Disclaimer: I'm just playing in the Harry Potter sandbox. If you recognize it from elsewhere, I don't own it.
Author's Note: This story is in response to timeturner's "Out of Your Realm" challenge at HPFF. My challenge was to write a story without the Marauders or Lily. Remus walked into the story of his own volition (I couldn't keep him out, I swear), but he's not a main character. I also wanted to write an open-ended and interpretable story, because I cling to structure like I cling to canon and chocolate. If you like definite endings, go away now. (Waves good-bye to three-fourths of the readers who clicked the story link). For those of you who can tolerate (or even like) open endings, enjoy. Finally, I'd like to thank my Beta, the lovely PhoenixStorm from HPFF, who also helped me with the title.
Thank you for reading (and even more for reviewing)
Merely Players
The day began like any other.
As the sun climbed higher in the morning sky and the first rays filtered into the narrow windows of Gryffindor Tower, Hermione Granger's alarm clock went off. The four other girls in the room groaned in protest and buried their heads under their pillows. Forty-five minutes later, at a much more respectable time for teenagers to awaken, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil rose from their beds and stumbled into the bathroom.
"'Suppose that's our cue," Ella Broderick mumbled.
"If we have to …," Claudia Holcombe replied.
The red velvet hangings of the two beds farthest from the door opened in unison. On the first bed sat a girl smaller than most first-years in both height and weight. Her mousy hair was tousled from sleep, and her pajamas were twisted uncomfortably around her tiny frame. In the next bed sat a girl much larger than most seventh-years. She stretched her thick arms above her head, yawning loudly as she did so. She fumbled for her glasses on the nightstand and, when she slipped them on, her brown eyes were magnified to twice their normal size.
"Not again."
Ella peered at the bathroom door. Just like every morning, Parvati and Lavender had claimed the bathroom first. Billows of steam leaked from underneath the door and the volume on the Wizard Wireless Network had been cranked up so loudly that the loose doorknob rattled with the vibrations. While Claudia shrugged and began rummaging through her trunk, Ella yelled through the door.
"Oy! You vain little bitches! Get out of the bathroom! There are other people who live in this dormitory!" She waited for a moment, but when she received no response, she banged her small fists against the door. "I swear to Merlin, if you don't show some consideration, I'll cast the Disfigurement Hex on you!"
The wireless radio in the bathroom cut out immediately and the door flew open. Ella stumbled backwards and crashed to the floor. Torrents of steam wafted into the room, covering Ella and Claudia in fog. Parvati's seemingly disembodied head, her hair in curlers and her make-up only halfway complete, appeared above the steam.
"Hermione? I thought you'd gone down to breakfast." She paused for a moment. "We'll make room. Oooh!" she squealed. "We could use some Sleek-Easy on your hair! … Hermione? … Hermione?"
From her place on the floor, Ella growled. "You have other roommates."
Her voice was drowned out by Lavender calling, "Does Hermione want in?"
"No. I guess we were hearing things. Or maybe Ginny came to tell us to turn down the radio again," Parvati answered.
Next moment, the bathroom door snapped shut. With the source of heat cut off, the mist in the room quickly evaporated. Ella climbed to her feet and moved over to her trunk. Claudia had already pulled on her uniform and was sitting on her bed, brushing her limp hair.
"Maybe tomorrow we can actually get dressed in the bathroom," she said passively.
"No, we won't. It's been the same everyday for two years. We just have to deal with it."
Claudia surveyed her best friend bleakly. She didn't see any reason to dwell on the fact that they had to take showers at night, but Ella always held onto grudges.
"Let's get some breakfast."
The girls grabbed their bags and headed down to the common room. Hermione was sitting by the fire and scribbling on a very long scroll, no doubt doing her homework a week in advance.
"Remind me to finish my summer homework for Astronomy before tomorrow night," Claudia said.
Ella nodded as she climbed into the portrait hole after one of the Weasley twins. Just as she made to step into the hallway, the other Weasley twin slammed the portrait shut. Ella cried out, clutching her forehead and staggering backwards. Claudia caught her just before her head made contact with the stone floor.
"You should be more careful," she said dolefully.
"I should? I should be more careful? It was that stupid, half-wit twin! I swear they must have split a human brain between them. Who slams the portrait shut when there's a whole queue of people waiting to go to breakfast?"
