A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry it took so long to post this, but here it is! I hope you like it, it took quite a bit of editing.

~Maya


Anomaly

Chapter 7

"What the hell was that, anyway?" Melanie asked as they climbed through the portrait hole into Gryffindor Tower.

"I don't know," responded Al with a shrug. "I keep bugging James to tell me what's going on with Spook, but he won't."

"James? Why don't you ask Noah?"

"I don't really talk to Noah," he said. "Anyway, James and Spook are in the same year, and they interact way more. I think Noah and Spook have only had one or two other seriously horrible confrontations in the past."

The royal group was currently huddled in front of the fireplace in the middle of the common room, and Noah was angrily glaring at the fire while Fred talked to the group.

"We know why he's so angry," he explained. "But it didn't have much to do with us, really. It was a fifth year thing, and it just got out of hand or something. James, Myra, can you go into detail about what happened?"

A girl with curly brown hair that fell to her shoulders groaned loudly and answered him, "It's not really a big deal, Fred. Spook is just one of those gangster boys. He's just looking for trouble."

"Shut up, Myra," snapped the boy next to her. "Fred, that guy is trouble. He was one of the pureblood bastards who were picking on Lily last year. Then Mason George pounded on him and the other one—I don't remember his name—and now he's all pissed off. After the last two fights it's just gotten really bad."

"What?!" shrieked Al and Rose in unison.

"Who's Mason George?" Melanie whispered.

"Mason's in fourth year with us. He's Myra's cousin. I didn't know our year was involved!" hissed Rose.

"Oh, hell, it's the new girl!" cried Noah in surprise, looking up from the fireplace for the first time since they'd walked in.

"Maybe she should go upstairs," suggested a sweet-looking blonde girl.

"Eden," chastised a boy who looked extraordinarily like the Herbology professor. "We don't have to kick her out."

"Yeah!" agreed Noah enthusiastically. "No need to kick her out. Melanie, care to introduce yourself?" He turned to the group. "This here is Melanie Daniels. She's the new girl who got turned into a wizard that our parents have been talking about for the last forever. She's in fourth year but she's old enough to be in fifth. And she's a bloody good dancer."

"Thanks," said Melanie, amused. "It's been a pleasure introducing myself to the Royal Group."

"The what?" asked the curly-haired girl, Myra.

"She calls us the 'Royal Group,'" Noah laughed. "I thought it was bloody hilarious, too."

"I wasn't laughing," Myra replied curtly.

"Let her talk, Noah," chastised the blonde girl with a smile. "I'm Eden. Don't get me wrong about before—it's lovely to meet you, but I just worry that this ridiculous Spook drama might be too much for someone not really used to it."

Melanie threw back her head and laughed openly. "Trust me, Eden," she assured her, "I have had my great share of drama as well at my old school."

"Ooh, you went to Muggle school, didn't you?" another red-haired girl excitedly asked. Melanie assumed she was one of the close family.

She nodded, smiling. "Yeah, it was great. I've got to say, though, you all really know how to throw a party. No one in my old school would have ever come close to throwing something like that." Noah, Fred, and the Herbology professor boy seemed to swell like balloons with pride.

"It is bloody amazing to get a new opinion for once!" cried Noah.

"Yeah! We never really get anything new anymore, except from the plastic girls who just want a piece of us," exclaimed Fred.

"Oh, oh," Noah said, excited, "Melanie even had a name for the girls! What was it again, Mels?"

"It was the Miss Prisses, and don't call me Mels." She raised her eyebrows at him and pursed her lips. From her youngest years, she had hated that nickname.

"If you don't mind," Rose said, a little loudly. "Could we please get back to the problem at hand? You know, Spook? The one who just swore war on us? The one who might come for the fourth years now? That's mine and Al's territory, and we need to know what to do."

"You know what? I think it's time we just got him expelled," sighed Myra, throwing her hands up in the air. "Forget this stupid back-and-forth drama crap. He deserves it, anyway."

