Ok, all. Yup. Here's this bout of insanity. Erm, I s'pose this would be a poem fic if there was such a thing. The poem, by the way, is by Shel Silverstein, called Somebody Has To. As you may have noticed, the title comes from the poem, and you may not understand why I put the poem in till you read the entire story. Which may not be out for a while cause I dunno exactly what happens between the end and the beginning.
Eeeek…. This thing was a piece of shit. Spider read it and stopped halfway through, due to bordism… and now that I re-read it, I'd have to agree that if I hadn't written it, I would have just stopped on page 1. So a few parts may be a bit confusing, considering I went through and chopped at the entire story, editing it and so on. If you find any mistakes, please, tell, cause I prolly won't find em.
centeriPolish the Stars/center pcenteriChapter one/i/center
iSomebody has to go polish the stars/i
In a large bedroom on the second floor of a great brick house in America a girl tried to shove closed her trunk, full of oddities and ends, all of which she claimed she needed. Straps of who-knows-what stuck out at odd angles, while she sat atop the bundle with no success of closing it.
"Close!" she shrieked, jumping on the trunk and suddenly snapping it shut. Smiling with satisfaction, she moved to make sure she hadn't left anything.
Her brown hair suddenly got caught in the button of her cream-colored sweater, causing her to scream in pain and focus her green eyes upon her shirt before it ripped out her hair.
"Shit, stop that. No, no, no. C'mon, I'm seeing grandma, don't want her to think…' she stopped, realizing that the loop was off the button.
"Brittle, dear, you ready?" a lady, Brittle's mother, poked her blond-brown head in through the door, smiling sweetly.
"Yeah," Brittle grumbled, not looking at her mother and staring at the blue colored suitcase on her bed.
"Aww, sweetheart, please, don't. C'mon, off you go," Brittle's mum smiled encouragingly again.
The girl dragged her suitcase off the bed, allowing it to land on the floor with a THUNK, barely missing her toes.
"Here, lemme help you," Mrs. Grace told her daughter, watching her struggle with her humongous trunk.
"I can do it myself, thank you very much," said Brittle. Her mother lifted up her hands almost as a show that they were empty, and backed away. Why, Brittle wasn't sure.
They walked down a flight of curved stairs and out to the garage, where a little blue station wagon was parked. Brittle slowly got into the car as her mother placed her purse in the front, and her dad came out and seated himself in the front.
Brittle said nothing the entire ride to the airport, and upon arrival continued to.
"Have a good time with your grammy in England, ok? I don't want any letters from that school about you misbehaving," Mrs. Grace said as they walked through the check at the airport.
"Yes mother," mumbled Brittle, unhappy with her mother whom was used to being referred to as mum.
"Bye father. Bye mother," Brittle said, apparently trying to get rid of her parents as they neared the gate.
"Be good for your grammy," said Mr. Grace, ruffling Brittle's hair affectionately.
"Dad!" Brittle hollered, hands shooting up to fix her hair.
"Get some sleep tonight, ok?" her dad smirked.
"Whatever."
"Flight D, please report to the plane for take off."
"Bye honey!" Her mother kissed Brittle on the head before she escaped and hurried onto the plane, taking a window seat although she wasn't s'posed to.
People started piling onto the plane, but Brittle didn't pay notice to them.
Why did mum have to make me leave home just to go to school?? So what if mum doesn't like the academy in New York? Why do I have to go to this Hogwarts? Just cause she went there doesn't mean I have to. And dad! He just went along with it!
"Attention flyers," said a nasal voice over the loudspeaker, "We will be taking off in a moment, so please fasten your seatbelts. Thank you, and have a nice flight."
Nice flight my butt. Seat Belt, smet belt, I don't need no seat belt. Brittle later decided that no matter what, you should always wear a seat belt when on an airplane.
* ~ *
Stepping out into the airport in England, Brittle searched for a lady she'd never met but once.
"Brittle? Why, my girl, you have grown since the last time I saw you!" an elderly women who was breaking her way through the crowd said. Gee, you think? I was three then! Brittle wanted to say, but held her self.
"Mmm hum…" was all she let escape her mouth, for fear of saying something 'rude'. Soon the two went off towards Mrs. McLanty's home, which sat atop a hill and the only route of transportation being an old torn road lined with overgrown vegetation.
Brittle wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do here till the first day of school. She and her Grandma entered the old plaster white house, into a kitchen with a green and beige floor.
"Do you have a TV?" asked Brittle hopefully. Both her parents were pureblood, but her dad couldn't live without the TV, which he had found at work in the muggle artifacts section.
"A what?" her grandmother looked extremely confused. Mrs. Grace had never had a TV until she had married.
"A… never mind," groaned Brittle as she looked round and saw that her grandma obviously had nothing to do with muggles.
"Now your room is up the stairs on the left." Brittle nodded nimbly, and taking the stairs two at a time found her self in a small area with a door and a bathroom. Upon entering the door she found a room with a brownish-peachish-orangish carpet, a bed with a multicolor bedspread, a crib in which lay a humongous teddy bear, another door at the far end, a desk beside that floor, two cupboards, and yet another door off at the end that lead to a dark hall. She opened up the closets in curiosity, and found clothes and what looked like a makeshift bookshelf, and then went to the doorway that was beside the desk. Inside was a huge bed with a pile of… stuff… at the bottom, and what she assumed was a desk beside it. Otherwise, she could make out nothing through the wreckage, except for the rubble itself, which included old dollars and coins, newspapers from April 5 years ago, and a few coupons that dated all the way back to 1908.
"Bedroom on left… that would be the… erm…" she backed out of the room she had discovered as her Grandma's, glanced round, and saw a door to the right. "Ah. There's door, wither right or not, only other way. Hum, hall. Wait. More doors. Erm, right door… bedroom. Straight door… storage room. Ok, right door is room... unless there more rooms in there… then perhaps have to go through…"
The end result of this jibber was a very confused Brittle, who had by luck found herself to a bedroom.
"Right…. Make it sound easy, the room on the left. After you make a right, and then make another right…"
"Brittle, are you hungry?" her grandma's voice hollered up the stairs.
"Erm…" Brittle wasn't sure just what old ladies ate (brilliant, isn't she?) "Whatcha got?"
"D'you like cheese sandwiches?"
"Er, sure," Brittle smiled. Old peoples ate the same thing as young peoples, although not the same thing as middle aged people (or, at least, her parents).
The room in which she stood was roomy, with doubles of, erm, everything. Two beds side by side, two windows, one at the bottom of the bed and another by one of the double mirrors. In fact, the only thing there wasn't two of was the door. There were three of them.
"How the hell does such a small little house have so many rooms, when Grandma swears she didn't use magic??" muttered Brittle, before remembering that every room she had seen to far was quite small in comparison to her roomy place.
Brittle walked into the peach room and glanced in the mirror. Of course her dad just had to muss it up, didn't he? Was Brittle's first though at the sight of her hair. Too tired to fix it, she flopped onto the bed and promptly fell asleep, not even bothering to close the green blinds, allowing the sun to stream through the window (and completely forgetting her cheese sandwich).
* ~ *
Brittle Grace walked slowly into the train station, waiting impatiently for her grandmother to come from the car. What was taking her so long was quite beyond Brittle, and she really didn't care to figure this small fact out (last time she'd asked her gramma had said 'little powder, little paint, makes ya look like what ya ain't' and had scared Brittle plenty enough).
Glancing at her watch, Brittle wondered if her Grandma would be out of the car before the train left. She hoped so cause she'd been very confused as to just exactly how she was s'posed to get onto platform 9 and ¾. There was no such thing, or at least Brittle didn't think there was, and she stood between platform 9 and 10, leaning against the wall, and every once in a whole making sure her trunk was still closed (which she was sure it wouldn't be for long with everything it had in it). Of course, her parents were the type to love surprises, and were awaiting an owl from her grandma to hear of her expression when she saw her disappear through the divider.
Just as Brittle was ready to slam her weight on the space between platform 9 and 10 (she seriously doubted that would do much good) an elderly women with blond-brown hair came ambling towards her and smiled.
"Come along," she said with an encouraging smile. Come along to where, Brittle wasn't sure. But to her surprise, her grandma walked through the barrier between platform 9 and 10.
"Grandma? How'd you do that? Grandma?" Brittle said, thinking she'd gone actually gone through the wall, and tried to bang on it, wondering if her hand would meet any resistance. It didn't.
