𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐘, 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐖 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍. This year's tryouts were lots of fun, even though they had to do two rounds because of how many people were interested. Raya had managed to catch the Snitch this time, blocking the opposing Seeker and waiting when needed.
They kept the core from last year — as is usually done in Quidditch — adding players where they had gaps.
Raya was the team's Seeker, Avery the Keeper, Chris, Roger and Avery the Chasers, and Tyler and Umayza were the Beaters.
Roger went a little tough on them, but once he explained that the Slytherin team all had Nimbus 2001s, the team didn't argue with his decisions that much.
It'd been about a month into their own practices, and Raya wasn't sure if they'd be able to beat them. Talent-wise, she'd give Ravenclaw the spot, but at the end of the day, the Slytherins were just too damn fast.
Thomas — who Raya had enlisted to spy on them — confirmed that the team looked like super fast green blurs.
Raya opened her drawer one morning before practice, only to see a small gold ball fly out of it. It was the Golden Snitch from Ravenclaw's last game against Gryffindor.
How it managed to stay there without a single person — or elf — noticing made no sense to Raya. But she wasn't complaining.
She played with the Snitch whenever she could, letting it fly for a bit, before catching it again. It became a bit of stress relief for her.
While making a Potion, she played with it under her desk. While trying to prove Lockhart was a fraud, she threw it up and down behind her back. While Professor Sikander taught them how to use a polaroid camera, Raya passed it between her hands.
As she walked to their weekly Astronomy lesson at midnight, she wrapped her fingers around it in her pocket.
"You've got an unhealthy addiction to that thing," Thomas noted as they made their way up the Astronomy Tower.
"To what?" Cedric asked from the other side of her.
"The Snitch that she's playing with in her pocket," Thomas said, motioning towards it.
"I still don't understand how you got that off the field," Cedric muttered. "I mean, Madame Hooch is very particular about the Quidditch equipment."
"Believe me, I have no clue either," Raya told him, opening the door to the top of the tower. "Maybe it was the rush after winning the final game. Honestly, it just happened so fast. She probably just thought it flew away."
The three of them arrived on the top of the tower, waiting for Professor Sinistra to begin her lesson.
"Who can tell me what Zodiac we are in?" Aurora Sinistra began.
Raya raised her hand, "The Libra season has just started."
"Correct," she nodded. "Tell me about the Libra constellation. What do you know? When it is visible?"
"Libra's the only Zodiac constellation that represents a symbol, not an animal," Raya responded. "It stands for balance, and in Greek mythology is related to the Greek Goddess of Justice, Themis. It lies between Virgo and Scorpio. In the northern hemisphere — where we are — it's most visible in the summer. However, it lacks bright starts, so it's not always easy to find."
"Wonderful," she smiled. "Ten points to Ravenclaw."
Raya got her notebook ready, taking notes as Professor Sinistra began speaking of the different constellations.
"This year, we'll be focusing on Zodiac signs and their constellations," she said. "It will take us about half of the year to get through the Zodiac constellations as they all have great stories behind them. For the second half of the year, we'll be working on star charts and the constellations that are prominent during that half of the year."
Even as they headed back to their common room at nearly one in the morning, Raya was still in a good mood.
"Why are you so happy?" Thomas made a face as they arrived at the eagle knocker.
"I like Astronomy," Raya shrugged. "It's a fun thing, but not enough people appreciate it."
"It's too late at night," Thomas yawned. He turned to the eagle knocker, "What's your riddle for today?"
"What answer can you never honestly say yes to?" he asked.
Raya looked to Thomas, not even bothering to think of an answer. Thomas had this thing where he loved getting the eagle's riddles right. He was on a streak since the middle of first year.
"Are you asleep?" Thomas answered. "If you're answering that question, you're awake. You can't honestly say yes."
"Sleep talkers," Raya reminded him.
"They don't know what they're saying," Thomas defended his point. "Someone who sleep talks would just be saying yes. They wouldn't actually be answering the question."
"Very good," the eagle knocker swung the door open. "I look forward to stumping you one day."
"Fat chance, bronze brains," Thomas snorted, walking past.
Raya grabbed Loki on her way to stairs, placing him on her shoulder. She turned back to Thomas, "I'm gonna head to bed. 'Night."
"Night," he called back.
