Days in Avalon
Chapter Four: Declaration of War
"I still can't believe them. Pulling a prank like that!" said Lily as she sat down next to Felicia in the library.
"Well, you got to admit, it was pretty good," said Felicia as she rummaged through her bag looking for her Transfiguration book.
"Yeah, I heard Wally Johnson say that by the time they reached the hospital wing, they almost looked completely like trees," said Kelly looking for an excuse to not pay attention to her homework.
"Who looked like trees?" came a voice from behind were Kelly and Karen were sitting.
"Oh, hey Andy!" said Lily as she looked up from her book. "We were just talking about what we heard happen this morning at breakfast."
"I still can't believe we missed it," said Felicia dejectedly.
"You guys didn't miss much," said Andy as she walked around the table and took the empty seat next to Lily.
"Wait…you were there?" said Karen with a skeptical eye.
"Yeah," responded the blond witch as she took out her Transfiguration essay and began to finish it off.
"So you saw everything?" said Kelly who was becoming very curious.
"Pretty much," said Andy not really caring about what happen. She continued to work on her essay a little more before she noticed that her four friends were now staring at her with anticipation. "What?" she asked her eyebrow raised.
"Well?" said Kelly.
"Well what?" responded Andy not seeing what they were all curious about.
"The prank!" said all four at once.
"What about it?" said Andy still oblivious to what her friends were trying to get at.
"How did they do?" said Felicia with excitement in her eyes.
"Yeah, come on Andy. You must have seen them do it," said Karen.
"Who are you guys talking about?" said Andy at a total loss.
"The 'Prank Pack'!" said all four in unison.
"You know, the guys you were talking to yesterday?" said Kelly to Andy as if she had forgotten.
"Yeah what about them?"
"So which one did it?" said Karen.
"I bet it was Black, with some help from Remus," said Felicia.
"No that whole prank was Potter's doing," said Lily. "Knowing that toerag, he probably sent them an owl with some sort of potion on the envelope or something like that," she added as she went back to her essay.
"Who said that it was them?" said Andy with an evil glint in her eye that Lily happened to catch out of the corner of her eye. She looked up at her friend who raised her eye brows at Lily gave her a little smirk before she went back to her homework. Lily gazed at her with interest. 'What in the name of Merlin is she talking about?' thought Lily.
"Well who else could have done it?" said Kelly.
"Wait a second… Last night you were acting kinda weird," said Lily as she remembered the events from the pervious night.
"What do you mean?" inquired Felicia directing all her attention, along with Karen and Kelly, to what Lily was saying.
"She was making something in her cauldron, and she had this jar of some sort of powder… It was you wasn't it?" said Lily as her green eyes widened in shock and admiration. Andy put her quill down and turned to look at her friend. Lily looked directly into her eyes and saw, along with the expression on her face, that it was true. "You…little…witch."
"Thanks! I assume that's a compliment?" said Andy with a smirk.
"Whoa, you mean it was Andy who did that?" said Kelly.
"How?" said Karen and Felicia at the same time.
"It was kinda easy really," said Andy as she smiled to herself for an excellent job well done. "Before I left home my brother put some itching powder in my trunk as a joke. So I just combined the powder with some tree bark, add a little boil potion, a few chants, and…presto! Instant itchy tree-turning powder."
The three Gryffindors and their Hufflepuff friend couldn't believe their ears. All the four friends could do was just stare in admiration toward their newly acquired friend.
"And the color changing?" asked Karen eagerly.
"My own special blend," said Andy simply not wanting to indulge them into all her little secrets. "Hey you want to hear something really funny though," she added giggling. "Right now the nurse is giving them both all these potions and stuff…, when…all she really needs to do…is just…is just give them some ice cream and them to take a bath," she said while trying to contain her laughter which spilled out when she was finished.
"So you mean they're talking things that won't stop the effects?" said Lily not really believing her ears.
"Yep," laughed Andy. Felicia, Karen, and Kelly couldn't help but join in on Andy's laughing spell. The four girls were laughing so loud at one point that Madam Pince almost had to throw them out of the library. But what took Andy kinda by surprise was that Lily wasn't joining in on her little joke.
"What's wrong Lil?"
"You really shouldn't have done that?" said Lily sharply.
