A/N: 04/27/12. Hope I got this up in good time – if not, sorry for the wait, still working on that. Problems with my computer. :S
Also a SPECIAL shout out to xXMizz Alec VolturiXx. You are my most LOYAL & TRUSTFUL reader and I absolutely adore you for it *mauh!*
I dedicate this chapter length to you. Don't you EVER give up on me or my story!
ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
"Any ideas where Professor Slughorn went off to?" Blaise looked up at Karessa from his spot on the floor. "I mean, it was kind of a split decision, wasn't it? We just started school on Tuesday, and come Wednesday morning Dumbledore tells us Slughorn's gone on a trip to Peru to polish off some of his personal research of some sort."
He shrugged. "All I know is he's put our assignment on hold until he gets back." Blaise closed his eyes again and propped his hands behind him on the couch. "Some time by Monday afternoon, I'd think. He wouldn't want to miss his first Slug Club meeting, now would he?" Karessa giggled.
After Blaise's interrogation – and after a few heartfelt words and some shed tears from both parties – the two had went about distracting themselves for a while by putting Karessa's room back in order. When they finished, they moved into the sitting room and just relaxed a while as they dined on some snack food the house elves were kind enough to bring up. Karessa had stretched out across the couch with a book in hand, while Blaise decided to lounge on the floor with his back against the couch, and head rolled back to rest on the cushions near Karessa's waist.
"Well, all the same, I completed the Wiggenweld potion since my classes will have switched the next week." She said as she flipped a page in her book. Blaise rolled his head to her with a look of shocked confusion.
"That's right." He said as the thought dawned on him. "I forgot your schedule changes each week." His brow scrunched up. "Why is that?"
"Because I need to learn as much as I can while I'm here, since my stay is only temporary, there's no guarantee I'll be here a full month, let alone a year." She looked at him. "I could leave as soon as next week if the situation called for it."
"Could you clarify why that is?" she closed her book and sighed.
"It isn't something I'm comfortable talking about in a place where the walls do in fact have ears." She said warily as her eyes darted to the various wildlife paintings she had in the room.
Blaise understood what she meant just as soon as he looked at one of the nature paintings she had nailed atop the fireplace. Of course she wouldn't feel comfortable giving away such important information; in a place like Hogwarts, where all the paintings of people and animals are animate, can speak to both the people who walked by them, and other paintings around them.
Blaise and Karessa saw a young gentleman and an elderly lady walk by in the painting they were currently looking at, and they both smiled and waved to the two in the room before continuing their conversation, and moving out of the painted scene.
Not to mention they can move from one painting to the next… Blaise thought frustratingly. It's amazing how witches and wizards could forget such a fact about the paintings and speak so freely as if they truly were alone, or not feel like they're being watched.
"I can see what you mean." Blaise said as he turned back to Daniels. "I forget such things since I've lived with it for some time now in my life; you get used to it that you don't recognize another party in the room when all you see is a painting on a wall. For that I apologize."
"Nothing to apologize for." She shrugged. "But, I'll clarify that the likelihood of my being here depends on safety; so sometimes it is better to continue moving than the possibility of being tracked."
As Blaise deliberated on that thought, Karessa stood from the couch and stretched out her limbs. "Where are you going?" he asked as she went to the portrait entrance and put back on her shoes, and grabbed her leather bag and writing book.
She looked back at him as she snapped her bag flap down. "I'm headed to the library to pick up a few books I put aside for the project we got in DADA, but I'm thinking of going to visit Madame Pomfrey first for some salve I've asked her to make to sooth the pain in your arms."
Blaise perked up a bit. "Would you like me to come with you?" though he asked, he was already moving his body up to go meet her at the door. He winched when one of his arms gave out and nearly had him fall back to the ground, but he managed to get himself standing before that happened.
Karessa rushed over to sit him down on the couch. "Oh, no you don't." she said sternly. "You've been watching me like a hawk and everyone around me for the past four days, and you are in no condition to do so today." She pressed his weakened body to lay down upon the cushions effortlessly and placed a blanket around his naked torso, as his pant-clad legs lounged across the couch's length.
She laughed at his affronted expression and ruffled his short hair. "I won't be gone long, and I'll bring us up some lunch while I'm at it, alright."
"But – "
"No buts." She said walking back to the door. "You still need to regain your strength, and give your body the chance to regenerate the blood you lost." She opened the door and looked back at him. "Just rest a little more; I'll be fine without your supervision for a while. Really, what could happen?" she smiled and winked as she walked out and the portrait closed behind her.
Blaise sighed to himself as he closed his eyes and let his head fall back into the cushion pillow. "What could happen?" he said out loud as he sighed again.
She should never have said that.
"Hey, look, it's the new girl." Seamus nodded over to someone behind Ron's head.
Everyone at the table turned to look, and sure enough Karessa Daniels was standing up at the main desk speaking to Ms. Pinch. The three boys currently at the table were Ron, Seamus, and Dean, who had come down to the library in hopes of discovering a topic that interested them enough to work on their DADA assignments that Snape gave them in their first class of the year. Unfortunately, neither of the current boys had concentrated on the task at hand for very long before starting a conversation about the only sport that mattered to them; Quiddich.
In fact it wasn't even their idea to venture into the library that day; it had been Hermione and Harry's idea, the later somewhere within the various aisles looking for a topic of interest, while Hermione left only minutes before Karessa walked in.
"Blimey…" Dean said as a sly grin slipped onto his face. He looked at his companions as he leaned in closer as if to whisper a secret. "I'm sure glad she don't have to follow the rules about wearing our robes when we're out in the halls." He glanced back at her. "It'd be shame to hide her under all those layers."
The boys took a closer look at what the girl was wearing and laughed at one another. "Well why don't you go and tell her that, mate." Seamus grinned at his friend, and Dean shoved him in the arm.
"Yeah right, are you mad?" he said. "A girl like that's probably got herself a bloke already; I wouldn't be surprised if that's his promise ring around her neck." He gestured to the silver chain dangling by her collarbone with a white gold ring and a blue sapphire gem as its centerpiece.
