Chapter 5
Trying to avoid putting her hands in too much glass as she sat up, Nat let out
another scream as a huge owl swooped practically into her face and deposited a
letter in her lap. "What the hell?!" Before Nat could grab anything to
throw at the bird, the owl flew back out the window and into the sky. "Friggin'
thing..." Nat grumbled before turning her attention to the letter. She'd
seen other students receive mail by owl before, but who would be sending her a
letter? Her family? She hoped not. They would ruin her fun.
Turning the letter over in her hand she groaned at the sight of her mother's
handwriting. Damn.
Tearing open the envelope, Nat began reading the letter, forgetting entirely
about the fact she was sitting in glass and bleeding.
You're allowed to have pets at school, aren't you? Fluffy and Jim-Bob have been
causing a lot of trouble, and if you can't keep them at school, I'm going to
have to take them to the humane society. They're terrorizing the cats! Talk to
your principal and write me back as soon as you get permission.
Take care and have fun. STAY OUT OF TROUBLE.
Dashing up the center of the great hall, where most of the students were
finishing their breakfasts, Nat ran straight up to the head table and hopped
onto it, putting her face level with Dumbledore's.
"Hi!" Nat exclaimed to Dumbledore's rather shocked face. Dumbledore
blinked, focusing on Nat's unnervingly close face and all too cheerful smile.
She had to be up to something. "Well, hello Nat. Sleep late? What on earth
happened to your face? And you hands? What have you been up to?" Nat
blinked, then realized she probably had blood running all down her face by this
point. "Oh, there was this window, okay? and now it's not there
anymore!" Nat giggled a bit at the thought of a broken window. "Oh, I see, well what has prompted you to sit on
my table instead of go to the infirmary?" Nat blinked, "I'm not
sitting! I'm kneeling! And I didn't know there was an infirmararararary! Whatcha
do there? One time I went ice skating!" Dumbledore blinked, trying to
understand what ice skating had to do with an infirmary. After a few seconds he gave up trying to figure it out, they probably had nothing to do with
each other.
"An infirmary is where you go when you get hurt."
"Like a doctor?"
"Yes, like a doctor."
"I hate the doctor. I hate grape flavored things too."
"Why are you sitting on my table?"
"I'm kneeling!"
"Why are you kneeling on my table?"
"Because I wanna talk to you!"
"About what? Can you stand instead?"
"Okay."
Nat repositioned herself, then pulled herself to a standing position on the
table.
"Okay! Standing now!"
"I meant on the floor..."
"Oh, but right now I'm tall! Yeah!"
"And the whole hall is staring..."
"Really? Cool."
"Why don't you come stand over here on the floor? And let me fix those
scratches?"
"I like standing on the table."
"Nat, please stand on the floor."
"Fine!"
Nat hopped off the table next to Dumbledore's chair and faced him, pouting
slightly.
"Hold still." Dumbledore told her, then cast a spell and began healing
the cuts on Nat's face. "So what did you want to talk to me about so
badly?" Dumbledore inquired, and he cast another spell to clean the blood
off Nat. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! I'm allowed to have pets right?"
Nat shot Dumbledore her most innocent smile. "You are allowed to have one
pet." Dumbledore stated as he finished cleaning the blood off Nat's hands.
"One?! As in uno? Une? Ichi? Not two? As in dos? Or.. Ni? Or... other words
for two?"
"Sorry, only one."
"But, but, but..."
"But?"
"But Jim-Bob and Fluffy are gonna be sent to the humane society if I don't
take care of them! And no one will adopt them and they'll die! I don't want them
to die! Do YOU want them to die?"
"No, but I'm sure that..."
"Oh my god, I can't believe it, you'd let them be sent to their deaths?!
How horrible! You're cruel and terrible!"
"Nat, calm down. Now... What kind of animals are they?"
"They're... Lizards."
"Lizards? Well that shouldn't be too much of a problem..."
"I can have them both?"
"Yes, but you HAVE to take care of them."
"Well duh... I mean, thank you!"
"Now, why don't you go get some breakfast? Classes will be starting
shortly."
Nat shot Dumbledore a grateful smile before skipping around the table to join
her housemates.
Snape swept in the room a moment later, black cape billowing out, scowl
darkening his face. Nat turned to face him, flashing her cutest smile.
"Konnichiwa Snape-sama! Where should I sit? I came in and I was kinda like
'darn, there isn't an extra chair for me!' so maybe I should just go back to my
dorm and take a nap? That sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?" Snape
frowned at her, this girl was certainly more than he bargained for, after all
the havoc she'd caused in her first week, Snape was beginning to regret
accepting her into his house. "You can sit with Draco." Snape said,
then turned and headed to his desk. "But I don't WANT to sit next to the
albino-ferret-boy!" Nat whined, getting several chuckles from the
Gryffindors and glares from the Slytherins. Snape turned, facing her again.
"Then sit next to Granger." Snape stated, challenging Nat. "Okies!"
