Antares

Chapter Fourteen ~ Breaking the Snake

The sun shone bright and perpetually strong the day before the end-of-year feast. It was debatable whether this fantastic weather helped, or was a reflection, of the cheerful mood around the castle. A fresh breeze coasted through the corridors, sweeping away the mustiness and replacing it with clean summer air. Happy students, relieved that all finals and examinations were over, could be heard chatting loudly and laughing outside. When they weren't having a well deserved lay in, that is.

Rachel was bored, annoyed, and lonely as she sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall that sunny morning, the remnants of her breakfast staring up at her. She didn't like being by herself, especially at a time like this when everyone else was gathered in large groups to celebrate the end of the year. Victoria, Rachel was told, was still sleeping at the current time, probably heavily exhausted from the whirlwind that was OWL's. Aki and Daphne had left her a short while ago too, informing that they were off to see Harry Potter, who was in the hospital wing. The days had been flooded with wild buzz about Harry battling Quirrell in the dungeons. Aki was persistent in getting every scrap of information she could, asking everyone in sight about what they heard of Harry. Her compilation of rumours made for a satisfactory story--satisfactory to Rachel, at least. The less she heard about Potter, the better.

Thus, Aki wanted to give him a Chocolate Frog this morning for his heroics, plus a rather corny card that gushed about those heroics. Rachel laughed and slapped her knees hard enough at this to make Aki visibly reconsider giving Harry that card. Nevertheless, she bounced happily as she went, but Daphne kept pouting and looking a bit depressed. Daphne had to be heavily consoled the evening prior when she first got wind of rumours that Quirrell might be dead.

It had been a strange week, though it had seen a complete turnaround for the better. Aside from the hooey that the school celebrity was stirring up and OWL's being over, the news that Aki had finally decided to not get involved with Oliver Wood practically lifted a massive weight from everybody's shoulders; Aki's, Rachel's, Victoria's, even Daphne's. They were all less irritable, friendlier, and had more fun; just like at the start of the year. It seemed like even the weather agreed with this decision.

Rachel did however find it very odd how Aki acted like nothing had happened after this incident. It was an unexpected change from the vulnerable being she had witnessed a week before. She suspected that Aki was either suppressing it heavily, or maybe she was just confused and now figured it out that Oliver wasn't meant for her after all. Hopefully, it was the latter so that Aki wouldn't feel any animosity towards them in the future. Rachel put a lid on her relief, but it was undoubtedly for the best that this boy was cut out of all their lives. Just the four of them, four best friends, this was how things were supposed to be.

She never did grasp how this whole ordeal with Oliver came about. She was barely aware that he and Aki had more than a nodding acquaintance, let alone have feelings for each other. The thought made her scowl inwardly. If there was one person she did not want to see any of her friends with, it was Oliver. She thought she would never have to worry about this. Victoria unquestionably had enough sense in her, and although Daphne was a big threat, Rachel was comforted in the fact that any relationship with him would've been swift. As for Aki, Oliver really wasn't her type, nor did Rachel expect her to pursue him if he was.

There was no refusing that Rachel had reacted harshly when Aki told her that she felt something for Oliver, but there was a lot that had to be held back. She didn't want to sway Aki's reasoning at the time, but Rachel kept it to herself that it was obvious that they shouldn't be together. All the warning signs were there, and everything that could've gone wrong, did. This one, insignificant boy nearly tore them all apart, and he wasn't even anyone's boyfriend yet.

Rachel's musings were put on hold when she noticed that the ray of sunlight that was illuminating her section of the table was now eclipsed by a shadow. She looked up; someone was there, but the way the light was beaming down from behind, trying to make out the face was difficult. She squinted; the person standing took note of this, and stepped to the left.

"Oh!" Rachel exclaimed. "It's you!"

"Um, morning."

"Morning to you too!" greeted Rachel, cheerful that someone had come to help pass the time and alleviate her hostile thoughts. "Please, sit down!"

