Days in Avalon
Chapter Two: The Tale of Pranks
(At the same time…)
"Hey who's the girl?" asked Peter as he got off the train.
"What girl?" replied Remus.
"Aww, does ickle Petey have a crush on a girly?" mocked Sirius in a baby tone.
"Ah, shut up would you?" said James as he got off the train. "Lay off the poor bloke, Sirius. Besides, people will start to get the wrong impression on our little Petey here." he said as he put an arm around Peter in a rough manly way.
Peter shrugged him off while turning a little pink in the ears. "You guys I'm talking about the girl with Kelly, Karen, Lily, and Felicia," he said as he pointed to the group of girls heading for the carriages.
"Don't know. Don't really care," said Sirius as he bent down to tie his shoelaces.
"Must be some new girl," said Remus as he saw the blond haired girl get in to a carriage followed by a little brown haired girl.
"Come on mates. Let's get a carriage. I'm starving," said James as he scratched his head causing is already untidy hair to look even messier. "Bloody hell," he muttered under his breath as he tried to neaten it to no avail. The foursome headed for the nearest unoccupied carriage and got in one by one.
"So Sir, who should we pick to be our next victim?" said James with an evil grin.
"Don't really know there, mate. You got me. Hmmm…how about Malfoy?"
"Nah, we got him right before we left last term. Besides, he'll be ready for it after what we did to ol' Snivellus."
"True. How about Crabbe?"
"Nah, too easy. What about O'Connell?"
"Please! Talk about easy." said Sirius as he rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, even Peter could get that thick buffoon," chuckled Remus as he looked out the window at the night sky where a slightly full moon was hanging overhead.
"Hey what about Lily?" chimed Sirius.
"Evans? Are you mad!" said an outraged James.
"What? Does our very own James Potter have a crush on the little red-headed girl?" said Sirius with a sly smirk on his face.
"No, I just value my own arse thanks! Besides after the prank we pulled on her right before Easter, I wouldn't doubt if she and her friends didn't hex us to hell," said James in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I tried to tell you guys that that was a bad idea," said Remus.
"Oh, come on Rem. You got to admit that the look on their faces was priceless!" laughed Sirius.
Remus started to turn a pale pink and tried to fight the smile that was quickly spreading across his face. Peter went into a fit of giggles remembering the prank. The foursome continued to talk about what sort of pranks they were going to pull this school year and who would make great targets all the way up to the castle.
When they got out of the carriage they were in awe by the castle that stood before them. As they started to climb the stone steps of the school, they noticed that a group of second year girls (and possible targets) were already half way up to the school. When they reached the Entrance Hall, they saw that the new girl was being led away by McGonagall.
"Wonder who she is," said James.
"Don't know, but I guess we'll find out soon," said Remus.
"Personally I'm just grateful that she's with McGonagall. Who ever she is," said Sirius.
"Why do you say that?" replied an eager Peter.
"Because that gives us more time to enjoy ourselves before McGonagall gets her knickers all in a twist again," said Sirius in a matter-of-fact tone.
"You mean, it gives you more time to prank people before she catches you and throws you in detention again," said Remus.
Sirius glared at his friend and responded with what sounded like 'whatever' under his breath as he exhaled. "Come on gents. Let's find our seats. My stomach is beginning to growl." With that a low rumble began to emit from the direction of Sirius's stomach.
"Geez Sirius, can't you keep that thing in check," said James he began to lead the group into the Great Hall for the Welcome Back feast.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you Jamesie," chuckled Sirius as he joined his best friend's side. Suddenly another low rumble began to surface but this time it was coming from James. When the four friends got into the Great Hall, they made their way toward the Gryffindor table. As they past by the other tables, James happened to look over at the Slytherin table and received a loath some stare from a skinny, greased hair Severus Snape, to which James returned right back at him.
When everyone was settled in, Professor McGonagall led the new first years into the hall to commence the Sorting Ceremony. The old tattered hat that was placed on stool, began to sing its little song and started to sort out the students crying out at different periods of time: "Hufflepuff!" and "Slytherin!" "Gryffindor", and again "Hufflepuff!" "Ravenclaw!" to each student who placed the hat on their head. As the last person was sorted, each house received about the same number of students (19). After the last person, a boy who was sorted into Ravenclaw finally sat down; Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his speech.
"Welcome to another year here at Hogwarts. I would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to all of the first years and a welcome back to all returning students. I would also like to introduce our new caretaker Mr. Filtch who will be replacing Mr. McLean. Mr. McLean decided to retire at the end of last term after nearly fifty years of service. I remember when…"
Outside the hall Miranda could hear Professor Dumbledore give a speech about how he remembered when he and this Mr. McLean first met and something about a mass of dung bombs that were placed in the caretakers office at the start of year. She looked through a crack in the great oak doors into the hall and could see hundreds of students at four large tables. Some of the students were listening to what the headmaster had to say, while others were whispering to their friends about how their summer holiday was. A sense of fear and panic began to rise in her as she continued to look through the crack. 'They want me to go in front of everybody!' she thought as she went over in her head what Professor McGonagall had told her before she went to gather the first years. Feeling very self-conscience, Andy went to a near by window to look at her reflection.
She decided to loose the ponytail and instead took out a small hair clip from her robes that her mother gave her before she went through the barrier back at King's Cross Station. She pulled back a few pieces of her hair that were around her face into the clip to give it a half up half down look, that looked fairly attractive with her slightly wavy hair.
"What do we have here? A lost little student?" said a squeaky voice from behind.
Startled, Miranda turned around to see who was speaking to her, except there was no one there. Confused and thinking that she was losing her mind, she suddenly heard hysterical cackling from above her. Floating several feet above her was a little man with dark eyes, staring down at her.
"Ooooooh, a new ickle student! Doesn't like being with the rest of the lot?"
"Excuse me?" said Miranda in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Ah, it speaks! Thought it would be one of those funny students that don't understand English."
"Well as you can see I'm not. Who are you anyways?"
"Who are you?"
"I asked you first," said Miranda with her arms crossed.
"I asked you second," said the little man who mirrored her action.
"PEEVES!" roared another voice that nearly caused Miranda to scream.
"Uh-oh! Got to go!" shrieked the little man as he flew away up a flight of stairs and disappeared. A few seconds latter a transparent man with silver spots splattered all over his clothes appeared through a wall waving a sword in front of him.
"I'll get you, you little ingrate!" he cried as he followed where the little man flew a second ago.
"Oh, don't mind him, he's always like that when it comes to Peeves," said a jolly voice from behind Miranda. She spun around and was shocked to see two more transparent figures behind her. One was a fat friar; the other was a tall man with a ruffle collar that he kept fixing.
"Well I don't see why the Bloody Barron even bothers. No matter what he does Peeves will always be a troublemaker. Ah, good evening, my dear," said the ghost with the ruffle collar.
"H-hello," stuttered Miranda. She had never seen a ghost before in her life. Sure she's heard of ghosts being at Hogwarts, but she didn't know that they were actually real.
"Transfer student? Haven't had one of those in years. What year are you starting?" inquired the friar.
"S-second. S-second Year," said Miranda quietly.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff; my old house. See you soon," said the pleasant friar. With that the two ghosts floated toward the opposite wall that led into the dinning room.
"Oh when is he going to be done? I'm starving," whined Sirius as he grabbed his stomach.
"Come on Sir, can't you control that sack of yours?" said James.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you," said Remus as he continued to listen to Dumbledore's speech about the new caretaker and how there would be some additions in the coming year.
"He's got you there mate," chuckled Sirius.
"Shut up," growled James. He glanced down the table to see three girls talking in hush whispers. 'Wonder what you're up to Evans,' thought James; he was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Nearly-Headless-Nick float over towards them, and went back to trying to listen to Dumbledore.
