CHAPTER 2
"ORDER!" Godric Gryffindor hollered at the students crowded in the corridor near the hall. The crowd, excepting 6 students at its center, looked up in fright, several Hufflepuff jumped, one even screamed. Godric Gryffindor when angry was not something to be meddled with.
They crowd split silently and slipped away to the mid winter feast in the hall, allowing Gryffindor full view of what had caused the distraction.
On the floor two students were wrestling violently in a sea of black robes with flashes of blonde hair appearing occasionally. Both wands lay unheeded on the floor along with another pair. Looking up he spotted two students circling each other throwing punches and a flurry of kicks on the closest's behalf. As they continued to circle he noted the Ravenclaw crest and long plaits of the witch nearest, and the Slytherin crest on the wizard.
Impressed at the girl despite himself Gryffindor began to think of the best way to split them up and to what could have provoked the fight. Considering a Slytherin was involved he had little guesses what that may be, 'stupid Slytherin, stupid prejudices, why does he has to teach his pupils that!' he seethed inwardly.
As he was contemplating he was suddenly distracted by a whimper across to his left, quickly followed by a hiss "How do you like that you mudblood cow."
Gryffindor turned sharply to see a small Hufflepuff witch pinned up against the wall by a slytherin wizard at least twice her size. The Slytherin was pummeling her mercilessly, Gryffindor's blood rose, against the prejudices, against hitting women and on behalf of his dear Helga.
"Your friends aren't going to get you out of this one mudblood, why don't you go back to that hovel you call a home and stay with the rest of the pigs." The slytherin jeered, punching for effect.
'Jarred, a prefect.' Gryffindor remembered belatedly. Jarred paused, the witch raised her eyes, filled with fury, she had no intention of backing down. 'Just like my dear Helga, she never lets Slytherin run her down. That's her new prefect, Rhiannon.' Godric mused and grinned as the witch reached for her wand.
"Tut tut. You weren't trying to curse me now?" Jarred drawled grabbing her arm and smashing it against the wall so hard even Godric heard the snap over the other fights, the girl winced and bit her lip, not giving Jarred the satisfaction of her crying out. Jarred pulled his hand back to break her nose and froze. Gryffindor had acted.
The others had been frozen as well, only Godric and Rhiannon were able to move. As she struggled out from Jarred's grasp, Godric looked to see who the other students were.
As he split the two on the floor her noted one's name was Casius Malfoy, a 6th year slytherin prefect, the other his own 5th year, Tristan. Both came away bloodied, Malfoy looked worst, his hair, normally perfectly arranged, was tousled, his nose bled freely and he had two black eyes. Tristan only sported a scratch from Malfoy's signet ring on his left cheek, inside Godric grinned, glad his student had beat Salazar's; outside he looked scarily stern.
Past them he saw the other two students. The wizard had just landed on the floor, his nose looked broken, the girl was pulling back from a kick. He recognized the witch quickly, she was Rowena's new prefect, her father was a warlord he remembered, 'that would explain the kicks.' On the floor was another Slytherin, 'Crabbe... I don't think I ever learnt his first name; Malfoy's little followers. Where's the other one?" Gryffindor mused before seeing him bound in the corner like a fly in a spider's web.
He looked at the students for a moment as Rhiannon finally divested herself of Nott. "Now from Master Nott's comments I think I can paint a seemly picture from this. However it is NOT permitted for fights to take place in this school, you as prefects each should all know this." His tone softened as he turned to Rhiannon, "I take it that there were insults about your heritage that your friends took offence to Miss Lupin, am I correct?"
"Y-yes sir. I-I tried t-to tell them not to b-but then J-Jarred pinned me a-and they kind of lost it after that." She stuttered, holding tightly to her arm.
Gryffindor unfroze the others and the all came over meekly, except Nott.
"She lies sir. They provoked Crabbe about the size of his nose, we were stopping them ganging up on him, the comments came from the heat of the moment sir. They just trying to get us in trouble because we're in Slytherin, they have no proof!" His drawl rose in fake anger.
