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HERMIONE Granger had been emitted strange little squeaks every five seconds for the last several minutes. Liana, who was attempting to eat her cornflakes at the Weasley kitchen had covered her ears in an attempt to drown out the panicked noise.
"Those are them! There's four birds- it has to be!" Hermione cried in distress as she practically dangled out of the window, watching the approach of four owls, all clutching thick letters in their beaks.
"Calm down Hermione, don't worry. Those exams were a breeze for you, you'll have passed with full marks." Ron reassured as he stole a spoonful of Liana's cereal.
'What does a woman have to do to eat in peace around here?" Liana huffed in outrage, swatting Ron's hand away from her breakfast making him laugh.
"They're getting closer-" Hermione muttered as the owls approached the window and finally swooped in right over Hermione's head. Hermione uttered a loud screech as the birds dropped the pieces of parchment upon the kitchen table, right in front of Liana's bowl.
"Oh no!" Hermione whined under her breath as she picked up the nearest envelope with trembling fingers.
"As long as you pass three subjects- that's all you need," Fred commented with amusement from behind Liana. Liana jumped at the sudden sound of his voice and cursed violently under her breath she knocked her cereal over with her hand. Fred smirked and pinched Liana's cheek which made her shake her head and brush him off, a small smile on her face.
"You ready to open the OWL results?" Harry asked Liana. Liana nodded at once and picked up her own letter, feeling her stomach churn slightly as she pulled back the seal and yanked out the piece of parchment inside.
Liana had never been one to stress about exams and she wasn't bothered by the unknown of her future, she was usually just surprised she had lived to see another day. But she still had a gnawing feeling in the back of her mind that made her want to do well. Liana's eyes scanned down the page.
Defence against the dark arts: outstanding
potions: exceeds expectations
Charms: exceeds expectations
Transfiguration: outstanding
care of magical creatures: outstanding
divination: dreadful
herbology: acceptable
"I did okay" Liana breathed with a sigh of relief as she looked up to glance at the others faces. Ron was squinting at his paper in surprise, Harry was fiddling with his envelope, but Hermione looked rather crestfallen as she placed her paper down. Her mouth curved in disappointment.
"I did fine." Hermione said tightly and Liana, glancing in concern at her expression, peered over to see her results paper.
"All outstandings and one exceeds expectations- Hermione that's brilliant!" Liana encouraged with zest as she passed Hermione's paper to Ron for some back up.
"Hermione that's amazing. I failed divination- but it's okay because everyone knows it's a pisstake anyway. But you've done the best" Ron told her kindly as he gave Hermione the letter back. Hermione's eyes shone with gratitude and pride as she glanced between Liana and Ron.
"Really?" Hermione mumbled hopefully and Liana nodded as hard as she could before pulling Hermione into the tightest hug she could muster. Liana often in times like these, felt Hermione was lacking the praise from a parent who understood the magical world and her achievements, just as she and Harry were too.
"I'm really proud of you Hermione," Liana whispered in her ear and Hermione let out a little giggle. Her cheeks flushing rather red.
"All down to hard work I suppose," she smiled modestly. But Hermione's praise was interrupted by Harry pulling something red and shiny out of his envelope after five minutes of pulling papers and uniform lists aside.
"What's that?" Liana asked with curiosity as she looked up at Harry and he simply passed it to her for her to have a look at.
"You're Quidditch captain?" Liana questioned in awe as she inspected the small badge Harry had handed to her.
"Looks like it" he beamed. Liana handed the badge back, placing a gentle kiss on Harry's jaw as she stood on her tiptoes to reach.
"congrats captain" she smirked. Harry couldn't help the butterflies that lurched in his stomach as her soft lips pressed against his skin.
"well done all of you!" cheered Mrs Weasley as she bustling in, dishing out bowls of porridge to Ginny and the twins.
"Lets have a look Liana- what damage have you done?" Remus laughed as he walked in and looked over Liana's shoulder to see her results. Liana pulled a face and tried to hide the paper under her arm.
"That's incredible Liana," Remus exclaimed with shock as he saw she had only failed one subject, she had nearly all her OWLS. A pretty impressive feat considering what she had been through at the end of last year.
Liana squirmed at discomfort at the praise. Christina had definitely never praised Liana in her living memory and she wasn't accustomed to this.
"Thanks Remus" Liana mumbled awkwardly. But she gave him a quick one armed hug in appreciation, struggling to express her feelings in words, but luckily Remus understood what she was trying to say.
Everyone crowded down to have breakfast and Liana was just beginning to sink into her seat again when Ginny leant over and whispered in her ear.
"Come speak to me outside for a minute?"
Liana frowned but shrugged as she excused herself from the table and followed Ginny's path out of the room, noting how Ginny was shifting nervously from foot to foot, as if debating about whether to say what she was going to.
"What's up Ginny?" Liana asked with concern as she pushed the kitchen door shut behind her and leant up against it, twirling a curl of unevenly cut hair in her fingers. Ginny took a deep breath to prepare herself before she began to speak, arms crossed over her chest.
"What's going on with you and Harry?" Ginny pried and Liana chuckled although her stomach was feeling rather queasy at this. Liana suddenly became aware of how much taller Ginny was than her and rather wished she had grown a few more inches since the end of fourth year.
"He's my boyfriend" Liana commented casually, watching for Ginny's reaction closely. Something flitted across Ginny's face so briefly Liana could barely recognise what emotion it was.
"Why?" Liana followed up, folding her arms too, mirroring Ginny's posture. Ginny just shrugged, keeping her face void of most emotion, although Liana thought she could detect something almost close to jealousy from her.
"I was just wondering where Remus had gotten the idea from that you and Harry were boyfriend and girlfriend," She uttered.
