Disclaimer: The OC's and parts of the plot are the only things that belong to me. The story title belongs to Taylor Swift and the rest is property of J.K Rowling. Thank you for reading.
Three days later, after spending exactly a week in the Hospital Wing, Coralie was finally released the morning before the first Hogsmeade trip. She would have been excited, especially since Nathaniel had promise that the two of the would hang out all day but her brother had informed her last night that Jacob and Violet were coming to visit and there was no way she’d be able to escape. As much as she loved her older siblings, she knew what this ‘catch up lunch’ would be about and she had a feeling it wasn’t going to go down well.
With a sigh, she wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck- it was clear that winter was coming soon with the sudden drop in temperatures to the point where people had bought out their scarves and gumboots earlier than the previous year all around her.
She climbed into the carriage behind Angus, who didn’t look overly happy to be spending this cold day outside- he much preferred the warm weather as did Coralie. Though neither of them spoke, it was easy to tell they were both wishing for this meeting to be up quickly so they could go back to their friends or to their beds. But knowing Jacob, it wouldn’t be that simple- he would want to know absolutely everything right down to the exact moment Coralie had put the first spoonful of the porridge she had for breakfast in her mouth.
“Where are they meeting us again?” Coralie asked Angus, pursing her lips together. He looked up at her and studied the nervous look in her eyes before shuffling through his pockets for the letter, he handed it to Coralie. “Outside the Shrieking Shack, is that really necessary?” Angus chuckled slightly at Coralie’s annoyed expression.
“Jake said something about trying to scare Vi off, apparently she’s being driving him insane at home” This time it was Coralie’s turn to chuckle, she stare out of the window for a minute with a big smile plastered on her face.
“I can see that” she said after a few minutes had passed, Angus nodded in agreement before laughing again.
Soon enough, the carriage pulled to a halt and Angus and Coralie climbed out. Hogsmeade was looking as magical as ever, the trees had completely shred their leaves and despite it only being mid-November it had begun to look Christmas-y already. Though she wanted to be able to stay in that exact spot and just appreciate how beautiful the little village looked, Coralie followed after Angus as they headed for the Shrieking Shack.
“It’s the most Haunted place in Britain” Coralie could hear Jacob explaining to Violet as she and Angus got closer to them, she should almost hear Violet roll her eyes at this. “I’m serious, villagers here terrible howls and everything coming from in there”
“Why the hell are we waiting here then?” Violet half-yelled and with a huff, she turned her back to the shack- finally noticing Coralie and Angus. “About bloody time” she said, walking towards them before throwing her arms around both of them at the same time.
“Whoa, let ‘em breathe Vi” Jacob exclaimed after a few moments, after Violet finally let go Jacob took his turn of hugging Coralie tightly and clasped hands with Angus.
“Can we please leave this stupid place now?” Violet asked, her eyes darting back and forth from the Shrieking Shack.
“Oh, didn’t Jacob tell you? We’re having the whole meeting here” Angus joked, when a look of pure horror crossed Violet’s face he laughed loudly.
“Ha ha, very funny” Violet replied, throwing her arms around Coralie’s shoulder as the two of them made their way back to the main street of Hogsmeade- the two boys following closely behind. “Where are we really going?” she asked after a few minutes, Coralie turned to face Angus who shrugged his shoulders.
“The Three Broomsticks first, perhaps?” she replied and was met with a nod from Violet, the four of them then made their way into the pub that was already overflowing with students though they eventually were able to find a table in the far left corner where they could see everyone but were slightly hidden from view themselves.
“Now speak” Jacob commanded, sending Coralie and Angus stern looks the moment their butterbeers arrived, the two younger Bennett’s sent one another a look before Coralie spoke up.
“Shelena and Sirius- my ex, they have a history” she started, watching Violet’s eyes widen in surprise.
“What kind of history?” Jacob asked calmly, though his eyes told a different story completely.
“A long one- they were together for a bit but things got messy” Coralie bit down on her bottom lip at this, she watched Jacob and Violet share a worried look before she continued, “Shelena wants Sirius back but Sirius doesn’t want her”
“He still wants you” Violet commented weakly, Coralie raised her eyebrows slightly as this and let out a little sigh.
“How do you know that?” she asked, diverting her eyes to her hands which lay on the table. All of this was just bringing back what she had blurted out to Shelena, how could she tell her to say something like that to Sirius? It was true, she and Nathaniel were getting closer every single day but for some reason it still bothered her that Sirius might choose Shelena.