"What?" said Andy with a laugh as though her friend was telling a joke.
"You heard me. Andy, you really shouldn't have done that," said Lily as she went back to her homework.
"After what those little imps did to me? They deserved what they got…maybe even more," said Andy in her defense. She couldn't believe that Lily wasn't as happy as the others were.
"But you could get into trouble," said Lily in a distress tone. She didn't want Andy to fall into a bad pattern like some other people from Gryffindor.
"I won't. The powder is untraceable. Besides, why would anyone think I did it?" said Andy in a matter of fact tone.
"She's got a point there Lil. No one would expect that type of a gag to come from a new student," said Felicia.
"Yeah, they would expect it to come from the 'Prank Pack'," added Kelly.
"Well she could at least tell Madam Pomfrey the cure," said Lily as she turned back to Andy.
"I will…eventually," said Andy with an evil grin.
"Andy if you don't go and tell her the cure I'll do it my self," said Lily in a business like tone.
"Fine go ahead," said Andy as she went back to her essay.
"And I'll tell her who did it too," added Lily. Everyone sitting at the table stopped and just stared from Lily to Andy and back again. Andy dropped her quill again and looked at Lily straight in the eyes.
"You'd rat me out?" said Andy in a disbelief tone.
"If you don't go to the hospital wing and tell Madam Pomfrey now, then yes I will," said Lily who continued to stare at Andy without even blinking.
"Come on Lily, it was just a joke. Let her enjoy herself for a little bit longer," said Kelly not liking the look on both of their faces. Karen, Kelly, and Felicia knew that Lily was just looking out for their new friend. But they weren't so sure as to how Andy would take Lily's concern, for she can come out a bit bossy at times, and this is defiantly one of those times.
Andy and Lily continued to stare each other down daring the other to crack. Until finally…
"Oh, all right! I'll go and tell the cure," grunted a frustrated Andy. With that she packed up her things and left the library and made her way to the hospital wing…slowly.
"You know Lily, you could have gone easy on her a bit," said Felicia after a couple of minutes had gone by.
"I guess I was a little harsh, huh? It's just that…I don't know. What she did it kinda took me by surprise a bit. I guess I never really pictured her as someone who could pull something that cruel," said Lily.
"Yeah but you got to admit, if we ever wanted to pull something on 'the pack' I'm glad she's on our side," said Karen. Felicia and Lily quickly looked at each other and each could tell that the other was thinking the same thing.
"What's going on?" said Kelly picking up on her two friends silent conversation.
"Should we Lil?" said Felicia with and eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I guess now is a good time," responded Lily.
"All right what's going on?" asked Karen who wasn't so sure if she wanted to know.
"Well… Lily and I owled each other over break and…" stated Felicia as she turned to Lily to help finish of the statement.
"we came up with a plan to get back at Potter and Black," finish Lily.
"Really? That's great!" exclaimed Karen.
"Yeah, but wait…I thought we got back at them already?" said Kelly with a state of confusion on her face.
"Well, yeah we did," stated Felicia. "But were sort of beating them to the punch this year."
"Okay…so what's the plan?" said Kelly now fully curious as to what her friends have planed. So with that Lily and Felicia told their other two friends of what they wanted to do to the four boys.
"That sounds great! Geez you gals really thought this through did you?" said Kelly in amazement.
"Yeah, but the only problem is that we don't know how to get close enough to them in order to pull it off," said Lily.
"Maybe Andy could help with that?" said Karen.
"Possibly. Hey speaking of her, shouldn't she be back by now? I mean the hospital wing isn't that far from here," said Felicia.
"Yeah now that you mentioned it she has been gone awhile," said Lily.
"Maybe she got loss. You think?" said Kelly.
"Maybe. Let's go and find her," said Lily in a business like tone. For some reason she couldn't help but shake this nagging feeling that something wasn't right…
(While all this went on…)
As Andy left the library she made her way to the hospital wing… slowly. While she walked down the many corridors and staircases to the hospital wing, she couldn't get over the way Lily reacted toward her prank on the two Slytherins.
'I can't believe her! After hearing about everything she did to James and the rest of his gang last year, she has the nerve to lecture me? Who does she think she is?' thought Andy.
When she got to the fourth floor corridor, she continued to replay the fight she had with Lily in the library until she was met with an unexpected surprise.
