The smell of the morning's breakfast wafted down the hall ways and the distant chatters of hungry students could be heard from classrooms away.
I watched Trixy as she leant up and over the breakfast table to eagerly catch the newspaper and letters her family owl had swooped down to drop. I chuckled as she wobbled precariously bouncing the packet like a hot potato before snatching it mid-air. I flinched away from Trixy's flying hands and Matt's palms flew up to shield his face, a piece of half eaten toast still wedged between his fingers.
Trixy flopped back down with a triumphant sigh, flicking her curly hair over her shoulder as she began to pull at the twine holding together a rather large, brick-like stack of letters from her family. I kept my eye out nervously for Tangerine, I'd sent her out last night for the first time by herself. It was only to our house and she's done this trip countless of times with our family owl, who she's grown quite fond of and is usually seen seeking shelter with him.
"Jeez dude. Is that bird still stuck on your mind. I mean chill out you sent her out last night, don't be surprised if she takes longer than usual. With all her issues and all." Mattias said, taking another, rather large bite from his toast.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I shifted my focus from the flock of owls entering over to Matt, who seemed to gulp down his dry breakfast almost whole and place the rest of it down, dusting the crumbs from his hands and leaning forward. "I just mean," he rolled his eyes, "that bird has never been out alone before, expect trial and error dude."
I narrowed my eyes at him, " 'that bird' has a name."
Mattias groaned, throwing his hands up jokingly and returning to his breakfast. I turned my head to the slowing drip of owls entering the Great Hall. Finally, I noticed her sitting in one of the entrances, head moving across the hall insearch for me, I assumed.
"There she is." I stuck two fingers in my mouth and whistled up to her, to which her head immediately spun to my direction. Her's wasn't the only one. Then, with help from an incoming owl flying into her, she tumbled down to the Slytherin table, a letter and a rolled up newspaper in beak. She landed carelessly on my shoulder, Trixy yelped at the sudden gust of wind that eminated as she flew down. I chuckled, helping to steady her with a gentle hand.
"Thanks Tang." I said, taking the stuff from her beak and fishing a treat out of my pocket, handing it to her. She squawked happily before wobbily taking off again, back to the owlery where she'd remain until after classes.
I sighed, pushing my empty plate away and placing the rolled up newspaper and letter down. Untying the twine, I went for the letter, ripping off the seal and taking the note from it's envelope. Trixy, having gone through her stack of letters and pushing them aside, leant across the table once again to snatch the newspaper from my side of the table. I flicked a glare at her but otherwise ignored her. She unrolled the paper and began reading the titles. She'd occasionally chuckle at a story, to which Matt would lean across and she'd point, then they both would laugh and carry on reading.
When I finished reading the letter from my parents, I sighed, placing it aside and making sure to take a mental note to write back sometime tomorrow. Then, right off the bat, I noticed Trixy's unusually hasty change of expression. The corners of her mouth had fallen and her eyebrows furrowed, she gulped before looking up from the column she'd just read.
"What?" I chuckled lightly, "What's up with you?"
Trixy gulped again, before glancing down, hiding her face and starting to read again, but this time out loud;
"Dark Mark Means Death?: Within the last week, no less than thirteen Muggle-Born witches and wizards had been found dead or severely injured in their homes. Never seen before, a mark, currently being referred to as the Dark Mark by locals, representing a snake protruding from the skull of a human being has been spotted above the victims' houses. Nothing at this time has been advised from The Ministry, however local wizarding authority suggests you move away from previously targeted areas and stay indoors where possible.' Guys it's getting worse. They're even thinking about implementing a curfew."
Trixy lowered the paper, wringing her hands anxiously infront of her.
She was a Half-blood and so was I. Mattias, on the other hand was a Pure-blood. None of us particulary cared for blood status, despite the rumours of Slytherins, Pure-blood Slytherins to be specific, being very up tight about that sort of thing.
"Well, forget it." Mattias said, snatching the paper and scrunching it up. "We're in the safest place you can be. We're literally living with Albus Dumbledore, one of the most powerful wizards out there. He'll protect us." He marvelled, tossing the paper ball aside. I apologise to the third year it hit.
