The agitated class fidgeted uncomfortable in the dank dungeon, eagerly awaiting their Potions teacher's already extremely late arrival. A few students chatted mildly, generally about insignificant, small things, though most clung tightly to their potions book, as if they offered salvation. There were many stories fluttering around the reputation of this particularly poisonous Potions teacher. Some said she was pure evil, ready and willing to physically eat any student alive, others said she was the kindest, sweetest woman ever to grace the lovely planet earth. Even others said that she was just plain crazy; out of her mind and not afraid to show it.
Maybell wasn't sure how to think. She had never been truly afraid of a soul in her life and saw no reason to start now, and anyways, no one could match Professor McGonagal in terms of being frightening. Thus, Maybell sat in the back of the room feeling a sort of detached and uncaring anticipation. Maybell sat next to Copper and Johnathan, right behind Sirius Black, James Potter and Remus Lupin. This would most certainly prove to be an interesting class at the very least.
THUD! The entire room shook, interrupting Maybell's thoughts. THUD! It sounded again. A few of the Slytherin girls whined unhappily about how earth-quakes weren't supposed to happen in England. THUD! What in the world was that? THUD, SMACK! The door from the teacher's office slammed open loudly. The students all pulled back simultaneously, each trying to be the farthest away from the giant teacher that was cloaked in shadow.
She moved into the light, and the class alternated sighs of relief and gasps of terror.
The only thing Maybell could see and think of was how huge the woman was. She was a titan, perhaps larger. She was a cruise ship; it had to be hard for her to turn corners while toting that gigantic berth. Maybell's eyes wandered up to the teachers face and her brow furrowed in confusion. Her face was sugary sweet, yet inherently evil at the same time. She was smiling in what she had to assume was a sweet smile to the class, but it looked more like a carnival grin on one of those pop-up-jack-in-the-boxes that have been scaring children to death for century's. And her hair! It was a tangle of unhappy brown snakes, all fighting for the top spot. Maybell wasn't aware that hair could look … emotional, but this woman's hair was angry and depressed at the same time.
Maybell stared at the strange woman, her head lopsided and mouth slightly open. Sirius Black had a matching expression as did the vast majority of the rest of the class. "Hello dear-ies! My name is Ms. Tittious Little, but you can call me Auntie Titty, and I am just delighted to be here to teach you all potions this year! I think it's just brilliant that we'll be together!"
Maybell furrowed her brow even more, what the … "As you all know, this class is meant to teach all of you the basic's of potions! Now, isn't that just thrilling!" She looked around the room, her fake smile plastered unnaturally upon her man-like features. Her face looked ready to crack like plaster, "ANSWER ME!" she bellowed, knocking the class back ten feet.
"Oh yes, um, fan-tabulous." Sirius Black ventured.
"Thank you, Mr. …?"
"Black."
"Thank you Mr. Black for answering me, I think that deserves a gold star!"
"A what?"
"A gold star! See, I think the point system for the houses only creates conflict in Hogwarts, a school that should be focused on unity and not … divididity."
Johnathan snorted, "Divididity?"
But Auntie Titty didn't hear him, "I think this school should focus more on harmony in life rather than dis-harmony, so to do my part and promote happiness, I've developed the gold star system!" She glowed triumphantly, "With this system, you only compete against yourself to see how many gold-stars you can receive. I have a system set up with prizes if you win. For example, if you get five stars, you get to write a paper on whatever subject you chose! Wouldn't that be just great?"
Not a soul answered. "I SAID! Wouldn't that be GREAT?"
"Uh, sure?" Sirius Black answered again.
"Good! Another gold star for you! You're on your way to being a real winner Mr. Black!" She turned around to face the chalk board. She began to write screeching on the chalkboard with her wand, i Auntie Titty Principals for Life /i then in very small writing, i and potions /i .
"What the hell is this?" Johnathan muttered, "This has absolutely nothing to do with potions." He shook his head darkly and slung down into his seat, avoiding Auntie Titty's eyes.
"Auntie Titty?" Maybell wondered allowed.
"What kind of name is that?" Sirius asked wonderingly.
