DISCLAIMER: Naturally the world of Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. However, please do not duplicate characters and situations I have created.
" Get up…" whispered Stephanie.
" uugghh not again. I'm gonna remember you with those words…" moaned Laura rolling over in a sign of defiance.
" Come on, I don't want to go to Dumbeldore's with everyone up and asking questions." Said Stephanie irritated.
" Allright. Allright. Meet you in the common room."
Stephanie headed down, a little nervous about having to tell Dumbeldore about the cloaked man, because it would lead into them going off the grounds, and well she knew the outcome wouldn't be pretty. She saw someone was already on one of the couches, and not expecting anyone to be awake at this time, she was surprised when she saw it was Harry.
" Hey Harry, couldn't sleep?" asked Stephanie as she came around and sat next to him on the couch cross-legged.
Harry surprised to see her said, " no, I keep having nightmares. Oh, been meaning to ask, how's training going with Sirius?"
" Good I suppose. Hmm, Harry…what do you know about Snape, I mean his life prior to Hogwarts?"
" More than I want to. He had a profound hate for my dad, he always been freakishly good at the dark arts, and apparently he's reformed because Dumbeldore trusts him. Why?"
"Just curious I guess."
" Allright Stephanie ready to go? Oh hey Harry." Said Laura as she came down.
" Hi Laura, where are you guys off to?"
" Dumbeldore" they replied in unison.
Harry looked confused and worried, " Why? What happened?"
" Ugh. I don't even know how to word if for Dumbeldore—basically—I don't even know. But Harry, let's talk tonight after everyone's in bed, because we're all in the same boat." Said Stephanie turning around.
"All right, let's get this show on the road."
Once outside, they were really silent until they heard, " What are you girls doing here?"
It was Prof. Umbridge, and the last person they wanted to see.
" Breakfast?" said Laura hopeful.
" Tsk. Tsk. You just passed the Great Hall, and Breakfast is served in 2 hours."
" Oh really? Damn alarm, woke me up." Said Stephanie nonchalantly.
" oh oh oh, I do think that will be 10 points off Gryffindor for wondering around the corridors at this time.."
" What? We weren't doing anything" said Stephanie in desperation cutting Proff. Umbridge off, which was a mistake.
" Another 10, and if you don't go back to your house then I will be more than happy to take 50…each."
Stephanie and Laura were fuming, but turned around before making things worse. This definitely was the worse teacher they had ever encountered, and they knew payback would be a sweet release.
As they walked away, Stephanie kept glancing back at the toad woman smiling all too sweetly in the middle of the hallway, and she knew that a woman that nice only mean one thing—she had to be the meanest person alive.
" Hey, what are you doing back so soon?" asked Harry when he saw them walk back in.
" Had a little encounter with Umbridge. Made us turn around."
" why?"
" something about being out too early, and we couldn't say we wanted to see Dumbeldore, he told us to keep it to ourselves you know. "
" right, right—OUCH!" Harry's owl had nipped him when he had flown in from the window, dropping a letter on his head. " oh, it's from Sirius."
Laura's heart did a little jump inside her chest.
" Looks like it's for you two." Harry said handing it over to Stephanie.
" Oh shit…" sighed Stephanie.
What the hell where you bloody thinking? Do you realize the danger you put yourself into?! Dumbeldore, Snape and I need to talk to you tonight. Midnight. Dumbeldore's office. Lay low. Don't talk to anyone about what happened last night. And DON'T LEAVE THE GROUNDS!
-Sirius
PS. Molly would like me to add " She is extremely scared for you two. Do you have any idea what that little escapade could have cost you?!! I am beside myself with worry."
" Oh shit…" she sighed again.
" Wait, so what did you do last night?" Frowned Harry.
" Nothing out of the ordinary. Just left the grounds, went to Hogesmeade, met up with Oliver since he's on break. You know, the usual." Said Stephanie as Harry cocked an eyebrow.
" Shit shit shit! I feel horrible about this. " said Laura frowning.
" Calm down. I do too, but there's nothing we can do about that now. Personally, I'm just curious to find out who that was following us. "
" You were followed?" asked Harry.
" Well, not so much followed as practically chased down the street. My guess; it was Voldemort, but that might be a little too drastic." Said Stephanie non-chalantly.
" Voldermort?" asked Harry this time very attentively.
" Oh sorry, I didn't mean to make light of the fact that he's returned or anything. But you know, whenever you can, you've just got to laugh at the fact that the world as we know it is changing drastically. Am I right?"
