Chapter 5
Rhona all but ran out of the common room at the sight of her older twin brothers. She was dreading any and all interaction with them on a good day; they seemed to enjoy tormenting her. But today especially... She was physically and emotionally exhausted, having gotten little to no sleep the night before. Her body was not used to the lack of sleep either; she was very much used to getting a solid seven to eight hours of sleep a night, but last night she was lucky if she got four hours total. She had gotten into the common room at Merlin knows what time; no one had been awake and the fire in the fireplace was nothing but dying embers. And yet, she woke up super early still, earlier than she usually did. So early in fact, that Percy was not awake yet.
She started to slow down once she was on the ground floor of Hogwarts, coming to stop just before she got to the Great Hall's double doors. She was earlier than she should be, she knew no one in her house, specifically Nelda, was awake yet, but she didn't know what time Theo, Azalea, or Blaise woke up typically. Rhona hoped that one of the three of them would be awake already; she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to be alone or if she wanted company while she ate her breakfast. She decided to let fate make her mind up and pushed through the doors to enter into the Great Hall. After all, she couldn't spend all morning standing outside the doors. Her stomach was grumbling in agreement. She was hungry. Hungry like she hadn't eaten in days, really.
As luck would have it, her newest friend, Blaise, was sitting by himself at the Slytherin table. He was somewhat between being a friend of a friend, and becoming her own friend, but she decided to make the leap and sit with him. She wasn't afraid, just a bit nervous that morning. She sat down across from him and smiled. Blaise was not at all scary.
"Good morning Blaise. I'm surprised to see you up this early." She smiled at him as she served a decently sized portion of fried potatoes and some sausages onto her plate. She balanced it out with a good-sized portion of fresh cut up fruits and some toast to go with it. "Good Morning, Rhona. But I'm usually awake this early. Father had me up on a decent schedule the year before Hogwarts, so I'm used to being the first one awake. It's a pleasant surprise to see someone familiar up this early; I thought I'd be the only one."
"I'll admit I'm not usually up this early. At least I haven't been while I was here and certainly not when I was back at home. I'm not an early riser; I like to sleep in when I can." She nodded in agreement. He reached for some bacon and put some on his plate, piling it high with the salty breakfast food. "Well then, this rare treat is a pleasant surprise. What has gotten you up this early this morning?"
"Nerves I guess. I didn't sleep well last night. Something... Something had happened last night that left me really uncomfortable, and I didn't get much sleep because of It. I kept tossing and turning. I guess it's no surprise that I woke up early this morning. Part of me wishes I could have slept in, just this once. I am really tired." She punctuated that statement with a poorly fought off yawn. "Rather, it's of no use. I can't go back to bed now, I might as well make the most of my day. I'll just be careful to go to bed early tonight, so I won't be as tired tomorrow."
"One can only hope, Rhona. One can only hope." He nodded in agreement. By that time, a few more students had made their way into the Great Hall for breakfast and the room had a quiet chattering to it. She noticed the double doors open and Nelda slipped through, arm down to her side. It was hard to get the sight of Nelda's broken wrist out of her head, but she was mainly glad her new friend was okay. It was scary seeing her injured like that. She was just a kid. They all were. She waved Nelda over and watched as the quiet girl made her way over to where they were sitting.
"Good morning Nelda. How are you feeling this morning? I hope you are feeling a little better today?" She asked the other girl as she sat down next to her, serving a generous portion of scrambled eggs and toast onto her empty plate. Nelda blushed at the attention she was being given but nodded nonetheless and smiled at Rhona. "I'm feeling loads better. My wrist feels like nothing even happened to it. Madame Pomfrey said I am absolutely healed up and there's nothing to be worried about now. She said if it's still a bit tender I can come for a pain reliever draught but so far I've felt completely fine."
Rhona nodded as she poured herself a goblet of pumpkin juice. She was glad Nelda was feeling alright and said as much. She was not comfortable with the idea of any of them being hurt. It just didn't sit right with her, not at all.
Azalea and Theo were the last ones to make their way into the great hall. The came in together, talking about something. Azalea was taking rather animatedly too, waving her arms as she spoke. Rhona smiled when all of her friends were together. Friends. She liked the sound of that. She wound never take them for granted.
