Disclaimer: Everything you recognize isn't mine: it's the great J.K. Rowling's.
Chapter 10: Trick or Treat
It was the day before Halloween, and Alison was sitting with George, Fred, and Lee in the boys' dormitory.
"I can't believe that it's the day before Halloween, and we still haven't decided on a Halloween prank," George said frustrated.
Lee grumbled, "I already told you my idea, but you shot it down."
"That's because exploding pumpkins is lame," said Fred.
"Wait," Alison said sitting up. "What kind of exploding pumpkins are we talking about? Location sensitive as in only the pumpkins next to the Slytherins? Or maybe things exploding out of the pumpkins, like candy or slime."
"I guess that could work, if we have no better ideas," Fred conceded.
Alison suggested, "If we can, maybe we could combine those two aspects. Like having candy explode out of the pumpkins near all the tables except the Slytherin table, and -"
"- have slime or something equally as nasty explode out of the pumpkins near the Slytherin table," George finished.
"I still have the candy and bag of Dungbombs that I got this summer for my birthday. We can use them," offered Lee.
"Brilliant. Now we are actually going somewhere. What do you say, Fred? Should we explode some pumpkins?"
"Sure," Fred yielded.
"Great! Now all we need to do is get everything assembled and ready before tomorrow," George said optimistically.
:) :) :) :) :)
After everyone had gone to bed that night, Alison crept up the stairs to the boys' room. She knocked once before entering. She found the boys sitting on the floor hunched over something.
George looked up at her and said, "Excellent, you're here. Come over. There is something we want to show you."
As she walked over, Fred quickly whispered something and then sat back. Alison looked past him and saw -
"A blank piece of parchment?" Alison asked in confusion.
"Ahh, but it is not just a blank piece of parchment. This paper here is the secret of our success," said Fred, patting the parchment fondly.
"This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school," George said, smiling.
"You're just winding me up," said Alison, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment.
"Oh, are we?" questioned George.
He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other; they crisscrossed. They fanned into every corner of the parchment. Then words began to blossom across the top, great curly green words that proclaimed:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing was that it had tiny ink dots moving around on it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing.
Alison looked up at the three boys, who were grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Where did you get this?"
George started to explain: "Well...when we were in our first year - young, carefree, and innocent -"
Alison and Lee snorted, both doubting the latter characteristic.
"- well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Flich."
"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor, and it upset him for some reason -"
"Everything upsets Filch," supplied Alison.
"So he hauled us up to his office and started threatening us with the usual -"
"- detention -"
"- disembowelment -"
"- and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."
"So naturally, George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, and I whipped open the drawer and grabbed this."
Noticing the look on her face, George assured, "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."
"Now to wipe it so no one else can read it, you just tap it again and say, 'Mischief managed!'"
"Brilliant," Alison said in amazement. "And do only you three know how to work it?"
"It was only us three, but now it's four," said Lee, smiling.
Alison returned the smile, a warm feeling blossoming inside of her.
Fred clapped, getting everyone's attention. "Now let's go over the plan one more time."
:) :) :) :) :)
The next morning, Alison woke up excited. She, like all the other students, was looking forward to the Halloween feast. However, unlike most of the other students, she was also excited for another reason.
"You ready for the prank later?" George mumbled to Alison as she sat down next to him at breakfast.
"Of course. I can hardly wait," Alison muttered back.
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Angelina asked them. "Is it another prank? Am I going to have to watch my back for the rest of the day?"
"Don't worry, Angelina. No prank is going to harm you today," Alison assured her. "We were just commenting on how Fred's shirt is backwards."
Fred stopped shoveling the food into his mouth and exclaimed, "What?" He checked his shirt, and sure enough, it was on backwards. "How did that happen?" Fred said bewildered, as the rest of them laughed at his predicament.
:) :) :) :) :)
Alison never thought that her life could change by something so simple happening in Charms, but it did. Professor Flitwick had paired everyone up to practice the levitation spell. Alison was paired with Neville, which wasn't too bad. The only problematic pairing was Ron and Hermione. It was no secret that those two couldn't stand each other.
"Now don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on their chest."
Neville paled at the thought of messing up and having a buffalo on top of him.
"That won't really happen," Alison assured him. "Fred and George said that they tried it and nothing happened."
Suddenly, Seamus's feather caught on fire, and Harry had to put it out with his hat.
Alison made a note to herself to tell the boys another use for the hats: to put out fires in Charms.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Alison said as she swished and flicked her wand. The feather rose a few inches off of the desk then fell.
"You did it!" Neville exclaimed excitedly.
Then Ron shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" while waving his long arms like a windmill.
"You're saying it wrong," Alison heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."
"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.
Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her robes, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.
"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"
By the end of class, only Hermione and Alison had managed to do the spell, and they each won five points for Gryffindor.
Hermione and Alison were walking silently next to each other on their way to a Transfiguration review class when they heard Ron, who was walking in front of them.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry. "She's a nightmare, honestly."
Hermione burst into tears and left Alison behind as she hurried past the boys.
"I think she heard you," Harry said.
"So?" said Ron. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."
"Honestly, how rude can you get?" Alison said, shoving Ron so hard that he almost fell onto the floor. However, she refrained from hitting him, even though she wanted to. Alison hurried to catch up to Hermione.
Alison finally found Hermione crying in the bathroom.
"Hermione?" Alison called tentatively.
"What do you want? Have you come to tell me that I have no friends, too?" Hermione sobbed.
"No. I came to see how you are." Even Alison could tell as she spoke that it sounded lame.
"I'm just peachy, so leave me alone."
"I -" Alison began, but was interrupted by Parvati entering the bathroom.
Parvati stopped when she saw the two girls. "What's wrong, Hermione?"
"Just leave me ALONE!" Hermione shouted, then started crying again.
Parvati, with a shocked look on her face, ran out of the bathroom.
Alison tried again: "Look, Hermione. Ron is a boy, and most boys are extremely rude, so don't take what he said to heart."
After a long silence, Hermione sniffed, "Do you think that I'm a nightmare?"
"Of course not," Alison assured her.
"Then why is it that I have no friends?"
Alison paused, debating on what to say. She finally said, "No offense, Hermione, but you are really uptight, which puts people off. People don't like to be told what to do. When you act all bossy and go on about not breaking rules, you give off a vibe that you're better than everyone else. You and I know that you were just trying to help Ron, but he saw it as you showing off and maybe even mocking him."
"Do I really act like that?" Hermione asked worriedly.
Alison simply said, "Yeah."
Hermione was lost in thought. Alison awkwardly shifted her feet, waiting for her to speak.
Finally, Hermione said, "I'm sorry for acting like such a prat to you. I thought that if I wouldn't speak to you, you would stop breaking the rules."
"Sorry, but I don't want to, and I don't think that I can, change who I am," Alison stated with a shrug. "But when you stopped speaking to me, I was very lonely and hurt. I guess that I have some idea of how you've been feeling."
"But you made friends with some older kids; I see you spending time with them," Hermione inserted. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?" asked Alison confused.
"Make friends. I can't seem to make any," Hermione said miserably.
"Just be yourself and don't act so uptight," Alison said while smiling at Hermione.
Hermione smiled back, and then frowned. "Do you smell something?" she asked.
Alison sniffed, also frowning. "I don't know, but it smells foul."
All of a sudden, Hermione fixed her eyes on something behind Alison. Hermione's mouth opened in a silent scream and her eyes widened, more than Alison thought was humanly possible. Alison turned around and paled.
In the doorway stood a horrible creature. Standing twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull granite gray. Its great lumpy body was like a boulder, and its small bald head was perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The creature was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
When the creature slouched into the bathroom, the door suddenly slammed behind it. As it stepped closer, Alison and Hermione stepped backwards until their backs were to the wall. Hermione gave a high, petrified scream.
Alison was trying to think of what to do. She had been in many dangerous situations before, but never one like this: she was shut in a bathroom with an ex-friend-who-was-now-maybe-her-friend-again, who now looked like she was going to faint, and with a horrible creature that had a club and was slowly advancing, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went. On top of it all, Alison, for some reason, suddenly realized that the Halloween feast had probably started and she had probably missed their prank. Alison had just pushed that thought out her head when the bathroom door flew open and Harry and Ron ran in.
"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately, as he seized a tap and threw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The creature stopped a few feet from the girls. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, and then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
Alison thought about running for it, but then she looked at Hermione who was still in shock. "Come on, Hermione," pleaded Alison as she pulled her arm, trying to make her move.
"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The creature didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.
"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, helping Alison in trying to pull her toward the door, but Hermione couldn't move; she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the creature berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.
Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: he took a running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the creature's neck from behind and shove his wand up its nose.
Howling with pain, the creature twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the creature was going to rip him off or catch him with a terrible blow with the club.
Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright. Alison had frozen, not knowing what to do. Ron pulled out his own wand; not knowing what he was going to do, he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The club flew suddenly out of the creature's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over – and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The creature swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.
Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.
It was Hermione who spoke first. "Is it – dead?"
"I don't think so," said Harry. "I think it's just been knocked out."
He bent down and pulled his wand out of the creature's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.
"Urgh – troll boogers." He wiped it on the troll's trousers.
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the four of them look up. They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall came bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart. Snape bent over the troll.
"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
Alison was desperately trying to think of a way to get all of them out of this without anyone getting in trouble when Hermione spoke. "Please, Professor McGonagall - they were looking for me."
"Miss Granger!"
Hermione had managed to get onto her feet at last.
"I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I've read all about them."
Ron dropped his wand.
"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Alison tried to pull me to safety, while Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."
Alison was proud of Hermione; she had really taken Alison's advice to heart. Also, it was a good story that she came up with: the first part was a total lie, but still believable, while the rest was all the truth.
"Well - in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"
Hermione hung her head.
"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses."
Hermione left. Professor McGonagall turned to Alison, Harry, and Ron.
"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."
They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.
"We should have gotten more than fifteen points," Ron grumbled.
"Ten, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's," corrected Harry.
"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."
"We wouldn't have been in the bathroom if you hadn't made Hermione cry," Alison inserted, while Harry reminded him, "She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her."
"You did WHAT?" Alison asked horrified. Then she thought for a second then shrugged. "It probably wouldn't have mattered either way because you only locked the door after it had walked in. It was coming for us anyway."
They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Pig snout," they said and entered.
The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassing pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks," and hurried off. Alison knew that, from the experience of knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll, she had regained her friendship with Hermione and was now sort-of-friends with Harry and Ron.
Alison walked over to where the twins were sitting. When they noticed her, they exclaimed, "Little sister! Where were you? We were worried that something had happened to you," and they smothered her in a hug between them.
"I'm fine. Did the thing occur?" Alison asked once they had let go of her.
The twins shook their heads sadly: "We were waiting for you."
"Can we do it tomorrow?"
"If the house elves haven't cleaned everything up, we can -"
"- but they are probably going to do that tonight."
"Let's go down to the kitchens now and tell them not to," Alison said jumping up.
"But what about the troll?" Fred asked.
"It's been taken care of. Now let's go!" Alison pulled them toward the door.
"How do you know that?" George asked suspiciously.
"I'll explain on the way. Come on!" The twins followed Alison out of the commonroom and down to the kitchens.
:) :) :) :) :)
The next day, Alison was feeling excited as she went from Potions to lunch. Alison and the twins had managed to convince the house elves to leave the Halloween decorations up. Since it was lunch and not a feast, only a few teachers were present and not all of the students. However, the twins and Alison had decided that the sooner, the better because the decorations could be taken down any time now.
The twins and Lee ran over to where Alison was sitting and sat down.
"You ready?" George asked.
"This is your first official prank with the professionals," Fred said in a pompous manner.
"And this is your first official prank with the master," Alison said in the same manner.
Cutting off Fred's retort, George whispered, "I think most of the students are here. We should do it soon."
The four of them pulled their wands out under the table.
"We do it on three," Fred said.
"One," George began.
"Two," Lee continued.
"Three," Alison finished, and the four pranksters whispered the incantation together.
Immediately, pumpkins exploded everywhere. Dungbombs went off as the pumpkins near the Slytherin table exploded, while candy came out of the pumpkins everywhere else. It was like a dream to Alison. Everyone had an expression of shock plastered on their faces, and several people had screamed. Except for the screams, it was silent for a second. Then the Slytherins began cursing. People laughed while getting the pumpkin bits off of their clothes. Others picked up the candy and started eating it.
Alison looked over at the boys with a grin on her face and pumpkin bits in her hair. They were also smiling and were covered in pumpkin bits.
"You have something on your head, Fred," George laughed.
Fred reached up and pulled off the side of a pumpkin out of his orange hair.
Lee chuckled. "I didn't even notice it because it blended in so nicely with your hair."
Alison giggled at Fred's expression.
"Shut up and eat some chocolate, you three," Fred said, trying to keep an angry face. He failed, and soon they were all laughing and eating chocolate. Operation Trick or Treat was a success.
A/N
And thus Alison is settling into life at Hogwarts with pranking with Lee and the twins and by becoming friends again with Hermione. Alison has interesting ways of making friends, doesn't she?
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