" I worry about you sometimes. I really do." said Laura to Stephanie.
" Yeah, well you're not the only one." Said Fred as he and the boys came down from the dormitory.
Stephanie smiled up at him, as he sat down next to her, putting his arm around her to bring her closer to him. She felt comforted, in his warmth and scent. For now things were good.
" Hey Laura, why are you guys up so early?" asked Oliver as he too sat next to his woman, but instead of putting his arm around her to bring her to him, he just casually put it around her waist comfortably.
" Oh you know, same as Harry; couldn't sleep." Said Laura with half a smile.
" Let's eat, I could devour everything in sight." Grunted George scratching his elbow.
" Yeah but let's avoid Umbridge this time." Said Stephanie. As soon as she said it, she was almost petrified for her slip.
" Umbridge? When did we see Umbridge while going to breakfast?" asked Lee.
" Never. I'm just saying…" said Stephanie trying to recover.
" Harry, want to come with? We've got major Quidditch talk to catch up on." asked Oliver.
" Sure, let me just see if Ron wants to come too."
" I got it." Said George snickering.
Harry chuckled and sat back down.
"How are you doing?" asked Fred more privately to Stephanie.
" Fine, why?"
" Just last night, that was some pretty crazy—"
I AM GOING TO GET YOU BACK GEORGE!!!!
" What did you do?" asked Stephanie smiling as George came running down the stairs red in the face from laughter.
" Hurry, chop chop, let's go." Said George as he hurried to the portrait hole.
Ron came pelting down, half dressed and even more red than George, and stopped as he saw the group gathered in the common room.
One side of Ron's head had been shaved off.
" You all had something to do with this?!" he asked menacingly.
" no no! We swear mate." Said Lee, lips trembling of laughter.
" Don't worry, I'll put it back to normal. " smiled Laura as she stood up.
With a wave of her wand his hair had grown back in a flash, appeasing his anger and George's laughter.
" Aww Laura, you should have at least waited till we walked in the Great Hall." Said George deflated.
She winked, and George smirked, because as Ron walked out of the portrait hole, he noticed the bald spot she had left him with.
The whole way to the Great Hall, they all giggled behind Ron's back, and every time he turned around they would stop. He was getting very unnerved.
As they sat down, Stephanie looked up and saw Draco alone at the slytherin table. He looked up at her, put his spoon down, and cocking an eyebrow he took a swig of his juice. She nodded smiling, but he just swallowed and continued eating like he hadn't noticed.
Oliver, Harry and Ron had immediately started talking Quidditch, barely aware of what they were putting in their mouths as they talked rapidly.
" I'm starved." Said George as he sat down piling on some bacon, eggs, and muffins.
" You're telling me." Said Stephanie doing the same. " Should I be worried that I can completely out eat my boyfriend?" asked Stephanie looking at Fred's bowl of porridge.
" I don't know how you eat the way you do and look the way you do." said Lee grabbing a muffin and biting into it.
Stephanie looked at Laura and said, " Well thank God for our workouts."
"Workouts?" asked Ron.
"Yeah…workouts."
" Ok…not even going to ask."
Hermione walked into the Great Hall with Ginny moments later, and as she came to sit down with the gang she said, " Ron? Why do you have a bald spot in the back of you head?"
" What?"
"Well I should go grab my stuff." Said Laura getting up as Ron shot her daggers. Oliver stood up also, and headed out of the great hall with his arm around her.
"Laura, can we talk for a sec?" Oliver asked when they were alone.
" Sure."
"In here." He opened the door of an empty classroom and led the way inside.
Laura sat down, stomach nervously fluttering, because "talk" is never a good thing to hear.
" Laura, I don't know how to tell you this—we've always been friends right? We're passed any awkwardness—we've known each other for how many years now? Like six—what I am trying to say is—Quidditch season is about to begin and it's taking a lot of time, I'm always there, you're always here. And now with He-who-must-no-be-named I don't know when I'll get to see you since Hogwarts security is so tight…"
" Wait, what are you saying? I'm sorry Oliver, but you really lost me there."
"You're always going to be my best friend, I just don't know if we'll work out as a couple like this. I don't want to break up, that too—too—final, but maybe take a break?"
" Are you serious?" Laura asked calmly.
Oliver nodded highly embarrassingly.
So he doesn't want to be with me? A break? Are we really passed that awkwardness. The last thing I want is to lose my friend. Pull yourself together.
"Ok. And yes, we are passed the drama. We're always going to be friends." Laura said smiling as she stood and hugged him.
He hugged her back, tightly and whispered, " I do love you Laura."
"I love you too." She replied muffled in his neck.
When they broke apart, she said something about having to grab her books and headed towards the Dormitory.
" 'Ey Ryan…Ryan…" whispered Stephanie later that day in class.
He looked at her wide eyed, mouthing "What?"
" What have you been up to?" she whispered.
"What are you doing?" he whispered harshly back.
"Talking to you. Obviously! Psshh.."
"I thought we had an understanding."
"Yeah, we did, but I changed my mind."
" Ryan! Stephanie! I was getting worried, it has been some time since you're disrupted my class. What, may I ask, might I have the honor to overhear this time?" Asked the professor swooping down on them.
" We—well as you know we—we—we were concerned in fact that when the wizard Matthias the Matador discovered the planet's alignment each time prophecies are discovered, why hasn't there been a closer monitoring of Seers around each alignment?"
" You got all that Ms. Sockatine? Well I am impressed you were paying attention, in fact that brings us to the next assignment. For next weeks lesson I want a 24inch parchment, of course this will be a partner project, hypothesizing your own predictions of why do prophecies happen only during alignment? How do we know of every prophecy? And all the questions that might arise throughout your assignment. Of course you have my permission to use the restricted section of the library, on my desk are signed permission slips. Now let's partner up! Stephanie and Ryan, what if we broke you two up this time eh? How about—"
" You can't do that professor, that would be cruel and unusual." Said Stephanie worried.
Ryan thought he would chime in, after all, his life was not going to be ruled by anyone but himself dammit.
" Seriously professor, like you said, we haven't disrupted your class in a couple weeks, please."
" No no, every single project you two have done have always been together and have always been stellar I might add, why not share your wealth. Ryan and Margaret, and Stephanie and Draco. I think that will suit nicely."
Ryan and Stephanie looked at each other in disbelief.
"No worries, we'll still meet up in the library and do this." Whispered Stephanie, and Ryan nodded as he headed over to the curly redheaded Ravenclaw.
Stephanie gathered her things, not having looked were exactly Draco was.
Of course he was in the back corner, watching her stoically.
This will be fun. She thought sarcastically to herself.
She walked over to him. He didn't budge, nor seemed as though he cared.
" Hey, looks like we're partners," She said as she sat down, "did you have any theories, or suggestions for how we should do this."
Draco merely looked at her raising his eyebrows, just as the professor was announcing that the class was dismissed. He stood up, not speaking once, as
Stephanie said, "Well I guess I'll meet you in the library tonight. How about 8?"
He looked at her again, coldly, and left.
Ok…this will be harder than I thought…What's his deal.
"Hey, Ryan, wait up!" Stephanie said catching up to him.
"what's up?"
"I see you've caved. I like it. So tonight, 8 in the library to finish this thing?"'
"Yeah, I'm down." He said smiling.
They walked together laughing, cracking jokes, not giving a flippin' damn. That was until they heard,
" Stephanie."
Naturally, Stephanie looked up and saw Laura and Lee at the end of the hall, they had just gotten out of class too, and they seemed affronted to see her talking to a slytherin.
" What's up guys?" Stephanie said like it was no big deal.
"I'm thinking I should go." Ryan said smirking.
" Oh come one, not all Gryffindors are that bad. Look at me." Laughed Stephanie.
" Lee, Laura, this is Ryan. We have Arythmancy together."
Lee was frowning, and just said, " I think we had potions together last year."
"yeah, I believe we did." Ryan replied amused.
Laura just looked at the Slytherin and back at Stephanie.
" Steph, are you ready to go?"
" Go where?"
Stephanie was getting a little unnerved at Laura's attitude that she thought she would feed a little bit into it.
" Actually, I was thinking of grabbing a bite to eat with Ryan. You guys don't mind do you? I'll see you later then." Stephanie looked at Ryan who nodded and they kept walking in the directions of the kitchens.
" Sorry about that." Stephanie said.
"No worries, nothing like some good old Gryffindor vs. Slytherin hating." Said Ryan chuckling.
" God, don't tell me you are like that too."
"We're all like that…a little bit." Ryan replied darkly.
Later that day the gang was hanging out on the grounds, near the lake, because it was probably going to be one of the last sunny days of the year before winter. Fred, George and Lee were huddled together, as Laura and Stephanie read.
