Chapter 26
In which Harriet planned a pajama party for revenge.
Thomas groaned as he woke up to Harriet absentmindedly patting his arm as she enjoyed a bar of Lemon Peel Honeydukes' Finest. He scrunched his nose in disgust when he saw bits of the lemon rind peppering the chocolate.
"Isn't that, I don't know, bitter or sour? " He asked Harriet, making her jump and almost drop the chocolate.
"Nope" She popped another piece into her mouth. "It's nice actually. Not too sweet, there's something bitter, but a pleasant taste as it melts in my mouth. Professor Dumbledore gave it to me from his personal stash when he visited you. Want to try? "
Her expression was not really encouraging him to try and get a piece from the massive bar, though, so he wisely shook his head.
"How long was I unconscious? " He asked as he eyed the goblet in the bedside table.
Harriet rolled her eyes in exasperation. "It's water. Severus brought it, and I've been watching the goblet for the three hours you fainted."
"I didn't faint! " He said indignantly.
"Yes you did! And watch the knot! You don't want it to grow larger, do you? And anyways, weren't you into torture or something? Why did you faint at a bit of blood? " She snapped.
Thomas quickly handed her her forgotten bar of chocolate to appease her and reach for the goblet. Harriet rolled her eyes at him when he vanished the content and refilled the goblet himself.
"Harriet, adult wizards don't faint. We passed out, or fell unconscious, but we don't faint like some little girls." He explained patiently after drinking his water to wet his throat.
"Remind me again, who is the little girl in this situation, please? And you did faint. Madame Pomfrey said so! " She stubbornly answered.
"That knot on the side of your head said so." She eyed the knot critically. "You hit your head on the footstool."
Thomas was about to retaliate when he saw the dangerous glints in Harriet's eyes.
"Alright, let's just agree to disagree." He finally said.
"So? I've heard of the horror stories of your stunt as a Dark Lord. Why did a little bit of blood scare you? " She broke another piece of chocolate and popped it into her mouth.
Thomas made a mental note to stock on the thing for future reference.
"I'll have you know that my personal preference are the cruciatus and killing curse. They are effective, efficient and not messy at all. But to answer your question, I'm not afraid of blood. I've done rituals with blood. But I'm of the opinion that blood should come from wounds that you can see. To suddenly bleed without being wounded is unnatural. " He shuddered.
"Clarence Higgs! " Madame Pomfrey's stern voice rang through their cubicle. "How did you reach this age with that kind of thinking? How did you think your mother had you and your brother?! "
The irate Matron didn't catch the two patients' panicked expressions when she suddenly appeared and joined the conversation.
"My father" And Dumbledore, but he wasn't about to tell the Matron that. "Said something about the Hippogriff and the Hornet, and something about pollens and flowers. But I firmly believe that we were brought to our ancestral homes by a Thunderbird."
Harriet stared at him with an 'are you for real?' Look while Madame Pomfrey massaged her temples and muttered something that sounds like purebloods and their antiquated beliefs.
"I also believe that what happens to a witch's body is exclusively witch business." He nodded resolutely.
"Professor Higgs, you're 24 years old. Don't you think it's odd that a thunderbird brought babies to homes? " Madame Pomfrey asked in disbelief.
In her experience, that convenient little hogwash belief Purebloods parents used to appease their children's question usually fell apart around fifth year at the latest, depending on how soon the student found the delight of inspecting the inside of a broom closet. Then again, Clarence Higgs was a very studious person when he was at Hogwarts. Unlike his brother Terrence, who landed himself in the hospital wings at least twice a week after Quidditch Practices, Madame Pomfrey was hard pressed to remember the few times he was brought to the Hospital Wings for injuries. (The answer is never. Clarence is quite the accomplished duelist and wasn't really interested in getting injured by anything other than dueling.)
Thomas reviewed Clarence's memories and then his own. He shook his head.
"Not odd at all. Father said that that is how everyone differentiate the scion of the family. The Thunderbird adjusted the memories of everyone. That's what they do, right? They can alter everyone's memories at a snap." He said.
