Chapter 13: Misters Potter and Malfoy
"I found a reference book that contains information about the spell you two experienced the other day," Hermione said to Pepper and Harry. Looking up, she saw their expectant faces.
"Well, Hermione, get on with it," Pepper said.
Hermione looked down at the text once again. "It's called the Féminin Vivreencore Curse. Highly dangerous...difficult to conjure...soul mates...kiss...I already know all that, give me something else...it doesn't give the potion, not even the ingredients." She shut the book and glanced at the cover. "Well, of course it doesn't, this isn't a potions book..." She sighed and went back to scan the shelves.
Pepper shot Harry a nervous glance; they hadn't told Hermione that they actually wanted to use the potion, when Hermione just wanted to see what was in it. They didn't think Hermione would really approve of using it. Pepper turned back to the book she was reading. Her O.W.L.s started in a week, and she was getting more nervous by the day.
"Harry, quiz me," she ordered, handing the book to him. He began to read off the beginning of facts, leaving Pepper to fill in the gaps.
Thirty minutes later, Hermione returned from looking for books to see Harry and Pepper sitting on the bench at the table, practically on top of each other. It appeared Harry was trying to help Pepper study, but every time he asked her something she'd squint and then leaned over Harry to look at the book. This caused Harry to try to block her, which resulted in a kiss. Hermione smiled. She hadn't seen Harry acting this carefree since Sirius died.
"Hey, lovebirds, I thought Pepper had O.W.L.s next week," she said as she approached them, her eyebrow raised.
Pepper snapped back to attention, sitting up in her seat. "I was trying, but Harry does it wrong," she complained.
"I do not," Harry said. "You're just trying to get the answer from the book before I even ask the bloody question!"
"Am not!" Pepper pouted.
"I've got more books," Hermione said loudly, stopping the arguing.
"Hermione, could you help me study?" Pepper asked, glaring at Harry but with a smile on her face.
"Sure," Hermione answered, even though she knew Harry was perfectly capable of quizzing someone, she was just afraid Pepper wouldn't get any studying done if she and Harry kept playing games like that. "Harry," she said as Pepper handed her the book, "Look through these books when you get a chance, will you?"
"Okay," Harry said. "By the way, Hermione, where's Ron? He hasn't been apart from you these past few days."
"He said Angelina wanted to see him for something. I think it was a new Quidditch move." Hermione answered.
"Oh," Harry said, a puzzled look on his face. "He didn't tell me, I wonder why."
"Come off it, Harry, just do your homework."
The day before her O.W.L.s started, Pepper decided to take a walk to lower her stress. Hermione said she'd come with Pepper, to help her review her Transfiguration. That completely defeated Pepper's point, but she agreed to let Hermione come with her, she figured she could get Hermione off the subject somehow.
Saying farewell to Harry and Ron, who were very behind on their homework, they left the castle.
Pepper wanted to take a stroll around the castle, but Hermione said that would take much too long, they should walk around the lake. It was a very nice day for a walk. The sky was clear and sunny, though there was a cold breeze signaling November was on its way. They walked in silence for a few moments before Hermione said she wanted to quiz Pepper on her O.W.L that she would be taking tomorrow. Pepper declined the offer at once, and said she'd rather talk about something interesting, like their love lives, perhaps?
"Ron is so wonderful now that we're together," Hermione sighed, giving in to Pepper's suggestion. "He may not be my soul mate," – she looked meaningfully at Pepper – "but he's really sweet when we're not having a row, which, as you may have noticed, hasn't happened in five days now."
"I'm glad you're having a wonderful time with Ron, Hermione," Pepper said. "I sort of noticed you two really close together lately...you haven't done anything but kiss, right Hermione? I mean, I would've noticed him in our dorm, unless you put one of those Silencing Charms you're so good at, on your bed."
"I've done no such thing," huffed Hermione. "We've just kissed, that's all."
"Do you really think Ron is cute? 'Cause you said the other day you said Harry wasn't as good looking as Malfoy, and I think Harry's better looking than Ron."
"Harry is not better looking than Ron!" Hermione protested. "Though, I do think Malfoy is better looking than both of them. But Ron is definitely cuter than Harry."
