the hair is a no-go
FOUR YEARS HAD passed since Isla had first set a foot at Hogwarts, and she was now well adjusted and rather happy about her parents decision, although the girl had changed quite completely as the years went by.
Her entire upbringing had been questioned and broken down times and times again since that morning in the Hogwarts Express. Every single day it seemed to prove that anything and everything her parents had ever taught her was completely wrong.
But the then nervous and fearful little girl had grown up to be an anxious and troubled teenager, as it is. She was still shy and reserved, and still couldn't bear it when two kinds of food touched in her plate, but now she had bigger things to worry about. For instance, finding James Potter and Sirius Black on this early Sunday morning.
Through the course of her years at Hogwarts, Isla had done many mistakes but there were only two things that she deeply and fully regretted.
The first one was to ever become friends with the marauders.
The second was to have once innocently told them that she liked having long hair because she could hide her face behind it.
And as the young girl walked furiously through the quiet and empty corridors of the castle, she couldn't help but hate herself for ever confiding in them. Her long black hair was now barely brushing her shoulders, and worst of all, a small and uneven bang hid her forehead, short enough to reveal her frowned eyebrows.
Isla was fuming, not only the boys had massacred her luscious hair, but they hadn't even done it right. Plus, she didn't even know how they had managed to slip into her dorm, not even the common room for that matter, since she had never, and never would, gave them the password to the Slytherin's common room.
Because yes, to her family's delight, Isla had been sorted into the noble house of her ancestors. She didn't know what to feel about that at the time, because if someone had told her that she would be sorted into Slytherin three hours before it happened, she would have probably been glad, but then she had met James, Peter and Remus. And at that moment she wasn't sure how to feel, because they had just told her that everything she believed in was a big fake lie. Now, Isla was starting to separate being a Slytherin from being a blood supremacist, and that even if she was a Slytherin, it didn't mean she was like her family.
But the worst had been for Sirius, whose reaction had been similar to hers but on the opposite side. The howler that the young boy had received the next day at the Gryffindor table had traumatized a good part of the Great Hall. Sirius was shattered, because even with his new friends and all the things he had learnt about the real world during the journey to Hogwarts, the young boy was still clenching to his childhood dream. He had gone over it pretty quickly, choosing that being with his friends was better than his family's ancestors.
Isla had been scared that now Sirius and his friends wouldn't talk to her, and Sirius had been scared that she wouldn't talk to them. It lasted three days of awkward glances and fast pace trying to avoid each other, before James had invited Isla over to Gryffindor's table to eat breakfast, bonding a strong friendship between the five kids.
"Miss Archambaud!" a quiet voice called her, making her jump. It was Nearly Headless Nick, a nice ghost who resided in the Gryffindor tower.
"Hi Nick" she greeted him without slowing her pace.
"May I wonder what has you in such fuss?" he asked her as he floated beside her.
"Those bloody idiots, I'm going to murder them that's what has me in such fuss Nick!" the teenager was fuming and smiled wickedly when she spotted the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Are Potter and Black making pathetic pranks again?" the ghost kindly inquired.
"Look at my fucking hair Nick, just, look at it. huh?" she had stopped walking abruptly to face him and the ghost looked at her.
"Well, I think it suits quite well." he cordially replied as she sighed, walking toward the portrait again.
"It's ghastly that's what it is, bloody horrible, for hell's sake when I find them..." she didn't finish but a string of muttered french curses followed as she finally reached the painting.
The lady was sleeping and Isla didn't think twice before waking her up, wich the portrait was very unhappy about. She looked harshly at the fuming girl before asking for the password.
"Devil's tail" the portrait moved and Isla slipped inside the common room, angrily walking to the boys's dorm.
She climbed the stairs three steps at a time and when she reached the second floor she slung the first door open, barging in the quiet and sleepy room.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!" she screamed as she reached for James's bed and started hitting him with his own pillow. "I CAN'T. BELIEVE. YOU'VE. DONE THAT." she turned around furiously as Sirius's head peaked from behind his curtain, wondering who the hell dared scream at this ungodly hour.
