Disclaimer: The OC's and the plot are all that are mine in this story. The story title comes from a song of the same name by Taylor Swift, the poem included is by John Donne and everything else is J.K Rowling's. Thank you for reading.
The dream was there again; or rather it was a memory- though the technicalities didn't matter. The main thing was that it was still plaguing her mind, well if she were to be honest then she'd admit that the nightmare had never really left her in the first place.
Nothing changed during the dream, the werewolf was still there and she was still attacked but the surroundings around her, what she hoped was real seemed to be drifting away.
Miranda wondered if she was dying, sometimes she could her friends talking to Madam Pomfrey and sitting beside her and squeezing her hand and telling her things. Sometimes, she felt like crying.
Coralie told her at some point that she'd been attacked too, but she knew it wasn't Remus. She'd found a necklace and her brother was investigating it. Coralie told her they'd found out who did this to her. Coralie also told Miranda that her best friend, back in France, had died- Coralie had sat by her bed and cried for a while afterwards- She hadn't told anyone else.
Lily told her about James. Told Miranda how lovely he was being to her, said that her father had almost completely recovered. Lily also told her about everyone else, how difficult N.E.W.T's had turned out to be and how much she wished Miranda was there- Everyone had told her that.
Remus came to visit the most often; sometimes he didn't say anything but Miranda could feel his presence. Sometimes he cried, but other times he'd tell her stories. He told her how he became a werewolf, how scared his was when he heard she was attacked, how he was unsure of whether it was him or not- Miranda wanted to be able to squeeze his hand back at telling him, she always knew it wasn't him but she could not find the strength.
Her parents had even come to visit, they'd sat beside her and talked to each other- re-living their favourite memories with Miranda while she lay there perfectly still and remembered for herself. She wanted to be able to laugh with them but once again, she couldn't. She wanted to comfort her mother when she broke into sobs when Dumbledore informed them of his opinion to move her to St. Mungo's.
More than anything though, she wanted to wake up. She would have done anything for that.
She didn't know how many days had passed when she heard James slip in beside her; he didn't talk for a few moments before he finally put the words together.
"It's the last day of school today" He informed her, she had expected him to be excited about the situation but there was an upsetting tone to his voice. "I haven't told anyone else but I'm scared to leave" He paused here for a moment, "I wish you were here, everyone wishes you were here Mir"
In her mind, Miranda knew exactly how to answer James- tell him everything was going to be alright because deep down inside, she knew it would be. He might of laughed at her, her friends had always wondered how she'd been so certain about everything all the time, the secret was that she really wasn't.
She just hoped with every fibre of her being that this last day of Hogwarts for her friends would be perfect, Merlin knew they all deserved it no matter whether she could live it with them or not.
James stood up and turned to leave; Miranda could hear his footsteps fading out of the Hospital Wing and so she whispered to him, "I'm sorry" The footsteps stopped.
"Miranda?" James whispered, his footsteps rushed towards her. "Madam Pomfrey, she said something!" There was a rustling of papers which Miranda imagined was coming from Madam Pomfrey's desk, soon enough, footsteps were making their way to her bed.
"Miss Perry?" she asked and Miranda nodded, when neither of them replied she figured they couldn't see her reacting.
"Yes" she managed to squeak out and James laughed brilliantly as Miranda felt her eyes opening slightly. In front of her, she could make out James decked in his cloaks for the Graduation ceremony that night with the happiest smile on his face she'd seen in a while.
"I'll go get Remus," And with that, James was out of the door before Miranda even had the chance to breathe.
"Let's check you over then" Madam Pomfrey said with a small smile which Miranda tentatively matched.
"I can't believe it's our last day ever at Hogwarts" Alice commented, quickly checking underneath her bed to make sure she hadn't dropped anything.
"It's not that big of a deal" Kiki retorted, she was still mildly angry at all of the girls for believing Remus even when she'd heard from James that Miranda had woken up and had told Dumbledore she knew it wasn't Remus. It left the girls wondering whether there was something else going on but nobody dared to push it.
"Oh stop being such a sour puss" Shelena cut it and Kiki replied with a glare, while Coralie and the other girls were careful about Shelena's new wish for friendship, Kiki had completely rejected the idea and hadn't loosened up even the slightest.
"No one asked for your opinion" Kiki cut back, slamming her trunk shut that vibrated through the entire room before she disappeared down the stairs.
"That girl needs to learn to grow up" Shelena muttered, as she went back to packing away her own things. Nobody responded though Mary felt like she should defend her friend; she didn't want to ruin their last day all together with a disagreement.
