Disclaimer: Just in case you're wondering, Harry Potter is not mine.
Hey everyone! Here's another chapter, sorry it's been awhile between updates lately but I have been swamped with homework have been super busy. That added to the fact that I haven't really been in the mood to work on this I just wasn't writing. It also didn't help that I received a very negative anonymous review which made me rather unhappy. Oh well, can't please everybody. Anywho, this particular chapter had to be rewritten several times because I kind of went a tad overboard. Many of you have probably noticed that the character Megan, who is based on me, is a typical Mary-Sue. I do not like having Mary-Sues in my stories so I'm trying to change that. Also, this story isn't really going in the direction I want it to go so I may have to rewrite a few chapters. I'll at least try to correct it in later chapters but I'm not promising anything. Anywho, big thanks to Jen for her advice which was very much appreciated but enough rambling, enjoy and remember to review!
Chapter 22: Ideas & Incidents
It was a particularly chilly December day so it was hard work for Lily to get out of bed that morning, despite the fact that she was normally a morning person.
"Hurry up guys!" Carol said as she ran from bed to bed shaking first Lily, then Karen and finally Megan, "You can't sleep all day!"
"And why not?" Karen mumbled as she pulled her covers over her head.
"Yeah," Lily said as she sat up slowly, still wrapped in her covers. "I like my nice warm bed."
Megan mumbled something incoherently from the other side of the room and rolled over.
"But we'll be late for breakfast!" Carol said.
Megan sat up super fast, "Food!" she yelled excitedly. She tried to scramble out of bed but was too tangled in her covers so instead rolled onto the floor causing the other three to laugh. "Stupid blankets!" she said from the floor as she untangled herself. She finally managed after a few minutes and threw the covers back on her bed. "Haha! Take that you blankets you!" she said triumphantly before hurrying over to her trunk to find her clothes.
"Nicely done Megan," Karen said as she too rolled out of bed.
Lily stretched, "Wednesdays are almost as bad as Mondays," she commented as she swung her legs over the side of her bed.
"But tonight we have Astronomy," Carol said, "That's about the only class I'm any good at."
"You're pretty good at Charms though," Lily said.
"But I'm horrible in potions," Carol said, "Is it just me or is Laroche kind of creepy?"
"I know what you mean," said Karen, "He's not as horrible as I thought he would be but he is really weird."
"Not to mention strict," Lily added.
"He's a good teacher though," Megan said, "He knows what he's talking about at least."
"Yeah but you're good in potions," said Carol, "You have the best marks out of everyone!"
"That's not true," said Megan, "Lorraine Everett and Stacy Redman in Ravenclaw is ahead of me for sure and the way Laroche favours Slytherins I think Jennifer and Bellatrix might be ahead of me."
"True enough," Carol said.
"Those two, Jennifer and Bellatrix I mean, are pure evil," Lily said with a shiver.
"Tell me about it," said Karen, "I cannot believe that anyone our age could be that horrible."
"James can be pretty horrible too," Lily commented, "I don't know how all of you can like him."
"Oh, he's not that bad Lily," Megan said, "Besides, he's not evil like the Slytherins, he's just immature and stupid."
"Like most boys," added Karen, and the girls giggled.
"True," Lily said, "But he still bugs me."
"But he hasn't ever really done anything to you so what's the big deal?" Carol asked.
"I'll tell you what the big deal is," Lily said, her voice rising slightly, "He struts around Hogwarts like he owns the place, he's always doing something wrong and causing trouble, he gets away with murder and is just a pain in the butt!"
Her three friends looked at her in surprise, then looked at each other and grinned.
"Lily likes James, Lily likes James," Megan said in a singsong voice.
"I do not!" Lily retorted.
"Then why are you so vocal about your distaste for him?" asked Karen.
"Because he's a stupid git, that's why," Lily said, "Now, enough talk about that moron, let's go eat."
The girls headed downstairs to the Great Hall and entered just as the post began arriving. They took their seats and almost immediately two newspapers arrived for Megan, which were closely followed by a package from home for Karen. Aesop swooped over to Lily and she handed him a piece of toast and gave him a pat. He hooted then flew off with the other owls.
