Special shout out to user EG for the nice reviews! who doesn't ship James x Winnie?! They are adorable.
Please review, favorite, follow whatever. That keeps me going.
Also I don't own anything except My OC Winnie Powers.
Chapter 9
"I know it was you, Powers! I swear to Salazar that I'll get you- you mudblood!" Mulciber said, wiping off the excess sludge that was on him, his face and body were turning ruby red and his hands were shaking as if he was going to strangle me any minute now though I hardly thought that was going to happen with McGonnagall standing next tome.
"Mr. Mulciber! I will not tolerate that kind of language in this classroom. Detention, tonight and tomorrow night and I will be speaking to Professor Slughorn about this outrageous use of language. I suggest you go to the washroom and remove this" Minerva pointed to his face "Filth that is on you."
I smirked, "Yeah Mulciber wipe that filth off."
"Ms. Powers, I suggest you take a seat." McGonnagall said, sharply.
I smiled and gave her a two-finger salute and took a seat next to Benjy Fenwick, a relatively nice Ravenclaw boy who was probably the most sarcastic and witty person I ever met. After me, of course. I had only spoken to him a handful of times, usually during Divination due to the fact that he was my partner and probably the funniest dream interpreter in the universe.
I nudged him, "Hey Benjamin, what are we supposed to do again?"
He rolled his eyes, "It's Benjy, Winifred." He said mockingly, "We're supposed to do the bird-conjuring charm but I guess you were a little distracted with Mulciber over there." He then motioned with his eyes to Mulciber who was full on glaring at me.
I gave Mulciber a little wave before turning to Benjy, "You know what? I think he likes me." I laughed.
He played along and nodded, "Mhm, don't be surprised if you get a love letter from Mulciber or perhaps poisoned chocolates, thought I doubt he's capable of that."
I scoffed, "I'm surprised he can brush his teeth in the morning, let alone poison chocolates."
He laughed, flashing me his pearly white teeth. "Quiet, Winnie you're distracting me- we're supposed to be working."
I chuckled, "Sorry, I forgot you're a Ravenclaw."
"How prejudice as usual, Gryffindor." He grinned, slightly leaning towards me.
"I try." I grinned cockily, he raised his brow but said nothing. I took this as the perfect time to say the bird-conjuring spell and release a flock of birds from my wand..right at Mulciber.
"Ms. Powers! That is unacceptable! Five points from Gryffindor." McGonnagall said unamused and in an instant zapped the birds away.
"Whoa! sorry about that Mulciber, guess my hand slipped." I said, with a small shrug.
Mulciber turned to me and mouthed, 'mudblood'. That one word sent shivers down my spine but I did what any other stupidly brave Gryffindor did, I smiled back.
The reason I seemed to always go after Mulciber was the fact that he used to bully me and a lot of other people in fourth year, due to my blood status and the fact that I was quite short back then. Mulciber used to curse and hex me when the boys were around and back then, I accepted it. Because that's what every other muggle-born did. But last year when Mulciber and Mulciber used dark magic on Mary I swore to myself that I would never again let him do anything to me or anybody else. So I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine whenever I got the chance, sort of like a way to tell him that I wasn't afraid of him or his group of idiot friends.
"Winnie, just between me and you I think you should really be careful." Benjy muttered to me, solemnly.
I laughed it off, "Don't worry about it, Benjy." I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
"I'm not kidding, Winnie..Mulciber's not right in the head, you know what he did to Mary." He whispered.
My eyes flashed dangerously, "I'm not afraid of him, Benjy."
He gave me a half-smile, "I know. That's exactly why I'm telling you to watch your back. You don't know what he's planning, Winnie."
I returned the smile, "Thanks for the tip, Fenwick but I'll be all right." I said with a wink.
He gave me an uneasy smile and went back to trying to conjure birds out of his wand.
Despite my calm exterior his words did actually leave me thinking. Was Mulciber potentially planning something? I couldn't kid myself and say no because I knew that I was already on his hate list, but still. Did he plan on hurting me? That thought alone made me lose my cool but at the same time lit a fire inside of me. A fire fueled by revenge and anger. If Mulciber was planning something, I knew one thing for sure. I was going to be ready.
I lay on the bed in a pensive trance, staring at the ceiling while simultaneously twirling a quill in my hand. Remus was the first one to question my silence, he had been staring at me for a long time and I could tell that he was waiting for me to say something which I didn't.
"You alright, Winnie?" He asked softly, giving me a small smile.
I nodded, "Yeah, you?"
"I'm fine but I don't think you are. What's going on?" He asked nonchalantly but I could tell that he wanted to know what was going on.
