Chapter 3: Day of Torment
Ron awakened the following Saturday, scratching his head, and noticing a carrot stick in his hair. He frowned, remembering the food fight from yesterday. It had been a lot of fun, but Mrs. Weasley, his mother, would have surely been angered at such nonsense. He looked up at the canopy of his bed where he had stuck a few of the posters of his favorite Quidditch teams. He jumped, seeing the swish of his curtain and a wave of deep purple. He then realized it was the hair of a girl, Raye.
"What are you doing in here?!" Ron yelled, jumping up.
"Fred and George told me to wake you up..." Raye said, sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Never listen to ANYTHING my brothers say!" said Ron, his ears turning bright red.
"You don't have to get all worked up about it! Calm down! I'm the one with the temper!" she shouted, "I might as well get this over with."
Raye pulled out several jars out of a bag, full of large black spiders. Ron's eyes widened, and he fell out of his bed, then he crawled backwards across the floor, towards Harry's bed.
"Harry! Harry! She's trying to kill me! HELP!" Ron yelled, and he stopped as he realized that Harry wasn't there, nor were any other boys.
"Where is everyone?! Did you kill them?! Now you're going to kill me! Aren't you?! Someone HELP!" he screamed, climbing into Harry's bed , pulling the curtains around him, and hiding under the covers.
"They're in the Common Room. Anyway, these spiders aren't venomous; they're quite harmless. Ron, stop being such a wimp!" she said, pulling the curtains around Harry's four-poster bed, and moving them out of the way.
She whipped the covers away from him, and behold out of her fingers came vines that quickly wrapped around Ron's legs and arms, and quickly snapped off, her fingers. They then tied Ron's limbs to the end of the bed and her finger returned to normal. Raye opened the jar and poured the spiders onto him. Ron instantly stopped struggling, and sweat trickled down his face, as he stared at the many spiders.
"Oh no..no...no.........Raye! HELP ME-E-E-E-E!" yelled Ron, stuttering.
"You have to get over your fear! See you later!" said Raye, walking out of the boys' dormitories.
Fred and George were waiting outside for Raye, grinning widely.
"Did it work?" they both said together.
"He would be down here if it did. The vines are supposed to disintegrate when he's no longer scared of the spiders," said Raye, "He must have a really bad case of arachnophobia, he might not be down for days,"
"Well, than this is good for all of us," joked Fred, sitting down in a chair by the extinguished fire.
"I wonder how long he's been afraid of spiders," said Tori
"Well, as long as I've known him," said Harry, grinning at the thought of Ron's encounter with spiders in their second year.
"He's been afraid of spiders ever since he had to clean the house with mum," replied George, "And it's quite funny, for their so very small."
"Not the ones I've seen, you haven't seen Argog yet!" said Harry.
"Argog! I've seen Argog!" said Raye.
Chelsea groaned and said, "Oh, not the giant spiders again!"
"She's crazy," said Tori.
"and delusional," commented Chelsea.
"...But mostly crazy," continued Torrence.
"There! See what I mean? Always at each others' throats," said Harry, impatiently.
Raye glared at Harry and said, "We're not always "at each others' throats." We just don't get along often. That's all!"
"Ummmm......sorry...," said Harry quietly.
"I...think someone should go check on Ron," said Hermione worriedly.
"He's fine, he just needs to get over his fear; then he'll be down!, said Raye loudly.
"Yeah, but isn't it a little...cruel?" asked Hermione, angrily.
"It wasn't my idea, I was just the only one with guts to go through with it!" yelled Raye back.
"So you didn't think about Ron's feelings, I thought you were his friend!" shouted Hermione.
Everyone gasped, as a ball of electricity appeared in Raye's hand. Tori tackled Raye, and the ball of electricity went out with a sizzle.
"But I've had friends die, because they couldn't face their fear. To survive in this world, you have to be fearless," Raye responded, standing up with a stern look on her face.
Her eyes turned to their natural eye color, a bright green, when they were a sky blue. Her head was full of memories of loved ones dying, and she could hear the screams in her head. She ran quickly out of the common room, followed by many stares.
"Oh no!" cried Tori and she ran out of the portrait hole after Raye, closely followed by Chelsea.
Hermione exchanged desperate looks with Harry, and they quietly walked out of the common room.
Fred and George remained behind, tacking a sheet of parchment onto the bulletin board. A few moments later, Ron came down the stairs, a huge grin on his face, holding a large spider. Fred and George glance at him, jaws dropped and told him what had just happened.
The three Weasley boys headed down to breakfast, but entering the great hall, Ron noticed Raye wasn't there. Fred and George drifted towards the table and sat down across from Tori. Ron wasn't sure where to sit and was standing at the end of the table until George gave him an odd look. He went and sat down next to Harry, taking awhile to notice Hermione also wasn't there.
"So, where's Ra-" Ron began.
"Hermione? I have no idea!" replied Harry, assuming that Ron was looking for Hermione.
"Oh," Ron said, looking around for a speck of purple.
Ron noticed Tori was also looking for Raye, while listening to Fred and George. Chelsea was no where to be seen, but then again, Neville also wasn't there.
Chelsea followed Neville down to the grounds of Hogwarts to talk, privately. Chelsea was fascinated by the black, glassy waters of the lake, as Neville went on about magical plants. There was a moment of silence, and they stared at each other, until Trevor jumped out Neville's pocket, and a splash broke the silence. Neville gasped, as his pet toad swam dangerously near the enormous, ghostly-colored squid. Suddenly, Trevor was shot out of the water, by the squid, and it landed on top of Chelsea's head. Slime and muck from the lake oozed down Chelsea's face. She let out a girlish scream and threw the toad off her head, running into the school. Neville, stood there, dumbfounded.
