Chapter 8: Home Sweet Home
It's late by the time the train arrives at Hogwats. The majority of the ride was spent in silence. Iris remained in her ball position until the trolley lady came around and asked if we wanted anything. I said no but Iris bought a couple of treats and shared them with me.
I still don't know how to convince her to do something about her father. These thoughts are troublesome and are interfering with my welcome-back-home happiness. For the moment I'll leave it alone, I suppose.
This year we won't be entering Hogwarts by boats like we did last year. We've been told that that way of transportation is for first years only. For everyone else carriages that are pulled by magic transport us. At least, I think they're pulled by magic.
The wait for the first years is so boring it is almost painful,
"I can't believe that it was just one year ago that we were first years",
Iris reminisces. I nod, still unsure of what I should say to her. She picks up on this and turns her gaze onto the plate sitting in front of her, like it suddenly became interesting. Finally the first years are lead into the Great Hall by professor Dumbledore. The hat sings its song, a different song I noticed, and then Dubledore calls names one by one to be sorted. I clap, like everyone else, whenever someone is sorted into Slytherin. Though I'm hardly paying attention to what's going on around. I just respond to those around me; if they clap, I clap.
When the last student has been sorted the food appears and the feast begins. The kid sitting next to me gasps in surprise and loads his plate with so much food it could feed three obese children. This kid is pretty skinny too, is he starved or something? Then he begins to talk to anyone who'll listen,
"My name's Connor, Connor Bryne, isn't this place so cool? I've never seen anything like it. How does the ceiling show the sky like that?"
He continues on like this, not stopping for anyone to answer his questions. I grimace when he turns to face me,
"What's your name?"
I look to Iris; she's staring at the kid, wondering how I'll respond,
"Tom,"
I say eventually. That's how everyone here knows me by. I feel no need to confuse them and have the professors chastise me about telling lies to first years.
"That's a bit of a boring name now isn't it? How about you? What's yours?"
He asks too many questions. Now he's targeting Iris,
"Iris",
As always she's polite but I can tell she wants him to leave her alone. Too bad I'm still annoyed with her because of the train ride otherwise I would tell the kid to shove off.
"Well that's a bit more interesting then Tom,"
He nods to himself,
"Are you two second years or higher?"
"We're second years",
I answer a bit curtly.
"That's cool, you know, I've heard that the potions teacher, can't remember his name, chooses the elite to have dinner with him every now and again. Isn't that cool? I'm going to be in that club, He'll love me, obviously"
I laugh when I hear Iris make a gagging noise.
"What makes you so special that professor Slughorn will invite you to join the club?"
I can't help but ask,
"I'm a pureblood, of course",
I snort. This actually surprises me. Even though he may be a pure blood doesn't mean he knows what's going on in this school.
Iris scoots closer to me, whispering into my ear,
"Will this kid never shut up?"
I laugh and whisper back,
"Only if we hex him",
She frowns, contemplating this. Iris doesn't like hexing others just for fun,
"Oh come on Iris, he's going to be hexed sooner or later"
Iris probably would have submitted and allowed me to hex him had the Head Master not told us it was time for the Prefects to escort us to our houses. Either way we're free of Connor. The Prefects tell us the password, Scalawag Serpent, and step aside to let us enter.
Not much has changed. A few things are new; they replaced the carpet in the common room that was ripped at the end of last year, as well as some of the run down furniture. Once again Slughorn isn't here to greet his students, so we're left in the care of the Prefects. Iris and I walk up the stairs to see that our belongings are in order. She tells me that she'll meet me in my room, since I can't go into hers, before we have to part on the stairs.
By the time I get to my room, which is apparently with the same people as before, I notice that Fenrir's cage is missing. I ask around to see if anyone had taken her by mistake. They respond by telling me there was no owl by my things when they came in.
"Iris",
I call when she enters the room,
"Do you know what has happened to Fenrir?"
"Yes,"
Thank God, I thought the school had lost her or something. That's a relief,
"We only have her for the summers. The house elves returned her to the owl tower",
I had forgotten about that. Iris then pulls out her syllabus and hands it to me. I look it over, and smirk,
"Good, we have majority of our classes together"
She smiles. Apparently over what had happened on the train. I suppose I should let it go, for now at least.
"What classes?"
