Authors Note: I would like to formally apologize for how long it took to update. I had some medical issues that basically overtook my life for a little while. Thankfully everything is fine now and I should be updating regularly. Thank you for being patient! Hope you enjoy!
29
The Boggart and the Slide
"I don't know why you're letting this bother you so much," Mary said as the four of us trudged our way down to Hagrid's hut the next morning. "You know what the Slytherins are like. This isn't out of character for them at all. You saw how Narcissa treated Professor Sayre."
"Because it's mad," I said shaking my head in fury, trying to ignore the slight chill in the air. "Anyone who was in the room with Professor Sayre and the Slytherins know they had a problem with her. It's obvious they did it and Slughorn isn't going to do anything about it."
I had spent the better part of the previous night complaining over and over about what the Slytherins had done to Sayre's classroom, and it was clearly thinning my friends patience. But I couldn't help it, it was clear exactly who had done it, and so far none of the Slytherins had so much as lost a point.
"What do you expect? It's Slughorn," Marlene said with a snort. "He's oblivious when it comes to the Slytherins."
Lily frowned. "It's true. As much as I like him, Slughorn let's the Slytherins get away with murder."
"Wish McGonagall would let us get away with murder," said Mary. "If anything, she's harder on us."
"She's definitely is," Marlene complained. "Did you know on Friday, she took five points from me for improper uniform because I forgot my socks?"
Mary snorted. "She took points because you only buttoned two of your shirt buttons, Marls."
"and because you were flirting with Martin Boot during her entire lecture," I reminded her teasingly.
Marlene shook her head, looking unaffected. "Semantics."
"Where was I during all of this?" Lily asked, eyebrow raised.
"Trying to stop James Potter from summoning the quill out of your hand every time you tried to take notes," I said.
"Oh, right," Lily said, her face showing exactly how she felt about that memory.
The four of stopped in front of Hagrid's door and I reached out to rap on it quietly. Hagrid had sent me a note the morning before, inviting me and my friends over for Sunday breakfast, something that had overjoyed them. They all loved Hagrid as much as I did.
The door creaked open and Hagrid appeared, smiling jovially, and wearing an apron with matching oven mitts the size of trash can lids.
"Morning Hagrid!" I said happily, offering him a smile.
"Doe! Come in, come in," he croaked happily at the four of us, "Good ter see you all! Back up Fang, let em through."
Hagrid bent down to hold the massive puppy back as I padded into his house with my friends at my heels. The hut was brimming with the smell of freshly brewed tea and whatever he had baking in the oven.
A fire was burning too, making the room much warmer than it was outside, so I happily shrugged off my jacket.
"Getting cold out there innit?" Hagrid asked as we took our seats around his massive kitchen table, and he poured us each some tea.
I nodded eagerly. "Freezing, and it's still only September."
"I'm started to think I might need to bring in some of the creatures earlier this year," Hagrid said peering out the window. "A lot of them can't handle this cold."
"Like the bowtruckles, right?" I asked. "They don't do very well in the cold, do they?"
"Yer must have paid attention in Care of Magical Creatures," Hagrid chuckled softly, as I turned slightly pink with pride.
While we sat and sipped the tea, Hagrid headed to his stove and placed a pan full of warm, frittata on the table in front of us. From the look of it, it was filled with eggs and all kind of vegetables. Hagrid also unearthed a basket of muffins the size of grapefruits.
"That smells fantastic, Hagrid," I told him. "You didn't have to go through all this trouble, you know."
Hagrid waved me off. "Please. It's not every day I have you lot in my cabin. I wanted too."
"Thank you for letting us crash your breakfast with Doe," Lily told Hagrid as he sat down in the wooden chair in front of us. "It was very kind of you."
Hagrid gave a firm shake of his head, as we started to serve ourselves. "Don't yer even think on it. Glad ter have ya to be honest. All of yous are so nice. Really good girls."
"Most of us," I whispered quietly to Marlene, who swatted back at me playfully.
Hagrid smiled. "Not like that other sister of yours, Marlene. Which one was it that I was always chasing away from the forest with her camera?"
Marlene smiled mischievously. "Meredith. She was the troublemaker. Nearly gave my parents a heart attack with how many times Professor McGonagall had to right home."
"Right," Hagrid nodded. "She was a spirited girl. Where's she now?"
"She works for the Daily Prophet, as some kind of reporter," Marlene said, taking a big bite of her frittata. "By the way, this is excellent Hagrid."
"Glad yer like it. It was me dad's recipe," Hagrid said appreciatively and then turned to me, boasting a big smile. "How did yer Quidditch tryouts go, Doe?"
I beamed, feeling great. "Excellent, actually. I made the team! Even though I wasn't too sure about it at first."
"Well ther yer go. I can't wait ter watch ya fly in those games," Hagrid said, "I was so excited fer yeh, when Gideon told me you were tryin' out."
"Gideon told you?" I asked quickly, knocking over my teacup with shock. Marlene chuckled as Lily whipped out her wand and evaporated the spilled tea.
Hagrid nodded. "Yeah. He was quick ter get out of here that day. Think he wanted to watch yer fly. He's got nuthin but good things ter say about, ya know," he smiled coyly, "seems to me he might have had his eye on ya. I told him you were a right good girl. Always kind to me in the summers and stop by to visit me whenever you can. Good with the animals too. He seemed to like that."
