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NINE
——THROUGH THE DARK
"MERLIN, EFFIE, WOULD YOU PLEASE MIND NOT TO USE HIS NAME AROUND ME?" Pansy complained quietly, finding their way on the train. The two had arrived early, so they could assign themselves a compartment before Pansy has to go to the Prefect Carriage (but not before Effie forced them to run by the local sweet shop and stock up on her sweets) (and also, might be because she and Pansy literally ran to the grocery store to buy important necessities).
"I will not live in fear of him, Pansy," She says curtly, pulling her wool coat around herself tighter when it slipped past her shoulders. The amount of wool sweaters she acquired and currently stocked in her trusty shoulder bag was alarming.
"Not all of us can be as fearless as you do, you know?" Pansy rolled her eyes, pushing through a suitable enough compartment with a dramatic sigh. "I know you're just as strong and stubborn as him—"
"As who?" Daphne piped up, trudging through the compartment, Millicent in tow.
"As my dad," Effie lied effortlessly. "He almost didn't want to let Pansy and I continue in Hogwarts and put us in Ilvermorny instead."
Millicent's expression delved into one of concern, "I almost forgot to ask. How are you? You never wrote back to us, Pansy only says you've been—"
"Hey, lay off, Millicent," Pansy snapped protectively. "If she wants to speak, she will. She doesn't need to answer to that."
"Pans, it's fine," Effie says, amused. "I'm fine. When I came back from treatment, we toured around Belgium for awhile and they didn't have owls, that's why."
"You know Effie couldn't even stand on ice," Pansy snorted. "We tried this—this muggle tradition. . . ice skating, I think?" (It's a miracle they came up with that alibi on the spot, but she'd have Effie to thank since she can't lie for shit) "She kept falling over like an idiot."
"Please ignore my meaner, taller counterpart," Effie said, crossing her arms. "She's just jealous she couldn't find that sweater she wanted in the boutiques in the Diagon Alley." Actually, it was an online boutique but she can't exactly say that, can't she?
"So, did you meet any hot Californian people?" Daphne asked with a shit-eating grin, just as Theo made his entrance.
"Unfortunately, I was rather focused on getting myself together—"
"You spent two and a half months in California without meeting any hot girl or boy?" Theo gaped at her. "Lillian Euphemia!"
"I tell her that everyday and she doesn't listen!" Pansy agreed. "Her love life is the most anticlimactic thing I've ever heard."
"Hey!" Effie swatted Pansy's thigh. "Why don't we find you a nice blond to make out with, now?"
"Yeah, no thanks," Pansy rolled her eyes. "You'll do. How about redheads—ow!"
Effie ignores her yelp with an amused smirk, glancing down at her watch. "Oh look, Pans! Don't you think it's time for you to go to the Prefect Carriage?"
Pansy rolled her eyes, pulling Effie to a stand as well. "I hate you."
"Where are you taking me?"
"Maybe they won't mind if you tag along—"
"Absolutely not," Effie frowned as she stopped Pansy in the hallway from dragging her. "I'll try to find Ginny and see if she had done her homework for World Literature. Then I'll make you a copy."
Pansy paled in realization that she hadn't done homework at all, before beaming at Effie. "This is why you're my wife. I'll see you later then?"
Effie gave her a small smile, before going off on her own. She scanned the windows of the compartments subtly as she passed by, finally stopping when she sees Potter on his own—with Neville, Luna, and of course, Ginny.
She quietly slid the door open, leaning against the door way just as Neville spoke hurriedly, "—I'm nobody."
"No, you're not," She and Ginny spoke together, causing the others to jump when they notice her presence. The tips of Ginny's ears redden, quickly scrambling over to make space for Effie to sit in. Potter snorted when he noticed.
"Neville Longbottom," Ginny introduced him to Luna, and tucked some of her hair behind her ear as she glanced at Effie. "She's Effie Stark—you already know her. Luna Lovegood," Ginny continued. "Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw. Effie, sit down."
"Yes, ma'am," Effie snorts, sitting down beside the redhead. She ignores the way her heart suddenly flutters—what. . . what on earth?
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Luna said in a singsong voice. She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. Potter and Neville looked at each other with their eyebrows raised. Ginny suppressed a giggle as Effie pursed her lips in amusement.
"I'm surprised Pansy hasn't dragged you to the Prefect Carriage yet," Ginny raised an eyebrow at Effie.
"Oh, she nearly did,"
"And she willingly let you go?"
