Disclaimer: I don't own Mai hime/Mai Otome. I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: Thank you to Inchemistrywetrust, summer, topsykrets, sammykhann, shawdowcub, romanica, trumm1234, maidofspacevin, leeyou, chum-sa, imani456, ian.23, shiznat13, sarronxo, justme, gregori, nomask, twenty-sixwhitewave and various guests for reviewing the previous chapter. Your feedback is very much appreciated. To the guest who asked about Natsuki's obsession: She is obsessed with mayonnaise in the manga.

This prequel will be about Natsuki in her 3rd year, and meeting Shizuru for the first time. This is written in Natsuki's POV.

Spells will be in italics

Warnings: Contains swearing, underlying sexual themes, alternative universe, and out of character.

Chapter three

By S

Why is she the head of Hufflepuff? It would make more sense if she was allocated to Slytherin. She is a cunning, manipulative and evil witch who is trying to force me into doing her bidding. I even thought she was nice for believing in my petition, but no! Like a typical Slytherin, she wanted something in return. I will most definitely not waste three evenings a week just to be her health assistant…or most likely, her slave. What kind of slave she wants me to be? I do not want to know.

"Attention, please!" The headmistress tapped her silver cup for attention, "Welcome new students to your first week of classes, there are several notices today: Madam Amitage has a list of banned items stuck on to her wall outside her office, I advise you also to read her list of rules. Quidditch and duelling team tryouts will be available for the next two weeks – "

After a few nights of restless sleep, I am sitting here in the Great Hall hunched over my plate of food, stabbing repeatedly with my fork.

" – if there are any complaints on the recipe changes – "

I whip my head up to look at the headmistress with hope.

" – please do not voice your concerns to me, I am busy enough. Please give your complains to your Head of House, and please trust them. They are employed to guide you, they would not hate you – "

I feel a scowl forming on my face. She couldn't be more obvious; she was staring at me the entire time. I really doubt other students went up to her to complain.

"What has got your knickers up in a twist?" my best friend drawls as she glances down at my food in concern, and her face scrunches up in disgust when she sees the mayonnaise.

"My knickers are not in a twist." I snap and she raises an eyebrow when I send her a dirty look.

She sighs and rolls her eyes at me, "It's just an expression. Look, if you're not going to eat that, at least give it to Mikoto. Her expression is scaring me."

I turn my head to glance at Mikoto, and unfortunately, I see the girl glowering with her mouth wide open. No wonder Nao was terrified. I quickly push my plate of mutilated chicken pieces towards her.

"Wow! Thanks, Natsuki!" Mikoto's expression changes completely and eagerly takes the plate of food. "You are almost as nice as Mai!"

I feel my eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Mikoto has only known Mai for a few days, while she has known me for a whole summer. And I'm almost as nice? Nao bursts out laughing and it doesn't make me feel any better.

Mai looks at me apologetically and quickly changes the subject, "Natsuki, what has been bothering you? Is this about the petition?"

I open my mouth to respond and Marguerite interrupts, "What petition?" she asks curiously from the other side of the Slytherin table.

I grimace; initially, I planned to make Nao collect all the signatures. I didn't want to be the one explaining this. After the little tryst with Madam Viola, I've lost my courage and I'm pretty sure they will all mock my petition. I cough into my fist nervously. "…Traditional recipes should not be changed as it may disrupt our magical society," I say reluctantly, all ready for the table to laugh at me. Instead they glance towards me in curiosity, I feel my ears heat up and I look down at my non-existent plate to hide from the attention.

"What do you mean? All the meals taste the same," Marguerite says incredulously, chewing extra slowly as if trying to taste the difference, "Yeah, it tastes the same. How can it disrupt our magical society?"

Nao responds for me, "Condiments," she deadpans and I almost feel offended, she will never understand. Mai gives a small chuckle. The rest of the Slytherins are too either too confused or too polite to laugh.