Similar questions were floating around the room like vagabond pixies. Only one student was silent at this point in time. Severus Snape, a greasy haired child, sat stonily in the back of the room, eyeing Auntie Titty with the most furious of glares.
"Class." Auntie Titty turned to face the chattering children. "Darlings, dear-ies, lovelies. Talking is strictly prohibited once we walk through those doors. Unless of course, you're me, which you're not, or I tell you that you can speak. Which I probably won't do. Well … maybe I will.
"Oops! I almost forgot!" Auntie smiled maniacally and walked over to a cabinet on the side of the room. "Since this is our first day of class, and I'm sure tensions are high because it is the beginning of the school year, I thought it would be appropriate for us to share a cup of tea together to … relieve the tension and stress our day has caused us thus far."
"She's loony. Totally loopy." Remus said, leaning back towards Copper, causing her to blush secretly.
"Here's what we're going to do," Auntie swung her wand and five large kettles of tea appeared on her desk. She flicked her wand again and each student was graced with a strange, yellowing, flowered tea cup. Sirius smelled his cup and flew backwards in his chair, revolted.
Maybell laughed at Sirius and said quietly, "Curiosity killed the cat."
"But satisfaction brought it back."
Maybell fell back into her seat, dejected. "Class, please come forward with your teacups and have a glass of tea."
Each student filled towards the front of the class and unhappily accepted their cups of tea which smelt like a cross between cat dandruff and a boys gym bag.
The rest of the class was surprisingly smooth, none of the students really remembered what they learned. It all went by in a bit of a dazed blur.
About an hour after class though, most of the students were back to their normal, complaining selves.
The rest of the week went by with fairly little trouble. By Friday however, the three friends hadn't done any of their homework and were thus in the library studying their little brains out.
i Tap.
Tap.
TapTap.
TapTapTapTapTap … /i
"Stop it!" Copper hissed, skillfully reaching over Maybell and her open Charms book to grab Johnathan's offending fingers so that she could stop the incessant tapping that was driving her slowly to the brink of utter insanity.
The three were studying for a Charms test they had that Monday. Because Maybell and Copper both had detention that night, they had decided to get their studying and homework out of the way so that they would have the entire weekend to do whatever it is they decided they wanted to do. Johnathan, being the brilliant boy he was, had already decided that he would study when Copper and Maybell were gone in detention, which left him bored with nothing to do at this particular moment. Johnathan was the epitome of perpetual motion and that was antagonizing the antagonize-able Copper, thereby preventing her from getting any studying done. Maybell, the most docile of the three, sat lazily and sucked mindlessly on a sugar quill while reading her Charms book absentmindedly. Unaware of the animosity radiating off of Copper, she turned a page in her Charms book and pat Ollie on the head as he gnawed a wooden coaster her mother had sent as a gift.
i Tap.
Tap.
TapTapTap … /i
"Can't you just quit?" Copper grabbed her Potions book, the only class they had actually had yet, and therefore had no homework for, and promptly plopped it onto Johnathan's nefarious fingers, "Leave it there, it'll remind you not to tap so we can get some work done." She looked meaningfully at Maybell who slurped her sugar quill and turned a page in the Charms book, continuing to read.
i Color Changing Charms
Color changing charms can be used for many different items, from hair and eye color to the color of a room. The size of the item which will be charmed determines the how the spell is performed.
The spell on varies slightly, however it does vary. When performed incorrectly, the spell will often result in the wrong color or an unpleasant burning spell and sparks. /i
Maybell giggled, remembering back to the train ride with Johnathan. Copper must have used a color spell to change his hair and she said it wrong.
"Do da, do da." Johnathan stole a look towards Copper trying to determine if she could hear his singing, and if so, if it bothered her. He didn't want her to tap his mouth shut. Copper sat studiously, determined to ignore him. Taking this as a sign that she could not hear him, Johnathan continued softly, and then got louder. "There she goes a-just a walkin' down the street singing do a diddy diddy dum diddy do …"
"SHUT UP!"
"Ms. Miller! Would you please attempt to keep it down to a dull roar? This is a library and I expect you and your friends to treat it as such!"
Copper muttered an incoherent "Sorry," and after granting darling Johnathan with a furious glare, she returned to her work.