I felt my cheeks burn as I blushed, and my friends giggled beside me. For some reason, the idea of Hagrid and Gideon talking about me, made me extremely nervous.
"He's a good one," Hagrid continued, "He and his brother. I never have no trouble from them. And he's head boy and all."
"You don't have to sell her on the idea of Gideon," Marlene muttered under her breath looking amused. Lily let out a little giggle, and I blushed deeper.
I was starting to feel nervous about the four of them watching me, so I immediately brought up a conversation about Professor Dumbledore, and tried to ignore the excitement I felt in my chest at the thought of a certain red-haired Gryffindor….
The next two weeks passed by very quickly. The change to late September came with chillier temperatures and more work than ever before. I spent most of my time with my friends trying to tackle the massive amounts of homework we had been assigned and pursing my lips to try and master nonverbal spells. I always had a ton of Potions work to do because I was so miserable being partners with Severus that it was harder to focus than I usually did. Sirius and I had started our tradition of studying in the library again to cope with all of our work, and most days Remus would join us. He kept us on track while Sirius and I complained and tried to get off topic.
James was also on my case about practicing for Quidditch. Our first official team practice was coming up this week, and in order to prepare us, James had Tiberius and I flying chaser drills with him every other night. The three of us seemed to work well together, and James was thrilled at the idea of finally having symbiosis on the team.
"I have half a mind to tell Potter to cool it," Lily said, as the four of us left the Great Hall for Charms one morning. "You keep coming back to the dormitory completely exhausted, and you haven't even had a real team practice yet."
"It's not James fault," I told her, running my hands through my hair as we walked. "I want to be out there. I don't want to be the weakest link on the team, and anyway Professor McGonagall might actually kill me if I don't well."
"But it's so much easier to blame Potter," Lily said happily as we rounded the corner, making both Marlene and Mary snort. "More fun too."
There was a massive pile-up of students in front of one of the giant staircases, and the four of us crowded behind it, unable to move towards the Charms classroom.
"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Mary asked, careening on the tips of her toes to try and see over the crowd of people. They were all clustered together giggling and whispering in excited voices.
"I hope it's nothing bad," I said, shaking my head. "I can't handle any more bad news. I'm too busy already."
"A galleon says that it's something Reggie Cattermole did," Marlene said with an eye roll. "Bet Peeves scared him and he fell off the stairs or something. Or got his wand stuck in the suit of armor like fourth year."
"What was he even trying to do then?" I asked, chuckling. "Jinx it to move?"
Marlene laughed. "Who knows? He probably needed a date for a Slug Club dinner or something."
There was a loud roar of laughter up ahead of the crowd that had nothing to do with what Marlene had said, and made it perfectly clear that whatever was going on over there wasn't bad at all.
"Come on," Lily said, urging the three of us forward and through the crowd. "Let's see what's going on over there."
We pushed our way through the crowd of people, which were mostly younger students, and stopped in the front of the room, our mouths hung open with shock. The giant staircase in front of us had looked completely normal for a second, until Xeno Lovegood had run head first towards it. The moment his foot had touched the first step, the staircase had transformed into a giant stone slide and he went sliding back to the ground as all of the onlookers laughed. Xeno, slightly pink-faced moved aside so Gilderoy Lockhart could try. But it was the same result. The moment anyone tried to climb the stairs, it turned to a slide again.
"Holy Hippogriff," Mary swore, unable to hide her delight. "Who did this?"
"I only need one guess," I said nodding to the far wall. The four Marauders were leaning against the wall arms crossed and looked highly entertained. Any time another person went sliding to the ground they all laughed. "It's exactly something they would do, and I mean, it's brilliant magic. The wand work alone." I shook my head, slightly amazed by it all and wondering how it was possible. "Though it is early in the year for a Marauder prank…"
"Of course it was them," Marlene said. "I wonder how they did it."
"It's simple," Lily insisted shaking her head. "Remus is brilliant. James and Sirius are reckless and hate rules, and Peter...well Peter's devoted. He's like their sidekick. He'd do anything that the other three asked. Especially if it was risky."
The three of us eyed her with a shared, confused expression.
"Did you just compliment the Marauders?" Mary demanded, one of her dark perfect eyebrows raised.
"No," Lily said quickly, too quickly, "I just explained how they're able to do it. I don't think it was right."
"It's funny though," Mary said watching as Landon attempted to storm the stairs himself. "Merlin, what is he thinking? I should probably go help him before he breaks his snitch-catching arm. Merlin, or his wand arm! LANDON!."
Mary skipped forward to help Landon up as he went sliding to the floor like everyone else, and Fabian and Gideon moved forward, attempting to do it together.
As the two twins went crashing to the ground, I made my way over to the Marauders whose smiles had grown wider. Lily and Marlene followed me.
"What did you four do?" I asked, stopping in front of Sirius. Sirius looked entertained, and James' face had filled with color the moment Lily had walked over.
"What ever do you mean, Meadowes?" Sirius asked confidently. "We had nothing to do with this." He could barely get the words out, and the other three burst into laughter.
"Right," I snorted. "I suppose it's just a coincidence that the one boy in sixth year with the most experience sneaking into girls dormitories isn't responsible for the same charm that they use on our staircases?"
