Attendance Bonus: If you respond to this ask by Monday, 5:30 pm EST you will be able to earn the team of your choice 10 points.
Now that the game was well in, Sophie's enthusiasm had rubbed off on Millicent. Even though she could really care less about the score, Millicent was having fun at the match. She kept an eye out for Vince, cheering particularly loud when he lobbed a bludger at that mudblood, Finch-Fletchley. It was dead on, Millicent didn't suspect anything less. Even better that Madam Hooch didn't see it happen and the opposing team wouldn't get the chance to score on a penalty. Not that Finch-Fletchley would even manage a penalty shot after that hit, he wasn't flying quite straight yet.
"Nice shot, Vince!" Millicent shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth. She was standing now, completely ignoring any disgruntled comments from behind her. "Go, go, Hippogriffs!"
"The fuck is wrong with you, Sal? It's too bloody early to be staggering about like that."
Millicent didn't know Sally-Anne to be a light-weight at anything, but now the girl was staggering into the dorm as if she were a second year who got their hands on their first bottle of firewhiskey. Sally-Anne had never had a phase like that as far as Millicent knew. It was like she came to the castle knowing how to handle herself. Theodore and her would throw parties like none the house had ever seen. It couldn't be one of those that left her leaning against the door-frame just staring at Millicent.
"You look like you're about to blow, have you seen Pomphrey?" Millicent asked, warily stepping towards Sally-Anne. If her friend was going to vomit, Millicent wanted to avoid any sort of contact with it. The last thing she wanted to do was have one of the few outfits that her clones hadn't made off with stinking of sick. Sally-Anne closed her eyes tight and shook her head once, reaching out and grabbing Daphne's bedpost for support as she made her way through the dorm.
"No." The word sounded pained to come out. "I was...just walking here...and...I started to feel sick...Millicent, help-"
Sally-Anne's hand went to her mouth and Millicent backed up. Friends or not, Millicent was not about to share this experience with her. With her lip curling Millicent looked around and snatched Tracey Davis's cap from its resting place on the bed post.
"If you're going to vomit do it in here," said Millicent as she tossed the pointed thing to Sally-Anne. Sally-Anne managed to reach for it but missed, her hand just hanging empty in the air, the poor girl was looking worse and fast. She paled and looked to Millicent again, a helplessness in her eyes that dropped a boulder into Millicent's stomach.
"Fuck."
Millicent moved quickly, grabbing Sally-Anne's upper arm, gentleness wasn't a priority. If they made it to the Hospital Wing in time, Millicent was certain there would be a bruise on the other girl's arm. Millicent would be furious if Sally-Anne got mad at her for it, but they both had to know what was going on. Millicent had never been told how long exactly it took for a clone to die from when they got sick. As she watched her friend, lethargic and pained, Millicent hoped it would be long enough to do something.
It wouldn't be. The blinding white light bled through Millicent's grip on Sally-Anne's arm before they even made it to the dorm's door. It felt as if the girl was melting through her grasp, dissipating until almost instantaneously Millicent's hand was grasping at air and horrific hissing filled the air as the adder dropped to the ground.
The snake was larger than Millicent had expected and it was instantly vicious, lashing out at her. Jerking back from what had once been her friend, Millicent pulled out her wand. Under any other circumstance, Millicent would be curious about the creature, but the damage she had heard of them causing she was wiser than to let her curiosity get the better of her.
The creature curled again, preparing to strike. Millicent didn't give it enough time to. A spell shot out haphazardly, striking the ground beside it and knocking the snake towards the door. If Millicent had the time, she would have let out a string of swears. The adder was angrier and blocking her only way away from it. It curled back again and she let out another spell, this time it hit its mark.
The reductor curse knocked the adder through the doorway violently and Millicent lurched forward and slammed the door shut before seeing it land. Her hand jerked away from the door like it had burned her and she staggered back to the nearest bed, sitting on it and knocking a book to the floor.
Her friend had died.
No. A clone of her friend had died.
But it had been her friend. Or that's what people said.
