A/N: I hate this chapter! I've been writing a whole evening on it then accidently shut Words without saving - and 3 pages out of 5 were gone for good!!!! It was really good stuff I think!!! ::cries:: I tried to remember all but wasn't quite able to recover everything...
~*~
With the beginning of November it became very cold and Ruby was constantly complaining about the coldness on the corridors and in the dungeons.
Everybody was wearing warm clothes for the first Quidditch match of the season - Gryffindor vs Slytherin. Ruby wasn't going - no matter what Franklin, her roommates or the other boys of her year brought up to convince her. She just refused to go. She spent the time together with Witty (who enjoyed every opportunity of flying around the room freely) in the common room pouring over Runes homework. Later her roommates told her that Harry Potter had shown some great performance though having had some bad problems with his broom and that Gryffindor had won with 170:60 points.
"Oliver must be delighted!" shot through her head but she quickly shoved that thought away. She still was rather bad at Runes but began to have an insight into the logic of the systems and how to recognise it.
During breakfast next Friday (Ruby was now eating together with the other Hufflepuffs) there was the usual rushing and fluttering in the Hall when the post arrived. Automatically Ruby looked up hoping to see a Salem school owl bringing a letter from Christopher. He hadn't written for weeks. There WAS a school owl landing in front of her but she soon recognized it as a Hogwarts school owl. It delivered her a small scrap of paper which had one line of Runes on it. Ruby looked up puzzled and caught a short glimpse of Oliver nodding at her then turning back to his plate. During her first lessons (double Transfiguration) Ruby translated the message under her table. Her translation wasn't all right and some letters were missing (*) but she could make out what it was meant to say:
R*by, * am sory. Hou nit to blame. Les*n this eve? * *ill wait. O.
Ruby looked at it pondering. Should she go? She decided that it might not hurt when McGonagall gave her a fierce look because Ruby's doll still was no toy railway (christmas was undoubtedly drawing nearer). Her five points from Hufflepuff led Ruby's mind back to the lesson.
In the evening she made her way hesitatingly to Babble's classroom. She was too late but didn't really care. Oliver was sitting there looking rather gloomy.
"Congrats to your Quidditch win." she muttered. Oliver turned around, his features brighter now.
"Thank you!"
From that moment on everything between them was as ever before: and soon enough they were quarrelling again. Ruby was declaring her opinion that this subject was totally pointless and Oliver answered sighing.
"Apparently you haven't read that book your parents have given you for your birthday… What more useful subject did you have at Salem Institution instead if I may ask?"
"You may - Medi-Wizardation." Ruby answered dignified "But Hogwarts doesn't even have THAT!"
Oliver had always been the only one who hadn't just rolled his eyes when Ruby talked bad about Hogwarts but tried to give real arguments.
"We have that in Potions and Charms and stuff." he tried.
"Yes, but we had it all in one subject, that was much better!"
"Why is that so important to you?"
"I planned to enter the Ministry of Magic - the department for Magical Diseases or the False Gone Magic office, y'know."
"You still can. I mean we have that, too, and all the employees do without having had Medi-Wizardation at Hogwarts… You can ask Madam Pomfrey, the matron. When she has time she surely will tell you. By the way much old knowledge about medi-wizardation is written in Runes. It just still has to be found out how to translate..."
"Pffff!"
They continued their talk about Hogwarts (Ruby complained several times about how cold it was) until Oliver pointed out that they should go back to Runes. And so they did.
That night Ruby woke up at dawn. She felt like flying and got up, dressed and out of the dormitory. The common room was empty, Ruby looked at her watch - and gasped: it was 2am! It was so bright because of the clear sky and the extremely bright full moon. Of course she couldn't go flying now but she could also not go to bed. Ruby didn't know why but she didn't feel like sleeping at all! So instead she went to the high windows anxiously avoiding a biting plant whose name she always forgot though her sleeves had already been caught by it several times. Frank had explained her it just needed a lullaby to let go but Ruby didn't trust it to react on a lullaby every time... She stood at the windows which went up from the floor till under the ceiling. The grounds looked great in the semi-darkness and Ruby felt tears in her eyes and a lump in throat and stomach. She didn't know if it was because she missed her school or because in exactly this moment she felt at home in Hogwarts for the first time ever.
Ruby was unsure if it was one minute or one hour that she had been standing there crying silently when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Franklin and during the rest of the night she learnt that he wasn't only good at talking but also at listening...
