Eloise stared miserably into the mirror at her reflection. She had been humiliated yet again, this time by Peeves coming up to her and pretending to think her face was a slice of pizza. She, for once, was on Filch's side. Why couldn't Peeves just be expelled??!? Really, though, Peeves wasn't the problem. It was everyone else.... especially Ron Weasley! She had had a crush on him since the first day she saw him, but he didn't seem to notice she existed, except when he was making fun of her nose. So what if it was off-centre? She bet he would have tried to do something if he had as many zits as she did. She wished she had never tried to do anything with her acne in the first place, though, because despite her misplaced nose, she still had pimples all over her face.



Every day, Eloise woke up to more teasing, snotty remarks about her "issue", as her best and only friend, Marietta Millen, called her horrible acne. Marietta always told her just to ignore the comments, but that was easy for her to say. Marietta was pretty, slim, funny, and basically the only reason Eloise came back to Hogwarts every year. Sure, Eloise was smart, but nobody paid any attention to that- except Marietta. Eloise was surprised that she had Marietta for a friend, since they were so opposite in everything. After all, that day on the Hogwarts Express, Marietta had been surrounded by friends before she even noticed Eloise, so why should she reach out to the one girl no one wanted to be around? Anyway, Eloise guessed one friend was better than none, and Marietta was the best friend she could possibly have.



"You still in there? I hope you're not trying to fix your face again, because this time you might end up with tentacles instead of zits. Actually, though, that might make an improvement," Alice, one of Eloise's fellow Hufflepuffs, snickered from outside the bathroom. Alice, Marietta, Eloise, Renny, Lucy, Susan, and Hannah, All shared the same dormitory, unfortunately for Eloise. She would have rather had a room to herself than share with the three meanest girls in Hufflepuff: Alice, Lucy, and Renny. Sure, they were popular, they got all the boys, and were always invited to everything. Therefore, they were Eloise's natural enemy. Susan and Hannah were fairly nice, at least, they never made fun of Eloise. On the other hand, they never stuck up for her, either.



"I'm almost done," Eloise responded wearily. She took one last morose glance in the mirror and walked back into the dorm room.



"Hey, Loie, are you ready to go down for breakfast? I want to ask Patrick something," Marietta glanced away nervously, something she did very rarely.



"Yeah, sure. Why such eagerness to talk to Patrick?" Eloise grinned at Marietta. "You wouldn't happen to have a crush on him, now would you?"



"Shut it," Marietta blushed deeply.



"Ah.... I thought so," Eloise teased.



An all-too-familiar voice interrupted one of Eloise's few moments when she was not being teased. "What would you know about stuff like that, Nosy? You've never had a boyfriend... I mean, who would go out with you? Ummm.. let's see," Lucy contorted her face in mock concentration. "Oh yeah... No one!"



Eloise's smile vanished and she stalked out of the room, her eyes brimming with tears. Marietta shot a disgusted look at the three girls and followed her out of the room.



"Come on, Loie. You know how they are... heartless gits. I can't believe she said that to you," Marietta sympathized as she and Eloise walked down to breakfast. Eloise shot her a look. "Actually, I can, but still... You shouldn't pay any attention to them. I'm positive you'll find someone for you eventually. Everyone does."



Eloise raised her eyebrows, and Marietta realized that no matter what she told her friend, Eloise wasn't going to believe her until she found out for herself. Marietta could still remember the day she had met Eloise. It had been so long ago...



"Come on, Marietta, there's room in our compartment," Jenny beckoned to her from the compartment door, as she brushed a midnight-black curl away from her eyes. "Come sit with us!" Marietta was overwhelmed. When she ran through the barrier to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, Marietta never imagined being as popular as she was now, only fifteen minutes later. Standing on the platform by herself, three girls immediately came up to her and announced that they were her friends. Marietta now had, in the space of fifteen minutes, plenty of new friends, although she'd barely met some of them. As she was about to go with Jenny, Marietta glanced over her shoulder and saw a short girl standing by herself with a huge trunk that she couldn't seem to lift. The girl had pimples all over her face and looked very lonely.



"Hold on, I'll be there in a minute," Marietta called to Jenny.



"Well hurry up, you wouldn't want your seat taken!" Jenny disappeared back into the compartment, but Marietta had already walked over to the girl standing by herself.



"What's your name?" Marietta asked her. The girl glanced up, looking surprised to be spoken to.



"Eloise Midgen," Eloise spoke in barely a whisper.



"I'm Marietta. Need some help with that?" Marietta pointed to Eloise's trunk.



"Sure, thanks," Eloise smiled shyly, as though she wasn't used it. Eloise and Marietta picked up the trunk, and with their combined efforts, got it onto the train.



"Well where do you want to sit? I was going to sit in there, so if you want to come with me," Marietta gestured toward Jenny's compartment. Eloise nodded silently and followed Marietta into the compartment, dragging her trunk behind her.



"There you are, Marietta! I was just telling Hannah about you. She's in first year too," Jenny said, gesturing to a slightly chubby blond-haired girl, who smiled and waved. "But... who's that behind you?" Jenny said, sounding slightly disgusted.



"This is Eloise. I told her she could sit with us," Marietta replied defensively.



Jenny raised her eyebrows. "Suit yourself." Turning to Eloise, she said, "You can sit over there," in a tone that clearly indicated that she would rather have Eloise leave. Eloise hung her head and started to leave.



"No, come back," Marietta called. "It's okay, you can sit here." Marietta patted the seat beside her. Eloise smiled gratefully and sat down.



"Three years ago... it seems like forever," Marietta thought. She glanced at Eloise. "You okay there?"



Eloise nodded. "I wish they would just leave me alone."



A/N: Please review and thanks for reading!

"Let's go see what's for breakfast, shall we?" Marietta said. "I'm hungry."

Eloise nodded. "Sounds good to me."

The post was arriving just as Eloise and Marietta walked into the Entrance Hall.

"D'you see Mercury?" Marietta asked, looking for her brown owl among the many owls as they sat down at the Hufflepuff table.

"No, I don't see Viator either," Eloise said, also looking for her owl. Marietta chuckled.

"I still can't believe what you named that poor owl," Marietta laughed. "I feel so sorry for her."

"I've told you at least a hundred times, just look it up in a Latin-English dictionary and you'll get it," Eloise said, still looking at the ceiling. "It's not such a bad name for an owl once you know what it means."

"Which is what?"

"Messenger, of course," Eloise said.

Marietta rolled her eyes. "Of course."

* * * * *

Just as Eloise and Marietta were standing up to leave breakfast, Patrick walked up to them, trying to look as though he hadn't been watching Marietta from his end of the Hufflepuff table.

"Hey there, Marietta," he called. "Hi, Eloise." Patrick was tall and lanky, with curly brown hair. Eloise thought he was okay, because even if he didn't like her all that much, at least he wasn't rude like everyone else, though Eloise suspected that might just be because of Marietta.

"Hey Patrick," Marietta smiled shyly.

"Hi," Eloise said, looking at the ceiling and trying not to laugh good-naturedly at how smitten her friend was.

"So, what've you been doing?" Patrick asked Marietta.

"Oh, not much really. Homework, mostly. I can't believe how much McGonagall gave us last week, and it's all due today!"

"Yeah, I know," Patrick nodded emphatically, never taking his eyes off Marietta.

"Um, Patrick? Have you seen the notice board?" Marietta blushed again.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, Hogsmeade's this weekend, and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to... you know," Marietta fidgeted nervously, another thing she did very rarely.

"Go to Hogsmeade with you? I'd love to," Patrick grinned.

"Okay... see you then," Marietta smiled and turned away, almost skipping out of the Entrance Hall. Eloise followed at a slower pace at first, watching her friend wistfully, then ran to catch up.

"Wow, I can't believe you have a date with Patrick!" Eloise smiled enthusiastically for Marietta.

"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?" Marietta said, pretending to be offended.

"Oh, come on, Marietta, it's supposed to mean that you've liked him for nearly forever and never gone out with him!" Eloise laughed, playing along.

"Alright then," Marietta said, "that's okay." She paused, then reflected, "Well, I have. And it's kind of strange, I guess, because I could probably get almost any boy I want, but I can't believe it either. He's so cute and nice, and so tall... and a year older than me."

"Lucky you," Eloise said wistfully.

"Why, what do you mean?" Marietta asked.

"Oh, well, it's just that I'm so unpopular and nobody likes me, and you... you're just the opposite," Eloise said, somewhat morosely.

"You don't hold it against me, do you?" Marietta said anxiously.

"Oh no, of course not." Eloise smiled, but Marietta could tell that at times like these, Eloise did, if only a tiny bit.

* * * * *

"This is disgusting," Marietta exclaimed during Herbology a few minutes later, gesturing to the bubotuber she was squeezing. "Eloise?"

Eloise had been staring in the direction of a certain red-haired Gryffindor boy, but snapped her head around at the sound of Marietta's voice. "Oh yes," she said vaguely, "disgusting."

"What's up with you?" Marietta asked, looking at Eloise carefully. Then she realized who Eloise had gone back to staring at. "Oh... Never mind." Eloise jerked to attention again.

"Sorry," Eloise grinned sheepishly, "I'll try to be more alert." The rest of the lesson passed cheerfully, the girls chatting about anything and everything. At least, cheerfully until the end of the lesson.

"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy," said Professor Sprout, as she put a stopper the last bottle. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, Bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."

"Like poor Eloise Midgen," said Hannah Abbott, a fellow Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. "She tried to curse hers off."

"Silly girl," said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. "But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end."

Ron muttered from across the room, "Did she really try to curse them off? How stupid!" He snickered, not appearing to care or even know that Eloise was present.

"How can they talk about me like I'm not even there?" Eloise thought, jumping up from her seat as soon as the bell rang seconds later, running out of the greenhouse before anyone could see the tears in her eyes- not that anyone would notice. She was already in the Owlery, her favourite place to sit down and cry, when Marietta caught up to her.

"Loie-"

"St-stop it!" Eloise drew a great, shuddering breath. "You never do anything, just sit there and listen to them insult me, watch them act like I'm not there!"

"Eloise, please listen to me-" Eloise cut her off again.

