For the rest of the school year, I help the twins with pranking, and pretend to be shocked when something 'bad' happens. I also spend a bit of time with Severus.
These holidays I'm going to his house, yay!
Buckbeak's getting 'executed' today.
Poor Ron. His leg's going to hurt for a while.
I just hope the tree doesn't smash Hazel to a pulp.
I'm so positive.
"Belle? You okay?"
George waves a hand in my face. I look up at him.
"Yeah. I was just lot in thought."
"What were you thinking about?"
"That hippogriff is getting executed today."
"I saw the cut, Malfoy was lying."
"I know. I wasn't there, but Hermione told me about it."
"There's nothing we can do, the execution is happening at sunset."
"Sadly."
George looks out the window. "Your friend will be out tonight."
"Oh yeah, the moon. We're not exactly friends. I know him, but it's acquaintances. He'll be fine. He has his ways to resist biting innocent kids."
"Why the kids example?"
"That's how he was turned into one."
"Ouch. Which wolf?"
"Greyback."
"Double ouch."
"He's fine now. Half wolf, but fine."
"What are you two talking about?"
"Oh, hi professor Lupin. Just the moon. I can already see it. It's pretty, isn't it?"
We make eye contact and I can tell he's seriously creeped. "Yes, very pretty."
He walks outside, probably to follow everybody into the shack. I turn back to George. "I'll introduce you to him tomorrow, if you want."
"Sure. School finishes tomorrow."
"Oh yay. I'm going to my new home tomorrow."
"You must be excited. Is your dad still a surprise?"
"Yes. I don't exactly want to tell anyone who it is. He's not into everybody knowing."
"I understand. Is he nice?"
"Yeah. To me, at least. He's also giving me loads of freedom, due to the fact that I know more defensive spells than most people my age."
"Sounds like a cool guy."
"He is."
"It's getting dark, let's go to the common room."
I follow George up and we sit beside a window. I stare out over the grounds. George sits a bit further away than me.
"How do you cope with heights?" He asks softly.
"I've never really been scared of them." I whisper. "To me, there are worse things."
"Like?"
"Friends dying. Wars. Cold-hearted murderers, death eaters."
"That's pretty dark stuff."
"The world can be a dark place." Everybody comes out of the shack and the moon comes out. Everybody except Lupin is in the shadows. "There he is." I point at Lupin and George follows my finger.
He can't see the others, and looks away just before they approach him.
"Heights scare me sometimes." He says quietly.
"Everybody's scared of something." I say. We sit in silence.
"So is the wolf dude from Hogsmeade?"
"No. I don't know where he lives. You'll meet him tomorrow."
"It's late, we'd better get to sleep."
We stand up and I wave to him before going up the stairs.
()-()-()-()-()-()
"George, wake up!"
"How did you get in here? You're a girl!"
"The founders must have trusted girls more, because the stairs aren't enchanted. Now get dressed, we're going to meet that guy. I'll be in the common room."
I walk down the stairs and five minutes later, George follows.
"Fred's still asleep. Let's go."
He follows me all the way to Lupin's office. Lupin opens the door as we stop outside the door.
"Please no criticism, I'm leaving today."
"I'm not even going to hold you back, but I just want to say you're a great teacher. Also, George was wondering who my werewolf acquaintance was." I step in and George follows me.
"How did you know?"
"I have my ways. Has Harry come yet?"
"No."
"Well, he's coming to see you later."
"I assume you know about this." He gestures to the map and I nod. "Going to tell me how?"
"Probably not."
"Okay, well, Hazel was brilliant last night. I wish I had seen it."
"She had a brilliant teacher. We'd better get to breakfast. Bye."
"Bye... Snowy."
"Moony." I grin and George steps out with me.
"That's Moony?!"
"Yeah. James Potter was Prongs, Peter Pettigrew was wormtail, and Sirius Black is Padfoot."
We walk into the great hall and sit down with the trio.
"Great work, Hermione." I say. "I said you were right."
"Have you seen Harry?"
"He's probably with Lupin."
"Dad has tickets to the Quidditch world final. Wanna come?" Asks George. "He's invited both of you. And Hazel."
"I'll have to ask my... father, but he'll probably say yes. I'll send an owl." I say.
"Great. Hermione?"
"I'll ask my parents." We eat in silence for a bit.
Hermione looks up suddenly. "Belle, are you coming on the train?"
"No, I'm getting picked up from Hogsmeade."
"What will happen to Hazel?"
"She'll have the castle to herself. It'll be pretty boring for her, only having Dumbledore for company. McGonagall and Trelawnley stay in their rooms all day."
George chuckles. "It will be very boring. Personally, Fred and I would trash the whole place and prank what's left of the teachers, but Hazel isn't us."
"Obviously."
Soon everybody arrives and we all talk for a bit, then pack. Except for Hazel, so she sits there, waving after us. I think while we pack, she moves to the room of requirement.
Or she could go party with the house elves, you never know with that girl.
After I pack my bags, it's time to take them down to Hogsmeade. Of course, I don't put them on the train. I wave everybody else, then sit down to wait on a bench. Hagrid comes over to me.
"Why aren' ya on the train, Isabelle?"
"I'm getting picked up."
"Who's pickin' ya up?"
"My father. He's not keen on the world knowing we're related."
"Doesn' sound too nice."
"Well, he just adopted me, so I understand."
"Oh. Well, tell whoever it is I said hello."
"I will." I smile at him as he turns back towards the castle. Severus comes down a few minutes later. He has a small bag with him.
"Take my arm."
He apparates us to Spinner's End, and opens the door to the nearest house, I walk in and he follows me, then closes the door. He motions for me to follow him and I do. He takes me to a room at the end of the hall and opens the door.
I step in.
"I don't exactly know what you like, but it's okay for you to decorate."
"It's perfect!" I exclaim.
It has white walls, a creme carpet, a single bed with white sheets, and a wooden desk. There's a white closet beside the bed, complete with a set of wooden drawers.
"Really?" He says.
"It's a blank canvas. Like you said, I can decorate it, or just leave it, because it's perfect how it is as well."
"Great. Well, I guess I'll just leave you to settle in. You can go anywhere in the house, I have nothing to hide from you, just don't make a mess. I'll be in the living room if you need me."
I unpack, putting my clothes in the wardrobe using magic. I have enough clothes for 3 different outfits. I have all the other necessary things like pyjamas and other things a normal girl has.
Soon, I'm done with those and I pull out my Gryffindor banner from Harry. I hang it on the wall beside my bed. I don't have any windows in here, that's odd. I wave my wand and a fake one settles itself on a wall. I charm it so that it shows Hogwarts.
I conjure a bookshelf and levitate it until it's beside my desk. I set my homework down on it and slide my school books onto the bookshelf. There's a blank wall now. This one, I turn red, then I turn the others gold.
The red wall is going to be where I put photos and drawings.
I push my now empty suitcase into the corner and go to find Severus.
________________
So here's the new room!
And I made the chapter longer for you guys.
QOTC: what's your favourite thing in a playground? Swings, seesaw, etc.
Please vote!
~Ericano