So many reviews for the last few chapters! I appreciate you all so much for the time you take to review. It makes me want to post every single day LOL.
passingwhisper: Thank you for the review! I'm so happy you're here! The waiting is the hardest part with any story, so I'll try to update as often as I can.
Bookcozy: LOL okay but why was I also thinking that I could just write off Alicia and George as having broken up to save myself the pain of writing the angst? He was still a sweetheart with the dementors, so I'll hold onto that once he starts being RIDICULOUS. The trauma of the last chapter was difficult to write so I appreciate the review! Angst is hard for me to write, so this book should be very interesting.
readerfaye: Tori's reaction was hard to think up, but I knew hers would be a stronger reaction. We'll learn more details about her past as the time comes, but it's intense. I thought about having her faint too, but I'll leave that to Harry. Thank you for reviewing!
brooklynhale: Thank you so much for reviewing! Updating and keeping the story alive is hard for sure, especially once life gets in the way, but I'm on a roll and I love writing, so I've no plans to stop any time soon. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Five
The remainder of the journey had been mostly uneventful. They didn't talk much. Tori did not leave Fred's lap for the remainder of the trip and Nessa and George sat on the floor next to the two of them instead of in their seats, as if their mere presence alone would be able to help whatever misery she was in. Alicia had come in at some point to check on George, as she'd heard Tori had gotten upset — goddamn Malfoy, Nessa thought bitterly. She had eyed the two of them oddly, as Nessa was still leaning back against him and had not moved. She'd tried to smile at her kindly to convey she meant no harm, but she wasn't entirely sure it had worked.
At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed, and chatter filled the air, but still Tori said nothing. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets. She craned her neck to see if she could see Harry, but there were so many people shunting them toward the carriages, that she didn't have time to take notice of much of anything.
They still said nothing as they boarded carriages and trundled forward toward the wrought-iron gates of the castle, flanked with stone columns tipped with winged boars. She saw two more towering, hooded dementors at the entrance and Tori cringed back as she saw them. A wave of cold sickness went through the carriage and they shuddered, but they were not close enough to be as deeply affected as they had been on the train. Nessa found that she felt even worse for those who were imprisoned in Azkaban and understood why everyone was afraid to be sent there. Imagining having to be subjected to those feelings, those memories over and over again made her want to fall into a panic attack.
As they made their way into the Great Hall for the feast, there was a sea of pointed black hats as students took their seats at the four House tables, faces and walls glimmering by the light of the thousands of candles floating above. The enchanted ceiling was black and cloudy tonight, something that Nessa felt was very similar to how she, Tori, and the twins were feeling internally. Tori broke away from Fred when they reached the table and they took their usual seats, Tori and Nessa on one side facing the twins. Nessa looked away hastily when Alicia sat on the other side of George. She supposed she would have to see them together more now, but the lurch in her stomach made her want to run away instead.
She felt Tori's hand grab hold of hers under the table. Nessa looked over at her — she still looked terribly pale and her eyes were still painfully dull, but she smiled sadly at Nessa and squeezed her hand again. Nessa smiled back and rested her head on her shoulder as the Sorting began. She wasn't paying any attention at all, working too hard to study the ceiling so that she didn't have to look across the table. This was going to be a particularly rough year if she couldn't even stand them sitting next to each other. Once the Sorting had ended, Harry and Hermione had entered the Great Hall and took seats with Ron who was not far from them. Nessa lifted her head to look at him with concern, but he just shook his head and mouthed 'I'm fine.' She frowned but didn't say anything, as Professor Dumbledore stood and silence fell over the Great Hall.
"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…" He cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."
It was Nessa's turn to grab Tori's hand as she took a shaky breath next to her. Nessa completely understood the sentiment because there was nothing more horrible than thinking that those things were going to be so close to them. Based on the long pause Dumbledore took, Nessa wondered how happy he was that they were here as well.
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave the school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses." Tori took a shaky breath again and Nessa remembered that Lee had said the dementors had taken an interest in her on the train — and that he could hear her begging for something. She squeezed her hand tighter as Dumbledore continued."I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors."
Percy, who was a few seats down from them, puffed out his chest again and stared around impressively. Tori caught sight of this and snorted — the first sound she'd made since they'd left the train. Fred, who had been shooting her anxious glances across the table, relaxed some and his lips twitched in relief — she was at least feeling better enough to find amusement in Percy. Dumbledore glanced around the hall seriously and none of them moved or made a sound.
