A/N: I feel horrible. I had originally planned to cram in more elements in this chap but it got so long already that it felt right to stop here instead.
All new faves and follows: I love you all, thanks so much :')
Love-Fiction-2020: Thank you SO much for your continued support, I owe this whole story to you...
Chapter 27: Esoteric Encounters
Unedited...
"Mother, no! You're not supposed to write with a pen on a parchment, it's criminal! Ghastly, even!" trilled Angela.
"Angie, dear," Mrs. Williams started, trying very hard to hide the exasperation in her voice, "the physics and the functionality of a fountain pen is EXACTLY the same as a quill—"
"—Nooo!" Angela insisted and Mrs. Williams nearly rolled her eyes at her ten-year-old. "Good heavens, Angela, do you realise quills are only sold in Diagon Alley, a place where people like us aren't allowed?" she hissed violently, leading her youngest through the very crowded street, hands laden with heaps and heaps of grocery items.
"Of course they are only sold in Dragon's Alley," Angela shrugged matter-of-factly, "and no, we ARE be allowed to go there, Mother, I have made friends there!" she whispered casually.
Except a tiny bomb had gone off in Mrs. Williams's head. She paused, quite unsure if she had heard her right. "You WHAT...?!" she barked, only to get cut off by Angela once again. "Mother, please, it's her birthday! I have to do it right!" she scowled. "Besides, I need gift options too, don't I? And how AWFUL would it be if I got her boring non-magic stuff, especially for her fifteenth birthday?" she appealed.
Mrs. Williams raised her eyebrows till they disappeared behind her bangs, gaping in complete and utter disbelief. Disbelief because she couldn't digest the absolute nonchalance in her daughter's voice, while dumping her with information that could positively get the whole family locked up in Azkaban! "Angela..." she breathed menacingly, adopting the tone she usually reserved for when she wanted to seem extremely murderous. "Is there something I need to know...? Young lady?" she asked, her mouth drawn into the thinnest of lines now.
Angela stared up at her, finally realising something had gone terribly wrong. "Er... Well," she flinched watching her mother's eyes twitching and boring a hole into her skull. "O-Okay, Mother, please don't be angry now," she started, her face fast draining of all colour. "I've just... Well, I've found a 'way' to get inside the magic market without getting us into any trouble..." she said, completely out of breath now.
Mrs. Williams, on the other hand, seemed about ready to explode entirely now. "What. Did you. Do? Angela Williams?" she hissed, her eyes mere slits now. "And don't even THINK about lying to me!"
"I'm not lying, Mother..." Angela whimpered, shaking on the spot. "I just... I-I wrote to Sirius about three weeks ago asking for help, and well... he did..."
"Oh, he did, did he?" Mrs. Williams spat out. "Well, go on then. Enlighten me," she nodded curtly.
"Well... He... He told me that... Mother, apparently he has friends at the pub that guards the entrance to the magic market place. He told me that he has written to the lovely bartender at the Squeaky Cauldrons, Miss P-Pimplepeak, letting her know that we would be visiting the pub sometime this week and, that, she has agreed to let us in..."
Mrs. Williams merely blinked. She was experiencing multiple implosions inside and wasn't sure what reaction would be necessarily appropriate out here in public. Narrowing her eyes one more time, she straightened up to her full height. "Alright then. Let us assume that I agree to this 'plan' of yours," she started, her left eyebrow permanently stuck at the top of her head now. "Tell me... How will this... Miss Pimplepeak... know that it is us?" she heard herself ask a petrified Angela.
Angela fidgeted with the end of her sweater. "Well, Sirius had it all figured out!" she insisted. "It's a five-step process, really! All I have to do is, first, wear a confident smile," she said, counting off her fingers, "find a tall raven-haired waitress and walk up to her with a slight smoulder... tap her twice on the shoulder and tell her that we are friends of Lord Sirius from the Noble House of Black... and then flick my finger at her face! Oh! And also I shouldn't forget to wink at the end," Angela nodded sincerely.