"You must have been paying pretty close attention to her if you noticed something like that." Seamus teased.
"Oh, like you haven't noticed her." Dean rolled his eyes. "Come on, she's got eight-pointed stars for pupils. It'd be hard to miss her."
"Not denying it. But it seems to me like you've given up without a fight if you're interested in her." Seamus stated. "Afraid she'd say no?"
"Not in this lifetime." Dean frowned.
"Ah; it's the fact that she's too good for you. Then you're spot on if that's what you think." Seamus grinned wider at Dean's gaping expression. Ron snorted from his seat and Dean gave him a scathing look.
"I don't know why you're laughing none. She's most definitely too good for you." Ron's smile dropped into a frown.
"Doesn't matter since she's not really my type anyway." Dean smirked.
"Would your type happen to be wild brown hair, fierce tempers, and reads the dictionary as a pastime?" Ron's ears turned red in embarrassment as he looked away from the other two boys who were snickering to themselves.
"Ah, don't worry mate. We won't tell anyone." Dean said.
Seamus smiled. "That's because it's hard to tell someone when everyone already knows." Then the boys started cracking up again as Ron's face grew red.
Ron ignored the two as he looked around the library, and happened to look behind him. He scrunched his brow in confusion. "Oi, where'd she get off to, then?"
They all stopped to look around and couldn't see the muggle girl within their sight range. Seamus shrugged. "She may have made her way through the aisles, or she's already left without our notice."
"Hmm…damn." Ron started as he looked back at the other two boys. "I was thinking, since Hermione isn't around for the time being, maybe I should get a move on getting chummy with the girl and all." Ron flushed again in embarrassment once he realized what he said. "I-I mean, just as friends you know. I had a bet placed in just the other day. Did you guys take part?"
"You know we aren't supposed to say." Dean raised his eyebrow at him. "And you shouldn't have told us. How do you know if we were a part of the game and we decided we'd mess you up at every turn?"
"It would be well deserved on his part." Seamus added in. "It'd be his own fault for telling us."
Ron huffed. "I guess I should have thought about that…or looked at Hermione's rule list she sent out to everyone playing." He said sheepishly. The other two just shook their heads at his stupidity. "Oh, whatever. Let's head down to the Great Hall. I'm starved, and I'm sure Harry will be along shortly anyway, so we don't need to wait for him."
Seamus and Dean agreed and went on their way to lunch after setting their books back into their bags.
Karessa decided the best course of action was to make her way down to the library first instead of the hospital wing to gather her books, then head to the Great Hall and grab some lunch before the food would be cleared. She had at least half an hour to do so, but she knew she could always go down to the kitchen and grab something from the house elves if she didn't make it to lunch in time, so she was in no rush. Then before she would return to her dorm, she would see Madame Pomfrey about the salve she asked about two days prior, and see if it was ready.
Blaise is going to need that salve to sooth the burning and repair the damaged skin. She thought; especially if he's up to learning how to use the elementals sooner than waiting for his body to be able to take the new strain. She sighed.
"At least he's a good student." She said to herself as she walked through the halls, lost in thought.
"Who is?" she heard the light voice break through her concentration as she looked around to see that she had made it to the library, and there standing in the entranceway was the Head Girl.
Karessa smiled. "Oh, good afternoon, Hermione. Sorry, I was just thinking aloud."
"Oh!" Hermione said. "I see, so what brings you to the library today?" she asked.
"Just here to pick up some books for the DADA project we received earlier in the week. I'm sure you're the same." Daniels smiled as she eyed the large stack in Granger's hands.
"Ah hah, yeah." She laughed nervously. "I might have gone a little over with my topic, but I'm willing to give you a hand if you need help finding something to research on."
Karessa noticed Hermione's hand wobble a little with the stack of books. "No, no. I think it is you who needs the hand more than I do." She laughed. "No worries, I'll be fine on my own. You best be on your way before that pile falls, though." Hermione looked at her stack and laughed as well.
"I guess you're right, see you around then."
"Definitely." Karessa said before walking into the library. She went right up to the front desk where Ms. Pinch was stamping returned books with her wand. "Pardon me, Ms. Pinch?"
The older woman looked up from her task to acknowledge the young girl before her. "Yes dear, how can I help you?" she asked as she sat down her wand and crossed her hands in front of her on the desk.
"Well you see, I have a project in Defense Against the Dark Arts in the studies of dangerous creatures, and I was wondering what you would suggest I should use as a topic." Karessa asked politely.
Ms. Pinch smiled at her manners. "Well I don't know dear, that all depends on what you find interesting. But I could give you a list of good books to start from, if that will help." She looked through a file she had in a small cabinet behind her desk, and searched through files until she found the ones she wanted.
"Oh, that would be most helpful." Karessa smiled. The old witch began writing down on spare piece of parchment the names and aisle sections for each book she presumed were worth looking into, and hadn't been checked out yet.
She handed the list to the youthful female. "Now that's a few of the best books we have that aren't in the restricted section, and if you find anything of interest through them just run them by me and I'll get you the books you need if they aren't already on the shelves." Karessa took a look at the list then spotted the first aisle she'd need to be under.
She turned back to Ms. Pinch and smiled. "Thank you so much. I'll come and see you if I have any more questions." She started walking to her first destination.
"Anytime, my dear." Ms. Pinch smiled at the youth again as she disappeared behind a large shelf three rows down. She shook her head as she went back to stamping the returned books.
Such a shame how kids in today's society can't remember such manners like that sweet girl. The old woman thought to herself.
Aisle 7, section 20. This was the fifth and final book on my list, and looked to be the most promising; Beasts Yet to Be Tamed: The Dangers of Creature Care – Volume 2. Let's see…
I had found the other books with relative ease, and still had about fifteen minutes to make it down for lunch, so I was doing pretty well for time. I guess the best thing to do after is to check in with Madame Pomfrey…
Section 3…16…19…Here we are, section 20 I looked through the numerous titles on the spines of the books, hoping I'd find what I needed…Ah! There it is. Just when I was about to grab the book I wanted, I had a sudden déjà vu when someone snatched my hand where I held the book. The only difference, when I looked up I wasn't looking into cold silver-blue eyes; these were a bright green.