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You put that together, did you?"
"Do you four think you're so clever that no one could ever figure out your plans?" I asked, slightly amused. "I mean look at how guilty Remus looks. You know he figured out the spell." I nodded at Remus, who wore an expression of regret and excitement.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Doe," Remus said quietly, with only about half the enthusiasm Sirius did. He still looked guilty.
Sirius grinned. "Oh, come on. It's brilliant. You can say it. Anyone who managed this is a fantastic Wizard."
"And a modest one, clearly," I said, shaking my head.
"What about you, Evans?" James asked cheekily. "What do you think? Brilliant huh?"
Lily rolled her eyes and turned away from James. "I think it's rude, actually," she said confidently, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "All of these people are just trying to get to class and you've now made it more difficult, whether or not it's funny."
"So you do think it's funny, then," James pressed, missing her point. Lily ignored him.
The crowd broke again and a tall, stern figure made there way to the staircase, parting crowds of students as easily if they were theren't there. It was Professor McGonagall and Lily instantly brightened up, clearly hoping that she would solve the situation.
Professor McGonagall watched on as Dirk Cresswell and Tiberius McLaggen both attempted the stairs at the same time and went sliding to the ground in front of her feet.
"Professor," Mary sputtered quickly, with Landon at her side. "Can you fix the stairs?"
Professor McGonagall sighed at the sight of it, as some first years tried too. 'Well surely I can fix it, Ms. Macdonald," she said confidently, casting a particularly stern look at the Marauders as she did. "The question is whether or not I should."
"Wait, what?" Lily demanded looking immediately confused, as James let out a roaring laugh. Professor McGonagall stayed huddled around the nine of us, watching the staircase carefully. She was actually smiling, and it was strange to see her look so amused. I was sure she was going to be furious. I felt like I was missing some private joke.
"But Professor," I wondered aloud. "Why wouldn't you want to fix it?"
Professor McGonagall's mouth upturned into a tiny smile, as she said "Well, Ms. Meadowes. It is quite the learning opportunity. See how you all fare using magic to solve your problems." She observed the staircase/slide for another second and then with a crack she turned into her animagus form, and the tiny, calico colored cat, trapsed up the stairs with no difficulty. Highly impressed, we all clapped and the cat swished its tail confidently as it disappeared around the corner.
"You heard her ladies," James said sliding his glasses back up onto his nose. "Time to use some creative magical solutions to your problem."
"I have a great one," Lily said, clutching her bag tighter. "I'm going to take the stairs on the south side of the castle." She turned on her heels and left, while James stalked after her, wand out shouting "COME ON EVANS. YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY!"
Sirius chuckled, turning back to Marlene, Mary and I. "What about you three? Got any tricks up your sleeve?"
"A bunch, actually," Marlene teased, "but nothing to do with the staircase."
Marlene straightened her spine and raised her wand, trying unsuccessfully to cast the ascendio charm, that only managed to make her rise a few feet into the air.
Mary attempted a floating lily-pad spell we had learned in Herbology that had almost worked but crumbled at the last second. Sirius and Peter heckled them both.
"Your turn Meadowes," Sirius said, egging me on. "Think you can figure it out?"
I pulled out my wand, "I could always summon your broom, Sirius. I bet it would have no problem getting me up the stairs."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Way to ruin the fun, Meadowes."
"Fine then," I said carefully, steadying my wand. "You want me to solve the problem with magic?"
I steadied myself and cleared my mind, the way Professor Sayre had taught me to do non-verbal spells. I focused on the bridge-conjuring spell completely and flicked my wand.
Within seconds, a bridge had erupted across the slide, made of rope and rickety boards. I took a deep breath and grinned.
"Wow," Remus said softly, watching it with admiration.
"Did you just do that non-verbally?" Marlene demanded, her eyes wide as she watched it appear and some of the first years clapped happily. "Merlin, Doe."
"Professor Sayre helped me get the hang of it," I admitted. "Her defense class is amazing, Marls."
Mary, Marlene and I happily climbed the wooden bridge with the Marauders begrudgingly following.
We spent the better part of the morning Charms lesson talking about it with Professor Flitwick, who expressed his deep admiration of the staircase/slide charm, and then proceeded ahead with the lesson on defensive dueling charms.
"It was a brilliant bit of magic!" Professor Flitwick added quickly at the end of class as we all filed out of the room, "the slide and the bridge!"
It was hard to ignore the grin on either the Marauder's faces or mine.
When the lesson ended Mary, Lily and I made our way to the Defense classroom, while Marlene headed to the North Tower for Divination. When we got to Professor Sayre's room all of the desks were pushed away, meaning we had a practical lesson. I was thrilled, knowing how much I learned.
"I wish the Slytherins weren't in this class," I murmured angrily as entered Professor Sayre's classroom and noticed the cluster or emerald clad students huddled together. They looked haughty and miserable, probably because Professor Sayre's tapestry was fixed and hanging in it's usual spot. The door that had the Dark Mark had been changed the very next day.
"I know what you mean," Lily shuddered, looking at them all with disdain. "It's like they're always sitting there, waiting and judging."
Professor Sayre had emerged from her office just as Lily had spoken and made her way to the three of us, her silk robes fluttering as she did.
