Nat
Sue
Chapter
4
Scrisch
Scrisch
Nat ran the brush in circles over the stone
floor. The sudsy water was soaking the bottom of her robe a she kneeled on the
floor of the Great Hall. Draco was working as far away as possible, running the
brush along the floor with his foot, so not to get suds on himself. He hadn't
spoken to Nat since their fight, and as he considered this type of work FAR
below him, he probably wouldn't be speaking to her anytime soon. Nat sighed and
pushed the puddle of water around on the floor. There was no way they could
clean the whole hall, it would take days! Dumbledore had set them to work scrubbing
the floor, with no magic, right after dinner, and it was now nearing on
midnight. Nat surveyed their job, so far they had scrubbed about a sixth of the
hall, and she felt as if she were about to die from exhaustion. Scrubbing the
hall would have been hard enough if she had been rested, but she hadn't slept in
forty hours and could hardly keep her eyes open. Dumbledore sure isn't the
nice old guy I thought he was... Nat thought grouchily. I'll have to
remember to pay him back for this... Besides making Draco and Nat scrub the
Great Hall, Dumbledore had taken fifty points from Slytherin, and assigned
detention for two weeks for everyone involved in the fight. Nat didn't quite
grasp the whole concept of house points, as no had explained them to her, but
losing them was evidently not good for your relationship with your house.
Nat glanced over at Draco, she hadn't realized what a stuck-up, pampered, jerk he was. He was acting like the brush
would kill him if it came in contact with his skin, and as if the soapy water
posed a health risk. Of course Nat shirked work whenever possible, she was quite
well known at home for doing such, but when she had to work she didn't do a
half-ass job like Draco was doing. I wonder, if Draco is so disgusted by
this, how long would he survive in Indiana? I bet he'd freak the moment a pig
came near him... Nat amused herself for the next half hour with ways she
would torture Draco if they were in Indiana. Maybe make him sheer a sheep or
muck a stall...
Nat was more than half asleep, dreaming about
getting Draco to ride a pig, when she was shaken lightly awake. Nat blinked and
glanced around; no one was there. Draco was still on the other side of the room,
lazily kicking the brush around. Nat stood up, someone had woken her, she was
sure, but where were they? Could they be... Invisible? Nat kicked over
one of the buckets of water near her, and watched the floor where it spilled. There!
The water parted in the shape of a pair of footprints, not three feet away
from Nat. I knew someone was there! The footprints were holding dead
still, as if in hopes that Nat couldn't see them, as she hadn't given any
indication that she had. Nat picked up the other bucket, and looked around
exaggeratedly as if she had no idea where the invisible person was standing. Nat
scratched her head for effect, turning around and gazing across the huge room as
if still looking, before she whipped around and splashed the water from the
bucket in the direction on the invisible person. The water made contact, and Nat
could make out the shape of someone in a cloak by the way the water ran down to
the floor. The invisible person cursed under his breath, Nat recognized the
voice as being male, before he dashed off towards the door.
Nat ran as fast as she could after the
invisible person, ignoring Draco's shout of "What the hell are you doing
now?!", first following the sloshing of the footsteps in water, and then
following the trail of water that was still running from the cloak. Nat trailed
the invisible person through winding corridors, up and down flights of steps,
and through several secret passages, until she was incredibly lost. Does he
know where he's going? Nat thought, all traces of exhaustion had
disappeared, and Nat felt fully awake, and more alert than she had ever felt
before. Nat was now right on the invisible person's heels, literally, and she
stepped on the back of the person's cloak, causing them both to fall into a suit
of armor, with Nat landing on top of the mystery person, and the armor landing
on top of her.
"Ouch," Nat groaned, trying to get
the armor off her back, without unpinning the person beneath her. After quite a
bit of struggling, Nat was able to sit up on top of her 'prisoner', who was
being unusually quiet, and demand, "Who the hell are you?" Nat sat for
what seemed like forever on top of the invisible person without getting an
answer. "Do you think that if you don't say anything, I'll forget you're
there?" Nat demanded, punctuating her question with a punch. This got an
"Oof!" for a reply, and Nat complemented herself on her ability to
make people talk. "Well?" Nat asked sweetly, taking a different
approach. "Well, what?" came the muffled response. "Who are
you?" Nat inquired, picking up a gauntlet off the floor and dropping it
where she assumed the invisible person's head was. "Ouch! Let me up, and
I'll show you." came the reply. Nat frowned, and grabbed hold of the cloak
to enable the person from running off again, as she slid herself off.
