I woke late on Saturday morning, Angelina stood above me, her hair dripping wet. "Come on sleepy head, up!" I dragged myself up and rubbed my eyes sleepily. The clock beside my bed read 9.30 and my insides cried a little. I hadn't fallen asleep till 3 and I knew I'd pay for it later. I showered and dressed in a green jumper and skinny jeans, my white vest shining through the loose knitted fabric of my jumper and I grabbed a pair of tan leather sandals from my trunk.
We met the boys downstairs and George and I skipped happily down to breakfast, arm in arm, smiling at the knowledge we had a whole two days to much around and catch the last bit of sunshine. It was already warm and I was quickly regretting the jumper. But when we entered the great halls all eyes flicked to me and the whispering started almost immediately. George squeezed my arm tightly and as we walked past the Slytherin table several jeered including Malfoy and Ambrose. Hermione couldn't quite look me in the eye when we sat down and I made her spill immediately. She passed me the Prophet and there in plain black and white was the thing I dreaded most in the world.
"BLACK SPOTTED."
I read the article quietly and Harry squeezed my hand. My breathing felt tight and my heart was struggling to find its regular pace. "I need to leave." I stood and almost ran from the hall, not talking to anyone on my way. Many of the Slytherins were laughing now and I could do nothing to stop the angry tears falling down my face. At the sight of me crying though, the laughing and cat calls grew even louder and my speed increased, soon I was almost flying out of the hall.
I ran and ran, straight out the main doors and down the slope to the lake. I slowed down realising no one was following, doubtful anyone could have caught me if they wanted to. I collapsed on the ground where Severus and I had sat the night before. Sobs raked my body and I allowed myself to cry until my throat was dry and students were beginning to tumble down the slope themselves, ready for a day in the sun.
Someone had seen him. Realised he was an animagus. I couldn't believe it. What if the Dementors were set after him? Although London seemed big, it wouldn't take them long to sweep the area. I'd never get to say goodbye. And as I feared I'd be alone. I had to write him. Iris wasn't back yet but Harry might let me use Hedwig. I sat watching the lake, the giant squid breaking the water every now and then to feel the rays of the sun on its tentacles. If life was only so easy, to be able to swim all day, no staring, laughing or evil little comments. As I sat and watched the squid swim lengths of the lake, several footsteps fell heavily behind me and Fred and George skidded down the slope, their feet sliding on the dewy grass. "Lena?" I nodded and George grabbed me tightly around the waist, pulling me up from my grassy seat into his arms.
"We're sorry Lena, we thought you might want some time alone," George looked shiftily to Fred and I looked between them. "And they were too busy pushing their wands into Ambrose and Malfoy's throat to think you might need someone to talk to. I'm sorry Lena; I had to hold them back. Are you okay?" Angelina wrapped me in her hands warmly and threw a pile of our books and bags to the grounds. "mm." The tears came thick and fast again and the boys joined our group hug. "It's going to be okay Lena, Sirius is a sneaky bastard. They won't catch him. Anyway no one knows where Grimmauld is. Everyone apart from the people in the order, but they've detained Podmore and they could use Veritaserum I suppose." Angelina hit Fred hard in the ribs. "Sirius will be okay Lena. He has you to keep him out of trouble now." I nodded and released her, wiping the tears from my face.
"We grabbed you toast" George unwrapped a pile of warm buttery toast and I ate it hungrily. We led down on the grass together and lay in the sunshine, drinking ice cold pumpkin juice from bottles the boys collected from the kitchens. Angelina was trundling on with a stack of homework and although id had detention most of the week, I'd completed most of it in our study periods and a few pieces at night time. All I had left was an essay for potions, a couple of pages of reading for charms and a few questions on the troll rebellions of 1203 for history of magic. I pulled out my textbook and began reading about vanishing charms of the 17th century.
I read them through slowly but the boys caught my attention when they began soaring over our heads throwing a quaffle between them. Although they didn't do history of magic, I knew for a fact they still had the essays to do for transfiguration and defence against the dark arts. "Guys, seriously? You have practise this afternoon, shouldn't you be doing that work for McGonagall?" "No we're alright thanks Lena! Sunday was made for homework!" Fred and George laughed heartily and as Ron and Harry tumbled down the grass towards us the boys flew down to meet them.
"Congrats Ron! You're going to be great!" I hugged him tightly, not having seen him the night before. "Hmm, hope so." He looked a little green and I squeezed his arm tightly. Harry hugged me strongly and I held on to him with all I had. "I've already sent him a letter, told him not to leave the house, at-least for your sakes. I'm here Lena, if you need me. I don't want to lose him either." I hugged him tightly and he used the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe the tears from my face, we both laughed and he led down beside Angelina and me, taking out his own homework.
At lunchtime the boys flew up to the castle and ransacked the kitchens bringing down a picnic with them. We ate ourselves silly, huge slabs of flapjack and cherry pie, sandwiches and crisps and by the time Angelina and the boys were ready for practise, I had reached my potions essay. I was feeling a little too hot and so grabbing my jumper, wished the others luck, before walking back up to the castle. Without realising what I was doing, I descended the stairs to the dungeons and walked the corridor to Severus's office.
