Chapter 8
Slytherin table, Great Hall. 1994.
"Why does everything always seem to work out for you?” Jovvian questioned while frowning.
"Shall we review previous years to debate just how lucky I am?" Lumini suggested sarcastically.
"Finish eating before you talk, and stop acting like you don't know what I mean," the boy complained.
"Oh! Were you referring to my exile from the female Slytherin community? The way everyone takes the opportunity to blame me for their pranks? The year everyone decided to call me a whore?" Lumini listed, putting her fingers in front of the long-haired boy's face to emphasize her words.
"You know I only meant that you can participate in the tournament!" the boy snorted at the eccentric attitude of his friend.
"Among the many achievements of my life, do you seriously take the fact that I am seventeen as the pinnacle of my luck?" Lumini shook her head, offended at the thought.
"Fine, let me rephrase… your life has been horrible but somehow your luck has always been fascinating?" Jovvian's voice sounded confused while searching for words, drawing a laugh from the girl.
"That's more like it" she laughed, ruffling her friend's hair to slightly annoy him enough to drop the subject. "In other words, everything always turns out well for me, but I need you to feel a little sorry for me". She scooped over in a way that she was able to stare into the boy's eyes just to dramatize her next words. "Few things seem as unfair to me as you being happy when I'm not around."
"I'm a teenager, I've never been happy and I feel forced to think I never will be," he corrected, sighing equally as dramatically. "So whatever in the world are you complaining about now?"
"That my friend, who has the best grades in our year, also has been dating someone for a year and has managed to integrate in new friends-groups as if life depended on it. Overachiever much?"
"Do you think I don't think it's unfair that my friend has the highest class credits, the best practical grades, participates in two school clubs, and has half the boys at Hogwarts drooling over her?"
"We are a couple of lucky bastards, aren't we?"
"Man, I hate us."
"You know this is why our housemates dislike us, right?"
"Because of our achievement ceremony during dinner we have since second year?" the boy asked, as if he had to think about it. "Cry me a river, it's not my fault that we are intelligent, nice, and good-looking."
The friends shared a few laughs before continuing eating, smiling with the knowledge of being so alike.
"Anyway, what do you think of the tournament?"
"That it's rubbish because I can't participate in it" Jovvian grimaced. "Are you planning to put your name in it, you old hag?"
"I'll be damned if I don't" Lumini exclaimed, banging the table amid her exaggerated enthusiasm. "It's my time to do something good with my life."
"Or to end your suffering," the boy added, shrugging his shoulders.
"It's a shame you don't have many options," the girl stuck out her tongue.
"Oh no, I guess I'll just have to sulk with my financially secured future and my stable romantic relationship," Jovvian whined piteously, drawing a snort from his friend.
"Don't eat in front of starving people" Lumini reproached, throwing a quick but feral look to the Gryffindor table.
"You're eating, you'll inherit an incredible vault, and you're not allowed to complain about not having a relationship."
"Yeah but, I haven't had anything stable in my life, like ever, and at this point it's terrifying thought."
"Thousands of people would die for a second glance from you, don't you dare act as if you aren't just happy to leave a path of corpses where you go."
"Thousands of people are dying to check the rumors," the girl corrected. "Riley may have given me a bad reputation, but man was it good publicity."
"Don't say that name in front of my dinner..." Jovvian felt a bad taste in his mouth as he thought about it more. "And the rumors have never stopped you from anything, in fact, last year your popularity went through the roof..."
"All I had to do was confirm Riley's rumors" Lumini smiled, revealing a charming face as if trying to flirt her way out of the conversation.
"It wasn't just because of that," Jovvian complained, reproaching the girl's sudden gallantry. "There were boys who weren't complete idiots…"
"You can just say you want to talk about Diggory."
"I've been trying to bring it up ever since I heard the rumors on the train," Jovvian admitted, getting closer to the girl so he could start whispering.
"So you believe in rumors now?" she mocked.
"Yeah, whatever, how much did you pay the person who started the rumor?"
"I'm pretty sure it was Cedric..."
"Why would greek-god himself want to associate with you?" the boy snorted.
