Dark Come Soon

Alexandra sat quietly in the back row, her eyes struggling to stay open as she attempted to pay attention to what Professor McGonagall was saying. It was barely nine in the morning, but it felt so much earlier. Normally, she was good about staying alert during her morning classes, but the problem was that she hadn’t gotten much sleep. She’d stayed awake until the early hours of the morning, sketching from the edge of the Astronomy Tower. Ron had told her that she could go if she wanted to and that he’d patrol around there to make sure that she wouldn’t get into trouble. The offer had been too good to pass up and she ended up taking it, but they hadn’t just gone to the tower. No. When she finished her sketch, he took her to the kitchens, where they stayed until a little before four.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that she was falling asleep in class, she was starting to think that she’d made a mistake in staying up that late. She hadn’t stayed up past one in months and to go from that to going to bed at 4:27, was a big fucking deal. At least to her it was. She wondered if Ron was in the same state she was in. He had Transfigurations as well, but he sat closer to the front, usually in the first three rows since Hermione always got there pretty early to save the trio seats. She looked ahead, searching for his fiery locks and sure enough, there he was, hunched over with his face in the book. A tired smile crept onto her face as she watched him.

Slowly, but surely he was becoming a favorite of hers. It scared her to spend so much time with him, the fear of having a vision around him was always there, but whenever she was with them, whenever it was just the two of them, she forgot about her abilities. He made her feel normal. It wasn’t until after they’d hung out that she’d scold herself for having been around him for so long, but even though she’d swear that she wouldn’t spend as much time around him, she knew that she wouldn’t actually go through with that. Ron was unlike anyone she’d ever met. He was funny and even though his humor could be a bit sarcastic at times, she still appreciated it and had a laugh. She just hoped that she’d never had a vision around him. She didn’t want him to look at her differently.

“You alright, mate?” asked Ramona, after class ended.

“Huh?” replied Alexandra.

“Are you alright?” she repeated, wondering if her friend had gone off for a smoke before breakfast.

“Oh. Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little sleepy,” answered Alexandra. “Is class over?”

Ramona cocked her right brow. “What kept you from sleeping? You’re like a bloody zombie!”

“I was sketching.” Alexandra spoke in a quiet voice. “Went to the Astronomy Tower . . .”

“Alone?” Ramona hissed. “Don’t you know how dangerous it is around here?! There are some nasty blokes in here. Blokes that are up to no good and it’s not safe for you to be out. I mean. What if someone had cursed you or worse,” she scooted closer to Alexandra. “What if you had a vision and got hurt?” she added in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Don’t get so worked up. I wasn’t by myself.”

“You weren’t?”

“I wasn’t.”

“Then who were you with? Your dad?” she was curious to know.

Alexandra shook her head.

“You slag!” she practically bellowed. “Who you running around Hogwarts with?” there was a mischievous smile on her face.

“It’s not like that.” Alexandra’s cheeks were slowly beginning to flush with color.

Ramona remained quiet for a moment before saying. “It was Ron, wasn’t it?”

Alexandra nodded.

“Since when have you and Ron been so close?”

“We’re not close. Not really. He just sits for me so I can sketch him. He has a really lovely face and I can’t help it if I want to draw him. I'm an artist! It’s natural for me to want to sketch nice looking things.” Alexandra paused to catch her breath. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“Like what?”

“Oh. You know what I'm talking about.”

“Haven’t a clue, mate, haven’t a clue.”

Alexandra let out a heavy sigh. “Nothing’s going on with him.”

“Mhm, right,” said Ramona as she gathered her belongings.

“I'm being serious.”

“Of course you are.” Ramona stood up and slung her book bag over her shoulder. “That reminds me. I ran into your dad earlier, he said to tell you that he wanted to see you after class ended.”

“Did he say why?”

“Nope, just said he wanted to see you. Don’t worry though. I'm pretty sure you’re not in trouble. Or maybe you are. Who knows, perhaps a painting told him about your moonlight stroll with Ronald.”

“Ugh. You’re impossible.” Alexandra laughed as she followed Ramona out there.

“But so very endearing!” she reminded.

“That you are. Hey. Do you want to go with me to the Hospital Wing? Knowing him it’s probably something not that important and then we can hang out?”

“Sure that sounds good.”

The pair walked in direction of the Hospital Wing. Alexandra completely oblivious to the fact that her dad was just about to surprise her with a weekend at home and Ramona was excited to visit Los Angele with her friend. A weekend away was exactly what Ramona needed to forget about everything that was going on. She needed a few days of peace, so she could breathe easy and just have fun. This was exactly what she was going to have. And she was also excited to meet Alexandra’s family. She was curious to see how her friend interacted with them.

When they reached the Hospital Wing, Andrés was staring at the collection of the books in the far corner of the wing so he didn’t see them walk in. Alexandra walked up behind her dad and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder as she said, “Hello Papa. Mona said you wanted to see me.”

“I did.” he patted her hand affectionately. “I have something very important to tell you.” he turned around and saw the two young women standing there, Ramona wearing a wide grin. “Hello Ramona. Thank you for giving the message.”

She smiled in response.

“AH. Back to what I was saying,” he redirected his attention to Alexandra, whom was wearing a curious expression on her face. “I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise?” she repeated excitedly. “I love surprises!”

“And you’re going to love this one very, very much.” He paused briefly to add to dramatic effect and then said, “We’re going home for the weekend. I asked Dumbledore if we could go and he said yes. AND –”

“There’s more?” Alexandra blurted out, her eyes widened in anticipation.

“Of course there’s more,” chuckled Andrés.

“What is it?”

“I'm going with you guys.” Ramona declared.

Alexandra was so excited that she pounced on her father, taking him into a tight hug as she repeatedly thanked him. She’d been homesick for awhile now. Hogwarts was brilliant, as were the people in it, but she missed the smell of her grandmother’s cooking, the sound of her grandfather’s booming laugh and to go home, accompanied by Ramona was jut . . . just amazing!

In an hour’s time, Alexandra finished packing her bag for the weekend and changed into an outfit that her grandmother would approve of. She figured that since she hadn’t seen her grandmother in so long that it’d be a good idea to make her happy by dressing up in a dress like a proper young woman should. Ramona laughed at Alexandra when she explained why she was in the dress and wearing earrings, but she also thought it was cute. To see Alexandra so worked up over her appearance was different and only served to endear the strange American to her.

At 3 pm, the three of them began the walk over to Hogsmeade and then, at a quarter to four, they apparated to the house in California. Andrés held onto their hands tightly to make sure that neither of them ended up getting splinched during the journey. They all arrived to the house with every bit of their bodies still intact and the moment that they got there, Aurelia ran out of the house, her graying hair blowing in the cool breeze.

“Alexandra!” she exclaimed. “Aye mi dulce niña. (Oh my sweet little girl.)”

“Nana!” bellowed Alexandra excitedly as the elderly witch took her into a warm embrace and kissed her cheek. “I missed you, Nana.”

“Yo también, mi corazoncito. Pero mira como te vez de linda. ¡Que belleza! (I missed you to, my heart. But look at how beautiful you look!)”

A faint blush spread across her cheeks, compliments had a way of making her blush. “Thanks Nana. Oh how rude of me! Nana this is my friend from Hogwarts, her name’s Ramona.”

“Friend?” spoke Aurelia in her thick Spanish accent. “Aye Dios mio! You have friend.” Aurelia turned to the dark haired witch that stood beside her husband. “Hello, I am Aurelia Concepcion Rivera de Ávila. It very nice to meet you. It good for Alexandra to have friend.” She smiled brightly and took the young witch into a hug that was just as strong as the one she’d just given her granddaughter.

Ramona was momentarily taken aback by how affectionate the elderly witch was, but she quickly hugged her back, deciding that she liked the elderly witch very much.

“It’s lovely to meet you Miss Ávila. You have a very beautiful garden.”

“You like flowers?” she asked. “I show you more. Muchas (a lot of) flowers in the backyard,” and then, without batting an eye, she grabbed Ramona’s hand and led her into the backyard.

“It’s safe to say your Nana won’t be scolding you for not having friends.” Andrés commented.

Alexandra nodded. “She was so excited she didn’t even notice you.”

“That’s nothing new. The day I came home with you, she stopped noticing me,” he joked. “Vente, a que encontrar a tu abuelito. (Come on; let’s go find your grandpa.)”

Her grandfather had been in the bathroom at the time of their arrival and when he walked out to see their smiling faces, he ran back into his room to throw on a shirt and then walked out to greet them. He hugged Alexandra tightly. Although he’d never admit it in front of people, she was his favorite grandchild. Having her grow up in his home had made her more like his own daughter than grandchild so when he saw her, he immediately started asking her about how everything was going and he was more than happy to hear that she was getting on a lot better than he had expected her to.

“Is it alright if Mona and I go for a walk?” asked Alexandra after they finished eating lunch. “I want to show her the neighborhood.”

