((Just to clear some things up, this story takes place during the same time
period as The Chamber of Secrets. Everything in the first book has
happened and nothing in the second book will.))
((italics didn't want to work, so, until the damn bug goes away and I can upload with html, italics will be indicated with /'s)) *****
Piper watched as the mail soared through the Great Hall; the sudden rush of feathers amazed her every day. A dense cloud of browns and grays sometimes accompanied by the rare pure white owl swooped overhead, dropping their burdens as usual. But today, today one stood out admits the silent, yet wild cloud of owls. It was jet black with a sheen to it's feathers. It's pure beauty was astonishing as it circled gracefully searching for its recipient. Piper was so overcome that she hardly noticed the owl loosening its grip on the crisp, folded parchment and letting it drift softly to her lap. The parchment crinkled as she opened it and began to read.
//Dear Piper, I hope you would agree that we had a nice chat last night, though it didn't get us very far, now did it? Your magic must be pretty powerful, that flower charm refused to come off, no matter how many removing spells and no matter how much soap I used. I eventually had to resort to a cosmetics spell and you can still see the outlines of the flowers if you look closely. One positive aftereffect though: I do think my eyebrows look absolutely SPLENDID, don't you agree?
You are the sister I never had, Draco
P.S. Will you meet me at the Astronomy Tower right now? Hopefully we can continue our chat and maybe you can fix this damned spell.//
Piper giggled as she read the note and glanced up at Draco. His brows were sharply arched and penciled so much they were a thick, black line. She smiled again, stuck the note safely into her pocket, and made her way to the Astronomy Tower. On the opposite side of Piper's now empty seat sat Ginny, staring morosely at her brother and Harry.
Ginny silently watched Ron and Harry conversing over their breakfast, crumbs falling out of Ron's mouth and Harry trying to find a polite way to inform him of it.
//I hate them both.//
*****
((Ginny's flashback))
//It was the summer before Ginny was go to Hogwarts for the very first time. Two weeks before the end of summer, to be exact. Ginny and Ron were staring at each other across the slightly dingy kitchen table. The room was deserted, everyone having gone to their room, and very quiet, apart from several loud bangs coming from directly over their heads.
Ron sighed and continued to stare at Ginny, preparing himself for the speech he was about to make, "Ginny, you have to understand, Harry doesn't like you, he never will. In fact, I think he's a little afraid of you, Ginny. Please, please give it up. I don't want you to keep wasting away like a bimbo, hanging on Harry's every word. I don't want you to get hurt!"
"Oh really, that's ironic Ron, you seem to be doing enough of that yourself already! You're a hypocrite Ron, you'll always be. Stop trying to protect me, to nurture me, when all you end up doing is HURTING ME MORE THAN THEM! Let me learn from my mistakes on my own Ron, because I sure as hell don't want any help from you," Ginny hissed in response.
Ron sat astonished at Ginny's speech as Ginny raced up the rickety stairs.
"Whaa tha bloody hell'd I do?"//
*****
//I may not like Ron, but he's my brother, //Ginny thought, lying her head on the smooth wood table. //And, as much as I hate it, he'll always be. But Harry...Harry is another story. I hate him. I hate him for being friends with scum like Ron. I hate him for not noticing me. I hate him for acting like I'm invisible, for not caring.//
//For not loving me.//
A tear formed a smooth glossy trail down Ginny's freckled cheek, then, to the surprise of the rest of the students, Ginny broke down in uncontrollable sobs, her face now a bright red with a slight purple tinge. Chokes and sobs escaped from her throat and tears now fell willingly and numerously from her eyes. Ginny rushed out of the Great Hall, trying to wipe away her tears, to hide her face.
*****
Piper sat waiting in the Astronomy Tower, //I know he had to wait a bit, he can't make too much of a scene going off with me, but why? Why the hell is it taking him so long? //
Something alarmed Piper, caused her to swing around and stare at the trapdoor in fright. She listened intently and suddenly she knew what it was. It was the faint thumping of hard shoes upon stone steps. As the sound came closer and closer Piper tapped her fingers nervously.
//It's Draco, right? Please, please let it be Draco.//
Piper closed her eyes, a memory bubbled to the surface and suddenly the stepping noises seemed insignificant.
