Heyo! This chapter is considerably longer than the others, and I think you'll like it! This ends their first year at Hogwarts! woohoo! So please, please review! I would love to know how I am doing so far :D
~JS~
Serving detention with Snape was not as bad as it could be. Having my friends in detention with me made all the difference. Most of the time Snape had us writing lines, or helping him grade potions. In complete silence, of course. While the lot of us were writing lines, I liked to imagine what was going through my friends' heads at that moment. The twins, of course, were most likely plotting some massive prank, or imagining ways to get revenge on Miles. Every now and then George would slip a folded note to Fred and wink, or vise-versa. Lee almost always wore a little smirk on his face. Once he told us that he imagined Snape bald every time he yelled at us, much to my entertainment. Angelina was usually drawing on her parchment instead of doing lines with a spacey look on her face. If she wasn't doodling, she was braiding a piece of her hair and staring with a bored expression. Alicia, on the other hand, always had a look of worry on her face when in detentions with Snape, and even when we weren't in detention. Something about the way Alicia has been acting lately wasn't settling well with me. I want to ask Angelina if she's noticed, but I don't want to offend her or concern her over something that might just be in my head.
It was a warm Saturday evening in late spring that the twins and I were huddled around a table in the Gryffindor common room.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." I said, pointing my wand at the Marauder's map.
The map revealed itself and we unfolded it, searching for one person in particular.
Every time we got the map out to look at it Fred, George, and I began noticing Miles Bletchley lurking about the Hufflepuff corridors more often than not. Curiosity was getting the best of us.
"What in Merlin's name is he doing?" George asked.
"I'd say it's about time to go intervene." I said, standing up, brushing my sweaty palms on my jeans.
"Intervene with what?" Angelina asked, entering our little circle .
"We want to know why Mile's is constantly creeping in front of the Hufflepuff common room!" Fred bursted out.
"It's past curfew, though... maybe you should go tomorrow?" Angelina suggested.
Fred and George stared at her.
"I don't think we care." I stated.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." Angelina said nervously, "We're already in detention with Snape every week."
"So what do we have to lose?" George said.
"Mischief managed." Fred pointed at the map, ending the conversation.
The map turned itself back into a blank piece of parchment and he put it in his pocket.
"Are you gonna come with us?" I asked, looking at Angelina.
Angelina looked at the three of us hesitantly, gnawing on the inside of her cheek.
"I guess so..."
"Good!" I said, looping my arm through hers. "Since when did you become such a party pooper?"
"I just don't have a very good feeling about this."
"We're with Fred and George. I'm not worried." I said confidently.
The twins gave me boyish grins, and we set off for the Hufflepuff corridor.
"Keep it down!" George whispered. Fred belched, causing me to burst into a fit of giggles.
The farther we walked away from the Gryffindor common room and my cozy bed, the more jittery I began to feel. It was cold and dark. Every footstep we took echoed around us. Even the men and women in the portraits on the walls who were usually moving around were sleeping. As we neared the staircase, I silently prayed that they wouldn't decide to move us. Sometimes when students walk on the staircases they decided to relocate you so that you end in a completely different spot than you mean to be. Usually it was quite comical, but tonight was not the night.
Thankfully, the stairs remained still.
"This way should take us there." Fred whispered. Thanks to the map, the twins knew their way around the school like the back of their palms.
As we rounded the corner we could make out Mile's having a hushed conversation with a girl.
We hid ourselves around the corner, peeking our heads out. Whoever Mile's was talking to was considerably older. She was a good few inches taller than him, and had long, dark hair. Both of them were in their sleepwear, and they appeared to be very close.
We all craned our necks to try to make out what they were saying.
"Please..." Miles whispered, in a desperate tone.
"Never. I went back once before, but they refused to even look at me." The girl responded.
"They miss you... we miss you." Miles pleaded. "It's not the same!"
"You've got to be joking, I don't even cross their minds anymore. You're the only one I stay in touch with."
"Maybe if you just came back and tried talking to them?"
"Give up on it, little brother! It's not going to happen. You know as well as I that it's not a possibility."
"I don't care if you're in Hufflepuff!" Miles said.
"I know." She pulled him in for a hug. "But they do."
"I'll talk to them for you-"
"I said no. Don't even consider it."
"I don't want to go home this summer back to that... house. Please..." Miles begged.
"Trent already agreed to let me stay with him this summer."
"Is he your boyfriend?" Miles asked.
"I think so. I want to stay with him, Miles. I promise I'll write to you, though." The girl said. "I think you better go. It's late and I thought I heard something..."
"Can I come visit tomorrow night?" He begged.
"Of course."
The girl entered the Hufflepuff common room, leaving Miles alone in the dark hallway.
I slowly turned my head towards Angelina and the twins. I looked at Fred and George's big blue eyes, wide with shock.
"Mile's has a sister...?" Angelina hushed.
"Apparently so." Fred said.
"He seemed so normal just now." I said curiously. "He wasn't acting like a right git."
"I feel a bit... bad for him." Angelina sympathized.
"I wouldn't go quite that far." Fred said. "How old do you suppose she is?"
"Sixteen, I'd say." George responded.
"I wonder if we should go talk to him..." I started.
"That, my friend, is a terrible idea." George said.
"Can you imagine how much more he'd hate you if he knew you've been eavesdropping? Fred said.
"I suppose."
Fred grabbed my wrist and pulled me around the corner, out of sight from Miles.
"Should we be heading back now?" Angelina asked.
"Maybe we should just stay and see what he does." I suggested.
"I agree." George said.
The four of us peered our heads around the cold, stone wall again, just far enough to be able to make out Miles silhouette.
Miles was sitting on the ground, his head buried into his knees.
I peered up at my friends' faces. By the looks on their faces they heard what I heard. Miles was sobbing right there in front of the Hufflepuff common room. His shoulders were shaking as he ran a hand through his hair.
"I think we should go..." Angelina said.
"I suppose so." I agreed. The twins nodded.
As I turned around, I mistakenly ran into the back of George.
"Sorry." I said out loud.
Fred and Angelina looked at me with wide eyes. Then I realized, I had said that a bit too loud.
"Who's there?" Miles shouted out, defiantly.
"Quick, come this way!" George said, tugging on my arm.
"No, wait." I said.
"Let's go!" Fred said, pulling me by the other arm.
"Who are you?" Mile's voice echoed from behind us. The four of us ran as silently as we could back to the Gryffindor common room.
The twins made it back first thanks to their legs being much longer.
"Lizping fangs." I hurriedly whisper-shouted to the portrait of the fat lady.
The Fat Lady gave me a harsh look, probably for being out past curfew, and stuffed her nose in the air.
"C'mon, let us in!" I said.
"Beth, the password changed. Treacle tart." Angelina said.
The Fat Lady grudgingly swung the portrait open, allowing us into the Gryffindor common room.
"Merlin." I sighed, plopping my tired body into a squashy couch.
"I think I will go to bed." Angelina yawned and slowly trudged up the stairs to the girls rooms.
"'Night." I said to my best friend.
The twins threw themselves down onto the couch on either sides of me.
"Well, we found out one interesting bit of information this evening." Fred stated.
"I wonder how many others know?" I pondered. I ran a hand through my curly mob of blonde hair and closed my eyes. "Am I tired or what."
"Well, we did just run halfway through the castle." George said.
A comfortable silence fell over us. The warm fire was crackling and spitting in front of the couch, creating a very warm atmosphere. The comfort of the couch didn't help me to have the energy to get up, either. I looked up at George, who's eyes were halfway closed and his head was beginning to fall forward. I giggled at this, as he looked rather silly. I turned my head to look at Fred, to find he was already asleep. He had a very peaceful look on his face and a slight smirk played at he edges of his lips. I felt my eyelids beginning to shut, and my mind was beginning to drift...
THUD.
"WHAT?" I whipped my head up suddenly, my heart pounding.
Next to me, the twins had stood up, their hair disheveled. Fred tripped over his feet and fell back onto the couch.
Beside us, Lee and Angelina were hunched over from laughter. Lee put his hand on Angelina's shoulder for support.
"I * gasp * cannot wait to see *gasp * how this picture *gasp * turns out." Lee said, still laughing.
In my groggy and alarmed state, I just realized I was still in the common room on the couch with the twins. I reached up to touch my hair, which I'm sure looked more like an owls nest then hair.
