Dedicated to Yeeah_Nah for the AMAZING picture she drew! Isn't it beautiful??

Song For This Chapter: With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear - Sleeping With Sirens

Ch. 9: You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry

    "Eliza, you feeling okay?" A concerned voice called out from across the table. Glancing up from my breakfast of sliced peaches and cream of wheat, I made eye contact with the big, blue eyes of Blake as she shoved Lee Jordan over, making room for herself next to George and across from me. 

    I only shrugged, motioning with my eyes across the table to where Fred and Angelina were sitting side-by-side. It was slightly confusing, how quickly Fred's attitude towards me had changed, practically over night. "I guess. I just... I am not sure what to think any more."

    Blake glared in their direction and rose a brow as Angelina made eye contact with her. Tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear, Angelina glared back at Blake. "Uh, who let the Slytherin sit here?" 

    George slung an arm around Blake's shoulders with a smirk. "Come on, Lina, you know Blake's cool. Why don't you take your hormones somewhere else?"

    Angelina rolled her eyes then looked down the table, straight at me, and gave me a happy grin. "Hey! Elle, you interested in Quidditch? Cause, with the drop in players, we could really use a back up Chaser." She pat Fred on the shoulder with a smirk. 

    My eye twitched a little at that movement, but I composed myself, forcing a grin onto my face. "Not really," I hissed out through clenched teeth. "I suck at Quidditch." I kept the forced smile on my face, but by the way Blake was snickering behind her hand, I could tell it was more of a scowl.

    Angelina's face fell a little and she sighed, leaning back a little. "Oh, that really sticks. If you could ask around? That'd be great." She smiled lightly, picking at her bacon and conversing with Fred and Lee about good Quidditch players. 

    I clutched my fist tightly, making a few knuckles pop in the process. This is killing me, I knew that I was being slightly childish, if I had a problem, I should just ask Fred. But, something told me that I didn't want to know. Who knew what happened over the months that I had been sleeping? I sure as hell didn't.

    "Mail's here!" Hermione chirped, happily rubbing her hands together and watching the owls whizz past as she anticipated the Daily Prophet. A bland, grey owl hovered over her head and extended it's leg, almost as if it was bored. She paid the bird and took the paper, flipping it open with a small frown, eyes skimming the pages quickly. 

    Sighing, I pushed my spoon around my bowl and shoveled peaches into my mouth like a robot, earning a giggle from Ginny who was trying to look as if she wasn't laughing at me. There was a sharp nip at my neck and I jolted, lifting my hand to swat at the attacker, before I realized the familiar bird face of Ami.

    "That one yours?" Ron nodded towards the fidgeting owl as he lifted his leg, holding a heart-stopping envelope in it's claw. Ron's eyes zeroed in on the letter and choked out a laugh, snickering and nudging Harry and Hermione. "Look, Elle's got herself a Howler."

    Cursing under my breath, I slowly yanked the letter out of Ami's grasp and glared down at the blood red letter, feeling the screams inside shake the letter. "Great, just awesome." I rolled my eyes and flipped the envelope over, wanting to see who sent it.

    "Jenna Chase." I spat, slightly confused. "Figures. Why would she send it tho-" I cut myself off, realizing that I had never written to her to tell her that I was alive. She'd probably heard from someone else. "Shit." I moaned, tucking the letter firmly under my ceramic bowl. 

    "Er, Elle? I think you should just open it now." Hermione frowned, eyes narrowing in on the letter as it vibrated angrily under my cream of wheat. 

    Neville nodded his head, eyes wide. "They get ten times worse if you ignore them, trust me. I ignored one from my Gran once, and it was awful." 

    Chewing my bottom lip, I glared down at the letter, feeling it grow more and more agitated as I continued to ignore it. Sighing, I slid the letter out from under my breakfast bowl and ripped it open, being greeted with a screeching sound.

