It was clear to anyone paying attention that the blue-eyed Ravenclaw was having a no good, very bad, absolutely terrible day. Her harsh words that she’d been throwing around that morning had been enough to make her classmates cringe at her erratic behavior, and they knew that she was a force to be reckoned with when she was this upset. Those who knew her well could also tell that behind every bitter remark and every wicked curve of her lips; there was a calculating and highly intelligent mind at work. And it was also frightening, even to those who weren’t being targeted by the upset girl. But who was her target?

Once she had the ditzy blonde in her sights, Katherine strode down the aisle, radiating liquid courage. She was her own person, she had a say in this world; and she was damned if she wasn’t going to do something about the power-hungry and malicious Alexa Bagnold. It was evident that she was losing her touch, and that she needed to be taken out. If Katherine had an army by her side, she could take down the Mafia rather easily, but she didn’t have an army. Those who knew about her plans to destroy the parasitic group were too scared to join her, or so it seemed. If she couldn’t rally the troops, she’d just have to fight by herself.

Heads turned to watch as she made her way up to Alexa. She’d never dared to approach the Slytherin so openly before, and her stomach writhed with discomfort. But she was going to be strong, and she was going to do this. She was going to approach her, and call her out. In the open. Yep, she could do this. She could definitely do this. She only had about an hour or so before her next class, she had to get it done before then. “Guinevere Bagnold.” She said, rather loudly. “We need to talk.”

Alexa was having a good day. She got to threaten a kid earlier into spying on his best friend and she got to persuade some ravenclaw to write her essay for her. She was sitting down at a meal, a smile on her face. But when she saw the clock she decided that there was more organization that needed to be done for the mafia. She had to contact her outside brewers and try to ice things over after the fiasco where one of the students ratted them out.

She stood up and was walking down the aisle, when she heard that devil name be called. She felt a shiver down  her spine. She knew who that voice belonged to. She knew exactly who was talking to her, and that she knew Alexa's name. She spun around, with a pleasant smile on her face. "I'm sorry? My name's Alexa, not Genevieve, or whatever you said," She said with a smile.

"How can I help, Katherine?" She said, still smiling. She lowered her voice, and whispered closer to her. "You don't know who you're messing with, Katherine. Why don't you turn around, and walk away before I send Grandma another letter?" She said, taking a step back, and smiling.

That icy smile was so sickening. To some, it was probably sweet and maybe it even looked somewhat innocent, but Katherine knew what sort of devious mind hid being that perfect smile. Untrustworthy little snake.

“Oh, then why did you respond, Gwennie?” Katherine hissed through her dark smile. She was not a very happy duckling at the moment. Nope. She could play this game, she made Alexa shiver, she scared her; even if it was only for a moment. It was a good feeling.

“I know exactly who I’m messing with!” She replied, the smile fading. “The question is, Guinevere, do you know exactly who you’re messing with?”

After an apology letter to Alexander, explaining everything that had occurred in the past few months (and a similar one sent to her grandmother); Katherine was on good terms again with her family and her fiancé. If Alexa thought that she could infiltrate the bonds between family, no matter how strained they were, then she was going to be severely disappointed to find out that the Beckett matriarch took great pride in her granddaughter; and even though she disliked the thought of Katherine associating with Muggleborn, she still stood by her when it came to starting a war.

After all, what aging pureblooded matriarch didn’t love a good bit of interscholastic rivalry?

“You can send all the letters you want, but this ends now. I’m going to bring you down, one way or another.” Katherine said, her voice betraying the threat.

Alexa faltered, as the girl started again on her name. "Stop. Saying. My. Name!" She shouted, at Katherine, momentarily losing her cool. She took a deep breath, and reset the smile. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." She said to the girl, straightening her dress. "I feel that we need to talk in private." She lowered her voice. "I'd hate for everyone to know you cheated on Mason."

She was going to hold fast on this, and was going to maintain her power. She wasn't getting knocked off her pedestal yet. It wasn't going to happen. She was fairly certain that Katherine had no one behind her. She was fairly certain that Katherine had  no one else to listen to her. And she was also Alexa, the girl who had unbelievable power and was rather unstoppable.

