I sat beside Mordecai and Howie, while Andrea sat on the other side of the table, facing towards the rest of the tables. We were having a lovely conversation about what would happen if you put a mermaid on the moon, and let's just say, Mordecai had a very, very vivid imagination. I snorted and accidentally started to choke on a grape in my mouth. Mordecai patted my back, while we all laughed. I finally swallowed the grape and took a long drink of water.
"You okay?" Andrea questioned me, while she looked up from her food. I nodded and just took a deep breathe of air, before popping a grape into my mouth. Howie furrowed his eyebrows upon seeing my hands. He pointed to them and then cocked his head to the side.
"What happened to your hands?" He said before taking a drink of his beverage. i looked down at my bandaged hands and then back at the three sets of eyes watching me.
"I punched a mirror yesterday," I shrugged, while Andrea glared at me.
"That's why there was glass all over the place. I thought it was Lisa and Carrie being slags again," Andrea said and looked down the table at where Lisa and Carrie where waving and sending flirtatious looks towards the Gryffindor table. I grimaced and watched Sirius wink back at them, naturally I was slowly getting used to him flirting with literally every girl, but it was still gross.
"I don't even know why they even try, he doesn't even like them, you know," I snickered and then turned back around to face the Andrea, who was raising a questioning eyebrow. "He talks about how much he wanted to tie them to beds and place them in the middle of the lake for the giant squid to eat. But I doubt the squid would even eat them." Andrea snorted loudly causing attention to our end of the table; Mordecai was chuckling and trying not to spit out the water he was struggling to swallowing; Howie was leaning on my shoulder and trying to bury his face into my shoulder to stop from laughing and I was just smiling and chuckling. After a few minutes of struggling to stop laughing, Howie looked at me.
"Did he really say that?" He chuckled when I nodded and took a bite out of the sandwich from Mordecai's plate.
"He really doesn't like stuck-up pure-blood. I mean he doesn't mind them as long as they're not prejudice about half-bloods, muggle-borns, and other pure-bloods that don't share the hatred for non-pure-bloods, like-" I said turned around and waving my hand towards the Slythrin, "them."
"Doesn't Black have a little brother in Slythrin?" Mordecai followed my gaze. I turned towards him and furrowed my eyebrows.
"Sirius has a brother?" I asked confused and then diverted my eyes towards the end of the Gryffindor table and looked at the four Marauders.
"Oh, you didn't know?" I shook my head at Andrea, who looked generally surprised. "You've been here for almost five months and you didn't know that Sirius Black had a little brother? You must be living in a different world, then," I scoffed and kicked her under the table, but she moved her foot, causing me to kick the table really hard.
"S-sh-slugs!" I yelled in pain and brought my foot up and held onto my knee. Andrea laughed and then flicked my forehead from over the table.
"Nice save, Lancaster," Mordecai looked at me and chuckled. I punched his shoulder and went back to cradling my foot. I glared at Andrea before she shrugged and continued to tell me about Sirius' brother.
"His names Regulus Black and he's in Slythrin unlike Sirius, who is- as you know- in Gryffindor. He's real easy to distinguish: He has the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of Sirius, though he's smaller, slighter, and rather less handsome than Sirius is, but unlike Sirius, he believe in that mumbo jumbo about pure-bloods," Andrea described him, before a hoot was heard. I looked up confused and saw Eden flying with a envelope in her claws. I furrowed my eyebrows, the mail had come this morning and I didn't get anything, so why was Eden coming now?
She dropped the letter down in front of me and landed on my shoulder. I scratched her head and she nibbled on my ear lobe while I looked at the letter, before I opened the letter and began to read.
Dear Tear-Bear,
I know this is a very late letter, I should have sent to you a while back. How have you been doing at Hogwarts so far? Have you made plenty of friends? How are your grades? Have you been okay with you Predator problem?
I've had a nice time catching up on my book reading here in London, though it is boring since both you and Easten have been gone. While you're at Hogwarts, Easten is working with the Ministry of Magic, trying to figure out a way to defeat You-Know-Who. He is being careful with his job and I've made sure that he's coming home at night.
I've heard that Riley has registered to Hogwarts and I've been wanting to know if you're still ignoring him or if you and him have actually communicated yet. If you're still ignoring him because of that, then I will be making my way up there in a few minutes. If you and him have made up and are talking, then I will still be up there to congratulate you for getting over your pout fest.