"I told you, stop it!" Eloise snapped. Marietta just stared at her. She had never seen her friend this angry before. Eloise looked up and saw the expression on Marietta's face. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know it's not your fault. You do stick up for me, it's just that..." She turned away again, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I know," Marietta said softly, "I know. But listen, we have Transfiguration next, and you don't want to be late for your favourite subject."

Eloise sniffed, wiping away her tears. She smiled bravely. "I guess not." She and Marietta ran the rest of the way to Transfiguration as if they had only seconds to get there.

Eloise sighed. She was in the Hufflepuff common room doing her two-foot long Potions essay, and it was hours past her usual bedtime. She had been up for hours doing her homework, but it didn't seem like she had gotten very far.

"Eloise..." Marietta croaked her name from the other side of the common room, "can you help me with this?"

Eloise got up wearily. "Sure. What is it?"

"Transfiguration," Marietta groaned.

Eloise walked over and looked at Marietta's parchment. "Here, what she's asking is for you to explain the properties of Switching Spells. All you have to do is write what she lectured on in class today. Easy, right?"

Marietta goggled at her. "I can't remember her whole lecture!"

"And you ask me why I take notes?" Eloise rolled her eyes. "Here, copy my notes. But this is the last time! You need to start taking your own."

"Well, I was busy," Marietta muttered.

Eloise chuckled at her best friend. "Yeah, real busy… practically writing a novel to Patrick. I'm surprised McGonagall didn't catch you. She will one of these days, and then you'll be in trouble. Or maybe not. Maybe then you'll actually take notes." Both girls knew Eloise wouldn't really stop letting Marietta copy notes, especially since she had been using the "last time" remark since first year.

"Hey, did you hear about what happened to Malfoy?" Marietta asked, suddenly alert. "No… What?" Eloise asked curiously. She and Marietta both hated Malfoy, as did most of the Hufflepuffs.

Marietta snorted. "Get this… he tried to curse Potter when his back was turned, but Moody was watching and turned Malfoy into a ferret!" She and Eloise burst out laughing. "And that's not even the best part! Moody bounced him up and down on the floor of the Entrance Hall until McGonagall came and stopped him. I heard McGonagall about lost it, but it was so worth it!" Marietta collapsed into laughter, nearly falling out of her armchair.

"That's hilarious! I wish I'd been there... Wait, was Ron there?" Eloise asked, suddenly sobering.

"What? Oh, I dunno, probably seeing as he’s Harry's best friend. Oh wait, I think someone mentioned something about how Ron muttered something about wanting to fix that moment in his mind forever," Marietta finally stopped cackling.

"Oh, well, I guess I wouldn't want to be there," Eloise amended.

Marietta shook her head sadly. "You know you should get over him. No offense or anything, but it's not like you have any chance with him."

"Or anyone else. Stupid acne."

"It's not your fault, it's just that no one but me sees past your face. If you did, the whole school would be starting an Eloise Fan Club." Marietta patted her friend on the back.

"Those Creevey boys would probably be glad to organize it," Eloise joked. "Aren't they the ones that are always following Harry Potter around?"

"I think so," Marietta said, "but I don't think they do it quite as much as they used to. Well, I'll get back to my note to Patrick."

"You mean your Transfiguration essay?"

"Of course that's what I meant," Marietta said guiltily. "It's much more interesting."

"Tsk, tsk... Sarcasm will get you nowhere with me," Eloise jokingly reprimanded. "I'll finish my Potions."

Marietta sat bolt upright. "What?! We have Potions? I completely forgot!"

"Yes, the essay due next week."

"Oh, that one. You’re already working on it?" Marietta asked incredulously.

"Yes, and that's why I have free time on the weekends and you don't."

Marietta shrugged. "Whatever you say."

The girls worked silently for twenty minutes or so, then Eloise spoke. "You know what? It's only Monday. I have the rest of the week to do this. Good night, Marietta."

"What? Oh, good night. I'll be up when I get this done."

Eloise strode over to Marietta. "You've only got this much done? Here, copy mine."

Marietta sighed, relieved. "Thank you soooo much! I'll never leave my homework this late again."

"Don't worry. I won't take you at your word," Eloise joked.

"Yeah, yeah. Hilarious."

* * *

"Marietta, wake up! Come on, we have Potions in ten minutes!" Eloise shook Marietta.

"I'm sleeping," grunted Marietta.

"Oh no, you're not! Didn't you hear me? Potions in ten minutes!"

Marietta sat bolt upright. "WHAT? Why didn't you wake me before this?!"

"I tried," Eloise explained, "but you just muttered something and went back to sleep. Breakfast's over, but I brought you some toast. You can eat it on the way to class."

"My hair--"

"Your hair can wait."

"But we have--"

"Yes, we have Potions with Patrick." Eloise dragged Marietta out the portrait hole. "Here-- take the toast. And here are your books. Now come on!" Marietta sprinted to Potions and slipped inside just before Snape shut the door.

"Nearly late, girls," Snape sneered. "Miss Midgen.... I would have thought you would know better. Two points from Hufflepuff. One for each of you."

"What? But we weren't even late!" Marietta exclaimed.

"If you would have walked to class like you're supposed to, you would have been," Snape said dismissively, turning his back on them and facing the class.

"Today, we will be discussing Babbling Beverages and their dangers. The Babbling Beverage is a commonly used potion by the Ministry of Magic. Can any of you dimwits imagine why? Yes, Midgen?"

"The Ministry uses Babbling Beverages to make people talk. For example, in 1784, Minstron Migglester was-"

"Enough. You may recall I did not ask you for an example, merely an answer. Is that too difficult for you?" Snape sneered. "Oh... and by the way, some of you might do well to take notes." Snape looked pointedly to Marietta, who was staring across the room at Patrick, who was staring back and making Marietta blush. "If you do not find my class interesting enough to suit you, you may remain after class and help me disembowel things you've never heard of before. Would that be more interesting?"

"No thank you, sir," Marietta muttered. She glanced up and saw Patrick smile at her again from behind Snape's back. She tried not to smile, but Snape noticed and whirled around.

"Peterson! Would you like to join Millen in her disembowelment project, since you enjoy her company so much?"

"No sir. Sorry." Patrick looked straight ahead.

"Very well... your ingredients and method are on the board. Begin." Snape sat at his desk, glaring at each student who dared to talk.

* * *

"Time's up! Put your potion in a vial if it is... possible to do so," Snape sneered at a short Hufflepuff who was staring at his cauldron in dismay-- his potion had vanished when he added the last ingredient. The Hufflepuff gulped. "Are you quite sure you're not related to Longbottom? Although, I must say, you seem to be rather more fortunate... at least you managed to escape visible… damage.”

Everyone put their vials on Snape's desk to be marked and began gathering up their stuff. When the bell rang, everyone shot out the door as fast as they could, eager not to be the next victim of Snape's foul mood. Patrick ran up to Marietta in the corridor outside.

"Sorry about that. I just couldn't resist." He grinned down at Marietta. She blushed again.

Eloise cleared her throat, feeling very unnoticed. "Snape was really in a foul mood today. I hope that doesn't affect his grading...I've been trying so hard to get an O in that class, but Snape doesn't seem to like me."

Patrick smiled and shook his head. "Are you kidding? Snape doesn't like anyone if they're not a Slytherin," he remarked ruefully.

"True, but he doesn't hate everyone as much as me," Eloise said.

Marietta laughed to herself, then said, "Hey-- you think Snape hates you, you have one thing to be thankful for."

"And what's that? That I'm alive?" Eloise joked.

"No, silly... that you're not Harry Potter! I've heard Snape hates him more than any other person he's ever met. I wonder why?"

"I don't know, but I heard he hated Potter's dad even more. I heard they went to school together, and apparently they hated each other as much as Malfoy and Potter do. I guess it kind of carried over or something. But why are we talking about Potter again?"

"Because Snape hates me, of course. That has everything to do with Potter, Potter's dad, and Malfoy." Patrick and Marietta both looked puzzled, and Eloise rolled her eyes. "Do I have to explain what sarcasm is? I mean, come on!" All three laughed.

"I have to go to Care of Magical Creatures. See you two later!" Patrick hurried off in the direction of the Entrance Hall.

"He actually talked to me," Eloise said wonderingly.

"He's mine!"

"No, silly, I don't like him like that... but he wasn't just being polite. I think that's the first time somebody here besides you or a teacher has actually talked to me without being rude or making some stupid crack about my ‘problem’. Hey, you never know," she said with a wry smile, "-I might be moving up in the world."

The next morning, Eloise made sure she woke up early enough so she might have a chance of getting Marietta up early enough to actually be on time to their first class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Eloise was curious to see what the new teacher, Moody, would be like. He had stormed in during Dumbledore's welcome speech at the start-of-term feast, something unheard of at Hogwarts. Moody had scared a lot of people already because of the way he looked- his face was covered in scars, a chunk of his nose was missing, and to top it all off, he had one electric blue eye that could see through anything alongside his one regular eye, hence his nickname, Mad-Eye Moody.

"Eloise? You awake?" Marietta croaked groggily.

Eloise threw her covers off and sat up, stretching. "Yeah... I wanted to be up extra early so we could get good seats for Moody's class. We have him first thing after breakfast."

"Oh yeah," Marietta said, rubbing her eyes sleepily, "I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late last night, but..."

"But what?"

"Oh, nothing..." Marietta said dreamily.

"Been doing some late-night snogging? Come on, you can't hide anything from me- I know you too well," Eloise said.

"Fine, I admit it... but he's such a good kisser. And so bloody gorgeous..." Marietta was clearly remembering last night as she brushed her fingers against her lips.

"Well come on, snap out of it. And be ready in fifteen minutes so we can rush to breakfast as usual? Oh, I mean an hour... We don't want to break our record of being late to our first class of the day," Eloise said mock-seriously, watching for Marietta's reaction.

"Make it ten minutes," Marietta said guiltily, "and anyway, we weren't really late."

A short ten minutes later, the two friends were walking down to breakfast, chatting about anything and everything that came to mind, from Patrick to Ron and how he was such a git to how Alice, Lucy and Renny were even bigger gits to how the Evil Crones (Alice, Lucy and Renny) should be the ones doing extra disembowelment detentions for Snape and, finally, to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"I wonder what Mad-Eye's going to be like? I heard he really knows his stuff," Marietta said thoughtfully.

