𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 || 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

fourteen

"so there's a murderer on the loose and his name is sirius? how has no one made a joke?" 

we were all sitting in the common room, talking about the newest rule. no one was to go out to hogsmeade because of a sighting of sirius black in the castle. ron saw him. and now no one's allowed outside the castle.

its our second year all over again. 

"like there is a perfect way to joke about the situation!" avery exclaimed, her blue eyes holding excitment.

ron on the other hand, seemed terrified of her suggestion. "aren't you afriad of dying?"

avery laughed, so hard i'm honestly surprised her lungs are in tact. she was wiping tear of joy from her eyes. "lol, nope! why would i be afraid of that.? it happens to everyone eventually!"

"yeah, but it isn't good for your mental state to laugh about death," i quickly stated. i noticed the thin white line on her tan skin and say an opening. "where did you get that scar, avery?"

said girl looked up from the phone in her hands, her hand moving to her neck. her face had an expression i couldn't read. her eyes met mine, and the world stopped. the blue eyes that bore an excited  sparkle now held some sort of sad shine. 

"when i was ten years of age, my school was entered by a shooter," she began, looking at the fire place. "darien and i went to the bathrooms. you couldn't go without a buddy and there are unisex bathrooms there. we were waiting for each other, when we heard a loud bang. there were no loud speakers that we could hear, we were on our own.

"darien wanted to protect me. i was his best and only friend. and he was mine. so he grabbed a broom to see who it was. maybe it was one of the upperclassmen messing with us. but when we turned the corner there was a man, holding a rifle. i was standing in the path of the bullet. darien-darien pushed me out of the way. the bullet hit him. and a second was shot. it grazed my neck," avery lifted her pale, blond hair and exposed the scar. it was inbeded in her skin. a traumatic memory in the mind of a ray of sunshine. 

"that's-that's scary!" said a voice, i turned around to see neville longbottem standing there with ginny weasley. both looking uncomfortable with the story avery had just shared.

"meh," avery shrugged. "only two months of therepy and a trip to the hospital. it wasn't that scary. i still got darien's ring and memories."

"so did you guys ever fancy each other..?" ron blurted the question and then covered his mouth. i threw my transfiguration book at him.

avery laughed, her face lighting up with joy. "no! pff- darien was interested in men, not women. never was, and never will be." she turned on her phone. the screen lit up, and there was two smiling faces. avery's and a male's. he had crazy black hair, similar to harry's, and dark green eyes. and his smile. it was as if someone had just said something funny.

ten year old avery was adorable. the picture was three years old and a lot  can change in three years. avery looked more like a hardened survivor then a student.

"so then why the rings?"

avery sighed, holding up her right and left hands. both shined with a gold band on each ring finger.

"a promise that we'd be friends forever. they were suppost to be my eleventh birthday gift. but he died before he can give them to me. the turtle one, no the other one. the one on my left, ron! that one's darien's. the one on my right is mine. and they mean the world to me."

i smiled, "that is a very kind gesture your friend did for you. he seemed to be an amazing person."

"hermione, he was. and wanna know a secret?" avery asked, inching closer to me. i backed away and suddenly their was a flash and my face was on avery's phone. "you're very pretty."

i felt the heat rise into my cheeks as avery smiled at me. why does that always happen?

"hermione, why so sirius?" avery said, in a calm tone of voice. and then looked at ron. "see!? i can make a joke out of a potentally deadly situation!"

god, she is something else.