Chapter Nine:
I was woken the next morning by somebody shaking me. I hit them away without a second thought.
"Lia, go away," I muttered, slamming my face into the pillow.
"Actually it's Lissy. We have lessons," Lissy said, moving away. With a sigh, I sat up.
"I literally wish I could kill Mondays," I groaned. Lissy giggled quietly.
"I literally wish I could kill you," another voice said. I looked over to see a groggy Felicity propping herself with an arm. "It's only six, we could have slept at least another half hour and still be in time to look amazing at breakfast."
I sighed, but slung my legs out of bed. I noticed a bed was empty. "Hey, where's Lia?" I asked the room in general. Felicity had resigned herself to the comfort of the bed, so only grunted in response. Lissy was a bit more helpful. "Didn't turn up. Been gone all night," she said, slipping an arm through some robes. I frowned - Aphelia always came in on time.
Lissy and I headed down to breakfast on our own, leaving Felicity with an extra half an hour in bed. We didn't talk much on the way down, but after seven years I was accustomed to the fact that Lissy wasn't a very talkative person. She always said the minimum needed, and honestly walking down the stairs didn't require many words. When we walked into the Great Hall, I peered around to catch a glimpse of Aphelia - she was nowhere. I ate my breakfast as quickly as possible, then darted around school searching for her - I even looked in the library, somewhere I hadn't been since at least the start of the year! I been doubtful that Aphelia would be in the library at all, yet not seeing her there made me even more anxious. My search shed no light on Aphelia's location, and after what seemed like no time at all I realised that I had to go to Transfiguration. I resolved that if she didn't appear by lunchtime, I would tell the professors.
I headed over to the Transfiguration room, where most of the class was already assembled outside. Lissy skipped over to me a pressed a wad of letters into my hand, then gestured discreetly over her shoulder at David, who was suddenly looking very intensely at me.
"Oh, crap," I hissed. Lissy smiled sympathetically.
"Be nice," she whispered. I rolled my eyes.
"Aren't I always?"
Lissy giggled. I looked down at the letters she'd given me. One from my parents, one from Rose, and one from Kej. I checked my watch - I had five minutes. I read the one from my parents first.
Dear Lily,
Happy Birthday! Did you like your broom? We have a couple more presents here at home for you, but we were sure if they'd survive the post, so we'll give them to you at Christmas. Did you have a nice birthday? It's been mad here, James made a huge announcement the other day, so it's been very hectic. You'll find out at Christmas. Can't believe there's only two weeks until we see you again!
Lots of Love,
Mum and Dad x
"Oh crap, James has big news, I bet he got someone pregnant," I muttered to myself, moving onto the next letter.
Lily,
All finished in France, so Scorp and I are heading back to the UK in a couple of weeks. It's all been so amazing. Going to stay at his parents house for a couple of days - wish me luck - then he's agreed to properly meet my dad - wish me more luck! They already know each other, sort of, but I actually have to introduce him as my boyfriend now. It's going to be hell, Dad will get angrier than a Veela.
It's not that I purposefully don't speak to Roxanne. She just sort of fell below my radar. We sort of stopped paying attention to each other after I made this one huge mistake in her second year, my fourth - I don't hate her, I just honestly never thought about her that much. Do you mind if I don't tell you about all this now, it would come across all wrong on parchment. I'll tell you at Christmas, ok?
How was your birthday? Did you get my present in time?
Rose
P.S Albus and James never have, nor ever will, kiss Sharon Parkinson. Her family is a family enemy, and everyone knows I'm the only one stupid enough to go out with a family enemy. Your brothers have much more sense than me.
"Oh, Rose is coming back to Britain!" I murmured, not mentioning the post script.
"Hm?" Lissy mumbled, who was busy reading her letters.
"My cousin's coming back from France," I repeated. Even though this letter had cleared up my query about Sharon and my brothers, it opened a whole new one up about what happened in Roxanne's first year with Rose - clearly there had been some sort of incident. I ruminated over this whilst opening the dreaded letter from Kej.
Lily,
It might be harder that you think to get that necklace back. I can always get you another, if you wish! I'm so glad you agreed to see me again, I really do think we need to talk, after how things ended - I really would like to see you sometimes soon, and perhaps talk about starting a new relationship? And you can tell this Robert that he can sod off back to slimy git land.
I will try my hardest to get the necklace back, my love.
Kej
The letter was so disgusting I wanted to rip it into shreds, throw it in a bin then puke in that bin - although I did enjoy the dig at Robert.
Lissy saw my expression and hastily withdrew the letter from my quaking hands.
"Seen Lia?" she asked. I sighed.
"No! I've been looking everywhere and she's nowhere!"
"She's somewhere."
