Chapter 4
AMY'S POV
I was cringing on the inside.
"Nice to meet you too," I said, smiling politely and shaking hands with a pug-faced girl named Pansy Parkinson.
"Welcome to Slytherin!" she said. "If you need anything, just ask."
"Thanks so much! Everyone's so helpful here!" I exclaimed, smiling still. Next to me, Draco smirked. "Oh shut up," I mouthed. It wasn't my fault I had to be nice. It was killing me. Smiling all the time. It was seriously killing me.
After a speech from Dumbledore and an ugly woman called Umbridge who was going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, we headed up to the common room. I followed Pansy up to the dorms. I shared a dorm with her. I didn't mind. At least she was nice. That thought made me smile. Me, worrying about someone being nice to me. They should be worrying about me being nice to them. Although, being too mean would blow my cover. I had to be nice in order to stay close to Potter and his friends.
"This is your bed here," Pansy said, gesturing to a bed near hers. "Is everything alright for you?"
"Yeah, great, thanks," I said. I put my stuff onto my bed and went down into the common room before I went to sleep. My insides gave a flutter at all the people there. It would take a while, no doubt, for me to get used to normal human life.
I decided to get my practice later, and instead I sat in a chair in the corner of the room. I wanted to write to my father to inform him of everything so far. As I was in the middle of my letter, many people introduced themselves to me, which annoyed me to hell and back. It took a lot for me not to snap their necks.
My letter read this:
Dear Father
School is fun. I was sorted into Slytherin, obviously. I have befriended Harry Potter without any hardships. He trusts too easily. A weakness of his. Being in Slytherin unfortunately lowers my chances of seeing him, and due to his prejudice of all Slytherins I'll have to win his trust again. But, like I said, it'll be easy.
See you during the holidays.
Amy
I made sure to leave out the almost-Gryffindor situation and the slip up that I almost made with Snape. Checking it multiple times, I slid it into my school bag. I would send it out later. I had charmed my bag inorder to keep unwanted hands out of it. I sat down at a table with a good book. Sitting in a chair opposite me was a boy, my age, with sandy hair, freckles, and a pleasant expression.
He looked up when I sat down. "Hi!"
"Uhm... Hello." I tried to sound like I enjoyed other people's company.
"You're the new girl, aren't you?" he asked. "I'm Theodore Nott. Ted, Teddy, or Theo for short." He stuck out his hand. I shook it.
"Amy R - Wolfe," I said, biting my tongue in anger for slipping again. I smiled. "Nice to meet you."
In the back of my mind, I knew the name Nott. I tried to remember. Something came into my mind concerning a stubborn, freckled boy and a hunched man talking with Lucius Malfoy.
My eyes widened suddenly.
"You alright?" the boy asked.
"Teddy Nott?" I asked. "Are you really?"
"Wh-what?" Teddy repeated.
"Teddy," I said. "I know you! I recognize you."
"Um?" Teddy asked, obviously utterly confused.
I closed my eyes, pondering what to do. If this was the boy I knew - Theodore Nott - then I would be safe telling him who I am. If he wasn't, and he was playing an imposter, then I would be in big trouble.
I decided I would tell him. If he wasn't Teddy, I could easily Confund him or use a memory charm. I grabbed his arm and pulled him into one of the corridors outside our common room.
"I remember you. I know your father," I explained.
"My - my father?" He frowned. This boy's father was a Death Eater. His expression was a mix of confused and worried. If I knew his father, I could be anyone.
"Teddy," I said in hushed tones. "It's me. Amy - Amelia Riddle!"
Teddy gaped. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He gaped again. "A - Amy?"
Flashback
"Miss Riddle! Amelia, there's someone here for you to meet!"
The voice of Lucius Malfoy carried up the stairs into my room where a 6 year-old me was sitting quietly on my bed, talking quietly to Ebony. I didn't know much Parseltongue other than basic conversations back then. I sprang up, excited at something irregular happening in my life. I quickly scrried downstairs. "Who?" I asked.
A slightly hunched man was holding the hand of a boy my age. The young boy had lots of freckles and sandy hair. There was a slightly pouty expression on his face.
"Say hello, Teddy," the man urged.
"Hello," the boy, Teddy, pouted.
"This is Amelia," Lucius said, smiling a rare but fake smile. "You can play with her as I talk with your father."
The man nudged Teddy forward. He stumbled towards me. "Fine," Teddy said grumpily.
I frowned at him. He must be really stupid. He didn't treat me like the other people treated me. As far as I knew, I was royalty. I pulled him up to my room. He looked really bored.
"I'm bored," Teddy complained.
"Deal with it," I said. Even at a young age, I cared about no one's feelings.
"I want to do something," Teddy pouted.
"Then do something!" I snapped.
"There's nothing to do!" he wailed.
"You're so stupid!" I snapped, throwing a pillow at his face. I started smacking him in the head, multiple times.
End of flashback!
"Yeah, it's me!"
"Wow. I haven't seen you in forever!" Teddy exclaimed. "Didn't you hit me in the head with a pillow?"
"Yeah," I said fondly. "It's great to see you again. You look so different!"
Last time I had seen him he'd been shorter than me, but now he was almost a head taller. He had a pleasant, easygoing expression on his face rather than the pouty one I had last seen him in. He had happy brown eyes.
"You look different too! You look amazing - er, I -" Teddy broke off. "You look so different! So, er, you said your last name was Riddle?"
"Oh, er, yeah..." I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck. Talking about my family always made me clam up.
"I didn't know that," Teddy said. "I always assumed you were one of the Malfoys or something."
I laughed. Not a funny laugh, but a laugh. "Well, I don't look anything like them. No, I'm not a Malfoy. I'm... well, I think you know who I am. Best not mention it here."
Teddy and I walked back into the common room, chatting together. I found it as easy to talk to him as it was to talk to Draco. It seemed like we had known each other for a long time. I suppose we had, but we both forgot. Talking to Teddy was certainly more fun than talking to all the other kids. Perhaps because I could actually be myself. I didn't have to be fake, didn't have to pretend around him. That's what I really wanted, after all.
As we sat down at a table together, I didn't notice Draco turn his head away in sadness.