𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚜 & 𝙻𝚒𝚎𝚜 ||𝙳.𝙼 𝙵𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌||

Chapter 9 - The Start of Year 2

Before the dinner, I decided to stop by Professor Snape's office in the dungeons. I was headed down the dungeons, it was quite dark and I didn't like the idea of being there, not alone, at least. But I had to, to find out the truth.

"Looks like someone lost their way"

I turned around to see Draco Malfoy with his infamous smirk on his face.

"I didn't lose my way. I wanted to see Professor Snape before dinner" I said kindly.

"Snape? Why in the world would you have to see Professor Snape?" Draco asked.

"Nothing that concerns you, Draco" I said again calmly.

"Malfoy, how many times do I have to tell you that Middleton?" he said irritatingly.

"Now, what is happening here?" Professor Snape to the rescue.

"I was coming to see you Professor; I have to talk to you about something" I said looking at Professor Snape.

"Alright then, follow me Miss Middleton" he said in his cold tone. "And Mr. Malfoy, I believe that the feast will be starting soon" and we left.

As we entered his office, he told me to sit on a chair facing his desk. "Now, what is so important Miss Middleton that you're missing the feast"

"Sir, I had a few questions about my stay here over the summer" I didn't give him the chance to protest and I continued, "Why do I have so many powers and abilities? I mean I'm a muggleborn, and no other witch or wizard in my time has it. Even if they're pureblood or half even. So why is it that I'm more than a witch? An esprit de vie?

"I'm sorry, Miss Middleton, I don't know what to tell you. And even if I did, it wouldn't be my place to tell you." He replied coldly, turning all my questions down. I knew that there was something he wasn't telling me.

Before I could say anything, Mr. Filch had brought Harry and Ron in his office. They were covered in mud and Ron's wand was broken in half.

"Harry? Ron?" I said shockingly.

"Liv?" they said in unison. "What are you doing here?"

"You were seen by no less than seven muggles. Do you have any idea how serious this is? You have risked the exposure of our world. Not to mention the damage you inflicted on a Whomping Willow that has been on these grounds since before you were born." Snape said angrily. I connected the dots, seeing the newspaper and realized that they flew on Mr. Weasley's car and had risked their life.

"Honestly, Professor Snape, I think it did more damage to us" Ron said sarcastically.

"Silence!" he said angrily. He then stood from his chair and marched over to the boys saying "I assure you, that if you were in Slytherin and your fate rested with me, the both of you would be on the train home tonight. As it is-"

"They are not" he was cut by Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, to their rescue.

"Miss Middleton, you are hereby excused. Wait for your friends in The Great Hall and proceed for dinner." said Professor McGonagall

I stood up and left the office and headed towards The Great Hall. I was still dreading to walk alone through the dungeons, just seeing them and its dark hall gave me shivers down my body.

"Olivia" a familiar voice said. I turned around to see who it was. Chris. I ran up to him and hugged him and he took me in his arms and twirled me around. He was like the big brother I wanted and never had, I had grown to love him and him, me.

"You're the sight to sore eyes, Chris. I missed you so much." I spoke.

"You too, darling. What are you doing here? In the dungeons?" he asked me.

"I was in Snape's office, I wanted to ask him something" I told the truth.

"Alright, the feast is soon starting, let's go" he said taking my hand and we went running.

We soon arrived at the entrance of The Great Hall, and I saw Cat and Jo, they gave me a warm hug and then I saw Rafael. He was walking down from the stairway looking down and was about to reach the gate where we were standing, when I ran to him and engulfed him into a hug. He was taken a back by it but he soon gave in realizing it was me. He gently placed a kiss on top of my head, as he was taller than me and I could only reach his chest.

We all walked into the hall and separated our ways and sat on our table. I went and sat beside Hermione, when Fred sat in between me and Hermione, on my right and George on my left.

"What was that?" said Fred.

"With that cute Ravenclaw boy?" completed George.

"What? Nothing" which it was, I liked him, but not like, like him. We had grown close over the summer and him and we used to owl each other a lot.

"Ohh come on, love" said George nudging me with his elbow.

"He's staring at you" completed Fred nudging me from the other side.

Then I looked up from my plate, he was. He was staring. As soon as I saw him, his cheeks turned red and he smiled at me. And I smiled back.

"You guys, I'm almost 13, come on. And you guys are my best friends, if there's anything, which there isn't, I will tell you guys first" I said them and started digging into my food.

"Hey!" Hermione and Ginny said in unison, when I referred to the twins as my best friends.

"Ohh, quit it guys!" I said knowing well that the girls were kidding.

Harry and Ron soon joined us and talked about how the way to 9 ¾ platform closed and how someone doesn't want Harry in Hogwarts, this year. The sorting of First years was over. Soon we all finished dinner and went to our dorms. 

The next day, we went to Greenhouse 3 for our Herbology lecture with Professor Sprout. It was about Mandrakes. She asked if anyone knew about the mandrakes and I did, so did Hermione.

"Miss Middleton, not you" she said throwing me a knowing smile that why I knew about mandrakes.

"Yes, Miss Granger." Hermione went on explaining about the mandrake and won Gryffindor 10 points, she had arranged earmuffs for us. We all wore them, and she told pointing at me.

"Miss Middleton, now can you show us how to plant the mandrake?"

"Um, yes Professor." I said shyly. I was standing exactly across Malfoy.

"Now, I would like to remind you, to check if you firmly wore the earmuffs and that they are covering your ears properly. Now watch me closely. You grasp your mandrake firmly, pull it sharply out of the pot."

The mandrake's cries filled the whole room, making Neville faint, which was quite funny because every other wrong thing used to happen to him only. I gently rubbed my index finger on the top of the mandrake's root, which quickly calmed it down and it stopped crying. I had read it in my Herbology book, that only a few witches and wizards are able to do it, and I wanted to try it. Everyone was shocked to see it.

"Got it? And now, quickly dunk it down into the other pot and pour a little sprinkling of soil to keep him warm and there it can stop crying." I said quickly before anyone could ask me how I did it.

"Very well explained and executed, Miss Middleton, another 20 for Gryffindor" Professor Sprout said proudly, knowing what she taught me over the summer.

"Right on, plenty of pots to go around. Do what, Olivia just showed you" she continued.

And that's what everyone did. They all pulled their mandrakes and cries became more in the room. I was staring at Malfoy to see how he would do it, and he did exactly what I did, he tried to tame the mandrake. But it went south. The mandrake bit his finger, which made Malfoy furious and I giggled. He looked at me and furrowed his eyebrows but quickly changed it into a warm smile.