Displaced - part 7

The vaults are different here, why are the vaults different!
"Stop crying and help me!" Merula shouted at Anon.
"I am not good at dueling!" Anon yelped, while trying to hold a flailing gargoyle back.
"You're useless! Depulso!" The girl's spell hit another stone gargoyle that was about to breathe fire.
The hallway the duo entered had two enchanted gargoyles protecting a door. Merula had no recollection of this place, apparently more things were different than seemed. Merula turned to shout more at Anon, but the gargoyle the boy had been holding back just kicked him back and he tumbled a few times and was motionless. Merula felt an odd surge of emotions and was about to rush to the boy's aid.
"Aquamenti!" The boy doused Merula with water
Merula was about to start yelling at the boy, but she turned around and realized her robed had been on fire.
"Flipendo!" Merula cast on the gargoyle, that had discreetly set her on fire. The stone statue fell back, but was otherwise unaffected.
"This is going nowhere, fall back!" Merula said and was about to run off, when she realized Anon had trouble.
"I swear if you get me killed, I will find a way to kill you from beyond the grave." Merula said and turned go help Anon, who had got up.
"Run, Meru, don't worry about me! I'll try to hold them back if they follow you."
What the hell is wrong with this idiot? He's so weak, yet acts all obnoxiously heroic.
"You couldn't protect me from a fucking flobberworm, you useless waste of magic! Just run already!"
Anon winced and started jogging towards Merula holding his side.
Merula looked at the two gargoyles, they seemed to not be interested in chasing them out. They simply went back to their posts on both sides of the door, they were guarding.


Merula and Anon ran out of the hallway, when they got into the castle proper. They kept running until they felt safe enough and stopped to catch their breaths.
"Why are you so useless?" Merula tried to shout, but came out weak due to being out of breath.
"I am not used to fighting magical rock monsters." Anon said while wiping the sweat from his forehead and wheezing.
"You're not used to fighting anything you weakling!"
Merula was incredibly upset that her plans for just sweeping in all the vaults in this reality were crushed. Since Anon was the only one she talked here, she decided to take it out on him. Merula glanced at the boy angrily, he immediately averted his gaze, which made Merula even more angry.
"How can you be  so weak? Merula of this world was probably mollycoddling you and now you're unable to even defend yourself."
"Are you comparing me to your Anon now?"
"Yes! My Anon would've destroyed those gargoyles."
Merula was angry about how likely that was. She felt like running back in and destroying those gargoyles herself. Just so she wouldn't be beaten by Anon, and the boy wasn't even there.
"What made your Anon so strong then?"
Merula stopped to think, what did make him so strong? Obviously he trained and had talent for magic, but is there something more than that. Maybe if she tried to understand the Anon here, the one she could actually have a conversation with, she'd understand a little bit more about the Anon she wanted to destroy.
"I don't know."
"Well, we just got attacked by magical monsters inside the castle, I think we should go to Dumbledore now..." Anon said while rubbing his side.
"No."
"No?"
"No!" Merula glanced at the boy angrily, she took her wand out and pointed it at the boy, who jumped back terrified.
"Stop moving, I am not going to attack you."
The boy tried to relax a bit when Merula walked up to him and poked his ribs with her wand in a way that made him yelp in pain.
"Meru, what are you doing?"
"Stop calling me, Meru! I am going to heal your ribs. Raise your arm."
Anon complied and smiled at the girl.
"Episkey."
Anon felt the pain subsiding.
"Thanks... Uhh, Snyde."
"Just... Just Call me Merula." She sighed.
"Don't you know how to cast episkey, how can you be so useless?" She looked at the boy angrily.
"O-oh, uhh, I do know how to cast it... I just never thought about using it on myself."
"...What, you never thought about using episkey on yourself?"
"No, Meru... My Meru always heals all my injuries, she's usually faster at healing me than I even realize I was hurt."
Merula was speechless, what kind of a softy is this Meru of his? Obviously the boy is going to turn up weak if he's mollycoddled like that. Maybe he has the potential, but never tapped into it. Would Anon have turned like this, if she wasn't there to push him?
"So, uhh... Why are we not going to go to Dumbledore?"
"Because I need what is in the vault, and if we go to Dumbledore, they will take it and I will be stuck here forever."
"Oh, can't we just tell him the truth about why you're here in the first place?"
"No! They'd just think I am lying and send me to get my head checked."
"Really? That doesn't sound like something Dumbledore would do."
"We're not going to ask for help from Dumbledore, otherwise your Meru is stuck forever too, and believe me. Anon probably isn't doing anything to help her."
"He's really that cruel?"
"Well... Probably not, but he's probably happy to be rid of me..."
Merula started imagining Anon being glad she's gone. Maybe even hanging around with that Hufflepuff-Meru, who seems like a complete soft airhead. Would he prefer her? Merula didn't want to think about it, it all felt wrong.
She turned to look at the hufflepuff-Anon, who had been quiet and patient this whole time, letting her gather he thoughts. Why was he so thoughtful, he know she's not his Meru. Yet he's friendly and helpful regardless. Maybe his stupid unquestioning loyalty could be exploited?
"We have some options now..." Merula said looking at the boy give her his full attention. Unlike that other Anon, who would just spat at her every attempt to have a conversation.