"Oh! Sorry about that." He let go of my hand. "I didn't realize you were reaching for that."
It was Harry Potter…
I smiled at his abashed expression. "It is quite alright, but I'm sorry, did you want it? I have enough books for now, and I could always come back and check it out when you're finished with it." I offered.
"Oh no, that won't be necessary." He said. "I have quite the large stack myself, you see." He gestured to the stack of books already in his hands. "So you can take it if you want."
I laughed. "It seems we're too polite for our own good." He laughed along with me.
"I suppose you're right." He smiled. He was about to say something else when all of a sudden there was a loud 'Watch out!' yelled from a little ways behind him, but before we could react a shelf latter – set to move on its own – came crashing past us, knocking Harry in the shoulder which caused him to then knock the both of us to the ground.
"Bugger!" he yelled as he fell over top of me, losing our books in the process.
A young boy, in possibly 1st or 2nd year, with blonde curls and big brown eyes ran up to us with a nervous look on his face. "I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, "I lost control of the latter, are you alright?"
"We'll be fine." I said as I tried to help Harry into a sitting position. "But go and stop that thing before it hurts somebody else, or worse." The boy nodded furiously as he quickly ran off down another aisle where paper was flying through the air, and someone screamed not too far away.
I looked over Harry who was rubbing his right shoulder. "Are you alright?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you? I fell on top of you pretty hard."
"A rough landing is nothing to fuss about, but I'm not so sure about you." I said worriedly as I lightly probed around his shoulder, only to see him wince. "I think I should take you to see Madame Pomfrey, you may have dislocated your shoulder."
As I said this I gently helped him up. He shook his head. "Really, it's no problem, and it doesn't hurt all that much. I'll be fine." I frowned at him as he tried to bend down and pick up a fallen book with his bad arm, and then tried to hide a small grunt of pain from me.
I sighed and crouched on the floor to look up at him with a stern look. He caught my eye and sheepishly looked away. "You don't need to try and convince me, I'm taking you to the Hospital wing, and it is no trouble since I'm already headed there after I've finished here." He looked ready to protest so I sealed the deal with my next sentence. "Besides, little injury or not, it's better to be checked out so you know whether it will affect your game play, when Quiddich starts this year."
That shut him up real quick, and I couldn't help but smile.
He frowned a bit before closing his eyes and sighing. He looked at me. "Alright you have a point, so I'll go. But I'm telling you it isn't that big a deal, so can we at least stop and get lunch first before we head to the Hospital wing? I'm starving."
We both laughed. "Okay, I'll give you enough leeway for that; I'm hungry too." So with that we gathered all our books and made our way to the front desk to check them out. However I took a hold of Harry's as soon as I noticed him straining through his pain, though I must have embarrassed him some, since he was mumbling to himself about not being completely helpless.
I checked a nearby clock and upon glancing at the time I swiftly changed our direction from the Great Hall as people made their way out of the large double doors.
Harry gave me a confused look. "Where are we going, we just passed the Great Hall."
I walked down another corridor, Harry quick on my heels. "I know, but lunch had ended about ten minutes ago."
"Oh." He sounded perplexed. "So where are we going then?" I looked back at him and smiled.
"We're headed to the kitchen, of course."
"Hey, wasn't that Harry just then?" Pavarti asked as she noticed the Boy Wonder walk past the open doorway only moments ago. She and Lavender had been chatting away to one another as they gathered their things to leave the Great Hall after lunch had already been cleared.
"Forget that, had that been the Daniels girl with him?" Lavender spewed, and the other occupants in the surrounding area turned towards the entranceway only to see the tail ends of two figures walking away from the door.
Pavarti gasped. "I think you might be right."
"Bloody hell!" Seamus blurted in. "When in Merlin's name did he get so chummy with her all of a sudden?"
Dean snorted. "Perhaps if someone hadn't been thinking about their stomachs so much, we also would have had the pleasure of meeting up with them both if we had stayed in the library." He deadpanned.
"Oh, come off it." Seamus grunted. "You could have stayed yourself but you didn't."
"Yeah!" Ron put in as he stuffed a final roll in his mouth.
"You shouldn't be so quick to have an input, Weasley." Dean laughed. "It was your idea to leave Potter behind in the first place so you could fill your bottomless pit you call a stomach." Ron blushed in both embarrassment and irritation as everyone made their way out the doors.
"Well that doesn't matter none now," he said after swallowing. "Not when we could simply ask Harry for any information he may have got from her while they are together." Ron finished with an affirmative nod of his head, as if what he said was of the utmost logic and sense.
Ginny gave him an irritated look. "You idiot," she muttered to him darkly. "Did you forget that Harry's only getting closer to her because he's a 'goal keeper'? Any info she provides him, he won't be telling it to you since he knows you're in the game." Everyone winched at her cold voice. They all knew about Ginny's long time crush for Harry, and they had only just that past summer talked about getting together. Though Ginny had hoped they would start dating when they returned to school the following year, Harry thought it best with the impending war approaching that it would be safer on her part that they didn't, so no one would try and target the young girl to get to him when the final battle occurred.
Though she saw his point, it was still a sore spot for her.
Ron frowned at his sister. "You don't need to be so cold about it, Gin." This was the part where Ron would usually put his foot in his mouth… "I know you can get a little jealous when it comes to Harry, but –"
"Jealous!" Ginny sputtered before scoffing unconvincingly to their group of friends. "Hardly; I'm only saying that Harry probably wouldn't even be talking to her if it weren't for his superhero complex to always come to someone's rescue." She crossed her arms over her chest and refused to look at her brother.