She crossed her arms, as she went to walk off. "I have places to be and people to meet." She said with a smile, starting to walk off.

“Wait, so you admit that it is your name?” Katherine asked, internally celebrating her first small victory against the Slytherin. “I think I just pushed the wrong buttons, didn’t I? She said with a snarky grin.

“You think I care about what people think of me? I’m surprised, Alexa.” She said, crossing her arms and shifting her weight ever so slightly. She looked frighteningly confident against her enemy, and still wasn’t sure what had come over her. There was this surge of just, well, she knew what she wanted, no what she needed to do. The girl standing opposite her thought that she was invincible, and that would be her downfall. She was so very wrong, plucking the right note would send her crashing down. Katherine was going to push her off her throne and destroy her little fantasy world that was tarnishing reputations left and right.

When Alexa turned around, Katherine snatched her by the back of her dress, and pulled her back. “I don’t think so.”

Liviana cast a long look to Jordyn, and a sideways one to Carys (stood right beside her at the moment) a sort of look-what-just-fell-into-our-laps smirk twitching on her lips as Katherine Beckett tried to stand up to the current thorn in the Monarchy's side. Of course it would do to have an all out brawl in the middle of The Great Hall, so the brunette watched the scene carefully as it unfolded. She had been meditating for quite some time now as to how to get Beckett into their ranks and out of Alexa's death grip. Liviana prided herself on perfect timing and this seemed like it might just be it.

Of course then Katherine grabbed back of Alexa's dress and Livi waited for all hell to break loose, her brown eyes frantically going between the slender pair of fingers trying to hold Bagnold hostage and Cary's face. One of them needed to do something; but Carys was a follower not a leader and Liviana didn't want her hand in this to be so very public. It was then through the grace of Merlin that Pipsqueak Flickwick showed up, Prefect badge flashing as she placed a tanned hand over Katherine's and forced her to let go of the other girl, the Gryffindor did not seem particularly pleased as her voice was irritated, "You both know I can't knock off house points for this bollocks but don't think I won't go get Morgan or Trishna and let them sort you out if you don't knock it directly off"[1].

It was the most official Liviana had ever heard the other girl sound - which wasn't to say anyone would take her seriously but it did offer a prime moment for the Slytherin to sweep in, all congenial smiles as she put an arm around Katherine (situating the Ravenclaw between herself and her cousin), "Keep your head down, eyes on the ground, the longer Flickwick has Alexa distracted the safer you will be from a Hoult Hex. He doesn't seem to care where that wand is pointed so long as he gets to set it off," she spoke through tightly closed teeth, her expression friendly refused to let the other girl go. "You're going to have to work on that mouth of yours and your tactical advances if you really want to beat Alexa. She might be dumb but she thinks she has more muscle on her side. She's wrong of course but, you know. I'd hate for something to happen to such a pretty face". She quit talking just as they passed out of the Great Hall and into the walk way. "You can thank me for saving you from further embarrassment later. Personalized note cars are very in fashion right now. Of  course Neely will probably be in charge of that part of your grooming".

1.	Done with Nina's permission, posted from one account because I couldn't be bothered to make two posts about the same thing. PM me if you need any edits.

Jordyn was pleased as punch.  It was almost too perfect.

They’d been talking about this in what seemed like mere days before.  The plan of a century was being put into motion and the best part was – she didn’t think they had to do anything to start it. 

She tried not to smile, she really did, but it seemed impossible to do so.  Instead, she twisted the fabric of her skirt into her gloved hands and watched it go down – almost literally.  She held a deep breath, particularly as Beckett grabbed the back of the dress and she knew that Bagnold was going to have an absolute fit. 

She wasn’t going to help either.  This was something she could not be involved in (publicly).  Instead, she got up and moved to the side, hoping she could avoid being obvious.  It seemed to be what Livi had been attempting to convey anyway, when they exchanged looks, and breathed in relief when Flitwick came up.  She hadn’t been the kind of prefect Jordyn had been, of course, but she was decent at her job and at least tried to uphold the rules in public, which was better than some current house leaders could say for themselves.

