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love is in the air
Rory and Lara's little meltdown regarding Umbridge's detention the previous week caused them some trouble. Umbridge had commanded the two and Via to meet her in her office. Umbridge's office looked as if a pink tornado full of lacy covers, vases with dried flowers and a wall full of ornamental plates had invaded the room.
They sat down across from Umbridge who was stirring a spoon in her little tea cup. She didn't even look at them, she didn't acknowledge their presence. Via glanced at her older sisters who looked at her with equally confused expressions. Other than having DADA with Umbridge and Via's detention that one time, the sisters were not familiar with the woman.
"Ummm you asked us here," Lara said, clearing her throat in the process. "Did you have something you wanted to talk to us about?"
Umbridge picked up the small spoon and dropped it on the saute next to her tea. She lifted her gaze to meet the three blue eyed girls — she narrowed her eyes, observing each. People usually did that when meeting the March sisters. It was as if they were interesting.
The professor stayed quiet, not making a sound. She was silently judging the girls, wondering what to do with them. While Umbridge didn't look like Miss Moore, she surely had the same evil aura around her.
"Professor?" Asked Rory, trying to keep her patience under control but being stared at by Umbridge was not helping.
"The March sisters," started Umbridge, her voice high and loud. "I have heard so much about you."
None of the sisters said anything.
"Now of course I have met you in class and I must say, you all are smart young ladies. Even you, Via March," said Umbridge and glanced at Via, referring to the time when she had detention. "So I don't understand why you spend your time with people like Mr Potter and his friends. I can only assume that your little meltdown you had regarding my methods was their influence's fault."
Rory nearly scoffed — she couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was not a chance in hell that she would ever agree with Umbridge. Her dislike towards the professor had nothing to do with her friendship with Harry and the others.
"With all due respect, professor, I can't agree. There's nothing wrong with Potter or his friends," Rory said, keeping her emotions in check.
With her lips pressed into a thin line, Umbridge straightened her back. "Well, it is unfair of me to think you would understand. I'm sure girls like you accept any kind of friendship or relationship."
Via frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "What do you mean, girls like us?"
"You know, orphans. And Mr Potter is one too so naturally you feel drawn to him," Umbridge explained.
It took every fibre of their being not to explode — that's how outrageous Umbridge's accusations were. She had no right judging the sisters for their choices of friends nor could they understand why Umbridge even cared.
"Why do you care?" Lara asked, her blue eyes full of anger. "What does it matter to you with whom we spend our time?"
"As I said, you are smart girls. I would hate such potential to go to waste just because you spend time with the wrong kind of people. Spending time with Potter and his blood-traitor friend Mr Weasley. Don't even get me started on that muggle..."
Rory jumped up from her seat, slamming her hands against Umbridge's desk so that the cup of tea she had been so invested in earlier was now on the floor, shattered and broken.
"I would advise you to keep your mouth shut," warned Rory. "You don't tell me and my sisters what to do. You don't call us orphans and you do not, under any circumstances, insult our friends."
Now it was Umbridge who stood up but she wasn't half as intimidating as she had hoped herself to be — Rory towered her with her height and the anger in her was more than Umbridge had expected.
"You do not talk to me like that," said Umbridge, her chin slightly tilted up.
"Then you shouldn't tell us what to do," Lara said and stood up as well, Via following her lead. "We are done with people telling us what we should do."
That was the truth. Ever since the Tournament, the sisters had realised that they were not in control of their life. Sure, there wasn't anything they could do about their homelife or Miss Moore but they sure as hell can decide who are their friends.
"Detention. All three of you," Umbridge ordered.
"Bite me," muttered Rory and stormed out of the office, Lara and Via running after her within seconds.
When Rory told Hermione what had happened, Hermione had been appalled by Umbridge's behaviour. She knew Umbridge was a horrible woman but didn't expect her to go such lengths just to torment students. She also felt partially guilty — if it wasn't for her, Harry and Ron, then perhaps Umbridge would have left the March sisters alone but the sister assured it was no one's fault but Umbridge's.
The rest of the week moved on in a breeze. The sisters didn't end up in detention, thanks to McGonagall and her frightening gaze that even Umbridge's seemed to fear. Lara spent her free time helping Madam Pomfrey who was more than happy to offer Lara some work — Pomfrey knew how much Lara loved to work in healing, and also it was a great way to keep her mind from Cedric. Some days were easier and some harder for Lara. Being back at Hogwarts had made her miss Cedric more — it was Hogwarts where they had first met.
Rory and Hermione were walking towards Hogsmeade, hand in hand, enjoying their free weekend. They were going to have a little date-day before meeting up with their friends at the Hog's Head.
"Padfoot invited us to visit this Christmas," said Hermione.
It took a good second for Rory to remember who Padfoot was. She still wasn't used to Sirius' alternative choice of name — not that she was even used to knowing Sirius Black in the first place. It was still very odd and sometimes talking about Sirius made Rory and her sisters a little uneasy. He seemed like a nice man who truly cared about Harry but he was still nothing but a stranger to the March sisters.
"That's nice of him," admitted Rory.
She didn't mind spending time away from home during Christmas. Normally Rory and her sisters would try and spend as much time with Olive and her family as possible but this year it wasn't an option. Olive was going to spend Christmas abroad visiting her relatives.
"It's not like us March sisters have any holiday traditions, so why not," she grimaced — the very thought of not having to spend the entire holiday at Raffedy's was very compelling. Mr Bee had already organised a little getaway for the sisters and bought tickets for them to see The Nutcracker.
Miss Moore had not been appreciative of the sentiment and almost threatened to throw the tickets away when Effy had told her about them. However when Miss Moore realised she won't have to look after the March sisters for an extra day, she caved in and let Mr Bee give the girls the tickets.
