Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and
owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to
Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros.,
Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended.
A/N: (Traze) Muahahaha. This is my first chapter, play nice. I've upped the
rating, just because I never read anything but R's and I don't think anyone
else should either. I've changed all the chapter titles too.
Chelz is gonna kill me :)
Lally Weasley quietly re-arranged her legs, as they really were starting to cramp up. These horrid stone floors were hell to sit on for longer than a few minutes, and Lally and definitely been sitting on one for longer than a few minutes, much to her ire. She frowned. This was i not /i how she had planned to spend her afternoon.
Finally getting tired of waiting, the slight girl flipped her lone braid over her shoulder, gathered her few books and stood up. Wincing at the sudden muscle spasms she was experiencing in her lower limbs, she straightened up and proceeded to walk across the entrance hall, intending to go to the library and find out what had kept her companions from meeting at the agreed time.
She was slightly preoccupied with thoughts of petty vengeance of which to wreak on her friends - payback for the muscle cramps - and so did not see the blurred streak of color tearing through the great doors until it was too late. Lally lost her balance as a heavy weight thumped into her chest, let go of her books, and promptly fell on her arse. She shook her head once in a vain attempt to stop the spinning, then cast about for her attacker.
Turning to look over her shoulder, her rather tired and mildly irritated brown eyes met with a pair of concerned and remorseful hazel eyes. They were also upside down.
"ohmygod!Areyoualright?!I'msosorryIdidn'tseeyouthere!"
Lally blinked, and laughed before responding in light tone, "Once more, this time in English...?"
The shorthaired brunette, who was now rolling over and sitting up, scowled. "I was just asking after your health, but evidently you're perfectly okay."
She looked down at herself to inspect her body for damage. "Which is more than I can say for my jeans."
Lally sighed and levered herself up off the floor. "Don't worry, I don't think they can get much worse. Let me help you up." She extended her hand towards the girl, who glared at it with an affronted air, before she too sighed and gripped the proffered hand.
"I'm not sure whether that was an insult or not, but at this point I don't really care." She shuffled her knees about, and with a little help from Lally, was able to stand up with a minimum of fuss. She started to pull her hand away but was pulled up short when Lally gripped it more firmly and started shaking it.
"I'm Lally, Lally Weasley. You're that Murphy girl aren't you?"
The other girl scowled again and yanked her hand back. "What, does the whole bloody school know me personally now?"
Lally grinned, "Pretty much. You're the girl who decked Malfoy! You're Gryffindor's current hero. Next to Potter, that is."
At the mention of the Boy-Who-Lived, Her scowl deepened even further.
"It's nice to know I'm already popular enough to compete with the boy-who- wanked."
Lally snickered at Murphy's obvious dislike of the famous wizarding hero. Which was not entirely surprising, coming from a Slytherin.
"Yeah well, Malfoy had it coming and everyone knew it. Except him, apparently."
The girl's expression lightened at the memory of the blond boy's rather ungraceful dive towards the dirt.
"I'd do it again if I could. He's a right bastard, that one. My name's Alex, by the way. Sixth year Slytherin, although I'm guessing you already know all this."
Lally nodded, absently rubbing the back of her head as though she was trying to remember something. "I'm... fifth year. Gryffindor." She grinned. "We're supposed to hate each other, I think."
Alex was slightly startled that the girl was a fifth year; she'd expected her to be a fourth at the most. She grinned, and decided to like this little imp of a Gryffindor, and to hell with house rivalry. "Well, okay then. I hate you. Mind if I study with you?" Alex indicated the abandoned books lying scattered around the rather chilly entrance hall.
Lally smiled, nodded and started to collect her rather heavy tomes off the floor. "Okay, you Evil Dark Witch, but only if you help me pick up my books. Which you made me drop."
Alex just rolled her eyes. "I've always liked to make an entrance. It's not my fault if a few dusty old books get knocked up in the process."
Lally froze, looked down at the volume in her hand and cried out, "Oh my god! You mean you've impregnated my potions text?!"