They sat down opposite, while Rachel couldn't help grinning. Interesting what some company could do to one's spirit.

"Good that you've come, you know," Rachel yammered. "I know I just saw you a while ago, but I can't stand this, sitting here alone! Everybody's outside, and here I am like a daft bint--"

"Rachel, stop. This... err... isn't a casual meeting. I actually... er, came looking for you."

"Looking for me?" Rachel said curiously. "Why?"

"Because... because I have something I need to tell you."

*****

The lively warmth of the outside's summer did nothing for the crawling shadows of the school's underbelly. This shouldn't have been a place for anyone, but yet a lone pair of footsteps slapped hard against the limestone, kicking up a dusty cloud as they went. The cavern-like quality of the basement corridors made the sound resonate off the walls like a cork. The hollow clop-clop-clop was rhythmic, and strangely hypnotic like the constant ticking of a clock. The darkness all around swallowed up any person who ventured into its depths. The time was approaching midday, but in this part of the castle, anyone could've mistaken it for midnight.

The steps ceased, their destination reached: the Slytherin dormitory. The password was given with haste. The magical wall that protected the entrance stood aside and granted passage. Stepping inside, the dank Slytherin common room had only one soul present. They were spread out across the forest green couch, leisurely occupied with a generous book. It was exactly the person that needed to be found.

"Ursula!"

Ursula strayed from her book for only a second, looking pleasantly surprised, after which she resumed reading the passage she was on.

"Morning, Rachel," she said courteously, wholly not expecting what was coming her way.

"What have you done?!?"

Used to the quiet she had sat through all morning, Ursula flinched a bit at the sudden booming shouts that split the calm. She looked up and cocked her head to one side, studying Rachel inquisitively.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what!"

She shifted off of the couch and stood up. Rachel knew something, but Ursula didn't quite know just what. She had done a lot of things, but it would've been foolish to make assumptions of what exactly was being referred to.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Ra--"

"Oh, Ursula, please! Please! You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

Ursula blinked innocently, a guise for her rising nervousness. It could've been about five different things that Rachel might've been implying, but Ursula dared not to make a guess.

"You... you bribed Marcus to do... that with one of my best friends?!?" Rachel had the look of complete disarray. "I... I can't believe I'm even saying this!"

The following caving-in of her stomach was disorienting, and Ursula was struck with speechlessness. That was the big one that she hoped wasn't going to be brought up. Not just today, but ever. It was such a good plan at the start, but when it failed, it marked her like an ugly bruise. It was something that she hoped would dissipate into thin air, but when it was brought up, the best reaction for it was never ready. She considered laughing it off like it was the stupidest thing she had ever heard, but figured that was a bit much. She, instead, furrowed her brow quizzically and crossed her arms over her chest, book still dangling from one hand.

"Funny," Ursula said with a small snigger. "I don't know what potions you've been sniffing, but I can--"

"Ursula, don't try to pretend like you didn't!"

"I'm not pretending, Rachel! I really don't know what--"

"I know it was you, I was told!"

There was a second of whooshing silence before the thud of Ursula's pocketbook hitting the floor.

"You... were told?" Ursula echoed, an inexplicable warmth bubbling in her belly.

"Yes!"

Expectantly awaiting an explanation that she'd never be satisfied with anyway, Rachel watched as Ursula's wrath visibly intensified. Her arms relaxed at her sides, but her fists began balling tighter and tighter. All over, she was shaking, though she tried her best to subdue it. If Rachel were any closer, she even might've been able to hear the blood thundering in Ursula's brain, too.

"So! The gutless little Ravenclaw can't even deal with her own problems and had to come running to you for help, did she?"

"No, as a matter of fact, she didn't!"

This was confusing. Ursula had suspected that the drunkard Ravenclaw would've been the likeliest, if not only, cause for Rachel finding out about this.