"I'm not so sure, Lissy," I said, just a Hippelby opened the door and beckoned us into his classroom. Surprisingly, I found I had mastered the latest skill of turning saucers into grass snakes, and was moved onto turning plates into full sized snakes. By the end of the lesson, I did have a decent snake - it was just china patterned.
Before I knew it, it was lunch break, and there had been no sign of Aphelia. By this time, it wasn't just me and Lissy who'd noticed her absence - teachers who had noticed the empty chair in class, people who wanted to know if it was true that she'd punch Sharon in the face, friends who were genuinely concerned - these were definitely the minority. It was getting dangerously close to her being missing for a day - just an hour and a half shy. It was now or never. I had to report it. I left Lissy sitting with Agnes in the Great Hall, then wandered around corridor after corridor trying to find Professor MacPhersonis' office. I'd never had a reason to go there before, so it took me longer than I'd originally hoped. There was a huge - ugly - stone gargoyle blocking the entrance. I shuffled from foot to foot for a minute, not sure what to do. Pushing, I discovered, did not have any effect on it. I was about to try shouting profanities at it, when suddenly it moved of it's own accord. I jumped a little, but then a calm Professor MacPhersonis stepped out from behind it.
"Professor!" I cried in relief. The headmistress seemed to realise I was standing there.
"Miss Potter? What are you doing up here?" she asked, sounding startled. "Is this about your little escapade a couple of nights ago?"
It took me less than a moment to realise she was talking about my birthday party. "No, it's my friend, Aphelia, I think she's -"
I was cut off by Professor MacPhersonis leisurely walking up to me, and saying, "Miss Potter, I realise that within your year there are more than a few who like to, shall we say, fill their goblets to the brim, but remember that drinking certain liquids in excess isn't good for you at all."
My only thought was, I can't bloody believe she is talking to me about the dangers of alcohol at a time like this.
I groaned. "For Merlin's sake, this isn't about the escapade," I said, making little quotation marks with my fingers. "This is about my friend, she been gone for," I checked my watch, "twenty-two hours and a half, and nobody knows where she is!"
Instead of getting all flustered, as I'd been expecting, the headmistress sighed in a tired manner, than gestured for me to lead the way.
"When did she disappear?" asked MacPhersonis, as we began our way to the Entrance Hall.
"After Quidditch practise yesterday," I said, glad that she believed me.
"Did you notice anything strange there?"
I shrugged. "You mean apart from enchanted cleaning supplies and sticks that shoot sparks?"
MacPhersonis laughed. "Yes, apart from the obvious oddities."
"No, nothing there that seemed odd," I sighed, as we rounded the corner into the Entrance Hall. I heard Professor MacPhersonis' loud sigh. I looked to see what was bothering her.
"Oh, Potter...really, think a bit more before you come to me, all right? Now, if you'll excuse me I have a meeting with the Minister," she said, noticeably more cold than a few moments earlier. She walked off in the direction we had came. For a micro second I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I turned around, and saw what she meant. Aphelia was standing by Felicity, Agnes and Lissy, chatting easily. I hurried over to them.
"Hey!" I cried. They looked up in unison. Without hesitation I slapped Aphelia across the face.
"Woah!" she yelped.
"Where the hell wereyou?" I exclaimed. Aphelia let out a shaky laugh.
"I don't know, I went into the forest to collect some samples for Herbology, then came back here. Is that ok with you?"
I pouted. "Lia, you've been gone for practically a day!"
Aphelia shrugged. "I fell asleep...?" she offered. When she saw my expression, she said, "Relax, it's not like anything happened to me. I just lost track of time, I guess."
"Yeah, chill out, Lil!" Felicity smirked. "By the way, what's this I hear about you cursing Hippelby to get into detention with Lia? Everyone's talking about it."
I raised my eyebrows, annoyed that she was so callously changing such a crucial topic. "Yeah, I said a bunch of stuff to Hippelby so Lia here wouldn't have to go to his stupid detention alone. Why," I suddenly realised, "what are people saying about it?"
"They think you were being really awesome!" Agnes squealed. "They're all saying, like, that it was a totally self-sacrificious thing to do!"
I didn't have time to point out that sacrificious wasn't a word in the English language, or take pride in the fact that people thought I was awesome and self-sacrificing, because Aphelia suddenly went, "Wait, I got a detention?"
"Six last night," Lissy told her, again demonstrating her uncanny ability to say everything in a three word sentence. Aphelia frowned.
"Who told you?"
"Hippelby, of course. Who else?" I said, suspiciously.
"When? And, what for?" Aphelia asked, seeming shocked.
"Remember, Sharon interrupted Quidditch practise yesterday and got Hippelby to give you detention for punching her at my birthday party! It was supposed to be at six last night, like Lissy said."
