Kiss From a Rose

Chapter 4

"Ow, Fred! Move your--"

"Shhhh! You wake up girls!"

Odayaka breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the voices of George Weasley and her sister. She poked her head out the curtain and looked up to a tapestry hanging from the wall. The tapestry suddenly moved as if someone poked it from behind. Emerald poked her head out from behind the curtain, Odayaka could see her clearly in the dark, but her sister obviously didn't see her.

"Odie?" she whispered, looking around.

*Right here,* Odayaka whispered. "Lumos," she whispered again. The tip of her wand lit up, illuminating her face. Emerald blinked to get used to the light, and then smiled when she saw her sister. She ducked her head back in.

"Boys no look. Odie in her p.j.'s," Emerald's voice came. She dropped down to the floor in her bare feet. *You should get dressed. Fred and George are here, they brought me up to see you!* Emerald said brightly.

"We heard our names," a voice said from behind the tapestry. Odayaka threw on a pair of old jeans and a tee shirt, but left her hair down. While she was reaching for her scrunchie, Emerald waved the boys in. They said down on Odayaka's bed as she pulled her hair up in her normal ponytail.

"Why boys come?" Odayaka asked, dropping her arms to her sides after she'd put her hair up.

"Well, we had to show her the way," Fred said, matter-of-factly. Odayaka raised an eyebrow.

"It's not as simple as it looks, getting up here," George said. Fred nodded in agreement. "She could've gotten lost--"

"--Or caught by Filch," Fred finished. Odayaka rolled her eyes and turned to her sister.

*If you get caught up here--*

*We won't get caught,* she said with a wink. *We came up here to see if you wanted to go for a little midnight fun!*

*Mmm... no, I don't think it's a good idea. If we get caught--*

*--Odie! We won't get caught!* She held up her ofuda, it was glowing a soft green color. *Illusion magic.*

*Em! Those are for protection!* Odayaka exclaimed, trying not to wake up the other girls. *Those aren't for your personal enjoyment,* she said sternly.

*Oh, Odie, c'mon. You know Insight would've done the same thing.*

*Doubtful,* Odayaka said, crossing her arms. *I'm still not going. Count me out.* Emerald looked at the boys.

"She say she no want go with," she said glumly. The twins exchanged glances and then nodded to each other as if communicating without using words. Fred stood up and approached Odayaka who looked at him, surprised. He reached to grab her, but she gripped his wrist quickly and firmly. She tightened her grip and looked at him as if he'd just tried to pull a gun on her. Her eyes went blank for a moment as her grip got tighter and tighter. Emerald looked at her sister, as if hoping she'd snap out of it quickly.

"Ow! For crissakes, lemme go, Odie!" he said, almost squeaking. She blinked a few times and let go of his arm. Fred backed up a few times, rubbing his wrist. "What in the bloody hell you think you're doin'?"

"S-Sorry," she muttered. She didn't know what came over her. She put a hand on her forehead and mumbled another apology.

"It's okay," he said, sitting next to his brother again, who was trying his best to hold in a laugh. Fred slugged his brother in the shoulder with his good hand. Emerald relaxed and giggled a bit.

"Odie get out of, ahh, control times," she explained with a chuckle. "We go now, Odie tired." She gave her sister a worried glance. Odayaka waved her on and sat on the end of her bed. Fred and George stood up and said their quiet goodbyes. The three crawled back into the tunnel behind the tapestry and Odayaka flicked her wand.

"Nox," she said quietly. She threw her wand on the bedside table before flopping back on her bed. She didn't even change back into her pajamas before drifting off to sleep on top of her covers, hoping no more dreams would haunt her sleep.

~*~

Odayaka stood on a wide open field, the brown land stained with blood and littered with dead bodies. The faces of the bodies were distorted into grotesque, frightened looks. She took a step back and stepped on something that crushed under her step. She looked down, instinctively and saw a sun-bleached bone, crushed under the weight of her foot. She stepped off the bone, and her eyes traveled to the yellow sky, muddled with clouds. The stench of rotting corpses reached her nose and she felt nauseated. She turned to run, but when she turned around, a black shadow was advancing over the field, destroying everything in it's path. She screamed, but her voice didn't come out. The shadow was getting closer, and closer, and then--

"Odayaka... Odayaka, wake up or you'll miss breakfast!" a girl's voice said, breaking through her thoughts. She groggily opened her eyes and moved to see who it was waking her up. It was the other Asian girl who shared the dorm with her. She was smiling down at Odayaka, who was obviously not a morning person. "I heard you up last night and talking to Fred and George. I didn't know you were friends with them."

"Ungh..." was Odayaka's reply. She sat up and wiped the sleep out of her eyes and blinked hard.

"I'm heading down to breakfast. Don't be a stranger!" she said, before grabbing her things and running off. Odayaka grunted and moved to the side of her bed, she was still dressed in her clothes from the night before. She silently cursed herself for being so careless, but it wouldn't happen again. She got dressed in her school uniform and hurried down to breakfast before she missed it.

~*~

"Odayaka's heading down to breakfast," George said to his twin as he pulled his arm through his vest. Fred yawned and stretched, suddenly remembering his sore wrist, he quickly brought it to his other hand and rubbed it. "Did she really hurt you? I thought you were just kidding."

"Yes, she bloody did hurt me. You know I have a high threshold of pain--"

"Being hit with bludgers all those years, yes, yes, I know," George finished, waving his hand about. He put on his robes over his clothes and motioned to the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. I'll see you there, I gotta do something first," Fred said with secrecy. George raised an eyebrow at his mirror image.

"And what is this you absolutely have to do, leaving me all alone to go down to breakfast all alone," he said, putting his hand to his chest and looking hurt. Fred threw a pillow at his brother, both boys laughing.

"It's a secret. You'll find out soon enough, I can tell you that," he said waving his index finger in the air.

"Oh, you're no fun," George said, pretending to pout and throwing the pillow back at his brother. Fred ran his fingers through his hair and George smirked. "Oh, I get it." Fred looked at his twin, confused. "You're trying to look your best because you wanna try and--"

"Don't say it, don't say it!" Fred said, covering his ears.

"Win back Angelinaaaa," George said, putting his hands together and pretending to swoon, which was shortly cut off by a pillow in the face.

"How many times must I tell you I don't like her anymore?!" Fred said, practically pummeling her with the pillow. "That was over last year!"

"Yeah, but I don't think she knows that," George said, fending his brother off with his arm. "I heard her talking yesterday when we were sitting down how she'll 'prove my love for him and win his heart back for sure!'," he said, changing his voice as he quoted Angelina. Fred whacked his brother with the pillow again.

"I don't care what she says, there's no way I'd ever go out with her again, not even if Hell froze over with vanilla ice cream and the Abominable Snowman took his vacation there!" he said, throwing the pillow back on his bed.

"Then why are you looking so absolutely spiffing today?" his twin asked, pinching his cheek. Fred brushed his brother off, a bit of pink raising to his face. "Fred..." George said, surprised. "Not her..." Fred sat on his bed again.

"I don't think it's any of your business." He put his hand out to his brother. "Map please."

"I just told you where she was headed," he said, removing a piece of old parchment from his pocket and slapping it in his brother's hand.

"I know that, but I wanna try and meet her before she gets there," he said, unfolding the paper and setting it on his bedside table. He removed his wand from his robes and cleared his throat. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" he said, tapping the wand on the paper. A map slowly drew itself on the paper, and dots appeared, marking where certain people were and where they were going. He cursed softly tapped the paper again. "Mischief managed."

"Where is she?"

"Almost at the Great Hall," he said, shoving the paper in his pocket and running out the door and down the stairs. George just smiled and scratched his head.

"Can't believe he's got it so bad, so fast..."

~*~

Odayaka hurried along the long corridors, hoping she was going the right way, looking for something, anything, that would indicate she was on the right path. She suddenly heard the distant chatter emanating from the Great Hall. She smiled to herself and quickened her pace. Just as she had done so, however, she ran into something, or someone, very... very solid. She fell backwards, not expecting to have run into anything, her parchment and quills scattering all over the floor. The other person had also not expected to run into anyone because they had fallen to the floor as well and began to help her pick up her things.

"Sank..." she began, but she looked at the person who was helping her--Fred Weasley. She snorted and began picking up her things again. "Sank you," she muttered and took her things from her, re-organizing them in her arms. "What Fred-kun doing here? Is Ravenclaw place, no?" she said, looking at him questioningly.

"Walking to the Great Hall. That way I just came from was a shortcut. Know tons of 'em, my brother and I do. Probably know this place better than most of the professors here, I'd think."

"You is bragging?" she asked, starting off for the Great Hall. Fred grinned and began following after her.

"No, no, I just thought I'd show you around, you know. Show you all the sights of Hogwarts." Odayaka stopped and turned to look at him. Her face softened a bit.

"Fred-kun arm... okay?" she asked, looking a bit guilty. In all of the confusion, he'd forgotten completely about his arm. He just shrugged it off.

"Yeah, it's doing better, thanks." He rubbed it absently. "So you want 'Le Grande Tour'?" he asked motioning around him. She raised an eyebrow.

"We no get catch?" she asked. He grinned even wider now.

"Are you kidding me? You're in the company of a Weasley Twin! We can get out of just about anything. We've gotten in plenty of trouble and we know how to get away from that old burk, Filch." She smiled a little, then went back to her stern face.

"I's no know..." she started.

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun!" he protested.

"I has no had breakfast," she finished. Fred looked at her, looking a bit confused, but happy nonetheless.

"Well then, shall we be off to breakfast then?" he asked starting off toward the Great Hall. Odayaka just smiled at him and followed. He's a nice enough boy... Maybe I could forgive him... just maybe...