"Maybe because I made a very good impression on him when we started talking at the end of last year" Lumini commented with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Why was I not aware of this?!"
"I made a vow with myself, you know, as revenge, that I would not tell you anything about any boy I get with" Jovvian's face of betrayal was comical.
"When? How? Why?” the boy insisted, shaking his friend's shoulder.
"It all started at that Hufflepuff party, at the end of last year" Lumini remembered, rolling her eyes at the thought. "While you were too busy with your hands being in all the Gryffindor places they shouldn't, I had to find entertainment of my own and ended up caught in some truth or dare game."
"Did the crowd dare you two to kiss in front of the whole school? So cliché! Loving it!"
"That's dumb," the girl huffed, expressing her disgust in her facial expression. "I picked truth and they asked me to talk about the boy I like."
"You don't even like any boy."
"And I was about to say that that was exactly the answer I gave them," the girl growled at the interruption. "But those damn Hufflepuff, you know how corny they are, asked me to describe what my type was."
"What is your ideal type? You never talked about it."
"Merlin Vvi, shut up, I'm getting there" complained the girl. "I had to come up with something so they'd leave me alone, so I said something about great hair, Quidditch player, our age, funny, social, your typical nice guy image, whatever, and for some reason everyone took that as a Cedric Diggory description."
"Well, was it a Cedric Diggory description?"
"He's as interesting as any other boy," she shrugged, neither amused nor disgusted by the thought. "The point was that no one kept it a secret from him, and the very next day Cedric stopped by my Arithmancy class, completely by chance obviously, asking if I wanted to hang out."
"And this happened approximately four months ago?" the question only received a nod in response. "And I'm just finding out now? As if I was a first-year who heard a rumor while hiding in a bathroom stall after being scolded by Snape in his first class?"
"And you still haven't heard about all the letters during the holidays…"
"You didn't even send me letters!"
"I guess his life is much more interesting… did you know he went to the Quidditch championship with the Weasleys?"
"Oh, such an interesting fact, Lee invited me to accompany him to visit his beloved Weasleys about a thousand times" he snorted, glancing at the scarlet table.
"Unpleasant," Lumini murmured, casting a curious glance at the same place.
"So… you and Cedric?"
"My roommates would set my bed on fire with me in it if it ever happens," she pointed out, keeping her lips in a straight line. "Nothing like that is going to happen, and I certainly don't need another man eclipsing my greatness. It's like everyone has forgotten why my name is usually in their mouths…"
"I think the change from whispers about your pranks to whispers about your boys shows the way you've grown as a person," Jovvian praised only half joking.
But Lumini just stared at him, with a small smile, for a few seconds. Seconds in which Jovvian wanted to ask why, without completely daring. But that stopped being necessary when two exclamations in unison were heard from another table.
"What did you do...?" but the question remained in the air, as the twins' cries rose higher and higher.
"Spice up their meals... a classic," Lumini explained, drawing a laugh from the people nearby. "And, of course, I made all the drinks disappear from the kitchen before dinner," she continued, attracting people's attention even if they couldn't decide whether to pay attention to her or the twins' antics and complaints.
"Aguamenti!"
One of the redheads was quick enough to think of the spell and refill a glass of water, however Lumini had already considered that option.
"It would be a real shame if someone had found a powder that, combined with water, makes your tongue twice as sensitive!"
That revelation had reached the ears of the thirsty twin when the gulps of water were already passing down his throat, too late to have prevented it.
The twins' complaints and bouncing continued for a few more seconds, during which almost the entire great hall exploded with laughter.
"Isn't it so convenient that I have two bottles of juice stored in my pockets? And so cold too!" The girl revealed, drawing the attention of the twins, who stood in front of her, with their brows furrowed and their tongues coming out of her mouths. "You might as well start kneeling and begging."
The twins' denials, the teachers' complaints, the laughter of their classmates, the sighs of Jovvian. Lumini liked those situations.
**
"You are not even going to make it difficult for me?" Lumini asked, passing the twins on her way to watch the people put their names in the chalice. "I'm the one who wants to make a fool out of you, no need for you to do it on your own."
"Move, young lady, before we decide to hit you with our canes," one of the twins warned, walking by her side at an extremely slow pace.
