Meeting In Sports-Room
MEETING IN THE SPORTS-ROOM
The following morning, I ate my breakfast in the dining hall. I intermittently stole glances over at the Hufflepuff table but the person I was seeking simply wasn’t there.
I went to my first law class and managed to sit thru it somehow. I skipped my second class in order to satisfy my curiosity about where Pia was hiding out during lunch-time.
I left the Preparatory School and walked across the school grounds to Hogwarts Proper. I walked inside and found the portrait of Regulas Black.
“Hello there, young man,” Regulus spoke as he greeted me. “I thought you'd never show up, but here you are again!”
“Hello,” I said to Regulus. “Have you any current news for me?" I asked.
Regulus sat in his portrait and smoothed dust from his suit jacket.
“The blonde haired girl comes by almost every day before tea-time. In fact she just went up about fifteen or twenty minutes ago,” Regulas said.
He further added, “The girl goes up… stays for several hours…then she comes back downstairs and leaves the building.”
I looked at the clock on the wall which shown 11:45. The clock had a little sign that read: Tea-Time – Lunch-Time.
‘I could do with a bit of tea myself,’ I thought.
When I glanced back at Regulus, he was sipping tea – along with all the other human portraits.
“I’m going upstairs to the second floor,” I told Regulas, “I'm going to find out what the mystery is with Pia and the whole sports-room thing.”
I began to step away from Regulus’ portrait but I stopped.
I turned back to the portrait and asked Regulus, “Do you have any advise?”
Regulus shot me a curious look and said, “I’d follow the song of singing birds.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked in confusion.
Regulus gave me a wink – then he stepped outside his portrait and was gone.
o0o
I went upstairs to the second floor and looked around the corner. I only saw a couple of students passing thru. Most teachers and students were at their tea-time, so the floor was pretty much vacant.
One side of the hallway had windows while the other side had a few doors. Here and there I saw the leaflets warning about Dangerous Digs.
As I approached the sports-room I caught the sound of birdsong.
Curious, I walked into the old unused sports-room. I thought it would be fairly dark, however it was somewhat well lit with a golden light.
The sports-room didn’t smell like a musty sports-room with the awful smells. It smelled rather on the fresh side. Maybe because nobody had used it for ages.
I glanced over to the other side where there was a huge desk. Around the desk there were chairs here and there. I noticed two figures sitting across the room on two of the chairs.
Above… I saw several pink sparrows flying over them as the birds sang their love songs.
I took a step closer and peered around a stall.
It was Pia! Pia and some damn guy! I studied the guy quickly... he had dark blonde hair which was combed straight back away from his face. He was a bit pale, and fair of face. I had never noticed him around the school, but maybe it was because he was a member of Hufflepuff.
But despite all this, I only had eyes for Pia. Wonderful, spectacular Pia. Mesmerizing would be too insignificant a word to describe her. I had missed her for so long.
Pia and the guy were whispering, holding hands and speaking very softly with each other. The guy’s eyes became watery and he kissed her softly on the lips. Small pink sparrows flew above and sang their love-songs.
I was enraged! Not only had Pia evaded me… she was already seeing somebody else.
I emerged into the room… I was ready to confront them.
The guy saw me first, he let out a deep yelp of surprise and motioned with his head over to me.
Pia looked as if she had seen a ghost.
“So,” I began, “I’ve been a fool wasting my time looking for you. I should have listened to everybody and realized you weren’t worth the effort… you’re a nobody."
I said this to hurt Pia… since I had been so badly hurt to find her in these circumstances.
The guy’s face was pink from either embarrassment or rage… maybe both.
He said, “Pia is worth ten million of you. You seem pretty much the pompous idiot to me.”
I was stricken with more anger. What gave him the right to speak to me this way?
Pia gave a stern look to the guy and said, “Ced, don’t say such things. Stop treating him this way.”
The guy let out a little sigh and said to me, “Well… Pia has said only good things to me about you… so don't be such a blatherskite."
Pia held on to the guy’s hand and said, “It’s okay Ced. Don’t make trouble.”
The birds flying above had changed from pink to blue. Pia looked at them and sternly said, “Go away!” with a fierce voice. The birds suddenly disappeared.
Pia put a hand to her forehead and took a deep breath. When she looked up at me her eyes were watery. She had pinkish circles around her eyes as if she had been staying up and weeping.
“So you found me didn’t you?” Pia said. “I knew you were close to catching on.”
The guy suddenly became friendly and said, “Pia has spoken so much about you, Albus. Won’t you come over and sit down?"
He motioned to the empty chair beside him, however when I walked over I sat in the opposite chair beside Pia’s. I wanted to hold her… tell her never to leave me again.
But instead I said, “Who in the hell is this guy?"
Pia looked over at me with fire in her eyes, “His name is Ced… and he's my best friend if you have to know.”
“And,” I cut in, “You left me for him? Really?”
Then Pia became very angry with me and said, “I haven’t left anyone for anybody."
Ced just laughed and said, “Pia, he doesn’t know who you are… he doesn’t remember you."
I looked beside myself where Pia sat. She was staring wide-eyed at Ced.
‘Who is this Ced?’ I thought to myself. ‘Why don't I know him? Why didn’t I recall a past with Pia?’
I wanted answers to these questions!
Ced looked over at me and said, “You’ve obviously had a memory charm applied to you – now you can’t remember certain episodes of your own life.”
I told them, “I can’t have had a memory charm cast upon me. Madam Pomfrey said I was under no type of spell or hex.”
Ced only laughed harder and said, “Not if the memory charm is old… which it is. I also think the charm is beginning to fade, so Madam Pomfrey didn’t detect it.”
I looked at Ced and said, “I know you’re familiar, but I can't remember exactly who you are.”
Ced looked at Pius and smiled.
“Should we show him?" he asked Pia playfully.
Pia sighed and said tiredly, “Why not? Go ahead… show him."
I watched as Ced stood up and walked away. As he walked across the room, he became more and more translucent. I could see through him.
“Great horned toads!” I said, “He’s a ghost!”
I glanced over at Pia. He was nodding and said softly, “Yes. Yes he is.”
I finally recognized him. “He's Dangerous Digs!,” I managed to say.
Dangerous Digs was furious. He screamed like a banshee and ran thru one wall, then came back thru another wall.
Pia raised her voice and said, “Stop acting this way Ced. You know that I can’t stand seeing you act like this.”
Ced stopped raising havoc and started walking closer to Pia. As he neared her he became less and less translucent. He was full solid when he walked over and sat down in the seat beside her.
“What in the name of Slytherin is going on here?” I demanded.
“I’ll try to explain things to him," Pia said reluctantly to Ced.
Pia turned to me and said, “For one thing Dangerous Digs never went by that name. It's a name that was fabricated here at Hogwarts. His real name was Cedric Diggory. ”
Cedric bowed his head down despondently, as if he were embarrassed or ashamed.
Dangerous Digs... I mean ‘Ced’ began to moan softly into his hands.
Pia placed her arm around him… and with her free arm she gently held his hand.
“It’s alright now, Ced,” Pia said gently, “Nobody can hurt you any more. Who cares what any of those braggarts say. They don't know anything.”
This seemed to revive Ced. He held Pia's hand tightly and said, “I know. I’m a fool to react like I did... I'm sorry, Pia."
Pia just smiled at him.
I wanted to touch Pia so badly… but she was so busy comforting Ced that I didn’t know how to approach the subject.
So, I said to Pia, “Well… keep explaining. Why do you and Ced act like old friends? You’ve never been to Hogwarts until this year. I don’t understand.”
Pia turned to me and reached out with her hand and gently touched my knee for a second. I was reeling in happiness by her touch.
“This is not the first time I’ve attended Hogwarts. We were both first-years together here. You’re just not remembering,” Pia told me.
Pius turned to Beth and said, “I’m going to leave for now, Ced. Albus and I need to talk and I owe him several explanations.”
Ced nodded and walked away. He became transparent and floated thru the far wall and disappeared.
“Would you want to go for a walk with me, Albus?” Pia asked.
I stood up and said, “I’d really like to go for a walk with you.”