(A.H.P)
I reached the hall and found my friends, what a coincidence; nothing could've been set up better. Pansy and Blaise were sitting together, leaving the only space beside Draco. I had worked up a plan in my head by the time I had reached the hall. I approached my friends and sat down beside Draco, Pansy sent me an apologetic look. I tried to let her know it was fine. I had made a checklist in my mind, things to make sure of if my plan would ever work - and the first was to find out if Draco liked me.
I turned my legs towards Draco, making sure to let one of my legs touch his lightly. I helped myself to a small but healthy lunch and soon enough, without fail I felt Draco's hand on my knee again, so he hadn't given up on me yet, good. I forced a smile very slightly, looking down at my lunch and making sure not to make eye contact with Draco. Slowly his hand made his way further up my thigh, but as I felt his fingers reach my skirt, that was enough, I removed his hand from my leg, I could tell he still liked me and tried to make sure not to make it seem like another rejection when I moved him away or it might just ruin the plan. The next thing to do would be to see Scarlett's reaction if I'm flirting with Draco, but that could wait until tomorrow; I didn't want to give him the wrong idea.
That was when I realised Pansy was once again talking about a birthday party for me,
'Who could we ask to get permission? Snape?'
'You're still on this?' I asked
'Yeah, you'd like a party wouldn't you?' she said, she had be there, I love a good party and not that I would tell her yet but I had ideas for myself too. I answered with a grin and an amused exhale, which had meant to be a laugh.
'You could ask Snape' Blaise told her, 'but it's probably better to ask Dumbledore himself, as much as it pains me to say so'
'Snape might ask Dumbledore for you, but whether he'd agree with the idea in the first place would be the problem.' Draco told us, 'Dumbledore is a pushover when it comes to goody-goody things like birthday parties, we could always get my father involved if we didn't want to talk to him ourselves, but father would be as critical as Snape about the idea'
'Oh would you try, Draco?' Pansy asked sounding slightly uncharacteristically posh
'Fine, I'll give it a go, but my owl's delivering a letter now, I'll check if it's back in the Owlery tomorrow' he said, this was fantastic. It was like they wanted this plan to work, I could go with Draco to the Owlery tomorrow, and hopefully see Scarlett on the way. Perfect.
We enjoyed a peaceful lunchtime after this then I had my first lesson of Herbology; I had seen the greenhouses before and never needed help finding my way. As I reached the greenhouses the Ravenclaws were standing outside again, I had forgotten to check who I had this lesson with. I avoided Luna at all costs and tried to join in with a conversation that the Slytherin girls were having, failing this I tried with the boys. So I never really fitted in with this year group, but I could talk to the boys to some extent.
The teacher called us into the classroom, she was plump with flyaway hair and was slightly mental looking but she looked friendlily upon us. I stood in the line beside the boys from my house like I had done in Potions, I could barely even see Luna from here, just the way I liked it. Professor Sprout had laid out several plant pots, one for each of us in two lines down each side of the table. She started the lesson by asking us questions about the plant in question and then we were to re-plant, feed and care for it - until the end of term. Sure not the hardest work in the world but this plant hits back if you get annoyed. It was a Vogelesser plant, which roughly translates from German to bird eater and if that doesn't tell you how rough this plant is nothing will.
The hour dragged along, I could see the quidditch pitch from where I stood and spent the lesson dreaming about flying in between small bursts of work. Finally the lesson ended, I headed for dinner: just the regular meal. Afterwards being exhausted, I headed straight to bed.
That night I had a dream about the plan I had concocted. I woke up in a state early the next morning, it was dark outside but I knew I couldn't sleep again. I put on my dressing gown and slippers, leaving the dormitory with my school clothes in a bag, I walked through the common room and out into the corridors, I was sure it was early but oh well. I passed several paintings on the wall, all moaning at me for using lumos and waking them. I continued walking until I reached the first year girls bathroom. One of the close-by paintings made an extra effort to complain,
'most students get a shower just before after hours or straight after lessons finish you know!'
