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Chapter 12: Cleaning up
(Max's Pov)
Perri and Mellissa froze, just collapsed right in front of us. It looked like they had been hexed but we didn't hex them and no one else was there. Not wanted to be around when the teachers found them I quickly left, Kerry, Dylan and Alice following. Lily lingered for a bit then sprinted after us but Peter stayed inspecting why the twins froze and fell in front of us. When we were around the corner and a few flights of stairs up we stopped running since it was less suspicious. Snape was waiting by the common room when we got up to the 7th floor and Lily left with him leaving us to find the boys without them. There was always a chance that they had gotten back while we were searching and it was the safest spot away from the twins since they would blame us when they could walk again. Sirius and Nick were sitting on the couch with James and Remus acting as if they never left. I wacked Sirius behind the head and then did the same to Nick.
"Where did you two go, Dylan went up to your dorm and couldn't find you, then we went searching for you since it is very unlikely that you disappeared for a short while then reappeared." I considered what I had just said.
We were surrounded by magic it wouldn't be hard to disappear for a few minutes. The four boys started laughing. Dylan looked confused this was the first time he hadn't been included in something that Nick was.
"What's so funny?" I demanded, I was just hoping they weren't laughing at me. I could feel my cheeks turning red and going warm.
Kerry and Alice both looked just as confused as I did and Dylan was slightly hurt.
Sirius looked at James who nodded then spoke. "We did disappear." He said quietly that I could just hear what he said.
"What!" I exclaimed, "How?"
"With James' cloak." Sirius replied, looking around to make sure no one was watching then covered himself with a large shiny, silver cloak.
He disappeared completely.
"Wow." I couldn't stop the words coming out of my mouth. Turning to look at the others I saw that they had similar expressions to me.
Sirius pulled the cloak off and handed it to James who tucked it safely in his pocket before anyone saw.
"Why did you use it?" Alice asked.
Alice only ever asked questions when she needed to or wanted an answer. I found her surprising, she was the only girl I knew that was shy around other people but once she was with just me, Kerry and Lily we couldn't get her to shut up.
Sirius and James both looked at Nick who turned to me and sighed. "I knew that the Prefect wasn't going to tell the twins off and knew he was going to tell them something to do with wings since the twins said that loudly with emphasis."
I smacked my forehead lightly. "How could we be so stupid to let someone see? I don't remember anyone following us into the woods though." I paused recalling the time I heard the twigs snap behind me. "Wait I heard a twig snap behind me when we went out flying, maybe the prefect followed me to the forest trying to get be back to the castle."
"No that was us." James and Sirius said in unison.
"Well then how could he see then?" I asked.
"What about when you were scattering all of the twin's possessions across the grounds." Kerry suggested.
"Maybe, but it was dark then."
"Nick's head shot up; when he thinks he always looks to the ground. His head moved so fast I could have sworn I heard it crack.
"Our very first flying lesson." He mumbled.
"Huh, it was only us three."
"People were walking past." Nick said.
"Great." I murmured, "just what I needed."
"What's wrong with people knowing?" James asked.
"If other people know they are going to look at me like a freak," I replied, Remus was nodding his head agreeing with me.
"I see. Well you'll just have to avoid it and come up with a great cover up." Sirius said.
"It's alright for you; you're always getting out of situations so you know what to say." I said.
"Well I'll help you." He replied.
Nick's face went dark, but just as I saw the shadow cross his face it was gone. I thought it was just the light and pushed it to the back of my mind.
"You could say that you were trying a costume on that you thought your little sister would like." Sirius said and I turned my attention back to him, not realising I had been studying Nick.
I looked at Sirius trying to keep a straight face, Kerry and Remus were also struggling, Alice who had never needed an excuse to get out of trouble was agreeing with Sirius while James and Dylan couldn't hold their laughter in. I lost it once they started laughing, then the others and Nick even managed a smile.
"What's wrong with that?" Sirius asked pretending to be hurt.
