Here's the next chapter, sans strange puppies. Feel free to stay, read and review. Sorry for any mistakes
Ta-Ta.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Orphan Black or Harry Potter. They belong to BBC America and J.K. Rowling.
It is several weeks later, summer finally bidding the world good-bye as October comes around with the first harsh cold. Cosima has not told anyone of what transpired the first morning between her and Malfoy and the wolf. Sometimes she thinks it must have been a dream but the way Malfoy does not even dare to look at her makes her think otherwise. Although this is a nice side-effect Cosima feels kind of haunted ever since. Her mind is not yet challenged by school related things so she finds herself often daydreaming when she is together with her siblings or friends, trying to remember the meeting in front of the forbidden forest as detailed as possible.
When she is not daydreaming she feels like she is being watched, studied, her body giving off warning signs she cannot interpret because she sees no danger, though she swears she saw eyes in thousand shades of brown and gold amongst the mass of students almost every day.
One afternoon after lunch she was so sure she saw the alluring colours between some Slytherins that she ran straight into a portrait, hanging on the wall in front of her. At the time she finished apologizing to the group of old nuns living in the picture, the possibility of the thing she was so desperately after, of course, was already swallowed again by the castle.
As she lay awake at night Cosima considered her actions and thoughts and declared them as silly. She was incredibly lucky to be alive, that the wolf didn't bite her head off and she must not keep constantly searching for a pair of eyes that belonged to an animal that probably was far gone by now anyway.
There was so much going on in the magical world since the return of the most dangerous wizard ever that she chided herself for her drifting thoughts. Over the summer Deatheaters began to crawl out of their old hide-outs to terrorize wizards and muggles alike once again, people disappeared daily, she never saw the Diagon Alley so void of life except for Weasleys Wizard Wheezes of course and for certain the train-ride back to Hogwarts has never been so serious. It was like someone cast a spell over the school itself, making everyone antsy for their lack of knowledge and the constant thread that settled into every last of the castle's wedges and cracks like fine dust. Neither the new safety rules and the four Aurors nor all the fuss about Harry Potter being the chosen one could give Cosima any feeling of being protected against what was lurking outside the high walls or what was likely to come inside to them sooner or later. The words of Dumbledore's speech on the evening of their arrival still fresh in her head.
She decided to forget all about the wolf and distract herself with a new biological field she stumbled across last summer in one of her mother's muggle books. It was better than constantly thinking about the war raging on outside Hogwarts' safe haven. She didn't want to forget about it thus that would be ignorant and dump alike but she didn't want to feel like a constant coward either, so she turned to science for help.
Immunology fascinates the young student so much that she read all the books she could find so far but her booty had been unsatisfying since the magical world doesn't care that much about muggle biology. Nonetheless she hoped to find some books about it in Hogwarts' well-stocked library and against all odds she dug out several volumes about immunology in general and its history on the first day she looked for them.
Her only problem is that she cannot find them again. She is in the library with Allison and Rachel for the third time this week arguing for the hundredth time in the last couple of days with Madame Pince over the lost books.
"I swear I put them at the exact same place where I took them from!" Cosima exclaims annoyed and a little too loud. There is not much that makes Cosima raise her voice at least not like this.
She gets happy-loud on a lot of occasions because of her sisters because of Quidditch and because of science, she gets scared-loud sometimes because Helena scares the shit out of her every Halloween and sometimes the clap of thunder in very dark nights booms louder in her head than a canon and she gets sad-loud because when a girl breaks your heart you don't care how loud your sobs are but she never gets angry-loud. Not like this, but she needs to get herself back together and she needs these damn books.
Madame Pince's answer is not more than a sneer:
"Then it shouldn't be so hard to find them, should it?"
"Can't you like find them with magic?" Cosima huffs, her tone almost pleading, voice sprinkled with anger, yet.
Madame Pince only looks at her sternly over the rim of her glasses:
"Someone must have taken them while I wasn't here." The nerdy teenager rants on: "All five books on Immunology are gone…right when I want to read them!"
The librarian's scowl gets even darker, the lines on her face even deeper and Cosima half fears to be kicked out when she hears a soft voice behind her:
"Do you mean these?"
The accent is heavy on you and these, making the words sound a little clumsy while they are floating between the bookshelves like forbidden music. Cosima whips around, ready to unleash the wrath of her still very undistracted mind but her anger blows out the instant her eyes land on the person behind her.
The first thing Cosima sees are big pools of melted chocolate, looking at her and a shy smile playing on the girl's pale lips that makes heat rush to her cheeks and her stomach to feel all funny. She is taller than Cosima even though she leans against one of the bookshelves and is not standing straight, in her arms five books of various sizes. She puts a hand through her wild mane of golden locks but they do not stay where she wants them, bouncing right back into place and Cosima thinks the little annoyed glance the girl gives her own hair is very cute. Sensing that she is not able to tame her hair the girl brushes her hand down a dark-red woolen sweater before she pushes it inside the pocket of her black trousers. Brown eyes lock with Cosima's again and eventually she remembers that the girl asked her something:
"Wha…?"
"The books…" the girl repeats accompanied by another small smile:
"Are these the one you want…yeah…about Immunology?"
Cosima is never at a loss of words, her fast mind always finding some for everything but right now they come by very hard and it makes her feel very awkward.
"Uhm…I dunno…let me have a look?" she finally manages to stutter in tune with her jumping heart.
The other girl nods, locks falling in her face again, a veil of golden strands.
"I was just sitting down…would you like to…," she falters briefly, perfectly shaped eyebrows drawing together then her face relaxes again when she finds the correct word. "Accompany me?"
Cosima has her overstuffed bag already slung over her shoulder and her waiting sisters never seemed less important than now when she has the opportunity to spend a little more time with this beautiful stranger. She shrugs:
"Sure." And sends a toothy grin through the still air.
As they sit down next to each other at one of the small tables, facing one of the large windows, milky sunlight draws surreal patterns on the old wood.
"You're French or something?" Cosima asks, remembering the way the Beauxbatons girls spoke when she met them two years ago during the Triwizard Tournament.
There's a twinkle in the blonde's eyes and a very faint redness to her cheeks:
"Does my accent show that much?"
She wonders while she dumps the books on the table.
"Obvs…and the word searching." Cosima beams, all pointy teeth and tongue in her cheek.
Her stranger steals a glance at her from under long lashes, a wide smile plastered all over her face, long, slender fingers dividing the air above the small mountain of books:
"Delphine." She says in a voice as sensual as the rest of her being.
"Cosima." She answers with a tilt of her head, shaking the offered hand, feeling a jolt travelling from the tips of her fingers where they brush over Delphine's soft skin all the way to her heart.
"Enchantée. "
This time it sounds smooth and soft.
"Enchantée." Cosima repeats her tongue not used to pronounce such liquid words.
"I am very much French." Delphine says when they open the first book together.
Cosima only smiles and smiles and smiles, thinking that Hogwarts wasn't going to be such a dreadful place this year after all.
tbc.