Disclaimer: Damnit! I hate these things! Second time I've had to re-post because I forgot this! We all know the drill. I don't own, or take credit for anything from the Harry Potter books ladeedahdeedah…

A/N: Yeah! Another chappie already! That's two chapters in like, two weeks. Wow! This chapter, is pretty funny, and setting the groundwork for later happenings. I'm sorry, I was gonna put in stuff about her first day of school, but it would have been relli long. Oh, and also, if you want to know why Millicent Blustrode is so ugly, well, you'll soon find out my theory. You will also find out my theory on why Cho is so depressed about Cedric.

Happy Reading!

Chapter 9: The Dramatics of Hogwarts

"Welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts! To our newcomers, Welcome! To our old hands, welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it-tuck in."

"Tuck in? These English people sure have weird ways of saying things, huh Nichole? Nichole? NICHOLE?"

"Huh, wha?"

"Oh, my god, you were totally-HOLY SHIT!" Sarah was broken off in mid-sentence, as the four long tables in the Great Hall filled instantaneously with food. There was food of all sorts. Potatoes, yams, turnips, Roast chicken, lamb, and sausage alike. Nichole had been zoned out thinking about what the sorting hat had said to her, but now decided to shove it into the back of her mind. Thinking could wait. Time for some fun!

A girl beside Nichole, who had curly black hair, and brown eyes introduced herself. "Hello. You're new here I'm guessing. My name's Mandy, Mandy Brocklehurst. These here are my friends, Isabelle Moon," she said pointing to a girl with board straight brown hair, and chocolate eyes, who gave her a smile, "Lisa Turpin," pointing to a girl with straight blonde hair and brown eyes, who nodded, "and Padma Patil." she finished, acknowledging a girl a few seats down who had tanned skin, and dark hair and eyes. She said a quick hello before turning back to a conversation she was having with the boy beside her.

"Yes. We're new here. We came here to get a better education for our OWL year, as our mother was home schooling us before."

"Are you from America? Why would you go to school so far away?" This time, Isabelle spoke. Her voice was full of curiosity, and she seemed to have a very care-free aura about her.

"Actually, we're from Canada. There are no magical school's there, and we had…family here, so our mother thought it would be best." Sarah said.

"Really? That's horrible. Did you happen to live in the praries?" Isabelle's eyes were the size of tea saucers now, as she spoke. Nichole, didn't see what could possibly be so awfully interesting about Saskatchewan. It was like one of the most boring places to live ever.

"Um…yea."

"Ohmygod! I heard that there's like man-eating prairie chickens out there. And do muggles really harvest their food with, like, real-live metal dragons?"

"Oh my god, Isabelle, when did you make this up?" The girl named Lisa rolled her eyes as if this was a normal routine for them. "Don't bother with her girls, she's full of pish-posh." Lisa reminded Nichole of Posh Spice, from the Spice Girls…except she wasn't sleezy in any way. She had the air of sophistication and confidence though.

"No, it's true. I read it in the Quibbler! Some poor old lady was just a weeding her garden, and one of em' snuck up behind her and ate her!" Mandy had a Yorkshire accent, and to Nichole, she sounded a lot like the maid named Martha from The Secret Garden, which had been one of her favourite childhood movies.

"Oh honestly Mandy, sometimes you're just as tipped as miss mad-and-bad over there. And answer me this. If the poor old lady was eaten by the prairie chicken, how did the magazine report it?"

"Well, they found her body in her garden! For Christ's sake Lisa, don't be so stupid!"

"I thought you said the prairie chicken ate her."

"It did!"

"Then why was there a body?"

"I dunno! Chicken probably got full, and decided it'd come back for more later!"

"Now, tell me exactly, how a prairie chicken would have the capacity to eat a human?"

"Well, I expect it'd just…well…it could…"

"Exactly my point."

As Sarah began to fill her plate beside Nichole, Nichole turned around to speak to Harry, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table beside the Ravenclaw table. The table on the other side of the Ravenclaw table was Syltherins, and beyond them, the Hufflepuff table on the far right. "Harry!"

He turned around and smiled. "Hey! Ravenclaw huh? I'd say that's a good choice."

