DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and its Universe belong to J. K. Rowling and her associates. Doing it only for fun.
Chapter IX- First Day and Classes
8th September, 1997
When Hermione walked out of the Head Girl quarters and into the Gryffindor Common Room, she found it to be filled to the brim. For a moment, she didn't understand why that was until a familiar face reminded her of last night; and she made a beeline to that person. When she was right behind that person, Hermione decided to make her presence known.
"Good morning, Emi. You are sitting here alone. Where are the others? Still in bed?"
Emi turned in the armchair she was sitting in and beamed at the person who had just greeted her; this followed by Emi furrowing her eyebrows as though she was confused by what Hermione had asked her. Then after realizing that Hermione had no reason to know about her friends' early morning habits, Emi quickly formulated an answer to explain the situation to Hermione.
"Oh no Hermione, they are very much awake. It's just they follow a very strict exercise regime which starts at 5 in the morning and continues for two hours, something my body can't do", Emi said, beaming all the while. Then she looked down at her wristwatch, ignoring Hermione's open mouth, and said, "They'll be here in under…..fifteen minutes, if nobody interrupts them."
It took Emi to actually jerk Hermione's chin up with her index finger to make her close her mouth. That brought Hermione out of her quandary and the first thing she did was sit on the couch opposite Emi's armchair and quirk her eyebrow in a disbelieving manner at Emi.
Emi, understanding what the brown haired witch meant, smiled a little sheepishly, and said, "I know, okay. And I've told them many a times to at least lower that to one and a half hour, at the very least. But they're just too stubborn and stupid to even consider that!" Emi heaved a deep sigh and leaned back in her chair, all the while eyeing Hermione.
Hermione, for her part, had come out of her disbelieving shell and made a mental note to not expect anything ordinary from this quartet of friends; something she had done only twice in the past, and both the situations involved a Potter. Shaking her head, she asked the question that was concerning her more than the duration of this unbelievable regime.
"Emi? It's not too dangerous, right? I mean this exercise. They don't get hurt often, do they?"
Emi, having been in the place where Hermione was at that moment, knew exactly how Hermione was feeling, although, she found it interesting to hear Hermione worrying over her friends, even though she had met them just the other day.
'Either it is just a general concern or maybe something else entirely…' Emi thought, smirking slightly. Hermione, however, was completely clueless about Emi's reaction to her concern, as her eyes were trained on her own lap.
Finally, Emi took pity on the poor girl and tried to put her at ease by saying, "It is perfectly safe Hermione. Aside from some pulled muscles once in a while, they always come back to me without a scratch; can't say the same about the smell though."
Emi said the last bit while pinching her nose and it did what it was supposed to. Both girls started chuckling in a very unladylike way. It was in that state that Hermione's best friends found them. Ron stared open-mouthed at the scene unfolding in front of him. He couldn't remember the day he had seen Hermione laughing this loudly before.
Beside Ron, Charlus's thoughts were somewhat along the same lines; except for the fact that he had a memory when he had seen Hermione this happy.
Flashback
It was Charlus's fourth year at Hogwarts and Aries's first. Charlus had been really worried for Aries in those first few days after the start of the term. Even though, his Dad had visited Hogwarts especially to have a talk with Aries and to comfort him, Charlus could not stop worrying about his younger brother. How could he, when Aries had to share dormitory with the gits like Malfoy. Charlus had even talked with Uncle Sev after his first Potions class about Aries's safety in the Slytherin Dorms; the end result had been a very terrifying experience for Charlus. Because his Potions Master/Uncle took it as a personal insult when one of his students/nephews came to him with regards to his, Severus's, Godson's safety and well-being in his own House!
After that showdown, Charlus was so distracted, and terrified, that he, actually, forgot Aries's birthday. It was when Hermione had mentioned the date to Charlus in the passing that he remembered what day it was and then, after the morning classes were concluded, dashed to the Gryffindor Tower to fetch the gift he had made for Aries.
They did not make a great deal out of it, as they had already, on his Mum's insistence, celebrated Aries's birthday in the Potter Manor on their last night there. But it had still brought a broad smile on Aries's face when he had found out that his older brother had made a second gift for him, and that was all Charlus wanted to see.
After that, days became a blur for Charlus, comprised of classes, homework and Quidditch practice. Until the nineteenth of September when, in the middle of the Great Hall full of students eating their breakfast, a paper bird skidded to a halt and landed neatly on Hermione's empty plate-as they had just arrived-and unfolded itself revealing a fresh piece of parchment with no creases on it.
First thought that had come to Charlus's mind was that it was a sick joke that someone had pulled on Hermione as the whole castle knew that Hermione was bibliophile. But then words started to appear on the parchment written in green ink; and as the words continued to appear, Charlus started to worry for his younger brother's life, whose handwriting the words were written in. The reason behind this worry was that, the last time he and Ron had tried to wish Hermione 'Happy Birthday' as boldly as Aries had just done, they had ended up on the wrong side of Hermione's wand. They had tried to do so in an empty classroom where they knew Hermione liked to read as it was situated on a very isolated part of the castle. The moment Charlus and Ron had cried out loud a 'Happy Birthday, Hermione!' she had panicked and started throwing all kinds of hexes that she had read and practiced at least once, which were humongous in number. Around the time Hermione realized who it was, Ron was sprawled flat on the floor as he was hit with multiple jelly-legged and Charlus was hovering ten feet off the ground as Hermione had cast a hover charm on him, which she was still holding up; and that was only the tip of the iceberg.
By the time they had returned to the Common Room after a full body check-up by Madam Pomfrey and a vicious tongue-lashing by Hermione, they made a promise to Hermione not to do anything stupid like that again. After that, every year on her birthday, Hermione would hug both the boys and they would warmly return it with a gently whispered 'Happy birthday' in her ear; they would give her birthday gifts to her on Charlus's birthday, or the week that followed it, as that was the only time when all three friends were found together in the summer holidays.
So it was a complete shock to Charlus and Ron when a warm smile appeared on Hermione's lips as she read the birthday card Aries had sent her. Then after a few minutes and a discrete hand gesture later from Hermione, Aries himself arrived in front of them sporting a nervous and shy smile. Charlus had noticed that Ron, who was at the time sitting in the seat between Charlus and Hermione, was making hand and eye gestures to Aries to tell him to run with his tail between his legs, although not as discreetly as was necessary. But neither Aries nor Hermione paid him any heed, as both were looking at each other with that same knowing smile on their lips.
Then with what Charlus assumed was the speed of light, Hermione was on her feet and Aries in her arms, both smiling warmly. It was so sudden that Ron didn't even realize for a few seconds that Hermione wasn't sitting on his left side anymore. After the initial shock, though, he got a little angry and asked the question Charlus wanted to as well, just a bit more nicely.
