Don't Cross the Streams

They chased her down the hallways taunting her and flinging items things at her. The pack of tormenters was led by none other than her cousin, James. Her red hair flew behind her as she turned a corner and ran up the stairs towards the owlery. She raised her wand but James was too quick, “Flipendo,” he screamed sending her backwards into the wall. Dora slumped down onto the floor her hair falling into her face her tears sticking it to her face as the others crowded around her tossing charmed owl feathers at her so they would stick in her hair. James stood in front of the pack his shaggy black hair shaking with each laugh pointing his wand threatening her if she moved.

“Leave her alone,” Scorpius Malfoy said breaking through the small group, “She isn’t worth your time Potter.” He pushed James away from Dora only to be grabbed by Alan, James’ best friend, and pushed aside. James laughed as he moved in front of Dora again not fazed by Malfoy’s interruption.

“Honestly Nymphadora did you really expect for anybody here to like you?” James said to a back track of laughter from his friends, “If your own dad can’t like you why would think anybody else would?” That took it far; she pushed her way through the crowd and headed down the hallway.

“Dora wait,” A small voice yelled after her. She could hear the footsteps quickly gaining on her; she pulled her wand from her robes and quickly grabbed the person pushing him into the nearest wall. She stared for a moment taking in who it was. She noticed a slight shake in his body as his blonde hair fluttered slightly.

“What do you want Malfoy, if you haven’t noticed I’m sort of done with everyone’s crap right now. So you have two options either you leave me alone or you prepare to have something so unspeakable done to you that I haven’t even thought of it yet.” She let him go and continued to walk away.

“I thought what they did to you was rude.” He called out. She stopped and turned to face him again.

“What?”

“I thought it was rude what they did. Why does James make fun of you all the time?”

“I don’t know but he is going to pay for it.”

“Pay for it how?”

“Something so unspeakable I haven’t decided yet. I have to go pull feathers out of my hair so I will have to talk to you later.”

“How come you didn’t just use a spell on James?”

“I promised my dad I wouldn’t.” She ran off before he could ask any more questions. She was back in her room before anybody tried to approach her again. She felt the weight on her bed shift and a pair of hands going through her hair pulling the feathers out. “James started it,” She whispered, “I didn’t even do anything back.”

“What happened?” Dora turned over and looked at Flit.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Flit moved off of the bed and pushed her white blonde hair out of her face.

“Well when you are ready come find me.” Flit turned to leave. Dora pulled a small package out of her robes and tossed it towards Flit. “You got this back? How did you do that?”

“Dad sent me more stuff from his shop, I switched it out. Stupid twits think they caught me taking the package out but really they caught me putting the new one in.”

“That doesn’t explain why you are covered in owl feathers?”

“Doesn’t it? He wanted to teach me a lesson for trying to steal from him so he decided to chase me down but I was stupid and turned toward the owlery. He hit me with a charm and I fell. Malfoy showed up and told them to stop. It’s ok I have a plan to get him back I just need some help from your mum.”

“Mum is not going to help you play a prank on your cousin.”

“She will if she doesn’t know that’s what she is doing. I need that spell she has been working on.”

“Which spell?”

“The one she was working on for redecorating.” Dora winked.

“I don’t even want to know what you are planning.”

“But you will get me the spell.”

“I’ll try.”

“Either you do or I do of damage to this school trying to get it right.”

“I believe you are going to do a lot of damage either way. Just tell me what your plan is.”

“No, I’m going to get in trouble for this and I don’t want to pull you down with me. I’m skipping next class I have work to do.”

“Professor Lovegood is going to get angry if you skip another class.”

“It will be fine just tell her I’m practicing charms somewhere else today.”

“You’re going to get another owl sent home.”

“Not if she doesn’t know why I’m skipping. So keep your mouth shut otherwise I will tell that you knew now wouldn’t your parents just hate if you were to get in trouble.”

“Fine I won’t say a word but she will still notice.”

“Not my problem. See you in a while.” Dora grabbed her bag from off of her trunk then headed the out of the dorms and towards a part of the castle that nobody ever visited, 2 flights of stairs down and a few corridors over. She ran her fingers along the new bricks on the wall, they had bewitched them to look older like the rest but you could still tell that they were new. She sat down on the floor and stared at her spell book in front of her. After a few moments a gust of wind blew the book shut, she opened it again and continued to read. Again a gust blew the book shut. “Not now Peeves I’m doing something important.”

“Why is the little Weasley here? I didn’t think you would continue to come here knowing that your favorite place to study is the place your uncle died.”

“It doesn’t matter Peeves.”

