"Despite the fact that Slughorn is teaching Potions, I still hate that class with a passion," Andrew said, walking beside Eliza to their next class.
Eliza laughed at this. "Well, we need it if we want to get the job we want once we're out of this school."
Andrew sighed in disappointment. "Yeah, I know."
As the two continued walking, Eliza thought about the girl who confronted her and Andrew. Both of them were sort of surprised that she even said anything to them. Eliza sort of felt bad about even saying anything at all. She wanted to go apologize to the American, but how could she do that with all of her new Slytherin friends around?
"You know, I think we should--"
"Don't even say it, Liza."
"But it's the right thing to do. I mean, we probably shouldn't have said those things about her."
"Did you hear how she barked at us? She doesn't deserve an apology."
"Why? Because she's in Slytherin and she's friends with Malfoy and the rest of his minions?"
Andrew shot Eliza a serious look."Yes. Slytherins are bad people and they don't care whether or not you apologize to them. Either way, you'll only make things worse."
"Well, maybe she's not like most Slytherins," Eliza retorted.
Andrew rolled his eyes. "Fine, go ahead and apologize to her. But don't say I didn't warn you."
"Whatever, Andy." With that, Eliza stormed off ahead of Andrew and continued her walk to her next class alone. She knew that Andrew was never going to agree with her. But she was not going to argue with him about it. After all, deep down, she knew that she was planning to do the right thing. Well, she hoped that she was planning to do the right thing.
Eliza didn't even sit next to Andrew in her next class. Instead, she sat next to Hermione, who was getting her books out of her bag. It was only their second class of the day and Hermione already looked exhausted. She looked over and gasped a little when she saw Eliza sitting next to her. "You scared me, Eliza."
"Sorry," she replied. "Are you okay?"
Hermione huffed a sigh. "I'm fine. It's the first day. The first day is always rough for everyone."
"Even for you?" Eliza asked, raising her eyebrows. "I never saw you as the type to be so stressed out on the first day of classes."
"Well, it seems like I'm always stressed out," she responded. "But I think I'm pretty good at hiding it."
"Yes, you are." Eliza began to get her books out, placing them on her side of the desk.
Hermione didn't say anything for a moment. Then, she blurted out, "Does Oliver fancy me or something?"
She froze. "What?"
"I know you're really good friends with him and I'm just wondering if you know whether or not he...you know, has feelings for me."
Eliza was not sure what to say to this. "Oh. Um...well, he doesn't really talk about his love life to any of us. He's sort of private when it comes to that," she lied. "Why?"
Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I was just curious. I mean, he's kind of cute." Hermione let out a small grin as she began to blush a little. "He's very nice as well."
Staring at Hermione, she nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, he is, and he's also a great friend."
"You think he's cute or nice?"
Eliza looked at Hermione and said, "Both."
All of a sudden, Professor Snape slammed the door and quickly walked up to the front of the classroom. "Well, well, another year is among us. I'm sure many of you are aware that this year will be an interesting year, indeed."
*******
Oliver, Violet, and Jacob were grateful that it was time for lunch. The three of them were starving and ready to take a break from listening to their professors talk and taking notes. Lunchtime was the best time for them to just sit down and relax until they had to attend the rest of their classes and then hit the library for some studying.
"You know, I actually liked Snape better when he was teaching Potions," Jacob spoke up as they were walking towards the Great Hall.
"For once, I have to agree with you, Jake," Violet replied. "I think Snape is enjoying his new class a little too much."
"Well, it doesn't matter, because he's still going to torture anyone who isn't in Slytherin House," Jacob commented.
Jacob was also right about that. Snape despised anyone that wasn't in Slytherin House. He mostly targeted the Gryffindors, specifically, Harry Potter. Of course, Andrew and Eliza never caused trouble with Snape, even though the urge to push his buttons always came across their minds.
