Mr Curiosity
See this catastrophic event,
It wasn't meant to mean no harm,
But to think there's nothing wrong is a problem. -Jason Mraz
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Four of the five girls were talking animatedly, heading to lunch. The fifth, Sam, was again spending time with his
ridiculously perfect boyfriend. While Lily was talking to Mandy about their love life: currently nonexistent, Cassie
and Bethany were discussing what they should do the next Hogsmade weekend, falling two steps behind the dreamy
girls:
"Maybe it's time we visit the Shrieking Shack. I've always been kind of curious." suggested Cassie.
"You are always curious Cass." replied Bethany, unsure. "Who knows what, or who, inhabits such a gloomy place. I can't see the attractiveness."
"Exactly my point!" exclaimed Cassie, a little too enthusiastically, causing looks upon her.
"No one knows what is in there, because it's dangerous. I say we continue going, like we've always done until you heard the Marauders murmuring about the Shrieking Shack, to Hogsmade," argued Bethany.
"You've said so yourself: we always do that. I'm interested to know what the Marauders have to do with that place." Continued Cassie stubbornly.
" Interested? Don't you want to say more like snoopy?" joked Bethany.
"Please?" Cassie tried again.
" Curiosity killed the cat." Bethany blatantly said.
"Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" pleaded Cassie as she started to get desperate.
Cassandra O'Neal, as her parents had named her, had abhorred her name since she knew she would have to have it
forever. Since then, she had grown to dislike rules, not breaking them specially, but taking any chance she had to
criticize them, as she thought they didn't let you "fly", as she so metaphorically put it. She was
somewhat strange, as was commonly said. In reality, however, she
was just extremely eager to know more. She believed fully in the phrase "the more you know, the more you don't
know" and applied it to any situation. Just like then.
Cassie was just about to ask for a vote to the group, when someone stepped into her sight, blocking her way and facing Bethany, who had not noticed this, and kept thinking about ways to convince her friends.
"Excuse you Black, you are invading my private space." Said Cassie disturbed, finally realizing who had
interrupted her so viciously.
"O'Neal, nice day, huh? Don't you miss your friends Evans and Darwin?" he said this while shoving Cassie brusquely so he was standing where she was previously. "Bethany! It's so good to see you. You have any plans for this weekend?"
"Actually…"
"Excellent!" he didn't let her finish. He placed one arm on her shoulders, which she tried to shove off
without avail, and stretched his
other arm into the horizon for dramatic effect. "Just imagine; me, you, and Zonko's."
"You and I." She corrected automatically, and cursed herself for being such a grammar nerd.
"Exactly! See you then." He removed his arm, winked at her and went in the other direction.
Instantly, the three friends who had been walking in front of her, supposedly having their own conversation, stopped
and turned, looking
shocked at Bethany.
"What the fuck was that?" asked Lily, using these words for emphasis.
"I have no idea," confessed Bethany. " I think I kind of have a date with Black."
"Kind of? You must be kidding. Is this a joke? Because if it is, I can assure you it's not funny." Said Mandy, unbelievably.
"I'm afraid it's not. Black just didn't let me say no." Bethany repeated.
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"You are crazy, my love." Said a quite astonished and smirking Lucas to his girlfriend Sam, who had just announced to him their amazing plan, according to her, of going to the Shrieking Shack.
"It's interesting. Besides, Cassie really wants to go." she debated. "And as Beth has a date with Black and she's too nice to cancel now, it's the perfect occasion."
"But I don't understand why she can't just go to him and say she doesn't want to go." He admitted, pushing himself upwards.
They were lying on the Quidditch pitch, side by side. They had been through a lot that last year, and you now could not find a more harmonized couple. They were, as her friends put it, perfect for each other. They always knew what the other was thinking or doing, even if they were apart. It scared most people. Others just thought it was incredibly romantic.
"I told you. We have no idea what Black is up to, but Beth said she can't just cancel after saying yes, which she didn't do. Black just assumed. Black is just going to start fibrillating when he realizes Beth is not how he expected: like the rest. How I wish I could see his face at that moment." She started daydreaming. Lucas just laughed.
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"So here we are girls. You ready?" asked Cassie, looking to her sides, where three of her friends stood grinning.
It was six o'clock, which means it had already darkened. They were standing just in front of a huge mansion, grey and black, towering above them, like an evil giant. The windows were broken, opening and closing because of the wind, crashing loudly. The house had been abandoned a long time before, no one knew why, but the rumours said that something terrible had happened inside.
Around the house, to demonstrate how long it had been unoccupied, stood the green plants, in a fight with each other to climb up the walls first. The grass had not been cut in such a long time that the girls had problems walking through it, as it reached their thighs.
Even in it's gloomy form, the girls were not frightened, but anxious to access to its secrets.
They looked at each other with expectation, sensing that something important was going to happen to them that night. They just didn't fathom how much it would change their lives. How much it would change them.