"So, where are we all heading?" Marlene asked, breaking the silence.
"Staying at home a bit, Petunia is about to married to that terrible whale- Vernon" Lily answered, scrunching her nose up when she mentioned her soon-to-be brother-in-law.
"Ugh, she's actually marrying that thing" Shelena replied, the girls all nodded in agreement- despite none of them meeting said man they'd heard about enough from Lily to guess as to what sort of person he would be. "Well remember, I'm just around the corner if you need a break" Lily nodded but said no more, it was still slightly weird for her having her old best friend back in her life.
"What about everyone else?" Marlene added.
"I'm staying at home too mainly, starting auror training in a few months with Frank though or rather with Moody," Alice replied cheerfully, "Hopefully I'll be able to see Frank anyway" Marlene grinned in response before Mary started.
"I'm going to move in with Cory actually," Mary let out a small giggle here, "I know it's quick and all but I can't stand staying at home for much longer than a couple of weeks at a time"
"I'm heading back to France," Coralie explained when Alice asked her, "Violet's just moved back there so I've got to go and help her out" She wanted to add that she was going to attend Emma's funeral too but then she would of had to admit that her best friend was gone, she wasn't ready for that yet. "Nate said he might come and visit me"
"Oooh, Cora and Nate in the city of love," Lily teased causing Coralie to blush slightly before chuckling. "What about you Marls?"
"Mainly hanging around at home, Mum wants me to clean out my room or something like that" Marlene rolled her eyes at this, "Such a riveting life, I have"
"Yeah, Marls- you really live life on the edge" Alice chuckled and Marlene poked out her tongue in response. "What about you Shel?"
"Just staying in England for the time being, actually probably forever" Shelena joked slightly.
"Weren't you France last year?" Mary asked, trying to be casual about it though everyone in the room knew why Shelena had been there so there was no real point trying to disguise it.
"Yeah, no offence Cors" She paused for a moment to watch Coralie nod for her to continue, "I didn't really like it much- it just wasn't for me"
"I'm the opposite you see, France will always be home" Coralie sighed, surprising herself as to how much she had sounded like Violet for a moment there.
"Merlin, if Nate loves France just as much then we may never see Cora again" Alice joked, nudging her friend slightly in the side causing her to chuckle.
"I have a feeling Nate will love France for Coralie rather than for any other reason" Marlene commented and the other girls all nodded in agreement. "What about Kiki and Miranda? Anyone know where they are going to be staying?"
"Miranda will be going into care in St Mungo's for a while, just until she gets strong enough to be able to go back home" Lily explained, she'd briefly gone to visit Miranda while the other girls had packed her things up for her.
"Kiki, on the other hand, she'll be staying at home for now" Mary explained but then added, with a sigh, "I doubt she'll stay at home for long though- she'll be out the moment she can"
"I suppose we should all live through Coralie then, she's the only one who seems to be doing anything interesting" Lily teased.
"Yes, helping my older sister settle in" Coralie replied with a teasing manner, "That'll be so interesting" The girls chuckled at her sarcasm.
"We should all catch up in London when Coralie's back, it'll give us all enough time to settle back in" Marlene proposed, the girls all agreed immediately and began to throw dates and times around and places they could meet and get something to eat.
For once, the girls weren't feeling so worried about leaving.
As dinner came that night, every seventh year had packed away their things that they no longer needed and were seating at their house tables waiting for the last meal they would ever have as students of Hogwarts to appear in front of them.
The younger students weren't as punctual as they were, then again some of them had many years before they'd be sitting in the same position as the current seventh years.
The Gryffindors, expect for Miranda who wasn't allowed to be released even for her own graduation dinner (though she still hadn't sat her N.E.W.T'S which she was going to have to sit at a separate time), all sat closely together in roughly the middle of their table.
The girls had begun to shuffle together in case one of them happened to burst into tears and needed comforting. The boys however were cracking jokes; it was their own way of dealing with what was happening.
"Welcome students of Hogwarts to our final feast for the year." Dumbledore started, he made to continue but the Marauders cut him off with their cheering. "Yes, thank you Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew" Sirius and James both sent him salutes in response before they let him continue on. "First of all, let us eat!" At that, the four tables all filled with food and the seventh years made a dash to fit everything they possibly could onto their plates.
"I swear, by the end of this meal I'm going to need an entire carriage to myself on the train tomorrow" James explained, shoving yet another chicken leg into his mouth.
