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not gonna. If you really have the impulse to read it, hit the back button
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CHAPTER 7
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Defense Against the Dark Arts was exceptionally normal; all they had done was read theory and do an introduction and review for the class. The professor, one Acrisius Pantoliano, was a very energetic, young man of Italian descent who had a loud, commanding voice full of laughter and a lot of aggressive facial hair, though one could tell that he tried to keep it under control.
When they sat down in his class (Sara had taken a seat between Sirius and Paige; the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections of the classroom), he had, of course, collected their summer homework, and broke off from his funny voice and became serious for a moment. When this happened, everyone knew something was wrong (Sara found out from Sirius). Professor Pantoliano went to the front of the room and he tapped his wand on the desk.
"Now," He said in a voice so serious that the class stared, "as you are all well aware, this is the year that you take your Ordinary Wizarding Levels. As you all know, these are extremely important exams, the results of which will affect the rest of your life, especially your future careers. Now, I don't want you to be intimidated, but I do want you all to be motivated to study hard this year, pay attention to all of your classes, and strive for top grades, all of you. Now!" he startled them all by suddenly putting the spunk back into his voice. "Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
And so the lesson had begun, introductions and easy theories to warm them up to the more difficult work that Professor Pantoliano had promised would come starting the next few days. After the class was over, the professor dismissed them and Sara left with the rest, bidding Paige and Serenica goodbye and hurrying to tail the Gryffindors to Potions in the dungeons. Sirius noticed her tagging along with them.
"Okay, O'Hanlon, you are pretty cool, I'll give you that, but still: drop the shadow thing, it's creepy!"
"Oh, shove it, Sirius," Rena snapped at him. Sirius donned a hardly convincing look of innocence.
"What?!?! What did I do? I merely suggested that Sara hang with her own race---"
"Sirius--" Lily started warningly, glaring at him. Sara rolled her eyes.
"I mean, the Ravenclaws; her own house, they are different from us--and -- WHAT?!?!" Lily and Rena rolled their eyes together. Remus laughed, an almost wolflike laugh.
"Careful, girls, your eyes will pop out and roll away!" James said, laughter evident in his voice.
"Yeah, you know the saying: It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye--then it's just a game: find the damn eye!" Sara laughed with the rest of them as they rounded another corner and started down a stony staircase. Sara heard Lily clearly mumble something that sounded very much like "I'm gonna kill you, Sirius." Sara smiled to herself again.
"Seriously, though," Sara began. "I really would prefer to take classes with my house: At least I know a lot of people there. I didn't really have a choice, though."
"How is that?" asked James, seeming somewhat concerned. Indeed, Sara saw that Rena and Remus had identical shadows of frown lines on their faces, and Lily and Sirius both had their eyebrows raised. So, for the third time, she explained her schedule problems to them.
"I wondered how you were taking Arithmancy classes with Bellatrix," Sirius said as they walked under a low doorway into a dark, dingy room with many work stations with small cauldrons already on them each complete with brass scales and a set of glass vials. Sara's gaze wandered to the stone walls of the classroom, which were lined with shelf upon shelf of slimy things pickled in brines or alcohol, among other, she was sure, various potions. Overall, the lack of sunlight in the room gave off a feeling of decadence.
The distant patter of feet on stone brought Sara back to reality, as Peter and Arabella burst through the door. panting.
"We-didn't-want-to-be-late," Peter gasped, clutching a stitch in his side. He threw his bag onto a nearby table and sank gratefully into the wooden stood at the side of the desk. Arabella stood, panting slightly, in the doorway, her cheeks slightly flushed. She took her bag and sat down beside Peter at the table. Sara stood uncertain near the back of the classroom, silently, and waited. Slytherin students, along with a handful of Gryffindors, slowly filtered into the dungeon. It was time for the lesson to begin, and Sara took a seat at a table with Rena, Remus, and Lily.
Quite suddenly, the doors burst open, and the figure that stood their with robes billowing out stood for a moment, silhouetted in the light from outside the classroom. It took a step forward, coming into focus in the dingy room.
He was a thin man, with a pallid face and lank, mousy hair who held the wilted look of a plant kept in the dark. He swept up the aisle quickly, black robes billowing out behind him. Drawing level with his desk, he swooped around, reminding Sara suddenly of a large, black vulture, neck craned in hopes of spotting a particularly weak animal to attack. Unfortunately for Sara, as his eyes swept the room in search, he found one such victim. His eyes narrowed as he discovered Sara there. His eyes bored into hers, and, heeding the various warnings she'd received from her peers of this professor's temperament, stared back, willing herself not to blink too much.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" He muttered to himself in a raspy voice that sounded as though it hadn't been used in quite a long time. "And you are.....?" Sara kept her eyes steady.
"Sara O'Hanlon, Professor." She tried to keep her voice clear and steady. The teacher's eyes narrowed.
"I," he told her, "Am Professor Acrisius Baldo. One word," He raised his voice as a student behind Sara gave a cough that she was sure concealed a snigger. "About my name, and you will be disembowling toads before you can say the word." Sara saw, out of the corner of her eye, that Sirius had raised his hand, perhaps to ask which word that would be, when Arabella switly stopped him by kicking him under the desk. Professor Baldo was surveying Sara under critical eye. Then, quite suddenly, he spoke again.
"Miss O'Hanlon, what would I get if I mixed 10 grams of streeler slime, an infusion of aconite, 3 drops of snake venom and porcupine quills?" Sara was a bit taken aback. Was this some sort of initiation? Every eye in the class seemed to be anticipating her answer, their owners with bated breath. She wracked her brain and a question came to mind.
"How many porcupine quills, sir?" Out of the corner of her eye, James and Sirius shot her wide grins, while Remus, Rena and Lily all looked slightly fearful. Apparently, Baldo wasn't expecting this either.
"What difference does it make?" He spat, voice full of venom.
"Well, sir, if one adds the ingridients listed to 2 whole porcupine quills, then one would have a simple concoction to cure hiccoughs. With 5 crushed quills, however, a mild acid is developed which will burn a hole through virtually any surface." She took a quick breath and held it. They rest of the class was doing the same, though some also sported curiously triumphant looks on their faces. Professor Baldo looked quite as though he had been slapped in the face; obviously her answering the question hadn't had quite the effect he had hoped for. He recovered rather quickly from this blow, however, and hastily recomposed himself.
