My love,
I miss you and hope you are well. The job has been just fine. You and Regulus were right about Miss McCrea, she has been nothing but sweet. I look forward everyday to seeing you again. Love you.
Love,
Dad
"When you aren't doing homework I swear you're either pining over some letter or writing one." There was a pause before a sudden squeal, "oh it is from a boy! Tell me it's from a boy!" Abigail said.
"Uh no. No it's not." I said with eyebrows raised and you could hear the smile of amusement in my voice.
"Oh come on, you have to tell us about him! Doesn't she Edith?" Abigail said.
"I mean if she doesn't want to," Edith said.
Edith Taylor was the most passive of all the girls in our dormitory. She often kept to herself and while she would speak her mind she would speak it with caution, not wanting to be disagreeable. Abigail on the other hand was an open book and the least quiet person you could know. She always wanted to know anything about everything and was the person people went to for gossip and information. Information on who's broken up and who's single, who to be friends with and who to avoid. Things like that.
"Of course she wants to!" Abigail cut her off. Edith didn't mind for she just returned to her book.
"If you must really know," I said, building suspense for the girl. " the letter is from my dad."
"Remus Lupin?"
"Uh, yeah." I said, a little thrown off by her calling him by his first name. There was a moment of silence between the three of us before Abigail spoke up again.
"Your dad is really hot you know."
"Oh my god, oh my god." I stood up from my bed and begin pacing, "I can't believe you actually said that!"
"It's true, practically every girl has thought it."
"I think I'm going to be sick." I took the letter and the book on my nightstand and ran out of the room before I could hear anymore.
Having only one class today and very little homework I decided to put it off for the weekend. Days of leisure were few so I make the most of them when I can. Today I could be found inside the library sitting among the books while reading one. For my birthday dad sent me the second Percy Jackson which I have partly read through.
"Mind if I sit?" I looked up to see the same curly hair boy from weeks before.
"Yeah, sure."
"Every time I see you your nose is in some book, you are doing homework or reading letters." Derek said.
"Every time you see me? I haven't seen you since dance practice with McGonagall."
"That's exactly my point. It's because your head is always looking down." He laughed.
"Well some of us have better things to do than to be stalking people."
"Me? A stalker?" He scoffed. "I do not stalk, I only observe. And if my observations are correct, you find more friends in stories and find pleasure in words. Am I right?"
"Well you aren't wrong," I laughed. "But still, I would call you a stalker."
"You can say what you want. But I have one more thing I want to say, well, more like ask."
"Hi." Wes came up and took a seat on the floor beside me.
"Oh hi. Wes, this is Derek Filey, Derek, this is Wes Gotcher."
"You can call me Wesley."
"Hi Wesley," Derek said kindly. "The two of us met in dance practice. Your friend here is quite the dancer I must say."
"Oh please." You are just lucky I didn't step on your shoes." I laughed.
"Shhhh." Madam Pince's head snapped around a corner.
"Well I should probably go." Derek said as he got up from his seat.
"Wait, there was something you were going to ask?"
Derek looked up at Wes for a moment before looking back to me. "It can wait for another time." He said with a small smile and he left.
"Hi." Wes said.
"Hi."
"Is that from your dad?" He asked, pointing his chin toward the paper folded beside me. "Yeah, he was talking about how good his work is going. Sounds like he is really liking it."
"That's good his job is going well. Will you be going home for holiday?"
"Oh no, I already signed that I'll be staying. With the Yule Ball and tournament I didn't want to leave. Will you be staying?"
"Yep, I signed to stay too."
___
Walking through the empty corridors I have no a worry of being seen thanks to the cloak Harry let me borrow again. I climb up winding stairs until I reach the top of the astronomy tower. The moon is full and risen high in the sky, the light from it dimming the light from twinkling stars. I slip off the cloak, putting it into a bundle I set it aside. "Hi."
"Hi."
I look over and in Derek's hand is a cigarette. I'm sure there is a reason for his smoking and figure if he wanted to talk about it then he would, it's not my place to push.
"Bit cold huh?" I said as I casted a warning spell on my coat.
"Mm." Derek said as he put out his cigarette and reached in his pocket for another.
"You wanted to talk?" I asked. He pulled his hand out from his pocket, leaving the cigarette inside.
"Yeah, I um. Well the Yule Ball is coming up and I haven't got a date, I was wondering if you haven't got one either if you'd like me to take you?"
