A/N: hi friends! so in one of the scenes, it includes an old enemy that I didn't have a name for before. I do now, so when you reach that part, you now have an explanation XD enjoy <3
After searching the corridor and finding Scabbers, Lana went to return Fang to Hagrid in his hut.
"Fang! Yer home!" the man cheered.
"Woof! Woof!" the dog barked happily.
"I'm happy teh see yeh too, Lana." Hagrid smiled.
"Thanks, Hagrid. Fang did an amazing job helping me find Scabbers." Lana smiled back.
"Yeh migh' jus' make a proper trackin' dog after all..." he told Fang, who woofed in response, "Tell,e everythin' that happened."
"Everything?"
"Yeh don' have teh tell me all o' yer secrets. We both know I'm not good at keepin' em." Hagrid laughed, "I jus' want teh know how Fang did, an' make sure yer doin' alright. It mus' be hard balancin' yer O.W.L.s an' detention an' worryin' abou' yer brother an' Beatrice..."
"That's kind of you, Hagrid. I'm managing." the girl chuckled.
"Good teh hear. Speakin' o' Scabbers, I have some questions abou' him too..." he said, looking at Scabbers.
Lana proceeded to explain everything to Hagrid, about how many places they searched, and where they finally found the rat.
"So, Scabbers somehow managed teh get himself into the Cursed Corridor. I know I'm not the best at keepin' secrets, but did yeh find anythin' else?" Hagrid asked.
Lana took out the random piece of parchment, and showed him.
"Scabbers was standing on top of this old bit of paper when we found him..." she said.
"That's strange. Maybe Percy uses the same type o' paper to line his cage." Hagrid wondered, "I suppose yeh could ask Dumbledore if yeh want teh make sure there's nothin' special abou' it..."
"I'd better return Scabbers to Percy. Thanks for your help, Fang!" Lana smiled, petting the dog, "And thanks for everything, Hagrid. I'll see you soon." she smiled to Hagrid.
"Take care, Lana. I know I worry too much, but I have a feelin' somethin' bad is abou' teh happen..." he worried.
Lana waved goodbye to him and Fang and left the hut to go and find Percy.
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Percy was in the library with Bill, Charlie and Ben. Lana walked over to them and sat next to Ben, placing Scabbers on the table.
"Thank you, Lana. It's good to have Scabbers back where he belongs..." Percy said.
"Speak for yourself." Bill remarked, rolling his eyes, causing Lana to laugh.
"Have you ever noticed anything strange about Scabbers?" she asked, "I mean, besides the fact that he's always running off..."
"No. Why do you ask?" Percy wondered.
"Well, you know Bill and Charlie aren't particularly fond of him..."
"I mean, I don't hate him..." Charlie said.
"I hate him." Bill said bluntly.
"Do you have a bad feeling about him, Ben?" Lana asked him, seeing as he was the most alert when danger was around.
"I have a bad feeling about everything. I wouldn't call it a bad feeling, but I do feel like there's something off about Scabbers..." Ben told her thoughtfully.
"I won't stand for this anti-rat prejudice!" Percy huffed, then Pince walked over and gave him a harsh shushing.
"Thanks a lot, Lana. I think I'm the only person in Hogwarts who hadn't been shushed by Madam Pince." he scoffed.
"Hey, it's not her fault you've got a manky rat that no one likes." Charlie said, defending Lana.
"I'm sure it's nothing. If you can tell me more about Scabbers, I can help defend him..." Lana told the boy, trying to ease the tension.
"...fine. Scabbers has nothing to hide."
After learning a bit more about the rat, Lana had some thinking to do. Percy was still annoyed, however.
"You see? People can have all of the bad feelings they want, but a Scabbers hasn't done anything wrong." he said crossly.
"It's strange that Ben mentioned finding him in the Artefact Room once..." Lana added.
"What's so strange about finding a rat in a dark room that smells faintly of cheese?" Percy frowned.
"For one, how did he open the door?" Lana asked, also noticing Madam Pince lurking by a bookshelf behind Percy.
"Someone probably left it open!" Percy said, raising his voice.
Pince looked fed up as she walked over to the youngest Weasley.
"SHHHHH!" she hissed, before walking away again.
"Shushed twice in one day. Mum will be terribly disappointed..." Percy sighed sadly, "I might not be able to change your mind about Scabbers, but just promise you'll return him to me if he ever goes missing again."
