Hello lovelies!
And guess what?
We're on our way to… Hogwarts! At last! Woooo! :D
The plot bunnies won't leave me the hell alone, so I've been typing a lot this past week. O.o Ah! There's one now! *hides under desk* Damn, that was just my pet rabbit… *comes out*
Thanks to everyone that's been reading/reviewing/favoriting/etc, you guys totally make my day every time.
Well, here we go…
Chapter 10
The Essential Journey
Elena was just about ready to explode. Or implode; whichever came first.
After four days at Malfoy Manor spent reading up on the history of "Hogwarts" (seriously, who names these places?), learning about her professors, and looking over course materials, she was ready to GO!
The Death Eaters had all given her a very wide berth, sticking strictly to their stereotypes of her race, but on the bright side, Draco had gained much respect among their ranks.
Vampires were notorious for being impossible to capture unwillingly; no one truly knew how to do it, and no one even knew how to kill them anymore. They had long since gained immunity from the singular wooden stake through the heart, and the true method for slaying them was a closely guarded secret by the race. They were considered a serious threat to the wizarding world if provoked, and for that reason were generally given great respect and regarded warily.
Even Voldemort seemed slightly wary of her. He had given up on his plot for Draco to kill Dumbledore, for now at least. She would just have to wait and see how that issue would progress.
In the manor, the only residents that actually spoke to her were the Malfoy family. She had spent a lot of her time around Draco, and while he was still a spoiled, arrogant little shit, he was her spoiled, arrogant little shit, and he was actually starting to grow on her. Narcissa practically cooed at her whenever she saw her, and even Lucius would go out of his way to speak to her sometimes, his respect for his son having grown exponentially.
Bellatrix had actually become something of a source for amusement; apparently under the Dark Lord's instruction, she was testing all of the old vampire clichés, trying to find a weakness of Elena's. She put garlic in her food, a cross in her cloak pocket, and even went as far as to "accidently" spill some holy water on Elena from the church in town. Elena's personal favorite was the time when she had been reading on a sofa in the library, the thick drapes on all the windows drawn, and Bellatrix had strolled in, complaining about how dark it was, and threw open the curtains, allowing the bright mid-afternoon sunlight to flood the room. She had then looked quickly to Elena, a crazed, wicked grin on her face, only to be disappointed as the young vampire blinked in the sunlight with obvious apathy. Bella frowned and stomped out of the room while Elena rolled on the couch, giggling hysterically.
Now, Elena paced the floor in Draco's sitting room while the boy took an ungodly long amount of time to finish packing. She stopped her pacing to watch him stroll across the room. Damn, that little shit was gorgeous. He carried with him an inherent sureness and grace that rarely mortals possessed…damn him.
"Are you ready yet?" Elena whined, putting a hand on her slender hip.
Draco's silver eyes glittered with mischief as he replied quickly "Oh no, no, no, of course not", stepping forward to conceal his finally packed trunk.
Elena gave a mock-growl and shoved him lightly out of the way, and before Draco could react, grabbed his trunk and took off down the grand staircase.
With a flash of motion, she was back in Draco's room, where she grabbed her charge's arm and practically flew down the stairs with him in tow. "Elena, I'm not meant to move this quickly!" he cried, his feet barely touching the ground as they moved. She laughed breathlessly and kept going.
At the bottom of the stairs they nearly collided with Bellatrix, who gave a startled squeak and walked quickly away, throwing disgruntled glares over her shoulder.
Elena and Draco chuckled and walked into the parlor where Narcissa waited beside the large, black marble fireplace.
"Aww, are we apparating again?" she questioned, dropping her chin in disappointment. Draco snorted and failed to cover a short laugh.
Narcissa patted her shoulder fondly, "I'm sorry dear, but yes, we are". Elena groaned, but had no further time to react as Narcissa scooped both teens with their trunks into her grip, and they were once more swirling roughly through space.
They landed uncomfortably in a large train station, a building that reminded Elena a lot of the border station in Romania that they had been in a few days previously. None of the mortals seemed to notice their arrival, Elena noted with a raised eyebrow. How curious.
After stacking their luggage on a large steel cart, the teens followed Narcissa through the crowd of humans. Muggles, Elena corrected herself; you're a witch – a human.