I've spoken to Professor Dumbledore and been asking him to inform me on how your behavior has been and I'm curious as to why you missed Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class five weeks ago? Were you with a boyfriend? Sneaking out to Hogsmeade? Making out in a closet with a boy? Doing things far more interesting then Transfiguration? I laughed and then continued to read on.
About the Predator Problem how has that been going? Have you been okay? You're not hurting yourself out of frustration are you? I know it's hard for you to be this way, but just think of it as a gift. You were fated to be an awesome kickarse daughter of mine, you know.
How are you are your other classes? Have you been having classes with those friends of yours? Have you been having fun with them? If not then pull a few pranks with them and if you get detention again, then don't worry about it. Easten used to pull pranks on the teachers, like making their desks have legs and let them walk about the school. Use your imagination of yours.
Easten is wanting to write you so here you go. The handwriting changed.
Hey lil' Luppy, how's school at Hogwarts? Is it fun or boring for you? Where is you and Riley's relationship at? Good? Bad? Terrible? Which one? I'm just working on trying to help the M.o.M with You-Know-Who, but it's not really interesting.
I have heard that you're going to school with the Blacks' kids. I had no idea that was who was at the Leaky Cauldron with that young lad, James. Heard his parents are ashamed of him because he's in Gryffindor, but no matter he's a nice fellow. Have you met his younger brother, Regulus? Probably not, because he's in his fourth year, but no matter. Enough on that topic.
There's not much to talk about anymore since Dad took all the topics, but I love you, Ter, and tell Riley (if you and him are talking) that I said hey, and also tell James and Sirius that I said curly pubes. Bye!
Love,
Dad and Easten
I closed the letter and crinkled my nose at the last sentence. I gave Eden a piece of my sandwich and then watched her fly off. I groaned and slammed my face into the table, causing the entire table to rattle.
"Whoa, are you okay there?" Howie placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned down to try and see my face. I groaned again and then sat up straight, letting everyone see my embarrassed face.
"What happened?" Andrea said looking at me concerned. I shook my head and shoved the letter into my pocket.
"My brother, James, and Sirius are getting entirely too close to one another," I frowned and leaned my face onto my hand.
"What do you mean?" Mordecai asked, while taking a bite of a green apple. I shook my head and popped a piece of an orange into my mouth.
"No, not right now. I don't need the embarrassment right now. I'll tell you three in the common room or library," I sighed and then stood up. "I'm going to go to Charms, would you two like to accompany me there?" I asked Howie and Andrea, who stood up and walked with me out of the Great Hall.
When we got to Charms, I went to my designated spot and sat down while Howie and Andrea went to their designated spot in class. The bells rang not to long after we sat down and were talking, making all three of us face towards the front and wait.
James swaggered in beside Remus, following Lily into the classroom. Lily was looking highly irritated while she sat down in her seat behind James and I's desk. I turned around to her and looked at her, she then flickered her eyes over to James and then back to me multiply times.
James plopped into his seat beside me and continued to send love note to Lily who was getting fed up with him. Lily looked at me for help and I nodded, before I glared at him for two minutes straight until he realize I was glaring at him. He looked up at me and smiled innocently.
"What?" He asked charmingly. I glared at him then turned towards Lily, who was ripping James heart notes in half. I smiled and then turned back around to see James looking horrified.
"What's the matter, James?" I asked sweetly. He looked at me then Lily and scooted his chair forwards and away from the both of us. Professor Flitwick walked in and began to teach us about how to make object grow legs. He passed out teacups and made us recite the spell then practice on the teacups. Nobody got it a first then one at a time we began to make the teacups grow legs.
James' teacup was just happily walking around on his desk in circles, while he was smiling and poking at it with his finger; the cup fell then got back up and began to run around again. I made my teacup grow legs and I guess my irritation transferred into my magic, because my teacup walked right up to James' and pushed it off the desk and onto the floor, where it shattered.
"Oh my Godric," a horrified whispered left James, while he looked at my teacup walking back over to my desk and started dancing. I cracked a smile and then looked up at James who was horrified, while Lily was laughing her arse off behind us.
"Oh my Merlin's! Terra, that was- wow!" She gasped for air and continued to watch my teacup dance happily. I rubbed the teacup and watched it jumped, clearly startled before running around in circles. I picked the teacup up and looked at James who was still looking terrified by the teacups actions.
After Dinner Lily invited me to the Gryffindor common room so we could gossip and talk about random things. Lily and I walked up the stairs to the portrait of the Fat Lady were she said the password and we walked in. The common room was vividly red and gold and very bright, unlike the Ravenclaw common room, which was just blue and bronze with semi dim lighting.
