Chapter Ten

There's About to Be A What? Girlfight.

"So are you going?"

"It's going to be so much fun!"

"I can't believe Dumbledore is doing this."

Everywhere Cailee turned, the talk in her Common Room centered on the Halloween Party. The students were so excited for it. Apparently, from the information Cailee gathered, they hadn't had a party since the Yule Ball in their 4th year. Well, at least a somewhat formal party, that the Weasley twins' weren't in charge of. From the way the students talked they seemed to greatly miss the twins' parties that would last from dusk-till-dawn whenever they felt like the Gryffindor's needed a party. Any such party included the time Fred got his first kiss from Angelina Johnson, when Fred and George and Lee Jordan managed to go one whole week without getting detention (all though that never happened again), and when George had knocked Malfoy unconscious during a Quidditch match.

Cailee was rather happy for it, too. Even though her classes and everything were going fine, she still felt she needed a break. Her daily ritual was getting quite boring. At home, every day brought new challenges, ideas, ceremonies, and celebrations. Her family was highly esteemed back home, they were practically worshipped. Cailee was used to being some what the center of attention, as she was the seventh of eleven children. And all though she wasn't the youngest, there was only a six year difference between her and her youngest brother Chris. It was always an exciting day when her two oldest brothers, Isaac and Jacob came home from the Order whatever. And even though Cailee could never get any information out of them intentionally about where they had been and what they had been doing, sometimes she would catch them in whispered discussions with her parents and overhear things she was certain she wasn't supposed to hear. Cailee had been only a few months old when The-Boy-Who-Lived did the one thing he was most famous for doing, defeating the Dark Lord. And Cailee and Harry lived in different realms, but Lord Voldemort did know about her realm, he wasn't stupid after all. There was no way he could possibly get into their realm, let alone their kingdom, so Cailee had lived a sheltered life from Voldemort and his supporters. She never had to worry about her family suffering, except when they were sent on missions to Harry's realm. What Cailee didn't understand was why Harry Potter was never brought to her realm to be protected. But, Cailee had grown up all her life hearing about Harry Potter and the things he had suffered through and been through. This was why Cailee was ready to undertake this task. She had never met Harry before coming to Hogwarts, yet she felt she knew him as she knew her brothers and sisters.

Cailee awoke the next morning and felt greatly refreshed, except one thing was weighing on her mind. She had been awfully short and terse with Malfoy yesterday in Potions, and she felt she needed to make up to him, since he was, after all, one of the major reasons she was here. Since it was Saturday, Cailee thought she might bump into him in the Library or something. But she wasn't about to go off searching for him just yet, not before she had showered.

She and Hermione went down into the Girl's bathroom at the bottom of their staircase. It was crowded in there and many Gryffindor girls were laughing and shouting and gossiping with their friends. But the bathroom was big, so there was enough room, even though it didn't seem like it at first. Cailee and Hermione walked over to the part of the wall that held the 6th years' belongings. She grabbed her towel and laid her clothing down on the shelf. She walked on over to the rows of shower stalls and found an empty one. There had to be at least fifty or sixty showers along the wall. This morning routine reminded Cailee of home, too. It was busy, you didn't really have time to think, and you just went with the flow. Cailee listened to the newest gossip floating around the school, and had to smile to herself. It was funny, really, the things that you sometimes heard. When she was done, she walked back across the room to her shelf. Hermione had traded shelves with some girl at the beginning of the year, so that her shelf could be next to Cailee's, and Cailee saw Hermione getting dressed. Cailee had been a bit weirded out about getting dressed in front of all these girls whenever she came down to use the showers, but no one else cared, so she had gotten over it.

"What's that?" Lavender asked Cailee.

"What? My shirt?"

"Yeah. You've never worn it before."

"A white beater. My sister got me hooked on them this summer." Cailee said. Tara had come home from a vacation this summer in this realm and had bought a bunch of white beaters. Cailee and her sisters weren't allowed to wear them out in the public eye, because no one needed to think that those in highest stature were a bunch of tramps.

"It's so cute!" Lavender squealed to Parvarti. Parvarti, however hopped up on the counter next to them, and swinging her legs asked Cailee very nonchalantly, "What's up with you and Malfoy?" Cailee stopped brushing her hair.