"There goes that mystery," thought Brittle, walking through the barrier, and attempting to drag her trunk with her.
"Why didn't you just get a trolley?" asked her confused Grandma when she got to the other side.
"A... trolley? Now you tell me!" Brittle looked round her, not expecting what met her eyes.
"I thought you knew that! You did travel all the way here from America, didn't you?" Brittle rolled her eyes. Yeah, she'd traveled from America, but her parents had been there to help her when leaving, and her grandma when she arrived.
Brittle started dragging her trunk towards the great red steam engine that sat in front of her, deciding she didn't want to finish the conversation with her grandma.
"You need wheels on that," a jolly voice came from behind her. She turned and was bout to glare at the speaker when she noticed the boy who stood there was her age, and had a completely obnoxious grin on his face that matched the one usually on hers.
"I noticed."
"You should ask you dad to put some on."
"I guess I should 'a. Didn't think I'd need to."
"Ask him now."
"Can't."
"Why not?"
"He's not here."
"Who is with you?"
"My grandma."
"Why?"
"Because my parents wanted me to go to Hogwarts and not that New York academy."
"What's New York?"
"A state in the US."
"You from the US?"
"Yes. Why do you ask so many questions?"
"Dunno. So-"
"What'd ya mean ya don't know?"
"I just don't know. You from-"
"Who's with you?"
"My dad. So are-" The boy with black hair gave up, and Brittle grinned inwardly to herself.
"I'm Brittle."
"Brittle?" Sirius snorted.
"Shut up. I know."
"Riiiiiight."
"I hate it, not my fault my parents cursed me. So what'd you get stuck with?" Brittle and Sirius started towards the train, barely even noticing.
"Sirius, don't rub it in," the boy muttered.
"Better than Brittle… all you're stuck as is a star…"
"Brittle! Oh, Brittle?" a frail voice called out.
"Oh, now she shows up, what's she want this time?" an exasperated Brittle murmured, wither to Sirius or herself even she wasn't sure.
Brittle stalked back to her Grandma, leaving her trunk behind. Sirius, a bit lost, followed in suit.
"Now, you're to get on the train, dear and…" she stopped at the sight of Sirius. "Well hello! I see you've made a little friend already…" Brittle glared angrily, and started back towards her trunk. Her Grandma followed, adding a few words into the air at certain intervals.
"I am not to get any letters from the school about bad behavior from you, missy, and if I do your parents are to hear of it immediately. But, enough of this, it's 1 to 11…"
"Talk about cutting it short…" Brittle heard Sirius mutter as they grabbed their trunks off of the platform floor.
"…and you have to get going before that train pulls out," Mrs. McLanty said as the clock struck 11.
Brittle dodged as her grandma tried to give her a kiss on the head and she raced towards the train, Sirius following, dragging their trunks. Brittle suddenly noticed some parents on her right holding a cart.
"You mean to tell me I've been dragging this trunk the whole time while they have CARTS?" Brittle exploded, realizing that was what her grandma meant by trolley.
"Yeah, but lets go, pure luck that train driver guy saw us… he'd have pulled out by now…"
The two got to the train at the same time, and attempted to shove their trunks in. The heavy things, which seemed to hold everything they owned, tumbled back out and onto their toes.
"Ooow, oow, ow…." they whimpered.
"Here," someone said. He was a tall boy with shaggy, brown hair and a tired face. Brittle would swear that never in her life had she met anyone who looked so tired, the shadowy circles that ringed those brown eyes hanging like ominous dark shades. Remus Lupin, the boy confronting Brittle, reached down and helped the two pulled up their trunks.
A little plump witch had peaked out from the little room in front of them. She had never seen the conductor wait for anyone. He left at 11:00 AM sharp, and no matter whom it was running to catch up, he didn't wait. But here were these two students, whom she, along with everyone else on the train, would learn were two whom easily made the impossible possible, and were not to be underestimated.
* ~ *
Brittle and Sirius had no idea where they were to go, and, ignoring the boy who helped them with their trunks, wandered to a compartment, throwing their trunks into the once spacious booth. The two newcomers crammed into the little space they had left themselves, allowing the other occupant of the compartment to sit by himself across from them.
He was a tall, thin boy, with brown eyes, tan skin, wearing blue jeans and a loose blue T-shirt, but the thing that made Brittle snicker was his hair. It flew atop his head, skimming low, falling everywhere thought possible, and slyly managing to break its way down into his eyes, no matter the fact that is was quite short. His money pocket bounced with gold, and his trunk sat on the bracket overtop. Brittle and Sirius took one look at that hair, one at each other, and almost rolled on the floor with laughter. They sustained themselves to just staring at his head every 2 minutes and cracking up insanely.
"Um…" he said, by means on conversation.
"Sir… Siri… Sirius," gasped out Sirius, while Brittle completely ignore his attempts at chatting.
"Er, James," the boy said, missing what was so damn funny. "James Potter."
The two across from him cackled with glee, not stopping for breath until they bared resemblance to blueberries. Finally they stopped and started about Quidditch. James personally thought the two were wild, but then again, he'd been told that about himself. A large Quidditch fan, the conversation was not hard to keep up with, but the two didn't seem to accept him easily, and he wasn't sure he liked them. Sly glances from them at his money pocket made him feel uneasy and suspicious, especially the girl, who looked ready to steal anything.
It was an hour later, the dislike between the pair and James soon coming to a breaking point that neither side would admit, when the plump little witch strode by. James stood up, and bought a good deal of food, sheltering it from his insane companions. Brittle glanced at Sirius, and turned out her pockets, finding nada, while Sirius, no matter how deep he reached, couldn't pull up any gold, silver, or bronze, for that matter. The two sat, hungry and feeling stupid, their 'companion' taking huge bites out of his caldron cakes. The stared at him for about 3 minutes before they couldn't take anymore of it, for if they drooled anymore they were in danger of drowning.
Glancing at each other, they silently agreed that James was not to offer his cakes over in the snap of a finger. The quickest way to get them… their eyes moved from their stomachs to the cakes, to James, and back to meet their partner's eyes.
Sirius grabbed the cakes, Brittle threw open the door, they flew out of the compartment, the door slamming behind them, and ran. It was half a moment's decision played out in a quarter of a second.
The two banged into the furthest compartment they could reach without having to worry bout James rushing out and seeing them enter one. It was only 4 doors down from the one where they had stolen the cakes, but it was better than nothing.
They were very lucky this was one of those large compartments that held 8 people. There were a few of these on the train, and this particular compartment had two occupants. One, a river of crimson spilling down her back and emerald eyes flashing across the words in her book, the other, the boy whom had helped Brittle and Sirius with their trunks.
"Now your going to take over this compartment?" popped out of the boy's mouth, before he blushed red and muttered a rushed apology. Brittle suddenly understood that they had taken up the compartment with the black haired boy. They, like many others, had forgotten that this boy with the dark circles under his piercing eyes existed.
"Sirius," said the thief holding the smothered goods.
"Brittle," said the other.
"I'm Lily Evans," said the redhead sweetly, wondering why they were hastily shutting the door.
"Remus." Brittle plopped down on the seat across from Remus, Sirius dropping down beside her and snatched at a few of the cakes.
Sirius offered the two across from them a few treats, which they took happily.
"So…" he said in failing attempts at keeping the cabin from going silent. "You… um… muggle or what?"
Brittle snorted, telling this was not his best attempt.
"Muggle," answered Lily calmly, before going back to her book. Remus had fallen asleep, and snored loudly in answer.
"Pure," Brittle said.
"Yeah, me too," Sirius answered. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the hum of the train getting to the black haired boy as he stared at the crimson carpet, Brittle staring out in the window at the moving countryside.
The compartment door slid open quietly, and Sirius looked up from his staring idly at the carpet, before almost falling out of his seat.
"Is… is anyone sitting here?" the girl in the doorway asked timidly, pointing beside Lily.
"No," replied Lily, shifting her books a bit so the girl could sit down. She smiled over at Sirius, who had regained his posture and decided to go back to staring at the carpet. The girl flicked her shining, sheet, brown-red hair over her shoulder while she snatched her book from her bag.
Lily looked over at her, and asked, "What are you reading?"
"Call of the Wild. Hmm… you?"
"White Fang," replied Lily.
"Ooh, that's the one I was going to read after this. Their companion novels," said the girl, her green, almost brown eyes smiling.