Millicent's heart felt like it was in her throat and her eyes dropped down. The dark floorboards in front of the door had a wet shine to it, blood Millicent was sure. If the adder wasn't dead, it was wounded. The most important thing was that there was a door between it and Millicent. She knew she would have to let an auror know what had happened, but at the very least she was going to wait long enough to be sure there would be nothing waiting for her when she left.
let's get fired up!: {a parvati patil fanmix for when you need a pick me up & reminder of how kickass you are
independence day → mel c // wings → little mix // one girl revolution → superchic[k] // we are golden → mika // titanium → david guetta ft. sia // royals → lorde // bubble gum bitch → marina & the diamonds // i love it → iconopop ft. charlie xcx // gucci gucci girl power → a plus d // young hearts run free → kym mazelle // run the world (girls) → beyonce // bad girls → m.i.a. // survivor → destiny's child ft. da brat // m!issundaztood → p!nk // the wild one → suzi quatro // rebel girl → bikini kill // raise hell → brandi carlile
Because clones are annoying sons of bitches, but them dying and degenerating into hissing adders? Full-fledged bitch guaranteed to ruin your day.
Parvati was not paying attention in class -- how was she supposed to concentrate on translating dead languages when there were a million more pressing issues on her mind?
Like the in-depth conversation she and Sassy!Parvati had last week or Psych!Michael harassing her in the hallway the other day, for example. Not to mention the news that Lavender's parental units were planning on pulling their daughters, clones in tow, out of Hogwarts and off to Beauxbatons! Suddenly the victory of Michael (the non-crazy, normal one) to agree on a double date with Lav and Ron seemed insignificant. Which also led to thoughts about Michael -- they had been on more than one date, and they clearly liked one another. We're they dating? We're they not dating? Would he think her clingy or pathetic if she brought it up? Did she even want to continue to emotionally invest herself in a guy who didn't consider going to a kangaroo farm worthy of a place on his bucket list?
In comparison to clones and her best friend moving to France, agonising over romantic pursuits probably seems naive or just frivolous. But it was better than contemplating what Sassy!Parvati shared about her time in the dungeons, or the possibility of having to say goodbye to Lavender.
All of them, of course, were more important than inscriptions in Marcomannic alphabets. Unfortunately, the Professor wouldn't have agreed.
"Miss Patil...Miss Patil! Please pay attention."
The voice doesn't pull Parvati out of her thoughts and the doodles she's absently drawn on the margins of her translation of the weekend's homework. Instead, Sally Smith elbows her rather hard.
"Umm..."
"Continue the translation please, Ms. Patil. We've all been waiting on you."
Except she has no idea /where/ in the translation they are. Thankfully, Sally leans towards her and coughs something that sounds suspiciously like "line 7!"
"Erm, beer I bring to you, the tree of battle, made of might and honor..."
"No, not quite. Mingled with mighty strength and the fame of victory. Blah blah you must remember the blah blah.."
Parvati tuned out once again, and before she knew it class was over. While and Sally Smith were hardly friends, they did end up next to each other quite often and the help she'd given earlier warranted some appreciation.
"Thanks for the tip," Parvati said, smiling as she fell into step with Sally on the way out the door.
"Oh, no bother -- we've all been there," replied the other girl, before turning her head away to cough into the crook of her elbow.
"That sounds nasty, you feeling alright?"
"No, I think I've got the flu or something. I should probably go see Madam Pomfrey..."
"I'll keep you company, walk there with you, if you want?"
Sally nodded, coughing again, and Parvati noticed she looked kind of pale. Her biggest worry was that Sally would vom on her, honestly, and kept a small but safe distance as they walked together. The two girls chattered idly, but about halfway to the Hospital Wing Sally started getting worse. At one point, she had to lean against the stair railing.
"Are you sure it's just the flu?" Parvati asked warily, concerned for her own health as much as Sally's. In response, she got a shake of the head. Despite her misgivings and fear of catching whatever the other girl had, she choked down her fear of vomit and tried too move closer to Sally, only to have the other girl hold up a hand, shooing her away, as her coughs turned violent.
And that was when Parvati started to feel a sense of dread and fear creep up on her, along with a very unpleasant flashback to the night a clone of Anthony Goldstein went all angry snake on her. No, she told herself, Sally's just got the flu...just the flu, right? The time she spent standing there in indecision felt like at least five minutes; in reality it was probably only one or two at the most. While she debated what to do, the staircase the pair was on began to move -- oh, fuck!
"Sally..." she started, but realized she had no clue what to say. There was nothing she could do, nothing she could say, that would change what was happening or make it better. Maybe it was a stupid thing to think, but Parvati couldn't help but to feel overwhelmed by how unfair it all was. To her, to Sally, to everybody.
"S'not your fault, Parvati," Sally choked out, trying to give a half-smile.
"But-let's just get you to Madam Pomfrey, c'mon."
"There's nothing you can do...I'm a clone and there's nothing anybody can do. It's okay, Parvati."
"No, it's really not," she began to reply but was cut off by the light that started from Sally's chest, bursting and blinding just like she remembered with Anthony...and the other girl was gone, replaced by an agitated snake and Parvati didn't know what to do about it. So much had changed since the last time she was in this situation. Last time...last time was so different; she hadn't understood what was happening, there'd been no time to think. Now she knew, one way or another, this was Sally Smith, who she'd sat next to in class, done homework with, even occasionally giggled together over their professor's very, very nice arse -- not some abstract fear or enemy.
Some of the clones were off with the fairies, budding sociopaths, or just stark raving mad, sure, but they still weren't just snakes parading as people, not in her mind anymore. How could she think of them that way after everything? Even her own clone, though a usual source of annoyance...They were...well they were people too, who had thoughts and feelings and lives. So she couldn't do what she's done before, she just couldn't. Knowing shed killed one -- killed somebody! -- was difficult enough to deal with (meaning that she did not deal with it at all) and Parvati also knew she couldn't handle having another one on her conscience.
Focusing, she attempted to calm herself down, clear up her thoughts, and she pointed her wand at the hissing adder. Unlike when she'd pointed her wand at the one that used to be Anthony Goldstein, she was not in a panic and she was not afraid. Okay, so she was a little afraid, but not like she had felt then -- it was a very different kind of terrified, one that had nothing to do with the snake a few steps down from her.
"Stupefy," she said, firmly as she could, and watched the red light shoot out from her wand and hit the adder. It froze, just like that, all coiled up and ready to strike. Parvati hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath, but it all whooshed out of her in one go at the sight. The tension in her shoulders and neck slowly disappeared, but she stood there, leaning back against the banister while she stared at it. She supposed she should do something with her...it? Whatever, pronouns in this case were confusing. Their plans to get to the hospital wing were clearly thwarted by the staircase's movement, but then again she was definitely going to be late to her next class no matter what.
"Miss Patil, what are you doing?" Professor McGonagall's voice echoed against the walls, and Parvati looked up to see her head of house at the bottom of the stairs, looking stern. "If I'm not mistaken, you should be in Potions...ah. Well, who was this, then?"
"Sally Smith," Parvati answered, watching McGonagall who, having caught sight of the stunned snake, crouched down to get a closer look.
"Very well," she said, pulling out her wand to levitate Snake-Sally. "Come with me."
For what was probably the first time in her life, Parvati felt incredibly grateful for Professor McGonagall's matter-of-fact manner. It made the walk to Healer Smethwyck's office that much easier. There was no small talk, just silence, and when they arrived the older woman sat her down and proceeded to ask her a few questions -- questions Parvati had answered before. Whereas the first time she'd been asked them, she'd had some weird, hazy out-of-body experience, this time everything was almost too clear.
Healer Smethwyck and the woman with her -- introduced herself as "Unspeakable Radford, but you can call me Nicole if you like" -- wanted to speak with her some more, even offered to excuse her from classes for the day. But Parvati didn't really want to talk, mostly because she didn't know what there was to say. She'd told them what happened, so what else could they possibly need to know? Luckily, after six years of having her as a student, McGonagall knew Parvati well enough and escorted her back to class where everyone watched her curiously.
Honestly, she didn't care. They could cast sideways glances at her and whisper all they wanted -- there were other things she cared more about. Not the same, silly things she'd been wondering the class before. No, these thoughts were much more serious and uncomfortable; as much as she didn't want them in her head, they refused to leave. It'd been so easy to forget people were turning into snakes (she supposed she thought they weren't doing that anymore, she didn't know and had stopped thinking about it). It could happen to anyone around her at any moment, couldn't it? What would she do if that happened? Merlin forbid, what if it happened to her?
But worst of all, she kept coming back to the memory of Anthony Goldstein's clone --his snake or whatever. Parvati had done, she felt (hoped?), the right thing with Sally...but she could not keep replaying the sight of Anthony's snake, its head being lopped right off with a flick of her wand. She'd done an excellent job of pushing it to the back of her mind for so long, but all of that had come undone in ten short minutes on the stairs. How was she supposed to live with that?
As much as she just wanted things to go back to normal, for her to go back to normal, something inside her said they were past the point of no return and there's no going back.
And that is the most terrifying thing she can possibly imagine.
I collect a lot of things. Some may call me a pack rat, but that’s there fucking problem that I’m not about to deal with right now. Besides that… I collect everything. Including records. Especially records. Also I really like tarot cards, but I’m getting ahead of myself and completely off the subject. I also like to collect memories - bits and pieces of my life that are fucking fantastic. I’m not very good at it mind you, but I do try my best to get some shit accomplished.
Sitting on the train seemed to be one of those rides that seemed like it was never gonna stop. Once I hit the platform, I tried not to look back. Considering that no one saw me off regardless, but it’s still something that I held dear. I stepped into the little seat rooms, or whatever the fuck you call those, I took a seat and my headphone blurred the loudest bit of the Radiohead album I was listening to. There was nothing to really do on the train. I didn’t have a person to sit next to so the ride seemed much longer than it was supposed to. I took out my phone, a picture of my sister and I making a stupid silly face for shits and giggles. It made me smile, but slightly sad, I wouldn’t see my sister for a while now. Not until holidays or even the summer. I couldn’t go long without her in my life. That little girl gets her cute in your system and it’s just hard to let go of.
I don’t remember much of the train ride except people coming in and out of the car. Asking me if the seat was taken and my books would just be on the other side as the song changed. I wasn’t being rude I fucking swear, but it’s kind of hard to hear people though the headphones and I’d be damned if I was about to take those off.
The train stopped suddenly after a long ride out. My purple shirt almost melted into the leather of the seats and so did my brown skin. ‘Leather should be fucking banned in all 50 states,’ I remember thinking, throwing my bag on my bag and started to get off. There was a curly haired girl in front of me. She smelled like vinegar and honey nut tea, which I’ll always remember because of how badly it smelled. I think I see her every once in awhile now. Going off topic. I remember coming into the main hall of Hogwarts after the long walk. The walls were grey, the pictures moved, but I couldn’t focus on anything but the fucking candles floating in the air. Ikea doesn’t fucking sell those. My room would have been fucking amazing if we got some fucking floating candles in the place.
All the first years sat down at a table while the others were whispering about us to themselves. They noticed my hair first. Which was painfully obvious from the way they were starting at me. I had let it grow then cut it off. Dyed and re-dyed it again with an old bleaching kit that my mother wasn’t using. Needless to say, she was furious and needless to say, I was fucking happy I had green hair. I push the small strain to the back of my ears and looked up as a bushy faced old man came to the stand. Dumbledore, he called himself and I remember thinking, ‘Pssh. I thought Applebee was bad.’ He told us we’d be able to get chosen into a house. I’d read about the houses before. I liked the thought of Ravenclaw, but Hufflepuff screamed something to be. Freedom and being myself among the greats of all the other houses – it screamed a home away from home.
The sorting hat went around from student to student then it came to me. I was nervous getting up and standing in front of so many people to have a talking hat put on me. I was fucking excited cause I could understand the difference between what was hilarious and what was just plain amusing in this world. I sat down, putting the hat on myself as it started talking. Telling me my greatest parts and giving me my weaknesses too. Tell me something I don’t know hat. He gave me Hufflepuff, which was probably the happiest feeling in the bottom of my stomach. It felt warm, inviting, calm and free.
The ceremony was over in a matter of a few more minutes. I remember something that was really important to me after I just started ranting to you about all this other shit. I remember after getting settled I saw a forest. I didn’t know what fucking forest it was or if I had to stay away from it or not, but I just remembered seeing it and wanting to be there. My feet started moving way faster than my brain could and I made it to the forest. I looked around, moving my hand along the tree bark and climbing up one that was absolutely stunning. The limbs gathered out into different directions allowing you to sit on it as long as you want and not fall. It was incredible. I opened up my leather jacket, moving a spliff against my lips, looking up into the sky while the moon beamed back down at me. I remember thinking about my sister - how happy she could be for me right now. I remember thinking of my dad and my mum – how fucking pissed they would be that I got another tattoo before I came out here. I remember thinking that this place was gonna be the opposite of what I had in my life and it was gonna be by my rules. No one else's.
I also remember thinking too that I was gonna totally join Quidditch the next day. Guess whose fucking Chaser? Suck it!
a cocky!cormac playlist ♫ listen via {grooveshark}
|| fire → kasbian || jumpin’ jack flash → the rolling stones || kiss my sass → cobra starship || power → kanye west || they all fall down → sr-71 || headstrong → trapt || ain’t no rest for the wicked → cage the elephant || the young and the hopeless → good charlotte || last of the famous international playboys → morrisey || paradise city → guns n' roses || wild boy→ mgk [ft. waka flocka] || live fast, die young → rick ross [ft. kanye west] || remember the name → ford minor [ft. styles of bey] ||