"Maybe they didn't see you."
Ella glared from between her fingers. She felt a lump forming just above her left eyebrow, and a dull ache was spreading behind her eyes.
Fifteen minutes later, Ella and Claudia plopped onto the bench at the Gryffindor table. After enduring more ranting about Parvati, Lavender, and the Weasley twins, Claudia wanted nothing more than to eat a nice, quiet breakfast before trudging down to the dungeons for Potions.
Unfortunately, Ella caught sight of Ron Weasley coming to breakfast with Harry Potter and Hermione. She launched into a new tirade about Ron's inconsiderate brothers. She couldn't figure out which twin had shut the portrait on her head, so she verbally abused them both.
Claudia sighed lightly and was about to tell Ella to drop it when, quite unexpectedly, someone sat on her. Not bumped into her while sitting, not nudged her leg; this person sat on her lap. She looked up, more than a little shocked, just as Ron jumped up and spun around. His cheeks were burning red and clashing badly with his hair.
"Sorry," he mumbled, and moved down the further table. Harry and Hermione hadn't even glanced in Ron's direction.
Ella stared open-mouthed at Ron as he took a seat. She physically shook her head to clear her thoughts. Perhaps all the Weasleys were brain dead. She peered down the table towards the place where Percy Weasley, the Head Boy, always sat and to where Ginny Weasley was chatting with her friends. Those two seemed normal.
Claudia turned back to her breakfast, still shaken by having been sat on, but wanting to settle into a normal day after such a rocky morning. She spooned some scrambled eggs onto her plate and reached for the platter of toast. Before she could take her usual two pieces from the stack, the plate was pulled out of her grasp. Ron had yanked it away from her. He kept talking to Harry and Hermione, not even acknowledging Ella's outraged cry.
"What the hell is wrong with these people?" she demanded.
Claudia stared at the plate of toast that was now out of her reach. So much for a quiet day; Ella was never going to let this drop.
"First Parvati acts like Hermione is her only other roommate, then Fred or George slam my head in the portrait hole, and then Ron sits on you and steals your toast! Can they not see us?"
"I don't think that's it. I mean, if he'd sat on you, maybe, but …." She glanced down at her stomach and thick thighs. The buttons of her uniform pulled whenever she sat down.
"Don't say that!" Ella scolded. "It's not just because you're … big-boned." Claudia snorted derisively. "We've both been ignored twice today. Think about it, Claudia, when has anyone ever paid attention to us? We're always being knocked over, or bumped into, or ignored. Well, I'm sick of it! Today, I'm going to find out why!"
"I guess I'm going to help?"
"Of course you are." Ella stood up abruptly. "There's only one way to find out for sure if we can be seen."
"I think we can," Claudia called, rushing to keep up with her best friend.
"We don't know that for sure. Maybe there was an accident with an Invisibility Spell or something. You can't rule out anything at Hogwarts."
The larger girl sighed quietly, thinking wistfully of the scrambled eggs she had not been able to eat. She could have summoned the plate of toast … could have had cereal … bacon … fried tomatoes …
"Perfect," Ella whispered.
Claudia looked around sharply, wondering what her friend was planning. There was a maniacal look in Ella's eye, and Claudia didn't like it one bit. She was looking in the direction of the Slytherins coming up from their common room. Draco Malfoy, the pale leader, was surrounded by his two thugs, Crabbe and Goyle, (who didn't look half-bad when they weren't thinking about anything) and Pansy Parkinson.
"What are you doing?" she asked, panicking.
Ella had already moved forward and, just before Malfoy passed, stuck out her foot to trip him Muggle-style. Claudia gasped as Malfoy crashed to the floor. He jumped up immediately, his sleek blond hair ruffled and splotches of pink on his cheeks. His cold, gray eyes scanned the entrance hall and fell on Ella and Claudia.
"Which one of you did it?" he demanded.
Claudia glanced wide-eyed at Ella. Her friend no longer looked so sure of herself. In fact, her eyes darted nervously towards the marble staircase, and she took a tentative step backwards.
"So it was you, was it?" Behind Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles threateningly. "Think you're funny, do you? Want to be the brave Gryffindor and make the Slytherins look stupid?"
