An Heir

Part Six- Wanted: Invisibility... or not

The headmaster had warned me about the dementors but I was still shocked when I peered through the window and saw a swarm of black cloaks heading for the school, I had literally just looked up what the guards of Azkaban; the wizard prison; were when I saw them and noted that the description I found was very accurate.
They were hooded dark figures, their robes hid all except their skeletal hands; the sky above them seemed to blacken as they moved closer, as if they were sucking the light out of it. During the day everywhere I seemed to travel in the school was cold and frigid, like it wouldn't be warm ever again. Not wanting to have that immediate depression hanging over my head I went back to the commons, and the distance that I had put between myself and the higher rooms of the school made me feel a little better; I didn’t have to wonder why so many people had been documented as going insane in Azkaban.

I was still using my hair to hide the large cut on my face, and I had found another just below my chin upon closer inspection of myself the day before. I was again sitting in the dormitory opposite the mirror, wand in hand concentrating hard on a particularly nasty bruise on my arm, the spell wasn’t making the bruises and grazes disappear completely but they were definitely healing faster, most bruises had changed from a deep purple colour to an ugly shade of yellow, the smaller cuts had already puckered up into scarred tissue. I had been keeping the door open so that Sthyss had an easier time getting into the room but remembering what he had said I shut it gently and stood in front of the mirror. I pulled my top off carefully, being cautious of a particularly nasty bruise along my ribs and turned around so that I could see the birth mark along my spine. “Wow.” I sighed out loud.
It was the first time I had ever seen it fully, I had had glimpses of it now and then but only sections of it and it seemed I’d never just had the opportunity, even after thirteen years.
It was black and I could see that it wasn’t just a corner that was cloudy, but rather the whole thing seemed smudged, like paint that hadn’t been left to dry. It faintly resembled a snake and had my spine been visible it would appear to be wrapped and coiled around the column of bone, true to my family’s nature the first thought that came to my head was; “Pretty.”

XXXX

The school was dark again and the teachers were all buzzing about rampantly, getting ready to welcome new students and those returning to the school. I noted in the chaos that there was a teacher missing, the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher was supposedly arriving with the students on the train. I was sitting reading in the commons when Professor Snape came and found me, “Imogene come with me.” He told me in the drawling voice he used habitually.
We left the Slytherin common room and I limped up the stairs trying harder and harder to keep up with him, but it was hard, I was still tired and though I had slept a few extra hours today I was struggling. “Keep up.” He ordered as I fell a little behind. We had reached the top of the stairs now and I could see the other students, a horde of young people all stuffing into the Great Hall. I turned to look at Snape but he had gone. Looking further to my left I realised that he was already at the doors to the hall and was pushing through the students; or more accurately a path was parting through the sea of children. I decided that I should go sit at the Slytherin table, I’d asked Professor McGonagall earlier that day where to sit and at first she had said to sit at the table second from the left then she’d stopped herself and said ‘at the table furthest to the left,’ I assumed she had forgotten I wasn’t in Gryffindor because she seemed regretful when she instructed me correctly.

There were people sitting at the table already and remembering the concept of camouflage, I sat close to them but far enough not to seem pushy. One of them, the one closest to me was a blonde boy, he looked younger than me but at the same time he held himself with that same self-importance that Professor Snape did.
No-one spoke to me until the table was bustling and the blonde boy and his friends had been talking and glancing with raised eyebrows at me for ten minutes, Sthyss moved under my shirt and I realised that he must have wound himself around me back in the common room. “So who are you?” The blonde boy said finally. I looked up at him and offered him my hand,
“I’m Imogene.” I introduced myself brightly.
“Draco Malfoy.” He said in an imperious tone, “And this is Crabbe and Goyle.” He gestured to them both and neither of them looked at me but were distracted by something on the table across from us.
“Hey Draco, Potter keeps looking this way.” Hearing a familiar name I looked to where the three boys had now directed their gaze and saw the same boy I had met fleetingly in the Leaky Cauldron. “Hey watch this,” Draco indicated to Harry and appeared to be pretending to faint, I looked down embarrassed and when I looked back up, I caught Harry looking at me and I mouthed “Sorry.”
I looked down at my plate, not taking part in the shouts of laughter that had erupted from the rest of the table at what Malfoy had done. I watched Harry across the room and could see that he was annoyed by what Draco had done, Harry however seemed to get over it fairly quickly and glanced at me every now and then when he wasn’t talking to the serious looking girl next to him and the ginger boy; whose face was turned from me so that all I could see was the back of his head; until Draco had another crack at him and this time I took things into hand though I wasn’t sure why.
“Please just drop it.” I said in a small voice, despite my tone he turned to me and looked thoughtful, he then was distracted by something else. “So what year are you in, I haven’t seen you here before?” He smirked and I think for him that must have been what passed as a smile.
“I’m a third year,” I answered and he looked surprised.
“So you transferred or what?”
“I only started this year. Professor Dumbledore believed that I could cope with the amount of work it would need to catch up.”
“Huh so you’re pretty smart then.” He appeared to think that he was better than everyone; at least that was the message I was getting. It seemed that the other members of Slytherin house held some of the more negative values that my ultimate grandfather had prided.
“Just hard working,” I replied modestly.