The sun danced off Seymour's face as he begrudgingly wrenched open his eyes only to instantly close them once the glare tore at his retinas. "Eghhhh." he rolled over and buried his head into the softness of his pillow and breathed in the fresh scent of washed bed sheets. He gambled another peek into the realm of sight and spotted Robin fast asleep in the bed next to him with his mouth hanging open like a gate, snoring like a trumpet with one leg dangled over the side of the bed.
"Come on you two, time to get up." Seymour could hear Lloyd's voice looming over the far corner of the room but he daren't move a muscle with the promise that Lloyd would go away and leave him to sleep for a little while longer. "Oh come on, Alice won't stop badgering me to come and get you. Everyone else is up already and making their way to breakfast. Up you get, we're getting our timetables today."
Seymour cursed his luck and bolstered himself up into a sitting position squinting furiously at Lloyd who was busy rummaging through his trunk at the bottom of his bed.
"Lloyd, I'll give you 5 knuts if you'll go back down and tell her we've vanished." he collapsed back onto his covers and wrapped them around his body.
"I would Sey but she's only sent me first. Like the canary down the mine sort of thing. If I come back without you two with me she'll claw her way up here herself. I don't think a sliding staircase is going to hold her back." Lloyd looked up and grimaced at his friend as he kicked his trunk closed with a loud thunk causing a once slumbering Robin to jump up in his bed and flail his arms wildly like he was being attack.
"Get off ya…ehh…gahh." having been perched on the edge of his bed already he now had no chance of remaining so as he slid off it and landed on the cold stone floor with a thud.
"Robin, you alright mate?" inquired Seymour glancing over the edge of his bed, but he needn't of worried as Robin had not bothered to let his crash landing deter him from his deep sleep and was still snoring curled up in a ball next to his bed post.
"Rob get up mate, time to learn." harassed Lloyd walking over and giving the boy a prod with his foot. Robin merely grunted and inaudible word and slapped his foot away. Seymour slid himself off his own bed and ran his hand through his hair letting the long black strands fall over his drowsy face.
"Yeah come on Rob, we might have Potions first lesson. I don't know about you but I'd rather not start this year being shouted at by Snape like the last." He chucked a pillow in his friends direction and then began to pull out his uniform and wash things. "Why did I take Potions this year." dismayed Seymour looking in Lloyd's direction. "What was I thinking?"
"Well I think Alice did the thinking for all of us on that one didn't she." explained Lloyd grinning. Alice had not let up all last year about how important it was that they continued with Potions this year even though Seymour and Robin had been adamant that they had no intention of carrying it on. In truth Seymour thought the fact was that she just didn't want to take the lesson alone and considering the teacher he couldn't in good conscience condemn her to do so.
"Thank you Alice." grunted Seymour as he grabbed his stuff and headed for the door. "Rob you coming… Rob… where's he gone?" Both boys looked over to where Robin had been bundled up on the floor only to find nothing in replace.
"Rob?" called Lloyd looking over at each side of the bed.
"Ahhh akk fumzzle." was the only audible sound coming from within the room and it had appeared that Robin had rolled under his bed and was still fast asleep.
"Oh come on Robin. Get up." Seymour walked over to his friends bed and gave the bottom of it a kick which was a severely unwise decision as being bare foot concluded that he was destined to come off worse than the bed as he hoped on one foot cursing it for all it was worth. "Robin get up you git!"
"Ehhh mmmm leave me hmmm." was the reply given followed by another long snore.
"Fine." Seymour gave up and limped over to the dorm room door and disappeared with Lloyd behind it.
"You rotten sods." exclaimed Robin as he plonked down next to Lloyd at the breakfast table in the Great Hall. "You could have woken me and what on Merlin's grave was I doing under my bed?"
Seymour didn't answer but glared across at him as he unravelled his copy of the Daily Prophet. It appeared no one had the time to talk to Robin this morning as Lloyd was busily engrossed with a potions textbook he had draped across his lap, taking random bites out of his morning toast and Alice was nowhere to be seen. If it wasn't for the fact that Lloyd had already told them otherwise Seymour would have concluded it to mean she had overslept.
"I don't know why Ginny's playing hard to get, all she need do is just come over and talk to me, poor girl must be shy." mused Robin as he gazed in the direction of the red haired girl sitting a fair few seats away with her back turned to them, talking with Hermione Granger.
"Funny, she's not normally." added Seymour discarding the newspaper and buttering himself a slice of toast. Robin merely grimaced and shrugged his shoulders pointing at his face as if to say "It's me, need I say more." Seymour often wondered whether his friends tendency to be over confident had gradually seeped into his brain.