"Good morning Azalea, good morning Theo." It was Nelda's turn to greet the two of them. "Good morning Nelda. I'm glad to see you are feeling better." Azalea greeted the girl in question in return.
It wasn't too soon after Azalea and Theo had arrived, that the owls flew in with the morning mail. Many of them carried the morning post, from the Daily Prophet. Soon enough the Great Hall was filled with excited chatter at what was the headline for the newspaper. Theo picked his copy up from one of the owls, placing a few coins in the pouch that was tied around its leg. He fed the owl a piece of bacon off his plate, and the bird hooted as a thanks, and flew off out of the open window. He glanced at the headline and did a double take. The paper read Gringotts Bank, Robbed. Like many of the other students currently reading the newspaper, Theo was shocked. Gringotts bank was supposed to be impenetrable. There were dark curses, dangerous ones that made sure you would never see the light of day once they were activated, and even dragons. For someone to be able to bypass all of the security measures... It left a bad taste in Theo's mouth. He wondered what they were after.
"Oh… Gringotts bank was robbed. I wonder if it had anything to do with what Hagrid picked up when he took me to get gold from my vault and to get my school supplies…" Azalea murmured in wonder, glancing at the paper in her friend's hands.
"What do you mean?" Nelda asked confused. Azalea looked over at her and a look of realization dawned on her face. "I never told you guys about how Hagrid 'rescued' me from my muggle family did I?" Azalea asked her group of friends. Theo frowned at that. "No, you never mentioned any of that before. What exactly do you mean by 'rescued'?"
"I mean literally, Hagrid rescued me from my muggle relatives. When my first Hogwarts letter arrived, they tore it to shreds before I could see what it was. But then they kept coming. Hundreds of them, all by owl post. My muggle relatives detest anything they deem as abnormal, and dozens of owls covering the roof and front lawn was definitely out of the norm. They reacted horribly. My uncle started to go insane, I swear. He ended up dragging us to this shack on a tiny island somewhere, where we got there by row boat. It was storming something fiercely, and we were soaked to the bone by the time we got to the shack. Of course, it was the day before my eleventh birthday, and I celebrated alone at midnight. I think I drew a cake in the thick layer of dust that was on the floor. Two minutes after midnight, the shack's door started to bust down. Uncle Vernon got out a shotgun from wherever he kept it, and pointed it at the intruder, but it was Hagrid. He grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and curled it upwards. It makes me wonder how strong that man really is, to be honest. But Hagrid scared off my Aunt and Uncle and cousin, and gave me a half squashed birthday cake, my very first birthday cake ever. Dudley grabbed it and ate most of it before I could even thank Hagrid, and Hagrid explained that I'm a witch. He gave me my Hogwarts letter and took me with him, off of the tiny shack on that island. Come to think about it, we took the rowboat back across the water. I wonder how the Dursley's made it back to the mainland..." Azalea rambled, talking rather animatedly during her story.
Theo was horrified at what he heard, but he stored it away for later when he could sort out his thoughts in peace. Azalea had never had a birthday cake before her eleventh birthday. Before that, she never knew of her magical heritage... She never knew about anything to do with the wizarding world. It's no wonder she struggled to hold a quill right until he showed her, or that she studies anything and everything she can. She must want to learn as much as possible... He wondered why she wasn't in Ravenclaw.
"After that, Hagrid took me to Gringotts. He said he was there on official school business to go to a secret vault, to get something, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. He was trying to be very secretive about it, but he wasn't doing a good job at it. It was some rock or something, I saw it in his hand when he took it out of the velvet pouch to look at it briefly. He said I wasn't to know about it, but I think he forgot I was with him. After that, he took me to my vault to get gold out, so I could get my school things before he returned me to the Dursley's. I guess they made it to land safely, because when we were done shopping, and he took me back to Privet Drive, they were there like Uncle Vernon had never gone insane. But they did lock my school books up until it was time to go to Hogwarts, so I couldn't do my summer homework or study until we got on the train..." Azalea said, grabbing a goblet of orange juice and taking a sip from it.