"Fine, then. You know your basic potions formulas, then, do you? Well, how are you in the knowledge of ingredients? From where would you recover a bezoar?"
"From the stomach of a goat, sir," Sara replied calmly, keeping her gaze fixed so she would not come off as being weak.
"What are the 12 uses for dragon's blood?" She named each, counting them off with her fingers. She was uncomfortably aware that the entire class was shooting her looks of amazement.
"What are the components of the Noxsonorus Draft?"
"One shredded, skinned shrivelfig, 11 grams of 1:3 diluted bobotuber pus, and--" Sara broke off, searching her brain for the answer. She remembered doing this potion with her friend Kaleigh back home.....they had given it to a student they had deeply disliked--oh, yes! "--and two powdered lacewing flies." She smiled sweetly at the professor, knowing quite well that she had hit the nail on the head. To her surprise, Baldo gave a tiny nod of approval, looking mildly impressed.
"Very well then, Miss O'Hanlon," he said, in the sort of voice of one not trying to give too much credit to someone else. He turned back to the class, who hurriedly pretended that they weren't impressed by Sara's knowledge of potions. "Well then-- the reason for asking about the Noxsonorus Draft is that we will be starting off your OWL year with that--" Sara settled back into her seat and began to copy down the extensive notes that were writing themselves up on the blackboard in a white substance, drawing diagrams and such when Professor Baldo flicked his wand in a particular manner.
This room was muchless comfortable than the rest of the castle: the dungeon was cold, damp, and smelt of unpleasantly decaying matter. Sara shivered slightly in her seat. She kept up with her notes, though she knew it, there was nothing to lose by copying them again. After all, she thought, it might help her with the upcoming O.W.L.s coming up at the end of the year. She made a move to roll her eyes, but caught herself in time. Back in the US, they didn't take O.W.L.s like witches and wizards in England did. They took the Practical Magical Aptitude Tests and Theory Magical Aptitude Tests for each subject at the end of their own fifth grade, then went on to take courses to prepare for the Extremely Difficul Subject Exams at the end of the eighth grade, to determine their carreers after school. She shook her head slightly, careful not to let anyone notice this. Of course she had taken the PMATs and the TMATs herself last year; she hadn'tt done poorly, either. She had received a 10 on many, 9 on the rest, and 8 in history, yet she had passed, receiving a score of 86, which was exceptionally high, as the top score was a 90 (the grades were on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the worst).
The rest of the class passed quickly: after being informed that at their next class they would be brewing the particular potions for themselves and reminded to bring their cauldrons and box of intermediate potions ingredients, they were dismissed. Sara walked silently level with Rena out of the dungeons. When sure they were out of earshot, Sirius turned and grinned at her widely.
"What?" she asked him curiously, noticing the apparently unprovoked grin. Sirius chortled a bit.
"You showed him!" He said, doing a sort of jig on the spot. "That was some seriously awesome question- um...answering!!!" He grinned more widely, if possible. James caught up beside Sara and gave her an identical grin. Sara was confused-she had only answered the professor's questions.
"I don't get it," She said. "What did I do?"
"Well, it's more that you-" James broke off, and Sara saw the reason immediately. Standing juxtaposition (hehe-there's your word for the day) blocking their path out of the dungeons, stood two boys about their age. One, who had lank, greasy, shoulder-length black hair and a sallow complexion had his arms crossed over his chest; the one standing next to him had white-blond hair that was slicked back, and a very pale, square face. Both wore Slytherin robes. James automatically stepped in front Lily, and both he and Sirius glared at the two boys. The one with the pale face stepped forward, wearing a very sour expression; he pushed through them, shoving Peter onto the floor. Remus and Rena got ugly looks on their faces as both drew their wands. He shoved Rena aside roughly and stopped when he saw Sara. His face was barely a foot and a half from hers, but she brought herself up to her full height as her eyes met his cold, steely ones.
"So, you think it's funny, do you?" He asked in a cold, drawling voice. The boy with the greasy hair came up behind him, glaring at her. Sara hadn't a clue what he was talking about, so she told him so iin a strong, clear voice.
"What did you say to me?" He challenged her to repeat the question, though Sara knew full well that he had heard her. Sara rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Don't you roll your eyes at me," he commanded, as if he thought she was out of place doing so. Sara raised her eyebrows.
"Oh? And why not?" She asked, sounding innocent. He chose to ignore her.
"What you did back there, in the dungeon. We Slytherins don't fancy mudblood Ravenclaws making a fool of our Head of House." Pink patches appeared in James' face.
"Don't you dare talk to her like that, Malfoy," he growled, wand out and steadily pointed at the boy, Malfoy's, stomach. Malfoy sneered at him.
"Oh, sticking up for his Mudblood girlfriend, now, it he, the little Potty?" he turned back to Sara, throwing her a look of loathing as he spoke. "Don't think you'll get away with what you did."
"Oh, you mean knowing the answers? Because I was under the impression that when one is asked a question, one is expected to give an answer." Sirius snorted into his robes. Malfoy and his friend pulled out their wands, both aiming them at Sara. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Rena all readjusted the aim on their own wands. Sara dug into the pockets of her own robes for her wand.
"What's going on here?" A prefect was making her way through the crowd to where they all were standing, breaking up the small crowd that had gathered around them. "Comon, no magic in the corridors, you know the rules. Put your wands away." Still glaring at each other, James and Malfoy put their wands away, as did the rest. Wand tucked safely back into her pocket, Sara saw Malfoy shoot a very vindictive look in Sara's direction before beckoning to his friend and stalking off. James let out a small sigh and stepped out from in front of Lily. They began the walk up to thier common rooms. Sara was the first to break the silence.
"So I take it you all know those two Slytherins?" James sighed again, and Sirius scowled.
"Yes," Remus said. "Lucius Malfoy and his sidekick, Severus Snape. They are two of the most horrible gits in the school."
"I don't think that they possess the ability to say even one decent word to anybody, or even to hold their tongues when some horrible remark comes to mind," Rena put in. Sara noticed that she was still clenching her wand tightly in her hand. Sara shrugged.
