Walking

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andromeda ran at first down to the lawn, her head was full of everything she had read about werewolves in the library. She should have gone to her uncle but she couldn't. She had to deal with this her way. All of a sudden she stopped and felt an immense need to throw up. Andromeda looked about her and seeing what resembled a compost heap ran to it. She hurled.

After a moment of feeling slightly better, she wiped her mouth and curioustly getting the better of her touched her index finger to her teeth. They were normal.
Of course they are, she chided herself.

She creaked her neck from side to side and walked about the lawn. She sighed, she wasnt' even enjoying flying anymore it felt like a really bad case of motion sickness everytime she climbed her broom even a foot into the air. This more than anything made her depressed. She could have coped with the whole wolf thing, she felt once she could still fly with total abandon as she used to.

She kicked a pebble infront of her and walked on.

 

[Jolly Cooper]

Perhaps the whole lack of sleep thing was finally getting to her or else it was the frustration of not knowing what had been bothering her for a few days now, but Jolly Cooper wasn't well. She was tired most of the time, her eyes had dark shadows beneath them and she kept tripping and stumbling more often than before. Her mind whirled with senseless thoughts and fear gripped her every now and then for no reason at all. Was she growing paranoid? Why? Just because of lack of sleep? That was impossible, though!

Jolly sighed, closing her eyes and staring at the branches above her. She was sleeping under a tall oak her on the lawn when a pebble suddenly hit her leg. "Ow!" she said, sitting and looking around to see who had kicked that pebble. She instantly saw who it was. Andy! Jolly picked up the pebble and threw it in Andy's direction to catch her attention.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

"Blimey!" Andy hollered as a pebble flew up and hit her on the side of the head, she turned and saw Jolly sitting on the grass.
"What was that for you nut?"
she smiled rubbing the side of her scalp and walked over to where Jolly was.

"Were you sleeping?" she asked her as she sat down.

 

[Jolly Cooper]

Jolly smiled tiredly at Andy when she called her a nut. She shook her head. "No, wasn't sleeping. What gives you that idea?" she asked, and then stopped. She rubbed her eyes and realized that she probably appeared and exhausted and groggy to Andy, who looked as fresh as ever. "I was just having a lie-in," Jolly told her, taking a deep breathe and rubbing her shadowed eyes again. "What are doing here?"

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

"Was just getting some air, spent half the morning in the library. Was a bit wiped out after herbology so figured a little studying wouldn't hurt none!"

She smiled and looked up through the branches of the tree they were sitting under.
"You look exhausted Jo. Are you overdoing the studying?"

 

[Jolly Cooper]

"Overdoing it?" laughed Jolly mirthlessly. "It's all over me! I just want a good night's sleep and perhaps...a pensieve." Jolly knew what a pensieve was because her mum had one. "Anyway..." she said, hastily changing the subject. If Jolly was worried about herself, she was more worried about Andy. "I've been meaning to ask you, where were on Halloween night, Andy? You have no idea what I went through, searching the whole school for you and finding you nowhere!" She shook her head and looked away so that Andy wouldn't see her concern in her eyes.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy looked quickly at Jolly, she patted her leg sorry for upsetting her friend.
"But you never tried the hospital wing did you?" she knew no-one had been to the hospital wing the entire night as her uncle had mentioned how lucky that was.

"I had so over dosed on the candy Jolly, I told you all I was going for some fresh air and well that didn't seem to work. So I went up to my uncle and stayed there for the rest of the night. He gave me something for my indegestion and we stayed up telling old family ghost stories for the night", she had gone over and over this alibi with her uncle so many times that she really wanted to believe it herself.

"sorry for worrying you Jolly. I forget I've friends here sometimes. I guess I'm still used to my old school where no one ever gave a toss".

 

[Jolly Cooper]

"How do you-?" Jolly began to ask when Andy answered the question herself. Jolly bit her cheek hard when she came to know Andy had been in the Hospital Wing. "I never thought of looking there," she muttered, feeling dumb. "You just worried me, that's all. I looked everywhere. You weren't even in the Girls' dorm." Jolly slumped back down on the grass, the corners of her eyes stinging. She was so stupid sometimes, she wanted to kick herself. Here she was worrying about Andy when nothing had happened at all. She hadn't even bothered to tell that she had been ill and had gone to the Hospital Wing.

Jolly remembered running frantically throughout the whole castle, searching for Andy. She remembered the panic she had felt when Andy hadn't turned up anywhere. She remembered how she had tossed and turned that night, wondering where her friend was and worrying about her. However, nights when she got no sleep were more often anyway. So, Jolly hardly thought that she would have gone to sleep even if she had found Andy. Still, she'd've feltt better if she had not been worrying.

"Why didn't you have friends at old school?" she asked Andy, not looking at her. She didn't want to see Andy's expression. She probably thought Jolly was paranoid. But then, maybe she was...

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andromeda smiled, "It was a muggle school and people there thought I was wierd. I could do stuff I guess, I knew I had magical blood in me but I couldn't tell any of them that. I just used to get picked on alot by the school bullies and no-one wants to be friends with someone the school bullies enjoy picking on!"

Andromeda wished she could go back to them now and munch her way through the lot of them. Realising what she had just thought, shocked even Andy and she quickly tried to change the subject.

"Are you all ready for our exams Jo?"

 

[Jolly Cooper]

"That's horrible," murmured Jolly as Andy told her about her past school days. "For me, it was different. They like being with me because I kept blowing up the teacher's chair or blackboard...or setting the exam papers on fire," remembered Jolly, chuckling slightly as she remembered that fateful day. They hadn't been able to prove it was her so she hadn't been suspended. "My friends liked me." But Jolly had never had any best friends.

"Are you all ready for our exams Jo?"

Jolly's head whipped up to look at Andy. She sat up from her sleeping position and leaned her back comfortably against the trunk of the oak tree. "I don't know," she said; a leaden feeling seemed to settle in her stomach. "And you?"

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andromeda sighed and nodded her head.
"I don't think I've taken my head out of a book for days. If you want help studying there's no problem. We can organise a kind of study session up in the commonroom".

She smiled at Jolly, if her friend was having trouble preparing for exams then she would help her of course.

 

[Jolly Cooper]

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," Jolly said, sitting up. "We could all gather in the common room and study together...help one another if we can. I've been doing a lot lately but I still feel like I am not prepared. I just need a push...maybe we all do."

"Thanks, Andy," smiled Jolly, and for the first time in days, she actually felt better. "What have you been upto these past few days when I've been off moping around in exhaustion?" she joked.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

"Pretty much just hanging out up at the hospital wing, the library is awfully packed and the commonroom got a bit claustophobic a few times too. So for peace and quiet so I can study better, I went to my uncle", Andy smiled at her then quickly looked about her as a butterfly fluttered close and took off almost instantly. She watched it smiling.

She had been going to the hospital wing because she didn't trust herself not to say anything to any of her friends. She didn't trust that she wouldn't break into a werewolf then and there, even though her uncle promised her the moon could only have that effect on her. She sighed then turned back to Jolly.

"Well we'll gather who we can and sort something out for studying".

 

[Jolly Cooper]

"Mr. O'Brien is your uncle?" Jolly asked in surprise, her gaze momentarily captured by a butterfly that was flying in Andy's direction. As Jolly watched, the butterfly fluttered quickly away from Andy when it got too close. Jolly giggled and put up her index finger. She watched the pretty yellow butterfly settle itself on her finger before fluttering away again.

She grinned at Andy. Surprisingly, Jolly wasn't afraid of butterflies. "Andy, I don't think it liked you much," she joked, teasingly. "Your freckly face must have scared it away." She laughed.