Johnathan slouched in his seat, defeated; his hand still lay under Copper's Potions book.
After a few moments, his defeated look changed to one of hope. "Copper?" he chanced.
Copper didn't respond.
"Copper?"
Her violet eyes narrowed. She turned to face Johnathan and growled almost inaudibly underneath her breath. "What." She said venomously.
Johnathan looked down at his hands, smiled slightly then said, "Are you done yet?"
"No." She responded icily.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm positive."
"Absolutely positive?"
"Yes, Johnathan, I …"
"Only fools are positive, Copper." Johnathan interrupted.
"Fine! I'm a fool, are you happy now? Better question, will you shut it now?"
"No." Johnathan said smartly. Maybell smiled into her charms book. After a few moments, his voice could be heard again, "What about now? Are you done now?" He whined and turned to Maybell, who still smiled. "Maybell, make her finish."
She lifted her head from her book to fix Johnathan with a bemused stare, "There isn't a thing that I can do, and you should know that by now."
Madame Brokski strolled over to the group, which was growing steadily louder, "Are you quite finished?"
Johnathan smiled, "I don't know Copper, are we?"
Copper glowered, accepting that she had been beaten. She growled quietly to Johnathan, "Yes."
"Then I suggest you get out of my library, you are disturbing the other students." Copper stormed out of the library, carrying her books in her arms because she didn't want to waste time bothering with her book bag, and Johnathan followed her in hot pursuit.
Maybell turned another page in her charms book and continued to read until Madam Brokski had left. Then, under her breath, "Those two are going to drive me mad someday, just watch."
Sirius Black chose that particular moment to stride cockily into the library, full of jubilant ideas on how to drive Maybell Shorter mad. He scanned the room, and upon spotting Maybell sitting placidly in her chair, started towards her. "Is this seat empty?" he tried cordially. Maybell frowned at her book, then grabbed her book-bag and threw it onto the seat next to her.
She looked up at Sirius contemptuously and said, "Nope."
Not knowing what to do, he moved over to the other chair next to her, and she promptly moved one of her books to that chair. "Fine, I can see where I'm not wanted!" Sirius huffed, and turned to stomp away.
"Thank god," Maybell uttered.
She turned back to her Charms book on the desk; but, it was gone! She leapt out of her chair and whirled around looking for Sirius, certain he was the culprit who had stolen her book of solace.
Spotting him on the other side of the room, she stomped over ferociously and landed right in front of Sirius who was busy talking to a group of 2nd year girls. "What did you do with it? Hmm, where is it?" She demanded before he could talk; she grabbed his bag and began shuffling through it despite the girls indignant protests.
Bewildered and oblivious to her destruction of his book bag, "Do with what?"
"My charms book you … you … insufferable flout!" Papers were flying everywhere and falling to the ground like snow around Maybell. "How can you even find anything in this … this … pig-sty?"
One of the second years giggled, "Siri, were you playing tricks again?" Sirius stared at her wide eyed and jumped away from his seat.
He turned to Maybell and said with quiet determination, "What did you call me?"
Maybell calculated the situation, and then smiled smartly but her eye still boiled over with a raging flame, "What? A pig-sty?" She glared at Sirius, "An insufferable flout! That's what I called you!" seeing his expression, her tone changed from anger to faux mocking pity, "Awe, poor i Siri /i do you not know what a flout is?"
Sirius blushed slightly, then quickly decided that honesty was the best policy he shook his head sadly. Maybell stomped away and disappeared into the reference section of the library and returned a few seconds later with a large leather-bound book in her hand.
Instinctively, Sirius backed away from Maybell and the book she was toting. Eyeballing the book beadily, he leaned over to one of the girls next to him, "What is that?"
Maybell sighed exasperatedly, "How do you expect these losers to know what this is; they're just as stupid as you. It's a dictionary you idiot." One of the girls giggled.
Sirius and Maybell both stared at her. "Do you always giggle like this? When there really isn't anything to laugh at?" Maybell asked loudly.
