Extraordinary
The celebration finally ended, Hippolyta climbed down from Paul's shoulders and asked Sev, "Have you gone to the bathroom to look at yourself?"
"No, honey, I didn't want to miss a moment," he replied.
"Better, because you're a little disheveled, let me comb your hair again."
Ugh… what a mess… Sev thought. "Okay…"
Hippolyta rearranged his locks very carefully. "That's it, perfect, very handsome, let's see, look at me."
He did it.
"Wooow, Prince… If you're careless, I'm going to kiss you tonight."
"No, Hippolyta, no way," he vehemently denied.
"Well, we'll see," also looking at him defiantly.
Wow… like Genevre this afternoon, three years younger than her. It seems to me that Hippolyta knows much more about the subject than she lets on. Of course, if she spies on conversations, if she finds out everything that happens at home, she knows, she does.
"I have to go to the bathroom too," she said.
"Let's all go, then."
The five Slys went to the bathroom, there was a line. Of course, everyone has waited for the show to end. "Ugh... now everyone has come at once," said Sev.
"Well, let's leave the house and go to one on the seventh floor," said Deborah.
"There are no bathrooms in the seventh."
"And in the sixth?"
"Neither, we have to go to the fifth," he responded.
"So let's go."
They left the Rave house and went to the fifth floor to the bathrooms, there was no one there.
"Look how stupid people are, huh, Paul?" Sev told him.
"Indeed, so as not to go down three floors. Anyway, I didn't know about these bathrooms either, there are no classrooms used on this floor."
"Of course there aren't any, it's the loneliest floor in the castle."
Sev looked at himself in the mirror while he washed his hands. Wow, I look handsome with my hair like that, Hippolyta is so smart, I plan to always wear it like this. Let's see, let's see, I'm going to rehearse the face I give her. He put it. Wow… indeed I look bad. I love it, it perfectly reflects my personality. I already have a new personal seal and she has discovered it.
They returned to the bronze-blue house, Sev with Hippolyta.
"Have you looked at yourself?" she asked him.
"I have."
"Did you like it?"
"Of course I liked it, I'm always going to wear my hair like this," he replied.
"It will take you even longer to dry it."
"I don't care, it's worth it."
"Have you put the face?" asked the girl.
"Of course I put it."
"And did you like it?"
"I love it, it's me, just like that," Sev responded.
"Do you think you look like a Death Eater?"
"Indeed I do, I look like a very very bad guy."
"You're great," Hippolyta said.
"You are, you have discovered it. It's going to be my new personal seal, like Sectumsempra."
"Of course, you are very special, you have to distinguish yourself from others. You already have three personal seals, two very malefic and one very benefic, your Patronus."
"True."
"There is a Muggle saying that my Dad likes that says that you have to do three things in life," she explained. "Plant a tree, write a book and have a child."
"Oh…"
"Well, you have already done three things. Invent a curse, have a special Patronus and choose the look you like to have."
"Sure…"
"I have already done one and I will do the second one this summer, when I choose my haircut," the girl continued.
"Or when you are of age and shave it."
"Of course, or then. And by then I will also have invented a curse."
"Today you did something else very special," he said.
"What?"
"To win a Quidditch championship."
"Bah... anyone does that, even Potter package," she disdained.
They laughed.
They arrived at the Rave house. The others were waiting for them at the foot of the stairs.
"Ugh… speaking of the Potter package. Now I will have lost the Gryffs and they were the ones I wanted to see first," Sev lamented.
"Stay with Hippolyta and Paul, and Valerie and I will look for them," Deborah offered.
"No way!" Hipólita burst out, authoritarian and contemptuous. "Prince and I are looking for them, I don't want you to be controlling us all night."
They laughed.
She wants us to be alone to make our plan to pick up girls, Sev thought.
"I do not see the fun in it!" angry. "I'm very serious!"
"Okay, honey," said Sev. "Let Deborah accompany us for more beers, she has hidden the remaining ones for you, and we will look for them."
"Okay."
They went up to the Rave house, which was no longer so crowded, and went to get beer. Many must have gone up to the terrace. Maybe the Gryffs are there too. They searched them systematically, finding the boys, Remus, Sirius, James, Frank and Richard, the sixth year Gryff commander.
"Hey! My lions!" exclaimed Sev.
He hugged them all and introduced them to Hippolyta.
