The next day was dark and down-pouring when Jackie woke up. She charmed her clothes and shoes to be impermeable and went out for her run. Stephen Flint was walking up from the dungeons at the same time as Jackie came down the stairs.
'Hey,' he greeted her.
'Hi,' she smiled back. They walked out the front door and Stephen was drenched in seconds.
'How are you staying dry?' he asked her, looking incredulous.
'Impermeable charms are a wonderful thing,' Jackie grinned as she took out her wand. 'Impervius.' She pointed her wand at his shirt, shorts and shoes in quick succession.
'Cool, thanks. I'm Stephen Flint, by the way.'
'No problem. I'm Jackie Andrews.' They shook hands and began their run. Today, Jackie tried to keep pace with him for as long as possible. She made it two and a half laps before she had to return to her normal pace. He waited for her at their starting point.
'You really had me going there,' he commented, breathing hard as they walked to the castle.
'Wait, you were trying to keep up with me?' Jackie was surprised. 'I was trying to keep up with you!'
Stephen laughed. 'I guess that's why we were going so fast.' Jackie laughed too.
'See you tomorrow,' he smiled and turned as they entered the Entrance Hall.
'Bye,' Jackie smiled and waved back.
As she walked up the stairs, Ari came up from behind her.
'Hold up there, you.' She grabbed Jackie's arm and fell into step beside her. 'You're friends with a Slytherin?'
'Er, maybe?'
'When did this happen?'
Jackie rolled her eyes. 'We were just running together.'
'Oh, okay. I guess that's acceptable then.' Ari nodded and let go of Jackie's arm.
Jackie laughed. 'When wouldn't it be acceptable?'
'If you were friends, and you had been friends for a while now, and you never told me, obviously,' Ari scoffed.
They had made it to the base of the winding staircase before Ari remembered that she had originally been heading down for breakfast. Jackie laughed and continued up the stairs for her shower. She had been surprised at well at how well she and Stephen had gotten along. She guessed he wasn't a normal Slytherin, and she'd just see how it worked out.
When Jackie got out of the shower, she only had five minutes left for breakfast. Opting to eat one of the snacks from her trunk instead, Jackie went back to her bed to relax for her free period. When she walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Ari grabbed Jackie's arm and dragged her to a table on the side where Nathaniel and David were waiting.
'Ohmygosh, you'll never guess who the Defense professor is this year!'
'Professor White?'
Ari's eyes widened. 'How did you know?'
Jackie smirked. 'Ari, that's what it says on our schedules.'
'Oh, right…'
'Andrew White,' Nathaniel intervened. 'He's rumoured to be the next choice for Head Auror.'
'I heard that he was going to run for Minister next year,' David interjected. Before they could continue exchanging theories, the bell rang and Professor White himself swept into the room. All chatter immediately ceased.
'Good morning, class,' he smiled in greeting. 'If you'll all take out your books, we'll do a quick bit of reading.'
They read the section on vampires by themselves. Jackie was the first one done, and as she looked up, Professor White caught her eye. He gave her a smile and nodded before looking back down at his desk. Once they had all finished, Professor White led them in an animated debate about the Ministry's laws regarding vampires. Jackie and Nathaniel were on the side against the laws. They argued through the double period, and when the bell rang, people were stunned. How had time gone by so quickly? Professor White assigned them all to write down any more arguments to be used when they continued on Monday.
Many students, however, couldn't wait that long. As they left the class, Jackie could her people arguing. She and Nathaniel were arguing with David and Ari, both of whom had been pro-laws.
'They're monsters!' Ari was saying. 'They should be contained.'
'They can't help what they are,' Nathaniel countered. 'They're either born into it or created – maybe they're not the monsters you think they are. How many vampires have you known?'
The argument lasted through lunch and half of break.
'How would you like to live next to one?' David asked. 'You'd constantly be in fear of exiting your house.'
'But,' Jackie pounced, 'based on the laws you support, there would have to be a wizard with them at all times when they're outside of their "special area." Why would you be so afraid?'
David opened his mouth, closed it, and frowned. Nathaniel gave Jackie a high five.
'Fine, you win,' David grumbled. Jackie smiled and began writing down the arguments they had used.
