Disclaimer: Neither me nor Cassie own Harry Potter, therfore all settings and characters (other than Sydney, Caley, and Nikki) are borrowed from J.K. Rowling.
Caley:
While Sydney's thinking a sudden gleam enters my eyes and a smile spreads across my face. Sydney sees me and stops in her thoughts.
"What?" she asks.
"How about we go to Hogsmeade?" I say. Sydney opens her mouth to say something but Nikki cuts her off.
"We can't get to Hogsmeade without permission and I doubt anyone will give us permission."
"Okay first," I say "I grew up with Remus Lupin so I know everything about everything around here. And second," I say as I take a piece of parchment out of my pocket "we have this."
"What is it?" Nikki asks.
"The Marauders Map," Sydney says in confusion "But there's only one and I thought Harry has it?"
"Wrong," I say.
"Harry doesn't have it?"
"No, he does."
"But-"
"Let me finish," I say impatiently.
They both go quiet.
"I have another one that shows Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts." I open it up.
THE MARAUDERS MAP
BY PADFOOT AND MOONY
I fold it back up and put it in my pocket.
"So, you guys want to go?" Before they could answer Fred and George walk towards us. One of them – Fred – looks at Sydney and puts his pinky next to his mouth and his thumb by his ear. Sydney sees and then looks at me and Nikki.
"What is he trying to say" she asks.
"He wants you to call him," I answer.
"With what?"
"A phone." Fred and George stop in front of us.
"Hi Fred. Hi George," Nikki says. Then she gets confused. "I mean Fred or George… or…"
I hold back a smile. "Fred," I say pointing to the one on the left. "And George," I say pointing to the one on the right. When George looks me in the eye I blush and look away. Sydney sees and gives me a smile.
"Hmm," Fred says to me. "So you know about muggles and you know the difference between George and I. You're good."
"Gee thanks," I say sarcastically.
"How do you know all that?"
"I grew up with Remus Lupin."
"Well that explains everything," George says with a laugh.
Just then the bell rings and the hall is full of people on their way to their common rooms. Nikki catches sight of Ron and Harry.
"Got to go," she says and runs to catch up with them.
"Well so much for our great adventure," I murmur.
I see a group of Ravenclaws headed our way. They stop when they get to me.
"Hey Caley," one of them says. "I like what you did to Snape. It was pretty entertaining." Before I could answer they walk off.
"What did you do to Snape?" George asks.
"Umm… I… Um…"
"She turned him into a duck," Sydney says. Fred and George start laughing hysterically.
"Well Sydney turned him into a cup after that."
"Yeah," Sydney says. "After." When Fred and George stop laughing they look to us again.
"So, you were supposed to go on an adventure huh?"
"Yeah, but I guess not anymore."
"Well," George says giving a wink to his twin brother. "How about the four of us go somewhere together instead?"
With that Fred puts his arms around Sydney's shoulders and George puts his arm around mine. I look at Sydney who is blushing just as much as me.
"Well," I say. "It would be horrible to waste such a lovely afternoon. What do you say?"
Sydney:
I look up to the face of the twin embracing me. "I'm in." He smiles at me and I get a twinge in my stomach I've never felt before. Then again, a boy this cute has never put his arm around me before.
Together the four of us made our way to the passage that would take us to the basement of Honeydukes. Caley strolled cautiously but gracefully, the twins marched their familiar path, and I stalked like the predator I half was.
We entered the dark and desolate tunnel and I was surprised by a chuckle that came from one of the others.
"What?!" I asked angrily.
George answered… If you can call what he replied with and answer. "How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Glow," the twins said together.
I looked down at myself and sure enough my skin, which is so pale it's almost translucent in the sun, was giving off a glow-like radiance.
I pouted, crossed my arms, and walked ahead, feigning anger. Inwardly I was chuckling and rolling my eyes.
A twin came up – rather ungracefully – behind me and grabbed me around the waist and spun me around.
I gave an uncharacteristic girlish shriek and ordered Fred to put me down which resulted in me being dropped to the ground and tickled incessantly.
"Get a room you two," Caley joked and George smiled deviously as he sneaked behind her with his arms out like a clichéd monster about to attack. He looked to Fred and me for support.
