AN: I know it's been a really long time since I updated, but I have been writing, I promise. It's just that my computer refuses to upload anything bigger than 5k, so it's tough to get this up. But here's four chapters for you. As always, don't forget to review. I appreciate them all :D
"How come you're never around anymore?" Mandy asked, without looking up from her magazine. Nym tore her attention away from Shapeshifter, a text James had set her. It used a lot of strange terms she didn't really understand to try and explain why you could transfigure things. All in all, it seemed a waste of time, but James wouldn't be happy if she went back to him and said, 'well, I read some of it but it was boring, so I stopped'. In fact, he'd be a long, long way from happy.
"I've been busy."
"You're always busy." Which, as far as Nym was concerned, wasn't true. She had plenty of spare time on her hands. She just spent most of it flying, though Mandy might not know that, because since her first disastrous time on a broom, nothing would get her within a hundred yards of the broom shed. "Studying weird books or off being mysterious. Or flying with my dratted brother."
"Come on Mandy, you don't mean that." For the first time in several days spent studying with Mandy, Nym looked up at her friend. The other girl's short, curly pigtails were practically quivering in indignation.
"Just think I don't, Nym Tonks. On the rare occasion you come over to eat with me – and I do mean rare, it's been almost a month – you spend more time talking to him than to me. Like he was your best friend. Tell me Nym, do you actually like me or are you just trying to get close to my brother?" She threw down her magazine and pushed her face in close to Nym's. "Well?"
Nym considered her response carefully. She couldn't be sure which way Mandy would react because, truth be told, she hadn't actually talked to her that much lately. "I'm sorry Mandy. It isn't like that…"
She didn't get a chance to finish. "Oh, then how is it, then? Come on, tell me."
"I'm trying," Nym snapped, her temper getting the better of her. "If you'd just listen. I get really caught up in studying sometimes. I'm sorry. It's interesting. And…"
"And I'm not, is that what you were going to say? It's not that great, whatever you say. I've seen you. You threw one of them across the room yesterday, and tried to make like you hadn't. What're you trying to do, Nym, finish all seven years in one?"
"Would it be so bad if I was?" Nym demanded. Damn James, giving her boring books because he said they were 'essential, if boring'. Remus always found fascinating ones.
"It's all so much clearer now. You want to be all grown up. Oh look, it's Nym, with her perfect scores in advanced subjects and her third-year boyfriend. Oh isn't she so great?" Mandy finished in a hiss.
Nym was momentarily stunned. That was so completely wrong. It wasn't like that at all. Zack was her friend but… besides, he was Mandy's brother. How could she even think that?
"No. You want to know what it is? I'll tell you. I can't talk to anyone in my own House. The girls are a bunch of flaming nutters who giggle all the time and the boys have a war going on, and if you talk to one the other two will jinx you. All the other first years flinch away from me because I look like one of the bloody Slytherins, with all their pure-blood nonsense, even though I'm a Gryffindor. My mother has told me in no uncertain terms that if I set foot in her house before she says I can – which will be years, more than likely – she will disown me. Oh, and my cousin is trying to kill me. I think I have reason to be a little reclusive just now, alright?" Nym grabbed Shapeshifterand stormed out of the library, receiving a stern glare from Madam Pince for what was doubtless 'disorderly conduct'.
Everything she'd said to Mandy was true, and it was only the beginning. She'd received an owl from her mother the night before, telling her that it was probably best if she didn't come home, and her aunt would pick her up from the train station at the end of the year. Regulus was still out to get her, especially after her last run-in with him. Remus and James wanted her to help them reconcile the three Gryffindor first years – perhaps in hope of making a new set of Marauders to take over when they were gone, or maybe just because. She was always tired these days, and there was always so much work to do. And, of course, there was the ever present homework. There never seemed to be enough time, whatever she said to Mandy.
