Peace, Be Gone!

Chapter Two

I stormed into the Great Hall, fuming. I was tired after classes, hungry, bored with the strange looks being thrown at my abnormal skin hue, and just generally pissed off. I gave a great huff, collapsing onto the Gryffindor bench in between Charlie and Tonks, who were arguing about Quidditch.

"Everybody knows that the Chudley Cannons suck!" Tonks insisted, "They're, like, twenty-seventh in the league!"

"That doesn't matter," Charlie argued, backing up his favorite team in a futile battle against statistics, "They're still the best. The Cannons just lost their star players-"

"Oh, please," Tonks snorted, "The Cannons never had any star players!"

"What do you think, Erin?" Charlie jabbed my shoulder, "Tell her I'm right?"

"Yes, please," Tonks rolled her eyes, "Enlighten us on how three goals in an entire season is excellent."

"I think," I growled, "That you both had better shut up before I hex you into next week."

"Ooh, someone's grouchy," Tonks frowned.

"I'm not grouchy," I mumbled, snatching a chicken leg as the food appeared, "I'm just hungry, tired, and I want this damn green off my body."

"It's not that bad," Charlie put a hand comfortingly on my shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?" I snorted, shrugging his hand off, "I look like the Wicked Witch of the West."

Tonks smirked, but Charlie just had a blank look on his face, "What?"

"It's a Muggle movie, Ginger, dear," Tonks cooed patronizingly, "Not something you would understand."

Charlie stuck his tongue out at her before returning to me, "Do you have any idea who your Rotten Slytherin Stalker is?"

I shrugged, "It's probably somebody in our year, but I don't even know all the seventh-year Slytherins."

Tonks looked at me, amazed, "We've been in classes with them since we were eleven, Erin! How can you not know their names?"

I shrugged, "It's not personal or anything- I just never had any reason to learn anything about them whatsoever."

"Let's start with who you know, then," Tonks said, "Maybe we can figure out who this is."

I nodded, "Anton Montague, for one, because he's creepy and a bully."

"And he fancies you," Charlie added.

I grimaced, "I was trying to forget about that. There's also Jackson Bulstrode, Archie Black, Alanis Johnson, and Betty Summers."

Tonks counted up on her fingers, "That's almost all of them- you're only missing Matthew Knight and Lucas Bolton."

"I'm surprised you don't know those two," Charlie said, "We've only played them in Quidditch just about every year."

"Really?" I blinked. I usually remembered who was on the rosters for Quidditch teams. As a Gryffindor Chaser, it was usually a tactic to pay attention to how the other groups flew. Charlie was the Seeker (and Captain), and Tonks referred to herself as a 'professional spectator,' "What positions do they play?"

"Bolton's on Seeker and Knight's a Chaser," Charlie said. I frowned. Even more upsetting that this Knight character had slipped my grasp lo these many years.

I tried to put it out of my mind and returned to my dinner. Eventually, the Hall began to empty. After much whining, I convinced Tonks and Charlie to leave for Gryffindor Tower, claiming that my Rotten Slytherin wouldn't appear unless I was alone. They grumbled, bur eventually complied, under the conditions that I left out no sordid detail in my retelling of events, and that they could resume the Exploding Snap tournament without me.

As I waited for the last few stragglers to leave the Great hall, I found myself getting more and more pissed off. Who the Hell did this guy (or girl) think he (or she) was? What in the name of Merlin's lazy pet rhino gave him (or her) the right to turn me green and then keep me waiting?

I sat in the Hall, stewing in my anger and staring at the floor for about ten more minutes until a voice cause me to jerk my head up.

"I don't suppose you've charmed your gaze to burn though the floor?" my eyes alighted upon none other than the boy I'd crashed into in the hallway earlier; tall, Quidditch-toned, with sandy, pale brown hair and eyes like melted chocolate. He had an easy-going, lopsided grin plastered on his face, and the way his hands were jammed into his pockets made him look like he didn't have a care in the world. I was about to tell him to leave me the Hell alone, but then I noticed the tie around his neck. Emerald green and shining silver, it seemed to be taunting me.

"Knowing my luck, I probably would have run into some Rotten Slytherin."

Sincerely,

A Rotten Slytherin

Rotten Slytherin

Rotten Slytherin

Rotten Slytherin

My eyes widened, and I couldn't believe that I hadn't put it together sooner, "It was you!"

The Rotten Slytherin quirked an eyebrow, "So it was."

I stood up slowly and brandished my wand at the brown-eyed prankster, growling, "Now, I may not look very angry, but trust me- I am. If you don't give me what antidote I need I the next four seconds, I promise that I will hex you so far into the future that you'll be taking your N.E.W.T.s with your grandchildren."

The tall boy's grin only got wider, as if he thought I was bluffing, "Well, if you're that anxious…" He reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a phial filled with a light pink potion. I eyed the mixture greedily, holding out my hand. He pressed it into my palm, holding on to my hand.

"Drink the entire bottle and then the green will start to fade," he said, "It should be cone by the time you get back to Gryffindor Tower."

I nodded, snatching my hand back from his, unstoppering the bottle and draining it in one gulp. The potion tasted like a strawberry milkshake. I tucked the vial into my pocket, not knowing if I would need it in the future. I took one last look at the grinning boy before heading to the exit.

"Hey, Gryffindor," I paused, turning around, "Don't you want to know my name?"

"I think it's physically impossible for me to care any less than I already do," I called back, "But whatever; go for it."

"I'm Matt," he crossed the Hall, standing in front of me and offering his hand, "Matt Knight."

I just looked at his outstretched hand, remembering how he hand stared at my own earlier in the day, "Right. Good to know." I turned on my heel and stalked away.

Behind me, Matt Knight, the mysterious Slytherin Chaser, laughed, "Erin Hart, I think I like you."

"Not for much longer, " I called behind me, rounding the corner and not looking back.

Author's Note:

Right, now in case anybody notices, I have taken one or two liberties, here. First of all, Tonks and Charlie probably were not at school at the same time, and, on top of that, probably weren't best friends. Second, Tonks was a Hufflepuff, as far as I recall, so I changed that. A couple more changes might crop up here and there, but I'll try to stay as true to the books as I can. I mean, the Wizard of Oz reference may have been out of time, but as one of my favorite fictional men says, "Most people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but, actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… Stuff."

So, there you have it, my excuse for any out-of-time references.

I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizard of Oz, Doctor Who, or any characters/quotes stemming from them. They are the properties of their own creators, and are being treated with love in my hands.