Rosabella's Point of View:
In retaliation for my Quidditch commentary, Jason used a spell to levitate me by my ankles and used rope to hang me from a chandelier. Thank god I decided to wear trousers that day. No one was around apart from the trio and Jason and Jacob. Hermione looked shocked at what just happened, Ron didn't hesitate to laugh hysterically and Harry was also laughing but making more of an effort to hide it. I laughed hysterically.
"Get her down!" Hermione said frantically.
Jason and Jacob didn't appear to hear her as they laughed hysterically, leaning on each other for support. I was stuck up there for about ten minutes before Lucas came round the corner with his friends Ben, Will and Fiona. They all froze at the scene before them, their mouths hanging open in shock.
"Hey, Lu. I'm finally taller then you now!" I said brightly with a cheerful wave.
Lucas sent a death glare in Jason and Jacob's direction.
They gulped.
"Ro, how did you get up there?" Jason said in mock confusion.
"Get down this instant! You could break your neck!" Jacob said in a very good impression of McGonagall.
"I have no idea how to get her down without her just falling to the floor! Did you idiots think of that?" Lucas yelled.
Jason and Jacob looked slightly ashamed, evidently they had not thought of that.
"I have an idea. I'm going to need a long rope if any of you can conjure any." I called from the chandelier.
They all looked at me curiously.
Fiona conjured the rope and threw it too me. I just about caught it. Luckily, I'm flexible so I managed to tie one end of the large rope to the chandelier.
"Right now break the ropes around my ankles." I called from the chandelier as I gripped the long rope.
"What the hell is going on here?" Michael said as he came round the corner.
"Merlin only knows. Ro, are you sure about this?" Lucas said, uneasily.
"Yes! Actually, I've always kind of wanted to do it." I said and made sure I had a good grip on the rope.
"Diffindo." Lucas said, pointing his wand at the ropes around my ankles.
They split in half and I began to fall for a few seconds but because of my grip on the rope, I swung instead of falling. I then slid down the rope. I wasn't hurt apart from a bit of rope burn on my palms.
My brothers all breathed a sigh of relief.
"You know what this means." I said, glaring challengingly at my twin brothers.
"No! Oh god no! Not a –" Michael said, his eye wide with panic.
"Prank War." My twin brothers and I said at the same time.
The next few weeks were filled with pranks and I've heard many people say they're surprised Hogwarts is still standing.
In retaliation for hanging me from the chandelier, I made all the cauldron in Jason and Jacob's potion class explode. And because I don't like Snape, I set up a booby trap around Jason and Jacob's table, when he passed Jason and Jacob's table greasy oil would fall on him.
In retaliation to that, Jason and Jacob let out a bunch of Nifflers during Transfiguration. This caused a lot of chaos and McGonagall had to dismiss the class early.
In retaliation, I flooded Jason and Jacob's Charms class.
They then retaliated by sneaking into my History of Magic's class room and glueing me to my chair using a sticking charm.
I then retaliated but straping flameless fireworks to their chairs in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Apparate I nearly gave Quirrell a heart attack he was so scared. Those are just a few of the many things we did and that's just what we did in lessons.
In breaks between lessons we would be locked in a furious war of dungbombs, stinkpellets, fanged Frisbees and basically everything banned according to Filch's list. I would also continously hex Jason and Jacob with the Bat Boggy hex, the Leg Locker and Jelly leg curse. They would also try to hex me and they got me half the time.
At first the other students of Hogwarts found it rather enjoyable but now they were desperate for it to stop as our missed hexes or jinxs that were dodged would end up hitting the innocent bystanders, not to mention the collateral damage as a result of our classroom pranks.
Now students very hesitantly and nervously walked anywhere and they were especially reluctant to enter classrooms. Lucas and Michael were the only ones not shocked by our behaviour as this was normal for them.
Teachers tried their best to stop it but it didn't matter how many detentions or house points they took from us, we just didn't listen. I had a detention every night for the rest of the year because I was getting so many. Jason and Jacob were very much the same.
Everyone had turned to Lucas and Michael and begged if there was anyway to make us stop.