The strange Raye Estrange made her away swiftly through the cool dungeons, taking a walk. She stopped as she nearly ran into Professor Snape.
"I'm so very sorry, Professor," she said, mockingly, in a sarcastic tone, as Snape glared down a her.
"Come with me, Ms. Estrange, I think we'll start your detention early. I hope you don't have any plans," Snape said, maliciously, "Since, I, too, am going to Hogsmeade, you can go, too, but the rest of today can be spent in my company."
He led her to his office, and told her to sit down. He turned a piece of parchment horizontally, and gave her a pen. She glared, and took the pen, copying a line that was already on the paper in black ink.
"I will not talk back to Professor Snape, or threaten Draco Malfoy, or any other student," she thought in her head, writing it on the paper in red ink with the special quill, thinking that the stinging sensation in her arm was just her imagination.
After her seventh line, she pulled back the sleeve of her robes and looked down at her arm, noticing that the lines she had been writing were now written up and down her arm. She put her sleeve back in place, and continued writing, listening to the clock tick.
Up in the common room, Torrence was quickly writing a letter to her mother, thanking her for permission to attend Hogsmeade. Nigel was bouncing up and down on the table next to her, being happier in the dormitories than with the other owls in the Owlery. Chelsea was standing, staring at the wall that now had a mirror on it.
"Scourgify!" she yelled, "Why isn't it working? Scourgify!"
Raye walked into the common room through the portrait hole, quickly walking past Chelsea, muttering the spell Scourgify under her breath, making the much disappear from Chelsea's head, and then quickly putting her wand back in her boot.
"That's not really safe, you know! You could blow your foot off!" Tori yelled after her, as she walked toward the girls' dormitory.
"I'll blow your..." Raye muttered, the rest of her sentence being drowned out as she slammed the door.
Up in the dormitory, Raye was wrapping her bloody arm in a bandage. Ginny snored softly on a the four-poster across the room. Raye frowned at the fact that she was still sleeping, but quickly was lost in thought as she lay back on her bed and stared up at moving photographs of different pets she had over the years. The trunk beside her bed rattled.
"Shhh, all of you need to be quiet! Ginny's sleeping!" Raye whispered, harshly, and the trunk stopped shaking.
Ten minutes later, everyone walked towards the grounds, checking in with Filch, the caretaker. Raye was talking to Ron about spiders being one of the coolest creatures on the face of the planet. Tori walked with Ginny, showing her different prank spells. Chelsea walked with Neville, a little close for them to be just friends. Hermione walked with Harry, explaining how to do their potions homework. Fred and George walked slowly behind Tori and Ginny, making plans to meet up with Lee.
They arrived in Hogsmeade, and went their separate ways. Fred went to meet Lee, but George stayed behind to go to The Three Broomsticks with Tori, Raye, and Ron. As they walked into The Three Broomsticks, Raye let out a long groan. She looked over at one of the tables, noticing Fleur Delacour.
"Oh, no, it's her. I thought I had escaped!" Raye whispered, having been in the same school as her, before they came to Hogwarts.
Ron had stars in his eyes, as he looked at Fleur.
"You like zis girl?" Raye said, mocking Fleur's French accent.
"What...ummm...NO!" Ron said, maroon-faced.
"Sure," said George, Tori, and Raye at once.
Fleur must have noticed them, too, because she stood up, and started walking towards them, smiling at Ron and George.
"Oh, why it's Harry's friends, and what have we here?" Fleur said, glaring at Torrence and Raye.
"Nice to see you, too, Fleur," said Tori, sarcastically.
"Torrence O' Sullivan and Raye Strange, I mean Estrange, I did not expect to see you here. I zought you would be expelled by zis school, too," said Fleur in a strongly French-accented voice.
Ron glared, no longer having a look of adoration on his face.
"Alright, let me get this over with," snarled Raye, holding another fire ball.
"Zere is no need to get violent," Fleur responded, backing away.
The fireball in Raye's hand turned into ice and see threw it at Fleur, but it whirled over Fleur's head.
"You missed," yelled Fleur, laughing.
"Did not," said Raye, grinning, as the ball of ice hit a tray that had many glasses of Butterbeer on it.
The glasses flew from the tray, and in a few moments, the French blonde was covered in the sweet drink. Ron, George, and Tori burst out laughing, as Raye stood in front of Fleur with her arms crossed. Fleur shrieked, and ran out of The Three Broomsticks , tears streaming down her face.
"Was that Fleur Delacour?" asked Harry, who had just walked in.
"Not at her best, of course," said Ron.
"What do you mean? What happened?" asked Harry.
As Ron explained what had happened, they drank the sweet-tasting, Butterbeer. When Ron had finished telling the story, Harry glared at Tori and Raye. They smiled back at him, very innocently. Raye turned away, and started filling jugs up with Butterbeer.
"Why were you so mean to Fleur?" Harry demanded, angrily.
"Well, you see, Harry, you haven't met the real Fleur. We know what she really is like! Believe me!" said Tori.
"Yeah, she was the worst person I've ever encountered, except for Voldemort..." Raye said, bravely, in a sad tone of voice.
Harry looked at her for a moment, then walked out of The Three Broomsticks. Tori looked at Raye questionably for a moment then sat down with George at a table. Ron walked over to Raye, opened his mouth, but no words came out. He then turned on his heels, and went and sat down with Tori and George.
Raye joined them a few minutes later, still carrying her jugs of Butterbeer. As she set a few jugs down, her sleeve caught in the chair, revealing the bloody bandage. Tori grabbed Raye's arm, looking alarm.
"What happened?" asked Tori, apprehensively.
"Nothing," she said, not wanting to draw attention, "just a scrape!"
"Liar! Liar! Broom on fire!" Tori said, in a childish voice.
"Don't act so immature. It was just the worst detention I ever had!" said Raye.
