Aftermath

A few weeks have passed since Filch brought us all to Professor McGonagall and both our Houses lost a total of one hundred points. Of course none of the Gryffindors took that well, especially since it's because of their most famous member. Harry and Hermione have not had it easy dealing with all the whispering and blatant hostility. Now, normally I would feel at least a little bad about Hermione getting caught up in my stuff, but I just consider it payback for not telling me about the dragon.

My Slytherin Housemates took things about as well as theirs did, but unlike them our House is more… adaptable. Or should I say more reasonable? I know, not something anyone would expect from the most discriminatory House in the school, but it's true! Draco and I haven't suffered much at all from this whole fiasco!

I like to think that a big part of it is that literally all of the points lost didn't even measure up to what we'd earned between the two of us the whole year so far. Basically if anyone wants to complain about how we've been knocked down to third in the House Cup Competition, then they should earn points themselves. Really, a small group shouldn't need to carry their entire House to victory. That's just them being lazy.

While I like to say our stellar personalities and contribution to House Points is the reason the sudden loss didn't get us the same treatment as Harry and Hermione, Tracy tells me it's the fact that I pranked anyone who tried to snub us. Hard.

But of course I'm innocent! Hare dare she accuse a cute young girl like me of such dastardly justice!? *Cough* I mean reprehensible incidents. So what if the guy who made a snide comment about me swallowed an entire box of Ton-Tongue Toffees? Maybe he shouldn't be stuffing his face in the first place! Go earn us some points!

Oh, the girl that put Bulbadox Powder in my robes? How am I supposed to know how our robes got switched even though we're three years apart? The chili powder that was mixed in as well? Not my clothes, not my problem!

Disregarding the series of unfortunate events I'm completely unrelated to that sent several Slytherins to the Hospital Wing, things have been pretty quiet for us. Tracy is taking good care of the dragon, and it seems to really like the fact that it can set its little forest on fire and watch it not burn down. There were a couple of close calls where we had to hide the smoke coming from the chest, but we've gotten used to it enough that it's no longer a problem.

I can safely say that dragon care - with the proper preparations - isn't that hard. Though Tracy does occasionally seem a bit ragged from trying to keep its occasional destructive moods from revealing it. But what happened a week after the heist makes it all worth it…

At breakfast, my group was enjoying ourselves while ignoring the people ignoring us when a commotion occurred at the Gryffindor table. We looked over and saw a small crowd all leaning towards Weasley, which immediately dulled my interest. Still though, it could have been bad for him, so I decided to pay attention anyway. And boy was I happy I did.

See, there are apparently these special kinds of letters called 'Howlers'. And Ron just so happened to get one from his brother in Romania, Charlie. To sum it up, he was not happy about the 'prank' he pulled by sending him a crate of empty and broken brandy bottles.

I have to say, the dawning realization on her face coupled with Harry's confused expression and the shock and Weasley's just tied the whole thing into a warm fuzzy feeling inside my chest.

But that's old news by this point. What's currently relevant is how Fred and George are looking around cautiously when they enter the Great Hall for lunch. Ever since they heard about what happened, they've been on the lookout for my revenge. As an honest challenger for their thrones of 'King Prankers' we came to the agreement that we wouldn't pull anything that would get us in trouble. An agreement that they've broken.

Now, I'm an understanding girl; there's no way they could have known I would be wandering the castle in the middle of the night after all. They'd just intended to scare me and my roommates awake with their prank. The fact that it ended up tanking both our Houses' points for the House Cup as well as getting all of us caught by Filch was entirely accidental!

Which is why I've been giving them so much time to prepare themselves and make their peace. Though I doubt that will help them.

After all… I've convinced Peeves to help me.

And he should be beginning right about-

Screaming suddenly erupts from the Gryffindor table as a section of the bench holding Fred and several other students shoots into the air.

-now.

Both the bench and the students quickly become obscured by the gray clouds floating around. Not long after, their screaming stops and silence permeate the Hall. I pass out some of the popcorn containers that appeared to Draco and Tracy, and since Daphne is looking a bit lonely, her as well. She seems surprised by the offer but accepts it nonetheless and we all go back to watching the show.

It's just beginning~.

While the Gryffindors who haven't been launched into the 'sky' are freaking out, Professor McGonagall is swiftly making her way over with her wand drawn in order to take control of the situation. It's just too bad for her that the signal to start the next phase is the remaining twin making eye contact with me. And judging by the dawning realization in his widening eyes, it's been sent.

Just as suddenly as the first time, now a section of the bench containing George shoots into the sky, the screams of the collateral damage a stark contrast to his own sigh of resignation. Just as abruptly as the first, the screams suddenly stop soon after we lose sight of them.

Now at the scene, Professor McGonagall is trying to figure out why the benches suddenly broke and shot into the air. Meanwhile the other students have long since evacuated their own seats in fear of being next to go.

Eyeing the other tables, it's clear that they're wondering if the problem is only theirs. Judging by the number of students at other tables that have also stood up, the question is mutual.

Luckily for them no more things are going to shoot up into the sky. That's not to say that they're safe of course. Why would I limit myself to only using this prank to get back at the twins?

As I toss back another piece of popcorn, shapes start to float down from the clouds. Everyone lets out a collective sigh of relief seeing the students coming back unharmed, only for it to catch in their throats once they notice how they look.

Each of the students drifting down is pale blue in color, and it's almost as if you can see through them. Indeed, to everyone else, it looks like the students have turned into ghosts. And since they themselves don't know what's going on…

""""AAAAHHHHH!!!""""

They're panicking just as much, if not more, than everyone else. This is not helped by one student who lunges at who I presume is their friend to shake some answers out of them and goes right through.

It was complicated to set up, and it was only possible thanks to Peeves' weird existence of being a poltergeist. But the 'Other Side Experience' is a total success.