CHAPTER SIXTEEN
making amends part one
CLASSES WENT BY quickly as Betty anticipated her first Chanukah without her mother. After James got in a fight with Kellan, she'd kept her distance from both boys — opting to stick with her friends and rarely going off on her own should her luck come into play and she bump into one or, Merlin forbid, both of them. The snow started to fall onto Hogwarts castle — coating the towers and halls with the only indicator of the best part of the year and driving students to play in the bitter cold that could only be melted by their warm laughter and the occasional Butterbeer that was dropped to the ground.
Betty held her Hufflepuff robes and scarf close to her body as she walked with Cece down to the library to study for an exam. She had been excused from classes for a few days, but still had to make up the work and that was proving to be a mighty task, so she enlisted the help of the brightest people she knew.
"Thank you all for coming," Betty said as she sat down at the table, facing Lily Evans's red hair as Cece took the seat next to Betty. All of them brought out their books and settled at the table. "As promised, I'll buy both of you Butterbeer during our new year trip to Hogsmeade and Lily, thank you because I'm sure Rem — "
" — he has his friends, he's fine," Lily interrupted with a kind smile as she shifted some books around. "In a large shock, I found out that James is actually brilliant and so is Sirius and of course Peter has his specialties."
"Right," Betty mumbled as she stared at the list of tasks that she had to do. "Shall we start with Charms?"
After thoroughly completing all of her work, Betty was in a jolly mood as she almost ran down the corridor in anticipation. All three of her friends were waiting, per request, in front of the entrance to seventh floor left corridor. Practically falling out of her bag were baked goods of all sorts, the blueberry muffins proved to be the most prone to falling at that particular moment.
"Betty, what's going on?" Aisling asked as she looked, confused, at the red cheeked and huffing and puffing girl.
"I ... hold on, let me catch my breath," she whispered as she bent over and wheezed. "You'd think that I'd be used to this because of my brother, but dear Merlin, no. Anyway, I wanted to apologize for acting like a right prick to all of you while I was dating him and ignoring all of you. I was being a dick and I'm really sorry and I wanted to make it up to all of you."
"I mean you were a dick, but you just — " Aisling cooed with a kind smile.
" — apology accepted, what did you bake?" Cece asked with wide eyes as she stared hungrily at the Hufflepuff's overflowing bag. Betty's bright smile showed as mischief laced her eyes. She pulled out samples of blueberry muffins, chocolate chip cookies, mini victoria sponges and jammy dodgers. "You fucking bitch, you didn't."
"I really am sorry," Betty replied with mischievous turned guilty eyes as she looked up at the girls. "But that's not the whole surprise."
"Oh?" Philippa asked as she raised an eyebrow and smiled as she took a muffin. Betty beckoned for them to follow her as she walked down the corridor.
"My brother told me about this place not too long ago," Betty said as she dreamily looked along the walls in search of a magical entrance. "It's called the come and go room and fits to the need of the user."
"So, say, you desperately needed the loo ... " Cece suggested as a sheepish smile adorned her face.
"Not the best example, but, essentially, yes," Betty replied with a short laugh as she walked back and forth in front of the wall several times, thoroughly confusing her friends. That was, until a door appeared on the wall.
"Holy Merlin that wasn't there before," Philippa gasped as she backed up a little bit, shock ridden on her face.
"Did you make that appear?" Aisling asked as she walked forward and touched the door, trying to see if it was actually a door and not an illusion. Betty nodded in response as Aisling's eyes widened. "That's wicked."
"Come on!" Betty giggled as she opened the door and they were met with a grand fireplace and a pile of large pillows in the floor.
The girls all giggled as they ran into the come and go room and flopped onto the pillows. Sighing in content as they sank into the satin covered clouds, they felt like kings. Betty slowly brought out all of the results of her baking escapades and they ravaged them almost immediately. Full of muffins and cookies, gossip started to spill from each of their lips.
It was menial, in substance — torrid affairs between Ravenclaws and forbid Gryffindor-Slytherin romances, however, in that one, sublime moment, they were the judges of value and they deemed such news worthy. So, in the grand tradition of Hogwarts students, they gabbed about everything and anything — completely forgetting their past quarrels in the details of finding two people who weren't supposed to be together in a broom cupboard.
And, as they lay in their array of satin and velvet pillows — school ties and robes discarded for the more basic elements of their everyday wear, they grew closer and closer to each other until they were on top of each other — Cece braiding Aisling's hair and Betty nearly falling asleep in Philippa and Aisling's laps.
So, with heavy eyes and light hearts, they accepted an apology and showed mercy. Such a word that wasn't being passed around in a world like theirs where darkness outran the setting sun and cries were no longer of joy. Mercy. Such a foreign concept to people who believed in such a concept as purity. Mercy. The giggles in spring air and freshly baked strawberry cakes — something so completely alive that you must feel as if some mystical being sent it on a cloud from the oh so distant heavens, shrouded in sunlight and first loves.
