#oc: cori mcmahan

[fatecanberewritten-writer]

Black Sheep | Chapter Three: Nicknamers

Stars Series | Black Sheep

Kings Cross station was just as crowded as it had always been, but that day, it didn’t bother Percy Weasley in the slightest. Striding confidently ahead of his family with his brand new owl sitting comfortably in his cage, he didn’t think that a single thing could have bothered him. It was his first official day as a prefect.

He smiled a little to himself as he thought about it. As he glided towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten, he hardly even acknowledged the five of his eight family members walking behind him. In his mind he was alone - and he quite liked it that way. “Percy!” His mother’s piercing voice quickly brought him back to reality.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, the fifteen year old stopped, turning around to find that the rest of his family had stopped as well, though it looked as if his siblings had done it reluctantly. His mother wasn’t looking at him or any of them - with her hand still tightly holding Ginny’s, his mother was looking pensively at a young boy talking to a Muggle station guard not far away. Percy turned his cart back and went over to see what was wrong.

“What is it?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, you know,” started Fred, “Mum’s just demonstrating the art of people watching.”

As Percy rolled his eyes, his mother shushed them all. “I thought I heard that boy say ‘Hogwarts’ as we passed him.”

His ginger eyebrows furrowed as he followed his mother’s line of sight. The boy was small, but all the same he could be Ron’s age, Percy’s youngest brother who was starting at Hogwarts this year. The bespeckled boy had messy black hair and clothes that were much too big for him, but atop his cart sat a caged snowy owl. “Think he’s a Muggleborn?” Percy quipped to his mother.

“That’d be my guess,” she answered with a similar look on her face. “I wonder why he’s all alone. Where are his parents?”

“How do Muggleborns find the platform?” Ron thought aloud.

“I think they’re meant to be told when they get their letter,” the matriarch answered distractedly, her mind obviously elsewhere.

As the boy got more desperate and the guard he was talking to got more frustrated, Percy knew exactly what his mother was thinking. “Should we go and help him?” Percy asked, and as he did, he puffed his chest out a little bit, his prefect badge proudly shining from where it was pinned on the breast pocket of his Muggle shirt. He sharply turned his shoulder away from the twins as they sniggered at him.

“No, no,” Molly said quickly. “I think we’d overwhelm the poor boy. I think it’s best if we caught his attention a little more discreetly. Come on, let’s walk by him again, and follow my lead.”

So the Weasleys turned back, walked past the boy again, stopped, made themselves look busy for a moment, then restarted their trek to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. By this time the Muggle guard had walked away from the boy and he looked hopelessly deserted.

“Lovely morning, isn’t it?” their mother started casually as they started to get closer to the boy. “Percy, come on this side of me so he can see your owl,” she ordered in a whisper, and as Percy followed his mother’s instructions, her loud, causal voice returned. “The walk from the Floo was quite nice, don’t you agree? King’s Cross hasn’t changed in the slightest - packed with Muggles, of course, but that’s to be expected.”

Percy didn’t look back, but the fact that his mother had stopped talking made him assume that she had successfully caught his attention. Sure enough, if he listened hard enough, he could hear the wheels of another cart following close behind them. Leading the way again, Percy slowed to a stop not far from the barrier, and as he turned back to his family, there was the Muggleborn, standing not far behind them, listening. 

“Now, what’s the platform number?”

“Nine and three-quarters!” piped little Ginny, right on cue. “Mum, can’t I go . . .”

“You’re not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy,” his mother said to him, and with her look, Percy knew that she wanted him to be an example for the lone boy. “You go first.”

With an understanding nod to his mother, Percy straightened his posture, turned his cart around, and walked confidently to the barrier, well aware of the bespeckled boy’s eyes on him. As he passed through the barrier onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Percy smiled triumphantly, feeling as though he had exemplified proper prefect behavior in how he helped both his mother and that lost boy. Without looking back, he confidently strode through the crowd to the front of the Hogwarts Express to find the prefect’s carriage.

Alone once again, Percy fell back into the confident, unbothered step he had had before, catching snippets of conversations, dodging carts and running children, squeezing through the gaps in the crowds towards the scarlet steam engine - all without breaking his stride in the slightest. It wasn’t until he was actually on board, loading Hermes into one of the designated prefect compartments, that anything was able to tear his attention away - and that came in the form of the red beam of a hex nearly hitting him as he stepped out of the compartment.

