Forever Mine: My Time With Fred Weasley

Forever Mine, Rewritten: Chapter 6

The pilgrimage from the Great Hall to the common rooms seemed to be a group effort, and Dru and I were ushered about by a stream of Ravenclaws. In my absence, Druscilla had found two girls who looked to be closer to her age with whom she walked to the commons. I followed closely behind them, tailing the Ravenclaw group entirely aside from a Prefect who was backing the crowd and, to my delight, Poppy.

"I'm sorry about Serena," was the first thing she said to me, suddenly appearing beside me and giving me a start. I chuckled awkwardly, mostly to give voice to my fright, and Poppy took this as an invitation to continue, "she's half-Veela, you see. She loves to flirt," she then sighed and shook her head, "and she's very good at it."

"Right, naturally," I responded casually as if I hadn't been semi-seduced in front of her hours earlier. The staircase we were climbing suddenly unhinged itself and swung to the side, and I gripped the railing with white knuckles. Poppy noticed this and smiled softly.

"You'll get used to all of this, it's not as intimidating as it seems,"

"For some reason, I doubt it," I parroted her earlier response back to her, and she threw her head back to let out a hearty, warm laugh.

-

As she happened to be one of my three roommates, Poppy escorted me the entire way to my dormitory, pointing out detours and secret passages along the way. The dormitory itself was sizable, giving each of us a considerable amount of personal space. The room was divided into fourths and blue drapes tied with silver cord hung between each section to offer privacy if needed. The beds were plush and also draped for privacy, and two great windows sat at either end of the room.

Two girls already inhabited the room, one was standing over her bed sorting through piles of belongings while the other was already comfortably lounging with a book in hand, belongings seemingly in place around her. They both looked up as Poppy and I entered, smiling pleasantly and then introducing themselves as Isadora Strange and Alexei Marx. Isadora, the reader, was a curly-haired redhead with a heart-shaped face and an oversized t-shirt which she wore like a dress, tucking her legs underneath as she crawled back into her bed after greeting Poppy and me. Alexei, who seemed disheveled but excited, like a Golden Retriever, immediately started chattering about how excited she was for the new year, and did any of us have classes together? It was established that indeed, our schedules all intertwined in some way or another, and Alexei and Isadora celebrated the replacement of their previous roommates (apparently problematic figures) with Poppy and me.

After unpacking and also assisting Poppy with her luggage as well, I settled into bed early and tugged the blankets up around my face. I melted into the mattress, which felt abnormally warm as if a bed warmer was hidden near my feet, and peered out the huge window which separated my and Poppy's space. The full moon glowed brightly, supported in shining by a million dancing stars, and a few beams reflected on the Great Lake below, causing the water to shimmer as it lazily lapped the shore. I watched this movement reeled the day's events in my mind.

Everyone's mysterious behavior had me seriously suspicious, and the Sorting Hat's suggestive blathering offered me an excellent place to start asking questions; I had spotted the Grey Lady chatting idly with Ravenclaw students in the Common Room below, speaking only when spoken to but otherwise floating around mournfully. She noticeably avoided nearing or regarding the colossal statue of her mother which stood vigilant over us all and eventually melted through the wall and out of sight. As my class schedule allowed free Monday evenings, I planned to dedicate mine to Helena Ravenclaw and a long trip to the library.

As my thoughts slowly became foggy and sleep crept into my mind, the face of the Stink-Bomb ginger floated around my brain. I wondered what his name was, and fell asleep listing possibilities as if I was counting sheep: Liam, Charles, David...

-

My Monday mornings were ruled by Professor Snape, who taught Potions deep within the bowels of the castle. Following breakfast and a brisk shower, I ambled about the crowded halls in search of the classroom, the location of which was simply described as "the dungeon." I scoffed at the parchment in my hand, the promised condensed copy of Druscilla's notes which she had unceremoniously plopped before me at breakfast, disrupting my porridge-eating. I earnestly thanked her and invited her to join Poppy and me, but Dru shook her head.

"I've got to get networking," she said confidently, and then went away. I made a face after her, marveling at her exquisite social skills; my sister, just fourteen, was coming into her womanhood swiftly - we are a family of early bloomers. Her young face was open and her large features fit perfectly upon her angular face, which had long shed any baby-fat, as opposed to my round cheeks. We shared our mother's high cheekbones and dark skin color. Druscilla was magnetic and full of energy, her aura bright like the sun; she drew everyone in, and I envied her sureness.

 Despite their scantiness, her notes were straightforward enough to eventually lead me to the Potions classroom at approximately 9:04. Typically, I crept into the room four minutes late but fortunately, Professor Snape had not yet arrived and I felt my anxiety lift from my chest and float into the ether. Students were milling about the room, which was oval-shaped and somewhat small for the number of pupils. Small work stations were set up around the room, seemingly supporting groups of two, and many students were already seated at a table and chatting with their partner.

I despised group work, wholly hating having to depend upon another and jeopardizing my success, and the anxiety returned with a burning vengeance. Luckily, I did not have to choose a seat or partner, as Snape then came sweeping into the room like a great bat. Everyone immediately stopped talking, and I tucked Dru's notes into the front of my notebook from my spot in the back of the classroom. He had entered through a side door which I had just noticed and was now leering at us from the front of the oval room, which was marked by a large blackboard.

"Do not get comfortable," he then said through gritted teeth, flipping open a large book and placing it on the lectern that stood before the student's workstations. "You will be assigned seats and partners, no exceptions."

Normally, I would have expected to hear groans of dismay from a group of sixteen-year-olds, but the room was absolutely silent. Snape snarled a smile at the compliance and continued, "I will announce partners and you will quietly sit at a workspace, beginning at the front left, row by row," he stopped for a moment and pursed his lips, but did not wait for any sort of response before beginning to bark names. Pairs of students began filling the seats, and I watched them from my spot in the back; other students stood along the walls and watched with me.

At the beginning of the second row, Snape said my last name clearly and watched as I emerged from the edge of the room and took my place at the workstation which would be mine for the term. Professor Snape did not immediately announce my partner but instead squinted his eyes at me in a scowl, which I returned, because why the hell were all Hogwarts teachers looking at me like this? Then he blinked away from my gaze and called out, "And F. Weasley."