"Yeah, well, I knew I wouldn't be suited for Gryffindor, and besides, blue looks excellent on me! Red, on the other hand, makes me look absolutely evil."

Harry laughed, and Nichole continued. "So, does the food always, just…appear out of…nowhere?"

"Yep. This is just one of the many strange things that occur at Hogwarts. Along with walls pretending to be doors, doors pretending to be walls, trick stairs, vanishing steps, moving staircases, talking décor, and ghosts having daily conversations with-"

"Ghosts?" Nichole was not the only one that had spoken. Sarah had turned around from her conversation with Luna, and Meghan, from hers with Hermione.

Harry, looked taken aback, at the small audience that had suddenly materialized. "Well, yeah…there's um, ghosts at Hogwarts. They're all really nice though, except for the Bloody Baron of course. He's just a little cold to people that aren't in Slytherin. B-But it's not like ghost's can do anything to you." He added, when worried looks crossed the girls faces.

"Hmph, yea, except put in a bad word for you up there." Meghan said, nodding upwards.

"Meghan, for you I think it should more of a concern about a bad word for you down there."

"Aw, don't worry, Satan's my buddy, he knows I'm bad."

At this point, the friends turned their heads back to their separate tables to eat their dinner. Nichole had just turned around, and looked up to survey the rest of the table. She noticed a girl with strawberry blonde hair cascading down her shoulders in ringlettes talking animatedly with a group of friends about halfway up the table. She seemed to be the center of attention. However, her friend, beside her, who had dark, straight hair seemed to be quite involved in conversation as well. Suddenly, the girl with dark hair looked over her way, and caught her eye.

The smile immediately slid off her face, and was replaced by a rather cold look. The girl surveyed her with her mouth set in a thin line, then turned to her friend. She whispered something to her friend, glancing back at her. The girl with the strawberry blonde hair raised her eyebrows, and then the both of them fell into a wave of giggles. With one last cold glance back at Nichole, the girls returned to their normal conversations.

This miffed Nichole quite well. She didn't even know these girls, yet they didn't seem to like her at all. Nichole was very much a people pleaser, and hated for people to be mad at her. She mulled over any possible occasions that could have possibly made them have any reason to behave so, as she picked at her roast chicken, suddenly losing her appetite.

"What's wrong, why're you so gloomy all of a sudden?" Mandy asked, poking Nichole in the arm.

"Oh…nothing."

Sarah spoke up. "Oh, don't be silly, Nichole. Mandy, who're those girls, over there?" She asked, pointing to the two girls in the center of the table. "They seem rather unpleasant."

Mandy glanced down the table to see who Sarah was referring to. A darkness passed over her face before answering. "Oh. Those two. That would be Marietta Edgecombe with the reddy-blonde hair. And the one beside her with the straight black hair is Cho Chang. To say that they're unpleasant would be the least of it. What did they do? They can't possibly be up to their tricks yet, school hasn't even really started." She said with a sigh.

"They didn't do anything. The Cho girl just kind of…glared at me. I don't even know her. I don't know why she would be so mean…"

"Oh-ho! I think I may know very well why. We can't talk much about things here, of course, people will overhear, or overhear wrong for that matter…and that is how rumors start. One way anyway." She lowered her voice before she continued to speak. "I noticed you talking to Harry Potter before. Are you friendly with him?"

Nichole was taken aback by this observation. "Well…I kind of got to know him a bit over the summer. I'd say we're friends, yes."

"Well. Let's just say that is the one reason why Cho Chang will not like you. She's already recognized you a as a rival which she would obviously lose to."

"I don't really understand…"

"Well, I'll tell you when we're alone up in the dormitory. Too many open ears here."

The rest of the feast went by fairly uneventfully. Nichole was introduced to the Ravenclaw House Ghost, the Gray Lady, who was 1000 years old, and seemed to have taken a great intrest in Nichole. She told Nichole that she had been quite good friends with Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts', herself.

At the end of the feast, the group spilt up to head to their separate common rooms. Meghan was peeved about being separated from Nichole and Sarah. They promised to meet up at lunch the next day. Eric came over to say goodnight to Nichole, before going off with the rest of the Hufflepuffs.

Nichole and Sarah strode over to Mandy, Lisa, Isabelle, and Padma, who were waiting to show them the way to their new common room. Lisa had a big smirk on her face as Nichole walked up to the group. "Yum-my. That's quite some man you've snagged yourself. And a sixth year at that. So I guess BIT's been getting her knickers in a twist for nothing then."

Nichole was embarrassed, but also confused. "Who's BIT?"

Padma spoke. "Stand's for Bitch-In-Training. We'll explain to you girls upstairs. Sorry I couldn't talk too much to you guys at dinner. I was-"

"Yeah, you were much too busy talking with Terry." Isabelle cut in.

"Shut up!"

"Alright girls, let's go!"

Nichole and Sarah followed their new friends up to the seventh floor of the castle. They passed many interesting portraits, and talking suits of armor. A lot of Gryffindor students seemed to be headed the same way, but when the corridor forked at a large statue of a wizard and witch entwined in each other's arms, the Gryffindor students went left, while Mandy, Sarah, Lisa, and Padma led them right. After turning through many more corridors, they came to a halt. Nichole was sure that she would not even be able to find her way back to the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning, let alone to all her classes.

They had halted in front of a wide, full length, rectangular mirror which had a large, elaborate, silver frame encircling it. The frame had sculptures of ravens, ivy, and roses all around it. There was a woman sculpted at the very top of the mirror, who came alive as the girls approached.

"Well hello ladies! Welcome back to Hogwarts! How were your holidays?" the lady said. She was practically shouting. Nichole was shocked that such a small woman could project such a loud voice.

"They were very well Lady Alyssa."

"Well, I have to say, it's quite dull in this castle without you kids around! Who are these two newcomers? They're much too old to be first years surely."

"This is Sarah, and Nichole. They moved here from Canada!"

"Ah, the New World! Well, I suppose it's not really new anymore…no matter. You gals ought to be getting off to bed now. Do I need to ask for a password?"

"Sonya told me it was pansy-pants. Why would they pick David of all people to pick the passwords for the year?"

"I couldn't tell you, but, well, there you go." As soon as Lady Alyssa stopped talking, the mirror in front of them seemed to…liquefy. The mirror seemed to turn to water, and the girls stepped through, remaining dry, into the Ravenclaw common room.

Nichole and Sarah gasped as they stepped inside. They had walked into one of the most beautiful rooms they had ever seen. The room was circular, and two stories high. Tall silver windows ran all along half the perimeter of the room large enough to cover both stories, giving a beautiful view of the night sky, and Nichole expected it would be quite beautiful come morning. The room was painted completely blue on the walls. About three quarters down the room was a grand staircase, like that on The Titanic, but since it was not against a wall, it was lined by railings on both sides, splitting halfway up. It was also silver in colour, to match the windows. The split staircases curved to 90 degree angles on each end.

Nichole turned around to see that at the top of the staircases were balconies circling around the other half the perimeter of the room which wasn't covered by windows, with many doors leading off of them. She assumed these to be the dormitories. A distance halfway in-between the staircase and the near wall, where the entrance was, was a large, four-sided fireplace. There were blue couches, and armchairs surrounding the fireplace on all ends. All of the material on the furniture was the same blue lace upholstery. Mahogany desks and tables were placed around the outside of the room. Beyond the staircase, were some bookshelves, and more chairs, couches, and tables. The room had a very…regal feel to say the least.

"Wow."

"That just about sums it up."

"Come on, we have to show you the dormitory! We're so happy to have some more people. There's only the four of us fifth year Ravenclaw girls. It's good to have some company."

The girls were led up the left branch of the staircase, and down to the seventh, and last door on the left balcony. "It's a good and bad thing that we got this room actually. You see, we're right next to the fifth year boys. Sometimes they can be really loud and annoying. But other times, we can listen in on their conversations, and we found a loose stone that we can pull out of the wall to spy on them sometimes. We've learnt a number of interesting things over the years." Padma opened the door to their new room, and Sarah and Nichole were floored yet again.

The room was again, circular, with six beds around the perimeter. This room, however, was different from the Ravenclaw common room, as the walls were not covered in wallpaper, but made of stones. In the center was a small wood stove for heating. And a bathroom was of to one side. The beds were much like the furniture downstairs, with mahogany trimmings with blue and silver quilts, and blue lace canopies with matching blue lace curtains. Each bed was large and fluffy, abundant with pillows. The bathroom was quite large, with a large bathtub/shower complete with blue fluffy towels.

"The house elves have brought up your luggage, it'll be beside your bed, whichever ones those are…"

"Well, I think it's the two on that end, ours are all the same."

"How do you know? They all look the same Lisa."

"Because you are always second to the end, on my left, and Isabelle on my right. The right still says 'Prairie chickens scare me', 'No, I'm not on crack', 'Damnit why won't this come off.' and 'Sevvie's hott' hmm, who's tha-eeew! Since when are you in love with our Potions Master Isabelle? Never mind, I don't want to know .And the one on my left still says 'I love Terry', 'Ronald Weasley's a frilly bastard', and 'I hate Parvati'. You're not still pissed off at your sister because she got to go to the ball with Potter and left you with his stupid friend are you?"

"Of course not. Those scratches simply will not come off! Every spell we've tried has been useless. I suppose we'll have to find one before the end of our seventh year. How'd you know that the one beside Isabelle's was Mandy's anyway."

"Saw the huge 'CHANG'S A BITCH' that's been scratched into the end of her bed frame since third year. Tis the mark of Mandy." Nichole found her luggage on the bed beside Mandy's and Sarah's was beside her's. Shami was still in her cage, and as soon as she saw Nichole, she started madly mewing to be let out. She opened the cage, and Shami immediately jumped up onto her bed. The other girls heard the mewing, turned around to see what the noise was.

Isabelle's squeal came first. "Oh my god! What a cute kitty! What's his name?"

All the girls bounded across the room. "Her name's Shami."

"She's beautiful. I love her fur."

"Her tail's so poofy!"

"How old is she?"

"Actually, I've had her for as long as I can remember."

"Wow. She doesn't look that old."

As the girls filtered back to their own beds after a few minutes, Nichole asked the question that had been bothering her since dinner. "What's with all the stuff about that Cho girl, along with her friend for that matter?"

Isabelle laughed. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

"Only if it doesn't turn into one of her rants," Padma said.

"Actually, she's quite hilarious when she's on a rant. As long as she doesn't break my stuff, that is."

"Shut up guys."

"Is it really that big a deal? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"Are you kidding. We always talk about her. We may as well fill you in." Lisa hurled a pillow at Mandy's head, missing, knocking the book out of her hands. "Go on, Mandy."

Just as Mandy was about to open her mouth to speak, a knock at the door was heard. Padma jumped up to answer it. A tall blonde girl was standing at the door. "Sorry, girls, but it time for light's out."

"Please Liana, just like, ten more minutes! We really were in the middle of a very important discussion!"

"I'm sorry, but it's Proffesor Flitwick's orders. And by the way, if I'm not mistaken, I'm sure this 'important discussion must have had something to do with Terry Boot, no?"

"Actually, no, but good guess! And who says we have to listen to you just cause you're a prefect!"

"Because I said so. Goodnight girls."

"Night Liana!" As soon as the older girls footsteps had faded from earshot, Lisa jumped out of the bed.

"Light up the torch then!"

Nichole spoke. "So, Mandy, what were you saying about Cho before?"

Mandy settled herself on her bed, before answering. "Well, when we were younger, me and Cho were really good friends-"

"Are you kidding, you guys were like inseperable. Sisters is a more appropriate word."

"Lisa, are you telling this story, or am I?"

"I'd say that I'll be helping you out in certain areas. And I'd say that you should start at the top. The bitch queen herself."

"I suppose so. So that blonde girl, Marietta, you now the one beside Chang at dinner?"

"Yes?"

"Well, steer clear of her. She is evilest, meanest, most manipulative bitch in the world."

"Well, I suppose every school has one of them don't they?" Nichole ventured.

"Kelsey Bernman," replied Sarah

"Yes!"

"Who was she?"

" The Evil, bitchy, slutty, boyfriend-stealer of our old high school."

"Yes, sounds similar. Anyway, apart from being absolutely horrid in all ways, she practically rules Hogwarts. The only people free of her influence are the seventh years, and even some of them are under her spell. The Slytherins think they've got themselves under control, they all eat out of Parkinson's ass, and she's Marietta's bitch, so it all goes back to her, anyway."

"That's not completely true. Some of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, and us, of course, are immune to her gossip and rumors. Like that girl, Hermione, remember in first year, when Marietta was picking on some poor girl, Hermione told her to stop. And I believe Neville Longbottom told her not to break his remembrall once, but she did it anyway. Still."

"Yeah? And look where it got the both of them. Social Hell. We're sooo lucky she hasn't ruined our lives yet."

"What can this girl possibly do that she can control almost the whole school?"

"Oh, well, you see, she has friends all over the place. Important people in all the different houses. And people that aren't her friends don't dare piss her off for fear she'll ruin their lives. And all the other kids under fourth year are just too intimidated by her to bother even trying to change things."

"Why are they scared she'll ruin their lives?"

"Well, it all started with Millicent Bulstrode. You see, she used to be in Marietta's little circle, until she got a crush on Daniel Rookwood in third year. You see, at the time, Marietta herself had a crush on him, though she wouldn't admit it. She told Millicent that she couldn't do anything about it, and that he wasn't suitable for her because he was two years older. Well, Millicent went for it anyway, and it actually worked out well for her. Marietta got so angry that she cursed Millicent to the moon. The poor girl lost all the beautiful curly hair she used to have. She now has dull mouse hair, a humungous crooked nose, and horrible acne along with it. The school nurse did everything she could think of to fix it. They at least got the boils to go away, and the Pinocchio nose, but the rest is permanent. It's a shame, she was such a pretty girl. Of course, Marietta made her swear she wouldn't tell that she did it, and poor Millie was scared shitless, so she told the teachers she swallowed a foul potion. They still believe it to this day."

"Oh my god. That's sick! That girl's practically a criminal!"

"That's not the worst of it. Ruined appearance is nothing compared to the ruined reputation she got as well. You see, Edgecombe started a rumor going around the whole school that Millicent, well, was very, shall we say, indecent during her short relationship with Daniel. I can only guess how she got him to go along with it. So now, Millicent has a reputation of a slut. And ugly looks to boot."

Nichole was floored. The only times she had ever heard of bullying like this was on Oprah and Dr. Phil. And in the movies. She couldn't believe that someone would ever be so absolutely and completely horrible. "So, that's Marietta, what about this Cho person? I thought you said she was Mandy's friend? What happened?"

"Well, Cho, you see is like a church mouse. She has no mind of her own, and will not stand up for herself. Around the same time Millicent had those unfortunate happenings, Cho had a sort of falling out with all her friends in her year. She started hanging out with Mandy and us more, but then Marietta started asking her to hang out with her. I guess she was trying to get a bigger posse for support. So she recruited Cho as her right-hand gal, and Cho completely ditched us. Marietta promised her a spot on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and the job of 'Marietta's Official Best Friend' if she would do her a few favors."

"What kind of stuff did she make her do? And how do you know?"

"We know, because she told us. And, well, soon after, Cho started dating Theodore Yane, a Hufflepuff in their year, who was best friend the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. As Marietta's Official Best Friend, Cho assists with rumor spreading, and other horrible deeds worthy only of Hogwarts' Bitch Queen. She even helped Marietta turn people against Mandy towards the end of third year."

"Oh my god."

Mandy spoke, "It's okay, they obviously weren't real friends if they were stupid enough to believe her stupid lies."

"What exactly did she say?"

"Nothing. It all blew over really quick anyway. And I didn't lose all my friends. I still have you guys."

Nichole did not press further as Mandy now seemed thoroughly depressed.

Sarah, however, obviously did not take the hint. "What could she possibly have against Nichole though? She just got here, and hasn't even spoke to her yet."

"Well, that, is an easy question to answer." Mandy, obviously did not feel like talking anymore, so Lisa answered instead. "Nichole seems to know Harry Potter pretty well, right?"

"Yea, I guess…."

"Well, she hasn't even been to this school before, so she obviously got to know him over the summer."

"Yea…"

"Well, so, a) how? Nobody sees Potter outside of school. Ever. Except for Weasley and Granger. Cho will think that there must be something special about Nichole if she was able to get to know him so well over the summer, so mysteriously. She will wonder is you were at his house. Therefore, she will also wonder, b) did anything happen? She doesn't know that Nichole has a boyfriend, so she may be assuming that Harry and Nichole are dating, or close to it anyway."