He reared himself up, almost excited to administer his first punishment as a prefect, but someone beat him to it. “Maebh!” called out a stern, feminine voice.

“But Gus said - ”

“I don’t care what Gus said, do not hex your brother!”

Still recovering from nearly being hit by a stray hex, Percy blinked a couple of times and focused in on the two girls at the end of the corridor. They looked fairly similar in age though one was considerably shorter, and with their dark brown hair, dark eyes and distinctive Irish accents, they were unmistakably sisters. His eyes fixed on them, Percy hardly noticed a boy with similar dark hair slip past him towards the girls. Only then did he realize that all three of them were wearing Slytherin robes.

“What makes you think you’ve got more authority than Gus? It’s not like you’re a prefect,” the boy said as he approached the girls. Both of the girls glared at the boy, but the taller one’s face quickly fell as she noticed Percy watching them.

“Go on,” she told the both of them, pushing them away from the prefect carriages. Percy took that as his cue to leave as well, and he went off to change into his robes. By the time Cori McMahan had turned to apologize on the behalf of her siblings, he was gone.

With his Hogwarts robes and shiny red-and-gold badge, the whole thing was starting to feel more official. He walked proudly along the platform, his new robes billowing behind him as he searched for his family to give his mother and sister his last goodbyes. He found them near the very end of the train, looking up at him as he approached. He couldn’t help but notice the look of pride in his mother’s watery eyes.

“Can’t stay long, Mother,” he said as he reached the group. “I’m up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves - ”

“Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?” Fred cut in, a feigned surprise in his voice. “You should have said something, we had no idea.”

“Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it,” said George, and Percy sighed, knowing exactly what was coming. “Once - ”

“Or twice - ”

“A minute - ”

“All summer - ”

“Oh, shut up,” Percy finally cracked, losing his professional demeanor.

“How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?” said George reproachfully, and all at once, Percy felt the weight of guilt fall onto his shoulders. That was the one thing he did feel bad about, especially with how it had made his younger siblings look at him. It wasn’t a secret to anyone that he and his family didn’t have much money, and while he felt he was deserving of the owl his parents had given him in honor of being made prefect, as this was what they had done for Bill and Charlie, the new robes were a bit unexpected. He had seen his mother’s face when he had pinned his badge to his faded hand-me-down robes the day he had gotten it in the mail, and while a small part of him felt the same, he would have gladly gotten used to the looks he would receive from his wealthier peers - it wasn’t anything new. Instead, his mother had splurged and he got the same looks, but this time from his brothers.

“Because he’s a prefect,” his mother said fondly, and he knew that she could not be blamed for the conflicted feeling in his chest. She had only wanted what was best for him, after all. “All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there.”

His mother kissed him on the cheek, and smiling at both her and Ginny, he turned and strode back to the front of the train, trying to force the guilt from his mind.

By the time he had returned to the prefect’s carriage, it was filled with other badge-wearing students, Percy among the youngest of them. He looked around for familiar faces, but didn’t have much luck. Though it was his fifth year at Hogwarts, Percy didn’t have many friends. In previous years, he would spend nearly all of his time studying, aiding the professors, tutoring, and on occasion, spending time with his brothers (mostly Bill and Charlie - he was much too different from Fred and George to hang around them at Hogwarts). He was surprised to see that Bridget Corner had been appointed as the other fifth year Gryffindor prefect. Sure, she was sociable, exemplified by her current situation of leading a conversation with several sixth years, but she never struck him as someone that was particularly responsible. Instead of trying to insert himself into that conversation, Percy elected to sit by the door of the compartment beside a shy-looking blonde with square glasses.

“Hello,” Percy greeted, sitting beside her. She was familiar to him, and with her Ravenclaw robes he figured she was likely in the same Charms class as him, but he couldn’t place her name. “I’m Percy Weasley.”

“I know,” the girl said, crimsoning. “I mean - uh - ” she stuttered - “we’ve had some classes together - ”

“Charms, right?” Percy offered with a sympathetic smile. “I recognize you, too. What was your name again?”

With a thankful smile, she said, “Penelope Clearwater.”

“Congratulations on making prefect, Penelope, it’s really - ”

But the sight of another girl entering the compartment tore his attention away from the Ravenclaw. Though not many even acknowledged her, one of the last coming into the prefect’s carriage, Percy couldn’t stop himself from staring up at the girl he had seen earlier, reprimanding her sister. He was confused more than anything - hadn’t he overheard the girl’s brother saying she wasn’t a prefect?