"I don't think so, girlfriend!" Pepper said jokingly. "Harry positively, absolutely is better looking than Ron. He's sexier too. Plus, his ass is nicer."
Hermione laughed. "You have me on that last one, I have to agree. However, Ron's chest is more muscular than Harry's. That's got to count for something."
Pepper smirked. "And how would you know, Miss Granger?"
Hermione blushed then looked at Pepper in mock-horror. "Pepper, don't smirk! You look like Malfoy when you do that!"
Pepper grimaced at the thought of looking like Malfoy. "Anyway, back to the subject. You're trying to avoid my question. How do you know Ron's chest is more muscular than Harry's?"
"Swimming," muttered Hermione. "I took them to a pool by my house and, naturally, they had their shirts off. That's all, I swear."
"Whatever you say," Pepper said, eyeing her suspiciously. "But anywho, Harry is, without a doubt, sexier than Ron. Especially his hair. The way it flops around and everything."
"I don't think so," Hermione said. "Ron's sexier. His blue eyes and his red hair..." She stared dreamily off into space, reminding Pepper of Luna Lovegood.
"See that's why I could never date Malfoy; his hair is slicked back, I need floppy hair. When you're Head Girl next year you've got to get him to stop gelling his hair back."
"Who said I'm going to be Head Girl? And who says Malfoy's going to be Head Boy?" Hermione demanded.
"Oh, come on Hermione, of course you're going to be Head Girl."
They stopped walking and stared at the lake. The wind made slight waves over the water, and a giant tentacle appeared on the surface from time to time.
"Bien Erin," Pepper said quietly.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Bane air-een," Pepper said, sounding everything out for Hermione. "It means 'beautiful day.'"
"Is that...Elvish?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
"Why, yes it is," Pepper answered, surprised. "How'd you know?"
"Probably same way you do, I suspect," said Hermione. "I've read the greatest books of all time, I know. Studied the language by myself for a while after I read them. I found that I didn't have quite the knack you need to learn it though. Besides, I had so much else going on; I was too busy to study Elvish. I already know Latin, so it doesn't matter to me, any way I can make Harry and Ron feel stupid is a good thing to know."
Pepper laughed and nodded her head. "Since I've just been fighting demons all my life I have a lot of free time on my hands. I taught my dad a little of it, too. We - hang on, what's that noise?" Pepper cupped her hand around her ear to see if she could hear it again. And there it was, a timid hooting coming from somewhere by the lake.
"It sounds like an owl," Hermione said. "There it is." She pointed to a spot under a nearby yew tree. There was a small, cream and black owl lying in the grass.
Pepper and Hermione hurried over to the owl, which was lying in an odd position. It seemed to have broken its wing. Hermione picked it up carefully and it gave a sharp hoot. Hermione almost dropped the owl in surprise, but she held on to it. "We should get it to Hagrid," she said. Pepper nodded. They stood up and headed toward Hagrid's hut, Hermione carrying the owl.
They knocked on the great wooden door and only had to wait a few seconds before Hagrid opened it. Hagrid smiled when he saw the two girls and conducted them in.
"Good ter see ya," he said, taking out two mugs and putting them on the table.
"Hagrid," Pepper said worriedly, "We've found this owl, it seems to be injured." Pepper took the owl carefully from Hermione and handed it to Hagrid.
"Blimey," Hagrid said, examining the owl. "It's injured all righ'. Who's is it?"
"We don't know," Hermione replied. "We were walking around the lake and we found it like this."
"Well, I'll take care o' it. I' will ge' better, I promise yer tha'. Then we'll see whose owl it is," Hagrid said.
"We'd better get back to the castle, Pepper, it's almost dark," Hermione said. "Bye Hagrid. Thanks for taking the owl."
Pepper waved as she and Hermione left the hut and headed back to the castle.
Once they were back in the common room, they sat down next to Harry and Ron on the plush couch. They were reading, though they both wore smiles on their faces.
"What's so funny?" Pepper asked.
Harry licked his lips before speaking. "I like your ass, too, Pepper," he managed to say before he and Ron burst out laughing.
Pepper and Hermione immediately flushed scarlet. Pepper swore. "Why the hell'd you follow us?" she asked. "Effing Invisibility Cloak..."
