Halle Potter and the first year of madness
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Halle watched as Zabini exited the hall.
Seriously what was his problem? She had only looked at him and he decided to leave the hall just for that? What a drama Queen.
She silently reprimanded herself.
The conversation yesterday which had flooded her mind minutes ago came rushing back to her.
He was going through a hard time. Something she herself knew about. It wasn't fair to insult him for feeling emotional, especially after everything that had happened to his family.
Her eyes caught the girl who was still sitting at the end of the table. The girl whose eyes also had followed Dewei out the hall turned her sight back to her.
Once again Halle looked away. She began shovelling the remaining food on her plate.
She silently cursed herself. Her mind was too set on getting distracted today.
Before she could shove down the last bite of food, the Slytherin girl was before her.
Halle could now get a good look at her. Her chestnut hair was sleek and shiny in a high ponytail. Her eyes were unnaturally golden brown orbs that radiated intensity. Her olive skin glowed and looked extremely smooth. She had thin lips and a small pointed nose.
The girl gave her a kind smile.
"Hello. I'm Lena." Said Lena as she extended her hand.
Her voice was posh and high pitched like Lavenders. Her tone wasn't as chirpy but it carried no ill manner either.
Halle paused for a second before taking the girls hand and shaking it.
She wondered why this girl was talking to her.
"I'm Halle." Said Halle Politely.
"Oh I know who you are. I think most of the school does too. Enjoying Hogwarts so far?" Said Lena. Her tone was casual and polite but Halle was wary of the girl sitting before her, she was wary of most of the Slytherins but trying to take in what Lu had said on the Hogwarts Express, she gave the girl a courteous smile.
"Yes, thank you. It's absolutely incredible. I still can't believe I'm learning magic." Said Halle thinking back to the night Hagrid had told her she was a witch.
The girls brow arched.
"You're half blood right?"Asked Lena with confusion laced in her tone .
"Yes, why?" Asked Halle now tense.
Hogwarts was indeed amazing but she was already learning how important blood status was to certain groups.
"Oh no it's nothing bad, Its just I'm surprised you seem so surprised. I would've thought one of the most famous witches in our generation wouldn't be surprised at learning magic unless of course your magic materialised late. It happens to a lot of us. Is that the case for you?" Asked Lena with another smile that seemed genuine enough.
No this wasn't the case. Halle had done plenty of accidental magic since she was young, she just hadn't known she had been doing it.
"No, my magic materialised early. I'm muggle-raised so I only found out I was a witch a few weeks ago." Said Halle proud that she felt no insecurity about it now.
"Oh. Silly me. I'm sorry I shouldn't have assumed." Said Lena.
"No that's alright." Said Halle, her tension slightly easing.
"I didn't know. Your surname is known across the entire magical world I just assumed you knew. Know wonder you're shocked. Learning you're a witch at such a late age must feel surreal." She said her tone still pleasant.
"Quite but I guess deep down some part of me always knew I was different growing up so I feel that's why I've had an easy enough transition with all of this." Said Halle as she thought about her birthday and how she had wondered if it had all been a dream.
"That probably goes for most Muggleborn and raised. Wizard intuition is far superior to that of Muggle intuition. So do you live with just Muggles then?" Asked Lena casual.
"Yes." Said Halle looking down. Why did everyone always ask?
"I see. Muggles are interesting creatures to me. They have such strange traditions that I hear about. I'm a pureblood so I never knew anything about Muggles properly until I came to Hogwarts two years ago. Its all quite fascinating really. They have such strange jobs. One of my Muggleborn friends told me that her uncle gets paid to professionally sleep. It's absolutely mind boggling to me." Said Lena in awe.
Halle couldn't help but chuckle. She wondered if she should have explained that a job like that was probably for the sake of scientific studies but held off as Lena went to speak again.
"What do your muggle carers do?" Asked Lena curiously.
"Oh well my uncle is a salesman for a drill company and my aunt predominantly is a housewife but does freelance catering in her spare time." Said Halle not enthusiastic about the topic of her aunt and uncle but she answered to not be standoffish. This after all was the second pleasant conversation she had, had with a Slytherin.
"Drill?" Said Lena confused as the word seemed foreign to her.
Halle smiled.
"It's a tool. It helps with diy stuff. Basically building things and keeping them in place." Explained Halle.
"And does this job take you and your family to interesting places. Another friend of mine always ends up in other countries in the summer holidays because there parents have business jobs apparently." Said Lena.