Marguerite stares at me in confusion for a moment before comprehension flickers across her face, "Oooooh, this makes more sense now." She smirks, "This is about your mayonnaise obsession. I don't understand though, it tastes the same. "

I officially dislike Marguerite, but at least she isn't laughing at me. "It does not taste the same! It lacks the creamy egg texture and the hint of lemon zest...and I do not have an obsession with mayonnaise!"

She looks at me, surprised at my outburst and laughs, "I've never heard you speak that much before!" I feel mortified and she continues, "–and you say you don't have an obsession! You are overreacting and you need help."

I notice Nao stiffening beside me, eyes narrowing and frowning at Marguerite. I bite back my retort, not wanting to make Nao look bad.

A voice chirps from beside Mai, "It does not taste the same," Mikoto says with a bright smile, "This mayonnaise isn't very nice." I'm surprised to hear Mikoto talk, let alone defend me. Although, I strongly suspect it was because I gave her my food. But then again, I'm more surprised at how she is actually complaining about food instead of eating it.

Marguerite smirks, and I get the feeling I'm finally seeing the girl behind the façade. Her eyes are flashing dangerously, "You're a first year, what do you know?"

Mikoto places down her fork to stare at Marguerite with an innocent smile, "You are in Slytherin, are you sure you want to pick on an innocent Ravenclaw first year?"

I feel my mouth wide open in astonishment and I quickly close it. Mai gasped and is staring at her in awe. The whole Slytherin table has gone into a deadly awkward silence; I can see most of the table gaping in surprise. To be honest, I'm just as surprised as them; I don't think I've ever heard of Mikoto say anything else other than 'food'. But how could one innocent conversation about mayonnaise turn into a battlefield in politics? This could easily involve both houses if they both continue to bicker.

I realise the conversation is starting to get out of hand when Marguerite's expression turns into a menacing glower. I quickly give Marguerite a scowl; she needs to drop the topic before it gets into House politics, or say anything she will regret later. She hesitates and blinks twice before giving me tight lipped smile, ignoring Mikoto, "I apologise, Natalie. I will gladly sign your petition."

"Thank you, Marguerite," I nod grimly. Perhaps I should just sit at my own table from now on.

All this conflict is Professor Grangers fault. If she just accepted the complaint without a petition I wouldn't have to go through all this. I turn to look at the table. I see that Madam Viola is sitting next to the headmistress while drinking a cup of tea. Doesn't she know that it is extremely unhealthy to avoid food? Is she on a diet? I don't think she needs a diet, she looks –

"So...Natsuki, what's wrong?" Mai asks in concern, pulling me back from the gaze to the nurse and breaking the awkward silence at the Slytherin table.

I shrug, watching Mikoto eat my plate of food as if nothing happened, "Nothing, don't worry about it."

Unfortunately, the whole table seems too eager to break the awkward silence by picking on me.

"Don't worry Mai, Natsuki is just infatuated with Madam Viola," Nao pipes up from beside me while drinking her goblet. Mai laughs and nods understandingly.

"What? No!" Where the hell did she get that idea from? I am in no way infatuated, I am far from it. In fact, I dislike the nurse immensely.

"You glanced longingly towards the staff table at least ten times," Nao scoffed, placing down her cup and raising an eyebrow at me, "come on, even the whole Slytherin table knows." She rolls her eyes. I feel horrified at the notion, I had no idea the whole table thought that I was infatuated with the school nurse. I hate Nao so much right now; voicing it out basically convinces the whole table to think that I'm actually infatuated. Do they not know how absurd that sounds?

Marguerite looks at me and eagerly says, "Isn't that why you have been sitting at the Slytherin table? Our table is closest to the staff table after all. Are you sure you don't want to come with us to visit her together?"

Is she serious? No wonder the view to the staff table is clearer from the Slytherin table...but that's not the point. "No! I'm avoiding Gryffindors," I hiss back angrily, suddenly feeling self-conscious and I look around to make sure Takeda is nowhere in sight.

