Kapitel 15: Break the morning (not too) fast

*BOOOOOMMMM*

*GRRRRRRRR*

"FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, I LAID DORMANT. WHO HAD DISTURBED MY…."

"Hu-hum, buddy you okay?" asked a soft and trembling voice.

"Mmmh?!" grunted the beast dormant.

Dudley who was deep sleeping opened an eye scrutinizing the owner of the voice. His roommate looked at him with both anxiety and a bit of fear. The young asian boy was half wearing his school uniform, only having his pants and shirt.

"I-it's the morning already and we are going to the Great Hall for breakfast. Y-you didn't seem to wake up so… Sorry to bother you" said the young boy with a trembling voice before returning quickly to his own bed where the rest of his clothes were laying.

Dudley continued to look at the boy still not moving before rubbing his head into his pillow. Next to his head, Lady was still sleeping, not interested in getting out of her royal nap. His night was mostly restless because of this idiotic nightmare he had. Only a few hours ago did he finally fall asleep and now was time to wake up.

After some time passed, Dudley finally got out of his bed yawning like a lazy lion. His two roommates left him and their common bedroom at this moment, not before weirdly glancing at Dudley one last time. Dudley watched them leaving calmly, asking himself if his perturbed night didn't also disturbed his roommates too. Shrugging his shoulders, stretching his limbs and petting his precious Lady a little, Dudley went to his luggage to retrieve his uniform. But little didn't know about the surprise that was waiting for him.

"What the *Phoque*?!"

-----------

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."

"Wearing the glasses?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

The morning after the sorting in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, many whispered at the sight of Harry Potter while the bestacled boy was eating his breakfast with Ron Weasly, a redhead from a large redhead family, at his house table. Behind them at the Hufflepuff table, Terry was eating a honey toast with a red fruit flavoured tea and a newspaper in her hands. The girl was neatly combed, wore two small earrings and dressed in her school uniform, this time emblazoned with the yellow and black colours of her house.

'I can only wonder what kind of magic did they use to change my uniforms overnight' thought the auburn haired girl biting into her toast.

While the girl was either lost in thought or reading the newspaper, a tall shadow approached her with a heavy step.

"Yaaaaaawwn….'orning Terry." said a tall redhead girl with lightly brushed hair and a slightly scruffy look.

"Jenna, look at you a little" said Terry with a severe tone.

"You could have taken a little care of your outfit. You know I could have helped if you didn't oversleep" frowned Terry seeing her friend.

The two of them got lucky with their room selection, being roommates. The two girls were overjoyed by that occurrence.

"*grine* Wait until you see Dud." replied the redhead.

"What about him? " asked the girl concerned.

Terry turned to the entrance of the great hall and opened his eyes in amazement. A tall blond boy was wandering around the room like a revenant, his uniform was untidy and his hair in a mess. Beneath his eyes one could discern black bags, signs of a rough night. The blond undead dragged himself to the table, right next to Jenna and Terry, before sitting down as he fell on his chair.

"Hum! Dud? Are you okay" asked Terry with a concerned look.

Dudley didn't answer, but his head fell hard on the table with a loud bump that shook the dishes around and alarmed the other students. Jenna and Terry stared at each other for a moment before turning their attention back to the youngster whose head was still slumping on the table.

"Voor pleep" grunted Dudley.

"Excuse me?" replied Terry.

"Poor sleep" repeated Dudley still lying on the table.

Terry stared at the young man and then turned to Jenna, who had already lost interest in the blond man to stuff herself with jam pastries. The auburn-haired girl sighed, wondering how the curious pair had become her first school friends. So while Jenna was wiping out the last chocolate buns, Terry stared at Dudley, who hadn't moved his head out of place, not even to save a croissant from the ginger storm.

Dudley's long blond hairs which reached his shoulders were spread out on the wood of the table like wheat cobs lying in open fields. Curious, the girl picked up a golden lock of the young man's hair and began to gently wrap it around her finger. The young boy twisted slightly on contact but did not move. The girl continued to play with the young man's soft hair, which she found strangely pleasing to touch. Dudley also apparently enjoyed it, as the young man seemed to relax a little from his rough night.

"Brooks? Theresa Brooks?" asked a voice behind the trio.

Immediately, Terry retracted her hand from Dudley's hairs as quickly as possible and her cheeks were slightly pinkish. The young man grunted quietly and raised his head to see the person who had arrived and disturbed his rest. What Dudley saw was a stout-looking boy with blondish hair. Like him, Terry and Jenna, the boy was dressed with the Hufflepuff uniform. He looked at Terry with a broad smile and a dazzling look.

"You're Theresa Brooks, right?" asked the boy once again.

