39. The Fallout

Somebody was shaking her. She opened her eyes and met his; they had fallen asleep on the sofa, Callie cuddled up in Neville's arms.

"Hem hem."

They both looked up and found one of the Weasley twins grinning down at them. "Morning," he said, cocking a brow.

Callie pointed at the redhead, a wide smile spreading across her face. "George, right?" she asked.

"Right."

To Neville, she said, "I was supposed to be out of here by now, wasn't I?"

He explained to George, "Slytherins locked her out of the common room. She had nowhere to go."

George held up a hand and said, "No need to explain yourselves to me. 'Bout time, if I do say so myself."

Callie's smile faded and she furrowed her brow. "Wait," she said, "you're not George. George has that mole on his neck."

"Clever lass," Fred replied. "Very observant."

She gave him a playful kick before rising up. "Think the girls would mind if I used their bathroom?" she asked.

"No, but I'd announce yourself first," Fred advised. "May be a little bit shaken after last night."

She made her way off to the spiral staircase to the girls dormitories. Stepping up, she heard Fred whisper, "Did you shag her?!" and Neville respond, "No!"

She smiled to herself, shaking her head.

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If there had been any doubt left as to how the Gryffindors viewed the Slytherin lass, it had all been vanished as they welcomed her with open arms into their private space. In fact, she and Neville coming out as a couple was just about the only bright spot anyone had to hold onto regarding the events of the previous night. According to Harry, Cornelius Fudge had shown up at the castle and tried to have Dumbledore - who'd taken full responsibility for the formation of the D.A. - arrested. But the old man wouldn't have any of that, and he'd disappeared before he could be taken into custody.

"Look at this." Hermione stormed into the common room holding a sheet of parchment and read it aloud to the group. "'By order of the Ministry of Magic, Dolores Jane Umbridge - High Inquisitor - has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'"

There were cries of dissent and many curses all throughout the room. "What the bloody hell are we supposed to do now?" Red asked.

"Well," Callie said dispiritedly, "we won't be having anymore meetings, I imagine." She shot a glance over at Harry, who looked absolutely miserable.

"Damn that bloody rat, Edgecombe," Ginny exclaimed.

Later on, Callie said to Neville, "Ravenclaw. Not the evil Slytherin who told," as they made their way out of the portrait hole. Despite the fact that everything had gone to hell, she couldn't help but smile that someone else had been found out as the rat.

"Like there was ever any doubt," Neville replied, grinning down at her and wrapping his arm around her waist.

Smiling back at him, she said, "No, but it feels good to be vindicated - officially."

"Miss Warbeck?" a voice called out from down the corridor. Callie and Neville exchanged a worried glance, then turned to face his head of house as she approached them.

"Good morning, ma'am," Callie greeted politely.

"What is this?" McGonagall asked. "Why aren't you down in the dungeons?" She looked from Callie, to Neville, to the open portrait hole, to Neville's arm wrapped around Callie's waist. Noticing this, he quickly removed it, but Callie put it right back where it had been.

"My housemates changed the common room password, ma'am," Callie explained. "I couldn't get in. Neville was nice enough to give me a place to spend the night." Noting the woman's expression - a mix of quiet suspicion and something like anxiety - Callie added, "We slept on the sofa." A pause, before she corrected, "I slept on the sofa."

McGonagall continued to study them, looking unsettled by the fact that the two teenaged students - who were clearly a lot more cozy with each other than she might have expected - had just come stumbling out of a room that Callie had no business being in.

Looking shame-faced, Neville muttered, "I'm sorry, ma'am."

But she wasn't so quick to jump down their throats. "I suppose it's all right, Mr. Longbottom," she replied reluctantly. "Good of you to come to Miss Warbeck's aid." She eyed the girl, who gave her an appreciative smile. Waving down the corridor, McGonagall said, "Off you go, Neville. Breakfast is waiting."

Both students turned to leave, but the woman called out. "Not you, Miss Warbeck," halting them both. "I'd like to speak with you in private."

The couple eyed each other, before Callie replied, "Certainly, ma'am."

McGonagall led her into an empty classroom and shut the door. Callie twiddled her fingers, waiting for her to go on. "Miss Warbeck," she began with a sigh, "I'd like to remind you that Hogwarts is an institution of learning, not a hotel."