"I think we fell asleep on the couch, mate." George yawned and said to Fred.
"Can you blame us? Bethany's hair makes a great pillow." Fred said.
I halfheartedly slapped him with a couch pillow and laughed.
The events of last nights adventures were temporarily forgotten, thanks to Angelina and Lee who were just getting over their fit of hysteria.
"What are you two chickens laughing about?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
Angelina giggled and said, "Lee and I took a picture of you three sleeping, you should see yourselves! And then I dropped my textbook on the floor and you jumped about a mile!"
"Let me see the picture!" I said, climbing over Fred to grab the camera.
In the picture, George's head was tilted back completely and his mouth was gaping open. His chest was slowly moving up and down and you could tell he was snoring. I burst into laughter and pointed at George, unable to speak.
"What?" He said. "Look at yourself!"
My head was leaning on Fred's shoulder and there was a tiny wet drool spot on Fred's shirt right below my mouth.
"Ewwww!" Fred exclaimed, wiping at his shoulder. George and Lee began laughing so hard Lee snorted.
Fred had his head resting on top of mine and his mouth was moving.
"Well at least I'm not talking in my sleep!" I said to Fred.
"Drooler."
"Sleep talker."
"Drooler."
"Hey this is the first moving picture I've ever been in!" I exclaimed, forgetting to continue our little argument. "Where did you get that camera, Lee?"
"My mum gave it to me over the Holidays, I just haven't used it yet. Waiting for the perfect moment! I'll give each of you a copy for safekeeping." Lee said and winked
I rolled my eyes at him, before standing up.
"Well, Lee and I are going to go get breakfast before it's all gone. You guys coming?" Angelina said.
"Yeah, let me change first." I said.
After I had changed into some comfortable Sunday clothes and attempted to tame my wildly curly hair, I ran down the common room to wait for my red-head best friends. Once they met up with me, the three of us made our way to the Great Hall for our last Sunday morning together before returning back to our homes for the Summer.
"Angelina, where's Alicia?" I asked at breakfast.
Angelina looked at me with worry in her dark brown eyes.
"Alicia... Alicia has been a little cold lately." She said, softly.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"I dunno, when I tried to ask her what was wrong she just glared at me and stormed off."
"Maybe she's begun her-"
"Don't be disgusting, Lee!" I cried, knowing what he was about to say.
"I was only going to say exams."
The twins snickered, but immediately stopped after seeing our angry glares.
"I believe something is going on with her family." Angelina said, ignoring the boys.
"Was she in the dormitory with you last night?" I asked.
"No, once I got there her bed was empty."
"Hm." I said, looking down and playing with the food on my plate. Ever since we nearly got expelled for beating up Miles, Alicia has hardly spoken a word to us. Angelina exchanged a small conversation with her, and I hadn't spoken to her at all. I glanced down the table to look for her, and saw her sitting alone at the very end of the table near the entrance of the Great Hall.
"Angelina, look." I said, nodding towards Alicia.
"Let's shout down to her and tell her to sit with us. HEY ALICI-" I quickly shoved my hand over Lee's mouth before he could shout anymore.
"Blimey, do you know anything about girls?" Angelina asked.
"I should go down there and talk to her. Not have you screaming at her." I said, pointedly staring at Lee.
I walked over to Alicia and sat down next to her.
"Hey, Alicia. Are you okay?" I asked softly, brushing a piece of hair out of my face.
"I'm fine." She said shortly.
"We miss you, you know. Why don't you come sit with us?"
Alicia turned to stare at me.
"Why?" She asked.
"Like I said, we miss you. We're uneven without you, three boys and only two girls!" I said, smiling.
Alicia didn't smile and looked down at her lap where she as fiddling with her thumbs.
"I don't think so. Thanks, though."
"But, Alicia-"
"Talk to you later, Beth." She said, and walked out of the great hall.
"What happened down there?" George asked once I returned to my seat.
"She doesn't want to sit with us. She didn't really say much else..." I trailed off.
"That's rude." Lee said.
"I don't think she's being rude, I think something is really upsetting her and she's too embarrassed to tell us." Angelina said, defending our friend.