'thanks I'll keep that in mind!' I yelled back at him making more portraits start shouting out in annoyance. In the bathroom I chose to have a shower rather than a bath and hopped into a cubicle. Just like on the edge of the bath there were several taps around me, ones to select different smells, colours and effects on the water, and by effects I mean rainbows and bubbles and things. I chose one of the many flowery smelling taps and the rainbow effect water and turned on the relaxing, refreshing water.
I stayed in the shower for about half an hour, then wrapping a towel around me and left the cubicle to collect my clothes. I went into one of the empty cubicles a few spaces along, these were the only really dry ones and everyone used them for changing rooms. I straightened myself out and left towards the common room again, now carrying my bed clothes. It was still dark outside, just how early did I get up?
As I reached my dormitory, I put my things away and checked the time, it was only 6:30! Are you kidding me? I've been up for at least an hour and a half now and am totally awake.
Bored, bored, bored, bored. Was that a house-elf in the corner? No of course it wasn't, if we did have them at Hogwarts, they'd be out of this common room by now. I mean the house that made them our slaves in the first place, they wouldn't stick around long in here. I put my feet up on the common room armchair, my head fell down in front of the other arm pushing my hair over my face, I heard something moving in the room but as I looked nothing was there… the noise continued behind the chair, followed by the creak of the common room wall opening, had there been an elf in here?
For an hour I sat with my hair covering my face and my feet hanging over the opposite side of the chair, I actually became quite comfortable. Suddenly I heard somebody on the staircases, I tried to move but gave up, not wanting to ruin my comfy position. Maybe they wont see me. No such luck, whoever it was lifted my hair out of my face,
'comfy?' Blaise asked
'very'
'so should I just leave you here with your hair over your face? Or what?' he continued looking oddly at me, but that could just be because he was upside down. I tilted my head, yeah he was definitely looking oddly at me
'that depends. What does "what" include?' I asked thoughtfully
'umm, coming down to breakfast? Brushing your hair? Anything that doesn't include looking like a complete idiot?' he suggested, I considered my options carefully. I was fond of looking like an idiot… but I was getting hungry.
'okay I'll go for the what I guess.' I told him at last as his face seemed to be finding me very amusingly odd, my favourite kind of reputation. He put my hair over my face again and I rolled off of the seat sideways landing face first on the floor. Deliberately ungracefully I got up from the floor, causing a head rush fit for the queen of weirdoes like me and stumbled from left to right before falling back into the chair I had just rolled out of. 'I can look like an idiot later' I told him.
I checked my reflection in the mirror, I looked like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards but couldn't be bothered to do anything about it. I was still dizzy as I stood up and practically clung to Blaise as I walked drunkenly towards the great hall. It was a great day so far and it hadn't even started yet. Blaise was in hysterics by the time we reached the great hall, probably embarrassed about the way I was acting and looked, but hey, where's the fun in being normal? We sat down at the table in almost the same place as we had eaten dinner the night before. We were the only ones on our long table as no other Slytherins had yet climbed out of bed (I speak from the knowledge of being in that common room for an hour laying with my head in a chair's armpit)
'what is with you today?' Blaise asked me, still very amused, I shrugged happily,
'I think it was the rainbow water' I told him grinning, knowing I'd confuse him. As expected he looked at me with a confused but amused face
'rainbow water?' he repeated
'm-hmm. Ooh!' I grinned as I spotted a sugar-coated cereal I had never tried before, I poured some into my bowl. I let Blaise watch me for a minute before explaining 'the rainbow water in the shower'
'oh right!' he said, now he understood, 'do you really think you should be eating things covered in sugar today?'
'yeah, looks tasty, wanna try some?' I flicked some at him happily and laughed as he covered his face. Seriously, what is with me today? something must have gotten me into a good mood somehow.
'okay' he said disbelievingly. Yep, I had gotten weirder! HOW COOL! I added milk to my cereal and started munching away at it. Blaise followed suit by picking out his own breakfast.
Soon one by one Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle joined us at our seats.
'Alyce what happened to you this morning? You look like you've been beaten up by a bludger.
