14

Thirteen-year-old Alexandra Deianeira Russo was going to be the youngest girl ever sent to Azkaban Prison…

Stripped of her powers, the Ministry of Magic and the Wizard's Council debated back and forth just how to punish her. They were the highest board of experienced wizards in the secret magic community, a bit more obscure than the Free Masons or the Knights Templar. As they debated and examined the facts, they wondered just how to punish and sentence the Russo girl. She just might likely be sent to Azkaban for illegal breaking of the interdimensional laws, two counts of theft, conspiracy, attempted murder of her own cousin, using her magic in public as a minor… although that could be tossed out since it only occurred in three other different realities. No one wanted to see a girl that young in Azkaban, and Jerry Russo pleaded on behalf of his daughter, screaming that he still loved her and to have mercy on her, but the one thing working against Alex was a long history back to six-years old of being mean, nasty, lazy, selfish and corrupt. Things started really turning bad when her own brother, Justin Herschel Russo, wanted to help support the prosecution!

A night and day under Madame Pomfrey, and Gabrielle was back to full health and had her looks back. During her convalescence, she listened to the Selena Gomez CD that her cousin had brought over and liked it. She kind of wished that girl was the cousin she really had. Her nose had been broken by Alex, and after it had healed, it whistled a bit at times; her back was going to bother her for a short while, but other than that, she was back to her full vitality. In the fourth floor ladies room, the ghost of Moaning Myrtle sat above the sinks as Gabrielle washed up alongside Taylor, Kelsey and several other girls for the Graduation Party in the Assembly Hall. Perfect hair, hits of perfume, the ideal dress… Gabrielle could only think of Troy standing and waiting for her downstairs.

"How can you stand there…" Taylor stood in Gabrielle's reflection. "After that cousin of yours tried to kill you and exile you in another reality?"

"That wasn't the Alex I grew up with." The Waverly sorceress looked to Taylor's image in the mirror. "Despite what she did, I forgive her. Alex still is and will always be my favorite and only sister. I can't just forget years of happy memories over one horrible incident. Sisters fight…"

"She tried to kill you." Kelsey reminded her.

"Alex could never kill me…" Gabrielle sprayed more perfume on herself.

"You're too good a person, Gabrielle." Taylor hugged her. "But…" She recalled something from the story Gabrielle had told from the Hogwarts Vault. "What do you think she meant when she said Sharpay had something planned for you?"

"I don't know…" The brunette ingénue adjusted her hair again. "After all, if Sharpay wasn't after the Crystal Key, what was she doing with Professor Lupin's books of potions? And why would Professor Snape accuse her of stealing ingredients if she wasn't?"

"Well,…" Kelsey tried to think.

"Don't worry about it." Taylor grinned that grin of all knowing that made her seem more mature. "It's all over. Look, it's the end of year, you're with one of the hottest guys in class and you look hot. Don't worry about someone as insignificant as Sharpay."

"I like your dress." Kelsey looked cute too. "It's much nicer than the other one you picked out."

"I don't know what happened to that one." Gabrielle turned round in her white dress. "I know I had it after it arrived in the Assembly Hall… but I lost it."

"I'm sure we'll find whoever took it wearing it in the Assembly Hall." Taylor was ready to head to the party downstairs.

"Have fun, ladies…" Moaning Myrtle waved them good-bye with her ghostly sepulchral voice. "Don't forget your flowers."

"Flowers…" Kelsey checked on hers and Gabrielle reached to adjust hers, but she didn't have it. She looked back and around. "My corsage." She didn't have it. "I left the corsage Troy gave me in Gryffindor Hall; I have to run back for it. Taylor, will you tell Troy I'll be right down."

"I'm sure he'll wait." Taylor went off to catch up with Chad, and Kelsey went off the meet Ryan in the other direction. Her feet tapping out across the floor, Gabrielle headed back to the portrait of the Fat Lady concealing their house and gave the secret password to enter past the talking painting.

"Password?"

"Pineapple jacks." Gabrielle spoke and the Fat Lady gestured to her frame swinging aside to reveal the doorway behind it. Inside the empty common room, the corsage was on the arm of the sofa where she had left it after getting it. She felt a bit foolish for forgetting it, but there was just so much going on since the trouble with Alex. A moment to pin it to her white dress and she was racing to meet Troy. Back out into the hallway, she hastened her step with a light jaunt toward the Great Hall and started down the staircase just coming into place adjacent to the direct route to the assembly hall. As she reached the staircase leading out of the Great Hall, she descended down to meet Lily Finnerty of Slitherin Hall coming from the Game Room carrying a tray of pastries.

