━━ chapter seven.
unfair punishment
IT WAS early morning when Emeli smacked the back of Lori's head with a soft pillow to shake her from her sleep.
Lori jerked away at the sudden force, flying off the bed and a sickening thump was heard when she landed on the hard wooden floor. If the swift wack in the head from Emeli wasn't enough to shake the sleep out of her, the collision of her body on the floor would certainly do it. A loud groan bubbled from her lips as she rubbed her throbbing hip in attempt to ease the ache.
"You better have a good reason to wake me up so bloody early." She hissed in annoyance, harshly glaring at the giggling blonde. It was obvious that she wasn't a morning person.
Her eyes were burning from the lack of sleep that she got. She was tossing and turning all night for no reason and the purple bags under her eyes showed it.
"It's eight o'clock, Lori. Get up before I drag you out." Emeli laughter subdued as she seriously spoke with her hands on her hips.
"Okay, okay. I'm up." The freckled girl pulled herself from the floor and untangled her legs from her soft sheets.
"Good. The boys have already went down so we're—"
"Half-blood! Would you shut the hell up!?" A shrill voice complained from the other side of the dormitory. The girls looked over to see Pricilla Parkinson sitting up in her bed scowling at them. Her short hair was messy and her eyes were ablaze.
Emeli's pink lips turned into a frown at her other roommates words. Although she was in Slytherin, she was extremely sensitive, and it didn't take much to hurt her feelings. The boys and Lori were always careful with what the said around her, never wanting to upset her.
"Speak to her like that again, you buck teeth beaver, and I'll hex your ass into an oblivion." Lori spit with gritted teeth, upset with that hurt look that spread on her friend's face.
Pricilla looked shocked for a moment, then a feeling of terror overcame her as she laid back onto her bed before mumbling, "Whatever."
Lori snorted in amusement and softly smirked, "That's what I fuckin' thought."
Emeli warily eyed the laying girl a few feet from them before looking back at her freckled friend and muttering, "Let's just go get breakfast."
Despite Parkinson being a total bitch, she didn't want her best friend going to Azkaban for strangling one of her dormmates.
Looking out the dormitory window, Lori saw that it was severely raining, which wasn't rare weather. She opted for a large Slytherin grey sweatshirt, even though it was against the dress code to wear it during classes. The sweatshirt hung down to cover half of her skirt, but she didn't care.
Then, the girl slid on silver ring after silver ring on her thin fingers. Some were thin some were thick. Rather large pearl earrings were pushed into her ear piercing and a thin string of pearls was clipped around her neck. The pearls in both were obviously real, the price too large for Lori to admit.
She quickly pinned two pieces from the front of her hair to the back, letting a few stray curls fall out and frame her face, accentuating her angelic features. After casting a quick brightening charm on her skin, the two left the dormitory room.
Their other two roommates were Marie Flint and Serena Crabbe. They always kept to themselves, and they were rather nice, but Lori assumed it was because they didn't want to get on her bad side, which was very smart of them.
The two girls waltzed out of the common room and through the hallways, making small chat and laughing about random things. They talked about boys they thought were rather fit, and even brought up some school work (which was shocking for Lori, seeing that she rarely does it).
They both confidently strided into the Great Hall with happy grins. Upon their arrival, naturally many students looked over at them, watching their every move like a hawk, as they walked over to their house table and slid into their seats next to their friends.
"How are you both this morning?" Julian kindly asked as he tossed a piece of toast into his mouth. Just as Emeli opened her mouth to reply, the asian boy cut her off, "Never mind that—I don't care."
He shot them a silly smile, making Lori roll her eyes and swat his arm. Corban, who sat next to the freckled girl subconsciously scooted closer to her as he leaned over to grab the trey of pancakes. The smell of expensive cologne invaded her senses, but she ignored it and grabbed the bowl of raspberries that was always stationed in front of her. She immediately began munching on them, greatly enjoying the sweet taste that captivated her taste buds.
"Hey Corban!" A enthusiastic squeaky voice spoke from behind the group of friends, making their gaze snap over to the source of the noise to see Olivia Avery standing there with a cheery grin.
She was a tall skinny blonde girl who was a member of a high up pure blood family. The young girl sported sparkling teal eyes and naturally rosy cheeks. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see she was very pretty.
Her eyes were set on one boy only, completely ignoring the lot around him. Olivia slid into the seat next to Corban, shoving away a random brunette fourth year girl, disregarding the annoyed look she shot her.