A few minutes later, Nat was staring into the
face of Harry Potter, as she had him pinned against the wall.
"So WHY were you spying on me?!"
"I told you! I was just goofing around!"
"Why did you wake me up?!"
"Because you'd get in trouble if you were found sleeping by one of the
professors! I was trying to help!"
"I didn't ask for help!"
"I was just trying to be nice!"
"Why the hell... You were?"
"Yes!"
"Oh..."
Nat released Harry from her grip, and let him step away from her a bit. Nat
rubbed her eyes, her rush was wearing off and she felt like she would fall over
from exhaustion if she didn't get to bed shortly. "Hey, are you okay?"
Nat blinked, and tried to focus on Harry, but her vision kept blurring and she
felt as if the room were spinning. "Let's get you back to the Hall...
Before Mrs. Norris finds us." Harry began, reaching out and taking Nat by
the arm.
Nat dozed as she walked, a skill she had picked
up from reffing soccer. It seemed to take both ages and only minutes to get back
to the Great Hall. Harry left her at the door, slipping his invisibility cloak
on, and disappearing back up to his dorm. Nat stepped back into the great hall,
to be met with an annoyed looking Draco and a very, very, unhappy looking Snape.
"Where did you go?" Snape demanded. "I... Uhm... The
bathroom?"
+++
Morning came much too early for Nat, as she
started the day off by falling out of bed. Gathering her clothes she stumbled
off towards the bathroom to take a nice hot shower. Of course, she had slept in
a bit later than the rest of the girls dorms, and all the shower stalls were
occupied. Rubbing her temples, Nat decided to content herself with just brushing
her teeth and washing her face, or course, all the sinks were occupied as the
older Slytherin girls applied their makeup. Cursing her luck, Nat decided to
play the role of a pushy American, and shove her way to the sinks. Cutting
several first years, and coming up behind a bitchy-looking girl of about her own
age, she cleared her throat and began in her rudest tone: "Do you mind? I'd
like to use the sink sometime this year, and all the makeup in the world isn't
going to help you, so why don't you step aside?" The girl at the sink
turned around to glare at Nat. "As if! At least I don't look like a
guy!" Nat arched an eyebrow to the best of her ability (she'd never been
able to do it properly, no matter how hard she tried), and realized who she was
talking to. "Oh, you're Pansy, aren't you? My, my, if I were you I'd be
half way to China by now, embarrassing yourself the way you did. Thought I was
cute, didju? How amusing..." Pansy glared at Nat, before her face changed
and she looked as if she were about to burst into tears. This made Nat grin,
upsetting people was her specialty. "Move along!" Nat said, shoving
Pansy away from the sink, and watching in the mirror as Pansy ran back to her
dorm, probably to cry.
Sharing the sink with two first years, Nat
brushed her teeth and applied the small amount of makeup she wore, mainly to
make her complexion even. Nat noticed the two first years looking at her with a
kind of awe, or was it a look of 'what the hell is wrong with this person'? Nat
shrugged and gathered her stuff, going back to her dorm to get dressed. Nat
changed into her school robes quickly, and, on a whim, grabbed a bottle of hair gel,
squirting a glob into her hands, and then running them through her hair to spike
it straight up. Making a mental note to get as many piercings as possible at the
soonest opportunity, Nat skipped off to breakfast, grabbing a few supplies on the
way.
+++
Skipping into the Great Hall, which she and
Draco no longer had to clean as Dumbledore decided the loss of house points and
two weeks of detention were enough, Nat took the longest route possible to get
to her seat. Turning right when she entered the hall, she walked past the
Hufflepuff table, and turned left when she came to the wall, walking up the
length of the Gryffindor table. As she passed Harry, she pulled out a
mini-firecracker she had conveniently placed in her pocket, lighted it with one
of her ever-present matches, and tossed it under the table so it landed at his
feet. Continuing her walk, and calmly ignoring the sound of the firecracker
going off and the yells from the Gryffindor table, Nat walked across the middle
of the hall, up near the head table (none of the professors were yet present),
and passed the Ravenclaw table, before turning left and walking down between the
Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. Pulling a few paint bombs from her robe, Nat
chucked them across the hall, where they pelted several Hufflepuffs and
Gryffindors. Rounding the Slytherin table so that she was as as far from he door
as possible, Nat pulled more paint bombs from her robe and chucked them at the
Ravenclaws. Seating herself at the table, Nat calmly raised her glass to her
lips and surveyed the slight mayhem she had caused. About thirty students had
large splotches of neon paint on them, and Harry's robes had been singed, but no
real damage had been done. The part Nat found amusing, was she had done this and
no one had noticed it was her, although she was sure that many suspected. If
only people were more observant... At least they can't place the blame on me, as
I wasn't near any of the tables when people got pelted. The best they can say is
that I walked all over the hall, big whoop.
Nat chewed lazily on the rim of her cup, where
were the professors? Breakfast had already appeared on the tables, but the
professors were nowhere to be seen. Taking a sip of her drink, Nat felt a
strange sensation come over her. It was like her insides had fallen asleep, her
whole body was tingling, and her hands were turning a bright shade of blue.
"What the hell?!" Nat exclaimed, and was shocked to hear her voce, it
sounded as if she had inhaled helium. Turning her head to look at Draco, who was
seated a few people down, Nat was alarmed to see both Pansy and Draco smirking
at her, with several other Slytherins beginning to burst into laughter. How
did Pansy get here before I did? Oh, I walked around all the tables, she must
have gotten here while I was doing that... Okay well... Uhm... I'm blue... And
my voice is higher pitched than normal... No need to panic... No need to... What
the hell was in that drink?! Keeping her exterior as calm as possible, Nat
stood up, and walked the short distance down to where Draco and Pansy were both
chuckling. "What the hell did you give me to drink, Draco?" Draco
smirked, but didn't answer. Pansy grinned at Nat, trying to give her best 'I'm
so innocent look', which failed miserably. "Draco, what was in that?"
Nat demanded, and the table burst out laughing. Nat's voice was getting higher
and higher pitched by the second, and her skin was also getting bluer. Knowing
she wouldn't be able to get an answer out of any of them, Nat stalked towards
the door, in hopes she could find a way to cure herself in one of her books. Of
course, Nat had to pass the Ravenclaw table as she left, and as she did many of
the Ravenclaws burst into laughter, drawing the attention of the Hufflepuffs,
who burst into laughter, which drew the attention of the Gryffindors, who also
burst into laughter. Gritting her teeth, Nat did her best to ignore the laughing
students and after what seemed like an incredibly long walk, she reached the
door, bumping right into her head of house.
+++
"I didn't do anything!" Nat
persisted, as she, Dumbledore, and Snape stood in a small room annex to the
Great Hall. Snape had retrieved a potion from his office, which Nat had drunk
and returned to normal fairly quickly, although her hands and feet still felt a
bit tingly. "I don't think anyone would play such a prank on you
unprovoked." stated Dumbledore calmly. "All I did today was make Pansy
stop hogging the mirror! And Draco's flunkies were the ones that started the
fight yesterday, I was only defending myself! Draco just decided to step in and
give me whiplash, he didn't even need to get involved. And further more, you
never even let me explain what happened and why we were fighting! You just
assumed that I started it, which I didn't! And-" Dumbledore held up his
hand to silence Nat, "You were still participating in the fight, you could
have backed off and gotten a professor for help. But you chose to stay and
fight, which is why you were punished."
"I'd like to see you 'back off' when you have a guy twice your size
punching you! And there SHOULD have been a professor present, but that dorkhead
was off somewhere doing God knows what!" Nat exclaimed, looking as if she'd
like to punch the living daylights out of Dumbledore himself. Snape stepped
forward and put a restraining hand in front of Nat, as if he were worried Nat
would pounce on Dumbledore. Dumbledore however, stayed very calm, "Hagrid
was helping two students whose yazlew had put them in grave danger. There is no
way he could have been two places at once. And, I do believe you are quite a bit
smarter than Draco's 'flunkies' and if you had used your head, you would have
found a way to avoid the fight." Nat glowered at him, the guy had an excuse
for everything! Stupid adults, always have to believe that they're right, and
their way is the only way to do something. "Now, Nat, why don't you
head back to the hall and get some breakfast? Don't let this incident ruin your
entire day."
"I'm not going back in there!" Nat nearly shrieked, showing more
emotion than she would have liked. "Why not?" Dumbledore inquired, his
expression questioning. What a moron, I'm not going to go back in there where
they'll laugh at me and pull more pranks! Thought Nat, but said nothing.
"If you don't go back in, you're only letting them win. You need to show
that you're not afraid, and go in with your head up and don't let them beat you
down." Dumbledore said, sounding like a sap in Nat's opinion, although he
did have a point. "Whatever," Nat replied, turning to leave the room,
and reenter the Great Hall.
