Hateful Love

Chapter Three

NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.

~*~

Candles float overhead as we enter the Great Hall. All the other students are mostly already seated, and the teachers have taken their seats at the front of the dining hall.

          I slide in next to Cho, and Katherine takes my other side. I take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself for the agonizingly long Sorting that’s about to take place. At first, it was nice, watching all the other first years get sorted into the four different Houses. But over the years, it’s gotten seriously boring for me.

          I pick at a scratch in the oak of our table as the first name is called. “Jessica Abott!”

          I look up briefly to see Hannah practically glowing with pride as her sister steps up to the stool. A few seconds after the Sorting hat is placed upon her head, the voice rings out, “Hufflepuff!”

          Katherine snorts, but no one can possibly hear it over the loud applause from every house except Slytherin. I’m pretty sure the Slytherins clap for no one outside of their own house.

          The Sorting drags on and on, but after Gerald Wattkins is put into Gryffindor, Dumbledore raises his wrinkled hands without a word, and mountains of food appear before us.

          I only pick at a few slices of chicken, however, as I laugh and talk with Katherine. The first day of school always makes me nervous, mostly just because I’m worried my classes will suck.

          Some of the House ghosts float into the Great Hall, and I shiver when I lay eyes upon the Bloody Baron. With the long, thick chains hanging off his transparent body, I’ve always found him a bit unnerving. Well, that, and the fact that Cho convinced me in our third year that the Baron had hid in the girls bathroom to spy on us. I giggle to myself at the memory—Cho can talk me into anything.

          After most of the students finish eating, Dumbledore rises from his large, gold encrusted chair at the center of the teachers’ table and begins his yearly speech.

          Normally, I would pay attention. I mean, Dumbledore is sincerely captivating, but my eyes are trained on someone else this year.

          This someone is Draco Malfoy. And not because I’ve suddenly fallen madly in love with him; the look on his face has me wondering what’s going on with him. Malfoy’s sitting at the end of the Slytherin table, surrounded by friends, but he just stares blankly at his empty plate. He seems to be deep in thought, and I can’t help but try to guess at what he’s thinking about. Surely, it isn’t about his upcoming classes.

          Katherine snaps me out of my thoughts by smacking my arm. I jump and look around, realizing that the other Ravenclaws around us have started to rise from their chairs.

          “Daydreaming?” Katherine smirks up at me. “Let’s go, I’m so tired I could sleep right on top of our dinner table.”

          I laugh along with her as we head up to our dormitory, feeling just about as tired as Katherine. The terrible train ride completely wiped me out.

          Our dormitory is shared by the five Ravenclaw girls in our year. Me, Katherine, Cho, Luna Lovegood, and Julie McCarthy. Things had gotten pretty interesting over the years, mostly just because of Luna.

          We come to a stop in front of the portrait. The tiny, bony woman opens her small mouth to give us her riddle.

          “A man is traveling to Belgium,” she begins, and I listen carefully. Usually, I’ll get the riddles straight away, but sometimes I’ll have to wait for someone else to come along and guess the correct answer.

          “Along the way, he meets another wizard with nine wives. Each of these nine wives hold nine bags. There are nine cats inside each of those nine bags. For every cat inside, there are nine kittens. How many wizards, witches, bags, cats, and kittens are traveling to Belgium?”

          I look over at Katherine and we both scoff at how easy this riddle was. “One wizard,” we respond at the same time. The lady smiles lightly, and the portrait swings open.

          I barely glance at the common room that I’ve missed all summer. I grab Katherine’s arm and drag her up to the girls wing, desperate to vent about what happened on the train.

          As soon as we enter our dormitory, Katherine yanks her hand away and snaps, “What’s your problem—?”

          “It was—awful!” I choke out, my eyes starting to water. “On the train!”

          Her face softens, and she gently pulls me over to sit on her bed. Katherine brushes at my hair, reminding me of when we were younger.

          “Someone used Instant Darkness powder, and someone else bumped into me and I fell on top of—of…” I try to slow down and force his name out. “…Draco Malfoy.”

          Katherine rolls her eyes and says, “That’s it? Cassie, he’s probably already forgotten about it.”

          “No, he yelled at me,” I cry. “And all the other Slytherins stared at me like I was a freak.”

         “Well, he doesn’t know who you are, right?” Katherine says, trying to make me feel better. “It’s not like he’ll be able to find you again. You can just avoid him.”

          I sniff and respond guiltily, “Um, well, I kind of told him my name.”

          “What?” she snaps. “Why would you do that?!”

          “I—I didn’t think about it!” I stammer, suddenly flustered. “I was freaking out, and—“

          “Cassie, relax,” Katherine interrupts quietly, patting my hand. “You’ll be okay. And besides, you have Matt to protect you.”

          I look up in shock at her cheeky expression, and I can’t even bring myself to say anything.

          “Oh, come on,” she laughs with a sly smile. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. I am your best friend, you know.”

          I finally find my voice and lie desperately, “What? I don’t like him…”

          Katherine rolls her eyes again and stands up with a yawn. “Let’s just go to bed. I’m too lazy to gossip about your love life.”

          I glare at her and stick my tongue out, totally pissed. Well, at least she distracted me from thinking about Malfoy—that’s a plus.