she said it's all a game

ϟ

"Professor Binn's never mentioned how horribly annoying Pixies are," Viktorija screamed over the horrendous sound the Cornish pixies were emitting.

The noise was a mix of screeching birds and a high pitched baby's cry. If this wasn't enough to make their ears bleed, Perry didn't want to hear how truly loud the mandrakes they are planting in Herbology are.

The Cornish Pixies were electric blue little elf looking creatures. They had green wings that were flapping all around as they tried to pry through the bars of the cage.

Seamus Finnigan was practically toppling over in his seat from laughing so hard. Professor Lockhart did not like that one bit. A grimace spread over his face while he looked down at Seamus in his fit.

"Yes?" he said to Seamus.

"Well, they're not— they're not very— dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked.

"Don't be so sure!" Professor Lockhart exclaimed, wiggling a finger at the class. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"

The amount of eyes that had rolled may have been a new class record. All the girls were fawning over Lockhart. Perry might have been too if he hadn't showed how much of a self-centered bugger he is. All of his 'come pose for the prophet' and 'I gave you a taste for fame' had ruined his reputation to her.

"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly, grabbing their attention. "Let's see what you make of them!"

His hand reached for the metal lock and he swung the cage door open. The electric blue pixies dashed out of the cage, going straight for anything they could get their hands on.

They grabbed jars and threw them across the room. Vikrorija had to duck to avoid getting hit by one. Pixies shattered windows, grabbed ink bottles and poured them everywhere, tore pictures off the wall, dumped out the waste basket, and dumped out bags and threw books all over. Neville swat at the pixies with his book. Two pixies in particular, whom were being swat at, picked up Neville by the ears and hung him from the chandelier.

Viktorija let out a squeal before ducking under her desk to avoid another jar being thrown towards her. Perry looked around and saw that the majority of the class was hiding under their desks as well. She considered joining them.

"Come on now—" Lockhart said attracting the classes attention, "— round them up, round them up — they're only pixies."

Lockhart smiled brightly, pushed his sleeves back, and held out his wand.

"Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"

The spell had absolutely no effect. The pixies were still causing havoc all around the classroom while Lockhart merely looked at his wand as if it was it's fault the spell hadn't worked.

One pixie streaked across the classroom, stole the wand straight from Professor Lockhart's hand and threw it out the window. Defenseless, Professor Lockhart dove under his desk in panic.

It was lucky he did. The second he made his dive, the chandelier gave out and Neville came swinging down with it.

Perry fumbled for her wand before pulling it out and shouting, "Arresto momentum!"

Neville came to a halt inches above the floor. He hovered in the air for a moment before the spell wore off and he fell stomach first into the ground. He let out a muffled groan that sort of resembled the words "thank you". Professor Lockhart's eyes lit up the second he saw Perry's mouth form the words of the spell.

The bell rang and everyone shuffled out of the room at full speed. Classmates pushed passed Perry, eager to get away from the pesky pixies. Perry wanted to follow them out, but she couldn't stop herself from moving towards Neville to ensure he was okay.

"Neville," Perry said crouching down, "Are you okay?"

Neville kept his face smushed against the cold floor. Broken glass from the shattered chandelier pierced his skin, leaving wounds across his face.

Viktorija stood in the doorway, whisper shouting for Perry to get out of the room like the rest of the class had done. As Perry crouched beside Neville, Lockhart stood up, brushed his maroon robes of dust, and strode over to the door of the classroom.

"Well, I'll ask you three to just nip the rest of them back into their cage," Lockhart said before he slipped out of the classroom.

"Professor Lockhart!" Viktorija screamed after him. "Ugh!"

"Neville," Perry said flipping him over onto his back, "Neville, say something."

He was silent for a moment before he let out a grunt followed by, "I hate pixies."

Perry let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"Understandable," she sighed.

Perry collected herself and carefully stood up off the ground. The cornish pixies were still going ballistic and flying back and forth all over the classroom. Almost none of the jars had been spared. Glass shards and disturbing looking substances covered the ground of the DADA classroom.

"Viktorija," Perry said, "Close the door."

"Why—"

"Just do it."

Hesitantly, Viktoija closed the door to the classroom, trapping Perry, Neville, and the Pixies inside.

"Immobulus!" Perry cast, freezing everything in the room beside her. Neville was already almost passed out so she wasn't worried about him.

"Okay," Perry shouted louder, "You can open the door, Tori!"

The door slowly pushed open and in stepped a mesmerized Viktorija.

"What did you do to them?" she exclaimed with a look of mischief on her face.

"I cast a spell that I would never tell you the incantation for if that's what you're getting at," Perry replied with a sly smirk on her face.

"You're no fun," Viktorija said with a pout.

Perry rolled her eyes and turned towards the empty cage that was used to hold the pixies. She bit her lip as her eyes wandered from pixie to pixie, wondering if they would actually listen to her if she gave a command.

She put on a facade and narrowed her eyes to look a little more menacing. "If you don't want that to happen again, go back into the cage!"

"Mobulus!" she enunciated.

