Violet's Birthday

Nagaeena's fury had not abated by the time they got her back down to the Slytherin common room.

“I told you, I didn't see who did it!” she screamed. “I didn't hear anything! I was just walking to breakfast!” Her voice rose and fell with her hysteria, still penetrating enough to be heard outside the dungeons, Violet thought.

“Now quid yer skeechin,” Hugh said. “Yer har'll cum baek.”

“It will take years!” Nagaeena screamed, more loudly than before. Bald-headed and quivering with rage, she stood in front of of the huge Prefect and shook her fists at him. Hugh frowned. Normally, a first-year screaming at him like that would have been taking her life into her hands. Hugh could have picked her up and crumpled her into a ball with one hand, but Nagaeena was beyond fear. Violet was actually slightly impressed.

“Obviously this represents an escalation,” Ophilia said.

“Escalation? Escalation?! They removed my beautiful hair! They made me bald and ugly and you call this an escalation? This means war –!”

Nagaeena's hysterical screaming might have gone on and on, except that Ophilia slapped her across the face, then, hard. The younger girl's head snapped back and her eyes went wide, and for a moment all she could do was breath in and out. She continued trembling.

“Stop screaming,” Ophilia said calmly. “Slytherins do not scream like hysterical little children. They plot revenge.”

That brought Nagaeena up short, and got everyone else's attention.

“You mean, we're finally going to strike back?” asked Mortimer Thickwaite eagerly.

“This means war!” echoed Jonathan Madscarf enthusiastically, though Violet was sure he couldn't care less about Nagaeena's hair. Even Hugh was grinning.

“Listen to me!” snapped Ophilia. “We are not going to simply start slinging hexes at everyone in sight!”

“'Course not,” said Mortimer. “We have to do it when no teachers are looking.”

Ophilia rolled her eyes. “Since we are being forced into having to defend ourselves, we need to do it strategically. We can no longer allow Slytherins to be targeted with impunity. It makes us look weak. We've held back long enough. But we also can't simply engage in open warfare. You know we'll be blamed for any altercation.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Jonathan demanded.

Ophilia's eyes gleamed. “We will practice the fine art of striking from the shadows... of smiling at our victims to put them at ease before we plant the knife. Single out those who have earned our wrath, and wait until the time is right. Yes, let them fear Slytherin again... but let them be unable to accuse us.” She looked at Nagaeena. “Whoever jinxed Nagaeena understood this principle quite well. As well as whoever has been stealing wands. You all want to fight back – then do it like Slytherins! Anyone clumsy enough to be caught will find no support here. And if anyone repeats a word of what I'm saying outside this house,” she added, “then you'd better learn to live without sleep.”

“Excuse me,” Stephen said. Ophilia looked at him in surprise. “What?” she snapped impatiently.

“Well, what if someone is just trying to get us all to fight?” Stephen stammered. “I mean, none of this is going to c-convince the Sorting Hat we're learning to g-get along, is it?”

Violet thought Stephen was probably right. She also thought he was an incredible fool.

“Gin ye dint wanna fight den gin summaught wallops yew we'll do naught aught it!” Hugh guffawed.

“We can't have peace with a boot on our neck,” sneered Ophilia. “If the other houses won't respect us, they'll have to learn to fear us!”

Violet walked with Nagaeena and the other girls back to their room. There wasn't much that could have made Violet feel sorry for Nagaeena, but her vain and haughty roommate was truly devastated.

Stephen, in the corridor ahead of them, was being pushed around by Geoffrey and Nero and Anthony Dreadmoor.

“What kind of pansy are you?” sneered Nero.

Anthony tripped Stephen, and when he stumbled and fell, said, “Stay there!” and kicked him. They all looked down at him in disgust. “At the end of the year, you can transfer to Hufflepuff where you belong!” Nero spat. “Until then, just keep your bloody yap shut!”

Stephen didn't get up after the boys moved on to their dorms. Nagaeena and Decima and Bernice looked at him uncomfortably, and walked around him the hallway. Violet paused, and then knelt next to him.

“You have to stick up for yourself,” she said quietly.

Stephen looked up at her.