"AND YOU!" Isla strolled over to her cousin, who, upon realizing who was the owner of the shouts, had retracted back in his bed, hiding. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU YOU GIT!" she hit him over his blanket as much as she could.
Peter had been so startled by the sudden screaming that he had quite literally jumped from his bed, falling like a rock on the floor, completely ringed.
He tried to hold the first thing he could find wich were Remus's bed curtains, sending the metal bar that held the drapes right on the sleepy shape of the boy, waking him up brutally.
"Bloody hell woman cut it with the screaming" the sandy haired boy grunted trying to disentangle himself from the drapes.
Isla turned to him even more angry and James and Sirius looked as if Remus had just asked death to come and get him.
"THEY DESTROYED MY BLOODY HAIR" she yelled at Lupin as he rubbed his forehead, violently marked by the metallic bar, he winced a little, making the young girl's anger quiver.
"Don't take it on Moony!" Jame exclaimed, regretting it instantly as he saw her turn back around, her eyes looked as if they were on fire.
"Yeah, he didn't do anything, ask Laurie, she knows, he was with her last night." Sirius winked at Remus and the boy blushed slightly before throwing his pillow at the black haired boy, who received it full face.
"We were only studying" he coolly replied before taking a look at his hand wich had blood on it from his forehead. "Shit, I might have to go to the infirmary, thanks Pete." the boy groaned.
"It wasn't me it's her fault!" Peter cried out pointing at Isla and backing off as she pointed her wand at him.
"Don't worry cous, it'll grow back!" Sirius laughed at her but she only glared at him, strolling to Remus and examining his wound, it was tiny, nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix in a minute.
"You better go to the infirmary, it's not big but we never know. And it's better to have you all patched up." her tone wasn't sweet but it definitely was less angry than before. "I'll go with you," she then turned around to the rest of the boys who were mumbling about Remus's privileges and how it was all unfair, "Now all of you, put some pants on, and fix this bloody bed, and if I hear one thing I will hex you, understood?" all of them nodded sheepishly and she stormed out of the room.
"Dang it Pads, I told you she wouldn't think it was funny" James pouted at his best friend.
"Well I didn't say she was going to be happy about it either Prongsie" Sirius replied, putting his pants lazily. "As much as I wanted to sleep this morning, it was worth it."
"Shut it Sirius, I would have LOVED to get some sleep for once in a fucking month." Remus said, irritated, as he put his plaid pants and a sweater on. "And now I have to go to the infirmary, like if I didn't spent enough fucking time in there." the boy grumbled before leaving the room.
Isla and Remus walked to the infirmary together, no one was awake, and Remus thought it was a miracle that the girl's shouts hadn't awaken the entirety of Scotland.
"Sorry about your hair" he sighed as the walked around the corner.
"Sorry about your sleep. And injury obviously." she rubbed her eyes, hadn't gotten much sleep either. "I still can't believe they'd do that, especially when I told them I was uncomfortable with this." she sighed again.
"I actually think it's nice" the boy smiled at her as she looked at him as if he was crazy. "I mean sure, it's uneven, and you might need to rearrange it in some places, but it looks good on you." now he was starting to feel a bit embarrassed.
"Well um. Thanks. I guess." she said a bit hesitantly, it felt weird that out of all people, Remus was the one to compliment her, wich was a very uncommon occurrence coming from him.
"No but I mean, we can... we can actually see your face now. I don't know, I like it." he rambled a little as his neck started to redden "And it's nothing Lily can't fix anyway." he shot her a reassuring smile trying to straighten himself.
"I'll ask her when we get back, there's no way anyone can see me looking like this." she shook her head as she opened the wooden door to the infirmary.
They were out in five minutes, and started to head back to the Gryffindor's common room, conversing a little.
Isla and Remus weren't the bestest friends there was; sure, they got along fine, and had few things in common, but they were both very reserved and introvert people, and would spend most of their time together teasing and being mean to each other, just for fun.
Isla had found out about his furry little problem, as the boys liked to call it, in first year. Upon discovering the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, she had proceeded to read every manual there was, and reading about werewolves characteristics, the little girl had figured out pretty quickly where Remus was every month.