"Good morning, ladies," she said in her strange, American accent, and crossed the room to the door. She waited until the last student had filed into the room and then closed the door with a resounding slam.
"So as you may have guessed," Professor Sayre said crossing the room quickly, her extra long wand drawn in her hand. "Today will be a practical lesson. As you know, we've been doing practice lessons on Boggarts, and today I have finally acquired one for you all to practice on."
There was a muffled whispering of excitement as Professor Sayre summoned a pristine purple trunk to the middle of the room.
"We've studied the incantation and the theory over and over again. You all know how to do this. You think of thing you fear the most and then you make it funny. So, form a line. One even one in the center of the room. No pushing! Everyone's going to get a turn."
"Boggarts terrify me," Lily whispered as the three of us clambered between the Marauders and Kyla Davies in line. "Who wants to see what they fear most?"
"I think I already do," Mary said morosely, looking behind her where Mulciber, Narcissa, and Elizabeth were whispering something quickly to each other.
I offered Mary a comforting shoulder squeeze and tried to focus on the practical lesson ahead of us. While I didn't know exactly what shape or form the boggart was going to take, I had a pretty good idea, and I had no idea how to make Aubleus funny. There was nothing funny about him.
I was starting to get nervous as I waited, clutching my wand in a clammy hand. Everyone else had very straightforward fears, like the giant snake that Caradoc feared or the vampire that sent Gwenog Jones into hysterics.
Amelia had shrieked more loudly than I'd ever heard her before when she faced the boggart and it turned into a fully grown alligator.
It wasn't until Peter strode up to the boggart, that things started to get interesting. It was a cloaked person towering over him shrieking something unintelligible. He was so terrified, he practically fled from the room. Remus saw a pearly white orb. James saw three dead Marauders.
Crack!
The boggart immediately changed the moment Sirius stepped in front of it, and a hush fell over the room. At first it was unclear what was happening. It looked like Sirius was standing in front of a mirror. The boggart's shape had changed to look like Sirius' twin. They were exactly the same, except that Boggart-Sirius was wearing Slytherin robes instead of Gryffindor ones, and looked decidedly more haughty.
Everyone else didn't really understand what was going on, what exactly it was that the he feared most, but I did. What Sirius feared more than anything else was being like his family, a bigoted, Slytherin elitist.
"Riddikulus!" Sirius said and pointed his wand at the boggart, it shivered for a second and then Boggart-Sirius was replaced by Slughorn in Slytherin robes, stumbling around drunk. Everyone in line laughed as Mary moved forward and saw a masked Death Eater, which she managed to turn into a circus clown. Lily turned her hag into a large rag doll.
By the time I walked to the front of the room, I was shaking. I knew exactly what I would see when I stepped in front of the boggart and I was dreading it.
I had barely been standing there for thirty seconds when the boggart immediately changed and Aubelus appeared, fully formed in front of me. I'd never seen Aubleus in the flesh before. In any form. At least not that I could remember, and now here he was, pacing before me.
There was a collective gasp among the group as my fellow students started to realize what I was seeing. What I was afraid of.
For a few seconds I didn't know what to do. The wand in my hand felt useless. It didn't seem to matter how much magic I knew, I felt completely powerless. I was staring into the eyes of my parents murderer. Even if he wasn't really there.
My mouth felt extremely dry, like I couldn't speak. Boggart-Aubleus circled me as my mouth popped open and I searched for the incantation.
I tried not tear up as Boggart-Aubleus sneered at me, looking exactly as terrifying as he did in pictures. He just kept getting closer, like he was going to strike. My bone's felt frozen and heavy, keeping me stuck in place.
I knew too much time was passing. Professor Sayre kept inching closer, her wand drawn, ready to take over if it became too difficult for me. I readied my wand, and tried to focus. This wasn't Aubleus. This was a boggart, and a boggart I could handle.
"Riddikulus!" I cried, forgoing the non-verbal spell. There was a loud crack and Boggart-Aubleus changed immediately to Celestina Warbeck, his blonde hair growing longer and longer, until he was completely decked out in costume and singing A Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Love.
There was a chorus of laughter as I moved to the back of the room with Lily and Mary, still completely shaken up by what I had just seen.
Lily reached out to hold my arm, her wide eyes full of concern. "Was that your Uncle?"
I nodded. "That's Aubleus." Saying his name burned like firewhiskey, and I gave a tiny shudder.
"He doesn't look like the picture in the prophet," Mary whispered quietly, "He's even scarier in person."
She was right. Boggart-Aubleus was worse than the pictures, and something told me that that was exactly how he really was in person. This was the person my mother grew up with. The person who killed them.
"He is scary," I whispered. "He's a murderer, Mary"
There was a chill rolling down my spine now. The familiar one that always came when I had to think about Aubleus or why my parents were dead. The grief, anger, and pity that all pounded inside of my chest. My friends seemed to sense this, and Lily pulled me into a silent one armed hug.
I wasn't the only one who seemed to be shaken up by the lesson. Half the class was white-faced and nervous, standing on their own in the corner. Even the braver people, like Sirius and James looked a bit put off. Sirius kept nervously picking at his nails.
"Did the big bad boggart scare you, Meadowes?" Elizabeth cooed maliciously as she and Narcissa appeared at our sides. The two of them were both staring at me like whatever I had faced just then had made them happy.