"We spent our entire first year at Hogwarts getting to know her, why wouldn't she trust us? I thought we were her closest friends." I said, a bit hurt.
"Maybe she thinks we're a bad influence." Fred said, nudging his twin.
"Maybe, but I just don't think that's it." I said.
My friends and I finished our breakfasts and decided to go outside and spend our last Sunday together pranking loners and enjoying the sunshine. Everything about this day was perfect, except for Alicia not spending it with us. The grass was freshly cut, and the sun shone bright in the sky. There was a lovely summer breeze blowing and nothing could beat the feeling of being free with your best friends. No more homework, no more exams, only sunshine and beautiful, blue skies.
I spotted Miles walking past us with a bunch of his Slytherin friends. Miles, however, was carrying a broom.
"My mum sent it to me in the mail the other week. A comet 260, the best one yet! I'm trying out for the Slytherin Quidditch team next year. I need to start practicing right away. Dad says I'm a natural." I could hear Miles boasting to his friends.
Fred scoffed. "Miles, a natural. My arse."
"Language, Freddy." I said, playfully slapping his arm.
"Well, Miles isn't the only one trying out for the Quidditch team next year." George mumbled.
I stopped walking.
"Really? You guys are gonna try out?" I asked, surprised. I stopped walking and looked up at the twins.
"Yep. We're going to be beaters next year." Fred said grinning, looping his elbow through his twin's.
"You sound so sure!" Angelina said.
"Because we are." George said and winked.
"Are you any good at flying?" I asked as the group of us started walking again.
"Are we any good, she asks." George scoffed.
"Just you wait, young'n." Fred said.
"Young'n?" I asked, giggling.
"Yes. We turned twelve in April, you are still only eleven. You are a young'n." Fred explained.
"I turn twelve on June 17th!" That's only a few weeks away."
"And I turned twelve back in October right after school started. That makes me older than all of you!" Angelina said.
My friends continued their little friendly argument until we reached the edge of the black lake, where we sat on the edge dipping our feet in and talking and laughing until the sun began to set. Realizing it was nearly curfew, we decided to head back into the castle.
"Well, tomorrow we board the train to go home." Angelina sighed.
"Indeed. I plan to have a very exciting summer." Lee chimed in.
"All of you must write to me every day!" I said, looking at the twins and Lee.
"I will." Angelina said.
Angelina, we're neighbors!" I said, cracking up. "I was talking to those dunderheads."
"I can't guarantee we'll write every day..." George started.'
"But we'll try to aim for every week!" Fred finished.
"My family is traveling to Paris this summer." Lee said excitedly. "I'll send you pictures that I took from my camera. Oh! And here you go, I meant to give you these."
Lee pulled out three pictures and handed one to Fred, George, and I. It was the picture Lee had taken of us sleeping on the couch, in unflattering poses.
"Hah! Good times, Georgie, good times." Fred said smirking.
I laughed and clutched the picture. It was a fun memory, a reminder of my first year at Hogwarts and my best friends.
"I should probably go finish packing." I said, remembering that I had some last minute packing to do. "Plus, Dragon will want to get out and stretch his wings tonight before the trip tomorrow. Goodnight boys!"
"'Night!"
Angelina followed me up to the room where we found Alicia sitting on her bed, her trunk was sitting next to her all packed and ready to go.
"Oh. I wasn't expecting you guys back until later." She said.
"I'm sorry, should we leave and come back?" I said defensively.
She looked up at me, obviously offended.
"No. I'll see you guys next year. Have a good summer." Alicia said quickly. She grabbed her things and bustled out of the room.
"You have a good summer, too!" Angelina shouted after her. "You didn't need to be so rude, Beth..."
"I don't see why she has to be so mean if we've done nothing wrong. We were nice to her all year, the least she could do is tell us if she's mad at us." I said while turning around to pack the rest of my toiletries.
Dragon began hooting in his cage and nipping at the bars.
"All right, all right. Get out and stretch, but you need to be back tomorrow morning, okay boy? We need to leave bright and early." I said softly, opening his cage. He affectionately nudged my shoulder before soaring off into the moonlight.
All right, folks! That sums up this chapter, don't forget, please review! Do it for Fred! And thanks for reading!