Oliver kept on sending and giving her messages written in Runes usually about what he expected her to work out for the next tutoring. Frank was fuming about these secretive looking messages but Ruby got better and better on Runes. She still wasn't the brightest torch in class but at least she now knew what Babble was talking about during his lessons. Professor Babble was quite satisfied with her progresses and with Oliver who obviously was pleased with himself, too. He even began to explain the languages belonging to the Runes. He said that with hard work she would soon be able to master the basics they had done in fourth year. Ruby was proud that he thought her capable of that but it added to her already considerable work-load. For she had begun to learn for her christmas exams. Whole Hufflepuff house supported her as best as possible but most of the stuff she had to do on her own of course. She didn't care about History of Magic (she would fail anyway so she didn't learn at all) and Muggle Studies (easily her best subject, she didn't have to learn much for it). But she dreaded Runes and Potions. Fail also one of these and she would be placed into a lower year! Third year would be so shameful! Not only that most of them were much shorter than her there was also this over-friendly third-year who had constantly tried to help her on History of Magic, his favorite subject, though Ruby wasn't dealing with that at all. Diggy, or what his family name was...
One Friday night she was learning ingredients for Potions as she dropped off over her books at 1am - and woke up the next morning with a bad pain in her back. It was all stiff and every wrong movement was enough to cause a feeling as if someone had shot a dozen daggers into her shoulders and the lower back.
Oliver soon noticed that something was wrong during their lesson that evening. He was wondering about how she had managed to produce a right translation with a wrong dictionary when Ruby strechted her back with an expresion of pain on her face.
"What's wrong?" he asked concerned.
"Nothing." He gave her a look "Well, I've been sleeping over my books last night, obviously in the wrong position. My back's killing me!"
"That can be helped!" he said casually "Pull off your robes and I'll give you a good massage."
Ruby's eyes widened "What? You don't REALLY expect me to pull of my robes, d'you?"
"Why not? I have some experience with massages. I did that a lot of times on my teammates during long Quidditch practices."
Ruby stared at him. 'What wonderful brown eyes he has!' she suddenly thought and blushed at that. He read her expression wrongly and blushed, too. "I mean, um, well you do wear clothes under your robes, don't you?"
Ruby's stare was angry now "Of course I do! Would be too cold without anything underneath.."
Oliver looked at her expectingly "So?"
"So what?"
"So do you want a relief or do you prefer suffering a bit more?"
Sighing Ruby stood up (Ow, the pain!) grabbed her robes and pulled them off. She wore black jeans and a dark red woollen pullover with pockets on the lower front. In the right hand pocket was Witty curled up and sleeping. When the clothes had been new they had been a bit baggy. Now they fitted perfectly as Ruby liked the Hogwarts food pretty much. She sat down again and turned her back to Oliver.
She didn't notice his hands trembled as he began to gently knead her shoulders. She didn't see him flush in that process. She did however feel the warm feeling that flowed through her back. After some (very comfortable) time his movements became harder to even reach the deep pain. Unfortunately he also reached Witty who got literally shaken. She soared out of the pocket nagging highly about the disturbance then spottet Oliver who looked at her startled and shrieking she dived into Ruby's neckline and under her jumper.
Oliver blinked. "Have I just seen a fairy with purple wings soaring up into the air and then diving under your pullover?"
"That's no purple, it's violet!" Witty screamed (she was touchy when it came to the color of her wings), Ruby gave her a nudge so that Witty stuttered "Oh, and, um, no, you haven't!"
Ruby rolled her eyes and thought about what to say to get that sorted out but Oliver was first to speak "Could I see her again?"
Ruby half turned to face him surprised and could feel Witty scrambling up her body and stick out her head over Ruby's left shoulder. Oliver stared at her amazed. Witty took that as a compliment and climbed out of the jumper completely to present herself in full height (not more than four inches). Ruby had to suppress a snicker at that behavior but then caught a glimpse of the admiring glance in his eyes and suddenly had a hoarse feeling in her throat. The same feeling she always had had when Kylie Morstein had talked with Christopher. But Ruby couldn't be jealous of her little pet fairy now! With an annoyed shake of the head she drove that ridiculous thought away then fully turned around causing Witty to fell off her shoulder - useful those wings were! At once Witty was fluttering in mid-air arguing about Ruby's lack of carefulness. Ruby ignored that and cleared her throat drawing Oliver's attention back to herself.
"You won't tell anybody all right?"
But he just asked "How long did you hide her? Was she with you since..."
"...the first day of school? Yes, she was!"
"Why did you hide her at all?"
She shrugged "Students are just allowed cats or owls or toads."
"Did you take that as a real rule? Prefect bo...I mean, Percy," Ruby grinned. She had often called Percy Weasley 'Prefect boy' in Oliver's presence"Well, he had a rat before he passed it to his youngest brother because he got an owl for being made Prefect. And Lee Jordan has even brought a tarantula this y-" but he was cut off by a fuming Witty.
"OH, THANK YOU!" and off she was, soaring behind the huge old book-shelf in the corner. Oliver looked startled but it was nothing against what he felt when Ruby yelled at him in anger, too.
"Very well done, Wood!" he winced at her calling him by his last name but Ruby was so outraged she did barely notice "Don't you EVER think about what you're saying? What do you think your brain is for?" then she hurried off to the shelf trying to soothe Witty enough to leave her hiding point.