"Hey Sparky!" called out a voice from up a head of her that brought Andy out of her thoughts.
"Excuse me?" she replied not knowing who was talking to her until she saw none other than Sirius Black coming toward her.
"What?" said Sirius.
"What did you just call me?"
"Sparky. It's my new name for you. Remember for yesterday?" said Sirius with a goofy smile on his face that caused Andy to giggle.
"You're kidding, right?" giggled Andy.
"Nope. So what's up with you? When I saw you, you seemed like you were in a mood?" said Sirius with some concern in his voice.
"I'm not! I mean… I wasn't. It's nothing," said Andy quickly. "I…just got into a little disagreement with one of my friends is all."
"Oh? So soon?" said Sirius as he tilted his head to the side in a display that he hoped showed some concern. Andy didn't buy his act of thoughtfulness for an instant.
"What's that's suppose to mean?" snapped Andy.
"Nothing really. I just didn't really envision you getting into a fight with Evans so soon, is all I meant," stated Sirius as he placed his hands into his pants pockets to give him that boy next-door look.
"How'd you know it was Lily that I had a fight with?" said Andy with skeptical eye.
"Lucky guess," said Sirius simply.
"You were spying on me, weren't you?" said Andy not believing his story for an instant. 'What's up with this guy?'
"Me? Nah…I only do that on special occasions." said Sirius with a sly grin.
"Whatever," sighed Andy as she started to walk passed him and continue on her way to the hospital wing.
"Where are you off too?" said Sirius not wanting her to leave just yet.
"Hospital wing," said Andy simply, not really wanting to continue her conversation with the annoying dark haired boy before her.
"Why, are you sick or something?" said Sirius with real concern in his voice.
"What is this? Twenty questions?" snapped Andy with annoyance in her voice.
"Sorry! I was just wondering. No need to go and bit off my head," said Sirius faking a slightly hurt tone that Andy bought.
"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm just figured that the two losers in there have been punished enough," stated Andy.
"So that was you!" said Sirius with a grin and his eyebrows raised in amazement.
"Jealous?" asked Andy with a mischievous grin.
"Slightly…but I'll get over it. Soooo…tell me…how'd you do it?" said Sirius eagerly.
"Now why should I with a reputation like yours?" said Andy as she crossed her arms and gave him a look.
"Just a curious mind," shrugged Sirius innocently. "Besides I'd like to know what I'm up against incase I happen to tick you off."
"Hmmm…tempting but…nah! I think I'll keep the mysterious pretense for now," said Andy with a wink.
"Well you could at least tell me how you got it on them?" said Sirius oblivious to the fact that he was now turning a slight shade of crimson.
"Why? You saw what happen," said Andy simply and with that she turned on her heels and started off on her way.
'Think fast Sirius, or else…wait!' thought Sirius until…
"Hey I thought you were heading to the Hospital wing?" said Sirius quickly.
"Yeah I am," said Andy as she stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes. 'Geez what is it with this guy?'
"Then why are you heading toward the Astronomy Tower?"
"Huh?" said Andy not understanding what he was talking about as she turned back towards him.
"Hospital wings back that way," he stated pointing his thumb toward the hallway to his left.
"Urgh," groaned Andy as she rolled her eyes and mentally slapped herself for getting herself lost again. "Thanks," she said as she passed by the dark haired wizard before her.
"No problem," said Sirius with a mischievous grin. With that he headed down the hallway that Andy was about to go down with a smug look on his face. After he turned the corner, he slipped behind a tapestry into a hidden passage…right next to the Hospital Wing.
'Urgh…what's up with that guy? He's so…irritating! I think I understand why Felicia doesn't like him. You'd think he was a junior Sherlock!' thought Andy as she made her way down the hallway quickly. As she turned the corner, she found that she had somehow gotten back to were all the moving staircases were.
"Uhhh, don't tell me I got lost again! Great! Just what I need now," said Andy as she gave an exasperated sigh. "Maybe I can find my way back to the library and see what went wrong. Just hope I don't have to have another argument with Lil."
