The Curse of Ravenclaw Tower

Strange things were afoot in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is to say, stranger things than usual, were afoot. The aforesaid strange things were primarily occurring in the Ravenclaw Tower, to Ravenclaw students regardless of sex; status; year; and, believe it or not, position in the Ravenclaw Debating Society. Thus, a dreadfully 'witty' student of one of the other houses named the occurrences 'The Curse of Ravenclaw Tower' (it is, of course, apparent that the student concerned did not belong to Ravenclaw house, as Ravenclaws are famed for their wit, and this poor soul clearly isn't).

In any case, the Ravenclaws themselves frowned upon the name 'The Curse of Ravenclaw Tower' as it was fundamentally flawed and incorrect, some of the strange occurrences had, in fact, occurred in corridors around the school (and also one memorable incident involving Eddie Carmichael, Terry Boot and a cucumber, in the third floor boys toilet).

Our story begins with the 'witty' student that came up with this somewhat grandiose title. He was seated in the Great Hall, shovelling his lunch into his mouth, as was his want of a lunch hour. "I'm telling you Hermione, it's a brilliant name! It's real witty, too!" he managed to articulate between gulps. He looked over at his other best friend. "Ain't that right, Harry?"

Harry did not answer. Harry was staring fixedly at his lunch trying, unsuccessfully, to block out the conversation. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't block out the latest of Ron and Hermione's 'friendly discussions' out of his mind. It was slowly and surreptitiously, permeating his weary mind like a bad smell furtively pervading an enclosed space. To be honest, Harry wasn't sure how much more his poor misunderstood; bruised; battered; and, generally, tortured soul could take.

"Wit is only educated insolence, Ron!" spat Hermione, her voice brimming with the kind of acidic frustration that only a vicious bout of PMT could so graciously bestow.

Harry's spirited attempt at keeping out of the conversation, and harms way, was on the brink of failure, and he knew it. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so deep in Harry's troubled mind there sparked an idea. Pity it wasn't a good idea but, as previously mentioned, he was desperate. He therefore stiffened his limp and weedy resolve, and with a sudden, manic, bout of energy, stuffed as much mashed potato into his mouth as was humanly possible. Harry then looked up at Ron, pointed to his mouth and made actions as to convey the message that he couldn't talk right now. Hermione rolled her eyes whilst Ron looked away, slightly disappointed and somewhat disturbed, but Harry silently and vigorously congratulated himself for managing to keep out of the argument. Unfortunately for Harry, since his idea wasn't very good, one of the many flaws in his plan befell him - he had put too much in his mouth and his gag reflex kicked in. He began to choke and he managed to spray the person sitting opposite him, Ginny Weasley, with mashed potatoes. Beware the woes mashed potatoes can bestow.

Hermione, who was sitting next to Ginny, leaned out of the way and said icily, "There you go Ron! Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, would rather choke to death on mashed potatoes than admit that 'The Curse of Ravenclaw Tower' was witty! Honestly Ron! Grow up will you! Those Ravenclaws could have been hurt! These are attacks! Attacks that are occurring to our fellow students! It's not something to joke about or to make remarks about!"

"Oh, come on Hermione!" whined Ron, as he thumped Harry on the back. "I mean, who cares? All them Ravenclaws think that they're better and smarter than everyone else! They wouldn't have been injured; they're not even being attacked! Someone's just playing pranks on them, that's all!" He took in the sceptical look on Hermione's face as she helped to pick the worst of the potato out of Ginny's hair, and added quickly, "It's harmless fun, I mean, how many Ravenclaws do we really know anyway?"

At this Ginny, who was wiping mashed potatoes of her face, pointed towards a girl seated at the Ravenclaw table and snapped, "Well, that one happens to be one of my best friends! She helped save both our lives back at the Ministry, you insensitive git!" She got up, and after giving her brother the venomous look that she reserved solely for him when he was being her Big Brother (or prat), she hurried out of the Great Hall, destined for a shower and a fresh set of robes.

As he continued to thump the still choking Harry on the back, Ron looked over at the Ravenclaw table, and at the girl who sat there. She had long straggly dirty blonde hair, which was currently in low pigtails trailing down her front, and huge silvery eyes. Currently, those eyes were staring into space and a small smile played across her features. Turning his attention back to his plate, then at a gagging Harry, he sighed.

