*One Month Later*
Not many people knew how it started. Sure, there were whispers. Some said it started as friendly House to House competition. Some said it was tensions from light and dark families. Some even went so far as to claim that children of Death Eaters were looking to get even with the Prewetts. Whatever the case was, the first year Slytherins and Gryffindors were in all out war with each other.
One couldn't even say it started off small. By the end of the first week of school two Slytherins ended up in the hospital wing and another got banned from the library. The following Monday two boys from Gryffindor had their robes catch fire in history class. With Professor Binns unable to perform spells (many wondered if the ghost even noticed the fires), the boys had thrown off their robes to avoid being burned. Which would have been embarrassing enough, had the replacement clothes they were offered not been doused in a hair growing potion. The boys' bodies were engulfed in balls of red hair by the end of lunch. Some would argue that it couldn't have been the Slytherins, as they don't share any classes with Gryffindors on Mondays. Others know better.
After that day it spiralled out of control: Suits of armour chasing students; stinging hexes in the halls; exploding potions in class; frogspawn soap in the loo; robes dyed pink and lime green; balloons hidden in pillows!
...To be honest, some of these pranks seemed rather unorthodox. The most they did was worry prefects as to how pranks were winding up in the dormitories. A few older students attributed some of these pranks to Peeves or from someone within their own house. Still… there was doubt; and, with the climbing number of student visits to the hospital wing, there was also fear.
"I'm heading out for the night." Melissa announced to the rest of the music club, picking up her viola case to close up for the evening.
"It's still thirty minutes until curfew, Giggles." One of the older guitarists, Heathcote Barbary, pointed out. "We have plenty of time before we need to be back in the dungeons."
"I know, but I want to finish up my transfiguration chapter before class tomorrow." Melissa answered.
The shaggy guitarist considered arguing for a moment, but resigned with a scratch of his head and turned to the first-year cellist. "Graves, do you mind walking her back to Slytherin on your way to Hufflepuff?"
"It's fine, Barbary. Really." Melissa interrupted. "I have a couple girls in my year coming up to walk me home."
Barbary shared a look with a couple of the students in his year, who offered him nothing but half-hearted shrugs, then turned back to her. "Alright, if you say so. Just be careful, alright?"
"Will do!" Melissa reassured with a warm smile. Once her items were packed up for the night, she headed out the door and greeted her waiting friends.
"Evening Amy, Domonkos?" Melissa greeted with a slight confusion. She looked both ways down the hall. "Where's Jacqueline?"
"Orpington and Ignatov are helping her with her history essay." Amy explained. "Madam Pomfrey doesn't want her to risk straining her eyes while she's still on potions."
A disgruntled huff went through Melissa's frame. A memory flashed in her mind from when a potion had exploded in Jacqueline's face. It was easy to recall. It had been the day after the flaming hairball incident. "Makes sense." She turned to Domonkos with a mischievous smile. "It's not like we need an escort all the way up to the girl's dorm, unless you're interested?"
Domonkos blinked at her with bemusement. "Why would I be interested in a girl's dorm?"
Amy giggled and Melissa rolled her eyes. "Kids." She muttered under her breath. "Can't even be teased properly." She swung her borrowed viola behind her head and stretched. "Alright, might as well head back, then."
They made their way down the hall and onto the stairwell. They passed the time chatting about classes and clubs while waiting their turn as the stairs shifted to where they stood.
"Goodness, how many instruments do you play?" Amy asked in amazement as Melissa described the small tutoring circle that's been forming among the students in the music club.
"Hmm, piano, viola, accordion, and guitar so far. So that's four. Five, eventually, with Ettington teaching me and Crumb the harpsichord. It's similar enough to the piano that I'll have the theory and best uses behind it down before the term's over."
"Why so many?"
"Well, mum teaches piano and dad works at a music studio and plays guitar, so I pretty much grew up with it." Melissa shrugged as the three of them stepped onto the staircase. "Though, I guess the proper answer is that I want to stay in music as a career, so it helps to pick up something new every couple of years."
"That's fascinating!" Amy wowed.
"I would think it is because you are bored and learn one that is new." Domonkos teased.
"Hey!" She moved to jab at him with her case-holding hand. "I have you know that I can be very patient when it comes to things that I-"
"Depulso!"
A voice called out of nowhere; and, in a flash of blue light, the viola case -and Domonkos- went flying over the edge of the staircase.
"Dom!-Soros!" The girls cried in unison and ran to grab him. The boy was quick enough to grab the railing before he could fall, giving the girls enough time to grab hold.
"Shit!" The unknown voice called out, followed by a pair of feet running from the scene.
"I can't…" Domonkos groaned in a panicked strain.
