Getting Dissed by Little Sisters and Headmasters
Chapter 7: Getting Dissed by Little Sisters and Headmasters
October 9, 1993
Hermione and Ron were huddled on the couch in the corner of the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry was at Quidditch Practice, leaving the two of them together.
"I'm worried for Harry," whispered Hermione. "I mean, it's bad enough Liana was in Slytherin. But then she befriended Malfoy, and now they're playing all these pranks on him."
"Did you hear about the ink incident?" Ron asked.
"I heard!" Hermione cried, aggravated. She slammed her hand on the table, spilling a cup of ink. She quickly cleaned it up and turned back to Ron. "And Peeves was in on it. Peeves!"
"Of all the people," agreed Ron. "Or Poltergeists."
"I know," sighed Hermione, absentmindedly running her hand across the pillow on the sofa, tracing the designs on it.
"But Harry's been becoming more and more angry and grumpy," Ron noted.
"Of course he would, she's his sister!" Hermione pointed out.
"How do we help, though?" Ron asked.
"I don't know," sighed Hermione. "I just don't."
They sat in silence for a while.
"Do you think we could try talking to Liana?" Ron suggested.
"From what I've heard of her, I doubt it," Hermione muttered, flipping the pillow over and tracing a swirl. She looked over at Ron. "We could always try, though."
"Let's go now," Ron said enthusiastically. "FOR HARRY!"
"If you're expecting me to echo that, you've gone delusional," Hermione laughed as they set off to find Liana.
Liana was getting annoyed with this.
First her parents, and now her brother's friends? How did this become their problem?
The answer: It didn't.
This had nothing to do with them. They weren't Potters, so they shouldn't be sticking their noses into her family affairs.
But of course, they were here anyway.
It had started out nice. She, Kylie, and Candice were playing Gobstones and talking about their plan to find Sirius.
"You're out, Candice!" Kylie cheered as she aimed the Striker at Candice's blue one. It just missed and hit the rim instead.
"No, I'm not," countered Candice, grinning. "You missed mine."
Kylie huffed. "Not fair."
"It's completely fair," laughed Liana, taking the Striker from Kylie and moving her green stone into the center, making it safer.
Candice took the Strike Stone from Liana. "So, what were we talking about?"
"Escaping," said Kylie loudly.
"Shhh!" cried Liana. "What if somebody hears you?"
"Sorry."
"How are we escaping?" Candice whispered.
"We take a broom and we fly through the fire exit!" Kylie yelled.
"No. Shush." Candice rolled her eyes.
"I think… I think through Floo," Liana said.
"The Floo?" Candice asked. "Isn't it guarded?"
"I don't think so," Liana said.
"But with Sirius Black, the measures are like ten times stricter," Kylie pointed out.
"Yeah, I know," sighed Liana. "We're going to have to try, aren't we?"
"What about the dementors?" Candice chewed on a licorice wand - where had she gotten that from? - and looked at Liana. "We have to use a… What's it called?"
"I think Lupin called it a Patronus," recalled Liana. "But that's really advanced. Even Harry doesn't know how to do it."
"Well, that's too bad," said Kylie. "Yes! Candice, I finally got you out."
Candice inspected the board. "Dang it."
"So, we're using Floo then?" Liana asked, steering them back on topic.
"I guess so," mumbled Candice, still sour about getting out by Kylie. "When are we doing it?"
"Whenever we find a lead of where Black could be," Kylie said. "Right?"
Liana nodded. "Probably."
After ten minutes, Kylie had put Liana to shame in their match and stood up. "Let's go to the Great Hall. I want some food."
Candice and Liana readily agreed, and they walked out of the Common Room and were on the stairs when they met Ron and Hermione.
"Hello," Kylie greeted, but Liana and Candice ignored them.
"We need to talk," said Ron coolly as Liana made to go past them.
Liana took a step backward, crossing her arms over her chest. "Oh really?"
"Yeah really," said Hermione while Ron cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"Well I'm afraid we don't have the time right now," Candice said. "Maybe because you like gallivanting around the place in the large amount of free time you have doesn't mean we do. We have a destination in mind, you see, and you're blocking the way."
Ron glowered at them. "It's about Harry's well-being!"
"I don't want to hear it," Liana said firmly. "Let us go, or else."
Hermione blocked the path. "Hear us out."
"Fine then," Liana snapped. "If you insist on acting like two-year-olds, then go ahead. We'll listen to your idiotic speech if we need to, but don't expect me to follow a word of it."
Ron opened his mouth to speak - his face was purple - but Hermione cut him off.
"I'm glad." Her voice was cold. "We're here to talk about Harry."
"Go ahead and talk, then," Liana spat.
"It's been brought to my attention that you..." - Ron gestured to Liana - "and Draco Malfoy, often accompanied by others, are ganging up on Harry, like pouring ink on him and throwing stuff at him in the hallways, and teasing him when you run into each other, and let me just tell you; I'm not having any of it."
