Kiss From a Rose

Chapter 5

Odayaka entered the Great Hall with Fred and they went to their separate tables. Her mind was swimming with questions. Why was he being so nice to me all of a sudden? I thought he was a jerk... what's up with him? She couldn't figure it out, not that she was good at reading emotions anyway.

Meanwhile, Fred was discussing the plan with his twin. "So where should I take her?" he asked his brother.

"Well, you could always show her a shortcut to her sister's dorm, that way she could visit her." George paused a moment to think. "What about the Quidditch Pitch? Do you reckon she knows about Quidditch?"

"Probably. Japan DOES have a pretty good Quidditch team."

"That is true," George agreed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "What about the Astronomy Tower?" he asked, nudging his brother with his elbow.

"Geroff, George. Besides, that place isn't good until after dark anyway."

"What boys talking?" Emerald asked, looking at them.

"Don't even bother asking them. They won't tell you," Ron said, yawning and picking at his breakfast. Fred's ears turned red and he suddenly stood up from the table and headed over to the Ravenclaw table. Emerald smiled knowingly.

"Fred like Odie, yes?" she asked George.

George grinned. "Oh yeah. I've never seen him fall so hard so fast, not even with Angie," he said, motioning to Gryffindor Chaser, Angelina Johnson. He rolled his eyes as he continued. "She still has the hots for him though, so if I were you, I'd warn your sister. She seems pretty dangerous, and I don't want my chances with Ka--I mean, I don't wanna see Angie get hurt," he said, lowering his voice.

Emerald nodded and lowered her voice as well. "Odie may have angry problem, but she think through. She no act before she think... most of the time," she added with a smile.

~*~

"You ready to go?" Fred asked Odayaka as he approached her. Odayaka finished up her oatmeal quickly and nodded emphatically. She wasn't sure why, but she was excited about being shown around.

It's my chance to learn about the school and use it to my advantage... she told herself.

"We have plenty of time before classes start. What's your first class?" he asked absently as they exited the Great Hall. Odayaka reached into her pocket and withdrew her schedule. She examined it for a moment before answering.

"I has," she paused to sound out the words, "Dee-fense Against the Daa-rk Art,' she read slowly. "Defense Against the Dark Arts," she corrected after a moment.

"Well, that's good, that's my first class too. Professor Lupin is great. You'll like 'im I think. Knows tons about the Dark Arts, he does." Odayaka winced, is he going to be able to tell I'm a vampire? she wondered. Fred saw her cringe and looked at her. "You okay?"

"Fine, I is just think." Fred moved aside a painting of a fat gray pony to reveal a long, dark hallway, just big enough for Odayaka to stand in. Fred would have to duck slightly, being taller than her. He lead the way, ducking his head so not to hit it on the top of the tunnel.

"Just follow me, and," he grabbed her hand, "hold onto my hand so ya don't get lost." Odayaka felt her face heat up and she knew her face had turned scarlet. She was just glad he couldn't see. I can see perfectly in the dark, so why--then she remembered he didn't know she was a half-vampire. He reached into his robes with his free hand. "Lumos," he whispered, pointing the wand ahead of them. He lead the way, guided by the beam of light from the end of his wand. Suddenly, he stopped, nearly causing Odayaka to run into him. She distantly heard the sound of footsteps heading toward them. Fred must've heard them too, because he turned around and pointed behind her. "Nox," he whispered as he pushed her along, backwards.

"Filch," he whispered. When they got to the end of the tunnel she pushed aside the painting and they emerged, into the corridor. Fred breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that was close. Looks like we can't go there right now, but I can show you the Quidditch Pitch." He grinned proudly. "I'm on the Quidditch team. My brother and I are the Beaters, we protect--"

"I's know Quidditch," she said calmly. She knew the Beaters kept the bludgers from hitting people, especially the Seeker. "Fred-kun must be strong," she said quietly. Fred's ears went red again and fumbled for words.

"Ah... well, yeah, sure. I think... I mean, yeah, I'm pretty strong." He lead them on outside the castle and down a dirt path to the Quidditch field.

"I's never able ride broom. I's... fall down much." She looked enviously over the field.

"Maybe I'll teach you sometime. We don't have time now, we'll be late," he said turning back. Odayaka followed, feeling eager to start her new classes on her first day at school.

~*~

They arrived to class just in time. Odayaka picked a seat in the back, next to the Weasley Twin's friend, Lee Jordan. He smiled at her, and she forced a smile back. She wasn't really the friendly type. Fred sat in the seat behind them with George. Professor Lupin sat at his desk waiting for everyone to arrive, his gaze slowly passing over the room. His eyes rested for a moment on Odayaka, and she felt rather nervous. He smiled gently at her and stood up, heading to the front of the class.

"Welcome to a new year, fifth years. Most of you know my routine by now, and I'm not going to go over it again." His eyes rested on the twins and then shortly returned to scanning over the class. "Let's dive right in, shall we? We're going to start on a chapter that I know most of you have been dying to work on since your first year here: vampires." Odayaka winced involuntarily. Fred noticed this too and raised an eyebrow. He shortly shrugged it off, figuring she was just squeemish about the 'blood-sucking' thing.

