A/N I know it's been a really long time, but I've been working on a project (if the name History Fair sounds familiar to anyone, then you know what I mean when I say that this project ate up my life.) But, I'm back, as the competition was today. However, I made it to the next round, so at the end of March/beginning of April, I'll have another no-update period. Sorry.

Now that I'm done explaining to you all why I temporarily abandoned you, here is the next chapter! Enjoy (and review)!

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating dinner. James and Sirius had been waiting all day, hoping to see Rush again, but they hadn't yet. She hadn't been at the Slytherin table for any of the tables, and they were beginning to think that her cursed hair had forced her into hiding. They couldn't really blame her for it, if it was true.

Everyone in the Great Hall was talking, laughing. The doors to the room were closed. But all of the sudden they groaned, and both doors opened at once, causing everyone, students and teachers, to stare. In walked a girl, a very different looking girl. It was Rush, and the effects of Narcissa's curse were no longer visible.

Because she no longer had hair. Everyone gaped. Her head was, instead, covered in a green dragon, tattooed on, its spiked tail swishing around her neck, its black eyes flashing and teeth flashing. Its neck curled so that its head rested above her right eyebrow. Its clawed feet seem to grip into her head as it snarled, then breathed out a burst of flame that spread across her forehead and down next to her eye. She was beautiful, just not in the normal sense of the word.

The corner of her mouth twitched slightly, Sirius noticed, but she was staring straight ahead. She gave no other sign that she had noticed the attention, or that she was amused by it. He wondered what she was thinking. He glanced over at Narcissa, and he could tell what she was thinking. It was not complimentary to Rush: Narcissa was furious. She hated to be outsmarted, and she hated that her revenge had been unsuccessful. But she couldn't do anything here, in front of all of the teachers. Rush had very cleverly shown everyone that she had won round one, but Narcissa was obviously planning on starting round two.

Sirius was grinning, happy from a combination of Rush's brilliant undoing of the revenge and his cousin's anger. James was grinning, too, but probably just from the first reason. And because Lily Evans was sitting a little ways down the table. Remus and Peter looked confused, as they had no idea why Rush would have gotten rid of her hair.

The whole school appeared to be wondering the same thing. This scandal would be causing a lot of gossip over the next few days, and many rumors of reasons why she would shave off her hair. Including: a fire crab lit it on fire, she was going prematurely bald, and Rush is in a secret society of dragon riders, and the tattoo is their mark. Although with a tattoo that obvious, is would be hard for the society to stay secret, Sirius thought. But he was one of the handful of people who knew the real reason.

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Sev was at the Slytherin table, eating sparingly and wondering why Mac was, once again, missing meals. But then, he heard the loud groaning of wood and turned towards the opening doors of the Great Hall. It was Mac, but she looked different than he had ever seen her: her head was shaven, and a snarling dragon was tattooed onto her head, its emerald scales glistening.

She settled down across from him, and he gestured at her head with his fork. "So, Mac, what's with the new look? I thought you wouldn't get a tattoo."

"Well," she began, heaving a sigh, "Narcissa and her cronies cursed my hair, so I figured that the best solution was to get rid of it. I got the tattoo both because it was cool and to show them I'm not afraid of them."

"Why did she curse you, though?" asked Sev, accepting her reasoning.

"You don't know?" she replied, looking a little upset, but trying to mask her pain and to keep her voice steady. "Malfoy, he… at the party yesterday he dragged me out into the hall, tried to… he tried to…"

Sev didn't know what to say to that. The appropriate response probably would have been to hug her, but he never even did that in private, never mind in the middle of the Great Hall, especially when a number of curious eyes were focused on her. So he settled for trying to change the topic, although his eyes hardened a little. If Mac had noticed, she would have known that, eventually, Malfoy would pay.

"It's okay, you don't need to say anything else," he said, as gently as he was capable. She gave him a relieved half smile, and he surreptitiously squeezed her hand under the table, where no one would see. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, conveying a mutual feeling of trust and comfort that didn't need to be put into words. That was lucky for them, because, most likely, neither would have been capable.

They quickly turned back to their food, the emotional moment over. They didn't talk for the rest of the meal, as both were feeling a little awkward. When they finished eating, both got up and headed for the door to get out of the Great Hall, and away from all of the students who were still gazing inquisitively at Mac.

They walked out into the hall, and Sev asked Mac if she wanted to go to the library. She agreed, so they went and found a table in the corner, where they did homework until curfew, after which they went back to the Slytherin common room and played Exploding Snap. After four games, of which Sev won three and Mac one, they went off to bed. Mac put a shield charm around her bed to keep Narcissa and the other Slytherin girls out. She didn't trust them, especially after she had ruined their first attempt at revenge.

The next morning Mac met Sev in the common room and they headed down to breakfast. They ate pancakes with syrup and quizzed each other for their transfiguration exam that afternoon. But the day got more interesting when they left the Great Hall. Narcissa Black was waiting in the Entrance Hall, and she moved swiftly towards Mac as soon as she saw her.

Mac just stared at her. Mac knew she had won, what more was Narcissa going to do? But Narcissa just kept coming. She stopped right in front of Mac and said, "Enjoying your new look, Rush?" She looked slightly sickened by the tattoo, as if it were disgusting.

"Well, at least I'm looking better than you. Are you carrying around a bag of dungbombs, or is your nose just naturally like that?" Mac asked. The dragon on her head snapped its jaws at Narcissa, as if it knew she didn't like her and wanted to bite her.

Narcissa snarled, "You bitch!"

By now, everyone was finishing their breakfast and coming out into the Entrance Hall, where they stopped to watch the fight. Even the Marauders were watching, and usually they didn't bother with fights. They had probably decided that any good fight would have to involve one of them. Mac just cocked an eyebrow at Narcissa's outburst and replied, "Personally, I don't think I've done a thing. You're just overly possessive of your arrogant, cheating boyfriend."

At this Narcissa slapped her, as hard as she could, across the face. Lowering her hand, Mac was left with a red handprint on her face. Everyone watching flinched, expecting Mac to do the same, or to apologize, or slap her back, or even start crying. Everyone, that is, except for Sev, who was the only one who truly knew her, and knew that she would do none of those things. She was tougher than that, and she'd had to take a lot more than a slap during her years living surrounded by the blood-obsessed Slytherins.

Instead Mac stayed strong, ignoring her bruising cheek, and sneered at Narcissa, "Is that really the best you have? That's just pathetic. So girly, but I guess that's what I should expect from you."

Narcissa looked outraged that Mac would continue to talk back to her, and raised her hand as if to slap Mac again. This time, though, Mac was prepared. Without a warning, she drew back her fist and slammed it into Narcissa's face, hard. It met with her nose with a sickening crunch. Mac laughed, the sound oddly frightening, sending a shiver down the other students' spines. Quidditch and exercising with Sev had given her the muscles to pack quite a punch. "That's how you fight."

The group of people watching clapped or laughed or flinched, depending on whom they supported and how they felt about fights. A few even yelled at Mac or Narcissa, trying to goad them on and start a real fight. Stupid bloodthirsty students, thought Mac. They just wanted a show.

Narcissa sat down on the ground, whimpering. Her group of followers crowded around, handing her a handkerchief to stop the bleeding of her nose. They helped her up, and she gave Mac a death glare before hurrying off to the hospital wing to get her nose fixed. Mac stared after her, expression hard, before pulling out her wand and muttering, "Scourgify."

The blood staining her pale knuckles disappeared. The crowd was dispersing, realizing that the show was over, and Mac walked over to where Sev was leaning against the wall. He stared at her with an aloof expression, but his twinkling eyes gave him away. "Muggle fighting. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"I'd only be ashamed of myself if I lost a fight, muggle or magical, to a wimp like Narcissa," Mac chuckled at him. He smiled, and replied, "I do have to agree, it was beautiful, watching her nose smash and all that blood come out."

She shook her head at him, and they continued on their way to class. With two big dramas involving her in two days, almost everyone was staring at her in the halls, whispering behind their hands when they thought she wasn't looking. She just ignored and continued walking, talking quietly with Sev. But then Sev had to go to Ancient Runes, which Mac wasn't taking, and she had to continue walking all by herself.

One Gryffindor girl was even brave enough to approach her in the hall, hoping to get a new tidbit of gossip to spread around. She asked Mac why she and Narcissa were fighting, if it had anything to do with her shaven head. Mac had practically growled at her to mind her own business, and the girl had taken a step back, which had caused Mac to scoff, "And you Gryffindors call yourselves brave."

She wondered why Potter and Black hadn't spread around the prime piece of gossip they had, about what had happened to her hair. Usually they would do anything for a laugh. But of course that was too good to be true, because just then Black stopped her in the hall. Luckily, it was an empty hall. Mac leaned against the wall. "So, what do you want? Are you going to blackmail me?"

"What? No," he said, looking taken aback, his stormy gray eyes questioning, obviously wondering why she would think that. "Actually, I just wanted to say your revenge was brilliant. I like your tattoo, by the way."

"Um, thanks," she replied, sounding slightly confused. She was used to people wanting something from her. The dragon, however, seemed to enjoy the compliment, and breathed out fire that flamed across Mac's forehead. Dragons don't understand ulterior motives, just eating things, having babies, and other equally simple functions. Black stared at it, appearing entranced by the fire. Mac grinned. Not many people had magical tattoos, as they were quite painful to get, and few had ones as large or elaborate as hers.

"Also," Black continued, snapping out of his reverie, "it was brilliant, the way you punched Narcissa this morning."

"Um, thanks," she replied, even more confused. "I have to get to class."

She hurried away, glancing back once over her shoulder. When she saw the strange, thoughtful look on his face as he stared after her, she regretted looking back.