I was running, my arms were pumping themselves as fast as they possibly could. My bare feet smacked against the stone ground. Echoing. I was pretty sure I was a goner. It was following me. It could hear me. It could smell me. I was dead. I didn't know what to do. What's right, what's wrong. So I sat there, head in hands when I heard the loud hiss.
"Leave me alone!" I shouted. This did absolutely nothing and all I wanted to do was look at its eyes. I felt someone tug on my arm and felt a warmth that went up my spine. I turned to look at the person who did it when I was pulled, quite forcibly I might add, away from the serpent. I saw the long red hair and almost smiled at the idiotic Gryffindor. It wasn't until we stopped that I saw my hands were now bloody, but Ginny's were oozing with it. I took a step back, confused and ready to yell at her. But that was before I heard the sound of it slithering. It knew it had the upper hand.
"Ginny, what are we going to do?" I asked. Confused beyond belief I watched as she twiddled her fingers and bloodied her hair by pulling on it.
"Gotta get Tom out. How to get Tom out? Gotta get Tom out." Ginny said like a mantra. I tried to turn around, but her hands were on my face keeping me from looking at its supposedly golden eyes. "Look at it and you die." She whispered like the snake could hear her. Suddenly she bent my head down so I could see my reflection in the water. I saw my brown skin covered in blood cheek down and terrified brown eyes. It wasn't until I looked at Ginny and saw her eyes were shut tight. I almost mimicked before I saw its eyes. It's beautiful topaz eyes that twinkled sinisterly like the eyes of a car salesmen after he scored a deal meaning a new hot tub.
I felt a searing hot pain as I continued to stare at the water, like it was some cure, I burned and felt completely frozen except for my eyes they moved around looking for the red head responsible. But saw nothing except for the slithering backside of the basilisk. I tried to turn my head but only exceeded in falling over. It felt like someone was shaking me.
Reagan opened her eyes and tumbled out of bed and not only the remembers of the dream, but the sight of the four other girls getting dressed and applying magical makeup and solves for all of their beauty problems. And for a second she wondered why they were doing this. Were they trying to court someone? Were they already engaged, sold off to believe it was an honor. A horrified look entered Reagan's face before she shot up. First day of school. The funny thing about Reagan is it takes her thirty minutes to shower. She had thirty five till breakfast began and schedules were handed out.
So she showered the fast as she could. And rushed out to put on her uniform. The other witches watched her rush around afterwards each of them thrown in a fit of giggles.
"Oh dear." Thea giggled, and then smiled showing pearly whites. while Astoria shook her head. Persephone rolled her eyes. Roseanne waved her wand before explaining Slytherin pure blooded rules.
"We arrive promptly, ten minutes late silly." Roseanne said before muttering a spell and Reagan's hair was dry and curled nicely while her clothes fixed themselves nicely and her tie floated from her hand and fixed itself upon her neck. "Now girls, what should we do now."
Suddenly Reagan was surrounded by Slytherins who yelled out colors. For eyelids and lips.
"Purple!"Persephone loudly suggested.
"No..no, no, no gold." Thea argued while Reagan tried to climb her way out of the insane diva's
"Absolutely not!" Roseanne shouted thinking very hard apparently.
We could do SILVER!" Astoria shouted excitedly while the many girls agreed with her, except for Roseanne who just shouted some garbled dialect.
"How about a natural touch up." Thea suggested. For a girl who argued gold this seemed simplistic, and Reagan was on board entirely.
"YES!" Reagan shouted. "We will do that and only that." While the girls were distracted by the decision she ran out of the dormitories, which were filled with people. She passed Daphne and Theodore. Daphne shot up and grabbed her arm, awfully desperate for another friend besides the cows in her dormitory and her third cousin twice removed.
"Hello Birch how are you this lovely morning?" Greengrass chirped still being dragged by Reagan with Theodore trailing behind the two.
"Your sister and her cronies are trying to kill me." Reagan's eye twitched in frustration of the golden haired blondes and her brunette friends. Theodore sniggered at Reagan's misfortune before she turned on him and snarled, "At least I don't wear hair gel." Reagan than stalked off leaving the two twelve year olds in the dust.
"YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!" Daphne informed her sarcastic friend who pivoted before muttering some excuse. "I like her." Daphne smiled at Theodore who just nodded.
