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[CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE]
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The days were turning colder, Odette could feel it the moment she stepped outside.
The wind nipped at her bare skin, leaving her skin reddish and cold. She started to wish she hadn't removed her robe and had a pair of gloves or a scarf with her, neither of which she owned. Yet, it was too late to run back to the Ravenclaw tower and borrow a pair.
All the stairs would be the death of her, she had no idea how Mei and Xia put up with that for six years, although she supposed they must have gotten used to it.
The grass no longer held the warmth it once did. It was cool and the sun did little to warm it up. Usually, Odette would lay underneath the safety of a tree's shadow. However, she was certain she would become a human popsicle had she decided to follow her usual routine.
So, instead she sat out in the open and allowed the sun to give her whatever ounce of warmth it could. It wasn't enough to keep her skin from developing gooseflesh, but it was enough to keep her from shivering the entire time.
It was a calm afternoon. Every once in a while would students pass by, chatting excitedly. Sometimes birds would swoop by. She would hear the faint splashing of the Great Lake, which left her mind to wonder what was the reason for the splashing.
In her lap was a book. She wasn't sure what it was about because every word she read left her memory immediately. She found that she had been reading the same sentence for a couple minutes now.
A groan left her mouth as her hands reached up to pull at the roots of her hair. Before she could though, her hands were stopped by another pair of hands. Odette looked up to see Mei towering over her.
"You're going to pull our your hair," said Mei, "Which will be a shame because you have such pretty hair. It's so tamable, the opposite of my hair."
"Have you seen it in the morning?" said Odette, "I forget to put it up once and the next morning it looks like a rat's nest."
"But it stays after you fix it, doesn't it?" said Mei as she settled down beside Odette.
"I suppose."
"Aren't you cold?" asked Mei.
"Pfft, cold," said Odette as she waved her hand, "I was practically dying from the freezing water when Robbie found me, this is nothing."
She certainly was not on the verge of death, but the cold wasn't nothing. If Mei had touched her, she would know right the truth right away.
"Are you sure?"
"Certainly."
"If you say so," said Mei, her tone was laced with doubt, "Anyway, I've been wanting to talk to you."
"Which you've made very clear," said Odette, "So, go on, what's so important that you have to tell me that you have to talk to me every time we're around each other?"
"Well, Xia and I were thinking."
Odette waited for her to go on, but when she didn't she said, "And so was I."
Mei chuckled nervously before she continued, "And we have decided we have been unfair. In fact, I can't believe you're still sticking around us."
"It's easy to turn a blind eye," said Odette, "And I don't get angry easily, but I do get upset. Is this your apology?"
"Well, a bit, but not exactly."
Mei looked up to stare at Odette as if she was waiting for the blonde girl to say something. However, Odette made no move to speak as she wrapped her arms around her legs.
Once Mei realized this, she continued, "What I'm trying to say is that Xia and I were in the wrong. We shouldn't try to 'protect' you from others, especially those that we have no evidence to slander. We gave you our warning and you ignored them, so it's clear you know things we don't. You made your decision and I think it's time we made ours. From now on, you don't have to hide the fact that you're meeting up with Black."
"I wasn't hiding it, but," said Odette, "Thank you for understanding. I may not have my memories, but I could still make my own decisions."
"I know," said Mei, "We really are sorry for — well, we were a bit controlling."
"I hadn't realized," said Odette, it wasn't meant to be sarcastic. She really hadn't noticed, nor had she ever thought about Mei and Xia in that way. Regulus's words came back to her. She hated how he was so right. Odette wasn't the most observant person and it annoyed her that he noticed that about her before she had. In fact, if it hadn't been for Regulus mentioning it, Odette would have remained clueless. She still didn't know much about him, but she did know one thing.
Regulus Black was too observant for his own good.
"I have a question!" yelled out Xia as she jumped out of the tree, which made Odette jump in surprise. Mei stifled her laughter.
"Xia!" scolded Odette, "Do you always have to pop out of random places? When did you even climb that tree? Did you know, Mei?"