Mrs. Williams inhaled, pitifully. And it took her a full minute to process everything that Angela had said and to convince herself that she had heard her right. Literally having to bite the inside of her cheek so as to not burst out laughing, Mrs. Williams raised an amused eyebrow and sported an expression that she hoped was still terrifying to some level. "And THIS was your so-called 'plan'?" she began. "You actually thought this was going to work, how foolish of you, Angela!" she scowled crossly. "And I cannot believe you reached out to Sirius for help," she added, frowning and smirking at the same time. "The more sensible option would've been to write to Lily! Or Claiborne!" she insisted, as they continued down the cobbled path towards their car.
Angela giggled sheepishly. "But Sirius never says no to me!" she replied proudly. "He's the only person I can say anything to and not expect to get scolded at!"
"Not even Izzy?"
"Oh, no! Izzy's worse than even you, Mother! In fact, the second person I'd say anything to is actually Regulus... And then you, and THEN Isabella!" she laughed, finally bringing a smile on her mother's face. "Does this mean I am forgiven?"
"Absolutely not!" Mrs. Williams retorted back definitively. "You're in a HEAP of trouble, alright," she said fiercely. "And no, I am most certainly not going to drive you down to Leaky Cauldron and watch you wink your way into Diagon Alley for the life of me! Also, when you write to Sirius next, you will be sure to let him know he's in BIG trouble too for encouraging you, you hear me?" she asked, watching Angela pout miserably. "And I cannot believe I am hearing about all this only now..." Mrs. Williams muttered more to herself as the pair trudged through the crowd towards their car.
"I was just trying to make her birthday special, that's all..." Angela whispered glumly.
Mrs. Williams's face instantly broke into a smile. Of her two daughters, Angela had always been a go-getter and wasn't afraid to push people's buttons unlike Isabella. And in all honesty, although Angela was a handful compared to Isabella, it was she that Mrs. Williams was seldom worried about; somehow, she always felt an innate sense of confidence that Angela would always take the best care of herself, no matter what—something she could not say confidently about Isabella... Because when Angela was extremely good at putting herself first, Isabella was a people-pleaser and was more concerned about being perceived as bad and selfish...
Giving Angela a fond side-look, she found her close to tears now, breaking her heart nearly in half. "Alright, fine, run along now, and buy us both ice creams," said Mrs. Williams sternly, taking her fully by surprise.
Angela's eyes widened momentarily in shock. "What?"
"Mm-hmm! Go on, before I change my mind!" said Mrs. Williams solemnly, her mouth curled up in the smallest of smiles.
Angela, however, looked like Santa Claus himself had come down and said hi to her. "Well, aren't you the coolest!" she squealed, jumping on the spot. Giggling in joy one more time, she grabbed the money off Mrs. Williams's hand and ran down the street into the nearest ice cream parlour, about twenty feet away. Sighing contently to herself, Mrs. Williams sank into a table of a street cafe they had been standing in front of and hummed at the traffic that roared in the street ahead.
Several minutes passed in silence, as Mrs. Williams patiently waited with her legs crossed and fingers drumming the table. The sky was painted a light bluish pink in colour indicating that the sun had long disappeared behind the horizon, plunging them all into a chilly evening. And even as she sat there, waiting, the sounds of a low thunder rumbling in the distance reached her ears, making her look up to the sky at once. Something was not right. It was chilly but tiny beads of perspiration stood out on her hand, making her brows pull into a frown. She looked around and, even though everything seemed perfectly normal in every sense of the word, something seemed amiss and she knew it... More droplets of sweat burst out of her forehead as panic slowly crept up her neck...
What is happening? she wondered, wiping her face with the back of her hand and looked around at the swarm of people laughing and eating around her with the cars honking incessantly in the background. Everything seems just fine, she thought to herself only to realise the sounds around were suddenly getting louder and louder with every passing second.
"Good heavens, Angela," she muttered, gasping for breath even as alarm bells jarred through her skull. The noise in her ears was so loud now that her vision got blurry. "Angela!" she shrieked, holding her head so as to not give in to the giddiness. "Angela, come back!" she cried and found her voice echoing through the walls... "A-Angela..." she whispered again, confused beyond words because she had been suddenly plunged into ABSOLUTE silence all at once, plunging her into a pit of confusion.
She whirled around in fright and realised what happened: everything and everyone had gone rigid and stopped moving entirely... Almost as if time had stopped itself... The world around her had to come to an absolute standstill with people frozen in mid-laugh, running cars now stuck in a motionless blur, smoke from the chimneys solidified in place and birds stuck in mid-flight. The only person still living and breathing... was her.