'what is there something on my robes?' I asked purposefully stupidly,
'she's a bit… hyper' Blaise explained
'OOH! I need to get my things for today, I'll be back soon.' I told them and darted out of the hall, the only thing I heard them say was:
'don't we have half an hour before lessons?'
When I got out of the hall I slowed down again, suddenly aware off how hot the day was, if I started running then I'd get sweaty and if I got sweaty now what would have been the point of having a shower at 5 in the morning? Even if it did have rainbow water.
Reaching the common room I checked my timetable: Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, Herbology with the Ravenclaws, double history of magic with Hufflepuff ('fantastic' I thought to myself sarcastically) and Co-operative Wizardry, with the Slytherins? Is this right? I knew there was a reason I was so happy, I wasn't with Scary-Scarlett all day! I gathered my things for the first two lessons, tidied my hair at last (I didn't want to look like Professor Sprout's daughter or anything) and made my way back to the great hall. Draco had now joined the table too I sat opposite Blaise as I had been before I left.
'guys, what's co-operative wizardry?' I asked them 'and why do I have it with the Slytherins? That's a typo, right?'
'no,' Pansy told me 'it's a new lesson, you're parents probably wont have known much if anything about it before you got your Hogwarts letter and so they wouldn't have been able to tell you about it. It's basically a lesson with all the year groups from our house, we'll do catch up sessions, practise spells and skills from duelling to gobstones, the quidditch games will be held then and teachers can have meetings with the students for one reason or another if they need to, so you don't miss other classes as often' So basically a free range lesson, I love it. Soon the owl post came, I saw a familiar owl soaring towards me. Lalita! Dad had already replied. She landed swiftly in front of me and let me remove the letter from her leg, I unfolded it as she ate a bit of Draco's breakfast as mine had been finished and took off towards the window she had entered through,
'Alyce,
That's okay kiddo, quite a bit has been happening at work too. What interesting lives we lead.
That's great, you being in Slytherin, but make sure you behave yourself. It's a shame you and your sister couldn't be in the same house, you could've began to get along. Then again, you two, sharing a dormitory? I don't think she'd be home at the end of the year so maybe it's for the best, I wouldn't like to face your mother's wrath after that "mishap".
And yes I know of the Weasley family, the twins, Fredrick and Gregory I think that's what they're called write to us all the time at Zonko's trying to get a new load of tricks to use at school. Watch your back with them two on Scarlett's side, though I'm sure with your new found Slytherin cunning you could play a trick or two on them too, here's some new stock for you to try out for me, remember to report back. But of course, yes it has been initially tested professionally by us at the London store too so you wont get into too much trouble.
Have fun with your new friends and remember to keep writing.
Dad x'
I looked at what my dad had sent with the letter, 'instant drying fake spots to stick on any competition. The more you squeeze - the bigger they get. Comes off naturally if left alone for 10 days or ran under freezing water' Ha! I knew some ways I could use this.
'what's that?' Pansy asked me
'a letter from dad, he works in Zonko's and sent me a new product sample.' I went to show her the tub of the spot causing liquid, but never opened my hand enough for her to see the label.
Soon it was time to head up to our lessons. Transfiguration was again tedious beside Luna Lovegood, but was easily made up for when I couldn't see her in Herbology while we tended to the exact same Vogelesser plant as we'd be looking after all term. As break time approached I had my plan that I had devised yesterday back in mind. I needed to know where Scarlett heads to at break before Draco goes to see his owl. The lesson ended quickly enough. I made a deal of knocking over one of the boys things and my own so I could fuss about collecting everything together which would give my sister a head start to get outside first. I made my way through the tangle of corridors until I reached the front of school, I walked slowly towards the lake Scarlett was already sitting with her ginger friend and the whole gang of gingers complete with Harry Potter and Granger on the lakeside. Metres away in the shade of a tree was Pansy who was about to sit down with all our friends, one good thing about them all being second years is that they all arrived at once and were already in deep conversation so I could do whatever I pleased without them generally noticing. I made my way over to them and got some spare parchment from my bag with my quill. I scribbled another letter to my dad in reply to the one at breakfast:
'Hi again dad,
This product sounds fantastic, I would be more than happy to test it out for you, I have the perfect target, I'll get back to you with my review as soon as I've tried it out.
