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Chapter 3- spite, poison, and reconciliation
Rose had a boyfriend, thought Kate, trying hard not to burst out laughing, and he was a Slytherin; her dad would not be happy!
"So what do you think of him and be honest?" asked Rose to the group sat around the fire in the Gryffindor common room, consisting of; James sprawled on one sofa all by himself, Kate and Rose on the one closest the fire, Dom and Albus on the one next to them and finally Freddie and Selene on the sofa with the table in front where Selene was scribbling away at her extra credit History of Magic essay. Molly was in the library.
"Well I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that you even have a boyfriend, in first year as well!" exclaimed James looking really weird-ed out.
"Oh come on that's not even fair!" cried Rose, when everyone laughed except Selene who wasn't listening.
"He's a bit old isn't he," commented Dom, her eyebrows raised.
"He's only in third year!" protested Rose.
"Isn't that like illegal?" mused Selene having abandoned her essay to listen.
"No it is not; I wasn't asking you!" spat Rose, Selene ignored this completely and carried on with her essay. Kate could see that Selene's nonchalance was really bugging Rose. There's an awkward silence, then Freddie changes the subject… to something even more awkward.
"What colour are you going to have your hair tomorrow Cece?" he asked using her nickname that he always used with her, to her slight annoyance; in return he lets her call him Fred. They had been at Hogwarts almost three months now and everyone new had pretty much established their friendship groups and for some reason Freddie had taken to hanging around with Selene, and they became really good friends. The whole group enjoyed their friendly banter and teasing because it was very entertaining.
"Blue, of course," replied Selene automatically, without looking up.
"You always wear it blue, change it up a bit Cece!" chided Freddie, Selene just gave one of her famous half smiles and carried on writing.
"I mean it, how about turquoise or teal or crimson?" suggested Freddie hopefully, Selene sighed and looked up at Freddie with annoyance. Kate was struck with a tiny pang of jealousy; it didn't seem fair how Selene could look so naturally pretty with light blue hair and eyebrows.
"Freddie if I change my hair colour tomorrow will you leave me alone now?" she demanded.
"Sure but change it now," he said, when Selene shook her head he did his adorable puppy dog face, "Please!"
"Fine," she sighed resignedly and changed her hair light pink with dark pink streaks. It was short, choppy and messy and made her look like a bit of a rock chick; especially with her dangly earrings and dark blue painted nails.
"Hi, Rosy Posey!" greeted Rose's boyfriend Jeffrey Dark-water, Kate didn't like him he was a shifty character and she had sworn she had seen him with Divina, the school bully, a couple of times; but Rose refused to listen to reason and kept on insisting he was a saint.
That morning he was sitting with them at the Gryffindor table to everybody's distaste. Kate was the first one to notice something out of the ordinary, Jeffrey seemed jumpy that day and his eyes kept darting around nervously.
"Oh look at the lovely couple," leered a voice they knew all too well, the entirety of the group turned round except from Selene who according to her nonchalant nature for things she didn't care for, ignored the new comer and carried on eating. Kate really didn't understand Selene sometimes, it was as if she just knew when something she didn't want to happen would happen so she tried to avoid it.
Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw a swift movement and turned just in time to see Jeffrey hastily stuffing something in his robe pocket; Strange. What happened next was stranger still. Rose reached out for her drink and was lifting it when Selene gave out a cry.
"Rose, don't drink it!"
Everybody looked at Selene confused, but Kate's mind worked fast to connect the dots. She firstly noticed the disappointed look on Jeffrey's face and the look of livid anger on Divina's why was she so angry that Rose wasn't drinking her Pumpkin juice? This linked together with the quick motion she had seen Jeffrey make earlier when everyone had been distracted; except from Selene.
"She's right you shouldn't drink it," seconded Kate as she came to her conclusion.
"What is with you Kate, siding with Selene, it's obviously some kind of trick!" snapped Rose pointing an accusative finger at Kate.
"It's not a trick!" cried Selene in frustration,"Just for once just believe me, don't drink that!"
"Don't worry about them Rose, just jealous you have a boyfriend and they don't, just drink it," reassured Jeffrey.
"If you want her to drink it so much you drink it first, if you know there's nothing wrong with it!" spat Selene her hair going an angry red and her eyes turning gold. At this comment Jeffrey turned white as a sheet.
"Jeffrey, what's wrong, go on drink it just to prove them wrong right!" demanded Rose confusedly.
"Drink it," hissed Kate, her eyes narrowed as she watched Jeffrey slowly raise the glass to his mouth, then when it was inches from his mouth hastily chucked the contents on Selene; and ran out of the Great Hall, James and Albus following just behind. But they weren't prepared for what happened next. Selene had only been able to move out of the way a little bit so the contents fell on her left arm, now they all watched in horror as the liquid began to eat away at her clothes and skin like acid as she screamed in pain.
Professor Longbottom ran down from the head table as soon as the agonized screaming began and took charge of the situation.
"Someone take her to the Hospital wing NOW!" he ordered as the Hall was filled with gasps and screams from onlookers.
"That's all I can do for her I'm afraid," sighed Madam Pomfrey, patching up her first aid kit, "Let's just hope she hasn't got blood poisoning," she added as left the visitors with the unconscious patient. Looking at this pale lifeless form of Selene was heartbreaking; her face was paper white, even her hair had turned a silvery-white blonde. Rose wanted to burst into tears, she'd indirectly caused this and she felt so guilty. Why had she hated Selene so much, it was probably the most immature thing she'd done in her whole life; that was Rose biggest flaw, just like both of her parents she was extremely stubborn. When she made up her mind to do something, she didn't waver for anything little, it took someone getting hurt or worse killed to make her come around.
Rose sat up slightly straighter as Selene began to stir. But then she drew back in shock as Selene's eyes fluttered open. They had now turned a startling silver; she looked like a ghost.
"What's going on?" she asked trying to sit up, but winced in pain. Her brows furrowed confusedly as she studied the bandage covering the majority of her left arm. "What-?" Her silver eyes appeared unfocused as she looked at each of them in turn. It was Freddie who began to explain:
"Well when Jeffrey threw that liquid on you, it ate away at your skin like acid and Professor Longbottom had to carry you here. Your hair lost its colour and you went really pale because you were losing a lot of blood. Madame Pomfrey managed to patch you up, but she said you'd probably have significant scaring…" Freddie trailed off awkwardly, studied Selene's pensive expression.
"Well, it could have been worse," she said finally, laying back on her pillow; ignoring the looks of utter astonishment they gave her.
Selene swiftly recovered, but Madame Pomfrey was right about the scaring. By the end of the week Selene's left arm was pale and blotchy, with a slightly shiny wrinkled texture to it. Occasionally Freddie would catch her fingering her wrist where the scaring peeped out from her long-sleeved robes.
Every night before she went to bed, she was required to massage a special ointment into her arm then bind it in a clean bandage. This was in attempt to reduce the blotchiness and crinkliness of her new scars. Her arm may have been healing, but her friends found, Selene was not. She wasn't the same nonchalant bubbly and random person anymore. She'd taken to keeping her hair and eyes those same lifeless colours she'd awoken with that eventful day.