As Amelia approached her dormitory, she noted that the door was ajar and there were several shards of glass and porcelain strewn on the weathered floorboards. Looking up, she saw Deli sitting upon her bed and staring blankly; listlessly; at the barren stone walls of the dungeon. Everything was silent - juxtaposing with the angry atmosphere and the broken shards - apart from the monotonous, melancholic 'plip - plop' of a leak from the draughty stone ceiling above. Amelia cleared her throat, awkwardly shuffling over towards her friend. "Err... Del, do you mind if I sit here?" The words didn't feel right. They churned around her mouth, almost taunting her, refusing to be spat out. They burned her throat, making her choke. They tasted wrong, like... acid. Deli was usually a fun-loving, carefree, adventurous girl. When Amelia first met her, she resembled a bouncing, frolicking puppy. Preferably playing in mud. It was like the words 'Err' and 'Dell' shouldn't belong to the same dictionary, let alone sentence. Deli didn't respond. She carried on, staring at the wall. Amelia took that as a sign to continue. She sat on the bed next to her. "You okay?" she muttered. Realising she wouldn't get an answer, Amelia stared at the wall with her friend. After a while, she started to fidget. Perhaps realising her boredom, Deli mumbled some inaudible words. "Pardon?" She mumbled even quieter. "Could you repeat that?" Amelia started to lose her patience. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Del shouted. Amelia took that as a sign to stare at the wall once more. After a while, she cast a sideways glance at her friend, and noticed silent tears streaming down her face. Realising Amelia was staring at her, Deli whispered, 'Sorry... just... you won't understand. You don't understand what it's like to be forgotten by your parents. They never loved me. They never cared for me. They left me at the dirtiest, stinkiest orphanage EVER. They said they'd come back. They never did. I... I saw your family photos earlier... I... I..." her voice broke. "Well, at least they're not dead," Amelia said flatly. She had no idea why she said it. It didn't hurt as much as when she told the Bloody Baron. "And my parents are as good as dead!" "At least you didn't kill them!" The pin dropped. Amelia turned and faced the wall once more, finding warmth and comfort in its cold, foreboding glare. Suddenly, Deli nudged her. "I'm sorry." "Yeah, me too." "I guess we all have bad lives." "Oh well, at least we're in the same boat." "Wait... you're on the quidditch team right?" "Yeah. Chaser." Amelia squinted at her friend. She recalled that she joined as the beater. "Hey! You're the one who knocked Malfoy off his broom! Nice aim!" Deli tried a modest shrug. "Oh, yeah, and Flint told me that he booked the pitch for training tonight at 7pm. And Malfoy's got the new brooms." "Ok, sure!" "And guess what?!" Deli sounded excited. "What?" "I'm going down for lunch." Amelia blinked once - twice - in confusion as her friend walked calmly to the door. "Oh, yeah, and Jake Ulley from Gryffindor likes you." Del swung the door open and walked out. Laughter reverberated down the stairs. -------------------------A few minutes later-------------------------- Amelia rushed into a deserted quidditch pitch, panting. She frantically looked around. Where was Amaya? Consulting her watch, she realised that she was 6 minutes late. Had she already left? Without warning, a blonde boy with an emo haircut, wearing Gryffindor robes, strolled up to her with a goofy smile on his face. The smile was too wide; too cheesy to be real. "Hi! My name is Ja-" Amelia cut him off sharply. "I know who your name is, Jake." "But-" "How much did you pay Amaya to set me up like this? I thought there was an emergency!" His cheeks turned crimson. "Well... it was polyjuice potion, actually." Amelia sighed, exasperated. She turned on her heels and firmly started to walk back. Desperately, he called, "Tomorrow, same place, same time." Then, he too started walking away. Amelia discreetly turned and watched him for a while. She felt torn. Her brain and head had a silent argument. Her brain told her, "You're too young for romance! This is your first year! Worry about work. Worry about school. Young love never ends well." He heart urged, "Come on! This could be the love of your life! You know you like him. You don't have to be so uptight! Besides, his emo haircut is kind of cute." As Jake disappeared from her view, Amelia paled. Her vision blurred. She doubled over, heaving out the many miscellaneous thoughts, emotions, saliva and bile accumulated by her in the last few days. When she finally staggered to her feet, her mind was fixed. She trudged back with an upturned nose. There was NO WAY she was going to meet THAT BOY again.
Autor's note: My friend, @Amaya_potter, inspired me to write fanfics here. Without her, I wouldn't have come this far. Thank you for the support!
