DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. Everything except for my ideas and my character belong to J.K. Rowling and I proudly give that to her!
This is something I have to say to a reviewer: The age thing was my fault, I messed it up. I'm really sorry about that, but this story wouldn't work without her being with James and Fred. And Harry and Ginny were married and had children by this point because this is only two years before the nineteen years later segment in the last book. I tried to fix this and I hope that this fixes it as best as I can at this point. Thanks.
XoXo
I woke up with my tongue feeling furry and a bad taste filling my mouth. I looked around and realized that we had all fallen asleep on the couches near the fireplace. Te fire wasn't crackling merrily anymore, but was a pile of warm ashes. I reached my foot out and tapped Aspen's leg. She fluttered her eyelashes and looked at me sleepily. I motioned for her to follow me and she willingly complied. We slowly made our way up the staircase and into the door labeled, "First Years." I lay down on the four poster bed that had my trunk by it and started to laugh.
"What?" Aspen asked, sitting on her own bed. She was pulling a brush through her long, dark hair. "What are you laughing at?"
"The four of us fell asleep on those couches, playing a game that James Potter showed us!" I exclaimed, my voice straining under the pressure of not laughing. Aspen blinked a few times, but then burst into laughter.
One of the other girls sat up and looked at the two of us sprawled out onto our beds and shaking with laughter. She blinked sleepily and then opened her mouth to say something. "Who are you and why are you in here?" she asked, yawning noticeably.
"I'm Aspen Green," Aspen replied slowly. "And I'm in here because I was sorted into Gryffindor."
"I'm Acacia Lestrange," I said as I watched her eyes widened. "I'm in here because I was also sorted into Gryffindor. Who are you and why are you here?"
"I-I'm Ivie Wood," she said, shaking with fear. "I-I'm here because I-I'm in G-Gryffindor t-too. N-nice to meet you." She held a shaking hand out to Aspen, but didn't look at me.
"C'mon, we need to go downstairs," I said to Aspen.
Aspen nodded and then looked at the girl. She gave Ivie a curt nod and then went to her trunk. I went to my own, pulled out a skirt, a shirt, a vest and robes emblazoned with the Gryffindor symbol. It was a simple uniform, but meant so much to me. It showed that I had already gone against the grain. Everyone expected me to be in Slytherin, but I went into Gryffindor proudly and with almost no shadow of a doubt in my mind.
I gathered my toothbrush and toothpaste and headed to the lavatories with Aspen on my tail. Once in the girl's lavatory, I turned on the water. I looked in the mirror and saw the same person that has been staring back at me for the past eleven years. I had long, dark, almost black hair, soft blue eyes, full lips and a smile that lit up my entire face.
"Is it hard for you?" Aspen asked while she put toothpaste onto her toothbrush.
"Is what hard?" I asked around the toothbrush in my mouth.
"Seeing how much everyone hates you. I almost punched that girl in the face when she started shaking just because of your names. Your really aren't that bad."
"Thanks. Glad to hear that from someone that I've known for a day."
"No problem."
I projectiled the toothpaste into the sink and then cupped my hands under the water. I lifted my hands to my mouth and filled it, but didn't drink. I started brushing my teeth again. "You like Fred don't you?" I asked abruptly.
Aspen almost dropped her toothbrush out of surprise. She turned to look at me and then spread a smile across her lips. "How did you know?"
"Because you get quiet around him. Don't get me wrong. He seems nice enough, but you've only known him for a day. Just calm down." Aspen laughed as I spit out the last of the toothpaste.
I wiped my mouth and then walked out of the lavatory and back to the girls dormitory. Ivie had fallen back asleep and it looked as though we were the only ones awake. I shoved my toothbrush and toothpaste back into my trunk and then walked over to Aspen's bed. She looked at me and smiled.
"How do you live with it?" she asked quietly as we made our way back into the common room.
"Live with what?" I asked again. She asked such confusing questions.
"With everyone hating you. I don't think that I would ever be able to survive!" I looked at her with her big blue eyes probing every inch of my face as though I was about to give something away.
"I don't know. But it helps that at least three people don't hate me." Her eyebrows hiked up and her eyes filled with questions. "You, Fred and James. And possibly Victoire. But Teddy is going to take a little getting used to."
"Yeah," she said in response. We sat down next to James and Fred and raised our hands to their ears. At the exact same moment, we both screamed "WAKE UP!"
Both boys jerked awake and blinked bleary-eyed at us. Aspen and I burst into laughter and high-fived each other. "What the bloody hell was that for?!" James shrieked.
"You took too long to wake up," Aspen whined. That brought on another round of laughter from the both us.
"Yeah. Well, maybe if we hadn't been playing that stupid game all night!" Fred muttered under his breath as he walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.
