Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Chapter Four
((Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for Alexandra. I would like to thank Black Gate Keeper for the amazing prank idea… though it was a prank she decided to test on me…. Ughh….))
"Wow…" I whispered as I climbed into the portrait hole. The Gryffindor common room was decorated in all maroon and gold. The couches and seats all looked very cozy, and a fire was burning lightly in the hearth. The atmosphere was so cozy and welcoming that I instantly felt at home.
"Nice, isn't it?" asked Fred who had climbed in after me.
"It's amazing!" I walked deeper into the room and looked closely at everything. There were intricate designs and wonderful lion symbols throughout the room.
"The Girls' Dormitories are the up left staircase, and the Boys' are up the right. I'll see you tomorrow?" I nodded at him, and smiled. His eyes were smiling when he told me he was sorry again.
"Goodnight!" I said cheerily as I walked up the left staircase. He saluted me from the bottom. I opened the door to see most of the girls either unpacking or catching up.
"Alex!" called the girl with the bushy brown hair, Hermione?
"Hi," I answered.
"Where were you?" she asked, looking shocked. "And what did the twins say?"
"They said something stupid, so I left and got lost. Fred came and found me though. I really shouldn't have gotten so mad." I found my bed easily, my suitcase was on it.
"Oh, well you're lucky he found you. Wow! Your trunk is huge!" she said gaping at me. I smirked and unzipped it, and inside was a huge stack of my books. And when I say huge, I mean monstrous. Her eyes widened.
"Like reading?" asked a girl whose trunk was labeled "Brown, Lavender."
"A little bit," I answered with a grin.
"May I borrow a few some time?" inquired Hermione as she looked through my books with great interest.
"Sure. Why not?"
"Thanks," she said beaming at me. I noticed that she had large front teeth, but they sort of suited her. "Well, you must be exhausted. Goodnight!"
"'Night." I stripped and changed into some pajamas, and it wasn't until my head hit the pillow that I realized how tired I actually was. I fell asleep quickly, and have never slept more soundly.
I awoke the next morning especially early. All of the girls were still in bed. I changed into my robes quietly and crept down the stairs. It seemed that nobody was awake yet. I left common room and made my way to where the kitchens were. I approached the painting of the fruit. I stared at it for a moment, and feeling quite stupid I lightly brushed the pear with my index finger. It squealed and stirred a bit, and the portrait swung open. I stepped in to see hundreds of small dirty creatures wearing rags. They had huge eyes, about the size of tennis balls and floppy bat-like ears.
"'Ello, miss!" squeaked the house elf closest to me.
"Uh…Hi?"
"I is Rika! I is happy to see you! How can I help you, miss?"
"Hello, Rika. My name is Alex, and I actually have a few questions to ask for first. Do you know Fred and George Weasley?"
"Yes miss, I do! They comes in for food all the time, miss!"
"Well, they're my friends. They really like salt- especially in their pancakes. Loads of it. D'you think that for just this morning you can add a lot of salt to a few pancakes that are sure to get to them?"
"Why yes, miss! Rika is glad to do that for Masters Fred and George!" I felt a pang in my gut. George didn't deserve this.
"Actually, Rika, I think only Fred likes the salt. If they want more, they'll come in and see you. Is that okay?"
"Yes miss, that is okay! Is there anything Alex wants now?"
"Uh…" I thought about it momentarily. "Coffee with cream and sugar?" Rika nodded excitedly and came back momentarily with my mug.
"Here you go, miss! Do you like it?" I look a sip and nodded happily. It was the best cup of coffee I've had in years.
"Thank you very much, Rika. You are a superb house elf!" She glowed with happiness and curtseyed several times.
"You are too kind, Miss Alex! Rika will be happy to see you again!" A large bunch of house elves waved me away, squeaking their thanks. I left the kitchen with my very large mug of coffee. I walked back to the common room, sipping it now and then. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to try and find the Great Hall alone.
"Fortuna Major," I said to a very sleepy looking Fat Lady.
"Yes, yes," she yawned as she opened for me. I climbed in to see Fred and George with a pile of paper and pens. I smirked to myself and crept behind them.
"What'cha doing there?" I asked into their ears.
"Holy….!" They exclaimed as they jumped out of their chairs.
"Why yes, I am holy. Thanks for noticing," I mused.
"What are you doing up?" asked Fred (I'm getting good at this). I held out my coffee cup for him to see.
"I need my caffeine. What are you doing up?"
"Brainstorming," George answered.
"For what?" I asked with a snort. I took a seat next to Fred on a sofa.
"Joke products. We're going to start selling them here, but we need to think of ideas, develop and test them first, so don't freak out." Fred said, eyeing me with curiosity.
"My friend Hope and I actually did that last year," I giggled at their surprised expressions. "She had the ideas, and I had the brain."