Alex paused, then groaned when she caught on. "Snape will be thrilled. I bet he's always wanted little pocket dictionaries to bounce on his lap."
Lally snorted in a very unladylike way. "I always knew those things were the spawn of the devil."
When they'd both recovered from the mental images of tiny greasy-paged potions texts with permanently foul dispositions, Alex started moving towards the dungeons.
"Come on, you silly little Gryff, we've gotta go pick up my study notes from the Snake Pit."
"Oooooh! So you're gonna tell me the Slytherin password?" Lally followed, carefully balancing her heavy armful of books.
"Only if you tell me the Gryffindor Password."
"Gummy Rats."
A snort of laughter echoed of the walls of the passageway.
"Carpe Diem."
"My, how appropriate. Personally, I would have thought it would've gone along the lines of Carpe Jugulum..." Lally trailed off as Alex stopped in front of a snake tapestry that had just slid open at the sound of the password.
"Go for the throat? Agreed. If that lot weren't so ridiculously traitorous maybe that ambition we're supposed to have might take us somewhere other then Azkaban." Alex stepped inside the Slytherin common room.
"You coming in?"
"Nah, I'll wait for you here." Lally adjusted the books in her arms and leant against the clammy dungeon wall.
"Suit yourself." Alex disappeared inside.
Fifteen minutes later, Lally shifted position yet again, in an attempt to look casual should any stray Slytherins come back from hogsmeade early and question her choice of dungeon wall.
Her arms had given out five minutes ago, and so her books were now stacked at her feet, which she crossed and then uncrossed, unable to look casual and be comfortable at the same time.
She was just about to give up on her new study partner and leave when she heard footsteps coming along the corridor.
Panicking, Lally picked up her books in an effort to look busy, then dropped so as to look like she belonged there. Deciding that this probably wasn't the best approach for a Gryffindor in the Slytherin's domain, she bent down to pick her books up again.
She was thus occupied when the tapestry slid open again, causing her to drop the books she'd already gathered again.
"Phew. Had to explain my reappearance in the common room to some Prefect. Said I was studying." Alex stepped out into the hallway and stooped down to help Lally pick up her abused tomes.
Lally relaxed when she realized it was her companion, now with her own set of heavy transfiguration texts. "Why did you leave early, anyway?"
Alex suddenly became very busy with straightening her stack of books. "I wasn't feeling well. I'll explain later." She stood up and helped Lally to her feet, changing the topic of conversation quickly. "So are you okay? Why did you drop your stuff?"
"Oh, I was just --"
"-- Hanging around where you don't belong." A voice from behind them cut silkily into the conversation. "And you, Murphy. Mixing with the common rabble."
Alex suddenly found her shoes very interesting, and was glaring at them as if they'd committed some great crime against toekind.
Lally just rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together. She'd forgotten about the approaching footsteps.
Malfoy, owner of the voice, footsteps and a rather large fortune, pushed past Lally to leer directly into Alex's face.
He cupped her chin with his hand and sneered. "I can't say I expected anything more from you though."
"Doesn't seem to be stopping you from fawning over me though, does it iMalfoy/i...Didn't think so. Be Seein ya later shnookums." And proceeded to pinch a very shocked Malfoy on the cheek. Then grabbing Lally by the arm she flew down the hallway as if being chased by a Hippogryph.
"What was all that about then?"
Alex was just about to tell her to sod off and mind her own business when she caught herself. She'd mucked up too many relationships by holding things back. She might as well start off clean with this odd little girl; it wasn't like she had anything to lose.
Alex Sighed. "That, was the reason I left early."
Lally arched a brow.
"Malfoy talked me into going with him to the Yule Ball. Threatened, actually."
"How very Slytherin of him. What happened to Parkinson?"
"Oh, her obnoxious personality finally got through to him. He slipped some sort of ugly-fying powder into her food. She's not fit company for him any more." Alex snorted in disgust at this last statement.
