Lumos (Ravenclaw Pride: Book One)

Chapter 11: Early Startle

-Meghan Malfoy-

Meghan woke up the next morning and stretched her arms above her head. Nix meowed at Meghan from the floor. Meghan pulled on her robes and slipped her wand into her boot. She left Lucy, who slept gracefully with her hair lying silkily, to have a bit more rest, seeing as it was barely sunrise. Back home at the Malfoy Manor, she had always been forced to wake up before the sun.

Meghan allowed Nix to lead her down the staircase and ended up at the bulletin board. The board listed Extracurricular activities to sign up for: Ancient Studies, Frog Choir, Ghoul Studies, Magical Theory, Muggle Art, Muggle Music, Orchestra, and Xylomancy. Also listed on the board were Quidditch tryouts. Wow, already? Nix nudged her leg and meowed. Meghan smiled and bent to pet her. She stepped out of the door and onto the steps. She skipped down the steps, her cat running at her heels. Meghan took a jump at the bottom of the steps and landed, bag swinging.

She walked down an empty hallway. Meghan felt something falling above her and stepped to the right. Growing up at her house, she had learned that staying in one spot too long meant you could get cursed easily. Water poured on the spot Meghan had just been standing. She raised her eyebrows towards a statue of a knight. She felt something or someone was behind it and she was right. A boy with flaming red hair peeked around the side of the statue, followed by an identical head on the other side. Meghan crossed her arms at the boys. The boys had disappointed looks on their faces.

"Nice try Georgie, but your aim is still horrible," the boy on the right moaned.

"It's like she knew it was coming, Freddie," the boy on the left replied.

"How did she know to step out of the way, Georgie?" questioned "Freddie."

"I don't know... maybe we should ask her, Freddie," answered "Georgie."

The twin boys stepped around the statue, each mirroring the others movement. They strode over to Meghan, who still had her arms crossed. Before they got too close, Meghan yanked her wand from her boot. She smiled sweetly to the boys and whispered "Aguamenti," just as Snape had done yesterday. The boys were hit by jets of water coming from Meghan's wand. The boys spluttered and swatted their hands at the water. Meghan had to suppress her giggles as they looked at their soaked robes.

"You shouldn't have done that, miss."

"You can call me Meghan." Meghan smiled mockingly.

"Well, Meghan, I'm Fred—" one said.

"And I'm George," said the other.

Meghan laughed slightly at them and felt a nudge at her leg. Looking down, she saw it was Nix. Meghan picked up Nix and placed him on her shoulder. The boys flicked their wands and their robes became instantly dry.

"We have to go set up more pranks—"

"But don't think we have forgotten about this, Meghan."

"Not for a moment," Meghan said walking away, leaving the boys to watch after her swirling robes.

Meghan heard the sound of pounding feet as students trod down and up from their common rooms. Nix jumped off her shoulder and disappeared off down a hallway. She walked with the air of Malfoy pride into the Great Hall. Meghan spotted her friends and walked over. Meghan slipped into a spot next to Peter and across from Lucy.

"Where have you been?" asked Lucy, who sipped some pumpkin juice tiredly.

"I was walking around the castle with Nix," Meghan answered nonchalantly.

Lucy nodded and bit into a piece of toast. Peter turned to the girls, "So what extracurriculars are you signing up for?"

Lucy jumped in, "I'm thinking about signing up for Magical Theory, Frog Choir, and maybe Ancient Studies."

"I want to do Magical Theory, Ancient Studies, Ghoul Studies and Muggle Art. Though my parents would probably use an Unforgivable Curse on me if they found out I wanted to learn Muggle Art," Meghan replied.

Lucy and Peter laughed, thinking Meghan was joking.

Out of the corner of her eye, Meghan saw her brother standing sullenly by the doorway. He gave Meghan a beckoning look.

"I'll be right back guys," Meghan said when she saw her brother gesture for her.

Meghan and Draco exited the Great Hall in silence. They found an empty hallway and ducked behind an archway.

"Mother and Father sent me a letter. They said they are disappointed," Draco said in a hushed voice. Meghan detected... panic in his words. "They approve of the Houses, but not of our behavior. They have heard about you becoming friends with a half-blood. They also heard about my fiasco with Lucy and about the Potter kid coming here. They want us to make them proud. No more goofing around or anything that could make the Malfoy name look bad."

"How do they know we're friends with a half-blood?" Meghan asked in shock.

Draco ignored her. "Crabbe and Goyle are watching our every move. They may seem stupid, but they follow orders. I'm just warning you, don't get too close to anyone Father would disapprove of."

Meghan turned to leave. "I'd say the same to you, brother."

Meghan strode back into the hall, her face emotionless. She sat back down next to Peter and Lucy.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked.

"Nothing, just a bit of news from home. Nothing Draco and I can't handle..." Meghan tried to reassure him.

Peter wasn't convinced, but choose to ignore it for the time being, seeing as it was time to head to Herbology with the Hufflepuffs.