Disclaimer: I didn't invent Harry Potter, or anything about his world, but I'm sure you all know that already. I did however invent the first years that appear in this story.
AN: Ok I know. Once again it's taken me forever to update, but the good news is I have written 2 and a half more chapters so updates should happen more frequently in the future. I'm enjoying writing this again! In this chapter I mention more about Maddie's lessons and due to a lack of information about what they study in the first book some of the spells and plants are going to be things that Harry doesn't study until later on in his school life. I've tried to keep them as near first year standard as possible though, except for Protego which apparently a lot of grown wizards can't do. I didn't realise this until about 5 minutes ago and as I've already mentioned them being taught it by Snape in an earlier chapter it's now staying in the story. Personally I would have thought a basic shielding charm would be one of the most important spells to learn and would therefore be taught at an early age! Also in this chapter I mention them sitting in a window alcove, castles of the type that Hogwarts appears to be (i.e. one for living in rather than defence) often had very deeply set windows with broad window ledges, so sitting four eleven year olds on one wouldn't be much of a problem, although might have been a bit of a squash. Anyway enough talk from me, on with the chapter!
Chapter 5: It's Wrong, You Know
Over the next couple of weeks there was no doubt that Draco had made his position as leader of Slytherin very clear. All the Slytherins below fifth year kept well clear of him, even Maddie didn't speak to him much, although this was more because he didn't speak to her than because she had any great fear of him. Draco didn't worry her any more now than he had when he had smiled at her on the train, and he seemed to sense this because he treated her with more respect than the other younger Slytherins.
That said she didn't really have much time to pay attention to what Draco might be doing, the teachers were starting to pile on the homework and several evenings a week she could be found in the library with Alicia, Josh and Sally struggling to write essays on Goblin Riots, or the uses of Bubotuber pus, or whatever potion they were studying that week. Maddie didn't mind the Potions essays too much, Professor Slughorn had already commented several times that she obviously took after her aunt in potion making abilities, and although Maddie had no idea if this was accurate, it was true that Potions seemed to come naturally to her. It was a shame, she often thought, that this talent did not extend to other lessons, especially Transfiguration, which like her friends she found extremely difficult. Transfiguration though was nothing compared to Herbology, Alicia had looked at her like she was insane the day she had declared she would rather do a Transfiguration essay than spend an hour in the greenhouses doing Herbology, but that was how she felt. She hated plants. Or at least she hated handling them and studying them. She could admit that they were extremely useful and often pretty to look at, but ask her to actually look after one and she just fell to pieces. She got through most Herbology lessons by pretending to know what she was doing, whilst Alicia and Sally did most of the actual work. She wasn't much better at the theory either and only managed to scrap an Acceptable on most of her Herbology essays through Sally's patient reading and correcting of the most inaccurate parts of her work.
Alicia, Sally and Josh usually left her to finish her Herbology essays alone, often at her own insistence, since she knew if they were there she would only use it as an excuse to become distracted.
The library was rather crowded on the evening before one of her Herbology essays was due in, and her friends had just left to go back to their common rooms when she was distracted by the entrance of Draco Malfoy and his tall black friend. Even across the library she could hear his bored drawl insisting that his friend hurry up and chastising him for forgetting to complete his Ancient Runes essay.
Maddie was just wondering what Ancient Runes involved when she realised that Draco had flopped down into the seat next to her and was leaning back in his chair giving a huge, rather fake yawn to show his displeasure at being dragged to the library. Determined not to be distracted any further she bent her head studiously over her work, trying to remember what she had been about to write about Devil's Snare.
"That's wrong you know." came a voice over her right shoulder, and Maddie turned round to find Draco staring at her essay, his usual expression of bored disdain on his face.
"What is?" she asked, staring down at the line she had just written.
"Most of it actually." He said, wrinkling his nose as if the essay actually offended him. "Devil's Snare is not known as Wolfsbane, that's Aconite, and it's not red or spiky, you're probably thinking of Venomous Tentacula, although you don't study that till your second year, and what's this… 'Devil's Snare likes the dark and warmth, it will not grown anywhere too cold.'" He snorted rather nastily "Devil's Snare grows in dark, cold and damp places like caves or dungeons, it hates the warmth. Are you this bad at all of your lessons?"
