𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 08

CHAPTER EIGHT
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH HER HAND ALMOST GETS CHOPPED OFF

. . .

"But what's a portrait of your mother doing here?" Harry asked and behind him, at the front of the crowd of others, Aviana had to stop herself from physically face-palming. Sirius explained the situation with only a backward glance at the Rosier girl, the look in his eyes reminding her not to make any unnecessary comments.

The long table in the centre of the kitchen, which Aviana was used to seeing as set for dinner, was clear of any eating utensils and instead covered in scrolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags. Mr Weasley and Bill were sat at the end of the table, and as Mrs Weasley cleared her throat, Mr Weasley jumped to his feet. 

"Harry!" Mr Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet himand shaking his hand vigorously. "Good to see you!" Over Mr Weasley's shoulder, Bill could be seen hurriedly rolling up the long bits of parchment. 

"Journey all right, Harry?" Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"

Aviana hovered as the conversation began about Harry's journey to the house, but her focus remained on Mrs Weasley and Bill, the mother berating her eldest son for not tidying away the scrolls before then. 

"The meeting's over, Dung," said Sirius, as they all sat down around him at the table. "Harry's arrived." Aviana took her usual place besides Sirius, ignoring the confused look that the Potter boy had as he sat opposite her. 

She remained silent, feeling even more awkward than ever as the others began to talk, but she was watching, glancing around at the various people in the kitchen at that time. Mundugus was apologising to Harry for the whole Dementor thing, then getting shouted at by Molly for having his pipe out. 

Tonks knocked over a chair as she went to help Mrs Weasley and soon enough a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, supervised by Mr Weasley, while Mrs Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and the others took out plates, more goblets, and food from the pantry.

As usual, Aviana wasn't expected to help out, and even if she wanted to, none of them would have wanted to work with her. The Rosier girl watched as Harry jumped out of his skin as Crookshanks winded around his legs, before jumping up and sitting on the end of the bench between Aviana and Sirius.

Sirius scratched him absentmindedly behind the ears as he turned, still grim faced, to Harry. "Had a good summer so far?" 

"No, it's been lousy," Harry replied and this time, Aviana didn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, he had actually been with people - actually had something to do, somewhere to go other than the grounds of his own home. 

For the first time, something like a grin flitted across Sirius's face. "Don't know what you're complaining about, myself." 

"What?" said Harry incredulously.

"Personally, I'd have welcomed a dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights... I've been stuck inside for a month - Aviana would agree, I suppose."

Harry eyes flickered from his godfather over to Aviana. "My dad's gone to Azkaban, my mum went to France. I was alone at home for weeks." Aviana didn't offer anymore information, but Harry didn't need it - he knew the Rosier family reputation, and Aviana felt a jump of horror in her stomach as she watched realisation flicker in Harry's eyes, as they explored her appearance and matched them to her father - he had seen him on the night of Cedric's death.

"Oh.." Harry looked like he was going to say something else, but when he did it came out a mumble. "Sorry about that."

"Not your fault, nothing for you to apologise for." Aviana replied, a hint of sharpness to her words. She wasn't asking to be pitied.

"See, I knew you two could be civil." Sirius practically beamed as he looked between the two. "By the end of August we'll make best friends of you, huh?"

"Don't get your hopes up. I'd rather befriend the twins than him." Aviana quickly said, and when Harry glanced down to where the twins were helping out, Fred winked, and glanced down to Aviana's hand, which was still bandaged up. 

Aviana glared at Harry when she saw him looking, and began to fiddle with her necklace as she waited for dinner, Harry talking to his godfather some more about the older man's situation, and Sirius answering Mundungus's questions about whether a certain goblet was silver or not. 

"Fred — George — no, just carry them!" Mrs Weasley shrieked. They looked around and, a split second later, dived away from the table. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of butterbeer, and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air toward them. 

The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface, the flagon of butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere,and the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Aviana's bandaged hand had been seconds before.

"For Heavens sake!" screamed Mrs. Weasley. "There was no need — I've had enough of this — just because you're allowed to use magic now you don't have to whip your wands out for every tiny little thing!" 

"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" said Fred,hurrying forward and wrenching the bread knife out of thetable. "Sorry Aviana — didn't mean to —"

The entire kitchen looked at the Rosier girl, waiting for her reaction. A frown had formed on her pretty features, and with her expression it seemed like it wasn't going to be the best reaction, and Fred winced, preparing for the worst. 

But moments later Aviana's eyes flashed with some form of life that hadn't been there before, and a grin formed on her lips, and her hand covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. The others stared, and when she noticed it, her eyes dulled again, looking as serious as she could when she looked up at Fred.

"Please try to not injure my hand anymore." She said, falling quiet once again as her head dropped down, hating that all eyes were on her. 

It would be then that many of them would begin to realise that she wasn't as bad as she originally came across.

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