    "OH MY - I DON'T HAVE ANY WORDS TO SAY ABOUT THIS, ELIZABETH ROSE GRANGER!" Jenna's voice paused as the letter quivered in anger. She took a deep breath and the letter began hissing, less loud than the screaming, but she'd already caught everyone at the Gryffindor table's attention. "I ALWAYS TELL YOU: YOU WON'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M ANGRY!"

    "You'd better have a freaking good explanation as to why you never wrote to me when you awoke from the coma! Do you know how stressed I've been?! How stressed I still am?! How dare you! So, what? You move to England and you forget to mention to one of your longest friends that you have woken up from a COMA?! Oooo. You just wait until I get my hands on you!" Her voice paused and she took a long breath, seemingly to calm her nerves.

    Chuckles sounded from around me and I couldn't help but chuckle a little too. I also felt bad, but Jenna was in the right for yelling at me. The Howler was a bit excessive, but that was just Jenna. "Now, tell Blake, Hermione, and Ginny that I miss them!" And, with that, the letter burst into flames, disintegrating in front of my face and blowing away to leave no trace behind, or at least that's what I'd thought. Gathering together from the ashes, a magic polaroid formed together - displaying a moving picture that we'd all taken together. 

    I moaned and ran a hand through my hair as the Great Hall burst out into small fits of laughter. "Gosh, why do all my friends have to be complete lunatics?" I leant across the table, looking directly at the flushed scarlet Ginny while pocketing the picture. "JENNA SAYS SHE MISSES YOU BOU!" Ginny snickered and ducked her head a little while Dean tossed a reassuring hand over her shoulder. The way Dean looked at Ginny made me curious, did he like her?

    "I take offense to that!" Blake pipped up, a piece of waffle jutting out between her lips as she talked with her mouth full. Swallowing her food, she chuckled a little and bounced around in her seat, joining . "I think I'll join the Slytherin Quidditch team!" 

    There was a quiet pause from George, Fred, Lee, and Angelina as they all gave her a sharp glare. "You would be killed." Lee chuckled, patting Blake on the back. "No offense, but just because you have an alliance with us through Georgie, don't mean that we'd be easy on ya. Ain't that right, Fred?" 

    Fred snorted and nodded along with George. "That's right." They said together, sparing Blake a smirk. "No mercy to Slytherins." 

    Picking at my fruit, I sighed and rested my face on top of my hand as the topic began to drift off into more agitated territories. "What's wrong with your hand, Harry?" I slowly spoke up, eyes glued on the black and purple skin of his right hand with morbid curiosity.

    Harry pulled his sleeve down over his hand, hiding the bruising from view. Hermione rose a brow at this and grabbed his hand, yanking it up so she and I could see. "Harry! Did Umbridge do this to you in detention?"

    My eyes zeroed in on the sight, making my stomach clench in disgust. Engraved into his hand was the phrase: 'I must not tell lies.' "She can't do that to you! That's torture!" I slammed my fist down on the table, but no one paid any mind except for Ron who began to listen in.

    Hermione nodded quickly, frizzy hair bobbing as she did. "You need to report this!" Her eyes darted around the Great Hall and she lowered her voice. "If Dumbledore knew about this -"

    "He's got enough to worry about without my problems, Hermione." Harry sighed, trying to drop the subject quickly incase anyone else would hear it. 

    Ron leant forward and gave him a serious look. "Harry, if your parents knew about this th-"

    "-Well I haven't got any of those, do I, Ron?" Harry snapped, pushing his bowl away from him and clenching his fists.

    Frowning, I shook my head at him, feeling slightly bad about the parent situation, but knowing he was being a little childish. "It's perfectly simple, Harry, you are just being childi-"

    He lifted his eyes up onto mine, grimacing a little. "No, I'm not. Elle, what ever this is - it's not simple. You just don't understand." He picked up his bag and slung it around his shoulder. I bowed my head a little, knowing it was true.

    "Then," Hermione paused, eyes flickering with worry. "Help us to."

    Ginny hopped up from her seat with a furious glower on her face. "Have you heard her new rule?!" She declared, slamming the palms of her hands down on the table as she gave a look to the four of us. "All student organizations are disbanded."

