CHAPTER 7: Looking Around, It is Mostly Yellow
Early the following morning, Matthias and the others went to visit Malfoy in the Hospital wing. Matthias isn't sure why Davis and Daphne didn't join them, but recalling what Malfoy told him during the Opening Feast, the two Slythrin's aren't particularly close with their bunch. Parkinson will most likely tell them about Malfoy's condition during the break later anyway. Granted he himself doesn't like Malfoy that much, he's only here to win the other boys favor in the long run.
When they arrived in the Hospital wing, Malfoy was still asleep. He looked so peaceful in his slumber that they decided not to wake him up for questions. Matthias almost laughed at how innocent he looked while he slept. Maybe if Malfoy remained asleep forever people would actually want to be his friend. But that would be like wishing him dead so Matthias quickly knocked on wood to not jinx it.
Zabini went ahead and tousled Malfoy's hair for his amusement causing Parkinson to scold him by hitting the back of his head. Nott did them all a favor by holding Zabini back from Malfoy's bed after that.
Matthias stepped closer to Malfoy's bed to get a better look at the blonde and marveled at how normal he looked despite what he's been through. Ignoring the bandaged arm, his pale skin, and dry, chapped lips, Matthias finally said, "Well, he's looked better."
"It's not going to kill him, is it, Madame Pompfrey?" Parkinson squeaked at the matron as she approached them.
"As I said yesterday, Miss Parkinson, Mister Malfoy will be back on his feet in three days," Madame Pompfrey assured them. "All he needs is proper bed rest, some good food, and peace. His injury will not kill him, dear. Although the fever should be a problem –" she mumbled.
Parkinson gasped in worry and glanced down at Malfoy, who lowly groaned when he attempted to turn on his bad arm. "T – Then do something about it!" she demanded.
"Oh, dear," Madame Pompfrey said patiently although a bit offended by Parkinson's tone, "I am the matron of this school a mere fever is child's play."
Matthias pats Parkinson's shoulder and smiled comfortingly at her, "Maybe you should make him something? You know… so he wakes up with something to look forward to?"
"Like not seeing you on the foot of his death bed," Zabini chuckled.
Everyone cast him a glare for not reading the mood. Matthias may not like Malfoy, but Parkinson is Parkinson. She's as vile as Malfoy is but she obviously cares so much for the former that Matthias finds it inconsiderate of him to dismiss that fact just because he didn't like the other.
"Y – You're right," Parkinson nodded. "I'll make him something! Maybe a… a… Chocolate cookies! He's always liked those. That should help him get better quickly."
Matthias had no idea how Parkinson will have the means to create chocolate cookies from scratch but wished her luck nonetheless. Love can make anything possible. If her infatuation with Malfoy is anything close to actual love, then she'll think of something.
Madame Pompfrey promptly kicked them out of the infirmary not long after so they can still catch a few bites of the morning meal before first period. During their short lived time for breakfast, Parkinson tried to gather a general consensus of ideas as to where she'll get the ingredients for her mother's signature cookies. Matthias tried to pitch in some of his ideas but without a kitchen to prepare everything, they were both in a complete loss.
As they headed their way to their respective first periods, Zabini had the gall to declare himself temporary leader of their gang for the following days their "prince" is absent.
Matthias would've called him out on it, but Parkinson, together with Crabbe and Goyle, were quick enough to dismiss such statement. It seems loyalty runs deeper in Slytherin than Matthias initially though it would.
"I should have seen that coming," Zabini mumbled, placing a hand on his chin in thought. His eyes briefly lingered on Matthias and Nott and grinned. Nott shot a blank look at Zabini and shook his head before returning to his novel.
Zabini then turned to Matthias, hoping that he'd humor him in his attempt this time around. The latter only raised his hand in disagreement, "As if I'd follow you around behind your coat tails."
"I didn't even say anything yet," Zabini said innocently.
"But I know what you're thinking and the answer is no," Matthias said. "Can't we just… enjoy this time off without Malfoy around?"
"You'd like that won't you," Zabini teased. "Without Malfoy around, you have every chance to talk to that bucktoothed Mudblood from Gryffindor anytime you want."
Matthias stopped to narrow his eyes at Zabini's smug face for a while, then absentmindedly grabbed Nott's collar to prevent him from hitting a nearby statue as they turned to a corner.
It didn't take Zabini hours to figure out his relationship with Hermoine after Parkinson found out. Whether she, that overly-gossiping pug-faced lunatic, told him about it or he somehow found out in other way, Matthias never really figured it out, but Zabini kept his opinions to himself. Until now that is.
