Displaced - Part 3

Merula was completely disoriented, she was going to the hospital wing, but whatever had ailed her wore off. She decided she might've just been tired and went back for breakfast. She sat down at slytherin table and kept her guard up, in case Anon showed up. She noticed a few things being odd, she didn't recognize most of the slytherins at the table. She dismissed it, as she never actually bothered to remember most of the people in her house anyway. After a while she realized Anon wasn't going to show up for breakfast. he was probably planning on getting the drop on her somewhere. Once she finished her giant sandwich, she left the great hall, expecting for a duel any second now. Once she got out of the great hall she heard a familiar voice calling her.

"Merula, I was worried about you, did you visit Madam Pomfrey?" Anon called out to her.
Merula felt it was odd that Anon knew about her leaving for the hospital wing, she hadn't told him or even meet him all morning. She nevertheless wouldn't be distracted and took out her wand.
"Anon, you worthless maggot, how did you know I was going to hospital wing." She said and took her dueling stance, expecting the boy to have assumed his. But he hadn't even taken his wand out.
"What are you talking about, Meru? You told me you felt nauseous and that you needed to see Pomfrey." Anon asked with a worried tone.
"I haven't told you anything." Merula said. "Why are you not taking your wand out? Are you being overconfident, or have you finally accepted that I am the greatest witch in Hogwarts?"
Anon looked at her puzzled. "I always thought you were a great witch, wait why are you wearing slytherin robes?"
Merula stopped for a bit and realized that Anon was wearing hufflepuff uniform, this was a strange trick. "Defend yourself, you idiot, or I will make you regret not taking this seriously!"
The boy jumped back a bit. "What is going on here, why are you acting like this, Meru?"
"Who gave you the permission to call me Meru, you disgusting git!"
"W-what, but I've always called you Meru." The boy said surprised.
"This is sick, even for you." Merula said quickly. "Fine, I'll just keep the dial, if you don't want it back."
"What dial, what are you talking about?"
"Ugh, this is pathetic." Merula finally said. "Flipendo!"
The boy was knocked back and was in shock out of surprise, he looked at Merula who was walking away.
"Meru... Where you going? Come back Merula, please tell me what is wrong, what did I do to deserve this?" He shouted after the girl.

