Hogwarts: September 1943
The trees wavered in the breeze, some scratching against the castle walls, leaves already shedding as autumn arrived with the rising sun, casting an orange haze across the lake and reflecting off the glass panels of the greenhouses. Even at this early hour, a figure could be seen jogging through the courtyard, a girl with red hair and black cloak trailing after her, her cheeks flushed, eyes bleary due to the early hour.
I was already panting, my new Saturday morning exercise regime was already seeming like a poor idea as I picked up the pace to descend the sloping lawn towards the black forest. Summer was a lazy time for me which resulted in consuming more food and moving a lot less, resulting in a horrid nightmare where I looked in the mirror and saw professor Slughorn staring back at me- terrifying on so many levels. I shudder at the thought that I probably looked like a jogging walrus right then, skirting the edge of the woods, not daring to go any further in, merlin knows what lurks in the forbidden forest, and I was certainly not desperate to find out anytime soon.
The lake was stunning to behold as the light winked and flickered off its surface, snow-topped mountains towered and lush green hills rolled off into the distance as the silhouettes of owls arriving with morning post grew near. I took a moment to admire just how lucky I was to call this place home. In a moment of pure spontaneity I decided to climb a tree, twisted and wrought at odd angles, it leant precariously over the lake, it had easy footholds and was rough enough for a fair grip and so i hoisted myself further and further up until i felt a sharp nip on my hand. A bowtruckle glared at me as more came into view, all rather angry at my intrusion. "Uh oh this can't be good" and sure enough I was on the ground, cloak up round my head overrun with vicious pointy-sharp bowtruckle fiends, nipping and poking and jabbing me until I couldn't take it...
"Inscendio" I growled and watched with satisfaction as they went up in smoke, the others fleeing from the flames that exploded from my wand, gripped in my poor bleeding hands.
My morning exercise and dignity having both been pushed to the test, I strolled back to my dormitory at a far slower pace, completely aware of a figure watching my progress toward the castle from the top of the astronomy tower, but the identity of the observer was beyond me and so I kept my chin up and refused to give away any hint of my tree climbing misadventure... Merlin I hate exercise.
She murmured the password to gain admittance into the stony, silver and emerald common room lined with woven tapestries, mahogany furniture with serpentine carvings and dark leather couches. She proceeded down the spiral steps to change in the dormitory before returning, only to run into another student who had been wandering the castle halls for many hours before any student would have woken from their slumber.
I hopped up the stairs, fastening my cardigan and thinking of blessed breakfast, so distracted with the prospect of food, I wasn't remotely aware of my surroundings and thus ran headlong into someone, clearly today just wasn't my day.
"Miss Scott, what are you doing out of your dormitory so early, must I deduct points for not only your lack of gracefulness but also for wandering around at god knows what time?"
Abraxas Malfoy, easily recognisable by the white-blond hair and constant look of disdain on his face, currently being aimed at me.
"Malfoy, its 7am, students are allowed up and about from 6 onwards, and you should look where you're going, what are you doing up anyway? I thought Malfoys didn't even know that mornings existed on a weekend?!" That left him speechless for a second, he even nodded in acknowledgement that Malfoys certainly shouldn't know that mornings existed on a weekend, before heaving a laboured sigh and dramatically collapsing onto the couch.
"Its weekend prefect duty, I've been patrolling since 3am...why why why why me? It's not fair! My feet hurt and I'm exhausted, I don't even know what time it is, this is what house-elves should do, not students, certainly not Malfoys, why at the manor we do things..." and off he went on another rant about how things are done at the manor while I grunted and nodded at the right moments until he stopped whining. "anyway... what the hell am I doing still awake? I'm going to retire to bed, see you around Scott, oh and tell Avery that I left my transfiguration essay on the side for him to check"
"Malfoy he's not your personal essay writer...gah!" Abraxas had disappeared down the stairs, probably not returning until dinner knowing him.
I left the common room and began my journey to the Great Hall with the promise of breakfast in my mind, Nearly Headless Nick drifted by without so much as a backward glance in my direction. I entered the hall which was almost empty as most students wouldn't wake til much later, my house table did, however, have one occupant, eyes fixed on the daily Prophet and spoon poised above a bowl of cereal. Glancing round I realised how weird it would be to pointedly sit elsewhere so I pulled up a seat next to the boy who was still gazing intently at the paper as if it held the secrets of the universe. I helped myself to sausages, scrambled egg, beans, hash browns, toast, cereal, orange juice ,I practically guzzled the lot until I was interrupted in my food rampage by a smooth baritone voice.
"You know, one would question the point of taking a morning jog when they simply eat more calories than that they have lost directly after." He was staring at me rather than the Prophet now, his dark eyes on me, one eyebrow arched at the incredulousness of my actions, wavy dark hair carefully coiffed to one side.
I rolled my eyes at him, Tom Riddle always took great joy in unsettling people and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Riddle was unfairly handsome, tall, pale with high cheekbones and chiselled jaw. His attitude and haughty nature I had seen in the common room made him unattractive to me however, and so it was easy not to get distracted by the handsome exterior.
"Exercise makes me hungry, its one of those unfortunate side-effects you know, increase in appetite and all that but I think I found a cure for that." I made a pointed stare at Tom until he appeared torn between whether he should be offended or amused, he settled for a mask or indifference and feign interest in the Prophet. The silence stretched until I felt the need to make small talk, and so I cleared my throat and raised a question that I had been wandering after glancing at his neatly stacked post next to his pumpkin juice.
"So...uh... have you received any offers for placements next year?" I asked.
"Yes, seven, to be precise, most from the ministry on defensive courses, the auror programme, a potions master requiring an apprentice, a runes translator, and teaching assistant for professor Merrythought. Have you received any?"
Wow, that was an impressive amount of interest from prospective employers within the first month of final year.
"Indeed, I have received two, the first as teaching assistant for Professor Binns..." Tom snorted at that, and I felt a little defensive.
"What? There is nothing wrong with that! You know that I have a great interest in history of magic, and this could prove very useful to me to have the experience to put on my CV!"
"Oh I'm not challenging that at all miss Scott, I just didn't realise that you intended to sleep through a whole year as that is what would surely happen, spending everyday in the company of Binns, or do you mean to tell me that you have never taken an afternoon nap during one of Binn's insightful lessons?"
Even I had to laugh at that, Professor Binns was boring personified, he droned on and on from the textbook without any thought of animating the lesson, but if i ever wanted to replace him and make history of magic exciting and interesting for the future generations of students, then I'd have to take one for the team.
We discussed just how dull Binn's lessons were, snorting into our bowls until Rosier arrived and Tom's mask of disinterest slid into place as he lapsed into silence. Annoyed at his dismissal of our conversation, I returned to the prior topic.
"My second letter was from the ministry, they want me to join their chief archivist in their history department, identifying and cataloguing magical objects of historical importance and discovering their uses and properties, sounds interesting don't you think?"
Tom was staring at me as if he'd never seen me before, though said nothing in Rosiers presence, I raised an eyebrow at him before he returned back to the Daily Prophet, eyes unseeing the text in front of him, clearly calculating something.
The girl raised an eyebrow at the boy sat next to her, his knuckles whitening as he determinedly gripped the newspaper in front of him. She heaved an impatient sigh before standing and stalking out the hall, bypassing a sandy-haired boy who was checking an essay, shaking his head at the spidery scrawl in front of him. The dark-haired boy neatly folded the Prophet in front of him and gestured for the other to join him at the table, he then proceeded to whisper questions while glancing at the girls retreating back. At the other boys reply, a small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.