The twins names are Fred and George, I guess Fred's full name could be Fredrick, but I'm certain it's just George.
And are you kidding monkey-man? Scary-Scarlett and I sharing a room? She wouldn't even last a night! - She still calls mum "mummy", I mean she's a child! If she were in Slytherin she'd be minced meat by now and if I were I Gryffindor I'd have to kill someone. Okay over the top - I wouldn't have minded Gryffindor, but I couldn't stand some of the company Scarlett is holding, I'm much happier where I am.
My friends are trying to get me a birthday party in the great hall! We don't know if we'd be allowed it yet but Pansy had the whole thing practically planned out in half a lunch time.
Got to go, I'll write back about the Zonko's stuff soon.
Bye, Alyce x.'
'replying to your dad?' Pansy asked looking around at the scratching of my quill.
'yeah.' I told her, this was my perfect moment, the subject had been raised, part two of my plan, seeing Scarlett's reaction. 'umm Draco, have you written to your dad yet? We could go to the Owlery now and post the letters'
'sure, I can scribble something down when we get there though' he said seeming to be happy at the chance to be alone with me, what could be better for the plan? We got up and leaving our things with the others except some ink, a quill and parchment in Draco's pocket for him to write with, we made our way to the Owlery. It would take us mere seconds to reach Scarlett and her friends, I needed to get her attention and I needed to start flirting. Luckily I had it all planned out all I needed was for Draco to comply. I forced myself to trip over headlong clumsily on a stone, as I landed on the floor I began to laugh hysterically, being as loud as what could be considered normal so I could to capture the attention of Scarlett.
'Whoops, clumsy me' I laughed as Draco offered a hand up. I allowed him to pick me up from the ground, we were centimetres away from each other now. I stayed there for a second looking into Draco's eyes willing him to flirt back before backing away to his side, I flashed a look at Scarlett, she and her friends were all watching, a few too many eyes but I suppose they'd help her to relive the moment by talking about it once it's over. I laughed some more now looking back at Draco a lot more quietly,
'I'm so clumsy it's like I need help to walk' I giggled slightly, I was hoping Draco would laugh too but he never, no! it might all go wrong now. He smirked slightly and said to me quietly
'well let me help you out then' and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his side. Well it wasn't what I had planned but it was working, I felt uncomfortable but tried not to let it show as I flicked my eyes back to Scarlett. I was certain her face had reddened slightly and her eyes were watering, she gave me the most evil look she could muster but she was clearly hurt. We finished crossing the Gryffindors path before I pulled away from Draco slightly, I couldn't pull away entirely or he, along with everyone still watching could get suspicious. That was it, I could definitely use Draco to get to Scarlett, she liked him enough to get hurt and he liked me enough to hurt her. Guilt pinged my heart at the thought, it would hurt Draco too, who I suppose was now technically a [very] close friend. I couldn't go through with it, but at least I knew it would work if I wanted it to and I had managed to teach Scarlett a lesson for telling the world about her crushes in future.
(S.V.P)
As I was tucking into my breakfast the next morning I heard lots of hooting followed by a flurry of wings and then as if by magic, well this is Hogwarts after all, a letter fell a few inches short of my plate of eggs and bacon. I turned it over to see the lovely scrawl that was my mum's so without further ado I ripped the envelope open and read the following,
Scarlett,
How are you settling into Hogwarts? What house did you get sorted into? Aside from writing to ask how you are I am also writing to return Bicky's toys to you; you left them at home in all your excitement you silly moose! Are you and Alyce getting along with each other? Do I have to write a letter to your father?
Well, darling, I must dash now as I have a deadline that's due in, in approximately two hours time. Write back to me using Felicia because I know what a pain the School owls are.
Hope to hear from you very soon.
