【𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄】
· 。ﾟ☆: *. ☆彡
On the morning classes began, Belle awoke to the sun shining on her face, momentarily blinding her. She was the first awake in the dorm just as she usually was, but this time there was no one around for her to yell at to wake up. Lisabeth, another girl who had shared the dorm with Emilia and Belle was dead and the other two, Clare and Monique hadn't returned for their seventh year.
Belle couldn't blame them.
She had spent most of the previous night crying at the memories that had been brought up of Emilia as soon as she had entered the dorm. She had taken a dreamless sleep potion before she dissolved under her covers, dry tear-tracks covering her cheeks as she closed her eyes. Now, she stood in the middle of the empty dorm, the only occupied bed being hers. She willed herself not to cry again, for she hated it. She hated feeling weak yet crying felt like the only thing she knew how to do.
Quickly needing to distract herself so she wouldn't become a sobbing mess, Belle fiddled with the record player that she had found on the bedside table from one of her past dormmates. As they'd had no time to collect their things before the initial battle began, there were still bits and pieces of her past roommates that were scattered around the room as a reminder that there once had been more than just Belle living in it. She knew how to use the player easily and placed the needle down on the large vinyl after she'd set it up, allowing the music to fill the room. Her mother liked to live in both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, which had meant that she'd learned how to use both a record player and, her mother's favourite, a cassette player. The one Belle had at home was a soft pink and was small enough to be easily held with one hand. She wished she could have brought it to Hogwarts with her, but knew that the magical residue of the castle would interfere with the Muggle technology in the device. She'd just had to make do with what she had until she could return home once again.
Belle headed into the bathroom as the sounds of soft music filled her ears. She never really enjoyed the louder types of music that magic folk created, preferring the soft sounds of guitars and ukuleles that Muggles used frequently in their own songs.
Taking a quick shower to wake herself up properly, Belle changed into her uniform once she had dried herself off. With the sounds of the ukulele in the background, Belle buttoned up her white blouse and tied her blue and silver Ravenclaw tie around her neck. Pulling on her black jumper with her house crest on the front, Belle ran her hands over her hair to contain the fly-aways that had jumped up whilst pulling on her jumper. Finally pulling on her tights and skirt that fell to just above her knee, Belle padded out to the dorm, jumping when she saw Fred sitting on her bed.
"So, this is what the girl's Ravenclaw dorm looks like," he spoke, causing Belle to place a hand on her racing heart.
"Merlin, Fred, you scared me," she breathed out as she headed over to the record player, taking the needle of the disk. Fred watched as she did so curiously, before peering up at her.
"I seem to do that a lot. Are you naturally a jumpy person?" He asked and she nodded, a small smile on her face.
"People have always been able to frighten me easily. And, also, what if I had walked out naked?" Fred shrugged.
"I wouldn't have apologised," Fred replied casually causing colour to rise to Belle's cheeks as she closed the lid on the record player on her bedside table. Fred laughed loudly at her response before he shook his head cheekily.
"I'm kidding, Belle. I asked Lily to make sure the coast was clear," he told her, before he looked over at the record player and floated over to investigate the object further. It was much smaller than the ones that he had seen during his time at Hogwarts and raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the new device.
"What is this?" He asked, leaning closer to the player. "It looks like a mini record player."
"It is," Belle replied honestly. "One of my past dormmates left it lying around and I had my own vinyls - the disks that go on the player, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to use it." She held up a handful of the large, square cases that contained the disks. Absentmindedly, Fred reached out his hands so he could pick up one of the disks, forgetting that he wasn't able to for a second. When his hand went straight through, his pearly fingers appearing on the other side near Belle's face, his face dropped and Belle bit down on the inside of her lip.
"Oh, yeah," Fred murmured quietly as he moved away from Belle, tucking his hand under his arm as though the disks had burnt him.
"Fred..." Belle said quietly but the boy only waved her off, his face indifferent. He managed to plaster a small smile on his lips, but Belle could see the sadness that reflected in his eyes as he remembered why it was he was in the Ravenclaw dorms in the first place.
"That's my fault for forgetting. Sometimes I go to reach out to push you over or something and my hand just goes straight through your head so it's nothing new," he replied casually. Belle didn't know whether to frown at the fact that he sounded so normal about the fact that he couldn't interact with physical objects or the fact that he'd tried pushing her over more than once when she wasn't watching in the hopes of watching her trip.
"If you were solid, I'd probably shove you," Belle mumbled under her breath as she turned around in an effort to distract herself from the conversation that was becoming rather depressing quite quickly. Fred snorted, having heard her response.
