A/N: Here it is! Sorry this took so long, I did quite a bit of research and organization, finally forming a loose plot on which to go around. Now the Harry Potter wiki is on my homepage. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this, and it keeps you guessing as to who the Heir of Slytherin is. Never thought I'd be able to write a murder mystery, but here goes.
Also, there might be tiny inconsistencies in the first chapter. This is because I did not have the plot worked out back then. One of the inconsistencies is the schedule, but it's nothing relevant. And it's fixed now. So yeah, PSA. By the way, this story started on Wednesday, October 5th. By the end of this chapter, it will have been nearly a week.
Sunday
Aife had no clue what the Chamber of Secrets was, being raised in a muggle orphanage. There were still a couple hours to kill before dinner, so she went up to the library. Many other students were there, for the same exact reason she was. They wanted information on the Chamber.
"No, I can not help you," Madam Pince said, her voice cracking as she spoke. "Out! If the only reason you're here is for information on the chamber, you may get out! Dumbledore will be making an explanatory announcement during dinner.
During the rush to get out of the library, which was very far from the Great Hall, Aife managed to cast a Disillusionment Charm and slip into the restricted section. Aife wandered into the "C" section and, after a half hour of searching, found a book entitled, "Forbidden Magics of the Chamber of Secrets" in the "F" section.
She flipped to the introduction which read, "The Chamber was rumored to be built in 1253 by Salazar Slytherin himself. He, along with his devoted group of followers, constructed the chamber and then magicked it inside the castle. The whisperings of the underbelly of pureblood society say that the chamber contains a monster, most likely a dangerous magical creature. However, another rumor speaks of a curse on the chamber to make it a kind of Pandora's Box, for the heir of Slytherin to command, of Dark Magicks of which we know not. The Chamber has never been found by any of Hogwarts' headmasters or headmistresses, nor has there ever been an Heir of Slytherin brought before any wizarding trial. The heir of Slytherin is supposed to be a blood relation to Salazar himself. According to Pureblood Families of Greater England (1922), the last known lineage of Slytherin were the Gaunts, whose lineage died with Morphin Gaunt in 1968."
So how could the Chamber be opened? Aife thought. There weren't any Slytherin relations left. Supposedly.
Lucius Malfoy, a 7th year, had liked to claim he was related to Slytherin but never managed to prove it. The Blacks were also rumored to have Slytherin blood, but again, never confirmed. Most likely they did, but too far back to be on a family tree.
Well, obviously it wasn't Sirius, and somehow she doubted it was Regulus, him being only in Third Year. Lucius, maybe? It was worth looking into, although Aife wasn't going to go on a wild goose chase on an ominous feeling. What did the Heir of Slytherin even do? Dinner had already started, and, feeling rushed, Aife got rid of the hex on the book (all restricted section books had an alarm which needed to be disabled) and stuffed it in her bag.
She would need to practice her Disillusionment Charm. It only lasted nicely for 20 minutes. Then it became easy to make out her edges. She recast the charm.
Making a mental note, she slipped out of the restricted section just as Madam Pince turned around. Aife stood a stock still. It would not due to be caught sneaking around the restricted section in this moment. Especially since she was hungry.
Pince squinted, but evidently found nothing, as she stalked away moments later.
Aife escaped the library and uttered a sigh of relief. She cast the counter-charm to the Disillusionment Charm and went down to dinner.
"Lord Voldemort seems very... fanciable," Narcissa gossiped to Moko. To Aife's horror, Vasiliya nodded demurely.
"He's got the dark and mysterious sort of look, doesn't he?" she said, adjusting her hair bow. "And he's powerful."
"And psychotic," Aife muttered.
"How do you reckon?" Azriela asked while Narcissa glared and scrunched up her nose. The effect was like a Veela transformation, making her face look twisted and sour.
"He kills half the people who join up with his little gang," Aife said simply.
"He's just... selective," Narcissa said, sneering more, "Besides how would you even know about it?"
"It's all over the papers. And how would you?"
Narcissa flipped her pale hair over her shoulder. "Well, let's just say I have," she added a pause for dramatic effect, "connections."
Moko was staring at her in admiration.
"Well, personally I would be pleased if you joined up. I do like the statistics."
"Now listen here, Sullivan. Not all of us are mudblood sympathi—" But Narcissa was cut off by Dumbledore tapping his spoon against his goblet.