The trio finally entered the Great Hall and grabbed some food from the plates on the table. Once they got what they wanted, they scurried out of the Great Hall and headed out of the castle and by the Black Lake. Oliver and his friends liked to sit there during lunch when the weather was warm. Everyone would grab some food from the tables and then meet outside at the Black Lake every day for lunch. It was a tradition that they had started in their third year at Hogwarts when Andrew complained how loud the Slytherins were during lunch.
Andrew was already sitting in the grass when the others approached him. He had a pile of grapes and a sandwich on a napkin that was laid out in front of him. "About time you showed up," Andrew said.
"Where's Liza?" Violet asked. "Haven't you been with her all morning?"
Andrew rolled his eyes at Violet. "We only sat beside each other in Potions. After that, we got into a little argument and she hasn't spoken or sat next to me since then."
"What happened?" Oliver asked, sitting down next to Andrew, followed by Jacob and Violet.
"Well, we might have been saying some stuff about the new girl. She overheard us and got all pissy about it. Liza wanted to apologize to her, but I didn't think it was a good idea. So then she got all pissy and stormed off."
"So all of this was because she wanted to do the right thing?" Violet asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, no. Not you, too..." he groaned.
"Andy, she has a point," Oliver pointed out. "You two shouldn't have said anything. Not only that, but she also heard what you guys said about her."
Andrew scoffed in response. "And you think she doesn't say anything about us to her new friends?"
"She hardly knows any of us," Jacob spoke up. "What is there to talk about?"
A lot, if anyone knew us really well, Oliver thought.
Andrew was always the type that rarely changed his mind about anything. He certainly wasn't going to change his mind about apologizing to the new girl, especially if she was a Slytherin. He also wasn't going to do it to please Eliza.
"I just don't think Liza should waste her time trying to be the better person in this situation," Andrew said. "I get that she wants to do the right thing and all that, but this girl just seems...odd."
"Because she's American?" Violet inquired.
"Because she just shows up right after You-Know-Who returns. Doesn't that seem weird to you lot?"
In a way, yes, it was weird to Oliver. However, he did not have time to think about things like You-Know-Who and what his next move was. He didn't want to know what he was planning, not right now. The last thing Oliver wanted was to be involved in a war. Although, it almost felt like the war had already started since Oliver and his friends were practically training for it last year in Dumbledore's Army.
"Look, I'm done talking about this. You're not going to change my mind and Liza is going to apologize no matter what I say. So let's just forget about it." Andrew huffed a sigh and went back to finishing his sandwich.
"Fine, then. Are we still going to study tonight at the library?" Violet asked everyone, picking up a blueberry from her napkin.
"For sure. I'm going to have to this year, with our NEWTs and all..." Jacob answered, snatching a handful of the blueberries from Violet's napkin and throwing it in the air, letting them fall in his mouth.
"Hey! Those are mine!" Violet protested, shoving him to the ground. "Get your own blueberries next time."
Smirking, Jacob sat back up and continued eating them in his mouth. "But it's fun to mess with you, Vi. It's always been fun, so why stop now?"
Violet rolled his eyes at him. "One of these days I'm going to get you when you least expect it."
"Well, until that day comes, let me just enjoy myself while I still can," Jacob commented.
Or at least before the war actually starts, Oliver thought.
*******
Eliza stuck around Hermione all day today. She was certain by now that Andrew had already told the others about their little argument. She didn't say anything to Hermione about it. In fact, Eliza thought it was nice to have Hermione as a distraction from the whole thing. She never spent a lot of time with Hermione, mostly because she was hanging out with Harry and Ron and Eliza was always with her group of friends.
"You know, I actually enjoyed today, Hermione," she told her as they left their last class of the day. "It was a nice change from sitting with Andrew."
She smiled a bit. "I did, too. How come you didn't sit with him, anyway?"
Here we go. "Andrew and I have your differences at times and today was one of them. We'll get over it, but I think today we just needed to be with other people."
Hermione nodded her head. "Well, that sounds like a good idea. I hope everything works out between you two."
"I do, too," Eliza replied, huffing a sigh.
