FIVE I'M FINE!

     Xander all but ran back to the Hufflepuff common room. He was heaving as he entered, drawing the worried eye of some confused first and second years but he waved them off with a reassuring smile as he hunted down his best friend. Draco had threatened him. Now that was more like it! Oh Merlin, maybe he was going crazy. Two days into his sixth year and he was already questioning his sanity. Well, he probably should have questioned it that one time fifth year with Diana when they tried to enchant their skateboards to float up and down the astronomy tower since they were tired of walking to class. That wasn't even the first time Xander had broken his nose. He caught a glimpse of blonde and faded pink and he sighed with relief as the girl lounged in one of the comfortable sofa chairs that sat beneath the window so the sunlight could shine down on it. Immediately, the girl's mundane expression formed into one of worry as soon as she saw her best friend bent over trying to catch his breath.

"Merlin, what happened to you?" the girl exclaimed with wide eyes as the boy jogged over to the chair across from her. She slammed shut Confronting The Faceless and tossed it onto the hardwood floor as she leaned forward to get a better glimpse of the boy. "Are you all right, Salamander?"

"You know I hate when you call me that!" Xander whined as he leaned back in the chair, letting the sunlight bask over his tan skin as he ran a hand through his long black hair. He kind of liked it long if he was being honest; as long as it didn't pass his chin he could probably still pull it off. Diana was still convinced he needed a hair cut, though. "I'm fine!"

Diana laughed outwardly at that, causing some first-years to look over at her, glaring as they tried to do their first homework. Right away the girl ceased her laughter as she glared at them and pretended to lunge, causing all of them to flinch and return to their work. She snickered lightly as she turned her attention back to Xander. "Okay, sure, physically maybe, but if something made you run, then we must all be in danger."

The boy gasped, looking offended as he looked over at the girl, "You are so rude! I run all the time!"

"Skateboarding doesn't count, you menace. Now spill, where were you? What's got you all in a fuss?" the blonde asked as she sat with one leg bent at an angle with her arm resting against her knee and the other one lazily hitting the floor. Neither of them ever seemed to properly sit in chairs and it drove their professors absolutely insane, but neither of them really cared. She picked up the book she had dropped and thumbed through the pages absentmindedly as she raised her eyebrows, awaiting an answer.

"It's Draco!" Xander shouted much louder than he had intended to, noticing the eyes of the first year's facing the fireplace before he leaned forward and dropped his voice to a whisper, "It's Draco."

The girl immediately rolled her eyes, "Here we go."

"No, listen!" he whisper-shouted through gritted teeth, "I saw him leaving somewhere after class without those minions he calls friends so naturally, I followed him -- sorry for lying to you about having to use the bathroom, by the way --"

"I knew you were totally bullshitting, carry on," the girl muttered, waving her hand nonchalantly as if to physically brush it off.

He scoffed, "I'm a better liar than that, you totally didn't know."

"You're an absolute shit liar, you always scrunch your nose when you're about to lie and you know you do it so you pretend to sniffle when it's not even cold or dry out," Diana continued on like it was something obvious. "I literally always see right through you."

"I hate you."

"See? There, you just did it again," Diana spoke with an easy shrug and a monotone voice as she picked at the dirt underneath her fingernails.

"Whatever," he muttered, "So I followed him --"

"You're so goddamn weird," the girl interrupted him once again to which he whined.

Pouting, he exclaimed, "Stop interrupting me!"

"Okay, fine, go. No interruptions, pinky swear," the girl said with a small smile, holding up her pinky which he rejected dramatically. Diana rolled her eyes at him, he stuck out her tongue.

"As I was saying," he spoke through gritted teeth, "I followed him because duh, he's being suspicious. Sometimes I think that it's just his face that always makes him look like he's hiding something, but this time I think he really was being suspicious so I was like 'I'm gonna follow him!' and I did. Anyway, I was right, he was being suspicious because this dude goes straight for the Room of Requirement, so I'm thinking 'yo, what the fuck does this guy need that he needs the whole room for?' so I sneak in and the room lets me because the Room of Requirement loves me and I'm just sneaky like that --"

Diana cut him off, asking, "Are you going to get to the point literally anytime soon? I love you, but please."

"You said no interrupting!"

"You rejected my pinky swear."

"Whatever," Xander continued, brushing her off with an easy smile, "He finds what he's looking for and he rips off the cloth covering it with a dramatic flourish because you know, it's Draco, and then! And then! He's all 'you can come out now!' and I'm like 'bro, how did you see me?' and this motherfucker reaches for his wand! I mean, like there was some dialogue in between that, but you look very bored so I'm cutting it out for your sake, anyway, he grabs his wand and I pull out mine like 'Woah bro, is this what we're doing?' and apparently it is so I literally just ran out of there and did not stop until I got here."

"You didn't even tell me what he was looking for, wasn't that the whole point of the story?" Diana asked, giggling to herself at his storytelling accent. Whenever he said the word 'bro' he did his best American accent which was absolutely dreadful, but Diana found it endlessly entertaining. "Did something happen over the summer? Because I genuinely think you've lost your mind, Salamander."

"Stop it!" the boy exclaimed with a laugh as he leaned back in the chair again now that the gist of the story was over, "I don't even know what it was! It was some funky looking cabinet! I asked him if he was thinking of redecorating the Slytherin common room which I thought was hilarious, but Mister Malfoy sure did not. Anyway, I'm like ninety-percent sure that he just threatened me with violence, that's the moral of the story here. Just like the old days, ah, it was kind of nice."

With a scoff, Diana stood from her chair and placed both hands firmly on her best friend's shoulder, looking him dead in the eye and saying, "Xander, baby, I love you so much, but this is not worth it. Leave Draco alone to deal with whatever he's doin' and I'm sure he'll go back to bugging you in no time."

"Ugh, you're no fun!" the boy exclaimed, brushing the girl off of him as he stood up as well, "I'm going to write Alecks, she'll agree with me!"

"Whatever you say," the girl said with a disbelieving laugh as she fell back into her chair and picked up her book once again, giving the boy a mock salute as he headed up the stairs to his dormitory where his writing supplies were.

When he got up to his room, his cat was there waiting on his bed with her big yellow eyes he loved so much. He walked over and pressed a kiss to her head, muttering a, "Hey, Salem," before heading over to his trunk with his stationary. Jo had brought him to a muggle mall and shown him this cool thing called a pen and paper instead of parchment and he knew he couldn't use it for class so he would have to save it for his letters. He thought pens were awesome, Diana had shown him them before, along with pencils. You didn't even have to dip them in ink, it was marvelous.

Alecks,

     Diana thinks I'm insane and I need you to knock some sense into her! I'm not sure if you remember that boy we ran into at Flourish and Blotts, the blond one with an attitude? Anyway, he and I are friends in that kind of like "I hate you" way (it makes sense, don't worry about it) and he's been acting incredibly weird lately and I seem to be the only one noticing. Every time I try to talk to Diana about it, she tells me that it's all in my head and she's probably right, but I really do consider this boy a friend and can I really be blamed for wanting to make sure he's all right?

     Dramatics aside, I miss you. McGonagall was telling me she missed having you causing a ruckus in her class -- said you were one of the brightest witches in your year. She also told me to tell you that if you ever choose to come back to the Wizarding World permanently, she'd be happy to help you get a job at Hogwarts. Anyway, give mum and Jo my best. I love and miss you guys already (and I know you're gonna call me a sap for saying that so don't even think about it)

Love,
Xander

P.S. I've been working on my wandless magic! I'm strong enough to put out Diana's cigarettes every time she lights one and it's driving her absolutely crazy! Thanks for the help!

With a smile, he rolled up the letter the way he would parchment (it was easier to tie it to the owl's that way) and he began the walk to the owlery. He promised he would write more this year, so he really had to prepare himself mentally for how much walking he would be doing this year. Well, then he smiled.

"Accio, Skateboard," he said with a smile and then he waited. Moments later, his skateboard burst through the door of the common room and he smiled until he heard a few colorful words from his housemates inside. With that, he put the board on the ground and skated away before anyone figured out who had done that. He technically wasn't allowed to have his skateboard in Hogwarts, but in his defense, he didn't even think the old professors even knew such a thing existed and the Hogwarts founders certainly didn't which means it wasn't technically against the rules. Knowing this, he still tucked it under his robes in a flash any time a professor walked by.

Once he finally got to the owlery, he held out a treat in his palm and whichever Hogwarts owl got to it first was the one that got to deliver his letter. With ease, he tied it to the leg of the tawny owl and it was on its way. Xander sighed as he watched the owl leave. He hoped at least someone would understand why he was so worried. Then again, he didn't even know why he was so worried. He had a feeling this year was going to be a lot more complicated than he expected.

the way i cannot stop writing for this story... embarrassing