The Wizarding World

"Ughhh," Jennifer rubbed her head and she searched for spoon, not that rubbing helped at all. She finally decided to screw the spoon, and just took two gulps of the potion which should probably be about two spoonfuls or so.

"So, the one I can blame is Will for this atrocity?" She was thoroughly embarrassed by how she had acted, and of course she felt horrible right now physically, "What about you? Didn't you- OW" Agh, it was so hard to talk, yelling wasn't an option at all.

----

Sam immediately popped right up, "OHMYGOSHISLEPTINYOURBED!" she said suddenly as she wrapped her arms on Max, "I'm sorry-...!" Then silence, before she fell backwards and cried out, "OW! My head, fudge, oh wow, that hurts, I can't-" She couldn't think, she wasn't even sure why it hurt so much, and her whole body ached.

"M-Max, I don't really want to leave your bed..." she said as she pulled the blanket back over herself up to her nose.

"Didn't I what?" Maxine asked, sounding completely innocent. Oh no, she wasn't going to admit her part in this whole mess. She got the girl her potion and water. It wouldn't be soon enough for her to leave and hopefully get rid of this dumb guilt thing.

"I'm surprised you even remember I was there with how trashed you were," Maxine commented, trying to ease the topic off of her involvement, "Well, you probably don't remember all of it, good thing too."

The blonde gave her a cheeky grin as she closed her suitcase. As bad as she felt, she couldn't resist messing with the girl one last time before she left for winter break.

"Well, I'm heading down to breakfast," She stated before leaving the room, not giving Jenny the opportunity to ask anything about last night.

----

"O-oh! I didn't think..." It didn't occur to Maxwell that his friend would get a hangover. Of course, he probably should have realized it, but with how exuberant Sam always was, a part of him just assumed she'd be immune to things like that, "Do you want me to take you to the nurse? You can't exactly stay in my bed all day..."

"W-wait!" Jennifer called out fruitlessly before recoiling from the pain. She noticed that it was somewhat less now, guess that potion was working, but geez was it taking its time. 'Slightly less painful' really wasn't cutting it for her.

She just rolled sideways and laid down, trying to think of the night before. It was true she didn't remember much, but she knows more or less what it was that happened. Will... that horrible boy put something in the punch. She thought something tasted fishy, and she was mad. Well, for now she just tried to sleep some more, would probably feel better as time passed.

----

"Ggghhh," Sam rolled over a bit, "Bbbwwwuuuuuhhhh," She didn't like how this felt at all, "Maaaax, ok, fine, take me where you think I should go," She looked up at him with puppy-like eyes, big and wide and just sad looking. They were really in contrast with how messed up the rest of her appearance was from the impromptu passing out in Max's bed.

----

Bart shrugged, "Not really. I don't have any need for going home, so as it stands I'll just be staying here at Hogwarts. I believe I'll just use this time for studying," he put his hand on his chin, nodding, "Yeah, maybe practice a bit of spellcasting. I was never quite as good at the practical bits, this'll be a great chance for me to catch up," His thoughts also drifted to possibly practicing flying, something he hadn't been that great at really. He wasn't really interested though, and figured it'd never come up for him to master such a thing anyway.

While Maxwell helped his friend to the nurse, his sister blissfully enjoyed her breakfast. She was happy to be getting home and was soon forgetting the events of last night and this morning. Well, not really, but she didn't feel quite as guilty.

About three hours later, the twins were ready to leave and each bid farewell to their friends. They would be gone for the whole of winter break. Maxine promised to tell them all the adventures she would have, while Maxwell said he would bring them Christmas baking.

With the rambunctious Maxine gone, teachers had hoped things would get quieter. Unfortunately for them, Will was still there so it couldn't have gotten THAT much quieter. Though, with the absence of friends, things wouldn't quite be the same for the others.

There was one person unaffected by it all. A young boy sat in the the library with his feet propped on the table. He wasn't reading, or writing, or doing anything really. In fact, he almost looked like he was asleep. But apparently, he was alert enough to put his feet down whenever the librarian came by.

