Bittersweet
Chapter 1
Neither of us own anything created by the Queen JK Rowling, we merely play in her world!
Louise Bell-Pepper was a funny, sociable girl. That wasn't her opinion, it was a fact. She loved Quidditch more than anything else in her life; it ran in her family and she lived for the days where she'd get to play a match as a beater for the Slytherin team. Lou wasn't one to blow her own trumpet, but life was going pretty well for her at the moment; decent enough grades and she always had a positive outlook on life, not one to dwell on negativity. Of course her cunning and ambition was evident, mostly down to the stripes on her tie; but Louise did have big dreams, the lifelong one being to become a beater for the Montrose Magpies, and she was the sort to go for those dreams, no matter what kind of underhanded tactic might get her there. She was of average height and weight, about 5ft4, with light blue eyes and mousy brown hair she often kept in a ponytail, with the long strands at the front always escaping, which she was now staring at in the mirror, willing the waves to be straight, but to no avail.
Jerome Kain was an interesting fellow, to put it lightly. Well, not in appearance, unless you ask the ladies who watch the quidditch games. He stands at 6'1", which is fairly admirable for a guy his age and has messy brown hair and green eyes, almost mossy in color. He tends to flirt a bit more than socially acceptable with anything that's breathing, and so far it hasn't backfired on him yet.
Now, if you looked in a mirror, you'd probably see his twin brother Fabian. They're alike in every detail, minus the scar on Jerome's bottom lip, but that's another story entirely. However, their personalities are nothing near alike. Fabian is more of a lurk in the potions class, read instead of talk to girls, kind of guy. A lot of people like to tell him he's like a younger Snape except better looking, and he knows how to fly. He really hates when people say that. But, back to the flying. That's the one thing he and Jerome have in common- their skill on a broom. Fabe's dream is to someday play for the Stonewall Stormers, his by far favorite team in Quidditch. If that didn't work, he'd be a potions master.
After Louise got changed in the toilet of the Hogwarts express, she smoothed her green and silver tie down, then pulled her brunette hair up into a ponytail before exiting to search for the sweet trolley. She wandered for about three or four minutes before stopping when she saw the figures of two familiar boys in one of the carriages she passed.
She knocked on the window of the carriage before letting herself in, grabbing a seat next to Fabian. "Well if it isn't my two favourite twin beaters, Kain the Red, Kain the Green, how are you both? Have a good summer?" Lou asked, grabbing a sherbert lemon from her pocket and popping it in her mouth.
Fabian looked up first, his head halfway stuck into a potions book. "Those nicknames haven't gotten any better since the last time you used them, Lou," he told her, raising an eyebrow as she let herself in. He was already wearing his Gryffindor robes, which were beginning to get a bit snug for his tastes. He'd have to have Alice fix them later.
Jerome rolled his eyes at his brother's attitude and smiled at Lou. "Hey Lou, ignore Princess over there. He's just cranky because Alice spilled ink all over his brand new potions book. Our summer was fine, I suppose. Spent most of it working. What about you?"
Lou couldn't help but chuckle at Jerome's explanation of Fabian's mood, and found herself elbowing him in the ribs lightheartedly.
"Oh bless you diddums! Personally it'd be a blessing for me if someone did spill ink over my potions book, I can't stand that class…" She explained with a slight huff, "besides, I like the nicknames I give people, they get right to the point, Red. Moving right along though, you ready to get your arse handed to you on the pitch this year?" She added, not able to help herself from getting a jab in.
Fabian raised an eyebrow at her weak threats; well, they were weak in his eyes. "And what makes you think Slytherin is actually going to stand a chance against us this year? If I do recall, it was you who had their ass handed to them last year, and that was with our reserve seeker!" He said, immediately getting into the argument at hand. Quidditch was always a big topic with them; mainly them arguing over who was better.
"Wow, yeah claps for you Fabian. Your reserve Seeker was better than your actual Seeker, brilliant strategy, and need I remind you that that was your first win in years, believe it or not, flukes happen now and again." Louise listed off, she really did love arguing with Fabian, it was one of the things she was best at, aside from Transfiguration, and she certainly didn't let an debate go lying down.
Fabian snorted a laugh at her words. "Yeah, and believe it or not, but Gryffindor can be better than Slytherin. We've got quite a few new players, and if I remember correctly, quite a few of yours graduated. Seems our teams the better one now."
Jerome rolled his eyes at Fabian's argument. "Your sole argument right now is that all of our more experienced players left, meanwhile we still have the same team as two years ago, when your ass was handed to you."