"Okay, what do you want to do?"
"I want to go into this and the other vault I know about. Anon actually beat me to both of them and that annoys me. He's not here, so I thought I could just waltz in. But the vaults are different. There are some similarities but I left my notes in my trunk, so I can't even review those."
"Oh, do we need to go to the basement then?" Anon asked and his expression got brighter.
"No, I meant MY trunk, not... Meru's... trunk."
"Oh right, but we could still go to common room, I am a bit tired of all this running around looking for danger."
Merula looked at Anon with contempt, Why was he so whiny. One vault and he's already ready to go back and sit on those disgusting chairs and just do nothing productive.
"You're already tired? What do you even do with all your free time then?"
"Oh, uhh... Study, play gobstones with Meru or other hufflepuffs, listen to Meru talk about her dreams and generally just hang out with Meru."
The boy was looking away wistfully, he obviously missed his Meru. Merula didn't care much about the boy before, but seeing him so pitiful wasn't nice. She wanted to see the other Anon in as much pain as possible, but this Anon... He just missed her... His Meru."
"Fine, let's go plan out next move in the common room then."
"Great." Anon said smiling happily.
Merula expected Anon to grab her hand again, but he had learned not to hold her hand casually. Merula shook off the slight disappointment she felt and felt stupid for it. She followed Anon silently, thinking about how things were back in her world.
Anon probably realized something was wrong with her. He's stupid, but not even he's stupid enough not to realize she has been switched with some friendly hufflepuff version of her. But what would the boy do with the information? Maybe he used this Anon's hard work to befriend... Meru and was glad for the switch? For all she knew, Anon might have destroyed the dial by now and hoped she would never return. But if the dial is still in that world, Meru could use it to get back here. Maybe she was working hard to get back to her Anon, even despite Anon of that world. She might even be fighting him to get back, but would she win?
Merula snapped out of her thoughts to realize she had missed the Hufflepuff password for the third time already. She sighed annoyed and walked in the common room past Anon, who was holding the door open for her.
Merula sat down on one of the disgusting chair and watched Anon sit down opposite to her. The hufflepuff common room was built for comfort, everything was soft and in this disgusting yellow. Hufflepuff colours were black and yellow, but looking at the common room it was more like Yellow, yellow, woodgrain and a little bit of black. And everything was so round. Maybe it was to protect the poor people sorted into hufflepuff, sharp things like corners were dangerous.
Merula couldn't find the room comforting at all, they were in the basement, but the windows showered the room with sunlight during daytime, it felt unnatural. Meanwhile Slytherin dungeons were lit up by light passing trough the black lake and enchanted lanterns. The rooms were in the same level underground, but completely different from eachother.
They didn't even have floor fountains, but knowing hufflepuff track record of intelligence, a lot of students would probably down in them. Merula turned to look at Anon, who was relaxing in one of the soft chairs.
"We might need help..."
"So, you want to go to Dumbledore now?" Anon turned to look at her, sighing in relief.
"Not Dumbledore, where are your lackeys, can't you ask them? Also speaking of lackeys, where the hell is Ismelda?"
"Who?"
Merula was puzzled at the boy's reaction. Surely he knew his girlfriend's friend?
"The sombre girl Meru hangs with?"
"Oh, Meru doesn't hang around with anyone called Ismelda." Anon said while tilting his head, trying to think of who Ismelda was.
"Who does Meru hang out with?"
"Well, me..." Anon answered with a careful tone.
"Just you, she doesn't have any other friends?"
"Oh, she has lots of friends, everyone loves her... Well, except Penny and her slytherins."
"Meru is popular with everyone?"
"Yeah, she is helpful to everyone and tries her best to brighten the mood in any situation."
What... Everyone just loves this hufflepuff Meru. Maybe that is why no one has tried to pull any pranks on her. But at the same time, no one seems to give her the respect a witch of her calibre deserves... or did they?
Merula looked around the common room, some hufflepuff girl seemed to notice Merula looking at her, the girl didn't avert her gaze like Merula was used to. Instead the girl smiled and waved at her. Merula tried to return the gesture, but couldn't just mindlessly smile at the girl, instead it looked more like she waved her off.
"Is everything alright?" Anon asked watching Merula look around.
"What about your friends?"
"Oh, uhh... I don't really have that many friends who could help us."
"Really, what about Khanna?"
"Khanna... Khanna, oh you mean Rowan?"
Merula turned to look at the boy, he didn't know his best friend's last name?
"What, you didn't remember Rowan's last name?"
"No, it's just... I don't use it often... I don't really talk to him that much."
"Is he not your best friend?"
"No, Meru is my best friend."
"I thought she was your girlfriend."
"Well, yeah."
Wow, Meru has him completely under her heel. Merula smiled, this was the first time she actually identified a little with this Meru. It was stupid that she chose Anon, but she completely owned this weakling. But at the same time the whole thing felt ridiculous, why was she like that?
"Do you think Rowan could help us?" Anon asked Merula.
"I don't know, I always thought he was useless, but Anon always got ahead anyway. It can't possibly have been all him."
"Well, let's ask if he could help us then?"
"Yeah... Sure..."
Anon got up from his chair and walked off to find Rowan. Leaving Merula to her thoughts.
