The next day was the first day of dueling club. "I hate this." Anna mumbled to Hermione as the second years all filed into the Great Hall. "Something's going to go wrong, you and I both know that."
"There's nothing that we can do about it." Hermione sighed. "Attendance is mandatory."
It went about as badly as Anna predicted it would go. She had been paired up with Pansy Parkinson, much to Anna's dismay. Somehow, Pansy had learned of Anna's crush on Fred. "I heard you're in love with Weasley." She sneered as the two girls faced off. Anna didn't answer, she merely gripped her wand tighter.
"I'm not all that surprised he would choose Johnson over you though. Actually..." Pansy started to laugh. "He would probably choose anyone over you."
"Expelliarmus!" Anna shouted, but Pansy blocked the spell. "Is that the best you can do?" She cackled. "Stupefy!"
"Protego!"
"Immobulus!" Pansy shouted, and the spell caught Anna in the chest. She froze, and Pansy went over to her, sneering. "Like I said, it's no wonder that Weasley doesn't like you. You're pathetic. Weak. Not to mention ugly. She walked away, and Snape said the counter curse so that Anna could move again. Her wand had dropped onto the floor, and she picked it up before running out of the Great Hall, tears falling down her face. Pansy was right, it was no wonder why Fred loved Angelina more. She ran all the way up to the Astronomy Tower and collapsed on the ground, bringing her knees up to her chest and rocking back and forth.
Eventually Harry found her and he sat down, pulling her into his lap. "You can't listen to anything that Parkinson says Anna."
"Even when she's right?" Anna buried her face in his chest, his robes soon becoming wet from her tears.
"Anna she wasn't right!" Harry exclaimed. "You aren't pathetic, you're anything but! And you definitely aren't weak. You defended Fred against like, four Slytherins last year remember?" He continued to hold her close until her tears subsided, murmuring soothing words into her ear and rubbing her back.
"Why does love hurt so much?" She whispered, and Harry chuckled softly. "I don't know if we'll ever find the answer to that question." He stood up, taking her hands and helping her to stand as well. "Try not to let Pansy get to you okay?"
Anna nodded as she wiped her tears away. "Okay. Thanks Harry."
"Of course." He grinned at her. "Say...what if we pull a prank on Pansy to get her back?"
Anna's ears perked up. "I'm listening."
"Alright, here's what we're gonna do..."
They had enlisted Ron's help as well. Hermione refused to help them. "You three are going to get into trouble."
"Mione, you heard what she said to Anna, she can't just get away with that!" Ron exclaimed. "Besides, we'll have Harry's cloak, we'll be fine."
They left their common room around ten that night. Anna had a letter in her hand, they were going to slip it under Pansy's door. It was a supposed love note from Draco. Was it a bit mean? Sure, but it wasn't like Pansy didn't deserve it.
"I can't wait to see her face." Ron whispered.
"Shh!" Anna hissed. "You're going to get us caught with that big mouth of yours!"
"Wait, we don't even know what the password to get into the Slytherin common room is!" Harry suddenly realized.
"I'm sure that we'll figure it out. Knowing them, it's probably gonna be easy." Anna said. When they reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room she whispered, "Pure-blood." And they walked in. Thankfully the common room was empty.
"Of course it was that." Harry said as he rolled his eyes.
"I have to go up to the dorms by myself." Anna whispered. "They probably have charms to keep the guys from getting up there. You two keep the cloak."
"Be careful." Harry whispered, and Anna nodded before silently making her way to the dorms. She found Pansy's, and she was about to slip the note under the door when she heard Pansy talking to someone.
"You should have seen Potter's face!" Pansy laughed, and Anna clenched her hands tightly. "It was absolutely priceless when I told her the truth about how stupid she really is."
Growling softly, Anna slipped the note under Pansy's door before going back downstairs to the boys. "Let's go before I decide that I'm going to kill her." She slipped back under the cloak with them and they started heading back to their own common room. Anna was silent the whole way, and the boys decided that it might be best if they didn't question her at the moment; she didn't really seem to be in the mood to talk. In fact, as soon as they got back she went up to the dorms. She needed to calm down before she wound up killing somebody. Sighing she sat on her bed, and opened up a Muggle book that Hermione had given her, The Lord of The Rings. She lit her wand tip to read by so that she wouldn't wake up any of the other girls, and she soon got lost in the adventures of hobbits, dwarves, elves and men.
"Anna!" Hermione shook her awake the next morning. Anna must have fallen asleep while reading; her wand was still lit, and her book was laying on her chest.
"You're gonna be late for breakfast." Hermione scolded as Anna wiped the sleep from her eyes. "Sorry Mione. Nox." She muttered, effectively dousing the light on her wand before she hurriedly dressed and brushed her hair. After quickly brushing her teeth she raced to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Morning sleeping beauty." Harry teased her, and Anna blushed as she grabbed a piece of toast. "Sorry, I stayed up late reading."
