Hiding Bruises

Hiding Bruises- Chapter 17- The White Blanket

“Food has arrived,” called Sirius as me and him walked back into the room of requirement, laden with boxes of delicious looking munchies.

“At last!” cried a voice from the other end of the room. Marlene stood up from her place on the couch and sauntered over to check out the contents of out boxes.

I felt Sirius stiffen beside me and I was pretty sure he could have said the same as me. We both stood there, still as statues, as Marlene dipped her hand in and pulled out a sandwich.

“Yummy,” she said after taking a bite, her cold eyes were boring into me.

“When did you arrive?” asked Sirius, not sounding very pleased by the fact that she had.

“Just after you guys left apparently,” she said, “I got bored so I thought I’d come help you lot with all the preparations, seems like you’re pretty much finished though, so there’s not much for me to do. I was going to come find you two to help you with this lot but James told me not to.”

“We managed fine on our own,” said Sirius.

“I can see that,” said Marlene, flashing me the fakest smile I have ever seen in my life.

Lily walked over to our little gathering and also dipped her hand into the box, “I’ve never been to the kitchens,” she said nonchalantly, “Where is it? You two seemed to take a while getting there and back.”

“It’s down in the basements,” I said, “we had to go slowly on the way back, in case anyone spotted us with the food.”

Lily nodded, her mouth full of sandwich.

James, Peter, Alice, Remus and Emmeline also came over now and helped themselves to some food. “I’m starving,” said James.

“You always are,” said Sirius, laughing as his friend wolfed down his food.

“What are we gonna do now?” asked Remus looking at his watch, “we’ve got hours till the party starts and we’re all set up already.”

“We could go outside for a bit,” said Alice.

“It’s freezing out there,” said Marlene.

“We could go to the Common Room,” said Emmeline.

“It’s boring in there,” said Marlene.

“Were do you want to go then?” asked Sirius.

Marlene shrugged and looked around in a bored way. She pouted and started playing with her hair.

It was obvious we weren’t going to be getting to a agreement anytime soon so I stepped away from the group and went over to the window. I didn’t see the green grass and dark forest as I had expected; all I saw was a blanket of white snow, coating everything, and more falling from the sky.

“It’s snowing!” I called to everyone.

They all ran over to the window and stared out, all of us amazed by the enchanting view.

“I’m going to get my coat and gloves,” said Alice, running over to the door, “you girls coming?”

“Yeah,” said Lily as she went over to join Alice. Me, Emmeline and Marlene followed her lead. “We’ll meet you guys outside,” said Lily as we left.

“Ok, see you!” James called after us.

We ran upstairs into the common room, which had emptied due to the snow, and then up to our dorm. We grabbed coats, scarves and gloves as quickly as we could and went out. We pulled on our extra layers as we walked through the school down to the entrance hall.

As we stepped out we were hit by a frosty wind, causing us to pull our coats tighter around ourselves.

“I told you it was freezing out here,” complained Marlene.

“So what? It’s snow!” replied Alice happily.

“I’m probably gonna catch pneumonia or something,” said Marlene.

“Then go back inside if you’re so bothered,” snapped Lily.

Marlene opened her mouth to say something but before she could speak was hit in the side of the head with a large snowball. We all looked over curiously to see four boys standing not far off and laughing at us all huddled by the doors.

“Come on!” yelled Sirius, another snowball already formed in his hand.

“Oh no,” breathed Lily. We all ducked as another snowball went rocketing by us.

“Come on girls, lets show them what we’ve got,” said Alice, leaning down to pick up some snow.

“No, no, I don’t think we should,” said Lily. Another snowball came flying in our direction, this one hitting Lily squarely in the face. A bit off James was standing, hands in his pockets, looking up at the sky. “I am going to get him for that,” whispered Lily under her breath. She put her hand out for the snowball Alice had just finished making and chucked it hard at James. It hit him right in the side of the head and he stumbled over and nearly fell over from the shock.

We all cheered and high fived Lily as he stabled himself, then we screamed as a cascade of snowballs fell on us. I ducked but was hit on the back.

We all stared shuffling round in the snow screaming and trying to make out shapes in the whirling snow all around us. I like to think I hit a fair few people, though I wouldn’t bet on it really as I have pretty bad aim even when I can see clearly.

Soon we were all running round madly, screaming and laughing and chucking snowballs at anything that moved. I became accustomed to the snow and could soon see quite well, so when Sirius threw a particularly large snowball at me I was able to dodge easily.

I could see him bending down to make a new one so I ran off. I soon noticed a snowball whooshing past my left ear and I spun round to see him chasing me. I leaned down and grabbed a handful of snow, which I patted into a hard ball as I ran. I turned and continued running backwards as I took aim and fired the snowball at his head. I saw it hit its target and raised my hands above my head and whooped with pride.

As I did so I lost my balance and tumbled backwards into the snow. I lay there for a second looking up and watching the snow fall from the sky. Then I got an idea and started to move my arms and legs around to make shapes in the snow.

Suddenly someone tripped over my legs and toppled on top of me. “Ow,” I said.