"Sorry, but if I catch him again, I'm taking him to Dumbledore. He'll be able to find out if there's something off about him..." Lana wondered.
"Feel free. I'll be happy to tell him about the time I caught you breaking the rules..." Percy sassed, Lana rolling her eyes.
"I need to do some research on some bit of parchment I found. I'll see all of you later..." she said.
"Yes. I'll be going too...for reasons..." Ben added abruptly, hurrying out of the library.
Lana followed Ben out, who asked her to meet him in the Great Hall an hour later, so she agreed.
She walked away and headed to the courtyard, and she heard a commotion, so she decided to investigate. There was a crowd of students all gathered in a circle around something...
Lana got closer to see what was going on, but she couldn't because there were so many taller people in front of her, blocking her view.
"Hey, do you know what's going on?" she asked a Gryffindor boy next to her.
"Yeah - apparently there's two guys having a punch-up!" he told her excitedly.
Lana could now hear several fists coming into contact with faces, and grunts of pain coming from the point of interest.
She tried to push her way through the crowds, but a few people pushed her back to where she was. Lana then heard an all too familiar voice yell from inside the circle.
She pushed through the crowds a second time, not caring when she shoved everyone out of her way, and sure enough, Barnaby was there, tackling another Slytherin boy, who she recognised to be the Slytherin beater, Josh Reynolds, that took her out in that match.
Josh had cuts and bruises on his face and knuckles from where Barnaby had been beating him up. He had a huge black eye, scratches on his arms and face, and a crooked nose with blood dripping from it, presumably broken again.
Barnaby had fewer injuries, but his face still looked pretty damaged. He had a few small but deep cuts on his face, a small black eye, and some bruises scattered along his arms and face.
"Barnaby!" she cried, and his eyes instantly flicked over to meet her own ones, that were filled with distress.
When Barnaby wasn't looking, Josh aggressively swung his fist straight into the side of Barnaby's face, making him lose his balance slightly, but he retaliated and hit him twice as hard, blood flying out of his nose.
"Stop it!" she cried desperately, moving closer to the scene.
"Riviera! Lee! Reynolds!" Snape shouted, his tone more sour than usual.
The boys stopped fighting immediately and looked at Snape. Lana could feel her heart racing with worry as she looked over at the man.
"Follow me. Now." he sneered.
Lana huffed and followed the boys behind Snape, sulking as they did so. She took Barnaby's hand in her own, careful not to hurt him from where he'd been punching Josh so hard. He squeezed it, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.
He looked at her with shame filled in his eyes, and she gave him a sympathetic smile.
"What happened?" she whispered.
"Silence!" Snape hissed at her,
"I'll tell you later...". Barnaby mumbled.
Snape took them to Dumbledore's office, who was sitting at his desk peacefully, talking to Fawkes and scribbling down some notes.
"Headmaster." Snape said, stopping in front of his desk.
"Ah, Professor Snape. What can I do for you?" the old man asked kindly.
"These three students have been fighting in the courtyard, and causing a commotion." Snape told him bitterly.
"I can see that Mr Lee and Mr Reynolds have Ben fighting, but Miss Riviera is without any injuries." Dumbledore stated, examining the three, "Professor Snape, you are free to go back to your potions classroom, I can handle it from here."
Snape nodded and left the room, leaving Barnaby, Lana, and Josh standing before Dumbledore.
"So, would anyone care to tell me what happened?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow.
Barnaby and Josh begun talking at the same time, eventually yelling over each other, but it wasn't any use, it was just a cluster of noise.
"Please!" Dumbledore interjected, "Miss Riviera, what is your involvement in this situation?"
"Well, I was walking across the courtyard, when I saw a huge crowd and heard shouting. I walked over to see what was going on, then I heard Barnaby's voice come from in the crowd, and then I saw him fighting with Josh..." Lana explained.
"So you are merely a witness?"
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you, Lana." Dumbledore smiled, "Now, Mr Reynolds. What's your side of the story?"
"I was just minding my own business, when I saw Lee standing there looking like the idiot he is, so I went up to talk to him." Josh started, earning an angry glare from Barnaby, "All I did was mention Riviera and he snapped, and started beating me up."
"I see. Mr Lee, would you care to add to any of that?"