Lally rolled her eyes and started walking back towards the library, indicating with her head for Alex to follow. "Silly buggers the lot of 'em... present company excluded."
"Don't be too sure... I am going to the Yule Ball with him, after all."
"Are you even going to attempt to study?"
"Nope."
"Then why do you even bother lugging around all those books?"
"One has to keep up appearances."
Alex groaned and turned back to her own study notes. Which consisted of exactly one line.
She groaned again and let her gaze flicker back across the table to where Lally was apparently acting out some sort of gruesome scene involving a quill with the wrong end dipped in ink and a disembodied hand.
Judging by the mess on the table, the stacks of books carefully arranged to represent city blocks, the ink-splattered textbook open to a page with an image of said hand, Lally was having a grand time of it, too. She also had apparently no intention of doing anything resembling homework or study.
The brunette ran a hand through her spikily chopped hair, doing nothing to help it's disarranged state. With one last glance towards her unfinished notes, she let her head slump on the table.
Alex had almost drifted off to sleep when a hand on her shoulder caused her to jump a foot out of her chair, mutter an expletive and knock over her inkbottle. Not that it made any difference to the utterly destroyed tabletop -- the disembodied hand having apparently taken over the city, drowning infidels in puddles of ink.
Alex suspected that it was the disembodied hand which had startled her awake, and so she looked up accusingly at Lally only to find three pairs of amused eyes fixed on her instead of one.
"Well good-afternoon to you too." Said a cheerful looking hazel-eyed Hufflepuff, with fat chin length blonde ringlets framing her face. She looked altogether too happy, and this put Alex on her guard.
"Who," said Alex, with a mixture of confusion and irritation, "are you? And what've you done with the disembodied hand?"
Lally grinned and motioned for her friends to sit down. "This is Ariette Bains, fifth year hufflepuff and terror of the lower classmen. Or at least, some of the first years think she's a bit weird."
Lally received a light punch for her introduction, and the blonde girl cleared a space for her books before collapsing in a spare chair.
"Ignore Lally's pathetically gryffindorish attempts at humor. Call me Etta, and the only people who need fear me are the more attractive members of the female population." At this, the girl identified as Etta grinned wolfishly.
Alex's eyes widened. She shuffled away from the bouncy blonde and eyed her warily.
"Oh, don't worry, you have nothing to fear from me. No offense." She giggled.
Alex shuddered.
A snort from behind Alex startled her again. She'd forgotten about the other set of eyes.
"Etta's just messing with you. She's not really a lesbian." A tall, gangly, Hispanic boy dumped his books on the table next to Alex and sat down. He brushed a stray dark brown strand of his thin shoulder lengh hair behind his ear, showing his effeminate features more clearly. "It's her greatest secret though, so don't tell anyone else." He winked conspiratorially at her.
Alex, bewildered at the new intrusion, just nodded.
Etta rolled her eyes. "Really. This is Laney Dorado, sixth year Brainbox."
The boy glared at Etta.
She stuck her tongue out in return.
He sighed in a long-suffering way. "What she means is, sixth year Ravenclaw. I'm in your transfiguration and charms classes." He smiled at her.
"And you're Alex Murphy. We've had our eye on you." Etta grinned at her.
Alex groaned. "What is it with you people? Bunch of stalkers..."
"No, we're just interested in interesting people." Interjected Lally, apparently having decided that she'd won her little game and pushed aside her inky quill, muttering a quick spell to restore order to the desk before someone told them off.
"And you're a very interesting person." Etta waggled her eyebrows at Alex.
Alex shifted uncomfortably. "But why me, a transfer student and a Slytherin to boot?"
Lally shrugged and gestured at the small group. "Houses don't really matter to us. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin - whatever."
"Collect them all." Etta said teasingly, her blonde locks bouncing.
"Besides, it's not like you wanted to be in Slytherin." Said Laney reassuringly.
"And what if I did?" Alex challenged them, wondering what kind of reaction she'd get from this trio.
Lally shrugged dismissively. "It doesn't really matter. Good for you if you're a little more cunning or ambitious than my dimwitted housemates."
The other two murmured their assent.
Alex was a little shaken, but realized she really shouldn't be, considering what she'd already learnt about these people's attitudes.
"Anyway," said Lally sharply, startling Alex out of her reverie, "Where were you two? I waited in that freezing entrance hall for an hour and half!"
Laney looked sheepish. "We made a little stop along the way."
Etta beamed. "We couldn't resist."
Alex looked between the two, raising an eyebrow in silent question. Were they together?
"We were just going past the fourth floor boy's bathroom when we heard Raised Voices." Etta gushed. "You'll never guess who was staying back from Hogsmeade for a secret snog!"
Alex was befuddled. They stopped to snoop on someone's make out session?
"Who?" asked Lally, a hint of excitement colouring her tone.
"Isobella Smigg and Henric Anneroy!"
Alex raised another eyebrow. Isobella Smigg was in her History of Magic class. She'd always seemed the shy type, very typical of a Hufflepuff.
Lally looked thrilled. "Really? Those two? Who would've thought..?"
"I know! But that's not all. Apparently Isobella thought Anneroy was cheating on her!"
Laney snorted at that, "Ridiculous really, the boy hardly had enough courage to put on the sorting hat."
"Well Isobella certainly didn't think so. They had a rip-roaring row over it, which seemed to have been sparked when Henric said something about Natilie Spates. It's not like she's anything to be jealous of, anyway." Etta rolled her eyes.
Laney continued for her, "Well, in the end Isoballa stormed off towards the Quidditch pitch, but not before she cast a shrinking charm on Henric."
Etta giggled. "It's wear off in an hour or two, but I should imagine he'll be singing falsetto until then."
Lally looked a bit sad. "They would've made such a lovely couple." Then a mischievous look came over her face, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Etta, I do believe you'll have to extol the virtues of trust in a relationship, preferably somewhere where Isobella can overhear you."
Etta smirked. "Will do. Laney, could you send some roses to Isobella, with love from Henric?"
Laney rolled his eyes. "Sure. But it's coming out of your pocket, blondie."
"I'll take care of it." Said Lally.
Alex stared at all of them in shock.
Etta noticed this and grinned at her. "What, didn't you know? We're the biggest busybodies in the school. Lavendar and Parvarti are amateurs compared to us."
Laney nodded. "We have an extensive information network, and we like to keep tabs on everybody. We control the rumor weed, you could say. Every now and then we help out a little. We're just more subtle than most gossips."
"We're almost invisible, in fact. We keep a low profile and never draw too much attention. It helps if people can relax around you, they tend to spill more than they normally would." Etta smiled at this.
"Uh.. Okay. What do people say about me, just out of curiosity?"
Lally waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing much. People will talk about you, because a transfer student isn't a very commen occurrence here at Hogwarts, but we've stemmed most of the more wild stories and haven't started any of our own. If you're going to be hanging around with us, we don't want you to be a big celebrity or anything like that."
"Right. Okay. That's weird but cool." Alex said, and nodded.
"We really should be getting some study done, you know. I didn't drag these potions bricks here for nothing." Etta started opening her books and setting her quills out.
Lally nodded, pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and promptly went to sleep on it.
Alex stared at her, unimpressed. "Does she ever do any study?" She said, half to herself.
"No." Said Laney matter-of-factly, leaning closer and pointing to Alex's transfiguration notes with one elegantly long finger, "I can help you with that, you know. I am a Brainbox after all." He said wryly, referring to Etta's earlier statement about Ravenclaw.
Alex blushed slightly and nodded, looking down at her poor excuse for an hour's work. "Yeah, that would be helpful."
The four spent the next hour or two in relative quiet, undisturbed except for the occasional student walking past their little corner of the library, which would be followed by half an hour's discussion on that student's personnel life.
Alex learned a great deal about the intricate social hierarchy of Hogwarts, which she had previously not known existed. She also learned a great deal about who was snogging who, who had snogged who, and who was quite likely to snog who.