He drew his wand with startling speed. There was nothing Ella and Claudia could do; the hexes were flying before they could even think about the defensive spells to block them.
Madam Pomfrey pushed a cup of steaming green potion into Claudia's gray, scaly hand. That Draco Malfoy was a good wizard, the girl thought. She hadn't even known arms could be transfigured into giant tentacles. Then there was the hex he'd used on Ella, who was still hidden behind curtains while Madam Pomfrey removed the tar and feathers.
"All right," said the nurse several minutes later. "Off to class."
Ella jumped off the bed, collected her bag, and bolted for the door. Claudia hurried behind her, shoving her still scaly hands into her pockets.
"I can't believe it! I was tarred and feathered by Malfoy! I'll never live this down."
"You will if no one can see us."
Ella spun around, fire flashing in her eyes. "You would think that a girl whose arms were transfigured into tentacles the giant squid would be jealous of might realize that we can be seen." She growled in frustration and began walking down the hallway again. "We can be seen, but we're still invisible."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Of course it does! But why does no one notice us?"
Overhead, the bell signaling the end of the day's first lesson rang, and Ella changed course abruptly.
"Maybe the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor will see us," Claudia suggested.
"I've already told you. We can be seen!"
Ella secretly hoped that Claudia was right. Gilderoy Lockhart had only been interested in students who were fans. Professor Lupin, in his shabby robes and mild demeanor, certainly hadn't appeared vain at the start of term feast.
The girls followed their Housemates into the classroom. Ella took the seat beside Dean Thomas and glanced expectantly at him. There were only twenty students in their Potions class; surely someone had noticed two students missing. She was disappointed. No one, not even Hermione, mentioned it.
Professor Lupin led the class to the teachers' lounge and informed the students that they would be challenging a boggart. Ella grinned despite her foul mood. She could handle a boggart, having had many hide under her bed during childhood.
Claudia looked nervous as the class lined up and her turn approached, but Ella knew what to expect. Her boggart was a giant cockroach. She planned to make it stand on its hind legs, put it in a mariachi sombrero, and make it play the guitar.
She stepped up, and with a crack! the boggart turned into … a rat chasing its own tail. Ella faltered. That wasn't remotely frightening. Next up, Claudia's boggart transformed into a giant snake. She too was confused. Only after Lupin prompted her did she say the incantation.
"What just happened?" Claudia asked when they left the class.
Ella looked utterly bewildered. "I don't know. The boggart seemed to work for everyone else." Claudia waited silently while Ella pondered the situation. "Maybe … maybe we're not who we think we are. Maybe it's us who has a problem, not everyone else, and they don't notice us because they don't know us, but we've forgotten that they don't know us."
"So … we're crazy?"
"Possibly, but crazy people don't know it, do they? I know! We've been hit with a Memory Charm!"
"I don't remember a Memory Charm."
"Well, you wouldn't, would you? The whole point of a Memory Charm is to modify memories; therefore, allowing the person to remember her memory being modified would be counterproductive."
"So … huh?"
Ella ignored her best friend. "Come on."
She took off down the hall, sprinting as fast her short legs would carry her. Ten staircases and three short cuts later, Ella was racing down the Transfiguration hallway, and Claudia was struggling to keep up.
"What … are … we … doing," Claudia asked, gasping for breath. "It's Thursday, we have Charms next, not Transfiguration."
Ella ignored her friend and burst into Professor McGonagall's office without knocking. The professor looked up sharply, a forbidding scowl crossing her thin lips.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, rising from her chair.
"I think someone's been using illegal magic."
McGonagall's expression remained the same, but she motioned for her students to sit in the hard-backed chairs in front of her desk.
"What is the nature of these allegations?"
"Before I start making accusations," Ella began, "I need to ask you a very important question, Professor." McGonagall nodded slightly. "What are our names?"
The professor remained silent for a very long time. "I don't see how that-"
"Please, Professor. What are our names?"
McGonagall didn't take kindly to being interrupted. "I would suggest you curb that attitude, Miss Broderick, or I shall-"
She was once against cut off by Ella; this time she threw herself across the desk. A tin of biscuits and a stack of graded essay went flying as her flailing arms swept across the surface. She began pounding her head on the tabletop and muttering incoherently.