"You mean to tell me that you didn't know about being a witch until you turned eleven? But what about your magical guardian? Who are they? Have you even ever met them?" Blaise asked, horrified as well. She was being neglected, and he wasn't sure she even realized it. Azalea frowned at the thought. "No, I never met my magical guardian... I didn't even know I had one."
"Every muggleborn, or in your case, orphan, has an assigned magical guardian by the Ministry of Magic. They do it to ensure the witch or wizard is safe and not being neglected or abused. Clearly your guardian failed you." Blaise explained.
"I wonder who mine is supposed to be? Maybe Professor Dumbledore will know. I wonder if I could ask him to get in touch with them, so I can find out why they never met with me beforehand?" Azalea asked in wonder.
Rhona sat there thoughtfully taking in the story. She wondered to herself about the mystery behind whom, and what, was stolen from Gringotts. She also took note to write to her mother about Azalea not getting any birthday presents. If she didn't even get a birthday present in her ten years of living with them, chances were she didn't receive a Christmas present from them either and that was not ok. Even as bad as her mother could be most of the time, she still at least had gotten something for Christmas every year. She had always sort of taken those things for granted, and it broke her heart to hear about how her new friend was treated by the ones who were supposed to love and take care of her. She looked over at Theo to see a dark look on his face and became determined to speak with him later. Maybe he could help Rhona with her problem.
Theo supplied after a moment; he studied Azalea intently. It was as if she was unsure of what exactly to do, so he decided to step in. "You know, you could go to Gringotts bank, and request an inheritance test. They aren't usually done on half bloods or pure bloods, but I think this time they might make an exception. You would be able to find out who you're related to, even distantly, and it would show you who your magical guardian is, if you don't want to bother with the Headmaster."
"But how would I get to Gringotts? It's not as if I can teleport there..." She trailed off, frustrated.
"Write to your assigned head goblin. Every pureblood house has a goblin in charge of the estates and vaults. I'm sure they'd be able to help you further. They might even be able to get or make a portkey so that you can go there in person for a meeting and the test."
"Head goblin? I never met mine... What would I do?" Azalea asked, confused. Rhona frowned. What did Hagrid do if he didn't even take her to meet her head goblin? The Weasley's had one even, and she knew that they didn't have the most money in the world by far.
"Hmm... What goblin did you meet with? Do you remember his or her name?" Rhona asked, curiously. She wanted to solve this puzzle, and it would help her friend in the process. Rhona knew she was trying to get her life on track, and she was in the process of it, with the help from her Great Aunt Muriel. Maybe she could help Azalea figure out how to get away from those horrid muggles she lived with. She made up her mind and vowed to do her very best to help her friend out.
"We met with a goblin but Hagrid did all the talking, I never caught his name... How would I write to the bank if I don't know who to write to?" Azalea asked, puzzled. Rhona frowned. It was actually Nelda who supplied, "You can write to the goblin king himself.. I don't know if he would ever respond to you but it might be a solution if he does deem it important enough. You're the heiress to the Potter line, and that alone means you have some wiggle room. It gives you power that others don't necessarily have and while I know you don't want to use it like that, in this case it might actually help..." She said quietly, looking down at her plate. Azalea looked upset at the idea but didn't outright dismiss it completely. Rhona held her tongue. She didn't like talking about money because it was a difficult topic for her. A younger Rhona, or maybe a Rhona in a different life would have blown up in anger by now but she took a deep breath and grounded herself. Azalea didn't ask to be wealthy, it came at the price of loosing her parents, and Rhona wouldn't wish that on anybody.
Breakfast ended the four of them made their way up to the library, where they took out their books to work on their homework for their classes of the week. The five of them worked together to help each other figure out what they did and didn't know, and they effectively formed a study group. Each one of them compared notes with the others and jotted down the things they didn't pick up on, or they missed completely. Rhona had gotten up and made her way over to the history of magic section of the library, when she bumped into that weird girl, Hermione Granger. She and the other girl fell to the floor and all of the papers each of them had been carrying had gotten mixed together in a giant heap of a mess.