"No, I reminded her about the World Literature homework that she never did," Effie commented. "And I said I would make her a copy, but I've already gone ahead of that."
Ginny snorts,"That's the most Capricorn thing I've ever heard."
The train rattled onward, speeding them out into open country. It was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously gray clouds.
"Guess what I got for my birthday?" Neville says with a grin.
"Another Remembrall?" Potter guessed. It was the same red orb that earned him his spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team in First Year.
It has to be a plant if he's grinning so hard like that, Effie thinks to herself, knowing how smart Neville was in Herbology—also known as the subject she was desperately failing in.
"No," Neville countered, still grinning, "I could do with one, though, I lost the old one ages ago. . . No, look at this. . . "
He dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on Trevor the Toad into his schoolbag and after a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be a small gray cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia," he said proudly. It was pulsating slightly, giving it the rather sinister look of some diseased internal organ. "It's really, really rare. I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."
Ginny had to suppress a snort when she sees how clueless Effie was. Effie wasn't book-smart like Hermione, she tended to go about her own way if the original instructions didn't bode in her favor.
"I feel like something's about to happen," Effie murmurs as Neville explains the plant's amazing defense mechanism and all but dumped Trevor in Potter's lap. Ginny shrugged, watching.
Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside-down magazine again, watching what Neville was doing. Neville held the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.
Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant, thick, stinking, dark-green jets of it—they hit the ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine. Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat, as Effie swiftly turned her face and shoulders away, so her back took the brunt.
But Potter, whose hands had been busy preventing the escape of Trevor, received a face full. It smelled like rancid manure. "Smells like horse-farm," Effie commented, trying to breathe.
"It makes Ron's socks seem like expensive perfume," Ginny complained, causing Effie to laugh. Of course, Ginny tries not to stare at the way Effie's head throws back as she laughs genuinely.
Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes. "S—Sorry," he gasped. "I haven't tried that before. . . Didn't realize it would be quite so. . . Don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous," he added nervously, as Potter spat a mouthful onto the floor.
At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open. Oh Lord. Effie wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel sympathetic at Potter's mortification when that person turned out to be Cho Chang.
"Are you going to clean this up or shall I?" Ginny asked, glancing around at all the Stinksap.
"You go ahead," Effie waved her off. When the Stinksap disappears, was when she deemed it appropriate to take a puff of her inhaler. She was on her third neon green lollipop by the time Ronald and Granger finally appeared, by which she and Ginny had been pushed closer together as they compared Chocolate Frog cards.
"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House," Granger explained, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "Boy and girl from each."
"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" Ronald said, still with his eyes closed.
"Malfoy," Potter said at once.
"No," Effie whispered, worried for Pansy.
"'Course," Ronald muttered bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another.
"Pansy's still hung up on him?" Ginny hissed in her ear. She tried not to blush at the proximity.
"When is she not?" Effie said back quietly. "I don't like him for her—he almost always undermines her worth."
"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," Granger viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll—"
"Hermione," Ginny said warningly, her hand drifting over to a silent Effie.
Granger seemed to realize her mistake as she sees Effie's blank stare, flushing and tried to reiterate her mistake. "Eff—"
"I may not condone how Pansy acts around you, Granger, but that does not mean I will let you call her names behind her back, and in front of me," Effie was already standing, looking on coldly. "You may believe that your house is better, but. . . " She tilted her head and pursed her lips. "Sinking to their pettiness doesn't suit you, Granger. I thought you, of all people, would know better. Excuse me."
"Look what you did!" Effie heard Ginny hiss loudly as she stepped out of their compartment. Just in time, a group of Slytherins (headed by Draco, of-fucking-course) were headed her way.
"Potter in there?" Draco tilts his head questionably.
Effie let out an irritated sigh and gestured to the compartment with her head, brushing past them, but at the same time, grabbing Pansy's arm, pulling the brunette with her. "And Draco. . . " Effie trailed off. The blond in question raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't bother Ginny, or else I'll lose the chance to copy off her homework."
Draco gave a grunt of acknowledgement as Pansy and Effie both walked away. Pansy gaped at her, "You're actually letting me skip my prefect rounds."
"Would you have taken it seriously?" Effie raised an eyebrow. It did feel wrong that Effie was pulling Pansy away from her responsibility, but in that moment, Effie didn't want Pansy near Granger. . . or any other Gryffindors besides Ginny. "If it makes you feel better, I can join you instead."
