Chapter 23

A/N: If you don't care about the topic of the schedule release, skip to the start of the chapter, otherwise continue reading.

I realized that having a 'schedule' is inefficient, mainly because it's bout to fail, it may be a cursed thing or something. Basically from now on, there is no schedule, the updates will come when I finish writing the chapters... Now, not a lot will change, it will still stay mostly weekly, except it won't be on 'only' Fridays, you see this is how I did things:

Friday - Upload.

Saturday - Free day.

Sunday to Friday - Write one chapter each day, that adds up to 6 and again upload at the end of Friday.

And repeat that process, and that's exactly how I will continue on doing things. But you see, sometimes, when I feel really great about what I wrote and want to continue writing, I do exactly that, so on those days, I write a full chapter and a half, if not two. Then there are opposite days, where I write only half a chapter. So basically the timing sometimes changes. Therefore, no more updates on 'Friday', the updates can now happen on any day of the week, but I still suspect that it will most likely happen on Weekends, more time to 'check' for big mistakes and actually upload, because it takes about 30+ mins to upload the chapters even, over the three different sites. Thank you for reading this, now... Continue on reading the chapters... Yeah!

~ Medical Shenaniganza, part 2 ~

"Ms. Holland?" McGonagall says after the brief silence from the interruption "Were you there to see what happened?"

"I was Professor" The Hufflepuff girl answers.

"And you're sticking up for Ms. Crimson?"

"Not exactly"

"What do you mean?"

"I am not sticking up for either of them, both of them were a part of it after all. The only thing I am saying is that the girl didn't hit first, Malfoy did... But the girl wasn't innocent in all of it either"

"Would you be so kind to explain everything from the start as you saw?"

"Of course, Professor" The girl straightens up a bit "It happened very early in the morning, I am quite the morning person, so I was up and about, while mostly everybody was still sleeping. Thinking that I might as well get some early breakfast, so I did just that and as I was walking towards my destination, I happened on a scene of Malfoy and his friends mocking a Gryffindor, but I knew that he loses interest very quickly if it doesn't have Harry Potter's name on it, so I wasn't going to interfere... There were also more personal reasons why I didn't, so that's my bad. Anyway, before Malfoy could get bored with the Gryffindor, Ms. Crimson showed up out of nowhere, I thought she's there to help the Gryffindor, but I was wrong, instead, she just demanded that she'd be let through and for everybody to move out of the way... Now, I might've not had my glasses on as I normally do for reading... But I am pretty sure there was a lot of corridor space to walk around the group, but from all of the other events that Ms. Crimson has been a part of, I quickly understood that the 'easy' and 'simple' way is just not an option for the 'Queen'. Some insults were thrown there and there between Malfoy and Ms. Crimson for a while, but basically, Ms. Crimson continued provoking Malfoy and... Well, he couldn't handle the battle of words, so he went in for fists instead. But the Queen didn't even try to defend herself, that's how she got that bruise on her cheek... But what came after, was quite hard to watch. In one quick and strong punch, the Queen broke Malfoy's nose and that's exactly what can be seen, then Ms. Crimson grabbed Malfoy by the hair, raised him, and took ahold of his throat, at the same time releasing his hair, that's when the Queen's and my eyes met for a moment, she got distracted and that's when Malfoy's friends struck, but in an instant, both of them were laying on the ground, wheezing for air, due to the Queen kicking their stomachs. After that, Ms. Crimson was bending over to pick up Malfoy again, that's when I stepped in, thinking that she wants to continue beating him up, I used a 'Stupefy' spell, but it just bounced off like it was nothing, so I knew that I was out of my league, but I still tried to stop her... But it seemed that I didn't need to do anything, because she just said that she was going to bring Malfoy to the hospital ward to get him checked out... But because I showed up, she just left it to me and I carried him here with some help from spells... And that's it, Professor, every other 'injury' on Malfoy's body is most likely fake, because Ms. Crimson never did anything else to him, except for what I just said"

The Queen while listening to the Hufflepuff's story, nodded in agreement at most of the parts, but she smiled pridefully and happily at the parts where she kicked their sorry asses.