She pulled off the bandage, thinking that maybe it went away by then, but sure enough, "I will not talk back to Professor Snape, or threaten Draco Malfoy, or any other student" was written across her arm. Ron leaned on his chair to look over, with a horrified look on his face. He leaned too far, and everyone around him was silent as he fell with a slam to the floor.
Raye looked over the table and asked, "Ron, are you okay?"
She winced as he got up, quickly, stumbling back in his seat.
"I'm fine. Peachy," Ron said, his ears yet again matching his red hair.
Just then Ginny walked in, walking up to Tori.
"Will you go out with my brother?" she said, grinning.
"Which one?" Tori asked nervously.
Ginny whispered in her ear, and she turned as red as George from across the table, who sunk in his seat. Raye looked from Tori to George, a malicious gleam in her eyes.
"So, Weasley, got yourself a rebel girlfriend, eh?" Raye said, imitating Malfoy.
"Shut up, Raye!" Tori yelled, her red face making her hair look even lighter.
"The Weasley look doesn't suit you, Torrence," said a voice from another table.
They turned around to see Malfoy, sitting there at the table across from them. He stood up, and walked over to the table, looking around at them followed by Crabbe and Goyle. He stopped at Raye, looking at her arm.
"Did you accidentally write off your paper, when you were writing lines with Professor Snape?" he asked, grinning.
"No, it was the type of pen. However, now that I have "Draco Malfoy" written on my arm, I may have to kill myself," Raye replied, a glint in her eye.
Ginny was slowly backing away, not wanting to be teased. Malfoy seemed to tease everyone around individually, and she didn't want to be around. She reached George, hiding behind him. Malfoy glanced evilly at her.
"Hello, Ginny," he said, menacingly.
"Shut your face before you get hurt," Raye said, threatening him once again.
"I may have to tell Professor Snape on you," Malfoy said, threatening her back.
"That would make you a little snitch," commented Tori.
"The shiniest, no doubt," Malfoy replied.
"I'm doubtful," Tori said, under her breath.
Malfoy returned his gaze to Tori, " Well, looks like the Weasleys are moving up in social status," he said, hands on his wand.
"You better be quiet, Malfoy," said Ron and George together.
" Or what, are you going to sick your girlfriends on me?" said Malfoy, starting to pull his wand out of his pocket, as Ron and George did the same.
"Oh, that's enough," said Raye, her wand at her side, quicker than anyone else's.
Malfoy looked around seeing he was outnumbered, everyone but Ginny had their wands out, and walked out of The Three Broomsticks, Crabbe and Goyle right behind. They all put their wands away, and sat back down. Raye was exhausted from having to fight off so many enemies, and sat in silence, drinking her Butterbeer. After a little while, Ginny went to find Hermione. Raye and Ron decided to go check out the shops, and Tori went with George, who was still blushing vibrantly, to go find Fred and Lee Jordan.
Raye walked with Ron so much around Hogsmeade, that her feet starting turning numb.
"Oh no, I almost forgot, I have to go to the Hog's Head for the lesson," Ron exclaimed, grabbing Raye's arm and dragging her down the street.
"Ahhh, Ron, what's going on!" gasped Raye, as they reached the door of a pub, Ron pulling the door. The Hog's Head was nothing like The Three Broomsticks, the windows and walls were dingy, and the lights. The pub, though, was full of Hogwarts students, from every house, but Slytherin.
"Umm, wow, what's with all the people?" Raye asked, staring around at all the people drinking Butterbeer.
"Oh, well Harry is going to give us lessons on defense against the dark arts, seeing that bat Umbridge can't teach us a thing," Ron explained.
The meeting went well, the members wrote down their names and came up with A time and date to meet.
At twilight they headed up the path, and to the gates of Hogwarts. They soon reached the school, and headed up to the common room. Raye headed down to the dungeons, to endure another torture-filled evening in detention. This evening, though, Raye didn't wince as the pen dug into her skin. Raye went back to the common room at midnight, and chuckled to herself as she saw Ron, Harry, and Hermione, fast asleep in armchairs by the fire, parchment in hand. Just then something in the fire caught Raye's eye, but as she looked, it disappeared.
"I could have sworn...," she muttered to herself, as she headed up the stairs to bed.
A week later the Great hall was bustling with energy. The first Quidditch match of the year was to take place that day, and it was Gryffindor VS. Slytherin. Tori was very excited about the match, even though she wouldn't be playing. Tori sat with Raye and Chelsea, but wasn't listening to a single thing they were saying. She was very distracted, her mind was wondering with memories of playing Quidditch.
"Are you coming Tori," asked Chelsea, snapping Tori to reality.
"Oh, of course," Tori said, as she got up from the bench.
They walked out into the bright sunshine, the breeze blowing their robes, and many people were chasing their hats around the grounds. They walked to the stand and got seats in the front. As Tori sat down next to Raye, she watched Raye lip sing, while trying to play rap music on her head phones.
"Raye, aren't you going to watch the game, and anyways, electronics don't work at Hogwarts, didn't you read "Hogwarts, A History"," said Tori, impatiently.
Hermione gasped, beaming, waving her hand in the air, and yelling, "I do".
They all fell silent as Lee Jordan's voice came over the loud-speaker, announcing the players from both teams. Harry, Ron, and the rest of the players mounted their brooms, and flew into the air, along with Madame Hooch, the referee, who had already mounted her broom. Ron flew towards the goal posts, and Harry flew up above the game.
Raye and Tori watched the game, concentrating entirely on the Weasleys. Raye glared at the Slytherins, who had started a song, teasing Ron.
"I'm warning you!" she yelled over their voices.
"Yes, we're very frightened," Pansy Parkinson teased.
Raye suddenly tackled Pansy, tumbling down the stands. Tori watched the blurry whirl of fists, trying to cheer Raye, and the Weasley twins at the same time. Raye stood up suddenly, Pansy was left laying on the ground, while Raye sat down, a huge bruise on her cheek. The crowd suddenly cheered, and the girls looked to see that Harry had caught the Snitch. They started cheering with the rest of the Gryffindors. Raye gave Ron a thumbs up as he passed them on his broom, and landing on the ground, a miserable expression on his face. Raye was about to go and ask him why he was so glum, but Goyle had snuck up on his broom, and a Bludger went straight at Ron's back. As Ron collapsed in the grass, Raye snatched her wand from her boot, aiming it at Goyle.
"Now, Ms. Estrange, put you're wand down this instant!" came a voice from behind her.
Professor McGonagall had come down from the stands, and was followed by Madame Pomphrey. She helped Ron up and led him off towards the castle. All of the sudden Malfoy's voice came from behind, as McGonagall walked away.
Raye and Tori had no idea what he had said, but the next minute the three chasers, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were holding onto Fred's arm and Harry had hold of George. Malfoy was jeering at them, a smile spreading across his face.
Tori walked over as Malfoy whispered something to Harry, and next thing Harry and George were lunging at Malfoy. Raye's hair turned red with flames, and her eyes turned a deep blue. She lifted her hand, facing them at Malfoy, but was suddenly knocked to the ground by Professor Snape's jinx. Madame Hooch came running over, followed by many of the other professors.
George and Harry were pulled off of Malfoy by sporting injuries of the Muggle fighting. They were led up to the castle by the teachers, and it didn't seem good for them. Malfoy was rejoined by Crabbe and Goyle, and grinned at Raye as she was forced to return to her normal state and led away from him.
Harry and George were led to Professor McGonagall's office and sat down, fuming.
"You boys acted very immature today, fighting like Muggles! You will both have a week in detention with..."she was interrupted by professor Umbridge, who had walked in.
"May I help, Minerva?" she asked, a malicious grin on her face. Without waiting for a reply she continued, "I think these boys deserve much worse than detentions," she turned to Harry and George and said, " These boys are banned from play Quidditch ever again, and I will be confiscating their brooms immediately, oh, and this boy's twin, I'm afraid if he hadn't been restrained, he would have attacked Mr. Malfoy too."
She walked out of the room, leaving the three of them in silence.
"Professor, isn't there something you can do?" yelled Harry, a lump rising in his throat.
"No, I'm afraid, she can do anything at this school, now," replied Professor McGonagall, sadly.
Harry and George walked to the Great Hall in silence, barely processing what had just happened. Harry had always played Quidditch, he couldn't face not. When they joined the rest of the table, they told them about the ban.
"She can't do that to you! I bet she didn't ban Goyle for injuring Ron!" yelled Tori, knocking her pumpkin juice over, but Raye caught it with a rush of wind from her hand, " I mean just because she the "High Inquisitor," doesn't mean she can ban you for the rest of your lives." and she fell silent seeing the gloomy looks on their faces
Ron didn't show up for lunch, but Raye went looking for him afterwards, wanting someone to play Wizard's Chess with. Tori was still fumed, and was planning an assassination attempt on Umbridge.
"Well, I won't kill her George," Tori said as she walked down the hall with George, a shocked look on his face, " I'll just make her disappear to a far off nation."
"Well Tori, she might be gone for a while, but the whole ministries backing her up," said Chelsea, joining them. "Remember, she goes on about her and Fudge being old pals."
"Well, it was an idea of course," Tori muttered sadly. "Anyways, Raye said she would, and she would be good at the torturing part."
"I wouldn't going with it, the torturing, I mean," said Fred, waving his wand around.
"Okay, slow down everyone, before we land ourselves in Azkaban!" said Chelsea, a worried look on her face.
"Who's landing themselves in Azkaban?" asked Ron, joining them with Raye.
"We all are, want to join?" said Fred
"I'll ponder it if you tell me what for," said Ron, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, the torturing of Dolores Umbridge," replied Raye, excitedly.
They talked all the way to the common room on countries to send Umbridge to, and came to the portrait to see a crowd of people gathered around.
"What's going on?" Tori asked Ginny, who was already waiting.
"There's something in the common room, Lee said it's some sort of creature. "He said it came from one of the dormitories.
Raye's expression went blank, and she pushed through the crowd, and into the hole.
"Raye, what are you doing?" said Tori, running after her, followed by Chelsea.
They walked into the common room to find it a mess, chairs were flipped over, and the curtains were all ripped. Raye walked up the stairs to the dormitory, and through the door. Tori walked in with her, but Chelsea was reluctant, and stayed behind. Raye rushed over to her under it, and pulled her trunk. She carefully opened it, and looked inside. Her trunk was full of an odd arrangement of animals. There was a Niffler, a few snakes, an assortment of beetles, spiders, frogs, toads, fire salamanders, lizards, newts, insects, scorpions, and other things. Bats flew through the open door and into the common room.
"Oh no!" she exclaimed, shutting the trunk with a bang.
"What the...,"exclaimed Tori, running out the door, and down the stairs.
"Hey, wait for me," yelled Chelsea, as Raye and Tori, ran down the steps past her.
The common room was now swarming with bats, the portrait opened and Fred and George stepped in, ducking the flying rodents.
"Wow, early Halloween decorations?" asked Fred, looking around the common room.
"Yeah, Fred, Hogwarts now has blood-sucking holiday decorations," replied Tori, sarcastically.
"I bet it was Umbridge's idea, I knew that woman would try to kill us, if not with un-useful lessons, but with deadly creatures!" joked George.
"But their fruit bats, their harmless," pleaded Raye
"Umm, a little help guys?" muttered Chelsea, from the corner, whimpering.