"No, I just hate Herbology." said Maddie rather testily, crossing out large portions of her essay as Draco extracted her Potions homework from under a textbook. His expression as he did so suggested that he expected it to be just as bad, and as Maddie began correcting her essay she realised that she had just dropped significantly in Draco's estimation. Still she wasn't worried, Herbology might be her worst subject, but Potions was by far her best and she fully expected a better reaction to the essay he was examining now.
"This is good." Draco commented a few moments later, and as she looked round again she noticed he actually looked rather impressed. "Actually this is very good. How do you know this stuff about giving an extra two stirs anti-clockwise and chopping the horned slugs lengthways?"
"It just seemed like it would work better that way, and it did." She shrugged, turning back to her Herbology essay, but secretly feeling rather pleased at the praise from Draco, knowing that it probably wasn't something he handed out very often.
After that he seemed to tire of analysing her work and pulled his own parchment out of his bag and began busily writing something. Rather relieved that she could now finish her essay in peace she pulled her textbook towards her and concentrated on correcting the mistakes Draco had pointed out. She was so absorbed that she didn't even notice Draco and his friend packing their things away to leave until Draco shoved a folded piece of parchment under her nose. She looked up just in time to see him heading out the door with his friend, not even checking back to see if she was reading the parchment.
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It was Herbology essay.
Way above her usual standard, but, she noted, rather cleverly written below the standard Draco was clearly capable of writing to.
It was tempting to copy it out. So she did.
Occasionally she changed a word or added in her own phrases, after all she wasn't stupid, but she did hate Herbology and she felt it would be just as stupid to ignore the gift of a free essay. She figured she had a whole 5 years worth of Herbology essays to write and skipping one was probably not going to effect her education, nor was writing it herself going to improve her limited knowledge of Herbology. She'd been writing the wrong thing anyway, and this would save her going through it with Alicia or Sally later. In fact this way probably improved her knowledge of Devil's Snare more than writing her own essay, by the time she had finished copying it out she felt she was something of an expert on the plant and knew she wasn't likely to forget any of the information in a hurry.
After all, it wasn't everyday Draco Malfoy wrote an essay for you.
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"He must have been really bored." Was Alicia's comment on the subject as they sat squashed with Sally and Josh in a window alcove in one of the corridors later that same evening.
Sally had urged her to rethink what she was doing, pointing out that it was cheating, and, after reading the essay, also pointing out that she probably wasn't going to get away with it since Professor Sprout would know it was far too good to be Maddie's own work.
Maddie though didn't care. It wasn't about getting away with it, for she was sure she wasn't going to herself, it was more about for once not having to sit in the library for hours tearing her hair out as she tried to work out the care and uses of plants she really didn't care about and was planning to only ever see in an Apothecary's after her fifth year.
"Sally's right you know, it's wrong to cheat." Josh frowned, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"I know." Maddie replied carelessly, causing Josh to throw her a strange look "I just want to see what happens when Professor Sprout reads it."
"She won't be happy." He informed her.
"She'll probably give you a detention." Sally chimed in, obviously glad that someone was taking her side.
She shrugged "Maybe, but I'm still going to hand it in. Aren't you even bit curious to see what happens?"
Josh squirmed slightly, but she could see that the idea did appeal to him "Well… yes… a bit." He admitted finally. Sally looked at him in alarm.
"There you go then. And this way you don't have to worry about getting in trouble yourself or even getting points taken off your own house."
He smiled and Alicia punched him playfully on the arm.
"Hey if you wanted a quiet life you shouldn't have made friends with anyone in Slytherin." She joked.
Sally buried her face in her hands and promptly fell off the ledge.
"I knew it was a bad idea." She groaned from the floor as they all dissolved into fits of laughter.
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Josh's prediction turned out to be quite accurate when Professor Sprout handed their essays back to them a few days later. She saved Maddie's till last and came over to have a word whilst everyone else was struggling with their Abyssinian Shrivelfigs.
"A very impressive essay." She said handing it back "Unfortunately I doubt it was your own work."
Maddie decided a direct approach was probably best "Draco helped me." She admitted.
"Draco? Draco Malfoy?" This seemed to be something of a revelation and the Professor looked suddenly confused as to how to proceed. She recovered herself well though. "I would say he did more than just offered a few tips, it looks more like he's actually written large chunks of it. Am I correct?"
Maddie nodded and the Professor sighed.
"Well at least you're honest about it and I really can't imagine how you persuaded Draco to actually write an essay for you. It was enough trouble actually getting him to write his own when he was in my classes."
"Oh I didn't ask him." Maddie piped up, feeling that she at least didn't want to go down as the sort of person who asked other people to do her work. "He just sort of did it."
This earned her a very strange look and another sigh.
"Well this once I shall let it go, but if this happens again you will be in detention." She half turned away and then paused "And you can tell Mr. Malfoy that I am pleased to see that despite his lack of attention during five years of Herbology classes it seems that my teaching was not entirely wasted."
The moment she walked away Alicia and Josh had to smother their giggles in their hands and even Sally was looking rather amused by the whole thing.
"I can't believe you just got away with that!" she exclaimed.
"Me neither." laughed Alicia.
They were still giggling about it later as they reached the Entrance Hall where Josh and Sally left them to head to Potions, whilst they went up to Charms.
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Professor Flitwick was late for class, meaning the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins had to wait outside in the corridor for him to turn up. Whilst they were waiting Maddie was well aware of a group of Hufflepuffs whispering and pointing in her general direction, but she did her best to ignore it, despite overhearing several nasty comments about herself.
Her and Alicia were just recounting the events of Herbology for about the tenth time when she overheard something she couldn't ignore.
"Well personally I think it's Sally and Josh's own stupid fault if they do turn against them, they're idiots for even trusting them."
"What did you say?" Maddie snapped, eyes flashing dangerously as she turned to face the owner of the voice. It was a bold faced Hufflepuff who looked down his nose at her rather pompously.
"Nothing that's any of your business." He replied.
"Well I think it is my business if you insult my friends."
"Your friends? Ha! That's a joke, everyone knows your just using them to pick up information on the rest of the school."
"What are you talking about?" she snapped "I'm not using them to get information on anyone. Why would I want to?"
"Everyone knows Slytherins don't make friends with anyone outside their own house unless they want something." The boy huffed, drawing himself up to his full height, which still left him shorter than Maddie.
"Who is this 'everyone' you're talking about? It sounds to me like some stupid theory you and your friends have come up with to add some excitement to your dull lives."
The Hufflepuff flushed angrily and drew his wand. "How dare you talk to me like that!"
Maddie was rather alarmed to see he had drawn his wand, she hadn't expected this to turn into any sort of duel, especially since between them they probably only knew 3 spells, none of which were really that powerful. Not to be caught off guard though, she immediately drew her own wand.
"Oh so it's fine for you to make comments about me and my friends, but as soon as I say anything back suddenly it's not ok?" she hissed, suddenly feeling angrier than she had in a long time.
Alicia tugged on her sleeve. "Just leave it."
Maddie made no attempt to move and neither did the boy, who was now being egged on by his own friends.
"Come on, he's not worth getting into trouble over."
Reluctantly she had to admit that Alicia was right and started to turn away. As she did so the Hufflepuff took his chance and threw a hex in her direction.
"Protego!" Without thinking she had whipped round just in time and blocked the spell, grateful for her fast reflexes. There was sudden uproar in the corridor as she and the boy stood facing each other, members of both houses crowding round to see the duel and calling out support for their own house member.
"Expelliarmus!" Again Maddie blocked the spell, and this time sent one back. To her surprise, the boy, instead of blocking, actually physically dodged the spell and she realised that he didn't know how to block them. Unfortunately this information didn't help much since she was fast running out of spells that she knew.
"Wingardium Leviosa." She yelled. Again the boy dodged, although what effect it would have had on him she didn't know. The spell ricocheted off the wall and streaked down the corridor. Automatically Maddie's eyes followed it and with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach she saw it strike Hermione's bag as she came rushing round the corner.
Standing next to Hermione was Draco, who looked with brief interest at the now levitating rucksack before shouting "Expelliarmus" and causing both Maddie and the boys wands to spin off down the passageway.
The shout caught the attention of the crowd, who turned as one to look at the two prefects, who had obviously been attracted by the noise and were not looking very happy.
"What's going on?" Draco asked striding towards them as Hermione muttered a spell to retrieve her bag from its position near the ceiling.