Louise laughed as Jerome gave his explanation, her blue eyes beaming, in both humour and the knowledge that she had a comeback waiting.
"On top of that, though we may have lost a few players, we get to pick out of a pool of fresh new talent! So you tell me who's going to have the edge then!" She retorted, always happy to have Jerome about to back her up, and put her hand out for a high five, ganging up on Fabian always was her most amusing pastime.
Jerome smirked evilly at his younger brother, albeit only by thirteen minutes, and raised his hand, giving Louise the high five she so rightfully deserved. "Ten points to slytherin!" he called out, beginning their yearly tally. By the end of the year, whichever of the two houses had the most points had to buy the others sweets from Hogsmeade on the last trip.
Fabian groaned. "We're not even at the castle yet. Doesn't count," he complained.
Jerome shook his head. "Nope, it starts the minute we leave the station."
"Don't hate the players Red, hate the game, the one that everyone agreed to play, I might add." Lou smirked, dipping into her pocket, frowning when she realised she was all out of sugar based snacks, remembering the initial reason she'd come up this way in the first place.
"I need to head down to the sweet trolley, does anyone want to come with, or want anything?" She offered, going to get up.
Jerome looked pointedly at Fabian, smirking. "It's your turn to go. Get me some licorice wands while you're at it," he told Fabian, reaching across the compartment with his foot to kick at him, and nudge him along.
Fabian rolled his eyes and stood up, making sure he had some money in his pockets. "Guess I'm coming along with you," he told her, sounding less than pleased about the current situation.
"Don't start jumping for joy or anything will you?" Louise rolled her eyes at his obvious contemptment for having to go anywhere with her, heaven forbid. "It's not like you've been sentenced to death or something." She grabbed the door and pushed it open, holding it open for him too. They may not have been the best of friends, but she did still have good manners and was always as courteous as she could possibly be.
Fabian raised an eyebrow at her and shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked out the door, waiting for her to exit before shutting it after them. 'What kinds of sweets do you like?" he asked, very awkwardly, trying to come up with small talk. He wasn't great at talking with her, not for lack of trying though.
"Anything from Sherbert Lemons to Sugar Quills really, I'm not fussy… Well not much." She chuckled, tucking her hair behind her ear as she walked. "I'm surprised you didn't try to start another argument for our massive three minute walk to the trolley." Lou added, sarcastically.
Fabian raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not as childish as you seem to assume I am," he told her, before walking up to the trolley and asking for the sweets he wanted. Licorice wands, sugar quills, and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.
"Says you, who called me a ninny the first time I'd ever clapped eyes on you, there was no need really was there?" She retorted, gathering herself her own sugar quills, some acid pops and a bag of sherbet lemons, handing over the money to the lady tending the trolley.
"Honestly Fabian, people would almost think you didn't like me." Lou deadpanned as she turned on her heel, starting back towards their compartment.
Fabian followed after her. "Oh, and we wouldn't want to give them that impression would we? Because other people's opinions matter so much," he griped, walking into the compartment, leaving the door open for her to follow after him.
Jerome snagged the licorice as he walked in, taking one out. "Are you two lovers done yet? It's never ending, really."
"You must have taken one too many of my bludgers to the head Fabian, it seems you can't process sarcasm any more." She jabbed back with a roll of her eyes, taking her window seat next to Fabian once more, turning to face Jerome. "Really, going to the quarrelling lovers line Green? I thought better of you, where's your wit gone?" She asked with a mock gasp at the expense of her best friend.
Jerome shrugged. "It seems to die a little every time I run out of licorice. Can't really explain it, but I go along with it." He smiled widely while taking a giant bite from his candy.
Fabian rolled his eyes. "You only go along with it because I owe you licorice or three months," he said, taking his seat back and popping open the box of jelly beans he'd just bought. He owed Jerome said candy because of a bet they'd placed on the Superbowl, an American muggle sport, that year. It was trivial, and boring compared to Quidditch, but they really placed bets on any sport that was available at the current time.
"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist," Jerome told him, laughing quietly at the face he was making.
Louise shook her head at the pair of them, "You're just as bad as eachother you know." She smiled despite herself though, grabbing a sugar quill from her pocket and sucking on it. "I can't imagine what it must be like not able to escape from each other, you two drive me mad and I chose to hang out with you, Merlin knows how you guys do it." She thought aloud, allowing herself a small laugh when she'd finished.
Fabian looked at Jerome, at the same time he looked at him. "We wrestle a lot," Fabian eventually explained, just as the lights in the compartment went out.
