Falling Hard With An Open Heart

Earlier that week Francesca had received an owl, which wasn't that unusual as the Hufflepuff was reasonably popular and had a fair amount of friends. Naturally that led to a lot of letters going back and forth between her friends. Her brother had moved out of the house to live with his new wife, Daphne, which mean't she didn't have someone to torment her either. Her Mother and Father were both working and in between visits to her Grandma's only around the corner it wasn't uncommon to arrive home and been greeted by a hooting owl on the wheelie bin by the back kitchen door.

You'd expect the neighbors to think it unusual to see an owl, especially with an envelope tied to it's leg but the Bloom's weren't strangers when it came to birds. At the bottom of their back garden was a bird bath, a bird box and several varieties of nuts to attract a various species of birds to the garden. It hadn't always been like this, in fact it was actually Francesca's Father's idea. After his daughters first year at Hogwarts the Bloom household suddenly having owls flying to the house in the middle of broad daylight certainly quirked an eyebrow from Mr Fennis mowing his lawn ever Sunday afternoon, nobody dare know their secret, that Francesca was a witch, so he came up with the clever idea to attract birds to the garden. If anybody asked him he'd say he watched a documentary and was no an avid bird watcher - to play up to this role he'd even joined the local bird watchers society and was secretly enjoying it.

However the owl that had arrived earlier in the week wasn't the owl of a friend from Hogwarts but the Ministry of Magic. Attached the owls leg were two envelopes. The first envelope to be opened was one that caused the Hufflepuff to scream, sending the owl off in a flurry of feathers as she threw the letter in it's direction. After forty minutes of pacing the kitchen, eating an ice cream to calm her nerves and thinking through all her options Francesca picked up the forgotten letter and began to read:

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades: Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E), Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades: Poor (P), Dreadful (D), Troll (T)

FRANCESCA LOUISE BLOOM HAS ACHIEVED:

Astronomy (A)
Charms (E)
Defence Against the Dark Arts (A)
Divinations (E)
Herbology (O)
History Of Magic (P)
Muggle Studies (O)
Potions (A)
Transfiguration (E)

She's passed everything apart from history of magic (who cared about that anyway, history is old news) and had even achieved two outstandings! Of course she had expected the outstanding in muggle studies truth be told, she was muggle born after all, but that italic 'O' besides herbology had almost brought tears to her eyes. Herbology was the one subject that really had a grasp for, the one that made her sadly sigh as the booming bell signaled the end of the lesson. She had achieved an outstanding! Sure she would have liked an exceeds expectations in astronomy to be allowed to continue it to NEWT level but that didn't matter for she had achieved an outstanding in herbology.

The next letter was one containing a long list of set books required for each subject. Initially Francesca had been confused where Arithmancy was on there (what exactly was that) but soon gathered, by the footer, that because students would be carrying on with subjects chosen entirely by them that a full list had been provided for every student so that they didn't turn up without the required reading material. Reading material. More of that then.

There weren't many options for Francesca. Naturally she would continuing with herbology but muggle studies wasn't something she needed at NEWT level, sure it would look good to gain another outstanding but why waste her time writing pointless essays on electricity when she'd been living in the muggle world since she'd be born? It seemed rather silly to waste her time. That left her with divinations, charms and transfigurations to continue with. Not entirely sure what she wanted to do as a career Francesca figured it would be best to continue with all three of them, meaning she'd only be studying four subjects. That worked for perfectly for the Hufflepuff for her OWL exams had been taxing. She'd ended up in the hospital wing twice: The first for a calming draught, the second for foolishly consuming 'wit sharpening potion', which actually had been grounded doxy droppings. The matron wasn't impressed but as Hogwarts tradition around exam time all sorts of fake-brain-boosting-products found their way onto the student black market.


Five days later Francesca had boarded a train to London, travelled the underground and managed to find her way (getting lost a few times) to Charing Cross Road, the location of The Leaky Cauldron. With a little help from the barmen who tapped the correct bricks for her Francesca found herself on Diagon Alley.

It was a Saturday and the cobbled street was full of busy shoppers. There were old ladies who were covered in soot, clearly having traveled here by floo powder; children being dragged into Madame Malkins Robes to try on clothes, bless them and Christian Zabini?

Francesca recognised the pure blood as a boy in the year above her, same house. They'd spoken a few times and Fran had even taken him some freshly picked daffodils when he had stayed in the hospital wing after his accident. She wouldn't say they were best friends but not exactly acquaintances either. The Hufflepuff guessed that he too had visited the alley to buy school supplies for the upcoming year.

'Hey! Christian!' Fran called, not heard by the noise of the bustling crowd.

Fighting her way through Fran paused as she spotted him wander into a nearby shop. The sign above read: Sugarplum's Sweets Shoppe. With a smile on her face, her eyes wide at the prospect of being able to buy some sweets to nibble on her day of shopping Francesca pushed open the door and followed Christian into the store.

It was busy in here too, mainly of students that Fran knew by face only, little children pulling on their parents robes begging for some fizzing whizzbees and, yes, Christian Zabini.

'Christian!' Fran called, pushing past a little boy, 'Christi-ahh!' The Hufflepuff had crashed into a large barrel of licorice snaps and landed on her front, grazing her chin on the corner of a shelf on her way down.

