𝖙𝖜: 𝖘𝖒𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖉𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞 𝖆𝖈𝖙
𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖔𝖗 𝖌𝖔𝖇𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘
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MILA WAS STARING AT HERSELF IN THE MIRROR, hastily brushing threw her hair, "Hurry up M'!" Ruby whined. The whole group, Ruby, Serenity, Maisie, and Ida, were waiting outside of the dorm room door. "Give me a second please!" Mila yelled, taking a quick rubber band tying her hair up into a low pony tail, letting her light bangs hang out on her face. She put down her brush, speeding into the room quickly grabbing her bag and red and gold scarf.
"I don't see why we need to leave this early," Mila said, the lot of them headed down stairs into the Gryffindor common room, "It's so we can get the bigger carriages, and so we don't have to walk all to way to Hogsmeade by foot!" Serenity explained, "My mum just sent in these shoes and they're not going to be ruined by slowly melting snow."
Of course, it was the first trip to Hogsmeade for the month of February. Usually Mila would've ditched it with Ida, but Iddy had seemed to want to go to this trip for today. Mila was questioning whether staying, she did want to get as far ahead as she could for O.W.L.s preparation, even thought it was only a few months away, but the weeks seemed to fly by so fast, you would've thought they were riding the latest, most popular broom model up to date. So instead she decided to take a slow day to hang out with her friends, just so the exams couldn't creep up on her.
Her and Ida walked behind the three girls just slightly, in silence, they loved just being able to walk while they drowned out whatever silly conversation was going on. As the girls walked out on the courtyards they could spot already long lines waiting for carriages as Professor McGonagall tried keep everyone together in an orderly fashion. The girls stood in line, Maisie complained that it was somehow Mila's fault for the amount of kids waiting to go down to the town. "Hey Serenity, what do you think of Peter Williams?" Ruby asked staring off at a guy in the distances, joking around with others. His hair was a dark brown, his eyes a rust. Serenity looked at him skeptically, "Well he's a year ahead of us, 6th year, doubt he'd notice you. He's not all that either, more on the goody two shoes side, heard he's nice though, just don't know why you'd be into him when there's people like Sirius Black," Ruby groaned beside her, "Will you shut up about your million thousand year crush, and listen to what I say, it would mean a lot," Serenity was thrown aback by her spite, "I was just saying what the student body says, you take things too literally."
Serenity's attention got taken away by the three boys throwing snow around at each other, making them a damp mess. Serenity pointed at the long raven haired boy, "You guys can't tell me he's not attractive," Ida must've been feeling brave to pipe up into the conversation, "Well I think we're just annoyed because you've based a 3 year long crush on looks of some guy you've talked to 3 times. How do we know if he even knows your name?" Serenity glared at her while Mila was just trying not to burst out giggling.
They finally reached the end of the line as Professor McGonagall rushed the girls inside a carriage, Mila took a quick sweep of the crowd before she found a pair of eyes looking at her, they attached to a head of messy brown hair as the boy was seated on a bench, a book set on his lap. Remus smiled to her quickly, she returned to the smile as he went back to his book and she went back behind shoved into the compartment.
Serenity had decided to ignore Ida for the rest of the trip, naturally the two bestfriends dethatched themselves from the group wandering off. Of course, since the mostly social aspect point of this trip was now taken away, they girls decided to hit up the Three Broomsticks, grabbing a quick eat as they left towards Honey Dukes. Ida walked with a small take to go sandwich in her hands, her gloves pulled off even though her hands her freezing. Mila walked beside her, hands in her jeans. She decided to go light on the clothing, jeans and a plain gray long sleeve, she wanted to feel the cold touch of the last fall of snow. For the rest of the next two months it would still be chilly, but it would soon be spring until everyone would be stressed studying, she wanted to enjoy the winter air.
They finally opened the door to the sweet shop, they heard the trigger of the bell ring over their heads. The shop was mostly filled with 3rd and 4th years, yearning to heal their sweet tooth, which is what the two girls were also there for.
Mila strided along side her friend to a shelf as Ida bent down looking for the best box of 'Bertie Botts every flavor beans' she watched as Iddy's coyly hair fell around her face, lining her fingers along the colored cardboard before pulling on out, presenting it to Mila, "Ta-da!" Ida said proudly.
"Iddy you know I hate those beans," Mila sighed. "I know, I know, but you only hate them because you always decide to grab the worst flavors, I only have enough money for these so we're getting them!" she announced, Mila knew she couldn't change her mind on settling for something simpler and less expensive, but she knew she wouldn't budge.