He swept his arm through the air, the midnight blue fabric glistening. He's so flamboyant, Aife thought., smiling to herself. He was a good man, though. Great wizard, too. Since he'd defeated Grindelwald, there hasn't been a dark wizard in power for a whole fifty years. And now they had to deal with Voldemort. "Lord" he called himself. What a wanker.
Silence fell heavily, and the candles seemed to flicker.
"I know, many of you have been wondering about the Chamber of Secrets. I would like to say this is a prank, however, I'm afraid that would be optimistic. I do not believe there are any students in this school who would do such a thing for humor. However, that leaves us with the worse alternative, of a student doing this due to a severely misplaced sense of justice.
I implore whoever has opened the Chamber to please step up now. If the perpetrator admits themself now, they will not face expulsion. As opposed to later. If the so-called Heir of Slytherin is caught, which I assure you I will do everything in my power to carry out, they will have a stint in Azkaban waiting for them, as soon as they are of age. I do not want it to come to this.
Now, many of you may already know of the legend of The Chamber of Secrets. The Heir of Slytherin, someone related to Salazar Slytherin by blood, is meant to 'cleanse'," Dumbledore gave a disgusted look, "this school of anyone with 'tainted' blood. In short, muggleborns. They are said to do this with the aid of a monster, which resides inside the chamber. There are many different versions of this story, but this seems to be the most popular one.
Muggle born students, I ask you to please not walk the halls without a halfblood or pureblood friend. These are dark times, I'm afraid.
I remember the last time the Chamber had been opened, under Headmaster Dippet, while I still taught Transfiguration. I'm afraid, the Heir had never been caught then." The Headmaster raised his goblet. "I doubt the culprit will be as lucky this time."
He took a large sip and sat back down.
"What a load of tosh," Narcissa said. "It is admirable that a student would take that kind of job upon himself, in addition to studies." She thought for a moment, and added, "Or herself, I suppose. Although it seems more like a boy thing to do, you know?" she said to Moko.
Moko nodded and Miyo gave her a sharp look. "You don't actually support the killing of muggleborns?"
"Honestly, I don't care. They're trash." She glanced up quickly at Narcissa, seeking approval. Narcissa gave her a pleased glance.
"Well, the stench of mudblood-sympathizers is overwhelming here, better get going," Narcissa said primly, giving Aife a scathing look.
"Merlin, they're barking mad," Aife said to no one in particular. Miyo gave a nod of assent.
Monday
A boy named John Sedgewick turned up dead that morning. The announcement was made during breakfast.
Narcissa had laughed derisively at all the shocked expressions of the other students.
"Honestly, you'd think it was a bad thing."
"It is bad thing, you dense bitch. A wizard–" Narcissa snorted, "Yes, Narcissa, muggleborn or not, he was a wizard. And now he's dead. That's obviously not fucking good, that's magical blood wasted." Aife burst out angrily.
A hush fell over the Slytherin table, and some students from the other tables had looked over as well. Aife wasn't big on muggles, though she acknowledged some were alright, and had no issues with muggleborns. If anything, she sympathized with them. It would've been downright hypocritical not to, growing up as she had. Most muggles were downright annoying or just plain boring.
"Yes, it's all very tragic," Narcissa sniffed disinterestedly. Aife figured it was due to the watchful eye of Dumbledore. Aife caught Dumbledore's eye, familiar enough with the man to give him a smile, which he genuinely returned.
James and Sirius were fuming. Separately, of course, their previous fights hadn't been forgotten.
"I can't believe this is happening. Merlin, it's only been a day," James said, talking to Peter, but looking up at Sirius.
Sirius ignored him, but continued a similar conversation with Remus. Remus didn't like picking sides, but he disliked James's prejudice against the Slytherin girl. Although it seemed to be even worse since the announcement about the Chamber of Secrets. Remus idly wondered whether people with non-human roots, such as himself, would be targeted. Some kids were open about Veela or Vampire heritage. He shivered, and figured it was all the more reason to tread carefully.
"I'm gonna catch the bastard that did it!" Sirius said, just as James said, "I'll be dammed if I let people get away with murder in my school!"
The quickly glanced at each other, but were interrupted by Lily.
"Your school? Potter, your goal is noble and all, but your head couldn't be any bigger if it had an engorgement charm on it," she said, her face full of disdain.
