Lucy Snape and the Half-Blood Princess (Book Six)

Heights, Knights and Frights

Chapter 32: Heights, Knights and Frights

Immediately after Shona had finished her dinner she left the Great Hall, leaving Lucy, Matt and Dean to discuss...well, Shona hadn't been paying attention as to what they were discussing. She didn't really care to be honest, she hadn't even joined in the conversation because she was so nervous about meeting Ben in the library that she'd forgot her social skills. 

Ben hadn't been in the Great Hall which made Shona feel even worse, she'd started thinking that he'd jumped off of the Astronomy tower to get out of studying with her. But just in case he was in fact still alive, Shona had grabbed him a couple of pastries from desert. 

She hopped up the moving staircases, one by one until she made it to the portrait. Shona huffed the password and the door swung open for her, allowing her to go inside. She then climbed the last flight of stairs to the girls dormitory and found herself alone inside that room. 

Shona loved her dormitory, it was one of the best things that had happened to her. Some Friday nights, she and everyone else would bring in some sweets from Honeydukes and they'd sit there moaning about people as well as playing truth or dare and devouring the sweets one by one. Shona was sure Lucy would enjoy doing this but like always her bunk remained empty as she slept alone in her own bedroom. 

Shona had never quite understood Lucy's moral for this but never questioned it, maybe it was because she felt safer knowing Snape was around. After all, Lucy had been adopted once and Shona could only imagine the whipping's Lucy had gotten. 

She reached under her bed and pulled out a pile of books, everyone else kept their books on their bedside cabinet but Shona preferred to leave them under her bed as a sense of rebellion. She'd done it since first year when she didn't study at all and even now when she did study, she preferred to leave them there as an act of rebellion. 

She spread the books out on her bed and admired them, every subject she took she had a textbook for. The thought would make her gag if she was younger but now she'd finally got into studying. But now it was even better when she was doing it with Ben. 

Ben. 

Benjamin Truman. 

He was going to study with her for a second time. Shona had no idea as to why he had accepted, maybe Lucy had put him in a headlock and threatened to beat him up along with Matt and Dean. Ben wasn't one who seemed to like a fight so just agreed to it to save him from injuries. He was going ahead with this not for her, but for his safety. 

Shona cursed herself for over thinking and threw all her books in her bag before forcing it shut with annoyance. Nobody would ever like her, even if Ben hadn't done this to save his skin or a dare he'd only do it one more time because he didn't like Shona much. 

'Oh for goodness sakes...' Shona thought with a growl. 

'Stop panicking, you're putting me off.' Lucy's voice ran through Shona's head in reply. 

'From what?' Shona thought rudely. 'Kissing Matt?' 

'No, from a conversation we're having. Stop panicking about it and just go and see him, you never know what he's going to say or do. You're just thinking about worse case scenarios because you're scared of the unknown. Just trust me on this one.' 

'It's not easy, you've already had two boyfriend's and you know how to deal with this sort of thing. I don't.' 

'Well, as I have experience with this sort of thing maybe you should trust me!' 

Shona felt Lucy's presence leave her brain and she was left to her own thoughts. Lucy was right, though, she had had experience with this sort of thing and she knew exactly what to expect. Shona decided to trust her and forget about her worries.