"He'd have to, with that many scars. Seriously, though, I think he sounds kind of senile... I know a lot of people questioned Dumbledore's judgement when he hired Moody. I guess he can't do any permanent damage, though," Eloise said.

"Why not?"

"Didn't you know?" Eloise asked, jumping a trick step. "He's only staying for one year. I heard he made some kind of deal with Dumbledore."

"Hmmm..." Marietta said thoughtfully, "I wonder why he would do that."

"I dunno... Well, here we are."

The girls took walked into the Great Hall and took their usual seats at the Hufflepuff table. Just as they sat down, a tall, good-looking boy walked over to Marietta and Eloise from the Gryffindor table.

"Hi," he said, shaking hands with both Eloise and Marietta, "I'm James Knight." James smiled, his dark, long hair falling just above his gorgeous blue eyes.

Marietta and Eloise glanced at each other curiously, each thinking, "What is he doing here?"

"I'm Marietta," Marietta said.

"I'm Eloise."

"My friend told me about what happened the other day in Herbology, and I just want to say I'm really sorry about what Professor Sprout and Ron said about your... you know... acne." Eloise blushed slightly, remembering how she had rushed out of the class in tears. "You know, I used to have acne worse than you do, but I had a friend get it off for me... Nearly cost me my nose too." Eloise smiled shyly, feeling slightly better. "Anyway, I just wanted to say that even though I don't know Ron, I think he's a total git."

Eloise was shocked but pleased that someone who didn't even know her had actually sided with her. "Thanks," she said, smiling.

"Only the truth," James replied, "See you around?"

"Of course."

As soon as James had sat back down at the Gryffindor table, Marietta turned excitedly to Eloise.

"Wow, that was amazing," Marietta told her friend.

"Yeah, he was gorgeous," Eloise acknowledged.

"No, that's not what I meant... not that it's not true. I meant that was amazing how, well, how cute you looked talking to him. It was like you were completely transformed or something!"

"Yeah, I felt pretty good, too," Eloise said, turning around to glance at James laughing with his friends at the Gryffindor table. "It was just so nice to actually have half a conversation with someone who didn't know me and didn't have any reason to be nice to me."

Marietta smiled at the look on her friend's face. "He seems really nice. You know, you should talk to him again sometime."

Eloise grinned. "I plan to. Well, we better grab some toast and go... I want to be early for Moody's class, and it's... let's see," he glanced at her watch. "Oh no! We only have five minutes to get there if we want to be a full fifteen minutes early!" She stood up hurriedly and began grabbing as much toast as she could carry and still be able to carry her books.

"Whoa, you don't have to be in that much of a hurry. I mean, you can't be late for being early," Marietta said, relaxed.

"Yes I do and yes I can- and you need to hurry up!" Eloise dashed out of the Great Hall, Marietta rolling her eyes and following her.

There were still roughly ten minutes before class was due to start when Eloise and Marietta arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, yet half the class was already there. Eloise and Marietta slipped into seats as close to the front as they could get, which turned out to be about the third row.

"Look- there's Patrick!" Eloise grinned at Marietta, gesturing towards the boy just coming in the door.

"Shut it!" Marietta looked rather embarrassed, as she had been staring in that direction. "You know, I could be teasing you about James, but I'm not, so you owe me."

Eloise rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, it's not like he likes me or anything. I mean, who would? Especially if they were that good-looking. He's got to have plenty of girls after him."

"That doesn't mean a thing and you know it." Marietta showed every sign of continuing, but Moody walked in, and everyone hurried to get out their books, not wanting to miss a thing.

Moody cleared his throat. "You can put all those books away. Defense Against the Dark Arts isn't any good learned out of a book." The students glanced at each other, surprised.

"I know you've all been very well trained in dealing with magical creatures, but as far as I can tell, you haven't learned hardly anything about curses. Is that correct?"

The students muttered their assent.

"So, today we will be studying the Unforgivable Curses. Anyone have an idea what those are?" Eloise's hand shot up.

"Midgen?"

"An Unforgivable Curse is actually a classification of curse. The three Unforgivable Curses are the Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, and Avada Kedavra, otherwise known as the Killing Curse. The Cruciatus Curse-" Eloise would have continued, but Professor Moody cut her off.

"Very good... Five points to Hufflepuff." Eloise beamed as Moody continued, "Also, the Unforgivable Curses are punished with a life sentence in Azkaban, not something to be taken lightly. Now, I am a firm believer that students need to see something to learn about it best, so I have decided to show you the three Unforgivable Curses"

A quavering Ravenclaw's hand raised in the air in the back. "Professor?"

"Yes, Mr. Burchett?"

"Professor, if the Unforgivable Curses are punished with a life sentence in Azkaban, why are you showing them to us?"

"Good question- it's because I think you need to know what it looks like. You need to be prepared. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" The class jumped. "We will be starting with the Cruciatus Curse." Moody drew a jar with three spiders in it from under his desk. "I'll be using these spiders to show you, but they need to be a bit bigger for you to really get the idea of what these curses do. Engorgio!" Moody enlarged each one of the spiders, and several students looked like they were beginning to regret that the seats they had chosen were so close to the front.

Moody ignored the students' reactions and continued, "As Miss Midgen was saying, the Cruciatus Curse is a torture curse. It causes pain that is intolerable, worse than anything you could possibly imagine. The incantation for the Cruciatus Curse is Crucio, and I'm not telling you this so you can try it out on your enemies. Every one of you could point your wands at me and say 'Avada Kedavra' and I wouldn't get so much as a scratch- the Unforgivable Curses take incredible power. I'm telling you because you need to know. You also need to pay attention when I'm speaking, Miss Millen." Marietta jumped and blushed. She had been doodling a M + P in a heart on the corner of her parchment. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody shouted again, drawing a spider out of the jar. "That said, here is the Cruciatus Curse." He pointed his wand at the spider and screamed, "Crucio!" The spider writhed and scrabbled on its back. Though there was no sound, you could tell the spider was in immense pain. Several students looked like they were about to throw up. Moody lifted his wand and the spider stopped moving, limp. He brushed it into the dustbin.

Moody followed with the Imperius Curse, under which students performed a variety of tricks such as break dancing on top of a table, rapping a love song about Moaning Myrtle, hopping about the room on one hand, and other various things unlikely under normal circumstances. Not one of the students was able to resist the curse even slightly. After all the students had taken their turn, Moody raised a hand for silence.

"You might think the Imperius Curse is funny, but there's nothing funny about having absolutely no control over yourself. I don't imagine you'd be laughing if I was a Death Eater forcing you to murder your best friend, would you?" The class was quiet. "No, I didn't think so. Moving on, the Avada Kedavra curse is really quite simple to explain. It is the Death Curse, and no one has ever survived it- the exception, of course, being Harry Potter. You might ask why I'm showing it to you if there's no escaping it, but as I said before, you need to know. So, Avada Kedavra!" There was a flash of green light and the spider rolled over on its back, dead. Then, the bell rang. Everyone hurried out of class, and just as they got out the door, Marietta turned to Eloise.

"That was amazing," Marietta breathed. "How he pointed his wand at the spider and it just died, just like that. The Cruciatus Curse was a bit creepy, though. Poor spider."

"Yeah," Eloise agreed, "it was. No matter what he said about the Imperius Curse, I still think that Ravenclaw singing about Moaning Myrtle was absolutely brilliant. He really knows what he's doing," she said in awe. Just then, Patrick tapped Marietta on the shoulder.

"Marietta?" Patrick looked a bit nervous.

"Yes?" Marietta smiled.

"Um, fancy a walk on the grounds?" Noticing the look on Eloise's face, he added, "Sorry, Eloise, but I need to talk to Marietta alone."

Marietta saw Patrick's seriousness and began to look worried. "Sure, I guess. I'll have to cut class..."

"Oh no, if you'd rather go later-" Patrick shifted nervously.

"Please. After lunch? I have Trelawney, she's useless."

"Sure. See you then." Patrick hurried off.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Marietta said curiously.

After their conversation with Patrick, the two girls walked to History of Magic. Marietta was particularly quiet on the way there, and seemed completely disconnected until she tossed a note onto Eloise's desk.

Hey... this is so boring... I feel like falling asleep.

You don't think being so tired would have anything to do with staying up half the night with homework, would it?

It's not my fault I have homework... Go complain to McGonagall!

I might if I wanted detention... Anyway, that's not the point. I was trying to be subtle- YOU NEED TO STOP PROCRASTINATING!!!!!!!!

Um, that's why I have you for a friend.

Ha, ha. You know, you can't copy my exams. And then you are going to be in trouble.

We have this conversation every year... And you know what? I have never failed an exam, no matter how hard I try.

Very funny. Well, they're your marks.

Yup. So... I never got to finish teasing you about James... Ahem.

Shut it. Might I remind you that you spent all last night with a certain someone? Ahem yourself.

Yeah, but he's my boyfriend...

So?

Uh, that's what couples do.

Yeah, but the whole night?

Let's change the subject! Have you tried the new Fizzing Whizbees?

Ooh... touchy. So what exactly did happen last night?

Nothing whatsoever.

Liar. Come on, spill.

Nope.

You know I won't tell.

Well... later. I'll tell you after I talk to Patrick. I wonder what he wanted... He seemed a bit nervous.

A bit?

A bit more than a bit. Really though, I hope he's not going to break up with me. We haven't even had our first date.

Yeah, that would be horrible. I seriously doubt he is. I mean, he really likes you. I can tell.

You think?

I know.

Thanks. Want to play hangman?

Sure.

They passed the rest of the period playing hangman, with Eloise beating Marietta every time except once. Finally, they were dismissed. The two girls were so glad to get out of the class that they didn't notice that Alice, Lucy, and Renny were snickering and glancing at Marietta.

Susan Bones walked up to Marietta as she entered the Great Hall. "Hey Marietta, I have a question for you."

"What?" Marietta turned and smiled. Susan didn't smile back.