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"Here we are, Bethany. What do you think?" Sirius and Bethany were standing just in front of Zonko's. Sirius had a glint of admiration in his eyes, while Bethany was looking longingly at the window next door, where the bookshop stood. Sirius, smiling, turned his head to look at Bethany for a response.
"It's great Black." She tried, struggling to sound enthusiastic but failing miserably.
That morning, Bethany had woken up because of some kind of spell made by Sirius, which had told her it was time for her "fabulous date with the one and only Sirius Black" and that she should "get dressed for a great day". Finally, the spell had confessed that she only had ten minutes for this and had exploded, filling the room with tiny pieces of God only knew what.
Bethany had lazily stood up from her bed, cursing her friends' sleeping form inwardly. She rushed to get herself ready and jumped down the stairs, were she had found a very grinning Sirius. She had saluted him awkwardly and they had headed for Hogsmade, with not much to talk about. That's what she had thought at the beginning, but Sirius had immediately started talking about himself, not even pacing to breath, in case someone would interrupt him.
Bethany only learnt this way that he had to leave early, as he had some business with the rest of the Marauders and that he wanted to buy something at Zonko's to upset Peeves. She wasn't sure what, but she really didn't care. She thanked God for letting her daydream freely while he was talking.
What she didn't know therefore, was that Sirius' conversation had actually been quite interesting. Sirius was known for not having any secrets. He was just like an open book. He had been saying how James and Lily were starting to get along, but that Lily should be careful still, as James had not changed that much.
Sirius was saying this in hopes that Bethany would listen and tell Lily, and that she would leave his friend alone. Sirius was getting tired of finding James thinking too much about the redhead. James hadn't realised he was starting to get infatuated, but Sirius knew him better. He was terrified, though he would not confess this to anyone.
Sirius and James were like brothers. They were more than that even. James had always been there, helping Sirius with his stupidities, and Sirius didn't want this to change. He knew he was being incredibly selfish, but he didn't care. No t then, at least.
As Bethany said nothing, he asked her about Zonko's, and surprisingly, she didn't seem very captivated.
"Is anything wrong Bethany?" he asked, genuinely concerned. He looked down at her, and noticed quite surprised how petite she was. She only reached his shoulder barely. She was arching her face upwards, looking at him with her beautiful eyes. At that moment, the way the sun was hitting them; they had taken an amazing green colour. The flecks of brown were just hardly noticeable. He adverted right then how her eyes seemed to change colour, depending on the light, and was fascinated.
Bethany was biting her lip; conscious about how she was supposed to answer. She didn't want to lie to him. Not because of who he was, but because of who she was. She didn't lie.
"I just don't really like pranks." She tried. Sirius immediately emerged from his stupor.
"Why not?" he questioned, more curious than annoyed, unexpectedly.
"Well," she tried to be reasonable. " I just don't have fun hurting other people."
"I don't hurt people." He said, frowning.
"That's what you think. But I see people crying when you turn around from one of your jokes. In fact, I have suffered myself from them." She said now, with more strength.
"Why don't you like me Bethany?" he suddenly asked surprised.
"Can't we just finish with this? It's not that I don't like you. It's just that I don't know you." She managed to say.
"Sure. I'm sorry." He said, not knowing what to do now.
"It's okay." She smiled, feeling guilty.
"So," he tried again. "Where are your friends today? I think it's the first time I see you without them at Hogsmade."
"Well, that must be because no one had asked me to Hogsmade before." She admitted, smiling at his marvelled look. "I'm no Sirius Black. For us, normal people, it's difficult to find dates."
They both started laughing at this, all traces of their previous conversation vanished.
Sirius found himself having fun with this strange girl who he hadn't noticed before. He wasn't used to having someone from the opposite sex talking seriously to him, and he found that he liked it. He was actually quite curious.
Neither of them bothered noticing that this would change everything. They came from different backgrounds and were supposed to travel to different places. They had reputations. They didn't want to think that when they returned to the castle, home, everything would return to normal. The fairytale would vanish. The carriage would return to being a pumpkin.
"Can you imagine?" she said, going back to their previous conversation, trying to make him laugh. " My friends are at the Shrieking Shack. What time is it? They wanted to go when it got dark. So I suppose they should be there. My, aren't they curious."
At this, Sirius stiffened, and Bethany slowly lost her smile, noticing her comment hadn't been taken how she expected.
"Are you mental?" he inquired, and started running in the opposite direction.
Bethany was left there, angry, frustrated and confused. What she didn't know was that at the other end of the village, her friends were having a difficult time. Something atrocious was taking place at that precise moment. She looked at the sky, wondering what had just happened, and smiled absent-mindly at the moon, which illuminated the whole sky. She had never seen such a full moon.
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Okay, so here I am again. So sorry for the delay, but I had my very important French exams, even though it's not an excuse. I hope you like this chapter. I think it's a bit quick, but I hope I left it kind of hanging. Please tell me what you think of it. It's different from the other four. I thought it was about time something happened. Well, I really hope you review, at least to stay "good". It makes me happy=D.
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