"Hey!" James yelled, following him up the stairs. "It wasn't that stupid! You could've quit at anytime, you loon!"
"I guess we'll wait for you here then!" I called after them. Aspen and I collapsed into laughter on the sofas. We heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
We looked up and saw Victoire, in all her blonde-haired glory, making her way down the stairs. We quickly sat up straighter and almost collapsed in another bout of laughter. She walked behind the sofa and then sat beside me. "What are you two laughing about down here?" she asked with a huge smile written on her lips.
"Nothing!" Aspen answered, her voice straining from not laughing.
"Mm-hmm," she said skeptically. "Hey, have either of you see Teddy yet?"
"No," we answered quickly. She looked at us again with that skeptical look in her blue eyes. She got up and went to the door that led out side.
"Oh! You two?" she asked, turning around.
"Yeah?" I asked, finally speaking up. I never realized how talkative Aspen was.
"When he comes down, could you tell him that I went down to the Great Hall for breakfast?"
"Yeas!" We both said quickly. Victoire nodded once and then headed out the door.
We sat back down on the couch and then waited for James and Fred to turn out.
XoXo
When Fred and James finally turned up, we made our way to breakfast, not wanting to miss our schedules being handed out. We sat down next to each other and started to eat. We saw Teddy sitting down with a few of his other friends. I didn't see Victoire anywhere, so she must have already left for her first class. There was a teacher handing out schedules. He called out, "Lestrange, Acacia!" I stepped up and grabbed my schedule. I looked through it quickly. I had:
Transfiguration with Professor Noore
Herbology with Professor Longbottom
Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Stells
Potions with Professor Slughorn
History of Magic with Professor Binns
Charms with Professor Flitwick
Astronomy with Professor Lunick
And Flying Lessons with Madame Pince.
I looked up at James with a huge smile. He returned the smile with a fist pump. "Herbology couldn't be easier! Neville is the biggest softie ever! I'm gonna ace that class!" He gave Fred a high-five and then looked at Aspen. Aspen's eyes were bigger than ever as she read through the list.
"My mum told me about Professor Binns. Said that he was the only Professor here that is a ghost. But this sounds interesting so far," she said with a smile.
James nodded and put his schedule down. He started shoveling more food into his mouth. It was like he was a never ending put of nothingness. I looked at Aspen, who was watching Fred with wide eyes and a disgusted expression. "Why is everyone looking at us?" he asked stupidly.
"Because you eat like a pig!" I laughed. James laughed also and sprayed food everywhere. It hit my face and the back of Aspen's head.
Aspen screamed as she felt the gooey glob of mashed up food in her long hair. "What the bloody hell is this?" she shrieked. Fred started to laugh, and God his mouth was empty, the laughter quickly caught onto the rest of the table.
"You really don't want to know," I said quietly. She turned her large eyes to me.
"We should probably go to first class," she said. I nodded.
We went up stairs and down stairs and all around the castle, but we couldn't seem to find the Transfiguration classroom. Five minutes after the class started, Aspen, James, Fred and I finally stepped into the classroom.
Professor Noore looked at us sternly and pointed us to desks that sat in the front of the room. Aspen sat next to me and James and Fred were on the other side.
"Welcome to class all of you. In this class we will be learning how to transfigure objects." As she said this she turned to her desk and Transfigured it into a pig and then back. We all ooh'd and ah'd at that, wondering when we could do that. "Now. I want you to understand that you will not be doing this for awhile. What we are going to start out with is Transfiguring matchsticks into needles. Miss . . . Lestrange?"
I looked up at her. "Yes?" I asked, hearing the fear written in my voice. I knew the students hated me, and I definitely didn't need the teachers hating me.
"Would pass out the matchsticks please?" she asked sweetly.
I nodded and stood up. She pressed the matchsticks into my hand and I walked around the classroom. I could see only one other house in the room and that was Hufflepuff. They seemed very nice, not at all like the Gryffindors. Though, of course, they were probably just putting on an act so that they didn't get into any trouble. I was finally done and returned to Professor Noore. She gave me a smile and then pointed me back to my desk.
"Good job," James whispered mockingly from across Aspen. She stuck out her tongue at him, which caused the both of us to burst into laughter.
"If you four cannot pay attention when you are together, I will be forced to separate you. Do you understand?" Professor Noore hissed at us.
The four of us sat up straight and nodded in synch. She sniffed and turned back around. She rambled for a little while more, but then she let us try to turn the Matchstick into a needle.
XoXo
After that class we all headed to the grounds for Herbology with Professor Longbottom. We had to run outside with our bags covering our heads because it was positively down pouring. When we made it into Greenhouse four, Professor Longbottom was smiling at us from behind a few plants. "Welcome class! Please sit down at a table!" he greeted warmly.
