No Ordinary Fan Fiction...

Chapter 16

Hello! You are amazing to have read this far. Same old same old - if you like the chapter don't forget to comment and vote if you want! Not only will I be very grateful, but it would also make a badger belly-dance with happiness. Who doesn't love belly-dancing badgers?

A week later and things with Bonnie and Joey were going perfectly... for them, at least. Darren was starting to feel a bit like a third wheel. A lone gooseberry standing beside two snogging plums.

He was beginning to feel down about the fact that he would love to comfortably walk down the halls hand in hand with Sami, but couldn't. He was getting tired of their relationship being on the down low.

But if other people knew it would set them both up for a lot of teasing and insults for the rest of the year, and he didn't want to inflict that on Sami, who had had enough bullying in her first few years at Hogwarts when the other Slytherins found out she was muggle born.

Darren watched from across the class in Defense Against The Dark Arts as Bonnie and Joey held hands underneath the desk and whispered in each others ears, giggling occasionally. Darren had ended up sharing a desk with Justin, who looked livid.

Though Darren was pleased his friends were together and looked so happy, he missed the days when Joey never left his side. Now the other two always seemed to want to sneak off together whenever Darren suggested doing something. He was starting to feel quite alone.

"And that, class, is why it's so important not to blink when faced with the Weeping Angels. Blink, and you're dead. Next lesson we'll be studying the Ood, so do some background research! Class dismissed," The Doctor finished.

Everyone stood up and collected their things together. Darren watched Joey and Bonnie leave the classroom together, their fingers entwined. He sighed and walked out into the corridor with Brian Rosenthal, Meredith Stepien and some other people who he comfortably made small talk with.

They walked down the halls together, Brian told a joke that made everyone collapse with laughter until Darren heard that familiar voice come from behind.

"Oh look who it is everyone, it's pube head! Having a chin-wag with his new chums because his old ones finally got sick of him. How cute."

Darren slowly turned around, a look on his face that stopped everyone's laughter, to see Lauren standing with her Slytherin friends. Sami wasn't with them.

He was getting sick of Lauren. For the past week she had tormented him and tried to humiliate him more than usual, and it was really pressing Darren's buttons.

"I'd zip your lip if I were you, Lauren, unless you want me to tell everyone what happened behind Tallulah's a couple weeks ago," Darren said, wiping the smug smile off her face. Something in Lauren's eyes flickered and her confidence faultered.

"I don't know what you think happened, but I can assure everyone that whatever comes out of your guppy mouth is pure lies," she replied, crossing her arms. "Come on guys, we have to go."

Darren glared, indignant, as she walked past him. When she was out of sight, Meredith patted him gently on the shoulder.

"Forget them," she said kindly, "I don't think your hair looks like pubes."

"Thanks," he said back with a nonchalant look. Then he left, walking down the corridor in the opposite direction. His mind was reeling. He needed to get everything off his chest, he needed to talk to someone, he needed Joey.

He strolled out onto the grass, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He wandered down to the lake, forgetting that he was supposed to be in a Transfiguration lesson. Professor Sparrow would probably be too drunk to notice his absence anyway.