Ron awakened the following Saturday, scratching his head, and noticing a carrot stick in his hair. He frowned, remembering the food fight from yesterday. It had been a lot of fun, but Mrs. Weasley, his mother, would have surely been angered at such nonsense. He looked up at the canopy of his bed where he had stuck a few of the posters of his favorite Quidditch teams. He jumped, seeing the swish of his curtain and a wave of deep purple. He then realized it was the hair of a girl, Raye.
"What are you doing in here?!" Ron yelled, jumping up.
"Fred and George told me to wake you up..." Raye said, sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Never listen to ANYTHING my brothers say!" said Ron, his ears turning bright red.
"You don't have to get all worked up about it! Calm down! I'm the one with the temper!" she shouted, "I might as well get this over with."
Raye pulled out several jars out of a bag, full of large black spiders. Ron's eyes widened, and he fell out of his bed, then he crawled backwards across the floor, towards Harry's bed.
"Harry! Harry! She's trying to kill me! HELP!" Ron yelled, and he stopped as he realized that Harry wasn't there, nor were any other boys.
"Where is everyone?! Did you kill them?! Now you're going to kill me! Aren't you?! Someone HELP!" he screamed, climbing into Harry's bed , pulling the curtains around him, and hiding under the covers.
"They're in the Common Room. Anyway, these spiders aren't venomous; they're quite harmless. Ron, stop being such a wimp!" she said, pulling the curtains around Harry's four-poster bed, and moving them out of the way.
She whipped the covers away from him, and behold out of her fingers came vines that quickly wrapped around Ron's legs and arms, and quickly snapped off, her fingers. They then tied Ron's limbs to the end of the bed and her finger returned to normal. Raye opened the jar and poured the spiders onto him. Ron instantly stopped struggling, and sweat trickled down his face, as he stared at the many spiders.
"Oh no..no...no.........Raye! HELP ME-E-E-E-E!" yelled Ron, stuttering.
"You have to get over your fear! See you later!" said Raye, walking out of the boys' dormitories.
Fred and George were waiting outside for Raye, grinning widely.
"Did it work?" they both said together.
"He would be down here if it did. The vines are supposed to disintegrate when he's no longer scared of the spiders," said Raye, "He must have a really bad case of arachnophobia, he might not be down for days,"
"Well, than this is good for all of us," joked Fred, sitting down in a chair by the extinguished fire.
"I wonder how long he's been afraid of spiders," said Tori
"Well, as long as I've known him," said Harry, grinning at the thought of Ron's encounter with spiders in their second year.
"He's been afraid of spiders ever since he had to clean the house with mum," replied George, "And it's quite funny, for their so very small."
"Not the ones I've seen, you haven't seen Argog yet!" said Harry.
"Argog! I've seen Argog!" said Raye.
Chelsea groaned and said, "Oh, not the giant spiders again!"
"She's crazy," said Tori.
"and delusional," commented Chelsea.
"...But mostly crazy," continued Torrence.
"There! See what I mean? Always at each others' throats," said Harry, impatiently.
Raye glared at Harry and said, "We're not always "at each others' throats." We just don't get along often. That's all!"
"Ummmm......sorry...," said Harry quietly.
"I...think someone should go check on Ron," said Hermione worriedly.
"He's fine, he just needs to get over his fear; then he'll be down!, said Raye loudly.
"Yeah, but isn't it a little...cruel?" asked Hermione, angrily.
"It wasn't my idea, I was just the only one with guts to go through with it!" yelled Raye back.
"So you didn't think about Ron's feelings, I thought you were his friend!" shouted Hermione.
Everyone gasped, as a ball of electricity appeared in Raye's hand. Tori tackled Raye, and the ball of electricity went out with a sizzle.
"But I've had friends die, because they couldn't face their fear. To survive in this world, you have to be fearless," Raye responded, standing up with a stern look on her face.
Her eyes turned to their natural eye color, a bright green, when they were a sky blue. Her head was full of memories of loved ones dying, and she could hear the screams in her head. She ran quickly out of the common room, followed by many stares.
"Oh no!" cried Tori and she ran out of the portrait hole after Raye, closely followed by Chelsea.
Hermione exchanged desperate looks with Harry, and they quietly walked out of the common room.
Fred and George remained behind, tacking a sheet of parchment onto the bulletin board. A few moments later, Ron came down the stairs, a huge grin on his face, holding a large spider. Fred and George glance at him, jaws dropped and told him what had just happened.
The three Weasley boys headed down to breakfast, but entering the great hall, Ron noticed Raye wasn't there. Fred and George drifted towards the table and sat down across from Tori. Ron wasn't sure where to sit and was standing at the end of the table until George gave him an odd look. He went and sat down next to Harry, taking awhile to notice Hermione also wasn't there.
"So, where's Ra-" Ron began.
"Hermione? I have no idea!" replied Harry, assuming that Ron was looking for Hermione.
"Oh," Ron said, looking around for a speck of purple.
Ron noticed Tori was also looking for Raye, while listening to Fred and George. Chelsea was no where to be seen, but then again, Neville also wasn't there.
Chelsea followed Neville down to the grounds of Hogwarts to talk, privately. Chelsea was fascinated by the black, glassy waters of the lake, as Neville went on about magical plants. There was a moment of silence, and they stared at each other, until Trevor jumped out Neville's pocket, and a splash broke the silence. Neville gasped, as his pet toad swam dangerously near the enormous, ghostly-colored squid. Suddenly, Trevor was shot out of the water, by the squid, and it landed on top of Chelsea's head. Slime and muck from the lake oozed down Chelsea's face. She let out a girlish scream and threw the toad off her head, running into the school. Neville, stood there, dumbfounded.
The strange Raye Estrange made her away swiftly through the cool dungeons, taking a walk. She stopped as she nearly ran into Professor Snape.
"I'm so very sorry, Professor," she said, mockingly, in a sarcastic tone, as Snape glared down a her.
"Come with me, Ms. Estrange, I think we'll start your detention early. I hope you don't have any plans," Snape said, maliciously, "Since, I, too, am going to Hogsmeade, you can go, too, but the rest of today can be spent in my company."
He led her to his office, and told her to sit down. He turned a piece of parchment horizontally, and gave her a pen. She glared, and took the pen, copying a line that was already on the paper in black ink.
"I will not talk back to Professor Snape, or threaten Draco Malfoy, or any other student," she thought in her head, writing it on the paper in red ink with the special quill, thinking that the stinging sensation in her arm was just her imagination.
After her seventh line, she pulled back the sleeve of her robes and looked down at her arm, noticing that the lines she had been writing were now written up and down her arm. She put her sleeve back in place, and continued writing, listening to the clock tick.
Up in the common room, Torrence was quickly writing a letter to her mother, thanking her for permission to attend Hogsmeade. Nigel was bouncing up and down on the table next to her, being happier in the dormitories than with the other owls in the Owlery. Chelsea was standing, staring at the wall that now had a mirror on it.
"Scourgify!" she yelled, "Why isn't it working? Scourgify!"
Raye walked into the common room through the portrait hole, quickly walking past Chelsea, muttering the spell Scourgify under her breath, making the much disappear from Chelsea's head, and then quickly putting her wand back in her boot.
"That's not really safe, you know! You could blow your foot off!" Tori yelled after her, as she walked toward the girls' dormitory.
"I'll blow your..." Raye muttered, the rest of her sentence being drowned out as she slammed the door.
Up in the dormitory, Raye was wrapping her bloody arm in a bandage. Ginny snored softly on a the four-poster across the room. Raye frowned at the fact that she was still sleeping, but quickly was lost in thought as she lay back on her bed and stared up at moving photographs of different pets she had over the years. The trunk beside her bed rattled.
"Shhh, all of you need to be quiet! Ginny's sleeping!" Raye whispered, harshly, and the trunk stopped shaking.
Ten minutes later, everyone walked towards the grounds, checking in with Filch, the caretaker. Raye was talking to Ron about spiders being one of the coolest creatures on the face of the planet. Tori walked with Ginny, showing her different prank spells. Chelsea walked with Neville, a little close for them to be just friends. Hermione walked with Harry, explaining how to do their potions homework. Fred and George walked slowly behind Tori and Ginny, making plans to meet up with Lee.
They arrived in Hogsmeade, and went their separate ways. Fred went to meet Lee, but George stayed behind to go to The Three Broomsticks with Tori, Raye, and Ron. As they walked into The Three Broomsticks, Raye let out a long groan. She looked over at one of the tables, noticing Fleur Delacour.
"Oh, no, it's her. I thought I had escaped!" Raye whispered, having been in the same school as her, before they came to Hogwarts.
Ron had stars in his eyes, as he looked at Fleur.
"You like zis girl?" Raye said, mocking Fleur's French accent.
"What...ummm...NO!" Ron said, maroon-faced.
"Sure," said George, Tori, and Raye at once.
Fleur must have noticed them, too, because she stood up, and started walking towards them, smiling at Ron and George.
"Oh, why it's Harry's friends, and what have we here?" Fleur said, glaring at Torrence and Raye.
"Nice to see you, too, Fleur," said Tori, sarcastically.
"Torrence O' Sullivan and Raye Strange, I mean Estrange, I did not expect to see you here. I zought you would be expelled by zis school, too," said Fleur in a strongly French-accented voice.
Ron glared, no longer having a look of adoration on his face.
"Alright, let me get this over with," snarled Raye, holding another fire ball.
"Zere is no need to get violent," Fleur responded, backing away.
The fireball in Raye's hand turned into ice and see threw it at Fleur, but it whirled over Fleur's head.
"You missed," yelled Fleur, laughing.
"Did not," said Raye, grinning, as the ball of ice hit a tray that had many glasses of Butterbeer on it.
The glasses flew from the tray, and in a few moments, the French blonde was covered in the sweet drink. Ron, George, and Tori burst out laughing, as Raye stood in front of Fleur with her arms crossed. Fleur shrieked, and ran out of The Three Broomsticks , tears streaming down her face.
"Was that Fleur Delacour?" asked Harry, who had just walked in.
"Not at her best, of course," said Ron.
"What do you mean? What happened?" asked Harry.
As Ron explained what had happened, they drank the sweet-tasting, Butterbeer. When Ron had finished telling the story, Harry glared at Tori and Raye. They smiled back at him, very innocently. Raye turned away, and started filling jugs up with Butterbeer.
"Why were you so mean to Fleur?" Harry demanded, angrily.
"Well, you see, Harry, you haven't met the real Fleur. We know what she really is like! Believe me!" said Tori.
"Yeah, she was the worst person I've ever encountered, except for Voldemort..." Raye said, bravely, in a sad tone of voice.
Harry looked at her for a moment, then walked out of The Three Broomsticks. Tori looked at Raye questionably for a moment then sat down with George at a table. Ron walked over to Raye, opened his mouth, but no words came out. He then turned on his heels, and went and sat down with Tori and George.
Raye joined them a few minutes later, still carrying her jugs of Butterbeer. As she set a few jugs down, her sleeve caught in the chair, revealing the bloody bandage. Tori grabbed Raye's arm, looking alarm.
"What happened?" asked Tori, apprehensively.
"Nothing," she said, not wanting to draw attention, "just a scrape!"
"Liar! Liar! Broom on fire!" Tori said, in a childish voice.
"Don't act so immature. It was just the worst detention I ever had!" said Raye.