"Yeah, I heard that. I'm Lily."
"Elaine. What else d'you like to read?" Sirius, damn bored from the conversation topic, started to drift off to sleep. Brittle sat and stared out the window, completely lost in her own world and not even noticing her two companions were talking in the slightest. Another knock came on the door, while the occupants groaned. Their space was dwindling, and more hogwartians seemed to enter the room every minute.
The boy who entered pushed a trunk in front of him, resulting in the children not being able to see him clearly until he entered the compartment completely and sat on his trunk when he realized the only place to sit was being taken up by a sleeping kid. Elaine nudged Remus a bit so the boy standing before them with the dark brown hair and the bluish grey eyes could sit down. He was clad in simple blue jeans and a white t-shirt, which Remus almost fell into when he had awoken.
"Sry," muttered Remus, still half asleep.
The boy nodded and smiled, the sat beside Remus. Brittle didn't know why no one was asking him his name, but no one was and she didn't plan to be the one to do so. Glancing at his trunk she saw a long company name: Aeolus Xavier-Domeaous Misolearcuso-ZanieroustlyKeopterous
"WHOA! What kinda an idiot would name their company something as stupidly long as that???" she exclaimed.
"Um, Brittle…" Remus said with a small smile, "I think that's his name…"
"Er, oh. I knew that." Brittle grinned a sheepish grin. The boy, on the other hand, was laughing. "How d'ya pronounce it?"
"That's the first time my name has been mistaken for the name of the company that made my suitcase… it's A-O-lus X-a-vier-Do-mi-o-us, Miss-o-lear-Cu-so, Za-ni-er-o-ustly-K-E-O-pt-er-us. Please, don't comment… I hate it…
"Er," all muttered.
"Hey Al, I'm Sirius," said the black haired boy after a minute of digestion.
Al grinned, and then listened to Brittle, "Your name isn't as bad as mine, Brittle."
"What's brittle?" asked Al, confused.
"My name is."
"How can a name be brittle? Names have no texture and don't break."
"No! My name, it's Brittle, as in like my name was Mary, or Jo, my name is Brittle! Like yours is Al."
"But… names aren't brittle… OH! Brittle. Alright," Al finally understood.
"What house d'you suspect to be in?" asked Al, taking Sirius's job of keeping the compartment from silence.
"House?" asked Lily and Elaine, both looking at their companions for some explanation.
"Yeah. You muggles? My mum's s'posedly a gypsy, dad's a wizard. I think I'll be in Slytherin or Ravenclaw…"
"Slytherin?" asked Sirius with a bit of distaste.
"Yeah, you gonna be Gryffindor most likely? I hear there's a rivalry between em… stupid if you ask me."
Brittle smiled and wondered for a few seconds.
"Um, what are houses?" she asked, still not fully comprehending.
"Thought you said you were pure," Sirius said.
"Yeah, but I'm from America…"
"Wouldn't guess it. You don't have an accent. Hogwarts is separated into 4 houses. You do everything with them, basically. There's Huffelpuff, which is for the loyal…" Al said before Sirius cut him off.
"And the wimps..."
Al glared at him before continuing, "Ravenclaw for the witty, Gryffindor for the bold and brave, and Slytherin for the cunning and ambitious. They're named after the four Hogwarts founders."
Brittle, finally understanding, said, "AHHH. I dunno what I'll be…"
"Me either," coursed Elaine and Lily.
"I would say Ravenclaw for you two," said Sirius to the bookworms.
"I would say give me my money for all that food," said a voice in the door.
"Uh-oh," squeaked Brittle, staring at the boy with messy black hair whose brown eyes glared angrily at the two who had stolen from him.
"James!" said Remus happily. "What are you talking about?"
"They took my food. I was sitting there, and the next second, they had stolen my stuff and ran."
Everyone's eyes turned to Brittle and Sirius, before they slowly scooted away. It was obvious that none approved of them, and soon the two were outta the compartment and in the hall.
"Hey!" they yelled, "we were hungry! He wasn't gonna eat it all anyway!"
When no response came from the compartment, they went back to get their trunks, which they had left.
"No," they said when they had walked 4 doors down to their old compartment and stared in.
"That little bastard!" yelled Brittle as she looked round the place. The seats were strewn with their stuff, books and robes covered with neon pink paint. The trunks on the rack had been ripped open in search of some money, quite obviously, but James hadn't found any, due to the fact that Brittle and Sirius hadn't brought any.
"He is going to get it," hissed Sirius as he picked up his used-to-be silky black cloak. "He is going to have a hell of a year…"
* * *
"FIRST YEARS O'ER HER'!" a booming voice called.
Tripping over some undergrowth due to the foggy weather, which had drastically changed since leaving the station, the group of kids who had just clambered off of the train headed towards the boats.
"Four ta a boat," said the giant who had called over the little voices of the kids. Brittle and Sirius started towards the boats, which rocked gently in the water, before getting into one.
"Um… who are you?" asked she, staring at the little pudgy kid who was starting to get into their boat.
"Peter... I have no where else t-tt-to go, d'you mind if I ride with you?" stuttered the little kid.
Brittle wanted to say no. She was about to say no.
"YOU BOY!" yelled the man, "GE' IN A BOA'! WE'E GONNA GO NO'!"
"That means he has to sit with us," observed Sirius, obviously not caring if he hurt Peter's feelings. The boat shook as the boy got in, and Brittle muttered something about sinking because of too much weight. James, in the boat beside her, glared angrily at the girl who had made such a rude comment. He and Remus had been put into a boat with two other boys, and Elaine and Lily walked over to a boat with one passenger, a greasy haired, pale boy who looked like he was a mirror image of what many thought to be Slytherin.
The little boat ride went along pleasantly at first, until the boy who was with Elaine and Lily realized Elaine was not all too keen on boat rides.
The boat started rocking as the boy in the boat with Elaine and Lily tried to get as far away from the nauseated girl as possible.
"STOP!" yelled Lily as she watched Elaine lean over the side, her face plunging into the lake as the boat tipped that way, then flying into Lily, and then back the other way and over the side.
"ELAINE!" yelled someone from the boat beside them, little waves coursing over the lake from the tipping boat, rocking everything on the surface. James's boat was trying to float away from the rough water as rain started to fall, and Remus urged it nearer.
"James," said a voice beside the boat, "I think I prefer to swim back to shore… I don't care for those boats."
Swerving to the direction from which the voice came, James saw Elaine clinging to the end of the boat.
"Swim? You look like you're about to drown."
"Well… cling to the boat and kick."
"Yeah, right." James reached for her hand and yanked her into the boat, but not before giving the greasy haired boy beside Lily a dirty look. So great… I've made two enemies within one day. How very helpful.
They reached the shore within seconds, and again James, this time outta the boat, helped Elaine.
"That git…" muttered Remus angrily, glaring at Snape.
"C'mon," said James, who had started for the door with the rest of the first years and was staring back at Sirius and Brittle, who were snickering at the drenching wet Elaine.
"So, how d'they decide where we're to go?" asked a boy to no one in particular. The other students round her started with a gaggle of ideas.
"They have you fight this giant ogre…" said one boy.
"No, they have you charm a feather, and depending on what color it is…." Started another.
"What?? Are you joking? I think we have to do something with a hat… my mother was trying to explain it," said Remus, thinking hard.
"Pull a rabbit out?" asked a witch whose parents were both muggles.
"Yeah, and perhaps what color the rabbit is decides!" said the girl from before.
"But how d'we get the rabbit out?" asked another.
"Maybe it's like the groundhog… have to make sure it doesn't see it's shadow," said a student who had went to America that winter.
"We're inside and it's the middle of the night! What shadow??" asked another girl.
"I'm sure there's lights in there…" muttered the boy as they all stopped at some stairs. The giant who had led them there stepped to the door and knocked three times.
"Ever notice how everyone knocks three times or with that one pattern?" asked Brittle nervously to Sirius. Everyone round her nodded, thankful for her chattering, which gave them something to think about as they waited.
Suddenly the door opened and there stood a witch, round 55, with grey hair pulled back into a bun, and black robes billowing round her ankles.
"Hello," she said sternly as she glanced round the crowd, "welcome to Hogwarts."
* * *
The little first years piled into a small room by another oak door, through which they could hear the hustle and bustle of many chairs scarping along a stone floor and student's voices.
