AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following contains some sexual references. You have been warned.
I will not start fights at school dances.
I will not start fights at school dances.
I will not start fights at school dances.
Jimmy O'Bannon set down his quill and flexed his sore hand. He'd been writing the same sentence for nearly an hour. He wondered how long he'd have to keep writing. Headmistress Esmeralda set no limit on lines or time. Basically, detention would be over when the old witch said it was over.
The same held true for the rest of them. O'Bannon gazed around the Communal Hall, jammed with nearly two hundred students, also doing lines. At one point his eyes rested on Gregory Lancemore, who scowled as he wrote.
Friggin' jagoff. This is all his fault.
If he hadn't tried to steal Rana away from him . . .
Fury swelled within him. He shifted his gaze from Lancemore to Rana two tables away. Everything had been going fine between them until Lancemore showed up.
Now she didn't even want to look at him.
O'Bannon looked down the table. Anger lines contorted Rosa's face. He figured she was still pissed at him. Well, he wasn't too fond of her right now. Not only did she get jumped by two girls who thought they should be going out with the Polish Beater Stashork, but when she learned he actually started the brawl she lit into him.
"You thought that was the best way to handle it? By yelling and punching Gregory?"
The argument that followed ranked right up there with your typical Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger shouting fest back at Hogwarts.
She wasn't around. She didn't see that friggin' a-hole try to move in on my girlfriend.
At least Jared was a little more understanding. Hell, he actually tackled Artimus before he could whack O'Bannon with the chair a third time.
O'Bannon rubbed his back. Despite Nurse Gillwick's healing spells, it still felt sore.
At least I'm in better shape than Merak Mather.
The elitist prick was in the infirmary – again. This time the result of being thrown through a window by Eli Witting, who'd been screaming, "Keep your damn hands off Abigail" at the time.
O'Bannon continued to rub his back, anger contorting his face as he focused on Artimus.
His friend of over six years locked eyes with him. Artimus' hand shook as he pressed his quill against his parchment. For a moment O'Bannon thought the tip would go right through the table.
The two continued to glare at one another. There were two others O'Bannon wanted to glare at. Cecilia Malfoy and Serinta Sejant. But the Slytherins had booked out of the Communal Hall just as the brawl started.
They're responsible for this, I'm sure. Cecilia especially. What the hell did she do to turn Artimus against him? Imperius Curse? A potion? Maybe she was just boffing him. And if his change in attitude had nothing to do with magic, then what the hell did that say about Artimus? Could he be so easily manipulated that . . .
"Mister O'Bannon!" Headmistress Esmeralda's voice echoed through the hall. "No one told you to stop writing! Continue!"
O'Bannon grunted and picked up his quill.
I will not start fights at school dances.
I will not start fights at school dances.
He couldn't believe the Headmistress was making him and the others do this. She knew about these bad vibes . . . or at least the theory of the bad vibes. The brawl couldn't be blamed on any of them.
Except Cecilia and Serinta.
They had to be behind this. And if Tonks would get off her lazy ass they could do something to stop those Slytherin bitches.
Detention finally came to an end half-an-hour later . . . at least the writing part of it. Next came the crap detail. Headmistress Esmeralda came up with a variety of tasks for them, from cleaning the owlery to removing fallen leaves to cleaning all the bathrooms . . . without using magic.
O'Bannon got saddled with the owlery.
On his way there, he and the other students noticed a parliament of owls soaring over Salem, scattering in every direction.
"Oh crap," Dante Marshall moaned. "They're sending letters to our parents."
O'Bannon sighed and closed his eyes. He could only imagine how pissed Mom and Dad would be when his owl Espo arrived home. He'd gotten lectured over the summer for the trouble he got into at Hogwarts for helping Fred and George with their pranks. For throwing the first punch in a brawl that wound up on the front page of The All-Seeing Eye, he'd be lucky if his parents didn't ground him for all of Thanksgiving and Christmas Break.
The misery continued the next day. Every teacher piled homework on them, probably working on the theory the students would be too busy to start another melee. Mister Korvette did this with unbridled glee. It was the only time all semester O'Bannon had seen the s.o.b. happy.
