Chapter 8
I narrowed my eyes at the dog. Did anyone bring one as a pet? I looked at the animal for a second longer and my concern washed away.
"Fucking adorable..." I muttered, kneeling to the ground. Strangely, the dog reminded me of the creature Harry had described that appeared to him in Divination class. I began to pet it.
The dog looked at me sideways, almost in a judgemental way. Before that moment, I had no idea that an animal could do that sort of look. I raised an eyebrow.
It looked at me for a moment more, before it started to lick my face. I laughed, pushing it away for a bit. I moved over to the outer walls of the castle and rested my back on the bricks, the dog staying right next to me.
Eh, it would be fine if my friends waited a bit. The moment right now way too good to just leave. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed sitting alone in peace.
After a few minutes of doing that, I looked over at the dog and raised an eyebrow, "D'ya have a name tag?" Nope. "...well apparently not." I paused, racking my brain for a name.
The dog did the same judgemental look as it did when I had just met it. His eyes sparkled with humour.
I sighed, "I reckon I'll just call you 'Mr. Black'." The beautiful wavy raven black hair on the dog was the only thing I could think of. I was an extremely original name, I know.
Mr. Black seemed to be pleased with the name and snuggled back into my side.
After a while, I wondered if I should've went and told my friends where I had gone. But I shrugged it off. They'd probably pull some elaborate prank for revenge, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
My thoughts had begun to turn back to the prank, "Alright, so," I began, turning to Mr. Black, "me and my mates are going to dye one of the teachers hair the colours of Gryffindor."
The dog turned his head. I hesitated, not knowing what that meant.
I looked up at the sky, "His name is Snape. Honestly, I hate that man with my whole soul."
Mr. Black fell onto his back, barking quietly. I could only guess that meant he was enjoying the story.
I grinned, looking over, "If you hang around for a bit, you may be able to see our accomplishment." I winked, then realized students were starting to head for their classes.
I stood up, heading off to Muggle Studies. I was near the door, then thought of something. I went back to Mr. Black and patted him on the head.
"Hey, come back here tomorrow, alright?" I said, looking at him.
The dog stared for a moment before walking off, happily.
I turned around, laughing to myself. Making friends with a dog... bloody hell.
But something in my mind made me feel nostalgia. Happiness.
***
I quietly opened the door to the dormitory, only to be met with four pillows thrown into my face. My glasses knocked right off of me, and I stood there, dumbfounded.
"Merlin! Where did you go?!" Someone shouted.
A thousand different questions were shouted as I stood there, trying to find where my glasses had gone.
Fred stood next to me, twirling them in his hands, "Seeing privlages have been revoked until you tell us what happened!"
I lunged for my glasses, and as Fred tossed them to Lee I gasped. "They're gonna get smudged!"
George pointed to Lee, "I'm open!"
George ended up with the glasses, then tossed them to me.
I grinned, cleaning the fingerprints off the lenses, "Thank you."
Lee crossed his arms and shook his head at George.
Fred sat down on my bed next to me, "Now, tell us," he turned towards me, "were you snogging those two Hufflepuff girls?"
I went into a coughing fit, not being able to breathe. Eventually I was able sit up straight, "What?"
George looked over and said in a slow voice, "The two girls came out the hall with you." He shrugged.
I looked around at all three of them. They waited very impatiently for the answer.
"God, no." I eventually stated, "It wasn't anything close to that."
"So..." Lee walked over, leaning on the wall next to me, "D'ya like any girls?" he wiggled his eyebrows.
I didn't know how to respond. How was I supposed to react? I didn't know anybody well enough to develop a crush. Was I supposed to pick someone?
"Ooooh." Fred uttered as he laid on his stomach, kicking his feet. "Do tell."
I looked around and made eye contact with George for a few seconds. He tilted his head, looking at me. After a few seconds he looked away.
I opened my mouth, only to close it again. "Am I..." my eyes flicked back to George, "supposed to?"
George shrugged, looking to the floor.
Lee raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure you don't find anyone attractive? Mates don't keep secrets from mates, y'know."
Fred giggled, looking up at the ceiling. My eyes widened. I'd do anything-anything-to not have to listen to Fred rambling on about someone.
I elbowed Fred in the side, then nodded, "I'll let you lot know if I do, and that's a promise."
George half shouted, "Same here!"
Fred, who was still in pain from the elbow, opened his mouth again, "Oh I could tell you all about her..."
"Spare me from this torment!" I sighed, laying on my bed.
Fred poked me in the side, "Only if you beat me to the showers."
George immediately jumped up and fled out the door in the matter of moments. He slammed the door behind him as he ran out.
"That little-" Fred mumbled as he flung open the door and ran after his twin.
***
All of us had forgotten our supplies for the prank, so we sluggishly made our way back to the dorms to grab them.
"This is all your fault, Fred." said Lee, who was holding some hair potions.
"You were the ones who took up the challenge!" Fred huffed. He walked up the steps two at a time. Which proved to not be in his favour as the staircase we were on violently moved. He came tumbling down.
"Fuck!" Lee called out as some of the vials dropped from his grasp.
They shattered, multicoloured liquid going everywhere. But most of it went over the edge of the moving staircase, dripping down to the main floor.
I rushed over to the side of the staircase to see where the dye had fallen. It seemed to have dodged all the other staircases and went straight to the bottom. My eyes had then caught something that caused me to holler with laughter.
"Bastard! It wasn't my fault it dropped!" Lee called out, clutching on to the remaining few viles.
I barely made out my sentence, "It's not that-" I coughed, "look at him-" I pointed downwards to a specific third year boy.
When Lee looked down, he could see Draco Malfoy, covered in the single most ugly green I had ever seen. Malfoy narrowed his eyes at us, slowly flicking off the dye from the top of his head.
Lee joined me in the cackling, which led for the twins to be curious. Both looked downwards for not even a second when they joined us too.
"My father will hear about this, you filthy blood traitors!" the echoing from downstairs was barely audible.
I wiped away the tear from the corner of my eye and tried to recompose myself.
"That was completely worth the walk back to our dorm."
All of us continued our journey to the showers after a while. We passed by different paintings that were just living life, occasionally talking to others.
I kept on teasing Lee about dropping the precious dye that George had worked the whole night on. He responded with, "Splendid. I didn't get a wink of shut-eye due to you making the vials."
We stopped when we located the staff bathrooms.
Surprisingly, it was relatively easy to break in. Nobody was inside of there moderating. We could just waltz right in and do our thing.
"Damnit, I really wanted to try out that new memory hex on a prefect." I said half-heartedly. I opened the door and the smell of fresh cookies filled my nose.
"Excuuuuuuse me." George said as he shoved me aside.
"Merlin's beard, have some patience." I retorted, following him in.
Lee sniffed in audibly, I had wondered how a human could breathe in that much air. He looked around, "Does it smell like Mrs. Weasley to anyone else?"
I sniffed the air, "Lee, you genius, I've been wondering why it smelled so familiar." Now for the next question, why did it smell this way?
Fred raised his eyebrows, then widened his eyes, "Wow. It really does smell like mum." He then turned around, "D'ya think a teacher has a little obsession?"
"Just a wee bit." George said, also looking around.
Lee walked over to the corner of the shower room, unscrewing a vile, "If you don't tell me where to pour this, it'll soon get all over your carrot tops."
We all screamed bloody murder, covering our heads. Ever since I had moved into Hogwarts, my hair had grown a little bit. The hair growing at my roots was more of a light brown colour than ginger. Who would dye their hair ginger of all colours? Apparently me.
Fred led our way to the second shower stall on the left. He dramatically opened the curtain and we stepped forward into the space.
"You sure this is the one?" I asked.
George held up a bottle labeled, 'black dye for greying hair'. He displayed it for a few seconds before saying, "Most definitely."
Me and Fred were tasked with trying to get the pipes apart. We had tried to use magic for the life of us, but it didn't work.
Lee came over to supervise us, "Move out of the way."
We did as told and watched in awe as Lee began to take the pipe apart by hand. It put it into perspective just about how stupid I was.
Lee finally finished it, he held a silver piece of metal. He shrugged and tossed it to Fred, who's mouth was dropped.
"How-"
"Muggle stuff."
Lee walked out and continued to sort the viles of dye with George.
I crouched downward and looked up the pipe. Mold could be seen everywhere. If mold was in the pipes... and the water came from the pipes... then...
"Fred I just found out why his hair looks like it was dunked in butter." I whispered, still peering into the pipe. The more I looked, the more revolting it became. I eventually looked away, and gestured for Fred to look.
"The grease is a defining trait of his," Fred kneeled down and looked inside, "he better not take care of his hair, or I may not recognize him tomorrow."
I paused at the thought, "Nah, if he has Sirius Black's hair then I'd be perplexed."
Fred stopped looking into the pipe and looked upwards at me, "You think the mass murderer's hair looks good?"
I put my hands up in defense, "Hey, I see the poster nearly every day. Give me a break." I tried to remember the look of the hair, "Can't help but notice those luscious locks."
Fred shook his head, then let out a screech.
"What-?!" I said looking around. But then I saw a small rat or mouse thing running out of the shower.
I began to burst out laughing.
"It Ron's fucking rat-" Fred said after a while.
I pointed towards Fred, doubling over in laughter, "You think Scabbers is scary?!" I could barely get the sentence out. I walked out of the shower stall and laid on the floor, wheezing at the ceiling.
George came over and tapped me on the side, "You alright, mate?" He looked down at me, expecting an answer.
I stared into George's eyes. The light from the small window reflected into them, making them sparkle. My heart skipped a beat and I just stared for a good five seconds.
I came back to Earth when Lee kicked me in the side, "The three of us are going to put the dye in the pipe. Find Scabbers, will you?"
I looked away from George, my face heating up. I managed to raise my hand and give a tired thumbs up to Lee.
I laid in place for a few minutes, hearing the pipe clanking against other pipes. My mind was stuck up on what had just happened.
I shook it off. It was best not to dwell on it right now. I had Scabbers to catch, didn't I? I stood up and looked around the room, opening and closing every stall.
After a while, a little thump could be heard near the mirrors. I kneeled and sadly didn't find any rat.
But instead I found handwriting. My heart started to quicken. The writing said:
Room of Requirement
I nearly choked at the signature. It was the same, messy scribble I had seen on the letter in my pocket. This time, however, it was more clear.
R. A. B.