Belle
I wake up to the sound of Rose and Lily bickering ‘softly.’ They were hissing back and forth at full volume about my cousin and his friends but I’m too exhausted from the night before to figure out why. I yank back my curtain and chuck a throw pillow at them.
“You two are shit at whispering you know that?” I say as I flop back down on my pillow and catch Alice snickering from her place in bed.
Everyone is still in pajamas but Rose’s hair is wet like she just hopped out of the shower. Rose looks at me with relief and says,
“B, thank god you’re awake. We’re all going to Hogsmede today to stock up for our last hurrah before school starts again.”
I sit up in bed, intrigued. After yesterday and blowing off most social outings last term, the idea of a party sounds great.
“I’m in,” I smile then remember the bickering. “So what are we arguing about?”
Rose give Lily a triumphant look and, without answering my question, says,
“See! Even B is in. C’mon Lils you have to come or it’ll be no fun at all.” Then she turns to me, “Lily doesn’t want to come.”
Lily rolls her eyes, “I didn’t exactly say that.”
Rose throw her hands up while her face contorts in an over-the-top incredulous expression and we all get a giggle out of that. Alice slyly interjects,
“Actually, I think what you said was ‘If Potter’s there, then I won’t be.’ An interesting condition,” She turns to me with a smirk on her face, “Don’t you think?”
Lily gapes at Alice with wide eyes as her ears turn red. I smile as the reason behind her opposition becomes clear to me. I stand up and make my way to the bathroom. Rose hangs on the doorway and whines,
“Please make her come, B. I want to party with all of us!”
I squirt some toothpaste on my toothbrush and look over Rose’s shoulder to Lily,
“If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to.” Then I yank Rose into the bathroom with me, closing the door behind us. I start brushing my teeth and through the foam and the brush I mumble,
“How much firewhiskey do we have here?” I say loudly and kick the cabinet with the false divider that hides our liquor. By the time Rose takes inventory, I have rinsed and put my toothbrush away and moved on to smoothing my tangled hair. I look at a pouty Rose through the mirror,
“She’ll be there tonight. Lily likes to have a good time as much as we do but this thing with James is complicated. Well not really, but it certainly is for Lily.”
Rose hops up on the counter as she listens.
“If we’re hanging out and James interrupts us, she can’t control that but if we throw a party and purposely invite James then we’ve taken her control out of the equation. She says she won’t come now, in order to maintain her control. Now she has a choice. But we’ve been through this before and she always comes.”
Rose nods thoughtfully, “That’s very well put, and quite observant of you. –Speaking of observant– I noticed you and Remus were mysteriously missing most of the day yesterday.” She doesn’t look at me for a minute then gives me a intrigued look and now it’s my turn to hold back a blush. When I’m too shocked to respond, she continues,
“Are you two ‘getting along’ better?” She asks, the innuendo obvious in the question but there’s also an air of gentle concern in her voice. I fein innocence but try to answer truthfully,
“We have an understanding. But yes he’s been more amiable lately.” I pull the door open as I remember Remus’ tousled hair and flushed cheeks as he brought me to orgasm in his secret loft. Friendly, indeed.
***
We grab Sirius and Peter on our way down to Hogsmede to let them know about the plans. Sirius may have run away from home years ago but he still is the most skilled at throwing together a last-minute party. Something that I imagine the Blacks are quite skilled at. We let them know that we’re grabbing mixers, food, and games and task the two of them with the procurement of more firewhiskey.
Sirius hugs me enthusiastically, “Finally back with the gang.” I laugh but don’t read much into the comment until Peter speaks up,
“Yeah, we’ve missed having you around Belle.” He gives me a warm smile. I look around at the group,
“I’ve been around you loons!” But really, I am happy to be back to spending time with them too. Now that I don’t need to avoid Remus like the plague, I’m excited to rejoin my Hogwarts family in extracurriculars.
We stock up while we’re in Hogsmede. Butterbeer, Pumpkin juice, licorice wands, chocolate frogs, crisps and pretzels, etc. We get decorative sparklers, and magical fireworks cheap, leftover from the New Year collection at Zonko’s. I send the girls on their way to set up and head to Madame Puddyfoot’s for a last-minute gift.
I’ve been wanting to get Remus something to show my gratitude for how understanding he has been with the whole 'Mother-come-back-from-the-dead' situation. Yes, I can just focus on partying and presents. I haven’t really had a chance to mull over what happened last night but, I’m grateful for the distraction. Honestly, I have missed the usually carefree atmosphere that Hogwarts had in the past. I can only attribute so much of my stress to Remus which is why I want to keep him in this good mood.
I’m browsing teas and selecting a few for the gift when I hear Sirius behind me. I look and see he’s flirty with some girl who’s clearly on a date with another boy. I whisper-yell at him to leave the poor girl alone and the boy she’s on a date with gives me an exasperated but grateful look as Sirius joins me. The bag thrown over his shoulder clangs with the sound of glass bottles and I roll my eyes at his lack of discretion. Nobody would say anything to him, not with his last name, and that’s why Sirius gets the booze.
