NOTES
Alright, alright, don't hate me for this. I've got another beta! Bry isn't around much, life is hectic for her, so I got…a second one…or third…as I had Tess for the prologue and chapter one, and Bry up until now. Please welcome, Nicky, my new buddy. Ha-ha, she's nifty.
Sorry for the two-month wait…I really have no excuse.
DISCLAIMER
Me: Hey, Ron, I'm sure you can get me a piece of Harry!
Ron: No. No I can't.
Me: Why not?
Ron: Because Harry told me not to give you anything.
Me: Ugh!
Holly
Chapter Five-I Want My Nine Galleons!
"How do you expect that we do this?" Mandy whined. Wasn't it her who made the bet?
"Mandy, have you ever broken a rule before?" Lisa smirked at a glaring Mandy.
"No, I haven't, Lisa. Why?" Mandy, totally clueless, turned to Lisa. Lisa smirked wildly at me.
"Well," I continued, "you're going to learn a whole lot tonight, my under-educated friend."
"I'm highly educated!" she retorted. Mandy stamped her foot, causing a picture to fall off of the shelf by her bed. Padma Patil stirred in her bed. She was good because of that; she's never bothered by Mandy's tantrums.
Lisa and I smirked at each other. Breaking rules needed very little planning. Lisa grabbed Mandy by the arm and followed me into the common room. She sat Mandy on a couch and plopped down next to her.
"Alright," I began, "if we get caught, here's the plan. Mandy, Lisa, can you two cry on command? Or at least fake it well?" Mandy slowly nodded, and Lisa began to tear up a bit while smiling.
Continuing, I said, "Right then. If we get caught, we make a scene. We start to cry, hug whoever catches us, and claim that we lost the way to our common room. Sound good?"
"Yup!" Lisa cried. "Let's go!"
I quietly opened the common room door. I put my finger to my lips signaling the others to be quiet. Lisa held back a giggle. We walked through the hallway to the moving staircases. Our platoon tiptoed down the stairs. I counted nineteen steps. You never know when that information might come in handy.
"Who are you?" asked a musical voice from behind us. I jumped around, seeing a silvery ghost. Honestly, she was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. She was a woman ripped from a grayscale photograph.
"I'm Mandy Brockelhurst; that's Lisa Turpin and Holly Evans," Mandy announced bravely. She puffed out her chest just a bit. She's a useful little lady.
"Well, it's nice to meet you. Holly, dear, I must say, I never expected to have you. You seem very...Gryffindor, like your father. I can see that you have a dash of Sly—"
"Don't even say the S-word," I warned. "By the way, who are you?"
"I'm Helena Ravenclaw," she replied. "And it's quite curious that the "S-word" doesn't sit well with you. Your mother was one, though she really didn't fit there."
Didn't fit there? That's something I wanted to figure out. I'd have to talk to…someone, though I hadn't an inkling who.
"A Ravenclaw," Lisa exclaimed, "by blood?"
"Yes, dear. I'm Rowena's daughter, the soul heir of Ravenclaw. I've never been married, nor have I produced offspring," Helena said with a toss of her thick…er…gray hair. I didn't know ghosts could toss their hair. Although, I couldn't really judge, as I'd never really know ghosts existed, but still…
"Well, it's getting late and we really must go. It was lovely meeting you, Helena!" Mandy said. She began pulling Lisa and I off in the direction we were going.
"That's not the way to our common room. Are you lost, girls?" Helena asked.
"No, we're going down to the Hufflepuff common room because I have a bet with Cedric Diggory for nine galleons!" Mandy's eyes had fire in them. I held back a giggle.
"You do seem lost. Let me show you the way," Helena motioned forward, and we followed her ghostly figure.
We ran down two more flights of stairs. Helena took us down a hall, which I didn't expect. Last I heard, the kitchens, and the Hufflepuff common room, were on the very last floor.
Helena faded through a door in the side of a dead end hallway that looked deserted. I pushed through the door, with Mandy and Lisa at my heels.
The room was highly decorated in shades of blue and purple. The back marble floor glittered in the dim blue candlelight. The candles in silver holders along the wall must have been charmed. A mahogany desk with detailed carvings of birds was the focal point of the room. A mosaic of sapphire and aquamarine gems decorated the desktop. A stack of faded parchment sat off to one side, with an eagle feather pen on top.