Emeli shot all of them knowing looks as Corban's expression dropped into a frown. His eyes snapped from an unimpressed Lori to the excited blonde vigorously, inwardly hoping for his freckled friend to have a reaction, but was let down when her attention was on her plate.
He looked extremely uncomfortable as the girl laid a hand on his forearm, and moved closer to him, pressing her thigh against his. She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and looked at him with hooded eyes that held a longing look.
Lori stifled a laugh at her seductive attempts, it was purely amusing to watch. Her curly headed guy best friend never did show any interest in any girls at Hogwarts. He once went on a date to Hogsmeade with a very pretty Ravenclaw girl in third year, but returned very disappointed. He never did tell any of his friends what happened, but they all assumed it was bad enough if the ravenclaw girl never spared him another look.
"What's so funny, Rose?" Olivia maliciously snapped as she gritted her teeth.
Lori wickedly grinned (unintentionally sending shivers down all bystander's spines) as her mahogany brown eyes swirled in entertainment before loudly jeering, "It's just funny to see your desperation—Amy, right?"
Olivia's cheeks flamed in embarrassment before she was overcome with rage, "Listen here you little bit—"
Completely appalled by the girl's attitude towards his best friend, Corban shoved the blonde's hand from his bicep and harshly glared down at her enough to make her cower away.
"Watch your tone, Avery." He calmly spoke in ice cold tone, sliding closer to Lori.
The rude girl sat there for a few moments, still stunned by the boy's words until Lori scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Are you daft? Leave."
She shooed her off, lazily waving her away. Olivia angrily growled under her breath and jumped to her feet. "I'll catch you later, Corban," she shot the light eyed boy a flirtatious smile and shortly glaring at Lori, only for her to smirk in return. Then, the girl stomped off to the end of the table.
"Why must you provoke her, Lor?" Klay groaned, looking up from his book to eye her disappointingly.
Lori knew that look all too well. She'd received it practically every day, across the Great Hall from her brother. Her dark eyes narrowed in annoyance before she defended, "Don't look at me like that, Klay. What did she expect from me, jumping like that into a snake pit?"
"She is a snake." Julian retorted, his voice muffled by the mouthful of waffles, making the girls grimace in disgust.
"Oh, please. That minger is a hatchling compared to me." She boasted with a unattractive snort, biting into a piece bacon.
All of her friends watched her, clearly amused by her attitude. Corban wrapped an arm around her shoulder's and pulled her closer with a proud grin, "You got that one right."
His light eyes stared down at her in admiration, the action catching the attention of all his surrounding friends. Lori appeared to be oblivious to his mesmerized self, and an awkwardness practically suffocated them all.
"Well," Emeli started, uncomfortably looking around before kicking her freckled friend from under the table, "Let's go say hi to Marlene, Lily, and Alice."
Lori furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at her expression, but nevertheless stood up and began striding over to the Gryffindor table. Neither of them waited for their friends replies, which were probably whines and complaints.
"Why are we going to see them now?" She motioned towards the full Great Hall with all the students happily feasting.
"Merlin—are you serious?" Emeli shouted in a flabbergasted tone, ignoring her friend's question, "How can you not see Corban is completely head over heels for you!?"
"Corban? Fancy me?" Lori snickered and shook her head incredulously, "You're absolutely mental, woman."
"Whatever, Lor, just you wait and see." Emeli shrugged as the two girls arrived at the table of red and gold.
"Lori! Emeli!" A familiar voice squealed, making both of their heads turn to see Alice leaning over the table and frantically waving her arms in the air like a mad woman.
"Come sit with us." Marlene, who was seated next to Alice, grinned and waved them over.
Lori inwardly groaned as the whole Gryffindor table and some students from nearby tables peered over, eying the two snakes curiously. Her eyes narrowed, shooting a group of younger students bone chilling death glares. Emeli gazed over at her friend to see her scowling at a group of whispering fourth year girls and nudged her shoulder into her's catching her attention.
"Behave." Emeli scolded like a mother, only to make her freckled friend grumble curses under her breath.
Lily, who was sat across from Marlene and Alice, slid over, knocking over some brunet boy, making room for the two Slytherins. Lori grinned appreciatively, amused by the boy's annoyed expression.
Over the few days since their last encounter, the girls had been getting along well, much to Lori's surprise. She never cared to be friends with Gryffindors, purely for the reason of their views on Slytherins. As much as she tried to be nice to others, like Emeli, it simply never worked out. People irked her far too much. But, something about her new friends made the relationship come easy.