"Yes! Terry! I mean… It's me... I mean… You can just call me Terry" mumbled the young girl with some red on her cheeks.

"I was right then! I'm Ernest Macmillan, but please call me Ernie" replied the boy handing a hand for Terry.

The young girl gripped the hand of Ernie reflexively. The boy nodded to her then turned in turn to Dudley and Jenna with a curious look in his eyes.

"And you must be Gwennaelle Bradach" pointed Ernie at Jenna.

"Call me like that once again and I will end you" growled Jenna, a trail of jam spread on her cheek.

"You can call her Jenna!" quickly replied Terry a bit embarrassed.

"Okay Jenna! You seem fun!" smiled Ernie at the redhead.

"Hum! You learn fast. Your life is safe… for now" continued Jenna while devouring a waffle.

Ernie smiled even more pleasantly and then turned to the ravaged Dudley, whose eyes, hidden by his blond locks, peered at the young comer.

" And you are the famous Dudley Dursley. The second most famous first year after Harry Potter." declared Ernie gazing at Dudley.

"GRRRRrrrrrrrrr….." groaned the blond giant with weary but infuriated eyes.

"Do you prefer I call you with a nickname too?" replied Ernie a bit frightened.

"Dud! Don't be rude." said Terry, scolding Dudley like a mother.

"Grhumph…...Second…." continued Dudley.

"Hum? What?" asked Ernie, more and more confused.

"Tell me once again I am second to that sack of bones with glasses and I promise you that you will no longer see the world at the same height." grunted Dudley to Ernie.

The young Hufflepuff looked at the blond giant in panic, a cold sweat running down his back. As he approached the group of three, the young man would never have imagined that this encounter would be so rich in emotion. Sighing at the reaction of his friends, Terry turned to Ernie while trying to appear as friendly as possible.

"Please, excuse them. They both had a rough night" said Terry trying to apologize for her friends.

Jenna, upon hearing Terry's remark, wanted to emit a comment, but the auburn-haired girl gave her a look of rare authority that silenced the young redhead. Dudley, for his part, said nothing to contradict his friend but continued to stare at young Macmillan with piercing blue eyes.

"Th-That's okay…" blurted the young boy.

"How can we help you Ernie?" smiled Terry to the stout-looking Hufflepuff.

"Right! Yes! I simply wanted to greet you, that's all!" blushed Ernie when he saw the smile on Terry's face.

Seeing the boy's reaction, Dudley grunted once again which made the young Macmillan shudder. Terry, once again no, warned the tall blond man with a glance, who only snorted loudly.

"Well, I can speak to the three of us that it's a pleasure to meet you Ernie." declared Terry still smiling.

Dudley and Jenna didn't contradict the girl, but one of them was just eating her pastries while the other still had his head lying on the table without moving too much.

"Thank you! It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I already made acquaintance with Justin and Hannah from our house and I…I wanted to know if you like to spend some time studying or else?" simply said Ernie.

"Thanks Ernie, it will be 'our' pleasure" said Terry talking about her and others.

"Perfect then. I'm glad we could be friends, Terry. I know with your family history, it must be hard to make friends among wizards." replied Ernie.

As soon as Ernie's last words were spoken, Terry's smile disappeared as if by magic. The girl froze, as if someone had cast a spell on her. Feeling that something was wrong Dudley lifted his head from the table and Jenna stopped eating breakfast.

"What do you mean?" asked the girl, stoic.

"Well, it's just…. I'm from the Macmillan family. You know, from the Sac... I mean twenty-eight families." began Ernie while Terry just looked straight at him without breathing words.

"I just wanted to say that if you need some... help, I can be here. Me and my family were really against this whole affair. And we support you and your father if ever..."

"I stop you right here" said Terry raising her hand to silence the boy.

"I don't need your 'help' or anything. I could take care of myself without you before and I can continue now."

"If you have anything else to say, go on. I can be your friend, your study partner, or simply your housemate if you want. But don't talk to me about this story ever again. Understood?" said Terry calmly but firmly.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to say I support you and you can count on me if you need anything since we are kind of related." shuttered the blond-haired Ernie.

"YOU AND I ARE NOT RELATED!" snapped Terry.

As the topic of discussion went into hazardous waters, Terry's behaviour became erratic. The smiling girl from earlier began to change, and you could see the emotions slowly overwhelming her. Ernie Macmillan could see that Terry was behaving strangely, his forehead sweating a little. Dudley and Jenna's menacing glances at him further confirmed that he was now walking on slippery ground.

"Sorry, I didn't want to hurt you or anything. I just wanted you to know that I know how you feel and I-"

"SHUT UP!" said Terry jumping from her chair.