McGonagall's eyebrows rose drastically as she glanced from Ella to Claudia. Her jaw worked silently, unable to find a suitable statement to direct at Ella. Instead, she focused on Claudia, leaving the smaller girl to continue banging her forehead on the desk.
"What is going on, Miss Holcombe?"
"I wish I knew, Professor."
McGonagall rose from her seat and physically stopped Ella from giving herself a concussion. As she gazed down at her student, her expression softened somewhat.
"Perhaps you should have a lie down in the hospital wing."
"I don't need sleep! I need answers!"
"Either you spend a few hours in the hospital ward or you go to Charms," Professor McGonagall barked, her severe scowl returning.
"We'll go to Charms," Ella muttered bitterly.
"I just don't understand!" Ella moaned.
Claudia led the way down the staircase from the Charms corridor. Ella had spent all class ranting about the possible reasons why they were being ignored.
"We can be seen, and we really are Ella and Claudia," she recapped. "Not five minutes after we acknowledge this, we walk in late to Charms and Flitwick doesn't say a word about it."
"He is a nice professor."
Ella ignored the statement. "What is it about us that is so ignorable?"
Not having an answer, Claudia remained silent. She pulled a package of Droobles Best Blowing Gum out of her pocket and popped a gumball into her mouth. Ella absently held out her hand.
"I mean." She paused to chew the gum. "We're not great students, but we do well at a few subjects. We show up for every Quidditch match with banners and pendants. We sit in the center of the table at meals. I just don't get it." Her face contorted suddenly. "Ugh! What flavor is this, Claudia?"
"Raspberry."
"Yuck."
Ella took the wad of soggy, runny maroon gum out of her mouth. She glanced around, looking for a waste bin, but didn't find one. Shrugging, she skipped over to the bust of Marlin the Misguided and pressed the gum to the underside of the podium.
"Hey, you! Hoodlum! Delinquent!" the statue called. "Good job!"
Ella laughed at the bust, but Claudia's grin slipped off her face. The caretaker, Filch, had appeared in the hallway from a secret passage hidden behind a tapestry. Ella saw him a moment too late and jumped up, hiding her sticky fingers behind her back.
"Sir, I can ex … plain?"
Filch, usually so fanatical about students dirtying the castle, had walked right past without saying a word. Ella stared at his retreating back for a long moment.
"That was lucky," Claudia said, grinning.
"Lucky? Nobody is that lucky with Filch. It's like he didn't hear me." Her face lit up suddenly. "That's it! No one notices us because they can't hear us!"
"But …," Claudia began. Ella took off down the hallway, peering down every corridor she passed. "Um, Ella. That doesn't make sense. We just talked to Professor McGonagall, so I think people can hear us."
The tiny girl cast an annoyed glare at her best friend. "Well, there's one way to check."
Claudia shifted uneasily. One of Ella's supposedly brilliant plans had ended with Claudia sporting tentacles and Ella tarred and feathered by Malfoy. She didn't think anything good could come of more experiments.
"Yes!" Ella hissed. "All right, we'll see once and for all if we can be heard."
Claudia caught up with her friend and peered around the corner. She felt her heart leap into her throat and her pulse quicken. Professor Snape was lingering at the end of the corridor, his hook nose stuck in a thick leather bound book.
"No, Ella. Don't. Not Snape. Anyone but Snape."
"Snape?" Ella asked loudly. "You mean the Potions Master? Greasy, smarmy, resembles an overlarge bat? Yeah, I know him. I can't stand that pathetic excuse for a teacher." She turned in circles, gesturing wildly, talking louder and louder like a half-mad fool who doesn't care who hears or sees their demented behavior. "Personally, I think Neville's boggart was the funniest thing I've ever …"
Her next words died on her lips as she spun around and came face-to-face with the very same sallow-skinned Potions Master. He glared at her from between greasy strands of hair. Ella froze, her eyes wide and silent words formed on her lips.
"I think three months worth of Saturday detentions and one hundred points from Gryffindor should teach you a little respect," he said in clipped tones.
Ella gulped, but made no other sign that she had heard the professor. Snape spun around and stalked down the hallway, his black robes billowing behind him. Claudia stepped up beside her still-frozen friend.