“You’re going to get caught, whatever it is you do you are going to get caught. You aren’t half the pranker that your Uncle and father were.”

“You’re right I’m more. Now either you are going to help me or you are going to leave I have no time for your nonsense.”

“If you’re so great than tell me where is the shrine to your pranks?”

“Please that swamp is child’s play. Besides if they were so great why didn’t anybody save him?” She picked up the book and tossed it at Peeves before running off away. She ran out of the castle and towards the forbidden forest yet another place she knew no one would follow. She ran into the forest and in a few feet she felt a hand grab her arm and pull her into a tree.

“What are you doing here?” Scoripius asked holding her tightly.

“Shouldn’t you be in class,” Dora asked trying to free herself from his grip.

“Shouldn’t you?”

“No, I was doing a little independent charms.”

“Yeah well I think divination is a waste of time. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to be in the forbidden forest?”

“Neither are you and you were here first.”

“Why were you running?”

“I had a disagreement with Peeves, why were you waiting to grab my arm?”

“What about?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Why are you always so angry?”

“I’m not.”

“Are you still upset about earlier with Potter?”

“Why do you care?”

“I told you I thought it was rude. Besides you can’t go in there right now, the centaurs are upset about something and are stampeding all over the place.”

“Well I can’t go back into the castle so either you let me go into the forest or we go and find somewhere else to stay.”

“We?”

“Well I’m assuming by your death grip and you defending me earlier that you want something so we should probably discuss this now.”

“I don’t want anything, I’m just trying to be nice.”

“Why?”

“Maybe I promised my father that I would be. He told me to be nice to all of you guys.”

“Funny since your family doesn’t talk to mine.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t tell me to be nice to the Weasley- Potter clan.”

“That includes James doesn’t it?”

“No, James is a twit. So egotistical riding off of his dad’s so called greatness.”

“His dad did defeat Voldemort.”

“Not alone, most of the kids here have someone who fought in that battle, some even have someone who died,” He his blue eyes locked with her brown ones and refused to move, “That battle, that war changed everything for everyone so why is it only one person is getting glory from it.”

“Wasn’t your family deatheaters?”

“Something like that. But you can’t blame me for their life choices. So where are we going?”

“I don’t know.”

“I do, if you let me go I’ll take you there.” He let her go and she started to walk deeper into the forest. He ran after her and grabbed her wrist again.

“Are you kidding, I just told you the centaurs are upset.”

“Yeah well so am I.”

“Dora we can’t go this way, come on I have a better plan.” He pulled her back towards the edge of the forest and towards the garden where the whomping willow once stood. He lay on the ground among the plants and motioned for her to lie next to him. She did and stared up at Hogwarts, from where they were she could see the discoloration in the bricks from where the attack had happened.

“You see that wall up there where the bricks look different? You have to actually look for the difference for you to notice but I promise they are different.” She pointed in the general direction and he stared.

“Yeah I see it, what is it? Just fixed damage from the battle?”

“It’s where my uncle died. He was up there fighting someone and some deatheaters blasted the wall, he got crushed in the rubble. My other uncles said he died laughing, so I guess that is something.”

“Why do you know that spot so well?”

“He was my dad’s twin. That’s why I know that spot, if those stupid deatheaters wouldn’t have killed him than my dad wouldn’t be so damaged and I wouldn’t have had to spend so much of my childhood being shipped from one family member to the next. My Uncle Ron said it all happened so quickly there was really nothing anybody could have done. My Uncle Percy, we don’t see him very much he thinks it is his fault it happened, he, they were joking around when it happened. He feels like if he wouldn’t have made that joke wouldn’t have distracted Fred for that one minute than it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Where’s your mum?”

“Dead, she died when I was five or six. She went to work one day and didn’t come back. Tell me about your family.”

“I don’t have a story like that.”

“Well I wish I didn’t. So tell me about your family.”

“My mum and dad are together, I guess we are happy. I mean every once in a while you can see a hint of regret on my dad’s face but he won’t talk about it. Not with me at least.”

“I’m going to do something to hurt James, I’m not sure when but if I tell you to do something don’t argue.”

“What are you going to tell me to do?”

“I don’t maybe skip a class or I don’t know, you weren’t part of the plan when I started to hatch it. Thanks for stopping James earlier. I gotta go get my charms book back from Peeves.”

“He’s horrible, blocked a whole bunch of first years last week from the dorms.”

“He’s fine to me, sometimes he listens. Sometimes he’s mean. But I’ll see you later.”

“What you’re just going to leave let’s skip another class.”

“I can’t, I have quidditch later on. I don’t want to give anybody a reason to say I can’t practice.” She got off the ground and ran towards the castle leaving him behind.