So Hermione bid Eliza goodbye as she was heading back to the Gryffindor Tower. Eliza went in the other direction, heading for the library. As she cut a corner, she ran into someone, knocking both of them off their feet.
"Ow!" the other girl shouted in pain.
Groaning, Eliza sat up from the cold ground and saw who she knocked down. Out of all of the students here at Hogwarts, she collided with her, the American. "Hi," Eliza muttered. The American ignored her, gathering her books from the floor. "It's Mary, right?"
Looking up, she nodded her head. "Yeah."
"I guess you remember me from Potions class," Eliza said. Of course she does, you idiot. She fussed at you and Andrew for talking about her.
"Yes, I remember," Mary said, putting her books in her bag and standing up, getting ready to walk away. "I have to go."
"Wait!" Eliza blurted out, trying to get all of her stuff in her bag as quickly as she could. She stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. "I wanted to apologize to you about what happened."
Mary turned around, already irritated with Eliza. "Okay, so apologize."
Eliza took a deep breath and began her apology. "I'm sorry about what Andrew and I said. We were just..." she trailed off, losing her train of thought.
"You were just what? Being ignorant by saying all of that stuff about me when you don't even know me at all?" Mary cut her off. "You know, you and your friends seemed like decent people at first, but I guess I was wrong. In fact, Andrew couldn't even man up and apologize to me as well."
"Did I just hear a snake say my name?" Andrew came up from behind Eliza, followed by Oliver, Jacob, and Violet. Andrew was glaring at Mary. "Looks like I was right. If you're expecting an apology from me--"
"I'm not. I believe you've made that very clear," Mary snapped. "I didn't think a group of English people like you could be so arrogant and rude."
"Clearly, you don't know your new Slytherin friends very well. Arrogant and rude are only just a few words to describe them," Violet spoke up.
"And technically, I'm Scottish..." Oliver added in a very awkward tone. He now wished he hadn't said anything.
"So, are all Americans snobby like you?" Andrew retorted, ignoring Oliver's comment. "Because I'd sure hate to go to America if they all act like you."
Mary scoffed. "We're not snobby. I can tell you that an American could wipe you out in a duel, though. There's no doubt about that."
Andrew had an evil smirk on his face. "You know, speaking of dueling..."
"Andy, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Violet hissed at him.
"Stop it, Vi. I'm curious now. You proposed that we settle things in a duel today, didn't you?" Andrew pointed out.
"You're seriously going to take me up on that offer?" she inquired, raising her eyebrows.
"Why not? Clearly, you think you're better than us. Let's see if that's true," he said.
"Mate, stop it!" Jacob intervened.
"Shut up, Jake," Andrew snapped, shooting Jacob a serious look, then turning back to Mary. "So, what do you say?"
Raising her eyebrows and shooting daggers, she nodded her head. "Okay. A duel it is."
Andrew began to walk towards her, then stopped when he was right in front of her. "The Quidditch pitch, eleven o'clock." He paused for a moment, then continued. "Let's hope Ilvermorny taught you a thing or two."
Mary was still glaring at Andrew. "Don't worry. I'll be ready. See you tonight." With that, Mary spun around on her heel and stormed off.
Andrew turned around and walked past his friends, a serious look still plastered on his face. His friends did their best to keep up with his pace.
"What the hell was that?!" Eliza was the first to say something.
"Andy, this is bloody crazy! You know it is!" Violet protested.
"Yeah, what were you thinking, challenging her to a duel like that?" Oliver spoke up.
"He wasn't thinking, that's what!" Jacob cried. "Why couldn't we have just ignored her and gone to the library? That was our plan and believe it or not I really need to study!"
"Screw the library," Andrew spat out. "I've got a duel to prepare for."
A/N: Ayyyye, new chapter!
Song above is Beat It by Michael Jackson (LOL, oldie but goodie).
This took a lot longer than I thought. I was so stuck on this chapter. But I finally figured it out! School is...well, you know how it is.
SO, who do you think will win the duel?
Comment, vote, dedicated to arty_writes because bless her for dealing with me as I was finishing this chapter, LOL. <3
-A