"Make yourself at home. I'm going to get the rest of the girls to come," She said excitedly, before running off up some steps and disappearing around a curve. I looked around the common room and then gravitated towards the giant bookshelf. I ran my finger over the spine of the books and then pulled out a book. I turned the book in my hand and read the cover.
The words Little Red Riding Hood were scrawled across the cover along with the name Charles Perrault. I opened the book and chuckled as I recalled my mum reading this to me when I was little. She had told me she was read this book when she was a little girl. I sighed in content when I read.
'Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a village near the forest. Whenever she went out, the little girl wore a red riding cloak, so everyone in the village called her Little Red Riding Hood.
One morning, Little Red Riding Hood asked her mother if she could go to visit her grandmother as it had been awhile since they'd seen each other.
"That's a good idea," her mother said. So they packed a nice basket for Little Red Riding Hood to take to her grandmother.' I then flipped the page of the book and continued to read.
'When the basket was ready, the little girl put on her red cloak and kissed her mother goodbye.
"Remember, go straight to Grandma's house," her mother cautioned. "Don't dawdle along the way and please don't talk to strangers! The woods are dangerous."
"Don't worry, mommy," said Little Red Riding Hood, "I'll be careful.' Flip.
'But when Little Red Riding Hood noticed some lovely flowers in the woods, she forgot her promise to her mother. She picked a few, watched the butterflies flit about for awhile, listened to the frogs croaking and then picked a few more.
Little Red Riding Hood was enjoying the warm summer day so much, that she didn't notice a dark shadow approaching out of the forest behind her...
Suddenly, the wolf appeared beside her.
"What are you doing out here, little girl?" the wolf asked in a voice as friendly as he could muster.'
"What are you doing in here?" A voice said behind me, making me gasp and drop the book onto the floor. I turned around and saw Remus behind me, looking surprised. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scary you."
"No, it's fine. I'm just waiting for Lily to come back," I said turning around and bending down to pick up the book Remus made me drop. I put it back on the shelf just in time as Lily was coming down the stairs with an army of girls behind her. Lily saw Remus and smiled at me, causing me to scowl at her.
"Hello, Remus," Lily grinned evilly walking over to me and throwing her arm over my shoulder.
"Hey, Lily. What are you doing?" He asked his eyes flickering from Lily to me.
"Oh, well, we were going to play a few games. In fact, if it's not to much, you and the rest of the fifth year boys could join us if you want," Lily asked nicely. Remus looked torn between saying yes and going to get the boys or saying no and just leaving. He finally made up his mind and nodded, before going up to the boys dorm and informing the boys to come.
I nudged Lily in the ribs and heard her chuckle. I turned towards her and glared at her. "I'm so getting you back for this." I muttered. She laughed and we all moved the furniture aside, so we could make room for a giant circle. Remus came back down with a far too excited looking James and a bunch of bored looking boys.
"First game to play?" Lily asked loudly so we could all hear her. Some hands shot up and gave suggestions like: Seven Minutes in Heaven, Truth or Dare, Spin the Bottle and Never Have I Ever. We voted and Truth or Dare got the highest votes with Never Have I Ever coming in second. Lily began the game.
"Alice. Truth or Dare," Lily smirked and chose a girl with short brown hair, who was sitting next to a guy that was the Seeker, Frank Longbottom. Almost everyone that was picked chose Truth, making me laugh because no one was brave enough to pick dare and this was the House of Bravery. That was until it got to Sirius, who had to run naked through the school halls, and he didn't back down either.
"Remus, Truth or Dare?" Sirius smirked at Remus and tapped his fingers on the carpet. Remus looked hesitate and I was sure he was going to pick Truth, but was surprised.
"Dare," Remus croaked out, while looking nervous and pale. Sirius smirked again and then look Remus straight in the eyes.
"I dare you to kiss the prettiest girl in this room," there was a pause before Sirius flipped his hair and continued. "And notice I charitably said 'girl' and not 'person'. Because let's face it, I'd smoke all you bitches." I laughed as did James, Peter and a few others. Remus looked around and avoided me, which I was glad for, and then he groaned and stood up walking over to Marlene McKinnon, who looked smug. He sat down in front of her and before they kissed, I looked down at my fingers in my lap. I faked a yawn and told Lily, who looked sad for me, and told Riley, who was glaring at Remus, that I was going to go back to my dorms.