"Well, hey there, Gabrielle!!!" She seemed pleasant for once. "Fancy meeting you here! I was just bringing these to add to the refreshment table in the Assembly Hall." She looked around once and again. "They're from a old Finnerty family recipe. Like to try one?"

"They look nice." Gabrielle looked down to fifty cookie-sized cakes and reached to take one of the gooey chocolate pastries. She chose the one from the corner a bit smaller than the rest. Lily grinned secretly as Gabrielle true to her character sampled one of the pastries and took a deep bite. "It's chewy and sweet." She spoke. "I can really taste the cinnamon and…" Her eyes rolled back sleepily, her body swayed a bit and she slumped to her feet as Sharpay and Tawni came out to deal with her.

"Mindus perendi!!!" Lily seemingly folded up the silver tray and chocolate pastries into nothingness, and Sharpay reached down over Gabrielle to pluck a hair from her head.

"Lily, stick her in the housekeeping closet for a white." Sharpay reached out. "Tawni, polyjuice potion." Tawni gave her the potion they had created from Lupin's book and Snape's ingredients. As Lily dragged Gabrielle into the closet, Sharpay dropped the hair into the potion and stirred it in.

"In a minute, Troy Boyden's going to be mine…" She grinned to her friends. "And by time I'm through with him, he'll be begging to come back to me. Cheers." She toasted her friends and lifted the potion to her lips, sipping it at first then quickly gagging and thrusting the goblet containing it back to Tawni. "Oh god!!! I thought I told you to do something about the taste!!"

"I did!" Tawni insisted. "I mixed it with a Diet Coke!"

"I hope that doesn't affect the potion." Lily wondered.

"What?!!!" Sharpay looked at them as her skin started creeping and crawling. She looked large bumps swelling and popping on her hands. From inside her body, she felt a large gas bubble in her stomach coming up as she burped a little, but that wasn't anything close to what was actually happening to her. From her head, Lily and Tawni watched as Sharpay's blonde hair seemed to fill with color pouring into it from her head. Her bosom filled out remarkably, then relaxed just as the rest of her clothing started falling loose. The blonde one felt her bones shrinking, her skin and internal organs shrinking as she transformed. The sensation was like being filled with ants crawling all over her, but it also started going away and she felt good again. In fact, she started feeling better than ever!

"Well?" She looked to her friends. Tawni quickly pulled her mirror out, and as Sharpay looked into it, she saw Gabrielle's surprised face looking back!

"Yes! Yes! Yes!!!" She began giggling and dancing around on the spot. "Excellent!!! Get me her black dress! I can't leave Troy waiting."

Elsewhere...

"Where's Gabrielle?" Troy asked. The tables in the Assembly Hall had been mystically conjured out for the Graduation Party. Students from all houses were dancing with each other. Looking for Gabrielle, Troy walked up to Chad dancing with Taylor and got their attention. "She promised to be here ten minutes ago."

"Troy, relax…" Taylor tried to alleviate his feelings. "She went back to get her corsage. She'll be right here."

"Yeah…" Chad didn't care much for the slow chamber music he and the others had to dance to, but Taylor liked it and he wanted to spare offending her. "Look, she'll be right… look, there she is!" He pointed to Gabrielle at the entrance arriving between Lily and Tawni. Taylor looked again suspiciously. She was wearing the missing black dress and the corsage.

"What's she doing with those two?" She wondered as Gabrielle saw them as lit up excitedly. She sent off Tawni and Lily as if they obeyed her and then came skipping up excitedly up to Troy in his tux, grabbing him around the chest and giggling as if she owned him.

"Hi, Troy!" She was hysterically happy to be near him.

"Hey…" He looked happy to be seeing her as Taylor walked around Gabrielle looking her over. "You found the corsage. Want to dance?"

"Forever!" Her eyes rounding with anticipation, Gabrielle beamed happily as Troy took her by the waist and started to sway her out among all the other students, but Chad came around in his tux and stopped them.

"Gabrielle…" He stopped them. "I got an owl from my dad at the Ministry of Magic. I'm afraid Alex got twenty-five years at Azkaban for stealing the Crystal Key, using it and trying to kill you."

"Don't care." Gabrielle responded back. "She can rot for all I care!"

"What?!" Taylor reacted and knew something was very wrong. That was not what she had said less than ten minutes ago. Gabrielle just grabbed Troy back harder and tugged him confused out on to the dance floor. Spinning on her heel in her blue dress, Taylor tugged Chad across as well toward the entrance.

"Follow me!" She told him. "Something is really wrong here."