"Hermione, why can Aries wish you a 'Happy birthday' like that and we can't?" Ron asked with more than just a little edge in his voice.
"That is because Ronald", that was enough to make Ron forget about his anger and start fidgeting nervously again, but Hermione wasn't done yet. "Aries's method of wishing me was far more thoughtful and one that didn't get him into the Hospital Wing."
"But we could have done something similar to what Aries had done. I mean, come on Hermione, we were both twelve year olds then. Surely we wouldn't have repeated what we had done in second year."
This time, it was Charlus who had spoken up. In response, Hermione, who had, by now, taken a seat right across from her previous one with Aries sitting beside her, got this really dangerous glint in her eyes that made both Charlus and Ron gulp.
It happened something like this. With a smirk that would have made Malfoy run for his money, Hermione started talking, "Well, for one, I have been accepting Aries's cards since second year. As for why, it was because in all the years I had known him now, he has filled the empty place of a younger sibling in my life. The second reason, Charlus, is that I never told you not to give me birthday cards; I only asked you not to do anything as stupid as you did that year", here her smirk became more prominent, "Besides, my father would have killed both of you if he had found out that you two had given me cards", she stretched the last word more than was necessary. Barely stifling her laugh at the incredulous looks Charlus and Ron were giving her, she continued, "You know how fathers are about their daughters and their daughters' future boyfriends."
The last word that Hermione, offhandedly, uttered was the last thing Ron registered in his mind as, at the mention of the word 'boyfriends', he gave out a loud squeak and promptly feinted, specifically on his filled to the brim plate; his mind not even entertaining the thought that Hermione might be joking.
The sight of Ron's head in his own plate was the last straw for Aries as well as Hermione and they started laughing so loudly that even Hagrid would've heard it from his Hut.
It was while both of them were clutching their stomachs that Charlus got himself together from his shock; the shock of being pranked by Hermione as well as at the idea of Hermione pranking! He even smiled a little at those thoughts. He was, all the while, thinking that even though Hermione was taking the micky out of him and his best mate, she was truthful when she pronounced Aries as her honorary brother and was, indeed, more comfortable with him than she was with her best friends.
Flashback Over
As Charlus came back to reality, he looked back at his female friend-who was animatedly talking with the Japanese girl from Salem, by now-and smiled at the possibility of Hermione finding one other person who could relate to her on a level that neither he nor Ron could. It was, at that moment, that the portrait hole opened and in-walked the other three Salem students Charlus had met the other night.
Hermione was just asking Emi about how different the courses she took at Salem were to those at Hogwarts; personally, Hermione thought that they mustn't be that much different, as even though Salem was using magic on a whole new level, the fundamentals were still the same. But she still wanted to hear Emi out completely before laying any verdict. Emi was just telling her how the Runes she and her friends learnt at Salem were different from the ones she was examining from the Runes textbook Hermione had brought with her, when she heard a familiar voice from right behind her.
"Already into the cryptic language of the creeps, eh Emi? I just can't get how you guys can even look at them without getting a headache."
Hermione turned in the couch she was sitting in, which had its back to the entrance of the Common Room, and stared at the almost black eyes of Ray Johnson, who was making a show of shivering at the sight of the open Runes book in Hermione's lap.
Emi, who was leaning forward in her seat to have a good look at the Runes in Hermione's book, stared up at her not-so-into-Runes friend and said, "What can I say, Ray? It's not my fault that you chose Magical Creatures instead of Runes when you were offered the choice, you know? Anyway, why are you guys looking so…..clean? What happened? Lost in the castle so much so that you had to cancel your oh-so-mighty training regime, eh?" Emi finished with a slight smirk on her lips.
Even Hermione had to grin at that one. But her happy feelings got lost somewhere in her mind the moment her eyes landed on the other two members of the Salem Quartet, as she had decided to dub them. Both David and Linda were far behind Ray, having an argument by the looks of it. But the thing that troubled Hermione was one of Linda's hands, which were in David's chin-length dark hair. She didn't know why but she felt a surge of jealousy in the pit of her stomach.
'Possessiveness! This early! There's got to be something really wrong with me if I am this possessive of David. Not even twenty four hours have passed since our first meeting yet. What's happening?'
While Hermione's mind was troubled with this thought, David was getting more and more annoyed at Linda for her stubborn behaviour.
"Lin, I am not shortening my hair. I like them long, okay?" He said exasperatedly.
"But Dave, they look so mangy. At least shorten them so that they will not go beyond your chin, dammit!" Linda said, sounding just as annoyed.
"Now you are just making that up. There is nothing wrong with my hair and I'm not making them short just to make you happy."
Linda glared furiously at David, her left hand in his hair all the while they were talking/arguing. Now, though, her hand had become a fist, nastily tugging his hair in the process.
"Hey, that hurts, okay?" David asked, hissing in pain. But his friend didn't budge, so he maneuvered his head in such a way that he was facing Linda and she was forced to turn in the direction they had just come. David mimicked his friend by glaring at her just as furiously.
"Lin? Are you going to loosen your grip or not?"
"Are you going to listen to me or not?"
For a few moments, they stood in this position, unmoving. The only thing that changed was David's glare that became less and less menacing and more and more frustrating. Finally, he threw his hands in the air and hissed, "Fine, fine! But not much shorter or someone might notice", then he added in an undertone, "Why do I always have to yield?" But Linda heard it just as easily as if it was meant for her, and replied, "Because you pick the wrong fights, boy." Linda deliberately called him boy, knowing more than enough what his reaction would be to that.
Sure enough, David's expression turned into an ugly glower, while his face turned bright red. He uttered through his clenched teeth, "Don't. Call. Me. BOY!" Just then, he looked past her and noticed Hermione looking intently, and a bit weirdly, at the both of them. He looked back at Linda to hiss something more at her, when he noticed how close Linda's face was to his own. Getting nervous, he tried to back a little away from her; emphasis on the word tried, as Linda's left hand was still in his hair. He knew about Lin's feelings for him were more than just of friendship, so his nervousness quickly transformed into awkwardness. He was just about to tell her to back off in the hopes of putting a stop to this awkwardness when Linda, herself spoke up, "Come on, Dave, do as I say."
David's eyes widened in shock. It was nothing to do with the words that had tumbled out of Linda's lips; it was her voice, which had turned…husky?...when she had said what she had. Now, it was not new for David, Linda's occasional flirting that is. She did it once in a while, to tease and irritate him; but not with this much intensity.
'Seems I am not the only one who is acting out of character since we entered this Castle.' David thought, while alternating his line of vision between Linda's eyes-which were staring intently at his own-and Hermione, who was still staring in their direction with that strange look in her eyes that he couldn't put a name to.
