SPECIAL CHAPTER
CHAPTER 40: RETURN THE FAVOR, A THOUSAND FOLD
Note: This is still part of the main storyline, and it happened during the first few days of Ilya's stay in Hogwarts, before the events of the previous chapters (which is currently on September 12).
THE POLTERGEIST
Friday, September 3, 1976
(Severus POV)
"AHHHH… STAY AWAY… STAY AWAY!" screamed a voice, dropping the prank paraphernalla he was holding, and flew away as fast as he could.
"Hmmm… now what was that about?" pondered a female voice, belonging to a girl named Alice.
Severus Snape could not help but feel surprised.
The poltergeist was a menace. An apparition which spelled doom for anyone he ever decided to target (In other words, anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross his path.). Armed with a various assortment of pranking materials, as well as having his own natural pranking skill (which was greatly enhanced by the fact that he could turn into nothing and become invisible, negating any attempts at revenge), the only other people in the castle who Severus could say was even worse than him were the Marauders, and that may only be because they prioritized targeting him above others. Personal grudges aside, when it comes to overall pranking performance, Peeves was actually the better trickster, more daring, and more experienced, than the merry Gryffindor band of four.
For the Marauders were still sensible enough not to cross the line with doing their theatrics on teachers (Unless, of course, they were sure they wouldn't get caught, unlike Peeves, who did not have to worry about such trivials matters as detentions or getting expelled.). The poltergeist, personally, had no respect for teachers whatsoever, not even Albus Dumbledore, which would have been a very stupid thing to do, except that said Headmaster, seemed tolerant of the joker, not to mention the fact that said joker was already dead, and thus trying to harm him would be futile effort, or in Dumbledore's case, would be an unnecessary waste of time and energy.
The only one who could keep Peeves in line was the ghost of Slytherin House, the Bloody Baron. Said ghost was the only being, dead or not, in Hogwarts, which Peeves, for one reason or another, was afraid of. No… the poltergeist was frightened of him, and it is for this particular reason that Peeves did not try and disrupt classes, undoubtedly on the Baron's strict orders, as well as refrained from doing frontal assaults on Slytherin students (only sneak attacks). Yes, the Baron was the only one who can keep Peeves in check…
Or not…
"Ilya?" said the raven-haired young man inquiringly.
For the past couple of days, whenever Severus and his companions encountered Peeves, wherever it was in the castle, the poltergeist would immediately flee towards the opposite direction. And the strange things was… there was no Bloody Baron scaring him off. They were Ravenclaws after all (even though Severus was a former Slytherin, he no longer was one.), and it made the raven-haired young man curious. Something was up…
"What is it, Sev?" replied his white-haired girlfriend conversationally.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Oh you mean about that?" said Ilya in an even tone, who seemed to know that he was referring to the poltergeist's reaction.
The raven-haired young man sweatdropped, feeling a chill, as he saw a rather mischeviously unpleasant smile forming on his girlfriend's face. He had a suspicion, and now it was confirmed. There could be no doubt about it. For only-Merlin-knows-what-happened, Peeves was terrified of the silver-haired girl... And it was not only the poltergeist… for as Severus noticed, all the other ghosts, from the cheerful Fat Friar to the proud Bloody Baron, seemed to be avoiding Ilya as much as possible as well… and it only added to her reputation as the Dark Lady…
"I'll tell you about it after dinner…"
-BREAK-
Wednesday, September 1, 1976
(Peeves POV)
"Mmmmm….MMMM?!" a certain apparition exclaimed, as he awoke with a start.
"Oh, so you're finally awake," said a voice cheerfuly, belonging to the wench who was standing some distance away, by the table, in front of Peeves.
It was a girl with silver hair, the one who the whole school seemed to be talking about. She was wearing, a white collar shirt, plus a pair of matching white gloves on both hands. She was holding a scalpel on one hand, and the table beside her was loaded with various items; flasks of different colored fluids, test tubes, a scissor, a chart… a notebook… and several more sharp pointy objects.