"Well, what did you make?"
"This and that. You can come up with your own ideas." I laughed at their disappointed faces.
"We're going to fling Dungbombs into the Slytherins' pumpkin juices some time. Want to help with that?"
"No! I told you, I was the brain. My friend would get an idea and I would help fine-tune it. I don't want to get in trouble."
"Oh, what's a detention or two?"
"I've haven't gotten a detention in my life."
"Never?" gasped Fred.
"Not one." I answered.
"Wow, even Hermione has gotten detention!" George exclaimed.
"That has got to change," Fred added. "You will get detention one way or another!"
"Are you really going to go around and try to get me a detention?" I asked. The look on my face challenged their sanity.
"It's a right of passage!" Fred claimed. I nearly snorted again.
"Wow, okay then. Keep telling yourself that." A few sleepy boys walked down the stairs rubbing their eyes.
"Hey Fred, hey George. Want to go to breakfast now?"
"Nah, too early. Plus we're busy here with Alex! Don't you have eyes?" I shrugged and shook my head at the boys.
"Blimey, I'm sorry," said one of the sleepy boys. "Have fun." They winked as they exited the room.
"If you can get detention for having a bad reputation you just might succeed in your quest."
"You don't have a bad reputation," they laughed.
"I will if you keep that up." They grinned at me and crouched over the papers, talking quietly and scribbling down ideas. I stared blankly at a wall, occasionally drinking my coffee. After a large sum of Gryffindors had left to breakfast, they stuffed the parchment into their bags.
"Ready to go?"
"Sure." I gulped down the remainder of my coffee which was merely warm by that point. I didn't really pay attention to what they were talking about; I was focused on memorizing the way to the Great Hall. When we got there the tables were already covered in food. We sat in the same spots we did last night, and Lee was already there eating.
"These pancakes are excellent!" Lee said with a contented grin. Fred and George instantly helped themselves to large stacks, and I decided to try the waffles instead. I watched Fred closely as he took his first bite. He smiled in delight.
"These are delicious!" He then proceeded to shovel in the pancakes. Lee and George looked fine as well. I guess the elves changed their minds. I shrugged and ate my Belgium Waffles happily. I hadn't been so happy for a long time.
"Ugh!" I looked over at Fred; he had frozen in place and had this horrible expression of disgust written across his face. He spat out his current bite, which was saturated with salt. His eyes watered up and he took a huge gulp of pumpkin juice, finishing it. I handed him mine sympathetically, regretting the prank instantly.
"Are the house elves trying to do me in?" he asked incredulously once he got the taste out of his mouth.
"Maybe you offended them," Lee offered.
"Yeah, you did say the fake meat Alex was eating was disgusting," George agreed.
"How did they hear?" He began to look under his seat, searching for a house elf.
"Dunno. Maybe when they were magically refilling the plates they heard," Lee suggested.
"What, are they invisible?" He started groping around wildly under his seat.
"I dunno, but they must have heard somehow."
"But that fake stuff was absolutely horrendous!" he looked down at his pancakes, and then decided that insulting the food wouldn't help much. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!" He said over and over again, looking worried. "I didn't mean it!"
"That isn't going to do anything. Why don't you magically remove the salt?" I asked while laughing.
"I don't know how! Do you?" he asked George, who shook his head. He looked at Lee expectantly who shrugged.
"How pathetic. Don't they teach cooking here?"
"I dunno, maybe. I haven't taken it in any case." I rolled my eyes and grabbed his plate from him. I waved my wand at it and the salt began seeping out of it and settled in a pile on my now empty plate.
"I think I love you," he said with a huge grin. He took a cautious bite and then began to devour it.
"Oh look, the schedules are getting passed out now," George said as he looked at the far end of the table. I looked too, and saw Professor McGonagall beckoning me over.
"I'll be right back," I said as I stood up.
"Good morning Miss Whitely," she said.
"Good morning Professor. How are you?"
"Really good, thank you. It is my understanding that you have taken several Healing courses in America?" I nodded. "We don't offer that here, but Madam Pomfrey will be more than happy to have you come in for one period a day and help out. Would you like that?"
"Yes! We didn't really get much practice in real cases, just fake injuries on magical dolls and what not."
"Well then that's settled. Here is your schedule. Use any free period you wish to help out." I grinned.
"Thank you very much, Professor." I joined everybody back at the table.
"Let's see it then," Fred said as he grabbed my schedule.
"Oh, that was polite," I muttered under my breath.
"Same as us. Excellent!"
"Oh, god. I just might get my first detention this year." They all smiled at me.
"That's the way to think positively," Fred joked as he patted my shoulder. This is going to be one hell of a year.
((Again, thanks to Black Gate Keeper for the salty pancake idea. She actually did that to me before, and it was terrible. So I decided that it was Fred's turn to suffer as I did.))