SARDINES
Wendy stifled a long yawn and turned a page of her Flesh-eating Trees of the World book, casting a sleepy glance at the clock.
Ten to Midnight.
The notes she had scribbled during the last half hour overlapped, increasingly unreadable. Her stomach grumbled. She was done with the schematics requested for her Muggle Studies class but she still had her Herbology homework to do, as well as making a list of ingredients for one of Pernickety Pal's darn potions.
"I should go to bed... the elves must be waiting to do the cleanup..."
As if he had heard, Fetloack appeared in a light pop. He sniffled, unfolding his large triangular ears, glanced around him with a big smile which dimmed a bit when he realized the girl was alone.
- "Yo, Fetloack, good timing", she said, amused.
- "What can Fetloack do for Miss Wendy?" inquired the little creature, lifting his protuberant eyes.
- "Do you happen to have something to eat with you?" she pleaded with her best good-doggie pout. "Anything, a piece of bread, leftovers from dinner, a cuppa..."
Fetloack's thick brows furrowed.
- "Students should only eat at mealtimes", he recited sternly. "Children should not eat so many sweets in their dormitories. The elves disagree, yes, yes, yes. Rubbish and sticky candies are all over the place! Fetloack stepped on something gluey and his foot became blue!"
He looked absolutely disgusted at the memory.
- "I'm sorry", the girl quickly said, trying not to laugh. "I promise I won't leave crumbs! I'm starving, Fetloack, I had too much homework..."
The elf waddled from one foot to the other.
- "Albus might come down", lied Wendy, feeling a bit ashamed.
She knew saying this would work, but she was not too proud to trick the immediately overjoyed creature.
- "Fetloack will immediately see to a snack for the young master! Hogwarts students work too much! They must get some rest!"
And before she could change her mind, he disappeared again in an enthusiastic fingers snap.
Wendy sighed.
- "No way Al's going to be around at this time of the night, though..."
After Defense Against the Dark Arts class, their professor had held back Terrence, Albus and Scorpius to tell them they would not have detention that night and he had advised them to go to bed early. If this was not bizarre enough in itself - what, were they in detention with half of the teaching staff? - the boys' reaction had been even more weird: they had been completely dismayed. Terrence, who had dark circles under his eyes that could be used as shopping bags, had claimed he was in top form. Albus had scowled like a punished child. Scorpius had asked if it was his fault, if it was because his father had come to the school, and Mr. Potter had replied something like "no, not at all, I am the one sorry for making you keep secrets."
Wendy wanted to ask what secrets they were talking about, but the brackish scene earlier in the hallway was too fresh in her mind and she did not know how to ask without hurting Malfoy. As for her questions about their detention – how they had gotten into troubles, what exactly they were doing every night to be so tired – she had only gotten ridiculous answers.
"Scorpius bewitched Professor Douglas' chalks so they would play hangman instead of writing runes... Terrence told M. Binns he was dead... Albus was caught bullying some first years of Hufflepuff..."
As if.
At dinner, Terrence had fallen asleep, his head in his stew. Scorpius had helped himself with cranberries topped with whipped cream, together with lettuce, fried chicken and hot pepper, and had not flinched while eating the absolutely nasty mix. Albus had not eaten at all, dozed the whole time and pretended he was fine when she had shaken him up. He was totally sleepwalking - had run into a pillar in the study room and had not even cracked open an eye. Obviously, none of the three had remembered to do their homework when coming back to the dormitories and Wendy did not have the heart to tell them.
Fetloack could wait long, his idol was not likely to show up at this late hour.
Not that she didn't want him to...
Things were always so much more interesting when the boys were around...
"Okay, that's not quite the truth."
She scribbled down some more, then closed the book and put it on a pile. She stretched her arms above her head, wrapped her legs around the feet of the chair and swung it a little.
Five past Midnight.
The fire was dying quietly in the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room. The sizzling embers were glowing. A chess game had been left on a round table. Sandie Morgensten's needles were knitting a pink scarf. The few characters still awake in the paintings were travelling from one frame to another, whispering. Fabius Macmillan's cat was giving himself a good wash, sitting on top of the sofa.
Wendy unclipped the pin holding her long chestnut hair coiled into a high bun at the top of her head, untangled her mane with her fingers and rubbed her sore forehead.
- "Come on, cheer up!" she exclaimed aloud. "Refueling is on its way! You can do it!"
Or not.
Why was Pernickety Pal so picky? Terrence also obtained interesting results, although he never quite followed the recipes...
Fetloack reappeared in a tinkling of silverware. He was holding a tray on which were cups, a teapot filled to the brim with hot bergamot tea, an enormous pile of buttered toasts and several cans of tinned sardines.
- "You're a darling!" Wendy cooed, getting up.
- "Where's the young master?" asked the elf, his hands firmly holding back the tray she was trying to take away.
- "Er... he..."
She was about to say "he went back to bed," when the protuberant eyes of the elf lit up.
- "Fetloack has brought you a snack, Mr. Albus Potter!" he trumpeted, loud enough to wake up both dormitories.
