There were two certainties in Susannah's life, one being that she was going to get into major trouble one day for her short temper, the other that one day she wouldn't be able to rely on Severus Snape to get her out of trouble, like he did when she 'accidentally' spilt pumpkin juice down Marcia Ayreton's school shirt that morning. It wasn't that she had meant to soak the Ravenclaw's shirt with the orange liquid; it wasn't even that she had heard that morning about Marcia spreading rumours about her involvement with the Weasley's recent prank. It was purely down to the physical factors within the great hall that day that had limited Susannah's movement between the two tables, causing her to lose her balance, unfortunately whilst carrying her juice over to see her sisters on the Gryffindor table.
The first factor had been Marcus Flint deciding that it was the perfect time to show Roger Davies just how well his aim had improved over the summer, the second that Susannah's shoe wasn't quite on properly and the third, most important factor, was that poor Marcia was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Had this been her defence before Marcia had opened her mouth she may have had a better chance of surviving with just a lecture on clumsy behaviours within school. However that silly Ravenclaw had to voice her unappreciated opinions on the reason why her uniform was turning a strange see-through orangey colour and no matter how loudly Susannah pointed out to Professor McGonagall that it was unreasonable for
Marcia to call her a clumsy, idiotic Slytherbitch, it was still quite clear to any witnesses that the red blood mingling with the orange stain was not an unfortunate side effect of spilt pumpkin juice.
And so, after twenty minutes of arguing, protesting and trying to appeal to McGonagall's better side, Susannah found herself shoved unceremoniously into a potions classroom with a scrubbing brush and a bucket of oddly brown coloured liquid.
"But I still don't get it Professor, how in Merlin's name is this actually better than writing two hundred lines of 'I will not punch my fellow students in the nose and assume that shouting louder than a teacher will get me out of trouble'?" Susannah gestured wildly around the slightly grubby, extremely disused classroom. "I mean, I actually have to get my hands dirty for this."
Snape shook his head at the irate teenager in front of him.
"Miss Bell may it please be noted that had I not intervened then you would be forced to complete those lines under the watchful eye of our dear transfiguration teacher, possibly wasting several hours that could be better spent improving your quidditch skills, or even doing homework. May it also be noted that I do not expect you to clean this classroom." He paused and raised his eyebrow at Susannah, "You may be new in my house but I see very beneficial, Slytherin based qualities in you that you might actually one day put to good use. If for the next few hours you can manage to keep out of McGonagall's way you might actually be able to get away with no punishment, this time. However if I do find out that you have injured another student again within say, the next month or so, I will be forced to allow her to carry out whatever punishment she finds fit."
With that he swept out of the room, leaving a confused but happy girl in his wake. If there was one thing that Susannah knew, it was that by now her parents would be well aware of her behaviour at breakfast, as her great-aunt Minerva never wasted time in telling her favourite nephew when one of his many children put a toe out of line.
However she had the next few hours free to do whatever she wanted. Of course hanging out with Fred and George was out of the question. In fact leaving the dungeons was really out of the question. What she needed was a place to chill out, that didn't involve being spotted by most of the teaching staff at Hogwarts and didn't involve bumping into Frank Harrow, the scariest Quidditch keeper at school.
Harrow kept trying to get her to agree to dawn practices, which were completely out of the question considering she had hoped on getting some sleep whilst at school and she had enough trouble staying awake through her lessons without adding physical exercise to her morning routine.
For some strange reason it was then that it hit her. Where she should spend her newly acquired free time, and who she should spend it with. It surprised her that it hadn't been clear when she had initially found out about the free time, especially as she had already made plans with him before Ayreton incident.
She checked silently if anyone was hanging around in the dark corridor outside the potions room, before leaving the classroom, and her punishment, behind in favour of the basement corridor. Thanks to the ingenuity of her great ancestor, and co-founder of the school, there were several secret passages dotted around the school. Although maybe it was more thanks to being friends with the Weasley twins in her first year that allowed Susannah to know the best way to the corridor outside the Hufflepuff common room without having to go up stairs, cross the entrance hall and go down another set of stairs into the basement near the great hall.
She pushed aside a tapestry of the wizard flying on the back of a giant duck and slipped into the dark passageway hidden behind it. After lighting her wand and checking for spiders, Susannah hurried along in the dim light hoping that no one had seen her.
At the end of the passage Susannah met what appeared to be a dead end. She tapped the brick right in front of her eyes and waited whilst a small doorway appeared in front of her. Magic, she thought, should be introduced to muggles, at least then they might be a bit happier.
On the other side of the wall she stepped into the corridor, again checking for any lurking Huffleduffs that might be waiting to snitch on an innocent Slytherin. When she found none she proceeded, with a slightly heavier heart, towards the picture of flowers that signified the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. It was here she stopped dead. Despite having made it this far she realised that she might have trouble actually getting Cedric from his common room. Susannah sighed slightly, before sliding down the wall and taking a seat on the cold stone floor.
After ten minutes of waiting, and seeing whether or not she could carve her name into the floor with just her wand and a hair clip, the painting opened quietly and a boy with light brown hair poked his head out and grinned at the sight of the pre-occupied girl sat on the floor.
"You know Susie, if you ask the portrait above your head very nicely; he will actually come to his other portrait above the fireplace and tell me you're sat outside attempting to excavate the floor beneath our common room."
"Cedric don't do that! I was scared you were someone else, specifically someone who had witnessed my altercation with Ayreton this morning and was about to go inform McGonagall of my obvious detention skipping." She stood up quickly, reinserting the clip into her messy bun and slipping her wand back into her skirt pocket. Cedric grinned at her, stepping out from the portrait hole and onto the corridor.
"I heard about that, I was actually quite sad I had an early breakfast for once. So you really punched her?" Cedric smirked slightly as Susannah began to protest.
"In all fairness she deserved it! She completely overreacted to the whole spillage incident and then called me a bitch! Sometime I think this school has no real justice system. I may have to write to the board of governors."
"Really, and tell them what? You are not happy with the way certain students are always seen as the bad guy? Susie you punched her, you were bound to get in trouble. I realise you're a Bell but there is only so far that your power extends at Hogwarts. Add to that the fact that you're only a second year, and a Slytherin and you have seriously no reason to complain."
Susannah stared at him for a second; trying to absorb the load of rubbish he just threw at her. She debated asking him to reiterate, before realising that he meant she was too complacent.
"How can you say that I am clearly resting on my family name? I do not react like that when someone insults me just because I think being a Bell can get me out of trouble." She paused, wondering why a friend as good as Cedric would suggest she was a liability to herself, before opening her mouth to continue her rant.
"Save it Bell, I'm not going to pick a fight with you. I'm sorry if I sounded like I was having a dig, but it's only because I care. Why don't you head back to the Slytherin common room, there's less chance of someone seeing you there and informing the teachers. Plus you can use the free time before lunch to lie down and cool off before having to face Marcia again." Cedric moved to hug the brunette but was rebuffed when she stepped back and turned on her heel. She paused before setting off down the corridor back to the passage. It was there that she stopped, turned to look at Cedric and smiled. It was hard to be pissed at him, when he always had that look on his face, like no matter how hard he criticised he would always be there for her. She nodded curtly at the boy before tapping the same brick as before and slipping off back to the common room, where she fully intended to climb into bed for a sleep before the stress that would be lunch.