Fred stopped tickling me to stare at his brother, his gaze full of anticipation. "Do it," I whisper encourage. What I'm encouraging him to do is beyond me.
I suppose I'll never know what George was planning because Caley caught on and turned into Ms. Mom. "We should quite down. No one is supposed to leave the school and if we get caught on our way to Honeydukes we could get expelled."
The three of us let out a collective exasperated sigh of annoyance and disappointment before following her request and continuing our walk in silence.
The remainder of the walk only took about ten minutes but it seemed like thirty because the hush was too abrupt and the tunnel was too cold. It was fall and underground wasn't the place to be. Fortunately, Fred's arm was wrapped around me the whole time so not only was his body heat adding to mine but my heart rate had accelerated quite a bit.
We opened up a hatch in the ceiling (if you can call it that) and the stillness was in vain because the bustle of the candy shop was so noisy that we could have been brutally tortured and murdered down in the tunnel and no one would have heard our screams. We didn't take much time to complain about our useless quiet because the sweets' abundance put us in some sort of awed trance.
Honeydukes was like no store I've ever seen before. It had character. It was nothing like muggle stores where the shelves are organized and evenly spaced. The products were not in order of price or brand. The only way to find any certain product you may be searching for were vague signs hanging from the ceiling declaring a section as "Popular Products" (which included Bertie Botts every flavor bean and chocolate frogs) or "Special Effects" (Pepper Imps, Exploding Bonbons, and Toothflossing Stringmints were under this section) or another section that caught my: "Various Chocolates" (obviously Chocoballs and Shock-O-Choc are sorted here).
I liked the over stocked, packed shelves with clashing bright colors but Caley didn't. She was an enthusiast of order and cleanliness, the clutter made her nose scrunch like she smelled something rancid and her mouth stiffen into one tight, disapproving line.
Obviously not feeling the same as her Fred and George looked like lethifolds in the coma wing of a muggle hospital. They were flushed with excitement and the knowledge that they probably didn't have much money to spend on their favorite candy made me wilt slightly into discontent.
"Do you guys like this place?" I rhetorically asked the twins.
"Yeah!" answered an enthusiastic George.
"Hey, remember that time we got Ron to eat an Acid Pop?!" Fred prompted.
George laughed heartily "Of course! It burnt a hole in his tongue and Mum smacked you with the broom over and over again"
Fred rolled his eyes and brought up another candy based memory to reminisce on.
I sauntered over to the "Unusual Tastes" section unnoticed and seized a blood flavored lollipop while being disgusted by the Cockroach Clusters.
"What are you doing?" Asked a Weasley boy lightly, resting his head on my shoulder.
"Multitasking," I answered simply.
"How so?"
"I'm getting my favorite candy and walking away from Fred and Georges' remember-a-thon."
"Those twins are mighty hansom," remarked Fred, keeping his head on my shoulder.
I shrugged over animatedly, making Fred's head bob.
"Watch it!" he laughed.
"Okay." And I walked over to the counter where I could pay for my lollipop.
"I didn't mean it!" He called.
I didn't stop walking "Okay," I repeated.
"What are you doing now?" asked Caley.
I didn't answer but instead pulled out three knuts and greeted the cashier with a fake warm smile. "I'd like to but this please," I said, laying the lollipop on the cluttered counter.
"Me too, please" injected Fred, laying a second lolly on the counter.
"That'll be six knuts" said the plump woman with rather curly red hair and a genuine smile behind the counter.
Fred paid for both candies and handed one to me. "Let's take a walk," he said and led me out the door and to the chilly streets of Hogsmeade.
I unwrapped my candy when the door closed behind me and Fred. "Why did you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?" He was acting strangely innocent and with the Weasley twins that's never a good sign.
"Buy my candy. You don't like blood-flavored lollipops." I accused.
"How would you know?"
"You're not a vampire."
"So?"
"Everyone in the wizarding world – including you – knows that blood-flavored lollipops are for vampires."
"You're calling yourself a vampire then," Fred says, thinking he is so smart for thinking of the line.
"Only half," I reply casually.