They came to a stop before the large brick column between platforms 9 and 10, and Elena stared at it blankly. Does it do a trick?
"Go on, Draco" Narcissa called, giving her son a light push. Draco strolled lazily toward the very solid-looking column, and just as he should have smacked into it, disappeared.
"Charmed?" Elena asked, turning to Narcissa, who nodded and winked in return.
Following Draco's example, Elena pushed her cart forward, getting closer and closer to the brick wall…when suddenly another platform came into focus around her.
This particular platform was packed full of other people pushing trunks and wearing robes, and Elena felt more at ease.
Beside the platform sat a beautiful scarlet steam engine; in gold lettering it bore the words, "Hogwarts Express". Elena found herself grinning with excitement, and after giving her luggage to a waiting escort, glanced around to look for Draco.
"It's about bloody time you got here, I swear…daft vampires…" a voice drawled from over her shoulder. She turned to see Draco smirking lazily at her, and had to resist the urge to bare her fangs playfully.
"Wow, I'm sure you've been practicing that one for years, but please let me on the bloody train Draco!"
He continued smirking and stepped onto the train, intentionally walking down the center of the aisle at a dramatically slow pace, trapping a restless Elena behind him.
"Draco Malfoy I will end you!" she growled from behind him.
"It's about time someone did!" called a boy from a compartment to their left. She turned, about to snap a threatening reply to the husky boy, when Draco squeezed past her and took the boy's hand. "Alright Crabbe?" he greeted, entering the compartment.
Elena snorted with exasperation and followed her charge into the small room. Already seated were another husky boy with dark hair, and handsome boy with mocha-colored skin, and a pretty girl with a slightly round face and dark brown hair.
"Everyone, this is Elena – she's the daughter of an old friend of my mother's that passed away recently. She's staying with my family at the manor now", Draco announced flippantly, taking a seat beside the handsome boy who introduced himself as Blaise Zabini.
Elena sat on Draco's other side and greeted the remaining two students – Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. The boy from the doorway was called Vincent Crabbe.
The trip began with the other students asking her questions about her life in Italy, and the school of magic that she'd attended there. After a few rehearsed responses, the conversation switched to other issues and Elena found her gaze drifting out the window as the terrain outside became wilder. Her attention was briefly caught at the mention of a "Harry Potter" – that name sounded familiar – but she ignored the twinges of recognition in the back of her mind as she began to feel a growing sense of claustrophobia.
She excused herself, saying that she needed to stretch her legs, and found herself wandering aimlessly down the long isle. It was then that a compartment to her right suddenly flung open, and Elena was nearly knocked to the carpeted floor as a person rushed out.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry…" a half-hysterical voice ranted.
Elena brushed the hair out of her eyes to see a cute girl with fluffy brown hair and tear-moistened brown eyes standing before her.
"What's the matter?" Elena asked her, her brow furrowing in concern.
"It's my cat…Crookshanks…I can't find him…I'm afraid he didn't make it on the train" the girl gasped out in between hiccupping sobs.
"It'll be alright" Elena said, patting the girl's shoulder reassuringly, "I'll help you find him".
The girl smiled weakly in response.
They began to wander further from the passenger section of the train and into the storage compartments, and Elena strained her ears, trying to pick up any faint indication of the cat's heartbeat. But all she sensed was the erratic thudding of her companion's.
They passed shelves full of student's trunks and luggage, and suddenly Elena thought that perhaps she sensed another faint presence in the compartment…but not quite what she would expect a cat to feel like. Curiously, she walked closer to one of the shelves just in time to hear a low growl from beneath the lowest level. Something moved with lightning-fast speed and adhered itself to Elena's lower leg, sharp claws digging into her skin. With a cry, Elena jumped back and looked down to see a furious ginger fluff-ball attached to her pants' leg.
She bent down quickly, and wincing from the sharp pain, removed the cat; it hissed wildly at her, and Elena had to fight the urge to hiss back and shut the damn thing up. Instead, she held the creature at arm's length and asked the girl "Would this lovely creature belong to you?"
With a blissful cry the girl seized the angry feline, squashing him into a hug.
"Oh thank you! And I'm sorry, he doesn't warm up to people very easily. It took ages for him to even let my friend Ron touch him". The girl rambled happily, smiling warmly at Elena.