Suddenly Oliver remembered he had a voice. "WHAT have I done?"
Ruby didn't turn "You have set her equal to a rat and a tarantula! Oh REALLY, how could you?"
It slowly dawned on Oliver but his expression was still rather blank and helpless. He hadn't had any experience with the touchy and temperamental character of fairies.
Ruby went on talking to Witty, saying he hadn't meant it, calling him a big fool whose brain and mouth weren't connected properly. That usually got her fairy. She heard a faint snicker and smiled. But still Witty refused to come out again. Suddenly Ruby felt two strong arms shoving her aside and she had a distant feeling that she once had longed to feel that kind of arms. But the moment was over before she could catch the feeling and remember when it had been.
Oliver now was standing next to her telling Witty that he hadn't intended to set her on the same level as a rat and a tarantula and that his mind just had been dazzled because he never had seen a real fairy. It was a whole official apology (along with some charming words for Witty's ego) and Ruby enjoyed the show grinning. Finally Witty came out of her dark hiding place and sat down on Ruby's shoulder chosing to ignore Oliver completely. Ruby again asked Oliver not to tell anybody about Witty as she wanted to keep it a secret afraid Witty could be sent back to the USA. He promised and she packed her things, Witty scrambled back into the pocket and pulling over her robes again Ruby left the room leaving a pondering Oliver behind. She forgot to thank for the massage.
December came and it still was damn cold. During second week of it McGonagall went through the hall writing down the names of the students who would be staying in the castle during christmas holidays. Ruby could see Oliver sign it as well as Harry Potter and the whole Weasley gang. However she was happy to spend at least christmas without Prefect boy breathing down her neck (after Filch Percy was the one who had caught her the most of times) and told everybody who would listen about the Muggle christmas with her friends that was waiting for her.
One morning the castle was found under a thick cover of snow. Quirrell could be seen with some snowballs following him. Ruby later heard that the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching the balls and scolded herself for not having thought of that on herself. But there was a good reason that she was rather idle with doing smaller forbidden things. The stature in the Hall had accepted her as a friend now and would soon be talked into her plans. A week before christmas holidays, on a Friday, the day had come. When the Hufflepuffs were on their way to breakfast they heard screams from terrified first-years and chattering laughs. Frank dashed off immediately wearing a concerned expression Ruby following him. It was a great sight in the Hall: there were several first year students standing at the bottom of the marble staircase. They wanted to get into the Great Hall but obviously were anxious to take even one step forward. The laughing armor did a great job on hindering them while it bowed the older students into the Hall. There was a large group of Slytherins laughing at the short figures who looked pleadingly around them. Ruby didn't even try to conceal her broad grin. Memories of that event at her own school came up. Sadie had persuaded the stature of Carl the Croaked, the most ugly (and feared by the first-years) figure in the whole school!
Frank wasn't the only one of the older students who looked concerned. But they didn't know what to do. Soon Professor Flitwick appeared amongst them. He was even shorter than most of the youngest students but did an awful good job with his wand. He was accompanied by Professor McGonagall and together they quickly had mastered the situation. The first-years hurried into the Hall without casting a glance behind whilst McGonagall looked sharply at the remaining older students in the Hall. Ruby put on an innocent face which she hoped would give away she was only pretending.
And sure enough at the end of Transfiguration that day Professor McGonagall asked her to come up to her table. Frank, Wendee and Delilah frowned at that and Ruby was sure they'd be waiting outside the classroom for her. She walked to the desk only hardly suppressing a wide smile. McGonagall wasn't smiling (as usual).
"You will be expected in my office at five sharp this afternoon. Make sure you are punctual." She said with a very stern voice then turned to the papers on her desk. Ruby was dismissed. She would have let out a small cry of joy and expectation hadn't there been Wendee, Delilah, Bebe and of course Frank standing and waiting for her. They all looked really serious and it gave Ruby a hard job on concealing her delight during lunch and the rest of the day until half past four when she left the common room accompanied by good wishes from her fellow students.
She reached McGonagall's office at five to five waited ten minutes then knocked and entered. Inside the office were Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout. Ruby was happy to see her Head of house, too, and for a short moment saw a vision of herself on the Salem train together with her friends right after christmas holidays.
"You are late." McGonagall said sternly then motioned her to sit down. Professor Sprout looked worried and for the first time doubts came over Ruby. She frowned slightly.
"I asssume you are smart enough to know why you have been summoned?" Professor McGonagall asked still wearing her unreadable expression. Ruby stayed silent.
"Do you need a little help perhaps? Surely you remember the unpleasent incident this morning in the Entrance Hall?"
Ruby tried to keep her face blank. He behavior was really important now.
"Well, you have been seen talking to the armor. Is that true?"
Ruby nodded her head still looking blankly. Inwardly she cheered. She KNEW that Slytherin bunch would give her away as soon as something strange with the armor happened.
"Have you been talking the armor into that shameful behaviour?"
