A/N: Yay! She's actually posted an update again! Things are improving, maybe, depending on whether you see being able to read more of what spews out of my brain as an improvement… Er, anyways, in my defence it's taken me a lot less time to post this than it did the last chapter (although I'm not sure how that's helping).

…I'm waffling again. I only own the very strange girl named Faith, yadda yadda. Enjoy the nonsense produced by my brain! :D

Chapter Seven: The Hedgehog Liberation Movement

The following morning over breakfast Faith couldn't help but watch Neville more closely than usual. He seemed to be more or less himself again and, although he was quieter than usual, he was joining in Dean and Seamus' debate about how best to get out of that afternoons potions lesson. He caught her looking a few times, each time giving her a small reassuring smile. When their eyes met for the fifth time, with Faith's concern still clearly evident he shook his head slightly, smiling and mouthed 'I'm ok'. Faith nodded and returned his smile then tried to concentrate on her breakfast, although as Seamus, who was sat across from her was illustrating his point by waving his fork around and sending bits of food flying off it, this proved difficult.

A few minutes later, just as Faith picked a particularly large piece of bacon that had escaped from Seamus' fork out of her hair and chucked it back at him there was a loud whooshing sound as the morning post arrived. At this point a slightly grumpy looking barn owl landed on the table between Faith and Seamus.

"Hey there Sagey" Faith cooed, reaching out to pet the owl and to remove the letter tied to his leg.

"Is that thing still around?" Seamus was looking disdainfully at the owl.

"He's an owl Seamus" Faith stated, as Sage wandered away from her to see if he could scrounge anything off Dean or Neville (something he was usually successful at).

"So?"

"So, they live…well…I don't know how long exactly, but longer than a few years. Sage is only six, he's still a baby" she smiled at the owl, who was looking expectantly from Neville to Dean and back again.

"Could've fooled me" Seamus grumbled "He acts like a grumpy old man!"

"Just 'cause you and the owl don't get on" Dean chipped in, as he fed Sage a few scraps of food (mainly those which Seamus had been sending flying earlier).

"Yeah, well, he's evil!" Seamus complained.

"Funny how it's only you that notices that" Faith said, watching Sage nuzzle into Neville's hand as he petted the owl absentmindedly.

"I'm telling you, that owl is out to get me, I can tell" he shot a glare at the animal.

"Uh huh, sure you can" she sounded like she was talking to someone who was particularly slow "Now please stop waving your fork at poor Sage, you're gonna injure him, or take someone's eye out" she paused "Hopefully your own" she added, sticking her tongue out.

"So what did he bring you anyway?" Dean asked curiously, as Faith coaxed Sage back over to her with some more scraps, before he took off back to the Owlery.

"I don't know yet" She replied "I might have had chance to read this if Finnigan wasn't once again threatening my poor owl!"

"He started it!" Seamus objected.

Faith rolled her eyes and opened the letter, it was from her parents. She had sent them an excited message the day after she had arrived at the castle telling them about the Tri-wizard tournament. The letter read:

Dear Faith

It sounds like you are going to have a very exciting year at Hogwarts. Enjoy yourself, the Tri-wizard Tournament will definitely be an amazing spectacle and something for you to remember for a long time. We can tell by your letter (and the fact you made poor Sage fly all the way home only the day after he left) that you are very excited by the idea of the tournament, and so you should be. The tournament stopped years ago, so neither your father or uncles or even your grandparents witnessed it during their time at the school. We do however all know the history of the competition and know that you are very lucky to bear witness to its return.

We know you are upset that Dumbledore has restricted entry to those who are of age but this is done for a very good reason. We know very well what you, Fred, and George are like and imagine you are cooking up some scheme even as you read this. Do not try it Faith. Do not endanger yourself by trying to outsmart your professors on this matter. They know what they are doing and why. Just enjoy watching the action from afar instead of getting yourself into trouble for a change.

Enjoy the tournament but make sure you study hard too. Your OWLs are only a year away and if you want to do well you need to start preparing now.

Have fun, be safe, and we hope to hear from you again soon.

Love

Mum & Dad

Faith read the letter and then, grumbling passed it to the boys.

"I was hoping they were gonna tell me a bit more about the tournament" she told them.

Seamus, the letter in one hand, a forkful of food in the other chuckled "Instead they've just sent you a lecture."

"Yeah, on something the twins won't even let me help with, so fat chance of me actually being the danger to myself that that letter would suggest" she pulled a face.

"Cheer up, I'm sure you'll find plenty of other ways to injure yourself" Dean assured her.

"Aye, you've managed that fine without a tournament for the past three years" Seamus added.

"And hey look, there's another note here" Neville informed her, pulling said note out of the envelope, which he had been fiddling with, and passing it to her.

