Harry woke up, yawning and stretching just like any other day. Ron was already gone which was odd, but he didn’t dwell on it. He quickly got ready for the day and headed downstairs, eager for breakfast.
The kitchen door was closed. Odd. It was never closed…. Cautiously, he pushed the door open…
“SURPRISE!!!!”
Nearly everyone at the table had on a silly muggle party hat. The table itself was piled with presents and in the middle sat a large scarlet and gold cake that said ‘happy birthday harry’ in big, loopy letters.
His birthday. How could he have forgotten?
Rika suddenly sprung on him, hugging him hard then ushering him to sit and open presents. Sirius clapped him on the back, and Remus gave him a wide smile.
Things couldn’t be better.
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Harry was adorable opening his presents, all smiles and happy thank-yous. I was glad that in the midst of everything bad that happened in life, he could still find happiness.
“I have one more surprise,” Sirius said, looking mischievous.
“Yeah Pads?”
Poor kid. Harry was trying to act cool, but his voice was obviously laced with excitement.
“We’re going on vacation!”
….What?
“What?” Nice to see Harry agrees with me.
“What?” And everyone else in the room. Thanks for the backup everyone.
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After a lot of debating, Sirius had his way and on vacation we went! I wasn’t exactly sure where we were going. Some small tourist town that had yet to be touched by the current war. I hadn’t gotten to explore the town yet, but the hotel was niiiiiiice. I flopped into bed, snuggling under the covers and looking forward to tomorrow’s town-exploration.
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Warm. Niiiice and warm. That’s what I woke up to. At first I thought maybe I’d fallen asleep with Remus/Pads/one of my friends, but it wasn’t a scent I recognized. Granted it was a very lovely scent: spicy and a little sweet…mmmm…
I opened my eyes. Lying beneath my torso was a boy. His hair was thick black with a few brown-red strands mixed in. Long lashes rested against bronzed cheeks before fluttering open to reveal forest green eyes. He blinked sleepily up at me, looking confused. He reached up and brushed his fingertips over my cheek, making sure he wasn’t imagining me. “What the hell did I do last night?” he muttered.
Boy.
In my bed.
Not good.
“Who the hell are you and why are you here?”
He shook his head. “I’m here because this is my hotel room. Why are you here?...And my name’s Aubrey.”
“Sorry Aubrey, but this is my room…I’m Rika by the way.”
He nodded. “I know. I recognize you from the news. Let me see your room key.”
I grabbed mine, and we compared keys. Both said floor B, room 114.
“Damn hotel must’ve accidentally booked us the same room…” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Look, it’s like four in the morning. Can I just chill here and straighten this out in the morning? I’ve gotta be up late tonight.”
I really didn’t want to get out of bed either… Besides, he seemed like a nice guy. Very few people could wake up with a random werewolf in their bed and not freak out. I nodded, plopping back down and facing away from him. I felt him lie back down beside me, and soon his breathing slowed and evened. Within minutes, I’d fallen back asleep too.
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Sirius banged on Remus’s door. Within minutes, the werewolf answered, looking grumpy. “Must you be so loud, so early?”
“Yup!”
He shook his head, not managing to suppress a smile. “Shall we go wake up Rika?”
Sirius nodded energetically, taking off with Remus close behind.
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“WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE!!!??!!!”
Well that was always a lovely way to wake up. I opened my eyes just in time to see Sirius forcibly rip Aubrey from the bed and shove him into a wall.
Aubrey held up his hands. “Easy man, it’s not what you think.”
“IT DAMN RIGHT BETTER NOT BE WHAT I THINK!!”
Remus glared at the boy, then turned to me darkly. “Rika,” he said in a deathly clam yet acid filled voice, “why the hell was there a boy in your bed.”
“I can explain—“
“You’d better.”
And so I explained the whole room mix up and how we’d decided to wait till morning to deal with it.
Sirius groaned. “Bloody hell Rika, don’t youknow anything about men? You never let one in your bed. Ever. That’s how babies are made.”
“….Siri…I’m pretty sure I know how babies are made, and I believe it takes a tad more than that…”
“You’d be surprised,” he mummered.
Remus shook his head. “Rika, I trust you not to misbehave, but please at least try to consider what you do before you do it.”
“Well so-rry, but at four in the morning, it’s hard to consider much of anything.”
“Um, professor,” Aubrey said a little nervously to Lupin, “can I go now?”
Remus began to nod but paused. “How did you know I was a professor?”
“You probably don’t recognize me, but I’m a Hogwarts student. Aubrey Calls. I’ve had a bit of a growth spurt since you last taught.”
Remus cracked a smile. “Ah, I remember you now. Very good student. And yes, you certainly have grown quite a bit.”
Sirius took a threatening step towards him. “Remus and I are both professors this year, so you better watch it. Got that?”
He nodded, glanced back at me and waved, then quickly went out the door.
Siri continued muttering dark things about bloody prats who needed their bollocks removed while Remi kept reassuring him that nothing happened and Aubrey was a good kid.
Most everyone burst out laughing when I told them what was wrong with Sirius. Apparently my life just keeps getting more and more amusing to everyone but me.
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Remus did a glamor on my eyes that turned them a deep chocolate color, and I worse a scarf to cover my scars, so no one would pin me as a wolf. Shopping and touristing was a blast! It was getting late, so Ginny, Kayla, Damon, Hermione, and I slipped into a small café for a coffee and coco break.
The café was nice. It was a lot like the one I’d worked at with live singing. The music sat happily in the background, it’s sudden absence as performers changed barely noticeable.
Then a beauty pierced my heart. Pure, sweet beauty.
