All That I Desire
Chapter 4
A/N: Wow it's been ages since I have touched this story. It's been a year!Well a couple of months technically, but still... In fact I was still using my old pen name :O And this is a super long chapter to... make up for it? (i.e: I waffled too much) Welp anyway, here is the next chapter :DDDD Hope you enjoy! Oh and thank you to September and Summer who reviewed again. You are awesome :3
Tulip smiled to herself: she had a plan.
But plans aren't worth much when you're lost in Hogwart's infinite corridors. Tulip's fingers grasped the tapestry concealing the secret corridor, but she remembered that the only reason she found it in the first place was because she was completely lost. 'I could just wait until someone comes along and ask them for directions, but I'm not even sure I'm supposed to be up here'.
Just as she thought that an old man came wheezing up the corridor, pointing at her accusingly. Tulip vaguely remembered the man being the Hogwart's caretaker, Mr. Filch, who was notorious for hating students. Not a great trait for someone working in a school.
"What are you doin' up 'ere then? Why did Mrs. Norris bring me?" he grumbled at Tulip. The caretaker looked the area before answering his own question: "Lurking about the Headmistress' office are we now? That won't do at all,"
"I-I-I didn't do anything wrong! I got lost going to the bathroom," she sputtered in response. There was something quite intimidating about this old geezer.
"Sure, sure - a likely story. I bet my left arm you were gonna set of a whole pile of dungbombs off down outside McGonnagal's office and leave me to clear the mess up!" he gave a large sniff and added: "See, I can smell them already!"
"No, I got covered in vinegar! The Hufflepuff common room defences were set off," defended Tulip.
"Ha, of course! How silly of me to think otherwise. I suppose I should just let you go then?"
"Err... yes?" Tulip hesitated, wondering why he suddenly changed his mind.
"Not a snowball's chance in hell, did you really think I'd let you off the hook with such a pathetic excuse as that?" he cackled back at her. "I'll take you back to my office and hand out an appropriate punishment for handling contraband items!"
"But I didn't do anything wrong!" Tulip whined as she was dragged by the arm down a flight of stairs. The two of them (plus Mrs. Norris) were just about to turn the corner when they were met with a stern looking Professor Beedle (who taught Charms to NEWT students as Professor Flitwick was finding teaching all Years a bit taxing).
"Argus, why are you taking this young lady to your office?" he questioned, whilst eyeing Mrs. Norris with distaste.
"I was just goin' to find her a suitable punishment for the usage of dungbombs," Filch said with pride, despite Professor Beedle's looks at him.
"Usage of dungbombs? I don't smell any. All I smell is..." Professor Beedle waved his hands around in the air, searching for the word.
"Oh, it's vinegar - the Hufflepuff Common Room defences were set off and my robes got soaked," Tulip explained, rather embarrassed that the smell was so pungent.
"Ah yes, that's it! I did hear about the incident on my way up here. I believe old Plitick from Transfiguration has sorted it out now, so you can return to the Common Room. Oh but before then, let me sort out your clothes." and with that Professor Beedle jabbed the sleeve of Tulip's robes with his wand then swiftly flicked it downwards. Suddenly there was a loud splash as all the vinegar was forced out of Tulip's robes and splatted onto the floor, leaving a small puddle by her feet.
"I think that's done the trick. I managed to get all the vinegar out of your clothes, but your hair and skin still might have a bit in," the Professor then lowered his voice and added: "There's a Prefect bathroom a floor down from here. Strictly speaking lower Year students aren't allowed to use it, but I'm guessing you don't want to spend too much longer with vinegar in your hair. The password is 'Squeaky Clean'. Here, I'll write down the directions". He then brought out a quill a scrap of parchment and a bottle of ink. The swept his wand across and they levitated up from his palm. With another swoop of the wand, the quill dipped itself in the ink and then danced across the parchment, flecks of ink flying off the nib with the speed of the writing. After the task was finished, the stationary floated back into his hands.
"Thank you Professor! Oh and could you write me the directions to the Common Room. I'm a bit lost you see..." Tulip added.
"Ah yes, of course." he replied, enchanting the writing implements once again. After the quill was finished, he floated the paper into Tulip's hand. "Off you trot then, I'll deal with Mr. Filch here,"
The girl carefully stepped over Mrs Norris (who was glaring venomously at her). As she slipped away from Filch (who glaring just as venomously as he missed the chance to dole out a detention) she managed to catch snippets of the conversation between the two staff.
"So now your nose is knackered as well as your back? And your eyes, last I heard you mistook a Second-Year for Peeves; you should really stop blaming-" began the Charms Professor, before being cut off by a miffed Mr Filch.
"NOW LISTEN HERE PROFESSOR BEEDLE!" cried the caretaker, causing Tulip to jump from the explosion of sound. "JUST BECAUSE I'M NOT A- THAT I DON'T HAVE-" he then lowered his voice and spoke a word at the Professor that Tulip couldn't make out from that distance. "DOESN'T MEAN THAT I'M NOT CAPABLE OF MY JOB!" the elderly caretaker then broke down into a coughing fit from straining his vocal chords. Tulip hurried a little quicker down the stairs before Mr. Flich could start shouting at her. She quickly found the painting that signified the entrance to the Prefects' bathroom using the directions she was given. She chanted the password and the painting swung on it's hinge, granting her access. Tulip climbed up the step and entered the passageway that was revealed.
As she entered the bathroom, a small gasp escaped Tulip's lips after seeing the huge array of beautiful shining brass and copper taps that lined the wall in front of her. A large stained glass window of a mermaid was to her right, light shining through from some sort of charm, which bathed the taps and the pool of water in front of them in all the colours of the spectrum.
