Chapter Seven, Exploration

Upon waking Tuesday morning,  the bookworms of their group (the ones in Ravenclaw at any rate) Barty Crouch, Iolanthe Potter-Le Fay and Pandora Greengrass were in love with their Common room as they looked at it with fresh eyes. As a lover of all things knowledge Rowena Ravenclaw had designed her House to have its own library, although smaller than the one on the third floor where all four Founders had pooled their knowledge together, it was still rather large with floor to ceiling white bookcases, and its own Astronomy area.

Now fully rested the trio could fully appreciate their beautiful surroundings which not only encouraged the students to learn a wider spectrum of magic and magical history, but also encouraged the students to relax with many seating areas and there was fiction books for them to read and escape, and an art area at the back of the common room beneath the Astronomy platform that was in between the spiralling staircases to the dormitories: girls on the right and the boys on the left.

They had gotten up earlier than strictly necessary for classes as they had each wanted to write a letter to their families and to Regulus as well. They had all decided to send it off together with Sirius's letters to his brother and his family, once they met up with the others in the Great Hall. Their information packs, stationary and books for the day are already in their bags. This was a new change that Headmistress McGonagall had installed when she was elected as Headmistress permanently. It included their timetable, map of the school and grounds with best routes to get to each class, information on who their House Prefects are as well as the current Head Boy and Girl.

There was also information on times available to see their Head of House with an appointment card that will update itself when they had an appointment with them (each Head of House checks in with their students once a month starting with the first years in October), library opening times, and information on clubs and extracurricular activities going on at the school at the moment.

It had been rather popular with not just students and staff but parents and the Board of Governors as test scores on O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts have risen since the teachers started supporting their students more and offering aid when necessary. It also made the staff's job easier as there were less fights between the students as they were now challenged inside and outside of the classroom with the new extracurricular activities, and it also lowered the general lateness amongst the First years as they very rarely got lost within the immense castle and grounds.

"I'm so excited for our lessons! And we have Charms first then Art, followed by Defence Against the Dark Arts, and then after lunch we have Music and Magical Languages with the Gryffindors. But in Third Year I heard we get to learn Alchemy!" Iolanthe rambles excitedly as the trio walk into the Great Hall, heading for the Gryffindor table instead of the Ravenclaw one.

The group had decided on the train to sit at each other's table - a different one each day - to be together and to show House Unity; that you could be friends with others in a different House and there would be no problem.
"I know!" Pandora and Barty exclaimed excitedly. They were just finishing up their letters when Apollo and Erin Prewett with their friends and Housemates Xenophilius Lovegood and Ambrose Warrington joined them. Each discussing how excited they were for their classes as their other friends/acquaintances joined them.

There was Rabastan Lestrange, Evan Rosier, Theodore Nott (son of their History Professor), and Pierre Parkinson - who they've known for years - with Padmaj Patil and Claire Harper who had been invited by Theo. Next to join them was Marlene and Dorcas (Lanthe and Pandora's best friends and Gryffindors), who had their friends Alice Fortescue, Amelia Bones, Samira Patil and Leon Pucey from Hufflepuff and two of Leon's friends and Housemates: Gabriella Kelly and Benjamin Spinnett.

As the students from all four Houses were inspired and encouraged by these brave acts they got up from their seats to either visit a friend or family member from a different House or to make a new friend from a different House; watched on proudly by their teachers and Headmistress and Deputy Headmistress. However, there was one person who didn't like this change and she blames it all on Iolanthe Potter-Le Fay. And that person was Bella Edgecombe, a roommate of Marlene and Dorcas'.

The fact that she loved - read obsessed - with Sirius Black and therefore hated the close relationship between Iolanthe and Sirius. She hated that once Iolanthe was in a room she wasn't even spared a first glance let alone a second one. But it wasn't all her fault, she had grown up with her mother filling her head with delusions of how she and Sirius would be married one day, that he would love her much more then he appeared to love the Potter girl and how she - Bella would be Lady Black not Iolanthe and would raise the standing of her family who were only a minor house. So it was these thoughts in mind that made the girl snap; plus her family had always been Dumbledore's supporters and they hated everyone who hadn't agreed with him all those years ago.

