Hello again! Congratulations to AnnaChase you inspired me to write more! I'm sorry that the formatting has got all messed up, I've had to use - to signal a new paragraph. By the way this is set on the Tuesday before going back to Hogwarts.
Bit of a random title but it came up on my playlist and it sort of fits so...
Chapter 2: Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.
The rain was pouring by the time the taxi pulled up on Ridley Street, Kensington. Dark grey clouds loomed above me, blotting out the sun. The car used similar charms to those on the Knight Bus to evade traffic, but never the less it had been a long journey from central Hertfordshire to the outskirts of London. I was tired and above all just wished that I could have stayed in bed all day. I sighed, unclipped the seat belt and handed the Cabbie a fistful of galleons and sickles.
"Keep the change." I muttered and got out. Immediately I could feel rain pounding on my head and shoulders. The grey haired old wizard pulled my trunk from the magically enlarged boot of the car and carried it along to the curb for me. I grabbed my owl's cage and followed.
I stood there for a moment, getting soaked through to the skin. My grey hoodie and dark blue jeans were sodden in just a few seconds. I smoothed my wet hair down, gathered all my courage and heaved my trunk towards the door of number 34.
The houses here were lovely, all whitewashed brick with wide bay windows and flat roofs. Roger's house, a large, four storey terrace was magnificent, it even had a wrought iron balcony held up my pristine marble columns. His family must be rich. I knew that his father worked at a publishers, and his mother, I think she was a ministry official of some sort.
I picked up the brass knocker and summoned my strength. Almost immediately the door opened. I looked up, expecting to see the imposing form of my quidditch captain. Instead I was greeted by a house elf. It had small round ears, a strange upturned nose and wide, almost too big, brown eyes.
"Hey." I tried to sound balanced, like I normally saw house elves, but it didn't work, I must have sounded shocked at the least.
"Hello Miss, please come in." said the elf, it was a high pitched voice, but didn't all house elves sound high pitched? I couldn't tell if it was a male or female elf so instead just walked in and politely thanked it.
What do I do?! I wondered as the elf snapped it's fingers and sent my luggage flying up the ornate brass staircase.
"Please make yourself at home." It drowsily turned around and walked to the kitchen. I breathed out, not realising that I'd been holding my breath, and surveyed the room. The floor was parquet with a silver-grey rug placed in the centre of the room, on the opposite side to the stairs was a wide oval mirror. I stood and faced it.
"Better dry yourself off, don't you think?" The mirror chimed in.
"Oh, right. Yeah...Sorry." I stammered and pulled my wand out of my jeans pocket.
"It's only a mirror, you don't have to apologise." came a confident voice from the top of the stairs. I swivelled around and caught sight of Roger, but not before I'd lost my balance and started to fall. I grabbed onto the bannister to stop myself from falling and came up blushing furiously.
"I'll never understand how someone so ungainly on two feet can be graceful on a broom." I turned, rolled my eyes and continued to dry myself off with my wand.
"And I'll never understand how someone with such a massive ego can get airborne." I muttered. The mirror tutted and I caught the word: "Impertinence." Davies flashed me a grin and I gritted my teeth.
"Sorry, Isobel." Davies conceded, I could tell that he wasn't really sorry; he still had that laughter in his eyes as he led me to the spare room.
-xoxox-
"What did Margo do this time?" he asked as I placed the cage on the window frame of the room that would be my home until I went back to Hogwarts in five days time.
"You got my letter then." I stated, trying to avoid the question. Roger would definitely think that I was petty if I revealed that I'd risen to my sister's taunts again.
"Yes, I would have preferred a little more warning though; it's going to be interesting explaining this to my parents." he gave me a sidelong glance as I pulled my schoolbooks from my trunk and set them on the dresser.
"Sorry." I bit my lip. "Speaking of letters, where's Willow?" I felt a little guilty that I hadn't thought of my owl earlier.
"She's down in kitchen, Pip's been looking after her."
"Pip?" I questioned.
"House-Elf." he explained. "Are you hungry? It's nearly two."
"Oh, I was waiting for you to ask." I smiled. "I didn't have any breakfast."
"You were still in bed, weren't you?"
"Well...yes, but that's not the point." I answered hesitantly. He laughed again and my stomach flipped over.