"On a happier note," he continued. "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
It was the stranger who had been on the train. There was some weak, scattered applause, but Nessa, Tori, and the twins clapped hard. She noticed her brother, Harry, and Ron doing the same. Next to all of the other teachers, Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby and Nessa felt a pang of sorrow for him. He looked on the verge of being ill.
"Snape," Tori hissed in her ear.
Nessa looked across the table at Snape, who was staring at Lupin with something far more serious than just dislike. It was loathing. Nessa was taken aback by the intensity of the emotion on his face. He must know him in some fashion because there was not a chance that you would look at someone like that just because you wanted their position.
"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the applause died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."
Nessa was among those who gave him tumultuous applause at this announcement. Of course, now it made sense why they had received a biting book. Hagrid was ruby-red in the face and staring down at the particularly rowdy Gryffindor table, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard. He wiped his eyes on the tablecloth as the applause ended.
"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"
The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink. Nessa was not really all that hungry given the anxiety she'd felt earlier on the train — she always had a particularly hard time eating even after the feelings had dissipated. Tori seemed to feel the same way, as she eyed the food before her as if it would be a chore to eat.
Nessa filled her plate and then Tori's and gave her friend a stern look when she made to protest. Tori sighed but didn't argue.
"That biting book makes a lot more sense now, doesn't it?" said Lee cheerfully, clearly trying to bring the group back to their normal optimism.
"Suppose we should have assumed it was Hagrid," agreed Fred.
"I hope he brings a dragon," said George, grinning widely when Nessa shot him a startled look. "You aren't afraid of dragons, are you, love?"
Alicia frowned at this endearment and looked between the two of them shrewdly.
"No," said Nessa stubbornly, ignoring the chuckles the twins gave at her obvious lie. "I just don't really want to play around with them, now do I?"
"Maybe he'll let you fly one," said Tori with a smirk. "I mean, that would certainly be the highlight of my year, watching you scream bloody murder as it takes off."
The twins and Lee laughed heartily as Nessa rolled her eyes.
"Yes, well, maybe I can get it to spit fire on command," said Nessa. "Watching you burn to a crisp would be the highlight of my year."
Tori snorted and shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.
"Don't lie, Vanessa —"
"Victoria, don't —"
"- I am the light of your life," Tori continued, ignoring her friend's huffiness. "Maybe we can get it to do that to Fred and George, though."
Nessa hummed thoughtfully and eyed the two of them in intrigue.
"I wonder what it would be like to see the two of them running away screaming and crying," she said, her voice taking on a curious upward tilt. Tori grinned.
"Can't say much about George, but Fred looks a little bit like a flailing chicken."
Nessa choked on her mouthful of roasted chicken as Fred made an indignant noise. George and Lee erupted in laughter and Alicia grinned.
"That is not true," he said indignantly. "I look very manly, I'll have you know."
"Of course, you do, Freddie," Nessa said in a mock-placating voice. Fred pointed at her dangerously.
"Don't start, Potter," he said seriously and Nessa raised an eyebrow at him arrogantly. "I'll chase you up a tree with a Dungbomb if I have to."
"That's very mature of you, Fred," said Nessa with an eye roll. "But, you know, I think I'll risk it just for the beauty of seeing you in tears."
"You being friends with Moaning Myrtle is starting to make a lot more sense," he said, smirking at her.
Nessa rolled her eyes and chucked a roll at his head. He caught it with a grin and tore off a chunk with his teeth before shifting to have a conversation with Lee. Nessa toyed with the food on her plate because George and Alicia were talking very quietly to each other and she was trying to battle between an anger she didn't understand and sadness at seeing them together. The sadness made sense — she fancied him, had never told him, and now he was with someone else. That would obviously hurt.
The anger though…that was somehow more irritating. Alicia had always been perfectly nice to her on the rare occasions that they'd come into contact with one another. And she didn't have any claim to George at all, and, at least currently, Alicia did. That shouldn't be irritating because George was her friend and he seemed happy and Alicia was nice and that should have been enough.
Of course, really, all she could feel was that Alicia was everything she wasn't — she was tall and blonde, friendly and outgoing, likely didn't have any obvious signs of anxiety. They likely had more in common and had been friends with each other far longer than she and George. Maybe the anger was really just jealousy. Or were they even really that different? She'd never been in this situation before.
"You're making it very obvious you fancy him, you know," said Tori with a smug smirk on her face.
