In case you're wondering, "Ciara" is pronounced "Keer-ah."
~~~~
During dinner on Monday, Ciara still seemed as jealous as ever. She and two other Slytherins, Trilia Bones and Nico Jasper, all looked murderous.
Albus, Wren, and I left the Great Hall a bit earlier than normal to start on a six inch essay for Transfiguration that was due Thursday. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ciara, Trilia, and Nico get up as we walked through the doors, and and subconsciously increased my pace.
Somehow, the trio of Slytherins caught up with us in an empty corridor. I whirled around and pulled out my wand, but Ciara pointed her wand at me and yelled, "Stupefy!"
I flew into a wall, but quickly the stunning sensation faded. All I felt was pain coursing through my head where it had connected with a windowsill. My vision was a bit blurry as well.
Before I could get up, Ciara was standing in front of me. She pulled me to my feet and shoved me back against the wall, making pain sear through my skull.
Trilia and Nico blocked Wren and Albus from running in to my rescue, not that they looked like they really wanted to, but they made a valiant effort trying wriggle past the two Slytherins. Nico and Trilia were too quick, though. They grabbed both of my friends and pinned their arms behind them.
"What spell did you use?" Ciara asked me, glaring at me.
"What?"
"You know exactly what I mean! You had to have used some sort of spell to get onto the Quidditch team. What was it?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I hissed, ignoring the pain in my head. "I got in on talent alone."
"Did you confund the captain?" she asked, pointing her wand at me casually. "Or maybe you used a spell on the Snitch? What did you do?"
"Nothing!" I shouted, reaching for my own wand.
Ciara grabbed my arm and twisted it away from my wand, upwards. Pain shot through my arm, and I gasped. "Let go!"
"Tell me what you did!"
"NOTHING!"
Ciara pointed her wand at my chest. "Impedi-"
"PROTEGO!"
Ciara was thrown backward several feet, and looked stunned for a few seconds. I turned towards the others to see Wren holding her wand out, looking just as shocked as everyone else.
"What was that for?" Ciara asked, dusting off her robes, looking a bit unsteady. "I wasn't really going to hex her!"
"Well now you can't, even if you weren't, because that was a shield charm," Wren said shakily. Trilia didn't move as Wren slipped out of her grasp and quickly stepped over to Albus. Nico quickly let him go, backing away a few steps. Wren grinned weakly at me. "Let's go." We walked up the stairs, but as soon was we were out of sight, we broke into a run.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Albus panted as we stumbled through the portrait hole into the safe territory of the Gryffindor common room.
Wren shrugged. "I've seen a lot of people do it, so I decided to try," she said, somewhat evasively. "Couldn't hurt, right?"
"It was perfect!" I exclaimed. Wren smiled hopefully.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah," Albus said, "you were great!"
"Maybe Ciara will leave us alone..." Wren said wistfully.
I rolled my eyes. "Like that'll happen. Hey, where was Scorpius, though? I thought the Malfoy twins were a packaged deal."
Before either of my friends could answer, a commotion behind me distracted us. We turned to see Rose Weasley standing over a pile of apparently dropped books. Her cheeks were flaming red, almost the same color as her hair.
"You ok?" Wren asked kindly, walking over to help pick the books up.
Rose quickly nodded. "F-fine. I'm fine." She shooed Wren away, saying, "I don't need help!"
"Oh, all right," Wren said quietly. It was obvious she was a bit hurt, and for a moment Rose looked like she was trying to think of a way to fix that. She ended up just piling her books up and quickly walking away.
"What was that about?" I asked, after she'd disappeared through the door to our dorm.
Albus shrugged. "Who knows?"
I shrugged as well. No big deal. "What were we talking about?"
"I don't know," Wren said, obviously not paying much attention. "What's James doing?"
James was bent over a parchment at a secluded table in the corner of the room. Every so often he would glance over his shoulder like he didn't want anyone to see what he was doing. Incredibly suspicious.
I silently padded over to him, followed by my friends. We surrounded his chair, then I loudly said, "Whatchya doing?"
James jumped, muttered something, and quickly tried to cover the parchment. We started laughing as he caught sight of Wren and relaxed. "Gosh, don't scare me like that!"
