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Chapter Two: Words Spoken
Cho Chang would never let her live this down. Neither would Marietta, but she just couldn't find it in her to care what Marietta thought. So she decided that she was going to avoid the Ravenclaw duo like they were lepers.
After getting off of the carriage and very nearly sprinting to the Hufflepuff girl's dormitory, Harriet collapsed onto her bed. No one had come up to the dorms yet, so she was all alone. She probably had enough time to sit here for a few minutes before having to go downstairs with everyone else to watch the sorting. Trying to forget about the incident with the Weasley twins, she let herself get lost in thought for a while.
How many unsuspecting first years would pout this year when they were sorted into Hufflepuff? Last year, almost all of the Hufflepuffs gave sighs of defeat when the Sorting Hat assigned them into their houses. Harriet probably would have too, if her family hadn't been completely black and yellow for as long as she could remember. She had no siblings, but all of her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and even both of her parents were Puffs. One of her Aunts was actually named Helga.
She was proud to don the Badger on her chest, though she had to admit that it would have been exciting to be a courageous Gryffindor, a cunning Slytherin, or a genius Ravenclaw. But it wasn't like she could do anything about it now. What's done is done, and she might as well embrace her house. Cedric had taught her that before-
Quickly finishing that train of thought, she now wondered where in the world her cat had gone to. Patches had been with her when they boarded the train, hadn't he? Harriet figured that he must have wandered off while she was slaving over her essay, and that he probably found his way into the castle like he always did. Not to mention that she was a little preoccupied after the train ride. Heat rose to her cheeks again as she watched the play-by-play in her head for the hundredth time.
"I had to say Thestrals. I'm such an idiot, why didn't I just tell him my name and get on with it? I made a complete fool on myself!" She rolled over so that she was face down on the mattress and let out a muffled scream of frustration into her pillow.
After wallowing in self pity for a few more minutes, she decided that she should go down to the Great Hall. This decision made her stomach rumble in appreciation.
"I'm surprised, this year only fifty of the first years asked if they could be sorted again." Harriet talked into her soup. She was still having trouble looking people in the eye.
Billy Alcott, a fellow seventh year Hufflepuff and a friend of Harriet, nodded in agreement, his thick, dark eyebrows raised skeptically. "I know, it's a bloody miracle. You'd think more of 'em would just bunker down and deal with it, y'know?" His Irish lilt came through even with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Some of which did not stay in his mouth.
"Ugh, Billy! Please chew with your mouth closed. And don't talk with your mouth full!" Another seventh year Puff, Marjory Wexler, chastised. She wiped her a fleck of mashed potato off of her ebony skin with her sleeve, disgusted. Harriet was always amazed at the fact that Marjory could always look beautiful. With her big chocolate eyes and her perfect high cheekbones, and not to mention her sleek black hair. The years of Quidditch practice didn't do her figure that much harm, either. Harriet needed to stop before she got too jealous. "Blimey, it's even in your hair!"
"Sorry, Mum." Billy grumbled, pulling at his messy black hair in hopes of getting the pieces out. "I just feel like I haven' eaten in years!"
"You're always hungry." The lady Badgers droned in unison.
"And don't call your girlfriend 'Mum'. That's just weird." Harriet added while reaching across the table to grab another roll. She ripped off a chunk of the fluffy bread and dipped it in her soup before popping it in her mouth with an "Mmm."
Billy mumbled something along the lines of never getting a break. Only an hour into the school year, and the Hufflepuff trio were acting just as they always had. The only difference was Billy and Marjory's relationship that budded over summer break, but if you asked Harriet she'd say they had been practically married since her first year when Billy asked Marjory to be his Valentine. She wasn't at all surprised when Marj owled her a full recount of how Billy asked her to be his girlfriend.
