Smooth Criminal
Disclaimer- I own nothing but my plot.
Chapter Six-The Party
I wake up an hour and a half before I'm supposed to meet Draco by the great hall. I think that it would be good to get acquainted with the Slytherin dungeons and their numerous exits before heading to the party; as of now I only know one way to get out. If the party gets too rowdy or some such, I really would want to be able to leave without assistance. It leaves a greater majority of my dignity intact. I wander there for a good hour before I decide that I know my way around. I don't think that it's necessary to point out that it took that long just to find my way out. I see that I have half an hour to get ready. The dormitory is currently empty, which is good. If no one sees me readying myself then I won't be faced with awkward questions and forced to hand out conscience killing lies. With five minutes to go, I'm dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a blue tube top from Hollister. My make-up looks rather good if I do say so myself, and guess what- I do! I slip on a matching pair of sandals and head for the great hall. As I approach, I see Draco standing there in a pair of muggle jeans and a lightweight T-shirt. I never thought he would wear muggle clothes, but then again he seems like the type to have a bit of the best of everything just to say he has it. At the very least he seems like his family is that way.
"Hey Draco! I didn't know you had muggle clothes!" I say cheerfully. He jumps a little, almost like he wasn't expecting me to show up. "Oh, hey Star! Yeah, I do. Mother saw them one day and said that they fit people's figures far better than wizarding clothes. Two days later the whole family had a second wardrobe." He chuckles. Well, I guess I was a bit off the mark. An entire second wardrobe wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I figured it would be more of a two or three outfit thing. "Oh!" I say with a smile. "Well, we should probably head down to the common room now." He nods and grabs my hand. "Come on, I want to get you introduced to everyone!" With that he begins running down the stairs. Wow, he can run fast! Good thing I did my share of muggle marathons and such. We shortly reach the common room, and the party is just starting. I see some sixth and seventh years setting some smoking liquid on the table and go over to see what it is. I recognize the soft amber liquid next to it as butterbeer and recognize the smoking one as firewhiskey. Draco takes a butterbeer as I stand there awkwardly.
"Well, are you going to introduce me to a few people, or just have me stand here awkwardly the whole time?" My voice sounds a bit snippy, but he shouldn't have left me standing for so long! He had already finished his butterbeer, and I still haven't done anything but stand and, occasionally, have odd looks shot my way by a group of vicious looking fifth years. Finally he decides to acknowledge my existence. "Ok then. Follow me." He says shortly and rudely. "It's about time! I thought you were going to have me become part of the décor! I am a person you know, and I am in desperate need of social interaction!" As I say this, his pale blonde eyebrows rise higher and higher until they are in danger of disappearing into his hair. "Drama queen!" He says, his eyes rolling to the skies. "Oh? Really?" I say "Coming from the drama king himself, no less! Ugh. You are such an ass sometimes, you know that, right?" I walk away from him, still grumbling. I know he's right, but between hearing the words 'mudblood' and 'Granger' in the same sentence, accompanied by many other insults regarding both her birth and her love of books coming from the group of fifth years, I don't want to deal with his sarcasm and general unpleasantness. I don't know why I agreed to come to this party anyways. Everyone is acting so mean. If the way I hear gossip and insults coming from every corner, I am right in trusting no one except maybe Draco in all of Slytherin I roam the room, I hear someone making fun of poor Neville as well. After this, I decide to leave. On my way out however, I am intercepted by Pansy Parkinson.
"Star! You came! I was just going over to Draco to grab you away to talk. Why aren't you with Draco, anyways?" She asks. "Oh, I got mad about something that I heard, and... Well, I guess I kind of took it all out on him." I say guiltily. I hadn't realized how totally rude I had been to Draco when I stomped away. I better go apologize. I glance around, only to see him talking to those two brainless buffoons Crabbe and Goyle. This means that he is currently in full-on bastard mode. He is, undoubtedly, to busy putting on a show for his so called friends to accept an apology with any grace. I know him well enough to know that any attempt I make to be even remotely civil will be answered with some sort of rude and demeaning comment, most likely in relation to my house. This does make me wonder though. Am I the only one he can be himself around? On that same note, you can't truly be friends with someone unless you're able to be yourself around them. Am I his only real friend? I frown. Maybe I should go ahead and talk to him. I'm just about to go walk over to him when Pansy snaps her fingers in my face. "Hello! Earth to Star! Have you heard any of what I'm saying?" I open my mouth, about to tell her that of course I was listening, and completely ready to repeat what she said, when I realize that I had totally zoned Pansy out. Merlin, I feel horrible now! I just close my mouth and hang my head in shame. Pansy giggles. "It's okay; I saw where you were staring. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if, given a few years, you guys end up together." She gives me this knowing look, almost like she had heard what had been said by the lake. "Um, no, I really think we'll just remain friends for a while." I say firmly. I don't really like him like that, if I'm completely honest with myself. I mean, sure, there's a lit bit of an underlying crush, but not one large enough to match the one I have on… Well, I'll just stop that thought in its tracks!