"Don't you remember?" Lissy quietly asked. Aphelia frowned.
"I'm pretty sure that never happened. I was at practise yesterday and nothing like that happened."
"But if it didn't happen, then how did Lily get detention yesterday?" Felicity asked slowly, in a way that made her sound as if she were speaking to a mentally retarded person.
"She had detention." Lissy added, as if we didn't already know.
Aphelia frowned for another moment, then shrugged. "Whatever. Tell Hipps I'm sorry for missing his detention. I've got to go work on that Herbology essay," she waved at us. Felicity stage-yawned.
"Well, this is now officially boring. I'm going to find Sharon and Brooke. Ta!" she smiled, walking away. Sharon?
"Wait for me, Felicity!" Agnes squeaked, scurrying after her. I was left standing with Lissy puzzled.
"It strange, Lily," Lissy murmured, voicing my thoughts.
"How could she forget that? And spend the night in the forest?" I asked nobody in particular. Lissy bit her lip. Then she turned to walk out of the doors. "Hey, where you going?" I asked.
"Letter to send," Lissy shrugged. "You've a visitor," she added, grinning slightly before turning away and walking off to the Owlery. I turned, and to my dismay I saw David standing behind me.
"Hi, Lily," he said, awkwardly.
"Hey," I tossed some hair over my shoulder, to try and make it seem like I was at ease. I'm a good actress, so I could tell that I was convincing.
"Can we talk?" David asked.
"Go ahead," I smiled at him. He blushed slightly.
"Not...not here," he muttered. I shrugged, then got a hold of his arm and walked him to a quieter spot of the castle. While we were walking, all I could think about was this dreaded confrontation. I'd been putting it off, of course, but seeing he'd caught me fair and square I knew that this was the time to do it. When we arrived, David pulled his arm out of my clasp.
"Listen, about what happened at your party..." he began.
"You want to forget about it?" I asked, surprised. David looked suddenly scared.
"No! I mean, no," he said, trying to sound a bit more casual - even though I really wanted to laugh at this, I assumed this wasn't a good time. "No, I was going to say, that..." he trailed off.
"That...?" I prompted him. His next words seemed to fall on top of each other in a heap in their urge to escape his mouth.
"That I was really glad it happened, cause I like you a lot, Lily, I have for a really long time now actually, and I know it might be weird considering we were friends and all that for so long, but I just like you and can't really do anything about it, so I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with me at the next Hogsmeade trip?"
I quickly turned my face into a mask so that my true emotions could take place behind it. David was asking me on a date. It would be immoral to say yes - not that I'd ever been particularly moral - as I didn't like him in that way. He was the boy who got his foot lodged up a pipe in our first year, the boy who'd appeared in second year in the common room at midnight wearing nothing but his pants because someone had hidden all his clothes somewhere in Gryffindor tower and he hadn't thought that anyone, least of all me, would still be down there at midnight. He was just a boy. Just a boy.
I couldn't break his heart - that would also be immoral. The Hogsmeade trip was only this weekend - I could go out with him for a short period, make him happy, then give him an old cliché excuse to break up, like I don't want to ruin our friendship. That could work. And, as Aphelia said at the start of the year, having a nice boyfriend is good for a reputation. Not that I've been following that rule very well so far this year.
Plus it would be totally embarrassing for him if I turned him down now after her basically poured his heart out to me.
In the second I used to consider all my options, David began to babble again. "Only if you want to, I mean it's not like you have to say yes or anything, Merlin I don't know what I was thinking asking you -" I stopped him but standing on tiptoe and kissing him.
I ignored my instinct to pull back immediately - kissing David felt wrong, like some kind of sacrilege, like I was kissing Albus or James. But it was necessary. I couldn't just let myself break his heart, and I was crap with words, so I used a different method.
It wasn't that it physically felt bad, having my lips pressed against David's, it just made my head go all haywire. My brain was telling me to stop immediately, pull away, it was wrong absolutely wrong. So although physically, the sensation didn't bother me, inside my head I was retching. It felt like I was kissing one of my brothers or cousins - a sin against nature. Not that David knew this part of course.
After a customary amount of time, I pulled my lips back slightly, then bent my forehead against his.
"I'd love to go to Hogsmeade with you," I whispered, my voice sounding provocative and sexy even to my ears. I then allowed my true feelings some legroom, and withdrew myself from my friend's arms. He smiled at me in such a way that suggested he were a deaf man hearing bird song for the first time. I smiled back at him, then made some crap excuse to go to my dormitory. David just grinned at me, thankfully seeming to be happy with the amount of kissing he'd gotten done today. Thank Merlin.
Aphelia were sitting on her bed in the dormitory when I walked in, reading a book. She looked up at the sound of my entrance. Then she frowned.