“I've got no wand and no friends,” he said. “If I stick up for myself, all I get is beaten down.”

“It looks like you're being beaten down anyway,” Violet said.

“What would you know?” he mumbled. “At least girls don't get beaten up!”

Violet's expression hardened. “You really are a fool,” she said coldly. She rose and continued on to her room.

The Slytherins began their guerrilla campaign with a vengeance. Roger Drocker and his gang were the first to be targeted. Violet hadn't been their only victim; the Gryffindor bullies had been terrorizing any Slytherin they caught in the corridors with no teachers around.

The Slytherins sprang their trap in the third-floor boys' washroom. They magically barred the door and then reversed the water pressure, causing all the sinks and toilets to erupt. Apparently Roger had actually been sitting on one of the toilets at the time. Violet really didn't want to hear the details, but Mortimer and Jonathan were howling with laughter recounting the scene that evening in the Slytherin common room.

Gladys Silvestrius was a Ravenclaw girl with a sharp tongue and a dagger-like wit to match, and she constantly turned it against Slytherins. She had a particular genius for coming up with insulting nicknames that stuck, and decorating desks, books, and the backs of robes with indelible lettering, and all the Slytherin girls hated her.

Her retribution came in the form of Moaning Myrtle, the pathetic, weeping ghost who normally lurked in the second floor girls' bathroom. Myrtle had bottomless wells of self-pity, and was easily manipulated by anyone who pretended to be sympathetic. She suddenly found she had an eager Slytherin audience, girls who would visit her bathroom and commiserate with her miserable existence. Soon they were whispering in her ear all the terrible things Gladys said, except when they repeated Gladys's insults, they were all about Myrtle. After that, Gladys had no peace; Myrtle would follow her into any bathroom she used, and sometimes to class as well. And since Myrtle had once been a Ravenclaw student, even Ravenclaw Tower gave Gladys no refuge.

“A snotty wet rag, am I?” shrieked Myrtle, chasing Gladys up the stairs. “How horrible are you? It's not bad enough I'm dead, but you have to go telling everyone that I'm the fattest, ugliest, most pathetic ghost in Hogwarts?”

Annabelle Jones also spoke venomously of Slytherins, calling them “snakes” and “vipers” right to their faces. Her repeated insults cost Hufflepuff more points even than Alduin's fight with Kai, but after the Prefects and finally Professor Peasegood dressed her down, she just started being more careful about not letting teachers hear her.

“I wouldn't let any more snakes come out of your mouth, if I were you,” Ophilia said to her, one afternoon in the hallway.

Annabelle sneered. “Go crawl under a rock with the rest of the vipers!”

The next time she spoke, the students around her screamed, as a fat green snake slithered out of her mouth. Annabelle went into hysterics, during which she produced half a dozen more serpents. She had to be put in isolation. Professor Rai was summoned to remove the curse, but after examining her, he informed her that he'd have to remove her tongue; failing that, she'd just have to refrain from speaking until it wore off.

Although Annabelle accused Ophilia of cursing her, there were a dozen witnesses to their conversation, and no one had seen Ophilia's hands anywhere near her wand.

Other students swelled up like balloons, turned odd colors, or grew unnatural appendages. Madam Pomfrey treated blisters, boils, warts, rashes, lesions, sores, pimples, and – because some Slytherins were less creative or less magically adept – bruises and black eyes as well. Teachers began sending Slytherins and non-Slytherins alike to detention in droves. Prefects were called to the Headmistress's office.

“Well, at least no more wands have been stolen,” Chloe commented to Teddy one morning at breakfast. Then she squealed when an owl landed on the table in front of him, arriving with the flood of birds streaming into the Great Hall to deliver the morning's mail. “Why can't they drop letters off in a box somewhere?”

Teddy untied the envelope that his grandmother's owl had delivered, and gave her an owl treat before sending her on her way. Chloe frowned as Teddy opened the envelope, ignoring her. Then his face broke into a grin.

“Good news?” she asked.

“Violet's birthday is the thirtieth,” he said. “Day before Halloween.”

Chloe frowned, puzzled.

