Okay, I know it's been a while, and this is a bit of a short chapter. However, I do have several excuses, but I'll leave that for the bottom of the page. Sorry about the wait!
Chapter 8
The next morning, Camellia woke early. Glancing at a clock, she sighed, realizing there really wasn't any point to trying to sleep anymore. After slowly getting dressed, Camellia left the Slytherin dungeon and found her way to the Great Hall. Not many people were up—a Gryffindor or two, a couple of Hufflepuffs, a few Ravenclaws, and two Slytherins—some first year, and Tom. Camellia quietly made her way to the Slytherin table.
"Mind if I sit here?" Tom looked up from his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.
"Go ahead." He said, looking back at his book. Camellia sat down opposite Tom, and helped herself to some toast and jam. A few minutes passed in silence.
"Why are you up so early?" Tom asked, his eyes never leaving his book.
"Didn't sleep very well." Camellia answered.
"Is that common?" Tom asked, finally looking up. Camellia shrugged.
"I don't always get that much sleep. Usually it's just because my mind is too busy."
"With what?" Camellia looked up from her toast.
"Sorry?"
"What could have kept you up?" Camellia looked down at her breakfast.
"Just…things." She knew that Tom wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. "I…I want to know how I got my scars." Camellia said reluctantly. "And I did practically get ambushed by the girls in my dorm." Tom smirked.
"How could being ambushed by them possibly keep you awake?" Camellia raised her eyebrows disbelievingly.
"You didn't have to put up with them! They had to make sure that I understood all the new fads and junk in fashion, for who knows what reason, they tried to make me memorize 'who's who' in the school, and, to top it all off, they just wouldn't stop asking questions!" Tom raised an eyebrow.
"Really?" Camellia realized how she must have sounded, and sheepishly scratched at the back of her head.
"It was just really…irritating." She said. Tom opened his mouth to ask another question, but closed it abruptly when someone dropped into the spot next to Camellia.
"Abraxas," Tom nodded towards the newcomer. Camellia looked at the boy—he was likely a sixth or seventh year, with dark gray eyes, a pale complexion, and light blonde hair. He bowed his head slightly towards Tom, then turned to Camellia.
"Abraxas Malfoy, Miss Wheatley."
"Nice to meet you." Camellia said uncertainly. Not knowing what else to do, she turned back to her breakfast. It seemed as though the arrival of Abraxas had opened the floodgates for the rest of the boys in Slytherin, especially the upper-years. Tom's attention was soon taken from his book to the others who—though obviously tired—all seemed to be vying for his attention.
Camellia hunched her shoulders, feeling decidedly out of place surrounded by so many people she didn't know. Rose and Margaret eventually appeared, sitting at the end of the table. Camellia almost waved, but, feeling as conspicuous as she did, decided not to. Finally, she noticed Professor Slughorn, a huge stack of schedules in his hands, start towards the Slytherins. Camellia quickly scanned her schedule before heading back to the dorms, murmuring a quick goodbye.
Absorbed in her schedule, Camellia collided with someone at the bottom of a flight of stairs, knocking the person over.
"Sorry!" She said quickly, helping the boy up.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." He said rather cheerfully. Camellia quirked an eyebrow. The boy had black hair that fell just above his shoulders, sharp gray eyes, and—like so many others in the school—was rather pale.
"Nice to meet you, Wheatley." He stuck out his hand, which Camellia cautiously took. "I'm Alphard Back, fourth year Slytherin."
"Er, nice to meet you as well." Camellia said slowly.
"They handing out schedules already?" Alphard asked, noticing the one in Camellia's hand.
"Yeah."
"Excellent. See you around, Wheatley." The boy hurried away, bounding up the stairs.
Shaking her head slightly—Alphard didn't seem to quite fit into the Slytherin mold—Camellia continued on her way. The rest of the day seemed to pass in a blur. She'd had double Charms right away, followed by double Potions, only to end the day with Defense.
Professor Merrythought was aptly named, being incredibly—yet somehow not obnoxiously—cheerful and optimistic. During class, however, Camellia would find herself feeling a bit uncomfortable. At the beginning of class, the professor had told the students that, as this was a NEWT level class, they were liable to see things such as they had never been allowed to see before, and would likely be frightened, disgusted, and more.
"Therefore," Professor Merrythought continued. "I am trusting that all of you will behave as the mature adults you will soon be. You will be tested in this class like nothing you've known before." With that, she tapped the blackboard, words spiraling out from where it had been hit.
"I'll be throwing you headfirst into this—today we will learn about the Unforgivable Curses."
Ta-dah! Finally got something up. Once again, I'm really sorry about the long wait. I got a job over the summer in the morning/afternoon, and was in a musical at night, so my days were exhausting and crammed full of stuff, which I'm not used to. And then my grandpa was really sick, and he just died...along with all of that, I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my stories, and I...well, it wasn't really writers block, but it was. I knew what I wanted to go over, but I just couldn't get the words to come out. I'd planned for this chapter to be quite a bit longer than it is, but I figured it was long enough to post for all of you and you'd waited way too long. :/ So there's my explanation, I hope you all weren't too mad at me, and, since for some reason I write better when I should be doing homework instead, more chapters will be coming up, though I'm not sure how soon it will be. (don't worry, there's no way I'm abandoning this story)