"What... What's happening?" she whispered to herself, breathlessly and stricken with mind-numbing panic. "Where am I?" she cried, and heard her voice echoing in the stillness. An ominous roar of silence pressed into her ears and threatened to smother her alive because, although she was SURROUNDED by humans, she never felt this alone in her entire life... "What's happening?!" she yelled, pressing her hands against her temple to stop the dizziness. "Where am I?"
"Right where you ought to be..."
Mrs. Williams's heart nearly jumped into her mouth when she heard a voice behind her. Whirling around in sheer fright, she nearly screamed and doubled back when she found herself face-to-face in front of an extremely old woman, wrinkly and bent double with age, leaning on to a mast and staring at her through glass-like orbs.
"You..." she whispered, shaking in terror and hardly breathing. "YOU!" she repeated in pure hatred, her eyes scanning those familiar features yet again. "Did you do this?" she bellowed, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "What have you done with Angela?!" she shrieked, horrified and enraged at the same time. "WHY HAVE YOU COME BACK...?"
"I needed to speak with you."
Mrs. Williams's breaths had still not steadied. Her head was still spinning, because she didn't understand any of this. It terrified her to say the least to stand among the living dead like this, which was practically IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish. How was she doing this?! "What do you want? Why are you always doing this to me?!" she yelled. "Why don't you ever leave me and my family ALONE?!" she screamed hysterically into the old lady's face. "I have NOTHING to say to you—!"
"—But you do have something to say... to your daughter..." muttered the old hag.
Mrs. Williams stopped dead in her spot.
"The time has come. She needs to know," the old witch whispered. "Now..."
"No. No!" she cried, shaking uncontrollably in fear. "No! I won't do it! I can't! Please don't make me do that, she can never know...!" whimpered Mrs. Williams, her eyes welling up with tears now. "She doesn't need to know!"
"...That is not for you to decide."
"But she's only fourteen!" sobbed Mrs. Williams desperately. "She deserves to be a happy child..."
"The fate of this world resides on this one truth, Elizabeth. Everything as you know is soon set to disappear. She needs to know."
Mrs. Williams's mouth quivered in emotion as she realised there really wasn't another way.
"You knew this day was coming..." the old witch, triggering louder sobs of denial from Mrs. Williams. She was right. She always knew this day would eventually come and that, there was no escaping it...
Still battling inexplicable despair, she looked up. "Will... Will you be there? For her?" she asked, weeping in earnest now. "Will you watch over my child?" she asked.
The old witch nodded slowly, her face cold and emotionless... "My journey up north begins today," she said, bringing fresh set of tears on Mrs. Williams's face.
"But why her...?" she wailed desperately.
The old witch didn't say anything.
"I won't be seeing you again," the old witch muttered, already turning to leave.
"No! Wait!"
"The truth," she reminded her once again. "For Magic," she said before clanging her mast hard against the cobbled stone floor. At once a burst of wind slammed into Mrs. Williams's face, nearly knocking her backwards and completely off balance. And not a second later, the world around her jumped back to life, plunging her back into a pool of deafening, ear-splitting noise, making her head spin wildly.
"But..." Mrs. Williams started, reaching out uncertainly while desperately trying to steady herself. She looked back down to where the old woman stood only to find her vanished into thin air. "What...?"
"Mum!" she heard Angela's cheerful voice from her right, making her snap back to reality. "I got you chocolate ice cream, with whipped cream on top, just the way you like it!" she beamed, already half way through her own blueberry-flavoured ice cream cone.
"Angela, where've you been?" she yelled, feverishly running towards her. "What took you so long?!" she asked, worried sick to her bones.
"What do you mean? I was gone less than five minutes, Mother..."
- O -
"You know, I must admit!" guffawed Peter, making them all look up.
It was late on Wednesday evening and the bunch of fifth years were gathered in front of the fire in the Common Room, working on their homework.
"That was a fine bargain, Potter!" Peter grinned, pulling Lily's homework closer to him and feverishly copying her essay on Osteomancy for Professor Abolet. Lily rolled her eyes nice and wide in irritation even as Peter guffawed. "We owe you big," he said, fist-bumping a gleeful James on the side.