"Go away, Elizabeth," I snapped, keeping my wand in my hand, "no one is in the mood to deal with you today."
"With me?" Elizabeth demanded, a cruel smile stretching across her even teeth. "I'm not the one who practically burst into tears in front of our whole Defense classroom. Honestly, Meadowes. How pathetic can you get?"
"And what is it exactly that you're afraid of?" Narcissa pressed. "Purebloods?"
They had some nerve, coming over here and trying to start a fight after what I had just seen. A hate filled rage was already pulsing through my blood at the sigh of Aubleus, and it would feel so sweet to take it out on the two of them.
"At least I faced the boggart," I said, my tone sharp as a blade. "Unlike you two, cowering in the back. I may be afraid of a murderer, but at least I can face what I'm afraid of."
The two of them were stood at the very back of the line, purposely avoiding the practical. Whether it was out of fear or an unwillingness to participate in Professor Sayre's lesson, I didn't know.
Narcissa's upper lip curled. "Watch your tone, Meadowes,"
"Unless you'd like to go the same way your mum and dad did," Elizabeth threatened, baring her teeth. "Those two were even more pathetic than you are."
That was all it took to set me off. One flick of my wand and a loud bang erupted into the room as my pimple jinx found its mark on Elizabeth. Her face erupted into giant purple boils and she began to yell.
"You filthy little half-blood!" she shrieked, "Miserable blood-traitor. You're going to pay for that!"
She yanked her abnormally long wand out of her pocket and pointed it at me, ready to fire, when Professor Sayre strode forward.
"What do you think you're doing Ms. Burke?" she demanded, standing between the two of us. I noticed now that none of the other students were participating in the lesson anymore. Everyone was watching Elizabeth and I. Damocles Belby's troll-shaped boggart was hovering in the background ignored.
"Doe attacked Elizabeth!" Narcissa said firmly, dragging Elizabeth's boil-filled face over to her. She looked very torn. Probably because Narcissa wanted nothing more than to rat me out, but her hatred of Professor Sayre was making it too hard.
"Technically, I jinxed her," I clarified, before Narcissa could say anything else. People had started to notice Elizabeth's face now and we chuckling and Elizabeth shrieked again.
"And only because Elizabeth threatened her!" Lily added beside me. "And insulted her parents!"
Professor Sayre looked momentarily conflicted. She stared back and forth between Elizabeth and I, with her her eyebrows pulled together in thought.
"Detention," she decided evenly. "For both of you. Thursday night, in my office. Eight o'clock. I don't condone jinxing in my class, and I certainly don't condone threats or petty, bigoted insults." She flashed Elizabeth a scathing look that made me glad it wasn't me.
Not that I had it much better. I was furious that I had slipped up in front of a teacher and earned myself a detention. Especially with Professor Sayre. I admired her. I didn't want her to think poorly of me. Especially not because of something foul Elizabeth Burke had said.
"As for the rest of you, let's call it a day. We can practice some more next class," Professor Sayre said with a sigh.
The rest of us moved to grab our things. It was hard for me to hide my disappointment and embarrassment. Especially considering how the rest of the class was still buzzing from the 'amazing lesson'.
"I can't believe that I did that," I sighed, pocketing my wand. "How could I have been so stupid? Professor Sayre probably thinks I'm just as bad as Elizabeth."
"It isn't your fault," Mary said quickly. "I know how Elizabeth can be. And those things she said were foul. She deserved to be jinxed."
"I still shouldn't have done it," I said, my wand feeling suddenly very heavy in my pocket. "It makes me as bad as her."
"Not even close," Lily told me confidently.
Narcissa had already yanked Elizabeth from the room, her boils bursting as they did, and I was glad I was able to avoid them.
"Ms. Meadowes," Professor Sayre called from her desk. "Could you stay after a moment?"
I knew this wouldn't be good. Professor Sayre didn't know me as well as the other teachers. She didn't know that hexing people in class was out of character for me.
My friends offered me a comforting smile, and then left the room. Still nervous and a little embarrassed I made my way over her desk. Professor Sayre waited until the room was empty before she spoke.
"I'm sorry that I had to give you that detention, Ms. Meadowes," she said carefully. "I didn't want too, but I didn't want to blatantly play favorites in front of the other student either."
I blinked a little confused, and Professor Sayre smiled. "You look confused."
I shifted uncomfortably, trying not to show how weary I was. "To be perfectly honest, I am, Professor," I said, "I jinxed Elizabeth. Why wouldn't' you want to give me the detention?"
Professor Sayre smiled, weighing her wand in her hand carefully. "Because it sounded to me like she deserved it. Threatening you and insulting you're family. Especially after what you had just seen with the boggart. It was a special kind of cruel, and so under circumstances like that, it's hard to want to punish someone for a pimple jinx."
"Really? That's such a relief." It was hard to hide my joy. Professor Sayre wasn't angry with me or even disappointed. She knew exactly what Elizabeth was. It made me like her even more.
Professor Sayre tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear and nodded. "Of course. And I am sorry about the detention. I promise it won't be anything terrible. I can't even imagine what today must have been like for you."
"I didn't know that you knew about Aubleus," I said sheepishly, realizing that I should have. It had been in the prophet. I hated that people knew such intimate details about my families tragedy.