Lily was looking after Aesop when she heard a sudden commotion from the nearby Ravenclaw table. Curious, she looked over. She spotted Gabriella Adams, a fellow first year, being hugged by her older sister, Chelsea. Both were in tears and their friends were trying desperately to comfort them.
"What's wrong?" Lily asked Megan, who was currently completely absorbed in her copy of the Daily Prophet.
Megan started, "What?" she said.
"What's wrong with Gabriella and Chelsea?" Lily asked.
"Oh, um, well . . . . . . . . . " Megan started to saw but the hall had gone completely quiet, except for a few whispers here and there.
Megan looked around then handed Lily the paper and pointed at the headline which read "Family of Five Dies in Mysterious House Fire: Ministry to Investigate". Underneath the headline was a picture of the family.
"That's Gabriella and Chelsea's aunt, uncle and cousins," Megan whispered, "They're one of the more prominent wizarding families. Their uncle is an Auror for the Ministry of Magic."
"What's an Auror?" Lily asked in a whisper.
"An Auror is someone who hunts down dark wizards and witches," Megan replied, "It's strange because in the summer the Kieran family died in an unexplained explosion too and this 'accident' appears very similar."
Lily had completely forgotten about the strange accident that had occurred over the summer break because she'd been more excited about receiving her letter from Hogwarts than reading the paper. In fact, if Megan hadn't mentioned it she wouldn't have remembered at all.
"Those people are-I mean-were wizards and witches too?" Lily asked.
"Well, Mrs. Kieran wasn't, she was a muggle but Mr. Kieran and the kids were, they'd graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago," replied Megan, "It's strange because Mr. Kieran and two of the kids, Charlie and Kathy, all worked for the Ministry just like Mr. Admas; Mr. Kieran worked in the Department of Mysteries, Charlie was training to be an Auror and Kathy worked as a secretary."
"Here's a dumb question," Lily said, "Why were the kids living at home still?"
"How should I know?" Megan said with a shrug, "I didn't know them too well but Charlie was only 19 and Kathy was about 21 so maybe it was just out of convenience."
"Oh."
Tiny Professor Flitwick and Professor Dumbledore had just entered the hall and headed straight for the Ravenclaw table. They spoke to the two girls and escorted them out of the Hall, presumably to meet with their parents.
The rest of breakfast was fairly subdued and Lily couldn't help thinking about the two strange accidents the rest of the morning.
Later on potions, while working on a multiplication potion, Lily thought of something.
"Megan," she said, "Are the Adams half-blooded?"
"Gabriella's grandfather was muggle-born if that's what you want to know," Megan replied, as she looked up from the willow roots she was chopping, "Why?"
"Well, you said the Kierans weren't pureblooded and neither were the Adams so maybe that's why they were killed," Lily said.
Megan paused and thought a minute. "Maybe," she said, "But it seems a little weird because when the Kierans died it was after a whole bunch of other strange accidents but there hasn't been any others until now."
Lily almost dropped the vial of sea urchin powder she was holding. "There were other strange accidents?" she said.
"Well, yeah," Megan said, as she went back to chopping, "Strange things tend to happen in the wizarding world so often that no one really thinks twice about them. But these accidents are different because they're all very similar and as far as I know, all the victims were half-bloods. Then again, it could just be a coincidence but it seems strange that there's always some kind of fire or explosion."
"Maybe the person who's doing it does it to destroy evidence," Lily suggested as she measured out how much sea urchin she needed for their potion.
"Maybe," Megan said as she dumped the roots into the cauldron.
Just then a firework went off with a loud bang and flew towards where the Ashmore twins were working. It landed in their cauldron, drenching them with their potion and suddenly there were four Ashmores, then eight......
Laroche swore and rushed over with the antidote as the entire class looked on. The Slytherins sniggered rudely but the Gryffindors didn't mind because they thought it was hilarious.
"Silence!" Laroche roared and the entire dungeon immediately fell quiet. He turned back to the Ashmores looking disgusted. "As if we need anymore of you!" he spat angrily, "Now drink this then the lot of you go see Madam Pomfry so she can clean you up."