- "Shh!" Wendy gasped, her face burning hot.
And she blushed even more when the teenager who was coming down the spiral staircases giggled.
"Great. Caught right in the act, manipulating the ancestral servants of the castle.
And on top of all, my hair's dirty."
She pulled the fluffy hood of her sweater over her head, forgetting that two rabbit ears were sewn on it.
- "Thank you, Fetloack, that's so nice of you", Albus said, stifling a yawn. "Whaah, where did you get all that? I'm soooo famished. And sardines – wicked!"
The elf poofed up.
- "Fetloack knows", he said proudly. "Fetloack saw the other day, how much the Great One likes fish."
The boy smiled, but he cast an anxious glance towards Wendy who was setting the tray on a small table by the fireplace. She probably hadn't heard.
- "Thank you", he repeated. "Uh... who else saw… him, besides you?" he finished in a whisper.
The elf tugged at his ear, scrunching up his nose as if it helped him think.
- "Oh." He counted on his slender fingers and enumerated in a shrill voice: "Fetloack, Kindoy, Tinky, Cinnamonel and Edgar, I reckon, sir. And a wizard with a hat that smelt of onion."
- "The hat smelt of onion?" Wendy chortled, unable to stop herself.
Fatigue, no doubt.
Albus did not seem to find it funny. She bit into a slice of buttered bread and focused on appeasing her hunger.
- "Can... can I ask you for another favor, Fetloack?" was muttering Albus on the other side of the sofa, near the bewitched knitting needles.
The creature positively beamed.
- "What can Fetloack do for the young master?"
- "Could you go tell my Uncle Charlie about the wizard you saw? You know, the new teacher. The one with red hair..."
- "Ha, the drago..."
Albus sneezed so loud that Fabius Macmillan's cat jumped and nearly fell off the sofa.
- "That's right, him! Th-thank you, Fetloack. You're the best."
The elf bowed, radiant, and disappeared in an instant.
- "Did you catch a cold?" Wendy asked, her mouth full. She helped herself with tea. She was kneeling on the thick crimson carpet.
The boy looked puzzled for a moment, then he sat in the armchair on the left of the fireplace, shaking his head.
- "No, I... I had something in my throat, that's all."
He looked at the clock on the other side of the room.
- "What are you doing up so late?"
- "Homework. What about you?" retorted the girl, handing him a cup filled with hot sweet tea.
- "I was so hungry it woke me up."
Wendy opened a can of tinned sardines. The sound of the metal lid and the smell that spread in the room immediately drew over Fabius Macmillan's cat. She came to rub against the table, purring loudly.
- "Shoo, kitty", protested Wendy who had to fish up the sardines while holding the can higher than her head.
Albus took a buttered toast and stuffed it in his mouth.
- "How did you manage to get a snack at this hour?" he asked, amused by the long rabbit ears dancing on top of the girl's hood.
- "I tricked Fetloack into thinking you were coming..." she confessed with an apologetic grimace.
The boy laughed. He leaned over, grabbed a piece of sardine and waved it out of reach for the cat that was meowing and kneading his knees.
- "One... two... three... four... no, not yet... five... six..."
- "You're so mean", Wendy giggled behind her teacup.
The cat pounced on the armrest and plucked the fish out of his hand with a swift claw. He gulped it down, then sat up, staring with large yellow eyes at Albus who was wiping his hands on one of the embroidered napkins Fetloack had artistically folded on the tray.
- "Don't look at me like that, you're scary", the boy protested. "No more sardines for you. Niet. Nada. Got it?"
The cat did not move an inch.
Wendy was playing with the tassels of the white woolen boots she was using as slippers.
- "Al..."
Albus gobbled down a sardine and almost had his face snatched off by the cat.
- "Yeah?" he replied absently, busy keeping the feral kitty at bay.
- "You... uh... why did you think the Boggart would turn into James?"
She closed her eyes under the rabbit hood.
She had so many questions, she did not know where to start.
Stupid questions, just to keep the chat going on.
Legitimate questions of a concerned classmate.
Questions she did not dare asking because she was, after all, only a Muggle-born girl, who should have never believed she had the right to be close to the son of a war hero of the wizarding world...
Why this question? She should have asked why James and Lily did not believe in the graphorn story or if he knew what kind of pain had made him fall from his broomstick. Or even if he had an idea of how Charlie Weasley had learned Terrence and Scorpius' names before he saw them in class.
Or…
Only hearing the discrete crackling of the embers in the fireplace, she opened her eyes.
Albus had gotten rid of the cat and was checking his fingernails. His eyes were downcast, hidden under his black mop of hair.
- "Because James... when we were little, James was always telling me I was not from the same family and... well, you know, nobody looks that much like his father. James said I was adopted, that someone had bewitched me so I would have this face instead of..."
He bit his lips, shrugged.
He was trying to keep a light tone, but his bravado was even sadder to listen to.
- "And I... well, I believed him. I was little. James was so... so interesting. All the grown-ups adored him and were saying all the time that he was the perfect combo of our parents. Then Lily was born and she was... so cute and so clever. And I... I was only the boy people were always staring at: "Oh. My. God. Harry. He. Looks. Just. Like. You." As if that was not normal - or scary."