There was a silence, and then Liana, Kylie, and Candice all burst out laughing. Hermione and Ron gaped at them. After a little bit, they'd calmed down, but giggles were still escaping their mouths.
"I'll admit," managed Liana, "you tried."
"What is that supposed to mean?" snapped Ron, his ears growing red.
"You tried to be all dangerous and… and menacing," Kylie giggled. "It was terrible."
"Really terrible," agreed Candice.
Ron's ears grew dark red. "I'm not joking."
"No, but you're not serious either," laughed Liana. "Was that supposed to be threatening? Pathetic."
"Maybe his attempt was pathetic, but I can assure you that I'm being serious here," Hermione snarled.
"Try, then," said Kylie, laughing.
"Stop messing with Harry. I mean it. What did he do to you?" She pointed at Liana. "He's your older brother, and he cares for you."
"No he doesn't," snapped Liana, the laughter vanishing in seconds. "If he really cared, he'd let me make friends with who I'd want. He'd stop taking the credit for everything. He wouldn't be the family's little darling Harry. He doesn't care for me, Hermione. Stop acting like you know my brother better than I do. Stop acting like you know what my brother does at home more than I do. At school, he might put on this charade of being a humble guy, but I know his true colors. And don't you forget that." She harshly shoved them aside, and she and her friends were gone.
Dumbledore was tired.
He'd just finished a long meeting with the teachers about their class averages, then he'd had to visit Lucius Malfoy and the committee about firing Hagrid from the staff. He'd adamantly refused, but Lucius had his tricks. Who knew what he would do?
After that, he and Severus had had one of their discreet meetings, discussing Sirius Black and various Death Eater activities. Severus was, obviously, annoyed that Remus and Lily were both teaching this year, but it wasn't like Dumbledore could do anything about that.
But now he was tired, and he just wanted to read a joke magazine and eat Bertie Bott's Beans. Maybe he would do that...
Knock.
"Come in!" Dumbledore called pleasantly.
James walked in, a grouchy expression on his face. "Hey."
"What's the matter?" Dumbledore asked, knowing faces enough by now to know that James was annoyed.
"It's Liana," James said cautiously.
"Go on." Liana was a most unusual kid. She was resorting to playing pranks on her brother, she had befriended Draco Malfoy (most unusual for a Potter), and she was a little biased against Muggle-borns (there wasn't exactly proof for that, though). But Dumbledore had a plan, and he was fairly sure it would carry through this time. It always did.
"I want a re-Sort."
Dumbledore took in the words. "I'm afraid that can't be done."
James banged the table. "Why? If this is about your stupid honor thing, I'm not hearing it. Slytherin is a bad influence for her. She would be better in Gryffindor! SHE BELONGS IN GRYFFINDOR! Do you hear me? I DON'T CARE IF SHE'S A HUFFLEPUFF, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE! JUST NOT A SLYTHERIN! Not a Slytherin. Do you see the influence it's got on my kid? My daughter? She's turned against her own brother. That's what Slytherin has done to her. Are you even listening? She's not going to be in Slytherin! Put her in Gryffindor! Ravenclaw! Anything but Slytherin! Dumbledore, you can't do this to her! This isn't fair to any of us in the family, especially not to Harry and Liana! Do you understand, Dumbledore? I want a re-Sort!"
Dumbledore sat quietly as James took a few deep breaths. "Are you done?" he asked politely. "Because if you aren't, by all means keep raging, but I doubt that would be beneficial for either of us."
James glowered at him. "How are you so calm?"
Dumbledore gazed at him through his spectacles. "That's not the matter at hand."
"Yeah, you're right. It isn't," growled James. "Lianna getting a re-Sort is, and I don't see you trying to do that."
"I can't take her away from her House," Dumbledore explained. "She belongs in Slytherin. You can't force her into another House."
"Are you implying that my daughter is a thief?" snapped James loudly, his face turning red.
"I only said she belongs in Slytherin," Dumbledore said, wiping away a prickle of annoyance from his forehead. "And please, stop criticizing our Houses here at Hogwarts. Many excellent wizards have graduated from Slytherin, and-"
"Like Snape?" roared James. "Excellent, yeah, that's a good one, he doesn't give a Galleon."
Dumbledore knew where this was going. Everyone still thought that Severus was a Death Eater. But Dumbledore knew otherwise, and so did Severus, and he didn't find the need to explain it to James. Or anybody. They would flip if they knew… and the secret getting out of the bag wouldn't help the plan. He liked to scatter his secrets around the place… keep them in different baskets. "Severus is an exceptional wizard."
"No he isn't!" snarled James. "He's a Death Eater, do you get that? He worked for Voldemort…. He knows it! Karkaroff admitted it! Lots of people, lots of Death Eaters, they all did it!"
