March 20th, 1941,
Abby wasn’t too pleased when she heard I had gotten myself detention. I never told her about why Maugi gave me detention, just that I was wandering around and was caught by him.
---
"We have the Quidditch finals tonight!" she shrieked, the vein above her right eye throbbing slightly. "We need you on the team!"
Miriam was standing by the entrance to the locker rooms when she broke the bad news to Abby. If there was one thing she truly didn’t need right now, it was Abby blowing a gasket.
"Look, it wasn’t like I planned getting detention. It just happened!"
"What the bloody hell were you doing wandering around the dungeons at night for?"
"I have my reasons!"
"Well, I certainly hope they were good ones!"
"Maybe whatever punishment he has for me won’t take long to do. He might give me lines, or something."
"I sincerely hope so!" Abby yelled as she raged out of the locker rooms, cursing slightly under her breath. Sighing, Miriam set off back toward the castle so she could begin her torture with Maugi.
"Good, you’re here," he grumbled as Miriam walked into his office precisely at six. "I’ve got a job for you."
Oh, goodie. I'm jumping for joy here... can’t you tell?
"I want you to polish all the trophies in the trophy room. No magic, just good ol' elbow grease."
Handing her a towel and a polish jar, he sent her on her way. Upon entering the trophy room, she nearly passed out. The walls were lined with trophies, plaques, medals, and other sorts of awards.
This is going to take me all damn night!
Dropping the stuff angrily to the floor, she began her laborious punishment of polishing the awards and cursing Maugi under her breath.
Stupid Maugi....
The son of a....
After what seemed like an eternity to her, she looked down at her watch and realized it was just approaching seven-thirty. A small bubble of hope swelled up inside her chest because the Quidditch match didn’t begin until eight. Quickly picking up her dirtied rag and empty polish jars, she ran back to Maugi’s office. Thrusting the rag and jar on the desk in front of him, she dashed out of the office before he could object.
Quarter to eight....
She sprinted up toward the Gryffindor common room and gasped out the password to the fat lady. The portrait swung open and Miriam continued her sprint inside. Surging up the stairs to the girls’ dormitories, she snatched her broom and Quidditch uniform, then quickly rushed back out of the common room.
~*~
"All right team," Abby sighed dejectedly, "we’ll have to win this one sans one Chaser from our team. She –" Abby was abruptly cut off when the door to the locker room burst open and Miriam came running in.
"Sorry... sorry. Got tied up with something," she mumbled as she hastened toward the changing room amid the inquisitive looks on her teammates faces.
Though Miriam couldn’t see her, Abby’s face suddenly cracked open and a large toothy grin spread across her face.
April 23rd, 1941,
I don’t believe what has just happened, I really don’t. Of all the weird and crazy things to occur, this one has to take the cake....
---
"No!" Sophie and Marcella both murmured incredulously. Miriam merely nodded her head.
"Yup. Tom and I will be dueling each other at the end of this month," she replied. "Professor Dumbledore just told me."
"How can that be?" Marcella questioned.
"Simple. Tom and I won most of our duels and are considered the best in the school. We’ve earned the most points and now... we have to compete against one another."
"Blimey," muttered Sophie. "What are you going to do?"
"What I normally do prior to competition: Practice, practice, and practice some more," she answered with a devious smile. "Tom won’t know what hit him."
That little gibe sent the girls’ into a hysterical outburst.
At that same time, Tom, who had also just found out about dueling his sister, was planning a devious attack of his own with Carrey and Murdoch.
"You should try the Engorgio charm, she’ll swell up like balloon," laughed Carrey.
"NO! You should try the Rictusempra spell. She’ll be rolling all over the floor," Murdoch imparted.
"That’s only a mere tickling spell, Murdoch. If you really want to do something not so weak, Tom, then Furnunculus is the way to go."
Tom scratched his head.
"You know something, last night I heard Stephane mention this one type of spell. It went something like ‘girisi something, something pietra’," Carrey mentioned.
