Frustrated and angry, Tia left the watchers behind and stormed after Kerry and the Hufflepuff girl, intending to challenge her then and there. Moving quickly, she barely had time to stop when someone stepped into the hallway in front of her.
"About the other night," he said. "You haven't told anyone, have you?"
She stared at him, trying to remember who he was and what he was talking about. Oh yeah, the broom closet incident. Grant the suspicious Gryffindor. "Huh? That? No…"
Grant looked confused and then embarrassed. He'd probably realized his mistake. If he'd just let it go, she never would have given it a second thought. Tia laughed inwardly. That was what he got for thinking his own problems were as important to everyone else as they were to him.
"Just forget about it, then." He tried to walk past her.
Tia thought fast. This looked like an opportunity, though of what sort she wasn't sure. Still, it wasn't in her nature to let it go that easily, especially not in her current state of mind. "I don't think I can, I mean, after what I saw…"
He spun around so fast she took a step back, startled. "You didn't see anything, understand?"
"Well…" Confused, Tia suddenly wished she hadn't said anything. "Yeah, whatever. I have things to do right now, so…." she walked on past him.
"Don't ignore me…" he said, but she continued down the hall without looking back. He didn't pursue, and she put the whole incident back into storage. Stupid boy, it was probably nothing more serious than nicking extra potion ingredients from the lab. That ridiculous Gryffindor sense of honor was making him jittery, making him think everyone knew what he did. Tia was glad she was never bothered by that sort of thing.
It took longer than she expected to find the far south study hall, mostly because it was on the north side of the building. The Hogwarts architects either had a horrible sense of direction or a warped sense of humor. Or both. By the time Tia found the place, it was empty. Kerry and Cynthia must have left some time before. Kicking the door shut, she wandered around, needing something to vent her anger on.
"Hey! I said not to ignore me!" The familiar voice echoed down the hallway. Tia spun around so fast she almost lost her balance. Stupid conscience-ridden Gryffindor, he picked the wrong time to try to smooth things over.
"Shut up! I don't care what you do after hours, okay? I don't care! Now leave me alone!" She turned again and started to leave, but he caught hold of her arm.
"But we care." He said quietly. His tone of voice was that of someone trying to sound dangerous. He wasn't very good at it, but she had a feeling that somewhere behind it there might be a legitimate reason for him to try.
"We?" she asked coolly.
Grant nodded. "You don't know anything after all. You were just bluffing. My father said as much."
"Your father?"
Once again, the Gryffindor flushed. He'd said too much again. Some people never learn. "He warned me. I told him about you, that night. He said to be careful." Tia shrugged. She had a feeling she didn't want to get involved with this Grant or his father.
"Whatever." She tried to pull away.
"He knows your father."
Tia stopped struggling. She had a feeling Grant wasn't talking about her father's grade-school classmates. Which meant a dark wizard. Now she knew she didn't want to be involved in this. "So? My father knows…knew…lots of people…" The words sounded hollow. She knew what he was talking about, and he knew that she knew.
"My name is Grant Seldon."
"Um….so?"
"You don't recognize it? My father thought you would."
"Not a clue."
Grant frowned. This obviously wasn't going how he'd planned. "But…"
"Look. I don't know who you are, or your father. Understand? My father…whatever he did, I don't know about it. I was ten years old. Younger, even. I don't remember, and frankly, I don't care. Now, let go of me."
"You can't just…"
"I said, let go." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at his head. "Now."
Grant dropped his hand and stepped back. "My father's going to hear about this."
"Whatever." Tia started to turn away. Just out of the corner of her eye, however, she saw Grant's hands twitch. Reaching for his wand. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted, spinning back. The wand flew from his hand. "Accio." She pointed her wand at his and it flew across the room to her. Tia shook her head. "I still don't know who you are, but obviously I learned a bit more from my father than you did from yours." She drew back her arm and threw his wand as far down the hall as she could. "Now why don't you take that back to him and get some lessons, yes?"
Grant glared at her. "You'll regret that. You're lucky I don't have time right now."
"Yeah. Sure." Tia watched him scramble down the hall, retrieve his wand, and disappear. "Idiot. If you're going to be evil, you ought to do it right."
"I saw that."
Tia turned, slowly this time. She had a feeling if she moved any faster she would start seeing red. Cynthia stood in a doorway leading into the hall, smirking at her. "What did you say?" Tia whispered.
"I said, I saw that. Fighting with another student, outside of the specified practice areas. Tsk tsk, don't you know that's against the rules?" The girl started to walk towards Tia.
"Don't even start…"
"I think I'll have to tell the teachers. Any more points lost from Slytherin and you'll never win the cup. I think it's about time the other Houses had a shot, don't you?"
Tia realized she was still gripping her wand. There was only so much crap she could put up with in one day. "Fine. Tell the teachers, but first, make sure you have a fight worth telling them about!" She raised her wand, leveling it at the other girl.
"Expelliarmus!" Cynthia cast, but Tia was expecting that. Everyone started with that.
"Reflecto!" she countered, and a mirror shield spread in front of her. Cynthia's curse bounced off and shot towards the ceiling, shattering some stonework by the sound of it. Cynthia dodged some falling pebbles and lifted her arm for another spell. "Ferrus Brachium!" Tia called, and her opponent's arm dropped, suddenly heavy as stone.
Cynthia hissed and grabbed her wand in her off-hand. "Carpe Crinam!" she yelled. Tia had never heard that particular curse before, but suddenly every hair on her head tried to pull in a different direction. Now that was playing dirty. Fine.
"Centrifugio!" She spun her wand, delving into the realm of more powerful curses. Cynthia suddenly began to turn in circles, faster and faster. Tia watched for a moment, grinning.
Unfortunately the Hufflepuff recovered faster than she'd expected. "Excelsior!" she shot off, before Tia could bring her wand around again. Caught off guard, she started rising towards the ceiling. Fast.
"Levitate." She gasped, and was suddenly floating under her own power. Tia let out her breath. Some of those carvings were rather pointy, and far too close for comfort. "What do you think you're playing at!" she shouted down at Cynthia. "You nearly killed me!" She flew down towards the floor, wand raised again.
"Gravitus." Cynthia said, as Tia flew past, and suddenly her powers failed, dropping her to the floor. Her momentum kept up, and she slid to the end of the hallway before recovering.
"Ow…and I thought it was my House that never played fair." She muttered under her breath, then caught sight of Cynthia running towards her.
"Are you…?" The Hufflepuff started. Tia leapt to her feet, there was no way she was going to admit defeat that easily.
"Noctem!" she snapped, and darkness filled the hall. She heard Cynthia stumble, so she made a break for it. She needed some time to rethink her curses. Keeping one hand along the wall to guide her, she sped down the hallway. Suddenly, voices from the side brought her up short.
"…stolen, right from my office."
"So someone's collecting revival-type magic."
"Could it be? You-Know-Who."
"Certainly not, not so soon…"
"It is doubtful that the phoenix candle will…
Tia reached out and found what felt like a door. She recognized the voices inside as the Professors. There must be a meeting, but what about? Duel temporarily forgotten, she leaned closer.
"It's only what you get, Headmaster," Snape's voice rang out. "For using such a powerful object in such a frivolous manner…" Dumbledore replied in a low tone. Tia strained to hear.
"Fiat Lux!" Suddenly the hall was filled with light. Blinded, Tia stumbled backwards, straight into the door she'd been so close to. To her surprise, it swung open, dumping her unceremoniously in a meeting room filling with teachers. Struggling to sit up, she caught a glimpse of Cynthia backing away from the door.
"Oh no, you don't get out of this that easy! Immobilus!" She waved her wand one last time before someone snatched it from her hand. Cynthia was caught stock-still in the doorway.
"What is going on here!" Professor McGonagall's voice rang out. Tia looked around slowly. The green-robed Professor was standing over her, tapping Tia's wand against her palm. Snape was standing at the head of the table, looking annoyed at being interrupted. The other teachers ranged in reaction from complete shock to mild amusement.
"Um…" Tia started. "We were just…I mean…"
"You mean? What exactly do you mean, Miss Tiamat Raven?" McGonagall refused to let up. Just at that moment, however, the curse on Cynthia wore off.
"We were…practicing, Professor." She tried to explain. "It got a little out of hand." Tia had to give Cynthia bonus points for knowing when to lie.
"It seems so." The Professor's eyes scanned their robes, which had gotten rather torn and dirty in the course of the contest. "Professor Snape, I believe this is your jurisdiction?" Tia winced as Snape turned towards her.
"Practicing. Hmmm. All I know is I saw you," he pointed a finger at Tia. "Activate a curse on a fellow student in the middle of a public hallway with no supervisors present. Do you deny it?"
"It wasn't just me…"
Snape's eyes narrowed. Tia gave up.
"No, Professor."
"Good. Since it is so late and we are in the middle of a very important meeting, I will see you in my office tomorrow morning." He turned back to the table.
"Er…my wand…" she hesitated. McGonagall turned, fixing her with a long stare. Tia stared back. Finally the Professor nodded and handed over the wand.
"Anymore trouble and I will confiscate it for some time. Magic is not to be used vindictively on fellow students! Understand?"
Tia gripped her wand. "Yes, Professor."
"Good." She turned her back. Tia crept quickly out of the room, followed close by Cynthia, who'd just gotten away from her own House's supervisor. She took off down the hall, trying to leave the Hufflepuff girl behind.
"I can't believe you got us both in trouble like that!" Cynthia whined from behind her. "I'll get points taken off of Hufflepuff! When we're so far ahead!"
"You're one to talk about points!" Tia snapped. "There's no way Slytherin will ever make up the points I've lost this year! Snape is going to kill me!"
"Who's fault is that?"
"Yours!"
"Mine? How is it mine? I'm not the one who blew up the potions lab! I didn't break two greenhouse windows and a support pillar on the Quidditch field! I didn't…"
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Tia didn't want to hear about her recent accidents. She didn't want to listen to Cynthia try to absolve herself of all responsibility. She especially didn't want to go see Snape the next morning and have him ask all the pointed, barbed question she knew he'd ask. What she wanted to do was steal a broomstick and fly into the dark forest and never come out. Well, maybe not the dark forest.
Tia looked up from her headlong rush. Somewhere, she'd lost Cynthia, and was now standing outside her common room. Entering and finding no one, she took a few moments to throw pillows against a wall until all the pictures hanging there took refuge with their neighbors outside the room. Then she stormed into the bedroom and sat on the bed staring at nothing for a while. Finally calming down, she looked around, feeling like something was missing.
Ember. Tia realized she hadn't seen the cat for some time. Since the previous morning, in fact. Almost two whole days. She frowned and looked around the room again, wondering where the animal had gone. Of course, she didn't care what cats did with their time, but…she would have appreciated her presence right then.
"The whole world's out to get me." She whispered to no one. It wasn't true, and she knew it, but she didn't care. "Kerry's got a girlfriend who hates me and now he won't even talk to me. I got in a fight with a Hufflepuff of all the embarrassing situations, and now Snape's going to kill me. And when everyone finds out I've lost more points for the House…" Tia flopped back on her bed. "They're going to kill me. Again." She stared at the ceiling. "And some Gryffindor's father knew my father." Tia sat up again quickly. She almost forgotten about that. It had sounded suspiciously like a threat. Then again, who cared? If she left it alone it would probably go away.