Heyyyyy! Here's chapter 6, folks! Enjoy it, next chapter will be up soon! They're nearly into their second year... soon enough we'll be able to get to the fun stuff! :P
~JS~
"No, bad Dragon!" I snapped at my little black and white speckled owl.
Dragon paid no attention to this as he continued to peck at my toast.
"Oh, fine. You take it then." I said, giving him the toast.
He hooted happily and flew away, leaving a letter on my plate as replacement.
It was a beautiful Spring morning, nearing the end of my first year at Hogwarts. I nearly got butterflies every time I remembered I had to leave my new friends (except for Angelina) in less than two months. I would miss them all so, so much. But thanks to Dragon, I can mail them all every week. My parents had been writing to me every day with updates on how planning for the new baby was coming along. Last week my mum informed me that I would soon have a brother!
"Do you boys have bottomless pits as stomachs?" Angelina asked the twins, who were shoveling food into their mouths.
"Yes." Fred replied simply.
Lee Jordan decided to flaunt this by taking all that was left on his plate and shoveling it into his mouth. He smiled at Angelina with food between his teeth. The twins cracked up.
"Lovely." I said amused, glancing up from my letter.
"How are things going with the baby?" Alicia asked politely, ignoring Lee's behavior.
"Quite well, I think. From what my dad says, my mum has been very emotional lately."
"I'm never having kids." Fred chimed in.
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Too much of a hassle. I'm never getting married, either. I am going to be very, very rich and keep all of my money for myself!"
I laughed and shook my head.
"He's sharing it with me, of course." George added.
"Of course." Fred nodded.
"I'm going to have many wives. Women will flock my way!" Lee added in.
We all laughed at this.
"Not if you shovel food into your mouth like that on your dates!" I pointed out, smiling at the thought.
"Blimey, we need to get to class!" Angelina suddenly spurted, glancing at the large clock in the Great Hall.
"Potions with the Slytherins. My favorite." I said sarcastically.
The lot of us grabbed our things and made our way to the dungeon for Potions.
"Hey, Weasleys!" A voice came from behind us as we walked through the hallway.
The twins turned around to find Miles Bletchley coming up behind us.
"I bet your mudblood friend there could give your dad some new muggle toys to play with!" He smirked, nodding at me. "Of course, scum like you would hang out with a lowlife like her. I wouldn't be caught dead with some muggle-born."
"You'll pay for that, Bletchley!" Fred yelled, lunging at him.
Fred punched him square in the face, causing him to fall over backwards. George promptly walked up to him, and stepped on his ribcage. A very audible "CRRRRACK" could be heard.
"That had to hurt!" Lee said, purposefully spitting on his face.
"BOYS! Boys! Stop that, please!" I screeched, stepping in the middle of them. "I dunno what a mudblood is, but whatever it means, I don't care! He's not worth it!"
Angelina and Alicia stood there in shock with their hands covering their mouths.
"Bethany, mudblood means filthy blood. Somebody who is muggle born." Alicia said very quietly.
My heart dropped. My throat began to clench up and tears threatened to fall. Filthy blood? Muggle born? What does that have to do with anything? Who cares what your parents are? I looked around at the concerned faces of my best friends... I didn't want my friends to think I was weak...
"So what?" I suddenly said. "I've got more friends than him anyway. Who cares if my parents are muggles? They are the best parents I could ask for."
"That bloody git deserved-" Fred started-
"What is going on here?" a deep voice interrupted the scene.
We looked at Professor Snape, and then looked down at Miles who was just barely conscious and groaning in pain.
"He did it!" George yelled, pointing at a Hogwarts ghost that just so happened to be floating by. The ghost gave him a very offended glance and turned away.
"Likely." Snape retorted. "10 points from Gryffindor... each!"
"But we didn't even do anything!" Alicia squealed referring to herself and Angelina.
"You were found at the scene with the culprits. I don't care if you weren't involved. Make it 15 points each! Unfortunately I do not have the pleasure of controlling your expulsion. You will go to Professor McGonagall straight away. I will escort Miles to Madam Pompfrey." Snape gave us one last withering glare before helping a limping Miles down the corridor.
"Worth it." Lee said.
Despite what just happened, I couldn't suppress a giggle at that comment.
As fired up as I was...
I composed myself and marched up to the twins.
"I cannot believe you guys! Over some silly insult! And now we might get expelled!"
"It's not just some silly insult, it's as bad as the most foul swear word! The git had the nerves to say... that word... to you, and then insult our father!" Fred roared, George fuming by his side.
"His opinion means nothing... But are you the biggest pranksters in our year or not?" I replied, hoping we could drop the topic of the insult. I told them to ignore it, but truthfully it did hurt very much once I knew that it meant. Tears still lingered in my eyes until I rubbed them away.
The twins gave me a guilty smirk before George said, "I like the way you think, Thorne."
"Yeah, if we aren't expelled first." Fred said.
Angelina came up to me and put an arm around my shoulders. She looked at me, knowing I was still feeling a bit hurt inside. She winked and bumped me with her hip. I bumped her back, feeling the rest of my hurt vanish. I had my friends, and that's all that mattered.
"I think we should go to Professor McGonagall's office." Alicia said timidly, on the verge of tears.
"I'd have to agree." Lee said.
The six of us slowly moped our way to McGonagall's office, stalling as much as we could. My heart was pounding. I felt lightheaded and queezy. I'd never been in this much trouble before! What would my family have to say if I got expelled my first year at school! They would blame it on my new friends... they would say they are a bad influence. Fear washed over me at the thought of being banned from ever seeing the twins, Lee, and Alicia ever again. My heart hammered in my chest and I began to panic.
"Don't look so afraid, Beth. It'll all be okay." Fred said, giving my hand a squeeze. "I don't think McGonagall would expel us in our first year... especially so close to the end of semester."
"Yeah, you're right." I said. Even though I was still panicking inside.
Lee knocked on the door to her office and glanced back at us, a nervous look on his face.
"Come in." Professor McGonagall said.
The six of us crowded in the entryway of her office, not wanting to go in any further.
"It is my understanding that you physically attacked Miles Bletchley this morning. I am very disappointed in you! I cannot believe that a group from my house would get involved in such behavior." McGonagall said very sternly. The low tone of her voice was much more intimidating than if she was yelling.
I looked at the twins, who were looking at the floor. Alicia had silent tears running down her face .
"It is in my better judgment to give you all detention every Friday evening until the end of this semester."
The butterflies in my tummy flitted away, and they were replaced with a hopeful feeling.
"So... you aren't going to expel us?" I asked timidly.
"Of course not. Although the consequences will be drastically worse if something similar ever happens again!" McGonagall said, looking at the twins.
"Miles called Bethany a mudblood!" George suddenly spewed.
McGonagall looked at him for a long time. Although she still looked very stern, I swore I saw a hint of understanding in her eyes.
"That is a very harsh word he used, but Professor Snape is the head of Slytherin. I cannot control the punishment Miles will receive." McGonagall said.
We nodded and turned to leave her office.
"Your detentions will be with Professor Snape every Friday. I will inform him of this and he will be expecting you all to be there starting this week." Professor McGonagall said with a parting nod.
The twins groaned and trudged through the door.
"Blimey, couldn't she have given us a nicer professor to do detentions for?" Angelina sulked.
"At least we weren't expelled..." Alicia said, somewhat grateful.
The twins and Lee grumbled.