She waited for him to finish before snapping at Potter, raising the Quidditch Cup full of butterbeer in his face. "Look! Shoddy snooty! Package!" deeply contemptuous. "You are not going to win a championship again. You will have won two and I will have won five. Take that!"
The others laughed, Sev exclaimed, "Bravo, Hippolyta!"
"And now I have the Cup to drink all the beers I want and you drink from a measly can."
"Bravo, Hippolyta!"
"And they have thrown a party for me for having won, because it has been the most important year in the history of the school, having won this year is more important than any other."
"Bravo, Hippolyta!"
"Three times, good luck," to Sev, calm, and again to Potter, contemptuous, "What do you have to say to that, package, just laugh? I don't see the fun in it."
Everyone stopped laughing. Frank and Richard retreated a few steps. They don't have that much trust with James, they don't want to witness the scolding, out of respect, Sev thought.
"Hippolyta," James said, very seriously. "You should know that I didn't feel like coming to the party and I came to apologize for what happened at this year's game."
"Well, you shouldn't just apologize to me, but also to the rest of the team. You've been making them bitter for four years, you're a disgrace."
"I know, you're right. I have behaved very badly, also with the Ravenclaws, I am very ashamed."
"Oh really? Also with the Raves?" She was exasperated, putting him against the ropes. "Well, you can go apologizing to everyone. Until I find out that everyone has forgiven you, I will not forgive you. Also with the Huffles?"
"Yes," scared. "Also with the Hufflepuffs."
No wonder James was reluctant to get mixed up, he's made a lot of enemies all by himself, Sev thought.
"And have you apologized to them when you saw them in the Army?" asked Hippolyta.
"I haven't."
"Well, you lost your chance to be forgiven this year. Until you apologize to everyone, I won't forgive you."
Take that! She is extraordinary. That's what she was referring to when she said 'words are words' and let's see how he behaved. "You heard it, James," Sev told him. "It's not going to be that easy."
"Of course not," Hippolyta continued. "And to all the people who must have been bitter these four years and are no longer in school, you will never see them again, they are going to dislike you forever."
"You're absolutely right, Hippolyta," James said, defeated. "You don't know how I regret it."
"Well, you're older now, aren't you? You've had plenty of time to think about it. Now it's not going to be so easy for you to fix everything you've done wrong, it isn't easy for anyone."
She means herself, me, and how easily I have forgiven him, Sev thought. She is extraordinary, she has received an exemplary education.
"You're absolutely right, Hippolyta," Potter admitted.
"Look at Prince, he's working so hard, he doesn't have a free moment, and all because he's dealt with a lot of malefics in his year, without eating or drinking it, and on top of that having to put up with you guys," she went on. "Yes, you three, I'm telling you, I won't tell you again, but I'm telling you now."
How she's defending me even though she knows I wanted to be a Death Eater, she's hiding it from them.
Hippolyta continued, "Now he won't even be able to go out in peace, because of what he has done for all of us. This afternoon he went to London for those drinks you are drinking now and they had to protect him from the Muggle police, because he had to return to Hogwarts at all costs."
How did she find out about that? I already told you that she finds out everything, later I'll ask her.
The girl went on, "He is paying much more than he would have to, on top of everything he already had to endure."
"Of course, Hippolyta," replied James.
"You don't deserve that he invited you to the party, know that he did it because you are Sirius's friend."
"No, James," Sev intervened bluntly. "That was not the case. Hippolyta, stop it. Don't you realize that he is defeated?"
"Fuck him. He asked me for forgiveness because you invited him to the party. In the Army he could have done it to the other Quidditch players and he hasn't cared at all."
"I think Hippolyta is right, James."
"Of course she is," Potter admitted.
"Well, you already know what's your turn for."
"Of course, I'm going to look for the Slytherins and Ravenclaws right now, unless Hippolyta has something else to tell me."
"Well, yes, I have something else to tell you," she said, still a little harsh. "That even today you have annoyed me, shouting your motto at number nine, which was the turn of Prince's motto, because it is his birthday."
"It was a misunderstanding, Hippolyta. I did it precisely for that reason, because I thought that he would really like me to praise you."
"Of course, honey, don't be angry with him for that, it made me very happy that he did it, it was my corporeal one," Sev clarified.
"Well," said the girl, now soft. "If that's the case, nothing happens. But for everything else it does happen, huh? I'm done, you can go do what you need to do and get out of my sight, in you make me in a bad mood."