"I did," said Mei, "She was with me and climbed the tree just before I approached you. She's quite the master of sneaking around, aren't you, Xia?"
"That I am!" said Xia, "Although, I think my superior quality is how amazing of an aunt I am."
"Just because Rosie is attached to you does not mean you're an amazing aunt. I mean Emery cries half the time he sees you appear out of nowhere."
"Emery likes to bully me, that's why," said Xia, "He knows Hua will scold me if I make him cry, so he's using that to his advantage. The little. . ."
"Let's not talk bad about children, please," interrupted Odette.
"That's why Emery is my favourite," said Mei, "Rosie is too nice for my liking."
"Does Hua know you talk about her children like this?" said Odette, who found the conversation very strange for her liking.
The two sisters stared down at Odette before they both answered simultaneously, "Yes."
"And she doesn't care?"
"She does, but it's not like she can do anything. She'll probably just talk bad about my children, but the jokes on her. The only child I will have is the child that will be conceived the day of her death as a celebration," said Mei.
"That's disturbing," said Odette as she shivered, though it was mostly from the cold if she was being frank.
"Don't forget that I have a question!" announced Xia.
"I hoped you hadn't reminded me," said Odette, "What's your question, Xia?"
Xia kneeled down and crawled over to Odette, who slowly pushed her body away from Xia.
"Do you fancy anyone?"
"Fancy?" repeated Odette, "What do you mean fancy?"
"Well, you know, do you find anyone attractive?"
"Where's this coming from?" Even Mei appeared confused as she got a hold of her sister's robes to keep her from continuing to crawl towards Odette, who looked scared a bit.
"I'm just curious," said Xia, "And then I remembered Odette ignored us and continued to hang out with Black. Then, I realized that he doesn't have a bad looking shell. Only the shell though. Not the crab."
"I'm sorry, what?" said Odette, "Shell? Crab?"
"She's using figurative language," said Mei, "By shell she means his appearance, and by crab she means his personality."
"Oh. . . but how do you know you don't like his personality when you don't even make an effort to talk to him?"
"I don't have to. First of all, he's too hard to talk to. Second of all, he may be completely different than the facade he displays, but that is not enough for me. He may not actively go out of his way to bully others, but has friends who do. Yet, he does nothing but stand by. That's just as worse in my opinion. I don't expect everyone to stand up to bullies, but he's their friend. If anyone could stop them, it's him," said Xia, "So, you're right. I don't know him, but I know enough."
"Hey Xia," said Mei, "Olivia Mae should be back by now. We should go inside. It's chilly out here anyway."
"Fine," said Xia before they looked down at Odette, "You want to join us? Olivia Mae left earlier to speak to a professor about the cancelled Hogsmeade trip. We're going to find out what they told her."
"You can tell me later," said Odette, "I'll stay out here."
"You sure you're not cold? I'm going inside, so I can give you my robes."
"Keep your robes," said Odette, "I'm fine."
"You a hundred percent sure?"
"One hundred and twenty percent sure."
"That's not how percentages work, but if you say so," said Mei before the two girls hurried inside the castle.
Odette spent a couple of moments alone as she went back to trying to read her book. Her attempt went successful for the most part. However, she was in the middle of reading a paragraph when she heard a soft singing. Odette's head snapped up.
It sounded familiar, not only the voice, but the song.
"God shed his grace on thee."
Odette furrowed her eyebrows as she looked around.
"For purple mountain majesties."
She wasn't sure where the singing was coming from but it sounded near. Yet, no matter how much she looked, she found it to be coming from nowhere.
She was snapped out of her trance by something being slid over her shoulders. Odette blinked in surprise once, and then twice, and then thrice. It had fallen silent the moment she snapped out of the trance. Did that mean she never heard the music? Was this the first sign of her going insane?
Her fingers reached up to grab the robes, which was around her loosely and over her head, which kept it from falling. It was soft and just from touching it, Odette could tell it was high quality.
Odette looked around as she gripped the robe tighter. There was no one near her.