Dandelions

~41~

I REMEMBERED SUSAN BONES MOTHER'S NAME SO IT CHANGED:

"Harper! What are yer doin' sleepin' out here? It's dangerous!" Hagrid scolded the girl who had just woken up, covered in leaves and water from the rain. "Sorry, Hagrid.." He helped her up before walking her out of the forest. "E'eryone has been lookin' fer yer." Harper's stomach did a back flip at the thought of people paying even more attention then they already do. "Merlin.. It's a Saturday. Good. I'm gonna pack so I can head to the station tomorrow.
Yeah." Harper talked to herself making Hagrid look questioningly at her. Waving goodbye, Harper made her way into the castle to be meet by a panicked amount of people. They'd not noticed the girl until she pushed past them down to the common room. "Rossi. Tell Dumbledore we've got her."

Next thing you know, Amelia Bones had her grasp on the girl and was leading her to the hospital wing. "I'm fine, Bones. Please let me go back to my room." Harper whispered before all the memories of last night came flooding back to her. Not letting herself cry again she decided to turn it into anger. Shaking the girl off her, Harper stomped off back to where she was before walking down to her common room. She didn't wanna see any of her friends at the moment especially after last night but when she got to her room, Marlene and Lily were laying in here bed talking. "Are you insane Harper May?!" Lily screeched once she saw the disheveled girl with
leaves in her hair. Marlene stood up and took her wand out. "If you ever scare us like that again, Rossi, I'll make sure to make you blow up like a balloon." Harper chuckled at the girls before hugging them and saying, "I'm sorry."

Lily melted into the hug, never being able to stay mad at her friends for too long, but Marlene was reluctant at first. Finally, she put her wand away before helping the girl her room alongside Lily. "You should go shower. We'll clean the rest, yeah?" Nodding, Harper walked off to the bathroom she shared with her other roommates and began to get undressed. She let out a dry sob as she looked at herself in the mirror: She looked exhausted and broken. Shrugging it off, she knew the argument with Sirius would subside and that she'd help Regulus even if it killed her. Turning on cold water, she stepped into the shower and felt the icy water hit her body making her flinch. She looked on the back of her leg to see a long cut and dried up blood. "Well that's what happens when you sleep outside." Harper whispered before washing herself.

She spent a good 20 minutes in the shower before getting out and drying herself. She didn't bother doing her hair, getting dressed, or makeup since Lily and Marlene would do it all for her. She wrapped her towel around her and stepped out to see Remus also there looking extremely worried for some reason: then it hit her again that she'd slept outside. "Harper, are you-" "Insane? I've been asked that. I'm fine. Please stop talking about it." She said before grabbing the clothes Marlene had picked out and walking back into the bathroom. She heard the three friends whispering outside the door but paid no mind as she pulled on her ripped jeans, hoodie, and some sneakers. As she walked out, Marlene said, "Though I'd never go for this um.. outfit, I thought you'd want to be comfortable."

Harper smiled at the girl before walking over to Remus and laying her head on his lap. He looked down at the girl and said, "Padfoot was heartbroken last night.. I understand him. Yet, I understand you. When he found out nobody could find you - he searched everywhere - he locked himself in the bathroom until Prongs told him you'd been found." Lily grabbed some lip gloss and began applying it on the girl. "I don't want to talk to him right now. I have so much to worry about - I can't figure out what that note says or really how to reveal it." Marlene looked onto her dresser before pulling the note off of it and examining it. "Have you tried 'Aparecium'? Nope didn't work." She began to bang her wand on the paper until Lily finally took it away, "Why don't we work on that when we get back? Yes Evans AFTER." Remus said turning to Lily who looked offended he'd even say that.