"I like you to take me?" I questioned.
"I mean- I want to take you." He sighed, "Hailey, will you go to the yule ball with me?"
I didn't have to think about it long before I knew my answer. "Yes." I smiled. A sense of relief could be seen on his face and he let out a breath he appeared to be holding.
"Looks like someone had a good night."
Sitting in front of the fireplace is Harry with a book, ink and parchment sprawled out in front of him.
"Thanks for letting me borrow this," I said as I handed him his cloak. "You are really lucky to have it."
"Yeah, Dumbledore gave it to me as a gift from my dad. It used to be his."
"That's cool you have something of his."
"Yeah it is. Well what did you need it for anyway?"
"I went to meet a friend. He asked me to the Yule Ball."
"You are sure lucky. It's been near impossible for me to get a date."
"Oh it can't be that difficult. You can ask anyone and I'm sure they'd say yes. And there must be someone you are thinking of."
"Well yeah, there are a few."
"And have you tried to ask them out?"
"Um, no."
"And there's your problem! You better hurry before everyone is gone."
"I know, I know," Harry agreed. "I'll try tomorrow alright?"
"You don't have to do it for me, I'm not the one without a date," I stood up from the couch, "I'm heading to bed, good luck tomorrow. Night."
"Night."
___
Dad,
The Yule Ball is in two weeks and Professor McGonagall said it's going to be formal. Girls are getting their dresses and I realized I have nothing to wear.
Oh, and Ron Weasley was sent a set a dress robes from his mum and I feel sorry he has to wear them. They are embarrassing to even look at.
Love,
Hailey
Hailey,
I will see about sending you a dress but I don't
want you to get your hopes up that it will be as extravagant as the others you see. The time there is to find one is short. I will try. I love you.
That's unfortunate for Ron but I'm sure people will soon forget about them. Tell him to keep his chin up.
Love,
Dad
I folded the letter back into its envelope before filling my bowl with porridge and topping it with sugar and milk. Owls flew in and out of the great hall, dropping letters and packages at every table. Everyday more girls received new dresses and boys robes or suits.
"Hi." Wes said as he took a seat across from me. He always sat in his place at Hufflepuff unless he wanted to talk.
"Morning."
"Is that from your dad?" He motioned his head toward the envelope beside me.
"Yeah, he was telling me he's going to look for a dress for the ball."
"Oh that's nice. Actually, since you mentioned the ball I was going to-"
"Oi, Lupin." I turned to Fred and George who were sitting a little ways down gryffindor table.
"Watch." Fred said in a whisper as he leaned in between Wes and I.
My eyes moved toward the head table where Professor Snape had just taken his seat. He picked up a pot of tea and filled up his cup he added some cream before giving it a stir, he lifted the cup and before he could finish taking a sip it bit him on his large nose. No other students seemed to take notice beside the four of us but the commotion coming from the Professor caught the attention of the Headmaster and other Professors, some of which quickly turned their heads toward the twins causing them to duck down behind us.
"They really do try to get themselves detention don't they?" Wes asked. I nodded my head as I tried to conceal my laughter, for the last thing I want is to get accused of being apart of their prank. "Anyway, Hailey I was going to ask you something."
"What is it?" I gave Wes my full attention which seemed to make him nervous.
"Well, I um. I wanted to ask if you- well, if you'd want to go to the Yule Ball with me? As my date."
"Wes that's so sweet but Derek already asked me and I told him I would go."
"Oh, oh that's fine."
"I'm really sorry,"
"No don't be. I knew I probably waited to long to ask anyway. Hope you have a good time." Wes got up from the bench and walked out of the hall.
The twins were approached by Professor McGonagall to receive their punishment. "We got a week of detentions with Grubbly-Plank." George said, "it could have been worse."
"She'll probably have us looking for fairy eggs." Fred said. "Well Georgie we better study for our O.W.L.s or else mum will have our heads."
"No your heads to important. She'd probably go for an ear." Fred said jokingly.
"Either way we can't have her hearing all we got was detentions and bad grades. She'd have us sleep outside next holiday."
"See you around!" The two boys waved off toward the entrance of the hall.
___
A/N
It's not a Harry Potter fanfic without the meeting on the astronomy tower lmao
Also this is how I imagined Wes looks like,, minus the sweater. He wears t-shirts and flannels
Word count: 1845