All my love and lots of hugs,
Mummy xxx
After I had read the letter I found a fairly big package lying in the middle of the table between Ginny's breakfast plates and mine so I picked it up and found, as my mum said they would be, Bicky's toys! I quickly finished my breakfast and raced up stairs to my dorm to give Bicky her gift; she was very happy about this of course, I then scanned my timetable to find that not only was I not with Alyce at all today I was also cutting it very fine if I wanted to be early to Herbology so I picked up all the books I needed for first and second lesson, ran down the stairs and came to a skidding halt in front of Ginny who was looking at her watch as if she was about to throttle me if I had been five seconds later!
'Where the heck did you run off to? You do realise that Herbology starts in, oh, TWO MINUTES!' After that mad outburst she yanked me from the last step and pulled me towards the greenhouses, trying not to get crushed by the other years in the process, we finally arrived at the greenhouses breathing heavily but luckily not that late so no points were deducted from Gryffindor, phew, once we had found two spare plant pots near to each other we turned to face Professor Sprout to hear what the lesson today would entail – the Vogelesser plant from last lesson – once she was satisfied that we had listened to our instructions she set us to work – watering the plant and then collecting any of the venom that it gives off; so not much for an hour lesson then! – We set to work watering them with our wands and collecting the venom into the vials that Professor Sprout had provided at our workstations for us. Just as Ginny and I were collecting the last of it Professor Sprout caught our attention so that we could give her the vials to keep until next lesson, on Monday, after we had given ours to her we packed up our things and headed to Transfiguration, again with the Hufflepuffs, Professor McGonnagall smiled at us as we walked proudly down the corridor heading to her lesson arm-in-arm laughing and talking about Bicky and Scabbers, Ron's pet rat, when we eventually arrived at the classroom door, first in the line as usual, we pestered her about what we would be covering in today's lesson and she sternly replied, with a smile in her eyes,
'Miss Paiper and Weasley, why can't you wait until the rest of your classmates arrive and I can tell you all together?'
We stared up at her almost begging her to reveal her lesson plan for us; she took this hint in good grace and lent down so that both of us could hear and whispered the following:
'We will be changing the colour of planks wood, happy about that girls?' She then lifted her head up as the rest of the class formed a line behind Ginny and I. 'You may proceed into the classroom; quietly please!'
After we got into the classroom Ginny and I chose the two empty, as is typical of this lesson, seats at the front of the class and got our books out of our bags and then promptly sat up to listen to McGonnagall tell us what we would be doing, even though we knew it was still good to pay attention, once she had finished her plan of the lesson for us we were left to turn the plank of wood in front of us to whatever colour our wands could muster – my plank went purple and Ginny's went green. Because McGonnagall was so pleased with how well Ginny and I had done with changing the colour she let us go ten minutes early! With the extra ten minutes added to my break time I dumped my books from first and second lesson onto my bed and picked up my books for double Charms that I had after break – WOW! Could my day get any better? – And my parchment and quill, put them into my bag then headed down to my most favourite spot at Hogwarts, the lake, once I arrived I took out the parchment and quill and one of my Charms books to lean on and composed the following to my mum:
Mummy!
It's so great to hear from you! I'm settling in fine at Hogwarts. I have made a best friend called Ginny Weasley (we met them at Kings Cross remember?) and all her brothers have been really nice to me as well; I got sorted into Gryffindor – just like you were Mummy!
Thank you very much for sending Bicky's toys to me she's a very contented kitty-cat now!
As for Alyce and me… Well seeing how she was sorted into Slytherin it was always going to be doomed from the start, wasn't it? No! Mummy please don't write to Dad it'll just give her more reason to detest me! Talking of Slytherins actually I have developed a little crush on one of the boys called Draco Malfoy, he's in the second year, isn't that the same boy who wrote to you all of last year begging you to send him some of the Wimbourne Wasps Quidditch memorabilia? Don't worry about me though, my interests have been well spread and I'm not going to go running after one guy obsessively, I do have a bit of a soft spot for Ginny's older brother, Ron and his friend Harry Potter too!
Hope the deadline was finished with enough time to spare and you got a chance to practice all your old moves from your Holly Head Harpies days.