"Couldn't resist," Ron said, breathlessly. "Girl talk...we figured we'd come up in conversation. Nice to know you think so highly of us." At this, he exploded into laughter once more. Hermione and Pepper shot the boys death glares before they stomped off to their dormitory.
"We can't be mad at them," Pepper said steadily. "We could've predicted this. Of course they figured we'd talk about them." She groaned. "Idiots." She buried her face in her pillow.
"Who, us or them?" Hermione asked, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Boof, I suppof," Pepper answered, her words muffled by her pillow. She turned her head to look at Hermione. "I thought you had a good cover, saying you'd be quizzing me..."
"That wasn't a cover!" Hermione said, taken aback. "I really was going to help you review." A look of realization was suddenly plastered on Hermione's face and she let out a groan similar to Pepper's. Pepper let out a "mmm" sound, that clearly asked what Hermione's groan was for. "Ron heard me say Harry's arse was nicer than his." Hermione shook her head and put her face in her hands. A few seconds later, her head shot up again. "Bloody hell, Harry heard me say his arse is nice!"
Pepper was hit with a great wave of laughter, causing her to fall off of her bed. "Harry...ass...you...said..." she spluttered. Hermione shook her head, laughing as well, but not nearly as hard.
"You're hopeless, Pepper," she said. "You are aware that your first O.W.L is tomorrow, aren't you?"
Pepper shot up into a sitting position. "Shit," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'd forgotten. So let's get studying, then, shall we?"
Pepper sat nervously in the wooden chair, waiting for Professor McGonagall to explain the exam to her. A plate of sandwiches was placed on the desk beside her and a packet of paper and her lucky purple and white spotted quill in front of her.
McGonagall explained to her that she'd have the lunch period to complete the exam and that there was no possible way she could cheat. Pepper nodded; eager to get this finished with. When the professor told her she could begin, Pepper attacked the first question, stuffing a sandwich in her mouth.
Explain the wand movement used in animal transfiguration,The first question read. Pepper readied her quill with black ink, and touched it to the paper.
The wand movement used in animal transfiguration is quick, caused by a snapping of the wrist...
Emerging from the Transfiguration, Pepper felt confident that she'd done well. She also felt very full. She wondered how many sandwiches she had eaten in her nervousness.
Hitching her bag over her shoulder in satisfaction, she walked to Ancient Runes, where she met up with Hermione. "How was it?" Hermione asked her as Pepper took a seat next to her.
"Easier than I expected," Pepper answered, pulling out her textbook. "And Professor McGonagall provided me with a plate of sandwiches that refilled itself...this place will never cease to amaze me. So, how was lunch, then?"
"Harry seemed a bit uncomfortable...Ron was...erm...fondling me under the table," Hermione said uneasily.
"Hermione Granger! Well I never!" Pepper exclaimed in surprise. "What do you mean fondling?"
"He was rubbing my leg under my robes. Just by my knee, not really high," she added hastily, seeing the look of shock and horror on Pepper's face. Hermione blushed. "After what he heard yesterday, when we were talking about them...well, he said he was glad I thought he was sexier, he just wanted to get me back for what I said about Harry..." Hermione finished lamely.
"Oh, did Harry have any more to say about the Ass Comment?" Pepper asked.
Hermione smiled at Pepper's given name for what happened. "No, it appears you've straightened him out. What'd you do anyway?"
"A little persuading," Pepper smirked, recalling the events that occurred that very morning.
She'd snuck up the boys' dormitories stairs early in the morning, before anyone in Gryffindor was awake. Entering the 6th year boys' room, she had quickly picked out Harry's bed. Parting the hangings, she stealthily crept into his bed. She had lay down next to him and stared into his sleeping face. Kissing his nose to wake him, Harry stirred and opened his eyes. "Pepper!" he'd exclaimed. She'd put a finger to her lips.
"I've got to talk to you," she had whispered. "I know you were making fun of Hermione last night after I was asleep and she went back to the common room. Now we both know that your ass is nicer than Ron's and Hermione was simply agreeing with me. So, I'd be much obliged if you stopped tormenting her about the Ass Comment, it was embarrassing enough for her as it was. And if you don't I'll be mad and I won't kiss you for a week."
