The cold war.
Harry hated Draco, Malfoy hated Potter. That was the way things were, always had been, and always would be. Trill was brooding in Potions, sitting just a few feet from each boy. It wouldn't do to become Harry's enemy. But Malfoy was so entertaining, it reminded her of her stay in the US, and Harry and co. were so… she looked at Hermione. Cold and unwelcoming was the phrase she preferred. She had been following him discreetly wherever he went in he hall, and it was becoming extremely difficult to keep track of him, it would be much easier if she could just walk with him. She stirred her potion nonchalantly, throwing in whatever she pleased. If by the end she hadn't made it right, (and she very greatly doubted that she had) then she would sing her potion a little song and make it right. Amurensis had told her not to cheat time and time again, and she never got away with it in his class, but it was just too easy not to do the work.
"Someday." He had said seriously. "There will come a time when you will have a sore throat and you won't know a single spell to save yours, or Harry's, life." Trill had looked at him quizzically.
"Why would I be stupid enough to let myself get a sore throat?" She asked, teasing him dreadfully. Amurensis had closed his eyes and Trill could see him counting to ten in his mind. She hopped up to the side of his desk and gave him a tiny peck on the mouth, sprinting out of the door before he blew up.
"And It is absolutely against the rules to kiss the teachers!" He roared.
Trill giggled to herself, but quickly stifled the noise. Professor Snape was prowling the aisles, looking into people's cauldron's and writing notes on a piece of paper or making snide comments. Now there was something she agreed with the Gryffindor's about. That was a nasty piece of work they had there. It wasn't that he was too ugly, but his demeanor made it totally impossible to pity him his pathetic, lonely fate. And the big crooked nose didn't help either. Trill looked back to Malfoy and sighed.
If it didn't work out to get Hermione out of their group, she would just have to watch him from a distance, setting alarms on the doors at night so that he couldn't leave in his invisibility cloak. She may even have to put something in his brain that told her when he was in trouble. That would be the easiest. She grinned, thinking of what his face would look like when she told him she wanted to implant something into his brain.
"Open wide, Harry!" The witch doctor cackled. 'This won't hurt a bit…I promise! Ahahahaha…!"
Professor Snape was coming towards her now, and she quickly sang it a quiet song, turning it into the perfect cure for warts. Professor Snape came to her cauldron, and she smiled at him like she did everyone else, trying not to gag. He stopped, looked inside of the cauldron and sneered at her.
"Your potion, Miss Talu. What have you been doing this whole time?" Trill cocked an eyebrow, knowing full well that her potion was more perfect than any he could make himself. Hermione laughed a tiny gleeful laugh.
"What?" She said. Professor Snape leaned in close.
"Everyone else's potion is green, Miss Talu. Yours is white. Care to explain?" Trill gulped and glanced at her partner's cauldron. Bang.
She gave him a wanna-be-innocent look and shrugged her shoulders, smiling guiltily, gesturing widely with her hands and opening and closing her mouth a few times.
"Um…er… Well green is just such an ugly color and I thought… that it would look much better as a white potion, you see. I have no doubt that it works." She said. Snape tapped his paper with his quill, and then said menacingly,
"Ten points from Gryffindor, and I would like to see you after class, Miss Talu." Striding to the front and sitting in his desk with a wide sweep of his robe. Trill put her chin in her hands and turned around to give Malfoy a pathetic look who in return made a piggy face at her. Trill stuck out her tongue and made the most disgusting face she could manage, until Malfoy laughed halfheartedly and looked away from the embarrassing sight. Snape looked and saw that it was only Malfoy and said,
"Quiet please, class." And then turned to his notes again. Trill gave him a look that said, what did I tell you? And he just shrugged happily. Trill slapped a hand over one eye, glaring at him through the other.
There were just three things that bothered her about Malfoy. The first, was his two cronies Crabbe and Goyle that were always hanging about. It made it hard to have a good conversation. Second was that Harry Potter and every Gryffindor that had ever known him hated him. And third was the stories she had heard about him from the common room. They most of them could just be malicious lies, but there had to be some reason they hated him so much, and she could not tell the truth from the lie.
After the bell had rung, Trill slowly made her way up to Snape's desk, waving glumly to Malfoy on his way out.
"Miss Talu." Snape said. Trill stood in front of his desk with her head down and her eyes up, looking at his especially large nose. She jumped at his sudden movement as he stood in front of her. "I know what you are Miss Talu, and I know what you can do." He strode around the desk. "And I must insist that you do not use them in here." He looked at her closely. "If I catch you once more," He held up his finger menacingly and let the phrase hang. He came back around to his seat but still stood. "Even if you are Mr. Potter's 'body guard' shall we say, you are still a student here."