There was a thud close behind me, whipping me away from my thoughts and the letter. I turned to see - Ohmigosh! Draco! I lost my line of vision as it focussed only on him. He reached his arm out towards somebody on the floor who took his hand, how much I'd love to be that person... OH MY GOD! Alyce. The rest of my vision came back into focus with a crash, what was she doing with him, like that? Next thing I knew they were centimetres away from each other, if both had pouted their lips may have even met. She was giggling into his ear, as he looked admiringly at her, that slut! How could she do this to me? This was another level, even for her. I felt my face go red. Alyce backed away from Draco slightly, still giggling to him. Maybe this was the end of it? Just then Draco took her by the waist and pulled her towards him. I thought he liked me. My eyes welled up at Draco's movement but even as my vision blurred and the distorted shape of two people, now looking like one, moved towards and pass us the sight pulled on my heart strings. I heard my friends breaths beside me and knew they or at least Ginny would soon be focussing on me, I wiped at my teary eyes allowing some vision to come back and looked at my watch willing my friends not to watch me yet. Seeing the time I knew I had to wrap up the letter now. I signed it and folded it up:
I love you very much and I hope to hear from you very soon!
All my love, hugs and kisses,
Scarlett xxx
I pulled myself together completely; I was now ready to go to Charms. So I carefully placed the letter into my bag, between my two Charms books, and ran up to the castle. I managed to get into the classroom behind the rest of the class, another non-loss of house points; I was doing well today! I found my usual seat between Luna and Ginny so I walked quietly down the rows and snuck into the desk, they both beamed up at me as I took out my books – both asked what the parchment between them was all about so of course I explained it to them Ginny then asked how I was after the Alyce and Draco stunt at break and I mumbled that I was OK; so she left it well alone – I then turned to listen to Professor Flitwick squeak at us that he wanted our homework from last lesson in to him all three of us bound up to the front of the classroom to hand ours in, don't tell anyone but I did an extra two rolls of parchment courtesy of Miss Hermione Granger; of course Ginny and Luna don't need to know that, when he was satisfied that all the class had handed in their homework he set us to work on revising the Wingardium Leviosa charm from the last lesson, we did that for the rest of the first lesson – once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy so I helped my fellow classmates out by showing them how to do it properly –
'You are just like Hermione!' Ginny whispered into my ear 'she did this to all of her class last year! It really got on Ron's nerves hehe'
I always knew there was a reason why Hermione and me had bonded so well!
Once the fourth lesson had started Professor Flitwick set us onto a new charm; the Cushioning Charm (Spongify) – he showed us what was supposed to happen and the entire class was in awe of the fact that the Professor had just made the pile of books he was standing on turn into cushions! So, naturally, of course we were all anxious to try it out so with that he told us the incantation and we got to work until the end of the lesson. He didn't even set us an essay as homework! Instead he told us to practice the new charm; so off me and my two friends went to enjoy our lunch!
Lunch was a lovely affair as always; me and Hermione shared stories of our last four lessons while the boys, and Ginny for that matter, groaned and tucked into their lunch. Hermione and I then picked up a rather healthy lunch of salad and tuna fish and she helped me with the cushioning charm – we ended up turning Harry's goblet into a cushion, to say he was furious is an understatement! – After having our fun we headed outside to our usual spot under the tree that overlooks the lake when I suddenly realised that I still had the letter to my mum in between my two Charms books! I had already had a plan up my sleeve to get Alyce back for the stunt she and Draco pulled this morning at break all I needed was Fred and George to help me out… So with that I quickly scanned the throng of students coming out of the great hall and spied Alyce, Draco and Fred! So I stayed where I was and waited for him to come over to us, which he did;
'Hey you lot! George has just headed up to the Owlery to try and get more Zonko's products for us; he'll be back soon. Mind if I join you?' he then sat down next to me – this was it, if this didn't work nothing would!
'Err… Fred?' I whispered into his ear so that Ginny and Ron couldn't hear me. 'I'm feeling rather tired and I really, really need to send my mum an owl reply to the letter that she sent me this morning I was wondering if you would mind awfully giving me a piggyback ride up to the Owlery? George can give me one back down so don't worry about sticking around!' I finished my plea with a genuine smile.