“I knew her birthday is in October,” he explained. “But I didn't know the day. So I wrote my grandmother. She's never gotten to meet Violet, but she did know her birthday. Guess Violet's grandmother – my great-aunt – must have told her.”

“I see,” Chloe replied coolly.

“I'm going to throw her a surprise birthday party,” Teddy said.

“Oh,” Chloe replied, her voice becoming chilly.

“I'm going to need help,” he said. “With decorations and things. You'll help, won't you, Chloe?”

She looked at him in stunned disbelief for a moment, and then gave him a tight smile. “Of course.”

Dewey and Kai were both surprised at Teddy's proposal, but agreeable enough.

“Who else are we going to invite, though?” Dewey asked. “I hate to say this, but I don't think Violet has any other friends outside Slytherin.”

“We'll have to invite her Slytherin friends, then,” Teddy said.

Kai stared at him. “Mate, sometimes you're so naïve I'd swear you were a Hufflepuff. No offense,” he added quickly to Dewey. Dewey just gave Kai an exasperated look and shook his head.

“Seriously,” Kai went on. “It's a nice thought, but you think any Slytherins are going to show up for a party being thrown by a Gryffindor?”

“It's for a Slytherin,” Teddy insisted.

“I hate to admit it, but Kai has a point,” said Dewey.

“Well, if no one ever tries to reach out to anyone outside our house, how are we ever going to bring the houses together?” asked Teddy. “Or do you like things the way they are now?”

“Of course not,” said Dewey.

“No, the way things are now is horrible,” agreed Kai. “But I still think you're naïve.”

“We'll see. I'm not even sure who Violet's friends are,” Teddy mused. “I guess I'll have to ask those girls I see her with sometimes.”

“The one whose father was a Death Eater, the one who looks like a baby Dementor, and the one who got hit with the Hair-Removal Jinx?” said Kai. “I'd like to see that!”

Teddy gave him a sour look. “No way. I'm afraid you'd open your mouth.”

Teddy couldn't approach the other Slytherin girls during one of the classes they had together without Violet knowing about it. It took several days before he saw an opportunity; Violet slipped away early after Potions class, leaving the other three girls behind. Teddy caught up to them outside Slughorn's classroom, while they were heading into the dungeon maze leading to the Slytherin dorms.

“Excuse me!” Teddy said. They turned around, and stared at Teddy in astonishment.

“Umm,” he shuffled to a halt, and found himself unexpectedly nervous beneath the gazes of the three girls.

“It must be a dare,” said Decima.

“Or a stupid Gryffindor prank!” sneered Nagaeena.

“Let's hex him,” said Bernice, and she drew her wand.

“No, wait!” Teddy exclaimed, holding out his hands. “Violet's birthday is this month!”

Bernice paused. Nagaeena raised her eyebrows. “So?” she asked coldly.

“So, umm, I was hoping you'd come to a surprise birthday party for her.”

The three girls were stunned speechless.

“You're her friends, right?”

They looked at each other.

“Oh yes,” said Nagaeena. “Certainly.”

“So, will you come?”

Bernice and Decima looked at Nagaeena, who was studying Teddy appraisingly.

“All right,” she said. “But if this is some sort of Gryffindor initiation ritual, you'll lose more than your hair.”

“It's not! Violet is my cousin. I just want to surprise her.”

“Oh, she'll be surprised,” said Nagaeena.

Teddy grinned. “Great! I'll, uh, talk to you later, then, once I've worked out the details.” He turned and retreated back towards the stairs, like someone returning from an incursion into enemy territory.

“He's an idiot,” said Bernice.

“Yes,” sighed Nagaeena. “But he is rather cute.” She frowned and reached up to adjust the bright green and purple scarf wrapped around her head.

While Teddy was preparing to throw a party for Violet, Hogwarts was preparing for the Halloween Feast. Hoping to encourage a more friendly competition (and one that couldn't easily be turned into a bloodbath), the houses had been invited to decorate their common rooms and dorms with a Halloween theme. The Headmistress and House Heads were to conduct a tour of each area Halloween night and announce the winner.