Nodding sympathetically, the boy next to her draped his arm over her shoulder. "I know, Myra. But all he's really done is hex us once in a while. It'll get him tons of detentions, but there's no way he'll be expelled."

"Maybe we could take it to McGonagall," murmured Al.

The boy snapped his attention to him. "Al, I get it. It still bothers me that he picked on our sister, too. But face it, there's no way to get him right now."

"Whoa, whoa," interjected Melanie. "You're James Potter?" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and her mouth curved into a huge grin. "No wonder you're so friggin' cute!"

The entire group roared with laughter. She had even brought Fred to his knees. No one noticed Noah grimace slightly as he laughed a little too loudly.

"Why would you tell him that?" howled Rose.

"Now he's just gonna walk around like he owns the castle!" shrieked Myra.

"Hey!" whined James indignantly. "Why is no one taking her seriously? She's right, you know! Her opinion is more valuable too, because she's never known me before!" He turned to her. "Thanks," he said with a cocky smile. "I'm definitely the best-looking you'll find in Hogwarts."

Melanie smirked at his confidence. The boys in this Royal Group were certainly amusing.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, cowboy," Myra said, groaning as she clutched her side. "But yes," she replied, looking at Melanie, "he's James."

"Okay," she said. "May I make a suggestion? You know, about this Spook thing?"

Hesitant glances were exchanged. 'God, this Royal Group takes the exclusivity thing really damn seriously,' she thought, slightly irritated.

"Go ahead," offered the Herbology professor boy.

"Ugh, bloody hell," she groaned. "Who are you? You look so exactly like Professor Longbottom!"

The group laughed again, though this time not so rambunctiously. "He's Professor Longbottom's son," answered Eden softly.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "My name's Xander."

Melanie sighed, relieved to finally know why he so resembled the sweetest professor she'd ever known.

"Alexander Longbottom," Eden murmured with a smile, entwining her fingers with hers.

"EW!" everyone groaned.

"Keep that to yourselves!" shouted James, covering his eyes.

"God, Longbottom, can't you keep that bloody hand of yours in your pocket?" yelled Fred.

"I can't believe you'd do that in PUBLIC!" shrieked Myra, looking appalled.

"I don't get it," Melanie interjected, confused. "They're just holding hands..."

"That's kinda the joke," explained Rose. "See, Xander and Eden have been a couple since forever, but no one ever sees them PDA anything. Everyone's always ragging on them about it, and this is one of the ways."

"Ohh."

"Yeah."

"Go on, Melanie," Xander said loudly, with an amused and exasperated smile.

"So, all right," she continued. "If you all are really looking to get him kicked out, you need to set a trap."

James and Fred, who she immediately deemed the troublemakers, raised their eyebrows inquisitively.

"You need to find a way to make him do something that would most certainly get him kicked out of the school. Something that is without a doubt expulsion-worthy," she explained. "Are you following me?"

They nodded. With a secret smile, Melanie silently applauded herself for gaining this incredibly pretentious group's attention so soon.

"Basically, you'll need to decide on the act. Then, you need some form of bait that will most certainly cause him to go through with the act. Last, you'll need to decide on a way to have him caught. Of course, those are only the building blocks. You need to fix, foolproof, and finalize your plan as well." Triumphant, she crossed her arms across her chest. The Royal Group looked—there was no other way to put it—absolutely dazzled.

"She just did half our work for us," murmured Xander.

"All right!" cried Fred, clapping his hands together. "We'll get on this at the crack of dawn! Before that slimy Spook has a chance to up his game. I suggest everyone get a good night's rest. This night was, after all, a huge and really damn tiring success!"

Eden rolled her eyes and scoffed, attracting several pairs of extremely surprised eyes. "It's just—you know—it's—well, success?" she spluttered, blushing.

"Well, despite the annoyance for us, people are going to be talking about that for weeks, are they not?" replied Fred, his eyes twinkling.

"Yeah, a party with a dramatic conflict is the best kind!" agreed Noah enthusiastically.

"Yes, I guess that's true," she laughed, shaking her head. "Good job, you three, and good night to all of you!"