She pulled off the bandage, thinking that maybe it went away by then, but sure enough, "I will not talk back to Professor Snape, or threaten Draco Malfoy, or any other student" was written across her arm. Ron leaned on his chair to look over, with a horrified look on his face. He leaned too far, and everyone around him was silent as he fell with a slam to the floor.
Raye looked over the table and asked, "Ron, are you okay?"
She winced as he got up, quickly, stumbling back in his seat.
"I'm fine. Peachy," Ron said, his ears yet again matching his red hair.
Just then Ginny walked in, walking up to Tori.
"Will you go out with my brother?" she said, grinning.
"Which one?" Tori asked nervously.
Ginny whispered in her ear, and she turned as red as George from across the table, who sunk in his seat. Raye looked from Tori to George, a malicious gleam in her eyes.
"So, Weasley, got yourself a rebel girlfriend, eh?" Raye said, imitating Malfoy.
"Shut up, Raye!" Tori yelled, her red face making her hair look even lighter.
"The Weasley look doesn't suit you, Torrence," said a voice from another table.
They turned around to see Malfoy, sitting there at the table across from them. He stood up, and walked over to the table, looking around at them followed by Crabbe and Goyle. He stopped at Raye, looking at her arm.
"Did you accidentally write off your paper, when you were writing lines with Professor Snape?" he asked, grinning.
"No, it was the type of pen. However, now that I have "Draco Malfoy" written on my arm, I may have to kill myself," Raye replied, a glint in her eye.
Ginny was slowly backing away, not wanting to be teased. Malfoy seemed to tease everyone around individually, and she didn't want to be around. She reached George, hiding behind him. Malfoy glanced evilly at her.
"Hello, Ginny," he said, menacingly.
"Shut your face before you get hurt," Raye said, threatening him once again.
"I may have to tell Professor Snape on you," Malfoy said, threatening her back.
"That would make you a little snitch," commented Tori.
"The shiniest, no doubt," Malfoy replied.
"I'm doubtful," Tori said, under her breath.
Malfoy returned his gaze to Tori, " Well, looks like the Weasleys are moving up in social status," he said, hands on his wand.
"You better be quiet, Malfoy," said Ron and George together.
" Or what, are you going to sick your girlfriends on me?" said Malfoy, starting to pull his wand out of his pocket, as Ron and George did the same.
"Oh, that's enough," said Raye, her wand at her side, quicker than anyone else's.
Malfoy looked around seeing he was outnumbered, everyone but Ginny had their wands out, and walked out of The Three Broomsticks, Crabbe and Goyle right behind. They all put their wands away, and sat back down. Raye was exhausted from having to fight off so many enemies, and sat in silence, drinking her Butterbeer. After a little while, Ginny went to find Hermione. Raye and Ron decided to go check out the shops, and Tori went with George, who was still blushing vibrantly, to go find Fred and Lee Jordan.
Raye walked with Ron so much around Hogsmeade, that her feet starting turning numb.
"Oh no, I almost forgot, I have to go to the Hog's Head for the lesson," Ron exclaimed, grabbing Raye's arm and dragging her down the street.
"Ahhh, Ron, what's going on!" gasped Raye, as they reached the door of a pub, Ron pulling the door. The Hog's Head was nothing like The Three Broomsticks, the windows and walls were dingy, and the lights. The pub, though, was full of Hogwarts students, from every house, but Slytherin.
"Umm, wow, what's with all the people?" Raye asked, staring around at all the people drinking Butterbeer.
"Oh, well Harry is going to give us lessons on defense against the dark arts, seeing that bat Umbridge can't teach us a thing," Ron explained.
The meeting went well, the members wrote down their names and came up with A time and date to meet.
At twilight they headed up the path, and to the gates of Hogwarts. They soon reached the school, and headed up to the common room. Raye headed down to the dungeons, to endure another torture-filled evening in detention. This evening, though, Raye didn't wince as the pen dug into her skin. Raye went back to the common room at midnight, and chuckled to herself as she saw Ron, Harry, and Hermione, fast asleep in armchairs by the fire, parchment in hand. Just then something in the fire caught Raye's eye, but as she looked, it disappeared.
"I could have sworn...," she muttered to herself, as she headed up the stairs to bed.
A week later the Great hall was bustling with energy. The first Quidditch match of the year was to take place that day, and it was Gryffindor VS. Slytherin. Tori was very excited about the match, even though she wouldn't be playing. Tori sat with Raye and Chelsea, but wasn't listening to a single thing they were saying. She was very distracted, her mind was wondering with memories of playing Quidditch.
"Are you coming Tori," asked Chelsea, snapping Tori to reality.
"Oh, of course," Tori said, as she got up from the bench.
They walked out into the bright sunshine, the breeze blowing their robes, and many people were chasing their hats around the grounds. They walked to the stand and got seats in the front. As Tori sat down next to Raye, she watched Raye lip sing, while trying to play rap music on her head phones.
"Raye, aren't you going to watch the game, and anyways, electronics don't work at Hogwarts, didn't you read "Hogwarts, A History"," said Tori, impatiently.
Hermione gasped, beaming, waving her hand in the air, and yelling, "I do".
They all fell silent as Lee Jordan's voice came over the loud-speaker, announcing the players from both teams. Harry, Ron, and the rest of the players mounted their brooms, and flew into the air, along with Madame Hooch, the referee, who had already mounted her broom. Ron flew towards the goal posts, and Harry flew up above the game.
Raye and Tori watched the game, concentrating entirely on the Weasleys. Raye glared at the Slytherins, who had started a song, teasing Ron.
"I'm warning you!" she yelled over their voices.
"Yes, we're very frightened," Pansy Parkinson teased.
