chapter five ; the biggest gryffindor supporter

IT TOOK TWO STEPS OUT OF THE GIRLS DORMITORY FOR TEMPEST GROVER TO MEET THE EYES OF SIRIUS BLACK. With her jaw tight and clothing disarrayed, the sight of him only made her more enraged. 

His immediate reaction upon seeing her was to rush forward with a huge grin on his face, staring at the disaster upon her head. As he went to touch it, the fifteen-year-old girl angrily slapped his hand away, but that wasn't enough to stop him. She was absolutely furious -- her face was an impressive shade of pink and her eyes were wide and crazed. Her hair, however, was the attention-grabber, as it was bright, brilliant Gryffindor crimson. She hadn't realised the change in appearance when she woke up, it was only when Lily Evans shrieked in surprise while they were brushing their teeth. Sirius, however, was clearly pleased. "It's a good look!"

"Did you do this?" Tempest took a warning step towards him, her face turning the same colour as her hair. She had no idea how it had happened, but it had the works of James Potter and his friends written all over. Sirius shook his head quickly, though the smirk remained wide on his handsome face. But Tempest was too livid to care about that, instead choosing to move on to her next suspect.

"Potter!" 

"Slow down!" Sirius tailed after Tempest, his eyes widening once he realised who she was after. The dark haired boy couldn't seem to catch up with her as she stormed down the stairs leading from the dormitories to the common room, her newly coloured hair bouncing up and down like a pom-pom. He didn't know why he was bothering trying to stop her -- she was incredibly quick when she was seething. Instead, he shouted over her shoulder as she ran down the stone steps. "James, run!"

But it was too late. Tempest's expression was deranged when her eyes rested on the fifth-year in the armchair closest to the fire, who was fingering through his transfiguration textbook when he heard Sirius' warning. He quickly shot up with wide eyes, his book cluttering to the ground. His mouth was twitching as he tried to think of what to say, and he forced a hesitant smile as he stumbled to the other side of the room, tripping over his own feet. Other students rushed out of the way at the sight of the girl, none of them wishing to get in the way. "Hello, Pest!"

"Hello, prick," she snapped, inching closer towards him with her wand tightly gripped in her hand. James laughed nervously as she began backing him into the stone wall leaving him no way to escape. Lily and Remus jumped up from their seats on the sofa, not sure what to do.

"Tempest, I really don't think this is necessary!" Sirius said quickly, unsure what it would mean for him if he tried to pull her away. 

"What did you do to me?!" The girl snapped, as James' eyes flickered down to her tight grip on her wand. 

"It was only a joke, Grover!" He insisted, his confident persona breaking (as Tempest could be absolutely terrifying when she wanted to be). "You remember how I messed up that potion the other day in Slughorn's class? It turned Caspar's hair red instead of making him shrink, so I thought that maybe I could slip a bit into your hot cocoa to see if it would work, terrible idea, I know, but...it worked!" 

"Change it back!" Tempest ordered, and James grimaced slightly, his face contorting behind his lopsided glasses. 

"You see, the thing is..." he trailed off awkwardly, averting his eyes to the ceiling to avoid looking at her. "I, uh, don't know how to do that."

Tempest dropped her stance and instead spun around on her heel, irascibly stomping back up the stairs and to the dormitories in an attempt to sort everything out. 

"Tempest, are you okay?" Lily's voice chimed after her, followed by her soft footsteps. The muggle-born managed to catch the closing door to the dormitory as Tempest shut it behind her, slipping inside to see her friend close to tears. Lily's face fell as she rushed forward, pulling Tempest into a hug. "Oh, Tempest, it'll be alright. I'm sure we can ask Professor McGonagall to fix it."

"What if she can't?" Tempest complained, pulling away and running a hand through her bright red hair. It was humiliating, and she knew she would stick out like a sore thumb. She was already thinking about the worst situations she would end up in -- like how she'd have to explain to her mother why her hair would stay crimson forever, how she'd have to live with being even more different from her siblings than she already was. "I don't care if I'm being dramatic, I want my normal hair back!"

