Fic: "Cala Soothes the Soul", for kerrymdb
Title: Cala Soothes the Soul
Author: bewarethesmirk
Recipient: kerrymdb
Rating: G
Character(s): Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, the Fat Friar, Professor Sprout, Peeves, Snape.
Summary: Hannah and Susan have had enough of Peeves.
Author's notes: On behalf of Hufflepuff House, I hope you enjoy this! Thanks so much to L and S for their betaing skillz.
Cala Soothes the Soul
Peeves' antics had gone from annoying to simply disgraceful. Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones were the ones to witness the mayhem.
On a sunny Friday, late in the afternoon, they were walking to the Great Hall for dinner, recounting the many horrible things Snape had called Harry Potter in their Potions class. The Potions class was shared by the fifth year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and didn’t even contain Harry Potter. Snape didn’t seem to think this fact relevant.
Hannah watched the sunlight trickling in from a high window in the corridor glisten off of Susan’s hair. Hannah was content, knowing the weekend was finally here, three short days seeming to stretch out for eternity. She had been about to suggest organizing a party in the Hufflepuff common room (these were infamous throughout the school) when cackling drifted from one of the adjacent rooms. The cackling was followed by a loud crash, and then Peeves’ voice resumed as song. “’Puffers are duffers, ‘Puffers are duffers; Plant-loving duffer, queen of them all, all her plants have taken a fall!”
From her peripheral vision she saw Susan rolling her eyes, too, accustomed to Peeves as they were. Hannah continued walking toward the Great Hall and its promise of delicious food, but Susan’s grip on her arm halted her. Turning to the other girl, Susan motioned forward to the room. Loud sounds of something were hitting the floor.
From just outside the room, they heard Peeves cackling unintelligible words about “dirt" and "filth." Hannah recognized the office she and Susan were currently standing outside of as Professor Sprout’s office. Hannah’s hands shook slightly, wondering what Peeves was doing inside the room.
She stepped in front of Susan and threw open the door to the room, which opened at will, any Locking charms not standing in face of her anger. The door stopped once it was halfway open and the odor of rich soil permeated her nostrils. She pinched her nose and stared into the room, trying to fathom why Professor Sprout’s office smelled like Greenhouse Three.
The entire office floor was covered in rich soil, shattered pots and plant leaves scattered throughout the mess. Peeves had stolen all of the seventh years’ plants from the greenhouses as they now littered the office floor.
Hannah appreciated pranks, even thought some of Peeves’ minor pranks were funny, but this was inexcusable. Peeves was not going to get away with this on her watch.
“Let me handle this,” she whispered to Susan. Hannah stepped forward to stare into Peeves’ grinning face. “A ‘lil bit ‘Puffer! A ‘lil bit Duffer!”
“Stop at once!” Hannah crossed her arms across her chest, mimicking Professor Snape. While he scared people, she could too.
Peeves grinned more widely. “Devout for Sprout was the…”
“You will clean up the floor right now, or Susan and I will go to report this atrocity to…McGonagall.” There was no way they were going to the High Inquisitor.
“Running to the Gryffindors!” Peeves laughed more and began to roll in mid-air, soil falling from the potted plant clutched in his hands.
“Or,” Hannah brushed her hair back, “we’ll go to the Bloody Baron.”
Peeves dropped the plant and his grin vanished.
“Yes. So unless you wish for us to go find him right now, you will clean this up.” Hannah looked around at the dirt masking every surface, and her anger grew.
Peeves rolled his eyes. Then with a snap of his fingers, the evidence of the chaos vanished.
“’Puffers are still duffers!” he chanted as a final call, fleeing past Susan and Hannah through the door.
Hannah and Susan looked around, surveying the room to make sure the mess had been removed from the floor. While nothing could be done to help the destroyed plants, at least the office was intact. The girls left the room.
“Hannah, that was amazing! Peeves doesn’t listen to anyone.”
They walked side-by-side, continuing their route to the Great Hall. “He only listened to me, because I threatened him with the Bloody Baron. I wish the Fat Friar had that much influence over him, or, that Peeves wouldn’t even bother to stoop so low.”