Finally, snapping out of his trance and noticing that Hermione wasn't the only audience that he and Linda had garnered by this point, he discreetly whispered to Linda, "I can't, Lin. There are too many eyes on us, especially Hermione's."
He didn't know whether his eyes were deceiving him or not, but he thought he caught a slight smirk on Lin's lips when he mentioned Hermione.
'I think I should take Lin to the School Nurse for a check-up, and get myself checked as well. Maybe, the food was dosed with a potion that is making us act like this…Now that's an idea!'
Smiling at the prospect of brewing such a potion, he, again, tried to move away from Linda and found himself able to do that as Linda had removed her hand from his hair. So he made his way to his other two friends, Linda right on his heels. When he reached them, he noticed that Emi, and surprisingly Hermione, were glaring at him. The former, he could understand. But Hermione, what had he done to receive such a look from her! Deciding to think about it later, he put it to the back of his mind and tried to find a solution to the mess Ray, for the millionth time, had put him in. Emi's next words were proof enough to what Ray had done.
"Spill. Now."
David though, instead of looking into Emi's intimidating gaze, turned to his best mate and said, "Thanks for keeping the secret, asshole."
"Hey, don't blame it on me. You know Emi's interrogation techniques. Even you can't evade them sometimes", Ray said defensively.
David knew, absolutely, what Ray was talking about, but he still glared at him for a few seconds, then turned to Emi and said, slowly, "I…..I was going to tell you….."
"When?" Emi demanded.
David knew he shouldn't have kept it from Emi, but when was he supposed to tell her this? When they were talking with three Hogwarts students, three famous Hogwarts students at that? Nonsense! Times like these were the only ones that he put Emi and the word 'unreasonable' in the same sentence. Seriously….
"Look, I was going to tell you, but that place didn't enter my mind until this morning. Now, you would not have wanted me to wake you up at five in the morning, would you?" David's earlier frustration was evident in this sentence.
Emi continued to glare at him some more, but was brought out of her trance when she heard Hermione.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Emi detected a hint of anger and annoyance in Hermione's voice, as well; but didn't think much of it as she herself was annoyed at her friend for not telling her about this new discovery of his.
'He can tell me now, can't he? Unless….'
To confirm her suspicion, Emi discreetly glanced at David, silently questioning him. Sure enough, David caught the look easily and took a quick glance at Hermione in return, silently answering Emi's question. So, after looking around and noting that not only Hermione but, now, Ron and Charlus as well were looking curiously at both her and David, she said-in order to get out of the predicament she had put her friends and she in-with a phony smile, "Nothing Hermione. It's just, eh,….."
Seeing Emi's inability at formulating a lie-which was new-David said, "It's just, I forgot to tell her about this new potion that I had brewed that could, um, minimize the signs of fatigue and lack of hygiene from your body for a few hours. Eh, right Emi?"
Seeing David's pointed look, Emi tried to go with the flow as well.
"Eh, yeah. That's what I was angry about. You see, Hermione, I am the one who comes with the ideas for new potions in our group and…..um, I got a little angry and jealous that David came up with one so useful and I didn't. So that is why I was….angry. Right, David?"
"Yeah, of course. I mean, it just came to me two days before we were to leave from Salem, and I just brewed it and…..forgot about it. It's reasonable for Emi to get angry that I didn't tell her about it. I mean, I would too, if she created a new hybrid Rune, and didn't tell me about it. You see, we all get a little inferiority complex when one of us does something new in the other's area of expertise. You would know the felling, right?"
Emi was surprised at how well David had come up with such a plan. But she wasn't going to complain as long as it got them out of this mess she had created. Although, she didn't miss David's jab at her when he emphasised the word 'reasonable'; but she let go of it as she herself knew that she had been a tiny bit unreasonable with the whole situation.
Hermione, being the merit to her intelligence, knew from the beginning that both Emi and David were lying; as, even though she didn't hear the conversation between Emi and Ray because of her….predicament, she did hear David saying something about a place. And so she knew that the both of them wanted to hide something from her and her friends when David started talking nonsense about some potion. But she let go of it because she trusted them not to do anything that would harm anyone in the school and she hoped that whatever it was that they were hiding, they would tell her sooner as that would mean that they trusted her just as much as she trusted them.
David-seeing that the situation was diffused, for the moment-sighed in relief and made an attempt to reduce the tension in the air some more by saying, "Come on, you guys. Let's go down to have some breakfast. I am starved!"
That statement got everyone's mind off whatever they were thinking and all seven of them got out of the Gryffindor Common Room-halting their procession for a few minutes as Ray had stayed behind to flirt with the Fat Lady-and made their way to the Great Hall, talking and laughing all the while.
When they arrived in the Great Hall, they found it to be almost full. They could see that the Staff Table didn't have any empty chairs, making them draw the conclusion that all the teachers were present. The only ones that were missing were some of the Hogwarts students and most of the Durmstrang students. Shrugging it off, all of them made their way to the Gryffindor Table, all the while ignoring the incredulous stares they were receiving from the surrounding students.
David had just put some eggs and bacon in his plate and poured a goblet full of orange juice for himself when he thought he was missing something. Just then, a warm gust of wind blew past his face and he felt his lips stretching into a face splitting grin as he felt a much warmer weight on his right shoulder. He turned his head a bit and lost himself in the warm eyes of his familiar, who was making a happy chirping sound as if wishing him a 'Good morning'.
Hermione watched in amazement as David petted his familiar and because of which he, Fede, started making sounds of contentment-she didn't know how she knew they were the sounds of contentment but she did-and wondered how it would feel if she were the one doing what David was doing. But she got distracted when she felt someone sit beside her. Though, when she turned, her face split into wide grin as well, as the boy who sat next to her was no one else but Aries, who was looking a bit nervous and fidgety. When Hermione noticed that, she immediately quit smiling and leaned in to whisper in Aries's ear, "He is not going to eat you, you know?"
That whisper, nonetheless, did its job, as Aries turned his head to mock-glare at his honorary sister, who was making no effort at hiding the mirth in her eyes. Just then, a voice-that Hermione was quickly despising as much as Ron's-made them look to their left to see it was Ray, who was sitting between Ron and Charlus. Hermione thought that maybe it was Fate's cruel joke on her or maybe it was their almost identical personalities, but both Ron and Ray had taken a liking to each other and had developed a healthy friendship overnight. Then she saw Ron-who was sitting on her left-saying something, making her realize that she hadn't heard what Ray had said, in the first place. So she tried to come out of her head and pay more attention on the on-going conversation.
