"There she is!" Fallon heard the hisses starting in the morning as she walked into Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. She sneered at the ones whispering.
"Yes, here I am. Is there something the matter?"
"If it's not Potter, it's you." One of them had the bravado to blurt out. "You're nasty, even for a SLYTHERIN!"
Behind her, Kate, Persephone, and Calypso glared menacingly at the Hufflepuffs, Persephone, the Charms whiz, already had her wand out, daring any of them to continue. Fallon, however, merely smirked, "Thank you, I hever thought that I'd hear a decent compliment from a Hufflepuff, guess I was wrong."
The Hufflepuffs drew back in a terrified sort of revulsion, and Fallon gave them a feral grin, making sure to draw her wand with a sword-fight flourish when class began.
* * *
"Hey, bint!" A voice stopped her in her tracks as Fallon made her way towards the library after class. Fallon deliberately took her time turning around, slowly, boredly, until she was facing a frantic-looking boy about a head taller than her, with suspicious, piggy eyes.
"Do you have a reason for wasting my time?" Fallon drawled in her most superior, bored voice.
"Why were you terrorizing my brother's class today?"
"Why are YOU talking to me? Is your ickle brother pissing his pants for fear of the big, bad Slytherin?" Fallon rolled her eyes, "Good. He SHOULD." Deciding to be particularly malicious, she gave the boy the same feral grin that she'd given the Hufflepuffs in Transfiguration that morning, "Maybe you'd better watch out for the little pillock..."
She was about to turn away when the boy had strode forward and grabbed her collar with both hands, "How DARE you threaten Jeremy?! What did he ever do to YOU?!"
Fallon calmly and quickly put one hand over, and another under his arms, prying them apart and using his momentum to shove him back a few feet, "Whoever said I threatened him? Perhaps you would like me to? That can be arranged, I'm sure. I'll look into it the next time I see him, good day." She turned around, and continued towards the library.
Only to be shoved roughly aside a moment later. Fallon was just about to launch into a tirade against whoever had shoved her when the rush of heat that could only come from a spell zooming past grazed her cheek. A moment later, a suit of armor down the hall clanged violently and tumbled over. Almost simultaneously, a large, warm hand had yanked her wrist out of the hallway and into the library.
"Don't YANK me!" she hissed, then her eyes narrowed when she saw who it was. Warrington? What the devil was this all about?
But before she could say another word, angry voices from the hallway reached their ears. Filch, who had been in a positively murderous mood since that ugly cat of his had been petrified, was yelling at the boy.
"Reckless destruction of school property! That'll be detention tonight, boy!"
Fallon blinked, and turned confused, dark eyes to look at "The GIT". Said git was not even looking at her, but through the ajar library door. A moment later, when Filch and the boy had disappeared, he turned to her with a smirk.
"Never turn your back, Anderson. Bloke was about to hit you with the Jelly-legs Jinx. Bye, then." And before Fallon could get a word in, edgewise, he had strode out of the library.
Fallon stared in astonishment for a moment after his retreating figure before a look of great discontent entered her face.
"What? Now I OWE you one? Warrington... you bloody BASTARD!"
* * *
It was a very morose Fallon Anderson who brushed her hair the requisite hundred strokes before bed that night. The story of the incident with Warrington had been relayed to the girls, with many a scowl and sigh. This was, in Fallon's eyes, nothing short of TERRIBLE. He actually did her a FAVOR... which meant, as any self-respecting witch or wizard knew, that she owed him a debt. In short, she would not be able to do anything mean to him until she had repaid this debt.
"I have to be NICE to him! Imagine..." she had wailed to the girls as they'd done drying charms on each other's hair after taking their showers.
"Oh, how utterly AWFUL..." Morrigun had laughed.
Fallon nodded emphatically and mournfully, "I know!"
That had incited another round of giggles. Akasha, who had somehow managed to install a velvet chaise lounge in a rich blood red in the room, laughed.
"I tell you that you two will be together before he leaves Hogwarts! And it's already starting, see?"
Fallon balked and made a face, "I do not want to contemplate that truly frightening idea, thank you very much."
* * *
This uncomfortable state of affairs remained for three agonizingly long weeks. Fallon was increasingly miserable: having to be POLITE to Cassius Warrington was intolerable! She had to bite her tongue every time she addressed him, to stop words such as "speccy git" from popping out. She had taken to avoiding being in the same place as him altogether, so as to not burst at the seams from insults dying to break out.
Kate had suggested that she spend more time with Morrigun; the classically educated, regal 4th year girl probably had the most aristocratic, well-bred manners in the whole school.
It did not work. Fallon only came out of the experience in more agony, her mind now filled with Old English and Latin insults that were just begging to be used upon a certain Cassius Warrington.
* * *
Fortunately for Fallon, an opportunity to repay her debt to Warrington came one afternoon when she heard a flaming row going on in the corridor. Running over to see what was going on, she saw the detested Warrington throwing punches at a boy from Gryffindor. The two did not even notice her, in their fury. She managed to decipher, through the yells, the words, "You've no RIGHT to call her a twit!"
Cassius Warrington had been coming out of the library when he'd heard someone saying, "And those Slytherin bints! Watch for THEM! Especially that little twit Anderson girl, she's in line with MALFOY and them, and I heard that Snape loves her, too!"
They dared call Fallon Anderson a TWIT?! Who the hell did they think they were?! THEY had never been the recipient of the many ill-natured pranks and words that he'd had to put up with for years! The person who had spoken had seen him a moment later, and he'd sneered, saying that if they thought Fallon Anderson was a twit just for her usual behavior around the school... well, he, Cassius Warrington, had no idea how they'd gotten into the 'House of Bravery'. The boy had then attacked him.
And there was McGonagall, coming down the hallway, spectacles flashing furiously.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"
Fallon's eyes widened, and she blurted out the first thing that came into her head, "Professor, it's my fault. I put Cassius up to it."
Both boys, especially Warrington, goggled at her, but remained silent. Fallon put on her best contrite expression, and faced the indignant Professor.
"I put him up to it, Professor. It's my fault that this happened."
Professor McGonagall looked at her suspiciously, and Fallon gamely held her gaze. Finally, with a harrumph, the Transfiguration teacher took a point from both houses for fighting in the hallway, and assigned Fallon a detention the next night to package medical supplies for the Infirmary.
Later, a perfectly happy Fallon Anderson floated to the Slytherin Common Room with a big smile on her face. The first person she saw was Malice, sitting by the fire, playing a game of chess against Adrian Pucey of the Quidditch team.
"I heard McGonagall gave you a detention, Fallon," Malice called out, "That's too bad."
"Oh, it's spiffing!" Fallon chirped back in a sing-song voice, "I don't have to be nice to the git any more!"
Malice turned to Pucey, a grin on her face, "I'll never understand the way her mind works."
Adrian laughed lightly, "I don't think anyone expects to. Except perhaps Warrington."
"Probably."
* * *
End Chapter 5
* * *
Wheee! More coming soon!
"Yes, here I am. Is there something the matter?"
"If it's not Potter, it's you." One of them had the bravado to blurt out. "You're nasty, even for a SLYTHERIN!"
Behind her, Kate, Persephone, and Calypso glared menacingly at the Hufflepuffs, Persephone, the Charms whiz, already had her wand out, daring any of them to continue. Fallon, however, merely smirked, "Thank you, I hever thought that I'd hear a decent compliment from a Hufflepuff, guess I was wrong."
The Hufflepuffs drew back in a terrified sort of revulsion, and Fallon gave them a feral grin, making sure to draw her wand with a sword-fight flourish when class began.
* * *
"Hey, bint!" A voice stopped her in her tracks as Fallon made her way towards the library after class. Fallon deliberately took her time turning around, slowly, boredly, until she was facing a frantic-looking boy about a head taller than her, with suspicious, piggy eyes.
"Do you have a reason for wasting my time?" Fallon drawled in her most superior, bored voice.
"Why were you terrorizing my brother's class today?"
"Why are YOU talking to me? Is your ickle brother pissing his pants for fear of the big, bad Slytherin?" Fallon rolled her eyes, "Good. He SHOULD." Deciding to be particularly malicious, she gave the boy the same feral grin that she'd given the Hufflepuffs in Transfiguration that morning, "Maybe you'd better watch out for the little pillock..."
She was about to turn away when the boy had strode forward and grabbed her collar with both hands, "How DARE you threaten Jeremy?! What did he ever do to YOU?!"
Fallon calmly and quickly put one hand over, and another under his arms, prying them apart and using his momentum to shove him back a few feet, "Whoever said I threatened him? Perhaps you would like me to? That can be arranged, I'm sure. I'll look into it the next time I see him, good day." She turned around, and continued towards the library.
Only to be shoved roughly aside a moment later. Fallon was just about to launch into a tirade against whoever had shoved her when the rush of heat that could only come from a spell zooming past grazed her cheek. A moment later, a suit of armor down the hall clanged violently and tumbled over. Almost simultaneously, a large, warm hand had yanked her wrist out of the hallway and into the library.
"Don't YANK me!" she hissed, then her eyes narrowed when she saw who it was. Warrington? What the devil was this all about?
But before she could say another word, angry voices from the hallway reached their ears. Filch, who had been in a positively murderous mood since that ugly cat of his had been petrified, was yelling at the boy.
"Reckless destruction of school property! That'll be detention tonight, boy!"
Fallon blinked, and turned confused, dark eyes to look at "The GIT". Said git was not even looking at her, but through the ajar library door. A moment later, when Filch and the boy had disappeared, he turned to her with a smirk.
"Never turn your back, Anderson. Bloke was about to hit you with the Jelly-legs Jinx. Bye, then." And before Fallon could get a word in, edgewise, he had strode out of the library.
Fallon stared in astonishment for a moment after his retreating figure before a look of great discontent entered her face.
"What? Now I OWE you one? Warrington... you bloody BASTARD!"
* * *
It was a very morose Fallon Anderson who brushed her hair the requisite hundred strokes before bed that night. The story of the incident with Warrington had been relayed to the girls, with many a scowl and sigh. This was, in Fallon's eyes, nothing short of TERRIBLE. He actually did her a FAVOR... which meant, as any self-respecting witch or wizard knew, that she owed him a debt. In short, she would not be able to do anything mean to him until she had repaid this debt.
"I have to be NICE to him! Imagine..." she had wailed to the girls as they'd done drying charms on each other's hair after taking their showers.
"Oh, how utterly AWFUL..." Morrigun had laughed.
Fallon nodded emphatically and mournfully, "I know!"
That had incited another round of giggles. Akasha, who had somehow managed to install a velvet chaise lounge in a rich blood red in the room, laughed.
"I tell you that you two will be together before he leaves Hogwarts! And it's already starting, see?"
Fallon balked and made a face, "I do not want to contemplate that truly frightening idea, thank you very much."
* * *
This uncomfortable state of affairs remained for three agonizingly long weeks. Fallon was increasingly miserable: having to be POLITE to Cassius Warrington was intolerable! She had to bite her tongue every time she addressed him, to stop words such as "speccy git" from popping out. She had taken to avoiding being in the same place as him altogether, so as to not burst at the seams from insults dying to break out.
Kate had suggested that she spend more time with Morrigun; the classically educated, regal 4th year girl probably had the most aristocratic, well-bred manners in the whole school.
It did not work. Fallon only came out of the experience in more agony, her mind now filled with Old English and Latin insults that were just begging to be used upon a certain Cassius Warrington.
* * *
Fortunately for Fallon, an opportunity to repay her debt to Warrington came one afternoon when she heard a flaming row going on in the corridor. Running over to see what was going on, she saw the detested Warrington throwing punches at a boy from Gryffindor. The two did not even notice her, in their fury. She managed to decipher, through the yells, the words, "You've no RIGHT to call her a twit!"
Cassius Warrington had been coming out of the library when he'd heard someone saying, "And those Slytherin bints! Watch for THEM! Especially that little twit Anderson girl, she's in line with MALFOY and them, and I heard that Snape loves her, too!"
They dared call Fallon Anderson a TWIT?! Who the hell did they think they were?! THEY had never been the recipient of the many ill-natured pranks and words that he'd had to put up with for years! The person who had spoken had seen him a moment later, and he'd sneered, saying that if they thought Fallon Anderson was a twit just for her usual behavior around the school... well, he, Cassius Warrington, had no idea how they'd gotten into the 'House of Bravery'. The boy had then attacked him.
And there was McGonagall, coming down the hallway, spectacles flashing furiously.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"
Fallon's eyes widened, and she blurted out the first thing that came into her head, "Professor, it's my fault. I put Cassius up to it."
Both boys, especially Warrington, goggled at her, but remained silent. Fallon put on her best contrite expression, and faced the indignant Professor.
"I put him up to it, Professor. It's my fault that this happened."
Professor McGonagall looked at her suspiciously, and Fallon gamely held her gaze. Finally, with a harrumph, the Transfiguration teacher took a point from both houses for fighting in the hallway, and assigned Fallon a detention the next night to package medical supplies for the Infirmary.
Later, a perfectly happy Fallon Anderson floated to the Slytherin Common Room with a big smile on her face. The first person she saw was Malice, sitting by the fire, playing a game of chess against Adrian Pucey of the Quidditch team.
"I heard McGonagall gave you a detention, Fallon," Malice called out, "That's too bad."
"Oh, it's spiffing!" Fallon chirped back in a sing-song voice, "I don't have to be nice to the git any more!"
Malice turned to Pucey, a grin on her face, "I'll never understand the way her mind works."
Adrian laughed lightly, "I don't think anyone expects to. Except perhaps Warrington."
"Probably."
* * *
End Chapter 5
* * *
Wheee! More coming soon!