Fighting The Light (A Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfic)

Chapter 7

Amber Chamberlin

The day of Halloween came around quickly and Hogwarts had a very eery feel to it that morning when myself, Nadia and Cassie made our way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Halloween had never been my favourite day of the year, but it was quite magical when the corridors, common rooms and the Great Hall was decorated.

"I'm so excited about the party!" Cassie squealed enthusiastically.

"Cass! The party is a secret, you're meant to be keeping your voice down!" Nadia rolled her eyes.

"Sorry! I'm just excited!" Cassie grinned again.

"You're only excited because Tanner's going to be there." I rolled my eyes.

"Of course." Nadia laughed.

"That isn't the only reason! I love dressing up!" Cassie blushed furiously.

"Whatever you say." Nadia winked at her.

The Great Hall was already full of students when we arrived. Most seats where filled at the Gryffindor table, except from the spot where Tanner was laid out across the bench. I saw Nadia roll her eyes as we made our way over to them.

"Ladies, I saved seats for you." Tanner winked, getting up and sitting on the end of the spot of where he'd been laid.

"Aw Tanner, aren't you sweet." I ruffled his hair because I knew it annoyed him and took a seat next to him.

"Watch it Chamberlin! My hair is a masterpiece!" Tanner cried, trying to flatten his hair down.

"It takes him like three hours in the morning to do it." Kyle rolled his eyes. I didn't really know Kyle Windsor very well, however, I knew that he was good friends with James because their mother's were best friends. I had got to know him more since he had started sitting with our group of friends at the start of the year.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" I laughed.

"Is it bully Tanner day or something?!" Tanner crossed his arms over his chest like a mardy child would.

"It's only a bit of fun, don't worry mate." Fred laughed.

"Hey, where's Kieran this morning?" Nadia asked, looking at all of the boys individually.

"He wasn't in our dormitory this morning when we woke up. I was the first to wake up and his bed was empty already." James told her with a shrug.

"I don't get what we've done to make him hate us so much." I sighed, looking down at the table. Kieran was my best friend and I missed him a lot. The boys all looked at James who just sighed and looked at me in sympathy.

"We don't know Amber, but we'll try to find out." Nadia smiled warmly.

"Chamberlin, Nads, Potter, Windsor, we have a Potions class to get too!" Tanner suddenly stood up.

"Why am I just 'Nads' when everyone else gets called by their last names?" Nadia asked him, resting one hand on her hip once she'd stood up.

"Because I can't pronounce your last name." Tanner shrugged, picking up his books for this mornings lessons.

"It's Lovera Tanner, Lov-air-ra." Nadia told him.

"Can we just go to Potions?" James rolled his eyes.

"Someone's eager." Tanner wiggled his eyebrows at James.

"Shut up Jordan." James mumbled, blushing a little.

"Trust me mate, I would be if I was you." Kyle slapped his on the back as we made our way to Potions.

"What are you lot on about?" I looked at them all in confusion. Whilst Tanner and Kyle shared a grin, James looked panicked and quickly answered:

"Nothing! It doesn't matter!"

They were strange boys.

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"Amber! That's not a proper Halloween costume!" Cassie cried, looking me up and down just as we were about to leave for Aidan Douglas' party.

"Cass, I'm wearing a black dress, I have spider web tights and a spider web drawn on my face. I think I like fine." I rolled my eyes as I applied a very dark purple lipstick that I had never worn.

"She looks great Cass, leave her alone." Nadia rolled her eyes as she adjusted her witches pointy hat on her head. Nadia, ironically, was dressing as what a muggle thought a witch looked like.

"Thanks Nads, so do you." I smiled, stepping into my black heels and fastening the strap across them.

"I suppose you do look good." Cassie smiled a little.

"Thanks you Cassie, so do you." I smiled. Cassie had picked to go as the Devil to the party. She was wearing a very tight red dress that only she could wear and make it look amazing, a pair of sky high red heels with devil ears and she had turned her wand into a Devils pitch fork. I could have told her that her outfit wasn't that great, but I wouldn't dare tell Cassie that.

"Right! Are you ready to go down and meet the boys?" Cassie asked us both.

"Sure." I shrugged, I looked at the clock on the wall that read fifteen minutes till minute. Nadia nodded at Cassie and we made our way down the steps that lead to the common room.

Tanner, James, Kyle and Fred were already stood waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, ready to go to the party. Tanner, like he said, had created a Hippogriff outfit that looked hysterical. That was obviously his aim, anything to make people laugh. James had also gone for Dracula and he looked good, although I'd never tell him that, it'd just feed his ego. Kyle had gone for a werewolf and Fred had gone for the Joker, which was very ironic and very funny at the same time.

"You ladies look ravishingly." Tanner bowed to us all, which just looked weird because of his Hippogriff costume.

"Tanner, I can't take you serious in that outfit." I laughed.

"You're not meant to Amber." He laughed along with me.

"Well? Are we going or not?!" Cassie stood by the Portrait Hole with her hand's on her hip's.

"Wait, where's Kieran?" Nadia asked.

"He said that he didn't want to come, that he has important business to attend to or something." James looked me in the eye as he spoke to me.

"Important business?" I asked him, walking over to him as we made our way out of the Common Room.

"That's what he said." James shrugged again.

"Is he talking to you guys again?" I asked.

"Not properly, only when we ask him questions. Tanner tries to get him to talk to us, but he never talks to us properly." James told me with a sigh.

"Okay." I sighed, walking a little quicker so that I could catch up with Nadia and Cassie who where at the front of the group.

"Amber, it's not your fault you know?" James grabbed my arm to stop me from walking so quickly.

"I can't help but feel like it is. Cassie says that he talks to her normally in class, but he doesn't with me. I'm meant to be his best friend." I told him honestly. Since when had I been this close to James Potter? Why did I feel that I could tell him everything?

"Maybe he's scared to talk to you, he could be hiding something from you?" He suggested.

"Do you think so?" I turned to look at James.

"You should talk to him when he's on his own, confront him. It's the only way you'll get answers." James shrugged.

"You're right, I'll talk to him when I next see him." I smiled a little.

"James! Amber! Hurry up!" Tanner called from the front of the group. We were meant to be staying quiet, but at the minute, it was working that well. We'd get caught if we didn't hurry up and stay quiet.

James was right. I needed to confront Kieran otherwise I was never going to get answers.

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