AN:- A big thank you to CupacakesAndAlice and notstrongenough for following my story. I now have a good idea of where this tory is going and I've finished quiet a bit.
Disclaimer:- No, no! I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does.
Chapter 2:- To the Great Hall that stood strong in the face of so much teenage rebellion...
Ann entered the Great Hall followed by Sarah. Lauren was already seated at the Ravenclaw table. Margret was with Henry Devenport a few seats before them. Theirs was an odd pairing. Him being the class clown, always onto mischief and getting into one detention at the wake of another one. She, on the other hand, was a strict rule follower. The perfect prefect material. It was to general astonishment that Lauren was chosen to be prefect instead of her.
"Really?" Sarah exclaimed from behind her, "Isn't it a little too early in the year for public displays of affection?"
Ann turned around to see Sarah glaring at Margret. Rolling her eyes, she turned back in front, "They rarely get to see each other during the hols as it is. Don't make it difficult for them in school too."
That was the oddest thing about Henry's and Margret's relationship. While Henry was an out and out muggleborn like Lauren and Ann (he was even a minor royal to boot!), Margret's parents were purebloods. While her father was okay with any friends she had, her mother was at the best of days cold towards Ann and Lauren. Towards Henry, she gave no inkling that she knew of his existence till, one fine day it was announced in the Mason household that the daughter of the family was dating a muggleborn. To the pureblood bred Annalisa Mason, ("not Ann dear, please be careful to not mix me with mudblood scums! Oh dear dear! Were you here all along? You can address me as Mrs. Mason, darling.") this was the mother nay, the grandmother of all scandals. She would have a fainting fit every time Henry addressed her. Over the holidays, Ann and the others had received various letters from Margret, describing her mother's many attempts to break them up. Each letter varied from amusement to hysteria, in no specific order. So to see them together their faces alight with whatever alighted a young couple's face was at the same time joyful and nausea inducing. And this was a thought, though not voiced, that Sarah seemed to agree with.
"Remind me to learn to conjure a bowl every time I see those two together?" She took a seat, eyes still trained on them, her expression somewhere between wanting to throw up and smile.
"You don't know how to conjure a bowl?" Lauren asked her curiously.
"No. Why? Do you?"
"Yeah. We learned it last year, didn't we?"
"What? No way. You just read ahead and you now want to frighten me."
"Umm... No."
"Umm... Yes."
"Ann!" they screamed in unison and turned to her.
"We have been conjuring stuff since first year. That's what we do in charms."
"Yeah. And who didn't know that?" Mathew Longden slipped in between Sarah and Lauren, amidst loud protests from the girls. " Hey there!" he looked at each of them in turn, "And what are such fine lassies talking about this warm autumn evening?"
Sarah snorted, "Ann here," she waved her hand in Ann's direction, "thinks that knowing how to conjure a bowl is an essential part of our fifth year curriculum. Please tell her it is not so?"
"Well, what does Lauren say?"
"She actually looked to Ann for consultation."
"Don't we have the answer then." He grinned and for the first time that evening. He rested his eyes on her.
"By the way, a little bird told me that you hexed Black and blue." He guffawed at his own joke. Seeing the entire table staring at him stone faced, he quickly cleared his throat, "so is it true?"
"Maybe. Is it true that you had your wicked way with a Hufflepuff junior over the summer?"
"Maybe."
"Since when have Hufflepuff juniors interested you? I thought you were in deep for Cecelia Hart?" Lauren looked puzzled.
"Aye. I do. The whole 'having my wicked way' as Ann so neatly put it was all an elaborate scheme to make Cece jealous."
"And did it work?" Ann asked, eyebrows raised.
"Sadly no." A new voice joined them as Roger took a seat next to Ann, "Cece obviously wasn't too happy with what he did. But we're suspecting it to be a result of him 'taking advantage of a vulnerable junior' rather than actually being jealous."
They all laughed loudly at Matt's expense. He chose to ignore this and looked at Ann, "So what are your OWLS results like? Any good?"
"I don't know what your idea of good is. But if getting five Os and an E in everything else, including History of Magic is good. Then you have it." Sarah answered for Ann.
Matt's eyes widened at that, "Are you being serious now? Really? Five? Oh god! That isn't good Ann, that is great, excellent, amazing, outstanding, no pun intended."
"Then my results were outstanding." Ann grinned."What about yours?"
"Eh! I think I can live! I got one O of course. E in everything else except History of Magic. Failed in that. But who wants to listen to dead guys teach? Certainly not me!"
"Wow! You even hate with passion don't you?" Lauren asked, irritably.
Any reply from Matt was cut short when Professor McGonagall walked into the Great Hall, parchment in one hand and her wand in the other. The wand was currently balancing a stool with magic. She placed the stool in the centre of the Hall and a Hat appeared on top of it. Scared looking first years walked into the Hall. Their knees knocking.