Christian had spent the better half of his morning at home, helping his mother prepare for having her friends visit for tea. Although it mostly consisted of explaining to the house elves what she wanted done, he appreciated the chance to feel useful, so it wasn't any sort of grievance or irritant. He tended to be more on the organized side when it came to things like that, so really it was just in his nature to want to help and ensure that things ran smoothly.

The only problem came up when he explained to Minna that his mother was after a specific dessert to be plated and set out. It was Daphne's favorite, so it wasn't a surprise when the elf squeaked out an apology, stating that the supply was out. Although Minna offered to go out and find some herself, Christian felt bad for having worked her and Tinker all morning. He wasn't so very like his father in regards to the elves, but then, Blaise was the only one who seemed hard on them. So it was without any utterance of a complaint that the newly of-age student apparated away in search of the pomegranate flavored pudding pies. Christian himself didn't understand the appeal, but Daphne could not get past how much she adored them.

Never one to begrudge his mother anything, Christian ambled about in a dessert shop for a bit in hopes of finding some, but in the end came out with empty hands. The only other place he could think to look in the Alley was the sweet shop his brother favored, so it was in that direction that the Hufflepuff headed.

The noise in Diagon Alley was shockingly loud, but Christian attributed it to the summer break and families going out to spend a day together. Pushing open the door to the shop, Christian moved among the roaming kids and parents. The sound of his name hit his ears and Christian turned just in time to see a girl stumble over a nearby stand. The barrel rocked before righting itself, but she did not seem so lucky. Taking a closer look, Christian recognized the girl as a Hufflepuff a year below him.

"Francesca?" He asked, squatting down enough to be on eye level. Reaching out a hand, he set two fingers along one side of her chin to turn it so he could look and see if she was hurt. "Are you alright?" His eyes were wide with worry, darting from her chin to her eyes and back.

It took Francesca a moment to take in what had happened, not that the fall had been that bad but a fall was a fall. After lying on the floor for a few seconds Francesca pushed herself up, rubbing her forehead - even though she hadn't hit her forehead. All she knew was that she was a little in pain.

Her big blue eyes caught sight of that familiar face she'd attempted to hunt down. Well, at least she'd caught his attention, even if it was because he she'd made a rather dramatic entrance. His eyes were darting about her face, unless she was seeing things.

'Hi, Christian.' She replied wearily. 'Sorry to cause such as scene.' Fran added, rubbing her chin that was now seeping a small amount of blood. Blood was never a strong put for the Hufflepuff. She was perfectly fine with the sight of blood, even hearing gory things didn't make her squeam but when it came to her own blood it was an entirely different story.

Her eyes soon caught sight of the red droplets on her fingers. Oh gosh. No, not again. Surely she was over it by now? Especially after the amount of accidents Francesca had had upon starting Hogwarts. The room soon began to fade in and out. This was it, this was that familiar feeling Francesca felt whenever she saw her own blood.

'I... I don't feel so good.' Fran spoke out, a little louder than her she usually spoke (not that she was quiet).

Christian's eyes widened as she seemed to get a bit woozy. "Don't worry about it," he assured her gently, a fingers wrapping gently around her upper arm. Her gaze faltered and she spoke again, worrying him all the more. He suddenly wished that he and Apollo hadn't gotten into a fight; the older twin might have been there to be the sensible medical mind on hand.

Still, he worked best when others were in trouble. Christian needed to be needed, craved needy people he could help. Not that he thought Francesca was like that normally; no, she just filled that role and have him a purpose besides just picking up pies for his mum. While he still needed to get that done, Christian was fairly certain that a crowded store would not help the girl sort herself out.

"Hey, hey look at me, Fran." He started, reaching out to help her stand. "C'mon, let's get outside. Some air might help."

Once she was on her feet again, Christian wrapped one arm around her shoulders and he reached for her hand with his other in an attempt to brace her until they could find somewhere to sit. Pushing the door open with his foot, Christian led Francesca out and between some running children, aiming for the nearest bench. Once they sat, the hand draped over her shoulders rubbed against her upper arm. "You okay? I can fix it if you want."

Someone was telling her to look, look at something, at someone? Fran wasn't entirely sure what exactly was happening all she knew was the feeling of something squeezing her stomach wasn't a pleasant one, nor the fact that room was spinning - or was that just her head? Fran wasn't exactly sure.

She reached for a hand and found her feet moving along a set of wooden floor boards. She was taken through a line of shoes that parted a path for the Hufflepuff until she reached the door - Fran heard the jingle - and a pleasant breeze of fresh air pummeled her lungs.

The air awoke her and Fran soon became aware exactly what had happened as she set on the bench taking in the surroundings of Diagon Alley. There was a few cauldrons littering the street outside Potage's and a barrel of everything gruesome swayed ominously a shop along by the apothecary. Besides her: Christian Zabini.

'Thanks, Christian.' Fran gasped, her eyes still a little weary but recovering. She wasn't the brightest spark when it came to potions and history of magic but it didn't take a genius to realise that it had been her fellow Hufflepuff who'd helped her leave the store during that brief faint-like spell.

Now she remembered. She'd gone into the store after Christian, shouted across the store, tripped and fell.

'Are you okay? I didn't hurt you when I fell did I?' The girl asked, unaware she hadn't been anyway near him during her accident.