*****
((Piper flashback))
//Draco and Piper ran around the massive house jumping and giggling like the giddy children they were. Draco was only 6, still free from his father's grasp, still free from his father twisting his soul into something it wasn't.
Something evil.
"Piper, do ya wanna play hide'n'go seek? It'll be fun! You can hide first and I'll seek, mmm'kay?"
Piper squealed and ran through a random hallway, "Draco, you find me, okay? Promise?"
"I will, trust me! I'm gonna catch ya before you can say quidditch!"
"Nuh uh!"
She ran further down the hall and into the first door she saw. It was a closet of some sort, filled with papers. Piper shoved a few over and crouched down. She waited.
And waited, and waited, and waited.
"Draco? Draco, where are you? I'm scared, Draco!" Piper whispered. "Draco, you were supposed to find me. You promised."
The door swung open and Piper's tear-strewn face lit up with hope. "Draco?" But who she saw wasn't Draco.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW," yelled the man at the top of his voice. His dark cloak swirled about him intimidating. It was none other than Lucius Malfoy.
"Dammit, Draco, when you said Piper was coming to play with you in no way mention that she'd be PLAYING IN IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS!" He muttered to himself, half-crazy in stuffing papers into drawers. He stopped for a moment, then turned to look at little girl still cowering in his file cabinet. "Out, you wretched little girl."
Piper ran away, terrorized by the intent stare of Lucius, and collided head- on with Draco.
"Pip? I'm sorry I didn't find you, I tried, really, I did! It's okay now," Draco said as he hugged her and stroked her hair, "You'll always be safe with me."//
*****
"Piiiiipppeerr? Back to reality, Pip. I know it's hard to break away from you conversation with 'the voices' but you've just gotta do it!"
Piper opened her eyes and looked straight into Draco's grinning face.
"Go away, bastard, I was thinking. What do you want?"
"I want to finish our chat, catch up on old times, maybe do each other's hair. I hear pigtails are quite the "in thing" right now. Oh come on. I want to figure out why you were sorted into Gryffindor when God knows that's the last place a Malfoy should be."
"What do you know, Draco?" Piper gasped, tears now running down her face, "Maybe the Sorting hat was right. Maybe because my only goal in my life isn't to become a damned death eater doesn't mean--"
"That is NOT my only goal in life."
"I sincerely doubt that, Draco. I see you talking with Crabbe, Goyle, acting like you're talking about school, quidditch even. You're not. I know you're not."
"It's true."
"Prove it," Piper said with a sense of finality. She pulled out a small, carved glass container filled with a completely color-less, odor-less liquid. "veritiserum."
"Well, at least we know you're not an imposter. Only a Malfoy would be stupid enough to carry this stuff around," Draco replied, reaching for the container.
"I'm not stupid, I'm evil." Piper said with a smirk.
"Stupid, evil, same difference," Draco said, taking a swig of the veritiserum, "Not bad, It's kinda fruity."
"No it's not, you oaf, time to test it out. Is your name Draco Malfoy?"
"No, my name is Bob. I'm a weather man."
"Draco, you didn't swallow, you ass," Piper said, glaring at Draco. He shrugged and took another mouthful of veritiserum, this time swallowing.
"Do you want to be a Death Eater?"
"No."
"Why?"
"My talent is in healing, not killing. I couldn't kill a man even if I tried."
"Have you ever told Lucius that?"
"No, he'd kill me, or torture me slowly, and then kill me, but it's all the same in the end."
"Why do you pretend that you want to be a Death Eater?"
"My father."
"That's good enough for me. Lets go, Draco. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."
"It's okay. Do you remember when I was six and you were five? I told you that you can always trust me, that I'll always be there for you. That still stands."
*****
"Please, Margot, let me in!"
"I'm sorry, Neville. Nobody, absolutely nobody gets in without the password. We've gone through this hundreds of times before and it's only the first month of school!" The fat lady replied, giving an air of royalty even if it was a known fact that she had no noble blood.
"Margot! Please? I know for a fact that everyone is inside already and I can't sleep outside again! The Slytherins hexed me while I slept and Granny had a fit!"
The Fat Lady glared at the clumsy boy, her mind set to not justify this plea with a response.
Neville sighed and slid down the cool, stone wall, letting his books scatter in all directions.
"Why me?"
