Sunflowers

Her Own Way

"Are you sure you're alright, Thia?" Lily fussed over her friend. She nodded, although it wasn't really true. That panic attack had been the first major one she'd had in years. The first one that had made her paranoid. The first one that made her want revenge.

"I'll be fine, Lils. Besides, I've got an idea for the next prank." Thia saw the look in her friend's eyes, "But first, are any of the boys claustrophobic?"

~

"Are you sure they can breathe?" Dorcus asked quietly, peering into the first-year boys' dorm.

"They can breathe," Lily assured her, "Thia tested the spell on me first. It'll be fine."

Thia led the girls back to the common room, where you could just see the sun through the windows, "The youngest boys will melt away a minute after they wake up. Second years, five minutes. Third, ten. Fourth, fifteen. And so on. Course, if you hear someone panicking, I can take it off sooner."

"Best part, leaves no trace behind," Sophie hung off Thia's shoulders, "So the whole school can only rely on word of mouth."

"And the Marauders at least will know it was me behind the idea," Thia added, "I left a calling card."

Lily smiled, ruffling her hair, "Well, then, Helianthia Simmons, let's go celebrate your genius."

~

By lunch, it was spread across the school: The Gryffindor boys had been beaten. No one really quite believed them, though. Really, being encased in jello? What kind of prank was that? But nonetheless, the boys had given up.

It didn't help things when the Marauders showed up to lunch, laughing as they congratulated the girls.

"That was very well done," Remus told Thia, settling beside her, "Was there a timed release?"

"By year. Every five minutes, after you lot woke up," Thia bit into a strawberry, "Skipping the ones who were claustrophobic, and I stood by in case someone panicked."

"Well, well, well," Remus looked impressed, "You did it all yourself? Helianthia Simmons, that's amazing."

"Lily and Dorcus helped perfect it, but yeah I did most of the spell casting."

James dropped across from her with a gasp, "I've got it!"

"Got what?" Sirius settled on Thia's other side, snagging a strawberry. She smacked his hand.

"Your codename!" He looked up, spreading his hands as if mimicking a marquee, "Hell-Raiser!"

"Better than Kit," Thia shrugged, "Go for it if that's what you want to call me."

"Welcome, Hell-Raiser!"

~

The rest of that year flew by, and soon they were home for the summer. And when school rolled around again, Thia rode the train with Sophie and Callum, wishing that her older friends were still there. Luna joined them, and Thia brought her under her wing. Soon enough, no one saw the Gryffindor without her Hufflepuff friend.

Life kept moving. The world outside Hogwarts grew darker, and the papers were filling with attacks. Thia watched from the safety of her dorm as it descended into chaos, and something inside her whispered that she had been the beginning. The first in a chain of bloodshed.

Each year brought something. Fourth year brought Luna. Fifth brought OWLs. Sixth year was her favourite; it brought her someone new.

~

"We will be doing something new today," Professor Sprout stood at the front of the greenhouse, and Thia propped her chin in her hand, "We will be doing a partner project with Professor Kettleburn's Care of Magical Creatures class."

Whispers went through the class as Sprout let Kettleburn's class in, "You have already been assigned partners."

The two groups of sixth years stayed awkwardly apart until Kettleburn began to call names. Thia liked the older wizard, mainly because he also wore prosthetics and he was easy for her to talk to.

"Mister Gerrets and Miss Fullington. Miss Kennedy and Miss Reid. Miss Knight and Miss Simmons."

Thia moved her bag off the extra chair as a pretty brunette came and sat beside her. Miss Knight grinned, showing a gap smile and white teeth. Faded freckles dotted tanned skin.

"I'm Mo. Thia, right?" She spoke with an Irish accent. Thia nodded, offering a small smile.

"Everyone! Attention up here, please," Professor Sprout surveyed the room, "Each partnership will choose a magical creature and a related plant. We expect an essay with three sections; one on the animal, one on the plant, and one on how they are related. It's due on Monday."

"So, what do you want to do?" Thia asked, pulling out her textbook, "Bowtruckles and a wand wood would be fairly easy, although I'm sure half the class will try for that one."

"How about we do Bowtruckles and a Wiggentree? Lesser known, but still relatively easy," Mo suggested. 

"Sounds good." Professor Sprout stopped beside their table.

"And what are you doing, girls?"

"Bowtruckles and Wiggentrees."

The professor pursed her lips, "I think you two need something a little more challenging. I'm going to assign you sea lavender and unicorns. You've got this."

"Great," Mo rolled her eyes as the class ended, "Want to meet in the library to figure this out?"

~

Thia beat the Hufflepuff to the library, finding a seat in the back of the room. The headphones that Sirius had gifted her were on, blocking out the ambient noise that normally overwhelmed her. She went around, finding books that might help them, and returned to her table, Cosette lying beneath her. Mo dropped into the seat across from her.

"Did you not hear me calling your name?" Thia looked up sheepishly, honey brown meeting mossy green.

"No, sorry. My headphones block out pretty much everything. Keeps me from getting overwhelmed." Mo picked up some of the books in front of her.

"Neat!" Thia smiled, turning her attention to the book. The pair worked quietly, occasionally pointing things out to each other. Eventually, their paper was full of things to work off of, so they packed up and put things away.

"You know," Mo said as they left, unconsciously both heading for the Great Hall, "I was kind of hoping we'd be partnered together."

 Thia looked up slightly at the girl, "Really? That's a little creepy, Mo."

She laughed, "Not like that! It's just... Luna talks about you all the time in the common room. I wanted to see what she was talking about." Mo glanced over at Thia, a twinkle in her eye, "I kinda get it now."

"Only kinda?" Thia raised her eyebrow, "What don't you get, Miss Knight?"

"That right there! She's always saying that you're acting the maggot." 

"That I'm what?" Mo rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Acting the fool," they stopped beside the Gryffindor table, and Mo's eyes looked over Thia, "She also said that you're right lovely, but I didn't need her to tell me that."

Thia stood, shocked, as Mo grinned and walked away. What was that? And why had it made her chest flutter?