"...Sure sure, keep telling yourself that," another Slytherin chirps, and the whole table chuckles.

Marguerite looks confused, and then her eyes brighten in understanding and nods, "Ooh! I'm so sorry, Natalie. I didn't mean to make fun of your petition." I feel slightly confused, didn't she apologise already? She notices my confusion and explains further, "...Isn't that why you made the silly petition? So you can visit her more often? She's your head of house isn't she?"

How could they even come to that conclusion? I rather they tease me about the mayonnaise! I face palm, resisting the urge to hit my head against the table. "No! I would rather eat dragon dung instead of approaching her! The petition is valid and has nothing to do with Madam Viola!"

"But your head of house is Madam Viola, it has everything to do with her, " argues the four pig tailed first year. I glare at her and she cowers away to look back down at her food. I inwardly smirk; glad to see that it still works.

Nao folds her arms and rolls her eyes, "You're blushing. Natsuki you can't possibly be even more obvious."

I glower at her, and she smartly purses her lips together to avoid saying anything else. My stupid best friend started all this. "My face is red from anger, you idiot!"

How the heck did this happen? The whole Slytherin table is convinced that I am in love with Madam Viola! I stand up furiously, walking out of the great hall and ignoring the bemused smiles from the Slytherin table. Screw them all!

If I can avoid this petition all together, I can avoid both Madam Viola and the headmistress. I might as well go straight to the kitchens to fix the mayonnaise.

"Hallard!" I call out to the girl sitting underneath the trees.

I find the tomboy flirting with a group of second year girls outside next to the great lake. My Hufflepuff friend Chie is in the same year as I am, she proclaims herself as the 'gossip queen'. I really don't think that is anything to be proud of, but she seems quite happy with the title. Her eyes light up when she notices me, removing herself from the group of protesting second year girls, and makes her way towards my direction, "Oh, hello my dear ice princess – "

I quickly put my hand up, stopping her before the flirt says anything else inappropriate. Thank goodness I've grown immune to all her flirting. I say sternly, "Shut up, Hallard. We both know you're not my type."

She looks disappointed at my reaction and pushes up her glasses, "I'm everybody's type," she mumbles to herself, shakes her head and chuckles, "fine, what's up?" she says lightly with a smile.

"Where are the kitchens?"

Chie Hallard frowns, "hmmm...always straight to the point, and here I thought you were visiting me," she pouts and I glare at her. As if I needed to visit her, we're basically roommates, I see her even if I don't want to. "If you require my services I need a payment." She smacks her lips and rubs her fingers together.

My eyes narrow, so much for being a Hufflepuff friend. This woman is too stingy and materialistic. "Okay fine, how much?" I ask, getting mentally ready to bargain for a cheaper price.

"A date with Aoi Senoh," she says without missing a beat, her eyes showing a hint of sadness.

I stare at her in confusion, and she challenges my response with a raised eyebrow. "What the...no." I shake my head. "I'm not Aoi, and I can't make her do anything," I tell her and she visibly deflates. She must really like Aoi to be willing to forego galleons. Thankfully, Nao is roommates with Aoi, and although this is highly unethical...sometimes things must be done.

"A photo and nothing else," I haggle, scratching the back of my head, feeling extremely guilty and making a mental note to ask Nao for help.

She stares for a moment and sighs, "...fine. The kitchens are near our common rooms anyway."

"What? Since when?" I say in surprise, I've lived in Hogwarts for three years, I should at least know if it's near the common rooms.

She smirks. "It's always been there. Just look for the blue rose and tickle the pear," she says nonchalantly.

I stare at her face for any hint of deception, but I find none. "...That makes no sense, Hallard. I know you're obsessed with leaving blue roses for your crazy fans, but seriously?" I huff incredulously at the stupidity, "Find the blue rose and tickle the pear? Do you know how absurd that sounds?"