"Sorry mate but I can see why you can never get out of trouble." James giggled.
Peter walked in and stormed up to us. "I hope you're happy, I now have 2 weekends of detentions because of what you guys did to the Cummins twins." Then he stormed up to his dormitories letting us figure out what we did.
"What did we do?" James asked breaking the silence. We had stopped laughing straight away when Peter stormed up to us looking angry.
"I don't know, but he did stay when the twins froze and fell." Kerry replied.
Kerry and I exchanged glances, it all made sense. The twins were hexed, we didn't do it and there was no one else around unless they were invisible.
I turned to Nick and Sirius who were both sitting on the floor by the couch James was stretched out on while Remus was squashed against the arm. "You two wouldn't know who hexed the Cummins would you?"
They exchanged glances and that was all that I needed especially when they looked back at me guilty. "Well done and thanks." I replied.
To be honest I wasn't sad or guilty that Peter got the punishment instead of Sirius and Nick. I hadn't forgiven him from all the mistakes he made in transfiguration and charms. Out of all the guys I liked Peter the least, Sirius the most than Remus, than James. I liked Nick and Dylan a little bit more since I had grown up with them and they were like brothers to me when the other three were just friends.
Lily came back to the common room just before we went down for dinner; she always spent Saturday afternoons with Snape so we waited for her. Peter was still sore at us, I wasn't complaining and don't think the guys were either. Something wasn't right though if someone hexed you, you wouldn't sit with them yet the Cummins twins were sitting across from Peter chatting to him. Sirius and Remus also noticed, we exchanged glances but our stomachs were hungry so food was put first, well for me and Sirius it was. Snape was constantly looking at us as well, every time I looked up between mouthfuls of food; Snape was glaring at me and Kerry. Alice was getting more comfortable with the guys and started to talk to them more and more. I was a little jealous of her since Sirius was paying just as much attention to her as he was to me. Then again I knew that Alice thought she was too young for a boyfriend or a crush so I was hoping she wouldn't change her mind.
The list was still up except it was now minimised to one list per year and it changed every day. I knew what the next list was going to be but I was hoping that everyone would continue to pretend not to notice the list. We all trudged back to the common room, it had been a long day and I would have never thought that a Quiditch match had happened today if the other students weren't talking about it.
"Well what happened in today's game?" I asked figuring I was going to need to know what happened if I was asked about it by the other students.
James and Sirius looked like they had wanted to talk about the game all day. I made them talk about it, like they were discussing it and commenting the other player's performances.
"And then when Ferndale went to score he feinted so Hoff went to wrong way, oh it was amazing." James said cheerfully.
"I have to say if Greenwich could have got to the snitch better than Hallaway though." Sirius said. "Then Gryffindor may have won instead of Hufflepuff."
It all depends on who wins out of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw than Ravenclaw and Slytherin since I missed the game between Slytherin and Gryffindor when I was in detention. Gryffindor lost but they needed to win against Ravenclaw to finish in third. It looked like Slytherin was going to win again this year and apparently had been for the last decade. If Ravenclaw won they could beat Slytherin and but Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were out of the race for first or second. Hufflepuff bet Gryffindor, but lost to Ravenclaw. Slytherin won both their games and Gryffindor lost both. Ravenclaw still needed to play but was in 2nd place, Slytherin in 1st, Hufflepuff in 3rd and Gryffindor in last.
Of course I was at the top of the list when I looked at it the next morning. The Cummins had come up with a great one.
PEOPLE THAT AREN'T WHO YOU THINK THEY ARE!
Freda Aniston: Been given a restraining order, away from a Muggle rock singer.
Kennan Abbot: supposed to be in the 2nd year.
Sirius Black: The only Black not to be in Slytherin.
Lily Evans: Muggle Born and snob.
Dylan Fressen: Was blind.
Remus Lupin: Disappears once a month but not to see his sick mother.
Nick Martinez: Adopted.
Peter Pettigrew: Is nicer and cuter than people think.
