Out of the countless things that are supposed to happen when you kiss someone, none did. Actually the three things that did happen could have very well been in reaction to someone retaliating on someone, who called them a fat gnome.
Leo's weight pushed into me, his lips still brushing mine. Instead of conforming to the courtesy of kissing him back my arms struck out to push him off me the moment of the impact. If I had been given a warning, or any kind of signal, I would have known to escape sooner. Leo stumbled backwards, only to regain his balance on the couch he wobbled over to. Not wanting to take any chances of a rematch I pulled my wand out from my robes and pressed it against his chest. Serves him damn right! What right does he have to go around kissing anyone he likes? NONE! Infused with rage, several pretty harsh spells came to mind, but all seemed drastic measures. After all, Leo is a friend, I'm sure he meant nothing by it.
Quickly, I came back to my senses and lowered my wand. That's when I noticed he was grinning at the portrait hole. Hey! I'm a real threat here. Feeling completely underestimated my mind filled with every colourful insult I could think of, but the words didn't even reach my mouth. Leo's attention was directed at the stationary person in the doorway, as soon as I saw them the almost extinguished flame within me started to smoulder again. Scorpius Malfoy stood visibly shaking. Fists clenched and eyes downcast. For a second I thought he was gathering his composure. Boy was I wrong. By the time my eyes caught up, Scorpius held Leo against the wall with his forearm tensing on Leo's neck. He is such a drama queen. Sensing that this would turn into full-fledged war if James or Caleb stepped in, I ran over and tried to drag Scorpius away. With every ounce of strength in my body I held on to the forearm to prevent any damage to Leo. Why I am defending him when he technically sexually harassed me I have no idea. Scorpius flung me off in his rampage. Right. I am sick of these jerks treating me how they please!
"Immobulus. Locomotor Mortis."
Instantly, Leo froze and Scorpius fell to the floor with his legs constrained in invisible bonds. Some of the colourful insults I had thought of earlier streamed from Scorpius as he wrestled with his legs in vain. I had not given Leo the luxury of speech, so he remained next to the wall - only his eyes moved to glare at me. One less to deal with. Do you think I'm a threat now Leo?
"Pathetic the both of you! Leo, ask before you do something like tha-"
"YOU HYPOCRITE! TOUCH HER AGAIN AND I'LL-" Scorpius yelled.
"You can't even stand up! Right now a four-year old has an advantage over you!" I retorted, suddenly furious at him. "Shut up and let me speak. Leo surprisingly not every girl wants to kiss you and I'm the president of that club - it would make James far too happy. As for you, I don't need saving, I don't need help and still you storm in acting the hero. Stop trying to make yourself irreplacable to me!"
I kept diverting my gaze from both pairs of eyes. Scorpius' stare became cold, denying access to the emotion I'd previously seen. They were nothing but green pools of emptiness. But it was Leo's glare I could not bring myself to face. When I briefly looked in his frozen expression all I saw was the silent rage consuming myself.
"Relashio." I muttered which caused Leo and Scorpius to break free. There were no complaints as I sulked off out the door, desperate to get as far away as possible.
Originally, the library seemed the best option until I saw the familiar outline of Lucy and Lily ahead of me on one of the many moving staircases. I had no idea where they are headed but decided to sneak up on them anyway. As usual, I ended up running for the stairs and leaping over a small gap. Timing the stairs was impossibly difficult. Luckily, there is a levitation spell which prevents people from falling to their deaths - I found out in first year when fell back as the stairs moved. James and Fred always used to tease me about it, probably because I continued to scream for five minutes before I noticed I wasn't falling. If the obliviate spell wasn't so temperamental I would erase that memory. People flooded the halls as they hurried to their last lesson. They came in very useful as I crept down the corridor to sneak up on my targets - the first year shields were a problem as I had to crouch to hide behind them. If Lily hadn't looked behind her so much I wouldn't have had to crawl through someone's legs. The owner looked down with a charming smile.
"Oh hey Ro -" Caleb called out meters behind Lucy and Lily.
"Sh! I'm undercover here." I said trying to crawl on.
"Actually, it's more like your under me - not that I mind."
Heat swelled to my cheeks, exposed and embarrassed I stood up with what was left of my dignity and briskly stalking off into the sea of students. What was with the guys today?