"I know it sounds ridiculous." She folds her arms and looks unimpressed, and then looks indifferently at her nails, "but, since you can't get me a date with Aoi–"

"Fine. I'll look for the stupid rose and tickle the bloody pear."

She looks disappointed and bargains, "Now about that photo – "

Two can play this game. "I'll give it to you after I find the pear, if I ever find it." I cringe, just by thinking about the possibilities. If I don't find it, I really will have to waste three nights a week for Madam Viola. Is mayonnaise really worth all this trouble?

She sighs and runs a hand through her short cropped hair, she tries another approach, "Okay, how about...joining the Quidditch team?"

I hope she is kidding me, flying around just to throw balls into hoops? I don't think so. Plus with my luck, I will probably end up with all the responsibility and be forced to play a seeker or keeper position.

"No," I say firmly.

"Duelling team?" she says hopefully.

"No!" I almost yell at her.

"Oh, come on! Natalie, don't be stubborn, you know our house sucks and we need all the athletic people in the team. I've seen how incredibly fast you run when you're late. We haven't won the house cup for years!" she whines, putting her hands in her pockets. I frown, not sure whether she was complimenting or insulting my punctuality.

"You know, I don't really care about house politics, Hallard." I grimace; I don't need any more responsibility in my life. I'm already the head of my family, why would I want to join sports and give myself more stress?

She sighs, looking exasperated, a hand on her short hair. "You know, ever since your father – "

I shoot her a look, daring her to go into that topic.

"Sorry, shouldn't have gone there," she says warily and sighs, "fine, don't join the Quidditch team or duelling team," she throws her hands up in defeat, "but we could really need your help, Chandler will probably harass you to join soon."

I frown, not looking forward to facing the blonde Quidditch captain; she's even a bigger flirt than Hallard. I sigh, giving her the chance to bribe me, "Tell me Hallard, how will those two teams benefit my future apart from taking away my study time?"

Her eyes light up at the opportunity, "The overwhelming Fame? Happiness? The rush of winning a game with cheering fans? Added extracurricular activities on your resume?" she says hopefully in a rush, attempting to bargain. She frowns at my lack of excitement, and then she looks sheepish, "...the men who will admire you?"

I give her a dirty look and cross my arms.

She hesitates, chews her bottom lip and says slowly, "...the ladies?"

I feel my face rapidly heat and my heart races for absolutely no reason. I look away and splutter, "This-This isn't about my sexual orientation, Hallard!"

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "Well...what is your orientation? Takeda has been pinning after you for years, do you know what those underclassmen call you?" she points at the girls sitting underneath the tree, "Cruel, Natalie. They call you cruel and a prude for stealing him away."

I ignore the prude comment since I do admit I am somewhat a prude. I am proper and modest, unlike Hallard here who sleeps with any girl willing to spread her legs. I think the only woman she wouldn't want to sleep with is Madam Armitage and maybe Professor Graceburt.

"I did not steal him and I never wanted him! This is off topic." I massage my head with one hand to calm my headache and temper.

"But they call you the modern day Lily and James Potter!" She laughs.

"Hallard, shut up!"

Hallard sighs dramatically, hands up in defence. "Natalie, the offer is still there, alright? If you can't find it you can always join our house teams, and I'll immediately show you where the kitchen is. Or you can try your luck and look for the pear."

"...Fine." I scowl, resisting the urge to give her the finger. I turn on my heels and walk towards the common rooms.

I bump into something soft and a pair of arms holds my shoulders to stop me from falling.

I am in no mood to apologise after my dreadful day. "Watch it! You pile of dragon sh– " I stop swearing when I smell the familiar lavender fragrance. The sunlight seems to shine brightly through the large arch walkways, the bronze hair in front of my eyes reflecting the sunbeams. I look up and recognise the crimson eyes and push myself off her, I scowl instantly and quickly recollect myself, "Ugh! You again!"

"Ah, Miss Kruger..." Madam Viola says with a smile, straightening her robes, "This is the second time, is it not?" she says in a tone with amusement, her lips curled.