"I still find the hat giving me such a creep. I mean magical or not, talking hats and teddy bears are always the stuff nightmares are made up of. And the hat is so dirty" Lauren looked around at the rest of them.
Where Henry's claim to fame was that of a minor royal, Lauren was actually the granddaughter of the Duke. Ann still remembered vividly, the first day they had met. It was right after she was sorted to Ravenclaw house. After the 'congratulations' and the 'welcomes' had gradually died down, she was joined by another girl just as tiny as her. She was sitting up ramrod straight, her head held high. Though she seemed quiet stuck up to begin with, Ann later noticed it was a case of shyness and nerves at being in a new place for the first time. She knew this because, she was feeling the same way. Mustering up the courage she turned to the girl, "Hello, I'm Ann. I'm in first year too." She smiled and held her hand out.
How she was proved wrong! The girl took one look at her outstretched and had turned her head away, disdainfully. Just then Sarah carried her full dinner plate and squeezed herself in between them. The girl squealed in protest. Sarah gave her a disgusted look, "If you have a problem please don't forget to mention it." She said, sarcasm dripping out of every word. She then turned to Ann. They had already met in the train.
"As a matter of fact, I do have a problem with you squeezing yourself in between like that. Do you know who I am?" a nasally voice piped up from behind Sarah.
"No." Ann replied, curiosity getting the better of her," who are you?"
"I" she held her head high, "am the honourable Lauren Millicent. My grandfather is a Duke."
"Your grandfather is a what?" Sarah looked puzzled.
"Granddaughter to a duke? Well that explains your need to turn your nose up at anything and everything." Ann said, scathingly.
"Girls, cut her some slack. She's new here." Margret cut in.
"So are we, Margret. You don't see us finding a need to turn our nose up like little miss sourpuss over here." Sarah nodded her head at Lauren.
Margret spotting Ann and smiled at her, "I believe we haven't met. I'm Margret Mason. "She held her hand out for Ann to shake.
Taking it she said, "Ann Baker. Pleasure to meet you." She smiled at them.
"Now that we've got all the pleasantries out of the way," said Sarah, still eyeing Lauren who, chose to ignore them again, "What do we do with our honourable miss over there?"
"Sarah, please." Margret looked at her, eyes beseeching.
"Hey! Have it your way. I highly doubt 'honourable' will make many friends anyway." Sarah threw put her hand up.
It turned out that the honourable miss Millicent was in their dorm room after all. It was a terrible blow to Ann and Sarah. They vowed to send her to Coventry. So with cold looks from them directed at Lauren and Margret's attempt to be nice to her and get her to mingle, none of them among the Ravenclaw first years could say they had a marvellous first day.
But all that changed the very next day. Sarah and Ann who had fast become friends were making their way to their first Defence class of the year when they heard a loud voice coming from round the corner.
"I said scrub my boot clean of that scum you touched me with mudblood!"
There was a pause and a very quiet, "n-no."
Sarah and Ann looked at each other in shock. Why! if it wasn't for their honourable friend, standing up to herself from what sounded like nasty Slytherins. Whipping her wand out, Sarah walked ahead. Slightly frightened, Ann mirrored her. They rounded the corner to find two Slytherin first year boys towering over Lauren. She looked scared out of her wits.
"Stop ragging her, Bulstrode. She's done nothing to you." Sarah yelled authoritatively.
The boy, Bulstrode looked puzzled for a minute then, his expression cleared," Ah! Knight, you honestly don't think mudbloods like this," he nudged his toe at her, "Should stay in school."
"Watch your mouth." Sarah looked at him coldly.
"Oh yes of course! Your father is one of this too. Isn't it?" he asked her, a cruel glint in his eyes.
"Don't talk about Sarah that way and leave Lauren alone. Only we have the right to call her any names." Ann spoke up, seeing Sarah look horrified and angry. She didn't know what mudblood was, but it sure didn't sound like a very good word to be throwing around.
"And you are?" he looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Bulstrode, that is another mudblood. Can't you smell the stench from here? And she looks so common too." The other boy looked at her, loathing evident in his eyes.
Before Ann could answer there was a sudden cry of "wingardium Leviosa" and she saw Bulstrode being shot into the air. He hit the ceiling and crumpled on the grounds, unconscious. She looked behind her; Sarah had her wand out and was pointing it threateningly at the other boy. He looked at his friend, fear evident in his eyes and scarpered from there. Sarah dropped her hand to her knee, panting heavily. She looked at Lauren, "Next time, princess, don't try your royalty acts on the Slytherins. Some of them are pretty nasty around here."
But Lauren didn't seem to hear her. Eyes trained into the distance she muttered," Thanks. I didn't think anyone would help me out. Everyone is under the impression that I am stuck up"
"Well, maybe that's because you are stuck up." Ann couldn't help but say accusingly.
She shook her head, "I thought you'd understand. I'm a muggleborn just like you-"
"Muggleborn yes. But nothing like me."
