“I’ll catch you after lunch?”
Susan nodded and waved as she made her way to the Hufflepuff table.
Amaryllis didn’t care how odd it may have seemed to sit at another houses table during meals, she wouldn’t let it stop her from spending time with her brother.
“‘ey, ‘A milis.”
Her face screwed up as Ron greeted her when she sat down while he stuffed his mouth with food.
“Ron, that’s disgusting,” she informed the red-head.
Two more red-heads entered her field of vision. One sat beside Ron, while the other took up the seat beside her. “We tell him all the time, Millie. Ready to trade places?”
Fred. At least she assumed it was Fred by the nickname he used.
“I’m good.” She rolled her eyes, informing Harry on what they had said on the train ride about swapping places with Ron.
Harry didn’t miss a beat as he placed the muffin on his plate and turned to the twins.“I don’t think you could handle her for long. She’s quiet now, but…”
“Harry,” Amaryllis quibbed, giving her brother a pointed glare.
“You have a knack for going off on something that catches your interest. Especially when you set your mind to it.”
She couldn’t argue that. “Maybe we will trade places for a summer.”
“Do I get a say in this?” Ron questioned.
“No.” Amaryllis smirked as the twins echoed in unison with her and Harry. The four of them laughed as Ron sulked.
“How were your classes?”
Harry shrugged. He didn’t seem down, yet he barely touched what was on his plate. “They were alright.”
“Alright? That Snape was a righteous prick.”
Ron’s face turned red, chewing on another piece of his lunch.
“Professor Snape? What did he do?”
Fred and George snorted, grabbing bites to eat from platters on the tables. “Please, Millie, dear. As if you haven’t had Potions with him already.”
“I mean…” she trailed off, the bridge of her nose creased as she stared at them. “I have. How do you know that?”
George winked at her. “That’s our—”
“—little secret, Millie.” Fred finished with a smile.
George spoke once again staring at Fred. “And we can’t tell you.”
Ron narrowed his eyes at his brothers, letting the food in his hand fall to the plate in a loud clank. “What have you done now?”
“What makes you think we did anything, ickle Ronnikins?”
“What says you didn’t?” Amaryllis retorted.
Fred and George faked gasped as their eyes widened with shock. “That hurts.”
“Truly, Mells.”
“You take someone else’s side, but your brothers?”
Amaryllis couldn’t understand the twins. Maybe it was an identical twin thing as her and Harry never had ‘twin’ talking. They just had been around each other so much they knew the other so well. But Fred and George just knew what the other would say and finished that sentence even with a joke that could have gone sideways.
Harry shook his head with a smile.
George noticed the movement, turning his gaze to Harry. “Got something to say, Harry?”
“Not really,” he smiled. “Just that Lissie seems in denial of her new family.”
She hadn’t seen her brother smile freely as often as she had since they got on the train, not since Hagrid took them shopping and they stared in wonder at everything. And it was honestly the best feeling; to see her brother joke and laugh so easily when every laugh and smile before was strained, forced, or held together by everything they didn’t voice to the other. To be out of that house and some place that welcomed them gave them something they didn’t think they could do; the freedom to be themselves without fear or repercussions of what they laughed at. The friends they smiled and talked with. The laughs she was sure they would share along the way that wouldn’t be tainted by a shadow under the door or the creak of a floorboard.
Ron’s face was priceless. His mouth hung open in shock as he slowly turned to face Harry. The betrayal seemed to hit before Ron’s eyes hardened and he closed his mouth, turning to Fred and George. “Well, let’s see you lot deal with ‘Millie.’”
Fred smirked, and leaned toward Ron. “Oh, dear Ronald. Find your own nickname.”
Amaryllis watched them bicker and forth as she took that time to finish eating. She also took the time to ask Harry about his Potions class and what Professor Snape had done. It was more odd to learn that Professor Snape had sought Harry out deliberately in class to answer questions while he practically ignored her side of the classroom earlier. They had found it odd, but Fred and George didn’t think too much of it as Professor Snape was a already seen as a righteous git that disliked most students and tormented at least a few in every year. It never seemed to be enough to have anything done, but it wasn’t something Amaryllis would let slide herself either. Especially if she witnessed it first hand.
Nearing the end of lunch, she changed the heated topic from Snape to what their remaining classes were. Ron’s face had begun to turn more red each second they stayed on that topic, and she could tell the twins didn’t help as they egged him on with smiles. It was astounding to see Ron not pick up on it, even after she switched topics.
