Cursed by Moonlight (HP fan fiction)

Chapter 10: Wolfsbane Potion - part two

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I reappeared outside the door to my apartment and pushed open the unlocked door.  Knelt on the floor was Brie, with her back to me whispering something to herself.

“What’s up?” I asked her casually whilst hanging my jacket on a rack.

She jumped up in the air, her brown curls bounced with her movements.  A pale blush appeared on her cheeks.  “Oh, nothing, I just dropped my wand.”  She stole a glance at me, “You’re back early,” she commented quickly changing the subject.

“The meeting got cancelled.  God knows why,” I said walking over to the enchanted broom and placing it back into the cupboard.

“Alright,” she still looked a little flustered.  “I’m just going to go and get changed.”

I physically had to stop myself from staring at her.  She looked amazing, why did she want to change?  My mind shamefully wondered as I looked at her.  No, I had to do something to make those thought leave; she was a friend, nothing more, no matter what I imagined.  Pouring a drink made my hands busy, but it didn’t stop the thoughts from tumbling out of my lips.

“You look amazing, I wouldn’t change you one bit.”  I could have hit myself, hard.  What was I thinking making a comment like that?  She didn’t like me and I didn’t like her.  Worrying that I had made a fool of myself, I couldn’t help but think that girls like Brie were never interested in people like me.  That was the fact I had to face - she was way out of my league.

“Thank you, you’re amazing,” she smiled at me.  “If you want, I’ll stay as I am.”

I wanted nothing more.

My father warned me once that the pretty girls were the dangerous ones, the women to stay away from.  I couldn’t imagine Brie being ugly on the inside, how she was possibly dangerous was beyond me, but things never turned out the way I wanted them too.  I might as well give up now.

“Yes, stay as you are,” I looked away breaking my eye contact.  “Are you ready to go?”

She nodded and went to her room to pick up her bag.  I watched her walk away, my eyes settling on her legs momentarily.  I tried to stomp the inappropriate thoughts out of my head with failure.  Don’t think of her like that, the words repeated in my mind, the feelings will never be returned.

I walked over to where Brie had been knelling and pulled out the ancient book from underneath the chair.  Thank Merlin she hadn’t found it, she wouldn’t want to know me if she knew what monster I was.

The note which Dumbledore had given me, entailing a concoction known as Wolfsbane Potion, was just where I left it, bookmarking the werewolf chapter.

I couldn’t make the potion.  One wrong move whilst brewing it could end me up in a grave.  For now, I would suffer in silence, just like I have from being a child.

I shoved the whole book back under the chair, hiding so much from Brie, but it was for her own good.

“Ready?” I asked her when she reappeared.

“Ready,” she confirmed, holding out her hand. 

I looked at her for a moment, thinking how lucky I was to have been walking in Diagon Alley alone that day, and then to have been in the Shrieking Shack at that time.  It was like we were meant to meet.

Suddenly feeling nervous, like when James had set me up on a date back in school, I eagerly placed my hand into her warm one, liking the way the whole situation felt.  A spark of something hit me the moment we touched, but I ignored it.  It was probably nothing.