    Harry paused, cocking his head to the side. "All? What could she mean by th-"

    "All!" Ginny yelled, getting the attention of George, Fred, Blake, and Angelina. "This means Quidditch too! She is not only harming us - but everyone at school!" She fumed, wringing her hands angrily over and over again. 

    "She can't do that!" Fred and George belted, sending the teacher's table furious glares. Throughout the Great Hall the news of no more Quidditch spread like wildfire, more and more protests sounded throughout the campus. 

    "No!" Angelina cried, eyes wide. "But, this is our last year! I was supposed to lead Gryffindor to the next victory - I promised Wood I would when he left!" She moaned and buried her face into her hands, sobbing a little.

    Horrified, I watched her break down a little. Sure, it sucked - but was it that traumatic? 

    "Uh... Angelina - you okay?" I asked, sparing her a small look of discomfort and Fred and George tried to cheer her up. "It sucks, but you are still a good player without the Quidditch." I tried, but she only shook her head at me, tears welling up and falling down her cheeks. 

    She chuckled roughly and wiped under her eyes. "N-no, that's not really i-it. I'm so s-stupid, sorry. Please e-excuse me." She jumped out of her seat and bolted out the door, hands covering her face. 

    We all were quiet for a moment, and then I heaved out a heavy sigh as Katie Bell got up from her seat and followed her out to comfort her friend. "What the hell just happened? Did I say something?" The table was quiet as Fred just looked down at his empty plate, a sad look in his eye.

    Angrily, I smacked Fred on the arm, making him jolt and glance up at me in shock. "What the heck did you do?!" I accused him. He was probably guilty for something and while I was jealous of Angelina - I didn't hate her. No one deserved to be crushed like that. She was a nice girl.

    "I-I didn't do anything!" He retorted, crossing his arms over his chest while George backed him up. "Yeah, Angie is just going through a rough time right now. We are trying to make her feel better, but it's hard. You know?"

    Ginny frowned, raising a brow. "Is she still hurting over that?" 

    I looked back and forth between the Weasleys, completely confused. "What? What happened?"

    "You mean, you don't know?" Ginny asked, eyes wide as she glanced at Fred and George. Nervously, she bit her lip and shoved Ron over, sliding into the spot he was moved from, causing him to mutter curses at her from under his breath. 

    "No, I don't know." I breathed sarcastically. "You guys seem to forget that I have been in a coma for a while now. What happened?"

    "Wood broke up with her."

    "Wood was dating her?" I prodded. "What? When? Why?" I blurted out, getting interested in the drama as people began to leave the Great Hall to attend classes. 

    Fred chuckled a little. "Just around March," He slid closer to me, peering down at me due to his height. "When I told her that I liked you." I blushed a little, but didn't move away. "But, she really liked Wood - so they were going pretty steady up until he joined the Puddlemere United about a month ago."

    "She's been taking it rather hard." George added, gaining a nod from Ginny. "So, we've been her 'immoral support'."

    I chuckled, shaking my head. "I think you mean 'moral'." 

    Fred snorted and the Twins just looked at each other the same way. "Yeah.... sure we do."

    Rolling my eyes, I bowed my head in shame. So, all the pieces fit together now. They were just comforting her. They had been friends for a long while now - and I felt stupid. "When were you going to tell me that was what happened?" I peeped, fumbling around with my hands.

    "Well, if I knew you'd get so jealous about it," Fred teased, bumping me with his elbow lightly. "Perhaps I would have done it sooner, yeah?"

    Smirking, I glanced up at him. "Shut up, Weasley."

    "Make me, Granger." Fred leant closer to me, nose almost brushing against mine.

    There was a sound of disgust from behind us as Hermione walked past. "Ugh, keep your juvenile hands off my sister, Weasley." She called out as she walked past.

~~~~

I realize that Wood left when Harry was in his 4th year - I knew that when I put him in the last book. I am just doing it for the sake of the timeline. xxJess