"At least you'll be the known as the most committed Gryffindor," entered the voice of Marlene McKinnon, who smiled slightly as she shut the door behind her. Tempest groaned, falling theatrically onto her bed. Marlene walked over and patted her cheek sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Grover. I promise we'll find a way to make everything right again. Until then, I'm not sure there's a lot more we can do. There aren't any spells or potions we know other than how to straighten or curl hair. Perhaps Slughorn or McGonagall will know, they always seem to have all the solutions."

Tempest nodded once, feeling utterly miserable with the thought that she'd have to leave the common room at some point that morning. She was dreading the walk down to the great hall for breakfast, so she tried to think of a temporary fix for now. "Lily, would you braid my hair for me? That way it'll be a little harder for people to see the colour than when it's out."

"Of course," Lily smiled at Tempest's quick thinking, rushing over and helping out. Marlene had pulled out her potions book in hopes to find a counter curse or mixture she might have missed earlier in the term. "If only there was a way we could get Potter back, he always seems to get away without any punishment."

That made an idea pop into Tempest's head. A smile appeared on her face, which later spread into a wide, mischievous grin. If there was anything she had learnt in being friends with Potter and his group, it was think outside the box -- to use what they had done against you to surprise them. "Girls, I have a cunning plan."

★☆

"You're lucky James isn't very subtle," Remus sighed, handing over a small vial of cloudy liquid. There was but a teaspoon left inside, but that was more than enough to carry out Tempest's plan. They had requested for Remus to retrieve James' potion that he had used the previous night, and he had reluctantly agreed, muttering about how immature they all were. "But I must admit, it will be amusing to see the look on his face once he finds out what you've done."

"Thank you, Remus," Tempest grinned at him, pulling him in for a quick embrace before striding towards the painting in the corner of the common room, muttering the password and climbing out. Lily and Marlene had to pick up their pace to catch up with their eager friend, who was rushing in the direction of the great hall. 

"Do you think it'll work?" Marlene asked enthusiastically, completely on board with the idea to get back at James. She didn't despise him like Lily did, but she was more than happy to see Tempest prank the boy. "Oh, I hope it does, it'll be glorious to see his face!"

It took five minutes to reach breakfast, the usual chatter looming over the hall. No one gave the girls a second look as they entered, uncaring and unsuspecting to what they were planning. 

"Are you sure you should go through with this?" Lily asked nervously as they grew closer and closer to the target, who was fooling around with Sirius at the Gryffindor table, his back to them. Tempest gripped the vial in her pocket tightly, nodding once. Lily exhaled shakily. "I don't know if I can be a part of this, you'll get in so much trouble!"

"Why don't you go and chat to Fergus and Willa?" Tempest suggested, spotting her friends at the Hufflepuff table, chatting quietly amongst themselves. "Then you can keep an eye out."

Lily hesitated, her ginger hair falling over her eyes as she dropped her head. She sighed, before nodding. "All right."

She slowly scurried off, looking back every few seconds with concern written over her face. This didn't both Tempest and Marlene though, as they marched straight towards Sirius and James, who were opening their post and cackling at whatever they were speaking about. Marlene leaned in, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Okay, I'll grab their attention and you...pour the mysterious liquid into James' drink."

"Well, when you put it like that," Tempest huffed, glancing down at the vial in her hand. Marlene grinned sheepishly, before skipping off and tapping Sirius and James on their shoulders. The intelligent girl caught their attention immediately, and began chatting excitedly like she usually did. The boys watched attentively, slightly confused at her actions. 

Tempest sighed softly, unsurely walking over, her eyes flickering from James' full hot cocoa mug to the clear vial. She popped open the glass silently and raised her hand above the mug, tilting it. The liquid ran down the side and was close to falling into the drink, urging to dissolve in the warm chocolate drink. The clear liquid was quickly reaching the tip of the vial, but Tempest couldn't help but stop when she heard James sigh. "I'm sorry Marlene, it's just, I feel so bad about what I did to Tempest. Did you see her face this morning?"