In the girls' dormitory, Melanie settled into a fluffy sofa and pulled a plush blanket over her to read a book. Because she knew the boys didn't have a mini common room in their dormitory, she always felt smug when she snuggled up in the girls'. The Founders must have been geniuses to know that girls would always love slumber parties. Small and round, the room had two sofas, almost ten bean bags, two small cots, and a tiny but hearty fireplace. Most of the Gryffindor girls were unwinding in the room, and Melanie was trying desperately not to catch the eyes of her roommates. Unfortunately, she had no such luck.

"I saw you dancing with Noah!" Alex Rivers cried in her annoying, nasal tone, obnoxiously popping her gum. "It's totally all over the school now."

Extremely irritated, Melanie slowly closed her book. "Is it now?" Her voice shook dangerously.

"Yes!" Alex said victoriously, clearly not reading Melanie's fiery expression well. "Normally people don't really talk about Noah's conquests, but everyone could tell from the heat on that dance floor that Noah was your conquest tonight."

Melanie let out an impossibly slow breath, but when she opened her mouth to spew vulgar curse words at the stupid gossipy girl, someone else did the job for her.

"Why don't you just go run your big, stupid, lying mouth to someone who cares? Oh wait, because no one does!" Myra hissed from Melanie.

Oblivious to any insult, Alex popped her gum and scoffed, "Don't be jealous just because we're more popular than you all. I know that Charlotte and Candy both got the boy you've had your eye on for ages." With a smirk, she gestured to two strawberry blonde identical girls giggling in front of a large mirror on the wall.

"First of all," spat Myra through gritted teeth, "you've got no idea who I have my eye on. Second, the only reason any of you get any boy is that you're so bloody easy. Now sod off!"

Rolling her eyes in an extremely annoying manner, Alex stalked away, letting her fake ringlets bounce up and down with the rest of her body.

"Nice, Myra," said Melanie appreciatively.

"Thanks," she sighed in response. "That girl seriously drives me insane. And so do the clones." She gestured again towards the identical girls in front of the mirror, the ones Alex had called Charlotte and Candy.

"If you don't mind me asking," Melanie began, "who was Rivers talking about? I mean, the boy."

Avoiding meeting her eye, Myra winced slightly. "No one," she mumbled. "I mean, they think they know…they think it's James. But I don't have feelings for him. He's just-just my best friend."

Suddenly feeling slightly awkward, Melanie nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, Noah wasn't my conquest. I just enjoy the company of boys who think they're going to get lucky later. It's entertaining."

Myra laughed. "You're an interesting person, Melanie. Noah's going to be so off his game if he ever hears you said that about him."

Nonchalantly, Melanie shrugged.

"So are you interested in dating around here?" Myra asked. "'Cause I definitely know some guys who'd be great for a casual fling."

"Do you?" asked Melanie with partial interest. In truth, Melanie had envisioned wizard boys to be very weird and alien-like, but was more than pleased to discover that she had been enormously wrong.

"Oh yeah. Hmm. Well Mason's in your year, but he's much too gallant to be in anything but a serious relationship. The other fourth year boys are just dull and dweeby. You could go out with Harlan, he's Hufflepuff, but he's part of our—er, Royal Group—and I wouldn't really encourage casually dating someone within the group. Dating each other, unless you're serious, causes problems and unnecessary drama."

"But what's the issue?" Melanie inquired. "I'm not part of the group."

"What?" Myra demanded incredulously. "Of course you are. Didn't you see what just happened in the common room, there? You're so definitely part of us."

"She's right, Melanie," Rose called from the fourth year room. "Now get the hell to bed! It's late and we have astronomy at five in the morning tomorrow!"

With an amused laugh, Melanie said good night and sauntered off to bed, hating astronomy.


A/N: All right, so that was Chapter 7! You probably won't see Chapter 8 for a couple weeks, but I will try to get it up within the month! I don't want to be one of those authors who posts once a month or even less often, so I'll get on top of my game. Let me know how you like my characters, and any advice you have would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

~Maya