James Potter: He and Black are the ones that plot the pranks on Slytherins.
Max Ride: Has Wings.
Kerry Scott: Grandmother is a squib.
Alice Smith: Orphan.
Severus Snape: Half Blood.
Not every person is different to who they say they are we just thought that it would be best to notify everyone of those who are different to who they think they are.
The list was ridiculous, who was going to care that Kerry's Grandmother was a squib or that Abbott was suppose to be in the 2nd year, or that Nick was adopted. I acted as if the list wasn't true; Kerry was also acting the same. Lily knew there were other Muggle borns at the school, I was one of them but didn't like the whole school thinking she was a snob. Alice was not herself all day, she skipped Herbology which was her favourite subject and skipped our flying lessons. I didn't care that Alice didn't tell us that she was an orphan. The list was messing with people. Half the school acted like it wasn't true.
I heard lots of comments as I walked from classes, "Pettigrew cute please, who ever invented these lists has no taste. And him being nice, he was sneering at Max and Alice the other day when they burnt the leg of Flitwick's desk."
There were other conversations though mainly among the Hufflepuff boys that were friends with Abbot. "How come you didn't tell us you were supposed to be in the 2nd grade?"
"Why are you in the first year if your 12?" another kid asked during Herbology.
"I am supposed to be in 1st year and I turned 12 just before Christmas not before September." Abbot said annoyed and moved further down the row.
One thing I was pleased about was that everyone thought that the list was lying about me having wings.
"I don't see how she can have wings, wouldn't they bulge out from under her robes." A fifth year murmured to her friend as I walked past.
Alice wasn't happy that everyone thought that I didn't have wings and that they found out she was an orphan. I think the main reason she wasn't happy was when people came up to her and said 'I'm so sorry,' or 'It must be hard for you not growing up with parents.' Alice couldn't take it and skipped the rest of the day and pretended to be sick so the teachers wouldn't ask questions. Remus' rumour wasn't bad and I think most people knew that he didn't have to visit his sick mother every month, but it wasn't like he was a vampire.
In charms I asked Sirius if he knew anything more than what Remus was telling us but all that he told me was that if Remus wanted to he would tell me and that it wasn't his place to tell. Perri and Mellissa seemed to think that they created havoc and won the round with their new list but I don't think it had quite the result that they thought.
All the first years thought that it was completely ridiculous that I had wings, and I heard people saying that it didn't matter if Remus went to visit his mum every month. The Slytherins thought that since it was announced that Lily was a Muggle born and that Kerry's grandmother was a squib they could tease them. If Snape was with Lily when the group of Slytherin boys came hex her and call her names the greasy haired git would disappear. Kerry and Lily could handle themselves easily since the Slytherins weren't the brightest students in the whole school.
The list stayed up for a week. I spent my spare time with, Kerry, Sirius and James plotting how we were going to get the girls back. I couldn't go flying, which I felt annoying since I didn't want to get caught. Alice wanted to help us prank the two girls but since Lily refused to do anything with James and Sirius, Alice decided to keep her company in case the twins were alone with her.
In the end we came up with a plan. Everyone except Peter decided to help us carry out the prank. Lily eventually gave in when Alice decided to help and we all begged her to help with the charms. Peter was still annoyed with us since he was still doing his detentions and he was trying to find proof that I hexed the twins but since there were no other witnesses McGonagall threatened him with another week of detentions for making up lies to get out of detentions. I was then warned that if it was me I would suffer a more painful detention if I didn't own up.
The plot against the twins was going to happen the morning of the last Quiditch match a few days after the exams between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, if we won we wouldn't end up last but if Ravenclaw won they would overtake Slytherin and win the cup. So far Ravenclaw had won 2 matches, Slytherin also with 2 matches, Hufflepuff had 1 and Gryffindor had none. We just had to win by 40 points to come third for the cup.