Nessa jumped and realized she'd been shooting the pair of them irritated glances during her inner monologue. She was thankful that they seemed to be so immersed in their own conversation that they hadn't noticed.
"Don't say it so loud, Victoria," she hissed at her, if only because she had nothing else to say on the matter. It wasn't like she could lie at this point.
"Relax, they're too busy ogling each other to care," she responded with an eye roll. "Alicia isn't stupid, you know. She's already been looking at the two of you oddly and it's only the first day back. I don't think it's going to take her long to figure out about the two of you."
Nessa looked at her incredulously. "Don't say it like that, Victoria. There's nothing going on between us. What's she got to worry about?"
Tori rolled her eyes. "I don't think most girls would be all that comfortable with their boyfriend hanging about someone who clearly fancies him. Even if he isn't interested in her, which I don't really know is exactly true in this case anyway."
"First of all," said Nessa in a huff. "There's no 'hanging about.' We're friends. Second of all, what is that last part supposed to mean?"
Tori sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.
"I don't know," she said evasively. "The two of you are just…close. I don't think it's really all that far-fetched to think he might fancy you too."
"Yes, because I always date other people when I fancy someone," said Nessa sarcastically.
"Men are thick, Vanessa. They don't know what they're doing. I don't think he's noticed it yet anyway," said Tori.
The plates in front of them turned into dessert, but neither of them filled their plates with anything and continued to speak quietly with each other. Nothing about what Tori was making sense to her at all.
"How could he not have noticed? That's irrational."
"Love is irrational. Besides, are you telling me that you knew right away that you fancied him?" said Tori with a pointed look. Nessa opened her mouth to retort and then closed it quickly. Tori smirked. "Exactly. When the two of you are snogging next year, I want you to remember this conversation."
"Who are you snogging, Nessa?"
She and Tori froze, staring at each other with wide eyes. They clearly had not been speaking quietly enough because Lee was grinning at her mischievously. The twins immediately stopped talking to look at her in surprise.
"I – what?" she stuttered, looking at Lee in horror and feeling her face get hot.
"Tori just said you were snogging someone," said Lee, his grin widening as Nessa spluttered and stared at Tori helplessly.
"I did not say that," said Tori, as Nessa shot forward to grab her goblet of pumpkin juice to buy herself some more time. "I said she would be snogging someone by next year."
"Well, who is it then?" said Fred, a smug grin on his face and eyebrow raised at her in challenge.
Nessa glared at him, but before she could answer, Tori spoke again.
"Diggory."
Nessa whipped her head so fast that she got dizzy. She stared at her best friend, who was looking at her apologetically, in surprise as her stomach dropped out. Of all of the things she could have said, why did it have to be that? She was going to kill her.
"Since when do you talk to Diggory?" said Lee, curiously. The twins were glaring at her as if they'd found out she'd stolen their joke ideas and sold them to Zonko's.
"I don't," said Nessa, waving her hands frantically in front of her. "I mean — we don't really talk all that much —"
"Because of the snogging?" said Lee cockily.
Tori laughed as Nessa groaned in mortification.
"No!" she said hastily. "There is no snogging. I just see him in the library sometimes."
"Well, does he fancy you?" said Alicia, clearly excited about this development in the conversation.
She had a very strong urge to run away. What was she supposed to say to her? No, actually he doesn't, but we were talking about your boyfriend, Alicia? This is the exact reason why you should not have conversations in public locations, she thought to herself in irritation. She took a drink to buy herself some time to think of something to change the subject.
"Definitely," said Tori with a laugh. Nessa choked on her pumpkin juice.
"What?" she said indignantly. "Tori, don't lie —"
"I'm not lying!" she responded with a light laugh, her palms up in placation. "He clearly fancies you. What other reason does he have to be in the library all the time?"
"He's thick, for one thing," said Fred hotly. "You can't snog him, Vanessa."
"Don't call me that, Fred! And I'm not snogging him, but if I were, it isn't any of your business." she said in frustration. This conversation had gotten so far out of hand.
"And he isn't thick," said Tori, rolling her eyes. "He's very intelligent actually. I'm to understand that he has top marks in most of his classes."
"Well, I should hope so!" said Nessa. "He's in the library often enough."
"Why did he say you were pretty last year then?" said Tori with a raised eyebrow.
Alicia squealed excitedly. "Did he really?"
"Well, yes, but —" she admitted grudgingly.
"But nothing," said Tori. "He fancies you. I'm sure he'll find some excuse to talk to you this year."