I gasped, stopping my conversation mid-sentence to see who was singing. It was him. Aubrey. Eyes almost closed, barely visible through long lashes, looking at absolute peace. Just him and his guitar. Amazing.
Ginny and Hermione both tried to recapture my attention, but I was in another world. The other two were used to my music obsession and ignored me.
He did a few more original songs, then began taking audience requests. I glanced for the list of songs he knew, then smirked, sashaying to the stage. His eyes lit up in recognition. “Well hello there.”
“Hiya.”
“You got a request for me?”
“Two actually.”
“Go on.”
I pointed out a song that was typically done as a duet (note: in my head I see her pointing to “need you” by lady antebellum but pick whatever.) “I want you to sing this one.”
“And your second request mi’lady?”
“I want to sing it with you.”
His eyes scanned me, sizing me up. “I don’t knooow…”
A few people from the audience cheered me on. The guy working the counter—who I presume was the manager—laughed. “So long as I don’t have to pay you kid, you can sing all you want.”
He turned to me, feigning reluctance. “If you think you can handle it…”
“Oh, I can handle it alright.”
“Just do your best not to upstage me, kay.” He winked at me.
I climbed on stage, smirking. He strummed the first few chords. It sounded different on just the guitar, but it was similar enough. I took a deep breath, letting my song fill all of me. I caught Aubrey raise his eyebrows, a smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. Then he was singing to.
Voices mingling, twirling around each other, complementing but never overpowering.
Perfection.
That was the moment that I knew Aubrey and I were going to be good friends.
When we finished, we smiled at each other, completely on the same wave length. No words were needed. I walked off the stage in a happy high, not noticing the cheers around me or feeling the café-ers patting me on the back.
Kayla rolled her eyes, grabbing me by the arm and forcibly dragging me out. “C’mon girlie. Geeze, you look like you went to war against a succubus and lost.”
I laughed. “Of course. Music is the greatest succubus of them all; you can never win against her.”
“Or her minions,” Damon muttered, glancing back at Aubrey as we left.
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Time skip.
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Summer had been great. Despite my Hogwarts excitement, I was sad to see it leave. That is until I set foot in the castle. The freakin huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge, crazy awesome castle!!
Sirius, Remus and I had a minnie apartment like place inside. There was no kitchen though because the house elves would bring any food we desired.
Speaking of food…..Tonight was the opening feast, and I might just literally eat myself into a coma. I was seated at the staff table between Remus and Sirius. All of the staff had accepted my presence with warmth except for Snape (who secretly loves me) and Umbridge (but toads don’t count as people). Several students were staring at Sirius and me, but the stares died down during the Sorting ceremony and the special sorting of the two new exchange students Kayla and Dame.
Damon got sorted into Ravenclaw—no surprise—and Kayla got Gryffindor—also not a surprise. Glancing at the students, I noticed Aubrey sitting at the Slytherin table. I’d heard rumors about the Slytherins, but I didn’t like to judge. I gave him a big smile which he returned. Sirius followed my gaze and scowled. He was still upset about the whole bed thing…
Dumbledore began his speech. All was well.
“Hem. Hem.”
Everyone stopped and stared at the toad-woman who had dared to interrupt the wielder of the magic beard. Not only did she have the audacity to interrupt his magical words of wisdom, she then proceeded to give her own highly unmagical speech. Toad. She made a comment about removing the school's unwanted rift raft, and her gaze wandered to me. Ugly toad.
My phone buzzed. I inconspicuously checked it, keeping it hidden in my lap. It was a pic message from Kayla. On it was a pic of Umbridge and a pic of a toad. The caption said “More identical than the bloody Weasley twins!!”
Oh..My..Gosh..
It really wasn’t that funny, but for some reason it struck me as hysterical. I dropped my head down on the table, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Sirius glanced over at me, saw the text and let out a bark of laughter which he quickly tried to disguise as a cough when Umbridge glared at him.
The students had taken their eyes of Toad-woman and were now staring at Sirius and me. Great. Class hasn’t even started yet, and Kayla’s already managed to ruin my—and Sirius’s—reputation. Thank you Kayla.
It wasn’t until Umbridge had finished her speech and the food appeared that I was finally able to control myself (though I still let out the occasional giggle).
Bbbzzzzzz.
I checked my phone. It was a text from Damon asking what Kayla did. I forwarded him the pic, watching for his reaction. He laughed and showed it to the person next to him. One by one, every teenager who had a cell phone began sending the pic to others or showing it to those who didn’t have a phone. The staff watched mystified as more cell phones lit up and giggles spread from table to table.
Finally, it hit the Weasley twins who began exclaiming loudly things like: “Bloody hell, it’s true!” and “I never thought I’d see a pair of twins more identical than us!”
Remus sighed, looking down at me in amusement. “What did you do?”
“Technically it’s Kayla’s fault…Hey, why’d you assume it was my doing!?”
“One: because it always is. Two: You’re little melt down earlier tipped me off.”
I smiled widely. “But I only spread the truth.”
“Just eat Rika.”
I nodded, digging in.
Author’s note: Next time we get to the first day of classes! Whoot! So, how do you guys like Aubrey? He hasn’t been characterized a lot, but I like him so far. :)
Ps: I had an argument with a friend before I posted this over whether or not it is grammatically correct to say "*insert person's name* and me" instead of "person's name" and I. For those of you curious--probably no one--it is grammatically correct in certain situations. If you want to know when just ask, and I'll tell you. If you think I'm doing something incorrect though, feel free to let me know because usually I'm wrong not right. :)
Remember, comments/votes=love!