"He charmed these roses to spell out 'go steady?' on my lawn! Can you believe it? I've liked him for forever! Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, mate, but I wanted to keep it a secret in case things got awkward. But don't have to worry about that now! And he even asked my Da! Of course, Daddy didn't like it at first. I guess he came around when he realized that it's better for it to be Billy than some random bloke he's never met. Oh, Harriet I'm so giddy! I sound like the first years when they get their first Valentine's cards. Feel free to vomit. Be happy for me too, though!"
She had gushed on like that for three pages. Her owl, Rose even waited patiently for Harriet to finish writing a response before flying away. The Wexler's certainly didn't waste their money on poorly trained owls. The copper-haired Puff wondered if her own family owl, Rudders could ever be trained to do that. Probably not, the poor thing was ancient and about to be sacked as it was.
Harriet glanced around the Great Hall, taking in all the things she had missed during vacation: the mesmerizing enchanted ceiling, the bunches of floating candles, the feeling of truly being home, and even the sight of the professors lined up at the front. Merlin, she had even missed her professors. Was she ill? Her favorite professor, however, was nowhere to be seen. Dumbledore gave no reason as to why Professor Hagrid was missing, only that he was going to be away for a while. She hoped that the substitute was adequate, she really wanted her OWL in Care of Magical Creatures.
There was something that would always be missing at Hogwarts now, though. And he wasn't just on leave. Suddenly Harriet wasn't hungry anymore.
She pushed her leftovers toward Billy, who didn't even question the opportunity for food. Marjory however noticed the younger witch's sudden lack of appetite, and gave her a comforting smile that reached all the way to her warm chocolate eyes. Harriet wanted so badly to thank her, but decided that she did not want to spend her first dinner back sobbing. She dismissed the look and hoped that Marjory didn't think she was being too much of a twat.
Directing her attention elsewhere, the fifth year looked over at the Ravenclaw tables and searched for Cho. The Asian witch was, of course, surrounded by a large and very giggly group of girls. She herself was giggling along with them, but the laughter didn't reach her dark, almond-shaped eyes. Like she was making an effort to seem happy.
Alright, so looking for Cho had been a bad idea.
She instead directed her attention towards the Gryffindor table, and before she knew it she was searching for the twins. She found both of the tall, slender redheads right away of course. And to her surprise, they were both looking back at her. Harriet quickly looked back down at her hands, and picked at her fingernails. Oh Merlin, she thought, not this again.
The sixteen-year-old timidly looked back up at the twins. Her face and chest quickly heated as she discovered the neither of them had looked away. They even had on their matching smirks again. She turned her head to make sure that Marjory and Billy hadn't noticed and found them engrossed in their own little world. For a third time, she looked back to the Weasleys. This time, however, they had exchanged their smirks for the most ridiculous and childish faces she had ever seen. One of them had his brown eyes crossed and his tongue sticking out like a hanged man. The other had hooked his fingers in the sides of his mouth and was waggling his tongue at her.
She tried very hard to stifle her laughter. These Weasleys were ludicrous, was this what their whole family was like? She thought Fred and George were seventh years, so why were they acting like they had just arrived here?
Forgetting for a moment that she was not four, she almost made a face back at them. The boys faces quickly returned to normal, and they went back to eating their food like nothing had happened. This left Harriet in quite a bit of confusion, until she realized that all of the Gryffindors at that table were staring at her like she was some sort of stalker. Completely mortified for the second time that day, Harriet Stewart quickly threw a BS excuse at Marjory and Billy and started back up to her dormitory. They were too lost in each other's eyes to even notice her absence.
Once back in her room, the bronze-haired fifth year found that Patches had indeed made it back to the castle. He had curled himself up in a perfect circle in the middle of her bed, looking like grey and white pillow that had been tossed carelessly onto the mattress. She gently stroked her fingers through the cat's fur before picking him up and moving him to the foot of the bed. He gave an irritated 'meow' of protest, but settled back down quickly. Harriet smiled to herself and changed quickly out of her uniform and into her night clothes.