"Anytime, Pettigrew!" James grinned back, winking triumphantly in Lily's direction. What Isabella didn't understand was Lily could have easily just scoffed in James's face and said something as lame as, 'Ha ha! Fooled you, I'm not sharing my homework, not today, not EVER!' and James would have still been perfectly okay with that. At least that's what she would have done had she been in Lily's place, because lending one's homework for thirty days was the equivalent of buying a gallon of blood for a puff of AIR!
"And I can't wait to see the regret on all your faces when you fail your A.P.E.s, this year!" Lily spat out scornfully and went back to perfecting her wand movement for the Locomotion Charm.
Earlier that day, a new notice had gone up in the Common Room reminding the fifth, sixth and seventh years that from this year onwards, there's not going to be any 'Career Advice' council as all students will mandatorily be appearing for the Auror Program. That the only choice they could make in terms of which rank or field each student wished to enlist into depended on how well the fare in each subject in their fifth and seventh years. There was, however, no explanation as to what would happen if a student did not qualify to take up their place in the Auror Program, and how that could potentially affect their finding employment again post-Hogwarts. The news had caused quite a stir among the seniors, ramming them all into a state of absolute confusion and chaos and leaving them seething. So, if Lily seemed particularly snappy this evening, Isabella totally understood why and didn't blame her.
"Say, Lily," she started, putting her quill down and cracking her knuckles tiredly. "Say, you did get to choose your career after Hogwarts. What would you want to be?" she asked, smiling apologetically at Lily's face.
"Hmm, let me see," she started, slumping back into her couch and considering her options. "Well, obviously there's Healing, even though I'm not as good at it as YOU are," she said, nudging Isabella on the side with a nod of admiration. "Healing is a pretty solid option, I reckon, well-paying, respectable... Hmmm... Also... Being part of the Minister's Office seems appealing too, if you ask me."
"And rise up the ladder to become a Minister yourself one day?"
"Of course!" Lily shrugged matter-of-factly. "However," she paused, her eyes glinting happily, "I think I'd rather fancy becoming a Magicologist!" she said, sighing contently. "Just imagine... There will be so much travel, living abroad, getting to unearth ancient Magic from unknown lands, release Curses on locks from the medieval era..."
Isabella raised her eyebrows in awe. "You know, those are three of the most UNRELATED career paths ever?" she grinned. "Anyway, Magicology? It's a rough job, I've heard."
"So is Healing, Izzy, but would you want it any other way?" Lily asked.
"Not a chance!"
"Exactly! I'd be JUST as ambitious about being a Magicologist as you a Healer," said Lily, prompting an appreciative nod from Isabella. "Anyway, I better head on over to Clay, I've left her to the mercy of Mary and Alice for too long now."
"But you were going to help me with my Runes!" Isabella protested.
"Oh, don't be such a baby, Iz!" Lily hissed while absent-mindedly pulling her hair into a high pony and letting her flaming red hair bounce about her back. "Besides, how long do you plan on punishing her anyway?"
"I can't believe you've let her off the hook already."
"And I can't believe you haven't..." Isabella gasped even as her jaw dropped in disbelief. Lily rolled her eyes. "Come on, she's our Clay," she simply said, leaving Isabella feeling like the biggest bitch the world ever saw.
.
The weather was improving considerably and the grounds was finally witnessing a growing number of students camped out in the sun than it had in the last four months.
"Today ought ter be the day!" roared a happy Hagrid, bending over a whole bunch of silver eggs the size of mini melons. Isabella, Hagrid and Mary were huddled together at the foot of the Forbidden Forest in a cool, dark patch, and watching over more than a dozen trembling silver eggs dug out in the cool mud. "They'll be out any minute!"
"That's what you said twenty five minutes ago too, Hagrid," said a bored Mary, with a roll of her eyes. "I came here to see what tiny Occamy looked like, not stare at a bunch of clinking, clucking balls of silver, you know?"
"Patience, Mare," smiled Isabella, fondly rubbing the one closest to her. "It'll be totally worth it, I promise! Hagrid and I have done this once before and aw! They were so cute!" she cooed.
