In Which Filch Is Nice
"MARY!" Lily roared upon entering the Seventh Year Gryffindors girls' dormitory after Potions on Thursday, December twelfth. "I need you!" Mary instantly scurried to her friend's side, and the redhead laid her head on the quiet girl's shoulder with a heavy sigh.
"What's wrong, Lily?" Alice asked.
"Potions was murder today!" Lily groaned. "Potter wouldn't. Stop. Complimenting me!"
"Oh, you poor girl," Delilah said sympathetically, rolling her eyes. Lily, however, did not see this, and therefore was thoroughly convinced of Delilah's sincerity. Poor, naïve girl.
"Why won't he leave me alone?" Lily moaned.
"Because he's obsessed with you, of course!" Sasha answered, not bothering to hide her amusement at the whole situation.
"It was a rhetorical question," Lily glared at her. Sighing again, she breathed, "Mary, you have a very comfortable shoulder."
Mary chuckled, patting Lily's head. "I've been told, thanks."
"You want some hot cocoa?" Alice offered. "I could get some from the kitchens for you."
"Yes, please," Lily sighed, the mere thought of hot cocoa cheering her up.
"Ooo! I want some cocoa!" Sasha bounced up and down in excitement. "Can you bring me some too?"
"I only have two hands- and I need them for me and Lily's cocoa!" Alice laughed. "If you want some, you have to come and get it yourself."
"Okay," Sasha shrugged in agreement. "Who else wants cocoa?" When none of the girls raised their hands, Sasha sighed, "Suit yourselves," and skipped happily out of the dorm. Alice followed with a giggle at her friend's antics.
"Mistress Sasha! Mistress Alice! What can Bebo get for you?" Bebo the House Elf squeaked excitedly, overjoyed at having students in his kitchen.
"Three cups of hot cocoa, please," Sasha answered, smiling.
"Of course! We get Mistresses cocoa right away!" Bebo exclaimed cheerily. He and two other House Elves proceeded to prepare three steaming hot cups of chocolatey goodness.
"Would Mistresses like marshmallows?" Bebo asked as he and the other two House Elves handed the girls their mugs of hot cocoa.
"Yes, please!" Alice chirped, taking a contented sip of her drink. One of the House Elves scurried away, and brought back a whole package of marshmallows.
"Is this good?" the House Elf checked.
"Perfect!" Sasha said, taking the bag from the House Elf. "Thank you so much, all of you! It's delicious, as always!"
"Mistress Sasha is too kind!" Bebo squealed. "No thanks needed! Come back soon!"
"Don't worry, we will," Alice laughed, and all of the House Elves hopped excitedly in anticipation. "Goodbye!"
"Bye!" The House Elves called as Sasha and Alice exited the kitchens and made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.
"Hot cocoa, right here!" Alice yelled, handing a mug to a grateful Lily, who lifted her head off of Mary's shoulder.
"You two are lifesavers," Lily sighed after taking a long, hot sip.
"We know," Sasha chuckled. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "Wait a minute, what time is it?"
Delilah checked her watch. "It's almost nine o'clock."
Sasha sprang up out of her seat, set her cocoa down, and hurriedly cast a Heating Charm on it. "Holy shit, I have to go! Bye, guys!" She ran out of the room as her friends shouted their confused goodbyes.
"I'm so sorry I'm late, Professor Dumbledore," Sasha panted, entering the Headmaster's office. "Potter had really annoyed Lily, so she wanted hot cocoa, and so did Alice, and so did I, so Alice and I went to get hot cocoa from the kitchens for us, and I just lost track of time!"
"It's quite alright, Sasha," Professor Dumbledore forgave her kindly. "Please, take a seat; you look quite worn out. Did you run all the way up here?"
"Yeah," Sasha smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I'm pleased that our lessons mean so much to you," Dumbledore chuckled, blue eyes twinkling good-naturedly. "This is why I'm afraid that I'll disappoint you when I tell you that this is our last lesson before the holiday break."
"But what about next Thursday?" Sasha asked in confusion and, indeed, disappointment. "Shouldn't that be our next lesson?"
"Unfortunately, Sasha, I'll be out of town next Thursday," Dumbledore said.
"Why?" Sasha inquired curiously.
Dumbledore sighed desolately before admitting, "There have been a number of Death Eater attacks recently. The Ministry would like me to look into it."
"Oh. That makes sense," Sasha said quietly. "So, what exactly does the Ministry want you to look into?"
"I predict that they will just want to speak to me and see what I know; in any case, my meeting with the Minister is on Thursday, at the Ministry."
"Okay. Well, then I hope that all goes well."
"Thank you, Sasha. I hope it does, too. Shall we start today's lesson?"
"Yes, please!" Sasha exclaimed eagerly, her smile returning and lighting up her face. "What are you gonna teach me today?"
"We will not be reviewing Legilimency or Occlumency today; I think we've done quite enough of that, and I'm sure you agree," Dumbledore told Sasha. Indeed, they had reviewed those branches of magic in all of their lessons since the beginning of the year. "Today, we will be starting a new lesson, which we will continue after the holiday break. This branch of magic is one that very few people know of; in fact, even Lord Voldemort himself does not know it exists. Do you know what the Elements are, Sasha?"
"I think so. Aren't the Elements water, earth, fire and air?" Sasha clarified.
"Yes. I will be teaching you how to control and manipulate the Elements. Hopefully, by the end of your Sixth Year, you will be able to wield the Elements skillfully enough to be able to fight with them if necessary," Dumbledore explained.
"That is SO COOL!" Sasha shouted joyfully, bouncing in her seat. "What do I have to do first?"
"First, you must choose which Element you'd like to learn how to control first," Dumbledore spoke. "If you would like, we could discover which Element you are most compatible with- in other words, which Element you are most like- and begin with that Element; it would be significantly easier for you."
"I'd like that," Sasha said. "How do I find out which Element I'm most compatible with?"
"Just say, 'Elementus Revelio', with your eyes closed, and tell me what you see in your mind," Dumbledore instructed.
"Elementus Revelio," Sasha proclaimed, eyes shut. Almost immediately, she saw hot flames burning through her mind, rising high above everything in its way, burning down each obstacle it faced immediately. Sasha opened her eyes. "I see fire," she told Dumbledore.
"Something told me you would," Dumbledore chuckled. "Now, this should not be too hard; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you mastered fire in our lesson today!"
"What do I do?" Sasha questioned, more than ready to begin.
"I will send you a fire ball. Using your mind, stop the ball before it hits you or anything else. Still using your mind, control the fire; change its shape, make it move, do anything you want with it. Use your hands if you must, but our long-term goal is for you to be able to control the Elements with only your mind. Therefore, your enemies would not be able to tell who was controlling the Elements, and you would have an extremely helpful element of surprise assisting you," Dumbledore explained. "Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Okay. I'm sending the fire ball now." Dumbledore picked up his wand and muttered "Lacarnum Inflamarae," his wand pointed straight at Sasha. A fire ball shot out of the wand and towards Sasha.
Using all of her Gryffindor courage, Sasha thought merely, Stop, just before the fire reached her. The ball of fire stopped in midair and hung there, as if suspended on a rope. Smiling at her success, and still making no movement, Sasha thought, Move left, and the fire did do. She commanded in her mind, Change shape, and the fire ball turned into a perfect rectangular prism. Change into a cylinder, she thought, and the fire did so. She mentally ordered, Get bigger, and the fire turned from the size of a Snitch to the size of a Quaffle; just as Sasha had pictured in her mind.
"You may stop now, Sasha." Professor Dumbledore beamed at his pupil, immensely proud of her success. "You control the fire as well as I do, after only one try; whereas, I trained for years just to master fire, let alone the other three Elements."
Sasha grinned. "Does that mean I'm even more powerful than you thought, Professor?"
"It may well mean just that, Sasha. But, I implore you, do not let it go to your head; otherwise, people may be able to read it, and we certainly do not want that to happen," Dumbledore warned, his mouth in a thin line, showing just how serious he was being.
"Of course, Sir," Sasha said. Smirking, she added, "But it's still really awesome."
"That it is, Sasha, that it is," the Headmaster chuckled. "Now, send the fire back to my wand, and we will continue the lesson."
"Sure," Sasha smiled. Staring at the fire, she directed, Go back into Professor Dumbledore's wand- but no burning anything, and when the fire did so without burning a single object, Sasha beamed with pride.
"Excellent, Sasha. Well done. Now, we will work with water," Dumbledore began, blue eyes twinkling with pride for his student. "It will be more difficult for you than fire, I expect; after all, water is the opposite of fire. If you'd like, you can practice over your break, though I am not, by any means, telling you to; I am just giving you my permission to, should you have spare time. Besides, now that you are of age- happy belated birthday, by the way- you can do magic whenever you want."
"Thank you. Can I show my dad?" Sasha asked hopefully.
"By all means," Dumbledore smiled.
"Then I most certainly will practice over break; I bet my dad would get a kick out of his daughter being able to control Elements!" Sasha exclaimed, grinning broadly. "So, how do I control water?"
"Just like you controlled fire. But, remember, do not expect it to be as easy," Dumbledore told her wisely. "Are you ready?"
"Yep," Sasha replied, clearing her mind.
"Good. I'm sending the water now." Pointing his wand directly at Sasha, Dumbledore declared, "Aquamenti," and water burst out of the wand towards Sasha.
Stop, water, Sasha ordered. The water stopped after a second, wavering in the air. Separate into two parts, Sasha thought; the water did so, parting in half like Moses had just told it to, instead of Sasha. Go back together, Sasha commanded. A second went by, and then a few more before the water did as it was told. Sasha thought, Change into a sphere, and after first changing into a pyramid and a cube, it did so.
"Send the water back to my wand now, Sasha," Professor Dumbledore directed. Sasha did so; after a few minutes, the water did as it was instructed to, splashing the walls in an almost rebellious manner.
"I wasn't that bad, was I?" Sasha asked worriedly, sitting down.
"Not at all, Sasha; in fact, you were quite good," Dumbledore assured her kindly. "It was only natural for you to encounter problems with water, it being your Elemental opposite; personally, I am surprised by how few problems you had with it. It is a testament to your skill, and you should be quite proud of yourself."
"I am," Sasha grinned wolfishly, and Dumbledore chuckled.
"If you practice a few times- maybe three, possibly four- then you should have mastered working with water by the time you come back from break," Dumbledore told her.
"Awesome!" Sasha beamed. After a short pause, she asked, "Sir, what makes me more like fire than the other Elements?"
"Tempers are usually associated with fire, for one thing; and if I remember correctly, you have quite the temper," Dumbledore smiled knowingly, blue eyes twinkling. Sasha chuckled under her breath, knowing full well just how true this fact was. "Additionally, fires are extraordinarily powerful, efficient, and extremely dangerous. Fire has an astonishingly small number of weaknesses- water really being the only main one- and therefore can easily defeat any obstacles or problems it comes upon."
Sasha thought for a moment before nodding in understanding. "Okay, I see why I'm most like fire," she proclaimed matter-of-factly. "But you forgot to mention one thing, Professor."
"And what is that, Sasha?"
"Fire and I are both totally awesome!" Sasha laughed.
"How did I know you were going to say something along those lines?" the Headmaster asked, chuckling. "Do you have any more questions?"
"No," Sasha responded, still smiling. "Can I go back to my dorm now?"
"Yes, you may," Dumbledore allowed. "Have a good holiday, Sasha."
"You, too, Professor," Sasha smiled. "Happy Christmas! Oh, and good luck with your meeting!"
"Thank you," Dumbledore said, blue eyes twinkling merrily, and Sasha grinned at him again before exiting the office.
"Well, well, well, that couldn't be Berg, could it?" An unmistakable cocky voice called out from behind Sasha as she made her way to the common room. She internally groaned as the voice continued, "Out after curfew? I didn't know you had it in you."
"There's a lot you don't know about me," Sasha responded, not bothering to turn around to face Sirius Black.
"Actually, I know a lot about you," Sirius proclaimed. Even without looking at him, Sasha could tell he was smirking. "Want to hear?"
"Why not," Sasha sighed, turning around, arms crossed over her chest. "Okay, Black; lay it on me."
Sirius grinned before reciting, "You're a filthy rich pureblood, but your family's been in Gryffindor for centuries. Because of this, your favorite color is red. You don't have a huge family- you only have one cousin, if memory serves me correctly- but you have lots of family friends that you spend the holidays with. Your favorite animal is a lion, because of all the Gryffindors in your family. You-"
"Stop," Sasha held up her hand, and Sirius closed his mouth abruptly. "As much as I hate to admit it, a lot of that stuff is right; but just as much of it is wrong."
"Really?" Sirius asked dejectedly. "What's wrong?"
"Well, I am a filthy rich pureblood, I'll admit that, but you're only partially right on the whole Gryffindor thing; everyone in my mum's family was a Gryffindor, but I'm one of the only Bergs who hasn't been in Slytherin; even my dad was a Slytherin."
"I knew you had some snake blood in you," Sirius snickered. "You're too stupid not to."
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Would you like having your intestines spilled on the ground?"
"You couldn't do that."
"You wanna bet?"
Sirius scowled after a moment and snapped, "Whatever. What else did I get wrong?"
Sasha smirked at her victory and continued, "My favorite color is emerald green; it's my dad's favorite color, too, and it's all over my home. You're right in saying that I don't have a huge family and I only have one cousin, but I don't have any family friends. At all. Except if you count Remus' family, that is, but still, that's only one family friend. I do like lions a lot, but wolves are my favorite animal, without a doubt. They're just as brave and skilled as lions, but they have the cunning of snakes. Quite fascinating animals, wolves are, if you ask me."
"How did I get so much wrong?" Sirius questioned himself heatedly; however, Sasha could hear him, so she answered.
"You made assumptions by what you think you know about me. But here's a news flash for you, Black: there's more to me than you could ever imagine, let alone hope to know," Sasha stated mysteriously.
Sirius was about to reply when a downright creepy voice called, "Students out of bed! I can hear you! Detention!"
Argus Filch, Hogwarts' much hated caretaker, rounded the corner, his new kitten, Mrs. Norris, in his arms. "I should've expected to see you, Black," he sneered. Then, he turned to Sasha, and his demeanor changed drastically. "Hello, Miss Berg. How are you tonight?"
"Good, Mr. Filch, and yourself?" Sasha asked politely.
"Good as well, thank you. What is a good student like you doing out of bed after curfew?"
"I apologize, Mr. Filch. Professor Dumbledore wanted to see me, and he only just let me out. You could ask him; I'm sure he'd vouch for me," Sasha explained apologetically. Sirius stared at her and the caretaker in amazement; were they actually getting along?!
"I'll trust your word, Miss Berg," Filch gave Sasha a rare smile. "Black, however, will be getting detention, unless he, too, can provide a viable reason for being out after curfew." Filch glared at Sirius viciously, hatred oozing from his features, not a single remain of his smile on his face.
"Oh, you know me, Filch. Just setting up the Marauders' latest prank," Sirius grinned charmingly. Alas, the grin did not work on Argus Filch.
"Detention, Saturday at eight o'clock, in my office!" Filch roared angrily. Turning back to Sasha, he nodded politely, "Goodnight, Miss Berg."
"Goodnight, Mr. Filch," Sasha smiled back. With one last glare at Sirius, Filch scuttled away, Mrs. Norris mewing incessantly.
"What was that all about?" Sirius asked Sasha in astonishment.
Sasha shrugged. "Filch really isn't all that bad if you get on his good side."
"And how exactly do you do that?" Sirius inquired in pure wonder, unhindered by his negative feelings for the girl. "It could be really useful."
"Why would I tell you?" Sasha asked, one eyebrow raised questioningly. "For one thing, I don't like you. For another, it involves my private business; not to mention his."
"What'd you do, have an affair with him or something?" Sirius snorted.
"Bloody hell, no!" Sasha exclaimed, looking queasy at the mere thought of it. "That's disgusting, you sicko! Let's just say that Filch and I have something in common that put me on his good side."
"How would you and Filch have anything in common?" Sirius scoffed. "He's an old, sour Squib; and much as I hate you, you're… you're just not."
"There's nothing wrong with being a Squib!" Sasha exclaimed indignantly, her face flushed with anger. "Squibs are perfectly good people who just happen to be unable to perform magic! It's not their fault! There's not wrong with them whatsoever, and whoever said there is can go rot in Hell as soon as possible!"
"Oh, so that's what put you on Filch's good side!" Sirius realized with a start. "Both of you have a soft spot for Squibs! That's understandable, on his part; with him being a Squib and all. But, why do you like Squibs?"
Sasha glared at him, infuriated that he had figured it out- partially, at least. "None of your business," she said coldly before walking speedily down the hall, not looking back once.
Why's Berg so defensive about Squibs? Sirius asked himself, confused. Shrugging and forgetting the matter, deeming it "unimportant" (even though it most definitely wasn't), he continued to Gryffindor Tower.
Not my favorite chapter, definitely not, but, oh well. What'd YOU think? Please tell me in a review!
Thanks for reading!
-Joelle8
P.S. To Monopoly: To answer your question, shagging is having sex. And this story is going to have 46 chapters in total, including the prologue and epilogue. But, they're a good 46 chapters! :D So PLEASE don't let the length be a turn-off for you, people! I'm begging you!