+++
Muttering the spell under her breath, Nat waved
her wand a little at the toad sitting on the table in front of her. Damnit,
change you stupid thing, you're making me look bad! The fifth year
Slytherins and Ravenclaws were attempting to transfigure toads into
dictionaries, and Nat couldn't even get her toad to change at all. Being that
there was an odd number of students in the class, Nat had a table to herself,
in the very back of the room, which she was grateful for as it spared her the
embarrassment she was sure to face at her feeble attempts to transfigure.
Glancing at the clock on the wall, Nat realized that she only had fifteen
minutes left to transfigure the toad. McGonagall was walking the aisle which
separated the two houses, giving advice and pointing out errors where needed.
Draco had transfigured his toad long ago, and was browsing the dictionary,
making sure it was complete, in the style text he wanted, and looked better than
anyone else's. At least he takes his schoolwork seriously, Nat thought,
glancing up at him. He still wasn't talking to her, and her attempts to strike
up any sort of conversation with any of the Slytherins failed miserably.
McGonagall reached Nat's table, and pursed her
lips. Not only was Nat a troublemaker, she couldn't transfigure at all. Nat was
hopelessly lost, mumbling the spell over and over, while waving her wand a bit.
She reminded McGonagall much of a first year, totally clueless. "Having
trouble?" McGonagall asked quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the
other students, a fifth year that couldn't even begin to transfigure would be
given hell by the whole school. Nat glanced up quickly at McGonagall, then
nodded. "I can't even get any words to appear... Although I got it to stop
moving... But that might be because I think I killed it..." McGonagall
couldn't help but smile a bit at Nat's predicament, "Well, let's
see..." McGonagall picked up the toad and turned it over in her hand,
"Yes, it's quite dead... Although I think... You transfigured its insides,
but not its outsides." Nat frowned, a lot of good that did her. "Have
you always had trouble with transfigurations?" McGonagall asked. "I've
never done transfiguration before..." Nat said quietly. McGonagall raised
her eyebrows in surprise, how could she have never transfigured before?
McGonagall put her thought into words. "Well, see, I'm homeschooled... Uhm...
My parents thought that the schools would be a bad influence, and you see, the
normal schools have a lot of violence... And so, I never went to wizarding
school in America, because my parents suspected that it wasn't a lot better than
normal schools, so I only got the books... I've read through the seventh year, I
just... Never actually cast any spells since I made my brother's head grow to
the size of a tire..." McGonagall's mouth twitched up in a slight smile.
"Well, I don't have enough time to really help you with transfiguration,
but I can get you a tutor. As for your other classes... I may have to have a
talk with Dumbledore. But we'll figure something out. Now gather your stuff, you
can work on transfiguring a toad another time." Nat flashed McGonagall a
grateful smile, and grabbed her bag as the bell rung.
+++
Note: Ah! Another chapter! In the same
week! Okay, well, I think Project was right, Draco was a bit OOC in the earlier
chapters. I hope I made him snobbier and more Draco-ish in this one, although he
only has one line. Yes, this was again, a set-up chapter. I didn't get
everything I wanted set up in the last chapter, which is why I had to write
another not-so-funny one. BUT! Next chapter is potions, AND Nat will get her
pets. What pets? You'll see. Now that Nat has McGonagall's sympathy, she can be
even more troublesome. And... Uhm... Some fun stuff will happen shortly! ^^;; So
how did I do with this chapter? People still in character? TMP! Oh, and BTW, transfigurations
WILL be a lot funnier later, like I said, I needed to set stuff up. Oh, and I
will start on the next chapter of HP Survivor II tomorrow... Or some time...
^^;; Thank you all for your reviews on all my stuff!
Okay, now, can someone list for me as many
Hogwarts classes as they an think of? I want to make a schedule for Nat so I know what
she should be doing on what days. Also, if you know what house the Slytherins
are in each class with, it would be really helpful. ^^ Also, I assume that
school starts in August in England? Because I wanted Nat to come to Hogwarts in
October, but in time for Halloween. So if anyone knows the date that school
usually starts in England, TMP! Oh, and I was thinking about eventually getting
Nat to play Quidditch. What do you guys think? Does that make her TOO Mary Sue-ish?
(Well it is a Mary Sue spoof...) I was thinking she might play Chaser, as I play
forward (well normally mid) in soccer... She wouldn't necessarily be a great
player, although she'd be good. Whatcha think? TMP! (TMP means Tell Me Please, I
know you were all going WTF?!)
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the HP
universe. *sigh* If I owned the series, things would be a lot funnier. And Harry
would die. Repeatedly. Don't sniff scented nail polish remover... On second
thought, why is it scented if you're not supposed to sniff?