McGonagall had dried Elaine's clothes with a wave of her wand (she had learned some students want to fall into the lake, and did not dry these children, but Elaine explained she could barely swim which was why she had to cling helplessly to the stern's mast, form which a flag could be put on) and told the rest to tidy themselves off before disappearing through the door, light streaming out innocently and beckoning the children to follow.
"Well… at least the light seems friendly enough," murmured Brittle to herself. Wonder where I'll go? Where'll Sirius go? What if he gets into a different house? these and many other silly thoughts ran through her head until McGonagall came back and ordered them in.
"The ceiling," hissed Lily the second she entered, causing everyone to look up. No one seemed to know where to look; the ceiling, the vortex of colors in it that Elaine swore looked exactly like the stormy sky outside, the floating candles, golden plates and goblets, ghosts, students with their wands in the table in front of them (some of the pranksters shooting sparks cross the room), the teachers (who were interesting in themselves, especially the man in the middle, with his white beard and crescent moon spectacles), or the battered, patched, old and frayed hat that sat on the three legged in the middle of the platform on which they and the staff table stood.
Suddenly the hat broke into song, Brittle too confused with it actually singing to hear the words. Something about Slytherin, cunning and ambition, Gryffindor, bold and brave, Ravenclaw, studious and witty, and the loyal Huffelpuffs.
"All we have to do is try on that hat!" muttered someone in relief, voicing the thoughts of many there, many who came before him, and many who were to come and stand there afterwards.
The little first years shivered as they stared round the hall, all thinking oddball thoughts that tend to come to mind when worried.
"Alengar, Thomas," called McGonagall, who stood at a podium with a scroll of names. The boy walked forward and was placed in Huffelpuff almost before the hat touched his head.
"Airent, Elaine," said McGonagall. Brittle looked up at the name of the girl who had fallen into the lake and watched her approached the stool and put the hat timidly over her head.
Hello Elaine, the hat said kindly, seeing how badly the girl was shaking.
Hi. How were you today? Stabbed Elaine. Normally she was very polite, and very shy. So to ask this took courage. She didn't have much of a choice, though, for the hat was talking to her and obviously wasn't going to move.
Fine, thank you. You mind if I have a look around?
Um… around where? I s'pose so…the second she decided it was alright, her head felt like a book that the hat could read. Her entire life folded before him, and no matter how much she loved books, this one freaked her out.
Very timid, you are. No, you wouldn't fit in Gryffindor, despite your bravery… bold triumphs when it comes to choosing for that house, as you have guessed. Huffelpuff? You're loyal, yes, but… ah, here it is. A love of books, learning, and a witty attitude should you be tempted to use it… Yes, most indefinably, how does Ravenclaw sound to you, child?
Wonderful. I hear they love books.
Yes. RAVENCLAW it is then. Have a nice day.
Elaine stepped off the bench, not shaking one bit. Whatever the hat had said to her, thought Brittle, it must have clamed her down, and she sat down after crossing the hall at one of the many seats at the Ravenclaw table.
"Augten, June." June sat on the stool for a full minute before the hat decided Ravenclaw was the best for her.
"Bahur, John." John became another Huffelpuff, and Sirius, beside Brittle, stood and stared out at the crowd and the boy who joyfully made his way over to the blue table.
"BLACK, SIRIUS." The name seemed to boom even to Brittle, who was suddenly worried for her friend.
"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat after Sirius had sat on the stool for a few moments.
Brittle, in line with the rest, clapped politely as her friend went to his new house table. Note to self: get in GRYFFINDOR!!
Brittle stood and waited for her name, in the Gs, but a name in the Es caught her attention as Lily started forward. So her last name is Evans. Great, E-V, G-R is coming up…
The redhead stuck the hat overtop of her flaming crown, and sat straight on the chair. Ignoring the fact that her face matched her green eyes, she looked very composed.
When the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR" Lily Evans glared at the hat in distaste for a moment before stepping off the stool, no longer green, and waving at Elaine, who waved back happily.
'Too bad we're not in the same house,' mouth Elaine. Lily nodded and then shrugged.
"GRACE, BRITTLE!" crashed a voice through Brittle's thoughts of what Lily and Elaine were doing (for she had been trying to ignore her thoughts).
Striding towards the hat, she decided to stand, not liking the looks of the chair. It hadn't toppled over yet, but it could. Grabbing the hat, she glanced round the room, nodded, as though deciding to put it on, almost as if she had a choice.
Hey, was the first thing that she said. The hat seemed almost asleep.
Hello. Well, let me see here…
Hey, that's my head! Cried Brittle as the hat started through.
Not Huffelpuff, no doubt! Laughed the hat. No trust. Lets see… and you hate reading…
You can't go there, those are my thoughts. Look in the less personal section.
Well, child, I need to see what you have done. This will tell me where to place you, for the past may reveal some of your future.
Now, oh, goodness, Slytherin would work wonderfully for you…
NO! Sirius doesn't like them. That would be terrible.
Well, I think so…
How bout Gryffindor? I'd do lovely there too…
Well, thought the hat, realizing what she had just said. Very bold. Yes. That would be wise. GRYFFINDOR if you insist.
Brittle took off the battered hat and set it on the wobbling stool before starting towards Sirius, who congratulated her happily.
"LUPIN, REMUS!" yelled McGonagall later on.
"We don't have to worry," said Sirius to Brittle, "he'll get Ravenclaw."
"Yeah, we thought that for Lily, didn't we?" Brittle pointed out.
"Yeah, but…" started Sirius before he realized the hat had yelled GRYFFINDOR, and with that Remus was done with his sorting, haven taken less than 30 seconds.
"M.. M… well, this is a first, I think my quill messed up when copying the names from the book. This is a first," repeated McGonagall, staring at the parchment.
"POTTER, JAMES!" was yelled, and up he strode. The hat touched his head and said: GRYFFINDOR! And James started towards the Gryffindor table. Brittle and Sirius choked, barely able to accept that he was in the same house as they.
"I have to sleep in the same dorm as him!" hissed Sirius when Brittle groaned, "So you shut up!"
A little pudgy boy had been looking for a place to sit for the past few minutes, having been before James. Brittle was so surprised that he had been placed in Gryffindor she didn't even consider who he might be, and didn't notice he was the same boy as had been on the boat with them
"C-ca-can I sit here?" he stuttered to Brittle, who looked at him in distaste before she hissed, "No!"
"W-what?"
"NO!" both Sirius and Brittle repeated.
"Would you like to sit with us?" James asked the boy from down the table, referring to him, Lily, and Lupin.
"Thanks," replied the short boy, gratefully sitting down next to the mop of messy hair.
"I'm James, this is Lily and Remus. You are…?"
"Peter," replied the boy shyly, before both Sirius and Brittle ignored the 4.
"SO HUNGRY," moaned Brittle and Sirius, banging their forks on the plates.
"They're so rude," they heard Lily say quietly, obviously unable to contain herself.
It took forever to get their food, or so Brittle and Sirius thought, even though the sorting lasted only 15 minutes after Peter sat down. When aMcGonagall started to roll up her scroll, everyone couldn't help but notice the little 11-year-old boy who was standing in the shadows, waiting for his name.
"Excuse me," he said quietly to McGonagall, "but you didn't call my name."
The teacher turned, and rewarded his words with a quizzed look.
"And you would be?" she asked politely, taking a worried glance at Dumbledore. This had never happened before.
"Aeolus Xavier-Domeaous Misolearcuso-ZanieroustlyKeopterous," he said, glaring at the parchment. The teachers at the staff table stared in stunned silence, and he realized every one of them was thinking about how they would have to call him by his last name.
"…or Al," he relieved the poor teachers. They figures at the staff table stared at McGonagall, to see if they would have to stumble over Mr. Misolearcuso-ZanieroustlyKeopterous, or if they could call him Al, or Mr. Al.
"Oh, yes, here you are, Mr. Al-" the professors breathed sighs of relief- "I apologize."
Al nodded his head once, to acknowledge that he had heard her, and walked up to the stool before shoving the hat over his head. After a few moments concentration, the hat shouted for the whole school to hear: SLYTHERIN!
"YES!!" Sirius cheered before doing a 'happy dance', Brittle following suit.
"Hello, and welcome," said the wizard with the white beard. Brittle had asked Nick who this man with the half moon spectacles was, who looked so surprised she didn't know Albus Dumbledore that he turned whiter than he already was. "So, as you all look about to eat your hats, I shall say no more and let the feast BEGIN!"