"I was talking to Liz about bowtruckles in the courtyard, and after she left, Reynolds came up to me and started being a dick. He kept talking about Lana and how he hurt her in that quidditch match, and how good he felt about it, so I threatened him again." Barnaby started.
"You threatened him?" Dumbledore asked, raising a brow.
"Yeah, but I didn't start beating him up! That was a lie!" Barnaby protested.
"Then who started the fight?"
"He did!" Josh said angrily, referring to Barnaby.
"Merlin's beard, stop lying!" Barnaby groaned, "You punched me first, Reynolds." he added, frowning at the boy.
"What?" Lana asked, "Why? What did you do?"
"Nothing! He kept getting in my face and I kept calm until he punched me, and-"
"I was just trying to give you a taste of your own medicine! You punched me way harder that time!" Josh interrupted.
"So, from my understanding, Mr Reynolds was making unnecessary comments and provokes about Miss Riviera and yourself, which tipped you over the edge, resulting in a fight?" Dumbledore clarified.
"Yes, sir." Barnaby said sternly.
"I'm afraid you'll both be serving detention in the kitchens with Pitts tonight as your punishment. Disputes can be solved without using violence. I do hope you remember that in future, gentlemen. Off you go." Dumbledore dismissed.
"Thank you, Professor." Lana smiled at the man.
"Keep an eye on Mr Lee in future, Lana." Dumbledore chuckled, before she left the room, catching up with the boys.
"You guys are lucky you only got detention..." Lana said.
"Shut up, Riviera." Josh scoffed.
"Hey, leave her alone, Reynolds." Barnaby frowned, pulling Lana close to him by her waist.
"You've gone soft ever since you started dating her, Lee." Josh said, rolling his eyes, "You would've been better off staying with Snyde and Murk." he finished, walking away from them.
"Are you ok?" Lana asked Barnaby, leaning her head on his arm.
"Yeah, I guess so..." he mumbled.
"Let's get you to the Hospital Wing and sort you out." she smiled, and they made their way to Madam Pomfrey.
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"Mr Lee! Look at you! Over here, now!" Pomfrey fussed, pulling Barnaby over to a bed and sitting him down on the edge of it, "Mr Reynolds over there actually has some similar injuries...how peculiar."
Lana looked over at Josh sat on one of the beds and glared at him. He saw her and shot her a wink, causing her to roll her eyes and turn her attention to Barnaby and Pomfrey.
Just then, a small first year on one of the beds threw up all over the sheets, cringing at the sight and holding their stomach.
"Oh, dear! Miss Riviera - would you be able to patch up Mr Lee while I tend to this poor first year?" Pomfrey asked Lana.
"Of course." the girl smiled, pulling up a chair in front of Barnaby.
She took a cloth and ran it under warm water at the sink, before ringing it out and walking back to Barnaby.
"I'm sorry..." he sighed as Lana carefully wiped the cuts on his face.
"Why, hun?" she asked, looking into his eyes.
"If I didn't punch him back, none of this would've happened..." he replied, eyes full of shame.
"Barny, none of this is your fault. Josh was being so bad to you, and you sorted him out! I know you can't help yourself when it comes to beating guys up, but as long as you don't start the fights, it's not all bad." Lana chuckled, kissing his lips sweetly.
"Thank you." he smiled sadly.
"I don't like seeing you like this though - your eye is terrible..." she mumbled, biting her lip at the sight of his facial wounds.
"It's fine. It doesn't actually hurt that bad..." the boy shrugged.
"Thats 'cause you're my big, tough guy." Lana smiled, continuing to heal his wounds with Episkey, and sticking a plaster or two over his deeper cuts.
"You're the best. Thank you, baby." Barnaby smiled, pulling Lana into a hug once he stood up.
"I just don't want you to get hurt..." she mumbled into his chest, pulling him closer to her.
"You don't have to worry about me, Lana. I'll end up with a few cuts and bruises, but that's fine." he chuckled, "Nothing's gonna take me out that easily." he told her, kissing her head.
Lana smiled to herself and hugged him tighter, feeling her heart fill up with so much love for this boy.
"I love you." she said, a small tear slipping out of her eye.
"I love you too..."
hi friends :)
how are we all? I hope you're all doing alright and treating everyone with love and respect <3
I hope you liked this one, I started writing it yesterday and speedily finished it just now so sorry if it's messy or anything haha
anyhoo, thank you for reading, and I'll see you in the next one!
byeee <3