All in all, it was the best afternoon she'd had all week.
***
Chelz is gonna kill me :)
Lally Weasley quietly re-arranged her legs, as they really were starting to cramp up. These horrid stone floors were hell to sit on for longer than a few minutes, and Lally and definitely been sitting on one for longer than a few minutes, much to her ire. She frowned. This was i not /i how she had planned to spend her afternoon.
Finally getting tired of waiting, the slight girl flipped her lone braid over her shoulder, gathered her few books and stood up. Wincing at the sudden muscle spasms she was experiencing in her lower limbs, she straightened up and proceeded to walk across the entrance hall, intending to go to the library and find out what had kept her companions from meeting at the agreed time.
She was slightly preoccupied with thoughts of petty vengeance of which to wreak on her friends - payback for the muscle cramps - and so did not see the blurred streak of color tearing through the great doors until it was too late. Lally lost her balance as a heavy weight thumped into her chest, let go of her books, and promptly fell on her arse. She shook her head once in a vain attempt to stop the spinning, then cast about for her attacker.
Turning to look over her shoulder, her rather tired and mildly irritated brown eyes met with a pair of concerned and remorseful hazel eyes. They were also upside down.
"ohmygod!Areyoualright?!I'msosorryIdidn'tseeyouthere!"
Lally blinked, and laughed before responding in light tone, "Once more, this time in English...?"
The shorthaired brunette, who was now rolling over and sitting up, scowled. "I was just asking after your health, but evidently you're perfectly okay."
She looked down at herself to inspect her body for damage. "Which is more than I can say for my jeans."
Lally sighed and levered herself up off the floor. "Don't worry, I don't think they can get much worse. Let me help you up." She extended her hand towards the girl, who glared at it with an affronted air, before she too sighed and gripped the proffered hand.
"I'm not sure whether that was an insult or not, but at this point I don't really care." She shuffled her knees about, and with a little help from Lally, was able to stand up with a minimum of fuss. She started to pull her hand away but was pulled up short when Lally gripped it more firmly and started shaking it.
"I'm Lally, Lally Weasley. You're that Murphy girl aren't you?"
The other girl scowled again and yanked her hand back. "What, does the whole bloody school know me personally now?"
Lally grinned, "Pretty much. You're the girl who decked Malfoy! You're Gryffindor's current hero. Next to Potter, that is."
At the mention of the Boy-Who-Lived, Her scowl deepened even further.
"It's nice to know I'm already popular enough to compete with the boy-who- wanked."
Lally snickered at Murphy's obvious dislike of the famous wizarding hero. Which was not entirely surprising, coming from a Slytherin.
"Yeah well, Malfoy had it coming and everyone knew it. Except him, apparently."
The girl's expression lightened at the memory of the blond boy's rather ungraceful dive towards the dirt.
"I'd do it again if I could. He's a right bastard, that one. My name's Alex, by the way. Sixth year Slytherin, although I'm guessing you already know all this."
Lally nodded, absently rubbing the back of her head as though she was trying to remember something. "I'm... fifth year. Gryffindor." She grinned. "We're supposed to hate each other, I think."
Alex was slightly startled that the girl was a fifth year; she'd expected her to be a fourth at the most. She grinned, and decided to like this little imp of a Gryffindor, and to hell with house rivalry. "Well, okay then. I hate you. Mind if I study with you?" Alex indicated the abandoned books lying scattered around the rather chilly entrance hall.
Lally smiled, nodded and started to collect her rather heavy tomes off the floor. "Okay, you Evil Dark Witch, but only if you help me pick up my books. Which you made me drop."
Alex just rolled her eyes. "I've always liked to make an entrance. It's not my fault if a few dusty old books get knocked up in the process."
Lally froze, looked down at the volume in her hand and cried out, "Oh my god! You mean you've impregnated my potions text?!"
Alex paused, then groaned when she caught on. "Snape will be thrilled. I bet he's always wanted little pocket dictionaries to bounce on his lap."