"I can talk to whoever I want, Zabini," Matthias said.
"Obviously," Zabini drawled with a roll of eyes. "You're your own person Braun. I can't tell you what to do. But what I can do is ask you to politely step away from Mudbloods. If you know what's good for you, at least," he promptly adds with a smile.
"So anyone should be fine as long as they're not Muggle-borns?" Matthias repeated annoyingly.
He already knows that the Slytherins are all about the blood-purity and he's trying to respect that by not shoving his righteous beliefs unto them. He would like to, but he simply chose not to for the sake of civility. The least they can do in return for his tolerance is not shove their prejudiced ideals unto him. He's not going to ignore Hermoine just because she's a Muggle-born and he most certainly will not ignore her just because they told him to.
Zabini hummed and titled his head in thought. "Or blood traitors, or annoying pricks, anyone in Gryffindor, Longbottom, weird Hufflepuffs, and –" he counted.
"That's an awfully long list," Matthias mumbled, counting out the names Zabini indirectly told him to avoid. "Is there anyone left for me to talk to?"
"You have us," Nott answered, his attention still not leaving his novel.
"True as that may be," Matthias sighed, "being stuck with you two isn't going to be forever."
"Way to be pessimistic, Braun," Zabini mumbled. "You've only known us for two days."
"I don't like you all that much," he said bluntly, "you remind me of someone I really hate. Fortunately for you, you're a lot easier to tolerate and far more manageable than him."
"That's nice to know," Zabini mumbled indifferently. "What about Nott?" he asked pointing to the silent bookworm. "I'm sure you have better opinions of him. He's not that hard to manage unlike me, as you say."
"He's fine," Matthias nodded, "but he likes being alone. I don't exactly tend to be quiet for a long time." Zabini and Nott surprisingly nodded in unison in agreement.
Zabini hummed, considering. "Fine. If you don't want us to being your only friend group, go find a new one. As long as they aren't in any of the groups I mentioned you're going to be alright," he reminded him by waving four fingers in the air.
"You listed off almost everyone in this school!" Matthias argued.
"Did I?" Zabini gaped, and shrugged unapologetically. "Whoops."
Matthias shook his head in disbelief, "I don't believe this…"
When Matthias arrived in Muggle studies, he was surprised to see Hermoine sitting in there too. She's supposed to be in Divination and Arithmancy. The mere thought of imagining Hermoine Granger present in all three classes at once baffled him. It actually made his hurt a bit.
Matthias sauntered over next to her with a deep frown etched on his face. "Either you're skipping classes or you're not Hermoine Granger," he mumbled.
"Skipping?" Hermoine echoed, "I would never! I'll have you know I am attending all my classes…" she slowed to a whisper, "E-except Divination. I knew it was a waste of time and I was right. Arithmancy is still the superior way to predict the future."
"Isn't Arithmancy at this hour too though?" Matthias asked. Even if she did drop Divination she's still missing another class, and cutting classes for another one doesn't sound like something Hermoine Granger would do.
"It is," Hermoine nodded, "but that's not a problem. I can catch up with work on that later." She said confidently, looking as though she's not bothered by it at all. "So… uhm…" Hermoine began in a stutter. "About yesterday?"
Matthias sighed expectantly. This conversation was bound to come up sooner or later. "Alright," he prepared himself, "hit me up."
"Surely you didn't mean what you said?" Hermoine asked, "You know that Dean's right and it was Malfoy who started it! He was the one who riled up Buckbeak!" her voice grew louder, gathering the attention of the other two students in the room with them. "Buckbeak did nothing wro–"
"–Shush! Shush!" Matthias interrupted her, gesturing for her to mind her increasing volume. He pulled her close and whispered truthfully, "Of course I didn't mean what I said. I was beside him when he called Buckbeak a brute. You probably won't agree to what I did but I had to do that. It's the only way I know how to win guys like Malfoy."
"Win?" Hermoine repeated, "What are you talking about?"
"I agreed to a bet with Malfoy and lost," he explained and added dismissively, "It's not important."
Hermoine glowered at him and looked away briefly as though debating with herself.
Matthias can't tell what was running through her mind but hoped that it didn't ruin her image of him. It's selfish of him to try and save himself by hurting someone else in the process, but it's not like he can make everyone happy. That's just the point of being in Slytherin, it's a never ending game and you always have to on your feet to stay afloat. Matthias may not like it, but he's certainly not going to lose it either.