Hermione stepped in to try and settle the argument before it got any worse. "Well to be fair Gin, Harry's very close to Dumbledore, as is Karessa so if it wasn't because of this game they'd would probably have met through him some way or another eventually. But Ron is –"
"Now hold on a second there, 'Mione." Ron interrupted, stepping closer. "Why is it so hard to believe Harry wouldn't be the one to approach her first?"
Ginny's look grew darker and Hermione frowned at him. "What are you getting at Ronald?" Ginny steeped towards her oblivious brother. The rest of the gang knew this was going to turn ugly before Ron even opened his mouth.
"Well she seems nice – if not a little mysterious, which adds to her attraction." He began. Everyone backed away from the two redheads and the brunette coming between them.
"But besides that she's a lot easier on the eyes, even you'd have to agree. That is why I think you feel so threatened by them hanging out; you think the more time they spend together the less he'll think about you, Gin." Even Hermione had to give Ron credit for having such an intelligent thought. But as quickly as that thought came, it disappeared with the thought of how incredulous it was for him to be saying this so foolishly in the presence of his enraged sister.
Hermione saw what would come next…
"Besides that, I think he might already fancy her like some of these other blokes in school." He finished proud of himself for coming up with something so clever.
…unfortunately she was too slow to react and prevent the next chain of reactions.
Ginny's face turned near a shade of purple from her anger, and before Ron could say 'What's wrong?' she whipped out her wand and sent a bat bogey hex after him.
Screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs as he was attacked by his sister's spell, Ron ran out of the Great Hall begging for someone to help him. A few of his friends ran after him while Hermione stayed back with a fuming Ginny. As the head of Gryffindor house, McGonagall stood from her seat and walked over to the two girls in quick haste.
"Ginerva Weasley!" she spoke harshly to the girl. "I do not care whether he is your brother or not, it is still against school policy to set a spell against another student." She sighed heavily. "10 points from Gryffindor, and you will serve detention with me for the rest of today and tomorrow – no buts!" her voice held finality as Ginny tried to speak up, but quickly closed her mouth and nodded her head solemnly to the older witch.
The girls left the Great Hall to head to the Gryffindor dorm rooms so Ginny could bring something to keep her occupied while serving detention for the rest of the weekend.
All of the Houses had watched the spectacle in mirth; especially the Slytherins. Pansy, Daphne and Millicent paid very close attention to the Gryffindors' conversation and smirked to one another at the opportunity to get an up on the game. The truth serum they spiked Daniels's drink with should last at least a few more hours before the effects wore off on their own, so they needed to find a way to confront her before time ran out.
After eavesdropping on the ridiculous conversation of the Gryffindors, and the spectacle that was bound to happen given the Weaselette's temper and her brother's stupidity, the three girls left their table in search of Potter and Daniels in hopes to corner the girl when she was alone.
"So when we find her what should we do? Jump her and pull her into the nearest alcove or empty classroom?" Millicent asked her two friends.
"No, idiot," Pansy said. "She'll most likely be with Potter for a while. He's all part of making this game more fun, so we either have to find a way to distract him long enough to get what we want from the muggle, or when we find them – force them apart. " she said as she flicked her hair out of her eyes and smiled.
"Hmm…" Daphne frowned.
"What is it Daph?" Millicent asked. Daphne shook her head in disappointment and sighed dejectedly.
"It's nothing." She said, but to be honest she had hoped with all of Pansy's confidence that she had come up with a better plan of action than the two options she had presented. Although in truth she was a little ashamed to admit that deep down she knew Pansy wasn't all that capable of thinking outside the box…
She looked at their game leader who was staring at her from the corner of her narrowed eyes. I mean come on, Veritaserum? How simpler could you get? Pansy huffed as she stopped walking abruptly and turned to face Daphne who stood to her left.
She crossed her arms and tapped a foot agitatedly. "Well obviously it's something, so spit it out. What about this plan bothers you?"
Daphne rolled her eyes at the brunette. "Well both plans have potential in succeeding, but you're forgetting that to Potter, three Slytherins coming at him and Daniels is odd enough as it is, especially since we were of the few most defiant about the muggle coming and polluting our learning space." She began. "So a distraction won't work in breaking them off, but possibly bring him closer to her; especially if our distraction were to potentially harm them."
Pansy's face began to fall as she realized the fault in her plan, but Daphne wasn't finished yet.
"Second, we could wait it out and see if he leaves her on his own accord, but in the worst case scenario he finds a way to escort her for the rest of the day and still manages to deliver her to her room safely. Meaning we wasted the whole day away for nothing." Daphne stated dejectedly.
Pansy glared at her for a long moment but sighed none the less. "You have a point there Daph," then she grinned. "That's why I had a plan B should either of those two options fail." She grimaced. "But it's going to mean becoming fr-friends with her for it to work."
Daphne and Millicent gagged, while Pansy shivered in disgust. "However, that is going to be our last possible option, so until then we might as well try this since I had you pour the whole batch of truth serum into that juice pitcher."
"You did what?" Millicent screeched out. "I made that dose myself you know, and it was supposed to last at least for a few months. Do you have any idea how hard it was to sneak the supplies out of Snape's cupboards?" the other two looked at her blankly. "NOT easy!"
Daphne gave her a daft look. "You're lucky to still be alive after doing something so stupid, Milli." She shook her head.
Pansy scoffed. "No one said you had to get it from Snape's collection. You could have taken supplies from the Potions classroom, or something."
Now Millicent gave her a daft look. "Well you wanted to be sure you'd have a very strong and potent dose when we laced Daniels' drink, so it only made sense to go for the best source available."
"Not at the expense of your enrolment remaining here at Hogwarts." Daphne hissed.
"Oh, bollocks enough of this already, we're getting off-track now. Remind me what we were talking about again, someone." Pansy clicked her fingers together to gain her train of thought.
"We were on about how shitty this plan of yours was." Came Daphne's snide comment. Pansy rolled her eyes at her and continued walking down the path she had originally taken to find their prey.
"No matter what you think Daph, we'll just have to make do with what time we have now and hope for a stroke of luck. Now then, on to the kitchen!" she said cheerfully.