A scruffy rat scuttled across the stone floor and paused, peering up Neville with its beady eyes.
"Scabbers? Scabbers, what are you doing here? Ron has been going nutters looking for you. Why'd you run off?" Neville asked, partially speaking to the rat, partially to himself.
Scabbers tilted his head, curious as to why this boy was talking to him. He then ran across the great distance over Neville's leg and sunk his teeth deep into the boy's pale hand, drawing blood.
"Scabbers! Why'd you do that? Why... Why... oh bloody hell, I'm so tired all of a sudden. I need to go to sleep Scabbers. Goodnight." With a great THUMP! Neville slumped to the floor, snoring loudly.
Then, as the boy slept, an amazing transformation took place. His skin tightened over his bones, giving him the appearance of a man who has not eaten in a year. He began to shrink. He shrank until he was the size of a four year old, and with limbs only half as long. His eyes... Oh, his eyes had not shrunk yet. They were large, whitish orbs. It seemed as if they would pop out of their sockets, but they were restrained by the eyelids. The eyelids were stretched as thin as paper and nearly translucent. When they approached the point of tearing Neville's eyes shrank with a faint pop. They were now dilated to where there was no white and his pupils were now a clear, untainted red. The final stage appeared to be approaching as tiny white hairs emerged and soon his skin was entirely covered in a thick white mesh. His golden brown hair was sucked into his shriveled skull and immediately replaced with identical white hairs. Suddenly he shrank 10 times his prior size and the transformation was complete.
Neville was a rat.
***************
And now.... it's time to flaunt the fact that I have REVIEWS! BUAHAHAHA!
Margot: I love you! -hugs- kinda ironic... you're my best reviewer and I name the Fat Lady after you.... damn, I'm evil. What can I say... it fit.
ChibiFuu: That's kewl. Totally kewl kewl kewl! n.n and of course she acts like a Malfoy... that's part of the plot. o.~
Maddy: thanks!
Erica: -points to the top of the fic- does that clear it up a bit?
Clarissa (chandi), One48am(Jen), and Crystina: I forced you to review, so your opinions don't matter. Muahahaha.
Love, Peace, and REVIEW OR I SHALL KICK YO ASS!
***************
((italics didn't want to work, so, until the damn bug goes away and I can upload with html, italics will be indicated with /'s)) *****
Piper watched as the mail soared through the Great Hall; the sudden rush of feathers amazed her every day. A dense cloud of browns and grays sometimes accompanied by the rare pure white owl swooped overhead, dropping their burdens as usual. But today, today one stood out admits the silent, yet wild cloud of owls. It was jet black with a sheen to it's feathers. It's pure beauty was astonishing as it circled gracefully searching for its recipient. Piper was so overcome that she hardly noticed the owl loosening its grip on the crisp, folded parchment and letting it drift softly to her lap. The parchment crinkled as she opened it and began to read.
//Dear Piper, I hope you would agree that we had a nice chat last night, though it didn't get us very far, now did it? Your magic must be pretty powerful, that flower charm refused to come off, no matter how many removing spells and no matter how much soap I used. I eventually had to resort to a cosmetics spell and you can still see the outlines of the flowers if you look closely. One positive aftereffect though: I do think my eyebrows look absolutely SPLENDID, don't you agree?
You are the sister I never had, Draco
P.S. Will you meet me at the Astronomy Tower right now? Hopefully we can continue our chat and maybe you can fix this damned spell.//
Piper giggled as she read the note and glanced up at Draco. His brows were sharply arched and penciled so much they were a thick, black line. She smiled again, stuck the note safely into her pocket, and made her way to the Astronomy Tower. On the opposite side of Piper's now empty seat sat Ginny, staring morosely at her brother and Harry.
Ginny silently watched Ron and Harry conversing over their breakfast, crumbs falling out of Ron's mouth and Harry trying to find a polite way to inform him of it.
//I hate them both.//
*****
((Ginny's flashback))
//It was the summer before Ginny was go to Hogwarts for the very first time. Two weeks before the end of summer, to be exact. Ginny and Ron were staring at each other across the slightly dingy kitchen table. The room was deserted, everyone having gone to their room, and very quiet, apart from several loud bangs coming from directly over their heads.
Ron sighed and continued to stare at Ginny, preparing himself for the speech he was about to make, "Ginny, you have to understand, Harry doesn't like you, he never will. In fact, I think he's a little afraid of you, Ginny. Please, please give it up. I don't want you to keep wasting away like a bimbo, hanging on Harry's every word. I don't want you to get hurt!"
"Oh really, that's ironic Ron, you seem to be doing enough of that yourself already! You're a hypocrite Ron, you'll always be. Stop trying to protect me, to nurture me, when all you end up doing is HURTING ME MORE THAN THEM! Let me learn from my mistakes on my own Ron, because I sure as hell don't want any help from you," Ginny hissed in response.
Ron sat astonished at Ginny's speech as Ginny raced up the rickety stairs.
"Whaa tha bloody hell'd I do?"//
*****
//I may not like Ron, but he's my brother, //Ginny thought, lying her head on the smooth wood table. //And, as much as I hate it, he'll always be. But Harry...Harry is another story. I hate him. I hate him for being friends with scum like Ron. I hate him for not noticing me. I hate him for acting like I'm invisible, for not caring.//
//For not loving me.//
A tear formed a smooth glossy trail down Ginny's freckled cheek, then, to the surprise of the rest of the students, Ginny broke down in uncontrollable sobs, her face now a bright red with a slight purple tinge. Chokes and sobs escaped from her throat and tears now fell willingly and numerously from her eyes. Ginny rushed out of the Great Hall, trying to wipe away her tears, to hide her face.
*****
Piper sat waiting in the Astronomy Tower, //I know he had to wait a bit, he can't make too much of a scene going off with me, but why? Why the hell is it taking him so long? //
Something alarmed Piper, caused her to swing around and stare at the trapdoor in fright. She listened intently and suddenly she knew what it was. It was the faint thumping of hard shoes upon stone steps. As the sound came closer and closer Piper tapped her fingers nervously.
//It's Draco, right? Please, please let it be Draco.//
Piper closed her eyes, a memory bubbled to the surface and suddenly the stepping noises seemed insignificant.
*****
((Piper flashback))
//Draco and Piper ran around the massive house jumping and giggling like the giddy children they were. Draco was only 6, still free from his father's grasp, still free from his father twisting his soul into something it wasn't.
Something evil.
"Piper, do ya wanna play hide'n'go seek? It'll be fun! You can hide first and I'll seek, mmm'kay?"
Piper squealed and ran through a random hallway, "Draco, you find me, okay? Promise?"
"I will, trust me! I'm gonna catch ya before you can say quidditch!"
"Nuh uh!"
She ran further down the hall and into the first door she saw. It was a closet of some sort, filled with papers. Piper shoved a few over and crouched down. She waited.
And waited, and waited, and waited.
"Draco? Draco, where are you? I'm scared, Draco!" Piper whispered. "Draco, you were supposed to find me. You promised."
The door swung open and Piper's tear-strewn face lit up with hope. "Draco?" But who she saw wasn't Draco.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW," yelled the man at the top of his voice. His dark cloak swirled about him intimidating. It was none other than Lucius Malfoy.
"Dammit, Draco, when you said Piper was coming to play with you in no way mention that she'd be PLAYING IN IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS!" He muttered to himself, half-crazy in stuffing papers into drawers. He stopped for a moment, then turned to look at little girl still cowering in his file cabinet. "Out, you wretched little girl."
Piper ran away, terrorized by the intent stare of Lucius, and collided head- on with Draco.
"Pip? I'm sorry I didn't find you, I tried, really, I did! It's okay now," Draco said as he hugged her and stroked her hair, "You'll always be safe with me."//
*****
"Piiiiipppeerr? Back to reality, Pip. I know it's hard to break away from you conversation with 'the voices' but you've just gotta do it!"
Piper opened her eyes and looked straight into Draco's grinning face.
"Go away, bastard, I was thinking. What do you want?"
"I want to finish our chat, catch up on old times, maybe do each other's hair. I hear pigtails are quite the "in thing" right now. Oh come on. I want to figure out why you were sorted into Gryffindor when God knows that's the last place a Malfoy should be."
"What do you know, Draco?" Piper gasped, tears now running down her face, "Maybe the Sorting hat was right. Maybe because my only goal in my life isn't to become a damned death eater doesn't mean--"
"That is NOT my only goal in life."