"Excuse me?" Cailee asked.

"I'm talking about yesterday. In Potions. Things seemed so tense between you two after Snape made that wisecrack to Seamus."

"I got mad at him, obviously. He was laughing at my house, and I'm not just going to take that. It's like he offended part of me when he did."

"So do you like him?"

Cailee's wand, that had been blowing hot air out of it to blow dry her hair, clattered to the ground.

"Excuse me!" she asked again. She started to panic. Was she really that obvious when she was with Malfoy?

"Excuse me?" Parvarti mimicked back. "Come on. It's obvious you like him, don't even give me that load of crap that you don't."

"Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't," Cailee said, picking her wand up and looking at her face in the mirror.

"Yeah, you do, Little Miss Princess." Parvarti said, angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Cailee asked, turning to look at her.

"Did I stutter? I'm sick of you, Cailee! The way you parade around, having every guy fall all over you, thinking you're so cool because you can do magic with your little ball, well I've—"

"WHAT? The way I parade about? Since when do I do that? Having guys fall all over me? Why are you being so thick?" Cailee asked, her hand tightening around her brush.

"You're kidding me right? You know that guys fall all over you, and you don't do anything about it. You flirt with every single guy in our House—"

"And since when is flirting a bad thing?" Cailee asked.

"It is when you're leading them on!"

"I'm not doing that!"

"Yes you are. Look what you're doing to Malfoy."

"I'm not doing anything to him. He's my friend, and I'm sorry you can't handle that," Cailee said, turning her back on Parvarti and gathering up her things.

"I can handle it, but Malfoy can't, not when you're going around, whoring with other guys!"

It was dead silent in the bathroom. Every girl was turned to look at Cailee and Parvarti. Cailee froze in mid-step, then turned slowly around, her eyes like ice.

"Say that again," Cailee snarled.

"You heard me. You're such a little whore, a tramp, a slut, and you don't even care. How many guys have you slept with? Was one of them Seamus?"

"Is that what your problem is, that I'm friends with Seamus? That I have the courage to actually talk to a guy, while you go and hide in a corner with your little girlfriend and whine to her that he doesn't pay attention to you? You're such a little wretch, I would pity you if you were worth my time, but you're not. It's disgusting, Parvarti, that you have to feel jealous of people because you're too frightened Seamus will laugh at you when you talk to him."

"You bi—" Parvarti hissed, jumping off the counter and running over to Cailee. Before she could get there, Hermione had jumped in the way, pointing her wand at Parvarti's chest.

"Back away, and shut your mouth unless you want me to hex you into next year," Hermione growled.

Parvarti stopped dead. She looked up at Cailee and said, "You're going to wish you had never come here when I'm through with you."

"Not again," Ron murmured to Harry as he watched Cailee come fuming into the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Wonder what her problem is today," Harry asked, as Hermione sat down next to him. Before Cailee sat down, she looked up and down the bench before plopping down next to Seamus.

"Oh no," Hermione whispered.

"What?" Harry asked her, putting his arm around her.

Hermione then told the boys of the confrontation that had gone on in the Girls Bathroom earlier. "And now she's just egging Parvarti on. Everyone knows she's had a crush on Seamus since third year."

"I can't believe Parvarti said that! I'm gonna get her! I don't care if we're in the same House, she's not going to go around and smear my best friend's reputation!" Ron stood up angrily, throwing down his napkin, and then Harry grabbed onto him.

"Calm down mate. You're not going to make it any better by beating her bloody. You're bound to get into trouble, and think about what your mum'll say when she's found out you beat up a girl. Not to mention what George and Fred would say, if they found out you had sunk that low."

Ron sat down, reluctantly.

After a few minutes, Hermione kissed Harry gently on the cheek and walked over to Cailee, and then the two of them walked outside.

