Odessa {S.B}

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX | They're Evil

There was something digging into Odessa's back when she woke up. She reached underneath herself and pulled out her hornbeam wand. There was an arm wrapped around her waist. Odessa turned her head to see that it was Elena, dribbling on the pillow, and realised that she was actually in Elena's bed. The dark-skinned girl was still fully dressed in her floral shirt and flared jeans, but she had still taken the care to wrap her hair to protect her afro. Elena's grip on Odessa's waist only tightened when she attempted to break out of the hold.

Odessa's head felt like elephants were doing the merengue on her cerebellum.

If this was representative of the state of everyone who attended Sirius' birthday / Halloween party, she severely doubted that any of the older students would be going into Hogsmeade that day.

For a wonderful, fleeting moment, Odessa thought that she had forgotten the events of the previous night; then they came flooding back like a bad dream.

She remembered her blurry thoughts when she kissed Nathan, and then the look on his face as he pulled away, having heard Josephine Reeves loudly declare that Odessa was, in fact, engaged. Crestfallen, surprised and even a little bit angry; the three adjectives that would successfully describe Nathan's expression. Then he left.

At the time, Odessa didn't care; she was completely off her head and subsequently passed out on the sofa she'd been sitting on. In reflection, Odessa could see how this situation didn't bode well for her.  Even if the surrounding students hadn't picked up on Josephine's comment, she had said it directly to Dorcas. Odessa didn't know Dorcas well enough to know if she was a big gossip or not, but chances were that such juicy information as an engagement wasn't something any teenager would keep a secret without direct instruction.

Odessa picked up Elena's wrist and checked her silver watch. It was quarter past ten. She'd missed breakfast, but that didn't matter. Actually, Odessa was thankful that she'd slept through it.

Odessa was confident in herself. Having dealt with rumours her whole life, Odessa knew how to hold her head up high and ignore the mad ravings of other witches and wizards; her grandmother had made sure of it. However, Odessa had never had to deal with rumours that were actually true. She didn't want people at school knowing about her engagement, and now they most probably did.

And then there was also the fact that everyone would know that she had kissed Nathan whilst being engaged to Regulus.

Odessa cursed Josephine Reeves in Russian.

It didn't matter for Regulus. He only talked to he Slytherins and they were the only house that didn't see the whole thing as a juicy piece of gossip. Regulus hadn't even been aware that Odessa didn't want people to know so she very much doubted that he would even notice.

Elena stirred and rolled away from Odessa, who seized her opportunity and clambered out of bed and through the curtains. She cringed as her heels made an obnoxious clacking sound as they hit the floor and carefully took them off, replacing them with her slippers. The curtains were drawn around all the beds except her own, which remained untouched and perfectly made, and loud snores were coming from each.

Opting to not wake anyone up, Odessa poured herself a goblet of water and left the room, descending to the common room. The large, airy common room was mostly empty. All of the older students were either still sleeping off the previous night or had gone into Hogsmeade for the day. There were a few first and second years playing chess, reading or doing homework. Some of them stared at Odessa when she walked in, and she realised that she was still in her costume. She shivered; the crop top and low waist skirt didn't exactly cover much.