The Slytherin’s golden brown eyes met the Gryffindor’s soft hazel ones for no more than a second before, with a tight smile, she turned away from him, sitting in the opposite corner by the window.

“Thank you,” Penelope said to him with the smallest hint of sadness. Though not quite picking up on this, Percy turned back to her apologetically.

With a lurch, the train departed from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and the first official prefect meeting of the year was underway. “Alright,” started a tall, dark haired seventh year in Gryffindor robes, standing in front of the closed compartment doors. “Looks like you’ve all managed to find your way here, so let’s get this party started, shall we?”

A slender Ravenclaw with strawberry blonde hair sighed as she took her place beside him. “Welcome back to Hogwarts everyone, I hope you’ve all had a nice, restful summer. I’m Virginia Ward, your newly appointed Head Girl.” There was a round of applause for her, complete with some cheers and congratulatory whistles from the older prefects. Smiling, Ward curtsied for them all.

“And I’m Immanuel Tanouye, long awaited Head Boy,” said the tall Gryffindor, and he received an applause just as loud as Ward’s, but with a bit more whooping from the seventh years. As Tanouye did an exaggerated bow, Percy tried his best to hide his sneer.

“Now, before we kick things off, I’d like to do a quick roll call for our newcomers to make sure we have everyone, and of course, to get everyone better acquainted,” continued Ward, pulling out a parchment from her robes. As Tanouye leaned closer to her to get a better look at the list, Percy sat up a little straighter, preparing himself. “From Ravenclaw, Penelope Clearwater and Noe Monian?”

Beside him, the ever shy Penelope Clearwater raised her hand, along with a boy sitting by Bridget Corner. Tanouye and Ward looked up at them, smiling and nodding respectively.

“From Gryffindor,” Tanouye started slowly, squinting at the parchment in the Head Girl’s hands. Percy felt his stomach lurch and sat up even more. “Bridget Corner,” he looked up at her as the brunette raised her hand, “and Perceus Weasley?”

“Percy,” Percy said automatically.

The Head Boy looked around at him with furrowed eyebrows. “What?”

“It’s just Percy,” he continued awkwardly, feeling the heavy stares of everyone around him. “Percy Weasley.”

“Right,” Tanouye said slowly. “Percy, got it.”

As the attention shifted away from him, Percy sat back, his face warming. It wasn’t at all the introduction he had been hoping for. Why had his full name been written?

The Head Girl moved on quickly, and Percy was rather thankful for that. “From Hufflepuff, Dorothy Anderson and Frank Edwards?” The fifth year Hufflepuffs made themselves known.

“And finally,” Tanouye said theatrically, taking the parchment from Ward entirely, “from Slytherin, Felix Manning and Corinna McMahan?”

“I go by Cori.”

The timid voice pulled Percy from his self-pity. With attentive eyes, he looked up and across the compartment to the girl he didn’t even think should be here - a girl with deceptively bright eyes and chocolate brown hair that had been moved just enough from her shoulder to show a green-and-silver prefect badge.

The Head Boy (and practically everyone else, though he didn’t notice) looked from the Slytherin, Cori McMahan, to the Gryffindor, Percy Weasley. “Alright,” Tanouye chuckled amusedly. “We’ve got our nicknamers: Cori and Percy. Nothing to be ashamed of,” he assured as he saw their faces paling. “There are always a couple in a class. Hell, sometimes I go by Manny.”

“No one calls you that, Immanuel,” the Head Girl deadpanned, but Percy did not laugh along with the rest of the prefects. He honestly hadn’t even heard her - his eyes were fixed on the other ‘nicknamer’.

Cori did little more than offer a half-hearted smile as those around her laughed at the antics of the Head Boy and Girl. As she looked up, her eyes met those of Percy Weasley as if there was a magnetic force willing them to do so. She was shocked to see his eyes already on her, and she knew exactly what was on his mind - how was Cori McMahan a prefect? He had been the one that her sister had nearly hexed earlier, the one who had heard her thirteen year old brother squash any authority she had tried to convince herself she had. She had seen the way he had looked at her as she walked into the compartment.

But that wasn’t what Percy was thinking at all. He was thinking that of all the other prefects in this compartment, and certainly of all the other fifth years, he was probably most like his fellow nicknamer. He offered her a smile, and felt a warmth in his chest as she returned it.