"See you later, James," Sev told him.
"See you later," the Gryff said goodbye, and left.
"Ugh, Hippolyta... I asked you not to go too far…"
"I'm sorry, Prince," she said, very sure of herself. "You've seen that I didn't do it just for myself, but for all the people he's bothered, and also for himself. The longer he takes to apologize, the worse he will feel."
"You're right."
"That he makes me in a bad mood, I told him so that he would leave as soon as possible, get it out of his head and not worry," cheerful. "Then I plan to continue laughing at him."
The four of them laughed.
She is extraordinary, how she knows how to manage people so that they do the right thing, do good to themselves at all times. Something else in which we are alike, but I have learned recently, it is almost natural for her, due to the good education she has received. "Great, Hippolyta."
Frank and Richard approached them as the girls, Lily, Cecile and Alice, returned. Julia, the sixth-year Rave Commander, also came with them, and she gave Richard a kiss on his lips. Take that! Successful couple!
Sev made the introductions.
Again, when they finished, Hippolyta said to Lily, "I wanted to talk to you. In private."
Ugh… conspiracy… Sev thought.
"Okay, Hippolyta. Do you want to do it right now?" Lily asked her.
"Yes, the sooner the better. Prince, stay with these until we get back."
"Of course, Hippolyta," Sev responded.
Hippolyta and Lily left.
Alice and Frank stayed chatting with Richard and Julia, Sev with Cecile, Remus and Sirius.
"Well, well, what you have organized, you have been the kings of the party," Sev told them.
"We had to live up to it, Sev," Sirius told him.
"It was your thing, wasn't it? Multiples of three."
"Of course. And I've also made up my and James' motto."
"Wow, Sirius… they are both very good, and so are yours. How did you convince James to come?"
"Lily told me after dinner that she suspected something strange was going on behind his reluctance to come. I got out of him and he told me, very repentant, how he has been bothering the rest of the Quidditch players all these years. As it turned out, he did have secrets for me too."
"It's embarrassing."
"Indeed," Black agreed. "Sport is a game, rivalry must be healthy, it must serve to unite, not to separate, as snakes and eagles did this morning in the locker room. I told him this and that it would be a good first step for him to come to the party."
"What a scolding Hippolyta has given him."
"True, he deserved it. Do you know that James already knew they were neighbors? He doesn't know her parents personally, but his parents do."
"Oh... then she must know it too," Sev guessed.
"Surely. Has she not told you anything?"
"Not at all."
"Because she doesn't want to do anything with him," the Gryff deduced.
"It's not that. You've already seen that it was all a facade, what she told us when James left. She is extraordinary, she knows how to handle people perfectly. This afternoon I returned from London defeated and she cured me in five minutes."
"What have you done to your hair, Sev?" Cecile asked him.
"She also did it to me. Do you like it?"
"You are very handsome."
"Well wait, you'll see." He gave her the face Hippolyta liked.
"Wow... you look bad..." admired. "Irresistible. Remus, you're left without a girlfriend."
They laughed. Sev told them about Hippolyta's plan to pick up girls.
"Wow…!" Cecile exclaimed. "I want, I want…"
"May she gives you a good cut?"
"Yes, to laugh with her."
"Okay, then when she gets back we'll do the comedy, so I can practice for the final ones," the Sly proposed.
"Brilliant."
"Tell us about your London adventure, Sev," Remus asked.
"Booff… there's not much to tell, eh? Besides, I didn't have a good time, I prefer not to remember it."
"Are we back to business as usual? Keeping your problems to yourself?"
"No, seriously, Remus, don't insist, I have already solved this problem myself," Sev responded. "I prefer to talk to you about other things today. Let's join the rest and I'll tell you about something very interesting."
They did so, interrupting the other three Gryff and the Rave's talk and giving them a summary of anarchist ideas. Sirius, Remus and Cecile were amazed just as much as he had.
"Wow… it's utopia," Remus said.
"What's that?" Sev asked.
"The ideal society."
"True."
"It's a shame it's such a minority," Cecile opined.
"The Wizarding World is also a minority and is perfectly organized," said Sev. "If we manage to spread those ideas in it, in a couple of generations we would return to what we lost before."
"Of course," Sirius said.
"And perhaps, over time, by finally becoming known to the Muggles, we could also help spread them, use our power to carry out peaceful revolutions."
"Revolution is violent by definition," Remus opined.
"India freed itself from Great Britain peacefully."
"Well, peacefully is saying something, there was a lot of repression, huh? And a leader like Gandhi comes out one in every century, many more of the bad ones."
"The Carnation Revolution in Portugal was completely peaceful," said Cecile.
"True, you're right about that."
. . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, Hippolyta had taken Lily to a corner.
The Gryff thought, Wow… how different from that one, Audrey. She was the one who approached me as soon as she met me, and she is still a child. I can expect a very interesting chat with her, let's be honest.
"Do you want me to call some chairs, Hippolyta?" Lily asked her.
"Do you know how? You are in fifth year."
"But I'm advanced."
"Like Prince," said the Sly.
"That is."
"And some seats, you know?"
"Also," the Gryff responded.
"Well, go ahead."
Lily Summoned two seats, facing each other. They sat. Hippolyta looked straight into Lily's eyes, and said, "I'm going to get to the point, because I want to talk about many things with you and I don't want to leave Prince alone for a long time, tonight I have to take care of him."
"Go ahead."
"Are you and Prince dating?"
"We were until recently," answered the eldest.
"Until when?"
"Until two weeks ago."
"What day exactly?" the Sly asked.
"The day the exams began."
"Did he break up with you?"
"He didn't," Lily responded.
"So, how do you know that you are no longer dating?"
"Because I realized that his feelings for me had changed."
"Did he tell you?" asked Hippolyta.
"He didn't."
"Has he told you about me?"
"Never," Lily responded.
"He hasn't told me about you either, that's why I wanted to talk to you, girls' secrets. Don't tell him I told you this. He's in a mess, because he's with many girls at the same time, but the one he loves is me and he says I'm very little."
"You are, Hippolyta."
"Don't think I'm so little, huh? I may be in body, but not in head, you must be realizing it by now."
"Of course, you are absolutely right. But know that he loves me too."
"Didn't you say that his feelings for you had changed and that you were no longer dating?" asked the youngest.
"They changed only for a few days."
"Oh okay. You know that I don't care if you stay together if he loves you too. During these two weeks have you seen each other?"
"Yes," the Gryff responded.
"What a day?"
"The day before yesterday and yesterday."
"Did you do something that boyfriends do?" the Sly asked.
"Yes, on Thursday we kissed."
"Then, if he hasn't broken up with you and you continue kissing, why do you say that you are no longer dating?"
"Booff… I don't know, Hippolyta. We have to take time to talk about many things. My feelings have changed too."
"Oh... You don't love him anymore?"
"Not like before."
"Yeah. You're in a mess, and so is he," said the youngest. "This afternoon he was with three different girls. I know things but I have never been with boys and I need someone to advise me on what I should do to help him, and you are the one who knows him best because you have been with him since ypu were little. Can you give me a summary of your story?"
"Of course." Lily did it. Hippolyta did not interrupt her.
"How awful... he waited six years for you, Lily... twice as long as my father waited for my mother... And you were so silly that you didn't even realize that he loved you like that until he tried to kiss you?"
"Well yes, Hippolyta, I was. Until a little over a year ago I didn't realize it."
"But you can immediately tell if Prince loves someone, I already realized the first time he looked at me, on May 15th in the Great Hall. Do you remember? I was the third grader who faced him because I wanted to train."
"Yes, I remember it perfectly, we were right next to you, at the end of the Gryff table."
"Ugh... Lily... I don't know what to think anymore, what I told you before, that I didn't care that you were with him, I'm not so sure anymore, huh? It took you a long time to appreciate him and you say that you don't love him like before. I already loved him a lot before I met him personally and you had him with you all the time and you didn't value him."
"That wasn't like that either, Hippolyta, of course I did it, but I was very immature, I only saw him as a friend."
"Why? Because he isn't handsome?"
"No, Hippolyta, it wasn't for that. I didn't think about boys, none of them."
"I wasn't thinking about boys either, not in that sense you're referring to, but that's no excuse for not realizing what a person is feeling for you and making things clear. You were already older, more than fifteen years old. My mother realized that my father loved her when she was eleven, less than a year after meeting her, and he continued waiting for her for more than two years until she too grew up and fell in love with him, just after turning fourteen."