Callie couldn't help but feel offended at that. And she had always liked the woman. "Yes, ma'am, I know," she replied civilly. "As I said, I had nowhere to go last night."

"I understand," McGonagall said. "And I do believe that Mr. Longbottom was only trying to be accommodating."

"Yes," Callie agreed. My knight in shining armor.

The woman took a few steps toward her. "But though you may think me old-fashioned," she went on, "I'm not quite so ignorant to the behaviors and the... instincts of the modern teenaged boy or girl."

Oh, Christ. Suppressing a grin, Callie replied, "I wouldn't have thought so, ma'am."

The girl's Transfiguration teacher studied her a long moment, before she went on, "And I gather that you and Mr. Longbottom have... taken your relationship to new heights?"

Callie gaped at her, unsure how to respond. "Um... in what sense, exactly?" she asked.

"You've become a couple," McGonagall said.

But the girl felt like there was something more suggestive in her tone. "Ma'am..." she said "...Neville Longbottom's a good boy. Respectable."

"Yes, he is," the woman agreed. "Rather... pure. Innocent. Perhaps even a bit naive?" She paused, before continuing, "Not quite as... world-wise as yourself."

Oh. Callie got the implication, and wondered when exactly she'd acquired such a reputation. Was it the writing on the bathroom walls, or her unabashedly flirty nature? "People think I'm... wanton," she muttered, more to herself than to McGonagall. After a pause, she straightened up and looked right at woman as she said, "Ma'am, I'm a virgin. I just had my first ever kiss last night."

The teacher blinked at Callie, taken aback by her bluntness. "I see," she said.

"You think I might corrupt him, is that it?" Callie asked, smirking. "Destroy his virtue?"

McGonagall looked both uncomfortable and apologetic about this whole conversation. "I didn't mean to imply that you're..." She must have been too embarrassed to go on.

"Promiscuous?" Callie offered.

"Only that you seem a little more experienced than Longbottom."

"I'm not. I'm just not quite as shy as he is."

Again, the woman studied her. Then, stepping close, she said, "That boy... worships you."

Callie bit back a grin and said, "Yes, ma'am. Apparently I was the last to know."

After a moment, McGonagall laid a hand on Callie's shoulder and said in a soft tone, "Be good to him. He's had a rough life."

Callie looked back at her with a bit of surprise. It suddenly occurred to her that the woman had been speaking of Neville in an almost motherly way. He doesn't have a mother, Callie thought, not really. She's protecting him. "Yes, ma'am," she replied after a pause. "I know he has."

"Then we understand each other?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, ma'am, I think we do."

The woman smiled, stepping back as she said, "Very well. Then I'll see you at breakfast." Before turning to leave the room, she gave Callie a wink.

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So much for the shy, naive boy everybody thought he was. Callie had expected him to be a lot more timid, and certainly the less dominant of the two of them. But when they'd decided to skip lunch and go find an empty classroom, he'd pushed her up against a wall and practically ravaged her.

"Bloody hell, I've been dreaming about this for three years," he breathed between kisses. "I'm mad for you."

"Should've said something sooner," she replied with a grin. "We could've been doing this the whole time."

He wasn't so pure and innocent. He lifted her up on a desk and wrapped her legs around his hips, gently tugging her hair back to expose her neck and putting his mouth to her pulse. Where did he learn how to do this? she wondered. Oh, who cares!

He ran a hand along her fully-clothed thigh, giving it a squeeze. "You oughta start wearing skirts," he suggested.

"Yes, sir," she agreed. After all, maybe they weren't so bad.

They were suddenly disrupted by the sound of cackling laughter. Callie threw her head back with a groan as Peeves the poltergeist floated at the other end of the room.

"Well, well, well," he teased. "The Witless Wonder finally made his move!"

"Peeves, you fuck, get outta here!" Callie demanded.

Turning on her with a wicked smile, the poltergeist said, "Hope you didn't charge the whole five, lass."

"Shut up, Peeves!" Neville shouted warningly.

Jumping up and down and flipping over in midair, he chanted, "Five-Coin Callie! Five-Coin Callie!" Neville picked a piece of chalk up off the desk and chucked it at him, but he dodged it. "Oh!" Peeves squealed. "Now that wasn't very gentlemanly!"