"How annoying." Trill thought to herself. "How dare he look down that enormous, slimy, bulb of a nose at me!'
She had about decided to put a puncture in his swollen face, but thought better of it and swallowed her pride instead. She almost thought she saw Snape smile when he saw it, but she knew he couldn't have when she saw his face.
"You may go..." She sighed and turned around to leave the classroom and was halfway across the floor when he spoke again. "Little Lap dog."
Her face turned purple with rage. "How dare he!" She nearly screamed. She collected herself and then turned to face him. "Just stay out of my way." Trill locked eyes with him tightly, lacing her voice with Banshee song. It took all of her effort not to throw him across the room with her own hands.
"Professor Snape." She said firmly. He fell silent. "Have a seat." He sat. "I am here to be Mr. Potter's body-guard and only Mr Potter's body-guard, and if you will recall, you were there, I was offered the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher before being assigned to this post. I would thank you kindly to leave me alone to my work." And she strode out of the room, leaving behind a dazed Professor Snape.
Upon immerging from the room she looked around her for Harry, but saw no sign of him in the hall. "Some bodyguard you are."She muttered to herself.
Malfoy was waiting for he out in the hall. "Hey Trill, what did he say?" He asked her. Trill sighed dramatically and put on a show for him.
"It was horrible!" She wailed, sobbing into her sleeve. Malfoy leaned over eagerly.
"What did he say?" Trill gave up the look and shrugged her shoulders.
"Nothing. He almost gave me detention and he's probably throwing away my potion right now." She tried very hard to look unhappy. Malfoy grinned and said,
"Ha ha, Trill's gonna fail potions!" Crabbe and Goyle laughed stupidly along with him and Trill pretended not to notice.
"Shut-up Draco." She pushed him with a smile. He pretended to stumble and fall from the tiny shove and lay moaning dramatically on the floor.
"Oh, ouch, Trill! You've killed me, oh it hurts!" Trill might have thought it funny had not Crabbe and Goyle come running to his aid, pushing her out of the way.
"Idiots!" Malfoy whispered to them, and smiled up into Trill's face. All of a sudden he grabbed her silver braid and yanked on it, pulling her to the floor, and Trill shrieked in surprise, grabbing at his blond hair in an effort to get free. She breathed a sigh of relief that no one was around… or so she thought.
Just as luck would have it, Hermione flounced by with her nose in the air and Trill rolled away from Malfoy, standing up and dusting off her robes. Malfoy though, lay back leisurely on his elbows, regarding Hermione with a snort to his cronies that everyone heard and everyone noticed. But he stood up slowly when Harry came into view.
"Hello Potter." He said. He looked sympathetically at him. "Have you lost your pet beaver? Because I think she went that way." He pointed to Hermione disappearing down the corridor.
"Shut up Malfoy." Harry said vehemently. Ron came into view and came to stand by Harry, whispering into his ear, "Where did Hermione go?" Malfoy snickered and pointed down the hall with a look at Harry.
Trill, in an effort to lighten the mood, laughed as if it were a joke and smiled kindly at Ron, who looked surprised. Harry took on Hermione's cold attitude towards her. That would never do.
Malfoy's eyes turned to slits at the sight of her smile and the look quickly became a boorish one. He turned to Crabbe and Goyle.
"Well," He sniffed. "We've done all we can do to help them in their search. Let's go." And he strutted off down the hall, followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Trill looked sadly after him, but saw Ron and Harry looking at her. She felt embarrassed all of a sudden.
"She um…Hermione that is," She made wide motions with her hands pointing down the hall. She stopped and dropped her hands, pointing with a straight arm down the hall. "That way." She said finally. They looked embarrassed as well, and Ron looked away, his ears turning red.
"Thanks." Harry said, and began walking down the hall.
"See you in Herbology!" She shouted after him. Harry turned back and waved.
"See you then." She whispered. As soon as he was out of sight Trill let herself do a little jig. It was a start.
"You know," Trill said to Eloise Midgeon in Herbology. "I used to have the worst acne in the world." Eloise gave her a skeptical look and then shot her eyes back to her plant when Trill looked in her direction. She could see Eloise was going red, so she continued to speak to the ceiling. "But at the Salem School of Witchcraft, we had to go and meet some muggle people. One of them suggested something to me called Clearasil." She frowned with pretend hurt. "She was very rude about it, but it really worked. Three days, and I was acne free!" She glanced over at Eloise Midgeon who was beginning to get misty eyed.
