I do not own anything but Gino, my own original character. The plot weaves around those of the books and characters created by J.K. Rowling. Reviews, though not necessary, are welcome, but please no flames. Thank you in advance.
Chapter One
'Majick is consisted of words. Works that hold more bulk than anything an author could produce on their own. Sometimes, things just aren't that simple.'
Pressing the delete button, Gino glared at the computer in front of her and sighed. There wasn't anything coming whatsoever. She'd thought she would be able to write something before being deprived of electricity for the next ten months, but that seemed to be impossible. As she shut off the screen, she leaned back in her chair and watched the ceiling.
"This really shouldn't be so difficult," she whispered to herself and rubbed the black hair out of her eyes. Sighing, she glanced at the black cat snuggled up to her pillow. "You're so lazy, Septimus," she whispered and threw a cat toy at him. His orange eyes peeked open for a moment before his large mouth stretched wide, showing his offensive amount of sharp teeth.
A knock on the door caused Gino to grab her wand and point it, waiting for whomever wanted to annoy her now. "What?" she barked, watching.
When the door opened, it showed the squat form of Figaro, the head of the orphanage. His large grey eyes were narrowed and a sneer formed on his lips before she had the chance to even hex him. "But that bloody thing down in my presence, young lady. It is most unbecoming of a woman to question their superiors," he said coldly, inviting himself inside.
Gino stepped back, looking at the black pine cane that was ever present at Figaro's side. "Superior only for now," she hissed back and put her wand away in the waistband of her jeans. She crossed her arms and leaned against the desk on the far side of the room. "What do you want, Figaro?"
"Don't give me that tone, you bitch. I wanted to tell you to be downstairs in an hour so that we can leave," he growled and glanced at the cat snoozing on the bed made up. "And get that bloody animal off of my bed."
"It's my bed for another hour, old man," she replied and started to gather her things. She didn't realize that it the time was flying by. "Is there anything else?"
"No. If you aren't downstairs in an hour, you will have to find your own way to that school of yours." With that, the stubby man walked out the door and slammed it shut. A ball of happiness burst inside of Gino, making her smile to herself.
"We're finally going back, Septimus… And then in June, we'll be of age. We won't have to live here anymore," she whispered, her grin getting brighter. "We'll be able to live on our own until our last year, Septimus! This is fantastic!" she cried out and grabbed her cat, spinning him around the room.
Obviously, the cat was not thrilled about being woken up from his early morning nap and bit at her hands. She gritted her teeth and dropped him in pain. He sat on his back legs and seemed to smirk at her, as if saying "That's what you get."
"Don't look at me like that, you git. I'll leave you here with Figaro," she said and started to put the remaining items she owned into her trunk. Her laptop was shrunken down and placed in a small black bag in the corner, the place that all of the items she wouldn't use at school were. In actuality, it was the entirety of the home she had had to leave.
At nine-thirty, after checking more times than necessary that she had packed all of her belongings, Gino stomped downstairs, Septimus wrapped around her neck. The bloody animal was sleeping again. At the base of the stairs, next to the doorway, was Figaro in his tweet suit and beat up fedora. The girl always thought he was a slime ball, and his clothing style pronounced it.
"Don't drag your feet, girl," he huffed and took her trunk from her. He might have been a smaller man, but he was strong. The two of them actually got along well together. He took her where she needed to go and she didn't hex him to high hell. He seemed to have no problem with the silent truce. When he jumped into the front seat, her motioned for her to get into the passenger side, stretching her legs out beneath her. "I suppose I should say some sort of goodbye, hm?"
"You don't have to, old man," she said, dismissing him altogether. He only nodded and stared at the road. Neither of them were too into emotional goodbyes.
The ride to King's Cross station in the heart of London wasn't too long. Figaro liked to get her there on time so that she didn't miss the train. Not because he cared or anything, but he didn't want to have to put up with her threatening him for an entire year. Stopping in front of the station, he jumped out of the car to grab her trunk before she could, very different than previous years.
"You know I can get that, Figaro," Gino said with a smile on her face. He just looked at her and shook his head, grabbing a trolley and placing it on gently, knowing what was inside. The teen just sighed. "Figaro," she whined and followed him to the barrier. "Figaro, you can't be sad that I'm leaving for good, can you?" she asked as she caught up with him.
"Don't be stupid. I am a busy man. I have many things to do," he grunted, but Gino didn't miss the gleam of tears in his eyes. She let it go until they reached the barrier, knowing that he wasn't going to pass through. At that point, she stared at him. "Well? Get going."
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him. "Thanks, Uncle Figaro," she whispered and released him. He smiled sadly and patted her head, or at least tried to. She had a good foot on him.
"Make sure you use one of those ruddy owls to write to me. I'd like to know where you're going to live when you get out. Make sure you warn the boys that if they mess with you, Figaro's going to come after them."
"Old man, even I want to laugh at you. You're a squib, remember?" she said with a drop of humor that made him scowl.
"You keep that to yourself. And just because I can't perform majick doesn't mean I can't kick someone's ass," he growled and pushed her. "Now get going. Find yourself a comfortable spot. Make some friends."
Gino rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah, yeah. See you, old man," she waved, leaned against the barrier and Figaro was gone.