She is NOT!" a voice snapped from down the corridor, a tall Slytherin girl stepped into sight, followed by professor Lovelock, the divinations teacher; she approached Gryffindor. "I saw the whole thing sir. Nott insulted Lupin about her birth before setting his cronies on her, her friends took the brunt of the cronies attack I tied up Goyle and went to look for a teacher to break it up."
Godric looked at Lockheart who nodded in agreement, and wondered what authority she had to tie up Goyle before he noticed the prefects badge 'Seletha, Slytherin's other new one, she doesn't seem bad for her house.'
"But Miss Black, we have been at school over 3 months and not a week has past where these people have not got into a fight of some sort, they need to learn their lesson." He replied calmly.
"But sir they HAVE." Godric raised his eyebrows in response, "Not Nott and Malfoy sir, but they others don't have much choice. If they all refused to fight they would have to watch their friend be beaten senseless or worse and not even God could ask them to do that. They always send someone for a teacher to break it up, last time it was Athena this time it was me." Seletha replied eloquently, ignoring, to her credit, the sullen whisper of 'traitor!' from Jarred.
Godric took this all in and found he words to be true, while also praising her courage, honesty and articulate manner. "Alright your point is conceded Miss Black; do try to avoid such confrontations though, it is not seemly for prefects to fight like savages in the corridors." He turned to the three grouchy looking Slytherin wizards, "And as for you three, you will accompany myself and Madame Lockheart to the headmasters' office, you need some lessons in manners. Now!"
Gryffindor and Professor Lockheart herded them down the corridor quickly, as they turned the corner Lockheart called back to the group, "Best head to the hospital wing dearies!"
Once they were gone Rhiannon let out a groan and slumped to the cold, stone floor. She remembered muttering her appreciation to Seletha and then nothing more.
"Shush! You'll wake her!" came the urgent whisper from near Rhiannon's bed.
"Well you woke me before!" Rhiannon recognized that voice as Athena's
"Yes but you were knocked out by that potion, it's different." She now could distinguish Tristan.
"How!?"
"Will you both be quiet, that new nurse will hear us!" Seletha hissed.
"What's her name again? Diddy-"
"You can come out she finished her rounds ten minutes ago and I'm awake." Rhiannon said to the space where she heard the voices, hoping they were under Tristan's cloak and she had not gone insane.
"Thank the lord!" Seletha's voice whispered as she slipped out from underneath the cloak, "How are you feeling? Tristan nearly freaked when you fainted, he's such a girl!"
"Hey!" An indignant cry came from just behind Seletha as she sat down. Tristan and Athena appeared out of thin air before Tristan pulled up a chair and Athena perched herself on the bed.
"The best bit was when you coughed up some blood, he near fainted!" Athena added with a soft giggle, as Tristan just sighed testily.
"I did not." he replied tenaciously, "Any way you'd be a little concerned if someone started coughing blood while you were carrying them!"
"It was like a speckle!" Athena replied. Rhiannon suspected they'd been teasing him for a while; she laughed as Tristan continued to splutter.
"Thanks for helping me you guys it was sweet." She told her friends feeling grateful for them.
They'd only been friends for the year but they were true as could be. After the first day they'd found they had all lost friends over the holidays, they talked and joked and become close. As close if not closer then their old friends had been, and they were becoming closer. If Rhiannon could claim anyone as sisters Athena and Seletha would be it. Tristan, she mused, Tristan would be like Keith back home a kind of honourary brother role. She couldn't explain how they'd formed such a close bond over such a short time but it had happened, despite their different personalities.
The others waved away her thanks, they seemed to take it as their moral obligation to stand by her; she wasn't sure how she would ever repay them.
"You hungry?" Seletha asked picking up a light weight bag from the floor and joining Athena on the bed. "Because we are and we've brought supplies." She tossed the bag out onto the bed and food tumbled over the covers.