“He keeps looking over at you” Violet answered, at this all of them looked over at Sirius who was indeed watching them- though he quickly diverted his eyes back to James. “That one does too” she added, pointing to the opposite corner where Nathaniel was sitting by himself. When he noticed they were watching him he sent a smile and wave back at her.
“That’s Nathaniel” Coralie replied without even bothering to keep the smile off her face. Her two older siblings noticed this and while Jacob rubbed his forehead, Violet smiled slyly at Coralie and raised her eyebrows suggestively.
“How long have you been with him then?” she asked with a chuckle, sending a wave back to Nathaniel as well as a wink.
“We aren’t together” Coralie replied, hiding her blush behind her hair- luckily for her Violet was too distracted to notice and tease her any further.
“You’re kidding, right?” Violet stated, her focus flicking back to Coralie before it went back to Nathaniel. “He’s staring at you far too much for that to be true”
“We’re just friends” Coralie responded sternly, silently praying that her older sister wasn’t about to start playing matchmaker- she couldn’t think of a more embarrassing situation at that exact moment.
“Well, he’s cute. So make your move before he loses interest” At this, Violet snapped her head back around and took a sip of her butterbeer- the previous conversation was promptly forgotten, fortunately for Coralie.
Dearest Coralie,
I have spent the past week researching the curse for you and I have made significant progress- I believe I have found the second family and they reside here in England! I am to travel to their house next week and then hopefully I shall be able to discuss the effects of the curse with them, then I’ll be able to inform you. Please remember to keep this a secret from your siblings, it is not safe for them to know quite yet.
Thank you,
Mum
Coralie let out a small sigh of relief and tucked the letter into the back of her Charms book which she then slid back into her book bag, the letter was one of the best she’d received in months and for once she felt like some weight had been taken off her shoulders even if it was only for a moment.
“Love letter from Peakes?” Kiki’s voice interrupted and Coralie looked up from her breakfast to see her group of friends watching her expectantly.
“Uh, no. Letter from my mother” she replied, taking a sip of pumpkin juice from the goblet in front of her. Her friends shared a look before they went back to their own breakfast, Coralie placed her goblet down and turned slightly so that she could see the Ravenclaw table- her eyes meeting Nathaniel’s straight away. He smiled at her, that crooked smile of his before nodding towards the entrance hall- Coralie smiled in response and turned back to her friends who had been watching the entire exchange.
“What are you waiting for? Go!” Alice urged her, practically pushing Coralie out of her seat. She smiled widely at them all before grabbing a piece of butter toast from Lily’s plate and disappearing after Nathaniel.
“Hey” Nathaniel grinned as Coralie appeared, she couldn’t help but grin back at him as he wrapped his arms around her. “I was thinking, you don’t know how to fly do you?” Coralie froze for a second before biting down on her bottom lip.
“No, not technically” she answered worriedly- she’d never learnt to fly not because she was afraid of heights or anything, in fact she loved being close to the clouds, it was more the fact she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold on.
“I’m going to change that today” Coralie could only cringe in response to Nathaniel’s enthusiasm.
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea Nate” she started, he stared at her in disbelief- his eyebrows furrowing slightly.
“How is this not a good idea?” he asked, dropping his hand to her wrist before continuing on. “You’re not afraid of heights are you?” he teased, the ends of his mouth twisting upwards into a cheeky smile.
“No!” Coralie screamed back in outrage, she didn’t realise just how loud she had been until one of the portraits told her to be quiet. “Sorry” she blushed, turning back to Nathaniel with a desperate look in her eyes.
“You so are” he chuckled and Coralie glared at him before shaking her head.
“I’m not, honestly. I just don’t want to fall " she answered truthfully, biting down on her bottom lip slightly as Nathaniel continued to stare at her. It was silent for a moment before Nathaniel broke the silenece with a chuckle.
"I'm not going to let you fall" Coralie grinned at this and took Nathaniel's arm when he offered it to her. The two of them made their way down to the Quidditch pitch, Coralie took a seat on the edge of the pitch as Nathaniel disappeared into the supply closet where he kept his broom. "You ready?" he yelled from inside and Coralie nodded in response, rolling her eyes when she realised that he was unable to see her.
"Yes" she manged to spit out, turning her attention back to the pitch in front of her. She never realised how big it was, it always seemed so much smaller when she was sitting in the stands with the girls but now that she was seating on the actual pitch she could see. The goals were higher than she had thought and therefore she understood how much it would hurt to fall- she cursed herself at this thought, she needed to keep thinking postively.