[fatecanberewritten-writer]

Black Sheep | Chapter Four: Legacy

Stars Series | Black Sheep

Danielle Herbison was the last person you would ever find wandering. She wasn’t a girl that left her comfort zone, not at all - especially on the train ride to Hogwarts. Even when she was a first year, the girl had said goodbye to her family, boarded the train and gone into the very first compartment she found, not caring if there was anyone else in it. That was actually how she had met and befriended Cori McMahan, and now, five years later, it was that friendship that had her uncomfortably wandering the corridors of the Hogwarts Express.

The girl let out a breath of relief as she came into the next train car, finally spotting her friend at the end of it, exiting a compartment with a fairly large group of people. It took Danielle a second to realize that she had wandered all the way up to the prefect carriages. “Cori!”

In the middle of all the prefects as they were being dismissed from the meeting, Cori looked around as she heard her name being called. For a second, she thought that she was just hearing things, but as she heard it again, the Slytherin stood on the tips of her toes to see over her fellow prefects and found a familiar head of dark hair at the end of the corridor. Smiling at her friend, she started to weave her way through the crowded corridor. Slipping away, she missed Percy Weasley trying to get her attention.

“What’s all that about?” Danielle questioned as Cori reached her. “Are you a prefect? Why are - ” but with a gasp, the girl cut herself off, her eyes finding her friend’s badge - “You are - why didn’t you tell me?” This last bit was paired with a meant-to-be-soft smack on the arm.

“Hello to you, too,” Cori muttered sarcastically, rubbing her arm.

With an eye roll, Danielle took Cori’s arm. “Come on,” she said, “let’s go to our compartment, you know I hate being out in the hall when the train’s moving.”

As Danielle steered her away, Cori gave one more glance back at the prefects, most of whom stood outside the prefect’s carriage socializing. Her eyes met that same pair of hazel ones they kept finding that day, and like before, it seemed as though the boy had already been looking at her. Cori spared the Gryffindor, still stuck in the crowd, a small smile before Danielle whisked her away.

“Alright,” Danielle said a few minutes later as the girls settled into their usual compartment, shared today with a couple of second year Hufflepuffs. They didn’t pay them any mind. “Spill.”

Cori sighed. In many ways, Danielle reminded her of Gus. “It’s not really a big deal.” As Danielle scoffed, Cori quickly continued, “I didn’t see it as a big deal, nor want to make a big deal of it. So I’m a prefect - doesn’t really change much, does it?”

“Aside from the fact that you’ll be loads more busy now,” Danielle countered grumpily. “It’s already bad enough that we’re in different houses, now with this, I’ll hardly ever get to see you. You are my only friend, you know.”

“You know I’ll always make time for you, Danielle,” Cori said in a docile tone, her head tilting to the side a bit. “But look on the bright side - now you could have time to join that Herbology club you always talk about!”

Danielle went to protest, but stopped short as she processed what her friend had suggested. Ever since third year, Danielle had wanted to join the Herbology club, but she’d opted out of it to spend her extra time with Cori, who was absolutely terrible at Herbology. She sat back now, starting to see the positives. “You’ve got a point there,” she mused. “Anyway, how was it? What’s it like being a prefect?”

She chuckled a little at the sudden change of attitude. “Right now, it just feels like a club that I’m very new to. Everyone except for me and a couple other fifth years seem to be friends.”

“Ooh, who are the other prefects in our year? Start with my house.”

Cori scrunched her eyebrows as she tried to recall the names - the meeting had taken nearly an hour. “Noe Monian and Penelope Clearwater.”

“Really?” Danielle commented with raised eyebrows. “Penelope Clearwater?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, she wouldn’t be my first choice. Sure, she’s brainy, but she’s never seemed like someone who’d take charge. Honestly, I think she’s a bit of a pushover. Doesn’t really have any friends, either.”

“She seemed a bit shy,” Cori shrugged, “but I’m sure she’ll be fine - Flitwick wouldn’t have picked her otherwise, right?”

“She’s always showing off in Charms - maybe that’s why he picked her,” Danielle grumbled.

With a bit of a smirk, Cori quirked an eyebrow at her friend. “Is she really a show off, or is she just better than you?”

A somewhat playful glare swiped over Danielle’s face, and she opted to change the subject instead of answering. “Who’s the other Slytherin?”

“Felix Manning.”