"I can't believe you're snogging Diggory," said George angrily. "It's Diggory. Weren't you complaining all of last year about the girls that follow him around in the library?"
"Don't take that tone with me, George," Nessa said sharply. "And I just said I'm not snogging him, didn't I? I'm not following him around like a tart either, so I don't know what difference that last part makes."
"It makes a load of difference if you've been snogging him the whole time!"
Nessa opened her mouth to tell him she was going to hex him if he didn't watch his attitude, but she was interrupted by Alicia, who had been looking between them as the conversation escalated between the pair. Her arms were crossed and she was glaring at George now.
"What difference does it make to you who she's snogging? You have a girlfriend, don't you?"
Nessa met Fred and Lee's eyes across the table and they grimaced at each other uncomfortably. Tori was grinning and watching as George stared at Alicia in surprise for a moment, clearly trying to think of a response that would not look worse than it already did. Nessa felt that maybe he shouldn't say anything because he could only make it worse at this point.
"I don't care like that," he said anyway, his tone still clearly annoyed even though he'd softened it a little. "She's my friend and she can clearly do better than Diggory."
"Is she?"
"What?"
"Is she your friend? Because the two of you looked very close on the train."
Nessa had absolutely — never in her life — been this uncomfortable. Which was really saying something because she was uncomfortable a great deal of the time. But she'd never been discussed in another couple's argument before. When she was directly in front of them.
She was stuck between making herself as small as humanly possible, changing the subject abruptly somehow, or helping George assure her there was nothing happening between them. The second choice was not viable because she was panicking so much every conversation she could have thought up had completely vanished from her head. And the latter felt like a lie because, while there wasn't anything going on on George's end, there clearly was on hers.
So she settled for making herself as small and inconspicuous as possible. She turned herself completely and hid her face behind one of her hands, staring wide-eyed at Tori, who did not seem the slightest bit concerned by the turn the conversation had taken. Fred and Lee looked as uncomfortable as she felt.
Just as George was getting frustrated with Alicia for thinking there was anything going on between them, Dumbledore stood and bid them goodnight. Nessa, Fred, and Lee jumped up from the table as quickly as possible and Tori rolled her eyes, but followed them leisurely.
"What's wrong with you?" said Nessa to Tori as they made their way to the common room.
George had stayed behind to speak with Alicia and Fred and Lee were walking ahead of them talking about how much they didn't fancy being him at the moment. Tori rolled her eyes at the question.
"Better him than you, isn't it?" she said. "Unless you fancied explaining to the entire table that we were really talking about George?"
"Well of course I didn't, but George —"
"Is an idiot," said Tori firmly. "Alicia isn't wrong. Why does he care who you're snogging if he's not interested? He doesn't act that way with me."
"I don't think that's really true, is it?" said Nessa with an eye roll. "Both he and Fred try to get you to stay away from Wood."
"That's not the same thing," said Tori. "We grew up together for one thing. And for another, they don't care so much that I'm snogging people, as much as they care about who I'm snogging. They're well aware I've snogged other blokes and they don't mind. It's Wood they have a problem with. Which is a real shame because he graduates this year, so I'm running out of time."
Nessa snorted. "You're ridiculous, Tori."
"Maybe so, but I'm right. About you and George and about Wood. You watch; by the end of the year, we'll both have snogged the one we want and you'll have to admit I was right all along."
"I'm never doing that, Tori."
-o0o-
Tori and Nessa entered the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast, feeling much more lighthearted and chipper than they had the evening before (or even the year before). They had not taken to drinking Firewhiskey the night previous, despite the fact that Tori had, in fact, nicked some from the Burrow again. It did not seem a great choice to do again on the first night back, given their experience last year. Instead, they'd done their usual 'share a foreposter and eat too much candy' ritual. They had not talked about George or dementors or their parents and had ended the night much more cheerfully than it had begun.
They took seats next to Fred and George, with Nessa taking a seat as far away from George as possible. Maybe it was obvious because he grimaced at her from where he sat and she smiled apologetically at him. Alicia was not near them — she had sat at the opposite end of the table with her friends, which was quite some distance from them. She looked perfectly normal, but the fight must not have been totally resolved because George looked more disheveled than he normally did. His hair was sticking up at odd angles like he'd been running his hands through it more than he normally did and he kept shooting Alicia glances that she appeared to be ignoring.
Fred and Tori seemed comfortable keeping the conversation light and away from the events of last night, and by the time Harry sat down looking miserable himself, George was looking a bit more upbeat and Nessa had stopped sitting awkwardly on the sidelines.