"Bit rough around the edges isn't she." Theodore nodded watching the retreating figure.
"All my friends are like that." Daphne said sullenly looking at Theodore.
"You need better friends." Theodore told her before stalking off in the same direction Reagan went. Daphne sighed before following the two.
Reagan arrived at the table and sat down next to no one looking around at the tables. She saw Luna sat the end of her table talking to no one but looking right at Reagan. She looked behind Luna to see Ginny looking a bit tired around a bunch of red heads, Hermione and only one black haired head. Then in between Luna and herself was Richard in a gaggle of the ten boys total who were all laughing. Of course he and Ginny made friends first, Ginny had her entire family in Gryffindor if the amount of redheads at that table said anything, and Richard was likable to anyone, even Reagan.
Snape walked down the table handing the schedule to everyone he passed without even an explanation. As he passed Reagan her schedule floated down and landed in her oatmeal. She rushed to pick it up and brush the parts off while a voice next to her giggled. She turned and saw Astoria slide next to her. Astoria looked at her schedule and glared.
"Why do we have so many subjects with Gryffindor?" Astoria asked basically growling while looking at the table in the other side. A mousy looking boy had looked up and met Astoria's glare and his face grew red before ducking down to finish his eggs.
"Proportional class sizes." Reagan answered while Astoria looked confused.
"Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff statistically have less kids. This year there were five girls in Ravenclaw and seven boys, an even twelve, while Hufflepuff has ten boys and four girls. Together that's twenty six a good student teacher ratio. Gryffindor and Slytherin have always had large amounts. This year not so much for Slytherin while Gryffindor is blooming. They have seventeen kids and we have eight. That's twenty five. They're trying to keep it even." She explained to Astoria. Who nodded along.
"But what about herbology, and transfiguration?"
"Statistically Slytherins suck at both of those classes while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are great at then so it's basically trying to get the class grade up." Reagan explained.
"Where are you getting these statistics?" Astoria asked as she pulled her to their fist class, potions.
"Hogwarts a History." Reagan explained. "Come on. We're going to be late."
When they arrived to potions class only to realize that they were indeed late. And Snape was seething. His nostrils flared and he snarled while showing his nasty yellow teeth. "Sit." He ordered and spit flew out of his mouth. Astoria rushed to sit next to Morrison, a second year Slytherin who had to do this course over again. While Reagan looked around for a free seat. "Miss Weasley could you please raise your hand, Miss Birch seems to need glasses?"
"Actually sir I wear contacts." Reagan answered while rushing to the seat next to Ginny. Ginny was thankful seeing as Collin Creevey was all for sitting next to 'the saviors' best friends younger sister.
"Now Miss Birch for that start of the term quiz tell me what are the properties of Bellflower?" Snape asked, still seething. Reagan pulled out her book and looked through the index. "Miss Birch what are you doing?"
"I don't have a very good memory, that and you never said how I got the answer." She said looking at the pages finding bellflower. "It sucks the feeling of grief away. But it doesn't replace happiness. It just leaves you there, not sad, but you can take it with a pepper up potion. It's best paired with daisies. Preferably dried and the crushed into a fine powder and boiled with water." She answered. Snape looked at her with a raised eyebrow before giving a dismissing wave of the hand and turning to Ginny. "Five points to Slytherin for creativity.
"I taught your brother last year, pitiful work, I was expecting much better after teaching his older brothers. Even if they were countless distractions." He said pacing. "Now Weasley what is the difference between Azalea and Ivy."
"Have you seen the two?" Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Weasley." Snape said as he passed and continued teaching. Ginny scowled as she watched Reagan who remained emotionless. For a second Ginny couldn't tell if Reagan was mad or just being herself. The rest of the potion lesson was considerably boring for Ginny. She would turn to look at her partner who would furrow her eyebrows at the cauldron before writing something down every couple of moments.
"What are you doing." Ginny snapped, Reagan seemed to finish a sentence before shaking her head and crossing whatever she wrote out.
"Taking notes, Ginevra." Reagan snaps back. "Maybe you should to and Snape wouldn't be on your back." Reagan suggested with an evil tone in her voice and Ginny didn't know whether to be mad or confused.
"Was that a sorry?" Nothing was said back as Ginny smiled while finishing the potion meant to cure boils.