The girl smiled blankly, started to giggle, and then stopped herself. For a moment, she looked at Sirius then gestured to the other girls and all four of them walked away, leaving Sirius and Maybell alone in that section of the library. Sirius turned to Maybell and smiled lopsidedly and what he hoped would make her stop looking so angry; it worked on other girls, why not Maybell? "So, what do you want me to do with that … dictionary?"
Maybell's eyebrows met and she felt anger start to boil even higher in her, he had her Charms book and he was an idiot. There was nothing more upsetting than an idiot; her father had taught her that a long time ago. "What do you think I want you to do with it? I want to make you less ignorant, Sirius Black. I want you to know about the world you live in and stop walking around like a stupid, bloody, loser, moron-person."
Sirius continued to stare. "That still doesn't explain exactly what you want me to do with this thing." He pointed at the dictionary.
"For Godric's sake, are you really that thick?"
"Maybe." He said, still edging away slightly from the book.
"Argh!" In a last act of desperation, Maybell forsook the thought of ever getting her charms book back and chucked the heavy dictionary at Sirius' remarkably large head. She turned away seething and didn't stop even when she heard a loud THWACK and an even louder, "OW! You hit my head!"
Madame Brokski rushed past her to get to Sirius and Maybell grabbed her book bag, ready to leave. She started walking, but then remembering the other chair she spun around to snatch whatever book she had placed there and stomp away.
There, on the blue cushion, sitting comfortably and contently was Maybell's Charms book. She had thrown it on that chair to stop Sirius from sitting next to her and the blue and gold cover winked up at her as though it were laughing at her outburst. Maybell looked over at Sirius who was nursing his head while trying to convince Madame Brokski that he was innocent and she felt a twang of guilt. Brushing it aside she glowered at her book on last time, then scooped it up with the rest of her growing library and stomped out of the library so that i she /i wouldn't have to deal with one of Madame Brokski's infamous lectures. She decided to make her way up to the Gryffindor Tower where she was sure she wouldn't have to deal with Sirius Black.
The first thing she heard upon opening the fat lady's portrait hole was, "No! I am not going to let you practice color changing charms on my hair! Who do you think you are!"
Johnathan put his hands saucily on his hips, "Copper, it's only fair. You changed my hair color, now it's my turn to return the favor."
"No." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
"Don't make me do it when you're not looking."
Copper spun around dangerously, "You wouldn't dare!"
Maybell slunk back out the portrait hole before the two had even known she was there. "Well!" The Fat Lady huffed, "If I had known you were going to leave that quickly, I wouldn't have opened up for you! Don't expect me to again, bring a friend next time you want to get in!" the fat lady huffed dramatically and turned and strolled out of her portrait.
Maybell's POV
I smirked uselessly at the empty portrait where the Fat Lady just was, then whirled around and started down the hall to my right.
It wasn't so much that I was … angry with Sirius Black, I was just … just … just annoyed to the point of extreme annoyance. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way, he was so big-headed and so bloody sure of himself, and he was pointless. My father would tell me at this point, "It takes one to know one," but, in this case he would be wrong. I do not have to be Sirius Black to know I don't like him. To know I hate him the way Copper hates Johnathan.
But then again, Copper doesn't really hate Johnathan does she? I mean, not really. They're just friends that don't like each other much. No, that's not it. They just annoy each other to the point of extreme annoyance, yes, that's it.
I strode confidently down the halls, lost in my thoughts and not bothering to look where I was going or wonder how long I had been walking. I rounded a corner and found myself staring at the side profiles of Sirius Black and Professor McGonagall. I was about to walk right in between them when I heard, "But, Professor, Maybell Shorter HATES me!"
I backed back around the corner from whence I came and leaned forward so I could listen to their conversation. "Honestly, Sirius Black, I don't blame her." She said something else but I couldn't understand her.
I moved closer to where the two were standing, "Professor, I promise, I'll do two extra months of detention, just please don't make me do it with her. Please?" I caught myself just before I snorted; he looked so pathetic whining about having to go to detention with me.
I looked down at my Charms book that was still in my hand, and stuffed it into my book-bag so that Sirius wouldn't see it when I walked by. Taking a deep breath, I turned the corner and strolled past McGonagal and Sirius Black, trying desperately not to look guilty. I'm still not quite sure why I felt guilty, but that's beside the point at this point.