"Get out!" Neville ordered, pointing towards the door.

Pouting, the poltergeist said, "You two aren't any fun!" and he flew off through the wall.

Neville turned his attention back to Callie, who said, "I was having fun."

Grinning at her, he replied, "Let's skive off Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid would understand."

Callie shot him a seductive smirk. "Harry and the others will be in class. We'd have your whole dormitory to ourselves." Then she raised her brows suggestively.

He took her face in his hand and said, "You're wicked, lass," once again placing his mouth at her neck.

Definitely not so innocent. He was standing between her legs and pressing up against her, and she was sure that she could feel his-

Damn it, what the hell now?! she thought as the door opened up and they were interrupted yet again. They both turned and stared in shock as Professor Sprout stood in the doorway.

"'Bout time, I'd say," she remarked, and shut the door on them.

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They never did end up skiving off Magical Creatures. Hermione had caught them on their way to Gryffindor Tower and insisted they attend class. "The O.W.L.s are right around the corner!" she reminded them. "Now is not the time to mess around."

Callie made a pained face and said, "I don't care about a Magical Creatures O.W.L.!"

But she wasn't getting out of this. "You can snog each other after class," Hermione said, causing Neville to blush. "Let's go." And she practically dragged Callie out to the grounds.

She and Neville were all over each other during class, holding hands, leaning close to whisper sweet - and not so sweet - nothings in each other's ear. Callie had even been bold enough to pull him in for a kiss at the end of the period, right in front of her housemates, who were both shocked and appalled.

"Snogging your 'boyfriend' in public, Warbeck?" Malfoy spat at her on the way to History of Magic. "Not that I'm going to dock you any points, of course - I know you'd just love that."

"Yes, I would, Draco," she replied in a sassy tone. "So you're going to dock him, I imagine?"

"Thanks for the suggestion," he said. "But I was thinking Snape might not be pleased to hear of you whoring around with the Amazing Idiot Boy. Certainly not after last night."

"What are you referring to?" Callie asked, unbothered. "Me sleeping up in Gryffindor Tower, or getting caught with the rest of the guerrillas?"

They both came to a halt and faced each other. "You're in for a lot, Warbeck," Malfoy warned. "I'd be a little more concerned if I were you. Umbridge is headmistress now. Do you really think she's going to go easy on you, because you're a Slytherin?"

"Umbridge can stick her own wand up her arse," Callie shot back. "Am I supposed to be intimidated by that swine?"

Malfoy smirked at her. "We'll see," he said, turning on his heel.

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Callie dropped off her bag on the way back from class. After a day with her precious housemates, she was looking forward to joining the Gryffindor table with her comrades - and her boyfriend.

Christ, he's a good kisser, she thought with a wistful smile. I'll bet he practices on his hand.

Not that she'd never imagined being with Neville before, but now that they had crossed the bridge, she couldn't get her mind off the many possibilities in front of her. Wonder what he'd be like in bed? she thought devilishly, looking back on their lunchtime rendezvous. She had felt it, and she'd gotten the idea that he wouldn't disappoint.

"Warbeck!"

Callie rolled her eyes and turned in the direction of Pansy's voice.

BAM!

There'd been absolutely no warning, and Callie was on the hard stone floor before she ever knew what was happening. And then she was being dragged up on her feet my Millicent Bulstrode, who must've outweighed her by a good fifty pounds. The bigger girl pinned Callie's arms behind her back, but it had been Pansy who'd hit her.

"Didn't think we were going to let you get away with that little stunt of yours, did you?" she asked. Callie took note of the fact that her tone and expression weren't mocking, but pissed.

"Damn it, you bitch!" Callie exclaimed, struggling to break free from Millicent. Pansy was closing in on her, while Daphne and Tracey stood off to the side. "What the fuck do you care that I got a little extra defense training?"

BAM! Pansy's fist connected with the other side of Callie's face.

"I don't give a shit what you do or who you do," Pansy spat. "I never have. But unfortunately, it's my job to make sure you get what's coming to you."

"Oh, right," Callie said, unable to keep the tears of pain from falling down her face, "your little 'Inquisitorial Squad?'" She sniffed. "Big woman on campus, you are. But do you think Snape's going to be happy with you assaulting a fellow student?"

"Snape isn't going to find out," Pansy said, grabbing Callie by the jaw and forcing her to meet her eye, "but it's not up to him anymore. If you've got a problem, you talk to the headmistress."

"Did she tell you to do this? Sicced her little mutts on me, did she?"

BAM! Callie felt like her nose had just been broken. Blood poured down to her mouth and she could taste it on her lips.

"Aren't you going to ask me to stop doing that?" Pansy asked. "I might even oblige."

Callie scoffed and shook her head. "Fuck you, Parkinson."

BAM! Once more in her left eye.

"All right, enough," Daphne said, not in worry but in irritation. "Think she's learned her lesson."

BAM! Callie ran her tongue along her teeth and was surprised to find them all still there.

"Hell of a right hook you got," she said, gasping. "And a left."

Pansy got right up in her face; they were close enough to kiss. "One for every year I've had to put up with you, dear." She grabbed up a fistful of Callie's hair and yanked it. "And I've still got two more if you ever wanna go again." She let go of Callie's hair - or rather, shoved her head back forcefully - and then reached into the girl's robes and pulled out her redwood wand.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH IT!" Callie screamed. But Pansy kept her eyes locked on Callie's as she snapped it in half, leaving only the dragon heartstring core holding the two ends together.

Callie's eyes widened. No punch to the eye or the nose or the mouth could ever hurt as much as having her wand broken in two by anyone, let alone this little cunt. She was too stunned to even cry as Pansy tossed the mangled object to the side.

"Now I think she's learned her lesson," Pansy said. "Let her go, Millie."

Millicent threw Callie back to the ground, and the latter stayed down, gaping at her broken wand that lay a few feet away. Pansy gave her a rather light kick in the hip as the four girls turned to walk away.

"Christ," Callie breathed, gasping. Still with her eyes fixed on her most precious magical possession - lying in two pieces with only a few millimeters of heartstring between them - she exclaimed, "God damn it."

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"That foul... evil... loathsome... CUNT!" Astoria shouted.

Callie stood in the bathroom of her friend's dormitory, wiping the blood off her face with a wet cloth. The good news was that she didn't think her nose was broken. I'd rather it have been the nose, she thought.

"My wand is gone," she said flatly, staring off with a dazed look in her eye. "It's gone."

"I'm sure it can be fixed," Astoria said, holding the delicately-connected pieces in her hands. "I'm sure it can, you can take it to Ollivanders."

Callie had stumbled into the common room and sprinted to the comfort of her only Slytherin friend. I like you, Astoria, she thought when the girl took Callie in her arms and let her cry. You have no idea how much I appreciate you.

"God damn it," the third-year girl exclaimed, shaking her head. "I can't believe Daphne just stood there and let her do that to you."

"To be fair," Callie said, still staring dazedly, "she did tell her to ease up at one point. I think she was bored of it all."

"I'll kill her," Astoria said.

"Don't," Callie replied. "It's not your battle to fight."

Once all the blood was cleaned up, Astoria came over to the sink and pulled a bottle of concealer out of her makeup bag. "Here," she said, opening it. "It's not going to cover it completely, but it'll help."

She brought the brush towards Callie's blackened eye, but the older girl pulled away. "No," she said. "I'm not going to hide for them." Studying herself in the mirror, she noted her two black eyes, her swollen nose, and her fattened, cut-up lip. All she could think about was Neville and how he was going to react to seeing her this way. But damned if she was going to cover up what had been done to her.

Astoria gave her a look of heartbroken sympathy, caressing her half-blood friend's face as she muttered, "I'm sorry."

Callie returned a sad but appreciative look. "Thank you," she whispered.

Five minutes later, they were making their way to the Great Hall together. Callie sighed when she saw Neville leaning against a wall, playing with a little round object she knew was the tiger's eye. He looked up as she approached, his happy smile fading in a fraction of a second as he took in her appearance.

"Bloody hell," he breathed, dropping the stone and sprinting over to her with a look of absolute horror. "Jesus Christ, what happened?!" He grabbed her by the upper arms and gaped at her battered face.

"I'm all right," she said, trying not to meet his eye. "It looks worse than it is."