I immediately feel a frown forming on my face. Why is it I keep bumping into her? I've been so careful avoiding her for the past week! Is this punishment for something bad I have done in a past life? "Sorry about that, Madam Viola," I apologise reluctantly.

Her burgundy eyes soften and she asks in concern, "Why are you so glum, Miss Kruger?"

I cross my arms and avert my eyes, perhaps a short answer will make her go away. I run a hand through my hair to calm my nerves.

"I'm not." What I really want to say is, none of your business, but I'm pretty sure that will give me a detention.

"That cute pout says otherwise."

I feel my face rapidly heat up again, and I struggle to contain it. She's always like this – every. Single. Time! I don't get why she picks on me so often, and it's only the first week of school! How am I going to survive for the rest of the year? I can only be thankful she is not an actual professor; otherwise I will have to put up with her daily.

"I am not..." I sigh, holding my head to calm a headache, feeling too weak to argue from the lack of sleep; I just know she just wants to get a rise out of me. I take a deep breath. "…what is it you want from me, Madam Viola?"

Her lips presses to a thin line, "I was just doing some errands," she looks up, taps her chin thoughtfully, and then looks at me for a split second with a smirk, and then her expression quickly changes into an innocent smile, "but I also wanted to check how my favourite student was doing."

Thank goodness, I almost feel sorry for her favourite student. "Well then, please do not let me stop you," I smile, starting to walk off from our horrible tryst.

"Wait," she sounds uncharacteristically urgent which stops me. I turn back around and she stares straight into my eyes, her smile grows wider and it makes me uneasy. "It's quite alright, I just bumped into her."

"Is that so?" My smile drops instantly and my eyes narrow suspiciously. I don't want to assume, but I really hope she's not insinuating anything, especially not about me.

"Yes, in fact..." she continues slowly, and quickly licks her lips, "I'm speaking directly to her right now."

I stare at her for a moment before it clicks. "Wha-what, why am I your favourite student?" I splutter, feeling nervous and warm all of a sudden. I've been nothing but rude to her, but then again, she deserves my impoliteness with all the teasing.

"Miss Kruger has quite the deduction skills!" she deduces happily.

A feeling of déjà-vu overcomes me and I realise she distracted me again by going off-topic. I quickly recollect myself from the moment of confusion and struggle to control my temper and face colour.

"Ob-Obviously! You-You're only talking to me right now!" I splutter indignantly, does she think I'm an idiot? "And, I am not pouting and I'm certainly not cute!" I blurt out loudly, and I see the surrounding students stop and glance curiously at us; the attention is adding extra heat to my face.

Her smile grows wider and looks at me thoughtfully, "Well...first of all, Miss Kruger has the prettiest shade of pink whenever she is flustered and – "

"S-Stop!" I quickly shout, holding one hand in front of me and the other to cover my blushing face, struggling to regain control of the conversation. "I don't want to know. Must I remind you, Madam Viola, this is highly unprofessional for a teacher, you don't go around calling all of your students cute!"

For a split second I think I imagined her hurt expression, "Indeed I don't," the nurse pouts, but I can still see her eyes colouring with mirth, "I only call one of them cute," she smiles.

I hiss through my clenched teeth, ignoring my racing heart and the blatant fact that she finds me cute. This time I am determined not to blush and run away. I stubbornly stick to my argument, "F-Fine, you only call one of them cute, but this is still highly unprofessional and other teachers don't –"

"That, I will have to disagree with you, Miss Kruger," she interrupts with a smile; "Professor Raderick and I chat quite frequently about cute girls."

Professor Raderick is disgusting. I'm seriously considering changing schools.

"That's even worse and I did not need to know that!" I instantly retort, feeling oddly flattered and horrified at the same time.

She gives me a pretty smile which gives me an odd stirring at the pit of my stomach. "But enough of this lovely chat, I do have other errands to run. Good day to you, Miss Kruger!"