" What do you think about that joke shop idea?"
"I don't know really, I thought about it last night, and I don't know. Sorry, but where's Oliver?" asked Stephanie as though suddenly realizing he wasn't there.
" Probably went home." Said Laura looking away.
"Home? Why?"
" We broke up. Maybe he just didn't want to be around."
"You what? Are you ok? Do the boys know? When did this happen? How long have you guys been on the rocks?" Stephanie was sitting up fully alert, catching the boy's attention at the same time.
" What's going on?" asked George inquisitively.
"Laura and Oliver broke up." Said Stephanie in disbelief.
"thanks Steph…" drawled Laura sarcastically.
"You what?! I was wondering why he went home so quickly after giving us…well some of the shop's starting money." Said Fred.
"Come down, all of you. It's not like we're not friends anymore. And anyways, what do you mean he gave you money for the shop?"
" Well you know, to start it out."
"Wait, so you guys are serious?" asked Stephanie frowning.
"Course we're serious." Said George scoffing at her comment.
"I cannot wait to see what you have ready, because whatever you have I'm buying a dozen for Umbridge." Said Lee.
"Why the random name-drop?" asked Laura.
"Got detention with her tonight, so I pretty much think she's the devil." Said Lee darkly.
" Detention? For what?" asked Stephanie.
"Talking back, when she…" he stopped and looked tentatively at the twins.
"Go ahead." Said George in a sinister way.
" She—put down Mr. Weasley…basically." Lee said looking awkwardly at the grass.
" And what did you two do?" asked Stephanie looking back at Fred and George.
"Well Lee took the fall because we were ready to attack!" said George like a knight.
"Damn, talk about the drama of the day." Said Stephanie.
"Yeah, but we can still make it better," said Fred cooingly, " We've got time."
"Fred…stop…" whispered Stephanie. After all they were with their friends.
"How deep in this whole joke business are you guys?" asked Laura looking at Lee and George.
"Deep. In fact, we just made some new candy. See, this one give you a nosebleed but the other half stops it, and the same thing with the vomit one. Just a whole bunch of stuff to get you out of class really," said George taking out a little opaque bag.
"And how did you guys test them out?" asked Laura frowning.
"What do you think first years are for?"
"What?! You can't be serious! You guys..."
"Calm down Lor, it's fine. Most of them we tested on ourselves with Lee here to jump in if something went wrong." Said George.
"You tested these on yourselves?" asked Stephanie displeased.
"Yeah, but it's no big deal, look we're fine." Said Fred trying to dissipate her mounting anger.
Fine, until proven otherwise. Thought Stephanie.
" Well I've got to go." Said Stephanie standing up.
" what? Don't be mad." Said George.
"I'm not. I just have stuff to do."
She stood and started walking away. She was unnerved, Laura breaking up with Oliver had made her worried that the same would happen to her and Fred. The events of the evening prior was still weighed heavily on her mind. Sometimes alone time is the best remedy.
As she crossed the common room to her dormitory she heard, " Hey Stephanie, wait."
She turned and saw Fred jogging towards her.
He came up close to her, as the first and second year girls around the common room looked at them like hopeful romantics. He cupped her face in his hands and said, "What's the matter?"
She tried to tilt her head back out of his hands, but he closed the gap between them, making their bodies pressed against one another. She managed to mumble, "nothing…"
"Come on." He said grabbing her hand and bringing her up to his dormitory.
When he closed the door behind him, he said, "What's been the matter lately?"
"What do you mean? We've only been in school a month, Halloween is in a couple of days, we almost died last night, nothing is wrong."
"Ok Stephanie, that made no sense, not even for you."
She had been sitting on his bed, and when he came to sit next to her, she stood and went by the window.
"I don't know. I'm a little scared, and—"
Fred stood and came up behind her, enveloping her in his arms tightly and said, "As long as I'm here there's nothing to be scared about. I love you, you know that."
"I do, I know that." She said closing her eyes.
She slowly turned around, eyes still closed, felt his neck with her nose and lips, then his cheek, slowly his lips. He didn't move, he closed his eyes too. The drummer began to drum, and their mouthed followed the slow melancholic beat. He placed his hands on her lower back, gently, without hurry or other intentions then placing them on her lower back. Her hands were placed on his chest. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. They looked at each other for a moment and kissed each other so gently it would have put a swan's flight to shame.
