A/N - extremely sorry for the tiny chapter last time. This one is the longest one yet. It could, in retrospect, be longer, but again, I wanted to upload what I had because I was pretty happy with it.
I'm really annoyed with myself though because I still have yet to introduce Tom... but I have a pretty firm idea of how I want them to meet and unfortunately, there's just so much that is happening before that can happen. It will happen either in chapter 5 or chapter 6 (depends how long chapter 5 is).
But anyways.... I'm pretty sure you know this isn't mine by now so I'll limit disclaimers to every other chapter or so.
ENJOY!
Tristan smiles at me and goes back to his food. Blaise. That's who Tristan reminded me of – his future grandson. The Blaise from my time is almost as much of a womanizer as Draco Malfoy, and it seemed to me that Tristan was much the same.
"Hey Peverell!" I hear my "name" and look around. A little ways down the table a younger-looking Tristan was calling for my attention.
"My little brother. He's a sixth year like you." Tristan whispers in my ear.
"Peverell – ditch my loser brother after dinner and hang out with me. There's going to be a big party in the common room tonight!"
"Like shit you are!" Tristan exclaims.
"We are!" his brother cries.
"Hell no! I'm head boy and I say hell no; you'll scare the fucking first years." Nice mouth. Tristan leans across the to his brother, glaring at him as a threat.
"Tristan, relax please." The boy sitting across from Tristan, who I would bet money was a Malfoy, said while rolling his eyes. "I'll be there and I'll make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Besides it's not like anyone would have had time to get any alcohol yet. It'll be fine."
Tristan huffed and sat back down. "Fine."The Malfoy boy continues talking.
"Terry – don't piss your brother off too much okay?" Terry, Tristan's younger brother, rolls his eyes and nudged the person to his side, who then passed him the bowl of salad. He won the battle for the party. I guess he gave up on me.
---
I really don't remember finishing dinner or eating desert but sometime during the mindless chatter it happened. Suddenly, Professor Dippet was standing up again and the food disappeared.
"And now, all of you will return to your houses and we shall see you tomorrow morning for breakfast when schedules will be handed out." He announced.
All at once, people were moving about chaotically. Prefects were shouting for first years, friends were grouping up and shuffling out and I realized I was about to get left completely alone. As soon as this realization hit me, I jumped up and started looking around for a fellow Slytherin. I remembered McGonagall's advice and looked around for a prefect.
The Malfoy kid who sat diagonal from me at dinner was gathering first years down at the end of the table. I seized the opportunity and hoped my assumptions about him being a Malfoy were correct. "Hey Malfoy!" I shouted. A handful of people turned to stare at me, but not Malfoy.
"Malfoy with the first years!" Still, nothing. He was counting heads and looked as if he were getting ready to head out.
"Try blond pompous git –he'll usually respond." I glanced back and saw some relative of Harry's wink as he walked past me. Curious I tried it out.
"Oi! Blond pompous git named Malfoy!" Finally! He glanced up and smirked.
"Yes?" He asks sweetly. I let out a growl of frustration and walk over.
"Must you be so obnoxious?"
"Yes." He says, still smirking. "Abraxas Malfoy - How can I help you?"
"Abraxas. Fine. Mind showing me where the hell I'm going?" Hey – he's smiling. Weird; never seen a Malfoy smile before. . .
"Try to keep up. C'mon first years." He calls before taking off at a brisk pace. The first years stood there for a moment as if trying to decide what exactly was going on.
"Let's go midgets!! You heard him; at least try to keep up." I call, motioning for them to follow Abraxas as I shuffle them out the door. Once we had crossed the entrance hallway I hurried my pace and caught up to Abraxas at the front of the crowd.
A few more paces and he stopped. We all stood in front of a door. "And so begins our journey into the creeeeeppy dungeons….. ooohhh!" Abraxas joked, making a scary face at the first years. Well – the sorting hat did do a good job I guess seeing as none of them appeared to be phased. Purebloods - who had all heard the stories and whose parents had drawn the maps – every single one of them.
Abraxas rolled his eyes and opened the door, leading us down into the part of the dungeons that housed the Slytherin house. As we walked, Abraxas explained parts of the castle to me. He told me of the moving staircases, (I had already heard of them I said – meant to go down and suddenly I was going up!) the hidden passageways that could get you from one place in the castle to the next simply by going behind a tapestry (these I also knew of but still asked "really?").
I kept a steady pace with him as the corridor started branching out into hallways that, further down met up with other hallways or groups of classrooms. I asked questions about the classes I would be taking and the teachers that would be teaching them. But as he described some of the classes to me, I began to worry. I had already learned all of this, mostly in my 5th year and what parts of my 6th year I had so far taken. When he got to Defense Against the Dark Arts I blanched. I had learned more in the DA than I would in this class!
"What's wrong?" Abraxas asked, stopping to look at me. No wonder Voldemort saw so much success – nobody had been taught anything that would help fight him off! "Ginny?"
"Nothing. I just thought of a possible problem but it'll be fine." I reply, shaking my head. I made a mental note to talk to Dumbledore as soon as possible. Abraxas gave me a weird look and kept walking.
"What was the problem?" He asked.