"He's changed," Dumbledore replied calmly. He continued as James opened his mouth. "I don't care if you trust him or not, James, that is your decision. However, you may not try to twist my trust in him, because I assure you, James, that I am quite strong on my decision."
James glared at Dumbledore. "Fine. Why do you trust him, though?"
"We were talking about Liana."
"Fine!" cried James. "Give her a re-Sort!"
"I've made my viewpoints on that matter clear, James."
James watched Dumbledore stonily, his tough expression staying for only seconds before his shoulders bagged and his expression dropped. "Dumbledore… you have to understand. My daughter is turning against her brother. Her brother. She's on her way to becoming a Death Eater. You're not… You're not a parent."
Dumbledore flinched.
"But this… It's the toughest thing for me to bear, watching eleven years of parenting turn into this. Being a Slytherin would be okay. I'd be okay with it, I'd get over it, fine. We're all good. But hanging out with Draco Malfoy… I just don't like it, Dumbledore, please. Help me. Help me save my daughter."
James wasn't angry now. Tears were prickling at his eyelids, and his face was sad. Just sad. Not angry, or hopeful, or annoyed.
Dumbledore took a deep breath, steadying himself, and said, "I can't give her a re-Sort. However… I will try helping you. But it's Liana's decision who she wants to make friends with and how she wants to be when she grows up. It's how it works."
James's eyes flashed. His face was impassive, but it was stone-cold. "I think I'll go," he said coolly, "since you've made it clear that you're useless."
He stood up, knocked over his chair, stormed out of the room, and slammed the door with a BANG.
Draco was reading a letter from his father.
He was snuggled up on the Slytherin Common Room couch, his shoes off. He was curling up against the armrest and reading through the long letter his dad had sent him.
Draco,
I hope term is going well and this letter finds you well. I have a few matters to discuss with you - of course, thought Draco, why else would he send me a letter? - regarding your friendship choices.
I have heard from extremely reliable sources that you have made an unusual friendship with Liana Potter. Don't let anyone fool you, Draco, she is a Potter. All Potters are the same. You've seen Harry. You know him. Liana is… unstable as a friend. Unreliable, I should say. I don't want you hanging out with her anymore. I don't want you speaking to her.
Things are going fine at home, if you asked. We hired a new elf after that stupid Potter boy set the clumsy Dobby free. Dobby was a weird one, I say, extremely idiotic and clumsy. Anyway, its name is Tila and it spilled Narcissa's soup yesterday. Jerk.
Please take careful consideration about my writing regarding Liana Potter.
Dad
Draco rolled his eyes. Typical Lucius Malfoy.
"Hey," came a voice. Draco jumped and saw Liana's dorm-mate, a girl with black hair tied into a short ponytail and creamy features staring at him. She had a tough, warrior expression on her face.
"Hi…" Why was she here? "You're Liana's dormmate, right?"
An annoyed expression fleeted across her face. "Yes, but I have a name, you know."
"Sorry," muttered Draco, not feeling sorry. "What's your name?"
She frowned, debating whether to say something or not. "Sia."
"Okay…?" Draco waited. "What do you need from me?"
"My book."
"Sorry?" He didn't have her book!
"I left it on the couch, and you're sitting on it."
Draco turned and found that there was a blue book wedged in the two cushions. "Oh. Here you go. I didn't know it was here."
She shrugged. "It's okay. Thanks for it."
Draco gave a small smile. "No problem."
She started to leave, and then stopped. "Uh… Could I ask you a question?"
"Yeah."
"It might seem offensive… but I'm really asking."
Draco yawned. "Go ahead."
"How is it like…" She hesitated. "How is it like being friends with Liana?"
Draco frowned, staring at her. This wasn't a question he'd been expecting.
"Huh?"
"Candice and Kylie, too. All three of them."
"It's… nice, I guess? Just like having any friend?" Draco was thoroughly confused.
She nodded. "Yeah, okay, whatever." The tough face was back on, like the conversation hadn't happened. "Thanks for the book."
She turned and left, leaving a very puzzled Draco.
Turning back to his letter, he scribbled a response.
Dad.
Liana's great. She hates her brother. She helps me play pranks on him. Trust me - it's okay. She's not Harry. Them being friends is LAUGHABLE! She doesn't like Dumbledore, either, you know that? Dumbledore! DUMBLEDORE. I think you get the idea, but I'll say it again. DUMBLEDORE! Potters hating a Dumbledore… Not often, Dad. We like to forget that Liana's a Potter sometimes. Maybe we can change it. But whatever. Trust me Dad, she's not a Potter. She's not like her brother. She hates her family. She likes us Slytherin people. It's cool.
Oh, I hope the house elf works out. The last one was a total loser (Dobby).