"I understand that you want to fit in Matthias, I really do," Hermoine mumbled. "But if you're going to help Malfoy get away from punishment, Hagrid or Buckbeak might get in some serious trouble. And Hagrid can get fired or – or – worse –" she stopped, her eyes growing dark in a distant memory.
"Even if I didn't do what I did," Matthias argued, "Malfoy will still get what he wants. His father works as one of Hogwart's Governor and he probably has a lot of connections in the Ministry. It doesn't matter what's right or wrong, his family is too powerful to be denied by them."
"Still!" Hermoine hissed, "That doesn't mean we can't fight for what is right."
"Malfoy's familial influence is a power you cannot fight against," he said with venomous words. "There is no outcome here where the 'right' wins, not when you're up against someone with power. Might as well exploit what I can at this time while he's not doing any actual damage."
"But –" Hermoine tried to reason again but Matthias looked away.
"I know it's not right Hermoine," he said, "it's far from it. But what's been done is done."
Hermoine stared at him with soft eyes and sighed to herself. She probably thought of him in the same way Ron does – a self-serving liar. And that he, like the house he now belongs in, is nothing but a two-faced wizard who manipulates others for his personal benefit.
Matthias started to feel scared for their friendship when Hermoine chose not to speak up after a few seconds. Hermoine could solidify her new image of him and end their friendship. Matthias can't have that, she's the only person outside of Slytherin he can talk to like this freely.
"Obviously," he began to clear the air, "you have problems against with that and I'm not going to force you to understand it. You're a good person 'Moine. I may not be through and through, but I promise," he said truthfully. "I promise to help if any problem comes up. My father works for the Ministry too after all."
Hermoine finally looked at him, her eyes showing more wariness now than before. She definitely isn't going to blindly trust him anymore. "Alright," she sighed, "that's a promise. You should be smart enough to know that I don't take those lightly."
Matthias smiled and nodded in gratitude just as Professor Burbage entered from the side wearing Muggle clothes.
She flicked her wand at the door to shut it close. She clapped her hands together and looked over her new students this year with a huge grin. She nodded once and pleasurably sighed, "Welcome to Muggle Studies! In here we will be studying the non-magical folk, in light of how, we wizards see them. This class will talk about nothing but facts! About Muggle lifestyle and living. No lies, whatsoever. No, no, no. I'd like to ask all of you to keep an open mind about them. We are all humans after all, the only difference lies is that we are gifted with magic and they are not."
"We'll start with something basic today," she informed them. "I'm to assume all of us know that Muggles live without magic?" Everyone nodded blankly. "Good. Can someone tell me how?"
Muggle studies went on for about another hour and a half solely meant to discuss electricity. And once they were done with the basics, Professor Burbage assigned them research work by pairs. Hermoine was paired with a Ravenclaw while Matthias was paired with Hufflepuff, Ernie Macmillan.
After he told Thomas off yesterday, Matthias was ready to face the fact that people from the other houses will regard him with the stigma in mind; but it was different with Macmillan. He acted as though nothing of the sort happened and talked to Matthias like the latter isn't from Slytherin at all.
Macmillan treated him as he would treat any another student in Hogwarts, with unrivalled friendliness. Matthias would've asked him about this eagerness to befriend him, but Macmillan was too focused on mouthing off ideas for their paper that isn't due till a months from now to notice Matthias' eyes on him.
Not that Matthias has any problem with it, it's actually nice to know that some people in Hogwarts don't judge others based on a generalized stereotype. It's refreshing to say the least.
Macmillan continued to babble on about what they should do and Matthias only listened in, occasionally scribbling down what he can on a notepad. Despite knowing more about the Muggle world than Macmillan, Matthias took the back seat on this one and let Macmillan have the wheel. Macmillan's fresh set of eyes added a flair of fantasy to their research and he had way more creative ideas in mind.
And he may not have told Macmillan, but if there's anything Matthias is admittedly bad at, it is research work. Writing the paper is no problem, he can do that while listening to music on the side. But the hours needed for extensive research while buried under piles of books and limitless pages? That overwhelms him, and bores him to death. Flipping through countless of pages just to find that one fitting paragraph for a paper will and can drive someone crazy.
"So we'll do an introduction with who discovered electricity, define what it is, then move on to what it's used for," Macmillan clarified as he went through their outline one last time.
Matthias nodded, while he scanned the shelves for a book that might be useful. "Sounds coherent enough," he mused out loud. "And for a pure-blood you seem to know a lot of Muggle things."
