Chapter 35

Ari's POV

Rich sun rays stream through the long window next to me and rest upon my table, lighting the potions textbook in front of me, reminding me that I should be outside enjoying the weather rather than sitting in the library studying. The library is mostly quiet; the only sounds that echo are the soft murmurs between students and the rustling of book pages being turned. I turn my own book page and let out a bored sigh just as Landen, who is sitting on the sill of the window next to me and staring outside, shifts into a more comfortable position. "I wonder who invented the hug…"

I glance up from my textbook and give Landen a concerned and curious look. "Where the hell did that come from?"

He shrugs his shoulders as he continues to stare outside. "Just a thought, I guess. But seriously, how do you imagine that went? The first hug, I mean…"

I counter his shrug with a smirk on my face. "I imagine it was a bit awkward and that the person on the receiving end was rather concerned as to why someone was squeezing them."

He lets out a laugh and nods while glancing over at me. "That's how I think it might've gone also… It was probably really funny to watch…" He looks down at my book and scrunches his nose up. "What page are you on?"

I glance back down at the book resting on the table in front of me and breathe out a sigh of relief. "394…"

"So you're finally done?" I nod, packing up my things, as Landen hops down off the window sill. "Perfect. Let's go work on your occlumency lessons."

I groan loudly, slumping my shoulders over in a pout. "Aw, Lan! Do we have to? We've done them every night this week! I deserve a day off…"

He raises an eyebrow at me with a smirk. "Okay, what else did you have in mind?"

I grin wickedly at him. "Well, Freddie and Eli did prank me over holiday, and I still haven't gotten them back, so we could do that…"

"I'm in." He quickly looks around before leaning in closer to me and whispering, "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Er, sort of…" He tilts his head to the side, his confusion apparent, so I clarify. "I know how to get Eli back, but I'm still not too sure how to deal with Freddie."

He nods absentmindedly while whispering, "How are you going to get Eli back?"

My impish grin returns as I layout my plan to him. "Eli is actually quite terrified of birds, and I just so happen to be really good at the Avis spell, so I thought I would use that to my advantage by filling something of his with loads of birds…"

He nods again, this time more focused on the conversation. "That'll work… You know, if you want to stick with the fear theme, you just need to get Freddie in front of a boggart to figure his fear out."

I throw my hands up in excitement, a large grin spread across my face. "Landen Raghnall, you're sodding brilliant! I knew there was a reason I kept you around!"

"You mean a reason other than my stunning good looks and sparkling personality?" He grins at me as I roll my eyes then adds, "I think I know where we can get a boggart, too."

I hold my book tightly to my chest with one hand while gesturing in front of me with the other, a smirk on my face. "I guess you and your ego better lead the way then, huh?"

He flashes me a toothy grin and a wink as he walks past me. I follow behind him as he hastily guides us through multiple corridors and up a flight of stairs, stopping abruptly when we get to a classroom. He reaches to open the door but I smack his hand away before he can even reach the handle, angrily hissing, "What the hell are you doing, Lan? Are you mental? This is the DADA room!"

He nods and slowly says, "Yes, I know… What's your point?"

I scoff at his absurdity and smack him on the arm. "My point being that this is Andromeda's classroom! It's a bad idea to take anything from her!"

"We aren't taking anything, per se…" He fights the urge to smile so the corners of his mouth twitch upward. "…It's more like borrowing. We'll bring it back, I promise!"

I roll my eyes and shake my head. "Fine. Get two… I'll keep watch out here. Shout if something goes wrong in there."

He nods with a grin. "Be back in a flash…"

He swiftly but silently goes into the DADA classroom, quietly shutting the door once he's in, so I walk across the hall and take a seat on the floor, opening my potions book so I can read while I wait. After about fifteen minutes, Landen comes back out of the room looking a bit disheveled, with two small trunks under his arm. "Got 'em. Let's go before Andromeda gets back."

I push myself up off the floor with a grin and follow him to the Room of Requirements. Once inside, he sets the trunks down on the floor and flops down onto a couch that the room created. "That was more difficult than I imagined…"

"Was Andromeda in there?"

He shakes his head before pointing to the trunks. "What now?"

I pull out my wand and wave it at the trunks while quietly murmuring a spell. The two trunks jump up, a bright red paper wrapping itself around each box before two gold bows appear on top of the two freshly wrapped presents. "Here's what we're going to do…"

(Break)

"Do you want to go over the plan again?"

Landen shakes his head, a devious grin on his face "No, I'm good. I'll go get Freddie now and, once we're back, I'll grab Eli too and bring them both in here. See you in a bit!"

He walks out of my room, passing James along the way. He looks at the two presents sitting on my bed and gives me a puzzled look. "Whose birthday is it?"

I shake my head as I make sure everything is set perfectly. "Nobody's birthday. I'm finally getting Eli and Freddie back for shrinking my pants during holiday."

"What happened to 'My revenge will be swift' and all that?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I've been a bit preoccupied… Can you bring me two pieces of parchment and a quill please?"

He nods before crossing the room and grabbing two pieces of parchment off my dresser and handing me his quill. I graciously take the parchment and quill from him then quickly jot down two notes before attaching them to the boxes and sticking them under my bed. Once I've finished that, I hand James his quill back and look him up and down before asking, "How're you feeling?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Still sore, but definitely better... How are you feeling?"

I roll my eyes at him and smirk. "I'm feeling great, but I wasn't just released from the hospital wing yesterday so I don't see how that's relevant. When does Al get released?"

"He's scheduled to be released tomorrow… He-"

He's cut off by the sound of Landen's voice yelling, "Hey Freddie? Could you and Eli go get my potions book from Ari's room? I think it's under her bed…"

I look over at James with wide eyes and hiss, "Hide!"

He pulls the invisibility cloak out of his pocket and motions for me to join him, a grin spread across his face. I comply, rushing over to him and grabbing his arm, pulling him over to a corner. He drapes the cloak over us just as Eli and Freddie enter my room.

Freddie looks over at Eli and groans. "I don't know why Lan needed both of us to get his one little book…"

Eli shrugs his shoulders before dropping to the ground next to my bed. "Who cares? Let's just find the book and get out o-"

"Hey!" Freddie comes up from the ground with a gigantic grin, two crisply wrapped presents in his hands. "These are labeled for us! I wonder what they are… Should we open them?"

Eli nods rapidly, beaming as he does. "Oh absolutely! If Ari didn't want us to find them and open them, she would have done a better job hiding them!"

Freddie tosses one of the presents to Eli and, after they've both ripped the wrapping paper off the trunks, he says, "Alright, we'll open them together on the count of three…"

Eli nods his understanding. "One..."

"Two…"

"Three!"

They both flip up the latches on the front of the trunk and lift the lids, a loud scream emitting from both of them when they see their biggest fears sitting in front of them. Freddie pulls out his wand as he backs away from the figure in front of him and groans, "Why did it have to be a clown?"

Alright yall, lemme know what ya thought! :)

Thanks to everyone who added this story to their alerts and to those left a review last chapter! I really appreciate it!

I apologize for the wait, school has been hectic already... I'll try to update as soon as possible, but I can't make any promises as to how soon that will be.

Thanks! :)

-Tx