I knocked, but with no answer I wandered on down to his classroom. It was much cooler down here and Goosebumps appeared on my arms. I shifted the weight of my books on my back and as I turned the corner to the potions room, I found the door open. I knocked and a dark haired head poked out of the store room at the back. "Hey, I wondered if I could work in here, it's too hot up there." He nodded and I took my usual desk at the back of the room. I took out my books and lay them in front of me but sat and watched as Severus put several large jars and vials away in the storeroom. He smiled when he noticed me watching him and although I reached for my quill I struggled to find the words I needed.
Severus put the last of the jars away and reached for a stack of papers on his desks. He put a quill between his lips and carried the stack towards me. He took Angelina's normal seat and I smiled, beginning my essay. We sat for a while in silence, him markings his essays and I writing my own. Soon my hand got cramp and I finished my second piece of parchment. "Thirsty?" I nodded and conjured a large silver teapot and china cups. I poured two large cups full and added several sugars to mine before drinking it quietly. I stood and drank little sips while looking around the classroom.
"I take it you saw the prophet this morning?" I didn't look at him but he coughed at my question, showing he didn't know how to approach the topic himself. "I did yes. And you'll be glad to know Malfoy and Ambrose both have detention with me this week for what they've been saying." I nodded and carried on my little tour of the large room. "How are you feeling?" I shrugged and placed my cup on his desk, picking up a small square metal box from the cupboard. It had tiny silver flowers and leaves decorating it and I fingered one of the leaves gently. "Harry wrote him already, told him to be careful." I placed the box back down and picked up my cup, walking back to the desk, taking my seat. "It's not as if I can do much being stuck here. I just have to pray he listens." Severus placed his hand on mine and I smiled weakly at him.
Seeing the look on my face, he picked up my essay. "It's good, really good. Be careful how you define vanishing though." He placed it back down and I placed my cup back on the table to pick up my quill. "Severus?" 'Hmm?' he looked up at me only briefly, before returning to the parchment he was marking. "Don't you miss sunlight, being locked up down here all day long?" He smiled craftily. "Funny, I thought the sunlight shone pretty brightly when you showed up in my doorway." I shook my head and he laughed. "You're so cringey sometimes." I hit him on the arm and he flinched as if it hurt, and realising which arm I'd hit I apologised quietly. "It's fine, still a little sore, that's all." Molly had said his arm would be healed by now so I looked at him sceptically. He didn't notice and continued to mark his papers. I continued slowly with my own work and we talked quietly while we worked.
When I sat in-front of him, a 4 parchment long essay on the desk he smiled across at me and took my lips quickly. "Time for Dinner?" I nodded and pulled on my jumper, realising how cold it really was down here. I pulled my bag together and we walked together up to the great hall, him walking away to the staff table, and I to the Gryffindor table where a very muddy, cold quidditch team sat. "The weather turned on us." I laughed and sat down beside Angelina. Her hair was matted with mud against her skull and she tried aimlessly to pull the strands apart. Ron looked rather defeated at his end of the table and I smiled weakly at him. He didn't return it and looked down into his mash potato. "Please tell me your afternoon was better than ours." Fred looked over his plate to me, his face plastered in muddy splodges. "Library. All homework's finished though." He smiled at me, "Help me tomorrow please? I'm stuck on Snapes." I nodded taking a pork chop and cutting it slowly.
Everyone continued to whisper and stare but everybody on our table talked loudly and laughed along with the twins jokes, trying to break the uneasy tension that filled the room. Ron, however, sat quietly and was the first to leave the table. "Is he alright?" I looked from Angelina to the boys, "Not that great to be honest. He's just too nervous. I don't know what we're going to do." We began to trail our way out of the hall slowly but were stopped at the foot of the staircase by a sour faced Ambrose, who was surrounded by his hefty cronies.
"Too bad about your Dad, Black. Thought you said he was good at escaping? Shame really. At-least the Dementors can't touch my Dad without an order from the Minister; I heard they can suck your Dad dry if they find him." I stood strongly beside Angelina, her hand in mine, noticing this Ambrose sneered, "You fly that way do you Black? Only I thought you liked them much older, male and a little bit greasy." He laughed and I felt my heart jump in my chest. No bloody way. "You're only jealous Ambrose. You know she'd never look twice at you. Good thing too really, Merlin knows what diseases you've got. They'd have to quarantine the hospital wing if you're sorry arse ever had to enter it." Fred's voice was loud and many of the other students had stopped their own conversations to gather around us, even the teachers had been forced to stop, they could not move for the sea of students that were now congregating around the bottom of the stairs.