Cailee didn't want to go back to the Common Room that night. But Harry and Ron told her that it would make her seem weak, if she didn't go up, like she was hiding, just how Cailee had accused Parvarti of doing. Then that would make her seem hypocritical, Harry pointed out. He received a look from Hermione that would rival the ones he'd seen on Snape when Snape looked at him. Harry promptly shut up after that. However, even though Cailee had agreed she would go up to the Common Room and would sleep in her dorm, she didn't leave until the Common Room was dead empty, Hermione close on her heels. She was still seething when she opened the door to her dormitory. Cailee changed swiftly, and went to pull back the sheets on her bed. Right in the middle of her pillow was a piece of paper. And on that paper, written right in the middle was one word: Whore. Cailee ripped it up, then strode over to Parvarti's bed, ripped open then hangings, and threw the pieces back onto Parvarti. "I was going to say the same thing to you, but I thought I should act like I had been raised, and not like some jealous little prat." Cailee yelled, and opened the door to her dormitory andstormed back to the Common Room.

Harry and Ron were still downstairs, talking quietly. Cailee ran over to the couch Ron was sitting on, jumped onto it, grabbed one of the pillows, smothered her face with it, and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Ron was thoroughly shocked. He gave Harry a look, and then glanced at Hermione, who could be seen coming down the stairs. Hermione looked at Cailee, looked upstairs, pulled out her wand, looked back up at the ceiling above her, and started muttering a list of some of the most gruesome curses she had ever learned.

"I'm going to kill Parvarti, I can't believe she has sunk this low. If anyone should be acting this way, it should be Cailee, after all the things Parvarti said to her. But Cailee didn't victimize her, or accuse her of whoring around, but Parvarti won't let this drop." Hermione said, sitting in a chair next to Harry, while Cailee continued to scream.

When Cailee finally removed the pillow from her face, her face was red and she was out of breath. She had some tears in her eyes, and she was clenching and unclenching her jaw. Ron put his arm around her, and pulled her to him, and Cailee finally cracked. She started crying on Ron's shoulder, dampening his shirt rapidly, and she continued to cry while they all soothed her.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, when she had regained her composure. "You guys probably think I'm a little baby that can't handle this. And you especially Harry. You've dealt with so much in this last year alone, everyone from the Minister of Magic on down to the Daily Prophet have been slandering you for a long time, and you took it. And now, I can't even handle it one day. But it's new for me. Back home, no one acted like this to anyone. We were all just...I don't know, kind and gentle and respectful of each other. And now there's this mess. I hate it." She sniffled, before curling up in a ball, still resting on Ron's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Cailee. You know no one is going to side with Parvarti on this. She's been rude and snobby since she came here in her first year. Everyone love's you. You're friendly with everyone, and she isn't. Don't worry, it will all blow over soon enough," Harry said.

"Yeah, thanks Harry."

"No problem. But you need to get some sleep, you've been too stressed today."

"I am NOT going back up to my dorm!" Cailee said.

"You could sleep down here. But you wouldn't get much sleep, seeing as how students are going to start getting up in about five or six hours time," Ron added.

"Well. . . maybe you could sleep in our dorm," Harry said, looking at Hermione.

"Yeah, it could work. I mean, there's nothing in Hogwarts: A History that says it would be a bad thing or inappropriate. In fact, I can't think of any rule stating that it's not aloud." She said.

"Okay then, follow us," Ron said, him and Harry leading the way.

They walked into the boys dorms, and flipped on a light. None of the other three boys stirred in their sleep.

"So. . .uh, where is everyone sleeping?" Harry asked.

"You can sleep in my bed Cailee—"Ron started.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" Hermione shouted.

"—and I can sleep on the floor, and Herm, you can sleep in Harry's bed, and he'll sleep on the floor too." Ron finished, glaring at her.

"Oh. . .um, thanks Ron for that wonderful idea," Harry said, looking sad.

"No, Harry, you can sleep on your bed with me too. . ." Hermione looked up at the icy stare Ron was giving her.

"No, never mind, that wouldn't work anyways. Ok, boys on the floor," Hermione said, magicking mattresses and blankets for them. They all said their goodnights, and promptly fell into bed, Cailee staying up long afterwards thinking of home.

Author's Notes: You know that no story is complete without a good arguement or two. Sorry it's been like a week since my last update! But please, review for this chapter and tell me what you think. Also, in Chapter 11, you all get to learn a bit more about Cailee's family, so that's going to help some of the peices fall together!