"Look where you're going, Weasley!" The other girl hissed, frantically trying to gather up off the floor, her own stack of papers and books. She looked very frazzled, Rhona noted. Hermione grabbed up all of her things and all but ran away to a different part of the library. Rhona looked around scandalously, as the other girl had been rather loud in her rude scolding. It was an accident. Rhona hadn't intentionally knocked the other girl down. She bent down to pick up her own papers and found a scrap sheet of parchment with someone else's neat handwriting on it. It read 'Nicolas Flamel'. She had no clue what that meant, but she knew it had to belong to Hermione. Rhona quietly made her way to where the other girl had dashed off to, but she was nowhere to be found. The entire situation was an odd occurrence. Rhona just made up her mind that she would have to give it back to the other girl next time she ran into her, and made her way back to the table the four of them had acquired for their study group. Who was Nicolas Flamel anyway? Rhona had never heard of them. She shrugged and headed back to her table of where her and her friends were sitting in the library.
"You'll never guess what just happened to me." Rhona said as she sat down between Nelda and Blaise. Theo raised a well manicured eyebrow at Rhona in silent question. "I was heading to the section for History of Magic and I ran into Hermione Granger. Literally. We knocked each other down and everything." She explained as she placed down the pile of books she had left to get. They were working on a two-foot essay for History of Magic about the first Goblin war, and none of them were knowledgeable enough in it, as they used History of Magic as a class to catch up in all of their other classes for the week rather than pay attention usually. So together they put their collective thoughts together, and it tended to make something coherent. Of course, they were careful to all write in their own words and thoughts as to avoid the spells that teachers used to prevent copying off of others.
"Are you okay?" Azalea asked, concern bleeding into her voice. Rhona smiled at her friend and reassured her that yes, she was in fact ok. Not even a bump or bruise on her. She only was left with the mysterious piece of paper to show for it, really. "Oh! That's right!" She exclaimed, and she dug into her pocket and pulled out the scrap of parchment that she found on the ground. "Do any of you know who Nicolas Flamel is? When I gathered up all of my things from off the floor, this was on the ground." She asked as she showed her friends the parchment in question.
"No, I've never heard of him." Azalea shook her head no. "Neither have I, come to think about it. Maybe he's someone famous? We could ask Madame Prince if she knows about him?" Blaise suggested as they continued working on their essays.
"I think I'd like that! That's a good idea! She might know more, or at least where I can start looking to find out more information. I'd ask Granger, but she disappeared almost as soon as she was up off the ground. It was so odd..." Rhona trailed off as she settled in with a book that described the first Goblin war in far more detail than she cared to learn. Unfortunately, Binns had given the assignment, and she wasn't one to leave things half done. Rhona had been taking her schooling very seriously, more so than she had thought she would. She was to be taught by her Great Aunt Muriel and her actions reflected upon herself as well as her great aunt. She was a pure blood witch, and she was trying her hardest to act like it.
The five students all took turns reading the books that Rhona had gathered, and they shared their collective knowledge with each other as they went along. Soon enough everyone was done with the essay, and they moved onto the next subject, which was Potions. Azalea struggled in the class no matter how much tutoring she was receiving from her friends. Professor Snape had it out for her, and she couldn't fathom why. After all, she had just met the man this year, and for some reason she had a target on her back when it came to him. She mourned as much to her friends, and it sparked an idea inside Rhona. What if she wrote to the board of governors. After all, the mistreatment of a student by a teacher was a serious offense. She said as much to her friends.
"Rhona... That's actually not a bad idea. Not at all. But we should get more than just us to write to them. If we got the whole year to write... Who knows. Something might actually be done about it. For what ever reason, Professor Dumbledore seems too fond of Snape, and he won't do anything about it." Azalea said in wonder at her friend. She turned to look at Blaise and Theo who both looked back at her and nodded. Nelda looked hesitant to challenge a professor, but after a gentle moment, she nodded firmly, a fire lit in her eyes. No one got away with the mistreatment of her friend. She would tolerate a lot of things, but being bullied by a teacher who was supposed to educate them for the next seven years of their life.... Professor Snape had targeted her many times too in her class with the Slytherin students. She would be glad to be able to do something about it for once in her Hogwarts schooling career. Hopefully this worked out. She didn't want to think about if it backfired.
