Last time, on our show…The fan club is formed, feelings are introduced, and Hermione says yes to an ecstatic Krum.
In this episode… Things begin to get a little lethal, we
receive closure on the tyrannical- er- firm Hufflepuff clubers, and (dun, dun,
dun) the infamous shower pictures.
December 25
Tonight was one of the most wonderful nights of my life. After all the great things that have happened to me, this is the shining star above. I don't understand who is giving all of this luck to me, and I know I don't deserve it, but they are and I'm glad. I feel like a seventh grader, rushing home to fill in the details of a school ice cream social. But I'm not in seventh grade and dancing with Hermione is no scoop of Rocky Road. She smiled and twirled and giggled and fit perfectly under my chin when we slow danced. And guess who is beginning to shape up now? The most chilling glares I've ever received came tonight from her little wimpy redheaded friend. Ha ha, buddy. You snooze, you lose. She's mine. All the other girls were glaring at her as we walked past, and I will never respect a girl more for dignity. She handles everything with such a way… If I could change one thing, and there's only one thing I would, she would have talked about him less. She always finds a way of linking him to the conversation. It happens by way of habit, and comes from the fact that she's known him and little else for four years , but it still puts me on edge, and I wish she would stop. Everything is beautiful…the stars are so bright they're practically burning holes in my bunk curtains! We spilt ways at the school doors, and she gave me the lightest, quickest kiss on my cheek, then disappeared through the tapestries. Dornolot told me that I looked quite the fool, floating around with a ridiculous grin, but I happen to know he's just mad because his date didn't come back from getting punch. Reading back over this, I'm feeling more and more like that seventh grader, but I can't let anything spoil this mood. I want to preserve it forever. Maybe a dip in the lake will freeze this in my mind…
(*)
There was total
silence as they surveyed the plan boards in front of them. Even April, standing in the foreground of
the violently illustrated tripod, looked a bit squeamish as she ran her finger
down the list of tools needed for this next mission. Marcy, however, was standing with a brilliant grin and a
satisfied stance- hands on hips, feet firmly planted. A rock, never moving. Finally, a seventh year broke the silence.
"This- this is going a
bit far, don't you think?"
Marcy slowly rotated,
exaggerating the amount of time it took her to turn and face the girl. The silence intensified, and a few smaller
girls, who were proud of their withstanding so far, raced from the room. There were only eleven girls left.
"A bit far? A bit FAR? We have had this conversation again and again. When it comes to Viktor, we've all taken an oath, and we all agree. Nothing is a bit FAR for Viktor. We have a responsibility to keep the oath
and we will do what we need to do to keep him open to our convenience."
They all turned their
heads back to the board and read list again. April visibly gulped, then dove forward, throwing caution to the winds.
"But…poisoning
someone? This is getting very
serious."
"Things will always be
serious in this club," snapped Marcy. She seemed to be considering something, then smiled convincingly. "Besides, it's not like this is going to kill her. She'll
only be…put out. A bit. A lot…for a long time." The smile became quite vengeful, and three
more girls snuck out a door. Attempting
to desert the club had been deemed punishable by expulsion from the club, and
so the danger in leaving was small, but no one was willing to put themselves in
the path of Marcy's wrath these days.
Things had grown
increasingly tense ever since the disastrous Yule Ball, the events of which
left several Hufflepuff girls bed-ridden for days. This emergency meeting of the fan club had been called "to
discuss a plan of action in response to the unlawful robbery of our personal
property".
"Well, what do you
think?" asked Marcy in a voice that explained to them exactly how they were to
answer. The eight remaining girls shook
violently. Allison shuddered and ran a
particular mantra through her head. 'She's doing what's right for the best, and I'm not advanced enough to
understand her plan'. She wasn't sure
how many more times she would need to repeat this before she was calm enough to
go through with what was described on the plan board, but the number was uping
by the second.
"I think…shredded
Fire Buds are going to be very hard to come by this time of year," ventured one
girl timidly. Marcy's eyes flashed.
