WHEEEEE! Okay, sorry you had to witness that. I'm on VACATION! (edit:was) Woo.

Emmick: Shouldn't you be telling us what Jennifer does with her recently acquired information?

Me: ...yeah...

Emmick: Can I be a ninja?

Me: ...no...

Emmick: Why not?

Me: Because I'm the writer and I don't want you to be.

Chapter 12

It's Not About Me, For Once.

"Oh my god," said Emmick, shocked, when I showed her Lila's file. We were in a hallway right between Ravenclaw tower and Hufflepuff corridor. Crouched in one of the many alcoves in the hallway, shadowed enough so nobody walking down the hall would see us, but not so deep that we wouldn't see anyone approaching. Normally there would be a suit of armor there, but this one had been taken away for cleaning, and thus it made a perfect hiding spot. It was past curfew, and we didn't want to be caught.

"I know right? Should I tell her?" I asked. Of course, that would be the right thing to do, but I didn't know how loudly she would react, and I didn't want anyone to know I'd stolen her file.

"Of course! It's her family history! I think she has a right to know!"she responded, confirming my sentiment that we should tell her. After all, with me thinking with my heart and Emmick thinking with her head, what could go wrong?

"WHAT?" Lila demanded, slamming down her glass of pumpkin juice on the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall. I didn't really care for pumpkin juice, although I loved Pumpkin Pasties. But that's beside the point.

"Calm, Lila. I'm sure it's no big-" I started, but she didn't let me finish.

"No big deal? NO BIG DEAL? I just found out that I'm the distant relative of one of the four founders of Hogwarts! And that's NO BIG DEAL?" I looked at her blankly.

"You may want to be quiet. Professor Tristus doesn't exactly know that I stole your file from his office," I warned her. The last thing I wanted was a suspension, or worse, an expulsion. Hogwarts was awesome.

"Oh," she said quietly. Suddenly some Ravenclaw kid's waffle blew up. I giggled. "Be serious!" she ordered.

"Sorry," I apologized. "It's kinda hard to remain focused when people's food blow up." I watched the kid's face grow red as his classmates laughed at him.

"SHUT UP, okay? Just shut up!" he cried, running from the table. Lila, Emma, and I glanced at each other. We stood up, grabbing Jean and Emmick on the way out the door. Jean looked upset to be interrupted, and I rolled my eyes. When we exited the great hall, we saw the boy sulking in a corner. He had long blond hair and blue eyes, and his blue and bronze tie was slightly crooked.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, and he looked up. He nodded silently. "What's your name?"

"Leon," he replied matter-of-factly . He didn't seem too upset anymore. I wondered why. In fact, he looked a bit pleased with his situation. Emma still looked concerned.

"So if you're not upset, why did you run all the way out here?" she inquired.

"Oh, I just wanted to get out of the blast zone," he replied. We all stared at each other for a second before we heard a sound like waffles exploding and a scream that came from the general direction of the Ravenclaw table. A few splatters of whipped cream came flying out from the great hall and splattered our new school robes. Jean seethed.

"May I curse this kid?" Jean asked us. Emmick put her hands on her hips.

"No!" she exclaimed. "He's my housemate! Pain in the butt that he is." Leon was sticking out his tongue at Lila, and I was concerned I'd missed something.

"Stalker," he said pointedly. Even I was having trouble being patient.

"Okay, that was a waste of time, and now we have to clean up," I said, heading towards the great hall. "We have more important things to deal with than some kid who blows up food." We walked silently back into the hall, and Jean immediately went back to sit with Teddy and some other Gryffindor kid. She'd been spending less and less time with us lately and I was worried about the amount of time she spent with Lupin. It had been months since his slip of words and I was starting to regret being so cold to him. He was still very cute.

We left the hall to go to our classes, but on the way to the greenhouse, me and the other Hufflepuffs ran into Amida Carrow. She scowled.

"Ah, the loser brigade," she said as if she'd been expecting us. "I expect you're still angry about Greta Hellerd." I know I shouldn't have, but found myself thinking, so that's her name. Silently, every Hufflepuff in the hallway drew their wands and pointed them at Amida. She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I know when I'm outnumbered." She started to walk away, then turned to me. "Nice ears." Feeling the tips of my hair turn red, I morphed my ears to a normal shape.

I was instantly comforted by several Hufflepuffs and I felt much better. I walked in the door to Professor Longbottom's greenhouse and had him pull me aside.

"Jennifer, are you okay? Your hair is red at the ends and you changed your ears back," he asked, concerned. I'd been in his class for about a month now and he had figured out the little things I do when I'm upset. I looked at him.

"Nothing's wrong," I lied blatantly and headed for my seat.

Well then. I own nothing. Read and Review, you know the drill.