Summary:
Meril Lizlow is known for getting into trouble, which is exactly what gets her sent off to Wizarding Boot Camp for two years. Now, she's back, but things have changed while she's been away. Follow Meril as she gets herself into trouble, fights, and hilarious situations; as she struggles with her emotions and tries to untangle herself from the web she's caught herself in--a web of lies she's told herself; a messy web of love.

Book One begins here....

Prologue

A near-fifteen-year-old brunette sat, silent, at her kitchen table, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She had just gotten back home late the night before—her first time back in two years. She couldn't help feeling that she was dreaming—that she wasn't really there. When she had gotten home, she had walked warily about the halls and then lay awake for hours in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. If she slept, would she still be there when she woke? A sinking feeling fell in her stomach at the possibility.

She took a sip of her tea, relaxing her eyes and trying to do the same to the rest of her body. She was so tense—so on her guard for another, sudden change. She was afraid to get too comfortable again. Things always seemed to change.

She still remembered clearly how it had all happened. It was May of 1990—nearly three years prior—in Scotland. It was a Saturday, which meant a break in classes for the week. It was morning—a beautiful, sunny, clear morning—and she had been enjoying it with her friends out by the lake, when an older classmate, Amy Smith, purposefully bumped shoulders with her.

"Whoops, sorry Meril," the older girl sneered.

As usual, Meril reacted a bit rashly. She excused herself from her friends and stalked over to Amy, incensed. Nobody, especially not Amy Smith, provoked her without retaliation, be it verbal, physical, or magical.

"Amy, Amy, Amy," Meril tutted, shaking her head. "Do you ever learn?"

Amy snorted. "Learn what?"

Meril closed her lips over the grin she couldn't suppress. By not answering the question at all, Amy had managed to answer it perfectly. She always had found the perfect ways to display her stupidity.

"Learn not to mess with me, duh." Meril had never had any qualms about standing up to others; in fact, she was often much too eager to do it.

"Excuse me?"

"Stop acting stupider than you are, Amy. It isn't very becoming."

"I don't know how possible that is for her, Mer," one of Meril's friends joked, having come up behind the two girls.

"True that, Lee," Meril snickered.

Amy blinked at them. "What?"

The boy, Lee, rolled his eyes. "We just called you stupid, Amy. Get with it, will you?"

"Don't know if she can," a ginger haired boy chuckled along with his twin brother.

"Guys! Stop stealing my lines," Meril semi-whined; as tough and old as she liked to pretend she was, she was still only twelve years old and was, therefore, prone to moments of immaturity. "This is my fight."

"Fine, we'll just watch," the second redhead sighed. He stepped back, followed by his brother and Lee. Meril took a step closer to Amy. The elder looked down at the younger with the mask of power, but Meril was far more confident.

"Now, tell me, are you really sorry now?"

Amy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Meril, you blow things way out of proportion. It was a bloody bump!"

"To you, maybe it was. But to me it shows that you don't respect me, that you consider me someone who can just be pushed around. But let me tell you, that isn't true."

Amy looked down at wide eyes, thoroughly weirded out by Meril's threatening tone. "And you read too far into everything. You're bloody insane," she whispered.

"That may be so," Meril said with a smirk, unfazed by the question of her sanity. "However, that's just the way I am, then."

"And you expect me to respect a crazy person?"

"Sometimes, I think that that is the best kind of person to respect."

Meril went to walk away but was stopped by a kick in the back of her legs. The blow sent her sprawling forward and she landed on her hands and knees.

Amy smirked and turned, about to walk away, when Meril, who had turned while Amy wasn't watching, lunged at the older girl's knees, causing her to fall on her face.

"Go Meril!" her friends cheered from the sidelines as they watched. Meril stood and proudly bowed before them. Amy took advantage of this moment and tackled her to the ground, tugging at her long brown hair.
Meril writhed about on the ground, trying to throw the older girl off of her, but found that she couldn't. So, she instead proceeded to pummel her face with a fury of clenched fists.

"Dungbombs, Mer! Throw a dungbomb at her!" her friends chorused, but Meril paid no heed. There was no time for that now, even if she did have any on her.

Amy took her hands from Meril's hair and moved them to her face. Using her long nails she tore at the brunette's delicate, light skin until it became red.

Meril stopped punching the older girl's face and went to lift her leg, kneeing Amy in the gut; this action sent the blonde backwards, leaving her briefly on her back.

Meril got to her feet and gently rubbed her raw face, grimacing. The older girl had managed to break her skin. Meril tasted the iron in her mouth as the sweat and blood dripped down her face.

