The very next day I woke up to my face being tickled by a feather. It was George Weasley.
"Wake up sleepy head." He said laughing along with me. I grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him onto my bed, tickling him with ferocity.
"Ah! Surrender! Surrender!" He yelled. The other girls were looking at us with wierd faces. Chelsea's mouth made an 'o' shape. I let George up.
"I'll see you down in the common room missy. Now hop to it!" He dragged me out of bed and stood me up. I yawned and fell back, rolling to my side. I heard George sigh. "Up!" He tugged at my top and I got up.
"Fineeeeeee." I started to take my top off and George flinched. I looked at him with an expressionless face.
"Oh, right. I'll be..." He walked backwards, stumbling over a few things. He stopped at the door. I pointed. "Right." A few girls chuckled.
I got changed into my uniform, leaving the big robe at my bed and replacing it with a black cardigan. I walked downstairs with my Defence Against the Dark Arts book and an untied shoelace. Slumping onto the couch I called George over.
"George can you do up my shoelace?" I said, with a sigh. I raised my leg and put it on his lap.
"You're such a baby." He stated plainly. "There you go, little tot." He patted my head. "Now what do you have first?"
"Ugh, Defence Against The Dark Arts. Bloody Lockhart, I tell ya, he's going to seriously get it from me one day." I sniggered at my witty comment and got up. "You taking me?" I asked cheerfully.
"Well, now that you're asking..." I scoffed at this, but I still clambered out of the portrait hole with him by my side. I reached the classroom and gave George a peck on the cheek. Just as I did, Chelsea came 'round the corner. She stopped and stared, then came back to reality and hurried inside the classroom.
"Now, students." Lockhart said, "I will be telling you about the almighty—"
"Go home, Lockhart!" I shouted from the back of the class. A few Slytherins looked at me but my house was well aware that was going to happen sooner or later.
"Excuse me, Mercury, would you like to teach this class?" He snorted at me. I stood up and waltzed to the front.
"I would like that, sir. Take a seat now Lockhart. There's a lad." Lockhart sat down at the front row, a bit taken aback by my reaction.
"Now, class take your wands." I got my wand and hovered my hand in the air. "We will be doing a practical lesson today." I smiled widely.
The class got their wands out.
"Lockhart, am I going to have to send you out?" I said to him. He quickly reached for his wand.
"Okay, today we will be practising the Protego spell. This spell causes your opponent's spell to..." I looked around the class and Hermione's hand wavered in the air hesitantly. "Hermione?"
"The Protego spell causes the opponent's spell to reflect back to them, like a mirror."
"Very good. Now hop into pairs. Someone can be with me." Chattering started in the class room and the kids got up and sat with their friends in twos. "Anyone don't have a partner?"
Draco Malfoy sulked to the front of the room with his shoulders drooping.
"Okay, now, cast a harmless spell like Tarantallegra at your partner and try to deflect it." I looked at Malfoy and raised my wand. "You start." I whispered. He nodded and gulped.
"Expelli—"
"Protego!"
Draco's wand made and arch in the air and I caught it, swiftly. I heard the class applaud.
"Now that's a practical spell that is easily learnt. But you have to say it fast, otherwise it would be too late and you might be dead, your mind might be being read, you might be getting tortured..." The class looked horrified. "But I'm sure that won't be the case anyways." I smiled cheerfully at the class and gave Malfoy his wand.
On the way to Potions I got a few pats on the back from Gryffindor.
"Sit down and be quiet." Snape's low voice commanded. The classes sat down. It was Slytherin and Gryffindor again. These new timetables are so unfair!
"Today we are studying the Fire-Protection Potion. Much like the Flame-Freezing mixture, it repels fire." He drawled on, listing the ingredients and what to do with our wand once we were done.
"Hermione Granger, stop talking out of turn! 10 points from Gryffindor!" Snape's voice rose a tad. I looked at Hermione from the back table and saw her slinking back into her seat. I snorted at his injustice.
The class went by quickly and I rushed out of the class room and into the Great Hall where I found Fred and George Weasley being as noisy as ever. Fred spotted me quickly and gestured me over.