"There's only one other problem this time." Daphne said with a smirk. Pansy ignored her and kept walking but Millicent looked back at her with confusion.
"And what's that?"
She smiled and looked to Pansy walking ahead. "None of us even know where the kitchen entrance is."
They all stopped again as silence penetrated the still air of the hallway they were in.
"Bullocks!"
"Achoo! "
"Bless you." Harry said. "Are you catching a cold or something?"
"Oh no, I'm fine, but thanks for your concern." Karessa laughed a bit. "However, I do believe that someone is talking about us. Do you feel that way too?"
Harry nodded as he looked around them. They had stopped walking once Karessa led them to a painting of fruit on the first floor, and were currently standing in the hall with very few people close by, but Harry was still on guard for anyone who might appear from the shadows. Karessa nudged him in his uninjured shoulder and he looked at her suddenly; she seemed concerned.
"Is something the matter? You got really quiet just then." She inquired.
Harry smiled slightly. "Oh, sorry 'bout that." He said sheepishly. "I guess I zoned out for a second, but to answer your question from before, yes I do feel we're being talked about. But I'm kind of used to it so I can't say it bothers me too much."
"I guess you're right." She said before turning to the large portrait to the kitchens. "Well this is it right here. Shall we go inside?"
"Do you know how to get inside?" she gave Harry a secretive smile.
"Of course I do." With that said, she stepped up to the painting and tickled the pear which wriggled away from her touch to produce a doorknob which she grabbed and turned to push open into the kitchen filled with working house elves. Harry entered in behind her and caught the elves' attention as soon as the portrait door slammed shut.
Multiple elves rushed up to the two to ask if they wanted something to eat and upon their affirmation the elves became excited and asked what they felt like eating.
"Surprise us." Karessa said. "But please keep it small. We wouldn't want to disturb you all from cooking tonight's dinner." The elves agreed and immediately went to make a quick and healthy lunch for the two teens.
The elves had made it simple enough as Karessa checked over Harry's shoulder while they waited, and were pleased to see four turkey BLTs cut in halves, with cranberry juice, a fruit salad, and six double fudge brownies for dessert. Showing the elves their appreciation they started eating their food while they thumbed through the books they got from the library, tossing around a few ideas for one another's projects as they enjoyed each other's company.
Harry managed to consume two halves for a whole sandwich and one brownie while he sipped diligently on his cranberry juice as he watched Karessa. She had eaten only one half of a sandwich leaving five on the plate, and picked a few pieces of the fruit salad, and was in the process of eating her first brownie, but had switched to eating what appeared to be a red, muggle candy licorice stick. As he watched her in curiosity she looked up at him as he mused in his thoughts.
She smiled at him. "Something wrong, Mr. Potter?"
He took another sip of his juice as he shook his head. "No, I was just wondering; I've noticed before – and correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem to eat very much."
Now this fact that Harry picked up about her was true; he'd watched her during her meals even before the game commenced and took note about how little she'd consume compared to what she may have originally put on her plate. True, between certain times the amount varied from a small amount to maybe something a little heavier, but relatively her range of consumption stayed the same.
She had the appetite of a small bird.
She looked down at her plate and shrugged at her half eaten brownie. "I don't know. I guess along the years I got used to eating very little to the point where I'd discover my limit very early upon my meal times; even when I really wanted something."
He looked at her strangely. "Is there a reason why you'd be used to eating so little?"
He had asked her as casually as he could so as not to sound like he was prying, but she knew he was as curious as the rest of the school about her background. She admired him for his subtlety and for that she gave him an enigmatic smile. "I am grateful that you would take into account that you could have offended me with that question – it's alright, I don't mind." She interrupted him before he could take back his statement.
He sighed in relief. "I can still be sorry for it though."
Karessa laughed. "I understand that many will be quite curious of me and as to why I am here, but for being discreet about asking me I thank you."
"You're welcome."
"So in turn, I will answer you as honestly as I am able."
Harry scrunched his brow. "As you are able?"
"Well there is a specific reason for my being here, but if you want an answer to that you'll have to have a very convincing talk with the Headmaster should you want an appropriate answer." She said turning towards him in her seat.
Harry pondered that answer for a moment before nodding his head in understanding. "Alright, I understand. So what about the answer to my first question? How do you sustain on such little to eat?"
"Hmm, how can I explain this to you?" she pondered as she tapped the table with her fingers. "Well I guess the best way to describe my small appetite would be due to my travels."
"Travels?"
"Yup, that about sums it up, I think." She answered. "I don't often stay in one place for very long you see, so my body's always moving and adapting to change so naturally my diet changed along with it; and that is why I don't eat much."
Harry shook his head in wonderment as he took in the information.
"But besides that, I'm not eating much because I plan to take most of this food back up to my room for Blaise."
"Oh," Harry said surprised. "Any particular reason?"
She nodded. "He hasn't been feeling well since last night when he came to check on me after completing his rounds for the night. I had him stay in my dorm since he looked a little uncertain on his feet, but he still looked worse for wear when I checked on him this morning." She shook her head in worry.
"Well Blaise is a strong character; he'll bounce back shortly, I'm sure. So I wouldn't worry too badly about him." Harry patted her on the shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.
She returned it. "Thanks. I'm sure you're right about that."
"So you two have gotten pretty close over these last few days, huh?"
Karessa shrugged as she gathered the extra food and her books. "I guess so; we've got a lot in common. Despite what most may believe about us, however, we're not a couple or anything of the sort."
"Oh, I didn't think anything of it, really." Harry relented. "But it wouldn't be a bad thing if you were. I mean, with the way you guys act so comfortably around one another it's no wonder people think you are together, or at the least some sort of long lost family member or something." Harry laughed out as he shrunk the food for Karessa and packed it safely into her bag for her as well as the books.
She laughed lightly, that secretive smile back in place. "Amazing what a few close gestures and light smiles shared could do to put false allegations into peoples' heads. How quick we can draw to the wrong conclusions."
