Ch. 7: Good Morning?

ELLE

     A piercing pain vibrated throughout my whole body, coming in little tendrils of waves, but subsiding after the initial pain. I was bound inside myself and I couldn't even move my toes. My face especially hurt; was my nose broken, or was I just being dramatic? I could hear people talking around me, but I couldn't make out the words; everything was jumbled and incoherent. 

     Suddenly though, the charm lifted and my bonds were gone, the pressure hovering over my body lifted, but I still could not open my eyes. My brain must be rebooting after all of those stairs. I swear I'll kill Hermione and Harry and the ginger, who I assumed was the famous Ron.

      Mumbling filled my ears, but I could not make anything out of them.

     It was like the words were swimming around in my head before slowly becoming understandable.

     "I'm going to be expelled!"

      "You're not going to be expelled -- it's a house of wizards. Anyone could have used that magic."

       "That doesn't make any sense, Ron!" 

      "What?" I groaned and tried to open my eyes. It took me a few attempts, but I finally got it on the fifth try. My world faded in and out as I hissed and cupped my aching forehead. The dimly lit room was cast in an orange glow from the lamp on the bedside dresser. Five pairs of curious eyes watched me as I scowled and looked over the room. 

     Hermione was biting her thumb, a furrowed brow etched deep into her forehead as her worried eyes travelled over my face. 'Is she actually worried for me, or for her education?' I wondered, trying not to roll my eyes at the thought.

     Looking to the left, a shadow towered over me as I propped myself up on the bed, sitting straight and pausing as a small wave of vertigo hit the pit on my stomach. UGH, I felt like trash. 

     The towering shadow chuckled lowly as I met his incandescent gaze. "Well good morning. Again." Fred sarcastically smiled and I rolled my eyes then tried to stand up painfully. I winced and craddled my head with a groan, flopping back down on the mattress, hissing at the pain that shot across my face as I touched a sore bump.

Hermione was sitting by my side and she gave me a guilty look that pleaded with me. "Elle, I am so so so so so so sorr-" I did not let her finish her apology, but instead I reached out my arm and smacked her hard upside her head. 

"What the fuck?!" I cursed and glared around the room at everyone. George, Fred, Hermione, Harry, and Ron. To me, they were all culprits in this horrible morning. Hermione grabbed her head. "Ouch."

"What the hell is wrong with you three?! Throwing people down stairs?!" I yelled at them and glared around the room once more, but quieted my tone as my head began to throb in protest. This morning was not going my way.

Fred and George started to snicker and slowly creep out of the room. "Well, we didn't have anything to do with this, and you and Hermione are scary alike when angry, so I'll tell Mum that you four are finishing up packing." Fred chuckled and he and George raced out of the room.

Ron swallowed a lump in his throat and he looked from me to Hermione. "You two are scary alike-honestly. You both even scold us the same." 

     I was blindingly unsure of how o respond to that, and I was sure Ron could see that by the contorted look on my face. He offered me a sheepish smile and a quick, soft apology. "You gave us a right scare, sorry."

     "It's, er, nice to meet you, Elle," Harry nervously chimed, pushing up the rim of his glasses with a thumb and forefinger. His green eyes darted back and forth between 'Mione and me with an arched brow. "My name is Harry," Harry said, offering out a hand for me to use to help myself off the bed. 

     "Yeah, the infamous Harry Potter," I replied. I glared at Harry's hand and almost wished for it to burst into flames. Ignoring his hand, I got off the bed and brushed myself off. 

    Now was a pivotal moment, I could taste it on my tongue along with the tinge of blood in my mouth: the moment of forgiveness. I could either allow this moment to remain a stain on this already forced holiday surrounded by strangers and less-than-strangers, or I could simply... let it go, like an autumn leaf on the wind. 

     It wouldn't be too hard, I told myself, to simply pretend as if this situation made perfect sense. Between Harry Potter, the Burrow of redheads, and my dramatic desire to suddenly pack up everything and move in with a completely new family, well... I could allow a magical attack and a fall down some stairs, especially since I had overheard something I probably should not have.

     Did that make it right? Well, that was a question for moral philosophers. 

     I heaved a deep sigh of resignation, straightened out my back and glanced over all three of them with, what I hoped was, a look of disappointment. "Well, I think you've some serious explaining to do," I whispered to Hermione as I glanced around the room, spotting a small mirror tacked up in the corner. "But, I won't ask until you all trust me enough, I guess." I smiled at them despite the fact that they had just shoved me down two flights of stairs.

      Forgiveness. Whatever that meant.