The pixies dashed forward in the motions they were performing before Perry had frozen them. All of their tiny, webbed, blue feet flew out forward from behind them as they came to a stop in mid air.

"Now!" Perry demanded.

All of the pixies zoomed forward toward the cage. Many of them looked at Perry with sad expressions, others with shock, and some with fear as they flew unwillingly into the cage.

Perry let out a sigh as she pushed the cage door shut. How did she end up doing the work her Professor was hired to do? She wasn't even being payed for this.

"Now that that's over..."

"That was badarse," Viktorija said open eyed. "That— that was— that was awesome."

Perry tilted her head to the side and gave an over exaggerated curtsy. Both girls snickered to themselves as she straightened herself up.

"Now," Perry said flipping her hair as she turned around to face Neville, "How bad would it look if I levitated his unconscious body behind us as we took him to the hospital wing?"

"Horrible," Viktorija answered bluntly. "And who said this was a 'we' thing."

"What if this turns into a spontaneous adventure?" Perry asked as she picked up Neville's arms. "Wouldn't want to miss that again would you?" She pushed his back off the ground with a heave. "Are you going to help?"

Viktorija stared daggers at Perry before her eyes shifted to Neville and then back to Perry.

"I hate you," she spat jokingly.

Perry rolled her eyes and said, "Sure you do. Now, get over here and help me!"

Viktorija let out a loud and unnecessary sigh as she dragged herself over to where Perry was holding Neville up.

Perry reached for her wand and accidentally dropped Neville onto the floor. She cupped her hands around her mouth as his back fell hard onto the floor. Viktoija let out a belly laugh as she crouched over and held her stomach.

"Stop it!" Perry whined. "I didn't mean to! I was just reaching for my wand to help us out." She mumbled the last part and raised her wand up. Viktorija was letting out tiny breaths as she stopped herself from laughing. Perry sent a soft glare at her that she waved off.

"Pluma quasilux," Perry whispered as she waved her wand over Neville's body. "Pluma quasilux."

Perry repeated the spell over Neville's body. Viktorija stared at him, expecting something to happen. Perry slowly lowered her wand to her side and put it away in her robe. She smiled at Viktorija who returned a look of confusion.

"Did it not work?"

Perry shook her hair in front of her face. "Not all magic is visible, Tori."

Perry bent down and easily hoisted Neville's arm around her shoulder. Viktorija's eyes widened in shock before she shook the look off and returned to her normal bored expression.

"Grab the other arm," Perry said like it was obvious.

Viktorija made an inaudible noise while squinting her eyes at her best friend. She grabbed Neville's surprisingly light arm and hoisted it around her neck. The two girls carried Neville out of the classroom and towards the moving staircases.

"What would someone think if they saw us right now?" Perry asked, but it wasn't Viktorija who answered.

"They'd probably think two little Slytherin girls murdered their fellow classmate—"

"And are trying to hide the body—"

"Don't forget that part—"

"Apologies," said the golden boy as he smiled down at Perry.

"Seriously, Ced!" Perry exclaimed. "Do you have to scare me like that!"

"Sorry, Seph," Cedric said stepping out of the doorway he and his friends were sulking in. "Sometimes I can't resist. It's too much fun."

He went to ruffle her hair but she caught hold of his wrist. She raised her eyebrow at him and a goofy smile found it's way onto his lips.

"No," she said blankly.

"Fine," he said shifting onto one of his feet. "At least let me help with this."

In a swooping motion he took Neville from their arms, catching Viktorija off balance. One of Cedric's friends, a boy with brown hair and hazel eyes, grabbed hold of her and pulled her into the platform in front of the stairs.

"Hello Vikky," he said with a smirk.

A look of disgust and horror covered Viktorjia's faces as she replied dryly, "Hello Jasper."

"Falling for me now, aren't you?" he said with a toss of his head.

"In your dreams," she sassed as she pulled herself out of his arms.

"You aren't wrong about that one," he smirked.

"Oh— you son—"

Perry grabbed Viktorija's mouth and wrapped her hand around it. She knew exactly what Viktorija had intended on saying.

"This is Vikky?" asked a raven haired boy who popped up behind Jasper. Another boy with a blue streak in his blonde hair popped up behind Cedric.

"You talk about me?" Viktorija asked with disgust laced in her tone.

"Only a hundred times a day, Vikky," he smooth talked.

"Stop calling me that!" she yelled at him.

"What? Do you like Vik better? Or ba—"

"Don't finish that sentence!" she growled.

"You're cute when you're mad," he said looking down at Viktorija.

"Ugh!"

Viktorija slipped past them and ran up the staircase. She stopped halfway and looked back at them.

"Are you coming?" Viktorija sassed.

"I'm so confused," Perry whispered to herself, but Cedric overheard.

"She's never talked about Jas?" he asked while he watched his best friend run up the stairs. The other boys followed behind him.

"No," Perry said moving forward to step on the staircase.

"Seph!" Cedric called, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her back.

She bumped into his chest just as the staircase gave a jolt and separated itself from the platform. Viktorija, Jasper, and the other two unnamed boys were trapped on the moving staircase while Perry and Cedric were still on the platform.

