Cassandra Matthews transferred to Hogwarts School of Wtchcraft and Wizardry from the Pitchford Coven Institute for Charmed Young Women in her fifth year of magical training. She had been the foremost student in her potions class at her old school. Today, she had just finished a pre- class evaluation interview with Professor Severus Snape.
He complimented her skills, claiming that they were among the most formidable that he'd ever encountered. He did, however,express his disappointment about her having been sorted into Hufflepuff house.
Her only comment to this was"Oh, don't be disappointed, professor. In time you may come to appreciate the reason that my sorting turned out as it did."
He only looked at her with a perplexed expression and remarked "I'd ask what you meant by your last commenmt, but I have other things to do.Good day, Miss Matthews."
As she left his office, she knew that he hadn't taken his eyes off her. She loved to put people on edge. Surprising them was just one of her ways of achieving her ends. Judging from his response to her, she knew that he'd keep a close watch over her.
She followed the prefect to the Hufflepuff common room. She learned that the password was 'candystripe.' "Cute", she thought.
Over the first weeks of term, she had learned that Hufflepuff students were among the lowest rank of the Hogwarts houses, but she didn't care. The last thing she wanted to do was to draw attention to herself.
"Detention, Mr. Potter!!!!" she heard their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Umbridge shout. Both he and Professor Umbridge had spent half of this morning's class arguing over whether theory of magical defense or practice was more useful.
Cassandra was enthralled by the famous Harry Potter who she read so much about in English magical journals. He really did seem to be very brave, and very foolhardy. Never, had she ever dared to challenge any of her teachers in that fashion. She always preferred to strike when they were least prepared.
Cassandra approached him at the end of class. She could tell that Harry wanted to make distance between them;because, he was annoyed, but she still pursued him.
"Harry, wait"
"What"
"I agree with you. Learning theory 'is' perfectly useless in defense against the dark arts. I think that she's an utter tyrant, overbearing and completely overstuffed, rather troll-like, if you know what I mean. By the way, I'm Cassandra Matthews."
"Is that so Miss Matthews? Well perhaps the two of you can further discuss the matter when you join Mr. Potter in his detention," Umbridge had said.
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much, and have a lovely day," Cassandra remarked, her voice imitating the poisoned sweetness of Umbridge's .
Harry looked at her in shock at how she had just answered Umbridge, and then he said "Cassandra, I know that you're new here and all, and I'm quite sure that you're a nice girl, but getting yourself into trouble for no reason isn't a very good way for you to start the year off."
"Are you kidding? Miss out on joining the ranks of the famous Harry Potter"?
"I should warn you, I'm not too popular at this time. People think that I'm a complete lunatic who's starved for attention."
"Is this about Lord "What's -his-name"?
"I'm late for my next class. Good-bye, Cassandra."
The time had come for their evening detention ; they both met Umbridge at the designated place (an annex in the lower part of Hogwarts) where she gave them each a quill with which to write out "I will not question the methods of my facilitator" five thousand times.
Cassandra waited until Umbridge left the annex to see to an "official matter"( as she put it). She removed a folded pointy hat from her sweater. The hat resembled the hat that Professor MacGonagall wore.
"What are you doing, Cassandra"?Harry asked her barely above a whisper as he watched her remove a magazine from it.
"Oh, just taking this out for a little bit of light reading. "
"We're supposed to be writing lines. Now look, I don't want to make her anymore cross with me than she is. Start writing."
"No."
"Fine then, on your own head be it."
She watched him write, and then wince in pain .
"What's wrong, Harry"?
"The quill is etching the words into my skin cutting it."
Cassandra remembered just this type of quill from a game of truth or dare at her old school. She and a few friends had stolen the supplies from the potions lab to brew veritaserum. The first player would think of a number, and the others would roll the dice. Whichever player rolled closest to the number would be up for the challenge whether it be truth oe dare . The player up for challenge would either answer an embarassing question.or do something stupid. The quill was to be used as punishment for lying or backing out of the proposed dare. The offending player would either write "I'm a dirty rotten scoundrel" or "I'm a yellow- bellied sidewinder."
"Here, Harry. I'm going to write an anti-jinx down on this piece of parchment. When I hand it to you, I want you to rub the paper over your wounds three times. Next, close your eyes and picture Umbridge's face, and say "I'm rubber and you're glue. Whatever you put on me sticks to you too." Repeat it three times, ball up the parchment, and hand it to me."
"What is that supposed to accomplish exactly? I still have to write another 4,999 lines, and you haven't even started."
"You'll see. Just do it. I also have a pair of cheating quills that I used to use for my magic history exams. We can just tell them what to write and they'll just write it. I used to take the study guide and dictate the answers to the quill, and bring it to class with me."