Jordyn picked up the pace out of the Great Hall and waited in the foyer area outside, biting on the tip of her glove for a moment, worried that perhaps Livi hadn’t been able to sweep in and save them before hexes started flying (it wouldn’t be the first time things started flying in the Great Hall – thankfully, Jordyn had also missed the food fight). 

Her shoulders dropped with pleasure as Livi walked out, arm around the brunette who had been brave enough to try and stop the brawn-not-brains that was Bagnold.  She rushed up and fell into step next to Liviana, catching the tail end of what she was saying about grooming.  “You’ll be in very good hands,” Jordyn added with a serene smile on her lightly painted lips. 

The fabric of Alexa’s dress was slippery between her fingers, but the not-so-gently tug was enough to let the Slytherin know that she meant business. Despite the internal panic, she was doing her best to be absolutely fearless. It was hard, being fearless. Especially when, at any moment, she could get hexed off of her feet. She heard Sophie before she felt the slender hand grasp her shoulder, turning her away from Alexa, leaving her all exposed. The petite Gryffindor was flashing her badge and doing her best to reprimand them, and it worked Katherine into a panic. She froze, not sure how to respond to the prefect who had just stopped her from all-out fighting Alexa. Was she really prepared to fight the girl who knew all her weaknesses? All Katherine had was her real name, not much of a weakness now that she thought about it.

When one of the Slytherin princesses wrapped an arm around her and gave her hushed orders, Katherine wasn’t one to argue. There was no way Katherine would offer herself up as a target for one of Anthony Hoult’s hexes. He was trigger happy, err, wand happy? She didn’t know, but the boy liked tossing hexes whenever he got the chance. And now that he was all close and cozy with Alexa, she knew that he would have no problem with sending a hex her way. Surrendering to the will of the two girls next to her, she cast her eyes to the floor and kept her head down as Sophie moved to deal with Alexa.

She didn’t know what to say or even if she should say something as Liviana escorted her out of the Great Hall, where Jordyn joined the trio. “I don’t understand,” she admitted, probably the first time in a while she would admit that she plain did not know what was going on here. She slipped out of Liviana’s hold and took a step back, still keeping up with the girls who had escorted her out; it wasn’t in a hostile manner, but in knowing that there was no need for the other girl to keep holding onto her at the moment. Flickwick probably had Alexa held up in the Hall, so she was safe… for now. She shook her head, “Thank you for getting me out of there, but I don’t understand why you did it?”

“And grooming, what grooming? For what exactly?” Katherine asked skeptically, her eyes darting frantically back and forth between the three girls. Two of them were Slytherin’s like Alexa, what made it so that she could trust them?

Carys had been in the Great Hall with her dear friend and cousin Liviana when the altercation between Katherine Beckett and Guinever Bagnold began. Typically, Carys did all that she could to stay on the good side of the Slytherins- but she knew that her cousin and her other Slytherin friends disliked Bagnold, and thus Carys shared that same opinion. She followed Livana as she moved over to Katherine, flanking the fellow Ravenclaw girl on her other side as Liviana escorted her from the Great Hall and away from what could have been a nasty little catfight.

She listened as Livana spoke through clenched teeth, eyebrow arching a bit when Livi said that Neely would be in charge of grooming Katherine's manners and better sensibilities. She knew that Livi was planning on figuring out a way to sway Katherine over to her side, to the Monarchy's side, and Carys was more than happy to do what she could to help. Even so, couldn't help but feel a bit awkward about it all. Carys had to work hard to maintain relationships with Slytherins and to work her way into some level of association with the Monarchy- but this was going to be handed to Katherine on a silver platter. Though it wasn't fair, she wasn't about to complain and make things more difficult than they already were.

Jordyn Dimbleby fell into their ranks as they exited the great hall, walking next to Liviana. When Katherine said she didn't understand why the girls had helped her out of the hairy situation, Carys offered a soft smile. "Some people in this school still possess some level of breeding and proper manners," she stated. "There is zero reason to allow a girl like Bagnold to end up ruining your reputation or get you into trouble." She would let Liviana or Jordyn offer a more thorough explanation. This wasn't her plan, after all, she was just another pawn in the grand scheme of things.

