Bathroom Encounters
“That idiot!” Hermione fumed as she stormed into the hospital wing.
“What happened?” Neville furrowed his brow in concern.
“Harry is so stupid sometimes! He could have gotten in trouble but no!” Hermione ranted, pacing a bit a frown firmly on her face. I shake my head when Neville goes to interrupt, letting her get her thoughts back together.
“Sure, Draco shouldn’t have flown off to hide your rememberall on the roof, but Harry shouldn’t have flown after him! Now Professor McGonagall is going to expel him!” When Hermione gripped her hair and tugged, I decided it was time to stop her rant.
“Mia, Mamaidh wouldn’t expel someone for trying to stop a bully. She’s probably just talking to him about getting a teacher next time, maybe detention.” I reassure her. She deflates a bit with a sigh and plops down on the seat next to me. Madam Pomfrey doesn’t take much longer to declare Neville all healed and sends us off.
I sit with Minnie for dinner that evening. I watch Draco and his goons approach Harry and Ron, Hermione walking up to them after the Slytherins leave. Ron looks peeved and Harry looks worried and awkward at the interaction between his two classmates. Hermione’s face was flushed when she returned to her seat. I don’t see her or Neville again until the next day during their break when they tell me about their night.
“What is Fluffy doing in the hallway?” I tilt my head in confusion. Hagrid kept his Cerberus in the Forbidden Forest so he wouldn’t bother the students.
“Fluffy!?” Neville’s face pinched up in a mix of discomfort and humor.
“You know about Fluffy?” Hermione pinned me with an intense glare.
“Yes? I’ve been helping Hagrid with his creatures for a few years now,” I shrug. By unanimous decision, we drop the topic and talk about how their classes had been going so far. Later that day I was in My room when a knocking cut the silence. Anastacia was sitting on the window sill with a letter attached to her leg.
“You’re back! How long did it take for Dora to stop laughing?” I smile fondly at the thought of my adopted sister. The great grey hooted twice and I shake my head with a small smile.
“Two days? Why am I not surprised?” I shake my head fondly and remove the letter from her leg in exchange for a few treats. I break the seal on the letter and sigh at the words written on the page.
Evangeline Circe Dane!
You do not get to just say that two of your soulmates attend Hogwarts and leave it at that! Do you know who they are? You got to give me the details here Pip!
Ignore Dora. She has taken her role as your big sister very seriously. How have the classes been? I bet Fred and George have already been in detention a few times this year. Has Cedric asked out his soulmate yet? You know how their letters are, not very detailed unless it comes to quidditch.
What do you mean just ignore me?! I need to know these things so I can go threaten them to never hurt her. Have you told them that you are at Hogwarts as well? If they hurt you do not hesitate to tell me and I will be there in a heartbeat to cut the school population down by two.
Dora, you cannot just go to Hogwarts and Avada two students. Eva, I think you should tell them that you are there. Yes, it might give away who you are but I think you will be better off with them knowing now and being there for you then if something happens later and they find out on accident.
On this matter my soulmate is correct. I will always be glad that he told me who he was my first year and convinced me to meet up with him. Your life will be better if you let them in Eva. Take a chance and you might be pleasantly surprised. Now tell us about the others! Bill already asked the important questions so I want to know the gossip, have Fred and George figured out their soulmates yet? What about the Dungeon Bat? How has he been without me there to keep him on his toes?
We eagerly await your next letter and wish you the best!
Love you Pip,
Bill & Tonks
“Of course, they would tell me to tell them,” I sigh in exasperation. They were the most in-love soulmates I have ever met. I sit on my bed and rub my chest as I think of what to do. I don’t want to tell them yet, I’ll let them know I got into Hogwarts next year. I stand to put the letter on my desk to reply to it later, hissing at a flare of pain through the bond.
“Flower I swear,” I pull up my sleeve to check-in.
What did you do this time Flower? I write, rubbing at the persisting pain.