"I don't even know if I want to ask why… anyway, if anyone asks I'll say that I had something to do with it." She approached the other twin and touched his bushy beard.
"We want to participate in the tournament," the twin informed, dignifiedly removing his beard from the Slytherin's hands. "And Dumbledore is somewhat of a genius..."
"Leave those things for the adults, children," Lumini laughed, before walking past the boy's shrunken body to continue on her way.
**
"I don't know how, but I'm sure Thing 1 and Thing 2 did it."
Lumini had entered the infirmary in the middle of a tantrum, standing in front of Madam Pomfrey while vibrating with the force of the emotions she couldn't express in her current form.
"I'm a nurse in a school, not a nursing home," the woman declared, before pointing to an empty bed.
Given that it was not the first case of the day, the diagnosis and cure were handed in just seconds, leaving the patient to rest until her wrinkles and gray hair disappeared.
"You'll be a lovely old lady," praised one of the only four other people lying in the infirmary.
"How?" Lumini demanded, frowning while refusing to give the boy a look.
"The potion's the same, Lee gave it to you when you weren't paying attention," explained one of the twins.
"The difficult part was getting you to cross an age line. Although it is not as powerful as Dumbledore's, we managed it" the other continued.
"It should last less on you than it did on us but, damn, was it worth it."
"I should be enjoying the attention of some Bulgarians and a couple of French," Lumini muttered to herself, as she lay on her side on the bed with her back to the twins.
"Trouble in paradise with Diggory?"
"You both should do something good with your life, for a change, and start a rumor that disproves all the rumors about me and Cedric."
"So you and him...?"
"Why would anyone believe that? Don't you notice that he's too... flawless... for me?" Lumini snorted. "One of his teeth shines every time he smiles, and his eyes... what's the need for them to be so... nice?"
"If you're waiting to find someone as wicked as you to be able to date..." a whistle caused the sentence to remain in the air, although leaving the meaning intact.
"I can get used to it."
**
The good news was that all signs of old age had disappeared from Lumini's face. The bad was that it meant she was free to leave the infirmary and, therefore, was bound to go to class.
Which meant potions with Snape, and the Gryffindor.
And because she had to run to her room to pick up her books before, it meant she was awfully late.
As she sped down the hallways, Lumini had the misfortune of colliding with one of her nightmare boys, who had apparently also recovered from his old age and was also late.
"This is completely your fault," Lumini complained, moving her feet as fast as her legs would allow her.
"Quit acting as if your pranks had never caused us detention," the boy replied, following the same pace as the shorter girl.
"Quit acting as if my pranks compare to the disasters yours make," the girl protested, frowning at the redhead's words. "Plus, I pull pranks on you two, you throw them on the whole school."
"At least that shows that we have a sense of humor, and we're not just petty and holding a six-year grudge."
"Don't act like you don't drool every time you get the chance to get specifically on my nerves." Lumini stopped her pace at those accusations, making the redhead also stand in the middle of the hallway. "You're not better than me."
"But you act like I'm worse," he accused back, crossing his arms. "You think that, just because you are you, somehow the pranks you make are less stupid than ours."
" Because they are less stupid! I think them through!" The girl defended herself, realizing her lack of movement and resuming her way to the classroom.
"Do you think George and I just see an opportunity and think it would be a good prank? Everything we do takes whole weeks too!"
Lumini rolled her eyes, not willing to admit that most of her pranks were based on that mentality, but also not willing to lend the last word to a Weasley.
"And even with so much planning, your jokes end up being so dull…" the girl murmured, making sure that the redhead could hear her before opening the door to the classroom and rushing inside.
"My pranks are dull?!" the boy called, following Lumini's steps until he also entered the living room. "The only dull thing here is your need to put on so much perfume." A cough escaped from his throat as he suddenly felt soaked in that smell. "You make the whole damn room smell like spoiled girl."
"You wish you were worthy of smelling my perfume," Lumini huffed, glaring at the boy. "And the only thing this room reeks of is rusty sickles and remains of firework gunpowder, which you still have in your stupid hair."