"Ron Weasley! Don't you even begin to feel sorry for yourself! You deserved that! You are utterly thoughtless! You and Ginny might not have been here today if it hadn't been for Luna! Have you ever thanked her?" Hermione stormed. She paused for breath and continued lecturing an open-mouthed Ron. "I will admit that she's unusual but that's no reason for you to ignore her and not to like her." She was subjecting Ron to such a ferocious glare, that he thought, perhaps, she'd been taking glaring lessons from his mother.

"Alright, alright, don't nag. I don't not like her or anything, she's just, well, a bit different to what I'm used too, ok?" replied Ron defensively, whilst handing Harry a glass of water.

"Oh, for heavens sake! Ron, take Harry up to the common room, will you? His coughing and spluttering are putting me off my dinner!" Hermione snapped back.

It was clear to Ron that this conversation was over, so sighing resignedly, Ron put Harry's arm around his shoulder and helped him out of the Great Hall. Harry's eyes were streaming and he was still coughing, and after ascending the fifth flight of stairs Harry was getting heavy. "Harry, mate, the potato can't have affected your legs, so use them!" These words were greeted by a hacking cough. "Come on, mate. I've lost count of the times you've defeated V-V-Voldemort, you're not gonna let a bit of mashed potato finish you off, eh?" Yet again, these words were greeted with a hacking cough.

As they entered Gryffindor Tower, they were greeted excitedly by the Creevy brothers. "Put that bloody camera away Colin," snapped Ron. "Move it, midget's!" he shouted at a gaggle of first years that were blocking the door to the boys' dormitories.

He heaved Harry up to their dormitory, trying not to mutter darkly about where he'd like to shove Colin's camera. He kicked open the dormitory door and dragged Harry across the floor and dumped Harry on his bed. "You gonna be alright?" he asked Harry gruffly.

Harry coughed again (for effect) and nodded. "Yeah, thanks mate. Don't know what I'd have done without you." Harry had a mad glint glistening in his eyes and he grinned wickedly. "Ronnikins - you're my hero!" Harry hacked and coughed again as a pillow, sent his way by Ron, hit him square in the face and knocked him off his bed.

"Oh, shut up! I should've left you lying in the corridors, perhaps a little kick in from the Slytherins would do you some good!" Ears blazing, Ron slammed the dormitory door behind him and made his way out of the Tower.

"Bloodly prefect duties," he grumbled as he walked down the Fat Lady's corridor.

Ever since the start of term, Ron thought that Harry had been acting really strangely. One minute he was practically bouncing, or (even worse) positively capering around Hogwarts (being down right cheeky to all and sundry) and the next he was moody, sullen, restless, and brooding. Ron had caught many of the female students gazing wistfully at the brooding Harry. It had sickened him. Thoroughly.

After a while, some soul-searching, and taking some points off a Slytherin second-year, Ron began to feel a bit better. He thought of what Hermione had said about Luna. He knew that she was right, of course, as Luna had probably saved both his and Ginny's lives. Everyone has welcomed Luna, he thought, even Hermione after a few false starts, so why do I have a problem with her?

Shaking his head, in a vain attempt to clear his thoughts, he rounded another corner and set off down a dark corridor. He was halfway along it before he saw a small creature dressed in ragged clothes, attempting to conceal itself behind a statue of Gregory the Smarmy.

Without quite knowing why, Ron quickly side-stepped into the shadows and watched the creature. It was chortling to itself and wringing its hands together in what can only be described as a maniacally evil way (whilst managing to border on the, always popular, diabolically evil way). Ron jumped as a door nearby banged shut.

The creature whipped round, looking for the source of the noise and Ron saw its face for the first time. It had a small, flat face with pinhole nostrils and it appeared to be rather hairy. It was also wearing what looked, to Ron, like a white turban.

Footsteps echoed from the other end of the corridor. Ron watched as Orla Quirke, a fourth year Ravenclaw, made her way towards him, unaware of Ron's and the creatures presence.

At the sight of Orla, the little creature froze. As she approached, it sniffed the air eagerly and beared its teeth. It clicked its tiny fingers and a luminous green substance appeared behind Orla. It watched hungrily as Orla drew closer to it, totally unaware of the mass of ectoplasm that was floating behind her.

The ectoplasm remained stationery, floating in the middle of the corridor, churning madly, and appearing to gather in mass. Ron reached for his wand as he stepped out of the shadows.