Harry had looked fairly amused at the speech Pepper had given him. Somewhat reluctantly, he had agreed. Knowing what was coming next, Pepper discreetly placed a Fresh Breath Charm on them and, sure enough, Harry said something corny and kissed her.
Just as they had been getting into it, there was a mumbling from the next bed and Ron stuck his head through Harry's hangings. His mouth had been poised to ask his friend a question, but when he took in the sight before him, his eyes bulged.
"Morning Ron," Pepper had said sweetly. With a final kiss to Harry, she slid out of his bed and hurried down to the common room.
"Miss Halliwell," a voice called, snapping Pepper out of her revive.
Her head snapped to attention at the front of the room. "Sorry, Professor. What was the question?"
"I asked you what you found most interesting in your readings last night," the professor repeated.
"How was the exam?" Harry asked as they took their seats in Potions.
"Pretty easy," Pepper answered. "I ate so many sandwiches though...hey," she said, lowering her voice. "You didn't give Hermione any trouble, did you?"
"No," Harry said. "But Ron asked me what the two of us were doing this morning. I told him you'd come to ask me something, I figured he wouldn't be too happy if I brought up the, er, "Ass Comment," to him again. I don't think he fully bought what I said, though." Harry wanted to tell her that he wouldn't mind being woken up with her on top of him every morning, but he kept it to himself.
Pepper shrugged. "I think you were right in telling him that. I don't think he'd have been too happy if you had said anything about the Ass Comment either. Thanks for not saying anything to Hermione, by the way."
Snape, once again, paired Pepper with Malfoy and she begrudgingly trudged over to his table and took a seat beside him. She saw his eyes sparkled maliciously, something they only did when he had gotten great dirt on somewhere.
"You're dating Potter, are you?" he whispered.
"So what if I am?" Pepper hissed, hiding her face behind a measuring cup.
Malfoy sniggered. "The Golden Boy and his Gryffindor Whore..."
"You know, I don't know why you think you're so much better than everyone else," Pepper said, trying not to move her lips too much as she looked down at her reference book to check how to slice her adleroot. "I'm a pureblood too."
"Now, I don't think I believe you," Malfoy snickered. "I've never heard of the Halliwells, and Father is associated with all the rich pureblood families. Unless they're like the Weasley's – " he shot a hateful glance at Ron, "and I don't believe you're poor, Halliwell."
"And why's that?" Pepper asked, adding ingredients to the cauldron.
"I can tell," Malfoy said plainly.
"I am a pureblood, for your information," Pepper told him quietly, noticing Snape was walking their way.
"No you're not," Malfoy said. "I've never heard of you."
"Perhaps your father's slipped up," Pepper sneered. "Or perhaps my family's just too important for your father to know."
Malfoy seemed to grow angry at this comment. "Or you're just too lowly for my father to know," he replied coldly.
"Nah," Pepper said nonchalantly. "But, I just have to let you know that I am, in fact, pureblood. That's all you need to know."
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Halliwell. There is no talking in my class. You will be receiving detention the next time it happens," Snape said coolly, coming up behind Pepper. Malfoy smirked. Pepper rolled her eyes at Snape's back as he walked back to the front of the classroom.
"I think you're a Mudblood, Halliwell," Malfoy said, trying to provoke her.
"I'm not," Pepper replied curtly. "I should wash out your foul mouth, Malfoy."
"Mudblood," Malfoy taunted.
"I'm pureblood," Pepper said, her teeth gritted. "And I don't care what the hell you say." She wished he'd stop talking to her because every time he did, she had to retort and she didn't want Snape to give her a detention. That would give Malfoy too much satisfaction. Even if she said she didn't care what he said, she cared enough to talk back to him.
"Maybe I should wash your foul mouth, Halliwell," said Malfoy, raising a platinum blonde eyebrow. "I'd bet yours had touched fouler things that mine, what with the fact you're getting it on with Potter."
"I am NOT getting it on with Harry," Pepper murmured angrily. "And I'm sure even if I was, Parkinson is fouler than he is. In fact, you're fouler to begin with." She was beginning to feel childish, playing silly games like this with Malfoy.
