*(A/N)* Hey, she's BAACKKK!!! hehehe...here's chapter 5, good reviews all! Sorry for posting the first four again, I kinda got bored.........well, I'll make myself un-bored by writing somemore. Enjoy!
Chloe Patil at Hogwarts: Chapter Five
Chloe gazed warily at the empty Slytherin table once again, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming, or worse, hallucinating.
"Darn." she whispered. She seemed to have seen right the first time, there was noone to help her. She couldn't believe that jerk Draco Malfoy. She didn't really want to see him, she was still livid with anger from his comment, but between being late on her first day, for her first class, and Draco Malfoy, she'd take Draco. She began to panic, breathing hard and biting her lip.
Then, it hit her. She slapped herself on the forehead at her stupidity. She could just ask Ginny to point her in the direction of Care of Magical Creatures! She strolled over to the Gryffindor table, still shaking her head, and sat down once more.
Pavarti had left the table, so had Ron, much to Chloe's dissapointment. Ginny, Harry and Hermione remained however.
"Um," she began, "I need some help."
"Sure!" Ginny replied, "what's up?"
"Well, my tour guide seems to have quit." She answered darkly.
"Oh, I see." Ginny replied. "Draco?" Chloe nodded her head, miserably. "Well, where do you need to go?" Ginny asked.
"Care of Magical Creatures." Chloe replied, "Who teaches it?"
"Hagrid." Said Ginny. Harry and Hermione had also replied, listening in. Harry was looking at Chloe in an odd way. "It's taught outside," Ginny continued, "You'll see Hagrid's hut out on the grounds once you exit the castle, that's where it's taught." Chloe nodded her head, remembering this. "I'd show you," Ginny explained, "but my first class is Transfiguration, taught by McGonagall. It's on the other side of the castle, and I'd be late for sure. I try to avoid being late for Professor McGonagall's classes if possible."
Chloe nodded her head, understanding. She got the impression that Professor McGonagall was someone to avoid messing with, and she was right.
"Well, we can show her," Harry said, speaking up, gesturing towards himself and Hermione, "You know, if she wants..." He finished. Chloe grinned at him.
"That would be great! Thanks so much!" Harry seemed to become slightly flushed at these words, and Chloe caught the quizzical look Hermione was giving him. Hermione then looked up and spoke.
"Well, it's not a problem, we have Herbology next." Then she shrugged and returned to her book. Chloe glanced at the cover. In glossy, gold letters, it said, Magical Plants and Fungi: A Wizards Look to the World of Plants. Chloe gazed at it with slight disinterest. She'd never been too interested in Herbology. Then again, she thought, maybe it was just the teacher. Professer Botts, at Beauxbatons, was the most uninteresting person she knew. She'd made even the most venomous and exotic plants sound as dull as flobberworms.
"Alright then," Chloe said, gazing at her watch. "How about I meet you at the big doors in say, oh, a half hour, providing that I can find my way to our common room and back." She said this last part with a note of misery in her voice.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be alright!" Ginny said, rather nervously. She felt bad leaving her friend to wander the many halls of Hogwarts by herself. It wasn't as though she could go with her, however, she'd be more of a hinder then a help. Ginny had no idea where to find the Slytherin common room.
"Oh, yeah, sure I will!" Chloe said, with a voice that was considerably brighter. "I'll be off now, will I need my wand for this class?" The three looked at eachother, then nodded yes vigorously in her direction.
"Knowing Hagrid's history of first classes, I'd say so!" Said Harry. Then Hermione added,
"It's not like he plans those kind of things, its just that Hagrid has different point of view then us of what's dangerous, and whats interesting. He's really a very kind person at heart, who would never harm anyone intentionally, its just that he's got sort of a weird obsession with monsters and magical creatures." She ended. Then she stood up, also looking at her watch. "A half hour?" she asked, Chloe nodded. "Sounds good. Come on Harry," she said, beckoning towards him, "let's go get our things." She smiled at Ginny and Chloe, and left. Harry, too, smiled at them, then followed behind.