"Was that the Marauder's Map?" I asked. I had caught a glimpse of moving dots.
James nodded. "Now if you'll excuse m-"
"What were you doing?" I asked innocently.
"Nothing," he said evasively. James tried to scoot around me, but I stepped in front of him.
"I could just tell your dad about th-" I started, but he quickly cut me off.
"Keep your voice down! No one else knows about this map!"
"Tell me what you were doing then."
Albus grinned. "You were watching Mackenzie, weren't you?"
James flushed. "What? No! You can just shut up about that!"
Wren smiled understandingly. "It's ok, we won't tell her."
Albus said, "You won-"
"Neither will you!" Wren said fiercely, turning on him.
Albus out his hands up. "All right, all right!"
James sighed. "Maybe I was, but it's none of your business."
"Ok, fine then." I shrugged, turning to walk away.
"Astra!" James grabbed my arm, pulling me to a halt. "What happened?" I felt his hand on the back of my head, where it had hit the wall. I winced as I turned back to meet James's worried eyes.
"Ciara Malfoy...she used that stunning spell on me, and I flew into a wall." I had forgotten about that, somehow, but I could still feel the dull throbbing.
"You need to go see Madam Pomfrey," James said, concern showing in his brown eyes.
I didn't really want to go to the hospital wing, but Wren and James insisted, and Albus looked too alarmed about the seriousness of my insignificant injury to even speak, so I agreed to go. They raced me through the castle, ducking and dodging around students and ghosts and Peeves the poltergeist. In five minutes I was sitting on a bed in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey fussing over me like a mother hen. I wasn't badly hurt, and the gash wasn't very deep; a simple spell fixed it. However, it was only with great pleading that she agreed to let me spend the night in my own dorm, as opposed to the hospital wing, and only on the condition that I "go to bed early and don't do anything dangerous, boisterous, or anything active at all." Basically, spend the evening sitting in a chair doing absolutely nothing.
Back in the common room, Wren forced me into one of the chairs by the fireplace, and Wren and Albus settled themselves near me. James disappeared at some point. Soon, several other Gryffindor first and second years had joined us.
They made me recount the tale of my head injury at least ten times, and Wren was hailed as a hero for stupefying Ciara. Malfoy was a hated name in Gryffindor. Eventually, the talk turned to our families.
"I'm named after my uncle," Colin Creevey (who didn't seem to have anything against James at all, from what I could tell) said proudly. "He died in the Battle of Hogwarts."
"So did my aunt," Iris Brown piped up.
Luke Castel sighed. "I'm not related to anyone who fought. Being muggleborn really stinks sometimes."
"It's not that bad," a second year girl, Lillie Collins said. "I'm muggleborn too. And so is Astra. We don't mind, do we?" I shook my head.
"At least we aren't Malfoys," Lillie continued, drawing a laugh out of most of the students.
Lacy Macmillian nodded eagerly. "My dad was in Draco Malfoy's year, and he says that Mr. Malfoy actually used the m-word. All the time!"
Roxanne nodded sagely. "He called my Aunt Hermione that. Right, Albus?" Albus nodded his agreement.
Eric Finnigan frowned. "My dad remembers that. And that Mr. Malfoy was a Death Eater."
"I'm glad I'm not related to any Death Eaters," Mackenzie said. "My parents wanted to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts, but they were only fifth years, so they weren't old enough."
The clock on the wall tolled eleven, and the huddle of students started drifting off to bed. Finally, all that were left by the fire were me, Albus, and Wren.
I was about to suggest we go to bed as well, because we were the youngest ones left in the common room, when James stumbled through the portrait hole.
"Guys! Guys! I have a way to get Ciara back!" he called breathlessly.
"Oh, really?" I couldn't keep the skepticism out of my tone. How on earth would we get revenge on her now? She was probably tucked away in the Slytherin common room by now, since it was past curfew.
"Where were you?" Wren asked, glanced between James and the portrait hole.
"Out," he said simply. "Anyway, I convinced her to meet us in the trophy room tonight for a wizard's duel. It'll be easy, since I'm a second year, and I know more spells than her. I'll just disarm her."
