~*Every Other Time*~
Chapter Two: Not Such an Innocent Girl
Thalia: Tee-hee... when we have two incorrigible schemers head to head... it's a great show indeed! The angelic little girl... not! There is a Prefect meeting, snark galore, and of course, D/G-pluggieness! All hail chaos!
Dove: Can I just say it's quite amusing what our fics do to us? Like addicting us to a song by a former Spice Girl. Which is bloody catchy. Heh. Anyway, enjoy Su's positively two-faced existence and Warrington trying to convince people she's not a little angel… and failing, for the most part. Well, and our trademark of Summoning Charms to yank people over returns…
Diclaimer: When I, Thalia, own Warrington, I will no longer write fanfiction, as I will have *cough* other things to do with my spare time.
"You think I'm the fragile one
One slip, the damage done
I'm not made of china
I'm not made of glass
Would it shatter your illusions if this angel had a past?
If you touch me I won't break
Don't think of me that way
I'm not such an innocent girl
Don't wrap me up in cotton wool
Upon a pedestal
I'm not such an innocent girl
I'm not such an innocent…"
-Victoria Beckham, "Not Such an Innocent Girl"
The first day of the term was also the day of the first Prefect meeting. After finishing the small amount of homework that had been assigned that day, Cassius Warrington, along with sixth year Prefect Susannah Caligo and a still-sullen Draco Malfoy walked out of the Dungeons and made their way towards the Prefects' office.
The Gryffindor Prefects were already there and waiting. Head Girl Angelina Johnson was looking rather harried, and Richard Maechin, the 6th year Prefect, was trying to calm her down and assure her that no one had seen Fred Weasley throw that wet-start firework into Professor Snape's cauldron, despite the fact that everyone had witnessed the results. Hermione Granger merely looked excited at the prospect of being a Prefect.
However, Hermione's cheerful expression vanished like smoke as soon as Warrington and the other Slytherins had appeared, and she downright scowled at Malfoy. The blond boy, for his part, gave her a derisive sneer. Angelina frowned. Cassius smirked.
This should prove interesting...
Now they just had to wait for the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to arrive.
As if on cue, the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw delegations arrived from opposite directions. Warrington smirked slightly to himself as Ravenclaw seventh year Zach Turpin and Hufflepuff seventh year Angela Branstone, both blushing and smiling inanely, tried to hug each other without arousing the notice of everyone else. Needless to say, everyone noticed anyway. Although that might have had something to do with Warrington's deliberate throat-clearing. Angelina gave him an exasperated look, which he merely grinned at.
All right... now, he pretty much knew everyone, but... there was one more Ravenclaw Prefect, some demure little Chinese girl. Well, Turpin had arrived before the other Ravenclaw Prefects... and then Chang... and... Warrington blinked. Then blinked again. A familiar mop of blonde hair popped up under his vision.
Su Li looked up and grinned charmingly at all the others assembled, and there was a silver badge on her robes.
Bloody hell, she was a Prefect?! Any suspicions that he'd had that Dumbledore had been inhaling random potions fumes (when he had been informed that he was appointed Head Boy) were now quite fully confirmed.
"Say, Warrington," Zach said. He half-ignored him to stare incredulously at Su. She did look demure. It suited her better than that ridiculous little sneer that she had tried. And he didn't think it was particularly… genuine. "I heard some disturbing things about you carrying a little girl off in Knockturn Alley. Is everything… all right?"
Li, damn her, didn't so much as move a muscle. And was looking just a little lower than straight ahead, giving her the appearance of meekness. Everyone seemed to believe this. "Just fine," he managed. "No lasting effects."
Su looked up, and while her face continued with that terrifyingly submissive expression, her eyes sparkled. "My," she said softly. "I had heard some rumors to that effect. It was all over the train. Well, I am sure you are a lovely person, whatever they're saying." She put out her hand, looking almost uncertain if it weren't for those eyes. Cho looked wildly amused, but the rest indulgent. "I am Su Li. I'm a fifth year. Prefect." She smiled tremulously. "I am pleased to meet you."
He didn't quite believe this, but he shook that little hand, managed a "My pleasure," and they all went inside the office. On his way, he yanked on Angelina's sleeve. "Demure? Quiet?" he hissed. "That kid's a hellion."
The Head Girl looked at him very oddly. "She's never been anything less than angelic. Sometimes, you forget she's there."
Cho, overhearing this, seemed to suddenly have a problem not coughing.
"Like hell," Warrington said.
Angelina gave him a 'Merlin-are-you-being-an-antisocial-Slytherin-bastard?!' look that he pointedly ignored, and after narrowing his eyes cautiously at Su Li, Warrington addressed the other Prefects. "All right. Now that everyone's present and accounted for... we're supposed to set the password for the Prefect's office. Any ideas?"
The others shrugged, and Su Li raised a tiny hand. Cautiously, Warrington turned to look at the younger girl. "Yes?"
"Xiao li cang dao," Su said something in Chinese with a beatific little smile on her face. Warrington blinked, and Cho Chang spluttered, quickly hiding her twitching mouth behind a hand.
"What... does that mean?"
Cho muttered quietly, "It literally translates to 'a smile that hides a knife'."
Warrington was not sure how to take this, but at last decided on the light, devil-may-care sort of attitude that he was sure would get under her skin. "Attractive as that thought is, I'm afraid only you and Chang would be able to get in here then," he said.
Su simply smiled and shrugged a tiny little shrug. "Thank you for considering my suggestion," she said gravely.
"Janus," Zachary Turpin spoke up. "The two-faced god. That amounts to roughly the same thing, doesn't it? And it's pronounceable."
"Good thinking, Turpin," Angelina smiled. "I'll take that."
Su's smile was blinding in its brilliance. "It's perfect."
"Right then, next we will discuss tutoring schedules…" Angelina said, pulling out a sheet of parchment. "I have all the core classes listed here. If two of us will sign up for each, we should be able to get a good system set up to help those who need something extra before their exams…"
It was about half an hour later when the meeting drew to a close. Everyone filtered out of the office, making plans for next week and talking about Quidditch and the new Defense professor, who was beautiful, French, and female. Among many surprises was Cho Chang, who had hated Fleur with a passion the year before, to say that she was sure she would do a lovely job, no anger on her face at all. Things changed.
As Warrington and Angelina veered off towards the Head Boy and Girl apartments, he gave her a sideways look. "You're telling me you believe that innocent act?" he asked.
"Oh honestly," Angelina said, more than a little exasperated. "She seems so sweet!"
"You Gryffindors would be so very idealistic about human nature..."
Angelina glared.
He only laughed. "Well then... now that the business portion of this evening seems to be over..." Warrington paused at the Head Student apartment, and smirked at Angelina. "What exactly did the Weasley twins do this time? What was it... throw something into Snape's cauldron? How many things were blown up?"
Angelina huffed a bit and turned to the painting of a lady and a unicorn, "Carpe Diem," she said stiffly. The portrait opened, and Warrington followed the Gryffindor girl in, smirking for the mere reason that it brassed off Angelina to no end.
"Well? I'm really quite curious... what exactly did they throw? A wet-start? What did the others say? How many points did Snape deduct? Did his face turn purple or green?"
Angelina whirled around, facing the infuriating Head Boy. Of all the obnoxious, aggravating... Why did he get elected Head Boy? What was the matter with the teachers? What did she do to deserve this?! "I have to put up with you all year, don't I..." she said in a wooden voice.
"Yep," he replied cheerfully. "Should be fun. For me, at least."
"Why me?" Angelina wailed, wringing her hands. He sniggered, and she glared at him for a few moments before her eyes took on a hard glint. "Oh... whatever did Zach mean, talking about you carrying off some girl in Knockturn Alley, Warrington? Care to explain yourself?"
Warrington rolled his eyes, the picture of Su Li's beatifically smiling face flashing in his mind. "Oh... that. I was at a Potions supply store... and when I left, there was this seemingly innocent little girl who looked about twelve who was poking about a Dark Arts shop. I just carried her off because otherwise she would have been carried off by someone uglier than me."
Angelina spluttered, staring at him. "What?! What did you do to her?"
He gave a snort, "I offered her as a virgin sacrifice to the Dark Lord, of course," he snapped sarcastically. Bloody hell, what did Johnson think he did to her? He wasn't about to go and assault some kid... there were other ways to spend his spare time...
Angelina, however, did not seem to understand this, and reached up, hitting him upside the head. "You're such a prat..."
"Thank you," he answered dryly, "and let me assure you... had I really offered her as a virgin sacrifice to the Dark Lord, I would have done humanity a much greater benefit." Saying so, he turned around and walked off to his personal quarters.
***
The evening of September third, Su made her way down to the common room with Potions textbook in hand. The cozy, blue room was comfortably familiar. There were pies on the table between two velvet couches; no surprise. Some of the third year girls seemed to be merrily consuming them. Su stopped by that table, picked up a slice of apple pie, and plopped down on one of the couches next to Terry Boot, who was staring at his Charms book with a terrifyingly intent expression. "You can't set that on fire unless you pick up your wand, you know," she said. "Unless you're a veela. Are you a veela? I didn't think you were."
Terry sent her an all-suffering look, but gave up and smiled, his rather plain face quite attractive with that wide, boyish smile. "I'm afraid I've missed that particular disease." He ruffled her hair. "You, however, seem to be doing a fair imitation of one. What's this about?"
"It hacked off my mother," she said cheerfully.
"Ah." Terry looked over to a group of first year girls, who were laughing and giggling over their History of magic texts. Somehow, Su doubted they were giggling at anything the books had to say. They looked toward the two of them, and the giggles doubled in volume. "Oh, wonderful. Next thing you know, everyone thinks we're a couple," he grumbled.
"Is that so terrible?" Su asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"You'd kill me," Terry replied.
Su giggled. "Very likely."
"Taking you to the Yule Ball last year was Gryffindor foolishness. Or momentary insanity."
With another laugh, Su opened her Potions text and began flipping through to find the assigned chapter. "It was a logical solution to the fact that everyone who knew me well enough to ask was and is petrified of me, and that you didn't have anyone you wanted to go with," she said calmly. "I'm very fond of logic."
Terry laughed, yanked the fork from her hand, and stuffed a bite of pie into his mouth. Cho Chang was down with the young girls now, seemingly helping them with their assignments, and keeping the giggling down. Su meant to ask her just why she looked so radiant lately. The Hufflepuffs were positively depressed, all of them, and it seemed she should be too. Instead, she was smiling.
"Problems with Charms?" Su asked a few minutes later, watching Terry nearly heave his text across the room into the huge fireplace. "I'm tutoring Charms starting next week. I can help, if you like."
"You and who else?" Terry wanted to know.
Su's smile grew a tiny bit and her eyes sparkled. "Cassius Warrington," she said with relish.
"That look on your face… really scares me." Terry moved away a few inches on the couch.
Su laughed, plopped her head in his lap, and grinned widely. "I've been getting a lot of that lately."
***
Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Common Room, Cassius Warrington was blithely flipping through a copy of A Chaser's Guide to Professional Quidditch, sprawled on one of the numerous forest green couches. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Draco Malfoy fidgeting as the latter tried to concentrate on some Potions homework.
"You know, Malfoy, if you have a burr in your knickers, you should do something about it rather than sit there in discomfort," the Head Boy said blandly. Draco scowled.
"Shagging Millicent Bulstrode is not an option."
"Did I say that?" Cassius set his book down and sniggered, eyes glinting in amusement, "I meant... if you felt restless, you could always go and practice your flying or something..."
"Good God, it's the bloody beginning of the year... you're going to turn out worse than Flint," Draco muttered. "Speaking of which... who the hell are we going to have for the third Chaser this year? And we need a new Keeper as well, now that Thornton is gone... any ideas?"
"Hasn't your friend Zabini been on the reserve bench for the last two years?" Alexander Montague piped up from where he was sitting next to Susannah Caligo, the couple bent over a rather large Arithmancy tome.
Draco shrugged. "I suppose... but Keeper?"
"Quidditch practice starts in a week," Warrington answered calmly, scribbling something on a piece of parchment, then lazily attaching it to the common room's bulletin board with a flick of his wand. "There. Whoever wishes to try out... can do so. Meanwhile... why are you acting twitchy as Filch's cat, Malfoy?"
The blond boy muttered something incomprehensible about ugly female giants and bloody redheads. Warrington stared.
"The Weasley twins and Hagrid's mother?! Please... no... no... we... just won't go there... at all..." However, for the record, all of this was said with a jesting glint in his eyes.
The Slytherins burst into raucous laughter, and Malfoy scowled even further. Warrington sniggered, "Exactly what is the matter?"
"Bulstrode wants to shag me. Weaslette is... sassing at me in the hallway. Just like she did in Diagon Alley. Bah... bloody females..." Draco's terse statements disintegrated into random mutterings of discontent.
"Awww... he's getting the attention of two girls... and he doesn't know what to do about it," Warrington chuckled, grinning widely.
"I can't say I blame him," Montague spoke up again. "I don't think I would appreciate that sort of attention from those parties."
"Not to mention, Susannah over there would cast a Permanent Impotence Spell upon you if you did, Montague," Kevin Bole winked at the girl in question, who merely raised a blonde eyebrow.
"Well... perhaps eventually you will figure it out," Warrington said to Malfoy in a condescending, almost paternal manner. "Say, when are you tutoring?"
"I'm in charge of Potions with Branstone, you git... right before you. And Li." Now it was the blond boy's turn to smirk smugly, "Why were you nearly having conniptions over that little Ravenclaw, anyway?"
"Indeed," Susannah chimed in curiously. "She seems quite harmless."
"Exactly. She seems quite harmless."
***
Su was hurrying to the first Charms tutoring session, her mind rushing at a hundred miles per hour, half with lesson plans and half with ways to torment Cassius Warrington. Covertly, of course. Hurrying down the stairs to the entrance hall from another direction was a head of red hair, carrying an alarming stack of books. A Weasley, the youngest, by that hair. They headed in the same direction. She was probably coming for the tutoring.
The Potions session was just getting out. Draco Malfoy sauntered out, but his self-satisfied smirk faded into a fierce scowl when he saw the small redhead. Curiously, she grinned widely and called, "Hey, Mal-ferret. Who spilled bubotuber puss on your face?"
Malfoy's hand actually flew halfway to his face before he growled softly and let it fall. "Weaslette, be glad you're not worth it, or I might get the idea to kill you."
He stalked off, and the girl giggled softly and said to herself, "Not worth it? Let's see." Then she went into the room.
"If anyone else sees that scheming expression on your face, your cute little façade will be shattered beyond repairing."
Su whirled around to behold Warrington himself, smirking down at her. Why was she so short? "People see what they expect to see, Warrington," she said coolly. "That's why no one knows what hit them until too late. Besides, weren't you the one who said I was incapable of evil?"
"I said you looked incapable of evil."
She smiled, her face lighting up. "Lucky me," she murmured. Then she ducked into the room.
"Perhaps," Warrington shrugged, smirking slightly as he followed her. "On the other hand, I don't know if I'd like that. It would be terrible if I spent my valuable time wreaking havoc, then lost all the credit for my hard work because 'oh, but Cassius looks so nice! He couldn't have done it!'."
"Ha! Not like that would ever happen," Su laughed, and Warrington beamed.
"Exactly. For which I am every day very thankful... now, how many people do we have...?"
As if in answer to his question, the door opened, and in walked two Gryffindors, whom Su recognized as Seamus Finnegan and Ginny Weasley. Behind them, came five younger students: Kevin Whitby and Laura Madley of Hufflepuff, Calista Green of Ravenclaw and Emma Dobbs and Graham Pritchard of Slytherin.
"All right then," Warrington addressed the students, some of whom were looking at him curiously, others distastefully, and the two Hufflepuffs rather terrifiedly. "You're here for Charms tutoring, I shall assume... unless you're really lost."
A variety of affirmative nods and assents greeted him, and Su continued in a soft-spoken manner, "I'm Su Li, of Ravenclaw... and this is our so-kind-and-helpful Head Boy, Cassius Warrington of Slytherin. If there is anything at all that you wish for help with, Charms or otherwise, you should certainly talk to him, as he is quite willing to go the extra distance and provide aid to anyone... even ones who do not request it." The last bit was said with a sweet, angelic smile, which she turned towards Warrington full-force.
He snerked and rolled his eyes. "You insult me, Li... 'kind'? Please do not deceive yourself... or the others."
"I don't think anyone was deceived," Su replied archly, "and insulting you was the intention."
Twenty minutes later, Su was sitting with both of the Hufflepuffs and Ginny Weasley, expounding on the theory of size-altering charms. She had a feeling half the reason they had come to her was fear of Slytherins, or in Ginny's case, strong dislike. Which was probably a very mild world.
Warrington had Seamus Finnigan and Calista, of all people, hanging on his every word as he explained the Fidelius Charm, which was certainly far too advanced for Calista and Seamus had probably only asked about for the sake of a theory essay. There was no useful way of practicing that one.
The two Slytherins sat quietly on their own, working on their homework, calling to Warrington for help at sporadic intervals.
Looking at her small watch, Su clapped her hands to get everyone's attention, as the argument about the Fidelius Charm had steadily risen in volume. "We have half an hour left," she stated. "Time for practical application. Pair up with someone form another house, please." The two Slytherins scowled, but soon the pairs were made with only slight grumbling. Neither of the Gryffindors paired with the Slytherins, she noticed, Finnigan going with Whitby and Ginny with Calista. "And I will pair with Warrington," she said with a small self-satisfied smile. "Work on whatever you've been doing in class, though keep in mind everyone's at a different level. We will supervise and demonstrate."
"Try not to kill each other," Was Warrington's addition to this.
Su smiled at him again, that very meek face spoiled by glimmering eyes. She clearly had no such intention.
"We should be warning them," Calista said with a giggle, watching the veiled challenging looks pass between the two tutors. Ginny looked curiously at the small, bespectacled girl with her hair in two thick braids. "None of us are likely to know enough to take a stab at killing each other. Su, though…"
Ginny voiced the general consensus. "She seems so sweet."
Calista giggled again. "Whatever you say. Felix Consolum!"
Hit with the Cheering Charm, Ginny doubled over in giggles.
Su watched her younger housemate hit the Gryffindor girl with a Cheering Charm, and grinned. "Good job, Calista... except your wandwork is just a little bit off. Here, let me show you..." Saying so, her grin widened, and she pointed her wand at Warrington, performing the Cheering Charm with a flourish.
Warrington burst into laughter for a moment, as the Cheering Charm took effect. But only for a moment. The next, he had managed to mutter out a "Finite Incantatum" amidst chuckles, and narrowed his eyes slightly at a beaming Su. Nostrils flaring, he ignored the curious and amused looks from the younger students, and turned to Seamus Finnigan. "You were saying?" he asked coolly.
"Oh, just wanted some review on movement charms," Seamus' face was twitching slightly. He would have laughed aloud... but the Head Boy was a Slytherin, and he didn't want to lose points so early on.
Warrington smirked. "All right then..." Turning to Su, he whipped out his wand. "Accio Su Li!"
Su found herself cut off mid-sentence in her conversation with Calista, and flying across the room towards Warrington. She gave a tiny little shriek as he caught her, then set her unceremoniously down onto the ground. He was smirking again. Damn him to hell.
Warrington turned to Seamus, chuckling lightly. "Does that answer your question?"
Calista's statement about summed up everyone's thoughts at the moment; "Let the battles begin..."