Marjory probably wouldn't be down for a while, and her other dorm mates were asleep. Not wanting to disturb the slumbering Hufflepuffs, she decided it was best to simply go to bed and try to forget the embarrassment of the day.
If only it were that easy.
A cycle of nightmares had begun. Happy times with Cedric that ended with the image of his lifeless body on that grassy field. Each dream began differently. The pair was in Hogsmeade, the Great Hall, the Common Room...but they all ended the same. They were all equally painful. Whenever Harriet thought about Cedric, it felt as though her heart had sunk into her belly, eaten away by stomach acid.
She had only just gotten to really know him when he was murdered. She still didn't know how, or even why. Of course, she had conjured up plenty of scenarios in her head of what had happened before she saw Harry Potter crouching over his limp form like a cornered animal. Each one worst than the last.
Why did she do this to herself?
After what felt like hours and hours of torture, Harriet found herself awaken by a bright light. Through the back of her eyelids, it looked quite pretty.
The sound that joined it was not.
"WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE FOR OUR FIRST BREAKFAST, STEWART!" The fifth year could imagine a very angry black woman screaming at her, angelic face twisted with rage and clothes disheveled like they always were when she woke up. What Marjory had in beauty, she lacked in temper.
Breakfast? Her stomach liked the idea.
"'Kay Marjory..." She appeased with a yawn, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before opening them.
Marjory was standing at the foot of Harriet's bed with her hands on her hips, eyes so menacing that Patches hissed a bit from his place on the mattress. The mocha-skinned seventh year had always been an early riser, and usually woke the younger Puff up every morning with something alone the lines of "Bugger, Stewart! Get the fuck up!" or "Harriet! Stop sleeping or you'll find yourself doused in cat piss!". What graceful awakening.
Harriet quickly made herself presentable and grabbed around for what she thought she would need for the day. As the two Hufflepuffs started out the door, Patches gave an anxious "Mrow."
"What now!" Marjory gnashed her teeth together, ready to skin the cat alive.
"Oh! I forgot to put out his food. Just a moment, Marj." Harriet quickly accio'd the cat food from her trunk and poured the dry kibbles into a tiny dish next to the door. The pair then continued on their merry way.
"So," The elder girl started as they made their way through the black and yellow Common Room. The warm place had always given Harriet comfort in times of need. But after seeing Cedric's usual place on the sofa empty, she couldn't wait to get out. "I heard about your, erm, encounter with George Weasley yesterday."
The younger student nearly cricked her neck as her face snapped toward Marjory's, coppery hair whipping with it. "You what?"
"Everyone's been talking about it. That Ravenclaw girl- whasser name? The talkative one."
"Marietta." Harriet growled out through her clenched jaw. Of course, the airhead had probably told everyone and their mother by now.
"Yeah, that one. She said that you two were flirting like mad on the way to the castle. And then you mucked it up, so you ran screaming from the carriage like a madwoman." Marjory snickered, not even bothering to hide her amusement at the younger's expense.
"I did not run screaming!" The pale girl balked at her friend. What an exaggeration!
Had she screamed?
"That's what she said. She also said that you had this huge blush on your face, and that you looked like a tomato! I can see why she'd say that, you're well on your way there now." She gestured to the fifth year with her slim fingers. Her voice was quieter as they approached the two huge doors that lead to the Great Hall.
Harriet was fuming.
"Shut up! She's embellishing the truth! I only hurried to my room because I was embarrassed at how those twins-"
"'Lo, Harriet." Said the tall, ginger-haired twins as they walked past the pair of Hufflepuffs. Two sets of brown eyes glinted mischievously at the girl, her mouth agape. They paused only for a moment to tip their heads in greeting before continuing on their way into the Great Hall.
And now, Harriet was speechless. She watched as they carried on, noting in her mind just how dashing they looked in they red and gold Gryffindor robes. It took her a full thirty seconds to close her mouth and look back at Marjory, who had a knowing look on her face.
Harriet was sure that the dark skinned Hufflepuff muttered something like: "Infatuated."