"I have a Muggle-born friend named Justin," Macmillan answered. "During the breaks he'd invite me and Hannah over to his house. 'Escape the magical world' or something like that. It's actually pretty fun! Although mum and dad didn't agree to it at first, Justin grew on them. He's a really swell guy."
"I can tell," Matthias mumbled. "They in Hufflepuff too?"
"Of course!" Macmillan replied, "They're my best friends. Oh, you should meet them! Hannah's really great! And Justin… Hey! You were raised a Muggle for most of your life right?" Matthias nodded. "DOUBLE GREAT! I'm sure Justin would love to have someone to talk to about those. I try to be that person for him but it's hard to learn all of them at once, you understand me?"
"As someone studying magic after living my whole life, not knowing about it? Yes, yes I understand."
"And if we actually managed to make a friend in Slytherin," Macmillan gaped, "I'm sure we're going to be the buzz in the common room for days! Hey, Braun –" Matthias hummed in response, "– this sort of makes us friends right? Working together like this?"
"'slong as you don't have a problem with it," Matthias shrugged.
"That settles it then," Macmillan grinned while he offered a hand between them, "pleased to have you as a friend Braun."
"You too, Macmillan," he said, taking the others hand out of courtesy.
"Oh, please," Macmillan chuckled, "call me Ernie. Now help me carry these books –" he said while trying to balance six hard bound books on his arm. Matthias flicked his wand up to move half of Ernie's books into his own pile and then walked around to look for an empty table.
He and Ernie remained in the library for another hour or so, sparking small talk ever so often. Matthias talked about his bet with Malfoy that pushed him to say those things to Dean Thomas. Ernie on the other hand talked about the crazy thing that happened last year where students almost died. Somehow, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, Harry was involved in it.
"Hogwarts has a basilisk?" Matthias mused.
"It's a legend that we never really got to confirm," Ernie answered. "All we know is that it attacked a bunch of Muggle-borns last year and we all thought Harry was responsible."
"You thought the boy who defeated the Dark Lord was responsible?" Matthias asked in disbelief.
"He can speak Parseltongue, Matt," Ernie exclaimed. "What else were we supposed to think? And I saw him a few feet from Justin's petrified body. Turns out we were wrong though."
"You never found the Heir, nor the chamber?"
Ernie shook his head. "Hogwarts' keeping that a secret. I mean imagine what we can do if we knew. We could start parties only students know about, secret dueling rings and all that."
Mathias laughed. A secret place where students can just hang out with each other without thinking about the house barriers and just be normal teenagers, doing whatever it is they can without the supervision of faculty, does sound enticing.
"There you are, Ernie!" a girl with blonde hair wearing Hufflepuff robes ran towards their table followed by another blonde haired boy. "We've been looking everywhere for you. You promised to meet us in the lake today!"
Ernie slapped his forehead. "Right, I forgot…" he sighed. "Sorry Hannah. Professor Burbage gave us research work today and I wanted to do it early."
"Aren't you that new kid?" Justin asked. Matthias waved his hand in greeting. "Why's he sitting with you?"
"He's my partner for the research work," Ernie replied. "Matthias, this is Justin and Hannah," he said presenting a hand to both of them respectively, "my best friends."
Matthias smiled, "Nice to finally meet both of you."
"Likewise," Justin said as he took the seat beside Matthias. Just like Ernie, he didn't seem too apprehensive about befriending a Slytherin.
Hannah Abbott on the other hand, didn't. "He's a Slytherin, Ernie" she hissed warningly. "You know what they're like – no offense to you," she added apologetically to Matthias, who was looking at her with narrowed eyes.
"Don't be like that Hannah," Ernie said. "Matthias hasn't done anything wrong to us and I've been with him for two hours now. If he's anything like Malfoy's lot I'd have left him already."
Hannah fumed, pouting and crossing her arms. "Then what do you call what he did yesterday?" she asked.
"Fitting in?" Ernie shrugged. "It's not like he's evil, Hannah, no one in Slytherin is. Just a lot of mean people though. And he was just trying to win some Galleons back from Malfoy."
"By talking down to Dean?" Hannah insisted.
"That wasn't my intention." Not entirely anyway, Matthias added silently to himself.
For the next couple of minutes, Matthias found himself switching idly between working diligently and talking to Justin. It is as Ernie said, he and Justin easily clicked because of their mutual background. They reminisced a lot about shows they enjoyed on the telly as children and their favorite video games.
