Frisk got up early the next morning. She wanted to make it up to the Owlery before before breakfast. But breakfast hadn't improved significantly since the previous day. There wasn't any more overt hostility, but outside of Chara and Asriel, she was almost ostracized.
During transfiguration that day, she was trying to transfigure a beetle into a button, but kept ending up with a button that skittered away under the desk when McGonagall tapped her on the shoulder. "I will need to see you after class, Ms. Dreemurr."
Frisk swallowed down a frustrated sigh, wondering what more could possibly happen. Once the other students had trundled out of the room, Professor McGonagall closed the door with a flick of her wand.
McGonagall didn't say anything at first, the two of them just looked at each other. "I'm going to assume you've heard your parents will be coming to pick you up in mid November?" she asked.
"And we're to have dinner with the forbidden forest Centaur tribe," Frisk said, uncertainly. This can't be what the professor wanted to talk to her about.
"Very well," McGonagall said. "Now, Frisk, I need you to tell me exactly what happened in the common room on Tuesday night."
"Who told you?" asked Frisk. "A Prefect? Ginny?"
McGonagall gave her a level stare. "There were no prefects in there at the time. There's always supposed to be someone in the common room and there wasn't. I will have to get together and talk to them. And it wasn't just Ginny, her classmate Colin confirmed what she told me. Dennis came to me with your siblings, after their class as well."
That was the last two names Frisk had expected to hear. The common room hadn't been that full when the incident had happened, it had been right after dinner. She didn't even remember seeing them in the common room, but she had been somewhat preoccupied. Frisk gave her accounting, from the initial comment before having her chair tipped over, to the threat at the end.
"Thank you, Frisk," McGonagall said. Frisk sat there for a second, reliving the event in her minds. She was about to stand when McGonagall spoke again, "One last question, why didn't you come to me yesterday? Would you have said something if I hadn't?"
"I didn't want to get Cormac in trouble," Frisk said, quietly. McGonagall stared at her in surprise. "If I get Cormac in trouble, he just gets more upset, and maybe comes after me again. And I get him in trouble again? Where does it stop?"
"But he attacked you," the professor said. Her face was concerned. She apparently didn't think Frisk was thinking right.
"So did Undyne," Frisk told her, looking up at her professor with half-lidded eyes. "She attacked me and tried to kill me. All Cormac did was knock my chair over."
The professor thought about it, looking at Frisk through her glasses. "I'm not sure it's the same, Frisk. From what I remember about your story, Undyne attacked you because you were human, right?" She asked, and Frisk nodded. "Cormac attacked you, not for what you were, but for what you did," McGonagall said. "You don't think what you did was wrong, do you?"
"No!" Frisk exclaimed.
"Good," McGonagall told her. "Undyne made a mistake. She didn't understand you. Cormac understood all too well, and he didn't like it. Do you understand the difference?"
Frisk wasn't sure she did. "But I want to forgive him, I'd rather help him," she protested.
"Then let me put this way. He broke school rules, and that comes with consequences. If we let that go, what do we do when the next person breaks the rules?"
That Frisk understood, she didn't particularly like it, but she understood. She wasn't even sure how she would have helped Cormac. "I guess I get it, professor. But how can I get them to understand? Understand that it's just a game, and not worth burning friendships over?"
McGonagall regarded Frisk. "You mean Ms. Oxtoby in Hufflepuff. I don't know, Frisk. You know her far better than I do. But you're smart enough to come up with a way."
Frisk knew it was a compliment, but still felt somewhat disappointed. McGonagall looked like she was about to send Frisk on, but Frisk had one more question. "Professor, why does Harry Potter have to compete? Why can't he just skip the Tri-wizard tournament?"
McGonagall laughed, it was an exasperated, frustrated sound. "Because Mr. Crouch wrote the Goblet contract badly! Neither Dumbledore nor I really have a background in contract law, and I would have thought he would have done a good job. Instead of writing that you had to compete, 'If you put your name in, and your name came out,' it was simply, 'If your name came out.' Mr. Potter... and the rest of us, are stuck with that. He is required to compete 'To the best of his or her ability'." McGonagall fixed Frisk with a knowing eye. "I can see you have another question. We don't know, except that I'm sure it's not Mr. Potter."
Frisk nodded, thanked the professor, and was dismissed off to her next class.
McGonagall must have threatened the Gryffindor prefects solidly; because for the rest of the week, each time Frisk came to the common room, there was a very prominent prefect sitting in the middle of the room. Cormac must have been serving some type of detention, for he was coming in grumpy and late. Each time, he'd give Frisk a rather dark stare, but not actually do anything.
That Saturday she was sitting with her siblings at the Gryffindor table at breakfast, waiting for the owls to come in the mail. Cormac had arrived at breakfast, and gave Frisk a shove on the way past. "Don't you want to do something about that?" Chara asked, her eyes following Cormac on this way down the table.
"I can ignore it," said Frisk, shaking her head. In fact, she had been determined not to let Cormac bother her at all.
"You shouldn't," said Chara. "It'll only get worse until he does get a reaction."
"She stood up to him pretty well in the common room," Asriel reminded. "But I kind of agree with Chara. He doesn't appear to be stopping."
The conversation was interrupted by the owl post, which had a number of letters for the Dreemer children. Frisk, in particular, had letters from just about everyone, and they contained condolences for what was going on with her friends, to how to deal with a bully. Papyrus, naturally, suggested befriending Cormac through his stomach, while Undyne wanted her to take an aggressive approach. Dad, on the other hand, just wanted her to make sure to tell her professors before anything got out of control.
It was all good, if contradictory, advice.
What Frisk mostly wanted was advice on how to get Opal talking to her again. She'd tried again the few times she'd spotted Opal in the Great Hall, but Opal was resolutely ignoring her. But the only real advice she'd gotten came from her mother, who'd been in contact with Ms. Oxtoby. And that was to give her friend time to calm down. "She's your friend, and she'll remember that."
Then there was the letter from Alphys. It was cryptic, only that she had an idea that might give the rest of the school "Competition they wanted, and Cooperation they needed. Kind of like a raid boss," Frisk read aloud. "Do you have any idea what that means?" she asked. Neither Chara and Asriel had a response. "Apparently not," said Frisk.
Ginny sat down next to Chara on the other side. "Are we going for some flying this afternoon?" Frisk started. She didn't really want to go without Opal, but winter was coming. And Chara and Asriel had already said yes. So, joined by Luna and Steven, they headed out in the cool November wind. Frisk insisted on running their now established laps, no matter how many strange looks they got.
"Where is Opal?" Luna asked as they headed to the broom closet. When Frisk filled her in, Luna looked mildly curious. "The opinion in the Ravenclaw common room is that Harry is a glory seeker. But what does that have to do with you?"
"She's holding Harry's position as 'fourth' Champion against all Gryffindors," Frisk said quietly. "She thought it should have been Hufflepuff's time to shine."
"I seem to recall going through this last year, with Draco and Slytherins," Luna said, looking over at Steven. "Would you like me to remind her, if I see her in the hall?"
Frisk was about to hug Luna when Luna stepped back, looking mildly alarmed. Frisk held out her hand instead. "Please, Luna. I would like that a lot."
Luna looked at the hand, but just nodded instead. "Okay, I will," she said, and a slight smile appeared on her face.
Later that week, Frisk was up late in a mostly empty common room, her siblings having gone to bed already. She was working on a star chart that she'd left far too long, when Hermione Granger dropped in to the chair across from her with a frustrated, "They're so stupid!"
Frisk looked up in surprise. Hermione had joined her in saving her siblings, but the fourth year wasn't particularly close with Frisk. She mainly could be spotted with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, when she wasn't bombarding everyone else with S.P.E.W. "Who's stupid?" she asked.
"Harry and Ron. They're refusing to talk to each other. Ron says its because Harry got his name in the Goblet, though he doesn't really believe that. He's really insulted that it took Harry an hour to get up to talk to him that night."
"That's not Harry's fault," Frisk said. "I thought just about all of Gryffindor was trapping him in the common room."
"Right. Harry's mad because Ron went after him when he finally did escape," Hermione said. "Like I said it's, ugh!" Hermione made a disgusted face. "It's idiotic!" Hermione exclaimed. "Frisk, you helped me make up with Ron, can you think of any way of fixing this?"
Frisk sighed. She couldn't get Opal to talk to her, but could she help, please, with someone else's friendship problem? Frisk looked up at Hermione with tired, half-lidded eyes, not saying anything.
"Please?" Hermione asked. "You probably haven't seen what that nasty Skeeter woman wrote about him in the Prophet, but you've seen those new 'badges' that have shown up around the school, haven't you?"
She had. She'd spotted Opal wearing one. 'Potter Stinks'.
"And Gryffindor's convinced he put his name in, and he don't really want to compete. He doesn't want to admit it, but he needs his friend back. They both do." Hermione continued. "Please? I think you're the only one who believes him."
Frisk set her pen down. "Have you tried?" she asked quietly.
"I have! But they're both being so obstinate and idiotic!" the older girl cried in frustration.
"You're telling them that, aren't you?" Frisk asked. Hermione nodded, still frustrated. "Hermione, no one wants to be told they're being stupid, especially not like that. That's not going to change their minds."
Frisk pictured Ron, the way his bright orange soul shone in the underground. "You have to appeal to his nature. He wants to be brave and heroic," Frisk said, thinking. "You need to convince him that Harry's scared, even if he isn't. But considering how they're saying people were injured and killed in the previous tournaments, I'll bet he is."
Hermione was leaning forward, appearing to be deep in thought herself.
"If you could get Harry to offer to trade places with Ron," Frisk said. "making sure he knows exactly what it all entails. As for Harry himself, get him to understand exactly what Ron's going through."
"I've told Harry that Ron's jealous," Hermione said.
"But really spell it out," Frisk suggested. "He's had, what, three older brothers that were all prefects. One works with dragons, another in the ministry, he feels he's overlooked by everyone. Maybe remind Harry of times Ron was there for him?"
"I think those sound like good ideas," Hermione said. Frisk was about to resume work on her star chart when Hermione spoke up again. "Do you think we could roleplay this? I'll help you finish that up first, if you want."
"Sure," Frisk told her, smiling. "And then, maybe you could help me with Opal."
That Saturday, Frisk, Chara, and Asriel met McGonagall outside her office after Transfiguration, rather than waiting with the other older students waiting to enjoy a Hogsmeade weekend. Also unlike last time, Frisk had told her friends where she was going. There was a bit of jealousy, but they were more jealous (and a bit worried) of them having a diplomatic dinner with the centaurs, as nobody knew what that was going to be like.
To Frisk's surprise, it wasn't just Mom and Dad who met them at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds, but just about everyone had also come along. Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus, and even Sans had all come to join them for a day in Britain's only wizarding village.
"What are you all doing here?" Asriel asked, after Mom had gently disentangled herself from her son. "Are you all going to be coming with us to meet the centaurs?"
"No," Papyrus said, smiling at them all. "We have come to experience the first task of the Tri-wizard tournament! It sounds very exciting!"
"And to see you kiddos!" Undyne said, grinning widely. "You know, as long as we were coming up here anyway," she winked. "Besides, you didn't think you were going to escape training all the way to Christmas, did you?"
"Ye-es, it sounds like you could use the company," Alphys said, smiling slightly.
"Oh! We're also here to..."
"Papyrus!" exclaimed Alphys, her yellow cheekscales tinting red slightly. "Not unless we get it approved. Which isn't until later."
"Wait, what's going on?" Frisk asked.
"eh, i wouldn't worry about it, frisk," Sans said, winking. "Papyrus and alphys are chomping at the bit to make a sales pitch," he told her. This caused Alphys to turn even more red.
"That's enough," Asgore rumbled, smiling. "Now, I've heard a lot about 'Honeydukes', why don't we go take a look?"
The candy store was just as fun to walk through as it was the first time she'd been in there, and as they went there first this time, it was far more stocked. From there, they went to look at the Shrieking Shack. That was still a bit boring, but the point was still having time to spend with family she hadn't seen in two months.
Hogsmeade itself hadn't changed much in the year or so that Frisk had been in it last, though it was a lot busier. Apparently, a lot of people were in town for the Triwizard festivities, and not all of them were human. Frisk thought she'd spotted a hag, and possibly a vampire. There were a few monsters, too. She thought she had seen the two editors for the Snowdin paper coming out of the bookstore, and that had definitely been Snowdrake and his father heading into the Three Broomsticks.
They had gone there themselves for lunch. The fish and chips were just as good as she remembered it (though this time around, Toriel has preemptively taken the ketchup bottle away from Sans). In the back, she spotted Hermione talking with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, so she must have gotten the two boys back on speaking terms.
"But how are you doing, friend Frisk?" Papyrus asked, shocking her back to the present.
"Oh, " Frisk said, "I'm okay, I guess."
Chara and Asriel both protested this comment. "You've been down since Opal stopped speaking to you," Chara told her, indigently.
Frisk's grip tightened on the bag of candy she'd purchased. She'd thought maybe bribery would calm Opal down. Or maybe the story of the centaurs. "Yeah, I have been. This tri-wizard tournaments been no better than the Quidditch World Cup for bringing people together.
Papyrus opened his mouth to speak, but Alphys shut him down with a dark look.
A looming shadow cast over their table interrupted them. Frisk looked up. "Oh! This is Professor Hagrid, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures," she said to her family and friends. "Uh, Professor Hagrid, this is my mom, Toriel..." and went around the table. "That man behind him is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody."
"I jest wanted ta wish ye luck," Hagrid said. "Dumbledore told me what yer doing tonight. The centaurs keep te themselves mostly, so I hope ye might pull them out of their shell," he looked at Asriel, who wilted slightly under the huge man's gaze. "They're going ta be envious, you know."
"I know," confirmed Asgore. "But we wish to be part of the magical world. It comes with responsibilities as well as benefits." His voice stumbled slightly. Mad Eye Moody's magical eye had very visibly wandered over a few tables behind them, leaving him rather profoundly cross-eyed.
Moody whispered something to Hagrid before stepping forward himself. "All I can tell you I'm sure you already know. Centaurs are fiercely independent creatures. I'd recommend against suggesting that you 'serve' humans. Or that they should."
"I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Moody," Asgore promised.
"What about my little students?" Toriel asked. "Are they doing well in your class?"
Moody gave his short, barking, laugh. "I'll say they are," he pointed a scarred finger at Frisk. "This young lady was one of the few people to be completely able to throw off the imperius curse. Oh, don't look at me that way. The headmaster wanted them to know what it felt like in a safe environment. Mr. Asriel and Ms. Chara are performing admirably as well." Frisk wasn't sure if it meant anything or not, but Moody's magical eye had been focused on Chara during that.
"Ech," Hagrid said, glancing down the pub, "I'd like to say hi to Harry before I leave, good day to yeh all."
"Have a good day, Professor," Asriel said, waving.
"They seem to be good people," Undyne said, as Moody also took his leave. "You said that one had experience fighting dark wizards? I wonder what that would be like!"
"Not like you're expecting, Undyne," Chara said. "It's not like your anime."
Asgore paid the tab, and they went to walk around a bit more before evening. Frisk walked next to the smaller skeleton. "Hey, Sans? You okay? You've been quiet."
"Sans has been very busy! He is working on a project of his own!"
"eh, you know me. i work my fingers to the bone."
Toriel and the three children laughed, while Papyrus gave a distraught wail. "What have you been working on?" Frisk asked.
"an old project," Sans told her. "something i promised i'd get back too. thought i'd be working on it more this weekend, but torii suggested i come spend it with everyone. couldn't say no." He winked.
Frisk tried to get to get Sans to talk about it some more, thinking it had to do with that Gaster letter, but he stayed silent, and she didn't want to bring that up in front of the others. They went for another walk, but all too quickly it was time for Undyne, Alphys, and the skeleton brothers to head for their own accommodations. Toriel, too, stopped to pick up some bags she'd left in her room.
The Dreemurr family had dinner reservations in the Forbidden Forest, and it wouldn't do to be late.