"If you were my child, it would be impossible to lose you!" Fred exclaimed once I sat down. I raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Your hair is brighter than the sun!" George said. I nodded.
"We'll you two aren't hard to spot either." I winked and bit into my sandwich.
"Anyways how was Snape's class?" George asked, looking at my timetable. "He was a real bastard to me an' George."
"I'm not noticed; therefore he doesn't exactly talk to me." I said, shrugging.
"What, do you sit in the back alone?" George was snorting.
"Yeah." I said in an offhand voice. He stopped and kept quiet. "Anyways what are you up to?"
"Well we were just trying to get more of our Ton-Tongue Toffees back since mum threw them all out." Fred said, tapping a finger on a piece of parchment. I skimmed it and nodded.
"You two are going to have the best joke shop ever!" Jordan exclaimed. I nodded in agreement.
"Yes, and our kids will run it when we're dead, Mercury." George said, nodding his head at me. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"Oh, you going to Hogsmeade?" George asked me. I shook my head up and down, chewing my sandwich slowly.
"Can't wait. I have a whole bunch of money at Gringotts and I am expecting to have a right good time." I said, nodding. "You going?"
They both nodded at me like it was the dumbest question on earth.
"Wanna go to Three Broomsticks with me?"George asked me. I looked at him, smiling, but his face was serious.
"Like I'd say no to you!" I went over to his side of the table and put an arm around him. "What's been bothering you lately?" I asked this in a whisper so that the others couldn't hear. He shook his head. But at this moment a teacher announced that it was class time. I got up and dragged George to the common room in a rush. He tripped over a few times but I pulled him up. I grabbed my Herbology books and gave him a peck on the cheek before leaving to the Greenhouse. Okay I know kissing is a bit overrated but George is that friend that is just there for you all of the time. I mean he was there for me when I was having problems with Chelsea, with friends. He always said that if someone ever bullied me he would grab his wand and be over there in a jiffy. And I am positive we sent each other more owls than other people send in a year! Okay, exaggeration, but you know. I entered the greenhouse late and went to the end of the row of kids. I scowled at the people who stared. Professor Sprout told us to do something with dung... I looked at the pile of dung in front of me. Putting my gloves on, I poked at it. I had to look away to stop myself from vomiting. I looked at the other students and they were getting down to it. I took off my gloves and leaned back on a pillar. After this class it was Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. I smiled as I walked towards the class. I think we were caring for Unicorns today. My heart leapt in the air and did a flip. Unicorns were my favourite creatures! I got to the class and I saw that we had it with Hufflepuff. I sniggered at all the wimps.
"Oh my a Unicorn!" One girl shouted. I rolled my eyes at her.
"Okay class settle down!" Hagrid said, patting a unicorn. "We'll just be feeding and grooming these lovely beasts, today. Next class we will ride one. Okay, grab two people and then go to a unicorn."
I widened my eyes, social class work, great. I looked at the crowd in front of me. As usual I was standing at the back. I watched as all the kids went into threes and grabbed the prettiest unicorn. At long last everyone was in their threes and I was the last one standing. They all looked at me and sniggered.
"Mercury, why don' you take ol' Skully here?" He said, patting a worn out looking Unicorn. It's horn was chipped and it's mane looked dirty. I walked up to him and he instantly shoved his muzzle in my neck and started sniffing loudly. I giggled and patted his head, getting dirty looks from the other students and their rigid unicorns.
"Right, now take the big brush lying on the floor, an' give your unicorn a good combing."
I looked on the floor and there were three brushes. Picking one up, I started to brush out it's wild mane, untangling the wiry hairs. After a bit of elbow grease it's hair was fluffy and soft.
"Alright, now just brush down their bodies..." Hagrid showed us with a smaller brush. I looked at the floor and picked up the medium brush, brushing the unicorn's dirty body. And finally, just like his mane, his body looked somewhat nicer. He stuffed his muzzle at my neck again. I beamed at him.
"You're beautiful, aren't ya." I smiled at him and he whinnied a little.