"Yes, well, they were just jealous that I knew the answers to Professor Baldo's questions." James sighed again.
"Probably, but he still shouldn't have called you a-a--a you-know-what!" His face seemed rather pale. "I am surprised, usually he goes after Lily, they are really horrible, both of them."
"Why would they go after Lily? Just because she's muggle-born?" Lily fidgeted a bit at the last bit.
"Yes, that's exactly the reason, Sara," Lily told her quietly. James was still scowling. "They don't need any better reason to attack someone."
"They've attacked her before," said James, glancing at Lily, as if to check that she was still safe there. "They set a black snake on her last year, and it bit her something terrible. She landed in the hospital wing for a week." Sara's eyes widened a bit. She tried hard not to feel scared: she did, after all, have a year more schooling than this Malfoy and Snape-- maybe there was a chance that she could outwit them or something, but if they were using dark magic--- The thought faded from her mind as quickly as it had come. They were all silent as they began to clib the wide, marble staircase that led to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers.
"That's why they are in Slytherin, though. With their pure-blood mania and egocentric thinking. Yes, they belong in Slytherin, with all the other gits and bastards." Sirius put in, sounding somewhat miserable. Sara drew level with him and cast him a sideways glance.
"But, your cousin....." Sirius snorted.
"Yep, and my mum and dad, all cousins except for Andromeda, and my uncle Alphard--they were in Slytherin, the whole lot of them. And I don't care," he said suddenly, as though the thought had just struck him. "I hate them all. I want out of that horrible monstrous place." Sara didn't quite know what to say.
"Well," she said, "You should really never take family for granted--" Sirius snorted. Rena laughed at her.
"You sooo sound like a Hallmark card!" she laughed. Sirius looked confused.
"Wallmart, what?" the girls giggled.
"I'ts a miggle thing, Sirius," Lily laughed. Sirius grinned maliciously.
"Lils, what's a 'miggle'? Is that something new you've made up?"
"I misspoke, okay? Leave it!"
"Miggle, miggle miggle miggle MIGGLE!!!" Sirius chanted, suddenly laughing maniacally. The rest of the group exchanged looks. Sara laughed a bit. Lily's face flushed.
"Sirius, I'm gonna kill you!"
"MIGGLE, MIGGLE, MIGGLE--" Sirius had now developed a sort of dance to go along with the mantra. James grinned broadly--he couldn't resist, and he joined in, followed by Remus and Peter joined the end of the line. It was an odd sight indeed: The four marauders doing a sort of line dance to the 'Miggle' chant. Rena slapped her forehead with her open hand and groaned.
"Oh, no--it's contagious!" She said in the tone one would use after hearing that the world was coming to an end.
"Girls," Lily told them gravelly, "It looks like we have the beginnings of an epidemic of 2S.L.S.D."
"What?"
"the Sirius Sudden Loss of Sanity Disorder."
"Oh." She looked at the Marauders, who had added a few moves to the dance and started chanting 'MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, PRONGS!'
"Well in that case," Sara continued, "you must have stopped taking your medication. Give me your prescriptions and I will have them refilled for you." Lily and Rena snorted into their robes, and Arabella smiled.
"What prescriptions?" Remus and James asked together, trying to sound innocent and failing dismally.
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And so they all went up to Gryffindor Tower, Sara heading back towards the statue of the eagle that concealed the entrance into Ravenclaw Tower. When she got back, she found her friends, who had, as it turned out, been kept over in Potions by a Hufflepuff who had knocked over a barrel of horned toads that had been waiting to be disemboweled ("Duffers, the lot of them," Basti said) and they had had to clean it up. Sara told them about her classes and her first day, they lot of them laughed and joked until Alaina and Serenica began a raucous game of exploding snap, successfully distracting those who had been studying until many of them had joined in on the game themselves.
The rest of the day was normal; doing the little bit of homework she had with Paige in the library, chatting about qudditch and wizarding music, and playing gobstones and wizard chess (Sara narrowly beat Serenica but lost spectacularly to Noah, who, as Paige said, was the undefeated chess champion of Ravenclaw tower). At dinner time, she deposited her books in the dormitory and headed down to the Great Hall with the rest of them, not getting lost at all. She joined everyone else at the usual seats in the Great Hall, sitting down and filling her goblet with pumpkin juice.
They chattered away, talking about this-and-that, Sara cutting herself a slice of shepherd's pie and eating rather than taling. She found that this was the best way to get to know her new friends. She was halfway through a dish of sprouts when sudden mayhem disrupted the Hall.
The source of the commotion seemed to be the Slytherin table. Sara saw a small quantity of pink foam and bubbles streaming onto the floor. Looking around, Sirius caught Sara's eye and grinned at her: it only took a few seconds to see why.
Sirius' wand was pointed at Malfoy, who had bubbles pouring out of his mouth. He seemed to be choking on them; his face was beginning to turn purple. Greasy-haired Snape was there, trying to help his friend, but kept jerking back suspiciously as though attatched to strings. Another look at the Gryffindor table, and she saw James jerking his wand in Snape's direction. Lily seemed to be trying to stop him, but he was ignoring her. Rena was smiling, arms crossed across her chest, but Remus had hidden his head behind a book, looking as if he didn't want to be noticed at the moment.
Sara didn't know whether to laugh or to look horrified, and copromised by choking on a lot of pumpkin juice and concentrated hard on a particularly small sprout. All of her fellow Ravenclaw fifth-years stared, transfixed at the Slytherin table. Then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the bubbles disappeared, Snape launched himself forward (as the invisible strings no longer held himback) and crashed into the table, landing his face expertly in a tureen of tripe, and Malfoy's face turned its normal pale, now slightly twinged pink. They sat down quietly at their seats at the table, trying, and failing spectacularly, to keep a low profile. Many of the other students laughed, some looked confused, but most seemed to know who had caused the disruption.
Sara saw James and Sirius exchange smug looks and tuck their wands away into their robes under the table out of the corner of her eye. Within a few moments, the rest of the students seemed to have forgotten the excitement; almost as if they were used to the interruptions. Paige turned to Sara. Noticing her shocked expression, she grinned.
