Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Like, at all.
Author's Note:
NEW CHAPTER, NEW CHAPTER, NEW CHAPTER, NEW CHAPTER!
Helloooooo, everyone! Welcome back to another chapter!
I won't waste any time in getting this chapter rolling, so let's get this started! Please enjoy this new chapter!
No Promises.
Chapter F.I.V.E
_"Etched"_
"I don't need power at the cost of spilled blood." -Viktor Yanukovych
Harry was avoiding me.
Oh, it wasn't one of those moments where he sees me in the hallway walking in his direction and he turns right back around to go back the way he had just come from. No. He was pretending he couldn't feel my stares on him and went completely out of his way to even pretend he never heard me calling his name from across the Common Room. He wasn't being very slick about his avoidance. Hermione and Ron instantly noticed, of course, as his best friends, Fred and George noticed, too, but were kind enough not to push me about it since I was already in a foul mood over it. Practically everyone in Gryffindor knew Harry was avoiding me, but none of them knew why.
"I might kill him," I growled to Terra as Harry walked right past me at the Ravenclaw table without any sort of acknowledgment after our eyes accidentally met. Hermione cast me a pitying look and snarled at Ron under her breath when he whispered something too low for me to hear.
There was a tangible relief in the air from my year mates as today was finally Friday and we were only a handful of classes away from the weekend. Streaks of lightning and the harsh pattering of raindrops against the Great Hall windows kind of dampened their moods, though. It had been a rather sullen and sodden first week of terms and many of us had been looking forward to spending the weekend outside instead of trapped in our Common Rooms for two days.
"Remember that murder is illegal," Terra commented absently, swirling her spoon around her now soggy cereal in lazy circles. We only had Defense together during the week, but I often made it a point to sit with her at the Ravenclaw table during meal times since she was always alone. She never shooed me away or asked me to leave, so I happily made myself comfortable by her side every day. I had even gotten her to come sit with the Twins and I at one point during dinner, but I had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't make that mistake ever again.
"Not if I don't get caught," I snarled under my breath. Irritation was just oozing off of me in waves at the moment. I was never a patient person, but by the Gods, Harry freaking Potter was trying that small patience for every minute he pretended he couldn't hear me. A couple of Ravenclaw first year boys took one look at my face and practically fell out of their seats to flee the Great Hall.
"Why are you trying to get Potter's attention anyway?" Terra asked, looking up from her book. She gave a slow smile. "Don't tell me you like—"
"Finish that train of thought and I will throat punch you so hard, you'll be choking on your own spit till next week," I threatened. Terra's mouth snapped close. "I do not like Harry that way. It's too stereotypical to fall for the so-called Chosen One."
Terra didn't look like she believed me, but she didn't pursue the topic and asked, "Then why?"
Because why shouldn't Harry have someone to at least look after him? His own best friends don't seem to have noticed what's been going on in Umbridge's detentions.
There were so many other reasons than just that. Because Harry was trying so hard to hide his sudden bouts of anger and still maintain his cool and I was only trying to help him ease a load off his shoulders.
Because I knew what that awful woman was doing to the students she puts in detention with her.
Because he needed someone to watch his back even when he probably didn't want it.
Because sometimes it was better to have someone from an outside perspective to watch what was going on around him. Someone who wasn't going to be biased because they were his best friends and they would follow practically anything he said.
Because Umbridge was causing him physical harm and he was so adamant about keeping it secret from everyone, including the Headmaster.
I gave Terra's hand, which was carefully bandaged, a pointed look. "Wouldn't you want someone to worry over you after what's been going on this year so far?"
I remembered first seeing it Wednesday during our first meeting in the Charms classroom. She had obviously done her best to pull herself together before we met, but she couldn't hide how pale she still was or that she hadn't noticed the blood seeping through the poorly hidden bandages. I had thrown myself at her the second she had walked in and wrestled her hand to me easily, carefully pulling the bandages off before she could stop me. Just remembering her pinched lips and displeased expression at the wounds on her hand had that pit in my stomach dig itself a little bit deeper.
I will not cause disruptions.
"No," Terra said immediately, eyes snapping back to her book and pulling her sleeve down over her hand. She wasn't really reading the words printed, just staring at them with adamant firmness. "There are better things to be concerned about than what's going on in my life. No offense to Potter, but he's not handling his life so well right now. He has two people right beside him who are willing to listen and help, but he's choosing to deny their help and pretend that he has everything under control?" Terra gave a derisive snort. "Potter's a ticking time bomb right now. He needs an outlet, but seeing as he keeps refusing an outlet, he's only going to get worse and worse."
Terra reminded me of Hailey. Their mindsets were very similar. Both had very little sympathy for other people's problems if said people weren't making any efforts to help themselves and both were more willing to look out for themselves than they were for other people. Not that it was a bad thing, but it was almost like they were dancing on a fine line between making themselves happy or just giving the world a giant middle finger and basically saying that everyone could go rot for no other reason than breathing.