Merula was annoyed and disgusted at Anon's plan to get her to give back the artefact. Hufflepuff robes, really? Whatever, she'd go back into the common room and study the dial a bit before classes. But when she got to the slytherin common room, she looked at the wall that hid the entrance. "Superiority" She stated confidently. But nothing happened.
"Stupid door, Superiority!" She looked at the wall angrily.
"The password isn't Superiority, you hufflepuff fool."
Merula turned around and looked in surprise at Penny, who was wearing slytherin robes.
"What are you doing here? Did Anon send you to spy on me?" She asked angrily. "This is is getting stupid, now you're wearing slytherin robes."
"Oh... Anon hadn't sent me, although I heard that you two had a falling out." Penny said smiling venomously. I heard that you attacked him wearing slytherin outfit. Also, you look terrible."
"Shut up, Penny, this is pathetic." Merula said angrily. "Go away, I'm about to blow this door up for disobeying me."
"Oh, I can't let you do that." Penny said and took out her wand with graceful flourish. "Also, I don't know what happened between you and Anon, but I am glad for it. However, it wont change the fact that I have to teach you a lesson for attacking him."
Merula looked at Penny surprised and started laughing. "HA! YOU! You're going to teach ME a lesson. me, the greatest witch in Hogwarts."
Penny just stared at Merula surprised, where did this timid girl get this much confidence?
"Oh this is precious, are your friends going to help you too?" Merula said mockingly
Penny collected herself. "No, I will take you down myself, It's good that you're confident, maybe you will make this interesting."
Merula took her wand out and backed away from Penny, the two girls took their stances. Merula noticed that Penny actually had a competent stance, she wasn't usually like this, has Anon taught her how to duel?
"Depulso!" Penny took the initiative.
Merula managed to dodge her spell and was surprised that Penny would be so aggressive, there was something off about this.
"Flipendo!" She shouted and knocked Penny down. She thought about dragging this out a bit to figure out just what was going on.
Penny got up and took her stance again. "Oh! You've practiced, I need to take you seriously."
"And I will never, EVER take YOU seriously." Merula taunted.
Penny got angry at this insult. "Incendio!" She cast at Merula and lit her sleeve on fire. But Merula was used to this sort of thing, Anon had set her on fire more times than she can recollect.
"Tarantallegra!" She said and pointed at Penny. Who immediately lost her balance with her legs dancing on their own. Penny looked at Merula completely awestruck that she had retained her composure while still on fire.
"Aquamenti" Merula said calmly and extinguished her robes. and turned to look at Penny. She looked at Penny for a while, she was swaying wildly.
"Alright, I think I've won this little farce of a duel. Didn't even break a sweat." Merula declared.
"Y-you've not won yet!" Penny shouted. "Flipendo!" Her spell didn't hit anywhere near Merula.
"Fine, if you want to keep going, I'll gladly humiliate you further." Merula said arrogantly. "Finite."
Penny immediately stopped dancing. She lost her balance and fell on the ground. When she got up with her face red of anger. "Flipendo!" She cast and this time actually hit Merula.
Merula felt a bit of force behind this spell and started falling in the ground, but before she hit the ground she just calmly pointed her wand at Penny "Levicorpus!"
Penny was immediately pulled upside down by her ankles and dropped her wand. "Let go of me you mudblood!" she shouted
"Expelliarmus." Merula cast calmly and disarmed Penny. "Did you seriously just call ME a MUDBLOOD! I will destroy you!"
Penny was a bit startled at the anger in Merula's voice. "W-what is going on? Help me!" She shouted at the other two girls who had accompanied her.
One of them was in complete disbelief, but the other actually went for her wand.
"Expelliarmus!" Merula disarmed her before the girl could do anything. "Accio wands"
She lost concentration from Penny and the girl fell down on the ground and backed away from Merula.
Merula then turned to the other girl, who hadn't taken her wand out. "I'm going to ask you to throw your wand on the floor calmly. I wont ask twice."
The girl was startled and threw her wand on the floor, where Merula summoned it.
"What are you going to do now?" Penny asked slightly scared now.
"I am going to ask you a few questions, and you will answer them, I wont say or else, because you do not want to learn what happens to maggots who don't do what I say."
"What happened to you, Merula?"
"Nothing happened to me, I have always been more powerful than a pathetic hufflepuff like you. But enough of that, you will only speak when I let you, or you will suffer."
Penny opened her mouth, but somehow Merula's threat sounded genuine and she kept her mouth shut.
"Good girl. Now,  first of all, how dare you sully the slytherin colours by wearing those robes? Where did you get them?"
Penny was surprised at Merula's question. "What do you mean, I've always been a slytherin, my family has been slytherins for generations:"
"You expect to believe a blood traitor weakling like you is a real slytherin, what gall!"
"It's the truth, the better question is why you are wearing slytherin robes, you're a hufflepuff!"
Merula looked at Penny puzzled, Why did Penny think she is a hufflepuff, was the fact Anon was wearing hufflepuff clothes connected?
"This is going nowhere..." Merula said and glanced at one of the girls trying to slink away. She just calmly pointed her wand at her and stopped her. She then turned to look at Penny. "The password has been changed then, I wasn't told about it, are any of you real slytherins?"
"We're all real slytherins." Penny shouted angrily.
"Fine, prove it to me, open the secret wall." Merula said calmly.
"Why would we open the common room for a filthy Hufflepuff like you"
"Slugs Eructo!"
Penny immediately shut up and got on her hands and knees. The sounds of slugs pouring from her mouth made a sickening splats on the castle floor.
"What about you two?" Merula asked.
"G-guile!" One of the scared girls shouted.
The wall opened revealing a path to the dungeons.
Merula threw the wands to the girl who had opened the door and walked in.

She didn't spend much time in common room and no one seemed to pay any attention to her. she immediately went for her dorm and looked for her trunk, which she couldn't find.
"What the hell" She said worried. "Where is my trunk?"
"Your trunk... Is in the hufflepuff dorms, Snyde." A slytherin prefect said. "I will give you five seconds to leave."
"What do you mean, I'm a fucking slytherin you..." Merula looked around and realized she was surrounded by people pointing their wands at her. "What are you doing?"
"Leave now, Snyde, Go back to your own dorm. And you will leave the robes you stole behind."
Merula was scanning the people pointing their wands at her, she couldn't take down that many of them. This has to be Anon's doing. What the hell, how did he get all of these people to do this?
"Now, Snyde!" The prefect demanded. "And leave the robes!"
Merula just took the robes off and left the slytherin dungeons. She felt disoriented, she would have to go see Snape.

Merula was walking around the castle, trying to make sense of the situation. Penny was convinced she was a slytherin and that Merula was a hufflepuff. All the slytherins she met had told her to go to hufflepuff common room. And her trunk wasn't in the slytherin dorms. Something strange was going on, did the dial curse everyone? She had to go find it.
"Meru!" She heard Anon call out to her again.
"What he... Are you still up for more, leave me alone!" She said angrily.
"Please, Merula, tell me what is wrong. I want to help you."
Merula looked at Anon in disbelief, why did he sound so genuine when he said he wanted to help her?
"Why would you help me?" She asked suspicious of the boy.
"...Because we're friends?"
"What the, why would you presume I would be friends with you?" Merula said angrily
"W-what, we've been friends since year one, you were always nice to me."
"I have never been nice to you, and I never will be, you pathetic..." Meru stopped when she realized Anon looked terrified and sad.
"Are you okay, what is wrong with you?" She asked quickly.
"N-no I think you need to see Madam Pomfrey, you've changed, Merula."
The dial, it had to have been the dial...
"I need to find the dial, Ymous. Keep up this farce if you want, but I need that dial."
"What dial, I don't know what you're talking about, Meru." The boy said startled.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, the dial YOU found in the vault!" Merula said with her voice full of annoyance.
"What vault, at gringotts?"
Merula looked at the boy in complete disbelief. "Are you kidding me, the vaults you've been searching since year one to  find your dead deatheater brother!"
"What are you talking about? This is not funny Meru, please stop with this." Anon pleaded
"You really don't remember the vaults, you worthless waste of magic?"
"No, I don't know what vaults you're talking of, why are you being so mean to me? I thought we were friends." Anon asked almost in tears.
"...What happened to you?" Merula asked surprised. "You weren't this weak before, I can't believe I used to... Wait, hang on..."
"...What?" The boy asked mournfully.
Merula just grabbed the boy's chin and turned his head around. "Take off your shirt"
"What why?"
"Just do it!" Merula demanded angrily
The boy complied quickly.
This boy was fat, not noticeably, but compared to earlier he was different. This boy was soft and weak "What the... You're not Ymous, what are you?"
"What are you talking about, of course I am."
"No, you're weak and pudgy, you act timid and you're nothing like Ymous I know."
"And you're nothing like the Meru I love." The boy said angrily.
Merula felt shiver going down her spine, she looked at the boy with her eyes wide open. Did he just casually confess to her?
"W-what are you talking about? You hate me." Merula asked Anon surprised.
"No, I don't hate you, I never did." The boy said with tears running down his cheeks.
The dial, I need to find the dial... My trunk! It has to be in the trunk, maybe it really is in hufflepuff room.
"Take me to my room!" She demanded Anon.
Anon just took her hand out of habit and started leading her to hufflepuff common room. The girl was so surprised at his casual lewdness that she let the boy lead her for a while before yanking her hand out of his. "K-keep your hand to yourself!"
"S-sorry, we just always held hands when we were walking around."
I need to get out of this bizarro world, Merula thought to herself when they walked to the common room.

The Anon led Merula to the painting that lead to the hufflepuff basement and stood back and looked at the girl, daring to smile a little. Merula just looked at the boy angrily.
"What are you waiting for, open the door!" She demanded.
"O-oh, you want me to open the door. You always loved entering the secret password." The boy said surprised.
"I don't know the passphrase! Hurry up and open it, you idiot." Merula snapped.
"Okay!" The boy said quickly and scrambled towards the painting.
Merula was curious to hear what kind of a password Hufflepuffs had, it's probably something stupid like Friendship or cuddly. but before she realized it, the boy had opened the painting.
"Was that it?" She asked.
"Yeah, let's go in." The boy said and let the girl pass him.
Merula looked around the hufflepuff common room, it was completely different to slytherin dungeon, the whole place was too comfortable and cozy and the colours were disgusting.
"Where is my bed?" The girl asked Anon.
The boy pointed at the dorm, door that he always saw the girl disappear in during evenings.
Merula just pushed trough some first year hufflepuffs and stormed into the dorm room.

She looked around and finally realized her trunk actually was in there.
"What the fuck?" She said out loud not believing her eyes.
She rushed immediately into the wardrobe and pulled out robes with orange trims and checked the nametags. They all had her name written with magical ink. For the first time during the entire ordeal the girl felt genuinely scared, she sat on the bed in horror as it actually struck her.

...She really was a hufflepuff.