In Gryffindor Tower, every window was lit with hundreds of candles, and students on brooms circled the tower, painting it scarlet and gold. Ravenclaw Tower came alive with ravens, roosting in its eaves and huddled together on every windowsill (and making so much noise in the mornings and evenings that most Ravenclaws gave up studying in their common room and retreated to the library instead). In the Hufflepuff common room and tunnels, there were jack-o'-lanterns everywhere. Some of the sixth- and seventh-years who were taking Professor Peasegood's advanced Transfigurations class animated a squad of scarecrows and had them do the sweeping and dusting in the common room.

The Slytherin dungeons, of course, were filled with skulls, tombstones, spiders, and bubbling cauldrons, and the Bloody Baron was invited to spend more time in the common room, much to the dismay of the younger Slytherins.

Along with the approach of Quidditch season, this seemed to be raising everyone's morale somewhat. Teddy was feeling optimistic. All that remained was for him to find a place where he could hold the party.

“Can't use any of our common rooms,” sighed Dewey.

“Can't throw a party in the library,” said Kai.

“Well, there are loads of empty rooms all over the castle,” said Teddy. “We just need to find one no one will bother us in.”

A loud, rude noise coming from directly behind them made them all jump.

“What's this? Is the ickle firsties planning a party?” Their books all flew out of their hands and went spinning around the corridor in a whirlwind.

“Peeves!” Teddy cried angrily.

“Knock it off, you lousy spook!” yelled Kai, trying to snatch his textbooks out of the air.

“The ickle firsties want to throw a party and didn't invite me! Must have been an oversight! Don't worry, I'll be sure to crash in!” Peeves flew away down the corridor, cackling gleefully as the three boys' books bounced off the walls and ceiling in his wake.

“Great,” said Teddy. “Now we have to find a place where Peeves won't bother us as well.” He knew Peeves could be remarkably persistent, and he didn't want to think about what the poltergeist would do with a birthday cake.

“Good luck with that, mate,” said Kai.

The solution came quite unexpectedly that evening as Teddy was walking alone back to Gryffindor Tower. He had been looking into empty rooms, but he suspected Peeves was following him invisibly, so he kept doubling back hoping to throw the poltergeist off his trail, and suddenly a door appeared in a blank section of wall. Teddy gaped at it, and then, looking around, moved over to the door and tried it. It opened for him easily and he slipped inside.

It was a cozy little chamber, quite unlike the cold, bare, stone rooms to be found elsewhere in the castle. There was a table which was the perfect size for half a dozen or so first-years, comfortable chairs, and to Teddy's enormous surprise, a little cabinet filled with plates, silverware, and cups. His astonishment increased when he found in the lower drawers of the cabinet a box of birthday candles, conical hats, and party favors.

“You found the Room of Requirement!” exclaimed Kai, when Teddy told him about it the next day.

“The what?”

“Didn't your godfather ever tell you about it?” Kai asked. “It's a magical room! It becomes whatever you need it to be! Cho mentioned it once – said Potter held secret meetings there, her sixth year. But she wouldn't tell me how to find the room.” He frowned. “Said there was no reason I should need a room like that anymore. This'll show her!”

“Maybe Harry didn't tell me about it because he figured if I ever did need it, I'd have to find it on my own. Is it Peeves-proof?”

“I reckon it is if you need it to be.”

“Excellent!” Teddy grinned. “Then that's that!”

Chloe was fascinated by the Room of Requirement. She promised she would take care of refreshments, and she even created hand-lettered invitations, which he was looking forward to pointing out to Violet, since Violet had been so uncomplimentary in her opinion of Chloe. Teddy slipped the invitations to Nagaeena, Decima, and Bernice during Potions class.

“Teddy, my boy!” said Slughorn cheerfully, holding him back after class. “Are you already flirting with Slytherin girls? Oh, believe me, I am well familiar with their charms. Why in my younger days...” He sighed and shook his head, while Teddy felt his face coloring. “But you must be careful, my boy. Women's hearts are fickle, and I assure you, Slytherin females are not to be trifled with!”

“Umm, I'm not trifling with anyone, sir,” Teddy mumbled. “I was just inviting them to Violet's birthday party.”