He offers me a lazy smile, “Fancy seeing you here. I’ll tell you what, you help me get her away from that twat and I’ll leave him in pieces for you to pick back up. Pretty good deal, yeah?”
“Leave them be Sirius. Or if anything invite them both to the party tonight. You can meddle then.”
There’s no point in telling Sirius not to do something once he’s set his mind to it. I’ve only ever seen James and Remus control the chaos inside of Sirius. The woman behind the counter finishes bagging up the tea and I motion to a case of hand-painted tea cups behind her.
“I’ll also take those two, the ones with the wisteria vines painted over them.”
The woman nods and flicks her wrist as the cups fly off their counter and wrap themselves in old Daily Prophet newspaper leaflets.
Sirius mentions matter-of-factly, “Moony likes that kinda stuff.” Then he’s staring off toward the girl and her date again. I hand the money to the woman, give her a warm ‘thank you’, and yank Sirius out of the shop.
He’s rambling about getting someone some type of gift and I’m mostly tuned out as I wonder if Remus would like my contribution to his space. I think the dainty, hand-painted teacups might look nice twinkling in the candlelight and I know that I purchased his favorite tea among others that seemed interesting to me. Maybe we will try them all together and get to talk about which ones we like best. Maybe he’ll kiss me when he sees the gift and I’ll finally get to touch him properly. I shudder and the thought and nearly slip on some ice. It hadn’t rained in the last few days but the damp and chilly conditions had resulted in some black ice that I had been too preoccupied to tread around carefully. Sirius steadies me,
“Whoa. Are you okay?” He grips my arm hard.
“I’m fine, thank you. What were you saying again?” I nudge the topic back to him instead of my near slip.
“I was saying that you should help me pick out some jewelry,” He motions to a jewelry shop and guides me over to the door. I had never been here before; the prices are too expensive, so I steer clear, save for the occasional glance through the window. The door is a reddish, oaky color with a champagne-colored stained glass window in the center. The bells jingle as Sirius pushes in and as the jeweler greets us, I freeze. I know that voice. I train my eyes at the jewelry case as the big burly body of Exan moves to stand in front of us.
“Looking for something pretty?”
The thick Scottish accent sends a shiver up my spine and I know that if I look up I’ll see the dark eyes of Exan staring back at me. I tap my fingers on the case as Sirius rambles on about each piece of jewelry. I nod and give grunts of affirmations until eventually he chooses and the rumbly voice enters my ears again but I don’t hear the words.
As we turn to leave, I glance up at him and there he is. He gives me a deadpan glare and nods at me with a sinister smirk on his face. So, I get the hell out of there. The entire walk back, I tug on the necklace my mother gifted me. I can’t help thinking that this necklace came from that shop and the thought of that makes me feel sick.
***
By 6 o’clock the common room is decked out in gold balloons and multicolored streamers. Gold tinsel is strewn about, resembling what I imagine a golden goose’s nest might look like. The candles are all lit and several glass disco balls reflect the light in a thousand different directions. Snack bowls litter the tables leaving one empty space for a punch bowl that’s currently being mixed in James’ room.
I’m feeling comfortable in my clothes from earlier in the day, a dark corduroy dress that hits above my knees layered over a dusty yellow and orange patterned blouse that I borrowed from Lily. After all, it’s a party not a meeting with the Queen. So as the rest of my dorm-mates are getting ready, I use this time to head to Remus’ secret loft with my gift.
The halls are still mostly empty and I can hear the echo of my footsteps in the hallway. Every now and again someone will stop to excitedly let me know they’ll see me tonight. I can feel the rising adrenaline in my veins as the party looms ahead. I haven’t seen Remus since we parted ways last night but I was itching to see him again. I wonder what it would take to get him to push me up against the wall again. Apparently I’ve been quite successful in the past at getting under his skin, so if I keep a cool head I might be able to orchestrate something fun tonight. A smirk tugs at my lips as I enter the closet.
Things were more or less as we left them yesterday evening. I ran my hand over the soft velvet of the sofa as the memories of passion flood my senses. My heart flutters and I take a deep breathe before sinking into the couch. Despite my excitement and anticipation for this evening, I can’t shake the pit of dread in my stomach brought on by meeting and then subsequently running into Exan.
If you asked me after my first meeting with my mum to stay with her from the summer, I would’ve been elated, but I can’t see a summer playing pretend with mum and her boyfriend. UGH. Boyfriend. That word tasted like bile in my mouth. I imagine eating breakfast with my mum and Exan this summer; his dark eyes watching me and my mother. It fills me with confusion and frustration, so much so that I start to feel a panic rising inside of me. I take several steadying breathes, just like I’ve done a million times before. When I can stand I tidy up some scattered mugs, I fluff the decorative pillows and refold the throw blanket once, twice, three times. One last breathe and I’ve successfully pushed the panic from my head.
‘Good job, B.’ I think to myself. I arrange the teacups and stuff the tea in with the others. It feels very casual, which I am satisfied with even if I was very excited to see Remus’ reaction to the gift. As I leave the closet, I try to leave the dread behind but it becomes clear that I would need at least one shot of firewhiskey to do that.