I sat down next to Aspen while James and Fred sat across from me. A Gryffindor girl was sitting behind me and she kept jumping up and down from her chair. Professor Longbottom pulled out a piece of parchment and started reading through the names.
"Abercrombie, Astoria?"
"Here!"
"Aller, Dominic?"
"Here!"
"Borg, Evan?"
"Here!"
"Citcher, Cassidy?"
"Here!"
"Devons, Bracken?"
"Here!"
"Evans, Natalie?"
"Here!"
"Fortune, Mason?"
"Here!"
"Green, Aspen?"
"Here!"
It seemed to go on and on until he finally reached Lestrange. "L-Lestrange, Acacia?" he aksed, shaking a little bit, but regaining his composure. There was a chorus if boo's emanating from the other people in the classroom. I felt a blush creep up my neck when Professor Longbottom searched the kids for someone that looked like Bellatrix. "Class! Class!" he tried to shout. "Quiet!"
Not one person said anything after that. Professor Longbottom was red in the face and he looked angry. "Now," he said firmly. "I don't even want to hear that again! Acacia? Are you here?"
"Yes, sir!" I whispered. He looked at me and smiled.
The rest of the class period, I kept my head down. I could hear whispers about me and Aspen and James were chatting happily. Finally that class was over! I gathered my things and started to head out of the greenhouse.
"Miss Lestrange?" Professor Longbottom asked. I turned to him, my eyes wide with fear.
"Yes?" I asked quietly.
"Could you stay so I can talk to you?" I nodded and stood over by his desk. "I must apologize profusely for what happened today. I must ask, does that happen often?"
"Yeah. But my mum was apparently a horrible person."
"That gives them no right to treat you like that!"
"But . . . if my mum was horrible to their parents, why shouldn't the treat me like this?"
"Because they didn't know your mother. Your mother actually did something to me."
"That seems like the story of everyone's life now. They don't understand that my mother isn't me and I'm not my mother!"
"I know that. You're mother was a terrible person. She tortured my parents into insanity for information. I have a reason to hate your mother, but I still don't hate you!"
"Thank you for that."
"I have learned to live by the motto 'befriend your enemies.' As you can see, it has made my life much easier. I could hardly hate anyone."
"But . . . she tortured your parents into insanity. You have more reason than anyone to hate me."
"But I don't. I'm afraid that I must send you along now. Would you like to meet with me in my office after school is over when we can?" I nodded slowly, smiling slightly. Professor Longbottom smiled at me. He waved me away with a parting wave.
I could hear a song in my head playing. It didn't work for this moment, but somehow I had it in my head.
"Do you think
about
Everything you've been through
You never thought you'd be
so depressed
Are you wondering
Is it life or death
Do you
think that there's no one like you
We are
We are
We
are
We are the ones
We get knocked down
We get back up and
stand above the crowd
We are one
We are the ones
We get
knocked down
We get back up and stand above the crowd
We are
one
The life I think about
Is so much better than this
I
never thought I'd be stuck in this mess
I'm sick of wondering
Is
it life or death
I need to figure out who's behind you
We
are
We are
We are
We are the ones
We get knocked down
We
get back up and stand above the crowd
We are one
We are the
ones
We get knocked down
We get back up and stand above the
crowd
We are one
The life I think about
Is so much
better than this
I never thought I'd be stuck in this mess
I'm
sick of wondering
Is it life or death?
We are the ones
We
get knocked down
We get back up and stand above the crowd
We
are one
We are the ones
We get knocked down
We get back up
and stand above the crowd
We are one
We stand above the
crowd
We stand above the crowd
We stand above the crowd
(Crowd)
(We stand) We stand above the crowd
We stand above the
crowd (We Stand)
We stand above the crowd
(We are the ones)
We stand above the crowd
(We get knocked down get back up) We
stand above the crowd
(We are the ones) We stand above the
crowd
(We get knocked down get back up) We stand above the
crowd
We stand above the crowd
We stand above the crowd
We
stand above the crowd."
XoXo
So there you go. Another chapter in the life of Acacia. R&R. Tell your friends, tell them to tell your friends and don't forget to READ AND REVIEW!!!
Anyway, I liked the song because it really gave me inspiration for her next chapter. I know that it takes me forever to update, but I'll try for at least once a week from no on, okay?
This one was probably my personal favorite because I loved writing the different emotions. I'm watching Aladdin…why, I have no idea! Anyway. REVIEW!!! Please! And so many Thanks to IAmCharlie and babiixilyx3 and hyperactive lioness and Lissa Wonderland for reviewing so faithfully! I love all of you! (In a non-gay way!)-Ed
