5.
Hogsmeade Horrors
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"Hogsmeade!" Chanted Stormy as she spun around the room, doing her hair. "Merlin I can't wait for Honeydukes."
"Didn't your sister just send you some Honeydukes candy yesterday?" Asked Dorcas putting on her makeup.
"Yes but I ate most of them, and then Sunny stole the rest. She had devoured all hers and apparently thought that it was okay to take mine."
"Well you did tell Jasper Greengrass that she had six left toes," added Avalon looking back at her friend from the mirror.
"It was a favour if anything, he's like a orange haired Lucius Malfoy: a daddy's boy, petty, arrogant and vile," said Stormy putting her jacket on.
"My father will hear about this," mocked Avalon remembering back to four years ago when Lucius Malfoy was in his last year and her brother in his third. James and Sirius had turned Malfoy's hair bright orange and made his robes two sizes to small, because he had made fun of Bilius Weasley for the same reasons. Dorcus quickly grabbed her own jacket and they headed out the door.
"That was the best day, Black's face when she realised her boyfriends hair was Weasley orange was absolutely priceless," said Stormy with a grin, "you know I didn't like your brother and his friends until that day."
"That's absolutely hurtful Montague, absolutely hurtful," said what Avalon recognised as Sirius' voice. The common room was completely empty aside from Remus and Peter who were leaning against a wall near their Dormitory.
"Sirius get that off," said Avalon reaching out in front of her. All of a sudden out of nowhere stood Sirius Black inch's away from where she was feeling.
"Almost," He said with a grin. "Did you really not like us?"
"No, Rainbow said you were idiots and I just listened," said Stormy referring to one of her four older sisters.
"Rainbow's the crazy blue haired Hufflepuff right?" Asked Sirius, Stormy nodded and he thought for a moment.
"She was pretty," he said, "I asked her out in first year, maybe that's why."
"She was three years older than you and you asked her in front of all of her friends, and rather loudly as well, they teased her for weeks after," said Sunny as the common room door swung open. "Of course that's why. By the way I think the fat lady hates me, she was refusing to let me in even through I know the password."
"Well you are a Slytherin," shuttered Sirius, "I'm sure she'd let in a Hufflepuff." All of the people in the room glared at him, and Remus to walked over and hit him over the head with the piece of parchment he was carrying. Sirius threw his arms up in the air, "I'm just saying she's evil, what's the big deal?"
"Let's go," said Stormy impatiently grabbing ahold of Dorcas's sleeve and yanking her towards the door.
"Are you three coming?" Asked Avalon facing the three Marauders, she didn't bother to ask where her brother was because he was most likely off annoying Lily.
"We can't, we've gotta help out Prongs with his detention," said Peter, Avalon frowned.
"What-"
"He hexed the living daylights out of Ronan Smith for asking Lily to Hogsmeade. Not only did he lose house points, but he got detention and banned from leaving the castle for the weekend," said Remus knowing exactly what Avalon was going to ask. The girl who's brother was an idiot shook her head in defeat, was he ever going to grow up? Probably not.
"Well good luck," said Stormy, using her other hand to grab Avalon and her body to push her sister out the door. "We'll be off now."
"You couldn't even wait an extra five minutes for Honeydukes could you?" Asked Dorcas as more of a statement rather than a question, while Stormy shoved her out of the portrait hole.
"Nope."
Immediately as soon as Avalon stepped out of the castle she was freezing and it wasn't until she got three quarters of the way to Hogsmeade did she realise why.
"Guys," She said, the others stopped their conversation about Quidditch and turned to face her, it was then that Dorcas noticed her blue lips and slammed her hand against her head.
"Don't worry about it," she said knowing what was going to happen next. "It was partly my fault, I forgot to remind you, we'll head back now."
"Don't be silly you lot go on and I'll go back by myself, I'll meet you in the three broomsticks after you've taken Stormy to Honeydukes." Said Avalon, Stormy shook her head.
"We'll all go back and you can get whatever it is you've forgotten," she said, everyone but Avalon agreed.
"I'll go back and get my jacket, you three go to Honeydukes," she repeated, the argument persisted but Avalon was stubborn and the three ended up giving in and letting her go alone. It's not that she didn't want her friends to not come, she had been leaving things behind and forgetting important facts and dates for as long as she could remember. As of second year she had gotten sick of dragging her friends down with her and had refused their help for a lot of small tasks, including coming back with her to grab the things she had forgotten and being late to class because she couldn't be woken up.
It was also partly because she wanted to prove to not only her parents, but her older brother that she could be independent.
To her parents she was always going to be the baby of the family, the happy surprise that they weren't even marginally expecting. The child who came out of the whom barley alive and then seven years later almost fell to her death, only to barley make it out alive, again. She was always going to be the baby that needed her mother to cook her cookies so she didn't pass out like she did in first year, after she had been running behind time and was forced to skip all three meals of the day.
To James she was going to be his baby sister that had a panic attack on the stairs, during her first day after being sorted, because she had looked down and got nauseous at the thought of falling into the abyss. The stairs didn't scare her anymore, but James still held her hand when they were walking down them together. To James she was always going to be the baby sister that had made him exceptionally proud during her first flying class, because she had managed to hover a few centimetres off of the ground. The baby sister that he had to stand up on the Gryffindor table for during lunch and yell at everyone to stop laughing, after she had tripped over her own feet in the middle of the
Great Hall.