He had panicked a little, because they weren't that close and even his best friends had no idea of his condition, but the dark haired girl had explained to him that she knew he was a good person, and his illness did not define him. She would visit him sometimes at the infirmary, when she felt like being kind, and it was always very nice. Those moments however, were never discussed by either of the kids, even when the boys had found out, she still came around every few moons when she knew the marauders wouldn't be at his bed, but less than before.
Back in the common room, the Marauders were nowhere to be seen, wich relieved the young girl because she didn't have the energy to face their shenanigans for now.
"I'm going to go to Lily, see if she can fix this" she pointed at her bangs and Remus nodded.
Once again, Isla barged through the door, a bit less brutally this time, and entered the room.
Lily and Mary were reading lazily in their bed and gasped in surprise when they heard her come in. Marlene just started laughing like crazy as she saw Isla's face and hair, waking up Alice who threw her pillow at her.
"Lily please I need your help" she sounded desperate and Lily shook her head a little.
"Good morning to you too Isla, so nice to see you on this fine morning." she said as she set her book aside
"Lily I'm sorry but please, just. Just look." she signaled her bangs. "Is there anything and I mean anything, that you can do?" Isla whined and the redhead sighed and got up to inspect the black strands.
"I mean the only thing I can do is even it. As in cutting it right." Lily sighed again.
"Can you do it?" Isla sounded really desperate.
"I mean yeah I just need scissors." the girl went to her nightstand to find the latter, while Isla dropped herself in Marlene's bed.
"I don't need to ask who did this huh?" the girl asked giggling at her friend's dispair. "Unless you did it yourself?"
Isla shook her head and rubbed her hands on her face, as Lily asked her to stand up. And so she did, and the girl started cutting softly. From this close, Isla could study Lily's face perfectly, her small freckles wich extended on her entire face, the watery green of her eyes and the paleness of her skin.
"They're such idiots" the redhead sighed, and Isla came back to reality.
"Yeah I really thought I was going to kill them-"
"Don't move"
"Sorry" Isla focused herself again and started telling them about the tumultuous morning she had had.
Once Lily was finished, Isla turned to the closest mirror. She still hated it, but at least now it looked clean and neat.
The four girls started getting ready as they talked about how Isla could get revenge, coming to a decision very quickly.
Once they were all ready, the little group got downstairs to the common room, where Remus was sitting in a sofa, reading.
"Rem we're going to breakfast want to come?" Marlene asked him and he nodded, closing his book.
At the same moment, Peter came running and, panting, he joined along in direction of the Great Hall. They all sat at the Gryffindor's table and started getting breakfast,
Isla scanned the table and found the plate of broccoli, wich she was probably the only one to eat. She buttered two toasts and put three spoons of scrambled eggs in her plate and two spoons of broccoli, distinguishly separated.
The girl ate silently as she thought about how to put her plan in motion, it wasn't going to be that hard, James had Quidditch practice that afternoon and Sirius was going to tag along, leaving the coast completely clear for her to execute her plan.
The girl was deep into her thoughts when she spotted a blond girl in the other side of the room, and she waved at her as she made her way to the small group.
"Hey Julbob, what's up with the new haircut." the blond sat next to Isla who glared at her.
"I told you three thousand times not to call me that Sash, and who do you think did it?" she rolled her eyes and continued to eat as the other girl laughed. "Lily fixed it pretty well, you should have seen it earlier."
"Well, you look good, we can see your pretty eyes now." Sasha shrugged biting into her toast.
"That's what Rem said." she pointed at the latter who blushed a little trying to swallow his bite.
"I was just trying to withdraw your angry wrath from me." he shrugged and she threw a little spoon at him, wich he dodged easily, sniggering .
"I hate you all." the girl shook her head taking another bite.
"So Remmy, I saw you at the library with Laurie Howling last night, I can't believe you finally picked up on her flirting" Sasha teased the boy wiggling her left eyebrow.
"What in the bloody hell are you talking about?" the boy looked at her confused.
"Oh my Salazar don't tell me you didn't notice" the blond was clearly finding the entire situation hilarious.
"Moony, the girl is practically throwing herself at you." Isla looked at him, her fork halfway between her plate and her mouth. "Been for at least nine month now." her left eyebrow lifted upward Remus stared at her in disbelief.
"Guys she just asked me to help her study her Arithmancy essay, we got paired up together last week so it just seemed like the right thing to do." the boy was a bit puzzled by the information the two Slytherin girls had just told him.
"Remus. She obviously, purposely sat next to you. And why did you accept to help her anyway, you never help us with our essays!" Isla exclaimed.
"Remmy-poo has the hots for Howling, that's why he helped her, we're not worth the same as her Julbob." Sasha chuckled as both her friends glared at her.
"I don't help you guys because then you'll never be able to do it yourself, it's for your own good." he looked back to his toasts taking a large bite and avoiding the look of the girls.
"But making Howling fail her entire learning process is fine." she lifted an eyebrow again.
"Well she's really fucking stupid, I had to help her since we're paired up together, I don't want her ruining my grade. Plus, it's not like if you guys had never read or used my notes before." he paused a little as the girls shrugged. "I don't like her though, she was really annoying to be honest."
"You find everyone annoying Remus." Marlene sighed, she had eavesdropped on the conversation.
"That's not even-" the boy started to reply obfuscated, before stopping as he thought for a second. "It's not my fault they're all stupid."
"You could make an effort though, you could use getting loose a little." Sasha told him distractedly as she reached for the bottle of Pumpkin Juice. "And she's been swooning over you since the year started."
"Shut up Dalvan." Remus looked at her as she chuckled. "I don't need to 'get loose', especially not with someone like her" he shrugged and returned to his paper, trying to end the conversation and hide the light blush on his face.
"What does it say?" Isla suddenly asked, making Remus look at her confused. "The paper, dumbass"
"Oh, hem..." his eyes jolted quickly over the pages, "Nothing very interesting, the Wizengamot was under investigation and they threw some members out... uh let's see.... A young girl was attacked in London... Some dude got arrested trying to force into Gringotts... and that's kind of it" he looked back at her as she nodded.
Isla fell into silence again, listening to the girls next to her's discussion. Outside the weather was nice, soft rays of sunshine peaking through the windows. Maybe she'd go have a little walk near the lake before starting to study.
Interrupting her daydream, Sirius and James sat next to the group sighing.
"I'm starving, Moony give me your toast" Sirius asked as he reached for his friend's plate, receiving a violent tap on his hand and a glare from the sandy haired boy.
"Ouch! 'right fine" Sirius grumbled shaking his hand and grabbing the pumpkin juice bottle. "So James, since we got up earlier than expected I thought we could go out on the pitch after breakfast, it'll probably be empty."
"Have you guys even started studying for you exams?" Mary asked from across the table.
"Not really," James shrugged, "but we still have at least six weeks to do it."
"Four actually." Marlene joined the conversation, peaking her head from beside Remus.
"We have O.W.L's next year, have you guys ever considered like, I don't know, taking your school work seriously?" Remus said disapprovingly as he set his paper aside.
"I do everything Siriusly Remmy-poo." the black haired boy next to him winked as he flicked his hair above his shoulder.
They all rolled their eyes, the Sirius's puns had all been used thousands of times, and were not even slightly funny anymore. Yet, that did not keep the obnoxious duo from making them any chance they could.
"C'mon Moony, it's so beautiful outside!" James whined and Remus shook his head in annoyance. "It's not like you could prevent me from going flying anyway."
"Do as you please, just know that I won't help either of you studying, and don't fucking come to me balling your eyes out when you fail." the boy got up, setting his empty glass on his plate.
James and Sirius exchanged a terrified glance, and Remus walked away. Isla set her plate aside having finished breakfast as well, and she turned to Sasha.
"Would you be interested in studying with me?" she asked, not very convincing.
"Well I would hope you sound more motivated when you ask me on a date like that Jules" the blond made a dramatically shocked expression as Isla rolled her eyes.
Back in their first year, Sirius had been utterly annoyed by the fact that he couldn't find a nickname for 'Isla', the name was just too short and the letters weren't combinable in any other way, and her last name was too long and complicated, so, he and Marlene had chose to do it with Isla's second middle name; Juliette. Most of the times, her friends would call her Jules, Julesies, Julbob... and the list was long. She had been annoyed by it at first, how dare them disrespect her name? But had ended up accepting that no one would ever give up on those nicknames.