The poltergeist was familiar with the room. It was one of the less used Potions classrooms, and from here Peeves sometimes got a few of his pranking chemicals to use on the students. More importantly… this was one of his cheerful little hideouts, as the Bloody Baron had never once, in a span of several hundreds of years, found him when he hid in this particular classroom… It was a safe hiding place…
Yet for some reason, it doesn't feel like one at the moment…
Flashback
"YIPEE!" Peeves shouted in delight, in an annoying, sing-song voice, as he wheezed past, dropping Dung Bombs on a dozen, frail-looking students, who screamed and ran for cover. Unfortunately, a couple of them weren't able to move fast enough, and got a direct hit from the stink explosion.
"YOU CAN RUN… BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE… ICKLE LITTLE FIRSTIES… FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL… IS FUN FOR OLD PEEVESIE…!" as he sent water balloons flying in every direction, some of which hit a mark.
"Peeves," said a stern voice, belonging to one of the older kiddies. "You are causing trouble like always… but unless you want the Bloody Baro…" SPLASH!
"Bloody Baron, you say?" mock inquired the poltergeist as the student spat out water from his mouth. "He's not at the castle at the moment… " At this, Peeves' smile widened even further…
End of Flashback
It is a sad fact, but as people grow older, both in mind and body, they tend to become more alert and on their guard. Add that to their annoying ability to adapt and getting used to something, and it makes pranking them less fun… Which is why Peeves always enjoyed September the 1st, when a bunch of young, naïve, inexperienced kids enter the castle… It was a feast. First years tend to be easy prey, and it is quite easy to make tears pour from their eyes… a sight which, in the poltergeist's point of view, was nothing short of magnificent…
"Feeling comfy?" inquired the girl with silver-haired, looking at the poltergeist straight in the eyes.
The poltergeist was in shock. For the very first time in his over a thousand years of existence… the creature born from chaos and turmoil felt a brand new emotion… fear… for the first time in his entire existence, a certain sentence, which had never been there before, formed in his brain…
"MMMM?!"
I NEED TO GET AWAY, Peeves screamed in his thoughts, unable to do so aloud as his mouth was jammed, and he tried to teleport… then turn into air… but to his dismay, he was unable to do so…
"What you're doing is futile, you know," said the silver-haired wench, with an evil smirk on her face, who had taken a step backward, and watched in amusement as the poltergeist struggled to break free. "I have done a bit of research on your kind… The bindings I used would not work on any normal poltergeist… though as you have a physical body, you are an exception… you can even feel pain... lucky me…"
Panicking, Peeves began attempting to use brute force, struggling against the chains that held both his arms and legs… but his efforts were in vain…
"MMM…MMMM…MMMM…MMMM!"
WHO IS SHE?! I NEED TO ESCAPE! WHY IS SHE DOING THIS?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE! thought the apparition to himself… For the very first time… the poltergeist's mind was not focused on mayhem, but rather on something of significance instead… in this case, his own well being…
"Do you know what this is, specter?" said the silver-haired girl, in a cheerfully cold voice, who was holding something in her hands… a cockroach… "This is one of your toys… you dropped a whole bucket of these on my friend Evelyn…"
Instinctively, the apparition furiously shook his head in denial…
"Oh, you don't remember?" mocked the silver-haired female, but an aura of hostility was now emanating from her… chaos which had been observed, but never felt before, by Peeves. "A short girl with brown hair who missed her first day of classes because she had to stay in the Hospital Wing, having broken her leg when she fell off the stairs because of you?"
It was ironic. A poltergeist was never truly alive after all. It is simply a manifestation formed from the negative emotions of people in an area, and thus cannot die… as it is never truly alive…
Unfortunately for Peeves, like the girl said, he was a special case… he had a physical form… and oh, how he wished right now that he didn't…
"Well, it doesn't really matter if you don't remember," sighed the girl. "What is important is that you did what you did… Don't worry… I won't kill you… I promise I'll let you go… but I have conditions…"
And thus the poltergeist's captor began giving him conditions, to which Peeves nodded eagerly. Had his mouth not been jammed together, an evil grin would have appeared on his face: he had no intention of keeping his end of the bargain. Once he was free, he would instantly swoop down on the girl and make her pay... then her friends were next… oh, sweet revenge…
"… so do you promise?"
"MMM… MM… MMM… MMM!"
"Very well then," replied the silver-haired girl.
She then reached her hand out towards the poltergeist, probably to remove what was jamming it's mouth…
That's it… thought the apparition tensely. Yes… just a bit more…
"MMMM?" aounded the spectre, as he felt something hurt his right hand. Peeves turned his head, and saw something pointy with a transparent tube on the end piercing it.
"Hmmm… so even poltergeists have blood," said the female in monotone, as she observed the red liquid she had taken from the apparition's physical form, while taking notes.
"MMM… MMMMM MMM MMMMMMMM MM MMMMMMM MM?" The spectre made his grumble of agony as loud as he could. Wasn't the girl going to release her? As if reading his mind, the white-haired female smiled…
"Oh, of course I will let you go," said the girl conversationally. "But first, I would like to run some tests… I'm sure you wouldn't mind me asking an additional favor or two, right?"
DEAR CHAOS, thought Peeves to himself. Time and again he had been the cause of mayhem and misery for the poor creatures that existed around him. But now, for the first time in all his existence, he was the one at the receiving end… at this moment, he wished he never existed…
"MMMM!?" shouted the poltergeist, as something sharp sliced his face…
"Hmmm… physical form has quick regeneration on the face… takes only a few seconds for superficial wounds to heal… will do similar tests on the other body parts…"
PLUCK!
"MMMM?!"
An eye was removed…
"MMMMM!"
An arm was sliced off…
"MMMMMM!"
A leg was cut off…
SWOOSH!
"MMMMMMMM!"
A knife pierced his heart…
"Interesting… physical body parts regrow, good as new… blood, body parts separated from the core disappear within one minute…"
It was too much for the old poltergeist, who was, incredibly for one who was not truly alive, in tears. The pain and agony… he never even thought of the possibility. He didn't want to believe it… but this was real… definitely real…
Too stressed with what was happening, the poltergeist's vision went black… as he lost consciousn…
"MMMM!?"
"Oh, sorry about that," said the female in a calm voice, who had, by one way or another, revived his consciousness. "But I can't let you fall asleep just yet… My experiment will be in vain if you were unconscious… And I'm sorry if I can't remove the bind in your mouth either… my observations will be useless if you were not emotionally distressed… and screaming will let you vent out some of it…" Once again, a smile appeared on the silver-haired girl's face… wider and terrible than before…
Peeves the poltergeist lost sense of everything, aside from the pain which he had been made to endure, although one thought clearly formed in his mind…
She's a monster…
-BREAK-
Friday, September 3, 1976
(Severus POV)
"Oh, so that's what happened," said Rose, as she drank some milk. "It did not seem like he learned his lesson though…"
"I wish I had done more though," sighed the silver-haired girl. "Now that he knows that we know that he can feel pain, as well as the fact that there is a way to keep him in his physical form, he's definitely going to be more cautious."
"So… can you teach us this spell, Ilya?" inquired Alice, an eager look in her eyes…
Ilya smiled. "Sure thing… now the incantation is…"
Ilya gave an explanation to her friends about what happened between her and the poltergeist. According to the rumors she heard, Peeves had been causing so much trouble, that she thought it would be nice to try and see if she could make him stop with his madness, and then the silver-haired girl gave a detailed explanation of what she did…
First, she ambushed the apparition in the dungeons, immediately putting him under the spell. Peeves tried to get away, but made a mistake. Not knowing he could not unsolidify himself, the poltergeist crashed right into the dungeon ceiling, and while distracted, Ilya used the Full Body Bind Curse (Petrificus totalus) on said jester. After which, Ilya bombarded the specter with his own set of pranking tools and equipments, including Dung Bombs… And Peeves had been avoiding her ever since…
Severus looked at the other two females in their recently formed company, and they seemed to have been convinced. Peeves, after all, had the pride of a prankster… as well as the fact that no one had ever been successful in making him be on the receiving end of one. And due to his unpreparedness, the experience shook the poltergeist, and frightened him to his wits… It was a good story…
But the raven-haired young man could feel. There was something more… there was something that does not fit…
For starters, the aura and the look of horror on the face of the poltergeist… If it had been a mere prank bombardment, Peeves would have undoubtedly found it annoying, not horrifying, and, having the pride of a joker, would have retaliated as soon as he can (as he did whenever the Marauders tried to prank the apparition).
Something doesn't add up, thought Severus Snape, an inquisitive expression on his face, as they were walking towards the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower… The way Peeves had looked… it was the look of someone who had narrowly missed death… and for something like that to be felt by someone who cannot die… To think that someone who wasn't even alive was terrified to such a point. Still…
Flashback
"MS. ILYA! MR. SEVERUS!" shouted a female voice, as a brown-haired missile shot for the silver-haired girl and the raven-haired man beside her, then latched on to them in a vice-grip like hug…
"Hey…there…Evelyn," said Ilya gently. "Are you feeling any better? How is your leg doing?"
"I'm fine," chirped the brown-haired girl happily, as she let go of them. "Madam Pomfrey fixed my leg with one flick of her wand… See?" Evelyn twirled herself around a bit.
"That's good then," said Severus. "Just make sure to avoid Peeves if you can… "
"Oh, there's no need to worry, Sev… that problem has been taken care of, I think…" said his silver-haired girlfriend, and felt himself sweatdrop at the cruel smile that briefly appeared on her face, before she turned it back to her normal one when she faced Evelyn.
End of Flashback
Still, whatever really happened, it did not really matter much to Severus, as he decided to drop the issue, having always told him whatever she thought was important. If ever she lied or withheld information it was with good reason.
Severus knows that his girlfriend is really protective of her friends… and was willing to do anything to keep the people she cared for out of harm's way… Though it also means that those who would try and hurt the people she considered as family…
Should be prepared for the consequences…
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Alright then, people. First off, I would like to announce that I did some slight editing with the previous chapter because… I made on hell of a blunder, in the name Carlos Cortez! Man, I did a bit of researching since and found out that Argus Filch had already been the caretaker of Hogwarts since 1973 (My fic starts at 1976). So yeah, I fixed that, and I also added something in the last few paragraphs, just go back and read it and you'll understand.
As for the cat though… well, I no longer replaced the name Skittles… as cats don't have a long lifespan after all… so let's just say this cat died of old age and was supposed to be later replaced by Mrs. Norris…
I have also been reading some of the reviews. I'm glad that there are some people who like my fic, but I would like to clarify a few details which were mentioned by one of the reviews. I'm basing these on canon.
1. Fluffy and the entrance to the stone was on the third floor, not seventh.
2. Room of Requirement is on the seventh floor, not the fourth floor.
3. The room which Ilya found is not the room of Requirement, but simply a vacant room, which I added in the fic, and like I mentioned earlier, it is on the fourth floor. After all, there are lots of undiscovered stuff in Hogwarts, so the room she found was one of them… And it was, except for the wall-door trick, an ordinary vacant room, until it was improved with defensive and anti-trespasser security measures and enchantments…
Anyway, like always, I hope you enjoy reading my works… I've still got the flu though… as well as stressed out from the undoubtedly piled up school and office work waiting for me once I recover… so please forgive me for any typo errors and the like…
Later then people…