Lally snorted in a very unladylike way. "I always knew those things were the spawn of the devil."
When they'd both recovered from the mental images of tiny greasy-paged potions texts with permanently foul dispositions, Alex started moving towards the dungeons.
"Come on, you silly little Gryff, we've gotta go pick up my study notes from the Snake Pit."
"Oooooh! So you're gonna tell me the Slytherin password?" Lally followed, carefully balancing her heavy armful of books.
"Only if you tell me the Gryffindor Password."
"Gummy Rats."
A snort of laughter echoed of the walls of the passageway.
"Carpe Diem."
"My, how appropriate. Personally, I would have thought it would've gone along the lines of Carpe Jugulum..." Lally trailed off as Alex stopped in front of a snake tapestry that had just slid open at the sound of the password.
"Go for the throat? Agreed. If that lot weren't so ridiculously traitorous maybe that ambition we're supposed to have might take us somewhere other then Azkaban." Alex stepped inside the Slytherin common room.
"You coming in?"
"Nah, I'll wait for you here." Lally adjusted the books in her arms and leant against the clammy dungeon wall.
"Suit yourself." Alex disappeared inside.
Fifteen minutes later, Lally shifted position yet again, in an attempt to look casual should any stray Slytherins come back from hogsmeade early and question her choice of dungeon wall.
Her arms had given out five minutes ago, and so her books were now stacked at her feet, which she crossed and then uncrossed, unable to look casual and be comfortable at the same time.
She was just about to give up on her new study partner and leave when she heard footsteps coming along the corridor.
Panicking, Lally picked up her books in an effort to look busy, then dropped so as to look like she belonged there. Deciding that this probably wasn't the best approach for a Gryffindor in the Slytherin's domain, she bent down to pick her books up again.
She was thus occupied when the tapestry slid open again, causing her to drop the books she'd already gathered again.
"Phew. Had to explain my reappearance in the common room to some Prefect. Said I was studying." Alex stepped out into the hallway and stooped down to help Lally pick up her abused tomes.
Lally relaxed when she realized it was her companion, now with her own set of heavy transfiguration texts. "Why did you leave early, anyway?"
Alex suddenly became very busy with straightening her stack of books. "I wasn't feeling well. I'll explain later." She stood up and helped Lally to her feet, changing the topic of conversation quickly. "So are you okay? Why did you drop your stuff?"
"Oh, I was just --"
"-- Hanging around where you don't belong." A voice from behind them cut silkily into the conversation. "And you, Murphy. Mixing with the common rabble."
Alex suddenly found her shoes very interesting, and was glaring at them as if they'd committed some great crime against toekind.
Lally just rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together. She'd forgotten about the approaching footsteps.
Malfoy, owner of the voice, footsteps and a rather large fortune, pushed past Lally to leer directly into Alex's face.
He cupped her chin with his hand and sneered. "I can't say I expected anything more from you though."
"Doesn't seem to be stopping you from fawning over me though, does it iMalfoy/i...Didn't think so. Be Seein ya later shnookums." And proceeded to pinch a very shocked Malfoy on the cheek. Then grabbing Lally by the arm she flew down the hallway as if being chased by a Hippogryph.
"What was all that about then?"
Alex was just about to tell her to sod off and mind her own business when she caught herself. She'd mucked up too many relationships by holding things back. She might as well start off clean with this odd little girl; it wasn't like she had anything to lose.
Alex Sighed. "That, was the reason I left early."
Lally arched a brow.
"Malfoy talked me into going with him to the Yule Ball. Threatened, actually."
"How very Slytherin of him. What happened to Parkinson?"
"Oh, her obnoxious personality finally got through to him. He slipped some sort of ugly-fying powder into her food. She's not fit company for him any more." Alex snorted in disgust at this last statement.
Lally rolled her eyes and started walking back towards the library, indicating with her head for Alex to follow. "Silly buggers the lot of 'em... present company excluded."
"Don't be too sure... I am going to the Yule Ball with him, after all."
"Are you even going to attempt to study?"
"Nope."
"Then why do you even bother lugging around all those books?"
"One has to keep up appearances."
Alex groaned and turned back to her own study notes. Which consisted of exactly one line.
She groaned again and let her gaze flicker back across the table to where Lally was apparently acting out some sort of gruesome scene involving a quill with the wrong end dipped in ink and a disembodied hand.
Judging by the mess on the table, the stacks of books carefully arranged to represent city blocks, the ink-splattered textbook open to a page with an image of said hand, Lally was having a grand time of it, too. She also had apparently no intention of doing anything resembling homework or study.
The brunette ran a hand through her spikily chopped hair, doing nothing to help it's disarranged state. With one last glance towards her unfinished notes, she let her head slump on the table.
Alex had almost drifted off to sleep when a hand on her shoulder caused her to jump a foot out of her chair, mutter an expletive and knock over her inkbottle. Not that it made any difference to the utterly destroyed tabletop -- the disembodied hand having apparently taken over the city, drowning infidels in puddles of ink.
Alex suspected that it was the disembodied hand which had startled her awake, and so she looked up accusingly at Lally only to find three pairs of amused eyes fixed on her instead of one.
"Well good-afternoon to you too." Said a cheerful looking hazel-eyed Hufflepuff, with fat chin length blonde ringlets framing her face. She looked altogether too happy, and this put Alex on her guard.
"Who," said Alex, with a mixture of confusion and irritation, "are you? And what've you done with the disembodied hand?"
Lally grinned and motioned for her friends to sit down. "This is Ariette Bains, fifth year hufflepuff and terror of the lower classmen. Or at least, some of the first years think she's a bit weird."
Lally received a light punch for her introduction, and the blonde girl cleared a space for her books before collapsing in a spare chair.
"Ignore Lally's pathetically gryffindorish attempts at humor. Call me Etta, and the only people who need fear me are the more attractive members of the female population." At this, the girl identified as Etta grinned wolfishly.
Alex's eyes widened. She shuffled away from the bouncy blonde and eyed her warily.
"Oh, don't worry, you have nothing to fear from me. No offense." She giggled.
Alex shuddered.
A snort from behind Alex startled her again. She'd forgotten about the other set of eyes.
"Etta's just messing with you. She's not really a lesbian." A tall, gangly, Hispanic boy dumped his books on the table next to Alex and sat down. He brushed a stray dark brown strand of his thin shoulder lengh hair behind his ear, showing his effeminate features more clearly. "It's her greatest secret though, so don't tell anyone else." He winked conspiratorially at her.
Alex, bewildered at the new intrusion, just nodded.
Etta rolled her eyes. "Really. This is Laney Dorado, sixth year Brainbox."
The boy glared at Etta.
She stuck her tongue out in return.
He sighed in a long-suffering way. "What she means is, sixth year Ravenclaw. I'm in your transfiguration and charms classes." He smiled at her.
"And you're Alex Murphy. We've had our eye on you." Etta grinned at her.
Alex groaned. "What is it with you people? Bunch of stalkers..."
"No, we're just interested in interesting people." Interjected Lally, apparently having decided that she'd won her little game and pushed aside her inky quill, muttering a quick spell to restore order to the desk before someone told them off.
"And you're a very interesting person." Etta waggled her eyebrows at Alex.
Alex shifted uncomfortably. "But why me, a transfer student and a Slytherin to boot?"
Lally shrugged and gestured at the small group. "Houses don't really matter to us. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin - whatever."
"Collect them all." Etta said teasingly, her blonde locks bouncing.
"Besides, it's not like you wanted to be in Slytherin." Said Laney reassuringly.
"And what if I did?" Alex challenged them, wondering what kind of reaction she'd get from this trio.
Lally shrugged dismissively. "It doesn't really matter. Good for you if you're a little more cunning or ambitious than my dimwitted housemates."
The other two murmured their assent.
Alex was a little shaken, but realized she really shouldn't be, considering what she'd already learnt about these people's attitudes.
"Anyway," said Lally sharply, startling Alex out of her reverie, "Where were you two? I waited in that freezing entrance hall for an hour and half!"
Laney looked sheepish. "We made a little stop along the way."
Etta beamed. "We couldn't resist."
Alex looked between the two, raising an eyebrow in silent question. Were they together?
"We were just going past the fourth floor boy's bathroom when we heard Raised Voices." Etta gushed. "You'll never guess who was staying back from Hogsmeade for a secret snog!"
Alex was befuddled. They stopped to snoop on someone's make out session?
"Who?" asked Lally, a hint of excitement colouring her tone.
"Isobella Smigg and Henric Anneroy!"
Alex raised another eyebrow. Isobella Smigg was in her History of Magic class. She'd always seemed the shy type, very typical of a Hufflepuff.
Lally looked thrilled. "Really? Those two? Who would've thought..?"
"I know! But that's not all. Apparently Isobella thought Anneroy was cheating on her!"
Laney snorted at that, "Ridiculous really, the boy hardly had enough courage to put on the sorting hat."
"Well Isobella certainly didn't think so. They had a rip-roaring row over it, which seemed to have been sparked when Henric said something about Natilie Spates. It's not like she's anything to be jealous of, anyway." Etta rolled her eyes.
Laney continued for her, "Well, in the end Isoballa stormed off towards the Quidditch pitch, but not before she cast a shrinking charm on Henric."
Etta giggled. "It's wear off in an hour or two, but I should imagine he'll be singing falsetto until then."
Lally looked a bit sad. "They would've made such a lovely couple." Then a mischievous look came over her face, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Etta, I do believe you'll have to extol the virtues of trust in a relationship, preferably somewhere where Isobella can overhear you."
Etta smirked. "Will do. Laney, could you send some roses to Isobella, with love from Henric?"
Laney rolled his eyes. "Sure. But it's coming out of your pocket, blondie."
"I'll take care of it." Said Lally.
Alex stared at all of them in shock.
Etta noticed this and grinned at her. "What, didn't you know? We're the biggest busybodies in the school. Lavendar and Parvarti are amateurs compared to us."
Laney nodded. "We have an extensive information network, and we like to keep tabs on everybody. We control the rumor weed, you could say. Every now and then we help out a little. We're just more subtle than most gossips."
"We're almost invisible, in fact. We keep a low profile and never draw too much attention. It helps if people can relax around you, they tend to spill more than they normally would." Etta smiled at this.
"Uh.. Okay. What do people say about me, just out of curiosity?"
Lally waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing much. People will talk about you, because a transfer student isn't a very commen occurrence here at Hogwarts, but we've stemmed most of the more wild stories and haven't started any of our own. If you're going to be hanging around with us, we don't want you to be a big celebrity or anything like that."
"Right. Okay. That's weird but cool." Alex said, and nodded.
"We really should be getting some study done, you know. I didn't drag these potions bricks here for nothing." Etta started opening her books and setting her quills out.
Lally nodded, pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and promptly went to sleep on it.
Alex stared at her, unimpressed. "Does she ever do any study?" She said, half to herself.
"No." Said Laney matter-of-factly, leaning closer and pointing to Alex's transfiguration notes with one elegantly long finger, "I can help you with that, you know. I am a Brainbox after all." He said wryly, referring to Etta's earlier statement about Ravenclaw.
Alex blushed slightly and nodded, looking down at her poor excuse for an hour's work. "Yeah, that would be helpful."
The four spent the next hour or two in relative quiet, undisturbed except for the occasional student walking past their little corner of the library, which would be followed by half an hour's discussion on that student's personnel life.
Alex learned a great deal about the intricate social hierarchy of Hogwarts, which she had previously not known existed. She also learned a great deal about who was snogging who, who had snogged who, and who was quite likely to snog who.
All in all, it was the best afternoon she'd had all week.
***