-xoxox-
In a very short time, Pip the House-Elf had whipped us up a veritable feast. A pot of stew with potato, green beans, carrots and the tenderest chicken I'd ever eaten. Followed by a vanilla sponge cake topped with mountains of meringue. To my great shame I'd eaten so much I felt like I would burst.
"So how're you finding the Firebolt then?" I asked, I'd had mine since the start of last year but Roger had only recently bought one.
"Great! It's so intuitive, my only concern is Bradley." I nodded, Bradley was the third chaser on our team. "I mean how are we going to do the Hawkshead formation if he's only on a Nimbus 1500, he won't be able to keep up."
"Hmm." I agreed. Bradley was an odd one, by all accounts. He wasn't known for his intelligence but he had this strange sort of wisdom. Like he could tell what you were thinking. His first name was Hephaestus but he hated it and insisted that everyone use his second name instead, it had reached such a point that Hephaestus just sounded wrong. It was no secret that he'd been vying for Captaincy for a while.
I was just getting used to sitting at the dining table with Roger, having polite conversation when I heard a sharp tap at the window. We both turned to see a barn owl rapping at the window. A light brown barn owl was perched expectantly the other side of the pane of glass.
"Crap, that's Mum's owl!" I gingerly got up and walked to the window, heart hammering in my chest.
"They knew where you were going right, that you'd be safe?" Roger asked, he'd got to his feet too.
"N...Not exactly." I winced as he breathed out angrily.
"Isobel, you can't keep doing this. People care about you and you just go running off." He sounded very pissed off, Roger was obviously still angry about the disappearing act I'd performed at the end of last term. Trying to distract myself I opened the window and Daisy (A rubbish name for an owl) hopped onto my outstretched arm.
"Do you care how people feel when you do that?" I was starting to panic now. My shaking hands fumbled with the parchment scroll tied to the right leg.
"Are you even listening to me?" I finally managed to get the note off Daisy's leg and turned to face my captain. He had got closer and I found him very intimidating, I would have stepped back if I could but the granite counter top was in my way.
"Well?" he asked, blue eyes smouldering.
I was fixed to the spot. A hard lump had formed in my throat and I couldn't form a cohesive sentence. Then I felt the hot liquid searing down my cheeks.
Roger noticed this and put his hands on my shoulders in an attempt to comfort me, but before he could say anything else I had run out of the room at full tilt.
-xoxox-
I felt utterly weak and pathetic. I was lying on the bed, curled tightly into the foetal position, clutching my wand so tight that it hurt. The room smelled clean, slightly floral but clinical, not lived in. It wasn't comforting like my dorm at Hogwarts. God-damn it! These were supposed to be my awesome days, when I'm old and grey I'm supposed to look back on these days and laugh, not cry because of all the time I wasted.
"Hey-Look, Isobel, I'm sorry..." I pointed my wand at the door and wispered: "Alohomora." The door made a quiet clicking noise. He caught the hint and came in, closing the door gently behind him.
"I'm not here to apologise." he continued. I raised my eyebrows.
"You just said you were sorry." I sat up, Roger pulled up a chair. He ran a hand through his dark brown, almost black hair and smiled sheepishly at me.
"It's just annoying, I mean, did you realise what a mess Cho was in?" I looked guiltily down at my trainers. "It was bad enough that she lost Cedric, and with you gone too..." he trailed off.
"I can't deal with...it when there's a load of people all around me though, I need quiet to function." I explained, taking my time and talking slowly. "I'm trying to be a good friend but, I think she blames me."
"Are you serious? You think she blames you for what some Deatheater did to Cedric?" His forehead was crumpled in confusion as he studied my face.
"Well, if I'd paid more attention...I've never told anyone, but..." My voice faded to nothing and I couldn't continue.
"It's OK if you don't wan-" I cut in.
"Dumbledore taught me how to leave the visions, I was scared so I did. If I'd stayed, if I'd concentrated I could have made it clearer. I could have made it last. I might have been able to work out where the trophy took them-" It all came gushing out and was followed by copious amounts of tears.
"See, Cho doesn't blame you, your'e projecting what you feel onto her." he gathered me up in a hug. "You blame yourself, which by the way, is stupid."
-xoxox-
That chapter ended up darker than I originally planed, not much humour. I hope you liked it though.
As before, please review, all opinions are welcome, and see you later.