Faith smiled as she read it "It's from my little brother" she told the boys, before reading it out.

"Faith, you are sooooo lucky, you're at Hogwarts, you got to go to the Quidditch World Cup and you get a really cool tournament thing. Do you think I could come see any of it? Pleeeease! Ask Dumbledore or McMonigle or whatever she's called! I'd be good. Or maybe you could send me something cool from it? You never did send me a desk. Hey, do you think they'll run it again next year? Then I'd be able to see it too. I really hope so. Anyway, Mum's telling me not to nag you so, um, bye. from Jeremy"

By the time she finished reading this they were all chuckling.

"I love your brother's little notes" Dean informed her.

"Send him a desk?" Neville asked.

"Yeah…He was upset when I first came away so I said I'd try to send him one" Faith explained "Apparently the kid has a very good memory when it suits him."

"So nothing like his big sister then" Dean teased.

"Hey! I have a good memory" Faith objected "It's just the sense of direction, balance and coordination that I'm missing…"

"So, does this mean we have a new mission?" Seamus asked.

"Find Faith a sense of direction?" questioned Dean.

"No, although that might also help…"

"If you can find me one while you're on that'd be great" Neville added, grinning.

"Can you please get to the point Finnigan" Faith huffed.

"Our mission, gentlemen…and lady, well female…" Seamus started.

"Hey!" interrupted Faith.

"Our mission, is to retrieve some part of the tournament for little Jeremy" Seamus was grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, and it's not like that should be difficult, or dangerous" came Neville's sarcastic reply, which did very little to deter to plotting which Faith and Seamus had now started.

Later that day in transfiguration Faith was in trouble, again (although as she had been back in the castle for nearly a full week without a detention she felt she was doing fairly well all told). The class had each been given a hedgehog and were told that they were to turn them into pincushions, something which was bound to be more successful for some of them than others.

Faith, not great at transfiguration at the best of times (mainly due to a lack of concentration), was far too amused by the hedgehog itself to make any real effort at the lesson. The creature she had been given was quite a bold little thing, investigating every inch of her desk, chasing Neville's hedgehog off when it meandered a bit too far across from his side of the desk and even wandering confidently up to Faith's hand when she placed it down near the animal experimentally. Faith took an immediate shine to it.

"Hey there little fellow" she cooed at it "aren't you sweet? I bet you wouldn't mind getting out of this classroom."

"Oh no" Dean groaned, turning around to look at her over the back of his chair "Please tell me you're not about to attempt what I think you are."

"I'm going to liberate Mr Prickles here" Faith informed him, matter-of-factly.

Dean rolled his eyes and Seamus, sat next to him, turned around to join the conversation, informing Dean:

"It's got a name, you've had it mate."

"What do you plan on feeding it?" Neville quizzed Faith.

"Well, worms and stuff" she said "We live in an old castle, I'm sure there are plenty of bugs around."

"And you're going to catch them?" Neville had adopted Faith's 'I'm talking to an idiot' tone (which she usually reserved for Seamus or the twins).

"No, Mr Prickles is" she informed him, as if it was obvious "Ooo, we used to put dog food out for the hedgehogs at home. D'ya think the house elves could find me some?"

"Yes Tig, I'm sure that's something they regularly need" Dean replied, rolling his eyes.

"Why not? Fang lives here, he needs feeding…maybe Hagrid has some then…"

At this point Dean and Seamus both just sighed, shook their heads and turned back to their own hedgehogs, leaving Neville to continue trying to convince Faith that 'liberating' the hedgehog would not end well, to no avail.

Ten minutes later 'Mr Prickles' was safely stowed in Faith's bag and her hand was waving in the air for Professor McGonagall's attention. The professor looked up from the parchment she was writing on.

"Yes Miss Higgins?"

"Er, Professor. Could I have another hedgehog please? I took my eyes off mine for a minute and I think it's scuttled off into a corner somewhere" Faith did her best to look the picture of innocence.

"Indeed Miss Higgins?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow "Well in that case, I suggest you find it. We can not have animals running loose in the classroom and you are not getting another one."

Faith grumbled to herself and, whilst trying to think of a way around her lack of a hedgehog, got up from her seat so she could hunt for the imaginary missing one. She scuttled around under her desk, then crawled around in front of it and annoyed Seamus and Dean by trying to get under theirs, all while still looking for the hedgehog. Sat on the floor next to Dean she nudged his leg.

"Hey, can I borrow your hedgehog for a minute?" she murmured

"And you don't think McGonagall will notice that?" he asked, looking down at her sceptically.

"Well…not if you don't make it obvious, so can I?"

"Hmm, let me think…no" he then turned back to his desk.

Faith shifted around so she was next to Seamus.

"Seamus, can I…" she started.

"No" he interrupted.

"You didn't even let me finish!" Faith objected.

