Falling Into Black

Katie woke up the next morning to the girls in her dorm shaking her vigorously.

“What do you guys want?” Katie groaned.

“Someone left something outside the door for you” she heard Lily answer.

“I think it’s chocolate” Amy Ramirez sighed dreamily.

“Yeah, so wake up!” That was Natalie, of course yelling in her ear. Katie groaned again, forcing herself into a sitting position.

“Do you think it’s a secret admirer?” Cormia Ontilles asked as Katie pushed off the pale blue satin bow from the white box. Katie gasped quietly when she lifted the lid. A rose. Just one single rose lay in the box. The petals of the rose were closed, but as Katie picked it up, it magically bloomed. The black petals became white. A pristine, beautiful white that glowed in the sunlight.

“There’s a note” Lily stated as Katie sniffed the rose. It smelled beautiful. “’Dear Katie, your beauty grows with each passing day, your radiance so brilliant it outshines the sun. So pure, so innocent, just like this rose. As the flower blooms, so does my love for you. I can’t ever stop thinking of you. So for as long as that rose is bright and beautiful, you’ll always be in my heart. Love, Your Secret Admirer’.” The girls ‘awed’ in unison.

“That was so sweet” Amy said, dabbing at her eyes.

“Beautiful” Cormia agreed.

“I wonder who it’s from.” Natalie said, taking the letter from Lily.

“It doesn’t say, and it was written magically so I won’t be able to compare the writing” Lily said. Natalie frowned slightly. Lily then quickly left, before coming back with a vase full of water. “It’ll need water to live. Magic or not, everything needs water.” Katie smiled thankfully.

“I wish I knew who it was from” Katie said softly, staring at the rose. It glimmered like diamonds as the sun hit it.

“Don’t we all?” Amy giggled.

“There’s something written on the back” Cormia said, squinting as she leaned down to look at it. Natalie was still holding it, so she had to twist her head a bit. “’Expect more.’”

“There’s going to be more?” Amy nearly squealed. “Oh this is so romantic! I love secret love notes. It’s so cute!”

“Why can’t my boyfriend be like that?” Cormia muttered. The two girls left, giggling and talking excitedly about the note and rose, leaving Natalie, Katie, and Lily alone.

“What should we do today?” Lily asked as Katie got out of bed.

“I’m all for relaxing” Katie smiled.

“Exploring!” Natalie squealed, jumping up and down excitedly. “I wanna explore.” Lily and Katie laughed.

“Sure, why not” Lily shrugged. Katie nodded, pulling on a pair of old jeans. She had had them forever, so they had holes in the knees, but she couldn’t bear to throw them away. Her old, holey tennis shoes came on as well and a t-shirt. Lily and Natalie were already dressed. Both girls were wearing jeans, but Lily was wearing tennis shoes while Natalie had a pair of hiking boots on. Lily had one a long sleeve shirt that had the Gryffindor crest on the left breast. Natalie also on a long sleeve shirt, but she had a vest that had the crest on it.

“Let’s go!” Natalie shouted impatiently. Katie rolled her eyes, but followed the spunky brunette down the stairs. Katie could tell just by how Natalie was walking that she was hyper. But Katie also felt hyped. Jittery. Excited. About what she didn’t know.

The common room was empty, everyone no doubt at breakfast. So it was a straight shot from the common room to the courtyard. Once outside in the sun, Natalie let loose all her pimped up energy.

“Wow” Lily breathed, watching the brunette do cartwheels and back flips and other stuff as she ran around crazily. “She’s really crazy, isn’t she?”

“Yep” Katie nodded. “But, can you blame her?” With that, Katie let loose a crazy howl before doing a cartwheel as well. Lily shook her head at the two. She laughed as they nearly ran into each other, and started rolling down the hill.

“Come on, Lils!” Natalie yelled from the bottom while Katie laughed crazily. “It’s fun!”

“I’d rather not!” Lily called back. Next thing she knew, she felt an invisible force pulling her forward. And then she was rolling down the hill.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa” Natalie said urgently, planting herself in Lily’s path to make her stop. Natalie was afraid that Lily would be angry, but instead she was laughing.

“Told you it was fun” Katie grinned cheekily. Natalie suddenly gasped loudly.

“I have an idea!” she nearly screamed, earning strange looks from the other two. “Let’s play a game!”

“I’ll be it!” Katie said instantly. “We can make it kinda like hide-and-go-seek, but the it person has to have pink hair.”

“How are we going to do that?” Lily asked. Natalie rolled her eyes, before changing Katie’s hair bubble-gum pink. Lily laughed.

“If I find you first, I have to die your hair pink and shoot a flare up in the air. 20 seconds to hide” Katie said. Lily and Natalie nodded, before sprinting away from her. Katie shut her eyes and began counting to herself.

Natalie ducked into Hagrid’s pumpkin patch and hid behind the largest pumpkin she could find. Hagrid, who apparently saw this, stuck his head out the door.

“What are ye doin?” he asked.

“Hide-and-go-seek” Natalie replied. “Katie’s it.” He nodded, having been used to it, before going back into his hut. Natalie grinned as she settled into her hiding spot.

Lily ran behind the Quidditch shed, breathing hard. As she peaked around it to look around, she noticed that James Potter and his friends were coming out to the Quidditch pitch. She ducked out of sight when he came over, praying that he hadn’t noticed her.

“Hey, Evans” he grinned, popping up next to her. She quickly shushed him. “What?”

“I’m playing a game with Katie and Natalie” she whispered. “And she can’t find me. So shut up.”

“Sounds like fun” Remus smiled next to her. “Can we play?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them” she answered.

“Ask who what?” Katie asked, suddenly next to James, who screamed girlishly and jumped into Sirius’ arms. “You’re it” she chirped, turning Lily’s hair pink. Lily made a face.

“Can we play?” Peter asked excitedly.

“Sure” she grinned. “The more the merrier.” Shooting a green flare into the air, she looked at James. “Wow, very manly James” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

“My hero” Lily whispered, earning a giggle. James blushed scarlet as Sirius set him on his feet, laughing.

“We should go find Natalie” Katie suggested. They nodded, before jogging up the hill. Natalie was laying on the ground at the top, panting heavily.

“Man I’m really out of shape” she wheezed. Katie laughed, helping her friend up. “They playing?”

“Yeah. Is that alright?” Katie asked. Natalie nodded, grinning.

“So, what are the rules?” Sirius asked.

“Whoever is it has pink hair” Natalie started, gesturing to Lily. Katie quickly changed hers back to normal.

“We should make it so that whoever is found first has to help the it person find the others. Once everyone has been found, the person who was found first is it” Katie said.

“I like that” Natalie smiled.

“But what if not everyone has been found?” Remus asked.

“Okay, the last person to be found or left in the game can—”

“Try to confuse the it person” Natalie interrupted Katie, earning a glare.

“Meaning?” Lily asked.

“To try and keep the it person from finding everyone else” Natalie answered.

“We should have a base” James interjected. Both Natalie and Katie shook their heads.

“Cause the grounds is so big and there is only one it person” Katie said. “It wouldn’t be fair if while they are trying to find the others that everyone is running toward the base.”

“So does everyone understand?” Natalie asked. Nods went around. “Kay, Lily? Count to 50 this time.” Lily nodded, before squeezing her eyes shut. Everyone ran off in different directions.