16.
"I don't see what you're so keen to get back for." Lucy said irritably, as she opened the car boot. "And if you think I'm carrying this for you, you've got another think coming!" she added, indicating Vivian's trunk, which completely filled the boot.
"No problem." Said Vivian, pulling out her wand. She muttered a few words and the trunk was suddenly weightless. She picked it up and laid it on the ground with a supercilious air.
"Show off." Lucy said in mock-anger. Then suddenly her face became serious. "You will take care, won't you? I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, letting you come back with all these attacks going on and everything. Not to mention that letter from Dumbledore about your curse…You'll take it easy, won't you, until they find out what's wrong with you?"
"Of course," Vivian replied reassuringly, "it'll be a great excuse for when I've forgotten to do my homework."
"Just don't get into trouble." Lucy said. Then she added. "I suppose now I've said that you'll get into all kinds of trouble and break about fifty rules or something."
"Probably." Vivian agreed. She was looking forward to seeing her friends again. She and Lucy headed up towards the school, Vivian carrying the now weightless trunk. Little did she know that there was trouble in store for her of a most unexpected kind.
Marcus Fowler could be patient. It was no good getting revenge on a group of people when half of them were away on holiday. Lorna had also gone home for the holidays, and she was his chief target. Only not that she and Vivian were back could he act.
He was not planning a grand revenge scheme. He was cleverer than Vivian had given him credit for, but he was incapable of a grandiose plan of revenge like the one they had inflicted on him and Snape. What he had in mind was something rather simpler.
It took a while for the four of them to notice. Harriet and Diana weren't the most observant of people at the best of times, and Vivian was rather preoccupied waiting for her test results to come back from St Mungo's. Dumbledore had assured her that it was normal for results to take months to be returned, but she couldn't help worrying. So it took them a couple of days to realise that they were the victims of a hate campaign.
It began small: a couple of books missing, a nasty letter. But then things became more drastic. Marcus was rather popular, and there were several people in Ravenclaw who were all too happy to join in any persecution that was going. The malicious pranks became more and more frequent, until one morning Lorna came down to breakfast with her hands bandaged and a miserable expression.
"Was it…?" Vivian began. Lorna nodded.
"Undiluted bubotuber puss in my bag." She looked as if she might burst into tears. "I don't think I can take much more of this."
They had quickly worked out who was responsible. Marcus didn't care whether or not they knew, they couldn't prove anything, he always made sure of that. What could they do to stop him?
"We can't go on like this." Vivian said, buttering her toast. At that moment Marcus and a few of his unpleasant cronies passed them; one of them looked at Lorna and said something; the others laughed unpleasantly.
"This is my fault." Lorna said. "I wanted to get revenge. Now we're all in trouble and it's because of me."
"No." Vivian said. "It's my fault. It was my idea. I didn't think he'd be able to work out it was us. "
"We were all in on it." Harriet said. "It's nobody's fault."
They talked for a while about ways that they could stop Marcus, such as getting him expelled or causing him to "accidentally" break his leg, which were fun to think about even if they were impossible. But as the weeks progressed they felt less and less like laughing. The pranks continued, growing increasingly worse. They were beginning to become desperate. Marcus had somehow managed to convince more Ravenclaws that they deserved to be bullied; although most Ravenclaws were still friendly there were more and more who either blanked them or sniggered nastily whenever they went past. Lorna was beginning to have a haunted look, and talked about leaving at the end of the Easter term if things didn't improve.
Snape was beginning to feel guilty. Not the heavy, sickening guilt and self-loathing that had plagued him for the last decade, but a fresh addition which he found particularly irksome. It was impossible not to notice that Vivian and her friends were looking miserable and harassed. Snape, adept at picking up on things which passed most of the other teachers by, had soon discovered the cause. So now he had Marcus' hate campaign on his conscience as well as everything else. "Everything's my fault, isn't it?" He though savagely, as he watched the dejected four slink out of potions one afternoon.
Vivian's visit each evening to collect her potion became something of an ordeal for him. She looked paler than ever, and hardly spoke a word to him. It occurred to him that Marcus' treatment could be having a bad effect on her health. It wouldn't take much to push her over the edge, he mused, she was clearly becoming weaker as the days wore on.
Vivian was all too aware of this. As the Easter term progressed, she spent more and more time in bed. The others joked that she was skiving her classes, but they were worried. Despite Vivian's protests, they could tell she was far from well. At least when she was in bed there was no danger of her meeting Marcus. Every day she regretted her actions more and more.