Spinning around, Gino stared at the red train before her. She smiled at how crowded the platform already was, tugging her trunk after her. Many students were simply talking to one another on the platform, so not many compartments actually had anyone in them. Selecting one from the back, the area that most Slytherins used, she pushed her items into the rack above her head and fell onto the seat.
At being startled awake, Septimus jumped off of his owner's shoulders and became a black streak as he rushed out the door. Gino wasn't worried and simply rolled over and picked at her hair.
"Another year… I swear to god that if-"
"Gino!" a voice yelled, making her wince slightly. Looking up from her spot, she saw none other than Pansy Parkinson, a girl that happened to be the sister of a child from Figaro's orphanage. The Parkinson family ended up adopting a pureblood witch by the name of Melody, a girl that Gino used to watch over. Being the orphaned niece of the "headmaster" had some perks. After that, Melody would come with Pansy to play with the other kids, her new parents deciding whether or not they'd adopt more.
All Gino could do to keep herself from groaning was to smile. She absolutely loathed the girl. She was probably dimmer than a dead bulb. "Hey Pansy," she said, watching her pull a blonde haired boy after her into the compartment. She recognized him right away. "And Mister Malfoy, I see. Didn't know the two of you were friends."
"Well, you don't know anything about me, so why would you?" Pansy asked, her arrogant family genes showing through her speech. Gino just rolled her eyes. When the two sat down, the Malfoy boy looked her over and smirked.
"I see there's another orphan on the train. Probably a mudblood," he sneered, making the older girl's eye twitch. "Didn't know you were friends with them, Pansy."
"She's not my friend. She's friends with Melody, that stupid girl my parents adopted," she answered.
Gino would not be able to take the inflated egos in this compartment. She mused that she'd suffocate to death. She stood, towering over the two soon-to-be Slytherins and huffed. "Get out. You two may be purebloods, but you better learn some fucking manners," she growled, not caring in the slightest that she was swearing to younger children. They looked at her with eyes full of wonder as she pointed at the door. "Get out."
"My father will hear about this," Malfoy scoffed, moving with Pansy out the door.
Gino followed them and leaned out. "Go ahead! You think I'm afraid of some kid? I know your git of a father!" she yelled at him and bit her thumb at watchers on.
"What a brilliant display of your own boarish temper, Miss Gino," a smooth, cold voice said as it wound its way down her neck and settled into the pit of her stomach. Gino's green eyes slid shut to relish the feeling but as she was pushed inside of her compartment, she shivered. She had done her best to avoid the man, but it looked like her luck had run out. When she was pushed onto the seat, she looked up and glared. "What do you have to say for yourself for talking that way to children?"
"I suppose you wouldn't take the fact that they started it, would you, Professor?" she asked kindly and smiled at him. He rolled his eyes and then leaned forward, his dark eyes staring daggers into her own.
"Not hardly," his deep baritone said as he continued to stare. Gino was getting uncomfortable to say the least. "I would have expected more from a Prefect."
"Well, who are the Prefects of the Prefects, Professor?" she asked, smiling widely. She loved to prod at her Head of House, regardless of the threat of detention. As long as she didn't do anything that would hurt her Prefect status or expel her.
Needless to say, Professor Severus Snape was not a man to enjoy the chidings from a teen. The look on his face showed it. "Your cheek will push you into detention for the first month of term, Miss Gino. Do not tempt me."
The girl only laughed and pushed him away from her hard enough that he wasn't prepared for it. He stumbled back and fell onto the opposite seat. "Now that I don't have your wand threatening me, your battiness, I'd like to tell you that it was Parkinson's fault. Needless to say, she will be in our house, but I will not be taking her Pureblood reformation status," she said, watching her Professor straighten himself out on the seat.
The man sighed, his foot crossed over his opposite knee with hands folded in his lap. "Gino, what is your last name?" Snape asked suddenly. The look on her face made him sneer.
"Totally bypassing the conversation, I see. Why does that not surprise me at all?" she asked and leaned back against the seat and stared out the window as the train began to leave the station. "Why are you on the train, anyway?"
"Look who's bypassing the conversation now?" he asked and gave Gino a sour grin. He sighed and looked out the window as well. "It's my duty to watch the children. The Headmaster doesn't exactly trust the Prefects. Especially you," he mumbled.
Gino laughed and shook her black hair from her face. "Well, then I suppose you have the worst job of all. Being the Prefect of the Prefects, Professor," she said and moved to lie down on the seat. His eyes rolled at her and he scoffed. "Don't act like you're head honcho here."
":You know, Miss Gino, you have absolutely no manners," Snape said, giving her a small glare from behind his curtain of black hair.
"So I've been told, Severus," she laughed and winked at his shocked face.
Suddenly, he stood up and shut the door, pulling the curtain closed. He then got to her in one step and grabbed her by the front of her clothes. "You do NOT call me that in front of people, Gino. You are but a meager student. You have the gall to call me by my first name and I will give you detention for the rest of your term."
The teen stared back at her Head of House, her sneer matching his. She pulled his hands off of her, though they weren't tight around her collar. She then grabbed her trunk off of the rack and started to pull it behind her. "Have a wonderful ride, Professor," she growled before she slammed the compartment door shut and went to the Prefects compartment at the front of the train.