"Don't take my words too close to heart," Terra warned, noticing the hurt on my face. "I'm not the friendliest person ever and I'm blunt to a fault. You have your opinion and I have mine. I believe that Potter is handling things completely wrong right now, but that's just me. He grew up one way and I grew up another. I can't completely judge him for his choices."
"That's such a wise way of saying mind your own business," I teased, putting her coldness in the back of my mind. Terra was definitely a harsh and no bullshit kind of girl, but I felt like she meant well.
Terra rolled her eyes. "I wasn't trying to give that impression, but think whatever floats your boat."
Finny chose that moment to swoop down, landing perfectly in between Terra and I with barely a thump on the table. Finny gave Terra an appraising look, clicking his beat in that strange rhythm of his when Terra massaged the feathers on his wings for a second. He was definitely a lover of people unlike some of the other, more temperamental owls. He turned his attention to me and hooted expectantly, clicking his beak when I held out a bit of sausage.
"You're spoiled," I scolded him with no real heat, tenderly brushing his feathers. "Wanna stop by the Tower tonight? I have a letter I need to send." Well, I still needed to write it, but I had plenty of time today to do it. I felt bad for forgetting to write to Mom on Monday like I had promised her, but she would understand. School was school no matter if it was Muggle or Magical. It got hectic.
Finny puffed out his chest and hooted almost importantly, like I was asking him to deliver something to the Minister of Magic himself. He took the last sausage into his beak and I sent him off to the Owlery until tonight.
Breakfast and History of Magic flew by and soon enough, I found myself making my way down towards the dungeons for my Double Potions lesson with the giggling Parvati and Lavender right behind me and Neville a few feet behind them, nervously looking over his essay for the properties of moonstones and tripping over his feet as he walked down the steps. The Slytherins were already making themselves comfortable in the classroom, chattering and sneering together as we all walked in.
A foot suddenly appeared in my way and I easily hopped over the offending limb. A shriek and a crash told me that Lavender hadn't been so lucky in dodging the foot. She was sniffling as she cradled a bloody nose, having landed on her face, while the Slytherin girl, Pansy, gave a cackling laugh with her group of of girls following suit. I helped Parvati get Lavender to her feet, steadying the brown-haired girl when she stumbled and tried to keep blood from leaking further down her chin.
"Clumsy clumsy, Brown," Pansy said, cradling her chin in her palm and smiling mockingly. "Do watch where you're going next time."
"You tripped her, Parkinson," Parvati snapped, fingers hovering close to her best friend's face in an unsure manner.
Brown eyes widened innocently. "Me? I would never." The innocence was quickly replaced with a sneer. "Maybe Brown should learn how to walk properly instead of on two left feet." Millicent Bulstrode gave a brutish snigger. Astoria Greengrass, a beautiful blond, blue-eyed girl, gave a shaky laugh that had no real heart into it. Her eyes seemed to dim when Lavender gave a weak sniffle from behind her hands, but that dim disappeared when she caught me staring at her, changing to cold aloofness in a heartbeat.
Ignoring Pansy's laugh, I pulled my wand out from my pocket and coaxed Lavender's hands away from her face. She dropped them reluctantly, gazing pitifully up at me. Brown eyes were swimming with tears and blood oozed from her nose steadily over her lips and down her chin. "Is my nose broken?" Lavender asked weakly, fingers subconsciously reaching up to touch her nose. I swatted them away gently.
"Can you scrunch it up for me?" Lavender did so slowly with a pained wince, but nodded. "Then no, it's not broken. Probably just severely bruised, but that's better than broken." I pointed the tip of my wand at her mouth and said the one spell I'd been using more often than not. "Scourgify." The blood disappeared from Lavender's face. I reached up with my other hand to gently press against her nose, ignoring Lavender's wince of pain. "I'm not a Mediwitch, but if it continues to hurt after class ends, I'd go see Madam Pomfrey to get it looked at. I'm almost positive that it's not broken, though."
"I would definitely go to Madam Pomfrey," Came Pansy's unwanted drawl. "I wouldn't trust the word of a Mudblood like her. She could be lying just so she could feel better about herself." I glared at her from over my shoulder, baring my teeth at Bulstrode when she sat up straighter and cracked her knuckles threateningly.
"I don't need to laugh at someone's pain to feel good about myself," I sneered.
"Don't use that language, Parkinson!" Parvati said angrily, bristling indignantly.
Pansy glared at the Indian girl. "Don't tell me what to do, Patil. I can very well say what I want to say to a lowly witch like her."
"This lowly witch could hex you to next Sunday if she really wanted to, Puginson," Pansy's face burned and she snarled at the nickname that had followed her all the way from first year. "Watch your mouth. A Pureblood should have more class than trash-talking another witch." Pansy opened her mouth to retort, but nearly choked herself silly when a new voice entered the conversation.
"And what," We all froze at the deep baritone that came from the back of the room, "is going on here?" Professor Snape glided into the room, dark eyes pinning us into place as they swept over all of us and black robes fluttering around his tall form.
"Parkinson tripped Lavender and gave her a bloody nose, Professor," Parvati immediately stated, shooting daggers at Pansy.
"I did not," Pansy lied, sounded perfectly offended. "She tripped herself, Professor! I didn't do anything!"
Professor Snape cast a cursory glance over Lavender's face and a cold pit dropped in my stomach. I realized too late that maybe I should've left the blood on Lavender's face so that we could prove that she actually did have a bloody nose. "I fail to see any blood on Miss. Brown's face, Miss. Patil," He said smoothly, lips curling just slightly. "Therefore, I am under the impression that you are lying to me." Parvati sputtered incoherently while Pansy smirked victoriously. Snape strode past her, saying, "Fifteen points from Gryffindor. Now sit down so we can begin today's lesson. And set your moonstone essays on the edges of your desks. I will be by shortly to collect them."
God, we were just losing all the points this week.
I nudged Parvati towards her desk, shaking my head furiously at her when she opened her mouth to argue back. Arguing with Snape would only lose us more points. Lavender glumly took her seat beside Parvati, looking very miserable for the whole lesson. Parvati spent that whole lesson scowling at Pansy, who seemed to enjoy the girl's angry expression, with Lavender never taking her eyes off her Potions book or her cauldron.
This is so unfair to Lavender.
If it had been another teacher's classroom, the outcome would've definitely been different, but, I realized, that would also be unfair because the other teachers were biased with their own students. If we had told McGonagall what had happened, she would've instantly believed us. Same with Flitwick and Sprout, but only because what teacher would believe a Slytherin, the House notorious for lying and cheating and getting their way no matter what? No one would, except other Slytherins and Professor Snape.
When did you start caring about House equality? No one else could give a rat's ass whether Slytherins or Hufflepuffs were being treated fairly except for you.
I pursed my lips as I absently bottled up the potion we were assigned today, handed it to Professor Snape, and left the dungeons. I didn't care for the Slytherins. At all. They were a pretentious bunch that looked down on witches like me, shoving nasty words down our throats and just making our lives in general Hell outside of our Common Rooms. They made no effort to be friendly with anyone outside of their own House and never hesitated to bring someone with "dirty blood" down with their words. Thinking about all the spells that had been thrown from that side of the field made my blood boil, but then I remembered all of the spells casted from my side and that soothed the irritation welling up inside me.
I gave my head a shake and threw thoughts of the classroom incident out. I didn't care about House equality right now, not when I had a mountain of homework in my bag that had to be done by Monday for four of my classes.
I managed to get a good portion of Trelawney's dream diary—rest assured that most of it was completely bullshitted and full of bad omens to satisfy the loopy woman—and practice McGonagall's Vanishing spell some more before Fred and George hunted me down from my spot in the deeper depths of the library. Fred slung my bag across his shoulders sloppily and stacked my books in his arms while George easily carted my struggling body out of my hiding spot, earning us a severely unimpressed look from Madam Pince.
"Come on, you guys!" I slapped the back of George's shoulders, straining against the hold his arms had around the backs of my knees to keep me from kicking him. "I have too much homework to do for this nonsense! Put me down!"
I didn't really care that I was causing a huge scene right now, curious and incredulous eyes watching the three of us walk through the hall like this was a very normal occurrence. It most certainly was not, but I would kill Fred and George if they thought this was okay for every time they needed me somewhere else.
"You can do your homework at lunch with us," George insisted, tilting his head back to look at my furious face. He chuckled when my glare only hardened. "It's not good for you to hide away in the Library like Granger does all the time. You'll become anti-social."
"I'm already anti-social," I snapped, fisting my fingers into the red and black Quidditch uniform he was wearing. "Shouldn't you two be somewhere else right now? Like, oh I don't know, maybe the Quidditch field for tryouts?"
"Angelina would be stupid not to keep us on the team," George said confidently. "Besides, tryouts don't start till after dinner."
"We're the best Beaters she has right now out of the whole House," Fred agreed smugly, puffing up with serious pride. "We're practically guaranteed those spots with her as Captain."
That is favoritism at its best.
I switched tactics. "I'm not hungry."
"You don't have to eat." I gave George an unblinking stare, arching an eyebrow. "Okay, we'll insist you eat a little, but we won't force food down your throat," George compromised reluctantly. "We promise."
"We just want your lovely company," Fred said, brown-nosing technique on full blast and eyes shining. It was only just barely working. "It's almost tradition at this point for you to be at food times with us."
"I'm with you two all the time," I said, exasperation heavy in my voice. "You see me three times a day, four times on Tuesdays and Fridays, in the Common Room every night before bed, and before some of my classes if we're going in the same direction! Aren't you two tired of me already?!"
"Not at all," They chorused, grinning. I heaved a groan and gave George's shoulder—holy shit, his arms were so fit—one last resounding smack before slouching moodily in his hold. He readily adjusted me so that I was practically sitting across his forearm and his other arm wrapped bracingly behind my knees. I lazily waved at Professor Sinistra, who had frozen almost immediately upon seeing us and seemed torn between yelling at us or to let her mouth hang loose for another couple minutes.
She chose the first option. "Boys!" I had to wrap my arms around George's neck as he and Fred instantly took off away from Professor Sinistra, laughing the whole way down to the Great Hall. George initially had wanted to carry me into the Great Hall before letting me go—"It'll be a grand entrance, a knight carrying the rescued princess from the deep, dark depths of the Hell known as the Library!"—but he quickly relented after I gave his ear a very painful yank and set me down on my feet before we walked in.
Fred gave a roaring laugh at his brother's expense as George rubbed his abused ear with fake tears filming his eyes. I refused to feel bad for him. "The princess put you in your place, Georgie," Fred mocked, smothering his laughs behind his hand as we claimed our normal seats. He pouted when I snatched my bag and books from him before he could no doubt hide them from me.
"This princess doesn't need two fumbling knights to rescue her," I stated primly, sniffing indignantly as I grabbed a bread roll and some butter. "She is perfectly capable of saving herself."
It felt nice to be able to tease with people like Fred and George. They hardly took what I said to heart and always had a comeback ready before I even finished talking, like they knew beforehand what I was going to say. Sometimes I felt like they had a book of comebacks specifically for me some days when they responded a bit too fast to be normal.
I knew I wasn't the nicest person and it showed with the few people I talked to, though why they stuck around with my mean ass was a mystery. Mom always said I got that from her, but I never believed her. Mom was all open friendliness and loved to talk and smile and just be all around bright and sunny. I was none of those things. If it was a pick between myself or Hailey, it would be Hailey who was more like Mom despite the fact that she was just as mean and spiteful as I was.
"The princess certainly doesn't act like a princess," Lee commented, plopping down with a huge sigh.
"You don't even know what we're talking about."
"I can certainly guess."
"Well, you guessed wrong."
"There they go again," Fred sighed to his brother over my head. "I swear they're like a married couple, George."
"I agree, Fred. They certainly fight like one."
The chorused "Shut up, you two" had both the Twins laughing until real tears pricked the corners of their eyes. A wave of black and brown hair passed us and I was happy to see Lavender beaming at something Parvati had said. Lee noticed who I was looking at and asked, "What's with the happy face you're making at the two Gryffindor Gossips?"
I shook my head. "It's not important. There was just an incident during Potions with Lavender and Parkinson that ended with Lavender getting a bloody nose and us losing fifteen points."
"What?" Fred exclaimed, craning his neck to look closer at Lavender. It didn't matter if the Twins only talked to a select few people. The second they found out one of their own was hurt, pranks would be cooked up and plans would be made to make the tormentor suffer.
"What happened this time?" George asked, glaring at the Slytherin table, which was suspiciously quiet. Malfoy had his head bent towards Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased while Parkinson held onto his every word with sparkling hero-worship brown eyes. Further down the table, Astoria Greengrass was barely acknowledging Tracey Davies, who was trying her damned best to get the girl's attention for one reason or another.
"Like I said, it's not important. Parkinson was just being her normal, pug-like self." The topic was thankfully dropped, though the boys didn't stop casting looks at the House of green and silver, who never noticed the waves of animosity directed at them.
An hour later had the Twins waving goodbye as Angelina dragged them forcefully from the Great Hall by the backs of their uniforms, face set in a determined frown. Lee and I shrugged at each other, said our goodbyes, and headed to our last few classes before the weekend started.
We ended an already dreary Friday with another horrible chapter reading session in Defense. Umbridge looked pleased that Harry hadn't said a peep through the whole period, eyes glinting with cold satisfaction. She only gave Terra a onceover, eyes narrowing on her bandaged wrist before assigning us to read the second chapter of the yellow book that was looking more and more like firewood to me with every passing day.
Fred and George didn't make an appearance at dinner, much to my surprise, but remembering Angelina grabbing ahold of them at lunch didn't worry me too much. She was probably keeping them hostage at the Quidditch pitch already. I resolved myself to making myself comfortable with Terra at the Ravenclaw table for tonight. And to visit Letty after dinner to get a basket of food for the undoubtedly starving redheads.
"That woman is the Devil in disguise," Terra said lowly, angrily shoving mashed potatoes into her mouth, pausing long enough to scratch roughly at the bandages on her hand. I slapped the limb away, much to her annoyance.