"Alice, here, was just going on and on about Frank Longbottom." Lily laughed, brushing back the thick red locks from her face.
"Who's that?" Lori raised her eyebrows questionably before helping herself to the few raspberries left in the Gryffindor bowl.
She ignored the stares and glares from neighboring students, unaffected by their loud whining. Her green and silver tie greatly clashed among the sea of red and gold, but neither of the girls couldn't care less. In fact, Lori was just waiting for a Gryffindor to approach her. As much as she fought it, she had a longing to mock a pathetic lion. She was a Slytherin after all, and she enjoyed the amusement of egging at someone.
"That boy over there." Marlene practically shouted and unsubtly pointed to a freckled brunet boy near the end of the Gryffindor table.
"Cute. Nice choice, Alice." Lori winked at the short haired girl who flushed a deep red at her words.
"What are you doing here, snakes?" A girlish voice sneered, making Lori's head snap over in the direction of the noise.
A dark haired fifth year Gryffindor sat there, and Lori devilishly smirked as she recognized the girl as Mary Macdonald. "Hey Meredith."
The green eyed girl's nose scrunched in annoyance before spitting back, "It's Mary—"
Lori loudly gasped, too dramatic to be genuine, "Is it now!?" Her expression dropped to a bored one as she began inspecting her manicured nails, "The thing is, I just don't care, so how about you fuck off."
The girl gasped, astounded by the Slytherin's harshness, while nearby students gaped in shock, some watching entertained by their interaction.
"What makes you think you can come to our table, and strut around like you own all of Hogwarts!" Mary fumed with a red angered face, and clenched fists, which made Lori lowly chuckle.
It seemed like Mary's problem ran much deeper then Slytherins sitting at their rival table, and was more personal.
I'd like to see this dumb git try to hit me, she thought.
"If you haven't noticed hun," she mocked with a condescending smirk, "I do own it."
Mary opened her mouth to shout back an assortment of insults when Marlene rolled her eyes at her housemate and interjected, "Just do as she said and 'fuck off'. You've lost Mary. Sit down before you embarrass yourself further."
Lori proudly beamed at the blonde Gryffindor, enjoying her firey attitude that matched hers perfectly. The two were very alike in many ways. The only difference was that Lori had zero care in the world, and being the amazing snake she was, she ran her mouth whenever she felt like it (which was often).
Marlene was more then happy to snap at the pale girl. Oh, Mary Macdonald, what a foul girl that was. Years ago, Mary had been part of the Gryffindor friend group. She was great, and they all loved her in her younger years. That was, until she hit puberty and was always bitching about unimportant stuff and loved to belittle those around her, especially her supposed friends. They always ignored her, figuring that it was a phase and in time she would get better.
However, they were all surely mistaken when the three of them walked into their dormitory to find Mary in a full on, heated snog with an all too familiar boy. His name was Landon Fletcher. He was a brunet muggleborn Ravenclaw boy who just happened to be Marlene's boyfriend at the time. The blonde had never been so enraged in her whole life. She was absolutely beyond the point of screaming when the two jumped apart with wide eyes, both appearing like dears caught in headlights. She just erupted in a fit of laughter—much like a maniac, and walked out. It was purely amusing that her "best friend", the girl who was suppose to stick with her through thick and thin, was caught practically dry humping her man.
"You heard the ladies—fuck off Macdonald!" A boyish voice jeered from behind the sitting girls.
Lori whipped around to see a smirking grey eyed boy. His long hair was messily laid at his shoulders, gryffindor tie askew, and his hands stuffed in his pockets. Her mahogany orbs narrowed in irritation at the sight of him.
"You too Black." She rolled her eyes, his gaze then snapping over to the three boys behind him. "Hey Remus, Peter," the freckled girl nodded towards the only marauders she liked, ignoring the presence of a smiling James. Remus shot her a crooked grin and Peter muttered a short reply as his cheeks flushed.
"Awe, c'mon freckles, no hi for me?" James pouted, jutting out his bottom lip, making Lori roll her eyes once more at the nickname.
"Don't speak to me."
"Keep rolling your eyes like that and they could stay like that, Lor." Remus teased, stepping forward and resting his hands on her slender shoulders.
"Good, then I won't have to see these twats everyday." She joked dryly, popping another raspberry in her mouth.
Emeli lowly chuckled. She wondered what the amount of the berries her friend consumed each day, because by the looks of it, it was probably more then a normal person has per year.