"Good morning Lloyd my good friend, brushing up on your studies already?" asked Robin reaching over and snatching a slice of the poor boys toast before he had a chance to object.
"Of course. If I want to stand any chance of working in the Department of Mysteries I'm going to have to get top marks in all my classes this year." explained Lloyd with a look that matched the daunting task ahead of him.
"I'll never understand how you can know what you're going to do in life already, I haven't got a clue… I wonder what sort of job I'll end up with?" Robin waved his piece of toast about as he spoke, "I can't see me being a quill pusher to be honest, I need something active, something to keep me on my toes. An Auror might be an idea, I bet it's a girl magnet that job." his eyes lit up with a thought Seymour didn't feel like invading.
"Filch is getting old, what are you like with a mop and bucket?" asked Seymour with a devilish grin on his face.
"Bloody good actually, hmmm." it seemed the jibe had completely over shot Robin's grasp as he began to ponder on a life as the school's caretaker. "I reckon I'd make a fair teacher actually, commands a lot of respect that does."
"What are you going to teach?" this time it was Lloyd turn to stare at his friend with a sceptical look. "They only except the best Rob… look at Snape, yeah he's a windbag but you won't find a better skilled potions master."
"Well I'll do a bit of everything won't I? Do the night patrols, keep the kids in line…"
"Wash the floors, clean the windows… like I said Rob, a caretaker." Seymour marvelled at his friends ability to convince himself he was up to anything and even felt a slight twinge of admiration as he watched Robin stand up proudly at the table pumping his chest out.
"Even so Sey, I'll be the best damn caretaker this school has ever seen." he surveyed the room as if looking for unruly students. "You there stop slurping your soup. Young lad tuck in that shirt. You girl stop scowling."
"Sit down and shut up." Alice rolled her eyes and slapped away the finger Robin was pointing in her face as she sat down in the seat next to him. "I've got them." she declared with a look that suggested she had in her possession one the greatest objects in the world. She held out her hands and in them was four pieces of parchment paper.
"Homework?" suggested Robin with a disturbed expression.
"No, our time tables. I went to Professor McGonagall's office first thing this morning and asked if I could have them early." she smiled gleefully as she gave each boy his timetable, making sure to shove Robin's at him with as much force as she could muster.
"Oh really… thanks." replied Robin sounding as if he just been offered a vomit every flavour bean. Lloyd on the other hand was far more enthusiastic but didn't seem as happy as Alice as he inspected his list with great attention. Seymour smiled at Alice but could feel his heart sink with the prospect of finding out when he'd have to endure Snape's lessons over the coming year.
"I've got Muggle Studies first." Robins voiced was dashed with a hint of relief no doubt due to the fact it wasn't potions but he didn't sound overjoyed.
"What did you take that for?" asked Seymour looking up from his own list. Robin was the last person Seymour expected to be taking this lesson out of his three friends.
"I don't know, looked good on paper. Maybe it'll be a lesson just watching T.V or something." admitted Robin hopefully.
"It's mainly reading textbook and lectures." Alice couldn't contain the slight hint of a smile that danced across her lips as she watched Robin's face fall. "I've got Transfiguration first." she announced happily looking over at the two boys opposite her.
"Same here." said Lloyd instantly finding the relevant text book in his already bursting satchel and pouring over the pages.
"Me to." Seymour was glad of this as it was one of his more bearable choices he'd made last year.
"Thank goodness for that." Alice looked pleased as she poured milk over her cereal. "I didn't want to be on my own first lesson." she glanced sideways at Robin once again failing to contain her smugness.
"Yeah, yeah." Robin accepted his foolishness with a smile and turned to look back down the table. "Does anyone know if Ginny is taking Muggle Studies?"
It turned out Ginny was not taking Muggle Studies as she was now sat on the same table as Lloyd, Alice and Seymour in their Transfiguration classroom.
"What have you got next?" asked Ginny snatching away Seymour's timetable from his bag.
"Dark Arts." he replied leaning his head on his arm. "Looks like a fair few Slytherins are taking it as well." sighing heavily as he motioned towards the class list.
"What did you expect?" she scrunched up her nose in displeasure as she read the names. "Any chance to learn what's being used against them."
Seymour laughed and nodded casting an eye over some of the Slytherins sitting around the classroom. "Shame though, you said the D.A was just as good wasn't it? Those two seemed to enjoy it anyway." he cast his eyes on Alice and Lloyd. Lloyd nodded in agreement but Alice didn't seem so eager to follow.