"Potions, I suppose we have Slughorn to thank for that. Defense, that's good, this year we begin dueling. Charms, History of Magic, and Astronomy"
She nods. Pleased with this outcome,
"That means we have Transfiguration and Herbology separately?"
I nod. This is acceptable.
Iris takes back her syllabus and begins to leave the room. If she doesn't the Prefects will come in telling everyone it's time for bed and then she'd have to deal with them for a good five minutes about how its unseemly to be in the boys dorm so late in the evening.
"Good night, Morty",
She mouths before walking out of the room entirely. I smile and walk back to my bed. The Prefect pokes his head into the room and tells us it's time for bed. The others, as expected, groan but changed into the bedclothes nonetheless.
I slide into bed and notice that same snake slithering it's way towards me, most likely to welcome me back again,
"Welcome back, master"
I nod and whisper back a question,
"Do you know where the location of the Chamber of Secrets?"
I'm actually surprised that I've never thought to ask a snake this question before. Sadly, he shakes his head,
"No, the Chamber's location is unknown to most here. We were not here when it was created"
I nod and it slithers away. Turning onto my side I sigh. Though what the snake said was discouraging I will not give up in my search for the Chamber.
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The first week passed as always, in a boring stupor. I don't really care though, this week we'll be dueling in D.A.D.A. This is what I've wanted to do since the first day of school of last year. Iris and I enter the class earlier than necessary. So early, in fact, that we are able to help professor Dumbledore set up,
"When do you think Slughorn will have the first slug club party?"
Iris asks while we're pushing the tables to the side of the room,
"Soon, most likely. He just needs time to figure out who's 'worthy' of an invitation this year",
She nods in agreement.
Once we finish setting up the class, the rest of the students walk in. How convenient. Dumbledore tells us to pair up and begin practicing the correct stances and foot work for dueling. Iris and I pair up without question.
This part is idiotic. Who cares about the 'etiquette of dueling' in real life? When your up against a dark wizard I doubt he'll care about how many steps you take, or if you raise your wand when you turn your backs to each other. He, or she, would kill you without hesitation if you ever turn your back on them. Dumbledore is supposed to be the greatest wizard, as of right now, in the world. Why is he wasting our time with 'etiquette'?
Dumbledore calls upon our attention,
"I will call you up two at a time, you will follow the etiquette of dueling and will only use spells to disarm, not harm"
I groan. That's not fun at all.
"Mr. Riddle, Mr. Palmer, please come here"
Even though it's no fun to simply disarm someone it is good practice. Will Palmer walks up onto the stage on the left side; I walk up onto the right. We meet in the middle where Dumbledore tells us to bow and begin the proper etiquette.
We turn around, raise our wands, and take three steps. We wait for Dumbledore to count down to one from three before we begin.
"Three, two, one",
"Expelliarmus!"
"Finite Incantatem!"
This is too easy. Palmer is so predictable
"Impedimenta!"
Palmer doesn't know what hits him as he trip and fall to the ground,
"Accio wand!"
The duel is finished. I have Palmer's wand. Successfully disarming him.
Dumbledore seems pleased. He waves the both of us away and calls upon two more people. I make my way off the stage and towards Iris. She's standing in the front and smiles at me when I'm next to her,
"Someone's been practicing"
"I've just been reading about spells over the summer, I haven't actually practiced any of them until now",
I smile at her, she smiles back, and we stare at each other for a while until Dumbledore calls out the next couple.
Since one of the names wasn't Iris' we continue to talk. Mainly about how well the others produce their spells or betting on what spell we think they'll use on each other. The only time we paused our conversations was when Dumbledore would call out names. I could tell Iris was becoming impatient,
"Ms. Ackers and Mr. Thorn",
Great, I think, she's finally called upon and she's up against a male, a Gryffindor male nonetheless. I hope she can handle herself.
They make their way onto the stage. Go through the exact same exact steps that everyone else did and wait for Dumbledore's countdown,
"Three, two, one"
"Incarcerous!"
Thorn is immediately tied up by ropes, I don't know how he'll be able to get out of that any time soon,
"Avis Oppugno!"
Strike that last statement. Clever, birds appeared and begin to attack Iris, causing her to lose focus and free Thorn from the ropes.
"Protego!"
A barrier appears and protects Iris from the birds,
"Relashio!"
This time Iris doesn't give him an opportunity to fight back. She directs the spell to force Thorn's wand out of his grasp.