The fact was, that if she was to let people do everything for her for the rest of her life then they would never let her live her life individually, and her friends knew that. So they stopped treating her like she was their toddler, like she had asked all those years ago and she had managed to make it through alright so far, but not without a couple of helpful insights along the way.
She would always need her friends no matter what, but they weren't her personal assistants.
"Going somewhere Potter Jr?" Avalon was pulled out of her thoughts by the vile voice of Alecto Carrow, she had almost made it back to the castle before the rather buff Slytherin had stepped in front of her. She looked behind her and there stood her twin Amycus, on her right was Antonin Dolohov and on her right was a Ravenclaw, Philomena Tuft.
"Oh you know," said Avalon not a quiver in her voice, "just passing by."
"I don't think so." Carrow redirected her wand that was down by her side to under Avalon's chin.
"And what have I done to you?" Asked Avalon turning her head around so she could look all of them in the eye. Amycus Carrow came in closer to her so he was right behind her and grabbed her wand out of her back pocket.
"Aside from being a blood traitor," he said, "your merely a tool we're using to exact revenge."
"There is nothing in this world that James Potter loves more than his little sister," smiled Alecto digging her wand in further. "Wouldn't it be a shame if all he had left was her mangled body. Maybe then he would learn to choose who he disrespects more wisely."
"Well you obviously don't know my brother then," snorted Avalon, Carrow dug her wand in deeper causing an even sharper pain to reside in Avalon's jaw, but her face didn't let them know that.
"Did we tell you to speak?" She snapped. Avalon looked around, they had enclosed her in a tight circle, all with their wands pointed directly at her. Not to mention they were in a long stretch of field and there was nowhere she could really run before they struck her down. She was trapped like a deer in headlights.
"Well you didn't tell me I couldn't talk eith-"
"Silencio!" Yelled Carrow rendering her victim completely silent. Avalon could have almost killed herself at that moment, because she should have screamed or created enough fuss to gain someone's attention, but as usual her smart mouth got the better of her.
"So what are we going to do with her?" Asked Tuft looking around at her Slytherin companions.
"What we said we were going to do in the first place," said Carrow grabbing Avalon's hair and yanking her head backwards so she could see him, he wanted his face to be burnt into her memory for the rest of her pitiful life.
"Hello Black." Regulus looked up only to see Philomena Tuft blocking the little bit of sunlight that he had managed to find. He was sitting on a wooden park bench not far from the Hog's Head where shady characters such as Tuft and the three wizards behind her usually hung out. She flipped her hair over her shoulder in a way he had seen his cousin Narcissa do many times, while she was being courted by Lucius Malfoy. "We're just about to go and have a couple of drinks, would you like to come?"
"I've just gotten to the last chapter," he said, holding up the the book he was reading, "and I would like to finish it, so if you wouldn't mind I would prefer to be left alone."
Tuft sighed in obvious disappointment as Dolohov walked over to her and rapped his arm around her waist.
"Don't take it personally," Dolohov told her with a teasing smile. "Reggie here is never down for any fun. As stiff as a stick."
Regulus cringed at the nickname, there was only ever one person who called him that and to him that person no longer existed. He suddenly stood up and put his book away.
"Very funny," he said sarcastically. "I'll be off now, have fun getting wasted and sleeping in the cold half naked."
"Don't worry," said Dolohov, "we will."
Regulus was walking back to the castle when he saw something shine in the long grass, way out to the left of the field the path cut through. He usually wouldn't stop but something told him it was detrimental that he went and looked at what it was.
As he got closer he saw that it was a red and silver earring, but the question he had about who it belonged to was short lived because when he looked up he spotted the unconscious and bloodied body of a girl, a girl whose nose he not long ago put back into its rightful socket.
He rushed over to her and felt her neck, she was still breathing but barely. Lost at what he was supposed to do he looked around. He spotted her glasses, they looked like they had been stomped on. He grabbed out his wand and repaired them knowing that when she woke up she would need them. He also looked around for her wand but it was nowhere to be seen. Giving up on the hope that someone would pass by and help him, he used his wand to levitate her body off of the ground and towards the castle.
On the way he prayed that no one would see them. Not only was he afraid that they would blame him, but also tell his parents or his house mates that he was the one that was bringing her to safety, because if they did then he would never hear the end of it.
"Henry," he heard Madam Pomfrey yell as he neared the hospital wing, "if you don't take that potion I will be forced to administer it the hard way - oh dear." She seemed to pale at the sight of the young Gryffindor's levitated body, "put her on one of the beds."
Regulus stuck around for a bit as Pomfrey healed the girl. It wasn't to make sure she was okay or anything, it was more to make sure he wouldn't be held accountable for her current state of being. Pomfrey finished and closed the curtains to shield the sleeping girl from any curious passers-by.
"I can't do much until she wakes up now," she said turning to Regulus who had sat himself down in a chair. "May I asked what happend?"
"I found her like that in long grass coming back from Hogsmeade," He relayed, she nodded.
"I will have to inform Dumbledore of this," she said, he nodded.
"I would appreciate if I was left out of it, I don't want anyone to know I was the one that found her," he said. "Not even her."
Madam Pomfrey had had many incidents cross her path and had met many different types of people while making a living as the school heeler. It didn't surprise her that the young Black boy didn't want some of those characters finding out that he had more compassion then he let on. She looked at his face which almost seemed to be pleading, it was then that she made up her mind. She wished him nothing more than to be safe and though at first hesitant, she wholeheartedly agreed that no one but Hogwarts staff would find out that it was him that saved this girls life.