Alright, so the reference was actually a reference to Ezria from 1x22, when he tells her he got a job at Hollis and she punches him: "OW!" "You scared the hell out of me." "That hurt!" "I don't care!" SO cute, and shoutout to Erica, Junebug107, XD Now your reviews:
Bagilia: Anddd there's the wrath :/ don't worry, it's just a spat! You're going to see some unbelievably cute moments with them coming up, I promise! And oh man, when Dobby died in the books, and I'm not kidding when I tell you this: I threw the book across the room, screamed, and sat and cried on my bed for about an hour, I was so upset. And then the process repeated itself when I watched the movie, AND every time I go and rewatch the scene (why I rewatch that scene I have no idea. It kills my heart). And yeah, I don't know how successful Ravenswood is gonna be, but I mean I don't want it to fail because I think Tyler Blackburn deserves a break like this (although I know he's gonna miss everyone on PLL, poor guy). And agreed, the entire HP cast is incredibly good lookings. It's those British genes! And welp, there's my first death threat. Awesome ;) no worries, you will get your Haleb, and it will be AWESOME! Promise :D
Sgdp1261: Haleb fighting is actually such a staple for them, haha. But it's all out of love, so it works out :) and Dobby is my all time favorite Harry Potter character, he's so fiercely loyal and adorable that it's impossible NOT to love him! Thanks again for the kind words!
Titanium Wolf: Caleb is pretty brave when it comes to Hanna, but you're right; he's getting into something he'll probably regret later :/ and you'll find out more about all of the girls in this coming chapter!
Erica: Yep, you got it! Thanks for the review!
TotalCowGirl: Thanks! :)
Junebug107: You'll get your dose of Ezria in a coming chapter, I promise :) in fact, next chapter they're not exactly together, but they're both in it, so that counts for something, right? Ermm you'll just have to see. And thank you!
Goldenheart11: Don't worry about it! You're reviewing now, aren't you? And please, Mona probably already HAS a cult. That. Girl... enough fangirling about Mona. I need to cut myself off. And I never get tired of your praise for my Caleb. Thank you so much! Hopefully I can keep delivering him to you in perfect character! Thanks again for the review, you're awesome :)
PrettyWitchyVamp: Well I'm pretty small, too, and I'm still slightly claustrophobic, so the roominess doesn't have much to do with it. Just the feeling that you're trapped. And haha, sorry about that! Don't worry, these two crazy kids can't stay away from each other for long ;) thanks again!
ShadowsOnTheMoon: You are such a Hufflepuff! But the Hufflepuff common room is the coziest, seriously. They even have footwarmers, I think! Meanwhile everyone in the towers is freezing their butts off. And I actually have a shirt tie-dyed in Hufflepuff colors! It's for Wake Forest University, though, but it's yellow and black. And no worries, you have plenty of time to guess the references in other chapters! Thanks again for reviewing :)
Okay, so THIS chapter is lonnnggggg. I think it's my longest one yet, but it's also one of my favorites because the four girls are together, just nonstop processing everything going on around them like the dysfunctional humans that they are :D so hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and do NOT forget to review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER to let me know if you liked it!
Emily glided through the Great Hall on the balls of her feet, two cups of coffee in her hand and a smile on her face. The first Quidditch game of the season was tomorrow, and it was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. She may not have gotten Seeker like she wanted, but she wasn't going to let that get her down. And Paige had been nothing but encouraging at every practice, cheering Emily on every time she blocked the Quaffle, showering her with compliments, saying that being Keeper suited her so much more than Seeker. Emily highly doubted that, but she supposed being Keeper wasn't all that bad.
At least, she tried to tell herself that it wasn't all that bad.
She walked over to the Slytherin table, where Spencer was flipping through a textbook, seemingly trying to cram a bunch of information into her head. Emily let out a small laugh as she placed the coffee cup on the table and slid it over to Spencer. It took a moment, but finally Spencer looked up from her book. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree as she greedily grabbed the cup. "Where'd you get this?"
"MacKenzie Albright snuck some coffee beans from the greenhouse," Emily explained as she sat down across from Spencer. "He always makes everyone on the team a pot a couple days before a game."
"Why not just give it to you the day of the actual game?" Spencer asked as she took a sip of the steaming hot liquid.
"Because he's afraid we'll test positive for steroids," Emily said with an eyeroll, evoking a small giggle out of Spencer, who eventually set the cup down, looking up at Emily gratefully.