"I think Hermione's being a bad influence on you." Ron said, then he yelped as Hermione whacked his arm with one of her books. "Bloody hell woman!"
"Just because you're uncultured and don't like to read doesn't mean that everyone else is Ronald." Hermione retorted and Anna leaned close to Harry. "Mark my words, they're gonna date sooner or later." She whispered, and Harry had to bite back a laugh. "Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me." He whispered back, causing the twins to burst into fits of giggles. Ron and Hermione stopped their bickering and turned to look at them. "I think that they've finally gone mad." Ron muttered. Anna rolled her eyes before turning to look at the Slytherin table, where Pansy was draping herself all over Draco. "Oh Dracey-poo, I loved your letter!"
"What letter?" Draco grumbled as he tried to push Pansy off of him. "I didn't write you any bloody letter!"
"Sure you did! You told me how much you loved me!"
Anna couldn't help it. She burst into laughter, and Pansy's gaze drifted over to her. "You!" She snarled, before storming over to the Gryffindor table. "You wrote that letter didn't you?!"
"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't." Anna said cooly. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to finish my breakfast."
Pansy snatched a bowl of grape jelly off of the table, dumping it onto Anna's head. Anna gasped as the Slytherin table was now laughing.
"Purple's a good color for you Potter." Pansy laughed as jelly dripped down Anna's face. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before messing with me."
"And you know what would look good on you Pansy?" Anna took her plate of scrambled eggs, dumping them down Pansy's robes, causing the girl to shriek.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take a shower." Anna flounced out, to the cheers of Gryffindors. She quickly showered, having just enough time to get to Transfiguration. She slid in next to a third year Ravenclaw named Mary. Mary had brunette hair and baby blue eyes. She was a kind-hearted girl, always nice to everyone even if they didn't particularly deserve it. "You're just in time." She giggled, and Anna blushed. "Sorry, there was kind of a food fight between me and Parkinson."
"Man, I wish that I could have been a part of that." Mary said in disappointment, regretfully shaking her head. "I always miss out on the fun."
"Next time I plan a food fight I'll be sure to invite you." Anna chuckled as she got out her Transfiguration textbook. After class she was approached by Millicent Bulstrode. Millicent was a pudgy girl, but she also packed quite a punch. "You embarrassed Pansy today." She growled as she cracked her knuckles. "You don't embarrass my friends and get away with it, you know."
Anna went to back up, but she was pushed forward by another Slytherin. Anna cursed under her breath as Millicent advanced upon her. Anna didn't have time to reach for her wand. She ducked as Millicent swung at her. She obviously was more brawn than brain. Anna had to think quickly. "Look, is that a hippogriff?" The others turned to look, which Anna took as an opportunity to run away.
"Get back here!" Millicent bellowed before lumbering after her. For a big girl, she was surprisingly fast. Anna continued to run until she saw Percy Weasley. While he was usually boring as hell, he would make sure that Anna wouldn't get a beating. He would also probably take some points away from Slytherin. He raised an eyebrow as Anna ran up to him. "Rushing somewhere Potter?"
"No, just trying to not get beaten to a pulp." She pointed at Millicent.
"I see." He stared at Millicent in distaste. "Bulstrode, is it true that you threatened to beat up Potter?"
"Well she deserves it!" Millicent's face was red from running. "She-"
"Be that as it may, it is most definitely against the rules to beat up other students. I'm taking twenty points away from Slytherin, and giving you a detention as well."
"You're going to pay for this Potter!" Millicent said before stalking off.
"What is it with Slytherins threatening me?" Anna commented dryly before looking up at the prefect. "Thanks Percy, you really saved me."
"You really need to stop upsetting the wrong people." He said as he shook his head. "I won't always be there to save you."
"What do you think I keep Cedric around for?" Anna replied cheekily, waving as she walked off. "Thanks again Perce!" She walked off, pausing as she came to a seemingly empty corridor. Well, empty besides the fact that there was a voice coming from it. Anna couldn't make out what the voice was saying, so she started walking down the hallway. "Hello?"
Slowly the voice got louder. "Anna Potter. The Pure One. Wanting so bad to clear dear Adriana's name."
The voice chuckled darkly, and Anna felt shivers go down her spine.
"Doing that will not be as easy as you think. You know now about the chamber, yes, but Merlin failed to tell you of the dark spirits that lay within; spirits that will do anything in their power to stop you."
Anna could see a ghost now. It was a man, appearing to be about fifty or sixty years old. He was grinning at her maliciously, and she cautiously went to grab her wand.
"AHHHH!" It flew towards her with an inhuman speed, and Anna screamed as she felt the ghost go through her body. The ghost chuckled as she collapsed to the ground.
"You will never clear that witch's name, I will make sure of that."