Standing face to face with Macmillan, Terry plunged his eyes into his own. Finaly, the sweet and timid girl from before changed and became now a threatening beast. Ernie backed away from the pressure coming from the young girl, and some of the students at the other tables began to look in their direction, their curiosity piqued.

"Listen to me Macmillan. You know nothing about me, my family or her history. If you want to be friends, then it's fine. But if you want to be some kind of savior or I don't know what other game you were playing inside your head, let me tell you this. YOU KNOW NOTHING!" exclaimed the auburn-haired girl.

Unaware of his own actions, Ernie backed away from the girl who now seemed more terrifying than the giants standing next to her.

"You weren't there. You don't know what happened. So don't tell me you know how I feel. You can't know. None of 'you' know. Am I clear?" firmly said Terry to Ernie, eye to eye.

"Y-Yes ma'am" stuttered the frightened boy.

"Good then. You can return to your seat and eat your breakfast." said Terry before sitting back at her place.

"O-Okay" muttered Ernie retraiting from the auburn-haired girl.

The boy turned back and began to leave Terry, Dudley and Jenna at their business.

"Oh! One more thing" exclaimed Terry without bothering to look at the poor boy.

Ernie stopped in his tracks trembling and slowly looked over his shoulder at Terry.

"We are not related!" finished Terry drinking a sip from her red-fruit flavored tea.

Ernie didn't say anything back but left faster than before, eager to get back to its seat.

Terry, Jenna and Dudley all sat quietly for a while. The tall redhead did not continue to devour the dishes displayed on the table and Dudley rested his head on his fist, his eyes half closed. As for Terry, she carried on with her tea slowly. The curious crowd began to tire of the lack of entertainment and returned to their own business. After a few minutes, Terry put down her cup and furrowed her brow before facing her friends.

"Sorry to have let you see this" softly said Terry.

"No need to aaaa-apologize" replied Dudley yawning.

"Still, I'm sorry" continued the girl frowning.

"It's okay Terry. Actually I'm a bit sorry for the poor boy you just traumatized." said Jenna as she spread chocolate on her bread.

"I didn't traumatize him" exclaimed Terry a bit embarrassed.

"I think you did. It makes me rethink the all dynamic of our group," replied Jenna chewing.

"What dynamic?" asked Terry, uncertain.

"You, me and Dud. You were supposed to be the pretty girl of our trio. But after this event, I think the role of the muscle suits you better." continued Jenna still eating pastries.

"Me the muscle-Wait? I was the pretty girl" replied Terry confused.

"Yep." replied the redhead.

"Then what about you? You're becoming the pretty girl now?" asked Terry

"Of course not. I'm the brain of the band" said Jenna.

"You? The brain?" questioned Terry.

"Yep again"

"Then who is the pretty girl?" still asked Terry.

"Dud."

"Dud?!"

"Dud", continued Jenna.

"YAAAAAWWWWNNNN!" replied Dudley sleepy.

"It suits him," said Jenna biting on a honey toast.

"You think so?" asked Terry, not convinced.

"Of course! Did you take a look at him?", replied Jenna.

"I'm fabulous," said Dudley.

"You look like a mess this morning" joked Terry about the tall blond boy.

"And I remain more handsome than the rest of the crowd in this school" affirmed Dudley proudly.

"Hahaha" laughed both Jenna and Terry.

After a good laugh, the three of them stayed at their table enjoying their breakfast, especially the redhead, for some time. A few minutes after, Terry glanced at them for a moment before she began to speak.

"Do you have anything to ask me?" desired to know the small girl.

"Do you have anything you want to tell us?" replied Dudley, sipping a glass of juice.

"Not really" said Terry bitterly.

"Then I don't," concluded Dudley.

"Me neither" followed Jenna.

"...Thank you. Both of you." said Terry with an emotional tone.

Jenna smiled at the auburn-haired girl while Dudley simply shrugged off his shoulder. Some time later, the Great Hall began to empty itself from its students as the first morning classes were about to start. The Hufflepuff trio finished their breakfast and got up from the table to head for their first class of the year. After leaving the Great Hall, Dudley slapped his forehead as he just remembered something.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Did you guys see our uniforsm this morning?" exclaimed the tall blond.

"Thanks Merlin, I'm not the only one. This really freaked me out this morning?" said Jenna a little distraught.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Terry confused.

"Our uniforms! How come they changed it overnight? This is nuts!" replied Dudley.

Terry looked at both Jenna and Dudley school uniforms which were now emblazoned with the colors of the Hufflepuff house, then glanced back at her own which underwent the same changes.

".... Yeah I guess this is a bit freaky"