Now, without Mandy, she was pretty much alone. She found herself wandering through the corridors towards the nondescript little door that hid the second years' refuge. When her feet stopped in front of it, she hesitated. It was one thing to go in there with Zack. And what if Mandy thought she was trying to be all grown up again?
Stuff Mandy, she thought angrily, shoving into the room. It was much quieter than it had been the last time she was there, with only a few students curled up in various armchairs. Everyone was minding their own business, reading or studying or talking quietly.
"Oh look, it's one of the Gryffindor girls," a girl sneered. Well, it had been quiet. The noise level in the room, already low, seemed to plummet below zero as everyone's eyes fixed on her. Just what she didn't need right now. "Come to grace us with your presence, Gryffindolt?" Nym tried to ignore the girls snickering around the speaker.
"It wasn't my intention," Nym sighed quietly, "but consider yourselves graced." She headed toward an empty corner where a few overstuffed armchairs awaited her. A wad of paper connecting with the back of her skull stopped her.
"Too good for us, Gryffindolt?" the girl jeered. "Or are you afraid?"
Nym sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She really needed to cut it, she thought absently, before turning to face the girls. When she answered it was in what she called a 'Lupin-mild' voice. Remus never got into arguments, because he just quietly agreed with everything then got back at people later. "Perhaps."
"Ooh, little Gryffindolt is scared," the girl sneered. Nym repressed the urge to sigh. Some people were a few bricks short of a load, and she could forgive it, but this girl seemed to be lacking the wheelbarrow too.
"Are you finished yet?" she asked tiredly, as though staring at nothing would be more interesting than this conversation. Maybe Remus could keep up that submissive tone, she certainly couldn't.
"'Are you finished yet?'" the girl mimicked. "No I'm not finished. You wanna make something of it?"
"Not really?" Nym turned away to go back to corner, slipping her wand from her sleeve when she was sure the movement would be hidden. There was no reason to think this girl would be so brash as to try and hex her, but then, she hadn't thought Sirius would during his lectures. He sounded like that old bat that had guest lectured in Defense Against the Dark Arts. 'Constant Vigilance!' Then again, there was no reason to think the girl wouldn't try.
Nym dropped as soon as she heard the girl start to speak again, feeling the energy from the spell crackle her hair as it shot over her head. She spun, thinking desperately. While she probably could have taken this girl is a duel, she was already disadvantaged, not to mention hopelessly outnumbered.
When she opened her mouth it was a shield spell that came out, surrounding her in a filmy blue bubble. It wouldn't block anything really strong – Sirius had broken it with a simple bodybinder, albeit one with a lot of power behind it – but it should hold for anything this lot threw at her. Should being the operative word.
"Leave me alone," she said firmly.
"Or what?" the girl challenged. Nym didn't answer. She'd already broken half the rules Sirius had pounded into her – don't trade insults, don't antagonize, Constant Vigilance! and so forth. Breaking the other half could land her in serious trouble. 'You'll be a great Auror one day, Nym,' he'd said. It was his personal dream for her, and truth be told she was more open to it than her mother's plan for her to be a secretary. 'I just have to make sure you stay alive long enough.'
Nym walked to the corner, the glowing bubble keeping pace. If only there was some way she could hold it up and still perform spells. But no, it was purely for defense against small magics, like tickling charms or jelly legs. It probably wouldn't keep out a proper biting teakettle, never mind something really dangerous.
Safely tucked into her corner, Nym released the spell and opened Shapeshifter. She was hidden behind the chair backs, so she was safe. "Are you alright?" a voice asked. Nym looked up to find a boy and a girl her own age watching her warily. She thought she recognized the girl as a Hufflepuff from her Charms class. The boy was… Nym felt sick to her stomach. She didn't want to get involved with the first year Gryffindor boys, not until she had to.
"Yes," Nym said with a sigh. "I just wish they wouldn't do that."
The girl looked sympathetic. "I know what you mean. They do it to me all the time, just cause I'm a half-blood."