'Well, Scarlett, seeing how you asked me so nicely I would only be too happy to oblige as will George! Why don't we move over here a bit before my little sibilings throw a hissy fit?' So we moved to a spare patch of grass – in the middle of the Gryffindor and Slytherin huddles – and I jumped onto his back and off we went up to the Owlery; I had the letter carefully tucked into the pocket of my robes so as not to damage it. On the way up to the castle I caught my sister's eye, as well as Draco's, she looked as if she wanted to hex me! So I played her at the same game as she had done at break with me and laughed along with Fred as we ran up to the Owlery, he let me down once we reached the door and he walked in with me so that he could tell George of our little plan – OK so maybe I hadn't been so subtle, ahh well – who laughed back and nodded at both of us and then Fred left to go back and join our friends by the lake and I was left to search for Felicia, after I had found her and managed to coax her down from her perch on the highest beam of the Owlery once she had decided that it would be a good idea to come down so that I could send mum the reply back she swooped down and landed right on my outstretched arm with that I attached the letter to her leg and told her to head straight to 'Mum, and no detours!' With that I walked over to the window and watched as she flew from my arm towards my, first, home. Suddenly I became very aware of George standing behind me so I turned around to see his beaming face, and walked towards him and he bent down to my level and said the following:
'Your carriage awaits Madame! Now as you're a first year I'm going to assume you're not that heavy, am I right?'
After he had finished saying that I smacked him round the back of his head with a giggle 'Of course I'm not heavy! How can you say such a thing?' and off we went! We finally reached our band of merry friends I jumped down from his back and legged it across the few centimetres between Ginny and me and gave her the biggest hug and spun her round and round until we were both dizzy and in a heap on the floor!
'Wow! Scarlett are you OK? You were up in the Owlery for ages!' she asked me whilst catching her breath and gathering herself together
'Yeah I'm fine, oh sorry about that I just had some business to attend to…' I replied giving the twins a knowing look as I finished the sentence and shot a look behind me at my sister and stuck my tongue out at her – I then got the most brilliant idea; so with that I grabbed my wand and pointed it straight at her spell book and said under my breath 'Spongify'! Unfortunately she had taken off the necklace that our paternal great-grandma had given her when we were four, and still living as a happy family, to show one of her "friends" so the spell hit that instead of the book and if that didn't make it worse it also hit her hand so without any hesitation I stood up grabbed all my things together and said to the huddle around me
'I don't know about you lot but I really think it's time we… RUN!'
And just like that I was running as fast as my little, well I am only 11 after all, legs could carry me, as was she! No! She was gaining on me fast! I whipped my head around to check on the state of my friends, and sister, and saw the three Weasley boys running after me so I slowed down – bad idea – suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder so I, thinking it was Ron, stopped to an abrupt halt only to find out that it was in fact Alyce who just stood there and screamed at me:
'You know what that necklace was! FIX IT OR I'LL HEX YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!'
After that over emotional outburst I was just about to turn back around and run away again when I spied out of the corner of my eye her rather enlarged hand and that was it I was in complete hysterics! I also happened to catch the eye of Draco and the rest of Alyce's friends and they were laughing too!
'Guys! Shut up! You're supposed to be my friends! Why are you laughing along with HER?' She all but screamed at them, this of course just made all three of us laugh harder – she was acting like a spoiled brat – so to try and ignore them she continued to rant and rave at me!
'You are such a child! Just because you're in the un-cool house, and I get to hang out with Draco and Pansy (she beckoned over to them) doesn't give you the right to ruin the stuff that I hold dear to me, does it?' After that she pushed me to the ground! Everyone around us, Draco and Pansy included, gasped at her. Once I'd recovered from the shock I looked up at the twins and said
'Erm? Guys a little help here?'
