„Slytherin!" The words echoed around and before they were silenced, the table on the left side erupted into cheers and clapping. Especially Draco, who may or may not exaggerate because this was his way of apologizing…; nevertheless, he most likely would be forgiven tomorrow.
Standing up, I placed the hat back on the wooden chair and confidently strode over to my future housemates who shuffled together and politely offered me a seat.
But the sense of friendliness almost immediately cracked as their ulterior motive was revealed, because before I could even greet them, sentences like "You were amazing against Romania!", "Didn't you play in the finales?" and "Can I have your autograph?" were thrown at me in rapid succession, leaving no time for an answer.
I, in return, was growing more and more frustrated by those questions. Granted, they were expected to come but surely not at every time and everywhere! So I stayed silent glared at them coldly which seemed to convey the message and they shut up.
"So, now that everyone has found their place, there are important announcements to be made." I heard Dumbledore's voice for the first time in my life. The authority in his voice silenced the hall immediately. Very impressive, admittedly. Understanding, why the bearded wizard was so successfully manipulative flashed through me.
"First of all, I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is to be treated according to its name, which means it's off bound for all of you! Mr. Filch has also asked me to remind you that all items on the list which can be found on his office's door are forbidden."
So far, nothing important, though the forest sounded interesting. Maybe there are more books about it in the library… I wouldn't have anything against a practical experience either, if you know what I mean?
"Furthermore I have the duty to tell you that there won't be a Quidditch House Cup this year!" Not that triggered a reaction! Almost everyone seemed to be angry at these words, myself included. Well, I wasn't really angry, more annoyed and disappointed because that meant that Quidditch would most likely have to go on without me for a year.
One pupil even went so far as to shout out whether the headmaster was serious about this! And, of course he was from Gryffindor…! Dumbledore simply chuckled.
"Indeed I am, Mr. Weasley." Suddenly, the door opened just in the moment when thunder growled and a man walked in. My breath hitched and my face became white of hate. So far, I've only heard of him, but there was no mistaking who was approaching the teacher's table, his electric blue eye swirling around and his wooden foot clanking on the ground.
Mad-Eye Moody! From what former members of the death eaters had told me, he was the one leading the task force to fight against Dolohov and When the crowd (definitely not me, I was fuming) had finally calmed down so he could make himself heard, he continued.
"May I introduce to you our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody!" Tentative applause, although my hands didn't move. "Where was I? Ah..I am sure that you all are interested in the reasons for the lack of Quidditch this year…" A few concurring murmurs.
"I have the honour of announcing that Hogwarts will be the host of the Triwizard Championship!" The following disbelieving silence was broken by more disbelieving shout outs, whispers and cheers. Looking across the hall, I noticed that Draco looked smug. Had he known about this? And if so, why hadn't he told me about it?! Well, I would just have to ask him later.
Gradually, I tuned out the rest of what Dumbledore said and let my gaze wander over the hall. The people that were familiar were Neville Longbottom who, to my utter disbelief, was in Gryffindor, Luna Lovegood in Ravenclaw and, of course, Potter, Weasley and Granger in Gryffindor. But other than that, no one seemed familiar at the first glance. Well, apart from the Weasleys distinct by their hair!
When he ended his speech, bowls with food appeared in front of us much to our pleasure. There hadn't been any lunch in the train, so I dug in to refuel my energy and was content on dwelling in my own thoughts.
Unfortunately, the boy on my right didn't think so and grinned at me.
"Hello, I am Marcus Flint, nice to meet you!" He extended a hand which was slightly awkward as he was next to and not in front of me.
"Kiera Hale" The short answer and the lack of my hand grasping his should have been be enough of an indicator that my interest in talking to him right now was close to zero.
"So, is it true what other people say about you?" Apparently he wasn't that smart to get the hints, but on the other side it interested me what was talked about behind my back.
"And what do they say about me?"
"That you play Quidditch in the Irish National Team and are very smart…" I felt a hand on my leg and hissed. Was he trying to flirt with me?!
"If you don't get your hand off me in three seconds…" My voice wasn't a whisper and neither was it particularly loud, more like a warning hiss and by now I was sure that some Slytherins were listening while pretending the opposite. Seriously, why didn't they intervene, didn't they have any manners?! No, wait, that was perfect!
"Thank you, Marcus" Letting out a very un-Kiera-like giggle, my left hand slowly moved towards my wand and pointed it at his leg. A short swish and a silent incantation later, Flint muffled a scream.