"New third-year course schedules," said George, passing them over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "What's up with you, Harry?"
"Malfoy," said Ron, sitting down on George's other side and glaring over at the Slytherin table.
The four of them looked up just in time to see Malfoy pretending to faint with terror. Nessa rolled her eyes and glared at him.
"That little git," said George calmly. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"
"Nearly wet himself," said Fred, with a contemptuous glance at Malfoy.
"I wasn't too happy myself," said George. "They're horrible things, those dementors…"
"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred.
"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" said Harry in a low voice.
"Forget it, Harry," said George bracingly.
"He isn't worth it," Nessa agreed. "Besides, whatever Malfoy must have heard or seen is hardly even close to the worst thing you've witnessed. How could it be? He's been sheltered his entire life and you've — well, we don't really have to open the basket of horrors from our childhood, do we?"
"Did you faint then?" said Harry, eyeing her pointedly.
"Well, no," she conceded grudgingly. "But I didn't feel great —"
"They suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there." said George.
Harry didn't appear to hear these words. Or just simply didn't care about them because he just pushed his cereal around with a frown. Ron eyed him a moment, looking like he wished he could help, and then shot an awkward glance at Tori.
"We heard — well, someone said that — that Tori had a fit about them," said Ron awkwardly, clearing his throat when Nessa turned to stare at him.
Nessa had no idea why he'd have thought it was a good time to bring up such a thing, except that maybe he figured if Tori admitted that it was true that it would make Harry feel a little better. Instead, Tori tensed beside her and busied herself with the marmalade and said nothing.
Nessa glared at Ron and he shrank back in surprise.
"Who told you that?" she said harshly.
"Well — I — I mean, they didn't tell us, really — We overheard it and —"
"Who, Ronald?" she snapped as he continued stuttering.
"Adelaide Murton," he said weakly. "She heard it from Pansy Parkinson."
Nessa huffed. She should have known. Adelaide had not liked Tori much since she'd blown up her cauldron in their second year. It probably would have given her a great deal of pleasure to find out that something had rattled Tori to that degree. Passing unwanted information along to the whole school was exactly what Adelaide did best to those she hated.
She looked around the Great Hall and spotted the pretty blonde sitting with her friends at the end of the Slytherin table. She kept an eye on her out of the corner of her eye, as the others tried to console Harry by reminding him that the first Quidditch match was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and he would have the opportunity to get revenge on Malfoy then.
"Nessa, did you hear me?"
Nessa looked away from Murton long enough to glance at her brother, who was looking at her in irritation. She returned her attention to the Slytherin table as she spoke.
"Sorry, what'd you say?"
"I said, have you heard anything about Divination? We have it first thing this morning and the only advice we've gotten in the class is from Percy, which was utterly useless."
Nessa snorted. "It's a crock, Harry," she said derisively with an eye roll. Harry looked surprised by her vehemence. "I was going to take it, but I ran into Professor Trelawney when I was wandering the grounds one morning. She told me that I was so pale she was surprised I was still walking among the living and that my aura was shrouded in death."
Tori grinned around her toast. "Nessa has hated Divination ever since. Personally, I think she's more offended than anything else."
"I am not offended," said Nessa. "I just don't put much stock in it. It has no basis in fact. It's magical guesswork at best. Besides, how useless is it to tell me my aura is shrouded in death? My parents were murdered for God's sake…of course, it is. You want my advice?" she said to her brother. "Don't take anything that nutter says seriously and if you have to do homework, I suggest you make up something horribly dreadful and I'll bet you pass with flying colors."
"There are actual Seers, you know," said George amusedly. "They've told loads of prophecies that have turned out to be true."
"And I'm sure they're very gifted," she said with an eye roll. "But there are an equal number of Seers who have told prophecies that never come to fruition. Besides, if Trelawney is a true Seer, I'll eat my own arm."
"So, please do tell us if she actually does tell you a true prophecy," said Fred with a grin, as the younger trio made to leave to head up to the Divination Tower. "There's nothing I'd like to see more than Nessa forced to eat her own arm."
Nessa rolled her eyes, but bid the three younger students goodbye as they left. She wondered what had caused Hermione to sign up for the class. She didn't seem the type to enjoy something that was so loosely based in fact any more than Nessa was. Nessa had really only been interested in taking it out of pure curiosity, and was grateful she'd ran into Trelawney before she had signed up because she could only imagine having to suffer through the class for four years.