'We're on it Scarlett' and with that I was lifted onto Fred and George's shoulders and Alyce was left with the rest of her Slytherin clan to go to the hospital wing to deflate her hand, well I think that's where they were planning on going I couldn't see them through the fuzz of tears brimming on the bottom of my eyelashes…
Eventually we reached the Gryffindor common room, naturally everybody had heard about the massive sibling fight that had just happened so they all wanted to know how I was, and Fred and George set me down onto the sofa but when the crowd descended on me they got rid of them for me,
'Hey, hey! Give the girl some space she's just faced the female version of Draco Malfoy' this got everybody's attention and they dutifully left me alone.
A few seconds later I muttered to Ginny and Hermione:
'Would you mind awfully if I went up to the dorm? I just need time to myself before the last lesson of the day, sorry' I smiled a weak smile at both of them and then ascended the stairs to the girl's dorm; as soon as I reached my bed I wept. For the loss of my sister and the, possible, loss of Draco!
Ten minutes later I felt a gentle tapping on my shoulder and I shot up in bed with a start, I had obviously dozed off after all my weeping, there I saw Ginny standing next to my bed with a box of tissues in one hand and both of our bags over her shoulders; she truly was the best friend ever! I wiped my eyes and took my bag from her shoulder and we walked back to the common room arm-in-arm. Because we were first years this Co-operative Wizardry lesson was mainly going to be spent in the common room doing homework and practicing skills we had learned so far; we very quickly found Hermione and Ron but no Harry, Fred or George!
'Hermione? Ron? Where's Harry, Fred and George?' I asked them whilst still scanning the common room almost expecting the twins to jump out from behind one of the curtains any moment; no such luck!
'Well seeing how Harry, Fred and George are all on the house Quidditch team and this lesson is called Co-operative Wizardry then that means they can fit in extra practice and I get left here to be bossed around by Hermione about homework! I hate my life!' Ron sulked at me in reply whilst giving Hermione evils, which she picked up so turned to Ginny and me and said rather haughtily,
'Well that's as may be what you think, Ronald, but let me tell you I won't be giving Harry any help once he comes back from practice, so just count yourself lucky that I'm helping you at all! Girls? Do you need any help with homework?' She said beaming up at us
'No thanks Hermione; we're fine at the moment. Plus I don't think I should try any more incantations, do you?' I laughed slightly as I said it to her.
Unfortunately the humour of my last sentence was short lived when Professor McGonagall came swooping into the Common Room and made her way towards Ginny and me!
'Miss Paiper would you mind coming with me to my office?' I looked at Ginny as I followed the Professor out of the room, she didn't give me any indication as to what it could be about so I was just left to wait… When we arrived to the door, I realised that we were off to see the Headmaster – ohh this can't be good I thought – as we ascended up the revolving stairs my Potions teacher and my sister met us at the top! Oh great this was because of the fight at lunch, wasn't it?
'Ahh the other Miss Paiper! Glad you could join us; Minerva, Severus, I can take it from here thank you.' With that our two heads of houses left and so I just stood there staring at the floor and occasionally Professor Dumbledore. Finally he broke the silence,
'Now girls you may be wondering why Professor's McGonagall and Snape bought you up to see me. Well it's so that I can have a little chat about what happened between you two during the lunch break; which of you would like to go first?'
'I would, Professor.' I piped up from behind Alyce. They both turned to look at me.
'Go ahead… Forgive me would you mind telling me which one of you is which?'
'I'm Scarlett, and that is my twin Alyce' I replied whilst beckoning towards her
'Ahh, thank you very much, Scarlett, now you may begin your side of the story' He smiled at me and I saw his blue eyes sparkle back at me!
'Right, well the thing is… We were set homework from Professor Flitwick to practice the Spongify charm and at lunch I decided to try it out on one of Alyce's spell books… Unfortunately she happened to be taking off her necklace that our great-grandma gave her when we were four and the spell hit the necklace and her hand! So that's what caused the massive chase from the lake to the castle… How many house points are you deducting from me?' I whimpered the last part, I couldn't help it – I'd been having such a good day too!
'Scarlett, Scarlett. There is nothing to worry about yet. Thank you very much for telling me your turn of events, would you kindly mind going back to your common room and I will call for you again when I have finished with Alyce.'
So with that I turned on my heel and went back to my common room and sat in a transfixed silence wondering and waiting for my, inevitable, fate…