"Still it's nice to have a proper teacher isn't it?" she muttered sheepishly. Seymour winched and desperately tried to cut her off mid-sentence using an avid look of imminent danger.
"What was wrong with Harry?" shot Ginny looking deeply offended.
"Well nothing." she replied turning red. Seymour knew she had nothing against Harry's lesson at all but anything that strayed outside of the school rules no matter how ridiculous those rules may have been never sat well with Alice. "It's just now there's no need for all the secrecy and this new teacher's a professional, he's actually been there hasn't he?"
Seymour buried himself into his arms completely disbanding his attempt to shut Alice up as the two girls bickered over his head.
He tried to remain as uninvolved as possible until the two girls squabbling simmered down to mere looks of discontent. Alice took out her Transfiguration book and brought it down onto the desk with far more force than necessary whilst Ginny merely flicked her fiery hair across her shoulder purposely blocking herself from Alice's stares.
"So are you going to try out for chaser this year? I am." inquired Ginny casting Seymour a quick side glance as she doodled on the first page of her textbook. Pleased at the change of topic Seymour nodded, his mind instantly sprung forward to the looming tryouts. He could already feel the butterflies in his stomach. The fact that it would be the first time he'd ever tried out for a proper team made it all the more daunting.
"Yeah, don't think I'll have much luck though. I think Demelza's going to have a go as well." his tone became more despondent with every word. "She sounds like she'll be good. Goes Quidditch camp every summer apparently." he tried to bully the sense of defeat already creeping into his mind back out by furiously tapping his quill on the desk in front of him.
"Well there's no guarantees." Ginny tried her best to sound upbeat as she punched him on the arm, harder than he was willing to let on. "I've heard Quidditch runs in your family. It's in your genes Seymour." she cast her eyes out of the classroom window that overlooked the frost dusted Quidditch pitch far down below. "You stand as much chance as anyone else."
Seymour smiled back. "You'll have no problems Ginny." he pointed his quill at her and waved it tauntingly. Ginny looked affronted and rolled her eyes at him.
"What just because I'm the captain's best friend's sister?" she was trying her best not to seem too insulted but was making a poor show of it.
"No." answered Seymour casually grinning as she toyed with the idea to thump him again. "You're supposed to be better than any of us. I heard Harry saying so when he left breakfast this morning." he explained noting that Ginny's face was now matching her furiously red hair.
"He did?" she dropped her quill onto the desk and let it roll onto the floor as she gazed past the walls of the class into the deep corners of her thoughts.
"Yep." Seymour smirked at her vacant stare and nudged her with his elbow, she snapped back to the present and looked at him. He shook his head and chuckled.
"What?" she asked looking as guilty as sin.
"Nothing." he teased picking up her quill and handing it back to her.
After the rather turbulent beginning the rest of the lesson passed by rather pleasantly all apart from the fact that only Lloyd had managed to turn his terrapin in the correct form of a snail with any degree of success. Seymour's unlucky specimen grew slightly larger and rounded at the edges. Ginny had somehow managed to get rid of it shell leaving it naked and shivering on the desk and Alice's was merely laying upside down, it's little legs waving all about the place as it struggled to cope with why everything had suddenly reversed itself.
Ginny waved to them as she packed up her books as headed out the classroom before them. Alice had calmed down somewhat after her little episode with Ron's little sister but still sniffed the air haughtily as she turned her terrapin over and gathered her things.
"That girl can really get on my nerves sometimes." she announced glaring over at the place Ginny had made her departure.
"Don't let Rob hear you say that." suggested Seymour, a wry smile on his lips.
"Dark Arts next." reminded Lloyd in an overenthusiastic tone giving Alice no time to carry on brow beating the girl. Alice slung her satchel onto her shoulder as made with Lloyd to head out the room.
"You coming Sey?" Alice asked noticing he hadn't moved from the table. Seymour opened his bag and looked for his Defence Against The Dark Arts book but to no avail.
"I think I've left my book in my room." he admitted dejectedly. "I'll have to go get it. Can you save me a seat?"
Alice collected all her lecturous thoughts into one deep frown but nodded. "Of course." then she pushed Lloyd who was still trying to put his cloak on along the aisle of the classroom and out the door.
Sighing heavily he lightly hit himself on his forehead for being so forgetful and tidied up his bag before leaving the empty classroom but not before having another go at turning his terrapin into a snail, failing miserably as it lit up a bright shade of red.
Having found his book under the wonky leg of Robin's bedside table and making a mental note to clout him for it Seymour exited the common room and walked at pace towards his Darks Arts classroom which was situated suitably this year in the cold dungeons.
