The week flew by faster than a seeker chasing a snitch. (Not that I knew much about it other than perhaps what people have told me.)
It was Friday, and I was staring at myself in the washroom mirror.
I'd just had a bath and changed into the uniform.
I hadn't made many friends only "acquaintances", so learning about this world was really all I did, but that alone felt overwhelming in a way.
It all felt off...
The only friends I'd made were Ron and Harry and I hadn't even seen them since the sorting ceremony.
I'd heard about Harry, sure. He was practically all the school talked about.
But I hadn't seen them, apart from meals, and that was only from across the hall so that didn't count.
Today was my first class with the Gryffindors...
Harry and Ron would probably hate me.
Malfoy had been pestering them during meals all week so they'd probably associate anyone associated to him with bad, and that included me.
It took me a solid 30 minutes to get them to talk to me without it being awkward and I didn't want all that effort erased.
A small part of me questioned why I even tried being their friend in the first place but a voice in my head said that it was because some part of me, the same one that had me saying goodbye to aurora and had wanted me to listen to McGonagall from the start, knew that being their friend would get me into a lot of interesting situations.
It was stupid and I was aware but I liked to ignore that fact. After all, not listening to that feeling went so well last time. Didn't it?
Why was I being so sarcastic to myself- Did all people do this or was it just the concerning ones..?
I shook my head to stop thinking about that, I still wanted to know about the bank incident. I knew it seemed like a small situation, but there had to be meaning behind it. The look in McGonagall's eyes was a dangerous one. She was worried and fierce and that combination didn't seem to be one of her usuals.
I returned to my train of thought. If I ever wanted a hope of figuring out what was going on I'd need to know if Harry had any information.
But for that, Harry and Ron would need to trust me again...
So the question was, how do I prove that I'm trustworthy to them...?
I leaned toward the mirror the words I told myself circling my head making jumbled sense and confusing me further, when I heard a shriek.
"HEY! Y/N! You realise we still exist right?!?! STOP HOGGING UP THE WASHROOM!!!"
I instantly knew it was Pansy.
If there was one thing I'd learnt in the past few days, it was that Pansy was definitely the female Malfoy.
They were both the most needy of our year and sincerely speaking I think it's because they were both pureblooded.
It honestly surprised me how Daphne a pureblood was not quite as spoiled. She was most definitely as picky as the two but she was also a lot less snobby at times.
It was nice being a Slytherin. Though my shared inhabitants seem to believe they are royalty and love making it known. The chaos that came with their dramtic outbursts were always welcomed.
Over the past week they'd already made to try and get two teachers and Filch fired.
They despised Quirell, and Sprout almost as much as they despised Filch.
To be fair Filch was a right git. He deserved any inconvenience we could give him.
His constant pestering and bothersome yells pissed the whole of the schools student population to the wildest extremes.
But back to topic.
It truly was a miracle how I'd mannaged to not piss off or get pissed of by any of my housemates.
It really was great that I had training on how to deal with people like them. May truly was useful when it comes to this.
"ARE YOU DONE YET!?"
Ok.... Maybe I did piss them off sometimes-
I sighed and opened the door.
At least with all this chaos I was no longer thinking about the whole potions situation.
And... there it was again. The thought refused to leave my head and it was beginning to gnaw at my patience.
I began getting ready for breakfast. Packing my books, parchment, quills and a water bottle.
The bag was light since it only had supplies for one subject but I wasn't complaining.
We headed for breakfast and I watched as the owls swooped into the great hall, just like they did every day, circled the tables until they saw their owners, and dropped letters and packages onto their laps.
I watched as the owls flew around a small look of disappointment on my face when I remembered that I didn't own an owl nor did I have someone who would send me mail anyway.
I watched the flutter of brown and beige until I noticed a snow-white owl swoop in.
I recognised the owl as Harry's. His was quite a contrast to the rest of the owls and quite easy to tell apart.
It flew towards him and dropped something.
At least he was receiving mail.
The thought of Harry reminded me of my self-assigned mission.
I needed that piece of crucial information and it didn't look like I was going to get it any other way.
I watched as Harry's owl flew out of the hall and cemented my determination. I'd have to regain their friendship. Hopefully, the Slytherins, particularly Malfoy, didn't make it harder than it needed to be.
I remembered the nearly broken-loose fight on the train...
Hopefully, there won't be any repeats.
Pansy and Paige finished their Breakfasts and began talking, I needed to stop thinking about this before it became an unhealthy pass time so I joined in.
Paige looked at me, "Oh good, you're on earth again. Did you hear what I'd asked you?"
I looked at her clearly confused. They'd been talking with me?
Pansy rolled her eyes, "Of course, she didn't. Sometimes I think she might be half-deaf."
I put a hand to my heart a mock look of offence on my face, "How could you? My hearing sense is simply far too brilliant for your feeble minds to comprehend."
My tone of voice was a solid mixture of sarcasm and ridicule and if I were being honest I was proud of my reaction.
The three of us broke into laughter, although it did seem slightly forced on my part.
I shook my head. I really needed to learn to shut my brain off sometimes.
The rest of the first years finished their breakfast so we began our journey to the potions classroom.
Upon reaching I was met with a large room filled with just as many cobwebs as there were cupboards.
The room lacked enthusiasm almost as though it sucked out the soul of those in it.
The Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than in the rest of the castle and would have been creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Frankly, it was the most dungeon-like dungeon I'd seen to date and suddenly I wondered if this was what everyone assumed the Slytherin dungeons were like because if it was then that would truly be a pity.
The Slytherin dorms were so much more cozy and the darkness of the Slytherin dorms was more a gentle dark of the deep sea rather than the rigid sharp darkness of a closed cupboard.