Ruby nodded again and Professor Sprout gave a short high sound of disbelief, worry and shock. Both McGonagall and Ruby looked at her then again faced each other.
"Did you think it to be a good fun?" the Headmistress asked.
Ruby now allowed herself a sly grin and McGonagall looked as if it was hard for her to not explode.
"I see... Well, that is not the only point I want to discuss with you. You were also reported by teachers for passive behaviour during the lessons, disturbing your fellow students, refusing to do homework, Mr Filch and the Prefects have reported you a lot of times on various occasions. It had taken you a whole week to at least wear the Hogwarts uniform. Also your house seems to be totally out of your care. You never earned points for it or at least tried to."
"That's not true!" it was the first time Ruby spoke. She didn't care about the accusations - they were true but she would not accept lies. McGonagall looked at her one eyebrow high in the air.
"Professor Socket made me do a report on my experience with Muggles. I got ten points for that!"
"That is true. But well, the same day you got these you also earnt ten points from Hufflepuff for sending a first-year the wrong way on purpose. Good for him that Filch caught him before he could enter the restricted third corridor you told him was the owlery. And in the afternoon you got a second ten points subtraction for being caught out of bed at night and on your way to the Forbidden Forest. Makes a total of minus ten for that day if you ask me."
Ruby kept silent again but didn't break eye contact.
"Ms Riders, I want to ask you something and expect a clear answer. Are you going to be expelled from Hogwarts?"
Professor Sprout gasped. Ruby looked up and said coldly "Yes." Professor Sprout gasped again.
"Well, assuming the armor had put the last amount to the decision to expel you, Ms Riders, what would you do then?"
Ruby got suspicious. She didn't like something about this question. "Well ... go back to Salem Institution for Magical Education, of course." she answered trying to sound confident but her boldness began to fade.
"I have to inform you would not."
"What, I would NOT? Why?"
"Well, Ms Riders, you are here to graduate. Your magical education at Salem Institution is finished. Being expelled from Hogwarts means an unfinished education for you. No other school for magic is to accept you then."
Ruby felt the blood escaping her face. She had a feeling as if she had no blood at all. Her head suddenly swam - Howarts was the dead end of her education? She would have to graduate here?
"That...that can't be." Ruby stuttered.
"Oh, believe me it can." McGonagall said "Did you think you could switch school just as you want? There is only one choice left: Hogwarts or nothing."
Ruby's eyes looked into nothing. Her mind was far away but however was drawn back into the office rather quickly as Professor McGonagall now spoke again.
"As for your punishment for the armor incident Professor Sprout and I came to an agreement on. You said you are going to spend your christmas holidays together with a Muggle family in the States, I believe?"
Ruby nodded slowly and frowned. What would they demand from her? A ten-foot-essay on Muggle christmas?
"Well, I am afraid, you will not."
Ruby looked at her puzzled.
"As normal detention never showed any effect you will stay at Hogwarts over the holidays as punishment. You will make yourself useful over this time. Professor Snape mentioned his dungeons could need a good cleaning I believe. You will help him. Without the help of magic of course. And on Christmas day you will be member of the proud kitchen staff. Your parents will be informed right after our meeting.
Considering your future behaviour I am expecting your eager will to improve. One more slip on purpose and I grant you will get your wish to be expelled."
Ruby nodded gloomily fighting hard to hold back tears which were demanding their right quite emphaticly. And where did the heavy feeling in her stomach suddenly come from? Professor Sprout looked truthfully pity. She was always soon to give second chances. But McGonagall had been the talking one. Ruby assmued they were finished with her now and stood up. She had nearly made her way to the door which promised the relief of letting out the tears once she stepped through it as Professor McGonagall spoke once more.
"And, Ms Riders, I suggest you let your fairy fly freely from now on, it must be really dull staying in your pockets all the time."
Ruby suddenly felt angry and very betrayed.
"Did O-" she began but was cut off by Professor McGonagall.
"Before you call students who knew about your unusual pet without reporting I will tell you that no student has informed me. Your parents have sent me an owl at the start of term. You are allowed to keep the fairy though you would not deserve it as I hope you know."
Ruby nodded silently and left the room. Then she briskly walked away while Witty fought her way out from under her robes to try and calm her down. When Ruby was out of earshot she couldn't hold back the tears but let them stream freely down her cheeks. She didn't know where she was going but finally found herself standing on the already rather dark and very empty Quidditch pitch. The rows of seats were covered with snow as was the grass in the middle. Ruby sat down at the sideline with her knees at her chin unaware of the wet coldness and let all her frustration pour out of her.
~*~
Now it are 8 pages (seize of the letters: 12) - wow! Well, I couldn't remember all the words of what was gone but I think I did quite a good job on remembereing (took me 3 hrs - so it better be!). What do YOU think about this chapter? Please let me know at last!
I think it's clear that somebody will find her on that pitch - but WHO?