It wasn't lovely at all! I swear I just lost ten years of my life due to the high blood pressure symptoms she inflicted upon me. She concludes by giving me a playful wink and walks off briskly, her hips swaying side to side, her heels clicking elegantly against the floor and finally disappearing around the corner.

When she is out of eyesight, I let out a growl of frustration which scares off the nearby first years, and within five seconds I can hear her giggle echoing down the corridor. As a result, I storm off to my common room, cursing under my breath.

Surprisingly, on the way to the common room after my horrible conversation with Madam Viola, I actually found a blue rose stuck on the wall next to a gigantic fruit painting. After making sure nobody could watch me make a fool of myself, I tickled the pear. As absurd as 'tickling a pear' sounds, I couldn't believe it was actually the entrance to the kitchens. I wonder how Hallard found the kitchen; I really hope she didn't go around the school grounds tickling all the paintings.

A group of house elves greet me as I walk into the kitchen doors, overwhelming me with the enthusiastic welcoming.

"Miss! How would you like a cup of tea?" A house elf rushes forward with a cup of tea.

"How may we serve you?" Another elf squeaks and pushes the first house elf aside.

"Would you like some cake, tea, biscuits of any kind?" Three more house elves rush forward to offer food.

I smile happily. Finally, I can get some mayonnaise after a long week. Why didn't I think of this the first place? "Can you guys make me some mayonnaise?"

All movement stops in the kitchen and I immediately feel dread. There is a long silence and the group of elves push forward an unwilling and trembling elf. "M-Miss, my name is Nobby. Nobby would like to ask, is Miss's name Miss Natalie Kruger?" she squeaks and looks terrified.

I frown, who the heck had been spreading rumours about me? "No, definitely not. Why?" I say hesitantly. I'm not stupid enough to say my own name to a group of elves who clearly fear me enough to look like they want to soil their pants.

They sigh collectively in relief and I feel mildly offended, Nobby continues, "Miss Headmistress Hermione Granger orders Nobby to not give any mayonnaise to Miss Natalie Kruger, and if Miss Natalie Kruger for some, Nobby and her friends are to give her the new recipe."

After absorbing the slightly confusing speech from Nobby, I grit my teeth. That irritating know-it-all bitch of a headmistress predicted I will come to the kitchens and she somehow closed all the damn loopholes. I can't even get proper mayonnaise from the kitchens. This is so frustrating! I should just transfer to Beauxbatons, but I doubt they have any mayonnaise either.

I keep the smile on my face despite my inner growing anger and move onto plan B. "Miss Kruger has told me to come here daily, " I say as nicely as possible and they all smile eagerly towards me.

"–to offer pieces of clothing–" The smiles drop instantly and they are now staring at me with expressions of horror.

"–unless the house elves change back the mayonnaise recipe." I conclude quickly and they are now rushing around the kitchen in sheer panic.

I feel guilty and horrified when the whole kitchen goes off in hysterics, most of the house elves start crying in sadness, wailing at how they don't want to go against the headmistress. I cringe when some of them grab the hem of my robes and beg me to stop the 'Dark Miss Natalie Kruger'. Why are house elves always so bloody dramatic?

I try and comfort them. "If you make the original mayonnaise, nothing will happen," I offer as kindly as possible. It doesn't help and they wail even louder.

I quickly pull them off my robes and reluctantly tell the group of crying elves that I would come back tomorrow. It will either be threatening the elves or three nights a week with Madam Viola. I think I would rather threaten the elves instead of facing relentless teasing.

"Mother, I think Professor Raderick is Mikoto's father," I say casually to the head hovering above the fire. After talking with crying house elves, I am currently in the common room, using the floo network to talk to my mother. The rest of the Hufflepuffs are watching the Quidditch try-outs, leaving me alone to my private conversation.

She looks at me for a moment with searching eyes, "Sweetie, are you sure? This is a very big accusation to make."