"Shut up," the boy snapped. "For all you know she could be a Slytherin too. Certainly looks like one," he added, eyeing Nym mistrustfully.
"Look at the tie, stupid," Nym snapped. "I'm a Gryffindor like you, as you'd know if you weren't so caught up in your stupid war."
"It's not stupid," the boy snapped. "It's serious and…" Whatever else he had been meaning to say was cut off when an inkbottle hit the wall above Nym's head, showering her with black ink and covering the pages of Shapeshifter. As Nym lifted the book, the pages seemed to pulse for a second before absorbing the ink, looking no more damaged than before. The same could not be said of Nym.
She stood, pulling out her wand. The girl who had tried to hex her before wore a satisfied smirk, and some of her friends were laughing. Some of the other occupants in the room looked about ready to go for help, or dive for cover.
Suddenly the girl began to scream. Nym grinned. It had been difficult, learning to do magic without saying the words, and it went wrong as often as not, but fortunately it had worked this time. She hadn't wanted to hurt the girl – James had been quite clear on the punishment of getting caught doing something like that – but a good scare had seemed in order. Now the arms of the chair were wrapped around the blond girl in a crushing hug, like something out of that animated muggle movie she'd watched when she was little. The girl's wand lay on the floor, well out of reach.
She hadn't managed the proper spell, of course. That was far beyond her. But ever since she'd seen Professor Flitwick charm the armchair to ballroom dance, she'd wanted to learn. Thanks to Remus, she could make it take it's partner (in this case the girl, rather than the lamp stand Flitwick had used), and right now that was all that seemed necessary.
One of the girl's friends sent a stunning spell at the chair. It obviously wasn't very strong, because the chair kept moving, if slowly, but now it seemed to be crushing the girl in a vice grip.
"What is going on here?" demanded a voice, and Nym bolted for the corner. The freezing spell caught her anyway, and she froze, her feet stuck to the floor. "Well, well, well," Regulus sneered. "What have we caught here?"
Nym inhaled slowly, trying to calm herself. This just kept getting worse. "When they sent a prefect down here to see what was going on…" Regulus pushed his greasy face closer to hers.
"They should have sent someone more responsible," a clear voice interrupted. Evans's bright eyes glittered dangerously as she took in the blond Slytherin still struggling against her chair, her friend panicking around her, and Regulus with his wand pointed at an immobilized Nym's heart. Nym had never been so glad to see Evans as she was right at that moment. "When we are sent to deal in disciplinary issues, Master Black, we are not to aggravate matters further, whatever our personal vendettas." The last was said in a angry hiss. "Release her." Regulus didn't move. "I said release her, or I'll have you released from your duties as prefect." Regulus stepped away and removed the spell, his glare promising retribution. "Now, will someone tell me what's going on here?"
The blond Slytherin chose that moment to start screaming. "Help me, help! Look what that little bitch did to me! Aren't you going to do anything?! Help!" Frowning, Lily sent a stunning spell at the chair, which obediently froze, though the girl was still caught in it's upholstered arms.
"Anyone?" Evans asked. "You." She pointed to the little Hufflepuff girl who had crept out of her chair in the corner to watch the proceedings. "What's your name? House? What happened here?"
"Jen Goshawk, miss. Hufflepuff. Umm…" she hesitated.
Evans's face softened. "I'm sorry I snapped. Please tell us what happened."
Goshawk looked a little less frightened, but not much. "She," she pointed to Nym, "came in, and that girl started making fun of her." She pointed to the Slytherin. "Called her a Gryffindolt and stuff like that. Then she," the finger transferred to Nym again, "said she didn't want to fight, just leave her alone. And she started walking away, until she," back to the Slytherin girl, "tried to hex her. But she ducked, and then made this bubble thing that sparked when they pointed their wands at it, and she went and sat down." She sounded breathless, as though terrified, or perhaps awed. "And I asked if she was alright, and she said she was, and my brother said she could be a Slytherin, and she said no, she was a Gryffindor, and he'd know that if he wasn't so caught up in his stupid war."
"Hey," the boy protested.
"I'm just repeating what she said," Jen snapped at him. Whatever her qualms around the Head Girl, she had no trouble putting her brother in his place. "And she's right. Anyway, then this bottle of ink hit the wall behind her and she got covered in it, her book and the chair too, so she stood up and suddenly that girl was screaming 'cause her chair was trying to eat her or something."
"And then we arrived?" Evans asked gently. Goshawk nodded. "Thank you. Let's see this book, Tonks." Nym obediently went to fetch it. She was going to get out of this with a whole skin. Maybe, if it had been James who came instead of Evans, she might even have had some small revenge too, but she didn't expect Evans to play favorites. The girl was just too fair.
She put the tome in Evans's hands. "Rather heavy reading for a first year," Regulus commented acidly. "Forbidden, some might say."
Evans flipped through it. "They have this in the Restricted Section?" she asked absently. "Why?"
"Dangerous," Regulus said with a knowing nod.
"Really." For such a prat, Evans managed a sarcastic drawl that could challenge any of Sirius's. "How so?"
Regulus shrugged uncomfortably. "I wouldn't know. That's just what I was told."
"I see. By whom, if I might inquire?"
"Er… the librarian."
Evans nodded, as though enlightenment was slowly dawning on her. "Because you asked her about it, am I right? Obviously," she added with a frown, "without approval from a teacher, or she wouldn't have told you it was dangerous. Am I right?"
"We're not discussing me," Regulus said quickly.
"Perhaps we should," Evans shot back. "But that can wait. Be sure I'll bring it up at my meeting with Dumbledore, though. If you don't clean up your act soon, Mr. Black, Slytherin may be looking for a new prefect by the end of the year." She snapped the book closed. "If this was in the Restricted Section, Tonks, how did you get it out?"
"I didn't," Nym said with perfect truthfulness. Maybe it came from the Restricted Section, maybe not. She did wish James had told her if it did, so she could avoid getting caught with it.
"Obviously you did, you little rat, or else you wouldn't have it," Regulus snapped.
"Mr. Black," Evans said warningly. "Very well, Tonks. How did you get it? I must confess the circumstances are a little bit suspect."
"It was given to me." Nym locked her jaw shut. James wouldn't thank her for getting him in trouble with his girlfriend.
"By who?" Regulus demanded.
"Whom, Mr. Black, not who," Evans said absently. "It doesn't really matter, anyway. It's not a library book. It belongs to a student, or perhaps a teacher, but certainly not the Restricted Section." The look she sent Nym was piercing. Oh god, Nym thought, she knows.
"Maybe she stole it."
"I highly doubt that, Mr. Black. And you have nothing but your suspicions, wrong headed as they seem to be. Now," she surveyed the assembled students, all of whom had been watching avidly. "I shall be speaking with the heads of Slytherin and Gryffindor houses. Mr. Black, if you would be so good as to deliver the young lady in the chair to Professor Tofty, I'm sure he can sort her out. If, however, I find that you've tried to avoid delivering her exactly as is, I will have your prefect badge by supper tonight. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Black?"
"Yes Evans," Regulus sneered.
"You two," she pointed to Nym and the Goshawk boy, "come with me." Nym and both the Goshawk children followed Evans out of the room, where Jen offered a hasty goodbye to her brother as disappeared quickly down the hall. Nym and the boy followed Evans's billowing robes through the hallways towards Professor Prewett's office.
"Come," the professor called after Evans rapped sharply on the door. Nym felt her knees going weak. It was one thing for Remus to say the professor was fairly good about rule breaking, another altogether to have to test that tolerance.
