Not one of my best chapters I'll admit, but I was running low on ideas...
Chapter Three has finally arrived!
To ease some apparent confusion the OCs are:
Maree Teilor, Ravenclaw, Occasionally called Marzy
Alexa Piper, Ravenclaw, aka Lexi
Alexis Trivic, Gryffindor, aka Alex
Engracia Penthea, Gryffindor, aka Grace
London Rogue, Hufflepuff
The wind swept through the icy grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the sun made an unusual appearance in the sky. The trees of the forbidden forest swayed calmly in the breeze to denote another day in the children's education. A perfectly normal day.
"Sirius Orion Black and James Harold Potter get your arses back here!" I screeched pelting around the corner as the laughing boys ran towards the Gryffindor tower; their one sanctuary from my wrath.
I drew my wand and caught Black with a well-aimed jelly-legs jinx as he was rounding the home stretch and sent a lot of ropes rocketing after Potter as he took a fruitless dive towards the fat lady's portrait. Caught mid-air, the fool crashed onto the ground and I grabbed Sirius by the ear so I could berate the pair at the same time. This was possibly the thirteenth time this week that I had caught the pair in their idiotic mischief that they seemed to find amusing.
"Calm down Teilor," Sirius said jokingly, looking up into my furious face.
"Yeah," James added as I approached, "it was only a joke."
"I don't believe Severus would agree," I growled as I let go of Sirius right next to his best friend, "it was an outright attack and the pair of you know it."
I glared icily at the pair in front of me as they squirmed a little at the harshness in my gaze as I continued to verbally assault the pair for another few minutes. For the last five years it had been a near daily occurence that the pair captured in front of me would cause trouble - usually using Severus as the victim - and I would chase them down; only this time I actually had some authority.
"Do you see this badge? Or are you as blind as you are stupid?" I asked the pair tapping the shiny prefect's badge attached to my robes, "I'm giving you detention for a week."
"And you think that's gonna bother us?" Sirius sneered as I sent the note to Professor McGonagall with a flick of my wrist. I glared at the idiotic 'pretty boy' as he watched me scornfully and thought through my idea carefully as I calculated the consequences before reaching my decision.
"No," I responded with a smirk of my own, "but this will."
I flicked my wrist and muttered a simple incantation under my breath as a large metal vat appeared, suspended, directly over both boys heads. Another quick incantation followed by a swift swish of my wand and the dark-brown contents of the vat spilled over the brim as it slowly tipped over my captives. When the contents were emptied the vat disappeared leaving two particularly sticky blobs. Glad for their inability to move I walked over and took a swift sample of the substance.
"Gee boys," I insulted as I removed my fingers from my mouth, "didn't know you could be this sweet."
I smirked at the pair of horrified looks that met me through the substance as I walked away and called a departing insult over my shoulder before I turned the corner and made my way to the school's library. The exchanges between myself and the idiotic 'Marauders' had been borderline hostile for years and since my sudden rise to power they had been getting steadily worse.
In one particular interaction I had noticed several of the Slytherins walking into breakfast in our third year with their hair a particularly violent shade of pink, Severus' was worse than most. This had riled me up, along with several other interactions with Black during the day, and I had retaliated. The following morning all of the Marauders had shown up to breakfast with pink bodies and purple hair; needless to say they were not amused. Ever since that moment it had been an all out war, and I was holding up rather well I must say. I broke from my memories as the wooden double-doors of the library came into view.
Madam Pince shot an enraged glare at me as I burst through the doors of the library and made my way across the room to my small circle of friends. I stole an unused chair from a nearby table and shoved it in between Lexi and Grace. Everyone looked up at the noise of the scraping chair and either nodded or waved mutely as I returned the gesture before pulling a random book away from London and opening it wide to stand it up on the table before sinking my head onto my arms behind the tome.
Alexa, my best friend and confidante since the day we met, gave me a quick once over and sighed, placing a spare quill in the book she was scanning through and closing it softly. Alexa had risen to being my friend quickly with her great loyalty and bright personality, I was always thankful that I had met her and found myself in the same house as her. She didn't always know exactly what I was thinking at a single glance, but she was a pretty good guess.
"You ran into them again didn't you?" Lexi hissed in the form of question and needed no more answer than my simple groan in response as I banged my head lightly on the table. Alexa sighed before ceasing my head-banging.
Grace, one of our resident Gryffindors and all-around wonderful friend to talk to, heard the question and proceeded to mark her place in a particularly large book and looked at me. Since our first encounter we became swift friends as I found a brave and noble person in her. Grace embodied the Gryffindor traits well and complemented them with her unwavering loyalty and friendly attitude.