"Is any of you interested in joining the class or should we wait for you to finish your brainless discution?" Snape's sarcasm trailed across the room, showing his displeasure at the yelling of the two teenagers.
"Of course, sir, I'm sorry, sir," Lumini said quickly, taking her seat next to Jovvian, who just stared at her with his lips pressed into a thin line.
With the Gryffindor also in his seat, the professor approached the desk where he had a few cauldrons of potions, hurrying to put the lid on one.
"You may resume the explication," the professor said, and Jovvian made sure to elbow his friend on the ribs before continuing what he had been saying before the abrupt interruption to the class.
"So... the potion that you just covered is Amortentia," the boy spoke, making sure to maintain a deadpan expression while looking at the girl by his side. "It makes a person obsessed with another, in some sort of twisted love. It smells different for each person, like what attracts them the most, so basically it can also make an entire room smell like the person you love, their favorite perfume, or things you associate with them."
The silence was the only thing filling the room for several seconds after Snape had awarded points to his student, up until everyone started gossiping about the same thing, while two people couldn't avoid sending each other their quickest look, just to spend the rest of the class ignoring each other.
**
"Hey..."
Lumini had believed that her suffering would end if she hurried out of the classroom and got far enough away, but she hadn't been counting on the redhead rushing behind her.
And yet, there they were, walking side by side through a hallway that in any other day would have been packed, but that today was so calm that it was exasperating.
"We don't have to… necessarily… talk about… that," Lumini stuttered, looking anywhere but in the boy's direction.
The redhead could only nod his head, unsure of what he could or couldn't say in front of her, as he did every time they had the opportunity to engage in conversation.
"So..." the boy begged himself not to come out with something stupid at that moment. "Do you want to go to Hogsmeade this Saturday?" he murmured in a breath, instinctively bringing his hand to his hair to mess it up in an act of nervousness. "We can... uh... butterbeers," he nodded absent-mindedly when the girl's eyes landed on him, causing his nervousness to increase.
"That's such a lame invitation, you should have done it in like… third year," Lumini objected, shaking her head at the panic that the idea of having something resembling a date induced in her.
"But… damn it, woman! I did invite you in third year!" The redhead protested, standing in front of her to force her to stop walking and see his scowl. "I've been trying since first year," he pointed, as he let his arms fall heavily to his sides in complete resignation.
"Well you should have made a better effort!" said the girl, offended by the tone with which he spoke to her.
"Sorry if I didn't make an effort to try to court the girl who hated me," he said sarcastically.
"Oh no! Pardon me for not taking seriously the wooing attempts of the boy who disturbed my entire time on Hogwarts," Lumini replied, just as sarcastically.
"You can't compare it! At least I tried, you didn't even gave me a clue."
"You're not better than me," Lumini growled, imitating the redhead crossing at her arms. "Would you just shut up and ask me to the ball?!
"You should shut up," the boy replied out of instinct. "And you should come to the Yule Ball with me."
"Balls like that are so dull," the Slytherin criticized, looking away.
"We already had this conversation, the only dull thing here is you."
"Your ways of wooing are undoubtedly that of a professional" Lumini declared while passing by the boy to resume her path.
"I'm great at this wooing thing," the redhead defended himself, keeping up with her. "When we go to Hogsmeade on Saturday, I'll make you swallow all your words."
"You're not great. In literally nothing. Period." She said, pointing with her finger to emphasize. "And you haven't even told me which of the two are you..."
"I'm Fred!" he exclaimed, offended. "You just confessed your love for me, and you have no idea who I am!"
"Love? You're delusional, Weasley," she snorted. "I only know that the stupid redhead who always stammers, crashes into things, yells at me, tries to make me laugh, and makes a fool of himself, all in less than twenty seconds, smells like rusty coins and gunpowder… and gingerbread cookies."
"You're so in love with me," the boy concluded, nodding his head in acknowledgment.
"For fucks sake, Weasley!"
"You should start calling me Fred, anyways, I'll start calling you Luni."
"No, you will not. That's my special nickname," the girl complained, making a disgusted face. "Get your own special nickname."
"Okay, we'll give each other couple nicknames," the redhead shrugged.
"We won't do that shit, Fred".
FIN