Liana frowned.
"Because I told him so, the same day I asked Harry out" Liana stated rather coldly. She didn't understand Ginny's motive for this conversation but Liana's gut told her it was nothing good.
"Oh- so you asked Harry out? Instead of the other way round?" Ginny probed and Liana nodded.
"It's not the 1800s anymore. I'm not embarrassed that I asked Harry out. In fact, it was the most time efficient way of doing it while he got his head around his feelings and before any other girl waltzed into his life." Liana raised an eyebrow at Ginny as she concluded.
"Oh yes, girl power," Ginny mumbled rather half heartedly.
"Now if you don't mind- I'm going for a smoke" Liana told her. Ginny pulled a disgusted face as Liana drew out a packet of cigarettes.
"I'm not stopping you" Ginny replied and with that, watched Liana leave, a burning feeling inside her.
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MUCH later that day, Liana had passed out on the sofa, her eyes tightly closed as she curled up in front of the warm fire. In the window above the mantle piece, it was already growing dark and the clock ticking in the hall read seven o clock.
But Liana wasn't aware of any of this. In fact, she was dreaming.
Liana was standing at the top of the astronomy tower at Hogwarts. She was bare foot and dressed in her black silky nightdress that hardly grazed the top of her thighs. the wind whipped around her, turning her nose a gentle shade of rose and tossing her hair about her face.
She looked around, wondering if she was alone.
"Oh my merlin-" She gasped in shock as she glanced behind her.
Standing only a few feet away was Draco Malfoy.
In the moonlight only half his face was illuminated, casting him mostly in darkness. His usually smooth blonde hair looked tousled and disheveled, his icy eye watery and his shirt shirt unbuttoned and crumpled as if he been crying or had just woken from sleep.
"What are you doing here you moron? And why am I out here- it's awfully cold?" Liana complained as she feebly wrapped her arms around her shoulders and surreptitiously tried to pull down the hem of her nightdress to make it slightly more modest.
"What are you doing here Holly?" Draco demanded, his wand outstretched threateningly, as if Liana had caught him off guard.
"What on earth are you waffling about? That's what I'm asking you-" Liana muttered grumpily as she cast a look around them. Outside the tower the sky was pitch black, only illuminated by a few stars that were speckled across the sky and a full moon which shone down upon them, bathing them both in serene moonlight.
"I'm just taking a moment away from everyone else. Having a walk." Draco snapped, apparently ignoring everything Liana had just said.
"Very convincing" Liana snorted. But as she moved to the side to take a better took over the edge of the astronomy tower and into the dark mass of grounds which she adored.
She was enamoured with the grounds in all honesty. Maybe it had something to do with growing up in the countryside before she was restricted to the confines of the London flat, but everything about the grounds she loved. She loved how the lake rippled softly like velvet in the night air, how the milky moon was reflected in it, how she could hear the gentle rustle of tree leaves.
But as Liana turned back around she noticed Draco's eyes never followed her and instead remained fixated on where she had been standing before.
Then a thought occurred to her.
"Draco if you can see me, say yes" Liana instructed firmly. Draco just stood in silence, his eyes never moving from where he was looking.
"Okay fine- if you can hear me, wave your hand," Liana told him, doubt creeping into her mind. But again Draco just stayed as still as a statue.
"Dragon bollocks!" Liana cursed violently under her breath "not this shit again."
It was exactly the same as her nightmares in the previous year. Where she would be dumped in the same random location for months on end, nobody ever able to see nor hear her dream self.
A torturous and aggravating experience to say the least.
But as these thoughts dawned on Liana she became vaguely aware of a sound in the back of her head. She felt a sharp pain on her shoulder as if someone had punched her.
And just like that- Liana Holly sat bolt upright, looking around blurrily at the Weasley's living room.
"Liana are you okay?- What are you doing?" Ron's voice cut through and Liana blinked a few times, clearing her vision, before she realised what was going on.
The lights in the entire room, all the candles and ceiling lights and the fire were flickering. It made Liana's eyes hurt and she took a deep breath, trying to relax the tension in her body.
At last the flickering seemed to cease and Liana could properly rub her eyes and sit up, noticing Ron, Hermione and Fred were all sitting around her, matching expressions of concern on all their faces.
"What did you see?" Hermione asked without hesitation. She knew that whenever Liana had these strange dreams, they always had a dreadful pattern of coming true.
"Nothing really. I don't even know how I did that," Liana shared in confusion as she looked around at them.
"Don't sweat it Little Lion" Fred told her and gave her a quick one armed hug, "I'm sure when we get back to school good old Dumbledore will help you get those powers under control."
Liana made an agreeable mumble under her breath, although something told her that Dumbledore was not going to be paying that much attention to her with Harry there too.
"I'm alright I promise" Liana declared. The others nodded, seemingly reassured by that.
"We love you Liana," Ron said sincerely as he patted her leg and got up to leave, closely followed by Hermione and Fred.
"You should catch up on some more sleep though- Merlin knows you look like you need it," Ron snickered and Liana stuck her tongue out at him, well aware that there were thicks lines of purple beneath her eyes from her difficult summer of restless nights.
Liana waited until they had all left the room before she reached for cloak which lay crumpled on the floor beside her, and pulled out a small hip flask. She sipped briefly at the strongly smelling fire whiskey within it.
She shivered at the sudden taste but revelled in the burn it brought to her throat. Before she rolled over onto her other side, snuggled up against the pillows, and fell back into easier and dreamless sleep this time.
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AN
another chapter down (: this was just a filler chapter so excuse the shorter length and the long time it took to write but i've got a much more chunky one coming next!
Xoxo