Merula felt a little lonely in this world. Sure, Anon was with her the whole time, but he wasn't really there for her. He was just... Doing whatever she wanted him to, maybe it's what Meru wanted. But this all felt wrong. And Ismelda isn't her friend. Merula had hoped Ismelda would just turn up and explain some things to Merula about this world. Or even Barnaby at this point... Where was Barnaby? Were the differences between the worlds really so great that, Meru never befriended either of them. Or Tulip for that matter, Merula didn't want to have anything to do with Tulip. But seeing a familiar face might help... But would it be? No one acted like she was used to in this world.
Most of all Penny, she was completely different from hufflepuff Penny. From the way Anon described her, she hated him and Meru. Maybe if Merula had played her cards differently, she could have allied with Penny. It wasn't completely out of question, she could tell her the truth and hope she wants to help her. Or just fight her again and force her. But the risk of her going to Dumbledore was too great.
Anon returned with Rowan in tow, the two boys sat on the chairs infront of Merula.
"Hello, Merula, Anon told me you two might need help with something."
"What, and you'd just help me?" Merula asked and turned to look at Rowan warily.
"Sure, you two are nice and help anyone who needs help."
Merula relaxed, she keeps forgetting that not everyone hates her in this world. It was a strange thing to get used to.
"Do you know anything about the cursed vaults?"
"The cursed vaults? Like a cursed Gringotts vault?"
"No, in Hogwarts." Merula sneered at the boy annoyed, why does no one know about the vaults here. She just walked into one, so they obviously exist. No one just bothered to look for them?
Rowan looked a bit troubled at Merula's change of expression.
"Would either of you like butterbeer?" Anon interjected, he hadn't thought about what the change in Merula's behaviour looked like.
"What, you want to go to Hogsmeade now?" Merula turned to look at Anon annoyed.
"No, we have some clean bottles here."
"...What?"
Rowan turned around to look at Merula in disbelief.
"What, you've seen him do this a hundred times, it's your boyfriend's crowning achievement."
"He's not..."
Anon put down three empty bottles of butterbeer on the table loudly. And pulled his wand out.
Merula was watching at him curiously... What could possibly be this guy's crowning achievement?
Anon winked at Merula and cast refilling charm on the three empty bottles and they all filled up with butterbeer.
"WHAT" Merula shouted in disbelief.
Anon just smiled and put one of the bottles infront of Merula.
She looked at the bottle and was actually kinda impressed, she wouldn't have thought to keep butterbeer bottles around for refilling charm.
"Helga Hufflepuff was rumored to never having paid for a drink twice..." Anon said while drinking his butterbeer.
"Really?"
"Oh yeah." Rowan said enthusiastically. "It was Anon's idea to save bottles of butterbeer for this... Though why am I explaining this to you, you know all about it."
"Oh yeah, I know about it... Of course I do." Merula said while carefully taking a sip of her butterbeer, she was a bit wary of it. She didn't know if Anon's refilling charm was any good, for all she knows the bottle might be full of troll piss.
But it wasn't, it was butterbeer, almost as good as you can get it at three broomsticks.
"Wouldn't the Innkeeper be mad about this?"
"Hufflepuff secret..." Anon smiled his infuriating confident smile.
Merula recognized that look on his face, it also made her just as mad at him as it did on the other Anon's face.
"That seems kinda unethical... For hufflepuffs."
"Oh, come now, we're not as bad as Slytherins." Anon said and suddenly realized what he had said and looked at Merula scared.
"Oh, you're going to pay for that later..." Merula promised the boy while sipping her butterbeer.
The boy swallowed as Merula stared him down. He turned to Rowan trying to change the subject.
"S-so, Rowan... We have this tiny p-problem you might be able to help us with."
"Oh, the vaults, I am afraid I don't know anything about any vaults in Hogwarts."
"You've not read anything?" Merula turned to look at Rowan
"Oh, I don't read that many books about curses or stuff like that."
Merula sighed, this felt like a dead end, this Rowan was probably not useful with breaking any curses either.
"Fine, do you know where I can find Ismelda Murk?"
"Oh the ravenclaw?"
"She's a ravenclaw?"
Merula was surprised, no wonder she hadn't seen her in the hufflepuff room. She just assumed Ismelda would be in the same house as she was, because Ismelda of her world was also a slytherin.
"Okay, we'll find Ismelda later then... What do we do with Rowan." Merula turned to look at Anon.
"Uhh..." Anon said while trying not to insult Rowan, but talking about him while he was sitting right there.
"Rowan, could you see if you can find out something about the vaults, when you're in the Library next time?"
"Well... I don't usually read any non-fiction books... But sure, I'll see if I can find anything tomorrow."
"Great, you'd be doing us a huge favour." Anon smiled at Rowan who got up and walked into the dorms.
"He seems useless." Merula said finishing her butterbeer and putting the bottle on the table.
"Oh, he'll try his best. It's all we can ask of him." Anon said and took out his wand. "More butterbeer?"
"No thanks..."
"Alright then." Anon said and pointed his wand at the bottles Merula and Rowan had left behind. "Scourgify sterilis"
He then took the clean bottles and placed them in a case where he had taken them from.
"That was advanced spell, Snape uses it to clean his equipment."
"Oh, uhh... Was that a compliment?"