Harry laughed. "I'll say."
Immediately after, they made their way to the Hospital wing to see about Harry's shoulder, and for Karessa to get the salve she had asked Madame Pomfrey prepare for her. They were two halls away when their three little stalkers caught up with them; Pansy steering them in the wrong direction for the last forty minutes proved to be useful in finding their target by accident.
"Your sense of direction is atrocious." Daphne deadpanned.
"Shut up, you bint! Like you could really do any better." Pansy screeched quietly as the three spied around the last corner that would turn down into the Hospital wing.
"I told you we should have at least stayed somewhere near the first to third floors – the kitchen would have made sense to be as close to the Great Hall as possible when food is to be served." She rolled her eyes at her daft friend. "I don't know where your bright idea, that the kitchen must be higher up than that because the house-elves would expect us to look there first, came from."
"Hey! Those devil creatures are crafty and sneaky." Pansy defended herself. "It only makes sense that they'd know we'd be looking for it, so why not put it somewhere we won't look?"
"Like the dungeons?" Daphne said sarcastically.
"Hey there's a thought!" Millicent regarded. "We should try looking there later for a snack. Good idea Daphne." Daphne let out a frustrated huff as she slapped a hand over her eyes.
"And people say blondes are supposed to be the dumb ones." She said as she twisted a lock of her yellow hair.
"Oh, enough of that, you two," Pansy hissed. "We got work to do." Then just like that they stationed themselves around the Hospital wing entrance and waited for their window of opportunity.
Madame Pomfrey had been sitting at her desk, filling out some papers for an order by owl for some more supplies after she checked her inventory, when she noticed Harry and Karessa walking towards her desk. Looking up from her work she smiled at the two youths as she stood from her chair and made her way around her desk to greet them.
"Good afternoon, dears. How may I help you?" the matron said kindly.
"Good afternoon, Madame Pomfrey." Karessa said politely. "Actually, I've brought a small patient for you today –"
"Who you calling small?" Harry interrupted as he grinned as he pat her head. She swatted his hand away.
Karessa smiled cheekily. "There was a bit of a scene in the library, and Mr. Potter may have hurt himself while playing my hero in the crossfire." She looked at the amused older woman as Harry huffed indignantly.
Karessa just brushed him off. "He insists that he's fine, but I'd like to make sure. Do you think you could look him over to set my mind at ease – if you're not too busy that is?"
Pomfrey giggled lightly. "No, no, dear that's quite alright. It's been rather quiet today so I'd be happy to look over him for you." She guided them to an unused bed and pulled the curtains to one side to cover only half of the bed should Potter feel a little shy from watchers.
Harry sat on the bed as Karessa sat in a chair next to him. "Now what is it I'm examining?" Pomfrey asked.
"His right shoulder, and if it's not too much trouble, I was curious as to how his ribs were as well." Karessa responded.
Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Alright then, Mr. Potter, if you would lift your shirt up so I could take a look."
"Would you like me to leave?" Karessa began moving from her spot.
"No it's ok. Stay." Harry rushed out before she could stand, so she settled back down as Harry took his injured shoulder out of his shirt with Pomfrey's help. She had to admit the boy had a nice, lean physique.
"Alright let's take a look." The matron muttered as she took out her wand and examined Harry's shoulder. It was bruised to a swollen red around the edges, but became a bluish purple in the center of the muscle. As Pomfrey scanned her wand over the wound she slowly made her way down his side as her fingers also probed certain areas to judge Harry's soreness and pain levels. After completing her task she put her wand away and opened her mouth to speak – but was interrupted by Ron and friends rushing into the Hospital wing.
Well, Ron was actually being slightly dragged, slightly carried into the Hospital wing, and looking worse for wear.
"Forgive the disturbance, Madame." Neville began meekly. "But we're in need of your assistance."
"Yes, Ma'am." Dean jumped in as he hoisted the battered Weasley, none too gently, higher on his side to keep him from falling to the floor. "Weasley's ran into some trouble with a real nasty hex from an ill-tempered student, so we nee –" Dean stopped when he caught sight of Madame Pomfrey's current patients.
He consequently dropped his side of holding up Ron as his eyes widened. "Harry? What the bloody hell are you doing here?"
Seamus had then lost his hold on Ron as well as his jaw dropped in shock, and the rest of the Gryffindors present lost their worry for their friend as their attention got grabbed by the new situation at hand.
"Language, Mr. Thomas." The old medi-witch said. "Now please come and help me move Mr. Weasley to the bed over." She looked back at Harry and Karessa and smiled apologetically. "Excuse me dears, this will take only a few moments." Then she turned to see the other children place Ron down on the bed next to Harry's.
Karessa sat down next to Harry on the opposite side of the bed to get a better look at the beaten down Weasley. She looked at him curiously as some of the boys' snuck glances in her and Harry's direction, before diverting it back to Madame Pomfrey ordering out to the lot of them.
She blinked at the scene before her. "Any ideas on what happened to him?" she addressed Harry but didn't take her eyes off Ron.
"If I had to guess, I'd say from experience that Ron and Ginny got at each other again," he stated as she looked back at him. He grinned slightly. "And Ginny won the argument."
"Is Ginny his girlfriend?" Harry snorted.
"His sister."
"Ah, well that kind of sucks then." She laughed lightly.
"Let me be more specific; his little sister. The only girl out of seven children, and she happens to be the youngest of them all."
Karessa hissed as if in pain as she winced. "Oh, that is just cruel." She had a sympathetic look on her face as she looked down at Ron. "Now I really feel sorry."
"For Ron?"
"For Ginny." She gave Harry a sidelong glance as she smirked deviously. He chuckled.
As soon as Ron was all patched up, Madame Pomfrey sent the others boys on their way – to their reluctance – as they kept glancing back to Harry and Karessa, but eventually filed out. Now that the biggest distraction was dealt with, the matron focused on finding what she needed for Harry's injured shoulder. She gave him a small potion to reduce the swelling a little instead of a full dose so he wouldn't feel drowsy and could make it back to his dorm without problem, then proceeded to explain a salve she was giving him used to relax the muscles in his shoulder to induce a slower healing process.