"Dumbledore's booked skeleton performers for the feast," Cierra announced, entering the common room.
Raya's birthday passed without the Weasley's throwing her an impromptu concert — thank the Gods. Her friends had given her gifts, and asked the house elves to bake a little cake for her. Luke had sent her a locket that displayed a slideshow of a few of their pictures. Even the teachers were a little nicer to her on that day.
Over a week had passed since then, and it was finally Halloween.
The teachers — even Snape — were all a little laid-back. They didn't teach anything new, and most of Raya's classes just had a work period. Professor Sikander was showing how a projector worked, Snape let them work on an assignment, Professor Sprout let them plant non-harmful plants, and they spent an hour harassing Lockhart regarding his book about Ghouls.
It had been a good day.
"Actual skeleton performers?" Elias sat up. "That's a thing here?"
"Assume everything's a thing here," Thomas answered without looking up from his book.
"Okay, that's fair," Elias muttered to himself. "So, how do the dancing skeletons work? Because, you know, your skeleton's wet, right? So, are the dancing ones gonna be wet? I don't know if I'm super excited for that."
"Your skeleton's wet?" Meredith shrieked, grabbing her arms. "I — Why would you tell me that? Keep it to yourself, Elias."
"Sorry, but I need to know," he looked at Raya with pleading eyes.
"My dad's team booked them for a party once," Raya told him, throwing a tinfoil ball for Loki to play with. "From the stories he's told me, they're not wet. The dancing skeletons are completely dry."
"Oh thank Merlin," Meredith muttered.
Cho looked between Elias and Meredith, "Well, if we've established the fact that the skeletons are dry, can we start heading down to the Great Hall now? Hagrid's carved a giant pumpkin!"
"I love giant pumpkins," Nathaniel muttered as they made their way down.
It was only when they reached the bottom of the stairs that Raya realized she'd done something stupid.
"Oh crap," she muttered, staring at Loki, who was seated on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Thomas asked her. The rest of their friends continued along to the Great Hall. His eyes drifted towards the cat, "Oh."
Pets weren't supposed to be taken around at school. Part of the reason was that some students were allergic, but it was mainly because there would be too much chaos otherwise. Occasionally, students managed it, but it wasn't done often.
"Who cares?" Raya muttered at last, holding Loki out for Thomas to hold.
He took the cat from her, "What are you doing?"
Raya adjusted the sweatshirt she was wearing under her robes, causing a bit of a mess in the hall. "I'm making a little pouch," she paused between each word, pulling on her hoodie to bring it around. "If he's coming to the feast, he's got to be comfortable. Otherwise, he'll just be annoying."
Raya took Loki from Thomas, placing him in the hood of her sweatshirt — which she'd adjusted under her robes so that she was wearing it backwards. She patted Loki, who was curled up into a little ball.
"Perfect," she grinned. "Let's go."
As always, the Halloween Feast was incredible. The floating pumpkins and enchanted scarecrows, it was a fun time. Raya and her friends took a few pictures in the giant pumpkin Hagrid carved using the Polaroid cameras Professor Sikander was loaning them for the year.
Their throughout the year project involved making a scrapbook of photos taken using those camera. Thomas, Elliot, and her were going to have a lot of similar pictures.
Raya fed Loki a little bit of everything at the table. Of course, there were some things that she had to hide from him. At the end of the day, he seemed to like the chicken more than anything else.
"Are they dry?" Meredith asked with her hands covering her eyes as the skeletons performed their song and dance throughout the feast.
"They're dry," Elias promised.
"I don't trust you."
"They're dry," Cho told her.
"I don't trust you either right now," Meredith said with her eyes still covered. "Thomas, are they wet?"
"You trust Thomas more than me?" Cho asked, sounding offended.
"He's the only one who wouldn't lie for a prank like this," she explained. "You'd ask him too if you were in my position."
Cho shrugged, "Alright fine."
"They're dry," Thomas promised, ripping a piece of chicken for Loki.
Meredith peeked to see the skeletons, sighing in relief when she noticed they were indeed dry.
Dumbledore and the Professors were so engaged in whatever conversation they were having, that Snape didn't even think to test his drink for a potion. He only took one sip, but an orange and black cloud of smoke exploded around him with a bang.
Loki crawled closer to Raya at the sudden noise.
The smoke faded slowly, causing the first years who were sitting closer to the teachers to cough as they tried waving it away. When it finally dispersed, the first thing Raya thought was this is gold.
A few of the students tried to hold in their giggles at first, but at the sight of Professor Dumbledore pointing and laughing heartily at Snape — who was now dressed in the brightest orange and green pumpkin costume known to man — the students felt a little less shy laughing. The Professors tried to cover their laughter with their goblets, or by shoving food in their mouth, but there was no point.
Within a few moments, the entire Great Hall was laughing loudly at Snape and his pumpkin costume.
Raya sent a glance the Weasleys way, grinning to herself as the two of them high fived each other. This was one of the masterpieces Raya helped them plan on the train.
"Oh Merlin and Morgana, this is perfect," Cierra wheezed. "I've never seen him in color before. It's better than I could've imagined."
"I suppose we can thank the Weasleys for this," Thomas said as he laughed.
"Hey, I helped!" Raya put in.
She watched Snape look down in bewilderment, then to the teachers laughing, then to the students, and back at his ridiculous costume.
Apparently, he couldn't be bothered enough, because he just shrugged, draining his goblet of wine and calling for more.
This brought on another round of laughter from the students for some reason.
The laughter didn't completely die out — for one person would take a look at Snape, burst out laughing, causing all of their friends to laugh as well.
Even after the feast finished, that was the only thing anyone could talk about.
"The Weasleys should be getting paid for this," Nathaniel said as they went down the corridor. "Those two are just too good."
"I told you already, I helped plan—" Raya broke off, her feet coming to a halt as she stared at the scene in the middle of the corridor.
Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE
Her gaze travelled downwards, and she pulled Loki closer to herself at the sight.
Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
In the center of the corridor stood Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"How come they're always around when the fun stuff happen?" Elias muttered, grunting when Thomas elbowed him.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
A load of kids — Raya included — gasped at the slur Draco Malfoy used to flippantly.
Raya didn't know him very well, but she hadn't heard anything good about him. Apparently, he was one of the people who bullied the other first years. Thomas gripped her elbow, pulling her back wordlessly.
"What's going on here? What's going on?"
Attracted no doubt by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.
And his popping eyes fell on Harry.
"You!" he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll—"
"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers, including Snape — minus the pumpkin costume.
In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron, and Hermione and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
Once again, Raya felt a coldness enter her bones at the sight of Dumbledore. Something inside her that screamed at her to never trust him.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly. "My office is nearest, Headmaster — just upstairs — please feel free—"
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.
Lockhart bounced up and down, giddy with excitement at finally being of use. His eyes fell on Raya and her friends, and he quickly backed away — no doubt remembering how they had harassed him last class.
Thomas sent him a mocking wave.
He cleared his throat and ran after Dumbledore.
"This year just got a lot more interesting," Nathaniel muttered, watching the teachers hurry off.
Raya watched the Muggles play hockey. She was seated between Elias and Thomas, watching a repeat of one of yesterday's game, the Toronto Maple Leafs against the New York Rangers.
Professor Sikander had moved on from cameras and videography, and was showing them how Muggles used it in sports and other industries. Considering Raya lived in Canada for most of her life, she knew a great deal about hockey.
Living in the East End of Toronto meant she was a lifelong Leafs fan, even though they heightened her anxiety every time she watched a game. Over the past two years, she was used to watching them in her bed, on her laptop, with the curtains shut and a silencing charm over them. She was used to swearing, and yelling, and being annoyed whenever they fumbled an opportunity.
She was not used to having Thomas physically restrain her from jumping against the screen because they missed a goal.
"They fucking suck," Raya muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I swear, they're the worst team ever. They suck. Actually suck. From now on, I'm just gonna be a Rangers fan. This is horrible."
Kayse, a Muggleborn Slytherin in the class, laughed, "Hah! They're never winning the Stanley Cup. You should've became a Rangers fan the first time they didn't make it past the first round."
Raya glared at him, "Are you from Toronto?"
"Uh, no," he muttered, looking uncomfortable suddenly.
"Are you, or have you ever been, a Leafs fan?"
"Thank fuck I haven't," he grinned wickedly.
"Then don't talk shit about them," she told him with a glare that could've left him as frozen as Mrs. Norris.
