Trouble With Malfoy ~ by Daintress

Chapter 2 ~ Dark Arts, Pranks and Potions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Stupid age restriction!" Muriel threw herself onto the bench beside Severus at the Slytherin table. Professor Dumbledore had announced the Halloween ball at dinner the night before. Muriel had gotten new dress robes over the summer, which she'd been anxious to try out, until the aging Headmaster had mentioned that the ball was to be only for 4^th years and up.

Severus raised an eyebrow, and his lips threatened to twitch up in a smile. He hardly ever smiled at school, at least not in public. It wasn't good for his reputation. "You don't even know how to dance," he said quietly.

"Dancing is not the point!" she huffed, determined to be annoyed. Severus shook his head. He was starting to think that she'd been exposed to her mother's power plays for far too long. He knew that the point was to see and be seen, but he hadn't thought that she took it as seriously as Mrs. Deesia did.

"I don't, Sev, but how will I ever learn to dance if I'm never allowed to go to one? The adults don't let us stay with them and dance at the Christmas parties, either!"

Severus rolled his eyes. She was continually answering his thoughts. He might have thought to do something about it, if he hadn't been so afraid that she'd hear it. Instead he said, "Get Avery to take you. You can go if you have a date in 4^th year or higher."

Muriel stuck out her tongue. "If I can't go with you, I'm not going." It was the closest she'd gotten to mentioning their parents' arrangement since they were 9, and Severus chose not to respond. Neither of them wanted a repeat of THAT fight.

They ate in silence until someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Deesia. Do you want to go with me to the Halloween ball?" Muriel suppressed a groan. It was Avery. He must have overheard them.

She shot Severus an angry look, but he only shrugged. "Thanks anyway, by then I'll be buried under a mound of homework." She tried to keep her voice light, but she could tell he was annoyed. His ears turned a bit pink.

"I don't know how to dance anyway. Maybe I'll get Mother to teach me next summer and we can go to the next one," she added hastily, as she noticed that he was holding his wand. Hers was in her bag under the table.

"Yeah, alright," he said darkly. Then he turned around and asked someone else, who agreed happily. With a last, victorious look at Muriel and Severus, he headed out of the hall.

"Bloody prat," Severus muttered. Muriel allowed herself a small smile. She chose not to remind him that going with Avery had been his idea in the first place.

Professor Warrington had finally learned his lesson, and now allowed his students to choose their own seats. Muriel sat with Marisa, and was VERY grateful. She was taking notes carefully until she felt something fly into her hair and get stuck. She reached back to find a squirming paper airplane, still trying to fly. It didn't have a name on it, so she held it under the desk and opened it, curious. She was pretty sure it wasn't for her, since all the Ravenclaws in the class were seated somewhere in front of her. It read:

Evans,

Will you come to watch Quiddich practice tonight?

It wasn't signed, but Muriel was pretty sure whom it was from. A swift glance behind her confirmed it. James Potter looked distinctly red in the face, and beside him, Sirius Black was looking at her with wide eyes. She flashed them her sweetest smile and picked up her quill, pausing to try and match Potter's writing. They were several rows back, and didn't dare do anything about it. So far this term, they'd left her alone. Maybe they were waiting for her to start the fun.

A moment later, she refolded the plane and set it on the desk. It immediately flew off to land in front of Lily.

Muriel watched as the red head at the front of the room looked down at the note and stuffed it in her bag before the Professor turned back from the board, where he'd been writing the characteristics of Hinky Punks. She hadn't read it.

Mur was disappointed, but not undone. It didn't matter if she could SEE Lily's reaction or not, Potter would still have to deal with it. And the note had given Muriel a great idea. Severus had mentioned putting a hurling hex on Potter's broom once, and it would be perfect if he could do it while Lily was watching the practice. They had practiced the hex on a few branches they'd enchanted over the summer, and Severus could cast it perfectly. She grinned, thinking hard about how she could get Severus into the Gryffindor dormitories during dinner.

When class finished, she made a beeline for the door, knowing that the boys would be after her in a heartbeat. She was half right. James went immediately to Lily to try and get the note back. Unfortunately he didn't know any switching spells, and she was a bit reluctant to produce it.

Sirius, however, followed her into the hallway as quickly as he could. She ignored him, walking fast. To her relief, the 6^th year Slytherins came out of a corridor to her right just as she passed it. She stepped among them and an older girl, Raquel Parkinson, put a hand on her shoulder. Parkinson had often watched the younger children at her parents' parties, and knew Muriel and Sirius well. Mur shot a last glance over her shoulder to see Sirius scowling at her before she let herself be led downstairs to the Great Hall for dinner.

"What did you do to Sirius, Mur?" the older girl whispered.

"His mate sent someone a note and I caught it. I made a few adjustments and sent it on, that's all." She replied innocently. Raquel winked and grinned as Muriel headed over to Severus.

"Sev," she whispered. "Come on, we've got to go."

Severus stood, raising an eyebrow but not arguing, and followed her back into the corridors. She told him about the note and her plan and he smirked appreciatively. He'd been waiting for a good opportunity to get Potter, and this was going to be perfect.

They came out of the Gryffindor portrait hole, giggling silently as the fat lady harrumphed to herself. They'd caught a first year on his way to dinner, and Severus had managed to convince him that he had a friend in the dormitory who'd sent an owl to invite him up, but had forgotten to give him the password. The boy was obviously a mud blood if he was naïve enough to think that any Gryffindor would invite a Slytherin into their common room.

They hadn't been able to tell which broom belonged to Potter, so they hexed them all. There were only four, and it only took a few minutes each. They arrived separately in the Great Hall to avoid suspicion. Muriel took care to cast a few harmless hexes toward the Hufflepuff table in case anyone asked to see her wand later. She hoped Sev thought to do it too.

"Why do you do that?" Marisa asked irritably as she sat down. Muriel gave her a questioning look. "Hex the Hufflepuffs. Most of them are too nice to fight back, you should leave them alone."

Muriel raised an eyebrow, and concentrated on her friend. "Did someone hex you for no reason today, Marisa?" she asked finally. The girl looked back at her food silently, but Muriel already knew she was right.

"Was it Black?" she asked quietly. Marisa nodded miserably. She'd had a crush on Sirius since the end of first year. Muriel was sure she just felt bad for him because of the boggart incident. Well, that and he was rather good looking, for a scrawny, dark eyed boy.

It occurred to her that Black was probably just angry about Potter's note and took it out on Marisa. Those two boys defended each other like they were brothers. Just like she and Severus did.

Mur shoveled down a few bites of food and stood up. When she arrived behind Sirius, she tapped him on the head with her wand. Across the table, Peter was looking rather pale and James was glaring daggers at her.

"Black, did you hex Marisa today?" she asked calmly.

"Who's Marisa?" Sirius didn't turn around. He crinkled his forehead as the slender wand tapped his head, and hoped she didn't catch his hair on fire. He winked at James and Peter and they both relaxed a little.

"My dorm mate, prat! Did you hex her?"

Sirius was NOT in a position to bargain, but he did it anyway. "Why don't you tell us what you wrote on that note, and then we'll tell you if we cursed your friend."

Muriel could just picture the haughty smile he was wearing. Now she was in a tight situation. She couldn't threaten to pay them back for it, because their hexed brooms were already waiting for them upstairs, and they'd be sure to know it was her. 'Brilliant, Deesia,' she thought dryly.

She was pleasantly surprised when Remus, who'd been sitting silently next to Black, bailed her out.

"Sirius couldn't have hexed Marisa, Mur. She came in for dinner after we did."

Muriel knew this wasn't true, but was glad for the excuse. "Oh," she said in a small voice. "Well, never mind then." She put her wand in her pocket as a gesture of good faith, winked at Remus and walked away, leaving all four marauders wondering why they hadn't noticed how gullible she was before now.

The next morning only Peter sat in the marauders' usual place at breakfast. Muriel felt a little bad, thinking that Remus might have gotten hurt. He hadn't meant to help her out, but she still felt like she owed him one for getting her out of the confrontation with Black.

"Crabbe says they were brought into the hospital ward crying like babies. Pettigrew didn't fly. He just turned his broom over to McGonagal this morning to have her check it." Severus was whispering over his cauldron to Muriel as she sliced frozen bat wings. Potions and Charms were the only classes Ravenclaw shared with Slytherin this year.

"What about Remus?" she asked quietly. He wasn't on the team, so she hadn't expected him to fly.

"Black and James are the only ones who got hurt. Remus was in Herbology this morning." He didn't know why Mur cared what happened to the tall, sandy-blond haired boy. She certainly didn't seem to feel any remorse about Potter or Black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~