"It was..." Merula felt a bit disheartened that in the short time she had spent with this Anon, she had already made the boy a bit nervous around her. Was her personality really THAT abrasive?
"Oh, thanks, we spent a lot of time practicing spells like that with Meru." Anon smiled brightly and sat back down on the chair infront of Merula.
"What for? Surely neither of you are interested in potioncraft..."
"No, not potions... Although I like potions, but it doesn't really interest me."
"So, why then?"
"Uhh... I am not really sure why Meru felt like we needed to know cleaning charms. She just said it was for her future."
"So she felt she needed a household charm like that and made you learn it too?"
This boy was so oblivious, guess being stupid is integral to Anon, no matter what house they're in. Also Merula didn't want to imagine what plans for future Meru had with Anon.
"Oh, we always learn spells together, it makes me the happiest." Anon looked into the distance smiling blissfully
"Ugh... What I am about to tell you next is going to feel awkward then."
"Oh, what is that?" Anon turned to look at Merula.
"I am going to teach you how to fight."
"What, why?"
"First and foremost, As much as it disgusts me to admit it, I need you help. You, however, are weak. I am going to fix that."
"I don't want to fight!" Anon protested crossing his arms and looking at Merula with frown.
"Fine, then you will never see your Meru again. I thought you said you would do anything to get her back."
Anon looked at Merula terrified.
"Wait, I'll do anything."
"Alright, we'll start tomorrow after classes. You're probably too scared to leave now, it's past curfew." Merula said and got up.
"Okay, tomorrow then... But do you think I will be any use in a fight?" Anon asked and got up too.
Merula stopped and thought about it.
"I don't know... I am curious to learn about it myself too."
"Why are you curious to learn if I can fight?"
"Maybe I will learn something about what makes Anon strong." Merula said and walked up to the stairs leading to the second level, where the round doors leading to the girl's dorms were.
Merula turned to look at Anon, who was escorting her across the room for some reason.
"Think of it this way, I will teach you how to duel, and you can protect your Meru from Penny."
"I don't really want to fight Penny..." Anon looked at the floor hopelessly. "I just want her to leave us be."
"You don't always have a choice..." Merula said and started to reflect some of her own actions. But she shrugged her doubts off.
"Good night... Ymous." Merula said awkwardly and walked up the stairs.
"Good night... Merula." Anon said and walked into the boy's dorm.

Merula woke up annoyed at the overly soft bed. She couldn't get used to sleeping on it. The bathroom was alright, but the bathtub with creepy brass badgerfeet was a bit excessive for a dorm shared by five girls. Merula just showered herself, using a bathtub takes too long. Meru had nice shampoo though, the girl took care of her hair more than Merula did. The brush looked like it had been used a lot. However Merula found it a bit unnerving that it also had hairs that looked suspiciously like they belonged to Anon.
Merula walked down the stairs into the common room and saw Anon waiting for her again.
"Good morning, Merula..."
"Skip the empty compliment, Ymous." Merula said yawning.
"It's not empty..."
"Save it for your Meru then." Merula walked past Anon.
Anon shrugged and followed Merula out the dungeons.
"So, what classes do we have today?" Merula asked while they made their way out of the dungeons.
"Charms, transfiguration and potions."


Merula was looking around the great hall when the two of them were eating breakfast, she tried to find Ismelda sitting in the ravenclaw table. But she couldn't spot her, the Ismelda she knows usually eats by herself, but none of the girls sitting alone looked like her. But then again, it seemed like people look different in this world too.
"What does Ismelda look like?"
Anon stopped his fork half way to his mouth.
"What?"
"What does Ismelda Murk look like, I can't see her in Ravenclaw table."
"I don't know, I haven't paid any attention to her." Anon said and went back to his breakfast.
Merula turned to look at ravenclaw table again. Maybe Ismelda was just sitting with her back towards her. Merula gave up and turned around.
"You should eat before your breakfast gets cold."
Merula looked at Anon annoyed, the boy just turned his gaze to his own plate. Merula didn't mind as much the weird casual way the boy seemed to care for her. But she knew it wasn't really aimed at her, and that made it feel worse than it really was.
Merula ate her breakfast in silence. She would look for Ismelda later. She could ask some ravenclaw, after all, she didn't have her reputation in this reality.

After the breakfast Merula followed Anon to charms classroom. They were learning charms she had already mastered, apparently the order they learned new charms was different too. Merula was a bit annoyed, this meant that she was missing a new spell from her own world. It didn't matter too much though, she could just ask Ismelda what they were learning and learn the spell on her own. Merula just absentmindedly cast the spell and decided to spend the rest of the class practicing something else.
"Well done, Ms.Snyde 10 points to Hufflepuff"
Merula looked at professor Flitwick surprised, she was rarely rewarded with points during classes, she couldn't think of ever having been rewarded by Flitwick.
"Thanks?" Merula said awkwardly and looked at Anon, who was smiling at her.
"Seems like both of you are great with charms."
"I am great with all magics."
"Of course, so is she."
Merula paid no mind to Anon's compliment and went back to practicing unrelated spells. She was fully expecting Anon to master the spell quickly and be asked to tutor other students.
"Ms. Snyde, since you learned the new spell even faster than you usually do, would you care to tutor other students?"