Evans seated them each in one of the hardback chairs facing the desk with an imperiously pointed finger, then outlined the bare essentials of the story for the professor. She also, Nym noted, stressed that 'the teachers may wish to consider relieving Mr. Black of Slytherin House of his duties as a prefect'. Prewett listened stoically, nodding occasionally and looking interested, though Nym thought his eyes looked a bit glazed, the way Mandy's always did in herbology.
"Thank you Miss Evans. Once again you have saved us considerable work. But you haven't yet told me why the young man is here." So perhaps he had been listening.
Evans mentioned what she'd heard about a war, and her concerns about how it might be affecting intra-house relations. This time, Nym was sure she saw the professor's eyes glaze. When Evans finished, the professor nodded. "Thank you Evans, I'll deal with them now."
When Evans had let herself out, Prewett shook his head wryly. "The school runs well under that girl's eye, but I do wish she wasn't so zealous about it. Still, I suppose we do need someone to balance out Potter. Now, Nym, would you mind telling me why you tried to – how did she say it? – have an armchair crush another student's ribs?"
"I didn't want to hurt her, professor," Nym said, studying the grain of the wooden desk. Tiny black dots covered a circle about the size of her palm, as though someone had sunk a red hot needle into the wood.
She saw the professor nodding sagely out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't want to hurt her. I see. So you…"
"Made it dance." Nym had never known her voice could be quite so small and timid. Please don't let them expel her. Oh why couldn't it have been James who came? She wouldn't be in this mess now. Of course, she might be facing Regulus still, but not this.
"Ah. Flitwick's ballroom-dancing chair. I thought as much. James taught you, did he?"
Nym squeaked in surprise. "No sir." The truth, if not all of it.
"Remus then. Interesting that he would teach you that one."
"Only because I asked, sir," Nym offered hesitantly.
Prewett didn't seem to have heard. "An excellent party trick, although I can't imagine Flitwick would have spent as much time developing it as he did for that. But then, I could be wrong. I trust your lessons are going well?"
"Yes sir, the professors…"
"I'm sure the professors are doing an admirable job. I meant the boys' tutoring sessions. They aren't pushing you too hard, are they?"
Nym swallowed the bile that seemed to have risen in her throat. No one was supposed to know about those lessons. "No sir. But, professor, how did you…"
"Know?" Now Prewett really did look at her, and Nym was reminded sharply of Dumbledore. They both had that kind of piercing stare that just seemed to draw things out of you. "They told me. James actually asked if I could give him extra credit for it." He chuckled. "Sadly, I cannot, though I'm sure it will help him for his Auror exam, which should be enough for him. From the sound of it, Sirius is using you for review as well." He must have caught Nym's startled look, because he went on, although his mild tone didn't change a hair. "It's good for them to break it down like that. Helps them understand it. Everything always came too easily to those two. And Remus, of course, but that never stopped him doing the work. Have him do some more potions with you. Tofty's leaving next year, and from the sound of it, his successor will not be… kindly disposed towards Gryffindors."
Nym was shocked enough to forget her shyness. "Where's he going?"
"Professor Tofty has accepted a position with the ministry to regulate education. Perhaps you'll see him again when you do your OWLs and NEWTs."
He pushed Shapeshifter across the table towards Nym. "Don't let Evans know I gave you that back, hmm? She'll have a fit, and I do need her to keep an eye on things for me. Can't do that if she's mad at me." Nym took the book and cradled it in her lap. That was it then. He wasn't going to do anything to her.
Now the professor turned to the boy, who had sat silently through the entire exchange. "I don't believe I've had the opportunity to meet you, young man."
"Aren't you supposed to be my head of house?" the boy demanded. No wonder he and his roommates don't get along, Nym thought, if they're all like him.
Prewett didn't seem to notice. "I confess, I haven't had a chance to meet all my students this year. Circumstances have not been… conducive to it."
"You know her."
"She was brought to my attention because she nearly drowned in the lake. If you feel like copying her, I'm sure I'll know you too. Until then, may I inquire your name?" The professor was, to Nym's mind, being a little too carefully polite.