I shrug, "Mikoto said so."

"Alright..." she frowns, a crease between her eyebrows. "I will write a letter to Professor Raderick."

I sigh in relief; I didn't want to be the one talking to him. Who knows what Raderick and Viola have been talking about behind my back? I feel my lips quirk up in amusement when I hear a small voice from behind my mother, "Mother are you done?! Let me talk to sister."

"Natsuki!" the little blonde chirps with a bright smile, drags my protesting mother back into the fireplace and Alyssa's head pops up in her place, ignoring my mother's indignant: "Darling, that's incredibly rude! I wasn't done talking to your sister!"

"Alyssa, how have you been?" I kindly ask my sister, and she starts blabbing about her past week, mostly complaining about mother. I know she must have been lonely with my mother and Nao's mother. I almost feel sorry for her; they probably spent all day watching romance drama.

"...I've spent all day doing nothing but spend time with Duran," she continues and huffs, "that cat is so lazy, all he does is watch drama with mother."

"Hey! Don't you go talking shit about my cat!" I argue back playfully, and my sister rolls her eyes at me. I am well aware my cat is extremely lazy. The only time she left the house was to go on the three day excursion with Mikoto, they probably took turns chasing birds. I have no idea why, but for some reason my cat and stray cats worship Mikoto as if she is some kind of feline goddess. This summer we've never had so much cat poo on our front porch from all the lingering cats.

"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts next year," she pouts at me, "I miss you, sister."

I smile and reach forward to ruffle her blonde head. Her eyes light up and smiles sweetly towards me, then she looks behind her as if to check if anybody is listening.

"By the way," she leans forward to whisper urgently, "I sent Muffina to deliver a box of mayonnaise," I feel my eyes widen with surprise. "You should receive it in a few days, the box has around three bottles, Muffina can't carry anything else heavier. You can't miss it. I made sure to tell her to deliver through your common room window so nobody will see it at the dining table."

I feel my mouth gaping in astonishment, is my sister really only ten years old? I feel so touched; thank goodness my sister is so mature and smart. She has no idea about the shitty week I've gone through, this all makes it better, and for once luck was on my side. Although it's only three bottles, it's better than nothing.

"Thanks Alyssa," and she smiles happily. "Wait...how did you know about the mayonnaise?" I ask in confusion.

She gives me a smug smile, "Headmistress Granger sent a letter to notify about the meal changes, and I figured they might change the mayonnaise."

"You are so smart, Alyssa," I say honestly, and her smile grows wider at the praise. "If you need any more galleons take it from the stash under my bed."

"Of course, sister," she says happily, and then she frowns, "Oh shoot, mother is back. Write to me!" I wave goodbye as she disappears from the fire.

I sit and read comfortably on the sofa until I hear the loud laughter of Elliot Chandler from behind the common room doors. Taking Hallard's warning seriously, I quickly stand up and rush to my bed in case the Quidditch captain ambushes me.

"Where were you at dinner last night?" my best friend asks in concern as I sit at the Slytherin table, waiting for breakfast to appear. I instinctively check the staff table, noticing that Madam Viola is absent, probably still asleep. "You weren't upset by what my house said yesterday, right?" Nao looks hesitant and apologetic. "They were just kidding; I told them to shut it afterwards."

"What did you guys...oh that." I completely forgot about the teasing. I shrug; I don't really care unless they do it again. "Don't worry about it. I was talking to mother and avoiding Chandler."

"The Hufflepuff Quidditch captain?" Nao asks me, and I nod. She looks at me suspiciously but doesn't ask any further. She frowns when she looks at the table, "That's odd...the food is late." I look around in surprise, breakfast time started fifteen minutes ago, why is it late?

"Last night at dinner, the weirdest thing happened," Nao says with her arms folded, staring intently at me. "On the table for every house, only five dishes appeared, food was extremely scarce." She bites her bottom lip and adds, "Mikoto was horrified."

"Why? What happened?" I ask in astonishment. Maybe the house elves are depressed and are on a strike...oh wait. Oops.

"Well…on each table had an exceptionally large bowl of mayonnaise. Do you know anything about that?" she asks as her eyes narrow to look at me.

I press my lips to a thin line and resist the urge to smile sheepishly. I stare into her eyes, trying hard not to blink, "N-No, of course not." Dammit, that came out higher than normal. That stutter probably didn't help either.

She stares at me for another second and bursts out laughing, "I can't believe you, you totally suck at lying! It was so you!"

I huff and glare at her, all while feeling embarrassed, "Okay, stop it. I need you to do something for me." I quickly change the subject.

She stops laughing immediately and looks concerned; thankfully, hardly any of the Slytherins are at the dining table so they don't have to witness this. "What do you need?" she asks warily, "You did something stupid, didn't you? Are you in trouble from the elves?"

I roll my eyes. "I need photos of Aoi Senoh," I say, and Nao stares at me with a what-the-fuck expression.

Before I could explain, she smirks and then sighs, wiping away a fake tear. "Our Natsuki is finally growing up…I can't wait to tell Saeko."

"What the hell are you…no! It's not what you think!" I splutter at the misunderstanding, thank goodness the great hall is still somewhat empty; otherwise they'll tease me about this instead.

"First, you obsess over Madam Viola, and now you obsess over my room-mate…." she says nonchalantly and looks at me. She snorts at my expression and bursts out laughing. I know she is teasing me so I roll my eyes.

"You idiot! Shut up!"

She laughs for a long moment before calming down. "Okay, okay. I'll get you a photo. I suppose you are bribing Hallard?" she smiles innocently. "Is that how you got into the kitchen?"

I stare at her incredulously and nod, how the heck did she know? But then again, she is in Slytherin; I suppose each of them have a book of ways to manipulate people into doing their bidding.

Mikoto and Mai arrive into the great hall and sit down next to me. Strangely, Mikoto looked as if she hadn't slept in days. I look at Nao in question and the girl mouths 'food' at me. I nod understandingly; I suppose last night Mikoto didn't eat enough due to the house elf strike. Thanks to Alyssa, I probably don't need to threaten them anymore.

My distant cousin looks at me with an unreadable expression and hands me a flask. Mai and Nao both look at it in astonishment. I feel the same way; she has never offered me food before, most of the time my food ends up in her mouth before I even get a chance to eat.

"You didn't eat last night," she says with a smile, pushing the flask towards me, "its pumpkin juice."

I gape, and feel slightly touched, but also a bit suspicious. I'm not sure why she offered pumpkin juice when I could just wait for breakfast to be served, but I don't want to hurt her feelings so I reluctantly take the flask. "Thanks Mikoto," I say hesitantly, noticing that she is staring at me with an expectant look. I grimace and take a sip. I see her self-satisfied smile and I feel my stomach drop.

"It's supposed to help you sleep," she sings happily. I look at Nao and she looks just as confused as I am. What did she mean by that? Did she know I was having sleeping problems? Oh, that's nice of her. I had no idea my distant cousin ever cared for me. This moment almost makes up for my horrible summer. I shrug and take another sip.

Food starts appearing on the tables and I am surprised that there are only four dishes and a large bowl of mayonnaise. Instead of eating, Mikoto is still staring at me looking as if she is expecting a reaction. I immediately feel alarmed. My suspicions grow when my head starts to feel dizzy and sore. I start to panic when dark spots are appearing from the outer corner of my eyes, and Nao's concerned voice is turning into a roaring sound…oh, crap…I can't believe it!

That food obsessed little brat drugged me!

"What did youuuu…" I attempt to ask, but my vision finally blurs and I slip into the darkness.

A/N: Honestly, I feel so silly making Natsuki run around with a mayonnaise petition. It seems so ridiculous. But in Sweet, sweet revenge, I wrote that she did, so I just had to write about it. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter.