if Sirius said that to me…no! Stop!
" Hey did we tell you about our wicked prank we pulled on some slytherins?" asked Stephanie not catching the vibe between Sirius and Laura.
Sirius and Laura saw that as their escape window from their awkward thoughts and they three of them just talked about the prank and shared a few laughs.
" Ok, well same time tomorrow…oh no wait, Dumbeldore came last night and decided that due to your schedule we would do this only three time a week." Said Sirius back in the kitchen.
" What? But he told us we had to do this everyday." Said Laura confused.
" I thought you weren't listening yesterday back in his office, you looked so furious.." said Stephanie. Sirius frowned, but didn't say anything about it.
" Well to tell you the truth I think he realized how hard it was on you girls, and plus you have your boyfriends --and your life to take care of."
Laura sensed the bitterness behind his words, she didn't say anything, because after all, he was the one that wrote her to pretend as though no feelings had been exchanged between them. She didn't say anything but just grabbed some floo powder and left.
" Yeah, she meant to say bye. Well see you …the day after tomorrow?"
" Sure"
Stephanie left Sirius standing in the kitchen looking out into the fireplace, his features dark and stern.
" Hey, why did you leave in such a hurry?" asked Stephanie once back at Hogwarts walking towards Laura who was looking out the astronomy tower onto the grounds.
" Oh, I thought he said bye…" said Laura not turning around, because otherwise her cross facial expression would have betrayed her light hearted tone.
" Yeah, no big deal. Hope we don't have more of that rope thing next time."
" Really, I sort of enjoyed it."
" Well you weren't the one falling every five minutes…"
" Now you're just exaggerating, " said Laura finally turning around as her and Stephanie proceeded to walk back to their dormitories to change for the day, "After 20 min you were waltzing on that rope."
Stephanie smirked in a playful sort of way, and grabbed Laura's arm when she suddenly saw someone in the corridor, thinking it was Prof. Umbridge.
" Stephanie, what are you doing? It's morning, we're allowed to be out of bed…"
said Laura who had been pressed in a thick spider web in the corner of an armor.
" Oh, rite, sorry. It's a reflex from our time with Lee and the twins, every time you see someone approach the corridors who might be teacher…hide."
" too true"
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It was two weeks later, and as schoolwork started to pile up more thoroughly, Stephanie and Laura were spending less and less time with the boys. Not to mention practice was exhausting.
The second time they had gone to meet Sirius for training, he and Laura had said false niceties to one another, as they both tried to act as though they felt nothing more than air for one another. Stephanie had her suspicions, but she wasn't about to voice them, not just yet.
On the other hand, she hadn't seen Draco except for classes since the incident, and so far he had been most indifferent towards her in class. He wasn't taunting, nor was he civil, he just acted like she wasn't there. It was not troublesome to her, yet she didn't know why she cared so much.
It was a cold autumn Thursday night, and Stephanie and Laura were finishing up homework before going off to see Prof. Snape for Occlumency. They had gone twice already, the first time, Stephanie thought it would have been awkward, but apparently, he like Sirius and Laura was acting as though nothing had happened, those his demeanor was as cold as ever. The twins were no where to be found at the present time, in fact George, Fred and Lee were spending less and less time with Laura and Stephanie, but the girls had not time to ponder it, for work was demanding so much of their time.
" Almost finished? It's nearly time."
" Yeah..hold on. What rhymes with 'krinkle?'"
" Why do you need to know Stephanie?"
" I am making a spell for arithmancy, it's a sort of self-expression project. Good thing it's a one-person project, because Ryan has been acting so strange lately. Did I tell you, two weeks ago he came to class with a black eye and busted lip, and refused to tell me what happened, and has been ever more distant since."
" Ryan the slytherin? Well one word Steph, SLYTHERIN!"
" Oh shut it, not all slytherins are that bad"
" What! I can't believe a gryffindor just said that! Do I need to remind you that they are our Quidditch rivals?"
" Hey, will you look at the time…let's go." Said Stephanie ending their conversation quickly before she became too anti- gryffindor to Laura's liking.
They were heading out of the portrait hole, when they collided with a group of people coming in.
" Ow! Watch it!"
" You ran into me George!" said Laura rubbing her head.
" Well, I wouldn't have ran into you if you weren't in my way, so ha!"
" Were where you and Stephanie going?" asked Lee.
" Where have you guys been?" asked Stephanie in retort.
" Ask us no questions, and we'll tell you no lies." Said Fred with a Shakespearian air.
" Fine, same goes for us." Said Laura.
They were standing there in the middle of the portrait hole, each party wanting to get away, but not knowing how to do it in a non-suspicious manner, but thankfully they were saved when Ginny came in kissing her boyfriend.
" Hey! Get off our sister you git!" yelled George.
" George, stop! This is—"
Stephanie and Laura took that as their escape route and bolted out of the door, running all the way to Snape's office. Fred had noticed their guilty air, but the presence of his sister with some twat had driven his thoughts straight out of his mind.
" Phew that was close!" said Laura coming to halt in front of the door.
" Too close," said Stephanie knocking on the door.
" Enter'
" Well that's foreboding..." muttered Stephanie under her breath.
Snape had his wand drawn, waisting no time with small talk, no that he ever did, and told Stephanie to get ready. Stephanie had barely taken out her wand when Snape was swirling around in her mind. She saw a house burning, and could hear a baby crying in the back ground, then the flash of a black cloak. The people in the house were screaming, but no one was going to help them. She wanted to reach out to them, when in a sudden flash she was looking out of a cradle, but the man in the black cloak was barely recognizable. Suddenly it all stopped.
" Try pushing me OUT next time, I don't want to peruse your life." Said Snape coldly, but nonetheless he couldn't hide an unrecognizable sadness never seen in Snape's eyes.
" Ok ok, but I don't even know if those are my thoughts, because I've never seen that before." Said Stephanie getting more and more exasperated by the minute.
" Again."
This time, Stephanie saw a dark room with a single lit candle, this time she knew she had penetrated Snape's thoughts, because the feeling in the pit of her stomach was different, strange even. A man, that she presumed was Snape was sitting at a wooden table, when suddenly she heard a baby cry in the vicinity and the man got up to go check up on it.
" Expelliarmus!" cried out Snape.
Stephanie was whammed against the wall, and the man and crying baby was instantly gone.
" You didn't have to run me in the wall!" yelled Stephanie cradling the back of her head.
" That's a way you push people out of your mind Ms. Kimberly. I was demonstrating it practically." Said Snape coldly, as sweat glistened on his forehead.
" Ms. Sockatine you're next."
45 minutes later, they left the dungeon, as Laura who had been grilled twice longer than Stephanie, was rubbing her forehead. She had almost pushed him out of her mind, when he had been getting too close to a naughty dream she had had about Sirius.
" Argh, I hate Thursdays." Said Stephanie.
" You're telling me, you barely did anything, he haggled me for 45 minutes!"
" Yeah well…got lucky." Said Stephanie sarcastically.
They had 10 minutes to get back to the common room before being considered out after hours.
" We should hurry, I don't fancy seeing Filch at this hour." Said Stephanie, who was in no mood to talk about what she had seen tonight.
" Right."
They were climbing the last steps up to the portrait of the fat lady, when Stephanie suddenly asked, " I forgot to ask, but have you talked to Oliver lately? Feels like you haven't mentioned him in weeks."
Laura was taken by surprise, and couldn't hide her guilty face. " Oh really…uhh… didn't I mention him yesterday...you know…when…"
" No, no, you haven't now that I think about it."
" Oh well, you know…"
" No, I don't know. Laura, what's the matter with you lately? This passed month everyone is going bonkers. Ryan won't even talk to me. You barely talk to me, and seem even more depressed at Hogwarts, and you do your fake smiles at Grimauld place, come on, we're in this together, I thought---never mind.."
Great! I'll have a dose of GUILT –TO-GO please? Thought Laura.
" Hey, sorry, I shouldn't make you tell me. Just remember, whenever you want a listening ear…here, you go up to the tower, I'm supposed to meet Fred."
Laura nodded as Stephanie turned around, but she could not help feeling like she had betrayed all her friends in one instant. Two weeks ago, she had broken up with Oliver…well sort of. She had written him a letter explaining they needed to talk, and pretty much laying it out for him, but he had simply sent a message on the back of her letter saying
" Hogesmeade, Weekend of Halloween. Three Broomstickls. Love, Oliver"She was beyond terrified of seeing him. She was completely confused in her feelings, who or what she loved. This is why she had withdrawn from her friends lately, because she felt so alone in her situation, but in a way Stephanie was right, she wasn't alone.
But how do you tell you friend you like Sirius? How can you like Sirius when I though I was in love with Oliver? What I need is sleep and to not think.
When Laura entered the Gryffindor tower, she was going to go straight to bed, but Fred surprised her when he jumped up from the couch to ask where Stephanie was.
" Dunno, she said she was going to meet you."
"Why? I was just going to surprised her tonight, since I went up to the kitchen and nabbed her favorite chocolate cake, because I know you guys have been studying way too much for my taste."
In the moment Laura realized Stephanie had lied to her, but instead of feeling angry, she wanted to laugh. They were both lying to one another to be alone, how ironic, and sad aswell.
Note to self, remember Stephanie is your best friend, stop treating her like a Malfoy.
" So you don't know where she went?" asked Fred looking impatient at Laura's blank expression.
" Umm…kitchens?" said Laura hopefully.
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