"I'm sure..." Malfoy said, a smirk still on his face. "Potter's bad then, is he. That's why you're trying to deny that you're now tainted. Because, of course you were a virgin, am I right? No one but Potter would want to touch Mudblood scum."
Pepper was having a hard time keeping control of her temper. She was afraid to move her hands in fear she would freeze something, which is what happened when she was livid, so she carefully added the ground salamander's tail in silence.
"Struck a nerve, did I?" Malfoy said. "Knew you were a dirty Mudblood whore."
Pepper's fists clenched. She took deep breaths through her teeth. Last time she was this mad she...
"What the hell...?" she heard Malfoy say.
Pepper looked next to herself, praying that Malfoy wasn't referring to what she imagined he was. But, alas, what she thought was right. Soon the whole class was letting out gasps of surprise and stopping their potion work to stare at what was now standing beside Pepper.
She shut her eyes and opened them again, hoping it wasn't really happening. But when she opened them she saw two more Pepper Halliwells gazing back at her. "Shit," she muttered. Usually, when she was really angry she only cloned herself once. But Malfoy, it appeared, made her very mad.
"You insufferable bastard!" one of her clones began to yell at Malfoy. "Who the hell are you to call me a MUDBLOOD! I'm a PUREBLOOD, though I'm glad I'm not like you!"
Her other clone stood there, her head tilted to the side, looking thoughtfully at Malfoy. "You are quite good looking, though." It walked around till it was looking at Malfoy's back. "Nice ass."
While the other one was still shouting at him. "It's none of your business what family I'm from! So what if you haven't heard of the Halliwells! It's s my MOTHER'S NAME!"
The real Pepper rubbed her forehead vigorously, willing the two clones to go away. Cloning was the least developed of her powers. They came in useful when she needed to fool demons, and they could fight, but she didn't know how to get rid of them and she didn't know how to control what they said. And what they usually said was quite embarrassing because they spewed her innermost thoughts. Each clone embodied a certain sliver of her thoughts.
The second clone walked around Malfoy, who was standing there stiff as a board as Clone 2 picked up his hair and examined it. "Get rid of the gel, Malfoy. I'd imagine your hair is much sexier down. All floppy. Like Harry's for example."
Pepper's face was on fire. She put her face in her hands, elbows on the table. It seemed the class was too stunned to do anything, even laugh. Snape appeared stunned too. The clones were just making her madder and she was afraid that another one might appear. She wanted to make a dash for the door, but she would surely get detention for that, though she was probably already getting detention, and her feet didn't seem to want to move.
"You are such an asshole, why don't you get over yourself!" Clone 1 shouted. "You're no better than anyone in this room! You're just a fucking suck up! You're not even that smart! I'm sure I'M even smarter than you, and I've only been here for two fucking months!"
"Your face is really cute," the other clone was ranting, now holding Malfoy's face between its hands. "Really great eyes."
Suddenly, as if out of thin air, another clone appeared. The real Pepper groaned loudly. The third clone wasted no time in getting to work..
It fixated its eyes on Harry and smiled widely.
"And I've never screwed Harry Potter!" Clone 1 was screaming at Malfoy. "And I don't even think I'd want to!"
"I would," Clone 3 was saying thoughtfully, not moving from its spot by Clone 1. "He looks like he'd be really good in bed."
Pepper prayed that none of the clones would mention anything about Harry being her soul mate. They'd already revealed enough about her, though no one knew this was what she really thought. She didn't think she wanted to sleep with Harry...
"No," Clone 2 said, dropping Malfoy's face and getting closer to him, wrapping its arms around his neck. It looked into his face. "This is someone who would be good in bed."
"Heard you've done the whole school, Malfoy!" the first clone continued. "You've probably spread a disease! I bet you've got hundreds of illegitimate children running around."
Clone 3 was getting closer to Harry, who was beginning to look almost as uncomfortable as Malfoy. "Harry's ass is definitely nicer than that scumbag's," it said.
"I don't care who's got a nice ass!" Clone 1 shouted. "I could have the best damn ass in the whole damn school but that still doesn't give him the right to call people horrible names and be a dick!"
