Slytherin Tales: The Divine Seven

Chapter 11: The Conspiracy

"Whatever her name is, she's a little scary, I can't imagine what she was doing there that time of night. Well, actually I can. I have a theory that she knows Professor Wolfram is a werewolf so every full moon she goes to steal stuff from his classroom. I bet she's probably plotting something right now," Ozzie finished, his voice hushed and low and his hazel eyes shone with excitement. Before I could pry him for more details, we were both alerted by the presence of someone behind me. I turned to see dark brown hair and eyes that I recognized.

"Jason! What're you doing here?"

"I just came to find Albert for something. How did your study session with Albert go yesterday?" Jason asked.

"Great! I actually managed to pass the test in class today thanks to him," I said, showing off my test proudly.

"That's great! I'm so proud of you," he tussled my hair. He noticed Ozzie, who looked rather startled by his sudden appearance.

"Who's your friend, Sachie? I feel like I walked in on something I shouldn't have."

"Oh that's just Ozzie, our resident conspiracy theorist."

"Conspiracy theorist?"

"Don't ask."

"Alright, well just stay out of trouble. I've heard recently that you've been involved in more and more pranks and scuffles," he said, a scolding tone creeping at the edges of his voice.

"It's not always my fault y'know, Leon and his friends are the ones who usually start stuff," I defended myself. Jason sighed.

"Well, just try not to get caught. If you do, you'll have detention y'know and that's never much fun."

"You would know," I elbowed him.

"Better than most," he laughed. "Though, since I am experienced, I will tell you this: if you do get detention, try to see if you can serve it with Professor Spinster. Detention with her isn't too difficult nor too tedious, usually she makes you organize some disaster in her classroom. One year I had to organize all the books and when I was done she let me out early and basically waived the rest of my time."

"Duly noted. I'll be sure to pass that on to Lucy and Mathias."

"Are they your partners in crime?"

"More or less. They're mostly just two pretentious idiots who happen to pull some fun pranks," I smirked.

"If you say so. Anyway, I better be off. Good seeing you! We'll be sure to get lunch sometime, I want to hear how your classes have been going."

"Sounds good! See you!" And with that, he left. I turned back to Ozzie, who had been silent the whole conversation.

"How do you know him?" Ozzie muttered to me.

"He's my older brother."

"That's your brother?" he asked in disbelief. I nodded before speaking.

"Yeah, why do you look so disturbed?" I questioned, confused as to why he seemed so uneasy.

"It's just that... I have a theory about him."

"Oh what now?!" I asked exasperated.

"I'm not sure I should tell you..."

"Why not?" I hissed.

"Because you might be one of them," he whispered.

"One of them?"

"I... I think that your brother is part vampire." I stood in disbelieving silence for a moment.

"Now I know you're a nutter."

"Hear me out! He's got pale skin plus he's-"

"Ozzie, you're more pale than even me. I can tell you right now that no one in my family is part vampire."

"Maybe Jason is adopted?"

"I wonder that sometimes too," I joked to myself. "But no, Ozzie, I can tell you right now he's not part vampire."

"Can you prove it?" Ozzie raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes.

"Well if we were vampires or even part vampires then we would be allergic to garlic, right?"

"Yes?"

"You know a lot of the food they serve at Hogwarts has garlic in it, right?"

"Maybe you're only mildly allergic to it, so as long as you don't eat it, then you're fine."

"YOU'VE SEEN ME EAT GARLIC MASHED POTATOES!" I shouted exasperated. "And before you even go there, Jason eats garlic too. One of his favorite foods is garlic bread."

"That is a little trickier to explain."

"Talking to you is exhausting, I'm going to go get some dinner. Maybe something with extra garlic to be safe," I winked jokingly and left, skipping off to the Great Hall.

There, I met up with Elliot, whom I informed about my conversation with Ozzie.

"So, are you part vampire?" teased Elliot. I punched his shoulder.

"Do I look part vampire?" I asked.

"Maybe. But I take it from your love of garlic foods that you're not."

"I think maybe Ozzie read Twilight a few too many times," joked Sable. I just stared at her.

"What's Twilight?" I tilted my head.

"My uncultured magic friends," Sable muttered to herself, shaking her head as she took a bite of casserole. Her dark ponytail swished with her movements. Rubina laughed airily at this.

"She's a pure blood who's never experienced much of the muggle world, you'll have to forgive her ignorance," Val chimed in snidely.

"You're a pureblood too, Val," I reminded him. "If you know what Twilight is, be my guest at filling me in." He looked bewildered at my suggestion, making me smirk.

"Shut up and eat you vampire," he elbowed me. We all laughed.

"You know Sachie, I think you've come a long way." Elliot said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I first met you, I felt like you were a little bit more timid, or relied on your brother for a lot of things. Like his presence was your comfort zone, but you've really stepped out of his shadow and into your own spotlight. You brought this friend group together. I guess my point is that I think you've become such an incredibly independent and clever person and I'm proud to be friends with someone like you," he finished. Sometimes it shocked me how honest and genuine he could be. His down-to-earth nature kept me grounded.

"Aww, thanks Elliot. I'm proud to be friends with someone as kind and as loyal as you." The rest of the feast that night was spent complimenting and praising each other, and while Val complained about how sappy it was, I could tell he had a soft spot in his heart and he seemed happier that night.

We finished dinner that night, though one of the prefects made my friends go back to sit with their own houses, and finally went to bed. Before falling asleep, I could swear I heard someone in my dorm slip out of bed and head to the Common Room. I wonder if Ozzie is right. I leaned up to check, and scanned the room. The beds all had the same green bed covers and emerald curtains lining their posts. All the beds in the room were filled, all except one that is. The one right next to mine. Sure enough, Genesis' bed was empty.