"Who's that little fella, eh Hermione?" Ray's this question got David out of his own amazement at seeing his familiar again; even though it had hardly been three hours since he last saw him before departing from his dorm-room. Then he looked around to see who Ray was talking about. Sure enough, there was a boy sitting on Hermione's right. He had raven black hair and brown eyes, set on a heart shaped face. He seemed to be in his fifth year. The moment David locked his eyes with the boy's brown ones, the said boy started fidgeting nervously, scooting a little closer to Hermione.
David found it a little peculiar, and for a moment thought that the brown eyed wizard was Hermione's brother; until Ron said, "Oh, he's Aries, Charlie's younger brother….."
"And we are Charlie's sisters"
David had to turn to his right to see who had spoken. Two beautiful girls came into his line of vision. Both were red-haired and pretty; David suspected them to be twins. By the looks of it, they appeared to be in their second year. The girl in the front-who David thought was the one who had spoken-was tugging her sister behind her; that was until the girl in the behind sat beside Charlus, who was sitting at the edge of their side of the table. The more outspoken of the two sisters went on and sat beside her other brother, who, David noted, was shaking his head and was smiling affectionately at the same time.
Once Roselyn was seated beside Aries, she looked around to see who else was present aside from her brothers, Ron and Hermione. There was a boy sitting between her oldest brother and his best friend who she had never met before. Then there was another boy who was sitting between two other girls. She remembered that boy; he was the one who barking mad at a bird the other night. When she looked closely, she found out that the same bird was sitting on that boy's shoulders. What was even more unbelievable was that the bird and the boy were both staring at her, intently. She didn't like being stared at, regardless of it being human or animal. So she lifted her shoulders firmly-just like she had seen Mum do all the time- and said, "What are you both staring at?"
That backfired, though, as everybody sitting there stopped what they were doing and started staring at her in response. But she made herself ignore everyone else and keep glaring at the boy and his stupid bird. Finally, the boy said, "Well I can't say about Fede, but I am staring at you because you remind me of someone I can't recall", then he looked around to see someone but before she could follow his gaze, he turned his head back at her and said, "By the way, I am David Principe. And you are….?"
Roselyn stared at the boy when he told her his name. She had heard that name somewhere; but couldn't recall, in his own words. Then she mentally shook herself and said, "I am Roselyn Potter."
David nodded his head at the little redhead, making a note never to piss the little dragon off. Then he turned his head back to look at his familiar, who was still staring at the girl, Roselyn, with some curiosity in his eyes; David never knew why, but he always knew what his familiar's body language meant. So, in order to get his familiar's attention back at him, David shook his shoulder a bit. The moment he did that, Fede turned his head and looked David in the eye, with some strange tint in them that David had never seen in Fede's eyes before. His curiosity peaked, David made a mental note to keep an eye on Charlus's sister, one of his sisters.
The moment Linda heard the voice of the girl who had flamboyantly declared that she was the boy-who-lived's sister, the first thought that came to her mind was, 'I knew there had to be at least one snotty brat in the oh-so-mighty Potter family.' But that thought was eradicated from her mind the moment she set eyes on the other girl, the girl who was now sitting beside Charlus. She knew the feeling. She had never felt it before, but she had heard and read about that feeling from her family and her family's library. If what she had felt just then was anything near the things she had heard and read, then she was going to make her mother and her maternal grandpa so very jealous. But she wasn't going to get her hopes up, yet. She just made a mental note to keep an eye on the boy-who-lived's sister, one of them, at least.
Emi was smiling-in a sort of envious way-at the Potter siblings. Lord knew how much she coveted a younger sibling herself. But that didn't mean she didn't find any. Ray and David were as much of brothers to her as she could find; and Linda….well she was like the best thing that had happened to Emi since she turned eleven. But still…..she sometimes felt lonely during the summer holidays- the only time she wasn't with her three friends-and wished she had a brother or a sister to be with. She knew she was being a little selfish and a little inconsiderate of her parents, but the fact that her parents could only do just as much wasn't lost to her. She only hoped that she could at least be friends with all these new people she was meeting now.
Charlus was just enjoying his breakfast and a conversation with Ray and Selene when he felt someone tap his shoulder. When he turned and realized who it was, he smiled warmly and was about to greet the person, verbally; but the said person beat him at it as she greeted him herself, orally. While feeling his girlfriend's lips moving in sync with his own, he heard a wolf-whistle, a couple of 'Ewe, gross!' and an almost indistinguishable 'Get a room!' from his surroundings. But he ignored it all for the moment, as he lost himself to Ginny's warmth.
After what appeared to be a few hours, she parted her lips from his and said, beaming all the while, "Guess, I have to find another seat as I can see that you don't have one. Unless, of course, you don't mind me sitting on your la…"
"I think the seat across from Charlie is very much empty, Ginny."
Ginny glowered at the speaker-who was, unsurprisingly, her brother-but did as he suggested. The moment she sat down beside the blonde girl she had seen last night, she started feeling a little uncomfortable. That was the only problem with Ginny; after what had happened to her in her first year at Hogwarts, she had become a little vary of anyone she didn't know that well and would feel uncomfortable if she was forced to form new acquaintances with strangers, regardless of the nature of the said strangers.
Hermione, noticing her female friend's unease, tried to reduce the gap between Ginny and the newcomers; although, it wasn't as though there weren't any gaps between herself and the foreigners.
"Okay, I think that introductions are in order", Hermione said, a little too brightly for everyone's sake. Emi, realizing this, tried to help the brown-haired witch, whom she really wanted to call her friend.
"Yes, I think so too. Let's start with the youngest shall we?" Emi said while looking at the girl sitting beside Charlus, thinking that she was the youngest because of her small build.
Roselyn, knowing her twin sister-and best friend-tried to take the spotlight from over her head by saying, "But I just told you my name!"
It had the desired effect, as all the four people, she still didn't know of, turned their head in her direction. Seeing the obvious question etched on their faces, she continued, "You said we should start with the youngest, and that's me."
Realizing her mistake, Emi smiled at the redheaded girl and said, "Oh, my mistake. So, you are Roselyn", then she turned her head, again, towards the other twin and said, "And your sister's name is….?"
For a moment, Roselyn only stared at her sister's face as it kept getting redder and redder until her oldest brother, who was sitting beside Selene, put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Sorry, Emi. But my angel over here is a bit shy. Her name is Selene, and she is sorted into Ravenclaw house; the first in our family, proving she is brighter than even Mum!"
Charlus smiled proudly at his sister, as she blushed even more at his compliments. He always liked Selene a little bit more than Rosy. Selene was more like his Mum. Rosy was more like him and Aries. He was still looking at his sister, so he missed the looks ranging from amusement to adoration that others were throwing at him and his sister, one coming from right behind him.