Elena returned the grin, deciding not to mention that cats generally hated vampires anyway, when she felt a slight flush of warmth rising in her right wrist. Closing her eyes briefly, she branched out her mental consciousness, trying to reach Draco.
"Where have you gotten off to?" his voice drawled in her head.
"Helping a girl find her cat, I'm on my way back now", she responded before pulling out of the connection.
The other girl hadn't even noticed Elena's brief pause, as absorbed in her cat as she currently was.
"I'd better get back to my compartment, they'll be wondering where I've gone" she explained to the girl, back toward the door, "See you at the school?"
The girl smiled and nodded, "Thank you again".
Once out of the girl's sight, Elena turned and bolted back to her compartment. She slid the door open to find that Draco was now stretched out across her seat, with his feet resting where she'd previously been sitting.
"Oh, hey, thanks", Elena said sarcastically, gesturing to his feet.
Draco smirked lazily in reply.
"You can sit here love" Blaise offered with a coy smile, patting his lap. Elena rolled her eyes and lifted Draco's legs, shoving them up against the rest of his body, and took her seat once more.
"De-nied" Pansy chuckled from across the compartment.
Draco grumbled at being crumpled up so unceremoniously, and stretched his legs out across her lap. Elena elbowed Blaise playfully, who was over-dramatically pouting at her, and idly played with the ends of Draco's expensive-looking black trousers. Draco briefly quirked a blonde eyebrow at her attentions, but soon relaxed again with his back to the window.
"So what house do you think you'll be in Elena?" Pansy questioned. Noting the green and silver ties that each of the other inhabitants of the compartment now wore around their necks, Elena's lips quirked into a smile. "Oh, definitely Slytherin".
Everyone nodded their approval, and then Goyle spoke up, one of his few comments throughout the entire trip. "What is your bloodline?"
Everyone stilled at the sudden, probing question, and glanced to Elena hesitantly.
"Pureblood", Elena responded briskly, as if it were no big deal, a smug grin on her face. So what if she wasn't a wizard pureblood per say…she was still a pureblood, of a race that was arguably more ancient than wizards themselves.
The ambience in the compartment tangibly relaxed and everyone exchanged satisfied smirks, with the exception of Draco, who looked rather disinterested, having heard it all before.
The remainder of the trip went on without any further tense moments, and Elena found herself growing more and more comfortable amongst this small group of Slytherins. Inside, they were like any other teens; young, full of energy and playful banter. It was on the outside that they were forced to be something they were not, for the sake of this ridiculous war. They had to grow up before their time, which was a tragedy in itself.
…
The sun outside the window had begun to sink toward the treetops when the train slowly, at last, pulled to a stop.
Their group stood and filed out into the aisle, Draco leading and Goyle bringing up the rear.
A group of second year students stood blocking the hallway, but one look at the group of older Slytherins and they scurried frantically away. Hmm…I guess some of the rumors I've picked up on about Slytherin are true… Elena mused with a grim grin.
She stayed near Draco's left side as the group exited the train and stepped out onto a small wooden platform. A booming voice overhead called "Firs' years, this way!" while huddle groups of nervous-looking eleven-year-olds sought out the voice, most of them giving the Slytherins a wide berth.
Draco led the group off of the platform and onto a wide dirt road that led off into a heavy cover of trees. On the road sat at least twenty carriages, probably more, and as they drew closer Elena noticed that each was pulled by a team of two Thestrals. At the close proximity of a vampire, the Thestrals turned their heads and whickered friendly greetings. Elena smiled, wanting to do more, but due to her need to blend in she turned and followed Draco into one of the spacious carriages.
Other students wearing green ties boarded the carriage after them and Elena felt naked not wearing any color other than her black school robes.
The other students looked at her curiously; she was obviously older than a first year, and yet no one recognized her from previous years. One look at the scowl on Draco's face however, who was seated next to her, and they said nothing.
Elena's eyes lit with wonder as a magnificent stone castle came into view. It was absolutely enormous, with tower and spires reaching to the heavens, and levels upon levels of stories comprising the central structure. Latticed windows pierced the dark night sky with beacons of yellow light, even brighter than the stars overhead. To the left of the castle was a great lake, its surface black and as smooth as glass in the still night air. To the right, and even beyond the lake on the left, the forest extended into distant shadows, the shapes of faraway mountains just discernible past the tree lines.
