Disclaimer: J K Rowling is my penname. Seriously.
Monday morning found the seventh years back in the corridor outside their Potions classroom in the dungeons. Draco was once again lolling against the wall with his eyes closed on the Slytherin side with Pansy hanging off his arm. He had not had a proper night's sleep since his meeting with that siren in the Hag's Tales on Saturday night. And when he had been able to sleep, he had dreamt of her dancing to slow, seductive music in skimpy clothes under a waterfall, with him entwined around her running his hands freely over her lithe body, hearing her moan in pleasure.
Shit. Not that again. He opened his eyes in annoyance and frustration. He was seriously annoyed with himself for not being able to stop thinking about her. Nobody, but nobody treated Draco Malfoy like that. And he felt frustrated because he couldn't do anything about it. How could he plan a proper revenge if he didn't even know the girl! She still seemed vaguely familiar, and he still couldn't place her.
Hermione stood between Harry and Ron on the other side. She and Ron had not quarreled for a long time. In fact, they had not spoken with each other for a long time. Ron had failed to ask her out for the weekend, and she had shut herself up in her dormitory and studied the whole weekend through, turning a deaf ear to the loud knockings on her portrait door.
She had been studying hard even last evening in their common room when Draco had walked in. That was the first she had seen of him over the weekend. She supposed he had been spending his weekend in the Slytherin common room with his friends. Or with Pansy-the Pug, not that it bothered her, she told herself.
He had stopped short on seeing her, a quizzical smile on his face. Hermione had readied herself for being laughed at again, but was also strangely glad on seeing him. Merlin, but was he a sight for sore eyes! Nobody should be allowed to look that good, she had thought crossly.
"Studying, Granger, and on Sunday evening too! Didn't the Weasel ask you out?" he had started mocking her right away, saying the first word as though it was downright dirty.
"Its none of your business, Malfoy. And a bit of studying never hurt anyone." She had managed to retort waspishly. Really, Ron was making her a spectacle with his indifference.
That had seemed to amuse him, and he had laughed. As he'd settled down on the plush armchair by the fire, he had swept his gaze over her, taking in her attire. She was dressed in her favorite oversized T-shirt and loose Capri's for comfort. He had then tilted his head to one side, and then looking into her eyes, had said with a half-smile on his lips, "You know something, Granger! I am going to give you some friendly advice. If you want boys to ask you out, even good-for-nothing louts like Weasley, stop floating around in circus tents. It will help."
Hermione had been really offended by that, and had got up in a huff to leave him to laugh away his twisted sense of humor. She had been so glad to see him, but he had to drag Ron into everything, and spoil it all.
Hermione came out of her reverie and looked up to see the boy in question gazing at her fixedly. She blushed and looked away. When she looked up again, he was still staring at her. When she looked closely though, she saw the glazed look in his eyes…he was somewhere else!
Unknown to her, Draco was planning different ways to avenge his insult of Saturday night. The only problem was, he lost the objective of his thoughts halfway through, and got lost in fantasizing. Or remembering. Shit. This was not working, he cursed himself inwardly. To get over the Ultimate Brush-off, he had allowed Pansy to fuss over him the entire remaining weekend, with the result that now she had a glow in her eyes and positively radiated as though she had found the love of her lifetime. And that worried him slightly.
Just as he was focusing on his many woes, the chief cause of his discomfiture walked in. He just couldn't believe it. It was her…in flesh. Wearing the Hogwarts uniform. And Gryffindor colors. Shit.
Sia walked in casually, with a lithe, innate grace that was effortless, and felt every pair of eyes on her. Which was just as it should be, she thought smugly. Her hair was open today, and their dark, wavy length framed her face and fell over her shoulders in elegant indifference. Her robe was loosely tied round her neck, and open all the way, showing her tight-fitting shirt with top two buttons undone. Her tie was looped rather loosely so the view was unhindered. Her skirt just shied away from being shockingly short, but only just. Her bag was slung over one shoulder, while the other hand was playing with a Gryffindor scarf. Her bare legs seemed to be inviting a lot of scrutiny, and her usually impassive face was alive with a hidden mischief that made her eyes twinkle and her mouth to form a small smirk, all signs of severity on her features gone. Draco's siren had arrived.
She smiled a 'hi' to Neville, who spluttered, and nodded at Parvati and Hermione. She winked at Harry, making his eyes to go wide, and propped herself up against the wall beside Neville. Then she looked up at the Slytherin line-up, giving everyone a once over. Her eyes seemed to linger on Zabini, and Draco felt his stomach tighten. But then she just smiled at him and moved on. Ultimately, she reached him, and held his eyes. Draco forced himself not to blink. After a few moments she smirked and reached into her bag, and took out a small piece of parchment and a quill, and wrote something on it. Then she straightened up, crushed the small piece into a loose ball, and lobbed it at him. Draco caught it automatically with his free hand, and shook his other arm away from a flabbergasted Pansy to smooth it out to read. On it were two words-Sia Raisingh.
Inspite of promising himself a hundred times over to throttle her with insults whenever he set eyes on her, Draco couldn't help but laugh softly. It was like they were continuing their conversation where they had left off. So she had thrown her name at him after all; well, he had certainly caught it. And she was flirting with him. He smirked at her. But Sia was now looking at her watch. Then she looked straight at Pansy, who was speechless with rage. That was really something, for Pansy was seldom speechless, unless of course, when he was kissing her, Draco thought. Sia then raised her eyebrows at her, knowing full well what was going through the girl's mind. Suicide, Draco decided.
Sure enough, Pansy burst out in a fit of venomous rage. How dare this henchwoman change her appearance and flirt with HER Draco, right in front of her eyes! Her first weapon, as always, was ridicule.
"So, Raisingh, being good at Transfiguration seems to have helped you a lot. How many spells did it take to change your appearance?" The Slytherins girls broke into gleeful laughter; the boys were still inspecting Sia's legs.
Draco raised his eyebrows; Pansy was rather good at insulting, and seemed to be getting better everyday. Sia, however, smiled secretively, and looked at her watch again. Then she fixed her eyes on Pansy, and addressed Hermione, who was taken by surprise.
"Hey HG! You know all the rules around this place. So tell me the one regarding pets that we are allowed to have."
"Er…owls, and toads, rats, I suppose, and cats." Hermione managed to speak out, not seeing where Sia was going.
"Is that all? Are you sure?" Sia asked disbelievingly, raising her eyebrows at Hermione, who nodded.
"Then how come he gets to keep a pug as a pet? Or are the Heads allowed special privileges?" Sia asked clearly, pointing one long finger at Draco dramatically, catching him off guard. As color seeped into Draco's face and Pansy paled visibly, the students around them burst into laughter, Harry and Ron holding on to each other lest they fall down. Even Neville was snickering, and Hermione was laughing with her hands on her mouth, not wanting to laugh out loud with respect to the dignity of her position, but glad Pansy was getting something back.
Pansy had now a shade of red on her cheeks to rival Ron's. She was not going to take this lying down, and started on a barrage of insults to shame any individual to tears. Sia, however, calmly tied her hair with her scarf, and started buttoning up her robes. Draco was astonished at her weird behavior, and had a gut feeling that something was not right. He tried to shush Pansy, but there was no stopping her now. She was now starting on Sia's family. Sia meanwhile, had finished with her robe, and was now standing somberly, with her head bowed, looking very much like her previous incarnation. Everybody else had fallen silent at this transformation in her, confusion in every eye.
Pansy thought Sia had backed down due to the unpleasant dressing down she was giving her, and went on relentlessly. Sure enough, Sia now looked close to tears.
Just then, a stern voice rang out, "Miss Parkinson, do hold your tongue. How dare you use such awful language? Twenty points from Slytherin, and a detention for you, for harassing a fellow student and using abusive language towards her family. I expected better behavior from a seventh year, specially with the Head Boy and Girl present." Professor McGonagall stood there, staring furiously from Pansy to Draco to Hermione. Needless to say, blood had drained from Pansy's face.
Just then, the classroom door opened, and Snape stood framed there, taking in the scene before him. McGonagall spoke to him, "Ah, Severus, I had come to seek your opinion on a very serious matter. I was just talking with Pomona, and she thought it was best we consult you. If you could come right now…?"
Snape nodded, and added to the class, "Into the classroom, and start working. The instructions are on the board. No talking." And they left.
As soon as they had walked away, Sia looked up straight at Pansy, her eyes full of malicious laughter, not a trace of the tears that had been threatening to fall earlier. "Timing, Parkinson, is everything." And she winked at her, before disappearing into the class, leaving a fuming Pansy and a bemused Draco behind.
This, however, was not the end of it. Sia put up her things next to Neville, much to the chagrin of the other boys from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Once settled, she took a look at the board. There were the instructions Snape had left, to brew the 'Draught of Living Death'. How appropriate, she thought. There was the usual hustle-bustle of students getting the required ingredients from the cupboard, during which, Sia managed to trip Millicent Bulstrode. "Oops, sorry," she said innocently.
Once back at her desk, Sia started to unbutton her robe. Every eye was again on her. She calmly unbuttoned it the whole way, and then undid one more button on her shirt, drawing whistles and catcalls of "Nice scenery, Raisingh!" But she ignored them all, and proceeded to untie her hair once again. That done, she pulled out her shirt from her skirt and tied up the tails above her waist, exposing a wide band of her skin. The boys in the room drew in a collective sigh at the blatant skin show never before attempted in a Potions class in Hogwarts.
Draco, even while enjoying the show, couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness. He again had that gut feeling that this girl was up to something. And considering that this was Snape's class, he was sure there were going to be some fireworks. He just hoped he would not be made the butt of another joke.