Raye suddenly tackled Pansy, tumbling down the stands. Tori watched the blurry whirl of fists, trying to cheer Raye, and the Weasley twins at the same time. Raye stood up suddenly, Pansy was left laying on the ground, while Raye sat down, a huge bruise on her cheek. The crowd suddenly cheered, and the girls looked to see that Harry had caught the Snitch. They started cheering with the rest of the Gryffindors. Raye gave Ron a thumbs up as he passed them on his broom, and landing on the ground, a miserable expression on his face. Raye was about to go and ask him why he was so glum, but Goyle had snuck up on his broom, and a Bludger went straight at Ron's back. As Ron collapsed in the grass, Raye snatched her wand from her boot, aiming it at Goyle.
"Now, Ms. Estrange, put you're wand down this instant!" came a voice from behind her.
Professor McGonagall had come down from the stands, and was followed by Madame Pomphrey. She helped Ron up and led him off towards the castle. All of the sudden Malfoy's voice came from behind, as McGonagall walked away.
Raye and Tori had no idea what he had said, but the next minute the three chasers, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were holding onto Fred's arm and Harry had hold of George. Malfoy was jeering at them, a smile spreading across his face.
Tori walked over as Malfoy whispered something to Harry, and next thing Harry and George were lunging at Malfoy. Raye's hair turned red with flames, and her eyes turned a deep blue. She lifted her hand, facing them at Malfoy, but was suddenly knocked to the ground by Professor Snape's jinx. Madame Hooch came running over, followed by many of the other professors.
George and Harry were pulled off of Malfoy by sporting injuries of the Muggle fighting. They were led up to the castle by the teachers, and it didn't seem good for them. Malfoy was rejoined by Crabbe and Goyle, and grinned at Raye as she was forced to return to her normal state and led away from him.
Harry and George were led to Professor McGonagall's office and sat down, fuming.
"You boys acted very immature today, fighting like Muggles! You will both have a week in detention with..."she was interrupted by professor Umbridge, who had walked in.
"May I help, Minerva?" she asked, a malicious grin on her face. Without waiting for a reply she continued, "I think these boys deserve much worse than detentions," she turned to Harry and George and said, " These boys are banned from play Quidditch ever again, and I will be confiscating their brooms immediately, oh, and this boy's twin, I'm afraid if he hadn't been restrained, he would have attacked Mr. Malfoy too."
She walked out of the room, leaving the three of them in silence.
"Professor, isn't there something you can do?" yelled Harry, a lump rising in his throat.
"No, I'm afraid, she can do anything at this school, now," replied Professor McGonagall, sadly.
Harry and George walked to the Great Hall in silence, barely processing what had just happened. Harry had always played Quidditch, he couldn't face not. When they joined the rest of the table, they told them about the ban.
"She can't do that to you! I bet she didn't ban Goyle for injuring Ron!" yelled Tori, knocking her pumpkin juice over, but Raye caught it with a rush of wind from her hand, " I mean just because she the "High Inquisitor," doesn't mean she can ban you for the rest of your lives." and she fell silent seeing the gloomy looks on their faces
Ron didn't show up for lunch, but Raye went looking for him afterwards, wanting someone to play Wizard's Chess with. Tori was still fumed, and was planning an assassination attempt on Umbridge.
"Well, I won't kill her George," Tori said as she walked down the hall with George, a shocked look on his face, " I'll just make her disappear to a far off nation."
"Well Tori, she might be gone for a while, but the whole ministries backing her up," said Chelsea, joining them. "Remember, she goes on about her and Fudge being old pals."
"Well, it was an idea of course," Tori muttered sadly. "Anyways, Raye said she would, and she would be good at the torturing part."
"I wouldn't going with it, the torturing, I mean," said Fred, waving his wand around.
"Okay, slow down everyone, before we land ourselves in Azkaban!" said Chelsea, a worried look on her face.
"Who's landing themselves in Azkaban?" asked Ron, joining them with Raye.
"We all are, want to join?" said Fred
"I'll ponder it if you tell me what for," said Ron, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, the torturing of Dolores Umbridge," replied Raye, excitedly.
They talked all the way to the common room on countries to send Umbridge to, and came to the portrait to see a crowd of people gathered around.
"What's going on?" Tori asked Ginny, who was already waiting.
"There's something in the common room, Lee said it's some sort of creature. "He said it came from one of the dormitories.
Raye's expression went blank, and she pushed through the crowd, and into the hole.
"Raye, what are you doing?" said Tori, running after her, followed by Chelsea.
They walked into the common room to find it a mess, chairs were flipped over, and the curtains were all ripped. Raye walked up the stairs to the dormitory, and through the door. Tori walked in with her, but Chelsea was reluctant, and stayed behind. Raye rushed over to her under it, and pulled her trunk. She carefully opened it, and looked inside. Her trunk was full of an odd arrangement of animals. There was a Niffler, a few snakes, an assortment of beetles, spiders, frogs, toads, fire salamanders, lizards, newts, insects, scorpions, and other things. Bats flew through the open door and into the common room.
"Oh no!" she exclaimed, shutting the trunk with a bang.
"What the...,"exclaimed Tori, running out the door, and down the stairs.
"Hey, wait for me," yelled Chelsea, as Raye and Tori, ran down the steps past her.
The common room was now swarming with bats, the portrait opened and Fred and George stepped in, ducking the flying rodents.
"Wow, early Halloween decorations?" asked Fred, looking around the common room.
"Yeah, Fred, Hogwarts now has blood-sucking holiday decorations," replied Tori, sarcastically.
"I bet it was Umbridge's idea, I knew that woman would try to kill us, if not with un-useful lessons, but with deadly creatures!" joked George.
"But their fruit bats, their harmless," pleaded Raye
"Umm, a little help guys?" muttered Chelsea, from the corner, whimpering.