Tom looked at his friends and raised his eyebrows. "I... I know what spell you’re talking about. Girisi verso la pietra. That’s a spell Grindelwald himself invented. It... it turns people to stone."
"How’d you know it's a spell Grindelwald invented?" Murdoch asked, he now raising his eyebrows.
"I just do," Tom replied quietly, not making eye contact with either of them.
April 30th, 1941,
Today’s the day I duel my brother (how rich). I wonder how many other sisters can say they dueled their brothers? (... and hopefully won.)
I’ve been preparing for this since last week when I first learned of it. Marcella and Sophie have been a tremendous help, especially when learning this new spell 'Imciampare', which makes a person stumble.
---
"Let’s have a good, clean duel," ordered Professor Williams.
It was a warm Saturday in April, and it was time for the crucial duel between Tom and Miriam. Everyone in Hogwarts had been making it out as the duel of the century. Many students were divided on whom they wanted to win. Miriam didn’t care who was supporting her, just as long as Marcella, Sophie, and Henry were.
Tom and Miriam followed the proper wizard rules of showing respect to their opponent by bowing to one another. As they bowed, Miriam looked up at her brother, who was staring back. An unscrupulous look glinted in his eyes and a shrewd smirk curled the corners of his mouth. It was almost as if mentally he was telling her... I’m ready. Bring it on....
So am I, she thought as a devious smile curled her lips.
"One... two... three.... Duel!"
Tom and Miriam raised their wands, both ready to open fire.
"Engor–" Tom yelled.
"Inciamp-!"
"Protectorius!" he yelled again.
Damn, she thought bitterly as she watched their combination spell shoot off toward the sky in a blaze of reddish-green glory. Taking a deep breath, Miriam raised her wand again, prepared to attack.
"Petrificus –"
"Rictusempra!"
A purplish blast of light knocked Miriam backwards and she landed with her back on the platform. Though it was quite painful, she couldn’t help but laugh. She felt as if hundreds of feathers were tickling every inch of her.
I have to get up... I’ll lose the match if I don’t.
With much difficulty she hoisted herself off the platform. After wobbling for a moment, she regained her equilibrium.
He’s going to pay for that.
Tom raised his wand to cast a spell at her, but Miriam was quicker.
"Inciampare!"
An orangish light emitted from her wand and hit him squarely in the shoulder. At first nothing happened. Then as Tom moved forward to throw another hex at Miriam, he staggered forward and fell face down onto the platform.
"OUCH!" he exclaimed. Rubbing his sore and slightly bloody nose, he slowly got back onto his feet, and Miriam could see the fire and determination blazing in his eyes. But she was ready for whatever curse he’d threw at her... or at least she thought so as they both yelled "Expelliarmus!" at the exact same time.
The eager crowd watched in horror as the force from both spells created an energy so powerful it threw both Miriam and Tom flew back about ten feet into the air and and caused them to land with a loud thump on the platform.
As they lay unconscious, Professor Williams looked completely horror-stricken.
He rushed over to Miriam and pointed his wand at her chest and yelled, "Enervate!" Miriam gasped for breath before she opened her eyes.
"Oi, my head," she mumbled, grabbing her head as pain throbbed throughout her the back portion of her brain. Professor Williams headed over to Tom and performed the same spell on him.
"Bloody hell," he muttered as he massaged his head.
"This match is over with," Professor Williams ordered. "Abby, Stephane, please escort your house mates up to the infirmary."
"Aye, sir," they replied.
May 1st, 1941,
It is SO bloody boning being here in the infirmary. I don’t remember much of the match, but Abby tells me I was whooping Tom completely. Abby assures me my memory of the events should come back to me within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Until then, no homework for me or Tom. Drat.
---
"Nurses’ orders," Abby stressed. Miriam dropped back on her bed and sighed heavily. End- of-term exams were coming up, and she desperately wanted to study for them.
Now I’ll have to play catch up when I get out of this place, she thought angrily.
"You know, most people would leap at the chance to not have to study," Abby jested as she read the devastated expression on Miriam’s face.
"ABBY!" Miriam screamed.