“What can do we do? Peeves is going to continue to induce mayhem; that’s what he does.”
Hannah thought for a moment, before her down turned lip curled into a smirk. “Perhaps, but there is a way to ensure he leaves our House alone.”
***
Over the next few weeks, Hannah and Susan made it their personal mission to follow Peeves around. They studied the way the students reacted to him and attempted to dispel his activities. Umbridge, in particular, got the worst of it these days, ever since the Weasley twins' escape and their parting words to invoke mayhem against the Ministry official.
The Gryffindors generally taunted Peeves in return. Slytherins cursed and criticized the poltergeist's parentage (they assumed he had one.) Ravenclaws didn't say anything to Peeves directly, but in private analyzed Peeves' rational for behaving as he did. The Hufflepuffs barely acknowledged him.
The manners all the Houses used in dealing with Peeves, as varied as they were, didn't lead to any change in his behavior. Hannah assumed it was time to handle matters differently.
Hannah had ushered the Fat Friar into an empty alcove one day in between classes and explained the ordeal with Professor Sprout.
"Oh, my! Well, good of you to take care of that!" said the Friar.
Hannah waited for more of a reaction but it seemed none was forthcoming. "I think we should try to do something about it. If we could find a way to prevent Peeves from targeting us, at least, and then we could think of ways to help the other Houses."
"Perhaps, perhaps." The Fat Friar smiled at her broadly, and then drifted down the hall towards the Grey Lady, whom stood solemnly at the end of it.
Hannah and Susan had concluded later that day that the ghosts weren't going to be of any help. They didn't want to resort to cruelty, so they didn't call upon the Bloody Baron - or Snape, as Susan had suggested they do.
"A change in behavior isn't going to help!" Susan had declared with much frustration one evening while they were in the library pouring over their Potions texts. They had a quiz the next day, because of something Harry Potter had done that apparently caused Professor Snape to think that the Hufflepuffs had given Harry special ingredients from Herbology class.
Hannah had long ago forsaken studying for Potions and instead was studying about poltergeists in Ghosts, Poltergeists, and Magical Energies by Logan Avery. She flipped through the pages and found a particularly relevant passage under a subtitle, "Poltergeists and Pandemonium."
"Susan!"
A hissing noise from the librarian's desk told them Madame Pince was not pleased with the tone of Hannah's exclamation.
Hannah began to read aloud softly. "Poltergeists acting in abundant excess of a specific emotion - more so than the common poltergeist activity (see page 323) may be helped with weekly interaction with the rare form of cabbage, nafabacala."
"Naf- a-what?"
"Nafabacala." The word flowed of Hannah's tongue and she smiled. "We used it in Snape's Depressant potion last week, and he threatened those who wasted the ingredients to 'a detention so horrible it would require extra planning.'"
Susan nodded at once.
"It apparently takes the edge of certain moods. I imagine in a larger dose it might quell Peeves' tendencies for longer periods of time."
"So, where do we find this…stuff?"
Hannah peered both ways, behind her, and then faced Hannah again. "We lock Peeves into Snape's stores."
Susan's mouth dropped. "Peeves will break everything in there!"
"Snape has Unbreakable charms on all the containers. We would just remove the nafabacala from one container."
"Can we please come up with a new word?"
Hannah rolled her eyes but acquiesced, realizing everyone couldn't be a Herbology scholar. "'Cala' should work."
***
A week after Hannah and Susan had convinced the Bloody Baron to lure Peeves into Snape's stores, where a bounty of cala had been spread across the bottom, Peeves was much the same - but slightly improved.
The situation had worked out much better than Hannah could have anticipated. Peeves had toned down his pranks to a Weasley twin scale, and his only cruel behavior was well-placed.
He seemed to live to torment Dolores Umbridge, and, most importantly, did not bother Professor Sprout again.
Snape had known someone had broken his wards and gotten into his stores. He blamed the incident on the usual suspect and promised expulsion if anyone was caught.
It was a good thing Hannah had told Professor Sprout about the plan and had convinced her to harvest some of the plant, so that it could be placed strategically around the castle.