"Snape heard you."
Ella narrowed her eyes, glaring daggers at the other girl. "No, really? I hadn't noticed. I can't believe it!"
"I can. You called him names, Ella."
"That's not what I meant!" The tiny girl was shaking with indignation. "One minute Filch is ignoring my defacing of the castle, but Snape can hear me insulting him. Something is not right here. It's like we're not even here half the time."
"Maybe we're figments of our own imaginations."
If Claudia had expected a tongue-lashing for such a ludicrous idea, she was surprised to see Ella's eager expression.
"That's not a bad theory! If we are figments, then Snape didn't really take any points from Gryffindor. Since it happened to us, we'll see the missing rubies in the hourglass, but our Housemates won't."
With that, Ella raced down the corridor towards the main staircase. Sighing, Claudia hurried to catch up with her friend. They were doing entirely too much running today for her liking.
In the entrance hall, Ella skidded to a halt in front of the hourglasses displaying the House points. Gryffindor was down one hundred points.
"All right, now we just have to wait for some Gryffindors to show up and see if they notice the missing points."
They didn't have to wait long. Not five minutes later, a group of seventh-years going to dinner appeared at the top of the marble staircase. Oliver Wood and two girls Ella didn't know were chatting animatedly about Quidditch. The girls looked clueless, but Wood was too enthralled by Puddlemere's winning streak to notice.
"Look guilty!" Ella instructed.
"Why? I didn't lose any points."
The small girl sighed exasperatedly. "Because there is a better chance of them noticing the two of us. Honestly, Claudia, do you want to find out why we're ignored or not?"
Shrugging, Claudia arranged her face into what she hoped was a guilty expression. For a moment, it seemed that Wood and his friends hadn't noticed the missing rubies. Ella's face lit up, and she opened her mouth to proclaim the mystery solved, when Wood stopped short.
"What the … ? How is Gryffindor down a hundred points on the third day of school?" he demanded. "I'm going to talk to Percy about this."
At the mention of the Head Boy, the two girls begged off and headed into the Great Hall while Wood moved towards the staircase. Ella was bouncing on the balls of her feet, eager for Wood to notice and yell at her, but he breezed past without a second glance.
"We're really here," Claudia stated.
Ella rounded on her. "Will you stop stating the obvious? It's not helping at all!"
She began pacing in front of the hourglasses, her lower lip clamped between her teeth and her brow furrowed.
"Sorry. I'm trying, but I'm not as clever as you. Maybe … maybe … umm … I don't know, Ella." The other girl rolled her eyes impatiently. "Maybe we're just not supposed to know. I mean, this has been happening for the past two years, and I think it will probably keep happening. Some things are better left a mystery, aren't they?"
"I'm not giving up!" Ella declared. "I'm getting to the bottom of this. Today."
With drooping shoulders, Claudia followed her friend into the Great Hall for dinner. As she expected, none of their Housemates asked them if they knew anything about the missing points. Plenty of people complained, but no one suspected the ignored Gryffindor third-years.
Claudia sat hunched over her essay, her tongue clamped between her teeth as she finished the last sentence. She leaned back in the chair and dropped her quill, massaging her hand as she did. Ella was staring resolutely across the room, a pensive look on her face. Claudia followed her line-of-sight to the chairs in front of the fireplace where Harry and Ron were finishing their homework.
"Where's Hermione when you need her?" Ron moaned.
"Probably in the library," Harry replied.
Ron stood up from his chair so quickly that it almost toppled over. "Maybe I can convince her to help me if she thinks I'm doing research on my own."
Harry tried not to grin, but couldn't keep the corners of his mouth down as Ron marched out of the common room.
"Do we just not have anything to offer them?" Ella asked suddenly. "I mean, think about all the stuff Harry has done. He saved the Sorcerer's Stone, and you've heard the rumors about everything he had to do, haven't you?"
Claudia nodded solemnly. "I heard Fred or George telling Katie Bell. There was Devil's Snare, and flying keys, and potion riddles, and a giant chess set."
"Could we have helped him at all? I mean, I'm good at Potions, but I couldn't have solved a riddle to save my life, which was probably the whole point of the riddle in the first place. In second year, he went into the Chamber of Secrets. Could we have found the entrance or faced the monster with him?"