Ernie would scold them for being too noisy, but their silence doesn't last for too long because they would randomly giggle on their own and be back at it again.
At one point Ernie asked them a question about telephones and found himself being lost in discussion with both of them as well. They didn't notice the noise they were doing and was scolded by the librarian, something that Ernie bashfully told him has never happened to them before; and quite frankly, he found it hilarious.
All in all, Matthias was enjoying his time with them. The only problem that remains as yet to be solved is Hannah.
Matthias tried to meet her halfway by extending topics she can join in on. She would talk to him whenever necessary, but she kept her guard. Justin told him she isn't usually like this and that she's probably just being protective of them after seeing what Matthias did. It made Matthias wonder if women have this natural tendency to be protective towards their friends.
"Braun?" a familiar voice suddenly came from behind their table, forcing Matthias to look over his shoulder.
"Hey, Nott," Matthias said with a smile, "how can I help you?"
Nott walked closer to their table, eyes scanning the clutter they were working on. He nodded once at Ernie, as though greeting an old friend then raised his nose disgustingly at Justin. Matthias' shoulders dropped in realization – Justin is a Muggle born.
"May I excuse Braun for a moment," Nott asked, "if you don't mind, Macmillan. It won't be long."
Ernie looked at them briefly as though gathering consensus. Justin tried to avoid Nott's eyes while Hannah kept the most indistinguishable poker face Matthias has ever seen. "Take all the time you need," Ernie finally said in behalf of the group. "We just finished anyway. I'll see you next week?"
"You can call for me anytime Ernie. You kind of earned that by now," Matthias said truthfully, while waving his wand to clean up his mess. "It's nice meeting you Justin, Hannah."
Nott didn't speak up right away when Matthias joined his company. Instead, the silent Slytherin walked them out of the library first and led him into a deserted hallway. He waited for few moments before finally speaking up. "It's nice that you're making friends, but are you really sure you want it to be the Hufflepuffs?"
"I don't think they count as 'weird Hufflepuffs' though," Matthias said in their defense.
"Zabini also said no Mudbloods," Nott reminded him.
"Don't –" Matthias winced. "Don't use that word. Not when you're referring to a friend."
"You didn't seem to have a problem with it before," he argued. "We call Granger that all the time and you never bat an eye."
Matthias crossed his arm and replied with a hint of anger in his voice, "Hermoine is a different subject all together. She's friends with Harry, and I know you all have some mutual hate going on with the Gryffindors. I also don't want to get in trouble with you all so I try to tolerate it as much as I can. But Justin? Justin isn't doing anyone harm. He's just… Justin."
Nott remained unresponsive, eyes studying Matthias, and lips pursed in thought. "They're going to find out you know," he warned him.
"Of course they will," Matthias agreed. "Parkinson and Zabini easily found out I'm friends with 'Moine. It won't take them long to figure this out. They're not exactly the most secretive bunch in Hogwarts."
Nott shook his head in disbelief and mumbled, "He's not going to be happy about this."
Matthias can only nod in agreement. He already knows how hard it is to please Zabini, and he isn't going to bother trying either. He's already unsure of what Zabini thinks of his friendship with Hermoine and once he finds out about Justin and the others, he'll be furious.
"I also have qualms with… you befriending Mud –" Nott caught himself, "Muggle-borns, but seeing as you are trying to tolerate us as I do with them. I believe it's fair to return the courtesy of ignoring our prejudices and offer the same. This does not mean I approve of it however. "
"I don't need you to," Matthias said. "I just don't want you and the others to keep telling me I'm not allowed to be friends with perfectly good people because of their parentage!"
Nott looked taken aback with his sudden anger and avoided his gaze.
Matthias scratched the back of his hand and reminded himself to practice some restraint. Nott wasn't telling him off, he's merely reminding him of the consequences. "Look…Nott," he sighed. "I didn't mean to shout. I appreciate the warning but I'm really not giving up these people."
"You've only met them today," Nott reminded him.
"Well," Matthias feebly said, "you might find it interesting to note that people find friends in uncanny places." He grinned to liven up the mood, but Nott only looked back at him with a completely unreadable expression.
Matthias sighed, "Alright, I get it. Warning heeded. So long as you promise to keep this a secret between us for now."
Nott mulled over it for a moment and said, "Sure. It won't stay that way for long anyway."
Matthias smiled, agreeing with him and at the same time appreciating the cooperation. "Great!" he jumped, "I think I owe you some ice cream now. Come on! We can probably get one in the Hall if we hurry up."