And if she didn't get between Iolanthe and Sirius that would mean he wouldn't love her, they wouldn't marry, she wouldn't be Lady Black and raise her family standing while also turning the House of Black light by any means necessary. It may be concerning that an eleven year old was thinking such thoughts but that is how her mother raised her and she couldn't let her down.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Bella Edgecombe demanded aggressively, hands on her hips as she stood behind Iolanthe looming over the Heiress.

"Oh good morning to you too. How are you today?" Marlene snapped sarcastically, not liking how her Housemate was talking to her longstanding best friend.
"I'm having breakfast with my friends while waiting for my twin." Iolanthe replied cordially, hands clasped in her lap.
"Well, you're not welcome here! None of you are!" Bella snapped. "This is the Gryffindor table," she enunciated as if they were stupid and had been hit one-too-many times in the head with a Bludger.

"Just because you're rich doesn't mean you are anything special. I mean, you even have a weird unnatural name, and if you think Sirius will go for you the moment we hit puberty or majority then you have another thing coming. You are just a vain, delusional girl who can't even go twelve hours without needing her twin. It's pathetic! No guy will go for a girl who is that obsessed with her own brother!"

"EXCUSE ME!!!!!" James, Sirius, Remus, Frank, Fabian and Gideon roared, apoplectic with rage causing the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Heads of House, and Deputy Headmistress Augusta Longbottom - Frank's mother - to race down from the staff table. While Barty, Rabastan, Evan, Apollo and Benjamin quickly got up to hold the boys back while the girls were holding Pandora, Marlene and Dorcas back from attacking the dull honey blonde haired girl. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!!"
"The only vain and delusional girl here is you!" Sirius growled, sounding so much like his family's spirit animal the Grimm. "I would never, ever, ever go for someone like you. Even if you were the last girl on earth. Besides I love Iolanthe and have done since we met as babies."

"How dare you talk to my sister like that! I should rip your head off!" James growled, trying to shake off Rabastan who was slightly taller and broader than him and was able to hold him back.
"Are you really that dunce that you don't know or couldn't be bothered to learn that James and Iolanthe, like myself and my brother Apollo and our cousins Fabian and Gideon are Magical Twins. Our magic goes haywire without the other after too long and we literally share a soul!" Erin sneered at the girl who upturned her nose at them all.

"You all shouldn't be here. This is a Gryffindor table, not an 'all Houses are welcome' table." Bella argued self righteously puffing herself up with self importance. "Plus she's a freak -" she didn't get to finish her sentence as she was suddenly knocked to the floor by a hard slap to the cheek.
"Miss McKinnon!" Augusta Longbottom shouted at the Scottish girl who had escaped from her friends to slap the self righteous girl. "Detention tonight after dinner, my office." Marlene didn't seem bothered at all as she shrugged her shoulders.
"So worth it." She muttered uncaringly.

"Miss Edgecombe detention for you the rest of the week! And fifty points from Gryffindor!" Augusta added. "For provoking students, and for bullying. Did you fail to listen to the Headmistress's speech last night? You are also incorrect in your statement that other students cannot sit at different House tables with their friends and family. It is only mandatory to sit at your own House tables during the welcome feast at the start of the year and the Leaving feast at the end of the year." Augusta informed in a no nonsense tone, a disappointed note to her voice. "We do not under any circumstances tolerate bullying of any form in this school. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone answers except for Bella.
"Am I understood, Miss Edgecombe?" Augusta demanded her voice hard and firm.
"Yes Professor." Bella grumbled begrudgingly.
"Good." Augusta stated with finality. "Now all of you hurry with your breakfast as classes start soon." After checking on Iolanthe to assure that she was okay, Augusta returned to her own breakfast at the staff table leaving Professors Rosalind Jones: Head of Gryffindor, and Rachel Nightingale: Head of Ravenclaw to finalise the details for detention and separate Bella Edgecombe to the bottom of the Gryffindor table close to the staff table so she could be kept an eye on.

