Hey guys. Just gotta say thanks to the random stranger who reviewed- thank you! Here's the next chapter- a bit of action for ya. Read and Review!
The next day passed in a whirl, and soon it was time for the first years' plan to spring into action. "All ready?" Catrin asked Mary quietly, as they entered the Great Hall on Friday morning. She nodded, looking a little green. "Alice got some last night. She says her dad was confused, but didn't think she could do anything harmful with them!"
"Good one!"
Not wanting to draw any attention, they sat down and busied themselves with breakfast, although Catrin's appetite had shrunk steadily over the past couple of minutes.
"Alright girlies?" Catrin looked up to see James Potter swinging into the seat beside her and reaching for the milk jug in the same move. "Got anything planned for today besides spending time with me and Fred, gorgeous as we are?"
"Well, you might want to wait until Herbology."
"Oh. And why would that be? 'Cause I'm there? Come on, admit it!" James grinned cockily and reached for the cornflakes.
"Don't tell him anything!" Mary piped up from Catrin's other side, and then grasped Catrin's arm so hard that it hurt. "Look!"
The post had arrived- this was another thing that had freaked Catrin out the first time she'd seen it. She and Mary watched avidly as the birds swooped over the tables, dropping packages and letters into the laps of their delighted recipients. A particularly large box landed in Macnair's lap, and as he tore off the wrapping, the Slytherins started cheering, and then clustered round him.
"What's that brute doing? Are you crushing on a troll, Jones? If this is a prank, I'll be giving it marks out of ten. And I'll be miffed that me and Fred didn't manage it first." James had followed Catrin's line of sight, and was looking perplexed.
She sighed. "Wait and see. I don't think you're paying much attention at the moment. Did you get enough sleep?"
"I'm paying plenty of attention, Jones. What makes you think otherwise?"
"Potter, you're pouring milk into your lap."
And with that, she and Mary left the Great Hall.
Herbology was the first lesson on the timetable, and after breakfast the first years slogged through the mud to the greenhouses and an irate Professor Longbottom. Despite his crankiness, Catrin rather liked him- he had a pleasant, quiet air about him, but at the same time a kind of inner strength that made her suspect that he was quite capable of replicating the feats which had passed into Hogwarts legend.
"Gather round, children. Today we'll be tackling bloomalias. Now be careful, the seed is capable of putting someone to sleep for at least a week if stewed correctly, and if eaten it gives you hallucinations. But that's not what we'll be doing, today, class. Instead..."
Across the room, Catrin saw Macnair smirking and talking to a boy with a pale, pointed face whom she suspected was Draco Malfoy's son, Scorpius. Across from them, she saw Fred and James looking at her. James arched his eyebrow at her. Well?
Then, all of a sudden, Scorpius Malfoy screamed. Everyone in the class whipped around to see what was happening, only to find him obscured by a thick tangle of blond locks, which was rapidly growing to reach the floor. Then Dorcas Parkinson started hopping up and down on the spot, the reason for which was quickly explained when flowers started to grow from every orifice, turning her into a living greenhouse.
In succession, the rest of the Slytherins sprouted melons for noses, sunflower petals for hair and started popping seeds out of their ears. Macnair seemed to have- unfortunately- acquired all three symptoms. He stared around helplessly- and then his gaze fell on Mary, Catrin, Alice and Valerie, all four of whom were laughing hysterically, unable to stop.
The fact that they were the only ones in the class might have given the game away, although Fred and James were trying unsuccessfully to mask their snorts. Malfoy glared at Catrin, and she saw the confusion in his eyes obscured by a rapidly swelling hatred, though she couldn't stop.
"STOP!" Bellowed Longbottom, charging through the class. "I suppose you were the ones who took itchypod seeds from my private stores without telling me? And you have the nerve to take them in my classroom? What about my lacewing flies, then? And the entire stock of kneazle spleen? Come with me to see your head of house immediately!"
Impressive. Mouthed Fred across the room at her, and she grinned back. James was looking dumbfounded. She arched her eyebrow at him- in between fits of giggles, and was rewarded with a reluctant score of ten. Hah!
The victims shot daggers at the girls as they left the classroom, especially Macnair, but for Catrin, the moment had never been sweeter, and she savoured every moment of it. She'd surprised herself: who would've known that quiet Catrin Jones had a hidden prankster inside her that relished these moments?
The rest of the lesson progressed extremely quietly, but if the whispering was anything to go by, the incident would have circulated the Hogwarts grapevine by the end of next lesson at least. And the best thing was, nobody would know who did it!
Although maybe not all: as the girls left for their next lesson- Transfiguration- Professor Longbottom called them over to one side.
"I've got a hunch that you were behind that piece of trickery, judging by your reactions." He said quietly. "Now, I can't say for sure, but I hope that those Slytherins deserved it. Now I can't claim to be your parent- well, for most of you-" here he glared at Alice, who quailed slightly "-but you might want to tone it down, as those kids were glaring pure murder at you. But that might not be a problem, who knows? I know some Gryffindors who were-are- excellent duellers."
He smiled at them, and, taken by surprise, the girls grinned back.
"You're surprisingly cool, Professor Longbottom." Mary beamed, which caused him to chuckle.
"I do try. Now, hurry along, girls. Don't want to be late for Professor Patil."
The bewildering rush of hustle and bustle meant that before anyone knew it, the days slipped into October, and chilly draughts penetrated the castle. Catrin enjoyed going out into the grounds and feeling the wind whip around her, spinning red-gold leaves off the trees in the Forbidden Forest and dancing around her feet. Her spellwork was getting better every day; Wingardium Leviosa wasn't the only magic she could cast now, thank goodness. It was still a little patchy, though, which was a source of great frustration, especially when writing essays about magical theory.
"God, Catrin: look at your writing!" Mary exclaimed one night. They were sitting in a table in the corner of the Common Room, finishing a vile essay for Defence Against the Dark Arts on the characteristics and passing-overs of ghosts.
Startled, Catrin looked down at her writing. Apart from the occasional splotches were the ink had fallen onto the paper (she was just about getting the hang of quill-writing now) it looked pretty good to her.
"What?"
"Well, I'm sorry, Cat, but it's awful!"
"Nah..." Catrin scratched her hair with her quill. "Looks fine."
"Cat, I'm sorry, but...no other word for it. It's a mess! You can't spell- and what's this? The pryperties of Devil's Snare are cyffredin? Some of these words aren't even in English!"
Catrin flushed, leaning back in her chair and tousling her hair. It was true that her writing skills weren't bang to rights- but had she needed them on the streets? No! They'd fallen into disuse, really, that was all.
Mary cocked her head, looking curiously at her. "Catrin, where did you go to school?"
"I didn't." She mumbled under her breath.
"What? How can you not have-"
"Drop it, Mare."
Mary scowled, and then brightened almost immediately. "Will you get writing lessons?"
"What! No, never."
"If I...go and insult a teacher to their face and then drop a dungbomb in their class, would you?"
"No!"
"Why not, I would. Okay...I've got it. If you fail this essay, you've got to take just one lesson. With someone nice. Like...Teddy Lupin. Because if you fail, it'll be because of your spelling."
Catrin scowled, but saw no discernible way out. "Fine. But you've got to get Teddy to agree. And don't tell anyone."
"You won't regret it." Mary stuck her hand solemnly over the table, and Catrin shook, smiling in spite of herself. "And by the way, all the Slytherins got detention 'till the end of term. Apparently all they could do in their defence was pop seeds out of every orifice and stammer!"
"Revenge is best served extremely cold..." Catrin mused, checking her watch- then she blanched. "God! I've got extra Transfiguration!"
Mary, who had already done her Transfiguration homework, smirked and leaned backwards in her chair. "Have fun. And remember what I said about Teddy Lupin."
"Wouldn't dream of forgetting." Catrin muttered, swinging her bag over her shoulder on her way out of the common room.
The corridors were oddly quiet for this time of day; she supposed everyone was at lessons or something. Relishing the quiet, which she got so little of nowadays, Catrin navigated her way to the second floor near Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Apparently, the entrance to a secret chamber was in there. She stopped in front of the adjoining wall. Legend had it that a student had once daubed words there- in blood. Leaning closer, she squinted at the stonework. Was that some red she could see?
"Didn't your parents teach you not to go wandering the corridors alone?" A snide voice sounded from behind her.
Catrin's heart almost failed her. Spinning around, she found herself almost nose to nose with the pockmarked sneer of Macnair, and behind him- her heart sank- one, no, two other Slytherins, one with a pale, pointed face, the other looking like a troll crossed with a grizzly.
"What d'you want?" She asked steadily, reaching into her pocket and grasping her wand.
"To teach you a lesson, Mudblood, since you have no parents to do it for you."
An icy chill swept her. How do they know about my parents?
She didn't let it show, though. "Get out of the way, and tell your goons to leave me alone."
"Touchy, touchy." Macnair laughed, clearly relishing the moment, and gestured behind him. "Malfoy and McLaggen weren't best pleased with being turned into plants."
Bluff, bluff, bluff! Her brain screamed at her.
"How do you know it was me?"
"I may not be a sphinx, but I know your handwriting- or should I say, scribblewriting, anywhere, Jones."
If she got out of this, she'd take as many lessons with Teddy as Mary wanted. Someone, help! She knew no defensive spells, unless transfiguration counted...
"Now, payback. I've heard your magic, like your writing, leaves something to be desired. Not surprising, seeing the rubbish Defence against the Dark Arts teaches nowadays. Fortunately, Malfoy..." He gestured behind him "...has some experience in these matters."
Malfoy- the one who'd been covered in hair- stepped forwards, wand at the ready. Catrin's brain suddenly kicked into overdrive, scarily focussed on the wand. She gripped her own- and then her previously undiscovered smart mouth kicked in.
"Malfoy? Oh, the one whose father was a coward. McLaggen, who looks like a troll/giant hybrid and you, Macnair, who begs his mummy and daddy for sweeties. You're all pathetic!"
Malfoy's pale face flushed with rage, and he raised his wand.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!"
All of them spun around, to see Alice, Fred and James glaring at them from down the corridor, wands raised.
McLaggen sneered. "Please. You can't even cast proper spells ye-"
"Rictusempra!" A bolt of light shot from Alice's wand and slammed into him. McLaggen froze, eyes bulging almost comically, and then zoomed backwards into the wall. Something cracked. Not the wall.
Macnair yelled and sent a bolt of light flying back at them; James and Fred retaliated, slashing with their wands and hitting him with five separate spells. Macnair crumpled on the spot, leaving only Malfoy, who yelled "FLAGRANTE!", a blistering purple spell which cracked the wall behind Alice. James only just pulled her out of the way in time.
Malfoy looked frantically around, seemed to realise that he was outnumbered, and fled, knocking a tall Ravenclaw, who had just rounded the corner, aside as he did so.
Catrin felt something hit her, slamming her against the wall. She gasped for breath, but none came. She slid slowly down onto the floor, unable to do anything else.
Then there was silence.