Learning How To Talk

~Chapter 6; The Sorting~

"You are NOT eating that." Draco grabs the floor roll and puts it on the seat next to him. Holly knows she can't reach it; she looks back at her plate. She feels Draco reach for something; a brand-new roll is placed in front of her. She looks up at Draco, who is now eating his own food. Holly clasps her fork, unsure how to hold it. She softly sticks the prongs of the fork into a slice of chicken, bringing it up to her mouth. Holly's eyes light up, she has never tasted anything as flavorful as this. "Do you want to try some dipping sauce?" Pansy offers her a bottle of a red thick liquid, "That's called ketchup, but there are a few others if you want to try something else." She explains as she grabs Holly's fork. She cuts off a small piece of chicken and dips it into the substance. "It's good, trust me." Something about her smile while she hands the utensil back to Holly makes her seem all the more trustworthy. Holly slowly moves the 'ketchup' covered chicken towards her lips, slowly biting it off the fork. A whole parade of flavors erupts on her tastebuds. She smiles to Pansy who smiles even wider back at her. Draco laughs slightly, "Here, try these." He points to a tree-looking thing, broccoli. Dudley never liked these, but Holly never got the luxury of eating his leftovers, especially the healthy leftovers. She takes a small bite, a different flavor and feeling. Not the best, but she refuses to waist food. What if she waists food and they take it away from her?

By the end of the feast Holly had eaten more food than he has within the past year. Yet still, her friends look at her with concern. 
"All Slytherins follow me to our dormitory!" Holly grabs ahold of Draco's hand, who subconsciously squeezes back gently. The group of Slytherins follow the prefect to the dungeons. The temperature drop makes a shiver run up Holly's spine. They approach a painting with a man holding a snake. 

"Pure blood. That is your password. Remember it because it is the only way you're getting into these dorms." the prefect snaps. The first years watch in amazement as the painting swings open when the password is said. All the students file into the painting gap. The room looks homey, but the atmosphere is cold. "This is your common room. Up those stairs to the left are the girls and to the right is boys." He continues, "Return down in five minutes, Professor Snape needs to talk with you all." His eyes seem to scowl at Holly, Draco glares in response. 

Blaise and Draco make their way right while Holly and Pansy make their way left. The room had at least a dozen beds along the walls. Hedwig flies up to Holly, her cage sitting on a nightstand beside a soft looking bed. "Yay! we're beside each other!" Pansy hugs Holly, who smiles in return while petting the feathers of the owl on her arm. "Aww, what's her name?" Holly points to the door. "Do you want to go see if Dray is out there?" Holly nods. The two girls carefully walk down the stairs and sit on the green couch in front of a small fireplace. Hedwig staying perched on Holly's forearm the entire time. Due to the common room being empty, they just sit and talk. Well, Pansy talks, and Holly listens. Hedwig hops down from her arm to her lap and snuggles into Holly's torso. 

Both girls being enamored in Pansy's story gives Draco an amazing opportunity to scare one. He debates on startling Holly, but he doesn't want to make her think she'll have to look over her shoulder in her own common room. Pansy on the other hand, Draco smiles mischievously as he sneaks behind his dark-haired friend. He locks eyes with Holly, which causes his smile to fade from mischievous too soft for a split second before he places a finger onto his lips. She smiles and draws her attention back to Pansy, who was still clueless of the platinum blond creeping up behind her. Until two hands are placed over her eyes, "Guess who!" She giggles; Holly covers her mouth trying to stop herself from laughing. Hedwig stares at her annoyed at the failed attempts of motionless laughter. "Dray! Stop, your hands are cold!" Although Holly disagrees with that statement she can't help but audibly giggle. 

When she calms down Holly notices that the other two are quiet. She looks up to see four eyes looking back at her. "Aww, Holly! Your laugh is so cute!" Pansy squeals, causing Hedwig to turn her head with a start. Draco moves without a word and sits himself down beside Holly. Holly takes notice of Draco's movements, but her face slowly becomes a dark shade of red once Pansy's words sink in. Draco' hand moves to gently pet Hedwig's feathers, causing Holly to snap out of her flustered trance. She moves her hand to Draco's shoulder, drawing his attention. "Hm?" She points to Hedwig and then to Pansy. His expression slowly fades from confused to realization. "Pansy, did you just so happen to ask what Holly's owl was named?" He asks, guessing he understood the small girl correctly as she looks incredibly pleased with herself. Pansy nods, "Yup but she wanted to come out to see if you were here." Draco chuckles softly. "That's because I know her name, it's Hedwig." Pansy's eyes seem to sparkle although the firelight might have just hit them just right. "Thats such a cute name!" 

The three(two) continue to talk as more and more Slytherins file into the common room. Soon the door swings open and a tall pale man dressed in black robes walks in. His hair is straight, black and shoulder length. Black eyes glance at the faces of all the first years before landing on the bright green eyes sitting beside the grey eyes of his godson. "My name is Severus Snape."  He begins, his words slow and some spacing is heard between them. "I am your head of house and potions master." Holly feels a hand grab hers, along with eyes watching her. "I have high expectations for each one of you." He pauses, "If any of you should have problems, come to me before anyone else." Another hand grabs her second hand. "I do not want to see any of you going to Dumbledore for help, it will only make the situation worse." Who's Dumbledore? "Now, you all go to your beds. I want no one late to their first class tomorrow." Everyone begins to walk out of the room. 

"You two, wait here." The man looks from Draco to Holly. Blaise shrugs, "see you upstairs." He whispers to his friend. Draco nods in response. Pansy on the other hand walks up the stairs silently, peaking back with worry every few steps. Once the room was vacant, except the three, words are finally exchanged. "What do you need Professor?" Draco asks, making sure not to move too far away from Holly. "You." His eyes are fixated upon Holly, "you're Holly Potter, right?" He seems to cringe when saying Holly's last name. Holly locks eyes with Draco, "Yes she is, why is that important?" Snape looks at Draco, "I want her to answer." His attention returns to the confused girl. "Are you Holly Potter or not?" She nods quickly. His hand moves up to cover his mouth slightly, his eyes taking in the physical imperfections of the girl. Her visibly bruised areas, the small cuts and large blisters on her hands. The tangled mess of hair on her head, and her pale skin that seems to hug her bones. Tears sting his eyes, so he dismisses the kids to bed. 

'How could this happen to Lily's child? Who did this?' The two walk off to bed in confusion as their professor's mind goes crazy. Holly steals one final look back at her head of house, he looks... sad? 

(2101 Words)

Sorry for this taking so long, it has been very crazy at school recently. Thank you for so many reads! Love you all! <3