Year One
Chapter 9: The Fight
It was nearing the end of term on a sunny warm May fourth when Maddy and Violet were walking through the castle. They were on their way to meet Allison Longbottom and a few other first years from various houses for a massive study group. Final exams were coming up quicker than anyone wanted to admit, and studying had to be done. They had discovered that working as a group to go through revision material worked better because then the odds were better that there was someone available who understood something another person didn't and could help.
They were just rounding a corner when they spotted a few Slytherins interacting with some Gryffindors. Though there wasn't as much animosity between houses as before the war, there was still some tensions between the Gryffindors and Slytherins. They had been at each other's throats too long for it to disappear overnight. So when the two girls spotted the group of three Slytherins (all purebloods) and four Gryffindors (all muggleborns), they moved closer in case they needed to intervene. One of the Gryffindor boys was explaining something to the Slytherins, and they got there in time to hear the end. "So you see, if your hand is bigger than your face, you may need surgery! Go on then, find out!"
At this the lead Slytherin boy looked skeptically at the Gryffindor, but started to lift his hand. Maddy shot forward shouting, "IT'S A TRAP!" The Slytherins jerked and looked over at her as she slapped the hand of the lead boy down. "He's trying to get you to put your hand over your face so that he can hit you making you smack yourself in the face. It's an old muggle trick."
At this, the four Slytherins (now including Maddy) turned to glare at the Gryffindors who were chuckling a bit. "Aw come on! It's just a bit of fun!" a blond girl said.
"No it's not!" Maddy protested. "You can get hurt doing this! My cousin had it done to her and she wound up at the nurse's office with a bloody nose! Now get out of here before we hex you into next week."
Maddy extracted her blond Aspen wood wand from her robe pocket and pointed it towards the Gryffindors. The other Slytherins did the same. "Maddy…" Violet trailed off.
"Back off, Vi," Maddy replied calmly. "We've got this covered."
The Gryffindors gave the Slytherins calculated looks before the lead boy snorted and backed off. "Whatever, you probably don't even know any hexes," he fired back as he turned to lead his two friends away.
"Mucus ad Nauseum!" one of the Slytherin boys next to Maddy shouted. A green light shot out of the end of his wand and hit the boy in the back, causing the boy to suddenly start sneezing and coughing.
"Why did you do that!? They were walking away!" Maddy shouted at her housemate, but didn't get an answer as the Gryffindor girl swirled on them and shouted, "Avis!"
A small flock of birds sprouted from her wand and started to attack the Slytherins. "Everte Statum!" Maddy shouted through the mass of wings and beaks pecking at her.
The Gryffindors were thrown back along the corridor from the force of her spell. "Locomotor Wibbly!" the third Gryffindor shouted as he landed which knocked the spell askew and caused it to hit Violet who went down in a heap as her legs turned to jelly.
"FINITE INCANTATEM!" a new voice shouted.
All of the birds disappeared, Violet's legs went back to normal, and the Gryffindor boy who'd been sneezing stopped. The students looked over to find a very disappointed looking Professor Madhur, the Transfiguration Professor and Head of Slytherin. She looked over at the Gryffindors then back to the Slytherins, her eyes narrowed and her lips thin. "Anyone care to explain?" she asked in a voice that begged no challenge.
Violet stood up then and went forward to explain since she was as close to being a neutral party as any. "The Gryffindors were trying to play a trick on the Slytherins when Madeline and I showed up. Maddy stopped them, but then the Slytherins started firing spells… well you saw what happened."
"Thank you…"
"Violet."
"Thank you, Violet," Professor Madhur said kindly before turning her jet black eyes back on the offending students. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and fifty points from Slytherin for fighting in the corridors. I'll let it go at that for now. However should I hear of something like this happening again, you can bet there will be a week's worth of detention for all parties involved."
With that, the Professor turned and walked away, her dark green robes nearly brushing the stone floor. Everyone turned back to look at each other before making a silent, but mutual agreement to leave without further incident. Maddy and Violet continued on their way to see Allison and the others in the library. "You are so lucky!" Violet exclaimed, looking over at her friend with wide eyes.
"No kidding! I thought for sure Madhur was going to put us in detention until the end of term!" Maddy responded thinking of the look of disappointment and anger on her Head of House's face.
"It's probably because of how close to finals we are. Everyone should be studying," Violet nodded.
"Vi, only a Ravenclaw would think that way because honestly, I wouldn't be unless you forced me to!" Maddy chuckled.
An offended look crossed Violet's face. "What? But… finals! They're so close!"
"I know, I know! I'm just a procrastinator. Thank you for being an awesome friend and making me study," Maddy replied laying a hand on her friend's shoulder.
This seemed to placate Violet and the two turned to walk into the library finally. They saw Allison and the others they were meeting with right away. "You're late," Allison smiled at the two.
Maddy chuckled, "About that…"