Tulip quickly checked around all of the corners to check if anyone was in the bathroom. She was surprised that there was no-one, but she remembered that today was the fortnightly school council meeting and most of the prefects attended. Tulip swiftly undressed, slid carefully into the pool and waded over to the selections of taps. 'Right, which one do I try first?'.
The night was cold. Winter was well on it's way and all life on the small island had found some recluse the escape the bitter frost. A black fog, almost like smoke, swirled and wrapped itself around a tall stone tower which was situated in the dead center of the island. The wind was howling, stirring up the fog even more until it created a sort of veil around the tower.
A young girl woke from her slumber within the topmost room of the tower, from the noise of the roaring gale. The girl swung out of her bed and walked towards the only window in the room, a draft from the cracks in the rotting window shutter made her long white nightdress flutter almost hypnotically.
The girl stopped a little before the window and reached out to open the shutter. As soon as her delicate fingers touched the oak surface, the window and the wall surrounding it suddenly crumbled and fell into the lake which encirlcled the tower.
The pieces of rubble seemed to fall in slow-motion and the air (and the fog munipulated by it) became deathly still. The moment the debris hit the surface of the shimmering lake, the spell of silence was broken and the black fog gathered into a single ball and then morphed into and arrowhead like shape and hurtled towards the hole in the tower.
The girl shielded her face against the force of the fog, but that didn't save her from the ghostly voices that were also carried by the wind. "You're a failure, you're a failure, you're a failure," the girl heard over and over, each time the sound growing with more intensity until the young one couldn't take it anymore.
She swung about with her fists in an attempt to ward away the ghostly presence. In the fear, blindness and confusion the girl soon found herself at the edge of the room that was exposed to the outside. She clinged to what was left of the wall and gazed at the lake below her, the water somehow still and undisturbed. She could see the stars winking at her in the reflection of the mirror-like water.
The fog caught up with her and dulled all of her senses. She couldn't see, hear or feel anything in the endless cloud of negative thoughts. In the confusion, the girl slipped and fell from the edge of the tower and hurtled towards the lake. In the single moment before her face broke the surface of the water, the girl could hear the fog screeching and hissing as it evaporated and was destroyed. The girl blinked and when she opened her eyes she saw long platinum hair billowing in the liquid and a pair af curious brown eyes staring right back at her.
Tulip's eyes snapped open and found herself looking into the very same eyes that had found her in the dream. Olivia had her face above Tulip's, her long platinum blonde hair tickling the sides of her half-asleep roommate's face.
"How long have you been there?" Tulip asked, shuffling up in her bed, indicating for Olivia to move her face away.
"Not long," she replied. "I was up finishing up my transfiguration essay." Her voice trailed off as she wandered back over to her desk.
Tulip attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes and sighed. Usually she had no trouble waking up in the morning (or the middle of the night as it was now), but for some reason she was still a little drowsy. Tulip had recently made a habit of washing in the Prefect's bathroom as much as possible, since the password changes monthly, so she wanted to get use out of it while she could. Every time she wanted to use is, she would spread a rumour that Moaning Myrtle was lurking about there and hey-presto: empty bathroom. There was something so addictive about trying all of the different types of soaps and oils. But as it turns out the concoction she had tried earlier that evening made a great sleep syrup. 'It was definitely the bubbles,' she concluded.
Tulip swiftly dressed in her uniform and crept out of the dorm quietly, as not to wake her other roommates up. At the last second, Tulip poked her head round the door and whispered:
"Thanks for waking me up, Olivia."
"Hmm?" Olivia looked confused, being abruptly pulled out of her daydream.
"Never mind..." Tulip slipped on her robe that was hanging by the door and left the dorm. 'Honestly, every time that I try to be friendly to someone...'
Tulip looped a borrowed knapsack (which was filled with a rather pungent prank item) around her shoulder and snuck past the blazing fire of the common room. She almost made it do the exit hatch when she heard the voices of a certain pair of trouble makers.
"Look-y here Ray, ickle firstie here is sneaking out after hours. How adorable." said Alan, eyeing Tulip's shoulder bag with an interest.
"Tut tut, we can't be having this can we Alan?" joined in Ray, shaking his head in mock disgrace.
"We might lose our hard-earned reputation."
"That'd be a tragedy. Unless you could cut us in on some of the action."
The pair of them turned to Tulip who shrunk away into the corner.
"Those dungbombs in your bag. What are you planning to do with them?" inquired Alan, moving closer to Tulip.
"What dungbombs?" Tulip replied pulling on her best innocent face.
"Oh please, I know the scent of them anywhere," replied, rolling his eyes. "Now it seems like you're off to spread some mischief and me and Ray here just want to lend a hand to the next generation of ill-doers. It looks like this is your first time doing this, so Ray and I'll help. Split the dungbombs and we'll be able to have more wide-spread mayhem. We won't even rat you out. Sound good?"
Tulip considered for a moment, before unslinging her bag. She unpacked the dungbombs and thrust them into the troublemakers' hands.
"Here, you take them all. I only needed them as a distraction."
"A distraction for what?" asked Ray, looking more interested in the situation.
"Sneaking into the Headmistress' office."
A/N: So that was a bit of a rubbish cliffhanger. Basically this chapter was going to have a bit longer (and therefore was going to end on a better cliffhanger), but because I randomly added the dream sequence, I didn't want this chapter to be too long. Also, I wanted to have something to show for this month because I felt like I haven't been uploading/updating anything recently. Hopefully there'll be only one more chapter after this (which will probably be a bit longer than this one) and then this story will be finished :D Until then, tally ho chaps :)
-PhoenixViolets