"Alright then," said Chloe, smiling at Ginny, "I'd better be off, it'll take me at least fifteen minutes to find the common room, and I definitely don't want to be late!" Ginny nodded, then she, too, stood up.
"I'll walk you out," she offered. Chloe smiled, and the two of them walked out of the hall. Ginny made her way up a great, marble staircase, while Chloe headed towards a hallway just off of it, where she remembered Roz had led them just last night. She turned and waved at Ginny before heading off.
"See you at Dinner!" she called. Ginny smiled, nodded and waved. She then continued up the staircase, and dissapeared around a corner.
Chloe turned and walked down the hall, gazing at the pictures. They all moved, smiling, frowning and waving at her. She smiled at them, but quickly decided to pay more attention to where she was going when she suddenly realized she'd missed a corner she was supposed to turn at. She retraced her steps and then turned. She remembered the turn as it was the way towards the staircase leading down into the dungeons. As she went down the staircase, she pulled her robes tightly around her, noting how quickly it had become colder. She wandered through the dungeons, looking for the entrance. This was quite difficult, however, as all the gray brick walls looked alike, and she couldn't distinguish one from another. She was beginning to become quite frustrated with the whole ordeal when she heard voices coming towards her.
Chloe began walking towards the corner where she thought the voices were coming from. As she turned it, she came face to face with Jessika and the other two girls from her dorm.
"Oh, hi!" Chloe exclaimed. "Mind pointing me in the direction of the common room?"
"Why should we show you?" Jessika replied, her face hard as stone, and her voice with a bite. Chloe was taken back from this statement, she thought the girl to be quite nice, even though she had injured her forehead this morning. "You don't belong there," Jessika continued, "Why don't you try asking your Gryffindor friends for help?"
Chloe looked at her with mock indignation. "Duh! They're in Gryffindor! Alot of help they'd be!" She meant this to be funny, but it seemed to make Jessika even more mad. She shook her head and began to walk away, beckoning her friends to follow. As she left she called,
"You'd better watch out Chloe! There's alot of people who aren't very happy with your new friends!"
Chloe just shook her head and kept on walking. She wondered what the Slytherin's problems with the Gryffindor's was. However, she reasoned, she couldn't just blame the Slytherins. Ginny, Ron, even her sister, seemed prepared to forget about her because she'd been put in Slytherin until she talked to them this morning. Then she forgot about all this, and ran to a particularly large bare wall, that she thought looked familiar.
"Basilisk" she said breathlessly. The secret door slid open, exposing the common room. Chole walked in proudly, not believing she'd found her way. Getting back would take half the time, as she thought she'd now mastered getting to the Great Hall and back.
As she walked through the common room towards her dorm, she noticed quite a few dirty looks heading her way from the Slytherins sitting there. She glanced around nervously, then pushed open the door leading to the dorms and sprinted up the staircase. Running made her feel better.
Once she got into her dorm, she placed her wand in her pocket, and packed her bag with her books for the morning and her cloak. As she passed Roz's bed, she noticed a book with a great dog on it. She picked it up to take to her when she went to visit her at lunch. Then, feeling satisfied that she hadn't left anything behind, she sped down the stairs once more, walked through the common room once more, ignoring the looks, and went back out, into the halls. She glanced at her watch, noticing she had only 10 minutes left, and picked up her pace. On her way, she passed Draco and his ogres, but blew by them without a sideways glance. Draco, however, did look back at her, although this she didn't see.
He was furious at her, embarassing her a breakfast like that. But still, the glint in her eyes when she yelled at him wouldn't leave his mind. He shook his head.
"Stop thinking about her!" he thought to himself. Yet still, she was the main thought in his mind.
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Meanwhile, Hermione and Harry walked in silence towards the Great Hall. They'd been to their dorms to collect their things, and were now heading back to meet Chloe. This walk was usually filled with bright conversation, but today, however, for different reasons, it was silent. Harry's brain buzzed with certain thoughts.