"Any traditions?" Hermione asked, her voice hinting a sign of nervousness. She knew she didn't know everything about Rory's life — she was fine with it for now — so she often felt a little frightened to ask.
Rory shook her head but instead of looking sad, she was smiling softly. "I mean we always get something for each other. Something self-made usually. We get gifts from the organisation that holds up the home and from some other benefactors but it's not exactly festive."
"But sometimes we go to Olive's and that's a real celebration. They have all these fun traditions," she added when noticing how Hermione was looking at her. "It's fine, Mione. I don't need fancy things to be happy. I need good people, and that I have."
"I know you don't like pity," Hermione sighed, giving Rory's hand a gentle squish. "And I won't pity you but I'm just saying that you deserve much better than what this life has given you."
"That much I know," chuckled Rory and stopped walking.
Hermione stopped in the process too, her hand still holding Rory's. They turned to face each other, eyes locking and everything around them turned into haze. They knew there was wind and little drops of rain falling on them. They knew there was a lamp post right behind them but none of those things mattered.
"So I can tell Sirius you and your sisters will be there?" Hermione grimaced.
"I'm about to kiss you and you mention Sirius Black?" Rory rolled her eyes before pulling Hermione closer to her and finally closing their distance with her lips.
A low chuckle escaped Hermione's lips when they touched Rory's.
"You are an idiot," Hermione whispered against Rory's lips.
Rory pulled away a little so their noses touched. "But I'm your idiot."
"That you are," grinned Hermione before leaning back towards Rory.
Once they made it to Hogsmeade, the couple headed straight to the Hog's Head. The Hog's Head was nothing like the Three Broomsticks — it didn't radiate warmth or cleanliness. It was small, very dirty and covered in cobwebs. There was a point for having the meeting there for the Hog's Head Inn was not popular but dodgy and most people avoided the place. Rory and Hermione were immediately greeted by Rory's sisters, Finn Attway and then of course Harry and Ron.
Soon enough the place was full of Gryffindors and some Ravenclaws, all ready to hear what Harry had to say to them.
When Effy March was around eight years old, she and her little sisters formed a plan. They had just lost a great foster family to whatever reasons — they were never told why Matthew and Ann Rubie didn't keep fostering them — and the thought of returning back to Raffedy and to Miss Moore was too much to bear.
They were going to run away for good and never return. They would find a magical wardrobe that would bring them to Narnia or find pixie dust and fly to Neverland. The sisters had their heads in the clouds, not wanting to face the reality where Raffedy was going to be their best chance at surviving in life. They never ran away but met Marcus Bee soon after they were brought back to Raffedy.
Mr Bee was perhaps the best thing that could have ever happened to them. He was kind, caring and loved the girls like they were his nieces. He was the one they went to when things got too heated with Miss Moore. Mr Bee was proud to be part of the girls' life but sometimes felt a little useless for he was not able to take the March sisters from Miss Moore.
There was a legal dilemma as well as money issues.
"So, Mr Zabini. What is this meeting about?" Mr Bee observed Caleb Zabini who was sitting by the kitchen table.
When someone had knocked on his door five minutes ago, Mr Bee had expected anyone other than young Mr Zabini. There was no bad blood between the two men although Mr Bee thought it was rather interesting that after hearing Effy complain about Caleb Zabini for the better half of her school years, she had ended up together with him.
Caleb Zabini was a confident young man who could, from time to time, be very arrogant and even self-righteous. However the two latter qualities faded away when he began to see Effy March and is thankful for her influence every single day. He liked the man he was with Effy — he was kind and cared for others.
For a while now Caleb has known that Effy was going to be his forever someone. He knew his mother had a line of ladies just waiting for him but he didn't care for any of them. He only cared for Effy and her family. Effy's little sisters were important to him too and he hated how all four March sisters had to live at Raffedy's Home.
"Well, you see Mr Bee," Caleb started, clearing his throat a little. "Effy and I, we have been together for some time now and I know that she's my forever someone. That I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I can offer her great things and most importantly, I could take her away from Miss Moore."
Mr Bee stared at the young man, his eyes wide open and mouth slightly gaped. He knew Caleb loved Effy and perhaps even knew that they will spend the rest of their lives together but to actually hear it from Caleb was a shock.
"And before you say that she will never leave her sisters here without her, I know that and I have thought about it. I have money and that money will belong to Effy the moment we get married. I don't follow old-fashioned rules. What is mine will be her too. So when she has the money, she could adopt her sisters or become their legal guardian. We could go to court because she will have money."
"I also want to assure you that I'm not planning on marrying her because of this. I want to marry her because I love her so much, Mr Bee. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She makes me so very happy and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make her as happy as she has made me," Caleb finished, finally letting himself breathe and giving Mr Bee a chance to talk.
"Well I'm very happy to know that Effy has someone like you in her life and that you care for her sisters too. I'm very happy. But I'm failing to understand why you are telling me this," Mr Bee frowned slightly. "I am of course honoured that you felt as if you needed to tell me but I'm just Mr Bee. I own this bookshop but nothing else."
"It's because, Mr Bee, you are perhaps the closest thing to a parent Effy has. At least you are the only adult who has been in her life since you met her and her sisters. I want to do this the right way, and ask for your blessing to marry her. I have already written to her sisters because, oh boy, I need their blessings too or I won't go through with it," explained Caleb.
Mr Bee wasn't a crier — he has never been one — but he would be lying if he said Caleb's words didn't affect him. Ever since meeting the March sisters, Mr Bee has wanted nothing but good things for them and felt guilty for not being able to take them from Miss Moore.
"Oh," he managed to say before sniffing. "That's an... an honour to say the least. I think we both know that Effy's sisters hold the real power here but if I can weigh in my word, you have my blessing."
a big ass plot twist is on its way