Seymour tore down the moving staircases and ran towards the back of the cold hallway that led to his destination. He wasn't paying great attention to the ground below him but wished he had done when his legs were suddenly blocked by something soft next to one of the old cabinets that stood flush to the corridor walls. He skipped slightly before dragging his feet underneath him and smashing knee first into the very rough and very hard floor.
He grabbed hold of his stinging appendage and looked in the direction of the hindrance that had toppled him. He was surprised to find that the soft obstruction happened to be a very slim pair of legs in plain black tights attached to a pair of knees which were at this moment protruding out of the cabinet door. He didn't need to wait long to discover the owner of said limbs as the body instantly backed out and Luna Lovegood emerged into view furiously rubbing the top of her head, it appeared Seymour's rather brutal connection had caused her to jump and hit her head on the cabinet shelf.
"Luna?" he stared at her for a few seconds. It was all rather odd having been only seconds earlier ready to scream and holler all the names under the sun at the human barricade to now being dumbstruck by her presence and rather worried at the same time. He scrambled to his knees and shuffled over knitting his eyebrows with a look of concern. "I'm sorry Luna. Are you Ok?" he asked coming to a stop in front of her as she winced with pain from the clatter her crown had taken. She squinted through her left eye and smiled weakly as she sat back on her legs.
"Perfectly fine, just a little bump." even through her pained expression her tone still managed to sound imperturbable. "Nothing a bit of Durdlebud lotion won't fix." she brushed off her skirt and then crawled back into the dark confines of the cabinet. "I'm sorry Seymour, it was more my fault than yours. I don't expect you were on the look out for cabinets with random legs sprouting out of them."
Seymour stood up and looked down on her legs as they fidgeted. "Well no." he agreed realising it was a bit of an odd thing to expect.
"I've been to see Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts already. I hope you don't mind? They coming on really well… actually there's only one left but still it looks fit and healthy… apart from the nasty cough it's got… and the missing tail." she hummed happily as her legs turned over as if she was now sitting up in the large cabinet.
"That's good." Seymour was rather glad he'd missed that little visit but felt increasingly stupid as he stood there with his hands in his pockets talking to a girl without a torso. "Luna-" he started sounding intrigued. "What you up to?" Seymour looked at the cabinet with sceptical eyes. It was separated into two halves, both had large black panelled doors with gilded gold edges and brass handles. The wood looked old but grand as if it had once took pride and place in a mansion or stately home. One of the top panels contained the etched picture of a moon and the other a sun. The bottom was open and contained one Luna Lovegood, the other remained closed. "I'm looking for my Defence book." she explained giving a small cough from inside, no doubt caused by the dust.
"I assume you've tried your trunk?" normally he'd feel a bit condescending asking such a question but considering the recipient he just wanted to make sure.
"Oh I haven't lost it Seymour." she replied sounding ever so slightly aggrieved with his obvious question. "Some of my class mates have hidden it. They're getting better at it too." If Seymour wasn't mistaken she actually had a doting wisp to her voice as she explained. It was as if she was talking about some cheeky little scamps just having a bit of fun.
"The rotten gits." Seymour wouldn't allow the offenders such a luxury.
"No, no. It's alight, really." she scrambled out of the doors and ran her hand through her thick tangly locks.
"How is it alright?" he asked in a slightly harsher tone than he had wanted. He slunk back into a smile and brushed off a cobweb resting on her shoulder.
"They get bored once I've found most of it. They've started early this year so I've got a good head start." she put on a grin which looked all too forced for Seymour's liking and he narrowed his blue eyes at her. Sensing his meaning she shook her head and reset her smile.
"It's… alright." Seymour noted her words and sensed that she would rather he didn't go no about it. Something about the way her lips twitched out of the smile at the edges made his stomach feel heavy and his mind clouded with something in between sadness and anger.
"Ok, but why in there?" he asked giving the wooded box another once over. She turned to face it and gave a determined frown.
"Well you see the top doors are locked." she demonstrated by pulling on the handle. The top half was a damn sight bigger than the bottom as the bottom door only came up to his knees. "Alohomora won't work which is odd and nothing else will work either but there's a hole in the bottom shelf." she pointed down at the opened compartment. "It's just the sort of place they've hidden stuff before."
Again Seymour couldn't ignore the masked break of her voice as she continued to smile. "When have you got Dark Arts?" he asked rolling his eyes.
"In about ten minutes." she replied glancing down the corridor towards the classroom door only a few yards away. They could already hear the chatter of a full classroom behind it.
"I knew you would." Seymour hung his head and heaved a heavy sigh as he got down on his knees and entered the dark confinement of the cabinet. Inside was much deeper than it looked and he had to hold out his hand as he searched for the back. Once that was found he reach up and began running his hand on the top shelf trying to find the opening. "Where's this hole Luna?" he called out expecting her muffled answer to come from outside but instead and much to his surprise she suddenly appeared right next to him within the dark space of the cabinet.
"It's here somewhere." she said cheerfully probing above her with both hands. Seymour hadn't answered as he was to busy trying to cope with the fact that her face was only inches away from his. He could feel his legs touching hers and for some reason this bothered him. He wasn't sure why but it all just felt surreal. It didn't help that Luna was completely oblivious to this as she pressed closer against him reaching over his side. Why was this bothering him so much? He thought to himself as her untidy hair brushed over his face. He could smell a sweet engaging scent of oranges that he assumed was from her shampoo. It took him a few seconds to realise he had closed his eyes briefly before snapping them open and going back to looking for the gap again.
Suddenly his hand fell upwards as he passed over the small hole in the wood. "Found it!" he declared a bit too enthusiastically realising that wasn't what they were looking for. He reached his arm in as far as it would go and felt his hand touch something cold and smooth on the back of the cabinet. He placed his palm on it and felt an icy chill run the entire length of his hand as if dipping it into a bowl of ice. He quickly withdrew and moved on to the surface of the shelf rubbing his hand searching for anything that hinted at a book. "I don't remember this cabinet being here before?" he noted still probing the opening all the while trying to ignore Luna's large eyes peering at him in the bleak light. "Yes it was. Last year they hid my brass scales in here, the year before that my shoes... I think it was my entire bag the year before." she smiled looking hopeful.
"This should do the trick." Seymour felt something catch his fingers. He grasped again and picked up something hard in his hand. It was far to small to be a book and felt odd against his skin. "I've found something but I don't think it's a book." he pulled his hand out of the hole and held it out to the light of the corridor. Sat dead in the palm of his hand was a large grey spider the size of his fist, it's legs curled up slightly. Seymour let out a roar and flung the insect out the cabinet jumping up in alarm and smashing his head on the shelf. He scrabbled out the cabinet and on to the floor furiously brushing off his robes and his head. He finally calmed down and rolled onto his back where he saw Luna sitting on her knees with a massive grin on her face.
"Are you alright?" she asked her voice shaking.
"Yeah." he was perfectly fine but that didn't stop him turning a deep red as Luna's resolve finally broke and she started laughing uncontrollably with her arms across her stomach.
"Thanks." he wanted so desperately to scowl but instead he found himself smiling as she finally stopped chuckling and patted him on the knee. "Don't you like spiders?" she asked half interested and half trying not to laugh again.
"I don't mind them. I just didn't expect to find a great fat one sat in my hand that's all." he admitted getting up, brushing his trousers and then helping Luna to her feet. He rubbed his sore head and pouted in her direction.
"Now we're even." she joked brushing her clothes once again. Then suddenly her face became deadly solem, her eyes narrowed on the spider that lay dead on the floor. She walked over to it and picked in up carefully in her hands as if cradling a small baby. Then she went back over to the open cabinet and rested it deep in the corner. "Poor thing." for the first time since he'd met her she sounded pained as she observed the tiny insect with a slight shimmer in her large grey eyes. If this had been Alice or Lloyd Seymour would have already laughed by now but the sadness that Luna felt for this tiny insect seemed so sincere and genuine that he felt his own heart sink slightly as he moved next to her.
"Sorry" he suddenly realised that slinging it across the room probably wasn't the greatest show of respect for the poor dead thing.
"That's alight. It's dead anyway, it won't know about it. Lucky to go so peacefully really." again her tone showed no emotion but she didn't avert her gaze away from it and Seymour continued to stare at her, he sensed what meaning those words held and he lightly patted her small shoulder bringing her back to life. She looked at his hand on her shoulder and he instantly shot it back into his pocket avoiding her eyes. She turned to fully face him and looked deep into his eyes as if studying the meaning behind his actions. Seymour desperate to fill the silence glanced down at his watch and his eyes widened.
"We're late!" he quickly picked up his bag on the floor and motioned for her to follow him.
"I've still got to find my book, you go on." she smiled but didn't move from the spot.
"Don't be daft Luna, just share mine." he picked up her satchel on the floor which he was relieved to find hadn't been hidden along with her other things and chucked it at her. She caught it and clearly decided his was the more sensible option as she followed him across the corridor into the classroom.