It was when Charlus mentioned the Houses did David notice that all four of the siblings wore cloaks belonging to different Houses; something he found really interesting. He made his thoughts vocal by saying, "This is something. All four of you belong to different Houses, don't you?"
"Yeah. You got a problem with that?"
David heard his friends barely stifling their chuckles after hearing what the Little Dragon-he decided to dub the youngest Potter-had said. His own lips twitched a bit. He decided to play with her and said in this very serious tone, "No, as a matter of fact. But I was curious as I have read that students get sorted into the Hogwarts Houses by different personality traits. What made me curious is that how could all of you be so different from one another when you are all siblings."
He said that because he knew that this statement will rattle the little Dragon's mind and make her more annoyed at him. Her reply, however, stunned him out of his wits.
"Are you crazy? The stupid hat was going to put me into Gryffindor. I told it that I would set it on fire if it didn't put me in Hufflepuff. You see, I wanted all four of us to be in different Houses and I knew that Selene was going to be in Ravenclaw. So the only option I had was Hufflepuff, so I took it." At this point, Roselyn's face turned into this very scary looking smirk as she continued, ignoring the stunned faces of everyone sitting at the table as she had told this to no one but Selene, "Plus, I wanted Dad to win the bet this year."
Hermione was shocked as she heard what Roselyn had just told them. She couldn't believe what Roselyn had done. She knew the youngest Potter was stubborn to a fault, but this was just…..unbelievable. Suddenly, a memory came to her mind and she turned her head so that she could glare at her best friend. When she was sure that she had his complete attention, she said, "Did you tell her?"
Charlus gulped as he heard Hermione's question. Her tone of voice was more intimidating than the question itself. He was well aware of everyone's eyes on him but he was so scared that he couldn't even blink his eyes; he knew Hermione's anger, being a first-hand witness to the rare occasions that Hermione had lost control of her temper. Although, he was pulled out of his predicament by his most favourite person in the world, and he was never more grateful to hear her voice, ever.
Lily Potter was just standing a few paces from the table where all of her children were sitting, debating on whether or not to save her son from Hermione's ire; she herself was a bit put off by Roselyn's sorting, and she wasn't saying that because of the gold she had lost to her husband. She wanted her youngest daughter to be with at least one of her older brothers, if not for anything then just to keep her in line. She knew how much Roselyn liked to be in the middle of anything that was even remotely considered dangerous. Now she was going to wreak havoc on this school, even if she was just a first year!
Finally, Lily decided to take pity on her son and said, "Good morning, children!" She got a little saddened, even after receiving just as warm greetings from all of her children, 'Not all of them.' But she shook those feelings aside and sat beside her son's girlfriend, who, Lily noticed, visibly relaxed when she did that. She smiled at the youngest Weasley, and then turned to look at everyone in general, her emerald green eyes stopping just for a little while at the blue-eyed wizard sitting just two seats from her.
"I have everybody's timetables here, in case you were wondering why I am barging in on your hospitality", Lily said, while waving the pieces of parchment in her left hand exuberantly. Then she heard someone say, "Wonder if they had managed to make those for us."
Lily looked around to see it was the boy sitting between Charlus and Ronald who had said that; and judging by his tone of voice, she knew that he was hoping for exactly the opposite of what he had said. So to dampen his mood a bit, she said while looking right at him, "I did say I have all of yours, didn't I?"
Lily took great pleasure in seeing his face fall slightly; she couldn't help it, it was pretty comical. Then the girl sitting beside Ginny said, "Oh? I thought one of our teachers would distribute them." Lily turned to face the girl and said, "Well, it would have been the case. But as I was collecting the timetables for all of my misfits over here", she exaggeratedly waved her hand flourishingly in the direction of her children-who complained at the way she described them-and continued, "Professor Spencer handed yours to me and requested me to deliver them to you, as that was easy and less time consuming."
Then Lily looked around and stared a little strictly at each of them; and said, "I also want to tell you, all of you, that outside of this tournament, there is no ours and theirs. All the Professors are going to teach you something and you are all going to learn it with the students from other schools. So no our teachers if you will please, Ms….?" The question was directed at Linda, who, for her part, was blushing a little in embarrassment.
"Owens, Mam. And sorry, it will not happen again."
Lily just stared at the girl for a few silent seconds. She had thought that the blonde girl was just one of those gossip girls, whose biggest worry was if their make-up was fine or not. But the answer she had gotten was like from one of those army-based movies she had watched with her husband.
In the end, Lily smiled warmly at the girl and said, "Well, if I heard it correctly, you guys were talking something about introductions, weren't you?" She didn't wait for an answer and continued, "Well, let's start with you", she nodded at the boy who had spoken earlier.
For the first time in a long time, Ray was scared shitless because of a person, and it had been even longer than that since a teacher had intimidated him like this. He could see Principe's shit-eating grin, mocking him. Finally, Ray swallowed hard and said, in a nervous voice, "Eh, Ray Johnson, Mam."
Lily was hardly keeping her face straight as she saw Mr Johnson squirming under her gaze. He reminded her so much of how James and Sirius had reacted the many times she had caught them doing something wrong. After having her fun, she turned and looked at the Japanese girl who was sitting to the left of the blue-eyed wizard. Lily had to lean forward in her seat to look at her. She was about to ask the girl her name but before she could say anything, the said girl smiled brightly at her and said, "I am Emi Kamikaze, Professor Potter. It's nice to finally meet you."
Lily thought that this Emi was the kind of a girl that you can't help but like on principle. So she did the only thing she could; she smiled at her and said that she was glad to meet her too.
Then she turned at the final person at the table that she didn't know in person. She stared at him for a while before asking him who he was. He didn't react the way she had expected him to. He didn't start squirming or stammering or anything. He simply stared at her, just like she was staring at him. She could see that the bird that she had petted last night was on his shoulder, and even it was staring at her.
Finally, he said, "David Principe, Professor…By any chance, have we ever met before?"
David couldn't remember from where, but he thought that he had seen the woman he was staring at before; the feeling was the same as to the one he had gotten when he had seen the Little Dragon. He saw her getting surprised at his question, but she soon shook herself out of the shock and beam at him as she said, "I don't think so David. Maybe, maybe not."
David stared at her some more after that cryptic reply until she turned and said to everyone in general. "Okay. So as you all know, only the seventh years' timetables are altered. For the other six years, the schedule would be same as before; the only thing that will be changed is that the classes will be taught by your regular Hogwarts teacher and one of the professors from the visiting schools. So there are no new timetables for you.