"Amazing plan," I said sarcastically, "but how is that revenge? Wouldn't I have to fight her, anyway?"
"You didn't let me finish! Of course you'd have to fight her, right, just use Expelliarmus. Anyway, after the wizard's duel, we get out of there as fast as possible. You see, I tipped off Professor Longbottom that I heard Ciara and her friends talking about sneaking up to the trophy room at midnight, but I told him that it'd be about twenty minutes after I told Ciara to meet us there. He'll catch her and her little friends out after curfew!"
"What if they don't show up?" I asked.
"Are you seriously considering this?" Wren hissed to me.
"We'll get in so much trouble!" Albus added.
James shrugged. "All right, you two stay here."
"You aren't allowed to go!"
"Oh really?" James asked, grinning. "Victoire!" He ran over to a tall blonde girl, who I sort of recognized as a Weasley.
"Victoire, are we allowed out after curfew?"
Victoire shrugged. "As long as you don't lose points for Gryffindor and aren't planning a prank to pull on Teddy and me, I don't care what you do."
James swaggered back to us triumphantly. "See? And Victoire's a prefect, so she would know."
"James! This plan has so many holes in it anyway," Wren stated. "What if they don't show up? What if Professor Longbottom comes early? What if they leave before he gets there? What if he finds us?"
James held up the Marauder's Map. "No one is going to catch us. I know where everyone is."
"I don't know..." Wren said slowly.
"If they don't show, we come back. Simple."
"What if they told a teacher?" Albums asks, his voice quavering.
"Then we won't let them catch us. This map has all the secret passageways and shortcuts lined out. We will be fine. Who's coming?"
My hand shot into the air immediately, followed by an uncertain Albus. Wren put her hands on her hips. "I'll tell Professor Potter."
James's eyes widened. "You wouldn't."
"I would."
"Come on, Wren," I pleaded. "If we get caught, we will swear that we stunned you and dragged you along unconscious and that you're only now just waking up, ok?"
Wren considered this. I could tell her resolve was cracking. "Fine!"
James grinned. "Let's go!"
We clambered through the portrait hole before James would open the map. Wren kept glancing around nervously, though Albus seemed a bit better. He looked excited, actually.
"All right," James whispered. "Here we are..." He pointed to our dots, clustered in the corridor.
"There's Mrs. Norris," I pointed out. "And Filch." They were both prowling around the dungeons.
"Look!" Albus whispered. "Ciara and Nico!" And there they were. Successfully making it out of the dungeons, they were now walking slowly along one of the corridors, headed to the trophy room several floors above.
"Where's Longbottom?" James hissed.
I pointed him out, safe in his room. "That's strange. You'd think he'd be out and about if he was taking you seriously."
James shrugged. "Come on!"
Twisting through the maze of shortcuts outlined by James, we reached the trophy room several minutes early. Wren and Albus, a bit to nervous to hang out in the open, hid behind two trophy cases.
Ciara and Nico arrived just on time, but seemed mildly surprised to see James and I. "I thought you two would be too cowardly to come," Nico remarked, a hint of respect in his voice. Quickly, it was replaced by a sneer.
"There's a reason we're Gryffindors, and you aren't," James said, rolling his eyes. "I'm surprised to see you, really."
Ciara rolled her eyes and drew her wand. "Well, Astra?"
I pulled mine out as well. "May the best witch win."
"Oh, I plan to," Ciara said arrogantly.
I rolled my eyes. James counted us down, and as soon as he said "Three!" I shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
Ciara's wand flew out of her hand and landed in front of me. I quickly picked it up. When I stood up again I found Nico's wand about two inches away from my face, aimed right between my eyes. Ciara looked furious.
"Lower the wand, Jasper," James threatened. "We agreed this would be a fair fight, and Astra disarmed her. Fairly."
Nico glared at him, but didn't move the wand. For several seconds, there was tense silence.
"What in the name of Merlin is going on?" a stern voice exclaimed.
I felt the blood leave my face as we all turned to the door to see Headmistress McGonagall glaring down at us.
