Puck's Children

By Masterharper and Jade

Disclaimer: Nos Harrium Potter non habemus.

Jade: Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match! Find me a-

Masterharper: Stop singing Broadway tunes and let them read!

Jade: Only if they promise to review.

Masterharper: Please review! Just make her stop!

Jade: Hmhmhm, hmhmhm, hmmm hmhmhmmm...::hums the tune::

*

Chapter 8

The Matchmakers of the South Tower

The Sunday after the Howlers was fairly uneventful. It was a glorious day, and the students were outside enjoying it. The prefects seemed a little on edge, but few were feeling sympathetic toward them. The prefects had spent the previous day going through every room, every dorm, and every student's trunk and other personal items, leading to a few rather embarrassing discoveries. By noon everyone had heard about Zachariah Smith's "personal" magazines. It was all the more shocking since he was in Hufflepuff. A few students confused him with Patrick's best friend and Ravenclaw Prefect, Zachariah Arrowsmith. That resulted in Zack having several girls coming up to him to scold him and occasionally slap him. But there was one girl who asked him out because of the misunderstanding. Patrick was still teasing him about it at lunch.

Most of the students took advantage of the sunny day by studying outside or by simply just being out there playing, fooling around, or relaxing by the lake. More than one sneaked off to the gardens to do studying of a different kind. Little did anyone suspect that they themselves were being studied.

***

"More juice?" Patrick offered.

"Yes please." Fay turned and held her cup so that Patrick could pour from the pitcher they were splitting. She turned back to her pair of binoculars that were currently focused on one of the greenhouses. "Darn, they took a breath while you were distracting me."

Patrick rolled his eyes. "Oh no, I distracted you from you duties as a peeping tom. And maybe they don't come up for air."

Fay glared at him. "How am I supposed to know who they are if they don't separate their faces for five seconds? And who are you to call ME a peeping tom?"

"I don't watch people who are.enjoying eachothers' company." He looked through his binoculars, ignoring that she stuck her tongue out at him. They both knew that if they were caught they would be accused of being peeping toms or worse.

The two of them were sitting comfortably in deck chairs that Patrick had transfigured out of two of Mr. Filch's buckets. This might have required some explaining, but what would have really gotten them in trouble was that they were spying on their fellow students from their chairs using binoculars. Not to mention the fact they were sitting on the roof of one of the towers, the South Tower to be exact.

"If we don't watch people 'enjoying eachothers' company' how are we going to get any dirt on them?" Irritation and just a touch of sarcasm were woven into her question.

"Watch and learn you should," Patrick answered, doing a horrible imitation of a little green guy from a muggle movie he had seen once. Speaking clearer, he explained. "It's not the ones who show their affection that we can have fun with. It's the ones that try to hide it, particularly if they hide it from themselves. The ones who would do anything to make sure no one knew how they truly feel."

Fay nodded, it made sense. "Remind me why we're trying to get info on the students."

Patrick raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're Slytherin. It's your instinct to get blackmail material."

Fay nodded in agreement. "I know why I'm doing this. I want to know why you're here."

Thinking it over for a moment Patrick answered, "If we complete only half our plans and get caught, we are going to need pull every string we can just so we don't get expelled. Any bit of info we might have on one person, especially if their parents are influential, might be the deciding factor."

Fay smiled wickedly. "I'll make a Slytherin out of you yet. Now let's get back to business." She looked through her pair of binoculars toward the lake. "There's Malfoy talking to one of the seventh year girls by those two rocks. Oops. Those rocks are Crabbe and Goyle."

"That's of no use. Everyone knows that Malfoy's unfaithful to whats-her- name, the girl who wears too much makeup."

"Pansy Parkinson. Hey, over there by Hagrid's Hut. It's the Potter Boy making googly eyes at his girlfriend. His sidekick's with them."

"That's not his girlfriend. That's Hermione Granger. Ron's the one 'making googly eyes' at her. She and Harry are just friends," Patrick explained.

"Yeah right. Look at them. The Hero and the bookish, yet pretty, girl who helps him through his quests. It's the classic story line."

"It's Hermione and Ron. Everyone knows they've been sweet on one another since second year. And I have five Gallons to back that up."

"You should be ashamed of yourself betting on people's personal lives." Fay paused for a moment. "Make it ten and you're on." Patrick produced a pad of paper and a quill out of his robes and wrote the wager down.

"Ten for me on HG and R. Ten for you on HG and H."