Harry did as she instructed. He never felt so ridiculous in his life, but the pain from the cuts lessened with each recitation of "I'm rubber, you're glue." He handed her the piece of paper and she tucked it into her hat.
The employed strategy of cheating quills gave them time to get better acquainted. Harry wondered how she got sorted into Hufflepuff to begin with. She seemed to be more of a Ravenclaw to him.
Umbridge entered the room after a time and collected the parchment. She ordered them both to show her their hands.
Cassandra quickly removed the piece of anti-jinxed parchment, rubbed her hand with it, and winced in pain as the words branded themselves into her hand. She closed her eyes and did as she had instructed Harry to do earlier.
Umbridge approached her, and said "I take it, Miss Matthews, that the pain is rather unbearable."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm truly sorry about what I said earlier," Cassandra said docilely.
"Very good, dear. Now let me see your hand," she said. She looked at her hand and smiled." I'm rather impressed. A couple more days of this should really bring the two of you around. That's all for today. You may go."
"Thank you, professor," Cassandra intoned. She gathered her things, and dropped the balled piece of paper on the floor next to Professor Umbridge's feet, making it look like an accident. She hurriedly tried to grab it knowing all the while that her eagerness to grab the paper would incite Umbridge's curiosity.
Umbridge did just as Cassandra thought that she would. She hurriedly grabbed the paper and asked" why are you so nervous about this piece of paper, Miss Matthews? Is there something written or drawn on it that you don't want me to see"?
"Oh, no, professor. I just didn't want to leave a mess behind," she answered smiling.
"Yes------. Well let's just see, then shall we," Umbridge said unwrapping the piece of paper eagerly. When she completely unwrapped it, the parchment leapt from her palm and adhesed itself to the back of her hand which began to bleed profusely. She screamed and ran about shaking her hand madly as if flailing could remove the piece of paper.
Harry looked at Cassandra in disbelief as she smiled contentedly at her prank. He didn't like Umbridge, but this could land them in more trouble if he didn't do something about it. He ran to get Professor MacGonagall and Madam Pomfrey who both rushed after him.
It took both of them plus Mr. Filch to get her calm enough to travel down to the infirmary. She wept like a five year old who just fallen off a bicycle and bruised her arm.
"Cassandra, that wasn't funny. She was really in a lot of pain,"Harry told her.
"She didn't mind hurting either of us, now did she, Harry"? Cassandra asked.
"I guess not, but still,"Harry had answered felling totally unsure about the situation.
"Potter!!!Matthews!!!!! Go straight into my office now!!!!!!" Professor MacGonagall shouted .
Both of them entered her office, and she asked them" Which one of you played the prank? I want the truth!!!"
"Professor, there was no prank intended. Professor Umbridge employed the use of cutting quills for our use, and I merely used the anti-jinx to ease Harry's and my pain as we wrote out our lines. Th anti-jinx requires the user to place the written spell over the affected area and to ball the anti-jinxed parchment up to be discarded. I had accidentally dropped the parchment on the floor as I was on my way out of Professor Umbridge's office. She grabbed it and asked me about it. I tried to tell her that it was nothing, but she insisted on viewing its contents. Really, Professor, I had no idea that this would happen. You must believe me. I'm so terribly sorry for what happened." Cassandra lied.
"Well, Miss Matthews, Professor Umbridge is the person at whom your apologies should be directed, not I. You will make your apologies at tomorrow morning's breakfast. In future, I warn you to be more responsible. That is all. Both of you may return to your common rooms." Professor MacGonagall advised, her face clearly showing signs of partial distrust with relation to Cassandra's story.
Harry and Cassandra both returned to their common rooms. Neither of them spoke a word to the other after they left Professor MacGonagall's office. Cassandra knew that Harry was now wary of her (not that she really cared. He'd need her help later on,anyway), and Harry knew that Cassandra had probably gotten them into worse trouble than they had been in before.
"Evening, Harry" Ron greeted.
"Hello, Ron."
"What's the matter with 'you' "?
"It's nothing, really. Just go to sleep,Ron."
"Okay, mate."
Harry climbed into his four poster and spent the majority of the night wondering about Cassandra. She seemed to be smart and interesting, but she also appeared to have a knack for causing trouble, trouble being the very last thing that he needed seeing as how he got into trouble with the ministry over the summer, and how nobody believed him about Voldemort's return. After musing over the details of what happened today for a second time, he just reminded himself that Cassandra came up with quite a cover story, and that MacGonagall seemed to have left making reparations concerning Umbridge's predicament up to 'her'. He just decided to forget the whole matter and go to sleep.
Over in the Hufflepuff commom room, Cassandra waited until everybody went to bed before she took out a vial of her special brew which would soon play a big part in her plan for the future. She smiled as she held the vial near the fire, and said "very soon, my darling. very soon." Cassandra knew that it was only a matter of time before she fulfilled what she had set out to do. Once she set her agenda in motion, the wizarding world would never be the same.