Non, for once it wasn’t me. Flower denied and I grow concerned. I wait a few minutes for the other two to respond, breathing a sigh of relief when the pain eventually fades away.
What do you think happened? I eventually write in an attempt to stop my spiraling thoughts.
I don’t know, they usually don’t take this long to answer Flower responded quickly.
Do you know about Hogwarts? I question Flower in an attempt to keep my mind busy.
Oui, I know about Hogwarts. I go to the equivalent in France, I grin as a thought enters my mind.
You play Quidditch don’t you? Is that why you are always getting hurt? I hope I was correct, this would give us another thing to bond over.
It is, my beaters aren’t very competent Flower confirms. We talk Quidditch for a bit after that, strategies, our favorite positions to play, and professional teams.
It was around lunchtime that I remembered to leave the room and that Flower was at school, probably in class. I tell her goodbye and jump up from my bed to join the school for lunch. Hermione wasn’t sitting with Neville, the twins, Percy, and Cedric. She wasn’t in the Great Hall at all. My survey of the rest of the Hall had me looking at Dora’s cousin, whose eyes shone in regret. My chest constricts in panic at what he could have done to Hermione. I speed walk to the Gryffindor table and grab George’s bag.
“Oi! What are you doing?!” Ron mumbled around the chicken stuffed in his mouth.
“I need this,” I ignore the youngest Weasley as I pull the map out and set the bag back down.
“Sure, leave it in the usual place when you’re done with it.” Fred doesn’t even look up from the paper he was looking over with Lee. George just nodded his head as he kept reading the book in front of him, slipping his wand into my pocket.
“You can’t just take things from his bag!” Ron’s face had gone purple and I catch Harry’s curious gaze when I turn to leave.
“Leave it, Ronald,” Percy speaks up, silencing his little brother. I leave the group to their lunch and find a secluded corner, making sure no one was around.
“I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good,” I murmur as I tap George’s wand in the middle of the parchment. The map comes to life and I search for Hermione’s name. I search the hospital wing first before looking at the library. When she wasn’t in the Gryffindor common room either I start looking at each level, carefully looking at each name. I find something unusual on the second floor, someone was sitting in Myrtle’s bathroom. The only time people go there is to cry. I file that away for later and continue my search for the bushy-haired witch. I sigh in relief when I find her walking around the grounds, gradually growing closer to the school. I go to close the map and notice that the one name was still in Myrtle’s bathroom.
“Bollucks,” I sigh, “Mischief Managed.” I slip into a secret passage and leave the map and wand behind a loose brick for the twins to pick up. My feet take me to the second floor instead of outside and I was slowly pushing the door to the bathroom open in no time at all. The sound of gentle sniffles greets me and I find a small Slytherin leaning against a sink as she wiped at her red face.
“Are you okay?” I ask as I step in, noticing Myrtle peeking from her stall. The first-year whips around with her mouth open, no doubt a rebuttal on her tongue. Something brushes against my magical core before retreating and the girl deflates.
“No,” She finally sighs and I walk over to hand her a handkerchief from my pocket.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I let her wipe her face before asking, ready to back off if she gave any sign she wanted to be alone.
“I just don’t know what to do,” Small tears start to fall down her face again, “I knew my soulmate was muggle-born, but I don’t think it actually registered until today. My parents,” She pauses and I gently pat her shoulder, making sure she could see my hand the entire time so she could move if she wanted.
“You don’t know how they will react,” I guess.
“Oh, I’ll either be disowned or they will marry me off to the richest man they can find. I don’t know what they will do to her and that scares me.” She confessed. Sympathy fills my chest and I lean on the sink next to her, facing the door to give her some privacy.
“I’m sorry. I wish there was some way I could help,” I let a small smile lift the corner of my lips, still watching the door. “It might suck for a long time, but at least you have her right?”
“Yeah, I guess you have a point.” I see her shift in my peripheral vision and turn to see her giving me a small, soft smile and a hand to shake. “I should probably know the name of the person to whom I just spilled my guts.”
“Eva Dane, nice to meet you,” I accept her offered hand.
“Pansy Parkinson.”
“Like the flower!” I couldn’t stop myself and felt my face burn in embarrassment. “I’m sorry! You probably hear that all the time. I just really like plants so it was the first thing that came to mind. Pansies are one of my favorite flowers! I used to pick the pansies that grew around the playground near my third home, not that you needed to know that.” I feel like an idiot for rambling like that, but Pansy was smiling so I guess it wasn’t a completely idiotic move.
“You said your third home, how many does your family have?” Pansy tilts her head a bit and my blush comes back in full force.
“Uh, I don’t have multiple homes. Well, if you count Hogwarts as one then I guess I have two homes. But that isn’t what I meant when I said third home, I meant the third foster home I have been in. I don’t know if my parents had multiple homes,” I pause to think about if Minnie had multiple homes.
“Sorry, I don’t always remember that not everyone has the same privileges I do.” Pansy’s cheeks gained a dusting of pink and she brushed her hair behind one ear.
“Are you pure blood then? All the half-bloods and Muggle-born I know only have one house,” I tilt my head and lead her over to the end of the bathroom where I sit against the floor as Pansy’s nose wrinkles a bit.
“I am.” Her face smooths back out into a small smile, “But I have never heard your name before so you are either a half-blood or a muggle-born.”
“I grew up in the muggle world, going from foster home to foster home until Mamaidh took me in.” I fiddle with my hands, waiting for the question that always follows.
“I don’t remember seeing you on the train, what house did you get sorted into?” Pansy surprised me with her question, not jumping to conclusions like everyone else.
“I don’t actually attend Hogwarts yet. I live here with my guardian, but I hope to get my letter in February.” I give her a small smile and we talk about random things for a few minutes until someone else comes into the bathroom.
“Pansy?” I look over to the door as Hermione comes into view, concern on her face and a bandage wrapped around her left hand.
“Mia, what happened?” I was on my feet in an instant, concern welling in my chest.
“Nothing, I just sprained my wrist,” Hermione waved my concern away to hug the Slytherin, “What are you doing in here?”
“I-” Pansy sunk into Hermione’s arms, the lingering tension bleeding from her shoulders.
“We were just talking,” I slid back down the wall to sit on the floor again.
“Oh? What were you talking about?” Hermione joined me on the ground as Pansy actually shudders this time, disgust clear on her face.
“This bathroom is the cleanest one at the school. No one comes in here.” I inform the pureblood.
“We heard about that, but who is Moaning Myrtle and why does no one want to be around her?” Pansy finally lets Hermione tug her down to sit in front of us, making a triangle.
“I’m Moaning Myrtle. Just because I have a hard time processing that I died and the bathroom reacts to my emotions. One inconvenient flooding and no one wants to use this bathroom anymore.” Myrtle plays up the whine in her voice and I laugh as the other two jump in surprise. They listen attentively as she explains her story, Pansy furrowing her brow in confusion at the fact that she died fifty years ago.
“My parents never mentioned anything about that,” She thought, “You would think that they would reminisce about a muggle-born being murdered, with how big of blood supremacists they are.”
“Is that why?” I look at the Slytherin and she nods sadly.
“I take it you don’t share their views?” Myrtle asked and Pansy was quick to shake her head.
“I knew Hermione was a muggle-born pretty quickly after being able to write her, how could I hate who my soulmate was?” Pansy smiled at the Gryffindor who blushed.
“Wait! Your soulmate is Mia? When did you find out? Why didn’t you tell me you found your soulmate?! Why didn’t I put together that you had a soulmate?” I turn to face my friend.
“We found out earlier today!” Hermione laughs, fighting off my light slaps to her arm. “I tripped and fell, that's how I sprained my wrist.”
A flash of guilt in Pansy’s eyes put me slightly on edge, but I didn’t want to judge until I could talk to her alone. As we continue to talk, I watch how the two interact with each other. Hermione was relaxed and usually didn’t do well with new people. Pansy had slowly softened the longer we sat here and was now looking at the Gryffindor with admiration in her eyes. They were good together.