Claudia shook her head again. "I couldn't. The monster was after Muggle-borns."
"But Hermione still helped him."
"Yeah, but Hermione is … well, she's Hermione."
"Exactly."
"Hey, Ella. What if we could help them? I mean, show them that we could help them."
The other girl thought for a moment and began nodding slowly. "I think that's the best idea you've had all day, Claudia. Harry is terrible at Potions. I'll bet that's the essay he's working on." She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out the scroll she had written the last Potions assignment on. "I'll just go make myself useful."
"But, Ella, Hermione helps Harry with his homework all the time."
"Helps, yes. She doesn't let him copy."
Claudia nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You always get good marks on your essays. Harry is sure to notice us if you get him better grades in Potions!"
Ella plopped into the chair next to Harry. He started and looked up sharply.
"Sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I was just wondering if you could help me with Lupin's boggart essay."
Harry's brow furrowed. "You did fine in class today."
"Yeah, but the essay is about the theory, and I haven't got a clue about that. You answered his questions so well today that I thought you could help me."
"Oh, well … I have to finish this essay for Snape, and since it's due tomorrow morning …."
"Then maybe we can help each other? I'm good at Potions, and you're good at Defense. We could just trade essays and learn that way."
Ella dropped her essay onto the table and let it unroll. Harry looked impressed that she had finished it already, not seeming at all hesitant about copying. Ella figured he had done it enough with Ron, like she had done with Claudia.
"Thanks, Harry," she said, when she finished copying down his essay.
"Yeah, thanks."
Ella returned to the table where Claudia was waiting expectantly. She recounted her conversation with Harry, sure that this plan was going to be a success. They stayed in the common room for another half hour before Hermione and Ron returned, bickering as usual.
"I'll look over your essay, Harry," Hermione said haughtily. "Since you didn't ask to copy."
"I didn't ask!" Ron retorted.
Hermione snorted indignantly. "You did, in about five different ways!"
Ron stormed off to the boys' dormitory while Hermione settled into a chair and began reading Harry's essay. Ella scooted to the edge of her seat, watching Hermione's quill intently.
"She can't find anything wrong with your essay, Ella. Even Snape barely makes corrections."
Claudia was right. Hermione finished the essay without changing a single word.
"I'm glad to see you're paying more attention to your homework this year, Harry," Hermione said, grinning. "It's perfect. But how did you manage to find all the facts without researching?"
A strange expression crossed Harry's face, like he was trying very hard to remember something. He shook his head slightly and the expression cleared. "You helped me yesterday."
"Oh, that's right!" Hermione laughed. "I've so much homework I completely forgot."
Across the room, Ella and Claudia exchanged perplexed glances. For a moment, neither girl spoke. They were both trying desperately to understand why Hermione thought she had helped Harry.
"Of course," Ella sighed, slumping down into her chair. "Why didn't I think of it before?"
Claudia perked up. All day, Ella had been a towering inferno, furious at every miscalculated theory. The sudden change in her mood made Claudia believe Ella truly had discovered the answer.
"No one notices us because they don't remember us. It's that simple, really. Everyone forgets us the moment we walk away."
"But McGonagall knew our names," Claudia protested.
"Think about it. All day we imposed ourselves on people. I tripped Malfoy, barged in on McGonagall, insulted Snape, and approached Harry. No one mentioned our names once except when I directly asked for them. It's almost like they only remember us when they're told to, like there's someone rewriting their memories. If this were a play, we'd be the actors who play the trees and rocks in the background. Even the boggart didn't know who we were! Maybe we're whoever the director needs us to be."
Claudia's brow furrowed. "How's that?"
"Come on, Claudia. You know anything is possible at Hogwarts. Maybe it was a jinx, I don't know."
"So … we're doomed to be forgotten?"
"Except by each other, it seems."
"Well, that's something, isn't it?"
Ella tried to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Well, I'm ready for bed. We might as well get a goodnight's rest before we're forgotten by Parvati and Lavender tomorrow morning when they hog the bathroom."
The girls rose from their seats and stuffed their books into their bags. While they were collecting their things, Neville Longbottom slammed his Potions book shut and moved towards the stairs.
As he passed, he called out casually, "Good night, Ella. 'Night, Claudia."
The End