"You wouldn't be able to move me, I was a rock when I was alive. Seriously, there's a reason why they made me a beater in Quidditch. One push from me and you would have gone flying," he replied in an effort to make the girl laugh, knowing that the frown that had settled on her lips was his fault. It was her first day back in classes and he'd wanted her to smile because things were finally going back to somewhat normal for her. Instead, he'd only upset her as a result of his own actions.
"Sure, Fred," Belle replied, the corner of her lip twitching upwards at his words. He blinked, his expression contorting into one of mock-horror as he watched the girl gather up her books and supplies for that morning's classes.
"Are you saying that you're doubting me and my incredibly lean, muscular, handsome body?" Belle openly slid her eyes up and down his body before she snickered, causing Fred to gasp.
"You are going to pay for that, Frenche Toast, mark my words," he threatened, pointing a translucent figure at her face and she giggled, the sound immediately causing a smile to rise on his own face. He could see that any guilt she had about her conversation earlier had drifted from her eyes, the somewhat dull sparkle returning to them as she finished off zipping up her bag. She turned, tapping her fingers against her chin in thought as she glanced up at Fred, her eyes darting back and forwards between the disks on her bed.
"I wonder why you can't touch physical objects or pick them up. Peeves can, you're just as much of a troublemaker as he is, so what's the difference?" Belle wondered openly. Fred opened his mouth to reply to her, before he frowned, realising she had a good point.
"First of all, I'm going to take that troublemaker comment as a compliment," he started, causing Belle to snort at his reply. Of course he did.
"Second of all, maybe there's a difference? You know, in the way we died or something. Peeves could still be hanging around just because it was his lifetime goal to cause trouble to as many students as possible. Mine was just to make sure that my friends and family are okay," he replied honestly and Belle frowned in thought.
"That's a very real possibility. Peeves also came back as a poltergeist. If I'm right, Belle can only see the souls of those who have not yet passed over to the Underworld," Remus' voice spoke up from behind Belle, causing her to jump once more.
"Oh, sorry, Belle," he apologised and Belle only waved him off, almost certain she was going to have a heart attack before she graduated.
"You're right, though, Remus. I can only see the souls, but either way, shouldn't it be at least possible for you to interact with the physical world, even if it's just for a second?" Belle asked curiously as she peered at Remus and Tonks, who had appeared beside her husband. Belle noticed tear-tracks on the woman's face and figured she had gone to visit Teddy, her son.
"Professor McGonagall will probably know more about this then I will so I'd suggest asking her or even sending a letter to your mother in case she has any answers for you," Remus replied. Fred looked over at Belle who simply shrugged her shoulders.
"If you're really that interested, I can send a letter to ask Mum. She's got quite a few books on Clairvoyance at home, that Grandma gave to her."
"Would you?" Fred asked and Belle nodded.
"I'd love to send it now, I really would, but I'm going to be late for breakfast if I don't hurry and I kind of need to collect my timetable."
"Have fun! And say hi to McGonagall for us," Tonks spoke absentmindedly, before frowning.
"Oh, wait, never mind. Ignore that," she muttered and Belle picked up her bag.
"I want to tell Professor McGonagall at some point. I think perhaps maybe a teacher should know so they can help me to understand what I haven't figured out on my own," Belle explained and Remus nodded at the girl.
"That's a good idea, but for now just worry about getting yourself down to breakfast before you miss it," Remus said causing Belle to grab her backpack.
"Right, of course, I'll see you all later!" Belle waved goodbye before dashing out of the room and into the common room where she saw Luna sitting on one of the cushioned window seats.
"Luna!" Belle called and the sixth year girl stood up, a bright smile on her face as she saw Belle.
"You look happy this morning, did you sleep well?" Luna asked as she pushed open the bronze door to the common room.
"Once I fell asleep, I did, how about you?" Belle asked as she followed the blonde girl down the large staircases towards the Great Hall.
"Quite well, actually," Luna replied, her dreamy tone putting a small smile on Belle's face.
"I have a question for you," Belle asked, her voice lowering as not to be overheard by any passing students. She gripped onto the stair railing as the staircase they were standing on had started to move, which gave Luna time to peer curiously up at her friend.
"I'm not the most knowledgable when it comes to topics such as the Erumpent, if that's what you're going to ask about, but I'll do my best!" Luna replied causing Belle to blink in confusion.
"Oh, um thank you? But actually, it was about something else," she explained, causing Luna to sigh.
"Daddy needs a new Erumpent Horn one as his last one blew up at some point a few months ago" she murmured to herself, before she turned to Belle, who was clearly confused.
"What happened?" Belle blinked once more, before glancing around to make sure they were alone.
"Do you think there could be a reason as to why Fred and the others aren't able to interact with the physical world but certain entities such as Peeves can?" Luna frowned at the question, Belle's words churning in her mind as she came up with a response.