"If you don't think he'll end up with Granger than who?"

"My money's on the other Weasley."

"Ginny?! Why?!"

"He's already rescued her once and she's had a huge crush on him since, well, before I knew her. Her brother is his best friend and he's already been in her house twice."

"In her room?" Fay asked, implying a great deal with her tone. She received a knock on the head for that.

"No. At least, I don't think so. Last time he was at her house she was still scared to talk to him, so I doubt it."

"Do I sense jealously? Worried that your girlfriend might leave you for the celebrity?" She ducked when the hand came this time. "Ok, ok, maybe not. If you're so sure about it, put money on it."

"Not until you put money on her and someone."

"Fine. Five Gallons on Ginny and .Draco." They looked at eachother for a moment and then burst out laughing. After a bit Fay stopped. "Hold on. It could work."

Patrick looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "Are you insane? Sorry, wrong question. Which alternate universe are you channeling right now?"

"Hear me out. It would be a Romeo and Juliet-like romance. The two families hate eachother."

"If you start saying 'Draco, Draco, where for art thou, Draco,' I'll push you off the roof."

"Or a Cinderella thing since they're from completely different social classes."

"Next you'll say that Granger and Malfoy will fall in love."

Fay grinned. "That could work too. The whole forbidden love thing since he's a diehard pureblood and she's muggleborn."

"Fine, if you want to go into a fantasy world, we will. How about Luna and Harry? They've both lost parents. They've both seen people die. And they shared that incident that happened at the Ministry of Magic last year. They are both outcasts of a sort too."

"Ooh, I got one. Granger and Snape-"

"Stop right there. I really don't need the mental picture of a romantic Snape whispering sweet-nothings in Hermione's ear. ARRAGH.It's getting worse." He placed his hands over his ears and shut his eyes, as if that somehow blocked it out.

"He's not that bad looking. Quite charming in a way I suppose-"

"Another word and I'll hex you till you're a lifeless gray blob. If you're going to continue, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, use any of the Professors in your couplings from h-"

"Like you can't see the possible connection between the Headmaster and McGonagall."

"That I can stand, but DON'T go anywhere else on that path."

"Fine. Who's left then?"

"There's Ron and Luna."

Fay snorted. "Luna could do much better than someone's sidekick."

"I know you think Luna is the greatest person since, well, ever, but try to remember you started this. Anyway, she's the only one who's still singing that Weasley song. That is, the only one besides Crabbe and Goyle. I don't think they know any other songs though."

"What about Zack and Luna or even Luna and you-"

"I'm not going to talk about my best friend's love life with you and don't you even dare bring me into this."

"But there's no one left to talk about."

"So?" Patrick returned to looking through his binoculars. Fay sighed and began to look too. Suddenly she turned to Patrick.

"Draco, Draco, where for art thou, Dra-"

She never finished her sentence. She suddenly found herself sitting in a bucket, sliding down the roof. Somehow she managed to grab a hold of something before she fell off.

*

Ginny and Luna were walking back to the castle. Luna was studying the grass while Ginny was going on about Quidditch.

Suddenly a large object hurtled down in front of Ginny, missing her by one step. It formed a small crater in the ground. Ginny just stared.

Luna looked over in front of Ginny. "It is one of Mr. Filch's buckets. We should return it." Luna picked it up and went toward the castle.

Looking up, Ginny thought she saw someone at the top of the South Tower.

*

Less then fifteen minutes later Ginny was walking slowly along one of Hogwarts' many corridors, alone. Luna had not even slowed down when Ginny had started exclaiming that someone had tried to impale her. She assumed that Luna was off somewhere trying to find Mr. Filch. After a minute of recovering from the shock of almost getting squished by a bucket, Ginny had run up the stairs to the South Tower, anxious to find her attackers. When she arrived not a soul, living anyway, was in the area. She had checked the top five floors and the roof and found almost nothing. On the top floor however, she found a bucket that was a twin to the one that almost killed her, a pitcher half full of pumpkin juice, two cups, and a note.

The note appeared to be hastily written in a rather formal style. The combination made it difficult to read. She stepped onto the top floor balcony to get better light. It read: Dear Virginia Weasley, Terribly sorry for the accident that sent a liquid container hurtling at dangerous speeds toward your head. If it is of any comfort, it was neither intended to fall nor was it aimed at you. Unfortunately, accidents happen and we all are, at least most of the time, subject to the law of gravity. Rest assured, we are almost entirely certain it will not happen again. We have decided to let you have our pumpkin juice as a means of apology.

Ginny blinked. This letter was absurd. If it were not for the fact that she had just recently had a brush with death she would be laughing right now. However, she had just recently had a brush with death so the letter only angered her. She noticed that there was a little more. It read: Sincerely yours, The Descendants of Puck.

That was what she was thinking about while she was strolling down the corridor. The Descendants of Puck. She had no idea who or what they were. She couldn't even think of who Puck was. Perhaps Hermione would know; she actually paid attention in History class.

She passed Allen Longfellow and Kyle Armstrong along the way. They were examining one of the suits of armor.

"How do you think they breathed, Kyle?"

"How should I know? You shouldn't be climbing on it!"

"I just want to see it up close. Hey, there are holes in the back. Maybe they had eyes in the back of their head?"

"Did you ever think that they just put it up wrong?"

Allen just looked at Kyle. "Don't be a nutter."

Ginny didn't even bother correcting or scolding them.

She kept walking until she reached a courtyard. It was full of students but she quickly picked out one head of blond hair that had a wand sticking out of it. Walking over, she noticed that there were quite a few students gathered around her.

Luna was sitting on the bucket that had recently almost pummeled Ginny. Sitting on the ground in front of her was Patrick's little sister, Fay, staring at Luna with an awed look while Luna described her exploits in search of Snorkack. Standing along one wall were Patrick, Zack, Colin, and Dennis Creevley watching and listening with varying degrees of interest.

"And then we checked the traps and the bait was gone."

"Then what did you do?" asked Fay, her voice full of amazement.

"The only thing we could do. We had breakfast." There was an attempt by the boys not to laugh. Colin and Dennis didn't succeed.

In one movement Fay stood and whirled to face them. If looks could kill, a good portion of Scotland would have been destroyed. When she spoke, it did not take much imagination to see a serpent bearing its fangs ready to strike. Venom seemed to drip from every word she said. "And what, pray tell, would you two Gryffindorks have done?"

The Creevely brothers seemed to shrink back from her, attempting to become one with the wall. The others watched with interest, except for Luna who watching an ant. Patrick was having an even harder time holding his laughter than before. After a moment Colin seemed to realize that he was cowering from an eleven-year-old girl.

"You shouldn't speak to us like that. We are older you." Dennis nodded his head furiously in agreement.

Fay moved closer to the two of them. Even though the younger of the two Creevely brothers was two heads taller she still seemed to tower over them. "I asked you a question." The Creevelys attempted to explain what they would have done. Ginny wasn't sure but they seemed to settle on that the sun got in their eyes. "I see. Perhaps I should help clear your mind." She reached into her robes and pulled out nothing. Immediately she spun around to face Patrick who was dangling Fay's wand just out of arms reach. He also had a hand inside his own robes ready to draw his wand. She sent him a glance that made the one before look motherly. Patrick held his ground. Behind him Zack cringed.

"Enough, Fay."

Fay's eyes narrowed in anger. "Like I need it." She turned back toward the brothers who had thought that they had just been saved only to fear for their life again. For every step she took toward them they took two back. Their reaction seemed to placate her. She smiled and walked away, grabbing her wand from her brother on the way out.

Luna was the first to speak. "Hello Ginny."

"Hello Luna." She looked around at the assembled group. "Did I miss something?"

Zack was gaping at her again. Patrick turned to Colin. "Now look what you've done."

Colin laughed nervously. "Yeah, I guess your right."

Patrick shook his head. "No, you don't get it. Now you're marked men. At every opportunity, she will try to increase your fear of her."

Dennis now looked very frightened. "But you can stop her, right?"

Patrick gave a small laugh. "She's only in first year. I can handle her, for now. By fourth, Dumbledore and You-Know-Who will have to join forces to get her to stop." He turned to face Ginny. "Is it true that you almost got beheaded by a bucket?" He asked with a hint of laughter.

Ginny took a moment to remember. The fight had taken her mind off that incident. "Yeah." She gave a half-laugh. "Some group called the Descendants of Puck."

Colin finally found his voice and asked, "Who's Puck?"

Ginny shrugged. "I have no idea."

Dennis decided to contribute, "It sounds like-"

Fortunately Colin stopped him. "We know Dennis. Trust me, we know."

"We know what?" Luna asked.

There was a jumble of excuses of places people had to be. Ginny, Patrick, Colin, and Dennis left, leaving a still gaping Zack to explain to a confused Luna.