"Okay, so Cho thinks I'm going out with Harry. Other than the fact that it is not true, and that it would be jumping to conclusions, what is so absolutely horrible?"

"Well, last year Harry, asked Cho to the Yule Ball."

"Really?" Nichole said. A little more quickly than she had thought.

"Yeah. But she had just started dating Cedric, so she had to say no. Even though, she didn't even want to be dating Cedric."

"What? Why was she dating this guy if she didn't even want to. And what does it have to do with me?"

"Patience, I'm getting there. And remember. Edgecombe loves her power. She forced Cho to keep dating Cedric."

"Why?"

"Because, by this time, Cho was getting more and more friends, herself, and she was dating a Triwizard champion on top of that. You know about the Triwizard tournament, right?"

"Yeah. Harry told me all about it."

"Anyway, so Cho was starting to become Marietta's equal. So, Marietta decided she needed to keep Cho down. Cho wanted to dump Cedric, and date Harry instead. Marietta didn't let her because she thought it would just boost Cho's popularity."

"How would that work?"

"Well, see, dumping a champion, would be a huge scandal, giving her publicity. And then, dating another Hogwarts Champion, who also happens to be the Boy Who Lived, would just be the icing on the cake. Marietta simply could not allow that to happen, so she forced Cho to keep dating Cedric."

"But…isn't Cedric the boy who…"

"Died? Yes. Cho now feels horribly guilty apparently. Haven't had the chance to talk with her yet to confirm. I think she deserves to finally feel some guilt. It's horrible the way those girls mess with people's emotions. Though, now we finally know that Cho's not a completely insensitive robot."

"You guys talk to them? I thought you said they were mean horrible bitches?"

"Well, you gotta know what the enemy is doing, no? You know the saying. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer."

"I guess. Where is this going again?"

"Cho still has a crush on Harry. She feels guilty about what happened to Cedric. She sees you as a threat. And, let's face it, I bet you could get him to go out with you, if you wanted. And boys are totally oblivious to social circles, so Cho being second in line for the Hogwarts Throne wouldn't help her in snagging him."

"So that's why she was so cold."

"Yep. You better watch your step around here, or you might find yourself the next Millie."

This was another thought that clouded Nichole's mind. She did not want to be the next Millie. That was for sure.

I mean, it wasn't even a problem, because she already had Eric. She wasn't even thinking of going after Harry.

Now I have one more reason to stay away from Harry, she told herself.

"Come on, Nichole, no need to get down about it. You don't have to worry, you have us!"

Five minutes later, Nichole's eyelids drooped as she pulled the warm quilts up to her chin. Everyone had closed the lace hangings around their bed. Nichole wondered why, when Isabelle spoke. "You're going to want to close those. One night, I left mine open, and I was scared to death in the middle of the night when a toad jumped up on my bed. I think it belongs to one of the fourth year girls. Anyways, it likes to wander at night."

Nichole found it hard to go to sleep that night. Maybe it was the new bed. Maybe it was all the new company. Or maybe it was because Shami kept moving around by her feet. She didn't even notice that Sarah was still awake, until she spoke in a whisper. "Nichole! Nichole, I know you're still awake!"

Nichole turned around. "Hey. You're still awake?"

"Yeah. I think there is something wandering around on the floor, and I can see Shami by your feet. What about you?"

"I don't know. I'm just nervous about starting school here I guess. I mean it's a school of magic."

"You know, it's probably actually not all that different from muggle high school by the sounds of it."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"In fact, it's like exactly the same! You'll be fine."

"Yeah, exactly the same, other than the fact that the kids study magic here!"

"Well you know, other than that small fact, it's pretty much the same. Like, what 95 the same?"

"I guess. But I'd go for more around 90 Sar, the magic thing is quite a considerable factor." She whispered with a yawn. Nichole kept this thought in her mind as she drifted off into a rare, dreamless sleep.

A/N: Did you like it? I hope so. Please review! It is soooo nice to get feedback. I hope you guys all liked my idea of what the Ravenclaw common room would look like.