"Oh, don't worry," she said. "That sort of thing happens a lot here. It is usually also the same people who cause the mayhem." Across the table, Lisa rolled her eyes.
"Yes, those specific Gryffindors do have a knack for getting themselves into trouble. They land in detention at least three times a week!" She shuddered, as if the thought of detention was comparable to a slow and painful death. Basti, Christian and Luke laughed.
"Brilliant really. They do use the cleaning spell often, though, I think they need something new."
"It'd be great to be able to curse all of those Slytherin gits without getting into trouble," Basti said dreamily. "Oh, the possibilities." He leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head, a dreamy look coming into his eyes. The others laughed, and Sara couldn't help but smile.
"They could've been hurt, though!" she said. "Snape and Malfoy, I mean."
"Oh, so you've met Hogwarts' biggest slimeball gits, have you?" Serenica asked. Sara nodded.
"Yes, I had Potions with them just earlier. They are gits, but still, they could have been killed!" Alaina rolled her eyes at Sara.
"Oh, puh-lease! Nothing, I repeat, notthing but embarassment could happen. All of the teachers are sitting in the room! They could have stopped the Marauders any time they wanted. No serious injury could have happened." She took in another forkful of her cherry cobbler, looking perfectly unconcerned.
"I think that they rather like the entertainment, the teachers," Tabitha put in as an afterthought. She glanced over at the Gryffindor table, then said quite suddenly: "Sara, I think your friends are trying to get your attention." Indeed, the Marauders and Rena and Lily were waving her over, in the previously vain attempt to catch her eye. Sara rolled her eyes.
"Excuse me, please," she told her comrades as she made her way easily across the hall to the Gryffindor able. She found them easily, and found that they had saved her a seat at the table.
"Sit down," James told her kindly, grinning broadly. Sara crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Oh, come on!"
"We won't bite, you know," Sirius grinned, exchanging a look with Remus, who shrugged. Lily caught her eye and nodded, so Sara took the empty seat beside Sirius. She looked at them, and suddenly decided not to beat around the bush.
"What was that all about?"
"What was what about?" Sirius and James tried, and failed, to look innocently surprised at the accusation. Remus and Lily rolled their eyes at one another, and Sara raised her eyebrow at them again.
"Oh, that," Sirius smirked. "That was just a little start-of-term prank to get the year off to a good start."
"Besides, we did want to show him how we felt about giving you the sort of welcome to the school that he did--"
"We were teaching them about manners--"
"--And keeping their language clean." Sara tried not to look too shocked that she was the main reason behind Malfoy's, er, cleaning-out.
"Look," Rena said flatly, "this isn't exactly the first time that they have used that sort of language; like James said earlier, they have a habit of attacking muggle-borns, both verbally and physically. They haven't stopped or eased up since they started in the first year. They are gits, and we are--er--trying to help them see the errors of their slimy ways." Sara nodded slowly. She looked around at their faces, all smiling now.
"Don't you guys get in trouble?" The four marauders exchanged looks, and burst out into a fit of laughter.
"Of course we get into trouble!" Sirius roared. "Jamesie and I must have a record for the number of detentions we've gotten in the last years!"
"They'll be coming over here to give those two detentions any moment now!" Remus told her, indicating Sirius and James.
"What about you?"
"Well, in case you didn't notice, I played no part in the last little escapade, but I am involved in the plotting as much as the rest are."
"Yeah," said Sirius, suddenly smirking (a/n hehe, an alliteration!). "But he's been trying to keep his shiny new Prefect's badge clean." He and James and Peter sniggered, and Remus turned a bit red, trying to hide a glimmer of silver that was attached to the front of his robes.
"That's not really true," he said, stuffing the badge out of sight. "Actually, I am pretty sure that Dumbledore chose me because, first of all, you two have been in detention way more than I have, and I get the better marks. Besides, I think that he is hoping that I will be able to keep you from doing anything stupid." He smirked at them. Sirius and James exchanged looks and Sirius suddenly became extremely excited.
"So you have the power to put us in detention, now?" He asked Remus, but he didn't sound worried in the least. On the contrary, he sounded as if Christmas had come three months early. "AWESOME!!!!!"
"He's trying to break the school record," Lily said quietly, noticing Sara's puzzled look at Sirius' ecstasy. The eight of them stood up and stretched, leaving the Great Hall. As they walked out the door, Sirius and James received a small, barely audible round of applause from the Gryffindor table and several death glares from the Slytherins. Once in the entrance hall, Sirius could no longer contain himself and burst into the dance that he had been doing earlier.
"Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!" he chanted, as James and Peter joined him. Lily turned to Remus and began to say "Now, really," but was too late. The four Marauders were doing the line dance again, chanting "Oh, yeah! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs!" Rena and Lily groaned together.
"Oh, no! It really is contagious!"
"2S.L.S.D. strikes again!"
"And you still haven't given me your prescriptions!" Sara said, trying to sound stern. She held out her hand and tapped her foot expectantly.
"What prescriptions?" they asked innocently. Just then, Professor McGonagall approached them. The line dance was abruptly halted as she stopped, just feet from them.
"Potter, Black, detention. You know what for," The accused parties were trying, and failing horribly, to look innocent. Halfway through the struggle, they gave up and grinned broadly at one another. The Professor, puzzled, decided not to inquire further and rolled her eyes as she turned her back on them. Sirius threw one arm each around Sara and Rena, who were closest to him.
"I feel that this is the start of a beautiful year!"
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So that was chapter 7? Pleeease REVIEW! Tell me if u liked it or didn't! I'm so tired of getting one review per chapter (and it has been the same person, too!)---this merits a major shout-out, tho.
VAMPIRE BAT-THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! Your reviews mean a lot to me, and it is good to know that you actually come back and read my story!!! Luv ya, hun (
So, here is what I have decided..
NO CHAPTER 8 UNTIL I GET AT LEAST 3 REVIEWS FOR MY STORY! Muahahahaha
*she's lost it!
No, I just want reviews! Is that so much to ask?
*Whatever---anyways, guys, I think you should review or my sister will have a mental breakdown and not write anymore...yeah. Stick around for chapter 8!