Well, actually I wanted to let you (if there actually IS somebody who reads it) brood about that question for some time. But I couldn't wait and wrote the next chappie right away... ::smiles sheepishly::
~*~
With the beginning of November it became very cold and Ruby was constantly complaining about the coldness on the corridors and in the dungeons.
Everybody was wearing warm clothes for the first Quidditch match of the season - Gryffindor vs Slytherin. Ruby wasn't going - no matter what Franklin, her roommates or the other boys of her year brought up to convince her. She just refused to go. She spent the time together with Witty (who enjoyed every opportunity of flying around the room freely) in the common room pouring over Runes homework. Later her roommates told her that Harry Potter had shown some great performance though having had some bad problems with his broom and that Gryffindor had won with 170:60 points.
"Oliver must be delighted!" shot through her head but she quickly shoved that thought away. She still was rather bad at Runes but began to have an insight into the logic of the systems and how to recognise it.
During breakfast next Friday (Ruby was now eating together with the other Hufflepuffs) there was the usual rushing and fluttering in the Hall when the post arrived. Automatically Ruby looked up hoping to see a Salem school owl bringing a letter from Christopher. He hadn't written for weeks. There WAS a school owl landing in front of her but she soon recognized it as a Hogwarts school owl. It delivered her a small scrap of paper which had one line of Runes on it. Ruby looked up puzzled and caught a short glimpse of Oliver nodding at her then turning back to his plate. During her first lessons (double Transfiguration) Ruby translated the message under her table. Her translation wasn't all right and some letters were missing (*) but she could make out what it was meant to say:
R*by, * am sory. Hou nit to blame. Les*n this eve? * *ill wait. O.
Ruby looked at it pondering. Should she go? She decided that it might not hurt when McGonagall gave her a fierce look because Ruby's doll still was no toy railway (christmas was undoubtedly drawing nearer). Her five points from Hufflepuff led Ruby's mind back to the lesson.
In the evening she made her way hesitatingly to Babble's classroom. She was too late but didn't really care. Oliver was sitting there looking rather gloomy.
"Congrats to your Quidditch win." she muttered. Oliver turned around, his features brighter now.
"Thank you!"
From that moment on everything between them was as ever before: and soon enough they were quarrelling again. Ruby was declaring her opinion that this subject was totally pointless and Oliver answered sighing.
"Apparently you haven't read that book your parents have given you for your birthday… What more useful subject did you have at Salem Institution instead if I may ask?"
"You may - Medi-Wizardation." Ruby answered dignified "But Hogwarts doesn't even have THAT!"
Oliver had always been the only one who hadn't just rolled his eyes when Ruby talked bad about Hogwarts but tried to give real arguments.
"We have that in Potions and Charms and stuff." he tried.
"Yes, but we had it all in one subject, that was much better!"
"Why is that so important to you?"
"I planned to enter the Ministry of Magic - the department for Magical Diseases or the False Gone Magic office, y'know."
"You still can. I mean we have that, too, and all the employees do without having had Medi-Wizardation at Hogwarts… You can ask Madam Pomfrey, the matron. When she has time she surely will tell you. By the way much old knowledge about medi-wizardation is written in Runes. It just still has to be found out how to translate..."
"Pffff!"
They continued their talk about Hogwarts (Ruby complained several times about how cold it was) until Oliver pointed out that they should go back to Runes. And so they did.
That night Ruby woke up at dawn. She felt like flying and got up, dressed and out of the dormitory. The common room was empty, Ruby looked at her watch - and gasped: it was 2am! It was so bright because of the clear sky and the extremely bright full moon. Of course she couldn't go flying now but she could also not go to bed. Ruby didn't know why but she didn't feel like sleeping at all! So instead she went to the high windows anxiously avoiding a biting plant whose name she always forgot though her sleeves had already been caught by it several times. Frank had explained her it just needed a lullaby to let go but Ruby didn't trust it to react on a lullaby every time... She stood at the windows which went up from the floor till under the ceiling. The grounds looked great in the semi-darkness and Ruby felt tears in her eyes and a lump in throat and stomach. She didn't know if it was because she missed her school or because in exactly this moment she felt at home in Hogwarts for the first time ever.
Ruby was unsure if it was one minute or one hour that she had been standing there crying silently when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Franklin and during the rest of the night she learnt that he wasn't only good at talking but also at listening...
Oliver kept on sending and giving her messages written in Runes usually about what he expected her to work out for the next tutoring. Frank was fuming about these secretive looking messages but Ruby got better and better on Runes. She still wasn't the brightest torch in class but at least she now knew what Babble was talking about during his lessons. Professor Babble was quite satisfied with her progresses and with Oliver who obviously was pleased with himself, too. He even began to explain the languages belonging to the Runes. He said that with hard work she would soon be able to master the basics they had done in fourth year. Ruby was proud that he thought her capable of that but it added to her already considerable work-load. For she had begun to learn for her christmas exams. Whole Hufflepuff house supported her as best as possible but most of the stuff she had to do on her own of course. She didn't care about History of Magic (she would fail anyway so she didn't learn at all) and Muggle Studies (easily her best subject, she didn't have to learn much for it). But she dreaded Runes and Potions. Fail also one of these and she would be placed into a lower year! Third year would be so shameful! Not only that most of them were much shorter than her there was also this over-friendly third-year who had constantly tried to help her on History of Magic, his favorite subject, though Ruby wasn't dealing with that at all. Diggy, or what his family name was...
One Friday night she was learning ingredients for Potions as she dropped off over her books at 1am - and woke up the next morning with a bad pain in her back. It was all stiff and every wrong movement was enough to cause a feeling as if someone had shot a dozen daggers into her shoulders and the lower back.
Oliver soon noticed that something was wrong during their lesson that evening. He was wondering about how she had managed to produce a right translation with a wrong dictionary when Ruby strechted her back with an expresion of pain on her face.
"What's wrong?" he asked concerned.
"Nothing." He gave her a look "Well, I've been sleeping over my books last night, obviously in the wrong position. My back's killing me!"
"That can be helped!" he said casually "Pull off your robes and I'll give you a good massage."
Ruby's eyes widened "What? You don't REALLY expect me to pull of my robes, d'you?"
"Why not? I have some experience with massages. I did that a lot of times on my teammates during long Quidditch practices."
Ruby stared at him. 'What wonderful brown eyes he has!' she suddenly thought and blushed at that. He read her expression wrongly and blushed, too. "I mean, um, well you do wear clothes under your robes, don't you?"
Ruby's stare was angry now "Of course I do! Would be too cold without anything underneath.."
Oliver looked at her expectingly "So?"
"So what?"
"So do you want a relief or do you prefer suffering a bit more?"
Sighing Ruby stood up (Ow, the pain!) grabbed her robes and pulled them off. She wore black jeans and a dark red woollen pullover with pockets on the lower front. In the right hand pocket was Witty curled up and sleeping. When the clothes had been new they had been a bit baggy. Now they fitted perfectly as Ruby liked the Hogwarts food pretty much. She sat down again and turned her back to Oliver.
She didn't notice his hands trembled as he began to gently knead her shoulders. She didn't see him flush in that process. She did however feel the warm feeling that flowed through her back. After some (very comfortable) time his movements became harder to even reach the deep pain. Unfortunately he also reached Witty who got literally shaken. She soared out of the pocket nagging highly about the disturbance then spottet Oliver who looked at her startled and shrieking she dived into Ruby's neckline and under her jumper.
Oliver blinked. "Have I just seen a fairy with purple wings soaring up into the air and then diving under your pullover?"
"That's no purple, it's violet!" Witty screamed (she was touchy when it came to the color of her wings), Ruby gave her a nudge so that Witty stuttered "Oh, and, um, no, you haven't!"
Ruby rolled her eyes and thought about what to say to get that sorted out but Oliver was first to speak "Could I see her again?"
Ruby half turned to face him surprised and could feel Witty scrambling up her body and stick out her head over Ruby's left shoulder. Oliver stared at her amazed. Witty took that as a compliment and climbed out of the jumper completely to present herself in full height (not more than four inches). Ruby had to suppress a snicker at that behavior but then caught a glimpse of the admiring glance in his eyes and suddenly had a hoarse feeling in her throat. The same feeling she always had had when Kylie Morstein had talked with Christopher. But Ruby couldn't be jealous of her little pet fairy now! With an annoyed shake of the head she drove that ridiculous thought away then fully turned around causing Witty to fell off her shoulder - useful those wings were! At once Witty was fluttering in mid-air arguing about Ruby's lack of carefulness. Ruby ignored that and cleared her throat drawing Oliver's attention back to herself.
"You won't tell anybody all right?"
But he just asked "How long did you hide her? Was she with you since..."
"...the first day of school? Yes, she was!"
"Why did you hide her at all?"
She shrugged "Students are just allowed cats or owls or toads."
"Did you take that as a real rule? Prefect bo...I mean, Percy," Ruby grinned. She had often called Percy Weasley 'Prefect boy' in Oliver's presence"Well, he had a rat before he passed it to his youngest brother because he got an owl for being made Prefect. And Lee Jordan has even brought a tarantula this y-" but he was cut off by a fuming Witty.
"OH, THANK YOU!" and off she was, soaring behind the huge old book-shelf in the corner. Oliver looked startled but it was nothing against what he felt when Ruby yelled at him in anger, too.
"Very well done, Wood!" he winced at her calling him by his last name but Ruby was so outraged she did barely notice "Don't you EVER think about what you're saying? What do you think your brain is for?" then she hurried off to the shelf trying to soothe Witty enough to leave her hiding point.
Suddenly Oliver remembered he had a voice. "WHAT have I done?"
Ruby didn't turn "You have set her equal to a rat and a tarantula! Oh REALLY, how could you?"