"As for the seven of you, here are your timetables", Lily waved her wand at the parchments that she had lowered on the table, and each of the pieces went to their respective owners. She was going to say something when she heard Emi's quiet voice.
"How come you are not the Charms Professor, Professor Potter?"
Lily allowed herself a small smile as she looked at the faces of the four Salem students-all of them quirking one of their eyebrows, which was hilarious-and said, "Well, I took what I got; and personally I don't think I could ever compete with Professor Flitwick, whether it may be in terms of magical prowess or knowledge."
"No shit, I've read about him. He was a duelling champion once, wasn't he?"
Lily frowned a bit and said while looking at the person who spoken, "Language, Mr Johnson", she didn't continue until she heard a 'Sorry, Professor' in a quiet voice, "Yes, you are right. I've heard he was one of the best." Then noticing that Ray was still looking at his lap because of her scolding, Lily added, in a more pleasant tone, "Although, I have to say that I am impressed by your knowledge of such a thing. I can confidently wager that not even half of the Hogwarts students would have heard or read of that bit of information; and you just came here yesterday." She was pleased to see that her words put a proud smile on the boy's face.
Lily was going to say what she wanted to say before Mr Johnson's comment about Professor Flitwick, but she was interrupted again, this time by Ronald, who said, "But there was nothing special about what Mrs Potter did, was there?"
Lily smirked as she predicted what Ronald was going to get as an answer for that comment, and sure enough, one of her favourite persons decided to put some sense into Ronald.
"Honestly, Ronald! You are in seventh year now. Even Aries would know what was incredible about what Professor Potter just did there", Lily was both happy and a little put off by Hermione's emphasis on the word 'Professor', but didn't say anything about it as Hermione wasn't finished talking, "It is hard to perform a banishing charm on multiple objects and to banish them in different directions; and Professor Potter did that non-verbally, something you still can't do properly." Lily almost laughed out loud as Ronald glared balefully at Hermione, which was really hilarious, especially as it didn't have any effect on Hermione.
Finally, after putting a neutral expression on her face, Lily said, "Now, I suggest you all hurry up with your breakfast, as it is getting nearer to nine, okay? You three", she looked at Charlus, Hermione and Ronald at this, "Help these four and anyone else in finding their classrooms. I'll see you all at lunch, and till then, please, don't get into any trouble"
"Mum! We don't go searching for trouble, you know that?"
"Oh, I know, son", Lily said in a very sweet tone, which made Charlus-who had spoken up-to gulp audibly, "But the last time I checked with Poppy, it was two people among you three who were at the top of the most hours spent at the infirmary list. Isn't that ironic?"
Lily's statement made all three members of the Golden Trio to blush tomato red and all the others to chuckle at, either the faces of those three or Lily's comment about the most hours spent list. Then all of them, Lily included, started laughing again when Ray said, "Whose Poppy? She sounds hot."
It was after Lily had exited the Great Hall that Emi said, "You were right about her, Hermione. She is a really great person."
That brought everyone back to the reality and everyone started to eat their breakfast while comparing their timetables with each other.
"Oh bugger, they are really putting us through the paces, aren't they?" Ron moaned as he was swallowing mouthful of sausages.
"I'll say", that was Ray.
"Well, I'm glad I didn't choose to pursue Herbology; that decision is letting me have at least one hour free at the end of every week day", David said, smirking at his best mate.
"Me too", that was Linda.
"Yeah, yeah. Just because you two got cold feet at spending two more years with dangerous and man-eating plants doesn't mean you're great or something", Ray said, offhandedly.
"Moron!" David and Linda both chorused at the same time, making everyone, but one, at the table laugh.
Hermione, a little annoyed, said after eating the food in her plate, "Well, I think all of us have the same morning classes today, right? So let's get to it. Professor Flitwick can get really annoyed sometimes if you get to his class late."
"Well, at least, I'll have the period before lunch free. I'll save you guys seats while you are stuck in some dungeon brewing stupid potions."
"Hey, me and Charlus don't take Potions too. How 'bout we all go to the Quidditch pitch and have a game or two? What do you think? Eh?"
"I'm game! Ha, better than cutting tree roots and listening to some crackpot drawl on about potions."
"Hey! Will you stop talking about my Godfather like that?"
Ray, surprised at the outburst of Aries-who hadn't spoken a word until then, unless, you were counting him greeting his Mum- looked at Charlus questioningly, who said, "Well, you did call Uncle Sev a crackpot."
"Wait a minute, here. You are saying that one of your uncles is the Potions Master at Hogwarts. Are you kidding me?" Ray asked incredulously.
"Well, he is not our uncle by blood. He is Mum's best friend and we've called him uncle since, well, since the beginning", answered Charlus.
"Phew, so how come you are not taking his subject for NEWT year?"
"Eh, well you see, Uncle Sev only allows students who have achieved an O in the Potions OWL to take the NEWT in Potions", Charlus said, a bit nervously.
"But that is not fair. I mean, not everybody can score above 75% in Potions; even if they are, indeed, that good a brewer, sometimes something goes wrong. He can't just dismiss anybody below that scoring without even taking heed about what they can or can't do", Emi exclaimed, a bit angrily.
Hermione had noticed the accusing tone in which Emi had made her opinions vocal, and tried to defend the Potions Master by saying, "Emi, I know what you mean. But Professor Snape doesn't dismiss anybody just because their OWL score is below O. That is just his criteria of distinguishing students in such a way that it would be easy for him to work on those who need extra help in the subject, and who are willing to do the hard work which is needed to achieve passing grades in the subject."
Then she turned her head to glare at her two best friends and said, "I'm sure if both of them had written to Professor Snape about wishing to continue their Potions classes, he would have thought about permitting them acceptance in his class; the way he had done with Ginny here." As if on cue, Ginny nodded her head in the affirmative, glaring at her brother and boyfriend as well.
"Oh. Well in that case, I'm sorry I tried to judge him without thinking through", Emi said, a little embarrassed.
"Well, let's hurry up, now. We only have ten minutes to get to the Charms classroom; and the four of you", Hermione said while looking at the three younger Potters and Ginny, "You should get going too. Or else….."
Hermione was interrupted in her monologue by a very girlish giggle. So she turned to see who that was.
David recognizing the source of the God-forsaken giggle-which he had heard many times-supressed a sudden urge to groan and turned in his seat to come face-to-face with a redheaded girl.
"Good morning, Natasha. I hope you slept well", David said, with a phony smile.
"Oh, of course! But not as well as I would have….", the redhead said, suggestively. Then she smiled saucily at David and continued, "But I didn't come here to ask you about this school's hospitality. I've heard something interesting about some Hogsmed weekend or something, where you go to this village nearby and explore it. I got so excited when I heard about it and the first thing that came to my mind was you", she said while pointing at his chest, her index finger almost touching it.