Merula looked at Flitwick surprised, she was never asked to tutor anyone before.
"Does your Meru often tutor other students?" Merula turned towards Anon.
"Yeah, she loves helping other students if she can."
"I've never been asked to tutor others."
"You don't have to, if you don't want to." Anon said while practicing his spell.
"I think I will ask Flitwick about Ismelda." Merula said and got up.
"Go for it."
Merula walked to the aisle and turned to Flitwick.
"Alright, I'll try tutoring. But before that, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course, go ahead." Flitwick said smiling to Merula.
"Where can I find Ismelda Murk?"
"Murk... She's a ravenclaw, think they have potions now. I'm afraid I can't help you beyond that,since she's not in my house."
"Alright, thank you..." Merula turned around annoyed, that wasn't helpful at all.
Merula walked up to a group of three students, who were hoping to get tutored by Merula. Merula had no idea how she would teach the students. She was starting to regret having said she would tutor other students, especially since Flitwick wasn't helpful at all.
"Alright... Watch closely." Merula said and took her wand out.
The trio studied Merula's wand movement and tried to match it as closely as possible. Merula was watching the others and scoffed.
"Alright, let's see you try." Merula told the others and watched the spinner, they were trying to make spin on it's own.
The three students all tried to match her incantation, but none could get it right and their form was horrible.
"What is this sorry display, that was useless!"
The girls Merula was supposed to tutor just looked at her demoralized, none of them had expected Merula to say something discouraging. Merula seemed to notice the girl's mood had changed. Why were they so thin skinned, they were horrible. Did Meru just always shower them with praise, even when they failed?
"Ugh... I mean you need to be more confident." Merula said and walked up to the girls.
"You've picked up the bad habit of only using your wrist, you need to use your whole arm for this... And some spells need you to use your whole body..." Merula told the first girl and showed the wand movement to her standing next to her.
The girl looked at Merula surprised, every other spell has been wrist only, so she assumed all wand movement needs to be wrist only.
"But, Diminuendo was wrist only"
"Diminuendo is different spell... There is no set rules for spells, you can't assume one tip works for everything, maybe that's why you're here being tutored." Merula was annoyed at the level these girls operated at. Were students this useless in her own reality aswell? She never stopped to look at how other students were doing. Merula stopped to think, were everyone but she and Anon useless? She knew how talented Anon was, because she kept spying on him during all the classes and she duelled him regularily.
Whatever... Merula thought she would just teach these useless girls the spell and go back to doing something productive.
Merula walked to the next student, a blushing boy...
"Your voice is changing... It's making your vovels harsher."
"I can't help it..." The boy said with his voice breaking.
There was a blissful period where Merula completely dominated Anon in duels when his voice started changing, whenever his voice cracked she would seize the advantage and wipe the floors with him. The way Anon got around it was so annoying... She never thought he'd pull the effort, only to get rid of the one advantage Merula had gained.
"Cast the spell without incantation."
"W-what, I can't dO that!" The boy looked at Merula surprised.
"Just wait till your voice doesn't crack then... Either that or practice OR you could just stop casting spells altogether."
Merula left the boy to look at the spinner frustrated and confused and walked up to the last girl. She actually recognized this one, she was a hufflepuff this time?
"What did you do to your wand?" Merula asked surprised and annoyed.
The girl blushed and tried to avert her gaze from Merula.
"I-i taped it in my hand, so I wouldn't have to pick it up every time."
Merula started laughing, this was the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen. Maybe the gryffindor girl should do this aswell. Merula stopped to look at the hufflepuff girl blushing and nearly tearing up.
"Oh, come on, it was funny." Merula said and walked up to the girl and started pulling tape from her hand.
Merula stood next to her and held her wand at the same level as the girl.
"The wand tip isn't the only thing you need to consider when you cast spells, the whole wand it simportant, the core isn't in the tip. The angle is important."
Merula showed the wand movement slowly. The three students were trying to concentrate on how Merula was moving her arm and how her wand was moving in her hand.
The first girl looked like she got it, she cleared her throat and concentrated on the spinner for a while. She then cast the spell and got the spinner to spin a few times before falling off the table. She was excited for the progress she had made, she started jumping and rushed to get the spinner off the floor. When she got back next to the other students she turned to look at Merula expecting praise.
Merula looked at her for a while confused when she realized the warm kind Meru probably praised even a little bit of progress.
"Good job... You're getting the hang of it..." she said forcedly and tried to smile at the incompetent girl.
"Please excuse me, I have a bit of a headache, keep practicing..."
Merula turned around and started walking back to her seat.
"Thank you, Ms.Snyde, your help is always appreciated. Five points to Hufflepuff."
Merula turned to look at Flitwick, who had just praised her for getting a girl to shoot a spinner off the table.
"Y-yeah." Merula said annoyed and walked to her seat.
"Does your Meru suffer this every class?" she turned to Anon.
"Suffer? She loves helping others." Anon looked at Merula surprised.
"You told me that, but tutoring other students was annoying... Why does Anon keep doing it, he must also think everyone else is worthless."
"Maybe he's kinder than you think." Anon said while making his spinner spin on the table.
Merula looked at the boy annoyed, he had learned the spell too.
"You wouldn't call him kind, if you knew how he treated me."
