Fic - Fic Challenge #70
That day in Charms class, Hermione's whispers could be heard across the room. "Ron, stop that." "Harry, do your own homework." "Neville, it's pronou-"
Alex, a Gryffindor prefect a year above them but somehow in the same class, interjected. "Oh my God Hermione, stop being such a snob. W.T.F." Amy snorted and cast a gif charm. Hermione ignored them, but after school Harry pursued the giggling pair and their posse of compadrés.
"How'd you do that?"
"Yeah, that charm was ruddy brilliant," Ron said in his quaint British countryside way.
"We aren't going to teach the gif charm to just anyone, Potter," Alex replied with a distinctly Malfoy sneer.
"Yeah," Louise said, peeking around her twin. "It took all of us ages to figure out,"
"...and we aren't going to share with boys," Deloris finished.
Heather then bumped into them while walking out of transfiguration class. "Ah, sorry," she said.
"No you're not, Heather Lynn," Alex jeered. "Ten points from Gryffindor!"
Amy looked askance at Alex. "What, but we're in Gryffindor!" she said.
"Wow, you guys are whore bullies," Harry piped in - but Louise and Deloris shoved him, each taking a shoulder, and he bounced rather painfully against a banister and slid to the floor. Leaving the Boy Who Lived to wince and prop himself up on Ron's secondhand arm, their fellow lions sauntered off.
Krystal and Mindy had just been walking up behind them and had seen the whole thing. Krystal, ever the pain-magnet, scurried over in an attempt to comfort poor pushed-around Harry. "I do hope you're alright," she said with great concern, patting her Housemate on the arm. "Alex may seem like an horrible person but she really does look out for Gryffindor."
"Or maybe she's just a complete jerk bully buttface whose cronies just tried to ruin my Quidditch streak by dislocating my back!" Harry fumed, his shaggy locks scattering like constellations upon the cosmos of his forehead. "Yeah, real good of a prefect to do that. Come on, Ron, let's go tell Dumbledore I think she's working for Voldemort, that no good nasty mean evil Snape-witch scarlet woman >:("
Krystal had the most hurt expression ever on her face, like a puppy who has had scalding coffee poured upon its soft little head by an owner it trusts most deeply. The mention of coffee, of course, snapped Mindy back to the land of the living and she resumed conversation with her friend, now that the caring-about-others episode had ended. She sympathetically shook her head and mumbled affirmatives to Krystal's wave of lamentations, complaints, and sobs as they made their way to the Great Hall for lunch.
--
Meanwhile, Jessi had been hiding rotten eggs in Professor Binns' desk drawers again. Funnily enough, even were he standing before her, not once did he raise an objection to her little pranks. More than likely he remained incapable of anything but reading history textbooks aloud, after having to divert his attention for more than thirty seconds once before, in her second year. Jessi found great amusement in hiding things throughout his room - Snitches, old quills, various overdue food items, nifflers, nargles and the occasional indignant Chocolate Frog Card. A moving class doodle of Waldo rested behind a tapestry - It wasn't a particularly ingenious hiding place, as near everyone knew where he hid by now, but Jessi's sly antics had resulted in six more being placed throughout Hogwarts, so that one would have to catch him in just the right place at the right time.
Dusting her hands off against her school robes, a delinquent move that would turn even Professor Flitwick's nose up a bit, she slouched down the hallways. Perfect, to pull her pranks right before lunch, but that meant she'd have to be late for the meal. Jessi sighed. A mad genius's work could never come easily, could it?
Her thoughts were stayed as she reached the next doorway, however, for lo and behold! Who could be coming out of an out-of-order teachers' bathroom but her good friend (the term "good friend," in this context, means "about as close as Professor McGonagall is to Vincent Crabbe",) their very own...something... teacher, Professor M.C.! Jessi was used to encountering MC in the halls when she was up to no good, usually emerging from the Room of Requirement, an inconspicuous closet, or some sort of overhang nestled in a corner of the castle, but what set this encounter apart was a shock - MC herself was wiping her hands on her robes!
Jessi didn't even think to run and make it to lunch, so great was her astonishment. She stood in the middle of the hall, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, as her greasy professor glanced back into the room she'd come from, and then scurried off in the direction of the Great Hall, smoothening her hair and pants. Jessi caught a whiff of meat when MC passed. Both were too caught up in their own heads to quite register the presence of another - for Pr. MC, this came as a worried thought quickly cast away as she reached the tables covered in food, and for Jessi, it became an entirely new nightmare as someone else emerged from the out-of-order bathroom, slabs of undercooked bacon clinging to his oily curls.
"P-p-professor Snape!" Jessi stammered, gathering up her wits. "You look wonderful today and I am hungry, definitely not misbehaving, good day!" The wayward Gryffindor prankster dashed along MC's slime trail as quick as her legs would carry her, leaving a slightly dazed Snape standing in the hall, oozing the remnants of a bacon bath, smiling as if the world were a beautiful place.
--
At the Gryffindor table, things heated up. Liz had arrived even later than Jessi, sopping wet, and Alex demanded to know how it had happened. For some reason, Ray had deigned to eat with them too, and he smirked subtly at the boldface sparkle hexes Chary casted across the way. Amy was attempting for at least the dozenth time to teach Am her signature gif charm - the one all Gryffindors in Alex's pompous little posse were required to learn - and all Am could produce was a static image in the air, which, though entertaining, didn't have nearly the same zing to it. Victoria settled in between Amy and Mindy, offering an encouraging word or two, while the twins, Krystal, and Chary hovered around Liz and Alex, an audience to the drama unfolding.
"I can't believe you let them push you around like that!" Alex was saying, a nasty curl to her lips. If it weren't for the pure condescension in her voice, one would almost think she cared. "Are you trying to make our house look bad? What happened this time? No, wait, don't tell me. You got your head shoved into Myrtle's toilet again, I'll bet. Or maybe you'll say you decided to ride the giant squid, hmm?"
"W-well, I- achoo!" Liz sniffled, rubbing her arm on her nose and trying to dry her sad wet self with just a cloth napkin. "I did ride the giant squid s-sort of, actually, it’s p-probably an affectionate-" at Alex's derisive look, which had somehow been accomplished despite her chin being at an improbable angle by now, Liz hurried past the episode. "Yes, it w-was Moaning M...m...M-m-ACHOO! Sorry, sorry, um, yes," she finished lamely, cringing beneath Alex's scorn.
"Don't you dare let those Hufflepuffs bully you," Alex said, jabbing a finger into Liz's sodden brittle breastbone and leaning in close, glaring, "because they're the least of your worries right now. Gryffindors are supposed to be brave, so grow a spine."
"Okay," Liz said, not sounding very okay at all. She didn't meet Alex's eyes. Chary's gaze flickered between the two, and Krystal was suddenly very concerned with a bit of dropped treacle smudging up the tablecloth's print. Deloris and Louise glanced about nervously, until the Weasley twins shouldered in beside them and they began rapidly speaking in twin-ese, glad for any excuse to cut off the uncomfortable resolution to their discussion.
"That's it," Amy could be heard saying as a cat quivered lamely from one paw to the other over Victoria's plate. "Just keep trying."
To be continued…
Am//Gryffindor