'Her mind! She has a fucking mind? That's news to me' David thought, still giving Natasha the fake smile.
"So", Natasha continued, none the wiser about David's silent thoughts, "I was wondering if you would like to go with me? You know, just me and you. It'll be fun."
"Um, well, you see, Natasha, these Hogsmeade weekends that you are talking about, they don't start until after Halloween, if what've heard is right. So…..I'll give you my answer when the first one is announced, if that is okay with you? Whaddya say?" David told the redhead, who frowned a bit in reply; but after a few moments, recovered herself and said, "That's alright. But don't take too long, or someone else might ask me." Then she winked at him and sauntered away.
"Are you actually thinking about going out with her?" Linda asked, even before the said redhead was out of earshot.
"Are you insane? I wouldn't go out with her even if the bitch was the last girl on the planet."
"Language, David. There are still a fair few people on this table that I would like to save from that tongue of yours", Emi scolded him lightly.
"Yeah, eh, sorry…..So let's get going, shall we? Like Hermione said, we don't want to be on the wrong side of Professor Flitwick."
Just like before in the Common Room, everybody heeded David and started to make their way to their respective classes. Nobody noticed the slight smirk that had appeared on Hermione's lips as she thought about the information she had extracted from David and Linda's conversation.
Five and a half hours later
Hermione had just settled down in the last class of the day, which was Herbology. She was seated on the desk right in front of the teacher's one with Emi sitting right beside her. Her two best friends were seated far behind with Ray, who, she could hear even from her desk, flirting with the French witch he had been talking to all day. The only ones who weren't in the classroom were David and Linda, who had dropped the subject after their fifth year.
The day had been full of surprises for Hermione. It had started with their first class of the day, which was Charms. The moment she entered the classroom, she was doing nothing else but stifling her giggles at Ray's jokes about Professor Flitwick's height-which were so good and witty that even she couldn't help it-and wishing for the class to end. Hermione couldn't remember the last time she had wished for the break to come early the way she had done in that one and a half hour. However, that didn't mean she didn't pay attention to the class, and she was a bit glad to say the same about her friends-all the four Salem students included!-too; although, she still couldn't recall the name of the French Professor who had assisted Professor Flitwick with the class.
It had been a whole new experience, the Charms class; actually, all the three classes she had attended today were different. She had observed her four new friends in those classes and she couldn't find even one similarity in the way they performed the task they were assigned. Emi was more like her; she would master any new spell that they were assigned to perform in the Charms and DADA classes on the first attempt. Ray was also, surprisingly, just as smart and good when it came to spellwork as his friends. Hermione had thought him to be just as lousy with a wand as Ron was. But he had proven her wrong; something that doesn't happen often.
David had, of course, been the best to look at; and she wasn't saying that because of his good looks, although that was a bonus right there. But he was just so graceful with everything that he was doing, whether it may be spellwork or brewing. It would take him a little while to master the spell they were learning in the class. But he would be the first one to cast it non-verbally; showing signs of a well-organised mind.
But the most mesmerizing of the four of them had been Linda. Hermione had thought her to be a gossip girl, just like her former dorm-mates Parvati and Lavender. But everything Linda had done in the previous three classes was surreal. The most peculiar of them was the way she would hold her wand in her hand; it was as if she was holding, no, caressing a beautiful flower in her hand. The second thing had been her spells themselves. Hermione had noticed that each and every spells Linda had casted had a blue hue to them. She hadn't asked Linda anything about it yet, as Linda was the only one among the four who hadn't opened up to Hermione yet.
Then there were the classes themselves. All three classes that Hermione had attended so far were taught by two teachers. Charms, by Professor Flitwick and the French teacher she couldn't remember the name of; DADA, by Professor Lupin and Professor Hayes of Salem; and Potions, by Professor Snape and Professor Falk of Durmstrang. All three of the classes had been as different from the regular Hogwarts regime as they could get.
In Charms, the two teachers had decided to divide the class in two halves. In one half, Flitwick would give the students the necessary information and help for the charm being taught; and in the other half, the French teacher, 'Beatrice Collet was her name!', would help the students-who had cast the charm at least once-in casting the same charm non-verbally. When Professor Flitwick had told them about this scheme at the start of the class, Hermione had doubted if that would help anyone any better. After all, she and Charlus had spent infinite hours in trying to teach Ron how to cast non-verbally; and all Ron had managed to do was cast a weak Lumos. So it was a shock to both Hermione and Charlus when not only Ron, but almost everybody in the classroom had managed to do what the French Professor was trying to teach them before the end of the hour. That was the moment when Hermione started to believe Dumbledore's words about this tournament being organized to improve Europe's educational system.
A nudge from her left brought Hermione back to reality as she gave a start and turned to Emi questioningly. In reply, Emi smiled reassuringly and nodded to the front. Hermione turned in time to see Professor Sprout step in at the front of the class, a man in his forties following her. After the both of them brought the class to order, they introduced themselves to the class and explained how they were going to teach. Both of them had decided to assign the Mondays for theoretical part and the Wednesdays for the practical part; explained why they were sitting in a classroom instead of a greenhouse.
But as Professors Sprout and Evrard-of Beauxbatons-started to tell them about the plants they were going to study in the greenhouses this Wednesday, it seemed impossible for Hermione to concentrate as her mind seemed either too tired or too pre-occupied, or both. Finally, after ten minutes, Hermione quit trying and cast a silent and discreet charm-which she had crafted herself-on her and Emi's parchments, which would make the parchments copy whatever the professors, who the charm was keyed to, were saying.
Sensing the sudden flow of magic and seeing her parchment sprouting out words on her own, Emi turned and looked inquiringly at Hermione. In reply, Hermione pulled out a new piece of parchment and then picking up her quill, started writing.
'Emi, I'm sorry. But I wanted to ask you something.' Emi read. She looked at Hermione from the corner of her eye-so that the professors won't get suspicious-then shrugged and wrote on the same parchment Hermione had written in.
'What is it?'
'Do you mind if I ask you something personal about David and Linda?'
Emi thought for a while after reading Hermione's second line. Then shrugged in a 'don't care' manner-even though she was smirking from the inside-and started writing.
'Unless it's something they have told me not to tell anyone.'
Hermione stared at Emi's answer to her question, then after deciding to be honest with Emi, started writing on a new piece of parchment.
'I know it's weird; but I think I like David. I know I've met him roughly 24 hours ago and I don't even know him yet. But there is something about him that I've never felt before about anyone, not even my parents. Sorry, I'm babbling; which is even weirder as I'm not even talking. But I wanted to know if there is anything between David and Linda. I mean, I don't have any problem with that. I just want to know so that I will stay out of there way.'