"But where do I even start? I have no clue what to do..." Rhona trailed off, stumped. "I would ask your dorm mates first. Feel around, ask them for their experiences with professor Snape and see if we actually have a case against him, as in, see if he's bullying other children besides you and Azalea." It was Theo that came up with that idea. Rhona noted that he was good with thinking things through, it was something she admired about him. Rhona knew thought that it was something she would most likely learn with time.
"Let's make a list of everyone you can talk to in your year to begin with, but I'd ask around the dorm room tonight. Get a feel for what everyone's experiences are with him personally. You share potions with us in Slytherin and Ravenclaw shares potions with Hufflepuff. We can make a list of everyone in first year and work off of that. If we all spit up and talk to our year mates... It is a very likely possibility that we can accomplish something..." Theo said wisely. Rhona looked at Nelda, who had been mostly silent during this conversation and wondered what she was thinking.
"Are you okay Nelda?" Rhona asked quietly. The other girl shifted in her seat at the sudden attention but smiled at Rhona nonetheless. "I'm okay, I promise. I'm just a bit nervous about going against a teacher, Professor Snape especially. The man terrifies me." Nelda stated truthfully. He was one of her worst fears, and she doubted that it would change any time soon.
"If you're sure. You know you can talk to me right? The same goes for you, Azalea. And you Theo and Blaise. I'm always here." She watched their faces for any hint of emotion and felt a flutter in her chest at the idea of protecting her friends, even if it was currently from imaginary forces. All in all the names that they had gathered were written down in a list on a piece of parchment, and she had her list of whom to talk to.
Lavender Brown
Anton Jordan
Pavarti Patil
Seamus Finnegan
Susan Bones
Hannah Abbot
Megan Jones
Amanda Jones
Padme Patil
Emma Vane
Maruicius Buchanan
Oliver Rivers
Sally Anne Perks
Zacharias Smith
Roger Malone
Sally Smith
Mandy Brocklehurst
Sue Li
Kenin Entwhistle
Morag McDougal
Fay Dunbar
Amalia Rucorn
Ernest Macmillian
Stephen Cornfoot
Terry Boot
Anthony Goldstein
Michael Corner
Lisa Turpin
Alice Tolipan
Draco Malfoy
Daphne Greengrass
Vincent Crabbe
Gregory Goyle
Milicent Bullstrode
Pansy Parkinson
Tracey Davis
Sophie Roper
They wrote out the name of every half and pure blood student in their year, making sure not to skip over any. They were not pure blood elitists by any means, but it would have more impact if the heirs of pureblood witches and wizards wrote and complained, rather than just muggleborns, at least in the eyes of the board of governors. After all, the board was only full of the pure bloods. Personally, Rhona knew Azalea was a half blood, but she could have cared less about blood purity. It was something her parents had successfully instilled within her, and she knew that Theo, Blaise, and Nelda were the same as her. Theo had openly stated that he only cared about the power of a wizard, not the blood status or gender, and she suspected that Blaise would be much the same if she bothered to ask.
"Who is on the board of governors anyway?" Azalea asked as they were halfway done with the potion's assignment. She was curious of who they would be dealing with. "Lucius Malfoy, to start with... Gran is too. She's always complaining about the things he tries to get passed. Says he's a right bully when it comes down to it." Nelda piped in, moving the piece of parchment she was writing on to the side to grab at a textbook. "My father is too. Father likes to keep tabs on what's going on with the school and what better way than to serve on the board of governors. He likes to keep on his toes. I believe Blaise's mother is as well, if I am correct." Theo said, looking over at his childhood friend. "That is indeed correct. Mother finds enjoyment in riling up Lucius Malfoy. I think she said it was her favorite pastime." Blaise explained.
"So all of your families are on the board of governors? Who else?" Azalea said, formulating a plan to write to all of them and explain their situation. If she could campaign enough to have something done about Professor Snape... Who knows, maybe he would be asked to leave the school and never come back. She expected it to be much harder than it appeared to be thought, but she wasn't going down without a fight. She had seven years of learning at this school, and she would be damned if she let a teacher bully her and make her feel bad for something out of her control. Azalea knew with Rhona, Theo, Nelda and Blaise, she could accomplish anything.