"Maybe... But how do you treat him, I've only seen how you treat me."
Merula stopped, she had actually treated this Anon a lot better than she did the idiot back in her world. Why did she do that anyway, why does she care?
"You think he's treating me badly, because I treat him badly?"
Anon looked at Merula worried.
"N-no, I mean..."
"Keep talking, I am not going to punish you for it." Merula looked at the boy annoyed.
"How do you treat him then, do you hate him?"
"Yes!"
Anon looked at Merula surprised at how quickly she declared her hatred of this Anon.
"Really? Do you hate me too?"
"Not really, I don't think I do... You annoy me at how much you look like him and how quickly you're learning spells. It keeps reminding me of him..."
"Why do you care if he or I learn spells quickly?"
"It doesn't bother when you do it, but it just keeps reminding me that there is an unfair gap between me and him... It seems inherent to both of you, how do I compete against something like that?" Merula felt frustrated, she never understood the pace at which Anon learned spells. She spent so much time during classes and during her free time to learn spells at the same pace as Anon, but the boy always made it seem effortless.
"I don't think I am better than you are." Anon said looking at the spinner sadly, he didn't really know what to do about her revelation.
"Bah, no one talked about being better. I know I am better than both you and him combined." Merula declared.
"You think your Meru is better at spells than you are?"
"Oh yes, she is the most talented witch in Hogwarts." Anon smiled.
Merula wanted to start screaming, she had never been so angry in her life. Hearing Anon say that with such genuine tone and smile. She felt her fingers staring to get sore for tightening her grasp on her wand and thought about starting to throw curses around.
"Are... You... SERIOUS." Merula said past her clenched teeth.
"Is something wrong?" Anon looked at Merula worried.
Merula calmed down a little and put her wand away.
"No, I need a moment..." Merula got up and asked Flitwick to excuse her for a while and walked out of the classroom.
Merula walked further away from the classroom and when she felt she was far enough she started kicking a bench and screaming in frustration.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM!"
Merula slumped on the bench and covered her face. She calmed down a little out of her outburst. Why did it feel so bad hearing something like that about another Merula? Hear HIM say something like that. Things would've been so much better if Anon had just walked up to her and told she was the most powerful witch in Hogwarts back during the first year. But the boy instead chose to oppose her in every turn. And here there is another Anon, a kind bubbly soft WEAKLING, who showers his... MERU... with all theses praises.
"He's not weak... He just has nothing to prove..." Merula thought that his Meru was probably just as powerful as she was, but neither had any reason to fight among eachother, so they just did other things... Was it wasteful? It was difficult for Merula to understand Meru, what pushed her forward? Merula stopped to think about what made her try harder, was it really the vaults... Fame? ...Power? ...Just to see Anon get destroyed?
"Argh!" This was so annoying, Merula got up and walked back to the classroom, only to realize everyone was looking at her worried.
"What are you all looking at me for?"
"Are you alright, you said you had a headache, I thought you went to Madam Pomfrey" Anon looked at Merula worried.
"I'm fine, I just needed fresh air..." Merula walked back to her seat annoyed.
"You shouldn't push yourself, Ms.Snyde, you made tremendous progress. Just relax for the rest of the class." Flitwick told the girl.
"Yeah... Maybe I'll just do that..." Merula said tiredly.
Anon was staring at her with a worried look.
"I'm fine!" she snapped and scowled at the boy.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"Yes, but it wasn't your fault; I am not mad at you, I am mad at... Him... And myself for caring." Merula crossed her arms on the table and rested her head on them. She looked at the three students who she had been tutoring earlier. The clumsy hufflepuff seemed to try to find a good grip on her wand, while the puberty-stricken boy was concentrating on casting the spell non-verbally so hard that his face was starting to turn red.
"I'm sorry."
Merula turned to look at the boy annoyed.
"I told you it wasn't your fault, you idiot... Why do you care so much?"
"I hate seeing you depressed."
"I am not dep... I am not your Meru, stop worrying about me."
Anon sighed and looked like he was going to do something, but he didn't really know what to do with his arms. He just eventually gave up and pulled his chair closer to Merula and wrapped his arms around her.
Merula immediately tried to push the boy away.
"I care about you, because you represent my Merula having made different choices in her life. I'd like to think no matter what she had chosen or whatever circumstances she grew up with, she could be happy. Seeing you unhappy makes me sad, because if things turned different in this world, she might be just as unhappy as you are."
"I am not unhappy..." Merula said unconvincingly and tried to push the boy away. What did she do to deserve this torment, She just wanted to go back to her world and forget about this weird backwards world, where she was friends with Anon. She couldn't even hate this boy, everything he did was so considerate. Even towards her...
Merula finally just pushed the boy away, he looked at the girl sadly.
"You need to stop worrying about me." Merula told the boy angrily.
"I can't."
"Well, then just keep it to yourself, you're distracting me. We have to focus on getting into the vault that has the dial... If it even exists here." Merula tried not to think about the possibility that it only existed in the world that she left behind and that Anon might've destroyed it to get rid of her once and for all.
"Alright, I'll do my best to get you back to your world, I'm sure your Anon is helping Meru too..."
Merula looked at the naive boy.
"What makes you think he'd help her, you don't know him at all."
