Siofra and Company

"Where are the course schedules?" Siofra asked, raising her eyebrows. Ron passed them down.

Siofra read their schedule out loud. "Herbology, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and Potions!"

Everyone was surprised at her excited tone of voice. All but Kiara, who rolled her eyes.

"You are sad," she informed Siofra.

"I'm not sad! I'm overjoyed!" Siofra cooed.

"That's because you are a twisted individual," Kiara explained.

"Wait, I'm confused," Ron said.

"Not an unusual experience for you, is it?" Siofra asked. Kiara and Harry snorted with laughter.

"Sorry, Ron," Siofra laughed. "You did leave yourself wide open for that one, though."

"What I meant was," Ron said, throwing Siofra a glare, "why are you sad and twisted?"

"Because she's looking forward to classes with the Slytherins," Kiara informed him, rolling her eyes yet again.

"Why are you looking forward to meeting the Slytherins?" Neville asked incredulously.

"Because, she's unhealthily obsessed with Draco Malfoy," Kiara said.

"I am not!" Siofra exclaimed indignantly. "I am very healthily obsessed, thank you very much!"

"Whatever, you little slut," Kiara said offhandedly.

"Did you just call me a slut?" Siofra gasped.

"I didn't stutter."

"I am offended," Siofra said dramatically. "I am no longer your friend, Kiara."

"Is that a promise?" Kiara said.

"You suck," Siofra said, although she was smiling.

"You two are beyond me," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"Let's go to Herbology," said Brianna, looking rather excited.

"I second that!" Seren said.

"Alright then," Siofra said, getting up from the table. "Conmigo!"

"What?" Neville said.

"It means 'come with me,'" Siofra told him.

"Oh."

They all headed down to the greenhouse and saw, to their dismay (and Siofra's delight), that the Slytherins were already there. Siofra left the others and went over to the Slytherins. Alaina left to go talk to Seamus Finnigan.

"Draco," Siofra said cordially, approaching the blonde boy.

"Siofra," Draco replied, inclining his head.

"How are you this fine morning?" she asked.

He snorted. "You call this fine? I have to put up with Gryffindors twice today."

"Come on, spoil sport!" she cried. "The day is young! Enjoy it!"

"You are beyond me," Draco said, shaking his head.

"I get that a lot." Siofra smiled up at Draco, and he smiled back down at her.

"You are rather short, you know," he said conversationally.

She slapped him on the arm. "Thanks a lot, Draco."

"Just pointing out the facts."

"I am a whole five foot, one and a half inches, and I'm proud of it!" Siofra said happily. Draco snorted with laughter.

"Siofra," said a reproving voice behind her, causing Siofra to wince.

"Draco," said a male voice, causing Draco to wince also.

"Hey, you boy-crazy wench..." Kiara began, taking Siofra's arm.

"Listen up, Casanova..." said a tall, good-looking, dark haired boy, taking Draco's arm.

They were stopped in the middle of their reprimands, because they caught sight of each other, and were both rendered speechless. A confusing sentence, the author acknowledges, but it was exactly what happened.

"Blaise Zabini," said the boy, recovering his powers of speech and holding out his hand.

"Kiara Hanaran," said Kiara breathlessly, taking his hand. Instead of shaking it, Blaise brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. Kiara's jaw dropped, but she made no move to release herself.

Identical evil grins appeared on the faces of Draco and Siofra.

"Well, we'll just leave you two to it, then," Siofra said, edging away.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to intrude," Draco said, following Siofra.

"Not so fast," Kiara said, regaining her mental abilities and wrenching her hand from Blaise. "Don't think you're getting away that easy, you harlot!"

"Hey, you stole that word from me," Siofra said indignantly.

"Draco, don't make a fool of yourself," Blaise said, eyeing his friend.

"Yeah, because you haven't made a fool of yourself, or anything," Draco muttered. "Honestly, Blaise, she's a Gryffindor!"

"So is she!" Blaise pointed at Siofra.