"If the recipe calls
for shredded Fire Bud, then you'll have to make it your personal mission to
find shredded Fire Bud, whatever the costs."
The girls all
swallowed hard for the umpteenth time, then began filing out slowly, the
meeting over. Only Allison remained,
when all the others had filed away. She
sucked in an incredible amount of air, trying to use the oxygen to steady her
violently trembling body. She
approached then the impregnable fortress of Marcy.
"Um…Marcy…there
might be another way." Ice would have
melted…steel would have melted. Allison
wanted to melt, but she knew Hermione Granger. There was no need to mortally injure such a nice girl. Privately, Allison had expected her to go
the Ball with one of the two boys that seemed to be attached to her hips, but
she had looked like she was having fun when she was out there with Viktor
Krum. Perhaps that was why the potion
they were planning on brewing had such a high pain factor.
"And what," drawled
Marcy, "would that be?"
"Well, couldn't we
simply…make her look bad in front of Viktor-"
"Mr. Krum!" snapped
Marcy.
"Er- Mr. Krum,
couldn't we send him a letter telling him that she… she's bad?" Allison faltered awkwardly. Marcy was frowning, and Allison considered
backing out the door quietly, but Marcy suddenly threw her hands in the air.
"That's it! That's perfect…we establish fresh contact,
kill any vestiges of feelings he might have, and we get to stay far away from
that dirty piece of trash." Allison
breathed a sigh of relief as Marcy
began pacing and talking erratically. April was in the corner, trying desperately to conceal the bags
underneath her eyes with Foundation Charms. Being the vice president of the most ambitious fan club in the school
could really catch up to you.
As the two older
girls occupied themselves with their tasks, Allison crept quietly away,
wondering if it might be time to rethink her role models.
(*)
February 10
The weirdest day ever…that's all I can say about it. It seems like everything in my life got sort of switched around. It started off like a dream, this much is true. While we're here at Hogwarts, we've been working on schoolwork in the library. Today Hermione and I ended up in there at the same time, and we had a lovely conversation; the kind of conversation I've been missing since I came to Durmstrang. She actually shut her book and put it away so that we could talk. Again, she kept bringing up those STUPID CHILDREN. Apparently they were fans of mine; she never said why they stopped being so fond of me, but I think I could guess. Anyway, we talked straight to lunch, but then she had to run because THEY were waiting for her. It's just something I'm going to have to adjust myself to, I know, but it still sort of stung. After that I couldn't concentrate at all, so I headed back to the ship for a swim and a shower. I enjoyed myself the whole time in the lake by imagining the reactions of her little friends if THEY tried to swim in there. The looks on their faces made me laugh until I cried, and finally had to get out so I wouldn't drown on my tears. Now here is where it starts to get weird. I was just stepping into the shower, to rinse off, when something strange caught my eye. Up in the corner, right next to the showerhead, there was a tiny little black box. It was about as big as my thumbnail, and it was magically glued to the white tile. I was starting to get a sick feeling in my stomach as I leaned forward and heard a miniature clicking noise. It was a camera. My first thought was to run and Karkaroff, but I knew that that could be a bad idea. He would jump to all sorts conclusions and might even make me stop seeing Hermione. So I headed for Dumbledore instead. He came straight to the ship, white-faced, and for such an old man, he moves fast. I was really starting to get worried at his reaction, but as soon as he got a look at the camera, he began to chuckle softly. He told me that there was probably little to worry about; this camera looked very amateur and was probably planted by young mischievous girls. I don't care who planted it, but the whole idea REALLY creeps me out. I just hope I got the thing out of there before anyone SAW anything. I think we need to move on- I'm getting the chills again. So then, I'm all jittery and not really fond of ever taking my clothes off again, when I see this letter sticking out from underneath my pillow. I don' t even want to think about how it got there…but I'm getting ahead of myself. To keep things short (I'm getting writer's cramp), it was a confession letter from Hermione, telling me that she had really been giving me Love Potions since I arrived at the school, and that was the reason we had been so close. For about five seconds, I was terribly hurt. But then I knew, just KNEW that it wasn't true. I rushed down to the school, disregarding curfew and a million other warnings, and raced into the Great Hall. Hermione was sitting in there, eating alone, and I think I startled her badly when I went over and sat next to her, breathing hard from my running. We talked about everything, and I think she was a bit embarrassed about the letter. I explained that everything was fine, I believed her, and I think it helped a lot. As I was leaving, I risked a quick hug, and I can't really say how she reacted because I couldn't meet her eyes as I raced away. But we got it all worked out. Now I'm really jumpy and keep looking over my shoulder. Someone has been in my bunk…someone has been taking pictures of me. Ouch, my hand hurts. So does my stomach. I'm going to bed.