"Nope. We're stuck in Surrey. That's about it." Said Halle who almost snorted at the idea that her uncle would take her on holiday if his job did require transactions in other countries. No her aunt and cousin would accompany him and she would be carted off to Mrs Figg. Not that Halle would complain. Mrs Figg although batty at times was still a better option than the Dursley's and the woman had taught her a few things over the years.
"I see. So is it just your aunt and uncle you live with?" She asked.
"Them and a cousin." Answered Halle almost dully.
"I had the displeasure of going to an area in Surrey once. Shere. It was nothing but fields and countryside. My Godmother moved to the area and it was horrid. Do you live in a nice area?" Asked Lena as her face scrunched up.
"Little Whinging" Replied Halle.
"Ah. A much more prestigious area than where I went. Sorry if I'm being too forward. Although my family is not particularly fond of Muggles, I find the culture interesting and always end up asking questions. Have your family got the eletones no um, elephones….wait no that's not right….oh what is it?" Said Lena who tilted her head upwards as she thought to rectify her mistake.
"Do you mean telephones?" Asked Halle with a smirk as she now was pictured a large telephone with the body of an elephant.
"Yes. That one. I was told that's how Muggles communicate. Through one box to another. If anything it just sounds like magic but it's apparently called technology." Said Lena thoughtful.
"Yeah. There's towers with lines of electricity that allow Muggles to connect through to other phones with a certain number sequence that you call that belongs to whoever you're trying to reach." Said Halle impressed she actually knew that.
"Fascinating. Do you use it?" Asked Lena curiously.
"No not really. I have used a telephone before but I'm not really allowed to use it where I live, besides you need people to call to use it and I don't really have anyone to call." Said Halle dejectedly.
"Oh well after this year I'm sure you'll have plenty to call and if not there's always the normal way of contacting friends. Through owl mail, fire calls and more." Said the girl nicely.
Halle wanted to laugh at the fact that sending letters through the use of owls was considered normal but then the girl had just called a phone an "elephone".
"Hopefully." Said Halle.
"Have you not made any friends yet? I'd figure you of all people would be popular." Said Lena.
Yes she was quite right. She still had people gawking at her.
"I've made friends. They're great, they're currently writing letters to their families." Said Halle.
"I'm glad. Speaking of which you've brought me back to the reason I'm sitting with you. I was hoping you might be able to do me a favour." Said Lena.
"Uh sure, what is it." Asked Halle a little apprehensive now.
"Well I was just talking to my step brother and well he wasn't exactly in the talkative mood this morning, I was hoping that you…"
"Step brother? Zabini's you're step brother?" Blurted out Halle in shock.
If Dewei was her step brother, didn't that mean she was a Kadam?
"Oh yes. My father married his mother when I was very young. Unfortunately my dear step mother passed away a few years ago. I miss her terribly, so does father. He's not been the same without her.
Any who my point is my fathers had a strained relationship with my step siblings ever since their mother's passing. He just wants to keep them close, I guess to remember her but things went south for a little while and well he doesn't get to see them as much he would like. My fathers been writing to all three of them this past week. Blaise and Colubra, that's my step sister and other step brother if you didn't know, have written back but Dewei hasn't. In fact he's even sent the letters back. So father wrote to me to convince him to write. I have a letter here that father sent for him but Dewei doesn't want to talk to me apparently. We used to be so close but he hasn't been the same since Cere's death." Said Lena looking down.
Halle felt a wave of sadness hit her. It must've been hard for her to have not only lost her mother but to lose a step mother who she cared about too.
It was strange that she was meeting the girl whose father, step mother and step siblings had been the centre of conversation only yesterday.
Halle couldn't help but feel a slight pang of guilt as she thought about how disdainful her father sounded to her and how she had almost thought ill thoughts of Mrs Zabini but from everything Matt and Freja had told them how could she not feel weird about it all?
And yet here was Lena, who was nice and interested in muggle culture and was carrying a decent conversation with her just like her step sister. She also was describing her father as man who just yearned for his family to be whole.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Said Halle who kept her face neutral, so as to not reveal the fact that she already knew this information.
"Thank you. Cere may not have been my blood mother but she was the only one I could remember. She treated me like her own. Any who I have this letter and as I'm sure you just saw Dewei didn't want to talk to me, I was hoping that maybe you or one of your housemates could give it to him and maybe talk him into at least reading it. I don't know who he's close too, other than his god siblings but even then I wouldn't put it past them to read his personal mail and he definitely won't listen to Blaise or Lu. Dewei's always actively gone against anything someone has to say if he doesn't like it that's including his siblings. So I'm hoping he might listen to a fellow Gryffindor." Said Lena looking intensely at Halle.
Halle became uncomfortable. She did not want to talk to Dewei Zabini about anything. She feared for one that he might just bite her head off.
"Oh well it's just….."
"It would mean the world to father. He cares very much about my step siblings so it's hard for him with the way Dewei's ignoring his letters right now. Please. I'm only asking this once whether it's you or another Gryffindor but please try.." Said Lena pushing the letter across the table.
Halle wanted to tell the girl that it was hopeless. Dewei was not close to anyone in Gryffindor and certainly wouldn't want to hear from any of them but the look of plea in the girls face made her shut up and take the letter.
"I'll try." She said weakly with a smile that was closer too a grimace.
Lena's face broke into a large smile.
"Thank you Halle. This means a lot. Any who I should probably go otherwise it will look like I'm fraternising with Gryffindors. See you around Potter." Said Lena with a gentle smile before getting up from the table and leaving Halle to her thoughts.
Ugh. She dropped the letter almost in disgust. Why did she have to be so nice sometimes? She didn't want to convince Dewei to write to Odium Kadam who she heard terrible things about but she felt compelled to say yes to Lena.
Dewei was completely unapproachable and how was she now responsible to convince him to write to his estranged stepfather?
Halle finished the last bite of food on her plate which was now stone cold. Ugh.
Halle pushed the empty plate from her and clasped the letter back in her hand. She sighed heavily. She couldn't imagine the conversation she was going to embark on ending well.
With one last sigh she stood from the Gryffindor table and left the great hall.
She decided she would make her way to the common room. She was sure that Dewei didn't just ignore the Gryffindors but the rest of the school too. So she was sure there was no one he would be hanging with but then again Dewei was a complete mystery to her.
As she made her ascent up the grand staircase and came near towards the first floor landing she immediately found her target of interest but to her surprise Dewei Zabini was not walking up the stairs, he was being dragged off by no other than his twin brother Blaise. Halle watched Blaise dragged his brother to a balcony area that obscured them from view entirely.
Halle knew ease dropping was wrong but she felt compelled to tip toe as close as she could to the area and listen to the two brothers conversation. There was three suits of armour right next to the arched balcony. Halle shoved herself behind them so if they suddenly moved from their spot she wouldn't be seen.
"Are you out of your mind?" Said Dewei in a heated whisper.
"Yes well apparently this is the only way to talk to you. My other option was pummel you into the ground until you were willing to listen but I didn't think that would go over so well." Said Blaise just as heatedly.
"I'm touched." Said Dewei his tone dripping with sarcasm.
Halle couldn't see the two of them but she imagined the death glares they were both giving and receiving right now.
"You should be, because I should batter you right now. What in the name of Merlin are you playing at?" Said Blaise, his voice sounding venomous.
"We're not discussing this right now." Said Dewei clearly unbothered by his brothers tone.
"Actually we are and you wanna know why we are because you haven't done it yet. I had to take matters into my own hands." Said Blaise angrily.
Halle's interest peaked. What hadn't Dewei done? What did Blaise do?
Halle noted this was the most she had ever heard either of them speak.
"Yes and you failed miserably might I add. I thought you were meant to be a Slytherin?" Said Dewei cuttingly.
Halle winced, she knew the glares were deadly right now even if she couldn't see them.
"I could say the same thing to you but here you are being a little Lion with a large roar too big for his claws. Oh how mother must be proud." Said Blaise viciously.
Halle was now becoming extremely uncomfortable.
"Say that again. I dare you." Said Dewei dangerously.
Halle wondered if now was a good time to leave or at least make a noise. She didn't want to stick around if a fight was about to break out between the two brothers.
"What you gonna do wei? Hit me? Give it your best shot." Said Blaise in a tone that was a mix of a threat and confidence.
Halle heard nothing but silence for a few moments and wondered what was happening. She wished in this second that she could look through the wall that was blocking her. She then realised that there was probably a spell for that but she undoubtedly wouldn't learn that for years.
After another moment of silence Dewei spoke.
"I'm leaving now Blaise. Go and find your little snakes and bother them and don't approach me out in the open like this again." Said Dewei authoritatively.
"First of all don't tell me what to do I'm older than you." Said Blaise menacingly.
"By six hours." Cut in Dewei.
"That's still older than you." Retorted Blaise.
"I don't care." Said Dewei.
"Yeah you don't care about a lot of stuff like how…."
