To put it in layman's terms, Mandy Brocklehurst was displeased. She'd had a lot of expectations coming to Hogwarts, and few of them actually happened. She hadn't expected much from the Girl Who Lived, to be true, having assumed the Potter girl would go into Gryffindor, like all Potters did. But she'd been sorted into Ravenclaw, Mandy's house . . . Immediately the girl began planning. What better way to be recognised than to be friends with Angelica Potter? Next to her - who obviously couldn't be that smart, she just wasn't stupid enough to be a lion - everyone would see just how brilliant Mandy was.
Only that didn't happen. After that first night at the school, Angelica Potter avoided everyone - except that American boy in Slytherin, Halliwell. A Slytherin! Angelica Potter chose to be friend with a slimy, evil, Dark wizard! And some backwater colonist, at that? It was an insult! Still, Mandy had taken solace in the fact that obviously the Girl Who Lived had befriended him because she knew she couldn't keep up with the geniuses in her house, like Mandy.
But the stir that girl caused . . . She'd barely said thirty words at the welcoming feast, but the entire school was buzzing over her. Found on a Muggle front step? Not likely! But it did get the girl sympathy, to be sure . . . Stupid attention seeking Potter, had to be in the limelight, didn't she?
That comfort had lasted until they went to their first Transfiguration class. She'd understood the notes they took perfectly, of course, it was what happened after that that was the problem. Mandy hadn't been able to change her match to a needle at all. It barely had any streaks of silver in it where she'd partially managed the spell. At least she hadn't been the only one, and obviously no one else would be able to . . .
'Five points!'
Mandy hated those words. That Slytherin friend of Potter's managed to turn his match into a needle in barely five minutes! Then Su Li - the traitor - did it, then the Zabini boy - did his mother really kill all her husbands after the honeymoon? - and then Potter managed it. Perfect Potter.
Still, Mandy was certain that is merely meant Potter was good with brute force - after all, she must have been, to be able to defeat the Dark Lord.
But that wasn't the case at all. Potter was in the top five in each class, along with Halliwell and the Muggleborn beaver in Gryffindor . . . Granger or something. Mandy was, too - of course - but stayed around fourth or fifth place. It was absolutely grating.
It was some time around Halloween that Mandy found out she wasn't alone. Several of her dorm mates were like her - brilliant, pretty, and quite sure of that. They'd been told since they walked how good they were, because it was /true./ If that upstart, standoffish Potter chit hadn't put herself in the way, they'd all be the top girls in their year. As it was, Morag and Padma were in the same spot she was - shoved out of their deserved place. So they came up with a plan to get back at the upstart half blood - happily ignoring the fact that Mandy, herself, was half blood and Morag was a Muggleborn.
They waited until Potter left to go do who knew what with Halliwell the morning they were all due to leave for home for the holidays, and began going through the girl's trunk. Padma found it with a well-placed locating charm. Potter was stupidly fond of her starry box, always grabbing it and going through it on her bed with the curtains closed so no one could see.
"I've got it!" Padma exclaimed happily. She clenched her hands around the lid and pulled. Nothing. Nothing happened at all. "What in the world?" the Indian girl asked, confused. Neither Mandy nor Morag had an answer for her as to what must be going on. "Is there some sort of sticking charm on this? Finite." She pulled again. "Finite Incantatum." Still nothing.
The three of them tried several different ways of opening the box - Morag even got a pocket knife from her bed and tried to hack through the wood, but it didn't even make a dent, and her knife went flying out of her hand and across the room. At that point the three girls gave up - they didn't have any more time, and someone could show up any minute. They needed to get their things and board the train already. They weren't going to find out what was in that stupid box - yet - but that didn't mean they still couldn't mess with Potter a bit. Mandy grabbed the little box and stuffed it under her bedside table.
It served Potter right, of course. She was hardly a proper Ravenclaw.
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Angelica was . . . Somewhat disappointed, actually, by the last half of the year. Very little went on. She and Chris celebrated the holidays together, Bane seemed to have decided not to show up any longer . . . And Angelica began avoiding the school ghosts, because she got a small, throbbing headache above her eyes whenever she was near them. She didn't tell Chris, of course, because he'd get upset, and if she told Hermione, she'd get sent to the Hospital Wing.
Matilda wrote Hermione often, Angelica noticed. And that was what caused the biggest happening of interest, one cloudy day in late April.
Chris and Angelica were in the library together, with Angelica leaning against one of the tall, thin windows and trying desperately to ignore her itching nose because she had to stay still. Chris' mother had asked for pictures of his friends, 'Angela,' 'Nigel' and 'Harmony.' Chris did so, and was going to add a note on the back of each picture reading the subject's name. He was almost finished with Angelica's portrait, and had promised that if she didn't keep perfectly still, he'd find portrait of Medusa and make her look at it so that she would.
Needless to say, Angelica kept very still after that.
Hermione, burst in on them, jumping up and down frantically, and Chris fell off his stool in surprise. Angelica very quickly scratched her nose.
"Chris! Angelica!" the girl was saying, bouncing on the balls of her feet, "You'll never believe what Matilda just wrote! I was right - well, sort of, I - actually, come on, let's talk somewhere private." Before either student could protest or even think to ask what Hermione was going on about, the girl had grabbed them by their sleeves and was dragging them out of the Library and to an empty classroom. She sat them both down on a very dusty bench, and began telling her story.
"Well, I suppose I ought to start at the beginning. You see, I was staying at my grandparent's with Aunt Jenny and Cousin Matilda when my letter came, and they all know about Hogwarts and me being a witch and so on. Well, as you know, I've been writing to her, and she's been writing back, and we've been discussing how in the world Matilda can move things - it's not logical, you realise. Well, apparently, Baba took her aside a few days ago - a week really, since she wrote the letter - and told her that our family comes from a long line of witches.
"She thought he meant wizards, of course, but he didn't. Witches, as in witchcraft, with active 'powers' like Matilda's. He said the Honey family hasn't really had a set power for it's descendants like most line - he listed a few examples, but Matilda didn't tell me them all - but that telekinesis and clairvoyance. That's moving things without touching them, and . . . I'm not really sure how to explain clairvoyance It's like being able to touch something and learn it's history, you see. Matilda said that Baba said that he has that one.
"Beyond even that, demons exist. Real demons! And witches are a sort of defence against them along with some sort of eternal prophesied person called a 'Slayer' but there's only one of them, and they mainly fight vampires and don't last very long at it. It's just - it's mind blowing, isn't it? She said Baba thinks I might be one, as well, since I'm a witch - er, wizard, but you do know what I mean, don't you? I sort of hope I might be, but then, I don't know, it seems dangerous, doesn't it, and I . . ."
Hermione paused, and really looked closely at her two friends. They looked surprised, yes, but not half so much as she would have expected. "You knew," she said slowly. "You know. About witches and demons and the like. You knew, and you didn't think to tell me? I told you about Matilda after Christmas! Why didn't you say anything!" The Granger girl looked hurt, betrayed, and angry, and Angelica felt like crumpling into a tiny ball and becoming invisible.
"We . . . How could we, Hermione?" Chris asked. He had that look on his face again; the one he always had when he thought an answer should be obvious and was being very stubborn about it. "What would you have said? You would have thought we were insane, that my whole family was just witches and wizards that used accidental magic because they'd never been given a wand. How could we have told you, tell me that? For all we knew, your cousin really was just that brilliant that she could channel her mental power through her eyes. We didn't know, so how could we tell you? Tell me that."
Hermione slumped down, no longer looking angry, but still betrayed. "You're my friends," she whispered, "my very best friends, and you didn't tell me. I just wish you would have told me."
Angelica stood up from hr seat on the bench and hugged the girl. "Hermione," she said, "don't you think we would have? You're our friend, we couldn't keep it a secret always. Friends don't do that to each other. We just didn't know how . . . Shh, shh, don't cry, please, please Hermione, please don't be upset, it's okay, it's alright."
Chris stood up to, and hesitantly patted the brown haired girl on the back. Hermione sniffle and looked up from where she had rested her chin on Angelica's shoulder. "I . . . I suppose I understand," she said. "But no more secrets, right? Please, none?"
Angelica nodded, a smile lighting up her face. Hermione wasn't angry at her any more. Things would be alright. "No secrets," she agreed wholeheartedly. "Chris?"
He shook his head. "None that are mine," he said simply. "If I can tell you, I will." Both girls rolled their eyes at him.
"Slytherin," they declared. Chris nodded with a smirk. "Yep."
"Now," Angelica said, picking up the conversation, "it's time for Chris and I to tell you about ourselves - all about our selves . . ."
Chris cut in. "I'll go first," he said, clearing his throat slightly. "I have an older brother and a little sister, Wyatt and Melinda. Wyatt is the Twice Blessed child, prophecies three hundred years before he was born. He would be wise and powerful and be saviour of the world, the only being able to match the power of the Charmed Ones . . . If he was raised right. If he was evil, he'd destroy the world. My future self came from a time where he did just that. He's good, now, even if he's still a jerk. He was born the day magic rested, and the Aurora Borealis could be seen over San Francisco - Imbolc, 1988.
"That's okay, right? One Superman in the family, what an honour. Well, my mom and her sisters are the Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches to ever walk the Earth. My dad used to be an angel, a Whitelighter, and when my mom and her sister were turned into Greek Goddesses, he was turned into an Elder - kind of like an Archangel. So, I'm part Elder, Wyatt's part Whitelighter, and the Elder's messed with Melinda so that she would be part Whitelighter, too. When my mom and aunt's retire, Wyatt, Melinda and I will be the new Charmed Ones because we're the eldest.
"We're from the Warren line of witches. Melinda Warren was the only witch burned at the stake in the Salem Witch trials, and her line has the powers of telekinesis, premonition, and could stop time - freeze something the way it is for a short time, anyway. My Mom can do that and blow things up, too. Aunt Phoebe can see the future, levitate, and feel other people's emotions. Aunt Paige is half Whitelighter because my grandmother had an affair with hers, and she can move things by orbing them, and orb herself and other people." Chris paused, and swallowed. "I've got eight cousins, three of them are part cupid, and I would have a ninth that was a quarter demon if his dad hadn't been the Source of All Evil. He's still around actually, but isn't evil any more and is back. He comes around sometimes to watch us kids and flirt with my Aunt Phoebe to make Uncle Coop - the Cupid - jealous. We found out after he came back that he'd been possessed by the Source after helping Vanquish him. It wasn't his choice. I'm the one he gets along with best - which he says is weird, but he won't tell me why.
"My cousins Tamora and Kat have their powers bound, and my cousin Henry is adopted. They're my Aunt Paige's kids. My cousin PJ is the first ever half-witch, half-cupid in the world. She can teleport other people and herself with her cupid powers, as well as sense them She came into her powers the same time Melinda and I did - I was two, Mel was one, and PJ was a few months old. Nellie and Priscilla have the same powers she does, and none of them have active witch powers yet.
"Wyatt can telekinetically orb people like my Aunt Paige, blow them up with orbs, create waves of energy, orb, sense people, heal them, make shields, conjure things, resists anything that tries to harm him, manipulate his voice and limited retinopathy. He can freeze things like our mom. Melinda can orb, hover in the air, telekinetically orb, is resistant to harm like Wyatt, and see the future like my Aunt Phoebe. I'm telekinetic, can control light and electricity, sense people, telekinetically orb things like all my siblings, orb, resist harm, and understand any language I hear. That future self I mentioned? He died the day I was born. I'm the only one of my family that doesn't have brown or blue eyes."
Chris sat back and crossed his arms. "Done," he said simply. "Angie, you're up."
Angelica snorted. "Okay . . ." she drawled. "Not much to tell here," she shrugged. "I was left on my Aunt and Uncle's doorstep a few days after my parents died, and they took me in. They don't like magic, and I make a point not to use it around them. I found out about witchcraft when I was seven or eight and teleported onto the school roof. Accidentally Apparated. My music teacher, Miss Trudoe, found me, and told me about magic. She started teaching me. I don't have an active power, and if I get one, it probably won't be for another year or two. They tend to crop up during puberty in first generation witches. I celebrate the Sabbats with Miss Trudoe during the holidays and with Chris during school. Oh," she added, leaning in as if it were a great secret she was going to reveal, "I'm also called the Girl Who Lived by wizards."
The three friends laughed, and Angelica felt lighter than she had in a long time. No more secrets. This was nice.
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AN/AR: Nearly 3000 words! A bit of a filler/explanation chapter, yes. What do you think? Drop a review, a PM, anything. :)
- Merc.