"Perry!" Viktorija shouted.

"It's fine!" Perry shouted back. "We'll take the long way! Meet in the hospital wing?"

"Yeah!" Viktorija shouted as her voice drew too far away.

Perry stepped away from the railing and looked up at Cedric. He smiled down at her while he reposition the unconscious Neville on his shoulder.

"To the hospital wing?" Perry asked.

"We have to take the long way," Cedric said.

"More time to catch up then," Perry replied back as she skipped in front of him.

"So what the deal with hazel eyes," Perry asked.

"You noticed his eyes were hazel?" Cedric asked.

"I'm observant," she said turning around towards him. "But what's his deal."

"I'll tell you that, when you tell me about the boy I'm carrying on my shoulder," Cedric said.

"Oh, right," Perry said with a little laugh. "That's Neville Longbottom. We were in Professor Lockhart's class and, well, Lockhart releases a hundred of Cornish pixies on us and let all hell broke loose."

"Language," Cedric said.

"Really," Perry said raising her eyebrows at him.

"Yes, really," he said leaning towards her for emphasis.

"Should I continue or am I going to be reprimanded again?" Perry asked.

Cedric smiled and shook his head at her.

"Well, as I was saying," Perry continued, "All hell broke loose, and jars were shattered, windows were broken, chairs were thrown; everything you can imagine, happened. Poor Neville got lifted up and hung from the chandelier. Long story short, chandelier came down, I saved him, blah blah blah, we're on our way to the hospital wing."

"You've had an eventful day," Cedric said with a chuckle. Perry's heart gave a flutter, but she chose to ignore it. If only he could be less attractive.

"Yeah," Perry said, "You can say that again. But, I want to know about Jasper."

"What about him?" Cedric asked.

"Uh, everything."

"Jasper Viola," Cedric said, "Where do I even start."

"The beginning," Perry answered.

"Rhetorical question."

"Rhetorical answer."

Cedric smiled at her and shook his head, "Jasper, well, we've been friends since we were little. He's a Hufflepuff third year, but I grew up with him so he hangs around my friends and I. He's loud, confident, and a great beater in Quidditch. He lives in the village near Viktorija's Manor, and he's been in love with her for as long as I can remember."

"How do I not know about him?" Perry blurted. "How is this the first I'm hearing of him?"

"Viktorija doesn't really acknowledge him unless she has too," Cedric said.

"Isn't that her with everyone?" Perry giggled.

"Everyone besides you," Cedric said. "She's always been a little cold, whether that's because of Jasper or her twin sister, but somehow with you she comes alive. I had never seen that in her until you came along, Seph."

Perry could have said something nice, but instead what came out was, "Wait, so you've know Viktorija longer than I have? Longer than you've known me?"

"Yeah," Cedric said, "I guess so."

A sick feeling in Perry's stomach resonated because of the words she had just heard. She didn't like hearing that Viktorija had know Cedric longer than she had known her, her best friend. Or maybe she didn't like knowing that Cedric had known Viktorija long before he had ever even met her.

"Is that jealousy written across your face?" Cedric asked.

"What?" Perry asked like she had no clue what he was saying.

"It is isn't it," he said.

"No," Perry denied.

"Uh-huh," Cedric said. "I totally believe you."

"Mhm," she said, "I'm a very trustworthy person."

"Ah," he said, "Because you never lie."

"Okay," Perry said, "I only lie for friends and to save myself, or others, from danger."

"I see," Cedric said, "So that justifies it?"

Perry looked away from him, "Well, no, but not everyone can be as good as you."

"As me?" he asked surprised.

"Yes," she stressed. "You're Mr. Golden Boy. Everyone knows that."

"Yeah," he said, "Not such a fan or that nickname."

"I think Ceddy fits you a lot better," Perry teased.

"Do you now?" he said surprised.

"Mhm," she hummed.

They climbed the last few steps to the third floor corridor in silence. Down the hallway they could hear Viktorija yelling at either Jasper or one of the other boys.

"Well they have one thing in common," Perry said.

"Who?"

"Jasper and Viktorija. They're both loud."

Cedric snickered at her remark as they walked forward.

"Hey, Seph," Cedric said stopping her.

"Yeah," she said.

"I'm trying out of the quidditch team this year," Cedric said.

"Really?" she exclaimed. "No way!"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "You convinced me."

"I did?"

"Yeah," he said. "That's why I'm inviting you to watch tryouts in the next week or so. Wanna come?"

"Are you kidding, Ced!" Perry exclaimed. "Of course I'll be there!"

They stepped into the corridor in front of the infirmary and were spotted immediately.

"Perry!" Viktorija exclaimed while running towards her. "Please save me!"

Viktorija grabbed onto Perry's arm and pulled her towards the infirmary.

"Can we please get Neville into a bed or whatever lame thing you want to do and then get out of here. Or more specifically away from him!"

"Okay, okay," Perry said. "Come on, Ced."

Perry pulled Cedric's arm towards the infirmary. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. All Perry could do was shrug.