章 133: Omake - Through Her Eyes - Third Year

Shade was scary when he got angry. He was angry whenever he was scared, and he would fight with tooth and nail against anyone and anything attempting to harm those he believed under his protection. She had seen him snarl at the Dementors, unafraid, even with his legs quaking like frail trees.

Megan understood it perfectly. She had come to the realization when all the pieces had fallen together, and she knew that the young man that would laugh at Amanda's proposals for body harm or eagerly accept one of Wayne's candies was in truth, perhaps, like one of those innocuous-looking potions that, if let to simmer for just one minute more than needed, would detonate and bring down a whole house.

She still remembered the image of the basilisk's remain, shown over the ceiling of Hogwarts during the parting feast of the Second Year. She hadn't been capable of thinking anything but just how great the wizard behind the slaying of the Basilisk had to be. The monster was enormous; what kind of courage would it require to step inside the same room as it? What kind of willpower to keep one's calm, to chant one's spells?

She'd run away at the sight of bugs, rather than use a charm to deal with them. She'd probably whimper and cry if forced to face something like that, and she'd obviously die.

Yet whoever had faced it hadn't failed, hadn't fallen, hadn't curled in a ball awaiting their destiny. They had taken the fight to the evil that had tried to lurk at Hogwarts, and had mercilessly smothered it without allowing it to harm, even by a single hair, any of the students involved.

Seeing Shade growl at a Dementor with fearless anger merely made her clinch the deal.

Then he had brought the fury of the Hippogriffs on himself, rather than on Amanda and the other students, herself included. In her humble opinion, Malfoy was a git and he could have been left at the claws of the Hippogriffs, but Shade was kind to anyone who lacked brains, seeing them as pet hamsters or something like that, and Megan couldn't fault that kind of line of thought.

But she had gotten annoyed when the Gryffindorks had taken away Shade's private room. It was a kind of open secret that Shade's friends shared. They knew he mysteriously spent some afternoons completely off the grid, to recharge his batteries, to perhaps laze about and be as imperfect as he could ever truly become, and they were fine with it. Some people liked being in the presence of others; others didn't like being forced to stay with others for more than a few hours.

Shade did his best, but sometimes he needed a break from everyone, and from his very own smiling face.

Honestly, the fact of the matter was that Shade never got annoyed enough when things went against him. Hermione Granger spat on his goodwill, went as far as call him a Dark Lord, and yet Megan knew that he wouldn't care. Perhaps this didn't make her a very good Hufflepuff, but there was nowhere in the House's history that said that Hufflepuffs had to be kind and forgiving by nature.

She likened herself to the badger. She had no intention of letting a slight against one of her friends go, and she'd fight in their stead if they didn't want to.

So, while Shade was tinkering away with his gargoyle and forgetting all about the world around him, she narrowed her eyes and nearly hissed threateningly at the Gryffindorks whenever she could get away with it. What manners of fools were they, that they couldn't understand what it meant to have a cozy hole in the ground away from the troubles of the world above? What did they think they knew of her friend?

She couldn't really help it. So when he found another secret room and moved away towards it -which she knew was somewhere in the Kitchen area, because it really wasn't hard to follow Shade, no matter how adorkably he tried to hide it- she was pleased.

To each their own, and go find your own eye-twinkling friend, you silly Gryffindors.

"I'll grab the spade and you can point me to the body," he'd say. "They'll never find the corpse."

Indeed, Shade was really too dense for his own good. She giggled and shook her head, and then endearingly pried him away from risking further encounters with the Gryffindors by having him help her with Potions. She liked the class and she understood the Professor was strict, but fair when it came to grading. Perhaps he was a bit of a bully with the Gryffindors, but she didn't really care about them.

Also, believing Madame Sprout, he was thinking of making perfume for Christmas. And that could mean only one thing.

She had to give him chocolate for Valentine's Day.

"So it has come to this," Amanda hissed.

"I'm sorry, my friend," Megan retorted.

This was the last box with Coffee-Flavored chocolates.

"I can't let you have this," Amanda growled.

"Me neither," she retorted. Thus, they fought for it. Unfortunately, her potion-making skills couldn't be used, while Amanda's chaser-like physique did, indeed, help her achieve victory with her own box.

There were no hard feelings afterwards, of course, but still it made her feel uncomfortable.

Thus, she needed to up her ante. She wasn't the kind of Hufflepuff that knew the meaning of the word surrender, after all. Christmas spent with her family would maybe make him happy? And even if the Headmaster put a wrench in her plans, the following Summer was still up for grabs.

She'd get him then, and then she'd be the happiest little witch ever. It wasn't like she was possessive of all of her friends, but she couldn't stand when one of them was sad, or was mistreated. She understood Shade's feelings very well. Thus, she'd just over-hen him in turn.

Well, maybe she'd never manage to be as protective as he was, but she could damn well try.

What else are friends if not those who silently cheer you up...

...even when you don't want to admit you need cheering up?