"Oh…"
"Now I can explain why he thought about becoming a Death Eater," the Sly continued. "He only had you and he couldn't even tell you that he loved you so as not to jeopardize his friendship with you."
"You are absolutely right, Hippolyta." Lily began to cry.
"I'm not telling you this to make you cry, right? Forgive me if I'm being harsh, but it makes me very angry. Prince has had a terrible time his entire life, at home, at school, he hasn't had a joy, and now with me, we have lost count of the incorporeal Patronus we have together, and his corporeal one has changed three times in four hours, without not even having given a kiss to each other. I'm starting to think that he should forget about everything else and just stay with me if you no longer love him like he loves you. You can't make him suffer more."
"I am thinking it with complete certainty, Hippolyta."
"But it's going to be very difficult for him, huh, Lily? In summer you are going to be together all the time and he is not going to see me every day nor he is going to do the things with me that boyfriends do, because he doesn't even want to kiss me yet. I wouldn't want anything more than kisses for the moment either, let's see how we do it. At least tonight I'm going to sleep with him, but in the summer I won't be able to. You know, committed, as he says. What do we do, Lily?"
"I think we can buddy up so you can sleep together in the summer."
"How, Lily?"
"At my place."
"I can't go to your house Lily, or to his, he already told me that it was dangerous to know his address and this afternoon I put things together, when he told me about Occlumency. You're an occlumant too, aren't you?"
"I am."
"And all of his summer escort."
"Yes," the Gryff confirmed.
"Well, only occlumants can know it. Lestrange, Lily, I could run into her in Diagon any day I was visiting my father, he owns the used bookstore."
"Oh… we were there at Easter…"
"I have asked him to teach me Occlumency and he doesn't want to, because I have a problem with food, and the first days, when I didn't eat well, he read me," Hippolyta explained.
"Yes, Deborah told me that."
"I would ask you to teach me without them knowing, but it would be useless, because if I showed up at your house the whole cake would be revealed. I'm going to have to talk seriously to him so that he trusts me and teaches me, we have three days left of the term."
"Maybe you can sleep together at someone else's house, without having to resort to that solution," Lily suggested.
"Prince is going to be in a lot of trouble, he didn't even want to bathe with me in the pond."
"In my house he would be it too, huh? I live with my parents and my sister, we should pretend to sleep together and he sneak into the guest bedroom with you."
"Ugh… what a problem…" the youngest lamented. "I would invite him to sleep at my house, but it only has two bedrooms, mine and my parents'…" Hippolyta rested her elbow on the arm of the seat and let her head fall on her hand, thinking.
Lily thought, Ugh… I'm going to think about something too, how embarrassed I feel, that a girl two years younger than me has had to tell me off like this, after everything Sev has done and is doing for me.
Hippolyta sat up and spoke, "I got it, Lily, we buddy with Deborah and we'll camped at her house, she lives in the country. I'll ask my parents for permission to sleep at her house, they will surely give it to me, the only problem is that theirs don't see that instead of returning to my house by Floo at dinner time I do it in the morning after have breakfast."
"Booff... Prince isn't going to want to, huh?"
"Why?" asked the girl.
"For two very good reasons. The first, that you don't sleep well in a bed."
"Well, well, I'll quickly convince him of that."
"I don't doubt it, but you won't be able to refute the second one," the oldest objected.
"Which is it?"
"That your parents find out and you have problems with them."
"True," Hippolyta agreed. "Well, nothing. I'm going to have to talk to him seriously and think about a solution between the two of us, because I know that he's looking forward to it, he was the one who proposed that we sleep together tonight, after making a thousand excuses not to take a nap with me this afternoon. Surely between the two of us we can think of something. And as a last solution, I'll tell my parents everything that is happening and ask them to let him sleep with me at my house. They're not going to be so scared, I'm telling you that my mother fell in love with my father when she was fourteen and he was seventeen."
"Oh…"
"Of course, and they always tell me everything, they're not going to be scared. Now, furthermore, are other times."
This girl really has courage and not me, Lily thought. What I have next to her is neither courage nor anything, it discredits me about Gryff. At fourteen years old, she is willing to confront her parents because of the love she has for Sev, just to sleep with him to save him from the clutches of all the vamps that we have been swarming around him.
"What do you say, Lily? Do you think it's okay?"
"I was thinking about how brave you are, Hippolyta, you are extraordinary. It's you who deserves Prince, and no one else."