Hermione's long reply confirmed half of Emi's theory about one of her oldest friends and one of her newest friends. 'Now all I need to know is whether David thinks the same way about Hermione or not' she thought, as she leaned in to write her reply. But a thought came to Emi's mind as she was going to write that there was nothing between David and Linda; and it was an important one. So Emi decided to pursue that thought first.
'Is this attraction of yours for David a physical one or emotional one?'
After reading this, Hermione thought for a while about how to phrase her answer in such a way that Emi would understand. Finally, after thinking hard for five minutes-in which she saw Professor Evrard draw a detailed drawing of Devil's Snare–she started writing.
'Well, I'm not sure yet. I mean, I'm not saying that I am not attracted towards his Greek Godlike looks. But there is something more; some criteria that are drawing me to him but I can't put my finger on them. It's not any kind of magic, I'm sure of that. It's just, you wouldn't believe it but I'm actually missing him right now; even though he was with us less than half an hour ago. I thought you would understand what I am feeling. Mostly, I talk about such things with my Mum or Mrs Potter. Please, help me out here Emi'
Emi couldn't decide on whether to believe what Hermione had said just now or not; because if she decided to believe her, then she would have to accept the fact that Hermione was totally smitten by David, and that to not in just the physical way. Hermione's last line touched her though. Emi couldn't believe that Hermione-whom she didn't even know by this time yesterday-was prepared to trust her, Emi, as much as she did her own mother. The short while Emi had spent with the brown haired witch was enough to tell her that Hermione was not one of those people who could lie about such things like trust and friendship.
And so, Emi decided to help Hermione as much as she could in this situation with David. But she vowed to find out about David's feelings for Hermione, so that she wouldn't feel like she was betraying his friendship by helping Hermione.
'I can't say that I know how you are feeling as this is really unique and something I've never heard or read of before. But I'll tell you some things. Hope that'll be enough?'
After making sure that Hermione read this, she quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly. When Hermione nodded in reply, Emi pulled out a new piece of parchment and started writing.
'Okay, so here are a few things you need to know about David. He really hates those people who like him for his body. I know you told me that your attraction towards him is not just physical; but I wanted you to know. If you want a testament to how David treats people who like him for his body, just remember how he treated Natasha. Trust me, you don't want to be treated like that by David, or anyone for that matter.'
Emi stopped here, and let Hermione read what she had written. After seeing that Hermione had read it all, she tried to pull the parchment back; but Hermione held on to it. When Emi furrowed her eyebrows at this gesture, Hermione blinked her eyes once, as if telling Emi to have some patience. Shrugging, she started paying attention to the class as Hermione started writing. After about a minute, Hermione slid the parchment back at Emi, who immediately started reading.
'Why doesn't he want people to like his physique? I mean, that's why he goes through that entire exercise regime for, doesn't he? So that people would notice his body. I am not saying that he shouldn't expect people to like him for who he is; but you have to admit that people ought to get attracted to his body, and you would expect him to get used to that kind of attention. I mean, Ray doesn't have such issues, does he? He is comfortable with people who like his body. Then why David?'
Emi realized that she was walking on a thin rope here. If she didn't word her answer right, either Hermione would think that there was something seriously wrong with David or she would find out about his secret. Hermione was smart enough to know about metamorphmagi, after all. So, this time, Emi took her sweet time to think matters through, then after a few minutes, started writing.
'You can't compare Ray with David, Hermione. They are completely different people. David is reserved and a cool thinker while Ray is an exhibitionist. David just doesn't like people who treat him special, that's all; just like Charlus, you know.'
With bated breath, Emi saw Hermione reading what she had just written. After a few moments of what looked like silent interpretation, Hermione nodded and started writing. Emi actually sighed in relief after seeing that Hermione had took it the way she wanted her to. After a mere few seconds, Hermione slid a new piece of parchment towards Emi.
'I understand how David must feel. I've seen how Charlus reacts to fan-girls, so I understand. Okay, so what were the other things you wanted to tell me about?'
Not believing her luck, Emi immediately started writing a reply, on the same parchment that Hermione had wrote her latest message.
'Nothing important. Just take it slow with David. Don't try to force things on him, no matter how important they are. And remember, if you turn into one of those fan-girl types, he will sever all connections with you. Trust me, he has done it before.'
Emi couldn't believe how fast Hermione jotted out a reply after reading her note. But when she saw what Hermione had written, she couldn't help but give Hermione a disbelieving look.
Her reply was, 'He has DATED other girls before?'
After taking in Emi's disbelieving expression, Hermione cursed herself for asking such a stupid question. 'Of course, he has dated before. He is a hot-blooded teenage boy after all', she thought, while she jotted out another question on the same parchment.
'Has he dated Linda before?'
Emi scolded herself for not clearing that one up before going so deep into David's character and giving Hermione tips on dating, as if she and David had already started dating. Maybe because, deep down Emi had a feeling that it was going to happen, sooner or later, Hermione and David dating that is. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she started writing.
'I never told you. Right. Well, no. David and Linda never dated each other. So don't worry about any possible love triangle or anything. Just be yourself, okay? Now, I think we should cut this out. I caught Professor Sprout looking at the both of us, suspiciously.'
Emi saw Hermione smile a little and nodding in reply to her request about stopping the note business. It felt like she was in primary school all over again. She better not let Ray hear about this, or he'll never let the both of them hear the end of it.
Far away from the both of them, in a derelict looking mansion, a man was sitting in a high-backed chair. He was a peculiar looking man, or infant would be a better word. He was curled up in the chair in a way only a child would. But what made him look like a man were his eyes; his hate filled, determined ruby red eyes. He was staring out into space, possibly lost in thought.
Another man was sprawled out on the floor right in front of the infant looking man, possibly unconscious. This man had grey hair, which were all messed up. He also had a moustache, which, if it had been well-groomed, would have been in a narrow toothbrush style. His skin was withered and unnaturally pale, as if it had not seen daylight for a long while and his skull was almost protruding from his forehead.
Suddenly, there was movement in the room as a twelve foot long vicious looking snake slithered inside the room and settled itself atop the high-backed chair the infant was sitting in. It started hissing in the infant's ear as if telling him something of importance. The infant, too, was nodding in response as if he understood what the snake had just hissed into his ear.
Just as suddenly as it had come, the snake slithered out of the room. The infant, however, kept nodding while still looking out into space with unfocussed red eyes. Then he spoke, in this very unnaturally cold and cruel voice which was not above a whisper, but was still crystal clear.
"You are right, Nagini. It has started and we have to get him on this side. We cannot lose him. He is too important. He is our last chance. The very last…"