"But Lily, can't you see? I'm doing this for you, my Lily. I just want you safe," he said, a stupid grin on his face.
"Yes, you'd be quite bored if you had no one to inflict yourself upon," she said dryly.
"But Lily that's what I have Siri–" He stopped abruptly.
Sirius glowered at him. He had definitely cooled down since Saturday, but he still couldn't validate James's actions by forgiving him. James would have to come to him.
"Speaking of which, what happened between you two?" Lily glanced between them, gauging their anger.
"Well, if you must know," Sirius said sarcastically, "Dear James here slipped a certain Slytherin friend of mine a lust potion right before Saturday's match."
James was horrorstruck at this betrayal. Whatever happened, he hadn't expected Sirius to rat him out to Lily.
Lily looked pissed.
"You did what?" she screeched at James.
"No, Evans, wait, it gets better," Sirius interrupted smoothly. "The friend in question was actually on the Slytherin quidditch team. And she had no choice other than to play."
Lily was livid. "She?! You foul little–" She cut herself off and caught her breath. "Thirty points from Gryffindor. I won't tell McGonagall about this, but this– James Potter –is low, even for you."
A quiet grew over the table, but was interrupted by a shouting match from the Slytherin table. An impressive feat, given the proximity, or lack thereof, of the two tables.
"It is bad thing, you dense bitch." Sirius felt a flare of satisfaction, watching the arguement. Narcissa getting told off wasn't something you saw every day. He hated his bitch of a cousin, although she wasn't as bad as Bellatrix, her older sister. She had graduated four years ago. Before that though, Bella had been downright foul to him, partially for being put in Gryffindor, partially for not sharing the family prejudices.
"A wizard–" Narcissa snorted, "Yes, Narcissa, muggleborn or not, he was a wizard. And now he's dead. That's obviously not fucking good, that's magical blood wasted."
With a lurch, Sirius realized exactly who it was shouting. Up until now, most of the girl's head had been obscured. Although he had no clue how he'd missed all the sheet of silky blonde hair. Aife's voice carried through the hall. Perhaps his taste in women was better than he'd thought. Sirius had known after that night at the lake that Aife wasn't your average girl. But wow, to see her chewing out Narcissa felt amazing. He had the insane urge to cheer after her rant.
Lily got up from the table and left with her friend, heading to Astrology early.
Sirius had ignored the impulse to cheer, and instead rounded on James, generously waiting until Lily was out of earshot to do so.
"You see, you wanker, she's not even that bad, Slytherin or not."
"How dare you even speak to me?" James said heatedly. "After snitching me out to Lily? Fuck off, mate."
"Gladly," Sirius spat, and left the Great Hall.
Aife and Miyo had rescheduled their Dark Arts session to a free period they shared before lunch. The focus of this particular session was finding a nasty enough curse to use on James Potter.
They were nearing the end of the period when Aife's hex missed the dummy they were using for practice. Aife was deciding between a curse which would make Potter's balls crawl back into his body and another which would turn his penis into a rubber chicken. A real rubber cock, she thought, amused. Perhaps both spells would do, if she could swing it? He was sure to send one back in retaliation. Probably just some standard Gryffindor bullshit like Expelliarmus, though.
The missed curse bounced oddly off the sinks in the middle of the bathroom. It hit another wall, very near to the red headed girl who had just entered the loo.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" She said. Aife recognized her from Astrology. Some clever Gryffindor girl in her year.
"Deciding which hex to use on James Potter, wanna join?"
"Gladly," Lily said with relish. This took Aife aback, she had been expecting the girl to defend the Gryffindor poster boy.
"I wasn't expecting that. How come you dislike him, besides the obvious bigheadedness and general dick-baggery?"
"Well, aside from that– which is very valid, I might add –he will not stop asking me out. Literally, I've tried everything. He's harder to get rid of than fleas."
Miyo watched the entire exchange with no small amount of amusement. It was funny how mutual hatred always brought people together much more efficiently than love. Hell, her and Aife were living proof. Their mutual dislike of Narcissa was what brought them together in the first place. Miyo didn't consider Aife to be her best friend, in technicality, although she probably was closest. Miyo's real best friend had graduated last year.
"Ah, I see. That sounds rather unfortunate. He did something rather unspeakable to me before the last Quidditch game."