"Maybe not, but I know Meru... Even if he's as bad as you make him out to be, my Meru will find a way to get his help, she probably tries to understand him." Anon looked into the distance again before turning back to Merula.
"Why don't you describe him to me?"
"What, why?"
"I want to know what I would be like, if I was a slytherin. Would I really be as bad as you say?"
"Well... I think he might just hate me, he does have friends though. They must not think he's so bad." Merula rested her head on her arm and grabbed her wand with the other.
"Do you really think he hates you?"
"Yes." Merula was starting to get uncomfortable about having to answer questions about Anon to Anon.
"Do you really hate him?"
"Yes!" Merula scowled at Anon.
"Why?"
Merula was rolling her wand between her fingers and looked into the distance.
"It's complicated..."
"I have time."
Merula turned to look at Anon again, the boy was attentive and tried to have an understanding smile.
"I don't care, I am not talking about it."
Anon turned his head a bit disappointed.
"Will you tell me about your Anon then?"
"First of all, he's not my Anon, we're not together, we never will be."
"You know what I meant."
"Whatever, he looks a lot like you, except he's thinner."
"My Meru keeps me well fed..." Anon smiled.
Merula ignored the  boy and his sappy revelation.
"His eyes are colder than yours and they pierce you when he stares you down. I don't know if he sleeps very well, his eyes have dark bags under them. He really just neglects his health. His body is full of scars from duelling and going around breaking curses and hunting vaults. He has this nasty one on his face that he seems proud of... It's really annoying."
"What do you mean, proud of?"
"I mean, he doesn't get it healed, it would be quick fix for Pomfrey, but he just lets it stay on his face, I hate looking at it."
"How did he get it?"
Merula was quiet and stopped fidgetting with her wand.
"He once asked me to Hogsmeade for butterbeer... When I got there, he had his wand out, I knew it was an ambush at that point... So I cast diffindo on him out of anger. I didn't aim at his face though."
"Isn't that kinda dangerous?"
"Shut up, if I didn't have my wand out when I went in, he would've done something to me."
Anon turned to look at the girl smiling one sidedly and raising his eyebrow.
"What?"
"You both had your wands out?"
"I was the one who walked into the ambush, not him."
"How do you know he wasn't just asking you to talk?"
"Because he had his wand out!"
"Neither of you would calm down and put your wands down?"
"I told him to put his wand away."
"What did he do?"
"He told me to calm down and put mine away first."
Anon laughed.
Merula turned to him surprised.
"Slytherin-Me is pretty stupid..."
"Yeah, he really is." Merula agreed looking at the boy surprised, why did he agree with her?
"Then again, so are you... You're both stuck with a misunderstanding."
Merula shot an angry look at Anon, but the boy didn't turn his gaze this time, he just smiled hopelessly.
"What do you know? You can just hug your Meru and everything is fine after that."
"Relationships are more complicated than that, you said it yourself..."
"What are you talking about."
"It's not all sunshine with me and Meru either, we fight like any couple. Your Anon's mistake was tell you to calm down, when it was the last thing you wanted to hear."
"Yeah?"
"Your mistake was to do the complete opposite of calming down, but even then... Did he really just give up after that?"
"Well..."
"He didn't run after you or anything, this is important."
Merula stopped to think, why would that be important? She heard the boy shout her name when she rushed out of the Inn, but she always thought he was just angry. She had just cut his face open.
"He did run after me shouting my name and telling me to stop. But he did that so he could get revenge for his face."
"Do you really think so?"
"I don't know..." Merula admitted looking down on the table sadly. "The whole thing got out of hand quickly. If he hadn't tried disarming me with Expelliarmus, I wouldn't have thrown the first spell that came to my mind at him..."
Merula didn't like remembering the Hogsmeade episode, the whole thing was embarrassing, when she told Ismelda about it afterwards, the girl had just laughed at her stupidity for walking into an obvious trap.
But did Anon have his wand out when he rushed out of the inn after her? Merula tried to remember, he could've cast levicorpus on her or any other immobilizing spell...
"He didn't ever mention about it afterwards, he just has that stupid scar on his nose to remind me about it."
"Have you tried talking to him about it?"
"We never talk about anything... Well, we do, but it's mostly us throwing insults and taunts at eachother. The nicest things he ever says to me is when I learn a new spell. He has this infuriating way of complimenting me, whenever I catch him off guard with a new spell."
"Infuriating way to compliment?" Anon raised his eyebrow
"You've never heard him... He says it like a genuine compliment but it is so sarcastic that you know he's really just insulting you. Also he pretends like it had no effect, which makes his compliment feel empty."
"How would you like to be complimented then?"
"...What? What kind of a question is that?" Merula turned to look at the boy annoyed. And stopped to think of an answer anyway.
"I want him to not get up and just curse instead... Maybe curse my name for besting him with something new, not just get up like it was nothing and compliment me for another new spell."
"That sounds kinda odd, but I do see where you're coming from."
"Do you really?"
"Well, it is kinda difficult to understand either of you... Maybe if I could talk to him."
"You probably wouldn't like what he'd have to say about you."
"What do you mean?"
"You're weak. I don't mean it as an insult... Well, not completely, I gain nothing from insulting you being weak. But he... He would consider your weakness an insult."
"Why?"
"He's proud, I don't really know how he would react to knowing that in some circumstances, he would have ended up being soft like you."
"Oh..."
"I think it's probably better you don't end up like him though. I do however think you need to be stronger."
"Why really?"
Merula opened her mouth when Flitwick finally clapped his hands.
"Well done everyone, we'll continue from here next week. Class dismissed."
Merula packed Meru's books, and followed Anon out of the class.
"Transfiguration next..." Anon said with a bit of dread in his voice.
"Why do you sound worried?"
"Oh, no reason..."
Merula didn't care to pry into it any further, maybe he didn't like transfiguration. But she realized why he was so worried when they got closer to Mcgonagall's classes.
"Oh, she's here." Merula said smiling crookedly.
"Yeah, we share the classes with Slytherins..."
"Great." Merula pushed Anon aside and walked towards Penny and her cronies.
The blonde girl had this bored look on her face when she was talking to her friends. The girls were sitting on a bench in an alcove. One of them noticed Merula approaching and said something to the others. All four of the girls turned to look at Merula. Penny immediately shot up and threw her hair off her shoulder theatrically and crossed her arms.
"Merula, please..." Anon pleaded her and tried to grab her arm, but the girl just yanked it away.
"Well, well, well... I see you've changed back to your own robes..."
"And you're still tainting yours..."
The two girls stopped to stare eachother down. Merula noticed Penny's friends were moving to stand to her sides, but she immediately glared at them. Two of them lost their courage and walked back to Penny's annoyance.
"What are you doing!?" She looked at the girls who were backing out.
Merula used this opportunity to take her wand out.
"Displaying intelligence I wouldn't have expected from someone following you."
Penny turned back to stare at Merula, while trying to maintain her air of confidence.
"Bah, you caught me off guard last time, Snyde... It. wont. happen. twice." Penny said dragging out her last words smiling
"How stupid are you? You've never been in a real duel in your life, have you?"
"feh, what are you talking about? I have been personally tutored by the italian dueling champion!" Penny's expression turned sour and she glared at Merula.
"You're talking about not being caught off guard again; yet here I am, pointing my wand at you, while you're boasting emptily." Merula waved her wand at Penny, whose eyes were wide and she had a look of terrible realization.
"Y-you wouldn't dare, we've not..."
"We've not what, started a duel, we've not bowed? Etiquette means absolutely nothing when the opponent is trying to destroy you. I know someone who would've destroyed you five times already..."
Penny scrambled for her wand, she didn't take it out gracefully at all, she just pulled it out and pointed it at Merula quickly.
"Are we going to bow next?" Merula mocked Penny. "Is that how the italian masters do it?"
"STOP MOCKING ME!" Penny shouted. "DEPULSO!"
Anon pushed Merula aside and took the spell instead.
Merula just looked at the boy get pushed down the hall.
"What the hell are you doing, you idiot!"
"Are we back to doing this now?" Penny laughed.
Merula turned to glare at Penny.
"You're going to regret that..." Merula was about to raise her wand when she felt Anon pull her arm down.
"Don't... It's not what she would do..." he whispered
"What do I care what she would do, I am not her..." Merula whispered angrily.
"So long as she is not here all of your actions affect her. I can't let you ruin her reputation."
"I am doing you a favour here!" Merula said and turned to look at Penny, who was looking at her and Anon curiously, trying to listen on their whispering.
"This is not your fight... My Meru worked hard to befriend everyone. She doesn't even hate Penny either, she wants to be her friend too. If you ruin things for her, I will not forgive you." Anon moved to stand infront of Merula and stared at her with a face that was all too familiar to her. Anon wouldn't be budged, all of this because he cared so much for her Meru's reputation.
Merula put her wand away.
"Thank you."
"Whatever, if you're going to act like that, atleast wait till you can actually fight..." Merula walked away and sat down on another bench.
Anon turned to face Penny, who was trying to figure out what had happened. She looked at Anon and tried to regain her composure.
"Bah, you saved Snyde from my wrath, I can't really fight her when she gives up that easily." Penny laughed arrogantly, but had lost the aura of superiority.
"There are a lot of things you don't understand Penny... It wouldn't have ended well for you." Anon said while turning away.
"How dare you! Flipendo!"
Anon was knocked down, but didn't turn to face Penny, he just started walking towards Merula.
"STOP IGNORING ME, DEPULSO!" Penny shouted with her hands shaking.
Anon got knocked back and slid forward a bit, but still wouldn't turn back to face Penny.
Merula was looking at Anon's sorry display, if he would only just face Penny even once he wouldn't be knocked down to dirt like this...
Penny finally gave up and put her wand away and rushed away defeated.
Anon sat down next to Merula, wiping his cheeks.
"You would've looked a lot braver, if you hadn't started crying towards the end."
"I am not brave... I am weak and I just want to live peacefully with my Meru..."
"You're not weak..." Merula said and looked away.
"What?" Anon looked at her surprised.
"You're not really weak, you're just... Peaceful and too kind... But not weak."
"Thanks, I guess..." Anon scratched his neck confused.
"You're right, this isn't my fight, I shouldn't care... But while I am here, I will teach you how to duel. Then it's up to you, fight her and have her leave you and Meru alone or don't. It's none of my business. All I am going to ask you, is to help me get into that vault with the dial."
"Alright..."