"I think that's quite enough, don't you Mr Ambrose, Mr Weasley?" Dumbledore had pushed through the little group of first years stood to the left and now stood some distance between the two boys. "Sorry sir. Ambrose just can't control the kind of garbage that pours from his mouth." Angelina spat in the Slytherins vague direction and it hit Ambrose's shoe. "Yuck, dirty blood traitor scum, you aren't worth air!" Ambrose had risen to his full height and stood rather pointedly over Angelina. "You stay away from her!" Fred and I both shouted simultaneously, jumping in-front of her, both pulling our wands from our jeans, pointing them towards his chest. I turned my head a little and caught Severus trying to push through the crowd, he looked worried, but I shook my head slightly and it looked as if he caught himself, "ENOUGH!" McGonagall came to stand beside Dumbledore and her voice was fuelled by rage. "Mr Ambrose we do not tolerate that language at our school! I will see you in detention tomorrow night in my office,' Fred sniggered, 'and you Mr Weasley, you may very well be protecting your friends, but this kind of behaviour is unacceptable."
Fred sighed and looked between me and Angelina, he turned to George who smiled knowingly, "You're worth it," and with that he and George swung around, fists landing violently against Ambrose's nose and chest. Blood poured everywhere and Angelina and I dived to grab each of the twins. "BOYS, MY OFFICE NOW!" McGonagall yelled, but the boys ran free of our grasp and dived back upon Ambrose hitting and punching him. Angelina and I tried to get the boys off him but they were much stronger than they looked. "QUIET!" Dumbledore had used his wand to amplify his voice and everyone fell silent. The boys stood and ascended the stairs to McGonagall's office without another word. Ambrose lay in a bloody mess on the floor.
McGonagall helped him to his feet and told Malfoy to help him to the Hospital Wing, "Hopefully Mr Weasley was wrong and you aren't as diseased as he made out, otherwise Poppy may have to close down the hospital wing." Angelina and I laughed quietly and she shot us a look, "Sorry Professor," we muttered quietly and turned to Lee who stood chortling silently behind us. We went to climb the stairs and found ourselves meandering slowly up behind Malfoy and Ambrose. Ambrose turned his head over Malfoy's shoulder and snarled back at me, "I'll get you for this Black, you just wait." I poked my tongue out at him and he hobbled into the Hospital wing. Angelina and I made our way back up to the common room and found it to be empty, everyone obviously having cleared out to find somewhere they could gossip without my sudden appearance.
We collapsed in the chairs beside the fire and Hermione joined us, taking her own favourite chair. "Are you okay Lena?" I nodded and laughed, "I'm getting used to it Hermione, he hasn't said one nice word to me since I got here." She smiled weakly, obviously not meaning it. "I can't believe the twins, we're worth it Angelina!" I laughed and she laughed beside me. "What did he mean though Lena, the whole old guy thing?" I shook my head, my stomach plummeting. I poked the fire with the brass poker that stood beside it. It simmered happily and its warmth nestled around my bones. "Not sure, maybe he's not just simple minded, maybe he's delusional too." Hermione and Angelina laughed and Ron came in to sit with us, taking the only remaining chair.
It felt good not to be locked in Umbridge's office and my thoughts trailed to Harry. He'd missed the whole argument and only he would register what the old comment meant. It would be safer not to tell him, he might try to sway me off of it if he realised someone else knew, especially someone we didn't want to know. The boys strolled in casually a little later, they came and took the floor in front of the fire and relayed their conversation with McGonagall. Only one detention. She'd admitted that they'd been right to protect us and she'd said she'd probably have reacted the same way. Ambrose, however, appeared to be facing much worse, with a fortnights worth of detention with Filch, McGonagall had said that he shouldn't even consider those words acceptable to use in modern society, let alone in a school.
Harry trailed in much later and Angelina had already wished us all goodnight. He sunk into her vacant chair and the boys quickly launched into an account of the argument. Every last bloody word of it. Harry turned to me of course, when they mentioned the man comment but I turned from him quickly and looked down into the bowl that Hermione had had him lay his hand in. Ron and Harry had told her what Umbridge had been doing and as always she found a quick cure. The twins tumbled up to bed eventually, Hermione following soon after. Ron went to follow and I hugged him gently, making my own way to the stairs.
"Lena?" I turned to him and he looked at me purposefully. "I know, I don't know how Harry." I sunk back into the chair and he came to sit in-front of me. "You've been careful? Not out in public." He lifted my chin as Severus usually did and I felt myself fall into those deep green eyes. "No, we've been really careful. Unless he put the flower thing together, but that's really unlikely. I mean, we were out by the lake last night but he wouldn't have seen us, we would have heard him. And I was in his classroom this afternoon, but we were both working." He squeezed my hands tightly. "Maybe he just thinks I've got a thing for Severus, maybe he doesn't actually know we're together." He nodded, "yeah maybe. Have you spoken to Snape?" I shook my head, "No, he went to interrupt the argument but I think he caught my eye and stopped himself." He held my hands tightly in his. "Is this really what you want Lena? Is Severus worth it?" My eyes locked onto his. He hadn't used anything but his surname since I'd met him, and I felt tears spring in my eyes. "He really is Harry. I… I think I love him," he kissed me gently on the lips and guided me to the stairs to the girl's dormitories, "then that's all that matters."
[A/N] Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story!
I,d really appreciate it if you'd favourite, review and keep reading. I'd really like to see what you all think of it!
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Kat xx