"Then who told you?" she demanded through clenched teeth.

"I promised I wouldn't--"

"Tell me who!" Ursula roared ferociously.

"That doesn't matter! This is between you and me!"

Ursula growled furiously and whirled around, looking menacingly to the couch she had been sitting on so serenely only two minutes ago. Lord, how she wanted to overturn it now.

"So you know," she said shrugging, frighteningly indifferent. "So what happens now?"

"It just sickens me!" Rachel hissed. "How can you do this? What have they done to you?"

"They have had me at my end for years! All the time it's calling me some hag, or acting like they are just... so!"

"Well--"

"And," Ursula continued curtly, beginning to improvise, "for not accepting you fully as a friend, Rachel!"

A pause, then Rachel said gravelly, "What?"

"Don't you see the way they look down on you? Because you're a Slytherin, they just see you as the stupid one of the group who will eventually backstab them all!"

"I have been friends with Daphne Stilesmore since I was seven years old, that's bollocks!"

"And what of the other two? The drunken sushi-eater and that self-righteous prude? They have each other, Rachel; you're a prop to them, there only to make them feel better about themselves. They needed just payback for thinking such a thing!"

"They wouldn't think that way," retorted Rachel stonily. "And even if they did, I especially don't need you to fight them off for me!"

"I did it for you!" Ursula shrieked, losing her patience. "Do you want to have friends who have it so easy that they never know what it's like to be seen as 'unfit' for a petty society, like the one they have here at this school?"

She creeped closer, a meaningful expression on her face.

"Or do you want to have friends who are just like you? Who know the lows, the abuse, the misconceptions of being in Slytherin house, who've been there with you from the very beginning and experienced everything you have, the ones who feel the same thirst to prove yourself and want the same glory as you?"

"But they are just like me!"

"They are not in Slytherin!"

"So wha--"

"Don't you ever find that they just don't understand sometimes? They don't understand why you do some of the things you do? They can't see that, sometimes, doing so-called 'bad' things is necessary? Aren't you tired of justifying your actions that bring you success anyway?"

"They don't really--"

"Aren't you tired of hiding yourself when some dirty work has to be done? Sneaking around, making sure they don't see you?"

It might've been a trick from her wrought-up psyche, but Ursula was positive that her words were scratching the surface. The way Rachel was finding less and less to say in defense of her Ravenclaw friends. She had also loosened that furious knit in her brow, too.

"I know where you were, around that time after Easter holiday. You were with Edwards and those other fifth year blokes, trying to find ways to get an early peek at some OWL exams. While your Ravenclaws were busy studying away like the good little pets they are, you were doing your best to make sure that they didn't find out where you were."

They had been making steadfast eye contact this whole time, so Ursula definitely noticed when Rachel suddenly flicked her focus off to the side evasively. Ursula couldn't help but smirk.

"I don't blame you for trying, Rachel. OWL's are your future, there is no room to idly sit back and assume that studying alone will make you pass. I won't judge you for what you've done. Them, on the other hand..."

The primary objective was putting the Ravenclaws in a bad light, Ursula reminded herself at that last thought. The deal she had worked so hard to see into fruition was lost, but if she could just sway Rachel into dismissing her cursed Ravenclaw friends, she still would've had her vengeance.

"They're not like us, Rachel. None of them are. They've swept us under the rug, and stuck us in this underground dungeon in an effort to conceal us, forget us," she said miserably, looking round to the surroundings that could crush an inexperienced soul in minutes. "The other students don't know what it's like. They see these green house ties and immediately sneer at us like we've been enemies since childbirth."

There was a short break in her speech as Ursula took a deep breath. She had been talking with such ardor that she hadn't noticed that she needed more air a while ago.

"It's us, Rachel--the Slytherins--against Hogwarts."

As Rachel's level of comfort clearly tumbled, squirming and avoiding her stare, the more Ursula felt secure. It egged her on, and gave her that last burst of drive.