"You can use my broom, I'll use one of the school ones. Mine has better grip" Coralie nodded, drawing her attention away from the pitch and back to Nathaniel who threw her a broom. She turned it over in her hands, inspecting every single detail of it- she wanted to know what she was dealing with.
"Thank you" she replied after a minute, squeezing the handle of the broom quite tightly. Her worries were slowly starting to creep into the front of her mind and she couldn't help but voice them. "Exactly how good is this grip?" Nathaniel chuckled at this before passing her a pair of Quidditch gloves, they were oldish and slightly tatted which made Coralie wondered whether they had much grip left in them.
"They're mine too" Nathaniel explained, pulling on a much rattier pair of gloves that most likely belonged to the school. "They look a bit old but I promise they're the best" Coralie nodded at this and pulled them on nervously, they were much too big for her tiny hands but she thanked Nathaniel anyway.
"Come on then, before I chicken out" she muttered, following Nathaniel into the middle of the pitch. He turned to look at her, without a word, before shaking his head and swinging his leg over his broom- he motioned for her to do the same.
"Now, hold out tight and when I count to three push off with the back of heels" Coralie nodded, staring down at the broom in front of her before looking forward and out onto the pitch. Her trail of thought was broken when Nathaniel put a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly. "Ready?" she nodded. "One" She slammed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "Two"
"Is it too late to back out?" she whispered but no reply came from Nathaniel.
"Three" She opened her eyes and pushed off the ground like he had instructed her too, she found herself hovering slightly off the ground. She let out a small squeal and grinned down at him. "Lean forward now and hold on!" She did as she was told.
"This is amazing" she called back down, flying past Nathaniel who had joined her in the air.
"Not scared anymore then?" Nathaniel called back with a teasing tone to his voice, she sent him a look before continuing to fly back him- backwards and forwards for what seemed like hours. At some point Nathaniel had joined her, the two of them begun to race from one end of the pitch to the other. "Okay, okay- you win!" he declared, as they reached the goal posts on the far end of the pitch for the fifth time.
"We should head back" Coralie yelled, a gust of wind blowing past her. She started to fly downwards and in moments had touched down, Nathaniel joining her only a few seconds later. "Thank you for teaching me to fly" she said with a grin, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace.
"No problem" he grinned back, lifting her slightly off the ground.
With a wide grin, Kiki turned on her heel and headed back inside. She hadn't orginally planned on watching Coralie and Peakes, honestly she hadn't. She was planning on jogging around the Quidditch pitch a couple of times- one of her favourite things to do when she was feeling a little stressed but the two of them had been there and Kiki had found it impossible to turn away- they were just
too cute.
They had finished their little flying lesson now and so Kiki had decided they deserved their own little one on one time, even if they were oblivious to her presence beforehand. And so Kiki made her way through the corridors that would lead her back to the Gryffindor Common Room, it had been remarkably quieter since Halloween- at least where Shelena was involved which made Kiki wonder if Coralie's sickness was a prank gone too far.
She wouldn't put it past Shelena to do something like that though she wasn't sure the latter would have much of a conscience to care about the outcome- that was just the kind of girl that she was. It was the kind of girl Kiki was too, essentially, though Kiki thought of herself a slightly more tame. She cared about other people, granted not all of the time but still, some of the time had to count for something.
Kiki couldn't help but to compare the two of them to magnets, while opposites attract, the same repel and that was the exact workings between the two of them. They both hated each other because they were almost the exact same people. They were both beautiful- and they knew it, they always got their way and they both had shitty family lives. It was true in their younger years that the two of them had gotten along- they had almost been as close as Lily and Shelena but neither of them liked to lose and so they both lost each other.
That was another thing the two of them were good at- loosing things and wrecking everything. There were far too many situations to even mention when the they had messed things up for themselves, each other and everyone else.
"You look like you're pretty deep in thought there" A voice interuppted, causing Kiki to spin on her heel with a murderous glare in her eyes. She did not like to be distracted or surprised by people either because she liked to always know everything about everyone- it was the way she'd been bought up. "Hello Kiki"
"Alex" Her voice was stern and she made sure her face showed no emotions whatsoever. She had tried so desperately to cut Alex from her life, he hadn't even been a quick snog or anything therefore he was worth no memories.
"It's good to see you again" Kiki rolled her eyes at this and he chuckled. "Good to see you haven't changed"
"Sadly you still seem to be the same" she replied dryly, pursing her lips together tightly. "What do you want?"
"I just want to talk to you" he responded with a whisper and she bit down on her bottom lip, this couldn't be good.
Authors Note: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter and I shall see you on Friday with Chapter Forty Four! 
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