Author's Note: This chapter has some violence and some profanity. Reviews are welcome!
Chapter Five:
"The Samhain Ball"
It was late at night while Hermione slept at her desk with a long roll of parchment filled with words. Her ink had long since spilled over her desk and escaped onto to her robes. Sleepily she stretched, rolling over on the desk, only causing her hair to fall into the ink. Sensing something not quite right, Hermione woke to find the situation she was in.
"Fuck!"
Hermione was absolutely infuriated with herself, Well at least my novel didn't get ruined this time. How many times was she going to fall asleep in the middle of her writing? A slight chuckle from the other side of the room interrupted her thoughts. Looking up, she saw Ginny sitting on a short bookshelf looking quite smug.
"Having issues?"
Hermione glared, "I most certainly am not!"
"Of course, you're not. We all fall asleep with an open container of ink sitting on our desk and knock it over in our sleep, only to later roll over in the ink and get it in our hair. No, Hermione, you don't have issues at all," Ginny replied sarcastically.
Hermione cringed playfully, "How long have you been sitting there?"
"Long enough," Ginny bit her lip, obviously hiding something.
Hermione noticed and questioned, "What is it?"
"I assume you know Lauran?"
Hermione sighed, "Lauran Courtinger? What about her?"
"Have you ever thought that maybe…"
Hermione's eyes grew narrow, "Oh, not you too!"
"What do you mean?"
Hermione flung her arms out in anger, "First Ron thinks she is my daughter from all those years ago, and now you? Don't you realize that the thought has already crossed my mind? Don't you realize a part of me hopes that it is her? Don't you realize that I can't let myself hope, that it will only hurt me in the end?"
Ginny jumped back at the unexpected response, "Why not hope? She acts just like you! Have you ever seen her with a book? She treats books like they are her own secret treasure!"
"So what! She likes books! A lot of people like books! Her liking books is just a coincidence!"
Ginny started to head for the door, "Hermione, I know your memories hurt, but you can't dwell in the past forever."
With that she left Hermione alone to allow her tears, which had been building during the fight, fall from her face and onto her work.
***
On the date of October thirty-first, the excitement in the air was so tangible that you could almost taste it in each breath that you took. Lauran sat alone in her dormitory room staring at the dress robes she'd bought two weeks prior. They were a gorgeous dark-blue with black lace covering the sea of fabric in an intricate manner. She was very nearly afraid to put the robes on, for fear that they may become ruined at her very touch.
Sliding the breath-taking material on, she sighed. Tonight was going to be the best night of her life. She didn't care that half the school hated her, for on this one night it wouldn't matter. On this night she would be with, in her opinion, the most handsome boy in school. They would laugh, dance and maybe at the end of the evening he would kiss her. It would be a magical night, indeed.
A knock at the door halted her thoughts. She did a giddy little jump as she made her way to the door. Lauran took care to collect herself before she opened the door to reveal a young boy with platinum blonde hair, looking very attractive in his black and silver dress robes. She'd never met his brother before, but she often heard her professors saying that he looked like a toned down version of him. However, she deemed this impossible.
"Vladmir!"
The boy smiled, "Lauran, how are you on this fine evening?"
"I'm fine. And yourself?"
She couldn't help but notice the smirk that crossed the boy's face, "I am eager for the night's events."
Her heart did a little flutter when he offered her his arm, which she gladly received. In silence he led her down to the Great Hall. The sight they entered upon took Lauran's breath away. The room was dark, with the only light coming from the candles floating up high near the ceiling. Normally their intensity would be brighter; however, on this night it was much lower. The walls were enchanted black in colour and were absolutely beautiful with the flickering light from the candles reflecting onto to them. All around the room were random touches of gold. Lauran had been expecting orange but had to admit that the gold added a nice affect.
As by the Headmistress' instruction, they entered and stood by the wall. Beautiful music began and the Head Boy and Girl entered looking particularly extraordinary in their matching black and gold outfits. It appeared that they had been previously notified about the colours of choice for the décor of the Ball. Once reaching the center of the room, the Head Couple began to dance.
Lauran smiled to herself and looked at Vladmir, "Are we going to dance now…or later?"
He sighed, "Actually, I'm a little hungry. I'll go get us some food and then later we can dance."
And with that he left. Lauran was all alone, standing along the sidelines. Her mind kept wandering to the thought of how it would be to dance in his arms. She almost could not contain her excitement. What if he asked if she would date him? What should she say? Lauran almost lost herself to a thrill inspired squeal. So lost in her anticipation, she did not notice the blonde-haired boy sneaking up from behind.