"Stay with us... it's where you belong. You'll be with friends who are just like you in every way. It'll even be the four of us; you, me, Rowan, and Moira..."

The exhortation trailed off from there, to tempt and leave something to the imagination. A small smile livened up Rachel's face as she cast her glance to Ursula, who was glowing with a wide, reflected smile of her own.

"You... me... Rowan... and Moira, huh?"

"That's right..." Ursula coaxed gently. "The way it's supposed to be..."

Rachel chuckled quietly in her throat and nodded very slightly, staring to her feet. She did not see that Ursula's eyes were glittering with anticipation as she looked up at her.

"You know, Ursula... ever since I was sorted, I won't lie and say that I haven't thought about having only Slytherin friends. At first it was just out of convenience, but then it also became about the things we have in common. A group of friends should be the same type of people, shouldn't they?"

Ursula nodded whole-heartedly, even though she wasn't sure if that question was rhetorical or not. Whichever, she agreed all the way. Slytherins had no business whatsoever associating with the other houses. All of them--the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors--had already shunted them, so why should anyone in Slytherin accept them in return? For Rachel to have 'outside' friends, it marred the brother and sisterhood that was Slytherin house, and Ursula couldn't stand it. She would've done anything to purge any connection there was to those three vile Ravenclaws, and as far as she could see, she was as close as ever right now.

Rachel's gaze, profound yet mild, met Ursula's, and she took the two steps needed to close the gap between them. Ursula felt a wave of excitement wash over her. She could not speak, her mouth filled with the taste of sweet justice.

"But if I went with you and Rowan, there would be nothing for me but to wait until the day you put my neck on the line to save yours. We may have the same house and the same title, but you lot are the shoddiest, most hateful group that call themselves 'friends.'"

The grin that had been beaming so brilliantly died from Ursula's face in half a second. An objection needed to be made at once. Her protest hadn't quite fully formed in her brain when she opened her mouth to voice it, but Rachel continued.

"It's not the time I've put in that makes me stay with the Ravenclaws, or what they can do for me down the road. It's because I know that they will be there when I need them to, no question. Even Slytherins need trust, Ursula, and my trust in them, and theirs in me, is what keeps us together."

"But I am a fellow Slytherin, Rachel--!"

"I've had enough of being in the middle, Ursula," Rachel replied solemnly, shaking her head. "I've made my choice."

Rachel had an awful lingering look, one that said a silent goodbye before she turned away. Her head was down, and her steps unhurried as she made towards the exit. Ursula battled hard to get out the complexity of what she was feeling. She managed a few feeble sputters through her animalistic breathing.

This was not possible; those Ravenclaws weren't seriously being chosen over her!

Overcome with a barbaric frenzy at the notion, she launched herself forward, a screeching growl grating her lungs. She seized Rachel's forearm in a tight grip, stopping her in her tracks.

"You are one of us!" she snarled, teeth bared and spit spraying. "You belong here!!!"

Rachel calmly looked over her shoulder to the powerful hand on her, then up to her housemate, classmate, and companion since that first night back in first year.

"I know where I belong, Ursula. With my real friends."

A lengthy period passed where Ursula was just motionless, dumbstruck. Unless otherwise impelled, her grasp likely wouldn't have let go. An irritable tug on Rachel's part was all it took for the hand to release her. With one backward glance, she treaded confidently and swiftly out of the common room. Ursula could not do anything but watch until the last inch of the entrance hole closed shut behind her, scraping loudly all the way. Frozen in the middle of the common room, she glowered to the whole dormitory. An unusual rottenness danced on her tongue, and her stomach churned over because of it. Her palms ached from her fingernails digging into them so brutally. It took a while for her to realize that she had no idea of how long it had been since Rachel left.

