No Ordinary Fan Fiction...

Chapter 10

"Oh man! This sucks royal Hypogriff!"

"What is it?"

Darren, Joey and Bonnie were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, their plates piled with scrambled eggs, bacon and waffles. The normal buzz of conversation from all four tabes echoed across the hall. Dumbledore was sat at the head table eating a bowl of Lucky Charms with a delighted look on his face. Snape was next to him, a stony expression on his face as he picked at his eggs. The Doctor sat at the end, squeezing out a bottle of gooey syrup onto his pancakes - a grin like one of a five year old was on his face.

Darren was holding a slip of parchment that McGonagall had just passed onto him.

"This says I have to do a job for Dumbldore tonight, but I've got Quidditch practice. Tomorrow's the match against Hufflepuff!" Darren exclaimed, looking distressed.

"Well, what's the job?" Bonnie asked. "If Dumbledore has asked you to do something, it's probably important."

"It doesn't say, I just need to go to the seventh floor corridor at five o' clock." Darren stuffed the parchment into his robe pocket and returned to his waffles, looking gloomy.

"Hey, Bonnie, do you think you could help me with my Ancient Runes essay tonight? It's due tomorrow and it's easier to ask you than go to the library," said Joey, still shovelling down his breakfast.

"Sorry, I told Edward I'd help him with the Care for Magical Creatures homework," she replied. Joey looked up, appalled. He dropped his fork onto his plate and splattered baked beans across the table.

"What? You're helping Edward? Edward Cullen? Since when does he need help? He gets 100% in everything!" Joey said, dumbfounded. Once again, Joey battled his jealousy as he tried to keep a casual expression.

"Well, if you think about it, he hasn't attended a Care for Magical Creatures lesson... ever. He always stays inside," Darren chimed in. "So it's not surprising really if he doesn't know anythi-ow!" Darren cut off when Joey kicked him in the shins, giving him a glare that said 'Dude! You're supposed to be on my side.'

Almost instinctively, all three pairs of eyes flickered to the Ravenclaw table, where they saw Edward. His face was stony and chalk white, his bronze hair perfectly sculptured. He was glaring intently at something. The three followed his gaze until they realised that he was staring at Bella, over on the Hufflepuff table.

She was, as usual, bright red and trying to pretend like she hadn't realised that Edward looked like he wanted to rip her throat out. She fumbled around with her knife and fork, dropped them with a clatter and hid behind her hair when she noticed people were watching her.

"Wait a second, wait a hot second!" Darren said to the others. "You don't think Edward has a thing for Bella, do you?" Bonnie pondered this suggestion, while Joey just frowned and shook his head.

"Why in the name of Merlin would Edward be crushing on Bella?" said Joey. "She has about as much personality as a plank of wood!"

"But then again, he is always staring at her..." Bonnie said, looking back at Edward in time to see him clenching his fork so hard it was slowly bending sideways like a wilting flower. He hadn't broken his gaze.

* * *

That night, at five o' clock, Darren reluctantly left the cosy common room and made his way up to the seventh floor where he rounded the corner to find Sami leaning against the wall, her head down as she painted her nails; the pot of midnight blue polish floated in the air in front of her.

Darren loosened his tie and began fixing his hair, stopping abruptly when Sami looked up at him. Her green eyes were piercing in the evening light that dappled through the windows. Darren made his way over to her and gave an awkard wave and a small smile which she returned.