“I see!” Slughorn looked at Teddy appraisingly. “Well, that's really first rate, young man! And so refreshing to see a Gryffindor making friends with Slytherins as well. Now, why haven't you stopped by to visit me one of these afternoons as you promised? I do hope you're not finding the workload in my class too onerous?”

“No, sir,” Teddy said. “I'm sorry I haven't visited.” He wasn't exactly sure what Slughorn wanted from him. He had heard that the Deputy Headmaster regularly met with favored students in his office, but those were all upperclass students.

“I'm always willing to assign tutors to students who are struggling. Your cousin seems to be doing quite well. I'm sure she wouldn't mind tutoring a struggling Gryffindor.”

“But I'm not struggling, sir. At least, I didn't think I was.”

“Oh, I wasn't talking about you, Teddy, I was talking about Miss Grey.”

Teddy blinked. “Sir?”

“It takes more than a change of handwriting to conceal the true author of a potions essay, my dear boy!” said Slughorn cheerfully. “You're a bit young to already be succumbing to feminine wiles, aren't you?” He winked. Teddy turned scarlet.

“I'm going to have to make Miss Grey write a new essay of course,” he went on. “Oh, and while I'm at it, I suppose I'm obligated to punish you as well. Twenty points from Gryffindor should do it. Now, off with you, young scamp!”

Teddy left Slughorn's classroom chagrined. Chloe took the news relatively well; she only whined and pouted for a little while.

On October 30th, Violet gave no indication that it was not a day like any other. Kai, Teddy, and Dewey also pretended to be unaware of the date.

Teddy had been thinking about how to get Violet up to the seventh floor, and decided that the easiest way was to tell her an edited version of the truth.

“Violet, have you ever heard of the Room of Requirement?” he asked her, during Herbology class.

She frowned. “No, what is it?”

“It's a magical room that becomes whatever you want it to be. You can only find it if you need it.” She looked at him skeptically. He looked around, and whispered, “My godfather discovered it, back when he was in school. I already showed Dewey and Kai. Want to see it?”

Violet was curious despite herself. “Where is it?”

“On the seventh floor. Come up tonight after dinner and I'll show you.”

She frowned. “That's near Gryffindor Tower.”

“Don't worry, we'll all be waiting for you.”

She nodded slowly. “All right.”

Teddy was feeling quite pleased with himself. He noticed the other Slytherin girls exchanging a knowing look, and he grinned at Chloe, who smiled back.

That evening, Nagaeena, Bernice, and Decima arrived on the seventh floor, looking understandably nervous, being so close to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. But their mouths dropped open when Teddy showed them the Room of Requirement.

“I thought you were having us on,” said Bernice.

“Why would you think that?” Teddy asked. The Slytherin girls just looked at him pityingly.

Dewey and Kai arrived, and Chloe, carrying a birthday cake. To everyone's astonishment, the room was already decorated with a large banner reading “Happy Birthday Violet!” Chloe began cutting the cake, while the three Slytherin girls stood across the table from Dewey and Kai. There was not much conversation. Teddy stepped out every minute or so to check for Violet.

Minutes passed. Teddy stayed out in the corridor for longer periods, and returned with a frown. Dewey and Kai began looking increasingly uncomfortable. Nagaeena, Decima, and Bernice kept exchanging looks and watching the boys uneasily.

They continued waiting.

“You know girls,” said Kai.

“What do you know about girls?” Bernice retorted. Even Chloe rolled her eyes.

Nagaeena sighed impatiently. She looked at Decima.

“I'll go see what's keeping her,” Decima mumbled. She left the room.

“Why do you care so much about Violet anyway?” Nagaeena asked Teddy.

He looked at her in surprise. “Well, she's my cousin,” he said.

“You're close to all your cousins?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Sap,” muttered Bernice.

Decima came running back to the Room of Requirement several minutes later, with a look of alarm on her face.

“What's wrong?” Nagaeena asked sharply.

“You'd better come see,” Decima said.

She led them down the stairs to the Entrance Hall.

“Why are we going all the way down here?” Kai demanded. Dewey noticed uneasily that there were other students coming down the stairs now too, apparently having heard that something was up.