Taking little steps to turn around in her place, every movement she made aggravated the heat that blazed just under her skin. The low table in front of the green couch that had endured many Slytherin feet was before her now. Ursula stared at it vacantly, overlapping thoughts seeping through the cracks and making their way into her mind.

The deal had failed. Rachel was gone. There was nothing left for her.

It made no sense. Houses were supposed to stick together. People especially didn't piss around exclusively with other houses, and abandon their own. It was a pain having friends who were all from different houses. You had to hunt for them in the mornings. There was a limited time to converse since you couldn't sit with them at supper, and most likely you didn't have many classes together. You had no one when you were in your dormitory, and you would never know if they were gossiping about you when they were in theirs.

But even through all of that, Rachel had still chosen them.

Despite all the fuss and trouble that came along with them, she was second choice to a gaggle of drunken, tarty, snobbish Ravenclaws...

Ursula couldn't take it any longer. Releasing an uncontrolled shot of energy and an accompanying bellow, she kicked the leg of the low table, and it skidded back a couple of feet before tumbling over. She screamed an obscenity so explosively that it would've prompted some laggard second year upstairs to wonder what the hell was going on.

Stamping across the room to follow the overturned table, she gave it another kick so that it moaned against the floor. She came to the mantle, and met it with two fists; her bruised toes swept the ash in the dead fire.

As long as it had taken to carefully plan and execute it all, it fell apart in a fraction of the time. The thing that really sat sourly with her was that one of her cowardly friends had actually betrayed her. Nobody else knew what she had been doing, and since now that the Ravenclaw had been ruled out by Rachel's own attest, it was down to either Rowan or Moira, who were there at the start of the year when this idea was a delicate simmer. Rachel hadn't known for all these months, she had to have been told by one of those two.

Slowly, an image of her not-so-loyal pawns materialized in her head. First the redhead Rowan Kemyss, who posed with a boastful smirk that made Ursula want to mentally slap that smugness off her. Then beside her came a contrast of the pasty Moira Winchcombe, her tired face creased with a malleable ignorance. The hatred that boiled for both right now, she wanted to just hunt them down and drive stakes through their skin until she got an answer as to who couldn't keep their damn mouth shut. Although, any reasonable motives either of them could've had weren't coming up. This didn't involve them, why should they care enough to expose her? Ursula knew that she wouldn't have cared a shit if this plot didn't concern her. That was it, though; if it wasn't those two, who else could it have been? Some blasted first year who heard things he shouldn't have? There wasn't anybody else, nobody else knew about this deal except herself, Rowan, Moira...

And Marcus.

Ursula pushed off from the mantle in shock and realization. It was like the cinders had begun to speak, and tell her the secrets it knew.

Of course.

Marcus

.

The name made the world, and her face, turn a seething red. She had always known he was pretty dastardly, hence the reason he agreed to the deal in the first place, but this double-crossing took it to a new level. He was pathetic enough to not be able to finish something as seemingly simple as to bang some gullible slag he didn't care about. Now, that useless cunt ran his mouth off to fuck with her one last time. Thick as he might've been, he was smart enough to figure out that Rachel would've inevitably found out anyway, so he told her to sever any remaining ties between them, thus the blame would've been placed solely on her head. Given what Rachel had said, he had made up some story about how she paid him a handsome sum of galleons to bonk the Ravenclaw to make her look even more criminal. Marcus came off clean, as an innocent bloke who got caught up in her nefarious plans, while she was left to crash and burn to the ground. At the start of the year, he made her! feel secure that the Ravenclaw was getting what was coming to her. Now at the end, he single-handedly snatched away every last bit of what she had worked for, everything she was working for. All gone, all because of Marcus Flint.