"As I had mentioned before, there will be some new additions to the school and one of them happens to be a new student who will be joining our second-years in their studies. She is joining us from Sikeston's School for the Gifted in New York City. Please let's give a nice warm welcome to Ms. Miranda Starmenter," said Dumbledore as he raised a hand to the direction of the closed doors of the great hall. Every Hogwarts student turned toward the direction to where their headmaster was pointing. Suddenly the massive doors of the great hall opened to reveal a slightly startled and scared second year girl.
Andy could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at her. She never felt more scared in her life. She willed her feet forward but for some reason they felt glued to the floor. It felt like an eternity standing in the doorway, but when she looked ahead and saw the kind old wizard she had met about a month ago at her grandmother Andrea's mansion in Manchester, she started to feel more relaxed.
'Just remember to be yourself and to trust in your heart and in your feelings. No one will think less of you as long as you believe in who you are.' said the voice of Miranda's grandmother in her head. 'Hold your head high, and the rest is just a breeze!' As she gazed at the head table, she could see the bright sparkle in the headmaster's blue eyes and started to feel her fears drain away. She straightened herself up and continued to look straight ahead at the head table. As she walked through the threshold a smile slowly crept up upon her face. All the students from each house began to whisper eagerly to each of their friends.
"Wow, an American!" said one eager Hufflepuff girl.
"Wonder why she's here in England," said a Ravenclaw boy.
"Look there she is," said Kelly.
"She looks a little bit better," said Lily.
"Yeah, but she still looks a little green to me," said Felicia.
(Down the table)
"So that's the new girl," said Peter.
"She looks pretty friendly. Probably will end up in Hufflepuff," said Remus.
"Yeah she does look pretty friendly, but looks can be deceiving. Take those three down there," said James as he nodded his head toward Lily, Kelly, and Felicia.
"The only reason why you don't like them is because they get even," said Remus. At that remark, James rolled his eyes and turned to his best friend.
"What do you think Sirius? Sirius?"
But Sirius didn't answer him. James saw that he had this glazed look in his eyes and that he was staring at something. He looked in the direction in which Sirius was staring at and all he could see was the new girl walking up to the sorting hat.
"Oy! Earth to Sirius. Come in Sirius." said James as he waved his hand in front of his best friend's eyes.
"Huh? Who? What?" mumbled Sirius as he came out of his daze. "Oh, sorry mate did you say something?"
"Uh yeah….Sirius mate, are you all right? You were like a million miles away," said James with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine," said Sirius simply.
"What were you thinking about?" asked Remus.
"Huh? Oh, I was um…thinking about what Malfoy would look like with orange scales and purple hair," said Sirius in strange tone that he hoped his friends didn't notice. "So when's this girl going to get sorted. I'm starving," he added quickly, eager to change the subject. James and Remus both looked at each other and knew that the other was thinking the same thing: 'What's up with him?'
"Hey what's up with twin number two," asked Felicia as she notice Sirius looking spaced out.
"Don't know. Probably daydreaming about Quidditch or the perfect prank to pull in the middle of History of Magic," said Kelly.
"I don't know Kel, there something about that look in his eye," said Lily noticing that Sirius was staring at something across the hall. She turned around to see what was so fascinating, but could only see Andy walking up to Professor McGonagall with the sorting hat. 'Could he be staring at Andy?'
"Everyone this is Ms. Miranda Starmenter," said Dumbledore happily. With that Andy gave a half smile and timid wave. 'Why do they have to stare at me like that?' she asked herself. "and now for the sorting. Professor."
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "Now Ms. Starmenter, I shall place the sorting hat on your head and you will be placed into one of the house that I discussed with you early." Andy gave a slight nod and walked over to where the small stool stood. On it was the tattered, frayed hat that looked like it had seen better days.
Professor McGonagall removed the hat so Andy could sit down. Soon all Andy could see was the darkness from inside the hat.
"Hmmmm….well I must say you are a challenge, Starmenter. Haven't had one like you in awhile. Let's see….I see plenty of brains, worthy for Ravenclaw. Just and loyal, a fine definition of Hufflepuff. Ah….I see that you are no stranger to finding a mean to you ends. But you defiantly have courage and spirit. Hmmmm…..where to put you."
'Geez how long is this going to take?' thought Andy. She was starting to become fearful that she would be under the hat forever or that it wouldn't be able to place her in a house. Suddenly Felicia's voice entered her thoughts, 'There's not a wizard nor witch that hasn't come from that house, that hasn't turned bad'.
"Please not Slytherin," whispered Andy.
"Hmmm….and why not Slytherin? It's not all that bad…are you sure? Well if not Slytherin…then…I think you should go to….GRYFFINDOR!"
A burst of applause and shouts erupted in the hall, especially from the Gryffindor table. Andy hopped off the stool and ran toward the far table.
"Well if everything is in order…Let the feast begin!" said Dumbledore. At that command, the four house tables magically filled with meats, roasted potatoes, corn, tarts, and other treats.
"Hey Andy! Congratulations!" said Kelly as Andy took the empty seat next to Lily.
"Thanks! Urgh…I thought I was going to be up there forever," said Andy as she settled herself and began to dish out some potatoes.
"See, it wasn't that bad now, was it?" said Lily.
"No, not really," said Andy. As the four friends continued to eat and chit chat, Andy suddenly had the feeling that she was being watched. She looked down the table and saw two boys, both with dark hair looking at her. The one with longer hair quickly turned away when he saw Andy look at him. 'He's kinda cute'
"Hey Lil, who's that guy down there? The one with the long hair," said Andy.
"Oh, that's Sirius Black. And the one he's talking to is James Potter," said Lily with slight disgust in her voice.
"The guys you were telling me about on the train," said Andy finally able to put a name to face.
"Yep, the notorious Frick and Frack," said Lily.
"Little prats. It's only a matter of time before they get tired of pranking the Slytherins and move on to us," said Felicia as she glared down the table. "But we'll be ready for them."
"They don't really look that harmful," said Andy not totally convinced that the group of boys down the table are really as bad as they are being described.
"Looks can be deceiving," said Felicia.
"I still can't believe they got away with what they did last year," said Kelly.
"Oh, don't tell me you lot are still at it about the four amigos," said a voice from behind Lily and Andy. Standing behind them was a fifth year student with dark brown hair and gray eyes.
"Hey Andromeda," said three out of the four.
"Don't you gals realize by now that those four are here to stay until they graduate," said Andromeda.
"Come on now. After what they did to us. They deserve to have their sorry behinds kicked out permanently," stated Felicia.
Andromeda rolled her eyes at the three girls and turned her attention to Andy. "Hi, I'm Andromeda, by the way. Welcome to Hogwarts."
"Thanks, I'm Andy," she said as she shook the tall brown haired girl before her. She then turned her attention back to her new friends as Andromeda took a seat next to her. "What did they do to you guys anyway that was to bad?"
"I'd rather not say," said Kelly. "The memory of it still hurts," she added with a shutter.
"Oh would you get off it. It wasn't that bad," said Andromeda as she helped herself to some pumpkin juice.
"The reason why we 'dislike' them so much is because they decided to play a little trick on us," said Lily. She then looked down the table and glared at the four boys throwing food at each other.
"Well that doesn't sound so bad," said Andy not seeing the whole point.
"Not if a bucket of slime carried by a few owls is dumped on you," said Felicia.
"That's it?" said Andy, excepting something more terrible until…
"The slime turned our skin blue and hair neon green," added Felicia. At that exact moment, Andy took a sip from her goblet and then choked on a mouth full of pumpkin juice as she tried to fight a laugh.
"And you can't just let it go, can you?" said Andromeda with a grin as she too tried to suppress a laugh.
"You're kidding, right?" giggled Andy.
"No," said all three in unison.
"You mean those four down there, created a potion to turn your skin and hair a different color?" said Andy to make sure she heard them right. The three of them simply nodded, which caused Andy to burst out laughing. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the mental picture of her new friends looking like those muggles at football games covered in body paint, out of her mind.
"It's not funny," said Kelly firmly.
"I'm sorry… it's just…that…" gasped Andy through her laughing spell.
"What are you talking about? Of course it is!" laughed Andromeda. "Besides you didn't tell her the best part."
"There's more?" said Andy through her laugh.
"They also charmed the bathroom doors so we couldn't go and wash it off," said Lily. "And, they…purposefully staged it so that we couldn't go and change until after practically the whole school saw us." The memory of that day still brought Lily's temper to a boil just thinking about it. As much as Andy tried to be sympathetic to her new friends, she couldn't help but laugh at the thought of it, and apparently neither could Andromeda.
"Oh, sod off Romi, would ya? The only reason why you even defended them is because one of them happens to be a relative," said an irritated Felicia.
"Hey, I never said that what my cousin Sirius and his friends did was right. I just said that you gals should just let it go. I mean come on it was last year, and you have to admit that it was a good prank…" said Andromeda, but seeing the look on the three girls faces she quickly changed her mind. "…or not. Anyways, Professor McGonagall gave them their punishments already and they served them out."
"I don't think that a week's detention constitutes as punishment," said Lily hotly.
"Whatever," said Andromeda. Seeing that it was a loss cause to try to reason with the girls, she decided to go and visit her other fellow Gryffindors. "Well then, I guess I should go an catch up with some of my other friends. I'll talk to you guys later. It was nice to meet you, Andy."
"Same here," said Andy.
"See ya later," said Andromeda as she walked down to the other end of the table and sat with some of the other Gryffindors from her year.
After a few minutes, the three girls were still beaming red at the memory of what happened the pervious year.
"Look, I'm sorry for laughing at you. I didn't mean it. But the…" said Andy as she tried to stifle another laugh.
"Ah it's okay. I guess from an outside perspective it was funny," said Kelly.
"Yeah, I mean if it had been someone else, I'd probably…would have had a laugh," said Lily as she looked down at her now empty plate. "Anyway, it's like Andromeda said, we should let it go."
"Lily are you nuts! What about all that p…" said Felicia, but was interrupted when Dumbledore rose from his seat and dismissed the students to their dormitories. With that the four girls got up and followed the rest of the school out of the Great Hall. Lily looked over at her friend and mouthed the words with an evil grin, "Don't worry. It's still on."
They met up with Karen in the entrance hall and talked for a little bit before the Hufflepuffs turned and headed for their dormitories. After climbing a few staircases, and passing through a few secret passages, the perfects led the Gryffindors to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Mandrake." the prefect said, and with that the portrait opened up and everyone climbed through into the common room of Gryffindor tower. All the students went to their respective rooms. Lily, Felicia, Kelly, and Andy climbed the steps of the girl's dorm until they came to their room, which had a gold plaque that read 'SECOND YEARS'. Inside they found that their things had been brought up and each one was at the foot of one of the four, four-post beds. Full from dinner and exhausted from the trip, the four girls changed into their pajamas, climbed into bed, and fell asleep instantly. Tomorrow would bring new class…and some interesting surprises.
A/N: Oooh… a cliff hanger (sort of). Thank you for all the reviews that I received. I'm glad to hear that people like this story so far. All forms of criticism are welcome. (hey how else am I going to know if I'm doing a good job or not) Keep the reviews and stay tuned. Until next…
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except this story and the characters I made up. The rest of it is all J.K. Rowling. That's why she has all the dough and I don't.