“I can see that,” Danielle quipped. “He’s always seemed the type. Who else?”

“Frank Edwards and Dorothy Anderson from Hufflepuff, and Bridget Corner and Percy Weasley from Gryffindor.”

The Ravenclaw squinted her eyes at the last name. “Weasley,” she pondered, as if trying to figure out where she’d heard the name. “Wasn’t that the Gryffindor seeker? I thought he graduated?”

“That was Charlie Weasley, and he did graduate,” Cori clarified. “They must be brothers. But you have to know Weasley - he’s always the first to answer a question in class.”

Danielle squinted her eyes more, as if she was having a lot of trouble recalling him. “Ginger with glasses, right?”

“That’s me,” came a voice from the door neither of them realized had opened again. They both jumped, Danielle yelping a little as they looked up to find the very ginger they were talking about. The second year Hufflepuffs by the window giggled at Danielle’s reaction, only laughing more as the Ravenclaw glared at them. Danielle Herbison was about the least intimidating person you could find. “Didn’t mean to startle you,” Percy said apologetically, though an amused smile was working at his lips. Cori sat up a little straighter as his hazel eyes found hers.

“That’s alright,” Danielle said, turning back from the Hufflepuffs. “Weasley, right?” He nodded. “Congratulations on making prefect.”

“Thank you,” he responded. His hands behind his back, Percy stood proudly. It was clear to Cori then that he had taken the appointment of prefect very differently than she had.

“What can we help you with?” Cori asked, saving him from Danielle’s inevitable what do you want? There was a reason the girl only had Cori as a friend.

Percy’s eyes turned brightly to the Slytherin. “I wanted to see if you wanted to patrol the train with me. Ward said it’s always better to do it in pairs, and the other Gryffindor prefect has busied herself with her boyfriend.”

“Oh, um,” Cori started, trying her best to ignore Danielle’s raised eyebrows and wide eyes fixed on her. “Yeah, sure, I’d love to.”

Danielle couldn’t hold back her scoff, and Cori figured she really had no intention to. Percy looked over to the Ravenclaw with a crease between his brows, but she was staring at her friend like he wasn’t even there. “Ditching me already? We haven’t even talked about our summers yet! I have stories about Portugal.”

“Dani, it’s not even one,” Cori started, her voice lowered a little in her embarrassment. “We’ll just go up and down the train once. I’ll be back before the trolley cart gets here.”

Her appalled look formed quickly into a glare as she looked up at Weasley. She was looking at him as she said, “I’m holding you to that.”

Percy chuckled, albeit nervously, thinking that she was joking, but as he realized she was deadly serious, he tried to pass off his chuckling as a cough. He looked at Cori for help, and with a deep breath, she stood, bid her friend goodbye, and stepped out of the compartment with the Gryffindor. “Sorry about that,” she started as soon as there was a closed door between them and Danielle. “She can be a bit tenacious.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Percy said quickly. “I should be the one apologizing - I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“Oh, no, it’s alright,” Cori continued, nervously tucking some of her hair behind her ear as they started their trek down the train. “I’ve got to get used to the responsibility of being a prefect - might as well start now.”

The crease was back between his brows as he turned to her. “You don’t want the responsibility?”

“Not that, necessarily,” she said, trying not to stumble over her words. “I just - I didn’t expect it, I guess.”

“I’ve wanted to be a prefect since before I came to Hogwarts,” Percy divulged, and though his tone was confident, a slight blush was creeping across his cheeks. “Both of my older brothers were prefects when they were here. My brother Bill was even Head Boy.”

“You’ve got a legacy to live up to, then,” Cori quipped playfully, smiling as the Gryffindor turned nearly as red as his hair. “Were they in Gryffindor as well?”

“Yeah,” Percy said, glad the conversation turned a bit more casual. He held the door open for her as they reached the end of the train car, offering her his hand to step over the gap between the cars. Her hand was cold, but it left a feeling of warmth where she had touched his skin, a warmth that spread to his chest rapidly. On the next train car, he closed the door and continued, “My whole family’s been - parents, brothers, uncles. . . My youngest brother, Ron, is starting this year, and he’ll probably be in Gryffindor, too.”

“What if he wasn’t?” Cori asked with genuine curiosity. “Say he was sorted into Slytherin?”