"I just wanted to know if you cheat on all of your boyfriends, or just the ones that are in other houses? Because if you think you can get away with it that way, think again." Susan turned around and walked off, leaving Marietta with an open mouth.

"What did I do?" Marietta wondered, turning to Eloise, who shrugged.

A girl with dark hair and green eyes stalked up to Marietta, her eyes flashing in anger. "I'm Patrick's ex-girlfriend, and I just wanted to say that you are the biggest slag I have ever seen. I can't believe you would do that to him. Patrick is way too good for a slut like you." She paused briefly, glaring at Marietta. "You better just steer clear of him, because if you want to hurt him again, you'll have to go through me and the rest of the Ravenclaw girls. And believe me, we're not in Ravenclaw for no reason."

"Um... what's this all about?" Eloise asked, puzzled.

Marietta shook her head. "I have no idea," she said softly. "Let's find Patrick." She half-ran over to the Ravenclaw table with Eloise following her. She found Patrick and pulled him out of his seat.

"What is this all about? I come into the Great Hall and everybody starts attacking me!" Marietta looked at Patrick, bewildered.

"Um, Marietta, this is what I wanted to talk to you about. That's why I didn't want it to wait." Patrick looked very uncomfortable and aware of the fact that everyone around him was trying to listen in.

"Well can we talk now?" Marietta was close to tears.

"Yeah, outside." Patrick and Marietta turned and walked out of the Great Hall, leaving Eloise to wander over to her seat at the Hufflepuff table. She ate half-heartedly, then went up to her dormitory to wait for Marietta.

Meanwhile, Marietta and Patrick began talking out by the lake. "Patrick, what happened? What did I do that was so bad?"

Patrick shoved his hands in his pockets. "Um, see, what happened was, somebody heard that you were, um..."

"What?!" Marietta cried exasperatedly.

"I heard you slept with some guy from Slytherin," Patrick said this as fast as possible, forcing the words out. "I don't know what to think..."

"What the-?! I would never... Patrick, you don't believe it, do you? Please, Patrick..." Tears started to run down Marietta's cheeks.

"I don't really want to believe it, but..."

"Who did you hear it from? Tell me!" Marietta shrieked.

"Alice." Patrick stared at the ground. "I don't think you would do something like that, but Alice said that..."

"I don't care what Alice said! You think just because that cow said it, that it's true! Patrick, you're my boyfriend and I would never even touch someone besides you, much less sleep with them! Don't you believe me?" Marietta sobbed.

"I'm so sorry."

"You believe Alice?!" Marietta screamed, incredulous. "She is the biggest gossip in the whole school! She lives on ruining other people's lives and reputations! She loves to make her enemies' lives hell! You believe her?!"

"I don't know what to do, Marietta..." Patrick sighed.

Marietta just stared at him, dumbstruck. "You don't know what to do? I would have thought it was obvious --stand by your girlfriend!"

"I was shocked, Marietta. She just came up to me and said, 'I know for a fact that Marietta slept with some Slytherin bloke last night.' I told her you were with me, and she just said, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, Patrick, she must've convinced her stupid friend Eloise to take Polyjuice Potion and go in her place.' I didn't want to believe her, but..." Patrick stared across the lake.

At this point, Marietta actually laughed. "She told you Eloise took the Polyjuice Potion? Alice doesn't know what she's talking about. Eloise would never do something like that, you know her. She wouldn't help anyone cheat on their boyfriend, not even if it was her best friend. And anyway, don't you know how long Polyjuice Potion lasts? An hour." Marietta ran her hand through her hair, and Patrick began to look extremely ashamed of himself. "One hour. Patrick, I was with you for more than an hour last night, and at any point in time, did you happen to see me take a drink of anything?" Marietta glared at Patrick.

Patrick shifted, embarrassed. "Um, no. Marietta, I am so sorry. She, um. This may sound very immature to you, but Alice is very pretty and very convincing. I'm sorry."

Marietta raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me --did you just say Alice was very pretty?"

Patrick smiled. "Yeah...what I neglected to mention was that she looks like a pig's backside compared to you. Seriously, though, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do to make it up to you."

Marietta grinned. "I'm sure I can think of something..."

Patrick wrapped his arms around Marietta's waist and kissed her softly on the lips. Marietta breathed in slowly, putting her arms around Patrick's neck. "I'm so sorry for making a scene earlier. I just didn't know what was going on. I was so scared. I thought you would hate me for whatever it was I was supposed to have done."

"Never...I would never hate you, Marietta. Don't worry about it." Patrick leaned his forehead against Marietta's, and they stayed there for a few minutes, not moving. Finally, Marietta looked up.

"I only have one more question. Actually, two."

Patrick looked mildly puzzled. "What's that?"

"The first one is, would you like to meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower tonight at eleven?"

Patrick grinned. "Certainly. Wouldn't miss it for the world. And second?"

Marietta narrowed her eyes. "What in the world can I do to do to Alice that is horrible enough?"

"That, I don't know. Come on, I'll walk you to your dormitory. You need to tell Eloise what happened."

Marietta took Patrick's hand. "Yeah, I do need to tell her."

"Marietta- I just thought of something we could do to Alice." Patrick smiled mischievously.

"What? Tape her mouth shut with gaffer tape that will give her painful boils all over her body?"

"No, that's too good for her... I was thinking more along the lines of boiling her in something that will make all her hair fall out and never come back." Patrick and Marietta walked up to the castle hand in hand, happily thinking up rational and, well, not so rational ways to get revenge.

When they reached the Hufflepuff Tower, Marietta went into the common room, where Eloise was sitting on an armchair waiting for her. Eloise glanced up and appeared surprised at the happy look on Marietta's face. "Um, so what happened?"

Marietta chuckled at the mildly astounded look on her friend's face. "Well, it's a long story, but in short, Alice told Patrick and a bunch of other people that I slept with some random Slytherin last night and that I made you take Polyjuice Potion and go in my place to meet Patrick. We've made it up though. Now I'm just trying to figure out what to do to get Alice back."

Eloise nodded slowly. "But why did Alice start the rumor at all? I know you aren't friends, but I didn't think you were exactly enemies either."

Marietta shrugged. "I didn't think so either... but we are now. So what should I do? The rumor's already spread quite a bit, but I don't know exactly who thinks they know what happened."

Eloise thought for a minute, then said, "I don't think you should do anything specific to get her back. Just drop a comment here and there about how you're so happy your relationship with Patrick has deepened and the like... Show her she doesn't get to you."

"But she does get to me!" Marietta cried, exasperated.

"That's the point," Eloise explained. "She's supposed to think she didn't get to you. You see, the reason she did this was to make you miserable, and if you show her that you're anything but miserable, she'll be really mad. Also, make sure lots of people see you with Patrick. That way, maybe the rumor will stop spreading."

"Yeah... that's a good idea. You're the best, Eloise."

"And Marietta?"

"Yeah?"

"You never did tell me what happened with you and Patrick last night..." Eloise grinned.

Marietta turned crimson. "We snogged. That's all there is to tell, I swear."

Eloise shrugged. "You keep your secret. But come on, you wouldn't want to be late for Care of Magical Creatures. After all, we do have it with the Ravenclaws..."

Marietta rolled her eyes, smiling. "Shut it."

A/N: Please review.....! Thanks. You faithful reviewers are the reason I write fanfiction. :)

After Care of Magical Creatures, Marietta and Eloise decided to go straight to the common room instead of to dinner. Marietta didn't want to face Alice so soon after what had happened because she was afraid she might lose control. As the two girls sat chatting on Marietta's bed, Renny walked in. She saw Eloise and Marietta and sneered.

"Still hanging out with a reject, Marietta? Oh, wait---you are a reject now!" Renny laughed hysterically. "After all, that's what happens when you cheat on your boyfriend, isn't it?" Both Eloise and Marietta looked like they wanted to punch Renny in the face. They knew that even though it was Alice who had actually spread the rumor, Renny was most likely the brains behind it all. "Now, now, girls, let's not get violent!" Renny cackled and turned, starting to walk out of the dormitory when Eloise flew at her.

"You stupid, vindictive cow! You're so insecure that you have to pick on others to feel good about yourself. You think you're so great and so popular, but you're really not. Welcome to reality, where everyone hates you, even your friends. Do you really think that if someone was spreading rumors about you, that Alice and Lucy would stick up for you? No! They might even be the ones spreading the rumor!" Renny looked shocked. Apparently she had thought that Eloise was a pushover, but she was beginning to realize otherwise. Eloise, however, was not done. "I can't believe you have the guts to accuse someone else of something that, first, they would never do, and second, that you would do in a heartbeat! I bet you would sleep with any guy if they told you that you were pretty. That's sad, Renny, that's really sad."

Renny turned again to go, but Marietta wasn't going to let her leave before she had her word in. "For your information, Patrick and I are back together and stronger than ever---you can go ahead and ask him. Oh, and to think I almost forgot. This really cute Gryffindor---his name's James Knight---came up to Eloise at breakfast yesterday and told her that Ron Weasley was a total git for what he said to her. And we're the rejects?" Renny opened her mouth, but Marietta wouldn't let her speak. "I don't want to hear it. You can pass everything we said on to Alice and Lucy- --'m sure they'd be glad to hear it."

Renny glared at them, but couldn't seem to summon any words except, "You're going to regret this," before she stumbled out the door.

Eloise grinned broadly. "That felt so good."

"I completely agree," Marietta smiled triumphantly. "You were great. But I guess we kind of ruined the purpose of not going to dinner. Now they're all going to be really furious."

"Um, about that..." Eloise said as she grimaced slightly. "I have to sleep in here with them tonight, and I'm not sure that's the best idea at the moment."

"Excuse me, but I sleep here, too."

"I know that, but you're probably going to be with Patrick for quite a while tonight. Am I right?"

Marietta rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I still have to sleep here for a few hours. What should we do?"

Eloise thought. "Well, I heard of this room once called the Room of Requirement..."

"What's that do?" Marietta said, puzzled.

"I think you were supposed to go past the room three times thinking about what you needed, then the room would appear... I just can't remember where it was supposed to be." Eloise paced back and forth thoughtfully.

