Mischief - Book Two of the RP Saga

22. January 1st

The sun shone through the curtains, birds tweeted and in the very distance the rustle of trees could be heard too. It was the first proper morning of January 1st 1995. Rachel lay in bed, a pillow over her face and regretted staying up so late while sipping drinks with her favourite Irish smuggler.

It was New Years, Rachel had an excuse to have a few drinks with her friends. However, a few turned into 10 glasses of Firewhiskey that Seamus had left over from Christmas; and that stuff was strong. From underneath her pillow, she pried an eye open and could see the bodies of the girls still in their beds. With a groan, she got herself out of bed and padded over to the bathroom.

With a grimace, Rachel stared at her face in the mirror, noticing the slight bags under her eyes. The few days after the Yule Ball had not been very interesting to say the least. Rachel avoided Malfoy's gaze as she roamed the halls, she couldn't ever be with a Malfoy, not ever. Not her brother's enemy! It was pretty sad for her though, she often reminisced all the good times she had once shared with Malfoy during her third year. Secretly being friends just for the laughs and often surprised each other with all they had in common. 

But of course times change and he became arrogant over the summer and barely said a nice thing to her, excluding Christmas night. 

Fresh air was what she needed. Right now that's all she wanted to do; escape outside into the cold, morning air and witness the first day of 1995. Perhaps get rid of her continuous aggravating thoughts. So, quickly, Rachel tied her hair up, threw on a pair of sweatpants and sweater before heading outside, leaving her shoelaces untied.

The previous nights memories flooded her mind and made her laugh a little as she walked past the sleeping portraits. As she walked down the seventh floor stairs, she found herself chatting to Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost.

"Ah! Good morning, Miss Potter." He nodded politely, his head slipping.

"Morning, Sir Nicholas." She smiled, knowing he hated being called Nearly Headless Nick.

"And where are you off to at this hour?" The ghost said, turning to glide down more staircases.

"Decided I'd go for a walk outside." Rachel explained. "Fresh air might do me good!"

At this point, Sir Nicholas waved her off with a warning to be careful of her untied laces. She pulled a face but continued to walk until she was truly out of the castle. In fact, she didn't stop walking until she had reached the Black Lake. Here, she sat on the overturned log that everyone sat on and tied her shoelaces quickly.

But as she sat up, she could have sworn she saw the tentacle of the squid that lived in the murky waters. It often crossed Rachel's mind to how a squid had found its way into the Black Lake, she assumed Hagrid was to blame. He did love creatures of all sorts. By now Rachel realised she would go for a jog, just around the lake and back in time for a shower before breakfast.

So, silently, she took off. Her feet touching the ground lightly and her panting steady. It didn't take her long to run around the lake, an impressive 2527 metres around the lake in total, however, by now she was panting heavier. Of course, she did it again. Admiring the scenery as she passed and it was only until she was only 1000 metres away from where she had started running, did she start to feel tired. 

When she got back, she was in shock to say the least to see Cedric stood there admiring the view and noticing her run in, panting.

"Cedric?" She breathed heavily, stopping and leaning over slightly whilst trying to catch her breath back.

"Were you running?" He said, surprised. 

In all fairness, Rachel hadn't really seen anyone since the Yule Ball. She stayed in the common room or sometimes went to the library, but that was mainly it. She prefered the company of Harry, Ron and Hermione to anyone else. Even Cedric.

"Just around the lake." She said with a wave, standing up and stretching her legs.

"Really?" Cedric gasped. "That's a mile isn't it?"

"1.6" She nodded. "What brings you out here?"

"Bit of a headache." He frowned but let out a small laugh. "Did you have fun last night?"

It was Rachel's time to laugh now. "I never knew how good of an alcoholic drink smuggler my friend was."

Cedric explained he had been out long enough and volunteered to accompany her back to the castle. It was like a mini hell for Rachel, she felt so guilty for leaving Cedric at the ball to then be sweet talked by Fred and kissed by Draco. Not too mention avoiding him for the past 6 days, purposely. No matter, she smiled a little and walked with him.

"I haven't seen you around much." Cedric said looking at his feet, as if reading her mind.

"Oh, I've had a lot of homework." Rachel lied. "It's taken up most of my time."

"I do suppose you need to get it done, it's 5 days until school." Cedric smirked a little.

Rachel half laughed and continued walking until they were inside and ready to seperate ways, Gryffindor's upstairs and Hufflepuff downstairs to the basement. 

"I'll see you at some point, right?" Cedric smiled but when noticing Rachel's face falter for a second, he stopped. "Once you've done your homework of course."

She nodded and mumbled goodbye, with a fairly cheerful wave before darting upstairs as fast as she could. 

Now, more and more paintings were awake; whether that be due to the time or her loud feet pounding on the floor. But now the common room was in sight and she skidded to a halt ready to speak the password.

"My, what on earth have you been doing?" The Fat Lady exclaimed.

"Running?" Rachel pulled a face.

"No need to be rude." The Fat Lady turned up her nose.

"I'm sorry." Rachel sighed, moodily. "Balderdash."

The portrait swung open and Rachel slipped inside, saying sorry once more even though the Fat Lady seemed to ignore her. More and more people were up now, many older students sitting groggily looking at remedy spell books which made Rachel giggle to herself. 

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