"Not in the open you idiot. Anyone could walk by right now." Whispered Dewei angrily but Halle noted the nervousness that crept in..
"Than maybe you should've met me when I asked you too." Growled Blaise.
"I was busy." Said Dewei dismissively.
"Busy doing what? Sulking? Moping around the castle all alone? Wow you must really be putting in the hours to do that." Said Blaise sarcastically.
"I was busy not being a gullible git, unlike you." Said Dewei harshly.
"Is that Gryffindork pride impeding your brain from functioning? I'm pretty sure the situation is crystal clear." Said Blaise viciously.
"I'm not having this conversation with you." Said Dewei defiantly.
"You brother…need to get over yourself and do what needs to be done. You've been given the perfect opportunity and you're ignoring it for what exactly?" Asked Blaise his tone hard.
"There's no proof. I came to Hogwarts to learn magic that's it and that's what I intend to do, I'm not going too let some….."
Before Dewei could finish Halle's heart dropped as her right arm knocked into the suit of armour before her, scraping her arm in the process, which even without the armour falling, it had still made a loud clang which caused the suit of armour to come alive and start swinging its sword, luckily for Halle only forwards.
Halle had only bumped into the suit because a black cat had appeared out of nowhere and frightened the daylights out of her. Halle had seen animals walking about the castle but this cat had seemed to have taken offence to her,like it knew she was doing something wrong and wanted to tell on her. When Dewei stopped talking, the cat let out one loud hiss before running away.
She heard the boys both shuffling and knew any second they would come see her ease dropping,
Halle backed up to the wall and kept incredibly quiet but before she saw either Zabini twin she was falling backwards into darkness.
Halle landed on her back as she noticed the light from the first floor corridor, she was just standing in, retreating as the castle wall slid back into place all the while being incredibly silent.
Halle, now plunged in darkness jumped up and hammered at the wall. She was glad of not being caught but was afraid she was now stuck in the wall. What if she couldn't get out?
Halle strained her ear to listen. She could hear the muffled swing of the suit of armour's sword still slashing about in the air but otherwise couldn't hear much else. The chances were no one would hear her even if she did make noise.
Halle pressed her fingers against the wall. She realised this was a passageway so it had to open up back up but the wall wouldn't shift. She tried some verbal commands but that didn't work either.
Halle took some deep breaths as she tried to calm her racing heart.
Halle wasn't afraid of the dark but she was aware that she was in a dark secret passageway and she wasn't sure if she was alone.
She turned slowly around and looked into the open space but it was too dark for her to see anything.
"I wish there was some light." She thought to herself.
As if someone had read her mind light suddenly filled the passageway as torch after torch lit up across the walls revealing a large and spacious stone corridor.
She now looked around. She could now see the outline of the door in the wall. The corridor was dusty and abandoned. At the end of the corridor there was a large brown door. The corridor was straight and she could see no other pathways, doors or tunnels.
Halle debated with herself for a long moment. There was a door at the end of the corridor and nothing else. It meant there was something on the other side perhaps a way out but at the same time the castle was on the side she was standing on and the door was in the opposite direction. She wanted to get back to the castle.
Ronnie and Neville would no doubt start to worry if she didn't return and if they told a teacher and they went looking for her and actually managed to find her she would have to explain how she was ease dropping on Dewei and Blaise Zabini and fell into a secret passageway.
Halle tried to rely on her instincts.
Now that she could see she wasn't scared. She was intrigued.
What could be behind this door? She wondered but her subconscious not so kindly reminded her that her curiosity had got her stuck in the wall in the first place.
She didn't feel in danger but that didn't guarantee safety either. Still she decided to walk forward. The wall was no help to her if she couldn't get it open.
She stepped forward and heard a crumpling sound under her foot. She looked down to see Dewei's letter on the floor, unfortunately with the envelope smidgen with blood.
She was now reminded of the sting in her right arm as she had scraped it against the metal of the suit of armour. A long cut graced her arm as trickles of blood trailed down it.
Halle winced. She put her mouth over the cut and sucked until the blood wasn't seeping from it so much.
Luckily the letter had no foot imprint but she was now heavily annoyed. After the conversation that she had just heard she didn't even want to look at Zabini in the wrong way more or less give him a letter with her blood on it.
She hoped the envelope was only stained and not the letter itself.
She picked up the letter and carefully wiped away the blood droplets leaving red stains and rubbed her hands onto her pants.
She pocketed the letter into the waste of her pants and took her wand and moved forward. Although there wasn't much she could do with it she hoped if anything surprising was about to happen, her wand would react with some magic like how it did at Diagon Alley.