He complimented her skills, claiming that they were among the most formidable that he'd ever encountered. He did, however,express his disappointment about her having been sorted into Hufflepuff house.
Her only comment to this was"Oh, don't be disappointed, professor. In time you may come to appreciate the reason that my sorting turned out as it did."
He only looked at her with a perplexed expression and remarked "I'd ask what you meant by your last commenmt, but I have other things to do.Good day, Miss Matthews."
As she left his office, she knew that he hadn't taken his eyes off her. She loved to put people on edge. Surprising them was just one of her ways of achieving her ends. Judging from his response to her, she knew that he'd keep a close watch over her.
She followed the prefect to the Hufflepuff common room. She learned that the password was 'candystripe.' "Cute", she thought.
Over the first weeks of term, she had learned that Hufflepuff students were among the lowest rank of the Hogwarts houses, but she didn't care. The last thing she wanted to do was to draw attention to herself.
"Detention, Mr. Potter!!!!" she heard their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Umbridge shout. Both he and Professor Umbridge had spent half of this morning's class arguing over whether theory of magical defense or practice was more useful.
Cassandra was enthralled by the famous Harry Potter who she read so much about in English magical journals. He really did seem to be very brave, and very foolhardy. Never, had she ever dared to challenge any of her teachers in that fashion. She always preferred to strike when they were least prepared.
Cassandra approached him at the end of class. She could tell that Harry wanted to make distance between them;because, he was annoyed, but she still pursued him.
"Harry, wait"
"What"
"I agree with you. Learning theory 'is' perfectly useless in defense against the dark arts. I think that she's an utter tyrant, overbearing and completely overstuffed, rather troll-like, if you know what I mean. By the way, I'm Cassandra Matthews."
"Is that so Miss Matthews? Well perhaps the two of you can further discuss the matter when you join Mr. Potter in his detention," Umbridge had said.
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much, and have a lovely day," Cassandra remarked, her voice imitating the poisoned sweetness of Umbridge's .
Harry looked at her in shock at how she had just answered Umbridge, and then he said "Cassandra, I know that you're new here and all, and I'm quite sure that you're a nice girl, but getting yourself into trouble for no reason isn't a very good way for you to start the year off."
"Are you kidding? Miss out on joining the ranks of the famous Harry Potter"?
"I should warn you, I'm not too popular at this time. People think that I'm a complete lunatic who's starved for attention."
"Is this about Lord "What's -his-name"?
"I'm late for my next class. Good-bye, Cassandra."
The time had come for their evening detention ; they both met Umbridge at the designated place (an annex in the lower part of Hogwarts) where she gave them each a quill with which to write out "I will not question the methods of my facilitator" five thousand times.
Cassandra waited until Umbridge left the annex to see to an "official matter"( as she put it). She removed a folded pointy hat from her sweater. The hat resembled the hat that Professor MacGonagall wore.
"What are you doing, Cassandra"?Harry asked her barely above a whisper as he watched her remove a magazine from it.
"Oh, just taking this out for a little bit of light reading. "
"We're supposed to be writing lines. Now look, I don't want to make her anymore cross with me than she is. Start writing."
"No."
"Fine then, on your own head be it."
She watched him write, and then wince in pain .
"What's wrong, Harry"?
"The quill is etching the words into my skin cutting it."
Cassandra remembered just this type of quill from a game of truth or dare at her old school. She and a few friends had stolen the supplies from the potions lab to brew veritaserum. The first player would think of a number, and the others would roll the dice. Whichever player rolled closest to the number would be up for the challenge whether it be truth oe dare . The player up for challenge would either answer an embarassing question.or do something stupid. The quill was to be used as punishment for lying or backing out of the proposed dare. The offending player would either write "I'm a dirty rotten scoundrel" or "I'm a yellow- bellied sidewinder."
"Here, Harry. I'm going to write an anti-jinx down on this piece of parchment. When I hand it to you, I want you to rub the paper over your wounds three times. Next, close your eyes and picture Umbridge's face, and say "I'm rubber and you're glue. Whatever you put on me sticks to you too." Repeat it three times, ball up the parchment, and hand it to me."
"What is that supposed to accomplish exactly? I still have to write another 4,999 lines, and you haven't even started."
"You'll see. Just do it. I also have a pair of cheating quills that I used to use for my magic history exams. We can just tell them what to write and they'll just write it. I used to take the study guide and dictate the answers to the quill, and bring it to class with me."
Harry did as she instructed. He never felt so ridiculous in his life, but the pain from the cuts lessened with each recitation of "I'm rubber, you're glue." He handed her the piece of paper and she tucked it into her hat.
The employed strategy of cheating quills gave them time to get better acquainted. Harry wondered how she got sorted into Hufflepuff to begin with. She seemed to be more of a Ravenclaw to him.
Umbridge entered the room after a time and collected the parchment. She ordered them both to show her their hands.
Cassandra quickly removed the piece of anti-jinxed parchment, rubbed her hand with it, and winced in pain as the words branded themselves into her hand. She closed her eyes and did as she had instructed Harry to do earlier.
Umbridge approached her, and said "I take it, Miss Matthews, that the pain is rather unbearable."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm truly sorry about what I said earlier," Cassandra said docilely.
"Very good, dear. Now let me see your hand," she said. She looked at her hand and smiled." I'm rather impressed. A couple more days of this should really bring the two of you around. That's all for today. You may go."
"Thank you, professor," Cassandra intoned. She gathered her things, and dropped the balled piece of paper on the floor next to Professor Umbridge's feet, making it look like an accident. She hurriedly tried to grab it knowing all the while that her eagerness to grab the paper would incite Umbridge's curiosity.
Umbridge did just as Cassandra thought that she would. She hurriedly grabbed the paper and asked" why are you so nervous about this piece of paper, Miss Matthews? Is there something written or drawn on it that you don't want me to see"?
"Oh, no, professor. I just didn't want to leave a mess behind," she answered smiling.
"Yes------. Well let's just see, then shall we," Umbridge said unwrapping the piece of paper eagerly. When she completely unwrapped it, the parchment leapt from her palm and adhesed itself to the back of her hand which began to bleed profusely. She screamed and ran about shaking her hand madly as if flailing could remove the piece of paper.
Harry looked at Cassandra in disbelief as she smiled contentedly at her prank. He didn't like Umbridge, but this could land them in more trouble if he didn't do something about it. He ran to get Professor MacGonagall and Madam Pomfrey who both rushed after him.
It took both of them plus Mr. Filch to get her calm enough to travel down to the infirmary. She wept like a five year old who just fallen off a bicycle and bruised her arm.
"Cassandra, that wasn't funny. She was really in a lot of pain,"Harry told her.
"She didn't mind hurting either of us, now did she, Harry"? Cassandra asked.
"I guess not, but still,"Harry had answered felling totally unsure about the situation.
"Potter!!!Matthews!!!!! Go straight into my office now!!!!!!" Professor MacGonagall shouted .
Both of them entered her office, and she asked them" Which one of you played the prank? I want the truth!!!"
"Professor, there was no prank intended. Professor Umbridge employed the use of cutting quills for our use, and I merely used the anti-jinx to ease Harry's and my pain as we wrote out our lines. Th anti-jinx requires the user to place the written spell over the affected area and to ball the anti-jinxed parchment up to be discarded. I had accidentally dropped the parchment on the floor as I was on my way out of Professor Umbridge's office. She grabbed it and asked me about it. I tried to tell her that it was nothing, but she insisted on viewing its contents. Really, Professor, I had no idea that this would happen. You must believe me. I'm so terribly sorry for what happened." Cassandra lied.
"Well, Miss Matthews, Professor Umbridge is the person at whom your apologies should be directed, not I. You will make your apologies at tomorrow morning's breakfast. In future, I warn you to be more responsible. That is all. Both of you may return to your common rooms." Professor MacGonagall advised, her face clearly showing signs of partial distrust with relation to Cassandra's story.
Harry and Cassandra both returned to their common rooms. Neither of them spoke a word to the other after they left Professor MacGonagall's office. Cassandra knew that Harry was now wary of her (not that she really cared. He'd need her help later on,anyway), and Harry knew that Cassandra had probably gotten them into worse trouble than they had been in before.
"Evening, Harry" Ron greeted.
"Hello, Ron."
"What's the matter with 'you' "?
"It's nothing, really. Just go to sleep,Ron."
"Okay, mate."
Harry climbed into his four poster and spent the majority of the night wondering about Cassandra. She seemed to be smart and interesting, but she also appeared to have a knack for causing trouble, trouble being the very last thing that he needed seeing as how he got into trouble with the ministry over the summer, and how nobody believed him about Voldemort's return. After musing over the details of what happened today for a second time, he just reminded himself that Cassandra came up with quite a cover story, and that MacGonagall seemed to have left making reparations concerning Umbridge's predicament up to 'her'. He just decided to forget the whole matter and go to sleep.
Over in the Hufflepuff commom room, Cassandra waited until everybody went to bed before she took out a vial of her special brew which would soon play a big part in her plan for the future. She smiled as she held the vial near the fire, and said "very soon, my darling. very soon." Cassandra knew that it was only a matter of time before she fulfilled what she had set out to do. Once she set her agenda in motion, the wizarding world would never be the same.