(*)
"Nobody talk to me!"
shrieked Marcy at the top of her voice. Everyone jumped to the side as she stormed through the common room,
crying and ripping at her hair. Some
people were clueless and worried about her. Others knew exactly what was up and were wary of her. The second task had just ended.
"Allison! Come here now." The hysterical voice of seconds before had turned deadly
quiet. Allison was trembling as she
went up the stairs, expectancy racing through her blood. She knew what was going to happen. She choked back a sob. Marcy was sitting regally on the bed,
holding her KRUM KLUB badge in her hand.
"You were the last one
Allison. The last person to stand by my
side. All the other ones- the weak
ones- are gone. Even April couldn't hold
her ground in our whirlwind world. I
had great plans for you. AND YOU
FAILED!"
There was an
explosion. Marcy jumped off the bed,
screaming and throwing things around. "YOU SAID HE WOULD LEAVE HER ALONE! YOU SAID A SIMPLE LETTER WOULD SUFFICE! SHE WAS HIS FAVORITE THING! IT'S
NOT FAIR, YOU CHEATED HIM AWAY FROM ME, YOU'RE TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE, I HATE
YOU!" And then, she slapped her.
Allison's face stung
from the vicious force of Marcy's full-bodied blow. Marcy hadn't stopped her tirade, but was now silently dancing
around, breaking things against the stone walls. Suddenly, Allison knew what she needed to do. Ripping her KRUM KLUB badge off her chest,
she hurled it through the air for a direct hit on Marcy's face. The breaking noises stopped.
"You are a scary,
sadistic, obsessed FREAK. Viktor Krum
doesn't know who you are, and he doesn't give a damn about you! This whole club was a stupid idea from the
start. Nothing we've ever tried has
even STARTED to work. You pushed
everyone down on your way. Now have fun
alone."
There was a moment of
silence, and Allison ran.
(*)
Hermione sat down very
hard as she read the words on the crinkling parchment. The official document
was cut and dry, and incredibly blunt; the wording in itself sent a shock to
her system. She curled her feet up
underneath her and tried to warm her chilling limbs as she ran over the words
again. Once she hit the paragraph about
"mortally dangerous sleeping potions", she burst into tears.
At that moment, Ron
was entering the common room. He saw
Hermione hunched over in the corner, crying, and awkwardly went over to her.
"Hermione, what's
wrong? What are you reading?"
Hermione looked up,
sniffling, and rubbed her nose viciously. Her eyes were red and her hands were trembling. She was obviously very shaken about
something.
"Ron, I…have no idea
what to do. I just got a letter from
the wizarding police. Apparently, they
have shields for malicious magic posted around the school, and can tell when someone
is brewing magic for purposes unclean. Their shields picked up a spell yesterday." She began shaking again, and Ron sat down, putting an unsure hand
on her back.
"Someone was trying to
poison me, Ron." His head snapped
up. "They were going to put it in my
food. They charmed it so that I would
get really, violently sick. It was a
complicated charm- no antidotes would work into it was in the final stages of
the illness. The shields caught the potion
right before it was put into my jug of milk at breakfast. They still don't know who did it."
"Why?" Ron was characteristically furious. Hermione reached out and grabbed one of his
failing hands, squeezing it and bringing him back down to the couch. "I mean, who would do something like
this? You've never done anything to anyone…except
Malfoy. That bloody git! Oh my God, I'm going to disembowel that
bastard-"
"Ron, please, watch
your mouth. Just sit down. I have high doubts about it being
Malfoy. There was another aspect of the
Charm- right before I died, it would talk to me. The message told me that the death was my punishment for being
with Viktor at the ball."