Pansy sat with Paige, Daphne sat with Millicent and the boys sat in their usual arrangement except Nott was now sitting with some Gryffindor girl, Brown, I believe, leaving me sitting alone.
I was honestly glad I didn't end up having to sit with Nott.
The boy was an absolute menace looking at girls like they were meat sacks for the taking.
Honestly, with his behaviour it almost like he was barely under 30 not 13.
I stopped thinking about that issue as a shudder ran down my spine.
After the past week or so of being left alone, I'd learnt to enjoy it.
It felt a lot more peaceful than attempting and failing to make friends.
Which I had a feeling I'd be spending the next two periods attempting to do.
As more kids arrived, the class began to feel a little more lively.
Kids are chatting among themselves, enjoying their time, discussing their breakfast and night.
But even after this the class had a thick atmosphere.
The contrasting green and red tied students did exactly the same as their colours; contrast.
The two houses avoided any and all conversation. (With the exception of Nott and Brown who I'd assume would be the exact opposite of Nott but the same all at once.)
Within seconds the noise begin growing.
It made me question why I was still quiet, why I chose to sit alone in the middle of the room, and why I simply watched what was going on around me.
It was most likely because it felt like none of them wanted to talk to me but instead tolerated talking with me.
Just then Harry and Ron entered the room.
They'd been slightly late leaving them to need to split up in seating.
Both me and Hermione had been sitting with the seats next to us unoccupied so Harry sat next to Hermione while Ron sat next to me.
The silence was awkward so I attempted to start a conversation, "Hi. How's Gryffindor?"
He looked at me with a mixture of confusion and awkwardness on his face, "err- good?"
He replied immediately turning away and talking to Harry in hushed whispers.
I sighed. Guess they do hate me now.
I decided not to stare at them knowing that if they made eye contact with me (not that they would judging by how Ron just acted) they'd see the hurt in my eyes.
I took out a few pieces of parchment and a quill followed with ink.
I fidgeted with the quill trying to write without ink.
After all that practice, I was a little better and now my handwriting was good enough.
I wrote the title down as I tried to kill time.
When suddenly Professor Snape burst into the room swinging his cape dramatically silencing the class in an instant with his nearly deathly look.
This was the first time I had seen Snape and the first time I would interact with him.
He was my house's head yet strangely enough he was absent during the choosing of the dorm's password for this month.
Snape started the class by taking the roll call and paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new celebrity."
Malfoy and his 'friends' (read: Bodyguards) sniggered behind their hands.
At that, I looked to Malfoy with a pointed look and raised a brow.
He simply shrugged and stopped laughing.
Over the past week, I'd gained more of a proper friendship with Malfoy.
I tended to not spend time with him because frankly, I couldn't tolerate his choice of companionship or his conversation topics.
It was beginning to feel like a broken record.
All he ever talked about was how he was superior, how his father was great, and how pathetic everyone was in comparison to him, and not to mention the occasional How sorry Potter must be feeling for rejecting my friendship.
As for his company, they seemed to just always be eating, always, not that I minded that. It was more that they refused to share amongst themselves and not only made everyone in the dorm hungry with all the food they somehow carried around but annoyed everyone by arguing amongst themselves for said piece of food.
So long story short they would end their fights with them and a one-metre radius around them covered in a mess of what tended to be either cream cheese or chocolate syrup.
I sighed, this was gonna be hard.
Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class.
His eyes were pitch black, cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began.
He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but we caught every word.
Like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.
He looked at us with his dark soulless eyes and spoke, "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic.
I don't expect you will understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses...
I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
We watched him intently and surprisingly his speech worked because it inspired me even when it came from a soulless man in such a soulless room.
More silence followed his speech.
I watched as Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows.
Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly.
"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" He continued.
I instantly turned the pages of my book. I remembered reading this but wasn't entirely sure.
Just then Hermione's hand had shot into the air.
Harry simply frowned as he spoke, "I don't know, sir."
Snape's lips curled into a sneer, "Tut, tut... fame clearly isn't everything."
I watched Snape carefully as words sat on the tip of my tongue ready to shoot out at just the right moment.
Maybe by standing up for him and risking my reputation, I'd gain his trust- No. I had to stop this. I did not need to go as far as ruining my reputation for the hope of information. Imagine if he had none...
Snape ignored Hermione's hand and continued glaring at Harry, "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
I knew this one. I remembered reading about it earlier. I raised my hand with slight confidence.
Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but it was clear Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was.
As I raised my hand and turned around I noticed Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, shaking with laughter and sighed.
Harry clearly having noticed this too gave a visible wince, "I don't know, sir."
Snape smirked at this, "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"
This was really beginning to become a scene and I truly hoped Snape would ask Harry a question he knew before the boy got himself into trouble in the first week of school.
The class watched as Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes.
Snape was still ignoring Me and Hermione's quivering hands.
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
I put my hand down at this.
It was obvious Snape had been pointedly ignoring both me and Hermione.
At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.
"I don't know," said Harry quietly.
"I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?" He continued.
A few people laughed but I simply stared at him.
Was he mad?!
Who talks like that to a teacher who is clearly mad at you..?
Snape, as expected, was not pleased.
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione.
He looked at Harry rage clear in his soulless eyes, "For your information, Potter, asphodel and Wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death.
A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons.
As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite.
Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
I wrote down the points though if I were honest I would have preferred highlighting it in my textbook.
That was one thing about muggle school I knew I would miss.
The stationary.
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment.
Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."
I sighed. I would've felt bad were it not for the fact Harry did sort of deserve it.
Maybe Harry could make up the point by doing well for the next three hours.
Author's note:
I think I should dile down on the thinking. This was a 2-minute scene in the movie T-T.....
Y do I extend this so much T-T
Enjoy I guess :')
Word Count: 2887
~Author <333