“Ooops, sorry,” mumbled Sirius from above me.

Even through all my layers I could feel the heat from his body radiating through my body. “You ruined my snow angle,” I said, trying to wriggle out from under him.

“You can make a new one,” he said, grinning down at me.

“Get off me,” I said, trying to push up against his weight.

His eyes twinkled cheekily and he leaned down and whispered in my ear so I could feel his breath on my neck, “make me.”

Fine, I thought to myself, I will. I reached over to the side and grabbed a handful of snow. I brought it up and stuffed it in his face, he spluttered and rolled over to the side, wiping his face. I laughed and pushed myself up. I ran off again but he grabbed my leg so I stumbled back down. I kicked him off and pelted off towards the cover of the forest.

I soon reached the tightly packed tree trunks, the ground here wasn’t as deeply covered as outside because of the trees but there was still a thin pattering of white over the grass. I walked past a few trees, away from the wall of whiteness outside.

I leaned with my back against a tree, still panting from running through the snow with all my heavy clothing on. Before my breathing had had time to slow I saw a figure coming through the trees, I stepped forward, grinning, thinking it was Sirius.

Before I had a chance to properly make out the figure, they muttered a spell that sent me shooting backwards against the tree. My back pressed hard into the trunk and my feet were hanging a few feet from the ground.

She stepped forwards and leaned in towards me, “I could kill you now,” she said quietly, her voice low and menacing, her wand pressed against my neck. “You remember that, I could kill you anytime I wanted.”

I spluttered, with no idea what to say to Bella, I never did. She was impossible to talk to, unlike her cousin.

“Anytime I like,” she said, twiddling her wand between her fingers, looking down at it. “Do not forget that Teen,” she said, now staring into my face, as I tried to look anywhere but into those eyes, “do not forget.” She repeated, placing her fingers around my neck, tensing and un-tensing them so that for short periods of time the breath caught in my throat and I couldn’t breathe.

I heard shuffling in the trees not far off and I fell to the ground, when I looked round Bella was gone and a completely different pair of eyes were staring down at me. “You ok?” asked Sirius.

“Yeah I’m fine,” I muttered, “just a bit worn out from running.”

“You looked like you had passed out for a minute there,” he said, staring down at me, his beautiful eyes filled with concern for me.

“I might have knocked my head on a tree or something,” I muttered, lifting my hand to feel my head. When I brought it down again there was a spot of blood on it, “shit,” I said.

“What?” he asked, looking down at my hand. “Shit,” he said, “let me see that.”

“It’s nothing,” I said, hiding my hand behind my back.

He took it and looked at it, “is that blood?” he asked.

“Umm, well,” I said slowly.

He pulled of my hat and looked at my head, “you must have whacked your head pretty hard,” he said to me, “did you run into a tree?”

“Yes, I must have,” I said, laughing at myself.

“Hmm,” he said, his hand still on my head, stroking my hair. He brought his hand down and I saw that it was flecked with blood.

“You’ve got blood on you,” I said, worried about him.

“It’s yours silly,” he said, chuckling lightly at me.

“Oh.”

“We should probably get you to the hospital wing,” said Sirius.

“No, no, I’m fine,” I protested.

“You’re bleeding, you’re heads bleeding,” he said slowly.

“I know, but I’m fine,” I said, “I’ll go and have a lie down before the party, clean my head up and stuff and then I’ll be fine.”

“You said you’re fine now.”

“I am, but I’ll be even finer,” I said, pushing myself up.

“Ok, then,” he said, chuckling at me. “Let me help you up then.”

“I’m good,” I said, staggering a little as the blood rushed into my head.

He caught me, “you sure about that?”

“Yes,” I said pleadingly.

“Why won’t you go to see Madam Pomfrey?” he asked.

“I dunno,” I said, “I hate hospitals.”

“It’s not a hospital.”

“Yes but it’s a hospital wing, which is just as bad.” He raised his eyebrows at me questioningly. “It’s like a mini hospital.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “fine then, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you pass out halfway through the party.”

“If I do, it won’t be because of this little bump,” I tapped my head. “When are you getting the alcohol actually?” I said, changing the subject.

“Me and James will get it later,” he said.

“Where do you get it?” I asked.

He laughed at me, “wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yes, that’s why I asked.” He rolled his eyes at me again and I stuck my tongue out at him.

“We can’t go telling our secrets to everyone,” said Sirius secretively, “the only reason people come to our parties is cause we always get booze in.”

“No, you’re parties are always funner,” I told him.

“’Cause everyone’s drunk,” he said, “anyway, how would you know, have you even ever been to one of our parties?”

“No,” I said, “but everyone talks about them anyway.”

He looked at me for a second, “why haven’t you come before?”

“Didn’t see the point,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

We were walking through the snow filled grounds now and I could hear people shouting and laughing far away; obviously the game was still going. We walked to the doors without saying anything else to each other, it wasn’t awkward though, it was nice- relaxed. Neither of us felt obliged to start some pointless banter; we were comfortable, walking in silence, beside each other.