Lucy had obviously picked up on the fact that her health was getting worse, because she had begun writing worried letters to Vivian, asking her to come home. Vivian wondered absently whether it wouldn't be for the best. But life at Hogwarts was so much more colourful, more interesting that anything she'd ever experienced. At home, lying on a couch all day, she knew she would be stifled.
Snape knew he had to act, if only to make himself feel better. He had an uncomfortable feeling that he had been both unprofessional and mean. Just as you might expect an ex-death eater to be in fact. He had to prove he'd changed.
Snape left the owlery at around midnight, feeling ridiculous yet faintly satisfied. It seemed ludicrous that he of all people should be sneaking around arranging for secret notes to be delivered to students. It was like something out of a farce…
In the corridor he passed a couple of Hufflepuff third years deep in conversation. He caught a brief snatch of conversation-
"- he said he'd be here at eleven, he must have stood me up…"
"I never liked him anyway, you're miles too good for him-"
They broke off abruptly as they caught sight of Snape.
"Fifty points from Hufflepuff." Snape said calmly, without even stopping his walk. "And don't wait for a boy for more than ten minutes, it makes you look desperate." He stalked past them; glaring at them as he passed and climbed the stairs to the dungeon feeling a lot better than he had for ages.
The next day Vivian received an owl, which she failed to recognise as one of the school owls. Inside was a faded photograph, on the back of which was scrawled: "Blackmail is such an ugly word…"
She showed it silently to the others. Diana and Lorna exchanged glances, while Harriet said, "Isn't that…?" Vivian nodded.
"Marcus. I can't tell who he's with; the picture's too blurred. But it doesn't really matter. Someone's saved our lives."
"I can't believe it…I can't believe that's him…" Loran said quietly. Vivian looked at her.
"I wonder where this came from." She said. "I mean incriminating photos don't just grow on trees do they?"
"Who cares?" Harriet said. "So what are we going to do with it?"
"Well tell Marcus that unless he stops that we're going to show this picture to the entire school, stupid." Said Diana.
"Well I'm not doing it." Harriet replied. "I wouldn't dare. He might go mental and start cursing me!"
"I'll do it." Lorna said. Vivian thought of protesting, but the look in Lorna's eyes told her it would be useless.
"I didn't realise Marcus was-" began Harriet, and then stopped as Diana nudged her. Lorna got up from the table and walked away, still clutching the photograph.
"I don't see what you're so keen to get back for." Lucy said irritably, as she opened the car boot. "And if you think I'm carrying this for you, you've got another think coming!" she added, indicating Vivian's trunk, which completely filled the boot.
"No problem." Said Vivian, pulling out her wand. She muttered a few words and the trunk was suddenly weightless. She picked it up and laid it on the ground with a supercilious air.
"Show off." Lucy said in mock-anger. Then suddenly her face became serious. "You will take care, won't you? I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, letting you come back with all these attacks going on and everything. Not to mention that letter from Dumbledore about your curse…You'll take it easy, won't you, until they find out what's wrong with you?"
"Of course," Vivian replied reassuringly, "it'll be a great excuse for when I've forgotten to do my homework."
"Just don't get into trouble." Lucy said. Then she added. "I suppose now I've said that you'll get into all kinds of trouble and break about fifty rules or something."
"Probably." Vivian agreed. She was looking forward to seeing her friends again. She and Lucy headed up towards the school, Vivian carrying the now weightless trunk. Little did she know that there was trouble in store for her of a most unexpected kind.
Marcus Fowler could be patient. It was no good getting revenge on a group of people when half of them were away on holiday. Lorna had also gone home for the holidays, and she was his chief target. Only not that she and Vivian were back could he act.
He was not planning a grand revenge scheme. He was cleverer than Vivian had given him credit for, but he was incapable of a grandiose plan of revenge like the one they had inflicted on him and Snape. What he had in mind was something rather simpler.
It took a while for the four of them to notice. Harriet and Diana weren't the most observant of people at the best of times, and Vivian was rather preoccupied waiting for her test results to come back from St Mungo's. Dumbledore had assured her that it was normal for results to take months to be returned, but she couldn't help worrying. So it took them a couple of days to realise that they were the victims of a hate campaign.
It began small: a couple of books missing, a nasty letter. But then things became more drastic. Marcus was rather popular, and there were several people in Ravenclaw who were all too happy to join in any persecution that was going. The malicious pranks became more and more frequent, until one morning Lorna came down to breakfast with her hands bandaged and a miserable expression.
"Was it…?" Vivian began. Lorna nodded.
"Undiluted bubotuber puss in my bag." She looked as if she might burst into tears. "I don't think I can take much more of this."
