Chapter 7, Day 5 : Hogsmeade

Awoken at dawn, Margaret was well rested, lazing in bed for a little while in the comforting embrace of her pet matagot.
She was looking forward to being able to go back to her dear schedule, enjoying the the sound of wind and rain against the beautiful stained glass window of the dormitories. Satisfied with her morning cuddle, Margot jumped off the bed, allowing her human friend to stretch with a soft satisfied groan.
Her morning preparations over, Margaret quietly left the room, apple in had while her roommates were still dreaming comfortably in their warm blankets, looking forward to the excitement of today's classes.

Today was Herbology class, something she had been looking forward to for a while. Having spent quite a lot of time in the greenhouse she was already familiar with professor Garlick; the woman had stumbled upon her strange oriental stretching under the tree and they had a little chat about Herbology, a discipline both of them were quite proficient at. The professor had remarked she wasn't surprised a delicate and gentle person like her would have such an affinity with plants and creatures. The compliment didn't have the effect the woman had expected.
Thinking about the encounter, Margaret jogged towards her usual swimming spot as the fog slowly dispersed under a slowly rising sun, the cool wind felt good against her bare neck and she secretly wished she wouldn't have to go to class today.

Being awake this early meant she wouldn't encounter anyone on her way, or even at the lake, she would be left alone with her thoughts and the warm sunlight, allowing her to fully focus on satisfying her toned muscles; something she hadn't been allowed to do for two days in a row.
As the fog cleared out and the sun rose, the students and staff started waking up, the thought sending shivers down her spine as she swam in the lake's cold water, dread was setting in and she had to take her mind off it, she dove deep in the water.

Popping out of the water at the pier, water obstructing her view, Margaret took a deep breath, fully satisfied, not realizing she wasn't alone.
Professor Garlick jumped in surprise, she didn't expect a student to be diving in the lake at this hour of the day, her basket of plants spilled over, she sighed softly as the student cleared her eyes.
Margaret wanted to greet her but couldn't speak, she instead rushed over to help the lady gather her plants, water still dripping off her body.
"Oh my, that's quite alright, thank you." said the woman, a beaming smile on her face, as the quiet girl ignored her and quickly gathered the plants.
Standing up, her basket now full, she looked at Margaret's inexpressive visage and drenched body. "Oh dear, you should dry off, you'll catch a cold!"
"I was going to but you needed help." muttered the girl, quietly "Have a nice day professor.", she jogged away to her bag and towels, back to stretching, drying and cleaning, leaving the woman flabbergasted.

The gentle professor was watching her, a worried look on her face. Margaret's mind was running wild of course, she was embarrassed, hated the feeling of her gaze, wanted her gone, but at the same time felt worried "Does she want something? Why is she still here? Is she waiting for me?"
Thirty long minutes later, sitting on the pier, the professor was still watching her, a gentle smile had replaced the worried look, but Margaret felt even more guilty, she was definitely waiting for her.
Suddenly, the smile turned into shock: the student was sprinting towards her, hand reaching in her bag.
"I'm sorry, professor, were you waiting for me?" she produced a warm cup of chamomile tea and a piece of lemon pie from her purse, handing them to the lady "Please accept these, I'm sorry."
Giggling softly, the Herbology teacher reassured her "It's quite alright, you were mesmerizing!" Margaret didn't know is she was blushing but she felt extreme discomfort, she turned her head quickly, almost bolting away "It's good that you're here, that'll save me some time!" said Garlick, hand reaching out.
Margaret sighed, steeling herself "Professor?"
"Professor Fig asked that you be excluded from today's class so you can get yourself a wand from Ollivander's." the woman handed her a note " Mister Sallow was asked to accompany you, please meet him in the courtyard." she smiled, finishing her tea "We'll see each other on Saturday for this week's lesson, enjoy yourself!" she quickly ran away, giggling and jumping like a young child.
Margaret was conflicted, she would finally get her own wand but her plans were once again ruined, she had to see more people than she wanted to and her plans for Saturday were also compromised.