Mary frowned and looked like she had something extremely unpleasant in her mouth. "I'm surprised you're not scared about getting eaten by this half-breed one day, Williams," she whispered, nodding in Hagrid's direction. Isabella's cheeks turned a deadly shade of red in alarm. She immediately looked at Hagrid to see if he had heard anything... and it looked like he hadn't but she couldn't be sure.
Shut up, Mare, she mouthed violently at her while pretending to stroke the egg.
"You know wha', perhaps we ought ter throw 'em in the fire one more time... The shell's still too soft," Hagrid announced gruffly, examining the eggs in his hands. Sighing heavily, he pulled the large wicker basket closer to him once. "Now, Izzy, yer know the drill... Nice an' easy," he growled, gently and tactfully picking up one of the eggs himself.
"Er... I can help too, you know?" Mary snapped scornfully, in what Isabella considered an unnecessarily rude tone of voice. Hagrid looked up frightfully (and frankly a little alarmed) at the sudden change in her tone. "It's not Chinese Puzzle, you know?" she scoffed and callously grabbed one large egg off the mud, but she had not lifted it an inch off the ground when the egg suddenly writhed and squirmed and jumped right off her grip, landing with a loud Splat! on the ground.
"Oh, no!" screamed Isabella and immediately placed her hands around a trembling, wiggling egg. "Hagrid, what do we do?" she yelped, looking helplessly at him.
"Steady your hands, Izzy!" he roared, hurriedly shifting his massive body next to her. He shook his shaggy head nervously. "They're a bunch o' slippery suckers," he muttered under his breath, feverishly examining the movements of the egg underneath Isabella's tiny hands. "It's important ter calm them down before pickin' them up or they'd wriggle righ' out of our hands."
"I'm so sorry, Hagrid, I didn't know!" wailed Mary, flushed beyond recognition and close to tears now. "I swear, I wasn't expecting them to... to... do that!"
"Oh, ne'er mind," he said, waving her off, only Isabella thought she heard a tinge of annoyance in his voice. "Grab the rest of 'em, Izzy," he said whilst carefully cradling the injured egg in his massive hands. It took Isabella and Hagrid nearly a quarter of an hour to get them all carefully back into the basket while Mary seethed in mind-numbing guilt on the side.
"You think the egg's fine?" Isabella anxiously asked Hagrid, as the three of them trudged back towards Hagrid's hut.
"We won' know 'til it hatches," Hagrid growled, but Isabella was sure his mind was secretly exploding in panic about the poor egg's condition. Mary for her part, was slowly slinking back to feeling less guilty and more cold towards their gamekeeper.
"Well, you should've said something before!" Mary said, admiring her nails. "Totally your fault, you know?"
"You could've been more careful too, Mare," muttered Isabella as the three of them reached the hut, when a racket from afar reached their ears; it looked like it was coming from the pumpkin patch behind the hut.
"What's going on?" asked Isabella craning her neck to get a glimpse through the window while handing the eggs one by one to Hagrid, who was rolling them over into the fire at the firplace; Mary sank into a chair by the table, no doubt regretting ever coming down today.
Hagrid chuckled gruffly to himself. "Why don' you take a look yerself?" he said, his eyes twinkling playfully.
Isabella paused, smiling curiously. "Why, what's going on?" she asked, handing the basket to him before racing towards the window and sticking her head out. "Oh my GOD, what are all of you doing here?!" she bellowed, bursting out laughing at the scene in front of her. There, toiling hard at the patch were Peter, James, Sirius, Edgar, Vernon, Frank, Viktor and Kingsley all red and sweaty and about to drop dead any second! Mary immediately tore across the room and squeezed out of the window too next to Isabella.
She gasped in bewilderment. "Merlin, have mercy!" she cried, her eyes jumping right out of their sockets.
"You know, Potter!" wheezed poor Frank, heaving from the effort. "I think you heard me wrong. I meant I wanted to look like a 'Greek God'..." he paused to gulp a bucketful of air. "I didn't mean I wanted... to find a hobby... that will finish me off ENTIRELY!" he finally huffed.
"HEY! No pain...!" coughed a red James, "NO GAIN!" he yelled, hardly able to point a steady finger at his friend. "D'you want to impress Parker's parents... or NOT?" he bellowed.