"You've got to stop letting them get to you," Grace whispered as she leaned around my book and peered down at my slumped form, "they're not worth your time."
"But they keep harassing Severus and I can't just let them get away with it," I moaned in exasperation as I thumped my head on the table once more and Alexa shot me an exasperated glance.
Alex, the other resident of Gryffindor tower and generally quiet compatriot, looked up from her hasty scrawls across the table at my book. She had always told me exactly what she thought since our moment of introduction and it often led to several disagreements, but it was a point I sincerely respected about her. Alex embodied Gryffindor bravery in every sense and never backed down when she knew she was right, even if she was in a dangerous situation.
"I still don't understand what you see in Severus," Alex contributed in hushed tones as she proceeded to scrawl some more notes, "he's not always in the right you know and he can fight for himself."
"I know that," I snapped in a voice that was a little too loud, causing Madam Pince to shoot glares at our table. I groaned and lifted my head so my chin was resting on my arms and I was staring blankly at the book in front of me.
London, the bubbly and eccentric Hufflepuff resident, put a final point on her notes and looked around the table at her friends before glancing around my book and noticing my state. Ever since I'd saved London from the older boys I'd loved her honest loyalty and hard work. She was always good for a smile when you needed one, and sometimes she said things without thinking them through properly, which was not always wise on her behalf.
"Is Marzy whining about her future boyfriend again?" London enquired as she cleaned her quill with a flick of her wand and chewed on the end a little, staring blankly at the cover of my book. My mouth fell open and I accidentally knocked the book in front of me over at her sudden declaration. The remainder of my companions made a great effort to smother their laughter so as not to incur the rage of the demonic librarian.
"I can see where London's coming from," Alex inserted, trying her hardest to keep a straight face as my spluttering face fell on her, "he is always trying to get her attention."
"And she's always chasing after him," Grace sighed wiping a mock tear from her eye, "isn't it romantic?"
As the realisation finally seemed to fully dawn on my being the girls opposite me fell into each other in fits of giggles, unable to prevent the laughter anymore. I looked over at Lexi helplessly to find her snorting as well; this threw me over the edge. In a sudden burst of rage I jumped up from my seat and pointed accusingly at the other girls.
"I DO NOT LIKE SIRIUS BLACK!" I shrieked as I glared at my giggling companions. This, of course only made them laugh louder as we were swiftly evicted from the library by a seething librarian who was referring to us as a group of barbarians.
I stormed away from the group in the direction of the grand staircase as I heard my friends feet clattering on the floor as they raced to catch up with my swiftly retreating form. London caught up with me first and swung an arm around my shoulder which I shrugged off as I turned right and proceeded down the enchanted stairwell.
"Chill out Marzy," London spoke between gasps as she rushed to keep up with my pace, "it was only a joke."
"Well I'm not laughing," I ground out between my teeth as we descended yet another floor of the ridiculously large castle.
Alexa caught up next and fell into step beside me as the others moved to catch up with us as my frustration began to build at the mere idea of Sirius bloody Black. Alexa noticed my mood, and in a moment of pure genius, looked back up the stairs, smiled and waved.
"Hey Sirius!" She yelled as I, being the gullible fool I am, whipped around quickly and drew my wand to point at the impending narcissist. I glared at Alexa as I stashed my wand, realising that my best friend had tricked me. Her lips twitched a little and I started smiling, damn the stupid girl for being able to make me feel better.
"Miss Teilor!" I heard a voice yell, completely wrecking my moment of happiness, as I glanced over my shoulder to find Professor McGonagall heading our way. I let the smile return to my face as the head of Gryffindor approached and shot my friends a quick glare as a way of letting them know that this wasn't over while they continued on their quest through the castle before smiling at the strict professor again.
"I was wondering if you had any information about the chocolate-coated students that I found on my way to Gryffindor tower this afternoon," the noble lady continued as she proceeded past me up the stairs, unnoticing as I inched slowly down them after she passed my spot and smirked as she continued to talk to thin air as if she expected me to follow, which she probably did, knowing how much I was going to regret this later. The professor would find me again, and I was bound to be in even bigger trouble for ditching her, so for now I resolved to stay as far from the harsh lady as possible until I had to speak with her.
I sprinted around the corner of the next landing and ran straight into my best friend as she loitered in the hall. We were both sent flying in opposite directions as we collided and I landed painfully on my behind causing me to cuss under my breath. I crawled towards my friend and stood up as soon as I was safely around the corner. Alexa brushed off her behind and stood up opposite me glaring in mock anger.