"Not quite as subtle as I'd hoped, I guess." She sighed, and looked around.
"But I guess no one in England gets zits anymore!" She proclaimed, turning back to her plant with a smile.
Harry watched Trill from the corner of his eye. She was saying something to Eloise, and he hurriedly turned back to his pot to avoid her gaze.
"Ron." He said quietly. Ron gave up on the sickly yellow plant in front of his and kicked the counter in frustration.
"Yikes!" He shrieked when it squirted some yellow juice onto his hand. He danced around for a moment, sucking on his finger, and turned to Harry with his knuckle in his mouth. "Wa'!" He tried to say around his mouth full. He took out his fist. "What?" Harry chuckled at him and Ron wiped the saliva off onto his robe. Ron rolled his eyes and was about to get back to work on trimming the leaves, when Harry leaned in and whispered softly to him, glancing back at Trill.
"I think…I think Trill is following me." Ron didn't even take his eyes away from his work.
"And I think you're dreaming the boyish fantasy of every guy in this school." He didn't even look at Harry.
"Every time I look behind me in the halls and in class she's there, sometimes just staring at us…you know? And if it's not her it's her dog."
"Harry." Ron said matter of factly, turning to face him and put his hands on his hips. "She's in Gryffindor. Of course she's in every one of your classes! Sometimes I think…" He rambled off into unintelligible words but Harry continued anyway.
"And she always seems to be in class before I am, and leave the class before I do."
"You're paranoid, Harry." Ron said in an uncaring voice. "Now could you hold this little booger still while I give him a trim?" Harry held the stalk for him and the little tree cringed, even wailed as the shears approached.
"Oh really!" He said, imitating Hermione. "You're about as silly as Harry! This won't hurt a bit." And he advanced on the tree.
"How is Harry silly?"
Ron stiffened up at the sound of Hermione behind him and the little tree sighed when he turned to talk.
"He…erm…" Harry gave him a warning look and Ron made up a lie. "They're both such babies about getting a trim." He smiled hopefully. Hermione nodded.
"You're lying Ron, I know you too well. What were you talking about!" She put her hands on her hips. Harry tried to shake his head no, but Ron was already too intimidated.
"Harry was saying how he thought Trill was following him, and I told him that it was because Gryffindor's all go to the same classes!" He shrieked and covered his head, and Harry rolled his eyes. Hermione looked as if she were considering it.
"You know Harry…" She said. Her eyes brightened and she spoke faster. "…I think you're right! That little-" Harry gasped at Hermione's language, "-must be a spy from you-know-who!" She giggled with glee. "Oh just wait until I tell the headmaster!" And she skipped back to her work place, whistling all the while.
Trill stared at Hermione's back as it bounced back to its work place. She was up to something. Harry looked unhappily at Ron who shrugged and they both turned back silently to their plants. Oh yes, they had said something very important and Trill had a feeling that it did not bode well for her. She should have used her magic to listen in on them when she had the chance. Oh well, she would just have to take what Hermione could deal out. She snorted at the thought.
Trill's own tree squirmed and shrieked, and Amuren barked at the noise, but she sang it a soft song and it calmed down, letting her trim its branches.
"Head master!" Hermione called. She had no way of guessing what the password to his office was, so she sat beneath the gargoyle and waited. Fortunately, she did not have to wait long. The gargoyle jumped aside with a creak of stone joints and she had to roll out of it's way so as not to get squished. Albus Dumbledore appeared from behind and quickly helped her off of the ground.
"Miss Granger." He smiled kindly. "Shouldn't you be at dinner?" She dusted herself off and spoke quickly.
"I…I had urgent news and I thought I should tell you but I didn't want to miss class and…"
"Urgent news?" He interrupted softly, still smiling. "Of what sort?" Hermione opened her mouth to speak but he turned and motioned for her to come with him back to his office. "Come to my office Miss Granger and we'll talk about it." He placed his hand on her back and led her in. After closing the door behind her, Dumbledore sat behind his desk with a sweep of his robe and motioned for her to sit as well. He smiled brightly over his spectacles at her.
"Now, let's hear all about it."
Hermione squirmed in her chair and wondered how to begin. "The new girl…the one that arrived three months ago." She paused and looked to Dumbledore, who nodded. "She…um…well she…" Hermione stopped and collected herself. "I think she may be an accomplice of you-know-who." She concluded. It sounded pathetic even to herself.