There were strength in numbers and a part of Livi wished she could have gotten the entirety of the Monarchy there in that moment to fold in around Beckett and signal to Bagnold just how limited her run of power would be. Of course she also knew how intimidating the Monarchy was when it descended upon you en masse and did not want to terrify Katherine either. So being flanked by Carys and Jordy was still a powerful statement, but not so powerful that the third girl should have felt like she was being fed to the sharks. Once they were out of the Great Hall and Katherine slipped free of Liv's grip she simply let her go, one hand falling naturally to her hip while she inspected the nails of the other, "You've heard the enemy of mine enemy is my friend? Alliances formed under the pretense of hating the exact same thing, that is what we're offering you".

"Obviously I don't expect you to trust us," she paused gesturing between herself and Jordyn, "the current social climate would actually indicate you were an idiot if you did because Slytherins are on the worst display at the moment. The thing is your problem also happens to be our problem; as my darling cousin," she paused again slipping her arm through Cary's "can attest to. None of us like this Mafia business. When it was Graham and Timmis the idea was annoying but not worth paying much attention to. Now that Alexa seems to have taken over and brought along Anthony, frankly I see it causing problems in my life and I loathe when other's hair brained schemes cause a problem in my life," she sounded annoyed at the mere thought but it wasn't directed toward Katherine at least.

"So here is the deal, you give us what you know on Mafia operations, the better the information the more we help you out. Obviously we'll do our best to keep Alexa away from you even if you have no real information; but if you have enough for us to get a Prefect take down in order, well then you'd be considered an honorary princess. I realize this might not seem like such an ideal thing for someone who finds Slytherins rather deplorable but in a world of 'us vs. them' it is much better to be one of us. We are fine, fierce, and fabulous; best clothes, best boys, best grades, best mates for life. Aligning yourself with us could do wonders to stop those nasty howlers from Granny; especially once my mam owls her asking for you to spend the spring Hols with us - which we will actually be spending with the Glamorous Godmother, in London". It was basically common knowledge that Livi's Godmother was the Dolly St. James and spoiled her almost rotten, "The grooming, of course, is more or less code for us teaching you to fight like a lady, which never actually looks light fighting but causes your opponent the most possible damage in the least amount of blows".

Jordyn hated to admit it that she found some level of excitement in this.  There was something absolutely… exhilarating about bringing someone down, and although she was more of a lady than to do so, she might have squealed as Carys had fallen into line as well.  She liked Carys, she really did, she was sweet and well mannered, and often provided a lot of the softness that they lacked, on the whole.   

She also had a good grasp on what could be very viable reasons for Katherine’s alignment with their group.  Liviana, however, jumped in, and expounded upon what they were actually doing.

At one point, it had been suspected that Jordyn might rise in the ranks to be the next leader, but there was so much brilliance in Liviana that she had stepped forward, and Jordyn was going to support her.  This was her mastermind scheme, and Jordyn had only volunteered to be right hand on it.  They had their own version of an army, and it was perfectly acceptable to be hand to the queen, as it were.  Jordyn piped in to comment on the other lives it was going to ruin, in addition to Livi’s, “Anyone remotely connected to them can face serious consequences.  Depending on what they’re doing, as serious as expulsion.” 

The former prefect was glad to have that knowledge under her belt.  Sure, she wasn’t a prefect right now, but she hoped to get it back once she could assure everyone that she could manage her work and her health.  That stint of whatever kind of flu it had been had really ruined everything, but now she was better, and she wanted it back – and she wanted it bad. 

Carys and Katherine were keys to that end as well, in Jordyn’s mind.  Livi continued however, with the current scheme, and the steps that would take to take them down, and Katherine’s part in it.  “And,” Jordyn piped in again, “being with us does not mean sacrificing your grades or your diginity.  In fact,” she stood up a little taller and prouder, “we take care of one another, and help when we can.”