"I’m joking, I’m joking. Trust me, you’ll be out of here with plenty of time to prepare," she reassured her.
"I hope so," she sighed.
May 13th, 1941,
Today is Friday the 13th. Marcella tells me that she's met many Muggles that are afraid of this day as something bad generally happens to them.
---
"Being raised in a Muggle orphanage, I'm sure you must know that many Muggles can be very superstitious," Marcella replied. "They believe that all sorts of bad things can happen today."
"You should've seen Madam Westyn," Miriam replied, stifling a laugh. "She was the ultimate in superstitious."
As they headed to dinner later that evening, Miriam stopped abruptly. "I’ll catch up with you guys. I forgot my Transfiguration book. I left it back in the common room," she said. Marcella and Sophie continued toward the Great Hall, both wondering why she needed her book now right before dinner. They wondered this as they watched their friend run back all the way to the common room.
~*~
Sssss.
Miriam, who was walking back from the common room, had passed some vacant classrooms on the way back, but stopped when she heard something rather strange.
Sssss.
There was that noise again... and something that sounded like... laughter. She followed the sounds to the empty History of Magic classroom.
"Tom, where’d you get it?"
"I don’t know. I was just on my way to the Great Hall when this big black owl flew in through a window and dropped the box with it right in front of me."
"I wonder who sent it?"
"Who cares? What are you going to name it?"
Miriam could hear something inhuman moving around in the room.
"Only thing sitting inside the box with it was a note. It stated that its name is Vipera. So I guess that’s what we’re going to call it."
Curiosity getting the better of her, she quickly looked in, but she wasn’t prepared for what she saw: a snake was slithering and coiling itself around Tom’s shoulders; its triangular head nestled in his hands.
"It’s... OUCH! IT BIT ME!" Tom yelled. He released his grip on the snake and huddled over while grasping his hand. Tom's face was contorted in anguish. Carrey and Murdoch rushed over to him and looked at his hand. Even from back where Miriam was, she could see his injury quite clearly. Tom’s hand was bleeding profusely.
"You’ll have to go to the infirmary," Murdoch said.
"NO, Murdoch, you moron, the nurse will ask too many questions!" Carrey replied briskly. "Here," he said. He took the sleeve of Tom’s robe and covered his injured hand.
"I can’t go into the Great Hall looking like this!" Tom exclaimed indignantly, raising up his wrapped and still bleeding hand. Tom winced again.
"You won’t," Carrey replied matter-of-factly. "You’re going back to the common room."
"We’ll try and nick you some food from the Great Hall while we're there," Murdoch added.
~*~
"Miriam."
"Miriam."
"Um... hello to Miss Riddle!" Sophie exclaimed, waving her hands in front of her friend's vacant face.
"What?" she asked, finally looking up from her book.
"You've been staring at that book for twenty minutes now without turning the page," Sophie replied.
"I just, uh, find this page rather interesting," she lied.
"Uh-huh. That's why you're looking at the index."
Miriam could have kicked herself... if it were even remotely possible.
"You haven’t touched any of your food," Marcella added. "That index page can’t be that interesting."
"Look, I just have a lot of work to catch up on," she lied again. In all honesty, she couldn’t bring herself to eat anything. After what she had just seen, she had totally lost her appetite. Her thoughts were too occupied with the mysterious snake Tom had just received. Her cluelessness carried over after dinner when they were leaving the Great Hall. Too absorbed in her own problems, she didn’t even notice Hagrid trying to cover a large piece of meat that was hanging out from the sleeve of his robe.
~*~
Down in the Slytherin common room, the Slytherins were suddenly regarding Tom as a hero. As Murdoch and Carrey were bringing him back some dinner, they were shocked to see Tom’s hand had completely healed up already.
"That’s... that’s bloody impossible!" Carrey exclaimed.
"I know," Tom replied. "There’s not even a puncture mark to be found."
To top it off, all the Slytherin girls were ooohing and awing over him.
"Did it hurt much, Tom?" a girl named Naomi Avery asked.
"You poor thing!" Frederica Parkinson cooed.
"You’re so courageous!" Libby Macnair added dreamily.
Tom grinned. He absolutely loved all the attention everyone was lavishing on him... especially the attention from the girls.
Tom went to bed that night in rather good spirits.
"Good night," a voice hissed. He rolled over and came face to face with Vipera. Vipera winked then slithered off into the darkness.
June 1st, 1941,
Our end-of-term exams have begun. For having missed a week last month due to injury, I spent nearly every waking moment in the library and going over my notes from the past year.
---
Many of the students were ecstatic as they took their last and final exam on the second. Miriam felt pretty good for being able to recover from her minor setback the previous month.
That night at dinner, everyone had decided to celebrate a job well done for finishing the exams.
"You amaze us, Miriam," Sophie sighed, shaking her head. "You miss a week of studying and still come out on top."
"We don’t know that yet," she replied as she buttered a dinner roll. "We’ll have to wait and see when our results come back."
"You can’t fool us...," Marcella began, her voice slowly trailing off. Her eyes became enormous as she pointed nervously to something behind Miriam.
Slowly she turned around and came face-to-face with Vipera, who was hissing softly to her. Too frightened to move, Miriam watched as the snake swooped down and ate her dinner roll right out of her trembling hands, much to the delight of the watching Slytherins.
"Are you scared, Miriam?"
She looked over at the Slytherin table, and at Stephane, who was hunched over and grabbing his sides, doubled over from laughing. However, it was Tom who was laughing the hardest. Tears were streaming down his scrunched-up face. Vipera slithered back over to the Slytherins where she was met with compliments and pats on her triangular head.
"Keep that wretched thing over there where it belongs!" Miriam yelled, the blood rushing to her face.
~*~
"Hey, look, I’m sorry about what happened at dinner tonight," Tom said while trying his best to keep a determinedly straight face as he ran to keep up with Miriam as she left the Great Hall later on.
"Have you come to ridicule me some more?" she asked, not bothering to even look at him.
"No, but you got to admit, it was kind of funny," he smirked.
"Go ahead. Laugh some more," she sighed. All the other Slytherins have," she mumbled as they passed by a group of Ravenclaws in the hallway.
"What are you looking at?" she yelled. The Ravenclaws looked affronted and left the hallway as Miriam continued her tempo down the hall.
"Wait!" Tom called after her. Catching back up with her, Miriam turned around to face him.
"Now really Tom, I... I... h - have you been getting enough sleep lately?" Miriam asked, eying him rather peculiarly.
"Yeah. Why?" he asked, noticing her strange expressions at him.
"Your eyes... they... they look different."
Covering his eyes, he ran past Miriam and into the nearest boys' restroom. Glancing into a mirror above the sink, he saw his eyes did look different: his pupils had become narrow, like the slits of a snake. Taking his finger, he touched his eyes, but immediately had to pull back as they began to burn. Turning the faucet on, he washed his face with cold water, hoping it would take the irritation away. Patting his face dry with a towel, he looked into the mirror once more. His eyes were human-like again.
Figuring it must have been a simple trick of his mind, he was preparing to leave the restroom when a first year Hufflepuff boy looked at Tom and then ran out of the restroom screaming at the top of his lungs. Wondering what on earth he could possibly be screaming at, Tom turned around and faced the mirror again. It was then he saw it: There was blood trickling down from the corners of his eyes like morbid tears.
~*~
Miriam anxiously paced the hallway, waiting for her brother to return. Thoughts were racing throughout her head, and the wait was absolutely killing her.
He's just over worked and nothing more. Merely tired, is all.
Unfortunately, nothing she th! ought of made her feel any better. Her thoughts kept shifting to when she had seen Vipera biting Tom.
Miriam waited ten more minutes, and then finally Tom appeared again.
"Tom! Are you okay? What happened?" she asked.
"I... I have to go," he stammered. His hands were covering his face as he ran down the hall.
"Tom?" Miriam called after him, but he didn’t answer back; he just continued running off into the distance.