Harry and Ron’s last class was Transfiguration with fellow Gryffindor’s while she had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin’s. Harry had only told her about Draco and his incessant need to belittle him and Ron every time they ran into each other with the two goons that followed him around. Amaryllis heeded her brothers word, but wouldn’t put a whole house down, much to Ron’s dislike, because of three students.
However, it didn’t mean she’d let their remarks to her brother slide.
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
“W-w-well-come eve-everyone.”
Amaryllis and Susan took a seat to the left of the class in the middle. She would have preferred the back as the Professor still made her stomach coil with unease, but Susan didn’t want to miss something by being behind a bunch of other students.
“To-today we wi-will le-learn the i-in-incantations for d-def-defensive spells.”
The dreadful words Amaryllis had hoped to not hear on the first day had been stuttered out of Professor Quirrel’s mouth, ‘open your books and read.’
With a glance at Susan, they opened their books to read through the spells that would help against spells that were cast with the intent to harm. Her eyes strained and narrowed as every word became harder than the last. And while she had gotten a few pages into deciphering a few spells, Susan and many other students were pages ahead.
Susan leaned slightly closer to her. Her voice lowered to the point she had to strain to hear her. “You’re doing fine. I can help you tonight in the common room if you want.”
Before Amaryllis could respond, a voice came from right beside her.
“I-is th-there a-a p-prob-problem, M-ms. P-potter?”
Amaryllis jumped in the chair, rattling it against the hard stone floor. Her fingers dug into the cover of the book while she tried to keep her wits about herself when the organ within her chest wanted to be anywhere but where it should be. “Uh, no.”
Professor Quirrel fiddled with his hands for a moment as he seemed to stare at her book. “P-please c-c-continue th-then.”
“I didn’t think you were slow, Potter.”
Susan spoke before she could even get a word out, and retort back at Draco that was sure to start some petty argument she didn’t need, but she loved to put those who thought they were held in some higher regard than others in their place. “Shove off, Malfoy.”
Draco’s eyebrows rose and a smile spread across his face. “I didn’t know Potter needed a defender. I would have expected it from your brother, but I guess you can’t help how defenseless you were before.” He seemed ready to laugh if their Professor hadn’t intervened.
Draco and the two boys, who she thought had one to many cupcakes, laughed from the table diagonally across from them.
Susan let out a breath beside her, quietly apologizing.
“Don’t. Honestly, I haven’t had anyone besides Harry stand up for me. But, anything that bloke says can’t really offend me.” His words stung, yes. However, there was truth to them too, because they had in fact been defenseless. Yet, Amaryllis saw it as a strength that had kept them pushing. When there was no where else to fall, the only way to go was up. She’d be damned if she wouldn’t use what others viewed as a weakness to her advantage.
The classroom quieted once again, other than the turning of pages, deep breaths from students who seemed just as tired of reading as she was and the whispers from Draco and the other two boys that he sat next to. It was a wonder Professor Quirrel didn’t pipe up when they talked, but kept her mouth shut. She hated the brief interaction with their Professor that she didn’t want anymore to do with talking to him than she had to.
Not until she got a feel for the classes and Professors more.
Her and Susan quickly packed their books away when class was dismissed. Susan had suggested leaving with the majority if possible to avoid any interaction with other Slytherin’s. She guessed luck wasn’t on her side as they neared the next corridor when Draco spoke up from behind.
“So what was it Potter? Do you need glasses? Did that muggle family not teach you to read?” Draco laughed. It was echoed by the two other boys that bounced off the stone walls.
Some Hufflepuff’s that were in their class stopped to watch the interaction with scowls while the Slytherin’s gathered more and more, chuckling with smiles.
Draco continued, seeming to enjoy the attention he had gotten around him. “Or is there something else that stops you from reading normally?”
Amaryllis stepped forward, but she was stopped when Susan grabbed her arm.
“Don’t, Rhylie. He isn’t worth getting into trouble with and besides, he doesn’t know anything.”
“Do I?” Draco asked. His lips curved into a wider smile as his icy blue eyes gleamed over at her.
There was no way he knew anything. The most he had were assumptions based on what he saw, which wasn’t much.
So Amaryllis did the one thing she hoped would anger him, while showing him—everyone, that she wouldn’t be pushed into a corner by anyone. “Don’t look to much into something that you won’t find. Finding some thing wrong in someone else’s life won’t fix whatever it is in yours.”
Draco’s eyes flared like the sun beaming into an ice cavern. Cold, yet beautiful and it was the only thing about him she could compliment. If only they hadn’t been attached to someone snarky, and conceited.