As she reached the last few steps of the staircase, she suddenly felt her leg become stiff and almost fell forward. "What the…?" she started to say. Andy looked down at the stairs below her to find that she had accidentally stepped into one of the trick steps. "Ahhh…perfect!" she growled as she took hold of her leg and gave it a good tug. Unfortunately her leg wouldn't budge.
"Oy! Andy! You all right there?" called a voice from above. When she looked up, she was met with the sight of James's face leaning over the rail two floors above her.
"Ummm…not really. My ah…leg seems to be stuck," grunted Andy as she tried to pry her leg free. She could her the sound of some girls nearby. 'Great, company!' "Think you can give me a hand there, Jay?" she called up to him.
"Sure, just turn the gargoyle on the rail and it'll let you go," said James with an evil grin that went unseen by Andy. Standing next to him out of Andy's view was Remus, Peter, and newly joined Sirius all trying to contain their laughter.
"Gargoyle?" she said to herself as she looked around at the railing. Up on top of the bottom post sat a stone gargoyle just within her reach. "This one?" she called up.
"Yeah," giggled James from above. With that Andy began to turn the small sculpture just as Lily, Felicia, Karen, and Kelly came into few.
"ANDY NO!" screamed Karen and Lily at the same time as they saw what she about to do. But alas, they were too late. For just when the words left their lips the step that held Andy's leg captive, collapsed from under her and she fell right through the step into a dark sloping tunnel.
From up above, the girls could hear the cackles of laughter. They each looked at each other and as if reading each other's minds, they ran up the stairs to where the culprits were.
"Why did you tell her to do that, Potter!" growled Lily as reached the landing that the four boys were on.
"So she could fall for our prank," giggled James.
"Hope she likes to swim? Right Rem?" laughed Sirius.
"Why you little…" started Lily as she made to lung at James and ring his neck.
"Lily no! Don't," cried Kelly as she grabbed a hold of Lily's robes to hold her back.
"He's not worth it," stated Karen as she too tried to contain Lily.
"Oh come on Evans. It's just a joke," said James with some amusement.
"Joke! You think tricking new students into falling through trick steps is fun?" roared Lily. James just simply nodded and gave her a toothy grin. She tried to get a hold of him again but was stopped this time by Felicia.
"Come on Lil. Let's go," said Felicia as she glared at the four before her. With that the three friends gently pulled the redhead down the stairs until they reached the ground floor of the castle.
"Where could she have gone?" said Lily anxiously. She was mentally berating herself for allowing her friend to become a victim of her enemy's childish pranks.
"I don't know," said Karen hopelessly as tried to think where Andy could have wined up.
"Wait what was it that Blackie said?" said Felicia trying hard to remember.
"Something about 'liking to swim'," said Kelly absentmindedly as she tried to picture where the blond haired witch could have gone.
"A swim?" said Felicia with puzzlement in her voice. She looked at Lily as they both tried to figure out what Sirius was talking about, until, as if they were reading each other's minds…
"The lake!" cried Lily and Felicia at the same time. All four of the girls raced down the hallway to the entrance hall. The first to reach the doors was Lily who jerked open the massive oak doors with much effort. The girls then ran down the front steps and around the castle toward the lake.
"Do you think she's all right?" panted Karen.
"I don't know. Knowing those four they could have done anything to her before she hit the lake," growled Felicia as her and the rest of the girls ran on the uneven earth.
"You don't think she's…" started Kelly not really sure what to expect when they found her.
"Come on let's find her, before…" stated Lily but was stopped when Karen screamed. Coming toward from the direction of the lake was some sort of creature that looked like it stepped right out of a muggle horror movie.
"Oh my Gods…" breathed Kelly.
"What in the name of Merlin?" gasped Felicia at the sight of the creature approaching them.
"Andy?" said Lily with a look of horror and disgust on her face.
"Phlit, yeah. It's me all right," groaned Andy as she tried to spit something out of her mouth. There she was standing before them covered head to toe in mud, feathers, and some sort of sticky green goo. From under the dark mud that Andy tried to brush off herself, they could tell that her once bright blond hair was now a very bright orange.
"Are..are you all right?" said Lily not really knowing whether to help her brush off the mud or to stay back.
"Well…other than the fact that I look like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and my pride being bruised a bit…yeah I'm just peachy," said Andy drenching the last of her words in sarcasm.