The ninja antics were abandoned for the conventional run up. Lily was now just ahead, seizing the opportunity I darted to close the distance and yelled straight down her ear 'ESCAPED DRAGON!' Immediately she unleashed a blood curdling scream. One great thing about being family: you learn everyone's weaknesses to occasionally use against them - see I'm not that mean. When Lily was little our Uncle Charlie brought a Chinese Fireball egg home with him. During that week, we were staying at our Grandparents, the egg unexpectedly hatched in the middle of the night. Lily thought it was Hugo's owl Pluto so tried to pick it up to shove it in a cage. Maybe dragons have claustrophobia because the dragon shot a ball of fire at Lily, singeing five inches of her hair off - she had a bob for a year after. She's loathed dragons ever since.
"DON'T DO THAT!"
Lucy and I held in our laugher as Lily calmly lowered the bag she held defensively above her head. After apologising several times I asked why they were out of class. Apparently, Professor Estrella had cracked under the pressure of Professor Mortem's snide comments whilst observing and ordered everyone out. That guy had really caused a stir with all the teachers. Instinct also told me that Professor Dumbledore's lesson had something to do with him too.
I've never been inside the Ravenclaw common room before, however, I do know where the tower is. For whatever reason it seemed like they were going somewhere else. Within a short walk we somehow ended up in the Dungeons, literally my worst nightmare. The halls were stained with black, there was more shadow than light and when we descended far enough everything melted into a stream of darkness. I'm terrified of the dark, why on earth am I here? Is Lily getting me back for earlier? I crossed my arms across my chest to hide the persistent shaking and pushed my reluctant feet on. Besides, heroes should be fearless. My heart started to beat out of the confides of my ribcage due to the mounting fear which now controlled my every move.
Lily checked either end of the corridor with cautious eyes then pulled out her wand a couple of meters before a intensely glowing green door.
"Sorry Ro but it looks like you are involved now too." She whispered.
"With what? I feel like I've been kidnapped."
Apparently, there was no time to answer that question as she pointed her wand at her robes, then tie, then hair. When I looked back, it took a double take to realise the girl in front of us was still Lily. Her features remained the same, but her robes and tie now gleamed in emerald-green with a Slytherin badge to complete the look. The biggest change was her hair, the natural ginger was replaced with silvery white.
"Lil, what are you playing at?" Sorry but I had to ask.
"It's a spell Teddy taught me - to change the colour of anything you want. It's how he got away with sneaking into other common rooms and so will we!"
"You aren't serious?!"
I began my protests but Lily moved on to Lucy, changing her robes from Ravenclaw to Slytherin and her hair to inky black instead of the usual reddish ginger. Then she turned on me. Just like them, the inside of my robes, tie and badge all turned a vivid shade of Slytherin. The auburn hair that had cascaded down my robes in loose ringlets now shone blood-red in the corridor.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked demanding someone to answer.
"It's war! James hexed Albus' broom then Albus pulled that star prank thinking it was you, as revenge Hugo got Albus back with the tarantallegra spell causing him to dance uncontrollably for an hour. Albus sent the bat bogey hex at Hugo but it rebounded on me, I sent the slug vomiting hex back which somehow hit Roxanne. So the Slytherin duo released Cornish pixies in the Ravenclaw common room and now we are getting our own back."
"Oh is that why Slytherin lost fifty house points?" I was struggling to keep up.
"Yeah! But they were stupid enough to get caught. At first we wanted nothing to do with it, only the lads did, but after that stunt it's war."
Determination flared up in her expression. What seemed to have started off as simple pranks in our family had now escalated into a battle for revenge. As one of the eldest, the mature response would be to discourage them from sinking down to that level - but that's not me. With the rage accumulated from earlier I felt like taking it out on someone.
In one hand Lily revealed a small piece of parchment and with the other felt the damp stone wall. Eventually, she smiled triumphantly as her fingers grazed a small Slytherin seal in the centre along the wall. She referred to the parchment, how the hell does she know all this?
"Parseltongue."
That section of the wall abruptly slid to the side. A green glow poured out from the entrance in the wall alleviating some darkness - which I was incredibly grateful for. As casual as humanly possible we strolled in - heads held high of course - and slithered over to the far corner of the room. It was obvious we were below the lake since the green murk matched the colour of the lake. This appearance was only enhanced by the green flames dotted around the common room. However, the opulence of the room was undeniable. All the furnishings were extravagant and embossed with gold in some place. The fireplace could easily have been stolen from an 19th century Gothic manor, which to me seemed to drain heat rather than produce it since it shared the same cold emerald green. I have to admit I am impressed. They certainly have the aristocratic villain theme perfected. We sat down on three chairs, carved with golden snakes on each arm. I don't think there is a single inch of this room where you could forget you were a Slytherin. Everyone must be in class since the only occupants were us troublemakers. Lily shoved her bag on the table allowing a stack of supplies to pile up. Curious to what she was up to I picked up a small piece of paper and almost fell off my chair.