Nat shouted, striking a pose by showing a peace sign. "Oh, wait, who's
Granger?" Nat looked around the room. "Hermione Granger. From
Gryffindor." Snape said, pointing to a girl with bushy brown hair. "Oh!
The girl with the name that sounds like a disease!" Nat said excitedly as
she hopped over to a chair Snape had summoned at Hermione's table. Several
Slytherins chuckled at Nat's comment about Hermione's name, but Draco sent Nat a
glare that clearly said 'watch yourself'. He might think Nat was annoying, but
he still wanted her to pull off his plan.
"POTTER! GRANGER!" Snape yelled, striding over from his desk. With a
quick spell the potion had cleaned itself up, although there was still a large
hole in the table. "Potter, I don't need you making trouble in my
class!" Snape snapped, turning to face Harry. "But... But sir, I'm not
even at their table!" Harry said from the table behind Nat and Hermione.
Snape ignored him. "And you, Granger, little miss know-it-all, I clearly
said not to add the foxglove pellets until after you stirred! Fifty points off
Gryffindor for ruining the table, and another twenty for not listening to
instructions!" Hermione looked like she was about to say something, but
shut her mouth. Snape began heading back to his desk.
"Snape-sama!" Nat called before Snape had reached his desk.
"What?" Snape asked, turning around.
"Her.. Herm... The girl with the disease sounding name didn't add the
foxglove stuff! I put it in."
Snape's eyes narrowed at Nat. "Why did you put it in before you were
supposed to?"
"It was lonely and wanted to join the stuff in the cauldron. And it was
cold. Inside the cauldron it was warm."
"Nat, I am not in the mood for this foolishness!"
"That's because you're a mean un-fun person."
"That is quite enough, Nat!" Snape snapped.
"But I'm not done talking! It's injustice for you to punish Harry and... That
girl for my melting a hole in the table."
"So you're requesting punishment?"
"Yes. But not for me. For Pansy. She TOLD me that I was supposed to put it
in before it was stirred."
"Somehow I don't believe you."
"Why not? Do I EVER lie?"
"Do you ever not?"
"I'm not lying now. If you don't believe me now, I'll never tell the truth
again."
Snape turned to Pansy. "Did you tell Nat to put in the Foxglove
pellets?" Pansy glared at Nat, then tried her best to look cute as she
faced Snape. "No sir! I haven't spoken to Nat all day!" Nat frowned,
then tried her best to look hurt. "Yes-huh you did, Pansy! You called me a
'freaking American idiot' this morning. You not only insulted me, but my whole
country!" Snape frowned at Pansy. "Miss Parkinson, that is NOT the way
we treat exchange students." Pansy glared at Nat. "But she is! If
she's an example of what Americans are like, their whole country should be
destroyed!"
"If this school is an example of what England is like, we should kick your
asses! AGAIN!"
"Again?"
"Study history, you stupid bitch."
"Study potions, you incompetent freak!"
"Ohh, you called me a freak, I'm so hurt!"
"I also called you incompetent, or is that word too big for you?"
"Oh, incompetent, that's what you were trying to say, I couldn't understand
your stupid-ass accent!"
"YOU'RE the one with the accent!"
"Excuse me? I speak accent-less English. If you had any sense about you
you'd know that!"
"You sound distinctly American."
"And you sound distinctly retarded."
"Enough!" Snape bellowed before Pansy could reply. "Pansy, twenty
points off Slytherin for telling Nat to put in the foxglove pellets. Nat, twenty
more points off Slytherin for not listening to me. Granger, twenty points off
Gryffindor for not stopping Nat. And Potter, twenty more points off Gryffindor
for talking back! Now, class is dismissed!"
The students gathered their things quickly and filed out quietly. Snape was not
one to yell. Sure he was threatening as all hell, but he didn't yell. Nat must
have especially ticked him off today, class had been dismissed half an hour
early as well.
"I feel really, really sick! And not good at all. And I seriously need to
lie down before I pass out!"
"Oh, well, go to the infirmary."
"I don't know where it is!"
"Well then... you take Nat." Professor Binns said, pointing to Pansy.
"No way! I'm not gonna.... Oh.... Come on then Nat. I'll show you the
way." Pansy grinned a bit evilly. Nat opened her mouth to protest, but
found it too much work. God, she felt bad. Pansy walked over to Nat's seat,
giving her a helping hand. "Here, lean on me, Nat. I'll get you
there." Nat felt too weak to protest as she leaned heavily on Pansy and let
her lead her out into the hall.
So did you guys like that chapter? I don't think it flows very smoothly... Was
everyone in character? I'm re-reading the books and making notes and stuff, but
I think I've read so many fanfics that my views of the character personalities
are rather skewed. Fanfiction corrupts! Anyhow, comments, flames, candy, etc.
are all welcome. If you guess why Nat is sick, I'll tell people to go read your
fics. *nods head* Now let's just sit back and wait for ff.net to get back up so
I can post this!
BTW, I am working on the next chapter of Survivor II - Harry Potter Style. My
brother is going to co-author this chapter with me. Expect it up shortly, and
hopefully I won't make you wait nearly so long for the other chapters.