"Thanks, Em," she said tiredly. "I needed this. I didn't sleep at all last night."
"Why not?" Emily asked worriedly as she furrowed her brow.
Spencer hesitated. She wanted to tell Emily about the conversation between Mona and Noel that she found suspicious, and she wanted to tell her about how she felt like Toby might know something. After he went up to the dorms the previous night, Spencer had just stared after him, processing what had just happened. He had wanted to confirm that she would tell him if something was wrong; that could either mean he was insecure about his stance as her boyfriend, or that he had caught on by now that something really was wrong. The girls hadn't received the fangs in over a month, and they were ready to pull their hair out at what that could really mean.
But Spencer didn't voice all of this out loud. She just took another swig of her coffee before wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her robe. "I have an Astronomy test today."
"Oh, so that's why you're cranking out the books," Emily said as she nodded her head understandingly.
"Please, when does Spencer not crank out the books?" a playful, yet exhausted, voice sounded from behind. Spencer and Emily both turned around to see Aria slide into a seat next to Spencer, with a plate of pancakes and fruit in her hand, her hair in a low ponytail, and dark, prominent circles under her eyes.
Spencer and Emily felt horrible. This whole thing with Mike had stretched on for a while, and it was the talk of all the school. Aria was not taking it well.
"How're you holding up, sweetie?" Spencer asked sweetly as she wrapped an arm around Aria's narrow shoulders.
Aria mildly shrugged as she leaned into Spencer's embrace. "I've been better," she said in a hoarse voice that didn't sound very much like her own. "Madam Pomfrey said I could go visit Mike again today."
"Well that's good!" Emily piped in.
"No, it's not," Aria said sadly as she shook her head. "Everytime I go in there, it's the same thing. He's not getting better at all. That woman isn't doing anything for him. He's basically just lying there like a log!"
"Okay, you need a sip of coffee," Spencer said in a problem-solving tone as she reached for her cup and handed it to Aria. "Or maybe... five."
Aria gratefully took a sip. "Thanks," she said before setting it down. "But guys, I'm worried. The fangs - "
"Ugh, it feels so good to finally hear someone else say it out loud," Hanna said exasperatedly as she popped in out of nowhere and sat down as well, next to Emily and across from Aria and Spencer. "The fangs. So I'm not the only one who thinks it's a little weird? That we just randomly get these seemingly threatening fangs out of nowhere and then it just stops? With no explanation at all?"
"No, of course you're not the only one Hanna," Spencer assured. "We're all thinking the same thing."
"I keep replaying that day in my head," Aria said quietly. "I keep thinking about the fire when I got my fang... what if something similar happened to Mike?"
"What are you saying?" Spencer asked curiously, closing her Astronomy book so that she could pay closer attention.
"I'm saying... what if we're not the only ones who got fangs?"
"You think Mike got one too?" Emily asked skeptically.
"It's possible!" Aria whispered. "I mean, don't you guys think it was a little sudden?"
"But if other people were getting fangs, don't you think we'd hear about it by now?" Emily pointed out.
"Not if everyone is keeping it to themselves like we are," Aria reasoned. "We've been so hushed up about it because we don't want other people getting involved. What if it's the same thing with said other people?"
"Aria has a point," Spencer agreed. "It makes more sense if other people are getting fangs too. Why would someone go after just the four of us?"
"But that doesn't tell us anything," Hanna said impatiently. "What are we supposed to do? Go around to every student in the school and interrogate them? I doubt running an official survey with The Daily Prophet is going to tell us anything."
"Okay, maybe you need a sip of coffee, too," Spencer muttered, an annoyed look on her face as she turned to Emily. "You should've brought more cups."
"I only have two hands!" Emily retorted.
"Sorry, but I did not sleep well last night," Hanna whined. "Caleb has been all over me."
"I don't need to know that!" Spencer said, repulsed, as she threw her hands up in disgust.
"Okay, not like that," Hanna said snarkily. "Well... okay maybe a little like that. But that part I actually enjoy!"
"Hanna," Aria interrupted as she snuck another sip of Spencer's coffee. "Skip to the point. What's going on with you and Caleb?"
"He thinks something's up with the fangs," Hanna explained bitterly, turning to Aria. "Ever since you got that fang in the Ravenclaw common room, he's been freaking out."
"Have you told him anything?" Spencer asked frantically.
