Among the Stars

Finals are over and with them gone the anticipation of the approaching summer was rising. There were only a couple days left before they went home and Wisteria was spending her last few days at the castle outside in the beautiful weather with her friends. Instead of climbing up into her usual tree as her friends sat under her, Wisteria had stretched herself out in the grass, her bare feet just barely able to reach the water of the Black Lake.

       Penelope sits by Wisteria's head, braiding little bits of her hair to give herself something to do. Shannon and Jane were both leaned up against the trunk of the tree, with Jane sitting in the shadow. Lily and two of her friends Mary and Alice had joined them and were sitting on the shore of the lake, pant legs rolled up and loving the feeling of the cool water against their toes. The seven girls sit in silence as Christine approaches with Sirius, Peter, James, and Remus.

       "You know Wisty, with that fair skin of yours you're bound to get a sunburn." Christine warns.

       "Oh come on Christy!" Wisteria says, a goofy grin making it's way onto her face. "What's life without a little danger? Being a redhead the sun may be my greatest enemy, but I wont let it bully me into sitting in the shade. I'll be fine, no need to worry."

       Christine rolls her eyes and sits down, leaning up against Sirius as he sits down as well. James chooses a spot a little closer to Lily, but a safe enough distance for her not to be able to hit him, should the desire arise.         

"My precious Lily-pad." He says and everyone notices her good mood vanish. "I regret to inform you that I can see your ankle. I'm afraid that is much too scandalous for school attire and insist that you cover them. They are far too enticing. If you don't I may lose control and get an irresistible urge to kiss you."

       Lily quickly pulls her feet in, rolls down her pant legs, and swiftly walks away without saying a word. Alice and Mary sigh as they get up to follow her.

       "Smooth James." Alice says as she walks past him.

       James frowns and Sirius laughs at the pout on his friends face. "Better luck next time James." James glares at him, making Sirius laugh even more. "Sorry mate. Not all of us can be as lucky as I am when it comes to girls."

       His arm tightens around Christine's waist and as Wisteria sits up she can see Christine beaming.

       "So what plans do you all have for the break?" Peter asks and Shannon frowns.

       "Oh yeah. I forgot we'll have to leave here soon."

       "It'll be fine. Not being here means no homework or grumpy teachers! Plus we get to be home, in our own beds. That's always nice. Even if family isn't. I know I'm not necessarily looking forward to living with my little brother and sister again." Jane says.

       "My home isn't too much different from being here. I mean, sure it's not a castle and I don't have to homework, but my aunt has raised my sister and I for almost as long as I can remember and she treats me there just like she does here. School, home, it doesn't matter much to me." Penelope says and the girls look at her, somewhat shocked. She had never said anything about her aunt raising her...

       "Well at my house I have to deal with my annoying little brother and overbearing mom. My dad's fine, but he works for the Ministry and is almost never home." Shannon tells the girls.

       "I've always liked my family and life at home. To be honest, I've been a little homesick. It'll be nice to be with my parents again." Wisteria says.

       "My dad left my mom when I was really little, so I basically just have her and my brother to deal with. They mostly leave me alone, so it's not so bad." Christine shares. "What about you Siri?" She asks.

       Sirius looks caught off guard for a moment, but quickly regains his usual cool. "I've got my mom, dad, and two brothers, but they typically stay outta my hair." He says dismissively.

       "Well I've got it made." James brags as he lays back in the grass. "Rich, and totally awesome parents, even if they are a little embarrassing sometimes. I can basically get anything I want."

       "Well, aren't you a lucky ducky." Wisteria says rolling her eyes. "The one thing that I wish I could do when I got back would be to see all of my old friends. I miss them."

       "Ooh! Tell us about some of them!" Shannon urges.

       "Yeah, you hardly ever mention them." Christine says.

       "Well, there weren't many. I had Lizzy and Tori. They were by far my best friends. And then there was John..." Wisteria's eyes drift to Sirius as she mentions this because of how he reminds her of John every now and then.

       "John?" Penelope says, wiggling her eyebrows.

       "Who's John?" Michael asks as he approaches.

       Wisteria's face flushes red and she quickly says, "No one."

       "No, no, no. You can't just hide away now! Come on! Who is he?" Christine pushes.

       "He's my ex-boyfriend." Wisteria mumbles, keeping her head down. She looks up when she feels something next to her and finds that Michael has sat down close enough to her for their arms to brush up against each other. She feels her face grow warm, but luckily everyone else just brushed it off as her reaction to talking about her ex.

       "You had a boyfriend?" Jane asks.

       "Well, yeah."

       "What was he like?" Penelope asks.

       "Actually... He was quite like Sirius." She says. He looks at he in surprise. "I mean, he was the guy all the girls wanted and he was carefree and I don't know. He just... Sirius reminds me of him..." Her face heats up even more and Wisteria want's nothing more than to hide away in some little corner of the school. "Not that I like you, Sirius! I mean... I don't like you, I like someone... else... I think I'm just gonna go finish reading that book I started reading last night." Wisteria stood up and walked away with her face as red as a tomato as her friends roared with laughter behind her. Wisteria was almost back the school when she notices someone following her and turns around to see Michael.

       "Mind if I join you?" He asks. "It's been a while since I've read a good book. You could read yours to me."

       Wisteria smiles. "Sure. We could go to that room where we had the party for Lily and I's birthday." She suggests.

       "The Room of Requirements?"

       "Is that what it's called? You never did tell me anything about it."

       "Oh yeah. Well, I suppose I could do that now."

       "Great, I'll go grab my book and you can explain on our way there."

       "Let's just go straight there."

       "But I need the book if I'm going to read it."

       "Don't worry." He says with a playful smile on his face. "The will provide you with what you need."

       "What?"

       "I'll show you, come one."

       Together, the two of them walk through the halls of the castle and finally find themselves in the hallway where Wisteria distinctly remembers there once was a door. A door that had appeared out of nowhere and had seemingly vanished into nothingness once again.

       "The Room of Requirements is a place in the castle that you can only find when you have a specific need in mind. You think it, come here, and it will provide it." Michael explains.

       "I don't think I follow." Wisteria says as she tries to understand.

       "Pace back and forth three times while thinking about needing a place to read your book." Wisteria opens her mouth to respond, but he holds up a hand to cut her off. "Just do it."

       She closes her mouth and obeys, silently pacing in front of an empty wall while focusing on her need to find a place to read a book. As she makes her third lap a door suddenly appears on the wall, just like it did on her birthday. Wisteria steps forward and swings the door open to find a room much different from the one her party was in. This one is smaller and looks like a small library. The walls are covered in books and there’s enough room for a couch in the center with lamps sitting to either side of it to provide light to the room. Wisteria walks in, Michael right behind her. He walks over to the couch and sits down as Wisteria plucks a book off of one of the shelves.

       Michael smiles and says, "So, I believe you told me you would read me a story?"

       A couple days later the ride back to Platform 9 3/4 was uneventful as the girls chatted about their plans and made plans to meet up. Eventually they decided that they would start at Wisteria's house and slowly make their was through each of each others homes. Wisteria, then Jane, then Christine, then Shannon, and then they would end their summer at Penelope's place.

       Knowing that she would be seeing them all soon made it easier for Wisteria to say farewell to them. As they all moved off the train, Sirius and Christine stayed back for a moment. When the two of them finally joined the others on the Platform, Christine was crying. Shannon and Jane went to her side immediately, asking what happened. As sneakily as she could, Penelope slid the Galleon that she now owed to Wisteria into her hand before moving to comfort her sobbing friend who had just been broken up with.