After break, Nathaniel, Ari and Jackie went to Transfiguration, where they met up with Alex and David. They sat at the desks by twos, Alex found a friend from Gryffindor and David and Nathaniel sat together, but another Ravenclaw walked in.
'Oh, no,' Jackie moaned, turning to Ari. 'Quick, hide me.'
Ari didn't even need to turn around. 'Is Greg here?'
'Yeah.'
Gregor Abbot was the Ravenclaw in their year that had had a crush on Jackie since their first year. Jackie had tried to be subtle in letting him down at first, and then she flat out told him to go away. All he had said was 'I like a challenge.' His philosophy seemed to be that if he kept after her she would eventually fall for him.
Greg stood in the middle of the room and started scanning, but the bell rang before he could find Jackie. Professor McGonagall entered the room and fixed him with a stare until he sat down.
Professor McGonagall began with the same speech Professors Flitwick and Sprout had. Jackie wondered if they had handed out an outline to all the teachers of what to say in their first class. When finished, Professor McGonagall informed them that they would start off the year with human transformation and assigned them all a chapter to read in their books. By that time, their forty-five minutes in class had passed and the class filed out.
'It's only one chapter, David,' Alex was saying.
'But look at the size of these chapters!' he complained. 'They're massive!'
'Did you expect N.E.W.T.s to be any easier than O.W.L.s?' Nathaniel pointed out.
David deflated. 'No, I guess not…'
Alex turned off at the Entrance Hall, after a hug and kiss for David that prompted some comments and catcalls, and the other four continued on to Herbology. When the final bell rang, the four Ravenclaws went to Ravenclaw Tower to drop off their things and get ready for dinner. After dinner, Jackie sat on her bed and got to work on the Transfiguration chapter. She opened her window to let some fresh air in and Earl, her mum's owl, flew in.
'Hey, boy.' She stroked his head and untied the packages with her and Ari's names on before Earl took off again, presumably to drop off Josh's package.
'Hey, Ari,' Jackie called over. 'Happy birthday.' Ari looked up, confused, as Jackie tossed Ari's package to her bed. Jackie turned back to her own package and tore off the wrapping. A box emerged with a letter on top.
Jackie,
Hey, honey! How were your first few days? I'm doing well, work is the same as usual – we are busy enough to need more help but not quite busy enough to get it.
I hope that you are having a good time. Has Ari embarrassed herself in front of Derrick yet?
I hope to hear from you soon.
Love,
Mum
Jackie smiled and opened the box. It was stuffed to the brim with her favourite baked goods. She took one of the biscuits and stuck it in her mouth before grabbing a piece of parchment to write back.
Mum,
Hi! My first few days have been great. I haven't gotten too much homework, but I'm sure that will change.
Actually, Ari hasn't done anything embarrassing in front of Derrick because I'm kinda-sorta seeing him. We haven't really done anything but walk and talk, but I guess you could count that as dating… Ari certainly does.
Thanks for the sweets! I love you too, don't stress so much about work.
-Jackie
Jackie folded up the letter and put it in her bag. She would go to the owlry after dinner.
As Jackie wandered up the stairs to the owlry, she was lost in thought. Which meant she practically ran over Derrick, who was coming out of the owlry. He caught her as she ricocheted off of him and almost fell.
'Oh, I'm sorry!' she apologised, feeling her cheeks grow warm.
'It's fine, I wasn't watching either. In fact, I was hoping to find you.'
'Here?' Jackie looked around. They were standing in a hallway with no windows, few portraits and the sole door led to the owlry.
Derrick laughed. 'Well, not here in particular, but I wanted to ask you something.'
'Yes?'
Derrick took her hand. 'Would you like to go on a date on Saturday?'
Jackie smiled. 'Certainly. Where are we going?'
Derrick smiled mischievously. 'That is for me to know and you to find out. Meet me in the Entrance Hall at five. See you then.' He kissed her hand and smiled. Jackie giggled as he turned and walked away.
Before handing it off, Jackie took out the letter and a quill to add a post script to her mum.
P.S. I have a date with Derrick on Saturday, so I guess we're officially dating now. Wish me luck!
Anastasia flew down and Jackie tied the letter to her leg. After an owl treat and affectionate nibble, Anastasia took off.
