Chapter 13: The Start of Winter
For the rest of November, Hogwarts went on like a normal wizarding school should. Students pranked their house rivals, dared each other to go into the Forbidden Forest, studied Transfiguration and Potions, and just behaved like the teenagers they were.
Slytherin had a major lead in house points, and they were likely to continue the six year streak for the house cup. The Slytherins broke rules, for the right reasons of course, but almost never got caught.
And Nathara never got caught most likely for one of these reasons: 1.) She could talk her way out 2.) she could magic her way out or 3.) no one even noticed.
Recently, no one ever noticed. Her invisibility potion was complete, and so she could sneak into parts of the castle that the average student was banned from. However, Nathara needed to use the potion wisely, because it would take ages to brew another batch. Nathara wished she could have this power without going through all the effort. It would be dreadfully tiring to make more of this potion every time she wanted to go into the restricted section of the library.
Speaking of the restricted section, Nathara successfully broke in once, and liked it far more than the regular space of the library. The restricted section held subjects that were so much more interesting and useful. There were fatal curses, gruesome potions, and deathly spells written in the pages of the books here. In Nathara's mind, it was innovative. So much you could achieve with this knowledge. It was a shame that she had such a limited amount of visits there.
Well, past that, December came along. Pure, white snow drifted along the grounds of Hogwarts. Winter took the leaves of the trees, leaving bare towers of wood. The students were 99 percent sure that you could walk across the solid lake without the frosty ice cracking. The skies became paler, and grey, but it nicely complimented the beautiful winter scenery.
The students of Hogwarts decided to stay inside, rather than venture out into this frozen wonderland. It was just too cold. They tended to stay by the fires, and hated Potions class even more, because the temperature in the classroom was probably below zero.
But of course, the Slytherins still thrived when Potions came around. Especially for Nathara, who seemed to pick up some quite advanced skills over this winter.
In fact, as of one December day, the Slytherins were in Potions class right now.
They were brewing a new concoction up, unfortunately with the Gryffindors. But, Nathara seemed to be a bit angry with one of her fellow Slytherins.
"I feel do feel so sorry," Draco Malfoy said, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."
Although Draco was looking at Harry Potter, Nathara pointed her wand at Draco.
"Anteoculatia."
Reindeer antlers sprouted from Draco's head, which resulted at the Gryffindors laughing, and some of the Slytherins, too.
Snape looked up from his book, and saw Nathara cast the spell. He seemed to give an understanding look towards her, and went back to his book.
Hermione Granger and Harry Potter also saw Nathara do this bit of magic. They looked shocked that the Slytherin would hex one of her 'friends,' especially since Draco and Nathara got along quite nicely, lately.
And yes, Nathara was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.
Nathara glanced up at Draco, antlers still on his head, and him frantically trying to remove them.
Nathara carried on with her potion, not giving a damn about Draco for the rest of the class.
A few minutes later, class ended.
Draco sprinted out of the classroom, and another student rushed towards something as well.
"I just wanted to say that that was a good hex," Hermione Granger said to Nathara.
Nathara thought about why this Gryffindor would ever approach her, but nevertheless, Nathara replied with a polite, "Thank you."
Granger smiled, and Nathara felt her lips perk up a bit as well.
Despite this girl being a Gryffindor, a mudblood, and a painfully obnoxious know-it-all, Nathara said to her, "You're a brilliant witch, you know."
"You are as well, Nathara," Granger said.
"Thank you, Granger."
Nathara almost said "Hermione". She quickly decided not to. This girl was a mudblood, after all. Inferior, as Nathara was told.
"Well then, goodbye, Nathara. Oh, and merry Christmas."
"Goodbye, merry Christmas."
Hermi-Granger left, going the opposite direction to which Nathara planning to go.
She didn't seem that bad, actually.
Pansy didn't catch Nathara talking to-Hermione. It wouldn't have been a problem if she did, Nathara already formed an excuse in her head, but it was better that Pansy didn't see her and Hermione altogether.
Pansy was right behind Nathara now.
"Where did Drakey go?" Pansy asked.
"I believe he went to the hospital wing," Nathara answered.
"Oh, to get those antlers removed. I didn't see who hexed him. Do you know?"
"No, I didn't exactly catch it," Nathara lied, and as usual, incredibly convincing.
Pansy sighed, "Fine. Whoever hexed him will be dead once I find out."
Nathara chuckled, a bit menacingly, "Right. No one could ever hurt your little Drakey."
"Really? You think Drakey's mine?" Pansy asked with bright eyes, excitement clear in her voice.