Marietta shrugged. "Don't look at me. I don't read enough to know any of that sort of stuff."

"Well, you know where we could find out..." Eloise said slowly.

"Where's that?"

"The library, of course." Eloise said simply. "Come on, we need to hurry if we want to be in the Room of Requirement by nine. Eloise tugged on Marietta's arm impatiently.

"All right, all right, I'm coming."

Once the girls arrived at the library, they realized that they had absolutely no idea where they could find a book on the Room of Requirement. After much puzzling, musing, and opening random books, Eloise finally decided to look in Hogwarts, A History. She didn't really think that there would be anything in there on such a secret room, but as Marietta said, anything was worth a try at this point. However, after flipping through every page of the book and not finding a single thing on the Room of Requirement, Eloise was at a loss. She had never been failed by the Hogwarts library before, and it was rather shocking to discover that she couldn't always find what she needed.

Marietta raised her head. "You know, you could just ask Madam Pince. She knows every book in this library."

"Are you kidding?" Eloise whispered incredulously. "Madam Pince is probably already suspicious of the fact that we've been here so long, what do you think she'd do if I asked her for a book on secret rooms?"

"Just tell her that it's for a project you're doing on Hogwarts." Marietta appeared unconcerned. "And hurry up, I want to get a couple hours of sleep before I go to meet Patrick."

"Well, if you want to find out where it is so badly, go ask her yourself." Eloise said, mildly annoyed.

"Are you kidding? You know she'd never believe me if I told her it was for a 'special research project'. Madam Pince might be mean, but she isn't stupid. I never study or research anything, but you're just the sort of person that would be doing extra schoolwork on top of what's assigned. You ask."

Eloise stood up suddenly. "Fine. But if Madam Pince gets us in trouble, you're explaining everything." She strode over to Madam Pince, who glanced up from a dusty old book she was reading.

"Madam Pince, I've been doing a special research project on Hogwarts, and I wondered if you knew any books that might talk about some secret passages or rooms that I could include in my report." Eloise shifted nervously.

"What class is this for?" Madam Pince asked, shutting her book.

"Um, it's not for a class, actually." Eloise half-lied, "I'm very interested in all the different rooms and magical features in Hogwarts, you see, and I thought it might be fun to do a essay on it."

Madam Pince looked suspiciously over the top of her glasses, but seemed to decide that a girl like Eloise couldn't possibly do any harm to her precious books. "I suppose I could show you a few books..."

Eloise nearly burst with excitement. "Oh, thank you, Madam Pince, I really appreciate it. I can't tell you how grateful I am, really. You're a wonderful librarian," Eloise said ecstatically.

"Humph," Madam Pince grunted, "I haven't found anything yet." She started to move off to a secluded corner of the library, Eloise right behind her. Madam Pince mused through the books on the shelves, all of them looking like they hadn't been so much as touched since they were first placed on the library shelves. She picked out a few volumes and handed them to Eloise. "These should tell you what you need to know."

"Could I check them out? I'll need to do quite a bit of reading," Eloise asked hopefully.

Madam Pince sniffed. "I suppose. Make sure and get them back on time, though." Madam Pince wrote Eloise's name on a card at her desk and turned back to Eloise.

"Oh, I will, Madam Pince, I will. Thank you very much!" Eloise rushed out of the library, Marietta following her. As soon as they were out of Madam Pince's earshot, Marietta sniggered.

"That was hilarious, Eloise, really hilarious," Marietta chuckled, "Honestly, you have no idea how funny you sounded. 'I can't tell you how grateful I am, really. You're a wonderful librarian!'" Marietta said in an exaggerated imitation.

Eloise smiled. "Yeah, yeah, milk it for all it's worth. I'm the reason we don't have to sleep with three crones that would probably murder us in our sleep, though, so you've got no room to talk." Eloise stopped at a broom cupboard, opening the door. "Come on, it's past curfew."

Marietta looked puzzled. "I thought we were going to look for the Room of Requirement." Eloise pushed her roughly into the cupboard and shut the door.

"Lumos! We are," Eloise whispered, lighting the tip of her wand, "but we're going to find out where it is in here so we don't get caught. Here, shove something against the space at the bottom of the door so the light from my wand doesn't shine through." Marietta obliged, finding a few dirty rags and stuffing them in the crack as Eloise began to skim through the first of the heavy volumes Madam Pince had provided. Then she flipped through the second. Finally, about halfway through the third book, she glanced up and poked Marietta, who was beginning to fall asleep.

"Look at this," Eloise said, pointing to a passage in the book, "it says, 'The Room of Requirement, also known as the Come and Go Room, is a room in Hogwarts that is only accessible to those who need it, and it can change according to the user's need. The user can access the room by walking past it three times, concentrating hard on what the user needs the room for. The Room of Requirement is located across from a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor of Hogwarts.' Do you know where that is?"

Marietta thought, then said, "I might... Isn't Barnabas the Barmy the one that tried to teach trolls ballet?"

"I think so, but--"

"Then I know where it is. Follow me." Marietta crept out of the broom cupboard after making sure the coast was clear, and Eloise extinguished her wand. Once they got to the tapestry, Marietta and Eloise paced back and forth three times, thinking, 'We need a place to sleep for the night... somewhere safe from The Evil Crones... Just give us somewhere to stay...' As they turned around from their third walk past, they noticed a small, rough, wooden door that hadn't been there before.

"Well, I guess this is it." Eloise opened the door and walked inside, Marietta behind her. The girls gasped simultaneously at what they saw inside.

There were two enormous four-poster beds with yellow and black silk covers, apparently to represent Hufflepuff, and too many pillows to count. A set of luxurious pajamas was laid out on each bed, and, tied back with black ribbon, there were pale yellow silk hangings with black tassels on the bottom. In the corner they saw a small sink and mirror, two toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a small cabinet. Beside each bed was a small mahogany bedside table with a candle on it, and on the wall was an ornate clock.

Eloise slowly walked over to one of the beds and lay face down on it. Marietta, on the other hand, ran and jumped onto her bed, causing all the pillows to bounce off the bed. After Marietta got over her shock, she started giggling uncontrollably and began to jump up and down on her bed. Eloise raised herself from her bed and began to laugh as well.

"Can you believe this? This is so amazing!" Eloise laughed, jumping up and down on her bed.

"I know!" Marietta shouted back. "I want to sleep here every night!"

The girls jumped until they were out of breath, then collapsed onto the silk covers. While Marietta's eyes were closed, Eloise slowly sat up and reached for a pillow, hiding it behind her back. "Marietta?"

"What?" Marietta sat up sleepily.

Eloise drew the pillow from behind her and threw it at Marietta, hitting her square in the face. Marietta shrieked and threw it back. A barrage of pillows ensued until ten minutes or so later, when Marietta glanced at the clock.

"Eloise, look! It's five 'til eleven already---I'm supposed be at the Astronomy Tower in five minutes to meet Patrick!" Marietta panicked.

"Calm down, Marietta, I'm sure he won't mind if you're a couple minutes late. Go on, I'll go to sleep and you can wake me up when you get back." Eloise waved Marietta out. After she left, Eloise changed into her pajamas, rolled over, and fell asleep.

"Eloise! Wake up! Come on, you told me to wake you up when I got back, and I'm back!" Marietta shook Eloise awake. Eloise groaned and rolled over

"You're back already? I thought you would be back much later than this. What time is it, anyway?" Eloise rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Marietta glanced briefly at the clock. "About two o'clock."

Eloise was instantly wide awake. "Two o'clock? TWO O'CLOCK?! I advise that you be joking..."

Marietta grimaced slightly. "Unfortunately not. What's the big deal? You stay up this late for homework at least once every two weeks," Marietta pointed out.

Eloise rolled her eyes. "Yes, but you see, there's a difference between staying up and waking up. A very big difference." She took a deep breath and said, "It is A.M., Marietta. VERY A.M."

"I know. I can explain," Marietta said, looking slightly downcast.

Eloise sensed the tone of her friend's voice and glanced up, concerned. "What's wrong, Marietta? Patrick didn't break up with you, did he?" Eloise frowned. "If he did, and if you would like, I could-"

Marietta cut her off. "No, we didn't break up. Although come to think of it, I think it was probably on his mind.” She stared into space morosely.

“Why? What happened?”

“Well, at first I got up there and everything was fine; everything was usual. Then we stared at the stars for a bit, not saying anything, and all of a sudden Patrick starts talking,” Marietta explained. “It sort of went downhill from there.”

Eloise tried not to grin. “Why, does Patrick have a bad voice?”

Marietta glared at her friend. “No, of course not. It was what he was saying.”

“Which was?” Eloise prompted.

“Well, first he started talking about how I was such a great girl and he cared about me and didn’t want to hurt me, how he was lucky to be my boyfriend, blah, blah, blah...” Eloise normally would have said something to the effect of, “Well, what’s the problem?” However, she knew this was not the time and listened intently, waiting for Marietta to continue.

Finally, Marietta drew a deep breath and continued. “Then he said that even though he was absolutely sure I had never done anything even slightly suspicious, he thought there must be a reason the rumor started.”

At this, Eloise was completely bewildered. “Well, of course there’s a reason. What’s he talking about?”

“That’s what I thought, until he explained what he meant. Apparently, he thought that I had a ‘suspicious reputation’ and that’s why the rumors started. He told me he thought that kind of reputation was completely un-called for in my case, but he still thought that there must be something he didn’t know about me, and he wanted to know what it was. Pretty much he completely contradicted himself with every other word that came out of his mouth.” Marietta drew her knees close to her chest and closed her eyes.

Eloise looked disgusted. “Honestly, he is so backwards. One minute he’s saying he would never break up with you or hurt you and then he turns around, practically says he doesn’t trust you, and yet he doesn’t expect you to be hurt? I don’t get that.” She sighed and lay down on her back, staring at the ceiling. The girls thought in silence for a minute until Marietta burst out.