"Ouch, Lori," Sirius started, feigning a hurt look, "you wound me."
"Keep bothering me and I'll do more then wound your dreadful ass, you foul pile of dragon dung—" Lori insulted with a scowl, only to be cut off by Emeli.
"She didn't mean that," The blonde interjected, nervously laughing. The conversation was taking a turn, and she was almost positive it would end with Lori hexing the boy.
Remus looked down at the blonde next to his new friend curiously. She had naturally rosy cheeks that basked with innocence, clear blue eyes that reminded him of the ocean, and long golden locks. He recalled seeing her glued to Lori's side a few times, but never really acknowledged her. She was very pretty.
"We all know she meant it." Lily snickered, her green eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Oh, my darling Evans, looking beautiful as always." James flirted, his hazel eyes training from Lori to a familiar redhead.
The girl loudly groaned at the attention from the obnoxious boy, burying her face in her hands. "Sod off Potter."
"C'mon, Lilypad, first trip to Hogsmeade, you n' me—"
Lily roared in laughter, finding his millionth attempt to court her completely hilarious, "Absolutely not. I don't date arrogant toe rags."
Lori awkwardly whistled, her eyes snapping between James and the redhead in entertainment. "Marlene, pass the popcorn."
The blonde immediately abided by the freckled girl's words and leaned over to snatch the salty snack. Both began unattractively chomping on the cornels, leaning back and watching the interaction.
All of the Gryffindors quietly laughed at the girl's childish antics.
"Lily—please, just one date. I'll show you—" James started, his eyes wide in desperation as he begged the girl he'd been obsessed with since his first year.
"No! Leave me alone, Potter. I don't like you! I will never like you!" She shrieked, banging her hands on the table, her green eyes ablaze.
"Sheesh. Talk about harsh, how are you feeling about that, Potter." Marlene commented, bring her hand up to pretend to hold a microphone like a reporter, before holding it in front of James, waiting for him to respond.
James thickly swallowed, feeling a thick lump slide down his throat. His eyes softened as a strong feeling of hurt overcame him. A pang was felt in his heart every time he was rejected, but for some reason, this time it felt like a stab. He was beginning to get tired of being embarrassed and shot down.
He opened his mouth to reply when another voice interrupted, "Lorelei? What are you doing here?"
She tuned and much to her dismay, she saw Baron. Inwardly groaning, she imagined the conversation that was to become, and it definitely wasn't pretty.
"Hanging with my friends of course," she threw her arms over Marlene and Emeli's shoulder and pulled the closer with a cheesy smile. Both of the girls under her arm mirrored her smiles, making him narrow his eyes.
"Can't you do that later? People are staring." He motioned to the students surveying the whole ordeal with puzzled eyes.
"And? Let them stare. They always are anyways. Have you seen me?" She nonchalantly shrugged, which made Baron's anger spike for a quick moment.
"You don't belong here." He angrily responded, his tone catching his twin by surprise.
Baron's safe place from his critical family had always been his house and housemates, and now, his perfect sister was taking over that too. He'd always stayed calm and collected when speaking with his sister, but something about her uncaring tone set him off.
"Are we really going to do this, Baron? Now?" Lori coolly retorted and raised an eyebrow. Her aura screamed powerful and everyone around them was curious to see if Baron was a match for the snarky Slytherin.
"You're so immure. I can't believe mother and father are blinded by your facade." He spit, slowly approaching her.
James awkwardly cleared his throat, already recovered from Lily's harsh words, and stepped in the path towards Lori with crossed arms. "How about you discuss family issues at a better time? Rose was just enjoying breakfast with her friends. And believe it or not, she was fine before you came, so why don't you leave her alone?"
She but in, "Don't speak for me."
"I don't think this concerns you, Potter." Baron glowered at the taller boy.
He was familiar with the Marauders, but never got along with them. Their energies didn't match. Baron was sophisticated and calculating, while the Marauders were reckless and loud. His dislike on grew when he found they greatly reminded him of his sister.
"And who are you to say that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Whatever, Potter." Baron backed up, clearly intimidated by the muscular Quidditch player. He looked over at his twin, deep brown met brown in an intense stare, "I'll find you later."
"Yeah, you do that." Lori waved off the boy, deciding that he wasn't worth her attention anymore.
After the boy stalked away to sit with his friends, Lori turned to James with curious, but amused eyes. "Defending me? Careful Potter, it seems like I might be growing on you."
"Yeah when hell freezes over."