Miyo giggled. She had grudgingly admitted that it was a bit genius to put a lust potion on a girl and then have her spend an hour on a broomstick in front of the whole school. But, Aife was her ally, so her afternoon was spent finding nasty phallic curses. Which was fun, too, especially since Miyo had no doubt Aife would go through with it.
Lily looked wide-eyed. "So you're the girl Potter gave the lust potion to," she said, realization dawning upon her.
"How'd you know about that?" Aife looked suspicious.
Lily shrugged, "James and Sirius were arguing about it this morning at breakfast."
"Oh, so they're still fighting about it?" Aife asked, suppressing the note of hopefulness seeping into her tone.
"Suppose so. Ah well, I think a break would be healthy for those two. Anyway, why don't you show me what you've got in store for James?"
"Ah," an evil grin unfurled itself onto Aife's face, making her look like an elf. "Well..." She launched into an explanation of the various curses.
"Hold on a minute, isn't that Dark Arts?" Lily said.
"Well, not exactly, but it's borderline." Lily had expected a sheepish look, but Aife just shrugged nonchalantly.
"You Slytherins." Lily rolled her eyes. "Under normal circumstances I'd disapprove, but it is fitting for James."
The curse in question made it painful for James to think about sex, or anything vaguely sexual, for a day. Lily and Aife had agreed it was very Kubrick, but Miyo just looked confused.
"A Clockwork Orange? C'mon Miyo, the director is a wizard."
"Sorry, my parents wouldn't have any muggle films in the house. And the wizarding ones were sorta boring, so I never got into it. You know, sometimes I wonder how you got into Slytherin, liking all this muggle stuff."
Aife shifted uncomfortably, as she always did when the subject of home was brought up. "The orphanage had a lot of muggle stuff, honestly." And it was honest.
"Oh, you were raised in an orphanage?" Lily asked politely. "Was it your entire life? I hear they usually place wizarding kids with pureblood families who can't have children themselves."
"I didn't start exhibiting signs of magic until my later years," Aife lied smoothly. It was one useful, albeit Slytherin, characteristic she possessed. If she hadn't, her secret would probably have been out by now.
"Ahh, they didn't were worried you were a squib?" Miyo said, and Aife nodded. Lily didn't look as convinced, but dropped it, as it was time for lunch.
That girl was almost too clever, Aife thought.
They entered the Great Hall together, much to Narcissa's disdain.
"Consorting with muggleborn trash? How predictable," she sneered.
"And you're commenting on blood purity. Et tu, Brute?" Aife barely spared her a glance. Narcissa seemed to have grown even more vicious after today's breakfast.
"Mother would be disgusted," Moko added, throwing a mean glance at Miyo.
"Well then it's good she's dead," Miyo said coldly. Moko gasped, and Aife felt like doing the same. The girl could be so heartless at times, even for a Slytherin.
Moko left the Great Hall in tears.
"Well, that was harsh."
"She needs to get over it. Also gain some self respect and stop sucking up to people." Miyo spared a glance at Narcissa, who was chatting with 7th year Lucius Malfoy. Probably a lovely chat about the importance of blood purity.
"Lily really isn't bad, once you get to know her," Miyo said.
Aife was pleasantly taken aback, she hadn't been sure Miyo had liked Lily. You really never knew with Miyo. Especially since she did prefer non-muggleborns, but it wasn't a big deal. Alice was muggleborn, but Miyo hadn't held it against her after they'd gotten to know each other. Aife wondered whether they'd ever made up. She internally groaned at the thought of Divination spent with them fighting. Then again, perhaps she could partner with Sirius again.
"What do you think?" Miyo asked.
"Hmm?"
"About Lily."
"Oh, right. Yeah I liked her too. Although I've only just met her. She's pretty charismatic," Aife added thoughtfully.
At that moment, James Potter rose to leave the Great Hall.
Aife's eyes followed him, catlike and full of malice. She stood and made her way up. Miyo rose as well. Surprising, Lily followed as well.
If James really does like Lily, this will crush him, Aife thought. She knew she had the ugly elf-like smirk on her face, but could do nothing to keep it off.
She had decided to use the rubber chicken spell.
"Hey Potter," Aife said, giving him a dirty look. He took in her raised wand and began to say "Expelliarmus", but Aife had the advantage and flicked it away before it came.
