true loves poison • james potter

57

"Either I have sand in my eyes, or in protest to the hour my eyes have concocted a grit somehow just to punish me for having my eyes still open." Lorelei complained, rubbing her eyes for the hundredth time that evening.

Pandora laughed, "Have you ever heard of magic? I can almost guarantee some old witch or wizard has made a spell to dispel grit from your eyes."

"Sure, there's a spell for everything. But do I know the spell to eliminate gritty eyes? No, Pandora, I do not. And you probably don't either." Lorelei said, rubbing at her eyes once again, making dots in her vision. "At this point, the only stars I'm going to see are those on the back of my eyelids for rubbing them so hard."

"Professor Mill will probably still pass you if you describe them well enough on your parchment." Pandora said, and Lorelei couldn't decide if she was joking or not.

A group off to the side simultaneously laughed, garnering the attention of the rest of the class. At the head of the commotion was James, of course. "He will never fail to impress me with the amount of charisma he can muster for this hour." Pandora admitted as she adjusted a dial on her telescope.

"James could muster charisma if it was two in the morning on a Thursday and he hadn't slept for seven days prior. I swear he breathes confidence and ease." Lorelei half praised half complained.

Pandora shook her head with a small smile on her face, "I have yet to see him even yawn."

"You never will," Lorelei promised, "I've been waiting two years to see him be exhausted, but somehow his blood seems to be nothing but caffeine and courage."

Pandora laughed at her comment, "Perhaps once we edge nearer to our final exams, he'll be so swarmed with assignments that he'll finally let out his first yawn."

"Someone should catch it on a photograph and send it to his mother. She'd be chuffed to know she missed his very first yawn." Lorelei joked, making Pandora laugh.

"Honestly half the battle of this class is waking up." Pandora said as she stopped laughing, "The other half is differentiating stars that look the exact same."

Nodding, Lorelei set about writing her findings from earlier in the class on her parchment. The constellation Canis Major contains 'Sirius', the brightest star in the night sky. The formation can be found in the Southern Hemisphere during the summer or in the Northern Hemisphere in winter.

Lorelei reminisced about her friend, and how symbolic it was that he had the name of the brightest star in the sky.

Just as he had one of the brightest personalities in the castle.

"I'm going to use the bathroom, I'll be right back." Lorelei told Pandora as she set her quill down.

Informing the professor, Lorelei went to the closest bathroom - luckily not the bathroom Myrtle had claimed over thirty years prior.

With no one else in the restroom, Lorelei felt a bit awkward in the silence, her every move echoing around the large room.

She didn't know whether or not to be relived when another student walked into the restroom right as she exited her stall. Giving her a polite smile, Lorelei took to the sink to wash her hands.

As childish as it was, she still sung a nursery rhyme in her head as she ran her hands under the water to ensure she washed them for long enough.

"Lorelei." The other girl greeted as she stood at the sink next to her.

Internally she noted how quickly the other girl, a Slytherin - as indicated by her robes - she didn't know, had used the restroom. Nodding in place of having to try and remember if she knew her name, Lorelei walked away to the towels to dry her hands.

"Your parents," the other girl said, joining her at the towel rack, "Are they wizards?"

Nodding a bit awkwardly, Lorelei tried to recall if she'd ever spoken with the other girl. "They are,"

"Good," The other girl said, drying her hands slowly. "You haven't happened to hear about the movement, have you?"

Lorelei felt like the girl was trying to sell her something. Like drugs, perhaps.

"No, I haven't." Out of politeness she asked, "What movement?"

"That of Lord Voldemort, of course. He's always wanting more pure blooded wizards and witches to help him in his pursuit."

She would have preferred the drugs.

"Pardon me?" Lorelei asked, subconsciously rubbing the water from her fingers quicker.

"His pursuit being, of course, to rid the wizarding world of muggles and muggle born students." The Slytherin girl said casually, clearly not noting Lorelei's discomfort. "If you're at all interested, I can arrange a meeting with the Dark Lord for you, perhaps you can even join him."

Throwing the now damp towel in a bin for the house elves, Lorelei backed away from the other girl, "I am not interested, nor will I ever be. Voldemort is a vile person and so must you be if you believe a single thing he says about muggles or muggle born students. So give your cult leader this, will you?" Lorelei held up her middle finger as she exited the bathroom, walking quickly back to her astronomy classroom.

<>

"Someone tried to recruit me to join Voldemort's cause."

Dumbledore raised his eye brows, "A student?"

Lorelei nodded. "A Slytherin girl. Blonde hair, blue eyes."

He nodded back, "Miss Runcorn, I believe."

"Did you know already that she was involved with..." She trailed off.

"Voldemort? Oh yes. Yes, I'm afraid I do know."

Raising a brow, she debated questioning him. Eventually, she gave in and asked, "If you know she is a death eater, or at minimum in cohorts with Voldemort, why don't you expel her?"

Dumbledore studied the Ravenclaw.

"If I were to expel every student in affiliation to Voldemort, it would only make things worse." Dumbledore began to explain, "It would breed bitterness, making it that much easier for Voldemort to mold their bitterness against the school. And most of those affiliated with Voldemort have their families affiliated as well, and if I expelled those students that would only be more time their families had to be a negative influence on them."

"So you keep them at the school to keep an eye on them?" Lorelei clarified.

Dumbledore nodded.