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CHAPTER 7
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Defense Against the Dark Arts was exceptionally normal; all they had done was read theory and do an introduction and review for the class. The professor, one Acrisius Pantoliano, was a very energetic, young man of Italian descent who had a loud, commanding voice full of laughter and a lot of aggressive facial hair, though one could tell that he tried to keep it under control.
When they sat down in his class (Sara had taken a seat between Sirius and Paige; the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections of the classroom), he had, of course, collected their summer homework, and broke off from his funny voice and became serious for a moment. When this happened, everyone knew something was wrong (Sara found out from Sirius). Professor Pantoliano went to the front of the room and he tapped his wand on the desk.
"Now," He said in a voice so serious that the class stared, "as you are all well aware, this is the year that you take your Ordinary Wizarding Levels. As you all know, these are extremely important exams, the results of which will affect the rest of your life, especially your future careers. Now, I don't want you to be intimidated, but I do want you all to be motivated to study hard this year, pay attention to all of your classes, and strive for top grades, all of you. Now!" he startled them all by suddenly putting the spunk back into his voice. "Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
And so the lesson had begun, introductions and easy theories to warm them up to the more difficult work that Professor Pantoliano had promised would come starting the next few days. After the class was over, the professor dismissed them and Sara left with the rest, bidding Paige and Serenica goodbye and hurrying to tail the Gryffindors to Potions in the dungeons. Sirius noticed her tagging along with them.
"Okay, O'Hanlon, you are pretty cool, I'll give you that, but still: drop the shadow thing, it's creepy!"
"Oh, shove it, Sirius," Rena snapped at him. Sirius donned a hardly convincing look of innocence.
"What?!?! What did I do? I merely suggested that Sara hang with her own race---"
"Sirius--" Lily started warningly, glaring at him. Sara rolled her eyes.
"I mean, the Ravenclaws; her own house, they are different from us--and -- WHAT?!?!" Lily and Rena rolled their eyes together. Remus laughed, an almost wolflike laugh.
"Careful, girls, your eyes will pop out and roll away!" James said, laughter evident in his voice.
"Yeah, you know the saying: It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye--then it's just a game: find the damn eye!" Sara laughed with the rest of them as they rounded another corner and started down a stony staircase. Sara heard Lily clearly mumble something that sounded very much like "I'm gonna kill you, Sirius." Sara smiled to herself again.
"Seriously, though," Sara began. "I really would prefer to take classes with my house: At least I know a lot of people there. I didn't really have a choice, though."
"How is that?" asked James, seeming somewhat concerned. Indeed, Sara saw that Rena and Remus had identical shadows of frown lines on their faces, and Lily and Sirius both had their eyebrows raised. So, for the third time, she explained her schedule problems to them.
"I wondered how you were taking Arithmancy classes with Bellatrix," Sirius said as they walked under a low doorway into a dark, dingy room with many work stations with small cauldrons already on them each complete with brass scales and a set of glass vials. Sara's gaze wandered to the stone walls of the classroom, which were lined with shelf upon shelf of slimy things pickled in brines or alcohol, among other, she was sure, various potions. Overall, the lack of sunlight in the room gave off a feeling of decadence.
The distant patter of feet on stone brought Sara back to reality, as Peter and Arabella burst through the door. panting.
"We-didn't-want-to-be-late," Peter gasped, clutching a stitch in his side. He threw his bag onto a nearby table and sank gratefully into the wooden stood at the side of the desk. Arabella stood, panting slightly, in the doorway, her cheeks slightly flushed. She took her bag and sat down beside Peter at the table. Sara stood uncertain near the back of the classroom, silently, and waited. Slytherin students, along with a handful of Gryffindors, slowly filtered into the dungeon. It was time for the lesson to begin, and Sara took a seat at a table with Rena, Remus, and Lily.
Quite suddenly, the doors burst open, and the figure that stood their with robes billowing out stood for a moment, silhouetted in the light from outside the classroom. It took a step forward, coming into focus in the dingy room.
He was a thin man, with a pallid face and lank, mousy hair who held the wilted look of a plant kept in the dark. He swept up the aisle quickly, black robes billowing out behind him. Drawing level with his desk, he swooped around, reminding Sara suddenly of a large, black vulture, neck craned in hopes of spotting a particularly weak animal to attack. Unfortunately for Sara, as his eyes swept the room in search, he found one such victim. His eyes narrowed as he discovered Sara there. His eyes bored into hers, and, heeding the various warnings she'd received from her peers of this professor's temperament, stared back, willing herself not to blink too much.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" He muttered to himself in a raspy voice that sounded as though it hadn't been used in quite a long time. "And you are.....?" Sara kept her eyes steady.
"Sara O'Hanlon, Professor." She tried to keep her voice clear and steady. The teacher's eyes narrowed.
"I," he told her, "Am Professor Acrisius Baldo. One word," He raised his voice as a student behind Sara gave a cough that she was sure concealed a snigger. "About my name, and you will be disembowling toads before you can say the word." Sara saw, out of the corner of her eye, that Sirius had raised his hand, perhaps to ask which word that would be, when Arabella switly stopped him by kicking him under the desk. Professor Baldo was surveying Sara under critical eye. Then, quite suddenly, he spoke again.
"Miss O'Hanlon, what would I get if I mixed 10 grams of streeler slime, an infusion of aconite, 3 drops of snake venom and porcupine quills?" Sara was a bit taken aback. Was this some sort of initiation? Every eye in the class seemed to be anticipating her answer, their owners with bated breath. She wracked her brain and a question came to mind.
"How many porcupine quills, sir?" Out of the corner of her eye, James and Sirius shot her wide grins, while Remus, Rena and Lily all looked slightly fearful. Apparently, Baldo wasn't expecting this either.
"What difference does it make?" He spat, voice full of venom.
"Well, sir, if one adds the ingridients listed to 2 whole porcupine quills, then one would have a simple concoction to cure hiccoughs. With 5 crushed quills, however, a mild acid is developed which will burn a hole through virtually any surface." She took a quick breath and held it. They rest of the class was doing the same, though some also sported curiously triumphant looks on their faces. Professor Baldo looked quite as though he had been slapped in the face; obviously her answering the question hadn't had quite the effect he had hoped for. He recovered rather quickly from this blow, however, and hastily recomposed himself.
"Fine, then. You know your basic potions formulas, then, do you? Well, how are you in the knowledge of ingredients? From where would you recover a bezoar?"
"From the stomach of a goat, sir," Sara replied calmly, keeping her gaze fixed so she would not come off as being weak.
"What are the 12 uses for dragon's blood?" She named each, counting them off with her fingers. She was uncomfortably aware that the entire class was shooting her looks of amazement.
"What are the components of the Noxsonorus Draft?"
"One shredded, skinned shrivelfig, 11 grams of 1:3 diluted bobotuber pus, and--" Sara broke off, searching her brain for the answer. She remembered doing this potion with her friend Kaleigh back home.....they had given it to a student they had deeply disliked--oh, yes! "--and two powdered lacewing flies." She smiled sweetly at the professor, knowing quite well that she had hit the nail on the head. To her surprise, Baldo gave a tiny nod of approval, looking mildly impressed.
"Very well then, Miss O'Hanlon," he said, in the sort of voice of one not trying to give too much credit to someone else. He turned back to the class, who hurriedly pretended that they weren't impressed by Sara's knowledge of potions. "Well then-- the reason for asking about the Noxsonorus Draft is that we will be starting off your OWL year with that--" Sara settled back into her seat and began to copy down the extensive notes that were writing themselves up on the blackboard in a white substance, drawing diagrams and such when Professor Baldo flicked his wand in a particular manner.
This room was muchless comfortable than the rest of the castle: the dungeon was cold, damp, and smelt of unpleasantly decaying matter. Sara shivered slightly in her seat. She kept up with her notes, though she knew it, there was nothing to lose by copying them again. After all, she thought, it might help her with the upcoming O.W.L.s coming up at the end of the year. She made a move to roll her eyes, but caught herself in time. Back in the US, they didn't take O.W.L.s like witches and wizards in England did. They took the Practical Magical Aptitude Tests and Theory Magical Aptitude Tests for each subject at the end of their own fifth grade, then went on to take courses to prepare for the Extremely Difficul Subject Exams at the end of the eighth grade, to determine their carreers after school. She shook her head slightly, careful not to let anyone notice this. Of course she had taken the PMATs and the TMATs herself last year; she hadn'tt done poorly, either. She had received a 10 on many, 9 on the rest, and 8 in history, yet she had passed, receiving a score of 86, which was exceptionally high, as the top score was a 90 (the grades were on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the worst).
The rest of the class passed quickly: after being informed that at their next class they would be brewing the particular potions for themselves and reminded to bring their cauldrons and box of intermediate potions ingredients, they were dismissed. Sara walked silently level with Rena out of the dungeons. When sure they were out of earshot, Sirius turned and grinned at her widely.
"What?" she asked him curiously, noticing the apparently unprovoked grin. Sirius chortled a bit.
"You showed him!" He said, doing a sort of jig on the spot. "That was some seriously awesome question- um...answering!!!" He grinned more widely, if possible. James caught up beside Sara and gave her an identical grin. Sara was confused-she had only answered the professor's questions.
"I don't get it," She said. "What did I do?"
"Well, it's more that you-" James broke off, and Sara saw the reason immediately. Standing juxtaposition (hehe-there's your word for the day) blocking their path out of the dungeons, stood two boys about their age. One, who had lank, greasy, shoulder-length black hair and a sallow complexion had his arms crossed over his chest; the one standing next to him had white-blond hair that was slicked back, and a very pale, square face. Both wore Slytherin robes. James automatically stepped in front Lily, and both he and Sirius glared at the two boys. The one with the pale face stepped forward, wearing a very sour expression; he pushed through them, shoving Peter onto the floor. Remus and Rena got ugly looks on their faces as both drew their wands. He shoved Rena aside roughly and stopped when he saw Sara. His face was barely a foot and a half from hers, but she brought herself up to her full height as her eyes met his cold, steely ones.
"So, you think it's funny, do you?" He asked in a cold, drawling voice. The boy with the greasy hair came up behind him, glaring at her. Sara hadn't a clue what he was talking about, so she told him so iin a strong, clear voice.
"What did you say to me?" He challenged her to repeat the question, though Sara knew full well that he had heard her. Sara rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Don't you roll your eyes at me," he commanded, as if he thought she was out of place doing so. Sara raised her eyebrows.
"Oh? And why not?" She asked, sounding innocent. He chose to ignore her.
"What you did back there, in the dungeon. We Slytherins don't fancy mudblood Ravenclaws making a fool of our Head of House." Pink patches appeared in James' face.
"Don't you dare talk to her like that, Malfoy," he growled, wand out and steadily pointed at the boy, Malfoy's, stomach. Malfoy sneered at him.
"Oh, sticking up for his Mudblood girlfriend, now, it he, the little Potty?" he turned back to Sara, throwing her a look of loathing as he spoke. "Don't think you'll get away with what you did."
"Oh, you mean knowing the answers? Because I was under the impression that when one is asked a question, one is expected to give an answer." Sirius snorted into his robes. Malfoy and his friend pulled out their wands, both aiming them at Sara. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Rena all readjusted the aim on their own wands. Sara dug into the pockets of her own robes for her wand.
"What's going on here?" A prefect was making her way through the crowd to where they all were standing, breaking up the small crowd that had gathered around them. "Comon, no magic in the corridors, you know the rules. Put your wands away." Still glaring at each other, James and Malfoy put their wands away, as did the rest. Wand tucked safely back into her pocket, Sara saw Malfoy shoot a very vindictive look in Sara's direction before beckoning to his friend and stalking off. James let out a small sigh and stepped out from in front of Lily. They began the walk up to thier common rooms. Sara was the first to break the silence.
"So I take it you all know those two Slytherins?" James sighed again, and Sirius scowled.
"Yes," Remus said. "Lucius Malfoy and his sidekick, Severus Snape. They are two of the most horrible gits in the school."
"I don't think that they possess the ability to say even one decent word to anybody, or even to hold their tongues when some horrible remark comes to mind," Rena put in. Sara noticed that she was still clenching her wand tightly in her hand. Sara shrugged.
"Yes, well, they were just jealous that I knew the answers to Professor Baldo's questions." James sighed again.
"Probably, but he still shouldn't have called you a-a--a you-know-what!" His face seemed rather pale. "I am surprised, usually he goes after Lily, they are really horrible, both of them."
"Why would they go after Lily? Just because she's muggle-born?" Lily fidgeted a bit at the last bit.
"Yes, that's exactly the reason, Sara," Lily told her quietly. James was still scowling. "They don't need any better reason to attack someone."
"They've attacked her before," said James, glancing at Lily, as if to check that she was still safe there. "They set a black snake on her last year, and it bit her something terrible. She landed in the hospital wing for a week." Sara's eyes widened a bit. She tried hard not to feel scared: she did, after all, have a year more schooling than this Malfoy and Snape-- maybe there was a chance that she could outwit them or something, but if they were using dark magic--- The thought faded from her mind as quickly as it had come. They were all silent as they began to clib the wide, marble staircase that led to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers.
"That's why they are in Slytherin, though. With their pure-blood mania and egocentric thinking. Yes, they belong in Slytherin, with all the other gits and bastards." Sirius put in, sounding somewhat miserable. Sara drew level with him and cast him a sideways glance.
"But, your cousin....." Sirius snorted.
"Yep, and my mum and dad, all cousins except for Andromeda, and my uncle Alphard--they were in Slytherin, the whole lot of them. And I don't care," he said suddenly, as though the thought had just struck him. "I hate them all. I want out of that horrible monstrous place." Sara didn't quite know what to say.
"Well," she said, "You should really never take family for granted--" Sirius snorted. Rena laughed at her.
"You sooo sound like a Hallmark card!" she laughed. Sirius looked confused.
"Wallmart, what?" the girls giggled.
"I'ts a miggle thing, Sirius," Lily laughed. Sirius grinned maliciously.
"Lils, what's a 'miggle'? Is that something new you've made up?"
"I misspoke, okay? Leave it!"
"Miggle, miggle miggle miggle MIGGLE!!!" Sirius chanted, suddenly laughing maniacally. The rest of the group exchanged looks. Sara laughed a bit. Lily's face flushed.
"Sirius, I'm gonna kill you!"
"MIGGLE, MIGGLE, MIGGLE--" Sirius had now developed a sort of dance to go along with the mantra. James grinned broadly--he couldn't resist, and he joined in, followed by Remus and Peter joined the end of the line. It was an odd sight indeed: The four marauders doing a sort of line dance to the 'Miggle' chant. Rena slapped her forehead with her open hand and groaned.
"Oh, no--it's contagious!" She said in the tone one would use after hearing that the world was coming to an end.
"Girls," Lily told them gravelly, "It looks like we have the beginnings of an epidemic of 2S.L.S.D."
"What?"
"the Sirius Sudden Loss of Sanity Disorder."
"Oh." She looked at the Marauders, who had added a few moves to the dance and started chanting 'MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, PRONGS!'
"Well in that case," Sara continued, "you must have stopped taking your medication. Give me your prescriptions and I will have them refilled for you." Lily and Rena snorted into their robes, and Arabella smiled.
"What prescriptions?" Remus and James asked together, trying to sound innocent and failing dismally.
***************
And so they all went up to Gryffindor Tower, Sara heading back towards the statue of the eagle that concealed the entrance into Ravenclaw Tower. When she got back, she found her friends, who had, as it turned out, been kept over in Potions by a Hufflepuff who had knocked over a barrel of horned toads that had been waiting to be disemboweled ("Duffers, the lot of them," Basti said) and they had had to clean it up. Sara told them about her classes and her first day, they lot of them laughed and joked until Alaina and Serenica began a raucous game of exploding snap, successfully distracting those who had been studying until many of them had joined in on the game themselves.
The rest of the day was normal; doing the little bit of homework she had with Paige in the library, chatting about qudditch and wizarding music, and playing gobstones and wizard chess (Sara narrowly beat Serenica but lost spectacularly to Noah, who, as Paige said, was the undefeated chess champion of Ravenclaw tower). At dinner time, she deposited her books in the dormitory and headed down to the Great Hall with the rest of them, not getting lost at all. She joined everyone else at the usual seats in the Great Hall, sitting down and filling her goblet with pumpkin juice.
They chattered away, talking about this-and-that, Sara cutting herself a slice of shepherd's pie and eating rather than taling. She found that this was the best way to get to know her new friends. She was halfway through a dish of sprouts when sudden mayhem disrupted the Hall.
The source of the commotion seemed to be the Slytherin table. Sara saw a small quantity of pink foam and bubbles streaming onto the floor. Looking around, Sirius caught Sara's eye and grinned at her: it only took a few seconds to see why.
Sirius' wand was pointed at Malfoy, who had bubbles pouring out of his mouth. He seemed to be choking on them; his face was beginning to turn purple. Greasy-haired Snape was there, trying to help his friend, but kept jerking back suspiciously as though attatched to strings. Another look at the Gryffindor table, and she saw James jerking his wand in Snape's direction. Lily seemed to be trying to stop him, but he was ignoring her. Rena was smiling, arms crossed across her chest, but Remus had hidden his head behind a book, looking as if he didn't want to be noticed at the moment.
Sara didn't know whether to laugh or to look horrified, and copromised by choking on a lot of pumpkin juice and concentrated hard on a particularly small sprout. All of her fellow Ravenclaw fifth-years stared, transfixed at the Slytherin table. Then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the bubbles disappeared, Snape launched himself forward (as the invisible strings no longer held himback) and crashed into the table, landing his face expertly in a tureen of tripe, and Malfoy's face turned its normal pale, now slightly twinged pink. They sat down quietly at their seats at the table, trying, and failing spectacularly, to keep a low profile. Many of the other students laughed, some looked confused, but most seemed to know who had caused the disruption.
Sara saw James and Sirius exchange smug looks and tuck their wands away into their robes under the table out of the corner of her eye. Within a few moments, the rest of the students seemed to have forgotten the excitement; almost as if they were used to the interruptions. Paige turned to Sara. Noticing her shocked expression, she grinned.
"Oh, don't worry," she said. "That sort of thing happens a lot here. It is usually also the same people who cause the mayhem." Across the table, Lisa rolled her eyes.
"Yes, those specific Gryffindors do have a knack for getting themselves into trouble. They land in detention at least three times a week!" She shuddered, as if the thought of detention was comparable to a slow and painful death. Basti, Christian and Luke laughed.
"Brilliant really. They do use the cleaning spell often, though, I think they need something new."
"It'd be great to be able to curse all of those Slytherin gits without getting into trouble," Basti said dreamily. "Oh, the possibilities." He leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head, a dreamy look coming into his eyes. The others laughed, and Sara couldn't help but smile.
"They could've been hurt, though!" she said. "Snape and Malfoy, I mean."
"Oh, so you've met Hogwarts' biggest slimeball gits, have you?" Serenica asked. Sara nodded.
"Yes, I had Potions with them just earlier. They are gits, but still, they could have been killed!" Alaina rolled her eyes at Sara.
"Oh, puh-lease! Nothing, I repeat, notthing but embarassment could happen. All of the teachers are sitting in the room! They could have stopped the Marauders any time they wanted. No serious injury could have happened." She took in another forkful of her cherry cobbler, looking perfectly unconcerned.
"I think that they rather like the entertainment, the teachers," Tabitha put in as an afterthought. She glanced over at the Gryffindor table, then said quite suddenly: "Sara, I think your friends are trying to get your attention." Indeed, the Marauders and Rena and Lily were waving her over, in the previously vain attempt to catch her eye. Sara rolled her eyes.
"Excuse me, please," she told her comrades as she made her way easily across the hall to the Gryffindor able. She found them easily, and found that they had saved her a seat at the table.
"Sit down," James told her kindly, grinning broadly. Sara crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Oh, come on!"
"We won't bite, you know," Sirius grinned, exchanging a look with Remus, who shrugged. Lily caught her eye and nodded, so Sara took the empty seat beside Sirius. She looked at them, and suddenly decided not to beat around the bush.
"What was that all about?"
"What was what about?" Sirius and James tried, and failed, to look innocently surprised at the accusation. Remus and Lily rolled their eyes at one another, and Sara raised her eyebrow at them again.
"Oh, that," Sirius smirked. "That was just a little start-of-term prank to get the year off to a good start."
"Besides, we did want to show him how we felt about giving you the sort of welcome to the school that he did--"
"We were teaching them about manners--"
"--And keeping their language clean." Sara tried not to look too shocked that she was the main reason behind Malfoy's, er, cleaning-out.
"Look," Rena said flatly, "this isn't exactly the first time that they have used that sort of language; like James said earlier, they have a habit of attacking muggle-borns, both verbally and physically. They haven't stopped or eased up since they started in the first year. They are gits, and we are--er--trying to help them see the errors of their slimy ways." Sara nodded slowly. She looked around at their faces, all smiling now.
"Don't you guys get in trouble?" The four marauders exchanged looks, and burst out into a fit of laughter.
"Of course we get into trouble!" Sirius roared. "Jamesie and I must have a record for the number of detentions we've gotten in the last years!"
"They'll be coming over here to give those two detentions any moment now!" Remus told her, indicating Sirius and James.
"What about you?"
"Well, in case you didn't notice, I played no part in the last little escapade, but I am involved in the plotting as much as the rest are."
"Yeah," said Sirius, suddenly smirking (a/n hehe, an alliteration!). "But he's been trying to keep his shiny new Prefect's badge clean." He and James and Peter sniggered, and Remus turned a bit red, trying to hide a glimmer of silver that was attached to the front of his robes.
"That's not really true," he said, stuffing the badge out of sight. "Actually, I am pretty sure that Dumbledore chose me because, first of all, you two have been in detention way more than I have, and I get the better marks. Besides, I think that he is hoping that I will be able to keep you from doing anything stupid." He smirked at them. Sirius and James exchanged looks and Sirius suddenly became extremely excited.
"So you have the power to put us in detention, now?" He asked Remus, but he didn't sound worried in the least. On the contrary, he sounded as if Christmas had come three months early. "AWESOME!!!!!"
"He's trying to break the school record," Lily said quietly, noticing Sara's puzzled look at Sirius' ecstasy. The eight of them stood up and stretched, leaving the Great Hall. As they walked out the door, Sirius and James received a small, barely audible round of applause from the Gryffindor table and several death glares from the Slytherins. Once in the entrance hall, Sirius could no longer contain himself and burst into the dance that he had been doing earlier.
"Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!" he chanted, as James and Peter joined him. Lily turned to Remus and began to say "Now, really," but was too late. The four Marauders were doing the line dance again, chanting "Oh, yeah! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs!" Rena and Lily groaned together.
"Oh, no! It really is contagious!"
"2S.L.S.D. strikes again!"
"And you still haven't given me your prescriptions!" Sara said, trying to sound stern. She held out her hand and tapped her foot expectantly.
"What prescriptions?" they asked innocently. Just then, Professor McGonagall approached them. The line dance was abruptly halted as she stopped, just feet from them.
"Potter, Black, detention. You know what for," The accused parties were trying, and failing horribly, to look innocent. Halfway through the struggle, they gave up and grinned broadly at one another. The Professor, puzzled, decided not to inquire further and rolled her eyes as she turned her back on them. Sirius threw one arm each around Sara and Rena, who were closest to him.
"I feel that this is the start of a beautiful year!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
So that was chapter 7? Pleeease REVIEW! Tell me if u liked it or didn't! I'm so tired of getting one review per chapter (and it has been the same person, too!)---this merits a major shout-out, tho.
VAMPIRE BAT-THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! Your reviews mean a lot to me, and it is good to know that you actually come back and read my story!!! Luv ya, hun (
So, here is what I have decided..
NO CHAPTER 8 UNTIL I GET AT LEAST 3 REVIEWS FOR MY STORY! Muahahahaha
*she's lost it!
No, I just want reviews! Is that so much to ask?
*Whatever---anyways, guys, I think you should review or my sister will have a mental breakdown and not write anymore...yeah. Stick around for chapter 8!