Slytherin Common Room
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𝐃𝐀𝐊𝐎𝐓𝐀 𝐀𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 the next morning for breakfast. She dressed in her uniform – a gray skirt, white dress shirt, a green and silver tie, and her new Slytherin robe with the house crest. She brushed through her blonde locks and styled them in twin braids before leaving the bathroom.
"Do you know when we're getting our class schedule?" she asked Tracey as they left the dorm room.
"Our head of house, Professor Snape, is going to pass them out during breakfast," she replied. "Do you know which class you're looking forward to most?"
"Probably Charms," Dakota said as they walked out of the portrait hole. "I met our Charms professor when I went to Diagon Alley with my cousin to get our supplies."
"Who's your cousin?" Tracey asked.
"Harry Potter."
"Pottah?"
The two girls stopped walking and turned around at the sound of Draco's voice. The boy was strutting towards them, Crabbe and Goyle behind him like bodyguards.
"You're cousins with Pottah?" Draco asked, extending his hand to shake Dakota's. "I believe we got off on the wrong foot, Dursley. I'm Draco Malfoy."
Dakota raised a brow. She didn't shake his hand. "Just last night you called me a Mudblood," she stated. "And now that you know I'm related to Harry, you want to be friends?" She shook her head. "Thank you, but no. I don't choose my friends based on who they know or where they rank in the world."
Tracey smirked when Draco balled his hand into a fist, glaring at the blonde girl. The two girls walked away and headed upstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Dakota filled her plate with fried eggs, two pieces of toast, sausage, and bacon. She washed it all down with a glass of pumpkin juice, and then walked with Tracey to their first class of the year, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. Two other students were already there, Aliyah and Hermione Granger. Dakota and Tracey sat down at the table behind them. There was a gray tabby cat sitting on the front desk.
"Kody!" Aliyah grinned when she saw her. "Aren't you so excited? I could hardly sleep last night. You remember Hermione, right? The triplets introduced her to us last night. I ran into her on my way here."
Dakota smiled politely at the Gryffindor girl. "Good to see you again, Hermione."
"You too, Dakota," Hermione replied. "Is it true Harry is your cousin?" she asked, her cheeks flushing a light shade of red as she wondered if she ought not have asked that.
"Yes, he is. He was left in my mum and dad's care when his parents died," Dakota said as more students began to come in.
"He talked about you a lot last night at dinner. Ronald was worried that you were sorted into Slytherin, and Harry spent the entire feast trying to convince him that you weren't evil."
Tracey sighed and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "I hate how Slytherin has such a bad reputation."
"The boys don't really help much," Dakota mumbled, glancing over at where Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were sitting. She stuck her tongue out at them when they gave her a dirty look. "They remind me of my brother." She rolled her eyes and slumped back in her seat, crossing her arms. "I thought I wouldn't have to deal with people like him here."
The door to the classroom swung open, and Harry rushed in with Ron. Dakota snickered quietly to herself. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Whew. Made it." Ron panted. "Can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?"
The gray tabby cat leaped off the desk and turned into Professor McGonagall. The jaws of the two boys dropped.
"That was bloody brilliant," Ron complemented.
"Oh, thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall retorted. "Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocket watch? That way, one of you might be on time."
"We got lost," Harry said.
"Then perhaps a map?" McGonagall raised her brows. Dakota rummaged around in her bag for something. "I trust you don't need one to find your seats."
The boys sat down behind Tracey and Dakota, who turned around and placed a drawn out map of the school on their desk.
"Aliyah gave me this on the train," she told them. "She also gave me an extra in case I lost it, so you guys take this one."
"Thanks, Kody." Harry smiled thankfully at his cousin as McGonagall began the lesson.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said as Aliyah began scribbling notes. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
Dakota rubbed her lips together nervously. To think she had been worried about Snape when McGonagall seemed much more cross.
Their first assignment was to transfigure a match into a needle. Dakota found herself getting frustrated with each failed attempt. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione, Aliyah, and Lyra were able to successfully transfigure their matches.
"Don't worry, Kody, you'll get better," Aliyah assured her as they walked to their next class, Potions with Professor Snape.
"Yeah, no first year ever gets it right during their first class, and it's rare if they do," Lyra added. "You just need to keep practicing. Don't get discouraged."
They entered Snape's cold dungeon classroom. It was dark and windowless, the only light being that from the few candles. The door was thrown open as the professor barged in.
"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class," he said coldly to them. "As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few. . ." he glanced at Draco and Lyra, who he expected great things from given their ancestry, "who possess the predisposition. . .I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death. Then again. . .maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention."
Dakota gently nudged Harry, who was writing down points from Snape's introduction. He put down his quill and mumbled, "Sorry".
"Mr. Potter. Our new. . .celebrity." Snape glared at him coldly. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Hermione's and Aliyah's hands both shot up. Snape ignored them as Harry shook his head with a small shrug.
"You don't know? Well, let's try again. Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"
Again, Aliyah and Hermione raised their hands. Lyra wanted to raise hers as well, she did know the answer, but decided it would be best not to.
"I don't know, sir," Harry said.
"And what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"I don't know, sir," Harry repeated. He glanced briefly at Hermione and Aliyah.
"Pity." Snape stared down at him. "Clearly, fame isn't everything. . .Is it, Mr. Potter?"
"Clearly Hermione and Aliyah know," Harry retorted. "Seems a pity not to ask one of them."
Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously. Lyra grabbed Aliyah's hand and pulled it down as he stalked over to their table, snapping at Hermione to put her hand down.
"For your information, Potter," Snape said as he pulled up a chair and sat down across from Harry, folding his hands on the table, "asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draft of the Living Dead. 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." He paused for a moment. Without taking his eyes off of Harry, he raised his voice. "Well. . .Why aren't you all copying this down?"
Dakota reached for her quill, dipped it in the ink, and quickly wrote everything down before she forgot.
"And Gryffindors," Snape said as he went back to his desk, "note that 5 points will be taken from your house. . .for your classmate's cheek."