Things continued on in this way until both of them got tired of the bruises and the blood. Of course at this point the fight wasn't even near done; every action made the two girls more angry, causing the fight to just go on and on. Meril's friends had rallied a crowd, most of whom were rooting for Meril, since, though she was considered obnoxious by many, she was much more well liked than Amy.

"Okay. I suggest that we continue this thing like civilized witches," Amy panted. Meril gave a short nod, wiping the sweat from her forehead using the back of her hand. Wordlessly she wielded her long, curved wand; Amy did the same, a smirk on her face. Meril cocked an eyebrow in the other girl's direction, but Amy shrugged.

"It's nothing. I'm just excited, that's all. After all, I just recently learned a wonderful spell. One you won't learn for another two years."

This remark caused a large intake of breaths to occur and some even called for Meril to forfeit. Amy, though surprisingly daft, was quite clever in school, as all Ravenclaws are, and was known to have some tricks up her sleeves.

Despite all of this, Meril shook her head. She knew many good spells to use, too, even if not as many. And even if she didn't win in the magic area of the fight, she won hands-down with the physical fighting. Meril looked at Amy's purple face and swollen leg with a sense of pride. She hadn't gotten even near that bad from Amy.

"Ready? Start!" Amy ordered. The two of them both said incantations and pointed their wand at each other. With more luck than skill, Meril avoided Amy's attack while her own hit the older girl full blast, turning her limbs into jelly, causing her to tumble to the ground.

Meril turned her back on Amy to face her supporters, grinning like a fool. "You don't have the time to turn your back on me," Amy grunted, struggling to sit up. She pointed her wand at Meril's small back, muttering an incantation under her breath.

Meril spun around, shocked that her opponent could move at all. And this time, she couldn't move in time to avoid the attack sent at her. So, she flew backwards, picking up grass and moss as she skidded across the Hogwarts property. Students fled to avoid Meril as she continued to slide farther and farther back. Whatever spell that had been, Meril hadn't heard, but it was definitely a powerful one.

It took a few moments for the younger girl to recover. When she did, she cradled her stomach as she limped back to the newly reformed ring of students; she shoved through the wall of bodies and returned to the center, her wand raised threateningly before her.

"A--" Meril began lowly, slowly staggering closer and closer to her opponent.

"Stop right there!" Professor McGonagall snapped as she and little Professor Flitwick shoved through the students. McGonagall threw an arm before Meril, who tried to sputter some nonsense but failed miserably. So instead she stared at her Head of House in shock as everyone who had watched the fight slowly dispersed, with the exception of Lee and the twins.

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, and Mr. Jordan—Go!" Professor McGonagall shrilly ordered at Meril's three friends, her pointer finger thrust outwards. The three frowned towards their female friend before scampering off, leaving Meril alone with the two professors and Amy.

"Miss Smith, I must say I am quite disappointed with you. You were on the right path to being a Prefect, but I don't know what to do about that anymore," Flitwick squeaked, shaking his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Amy apologized, head bent.

"Yes, yes. I'm afraid I'll still have to give you a punishment, though. But for now, please go to the Hospital Wing so Madam Comfrey can care for your injuries."

"Of course, Professor. Should I stop by your classroom later tonight?"

The little man shook his head ""I'll summon you when I need you. Now let me escort you to the Hospital Wing."

Amy smiled smugly at Meril before walking off towards the castle with her Head of House, leaving the younger of the two quite uncomfortable, alone with the Deputy Headmistress and Head of her House.

"Miss Lizlow, I am sorry to say I am not at all surprised that this incident occurred," McGonagall sighed.

"I can't say I am either. Amy has been pushing me for weeks. I'm actually just surprised I stopped myself from doing this for as long as I did."

"No, Miss Lizlow, that is not what I am talking about. I'm saying that I'm not surprised that you got into a fight--again. However, I am surprised that you would go so far."

"She's the one who started it," Meril, outraged, pointed out.

"It doesn't matter who started it, Miss Lizlow. You are the one who continued it. Now I'd give you a detention but I don't think that has any affect on you. So, instead, you will have a detention every Friday night for the rest of the year. Stop by my office tonight so we can discuss the rest of your punishment."

"But Professor—it was one fight!" Meril protested.

The tight-haired, tight-lipped woman stopped walking, turned around, and sighed wearily. "No, Miss Lizlow. It wasn't just one fight. Now go to the Hospital Wing. You need to be taken care of as well."