Professor Sayre offered me a kind smile. "Professor McGonagall told me. If I had known what the boggart was going to turn into I never would have had you participate.." She let out a little involuntary shudder.
"I wouldn't have wanted to sit it out anyway," I told her quickly. "Not a lesson like that. It's too important to skip. Even if I didn't want to face him"
Professor Sayre lifted one of her eyebrows, her interest peaked. "Really? Do you like defense quite a bit then?"
"I like it about as much as I like food and air," I joked eagerly. "I actually want to be an auror."
"An auror?" Professor Sayre asked curiously, her eyes flickering. "That's fascinating. You should read Secrets of the Darkest Art. It's really interesting to read from the other side's perspective. A great way to catch Dark Wizards is to know how they think." The corners of Professor's Sayre's mouth upturned slightly, as if she were trying her best to hide a smirk.
"Isn't that in the Restricted Section, Professor?" I asked, knowing very well it was. I had peered over that velvet rope in library, reading the spines of those fascinating books enough times to know for a fact that anything that interesting was bound to be in there. But you needed permission to check out those books, and so far in five years of magical education at Hogwarts, I had never been able to come up with a good enough reason to ask for permission.
Professor Sayre gave a quick nod. "Of course. I forgot you have one of those in your library. We don't have any restricted books in Ilvermorny. I happen to think restricted information from pupils makes them more desperate for it, but who am I to say?" Her eyebrows raised curiously for a moment. "I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has his reasons."
She offered me a smile. "But I sincerely doubt he would have any problem with me giving you a pass," A quill small scroll had appeared in her hand and she hastily scribbled something on it. It took me a second to understand what she was doing, and just managed to hold out my hand as she dropped the slip into my open hand.
My eyes were wide as they raked across the page. She had given me permission to check out any book I wanted from the Restricted Section. An unlimited pass. The only other person I had known to give this out was Slughorn, and only to his most prized students, like Lily or Snape. I never even thought McGonagall would give me one of these. Not unless it was Quidditch on the line. I was sure that the smile on my face was wide it was almost terrifying. "Thank you, Professor," I said earnestly. "I'll use it well."
"I hope you do," Professor Sayre said thoughtfully, plopping herself down in her velvet desk chair. "I'll see you Thursday. Sorry again about the detention, but I suppose it will give us a chance to discuss whatever you find in the library."
"Yeah, thanks again" I told her as I left the classroom, still smiling and clutching the pass like it was a golden snitch. Professor Sayre nodded appreciatively and turned to a black scroll sitting on her desk.
I was practically skipping with excitement as I left the defense classroom, still amazed at my luck. My friends were waiting for me dutifully outside, exchanging quick looks of surprise. Marlene was there too, having met up with the others.
"You look awfully pleased for someone who just got a detention," Marlene pointed out astutely, her perfect eyebrow arching as I jumped eagerly in place. The others must have already filled her in with what had happened with Narcissa.
"We thought we were going to have to console you," Lily joked, shaking her mass of red hair as she chuckled,. "Seems silly now doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Mary said in disbelief. "Sayre didn't give you a hard time at all?"
I shook my head, beaming. "Nope. The opposite actually. She apologized for it, and then gave me this," I said, thrusting the permission slip at her with excitement.
Mary's eyes widened as she read the piece of parchment and then passed it around for the others to see.
"And Sayre just gave that to you?" Lily chortled, shifting the massive stack of Potions books in her arms. "No questions asked?"
I shook my head, still continuing to bounce with elation as the four of us made our way down the corridor. "She's absolutely brilliant," I recounted as we walked, "I swear she's already the best defense teacher we've ever had."
I silently hoped Professor Sayre would love the castle so much she wouldn't want to go back to Ilvermorny. She was the perfect defense teacher, and after all of the disjointed lessons we'd had from all those different professors, she was an absolute treat.
"I wish the Slytherins would stop messing with her. Then maybe she'd stay permanently," Lily said, thinking along the same lines as me.
"Why do they always have to ruin everything?" I demanded, climbing the familiar stairs to the Common Room.
"It's in their nature," Mary sighed, her upper lip twitching as she spoke. "It's like that old fable about the Scorpion and the frog." Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she thought about it. No one disliked the Slytherins as much as Mary did.
"Does that make us the frog?" I groaned. "I don't really want to die in the end, Mare. Especially not at their hands."
"I always hated that story," said Lily, shuddering slightly. "Petunia loved it though."
I let out a dark chuckle. "She would. I bet she laughed when Bambi's mom died too."
Both Mary and Lily laughed, and Marlene raised her eyebrow in confusion. The way she often did when we talked about muggle things.
"What are you three going on about?" she demanded, stopping in the middle of the stairs, with her hands on her hips. "What happened with the frog? And who in Bathilda Bagshot's name is Bambi?"
Lily smiled brightly, tossing an arm over her shoulder and explaining both to her as the four of us skipped back to the Gryffindor Common Room, not realizing that we were in fact, the frog who placed our trust in the wrong scorpion.
"Honestly!" James shouted loudly a few nights later, hovering menacingly in the air on his broom. "What do I have to do to get you all to focus? You're flying like a bunch of Hufflepuffs out there!"
My eyes narrowed in his direction as I stopped the lap I was doing around the pitch with Tiberius to make our way back to the now frantic James. It was our first team practice of the season and after almost three hours of flying everyone was growing very tired. Everyone except James. He seemed to have endless bouts of energy. I doubted he would ever leave the pitch unless someone made him.
I, meanwhile, was loving every second of the practice. There was something so freeing about being out on the pitch and losing yourself in the game. The moment I had that quaffle in that my arms, everything else going on easily melted away. It was a better stress reliever than anything else I'd ever tried. It also didn't hurt that the rest of the team had welcomed Tiberius and I with open arms. By the first ten minutes of practice, Hestia had slung her arms over our shoulders and taught us all of the clever nicknames they had for the other teams. The only downside to the entire evening was getting used to being smacked repeatedly by the bludgers. Tiberius and I were the most inexperienced at dodging them and were starting to feel exactly how much damage on of them could do.
"I find that comment deeply offensive," Hestia told James, circling his broom at a speed barely visible by the human eye. "My first boyfriend was a Hufflepuff."
"Come on Jones, fess up you've dated loads of Hufflepuffs, haven't you?" Sirius asked cheekily, having to dart immediately down to avoid the Quaffle she tossed in his direction.
"That's rich coming from you of all people," Hestia pointed out easily. "How many Hufflepuffs have you bedded, Black?" She could barely get the words out without chuckling.
Sirius flashed her a mischievous grin. "Let's put it this way, I could tell you exactly what the Hufflepuff dormitories look like in vivid detail."
Fabian and Landon both let out an appreciative whistle, as Hestia and I exchanged a look of annoyance.
"You're a legend, Black" Tiberius said appreciatively.
Sirius grinned, throwing his arms behind his head confidently.
"You lot are foul," Hestia said shaking her head so that her fringe blew quickly in the wind. "Absolutely foul."
"Honestly, mate," Fabian said, gripping his broom with interest as he blatantly ignored Hestia's words.. "How many girls in this castle have you been with?"
Hestia groaned in irritation, flashing me a look that suggested she wanted to knock Fabian off his broom for encouraging Sirius' behavior.
"A fair few," Sirius said smugly, to the absolute delight and awe of Tiberius, Fabian and Landon.
Landon nodded in admiration. "Bloody hell."
"Oh please don't ask him to list them out," I begged desperately, trying to hide my ghost of a smile, "not unless we want to be here for another three hours."
Both Fabian and Landon sniggered quietly, and Hestia flashed me a wide smile. Sirius looked amused as he lazily kicked his feet up onto the broom.
"You see why I was so glad to finally have another girl on the team?" Hestia said happily as she lined her broom up with mine.
"This is exactly what I mean," James said with a defeated sigh, as he approached the rest of us. "You're all playing around! And we've got our first match in just a few weeks! Do you all want to be demolished by Slytherin?"
The rest of the team and I exchanged a quick look. We'd been on the pitch for hours, and up until now we had been working very diligently, running drills, trying out new plays and anything else James wanted.
"Don't be a dictator James," Hestia reminded him. "Or I'll smack you with Fabians bat." She was swinging it playfully near James head and it made him instantly perk up.
"We're all just blowing off a bit of steam, Prongs." Sirius said quickly, clapping his mate on the shoulder to reassure him."We're working hard too."
"I have the bruises to prove it," I added quickly.
Landon gave James an appreciative nod. "Everyone here fully plans on bringing their A game to the match alright?"
"We better," James said, looking much more relieved than he had moments ago. "McGonagall is all over me about having the best possible team we can this year. If we lose again, I swear she'll kick every one of us into Hufflepuff."
There was a collective chuckle among the team and James brightened even more. "Alright troops, let's call it a night. Go get something to eat and snog your pillows."
The entire team looked immensely grateful and dropped to the ground, heading towards the changing rooms. Even though I was exhausted and sweaty, it was hard to hide the joy I felt at flying.
"I see your still absolutely furious about having to try out for the team," Sirius said sarcastically, observing how happy I looked.
I rolled my eyes at him, and the look of righteousness he managed to flash me.
"Just because this happened to work out okay this time doesn't mean you did the right thing," I reminded him. "You can't just meddle into people's lives because you want too.
Sirius rolled his eyes goodnaturedly and slung an arm over my shoulder. "Honestly Meadowes, haven't you learned by now that I do whatever I want, and it always works out?"
"Whatever you say Sirius," I chuckled, vaguely aware of Hestia and Fabian watching the two of us out of the corner of my eye.
After everyone had changed and dressed, we headed back up the castle to catch the end of dinner. It was still early enough that their were still students filing in and out of the corridors. The rest of the team and I glided through the halls talking over the things we needed to work on for the next practice and listening to Hestia question the ability of the Ravenclaw's keeper. It was fun to be a part of the team, like being in an even closer-knit family inside of Gryffindor House.
When we got to the Great Hall, we parted ways and I made my way for the library.
"You're not eating?" Sirius asked as he and James watched me head in the opposite direction. "Don't tell me you've started that insipid diet that McKinnon is on."
I chuckled thinking of breakfast where Marlene had immediately decided to forgo anything that wasn't fruit or steamed vegetables. The rest of us hoped it was simply a phase and she'd drop it soon enough. There was no way any of us would join her in it. We spent our time trying to talk her out of it.