"Then why do you like those lollipops?!" I don't think he was listening to me and had just assumed I said 'NO!' or 'I'm not a vampire!' or something like that.
"I just said. It's because I'm half vampire."
"That doesn't mean– wait. What?!"
"I AM HALF VAMPIRE," I said it slowly and clearly just incase he didn't understand big words.
He looked frightened. "Are you going to eat me?"
I gave him an are-you-serious look and he laughed shakily.
"So… Half vampire. How does that happen?"
"My dad was raised like any normal vampire born into vampirism. He hunted and stalked humans, drank the blood of anyone that crossed his path, the usual. He liked it for a while. But when he got older he met my mother and split off from his coven. They got married and I came along a few years later. The coven still watches us sometimes but for the most part we lead pretty normal lives."
Fred blinked a few times, absorbing the story. "And your dad?"
"He works for the ministry just like yours."
"Where does a vampire get a job at the ministry?" He made it a joke but I knew the question was serious.
"The department for the regulation and control of magical creatures, he's in the being division. Most of the time he works on negotiating with stubborn covens or informing the rest of the ministry on vampiric culture."
"Wow. Does he hunt?"
"Of course, he used to take me with him but when I didn't show the mental traits of a vampire, he stopped."
"What exactly are the mental traits of a vampire?" he sounded uneasy again
I laughed a little. "Bloodlust, lack of compassion, arrogance, the need to control everything, etc."
"So basically they act the same as every Slytherin that ever lived ever."
I laughed again. "Pretty much."
He smiled a dopey smile "You shouldn't say that. You're a Slytherin and should defend your house."
"Well it's true. Vampire traits are the same as Slytherins but they're magnetized. Probably ten times more intense plus they don't have any other emotions. Slytherins will see a blind homeless man on the road they'll see him as an easy target and mock him or tease him. Vampires will see the same man, see him as an easy target, and torture him physically and mentally before draining him of blood and killing him. The Slytherins had the sense that they may get caught and don't want the homeless mans blood on their hands. Vampires don't get that feeling from their conscience; it's all animal and all instinct. If the man looks like a weak and easy target they will kill him."
"We didn't learn that in defense against the dark arts class."
"I don't doubt that, especially with Umbridge, mistress of the toads, for a teacher." I bit into something and realized it was my blood-flavored lollipop. I'd been eating it the whole time and now only the stick was left. "What happened?" I asked no one in particular.
Fred was the only there to hear so he answered. "You ate it."
I tossed the pink stained stick to the side.
"Here, have mine. I'm not going to eat it," Fred offered and I accepted, taking the candy and unwrapping it like I did the last one. "Lets go to Zonkos." Fred said.
"Okay," I agreed.
"So, how old were you when you opened this place?" asked Fred. He'd been asking the owners of Zonkos questions about joke shop business strategies for over an hour. At first I had been curious of what the answers would be but now it's almost supper time and my stomach didn't care about entrepreneurs.
The shop itself was really quite cool. I had studied just about every inch of the place out of boredom. The shelves were well stocked with flashy products like Nose Biting Teacups and Hiccup Sweets. Some products such as Dungbombs I've heard of and even used before but Frog Spawn soap was a total mystery to me. The place itself had all of the bustle of Honeydukes without the warmth. Something about Zonkos was just dark and almost depressing but I'm confident that changes when the shop is filled with Hogwarts students and local pranksters.
"Fred," I say softly after his ten thousandth question is answered. "I'm going to go find Caley. See you at dinner."
He checks a flashing orange and purple clock on the wall that made no sense to me but he must have understood it because he looked back at me, nodded, and asked yet another question but I could feel his gaze lingering as I turned and walked away.
On my way out the door I caught sight of George who looked like he really wanted to ask me something but promptly decided against it. He was coming into the shop to join his brother – I don't even know how he knew where his brother was but I don't like to challenge twin bonds.
"Where's Caley," I inquire when he was within earshot.
A look crossed his face that was almost angry but more hurt. "Beats me." Then he entered the shop.
I found Caley in the basement of Honeydukes (I was shocked I wasn't noticed entering the restricted section of the nearly empty store). She was crouched in the fetal position and cradling her knees to her face, trembling with tears.
