Nina's Destiny

Detention

It had been a long day. Our teachers were running us ragged studying for our exams which were only a couple weeks away. Lilly and I were on our way up to the common room together to finish our Defense Essays that were due in two days. Lavender, Parvati, and Neville had chosen to stay in the Great Hall a little longer and enjoy their meals. I couldn't blame them. All the late night studying I've been doing to make sure I remembered everything from the beginning of the year had make me tired and cranky. I would give just about anything for about 12 solid hours of sleep right now.

"You sure you don't want to just go to bed, Nina?" Lilly asked me as I let out a huge yawn.

"No," I sighed, rubbing my eyes tiredly. "I want to get this done tonight so maybe I can go to bed a little earlier tomorrow."

"I just wish the teachers weren't putting so much stress on us," Lilly groaned, kicking at the ground with her black Mary Jane. "I mean, we're only eleven, and they're acting like these exams will determine our entire future!"

"If that were the case, Crabbe and Goyle would be screwed," I smirked, nudging Lilly with my shoulder. Lilly grinned and nodded.

It was turning out to be a peaceful walk to the common room until an obnoxious voice interrupted the silence as Lilly and I made our way onto the third floor.

"Oi! Moon, Jackson!" Draco Malfoy shouted from a down the hall. "Are the two mudbloods too ashamed to show their faces in the Great Hall?"

I felt the anger boiling up in me at the insult. Normally, I wouldn't rise to Malfoy's baiting, but today I was just too on edge from lack of sleep. Lilly laid a steadying hand on my shoulder as she turned around.

"I'm a half-blood, you bloody wanker," she said, rolling her eyes. She said it about as casually as someone talking about the weather, and Malfoy's face blushed pink before he turned to sneer at me.

"But Jackson's not," he countered, his lips twisting up in a smirk. "She's just a dirty, filthy, mudblood, whose own father left because he couldn't bare to look at her hideousness."

I would have lunged at Malfoy right then and there if it hadn't been for the tight grip Lilly had on my shoulder. It was one thing to call me a mudblood, but bringing up my father was a whole other story. I had always been sensitive about not having a father. Kids used to bully Percy and me all the time about it when we were in elementary school together. And then Gabe came in, constantly telling us both we were worthless and meant nothing, the exact opposite of what a father should say, and it all added together to end with me being extremely sensitive about anything to do with my father.

Lilly seemed to sense this.

"Get lost, Malfoy," she snarled at him, pulling me into a close half-hug. "No one cares what you think."

"Oh really?" Malfoy smirked, looking right at me. "Do you not care that your Daddy left you, Jackson? Do you not care that he doesn't love you?" I tensed at that. That had always been something I wondered. Would my Dad like me if he was alive? "But that's just it, isn't it?" Malfoy continued. "Nobody loves poor, little, Nina Jackson. She's all alone."

I finally snapped. I lunged at Malfoy, but he leaped back in time to avoid getting punched in the face. I was going to kill him! Without really being conscious of what I was doing, I raised my arms and felt a rush of power run through me. A sharp whip of water appeared in the thin air and started to hit Malfoy. From the thick sounds it was making as it connected with Malfoy, I would guess it hurt about as bad as Gabe's belt when he was really mad.

"Miss Jackson!" someone shouted from behind me. I turned around to see Professor McGonagall jogging up the corridor. "There is to be absolutely no magic outside of class in this institute. Detention tonight!"

"Professor," I said, trying to explain the situation to her, but Professor McGonagall was having none of it.

"No, Miss Jackson," she said harshly. "Now I suggest you go to your common room. Also, ten points from Gryffindor.

"That's so unfair," Lilly complained as we reached the common room. She stopped to look at me. "What spell was it that you used?"

"Um," I mumbled, wondering how to tell Lilly about what I had done. Could I trust her not to tell everyone that I'm a Mage? "I'll tell you in the dorm room. I don't want anyone else hearing."

"Okay..." Lilly said suspiciously, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye as the Fat Lady's portrait swung open. She climbed through, and I followed closely behind.

Once we got up into our dorm, Lilly flopped down on her bed, and put her arms behind her head.

"So spill," she said.

I sat down on my own bed, facing her.

"Okay, Lilly," I said, "you have to promise me you won't tell anyone this. I mean, not even Lav and Vati can know, that's how secret this is."

"I promise," Lilly said. "If it's so secret, why are you agreeing to tell me?"

"Because you won't stop digging until you find out," I replied, staring at my friend with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, I'm not just a witch. My brother and I both have a different kind of magic."

"I thought your brother was a muggle," Lilly frowned.

"Not exactly," I sighed. "We're Elemental Mages."

"Elemental Mages?" Lilly asked, sitting up. "I thought those were extinct."

"Not exactly," I said. "My brother and I are both Water Mages. And you know how I told you about my two friends back in America, Morgan and Diane?"

"Yeah," Lilly said, nodding her head. "Morgan and Diane Ross, the twins."

"That's them. They're Light Mages."

"So, what you're saying," Lilly frowned, trying to make sense of everything, "Is that, not only do Mages still exist, but you, your brother, and two of your friends from muggle America are all Mages?"

"Pretty much sums it up," I agreed.

"You've got to be bloody kidding me," Lilly grumbled, falling back on her bed.

My detention was the next Thursday. Professor McGonagall had sent me to the first floor bathroom where Moaning Myrtle resided. I was to clean the entire bathroom without magic.

"Who's there!" Myrtle screeched as I pushed open the door, pulling the cart of cleaning supplies behind me.

"It's Nina Jackson!" I called back just as the door swung shut. "I'm here for a detention!"

"Detention?" Myrtle asked, peeking over the top of her stall.

"Yeah," I sighed, pulling a rag and some sort of cleaner for the sinks out. "McGonagall's making me clean your bathroom for my detention. Without magic.

Myrtle wrinkled her nose, looking around her bathroom in disgust. I looked around at just the sinks. They were grimy and looked like they hadn't been cleaned in ages.

"Good luck with that one," Myrtle said, floating away back down her toilet.

I sighed and got to work. This was going to take me a while.

I was right. It took an hour and a half just to clean off all the sinks. I moved onto the floor next, trying to avoid the toilets as long as possible. I thought the bathroom at home after Gabe had finished using it was bad, but Myrtle's bathroom took the cake. I wondered how she lived in so much filth. When I could suitably see my reflection in the floors, I moved onto the toilets.

The toilets were by far the most disgusting part of the bathroom. The smell from them reached all the way over to the sinks. Inside the toilets, the water was a yellowish brown, and I couldn't help but gag. It was probably the most disgusting thing I had ever smelt. I grabbed the brush and started scrubbing.

"That was so gross!" I groaned as I collapsed onto my bed. Lavender, Parvati, and Lilly all looked up from the magazine they were looking at.

"That bad?" Parvati asked, grinning. I glared at her.

"Worse than my stepfather," I grumbled. Lavender, Parvati, and Lilly all started laughing.