"You've just made some sort of huge mistake, haven't you?" she said. It was more a statement than a question. I sat myself on the end of her bed and buried my face in her sheets, my hair splayed out across the bed. "Oh, crap, a really huge mistake," she whispered to herself, seeming to realise the seriousness of the situation. "Merlin, Lily...is it really that hard for you to stay out of trouble?" she sighed. I nodded my head in the duvet.
"I just bussed David, Lia," I moaned into the polyester. Aphelia didn't reply for a moment.
"You just a-what-now?" she asked, sounding confusing. I sat up, not caring that my hair was all rumpled.
"I just kissed him!" I spat out, my unhappiness not directed at her but at my self. I was disgusted with myself. This had to be a new low. Aphelia seemed to agree.
"You idiot, Lily!" she cried. She also included an expletive that was honestly very appropriate for the circumstance. "You've got to stop doing that!"
"Doing what?"
"Taking the easy way out! Instead of telling the guy you didn't want to go out with him, you snogged him!" she sighed.
"Technically I didn't snog him," I pointed. Aphelia flapped a hand in the air.
"Nuance! David's your friend, why would you...buss him? And why use the word buss?" she added, inquisitively.
"I felt guilty! I snogged him at the party, I couldn't just tell him point blank that he's just a friend!" I sighed.
"Actually you could," Aphelia muttered. There was silence for a second or two.
"Ok, but why buss?"
I shot her a look of disbelief. "I can't believe you're talking about my choice of language when you're ignoring the bigger picture - what the hell am I going to do?"
Aphelia sighed. "Fine, forget buss." She hesitated before replying. "You're not going to like it, Lil, but you have to date him for a least two or three weeks now."
I exhaled in exasperation. "Two or three weeks!"
"Three would be better, really," Aphelia sighed.
"But why?" I whined.
"Lily, you kind of got roped into all this. I mean, you kiss this guy who really likes you, you kiss him again when he gave you opportunity to get out...really, it's the only kind thing to do. Lead him on for a short time then break up with him quietly," Aphelia shrugged. I could see her reasoning. It was the same reasoning I'd used when I kissed him. Then a thought occurred to me.
"But in two weeks we break up for the Christmas holidays! Do I have to say with him during the holidays?" I asked. Aphelia punched her pillow, presumably with exasperation at the situation.
"Darn it!" She cried. "Yeah, you can't break up with him at Christmas! That would be totally bitchy," Aphelia sighed. I had to agree with her on that.
"So, I have to be going out with him for one week when we get back after Christmas?" I groaned. Aphelia bit her lip. "Actually, more like two - you can't just not see your boyfriend for weeks then break up with him a week later," she sighed. I felt like crying.
"But it's so long!" I groaned. "I don't want to lead him on for that long!"
"You don't really have a choice," Aphelia shrugged sympathetically. I stuck my tongue out at her anyway, annoyed that she had such an irritating point. The door opened and we both turned at the same time to look at who had come in.
"There's a mistake..." Lissy murmured as she walked into the dorm, astute for moods as ever looking from Aphelia to me, and back to Aphelia. "Who made it?"
"Lily did," Aphelia said immediately, pointing at me. I made a face at her.
"What this time?" Lissy asked, in an almost cheery fashion.
"She bussed David," Aphelia smirked. I pretended not to notice the emphasis on the word bussed.
Lissy sighed. "You silly Lily!" Aphelia laughed at Lissy's words, or maybe she was just surprised that Lissy understood the word bussed. I found myself smirking too.
Then I remembered something much more important than David and bussing. "Aphelia, have you worked out how you don't remember getting detention yesterday?"
Aphelia sighed, either at weariness with herself and her own memory, or annoyance at me changing the subject from bussing. "No," she said, sliding off her bed to pick up a jumper from the floor. "I mean, it's pretty obvious I had one, since about five different people came up to me and asked if it was true you cussed Hippelby so I wouldn't go to detention alone. I told them it was," she added, when she saw my face, "but I honestly don't remember it happening!"
"What about Roxanne?" Lissy piped up. Aphelia and I both looked at her.
"What about her?" Aphelia asked.
"She forgot, too," Lissy said, picking up a book and beginning to thumb through it, evidently not too engrossed in the conversation. I frowned. Lissy had point. Roxanne did forget our entire conversation on the night of Quidditch tryouts. Then she was missing for nearly a day. Same as Aphelia...
"Coincidence?" Aphelia suggested lamely.
"Don't think so," Lissy murmured, casually turning a page in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
As usual, Lissy was the voice of reason. It didn't seem like a coincidence. Something was happening at Hogwarts. We didn't know what, we didn't know why and we didn't know how.
But we're going to.