The Entrance Hall was already decorated with magically floating jack-o'-lanterns. High overhead, its cavernous ceiling was now temporarily home to a multitude of bats, which didn't thrill many students (or teachers). But everyone was looking at the great hourglasses that recorded house points.

“Oi!” Kai exclaimed.

“Oh no,” Dewey gasped.

“Oh, God!” Teddy cried out. “Violet!”

They all stared in horror. Someone had used a massive roll of Spellotape to tape Violet to the Slytherin hourglass. She was hanging upside down, ten feet off the floor, with her arms taped to her sides and Spellotape over her mouth. She was struggling helplessly, while the Entrance Hall filled with curious and appalled students. Her skirt had fallen down around her waist, leaving her legs bare and exposing her underwear.

Peeves was floating a few feet away, singing:

“Happy birthday to you,
It stinks to be you!
We all see your knickers,
And your face is turning blue!”

The poltergeist was throwing pumpkin seeds at her.

“Peeves, leave her alone!” Teddy screamed. He drew his wand, wishing with all his heart to curse the poltergeist into oblivion, but he realized immediately he didn't know any spells that would affect the spirit. He started towards Violet, and a massive hand suddenly caught him and threw him backwards. Hugh Truncher towered over him.

“Get her down!” said a sharp voice. Ophilia was ascending the stairs from the Slytherin dungeons.

“What's going on here?” demanded Argus Filch, drawn by the commotion, followed immediately by Professor Longbottom, and then they both saw Violet. Filch's mouth just hung open, while Longbottom's jaw clenched and his eyes blazed.

It took one boy standing on Hugh's shoulders to reach Violet. He severed the tape, and then almost dropped her on her head, but Hugh caught her and set her down. She let out a little cry of pain as the Prefect tore the tape off her mouth.

“Violet,” Teddy said, trying to approach her again. “Are you – ” He stopped dead at the look of fury she gave him.

“Did you finally have your fun, then?” she screamed. “Is that why you befriended me all this time, to have one big laugh at me in front of the whole school?”

“Violet!” Teddy gasped. “You can't possibly think –”

“Come to the seventh floor, we'll all be waiting for you, you said!” she sneered. “They were waiting for me all right! Bravo! You pulled it off perfectly! I never saw it coming! A Slytherin couldn't have done better!”

Teddy, Kai, and Dewey recoiled before her towering rage. They had never seen Violet lose her temper like this before. She was shaking with fury and humiliation, as out of control as Nagaeena had been, but far more coherent. Something had snapped inside of her. The other Slytherin girls were looking at the boys as if they wanted to strike them dead on the spot.

“We didn't –” said Kai.

“We'd never –” said Dewey.

“Violet!” pleaded Teddy.

“Miss Parkinson,” said Professor Longbottom sternly. “Who is responsible for this? Who did this to you? I want to know immediately. I don't care which house they're in.”

Violet trembled, as Nagaeena, Decima, and Bernice went to her side and Nagaeena put an arm around her slight shoulders. Throughout the ordeal, and even now, Violet had not yet shed any tears.

“I didn't see who it was,” she said at last. “I was grabbed from behind.”

It was a transparent lie. Longbottom sighed. “Miss Parkinson, I have to insist you tell me who the culprits are. I swear to you, even if they're in my own house, I'll see them expelled!”

Violet stared at the Head of Gryffindor and said, “I. Didn't. See.” Her expression was mutinous.

“Professor,” said Ophilia. “I'm sure you're not meaning to call her a liar, after what she's been through? Perhaps it would be best if we take her back to our quarters?”

Longbottom looked at the Slytherin Prefect, with a deeply troubled expression. Finally, he nodded. “Very well. But Miss Karait, you'd better tell me or Professor Slughorn anything you know. We will not stand for any retaliation in kind.”

“Of course, Professor,” Ophilia replied smoothly, gesturing at the younger girls, who were already moving towards the stairs.

Longbottom turned to Teddy and his friends.

“We only planned a surprise birthday party,” Teddy said. “I don't know who did this to Violet, Professor!” He felt sick.

“I believe you, Teddy,” said Longbottom. “But I think you'd probably better stay away from Slytherins too, just the same.” He sighed, and looked sad. “I think things are only going to get uglier.”