She then turned back around to her friends who stared at her in partial shock. Alice was the first to make noise as she snickered and leaned her chin on her hand.
"You're just pissing the whole lot off today, aren't you?"
"What can I say—I'm a pretty infuriating person."
————————————
It was the next morning when Lori Rose sprinted down the, uncaring as some Professors yelled at her to stop.
"Fucking hell! Move!" She boomed as she bulldozed a few first years in the middle of the hallway, uncaring who she bumped into.
Her eyes were wide as she sprinted down to Transfiguration, a class she was now late to. Not a little late, very late. Twenty five minutes late. She was laying in the common room on the couches with her friends and could've sworn she closed her eyes only for a moment, and she woke up two hours later. The dimwits didn't wake her up. They decided to skip their first class, Charms, just because they felt like it, so they stayed playing around in the common room. And, Lori being her, fell asleep after like twenty minutes, and they all thought it would be funny to leave her.
Assholes, she thought.
When seeing a familiar class, she dramatically stormed in, interrupting Professor McGonagall's speaking. The older women looked at the girl with a scowl, "Do you know what time it is, Ms, Rose?"
After her breathing calmed down, Lori shrugged and took her seat next to Emeli, "No idea, McMinnie."
The Marauders and Lori's friends snickered at the nickname she called their Professor, but their smiles dropped when McGonagall turned to give them a hard glare. "That is not appropriate to call a teacher, Ms. Rose!"
Lori sarcastically smiled and laid her chin on her resting hands, "Right! Sorry, GonGon."
McGonagall frowned down at the girl with an unimpressed glare. She let out a sigh in exasperation and rubbed her forehead in frustration, "Five points from Slytherin for your tardiness. Be glad I didn't take more."
The freckled girl rolled her eyes as she yanked out a textbook. She turned towards a giggling Emeli and mumbled to her, "What a saint."
She looked around the classroom and inwardly groaned when the Marauders were sitting in the desks next to the Slytherin friend's. Sirius looked over the same time Lori did. He shot her a cheesy grin, making her scrunch her nose in irritation. She stuck up her middle finger in his view with a cheeky smile, making his expression drop. Sirius pretended to weep, leaning on his friend in support. A few students look back puzzledly, wondering who was making the noise.
She looked away when McGonagall's talking paused and feigned an innocent look to the scowling professor. Her gaze looked around, pretending to look for the student who was interrupting class. She then noticed that Julian was sitting next to Marlene, making her smirk. The two were sitting rather close, unlike everyone else in the class. When locking eyes with the asian boy, she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, making him stifle a laugh and shake his head at her childishness.
It was at that random moment when she finally she realized why she was late in the first place. Her eyes narrowed in anger and she whipped around to see Corban with a fist in his mouth to stop him from laughing and a grinning Klay. She gritted her teeth and hissed, "Just wait until I get my hands on you gits. I swear on Salizar I will bloody rip you into—"
"Miss Rose!" McGonagall exclaimed, making Lori almost jump out of her skin, unaware that the older woman had been standing right in front of her desk. Her face was pulled into glower as she glared daggers down at the Slytherin girl, "This is the second time you've interrupted class in the last five minutes! Detention, tomorrow night!"
Lori wickedly grinned at the woman before retorting, "As long as I get to see my favorite Professor!"
James and Sirius both laughed, amused by her sarcastic attitude towards the head of their house. Their loud chuckles interrupted the tension between student and teacher, making all gazes snap to them. Remus kicked the back of James' chair in attempt to shut them both up.
The look on McGonagall's face was absolutely priceless with her annoyance turning into pure rage. Both Marauder's face turned white in fear for a second before she raised her voice, louder then she ever had before, "You two! Detention! TUESDAY!"
"With me?" Lori whined, only adding fuel to the fire.
"Yes. You babbling bumbling band of baboons will serve detention, each night for a week!"
"A week! Woah, woah, woah," Lori's eyes widened incredulously as she held her hands up in defense, "You said one night for me."
McGonagall's anger simmered and she calmly spoke in a chilling voice, "Well now I'm saying a week. Write it down. Maybe you'll be on time for that."
With that, she whipped around, her robes smacking against Lori's desk and almost whacking her in the face.
Lori's jaw dropped in shock as she looked over at the Marauders who mirrored her expression. A week? Professors only give that much detention if they've done something awful, like hex a student. She'd have to spend each night for a week with the most obnoxious and infuriating boys in her year.
What the fuck.