"Oh, dear, are you ok?" I asked in a cold voice and went back to eating; ignoring the glare Flint threw at me. Needless to say, he didn't attempt to pick up the conversation where we left it and judging by the glances, the surrounding Slytherins looked me differently now and kept silent as well. Hopefully, they had learned their lesson.
After dinner, Dumbledore dismissed us after wishing everyone a good night. Following the prefects to our respective dorms I tried to remember the way back. Draco had advised me to do so as he himself had lost the way more than once back in his first year and it took up almost my whole attention to remember the turns we took, when we used which staircase and how they moved. Consequently, the walk was quite quiet, well, apart from the male prefect lecturing us about Slytherin pride.
"Remember to show unity. All other houses are already biased against us, so we have to be united and resist them together. If you have problems amongst each other, resolve them in private. Honestly, I don't care how you behave towards the other houses; just make sure you don't get caught. Our head of house, Professor Snape is quite lenient in this aspect, but he's the only one amongst the teachers being like this…"
He went on advising us to carry ourselves with pride, don't be caught talking friendly with blood traitors or Mudbloods or never to go anywhere alone because of the rivalry between Slytherin and the other three houses.
Finally, when we arrived at a dark hallway in the dungeons seemingly leading into nowhere he told us the most creative password ever created ("Salazar") causing the wall to shift allowing us entrance. Stepping in, the sight that greeted us was a rather big common room decorated entirely in our house colours.
"You can find any important information including the password for the week and a list who your room-mates are on the blackboard over there." the prefect explained causing the first-years to immediately run over there and thus leaving no place for anyone else, including me. So instead, I spotted Draco over in the corner talking to a dark skinned wizard who I recognized immediately and walked over.
"Draco, Zabini" The boys looked up from their conversation.
"Hey, Kiera" the latter greeted. Zabini was one of Draco's best friends and one of the few who occasionally talked to me at the manor. That, however, didn't mean I liked him, I'd prefer the verb 'tolerate' because of his constant and not-so-amusing-anymore flirting.
"You look as dashing as always!" Not bothering to reply I turned to Draco.
"Why didn't you tell me about the tournament?" The somehow smug look on his face reminded me that I had spoken to him despite our...disagreement. Nevertheless, he answered.
"What, father didn't tell you?"
"No, obviously not!" That wiped the smirk off his face. He knew that his father and I didn't get along well. Well, that was an understatement. And sadly, he always protected his father, why he was always doing it was still beyond my comprehension.
"Just tell me the next time, ok?!" He nodded and I turned around and was about to in order to look up my future room-mates when his voice caused me to turn around. "Are you still mad because of Potter?"
My voice betrayed a little humour when I said "Until tomorrow". I was faintly aware of Zabini asking Draco why I would be mad at his arch-enemy but Draco apparently just waved it off. Zabini didn't know of my heritage and there was no need for him to do so. When I looked at the list,
I found my name at the relative beginning and my heard dropped. Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson. I didn't personally know the first one but the latter definitely rang a bell.
She had visited the manor a few times, after all she was to marry my kind-of step-brother one day and hadn't made a show out of the fact that she didn't like me. I had the distinct feeling that she was jealous of me or suspected us of having a relationship of romantic sorts! At the thought, I had to suppress a snort. Well, better get it over with...
And, just as I predicted, the reunion went all but well. One should have taken a picture of Pansy's face when I had walked in the room and announced that I would be living in the same room for a whole year!
"What are you doing here? Get out!" Well, so much for my not too high expectations that maybe we could behave civilly.
"Well, as it just so happens, Parkinson, this is where I will be living during the next year" Honestly, why did I still bother to talk to her especially when asked a question like that? Sometimes I didn't understand myself...
"You can't be serious?!" So, that's! It was half past ten in the evening, this was my first day at Hogwarts, it had been exhausting and...I was tired...So the last thing that would be tolerated today was a thick-headed Slytherin with a boyfriend-complex!"
Fixing her with my the best glare I could muster at this time my voice dropped to a volume merely louder than a whisper.
"I am not in the mood to discuss this now, so if you would please shut up so that I can unpack my things and go to sleep?!" Seriously, why could no Slytherin take a hint?!
"I am going to talk to Professor Snape and..." That was about as far as she got until her mouth moved without a syllable escaping, courtesy of my wand. The least she could do now was to glare at me, well, unless she had learned how to spell wordlessly which was doubtful. "Anything else?" I said, directed to Greengrass. Better to bury any open animosity right now on the spot. She shook her head.
"Good" I spent the rest of the evening unpacking under the hateful glares from Parkinson, getting ready and going to sleep so I wouldn't be too tired for classes tomorrow.
So, any idea what should/will happen in the classes over the next days? Please, please review! Thanks!