That night in the common room, the gang wasn't together, because Lee was in detention, Fred and George had gone to do who knows what, Laura was working at a nearby table, and Stephanie was getting her stuff together to go to the library.
"Meet you at the office entrance tonight, or are you coming back here?" asked Laura looking up.
"I'd rather meet you there." Stephanie said not looking up, as she swung her bag over and headed out the portrait hole.
Ok, definitely odd. Today is just an odd day, what with Oliver and all—and Sirius tonight. I don't care about Sirius. I don't. I don't. Oliver, at least he was genuine friend. He was—
Laura lost herself in thought, as she gazed out the darkened window pane onto the grounds.
----
"Hey Ryan, where's your partner?" Stephanie asked as she sat down at a long table in the library next to him.
"Oh she's here, just getting books. What about you, where's Malfoy?"
"Don't know." Stephanie said looking around.
"So what's your theory on this whole prophecy thing?" asked Ryan.
" Hah, my theory. I have lots. First off, why aren't Seers monitored, that seems far too governmental if you ask me. If I was a Seer I wouldn't want to be controlled. See, I think we're all Seers in our own right, with the ability to see a future, our own, the future of our imagination, whatever, so if someone was constantly writing down all my thoughts, both pure and impure that would shrivel me to non-existence."
"And what about prophecies involving the fate of the world?"
Stephanie and Ryan turned and saw Draco coming around, setting his things down in front of them.
" Nice to see you decided to show up." Said Stephanie smiling.
Ryan didn't move, didn't raise an eyebrow, didn't move his face one inch. Draco eyed him, eyes dark and penetrating.
"Think for a moment, Prophecies involving the fate of the world should be monitored, because if certain fates can be changed then why not try?" said Draco not changing his attitude or tone.
"But isn't the meaning of 'fate,' the inability to change it?" asked Stephanie eyes bright and alive as the conversation was picking up.
"No, everything has the ability to change, destinations, feelings aswell as people. Everything can change, even fate." Draco stated finally looking at her, his eyes devouring hers.
Stephanie was thinking about her and Laura's prophecy, and if Draco was right, which she wished and hoped he was, maybe their fate wasn't decided after all. They could survive, they could live, maybe Voldemort would change his mind about his whole "ruling the world" deal.
"Hey,"said the curly redhead Ravenclaw as she came back with a stack of books.
They all introduced each other, well except for Draco who found the whole scene pathetic and beneath him.
" Ryan, I got this book on…" Margaret and Ryan spread their parchments out on one side of the table, as Stephanie attempted to continue the train of thought Draco had been on.
"So your theory is that not all prophecies are true?" asked Stephanie.
"No, they are all true, but they don't all have to come true. Not if one has access to them and can do something to change them."
Stephanie took out some parchment, jotting down some notes. He just sat back, eyebrows raised in contempt and watched. She looked up, reciprocating his look of contempt and finally said, "So what, you're too good to work with a partner?"
He smirked.
"Well Dear Sir, I find it quite unfortunate." Stephanie said, lips quivering of laughter. This whole scene was laughable. They were just working on a project, big deal if he thought he was the man.
He frowned and said, "No, not too good, just too good to work with a Gryffindor."
"Ah, I see. 'Ey Ryan, are you too good to work with me?" Stephanie said tapping him on the shoulder.
Ryan looked up from his scroll, eyed Draco mockingly, knowing it would cost him, and said, "You my dear, never. I've told you before, the hat made a mistake, you're too much of a Slytherin."
"Let's just work shall we?" said Stephanie finally. She brought her chair around and sat directly next to him, because it was easier to share books and whatnots that way. Draco grabbed a book and started flipping through it. Stephanie leaned over to grab one for herself, unknowingly caressing his cheek with her hair, and softly pressing her body against the side of his as she stretched her arm for a book. He acted like he hadn't noticed, but his eyes didn't move from the page, they stayed transfixed, on fire, and as quickly as it happened the ice penetrated his iris once more.
They worked and joked around for the next few hours, as the atmosphere was loosening up with each passing minute. Draco was actually a decent guy after the first initial half hour. The conversations about prophecies the four of them were having were so interesting Stephanie had completely forgotten about the meeting time. When Draco was talking waving his hand, she caught a glimpse of his watch, and ceased his arm.
"Oh shit! I'm late!!" She stood and left running out of the library, not bothering to pack up.
She ran down the corridor, hoping no one would stop her, and saw that the statue had been moved, meaning Laura was probably already in there, tired of waiting for her.
Oh fuck.
When she finally entered Dumbeldore's office, she saw Laura sitting at one of the armchairs, head down, Dumbeldore looking peaceful and kind behind his desk, Snape standing up next to the corner of the large desk, looking the complete opposite of Dumbeldore, and Sirius, pacing between Laura and the other two men.
"Sorry I'm late." Stephanie tried to say.
Dumbeldore looked up and smiled, and said, "Aah, I was beginning to think something else had happened. It's quite alright, please feel free to indulge in some lemon drops, and take a seat."
Stephanie passed on the lemon drop idea and sat in the chair next to Laura who looked up at Stephanie shooting her daggers. Stephanie raised her eyebrows and mouthed," Sorry."
"Now, as we were telling Laura," started Sirius, "Voldemort knows about you two, or so it seems. He's been perusing the outskirts of Hogwart, somehow undetected,"
" But how did he know it was us?" asked Stephanie interrupting him.
"We don't know. Maybe he doesn't."
"Dumbeldore, I think at least a month of detentions, points off Gryffindor and the removal of all Hogesmeade privileges are in order," said Snape viciously.
"Now Severus," Dumbeldore started to say.
"No, they—they—put everything in jeopardy, everything we've worked for. They don't even know what they're up against!"
"If you told us, maybe we'd be more prepared!" Laura finally flared up.
"You can't expect us to go into battle blind, not knowing what we'll face. You can't expect us to die for you! You can't expect us to die--I don't want to die, I'm just a kid!" Laura yelled back.
Sirius looked at her somberly. Dumbeldore didn't seem to react, but Snape was obviously furious.
Stephanie reached for Laura's hand, and held it tightly within hers, as both their eyes were getting redder with anger, frustration and the commencement of tears.
"They're right Severus. You're right, but for the moment being, it's too soon. I just cannot stress enough that you cannot dabble in the same freedom other students can, such as sneaking off the grounds." Dumbeldore said sadly but serenly.
"We don't want you to die either. We're doing all we can to prevent that, having you train, having you prepare. If anyone's going to die, it would be us putting our lives down to save you." Sirius finished.
Laura looked at him, finding it difficult to swallow, her heart beating out of time.
"Now, what exactly happened that night?" asked Dumbeldore.
Stephanie started to recount the events, not noticing Sirius' glare at the mention of Oliver. She also failed to notice the way Laura was sensually licking the salty tears from the corner of her lips. Or the way Sirius was standing…
"You fainted?" Snape interjected.
"Yeah. Sorry I wasn't strong enough to fight him out of my brain." Stephanie said desolately.
"And what did he say? What did you allow him to see?" Snape urged.
"He just said, 'I found you'"
"Then it's as we feared." Said Dumbeldore.
"We need to do something, he knows it's them now," said Sirius moving closer to the desk.
"As long as they stay at Hogswart they'll be fine. They're too young, we cannot expect this from them, let them live." Dumbeldore finished.
Stephanie and Laura squeezed each others hands tighter, fighting back tears.
"Now ladies, all I ask of you is to stay on the grounds. Continue your training, I hear it's going rather well." Said Dumbeldore eyes twinkling, and finished with,"Sirius, will you walk them back to the dormitory."
Sirius changed into his dog form, and led the way.
As they stood in front of the portrait hole, Stephanie scratched the back of his dog ears briefly and said goodnight and swift thank you before heading inside.
Laura did the same, but waited until Stephanie was out of view, as she bent down lower, slowly caressing the dog's head. Sirius' eyes looked tender, and gazed into hers, immobile. Laura sighed softly, kissed the dog's nose and stood.
No one was in the common room when she went inside. Stephanie probably went straight up to bed, so she sat on the large couch, staring into the fire.
One hell of a day…
Upstairs, Stephanie found a note left on her pillow, probably by an owl, sealed with deep emerald green wax. She opened it and read,
Dear Madam,
I do believe in your great escapade to leave you left your things behind. Fear not, I do have them. Shall we meet tomorrow so you may retrieve them, for I cannot continue to always find your things lying around? Without me all your papers and books would constantly be lying around the castle. And should you still be in a prophetic sort of mood, I have found this for our project," The way we know of Prophecies is through the orbs they leave behind, to ensure they existed. For like anything on this earth, to know it has existed at least a fragment of it is all that really matters."
Until tomorrow then.
Sir D. Malfoy
Stephanie chuckled softly, and went to bed.