"Great job Mercury!" Hagrid came bustling over to inspect Skully. "Skully's lookin' fabulous!"
"Uhm, Hagird, why is he named Skully?" I asked, eyeing Skully.
"Well, he crushed a man's skull one day an'..." The class once again looked horrified. I giggled.
"Good on ya, Skully!" I rubbed his head.
"Well it was fer good of course!" He explained to the class. I giggled at the sickened looks. I looked at Skully and he was the most beautiful looking at the others. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted one of the twins running towards the class. It was George. He looked at me and winked, still puffed out.
"Allo Fred." Hagrid said, walking over to him. I laughed.
"George, it's Dumbledore, he wants Harry and co. with him immediately." He handed a little piece of parchment to Hagrid then joined me by Skully.
"What does he want them for?" I asked, patting Skully. He shrugged.
"D'aww they gave you the ugly one." He said, looking at Skully. I slapped him on the back.
"I chose him thank you very much. And he's not ugly, he's handsome. Aren't you bubbah?" My voice went googy.
"Where's your group, Mercury?" George was examining Skully's back. I slumped my shoulders. "You need to make attempts at it! Even Neville has friends!" He walked towards me and slung an arm around me.
"I have friends!" I protested. I realised I said this quite loudly and the whole class was looking at me. George threw his hands in the air, surrendering.
"Very well. I'll see you in the common room after class." He stalked off. I looked at the class, who was still looking at me. I took a few menacing steps forward and they immediately resumed brushing their unicorns nervously. I turned back to Skully, who I had taken a real liking to. I looked at Hagrid and he was helping this cute Hufflepuff get some tangles out of her unicorn's hair. She was adorable. Anyways, seeing that Hagrid wasn't looking, I jumped onto Skully. He whinnied a bit and shifted his wait, waiting for me to squeeze my feet.
"Mercury!" I heard someone shout. Why do they even know my name? I rolled my eyes and kicked Skully gently with my foot. Holding onto his mane, we raced along, wind blowing all the way through my curls.
I heard Hagrid's booming laugh. "Look at her go!"
I smiled and we went faster, faster, faster.
"WOOHOO!" I yelled. Hagrid's voice suddenly became shrill.
"Mercury! Watch out!" I saw what he meant as I approached a cliff, dropping down to the ocean. I tried to stop Skully but it was no use, we were too fast. We were just about a metre away from the edge when I pulled on his right side, making him turn suddenly to the right. This threw me off the unicorn and I was air borne. I flew over the cliff. Thinking fast I grabbed my wand out from my pocket and thought of a spell I could use.
All I could think of was the bubble head charm, so I created a bubble and awaited my splash. WAIT. ISN'T THERE A GIANT SQUID IN THIS? I started to panic. I looked at the edge of the cliff and saw Hagrid and the students. "MOBILIARBUS! MOBILIARBUS!" I shouted at them. I saw a red headed girl move her arm and I was suddenly floating. I floated level to the others and spookily floated to the ground. I saw it was the red hair girl I was thinking about earlier.
"Susan Bones." She said, putting her hand out. I nodded shaking it. I turned to Hagrid.
"I THOUGHT I LOST YER!" He said, hugging me tight. He took the wind out of me and I struggled out of his reach.
"Thanks Susan." She nodded and smiled.
"I heard you shouting that spell, no one else was doing anything so I thought I'd pluck up my courage." She said, puffing her chest out. I smiled and walked off to the common room. I found George and Fred and was instantly jumped on.
"I heard you fell off a cliff!" Fred yelled.
"Did you die!" George asked frantically. He pushed Fred away and examined my face, arms and legs. "Oh, Fred, she's alright!" I got hugged once more, then earned a slap from Fred on the arm. "Don't go and die on us, Mercury!" We all laughed and went down to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Before we start, I would like to ask Mercury Faller to come to my office after dinner. That is all, thank you." Dumbledore said, voice booming.
I widened my eyes and looked around my table, shrugging my shoulders at Fred and George.
"He knows what you did last summer!" George whispered across the table. The kids around us burst out laughing as we ate as much as we could.