"We've got you, hold on!" Melissa cried, trying desperately to pull him up. Unfortunately, between the sudden circumstance and panicked kicking, they were losing grip, fast!
"'Lissa, look!" Amy gasped sharply. Her face gestured ahead of them. Melissa followed her gaze and spotted another staircase moving their way, enough to go directly under them. "We only have one chance!"
Fuck! The girl was right. She nodded to her in understanding, and Amy turned to Domonkos. "Soros, we're going to drop you on my count. Trust us."
The boy swallowed and nodded with fearful eyes.
"Okay. One, two… THREE!"
"How odd." A girl's voice creeped into her ear. "Usually mine are the only tears shed in here."
"I'm not crying!" Melissa retorted. Her hand moved against both her cheeks as though to assure herself that that was indeed the case. In fact, the only thing dripping in the room was a leaky faucet where the other girl emerged from. "I'm just…" She let out a frustrated sigh. "A friend of mine almost died last night."
"And so you've come to Moaning Myrtle to see what could have happened to your friend." The ghostly girl accused.
"Come on, Myrtle, you know I'm not here to tease you."
"No. You just want to use me, like you always do. Spy on the Gryffindors, please. What's the password, please? Work with Peeves, please? Oh, that dreadful poltergeist!"
Melissa stared at her somewhat blankly. "I take it Peeves was being a jerk to you?"
"He's a terror! Always so cruel to me. He was blowing up balloons, saying that I looked just like them. Then terrorized me, trying to find out what it would take to make me pop!"
A frustrated puff of air went out her nose. She doesn't need this right now. What's a phantom pain compared to bones shattering like that borrowed viola? "I'm sorry about that. Really. Just… I'm only here because I need to be alone. Need to process what almost happened to Dom."
"Hmph." The ghost huffed, disbelieving. "Death isn't the worst thing that can happen to a person." Myrtle insisted. "In my case, living was just as terrible."
Melissa rubbed her head in annoyance. "Death isn't what's bothering me it's... you remember dying, right?"
"Oh, yes!" The ghost nodded with a sullen expression. "It was dreadful. Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses, so I had hidden in that stall behind you. Then I heard somebody come in. A boy speaking something funny, a different language, I think it must've been. I unlocked the door to tell him to go and use his own toilet, only I saw a pair of big yellow eyes and... I died."
"So… after you saw these eyes, you died instantly?"
"Yes. Dreadful, isn't it?"
"Mhmm." Well that's a conversation for another day. Even so… "...I wasn't so lucky."
The ghost girl's head turned. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing," she waved off, suppressing a shudder, "I just mean that Domonkos wouldn't have been so lucky. He'd be left falling, terrified, knowing that he was dying and it will hurt if it's not death on impact. It's not death that sucks, it's dying ." Those eyes of his screamed as much as they let him go. Fuck, did I look like that when-
She didn't want to remember enough to know an answer.
"Hmm…" The ghost pondered at the explanation. "Dying, of course. Perhaps dying so quickly is the only good thing to have ever happened to me."
Ouch. That admission was painful to hear. In an odd way, it reminded her of Harry when he was younger. "I wish things had been better for you in life, and in death." She droned a half-hearted consolation.
Myrtle blinked, and suddenly a river of tears began to stream from her face. "No one… no one has ever said something so nice to me!"
Damn, now she has to take care of a crying ghost? Still, better than being on her bad side. "Well, it's about time someone did, Myrtle. Come on," she patted the stone, "sit by me."
The ghost moved, tentatively going to the girl's side, and curled in. A spectral chill went over her as the ghost went against, or possibly into her skin.
"Strange." The weeping ghost muttered. "You feel a little like death."
In spite of the emotional mix in her head, the comment made her smile, albeit sardonically. "Heh. You've no idea."
After a few minutes of sitting there among ghostly tears, Myrtle piped up from her cries. "Your friend, you don't have to worry about him. He won't die."
"Maybe." Melissa considered. "But this is just another step. This stupid war has been getting worse and worse. It was never supposed to get this bad. Dom may have survived last night, but someone else might not be so lucky."
"Well, what can you do about it?"
Melissa went quiet for a minute. That very question had been playing in her mind before the ghost had emerged. A plan still not fully formed.
"Whatever I can to end this war."
When weasels dream of hares,
And jokes become nightmares,
Alone they must fly,
When the sun is high,
Else lakes steal the rat's air
-M
On a crisp October day, three schoolmates lounged upon a large, flat stone on the shore of Black Lake. Despite the seemingly relaxed positions their wands were drawn. Between them was a metal cage, and it's sole occupant twitched and looked between the three as it pondered what was to come.
"I'll confess," Garrick considered as he eyed the cage, "I did not think you would be so bold as to try a tactic like this."