"I've never been to a proper school before. I've never had to mingle with so many common people-"
"Great! don't mince words at all, alright? At this rate you may make some good, solid enemies-"
"-this is difficult for me. For one moment can't you at least think that maybe, just maybe I'm really shy?"
Both girls fell silent, contemplating what they had just heard.
Finally Sarah sighed, "Alright honourable, you're shy. Well, take my hand. I'll take you to this magical place where shyness-"she waved at the corridor they were standing in"-isn't allowed."
Lauren giggled. "So what brings you to Hogwarts? I didn't think your parents would be too thrilled to send you here." Ann asked, puzzled.
Lauren shrugged, "Mother wasn't too happy. Dad on the other hand, he's wacky. He's a scientist you know. When we got the letter, dad wanted to test if it were all true. And so I'm here."
"That's swell! Your father is a scientist?"
Lauren looks sad, "It's not as amazing as it sounds. Sometimes I wonder if I'm nothing but an experiment to him."
Ann placed her arm on her shoulder, "There isn't anything to worry about. You are an experiment."
"Ann!" Sarah looked shocked.
"But so are we. I mean, tell me oh not naive eleven year old. Does any of our parents have the answers to every question we ask? No! It's obvious that they have no idea what they are doing. They are just taking their chance on us and hoping for it to turn out well."
Sarah looked impressed, "Where did you get that from?"
Ann shrugged, "My mum told me right before I was allowed to come here."
Both girls burst out laughing. When the laughter had died down, Lauren looked at her, "Borrowed or not, your little wisdom made me feel better about everything. So thank you. Both of you'll" she looked at Sarah.
"Hey! We have your back, just like you have ours." Sarah looked at her warmly. Lauren inclined her head. She turned back to Ann, "So what do your parents do?"
"Mum is a housewife. But she was a librarian before she was married. Dad used to work in a company. He held a top position there. He's quit now. Mum says they wouldn't let him imagine there. So now he owns a pub. And both my parents run it." She said proudly.
Both girls had wide eyes, "Your parents own a pub?" Sarah looked awed.
"Wonderful! Can we drop by?" Lauren asked when Ann nodded.
"Anytime."
They looked at each other in glee. "So we get free adult drinks and all?"
Ann laughed, "You wish! They never let me touch the adult drinks" seeing them look so crestfallen, "But nothing to worry, Julian, my elder brother, sneaks plenty in. So we all drink little. Enough so mum and dad don't suspect anything."
After loud cheers from both the girls they picked their bags up and continued walking, "So what about you, Sarah?" Lauren looked at her.
"Mum's working in Florence and Blotts. Dad is an Auror." They looked at her blankly, "He's a dark wizard catcher."
Lauren suddenly looked scared, "There are dark wizards."
Sarah nodded grimly, "Sure there are. What do you think people like Bulstrode will grow into?"
The three of them walked in silence to Defence against the Dark Arts.
"I'm so famished!" Margret dropped on her bed, "Oh! I could sleep like a log tonight."
Lauren looked over from her perch on her bed, "the same goes for all of us, Maggie. But unlike you I have prefect duties to complete. So see you girls after that." She got up waved at them and walked out of their dorm room.
Ann looked at the ceiling. "That was some dinner." She heard Sarah say quietly from the bed beside hers.
When Ann didn't reply, she looked over to her, "Hey! Are you alright? You've been awfully quiet the whole of today. It wasn't that thing with Black was it?"
Ann chuckled, "No." She could fell Sarah's eyes on her, expectantly waiting for something more, "Mum and I fought again." She added quietly so Margret wouldn't hear.
"Oh you poor thing!" Sarah got up from her bed and sat down beside her, "Well no wonder you look so sad. You want to tell me about it?"
Ann sighed, "We've just been fighting so much lately. Over the hols but, mum kept saying that if she were to die we'd all feel really sorry that we didn't treat her right. I'm just really afraid now that something might happen to her while I'm here and Sarah" she finally looked at her friend, "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself then"
Sarah nodded, "Your right! But nothing is going to happen. You should probably write to her. Say sorry. It makes you both feel a lot better about the situation. I always do that when mum and I fight."
Ann was amused, "You mean, even when you are both in the same room."
Sarah nodded solemnly, "Especially then." She then smiled at Ann, "Go on! Write her a letter. I'll accompany you to the Owlery tomorrow if you want."
Ann shook her head, "I'll write the letter. But I'll go on my own. "
Sarah nodded. She went back to her bed and tucked in," I understand. I'll give you your space. But if you ever need a shoulder I'll gladly oblige"
"Thanks Sarah!" Ann smiled sleepily. Little did she know that she would need the shoulder sooner than she had anticipated.
An:-Sorry for the lack of Sirius Black POVs. If you're reading this expecting more narration in his view then I'm really sorry, this is still an Ann-centric story. I'll have little POVs of other characters of course, but you'llsee Ann mainly. Onwards people!