While Draco could only grit his teeth in annoyance, as nothing went his way, not only did the crimson-haired girl didn't care about any of this, now this random Hufflepuff showed up and foiled his plans, again... If he didn't get carried to see Madam Pomfrey by her, he could've just patched himself up and nobody would know about any of this.

"Thank you, Ms. Holland. Now, I would normally give you house points, but I would also have to take them away, so it wouldn't do good to do that. I'd give you points because you tried to help Mr. Malfoy from possibly more danger... But I'd take them away because you didn't try to do that earlier, perhaps this situation could've been avoided"

"I understand, Professor, I will try to be better next time"

"Good, now, don't take my criticism as bad, what you did is still commendable, I can't give you points, but I can make an exception for 2 weeks worth of homework from my classes"

"Thank you, Professor" The Hufflepuff says smiling.

And with that finished, the professor turns to face the troublemakers.

"Now, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Crimson, what do you have to say for yourselves, before I enact punishment?"

"Oh, I've got plenty to say, but do you have the time, Professor?" The Queen asks McGonagall.

"I can make more time if a need arises, but please keep most of your opinions to yourself, Ms. Crimson, what I need are the things associated with this situation"

"Alright, well then, I've got a little bit less to say, if that's fine"

"Just start speaking, I will interrupt if you get too off the topic"

"Fine by me, Professor. Well, what the Hufflepuff said was way more accurate than what the Nothing of Slytherin spewed out of his worthless mouth"

"Less of the insults and more of the point, Ms. Crimson"

"Sorry, no can do, Professor, because the 'insults' are more than a half of the point here. So, as I was saying. his worthless mouth wasted everybody's time here today, especially my time, I could be in the library right now and actually do something productive. But I have to stand here and do absolutely nothing, I don't care that Mr. Malfoy here has some light injuries, I don't care that he is a little crybaby, I don't even care that he exists. Unlike him, I don't hide behind fake stories and a bunch of made up boasts and useless blood superiority, he can't even back up this 'superiority' that he preaches, he's more pathetic than the 'Mud-bloods' that he terrorizes, if you really wanted to know what happened this morning, I would've said the whole truth, you could even use Veritaserum on me for viable information, so, go ahead, hit me with punishment, you can even make it more difficult than his, because I won't go and whine abou-"

"Stop that!" The Queen gets interrupted by a shout from none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Oh, the dog can actually bark, but unfortunately, his bark is just too weak"

"I said, stop that"

"Yeah, and why should I?"

"Because... Because..."

"What? Going to tell your dad?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'll do and then you'll pay"

"Right, right... Now tell me something, I know that Slytherins aren't the 'smartest', but you should be able to answer this theory... What would happen if you actually told your daddy about this?"

"What?" Draco asks confused.

"Well, I see it a little bit like this. Ahem..."

'Dad, daddy, help me, I was just walking and minding my own business, being a pure-trash-blooded moron, who's so weak that he got beat up by a younger and shorter person than himself' The Queen fake acts a wimp.

'Well, pathetic son of mine, that's not so bad, sometimes shorter people can have an advantage in a magic duel, it helps them dodge better, it's not your fault that you're so useless' She acts an imposing father figure.

'No, daddy, you don't understand, it wasn't a magic duel at all, it was that dirty mud-blood fist fight' She acts even wimpier.

'WHAT?! Disgraceful, you lost to a filthy mudblood? And at a fist-fight? Get out of my sight right now' She acts as the father again, but with added anger in her voice.

'...' She stays silent for the wimp's part, meekly looking away.

'Son, why are you quiet?' She acts like a father who's about to give up on life.

'Um...' She meekly lets out for the wimp's part.

'Say it! Before I leave ashamed to even call myself your father' She screams out loud as the Father, raising a hand for dramatic effect.

'It was a girl...' She finally says weakly and goes back to her normal Queen voice.

"And with that line, your dear old dad just faints out of pure and unadulterated shock... So tell me, nothing, isn't that what would happen? Oh, not to mention that I beat three of you at the same time, without breaking a sweat aaaand you got the first hit in... And with that, I rest my case. Goodbye, I hope you never even look at me with your worthless eye-holes, because if you even dare to attack me again, I will show you true pain, this broken nose will be the least of your worries. I have more power than your Father could even hope to earn in his life" The Queen says and starts walking out of the hospital room.

"Oh and Professor, if that little show adds to the scale of the punishment, so be it, but do tell me in private, or just send me to your office or something, because I don't want to spend any more of my time breathing near this pile of nothing. Hermione, are you coming? My Moon and Delacour are waiting after all"

As the Queen stops in her step, waiting for Hermione to follow. She sees that everybody is looking at her speechlessly, except for McGonagall, who has a frown... On top of another frown, fascinating.

"Hermione" The Queen calls out again, the Gryffindor finally snapping out of her reverie, nods and follows, while slightly bowing to McGonagall.

As the two walk in silence, Hermione breaks it "Wasn't that... A bit too much?"

"Too much? Hardly, I think it wasn't enough"

"... I really don't want to see what's 'too much' in your book"

"I hope you never get that opportunity" The Queen simply answers back.

The Queen hears the hospital win door close behind her, because the duo hasn't made it that far yet, she was able to hear it. So she quickly throws a glance back to see if it's McGonagall who's following to stop her, but no, it's the Hufflepuff, she hums in wonder and then nods to herself.

"Hermione, here, take this magiphone and call Luna and Fleur, tell them all about what happened and why they had to wait for us, okay?"

"Uh... Sure?" She takes the object from the Queen's hands slightly confused, wondering why she doesn't do that herself.

"Why don't you go... Over there to do it?" The Queen points to a corner of the corridor "Just in case"

"... Okay?" Hermione does just that, even more confused.

The Queen nods to herself and turns around to go and question the Hufflepuff a little bit.

The Queen quickly makes her way in pursuit of the girl who walked a different way and gets in front of her.

"Hey"

"H-hi?"

"Wanna see something cool?"

"N-no?"

"Too bad" The Queen says and grabs the girl's arm, saying 'Schnimbleriti' and zooming a little bit further away and entering a random room. She quickly looks around while the girl's disoriented, The Queen sees that it's empty, mutters 'Perfect' to herself. And so, she releases the hand of the girl.

"What's your name?"

"Uh... Holly, Holly Holland" The girl answers after a moment of recuperation.

"Wait... Seriously?"

"Yeah... My parents named me that way on purpose..." The girl says looking to the side.

"Wow... Holly Holland, huh? And you're also a Hufflepuff... I will call you Triple H"

"Wha- No"

"Fantastic, Triple H it is" The girl silently groans, giving up "You can call me 'Lun' or 'Queen', no more of this Ms. Crimson stuff. Now, I've got a couple of questions for you and you have no choice but to answer them"

"... I am forced to listen, so I guess I will answer?"

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you do it? Why help me? Granted I didn't need it, but still, why? It surprised me"

"What do you mean why? Because it's only fair, it's only right to help others?"

"Fair... Really?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Like it was fair for you to let Malfoy gang up on that Gryffindor in the morning?" The Queen asks, the girl stays silent, looking away.

"Was he not a part of the 'help others' or something?"

"N-no, it's d-different..."

"Oh, right, the 'Personal reasons', then here's my second question, why help me in particular? Instead of me, shouldn't you have helped Malfoy? Isn't Draco your boyfriend?"

"What?! NO!, he isn't, I just... have a little bit of affection towards him..." The girl at first shouts embarrassed but then gets quieter and quieter.

"Little... Forsaking somebody because you know that he will leave them shortly cause it's not 'Harry Potter'. 'Randomly' and 'by chance' appearing on the scenario, definitely not following him around. And also only jumping out to help him out even when you're outmatched and all of your limbs shake in fear... That's not little, your crush is bigger than this school, if Draco proposed to you right now, with the still messed up face, you'd say yes in a heartbeat, while crying and screaming in joy"

"... I... Mhm..." The Girl can only let out a hum at that, while her face is completely red.

"So, tell me, why did you help me and not him?"