"Great idea. How's Carter?" Harper smiled up at him, making the boy turn a crimson red, and shake his head. "He's good. I might see him over break where you know.. Maybe we'd become official." The three girls squealed and jumped up to hug the blushing boy who laughed at them. "I love girls nights." He added making them all nod in agreement. "James and Lily! Dorcas and Marlene! Carter and Remus! Oh and Sirius and Harper" Harper added quickly before playing with her fingers making them all look worried at her. "You know this isn't the end of you guys right? He's just scared to lose you. He practically lost his brother and you
going with him to do this task - scares him to death." Lily tried to explain but Harper crossed his arms and started a whole rant. "I get that but Regulus is my best friend.. No offense. I mean he's practically my brother and I don't know what I'd do without him. Losing him would be like losing my father all over again and I can't go through that."

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence before Marlene said, "You should do it". Remus and Lily's heads shot up to look at the girl as if she were insane. "Don't look at me like that. Harper wants to do this and I think she should. You see how she accomplished that first task!" Harper smiled gratefully at the girl - she believed in her even when nobody else did. "Go for it Harper. Just stay safe." Remus whispered before pulling the girl into an extremely long and bone crushing hug. Harper looked to Lily who stared back at her, "I'm not agreeing to this. I do believe in you though. You may be a short hufflepuff but you are stronger than anyone I know." Harper's heart did a leap but she stayed calm and nodded. "Let's have a nice PEACEFUL day shall we? Listen to some muggle
music and whatever else."

Well that didn't turn out how they all expected because by the end of the day all 4 of them were drunk out of their damn minds and dancing to Fleetwood Mac. Not realizing she had it, Harper found some firewhiskey in her trunk, causing the chaos that was going on. Marlene was spinning Harper around as Lily danced by herself making Remus choke on his drink in laughter. "Ros- What the fuck's going on in here?" Amelia said walking into the room with wide-eyes as she saw the 4 drunken students rolling around on the floor in laughter. "Sorry to interrupt but Potter's here. He said 'no, nobody's with me.' Whatever that means." Remus nodded before giving a signal to say: let him in. James walked in to Lily jumping on him and smothering him in kisses. "Where's the alcohol?
Merlin knows I need it."

Marlene grabbed the bottle and passed it to James who summoned a glass with his wand. James chugged his drink and began to dance with Lily who
was swaying her hips on the boy. "Get some, Red!" Marlene screamed before dragging Remus up off the bed and started dancing with him. Harper swayed her hips alone before yelling out, "I fucking love you guys." Nobody responded as they were all to drunk to notice but James wasn't drunk yet was mesmerized by the way Lily was moving. The alcohol flowed through her veins making her forget all her problems beside the thought of them having to get up early for the train station. When the clock hit 10:00, they all were laying on the bed breathing heavy. "If your roommates walk in, they'll think we just had a orgy." James giggled like a girl making everyone else break out into laughter. "Just start moaning and they'll know it." Marlene joked making them all laugh harder.

"Want to go have a sleepover in the Room of Requirements? We can all get ready for the Ball tommorow together." Lily slurred. Even when she was plastered out of her mind, she had extremely good ideas. All agreeing, Harper dragged her dress and such downstairs as they all stumbled behind her, laughing. "Come on, shhh." Harper slurred walking to the Gryffindor tower so they can all grab their trunks aswell. "I have more alcohol in my trunk!" Marlene squealed running up the stairs, tripping over herself and almost falling through the missing stair. Quickly picking herself back up, she said the Gryffindor password and they all walked up to their rooms to grab their stuff so they'd be able to get ready for the ball. Harper waited in the common room talking to little Creevey when they all returned followed by Peter and Sirius. Harper's stomach turned as she saw Sirius looking miserable but nobody seemed to notice besides Peter as he was not drunk. "Come onnn, guys!" Remus groaned pulling them to the room.

They all walked out of the common room after Harper said goodbye to Creevey. Sirius grabbed his wrist making them both lag behind before saying, "I'm sorry. I'm just scared." Harper looked up at the boy with sorrow in her eyes and whispered, "I'm still doing it, Siri. I love you." The boy looked angry for a second but took a deep breath and said, "I wish you wouldn't but alright, I don't want to fight anymore. I love you too Harper Narnia Rossi." Leaning down, he kissed her cheek before they walked after their drunken friends to the room.