She startled when Adelaide got up to leave the Slytherin table with her friends. Grabbing her course schedule and her bag, she stood abruptly, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Tori grabbed her arm hastily.
"Don't do it, Nessa," she said hastily. "She isn't worth it."
"That's what I said when you dunked that girl's retainer in the toilet last year," Nessa responded, pulling her arm out of her grasp sharply.
Tori swore and hurried after her. Based on the flutter of movement she heard behind her, she assumed the twins had taken note of Tori's tone and rushed after them. The Slytherins had History of Magic with the Ravenclaws on Monday morning, or so she'd heard from one of the Ravenclaws who had been grumbling behind her at the table. If she waited long enough, she could stop her far enough from the Great Hall that she wouldn't get caught by any teachers. Binns would hardly notice anything if he showed up himself. Nessa wasn't entirely sure he'd ever noticed anything. She often wondered if he even realized he was dead.
Just as they were beginning to round the corner toward History of Magic, Nessa flicked her wand with a whispered, "Offendo!" so that Adelaide tripped before she could make it too close to the classroom, where Nessa was sure there would already be students waiting.
She had a moment to feel smug as she watched Adelaide trip over her feet and fall toward the ground — she was the type who was always perfectly poised and superior — before she was righting herself and whipping around with her wand pointed at her.
"Murton," said Nessa with a grin, keeping her wand steady even as her friends drew their own.
"What the hell is your problem, Potter?" the pretty blonde spat. Her friends didn't seem to know if they should be pointing their wands at her or at the twins and Tori behind her.
"My problem," said Nessa viciously. "Is that you have a horrible problem of gossiping about things that don't concern you."
Murton smirked in realization, her eyes shooting to Tori, glinting maliciously.
"Hastings can't stand up for herself, can she? She has to send her lap dog to do it for her? Gryffindor would be so proud."
Her friends sniggered and Tori snorted from beside her.
"I've no problem hexing you myself, Murton," snapped Tori. "How about you tell your friends to take a walk and we can find out?"
Adelaide's smirk fell for a moment, as she considered this option, but Nessa knew she could see the intent in Tori's eyes because she returned her attention to Nessa again and ignored her completely.
"I'm surprised you heard what I've been saying about your friend, Potter," she said, with a tilt of her head. "I didn't know you had enough friends to hear gossip. You've always been a bit of a hermit, haven't you? If you weren't friends with Hastings, I don't think I'd even notice you at all."
Nessa felt Tori flinch next to her, but she kept her face carefully neutral, despite the sharp pain in her chest that the comment elicited. Very little offended her, but she had a particularly difficult time feeling invisible and alone and having it pointed out to her by others had always felt like opening a wound.
"Explains why I was able to hex you so easily then," she said with a raised brow. "That information will come in handy when I've managed to give you boils across that pretty little face of yours."
"You won't catch me unaware again, Potter," she snarled viciously. "And I'd really suggest you back off. I'm not the kind of person you want to mess with."
Nessa laughed lowly and could tell that the sound had startled the girl in front of her because she took a minute step backwards. The sound had been hollow, dangerous sounding. Tori had always taken the sound as indication that the argument was going to take a turn for the worse unless someone made a rational appeal to calm the situation. Which she didn't see happening in this particular situation. Murton looked surprised by Nessa's refusal to back down, but she was too proud to back down herself until the situation escalated to the point of no return.
Tori hastily grabbed onto her friend's wrist to ground her, but she ignored it.
"You only believe that because you underestimate me. Just like everyone else." Nessa said silkily. "I wouldn't make it a habit if I were you."
The warning bell sounded and there were loud footsteps that could be heard throughout the corridors as the students left for classes. Nessa lowered her wand reluctantly because she'd really been hoping Murton would say something that threw her over the edge enough to hex her again. Tori exhaled in relief because she had been praying for the opposite. Nessa could hold her own, of course, but it already felt like her fault that they were in this situation to begin with, and she wasn't keen on watching them duel in the middle of the corridor.
"Saved by the bell, Murton," Nessa said before students could crowd the corridor, backing away from her with a smirk. "I imagine I'll see you sometime soon unless you keep your mouth shut. Do me a favor and don't, yeah? I always love to prove my point. Call it a character flaw."
She turned only once the corridor had filled with people, but knew based on the look on Murton's face that she would absolutely be causing more issues as the school year progressed. Though whether it was with Tori or her, she wasn't quite sure.