McGonagal apparently didn't buy my act and grabbed my arm as I strolled by. "Where are you going, Ms. Shorter?"
My mind blanked. I stared up at her, my mouth flailing uselessly like a dead fish. Sirius Black in all is Black glory stood gloating next to me as I searched my mind for something to say. "I … I just didn't want to be in the library or the common rooms." A thought hit me, "I have my books! I was … uh … looking for somewhere to study, somewhere with peace and quiet."
"I guess that means you found your Charms book then?" Sirius asked stupidly.
I glared at him, then jumped with the Professor applied more pressure on my arm. "Well? What is this about your Charms book?"
I turned and for a moment glared at Professor McGonagal, but caught myself. "Nothing." I muttered.
"Oh no! It wasn't 'nothing,'" Sirius said, "She threw a dictionary at me 'cause she thought I had that bloody book, but I didn't!"
Sirius paused for a moment, seemingly to gather his thoughts, and then promptly turned back to me, "By the way, Maybell Shorter, I'm a lot smarter than you give me credit for. You used 'flout,' as a noun, really, it's a verb! You can, like, 'flout,' someone, 'flout,' people. It means you make fun of them. You can't be a flout. Ha!"
McGonagal let out a dangerous breath and Sirius immediately stopped talking. "I think the two of you need to work out your problems, and the way you're going to do that is in a weeks worth of extra detentions. And I'm going to write to both of your parents." Sirius and Maybell both paled. "Furthermore, I'm going to take 25 points from your house due to your discretions. From now on, Mr. Black and Ms. Shorter, you're going to have to love each other deeply if you want to be on my good side."
I wrenched her arm from the Professors hand and glowered at the floor, earning myself another two days of detention on top of what I'm already doing. I muttered a not-so-happy, "Fine," then stormed off to avoid more punishment from McGonagal. I figured once I had gone a ways that I hadn't avoided more punishment, I just had avoided hearing about it.
I decided to go back to the common room where Johnathan and Copper were. I was sure that they couldn't possibly still be arguing.
When I got to the Fat Lady, it took some prodding and coddling to finally get her to let me back into my common room, and I promptly cursed her once I arrived.
I walked over to a table in a corner by a window I liked to work at and lay out my things. Something was wrong though. I looked up and out the window, then turned around … and screamed.
The entire room was a rainbow of random colors that flowed easily in and out of each other. The walls, chairs, ceiling, even the fireplace was changing colors rapidly. I backed away into the table, and jumped around to look; how could I have not noticed the ever-changing colors that were all over the table and the chair I had almost sat in.
I turned back around to look at the room; upon closer inspection I could see students huddled in corners, their hair and clothing changing colors with the walls. Before I could question one of them as to what had happened, Copper appeared dramatically at the top of the stairs. Her hair was a shock of purple and it matched her eyes eerily. She spotted me and descended the stairs regally.
Once she reached the bottom, she scoured the room. Leaning over to me, she said quietly, "Johnathan and I'm looking for him. If you see him, holler 'cotton ball,' up the stairs and I'll come down to finish him off. It's war." Copper turned away from me and scanned the room once more, then returned up to our dormitory the same way she had come down.
I rolled my eyes and went to sit down to finish my work in this psychedelic room. I jumped again when I almost sat down on poor Ollie. The little hedgehog stared up at me pathetically from the chair; he was huddled in a corner of the chair, almost disappearing in the fabric. I laughed at his terror, picked him up and placed him on my homework.
I worked diligently until 6:45 or so. I managed to get all of my Charms done and some of my Transfiguration, but unfortunately I never had the opportunity to shout "Cotton Ball!" up to Copper.
Not that I would have needed to. Every five minutes the loony girl came down the stairs to check for herself to see if Johnathan was there for her to pounce on him. Checking my watch again, I shouted "Copper!" up the stairs, hoping she would come so we could proceed to detention together. When she didn't respond to three more Copper's, I shouted, "Cotton Ball!" and she was down in two second flat, wand brandished and shouting obsenities at Johnathan.
I smiled. "Ready to go to detention?"
"Oh that was mean. You're just mean." Copper put her wand away and walked with me out of the portrait hall and down to the detention.