"Jason Goshawk," the boy said.
The professor nodded slowly. Sagely, Nym thought, a bit like the wise mentor in a play. A little too like, it seemed. She stared at Prewett a little more closely. Yes, he had that glazed look, like his gaze was turned inward instead of out to them, or as if he wasn't completely there. It was a lot like Mandy's blank looks in herbology, except that the professor still seemed to see everything that was going on, whereas it took several tries to get Mandy to respond to her own name. It occurred to her that maybe, for Prewett, this didn't really matter. He let Evans taken care of most of the daily business of Gryffindor, and most of the school too, and focused on something else. War, whispered a voice in her mind. It's always about that stupid war.
"I see," Prewett said slowly, from whatever great distance he had taken himself. "Tell me, Jack, during the course of your, er, 'war' was the word she used, wasn't it? – anyway, have you stopped any of your classmates going to class?"
"No professor. And it's Jason." Goshawk said it like a question.
Prewett didn't seem to hear. "You haven't sent either of them to the hospital wing? Nothing… contagious or lasting or any thing like that, have you?"
"No sir."
Suddenly Prewett was back, his eyes dancing merrily above his now grinning face. "I thought not. While I might wish you'd channel that energy into more constructive pursuits, I have to say I don't really care overmuch." He said it all with a delighted smile, as though he found this the greatest joke in the world, although neither Nym nor Goshawk was privy to it.
"Sir?"
"I'll let Evans deal with this, shall I?" Prewett asked Nym, still smiling merrily. The man's crazy, she thought as she nodded a little hesitantly. "Splendid. Keep up the good work and all that, Grasshawk. Be original. It'll help you with your school work." He smiled absently out the window. "Jelly legs is useful, but not all that interesting. You're dismissed. Goodbye Nym." The final look the professor sent her way as she stood was sharp as a knife, cutting through her.
"Goodbye professor," she murmured, scampering into the hall.
Oddly enough, Jason had decided to wait for her. He fell into step beside her as she headed back towards the Common Room. He seemed to be thinking of something, and Nym let him. Whatever nasty retribution he was planning on someone, she wanted no part of it.
"So you know a lot of good spells, do you?" he asked after a while. Almost absently, but Nym caught the keen glance he shot at her.
She didn't look at him, staring resolutely ahead as though there was nothing more interesting than walking through the corridors – although they were, actually, a lot more interesting than any other corridors she'd ever been in, being magic and all – and there were no undercurrents in the question. "Some." She said it as lightly as she could, but her stomach was going to come up any moment. It fit with Sirius and James's plans, but oh, how horrible it was to be caught in the middle and have no idea what was going to happen.
"Could you teach me?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I don't want to."
"Why?"
"You'll hurt people."
"No I won't. You didn't hurt that girl back there. I won't either."
"You'd hurt yourself."
"What, you think I couldn't do it?" A challenge. She'd gotten his back up. Dammit. She was supposed to guide him carefully, so he trusted her enough to follow her when it was time for whatever the Marauders had planned, but not so much that he tried to involve her. "You're only a first year too."
Well, there was nothing for it. If she messed this up, there was always Minetta to drag him in, though she didn't want to appear as the other girl here in Hogwarts. Questions might be asked. But that was all ifs and maybes. Right now, this boy was annoying her. "So? I've probably learned ten times as much as you have, and practiced a hundred times more, cause I don't spend all my time on pointless feuds."
"Pointless? You think it's pointless. You don't know anything. None of you do. You'd never understand."
"What I understand is that you're wasting your time. There are people out there that would happily kill all of us, and all you care about is some… some stupid little spat. Wake up, you…" Nym fumbled with the half remembered words that she'd sometimes heard the older kids saying, the ones that would have her mother washing her mouth out if she uttered. "Oh, you stupid useless bastard. You, and the other two as well." She turned and stormed away.
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