"I'm famished!" Rhiannon replied grabbing an apple and taking a bite. The others joined the midnight snack and filled Rhiannon in on all the happenings. She had fainted after the fight and Tristan had to carry her to the hospital wing where her arm was mended and her ribs healed, her ribs had caused her to cough up the blood, she'd remained unconscious till now.
Athena had been hit on an old scar, which had then opened; the potion used to mend it had knocked her out till 9 when Tristan had accidentally awoken her, to his ears misfortune. The headmasters had ruled that the boys live with their wounds and given the 2 months detention and denying them any privileges, it was rumoured that Gryffindor had wanted the punishments to be more severe.
"Well Ravenclaw believes that Gryffindor wants it to be more severe and to make a fuss for one main reason." Athena whispered with a conspiring gleam in her eye, "That he likes Hufflepuff and since Rhiannon's her prefect...well you get the idea."
"That's so cute." Rhiannon replied, "You know we keep thinking, that is the people in my house, that sometimes she fancies him. I think she's unsure how it would effect the school Slytherin would probably turn it into some big thing if they got together."
"True." Seletha added, nodding.
Tristan looked bored with the conversation. "They should get together and forget Slytherin's opinions, I mean if they love each other..."
"Aw. Never took Tris to be a romantic. Slytherin already thinks the others are against him over everything and are trying to work him out of the school that will just make his suspicions stronger." Seletha said. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming towards the ward.
Tristan, Athena and Seletha, clutching the now empty food bag, quickly ducked under the invisibility cloak, whispered goodbye and swept out of the ward before they were caught. Rhiannon snuggled back down under her blankets before she realized she still had the apple core. Placing it silently on the floor she pretended to be asleep. Whatever the new nurse thought about the pulled up chairs and the apple core that had suddenly appeared beside the sleeping girl's bed they never knew.
Dear journal,
Well today has been interesting. The 5th years were at it again today, the prefects nether-the-less, prefects fighting... Fighting in the hall should strip them of their duties but I'm proud of them...well certain ones.
I should probably exaplain. The slytherin wizard prefects in 5th and 6th started a fight with Rhiannon and her friends them being:
Nott, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle vs Rhian, Trist, Thena and Sel.
Why?
Because Rhiannon, MY Rhiannon, is muggleborn. THE NERVE!
I swear a servering charm may accidentally slip from my wand and Salazar will be singing soprano, along with his rotten students! It is getting beyond a joke.
And it's been happening all term! Salazar's kids attack muggleborns and they defend themselves and the school becomes a battleground, Why was today interesting?
Godric caught them. I insert a wicked laugh in here.
As you know Godric is a little over zealous and loves to play hero, rescuing fair maidens with his golden heart (well I suppose his name is Gryffin d'or- gold griffin, and its kinda sweet....) eurgh did I just write that...anyway you can imagine how he reacted.
Godric was, to put it lightly, as mad as a hippogriff with a hernia, Salazar and Ro only just managed to stop him from hanging them by their thumbs in the dungeons; mind I think their punishment was much worse...needless to say those three can be very sadistic when I'm not there.
The annoying thing was Godric kept trying to get me involved because Rhian's my student, even though HE came up with the idea that house leaders weren't involved in punishments on those who attacked their students...stops bias...I don't understand why he cared THAT much. I asked Ro, she's always the bright one. She put on the superior look that she knows something and was plotting, must say I don't like that look at all and I'm now rather scared of their mental stability, all three of them.
On a brighter note we're going to have a Candlemass celebration with a bonfire an' all to celebrate the winter. Me and Ro are plannin' lights in the trees and Godric will organize the feast and Salazar said he'd come up with a surprise or two.
It's late and I have to get up early to check on the mandrakes, I think I'll go to bed, perhaps I can figure out Godric there...
Aurgh thinking of Godric in bed, I guess I should add myself to that list of mentally unstable founders...