“I cannot believe him! One minute yes, one minute no. If he can’t make up his mind about whether he can trust me or not, I’m not sure I want him for a boyfriend! Who could possibly want a boyfriend that’s hovering over you every minute asking if you cheat, yet saying he doesn’t think you cheated? What kind of guy is that?” Marietta said, frustrated. “When he asked if there was something he needed to know, I said he needed to know that I would never cheat on any guy, especially one I like as much as him! He needed to know that I wasn’t the kind of girl who didn’t care if her boyfriend trusted her or not.” Marietta stood up and began pacing furiously. “I explained he needed to, possibly, someday figure out that not all rumors have a basis on truth, even remotely! He needed to know that when girls got mad or jealous, they spread rumors and that those rumors are rarely meant anything close to even being based on the truth. And last, he needed to know that if he couldn’t trust me then I didn’t want to go out with him.” She sat down on a heap in the floor.

“Wow,” Eloise said. “That was impressive. You really said all that?” Marietta nodded. “Well, what did he say?”

Marietta sighed. “He muttered that of course he trusted me and then he left. I’m not sure if he wanted to break up with me or not at that point. If he wanted to, I don’t see why he wouldn’t. It’s like he thinks I’m too fragile to handle it.” She pursed her lips briefly. “Another thing he needs to know is that it’s much more painful to have a boyfriend that doesn’t trust you than to not have a boyfriend at all. Oh well, I suppose I’ll see him again tomorrow.”

“You did the right thing, Marietta. Don’t worry about it. If you break up, it’s his loss, not yours. And besides, when you want a boyfriend again, you’ll have one.” Eloise said confidently.

“You say that like we’ve already broken up.” Marietta said dully.

“Well, no offense, but on your end, you sort of have.”

“True. Well, I’m going to bed. I need to sleep.” Marietta walked to her bed and crawled in, not bothering to change out of her robes.

Eloise yawned. “Sounds like a wonderful idea.” She, too, went to bed, and soon both girls were asleep.

Eloise was running through a dark forest so thick with trees that she couldn't see the sky. She glanced back frantically every few seconds as if she was running from something, but if she was, she didn’t know what. As she ran she could hear voices- the voices of her parents, Marietta, James, Patrick, and other nameless students calling her back, saying things like, “Eloise, come back! You’re not safe where you are! Come back to us!” She heard Marietta and James’s voices the loudest, calling, “Eloise! Come back!” over, and over, and over, and...

Eloise woke up, breathing hard. She sat bolt upright in her bed and listened to the sound of Marietta snoring softly. She laid back down, went back to sleep, and in the morning she didn’t remember the dream at all.

The next morning, neither Eloise nor Marietta felt like going to breakfast (or anywhere else for that matter), but they knew they had to. If they missed any more class, McGonagall or one of the other teachers would be sure to give them detentions. Reluctantly, they made their way down to the Great Hall. As they entered, both girls kept their heads down, thinking they would probably be the subject of gossip because of what had happened between Patrick and Marietta. Even though there hadn't been anyone else on the Astronomy Tower, the gossip was sure to leak out somehow.

Marietta and Eloise sat down by Hannah Abbott, as she was one of the few not craning her neck to get a good look at them as they entered. As the two girls sat down, Hannah turned to speak to Marietta.

"Marietta, I'm really sorry about Patrick. I heard about what he said, and you deserve better. He doesn't know what he's talking about, not one bit." Hannah smiled reassuringly.

"Thanks, but I don't think the rest of them see it that way," Marietta said, gesturing to the other students. "Everyone else seems to think Patrick's the one that deserves better, not me."

"Well, they're wrong," said Hannah. "Oh, did I tell you I heard from Jenny?" Jenny had been a good friend of Marietta and Hannah's through second year, but after her mother died during their third year, she and her father moved to America to join the rest of the family.

"No, how's she doing?" Marietta asked, curious. "I haven't gotten a letter from her in a long time."

"Yeah, she's great. She said she had enrolled at another wizarding school near St. Louis, Missouri, wherever that is. Apparently it's not nearly as big as Hogwarts, though."

Marietta nodded. "What else did she say?"

"Oh, lots. She talked about her family in America and what they're like--all sorts of things, really. You can read the letter sometime today when you get a chance," Hannah offered.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Marietta noticed Eloise staring aimlessly off into the distance. "Eloise, you alright?"

Eloise jumped, startled. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm sorry, Eloise, I didn't mean to leave you out," Hannah apologized. "I guess I was so excited about hearing from Jenny that I forgot to include you. Sorry."

Eloise looked rather surprised that someone had actually apologized for leaving her out. "Oh, that's alright. I was sort of in my own world anyway."

Hannah nodded. "So, do you think Marietta should talk to Patrick more or completely freeze him out?"

Eloise shrugged. "I don't know... I guess it depends on what happens today with classes and things. Who knows, maybe you guys will be back together by the end of today," she said optimistically.

"Oh, I don't know," Marietta said morosely, "I was thinking I might take it easy for a while in the boy department. I'm sick of fighting."

"Right," Hannah agreed. "Well, we should probably get to class pretty soon. We don't want to be late."

Hannah and Marietta talked as they made their way to first class while Eloise thought as she walked.

I wonder why Hannah's being so friendly to me suddenly, she wondered. I mean, she's never been rude, but she's never paid that much attention to me either. Maybe it has something to do with Susan, since she's Hannah's best friend. But what could Susan have to do with anything? She's never talked to me any more than Hannah. Could Hannah feel sorry for me? I don't know...Maybe she does, but I hope not. I don't want anyone's pity. Well, what does it matter why she's talking to me? Eloise sighed.

What really matters it what the bloody hell is wrong with Patrick--he's been acting so weird lately. I thought he really liked Marietta, but now he's dropping her at the slightest notice. I didn't think he was clueless, but it appears that I was wrong, because there's no other reason a boy would first act like the perfect boyfriend and then turn around and dump the girl like he doesn't know what he wants. Boys are complete idiots sometimes, but I bet Marietta will go right back to him--she's so forgiving. Too forgiving; he doesn't deserve it.

And speaking of boys, what about James? He seems really nice, and I like him well enough as a friend,, but why's he talking to me? There are plenty of other, prettier girls to talk to--why waste your time on a zitty, unpopular girl like me? Marietta says he's not just being nice, but she can't be right. I don't see how--

Marietta's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Eloise?"

"Sorry, were you saying something?" Eloise realized that they had stopped walking and were now in front of Professor Flitwick's classroom.

"I just asked you... oh, never mind. Are you sure you're okay? You seem really spacey this morning," Marietta said, concerned.

"No, I'm fine... I was just thinking."

"About what?" Marietta prompted.

"Things," Eloise said evasively.

Marietta grinned. "James?"

Eloise rolled her eyes. "Partly, but--"

"I knew it! I knew you liked him!" Marietta exclaimed rather loudly, causing a passing group of first-years to jump and turn their heads.

"Oh, just shut up! I was about to say that I was also thinking about Patrick, and how he's such an idiot," Eloise replied heatedly, "and if you had let me finish, you would know that!"

Marietta raised her eyebrows. "Come on, Eloise, I was just joking. No need to get mad."

"I'm having a bit of a hard time right now, and anyway, I hardly ever get mad at you! It's not like I'm always in your face about every little thing, which is what you're insinuating. Just stop it, okay? I'm sick of this!" Eloise stomped into the Charms classroom, leaving Hannah and Marietta completely bewildered.

"What in the world is wrong with her?" Hannah wondered.

Eloise thought, Wow... I didn't expect that. I've been really stressed lately, I guess. I don't think I feel like talking to anyone much for the rest of the day, but I did overreact quite a bit. I'll make sure I apologize later... Everything will be fine.

*****

Eloise didn't speak to Marietta for the rest of the day, and Marietta was so offended by this that she made a point of not noticing Eloise at all and not sitting anywhere near her at lunch. See how she likes not having any friends, she thought nastily. I like her well enough, but she gets so offended by the littlest things! It's so annoying sometimes. Marietta even took it so far as to sit by Renny during Transfiguration.

"I thought you were friends with Nosy," Renny said as Marietta sat down.

"We had a fight," Marietta said simply. "I just want to make her mad."

Renny nodded. "Makes sense, I guess." She laughed. "I certainly seem to make her mad."

Marietta shook her head. Maybe she had taken things too far, but she wasn't particularly sorry. In fact, she had rather enjoyed talking to Renny.

*****

After her last class of the day, Muggle Studies, Eloise rushed out only to run straight into someone, dropping all of her books in the process. She glanced up to see that it was James.

"Oh, sorry," Eloise muttered. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

James grinned and handed her the dropped books. "That's fine. I wasn't looking where I was going either." His grin faded when he saw the look on Eloise's face. "What's wrong? You look like you're about to cry."

"Marietta and I had a fight. It's nothing, really," Eloise said morosely.

"Doesn't sound like nothing to me," James sympathized. He added, "Come on, I'll walk you to the Great Hall."

Eloise shrugged a shoulder. "I-I really don't feel like eating. Sorry."

James nodded. "Oh, no problem. I don't think I'd have much of an appetite either, if I were you," he said. "Hey, have you ever been down by the lake at night?" James asked suddenly.

"No, are you crazy?" Eloise said incredulously. "You'd get caught."

"Not necessarily."

"Oh? And how wouldn't you get caught?" Eloise said doubtfully.

"Easy. There's a door you can go out down that corridor over there. Nobody can see you, especially if you go very, very quickly. Come on, I'll show you."

"I really don't know..."

"It's fine. If it helps, if we get caught- which we won't- I'll take all the blame. And dinner's not even over yet," James coaxed.

"Oh, all right."

James grinned. "Great! Come on, this way."

James led Eloise down a corridor, turned left through a tapestry, and was just about to turn left down another corridor when they heard footsteps coming toward them.

"We're going to get caught..." Eloise muttered frantically as they looked for somewhere to hide. Finally, James found a broom cupboard and pulled Eloise in, shutting the door. The two sat in silence until they heard the footsteps pass. Eloise realized she'd been holding her breath and let it out.

"D'you reckon they're gone?" James whispered. Eloise shrugged.

James opened the door a little and looked out. "It's safe," he said as he opened the door the rest of the way and got out. Eloise followed, and they resumed walking.

"Sorry, I didn't think there would be anyone wandering around during dinner," James apologized.

"I don't mind. After all, we didn't get caught."

"I wonder who it was. Probably Filch--I don't think he ever eats or sleeps. Now come on, out this door here." James opened a very inconspicuous door that Eloise probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise, as it looked exactly like the rest of the wall, except for the doorknob sticking out. As Eloise looked rather doubtful, James went through the door first, saying, "It's fine, Eloise. Just this short passageway and we're outside."

Eloise frowned doubtfully, but followed him anyway. As they walked down the dirt passageway, she asked, "Are you quite sure this is the right way? You didn't get lost, did you?"

"'Course not. I know this castle nearly as well as the Weasley twins, and I've been down here loads of times. It's great for relaxing."

"Yeah, nearly getting caught by Filch really calms me after a long day," Eloise replied sarcastically.

James merely smiled and said, "You'll see."

When they finally arrived at the end of the passageway, James opened a small trapdoor in the dirt ceiling and climbed out, Eloise right behind him.

As Eloise's head came out of the tunnel, she couldn't believe her eyes. She was next to the castle wall, facing the most breathtaking scene she had ever seen. She was looking out on the lake, and across the water, the sun was just beginning to set, casting an orangey light on the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's Hut.

"It's beautiful," she breathed. "How did you know--?"

James grinned. "I found it by accident first year when I was running from Filch. For weeks, I couldn't find it again, but I finally did and I've been coming here ever since when I was really mad or stressed. I thought you might like it."

"It's breathtaking. I had no idea you could get out here. And you're right, there's no way anyone could see us from the castle. They'd have to come walking all the way around here, and there's no reason for anyone to be up here. The Quidditch Pitch and the greenhouses are in a completely different direction." Eloise sat back against the stone wall.

"See, I told you it was alright. When it gets dark, we can go down to the lake, if you like."

"I can't tonight. Sorry, but I've got loads of homework. Some other time?" Eloise asked hopefully.

"That'd be great." James replied, and the two sat talking until dark, when they went back inside.

As Eloise walked back to the Hufflepuff common room, she wasn't thinking about Marietta, Patrick, or anything in particular. For once, Eloise Helena Midgen was not only content, but happy to be herself.

Marietta woke up in the morning and everything came rushing back to her--the fight, how she and Eloise didn't talk all day and how she even talked to Renny.

Renny, of all people! I can't believe I did that. This whole thing was just a misunderstanding, and now it's gotten so big and complicated I don't know what to do with it... It's like a lie. My part is a lie. After all, I'm certainly not friends with Renny, but I acted like it just to hurt my best friend. And Eloise just had a fit and walked off and then didn't talk to me all day. It's not like her. Hannah's pretty much stayed out of it--good for her. What is wrong with me? What's wrong with Eloise? I'm worried about her, really. She has been really spacey, and I just wanted to know if something was wrong or what she was thinking. I didn't mean to be annoying, but evidently I was. After all, I did kind of ignore her before and I guess I interrupted her thoughts. I should go apologize, but I'm afraid she won't listen. Normally, of course she would, but she hasn't been herself. Marietta sighed heavily, wishing she could go back to sleep.

Hannah woke up too and saw Marietta sitting on her bed thinking. "Hey, Marietta, what's up?"

"Eloise," Marietta said. "This whole thing was a big misunderstanding, and I'm really sorry. I acted horribly, talking to Renny. She's so mean--she called Eloise that awful nickname Renny thought up--you know, 'Nosy', and I didn't even say anything. I just went along with it. I've decided to apologize, but I'm afraid that Eloise won't listen because she hasn't been herself. I need to talk to Renny one more time, too, to tell her it was a misunderstanding. I don't want her to take this any further."

"Sounds pretty bad. I'll help you out if you like, since I've stayed out of it--of course, only if you think it would help. And I hate to bring up a bad issue, but you haven't really talked to Patrick yet either, the little idiot," Hannah said.

"Yeah, that might help. I do need to talk to Patrick soon... I'll do that today. Today is a day of trying to fix really screwed-up messes, I guess. If I'm going to do all that and homework too, I need to get dressed and go to breakfast now. I'll just wash my hair by magic to save time. Scourgify!" Marietta pointed her wand at her head and her hair was immediately clean. "Now, to dress." Marietta picked up her robes and changed as quickly as she could.

"Good idea. Scourgify!" Hannah said, her hair becoming clean as well. She threw on her robes and the girls left the dormitory.

****

Meanwhile, Eloise had already gone down to the common room and was sitting in an armchair thinking.

Last night talking to James was really nice, but now I need to clear some things up with Marietta. I need to apologize... What should I say? I don't want to go up to her and just stand there. I'll say... I'll say that it was a huge mistake on my part, and I never should have jumped on her case. I'm sorry and I've just been really emotional lately... That should work well. I like it. Anyway, I hope she talks to me back and doesn't just ignore me. I was hurt more than a little when she talked to Renny yesterday. Eloise stood up abruptly and started pacing around the common room. I'm sure Renny called me Nosy, and since we were fighting, Marietta probably didn't say anything about it. Oh well, I'm not particularly mad. I'm sure she was out of sorts at the time... At least, I hope she was. Patrick is such a freak. He's been acting so badly, and I really thought he was good for her. I guess not. It's really too bad he's been such a jerk, Eloise thought as she turned to see Marietta and Hannah coming down the stairs. She walked over, squaring her shoulders.

"I'm sorry," Marietta and Eloise said simultaneously when they reached each other. Eloise continued, "It was all a big mistake on my part. I was just emotional and over thinking, and I never should have blown up in your face."

"Hey, that's okay. I'm really sorry about the way I acted. It was all a big misunderstanding and a big mistake on my part as well, and I'm going to talk to Renny as soon as I can to tell her that. Friends?" Marietta asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Eloise said, smiling. "Glad to be back."

"We missed you," Hannah told her. Eloise snorted and Hannah said, "No, really. I know I did, and I think Marietta did too and was just trying to ignore it." Marietta nodded vigorously. "So all's well in that department. Now, off to breakfast!"

The girls chatted as they walked to breakfast. "Hey, Eloise, what about James? Have you talked to him lately?"

"Yeah, I actually talked to him for a long time last night. I ran into him after class and was just going to go to bed, but he took me to this really nice place outside where we watched the sun set over the lake. He said we could go down to the lake when it got dark, but I had loads of homework to do, so we just talked until it got too dark and we went inside. It was really relaxing," Eloise said reminiscently.

Hannah smiled. "He sounds really nice."

Marietta grinned and said, "Yeah, he is. Isn't he, Eloise?"

"Oh, hush. I only like him as a friend," Eloise said mildly.

"Really? If I knew him, I think I'd like him as more. I'm just saying--I don't want to take him!" Hannah said, laughing.

"I don't know. For right now, I just want to stay friends and wait and see what happens, you know?" Eloise said.

"Makes sense to me," Marietta said, and Hannah nodded in agreement.

"So, what in the world is going on with Patrick?" Eloise asked.

Marietta sighed. "I haven't any idea what's wrong with him. I haven't talked to him yet, but I'm going to as soon as I see him. I think it was him that spilled the beans about us up on the Tower. After all, who could it be? I know for sure no one else was there, because I checked several times, and I know none of you would tell. I certainly didn't, and I'm rather mad at him for it. I don't appreciate it when people talk to anyone about anything and everything, especially when it hurts other people."

"Yeah, me neither. This is completely off-topic, but I supposed you've noticed I don't usually talk to you two this much. You see, I had a little falling-out with my other friends, except Susan, and I hardly see her. I've really enjoyed being closer friends with both of you," Hannah said.

"Sorry about your friends," Eloise said sympathetically.

"It's all right. We didn't really fight... It was more like we disagreed more and more and weren't as close as we used to be, so I moved on. I think it was an improvement," Hannah smiled.

Eloise laughed. "That's pretty sad in my case."

Hannah shook her head. "Don't say that. You're a really good friend, and you can't say you aren't getting more friends."

"That is true," Eloise acknowledged. "I was mostly joking, anyway."

When they got down to the Great Hall, Patrick ran up to Marietta immediately. "Marietta," he cried. "I'm so glad to see you! Where have you been?"

Marietta raised her eyebrows. "With my friends, after we, let's see, fought." She scowled at him as he gave her a bear hug. "I'm not going to be won over that easily, Patrick," she said sternly.

"Come on, Marietta, honey," Patrick whined. Eloise thought he looked like a lost puppy that had forgotten what he had done wrong.

"Don't call me honey!" Marietta said, frustrated, then noticed there were people watching. "We need to talk alone."

Eloise raised her eyebrows as Marietta and Patrick walked away. "What is wrong with him?"

"I have no idea," replied Hannah, shaking her head. "Come on, let's go eat. Marietta can meet us later." Eloise nodded, and the two girls went on to breakfast.

Meanwhile, Marietta and Patrick had found an empty classroom and were talking. "Marietta, I don't understand why you're acting like this," Patrick said. "I thought everything was fine, and all of a sudden, you're mad at me."

Marietta crossed her arms. "You don't understand how I'm acting? Really? Then maybe you should think back to the other night. You know, when you said I had a "suspicious reputation" and accused me of not telling you something about myself. Remember that, Patrick?" She glared at Patrick. If looks could kill, she thought, I'd murder him on the spot. No, I'd just knock him out for a good long time.

"Marietta, I told you I trusted you. Why don't you believe me?"

"Because, Patrick, you did not apologize for mistrusting me. You did not apologize for hurting me. And then, you proceeded to tell everyone about what happened. That is why I don't believe you."

Patrick sighed. "Marietta, I had no idea you felt hurt. I would never hurt you. You've got to believe me," he said simply. "And what's all this about me supposedly telling everyone what happened?"

"Well, didn't you? It couldn't possibly have been anyone else! It wasn't me, I know none of my friends would have told, and there was no one else there. Tell me, Patrick, how else could the word possibly have leaked out? Hmm?" Marietta snapped.

"I only told one person, and I trust the person I told," Patrick said resolutely.

"Who did you tell?"

Patrick hesitated. "Alice."

"Alice? You trust her? You know she hates me! How in the world can you possibly trust that sneak?" Marietta yelled. "What I don't understand is how in the world I am supposed to trust you if you trust people that hate me!"

"Marietta, I'm really sorry. I promise I never would have told her if-"

"If what? And why did you even trust her in the first place?" Marietta spat, her fists clenched.

"Listen." Patrick sat down in a desk. "I should have thought about how you would feel before I told Alice what happened. It was just that I didn't want to tell any of my guy friends because, oh, I dunno why. She was the only person I felt like I could talk to. I'm sorry. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Really?" Marietta asked softly, looking at him intensely.

"Really. Will you take me back?" Patrick asked hopefully.

"Yes." Marietta gave Patrick a hug and sat down again. "So now what?"

Patrick took Marietta's hand and stood up. "Now we go to breakfast."

*****

"Hey Hannah, I've been wondering-" Eloise stopped in the middle of her sentence, nearly spitting out her pumpkin juice. "No way. I can't believe it."

"What?" Hannah asked anxiously.

"Marietta and Patrick are coming in--and they're holding hands!"

"WHAT?! D'you think they're back together?"

Eloise shrugged. "They must be. But why on earth she took him back, I have no idea. Turn around and see for yourself." Eloise stared as the couple walked in. What on earth-?

Hannah turned around. Her jaw dropped. "No."

"Actually, it seems as if that would be a 'yes'." Eloise said.

"But why?" Hannah wondered. She's out of her mind! How can she take him back?

"I guess we'll have to find out for ourselves," said Eloise. "I just hope she hasn't made a bad decision."

Marietta brought Patrick over to the table and sat down. "Come on, Patrick, sit with us," she wheedled, and Patrick sat down beside her.Turning to Eloise and Hannah, she said, "Patrick and I got back together. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, that's great." Eloise said flatly.

"Fantastic. I'm sure...never mind," Hannah muttered.

"Come on, Patrick, sit. You don't mind, do you?" Marietta turned to her two friends.

"It's fine," Hannah said, and Eloise nodded in agreement.

"Oh, all right then," Patrick conceded, and sat down.

The rest of the breakfast passed rather uncomfortably, with Marietta chattering away and Eloise and Hannah staying silent for the most part, except when Marietta asked them something. However, neither Marietta nor Patrick seemed to notice the two girls' taciturnity, and were completely absorbed in each other. Finally, Eloise and Hannah excused themselves and walked to Charms class a little early. Marietta had Ancient Runes, so she wouldn't be in class with them.

"I'll see you after class!" Marietta waved good-bye to her friends, who waved back as they left the Great Hall.

"What just happened?" Hannah asked. "I'm glad they got back together, but all the same..."

"I know what you mean. I didn't think they'd make it up. After all, Marietta was furious at him. I don't know what happened in that discussion of theirs, and I'll be glad to find out what made Marietta change her mind."

Hannah nodded. "Me too."

"So, I guess we'll talk to her later," Eloise said, then she looked up and gasped. "I can't believe those three..."

"Oh dear," Hannah murmured faintly, mouth open. "What on earth do they hope to accomplish by this?"

In the corridor ahead, Alice, Renny, and Lucy were at the center of a commotion. Alice was strolling around smiling and holding a poster that said, "Sign up here for C.A.A.A.T., or Campaign Against Acne-Afflicted Teens", Renny was handing out flyers, and Lucy was writing down names of the people signing up. Renny walked over to Eloise and Hannah.

"Care to join C.A.A.A.T., Abbott?" Renny asked rather nastily, pronouncing the acronym like 'cat' and brandishing a flyer in Hannah's face.

Hannah took the flyer, and, glancing at it briefly, said, "I'd rather eat slugs. What's all this about, anyway?"

"Oh, too bad," said Renny brightly. "You're really missing out. It's our new campaign against students with acne. In our opinion, they're ruining the beautiful halls and grounds of Hogwarts. Since we are, as you know, quite popular, we're sure we'll get many people signing up just because we're so wonderful, but we don't mind. We appreciate all of our supporters." Renny gave a wide smile that couldn't have been genuine. "Well, I mustn't be wasting time talking to non-supporters!" She walked away, completely ignoring Eloise.

"What does that flyer say?" Eloise asked Hannah curiously.

"Why does it matter? It's just a load of rubbish," Hannah said.

Eloise replied, "I know that, but I still want to see it. It's best to know what they're up to."

Hannah shrugged, handing Eloise the bright pink pamphlet.

Eloise scanned the flyer, taking in the curly gold lettering at the top of the page that read, 'Do you wish the halls and grounds of Hogwarts should remain unblemished and beautiful? If so, you should join C.A.A.A.T. today! Our organization is all about preserving the school we love!' She read the rest of the flyer and then laughed heartily.

"What?!" Hannah asked, startled.

"Nothing, it's just that flyer--it's absolutely ridiculous! That's the funniest thing I've seen all day," Eloise said, chuckling. "You know, I wonder if they actually think this would upset me...if they do, that's pretty sad."

"Well, I figured it would upset you," Hannah said hesitantly. "You're usually pretty mad when people make fun of you."

"I suppose so. Honestly, though, Campaign Against Acne-Afflicted Teens? That's pitiful. I can't believe they could get anyone to sign up."

Hannah shrugged. "Well, they [i]are[/i] popular. Why, I have no idea, seeing as they're bints, but they're popular. They probably promised that people who signed up would be best mates with them or something."

"I'd say so--Renny even admits they'd have people signing up because, in her words, they're 'so wonderful'. I can't imagine they'd have anyone signing up to 'preserve the school we love'. It's utter nonsense!"

"Absolutely," Hannah agreed.

*****

Ten minutes later in the Charms classroom, Flitwick was conducting what was shaping up to be a lengthy lecture on Cheering Charms. Normally, Eloise would've been fascinated, but today, she didn't even realize what was going on until she felt Hannah elbow her sharply.

"What?"

"Flitwick called on you--he asked who the inventor of the Cheering Charm was," Hannah hissed.

"Oh, er, sorry, Professor. Felix Summerbee invented the Cheering Charm. Also, sir, I've read he was so dedicated to perfecting it that because he continually tested it on himself, he acquired a chronic case of hiccups, a common side effect."

"Very good, Miss Midgen! Five points to Hufflepuff for excellent research! Now, class, if you could form pairs and practice the charm..."

Eloise and Hannah paired up and began practicing. "What had you so distracted, anyway? You weren't paying a bit of attention," Hannah asked, waving her wand aimlessly.

"It's not like I missed a crucial lecture. We studied Cheering Charms last year, remember? I suppose Flitwick's trying to prepare us for our O.W.L.s, as I've heard they'll be on it. Anyway, I was trying to figure how we could use C.A.A.A.T. to our own benefit."

Hannah raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me? What are you aiming to do, join?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Eloise said airily. "I just want to put Renny, Alice, and Lucy in a tight spot, but I don't want to tell a teacher."

"Why not? They'd get plenty of detentions."

"I'm playing fair. Besides, I don't like tell-tales, and I have no intention of being forced to despise myself. Do you have any ideas?"

"I don't want to be involved. Whatever you're planning on, it sounds like a good way to get into trouble, and I, for one, want to win the House Cup. Hufflepuff hardly ever does, you know, but we still have a chance."

"Highly unlikely, but I won't force you. However, I might remind you that it's possible to create trouble without getting caught." Eloise grinned slyly. Hannah frowned, but didn't say anything more. Eloise took the opportunity to hit Hannah with a Cheering Charm, who then smiled broadly and somewhat vacantly. The two girls continued practicing with minimal conversation until the bell rang.

*****

After a long and dirty Herbology lesson, Eloise and Hannah traipsed back up to the castle for lunch. As they walked into the Great Hall, they spotted Marietta and Patrick and hurried over to join them.

"Marietta, you won't believe what Alice and Renny have done! Lucy's involved, too, but they're the main ones. They've started this stupid campaign, and it's absolutely ridiculous. It's called C.A.A.A.T. and--" Hannah stopped suddenly, realizing Marietta wasn't listening. "Marietta?"

"Hmm?" Marietta glanced up. She apparently hadn't realized Hannah and Eloise were standing behind her, because she said, "Oh, hello. Have a good morning?"

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Listen. Have you talked to Renny?"

"Why would I talk to Renny?" Marietta looked rather puzzled.

"Because you told Eloise you would tell Renny that everything's fine between you and Eloise, and to keep her too-perfect nose out of other people's business. Well, you didn't say that exactly, but you [i]did[/i] say you'd talk to her," Hannah said somewhat accusingly.

"I did, didn't I? Sorry about that...I'll talk to her. Have a good morning?"

"Oh yes, we had a terrific morning. Positively hilarious, between Renny's campaign and Cheering Charms," Eloise chuckled.

"We did Cheering Charms last--what d'you mean, Renny's campaign?"

"She's started this thing called C.A.A.A.T., or 'cat'. It stands for the Campaign Against Acne-Afflicted Teens, and their supposed mission is to rid the school of students with zits."

"You're kidding, right, Loie?" Marietta raised her eyebrows. "Honestly, it's a bit impossible."

"Actually, it's quite possible. If not, it's possibly the only impossibility ever managed, though personally I believe that every impossibility is actually possible."

"Ha, ha." Marietta rolled her eyes. "Classic you, that is. Anyhow, she can't possibly pull it off. Why on earth would anyone join a thing like--what was it? Oh yeah, 'cat'."

"In Renny's words, people are dying to sign up because her, Lucy, and Alice are so 'wonderful'. We figured they promised people who signed up that they would be on friendly terms with them, but we don't know for sure. That's why I asked if you'd talked to Renny," Hannah finished rather snippily.

"I said I'd talk to her, and I will, okay? Look, you don't need to get on my case. No offense, of course."

"Of course," Hannah replied coolly.

"Hannah, Marietta? It's okay--you don't need to fight. Seriously, Hannah, it's fine," Eloise cut Hannah off as she opened her mouth. "I'm sure Marietta will talk to her. Even if she doesn't, I'm not going to fuss about it. It's only Renny."

"Right," Marietta said, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Could you pass me the ham, Patrick? Thanks." Patrick grinned at Marietta, then glanced down the table to Alice.

Hannah pursed her lips and glanced at Eloise worriedly. She saw the same thought reflected in Eloise's eyes. [i]I don't trust him...[/i]