"They won't stop till their satisfied." Lucas replied as he turned a page in his book.
The icing on the cake was when I grabbed a bunch of meat from dinner one evening, snuck into Jason and Jacob's room and soaked their pants in meat. They had Care of Magical Creatures the next day and the creature they were studying happened to like meat. By the end of the lesson, Jason and Jacob's trousers had been ripped to shreds.
After three weeks of endless pranking, the Weasleys twins eventually dragged Jason, Jacob and I to a table and made us sit down.
"Alright this has gone off enough. As funny as this is, I would like to be able to actually walk around hogwarts without getting hit by something." Fred said.
"You soaked their pants in meat? That is so wrong. Funny. But wrong." Michael said grinning as he passed the table.
The twins glared after him.
"When will this war end? Why don't you just call a truce?" George said.
"In a Black family prank war, you take no prisoners." Jacob said, seriously.
"But have any of you consider how great it would be if you combined you efforts?" Fred said, grinning.
I raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"By all means, explain." Jason said.
Fred and George proposed that we prank together rather then against each other.
"I work better as a solo act." I said with a mischievous smile.
We then came to an agreement that we would end the prank war and we would do the start and end of term feasts pranks together.
Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley and Black twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.
The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. During a prank war, Jason, Jacob and I had received many owls from Remus to knock it off but we effectively ignored them.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where our breath rose in a mist before us and we kept as close as possible to our hot cauldrons.
"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class,for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." Draco Malfoy said one day in a potions class.
Malfoy was looking over at Harry as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them. I glared at Malfoy and then glanced at Snape who was busy bullying Neville. I took my wand out subtly from my pocket and secretly used it under the desk. I checked Snape and he was still leering at Neville.
"Flippindo." I muttered, aiming for Malfoy's stoll.
Malfoy's stoll was knocked out from under him and he fell to the ground. I quickly stowed my wand away and laughed with the other Gryffindors.
Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide - mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because we were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family.
It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once. I felt terrible for him and I was planning in writing to Remus and ask if he wouldn't mind me staying so Harry wouldn't be alone. But, as it turned out, Ron and his brothers were staying too because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie. So my brothers and I were going home just as planned and I was relieved Harry wouldn't be alone.
When we left the dungeons at the end of Potions, we found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told us that Hagrid was behind it.
"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.
"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron." Hagrid said in his usual warm voice.
"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind us. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose - that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."
Ron dived at Malfoy before I could just as Snape came up the stairs.
"WEASLEY!" Snaoe yelled.
Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.
"He was provoked, Professor Snape. Malfoy was insultin' his family." Hagrid said, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree.
"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid. Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you." Snape said, silkily.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.
"I'll get him, one of these days, I'll get him -" Ron said, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back.
"Don't hesitate to ask me for ideas if you need any." I said, glaring daggers at Malfoy's back.
"You'll be the first one I ask." Ron promised.
"I hate them both. Malfoy and Snape." Harry said.
"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas. Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat." Hagrid said.
So the four of us followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.
"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree - put it in the far corner, would you?" Professor McGonagall said.
The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.
"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.
"Just one. And that reminds me - Ro, Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library." Hermione said.
"Oh yeah, you're right." Ron said, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.
"The library? Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?" Hagrid said, following us out of the hall.
"Oh, we're not working!" I told Hagrid enthusiastically.
"Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is." Harry said brightly.
"You what ?" Hagrid looked shocked.
"Listen here - I've told yeh - drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'." Hagrid said firmly.
"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all." Hermione said.
"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" I added, hopefully.
"We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere - just give us a hint - I know I've read his name somewhere." Harry said
"I'm sayin' nothin'." Hagrid saidflatly.
"Just have to find out for ourselves, then." Ron said, and we left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.
We had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were we going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time he was missing, too.
From Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library. Tens of thousands of books. Thousands of shelves. Hundreds of narrow rows.
Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search. While Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Harry and I wandered over to the Restricted Section. We had both been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there.
Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and we knew we'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"What are you two looking for?" Madam Pince asked suspiciously as ahe brandished a feather duster at us.