I sat up and proceeded to move my hair out of my face.
"Fenwick told me something today. It kind of.. I don't know? startled me, I guess?" I said, running a hand through my hair.
"Did he tell you about his foot fetish?" Sirius piped up.
"What?!" I said, snapping my head towards Sirius.
"Only joking, love! But what did he tell you?" He said, raising a brow
"I know, he probably told her that he's Ravenclaw's new captain. Smug prick." James said, annoyed.
I rolled my eyes, "No you idiots."
Just before I was going to tell them, I stopped and contemplated if I should tell them or not. I mean it would only make them worry about me and they already worried about me enough. But on the other hand, I wasn't very good at lying to them and I knew that if I didn't tell them then they would eventually hound Benjy down and force him to tell them.
"Just tell us already!" James said impatiently.
I put my hands up in surrender, "Alright! He said to watch out for Mulciber."
"What?" They all said simultaneously, which was quite creepy actually.
"Why would you need to watch out for Mulciber?" Peter asked, surprising me,
"Are you thick? Do you see how she annoys him? It's downright hilarious." Sirius said, laughing.
I bit my lip and continued, "He told me that he was sure that Mulciber was planning something and that I had to be careful because I'm not exactly on Mulciber's list of favorite people am I?"
"Yeah, but Mulciber hasn't done anything so far so he probably won't do anything now." James said, ironically.
My eyes met the floor. I had never told them about the bullying I experienced from Mulciber because first, they had enough on their plate and I didn't want them to worry about me. Secondly, it was embarrassing, I was already known as the girl who was friends with the marauders I didn't want Mulciber to think that I needed them to defend my honor. Even though, I rarely did defend my honor.
"Winnie," James said sternly. I recognized that tone, it was the tone he always used when he wanted to get information out of me.
"Did he- Did he do something to you?" Sirius said, edging closer to me. I look up at him and see all hint of laughter and amusement in his grey eyes gone all that was there was a concerned look that all the girls in Hogwarts dreamed of.
I sighed, "He didn't exactly hurt me- as in the way he hurt Mary. But there were several hexes and jinxes and the use of the word mudblood from time to time-"
I was cut off by a sharp intake of breath.
"You never thought to tell us?!" James said, clenching his jaw.
"I didn't want to worry you, you guys already have enough to deal with." I said, awkwardly.
"How could you think that? How could you possibly think that?" Remus said exasperated.
"Does he still bother you?" Peter asked, uncertainly.
My eyes met him and my frown was replaced with a small smile, "No way, I bother him. It's kind of like my personal form of revenge." I said and laughed, trying to ease the mood. Which didn't exactly work.
"When did this happen? The bullying, I mean." Sirius asked and gently tugged on my arm, making me look at him. I avoided his inquisitive eyes that felt like they were peering into my very soul.
"Fourth year to the beginning of fifth, but when I heard about the Mary incident. I started to fight back. He hexed me once, I hexed him three times. He makes fun of me, I turn him temporarily blind. It became sort of like a contest, in a way. But then he started to leave me alone, I guess he realized I wasn't an easy target." I said, a smirk growing on my lips.
It was nice to hear that out loud and I hoped that they realized that just because I was a girl, that didn't mean I was weaker than any of them. Or that I couldn't take care of myself.
"I'm impressed, Dot." James said, looking quite proud actually.
"Don't call me that." I said with a smile.
"But why didn't you fight back in the first place? I mean, you obviously could have. But you didn't. Why?" Sirius pried, trying to get me to look at him but my gaze was focused on everything but him.
I stood up and shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I felt like he was superior to me because he's a pure blood. So I just did what the other muggle-borns did. I accepted it."
"You should've told us, Winnie." Remus said while shaking his head disapprovingly, the same way my brother Greg would if I did something wrong.
"It doesn't matter anyway, it's over. But the thing is, when Fenwick warned me about him he kind of freaked me out. But at the same time, I want him to try something so I can send him to Madam Pomfrey's." I said, putting a hand on my hip.
"I think Mulciber should be afraid of you, Winnie." Sirius said, laughing slightly.
James nodded, "Have you seen her bat-bogey hex?"
I grinned, "Greg taught me that one!"
They all burst into laughter and I knew I was off the hook, for now of course. But I was one hundred percent sure that now they would be watching me like hawks especially if Mulciber and his gang of idiots were around.
"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" James said after a moment, making all of us direct our heads towards him. James leaned casually against the bed frame with a grin, while he twirled his wand between his fingers.
"That there is no hope for banshees in modern day society?" Remus asked.
"I agree but no," he said amused, "It's time to teach Mulciber a lesson."
"What am I supposed to do again?" Peter said uneasily, glancing up nervously at Sirius and James.
Sirius rolled his eyes impatiently, "Like I said Wormtail, you take this" He handed him a large goblet that was filled to the brim with a purple liquid. "And accidentally spill it on Mulciber and his goons."
Peter gulped, "But they'll kill me."
James nodded, "That's where we'll heroically come in and save the day!"
I laughed as I imagined Sirius and James in muggle superhero costumes saving the day.
"Oi Prongs, what's in that potion anyway?" I asked.
James put his finger to his lips and ssshed me "It's a secret." He said with a wink.
"Oh, is that right?" I said flatly.
Sirius then turned to Remus and I, "Now you too. Get out." He moved towards us and helped us off the couch (with much resistance from me) and shoved us towards the door.
"Now isn't that the nicest thing you've heard all day?" Remus said sarcastically.
"Sorry, loves. But can't have you two here. Go to the Great Hall, go to the library - go snog for all I care! I just need you get two out of here." Sirius said as he pushed us towards the door.
I rolled my eyes but complied none the less and headed towards the Great Hall with Remus, it was almost time for dinner anyway.
"D'you reckon they're gonna blow something up?" Remus murmured as we sat down.
Chuckling I replied, "Don't they always?"
A few minutes later Peter ran in, looking as if he had witnessed murder. His eyes were huge and his face was white as a sheet, I could tell that he was trembling a bit too.
"Alright, Pete?" Remus asked as he took in his face.
Peter just shook his head and said nothing.
A few seconds later Sirius and James barged in and took a seat, huge smiles on their faces. Not just any huge smiles, their signature mischievous smiles that alerted every one in the great hall that something was going to happen very soon. Suddenly the food appeared on the table and everyone waited. The air was tense. What was going to happen?
You know what did happen?
Absolutely nothing.
It was like we were waiting for a bomb to explode, everyone was nervous - too nervous to talk. But after a moment of realizing that nothing was happening everyone began questioning why everything and everyone was still intact.
"Thats it?" A Hufflepuff girl asked.
"Screw them, I'm hungry!" Said a Ravenclaw and began to eat his food, which somehow made everyone forget the prank and turn their attention to their food and to their friends.
I turned to Sirius, "What-"
BAM! an explosion was heard making everyone jump up and turn to look at the Slytherin table where Mulciber and his goons were sitting, but instead of heads on their bodies there were pumpkins! Actual pumpkins on their head! The room broke out into laughter at the sight of them, they looked at each other with angry faces and tried to silence the laughter.
Suddenly a whizzing noise emerged out of nowhere and flew above our heads, it looked like a sphere but it was slowly breaking down piece by piece and then all of a sudden it turned into a green snake that flew across The Great Hall and releasing a purple colored liquid that splattered across each and every single student, dying their skin, hair and eye color with the color of their house. Then in an instant the snake collided with itself and formed confetti which rained across the Great Hall.
It was like everyone had come to life, there were shouts and screams and shrieks of laughter, anger and happiness. I looked at my hand which had turned into a crimson color, my hair that was once the darkest shade of brown was now a lively golden color. The Ravenclaws turned blue and bronze, the Hufflepuffs were pale yellow and black and the Slytherins were a sickly shade of green and silver. As I took in how weird everyone looked I started laughing.
I was laughing so hard I was sure that everyone could hear me, my ribs were hurting me from how hard I was laughing to the point where there were tears in my eyes and I had to physically pant for breath.
I wiped a happy tear, "That- that was amazing!" I beamed.
"Wasn't it? Look at me, I have golden hair!" James said, ruffling his hair.
Sirius groaned as he took in his scarlet colored hair, "Why did I have to get the red hair?"
"Thank God you weren't born a ginger." James said, shuddering.
My eyes met with a blue haired Ravenclaw, "Look at her! she has blue hair!" I said, happily.
"I reckon I'd make a nice blond, don't you think?" Remus asked, grinning.
I slipped my arm across his shoulders, "Nah, I prefer your usual brown hair."
James noticed Lily Evans looking annoyed at her skin color and remarked, "Lily's hair is the same." He stared at her intently. "But her skin looks like it's glittering." He said dazed.
Sirius rolled his eyes at James, "Yeah, she looks like the Gryffindor mascot. How attractive."
We all laughed at his comment and I smiled. It was finally starting to look up for us and the idea of a potentially awesome year was starting to not look so impossible. I shut my eyes for a moment, as if taking all the details in and permanently storing it in my memory, so I could never let myself forget happy moments like these.
Remus nudged me slightly, "You alright, Winnie?"
"Yeah." I smiled back. "I'm great."