Madame Pomfrey took a deep breath and wordlessly performed some examination with her wand. After that, she left them, mumbling about migraines and headache potions.
"You're just trolling with her right? You do know where babies come from? Because I'm not sure if I'm the right person to explain it to you, and I refuse to be married to a blithering idiot." Harriet asked after the Matron left.
"Of course I know, I'm not an idiot! You've been around Severus too much if you started to adopt his terminology. But just in case Madame Pomfrey caught the first part of our conversation, which she didn't, by the way, she'll forget it by focusing on Clarence Higgs' innocence. It's true, after all, had I really been Clarence Higgs, these are his thoughts on the matter." He sniffed.
"Pureblood Wizards and Witches have these very antiquated beliefs that witches didn't need to know of wizards' business and vice versa. That was when I was in school in the forties. From what I've learned, it doesn't change much from then. " He explained.
"How would you know that? Didn't you grow up in a muggle orphanage? " She asked curiously.
"Oh, I visited my friends at their homes. The Malfoys, The Blacks, The Notts and so on. I even visited your grandfather once, though your great grandfather always glared at me with a stink eye. I really should have seen the signs. I never understood why he hated me when I got along well with his son. I thought it was because I was a muggleborn, but Abraxas told me that the Potters weren't blood prejudiced."
He looked at her listening to him with rapt attention and tilted his head.
"Since we can't visit with Medusa, (it's not wise to tempt fate with your blood scent.) What would you like to do instead? " He asked.
He sighed as she blinked at him in confusion.
"We still have that date to go through, you know. Even without Medusa."
Harriet bit her lips in indecision.
"There is something that I wanted to do. Would it be alright for you and Severus to visit in the Ravenclaw's common room? I'll invite our usual chaperones too so that we're not alone, but can still talk in privacy. Oh, and my best friends, Su Li and Padma too. Don't worry, they are trustworthy. Hmm, on second thought, maybe in one of the unused classrooms?"
Thomas is intrigued. Then he remembered that Harriet never knew of her grandparents. Charlus and Dorea have passed before she was born, of dragon pox, he heard. His eyes softened.
"Alright. Why don't we go to my classroom? Do I need to bring or prepare anything? " He asked.
"Just the room. Make it cozy with carpets and big pillows? Never mind, I'll ask the house elves to do that. In fact, why don't you go visit with Severus? Come to the classroom at around 6? And wear your pajamas. Also, don't forget to bring Quasimodo. " She said cheerfully, her green eyes lit up with mischief.
As adorable as she looks at the moment, Thomas couldn't help the shudder that goes through his spine, a premonition that he's about to step on something unholy. He quickly tried to squash that ridiculous thought. This is Harriet, after all, she wouldn't do anything too crazy, right?
"So, this bleeding thing, it's only for this once, right? " He asked timidly.
His goosebumps stayed with him long after Harriet's cackles subsided and they parted ways, Harriet to the kitchen, and he to Severus' quarter.
Harriet gathered her girlfriends, and told them of her plan. They all readily agreed to help. Padma could be heard cackling all the way to the Ravenclaw towers, making more than several people jump out of her way in fear of what to come.
Daphne and Pansy were a bit harder to convince, but they were curious of what's going on in these parties. They never even heard of Pajama Party, let alone this kind of party, but any chance on embarrassing the boys is not something they would pass on. As it is, Daphne and Su Li had just started theirs too, so Harriet decided that it was going to be a joint party.
"My mother would faint in mortification," Daphne said, "but sharing stories with other girls would help, and it'll be worth it to see Draco's and Theo's face when they realized what kind of party we invited them on."
They giggled as they headed to the DADA classroom to prepare for the party.
"But Harriet, it was so like you to start your period on Halloween" Su Li laughed in disbelief.
"It's not as if I had a choice in the matter, you know..." Harriet smiled at her. "No wonder i was feeling off since the morning."
They had fun charming everything to the red and white color theme for the party.
"Who wants to bet 5 galleons on who's going to bolt first?"