Meals turned into quiet affairs. Conversation had been replaced by glares and resentful whispers. Everyone looked pissed at everyone else. Only Jared would sit by O'Bannon now. Rosa sat further down the table, while Artimus sat by himself at the far end.
"Don't you wish graduation was tomorrow?" Jared muttered as he spun his fork around in his mashed potatoes.
O'Bannon huffed. "I wish I was friggin' back at Hogwarts."
"What, better friends there than here?"
Anger raced up his throat and into his mouth. O'Bannon clenched his jaw, holding it in. Jared was one of the few people left at Salem who would actually talk to him. He didn't want to mess that up.
"Whatever." He went back to eating dinner. While chewing on his food he glanced at his watch. Two hours before he had to report to detention again. More lines, followed by cleaning the bathrooms. He wanted to finish eating soon so he could get some homework done before detention. He'd need every free minute this week to get through it. O'Bannon had a lot more free minutes as Headmistress Esmeralda suspended all Quidditch and hockey practices and games indefinitely, since nearly all the players for all four halls had been involved in the Halloween Dance brawl.
O'Bannon finished his dinner and looked around the table for dessert. Moments later he frowned.
Oh yeah. I forgot.
The Headmistress had ordered the Servant Elves not to prepare any dessert for the foreseeable future. The old crone seemed determined to make his remaining time at Salem a living hell.
As O'Bannon got to his feet, a grayish Long-eared Owl swooped overhead. He recognized it immediately. Gasphart, Artimus' owl.
The bird flew over Artimus and dropped a bright red envelope into his hands.
O'Bannon held his breath. Those letters had been coming regularly all day. Ursa Oberlin and Isaac Pinder each got one at breakfast. Eli Witting and Beatrice Hill received them at lunch. Times like this O'Bannon was glad to be a Muggle-born.
His parents could never send him a Howler.
With shaking hands, Artimus slowly tore open the envelope.
"ARTIMUS GRATIAN RAND!!" Ulysses Rand's amplified voice reverberated throughout the Communal Hall. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN IS GOING THROUGH THAT THICK HEAD OF YOURS? A FIGHT? YOU GOT INTO A FIGHT? AND A FIGHT THAT WOUND UP IN THE ALL-SEEING EYE!! DO YOU NOT HAVE AN OUNCE OF SENSE IN YOU? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH YOU EMBARRASSED OUR FAMILY? WE HAVE A REPUTATION TO UPHOLD!! AND IN ONE NIGHT YOU MANAGED TO RUIN IT!! I NEVER HAD THIS SORT OF TROUBLE WITH HORACE AND ARCADIUS WHEN THEY WERE GOING TO SALEM!! EVEN HECTOR NEVER DID ANYTHING THIS APPALLING!! WHY CAN'T YOU FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE? I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM THAT MUGGLE-BORN O'BANNON AFTER HE STARTED SPOUTING THAT NONSENSE ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO RETURNING!! NOW LOOK WHERE IT'S GOTTEN YOU!! LOOK WHAT IT'S DONE TO THIS FAMILY!! I AM TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW!! YOU DO WHATEVER PUNISHMENT HEADMISTRESS ESMERALDA GIVES YOU, AND KEEP YOUR NOSE CLEAN FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!! IF I HEAR YOU'VE CAUSED ONE MORE PROBLEM AT SCHOOL, I DON'T CARE HOW SMALL IT IS, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!! DON'T TRY ME!!"
The Howler exploded into bright red confetti.
A hush fell over the room. All eyes were on Artimus, whose face lost all color. Trembling, he gazed at all the students and teachers watching him. The light from the chandeliers reflected off the moisture in his eyes.
With a slight gasp, he bolted from his seat and ran for the door.
"Man, those Howlers are no fun to get," Jared said.
O'Bannon simply nodded, even though part of him enjoyed watching Artimus' torment. Again, he had no idea if the thoughts were really his or from these damn bad vibes.
"I gotta go," he mumbled to Jared. "I got homework to do."
He took a step to the door and froze. A blond girl hurried through the door after Artimus. An intense flame of fury consumed his insides when he recognized the girl.
Cecilia Malfoy.
O'Bannon stomped after her. He had no idea what he would do or what he would say. Anger engulfed his brain, guided his actions. In some distant corner of his mind, a small voice called to him, telling him to settle down, to think things through.
The warning was lost in the emotional maelstrom that ruled his brain.
He marched through the door. In the fading daylight he spotted Cecilia at a fork in the dirt path. She turned left and right. "Artimus! Artimus!"
Sneering, O'Bannon tramped toward her.
"Artimus!" she called out again.
"Leave him alone!"
Cecilia spun around as O'Bannon neared her.
"Haven't you screwed up his head enough?"
The Slytherin girl fixed a harsh stare on him. "Is that what you think I've done?"
"Why the hell else would Artimus smash a chair across my back? Why else would he turn his back on Rosa and Jared?"
"Perhaps because he's learning to stand on his own two feet."
"Or maybe you just have him wrapped around your finger. What is it? An Imperius Curse, or are you just spreading your legs for him?"
Cecilia's face reddened. Her head trembled. "You really don't like this, do you, O'Bannon? You don't like the fact that Artimus is thinking for himself. You don't like the fact he doesn't need you and those idiot cousins to protect him from others, or to feel wanted. You don't like the fact that he's no longer around to fawn over the three of you and make you feel good about yourselves. It drives you crazy, doesn't it, that he's actually listening to someone other than the three of you."
"He's doing it because he's not in his right mind."
Cecilia threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, naturally. If Artimus doesn't listen to the all-mighty Jimmy O'Bannon he must be mental."
"You think I don't know what you and your snake friend are doing around here?" O'Bannon stabbed a finger at Cecilia. "All the arguing, all the tension. Kids who've never been in a fight in their lives suddenly taking swings at other kids. This whole school has been a powderkeg over the last month, and Saturday night it finally exploded."
"Maybe you Americans can't handle the stress of extra school work."
"Stress has nothing to do with it! Stress doesn't start a riot at a school dance. Stress doesn't make one of your best friends attack you with a friggin' chair. You and Serinta are doing something to everyone around here!"
"Now you're the mental one."
"Keep denying it. But I'm gonna find out exactly what you two snakes are doing and I'm gonna put an end to it!"
Cecilia scowled. "No wonder you can't convince anyone here about You-Know-Who returning. You're just as deranged as Harry Potter. If the students here are all barking mad, it's their fault, not mine or Serinta's. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to find Artimus."
"Why? So you can fill his head with more lies."
"No! Because after getting that Howler he probably needs someone to talk to, and right now I seem to be the only person in this school who actually gives a damn about him!"
"Bullcrap! Since when do Slytherins care about anyone other than themselves?"
Cecilia glowered at him. "I don't have to justify myself to you. Now I'm going to find Artimus."
She spun on her heel.
O'Bannon's hand shot out and wrapped around Cecilia's arm. "You're not going anywhere near him, you Slytherin whore!"
"Let go of me!" Cecilia tried to tear herself from O'Bannon's grasp. He squeezed harder. The girl's face twisted in a mask of pain. Delight surfaced in O'Bannon's sea of rage. He wanted to see her in pain. He wanted to punish her for everything she'd done to Artimus, to the entire school.
"Let . . . me . . . GO!!"
Cecilia reached inside her robes for her wand.
O'Bannon let her go, stepped back and took out his wand.
Both their arms shot out. Their wands hovered less than two feet from their faces.
"Go ahead and hex me, O'Bannon," Cecilia dared him. "Maybe that will get the Headmistress to finally expel you."
"It'd be worth it if I can take out one of you Malfoys."
He took a quick breath and prepared to utter the first hex that came to mind.
"Expelliarmus!"
O'Bannon's wand flew out of his hand.
So did Cecilia's.
"What the hell are y'all doing?" shouted a harsh southern accent.
O'Bannon whipped his head to the left. Tonks, in her Katerina Ponce guise, stomped toward them.
"You two don't think you're being punished enough? Do you want to see what Headmistress Esmeralda will do if you hex one another?"
"At least I'm doing something productive, unlike you."
Tonks halted and shot O'Bannon a fiery gaze. She then snapped her head to Cecilia. "You. Collect your wand and get out of here."
With a parting glare at O'Bannon, Cecilia picked up her wand and stalked off.
When she was no longer in sight, Tonks marched up to O'Bannon. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?"
"What?"
"I heard everything you said to Cecilia Malfoy. How could I not as loud as you were shouting? Are you trying to tip them off?"
"At least I'm doing more than you are."
Tonks' eyes narrowed. "Do you really think I've been sitting on me arse eating Chocolate Cauldrons for the last few weeks? I've been doing everything I can to find out what's been affecting everyone at this school."
"If that's the case, then why are Cecilia Malfoy and Serinta Sejant still walking around free?"
"We can't arrest them without evidence."
"Evidence!?" O'Bannon's threw his hands over his head. "They're Slytherins! What more evidence do you need? They're always up to something. I swear we should take every damn Slytherin, put 'em all on an island and drop a friggin' nuke on it. The world would be a better place without 'em."
"My mother was a Slytherin!"
The shock hit O'Bannon with a physical force. His wide eyes locked onto the furious Tonks.
"Wh-What?"
"When my mother was at Hogwarts, she was sorted into Slytherin."
O'Bannon canted his head. "But-But, if your mother was a Slytherin . . . I mean, you're in the Order of the Phoenix. You're fighting You-Know-Who."
"Do you think all Slytherins want to see You-Know-Who return to power? Do you think all Slytherins are evil, pureblood fanatics? For your information my mother married a Muggle-born. And for that she was disowned by her family, including her sister Narcissa. Is that name familiar to you?"
"Wha . . . wait. You mean Narcissa Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy's mother? Your mom's related . . . you're related to the Malfoys?"
"Yes. It's not a fact I like to broadcast. But my mother didn't go with the rest of the family and support You-Know-Who. She opposed him, just like I am. You don't like it when witches and wizards make broad generalizations about Muggle-borns, do you?"
"Um, no," O'Bannon stammered.
"Then think next time before you lump all Slytherins together."
O'Bannon continued to stare at her. He still had a hard time digesting it. Tonks' mother, a Slytherin? How the hell . . .
He then thought back to that conversation with Jared several weeks ago, when O'Bannon said there were no decent Slytherins and Jared mentioned not every Gryffindor was the most noble and virtuous.
If an asshole like Cormac McLaggen can get sorted into Gryffindor, then maybe someone like Tonks' mom can wind up in Slytherin.
Not that he knew a thing about the British auror's mother. But if she could marry a Muggle-born and raise a daughter who wound up in Hufflepuff of all houses . . .
"Um, what's going on here?"
O'Bannon snapped his head in the direction of the familiar, female voice. So did Tonks.
Standing about ten feet from them were Rosa and Jared.
"Wh-What are you guys doin' here?" a stunned O'Bannon asked.
"We saw you head off after Cecilia Malfoy." Rosa approached him, Jared following. "So we followed you to make sure you didn't do anything stupid."
O'Bannon's face scrunched in anger. Why did Rosa always feel the need to act like his mother?
"So what the hell were you guys going on about?" Jared eyeballed at Tonks/Ponce. "What's this about your mother winding up in Slytherin and marrying a Muggle-born? And how the hell can you be related to the Malfoys?"
Tonks furrowed her brow at O'Bannon. "Wonderful. Now I have no choice but to tell them."
"That's what I told you we should have done from the start."
Sighing, Tonks changed back to her spiky purple hair and heart-shaped face, and told Rosa and Jared about her mission and the "bad vibes."
"Why the hell didn't you tell us all this before?" Jared narrowed his eyes at O'Bannon. "I thought we were in this together. Don't you trust us?"
"I told Jimmy not to tell you," said Tonks. "Security reasons. The fewer people who knew the better. But now that you two know about this, let's go to my office."
"What for?" Rosa folded her arms.
"Because, and this may come as a surprise to some people . . ." Tonks glowered at O'Bannon. "I actually found out what's causing all the discontent at this school."
O'Bannon straightened immediately. His heart began to race. His anger diminished.
We know? We finally know?
"Come on."
The three followed Tonks across campus to the Administration Building. Along with his excitement at unraveling the mystery of Salem's air of disharmony, he still tried to wrap his mind around Tonks' other revelation.
Her mom was a Slytherin?
But what were the qualities of a Slytherin? Cunning, looking out for number one, the acquisition of power . . . and from everything he saw at Hogwarts, a loathing of Muggle-borns.
But Tonks' mom married a Muggle-born.
After dealing with the likes of Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle and Urquhart, he had a hard time believing the Sorting Hat would put someone decent into Slytherin.
But look at Neville Longbottom. He doesn't seem the bravest guy in the world, and he's in Gryffindor. Luna Lovegood is the biggest space cadet I've ever met, and she's in Ravenclaw. So how far-fetched is it someone who isn't an asshole can wind up in Slytherin?
They all filed into Tonks' cramped office. After Jared closed the door, Tonks sat on her desk and looked at O'Bannon. "Remember when I told you I sent owls to members of the Order and the Guild who are experts in potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
"Yeah."
"Well, the one thing I told them to look for was any potion that can affect a person's emotions which has as one of its ingredients asp scales."
O'Bannon's eyes widened. So did Jared's and Rosa's.
"Wait a minute." Rosa held up a hand. "Mister Korvette's been bitching for weeks about someone stealing asp scales from his classroom."
"Exactly." Tonks pointed at her. "Whoever was mixing this potion probably ran out of them and had to nip them from your Potions Class."
"So what is this potion?" O'Bannon asked impatiently.
"It's called a Projection Potion. Professor Snape was the one who came across it."
"Wait. Professor Snape?" O'Bannon shook his head in disbelief. "As in the Potions teacher at Hogwarts? As in the greasy-haired a-hole who hates everything that's not Slytherin? He's in the order?"
"That's right. Surprising, isn't it?" Tonks said without smiling.
O'Bannon wanted to say more, but held his tongue. Snape? In the Order of the Phoenix? Are they that desperate for members?
"I've never even heard of a Projection Potion," Rosa noted.
"That's no surprise." Tonks shifted on her desk. "The potion wouldn't be found in any of your textbooks. It was created in Britain during the big war, but You-Know-Who was defeated before it could be put to use. After that, all information regarding the Projection Potion was secreted away."
"Until now," Jared said.
"Unfortunately, yes." Tonks nodded.
"So what does this Projection Potion do?" Rosa asked.
"It takes the most negative emotions a person has and projects them onto another. Jealousy, resentment, bitterness. If a person consumed with jealousy drinks the potion and walks past someone, any sort of jealous feelings that someone has, even on a subconscious level, will be magnified a hundred-fold."
"And whoever's been drinking this potion has been walking around Salem for over a month." O'Bannon rubbed the back of his head. "My God, this is like the Wizarding World's version of biological warfare."
Jared held out his hands anxiously. "So do you know who's been using this potion?"
"Yes, especially when you consider who created it."
The three of them stared at Tonks with expectant looks.
"The woman who created the Projection Potion was considered one of the most gifted potion makers to ever come out of Slytherin House. Even better than Professor Snape. In fact, she's related to me."
O'Bannon cocked an eyebrow. "I take it it's not your mom."
"No. It's one of my aunts. Aunt Narcissa to be precise."
"I knew it." O'Bannon sneered and shook his head. "Draco's mom, and Cecilia's aunt."
Tonks pushed herself off the desk. "I think it's time we paid our Slytherin exchange students a little visit."
"No you're talking." O'Bannon clapped his hands and rubbed them together.
"Yeah." Jared moved to the door. "Let's get 'em before everyone here decides to re-enact the British goblin riots."
He opened the door.
The closing of another door made everyone freeze.
"What the hell?" Tonks bolted past them. She stopped in the corridor and stared up the steps leading to the first floor. O'Bannon, Rosa and Jared crowded around her.
Wands out, all four rushed upstairs. They checked the first floor hallway. It was empty. Tonks flung open the front door and swept her wand left to right. O'Bannon also scanned the area around the Administration Building. He found no sign of anyone.
"Wait. Look." Rosa aimed the lighted tip of her wand at a flower bed alongside the Administration Building. The glow revealed a fresh footprint in the dirt.
"Dammit!" Tonks snarled. "Someone was eavesdropping on us."
Rosa let her wand drop to her side. "And no one thought to cast a Muffling Charm on the room, did they?"
O'Bannon saw Tonks stare at the footprint with the most hideous-looking scowl he'd ever seen.
TO BE CONTINUED