She would throw suspicious looks at him, certainly expecting the boy to cause some sort of trouble. However, he never did and the woman was only left with a sense of paranoia.

Will had complained at length about how Maxine was a traitor but it had been to no avail - Maxine had gone home regardless. Now Will had been left alone and he decided to spend more time tormenting the other first years, primarily Jennifer, who he suspected to have been less than pleased with his stunt at the party. 

Slughorn was another who wasn't pleased with Will's antics. Will was actually fairly sure that the professor had been watching him, and so had decided to be proactive. Will had distracted Slughorn with a fake note and, whilst he was out of his office, the Gryffindor boy had taped the office furniture to the ceiling.

He was finishing up an armchair and admiring the strength of the tape - as well as how easy the task was with magic - when he heard footsteps.

"Crap," he breathed, dropping into a shadowy alcove in the office. Slughorn entered the dimly illuminated room, muttering about the weather and Hagrid and such - the note Will had dropped off sent the man to meet the Care of Magical Creatures professor despite the pelting rain outside.

"All the way to the forest for noth- what on Earth?" The man gawped as he looked at the ceiling. "Who in their right mind..." Will had a strange feeling that Slughorn knew exactly who. 

As the potions master surveyed the damages, Will took his opportunity and bolted out the door. He wasn't quiet and heard a cry of "Hey!" behind him as he shut the door to delay his pursuant.

His natural athleticism meant that Slughorn wasn't really going to catch him but he also risked having another teacher spot him. The halls were relatively empty for an afternoon and he travelled a flight of stairs, eventually reaching the library. He evaded Madam Pince's line of sight, swiped a book out of a random pile and sat at a desk behind a bookshelf which only had one other, very relaxed person at it.

"I haven't seen him come in, Horace," Will heard Pince say. Shit, Slughorn was here. He wiped his sweaty face on his robes.

"Excuse me then," came Slughorn's reply only for Pince's irritated voice to sound out again.

"Are you suggesting that I am not reliable enough to note if someone has entered my library?" Slughorn had tried to walk past Pince who had taken it as an insult. For a moment, Will was optimistic - Pince was frosty at the best of times. However, he underestimated how wound up Slughorn was, as the teacher ignored the librarian stonily and walked through the library. Will buried himself in his book.

"Carter!" Slughorn boomed, eliciting an annoyed hiss from the librarian.

"Careful sir, it's the library," Will said, glibness not betraying his nervousness. He didn't fear the repercussions, but the failure associated with being caught.

"What are the odds that someone would pull a juvenile prank on my office and that, whilst pursuing the individual, I'd find you at the end of the trail."

"No idea, sir, I'm not too great with numbers." Slughorn scowled and Will took a moment to appreciate how he'd managed to twist this usually jovial and agreeable individual into an irate mess.

"So you're telling me you have nothing to do with what happened in my office?"

"I wish I could help, professor," he replied, "But I've been sat here, reading all afternoon." The professor directed a slightly softened glare at the relaxed individual sat across from Will. 

"Mr. Kearney isn't it? Has he been here all afternoon?"

Jenny had been quite upset at Maxine's departure without anything more than what she gave. She was quite sure that Maxine was involved in the punch escapade, but at this point Jenny was just telling herself to be happy she didn't have to deal with her for a while. It wasn't working. Well, except when talking to Laura. Despite her thoughts about Laura's position, she had to admit it was nice actually hanging out with someone finally.

Jenny glared at Will as he entered. That boy deserved whatever Slughorn had in store for him, and then some, "Ugh, can you believe he's already making more trouble?" Then Laura asked to leave, and she looked up and noticed Gabriel. Yeah, forget that, "Alright," She responded, getting up with her to leave. Gabriel was likely to get to them before they left if they didn't hurry though.

Liam raised an eyebrow at Will who had suddenly appeared at his table. He recognized the Gryffindor from a few classes. He was surprised not to see him with his usual partner in crime, but she was probably home for the holidays. When Slughorn came in after him, the ravenclaw put two and two together.

Liam glanced over to Will then looked straight at Slughorn, his expression as honestly serious as he could muster, "Yes, sir. In fact, we were just discussing the merits of muggle sweets over wizard sweets. Maybe you can help us, sir? Don't you think the surprise of booger flavored jelly beans are so much more exciting than boring, predictable muggle candy?"

Slughorn looked briefly homicidal and then settled into a cool placidity at an unsettling speed. "Very well. I shall see you both in lesson." 

No way it was that easy, Will thought. He had hoped for, at best, plausible deniability. But had Slughorn actually bought it?

"Oh, and Carter?"

"Yes sir?"

"I'm watching you." As the Potions professor left, Will speculated that he'd have been a lot more intimidated if he weren't been threatened by an absurd looking walrus man. When he was sure it was clear, he turned to his momentary accomplice.

"Cheers mate, I'd be scrubbing the trophy room clean all week if he had gotten me. I'd never have been seen if Maxine hadn't ditched me! Oh, I'm Will, Will Carter. Kearney, right?" Slughorn had mentioned the boy's last name and Will recognised him from around the castle but couldn't recall his first name.

Just as they started towards the exit; Gabriel circled in front of them. Looks like she wasn't getting out of this confrontation.

"Langley, fancy meeting you here. Lets talk," he said.

He didn't sound particularly excited to be talking to her. In fact, it sounded more like he was attempting to rush through the conversation as quickly as possible. As if talking to her was some kind of chore.

"Gabriel, what do you want?" she said.

"I'd like you to talk to Will for me. Those chimaeras are still out there; and..."

And Gabriel wanted an excuse to hang out with Will. So he wanted Laura to help him set up another stupidly dangerous excursion into he woods.

"I can't do that," said Laura. "Jenny and I are busy... uh..."

She looked at Jenny; hoping Jenny would be able to come up with an excuse.

Jenny looked at Laura like a deer in headlights before following up once she realized what was going on, "St-studying! Yes, studying for sure," Jenny said, mentally facepalming herself. Even IF he bought it he wouldn't leave them alone to study. Instead she put on a stern expression and turned to her treasured first resort.

"Now out of our way, heathen, we've got things to do," She stated, glaring him down like he was a piece of trash that fell in her lap.

Once the teacher and librarian had left, the young irish boy raised his legs back onto the table and leaned back. Will Carter, huh? To think he'd be bailing out the infamous gryffindor first year. Well, it wasn't like he didn't have fun messing with the ol' slug. He never liked people like Slughorn, someone so shallowly ambitious.

"Liam," He answered, placing his arms behind his head, "'m Liam Kearney. You were that suit of armor at Sluggy's party. I recognize your voice."

"Oh yeah," Will grinned. He couldn't help but notice Liam's body language was not unlike his own: completely confident. But whereas Will went and dominated a room (or acted like he did) and was generally arrogant enough to believe everyone automatically loved him or was wrong, Liam just didn't seem to care if anyone else was in the room. Will could respect that alternative (but of course, lesser) form of coolness.

"Hey, have you been in the Forbidden Forest yet?" And as Will and Liam began bonding over general disregard for the rules, carnage ensued in the school.
_____
Oh how he hated everyone in this school. These ungrateful little bastards and their little twigs, running around, so happy. So fortunate. He couldn't imagine his only grievances with life being that he couldn't be bothered finishing a transfiguration essay. Or that he hadn't been picked for the Quidditch team. Or that Timothy was snogging Sarah, which was not cool because one of them was supposed to be dating Phillip. When his brothers got their letters this was all he had dreamed of. Eleven years of dreams.

Sweat dripped down his bald head onto his lips and he licked it up. Salty. The device in his hand was a small wooden box with several coloured buttons and dials. It was magical but he didn't create it - he couldn't of course. He adjusted the invisibility cloak over himself and sat next to the cabinet. He glanced into it. Trophies. A large, oak board behind him listed names: Percy Ignatius Weasley, James Potter, Albus Dumbledore, were just a few. In the same gold lettering, but larger, it read Head Boys. He'd always told his mum that he'd be the greatest student Hogwarts had ever seen. His name should have been up there.

This would be the perfect place.

The two beasts were in cages that floated whilst he pulled them along. Enchanted for him, again. The invisibility cloak he was under covered the cages as well. In fact, he had made it himself from one of the animals' siblings. Well, several of them actually.

He opened the cages and fed the animals a pill each. The monkey looking animal stood awoken first. It looked angry. It looked at its captor.

"Ooh aaaaaah!" the Demiguise writhed in pain and the Tebo that awoke looked in curiosity. It bolted and the man pressed another button, causing the same reaction in the warthog-like beast.

"Now, my pretties," he licked his lips. "Let's see what you can do..." He pressed another two buttons. And the animals disappeared. He reached up to the board and to outsiders it'd seem like words were randomly appearing on the Head Boy wall as, 34 years after the castle had failed him, Norman Grort finally left his mark on Hogwarts.

Jennifer would've never backed down to any threats, but she didn't get a chance to say anything before things got weird. When the second book was thrown she looked to see who had tried hurting Laura, but was then pulled along, "What is going on?" she kept pace with Laura but only barely, "Was that peeves or something?"

----

"Hymie I'm pretty sure that story has nothing to do with Christmas," Bart sighed, having just listened to Hymie describe some christmas origin story or other. Or was it just a fairy tale version? Regardless he didn't really feel like putting much thought into it.

"Anyway, we-" before he could say anything more, he felt something slam into the front of his leg, "OW, whoa!" He cried out in pain and shock as he fell to the ground, grabbing his leg from the stinging he felt, "Wait, what just happened?" He could swear he heard snorting of some sort too. What was that?

Liam furrowed his eyebrows as books were suddenly being thrown about the library. Was it Peeves? If that's the case, that was surely odd. The poltergeist rarely made this much trouble in the library. Possibly due to Madam Pince managing to be pretty scary when annoyed.

Just as he was thinking this, something bumped into his chair, nearly knocking him out of it. The Ravenclaw jumped up and looked about the floor, but could see nothing. "What's all this malarkey?"

Will instantly grasped his nose. "I bet it's Peeves, protect your nose!" He shouted. Peeves had a nasty habit of turning invisible and grabbing one's nose.

"Oohaaaahh!" The invisible thing snarled. Will threw a book in the direction of the sound and it hit the thing, although he couldn't tell where. "AAAAAHHHH!" 

The table Will and Liam were sat at flipped over and Will dived backwards and drew his wand. "Flipendo!" He cast the knockback jinx at the table, back into the invisible monster. 

"What on earth is going on?" Madam Pince shrieked from the end of the row of books they were sat at. Her eyes narrowed at the two boys and she opened her mouth to go thermonuclear but was bowled over by rampaging invisible force. "Hey!"

He ignored her and looked at Liam. "It's moving, let's follow it!" He ran in the direction that the trail of carnage led him.

The moment Will and Liam ran off; Gabriel got up to run after them. It wasn't that he wanted to fight monsters with them. Nor did he want to spend time with Will and... whoever this person Will was hanging out with was.

He just wanted to make damned sure that if anyone was going to hex the damned beast, it was going to be him.

--

For a second, Laura considered just letting Will and company chase down the... thing. She really had no reason to follow them. Plus, someone should probably stay behind to help out Madam Pince.

It was that last thought that convinced her to take her chances with the invisible monster. She turned to Jenny.

"Make sure Madam Pince is ok," she said, before running off after them.

--

"Whoa, you ok bro?" said Hymie, as his friend suddenly fell. 

As he turned to help his friend; something slammed into his leg; knocking him to the ground. Ok, something bad was definitely going on here. 

"Not cool Peeves," he said, looking around for any sign of the poltergeist.

Laura left. Laura left, and there were books flying everywhere, some invisible monster, and madame Pince was pretty peeved.

"W-wait, Laura!" she called after her, but no use. She glanced over at Madame Pince, who looked like she was going to explode, "Uh, you're alright, right? Ok, good, I'll go get Will since this is probably his fault and certainly had nothing to do with me!" Having covered these simple facts, Jenny took off after the other kids.

"Wait!" Madame Pince called out, but like Jenny before her, no use! She was likely to go find other teachers to help sort this mess, Jenny figured.

----

"I don't think this is Peeves, this isn't quite... like him," Bart said logically, standing up, "And I SWEAR I can hear snorting. It's likely something else," Bart tried to think back to his studies, but while he was busy sorting out in his head what this could be he found himself face first in the ground again, and this time the snorting was loud, and there was squeeling, "Hymie, guh, we need to get out of here!" He stood up, but was limping now. His leg really hurt, but he didn't have time to check what was wrong, he was too scared now for that.

Liam nodded and followed after Will. He noticed two girls from the library were also running after them. Acquaintances of Will? He was certain he saw them with him a few times. Ah well, if they wanted to follow them into whatever danger they were getting into, it was really none of his business.

"Do ya know any spells that can stop that thing?" It was a logical question. One he was almost certain he was going to get a 'no' to, but it wouldn't hurt to ask at least.

"No," Will replied. Turning stuff visible wasn't his forte, hitting things was, and he couldn't hit what he couldn't see. He noticed the thing distorted the air slightly but not enough for Will to hit it with the spells he was using. 

They reached a dark hallway with flickering torches as the only illumination and two exits, one through a door that was shut and the other through the door behind him. The thing was cornered! 

As Gabriel, Laura and Jennifer appeared Will frowned. "What are you guys doing here?" He didn't really listen for their reply as he slowly approached the other side of the room. The darkness made it difficult to spot the distortion in the air. "Stay there guys, block the exit." 

Something clicked in his mind and he remembered his magic. "Lumos!" The tip of his wand out in front of him lit up. Not much help but better. He saw a shimmer by door when he reached 12 feet away. "There! Flipendo!" The spell made a thud. 

"Ahh ooooh!" The thing shouted. How did it open a door?  And then it opened the door. 

"What the hell! Alright, someone go back and look up invisible animals!" With that he bolted after the thing.

Jenny was shocked that they were apparently going to chase down this creature without her, or rather, were apparently going to go chase down this creature instead of getting someone who knew what they were doing to do it instead, "You're all crazy..." Jenny shook her head, more determined to keep up with what ridiculousness was going on than to go off and read books.

But... maybe it made more sense? Or at least, Laura seemed up for it apparently, which made Jenny bite her nail, "Ugh... alright Laura, but we have to be quick about it! We don't want anyone losing house po-, er, getting hurt!" She turned and led the way to the library, trying to move away before Laura could comment on the oddity in her sentence.

------

Bart cried out in pain, every time he stepped on his right leg it sent a shock through him, but the fact of everything going on was giving him an adrenaline rush, "Ok, sure! Yeah! Teachers would help! I'll go find somebody!" He went as fast as he could, his limp getting worse as he realized he was terrible at ignoring pain. He was fighting back tears at this point, but he had to do it! Hymie stayed behind, and he-

Wait, Hymie stayed behind! Dangit all, for all his cool talking he actually could back it up. Bart was impressed when it came down to it, but now was a time to make sure someone was going to go back him up, "Help! Assistance is needed please!" He called out, hoping for any answer at all.

"What's the matter? Why are you ye- oh dear heavens!" The headmistress McGonagall herself came around the corner, seemingly already heading somewhere, "What happened to you, boy? Are you alright?"

"Ah, yeah, I just need to-" Bart tried to explain what was going on but was cut off.

"We'll get you to the hospital wing at once, but tell me what happened on the way," She went to help grab Bart, but he shook his head and stepped back.

"No! Hymie's in trouble, something attacked us! Someone needs to help him!" Bart cried out, shouting almost as if it would help fight back the pain.

McGonagall was confused at the idea of something attacking students, but didn't let it distract her at all as she asked, "Where?" Bart pointed down the hall and McGonagall immediately pulled out her wand and headed towards where Hymie was, "Child, make your way to the hospital wing immediately!" She called back. It would only be a moment before she reached where Hymie was.

Bart looked back and forth from where McGonagall had come from, and where she was headed, and after a moment of thinking, he decided to follow after her. He needed to make sure Hymie was ok.

Liam looked between Will and the girls. It seemed they decided to take it upon themselves to research the creature. In that case, he would go with the other boy. Even if it was to mostly make sure he didn't get himself hurt.

"Get a teacher while, you're at it," He said to Jenny and Laura before taking off after Will.

The invisible beast had disappeared at a crossroads. Will waved his wand around, light illuminating the hall and trying to find the telltale shimmer of invisibility. Nothing. 

However, he did spot Bart limping along. "Bart! What happened man?" he asked, alarmed. Had the thing gotten to him too? They needed to stop it, and soon.
______
The dimly lit hallways passed in a blur. It looked down and only saw distorted stone where its invisible body raced forth. It was angry, so so angry. Humans had hurt it, poked and prodded it and now it wanted revenge. So, it turned and went back to where the humans had gathered before, where the humans had started chasing it. And no one would be in the way.

Jenny nodded, "Alright, and stop shortening my name, but, how are we supposed to go through this book fast enough to be useful?" She got the book from Laura, laid it on a table where they both could see and began skimming through the pages, "I just don't see this as being likely to help much and hey is this an invisible monkey?" She pointed at a page labelled "Demiguise". It had a picture of an ape with silver hair turning itself partially invisible.

"...That was way too convenient," Jenny said, but now they at least knew this was an ape. What else might the page say about them?

Suddenly there was a noise behind them, and Jenny looked back, "What is that?" Is it back? Great, they didn't have time to figure out what to do.

-----------

Bart was startled by the appearance of even more people, "Ah, it's strange, there's something you can't see just ramming right into us! Me and Hymie, it attacked me and Hymie this way, I was going to get help," He kept moving, leading the others towards where it happened.

---

McGonagall came around the corner and found one of her students on the floor. That was all she needed to see to obtain a face of fury, "Mister Rodolfo, step back if you would," she waved her wand, wordlessly, and all one would hear is the sudden squealing of a hog and a thud against a wall, "What in blazes is this Tebo doing in our school?" Asking nobody in particular, she waved her wand again, forcing it visible. There laid a hog the color of ash, but clearly looked pissed off about something, "Well it won't be hurting anyone now. Hagrid'll know what to do with it," she turned to Hymie, worry showing on her face as the fury of facing the hog moved away, "Are you alright?"

"Yea', we're followin' one now," This was the first time Liam has ever spoken to his fellow Ravenclaw. Despite being in the same year, Bart was just one of the many students who never really interacted with the musical wizard.

He looked down and noticed the way Bart didn't seem to put any of his weight on his right leg. For a moment, he debated on is it was really his concern. It wasn't like he knew the other boy. But he didn't seem like the bad sort and it wasn't like Liam had any reason to dislike him.

Silently, he walked up to Bart and put an arm around him, giving him support off his leg, "You're hurt, walkin' on it will just make it worse."

Damn, if McGonagall was on the case their invisible beastie wouldn't last a second! "Let's go see if they found anything at the library!" He urged, dashing off, ignoring Bart's injury and effectively abandoning them both. He didn't think of that as he sped through the halls towards the library, desperate to get to the animal before McGonagall. And for that, he needed clues.

He burst into the library and clattered into something. "Ow!" He complained, springing to his feet with his wand drawn.

The impact winded Madam Pince and she gasped for air. "Oops, erm... sorry!" Will hastily apologised before fleeing deeper into the library. A few shelves back he found Jenny and Laura. "Yo, what did you find?" I asked, somewhat impatiently without noticing his target was present.
________
Grort shuffled out of the castle. He had abandoned the cages in a broom closet and wrapped his invisibility cloak tightly around himself. He paused when someone went by just to be safe. When the gifted ones walked by. 

How he loathed them.

A boy sprinted by, standing on the one loose bit of fabric on his cloak and tearing it. 

Grort seethed and withdrew a knife. It'd be so easy to trip this little bastard and end him right there. He'd be dead before his tiny little brain had thought to withdraw his wand. But no, now was not the time.

A splash of crimson hit the floor. The knife had nicked him as he shoved it back into his pocked.

"Bah," he hissed, reaching to wipe it off the floor. Just then, he heard a voice that he recognised as Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress. There was nothing to do but flee.

And so he scurried out of the school that had scorned him.