I exited the Gryffindor common room and quickly went to the Ravenclaw common room where there wasn't a person in sight. I kicked off my shoes and sat Indian style, facing the fireplace. I heard a door opening somewhere, but ignored it.
"You know, you should probably be quieter when you're sneaking in," Howie said flipping over the back of the couch and laying with his face beside my knee.
"I wasn't sneaking in," I muttered, while staring into the fire, Howie followed my eye sight and watched the fire upside down.
"Where were you?"
"I was messing around in the Gryffindor common room with Lily."
"What were you guys doing, if you don't mind me asking?"
"We were playing Truth or Dare with the fifth year girl and the fifth year boys."
"Oh, Terra. What happened?"
"Nothing, nothing at all."
"Don't lie to me, Terra. You wouldn't be acting like this if something didn't happen."
"I hurt," tears glistened in my eyes. "Why does liking someone always end with being hurt, Howie?"
Howie sat up and pulled me into a hug. "I don't know, Terra, I don't know. Come on, tell Howie, what happened."
"I-I- okay. L-lily suggested I hang out with her and the rest of the fifth year girls, but then she invited the boys to and so we all voted on Truth or Dare and-" I stopped to get in a deep breathe in. "Sirius dared Remus to kiss the prettiest girl in the room and Remus kissed Marlene McKinnon. I really like, no liked, him."
"Shh, it's okay," He whispered and hugged me while I leaned into his chest. I closed my eyes and slowly fell asleep on his shoulder.
I woke up the next day, with a blanket covering me, and saw Howie was nowhere in sight. I sat up and stretched my arms, while looking at the clock on the wall, which said it was already 11:40. I stood up and looked at the blanket which had a note attached to it. I pulled the note off of the blanket and read it.
Sorry, I didn't wake you up this morning, I thought you could use the sleep. I'll tell the teachers you're not feeling good. Be back soon and I'll try and smuggle some food for you, so you don't have to leave the common room. I'll see you soon. --- Howie
I stood up and walked to the girls' showers then I went to my dorm and grabbed a pair white jeans, a blue shirt and a pair of my favorite converses and changed. I looked at my hands and sighed, and saw the deep scabs from the mirror, then I looked at my other hand and saw the "R" carved into the top of my hand.
Why did it have to be him? Of all people fate set me up to met, it had to be him? Was me being a werewolf not enough? Was being in pain every month for one night for the rest of my life not enough? Not only that, if I were to go around flashing my hand to everyone, Remus and the other three, would eventually find out and then the secret would be out.
I bandaged them again and I sighed before, I went back down to the common room, where I pulled a random book off of the shelf and began to read it. I was really into the book when someone sat beside me and set a large napkin down between us. The napkin held two sandwich's, a orange, an apple and a empty goblet.
Howie set the goblet upright and then cast a spell. "Aguamenti," water filled the goblet and he handed it to me. I gratefully accepted it and took a drink of the water. I took a bite of one of the sandwiches and offered the other to him. At first, Howie refused until I shoved it into his face and made him eat with me.
"What did we do today?" I asked and took a drink of water to wash down the sandwich.
"In History of Magic, we had a lecture about the Giant Wars. In Potions, we made the Draught of Peace and we have to write a paragraph about how useful it is. In Transfiguration, we had to try and use the Gemino Curse. In D.A.D.A., we practiced the Shrinking Spell. And that's all so far," Howie said in one breathe, I laughed and finished my sandwich.
"Sounds boring."
"Oh, you have no idea. Plus the excessive bugging from those four pricks is getting overwhelming."
"Oh."
"It's okay. How about after school, me, you, Andrea and Mordecai all go out and just have a walk in the Forbidden Forest, or we can all go and have a fun at the lake. How about that?"
"I guess that would be fine."
"Good. I'm already tired of see you sad, I'm used to the exciting, funny, adventurous Terra. Not depressed, dull, non-adventurous Terra."
"Yeah, I know. Can we go to the kitchen so I can get more food?"
"Sure. If you want I'll carry you." I nodded and he bent down so I could jump onto his back.
"You know, your like a brother to me, and I like that," I mumbled into his shoulder, while we walked out of the common room.
"I see you as my little sister that still needs to be protected," I nodded into his back and watched as we had to pass the Great Hall, which had many people streaming out. I saw Andrea and Mordecai jogging after us while I saw Sirius, James, and Peter, looking at Remus who looked hurt. I turned back around and snuggled into Howie's shoulder, trying to ignore the feeling of being watched.