Food appeared before them on the golden platters, everything imaginable, from barbequed chicken to chateaubriand, peas potatoes, mandarin orange salad, pudding, every kind of meat imaginable, lasagna, ravioli… the list goes on.
Everyone dug in, barely waiting to marvel at how it just… popped up. The Gryffindors soon learned that Peter was not as shy with food as he had been before with people.
"Peter… can you eat all that??" asked Remus as he stared in awe at the pile of (still growing) food on Peter's plate.
"Muhumph," answered the boy, mouth full.
Quickly he notice the mounds that were appearing on Brittle and Sirius's plates, full of sweats, and on Brittles (surprisingly enough) vegetables.
"EW! Brittle, YOU JUST ATE A RAW ONION," informed Sirius to the girl who was chomping into the white and covered in Italian dressing onion.
"And…?" she asked though her food. Sirius turned away, deciding it best not to focus on the girl.
"Onions are good!" she insisted.
"Think we could pour a bunch of onions into James bed tonight?" asked Sirius quietly. "He deserves it…"
* * *
"Flying lessons today!!!" yelled Sirius in October as they looked at the board outside the Great Hall.
"With Slytherin! Great, the geek gang are all gonna be together…" Brittle groaned, not noticing she had said that right in front of 'the geek gangs' faces.
"We have it in fifteen minutes! We still have to eat!" cried the redhead behind them, glancing at her watch, which made Brittle realized what she had just done. Great. I better expect to have something wrong with me by tomorrow…
"Okay, Lil, lets go eat. FLYING! Finally!" James said happily.
"I dunno how good I am going to be at this…" said a worried Lily.
"Don't worry, it's not hard.'
"But you like heights."
"And…?" The group had reached the table now, and sat down to eat. Sirius stared after them, wondering if James actually could fly.
"I have an announcement. Usually we have just two houses flying together, but it seems we're going to get bad weather, and to hold it off… well, you'll all come after us. Since it's lovely this morning, we're going to get out some more brooms and have all the houses go at once," McGonagall announced to the school, Sirius and Brittle making their way into the Great Hall as she started it.
"YES!" clapped Lily, before glancing at Elaine, who was bouncing in her seat. They would get to learn to fly together so they didn't look like idiots!
After eating a quick breakfast, all the houses went outside to a patch of grass beside the woods.
"Now," Madam Hooch said as everyone arrived and got a broom, "listen to Professor Gemara and I. This is a very large group, so you must all be quiet. Now, set the broom down on the ground, like so, and say 'Up!'"
Elaine looked a bit frightened of the broom, and glanced at their Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, Prefessor Gemara.
"UP!" she yelled, barely thinking. It flew up and hit her wrist before she snatched it with her other hand.
"UP! UP, UP, UP!" yelled Lily in frustration beside her. The broom floated up to her hand lazily, and only after much concentration on her part. James got his to hit his fingers painfully, Al's seemed to disappear and flipped a few times for he caught it, Remus's shook back and forth on the earth, like a dog worrying a bone, and Peter's refused to budge.
Sirius and Brittle tried not to laugh before they both said 'UP!', completely sure of themselves, and Brittle's shook and rose up to hit Sirius in the eye (while his did the same).
James's crew all burst out laughing at the two soon-to-be-black-eyed kids, who turned bright red and tried to hide.
"Now, get on, and go up a few feet before coming back down. To go back down, just point down," said Madam Hooch before Sirius could kill James. "On 3. 1… 2…. 3!"
Everyone rose. Peter slammed into James, who toppled off his broom. Lily reached out to catch him, but slipped and she followed him down the 5-foot fall before Al snatched the bottom of Lily's jeans and held her dangling over the crumpled James.
"You all right?" asked the Slytherin boy as he pulled Lily upright, and she found her feet were planted safely on the ground.
"Fine. James?"
"I'm fine."
"Sorry," said Peter feebly, hanging upside down on his broom, which soon crashed into the ground.
"I'm fine!" he yelled.
Everyone round them landed and helped up James and Peter, and it was the duo's turn to laugh helplessly at their rivals.
"Alright, now, go up about ten feet, NO MORE, and fly forwards. You need to keep the best balance you possibly can. Don't go too fast, you'll get it after a few seconds."
Glancing at Peter, everyone inched away from the walking jinx.
"3!" yelled Hooch, and they took the skies. Well, the area ten feet above the ground, but still sort of the skies.
Elaine was surprised at how easy it seemed, but suddenly realized Lily was having some trouble and waited for the poor girl. She wasn't terrible at it, but just as Elaine had a bad case of motion sickness, Lily seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with heights.
"Don't look down," offered Elaine.
"Right. No looking do-AH!" Lily said as she tipped to her right. Elaine grabbed her arm and righted her.
"Thanks. James is good!" observed Lily, as James skimming over the grass at what looked like a high speed to her. Brittle had never flown before, so dropped back with Al, who was likewise, in hopes of engaging the boy in a race. Sirius, who had quite obviously flown before, had followed James and the two were now in an unannounced competition.
Brittle seemed to rock a bit unsteadily, but could craftily sneak up behind Al and startle him. Although he claimed to have never flown before, Lily and Elaine both noted how the air seemed to pull him up and stable him, so that he didn't rock at all.
"Haha! Lets race!" cried Brittle to Al, and the two flew forwards, Al angered at the girl for so many rude comments, and Brittle wanting someone who was a challenge for her but at least beatable. All stole the lead, Brittle cut him off, and he rose easily, like he belonged there, before Brittle pulled some other moves and got back in front of him.
"How can they do that??" asked Lily.
"It's not har-" Elaine started.
"ALL STUDENTS LAND! I didn't say to race, but you seemed to have gotten the hang of it…" Madam Hooch's voice cut through the air. They practiced until lunch, and by then they had gone over a bit about Quidditch and the teams, turning, backwards flight, and a few had even practiced flips and other things of the sort. With the race between James and Sirius, neither had known where it had ended, so all everyone heard all day from the four Gryffindors was an argument of the outcome (Brittle saying she had won, Al arguing against, and James and Sirius almost whacking each other around the head with their brooms).
Peter had ended up in the hospital wing the second they started turns, and Snape seemed to be the victim he chose to grab onto.
"Perhaps he hurt Snape, and Snape'll get mad at him and seek revenge," thought Brittle hopefully.
"I seriously doubt that."
* * *
"Wonder why his mum always seems to be sick," muttered Brittle as she glanced at Remus's books, which he had left behind when had left school to see his mother. Again.
The full moon had started to rise outside, casting an eerie light through the window and allowing her to read the covers of the books and do her homework without need of the firelight.
"Who knows?" said Sirius.
"Yeah… but, well, ever notice how he leaves every month? Not like once a month at random… but always a certain time… and he's back the next day."
"Once a month, always around now. What is today?"
"Um… I dunno. I left my watch upstairs."
"Research?"
"Naw, too lazy. Lets go search for some passageways."
* * *
"Where d'you think this passageway leads?" asked the hushed voice behind Sirius.
"I dunno, Brittle," he hissed back. "You?"
"Dunno. I can only guess… OW!"
"What? You okay?"
"Yeah, the ceiling is just a little low…"
"Don't worry," he called from ahead of her, "it's gets higher up here."
Brittle glanced up to where Sirius's legs were visible, unable to identify anything above his waist due to the fact that she was hunched over in the very, very low space. She had only ducked down two seconds ago, but her back hurt already.
The passage behind them was the same they had been in the entire trip, having found it by accident when passing a statue of a witch. There, sitting inevitably was a slide that they couldn't pass up.
They had been down it in seconds, having been on their way back from pranking the Slytherins.
"Ahh…" sighed Brittle as the ceiling raised and allowed him to stand. "When we learn how, remind me to make that higher."
Sirius was standing in awe, staring at something in front of him. Brittle couldn't make it out from the distance she was at, but when she walked forward and got close enough she was forced to stop and gawk.
Whistling, she said, "THAT'S A LOT OF STAIRS." They ascended before their eyes, out of sight, up and up and up…
"We better start," said Sirius with a grin, before hopping onto the first step and starting up. Brittle followed, up and up.
"695… 696… 697… 698…" they puffed, wondering how many stairs were left.
"Don't look up.' she told him. "How many stairs you bet we have left to go? Whoever wins gets to explore the place we're going first. On three, we'll say."
"One…" said Sirius, focusing on his feet and trusting his friends to do the same.