"Sure, why not?"
Broadly smiling, Pansy rushed off somewhere, most likely the hospital wing. Nathara watched with kind of evil amusement, and she went to her intended destination: The library.
She climbed up the staircases, and walked through the twisting halls, not needing to think about which turns to take anymore. Soon, she was at the library.
Nathara wandered the Transfiguration section, looking for anything that could be interesting.
She usually would have been in a section with darker magic than this, but she currently had no reason to. The reason to go in the other section would've had something to do with Quirrell, but Quirrell and Nathara didn't have regular meetings like before. Quirrell had ordered Nathara to win Snape's trust. This meant that Quirrell and Nathara couldn't have these constant discussions about killing Harry Potter.
So Nathara was in the Transfiguration section. She walked along the rows and rows of books, looking for no title in particular. It was interrupted by some loud chatter from the aisle adjacent to the one she was in.
"You will keep looking over the holidays, won't you?" This was Hermione Granger. "And send me an owl if you find anything."
"Could you ask your parents if they know who Flamel is? It would be safe to ask them," Weasely suggested.
"Very safe. Both my parents are dentists."
Dentists? What was a dentist?
Well, there was something more important than that. They knew Flamel. Interesting, very interesting.
Later that day, Nathara couldn't sleep. It was almost midnight, and Nathara just couldn't sleep. So, she found herself sitting in the soft, cushy chair near the fireplace. She found herself here a lot, actually.
She was staring at an unlit fireplace, no complex thoughts going through her head, for once. Then why couldn't she sleep?
She was just sitting here, her chin resting on her hand, silver-green eyes staring into this unlit fire. It was as if time was frozen still. Nothing.
Until a set of quiet thumps came from the boys dormitory stairs. A voice said, "Lumos."
It was Draco, she could tell. He spoke again, "Nathara?"
"Yes?"
With the wand tip guiding him, he went over to where Nathara was sitting, and sat down on the same chair. It was big enough for two people, anyway.
"It was you who hexed me, wasn't it?" Draco said.
"So, what if it was?" Nathara returned.
Draco hesitated, "Well...did I say something?"
"You might have."
In the silence, Nathara could see that Draco was trying to remember something that might've been offensive.
"Are you staying at Hogwarts for Christmas?" he finally realized.
"Well, you did say that you felt so sorry for all the people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, because they're not wanted at home. Why would you care?" Nathara said, sounding indifferent and cold. But that wasn't new.
Silence greeted them again. Draco opened his mouth a few times, but closed it again, not sure how to respond. It wasn't like Nathara Riddle made it easy to come up with something to say.
"I'm...I'm sorry, Nathara" Draco said, struggling, as if it was one of the hardest things to do.
Nathara didn't say anything.
Though not very confident, Draco's arm snaked around Nathara's shoulders. Nathara took her chin off her hand after the hour of sitting there, and placed them in her lap. She usually would've felt uncomfortable in this position, but currently, she didn't, because most of her attention was drawn to Draco.
She looked at his face, which was showing this weird emotion that Nathara wasn't able to classify.
Draco took a deep breath, and even though it wasn't, he said, "Merry Christmas, Nathara."
Although Nathara was very close to Draco, a bit too close for her taste, his arm still draped around her shoulder, Nathara didn't hear it. She was asleep.
The holidays started. Not many of Nathara's Slytherin classmates stayed at Hogwarts. Only one other first year was present, Theodore Nott, but Nathara had no reason to talk to him. Which Nathara preferred, actually. Nathara heard from Pansy who heard from Padma who heard from Parvati who heard from Dean that Harry Potter was remaining at Hogwarts.
Nathara would've rather had this not happen, because, let's just say that Nathara had some business to take care of, and she didn't want The Boy Who Lived sticking his nose in it.
Right now, it was breakfast time, and Nathara only attended breakfast, because Pansy gave her a rather threatening warning before the holidays. Sure, Nathara could hex her to death, but she chose to play along.
Nathara was at the Slytherin table by herself, eating a muffin.
The Great Hall was lined with towering Christmas trees, decorated with golden tinsel and snowflakes. The ceiling was sending enchanted snow down, that melted before it reached the floor. The hall felt a shade brighter than normal, which Nathara secretly enjoyed.
"Hey, Nathara?" Theo, who was now near Nathara, said.
"Yes?"
"Look," he nodded over to the Gryffindor table, where the two Weasley twins were sitting, heads together, staring down at a roll of parchment. "What do you reckon they're up to?"
"A prank. I think it is all that those two Weasels do. I don't suppose that you are suggesting their next trick will be on us?"