“That’s fine, Alex, just remember to be careful when you’re crossing the streets and don’t wander off to far. Okay?”

Alexandra nodded. “We’ll be back in a little bit.”

Alexandra then proceeded to kiss the cheeks of everyone in her family, as is the custom, and walked outside with Ramona. The city she lived in wasn’t exactly Los Angeles. It was Whittier, a city in Los Angeles County. Alexandra always just said she was from LA because most people didn’t know where the hell Whittier was. The city had a lot of Hispanics in it and as they walked down the street, Ramona realized just how different America was from England. And she liked it. She wanted to live somewhere different, where there were new cultures to explore.

“There’s an ice cream shop up the road that makes their ice cream like they do in Mexico. Want to try it? It’s delicious!”

“We just finished eating and you want to grab ice cream. Ah. I bloody love how you think!”

Alexandra smiled in response and they were on their way to the small shop. It was close by, only four blocks up the road and they made the best ice cream that Alexandra had ever tasted. The ice cream was made with all natural ingredients that really gave it a distinct flavor that other ice creams lacked. Alexandra made sure to tell that to Ramona who just looked at her friend with a look of appreciation. This was the most that Alexandra had ever talked. It was as if someone had turned on a hidden on switch and had released her into the wild.

They eventually made it into the shop and there, standing with a petite girl clinging to his arm, stood Anthony Medina, her former boyfriend of three months. Alexandra felt like turning and sprinting out of the store, but it was too late, he had seen her and to run would’ve only made her seem even more perturbed than everyone already thought her. Her break up with him hadn’t gone over very well. In fact, to that day, he still didn’t really know why she’d broken up with him. It had all happened out of nowhere. She’d shown up at his house at two in the morning and told him that they couldn’t be together anymore. That was all she’d said. For his part, he figured that she needed time to get over whatever it was that she was going through.

What it was that was bothering her, he didn’t know. He asked a bunch of times, but she always managed to just slip away without saying anything of value. In time he let it go and after of few months of sulking in the privacy of his room, he started going out with another girl, a muggle. She was nice. She didn’t really have as much in common with him as Alexandra had, but he got over that by reminding himself that at least Cassidy was there. To him it was better to have a physical girlfriend than to be lost sulking over someone that didn’t even care about him.

Alexandra took in a breath, demanding her body to comply with the orders her brain was sending, and walked towards the front as nonchalantly as she could. She even went as far as to say a joke to Ramona, hoping that by seeing her engaged, in a conversation with someone else, he would leave her alone. That didn’t happen. He kept staring at her, his brow furrowed, causing two lines to form on his forehead and after a few minutes, he finally excused himself from his girlfriend, claiming that Alexandra was an old friend that he wanted to say a quick hello to. She bought his lie and told him that she’d save her spot in line, since the shop was packed.

“Hey,” he said nervously, his hands buried deep inside his pockets.

Alexandra wracked her mind for something smart to say, something smooth, but all she ended up mustering was an unimpressive, “Shit.”

And before he had a chance to say anything else, Alexandra took hold of Ramona’s hand and ran out the door. She wasn’t good with dealing with complicated emotions. They made her feel nervous, liable to throw up all the over the place. She honestly thought that she would’ve been able to get through a simple conversation with him. It’s not like she liked him anymore, but the embarrassment that she felt in regards to the way she broke up with him, rendered her inept. She’d just have to deal with people back home continuing to think that she was crazy.

“I swear I'm not crazy.” Alexandra spoke when they were a few blocks away. “I just . . . I'm not crazy, Ramona, I swear I'm not,” she was on the verge of tears. “This was supposed to be a rad fucking weekend and look, I’ve already ruined it.”

“Oh hush up you slag,” Ramona spoke playfully, hoping to brighten her spirits. “You’ve not ruined anything. All you did was run off. Everyone’s run off on someone else. No big deal. And as for you being crazy, you’re not. And don’t you ever let me catch you saying that again. You hear me?”

Alexandra nodded, the tears retreating.

“Good.” Ramona placed an arm around Alexandra’s shoulder. “Now where we off to next? I demand a proper tour.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Where do I want to go? Well, I’d like to go on a magic carpet ride. Got one of those lying around? I promise I’ll even sing that song from the Disney movie.”

Alexandra couldn’t help it, she burst into laughter.

“Oi!” bellowed Ramona. “Don’t laugh! I'm being serious.” But she wasn’t, she was just being silly to brighten her friend’s day and it worked.