They got to the counter, the man behind it eyed them carefully. "Why hello ladies, what would you like today?" he asked slyly, Mila couldn't help but feel a bit off about him. "We'd like to purchase these please!" Ida requested, oblivious to how the man was now eyeing them, he seemed to be no more than in his early 20s. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he struggled to scan the item as his eyes wandered to her chest when she realized she was only wearing one layer. She crossed her arms and adjusted her scarf, guarding herself as she whispered to Ida, "You sure you want those?" Ida scoffed as she dug threw her many pockets looking for the sickles she brought along, "You're so difficult, yes I'm sure," Mila pursed her lips, "I'm gonna go wait outside."
"But it's cold out there."
"I know, I'm just gonna be out there."
Ida brushed it off as Mila walked outside weirded out, she watch threw the window as he now brought his attention onto Ida, disgusted she turned away feeling guilty, she should've stayed inside so he wouldn't feast on her best friend instead. She should've stayed to protect her.
It took a minute before Ida came out the door, "Sorry," she breathed, "I got pulled into chit chat, still don't know why you forgot your coat." Mila shrugged and nodded before the two silently agreed to head back up into the castle.
They entered into the foyer of the the common room. Ida slipped off her gloves and coat, finally happy to be free, they stood in the small hallway before Ida asked, "So what do you want to do?" Mila shrugged, arms still crossed, Ida slowly nodded, "I'm going to go down to the kitchens, later maybe I can dig out my gobstones set!" Mila smiled before making her way to the table in the corner of the room, it was the only free space, other than that students were sitting by the fire, or on the side of the room. She knew Ida was only going by the kitchens so she could maybe get a chance to see Daphne. She must've seen her as the minute ticked by, Mila had been reading a book someone has left on the table, it was a supposed best seller released almost a decade ago. It discussed many magical creatures, some she'd never even heard of, she had become immersed into the book before she realized that the voice of Sirius Black, quickly and repetitively screeching "Moony the second!" was meant towards her. She snapped her head up and around seeing Sirius bent over the head of the couch smiling annoyingly while Remus sat hunched over head in his palms, James and Peter sat there unsure of what they was to do.
"Can you shut up?" she demanded, "And stop saying 'Moony the second' I don't even know who the hell that is," Sirius began waving his finger around, "Ah see but you do!" Sirius was grappled back by Remus tugging on the back of his shirt, pulling him back down to sit down on the couch. He turned over to her, "Sorry," he said before Sirius began talking again, "Ms. Mysterious, you need to calm down!" he pouted, "I'm not even doing anything to you." "You're a bad, bad girl lassie!"
Mila snorted, "Lassie? You're the bad one."
"You're the one reading a stolen book."
"Do you even know who it belongs to hm?"
"No-"
"Then It's my book now."
"It's been there for a week, it is public domain to every Gryffindor person who passes through here!"
Mila just rolled her eyes before turning back, Sirius jumped out of his seat, he had found it very amusing to mess with her. He walked over to her, snatching the book, "Hey!" Mila barked, but Sirius had made a small pause after seeing a page she was opened to, he switched his eyes from her, to Remus to the page twice before continuing to be playful brushing it off. The page was quickly speaking over quick facts on werewolves, saying that much couldn't be said about the species as they were of course a sort of mutation in human, and all were different with the power of the wolf.
Of course since Sirius wasn't as tall as his other friend she was able to at least grip the book, trying to pry it away from his hands, "Give me the book Black!" "No!" he grinned, she scrunched of her nose, "I will literally fucking-" "Language lassie!" he watched as Mila grunted giving up, "What are you a grandpa?" she got hurt a little bit as Sirius shut the booking, cursing herself that she didn't have anything to mark the page with, "No but Moony surely dresses like one."
"See that's just mean padfoot!" Peter piped, "Just give her the book" Remus sighed. Sirius had plopped himself on the ground next to James, "You two are rude, ditching me for her! You can't defend her when I am clearly right!" he claimed, "Right about what?" Mila scoffed, everyone looked towards Sirius, curious on what his answer would be, instead he squinted at her flipping her off realizing he was defeated. The groups finally went back to their own things as Mila sat her head on the table, watching her wristwatch waiting for Ida. She watched the tiny red hand ticking around in circles over and over again. She began picking away at the skin around her nails, years ago she decided she'd stop biting her nails, so they could grow and be pretty like other girls' hands, so instead she cracked her knuckles regularly almost every second, but since the crack would go out she would resort to picking at her skin. She watched as it flaked off, tearing away at it with her nails, or biting it away.
More minutes passed, Daphne must've held her up. She tried to be to sad about it, she was happy that Ida was able to spend time with Daphne, it was cute. She should be supportive, after all Ida called her her wing-woman. She started getting restless of waiting, she should've been back by now right, it'd been almost an hour. She accidently pulled a piece of skin around her thumb a little to far back, a small droplet of blood sat there, she winced at the sting before pressing up against the side, letting the droplet become bigger, spreading around the nail. She wiped her thumb off within her palm before a book got placed before her. She looked up to see Remus sitting beside her, "You seemed to want it back," he uttered, a small smile on his lips, "Thanks," Mila mumbled.