"Two…" grinned Brittle.
"100! 83!" They yelled at the same time, Brittle guessing the larger of the two.
"We were on 698. Member that." Said Brittle as they started again, from there.
"719, 720, 721, 722…" chanted the two, mouths almost dry.
"776…. 777, 778, 779, 780, 781, 782… damn. There goes my guess. What are the rules anyway?" asked Sirius.
"It can't go over. If it goes over 798, then we all guess again," answered Brittle.
"789, 790, 79-OW!" she cried, banging her head on the ceiling.
"Shit. Do not tell me we came all this way to find nothing…"
"It's a door!" cried Sirius, pointing to the handle. "Pull it."
Yanking, apparently, was getting them nowhere.
"ARGH!!!" yelled Sirius, who punched it hard. It moved upwards, scattered dust onto their heads, resulting in a thousand little coughs coming from the storeroom of Honeydukes.
"Climb through! Brittle, you're first; it's only fair… There were only 791 stairs before you hit your head."
Pushing up on the trapdoor let light travel into their dark accustomed eyes, allowing them to look behind and see how many stairs there actually were (in the sense that they could see about a hundred before the treads disappeared into the inky black depths below), and that there was a ladder before them.
"Up the ladder," muttered Brittle as she placed her hands on the rungs. The ladder was about as tall as the Gryffindors were, which wasn't very high.
"Where are we?" asked Brittle quietly, glancing round the room she had just entered.
"It's a storeroom," answered Sirius.
"Shall we leave it and see where we are?"
"No, we came all that way to stay down here, Brittle."
Grinning sheepishly, she glanced round for an exit.
"There, some…" she groaned, "stairs."
"There's only a few, lets go," said Sirius, starting for the wooden steps.
"There's someone up there," hissed Brittle when they reached the top and peaked through a crack.
"Yeah, but we can sneak out, there's a bunch of jars of candy here and a bunch of people."
Slipping out the door into the crowd, the kids looked round, and for a second thought they were back in Diagon Alley.
"We're in Hogsmeade," breathed Sirius. "We're not to be here till 3rd year!"
"What's Hogsmeade?" asked Brittle.
"An all wizarding village."
"Awesome. I have some money too."
"We'll go to Zonkos first, then back here. My dad was telling me about it in Diagon Alley before mum reminded him we couldn't come here till year 3."
"What's Zonkos??" asked Brittle as she looked round the store, wondering if there could be better. Sherbet balls, ice mice, Bertie Botts every flavor beans, blood pops for pranks… everything she could ever have imagined, all crammed into a little store with yellow and green walls and bright lights.
"Zonkos. For pranks," said Sirius, as awed as Brittle, but urgently wanting to get to the prank shop.
"Lets go!" she cheered, and they raced out the door and down the street to Zonkos. The shop was HUGE, with walls of every color (it having about 9 walls) and a changing ceiling, fire explosions of green, then blue, then orange… and going on in a color scheme with no pattern. The shelves were lined with pranks, pranks in the center of the place, on the counter… it was almost two much for the troublemakers.
"Everything. We need some of everything," said Sirius as he gaped, before breaking outta his trance and racing off, grabbing a handful of this, a pocket full of that.
"Hell, the poor Slytherins," grinned Brittle.
"'Poor' Slytherins?? I don't think so…" Sirius said. They both shared identical, evil grins that would scare the pants off half the school.
They hadn't expected to need money, so they ended up putting a lot back and choosing only the necessities, like paint that changed color when near frogs and explosions that went off after being consumed.
Running back to Honeydukes with pockets full of pranks and almost empty of money, they managed to squeeze a few gallons and get a good amount of candy.
"Okay. Ready to leave?"
"Yah, lets go, for McGonagall notices we're missing," Sirius answered.
They glanced round before calmly opening the door and climbing downstairs towards the trap door.
"Where'd it go???" asked Brittle frantically, before dropping on her knees and scrabbling for the door.
"Right here," said Sirius, his toe touching an almost invisible handle while Brittle signed in relief.
They descended the ladder when she noticed it. The banister. There was a banister. It was beside the stairs and went as far as they could see. A banister, railing, whatever you like, but a BANISTER!!! RIGHT THERE! and the same idea popped into their heads at the exact same time.
"SLIDE!" Sirius screamed before jumping on and disappearing quickly. Brittle followed within seconds, trying to stay at a normal speed, but finding it near impossible, she let herself propel forwards.
The walls were a blur of light brown, their destination a pitch black pit, and the banister a black snake slithering into it.
It had taken them an hour to walk the passageway, with all the low ceilings and quick turns, along with the fact that they had not gotten used to Hogwarts yet, and it's moving walls and floors. Getting stuck for 15 minutes in goop had not been fun. The way down the stairs took about 5 minutes, which had taken 40 to ascend, and the walk back less than 20 minutes, they avoiding the trick places and rushing through the low ceiling areas that they knew didn't get any lower.
Climbing out from the witch's rump, they glancing down at their bulging pockets and tried to think of how they could possible make them look less suspicious.
"We'll just have to hope we don't run into anyone," said Sirius before they took off towards Gryffindor tower.
"I don't think it's after hours yet…" said Brittle. "We'll prolly make it back in time, and we can stop by the kitchens really quick to grab something to eat."
"Sounds good to me," grinned Sirius as he swerved into a passageway they had found earlier that year that lead to the kitchens.
"So… how often shall we be visiting Hogsmeade?" asked Brittle, wearing her evil grin.
"When we need stuff or feel like it. Next time, lets go earlier, and we can explore the whole place," said an overjoyed Sirius, 'hopping' through the halls with Brittle, or more likely floating from the sherbet balls.
"Remind me next time to buy a lot more of these…"
* * *
The two were sneaking round at night. As usual. They were nearing the Slytherin Common room, and having followed Snape there earlier, they knew the password to enter.
"Hahaha, I can't believe they actually still make this stuff," muttered Brittle as she looked at the 'Gregory's Glue, sure to stick anything anywhere'. "I used this to stick myself to the ceiling when I was younger… Mum was not happy. Hum, shall we write 'TWITS' cross the ceiling? That was a very funny book…"
"Did monkeys seriously do this in the book?" Sirius asked Brittle.
"Yeah, Lily told me to read it. Birds too."
"Those were some very smart animals…"
Trying not to bang the glue cans against one another was a chore that Brittle wished she didn't have. They made loud clinks when they made contact, but glue was defiantly necessary for what they planned on doing.
"Mud bloods are idiots," said Sirius when they reached the wall they thought was the Slytherin dorm. It didn't open.
"Shit! They changed the password!" he groaned, turning and banging his head on the wall, before opening his eyes to see the green common room that had been behind them.
"Oh," he said sheepishly, "I knew that."
Brittle spun round and they slid as silently as possible while carrying 4 cans of glue each into the common room.
They had gone over what to do so many times it was almost automatic. They couldn't talk much for fear of being heard, but trying to stop the laughter that escaped their throats was near impossible.
"Wingardium Leviosa," they said before doing what they had to do with the glue, and another wingardium leviosa.
Soon they had perfected it, so one glued and the other used the levitating spell. Then, after copying the move many times, they stopped and observed their masterpiece.
"D'we stay and wait for the Slytherin's response, or d'we leave?" asked Brittle, glowing with pride and obviously wanting to stay and watch.
"I would say stay. Lets see if there are any passageways in here that we could use to sneak out quickly," grinned Sirius. "This is worth a months detention…"
"The picture," said Brittle, painting to a picture of Salazar Slytherin on the wall, "there's something behind it."
"How can you tell?" he asked, looking closely at the portrait.
"I dunno, I just think there is," answered Brittle, before walking up to the moving man.
"Too bad it was painted in the Middle Ages. They didn't know how to paint moving pictures back then, so we can't ask it," said Sirius.
"Like it'd tell us."
"Hey…" Sirius said suddenly as the picture moved out towards them.
"What did you do?" asked Brittle as she gaped at the hole behind the portrait.
"I leaned on the wall," he answered.
"Prolly a button there or something," said Brittle before heading over to where Sirius was and expecting the wall.
"Well, in we go," said he, not really caring where the button was, and only noticed one thing: the sun was coming up, casting golden dawn light over the cold stone room, it's vaulting ceiling swallowing it up like a monster eating little children. Shadows emerged from every little corner, the fire in the grate providing nothing, having burned out long before.
"The sun's rising," said Sirius before pulling on Brittle's arm, and pushing her into the hole in the wall. They were beside the burned out fireplace, and could see everything in the room.
"This is transparent!" exclaimed Sirius as they closed the picture.
"Yeah, I noticed earlier. If you look hard from the other side, you can see in."
"Well, that's exactly what we want," Sirius said sarcastically. "To have the Slytherins just look right up and see us…"
"I do hope Al comes down first," Brittle changed the subject, before glancing over at Sirius, who was falling asleep.
"Lovely idea, Sirius, except the part about you snoring like a frigging blender and catching all the Slytherins attention, and then us getting detention for the rest of our lives, which is what we hope to AVOID."
"Hey, at least Pettigrew isn't here, you should hear him snore. He's louder than your stereo!" laughed Sirius, before stretching out his hand for help from Brittle. Brittle yanked him up, not noticing the back of the picture frame.
"OW!" roared Sirius, as he shot up from having his head cradled by part of the border to ramming his forehead into it.
"Sry," murmured Brittle, trying not to laugh at the black mark that was sure to appear on Sirius's forehead.
"It's not funny!"
* * *
Squatting in a tunnel with a diameter of 4 feet for 2 hours was not Brittle's ideal morning, especially since Sirius could not shut the hell up about their cramped surroundings.
"This is not fucking worth it!" he groaned, shifting his weight from his left knee to his right. "The stones are digging into my fucking knees!"
"Oh shut up already, your butt hurts when you sit Indian style, your toes when you squat, now your knees? Ignore it and go over what we're gonna do when Al comes down…" Brittle hissed back.
"Yeah, I have, about TEN MILLIONS TIMES. Damn this place to…"
"SHUT UP!" whispered Brittle as a sound from the stairs reached her ears. There, on the green-carpeted stairs, stood a Slytherin 5th year. He yawned and made his way across the room, not even noticing the change that had happened overnight.
"I have heard of Slytherins being annoying, mean, and nasty, but unobservant is new…"
The two waited in silence for their prey to walk into the poacher's trap. He didn't come. And he didn't come. AND HE DIDN'T COME.
"Alright, perhaps we should have put dung bombs under his bed or something…"
"Or any of their beds. Just one of them yelling would get em all down here," Brittle thought.
"Yeah, but he usually comes down first, you know that… They're always at breakfast before anyone."
"Good point."
And then, after waiting for one and a half hours, they heard footsteps from the boy's stairway again.
Al, less sleepy than the prefect who had practically fallen down before, climbed down the stairs in a lazy fashion, his cloak billowing despite his slower pace.
"What in god's name…" his voice trailed off as he stepped into the over-turned common room. Every chair and table hung from the ceiling.
"Wingardium Leviosa," whispered Brittle, and watched as a brown paintbrush levitated up behind Al, who was slowly backing back up the stairs. The brush slapped a sticky amount of goo on his head, and before he could even reach up to examine it, Sirius had followed suit of Brittle, and Al rose to the ceiling.
"WHAT THE HELL??" yelled the boy, squirming and glaring round the room. "Hey! Someone help me!"
Brittle and Sirius couldn't help it, they broke down into a fit of laughter, rolling on the ground at the sight of one of Potter's co. dangling from his hair.
"WHO'S THERE?" he roared from his place on the arching ceiling, glaring down from his 50-foot perch at the stone floor below.
The two pranksters tried to shut up, but failed miserably until they heard the pounding feet of other students.
"AL!" yelled a girl, "hang on!"
All glared down at her, looking particularly ticked off.
"Yeah, to what? I'm hanging from my freaking HAIR!"
"Um…"
Sirius couldn't hold it any longer, and a loud cackle escaped his lips, before he tripped backwards on his own cloak and kicked open the portrait to reveal two shadowed figures.
Brittle snatched the back of Sirius's robes (muttering something along the lines of, "Clumsy bastard!"), before tripping over her feet as she tried to run down the passage. A swearing Sirius climbed over her tangled legs, and was dragging her down the passageway by her wrist before she could even think.
She stumbled and made failing attempts to stand, before after much trial and error they could make off at an actual full speed of stumble fall.
"THE CEILING IS TOO FRIGGIN LOW!" hissed Brittle as they hurried on, hearing the Slytherins behind them.
"Brittle, we'll have more problems if this damn this is a dead end!"
"Hell, don't remind me…" Brittle grumbled before pushing Sirius, resulting in him almost falling flat on his face, and another steady line of swearing emitting from his open mouth.
"Hey!" he said angrily, sticking out his foot to trip her, neither of them remembering they were trying to get away.
"Just go!" she said angrily, when they realized they had reached the end of it (which took both of them bouncing off of something that make a PLINK noise).
Both Brittle and Sirius yelled 'naughty' obscenities, the former rubbing her bleeding head and both glaring at the large, metal door before them.
"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" Brittle roared to Sirius, who was closer and almost on top of her from being bounced backwards. The footsteps got louder behind them as Sirius threw his weight into the wheel on the door.
"I'll bet you money we don't wanna know what's at the other end of this door…" puffed Sirius as he pulled.
"Lemme help," Brittle said impatiently, hearing the footsteps grow nearer still, obviously trying to decide which way to go. She reached forward and the two yanked on the door, before they pulled it open. And wished they hadn't.
"BLAG!!!" Brittle gulped as a rush of water came into the tunnel, her and Sirius holding on for dear life to the door before they realized this was stupid.
Tumbling over and under, occasionally rising to the top and trying to find some air, they made their way back down the tunnel with the water, all sounds of their pursuers having vanished.
As the water washed over Brittle, she wondered wither she should fight. The tunnel was so long, and the air at the top was slowly becoming non-existent. She had long ago lost sight of Sirius.
A harmless prank… just something little… please let me go. Lemme go… her mind screamed at the river of water that tormented round her body, rolling her over again and again until she wasn't sure what was up and what was down.
LEMME GO! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING! TAKE ANY FUCKIGN THING OF MINE YOU WANT! I REFUSE TO DROWN! Her nervous thoughts rang out, dimming slowly towards the end to small whispers of defeat.
Fine… you win, she whispered right before she felt a cold hand grasp her wrist.
"BRITT!" a familiar voice called over the rushing water.
"Sirius?" she coughed.
"The one and only. What were you doing? Why didn't you just swim back to one of the passageways? I kept trying to catch up with you… but the water was waaaay to fast."
Suddenly Brittle realized that the water had been flowing one direction, completely skipping tunnels like the one they were in now, and that swimming towards one would have been very sensible. Had she not been screaming at the world…
"Thanks," she said, brushing herself off (or at least attempting to, which she was quite unsuccessful at). "Why the damn hell would anyone make a portal to the lake?? How are we gonna close the frigging thing?"
"Um… we're closing it?" asked Sirius, looking confused. "If we travel the pipes," he gestured to the sliver round him, "we can get back to the Gryffindor common room, and no one will know we did it."
"Yeah, but if Hogwarts floods, it'll be our fault."
"How the hell are we gonna get back to it without drowning?"
"Lets worry bout that when we get to it…" Brittle started off down the tunnel, following the wet footprints Sirius has left behind. They weren't really footprints… not the kind you see in mud on movies. But nothing in real life is much like the movies. Sirius's footprints had little sprays of water in between each of the steps, making it obvious that he had been running, and the trail that occasionally marked the wall on a corner showed that he was not good at turning.
It was then that they ran into her, quite literally, and were extremely lucky she was a ghost.
"Pardon me," said Brittle, suddenly thinking up an idea, "so clumsy… I do apologize."
The ghost stared at her and smiled, believing Brittle's lying act.
"It's quite all right… but what is that noise?"
"Some how the pipe back there got opened… but I can't seem to reach it to close it. Would you happen to be going that way? Maybe you could close it for me."
"Myrtle, why don't you close it for us?" mimicked the ghost. "We're alive, we need air, you're dead and so will you go through the water and run us an errand?"
"Myrtle, is that your name? I'm Brittle, and I am just asking. Please?"
"Lets all make fun of Myrtle's name, even though our's is worse, and stupid!" yelled the ghost angrily.
"Please??"
The ghost looked at her, nodded, and before she took off claimed she agreed due to bordism.
"Bordism… the most powerful force in the world…" muttered Brittle, before the two snuck down the tunnels, trying to find a way out.
Soon they found themselves in a girl's bathroom on the 5th floor, and Brittle smiled to herself, wondering if anyone would notice wet footprints leading from there to the Gryffindor Common room. She slipped through the shadows like a black panther, every once in a while, her spots showed through the velvet of her fur, and shining green eyes gazed round steadily, narrowing at sounds and widening when they heard footsteps.
"Sirius, hurry up!" she hissed to the sociable boy, who had started a quick chat with Peeves, an ally of his.
He lumbered up to her, like a clumsy little boy compared to her evil grace that lead her to so much trouble, allowing her to steal silently, lie stealthily, and be as brave and bold as she dared, when she dared (or, as many said, be as rude as she possibly could whenever she wanted to).
Finally, they saw the fat lady, and were inside the common room.
"Ha, that was great." Laughed Sirius suddenly. "Al hanging from the ceiling like that…"
"Heh, wonder how much damage we caused… s'pose we'll find out tomorrow."
"I can't wait for the morning…" Sirius grinned evilly, and both raced up to their dorms.
* * *
The hall was buzzing when the two entered the next day, and it took no less that two seconds for them to have decided to listen in to every conversation round them, picking up details, trying to see if anyone was on to them.
"Yeah, Al is still there!"
"I hear that half of the Slytherins can't swim, and even Professor Karfeteri ended up hanging to the ceiling…"
"It was Sirius and Brittle, I swear, the bloody…" started one of the Slytherins.
"How d'ya know?" asked another, just to have half the table stare at him like he was stupid (although half the table was only 4 or 5 kids).
"Who else would try to copy a move from The Twits but forget to turn the furniture upside down??"
The two looked at each other and shrugged at their stupidity (or Brittle's). They then and took their seats, while all of Gryffindor glanced at them, expecting something from them, to tell them who had committed the crime. Brittle couldn't help herself. She grinned back and winked at one of the 5th years with a good sense of humor, who cracked up, and congratulated her with a look of admiration.
Soon they had gotten about 50 Congrats! looks, and a few puzzled glances that may have meant 'How the hell did you get the lake into the Slytherin common room???"
James and co were the only Gryffindors who didn't look amused in the slightest.
"You might as well just be in Slytherin," hissed James at Sirius and Brittle as he passed, and soon fond his shoe covered in raspberry jelly.
He reached cross the table, snatched at a jug full of maple syrup, and poured it onto Brittle's brown hair, grinning stupidly while she looked astonished.
Sirius finally snapped outta his shock, and tried to hit James over the head with his plate, before he gave up and threw some muffins at him, and James reached over to grab a handful of pudding and whip it over to Sirius. A food fight would have started. Should have started. But everyone at Gryffindor knew there was something terribly wrong, for a Gryffindor to start a food fight with another. No house fought itself. All the members were to get along.
Before anyone could say a single word, Brittle and Sirius were gone, running to the common room so they could get changed (and James couldn't, cause he'd have to go up with them, which he refuse to do), while McGonagall wrote herself a note to give them and Potter (another) detention.
"The bastard! Did you see him? Hear him?? About us and Slytherin? It's not like we're mean or anything…"
Sirius looked at his friend, and decided to leave her to her complaints as they climbed.
* * *
"ARGLE!" yelled a voice from the boys dorm as Brittle pushed her own door open. She knew that argle, and rushed down the stairs, then back up another flight towards the 2nd year boys dorm, taking the steps two at a time.
"SIRIUS!" she yelled, "what's wr-"
And there he sat. James Potter, changing his socks from raspberry colors to white.
"How the hell..." muttered Sirius to James, who didn't even look up.
"This is war," James said quietly, before throwing a book at Sirius. Brittle grabbed at his arms, and dragged him downstairs before he could do anything drastic.
* * *
The June breeze lifted Brittle's hair off of her face as she stared off though the balcony door in the 1st year girl's common room. The short grass of Hogwarts didn't sway like it did back at Brittle's grandmas, where she was headed in 15 minutes. Well, the train came first, but after the train was her grandma's, her parents deciding it too costly to bring her back to the US for two short months every year.
The school year had ended recently, exams just ending and both Brittle and Sirius sure of their failing.
"Grandma's gonna kill me… I'd better make it over to Sirius's at the beginning of the summer so she doesn't burn off my head," muttered Brittle as she started to play with the fringes on the drapes round her bed. They were silky gold, dangling innocently from crimson drapes, short little tiny things that she adored to braid when bored.
She stood and walked out through the wooden doors that lead to the small balcony, a semicircle with a railing round it. Leaning over and looking at the forest, she wondered if James would manage to torture them in the summer, because Sirius had a few plans should he attempt it.
There really had been war that year at Hogwarts between the duo and James's co, which confused the school to hell. Never before had there ever been rivals that were in the same house. Usually, you had the 'Gryffindors hate Slytherins, so we're going to burn you!' and 'Muggle lovers! Lets fry the mudbloods!', but never had there been Gryffindor vs. Gryffindor.
"BRITT!!!!" Sirius's voice called up the stairs. "C'mon!!!!!! We have to go!"
Brittle jumped at the sudden explosion of noise, and raced back into her dorm, before grabbing her bag with personal possessions in it and other stuff she preferred not to put in her trunk, which had already been taken down to the train platform in Hogsmeade.
"LET'S GO!" Sirius screamed almost in her ear as she rounded the corner and found him standing there, eyes screwed up in concentration on projecting his voice.
"OW! DON'T YELL IN MY FUCKING EAR!"
"Oh, C'mon, McGonagall is waiting for us…" complained Sirius before he grabbed onto the Gryffindor girl's wrist and dragged her through the castle to a carriage waiting for them. The carriage was horseless and iron black, with the Hogwart's crest encrusted in its door and mythical creatures embroidered round the sides. The wheels were large wooden things, and when the carriage was sent into movement Brittle swore she heard horse hooves clopping on the rocky dirt path.
They were soon at the platform, and heading over to the 1st piles of luggage, which held only two bags, Brittle and Sirius's.
"THE BASTARD!" Sirius furied when he saw his used-to-be-black trunk. It had what would be an extremely cool looking snake on it, had it not been mouthing the words 'mudbloods suck, but not nearly as much as us Slytherins'. Brittle's was similar, with the Slytherin emblem painted on; it's new colors emerald and silver.
"I can't believe him!" Brittle raged, kicking her trunk over to the sounds of uncontrollable laughter from the train. Her and her friend whipped round to see James, Lily, Al, Remus, and Elaine standing there, holding each other up, James almost pulling Remus out the door. Peter had this stupid smile on his face, but Sirius and Brittle's murderous glares stripped it right off. In both Lily and Elaine's hand's were thin paintbrushes, both of them the artistic type, and Remus held onto a large one that they had obviously used to paint the larger sections. At their feet were empty paint cans.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!" growled Sirius, rushing forwards towards them as they slammed the door in his face.
"I HATE HIM!!!!" shrieked Brittle, jumping round and hitting anything (and everything) she saw. "Specially Peter. He's always following him, and we couldn't persuade him otherwise, but he's so chicken that he won't laugh cause he's to scared. The little…"
"Miss Grace! Mr. Black! Get on the train!" yelled a voice from their right, and they saw McGonagall standing and staring at them in anger, as the scarlet engine was ready to pull out from it resting position in the station.
Dragging their trunks to the compartment was quite an ordeal, and they listened to their fellow Gryffindors with cheeks turning red in embarrassment. Whoever had the upper hand was whom the Gryffindors cheered for most of the time, but it did tend to lean towards favoring James, due to his kindness.
"Idiots," muttered Brittle as she rammed her trunk onto the rack and threw herself onto the seat. Sirius followed suit, before they started cursing Potter and his entire family, then went to Evans, and then to Lupin...
"So, what are we going to do to them over the summer?" asked Brittle after a moment of silent from the steady river of words. It was no longer a question as of to wither they were going to make James's holiday miserable, but common knowledge.
"Well, you'll have to come to my house for a while, and we can plot everything we want to," replied Sirius with a wicked grin.
"Have something I mind, I'll take it?" asked Brittle.
"Not exactly, but I know I will…" and so went the train ride back to Kings Cross, the beginning of their summer vacation including plotting ways to torture their new rivals.
"Sirius… maybe we should just get some prank ideas over the summer. There'll be no one for them to be embarrassed by."
"Ooooh, good point, Britt," said Sirius, still lying on his back on the red seat.
"Heh, next year, they won't know what hit em," two boys in separate compartments said at the same time.