He would not get away with this. Of all the bile-retching deceptions, this was the worst. Before he would graduate Hogwarts, he would be punished for this injustice. He might've been older, stronger, and provoked more fear, but she had a cunning that was always one step ahead. Outright confrontation, though tempting, would not have been the most rational. Slow, steady, and solitary maneuvering--she couldn't risk another deceit--that was the way all of those books she had been reading had taught her. It was going to be big, but simple. Marcus would never know what hit him. She didn't know just yet what she was going do, but it was going to knock the head off everybody's shoulders. It would be payback for breaking her deal, kicking her aside to rot, and denying her only chance at cleansing those damned Ravenclaws from her life for good.

She sniveled, the noise spastic as she choked on her breaths. As a reluctant tear dribbled from her eye, Marcus' name cursed her lips one last time, and Ursula vowed for the day when she would have her revenge.

~ ~ ~

The washroom on the first floor was destitute of its normal bustle. It wasn't quite lunch yet, so the students were in no need of the facility. The air was warm in here, and thankfully, not reeking of any distinctive funk. The monotonous drips from various pipes hit their underlying surfaces with dull plops.

Anyone who would've entered at this moment would've been surprised, given the silence, to find that there was in fact a person in here. Not washing hands, not occupied in a stall, but just standing there... hunched over a sink... contemplating.

It had been wrong to tell Rachel. Not wrong, but... it shouldn't have been done. There, standing in Slytherin robes and a Slytherin tie, it brang on an uncomfortable self-reproach feeling. There was only one unspoken rule of Slytherins: they did not snitch on fellow Slytherins if there was nothing to gain. And definitely, there was nothing gained from this.

But Ursula had just been so ruthless. To completely devastate someone's life like that with such bloodthirsty malice. Never once did it appear like she had considered the consequences, or how cruel her actions were. She just pressed on heartlessly, driven to completely destroy the life of someone she barely knew, and the fact that she was only sixteen years old made it more horrifying.

It had to be done. She had known for far too long now.

A slight prickle of regret drifted in. It should've been said way back, before this snowballed out of control. Maybe it could've prevented a lot of bad things from happening to people who didn't deserve it. Hanging back instead, things were left to advance to Merlin knows how far. All because of intimidation, scared of what Ursula would do.

It wouldn't have made sense to anyone. The action taken was baffling; choosing a complete stranger over a friend. Choosing a Ravenclaw over a Slytherin. Slytherins did not snitch on Slytherins if there was nothing to gain.

Yes, nothing tangible had been gained, but this did give a chance at last to be liberated from Ursula's suffocating shackles, and that chance was seized. Every day she was subjected to her mind games. Days and months of continually being told how to think, and derided when her opinions didn't agree with Ursula's crumbled the wall to make for gradual, easier permeation. It had gone on for so long that she couldn't even tell when she had become a mere puppet. Ursula had cultivated her submissive side until that was all that was left. If there was greater resistance, maybe she still could've been that person she was four years ago, the one who could be social and amusing, instead of the awkward being she was now. A couple more years by Ursula's right hand and she might as well have been under a permanent Imperius curse, never being able to speak unless spoken to, and existing only to serve another.

Well, no more.

She had reclaimed her dignity, and though it might've never been recognized, she had saved the Ravenclaw girl from a life of bitter despair. Nothing, in this world or the muggles', could amount to that.

No matter what anybody would've thought, she was confident with her decision. If she didn't tell Rachel, nobody would've. She had done the right thing.

The bell and the pitter-patter in the corridor indicated that it was exactly noon; it was lunchtime. The sun began to stream in from the high-mounted windows, surging a cheerful yellow light to her pale skin. She breathed deeply and soaked it up. As she gazed into the mirror above the sink, a more shining likeness reflected back at her, as well as a smile that had once been long lost. She leaned in to the smudgy glass, a small giggle jumping from her throat and resounding in the lofty room.

She was actually content.

She had compassion for a fellow student, but she had betrayed one of her own, and all for no reward. People would've said it was uncharacteristic, and say she didn't deserve to wear the green and silver, but that didn't make her any less of who she was. She was still Moira Winchcombe, with principles and self-respect, and a Slytherin through and through.