"Shut up." Reagan muttered while hastily chopping up some lady minute ingredients before slipping them in her pocket. She saw the look Ginny gave her. "You never know when you'll need some last minute potion ingredients." She argued with the glare before coaling her potion and handing it to her professor who more or less seemed to dislike her.
"What've you got next?" Asked Ginny nosily, while looking at Reagan from her peripheral vision. Reagan looked at her curiously.
"Ginny, like all people seeing as it is eleven thirty I'll be eating lunch like the rest of you lot." Reagan told Ginny messing with the left over potion bits she had yet to pour out.
"You eat, I just thought Slytherins fed off of the souls of the innocent." Ginny said as quick as a whip, but Reagan smirked and continued the witty banter.
"It's souls of the damned. Like take Snape for instance. He's enough to feed the whole house we could go back for seconds." She said looking Ginny in the eye. Ginny broke first and broke out into giggles.
"Come on silly goose. We have to wash these." Ginny said pointing at her own filthy cauldron and Reagan's brand new one. Ginny led Reagan to where all the other first years were washing the cauldrons before asking, rather impolitely, "What's it like to be rich?"
Reagan snapped her head at the girl and noticed her robes that were stitched up and faded from a black to a gray, as if dust was imbedded in it. "It's nice I suppose. I take a lot of things for granted though. Like um, my family is terrible and they're all riding out this politician thing my mums got going on and we don't know what to do. My mum gives it all to charity though, I don't mean all, she keeps enough to pay the bills and for groceries, but, I dunno. We live in this neighborhood with awful fake people who just want things. And they take and take and take." Reagan rambled on my noticing how Ginny was staring at her eyes wide not knowing what half of those words meant. "So what's your life like?" Reagan asked.
"My family is very poor, my dad has a low paying and disrespected job at the ministery while my mum cooks and cleans around the house. It's nice, but I just want something new and not worn before. I just want to live in a bigger room without all my brothers and I just want privacy." Ginny scowled not noticing how hard she was scrubbing her cauldron. "So do you have any siblings?" Ginny asked slowing her scrubbing.
"Two." Reagan answered and Ginny scoffed.
"I have six." Reagan's mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide at Ginny's statement.
"Your poor mother." Reagan had a hand over her mouth melodramatically.
"I know, trust me, I know." The two girls stopped their scrubbing and turned to look at each other.
"I think this potion partnership is agreeable." Reagan stated heading over to their table.
"Really?" Squeaked Ginny while Reagan smirked and nodded.
It was going to be a long day.
Lunch Reagan decided was better than dinner and breakfast, but dessert beat the two. Lunch was casual enough for a sandwich and salad. Or soup and roll. Or even fruit. It's like a big snack, and if it were up to Reagan she would be eating chips and crisps for the rest of her life. Of course since this was a prep school, so no junk food whatsoever and for a fleeting moment she missed public school food.
Then she saw what they were serving and hopped next to Theodore to load her plate. Theodore raised an eyebrow at her while she just waved him off and stuffed her face with bread and a potato soup.
Afterwards, she had a free period then transfiguration. So she wandered Hogwarts. And it was only when a voice yelled at her from across the courtyard did she stop. She saw Harry waving at her while Hermione looked up from the Lockhart book and a red headed boy she could only assume was Ron Weasley lookig disgruntled at the choice in tie and crest.
"Reagan!" Harry shouted once more while Reagan herself pivoted to walk straight over to him.
"What is it?" Reagan asked once she approached them.
"You are a Slytherin." Harry spoke annunciating each word looking in between the tie and crest with a certain hatred she couldn't fathom as to why.
"You have glasses." Reagan stated looking at his specs with a glare, Harry of course thought she was glaring at him.
"What?" Ron asked confused as to what either of those subjects had to do with each other.
"Oh I thought we were pointing out the obvious." Reagan said sarcastically causing Hermione to look up from her book and give Reagan a smile.
"How are you a slimy snake?" Asked Harry gesturing to her while Reagan raised an eyebrow.
"Snakes aren't slimy." Reagan said looking over at the trio before looking behind them. "It seems you three have a follower." She said looking over at the mousy boy who had caught Astoria's glare three hours earlier. This time though he had a camera clutched to his chest. And when Harry turned to see what she was talking about her was met with the bright red face of Collin Creevey.
"All right, Harry? I'm - I'm Collin Creevey," he announced without wasting any of his breath a took a shaky foot forward. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think - would it be alright if - can I have a picture?" He asked suddenly gaining courage, but was still clutching the camera and shaking. He then raised the camera in hopes of Harry saying yes.
Reagan stared at her peer with a raised eyebrow, wondering how he could just walk up to someone he hadn't even met before and ask for a picture. If Reagan had that much confidence she would sell pictures of celebrities she saw at Brighton yearly and sell them on the Internet.
"A picture?" Harry asked in some sort of state of shock.
"So I can prove I met you." said Collin still looking every bit the hopeful looking mouse he is. Collin then took a tiny step forward and continued his slightly stalkerish ways. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the picture'll move." Collin shuddered in excitement about the thought of moving photography and Reagan looked at him in disgust, a waste of magic.
"It's amazing here, isn't it?" Collin continued dragging his explanation for a photograph out. "I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you?" Creevey was looking at Reagan now his hand was shaking as he looked at her tie. Reagan furrowed her eyebrows, confused and fiddled with her robe sleeve. He then turned his star struck gaze at Harry. "And then could you sign it?" Reagan almost laughed at Collin.
Then a nasally voice entered the courtyard. It was superior and familiar. "Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?" Draco Malloy echoed around the courtyard and Reagan turned to walk away from the beacon of attention and the two apes who were only in the house based off of their parent. But Reagan couldn't judge too much, she asked for this. "Everyone line up," Malfoy yelled to the rest of the Wizards in the crowd. "Harry potters giving out signed photos!"
Reagan spead walked away to sit down next to anyone and grabbed a magazine out of someone's hands before putting it in between the scene and her eyes. And suddenly Reagan was reading The Quibbler. She turned to see Luna Lovegood next to her a look of what only could be described as serene shock. The rest of her face was calm except for her eyes that were wide open.
"I'm so sorry." Reagan said looking at the magazine, but Luna just threw her arms around Reagan who looked at her from her peripheral vision while looking at the scene unfolding. Malfoy just imitated Ron Weasley's mother. "Luna can you get off?" She asked looking over at the fight when one Gilderoy Lockhart appeared. Reagan didn't like that man. He was, to put it nicely, stupid.
Luna, eventually stopped hugging and giggled. "Sorry, wackspurts." She shrugged as if that explained everything. Reagan nodded as if she understood when she didn't. Before looking around at her watch. It had stopped working, strange. "Is that a muggle watch?" Reagan looked confused. What's a muggle.
"Uh no. It's my mothers." Reagan looked over at Luna who giggled behind her pale hands. Luna continued to giggle before nodding. "So what do you have next?" Reagan asked knowing that it was probably transfiguration. Luna smiled that quirky little smile of hers and then pulled Reagan up.
"Transfiguration silly, just like me." Luna began dragging the girl around, Reagan still had the Quibbler in her hand and passed Daphne and Theodore. Theodore had a book in the hand with Daphne dragging him by the wrist the two past each other with Luna going on and on about wackspurts while Daphne droned on and on about something superficial.
Reagan however was proven wrong when Daphne stopped the two and asked them a peculiar question. "Rae, what do you think about discipline in strict families?"
Reagan hid her shock while tapping her finger on her chin. "Abuse in anyway is unacceptable. Emotional is wrong, treating children like object, wrong, hitting a child is wrong, and lay but not least laying a finger to do anything except a loving parental embrace is wrong."
Daphne smiled triumphantly and looked over at Theodore. "See, Reagan agrees with me. If your parents are doing that to you, it has to stop."
Theodore glared at the ground and Daphne gasped, it seemed loud and fake, like her. "Theodore, I'm so sorry." She yelled after him as he went to his next class. Reagan looked at Luna, who pretended nothing happened, and began pulling Luna along as she walks along the corridor gazing at pictures.
"Miss Birch, Miss Lovegood what are you doing here so early?" McGonagal asked as we went into her nearly deserted classroom, there was a boy in their with nearly burnt off eyebrows and his friend waiting by the door. They boy had either sandy blonde hair, or light brown and green eyes with small little brown flecks over his nose. The boy waiting for him had dark skin and dark hair and dark eyes, but then he smiled at the two revealing a bright smile and dimples.
"Dean Thomas." The boy sad holding his hand out, Reagan took it tentatively as if touching him would burn her. All of the other Gryffindorks had feared from her or growled at her hoping to start some fight. But if it was Malloy and his cronies they were fearing, then they generalize. From what Malloy said at dinner, Reagan could tell, like a lot of other people in Slytherin, they were their for their bloodlines.
"Reagan Birch." She said, taking his hand and shaking it.
"So, Slytherin. What's that like?" Dean asked after pulling his hand away.
"Wouldn't know, only been here a day." Reagan smartly replied.
"Oh, you're not nice." Dean teased. Reagan rolled her eyes, her face not showing any emotion. Like all the other Slytherins except for Malfoy. He was rich and could manipulate people through that. Whatever works.
"So what happened to your friend?" Reagan quietly asked and Dean's head flew backwards and he began laughing. The boy with the singed eyebrows, that suddenly grew back, walked towards the three and punched Dean in the arm.
"Lad could you try not ta tell ev'rybody you come across about da accident." That Irish "lad" just made a simple mistake and peaked Reagan's interest. Luna, of course, wandered off to talk to McGonagal about Nargles and their magical properties.
"Do tell." She said and Dean, like he couldn't hold the laughter in any more, while the "lad" walked him away while telling, "We have two minutes to get to charms!" And all Reagan could see was their robes flapping as they raced to their class.
"Now I see the reason for no physical education." Reagan commented while McGonagal's stern frown turned to a minuscule smile and she turned to her desk fiddling with some objects. "So Minerva what shall we be doing today?"
McGonagal flinched. Her shoulders tensed and she didn't turn around. Her breathing speed up and Reagan could tell all this while she was right behind her Reagan turned away right as Minerva gave a reply back and elf up her bleeding finger.
"Now, now Miss Birch. It's McGonagal. And today, we are turning pine needles into sewing needles." McGonagal turned and saw the small girl looking mildly confused at Mcgonagal. Reagan shook her head and sitting at the table horizontal to the one Luna had chosen and had already gotten out a pen and some paper.
Luna looked at Reagan oddly before turning back to her quill and parchment. The two of them waiting, for anyone to come. Alas, a group of Ravenclaws and Slytherins came and Astoria rushed to sit next to Reagan. Astoria, was tall and gangly, with her long golden wavy hair and light blue eyes, she was very nice to look at. Her sister, Daphne was different and her hair, and body, was shorter than Astoria's. Reagan then saw Luna sitting next to Roseanne who looked furious at having to deal with the airy girl.
The two had only one thing in common, mono lids. Roseanne Parkinson wasn't short, but average in height. She had pin straight dark brown hair and bangs. Her hair was the best feature about her. It looked soft and silky, like a silk curtain. Her tan skin was dotted with freckles, that if she remembered correctly from last night she had been complaining to the girls how to get rid of them. Her lips were dark pink and whenever she saw them they were always set in a scowl. Luna however had an ignorant smile set into her pale pink lips. Her skin was pale and nearly flawless, except for her red cheeks. Her hair, like always tangled, wavy, and silvery blonde. Reagan then decided they were. Opposites and looked around at the rest of her class. Several Ravenclaws had paired up with the eight Slytherins most not by choice.
"Miss Birch would you care to tell the class what we are doing today." McGonagal said. Reagan turned to look for her teacher to find her not at her desk.
"Pine needles into sewing needles." Reagan answered dully as if she was bored. Suddenly McGonagal grew right before Reagan and Astoria's desk. Reagan flinched at the sudden sight of their teacher while some of the Ravenclaws snorted hoping for more of a reaction.
"Yes, now pay attention. It seems class you need another demonstration. McGonagal stalked to the front of the classroom and shrunk. In all honesty it was disgusting. He bones twisted, and her glasses and clothes melted into her skin while she grew fur. And then there was a cat where McGonagal once stood.
And at that moment Reagan Birch knew her assumption about McGonagal was partly wrong. Strict, yes, her least favorite, heavens no. It wasn't at the sorting, or breakfast, but at her first transfiguration lesson that she knew that this was going to be the best seven years of her long life.
Bailey Maddison as Thea Weiss, Emily Bador as Roseanne Parkinson, Aislinn Paul as Persephone Mareu, Cameron Monaghan as Ron Weasley, Karan Brar as Collin Creevey, and Lucky Blue Smith as Draco Malfoy.