"Mate, you'll need two" Sirius started, "One for your body and the second for your unreasonably big ego" The girls all laughed at this, as did the other boys and a few surrounding people in lower years. Sirius sent a wink to Coralie which she tried to ignore but instead decided to reply with a small smile, she didn't want to horrible to Sirius forever.
"Which means what?" James replied, "You'll need the entire train for yours?" This caused the group to once again laugh before they went back to their food; they were all to determined to remember the taste of this food in their mouths to even start a proper conversation.
Once the last of the desserts were cleaned up, which took a little longer than usual as Tyler over at the Ravenclaw table tried to hold on to his plate, Dumbledore stood up again. "I would like to first of all say a big congratulations to our seventh years for making it through this year even at the darkest and most difficult times" The hall interrupted into furiously clapping which eventually died out when Dumbledore went to speak again. "And now, we shall present the House Cup to the house who gathered the most point throughout the year" The Hall fell silent within seconds as everyone waited with anticipation. "In fourth place with three hundred and seventy nine points, is Hufflepuff!" There was mild clapping in the hall, though it was slightly louder at the Hufflepuff table. "At third place, with four hundred and twelve points, is Slytherin!" Not many people clapped at all, and the Slytherins seemed to send glares at anyone who so much as moved. "It was a close one between the two remain houses," Dumbledore paused as if to let the tension build up even more. "In second place with four hundred and thirty one points...is Ravenclaw! Making Gryffindor first with four hundred and forty three points!"
The Gryffindor table went mad, James had almost jumped over the table to throw his arms around Sirius with happiness but Lily had pulled him down before he embarrassed himself, and her, too much.
"I can't believe we won!" Peter commented as they made their way out of the Great Hall for the last time.
"Come on, we better go tell Miranda the awesome news" Marlene stated, and so they all made their way up to the Hospital Wing, promising Madam Pomfrey as they shuffled in that they wouldn't make too much noise.
"She's still unwell, remember!"
"What happened?" Miranda asked excitedly as she noticed them all. She was sitting up in bed and despite still looking unusually pale, she definitely looked better.
"WE WON!" James yelled and everyone went crazy again, this time including Miranda who yelled louder than almost all of them together.
"Miss Perry! This is not a party, it's a Hospital Wing" Madam Pomfrey scolded though she wore a small smile on her lips. "Now go on you lot, you've all been here enough the last couple of days- It's about time I got a break" The Gryffindors agreed, despite not wanting to leave Miranda, they still continued on in high spirits.
The next morning, the seventh years were somehow able to roll out of bed and make their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without having to rush around like mad-men, at least not for very long.
After breakfast, which passed in a comfortable silence at the Gryffindor table, everyone made their way down to the platform. The Gryffindor seventh years stayed together, though Nathaniel, Sarah and Tyler joined them all.
"Is everyone ready to say goodbye?" Sarah asked, as they neared the gates.
"That's like asking if anyone is willing to let the last muffin on Earth go to someone else" Tyler answered before anyone else got the chance.
"What the hell is wrong with your logic?" Sarah turned to Tyler as the entire group slowed down.
"I, for one, like his logic" James stated, chuckling at Tyler who sent Sarah a smirk.
"Don't say another word," Sarah whispered, "He'll never shut up otherwise" The group laughed at this as they turned back to take one last look at Hogwarts.
"I never realised how much I was actually going to miss it here" Nathaniel frowned, hugging Coralie to his side.
"We had some good times here, for sure" Marlene added, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. They all fell into silence, waiting for something that would make leaving seem less final. Who knew where their lives would lead them from here?
"Come on then" Alice sighed, and everyone managed to pull their eyes away from the castle and head towards the platform, though they all did this with a certain sad look in their eyes.
Once they bordered the train, they set off to find a compartment or rather two next to each other so they'd be able to all fit and still be able to move between said compartments if they so pleased.
Coralie managed to squeeze into a compartment with Nathaniel, Sarah, Tyler, Shelena, Alice and Marlene. While everyone else occupied the second compartment.
"You ready to leave?" Nathaniel whispered to Coralie. She shook her head softly and he sighed in agreement, squishing himself against the window enough so that Coralie could rest her head or his shoulder for almost the rest of the journey. "I'm not ready yet either" he whispered once everyone else had begun their conversations.
"We'll be fine out there, right?" Coralie asked, half-asleep. Nathaniel didn't reply instantly but instead, kissed her head softly before finally whispering to her.
"We'll be amazing" At this, Coralie closed her eyes and managed to doze off for a little while- at least until she was awoken by Tyler- not that she really expected any less.