"Those little gits!" roared Felicia. "Oh, when I get my hands on Black I'll…" she said as she took her fist and punched it into the palm of her other hand.
"No this seems more like Potter's doing. That's it. That little bugger has gone to far," screamed Lily as she started to make her way back to the castle.
"Guys no! Don't do anything…not yet anyway," pleaded Andy. Felicia, Lily, Karen, and Kelly all looked at her as if she had gone mad.
"What in Tartars are you talking about," asked Kelly in confusion.
"Aren't you pissed off at them?" said Karen.
"On the contrary, I actually admire them. It was a pretty good prank. I don't think I could have thought one up better myself," said Andy as she continued to try to get rid of the mud and feathers that engulfed her.
"Miranda are you sure you're all right?" said Lily with concern. 'Maybe she hit her head or something?'
"There something you should know about me," chuckled Andy at the sight of confusion on her friend's faces. "I don't get mad. I get even. Excuse me, please." With that their muddy friend walked past them and up to the school where lunch was just being served now.
Andy marched through the Entrance hall into the Great Hall where most of the school was already dinning. She looked up and down at the Gryffindor table until her eyes fell upon her prey. Towards the middle of the long table sat the four culprits, laughing and talking among themselves. As she walked up to them, making slightly gross squishy sounds coming from her shoes, the half of the hall went into complete silence, while the other half was either laughing or trying very hard not to laugh. When the four boys caught sight of their victim coming towards them, they all tried very hard to contain the fit of giggles that were building up inside of them.
"Hello," said James as he tried to stifle a laugh.
"Hi," said Andy sweetly. "I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful mud bath," she said with her arms open gesturing to the mud covering her. "It was rather invigorating."
"You enjoyed it?" said Remus in shock.
"Oh, yeah! Haven't had that much fun in years," replied Andy with enough sarcasm to fill the entire hall.
"So there's no hard feelings, then," said Sirius, stupidly in Andy's opinion.
"Oh no, don't get me wrong. I'm extremely pissed off right now. I just wanted to give a little courteous warning."
"Which is?" said James slightly nervous at what she was going to say next.
"That this…means…war! So I'd watch my back if I were you," she said in a dramatic whisper. "Cheers!" she added brightly before she stormed out of the hall, leaving all four of them bewildered.
"She's not serious is she?" said Peter quietly.
"I think we went a little far with the six foot mud pit," said James slightly nervous as he looked at Sirius.
After leaving the Great Hall, Andy marched up to Gryffindor tower and up to the girl's bathroom where she took a quick bath, and changed her clothes. When she got out of the bathroom, completely rid of mud but unable to loose her new hair color, Kelly, Felicia, Lily, and Karen were already in the second-year dorm each sitting on a bed wait for her. (a/n Karen is sitting on Felicia's bed.)
"So," started Andy as she took a seat on her bed. "you guys want to get back at those little delinquents for last year?"
"Does that mean you want to help us?" said Kelly slightly surprised at Andy's ability to get right to the point.
"Heck ya!" stated Andy eagerly.
"Well…since you're so eager…" said Lily. With that Lily and the rest of the girls informed Andy of their plan to get back at the 'Prank Pack'.
"That sounds pretty good. Very creative. I can't believe that you of all people came up with that, Lil," said Andy in amazement. Out of the four of them, Lily was defiantly one of the last people Andy would expect to come up with such a wicked prank.
"You really think it's good?" said Kelly.
"Yeah!"
"Well don't go getting all too excited," said Lily turning a slight shade of pink.
"Yeah, we still don't know how were going to get close to them without them noticing," added Felicia, still at a lost as to how they were going to pull it off.
"I think I might have an idea. But…it might take some time to prepare it," said Andy with a look that stated she was mentally picturing how to pull the prank.
"What'd you have in mind?" said Lily with an evil grin.
A/N- Oooohhh the plot thickens. (O.k. not really) Well there you have it…chapter four. I already have the next chapter written out, I just need to type it out, so it might be up by the end of the month. (Check around Thanksgiving cuz that's when I go on vacation.) After this next chapter the real story will begin. This first five are just to give you some background info.
Praises and flames are well come to all read this story. (hey how else am I going to know if need to change my writing style or not.) Until next time…
Disclaimer- I own nothing. It's all J.K. Rowling.