"Stop itching it," I reprimanded sharply. "You're going to make it worse. How many more detentions do you have with her?"
"Last night was my last night," Terra grumbled moodily. She looked exhausted. The bags under her eyes were beginning to become pronounced and her shoulders were slumped forward rather than pulled back like they normally were. Something tugged in me at seeing Terra look so dead. I could only hope that she would spend the weekend relaxing or sleeping. "The Devil Woman said that the 'message has sunken in quite nicely' and decided that I didn't need another day."
"That's ridiculous," I hissed. "No offense to you or anything, Terra, but why does Harry have to suffer for much longer when you both were causing a disturbance in class?"
Terra dragged a hand across her forehead and flipped her hair back over her shoulder. "Hearing that You-Know-Who is back is not something Umbridge, as a Ministry Official, wants to hear in her classroom. She's trying to wrench the thought out of us, remember? I didn't even mention the bastard. All I did was walk out the door an hour early and I got three days worth of having words etched into my skin by my own hand."
I gently grazed my fingers over the bandages, frowning. "Has any medicine been helping? Any spells?"
"Considering I was using a Black Quill, the etch will scar," She said sarcastically. "No spell or medicine will make it completely better. Best thing I've found so far is just drowning my hand in Murtlap Essence and wrapping it."
"I wonder if Harry has thought of using it," I wondered, leaning to see the boy in question sitting with Ron and Hermione, as usual. His right hand was scooping up bits of pudding, but his left hand was nowhere in sight.
"I doubt it. Potter's not the brightest. He relies too much on Granger and Weasley for answers."
"Harry's not stupid," I said automatically, seeing as she was insulting my House mate. "He's smart."
"But not smart enough to look up what could help his hand heal without going through the stages of pain," Terra snarked back. She had a point and my silence brought a victorious smirk to her face.
"Were you talking about Professor Umbridge just now?" Both of us looked to the girl who had spoken, a blond first year who was wringing her hands on top of the table. She looked close to tears. "She put one of my friends in detention yesterday. She came back crying, saying that her hand was hurting." Green eyes cast us hopeful glances and I felt my heart break a bit. "Can you share with me a spell or a potion to help her? I'd go through the library, but I don't want my friend's hand to keep—"
"I'll brew some extra Murtlap Essence for you," Terra promised quickly. The Ravenclaw first year froze and gave Terra the brightest smile an eleven-year-old could give. That smile got even bigger when Terra pulled a spare vial of said potion out of her pocket, giving the girl simple instructions on how to use it. Said girl barely got the thank you out of her mouth before she was barreling towards where I assumed to be Ravenclaw Tower with the vial clenched tightly in her fists.
"Softy," I teased. Terra scowled.
"Shut it, Carrot Top."
"Wow, how original. I've never heard that one before." I got a smack for that one, but the lack of bite in the hit told me she was joking.
Terra stopped me from leaving the table early to go do homework, grabbing my arm and digging in her bag. "I've taken to carrying lots of extras on me just in case my hand starts hurting a bit too much. Just don't tell Potter it's from me," She made me promise. She slipped a vial of Murtlap Essence into my hand. "I don't want him going all bloody sappy on me so early on in the year." I had to laugh at that.
Stopping by the kitchens before heading up to the Common Room could be a good and bad thing. Good because Letty was so happy to see me again so soon and I loved when Letty was happy. She was such a sweet House Elf and I had grown fond of her over my times spent at Hogwarts. It was a bad thing because the second the other House Elves found out the Twins had skipped dinner, they had been beyond themselves with mortification.
And tiny Letty, who I had never heard raise her voice above her normal high-pitched squeak, turned on her feet so fast and yelled "Food!" with so much force that her tan face actually bloomed red for a split second and she nearly sent herself toppling over. I had a basket in my hands within seconds and quickly being filled with lots of charmed food from dinner that would last until it was eaten. I nearly collapsed under the weight, but graciously thanked Letty and the other House Elves, who looked very pleased with themselves.
The trip up to the Seventh Floor was by far one of my worst experiences at Hogwarts so far.
The Common Room was thankfully quiet when I sat down to write Mom's letter. Hermione was across from me, buried in some of her notes and religiously color-coding them. There were a couple first years playing a quiet game of Exploding Snap under the watchful eyes of a fourth year, but it was just us other than that. I pulled out a roll of parchment and my quill and ink and started scratching.
Mother,
I hope you won't ream me too much for how late this letter is. I had a rather...interesting first week. I say that loosely, but not all of it was terrible. Least to say, I forgot to write this letter to you until I only just remembered this morning at breakfast when Finny showed up out of the blue. At least one of us can remember to keep a promise and it's obviously not me.
How have you been? Dad? Hailey? Is she taking care of Echo? I'll kick her ass if she isn't. Echo is my baby and deserves to be pampered accordingly. Let me know how she's doing. I miss her very much. It's never not going to be strange to not have her skulking around and watching me creepily. Damn shame we can't have two pets here at school, though I don't think the owls would appreciate it. Poor things shouldn't have to fear for their lives anymore than they already are with Crookshanks on the prowl.
School hasn't been bad so far. McGonagall and Vector are taking serious pleasure in handing out bucket loads of assignments every class. It's almost scary how much they hand out in a single day. Snape isn't any better. He's being especially hard this year. Poor Neville doesn't stand a chance against the man, especially with his fear of him and his general clumsiness. He's already ruined his first two potions somehow. Both have been as thick as freshly made cement and Snape isn't too terribly amused with him right now. I'm considering offering him help since I'm not bad at the class. Lord knows Neville needs it.
We have a new Defense teacher this year. Typical since that job is rumored to be cursed. She's a Ministry worker and I swear, Mother, she means trouble. You would not like this woman. What's the word you call women you don't like? A Sheytana? It's difficult to keep track of all these foreign words you pick up out of nowhere. I think she accurately fits that description. She-Devil indeed. Where did you even pick up that word?
Has anything new happened? Anything interesting? It's weird, but I'm suddenly friends with the school's top two pranksters. Do you remember that red-headed family who had stepped up to the Malfoys? The Twins in the back who are wand-crazy and wave the things around like they're about to go out of style? Yeah, those two. They've take an interest in me for some reason, but I'm not objecting to their friendship. It can definitely get lonely here with everyone already merged so tightly into their groups. They've been great so far. They're determined to meet you and Dad and Hailey. They want to prank Hailey, Mother. Please help me convince them that it is such a bad idea to cross her.
Harry's been acting really weird this year. He's been very angry and short with everyone, even the teachers, who definitely do not find it amusing. I don't want to say it's all stress, but I honestly feel like that's what a big portion of it is. Any ideas for what could possibly calm him down?
I'm already looking forward to the Christmas holidays if this is how the year is going to go. Everyone is drowning in a sea of homework and I'm no exception. Do be patient if I can't write to you immediately. I promise to be faster with the next letter, though. December can't come fast enough.
Miss and Love You,
Your Favorite Child
I could only pray to whatever Gods existed that the signature I left would take some of Mom's ire away from me. It was a long-lasting joke between Hailey and I that one of us was the favorite child and Mom could never honestly pick between the two of us. We loved to tease her with it.
The Common Room burst into a roar of noise so unexpectedly that I nearly jumped right out of my armchair and into the fire along with my letter as the Quidditch team stomped their way in. Hermione cursed loudly when she accidentally smeared ink across her parchment, hurriedly repairing the damage. Others were clearly surprised as well, bemusedly watching Fred and George come charging into the middle of the room, whooping loudly and carting Ron around by his arms like he was luggage.
"Guess who made Gryffindor Keeper?!" They announced to the room at large, pulling their brother forward and presenting him. Ron blushed scarlet straight to the roots of his hair. "Ickie Ronniekins did!" Many people, me included, laughed at the nickname. Ron snarled and tackled his cackling brothers right to the ground.
"I'm surprised you picked him," I said to Angelina as she made to pass me. She paused. "Not that I've ever seen Ron fly, but I thought the lot this year showed a lot of promise."
Angelina pursed her lips, crossing her arms tightly. "He's not fabulous and he needs a lot of training," She grudgingly admitted. "He comes from a Quidditch-oriented family, so I'm hoping that his performance today was mainly from nerves and not lack of skill."
"The others?" I asked curiously. Angelina's expression tightened.
"They definitely flew better than Ron, but Hooper was a real whiner, always moaning and groaning about something or another. And Frobisher is involved in a lot of Societies and she point-blank told me that if Quidditch interfered with Charms Club, she'd choose that over practice any day." I winced. Yikes. Anyone who had the nerve to say that to Angelina had some real balls. "Obviously I was going to pick the one that would be more dedicated."
Watching Ron wrestle on the floor with his brothers didn't seem to give her much hope, so I said in what I hoped was an encouraging voice, "I think he'll be fine. A little training won't kill him and I'm sure Harry would be willing to help him."
"I sure hope so," Angelina swore. "That's only if Potter stops landing himself in detention with Umbridge every week otherwise I'm going to have to find someone else to play Seeker." I couldn't defend Harry there since his temper would no doubt get him into a lot more trouble as the year went on, so I kept quiet and merely waved Angelina goodnight as she went upstairs to bed. She stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned back. "Walters."
"Yes?"
"I hadn't realized I was being short with you this week." I blinked, surprised. Angelina was apologizing? "Fred and George told me that my attitude was less than pleasant with you this week and I apologize if that's so. You're not even on the team and I'm snapping at you like you are." She had the shame to look a bit upset with herself. "It's stressful, suddenly managing all of this, and I'm afraid my temper got ahead of me. I'm starting to think that maybe I was a bit hard on Wood when he was here."
"It's...fine," I said slowly, still shocked. "I can understand that kind of stress." A weight seemed to lift off of Angelina's shoulders. She offered me a small smile that lit up her beautiful face and disappeared.
A fond smile crossed my lips as I wrung my hands in my lap. Geez. Those two...
"Hayden!" I blinked when the Twins were suddenly right there, breathing a strange, but not unwelcome mix, of peppermint and cinnamon in my face. Ron was still on the floor looking dazed as Hermione patiently helped him to his feet. "We're gonna go and get some butterbeers to celebrate Ronnie for getting the Keeper spot! Help us?"
"No," I said immediately. I wasn't having another repeat of the walk back up here. Fred and George wheedled, pleaded, and threatened me to join them for the better part of ten minutes before I got tired of it and shoved the two out of the portrait and told them to just hurry up and get the butterbeer before it gets too late.
The partying, if that's what it could accurately be called, lasted a long time. Hermione had actually ended up passing out in her chair with a butterbeer still held in her hand. I rushed to grab it before it slopped all over her front, putting her in a foul mood and ruining the happy atmosphere the Twins had effortlessly created. The portrait opened and Harry walked in, Ron assaulting him with the news and beaming brightly despite his drink spilling on his shirt. I wrinkled my nose.
"Not the cleanest, our brother," Fred commented, plopping down on the arm rest, sipping from his mug. George followed suit on the other side.
"Mum never could get cleanliness ingrained into him," George agreed. "He's never really cared enough."
"I don't understand how someone could not just care that they're having a sugary drink spill all down their front so casually," I said, unable to hide the disgust in my voice. My own mother would have the biggest of conniption fits before she threw me in a washer and washed me along with me shirt.
"We don't know either," George said sadly, shaking his head.
"Rest assured that we're nothing like that," Fred grinned, wrapping a long arm around my shoulders. "We're perfect gentlemen." I wasn't surprised at the second arm that wound its way across his brother's.
"You two are far from gentlemen."
"This argument again?" Fred asked, arching an eyebrow. I denied the drink George had offered me, shaking my head politely. I wasn't feeling getting hyped up on sugar so close to bed time for me.
"It's always gonna be the same old argument with you two troublemakers," I drawled. "Blown anything up this year yet?"
"Unfortunately not," Fred bemoaned.
"We've been quite busy with our Snackboxes," George said pointedly. It was then that I noticed the cluster of first years who all had nosebleeds, tissues stained bright red.
"Don't let Hermione catch you again," I warned, already looking for the bushy-haired girl. She was still by the portrait entrance, listening to something Harry was something with a very serious face. "She'll go through with her threat this time if you're not careful."
"No need to tell us twice," They said, simultaneously ruffling my hair and standing up. Fred clapped his hands excitedly. "Let's go, firsties! We got some more things we'd love for you to try out!"
"Don't hurt them, you two!" I called. Two of the boys reared back from the Twins in alarm, suddenly looking like this wasn't their best decision ever. It wasn't.
"We promise!" They hurried up to their own room with their trail of first years following them, albeit at a slower pace. I shook my head, perking at the sight of Finny, who looked very disgruntled from his position outside one of the windows. I let him in, earning a sharp nip for making him wait and placed the letter in his waiting talons, rolling my eyes as I did so. I cooed lowly to him and wished him a safe journey as he took off into the night.
The weekend was spent primarily indoors for me. It was getting breezy outside and I wasn't having it. I didn't tolerate the cold at all. I absolutely hated fall and winter time when the temperatures dropped and I was left shivering under layers upon layers on blankets. I spared no pity to the Quidditch players who had to go outside, not even to Fred and George, who for some reason thought it'd be okay to go outside in just their red and black uniforms with no jacket or scarves or hats on. I hated the two space heaters for being immune to the cold.
In a typical fashion, I spent all of Saturday afternoon playing catch up on the few assignments that I hadn't finished yet. I was at least pleased that they would be worth decent grades once I handed them in. Certainly not perfect, but at least Exceeds Expectations worthy. I wasn't looking for Outstandings in everything, but I was at least putting in a bit more effort this year than I normally would.
There were only three things that caught my attention all weekend and it wasn't because the Twins were demanding my attention every time we were together, though I greatly appreciated them working on the Summoning Charm with me that I was slowly getting under Terra's tutelage. She was a fantastic teacher even if she denied every bit of praise I gave her.
The first interesting thing was a Daily Prophet article. I hadn't been keeping up with the Prophet since cancelling my subscriptions with them over the summer, but a third year had been kind enough to relinquish their copy when I had asked nicely.
Trespass at Ministry
Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watch-wizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak in his own defense, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.
The world was going insane if they thought breaking into a room in the Ministry of Magic was going to fly. It was almost like someone attempting to break into Gringotts. It just didn't happen.
The second thing was something I learned through a less than pleasant method, though snooping isn't really unpleasant according to my Mom. It was how you found things out when people weren't being honest with you or if you knew they were lying about something. I didn't like to call myself a nosy person, but by the Gods, Harry, Ron, and Hermione should've known better than to have what they dubbed a "secret meeting" down in the Common Room where anyone can just barge on in.
Sirius Black was Harry's Godfather. Sirius Black was Harry Potter's bloody Goddamn Godfather. I still couldn't completely wrap my mind around it, but it certainly wasn't impossible. If the Blacks were related to the Malfoys, what were the chances of them being related to the Potters in some way? The chances were very high apparently because I had found out that Harry had a bloody convict for a Godfather.
The final and most important interesting thing that happened this weekend was a confrontation that the entire student body had been waiting for with bated breath in the form of our stern, tall Transfiguration teacher and our pink monstrosity, toad of a Defense teacher, who did little to keep their conversation quiet during our Sunday breakfast and had drawn a crowd to watch their slow descent up the staircase.
"And what exactly are you insinuating?" Professor Umbridge asked indignantly.
"I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students, you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices." Both teachers halted on the same step, Umbridge having to tilt her head to continue to frown at McGonagall. Oooohhhh, boy. McGonagall finally found out about Umbridge's idea of discipline.
"So silly of me, but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom, Minerva," She said, sounding falsely surprised. She took a step up, making her just barely taller than our Head of House.
"Not at all, Dolores," Her name was punctuated with a sharp step up, putting them back to square one, "merely your medieval methods!"
Umbridge gave a huff that could've been a word, but if it was, it was one that I didn't hear. "I am sorry, dear, but to question my practices is to question the Ministry and by extension, the Minister himself." She sounded horrendously appalled by McGonagall's apparent nerve, lips pursed angrily and short form coiled. "I am a tolerant woman, but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty."
You know nothing about disloyalty, you evil bitch.
McGonagall seemed to follow my train of thoughts, taking a step down in silent disbelief though her face never moved from its angry position. "Disloyalty?" She questioned softly, unable to believe what she had heard. Umbridge took another step up, facing the crowd of students. Our eyes connected and I did nothing to hide the dislike from my face.
"Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared," She said loudly. "Cornelius will want to take immediate action."
Something had to be done. Umbridge had to go, kicking and screaming or willingly. Whichever came first.
Author's Note:
So something important came up tomorrow and I realized I wouldn't be able to update, so I busted ass and got half of this written out today, so I apologize in advance if there are mistakes. I promise to go back soon and fix all of them.
I am so excited for the upcoming chapters. More Fred and George and Hayden time. AKJHFISUBNDOAHBGNSKJBPIWUOIGIPUBSDGJBPIAPIUHSFDIGUND. Plus some hopeful ally development between her and someone else. :) Do tell who you guys think it is! I'd love to hear who you think I have planned for this role!
SHE KNOWS ABOUT SIRIUS. SHE KNOWS ABOUT SIRIUS. OH MY GOD.
Lots of hearts and appreciation to:
Savage Kill:
Hayden is very spiteful! Lord is she spiteful. OH BUDDY. OKAY BRACE YOURSELF FOR THIS CAUSE I'M GONNA BLOW YOUR MIND: I actually despise bacon, too. I hate the shit and do not regret not eating it.
I hope you like this chapter, toooooooo!
ElementalGirl1:
Rashness is definitely in the future because Hayden is a girl and we girls can be quite careless when planning our revenge in some cases.
Fred and George make me swoooooooooon. Oh my Goodness.
The food bit is actually something that is a regular thing with me personally in real life! I'm picky as Hell and have no shame in it, but that's not good cause I should. xD It's a comedic relief for me and the reactions I get from people when I tell them I absolutely DESPISE bacon and sausage and practically every meat ever never fails to kill me. xD
WE LITERALLY HAVE THE SAME THOUGHT PROCESS, I SWEAR. Though I don't think Potions wouldn't be TOO terrible. I'm not bad at cooking and it's kind of like cooking, ya know?
I really hope you like this chapter!
veronicamusica:
Girl (I hope I'm not stereotyping your nickname and if I am, I am so sorry), I seriously hope you like this new chapter! I grinded this baby out within six hours today. xD
End of responses!
Last chapter's response: Definitely Potions or Defense. I love to cook and I love learning how to fight properly and not the girly cat-scratching bullshit a lot of girls do.
Question for this chapter: What is your least favorite subject?
Thanks so much for reading this, you guys! It means a lot! *Hearts* Reviews are gold to me and I appreciate anything given to me so long as it helps me grow as a writer! See you all next weekend!
~OQ