"Now remember, you must rub the salve thoroughly over the tender area, and it will be a little uncomfortable at first, but will start feeling better as the shoulder heals." She said rubbing some of the thick purple stuff on Harry's shoulder as he grimaced at the sore pain. "Make sure it is properly rubbed in till there is no more of the color on your skin, and twice a day should do just fine; one before dressing in the morning, another before bed. I recommend after showers are more suitable." She handed the boy his shirt, which Karessa helped put back on him.
"Any questions?" the older woman asked.
"No, thank you so very much, Ms. Pomfrey." Harry said as he gathered his things and hopped down from the bed. The matron smiled.
"You're quite welcome, Mr. Potter, just take it easy on your shoulder; you wouldn't want to pull something before Quiddich season, now would you?" the young man laughed.
"No you're quite right, thanks again."
"Before we go, Madame, I was wondering if you had that salve I requested to be made ready yet." Karessa asked kindly.
"Why yes dear I do. Just a moment." She went off towards her office to go get what the young girl requested.
Harry looked at her curiously. "What does the salve do exactly?"
"Well it is a basis of the one you have, but the dose is thirty times stronger than the average rate in which a human could normally use; the dose I've requested has the potential of being quite lethal, but it is also a balm mixed for the purposes of healing burns, scars, and bone aches as well as other skin damages and repair them."
"It sounds pretty useful to me, so what about it is so lethal?"
"It is because most of the ingredients and incantations used to make it are part of dark magic. It was a necessary to have it cleared with Dumbledore and the current Minister of Magic in order to collect the ingredients, so I've been told."
Harry looked rather surprised at her. "Why would you want that?"
She gave him another secretive smile. "Some things are better left untold; I'm afraid it wouldn't be wise at this point in time to tell you something –"
"That I would need to have a very convincing talk with the Headmaster should I want an appropriate answer?" he asked cheekily echoing her words before. She laughed.
"Exactly. He'll tell you if it's needed for you to know, but for now just relish the mystery and enjoy some peace of mind; because a secret is the knowing of something that has the ability to change lives should the wrong person hear it." The matron was making her way back to the two teens at this point. "Trust me, curiosity is a killer, and you're better off not knowing."
Before Harry could ask her to explain, Madame Pomfrey had walked up to them holding a rather large jar of sparkling blackish-blue mixture which she then handed to Karessa, grateful to lose the weight. Even tight sealed as it was, the smell of the concoction was a strong odor of lilac and spices that was making Harry slightly dizzy as the scent surrounded them.
"Here you are dear, freshly sealed. Did you need anything else?" the older woman dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief; it seemed he wasn't the only one affected by the thick mixture.
How is she not affected by it, and yet she's got it the closest to her body? Harry asked himself as he watched Daniels adjust the jar in her hands while she inspected it thoroughly before placing it in her bag where it peaked out from the top flap.
"No, that will be all. Thank you, and have a good day, Madame." The both turned to walk out of the Hospital wing. The matron waved back at them.
"Bye, Ron." Harry called, but the boy was too caught up in moaning and groaning in discomfort to notice him leaving. Harry looked at Karessa shortly after they closed the Hospital wing doors and stood in the hall.
"So, any place special you were heading to? I could accompany you if you'd like." He offered.
Karessa noticed a few of his fiends standing off down one of the halls as they watched the two in curiosity. She shook her head no as she smiled.
"I'm actually done for the day, so I was going to head back to my dorm, but thanks for the offer. Besides I think your friends would like a word with you." She near giggled at the end.
Potter glanced behind him then turned back to face her, rolling his eyes as he sighed. "You're right; I don't think I can avoid them. Guess I'll see you around then, huh?" she nodded as he turned away from her and made his way towards his friends reluctantly.
"No worries, I'll be fine. Thanks for spending the afternoon with me, it was fun. We should do it again sometime." She called after him.
"Definitely." he said as he and the Gryffindor boys disappeared around the corner in a hustle.
"Could we come too?" a sickly sweet voice said behind her.
She turned to see Pansy standing only a few feet behind her with Daphne and Millicent leaning against opposite walls to the hall they were standing in a few steps behind her. They were in her direct path to the stairwell that would take her up to her room.
Pansy stepped closer to her with a sly grin on her face. "Or do you think five is a crowd?" the other two girls got off the wall making to block the path a little more than before, but it wasn't like Daniels couldn't get around them if she wanted.
She adjusted the strap of her bag. "No, I wouldn't mind if you'd join us; I just didn't think you girls would care to waste your time, being who I am and my company would include Harry Potter. You kind of seem like the type that have more important things to do than entertain a muggle and 'The Boy Who Lived' is all."
Pansy let out a cruel laugh at this and her back up followed behind her as they flanked Parkinson's sides.
"At least you're aware of how things work here. But besides where your place is concerned, I wanted to ask you a few questions, and if you answer them correctly we'll be on our marry ways with little to no trouble at all. Get what I'm saying?" she said as she tried to scare Daniels into cooperation by twiddling with her wand in the other girl's face while the other two Slytherins moved a little closer to make their way to circle in behind Daniels.
Karessa smiled ignorantly. "Sure, ask away and I'll answer as accurately as I can."
"Oh, I know you will." Pansy said. "So let's start with something simple; what is your name?"
"Karessa Daniels." She answered.
"What do your eyes look like?"
"Greenish-blue, five pointed star-shaped pupils."
"Are you a muggle?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure you're not just a squib using a muggle's lifestyle for a cover?" Pansy narrowed her eyes.
"I'm positive my muggle heritage is not by choice, nor do I recall ever having any real magical background on my side of the family aside from my great-or-so aunt." She smiled.
Pansy got in her face at that point. "We put a truth serum in your drink earlier this morning, so we'll know if you even try to lie." She warned.
"Pansy, why the hell would you tell her that!" Daphne screeched at her. Pansy looked at her friend.
"Shut up, Daphne! Why are you here in Hogwarts then if you are not a witch?" she said as she went back to addressing Daniels; this was their moment of truth.
"I'm a guest, if anything else. I'm here to learn your ways and be more informed for the future ahead of me." She said.
"You're lying." Pansy growled.
"How could I lie if you gave me a truth serum? I didn't even hesitate when I told you that."
"It doesn't mean that you still couldn't be fibbing or skirting around the answer; truth serums don't always work to their full extent."
"So you're saying you used a flawed method to get the truth out of me, and you can't even be sure if I've been telling you the truth or not?" Daniels asked her interrogator confused.
Pansy stuttered over her words as she thought of a good excuse to tell the girl. "I…Well it's – you see…oh, shut up!" she said slightly enraged as she pointed her wand in the girl's face. "I've had enough of this, I don't know what you're playing at but I'm through with this innocent act you're putting on. What are you doing here in Hogwarts?" she hissed jabbing her wand in Daniels' chest. Karessa was unmoving.
"I told you before; I'm only here to learn from the rest of you."
"Liar!"
"It is the truth." Karessa said in an irritatingly calm voice. This only served to add fire to Pansy's frustration.
Parkinson took in an angry breath as her wand hand shook, debating whether to hex the girl or slap her. She dropped her hand a little. "Fine, don't say anything then." She smirked viciously at her. "If you won't tell us then we'll take what we want from you."
She gestured her wand and Millicent made to grab Karessa's bag as Daphne grabbed her by the arms and twisted one behind her back to a painful angle. They moved to an open alcove off to the side so as not to be seen, and when she reacted to snatch her bag back Greengrass twisted her hand up higher to give her the silent message that they were the ones in control here. Pansy kneed her in the stomach causing Karessa to grunt out in discomfort, she dropped her head and Pansy gripped her hair roughly, messing up the braid she made to lift her head so she could whisper cruelly in her ear.
"That's a good muggle. Keep quiet and this will go a little smoother than what I had planned for you should you fail to comply with our wishes. Now let's see what you've got in that bag of yours, and hopefully it'll be what we're looking for, you can go free with minimal damage to that pretty little face of yours." She said as she gripped Karessa by the cheeks and dug her nails in which would create deep crevices in her face, possibly breaking the skin, but she couldn't be sure as they turned her body to face Millicent with her bag in hand as she unsnapped the latch.
All four girls immediately caught eyes on the dark salve. "Wow, that's a lot of salve. What's it for?" Pansy sneered in her face.
"You need to be very careful with that." She said moving towards Millicent forgetting she was being held back, and hissing in pain as the tug on her hair grew tighter. "It's really strong, and can be lethal if you aren't used to the fumes." Millicent snorted.
Daphne laughed. "Yeah, whatever. Go on Milli, try it."
"Yeah, let's see how lethal that stuff really is. Open it right under this little trollop's nose and see how long it takes her to pass out." Pansy said raising Karessa's head a little higher.
Millicent put down the bag and carefully lifted the heavy jar into both her arms. She wobbled a little from the weight, which was surprisingly heavier than it looked. "Bloody hell, how on earth did she carry this on one shoulder? It weighs more than a full grown Hippogriff, and the scent is burning my eyes." She grunted trying to adjust the glass container to one crook of her arm so she had a hand free, but was struggling quite badly.
"Oh, would you hurry up already before someone comes by and wonders about all that grunting you're doing." Pansy hissed looking into the deserted hallway.
"Now don't get your knickers in a twist, I've got it." Millicent snared out as she finally managed to secure the jar in one arm as she held up a boney knee to support the weight, and leaned against the wall to steady herself. She then broke the seal on the jar top and went about spinning the lid till it loosened, but ignoring Daniels' warning she popped the top off just a crack and her eyes began to roll in the back of her head from the strong fumes.
Everything went in slow motion from then.
Greengrass called out in a slight worried tone to her friend as the girl's grip loosened on the jar and her body began to slump off to the side. Parkinson screamed angrily that she would break the jar, but neither girl noticed Karessa go completely still in their grasp.
The next thing either girl felt was pain.
Karessa had steeled her body before head-butting both Pansy and Daphne before bringing one of her feet up to kick Pansy in the hand which made her drop her wand with a shriek. She then proceeded to flip the rest of her body up and over Daphne as she was slightly disoriented from the hit to the head, then upon descent Karessa grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her into the ground. With Daphne knocked out cold Karessa was crouched down on her hands before sweep-kicking Pansy's feet out from under her so that she would fall in line to Millicent and the glass jar of salve. The mix hit her between the shoulders first before rolling away from her, but before she could make a move to get up, Millicent fell atop of her unconscious.
Pansy tried to move out from under the girl's weight but was making little progress when she looked up to see Karessa brushing off her pant legs and readjusting her top. She walked over to the stunned girl, laying trapped under her friend, and flicked her foot under the large jar to have it bounce in the air before catching it in one hand as she bent before Parkinson to pick up her bag next.
"Sorry about that, but I had to act fast or else we all might have been exposed to the strong fumes of the salve; I couldn't just let the jar break." She started walking away. "Don't worry about the other two, they should wake up in a few minutes or so, but the Hospital wing is just around the corner if you think they need attending to." She stopped before she disappeared down the hall.
"Oh one other thing, Pansy, was it?" she looked back at the fallen girl.
She nodded unsurely. "Ye-yeah?"
"If you've thought about taking my defense course, make sure your name and homeroom teacher and class are on my signup sheet by Monday." The suddenly meek girl nodded quickly.
The strange muggle left Parkinson to her own thoughts with her two unconscious friends around her.
We may have to reevaluate our planning strategy from now on. She thought begrudgingly to herself. I hate to say it, but it looks like I underestimated her.
"Bullocks…"
A/N: Well there you have it! QUESTIONS ARE INCOURAGED; I WILL ANSWER ALL OF THEM!
- LoVeRsOfLiFe :D