"We're always saying that Tori has anger issues," said Fred lightly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He reminded Nessa of Tori sometimes when the atmosphere was tense. "I don't think we consider Nessa's propensity for violence often enough."
"It is not a propensity for violence, Fred," she said, rolling her eyes. "Don't the two of you have classes to get to?"
"If we decide to go to them," said George with a shrug. Nessa eyed him in incredulity.
"Isn't this your O.W.L. year?"
"We don't need O.W.L.s to open a joke shop, do we?" said Fred with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I suppose not," she conceded.
She couldn't imagine being so lackadaisical about her own exams, but she also didn't have the sort of innovation or creativity as the twins. To be totally honest, she'd likely pick a career she wanted and then still pick three more as backup plans just to make herself feel secure. But then again, the twins were much more confident and persistent than she was.
"Forget about the O.W.L.s —" said Tori in irritation.
"Already done," said George with a grin. Tori ignored him.
"- Murton is going to be a real pain in your ass now, you know? You should have just let me handle it."
"Blowing up her cauldron in Potions isn't handling it, Victoria," said Nessa with an eye roll. "You do that every year and you get detention every time."
"Well, then you could blow up her cauldron instead —"
Nessa laughed sarcastically. "Don't be ridiculous, Tori. Even if I did that, Snape would still think it was you, anyway. And I don't have time to argue about this because we have Herbology in five minutes."
-o0o-
She shouldn't have been so insistent that they be on time for Herbology. They had learned about Bubotubers first thing and it had been dirty work. They were disgusting looking plants that resembled thick, black slugs and were covered in shiny protrusions that looked very similar to pimples. They had been instructed by Professor Sprout that the protrusions were filled with thick yellow-green pus that was very valuable and, when diluted, was an excellent cure for acne.
This was all well and good until she had instructed them to extract the pus from the plant and collect it into vials. Squeezing them had been disgusting on its own, but the pus also had a very strong smell similar to petrol. By the time they had finished with the class, Nessa had had a headache from the smell and her dragon skin gloves were covered in the offending liquid.
Arithmancy, the only class she had taken without Tori, who was not much a fan of math, was no better because of this headache. She was grateful to whatever God existed that she had been given a free period after lunch because her head was pounding and she could use a nap. Or maybe a drill to the head because it certainly couldn't have felt worse than what she was experiencing now.
She entered the common room with a sigh of relief. There was hardly anyone there, except Fred, who, curiously, looked very annoyed. Tori would not be back from Muggle Studies for another hour, so the dorm would likely be empty.
Except she couldn't stop staring at Fred, who was muttering something and glaring up at the boys' staircase periodically. She hesitated a moment. She'd never been alone with Fred because George was always much easier to communicate with. Fred was a bit more crass, a bit more insensitive, a bit more intimidating.
She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes at herself. He was her friend and he was clearly upset about something. She needed a backbone.
She sat down gingerly across from him and raised her eyebrow when he looked up at her, but did not greet her with his usual inappropriate or witty humor.
"What's your problem?" she said, figuring the more direct approach would appeal to him more than her usual careful consideration of her words.
"George was supposed to help me with product development." he said flatly with another glare at the boys' staircase.
Without thinking, because she was an idiot, she said, "Where is he then?"
"I assume shagging Alicia because they made up earlier and I've been kicked out of the dorm, so —" He grimaced when she flinched at this response. "Shite, sorry, Nessa."
Nessa shook her head slowly, trying not to think about the words altogether.
"It's fine," she said, eyeing the girls' staircase herself and wishing she'd not had the urge to come over here and ask what was wrong with him. Maybe if she hadn't, she could pretend George was just off pranking some unsuspecting first-year or something.
"He's just a git, you know," Fred said suddenly, looking at her pointedly. "He's not thinking with the right head at the moment, if you catch —"
"Fred Weasley!" she said indignantly, her cheeks coloring in mortification. Fred laughed loudly at her discomfort.
"All I'm saying is whatever this is with Alicia…it won't last," he said casually. "He fancies you, he's just too stupid to see it."
Nessa rolled her eyes and snatched the parchment he was looking at so she could look it over. It was a nice chance to hide her face because his earlier joke was still making her cheeks flush red.
"You could have just said that for one thing —"
"Perhaps, but you're much cuter when you're embarrassed."
"-and for another, I really don't think this is an appropriate conversation to be having, considering he has a girlfriend. And you're starting to sound like Tori."