Once all of the teachers had left there was still a tense atmosphere with a cloud of anger hanging over them which Iolanthe didn't like and decided to do something about it.
"Jamie, how about we go exploring after classes and have a Prank War?" Iolanthe suggested the two things that the siblings really enjoyed: exploring and pranks. It had the desired effect as not only did James's eyes light up with excitement but so did Sirius, Remus, Barty, Rabastan, Fabian, Gideon, Erin and Apollo.

"That is a wonderful idea!" James crowed exuberantly, bouncing in his seat and forgetting about his breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. "Twins vs twins! Sirius and Remus can pretend to be twins and so can Barty and Batsy. Pierre, Leon, Evan and Ambrose are you going to join us again?" James asked, seeming to vibrate with uncontrolled energy.
"You know the answer to that James." Evan told him with a grin.
"Leon and Pierre are going down this time." Ambrose stated confidently.
"In your dreams Warrington." Pierre argued good naturedly.
"Be prepared to lose." Leon teased Evan and Ambrose who stuck their tongues out at the pair.

"Oh this is going to be good!" Barty rubbed his hands together in glee as he shared a look with Batsy that was so full of impish mischief that you would think that Barty's Animagus form (if he ever completed the transition when he was older and not at eleven years old) was an Imp.
"You're going -"
"- down cousins!" Fabian and Gideon boasted, staring right at their cousins Sirius, Apollo and Erin.
"I'm joining too!" Marlene intervened, a grin on her lips. "With all of my siblings you don't think I wouldn't be interested in pranks, did you?" She asked rhetorically as everyone knew she had four older siblings and two younger ones.

"I'd expect nothing less." James teased his friend. "Who will you pick this time, Dorcas or Pandora?" He asked, a blush coating his cheeks when he said Pandora's name.
Marlene turned to her friends staring at them both with a deep frown on her forehead as she thought over who to pick.
"I'm going to pick Alice this time." Marlene decided, wanting to integrate the shy girl further into their friendship group. Who offered a shy smile and a nod of confirmation.

"Okay so the rest of us will be the refs and judges." Pandora and Dorcas said at the same time, letting out a giggle as they shared a look before calming down and gesturing to themselves, then to: Frank Longbottom, Amelia Bones, Xeno Lovegood, Theo Nott, Claire Harper, Gabriella Kelly, Benjamin Spinnett and the twins Padmaj and Samira Patil. Before anything else could be decided the bell rang signalling the start of their classes which caused a new wave of excitement to not only flow through the group of friends but from everyone in the Great Hall as they were all eager and excited to start their new lessons.

* * *

Once lessons were done for the day the group met up outside the Great Hall as there was three hours before dinner they decided to explore the castle - as who wouldn't want to explore a castle? - and look for the perfect place to enact their prank war where they wouldn't get caught. The last thing they wanted was to destroy a classroom and end up with a detention and a loss of points; particularly the Gryffindors as they had started the day on -50 thanks to Bella Edgecombe trying to bully Iolanthe. It wasn't until they had reached the seventh floor outside a tapestry of a foolish wizard, who was aptly named Barnabas the Barmy, as he was trying to teach trolls ballet, when a great double Redwood door appeared.

Barty had been pacing up and down the hallway trying to think of the perfect place for a prank war - as they had searched everywhere and they didn't really want to go outside it was getting cold, and the others all stood in thought -  when the door suddenly appeared. Fabian cautiously approached the door and opened it revealing a grand room with all the pranks they could ever think of, a screening area that would protect the others, and different areas for the others who were participating in this prank war.

"It's perfect!" Fabian and Gideon muttered dreamily.
"Well done Barty." Sirius praised, clapping his distant cousin on the shoulder.
"Let's get this prank war started!" Alice cried running with Marlene to one corner of the room, laughs spilling out from everyone as a happy atmosphere filled the air.

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Author's note: DO NOT ask me to update in any way shape or form. There are other ways of telling me what you thought of this.