"Now, I don't have any specimens of this, and I don't think many of you would actually like to meet a real vampire, but we can talk about them. I expect you all to be taking notes, there will be a paper due. Not a long one, but there will be one." Odayaka reached into her bag for her parchment and quill. She didn't listen to Professor Lupin, just began writing a letter to Insight in her loopy kanji. It would've looked, to anyone who didn't read Japanese, that she was taking very good notes and writing down everything he said.

"Vampires," he started, "as most of you know, do not like sunlight. They tolerate it, but cannot stand to be in it for more than an hour. It would be like you or I sitting on top of a warm stove for too long." This got a chuckle out of most of the students, but Odayaka kept writing. I can stand longer amounts of time she thought to herself. I guess that's because I'm only half... "Also take note, that male vampires, for whatever reason, can only have one child, whereas female vampires cannot have their own children at all." Lupin cleared his throat when some of the students began to giggle. "Therefore, all offspring of vampires are dunpeal, or half-vampire. They only need blood by the light of a full moon, or lunar eclipse. No one is sure why.

"Now, there is one vampire, I know all of you know. He was second-hand-man to You-know-who eleven years ago. Legend has it, that while fighting an excruciating battle, You-know-who got extremely weakened for some reason, and Alucard sealed him away to be brought back at a later time, when he would be stronger." Odayaka's ear's perked at this. Mention of her father? Lupin must've known about her. She suddenly felt the urge to be sick. She politely raised her hand. "Yes, Odayaka?"

"Does it ever say who Arucardo seal Vol--" everyone cringed when she began to say his name, "You-know-who in?" she asked, trying not to let her voice sound shaky.

"No, there is never any mention to who 'You-Know-Who' was sealed inside." Odayaka held back the urge to vomit. She nodded in thanks and continued to work on her letter to Insight, deciding it would be best not to listen in this class until this subject was passed. She would write her paper later, when she felt later.

At the end of class, she rushed past Fred and George, heading straight for the Hospital Wing. She knocked fervently on the door, she did know Madam Pomfrey knew about her, as she would have to provide medical blood to her once a month. Madam Pomfrey opened the door impatiently.

"Ye--Oh, Odayaka, dear! Is it time already?" Odayaka shook her head.

"I's just feel sick." Madam Pomfrey let her in and locked the door behind her. She bustled over to a nearby freezer where she removed a package of medical blood. Odayaka felt slightly nauseated again. The nurse quickly handed the package to her.

"There you go, dear, just drink a little and you should feel fine shortly." Odayaka tore off the top and sipped on the cold liquid. It didn't completely wash away the sickening feeling inside her, but it helped. Odayaka handed the package back.

"Ari--Sank you," she said, rushing out of the Hospital Wing. Fred stood right outside the door, waiting for her. She froze in her step and stared at him. "What is Fred-kun doing here?"

"I came to see how you were doing, you looked kinda sick after class. Was it the whole "blood sucking" thing? It kinda makes girls squeamish, I understand--" he started, but he cut himself off when he noticed a bit of blood remaining on her lips. He reached over and wiped it off. "Are... you okay?"

"Fine." She turned around and hurried off, Fred following quickly after.

"Do you have a lung problem? Something? Were you puking? What?"

Why does he have to ask so many questions? I wish he'd just leave me alone... I don't need this right now. Besides, why's he worried? I'm no one special to him... we just met a few days ago...

"You can't just ignore me, Odie." She stopped abruptly and turned on the ball of her foot to face him.

"I's no can ignore Fred-kun? Why is that? And why you call me Odie? Only Em-chan call me Odie. Why can Fred-kun no keep self out of business?" she asked, anger welling up inside her.

"Whoa, hey. No need to go nutters on me, I was just concerned!"

"Concern? Why Fred-kun concern? Just met me day ago," she said coldly. Fred crossed his arms and hunched over so he was face-to-face with her.

"Is it a crime to be concerned for you? Well if it is, then I'm guilty as sin." He stood back up and sighed. "Can't you think of someone else besides yourself for once?" He shook his head. Odayaka looked abashed.

"Meself?" she repeated.

"Yes. Seems to me that you're so caught up in your own little world that you don't realize others get worried about you. Your sister, last night, was worried about you, but all you could think about was going to sleep. You need to be a little more sensitive to others and what they feel about you." His face suddenly went a bit pink. Odayaka's face went completely red, half with rage, and half with embarrassment. It took her a moment to let all of this register.

"Fred-kun... worry..." she thought out loud. Fred nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I'm worried. Your sister's worried. George was worried when you rushed out of class like a bat out of Hell."

"Well, I is fine." She decided she wouldn't tell him. Not her secret. No one must know her secret, not outside the family. She took a step backwards. "I is fine. I has class now. See yous later," she hurried off toward the dungeon for her potions class. At least there she wouldn't have to deal with Fred or prying questions, or stories about her father. She left Fred, she wouldn't tell him. No, not now, and not ever. He must never know her horrible secret.