It was only a harmless prank right? That's what I thought. Wrong. Apart from the genetic Weasley recklessness, they were the two most rational of the family. So when I noticed what she was planning I entered a complete state of shock. In my hand was a picture of Albus when he was younger, suspended from a tree in their backyard by his pants. Since the picture was moving you could clearly see his legs flailing before he fell to the ground due to his trousers ripping. Of course this incident was James' handiwork and the photograph too. Using 'engorgio' Lily instantly increased the small photo to the size of a flag, then with her wand she sent it sailing through the air and fixed it on the wall over the serpent above the fireplace.
"Quick, Rose go tip this bottle in Roxy's bed and Lucy help me jinx Albus' bed."
The two of them ran up to the boys dorms. Oh well, I'm an accomplice now. Unlike Gryffindor, their dorms were all set along one dim corridor. Luckily, for me they were clearly labelled with the year number on each door. The large silver 5 led me into an equally opulent room. The four poster beds were all doubles, laden with silk green sheets and the surrounding areas customised. At the very end of the room, a large window showed the lake with the occasional mermaid passing by. It wasn't hard to find Roxanne's bed. The surrounding area contained pictures of our family - including a picture of us all at Teddy's leaving party two years ago. The bottle was labelled 'Dunk and Dye.' One of the products I recognised from our Uncles's joke shop. - she must have saved it for a special occasion. You sprinkle the contents on a surface and when pressure is applied the person slowly sinks down into a pool of slime which turns skin green. Poor Roxy. I pulled back the covers and dusted the green powder over the silk covers, it quickly turned transparent and I giggled to myself. I really wish I could see her face when she had the complexion of a lizard from the neck down.
After fleeing to the Slytherin common room, Lily and Lucy ran down a few seconds later. Lucy's sleeves were dipped in a gooey grey sludge which splashed on the tiled floor in front of the fireplace. Another item I recognised from the joke shop - portable swamp. It looks like Albus has it worse than Roxanne. As soon as we were about to make our exit a sixth year pupil wandered in completely befuddled. Thank God Lily had an escape plan because he was Jack from my Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Before he could notice us Lily smashed what looked like a lump coal on the floor. I am in debt to whoever created instant darkness powder.
To say we ran out of there was an understatement. In seconds we crossed the room and on my second try I found the exit - it's hard to escape in a dark unfamiliar place you know! We practically flew through the dungeons until we were clutching stitches in the Clock Tower courtyard. Plagued with fits of hysterical laughter we stood holding on to the stone pillars entwined with ivy for support.
"What - did you - do to - his bed?" I managed to get through laboured breaths.
"We put - swamp around - the bed - and - and - fur hex - in it."
Lily retrieved her wand and reversed the effects of the earlier spell. To be honest, I missed the red hair. Most of our family had the classic ginger hair - the Weasley trademark - but it was something James, Albus, Roxanne and I all lacked. The stabbing pain in my side had ebbed along with the strained breathing. Like the criminals we are, we ducked out of sight to hide in our common rooms. No one said it but we were all anticipating our victim's reactions tomorrow.
"WE HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL WING!"
Saturday afternoon.
"YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR BRAINIAC!"
The family had assembled at the Whomping Willow for the usual meet up at the old barn. Except for James. Merlin knows where he is!
"YOU STARTED IT."
As you can tell, everyone is having an enjoyable time. We all stood assembled in a circle facing one another at a safe distance from the lethal tree. Some people had more to say than others.
"YOU BETTER WATCH OUT!"
Last night, Albus was humiliated by the majority of the Slytherin's seeing that photo, following this his friends spent half an hour tugging him out of the swamp he walked right into when he tried to climb into bed. However, that was not the end of it. This morning Roxy and Albus were admitted to the Hospital wing. Albus grew black fur at an alarming rate causing it to completely cover his entire body, this terrified several first years as they thought he was a Yeti. I felt sorry for the guy, especially since the fur trailed a meter behind him.
"I HAD TO REDO ALL THE HOMEWORK THOSE PESKY PIXIES TORE UP!"
Roxanne also had an ordeal. She woke up caked in sticky slime which, from her account, smelt like dungbombs.
"PEOPLE ARE CALLING ME NO PANTS!"
Along with Albus, she too had to visit the Hospital wing with vivid green skin from below her ears. It took all morning for the pranks to be reversed. I would be lying if I said Lily, Lucy and I had not waited early this morning to see their reactions when they were absent from breakfast. And I would also be lying if I said we only felt empathy for them. We were close to being admitted to the Infirmary ourselves due to prolonged lack of air from laughing so much.
Right now, the family engaged in a heated shouting match. At the very start I declared my part in this as an accomplice. At first they yelled at me for forging an alliance, however Roxy fired the Levicorpus spell at me and after a few minutes of hanging in the air she was satisfied. I have the bruises to prove it - I still think she didn't have to drop me so high up. Now all I can do is stand here, in two minds as to what James would do. At first I guessed he would cheer the war on, since mischief was his forte, but instinct told me he would stop it if the argument reached the stage it has.
"QUIET!" I shouted above the noise. "The next person to mention revenge is getting attacked by birds. Feel free to prank each other because lets face it - it's hilarious. But stop with the house feuds. Okay?"
They all silently stared at me. Who knew I could be so mature? It was clear that they were debating whether or not to back down. There was no guarantee they would listen, actually I thought they would ignore me, but Lily nodded eagerly. At least I can rely on her to be on my side. The rest followed her example and just like that the war was over. Roxanne and Lily hugged each other as they apologised over and over.
"By the way, where is James?" Hugo inquired.
"Maybe he's with Livia?" Albus replied nonchalantly.
We all exchanged cunning glances before rushing back up to the path that led from the Forbidden Forest to Hogwarts.
James and Livia were often spotted sneaking out from a broom cupboard on the second floor, so the six of us raced to that destination, desperate to catch James out. Every time we asked about Livia he would flat out deny it, but if we found them he would finally have to confess to fooling around with Livia. For a Saturday, the corridors were dauntingly empty. Only a couple of students darted past us - tearing down the corridor at a faster speed than us. Halfway to the famed broom cupboard Albus stopped dead at the rear of our pack after two first years sprinted fast, he waved us on and pursued them. The temptation to expose James was far too great so we continued on. My foot took it's first step towards the second floor staircase when I heard someone screaming 'Rose' repeatedly. Abby stood panting heavily at the bottom of the first floor stairs. She leaned against the banister which seemed to be the only thing holding her up straight. Her face was flushed and hair spiralled in all directions. What on earth is going on today? I called out to her to signal I would come down. Within several leaps I landed clumsily on the ground floor entrance hall. Before I could say a single word she grabbed my hand (still struggling to breathe), to drag me into an extremely crowded paved open area round the corner of the viaduct.
"I've been looking - everywhere - for you. James - you have to stop them!"
Now I'm really confused. Students consumed every piece of open space this area had to offer, except there appeared to be a large gap in heads towards the far wall. Abby ushered past the army of students as she strung me along with an iron grip on my hand. She released me when we reached the densest part of the crowd, four rows of students blocked our way to the front and were adamant not to let Abby past - no matter how much she shoved them. This is as far as we can go. Just as Abby had before, someone screamed my name, immersed in the muttering from the crowd I searched for the voice's body. Blair stood the row in front of us to the right, her hand locked on my wrist and yanked me through the reluctant students. Meanwhile, Abby faded into the sea of robes behind me. Instead of asking, I turned my head to the front - which I now had a much better view of. Several heads still blocked the cleared circle in ahead of us, however, the gaps were now big enough to piece together a fractured image of whatever was going on. Almost immediately my heart stopped. More than anything, I wished Abby had not found me. Up until now I never knew I could feel a fear this strong. Compared to this, my fear of the dark felt insignificant. I stumbled back from sheer horror. Today. At this moment. I have to decide.
Strands of James' black hair fell over his face in a vain attempt to disguise his furious snarl. Leo stood resolute by his side, a lethal spell poised at his lips rearing to escape. Their robes billowed in the winter winds that had suddenly had sharp chill. Opposite Leo, enthralled in vexation, Caleb returned the fatal aura. Somehow, every part of this scene screamed 'final.' When I gathered my courage, I brought my eyes to Scorpius. Flecks of white blonde hair tussled over his venomous green scowl, his lips pulled tight in a livid line and every muscle tensed for offence. In the mass of noise, I could pick out each of their voices one after another. Their yells aimed at provoking the other into the first attack. Rabidly, I tried to wiggle through the barricade. It doesn't matter what side I pick, as long as I stop this. The thought had just crossed my mind, as I watched a dazzling yellow that ignite the sky from Leo's wand. Crap. Stop!
"MOVE DAMMIT!" I cried.
Now the fight had begun, people seemed more hostile towards Blair and I as we begged people to let us past. A burst of red sparks crossed paths with a flash of green. All the fighters had bruises and cuts dotted in various places. James hurled countless shots only to be deflected by Scorpius, who began his own torrents of offensive spells. If I had had any attention to spare, I would have noticed Blair and Abby pushing the jeering riot away from the fight to a safer distance. The front was almost in my reach. Fear snapped me back to reality. The only way this would stop, was if someone fell unconscious or an outsider intervened. Cue me. But I came to an abrupt halt. The situation took a perilous turn.
Albus dived in.
What is he thinking? Get out! The final barrier of students ducked and veered sideways to avoid the backlash of missed spells. Scorpius dodged a stunning spell with ease, causing it to soar straight towards the front line. Three students dived to the grass seconds before the spell collided with another, exploding in the air they previously occupied. I seized the opportunity and lunged into that war zone. So far Scorpius had only used defensive spells to block the vicious spells from both James and Albus. They hadn't noticed me yet, even though I stood a few meters from them. Scorpius juggled the two attackers and soon grew exhausted. He needed help, however I knew it couldn't be from me. My allegiance is to my family.
Blood over bond.
I raised my wand to disarm Scorpius. Naturally, I could not bring myself to say 'expelliarmus.' If he was left defenceless, one of the lethal spells would take him down. Hurting him was something I am not prepared to do. Instead, I disarmed Leo who was on the brink of delivering the final blow to Caleb. His wand lay still on the grass inches from me but I had other matters to attend to. He wore an expression I had never seen on him before, as if he was plotting my death there and then. One down. Caleb bent over regaining his strength, unlike Leo he smiled gratefully at me - at least someone understood this was lunacy! Still the other three were oblivious to my presence. Spells flew at a pace my eyes found impossible to follow. Even the figures moved frantically to swerve out the way of spells.
"Fumos Duo."
I directed the spell at Albus to keep him out of harms way. Immediately, the grey cloud of smoke I had conjured absorbed him. Please stay there.
I tried to train my wand on James to disarm him, since he was the driving force, except he didn't stay still long enough. Focus Rose. Focus. Someone will get hurt. Stop this.
Too late.
Since Albus had joined the fight, Scorpius had yet to use an offensive spell. He was desperate now, blood trickled down from a jagged cut on his forehead and more gushed from a wound on his left shoulder. A fraction of a second was all it took for my willpower to cave. In a pitiful attempt to shield Scorpius - I ran.
"Sectumsempra." James yelled.
"Deprimo." Scorpius replied.
The two actions happened simultaneously. James' spell hurdled to Scorpius, just as I thought he didn't bother to deflect it. What caught me off guard was when he uttered an offensive spell instead of protecting himself. This startled James as much as it had to me.
"Protego!"
A silver shield expanded from my wand in front of Scorpius and I. The jet of white light shattered as it soared into the shield. The figure behind me dropped to his knees and under a creased brow cast his eyes down. It was clear I had protected the wrong person, chose the wrong side and betrayed my family. You see, as I defended the enemy, Scorpius' spell pursued it's target. James had become accustomed to his opponents constant defence and was not prepared for a counter attack. But it was not James who lay unconscious. Mirroring my actions - with his loyalties in the right place - Albus had swooped in to take the hit.
"ALBUS!" James and I screamed.
His body hit the ground motionless, a trail of blood from his face could be seen as he lay crumpled on his side. The bystanders urgently filtered out of the area, only Blair and Abby lingered at the front. What should have been a direct hit to James' chest resulted in a brutal shot to Albus' face. That should have been me. This thought resonated throughout my mind until it was all I could think of. Crouched at his side, we examined the extent of the damage. The stream of red fled his now misshapen nose, relief spread throughout my body when we figured the casualty was only superficial.
"Episkey." I whispered.
The blood stubbornly remained but the nose snapped back to the original shape, however, eyelids persisted in staying shut. James flung Albus' arm over his shoulder and I took the other - since I should have been the one towed to the hospital wing. The crowd had vanished which allowed the rest of our family to scramble over and begin the interrogation. James didn't waste any time in answering them and ordered them all to be quiet as together we dragged Albus towards the hospital wing.
"Rose."
Scorpius' voice strained to reach me, gradually I turned my head to the side. He clutched his shoulder firmly as he shivered vigourously at sudden twinges of pain. Still, he refused Caleb's offer to help him to stand. Clearly, he was under the impression he could still talk to me. I was furious at him, but even more so at myself. It all ends here. Tears spilled out and shattered into a million shards of glass when they hit the floor. This only added to the anger towards him. No one is allowed to reduce me to this deplorable state.
"Thank you, I now know where I belong, and it is not by the side of a Malfoy."
Sorry! I'm so sorry! Please review anyway because hey you have read this far.