Go on, Scream

Seamus had a horrible moment about an hour later when he thought he saw Bartholomew strut into the Gryffindor common room. This was followed by an even more horrible moment when he realized that that was, indeed, what he was seeing. Dean was laughing as he watched Seamus' reaction, but when Bartholomew headed straight toward the two of them, his laughter faltered.
Bartholomew gracefully dropped into the armchair next to Dean's. He was grinning.

"Gryffindor, eh?" Dean said. He tended to resort to stating the obvious whenever he was at a loss for words. Usually it bothered Seamus, but right now, he was just glad to have the silence filled. He began to see why Dean did it.

Bartholomew nodded. "I have to say, I was hoping for Ravenclaw so that I could keep a better eye on Audriell... but this is a place I could get used to." He looked around the room, clearly impressed.
"You don't look like you're young enough to be a student," Seamus said bluntly.

"I'm not that much older. I took a year off of school to play Quidditch. I mostly figured that if I needed my NEWTs, I'd drop back into school for a bit, but I never really planned on it. Should have seen this coming, though. Honestly, what was my mother thinking, Sending Audriell here on her own?"

"I get the idea that Audriell did it so that she could look after a friend of hers. And to be stubborn." Seamus looked over at Dean in surprise. Since when did he know more about Audriell than Seamus did? And why hadn't he shared?

"That sounds about right," Bartholomew said. He looked around the room. Some of the first years were heading up to bed. That didn't seem like such a bad idea to him. "I'm off to bed. I'll see you in the morning, fellas."

Seamus waited until Bartholomew was definitely out of earshot before leaning in close to Dean. "What was that about?"

Dean grinned lopsidedly. "That guy Morag? He's close to Audriell. We got to talking the other day..."

"Why?"

"I've been worried about you, mate," Dean said, shrugging. "Morag's been telling me that Audriell's seemed distracted lately. The drama with that girl Sara doesn't help, either," Dean added thoughtfully.

"What about her?" Seamus felt his temper rise. It seemed like everyone lately had something to say about Audriell, and none of it was positive. He had always thought that Sara and Audriell were good friends. That meant that she had the potential to cause the most harm.

Dean gave Seamus a look. "Talk to Audriell about it if you want to know."

"You're a bleeding git, you know that?" Seamus was irritated, but he grinned as he said this.
Dean scratched his head. "I'm no more a git than you are a moron." He glanced across the room, toward where Parvati Patil was sitting with her friend Lavender. Her dark hair was pooled on the desk in front of her and the two girls had their heads bent together in a whispered discussion.
"Off to bed with you. Maybe if she sees me sitting here on my own, she'll come over. Go on."

Seamus shook his head, smiling. This was something of a ritual between the two. Usually Seamus refused, but he was exhausted. Bed didn't sound like such a bad idea.

Styx, Seamus' cat, was collapsed across his pillow. Seamus smiled at the feline, burying his hands in his thick black fur. "Oy, move over, would you? You've no idea the day I've had." The cat lifted its head enough to eye him solemnly before dropping it back contentedly on the pillow.

Seamus shook his head. "You know, I saved a life today," he said to Styx as he lay down, resting his head on top of the cat. He shifted uncomfortably. He had, hadn't he? It didn't feel that way. He still didn't even know who the kid was and had barely thought about him all day. No, he had been too busy worrying about Audriell for that. She really had looked dead, lying there on the sand.
It had been ages since he had first taken a fancy to her, but recently, things had changed. Thoughts of her consumed him. He paid as much attention to her in their shared classes as he did to the teacher and it took no effort at all for him to close his eyes and imagine her own.

It was unfathomable, how easy it had been to let her wind her way into his life. How easily he had accepted her unusual heritage and the difficulties it brought. How much he had come to adore those intense red eyes of hers, eyes that marked her as fantastically different.

In the morning, he promised to himself as he drifted off to sleep, he would visit her. They would talk about Sara and how she felt about Bartholomew coming to stay and about the strange events of today. But that was all for the morning, and for now, he was asleep.

***

Audriell opened her eyes to find another set, identical to hers, staring back at her.
"You always were an early riser," she said to her brother, grinning.

He smiled back at her for a moment. "I'm not staying here long," he said to her, "I just wanted to see how you were feeling."

Audriell's eyes widened so much that they swallowed the rest of her face up. "What, I have to be in a coma for you to be in the same place as me?"

"You're saying you'd rather I stayed?" Bartholomew asked. If she weren't so busy being upset, she might have caught the wicked glint in his eyes.

"Of course!"

"Good, because I've just transferred to Hogwarts. I'm a Gryffindor now. I only meant that I was going to head down to breakfast."

Audriell blinked, unsure of how to react. Then she smiled her brightest smile, the one that made everything seem to light up. Seamus walked in just then, so this image is the one he was treated to.
Bartholomew smiled knowingly at him and tugged affectionately at a lock of Audriell's hair. "Later, sis." As he passed Seamus on his way out, Bartholomew winked at him. Seamus wished that he would make up his mind about him. Half the time, he seemed to enjoy that Seamus cared about his sister. The other half, though, he looked at Seamus as a threat.

The door shut behind Bartholomew and Seamus took the seat that he had begun to think of as his own. It was positioned so that he was level with Audriell's head, able to soak in all of the warmth of her smile.

"How are you?" Seamus asked. The question seemed silly with her looking so happy, but he wanted to be sure. Besides, what else was there to say?

"Much better. I'm working on getting Madam Pomfrey to let me go in time for breakfast." She said this last bit with a raised voice.

Madam Pomfrey peeked her head out of her office, smiling fondly. "I suppose if it's really that important to you, you can go. But dear, I don't know if the Great Hall is so good an idea right now. Think of all of the people there."

Audriell grimaced. "I know, but I think I'll be able to handle it. I've got to face everyone some time and besides, Bart's there." She was already shoving the blankets off of herself, stretching luxuriously in the bed.

The look she gave to Seamus as she skipped out of the room was inviting. He followed.
Once they were a safe distance away from the Hospital Wing, Audriell stopped and said to Seamus, "What she fails to mention is that I've already eaten. I just wanted out of there, and soon. Walk down to the lake with me?"

The look Seamus gave her was skeptical, and she laughed. "I bet there won't be any more drowning going on there this morning," she assured him. "And according to Bart, it won't affect me like that anymore. You have to break before you can get stronger, he says."

"I'm not sure you've gotten to the stronger part of that, Dria," Seamus told her. "You're still as pale as death." As pale as a banshee, he thought silently, knowing better than to vocalize this particular thought.

"I'm fine," she snapped. Her walk took on a clipped, staccato quality. He hastened to catch up.
When they reached the lake, Audriell dropped herself onto the ground in the precise spot where she'd passed out the day before. Seamus sat next to her and took a moment to admire the way that the soft morning light glanced off of the water.

"I don't know why the first years were so keen on swimming," Seamus said to her. "It's bloody cold in there."

"They probably just wanted an excuse to wear something other than these cloaks. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in mine."

They sat in silence for a while before Seamus remembered what Dean had said about Sara. "What's the story with that friend of yours, Sara?" he asked.

Audriell's shoulders hunched a bit. "I think she's not my friend anymore."

"You always seemed so close," Seamus hedged. She refused to meet his gaze.

"We always were. I don't know what happened." She shook her head almost angrily. "That's a lie. I do. She doesn't like that I'm a... that I'm different."

"A lot of people don't," Seamus told her. His words had the intended effect- her eyes latched onto his. "And those are the people you're better off without. Look at all of the ones you still have."
Audriell rolled her eyes. "You sound like a self-help book."

"Sure, but I'm right, aren't I?"

"I never said I was upset about it. I don't need help." Her eyes shifted so that he couldn't read them anymore. "I'm fine," she asserted.

Seamus debated for a second before replying, "You didn't seem so fine last night." Audriell didn't speak for a while, and when she did, it was to change the subject. Though they talked for a while of the professors they had and the food in the Great Hall and muggle sports, her mind didn't wander too far from what Seamus had said. He was right, she admitted to herself. She needed to talk to Sara.

***

Sara paced in the common room. She was relieved that Audriell would be in the Hospital Wing for the night. Now she could have Morag to herself without feeling guilty.

Morag wasn't himself, though, and was hardly paying attention to her at all. She might as well not have gone up with him to visit Audriell, for all the good it had done.

"She's fine," Sara snapped again. "Even her brother says so."
Morag gave her a look. "Today was scary. My nerves are just shot. I know that she's alright now, but what if it happens again later? And what if, that time, it's worse?"

"Then it's worse. Worrying about it isn't going to make a difference."
Morag shook his head. "I'm going to take a bit of a walk, I think."
Sara grinned. "Now that's more like it. I'll come with you."
"No, Sara. I want to clear my head a bit. You're right, I'm thinking too much right now. Worrying too much. I want to be alone."

He left and Sara sat down on the nearest chair, huffing. She had worked up a really good pout when someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around, anticipating Morag, but was disappointed. Anthony Golding stood there, looking at her with a serious expression.
"What?" she snapped.

"Leave Audriell alone, would you?"

She stared at him. "We've been best friends for years," she said, managing to cut the malice out of her tone.

"You used to be, yes," Anthony conceded. "But not anymore. Do you think people really haven't noticed? You want nothing to do with her. So stop getting her hopes up, especially when she's had a day like today."

"Who are you to be defending her? She doesn't need you. Audriell's always been able to take care of herself." Sara thought back on the time an arrogant Gryffindor had asked Dria out- no, told her that she'd be going out with him. Audriell had hexed his nose into growing so big that he'd fallen forward from the weight. "I still care about her," Sara said. It was true.

"Then what's been going on?" Anthony asked, sitting next to Sara and leaning in close. He was genuinely intersted in what she had to say, Sara realized. Knowing that made her warm with pleasure.

"My mum," Sara said. "She told me a couple of months ago- after that day in Potions- that I couldn't be hanging around Dria anymore. She's dangerous."

Anthony drew away from her reflexively. "What, and you let her?"

Sara glared at him. She shouldn't have expected him to understand, not with the way Audriell had him all twisted up. "She's right. Besides, you remember what happened right after that? Audriell pulled away from everyone, you and me included. She didn't want anything to do with us. You can't blame me for not bullying her into talking to me."

"Yes, I can." Anthony stood up. "If you really did care about her, you would have seen how much she needed you then. And you let her down." Anthony gave her one last sad look before turning his back on Sara and leaving her alone.