Belle's eyes were wide as she slowly entered the Great Hall, her stomach nauseous and her nerves twitching to no end. Unfortunately for Belle these feelings had been present since the night before and most likely wouldn't leave her until tomorrow morning.
It was October 31st, 1973.
It was Halloween.
Halloween meant terrible news and destructive tendencies that usually resulted in Belle or someone else getting hurt. Her terrible luck seemed to be given to her when she was born and since then she hasn't been able to escape a bad Hallows Eve. Her first year was full of scares and utensils turning into bats, her second year was the dreadful day of her mother's passing.
Belle missed her mother more than anything and would give everything she had just to see her again, but it didn't hurt anymore to think about her. The day was going to be somber no matter what, but Belle wouldn't let the one year mark of her mother passing let her sink into a depressed state again.
When she approached her seat at the table, all of her friends frowned up at her. None of them knew how to react towards her; they didn't want to accidentally trigger any bad memories.
"Hey Belle," Remus smiled as she sat down. She gave him a shaky grin.
"Nervous?"
She nodded weakly, shoving a piece of toast into her mouth rather ungracefully. She turned her attention elsewhere, her eyes scanning the Great Hall. She wasn't sure what she'd come across or if it was going to affect her in some way, but it was already too quiet. Normally older years would be popping out from behind walls and dropping things on students to try and scare them but it seemed as if everyone was peacefully enjoying their breakfast.
Her eyes then caught onto Aiden who was waving at her from the Ravenclaw table. Belle and Aiden had hung out dozens of times since they had first hung out a few weeks ago. She loved his witty and sarcastic humor and the way he talks about things—and he wasn't that bad to look at either. She was slowly loosing her fascination with Sirius Black and developing heart eyes for the witty blond haired boy.
She waved back at him with a beaming smile on her face.
"You and Aiden have been hanging out quite a bit, haven't you?" Lily whispered across the table, shooting Belle a devious smile. "Lost interest in the other one already?"
'The other one' was the girls' code name for Sirius that Lily had come up with one day. They normally used the code name when they were in class or around Sirius, so if he happened to hear he wouldn't find out that three out of four of the Gryffindor girls liked him.
"Maybe," Belle shrugged, glancing back at Aiden again. Her face flamed red when she saw he was already looking at her. Her head whipped back around when her name was called by Eileen.
"Who are you looking at, Belle?"
"Nothing in particular."
"Are you sure?" She teased, "Because I'm pretty positive you were just looking at Aiden Roulle."
"You're still hanging out with him?" James scoffed, shaking his head as if Belle had committed a crime.
"He's bad news, Belle." Sirius added, "His twin brother is already associating with the Dark Arts, who knows what they could want you for—"
"Oh, and your family is just sunshine and rainbows isn't it?"
"That's different." He growled, shooting daggers at the girl who had a fair point. Just because she was right didn't mean he had to admit it.
"How so? Because if I recall—and I do recall— your family is one of biggest supporters of the Dark Arts! So by your logic, we should all distance ourselves from you."
"I'm in Gryffindor—"
"That doesn't mean shit, Sirius." Belle cursed, making Lily's mouth fall open. "Houses are just categories they put us in to try and make schedules less complicated. Gryffindor can be good or bad, just like Ravenclaw can be good or bad."
"Whatever you say, bookworm. I'm just trying to warn you."
"I can take care of myself." She huffed, though the moment of silence was interrupted by an enchanted piece of parchment hitting her in the back of the head. She grabbed the parchment from where it fell onto the floor and opened it, the eyes of all her friends on her as she read the scrawl. Her face morphed into a smile and she crumpled up the paper, letting her wand destroy the parchment in a ball of flames.
"What was that?" Lily mused, watching as the ashes fell into a tiny spot on the table.
"A request."
— — — — —
Belle flipped through the book in her lap every once and a while as she watched Aiden zoom around the Quidditch pitch during practice. It was obvious he was trying to show off for her as every few laps he would do a flip or a fast turn and then glance back over to where Belle sat. She had acted shocked a couple times in the beginning but it was beginning to loose it's wow-factor.
There weren't many other people watching the Ravenclaws practice on this dreaded Halloween day. Most were inside enjoying festivities and being around friends, staying warm in the heated common rooms. Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year which meant classes and boring 'Halloween-themed' exercises, which kids were eager to get away from once classes were over. Instead of accompanying her friends to walk and talk around the castle, she separated and headed to watch her new friend play Quidditch.
She watched as the Captain, whose name she didn't bother to try and figure out, called everyone down and ended the practice. She made her way down the stands, book gripped in her left hand and her right wrapped around herself trying to preserve as much warmth as possible. The wet grass also didn't help with her steadiness and she slipped many times.
Luckily Aiden was there to catch her on the last one.
"Woah—you alright?"
"Yea," She laughed, her breath showing in front of her, "just very clumsy."
He chuckled, his perfect teeth glowing.
"So, do you wanna walk?"
"Sure!"
The two walked at a slow pace, talking about the events of that day and what each other's certain options on stupid matters were.
"Pineapple on pizza is amazing," Belle giggled. She watched Aiden's face morph into one of disgust.
"I don't think we can be friends anymore." He gagged, "That's crossing the line."
"I don't get how people can not like it!"
"It's fruit on melted cheese and breading! It doesn't make sense!"
"Yes it does, you weirdo—it's a combination flavor."
Aiden flicked Belle's nose causing her to gasp.
"How rude!"
He grinned, shoving his hands back into his jacket pockets, "You're really cool Belle."
"Thanks," She smiled, chewing on her cheek. She glanced over at him to see his gaze already on hers for the second time today, and she let out a small laugh. "What?"
"Your friends don't like me, do they?"
"What—of course they do!" She spluttered, taken back by the question. Aiden hadn't even met her friends, from what she knew of, so him assuming that they didn't like him seemed a little off.
"They looked pretty upset this morning."
"They just are very against any of us making new friends." She shrugged.
"Especially ones with family associated with the Dark Arts." He sighed, frowning. She looked at him.
"You—"
"I know what my brother has been up to and I just want you to know that I want nothing to do with it."
"I already knew that," She grinned, stopping. He followed suit and soon the two were standing almost toe to toe. They hadn't really had the chance to be in this close of a proximity until now and neither knew if they liked it or not. It was no doubt in Belle's mind that she had a crush on Aiden but whether he liked her back was a mystery.
"Do you think—"
He was abruptly cut off by a fairly large water balloon coming into contact with his head. It exploded over the two of them, covering each in a large amount of freezing cold water. Belle's mind didn't have enough time to process what was happening before another one exploded and then another. Aiden pulled Belle away but the water balloons seemed to follow them until they hit the castle gates. There stood Sirius and James, both talking nonchalantly against the castle wall. To others they may of looked casual but to Belle they were suspicious.
"What was that?" Aiden shivered, rubbing his arms. "We need to get inside—"
"I know who did it." She fumed, "You should go inside, it's cold."
"You should come too."
"No, I need to tell them off. They can't keep doing this to people."
Belle couldn't believe that Sirius and James would do that to her. She understood they didn't trust Aiden but Belle did and they should accept her wishes. It was their fault another Halloween day was ruined and it was their fault Aiden wouldn't want to hang out with her again.
"Ah! Brielle!" Sirius grinned once Belle had stormed over, "How are you, love?"
"You look a little drenched there," James raised an eyebrow. He looked to the sky, "Is it raining?"
"I can't believe you two!"
"Us? What makes you think we did whatever your referring to?"
"You two are the only ones out here! I can't believe you guys would try to sabotage my friendship with Aiden!"
"We're doing you a favor."
"A favor? No—you're doing yourselves a favor, like you always do! You never think about the consequences of your actions." She exploded, her contempt and nerves from the day all pouring into the conversation.
"A detention doesn't faze us—"
"A detention? Is that the only consequence you can think of?"
James frowned, "It's just a prank, Belle."
"One day one of your little pranks is going to cost you a friend, and then you'll see the real consequences of your actions. Mock my words, boys."
She stormed off, completely livid and still covered in freezing water.
— — — — —
Belle gripped the baby pink rose carefully in her hands, silent tears running down her face. She watched the dark clouds move across the night sky, covering spots of stars as it went. She always loved clouds more than clear skies.
She didn't really understand how much the day was affecting her until she broke. She didn't bother retreating to the Gryffindor Tower nor did she attend the feast. Instead she paced for a while and went on a hunt for a rose, which she found near the greenhouses. Since then she'd been in the Astronomy Tower, hiding from the student population and the staff. She was in no mood to explain her actions nor justify her opinions. All she wanted was to talk to the one person that wasn't available to talk to.
Sirius and James were getting on her last nerve and she feared that their friendship was deteriorating. She knew that friendships were going to change, as many of the older years said they did in third year, but she didn't know they'd be that fast. The boys weren't maturing at all and still thought their actions had no consequences. They were naive and stupid, two traits Belle despised. She hadn't talked to Eileen or Rose either, recently.
Remus and Lily were still good friends but she worried that they were growing annoyed with her. Remus was distancing himself every since Hogsmeade and Belle didn't know why. She didn't think she'd done anything wrong, but apparently she offended him. Lily didn't approve of Aiden and Belle's friendship either and that was driving a wedge between them as well. Everything was changing.
She just wanted everything to go back to how it was when she was in first year, a child and completely unaware of the dark truths of the real world. Her eyes shut, the tears ceasing for a moment as she threw the pink rose off the side of the tower, disappearing from view.
I miss you, Mum.