Percy chuckled, forgetting who he was talking to. “Slytherin? They’d probably disowned him. Oh, I mean - ” he realized in the midst of saying it that the prefect he was walking beside was a Slytherin - “not that there’s anything wrong with Slytherin - ”

But the Slytherin’s laughter stopped him from further fumbling over an apology. It did more than that, actually - her musical laugh made him forget what they were talking about, where they were, even, for a moment, how to breathe. “It’s alright,” she said to him with a smile that brought him happily back down to earth. “My family’s the same way. I don’t even want to imagine what my oldest brother would have done if the rest of us hadn’t been sorted into Slytherin. Merlin knows what he’d’ve done if one of us was in Gryffindor.”

“A family of Slytherins, huh?”

“Uh-huh,” she nodded. “Makes for an interesting home life, as would a family of Gryffindors, I’m sure.”

“Interesting’s definitely a word for it,” Percy chuckled. “How many siblings do you have?”

“Five.”

“Ah, I’ve got you beat,” the Gryffindor jested. “I’ve got six.”

The prefects stopped, looking attentively down the corridor as a compartment in the middle of the train car erupted with noise - screams, gasps, and even some cheers. Cori watched as Percy’s face became more serious, his position as a prefect coming to the forefront of his personality.

“I’ll bet you anything,” he said almost darkly, “that that’s two of them now.”

Percy leading the way, the pair of prefects walked purposely towards the rowdy compartment, and as they reached it, he slid the door open without hesitation. Coming up behind him, Cori audibly gasped and took a slight step back. The crowded compartment of what looked to be third years - mainly Gryffindors, but with a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws - had their wide eyes fixed on one of two things: the two prefects coming to ruin their fun, or the large tarantula currently levitating in the middle of the compartment. 

“Fred!” Percy scolded, his eyes focused on the red-haired boy with his wand currently pointing at the floating creature. Cori’s eyes found the boy as well, and as they scanned over to the boy’s identical twin on the other side of the compartment, it clicked for her. That was why the Weasley name was so familiar - of course everyone knew Charlie Weasley, the Quidditch star, but the Weasley twins were infamous. Aside from the red hair, Cori found it hard to believe that Percy was related to them. “Put that down. Now.”

A glimmer of joy quickly came into Fred Weasley’s eyes. “Whatever you say, prefect.” With one knowing look at his twin, Fred released the levitation charm he had on the tarantula, and it fell to the ground.

The crowded compartment erupted into pandemonium as the tarantula was set loose, boys and girls alike screaming and jumping onto the seats to try and get away from it. The Weasley twins were enjoying themselves, Lee Jordan was terrified he was about to lose his tarantula, Percy was furious at his brothers - but as the furry, eight-legged creature came scurrying towards her, Cori was the only one that responded appropriately. “Immobulus!”

Quiet and breaths of relief followed the Slytherin’s exclamation as the tarantula froze mere inches from her shoes. With a quiet utterance, she levitated the creature into the center of the compartment once again, looking around at the shocked third years. 

“Who does this belong to?” she said calmly, unaware that the students were now looking at her as they would look at Professor McGonagall. 

Beside the other twin, a dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks hesitantly raised his hand.

“Right,” she continued, “and who might you be?”

The boy swallowed. “Lee Jordan.”

“You are aware, Mr. Jordan, that pets allowed at Hogwarts are restricted to owls, cats, or toads?” He nodded, eyes still wide. “Is this one of those pets transfigured to look like a tarantula?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Do you have a permission slip signed by a faculty member allowing you to have this creature at Hogwarts?”

His shoulders drooping, Lee answered again, “No, ma’am.”

“Alright then,” settled Cori, her voice still very calm with a previously unknown but uncanny ability to command respect. Seeing the box in the boy’s lap, she lowered his tarantula into it and magically secured its lid before releasing the creature of her freezing charm. “You’re in Gryffindor, yes?” she asked Lee.

“Yes,” he answered with a wince, assuming he was about to lose House points before even getting to Hogwarts.

“I’ll be informing Professor McGonagall when we arrive at Hogwarts. In the meantime, please keep it in its box. I’m sure you all can find something else to occupy your time.”

As the Slytherin prefect turned away from the compartment, she didn’t take notice of the shameful look on Lee Jordan’s face, or the looks of awe on the faces of the students who had desperately tried to get away from the loose spider, or the glares on the freckled faces of the Weasley twins. When she turned to look at Percy, however, she couldn’t miss the look of sheer admiration on his face. She blushed slightly, nervously biting her bottom lip as she closed the door to the compartment and led the way further down the train.