The second the lights went out, Louise's breath hitched in her throat. She could handle a great many things, but the darkness was not one of them.
"What, did we blow a fuse or something?" Jerome asked, standing up and opening the door, sticking his head out into the hall. "Everyone else lost power too."
"The train doesn't have fuses, you dolt. It's run thirty percent fuel and seventy percent magic," Fabian retorted, also standing up.
"Nerd," Jerome muttered, rolling his eyes.
All the while the boys were bickering amongst themselves, Lou had switched off, focusing on attempting to control her breathing and bringing her knees up to her chin. She had a bad feeling about this whole situation, and as fast as that feeling struck, the train shuddered to a halt.
"Why's the train stopped, the train shouldn't ever stop." She quickly blurted out, losing her cool more and more by the second.
Fabian looked over to her, his brows furrowing. "Lou?" he asked, concerned. Sure, he might be completely against her as a Quidditch player and there was the whole Gryffindor hates Slytherin thing going between them, but that didn't mean he wasn't concerned for her well being sometimes. The sometimes didn't include when they were flying.
Jerome frowned and shut the cabin door, walking over to her. "You alright? It's just the lights, no big deal." He'd never seen her like this, except one time in first year when the common room fire went out for no reason, and all the lanterns. Later on he'd found out it'd been a prank by one of the seventh years.
"No, I'm not alright!" She snapped back at him, taking a deep breath, trying to compose herself, huddling more into the corner. "I don't do the dark, okay, you can have a laugh at my expense later." Lou mumbled frantically, nearly inaudibly, remembering the spell through her near panic and drawing her wand before casting lumos, barely relaxing, as she knew that whatever was happening on the Express was nothing good.
Fabian locked the door before pulling out his own wand and casting the spell as well. "It's not that big a deal. You're afraid of the dark," he muttered, sitting down with his wand in hand.
Jerome sat on the ground, taking out his as well. He felt a rush of cold air and shivered, almost dropping his wand in shock. "It's only September… it shouldn't be this cold.." he muttered, completely baffled by the current turn of events.
'Terrified more like' was all Louise thought, as she gripped her wand tighter, her hands shaking, as the cold entered the equation, unable to keep her wand still, though at the same time aiming it at the door, just in case. "This isn't right at all…" She murmured, a feeling of dread running through her.
Fabian looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Suddenly he had the urge to hug her, to tell her everything would be fine, but he squashed it down. That was completely irrational. "There's frost on the windows…" he remarked, and heard something coming down the hall.
"Stop talking," Jerome said, hearing it at the same time he did, and backed away from the door. He stood in front of Louise, in essence turning into her human shield. Hopefully whatever was on the other side wasn't about to Crucio him.
Louise had to place her hand over her own mouth to muffle the sounds of her rapid intakes of breath, through this entire ordeal though , she refused to cry, and she most certainly refused to have a panic attack in front of these two idiots, remembering her 7:11 breathing she attempted to calm herself, aiming her wand around Jerome at the door, hand still shaking vigorously against her will.
When the shadow passed by, it looked like a cloaked figure through the frosted glass. "Dementors?" Fabian asked, looking at Jerome in confusion. A second later, the lights turned back on, and the train resumed movement.
As the lights returned, Lou let go of the breath that she didn't know she'd ended up holding as the Dementor passed and returned her feet back to the floor. She shook her head to rid herself of the remaining nerves from the situation that had just occurred.
Jerome frowned. "They must've been after Black," he said, taking a seat next to Louise.
"Why the bloody hell would he be on a train full of school kids?!" She asked in an exasperated and frustrated tone, of all the ways she saw the beginning of a new year starting, this was not it at all and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and relax for a while, but they still had the opening ceremony to endure yet, "It's a travesty, this never should have happened…" She finished, mumbling more to herself than anyone, embarrassed at her display in the face of darkness.
Fabian frowned. "Well, isn't it obvious? They think he's going to hide out in the school," he said, not liking the current situation at all. The dementors wouldn't have been allowed on the train without Dumbledore's permission, he knew that, but he still worried greatly over the fact it had gotten so close to them.
Jerome huffed, his immense irritation spiking in reaction to everything. "This better not be a thing," he muttered, landing in his seat and settling in for the rest of the train ride.
"Hogwarts is one of the most safe and secure places in the UK… Do you really think he could breach it?" Louise asked quietly, her voice full of concern, not really wanting the answer. No one really wanted the answer, so it was left unspoken, leaving the rest of the journey back to school in silence.