"That's not the problem Mattias!" Trixy snapped, giving him a deserved whack across the back of the head. Matt retreated into himself, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Think about it." Lowering my voice, I leant across the table, "the majority of us here are below Pure- blood status, they all have families at home. I wouldn't be surprised if a Hogwarts civil war broke out, Pure-bloods vs Half-bloods and Muggle borns. Can you imagine, most of theses kids go home and find their parents dead in the living room? Besides you know'd be on their side? Most famous case of breaking out of their family traditions." Matt cringed, we all simultaneously turned to scope out the Gryffindor table, where Sirius Black and James Potter were talking animatedly to eachother as the others sat quitely, eating their breakfast.
Sirius Black was an extravagant mother fucker. I've never met him, infact I've only shortly met two of the 'Marauders' before yesterday.
James and I were 2nd year Potions Partners, so naturally we had to be with each other for long periods at a time. But no friendship sprouted from it. He'd always complain that I was, and I quote 'stirring wrong' or "not crushing it finely enough." It usually ended up being him making the whole potion while I sat taking notes. The one thing I did learn about him was he was a perfectionist. And impatient. An impatient perfectionist.
Peter Pettigrew I had never met, I did know he was fairly gifted in Charms. That was his highest scoring class.
I had.. encounters with Sirius Black. One short one to be exact. Sirius was the type to be gawked at by the ladies, he'd grown his hair out, started wearing excessive amounts of bracelets and painted his nails black, and despite all his good looks and charms, he could never quite seem to keep a girlfriend. That was where my misfortune lay. I had been on my way to Transfiguration with Matt, multiple books in ours hands, when we heard the yelling from a few corridors away.
We were nosy, so naturally we had to stop infront of the ruckus.
In the corridor was Sirius, of course, and his Girlfriend at the time, Daphne Fernsby, a once third year Ravenclaw. We watched them idly blow up at eachother, what about I wasn't sure but we found it hilarious nonetheless.
Sirius' arms went flying about as he tried to prove his point, before Daphne's head spun bitterly, noticing us in her peripheral. She grumbled, throwing her arms up and ducking under Sirius' arm which had found itself leant against the wall beside her head. Sirius straightened up, fixing his tie before stating "nothing to see here losers" before abruptly turning to follow Fernsby further into the corridor.
Our heads moved slowly towards eachother, before both Matt and I burst into laughter. Once you got the image of the red faced Sirius in your head, it's near to impossible to keep your cool when you see him next, knowing how shit-faced angry he got.
And finally, Remus Lupin and I had met notably only once. In Second Year.
-
It had been a full moon just passed and Remus had been in the Library, looking for a book to help with his potions essay. He could see the book he needed; problem was the bandages around his chest were preventing him from reaching any higher than third shelf. He'd also have to stop after one or two attempts to pull the sleeves of his school jumper down to hide the bandages also wrapped around his arms.
He would try his wand, but he'd left it at the table his friends were seated at and besides, wand magic wasn't permitted in the Library.
Trin and his friends had been sat at a table just to the right of the aisle. They each sat scribbling down their own homework. For what subject, Remus wasn't sure, but he assumed it was for the same essay he and his friends had been working on the past half an hour.
It seemed that an unspoken conversation emanated from the three of them. Trixy's eyes flickered up momentarily, then they turned to Matt, who'd already seen the struggler. And then the sudden lack of concentration from the other two caused Trinidore to look up. He noticed where their flickered glances took them and twisted around also.
The two both hung their heads again, in no interest in even trying to help the boy. However, it wasn't that they didn't want to help him. They knew who the boy was, and even if they didn't they knew better than to go near a red robed Gryffindor in fear that you'd be accused of literally anything they could muster up. Slytherin and Gryffindors don't mix. It's been beaten into our brains since we were First Years, in severe cases our whole lives.
Trin tutted, sighing and standing confidently from his chair. He made his way down the empty aisle towards the Gryffindor boy, and despite his best efforts Trin still saw the bandages around his arms. However, he decided not to question it.
"Which book?"