“That was bloody brilliant!” Percy burst as he broke out of his stupor, following after her. “Forget getting used to being a prefect, you’re a natural!”

Cori reddened even more, but before she could respond - 

“Percy!”

They stopped, pivoting around to find the Weasley twins just outside of their compartment, glares still on their faces, their squinted, suspicious eyes fixed on Cori.

“What are you doing hanging around her?” seethed George.

“I beg your pardon?” Percy responded sharply, his own eyes narrowing. “She happens to be a prefect, if the two of you couldn’t see that already.”

“She’s a McMahan!” Fred exclaimed, and as the thirteen-year-old gestured angrily at her, Cori shrunk away from the Weasleys. She knew where this was going.

“What does that have to do with anything?” said Percy, the defensiveness in his voice mixing with genuine confusion.

“Her whole family’s bad news,” said George, glaring more harshly at the girl.

“Trust us, we’re in class with her brother,” said Fred.

“That’s ridicu- ” Percy started, but he stopped as he felt her brushing past him, heading back in the direction she came. “Wait, Cori!”

“It’s alright,” Cori said as she turned around to face the Weasleys. She faced the twins’ glares with a forced smile, but as her eyes found Percy’s, it softened. She shrugged, her demeanor so much less confident than it had been in the compartment. “You can’t get away from family legacy.”

[fatecanberewritten-writer]

Black Sheep | Chapter Two: Little Miss Prefect

Stars Series | Black Sheep

She took a deep, labored breath and forced herself to look at her reflection, and to her relief, she still looked remarkably the same. Same chocolate brown hair settling like waves over her shoulders, same deceptively bright golden brown eyes, same thin, nimble fingers that shook slightly as she subconsciously smoothed over her robes. The only thing that was even remotely different was the shiny badge pinned to the breast of her robes, a silver serpent curling around a very prominent ‘P’.

A pounding on the bathroom door made her jump, tearing her out of an almost trance-like state.

“Would you hurry up?” her sister called aggressively, and though there was a door that separated the two of them, she always managed to sound like she was right next to her. “There are other people in this house that have to get ready, you know!”

With a slight eye roll, Cori McMahan spared herself one more glance in the mirror, moved her hair to cover her badge, and pulled the bathroom door open.

“Finally!” Maebh drawled as soon as the door was opened. Cori stood a good two inches taller than her sister, but it still felt like a steam roller when the small girl pushed past her into the cramped bathroom. 

“Merlin!” Cori gasped, the air nearly being knocked out of her. “It’s only nine thirty, Maebh. What’s with the urgency?”

“She’s trying to pretty herself up for Lucian Bole,” said a deep voice that she was still having trouble recognizing. Halfway in the bathroom, she turned her head to the right and had to look up slightly to meet the eyes of her youngest sibling. At the beginning of the summer, Padraig had been as small as Maebh with a young, boyish voice to match. Now, it looked as though the thirteen-year-old had been put through a stretcher and his voice had gone down a whole octave. “Too bad that volcano of a pimple on her forehead won’t be easy to cover up.”

Though it was aimed for her brother, Cori had to press herself against the wall to dodge the hex of her sister’s. She opened her mouth to scold her, knowing she’d have to get used to the responsibility, but was thankful when someone else beat her to it.

“Hey!” a voice boomed from the dark hallway. Cori watched as her sister’s face paled and a smirk arose on her brother’s, but Gustave’s sharp eyes were fixed on both of them as he emerged from the hallway. “How many times do I have to tell you not to use magic in the house? D’you want Mum to get another warning from the Ministry?”

Maebh’s shoulders slumped. “No,” she said in a quiet voice. Though Gus was only a year and a half older than Cori, he’d always seemed to command a sort of parent-like respect from his younger siblings.

“Good,” Gus continued in a calmer voice, eyes scanning over to see the sneer on the youngest’s face. “Wait an hour and a half until we’re on the train, then you’re welcome to hex the living hell out of Paddy. I’m sure he deserves it.”

Very quickly, Padraig’s face paled and Maebh took up the smirk he had dropped. Panic stricken, Padraig looked helplessly from Gus to Cori, and when he found that neither looked keen on helping him, he dove into an apology to Maebh. 

Ignoring the thirteen-year-old’s groveling, Cori looked up at her older brother. She felt color drain from her own face when she noticed how his eyes were fixed on the badge she hadn’t realized had been exposed. Quickly, she brushed her hair over it again, but at that point, it was too late. Gus caught her eye, and with an almost sympathetic look, nodded in the direction he had come. Hesitantly, Cori followed him away from the bickering of the two youngest.

They walked together until they were both out of earshot and out of view of the others. Only then did Gus stop again, turning to his sister with his arms crossed over his chest. Cowering back slightly, Cori tried to look as innocent as possible. 

“So,” Gus started casually, “when were you gonna tell us?”

Cori bit the inside of her cheek, tugging at the ends of her hair, making sure that the badge was covered again. “I don’t know - ”

With an eye roll, Gus swiped his wand at her, blowing her hair back from her shoulders and revealing her prefect’s badge. 

“Hey!” Cori exclaimed. “Practice what you preach, Gus!”

He rolled his eyes again, though he put his wand away. “Two days ‘til I’m of age - ”

“Then you can wait, can’t you?” she retorted with a cocked eyebrow, her tone playful. Of her five siblings, Cori had always been closest with Gus.

“It’s not a big - ” Gus started, flustered, but he quickly stopped, realizing what his sister was doing. “Don’t change the subject! Why didn’t you tell us you were made prefect?”

Cori tried to make herself as small as possible, her brief confidence ebbing away again. Looking away from her brother, she mumbled an explanation.

“Say that again?”

“I didn’t think anyone would care,” she said a little louder. 

She felt guilt flood her as she saw the hurt expression on Gus’s face. “Why would you think that?”

“Well,” she started awkwardly, “no one else in the family’s ever been a prefect - no one’s even expressed interest in it - ”

“What, you think just because Isaac, Mattie and I weren’t prefects that we wouldn’t be proud of you for being one?”

Cori said nothing because she didn’t think he’d react well to her saying yes, yes exactly that. Gus may be able to put his pride aside, but she had never known her two oldest siblings to be able to do that. She could hear the sneer of her older sister now - little miss prefect, thinks she’s so much better than the rest of us. Matilda McMahan was a lot of things, but supportive was not one of them.

She was pulled from her thoughts as Gus put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “This is something to celebrate, Cori! It’s a huge achievement, and I, for one, couldn’t be more proud of you.”

A small but genuine smile broke out across Cori’s face. 

“And I know that everyone else is gonna feel the exact same way,” he continued.

Her smile quickly fell. “Please, Gus, can we not tell them?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Do you really think you can hide it from everyone? Maebh and Padraig will find out at Hogwarts - ”

“I don’t care about Maebh and Paddy - ”

“ - and you know the first thing Maebh’s going to do when she finds out is write home about it.”

“That’s fine,” Cori responded a little too quickly. She swallowed nervously at his look of confusion, knowing she owed him an explanation. She lowered her voice to almost a whisper. “I just don’t want to be here when - when they find out.”

His immediate reaction was to refute her, to assure her that Isaac and Matilda would be just as proud as he was, but he caught himself just as he was opening his mouth. Though he had never really understood it, he knew that there had always been a disconnect between Cori and the eldest McMahans, something unspoken yet undisputed. Who was he to force her to tell them about this? “But,” he started, and Cori sucked in a breath, “what about Mum?”

Cori looked down, almost ashamed. She hadn’t even thought about telling her mother. “I don’t know. . .”

“Come on, you really don’t think finding out one of her children was made prefect would make her happy?”

“Nothing really makes her happy anymore.”

She hadn’t realized she had said that out loud until she saw Gus’s chin fall to his chest, his shoulders slumping. For a while, a solemn silence hung around the siblings, only to be broken a minute or so later by Matilda’s voice downstairs, calling out that it was time to leave.

Taking a deep breath, Cori took a step toward the stairs but was stopped by Gus’s outstretched arm. “Put it away, then,” he said in a low voice.

Cori was caught off guard. “What?”

“Your badge,” he clarified. “Maebh and Paddy may not have noticed it, but Mattie and Isaac are a lot more observant. If you don’t want them to know, put it away.”

Slowly, as if shocked, Cori followed his reluctant advice. She offered him a soft smile, though it didn’t reach her deceptively bright eyes. “Thank you, Gus.”

He nodded, and she turned away, but before she could get too far, he called out, “Hey, Cori?” Almost to the stairs, she turned back to face him. “You’re gonna make a great prefect.”