Ron sat in silence for
a second. "Being with Viktor? What
do they mean by being with? Hermione, is there some-"
"Ron! Please." He hung his head. It had simply
slipped out.
"So what are you going
to do?" he asked quietly. Hermione
looked like she might start crying again.
"I really don't think
there's anything to be done. I'll tell
Professor McGonagall, and then…just keep my eye out until they catch whoever
did this."
"I'll keep my eye out,
too. Both of them." Ron sounded fierce. "Are you going to tell Viktor?" Hermione twisted the paper sharply.
"No. This is between me and you, understand?"
He did.
(*)
February 27
Well, the second task is over and done with. Let me tell you, I am SO sick of all this nonsense. If it weren't for Hermione, I would pack up and go home right now. Everything is constant hell with Karkaroff as your only guardian. Although this task was far more interesting than any of the others. A whole underwater adventure that I don't feel like going into fully. But it did serve one extra purpose- I showed to the whole school just how much I…well, how much Hermione means to me. They took away "the thing we would miss most". Guess who was tied to a shrine at the bottom of the lake? And everyone knew it, too, when I dragged her out. But Harry did even better than I did. He pulled some heroic stunt at the last minute, and stayed underwater with all the hostages and load of other bull…I could care less about the points. I'm just in a foul mood because Hermione was fawning all over him and his stupid carrot-top sidekick (yup, his "most missed". I always knew they belonged together) and I just am not really in the mind frame to talk about it all. I think that I'll talk to Harry about it the next time we have a Champions meeting. It may seem petty, but I just can't take it anymore!
(*)
The room was full of
silence. Everyone was sitting in tight
circles, thinking heavily about the events of the last half-hour. Everyone had really known it was going to
happen, but no one was ready for it. A
bit of a shock, really. All the
screaming had gone to quite a few heads…but you had to admit, it was a
spectacular way to go out.
(thirty minutes earlier)
"Excuse me, excuse me
girls. I need to talk to Miss.
Marcy. Can anyone tell me where to find
her? It's quite important."
It had been five days
since Allison had left Marcy and the fan club officially consisted one obsessed
girl. Marcy had not by any means given
up on her desperate attempts to win Krum's love, and had taken to spending all
her free time folded into the fetal position inside the filing cabinet
upstairs, pouring over pictures and holding deep conversations with dust
bunnies. Allison wordlessly pointed up
the stairs, and Professor McGonagall continued on firmly with pursed lips.
"Marcy? Are you in here? Marcy, I need to talk to you now."
A voice could be heard
whispering, "Be right back," and there was a jumble of metallic sounds as Marcy
clambered out of the filing cabinet behind the beds.
"Yes, Professor,"
Marcy didn't blink an eye at the unusual presence of the teacher. "Could we please hurry, because I'm rather
busy…"
"Marcy, please sit
down." Marcy reluctantly obeyed. "What I need to talk to you about is a very
serious matter indeed. I have been
contacted separately by both a student in the school and the wizarding police,
and they have brought a situation to my attention. It seems that the life of a student was threatened in the past
few days. We, of course, have very
detailed shields that are able to pick up any type of malicious magic, and this
was automatically detected."
Marcy yawned and
examined her nails casually. Professor
McGonagall slowed and finally stopped talking, watching Marcy with the
expression of one watching a rodent in the zoo: rather horrified
curiosity. Eventually, Marcy noticed
the lack of noise and looked up, bored.
"Oh, lovely, we're
finished. I had an important talk going
up there. See ya!" McGonagall let out a snort of impatience and
leapt up behind the retreating Marcy.
"Oh, no, quite the
contrary, Marcy. We are FAR from
finished. I fail to comprehend your
flippant and detached attitude…please come back here at once, there is much we
need to discuss- where are you going? MARCY!"
But Marcy was well on
her way up the stairs, her conversation with Bobby (a hairball a la Hannah
Abbott's cat) far more alluring than her one with the deputy headmistress. She quickened her pace, however, when she
saw McGonagall following her. The
dormitory had been pretty much undisturbed lately, and Marcy had become
extremely protective of the space that held the cabinet that held the Krum
pictures. She broke into a run and
tried to twist the doorknob before McGonagall could reach it.
"You insufferable
girl! How dare you use force against
me?" This was form McGonagall, who was
now deadlocked with Marcy in front of the door. Normally Marcy would have had no problem physically matching up
to a seventy-five-year-old woman, but
in her current state of flaccid devotion to Krum And Krum Alone, she was
weakened and found the elderly (but still sprite!) teacher a fair match.
After a few more
seconds of struggling, Marcy hip-checked McGonagall to the ground, threw her
weight against the door and hysterically bounded inside, shrieking and failing
limbs as she went. McGonagall pulled
herself into a shaky sitting position and magically called for back up. In seconds several teachers had Apperated to
the hall, worriedly helping McGonagall up and peering cautiously to the door
where the animal sounds were pouring out.
"This is a situation
that is going to require much diplomacy," began McGonagall, struggling to right
her hat. "Proceed with caution. Wands out, everyone."
They bravely moved
forward, noting the sounds dying down. When they finally rounded the corner and quietly spread out around the
room, Professor Flitwick discovered her. She was sitting next to the filing cabinet with her legs drawn up to her
chest, rocking back and forth and rotating her head back and forth wildly.
The oddest thing
about her appearance was the thick stacks of photographs tucked under her arms,
into her clothes, and wrapped into her hair. She was guarding them carefully, but Flitwick managed to weasel one away
from her. As he rose the photo to her
eyes, he let out a loud "Dear me!" and toppled to the floor. Marcy let out an un-human growl and attacked
the flustered man, letting loose all hell.
After ten minutes
that seemed like an hour, everything had calmed down a bit. In the end they had been forced to Stun
Marcy, and she was now laying docile on one of the beds in the room, sweating
in her sleep. Psychiatric authorities
were coming to the school to evaluate her, as were Ministry wizards. They were to deal with the issue of the
filing cabinet full of a great many things: death plans, detailed descriptions
of robberies, and stack upon stack of pictures that could make the most wizened
wizard blush.
With the filing
cabinets being combed through by each adult to enter the room, the Hufflepuff
girls privately agreed that it was best Marcy was Stunned. Within a few seconds of their arrival, the
authorities had Marcy strapped to a stretcher and had attached a device to it
that allowed Marcy to Appearate alongside them. With much fanfare, the last member of The Viktor Krum Adoration
Club was carted away.
(*)
Hermione stood next to
Ron on Platform three and three-quarters, waiting patiently for her family to
show up. Harry had left, the Weasleys
were all busy with Ron's siblings, and there was some unspoken understanding
that he needed to be standing there with her. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.
"They found who did
it. Who tried to kill me. It was Marcy, that Hufflepuff girl. She went crazy in the end, she's in St.
Mungo's now. She had a Viktor fan club
going. That's why she did it." Ron put a hand on her back, half of him not
caring and the other half knowing that he was going to get flack from his
brothers later.
"He came and talked to
me, earlier today. At school, just before he left. He said so many things Ron, so many things about love and the
like." Ron removed his hand gently. "And I had to tell him that…that I'm not
ready for all of that yet." Ron
grinned, but quickly regained composure to listen to Hermione. "I'm not ready for what he had in mind, and
I think I hurt his feelings. Then he
said he had a present for me, something to remember him by. He gave me his diary."
Hermione looked both
sad and relieved, and Ron had a sudden impulse to wrap her in his arms, to put
some sort of claiming mark on her. He
had a ton of conflicting emotions, and all he really wanted to do was make her
smile like he hadn't seen her smile in a while. He contented himself with putting a hand on her back again.
"One day," murmured
Hermione, "something like that would be nice."
Ron nodded
slowly. "One day."