She walked across the stone corridor and creeped closer to the door, although she felt fine she still checked her entire surroundings and over her shoulder to ensure she was alone.
When she got to the door that closer up towered above her she felt the uncertainty slip away from her. She wanted to open the door. She needed to open the door.
Slowly she took her left hand and reached for the door handle and with one final sigh she pulled the handle.
To her complete annoyance the door didn't budge. She tried again but nothing. The building excitement inside her fizzled out and now she was back to panic. The wall door wouldn't open and this one wouldn't open.
What now? She was stuck. What if she never got out?
Halle was about to start pacing when something caught her eye. On either side of the large brown door to her complete surprise was two other wooden doors. How had she not seen these before?
They were much smaller than the door in the middle and was a different shade and type of wood. More reminiscent to a tree.
Halle took her hand and opened the door fully. Inside appeared at first to be a cupboard. Halle stepped inside. On the wall was carvings with words and numbers in each section. The words up and down were also at the top of a map which looked like a basic interior of Hogwarts. The number 1 was glowing as was the up and the down.
Halle had an idea form in her mind and decided to test it. She closed the door and said the word "up."
Suddenly she felt movement as the platform began to rise.. The carvings began to glow and stop glowing the further she moved up. When the platform stopped she looked at the wall which glowed 7.
Halle slowly opened the door and to her surprise the stone corridor outside was much different to the one the first floor. Where as that one was just a corridor, floor seven appeared to be a dining room.
As she stepped out of the box the torches along the wall lit up the room and in the middle of the room which more resembled a chamber than a corridor was a large round table. The table was covered with a red velvet table cloth that hovered a few feet off the ground. On the table was gold gold cutlery in sets of five with napkins beside each of them.
Halle counted thirteen in total. There was thirteen chairs. Thirteen gold plates, Thirteen gold wine glasses, a golden jug and a golden tray in the middle.
The walls were filled with red tapestry and although there was torches along the wall a massive chandelier resided above table with perhaps 50 unlit candles.
Strangely enough everything looked clean unlike floor 1 which was covered in dust. Halle for a second was panicked that somebody must've been in here recently for it to be so clean but Halle knew that wasn't the case. The moment her panic went away she was sure that these passageways were safe. She didn't know how but she knew she was fine.
Halle looked at the end of the chamber which was exactly the same as the first. She groaned. It didn't matter if she was on another floor if this wall was the same as the other she wouldn't be able to get back.
Halle look behind her to see if there was another door but to her surprise other than the light wooden doors there was no middle door but a smooth stone wall with a portrait on it.
An old wizard with long grey hair sat inside portrait with a grand chair and not much else. The man seemed to be asleep. Halle in the last week had found out that all portraits in Hogwarts moved and for a second wondered if she should wake the sleeping man but chose better of it. Other than the fat lady she hadn't spoken to another portrait before and he might not want to be disturbed.
Halle looked back at the right door which she guessed was the magical equivalent of a dumbwaiter.
She wondered what the left one was but decided to try the wall first. She walked down the chamber with more ease and got to the stone wall.
Like on the first floor she pressed against the wall hoping to find a opening but again she couldn't. She tried verbal commands again but nothing happened. Halle began to get angry.
The wall had let her in. Why wouldn't it let her out?
Out of pure frustration with her left hand she hit the wall hard.
"Ow." Hissed Halle in pain.
Like an idiot she managed to scrape her thumb on the wall.
"Great." She said annoyed.
Now she had two cuts but before she could curse or suck her thumb the wall began to slide open and suddenly she could see light and the seventh floor corridor. Halle quickly stepped out of the passageway and into the hallway which like the first had three suits of armour in front of it.
The moment she stepped out, the wall fell back into place silently behind her. Halle gawked. She looked at her left hand. It had opened after she touched it solely with that hand but why? What was different from when she touching the wall before to just now?
The blood. She was bleeding and cut herself on the wall. Halle decided to test her theory. She scanned the area for a second before placing her bleeding thumb on the wall to which the wall silently slid open again, she took her thumb off and the wall closed.
"No way." Said Halle amazed.
The passageways worked by using blood. The blood on her arm must've caught the wall when she fell through it.
When Ronnie had suggested exploring she hadn't expected this but excitement now filled her again as she thought about the new discovery she had made.
Halle moved from behind the suits of armour and ran from the corridor excitedly to go find Ronnie and Neville.
She would take them to the secret passageways and then hopefully explore Hogwarts more and maybe they could find a few more of its secrets.
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