"Hardly," I said, thinking of the grumbling in my stomach. "Lily's bringing me a plate. I have to run the library first. Frank Longbottom is helping me study for a Herbology test."
The idea of skipping dinner to study for Herbology, of all things, was depressing, but I was damned if I was going to let another vicious plant try to rip my hair out in class tomorrow. I'd already had to stun one the class before.
"You're skipping dinner for studying?" Sirius asked, shaking his head. "How are we friends?"
James raised an eyebrow. "Longbottom? Why not ask Remus? He's good at Herbology. I bet he'd help you after dinner if you asked."
I frowned slightly. Asking Remus had occurred to me, but I'd ultimately decided against it. "Because I've waited until the last minute and I don't like that disappointed look he gives me," I admitted honestly. Both James and Sirius burst into loud honest laughter.
"Now that makes more sense," Sirius agreed, still laughing. "Can't blame you for avoiding the prefects."
James nodded vigorously. "Think i'd rather be covered in stink sap than get one of those looks from Moony." They both shuddered, fully understanding why I passed.
I grinned. "See you both in the Common Room then," I told them and turned heading for the library. I was still in a great mood from practice and looking forward to spending the evening lounging with my friends by the fire. The castle was sort of quiet now with most of the students still up at dinner.
The tutoring went quickly. Frank was a genius at Herbology and helped me go over most of it in less than both decided to duck out early, so Frank could meet Alice for a late night walk and I could head back to my friends.
By now the castle was even quieter than it had been before. It was only a few minutes to curfew, and I walked, Mrs. Norris circled in anticipation, almost following me the whole way. It was everything I could do not to shove her onto one of the moving staircases and run for it. I loved cats, but there was something truly miserable about this one.
I had rounded a corner quickly, trying to get away from the furry little git when I stopped quickly. Coming out of an empty classroom, was Rabastan.
He didn't look anything like he normally did. As infuriating and vile as I found him, there was no denying that Rabastan was well-kept. He was aware of his handsomeness, and did his best to emphasize it. He thought he was royalty. I'd never seen him without his hair perfectly styled or in clothes that weren't perfectly pressed. His demeanor was always calm and collected, even when he was threatening someone or saying something disgusting. That's what made Rabastan so infuriating. He was very calculated.
That Rabastan was unrecognizable now. He stomped out of the empty classroom, his normally even face riddled with fury. His bright green eyes were black and lifeless. His hair was messy and his tie hung loose and disheveled. He looked frantic. And furious. It was chilling.
He didn't look around as he stormed down the corridor. He turned to the suit of armor next to him and began kicking it with such fury it went crashing to the ground. He continued to kick it angrily, grunting as he did.
I immediately cowered behind the stone corner, reaching into my pocket for my wand. Running into Rabastan alone was terrifying on a normal basis. Running into him like this was enough to make my blood run cold.
"Merlin, Lestrange what are you doing?" Antonin Dolohov asked, filing out of the room much slower and less furiously than Rabastan had.
"Never you mind," Rabastan hissed through clenched teeth. "How I choose to deal with what we just heard is my business." I'd never heard his voice so cold and angry. It made me shiver.
Antonin looked unconcerned with Rabastan's rage. "You and I both know that this job he assigned us was going to be difficult."
"Not this difficult," Rabastan snarled. "You and I both know there's an easier solution."
Antonin scoffed, his face turning as red as his hair. "What are we supposed to do? Walk into the great hall and use the killing curse? Be reasonable, Lestrange. We need to be creative."
I felt an immediate shudder run through my body at the idea of either of them using the killing curse. Especially after what they had said about wanting to join the Death Eaters. Whoever it was they were talking about, was clearly in danger. I raked my mind trying to think of who Rabastan could hate that much. Or who would have ordered him to do it. Surely, it couldn't be Him could it? I felt a cold stab of fear at the thought of Rabastan taking orders from You-Know-Who himself. The idea of living amongst Death Eaters was enough to make me never sleep again.
"Creative?" Rabastan let out a dark laugh that rang through the corridor like a chilling bell. "We need to take action. Or does this mean nothing to you, Antonin?" Rabastan roughly grabbed at the sleeve of his dress shirt yanking it up to expose his left arm.
I was too far away to see what he was showing Dolohov, but whatever it was made Antonin stiffen quickly.
"You know what it means to me, Rabastan" Antonin hissed quietly. "All I am saying is that the deed will be done with time. We cannot afford to be impatient. It needs to be done right."
Rabastan seemed to calm slightly, straightening his shirt collar and giving his house mate a curt nod. "You're right. I was being...hasty."
Rabastan stared off into space for a minute, his eyes lightening as his rage seemed to dissipate. After a few more seconds, his face was back to his usual, cold mask. My head was ringing with what I had just heard, trying desperately to squash down the fear that had lodged in my throat. Rabastan could be taking orders from You-Know-Who. Orders to kill. Someone in the castle was in danger. Real danger.
"Let's go find something fun to do," he told Antonin smoothly, his fingers absentmindedly tracing his right arm. "I could use a distraction."
Antonin's mouth curled into a terrifying smile, and I turned on my heels, running towards the Gryffindor Common Room before I became the distraction.