"Professor McGonagall..." James said weakly. "What a pleasure...what are you doing here?"
Professor McGonagall said, "I heard shouting. Now tell me, what are you four doing out of bed?" She said four. Good. Wren and Albus were still safely hidden away. I didn't dare glance towards them.
Ciara suddenly spoke up. "It was their fault!" She pointed at me and James. "And she stole my wand!"
"I did not! I disarmed you because you were going to hex me!"
"Girls!" McGonagall's sharp voice silenced us immediately. "I do not care whose fault it was. The fact is, you are all out of bed and you are all in very much trouble. Ms. Lewis, please return Ms. Malfoy's wand." I slowly gave it back, along with a sullen glare. "Now all of you come with me." As we walked out, following Professor McGonagall's swooshing robes, I saw James discreetly drop a blank parchment.
Professor McGonagall led us through the school to a corridor containing only a large statue of a gargoyle. She muttered "Peppermint," and a circular flight of moving steps appeared. We all quickly stepped on.
The stairs emerged in a large circular room. The walls were filled with portraits, I suppose of previous headmasters and mistresses. There were trinkets and inventions all over the place that I didn't recognize.
Professor McGonagall didn't speak to us until she was sitting behind her desk. Then she took a few minutes to simply stare at us, as if contemplating what sort of punishment would suit us best.
"What were you four doing?" she finally inquired.
We all looked at James. He was the oldest, after all. "Well...um...you see...it started earlier today, after dinner, Professor."
"Yes? Go on."
"Well, Ciara and her goons-"
"Hey!"
"-were trying to hex Astra, so to get back at them, I challenged her to a wizard's duel."
Professor McGonagall looked extremely tired. "James Sirius Potter, you have no idea how quite like your namesakes you are."
James grinned. "Why, thank you."
"That was not a compliment."
Nico snickered, but one look from the headmistress silenced him.
"Why did you feel the need to hold this already illegal duel at midnight?" she queried.
"To make it more exciting, of course," James said promptly. "We didn't mean to get caught."
"I'm sure you didn't. I suppose I'll have to take ten points from each of you," we all groaned, "and give you each detention. Now come with me, and we shall make sure you get back to your common rooms."
The dungeons were closer, so Professor McGonagall took Ciara and Nico there first, then she marched us up to the portrait hole and sent us inside.
Sitting up there in the headmistress's office, I honestly believed that nothing could be scarier. That was before I'd seen an angry Victoire Weasley. The second the portrait swung shut behind us, she was yelling.
"ALBUS SAID YOU GOT CAUGHT."
"Um...yeah..."
"HOW COULD YOU?!"
"Listen, we didn't-"
"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH BEFORE I GO TELL UNCLE HARRY THAT YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR MISSING POINTS!"
James's eyes widened. "Don't do that!"
"HOW MANY POINTS?"
"Twenty."
"Each?" Victoire stared at us in disbelief.
"No! Together!" I clarified.
She shook her head. "Did I not say 'don't get caught'? And what do you do? You get caught." She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Go to bed, both of you, and I'd advice you to stay away from the other prefects. They'll be just as upset as me." That might be hard, since Jaycee Bell was on the Quidditch team with us.
Wren met me on the stairs. "What happened?"
I shrugged. "We got detention, and we each lost ten points."
Wren's eyes widened. "That's twenty points gone! In one night! We had the lead before now!"
"Well at least we'll still be ahead of Slytherin," I said firmly. "I'm exhausted. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"
Wren grudgingly agreed and followed me up the stairs to our dorm, where our roommates were already fast asleep. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.
~~~~
Well, I decided to spend ten minutes writing out the first years' basic schedule. You know, just what classes they would go to on a Thursday, for example. Just so I wouldn't say in one place that they were in Potions on this day, and in another place that they were in Charms on the same day at the same time.
Two hours later, I have years 1 through 7 lined out perfectly, including all free periods and exact times of classes and lunch. And Quidditch practice.
That happened earlier too, when I needed a few more Gryffindor students for the Quidditch tryouts. In no time I had at least twenty students per year, at least four per House, and I'll probably never mention half of them. Amazing, right?
Vote please for my hard work!
~Ellie