"Hello, we're still here," Kiara said, waving slightly.

"Idiots," Siofra said dismissively.

"Hey, I resent that!" Draco said.

"Listen, you git," Kiara began to reprimand Draco

"Hey, you little mudblood," Blaise addressed Siofra.

"HEY!" They turned to each other, identical looks of anger. "Don't insult my best friend!"

Siofra and Draco cracked up, laughing loudly and raucously.

"Kiara," Brianna said, approaching them with her arms crossed. "I thought you were going to take care of this problem." She glared at Draco and Blaise.

"She got distracted!" Siofra said, between peals of laughter.

"By what, may I ask?" Seren said, standing beside Brianna.

Siofra and Draco both pointed to Blaise.

Seren eyed him speculatively. "He's not Kiara's type."

"Yeah," Siofra mused, glancing at Blaise. "She prefers the skinny blonde elvish type."

Kiara's eyes went slightly misty. "Orlando!"

"That also happen to be totally gay," Siofra amended.

Kiara slapped her friend on the arm. "He is not gay!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Hey!" Alaina interrupted, having cut off her conversation with Seamus to see what the deal was. "We have better things to do than discuss the sexual orientation of Orlando Bloom."

"Like what?" Siofra asked.

"Like go have a Herbology lesson!" Alaina said. She pointed at the other students, who were walking into the greenhouse.

The others agreed, and they all headed into the greenhouse. Siofra and Draco insisted on being partners, earning dark looks from their friends, Kiara and Blaise especially.

Sometimes, though, the two's glances missed their target and landed on each other. When this happened, they'd both blush and look away.

Siofra and Draco noted this development with not a little amusement.

"Blaise has fallen for a Gryffindor," Draco said, shaking his head sadly.

"Hey, I'm a Gryffindor!" Siofra said indignantly.

"You are the most Slytherin-ish Gryffindor I have ever come across," Draco said.

"Aw, thank you!" Siofra said, accepting this statement for the compliment that it was.

This continued all lesson, with Siofra and Draco good-naturedly bickering, Ron and Hermione also good-naturedly bickering (Siofra repressed her urge to squee), and Kiara and Blaise continuing to sulk.

"What is the matter with you?" Kiara seethed, dragging Siofra away as soon as the lesson was over, followed by the rest of the company. Siofra waved at Draco and shrugged helplessly. He grinned at her, before turning to speak with Blaise.

"I saw that," Kiara said. "He's evil!"

"Misunderstood," Siofra corrected automatically.

"Whatever! The point is, you should not be interfering with the canon!"

"What?"

"Draco Malfoy and Hermione have to get together!"

"You're delusional!" Siofra slapped Kiara upside the head. Kiara slapped her back, and the conversation was put on hold while the girls had a short hitting match. I say 'hitting match,' not 'fight,' because they didn't hit each other very hard. They have had lots of practice at this.

"You're delusional," Siofra picked up the conversation again, rubbing her shoulder, where Kiara had viciously hit her for no reason. Aside from the fact that Siofra had pulled her hair.

"I am not delusional!"

"Yes you are! Draco isn't getting together with anyone but Pansy. We all know that it's going to happen." Siofra shot Pansy a loathing look. "So why not sail on the canon/OC ship for a while!"

"You just don't want to sink the Good Ship," Kiara said scathingly.

"This is true," Siofra admitted, with a glance at Hermione and Ron. Unaware that they were being watched, the stars of the Good Ship continued to bicker.

"They will never get together, see how they fight?" Kiara said.

"...Years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently," Siofra quoted from memory.

"You can quote C.S. Lewis to your heart's content," Kiara said. "But that won't sink the Leather and Libraries!"

The other girls sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Still bickering, the girls headed to Transfiguration.

"Hey, I'm good at this!" Seren exclaimed, gleefully changing her rat into a pair of knitting needles.

"Yeah!" said Alaina, transfiguring her snake into a pair of fluffy pink earmuffs.

The girls had fun all through the class, and McGonagall even added points to Gryffindor for their good work.

"What's next?" Brianna asked.

"Lunch!" said Siofra happily. "I'm starved!"

They trooped into the Great Hall, and sat down with Harry Potter and Co.

Siofra's glance traveled over the Slytherin table until she saw Draco Malfoy. Catching his eye, she dropped him a wink. He returned it with a grin.

On cue, Kiara and Blaise smacked their respective best friends.

As her gaze raked over the Ravenclaw table, Siofra started to squirm in her seat.

"What's up with you?" Hermione asked, eyeing the look of concentration on Siofra's face.

"She's trying to contain herself," Kiara said enthusiastically. "Watch!"

Siofra began muttering to herself. "Must...repress...kindness...instincts...ack!"

"What?" Ron said, looking confused.

"She's trying to fight the urge to be nice," Kiara explained.

"Screw it," Siofra said suddenly, jumping up from her seat. She walked over to the Ravenclaw table, heading straight towards a lonely looking Luna Lovegood. She grabbed Luna's hand and led her over to the Gryffindor table, where they both sat down.

"Thanks, Siofra!" Luna said. "I like it better over here, anyway!" With that, the odd girl launched into a conversation with Ginny about her summer vacation.

"Don't say a word," Siofra said through gritted teeth, as Kiara tried, and failed, to suppress her laughter.

"You may laugh, but just watch out," Siofra warned. "You never know when the niceness gremlins will get you."

"What's next?" Alaina asked, stifling a snicker.

Seren checked her schedule. "History of Magic."

Harry Potter and Co. (and Brianna and Siofra) let out a groan.

"We can't even hope that he'll die!" Brianna said mournfully.

"I don't know how you stay awake, Hermione," Ron said.

"Well, Ron, I want to pass my NEWTS," Hermione said in a superior voice. "If you cared as much about your studies as you did about Quidditch, you might pay attention too!"

"Are you saying that I don't care about anything but Quidditch?!" Ron asked.

"You don't!" Hermione shouted.

"Yes I do!"

"Like what?"

"You!"

"SQUEE!"

This squee came, of course, from Siofra. She turned to Kiara and said, "Ha! I was right, you were wrong!"

Kiara stuck her tongue out.

"Do you really?" Hermione asked, ignoring the two girls.

"Yeah, of course!" Ron said. "You and Harry are my best friends!"

Siofra groaned. "Ron," she said sadly, "you are an unspeakable git."

"What?" Ron asked, clueless as per usual.

Siofra just shook her head, and shot Hermione an understanding look.

"Ha!" Kiara said. Siofra stuck her tongue out.

"It will happen, Kiara," Siofra said knowingly. "You may have won the battle, but you can't win the war!"

Siofra continued to mutter various things, in which the word "harlot" was predominantly featured.

"Come on, we have to go to History of Magic," Brianna said.

Siofra continued to mutter all the way to Professor Binns classroom.

It was boring in History of Magic. Unspeakably boring. Kiara was dozing off, whilst idle thoughts raced around her head. Memo...to me...buy intravenous caffeine drip...

Seren, Brianna and Alaina were staring idly at Professor Binns, looking like they could use a sharp shock of some kind.

Siofra and Hermione were taking industrious notes, and Hermione was even color-coding hers. Siofra made a mental note to ask Hermione what spell that was. Then she made another mental note to stop being a geek.

The class was interrupted ten minutes in, by none other than Professor Dumbledore himself.

"Professor Binns, may I borrow Siofra Mahoney and her friends, please?" asked Dumbledore politely.

"Oh, yes, certainly Headmaster," Professor Binns said.

"What's up?" Brianna asked, when the band of merry men (well, merry women) were all in the hall.

"There is something in the entrance hall that may interest you, I think," Dumbledore said.

Without another word, he led the girls down to the hall.

Siofra and Kiara, who were slightly ahead of the others, were the first to see what was going on. Their jaws dropped.

"Con?" Siofra said, her eyes widening.

"Neil?" Kiara gasped.