"Bavarian Erkling! Did you put them up to this, Potter?" Mary roared hysterically.
"Prongs..." sniffed Sirius, leaning lifelessly on to an even more pitiful Peter next to him. "Please don't make me cry in front of a girl?" he cried, pointing at the window where the pair of them were laughing their heads off. "It's my rep...!" he yelped weakly.
"How 'bout some tea, lads?" roared Hagrid from the backdoor, holding a tray of bowl-sized cups and piping hot tea on the side. The relief that washed over the faces of the boys was priceless! Hurling the shovels aside (James included) everyone hurtled towards Hagrid and grabbed their mugs. "Oh, an' there's a note fer you on the table from Dumbledore, Izzy!" growled Hagrid over his shoulder. "He'd asked me ter deliver it to you when we meet."
"Thanks, Hagrid!" Still grinning, she backed away from the window and picked up a neatly folded parchment on the table, even as Mary joined the tea party in the backyard with the rest of them.
Dear Izzy,
I hope you are in private when you read this letter.
Isabella immediately turned around to make sure she was alone in the room before turning back to the letter.
I didn't want to risk summoning you to my office; my fireplace has been witnessing far too many unannounced visitors of late and I did not want to risk anyone spotting any of you in a conference with me. It is also another reason why I sent this note via Hagrid especially, because I needed someone I could trust completely.
It is Founder's Day for the Hufflepuff House in a week and Professor Sprout is organising a banquet to honour the great Helga Hufflepuff... and I have just been informed that the Minister herself (along with her personal Aurors) is planning on visiting the castle for the celebration too. Now, if I know her well, I can tell you confidently that she is not here for some frivolous engagement alone. She still does not believe in my assertions that the objects retrieved by Regulus were merely ordinary artifacts; and the fact that I refused to let the Wizengamot summon any of you for questioning has enraged her quite a bit. She knows we are hiding something. And she wants to take a look herself; to somehow prosecute the five of you and force the Portkeys from my possession.
A slow sense of dread crept up her spine as she continued reading the letter.
Now, I am sure what I am about to suggest might alarm you to say the least, but I think the best way for you to stay out of her way is for you and your friends to strut about right under her nose during this banquet.
Isabella's eyebrows knotted together at once. What the damn hell? she thought to herself.
I know how this must sound, but I believe, when someone suspects another of something, the first thing they would expect from the latter is to slink and hide away from them, thus, confirming their suspicions even more. However, it would confuse them quite a bit if the latter looked them straight in the eye and gave their hand out in greeting. Besides, I will not stand by and watch Millicent Bagnold terrorise my students in my school.
Isabella's mouth tugged into a smirk.
It is for this reason that I have urged Professor Sprout to open invitations to all students fifth-year and above from all Houses for this grand night. Importantly, I want you and all of your friends to wear the finest robes and sport the biggest smiles when the Minister arrives.
Also, I believe you understand that the contents of this letter ought to be strictly confidential. Divulge the details to your closest friends alone. Darkness is upon us.
Yours most sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
"Er... James?" she called out and looked towards the backdoor where the bunch of them were laughing and pulling Frank's leg. "A word?" she said when their eyes met, and his expression turned wolf-like at once.
.
"I cannot believe Dumbledore is making enemies for himself at the bleeding Ministry," muttered Sirius.
The four of them had bid goodbye to Mary and their Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw friends and found a spot under a tree near the lake to discuss the letter.
"I think he doesn't trust the Ministry just as much as the Dark Lord and his supporters," said James, lounging on the grass and staring blankly up at the sky as if deep in thought.
"So, what are you saying? That he's neither on the side of the Dark nor Light now?" asked Peter, surprised. "He's... Grey?"
"Trust me, I'd be Grey too, if I were him," James nodded. "Everyone's just looking out for themselves. Both the Dark Lord and the Minister of Magic. What d'you think she wants the Portkeys for, eh? To stock up her shelf of collectibles?" he snorted, shaking his head lightly. "I'm sure she just wants to go snooping down there and see what she could find... Trust me, those kingdoms are teeming with more secrets than we could ever wrap our heads around! There's still SO MUCH Magic that we still don't understand, Magic we don't even know exists to this day! All she ever wants is that, and to somehow become the most powerful witch of our age and challenge Dumbledore himself!"