"She tried to hex me." The boy said wildly, noticing Draco's prefect badge, but obviously not recognising Draco. If he had done Maddie suspected he wouldn't be so quick to accuse one of his house members of anything.
Maddie remained quiet; she simply raised her eyebrows at Draco and got a sort of half smirk in return.
"Did she now." Was all Draco said to the boy, as he summoned back the wands he had relieved them of. The boy looked confused for a moment then seemed to realise he had made some sort of mistake and wisely kept his mouth shut.
"Nice levitating charm there." Draco continued, handing back the wands.
"Indeed." Came Hermione's voice "Although done at an entirely inappropriate moment. No spells to be used in the corridors and certainly no duelling to take place anywhere."
"Exactly, just what I was about to say." said Draco smoothly. "I'm sure they both know duelling in the corridors is wrong."
"Sorry Hermione." Maddie jumped in, as Hermione gave Draco a strange look, "I didn't mean for the spell to hit you." She was in a tricky position she realised, Hermione had been nice to her, and had smiled at her in the corridor when her friends had simply ignored her. She didn't want Hermione to start thinking she was a typical Slytherin like everyone else in the school seemed to think.
"Well," Hermione looked a little surprised at the open apology but rallied well "You shouldn't have been meaning for it to hit anyone. You know duelling is banned."
"I know, but he started it. I was turning away when he tried to curse me so I didn't have a lot of choice." She folded her arms and glared at the boy defiantly as if daring him to contradict this story. He however, still seemed to be rather speechless at the way things were turning out and made no comment. Draco though made a strange noise in his throat and Maddie could swear she saw the corners of Hermione's mouth twitch as she glanced over at him.
"What's your name?" Hermione asked the boy
"Arnold." His voice was little more than a whisper, and the bold look on his face had long since disappeared.
"Is what Maddie says true?" Arnold once again gaped at her as if not quite believing what was happening. "Attacking someone when their back is turned is a cowardly thing to do. Isn't that right Draco?"
Something was going on Maddie realised. Hermione gave a smirk that could have rivalled Draco's as she glanced over at him, whist he resolutely refused to meet her eye, instead becoming very interested in glaring at the first year Hufflepuffs. Hermione though was not giving up and nudged him sharply.
"What?" He snapped as she repeated "Isn't it?" in a way that suggested she was winning some little victory. "Oh yes. Quite right. 20 points from Hufflepuff." He seemed to regain a little composure and glowered at Arnold menacingly "And if I ever catch you attacking a Slytherin again, it'll be twice that many and a visit to your Head of House. Don't you agree Granger?" The emphasis on her surname seemed to return Hermione's thoughts to her duties as a prefect.
"Er right," she nodded "and 20 points from Slytherin. You know magic is forbidden in the corridors."
The Prefects departed, leaving Alicia and Maddie to try and work out the significance of what had taken place. It puzzled them all through Charms whilst they attempted to make a pineapple tap dance across the table, and continued to puzzle them until after lunch when they met up with Josh and Sally in the courtyard and spent half an hour laughing at the story of "Draco the Amazing Bouncing Ferret" as retold by Josh, courtesy of his brother.
When the laughter had subsided they all agreed that it was probably best not to let on to Draco that they knew this story, after all it wasn't the sort of incident anyone would want spreading round and upsetting Draco Malfoy was probably not the best idea, seeing as how it would most likely lead to a rather nasty hexing.
Having made this important decision they decided to take a walk down to Hagrid's Hut to see the latest creature he had captured for the older students to study. It turned out to be Knarls.
Alicia caused chaos by offering one half a biscuit she had brought from lunch, and Hagrid's angry shout sent them fleeing back to the castle just in time for their next lesson.
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Ok that's it for this chapter. I know some of you might think Professor Sprout let her off the hook about the essay a bit too easily, but I get the impression from the books that she's quite a kind and forgiving Professor, and to be honest she was so surprised by the idea that Draco had written the essay and that Maddie admitted to it so readily that really any idea of punishment went out the window. Besides she seems like the sort of teacher that would know a gentle approach is sometimes the best way, particularly when the person is willing to admit to what they have done. In the next chapter Maddie gets into yet another fight with someone, although this time it's a rather different situation. Till next time please review!
Love and lollipops,
Sivany.