He looked up a bit and his green eyes smiled bravely at Wendy.
- "Daft, isn't it? But you know, I'm not as strong as my mother or wise like my father. So I believed what James was saying and I tried to be like him. And he, he kept saying he did not want me to copy him, that we were not the same... and sometimes, he even said someday people like the Dursleys would come and take me."
- "The Dursleys?" repeated Wendy in a stifled voice.
Albus shrugged again, as if to get rid of a cold draft.
- "The muggle family who raised my father. His uncle and aunt, on my grandmother's side. They were horrible."
She nodded.
- "We... we don't have to talk about that, if you don't want to", she muttered.
"Too late, silly."
She wanted to slap herself, and yet... Albus smiled and his big green eyes locked with hers with no resentment.
- "No it's okay. I never told anyone, but… I must do so if I want to improve. I guess it's part of the training..."
His choice of words was a little bizarre, but it was the middle of the night, so Wendy did not pay much attention to it.
- "Well, long story short, I thought James was right and by the time I had grown up enough to realize he was telling rubbish half of the time, I was convinced I would never be quite as cool as him anyway, and that one day he would blame me for it. In front of everybody."
He winced.
- "A boggart shows your most secret fears, even the most ridiculous. It seemed – logical to me..."
He grinned apologetically and leaned to grab another sardine to hide his embarrassment.
Wendy took a sip of her tea. It was cold, now.
Suddenly nothing else mattered. She felt like if she was wearing her Quidditch robes and was invincible.
She set the cup on the table and clenched her fists on her cotton pajama.
- "James is wrong", she uttered slowly.
- "Hmm?"
Albus looked at her, a bit surprised by the seriousness in her voice.
She raised her head and stared at him – she looked a little haggard.
- "I think you're someone amazing", she said passionately. "I'm really glad you're in my House and that I'm a witch at Hogwarts with you."
Her cheeks were turning a bright hue of pink, her breathing had accelerated and her shoulders ached.
Why was it a thousand times more difficult than fighting Bludgers?
Her words burst out randomly, as if they were running away from the supernova imploding inside her chest.
- "Don't you think you're not as good as James. You are who you are and that's enough. It's you whom... whom I..."
She was pretty sure smoke was coming out of her ears. Fortunately, her head was hidden under the fluffy rabbit hood.
"Shut up, Wendy. Shut up - now."
But her brain must have been disconnected. Her mind was probably loaded with the Wrackspurts Professor Lovegood had warned them about.
- "I ... I... l-l-love ... you..."
If only her legs had not turned into squid mousse, she would have been able to get up and to flee to the girls' dormitory. And lived for the rest of her school years under a thick black cape.
A miracle.
Terrence.
Fetloack.
Something.
Being stupefied must have this effect on you.
Feeling like a prisoner in your own b... OH.
Her eyes widened and her eyelashes fluttered wildly, but the rest of her body did not move at all, while Albus slid from his chair, his green eyes looking at her intently.
He was close. He was coming closer. He was - oh - too close...
Wendy tried to swallow but she could not.
She was blinking and there was no way around it because Albus' nose almost touched hers.
She shivered when he put a hand on her shoulder and pushed back the hood with rabbit ears – very, very slowly.
- "Wendy..." he whispered.
His black hair brushed against the girl's forehead. His long eyelashes touched her cheek when he lowered his eyelids. She felt his soft breath on her skin, a scent of soap and of boy's shampoo...
- "You can't, Wendy..."
His voice was almost inaudible. She closed her eyes, breathed in the bittersweet smell of sardines, the crisp perfume of toast.
- "You don't know what I am..."
The embers were swishing down in the fireplace, diffusing a warm and benevolent light on the crimson carpet, and the silence in the Gryffindor common room was underlined by the heart beats of the clock. There was a candle like a star in the dark, books and scrolls left on a table, next to a bottle of ink, and a cat was playing with a quill on the polished wooden floor.
Albus' lips tasted like butter and were kissing Wendy.
"I love you.
No matter what you say, what you did, what you are, what you will become.
I love you."
The words were shimmering in her head, like an oath, like fireworks of overwhelming joy, of trusting shyness and fierce courage.
And when the sweetness on her mouth vanished, she opened her eyes to say them aloud.
A whirl of golden dust was dancing before her, dazzling. She closed her eyes and opened them again when she felt something touch the tip of her nose.
Her smile froze.
Two golden split green eyes were looking at her intensely. What had touched her nose was a warm black leather muzzle.
TBC
Next chapters:
WINGS, followed closely (hopefully) by MOON RABBIT
I had to cut this part in three so you wouldn't wait too long...
More fluff, more fun. Wendy gets the biggest scare of her life - and so does Scorpius. Terrence proves once more he's the cleverest of them all and Lily... well, Lily will also have a big surprise.^^
Enjoy, 'coz there're only two chapters left before the world turns upside down and everything changes for our young heroes...