It slowly dawned on Oliver but his expression was still rather blank and helpless. He hadn't had any experience with the touchy and temperamental character of fairies.
Ruby went on talking to Witty, saying he hadn't meant it, calling him a big fool whose brain and mouth weren't connected properly. That usually got her fairy. She heard a faint snicker and smiled. But still Witty refused to come out again. Suddenly Ruby felt two strong arms shoving her aside and she had a distant feeling that she once had longed to feel that kind of arms. But the moment was over before she could catch the feeling and remember when it had been.
Oliver now was standing next to her telling Witty that he hadn't intended to set her on the same level as a rat and a tarantula and that his mind just had been dazzled because he never had seen a real fairy. It was a whole official apology (along with some charming words for Witty's ego) and Ruby enjoyed the show grinning. Finally Witty came out of her dark hiding place and sat down on Ruby's shoulder chosing to ignore Oliver completely. Ruby again asked Oliver not to tell anybody about Witty as she wanted to keep it a secret afraid Witty could be sent back to the USA. He promised and she packed her things, Witty scrambled back into the pocket and pulling over her robes again Ruby left the room leaving a pondering Oliver behind. She forgot to thank for the massage.
December came and it still was damn cold. During second week of it McGonagall went through the hall writing down the names of the students who would be staying in the castle during christmas holidays. Ruby could see Oliver sign it as well as Harry Potter and the whole Weasley gang. However she was happy to spend at least christmas without Prefect boy breathing down her neck (after Filch Percy was the one who had caught her the most of times) and told everybody who would listen about the Muggle christmas with her friends that was waiting for her.
One morning the castle was found under a thick cover of snow. Quirrell could be seen with some snowballs following him. Ruby later heard that the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching the balls and scolded herself for not having thought of that on herself. But there was a good reason that she was rather idle with doing smaller forbidden things. The stature in the Hall had accepted her as a friend now and would soon be talked into her plans. A week before christmas holidays, on a Friday, the day had come. When the Hufflepuffs were on their way to breakfast they heard screams from terrified first-years and chattering laughs. Frank dashed off immediately wearing a concerned expression Ruby following him. It was a great sight in the Hall: there were several first year students standing at the bottom of the marble staircase. They wanted to get into the Great Hall but obviously were anxious to take even one step forward. The laughing armor did a great job on hindering them while it bowed the older students into the Hall. There was a large group of Slytherins laughing at the short figures who looked pleadingly around them. Ruby didn't even try to conceal her broad grin. Memories of that event at her own school came up. Sadie had persuaded the stature of Carl the Croaked, the most ugly (and feared by the first-years) figure in the whole school!
Frank wasn't the only one of the older students who looked concerned. But they didn't know what to do. Soon Professor Flitwick appeared amongst them. He was even shorter than most of the youngest students but did an awful good job with his wand. He was accompanied by Professor McGonagall and together they quickly had mastered the situation. The first-years hurried into the Hall without casting a glance behind whilst McGonagall looked sharply at the remaining older students in the Hall. Ruby put on an innocent face which she hoped would give away she was only pretending.
And sure enough at the end of Transfiguration that day Professor McGonagall asked her to come up to her table. Frank, Wendee and Delilah frowned at that and Ruby was sure they'd be waiting outside the classroom for her. She walked to the desk only hardly suppressing a wide smile. McGonagall wasn't smiling (as usual).
"You will be expected in my office at five sharp this afternoon. Make sure you are punctual." She said with a very stern voice then turned to the papers on her desk. Ruby was dismissed. She would have let out a small cry of joy and expectation hadn't there been Wendee, Delilah, Bebe and of course Frank standing and waiting for her. They all looked really serious and it gave Ruby a hard job on concealing her delight during lunch and the rest of the day until half past four when she left the common room accompanied by good wishes from her fellow students.
She reached McGonagall's office at five to five waited ten minutes then knocked and entered. Inside the office were Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout. Ruby was happy to see her Head of house, too, and for a short moment saw a vision of herself on the Salem train together with her friends right after christmas holidays.
"You are late." McGonagall said sternly then motioned her to sit down. Professor Sprout looked worried and for the first time doubts came over Ruby. She frowned slightly.
"I asssume you are smart enough to know why you have been summoned?" Professor McGonagall asked still wearing her unreadable expression. Ruby stayed silent.
"Do you need a little help perhaps? Surely you remember the unpleasent incident this morning in the Entrance Hall?"
Ruby tried to keep her face blank. He behavior was really important now.
"Well, you have been seen talking to the armor. Is that true?"
Ruby nodded her head still looking blankly. Inwardly she cheered. She KNEW that Slytherin bunch would give her away as soon as something strange with the armor happened.
"Have you been talking the armor into that shameful behaviour?"
Ruby nodded again and Professor Sprout gave a short high sound of disbelief, worry and shock. Both McGonagall and Ruby looked at her then again faced each other.