"Do you think if we wrote to your parents and your Gram, Nelda, that they might be able to give us more information?" Rhona asked after a minute. She was ever the strategist and she liked to think of this as a very intricate chess game. In many ways, it would be. And she suspected that the hardest part would be convincing the board of governor's resident bully, Lucius. Azalea hadn't met the man, but she had met Draco, and he was a horrible brat of a child when he didn't get his way.
"Maybe. I'll write to Gram tonight and ask her for more information." Nelda said, smiling at Rhona. She was excited about the idea of not having to learn under such a tyrant such as Professor Snape anymore, but Nelda knew they were a long way away from that happening at the very least.
Soon enough it was lunchtime, and they packed up their bags to head to the great hall. The five sat at the Gryffindor table this time, and ignored the odd looks at having three Slytherin students sitting with the lions. Conversations flowed as they ate, not sticking to one thing or another and after lunch they made their way outside to sit by the black lake. It was a nice and cool day, but the sun was shining, and they were going to enjoy the pleasant weather before it changed for the worse as it tended to do so towards the end of September.
While they sat, they discussed the idea of writing to the board of governors and fleshed out the idea more. Rhona and Nelda would talk to their dorm mates tonight and find out how they felt about Snape past the 'he's a slimy git' mantra that seemed to go on. From there, they would report back to Blaise, Azalea, and Theo Sunday morning what they found out.
"I asked around like the plan we came up with, and I have a few ideas." Nelda began. She and Rhona had addressed the dorm room the night before and unsurprisingly, there weren't many niceties to be said about the Professor. With the exception of three girls in the first year dorm, everyone had had at least one or two negative experiences with the Professor that could be ruled as more than just your regular house bias that he was known to give out. Also, unsurprisingly, Hermione Granger had been the most vocal about being against the idea, stating that the Professor was being fair, it was just how it was. She was completely against going against a teacher, and it showed; even if she did have a bad experience with him, Rhona and Nelda would bet that she would never admit that he was an unfair teacher that something needed to be done about. The girls' dorm was surprisingly receptive to the idea of writing to the board of governors about their mistreatment and some even came up with the idea to document the unpleasant actions and words that the Professor said to keep notes for if and when a meeting was called. Rhona was thrilled at the plan being put into action. Things would hopefully change and for the better. Now she just had to approach the boys in Gryffindor, and that would take a bit more of planning, as none of her friends were Gryffindor boys. Rhona would figure it out though. She wouldn't let the plan falter so soon. No, things were going to change, and hopefully it would be for the better. There was work to be done. The next move was to talk to her classmates from the other houses, and to get them to ask around as well. If she could organize it just right, everything would be put into plan by the end of the school year. Nelda showed Rhona the letter she had written to her Gram in her neatest handwriting, and she read it over, nodding in approval at what Nelda wrote.
Lady Augusta Longbottom,
I, as a student of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, am writing to a lady of the board of governors with concerns about a Professor at this school. I have fears that Professor Severus Snape is treating the students of Hogwarts rather unfairly, and I do believe he should not be teaching at this time. He bullies and belittles even the first year students to the point of tears, and he mistreats any student not from his house, the Slytherin's. This would be a grave injustice done to the student body for him to remain on the staff. Please, think about the future of the students of Hogwarts and investigate into this matter in a serious fashion.
Sincerely,
Heiress Nelda Longbottom
Heiress of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Longbottom
Rhona was very happy. Things were getting done. Now it was time for the others to write their letters, and Rhona would help them by making a list of the board of governors names and owl addresses so that the students could owl them their complaints. Hopefully this would get the board's attentions. Rhona rather hoped it would work. She walked Nelda to the owlery to send off the letter and watched as Nelda attached it to her own personal owl, Ares. He was a tawny screech owl that Nelda had had since she was a small child. He was getting up there in age, but Nelda didn't foresee needing to write many letters besides to Gram, so this was a surprise. Rhona watched with well concealed envy as Nelda stroked her owl's feathers reverently. She could tell that the bird in question was very much well-loved. Rhona oh so badly wanted an owl of her own, but her parents couldn't afford one. Not with how much money they spent on their youngest daughter, her baby sister, Ginevera.