Tempest faltered slightly, hesitantly moving the vial upright again. The liquid swirled inside at the change of direction, much like the teenage girl's stomach. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze met Marlene's briefly, before pushing the lid back into the top. 

"Do you blame her?" Marlene responded, raising her eyebrows expectantly. James huffed and Sirius chuckled softly. 

"You've got to admit though, it was well worth it. The colour's brilliant," the longer-haired boy snickered, and Tempest's eyes flickered up to briefly meet Marlene's again. Both of the boys were treading a fine line. 

"Well, I mean it was quite amusing," James allowed himself to smile.

Tempest's eye twitched.

"You should've seen her leaving the dorms this morning," Sirius continued, causing James to release a laugh. Tempest scoffed quietly and uncapped the vial once more, pouring the entire mixture into James' hot chocolate, before shoving it back in her pocket again. She looked up at Marlene and nodded once, before spinning around on her heel and stalking over to the Hufflepuff table, where she slid into the seat beside Fergus. 

"Morning Tempest!" Willa exclaimed cheerfully, to which Tempest shushed her quickly, reaching across the table to clamp her hand over the brunette's mouth. Willa's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, tilting her head. 

"If any of the Gryffindor boys ask, I've been here this whole time, all right?" Tempest said, glancing between Willa, Lily and Fergus, who all nodded unsurely. The Thatcher-Grover girl exhaled softly, pulled away from Willa and shrunk back into her seat. 

"What did you do?" Fergus asked, his voice slightly raspy. The London native was currently experiencing yet another voice drop, putting all the other boys in their year to shame. He was also growing into one of the most attractive students, though Tempest never let him know that. 

"Nothing of importance," Tempest waved the comment off with a dismissive hand gesture, accepting Willa's offer of her toast. 

It was silent for a second, before Fergus piped up again. "Oh Merlin, what have you done to your hair?"

"It wasn't me," Tempest groaned, feeling her face heat up in embarrassment and irritation. "It was Potter, he slipped a faulty potion into my drink last night and I woke up with this."

"I think it suits you," Willa smiled, and the other two nodded in (false) agreement. "Besides, now you'll look like the biggest Gryffindor supporter when you're on the field."

"Thanks, Willa," Tempest responded, something of an amused smirk on her face. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a shriek at the Gryffindor table. Everyone in the hall seemed to look over to see James looking at his reflection in his breakfast plate. His eyes were wide as saucers and his mouth was on the ground, in complete shock. A mischievous grin fell upon Tempest's face as he shot up out of his seat and ran through the hall, Sirius in pursuit. She managed to catch a glimpse of his red hair as he turned the corner.

A few amused sounds rippled through the students in the hall, before everyone turned back to their separate conversations, though the people surrounding Tempest were staring at her in astonishment. Lily ran her hands through her hair and inhaled sharply. "I can't believe you actually went through with it."

"You're my hero," Fergus grinned, throwing his hand across Tempest's shoulders and squeezing her tight. Willa was bouncing up and down on her chair, not really knowing what to say.

"How are you two going to change your hair back? Do you think you'll get in trouble? What if McGonagall gives you detention? What if you get banned from the Quidditch team? What if you lose points and we don't get the house cup? What if you get expelled?" Lily was hyperventilating now.

"I've gotten into more than enough trouble when James' group is involved," Tempest shrugged, finishing her piece of toast and brushing her hands together to get rid of crumbs. "Whatever punishment I get, I can promise you it'll be worth it."

Fergus chuckled, shaking his head. "Mess with the cat, you get the claws."

★☆

sorry this is so late to be updated! i got into a little bit of writers block and now shit's happening to me so i'm forcing myself to update as a distraction lmaoOoooOoOo

i hope you enjoyed the chapter, tell me what you thought and hopefully i'll be back soon! x