Pansy still looks like she is going to try to set us up. "Well Pansy, why don't you introduce me to a few people? I only know you and Draco here, remember? Or have you already forgotten that I'm the lone lion in the snake pit?" I tease. Hopefully this gets her mind off of my relationship with Draco, or more accurately, my lack thereof. It works. With an "Oh!" of realization, she drags me over to a tall, blonde second year. Pansy taps her shoulder and the second year turns to face us. "Hey Pansy!" She says cheerily, ignoring the fact that I'm with Pansy. "Hey Daphne, this is Star Woodrow. You know, from Gryffindor? Star," she says, turning to me, "This is Daphne Greengrass. She's a second year, and obviously is in Slytherin." I give Daphne a warm, if a bit nervous, wave and smile, only to find myself being looked up and down by cold, appraising eyes. I have never seen someone so clearly passing judgment. With every inch of me that she looks at, her face betrays what she thinks of me. At my feet, one brow is raised, obviously noting my slightly large feet. I can tell that she then is taking in the sandals, and she must approve of them because she gives a slight nod. Her face travels up my muggle skinny jeans, her face expressionless. Finally her eyes light upon my top. It really fits me rather well, accentuating what small curves I have at this awkward, not a teen but not a child age. She must actually like this bit of my outfit because a slight smile graces her face and she says, "Nice top." When she goes to take in my face, I smirk and let her take in my make-up and then completely change my face and hair. I give myself a large, Snape like hooked nose, light blue eyes, and long, curly pink hair. She looks startled, and as soon as she seem to take in this change I give myself straight dark brown hair, a cute little button nose, and let my eyes go to their natural shade of dark green.
Daphne gasps. They may as well place a light bulb over her head; her sudden understanding is so theatrical that it could very well have been in a muggle cartoon. "You're a metamorphomagus!" she says. Thank you, Captain Obvious. I refrain from saying this out loud. That would be rude. I instead roll my eyes and say quite simply, "Yup." She opens her mouth to begin asking a question, but Pansy pulls me away before she can. "It's best if you don't allow Daphne to start talking in the first place. She may be a little dim at first," Now that is the understatement of the century. The entire time she was looking at me I had been changing my mouth around from full lips to thin lips to lips that naturally look like that ridiculous duck face thing the girls on Facebook do, and it still took her two full-face transformations to pick up on it. "But, once Daphne picks up on something, talking to her can be like having an interview with the Daily Prophet. Asks more questions before you even have a chance to think of answers. She's naturally inquisitive, that one." Pansy finishes. "Oh." I look around, seeing if there's anyone who looks more pleasant to be around. I see a dark skinned wizard flitting around from group to group, leaving behind a trail of laughter. I watch him for a moment until he looks up at me. Our eyes lock for a moment, and then he makes his way towards us. Meanwhile, Pansy is still going on about what people are wearing. "… And that girl cannot pull off skinny jeans at all, unlike you. I mean, come on, just look at her! Can you say thunder thighs?" "Pansy," I say, "The girl looks fine. Just lay off her, will you?" She was talking about Millicent Bulstrode. While she may not be the nicest person herself, no one deserves to have someone talk about them like that. Pansy just huffs and starts talking about a pair of shoes she saw in Diagon Alley. The dark skinned wizard walks up to us just then.
"Hey," he says, "I'm Blaise. Since I don't recognize you, I'm assuming you're the Gryffindor of the party?" "Yeah, that's me," I say with a smile. "I'm Star Woodrow." His dark brown eyes widen for a fraction of a second before he gives a light smirk. "Oh, I've heard of your family! Aren't you guys all Parselmouths?" Oh my God. My mouth drops open in horror. I know what this means. There hasn't been a parselmouth in history that hasn't gone bad. There's no way. I begin to slowly back up. I ram into someone, which jerks me into reality, which is not something I feel like dealing with at the moment. And so, I bolt. I run for the door like death himself is on my heals. Once I make it into the dungeons, surrounded by nothing but cool darkness, I run into an empty classroom and sob. There's no way this is happening. There has only ever been one wizard with this ability who didn't turn out to be a horrible dark wizard, and that was Merlin himself. Merlin, the most powerful wizard who ever existed. If he is the only one who could keep from being swallowed up by the ability, then how on Earth will I make it out of this? I know what Pansy meant when she said I was actually supposed to be a Slytherin. For some reason, I feel like this is just going to be the tip of the iceberg. This isn't what has my crying though. No, I can kind of live with this. What's most upsetting about this to me is that my own parents kept this from me. If two random Slytherins knew, then who else knows? They had to have known all along, and yet this is how I find out. I suddenly remember a certain day in Diagon Alley.
… He finally hands me another wand. This one is ten and three quarters inches long, made of fir wood, with a core of a phoenix feather. When he hands me this one, it feels… different. It vibrates slightly in my hand and grows warm, but not hot enough to burn me. With one smooth wave, a blinding light fills the room. It's as if the sun has taken up residence in the shop. Passersby are stopping to look in the window. Apparently most people do not experience this when being chosen by a wand. As the light recedes back into the wand, I see that all the damages I have caused are fixed.
"So I guess this is it," I say uncertainly. "I would think so," Ollivander states dryly. My dad pays eleven galleons and seven sickles for the wand and then we leave. When we're walking to Flourish and Blotts to buy my textbooks, I ask him what happened. He states simply that I'm powerful, more powerful than most witches and wizards, especially for my age. He tells me that I'll have it all explained to me by Dumbledore at Hogwarts.
Why didn't they explain it themselves? Maybe Dumbledore is smarter, but surely it would be best for a girl to hear at least an outline of potentially life changing information from her own parents. This just isn't adding up. Maybe if and when Dumbledore decides that I need to know this information he will tell me. Until then, I'll just talk to Hermione about all of it, leaving out the bit about a party with the Slytherins, and research parseltongue in the library. Who knows, maybe I can become fluent in this language and it'll actually help me later on. I wipe off the smeared make-up and generally clean myself up. Right as I'm about to leave, a pale blonde head pokes in through the doorway. Draco heaves a sigh and walks into the room.
"Star, why did you run out like that? One second you're conversing with Pansy and Zabini, and the next you're racing out of the room." He looks at me waiting for an answer. I merely shake my head and give a cryptic response before stalking out of the room, head held high.
Often times the ones we trust least enlighten us more than those we trust most.
A/N- Well, I'm a horrible person. I know. I don't update for like, a month, and then give a super short chapter. I promise to be a more diligent updater next time!(: