Huffily Puffily || Golden Trio

A Test of Wits and Biscuits || xlv

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Laying low was not so easy for a girl who was notoriously troublesome.

Over the next few days, she struggled to find a balance between staying out of trouble and not staying out of trouble... Her first instinct was to behave like any other model student, but after thinking it through, she realized that would raise more suspicion. She calculated when she'd joke in class. Which battles to pick. When Malfoy shot a scathing comment her way, she had to remind herself not to throw a darker threat back at him— that kind of response might give a professor reason to investigate her.

Perhaps she should have picked another spell. At the time, all she could think of was not getting caught in the act. She studied many dark spells out of Riddle's book. She thought she knew how to perform them when the time came. And to be fair, she did cast Tom's special Mystifying Curse perfectly and it had worked in capturing everyone's attention. But it'd also been absolutely alarming for everyone involved.

Not all of the Hogwarts students were like Lucy and her friends— they weren't used to sudden, potentially dangerous situations. The Dark Mist, as everyone had taken to calling it, had enraptured the entire student body, and they showed no signs of calming down about it. Rumors circulated the castle so rapidly that Lucy could hardly keep track of them. A popular theory was that it was the Heir's doing, that they'd planned to take out all the Muggleborns at once. Nobody paid attention to Lucy when she pointed out that Anthony and Flint, two purebloods, were the only ones remotely injured. Another one was that a dangerous creature had made its way into the castle. Less popular, people thought dementors might have been behind it all.

Dumbledore closed the Great Hall in his investigations; students were to eat in their respective common rooms until further notice. She'd scowled when he first announced it, then quickly fixed her facial expression. She had to wonder. Why was this the instance that alarmed him the most?

She complained as much to Tom in private. He was the only one she could truly complain about Dumbledore with. He was always delighted to offer insight— cough, insults, cough— on the topic, and today wasn't any different.

While students wandered about their dorms for breakfast, she was leaning over the sink, trying to scrub the blue out of her hair. She was tempted to let it fade naturally but soon decided she didn't want to draw anymore attention to herself. She was on her seventh wash, and it was finally beginning to fade.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Tom said after she grumbled about the 'big fuss' everyone was making.

She scowled, scrubbing at her hair with a towel. "Yes, it's so obvious that I've decided to ask you about it."

He twitched at her sarcasm but wisely didn't retort. They finally reached a point where they knew which arguments would waste both their time. Or rather, Tom finally stopped taking offense to every little thing Lucy teased him with.

He continued speaking as though she hadn't interrupted. "All of my spells aren't recorded anywhere else— they're entirely mine, and so I'm the only one who could possibly reverse them. Or in this case, you."

She reached for her conditioner as he spoke. Round eight, she thought mutinously. Damn those Weasley twins.

"So he's miffed because he didn't know the spell?" Lucy said doubtfully. "I get that he's great and all, but he can't expect to know everything."

"It's not about what he doesn't know. Lucy, Dumbledore knows this was my spell."

Her blood positively froze in her veins. If that wasn't bad enough, a bit of conditioner got into her eye just as he informed her of that little fun fact, and so she let out a "Oh bloody hell!" and splashed water into her face. Tom laughed at her misfortune, even as she sent a rude hand gesture his way.