"Did you think it to be a good fun?" the Headmistress asked.
Ruby now allowed herself a sly grin and McGonagall looked as if it was hard for her to not explode.
"I see... Well, that is not the only point I want to discuss with you. You were also reported by teachers for passive behaviour during the lessons, disturbing your fellow students, refusing to do homework, Mr Filch and the Prefects have reported you a lot of times on various occasions. It had taken you a whole week to at least wear the Hogwarts uniform. Also your house seems to be totally out of your care. You never earned points for it or at least tried to."
"That's not true!" it was the first time Ruby spoke. She didn't care about the accusations - they were true but she would not accept lies. McGonagall looked at her one eyebrow high in the air.
"Professor Socket made me do a report on my experience with Muggles. I got ten points for that!"
"That is true. But well, the same day you got these you also earnt ten points from Hufflepuff for sending a first-year the wrong way on purpose. Good for him that Filch caught him before he could enter the restricted third corridor you told him was the owlery. And in the afternoon you got a second ten points subtraction for being caught out of bed at night and on your way to the Forbidden Forest. Makes a total of minus ten for that day if you ask me."
Ruby kept silent again but didn't break eye contact.
"Ms Riders, I want to ask you something and expect a clear answer. Are you going to be expelled from Hogwarts?"
Professor Sprout gasped. Ruby looked up and said coldly "Yes." Professor Sprout gasped again.
"Well, assuming the armor had put the last amount to the decision to expel you, Ms Riders, what would you do then?"
Ruby got suspicious. She didn't like something about this question. "Well ... go back to Salem Institution for Magical Education, of course." she answered trying to sound confident but her boldness began to fade.
"I have to inform you would not."
"What, I would NOT? Why?"
"Well, Ms Riders, you are here to graduate. Your magical education at Salem Institution is finished. Being expelled from Hogwarts means an unfinished education for you. No other school for magic is to accept you then."
Ruby felt the blood escaping her face. She had a feeling as if she had no blood at all. Her head suddenly swam - Howarts was the dead end of her education? She would have to graduate here?
"That...that can't be." Ruby stuttered.
"Oh, believe me it can." McGonagall said "Did you think you could switch school just as you want? There is only one choice left: Hogwarts or nothing."
Ruby's eyes looked into nothing. Her mind was far away but however was drawn back into the office rather quickly as Professor McGonagall now spoke again.
"As for your punishment for the armor incident Professor Sprout and I came to an agreement on. You said you are going to spend your christmas holidays together with a Muggle family in the States, I believe?"
Ruby nodded slowly and frowned. What would they demand from her? A ten-foot-essay on Muggle christmas?
"Well, I am afraid, you will not."
Ruby looked at her puzzled.
"As normal detention never showed any effect you will stay at Hogwarts over the holidays as punishment. You will make yourself useful over this time. Professor Snape mentioned his dungeons could need a good cleaning I believe. You will help him. Without the help of magic of course. And on Christmas day you will be member of the proud kitchen staff. Your parents will be informed right after our meeting.
Considering your future behaviour I am expecting your eager will to improve. One more slip on purpose and I grant you will get your wish to be expelled."
Ruby nodded gloomily fighting hard to hold back tears which were demanding their right quite emphaticly. And where did the heavy feeling in her stomach suddenly come from? Professor Sprout looked truthfully pity. She was always soon to give second chances. But McGonagall had been the talking one. Ruby assmued they were finished with her now and stood up. She had nearly made her way to the door which promised the relief of letting out the tears once she stepped through it as Professor McGonagall spoke once more.
"And, Ms Riders, I suggest you let your fairy fly freely from now on, it must be really dull staying in your pockets all the time."
Ruby suddenly felt angry and very betrayed.
"Did O-" she began but was cut off by Professor McGonagall.
"Before you call students who knew about your unusual pet without reporting I will tell you that no student has informed me. Your parents have sent me an owl at the start of term. You are allowed to keep the fairy though you would not deserve it as I hope you know."
Ruby nodded silently and left the room. Then she briskly walked away while Witty fought her way out from under her robes to try and calm her down. When Ruby was out of earshot she couldn't hold back the tears but let them stream freely down her cheeks. She didn't know where she was going but finally found herself standing on the already rather dark and very empty Quidditch pitch. The rows of seats were covered with snow as was the grass in the middle. Ruby sat down at the sideline with her knees at her chin unaware of the wet coldness and let all her frustration pour out of her.
~*~
Now it are 8 pages (seize of the letters: 12) - wow! Well, I couldn't remember all the words of what was gone but I think I did quite a good job on remembereing (took me 3 hrs - so it better be!). What do YOU think about this chapter? Please let me know at last!
I think it's clear that somebody will find her on that pitch - but WHO?
Well, actually I wanted to let you (if there actually IS somebody who reads it) brood about that question for some time. But I couldn't wait and wrote the next chappie right away... ::smiles sheepishly::