They had quickly worked out who was responsible. Marcus didn't care whether or not they knew, they couldn't prove anything, he always made sure of that. What could they do to stop him?
"We can't go on like this." Vivian said, buttering her toast. At that moment Marcus and a few of his unpleasant cronies passed them; one of them looked at Lorna and said something; the others laughed unpleasantly.
"This is my fault." Lorna said. "I wanted to get revenge. Now we're all in trouble and it's because of me."
"No." Vivian said. "It's my fault. It was my idea. I didn't think he'd be able to work out it was us. "
"We were all in on it." Harriet said. "It's nobody's fault."
They talked for a while about ways that they could stop Marcus, such as getting him expelled or causing him to "accidentally" break his leg, which were fun to think about even if they were impossible. But as the weeks progressed they felt less and less like laughing. The pranks continued, growing increasingly worse. They were beginning to become desperate. Marcus had somehow managed to convince more Ravenclaws that they deserved to be bullied; although most Ravenclaws were still friendly there were more and more who either blanked them or sniggered nastily whenever they went past. Lorna was beginning to have a haunted look, and talked about leaving at the end of the Easter term if things didn't improve.
Snape was beginning to feel guilty. Not the heavy, sickening guilt and self-loathing that had plagued him for the last decade, but a fresh addition which he found particularly irksome. It was impossible not to notice that Vivian and her friends were looking miserable and harassed. Snape, adept at picking up on things which passed most of the other teachers by, had soon discovered the cause. So now he had Marcus' hate campaign on his conscience as well as everything else. "Everything's my fault, isn't it?" He though savagely, as he watched the dejected four slink out of potions one afternoon.
Vivian's visit each evening to collect her potion became something of an ordeal for him. She looked paler than ever, and hardly spoke a word to him. It occurred to him that Marcus' treatment could be having a bad effect on her health. It wouldn't take much to push her over the edge, he mused, she was clearly becoming weaker as the days wore on.
Vivian was all too aware of this. As the Easter term progressed, she spent more and more time in bed. The others joked that she was skiving her classes, but they were worried. Despite Vivian's protests, they could tell she was far from well. At least when she was in bed there was no danger of her meeting Marcus. Every day she regretted her actions more and more.
Lucy had obviously picked up on the fact that her health was getting worse, because she had begun writing worried letters to Vivian, asking her to come home. Vivian wondered absently whether it wouldn't be for the best. But life at Hogwarts was so much more colourful, more interesting that anything she'd ever experienced. At home, lying on a couch all day, she knew she would be stifled.
Snape knew he had to act, if only to make himself feel better. He had an uncomfortable feeling that he had been both unprofessional and mean. Just as you might expect an ex-death eater to be in fact. He had to prove he'd changed.
Snape left the owlery at around midnight, feeling ridiculous yet faintly satisfied. It seemed ludicrous that he of all people should be sneaking around arranging for secret notes to be delivered to students. It was like something out of a farce…
In the corridor he passed a couple of Hufflepuff third years deep in conversation. He caught a brief snatch of conversation-
"- he said he'd be here at eleven, he must have stood me up…"
"I never liked him anyway, you're miles too good for him-"
They broke off abruptly as they caught sight of Snape.
"Fifty points from Hufflepuff." Snape said calmly, without even stopping his walk. "And don't wait for a boy for more than ten minutes, it makes you look desperate." He stalked past them; glaring at them as he passed and climbed the stairs to the dungeon feeling a lot better than he had for ages.
The next day Vivian received an owl, which she failed to recognise as one of the school owls. Inside was a faded photograph, on the back of which was scrawled: "Blackmail is such an ugly word…"
She showed it silently to the others. Diana and Lorna exchanged glances, while Harriet said, "Isn't that…?" Vivian nodded.
"Marcus. I can't tell who he's with; the picture's too blurred. But it doesn't really matter. Someone's saved our lives."
"I can't believe it…I can't believe that's him…" Loran said quietly. Vivian looked at her.
"I wonder where this came from." She said. "I mean incriminating photos don't just grow on trees do they?"
"Who cares?" Harriet said. "So what are we going to do with it?"
"Well tell Marcus that unless he stops that we're going to show this picture to the entire school, stupid." Said Diana.
"Well I'm not doing it." Harriet replied. "I wouldn't dare. He might go mental and start cursing me!"
"I'll do it." Lorna said. Vivian thought of protesting, but the look in Lorna's eyes told her it would be useless.
"I didn't realise Marcus was-" began Harriet, and then stopped as Diana nudged her. Lorna got up from the table and walked away, still clutching the photograph.