"Cause I know what you're gonna ask" he pointed out.

Just then a stern voice from the opposite side of the desk gained their attention.

"Miss Higgins" McGonagall was glaring down at her "How is distracting your classmates helping you find your missing hedgehog?"

"Er…" Faith struggled for an excuse "…I was asking them if they saw where it went?"

"Stop distracting Mr Thomas and Mr Finnigan and find the animal" McGonagall instructed her before returning to the front of the classroom.

Faith, grumbling to herself again, moved back around the desk to where her chair was. Deciding there might be something in her bag that would help (and briefly forgetting the rather spiky creature she had stowed in there) she began to rummage around in it.

"Oow!" her hand shot out of the bag and she sucked on her finger where she had injured herself. Her shout was enough to gain McGonagall's attention again (along with most of the class).

"I assume you have found your missing hedgehog, Miss Higgins" the professor stated.

Faith, her finger still in her mouth, grinned sheepishly then removed her injured hand from her mouth and carefully fished 'Mr Prickles' out of her bag.

"I don't know how it got in there Professor. It must have looked like a good place for a nest"

The look on McGonagall's face made it all too obvious she did not believe Faith.

"I will let you off this time Miss Higgins" she began sternly "But if any more hedgehogs inexplicably decide to nest in your bag you will be in detention, you understand?"

"Yes Professor" Faith mumbled, eyes cast down.

"Now get on with the lesson and stop disrupting the class."

Faith plonked herself back in her seat, releasing 'Mr Prickles' back onto the desk as she did so. She then amused herself by encouraging him to chase Neville's hedgehog who, up until this point, had been curled up in a tight ball and, for all Neville's attempts did not appear any more pincushion-y. The game of hedgehog chase continued for a few minutes, until Neville fended both Faith and Mr Prickles off by building a barricade from the various books and papers on the desk. At this point Faith looked up and noticed Professor McGonagall moving through the classroom inspecting the students and approaching their desk. Faith decided this was probably a good time to actually do some work and attempt the task they had been set, whatever affect this might have on poor Mr Prickles.

"Ooooowww!"

It was her second weekend back at Hogwarts and Faith was already in the Hospital Wing. This was not for some minor scrape or a spell gone wrong either. Nope, she had been a fourth year for only two weeks and Faith had already managed to break her ankle, badly.

"You're an idiot Tig" Seamus informed her 'sympathetically'.

Faith groaned in a mixture of pain and annoyance.

"It's your fault" she grumbled, glaring at Dean and Seamus who, along with Neville were sat at her bedside.

"Did we force you onto the broom?" Dean asked.

"Well, no…" Faith admitted.

"Therefore we can not be held responsible for your clumsiness and general lack of coordination" Dean reasoned.

"You two made the bet though!" she exclaimed, wincing as the pain in her leg flared again.

"You didn't have to accept" Dean pointed out.

"Aye, you knew it would end badly" Seamus added.

"Yeah, well, so did you two! And you knew I would accept!"

"Still doesn't make us responsible for your idiocy" Seamus argued.

"Yeah, well…HEY! I'm in pain here! A little sympathy!" Faith objected.

"You'll be fine" Dean informed her, a hint of sympathy finally trickling into his voice.

"Unless Madam Pomfrey murders you for being in here again" Seamus pointed out.

"Oh like you lot aren't in here regularly yourselves" Faith spat at them.

"Yeah usually carrying you" came Seamus' response.

Not what I…Oww!" Faith grimaced and her hands clenched into fists.

"Are you alright?" Neville's voice was full of concern.

"I just fell off a broom and am in the Hospital Wing, I'm great!" was the sharp, sarcastic response he received.

"Hey! No need to snap at me!" Neville exclaimed indignantly "It's these two winding you up!"

Faith gave him a small smile "I know, sorry Nev, it's just…" she winced again "that"

"Well you shouldn't have tried to fly" Seamus pointed out, at which point Neville and Dean had to hold down Faith's arms to stop her punching him and giving Madam Pomfrey another patient to deal with.

Seamus was, to a certain extent, right however. Faith would not have ended up in the Hospital Wing had the three of them not been out in the grounds on broomsticks. It had been the twins' idea to start with. Frustrated at not being able to play Quidditch all year they had convinced Faith, Seamus, and Dean to play a three on three game with them and Lee. Neville, all too aware of his ability to balance on a broom, or lack thereof, watched and kept score for them.

The game had gone well enough, with Fred, George, and Lee narrowly beating the younger students. It was later however, after the twins and Lee had returned to the castle on 'important business' leaving the others to continue messing about on brooms, when things had taken a turn for the worse. Pretty soon Seamus got bored of just flying and tossing the ball back and forth, so instead proposed a challenge. He bet the others that he could reach the edge of the Black Lake first and, of course, neither of them were willing to accept this as accurate.

The race had barely got underway however when, for Faith, things went horribly and painfully wrong. Just as she had reached a decent speed an owl had swooped down out of the Owlery, right over her head. It didn't touch her, but came pretty close and its surprise appearance gave Faith enough of a shock for her to loose the little sense of balance that she had and she soon found herself tumbling towards the very solid looking ground.

Neville was on his feet and running towards her before she even hit the ground and was quickly at her side, shouting up to the other two boys. They both came to a very abrupt halt when they realised what had happened, about faced and had soon swooped down to where she lay in a groaning, grumbling heap. The boys swiftly realised her left ankle was a twisted, bloody mess but between the three of them they still managed to get her upright. Neville and Dean then hoisted her so she had an arm around each of their shoulders and all but carried her into the castle and up to the Hospital Wing. Seamus ran ahead of them to alert Madam Pomfrey so she was well prepared and waiting for them by the time Neville and Dean manoeuvred a complaining Faith into the Hospital Wing.

So, Faith was now lying on a bed in the Hospital Wing, waiting for Madam Pomfrey, who had inspected her, performed a charm to relieve some of the pain and then scurried off to find a potion (she had decided, given how much damage Faith had done to her ankle, a spell would not suffice) to return. She was also, now that Neville and Dean had released her arms, trying to resist the urge to punch Seamus.

"Why's it always me?" she whined "Stupid owl!"

"See, evil" Seamus smirked.

"It wasn't Sage, Seamus" Faith sighed.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Because it was bloody huge!" she exclaimed "About twice his size."

"Maybe he's grown" Seamus suggested.

"Since you last saw him?" Faith asked "A week ago?"

"Could've done" Seamus shrugged.

Faith sighed and gave up, she was in too much pain to continue such a nonsensical argument.

"It's not always you though" Dean informed her, looking thoughtful.

They all looked at him questioningly.

"It's usually Neville" he explained, shrugging.

"That's true" agreed Neville, grinning, trying to lighten Faith's mood.

The boys were just entering a debate over which of them injured themselves or caused trouble (unintentionally) most often when Madam Pomfrey returned and tried to shoo them away.

"Do they all have to go?" Faith asked, sounding slightly pathetic "It hurts and that stuff's gonna make it worse before it gets any better isn't it?"

"You have been in here and had this potion plenty of times before Miss Higgins, you know how it works" Madam Pomfrey informed her, slightly sharply "And besides that, they are causing a scene."

The boys all put on their best innocent faces.

"Exactly! I know it's gonna hurt. Please!" Faith begged "Just Neville, he's well behaved, he won't cause a scene!"

Faith heard Seamus begin muttering something about her making them sound like animals, but he swiftly shut up when Madam Pomfrey glared at him.

"Fine, Longbottom can stay, as long as he is quiet and behaves."

Neville nodded swiftly (and a bit frantically).

"But these other two troublemakers need to leave, now" Madam Pomfrey told them sternly.

Even through the pain in her leg Faith found it hard to suppress her grin at Dean and Seamus being called troublemakers (a name usually reserved for the twins, or her) and saw the boys ducking their heads as if doing the same.

So, Seamus and Dean said their goodbyes, telling Faith to 'Get fixed soon' and then scurried out of the room before they were deemed to be causing any more trouble.

"Here, drink up" Madam Pomfrey instructed, handing Faith a cup of yellowish liquid. "It will fix your leg, although I'm not promising it will be a pleasant experience. It might yet discourage you from ending up back in here though. Oh and it is going to make you drowsy so, considering the time it will be best if you stay in overnight."

Faith wrinkled her nose at the foul smell coming from the cup in her hand, then downed it as quickly as she could (still tasting what seemed like a mixture of all the most unpleasant things imaginable) and handed the cup back to Madam Pomfrey, who then moved off back towards her office.

As Madam Pomfrey left Faith settled back on the bed. As the potion began to take effect and she felt the unsettling and painful feeling of bones beginning to shift back together she grabbed Neville's hand and held on tight.

They sat like that for some time, the only sound Faith's occasional hiss or groan of pain. In time the side effects of the potion started to take effect and Faith began to drop off, curling up on her side, her injured leg stretched out and her grip still tight on Neville's hand. When sleep finally overcame her fully and she released his hand Neville let out an audible sigh. Faith really did not know her own strength, especially when in pain. He gently tucked her hand in at her side, pulled the blankets up around her and then settled back into his chair at her bedside. He stayed there, watching her shift slightly in her sleep and slowly dozing off himself until, about fifteen minutes before lights out Madam Pomfrey returned. She roused him and then shooed him out of the Hospital Wing, telling him to get back to Gryffindor Tower and not to worry, Faith would be back and as lively as ever in the morning.