"Asphodilus Petrus!" Aife shouted, and, with a satisfying hiss, she head the spell land.
Potter looked terrified. It was almost a comical sight to behold.
He hurled a nasty jinx her way and hurried off the hospital wing. Unfortunately, Aife hadn't had enough time to stop it, and subsequently began tapdancing. Luckily, Lily knew the counter charm. Though Aife had to wait a minute while Liky had finished laughing about Potter.
Unfortunately, these moments brought McGobagall storming over.
"Ms. Sullivan!" Her voice cracked, "Do not think you can stand by and hex a fellow student without any sort of punishment." Aife groaned. Why was McGonagall so fucking strict? Did she have a bad time at Hogwarts, and now lived to torment the students?
"Detention. Tonight. Report to my office right after dinner. And you, Evans and Kamimoze. 10 points from Gryffindor, I expected better from a prefect. Five points from Slytherin. Next time you see a fight, I expect you to inform a teacher, not stand idly by," McGonagall glanced around, then transformed into a kitty to avoid the rush of students.
Miyo dropped her fake "meek and shy" attitude and returned to normal. "It makes you wonder though, why it took her so long to break up the fight. She got there like five minutes after it ended."
The reason, unbeknownst to the two girls, was that Professor McGonagall had rather enjoyed the whole exchange, preferring to let it unfold before stepping in. It was healthy for James Potter to get hexed every once in a while, especially by a girl.
Aife entered McGonagall's office at 8 and found an all too familiar face.
"Black. Fancy meeting you here," Aife gave him a sly grin.
"It's Sirius now, remember? So, I'm guessing you're here after hexing James?"
"Yep," Aife said proudly.
"What did you even do? He's been gone since lunch."
"Nice! I figured it would take Pomphrey a hot minute to set it straight. Anyway, yeah, I turned his uh... Johnson into a rubber chicken. Thank God for vengeful witches of the past."
Sirius have a shudder, "That does seem quite terrible. So, is this it? Do you consider it even know?"
"I suppose, but there's a good chance he'll retaliate."
"You're not wrong. I would talk to him, but we're not on great terms either."
"Oh yeah, Lily mentioned that. It's about the lust potion, yeah?"
But a cat slinked around McGonagall's desk corner and jumped into the chair. That woman was damn sneaky, Aife thought. How much of their conversation had she heard?
If McGonagall had heard anything, she didn't let on. She directed them to Filch, who gave them the ever faithful classic of polishing the Trophy Room. Without magic.
"So, you're friends with Lily now?" Sirius asked.
"On the way there, I suppose. I've only known her for a few hours, but she's been nice enough in that time."
"Mm, she's alright. James is absolutely mad about her. Completely mooney." He grinned to himself.
"I can see why, she's certainly very Gryffindor."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sirius said in mock outrage.
"You're all soft."
Sirius winked and said, "Not I."
Aife focused on vigorously polishing a shield to hide her blush. "How charming," she managed. It was a relief to hear she managed a playful edge to get tone.
"It's not really possible to be soft, growing up in the Black family," his tone turned contemptuous. "By the way, Narcissa at breakfast. Nicely handled."
"Oh, you flatter me, Bla– Sirius," Aife gave him a hesitant smile. He returned it, and it set her nerves on fire.
"So, the Heir of Slytherin. Who do you reckon it is?"
"Honestly, I have no clue. I can point out the future Deatheaters of Slytherin, but then again, I'm sure you can too," Aife replied.
"Wanna go through a list? It's not like we're short on time." He gave a wry grin.
"Well, out of the Slytherin 6th years there's Snape and Mulciber. They're both contenders, although I doubt they have Slytherin blood."
"Mulciber is possible, he's like a fourth cousin of mine. I mean, it would be ridiculously far back, but it would suffice."
"Well, I'll let you know if I see him acting more suspicious than usual." Sirius gave a small chuckle.
"I would love it if it were Snape, but he's a halfblood, according to Lily. And neither one of his parents were related to Slytherin, as far as I can tell."
"Yeah, somehow I doubt Snape would be the high and mighty Heir of Slytherin. The boy can't even manage a shower."
"Too true, Aife." Why did Sirius have to affect her so strongly? He was, after all, just a boy. A heartbreaker, though, Aife reminded herself. "Anyway," Sirius continued, "How about 7th years?"
"Rabastan Lestrange, Jasper Avery, and Lucius Malfoy. All creepy guys, it definitely could be one of them," Aife said thoughtfully.
"It could definitely be Lucius, he's a right bastard." So Aife wasn't crazy in her feeling about Malfoy.
"What about other houses? I doubt anyone from Gryffindor or Hufflepuff would be it, but there are plenty of purebloods and mostly-purebloods in Ravenclaw," Aife said.
"Pretentious gits," Sirius added. "Honestly, I really don't know. That Rosier boy's older brother is a Death Eater, but he shows no sign of joining up himself. It's hard to say. I'm determined to catch the fucker though. Rowle, that Ravenclaw 5th year, seems a bit into the Dark Arts, but also doesn't seem to be joining up."
"Just because someone practices the Dark Arts doesn't mean they want to become a Death Eater, as they call themselves."
"Completely ridiculous name," Sirius said, "But yeah, I agree. It doesn't bode well for a person though."
Aife bit her lip and vigorously scrubbed her trophy.
"Mm," she said noncommittally.
Aife hard a hard time sleeping that night. She stayed up and read the book on the Chamber of Secrets. The book was very vague, and most of the theories in it were nothing more than far fetched rumors. In fact, the only reason why the book might have been in the restricted section, was that there were suggestions on how to open the chamber, each more ridiculous than the next. Also included were theories on how to become the Heir of Slytherin. One of the ones listed was "If one is not related to Slytherin by blood, a flask of Slytherin blood may be hung around one's neck. If this doesn't work, a bonding or exchange spell might have to be put on yourself and the flask of blood."
Somehow, Aife highly doubted that would make a big difference. If anything, the Heir would look bloody obvious. Pun intended.
On the other side of the Narcissa let out a great sigh. Narcissa was such a light sleeper that Aife could hardly differentiate between Narcissa resting and Narcissa sleeping. Well, sleeping Narcissa preened less, but Aife swore she could see the girl smoothing her hair into perfection while asleep.
Aife shut off the light, and pretended to fall asleep. Narcissa often snuck out of the dormitory when she thought all the girls were too unconscious to hear her.
And Aife's intuition didn't fail. Narcissa slipped from her bed, like an inverted shadow on the wall, and slid through the door to the dormitory.
Grinning with glee, Aife cast her trusty Disillusionment Charm and slipped away after the girl. She crept down the musty dungeon hall, careful to make soundless steps, and saw Narcissa fall into Lucius Malfoy's embrace. How odd, Aife thought. You'd think they'd have made it public, both of their families would be thrilled. After all, they were at least 4-5 times removed, which was distinctly uncommon with pureblood families.
This was actually the reason Miyo's father, the youngest brother of the Kamimoze clan, moved them to England. Aife remembered giggling with Miyo over his reply to Miyo's questions of why they moved. "Good breeding opportunities," he'd said.
"Oh, Lucius, darling," Narcissa murmured, just loud enough for Aife to make out, and she drifted her head lower into his neck.
"We can't do this here, Narcissa," Lucius said breathily. "Anyone could come down to the common room, at any time.
Narcissa let out another large sigh, and slid her head back in to kiss him.
"I said 'no'. Besides, I need to tell you something important. New information has come to light. Plus, the enchantments. Let's go to the hidden room."
Narcissa looked displeased (queue sneering), but acquiesced.
None of this made a lick of sense to Aife, but she listened intently none the less.
They exited the dungeon door, allowing it to drift slowly shut behind them. This was advantageous to Aife, and she slipped through behind them, holding her breath so as to not tickle their necks.
Lucius whispered into Narcissa ear, "Severus will join us in an hour. He said he is perfectly okay with us starting without him."
Ew, Aife thought. That's fucking disgusting. I really hope he meant something else.
Doubts about following Lucius and Nsrcissa were sinking into Aife. She didn't want to be mistaken for a pervert, if found out. But these were suspicious circumstances. Aife decided to follow Narcissa and Lucius wherever they were headed, and then if it turned out to be a snogfest, Aife could ditch.
Just as she had her mind made up, the steps Aife was walking up suddenly shifted. Luckily, Narcissa and Lucius had barely made it themselves, so they were too adrenalized to notice Aife's squeak of surprise.
The steps now lead a floor higher than Aife needed. This was bunk, she thought. It's time for bed. I can't believe I missed a good night's rest for this bullshit.
And, to make matters even worse, Aife now found herself three feet away from Filch. She stayed stock still, not daring to blink, when Flich said, "Well then, it'll be a bloody detention won't it? And a nasty one at that, yes, out of bed at 3am? Complete lack of discipline, I'll be speaking to Slughorn tomorrow!"
Apparently, Filch had finally learned that waking up the Heads of House in the middle of the night for students out of bed was not appreciated.
Aife's heart sank. It was already 3am, meaning her Disillusionment Charm had worn off, if only partially, 10 minutes ago.
Filch prattled on about Aife's punishment, dropping her in front of the dungeons. He gave her a nasty grin, "Have fun cleaning Venomous Tentacula excrement, Ms. Sullivan!"
Aife had the urge to inform him that Venemous Tentacula was one of the 11 carnivorous plants which did not excrete their prey, but ignored his taunt and entered the dungeon.
"Stupid fucking squib," she murmured on her way in.
Flich's eyes popped, but try as he might, he could not get the dungeon door back open.
Tuesday, Lunch Time
"Yeah, Slughorn was going to let me off, but then he remembered he let me off the last couple times, so no luck there," Narcissa said, sniffing in annoyance.
Well, that's something, Aife thought. At least she wasn't the only one who got caught. Then again, because of the similar crimes and time frames, there was a good chance they would have detention together.
Slughorn had decided to make the detention on Thursday, because he needed to gather Alihotsy by moonlight, for his 5th years' task of making the Alihotsy Draught on Friday.
Aife was pleased with this, gathering plants didn't seem so bad. Especially since, as far as she knew, Alihotsy was not particularly dangerous, though did induce hysteria when consumed.
Miyo and Aife headed off to Herbology. Aife realized, with a jolt, that she had the class with Sirius. Aife doubted he'd sit with her again, though. She had gotten a lot of weird looks from girls that day in Divination. Although, she could have just been pretty high and imagining it.
Ew, and Narcissa was in that class.
Professor Beery gave Aife a wide grin. She actually paid attention and enjoyed this class, so Beery held her in high regard, despite that she was a Slytherin. Most of the Slytherins were pretty nasty to Hufflepuffs. Aife agreed they were mainly tossers, but wasn't rude, and didn't mind the occasional Hufflepuff. She could, at least, see why Alice liked Frank. He was very laid back, and decently good looking.
Miyo turned to Aife. "I'm going to work with Greengrass, ok? Azriela's with him too, and I don't have a date to the Halloween ball, yet. I'm not letting her steal him, he's the second best looking Slytherin guy in 6th year and 7th year combined, and Mulciber would never go for me."
"Oh, ok. I'll just work with Alice and Vasiliya," Aife replied. But when she turned around, she found that they'd already paired off with a Hufflepuff girl, relying on Aife to be predictable and work with Miyo. Sighing, Aife went to an empty station.
Only to be joined by Sirius Black.
"Is it ok if I work here?" He asked it as though he already knew the answer was yes. Which, of course, it was. He was just too damn charming for Aife to say no. And, friends hung out with friend, right?
"Yeah, it's cool. Still fighting with Potter, then?"
"Yeah, Remus said he was furious about the rubber chicken. I think Remus thought it was rather funny."
"Mm, I thought so, too," Aife said, cracking a grin.
"Yeah, you can be quite the little delinquent," Sirius said, semi-sarcastic. He ruffled her hair, and Aife blushed.
"Your hair is so soft," Sirius said, taken aback.
Aife felt embarrassed and annoyed. He's treating me like a little sister and then flirting with me? Can this boy be any weirder?
Sirius immediately felt embarrassed at saying that, so he tried to play it off with a wide grin.
Aife blushed, and he took it as an okay to continue flirting. "Do you use a potion on it or something?"
"Nope, all natural," Aife said, self-conscious. With the exclusion of the slightly overlarge breasts, she had never done anything to herself. Although she often had the urge to spell her dishwater blonde hair into a better shade.
"Oh, you don't see that often. So do you have a date to the ball?" Sirius asked impulsively.
"Uhm... no one's asked me..." Aife said, blushing furiously at having to admit this to Sirius Black, someone who had a line of girls waiting to ask. "Have you got a date?" Even now, the girl next to them was glaring at Aife.
"Oh, that's really surprising," Sirius said. She had said she only wanted to be friends, but could she really mean it? Probably not.
"Would you like to come with me?" He said, grinning invitingly.
Aife was shocked, and worked hard to remind herself the circumstances under which they'd met. Maybe she couldn't do much better, but Aife didn't want to lose her virginity to Sirius Black. Well, she did, but she hated the concept of being one of many. Besides, Sirius would most likely ditch her right after, just like all the other girls.
"No, sorry. I already told you, I'm only interested in you as a friend."
Sirius looked like he'd just been trodden on. "You know, Aife, you're going to ruin my ego."
"Good."
"You're breaking my heart," Sirius said, keeping his tone sarcastic, but finding that he meant it a tiny bit. Why wasn't she interested? What made her not interested, as opposed to everyone else? He remembered Remus telling him that it was good for him. Maybe so, but it didn't feel good right now. Was this how James felt with Lily?
"Am I now? That's a pity. Anyway, why don't you ask Alana Muldoon or Pomona Sprout? They're both drooling over you right now. I don't think they like me very much," Aife said, feeling amused yet trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She needed to find someone her league for the dance.
She looked up and caught Narcissa's eye. Narcissa sneered at her and glanced at Sirius, giving her a devilish grin. Ah fuck, right, she knows about that, Aife thought. She should have just denied everything. That girl was a demon. On the bright side, Aife had something on her, however vague. Why wouldn't she be going public about her and Malfoy? Aife knew for a fact that Malfoy was taking an unusually pretty 7th year Slytherin, McKenzie Fowl. She was the last in the line of an old pureblood family, although her family didn't affiliate itself with Voldemort, or the Dark Arts, as far as Aife knew.
"Yes, well, Muldoon is a bit creepy and Sprout is just a bit..."
"Hufflepuff," Aife finished.
"Well, I was going to say odd, but you're not wrong," Sirius grinned. "You know Muldoon followed me to and from classes for a few months last year. Kept trying to talk to me, it was weird."
"Well, Sirius, in case you haven't noticed, you're terribly handsome," Aife said, doing her best not to blush. If she had to classify it, she supposed it was flirting, but really any girl could see what was plainly in front of her. He had an obvious and unavoidable aristocratic handsomeness, which made Aife's whole situation that much more difficult. High cheekbones, fine, wavy dark hair, a well toned quidditch body. The whole package. Anywhere Aife looked, she was in trouble. Although she felt slightly more immune than the first time they met. Perhaps she could get used to it and the crush would finally fade away.
"So you think I'm terribly handsome," Sirius looked very pleased.
Aife gave him an odd look, "Of course I do, I have eyes."
This just confused Sirius more, although he did puff up his chest a little. "And yet you won't go to the ball with me?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Just because I think you're handsome, doesn't mean I'm actually attracted to you." This was true, even if it wasn't applicable. Aife was very good at lies of omission. Although, she preferred to think of it as just misleading a person.
"Oh. Why not?"
Aife thought about telling him the truth for a moment, but decided against it. If she did, he'd probably see right through her. And honestly, if he went to kiss her, Aife didn't think she would be able to help herself. She still had no idea how she'd managed to resist that day with in the broom cupboard, especially considering the lust potion.
"Maybe I'll tell you sometime, but not today," she said.
"Quite the enigma, you are." Aife just gave a small smile in response. It seemed as though Sirius could, maybe, have a crush on her. After all, she wasn't completely oblivious. But did it really matter? He might have just as well had a crush on all those other girls. Aife didn't go for that. Maybe beggars can't be choosers, but Aife would rather go stag than embarrass herself by being one of Sirius's foolish girlfriends, thinking they were special or pretty enough to be the one to keep him.
Vasiliya and Alice looked at Aife from across the room. Vasiliya raised an eyebrow and mouthed, "Black?"
Aife decided to fill them in, if only on the basic details, later.
endnote/ Hooray! Chapter 3 is finally done. I'm sorry if you considered it a tiny bit bland, but I promise some excitement for the next chapter.
word count: 6,695
please please please review! I got no reviews on the last chapter, which was terrible :*( Although notice the correlation between how long it took me to write this and the lack of reviews ;) (this chapter is almost a thousand words longer than normal though). I got the nicest review ever on my first chapter though, many thanks to . I don't mind constructive criticism, or even flames, so be honest 3