Summary: Rebecca Curd, Penelope Trimble, and many others are returning to Hogwarts. But what's this? A new school for witches and wizards has sprung up in Britain? Yes. Boarwilds aims to absorb Hogwarts, and already students are transferring. But proud students like Rebecca and Penelope aren't letting Hogwarts die so easily. With a new headmaster – sorry, headmistress, as well as a batch of new professors that range from awfully strict to seriously deluded, they're ready to do battle. Raging hormones and reawakened prejudices only add to the madness!

Absolutely no owning of Hogwarts/Harry Potter going on here – we have some British lass (J.K. Rowling) to blame! :3

Chapter Ten

Hogsmeade Hijinks

She didn't mean to get separated from the others.

Becky was having a wonderful time. Hogsmeade was just as fun as it always was, and she had already spent all of the money she allowed herself to spend that day. Dimitar had tugged her away from Patsy and Penny while they had been shopping, and brought her into the Three Broomsticks to have a Butterbeer or two. Gilbert joined them after a while.

Several Butterbeers later, she was feeling a little drowsy. Butterbeer had never made her feel this way before: tired, with a fiery stomach. Dimitar offered to rent a room at the inn.

Becky slumped on the table. "Oh, that'd be lovely... I don't know why I feel like this... Maybe they changed the ingredients in the Butterbeer...?" she hiccupped.

Gilbert got a strange expression on his face and stood. "Anyway, I'll catch you later."

Almost right after he left, Lori entered. Her face was red - possibly from the tight-fitting clothing? "Jeremy, have you seen Gilby-wilby?"

"Yeah, he just left," Dimitar replied slowly.

Jeremy? Why did Lori call him-? Oh, I'm so sleepy... Ooh, what a pretty salt shaker!

Her date bid Lori goodbye and hoisted Becky to her feet. "I have a room," he told her, carrying her toward the stairs. "You can get sleep."

"Shank yooh," she slurred. My head... It feels like wild boars are rampaging up there.

Next thing she knew, she was lying on a soft bed. Her coat was gone - she wore only the clothes Patsy had made her wear - "Date Stuffs" - that consisted of a green plaid skirt, a maroon and white shirt, and a strange, corset-like thing that fit under her bust line.

Dimitar lay next to her. He began stroking her hair, whispering something to her. His accent was gone, and he was speaking English fluently. He removed her socks and began to unfasten the corset thing.

"What... What are you... you doing?" Becky gasped. Her head continued to throb.

His hands travelled up her legs and stopped at her hips. "Rebecca..." he murmured in her ear. "You have no idea how long..."

Becky stared at him in confusion. Didn't he just say he was going to let her have some sleep? What the madness? I want sleep... Not this. Whatever this is.

Dimitar leaned down and seemed about to snog her.

"Stop! Get off of her, you lecherous bastard!" Gilbert stood in the doorway, panting. In her delirious state, Becky waved and asked where he'd purchased his scarf.

"What the hell, Malfoy?" Dimitar snapped, getting to his feet.

But Gilbert had already ducked toward the bed, pulled Becky into his arms, and dragged her out of the room.

"First things first," the boy told her as they stumbled out of the inn. "His real name is Jeremy Mude. He's been a Slytherin at Hogwarts as long as I have." He set her down in the snow behind the inn. "Second - he slipped Firewhisky into your drinks."

"What?" Becky gaped. She was freezing; her coat was still upstairs in the inn.

Gilbert dropped into the snow beside her, his face full of anguish. "I knew what he was up to when I witnessed it... I... I ran out... But then I thought of innocent little you, alone with him, drunken... I came back..."

Frightened, Becky patted his back lightly. "Well. Thank you for saving me."

"I should have stopped him sooner," Gilbert moaned.

Ignoring the pounding in her head, Becky smiled. "Well, you came back. It's enough to show me that you care." She shivered.

"If you say so," Gilbert replied. "Here." He draped his coat over her shoulders.

"I am once again in your debt," she laughed.

Finally, a smile formed on the boy's face. "Let's settle your debts now."

When he kissed her, Becky was full of confusion. She was both terrified and ecstatic at the same time. It felt wrong and right all at once. She almost wet her knickers. Is this what love feels like? she mused. Unsure, she simply sat there, snogging him in the snow.

He stopped, looking at her strangely. "I saw Penny out front. Keep my coat for now."

Becky stood, her legs shaking, and she slowly left him. What just happened there...?

*****

She didn't mean to get separated from the others.

"Honestly, Roderick! Patsy'll be waiting for me!" Penny stood with her hands on her hips, struggling to glare at the older boy, but failing to contain her giggles.

Becky's brother had asked her to have a Butterbeer with him while she was waiting for Patsy to come out of the loo, and when she had denied him, he'd kidnapped her. Although she was having great fun, she desperately wanted to find her friend.

"Oh, please," Roderick muttered with a grin. "I'm sure she's fine. She knows Eva Wilts, doesn't she? Eva was in the building when we left. She'll probably be with her."

Penny sighed. "It's ever so tempting to let you convince me..."

"Then let me!" He pretended to toss a snowball at her, and then laughed uproariously as she smote him in the nose with another. He tugged her onto a bench with him, and wiped the snow off of his face. "I can't believe Becks is fraternising with Malfoy's henchman."

Now's my chance! "I'm curious... The surname Malfoy is so familiar to me, and yet Gilbert was a new face this year. Where have I heard of his family before?"

"The Malfoys?" Roderick scowled. "Where to begin...? Let's see. His grandparents are devoted Deatheaters, and his father became one for a while, too." He stroked his stubbly chin. "Draco. That's his name. Draco Malfoy. And Gilbert has a brother - Scorpius."

Penny snorted. "Scorpius? Draco? Are they determined to name their children after undesirable creatures?"

"Hmm," Roderick murmured, smirking, "Then what creature is Gilbert named after?"

"The Gilbish toad, obviously!"

Roderick sighed. "You're making that up."

"Oh, shut it..."

Roderick laughed again. "Anyway, they're all Slytherins. They're stinking rich. And usually bad news. Scorpius wasn't so bad, though. I was sad to see him graduate."

"Hey, I remember him!" Penny grinned. "He was a gorgey bloke."

"Oi!" the boy wailed. "What about me?"

Penny arched her brows. "What about you?" She stood and wrapped her coat tighter around her. "Can I please go find Patsy?"

"Only if I can come." He fell into step beside her, and spontaneously developed a thick accent. "O Penny, your eyes are so green, your hair so brown, your stomach so lean..."

"What in the name of Circe's cling up stockings was that supposed to be?"

Roderick ignored her and continued. "Your lips are like cherries, your skin is like snow - even your smile seems to glow..."

Penny couldn't help the blush that stole across her face. "Er..."

Becky stumbled into their path. Her face was just as red as Penny's, her eyes were bloodshot, and she was wearing a different coat then the one she arrived in. As soon as she noticed them, her eyes narrowed. "Roderick..." she hissed.

He frowned. "Hey. My friends dared me to put my name in the Goblet. I didn't expect to win, otherwise I wouldn't have done it."

"Oh, I don't care about that anymore," she informed him stiffly. "You'll be going through an experience worse than my punishments. If you die, I'll just think, 'Oh, he went through with it willingly...' and forget about you." Her gaze fell on Penny.

Roderick sighed. "Oh, I see. You don't want me bothering your friends. Well, guess what? She wants to be bothered!"

"I do?" Penny asked incredulously.

Becky linked arms with Penny, her expression dark. "Piss off, Roderick." The girls tried to flounce off, but Becky didn't seem all that co-ordinated at the moment, and they landed in a pile of snow.

*****

She didn't mean to get separated from the others.

Patsy unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out. "Penny?" she called, glancing around. There weren't many people inside the shop, and Penny was nowhere to be seen. "Penny?"

"Oh, hello!" It was Eva Wilts, looking cute in a sweater dress and tights.

"Eva, thank Merlin!" Patsy exclaimed, glancing quickly around the shop one last time. "You haven't seen Penny, have you?"

Eva frowned. "Penny Trimble, you mean? I'm sorry, but I haven't. I was too busy arguing with Brian." She made a face and pointed to her brother's slumped form on one of the nearby tables. "He wouldn't leave my and friends and me alone."

"Why isn't he with his friends?" the redhead asked.

A smirk was the response. "What friends?" Eva leaned in and whispered, "He's such a loner. Five years at this place, and he's only found two people for semi-chums."

Patsy peered over at Brian. "Poor thing."

"Not really," Eva sighed. "Anyway, I hate to abandon you when you've just lost Penny, but I really have to go..." She mouthed the words, I'll be right there! at some girls who stood outside, looking through the window.

Brian got up from the table and seemed to just notice Patsy. "Oi!" he exclaimed, rushing up to her. "Have you come to join me in a walk around the place?"

"Um... Sure," she mumbled reluctantly.

He took her hand. "This way to the Three Broomsticks. They've got the best Butterbeer in Hogsmeade, I can assure you." They left the shop and entered an inn of sorts. That Bulgarian boy that Becky was supposed to be dating was sitting alone, looking murderous.

After Brian paid, a mug of something warm and frothy was shoved into Patsy's hands. She stared at it nervously. "Oh. It smells good."

"Drink up," he insisted, beaming at her. He really was cute, Patsy decided. Especially with the ring of frothy Butterbeer around his lips. "Don't make me cram in down your throat."

"I... What?!" Patsy quickly took a sip. It was delicious. "Oh... Mmm... Yum!"

Brian laughed. "Hmm. You seem to like it, then."

After that, they adventured into the streets. Patsy excitedly discovered other shopping places that Penny and Becky had yet to point out to her, and even purchased a few things (make that ten decorative scarves).

Finally, they entered a store that looked kind of spooky. She glanced up at Brian. "Ooh, isn't this romantic," she joked, looking at the dusty shelves full of skulls and whatnot.

"My aunt owns this shop," he announced with a grin. "My barmy aunt."

"Barmy...?" Patsy asked, following him. "I know Becky explained that one to me once... Uh... Does it mean cold?"

Brian stopped and turned to her, smirking. "Well... not exactly."

Like, what the Merlin does that mean? "Ooh, what's this here?" Patsy picked up an orb-like thing and examined it.

"Auntie?" Her Hufflepuff companion disappeared around the corner.

The orb was very pretty... The only word Patsy could think of that could describe it was that fancy one Becky used once before... iridescent. It caught the dull light from above and glittering with all the colours of the rainbow. She stared deeper into it... and began to see...

Keep away from my orb, you filthy foreigner.

Patsy gasped, nearly dropping it. Had she just seen a strange woman? She wasn't sure.

One thing was for certain, though. The woman who approached her just then was strange. She wore fushia pantaloons. "You're lucky you didn't break that," she sniffed.

Brian flushed. "Aunt Mildred!"

"I'd like to buy this," Patsy murmured, holding up the orb. She didn't know why, it just seemed pretty. And maybe it would impress the girls. One could hope.

Brian's aunt rattled off a price, accepted Patsy's money (as well as the Sickle that Brian donated to the transaction), and then scuttled away. "I told you she was mad," Brian said as they exited the store.

"Mad? I thought you said she was cold," Patsy replied. Why did Brian then sigh and shake his head?

A/N: Hee hee hee… Oh, the fun of it all. :D I'm sorry it took me so long to get this up… School's been, well, schooly. :S Anyways, Mude's secret is out, Becky and Penny are confused, and what's with that orb that Patsy bought? We shall soon find out (school willing – we'll see about that homework load). Oh, and don't worry if some of these aren't the romantic pairings you had hoped for… Much is yet to come!