"Yes sir," chorused the eight Ashmores before they left.
Laroche turned around looking rather dangerous, "If I ever find out who set off that thing there will be hell to pay!" he snapped, "Now finish off your potions! Class is almost over!"
The class got back to work on their potions and hardly anyone spoke for the remainder of class. No one knew what to expect from Laroche anymore.
The Ashmore twins didn't reappear until after classes that day when the other Gryffindors had made it back to the Common Room.
"What took you guys so long?" asked Steve.
"Yeah," said James, "Madam Pomfry usually fixes people up no problem."
"Actually we were done before lunch," Aaron said.
"We just didn't want to go back to class so we stayed up near the hospital wing pretty much all day," Shawn said.
"Laroche sure was pissed," commented Sirius.
"It's probably because he still can't tell us apart," said Aaron.
"Neither can I," Carol muttered to Lily and Lily smothered a giggle.
"Is that why he only ever calls you 'Ashmore'?" asked Dave.
"Yep," said Shawn, "Stupid git. How hard can it be?"
"I know!" said Aaron, "It's so obvious!"
Their friends laughed because it wasn't very easy to tell the two boys apart since they were completely identical. Lily had spent the better part of the past few months learning to tell them apart without help but she was still often stumped as to who was who. It was especially hard because no matter which one you called, both would respond in case you got them confused.
The rest of the evening was uneventful for once because everyone was still pretty subdued because of the accident. As Lily got ready for bed that night she couldn't stop thinking about it because it still seemed rather strange. Hopefully someone would figure out what was going on before anyone else got hurt.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And that's it! Hope you liked it. I'm a little unhappy with the ending but I didn't like the original ending I had because it made the chapter too long. This chapter was actually rewritten about five times so you'd better like it! I won't lie to you and say it's one of my favourites because its not, but I did like the multiplication potion exploding onto the Ashmore twins. Anywho, please review with constructive criticism because when you flame it's not very helpful and it just puts me in a bad mood so I don't really feel like writing.
~*~MeGaN~*~
Hey everyone! Here's another chapter, sorry it's been awhile between updates lately but I have been swamped with homework have been super busy. That added to the fact that I haven't really been in the mood to work on this I just wasn't writing. It also didn't help that I received a very negative anonymous review which made me rather unhappy. Oh well, can't please everybody. Anywho, this particular chapter had to be rewritten several times because I kind of went a tad overboard. Many of you have probably noticed that the character Megan, who is based on me, is a typical Mary-Sue. I do not like having Mary-Sues in my stories so I'm trying to change that. Also, this story isn't really going in the direction I want it to go so I may have to rewrite a few chapters. I'll at least try to correct it in later chapters but I'm not promising anything. Anywho, big thanks to Jen for her advice which was very much appreciated but enough rambling, enjoy and remember to review!
Chapter 22: Ideas & Incidents
It was a particularly chilly December day so it was hard work for Lily to get out of bed that morning, despite the fact that she was normally a morning person.
"Hurry up guys!" Carol said as she ran from bed to bed shaking first Lily, then Karen and finally Megan, "You can't sleep all day!"
"And why not?" Karen mumbled as she pulled her covers over her head.
"Yeah," Lily said as she sat up slowly, still wrapped in her covers. "I like my nice warm bed."
Megan mumbled something incoherently from the other side of the room and rolled over.
"But we'll be late for breakfast!" Carol said.
Megan sat up super fast, "Food!" she yelled excitedly. She tried to scramble out of bed but was too tangled in her covers so instead rolled onto the floor causing the other three to laugh. "Stupid blankets!" she said from the floor as she untangled herself. She finally managed after a few minutes and threw the covers back on her bed. "Haha! Take that you blankets you!" she said triumphantly before hurrying over to her trunk to find her clothes.
"Nicely done Megan," Karen said as she too rolled out of bed.
Lily stretched, "Wednesdays are almost as bad as Mondays," she commented as she swung her legs over the side of her bed.
"But tonight we have Astronomy," Carol said, "That's about the only class I'm any good at."