"I sincerely doubt that, Draco. I see you talking with Crabbe, Goyle, acting like you're talking about school, quidditch even. You're not. I know you're not."
"It's true."
"Prove it," Piper said with a sense of finality. She pulled out a small, carved glass container filled with a completely color-less, odor-less liquid. "veritiserum."
"Well, at least we know you're not an imposter. Only a Malfoy would be stupid enough to carry this stuff around," Draco replied, reaching for the container.
"I'm not stupid, I'm evil." Piper said with a smirk.
"Stupid, evil, same difference," Draco said, taking a swig of the veritiserum, "Not bad, It's kinda fruity."
"No it's not, you oaf, time to test it out. Is your name Draco Malfoy?"
"No, my name is Bob. I'm a weather man."
"Draco, you didn't swallow, you ass," Piper said, glaring at Draco. He shrugged and took another mouthful of veritiserum, this time swallowing.
"Do you want to be a Death Eater?"
"No."
"Why?"
"My talent is in healing, not killing. I couldn't kill a man even if I tried."
"Have you ever told Lucius that?"
"No, he'd kill me, or torture me slowly, and then kill me, but it's all the same in the end."
"Why do you pretend that you want to be a Death Eater?"
"My father."
"That's good enough for me. Lets go, Draco. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."
"It's okay. Do you remember when I was six and you were five? I told you that you can always trust me, that I'll always be there for you. That still stands."
*****
"Please, Margot, let me in!"
"I'm sorry, Neville. Nobody, absolutely nobody gets in without the password. We've gone through this hundreds of times before and it's only the first month of school!" The fat lady replied, giving an air of royalty even if it was a known fact that she had no noble blood.
"Margot! Please? I know for a fact that everyone is inside already and I can't sleep outside again! The Slytherins hexed me while I slept and Granny had a fit!"
The Fat Lady glared at the clumsy boy, her mind set to not justify this plea with a response.
Neville sighed and slid down the cool, stone wall, letting his books scatter in all directions.
"Why me?"
A scruffy rat scuttled across the stone floor and paused, peering up Neville with its beady eyes.
"Scabbers? Scabbers, what are you doing here? Ron has been going nutters looking for you. Why'd you run off?" Neville asked, partially speaking to the rat, partially to himself.
Scabbers tilted his head, curious as to why this boy was talking to him. He then ran across the great distance over Neville's leg and sunk his teeth deep into the boy's pale hand, drawing blood.
"Scabbers! Why'd you do that? Why... Why... oh bloody hell, I'm so tired all of a sudden. I need to go to sleep Scabbers. Goodnight." With a great THUMP! Neville slumped to the floor, snoring loudly.
Then, as the boy slept, an amazing transformation took place. His skin tightened over his bones, giving him the appearance of a man who has not eaten in a year. He began to shrink. He shrank until he was the size of a four year old, and with limbs only half as long. His eyes... Oh, his eyes had not shrunk yet. They were large, whitish orbs. It seemed as if they would pop out of their sockets, but they were restrained by the eyelids. The eyelids were stretched as thin as paper and nearly translucent. When they approached the point of tearing Neville's eyes shrank with a faint pop. They were now dilated to where there was no white and his pupils were now a clear, untainted red. The final stage appeared to be approaching as tiny white hairs emerged and soon his skin was entirely covered in a thick white mesh. His golden brown hair was sucked into his shriveled skull and immediately replaced with identical white hairs. Suddenly he shrank 10 times his prior size and the transformation was complete.
Neville was a rat.
***************
And now.... it's time to flaunt the fact that I have REVIEWS! BUAHAHAHA!
Margot: I love you! -hugs- kinda ironic... you're my best reviewer and I name the Fat Lady after you.... damn, I'm evil. What can I say... it fit.
ChibiFuu: That's kewl. Totally kewl kewl kewl! n.n and of course she acts like a Malfoy... that's part of the plot. o.~
Maddy: thanks!
Erica: -points to the top of the fic- does that clear it up a bit?
Clarissa (chandi), One48am(Jen), and Crystina: I forced you to review, so your opinions don't matter. Muahahaha.
Love, Peace, and REVIEW OR I SHALL KICK YO ASS!
***************