He held a cup full of punch in one hand and plate full of some kind of dessert in another. Calling her name, he waited for her to turn around and when she did he shoved the plate in her face. When she stammered back startled, he threw the contents of the cup onto her face and laughed as it poured down the front of her dress robes.
"Looks like the improper Heir of Slytherin is having a wee bit of a problem," he yelled, commanding the attention of all in attendance to the Ball.
Lauran was horrified. Her anger began to rise and she could almost swear she felt herself loosing a grip of reality. Her breaths became faster and closer together. Her vision was changing. Instead of seeing everything from a normal perspective, she now saw her surroundings in a scarlet colour. Most amazingly was the wind. Though they were inside the castle, there was fierce wind blowing throughout the Great Hall. Everyone around her went silent.
Lauran roared out to Vladmir, "I hate you, you foul loathsome, evil little cockroach!"
The wind picked up its intensity. All of a sudden, instead of the wind swirling aimlessly about the Hall, it focused its intensity and threw Vladmir against the wall. His head hit the wall with a sickening crack, and he was knocked unconscious. He was bleeding severely when he hit the floor, causing several students and staff members to run up to the Hospital Wing to fetch Madam Pomfrey.
Lauran, almost frightened by what she had done, ran from the Great Hall, horrified. So horrified that she didn't even notice the red-headed Ravenclaw from her Charms class following behind her muttering something about a "filthy little git," while she threw a hateful glance at Vladimir's prone form sprawled across the floor, surrounded by a group of concerned students and staff members.
***
Later on that evening, Headmistress McGonagall was pacing her office so fast it was a miracle she was not lightheaded. She was surrounded by the majority of her Hogwarts staff. Madam Pomfrey had just rushed through the door making the announcement that the boy did not appear to be getting any better and that the magic the girl had cast had given him more than a concussion. Hermione and Ginny stood off in one corner of the room, staring intently at their apprehensive Headmistress. For what seemed like the millionth time that evening, the Headmistress sighed.
"How was she able to do it? How could a young witch of the mere age of eleven cause something that most adult wizards and witches are never able to do in their entire lifetime?!"
No one was able to provide an answer.
Madam Pomfrey asked the question that was running through the minds of everyone present, "Should we alert the Ministry?"
Some professors wanted to do so, some however were not so sure, "It may not have been the girl. It could have been the Enchanted Ceiling. It would not be the first time it was faulty. Remember all those years ago with Moody?"
McGonagall's eyes narrowed, "I remember very well! However, as you may very well remember it was actually a Death Eater in disguise as Alastor Moody! The Ceiling has never been faulty. The girl was doing something, but whatever it was, I don't think she even realized. And in answer to your question," she turned to Madam Pomfrey, "I do not think we should alert the Ministry, just yet. We should, however, keep a very close eye on the girl…just in case."
***
Meanwhile, Lauran was out by the Black Lake, tossing rocks into the dark abyss of water. The whole process reminded her very much of her life. Every time the water would be calm, she would throw another rock in to cause ripples. It was the same with her life. Every time something would be going right, it seemed that fate had its own plans in mind. However, the plans of fate always tended to include her being hurt in some way, shape or form. As she worked, silent tears poured down her face. She really thought he liked her. She really thought that he actually saw her for who she was. Lauran guessed that no one would ever truly see her for the person she was and wanted to be.
As she sat, she did not notice the girl with extremely long, red hair, wearing Ravenclaw robes, approaching her from behind. With caution, the girl placed her hand on Lauran's shoulder. In result, Lauran jumped and spun around with such force that she thought would have she knocked the girl over.
"What do you want?"
The girl sighed, "I just wanted to help…I saw that you were upset."
"And you actually care? You don't hate me?"
The girl almost laughed, "Of course I don't hate you, why would I?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
"You've never given me any reason."
Lauran desperately tried to stop her jaw from dropping, "You mean other than the fact that I am apparently a Parselmouth and what happened tonight."
"No. I don't hate you for any of that."
Lauran sighed, confused, "Well…I guess introductions are due," she extended her arm to offer her hand, "My name is Lauran. Lauran Courtinger."
The girl smiled, taking her hand, "I know. I'm Analese Corey."
Lauran almost allowed herself to smile, but fear stopped her. What if this ended like it did with Vladmir?
Footnote: If you would like to see the dress I modeled Lauran's dressrobes after, go to the link below (just take out the spaces):
http : / / cn1 . kaboodle . com / hi / img / 2 /0 / 0 / 56 / f / AAAAAkwT0bIAAAAAAFb75Q . j p g