Sunday 19th January
Josie’s little brave
stunt yesterday inspired me. Waking up early this morning, I began rummaging
through my trunk. I definitely knew that I hadn’t worn all of my own clothes.
I’d pretty much just stuck to my blue hoodie or my black jumper up until my parents
brought me the grey and green hoodie for Christmas and I’ve been wearing that
every weekend since along with my baggy, worn jeans. Today though, I wanted
something different. Something that made a statement. Something that said, “Hey
MJ, you look nice today,” or you know, something that made people realise that
I was trying to make an effort. Tugging things out of my trunk I came across my
‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find
Them’ book by Newt Scamander that we won’t even use until Third-Year, some paper,
a box of plasters (that was Mom’s idea), a few t-shirts, a pair of black,
skinny jeans, a blue snapback cap, a box of tissues (that was Mom again) – I
swear I have a bunch of useless stuff. Underneath all of that junk lay a grey,
woollen jumper. Tugging it out of my trunk, I frowned. I definitely didn’t
recognise it. It wasn’t mine… but what was it doing at the bottom of my trunk?
Stretching it, it looked a little smaller than some of my things – I bet it’s
Viki’s. It must have gotten mixed up with my stuff by mistake. I threw it on
the pile of stuff that I had made and continued sorting.
Turning back to look at my mound I
stared at Viki’s jumper, lying on top of my black jeans. It wasn’t exactly me –
a tight fitting grey v-neck jumper, but it was definitely different. Swiping
the jumper and skinny jeans, I lay them down on my bed and placed the green
scarf (that I had asked Viki to get me for Christmas) on top of them. Perfect.
Keeping that outfit safe on the bed, I scooped up all of my other stuff and stuffed
it back into my trunk – I’ll take care of it another day. Grabbing hold of my
clothes on the bed, I went to the bathroom to get ready.
*
Walking down towards the Great Hall, I tried to make sure
that I made it before breakfast arrived. I wanted to see if anyone would notice
my new look. If I waited until the food was already there, then they would all
be too busy filling their faces to take notice, but at the same time, not to
early, as it might look obvious what I was doing. It’s not that I wanted people
to notice me like that – I just wanted people to think of me how I felt about
Josie yesterday: cool, calm, amazing. I didn’t want to just blend into the
background and have people only remember as much of me as they could the
furniture – not that the Hogwarts furniture isn’t interesting, I mean
everything in this place looks like it’s from Merlin the Magician’s era… I
guess I mean as boring as modern Muggle furniture.
Before pushing the door open, I
stroked a hand at the scarf in my hair and tugged at the bottom of my (well
Viki’s) jumper. I brushed my hands down my jeans and took a deep breath. This
was it. Jed, Goyle, Trevor and Crabbe were already sat at the Slytherin table.
Jed was sat on the side closest to the door, while the other three sat opposite
him. I waved towards Goyle, Trevor and Crabbe hoping to grab their attention as
I approached them.
“New look?” asked Trevor with a
smile. I bit my bottom lip as I walked towards them and Jed turned around.
“Is it okay?” I asked Jed, pulling
at the bottom of my jumper, as I stood in front of him. He shrugged at me.
“You look fine,” said Jed. There was
no emotion there at all. Did he not notice? Trevor did. Maybe Jed doesn’t think
I look that different. Maybe he just doesn’t care – I guess I realised now that
I’d like to think he’d be my friend either way, no matter how I dress.
“Trying to copy Josie now, are we?”
came a sly comment from Blondie as he appeared at my side and slid into a space
beside Jed. Gasping, I pressed a hand to my chest.
‘Where did he come from?’ I
wondered. Holding my breath, I stared at him. My mouth froze open. My heart
raced away inside of me. I could feel its pounding hammer though my hand.
‘Blondie knows…’ I realised. ‘He can see right through me… How?’
“Relax,” Blondie laughed, throwing a
hand towards me. “I’m only playing. Don’t worry what we think, MJ,” he said.
“We aren’t the fashion police.” I smiled back. I think that might be the nicest
thing Blondie has ever said to me. I’m still suspicious of him, but it was nice
all the same.
Taking a seat on the other side of
Jed, I heard the high-pitched giggles that could belong to none other than
Pansy and company. Turning around, I saw my roommates walking towards us.
“Speak of the devil,” I heard Malfoy mutter. Spinning my head towards him, I
caught him rolling his eyes.
“Morning,” the girls cheered.
“Nice top, MJ,” said Pansy
admiringly. “Looking cool.”
“Yeah,” Scarlett agreed. “Like the
scarf too. We could start a new fashion trend.”
“Totally,” Priscilla added, agreeing
with both her friends.
“Pansy, Scarlet, Priscilla,” Blondie
beamed. “Come join us.” Priscilla and Scarlett sat down beside me on the other
side of Jed, whilst Pansy slide alongside Blondie. Digging his fingers into
Jed’s arm, Blondie whispered, “Save me,” to Jed – when Jed told me this, I had
to press a hand to my mouth to stop myself from laughing out loud. I just have
to say: Wow! I can’t believe it. Blondie is twofaced towards Pansy Parkinson –
who’d have thought it. The way the two of them are together, you’d think they
were some lovey-dovey couple. How can he just sit there while she smiles so
lovingly at him? He’s playing her. And all this time I thought the real Malfoy
was the one egging Pansy on, but it turns out it’s the other way around. Wow is
all I can say here.
“Je-ed…” a voice sang out from
behind. Turning around the voice belonged to Josie. My eyes widened. A baggy
mauve-purple jumper with black stars hung over Josie’s frame as she stood
behind us. Seriously? It’s like I was trying to be her and she became me.
Running her thumb along a cluster of dark grey chains containing an array of
stars that hung from her neck, she tilted her head to one side. “I think you
have my green inkpot still,” Josie told him.
“Arh, right – sorry José,” Jed
muttered, delving into his backpack, between his feet. Pinching her lips in,
Josie stared at the floor whilst she waited for Jed, pulling the sleeves of her
jumper tight around her wrists.
“So, you like green?” asked Blondie,
spinning around to see her. “Unusual for a Ravenclaw, isn’t it?” Pansy stroked
her hand across the side of Blondie’s head, sweeping his hair into place. He
knocked her hand away. Josie glanced up at him, but shot her eyes straight back
at the ground when she realised that he was staring at her. “Green ink’s
usually left to us Slytherins.”
“Here ya go, José,” Jed sang out as
he handed Josie her pot of ink.
She whispered, “Thank you,” before
turning straight to leave. I sighed. I guess the Josie that we saw yesterday
stayed in yesterday. She was back to her quiet, shy self. She could barely
bring herself to speak to us. Her cheeks had turned pink as we watched her. She
couldn’t even bring herself to look at Blondie, let alone retaliate. I guess
she can only bring herself to play the brave girl every now and then. It’s a
shame. Even Malfoy seemed to be disappointed by her quick departure.
You don’t suppose… nah, can’t be.
Can it? Is it possible that Blondie only spoke to Josie, hoping to gain her
attention in the form of some sort of retaliation, just as I had wanted
attention for how I dressed this morning? Blondie may have Pansy’s attention,
but he wanted something more… just like how I wanted someone besides Jed to
notice that I was wearing something different today… Maybe the two of us aren’t
so different after all. He’s still up
to something though.
*
I’ve just spent most of the day sticking the stickers that
Josie gave me all over my journal. I have stickers everywhere. I might even
stick a really big one at the bottom of this page just for the fun of it!
- Josie -
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