“Sorry to interrupt ladies, but you are required for dinner. McGonagall will not be pleased if you miss another meal today Pip,” Cedric leads the twins into the bathroom and Myrtle pops out of her toilet to flirt with them. Fred leaves his brother and Cedric to take the brunt of her attention and scoops Hermione up in his arms, throwing her over his shoulder. Hermione squeals in laughter as he carries her out and I hold Pansy back so we were walking a few feet behind the others.
“What really happened to her wrist?” I ask in a low voice, watching her flinch with a small pang of regret.
“Crabbe pushed her down a few stairs. With our parents, Draco and I have to pretend to follow their ideals. I watched her fall down the stairs, not being able to do anything.” Pansy’s eyes glazed over as she got lost in thought.
“So you have to essentially be hostile to her,” I frown at the thought.
“We can’t be friends, much less soulmates. I have to settle for meeting her in secret,” The Slytherin sighed, watching the four in front of us.
“Join us in the library! I sit with the twins and Ced while they do their homework, I was going to invite a few other people as well, but there is a table in the back that is out of the way and no one usually goes there.” I grin at my thought.
“Really? Okay!” Pansy jogged up to the others to talk with her soulmate.
The first study session of the year was that weekend and I wanted to invite Harry, he looked like he was struggling a bit in Minnie’s class. I weave through the halls on Saturday to look for him and catch up to the boy right as he was about to leave the building.
“Got yourself a shadow Potter?” a voice drawls behind me and I snap my mouth shut. My shoulders hunch in embarrassment when Harry turns, surprised to see me behind him.
“Sorry, I was about to get your attention.” I apologize to the boy before turning to see Draco and two other boys walking closer.
“Shove off Malfoy, mind your own business,” Harry sighs.
“Get tired of the Weasel so you traded him in for an orphan like yourself?” I flinch back at the words spit out by the darker-skinned boy.
“Are you daft Zabini? Do you want to get in trouble?” Pansy stalks up to the group with a face of indifference, “That is McGonagall’s kid.”
“Ooh, like I’m scared of a midget.” Zabini sneers and I lock eyes with him.
“You should be,” I warn, “I know spells you haven’t been taught yet.” My eyes narrow and he takes a step back.
“Let’s go, they’re not worth the detention.” Pansy pulls on the neck of his shirt, leading them away.
“Sorry about that, Malfoy can’t seem to leave me alone,” Harry sighs.
“It’s fine. I wanted to invite you to come study with me and my friends, we are meeting in the library in a bit.” I offer and he brightens a bit.
“Yes! Please, I don’t know what I’m doing.” Harry looked like a weight was just lifted from his shoulders.
“Great! Go grab your things from your room and meet me at the library.” I instruct before pausing, “And you shouldn’t tell Ron, he won’t like some of our group.” I leave a confused Boy-Who-Lived behind me as I head up the stairs. I wait half an hour before he joins me and I lead him in. I weave in and out of the shelves with Harry in tow, to get to our table.
“Who wouldn’t Ron like? Oh,” Harry pauses once we get to the table, locking eyes with Pansy. She was leaning over a book as Hermione pointed something out to her, having looked up as we left the shelves.
“Hiya Harry! Need help on your transfiguration?” Cedric offers, breaking the staring contest between the two.
“Yes please.” Harry sat next to the Hufflepuff. Percy was the last to join the group and we all worked in silence with the occasional question asked.
“Have you come to apologize?” Pansy suddenly said without taking her eyes off of her work.
“Pans?” Hermione looks at her soulmate in confusion as we all exchange glances. Her green eyes finally lift and turn to an aisle in the bookcases. Draco slowly steps out and Harry was on his feet with a glare on his face.
“What do you want Malfoy?” Harry took a step to the side so he was blocking me from the silver gaze.
“Pansy mentioned you would be here, I came to apologize for everything.” Draco looked into Harry’s eyes as he spoke.