"... Because even if I like him, doesn't mean I have to agree with how he does things, those bad names and everything, it's bad and I don't like it, I hope that someday he stops, that's why I don't do anything... Besides I am too shy to actually talk to him... But, what he and you did today, was too far and he was the one that punched you first, so it was only natural for me to say the truth"

"Commendable... But pointlessly stupid"

"What?"

"Simple, you should've done everything you could to try and get on his good side instead of helping me and making him dislike you from the start. Not caring about anything else but that. Everything is fair in love after all"

"That's wrong, If I have to walk over other people for that to happen, I'd rather it not happening at all"

"Haaah... Hufflepuff and their loyalty and you're loyal to your ideals... Fine, so be it. You will only have yourself to blame when your lovely crush ignores you out of hatred" The Queen turns around to leave the room, having gotten her answers.

"Why..."

The girl's voice makes the Queen stop and face her again.

"Why are you like this? How can you say that everybody is useless, worthless so easily?"

"Because I am a Queen, THE Queen and I am the only one that gets to decide who's or what's worthy of my time and who's unworthy, NOBODY else"

"But... What about your 'wife' candidates?"

"What about them?"

"Are they worthy?"

"Yes"

"But not always... What changed?"

"I got ahold of their information if I didn't get information about them, if I didn't choose them if I didn't come to Hogwarts and instead went somewhere else to look for wives, they would be nothing but strangers to me and I wouldn't care about them, just like I'd be a stranger to them and they wouldn't care about me. If I died, they'd never hear about it, or if they did, they'd either forget about it the next minute after a moment of sympathy. But all of that changed when I chose them to be my wives, now they are more important than this whole world"

"But that's not how it works... You can't force love"

"Who said anything about forcing love? Listen, we chose our 'crushes', 'loves', 'wives', whatever it is that you want to call them, the same, but slightly different way. What's the difference? Well, I chose them with my mind and by my own accord, your choice was made for you by your heart. So, girlie, I can fall in love with them and they can fall in love with me over time, doesn't matter how long it takes, but because I made the decision myself to go after them, I am not going to give up or just randomly stop liking them... Like you could, your heart could want Draco now, but in a week, it could want somebody else. And you know why? Because you are not doing anything to fight for him, I don't know why or how you fell for him, but you're even more pathetic than him in my eyes. You love him, but you'd rather him hate you than like you? You'd rather him get stolen right in front of your eyes because you'd rather let people walk over you than you walking over them? And you can't talk to him because you're 'shy'? Because you're scared? Cause of fear? What a joke. Maybe you don't deserve his love and affection at all, because you DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, so a piece of advice to you, forget all the nonsense, forget everybody else and forget all the fear and if you can't? Doesn't matter, use what you used to protect him from me this morning and go for it. Because let me tell you something, if you don't even try, you DON'T deserve to say that you love him or anybody else for that matter, it's better to at least try, so what if you have the chance to fail? At least then you can think to yourself that you've gone for it. That's what I am doing, if my 'wife' candidates won't love me and reject me, I won't force them and say goodbye with a proud smile because I know that I did my best and then I will just choose somebody else to go for, but you? You'll be stuck weeping your lost love for NOTHING...Except for your own damn fault of being a pathetic spectator" The Queen looks intensely at the silent girl for a few seconds, before turning around and walking to the door.

"Holly, I don't like you one bit, there's a small number of things which I hate... And one of them is people like you, who let chances and opportunities slip through their fingers just because they'd rather somebody else get it... It sickens me to my core, that 'somebody' would never do that for you if they were in your position, so why even bother... But I do respect you, you actually stood up to me, to somebody way stronger, out of love, no matter how baseless and ridiculous it is, it takes a lot of courage to do something like that, even your crush Draco can't accomplish such a feat... So because you helped me, which was not needed, but still appreciated. If and when you need somebody to help you or anything at all, ask me, the Queen will do everything in her power she can to help you back. A favor for a favor"

And just like that the Queen opens the door and leaves the room without saying anything else. And starts walking back to Hermione, so she can finally go to the library and spend time with her Moon... The one she started to care about a little, the only one she cares about in general for now... But ONLY for now...

~ End of Chapter 23 ~