"That's very offensive, Potter," he said in mock offense. She eyed him through her eyelashes, as she tried to decipher what was on the page in front of her. It was a great deal of runes, but they'd listed spells within them and she was struggling to understand what their end goal was. "And besides, when have I ever done anything that was considered to be appropriate?"
Nessa snorted. "I suppose that's true. You're trying to create an invisible hat?"
"No. It's supposed to make your head invisible when you wear it. And don't change the subject."
Nessa huffed and crossed her arms over her chest petulantly, eyeing him in reproach.
"What would you like me to say, Fred?" she said in annoyance. "That I'd rather not know what he's doing right now? That you and Tori have lost your marbles? That I'm stuck between a dangerous hope that the two of you aren't wrong that he fancies me and an irritation that I would hope that because he has Alicia? Please tell me what I can say to end this conversation."
He smirked at her.
"We haven't lost our marbles. You're just as blind as he is." he said, ignoring her snort of derision. He eyed her a moment more before rolling his eyes. "Ignoring it isn't going to make it any easier, you know."
"Then I'll find someone else to snog to distract myself," she said sarcastically. "Now do you want my help with this or not? Because if you're going to be such a smug git, I could use a nap."
He chuckled.
"Fine," he said, nodding toward the paper. "Just don't snog Diggory, alright? Even if that was a joke, I don't think I could handle the shame."
Nessa huffed and chose not to respond because Fred was not the type to back down from witty banter and anything she said to this would only amuse him further. Instead, she focused on the paper again and frowned.
"What was wrong with this spell? Isn't it the one they use on Invisibility Cloaks?"
"Yes, but it's too strong. Keeps turning the hat invisible and then we can't find the bloody thing."
"So you're trying to find a way to diminish it? Is that what these runes are for?"
"Yeah. When we were making the trick wands, we realized that breaking the spells down to their mathematical components and applying them in the order you suggested would help hold the magic to the object for a longer period of time." he said, moving to the seat next to her and leaning forward so that they were both eyeing the paper. "Except the rune isn't really doing what we want it to do when we add it to the hat with the spell."
"Maybe it's the word choice? You've got the rune for 'diminish' here, but if you're trying to weaken the intensity of the Invisibility spell, it might be better to just use 'weaken', wouldn't it?"
Fred shook his head and pointed at a scribble on the side of the parchment.
"We tried that too. It weakened the spell, but then we couldn't get it to transfer over to the head."
Nessa chewed her lip thoughtfully.
"So the invisibility spell works, but it's pushing it past the boundary of the charmed object that's the issue," she said, leaning back and biting her lip thoughtfully. "Push? Extend, maybe? It's got to be down to the word choice. The spells make sense, but you might have to layer the runes on top of each other." Nessa eyed him seriously for a moment as he scribbled down her word suggestions. "Neither of you takes Ancient Runes."
"Don't have to," he said with a shrug. "You can get the translations from a book."
She snatched the parchment back from him so that he was forced to look at her.
"Don't be dismissive, Fred," she said sharply. He grinned and raised an eyebrow at her in response to her scolding tone. "It's dangerous to experiment with Runes. They make spells last longer, but they also don't always mix well. They have to be applied in a very particular order, especially if you're combining them with spells."
"Worried we'll ruin our handsome faces, munchkin?" he said with a lopsided grin. She rolled her eyes at him. "Perhaps, I'd look much better with a scar across my face? Battle wounds and all that."
"You'd look just as ridiculous as you do right now," she said dryly. He smirked at her and opened his mouth to retort, but she held up a hand to stop him. "But I'm being serious, Fred. People have died messing with these before."
"We're aware of the volatility of the runes, Nessa," he said, snatching the parchment back but his voice was much gentler than it had been and she suspected the annoyance in his tone was more to keep the conversation light rather than any actual true annoyance on his part. "We're researching as much as we can before we apply them to anything. Besides, if we killed each other, Mum would never forgive us."
Nessa snorted.
"That's very sweet, Fred. I'm sure George will be just touched to know that you're only worried about his untimely demise because you're scared of your mother."
"He should be," he said nonchalantly. "Now, can we get back to this or would you like to lecture me some more?"
-o0o-
I'll post another chapter tomorrow because I'm posting this so late. Last week was intensely busy so I didn't have time to post anything before.
I can't remember if Rowling ever gave a description of Alicia at any point in the books, so if she isn't blonde, just pretend. Also, I know that I make up the plot, but I cannot help but roll my eyes that Nessa and George don't realize how close they are. If I didn't love the two of them so much, I'd beat them both with a bag of oranges (Jokes).