"Cruell and sodaine, has thou since, Purpled thy naile, in blood of innocence?" Tyler recited as Coralie finally came around, upon noticing she was awake- Nathaniel squeezed her side softly and looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.
"Any idea what he's going on about?" He whispered and Coralie chuckled.
"He's reciting poetry, he does it often" She explained while Nathaniel shook his head and the other boy.
"In what could this flea guilty bee," Sarah continued with a grin before she let out a loud laugh which Tyler joined in on.
"What was that?" Marlene asked with a look that said she was worrying about the two Ravenclaw's sanity or rather lack of. Coralie had to remind herself that her other friends didn't spend nearly as much time with Nathaniel, Sarah and Tyler as she did and therefore weren't used to the odd things they sometimes did.
"Oh, just a poet we really like" Sarah responded, a grin widely spread across her face. Marlene didn't grant either of them with a response, deciding that she would probably never understand the two of them and went back to reading a magazine.
"Cors, can you help me find the trolley lady?" Shelena asked a few minutes later, Nathaniel instantly sent her a look that explained everything he was feeling. She hadn't gotten the time to tell him about everything that had happened; therefore it was reasonable that he was confused.
"Yeah, sure" Coralie agreed, sending a Nathaniel a look in response that told him she was explain when she got back.
"I thought Millen was her arch enemy" Tyler commented when the door slid shut behind them.
"Once upon a time, you said I was your arch enemy and look how we turned out" Nathaniel replied teasingly, Tyler however ignored his tone.
"Oh please, You're still my arch enemy" Sarah could only laughing hysterically in response.
"He really likes you" Shelena commented after the two of them had passed a few compartments. Coralie had figured out that they were not in fact searching for the trolley lady as she was going in the opposite direction to them.
"Who?" Coralie answered, she figured it was a stupid answer by the fact that Shelena turned around to glare at her- some habits die harder, apparently.
"Nate, of course" Coralie made an 'oh' sound and nodded in reply before the two of them continued in silence.
"What did you actually want to talk about?" Coralie asked, the second girl didn't respond for a while.
"I wanted to find an empty compartment first" Shelena explained as she slid a door open and stepped in, Coralie followed in afterwards. "I thought this might be a good time to talk about the curse you know, since you're heading off to France next week and you'll be gone for a while- we can't really delay it otherwise we'll never find anything out"
"Okay, what do you want to say then?" Coralie asked with a nervous expression on her face. She had really been ignoring the curse, it hadn't seemed too played up yet and so she was secretly hoping it was just some old wives tales- she knew that wouldn't really be the case though.
"How much have you found out?" Shelena questioned and Coralie furrowed her brows slightly.
"Not much really, only that the original curse maker on my side- her daughter's daughter was the first one to suffer from the curse" Shelena nodded slowly but then sighed. Somehow Coralie realised that Shelena knew she wasn't telling the whole truth but Coralie wasn't about to give up everything she knew to Shelena.
"We figured out similar things for our side of the family, nothing that really helps us though" Coralie twisted the side of her mouth slightly in response. "I wish we knew more though"
"We'll find out more as we go along" Shelena sighed.
"Yeah, I suppose so" They both fell silent for a moment as a bunch of giggly second year girls passed their compartment. "Thank you for forgiving me, I'm sorry I've been so horrible to you this year" She paused. "I was just jealous about Sirius and all."
"You don't have to be jealous" Coralie frowned slightly, "I'm not with him"
"Yeah, that was my fault" Shelena admitted, "I made him angry which caused him to break up with you" Coralie shrugged her shoulders in response, but Shelena hadn't finished speaking. "I wish I hadn't, he really fancied you- he still does."
"It doesn't matter" Coralie's voice raised slightly but she tried to remain calm, a part inside of her, which was seemed to remind her a little too much of Jacob at times, told her not to trust Shelena still- she couldn't even she had wanted to. But something didn't seem quite right. "I'm with Nate" Coralie added.
"Yeah, course" Coralie watched the girl in front of her for a minute before she stood up and made her way back to the compartment, unknowingly passing the compartment with Angus inside on her way.
Had she noticed and turned around, she would have seen the brunette girl that was with him- the one that was most definitely not Azure. She probably also would have noticed how serious the conversation they seemed to be having was, but she didn't as she was still wrapped up with the things Shelena had said.
Shelena, on the other hand, noticed and a small smirk graced her lips for a moment before she shook it off.
