Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Forty-One and A Half- Valentine's Day

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Patricia had woken late for breakfast, as always. She groaned loudly and stretched, sore from her late-night trip into the Forbidden Forest. She knew she hadn't been keeping up with her 'mentoring' of the first year swats, but she had been working with the Care of Magical Creatures Professor Kettleburn, and occasionally Hagrid, to document all the living creatures inside the Forbidden Forest. If she was being entirely honest, she had become quite addicted to flying into the Forbidden Forest undetected. She knew that most of her time, besides studying and keeping on top of her classes, had been spent among the dark damp forest that seemed to call to her in a way she couldn't explain.

Her best friends found her fascination with magical creatures, especially the beasts, to be foolish, dangerous, or a waste of time. Even the Prewitt's who had taken her under their wing when she had been an angry first year found her fascination with the Forbidden Forest rather strange. But she refused to stop going, she didn't have to think about anything or anyone in the forest. Even if the Prewitt's and Longbottom said that it was "avoidant" and that "she shouldn't be pushing her friends away," she was determined to figure out the Forbidden Forest.

Because it wasn't just the creatures that drew her, it was something else. But she still couldn't figure out what. Luckily she had four first years, two of which were eager to get into the forest and the other two who, if she was careful, would follow suit. She was sure with their help she could figure out what was hidden in that forest because she was confident there was something there. However, she knew she had to be careful because of two reasons.

One, while she didn't care for the rules at Hogwarts and had been working her way on breaking them all just because she could, she knew endangering younger students would earn her more than detentions. And two, other than Pettigrew, who she found slow and a waste of her time, she had reluctantly grown to care about the first-year boys she had come to know. Sirius, James, and Remus were all as witty as her and had a tendency to get into trouble, which is what she wanted in her protegees, even if Remus didn't consider himself one.

She quite enjoyed teasing them and training them, even if at times she found them annoying and beneath her. But she couldn't deny they were all interesting in their own ways. Like Sirius, who had a darkness in his heart and a bitter dislike for certain people that she could certainly respect. Plus, a Black in Gryffindor had certainly intrigued her from day one.

James, well, he was rather simple to figure out. She may have written him off like she had Peter if she didn't find his little crush amusing and his flying skills useful. Then there was Remus. She wasn't sure how to feel about Remus.

Mostly she liked him a lot, but he wasn't as easily manipulated as the others. She wasn't used to not having people bend to her will and or charm. She had manipulated at some time or other all of her friends, but something about Remus told her that would be different. His overall distrust of everyone, and of course the many secrets she could tell he was hiding, resonated with her as well, once more reminding her of herself.

It had all been a game at first.

She had just wanted to see how far she could push them. As a small child, she used to bend her toys until they broke. While she had, after a few incidents, learned she couldn't behave that way with people, she still liked to figure out how they worked and what made them tick. For example, Frank was a people pleaser to a fault with a growing fascination of Alice, who was several years younger than him. It was the perfect way to drive him nuts if he ever annoyed or upset her, and the perfect thing to hold over his head if she needed to.