Elias furrowed his brows as he turned his attention away from the game and towards her, "Wait, so why are you talking crap about them?"
"Leafs fans are allowed to say whatever the hell they want about their team," Raya told him. "We're the ones who experience the anxiety of every damn game, and the ones who get depressed when they lose in playoffs. Anyone else doesn't have the right to say anything."
Elias nodded slowly, turning back to the screen, "Noted."
They continued watching the game, the rest of the class ignoring Raya as she groaned whenever the Leafs missed a goal, or yelled whenever the refs missed a call.
Sometime during the third period, kids had begun doodling on their desks on in their notebooks, losing interest in the game.
Elias — who was working on his Potions assignment — fell out of his chair when Raya jumped up on the table to celebrate the Leafs' victory.
"Suck it, Kayse!" she threw the middle finger at him, freezing when Professor Sikander turned the lights back on.
Raya turned her head slowly, like a deer caught in headlights, only to see Professor Sikander hiding his own smile.
"That is a very good example of how Muggles get really invested in sports," he commented, nodding to himself. "One time, a team lost in the final round and the people of the city practically started a riot. A Muggle's passion for sport is unmatched." He looked at Raya, "Unfortunately — no matter how accurate that representation was — it was inappropriate for class. I understand that you are a fan of the Leafs, but I must take five points from Ravenclaw for this. Now, why don't you take a seat so I can introduce your assignment to you."
Raya — having forgotten she was still standing on the desk with her middle finger raised in Kayse's direction — scrambled into her seat.
"Yes, Professor."
Professor Sikander shook his head, laughing as he wrote out their assignment on the board.
"I want you to find two industries that use cameras to an effective strength," he said to them. "One, we've looked at already, is sports. I don't want you guys coming in to talk about the sports industry. You can choose whatever industry you want, as long as you prove that it uses cameras to boost, create, or has cameras as an integral part of the industry. Presentations begin next week, and should be five to ten minutes in length. Discussions will be held afterwards."
Raya and her classmates copied everything down, rushing out as the bell rang.
"I can't believe you actually did that," Thomas muttered as they left the class. He tilted his head after weighing his statement, then shrugged, "Okay, I can kind of believe it. But I did expect him to take off more points."
"Honestly, I don't regret it," Raya said. "Hell, I'd lose another five points if I could flip Kayse off again."
"You'll gain them all back in Potions anyways," Thomas shrugged. "Snape actually likes you."
"No he doesn't," Raya told him. "He hates me — scratch that, he wants to hate me. But unfortunately for him, I'm actually really good at Potions. So he's forced to tolerate me to an extent."
"He likes you," Elias coughed.
"No he doesn't."
"Does too," Thomas muttered.
"Does not."
"Too."
"Not."
"Shut up," Elias hissed, head tilted as he listened in to a conversation happening nearby.
Raya and Thomas immediately shut up, trying to listen in as well.
"Is he actually?" one of the second year Hufflepuffs was asking.
"I mean, it makes sense if you think about it," another one said. "He was there as it happened. Filch blamed it on him too. Who could be the Heir of Slytherin besides Harry Potter?"
Elias let out a gasp that had Raya covering his mouth.
The two Hufflepuffs looked around for a second, scurrying off.
"This cannot be happening," Thomas muttered. "If Harry Potter is the heir of Slytherin — he has access to the chamber, Raya."
"I know, I know," Raya muttered, even though something wasn't adding up.
"What chamber? Harry's a Gryffindor," Elias said. "Not Slytherin. What's going on?"
Raya shook her head, "It's this old myth. People say Salazar Slytherin — the founder of the Slytherin house — built this chamber underneath the school. Apparently, only his descendants would be able to open it and unleash the horror living inside. Of course, it's all just a myth."
Raya regretted that as soon as she said it. Technically speaking, her dad was just a myth as well.
"The horror?" Elias asked. "What the hell is that?"
"No idea," Thomas shrugged. "We better hope we never find out either."
Raya couldn't help but agree.
REY WRITES!
thanks for reading!!
also guys pls vote! like i'm getting a pretty
good number of reads, but not many votes in
comparison. the least you guys can do is press
a button.
also, this is kayse's first chapter!! y'all are either
gonna hate my muggleborn slytherin or love
him, there's no in between
thoughts?
comments?
headcanons?
theories?
questions?