"Uh, textbooks." I say. "I just realized I haven't got any textbooks yet." Again Abraxas gives me a weird look but this time he shrugs and stops walking. The first years, who were a good 20 paces behind, hurry to gather around.
Abraxas waits for them to all get close before speaking, "This is the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. The password changes every now and then – a change will be noted in the form of a note on the other side of the door. Keep an eye out. If you get locked out it's your own fault. The notes only stay for a day." A few boys smirk at him, as if daring him to think they would actually get locked out. Abraxas raises an eyebrow at them and turns around.
"Hello Sir." Abraxas says to the painting guarding the entrance. The old man looks up at Abraxas.
"Hello Mr. Malfoy, back for the last year?" He asks kindly. I am greatly reminded of the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black that hangs in the Headmasters office (or better, I'm reminded of the man himself).
"Yes Sir. I've got a new group of Slytherins for you."
"Do you really? Well move aside and let me see them!" Abraxas moves aside and the man – Sir – smiles.
"Welcome to Hogwarts everyone! Well come in, come in! Mr. Malfoy – I believe you know the password?" He cries boisterously. I cringe.
"potentia" how appropriate…. 'power'.
The portrait door swings open and the first years follow us in. We crowd into the middle of the large room and the first years mumble excitedly. "Boys dormitories are to your right; girls to your left. You will find your things already brought up. You will now go to your rooms and stay there for the remainder of the night. There is to be a party for upperclassmen only down here to which you are not invited."
"We're not stupid – we know what upperclassmen means." A boy in the front of the group – one of the previous smirk-ers – drawled.
"Well it doesn't seem to always register in your small little minds that "upperclassmen only" and "no first years" are the same thing." Abraxas replies smoothly. The boy huffed. "If you're caught down here, by anyone not just a prefect, you will be punished. Goodnight."
The first years made their way to their dormitories and I turned to follow them.
"No, no gorgeous; you're definitely staying here with me." He says, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward him. A familiar sensation makes my stomach muscles tighten.
"Can't I go see my things?" I ask sweetly.
"Only if you're changing – I overheard your little introduction with my friend Tristan… I plan to get to know you tonight." He says with a smirk. Damn he's sexy…..
"Abraxas, I just got here." I answer, pulling away from him. "I'm not having sex with you – or anyone – for a while."
"And how long exactly is a while?" He asks, a slight hint of anger in his tone.
"I don't know exactly. Two weeks? A month? I need to get used to being here at all before I get involved with anyone." I explain. He nods and backs away, sitting on one of the many couches.
"I completely understand. I didn't realize you were only partially serious when talking to Tristan. In my mind, you were either completely serious or completely fake. I'm truly sorry." And he seemed truly sorry. I feel a pang of remorse for saying what I had. Abraxas seems like someone I could have a great relationship with. But I was right – I needed time to get used to being here. I was completely alone, in a different time period. I had to decide what I was going to do with myself.
"When will the party start?"
"Whenever I show up, of course." I raise an eyebrow and he rolls his eyes. "Half an hour. The party officially starts in half an hour."
I tell him I'll see him then and then go to my room. Or, so I thought. Inside the entrance Abraxas had pointed out to the first year girls, was not a staircase, but a long hallway. Every few feet, a torch lights the way. Assuming I have to go down this hallway to reach the dormitories, I do. After a 30-some-odd paces I reach a door on my left. A plaque on the door reads, "Angelique Le'Domes – 6th year Prefect."
No way! "The prefects get their own rooms?!" I exclaim.
"Only in Slytherin!" I spin around and look upon a girl my age. "Don't tell the Gryffindors – they'll start whining – not that they don't whine already." I flash a half-hearted smile. We… they… didn't whine that much did we…them?
"Is this your room?" I ask, moving out of the way in case she wanted to get inside.
She laughs. "No. I'm not a prefect. Actually, our prefect transferred out at the end of last year so this particular room is unclaimed." Interesting.
"Are the boys' dormitories like this too?" I wonder.
"One and the same. Well, the hallway is, I don't know about the actual dormitories." An awkward silence ensues. The girl soon breaks the silence with a gasp. "I'm so sorry! I don't have a clue where my manners have run off to! My name is Cassandra Wilkes – call me Cassie. I'm a 6th year Slytherin, aspire to be a healer, only child of James and Elizabeth Wilkes. Dad's a healer, mum doesn't work." She sticks out her hand. "Oh, and pureblood, but I guess that goes without saying because I'm in Slytherin aren't I?" I reach out and shake her still outstretched hand.
"Ginerva Peverell – call me Ginny." I let go of her hand. She cocks a brow and starts walking down the hallway. I follow her, figuring she'll lead me to the dorms.
"So Ginny Peverell, have you no story?"
"I have a story." I say slowly. As we walk she turns around to look at me. I match her expression, studying her as she studies me. She smiles as we reach the base of a stairwell.
"How very Slytherin of you." She says seriously. "You pass."
When she turns around I let out a breath I wasn't aware I was holding. It seems I had just passed my first test.
"Are you coming? I mean, you could stand there all night but there is a party about to happen." Grinning, I race up the stairs to where she is standing and together we walk up to the 6th year dormitory.
A/N - What's to come, you ask? I shall tell:
The party!!!! And Tom!!!! During the party I promise, she shall meet Tom. Not gonna tell when or how but it will happen!
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