Orla looked surprised as she watched him emerge from the shadows. Her mouth began to form a welcome until she saw him raise his wand, pointing it at her. She stopped dead and a look of horror passed over her features.

"Duck!" Ron yelled, as he watched the ectoplasm suddenly shoot towards her.

Orla squealed as she dropped to the ground.

"Skurge!" bellowed Ron, aiming his spell at the ectoplasm. His spell hit it, dead centre, and Orla squealed a bit more, as small blobs of the green substance landed all around her.

Ron looked around for the little creature that had caused this but it was too late, it was gone. Orla shakily got to her feet, and looked at Ron. "The Curse," she quavered. "It was the Curse! Oh! Ron you saved me!"

Ron hurried over to her as she swayed madly. He took hold of her arm. "Orla! Are you ok?" he asked urgently.

He caught her as she passed out. Thinking of Harry and his Ronnikins taunt, Ron looked down at the girl in his arms and said bitterly, "Oh, well that's just bloody brilliant, isn't it?"

~~~***~~~

Having dropped Orla off at the Hospital Wing with a hurried explanation to Madam Pomfrey, Ron set off in search of Hermione. It was obvious now, even to him, that Hermione was right, again. The Curse of Ravenclaw Tower actually was a series of attacks on his fellow students.

He had an idea of what was causing these attacks. Obviously, he thought, the little bugger with the turban was some kind of magical creature. Ron also knew that if there was one person in this school who had memorised the whole of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, it'd be Hermione Granger, who had recently been voted Hogwarts' Resident Expert on Absolutely Everything.

Hermione, being possibly the only person in the castle who had also memorised Hogwarts: A History, had once explained that no magical creature could enter the castle unless it was brought in by a student or a teacher. Ron was glad that he couldn't remember why they had been talking magical creatures living in the castle - something's just don't bear thinking about. In his opinion, the person responsible for setting this creature loose in the castle was probably some back-stabbing, dirty, jealous, and cowardly Slytherin. Or Hagrid did it by mistake. Ron hoped that it was the former.

Ron yanked aside a tapestry, intent on taking a short cut to Gryffindor Tower, when he saw Loony Lovegood walking towards him. There was nowhere to run and certainly nowhere to hide down this narrow corridor. Cursing his misfortune, and in no mood to try and understand the inner musings of Loony, he hitched his face into a false bright smile and said in an I'm-to-busy-to-stop-and-chat-especially-with-you kind of way, "Hi Luna. How's it going?" He hoped that if this did actually spawn a conversation, that it was going to be a very quick one - he needed to find Hermione and quickly. However, as she approached, he saw that her bottom lip was bleeding and her eyes looked more dazed than dreamy. Frowning, he stopped and asked, "Hey... What happened to you?"

Luna stopped walking and blinked. She then turned to face him and blinked again. Ron almost gasped - Luna had just blinked twice in a few seconds, which was not normal for the girl who was, most definitely, not normal. She tilted her head to the side, opened her mouth once or twice, and then blinked again. Ron felt quite faint. Then she said in slightly strangled tones, "I tripped on the stairs. I think someone jinxed me. I'm going up to the hospital wing to get my lip fixed."

"Somebody jinxed you!" Ron bristled at this, surprising himself. Suddenly, the knowledge and certainly was there in a flash of electrical impulses over much neglected synapses - Ron felt ashamed at his behaviour towards Luna. He realised at that moment, he was looking at one of Ginny's best friends, and she had been purposefully injured. He felt an unhealthy urge to right his wrongs and smite the unworthy. His face set with grim determination, he asked, "Did you see who did it?"

"No," she replied vaguely, "but they snatched my necklace off as I fell. I don't think it's the Curse though. I've been jinxed before. Some people think it's quite amusing, actually."

Sure enough, Ron noticed that her butterbeer cork necklace was missing. "That's terrible, Luna! I bet it was a Slytherin, it sounds just like them to do a thing like that!" Ron fumed. Today was going to be a bad day to be in Slytherin, he resolved silently.

"Well, I'd better be going Ron," she said, gingerly touching her bleeding lip with her finger.

Ron, who was busy torturing a hundred Slytherins in his head, started back to reality. "Oh, right, yeah. See you later Luna. Take care." She waved in reply, as she set off along the corridor.