"It's really not something I like to keep in my repertoire." Melissa frowned.
"Still have to admit, it's a clever move." Rusalka smirked. Her wand wagged teasingly over the rat's head. "The Weasleys are too Gryffindor to tell a professor and too goody-goody to break your rules and bring back-up. You should be proud, Clown Girl. It's a real Slytherin plan."
Melissa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Thanks, but just remember the plan itself. Stay back and follow Orpington's lead or we'll lose our trump card."
"Fine, fine." The other girl smirked, though it followed with a touch of disappointment. "And you remember that you asked me to come here for a reason."
"I know." She replied. Her eyes turned castle-ward as three figures approached. "I just hope I don't need it." She pushed herself off of the rock and walked in the direction of the new figures.
When she got far enough away to only be in shouting distance, she raised her arms with a flourish. "Gentlemen! So happy you could join us!"
The taller of the three boys pounded closer with his wand-arm raised. "If you're done anything to Scabbers, I swear I'll-"
"Easy, Percy." One brother said as both held him back.
"Smart move, boys." She turned her focus on the middle brother and offered her best serious frown. "I assure you Mister Weasley that Scabbers is unharmed, and will stay that way as long as things between us stay… civil."
Percy seemed to get the threat well enough. He shook off his brothers and lowered his wand-arm. The other brothers followed suit.
"Come on, Bennett. You'd kill someone's pet?" One twin pleaded.
"This is way beyond pranks." Another added.
"You're right. It is." She clipped. "But that ship sailed a long time ago."
The Weasleys seemed confused by this. "You mean Soros? We heard about that. It wasn't us."
"No, but it was someone in your house; and I don't even mean then. Right from the get-go you boys started a dangerous game."
One gave a nervous chuckle. "Dangerous? Come on, Bennett. All we did was a couple pranks."
"Right, all in good fun." The other said, risking a bit of cheerful tease in his voice.
"Fun?" She let her voice dip into a dark edge and stepped closer. "You think it's fun to throw people off their brooms and get their legs broken? That it's fun to have someone pushed into a bed of stinging nettles?
"Newsflash, boys, sending children to the hospital isn't fun or funny! You know what kind of people enjoy sending children to the hospital? Death Eaters!" She stood a breath away from their freckled faces, watching as they flinched at the accusation. "If you don't believe me, just ask the Longbottoms. Better yet, go ask your uncles."
The boys flared up at the mention of the Prewett brothers. All of them took a step closer, ready for a fight. Melissa stuck out her wand arm horizontally. "Ah- ah- ah-" Behind her, Rusalka lifted up the cage. "I said to keep things civil."
The boys' eyes went wide in alarm and took a hurried step back. She and Rusalka both lowered their arms in turn.
"As I was saying. No matter what's happened over this past month, I have never done something that's sent a kid to the hospital wing. You, on the other hand, have been hurting people from the start."
"What about the fire?" One accused.
"You had our robes burnt to a crisp!"
Melissa tsked a frown at that. "I told them to find a way to change your clothes with the potioned robes, I didn't mean for them to burn you; and, for the record, I gave Wystan shit for that. In fact, that would have been the end of things if you hadn't made Jacqueline's potion explode in her face."
"It wasn't that bad." One Weasley said defensively.
"SHE NEARLY WENT BLIND!" Melissa cried out in outrage. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to cure eye damage? She still hasn't recovered from it! Probably won't ever will. Not completely. She works her ass off every day and you could've destroyed her future as a potioneer because of some ill-thought out excuse of a prank!" A sudden shiver went through the boys at the seriousness of the potential consequences. It didn't end there, though. "Bad enough you've been hurting people, but you almost maimed her permanently! That's why the other Slytherins reacted so badly against you! Then you went and convinced Peeves to throw kitchen knives at people!
"And then Domonkos! Do you realize how close he was to falling to death? People keep acting like all Slytherins are evil, but you Gryffindors are the ones trying to outright murder us!"
She stopped then. Out of breath from screaming the words at them.
"I'm… sorry." One of them whispered through the tension.
"That's why you brought us out here?" Percy asked. "Your friends were hurt, and now you're taking your revenge out on Scabbers."
Melissa growled at the idea. "I'm not here for revenge. I don't give two shits about that."
Percy regarded that statement with skepticism. "What do you want, then?"
Her shoulders dropped dramatically. "What I want is a goddamn ceasefire!"
Their eyebrows raised in surprise. "That's it?" Percy asked.
Melissa fished a roll of parchment from her pocket and tossed it to them. Percy fumbled at the paper, and another brother helped him catch it. "These are my terms." They opened it and began to read.
The Prankster Pledge
For the assurance of a fun and safe environment during our education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the undersigned students have agreed to abide by the following terms.