As Snape walked into the class after a considerable time, he felt the difference in atmosphere even before seeing anything amiss. He stared suspiciously at Harry, but he, for once, looked innocent. Then he directed his gaze at Malfoy, who looked slightly out of breath and seemed to be perspiring a little. Strange, he thought. Then he proceeded with his rounds around the dungeon.
He was slightly disappointed that none of the Slytherins, not even Draco, had managed to brew the potion correctly. He turned impassively towards Neville, who, he was sure, would provide them all with some laughs. Just as he stopped near Neville, his gaze slipped past him to Sia, who was bending over her potion (which looked perfect), and showing a generous amount of…what the heck!
"Miss Raisingh", he barked, "Please cover up!" Hell, no wonder none of the Slytherins had brewed the potion correctly; they weren't able to concentrate. He turned towards Neville again, just as an annoyingly sweet voice reached his ears.
"But professor, if I do that, how will you be able to see?"
Snape froze. The class gasped. He turned around slowly to look at Sia, who was looking at him with an innocently quizzical expression on her face. Maybe he hadn't heard her correctly. He walked over to her menacingly, and glowered at her.
Sia continued to look innocently at him, and asked again, as though making her point clearer.
"Professor, if I cover up the potion, how will you be able to see if I got it right? I mean, none of the others have covered up their potions. Or is it a new… technique?" she emphasized the last word.
Snape mentally hit himself over the head for walking into that one. His eyes narrowed as he pounded out through his clenched teeth, "I did not refer to the potion, Miss Raisingh. I referred to your inappropriate attire."
"Oh! But do you like what you see?" Sia asked again just as Snape was about to turn away. His eyes widened in shock as they locked with hers. "The potion, sir. Is it any good?" Sia elucidated helpfully.
Snape could actually feel his ears burn and turned away blindly, wanting nothing else but to get away from this crazy girl who seemed to be…he couldn't even bring himself to say it. Crazy teenager, he seethed. But just as he turned away, Sia whipped out her wand and made the bundle of knotgrass lying on Pansy's desk opposite to hers to fall down in the front. Pansy came forward to retrieve it just as Snape took a blind step in her direction, resulting in a collision. Snape managed to balance himself after making huge windmills in the air with his arms, while Pansy fell back towards her desk. The whole class was snickering by the time Snape managed to regain his balance, and he lashed out at the person in front of him, which was hapless Pansy.
"Miss Parkinson, how dare you disrupt my class! Ten points from Slytherin!" he bellowed. Just then the bell rang, and it was none too soon for Snape, who felt that maybe the time had come for him to take a little vacation.
That night, Sia was a heroine in the Gryffindor common room. None of the seventh years who were in the potions class that morning could stop recounting what she had done, or stop laughing. Not only had she managed to get a detention for Parkinson, she had also made Snape mad enough for him to take points off his own house! Something that had never happened before. And not a single point was taken off from Gryffindor! Ron was having a field day, doing spirited imitations of Snape waving his arms energetically as he tried to regain his balance. This, he reflected, was good enough to accept Sia as a true Gryffindor, and he forgave her for everything she had said or done since coming here magnanimously.
Dean was regaling Seamus with details of Sia's skin show, as she was now modestly covered up, and the latter's eyes were getting rounder by the moment as he looked her over.
Ginny was amused, to say the least. Hermione had told her earlier about Sia helping her, and now she considered Lady Malfoy in new light. Sia had managed to remind her of Fred and George, whom everyone who knew them missed greatly. But still, there was something that she needed to know…
"How did you know McGonagall would go down there, and exactly at what time?" she couldn't quite mask the accusatory tone in her voice.
Sia smiled at her. "I had heard her and Sprout talking earlier, and she mentioned something about talking with Snape after depositing some scrolls of parchment in her office. I just calculated the time it would take for her to get there. Timing, as I told Pugkinson earlier, is everything." She smiled again, earning wows and aahs from the admiring Gryffindors.
Harry was intrigued by the new girl. Her change of appearance had taken him by surprise, and the turn of events today had, well, tickled him like nothing else had done in a long time. Whenever he thought about Snape's shocked face or Snape behaving like a windmill, he couldn't help but smile widely. Anything that gave Snape a bad time was good for him.
Sia sat in the middle of it all, basking in all the glory. Which should've been mine long ago, if it weren't for my meddling parents, she thought. Smiling, she turned her eyes towards Harry. My next target, she thought.
Somewhere not very far from them, a man was shrieking in agony as a woman stood over him with blazing eyes, using the Cruciatus Curse on him.
"We are not to draw attention to ourselves, I think you had been told."
The man couldn't hear her, for he was still screaming with unbearable pain.
A/N: Theres a little box down there that holds magic in it. I swear! Just click it and see! :-)