Love,
Draco
He tied the letter up and tossed it in his bag. He'd pass it to the owlery sometime. But right now he was really tired…
Draco leaned back against the armrest, his eyes closing, his mind drifting off to dreamland already.
"And let the meeting commence," said McGonagall grandly.
All the teachers were having a meeting, going over lessons and notes and students. Lily was prepared to share Jonathan when it was her turn, but Professor Flitwick was still babbling on like there was no tomorrow.
"So I have this student named Aksaj, and he's really short, and he's extremely smart," said Flitwick.
Lily rolled her eyes. Would he just cut to the point? She looked over at Remus, who was still nodding and smiling at Flitwick. Gah, the man had unlimited patience. She was done with him already.
"So I was teaching the second standard, and it was good enough," said Flitwick.
"Lovely," said McGonagall, not looking as though it was lovely. "Sybill?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Harry has the Grim," Trelawney whispered in a dramatic voice, her every word carrying out.
Lily snapped to attention as soon as her son's name was taken. "What?"
"The Grim. An omen… of death."
Silence, as Trelawney no doubt waited for a dramatic gasp. But there was laughter, and more laughter, and soon over half the room was rolling around in laughter. Severus did not look amused.
"Did you tell my son this?" Lily demanded.
Trelawney smiled evilly. "Yes, I did, and your son looked afraid… I'm afraid he doesn't have much longer… The class was gasping, you see, they hadn't predicted this.
Darn. So Harry believed this Trelawney rubbish. She was going to have to do something about this. Harry had enough on his plate to be worrying about.
"I will address this with you later, Lily," said McGonagall, giving Lily a knowledgeable look. "I have talked to Harry."
Lily smiled thankfully as Trelawney babbled on about a second-year named Ralph's plotted murder by a pyschopath named Jennifer, and a boy named Neville's grandmother.
"Thank you, Sybill," McGonagall said once she was finished. "Remus?"
Remus gave a little smile. "I think my classes are going well."
"Well, that's an understatement," Septima Vector said, showing off all her teeth. "I had a class right after yours, and students were practically buzzing about how much they loved your class. Seriously. Nobody got any work done, they were all saying something about Professor Snape in a funky hat…?"
Severus's lip curled.
"Was this a third-year class?" Remus asked, a hint of a smile on his face.
"Yes, it was. Hermione Granger was amongst them," she clarified.
Remus nodded. "Yes. I'm glad they enjoyed it."
"Enjoyed it?" cried Pomona Sprout. "They live for it, Remus! They're crazy about you and your class!"
"It doesn't end there," Severus said smoothly, his lip curling in disgust at the prospect of explaining how popular Remus's class was. "Some girls in my class were asking me when we would get around to making love potions, as they wanted to give one to a particular teacher who had caught their eye."
Remus looked horrified. "R-Really?"
Severus nodded, looking annoyed. "They asked me if we could start learning them, or if I could lend some to them."
"And what did you say?" asked Sprout interestedly.
"I told them that if they couldn't even make a simple Babbling Beverage, I wouldn't dream of them ever getting to make Amortentia. That shut them up quite a bit." A lot of the teachers sniggered, though Severus didn't look proud in the least.
"Let's get back to Remus," suggested McGonagall. "You were saying?"
Remus went on, talking about his lessons he'd covered and what he was planning to cover.
"Very well," McGonagall said, pulling out a tray of biscuits and setting it on the table. She gestured for the teachers to eat them. "Lily?"
Lily sat up a little bit. "I've covered the basic runes so far, from one through ten," she explained, "and I'm planning to go over the alphabet next, so we've covered the surface, and then we can go deep in the subject. I've got to teach them the different sounds and new letters introduced in the runic alphabet, so the alphabet gets a little tricky." She paused, taking a breath. "But I think if my students understand that, it'll be easier to cover the deep runes. Like the ones representing different words and letters."
"Nice," said Vector, flashing Lily a smile. She and Lily had gotten along pretty well, both being third-year elective teachers and all of that. She was rather nice.
"Which runes are you planning to teach them?" asked Charity Burbage. She was extremely bubbly and super friendly to most people, but she - for some reason - didn't like Lily much. "And how are you going to make it interesting? Teaching isn't some child's play."
"I…" Lily took a deep breath, turning to Remus. He nodded encouragingly.
"Keep going, Lily," McGonagall said. "You're fine."
"Yeah. I'm going to teach them different runes. I'm planning to go over how runes can be on Azkaban Placards to make that engaging."
"How?" shot Charity.
Lily steadied herself. "Different people from Azkaban - I'll go over why their placards have that rune and how it happens. I'll cover Sirius Black."
Collective gasp.
"I won't go deep into him, of course, just the rune on his placard," Lily said, looking at Charity in the eye. "Any other problems?"
She had none.
And so the meeting went on.