Dumbledore nods and dismisses them. Iris duels very well. I know I shouldn't be surprised but I am. I chuckle; I guess I'm not the only one who's been reading spell incantations over the summer.
Once Iris was by my side we picked up on our little bets on what spells other will you. I win majority of the time but every now and then Iris will guess something so random it just has to be correct. I begin to wonder when we'll learn how to cast spells without actually saying them. Will they even teach us how to do so? Or are we simply supposed to learn on our own time?
Sooner then I prefer the class ends and Dumbledore tell us to be on our way. First and second years have two classes left before dinner. Mine are Transfiguration and Potions. Iris' are Herbology and Potions. Slughorn must have decided that Iris and I be in the same class. Then again, this is presumptuous of me.
Iris is always excited to attend Herbology. She loves anything that's living; it's so weird. We walk along side each other to our classes until the paths to our destinations force us to separate; well unless we want to be tardy we separate.
Professor Zillah begins to bark orders at us the moment class begins. Grab a goblet, pull out your books, and ready your wands etcetera, etcetera. Transfiguration can be an exciting class at times, but today is not one of those times. Today we'll be transforming water into wine. How biblical.
Just as I was about to fall asleep we were dismissed. I bound down the hallways toward the Potions classroom. I'm the first one to arrive, as always, even professor Slughorn isn't here yet. He's probably in his office gathering books and ingredients we'll all need for this period. Slughorn, as well as all the other teacher's, have decided that I'm a perfect student and expect nothing short of perfection from me. Although this makes me feel wanted I can't help but feel the stress from all of their pressure. The only teacher who seems to think a bit differently than the rest is Dumbledore.
Iris is the next to arrive, along with a couple others who have nothing better to do. She walks toward the table I'm sitting at and takes the seat next to mine,
"How was Transfiguration?"
"Dull, all we did was transform water into wine. Nothing spectacular",
She nods. Iris, most likely, had to do the exact same thing when she attended her class prior to mine,
"How was Herbology?"
"Alright",
This is surprising. Iris usually overly conversational when she returns from Herbology, I wait for her to continue but she never does,
"Just alright? I thought it was pretty interesting. Lantana Camara is used in many potions. We've already used it plenty of times in this class"
She was about to say something but the rest of the class chose that moment to join us. Slughorn appeared from his office as well. He gives us the names of three potions and expects us to complete them by the end of class. These potions aren't all that difficult; they just take a long time to prepare. I, along with the rest of the class, begin to gather the ingredients we'll need. Instead of doing each potion one at a time I pull out three cauldrons and start all of them at the same time.
A few others notice what I am doing and begin to do the same. I doubt they'll be able to keep up though; they'll probably mix up the ingredients and fail miserably. They'll be angry that that won't happen to me but that's just too bad. I'm superior to them; of course I won't screw up the ingredients.
Iris decides to complete the task the conventional way, one at a time. She's superior to the others in this area simply because she admits that she would screw up the ingredients and chooses the best way for her, unlike so many others in this classroom.
After I organize everything properly and begin the first step on all the potions I bring up our last conversation,
"So why didn't you like the Herbology class?"
Iris looks up from her cauldron. She replies without pausing her potion making,
"I didn't like the conversational topic that the class was stuck on"
I groan, why is it whenever Iris answers a question I always feel more confused then before she answered,
"What was the topic?"
"How muggles use the plant. What they use to do with it, more specifically",
I put down my ingredients and stare at her. She takes notice and continues,
"They use the plant to kill livestock. Rumor has it they would also place the unripe berries into their children's food. You know, if the children misbehaved or if they couldn't take care of them and didn't want them to suffer, most of the time they were mental and would do it simply for their own personal jollies",
Oh, I see. I almost forgot how much Iris hates the subject of death. Now that I think about it child abuse was always a touchy subject. I'm surprised I never put it all together. I change the conversation to a nature of a lighter subject. We smile, laugh and talk about trite things for the duration of the class.
Finally, with five minutes to dismissal, Slughorn tells everyone to put down what they're working on and begins to walk around the class to check our results. I, of course, had finished my three potions with plenty of time to spare. Iris cut it close but was able to finish them all before Slughorn called everyone to a standstill.
