After about a month the incessant laughter that followed Mallory everywhere had finally ceased. Since some of the slugs had made the decision to bury themselves into her hair, it took quite a while to get them all out. The first week of Mallory's stay at Hogwarts had not gone as well as she had planned, although her attitude brightened a little. In the second week some of the teachers found out who had done the horrible prank. Malfoy didn't have the happiest expression on his face from then on after.
He made it a point to say something mean to Mallory at every chance he got. Mallory would gladly say something equally horrible in return. It also seemed to her that Snape was being as rude as Malfoy, if not more.
"It doesn't make sense," Ron had said one day after Potions with Snape. The class had started with Snape saying how stupid Mallory was, and then he moved her to the front of the class to work by herself. He then made her shred every Slytherin's roots for them and at the end of class she had to stay afterward to clean the tables.
"He just hates me, plain and simple," Mallory told him matter-of-factly, brushing off the remaining dirt on her robes.
"It's like he doesn't even notice Harry's in the class anymore," Hermione said as they walked back to the common room.
"Even Malfoy is laying off Harry," Ron said.
"Yea! Thanks Mallory," Harry smiled at her.
"No problem," Mallory said, rolling her eyes. They reached the portrait of the fat lady and Hermione told her the password.
"Oh! It's that slimy girl again," the fat lady said when she spotted Mallory.
Mallory sighed, "Could you stop calling me that?"
"Well fine! You don't have to get ugly about it," the fat lady retorted and swung open. Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed through the hole and Mallory followed. When she got in she saw that there was a big crowd of people in the middle of the room.
"What's going on," she wondered aloud.
"Mallory! There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Mallory heard the sickeningly familiar voice and saw the crowd part. She dropped her books to the floor with a loud thud and her mouth hung open. A girl with shoulder-length, black hair, deep brown eyes, and pale skin emerged from the middle of the crowd.
"You know her Mallory," Ron asked, looking from Mallory, to the girl and back again. The girl moved to Mallory, smiling, and put one arm around her neck pulling her closer.
"Of course she does! Isn't that right little sis," the girl said joyfully. Mallory came to her senses and quickly pulled away from her.
"What are you doing here," she yelled so everyone in the common room could hear.
"I've come to be with my favorite sister," the girl said, smiling still.
"I'm your only sister," Mallory said, putting her hands on her hips and staring at her sister.
"Who are your little friends," she pointed to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, acting as though she hadn't heard the comment. Mallory rolled her eyes.
"This is Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and this, unfortunately, is my sister Haley," she said in disgust.
"Nice to meet you," Hermione said politely to Haley.
"Nice to meet you too! It's good to see that Mallory finally has some friends! So tell me, how much did she pay you," Haley grinned. Mallory curled up her fists at her side. Her blood was boiling and she was surprised she didn't explode with anger. She walked calmly over to where Haley stood, surrounded by people. She drew back her hand and slapped her sister hard across the face. Haley put one hand up to the stricked cheek. "Mallory...I can't believe you just did that," she said in astonishment.
"Well I would think you would be used to it! What with David hitting you almost every day," Mallory said. Now Haley looked furious. She curled her fist and punched Mallory straight in the eye. Before anyone knew it there was a catfight in the middle of the common room. People rushed forward to pull Mallory and Haley off of each other.
"Mallory that was low, even for you," Haley said before she turned and walked out of the room, Fred and George rushing after her.
"Are you ok," Harry asked Mallory, who was still red in the face and furious. The punch had left Mallory with a bruise over her left eye.
"Ugh! She hasn't changed at all! She was just as bad in America, and she was supposed to stay there," Mallory said, slumping down into a chair next to the fireplace. "She's the whole reason I left!"
"She can't be that bad, can she," Hermione asked.
"Oh yes she can! You think that was bad? It gets much worse. I guess she just has to get warmed up," Mallory told them. "She...she just makes me so mad!"
"Um... who is David...if you don't mind me asking," Ron asked her timidly.
"Oh... David was Haley's old boyfriend in America. He...he used to hit her," Mallory said quietly. "I know I shouldn't have said that to her. I don't know what I was thinking! See, Haley has this problem with needing to feel secure at all times, though she won't admit it. David made her feel secure and I guess that's why she stayed with him so long," she explained. "But I don't take back that slap I gave her. She deserved it!"
"Should we go on to lunch then," Hermione asked, stopping the conversation before Mallory got anymore angrier at her sister. Mallory nodded and they all headed down to the Great Hall.
She thought that the day couldn't have gotten any worse, but she was soon proved wrong. On the way to the Great Hall they bumped into Malfoy.
"Nice eye Wolfe! Did one of those slugs put up a fight," he said, his usual smug look on his face.
"Not today Malfoy," Mallory said dully. Malfoy hesitated for a moment. He wasn't used to her ignoring him. He recovered quickly and looked to Crabbe on his left, "Did you hear that? She must be having a bad day," Malfoy said the last sentence with a fake pouty look on his face. Mallory just walked away, leaving Malfoy in awe of his one-sided argument.