Meril grumbled a vague response before obeying her teacher and trudging off to the Hospital Wing, the only room in the castle she dreaded more than History of Magic.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Meril rapped her knuckles on the closed door to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Come in!" the woman called; Meril proceeded with caution. The door creaked as she pushed it open. McGonagall sat behind her desk, stiff as usual. This would not have bothered Meril at all if she had not seen the Headmaster standing beside her.

"Oh! Um...Good evening, Professor Dumbledore. How are you doing?"

"I am doing fine, thank you Meril. However, I think at the present moment you should currently be more concerned about yourself."

At these words, Meril's whole body tensed. "Wh-why? What's my punishment? I'm not expelled--am I?"

The two adults wildly shook their heads. "No, no!" Professor Dumbledore laughed. "It is not quite so severe!"

It is not quite so severe, Meril repeated to herself, her stomach sinking.

"Then what is it?"

"Please--come sit down, Miss Lizlow," McGonagall sadly order, pointing at a chair in front of her desk; Meril slowly made her way to the chair and sat in it as stiff as a board.

"Miss Lizlow, we decided that the best thing in your situation would be..." McGonagall couldn't finish the thought, so Dumbledore, using his kind words and tone, finished for her.

"Meril, we decided that, after this year has finished, you should go to a Wizard's…shall we say, resort?"

"A resort isn't a punishment. What is it really?"

"Wizard's Reform Camp," Dumbledore corrected, the twinkle completely ridden from his normally sparkling, blue eyes.

Meril's stomach somehow managed to plummet even farther down. "Boot Camp?" she croaked.

"I suppose you could call it that, yes."

"For how long?"

"Well, we thought that two years should be sufficient. You need some space from here and the fights you get involved in," McGonagall replied.

"And Boot Camp will help?" At this point Meril felt numb to the conversation. She wasn't even shocked at how long she was to stay; she couldn't be.

"It will help you to restrain your impulses."

"But I didn't start t--"

"But you have in the past!"

Meril slumped down in her seat, heaving a sigh. A long, dragged out silence followed. Meril fidgeted, not knowing whether or not the conversation was over. Eventually she managed to squeak, "What about my classes?"

"Oh don't worry about that! They provide classes every day--the same ones you have back here. The only thing is that you don't get electives--you take every class. And you have longer days..."

Meril groaned. The classes she had at Hogwarts were bad enough. Longer days though, thrown on top of being somewhere she didn't want to be with no one she wanted to be with…it was a hard thing to imagine surviving. Impossible, really.

"What if...what if I get into no more fights for the rest of the year? What if I'm an angel and--"
They both sadly shook their heads. "No, Miss Lizlow. This is for the best. But don't worry--you will be welcomed back with open arms when the two years are up!"

Meril grumbled something inaudible in response; neither of the adults said anything to her though. They must've understood the battle that was going on in her head; in her heart; in her stomach.

"I need some sleep," she announced, attempting to rise to her feet.

"Yes! Go rest, Meril," Dumbledore kindly said, offering his arm for her to take so that she could stand easier. "I'm sure you'll need to sort your thoughts. If you'd like you could take the day o--"

"No!" Meril near-snapped. "I'm not going to miss my classes. I'm making the most of the time I have here. Now… good evening."

And with that, Meril left the office and, in a dream-like trance, made her way back to her dormitory where she forced herself into an empty sleep.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"But that's all behind me now!" Meril, quite out of character, shouted to herself. It wasn't like herself to be so optimistic. And yet, there she was, throwing her fist in the air and talking to herself encouragingly. "Now I get to go back. Hogwarts was probably even more boring without me!" she smugly assured herself, sitting back down in her seat and smoothing down her baggy t-shirt.

"Without me...hm. I wonder what sort of entertainment they got while I was away. Fewer fights, no entertaining t-shirts…Of course they still got the twins and Lee..."

At the "boot camp," it seemed as if Meril was the only jokester. And, when she was transferred to the German wizarding school after a year because of her mother's job, that still didn't change.

"Meril! Come on, we need to go get your supplies!" Ms. Lizlow voice called down from the staircase. Meril sighed and stood. As much as she was looking forward to returning to Hogwarts, the change which, though she tried to deny it, she knew was waiting for her…it scared her. It scared her a lot.

a/n okay, so, as I wrote in the author's note of chapter 31 (though if you are looking at the prologue you probably haven't gotten there) I am rewriting/ revising prologue-chapter twelve. So this is my first one at that. I hope you liked it. I didn't change much about this one, but hopefully it is better now. Feedback is great :)

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed :)