Lily scanned the dormitory for her beloved hairbrush. It was sitting on her bed on top of a piece of parchment that certainly wasn’t there before.
It read:
Dearest Lily Flower, (lily scowled)
It has come to our attention that you have been dating David Bresciano, who, might I add, looks like a pansy on the Quidditch field. Anyway, you may find that a very distressed Charlotte Selene brings you some sad news today. She may reveal that a certain item of hers is missing. As the caring person that you are - (lily scowled again. This note was clearly written by Sirius Black.) – You would do anything for your grief-stricken friend. By anything, we mean breaking up with the spew-worthy scum, Bresciano. Do this and re-unite Charlotte with her missing possession. Fail to respond, and Miss Selene doesn’t see the _ _ _ again.
Goodbye Lily Dearest,
The best-looking guy in the school country world.
AKA Sirius Black. (Lily sighed. “I knew it.”)
And the equally good-looking Remus Lupin.
(“And I thought you were half-way decent,” muttered Lily.)
Oi! No you’re not!
Are so! Sirius, do you realise this is still in the note? (Using one of those stupid expensive speak-write quills, thought Lily)
Woops…
“JESS!” yelled Lily, “GET IN HERE, NOW!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Jess appeared in the doorway. “What do you want?”
“Come look at this.” Lily passed her the note.
“Those pric – “
“Jess!”
“What? Its true! And picking on Charlotte like that! I’m going to tell her right now, then I’m going to go and beat the crap out of those two, and – “
“Jess! Don’t overreact! You can’t tell Charlotte, you know what she’s like! And we don’t even know what they’ve taken yet!
“Fine. But when I get my hands on them, they won’t escape! I’m going to boil them in a cauldron of frogspawn, then shove them through a bush of poison ivy, and…” Jess trailed off. “And they’ll wish they never messed with me!”
Jess suddenly stood up. “Lily! Do you have any spare frogspawn? I only have a bit, because I used it in that potion, but I messed up – I put too much in, so it blew up, and went all – “
Lily grabbed her tie and pulled her back onto the bed so she was facing her.
“Jess! Concentrate! And you cannot boil the marauders, McGonagall would kill you! Anyway, it’s not even possible for you to do that to them.”
“Lily, you don’t understand what it’s like having a temper like mine, I need revenge.” said Jess, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Lily grabbed her tie again and pulled it so they were nose to nose. “You want a bet?” she whispered threateningly.
Seeing the fierce glint in Lily’s emerald eyes Jess backed down. “Ok, ok. But you have to promise me, when we get that – ‘item’ back you and I are going to make sure that they never underestimate us again.”
Lily sighed. “Fine. But what do we do about Charlotte?”
“Well, duh, find out what they took, and take it back. I’m not going to listen to the marauders, and I certainly won’t have you break up with Bresciano!”
Lily’s face went blank. “Oh. I forgot about that.”
Jess rolled her eyes. “And they say you’re the brightest in our year. Now lets go ask Charlotte if anything of hers is missing.”¬¬¬¬¬¬
As if on cue, Charlotte ran into the room, searching frantically. She knelt and peered under her bed hopefully. When she didn’t find anything, she sat back on her knees and cursed, before bursting into tears.
Lily glanced at Jess. “I swear I’m going to decapitate Black and Lupin once this is over,” she said in an undertone.
Approaching Charlotte cautiously, Jess asked, “Are you alright?”
Lily hit her head in frustration at the useless question.
“Angus is – gone. I … I-” sobbed Charlotte. “I can’t find him anywhere. He’s gone!” Charlotte broke down again.
“More like kidnapped,” Lily muttered to Jess as she sat down next to Charlotte, putting an arm around her.
“Catnapped,” corrected Jess sharply.
Lily rolled her eyes. “Come on, we’ve got to get her up to the Hospital Wing so Madam Pomfrey can give her something for shock.”
¬¬¬¬
Sirius and Remus were sitting in the common room when it started. It began fairly quietly, something about picking on Charlotte, then escalated to yelling about boiling the marauders…in frogspawn, and ended with Jess and Lily supporting Charlotte as they came out of the dormitory.
Remus felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he saw tears run down Charlotte’s pale cheek. He felt the urge to comfort her but before he could move, the back of his shirt was pulled violently as Sirius yanked him out of sight behind the sofa.
Remus glared at him.
“It’s for your own protection, mate,” whispered Sirius in explanation. “The girls are ferocious.”
“Except Charlotte,” muttered Remus to himself.
Reaching the Hospital Wing, Charlotte collapsed onto the nearest bed as Lily went to get Madam Pomfrey.
“Here you go, dear. It’s for shock. Drink up, you’ll feel better.” The matron passed Charlotte a steaming, turquoise potion.
Charlotte just managed to gulp down the mixture before collapsing back onto the pillows and falling asleep.
“You can leave her here for the night, that was also a potion for a dreamless sleep. What happened to her?” asked Madam Pomfrey as she pulled the covers over Charlotte.
“Uh…she got a nasty surprise from some nasty people.”
As Jess followed Lily out of the door, she looked back at Charlotte, sleeping peacefully, her blonde hair fanned out across the pillow. “Don’t worry. I’ll get them. They’ll wish they never took your Angus - when I’m finished with them, they’ll wish they’d hurt an enraged djinn’s best friend instead.”
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