"Has something happened to bring this about? Most ghosts can't interact with the physical world, can they? The rest of the Hogwarts ghosts can't touch anything, it seems only Peeves can because he's a poltergeist," Luna replied as they descended the last few staircases and Belle nodded her head at her response.
"That's what Remus said, too, and that's why I want to talk to McGonagall. He thinks she may be able to help me understand what's happening." Luna nodded, agreeing with Remus.
"I think that's a good idea. When will you tell her?" She asked her friend as they stepped off the last stair and onto the castle ground.
"Maybe this weekend when we've got a bit of free time," Belle replied and Luna nodded once more.
The pair entered the Great Hall together, Belle extremely pleased when she saw the small, bite-sized hash browns that were her favourites. Harry, who was sitting by himself, noticed Belle walk in and saw that she looked a considerable amount better than she had last night.
Belle, who still felt choked up when she had walked into the Great Hall, found that she didn't need to hold her breath when she entered this time as she was too busy engaged in a conversation with Luna about dragons. She was grateful that Luna had managed to strike up such an interesting topic with her as she managed to keep any anxious feelings she had about entering the hall, at bay. Glancing around the tables to see who was left in the hall, her eyes landed on Harry who was pushing a sausage around on his plate with his fork.
"Hey, Luna, I'll be right back," she told the girl. Luna, who had now become immersed in her bowl of cheeri-owls, gave her a dreamy 'okay' in reply. Belle steadily rose from her spot at the Ravenclaw table and made her way towards the Gryffindor one, where she slid into an open seat in front of Harry.
She received a few odd looks from a couple of Gryffindors sitting around her, but she took no notice of them as Harry rose his head.
"Belle?" He asked, seeing the Ravenclaw girl sitting in front of her. The girl smiled softly in greeting.
"Hey, Harry," she replied.
"What are you doing here?" Belle, who suddenly felt all traces of the courage she had a moment ago, stuttered for a moment. The smile slid from her face and she moved to leave the table.
"Oh, I-I can leave if you'd like," she replied. Harry hurriedly shook his head at her, which caused her to sit back down in the seat in front of him.
"No, you're okay. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in a cruel way, I was only curious," he replied.
"I just came to make sure that the dreamless sleep potion worked and I hadn't accidentally given you something that caused your toenails to grow alarmingly long," Belle explained and Harry chuckled softly.
"They look the same as they did last night and I managed to get a decent sleep so I think we're safe," he replied, causing Belle to giggle quietly at this.
"What about you, did you sleep well?" Harry asked and Belle nodded.
"It was strange, being the only one in the dorm, but at least I didn't have girls screaming at me to study even though it was the first night back. It was bittersweet, I should say," Belle replied, a small, nostalgic smile on her face as she spoke.
"Ron was snoring so I can't quite say the same," this caused a small bout of laughter from both teenagers.
"Did any other of your dorm-mates return this year?" Belle asked curiously and Harry nodded.
"All of them did, yeah," Harry replied.
"I'm glad," Belle said softly, just as a red-haired girl dropped into the seat next to Harry. The girl sent Belle a small smile, despite not knowing who she was and Belle returned it before she turned to Harry once more.
"I should get back to Luna now, but I'm glad to hear that the potion worked," Belle replied as she rose from the table.
"Thank you, Belle," Harry called just as she went to walk away. Belle only gave him a small smile in reply as she nodded and walked away.
"Who was that?" Ginny asked curiously as she hadn't seen the girl before. She glanced at Harry who had the ghost of a smile on his face and she couldn't help but feel slight curiosity towards the dark-haired girl who had returned to her seat in front of Luna. Four months she had gone, trying to make Harry smile and to no success but yet, here was some strange, beautiful Ravenclaw who had him laughing quietly not too long ago. She knew better than to be jealous, for she'd hoped to see Harry smile for over a year and if she could pull one from him, Ginny was rather thankful for it.
"Belle Frenche, she's a Ravenclaw in our year, isn't she? Her sister is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher if I'm right," Hermione responded as she sat down in front of Harry, her hand intertwined with Ron's. Harry nodded in reply.
"Was that who you were talking to yesterday?" Ginny asked curiously and Harry nodded once more.
"What'd she want?" Ron asked, his mouth already full of sausage.
"She gave me some dreamless sleep potions last night and wanted to see if they had worked," Harry replied, tearing his gaze away from Belle who was now engaged in a conversation with Luna, their hands holding their timetables for the year. He did notice the way that her eyes would keep flickering to a certain spot in the hall and an odd look would come over her for a moment, as though she was reliving a memory, before Luna would bring her back from wherever her mind had taken her to.
"That's it?" Ginny asked, confused and Harry nodded.
"She seems like a very sweet person. She's incredibly smart too," Hermione praised the curly-haired girl.
"Yeah," Harry couldn't help but agree.
"She is."
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