"What's wrong?" I asked my friend.
She jumped at the sound of my voice. "I can't," she sobbed into her knees.
"You can't what?" I was very cautious, if I startled her too much I knew she wouldn't tell me.
"I can't tell him! He won't like me anymore!"
"This is about George, isn't it?"
She nodded helplessly, not even bothering to look up from her lap.
I sighed and walked towards her. When I was close enough to hear her wavering pulse I crouched down and grasped her arm, gently lifting her to her feet. She winced at my hold but allowed me to help, clinging to me like a child lost and almost snatched or a kitten being let down from an unusually high tree. She seemed so helpless and fragile like the perfect, trusting victim. All I would have to do is tilt her head slightly and she would be half dead before she even had time to realize it…
I shook that thought from my head and lead her to the tunnel. "Lets go to supper," I said in a comforting voice that I didn't know was real or not. "You can tell me what you're talking about later."
Caley:
When we entered Honeydukes the twins eyes light up. George looks at me and sees my disappointment.
"What's up?" He says and I smile.
"Seriously, I like candy and all but this is mayhem. It's so disorganized!" I look at George who is trying not to laugh. I can feel my face turn a light shade of red. "I grew up with Remus."
"Again," George says as he puts his arm around my shoulder. "That explains everything." We walk pas Fred and Sydney.
"Have fun," I whisper to her with a smile, then I look up at Fred and catch him giving his brother a wink.
"So where are we going" I ask George when we get outside of Honeydukes.
"Wherever you want to go. Do you know what shops are here?"
"Honeydukes, Zonkos, Hogshead, etc, etc, etc."
"How do you know- Lupin." He says with a laugh.
"You catch on quick. How about.."
"I know. Follow me." In less than two minutes we're at the counter of Hogshead.
"Two butterbeers please," George says to the man behind the counter. "To go." After we get our drinks George leads me outside.
"Where are we going now?" I ask.
"You'll see." Then he heads for the woods and I follow. The trees start to thin and suddenly we're looking at what looks like an old shed.
"The shrieking shack," I say. I look up at George who's smiling at me and I can't help but smile back. Then his smile fades.
"So why do you live with Lupin?" He asks carefully. My smile fades then. "you don't have to tell me," he says quickly.
"No," I say, "It's fine. I live with him because my parents died when I was almost two." I wasn't lying – I just wasn't telling the whole truth. My parents really did die. "My parents were part of the order and Voldemort apparently thought they were enough of a threat that he and the werewolves had come to kill them theirselves.
"How did you get away?"
"The whole order – including Lily and James because this happened before they died – came but Voldemort had already killed my parents. James realized that I was nowhere to be seen. This night happened to be the night of the full moon and Lily was the one to find me in my room surrounded by the werewolves. Then Molly and Arthur came into the room. That's when Greyback jumped for me-" I stopped. I couldn't tell him. I quickly came up with a lie. "But Molly got him before he got me." Lie. Molly got Greyback after he bit me. "Then Lily left to find James so your mom and dad fought off the rest of ther werewolves themselves. The rest of the order thought we had died while they were fighting off the werewolves. Neville's parents were about to go in and see but before they could Arthur came out. Molly – with me in her arms – came out behind him. Nobody said anything. Remus just came up and took me out of Molly's arms and promised he would take care of me. He promised he would make sure nothing bad ever happened to me."
"But why was Lupin so eager to take you in?" George asked.
"I – I – I –" Stop, I told myself. Don't tell him. I can't tell him. I felt tears in my eyes. "I have to go," I say and run without stopping back to the basement of Honeydukes. I lean against the wall and sit down. I don't know how long I was there but finally Sydney comes though the tunnel and sees me.
"Caley," she says, "what's wrong?"
"I can't," I cry.
"You can't what?"
"I can't tell him." There was a short silence.
"Lets go to supper," Sydney says after helping me up.
Together we walk back to Hogwarts and to the great hall where our supper is awaiting us.
I'm getting tired of no reviews. I will not update if I don't get at least two reviews and I WILL delete the story!
-Squidster "Sydney"