The time had come, Ron decided, to wage war on the Slytherins. And wage war he did. Forgetting completely about the little creature, he stalked through the castle on the prowl for Slytherins. When he found them, he took points for the following; befouling the castle; littering; magic in the corridors; restricting the flow of students in the corridors; pushing fellow students; jumping queues; loitering; loitering with intent; malicious loitering; malicious loitering with intent; breaching the peace; and the capital crime of giving a prefect a funny look.

By the dinnertime, Slytherin house was down by 120 points. Feeling exhausted but strangely satisfied, Ron slumped down on the Gryffindor bench in the Great Hall, beside Hermione. He grabbed a plate and filled it with two dollops of everything from every dish he could reach. Once again, he appreciated his good fortune at getting the long, gibbon-like arms from his fathers' side of the family. He started to tuck into his dinner.

Hermione couldn't help looking slightly offended by the mixed mountain of foodstuffs on his plate. With the barest of head shakes at his abominable eating habits she thought, I may as well buy him a trough for Christmas.

After giving Ron a few minutes of uninterrupted guzzling, she turned to him and gave him an appraising look. "Where have you been all afternoon?" she enquired politely.

Ron, sensing danger, desperately sought a way to change the subject (he was considering using his change-the-subject trump card, which had never yet failed him, which was asking after Harry). His unease stemmed from he fact that Hermione, against the expectations of all, had become quite fond of Luna and seeing that Hermione had mellowed out since lunch, Ron did not want to provoke her or upset her in any way. A flash a divine, conversation-changing inspiration failed to hit him. Therefore he asked, "Where's Harry?"

Hermione sighed sadly and shook her head. "He's brooding again. Weekends are hard for him, Ron. During the week he has a structured timetable and homework to do so he doesn't have the time to brood and mope about. Roll on the Quidditch season, at least he'll have that to distract him."

"You should keep on lecturing him about doing at least some of his homework on Saturdays. That way, he won't have enough time to brood like he does," advised Ron.

Hermione visibly bristled. "Why don't you do it for a change! I'm sick of nagging the pair of you! Honestly! It's not as if you're children that need everything done for you!" snapped Hermione.

Ron put his hands out in a placatory gesture, desperately trying to tame the savage beast. "I didn't mean it like that Hermione. It's just that he listens to you in that way. The last time I said anything like that..." he drifted off, reliving that moment in his head.

"What happened?" asked Hermione, somewhat incredulously and utterly gobsmacked that Ron had shown the initiative.

"Well, when he was brooding a couple of weeks ago, I told him that 'things weren't that bad and to buck up a bit'" he sighed, resigned at the memory.

"What did he do?" enquired Hermione.

"He told me to buck off and die...well, it rhymed with buck anyway."

Ginny ran up to them and interrupted Hermione's reply. "You will never guess what's happened!" she gushed excitedly.

"No, we probably won't," said Hermione dryly, marvelling at Ron's stubborn inability to relate compassionately to any other human beings feelings, "but do please continue."

"Peeves, right, played a trick on the Bloody Baron and the Baron's furious! He's demanding Peeves' head or his expulsion from Hogwarts!" Ginny watched Ron and Hermione's stunned expressions for a moment before continuing. "Peeves is bouncing around Dumbledore's office begging for protection. He's screaming that he's innocent!"

"Bloody hell!" said Ron, deeply impressed at Peeves' nerve. "I never thought Peeves was innocent of anything! How did you find all this out anyway?"

"I was in the corridor by Dumbledore's office when Peeves shot past me screaming 'Save me! Save me! The Baron's coming! Professor Dumbledore! Save me!' I've never thought of Peeves being a damsel in distress...." Ginny snickered. "He doesn't seem the type."

Hermione was frowning. "That just doesn't make any sense. Peeves would never prank the Baron. He's the only one that Peeves is really afraid of. I really don't think Peeves would be so stupid. It's really strange - so out of character." She paused, studying her plum and apple pudding.

"You don't think this has got anything to do with the Curse, do you?" asked Ron.

"No...no...that doesn't make sense either," Hermione said slowly. "Up until now, the Curse has only affected the Ravenclaws. Why would it go for Peeves?"

Ginny, who was still slightly over-excited by her news about Peeves, noticed the flummoxed look on Ron's face. Personality-wise, Ginny was more like Fred and George than the rest of her brothers and, like the twins, her favourite game was Quidditch. However, the twins and Ginny would all agree that taking the piss out of Ron came a close second. Which is why she said, "Maybe it's a conspiracy! To get rid of Peeves! Maybe the Ravenclaws are actually responsible for the Curse. Maybe they're faking the whole thing! Maybe it's all just a plot to get rid of Peeves!" said Ginny, eyes sparkling mischievously.

Hermione smiled at Ginny, recognising the sarcasm in her voice, but Ron, with his brow furrowed said, "You know Ginny might have a point. Dad told us all about muggle conspiracies. Maybe it's not the Ravenclaws... Maybe it's the Ministry! Maybe they're trying to cover something up and they have to get rid of Peeves!"

"Ron, that is the most far-fetched thing I've ever heard - and I'm including all those things that Luna talks about! Honestly! A government conspiracy! Do you really think that that is at all likely? Do you honestly think that they are capable of covering anything up? Given the Ministry's, or come to think of it, any other government's, track record in practically every other field, do you really think it's likely that they would be able to cover anything up?!" Hermione fumed. "Every single day I thank Merlin for the stupidity of muggles. If it wasn't for that then the Wizarding world would have been laid bare and exploited years ago! I mean it's not the ordinary witch or wizards fault, oh no, it's the management, the majority of the senior wizarding management, is complete ineffective. It's the exact same with muggles."

"Ron, you can be so gullible sometimes!" laughed Ginny.

"Alright, alright. It was just a thought," said Ron heavily, feeling decidedly hen-pecked.

He looked over at the Ravenclaw and saw Luna. Her lip had been fixed and she was acting as though nothing had happened that afternoon. He looked back at Ginny and Hermione who were now talking to Seamus and Dean. Ron narrowed his eyes at Dean (who was his baby sister's boyfriend), who after several moments noticed Ron's gaze and hurriedly excused himself from the table. Seamus followed soon after.

After contemplating the days events whilst playing with his mashed potatoes, Ron was startled to find both Ginny and Hermione watching him expectantly. "What?" he asked.

Hermione looked a bit concerned. "I asked you if anything was wrong. You're not your usual self. Usually you just constantly stuff your face and grunt. Why are you playing with your potatoes?"

Ron groaned inwardly, he was going to have to tell them about what happened to Luna. He dreaded the girls' reactions to this news but he knew it might relate to the Curse. At least, Ron knew that he could use this opportunity to talk to Hermione about the little turban-wearing creature, something that he had completely forgotten about. Looking back to the Ravenclaw table he saw that Luna had gone. Well, it was now or never, he supposed. He took a deep breath and recounted everything that had happened since lunch.

The girls' reactions were pretty much as he expected, and as they quietly raged and sent dark looks across the hall to the Slytherins, Ron tried to excuse himself.

"Ron, wait! What did that creature look like?" Hermione enquired.

"Small, hairy, flat-faced with brown clothes," he recalled, with only a hint of pained concentration flitting across his features.

"Hmm...sounds like it could be some sort of brownie or hobgobin," Hermione said, wishing that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them had given her more information on the different brownie or hobgoblin species.

"Would you recognise it if you saw it again?" asked Ginny. "I'm doing an essay on Scottish faeries so I borrowed Callum Campbell's Compendium of Caledonian Creatures from the library. It has loads of information on brownies and hobgoblins and it has a picture section! It's in my dormitory."

"Right. I'll go check on Harry and then we'll meet in the common room in ten minutes," said Ron, leaving the table and the girls alone.

"Well, that IS a surprise!" declared Ginny.

"I know!" exclaimed Hermione. "I always thought Ron had the emotional capacity of a hard boiled egg! He's proved me wrong though! He actually talked to Luna. You know I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. A strange friendship, but friendship nonetheless."

Ginny raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Just friendship?" she asked innocently.

Hermione stiffened, and Ginny burst into peals of laughter at the look on her face. "I was only joking, Hermione!" she gasped.

Hermione rewarded her with a small smile that looked more like a grimace. Ginny looked suddenly thoughtful. "Could it be Hermione? Could little Ronniekins, finally, be growing up? Could he be maturing into a man?"

Hermione made a rather rude noise. "Ron? Maturing? Not bloody likely!" Seeing that Ginny looked rather sceptical, Hermione sighed with a long-suffering air and said, "Ginny, when a form asks for his sex, he still writes 'Yes please!'"