"What?" Remus spun to the Slytherin boy in shock, his arm lowered from the shelf and he gulped.
Sirius had always dragged on about how Slytherins were the worst people you could ever have the misfortune to meet. He said they were selfish and arrogant for no good reason and that he would know, having lived with them his entire life. He warned every person in their group that they should never interact with a Slytherin, even if they act like they're trying to help it's all a ruse. A front for some sinister intent.
Remus gulped again as Sirius' words echoed in his aching head.
Except he couldn't see it. Sure the green trim around the Slytherin's jumper made him nervous, but all he could see was how unusually perfect he was. Maybe it was the soft tone he had used or the kind smile he'd placed. Or the way he had completely overlooked Remus' bedraggled appearance and offered his help. He liked the way the brown waves lay on his head, he had a tawny appearance and his eyes were the deepest of browns. Not that he was looking, or anything.
It was the sort of behaviour you'd expect from a Hufflepuff, not a Slytherin.
He had stood there in unprecedented awe before straggling out the words; "Agilda's Guide to Magical Herbs and Fungi."
Trin nodded with a smile before reaching up to the fourth shelf. Remus watched him as he did so. He noticed, as the sleeve of his jumper rode up, whitish marks gathered around his wrists. He was curious to say the least. He had thought such markings would make him insecure. But Trinidore seemed nothing of the sort. At first he thought they were burn marks which of course explained why he thought Trin would be insecure about it, but now he wasn't so sure.
Trin plucked the green leather book from the shelf, turning it over in his hand as if to check if it was the right one, it was.
"Here." He smiled warmly again, handing the book to Remus.
Remus couldn't move. It seemed he was frozen in some sort of trance. Trin picked up on this, gently taking the back of the frozen Gryffindor's hand and placing the book in it awkwardly.
Trin then turned on his heel, heading straight back towards the table his gobshocked friends were sat at.
Remus, noticing his absence, yelled "thank you" Before also turning away to his table, shaking his head as he did so.
I narrowed my eyes at his gestures, it seems he noticed our prying stares and he nudged James beside him. He then fluttered his fingers at us and I scoffed, turning back around with a foul faced expression.
"You really think that's going to start killing Muggle borns?" Matt raised his eyebrows humourously with the question, "go all 'yes dark lord' on our asses as he what, glitter bombs us?"
I snorted at his words. What? It was funny. Trixy didn't seem to think so.
"Not funny Mattias!" She whacked his shoulder for the fifth time that morning it seemed, "Macy could've seriously lost an eye."
Poor Macy Gryffinswate. First year Sirius had placed a glitter bomb in her Transfig desk, so when she opened it, she got an explosion of charmed glitter fireworks aimed at her face. If it weren't for her glasses she'd have totally lost an eye or something. And Sirius had gotten 3 weeks after class detention, as well as staying after class to clean it up AND he had to write apology letters to both Macy and Professor Mcgonagall for disrupting her lesson. It was pleasurable to say the least.
Matt placed his arms in surrender, surpressing his chuckling. "Jeez, lighten up Theresa."
It seemed that as soon as he'd said that, both of our lives flashed before our eyes.
Trixy's eyes filled with rage, struggling to keep ahold of her temper. She turned to face the table tops in hopes it would stop what she was about to do next.
Trixy hated anyone using her fullname. We'd found a classmate hanging from the ceiling once because he didn't know any better.
Matt tugged at her shoulder. "Dude sorry it was a joke." When she didn't answer he tried again, "Trixy," he chuckled almost nervously as to what she might do next, "look I'm sorry okay? Trix... Trixyyyyy-"
Before either of us could contemplate, Trixy waved her hand, being very skilled in wandless magic at such a young age, she threw an open butter packet at his face. Straight between the eyes!
I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop the laughter from emitting from it. Trixy's eyes fluttered up and our gazes met, and that seemed to light the fuse to the explosion of laughter that hit us. Just when we though it would die down one of us would catch a glimpse of Mattias, very confused with butter still stuck to his face and we'd set eachother off again.
Matt sighed, growling and flicking the packet to side. "Not funny."