"I told him to stay out of it!" Hanna insisted. "I said that it was a stupid prank and that it ended the second it started."
"Then why is he still hot on the A trail?" Aria asked.
"He's like... Hannibal Lecter smart," Hanna said knowingly as she put her arms on the table to rest her chin on them. "He thinks it's suspicious that they just stopped, and he says that judging by that fire, whoever is behind this is dangerous."
"Well he's basically thinking everything we're thinking," Spencer surmised.
Hanna just groaned loudly, evoking a few stares from nearby students who were nonchalantly chewing on their French toast. "We got in this huge fight last night. He's furious with me."
"He'll get over it," Emily said comfortingly as she put a hand on Hanna's back, rubbing it soothingly. But suddenly her head snapped up as he looked over at Spencer and Aria in confusion. "Was I the only one who actually got sleep last night?"
"Looks like it," Spencer said glumly.
"Don't let us get to you though, Em," Aria said encouragingly, forming as big of a smile as she could manage with the little energy she had. "We promise we'll be all bright eyed and bushy tailed when we're cheering you on at the game tomorrow."
"Yeah," Spencer piped in. "We'll be sitting front and center so we can be the first people to see you when you catch that Snitch."
Emily's heart sank. She still hadn't told the girls that she had lost the Seeker position to Lily Potter. "Well... you probably won't considering I won't be going after it."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Spencer asked curiously, and Hanna lifted her head from her arms to stare at Emily.
Emily chewed on her bottom lip nervously before blurting out the truth. "Ilostseekertolilypotter."
All she got was a bunch of blank stares. "Okay, what the hell did she just say?" Hanna asked the other two girls bluntly, before turning to Emily again. "Slow down this time!"
Emily just sighed glumly. "I lost the position of Seeker."
"What?!" all three girls exclaimed.
Emily nodded mournfully. "I'm a Keeper this year. Lily Potter finally beat me out for Seeker."
"But that's not fair," Spencer said angrily. "You've been Seeker for the last six years, Em! Lily's a fourth year, she's got plenty of time to get it!"
"Did you just have a bad tryout or something?" Aria said softly, trying to make sense of this.
Emily shook her head. "No," she whispered. "That's why I didn't tell you guys."
"What do you mean?" Hanna asked innocently.
Emily sighed as she leaned across the table, keeping a wary eye out for anyone could be listening. Scorpius Malfoy was all the way at the other end of the table, sloppily shoving a muffin in his mouth while his friends guffawed like it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen, and on the other side of them were a couple first years who were excitedly slurping on their spoons of Cheerios while talking about the Halloween ball coming up. No one seemed to be paying Emily or the girls any mind, meaning it was safe to tell them.
"I caught the Snitch in the scrimmage, and it exploded," she explained, "so Albright revoked my position."
"Are you serious?!" Aria almost shouted, almost forgetting where they were and the respectable volume her voice should be at.
"Yes," Emily whispered, trying to keep her voice down the best that she could.
"Em, you can't let him do that - "
"He's the captain," Emily said morosely as she put her head in her hands. "He can do that."
"But Emily, do you realize what this means?" Spencer squeaked, her eyes wide. "I think whoever planted the fang in there wanted you not to get Seeker."
"What?" Emily cried quietly, and then without even taking a breath immediately whipped around to face the Gryffindor table, narrowing her eyes at Lily Potter, who was having a calm conversation with Ben Coogan over at the Gryffindor table as she sunk her teeth into a blueberry muffin.
Hanna followed her gaze, but then pulled Emily back. "Em, I doubt it's Lily. What would she have against all four of us?"
"I don't know," Emily growled, "but I'd be willing to go over there and find out."
"Okay, now we're just getting sloppy," Aria said frustratedly. "I don't think it was Lily, but I think that if whoever is behind this was planning on sabotaging Emily in some way..."
"And they succeeded..." Hanna continued.
"Then we're probably next," Spencer said softly, before poking her head up, a fierce look in her brown eyes. "I'm not letting that happen, guys. I'm not."
"What are you saying, Spence?" Hanna asked.
"I'm saying we should tell someone about this," Spencer said, speaking as though she had come to some mind bending revelation that could help them all. But they all just stared at her.
"Look, I don't know who this person thinks they are with their 'A's and their fangs, but we're not gonna let them get to us!" Spencer said determinedly.