So, in their mercy, Aisling, Cece, Philippa and Betty found themselves in those exact positions the next morning. Laying, slumbering and vulnerable to the world in wrinkled school skirts and falling braids, but with the same trust in the people they chose. The people that knocked on train compartment doors and asked to sit with them for they had nowhere else to go and the people that brought blueberry muffins with a few extra blueberries on top because that's how their people like them. Because, quite surely, this must be what family is.
"Philippa!" Betty whispered quite forcefully as she shook her awake. "Ashe! Cece! Come on! We're going to miss first period! We overslept!"
"Five more minutes," Aisling grumbled as she turned back over and buried herself into Philippa's sweater. "It's so warm in here."
"Ashe, come one," Philippa said at normal volume, shocking everyone who were used to quiet voices and crackling fires. She extended a hand towards Aisling's curled up body, but was slowly growing impatient. "Peter's waiting."
"Peter can wait," Aisling grumbled as she turned over and shielded her eyes from the daylight streaming in from newly formed windows. "He doesn't need to see me every minute of every day. Poor lad might grow faint if he was exposed to this much class."
Cece muffled her laughter in the pillows as she face planted, sending Philippa and Betty into spirals of laughter. This, however, caused Aisling to sit up, hair flying and drool dried on the side of her mouth with a fowl expression. However, she couldn't maintain the expression for long as she joined the three girls in giggles of her own.
After taking a few breaths to calm herself and then randomly having little spurts of extra giggles, Betty straightened herself, took out her wand and tapped her head, making her uniform and hair neat — making a prefect ready for the day. She then pointed her wand at each of her friends and they sighed in pleasure as they felt their clothes becoming clean and their hair being brushed or oiled or tied into a ponytail.
"Looking okay?" Philippa asked as she stood out and smoothed her skirt.
"Right as rain," Betty replied with a cheeky smile as she gathered up her spilled books and headed over to the door.
"Wait!" Aisling cried out, making Betty stop walking. "Will the door close up once you leave?"
"Don't know," Betty replied with a wicked grin as she inched towards the familiar door. "I guess we'll have to find out!"
"Don't fucking move," Cece growled as she got up and gathered her books as well. "I rather don't fancy being stuck in here. I have a Potions exam."
"Bollocks that's right!" Philippa exclaimed as she frantically searched through her books. "I completely forgot to study!"
"I'll give you the answers," Cece said with a smile as she placed a hand on Philippa's shoulder. "Slughorn'll just be staring at Black the whole time to even notice that we're even there."
"That's a fair point," Philippa conceded with a sigh and a nod.
"Let's go," Betty announced as she held open the door for the waiting girls. "We have class to go to."
"Breakfast first," Aisling groaned as she shoved past Betty and trudged towards the Great Hall that would have been nearing the end of breakfast time for the students that hadn't slept in the come and go room.
All of them yawned profusely as they walked lazily towards the Great Hall in search of breakfast. Occasionally, one would crack a joke about something mildly funny about the previous night, but in their weary states, they would laugh along anyway.
The hall was buzzing with its normal chatter as they entered and no one seemed to notice when they all entered, but perhaps that was to be expected. None of them were particularly remarkable in any way like James Potter or Regulus Black, but perhaps its best they weren't because they might have lost themselves and that would be a very sorry thing indeed.
They all sat, house colors blazing on their chests, together at the Hufflepuff table — not daring to go near the Slytherin green nor wanting to go to the Gryffindors, so settling for a happy medium and immediately piled sausages and eggs onto their plates.
Gentle hums of satisfaction filled the air as sauces were passed and the gossip that they had spilled like their morning tea the night before was being seen in real time. Couples breaking up and people sneaking off. And endless cycle of teenage daydreams, stuck behind castle walls — never to move beyond them.
"Here, let me help you study so that Cece doesn't have to break too many rules," Betty offered as she took out her own Potions books and scooted closer to Philippa. Cece and Aisling exchanged looks as she did so, hesitant smiles on both of their faces — willing themselves not to jinx her return. "You see, you'd need the rose petals rather than rose thorns because they last longer — thorns only created small, yet powerful reactions. And it's not particularly sensible to have those — large reactions or burning fast and bright. It's foolish, really."
"Strangely philosophical turn, don't you think?" Philippa teased as they both grinned.
"Well, I suppose I could say we are all fools in love," Betty recited as she looked up, her eyes however, looked straight forward and she met the wandering gaze of James Potter, however, they both looked away just as quickly.
notes on long story short
it's literally three in the morning and i'm trying to be philosophical, but i feel like it's going to fail. forgive me. this sucks.