Angus had made his way onto the train with his group of friends- Ryan, Matthew, Nellie, Briony and Azure before he'd gone off to find Anastasia. He knew his friends weren't particularly keen on the girl in question, he understood that there was something about her that made them wary but Angus sure this as part of her charm.
For some reason, Angus almost found it easy to talk to Anastasia whom he knew basically nothing about then his own friends which he knew almost everything. There was something about her that made it okay for Angus to keep his own secrets, it was a nice change.
"Where will you be this summer?" Anastasia asked, with the usual the smile on her face that made Angus crazy.
"Just home here in England, at least that's the plan- my family has the tenancy to change their minds" Angus chuckled slightly and Anastasia quickly joined in. "What about you?"
"Same really, we don't really go anywhere, ever. I suppose we're kind of the opposite of you" Anastasia shrugged her shoulders slightly.
"One day, we ought to swap for a week or so," She nodded in agreement, "I'm sick of moving around all the time"
"And I'm sick of staying here" She added, "Smart swap, really"
"So it is" Angus agreed, messing up his hair slightly like he'd seen James do- he wanted to laugh at himself for how ridiculous he probably looked.
"What about the rest of your family?" Angus sighed slightly.
"Well, I told you that my older sister moved back to France so Cora's going over to help her settle in and all" Anastasia nodded.
"Sounds like fun," Angus chuckled slightly at this, "Hey, I saw your sister with that Millen girl before- I thought they hated each other"
"So did I, but apparently not" Angus frowned a little but did not voice the confusion that he was feeling towards his sister. He doubted whether he'd truly ever understand her, or anyone of the same gender- they were all so confusing!
Even the girl sitting in front of him who had taken to starting what seemed like a deep conversation, had been confusing the hell out of him for months now. He wanted to ask what the hell they were but somehow he knew he'd never find the confidence to ask, at least not in this lifetime.
Angus tried to tune himself back into what she was saying but there was something bugging him in the back of his mind and so instead, he took to just nodding and smiling whenever it seemed appropriate- luckily for him it seemed to be working, Merlin knows what would happen if she asked him a question at some point.
Back in Coralie's compartment, they had taken to play Charades or rather Tyler had begun an interpretive dance in the middle and the rest of them were throwing guessing as to what he was doing.
"Giving birth!" Nathaniel yelled at one point causing all the girls to break into fits of laughter, Tyler only set Nathaniel a look which told him to shut up- that however did not last very long at all.
"Are you a ballerina?" Coralie shouted at which point Tyler stop and turned to look at her.
"Do I look like a ballerina?" Tyler asked, his head bobbing slightly.
"Well, actually" Sarah started but Tyler ignored her and went back to waving his arms around like a lunatic.
"Got any ideas ladies?" Nathaniel whispered to Coralie and Sarah who just sent him 'are you kidding?' looks.
"Oh, just give up already" Tyler eventually sighed, "None of you will get it!"
"What were you then?" Marlene asked, raising her eyebrows slightly at him.
"I was Coralie when Gryffindor won the House Cup last night" He answered casually before taking his seat, Nathaniel instantly burst into laughter.
"You know what, he's right" Nathaniel added at which point Coralie sent him a glare.
"Someone sounds like their upset that we beat them" Coralie teased, poking Nathaniel in the arm lightly. The compartment fell back into silence until the train drew to a stop and people began to shuffle out, Coralie hung back with Nathaniel while he tried to pull both their trunks along though they kept tipping to the side on him. Eventually, once they were on the platform- he handed her the trunk and bent down to kiss her.
"I'll miss you" He whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him closely.
"I'll miss you more" She replied, before heading over to Angus and Jacob who had been waiting for her. Shelena watched from the side, a malicious grin filling her face before she turned on her heel and headed for the gateway back onto the muggle platform.
A pair of footsteps fell in step with her, though she didn't need to look up to see who it was. "I've got the information sister" The voice told her, a smirk was present in the tone. This only made Shelena smirk wider.
"Nice one" She paused for a moment, "Now come on, Anastasia"
Authors Note: Now, who saw that coming? (Even if you did, be nice and lie so I can feel intelligent- Kidding!) Anyway, there you all are- the end of Tied Together With a Smile though it's not the end of the story of Coralie Bennett.
I have previously mentioned that a sequel will be posted on May 4th, of this year so look out for that then.
Before I go, I'd like to thank everyone who read, reviewed or favourited this story and if you haven't- remember that you still can! You have all been brilliant to me and I don't know how far I would have gotten without you! So thank you!
Now, before I get to emotional- I better go start on that sequel! See you guys then :)
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