Slughorn begins with our side of the classroom. He nods to those who have completed the task successfully. Grimaces at those whose potions have turned out horrid; not surprising, those gits didn't organize their ingredients properly. Slughorn smiles pleasantly when he looks at my cauldrons,
"Perfect, as expected from you Tom",
He makes a pleasant, yet creepy, noise when he looks at Iris' cauldrons. Silently telling her that even though her potions are better than most there are not as good as mine. She shrugs, used to this type of thing by now.
Slughorn finishes reviewing everyone's potions and dismisses us,
"Tom, Iris, may I have a word?"
We answer his question silently by staying in the room. I assume this has something to do with either our potions or slug club,
"I have delayed slug club this year, as you have already noticed I assume. This is because of how unimpressive the first years have been so far. Last year the school was at its prime I suppose, bright children in every year. Now not even a single first year knows how to begin a potion, much less perfect one".
He pauses, why is he telling us this?
"I am telling all of my returning club members this, so please don't feel uneasy",
Well there's my answer,
"The next club meeting will be this Friday. I have invited a large amount of first years to this and once it is finished I will be leaving it to you club member to decide on who'll stay and who'll go. Do you understand?"
We both nod. Who wouldn't understand? He thanks us and wishes us a pleasant dinner.
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The rest of the week passed semi-quickly. D.A.D.A is the highlight of my day now. Tonight is slug club, meaning Iris and I get to skip the dinner that everyone usually goes to. Since this club meeting is the first and apparently a large one we are allowed to wear non-uniform clothes.
I walk down to the common room to find Iris waiting for me,
"Ready to go?"
I nod and we make our way down to the potions room. Slughorn complains at every club meeting how he wishes to have a bigger office so he could hold the parties in there and not in the potions classroom. He only has small club gatherings in his office. I'm indifferent, it's not like the place where the club is held will make the club any more interesting. I only attend these parties for pretences. The teachers do expect a lot from me after all.
We arrive at the party exactly on time, which, for us, is a bit late. I notice only a few other students have already arrived most are first years. Connor happens to be one of them, great. Iris and I walk over to the dining table and take our seats. I feel no need to converse with the others; they're a bit insignificant to me. Iris' conversing companions have yet to arrive, and even if they were here she would never leave my side. She's too insecure to talk to others like that, don't know why though.
I groan when I notice Connor walking over to us. Iris notices this as well and sighs,
"Hello again, I didn't know you two were in slug club. Oh well, didn't I tell you I would be invited? Hope you two didn't doubt me, that'd be a bit embarrassing"
I nod. Like I remember what he said. I wonder if anyone has hexed him yet,
"How has your first two weeks been?"
I ask, curious to know if he really has been hexed yet.
"Great, thanks for asking. The only bad thing is that some prick jinxed me last week. Heard he got a weeks detention, lousy git"
Well that's surprising, someone actually took time to place a jinx when they could have hexed him and the git probably would have gotten away with it.
When everyone arrives Slughorn invites everyone to the dining table for dinner. Connor takes a seat next to Iris. I snort when he begins his non-stop talking to her; Iris' face is priceless. Slughorn introduces all the new comers to the returning members while appetizers float around us, waiting for our ok to give us whatever is in their dishes. Most people, including Iris, accept the salad. I wait for the soup to make its way towards me.
Slughorn attempts to find anything of interest from these new students. I assume he only invited these students because of who they are related to. Connor is apparently related to someone important in the ministry. Doesn't seem to be helping him though, he's such a babbling git. Slughorn looks at him with disdain; he hides it well though.
Eventually the dinner is over and the first years leave. Now it is time for the rest of us to decide who stays and who goes. I really don't care about them, I just want to make sure Connor won't be returning. After the voting is over Slughorn nods and dismisses us. I smirk; it was a unanimous vote for Connor to not return.
The Slytherins walk back to the house together. Iris chats a bit with another girl who she has become acquaintances with over time. The other girl, whose name escapes me, laughs and says even if someone's a pureblood that doesn't mean they're not a complete git. I assume they're talking about Connor but who can really tell?
By the time we return to the house it is already time for curfew. I wish Iris a good night and walk to my dorm room. Tonight I am exceptionally tired. I think Connor non-stop chatter took more out of me then I thought. The moment my head hits my pillow I'm out like a light, good thing it's the weekend tomorrow and I can sleep in.
A/N: Hello, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Just a heads up but the next chapter may not be up until late tomorrow. I'll try to get it in today but the way things are going that is highly unlikely.
Love,
Pastry~