"Just books for homework. I think we wondered into the wrong section Harry, we need Herbology books." I said in a convincing confused voice.
Madam Pince pointed us in the direction to the Herbology books.
"How do you think of excuses so fast?" Harry whispered when we were a safe enough distance from Madam Pince.
"It's a gift perfected by practice." I said, grinning at Harry.
Harry and I wandered back over to some of the books on Hermione's lift. Harry and I both reached for a book at the same time. We both blushed slightly and we quickly retracted our hands. I smiled at Harry and told him to get this one, while I go get the next one.
Ron, Hermione, Harry and I had already agreed we'd better not ask Madam Pince where we could find Flamel. We were sure she'd be able to tell them, but we couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to.
We had been looking for two weeks, after Hagrid let the clue about Flamel, but as we only had odd moments between lessons it wasn't surprising we'd found nothing. What we really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.
Five minutes later we gave up and we went off to lunch.
"You will keep looking while Ro and I are away, won't you? And send me an owl if you find anything." Hermione said.
Harry and Ron nodded.
"I'll see if Uncle Remus knows anything." I promised.
"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is. It'd be safe to ask them." Ron said to Hermione.
"Very safe, as they're both dentists." Hermione said.
I laughed and shook my head slightly.
Hermione and I talked about Nicolas Flamel all the way back on the train. We hugged each other goodbye and I practically sprinted over to Uncle Remus and flung myself into his arms. It was a weird adjustment not being able to see him everyday.
"I hope your not trying to butter me up, Ro. With all the owls I got from Hogwarts about your latest prank war, I'm surprised Hogwarts is still standing." Remus said but he chuckled slightly as he hugged me back.
As we made our way home, we all eagerly told Remus about the first term. The excitement of seeing Remus again drove Flamel completely out of my mind. For Christmas Eve we spent the day at Aunt Andromeda's. I baked Christmas cookies with her and we all sang carols. I get nervous singing in front of people but Jason and Javob were singing so loudly that I didn't have to worry.
For Christmas day we opened our presents in the morning. I got sweets from Harry, Ron and Hermione. Jason and Jacob gave me prank supplies. Michael gave me a book on curses. He had attached a note:
Just something for you to use the next time Jason or Jacob annoy us, which will happen sooner rather then later.
Mikey
I laughed at the note.
Lucas gave me a Quidditch book about Chasers, as he knew it was my desired position. I got a good range of Make up from Aunt Andromeda, Uncle Ted and Tonks. Remus got me a new Magical camera that had a better lense and focus then the one I got when I was eight. Aunt Andromeda, Uncle Ted and Tonks came over for Christmas dinner and stayed the night. Tonks and I had great fun in messing with my brothers.
Nicolas Flamel didn't come back into my mind intill the last day of the holidays. I quickly looked around the Manor for Remus. I found him in the living room, sitting by the fire as he read the evening prophet.
"Rem, can I ask you something?" I asked and sat down next to him.
"What?" Remus asked suspiciously.
"It's purely educational. Have you ever heard of Nicolas Flamel?" I asked.
Remus study me for a second with suspicious eyes.
"Yes, I have." Remus said.
"Well, who is he?" I prompted.
"Why do you want to know?" Remus countered.
"I told you, school. Its for History of Magic." I said with a perfect innocent poker face.
Remus debated.
I guessed he was running through all the possible scenarios where knowing who Nicolas Flamel was could help me cause trouble.
"Nicolas Flamel is an Alchemist. He's the first person to ever create the philosophers stone." Remus told me.
"What's the Philosophers stone?" I asked, trying not to seem to enthusiastic.
"It's a stone that can turn any metal to gold and is used to create the exlir of life which grants the drinker immortality." Remus answered.
This has to be what Fluffy's guarding!
"So that's why we didn't find anything. We were looking for modern Magical Discoveries." I exclaimed.
Remus chuckled.
"You wouldn't find him in any of those. He'd be around 665 years old by now." Remus said and laughed when my mouth dropped opened in shock.
I didn't bother sending an owl to any of the trio. We would be going back to Hogwarts tomorrow so I would wait intill I saw them in person.