"Don't you know," I began with a fake sneer, almost sounding like Severus, and glared at Lexi, "not to loiter around corners?"
"Don't you know," Alexa returned in just as cold a voice, "not to run around corners like a deranged lunatic?"
I laughed at my closest comrade and embraced her tightly whilst slowly shunting her backwards in case the austere professor came back this way. Lexi laughed in unison with me as we walked down to the school grounds through several different secret passages, our footsteps reverberating slightly off the walls in the more deserted ones, and emerged quickly through the double doors into the crisp winter air. I stood with my arms wide, welcoming the breeze, while Alexa shivered and wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. I swept towards the Black Lake and sat at its bank, the view of my body blocked by a particularly large tree, and patted the ground beside me. Alexa took her place and withdrew her wand before casting a few quick warming charms and sitting far more cosily.
"She does have a point y'know," Alexa pointed out as we looked across the lake towards the far bank that was surrounded by the forbidden forest. I sighed and looked at my best friend.
"Yeah," I responded to Alexa's shock, "I probably shouldn't have covered them in chocolate but you and I both know that a detention would have done nothing."
"Maree your an idiot," Alexa retaliated in a demeaning staccato, "I was talking about London."
"Then I disagree entirely," I replied immediately as my friend shot me a skeptical glance from the corner of her eye.
"Maree, who are you trying to kid?"
"I want nothing to do with young goats."
"You're being ridiculous Maree."
"No, I am being realistic, you are the one being ridiculous."
This was my way of letting Alexa know that the conversation was over; that I would have nothing more of her shenanigans. She sighed and stared out at the desolate, still lake's surface and threw a rock into it, watching intently as the ripples spread out to the surface.
"Whatever you say," Alexa muttered, so low that I almost missed it as the sun began it's descent into the horizon.
"I can not stand her!" Sirius shouted as he burst into the fifth year boy's dormitories, a space occupied by five beds and several discarded pieces of laundry; it was a widely known fact that the Hogwarts house elves weren't stupid enough to venture into the Marauders dormitory, and with good reason.
Sirius stomped through the accumulated garbage and flopped onto one of the four poster beds with his face pressed firmly into his pillow as he continued to shout out several swear words which were severely muffled. The remainder of the legendary group followed Sirius into the dormitory and took their spots up on different beds around the room. James leaned over a little hesitantly and tapped Sirius on the shoulder. Sirius groaned and glanced at his best friend before sitting up and glaring at the pillow.
"That stupid Maree bloody Teilor thinks she's so bloody perfect," Sirius vented sinking a punch into his pillow and making a growling noise in the back of his throat, "she drives me mental! Always bloody looking out for bloody Snivillus and sticking her perfect prefect nose - no offense Remus - into Marauder business."
"Well she sure has your attention doesn't she Pads?" James snorted, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing at his friend's dilemma, "you can't keep your eyes off her."
Peter curled over on his bed laughing as if that single insinuation was the funniest thing in the world, and it really wasn't considering James brought it up at least once every year. Sirius leaned over and belted James upside the head before shooting a glare in Peter's direction.
"I do not like Maree Teilor," Sirius ground out as he glared at his friends, silently daring them to disagree, "she is a constant thorn in my side."
"Thorns come from roses," James responded, thinking quickly, "and we all know how Siri loves his roses."
Sirius scowled at his friend's antics and laid down on his bed with his head facing the roof as an idea struck him and he sat up quickly.
"We must be revenged," he said in a dark tone, "we will strike her when she least expects i-"
"No."
Sirius turned to Remus in shock to find his good friend shaking his head and muttering under his breath. Sirius sighed and turned to James in confusion to be met with a confused shrug.
"Okay Remus," Sirius responded a little sarcastically, "why exactly not?"
"Because, in reality, she has far more influence than us," Remus responded. Sirius shot him a disbelieving stare as his friend continued to insist upon the facts.
"Think about it guys!" Remus urged from his spot across the room, "She has friends in all the different houses and gets along better with the teachers. She's actually kind to first years and has double the spell knowledge that you guys do. She could beat you in an instant if you went against her."
What Remus had said was correct and Sirius threw his hands up in defeat before flopping back on the bed and hearing the satisfying creak underneath the sudden pressure.
Why does it have to be her? Sirius thought as the world continued to move around him, Why, of all the beautiful girls in Hogwarts, did he have to find his attention drawn to that one annoying little girl?
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