~fin
Author: bewarethesmirk
Recipient: kerrymdb
Rating: G
Character(s): Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, the Fat Friar, Professor Sprout, Peeves, Snape.
Summary: Hannah and Susan have had enough of Peeves.
Author's notes: On behalf of Hufflepuff House, I hope you enjoy this! Thanks so much to L and S for their betaing skillz.
Cala Soothes the Soul
Peeves' antics had gone from annoying to simply disgraceful. Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones were the ones to witness the mayhem.
On a sunny Friday, late in the afternoon, they were walking to the Great Hall for dinner, recounting the many horrible things Snape had called Harry Potter in their Potions class. The Potions class was shared by the fifth year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and didn’t even contain Harry Potter. Snape didn’t seem to think this fact relevant.
Hannah watched the sunlight trickling in from a high window in the corridor glisten off of Susan’s hair. Hannah was content, knowing the weekend was finally here, three short days seeming to stretch out for eternity. She had been about to suggest organizing a party in the Hufflepuff common room (these were infamous throughout the school) when cackling drifted from one of the adjacent rooms. The cackling was followed by a loud crash, and then Peeves’ voice resumed as song. “’Puffers are duffers, ‘Puffers are duffers; Plant-loving duffer, queen of them all, all her plants have taken a fall!”
From her peripheral vision she saw Susan rolling her eyes, too, accustomed to Peeves as they were. Hannah continued walking toward the Great Hall and its promise of delicious food, but Susan’s grip on her arm halted her. Turning to the other girl, Susan motioned forward to the room. Loud sounds of something were hitting the floor.
From just outside the room, they heard Peeves cackling unintelligible words about “dirt" and "filth." Hannah recognized the office she and Susan were currently standing outside of as Professor Sprout’s office. Hannah’s hands shook slightly, wondering what Peeves was doing inside the room.
She stepped in front of Susan and threw open the door to the room, which opened at will, any Locking charms not standing in face of her anger. The door stopped once it was halfway open and the odor of rich soil permeated her nostrils. She pinched her nose and stared into the room, trying to fathom why Professor Sprout’s office smelled like Greenhouse Three.
The entire office floor was covered in rich soil, shattered pots and plant leaves scattered throughout the mess. Peeves had stolen all of the seventh years’ plants from the greenhouses as they now littered the office floor.
Hannah appreciated pranks, even thought some of Peeves’ minor pranks were funny, but this was inexcusable. Peeves was not going to get away with this on her watch.
“Let me handle this,” she whispered to Susan. Hannah stepped forward to stare into Peeves’ grinning face. “A ‘lil bit ‘Puffer! A ‘lil bit Duffer!”
“Stop at once!” Hannah crossed her arms across her chest, mimicking Professor Snape. While he scared people, she could too.
Peeves grinned more widely. “Devout for Sprout was the…”
“You will clean up the floor right now, or Susan and I will go to report this atrocity to…McGonagall.” There was no way they were going to the High Inquisitor.
“Running to the Gryffindors!” Peeves laughed more and began to roll in mid-air, soil falling from the potted plant clutched in his hands.
“Or,” Hannah brushed her hair back, “we’ll go to the Bloody Baron.”
Peeves dropped the plant and his grin vanished.
“Yes. So unless you wish for us to go find him right now, you will clean this up.” Hannah looked around at the dirt masking every surface, and her anger grew.
Peeves rolled his eyes. Then with a snap of his fingers, the evidence of the chaos vanished.
“’Puffers are still duffers!” he chanted as a final call, fleeing past Susan and Hannah through the door.
Hannah and Susan looked around, surveying the room to make sure the mess had been removed from the floor. While nothing could be done to help the destroyed plants, at least the office was intact. The girls left the room.
“Hannah, that was amazing! Peeves doesn’t listen to anyone.”
They walked side-by-side, continuing their route to the Great Hall. “He only listened to me, because I threatened him with the Bloody Baron. I wish the Fat Friar had that much influence over him, or, that Peeves wouldn’t even bother to stoop so low.”
“What can do we do? Peeves is going to continue to induce mayhem; that’s what he does.”
Hannah thought for a moment, before her down turned lip curled into a smirk. “Perhaps, but there is a way to ensure he leaves our House alone.”
***
Over the next few weeks, Hannah and Susan made it their personal mission to follow Peeves around. They studied the way the students reacted to him and attempted to dispel his activities. Umbridge, in particular, got the worst of it these days, ever since the Weasley twins' escape and their parting words to invoke mayhem against the Ministry official.
The Gryffindors generally taunted Peeves in return. Slytherins cursed and criticized the poltergeist's parentage (they assumed he had one.) Ravenclaws didn't say anything to Peeves directly, but in private analyzed Peeves' rational for behaving as he did. The Hufflepuffs barely acknowledged him.
The manners all the Houses used in dealing with Peeves, as varied as they were, didn't lead to any change in his behavior. Hannah assumed it was time to handle matters differently.
Hannah had ushered the Fat Friar into an empty alcove one day in between classes and explained the ordeal with Professor Sprout.
"Oh, my! Well, good of you to take care of that!" said the Friar.
Hannah waited for more of a reaction but it seemed none was forthcoming. "I think we should try to do something about it. If we could find a way to prevent Peeves from targeting us, at least, and then we could think of ways to help the other Houses."
"Perhaps, perhaps." The Fat Friar smiled at her broadly, and then drifted down the hall towards the Grey Lady, whom stood solemnly at the end of it.
Hannah and Susan had concluded later that day that the ghosts weren't going to be of any help. They didn't want to resort to cruelty, so they didn't call upon the Bloody Baron - or Snape, as Susan had suggested they do.
"A change in behavior isn't going to help!" Susan had declared with much frustration one evening while they were in the library pouring over their Potions texts. They had a quiz the next day, because of something Harry Potter had done that apparently caused Professor Snape to think that the Hufflepuffs had given Harry special ingredients from Herbology class.
Hannah had long ago forsaken studying for Potions and instead was studying about poltergeists in Ghosts, Poltergeists, and Magical Energies by Logan Avery. She flipped through the pages and found a particularly relevant passage under a subtitle, "Poltergeists and Pandemonium."
"Susan!"
A hissing noise from the librarian's desk told them Madame Pince was not pleased with the tone of Hannah's exclamation.
Hannah began to read aloud softly. "Poltergeists acting in abundant excess of a specific emotion - more so than the common poltergeist activity (see page 323) may be helped with weekly interaction with the rare form of cabbage, nafabacala."
"Naf- a-what?"
"Nafabacala." The word flowed of Hannah's tongue and she smiled. "We used it in Snape's Depressant potion last week, and he threatened those who wasted the ingredients to 'a detention so horrible it would require extra planning.'"
Susan nodded at once.
"It apparently takes the edge of certain moods. I imagine in a larger dose it might quell Peeves' tendencies for longer periods of time."
"So, where do we find this…stuff?"
Hannah peered both ways, behind her, and then faced Hannah again. "We lock Peeves into Snape's stores."
Susan's mouth dropped. "Peeves will break everything in there!"
"Snape has Unbreakable charms on all the containers. We would just remove the nafabacala from one container."
"Can we please come up with a new word?"
Hannah rolled her eyes but acquiesced, realizing everyone couldn't be a Herbology scholar. "'Cala' should work."
***
A week after Hannah and Susan had convinced the Bloody Baron to lure Peeves into Snape's stores, where a bounty of cala had been spread across the bottom, Peeves was much the same - but slightly improved.
The situation had worked out much better than Hannah could have anticipated. Peeves had toned down his pranks to a Weasley twin scale, and his only cruel behavior was well-placed.
He seemed to live to torment Dolores Umbridge, and, most importantly, did not bother Professor Sprout again.
Snape had known someone had broken his wards and gotten into his stores. He blamed the incident on the usual suspect and promised expulsion if anyone was caught.
It was a good thing Hannah had told Professor Sprout about the plan and had convinced her to harvest some of the plant, so that it could be placed strategically around the castle.
~fin