1. No prank or practical joke can be damaging enough to cause severe pain, disfigurement, or death.
2. Jinxes and hexes can only be used if the counter-jinx/hex is known to the prank recipient's year-mates or adheres to section 3.
3. Any prank or practical joke meant to affect the physical or mental condition of a student has to be minimal enough that the school healer can remedy it completely within three days.
4. Curses and dark artifacts cannot be used.
5. Anyone of the undersigned who breaks the above rules is subject to one of two punishments:
a. They are reported to the prank recipient's Head of House, who will administer punishment as they see fit.
b. With the prank recipient's permission, the prank recipient's housemates are to punish the pledge-breaker as they see fit.
After reading it through, one twin looked up at her. "You're serious?"
The other scoffed, but kept his eyes on the paper. "The Slytherins won't ever go along with this."
"The other first years have already agreed to it." She informed the disbelieving Gryffindors. "And it only applies to our year, anyways. Others can join in so long as both sides agree to the terms. Had an Upper Year charm it and everything."
They looked up at her, still suspicious. "Why bother doing this?"
"Because children deserve the ability to live and have fun without risk of dying." She raised an eyebrow. "You can't possibly think that's a bad thing?"
They blinked at her, glancing at the parchment on occasion. "It's just… never thought I'd see something like this from a Slytherin."
Melissa rolled her eyes at that. "You realize that not everyone is a copycat personality just because of a hat, right? I'm sure you two and Percy aren't exactly alike despite you all being Gryffindor."
They all looked at each other. A small snort came out of the younger boys. "She's got a point."
"Kind of happy about it, to be honest."
"No offense, Perce." They both said to their brother.
Percy just rolled his eyes. "I suppose not." He looked back at the young witch. "If we agree, you'll give Scabbers back?"
"You can bring the terms and Scabbers back with you." She informed him. "As a sign of good faith." She gestured to the others. Simultaneously, the purebloods rose up and walked over to them. Rusalka roughly handed the cage back to Percy's eager arms.
"I trust everything's been sorted?" Garrick asked.
"For the most part." She looked each Weasley in the eye. "So long as the Gryffindors agree to no longer attack fellow students."
The twins bristled at that, but Percy spoke up before they could say something to dissolve the tensioned peace. "I'll be sure to give them a thorough talking to."
"Thank you, Mister Weasley." She said with a sly smile. "I'm sure with your charge of the situation you'll make an excellent Prefect one day."
The boy almost smiled at the praise, but could feel enough taint to hold it back. "I appreciate the compliment, Miss Bennett."
"You're welcome." She turned her attention to the twins. "When the other Gryffindors sign, you and I will go to the staff table during the next meal to apologize to the Headmaster and professors for the inconvenience of the past month, and tell them that we've all learned a lesson on inter-house hostility."
Everyone, even Garrick, looked at her oddly at that statement. Regardless, the twins nervously agreed to the arrangement.
"Oh, and this isn't on the official list, but I want my accordion fixed, too."
There was a moment of silence for that command. Most of the kids looked at her oddly, and the twins almost smiled at it.
"You're serious?"
"Absolutely, yes, I'm serious." She huffed. "If you want things to stay friendly on my side I need that accordion back as it was before you turned it into that Bugs Bunny nightmare."
"Bennett," Rusalka groaned, long tired of hearing the complaint, "it's just an instrument."
"Autographed by Weird Al, himself!"
"Who?" The Weasleys blinked.
"-My point is, I gave Scabbers back unharmed, and I want the favour returned on what you ruined."
They looked to each other at the odd demand. "Do we know the counterspell for that, brother of mine?"
"I'll have our brother, Bill, get it repaired for you over Christmas." Percy promised before his brothers could aggravate the situation.
"Good." She smiled, satisfied with the answer. "Then I wish you luck with your fellow Gryffindors."
With a few curt salutations, the Weasleys retreated back to Hogwarts with eyes to their backs and a rat in hand.
"That went well, I suppose." Garrick sighed into himself, returning his wand into his holster.
"Still, it would have been fun to see their faces if we tossed the rat." Rusalka added.
"Sure it would." Melissa muttered sarcastically. "Let's just hope they don't screw this up."
"For the record, I find it ridiculous that you're still going on about that stupid accordion." Rusalka admonished. "Out of everything that's happened, it's a bit low on priority, don't you think?"
"Maybe to you, but that autograph could be worth a fair amount in muggle coin in a couple years' time." Melissa explained. She crossed her arms and smirked as the thought of reviving her investments settled in her mind. "After a month of putting up with this stupid war I deserve to get my money's worth out of it."
Orpington and Ignatov gave each other a long look outside of the other girl's view. Pondering the extent of madness in their muggleborn housemate.