The process of grooming someone took time and effort. You could scrub the floor until it shined, but if it had been put together haphazardly, it would never shine perfectly. Preparing someone for the world where social butterflies thrived and manners were not appreciated but expected, it was a form of art. What these girls were proposing was a chance to be refined their way – to learn how to fight dirty without ruining a perfectly good manicure. If you looked at a warrior in the Monarchy, they could fight and battle and still look damn good doing it; their physical appearance and reputation still intact and growing stronger with each battle. Katherine could see the benefits that the Monarchy had on some of the Slytherin princesses… but rewind to the Slytherin part, and she agreed with Liviana. She would have to be stupid to trust them right away. With the experiences she had stored away, there was no way she would trust them and be perfectly sane at the right time.

Besides, Carys was right. Alexa had no right to ruin her hard-earned reputation. She was intelligent and had managed to stay under everybody’s radar so far, she didn’t exactly want to lose that but being known as a benevolent force rather than a destructive one… It was easy to see what the better options were.

The words fine, fierce, and fabulous really stuck in her head. The entirety of Liviana’s monologue was reminiscent of a sales pitch, and Katherine was starting to buy into it. Benefits aside, this was her chance to knock miss ‘queen bee’ Alexa off of her oh-so-mighty throne. The idea thrilled Katherine; it was what she wanted after all. Having a small army at her side of trusted Ravenclaws and brilliant Slytherins alike, it could only get her that much closer to having the upper hand. She listened to Jordyn’s point as well, and started to mull it over. She wasn’t losing much here, rather gaining a lot. She had the information and ability to help out her classmates, and in return she had somewhere to settle for once.  A group of people who knew that they were refined and better than some of the crowd that pretended to run the school like their own personal playground.

With a nod of her head, Katherine presented her thoughts. “I appreciate that you understand that I simply can’t trust you immediately, but if you are absolutely serious, I have the sort of information that just might bring down the mafia and those related to it.” After all, who better to bring them down than someone with a grudge who had seen the organization at its finest, and now at its worst. At one point, it had been nothing but fun for Katherine because the things the Mafia tried to achieve were so childish, it was a game. But now they were trying to start a war, and she couldn’t have things so messy and disruptive. She completely understood, not only did it slander the names of everyone associated, but it was dragging down the superior reputation the Slytherin students had worked so hard to build and maintain.

With a gentle smile, she let the tension in her shoulders relax. “Well then, ladies, I think we have ourselves a deal. I promise to help you in whatever way possible, as long as the favor is returned. The information I possess should be worth your while.”

Was this really a way out? A light at the end of the tunnel? Were people actually offering to help Katherine solve a problem bigger than herself? Yes. The answer was yes, and she wasn’t prepared for how good the idea sounded to her, or for how good it felt.

Liviana got straight down to business. Trading protection for information on the mafia. A way to take down a common enemy. Best clothes, boys, and grades- fine, fierce, fabulous. Carys agreed with most of that. It was why she so desperately wished to be among the ranks of the monarchy. Carys desired acceptance by the Slytherin elite she wished that she could be. Of course she did not quite grasp the concept of fighting like a lady- she was incredibly non confrontational when it came down to it. But she did her best to look and act the part. Carys would hate to embarrass Liviana or Neely by behaving inappropriately, after all.

"I can think of a few other students I'd like to see expelled right alongside that ridiculous mafia," Carys commented. "It is such a shame you aren't capable of directly setting them up for something like that. Our current prefects are so spineless. Things were much better when you were looking out for the better interests of Hogwarts, Jordyn. I am counting the days until Trishna royally mucks it all up and you can return to your proper place in the world."

She listened as Katherine stated that she could not trust anyone immediately or implicitly. And if she had the sort of information that the monarchy was after- as she was claiming- Carys would do what she could to help make sure that Beckett gave that information over. If she was going to have to embrace her Ravenclaw roots, then she would- temporarily at least.

"It will be much easier to help you since we are dorm mates," Carys commented. "And it will be nice to have another Ravenclaw worthy of association. I have always felt so very out of place in our house with all of my friends and cohorts in the Slytherin house." She also did a good job of ostracizing herself, but tried not to acknowledge that, preferring instead to play the victim. "With the Monarchy on your side, nobody would dare to touch you. Nobody wants to cross them."