Pansy gave her a surprised expression. "Or would you rather go back and talk to Draco's cohorts instead?"
"You're a dumb arse if you think I'll pass up on the chance to spend the rest of the prefect round with you," Pansy snorted. Between Effie and Draco, in her mind, Effie will always be the better blonde. "You're pissed. What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"And I'm Dumbledore in the flesh," Pansy snapped back. "Reach out to me, honey. I know you're hot when you're pissed but I'm your bestfriend, you can't plan a murder alone."
Effie really didn't want to tell Pansy about the fiasco with Granger. What if the animosity instead of decency grows? But since Pansy was the girl in question, "It's just. . . I thought Granger would know better than to insult you in front of me, your bestfriend."
"What did she call me? I mean, it has to be bad enough that you're this—" Pansy gestures to Effie's stiff demeanor, prompting the blonde to roll her eyes. "—mad."
"I'm not repeating it, for both our sakes," Effie crossed her arms, still irritated. "And I'm not mad, I'm just. . . infuriated. I thought they'd look past all that bad Slytherin reputations when they befriended me, but—" She gritted her teeth and clenched her jaw. "—I mean, I did try and then they turn into awful hypocrites. Is it bad enough that I want to pitch them off a tower?"
Pansy stares at Effie with wide eyes. She had never heard Effie threaten anyone with violence and describe it vividly. . . hell, she wasn't even sure if she heard Effie do that before when they were kids, or when she was mad.
Effie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm—I'm sorry. That was uncharacteristic of me. I just—I'm sick of Slytherins being mistreated because everyone thinks we have some sort of contingency plan when in reality, we're just a bunch of kids forced to grow up soon."
"Never, in all my fifteen years of existence, did I hear you complain like that," Pansy admitted, although Effie did have a point there. "But you're right, they're not the only ones with daddy and mommy issues. They'll never take their heads out of their asses long enough to realize Slytherins cry too."
And in that moment, was when Pansy and Effie both agreed on the fact that Ginny Weasley was the only decent Gryffindor who dared to look past the bad reputation and befriend the two.
At last the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready for departure. Pansy completely ditched prefect duty with Draco by now, much to Effie's disapproval.
Ginny managed to find them last minute when she got separated from Harry. "Did either of you tell Malfoy not to mess with me?"
Pansy scoffs, turning her nose snottily. "Bold of you to assume I cared enough about you to do that."
Effie snorted, nudging the tall brunette. "I did. I apologize if he said anything foul to the others—"
"He just taunted Harry with not being a prefect," Ginny shrugged, smiling shyly at Effie as she clutched Granger's orange tabby cat. "Not anything too bad. He did inform us someone told him not to mess with me, so. . . "
"If either of you don't mind, I want a headstart to the carriages before we get stuck with Gryffindor hypocrites again," Pansy announced loudly.
"I've to find Hermione now," Ginny informed them. "She'll be looking for her cat."
"Ew, you call that a cat?"
"He's cute!"
"He looks like another cat's hairball!"
"Ladies," Effie rolled her eyes. Ginny huffed at Pansy, marching away with a little wave towards Effie.
Pansy scoffed, "That is not a cat, I swear to Merlin."
"Get a move on, Pans," Effie humored, tugging her bestfriend through the throngs of people. "And be nice. You can't abuse your prefect privileges—"
"I definitely will," Pansy nodded firmly. Effie rolled her eyes. Why do I even try?
Here stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches that always took the students above first year up to the castle. Usually, it never bothered Effie since she's been seeing that since First Year, but. . . seeing them. . . it reminded her badly of Cedric.
Sandy hair emerged from somewhere between the thestrals—for a second, Effie thought it was him. She stood on her tiptoes, trying to see, and just as his name was about to fall from her lips, that person spun around and turned out to be a different person.
Another Hufflepuff, but not Cedric.
Effie's lips parted, her eyes becoming glassy. She was ripped from her thoughts as someone tugged on her hand, "Effie?"
Her head whipped to the source of the voice. Ginny. Effie looked back where she saw the head of sandy hair, and pursed her lips. She didn't find him. "What were you looking at?"
"Nothing," Effie blinked away the tears in her eyes, offering Ginny a small smile. Pansy was already by an unoccupied carriage, staring them down and tapping her foot impatiently. "I thought it was someone. . . someone. . . Let's go. We mustn't keep Pansy waiting."
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