The other three girls just continued to stare at Spencer as though she had just told them that the four of them were going to break into Gringotts by snagging a polyjuice potion that would turn them all into goblins. Spencer just gave them a quizzical look. "C'mon guys, what's the worst that could happen?"
"That person could want revenge on us for telling on them?" Hanna pointed out.
"I don't think we should tell someone just yet," Aria said timidly. "I think we should wait and see if it gets worse. The last thing we want is to embarrass ourselves."
After a minute, Spencer just sighed. "You're right," she said defeatedly before staring straight over to the Gryffindor table, where Noel Kahn was nimbly twirling his wand between his fingers in one hand, and with the other hand he was rubbing circles on Jenna Marshall's palm with his thumb, gazing lovingly into her eyes as he told her what was probably meant to be sweet nothings, but Spencer presumed it to be absolute bullshit. She then averted her eyes over to the Ravenclaw table, where Mona was trying to keep her eyes on the scrambled eggs in front of her, but couldn't help herself from turning around to stare at Noel and Jenna with a jealous glint in her eyes.
"We'll find out more, and then we'll lunge when the going gets tough," Spencer plotted, never taking her eyes off of Noel and Mona.
"Sounds good," Aria agreed as she started to stand up from the table.
"Where are you going?" Hanna asked.
"To see Mike," Aria answered, after taking in a big gulp of air and then letting it out in one short, sharp breath.
"So early?"
"Ezra doesn't have a class this morning, so I'm going to talk to him afterward," Aria explained in a whisper. "I think we could both use the company."
"Okay, that sounds good," Spencer said with a nod as she brought the cup of coffee to her lips, taking a nice, long sip, before letting go to look up at Aria concernedly. "Feel better, okay?"
"Thanks." And with that, Aria got her things and left the table, leaving her seemingly full plate of food as well.
Spencer took note of this, and didn't hesitate to point it out. "Did she even eat this morning?"
"Aria hasn't eaten since September 2nd," Hanna said bluntly. "That girl does not do well under stress."
"None of us do," Emily said gloomily. "With all this training for Quidditch and stress from the fangs, I haven't been able to stomach anything. You'd think I'd have an ulcer or something!"
"Wait... what does food have to do with memory loss?" Hanna asked, only to earn befuddled stares from both Spencer and Emily. "What?"
"Isn't an ulcer when you forget everything?" Hanna asked tentatively as the other two stared at Hanna in complete shock.
"Ummm... that's alzheimer's, Hanna," Spencer said slowly. "An ulcer is a break in the membrane surrounding an organ - "
"In English, Spencer," Hanna said impatiently.
"It's like... having a hole in your stomach," Spencer offered up.
"A hole in your stomach?" Hanna repeated, eyes bulging. "Ew, why would I want a hole in my stomach?"
"That's the thing, you don't," Spencer explained. "It's extremely painful."
"Must be," Hanna said incredulously. "I mean, if there's a hole in your stomach - "
"Okay can we not talk about holes in stomachs at the table?" Emily said as she wrinkled her nose, forcing down a sip of her coffee. "I'll be lucky if I ever get my appetite back."
"Yeah I guess so," Hanna muttered. "Especially after getting holes in your stomach."
"Moving on," Spencer said sternly.
"You know what, whatever," Hanna said finally as she stood up from the table. "I have to go."
"Already?" Emily complained.
"Yes," Hanna hissed. "In case you've forgotten, there is someone that I need to avoid."
"What?"
Hanna averted her eyes toward the Ravenclaw table. Emily and Spencer spotted Caleb, chatting up a few other boys as he took a bite of his eggs, which he had promptly drowned in ketchup.
Emily made an "o" shape with her mouth and motioned for Hanna to get up and go, which she did. It pained her to see Hanna have to go to these extreme measures to avoid Caleb, but Hanna was especially testy this morning, as she always was when she and Caleb got in an argument, so Emily wasn't going to push her.
As soon as Hanna was out of sight, Emily turned to Spencer. "What do you think, Spence?"
"About what?" Spencer asked, still not taking her eyes off of Mona and Noel.
"Do you think someone really wanted me to not get Seeker on purpose?" Emily asked timidly. "Do you think someone really wants to hurt us?"