"No, you're not 'all right,' you're-" He turned to Astoria and asked, "Who did this?"

"God damn Parkinson and her pack of bitches," Astoria explained. "Including my dear sister. Feel free to have a go at her if you'd like."

Neville stood back from Callie, shaking. "I'll kill her," he said. "I swear, I'll kill her."

"No, you won't," Callie said. "Don't even approach her. Don't say anything."

"Why not?!" he shouted. "We've got to do something, we've got to tell McGonagall."

"McGonagall won't be able to do anything," Callie argued. "It's not gonna help, Neville. Besides, what's done is done."

"Maybe it's not done," he shot back. "Maybe this is just the beginning. You're not going back to that common room, I don't care what McGonagall or anybody else says!"

"What's going on here?" Snape's icy voice called out. Neville and Astoria looked up at the potions master, but Callie remained with her eyes on the floor and her back to him. "Warbeck?" he said.

Slowly, she turned towards him, keeping her eyes on his face as he took in hers.

Never had she seem him more shocked than he was at the sight of her normally white skin now black and blue and swollen. The man ordinarily kept his composure no matter what fucked up situation arose, but he was now, in his own quiet way, extremely disturbed. His eyes widened, his mouth dropped open just a bit, and glancing downward, she could see his hands ball into fists. It wasn't a very strong reaction - for anyone else. For him, it was borderline dangerous.

"What," he damn-near growled, "in the hell... happened... to you?"

Sighing, she replied, "I got what was coming, sir."

They simply stared at each other a moment, and Callie was sure she could see not only anger but... a sort of sadness in his eyes. Something far-off, as though the sight of her had brought him back to an old memory he didn't care to think about.

"Sir?" Astoria said after a while. "She was attacked. It was-"

"No!" Callie barked at her.

"Callie!" the younger girl said pleadingly.

"I'm not a rat," She looked from Astoria, to Neville, who gaped at her and then stepped forward.

"We've got to get you to the hospital wing," he said.

"That's not necessary," she argued.

"Yes, it is, look at yourself!"

"Come with me," Snape cut in, and the couple looked to him, but didn't move. "Now, Warbeck," he said.

She looked back to Neville, who whispered, "Don't go with him."

"Why not?" she asked in a low voice.

"Because he's-" He looked to the potions professor, then back to her. "He's one of them," he whispered.

Callie nodded slightly, her eyes on the ground. "Slytherin trash," she said, more to herself than to him. There was a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Warbeck!" Snape called out.

She raised her eyes back to Neville's, and he said, "Callie, please, just come with me." But she only stood there, a vacant expression on her face.

"Longbottom, please direct your girlfriend to snap out of it and come with me," Snape ordered, growing frustrated.

"Sir, I..." Neville began, but trailed off.

"She really does need to be checked out, Professor," Astoria cut in. "Her nose might be broken."

"My wand is broken," Callie said flatly.

"Come along, Warbeck, I haven't got all night!"

"Sir, please!" Neville begged.

"I've had enough of this nonsense!" Snape declared, as he stepped up behind Callie, took her by the arm and pulled her along towards the dungeons.

"Get your hands off her!" Neville screamed.

Snape halted, and slowly turned on him. Callie knew he'd crossed a line, but she couldn't be bothered, at that particular moment, to say or do anything to try and calm the beast. The potions master stalked up to his second-least favorite student, and Callie was a bit amazed that Neville didn't back away, even though he did look rather terrified.

She and Astoria waited for the man to either hex him or hit him. But after a long moment, Snape backed away from Neville. Not because he was the least bit intimidated - of course he wasn't - but more than likely because he'd get his arse sacked if he couldn't contain his anger towards the boy.

Coming to stand beside Callie, he informed her, "He's afraid I'm going to hurt you." And after a pause, "Care to set him straight?"

Callie looked from Snape to Neville, then made a noise between a scoff and a chuckle, shaking her head. "He'd never lay a hand on me," she said. "Remember, he's a prick but he's not evil." Snape turned to glare at her, and she gave him a look that said, Just let it go.

Still looking concerned for his girlfriend's well-being, Neville said, "Cal?"

"It's all right," she assured him. "Trust me." And then she shot him a small, pathetic smile, before Snape took her by the arm and led her towards the dungeons.

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