"And how do you know Dumbledore's any better, eh?" asked Peter suddenly, making everyone's heads swing in his direction in surprise.
"Wormy," Sirius gasped with a smile. "Where'd that come from?"
Peter simply shrugged. "Everyone loves power, Pads. Even Dumbledore," he said matter-of-factly. "Who's to say Dumbledore isn't playing us? Who's to say whose side is right?"
Isabella's brows shot up in her head and muttered, "Wooow," while James sniggered to himself. "Touché," he said, slapping Peter on the back. "You're right, we can't. But seeing as Dumbly and we want the same thing, perhaps we ought to choose his side..."
"And what is that, Prongs?" Peter challenged immediately. "What is it that both Dumbly and we want, eh?"
James froze, taken aback a little. He considered the question for a moment and shrugged. "What's best for the greater good, I reckon...? Peaceful coexistence irrespective... wizard or not, humans or half-breeds or beasts..."
Peter scoffed. "That's... NEVER happening."
"Perhaps... But we could try?" said James, sitting up now. "That's what Dumbles is fighting for too..."
Peter nodded slowly, still deep in thought and still looking unconvinced. "For your sake, I hope you're right," he said.
Sirius grinned. "And that's our Pete... The least trusting of the group and the reason we haven't been killed yet!" he laughed, playfully punching him in the hand, and the two of them started wrestling each other at once.
"Where's Lupin?" asked Isabella.
"In the library with Clay," said James, chuckling at his demented friends on the side.
~oO 27th March, 1976
"I'm heading up to the boys' dorms, you coming?" asked Isabella, straightening up her tie and shrugging on her school robes.
"Can't. Prefect duties," Lily said, brushing her hair.
Isabella blinked. "So, you're not going to —"
"— No, I'm not!" she said cuttingly. A moment later, however, she sighed and faced her friend. "Look, I'll see you downstairs at breakfast, alright?" she asked, still examining herself in the mirror.
"Yeah, okay!" said Isabella, giving her a quick hug and dashing out of the door.
She tore up the winding staircase up to the boys' dorm and found the corridor filled with laughter and chatter.
"Fifteen is an important number, Potter!" she heard Thomas guffawing as she turned the corner towards her classmates' dorm. "I mean it, DO NOT disappoint me now!"
"I'm sorry, man, I can't promise you anything!" James guffawed when he noticed Isabella walking towards him over Thomas's shoulder. "Well, well, well, look who's here!" he grinned cheerfully.
"Okay, I'll see you two later, then!" Thomas announced, giving James one last boyish hug and a pat on Isabella's back before he bounded off.
Isabella quickly brandished a tiny wrapped box in her hand. "Don't ever say I didn't get you a gift!" she grinned, before shouting, "Happy birthday!" making him break into laughter.
"Thank you!" he said, pulling her into a one-armed hug. "Oh and er... You should go in. Remus would be... Er... 'pleased' to see you," he said sheepishly, trying to fix his unruly hair and managing to ruin it even more.
Isabella shrugged. "Oh, alright! And we're crashing your dorm tonight, so make it worth it!" she called out at James who dashed towards the stairs in the opposite direction.
"You got it!"
Still grinning, she pushed the door open. "Okay, Lupin! Why did Potter send me in here, eh...?" she said and stopped dead in her tracks when two heads turned to look at her — Remus and Claiborne. It looked like the two of them had been deep in conversation, with Remus sitting on James's bed and Claiborne sitting on the low window sill next to him.
"Ah! He did, did he?" Remus smiled widely. "Wise man," he nodded watching the colour draining from both Isabella and Claiborne's faces simultaneously. "Looks like I won't be needed here anymore." And with that he quickly got up and flashed Isabella an unnaturally wide smile, making her grit her teeth in annoyance.
"Prat," she muttered as he crossed her, making him howl in laughter as he exited leaving the two girls squirming in mind-numbing awkwardness.
Claiborne chose to look out of the window and pretend that Isabella didn't even exist. Isabella, for her part, nearly considered fleeing the spot except she could hear Sirius and Remus sniggering and sticking their ears to the door trying to eavesdrop on them, and she knew Remus would never forgive her if she didn't break the ice today.
After what felt like forever, Isabella bravely looked up. "Hey," she said, making her look up.
"Hey," Claiborne repeated, turning a ghastly shade of red in the face.
Another round of silence and it was slowly starting to drive Isabella mad! She just hoped Claiborne would be more giving... "Look, Clay..."
"Izzy, you don't have to do this," Claiborne cut her. "You don't have to feel obligated to talk to me at all."
"What?!" Isabella stared, as if she'd just been smacked across the face. "Not feel obligated...?! So THAT'S what this has come to, hasn't it? You don't even CARE anymore!"
"I don't care anymore?!" Claiborne screamed, bolting up to her feet now. "Izzy, it's been TWENTY DAYS since you've so much as glanced at me!"
"Oh yeah, about that! You know what, funny story," Isabella guffawed sarcastically. "See, when I call someone my 'BEST friend'? I sort of expect them to tell me if they're ENGAGED to someone TWICE their age WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT!" she whisper-yelled through her teeth, making sure her voice didn't carry through the door AND entirely mutilating Claiborne at the same time.
"And you just ASSUMED that this is happening without my consent?!" Claiborne roared back.
"If it bloody hell was, why was it kept as a secret?" Isabella asked, crossing her hands across.
Claiborne simply stared back, looking dumbstruck for the first time ever. Blinking back tears, she looked Isabella straight in the eye. "This is not easy for me, Izzy..."
"Exactly," Isabella said quietly. "It must have killed you," she spat out bracingly, and Claiborne shot her a look of complete surprise. "EXACTLY why you should have told us about it, Clay... Let us help you, perhaps just in words, but help nonetheless."
"But I was ashamed of myself, Izzy!"
"And I am worried SICK for you, Clay!"
The two of them fell silent yet again, the atmosphere thick with tension.
"You should be able to tell us anything... No matter how big the matter is, Claiborne," Isabella said at long last.
"But I didn't want to be judged —"
"— Why would we ever judge you?"
At that point, Claiborne resolve breaks entirely and tiny drops of tears start to run down her cheek.
"And frankly, if you're unable to trust us, we probably never were friends in the first place —"
But Claiborne had burst into tears and ran towards her. Flinging her arms around her neck, she pulled her into a hug and collapsed on her shoulder. Fighting a painful lump in her own throat, Isabella hugged her back and was instantly overcome with guilt for having let this go on for so long. The irritating part, though, was the incessant sniggers that ensued from outside the door that nearly had her rolling her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Clay," she mumbled and Claiborne mumbled back something incoherent, but she prayed it to be something on the lines of, 'Yeah, I forgive you, you heartless monster!'
And just then, the doors burst open, followed by a loud, "Waaaaaah!" making Isabella jump on the spot. She turned around and realised Sirius and Remus had jumped into the room, pretending to bawl their eyes too, by rolling their fists around their eyes and making the most ridiculous impression of someone crying.
"Cut it out!" Isabella barked, her hands still securely wrapped around Claiborne.
"I think we should hug, too, eh, Pads?" Remus suggested stupidly.
"Affirmative, Captain!" Sirius guffawed and the two clowns jumped up on each other now, collapsing pretty badly into the other's arms.
Isabella scoffed. "Ugh! You're disgusting!" but the pair of them seemed to not notice at all. "Here, let me brush your pwetty hair off your face!" Sirius offered, combing through Remus's mousy brown hair and making it stand up as if he had only just been freshly hit by a bolt of lightening. "And as payback, you will let me paint your nails tonight!" screamed Remus and the two of them giggled like a pair of hyenas.
"Another word and I'll make sure you DO paint his nails tonight, Lupin!" Claiborne shot out, turning her head ever so slightly and grinning at the idiots over Isabella's shoulder.
"That'll be some party!" sniggered Isabella, finally letting go of her and watching the absolute relief washing over Remus's face to see his friend finally reconcile with her. "You bet," he said, beaming down at the girls. "Double celebration tonight, and yes, since the Princess suggested it herself, the group WILL witness a hot manicure session tonight!"
"HEY!" Sirius protested at once. "I did NOT sign up for this, what the bloody hell is going on here!" he screamed, even as the rest of them laughed their heads off.