Just You Wait PV Lily Clarke

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

At least Lauren escaped from her sister.

She heaved a sigh, staring into her cauldron, wishing that she could brew something to get back at her sister. Something that would actually cause harm.

As she sat, deep in thought, Lauren heard a voice beside her. It seemed oddly familiar -- she'd heard it when that voice comforted her in the first month! No threat, Lauren thought, sighing in relief.

Unlike her family, who were determined to make her life miserable and hurt her as much as possible. They wanted her to suffer, to be hopeless. Normal, that was just a typical day.

STOP THAT![/i] a part of her brain interrupted her thoughts. YOU MUSN'T THINK LIKE THAT! REMEMBER WHAT SHE TOLD YOU BEFORE! YOU SHOULDN'T DWELL IN THOUGHTS AND SUBMIT TO DEFEAT! YOU SHOULD TAKE ACTION, AND BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! SHE WON'T BE HAPPY IF SHE FINDS OUT THAT YOUR FORGOT EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF ADVICE THAT SHE TOLD YOU!

Right. Then I'll just have to get back at them. Just to balance the scales.

That was when she realised that the girl was talking to her. Now she probably thinks I'm a maniac for mentally vanishing from reality, she realised. Even if what she was thinking about how she had failed her by forgetting what she had told her. Why, why, WHY does that always happen to me? What did I do wrong to deserve this?

Stop overthinking, she told herself. Just answer her question. Is that too hard for you?

"Yeah, I'm trying to prank her. She's just so... mean and thinks that just because she's a Ravenclaw and is two years older than me, I would bow at her feet and not say a word. And then she tells the whole school everything. What she says isn't true. She's literally friendless and never learns from her mistakes. Not even when I push her down the Great Lake."

She smiled, and realised suddenly that it was the first smile she had that day. It had been ruined by the one and only Arianna Vanes.

She waited for the girl's reply, suddenly realising that she, Lauren, had forgotten her name despite her significant role in comforting her. She felt a pang of guilt, then decided that it would be too embarrassing to ask her the girl's name. She would just have to wait and pray that the answer would come to her.

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

Pranks?

Lauren was excited beyond measure. She still couldn't believe that someone would be such an expert in pranking. And if Arianna could lean something from this prank... it would just be amazing. The best day of her life.

And while you're at it, you might as well prank Felix too. He's not as bad as Arianna, but still, she remarked to herself.

She sighed in relief as the girl introduced herself as "Lily". Luck seemed to be coming her way... for one second. Only one. At least Lily was really nice. And considerate. And kind. And... she never thought that she would say that, but innocent despite her love for mischief.

She might've just been naturally drawn towards Hufflepuffs, but every single Hufflepuff she met was really nice. Like her.

So was every single Slytherin of whom she met.

Crap, she realised. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she forgot to reply to her question... yet again.

"I'm Lauren. Lauren Vanes. And I'm a Slytherin, not a Ravenclaw, unlike petty Arianna you met before. I mean... most Ravenclaws are amazing, but not them." She didn't want Lily to think that she was against Ravenclaws. Just in case her friends were Ravenclaws.

Then she remembered that Lily had known a few pranks which would teach her siblings a lesson. And she really wanted to know them. She would do absolutely anything to stop her siblings... in any way.

"Um... Lily? Do you mind if you teach me a few of your pranks? I'd really like to prank my siblings with you!" She smiled, hoping to sound even more enthusiastic than she currently was.

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

Lauren's heart leaped with excitement as she hard Lily's suggestion, then smirked as Lily asked her about whether she, Lauren, had pranked her siblings before. Of course she did. Her lips trembled with anticipation as she recalled how she and her best friend, Briar Anderson, had pushed their siblings down the Great Lake and made Ariana and Axel kiss. It was such an amazing performance. And even better, it was for free. Not a single galleon was paid, her parents didn't know as her siblings went unconscious and literally forgot the whole prank.

Which could only mean that Arianna and Felix would still be vulnerable to pranks and Lauren's evil schemes.

"So it's like this," Lauren began, twisting her seat comfortably as she knew that she would have a long story to tell."At the start of the year, I spied on my siblings, Felix and Arianna, as they wrote their owl to my parents. It told them that I was a Slytherin, which led to my Howler in the Slytherin Common Room that evening. Believe me, it's not a good experience. I promised her that I would have revenge on them. So then, a few days later, me and Briar pushed my siblings as well as her older brother, Axel, into the Great Lake, which ended up in Arianna and Axel kissing. But they soon became unconscious, so it wasn't that fun in the end. But I'll still love to play more pranks on my siblings! Talk about revenge! They'll wish that they've never bullied me before long!"

Smacking her lips in satisfaction, Lauren smiled and eagerly bent forward so that her ears were level with Lily's mouth. Her hands were trembling in excitement as she wondered what Lily would have in store for Felix and Arianna. With luck, they were going to regret it all their life.

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

Lauren trembled with excitement as Lily suggested two awesome pranks to perform on her siblings. She simply couldn't wait to see her siblings' reactions when they found out that she, Lauren, had supporters -- that meant Lily -- who would assist her and unit against them. Those stuck-ups had been spoiled by her family as if they were some royal princesses and princes. She curled her lip in disgust as she recalled how they treated them and how they treated her. As if she was a piece of dung.

She had to -- no, she was going -- to prove to her family that she, Lauren, was not garbage. That she was not dung. That she was more worthy than the rest of the family put together (with an exception to her aunt Loratrix, though).

Her smile withered when it seemed that Lily was only keen on performing one of the pranks. But to Lauren, both of them were excellent. Fantastic. The first option, giving them fake food, was sure to be easy; she could easily brew a dangerous Herbicide Potion in minutes, thanks to her previous attention in Potions class. But the second option was also amazing -- to creep her siblings out and embarrass them in front of their dorm mates. It would be a dream coming true. Not only would it scare them out of their skin, but it would also tank their reputation with their dorm mates.

Perfect. Lauren smirked in satisfaction. Lily's an absolute prankster, she thought, feeling immense respect towards the Hufflepuff.

But satisfaction quickly turned into horror as she remembered how she nor Lily would have access to her siblings' dorm rooms. Ravenclaw dorm rooms were out-of-bounds for students of any other house, and of course, her parents wouldn't bother buying her an invisibility cloak so that she would be able to sneak in. She pursed her lips, then remembered that neither Felix nor Arianna had received the invisibility cloak from their parents as they largely disapproved of rule-breaking. That thought made her tip of her lips curl up into a slight smile.

Lauren was hesitant to tell Lily the truth about her second idea, but sooner or later, the girl would have to know. And they were partners-in-crime right now, so it just didn't make sense if she had to keep her thoughts from Lily. That didn't have any purpose.

"Lily," she began. "We might not be able to do the second prank, because we can't go into the Ravenclaw dorm rooms and it's far too risky without an invisibility cloak. Besides, we probably won't know how to solve those Ravenclaws' riddles."

But as Lauren finished her sentence, her eyes gleamed once more. She had thought of something else, something more embarrassing for her siblings.

"How about we embarrass them at breakfast instead? That way, we can just sneak under the Ravenclaw table, which wouldn't be as hard as sneaking into the Ravenclaw common room. Besides, that would embarrass them in front of the whole school, not just Ravenclaws. They'll finally learn a lesson! And while we're at it, we might as well dump a bottle of confusing concotion or herbicide potion -- no, the confusing concotion or muffling draught, not the herbicide potion any more because it might be toxic and get them in the Hospital Wing, which might get us in trouble. So I think erasing memories and stifling their words can make them more embarrassed," Lauren concluded.

She was somewhat proud of her plan and deceptiveness. When it came to plotting revenge against her siblings, those who had bullied Lauren for countless years, she could be... very dangerous to them indeed.

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