The pale girl's mood worsened as she slowly made her way to the courtyard, she didn't feel like walking fast or jogging, knowing what was waiting for her. An annoyed look turned into a smirk welcomed her as she approached Sebastian "Boy, you're up early Meg. Let's go."
Without a word, she followed him to Hogsmeade, the silence sometimes interrupted by the trumpetflowers on the side of the road.
The village entrance was now in sight, the annoyed boy spoke once again "Well that was boring, you're no fun." the girl didn't even acknowledge his words; he clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, now even more irritated. "Just get what you need and I'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks, don't make me wait." her left her in front of the beautiful wand shop, stomping away.

The shop was well furnished, even if a little dusty, misshapen shelves covered the walls, filled with long boxes. "Aah welcome young lady, how can I help you? What is your name?" said the old man behind the counter.
"Good morning sir, I'm new to Hogwarts and I need a wand, my name is Margaret Megamelons" said the girl, exploring the room with her eyes, not even glancing at the man once.
Ollivander jumped at the name, blushing a little "My, a Megamelons in my shop again, what a privilege!" he smiled "I might have just the right wand for such a name!" he opened a box containing a very long, slender white wand "Yew, Unicorn Hair, 14 inches, unbending, what do you think? Try it!"
The unwieldy want was heavy, slow, it felt like it drew from her pale hand and her Aguamenti was nothing but a slow pour of tepid water, she shook her head. "Alright then...What about this one? Cedar, Unicorn Hair, 10 inches, unbending." she couldn't even grab it, sparks shocked her hand and the wand was sent flying, blasting powerful jets of water everywhere. "I'm sorry, sir." she looked down "Not to worry my dear, this is supposed to happen."
Running to the backroom, the old man came back with an ornate box "Now, as you know, third time's the charm." he opened the container, inside laid a beautiful, lustrous black wand. "This wand is my masterpiece, Cherry, Phoenix Feather, 11 inches, whippy. I crafted it years ago but it has never found its master." her hand slowly approached the box "Something tells me only a Megamelons could wield it." his focused eyes turned into a beaming smile as a warm glow emanated from the girl and the wand.
It was as if every one of the man's worries left him, he felt relaxed like he never had been before, he himself was glowing, just like the tip of the wand the inexpressive white haired girl in front of him wielded.
"Wonderful, simply wonderful, I cannot wait to see what the two of you will accomplish." the man was almost tearing up as the girl softly caressed the beautiful lacquered wand in her hand. "You mentioned my name, you know about my family?" she asked, inspecting the item. "Of course, I met your father and grandfather. Your family is quite prestigious, even if you aren't the most popular purebloods in Britain." Margaret nodded, absentmindedly, as the old man reminisced about her ancestors. Paying the daydreaming man, she left the shop in silence.

Approaching the Three Broomsticks, wand in hand, seeds and ingredients in her bag, she was waved at by Sebastian. "Took you long enough, Minimelons" he was still angry. "Sorry." she half whispered. "Whatever, let's just go back to-" his sentence was cut short by loud noises and screams.
The two students started running towards the source of the disturbance: an armored troll was rampaging in the middle of the village, flinging tables and chairs, destroying carts and screaming; on his neck, a goblin silver collar, glowing red.
"Where are the aurors?!" yelled Sebastian in frustration, looking around "Wait, there's someone stuck under the rubble!" he pointed.
Margaret dropped her bag and her robes, wand in hand and started running in the direction of the rampaging creature. "Are you crazy?!" Sebastian shot out bright red sparks in the sky before running after the girl.

The plaza was empty and devastated, rain pouring loudly on the pavement as the elderly woman sobbed under the rubble, fearing for her life.
A pale white haired figure was facing the troll, a determined look on her face.
Having seen the red glowing goblin silver before, she deduced the troll wasn't doing what it really wanted, her plan was simple: take the collar off and subdue the troll.
The frenzied creature charged at her, screaming loudly, a murder of crows flying away in surprise. She dodged swiftly, not retaliating but observing the back of the collar, trying to understand how it was fit on the poor creature.
The strong rain made it hard to see properly, she would need to be bold to get a good look at the cursed thing, the troll charged again, slipping a little past her, he slammed his club, missing entirely and losing his balance slightly.
Margaret smirked, she jumped back, giving the troll more space, trying to bait another charge as the slow giant turned around.
Not falling for the obvious trap, the troll grabbed a fallen statue, throwing it at the small girl with all his strength, screaming loudly, not expecting the statue to come right back and hit him in the collar, making him stumble on his butt, splashing water everywhere.
The young girl was standing still, waiting for the troll to stand back up. Out of breath, Sebastian had finally caught up with the girl.
Blinded with rage, the troll resumed his relentless charges, rising his club, he screamed once again, not expecting what was going to happen: Margaret sprinted towards him as if jousting, jumped on the ground, sliding between his legs, before waving her wand as she popped out behind him.
A powerful force grabbed the troll by the foot, making him fall flat on his face, before levitating him two meters above the ground and slamming him back down.
Margaret was soaked in water, her white shirt clung tight against her body as she climbed on the barely conscious troll's back, inspecting the collar. Waving both her left hand and wand, enormous arms of water grew from the ground, Sebastian couldn't move or take his eyes off the spectacle, he came to help her but his legs just wouldn't move.
The giant arms rushed suddenly towards the troll's nape, grabbing the collar tightly, infiltrating the gaps. The metal was creaking loudly as the frail girl stood on the huge creature, mimicking the movements of the arms.
Both girl and arms were shaking slightly from the effort, slowly pulling the collar appart, until it snapped loudly, splitting in two and falling in a resounding CLANG on the ground as the water arms dispersed.
"Woah, what was that!" screamed Sebastian, running towards her, stopped by her open palm. She jumped off the creature and walked around.
Now standing in front of his face, she closed her eyes and placed her hand on his forehead.
Sebastian was creeping closer, wondering what she was doing, or what was going to happen, gripping his wand tightly, dreading disaster as the troll was still breathing.
"It's okay..." she whispered quietly "It's over..." she caressed the creature's head. The fat giant started contracting, spinning, glowing and collapsing before disappearing. "He apparated? Trolls can't do that!" thought Sebastian, shocked, as the pale girl walked towards him.

"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Hogsmeade's constable "Not only you dealt with a troll but... What was that?!" she grabbed Margaret by the shoulders "Are you alright, miss?" the girl nodded, looking at Sebastian who had brought her belongings. She grabbed her robes and bag before explaining to the curious duo "I apparated the troll back to his lair."
The two were in shock, saying in unison "You can't do that!" "Really? But I just did, you both saw it, right?" she cocked her head as she asked.
Turning around suddenly, she rushed back to the plaza "Come with me!", she started clearing rubble "There's someone stuck in here, I almost forgot! Oh I'm so sorry..."

Having managed to weasel out of the interrogation, Margaret helped clean the damage with adept use of Reparo, along with Sebastian and the auror, the earlier rain having left for a warm sunlight that soothed the villagers' pain.
After a warm congratulation from the auror and the villagers, the two students left Hogsmeade, the young man's annoyance had turned into excitement as he sneaked glances at the quiet girl next to him.
"So that's how you fight?" He grinned "That was impressive, where'd you learn all that? I thought this was your first year."
"My parents taught me well, and so did Professor Fig." she answered bluntly, looking in front of her.
Sebastian's annoyance turned into curiosity, he wanted to know everything about the strange girl, her exotic face, her white hair, her toned body...
Seeing him glance at her chest under her wet shirt, she quickly closed her robes, rolling her eyes as he cleared his throat. "Anyway, Uhh, I guess I'll see you around? I really want to see what you can do." he was mesmerized by her emotionless face and couldn't take his eyes off her face as he spoke.
The extreme discomfort of the whole trip back to the castle was becoming unbearable for Margaret, her nails digging deep in her skin as she clenched her teeth hard. "Expect an owl from me, I might have just the perfect job for you. Oh and I can't wait to see you at the dueling-" the girl sprinted away, towards the lake, leaving the dumbfounded boy alone, flushed and covered in goosebumps.

Sitting on the pier, Margaret was enjoying the quiet of the lake, the song of the birds and the soothing wind against her skin, she was exhausted, trembling, and her heart felt like it was being crushed, she wanted to be left alone more than anything.
She sat there for an hour, feeding ducks and sighing... It was barely past dinnertime and she already had enough.