"I'll take that as a yes, fancy a cigarette before we start?" Isla stood up from her bench, promptly followed by Sasha.
"Hell yes."
The two Slytherin's left the Great Hall and found their way outside. Isla pulled out an old and scrambled cigarette pack from her pocket, and placed one between her lips. With a twist of her hand, a small flame appeared from her palm, lighting up the white stick.
"I still can't get over the way you do that" Sasha shook her head, lighting her cigarette with a lighter.
The two girls sat in silence, filling their lungs with smoke. The grounds were still empty, although a few students were starting to come out of the castle. Isla watched as a group of third years walked in front of them, giggling. She felt weird, as if it was the end of something. Next year she would be taking her first more important exam of her life, and it would officially mark that she was closer from her last year at Hogwarts than her first year. She felt a small tug in her stomach, she still had no idea about the future or what the hell she would do.
As her head got a little dizzy from the nicotine rush, Isla dropped the cigarette bud and stepped on it. With a flick of her wand she made it disappear and Sasha did the same.
"We're going to the library." Isla announced as the two girls started going back to their common room.
"Why?" Sasha replied a little confused, the Slytherin common room was a very good place to study, in fact it was rare that they would study anywhere else.
"Because I need Remus for something, and he'll probably be in the library."
"Uuuuh" the blond started wiggling her eyebrows, "What do you need Remus for?" she had a flirtatious tone.
"Revenge." Isla tapped a stone in the wall, "Purity" she said clearly.
In front of them the wall turned, leaving an entrance to the dark common room. A few students were already using the sofas and the two girls got up the stairs to their dorm.
After taking their study supplies, they made their way to the library where they found Remus fully focused in his Transfiguration's manual. Isla sat in front of him as Sasha put her stuff down and started wandering around the shelves.
When Remus acknowledged her presence he felt a sudden nervousness but never let his face betray him.
"What do you want?" he asked turning back to his manual.
"I need you to help me o get back at James and Sirius." she started and he sighed, once again he got involved in a fight that wasn't his. "Okay I know you don't want to help me, it's not your fight, blabla, but; I only need you to tell me what shampoo are theirs so my prank doesn't risk backfiring to you or Peter." she wiggled her eyebrows in a 'deal?' kind of way.
Remus sighed and nodded softly.
"May I ask what you're going to do to them?"
"Hehe, you'll see soon enough Rem's." she smirked and he shook his head in amusement.
The three teenagers were soon joined by Lily and Alice, and they all silently worked until noon, when James, Sirius, Peter and Marlene entered the quiet library loudly, earning a glare and a scold from Madam Pince.
"Well well, what's up nerds?" Sirius smirked as he bent down in the table.
"Have you all been boringly bored without our fabulous presence?" James continued and Lily sighed loudly, as her and Alice promptly left. James whined and dropped himself in the redhead's abandoned seat.
"We had an amazing time!" Marlene said excitedly, "It was so beautiful outside, you guys should've come!"
"Well we'll see how you enjoy the weather when you'll have to retake your exams this summer." Remus glared at his three friends.
"Oh come on Moony don't be such a hard ass." Sirius whined, "Anyways, are you guys ready to go to lunch?"
"Yeah, I'm done, I'll see you downstairs Jules." Sasha took her things and shot Marlene a grin before exiting the library together.
"I just have to finish this and go by the dorm we'll join you later guys" Remus told his friends who quickly followed the two girls. He then turned to Isla who was gathering her stuff. "This is the perfect time to do your thing, come on." he smirked a little and Isla grinned back.
The two of them joined their friends with playful smiles, acting as if nothing was going on.
The next morning, when she saw James and Sirius arrive late in Potion's class, not only her but the entire class broke down in laughter, staring at their pink hair.
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published: november 14th 2020
word count: 4393
here's the first chapter, i hope you enjoyed it! it's a bit short but :D. Also I'm really bad at ending chapters so please don't judge me.
- love, cocacolette