     I quickly trotted over to the small mirror in the corner of the room and took in my appearance; it definitely looked as if I had fallen down a few stairs. Sighing, I pulled my wand out of my boot and pointed it at the fairly large bump on my forehead and the gashes in my face. "Reparifors." 

     The cooling gust of magic soothed the cuts on my face, cleaning the dried blood and reducing the size of the bump on my face. I covered the rest of the bruising with my bangs, but otherwise, it was the best I could do at the time.

         The trio was staring at me as if I was a new life form or something. "What?"

      "You're able to use magic outside of school?" Ron pouted.

     "You're not?" I asked back. "America allows it; I sometimes try to make my own spells, some are Latin, or French." Harry looked in impressed, Hermione seemed as if she was taking mental notes, and Ron...well he just looked confused. I chuckled and was about to explain further when Molly yelled upstairs.

       "RONALD WEASLEY! YOU HAD BETTER GET YOUR BUM OUT OF THAT ROOM RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!"

      The four of us all quickly clambered downstairs, I have not known Molly more than an hour and she seemed as if she could get scary pretty fast if you gave her cause.

✧

Breakfast was quiet and most of the people at the table were looking at me. Every time they would catch my eye they would look away, except Fred; he would wink or smile, or do something obnoxious. Molly sensed this uneasiness and cleared her throat. "So, Elle...tell us about yourself." She smiled at me assuredly. "Would you like something to drink, dear?"

     "Coffee, please. If you have it." I immediatley responded, my nerves singing for the taste. I ran my tongue over my front teeth, thinking of something to say other than that. It was like being introduced to a classroom full of people who were trying to decide if they liked you or not. 

First impressions are the worst.

"Er..." I had no idea what to say; I was never good at making friends. "Well, I like to read. I am currently working on Great Expectations by Charles Dickens." I nodded around the table, but only Harry and Hermione seemed to know what I was talking about.

"Who?" Fred snickered and coughed on some orange juice.

      "He is a famous British writer from the Victorian Era," I stated, trying not to laugh with his dirty innuendo. Arthur set down his Daily Prophet to think back to if he knew a writer by that name or not. "He's a Muggle writer... from the 19th Century," I added, scratching aimlessly behind my ear. I hadn't considered the fact that they were probably an old, pureblood family that had no idea about the Muggle things in my life.

      "Oh, really?" Arthur perked up at this and gave me his full attention, adjusting the spectacles on his face and setting the Daily Prophet down beside his mug of coffee. "And, what did this Muggle write about?" 

      Suddenly, I noticed that everyone, besides Harry and Hermione, were watching me with interest. I honestly had no idea why. "He writes stories about common lives from his time period that teach moral lessons," I explained, my throat running a tad dry.

"Oh, yawn." George faked a yawn and returned his attention back onto his pancakes.

"Yeah, why does anyone care about morals from Muggle's lives? Isn't there better things to read out there?" Fred agreed with his twin and plopped a sausage into his mouth.

     Hermione cleared her throat and backed me up. "Just because you two are always thinking of ways to break the rules, instead of mature by them, does not mean that anyone else cannot find it interesting."

     "Boring, let's change the subject." Fred waved off Hermione's argument and chugged some more orange juice. I watched him, not sure what to think of him. He gave off the impression of carelessness, of sarcasm and being pigheaded. I hated it. But, I also liked it and that bothered me.

George gave Fred a look, and Fred quickly returned it with an evil grin-obviously up to no good. George turned to my with a curious expression on his face. "Elle, do you like toffee?" 

     I was about to reply when Arthur abruptly stood up and glared at the twins, red in the face. "Now, you two listen here!" He pointed a finger at them and his eyes dashed to the clock. "We are going to be late you lot!" Arthur stopped, mid-scold, and directed his attention at everyone with an excited gleam in his eye. Molly quickly stood and enchanted the dishes to start taking care of themselves. 

     Fred and George got up and tried to sneak away when their father called out to them. "Don't think you won't get in trouble for what you've done, especially bringing it up when we have guests." Arthur frowned at his son and rounded everyone up.

     "Alright, everyone." He did a head count. "Let's be off."

~~~~~~~~~~~

 [ 2011 A/N:

Hey you guys-sorry its so short but here it is, sorry if its super choppy its the best i can do as of right now 

~xoxo~Jess ]

(10 YA A/N:) I'm really enjoying editing these, to be honest. I think I'm falling in love with these boneheaded characters all over again. The hardest bit to edit is still to come, but I hope you're enjoying it!

Be sure to vote, comment, and if you're a rereader, drop a comment to let me know which scene you're MOST excited to see here!