Many sculptures were dotted throughout the room. Most were of eagles. One in the far left corner was two eagles intertwined with their beaks in a touching to form the shape of a heart. Another was an eagle in mid-flight, with its wings spread wide.
Helena paused beside a portrait of a beautiful woman that I recognized as Rowena, her mother. The room must have been her office.
"This portrait of my mother is part of a special four-way corridor. The password for her is 'vampire kisses'. Following the left-hand path, you will be lead to Godric Gryffindor's portrait, by his common room. His password is 'starshine'. The straight path leads to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin, which is in the dungeons by his common room. The password is 'marshland'. I believe you would like to turn to your right, to Helga Hufflepuff's portrait. It is adjacent to the painting of the fruit bowl, leading to the kitchen. Her password is 'equality'."
"That's valuable information. It will probably be used again," Lisa said with a wink in my direction. I smirked.
"Yes, it will. Thank you, Helena," Mandy said.
"You're welcome. Anything for fellow Ravenclaws," Helena smiled. She then floated through the door.
"Hello dears," Rowena's portrait said.
"Hello, Rowena," I said. "Your password is vampire kisses, yes?"
"Yes. Feel free to go through any time you need to."
We went through Rowena's portrait. Following Helena's directions, we went right. The passage was stone, as if the castle couldn't have enough of it, with torches lighting the way. We went through another portrait hole at the end of the corridor.
"I thought you wouldn't come!" shouted Cedric. He came running up to us.
"Pay up, pretty boy," Mandy giggled. Cedric pulled out nine galleons and put them in Mandy's outstretched hand.
"Well…um…bye then…" Cedric said, walking off. I wish he would've stayed longer.
"You three! Out after hours, are we?" screeched a raspy male voice. We wheeled around to find a hideous old man.
"Someone needs a makeover," Lisa muttered.
"You're all coming with me," he glared. I believed he was Mister Filch, as Danny and Roger mentioned.
We followed him to his office. He had cabinets filled with what I assumed were confiscated goods that were never returned. Filch, whom I already had no respect for, had us sit in uncomfortable chairs.
"Now," he started, "you will be cleaning extra cauldrons sent to me by Professor Snape. Get started."
Mandy, Lisa, and I started scrubbing the caldrons with the sponges and soap he had by them.
After a while, that got extremely boring. I started to hum "Lucy Star" by Madonna, as it was my favorite song. Lisa's eyes quickly lit up, and she started to sing the lyrics to the chorus.
"Starlight, starbright. First star I see tonight," she sang with a big smile.
"Starlight, starbright! Make everything all right!" I continued.
Mandy soon caught on. I guess wizarding families have heard of Madonna. "Starlight, starbright! First star I see tonight!"
"Starlight, starbright, yeah!" we were sent into a fit of laughter.
After a few rounds of Madonna's hits, we finished the cauldrons.
"Bye-bye, Argus!" I laughed as we left Flich's office.
"That was so fun!" Lisa giggled.
"I like getting in trouble!"
I looked at Mandy with my mouth hanging as low as my waistline.
"Who are you?" Lisa asked.
"The new and improved Mandy!" she cried and skipped up the stairs to the common room. We followed her through the door. While she went up to our dorms, Lisa and I stayed behind on one of the couches.
"That was the most fun I've had in a long time, Holly," Lisa sighed.
I laughed and shook my head. "We'll be having more very soon. I can tell."
"We should get my older sister in on it. She's a sixth year, in Gryffindor. Her name's Andy, but it's actually Andrea. Don't call her that, though. She hates her name."
"We'll have to…" I trailed off.
"Why are you awake?" Danny came down the steps from the boys' dorms.
"Mandy was causing trouble," Lisa said.
Danny looked at us, dumbfounded. "Yeah right. Tell me the truth."
"That is the truth," I said. "We were singing Madonna songs with Filch."
"You must be tired…go to sleep and we'll talk in the morning about your adventure…" Danny shook his head and left.
"He didn't believe us!" Lisa cried, sitting up.
"Well, whatever. He'll believe us next time on The Adventures of Ravenclaw!" I yelled, hand motions included.
"Crazy American," Lisa sighed.