Clone 3 was now leaning over the desk Harry was sitting at with Ron, staring Harry in the face. "Floppy hair is sexy – " it looked at the other two clones. "– don't you agree?"
CLone 2, still attached to Malfoy, nodded its head. It tried to un-gel Malfoy's hair by running its hands through it. "Gelled hair doesn't look very good..." It turned to look at Hermione, who, as Pepper saw with dismay, was trying not to laugh. "Hermione, like I said before, next year when you're Head Girl you should take his hair gel or something." It turned back to look at Malfoy's face, which was bearing a look of almost terror. "I'm sure you use a gallon of this stuff a day. It's, like, hard as a rock." It pressed itself against Malfoy, closing the small gap between them that had been there before. "Speaking of hard as a rock..."
Guessing what was coming next, since Malfoy had a body pressed up against his, Pepper wracked her brains for a way to stop anything else from happening, but she couldn't think of any way to get rid of them. The way she'd gotten rid of them before was to vanquish the demon, but there was no demon here. Unless you counted Malfoy as a demon, but she couldn't vanquish him.
"See! That's what I'm talking about!" Clone 1 exclaimed. "And he called ME a whore!"
"Golden Boy and his Gryffindor Whore, actually," Clone 3 said, still staring Harry in the face. "Third time he's called me a whore in fact."
"But he's the whore!" the first clone shouted.
Clone 2 was putting its face really close to Malfoy's, almost as if it wanted to kiss him and Clone 3 was putting its face close to Harry's. Pepper knew it would kiss him. Wait, she thought, I don't want to kiss Malfoy, and they're only supposed to say and do what I think and feel...
Harry pushed his chair back, as far away from the clone as possible. He looked very confused. Malfoy, on the other hand, wasn't drawing his head back at all. It appeared that he wanted to kiss her...? No, he was just too shocked to move.
Pepper would have laughed at the sight of a very shocked and somewhat frightened Malfoy, if it wasn't for the fact that these clones were telling the whole class and Professor Snape her innermost thoughts and secrets. She tried to think of a way to stop them, she was getting desperate and it was just a matter of time before Snape gathered himself and stepped in.
"Aww, Harry, don't you want to kiss me?" Clone 3 asked, pouting. Harry didn't seem to know how to respond to this.
Meanwhile, Clone 2 pressed its lips to Malfoy's, and Malfoy knew how to respond to that. Pepper and the rest of the class observed Malfoy kissing Pepper's clone back. Pepper's eyes opened wide in surprise. Malfoy was, in a sense, kissing Pepper.
"See! He's a whore! Going against his beliefs and kissing the person he thinks is a MUDBLOOD! You hypocrite!" Clone 1 shouted.
"But Harry, we're soul mates!" Clone 3 whined.
Pepper blanched. The soul mate thing had come up. She had to do something now. She wondered if Leo could hear her calling from all the way over here...
Then it hit her; she could FREEZE them! Although if they were her they wouldn't freeze. She had to stop them...She remembered that everyone in the room would freeze if she made the move to freeze them. The words of Dumbledore popped into her head. He didn't want her to use her powers on any of the students. Her powers were already out of hand, though, and she was embarrassed beyond reason, so she decided to risk it.
"Hey!" Clone 2 said. It stopped kissing the frozen Malfoy and looked sadly at Pepper. "He's a really good kisser."
"What the hell are you doing?" Pepper asked it angrily.
"Well, he's hard so I thought I'd do him a favor," it said, trying to pull an innocent face.
Pepper looked disgusted. "He's hard?!" she said, amazed.
"Yea, why not?" it replied, reminding Pepper uncannily of her Aunt Phoebe when she was trying to get away with something. "I mean," the clone continued, "he's been flirting with me for weeks. Clearly he'd like to bed me..."
"Shut up," Pepper said. "He has not. He hates me. Malfoy can't have wanted me for weeks."
"Arrogant son of a bitch," the first clone said.
"Harry really looks like he needs some sex," the third clone added.
"Shut it, all three of you. I've got to find a way to get rid of you..." Pepper closed her eyes and breathed heavily. She concentrated on calming her anger, hoping that would do it. She slowed her breathing and tried to think of the funny side of this. Soon, she heard a pop pop pop and when she opened her eyes she was the only Pepper in the room. She figured it would be best if she unfroze the class, so she did.
The contents of the classroom looked around, extremely perplexed. Malfoy opened his eyes and unpuckered his lips, his cheeks twinging pink. Pepper knew it would be a moment before all of the events that had just occurred would hit everyone, and they'd start laughing and sniggering. It turned out that Pepper wouldn't be unfortunate enough to witness that because a few seconds after the clones disappeared and he was unfrozen, Snape reprimanded her.
"Miss Halliwell," he said dangerously. "I shall escort you to the Headmaster's office. The rest of you, continue working, if I am not back by the end of the lesson, place your flasks on my desk."
Snape walked hurriedly from the room, Pepper closely following him.
Dumbledore welcomed them into his office. "What seems to be the problem, Professor Snape?" he asked calmly, inviting the two to sit.
"Miss Halliwell cloned herself in the middle of my class and proceeded to shout foul words and kiss Mr. Malfoy," Snape said. Pepper suppressed a giggle. When Snape put it like that, it sounded pretty funny.
"Miss Halliwell?" Dumbledore said, rounding on Pepper. "Would you please explain what happened, as Professor Snape didn't seem to fully grasp the situation?"
"I didn't mean to do it, Professor, honestly," Pepper said at once, trying to clear herself from blame. She tried to look innocent and demure. "I can clone myself, it's another one of my natural powers. I can't control it. When I get really angry they just appear. Malfoy was taunting me, calling me really bad names and things, so that's why it happened. At first two clones appeared and one was screaming it's head off at Malfoy, and the other one was... well, it was sort of hitting on him," Pepper said, her voice going higher when she said the last few words. "And I tried to make them go away, but I couldn't and then another one appeared and it sort of made its way over to Harry...they were all shouting and swearing and, er, saying bad things." She decided to leave out the part that the clones only said her innermost thoughts and feelings, just in case Snape tried to use it against her. "And then I tried really hard to think of a way to get rid of them and they just disappeared. So as you can probably tell, Headmaster, I didn't mean to do it and I would have prevented it if I could, but I couldn't," Pepper finished.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at her, which she found slightly unnerving. He steepled his fingers together and looked at her. "Well, Miss Halliwell, that was a very interesting story. Though I am afraid, interesting as that was, that you will have to be punished for disrupting Professor Snape's class, even if you did not mean to. I'm sure the occurrence was not fully your fault, but I am sure there is a better way of channeling your anger."
"I thought a week's worth of detention would suffice," Snape sneered coldly.
"I was thinking more along the lines of one night's detention and apologies to Misters Potter and Malfoy, Severus," Dumbledore told the Potions' Master. "And I believe Mr. Malfoy should be given a talk about manners," he continued. "Now I believe you have a class waiting for you. I will take care of Miss Halliwell."
Snape got up, nodded his head and left Dumbledore's office, leaving Pepper very apprehensive. A detention with Snape. She would have to apologise to Malfoy! Pepper wasn't feeling up to face any of the students, let alone apologise to Malfoy. He'd be able to taunt her for the rest of her life. Though she could retort, thankfully, since she learned that he wanted to kiss her.
"Miss Halliwell," Dumbledore said, bringing her back to the office. "I am going to have to ask you to control your powers, especially in classes with the Slytherins. As you may well be aware, some of them have parents who are Death Eaters and they may tip off their parents about your powers and the lack of control you have over them."
"But, Professor, why does that matter?" Pepper asked, not having a clue as to what Dumbledore was going on about.
"Pepper, you are a weapon that can greatly increase our chances of winning over Voldemort. If he knows your powers before you fight him, then he will be prepared when you use them against him. You must work hard this year to develop your powers in your sessions with Professor Ardel. Do you understand me? It is of utmost importance," Dumbledore said solemnly.
Pepper nodded.
"Professor Snape shall tell you of the date of your detention, and I expect Misters Potter and Malfoy to be apologised to by next week."
Pepper nodded again.
"Good luck on your exams," he said, dismissing Pepper.
She walked out of the office and down the spiral staircase, wishing she was able to modify the memories of everyone in that class to save herself more embarrassment.