"Sorry about Sirius, he can sometimes be a bit of a git sometimes," Mila let out a quiet breathy laugh, "Yeah I noticed."
"So, what's the reason that you've been sitting here for the past hour picking around at your hand?" he asked, "That's a bit stalker-ish," Mila commented, Remus' cheeks had the smallest hue of pink come of them, before he motioned his head pressing on his question, she sighed, "I was waiting for Iddy- my best friend, she said she'd be right back, think she forgot about me and got caught up in something, I'm just waiting that's all," she confessed.
Remus sat there looking at the girl next to him, "She's an idiot," he blurted, she looked at him with a questioning glance, "I just mean, well I'd prefer your company over them anytime," he pointed, Mila looked over to the rest of the Marauders tackling each other on the carpet, "Thanks," she repeated again, smiling at him, she knew he was lying, but she appreciated the effort for comfort. He got out of his seat, "I'll be right back," he turned around to face her again, remembering of her current situation, "I promise," he confirmed before speeding of the steps towards the dorm.
It took a minute before he came back downstairs, a box like thing in his hands, he set it down on the table, on top of it was two flaps, he opened them out, it was a chess board. "You know how to play?" he asked, Mila tilted her head to side, "Mm, a little bit," "A little bit will do," With a wave of his wand the board set itself up, he flipped it around so that the whites would be Mila's. "You can go first." She looked at the board contemplating which pawn to move, "D2 pawn to D3" she spoke, the piece gliding across the board, making it's way to it's spot, the game had begun.
Ida had slipped into the common room, as she entered a wave of guilt came over here, she had left her bestfriend for two hours to hang out with Daphne. Stealthily she went down the small hallway, she scanned the room noticed three boys by the fire huddled around, she guessed the group was just planning their next prank, she looked to the other side of the room, where a group of young 2nd year girls sat giggling talking about the Marauders, ogling their eyes at them. As she looked to one of the corners of the room she found a fairly odd sight. Mila sat huddled with Remus Lupin in what seemed a fun yet intense game of Wizarding chess.
She marveled at the sight, it was completely weird. Mila would never hang out with one of them. They seemed to had grown a friendship in the 2 hours, or they just took pity on her because of her own actions, what ever it was Ida surely did not want to disturb it. She tried her best to sneak past them to their dorm, but Mila had noticed, "Iddy! There you are, I've been waiting forever!" She looked over to her, her giant smile full of relief, "I'm so sorry, I got caught up with something," she blushed, "and you two seemed to be doing something so I didn't want to interrupt," Mila got out of her seat, "It's fine we were just about to start another game so you didn't ruin anything, Lupin was just keeping my company while I waited!" Mila grabbed the book she was reading earlier, now claiming it as her own, putting it into her bag, "We can play gobstones now, you still want to do that right?"Ida asked, Mila took Iddy's hand dragging her upstairs as Ida quirked her eyebrows taking one last look at Remus.
As they came into the dorm they headed to the shared closet that was the groups acclaimed, "Space of Rubbish," they'd throw anything in there, it was a giant mess. Ida slid open the door, trying to pick up things and move them out of the way, "Since when were you friends with Remus Lupin?" Ida asked grunting as she moved a crate packed with things inside of it out of the closet, "I don't know," Mila shrugged, "I guess technically a few days ago," Ida was digging out things from the crate before she found a beautiful red dress, "Ooo this is pretty!" she held it up to Mila, flaunting it off, "Oh yeah, Ma gave that to me earlier this year, one of her old ones, I'm not one for those style of dress so I just put it away," Ida 'hm'ed before throwing it aside going through more boxes, clothes, and trinkets, "Wait so how'd you become friends?"
Mila was about to say the real truth, but she didn't want to find a decent way to say she dragged him into a bathroom to clean up the giant cut on his face and then got into a water fight, because that would only lead to teasing, and a weird remark she didn't want to hear.
"Things, stuff, then he asked to be friends so I said sure," Mila shrugged.
Ida finally got out the bag of gobstones and the piece of folded cardboard with concentric circles inside.
"Alright let's play!"
"I'm going to have you drenched in stinky gobstone juice!"
"Last time, I remember, you were the one squirted in the eye with it," Iddy smirked.
"And that is why we haven't played it in a year! C'mon," Mila grabbed the cardboard opening it up setting it on the large rug as Ida dumped the marbles onto the floor as well.
A/N may, 2022
I don't really know how to feel about the past and next few chapters, they might seem like they're just there to move the story along. And I'm going to be honest, they kind of are. yeah.
That's it, ok. bye <3
A/N, december, 2022
The next few chapters are indeed to move the story along, but I still think this and the last chapter are vry cute.
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