The carriages came to a halt in front of large stone steps leading to massive, multi-storied, oak doors at the front of the castle. The students swarmed out of the carriages in mob form and climbed the steps to what most of them considered home.
They entered a massive stone entrance hall, the ceiling seeming eons above their heads. Candles mounted in brackets on the wall offered a decent source of light, throwing the room into a warm, golden glow. To the students' left another set of large oak doors stood open and light poured out into the entrance hall; it was into this room that the students began to filter.
"Elena Frost?" a voice asked over her shoulder as she moved to follow Draco into the other room. She turned, her reaction time decent considering the new last name, to see a spectacled woman with grey hair pulled tightly into a bun peering at her. Waving Draco on, she turned and followed who she could only assume was Professor McGonagall into a smaller chamber on the right, crowded with first years.
"It's wonderful to finally meet you in person, Professor". Elena spoke with sincerity; she had been corresponding with Professor McGonagall for the past week about her transfer to Hogwarts, as well as her guardianship over Draco. Being the well-respected second-in-command of the school, Minerva McGonagall knew just about everything that went on around the school.
McGonagall nodded, offering a brief genuine smile. "You will be introduced as our transfer student first, and be sorted ahead of the first years. It is not all that unusual – we have had other transfer students in the past". Elena nodded her understanding.
"Alright everyone", McGonagall addressed the entire group, her authoritative voice easily being heard by all, "follow me". She led them back through the entrance hall and across to the oaken double doors that the rest of the students had disappeared through.
It was a large banquet hall, complete with four long tables perpendicular to the wall containing the doors, and another long table at the head of the room on a slightly raised platform, facing the other four tables.
High above their heads, an enchanted ceiling mirrored the clear night sky outside. Candles were once more the source of light, along the walls as well as floating suspended in mid-air above their heads.
On the left wall hung two large banners, one green and silver and bearing the Slytherin serpent, the other blue and bronze and showing a large eagle; likewise on the right wall hung two banners, one being red and gold and bearing a lion, the other black and yellow with a badger.
On the tables sat many golden plates, platters, and goblets, all empty at the moment, and the students all sat at their respective house tables. Elena grinned as she watched everything that she'd read about in "Hogwarts; a History" come to life before her eyes.
McGonagall led them to the head of the hall, directly before the high table, to face the rest of the student body. Elena could feel curious eyes on her, but was able to ignore them as the headmaster, Dumbledore, gave a brief speech of welcome, then gestured cheerfully for McGonagall to begin the sorting ceremony.
"Students, this year we have a bit of a different new arrival to welcome to our castle", she addressed the entire hall, her sure voice echoing slightly off of the high ceiling, "This is Miss Elena Frost, she is a transfer student from a school of magic in Italy, and will be joining us as a sixth year".
McGonagall motioned for Elena to join her on the platform, where the enchanted hat and a stool sat waiting. Everyone in the hall turned their eyes on her then, but she kept her chin held high and expression relaxed as she approached the hat.
The transfigurations professor placed the hat on her head, and then backed away several steps.
"Well, well, well…" a voice murmured in her ear, "This is quite a treat. Never before have I been presented with a pureblood of your race…half-bloods and mixes, yes, but you are quite different. Now…where to put you? You could excel anywhere – there is intelligence, whit, bravery, cunning, loyalty to the extreme, ambition, resourcefulness…all of the house values, within you my dear…"
"My charge is in Slytherin…" Elena whispered to the hat, her lips scarcely moving, her eyes flicking briefly over to the table on her far right.
"Hmmm…yes, I suppose that that would make life easier for you…and you would most certainly make a quality Slytherin…alright…SLYTHERIN!"
The hat called out the last word loudly enough for the entire hall to hear. The Slytherin table erupted into cheers; the other houses looked slightly put-out, but they clapped nonetheless.
Elena whispered a quick "thank you" to the hat and returned…him?...to Professor McGonagall.
Draco, Blaise, and Pansy waved her over from the far end of the table and she took her seat amongst her new house and family.
Hmmm…I think this has been my longest chapter yet yay!
Drop by a review and let me know what you think!
Lots of love!
~Z