Theo shrugged, "Maybe."
"Hey, Riddle!" they suddenly shouted to her.
She rolled her eyes as they came over, and pulled her to the Gryffindor table.
"Haven't I made it clear that-" Nathara started but got cut off.
"Yeah, yeah. That we're two idiots-"
"And you want to jinx us into oblivion."
They were taking turns speaking, and finished each others' sentences. It was a bit amusing, Nathara had to admit.
"But hear this-"
"We need your help."
"We really do."
Nathara considered this. It could play out fun so, "What do you need me to assist you with?"
"We need you to think of the darkest spell you can-"
"And cast it in this bottle-"
One of them held up a glass bottle that was supposed to be for butterbeer. But, this bottle seemed to have a faint glow, and the glass was foggy.
"Might I ask why?" Nathara inquired.
"Well-"
"We have our own-"
"Special purposes," they chorused together.
"I could do that, I daresay. However, you would need to give me something in exchange," Nathara offered.
"Anything," they said desperately.
"Cast the darkest spell you can in a glass bottle? I do hope it's charmed properly. Adducam Mala Fortuna," Nathara chanted while pointing her wand at inside the vessel.
Quickly, one of the Weasels scrambled to put the cap on the bottle. You could see black smoke spiraling ominously inside it.
The two smiled stupidly, then actually used their brain,"Can we ask-"
"What the spell does?" they queried.
Smirking a bit, Nathara answered, "Well, whoever gets hit by it will not be having such a great day. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"
The Weasley twins looked on edge, now that Nathara was being so sly and elusive and mysterious.
"But it doesn't-"
"Kill anyone or anything-"
"Right?"
"Of course not," Nathara swiftly confirmed.
"Hmm," the Weasels studied Nathara's face, checking if this was legitimate information. They concluded it (probably) was.
"Well-"
"Thanks!"
"If you need anything-"
"Just ask!"
"Pleasure doing business with you," they said together.
"Pleasure," Nathara said, still with a smirk on her face, the one Mr. Borgin would use if he was in a situation like this.
The Weasels went back to staring at their paper, now eagerly scribbling notes down with their quills.
Anything, they said. Nathara noted that.
The rest of that day was filled with the library, hot chocolate, playing with fire, walking on the Black Lake, and lobbing bewitched snowballs at anyone Nathara or Theo deemed annoying. The day was relaxing, care free, a contrast to the majority of this school year.
Right now, Nathara was hanging out in the Great Hall, talking about the Ministry with some older Slytherins. They were so much better to have an intellectual conversation with than the other students in her year. These Slytherins fed off each others charm and wit, making it the best discussions they had with other people.
Until the Weasley twins appeared so abruptly, they could've Apparated.
"Hello folks!"
"D'ya mind if we just-"
They forcibly took Nathara by the arm and dragged her over to the Gryffindor table, despite the angry insults from the Slytherins.
Nathara was unhappy about this, "What are you-"
"Hey, Harry!" one of the twins called.
"What?" he said.
"Look who we found!"
"The Slytherin Princess!"
Slytherin Princess? It didn't sound like such a bad title, in fact.
"Oh, come on Harry-"
"Didn't you want to talk to-"
"The Slytherin Princess?"
Harry paused, "...I…er… really didn't…you see-"
"Oh, come on Potter. You wanted to talk to the Slytherin Princess?" Nathara challenged.
"Yeah, kinda," he said, unsure.
"So what is it you have been dying to tell me?" Nathara asked.
"I haven't been dying to tell you, actually," Potter objected.
"Oh, so just a casual urge then?"
"Well..." he trailed off.
Nathara glared into his emerald green eyes, and came to the conclusion, "Granger told you to do that, didn't she? Please kindly tell her it did not work, and that she should go at the attempt from a new angle next time."
And Nathara strolled back to the Slytherins.
Hermione. Nathara and her had chatted here and there, but not too friendly, because Nathara still believed the blood prejudice. Hermione had expressed more than once that Potter and Nathara should be friends. You can't just kill someone's father and be friends! It didn't fucking work like that. Maybe if it did, the world would be different. But it wasn't. That's what Nathara believed. For now, anyway.
A/N: Hey. So, I hope you enjoyed. I might be posting this on Wattpad as well, or if you want me to post on FictionPress, just tell me. I loooove you guys more reading my story, so thank you! Also, regarding the word fuck, you can put it any fuckingwhere, and it will still make fucking sense. Anyways, check out the disclaimer I put on the last chapter, because siriusly, |-/, m8.
-Kat