Dumbledore cocked an eyebrow. "That is quite a claim." He said quietly. "But I do not believe in accusing my students of such a crime without proper evidence." Hermione nodded and pulled up her back pack, taking from it a manila folder.
"I got this picture of her." She said, laying it on the desk. "And Harry told me that she was doing strange things like always sitting in the back where she could see him and coming and leaving before he did and always watching and following him and her wand is brand new and in perfect condition as if she never uses it" Dumbledore held up a hand.
"Let's see the photograph."
He pulled the paper toward himself and saw the eyes of the Trill in the picture following Harry wherever he went and standing up suddenly when he went to a window or to the bathroom. He shook his head.
"Miss Granger. I know that you are a smart girl, and I believe you have been through many adventures. But it looks to me a if you are the one doing the following, not Miss Talu." He looked her in the eye.
Hermione's mouth hung open and her eyes were shocked. She had been sure that Dumbledore would believe her. She shook her head and apologized.
"Forgive me Professor." And she stood up quickly to leave the room.
Hermione left the office to see Trill waiting outside. She looked her in the eye only for a brief second before rushing off in a huff. If Dumbledore would not believe her, she would have to do something herself to protect Ron…and Harry.
Trill laughed at the sight of Hermione and sauntered into Dumbledore's office, closely followed by Amuren.
"What was that about?" She asked, laughing. Dumbledore had his hands clasped in front of him and was looking at his fingers.
"She knows about your methods. She noticed when you took precautions on Harry." He looked up at her and cocked an eyebrow. "She is a very smart girl. She even had a close up photograph where you could see plain as day that you were watching Harry."
Trill knitted her eyebrows. "Does that worry you?" Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"She claimed that you were a supporter of Lord Voldemort, and really if I hadn't known otherwise I might have suspected you. She had me with the photograph." Dumbledore held it up for her to see.
Trill took it into her hands with disbelief. "Well Hermione Granger." She whispered. She looked up at Dumbledore. "What do we do?" She asked. When he didn't answer right away, she said, "I can make her forget all about it..?" She held up her fingers and wiggled them.
Dumbledore closed his eyes. "No. Just leave things be for now. Go to the Halloween feast…and try to be less obvious." He looked her in the eye until she nodded and walked out through the door.
"See you at the feast!" And she waved good-bye, running past the gargoyle and down the stairs.
"How did Hermione get that picture?" She shook her head and nearly ran into a second year in the hall. "But what's more important… Is what she plans to do now." She whispered the last sentence to herself. Trill was wandering aimlessly down the hall, past groups of giggling girls all twittering about the dance and feast tonight. They held up dress robes and mirrors and make-up and exchanged compliments, but Trill snorted. Beauty was such a waste of time.
There was virtually nothing Hermione could do to stop Trill. If she wanted something, she would get it. She had only weakness. A soft spot on the back of her neck when if pressed, would push up against her vocal chords and stop them from vibrating. Trill placed her hand on it and tried to gasp out some magic. Nothing.
Banshees in the old world had never worn armor to battle- and hardly any clothing at that. Except for a steel ring around their necks to protect the soft spot.
"But no matter how many books Hermione reads," Trill thought smugly. "She will never know that." She shouldered her bag and gave the password to the fat lady.
"Prisslewick." And then climbed through the portrait hole.
"If the Banshee were alive, they would never tell you or let you get close enough. And if they were dead…" She drifted up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, lost in thought.
"Then they couldn't sing for you anyway." She finally dropped her bag onto the ground and sat on the bed.
"I guess I'll get ready for the feast then." She sighed. "Just like every other student here." She began to rummage through her trunk for her dress.
"Dress robes indeed." She muttered. "For a feast." She looked around her for someone else in the room, but there was no one else. "Although they do have the most excellent band coming." She smiled at the thought. Amurensis hated rock music.
She pulled out of her trunk a midnight blue dress that rippled like silk in the moonlight and an imaginary wind. She pulled the gauzy material over her head and fastened the longs sleeves on her middle finger, twirling around to look at herself in admiration. The dress was long and elegant and swished when she walked, but the wide neck left her shoulders bare and the greater part of her front exposed.
"It's cold already." She muttered and left her hair in its wrist thick braid, rushing to the door. She pulled on the handle but it didn't budge. She turned quickly to see Hermione emerging from the shadows.
"I know who you work for." She growled into Trill's face. "And I won't let you take Harry to your master. I will expose you." Trill waited patiently. Hermione stormed through the door when Trill just smiled and ran down the stairs. Trill followed calmly.
"Poor Hermione." She mused and walked slowly to the great hall, stopping to put on some soft blue slippers.