Before long it was May and the exams were only two months away. Sirius was even found studying but only for History of Magic since he could ace the other subjects. Lily was the top student in every class and didn't need to study but as the exams got closer she was never seen without at least two books. Classes became revision, I liked charms the most because Sirius, James, Dylan, Kerry and I always practised the colour charms and made a competition to see who had the right colours at the end of the lesson. We also practised our other spells like levitating and growing small objects like matches and thimbles into a bigger size.
It was a few days before the exam and the five of us came out of charms in completely different colours. James was horrified when he couldn't change his Slytherin robes back to their normal colour and Sirius decided he would dance around the Great Hall in hot pink robes will the rest of us charmed ourselves back to our normal colours. It didn't take Sirius very long to decide he wanted to change back to his black robes after two third year boys teased him.
Lily and Alice decided to study for the exams in the library the night before while the rest of us stayed in the common room. Peter finished his detentions and rejoined the group once he couldn't take how much fun he was missing out on.
In no time the two weeks flew by and we were all waiting outside the History of Magic classroom where everyone was remembering dates in the back of their heads or reading last minute notes before Binns floated through the classroom door and Lily opened it instead. We all shuffled in, took our seats and silently began the gruesome test.
'Question 1) what year was Hogwarts first founded?'
Of course I couldn't remember the answer and when the time was up I saw a lot of blank marks on my parchment where I didn't know the answers. I glanced over at Lily's and she had crammed information everywhere that there was barley a blank spot on the parchment.
"Well if that wasn't hard than I really must be stupid." Sirius said as we all left the classroom towards Transfiguration.
McGonagall was already waiting and had laid the theory part of the test out on the desks; our names were on them so we had to go the area where our test was laid. It was just my luck that I was next to Peter, I wasn't going to copy off him especially since he wasn't smart and wouldn't copy in a test unless my life depended on it which at the moment it didn't.
I felt like I did a lot better on this test then the History of Magic which I was pretty sure I failed. I did well in charms especially with my colour charms and levitating charms. Potions, Herbology and Astronomy were tomorrow so we all, (on Lily's orders) went back to the common room to study for the upcoming tests.
I didn't sleep well, I was dreaming that Peter had changed my answers and then he was the professor that announced who passed and who failed then he expelled from Hogwarts. I woke up to Lily and Alice crouching by my bed trying to shake me awake. I was hoping that we would be able to do Potions in pairs because I needed the help from Kerry if I wanted to get a good grade. I was sure that I could pass if it was individuals but I knew that I needed to make up for my History of Magic exam to pass first year.
Potions were a success, Kerry and I got to be partners and had the exact same potion as the illustration. We weren't the only ones though; Lily, Alice and Snape had the exact same colour and thickness of ours.
Herbology was alright and the exam went quickly since it was exciting when Peter turned his back on his Grazele allowing it to attack him when he wasn't looking and sending Peter up to the hospital wing.
If anyone looked in the kitchen they would find big bunch of first years studying for astronomy while eating. The elves loved giving us food and were happy to serve us instead of sending our food to the Great Hall so we could study without all the commotion above.
Before we all knew it, it was time to head to the Astronomy tower for our final exam for the year. It was one of the easiest ones and since I had flown in the dark before I knew most of the constellations and planets.
"Are you named after the star Sirius?" I asked him after the exam.
"No the star is named after me but my middle name is from my father and the constellation Orion." Sirius replied.
"Wow," I gasped. I didn't realize but Sirius and I were spending a lot of time with each other lately away from the others.
"Aren't you glad all the exams are over," James said pushing his way between us."
"I'm glad, I replied then looked at Sirius who was about to say something then decided not to.
"Well I'm beat I think I'll go to bed." I suggested and hurried down the stairs to catch up to Kerry who was talking to Lily and Alice.
"Okay so tomorrow we need you to distract the twins so I can put the potion in their drink." James said going over the plan step by step.
"If one of them sees just say it's a love potion you're trying to give me." I replied.
"Then you blush and hopefully they'll want to drink it thinking they'll fall in love with us." Sirius replied.
"But the plan is to make sure they don't notice." Lily said sternly.
"I know I know." James tutted.
"Okay so when they drink it they'll grow beards and tails. We all have to look surprised and you have to make sure you don't get caught." Kerry said before closing the book she was reading.
I looked at the clock it was already 11:00 and the Quiditch game was in 12 hours.
"Well I think we better go to bed if you want to put your plan in action and see the Quiditch game." I said.
We all said our goodnights then went our separate ways into our dormitories.
I woke up excited and slightly nervous that the prank would fail since the boys had been in so many detentions already for the pranks they never got away with on the Slytherins. I waited for Lily to get out of the shower so I could get down to the Great Hall for breakfast since Kerry was still asleep and Alice who was finding her jeans and hoddie offered to wait for Kerry while we went down. The twins had arrived and were chatting amongst themselves about who was the cutest Gryffindor player. All the guys were down except Peter since he was looking all over his dorm for his wand which Sirius had since he didn't want him to ruin the plan after he had been buddies with the two girls.
Kerry and Alice arrived half an hour before breakfast was supposed to finish and Kerry let us all know that she wasn't awake willingly when she let out a yawn.
"Hey sleepy head," I teased as she sat down and poured herself pumpkin juice.
James and Sirius got my attention with a wink and I started the distraction. "Hey Lily do you think that the Cummins would look good with red hair like yours?"
Both Perri and Mellissa looked up and scolded at me. "No Siriusly" I said emphasising on seriously so Sirius would start. "Their blond hair looks fake, and brown doesn't suit them so I would suggest that they go with a red. But then again you wouldn't want them with the same hair colour as you because everyone would think they had such great taste and really they don't." I rambled as James and Sirius struggled to pull the cork out of the vial.
Perri and Mellissa were about to go back to their meals once I stopped but then Alice stepped in, "If blonde looks fake on them and brown defiantly wouldn't suit them and I wouldn't be right for them to copy Lily after what was written about her on the list maybe they should try dying their hair black. It would look great with the pink and purple ribbons and won't look like the Slytherin silver."
Alice actually picked up some of Perri's silky blonde hair and compared it to her black hoddie. Perri looked horrified that Alice was touching her hair. Mellissa was stunned and wasn't paying any attention to what was happening with her drinks.
"I agree black to match their perfect black hearts." I said as Alice let go of their hair and took a gulp of my pumpkin juice.
The two girls turned back to their breakfast and both took a sip of their drinks. Almost instantly a black and green tail grew out from behind them and facial hair started to appear on their chins. It started off as stubble than the black beard started to grow longer and longer until it was lying on the table in front of them growing on their food. Both girls were humiliated and one after the other ran out of the hall. Professor McGonagall came storming over to James, Sirius and Dylan but was having a hard time proving it was them since James and Sirius had their backs to the staff table when they took the potion out. After we got away with it and after the tables had been cleared everyone went their own way except for the Quiditch players who headed to the change rooms to get ready for the match.
"And welcome to the last match for the year between Gryffindor currently in last place and Ravenclaw currently in 2nd place. If Ravenclaw win they will take first place but if Gryffindor win they can take third place and depending on the score Ravenclaw can still come first." The commentator said as the players took their positions on the pitch. "The quaffle is released and the game begins."
The game only lasted for an hour, Gryffindor lost but they were tied on 60 points before the Ravenclaw seeker got the snitch.
"I'm going to try out for Seeker next year," James announced and I wasn't surprised I was waiting for him to say it all year. "The seeker we have now is rubbish."
None of the Gryffindor players were cheerful when they got back to the Gryffindor common room and they only thing that cheered anyone up was seeing the twins emerge from our dorms still wearing beards and still waving their tails.
I knew that we won against the twins since there was only three more days of term before we went home and there was still the house cup to present since Ravenclaw got the Quiditch cup and were tied with Hufflepuff for the house cup.
Three days went quickly we didn't have classes so we spent the rest of our days outside. James, Sirius, Kerry and Remus decided to go swimming one day while Nick, Dylan and I went flying while Hagrid was watching us from below since he realised we had been into the forest without him for most of the year and wouldn't let us in unless he came. Lily spent her time lying under the tree with us fretting about her exam results so we weren't upset when she spent the rest of her time walking around the grounds with Snape. Alice told us about her background and the orphanage she lived in which was nice but she didn't have any friends some of the kids called her a freak. Kerry, Lily and I decided that we would invited her over for a week each so she wouldn't spend all her time around people who didn't like her.
And just like that we were all slamming our trunks closed before heading down to the Great Hall where we would have our leaving feast, the house cup would be presented and where we would say our final goodbyes to the teachers until September.
I returned to the common room feeling stuffed after eating too much which was a first for me since I was normally hungry after I left the Great Hall. Ravenclaw got the house cup as well as the Quiditch cup and Gryffindor ended up last for the house cup as well since we got no points for Quiditch triumphs and we had 6 trouble makers in the first year and more in the older years. I went to sleep instantly wanted to go home and wanting to stay since Hogwarts was just as much a home for me as my actual home was with my adopted brothers and sisters.
We caught the carriages back to Hogsmeade station and loaded our trunks on the train. The boys all squeezed into a carriage so we decided to find a carriage for ourselves. We found one towards the end with nobody in it and took our seats on the red cushioned seats. It wasn't until the trolley lady had gone past that the Cummins twins stopped at our carriage and stepped inside. All four of us glared at the twins who looked uncomfortable standing in the same carriage as us.
"Look we just wanted to apologise for all the stuff we said on the lists and revelling your secrets and we only just realized how far we went, we just wanted to get attention and fit in with the crowd." Perri admitted looking at the ground and I saw a few tears drop onto the carpet.
"Perri and I were really excited to come here since our other school was really different and the other students didn't like us because we were white. All we wanted to do was make friends and fit in and we never wanted to hurt you but after our first fight with you four we just wanted to get revenge and try to earn your respect and we realise how wrong we were since we were never going to earn you respect the way we tried." Mellissa finished for the two of them also looking towards the ground but she wasn't crying like her sister.
I looked at Kerry who shrugged her shoulders saying if you want to forgive them I won't be mad. Alice was staring at the girls studding them to see if the truly meant what they said. Lily and Alice looked like they wanted to forgive them and were looking at me for the final verdict. Slowly I nodded my head and the two girls standing in the doorway managed a weak smile before leaving.
"Did we really just forgive them?" Kerry asked out loud for me.
"Seems so but they really did mean it though." Lily replied.
After a few minutes of silence conversation started again and we were back at Kings Cross station. One by one we went out the barrier to meet our parents. I hugged mum, Amelia, Hamish, Monique and Ella when I reached them, Dylan didn't hesitate and he I think he hugged Ella for a tiny bit longer than the others but it didn't matter. Nick wasn't the type of person for hugs but he hugged the little ones and even hugged mum. I waved goodbye to James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Kerry as we headed to the car park with Lily and her parents. I was trying to spot Alice but I couldn't find her in the crowd of parents hugging their kids. I was able to get my trunk in the car and squeeze in next to Monique and Ella who were going to be at Hogwarts the year after next and they were bugging me about everything. I answered some of the questions but once they started repeating them I tuned them out and thought about what would happen when I went back.
Sorry this chapter is really long and skips a lot but I really wanted to finish the year. I don't know if I will right the sequel but I'm thinking I will but not for a while I want to get the other story that I am writing finished before I start the second story. Give me some ideas if you want since I am going to need new baddies now that the twins have apologised. Keep a look out for the second story if you want to continue but it won't be up for a few months. Hoped you enjoyed the story and remember I'm not J. so this isn't anything I'm getting paid for just fan fiction.
Please check out me other story Harry Potter –It's all Over if you want to know what happens in the nineteen year gap.
Until next time SpringBabe