(A/N): You know, writing these chapters isn't so hard. I should do it more often! Thanks to Unknown preference for the review! :)
Hanna wiped up the last drop of orange goo from the floor, taking care not to get any of it on her clothes. "Sean," said Hanna, fanning herself with one hand and batting her lashes. "It's getting hot in here."
The two of them were cleaning up the Potions dungeon after class because the cauldron had exploded. They were supposed to be at the Great Hall for dinner, but Hanna didn't feel like being around all those tantalizing-yet-fattening carbs at the moment.
"You think so?" Sean took his wand out of the pocket of his crsip black skinny jeans. "Frigidus!" A cloud of icy blue air puffed out of the end of his wand and scattered into the air.
He smiled at her. "Is that better?"
"Um, yeah," said Hanna. Sean, don't you know a flirty move when you see one? she thought in exasperation. Sometimes Hanna thought Sean was stupid, despite his honor roll grades and eight O..
"Let's go upstairs," he suggested, facing the door.
"Sean!" exclaimed Hanna, grabbing his hand. "Don't you wanna stay here for a little bit?" She made puppy eyes at him, fluttering her mascara-ed lashes.
"No, not reallly!"
Hanna rolled her eyes. Do I have to spell it out for him? She leaned forward and jammed her lips up to Sean's mouth, working her toungue between his lips.
He gently pushed her back. "Hanna, we're supposed to be at the Great Hall."
"What, now you don't wanna make out anymore?" Hanna whimpered, pouting like a scolded two-year-old.
"I do...but not right now!" Sean looked around uneasily. "Someone might see us."
"Yeah, right!" Hanna bent her body toward him again, but he just sighed and shrugged her off.
"I'm really hungry, Han." With that, Sean made his way towards the door.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," Sean opened the door.
Pursing her lips, Hanna followed him through.
o o o
"Hanna Marin, there you are," Professor Stone, a short woman with platinum blonde hair in a stern bun, hurried up to her as she made her way to the Slytherin common room.
"What? Why?" She had never been in trouble before, not in all her six years of school.
"He didn't say," The professer shrugged. "But it seems to be quite serious."
Mona glanced at her in alarm. What did you do? said her chestnut-brown eyes. Hanna shrugged at her best friend and headed after the Professor. She led Hanna up a few flights of stairs and down a corridor. Looking around her, Hanna realized that she had never visited this wing of the castle before. It seemed strange and unfamiliar, with dull taupe carpets and portraits of sleeping ladies in wimples adorning the walls.
Professor Stone walked up to a pedestal where a stone gargoyle sat, its mouth set in a creepy grin. "Chocolate frog! No, it's been changed...Cockroach Clusters!"
Hanna was wondering why the Professor was shouting out random candy names when the wall behind the gargoyle suddenly swung aside like a door. Professor Stone prodded Hanna in the back. "In you go."
Her six-inch heels made little clip-clop noises as she approached the door. "Hello?" She slipped through the gap without even brushing against the knobbly wood. Ha! I am so damn skinny!
As she walked into the office, the moldy smell of old books hit her nose. At the center of the room there was a huge mahogany desk with papers, quills, and heavy books scattered across it. The Headmaster peeked around a stack of bulky encyclopedia volumes, his ash-blond hair sticking up like the fur of an agitated cat. "Ah, you're here."
"What's going on?" Hanna's gaze wandered to the cracked leather armchair. "Mom? What are you doing here?" Still wearing her professional dress robes and porcelain make-up, Ashley Marin looked as if she had just got off work.
"I called her in on Wilden's request." The Headmaster gestured at a young man beside his desk. Hanna looked him up and down, from his toned arms to his slightly mussed dark hair. He's pretty hot, she observed, despite the circumstances.
The man cleared his throat. "I'm Darren Wilden, Department of Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic."
"Hey, I know you!" cried Hanna, recognizing him. "You used to go to Hogwarts! You were in the same year as Ian Thomas!" The Darren Wilden who went to Hogwarts had been a bossy troublemaker, always beating people up or stealing things. Now it seemed that he'd completely changed sides.
"That's right," Wilden frowned as if he thought Hanna was annoying. "Now, Hanna Marin, is it?" She nodded. "The owners of Twilfit and Tattings claim that a certain bracelet of theirs is missing."
Hanna felt a chill running down her back. Damn it, how could they know? She was always so careful.
"So what?" she bluffed.
"They think that you took it." Wilden watched her face carefully.
She kept her face still, trying not to give herself away. "Er...what? Why would I do something like that?"
He raised his eyebrows. "We received an anonymous tip about it this afternoon."
"I don't have any bracelets from Twilfit and Tattings," lied Hanna.
"Oh, really? What about the one you're wearing?"
Her stomach lurched as she became conscious of the weight on her left wrist. How could she be so stupid?
lept to her feet. "This is outrageous! My daughter is a minor! She can't be unfairly accused."
The Headmaster, who'd been trying to peer down Ms. Marin's top, looked up quickly. "I think you should listen to ."
"Ma'am, your daughter has to own up to her actions."
"It's my fault, Wilden, it really is." insisted Ms. Marin. "I told her she couldn't have it." Hanna raised an eyebrow. Her mother didn't even know she went to Twilfit and Tattings.
Wilden brushed a speck of dirt off his bog-green robes. "Well, she is a minor. I suppose we could negotiate...but you know she'll have to be written up for it."
Hanna gulped. She knew it would be an awful stain of her record, as permanent as the sweat stains that were forming unnder her arms right now. It-girls didn't shoplift! Once everyone found out about this, she would go back to being a loser. She had a vision of herself in a bathroom stall, cheeks chubby and hair frizzy, puking up a fresh binge of Bertie Bott's.
No, she told herself, heart thumping hard as Ms. Marin and Wilden argued back and forth. I'm not going back to that, no matter what.
Screeeeccchh!
"Puff!" Hanna squealed, rushing to the window.
"I wouldn't open that window if I were you!" called the Headmaster, but Hanna was already unbolting the complicated latch. The poor little thing, he must be so hungry and tired-
BOOM! A cloud of ash flew into the air as soon as she pressed the windowpane open. Hanna gaped. "What the hell?" She had black powder in her hair and on the front of her pink silk tank top. This would take her forever to clean!
Ms. Marin and Wilden ceased their arguing to look at her. "Are you okay?" her mom called.
"It's perfectly harmless," piped up the Headmaster. "One of the old Headmasters had a sense of humor, I suppose..."
"Well, it's not funny!" Hanna felt a pinch on her shoulder as Puff landed there. Hanna took him on her arm. The screech owl's normally brown feathers were dusted with sooty black.
Hanna pried a note from Puff's tiny beak. She was tempted to just toss it out, but she relented that Puff wouldn't have brought it right away if it wasn't important. So she read it.
Hey, Han. Since prison food makes you fat, you know what Sean's gonna say? Not it! -A
No. Ali was probably dead. It couldn't possibly be her. Could it?