Spencer froze, and turned to Emily. She opened her mouth to say something, but she really didn't know what to say. She had never seen Emily as a weak person; in fact, she was one of the strongest people she had ever known. Emily had dated a boy on the Quidditch team, Ben Coogan, for several years, and they were known as the "power-athletic couple" at Hogwarts. But Toby had been telling Spencer for ages that he kept seeing Emily looking at another girl; looking at her in a loving way. Spencer didn't believe him at first, but then she, as well as the other girls, started noticing it too. Even so, they were completely knocked off their feet when Emily confessed to everyone that she was head over heels in love with Maya St. Germain.
The fact that Emily had to hide that for so long, but had the courage to come out with who she really was, moved Spencer greatly, and she and the other girls' opinions of Emily were never swayed even for a second; she was still the Emily they had all grown to love since their first year, and that wasn't going to change just because she happened to like someone else.
Spencer had promised to be there for her when students, especially Ben and his old cronies, gave her a hard time, and she was there especially when Emily would sulk around the school for days after Maya, her girlfriend of 4 months, got expelled for being caught with the Felix Felicis potion, and a huge cauldron of it, which she used as a boost of good luck to not fail out of school. Emily would constantly cry and scream that it wasn't fair, that students everywhere used potions and didn't get caught with it, and neither Spencer, nor any of the other girls, had ever seen her so broken.
And yet somehow, Emily had found a way to move on, and she even found a way to date someone else; Paige, whom it took awhile for Spencer to warm up to at first because she and Emily were so different, but she then saw how they were like hands in gloves when they were together. That made Emily as strong of a person if Spencer had ever seen one. But she was still fragile, and Spencer didn't know how to tell her that yes, she really did think someone wanted to hurt them.
"Spencer?" Emily asked again, her voice cracking slightly, breaking Spencer out of her thoughts, but before Spencer could respond, Professor McGonagall made a beeline for them.
"Ah, Miss Fields," she simpered sweetly. "Enjoying a nice conversation with Miss Hastings here?"
"Yes, Professor," Emily said with a head nod after nervously clearing her throat.
"Perhaps you're talking about the first Quidditch game of the season coming up tomorrow?" McGonagall said pompously. Spencer bowed her head; she didn't like where this was going.
"Yes, Professor," Emily - who, unlike Spencer, didn't even see where this was going - said again.
"Right... well wouldn't it be a shame if you had to miss out on that?"
Emily's eyes widened. "Ummm..."
"Exactly," McGonagall said sharply. "Five points from Gryffindor, and if you don't go back to your table now, I'll make it ten and bench you for tomorrow's game." And with that, McGonagall spun around, her cloak flowing gracefully behind her as she did so, and marched away.
Emily rolled her eyes as she turned back to Spencer, who was stunned. "That was pretty harsh."
"She's been on everyone's asses for the past month," Emily said exasperatedly. "She's really stressed out, but no one really knows why."
"Well, it could've been worse!" Spencer offered up. "I mean, she could've caught us in the act of drinking coffee."
Emily smiled at this, then stood up from the table, taking McGonagall's order into account. "Well, I'll let you get back to your studying."
"Huh?" Spencer said abruptly. She had completely forgotten about her Astronomy test at this point; she was too busy staring a hole into both Noel and Mona's skulls and thinking about how badly she wanted to protect Emily and the other girls. "Oh, right. Okay!"
"Sorry, it's just..." Emily glanced over toward the Gryffindor table, where Paige was sitting with the rest of the Quidditch team, laughing as she sipped her coffee. She caught on to Emily staring at her, motioning for her to join, love shining in her deep brown eyes. Emily found herself blushing, and Spencer caught on.
"Emily," Spencer said with a giggle. "Go! Enjoy yourself, okay? You should be able to play tomorrow. At least one of us should be happy."
"Okay, I'm going!" Emily said, laughing along, as she stood up from the table, but she didn't get very far before Spencer called her name again.
"Hey Em?"
"Yeah?" Emily said, whipping around to face Spencer.
"Kick ass tomorrow," Spencer said, as straightforward as possible, a look of ferocity on her face. "Seeker or not, just kick serious ass. And know that we're proud of you."
Emily found herself grinning from ear to ear. "Alright, I will!" she said confidently before she sauntered away toward the Gryffindor table. Spencer watched her go, but then looked back at Noel, and looked back at Mona, then repeated the process.
There was something she needed to do.
Side Note: So it's official. Emily did not get seeker. Such a shame :( and if no one gets the references in this chapter I will be more than disappointed. Review with your guesses!