"You're pretty good at Charms though," Lily said.
"But I'm horrible in potions," Carol said, "Is it just me or is Laroche kind of creepy?"
"I know what you mean," said Karen, "He's not as horrible as I thought he would be but he is really weird."
"Not to mention strict," Lily added.
"He's a good teacher though," Megan said, "He knows what he's talking about at least."
"Yeah but you're good in potions," said Carol, "You have the best marks out of everyone!"
"That's not true," said Megan, "Lorraine Everett and Stacy Redman in Ravenclaw is ahead of me for sure and the way Laroche favours Slytherins I think Jennifer and Bellatrix might be ahead of me."
"True enough," Carol said.
"Those two, Jennifer and Bellatrix I mean, are pure evil," Lily said with a shiver.
"Tell me about it," said Karen, "I cannot believe that anyone our age could be that horrible."
"James can be pretty horrible too," Lily commented, "I don't know how all of you can like him."
"Oh, he's not that bad Lily," Megan said, "Besides, he's not evil like the Slytherins, he's just immature and stupid."
"Like most boys," added Karen, and the girls giggled.
"True," Lily said, "But he still bugs me."
"But he hasn't ever really done anything to you so what's the big deal?" Carol asked.
"I'll tell you what the big deal is," Lily said, her voice rising slightly, "He struts around Hogwarts like he owns the place, he's always doing something wrong and causing trouble, he gets away with murder and is just a pain in the butt!"
Her three friends looked at her in surprise, then looked at each other and grinned.
"Lily likes James, Lily likes James," Megan said in a singsong voice.
"I do not!" Lily retorted.
"Then why are you so vocal about your distaste for him?" asked Karen.
"Because he's a stupid git, that's why," Lily said, "Now, enough talk about that moron, let's go eat."
The girls headed downstairs to the Great Hall and entered just as the post began arriving. They took their seats and almost immediately two newspapers arrived for Megan, which were closely followed by a package from home for Karen. Aesop swooped over to Lily and she handed him a piece of toast and gave him a pat. He hooted then flew off with the other owls.
Lily was looking after Aesop when she heard a sudden commotion from the nearby Ravenclaw table. Curious, she looked over. She spotted Gabriella Adams, a fellow first year, being hugged by her older sister, Chelsea. Both were in tears and their friends were trying desperately to comfort them.
"What's wrong?" Lily asked Megan, who was currently completely absorbed in her copy of the Daily Prophet.
Megan started, "What?" she said.
"What's wrong with Gabriella and Chelsea?" Lily asked.
"Oh, um, well . . . . . . . . . " Megan started to saw but the hall had gone completely quiet, except for a few whispers here and there.
Megan looked around then handed Lily the paper and pointed at the headline which read "Family of Five Dies in Mysterious House Fire: Ministry to Investigate". Underneath the headline was a picture of the family.
"That's Gabriella and Chelsea's aunt, uncle and cousins," Megan whispered, "They're one of the more prominent wizarding families. Their uncle is an Auror for the Ministry of Magic."
"What's an Auror?" Lily asked in a whisper.
"An Auror is someone who hunts down dark wizards and witches," Megan replied, "It's strange because in the summer the Kieran family died in an unexplained explosion too and this 'accident' appears very similar."
Lily had completely forgotten about the strange accident that had occurred over the summer break because she'd been more excited about receiving her letter from Hogwarts than reading the paper. In fact, if Megan hadn't mentioned it she wouldn't have remembered at all.
"Those people are-I mean-were wizards and witches too?" Lily asked.
"Well, Mrs. Kieran wasn't, she was a muggle but Mr. Kieran and the kids were, they'd graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago," replied Megan, "It's strange because Mr. Kieran and two of the kids, Charlie and Kathy, all worked for the Ministry just like Mr. Admas; Mr. Kieran worked in the Department of Mysteries, Charlie was training to be an Auror and Kathy worked as a secretary."
"Here's a dumb question," Lily said, "Why were the kids living at home still?"
"How should I know?" Megan said with a shrug, "I didn't know them too well but Charlie was only 19 and Kathy was about 21 so maybe it was just out of convenience."
"Oh."
Tiny Professor Flitwick and Professor Dumbledore had just entered the hall and headed straight for the Ravenclaw table. They spoke to the two girls and escorted them out of the Hall, presumably to meet with their parents.
The rest of breakfast was fairly subdued and Lily couldn't help thinking about the two strange accidents the rest of the morning.
Later on potions, while working on a multiplication potion, Lily thought of something.
"Megan," she said, "Are the Adams half-blooded?"
"Gabriella's grandfather was muggle-born if that's what you want to know," Megan replied, as she looked up from the willow roots she was chopping, "Why?"
"Well, you said the Kierans weren't pureblooded and neither were the Adams so maybe that's why they were killed," Lily said.
Megan paused and thought a minute. "Maybe," she said, "But it seems a little weird because when the Kierans died it was after a whole bunch of other strange accidents but there hasn't been any others until now."
Lily almost dropped the vial of sea urchin powder she was holding. "There were other strange accidents?" she said.
"Well, yeah," Megan said, as she went back to chopping, "Strange things tend to happen in the wizarding world so often that no one really thinks twice about them. But these accidents are different because they're all very similar and as far as I know, all the victims were half-bloods. Then again, it could just be a coincidence but it seems strange that there's always some kind of fire or explosion."
"Maybe the person who's doing it does it to destroy evidence," Lily suggested as she measured out how much sea urchin she needed for their potion.
"Maybe," Megan said as she dumped the roots into the cauldron.
Just then a firework went off with a loud bang and flew towards where the Ashmore twins were working. It landed in their cauldron, drenching them with their potion and suddenly there were four Ashmores, then eight......
Laroche swore and rushed over with the antidote as the entire class looked on. The Slytherins sniggered rudely but the Gryffindors didn't mind because they thought it was hilarious.
"Silence!" Laroche roared and the entire dungeon immediately fell quiet. He turned back to the Ashmores looking disgusted. "As if we need anymore of you!" he spat angrily, "Now drink this then the lot of you go see Madam Pomfry so she can clean you up."
"Yes sir," chorused the eight Ashmores before they left.
Laroche turned around looking rather dangerous, "If I ever find out who set off that thing there will be hell to pay!" he snapped, "Now finish off your potions! Class is almost over!"
The class got back to work on their potions and hardly anyone spoke for the remainder of class. No one knew what to expect from Laroche anymore.
The Ashmore twins didn't reappear until after classes that day when the other Gryffindors had made it back to the Common Room.
"What took you guys so long?" asked Steve.
"Yeah," said James, "Madam Pomfry usually fixes people up no problem."
"Actually we were done before lunch," Aaron said.
"We just didn't want to go back to class so we stayed up near the hospital wing pretty much all day," Shawn said.
"Laroche sure was pissed," commented Sirius.
"It's probably because he still can't tell us apart," said Aaron.
"Neither can I," Carol muttered to Lily and Lily smothered a giggle.
"Is that why he only ever calls you 'Ashmore'?" asked Dave.
"Yep," said Shawn, "Stupid git. How hard can it be?"
"I know!" said Aaron, "It's so obvious!"
Their friends laughed because it wasn't very easy to tell the two boys apart since they were completely identical. Lily had spent the better part of the past few months learning to tell them apart without help but she was still often stumped as to who was who. It was especially hard because no matter which one you called, both would respond in case you got them confused.
The rest of the evening was uneventful for once because everyone was still pretty subdued because of the accident. As Lily got ready for bed that night she couldn't stop thinking about it because it still seemed rather strange. Hopefully someone would figure out what was going on before anyone else got hurt.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And that's it! Hope you liked it. I'm a little unhappy with the ending but I didn't like the original ending I had because it made the chapter too long. This chapter was actually rewritten about five times so you'd better like it! I won't lie to you and say it's one of my favourites because its not, but I did like the multiplication potion exploding onto the Ashmore twins. Anywho, please review with constructive criticism because when you flame it's not very helpful and it just puts me in a bad mood so I don't really feel like writing.
~*~MeGaN~*~