We Are Stars || Hufflepuff X Gryffindor

Chasing the Sun

A shaggy black dog ran in circles around Stella; he was huge, or maybe she was just tiny. They were in her old home: a tiny cottage with a gentle fireplace. It was strange but she felt as though the dog was smiling at her, just happy to see her there with him. Stella let out a giggle that sounded nothing like the voice she thought she had. The dog barked once and the scene began to change. The fire went from crackling merrily to roaring with anger. Stella felt the heat seem to overpower her, and it did strange things to the dog. Foam collected in his mouth and his eyes went from a friendly grey to a terrifying black. A growl escaped his lips before he lunged, teeth bared and ready to strike. Stella screamed.

She awoke with beads of sweat rolling down her face. That was a dream and nothing more. I'm safe here, he can't get to me. Stella had had that same dream every night since she heard about the escape. The lack of sleep was starting to do funny things to her -- maybe she should ask Erik to help her make a potion to help her sleep. Then again, maybe not; he would just worry and insist she went to the hospital wing.

The scream she had heard was actually her alarm clock -- a gift from Erik after she refused to get out of bed in their second year. Enchanted to be heard by only her, it was in the shape of a phoenix, spreading its great wings as if greeting the coming dawn. Stella considered it one of her most prized possessions and loved it dearly, for whenever she woke up to its cries, she would think of her beloved friend.

Groaning at the thought of leaving her bed, Stella quite literally rolled off the bed and flopped onto the floor, hand stitched quilt tangling around her like a wooly hug. The Hufflepuff jumped up and forced her cheery smile to cover up teenaged exhaustion. She had half an hour before she was meant to meet Erik at the lake -- and a mane of unruly hair to tame. Just another day in the glamorous life of Stella!

After completely giving up on trying to tame her golden locks, Stella sighed and grabbed her school bag and a few extra quills, knowing that Erik would forget his. And with that, the fifth year made her way down to the lake. Being out this early wasn't against the rules, per say, but teachers wouldn't exactly be happy if they had been woken up at this hour by a clumsy midget. So, Stella did her best not to trip on anything or scream to loudly when she saw a sleeping ghost.

Ten minutes and six times almost tripping on random things later, the Hufflepuff finally found herself at the lake. Strangely enough, Erik wasn't there yet; he was almost always sitting by the lake, pretending to have been there for hours waiting for Stella.

But today he wasn't. Strange.

Stella decided to sit and begin homework, telling herself that he probably just ran into Peeves or something. The fifth year shuttered at the thought of Peeves, remembering when he had found out who her father was. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside and started working on her Potions essay. After all it's easier to push unwanted thoughts, or dreams, away than it is to face them.

Stella soon fell into her old pattern of blocking the world out as she worked and didn't think about Erik until she saw that the sun had begun to rise.

Where was Erik? He had to be at least fifteen minutes late, which was very unlike him.

The Hufflepuff was just about to go look for him when she heard someone yelling, "Stella, I'm sorry!" She looked up to see a disgruntled Erik running towards the lake. As he got closer, Stella noticed his hair was slicked up with some sort of gel, opposed to its usual wild, carefree way. He looked different, and she couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing; the little flips her stomach kept doing certainly wasn't helping the situation.