"She's the only person who's never glanced at my scar upon meeting me..." he thought to himself. He was, of course, thinking about Chloe. This incident hadn't left his head upon meeting her. Had she not recognized him? This wouldn't have been a bad thing, but it was just....different.
The two of them turned a the corner leading to the marble staircase, leading into the Great Hall. While walking down the stairs, they noticed Chloe coming out from a hallway leading off the Hall, walking towards the doors. She hadn't seen them, facing the other way, but it was apparent by her fidgeting that she was preoccupied.
"Well, at least she didn't get lost!" Hermione said brightly. Harry had been thinking the same thing. "I was scared that she would, and we'd have to go look for her and be late." Hermione continued. Harry nodded to agree, although he was glad she hadn't gotten lost for different reasons.
Chloe reached the Main Entrance, then turned around, looking at the floor. She was thinking. Thinking about her first class, her new friends, the Slytherins.....she then looked up and spotted Hermione and Harry coming down the staircase. She smiled.
"Finally," she thought, "Someone I can actually depend on!" They walked towards her, greeting her warmly, then led her out the doors, giving her her first glance at the grounds.
She thought they were beautiful. The first thing that caught her eye was the lake, glimmering blue, black and purple in the morning light. What she assumed must be the Forbidden Forest laid out just off the outskirts of the grounds, with mountains looming over. She then spotted a little shack, which she assumed must be Hagrid's hut, then, looking to her left she spotted what must be the Quidditch stadium, glittering in the light.
The air was cool, making her think of the cloak in her bag, but she didn't stop to retrieve it. She walked alongside Harry and Hermione, listening to their light talk of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. They led her to the hut, telling her to find Hagrid, then bid her good bye. She watched them walk over towards the Greenhouses, which she hadn't noticed, to the right of the cabin. She then took a deep breath and headed out behind the hut.
Out behind the cabin a great garden appeared, to her left was Hagrid, who she recognized from the night before, (who could forget him? she thought.) surrounded by several students. She walked over gingerly, listening to what they were talking about. The students seemed to be separated into two groups. Hagrid was chatting lightly with a boy with pale blond hair about unicorns. Then Hagrid stood up.
"Well, we're expectin' a couple more from each house." he announced. This explained the seperate groups. "So, while we're waitin' for em' how about you all help unload these boxes ere'?" The students from the first group obliged, while those from the second looked as though he'd asked them to reach in a pot of lizard gizzards. Chloe assumed this group to be the Slytherins, and wandered over to join them. She ignored their dirty looks, and listened in on their conversation of others around the school while they lifted boxes. Some things she found to be funny, while others were just plain rude. Finally the other students that were expected arrived, and Hagrid began the lesson.
"Well then, here's the lesson for today! In these boxes here are different sorts of eggs. With a partner, I want yeh to find out what kind of egg yeh got there, and which species it is. You can use your Monster book of Monsters." Chloe didn't think that this assignment sounded too bad, aside from the partners. She didn't know who she could be partners with. Noone seemed to know what they were doing, so Hagrid intervened.
"Havin' trouble are we?" he began, "Well, you and you together," he said, pointing to two random people. He continued this, only pausing when he came to Jessika and her friends, who were standing in a group of three. "Now, now, can't have that!" he said cheerfully, ignoring their sour faces. "C'mon, you and you, and you, hmmm, oh, Chloe!" he cried, noticing her. "C'mere and work with this girl here." Chloe nodded glumly, and moved towards Jessika, not looking forward to this anymore. Jessika looked at her with distaste.
"Now, the lot of yeh, go an' pick out an egg!" Jessika wandered over, discussing something with her friend along the way, Chloe figured it was her. She finally returned with dark blue egg, bearing yellow and green spots. The two of them sat in silence for half of the lesson, leafing through their books. Chloe had experienced some trouble with hers, resulting in some painful sores on her arm. Jessika laughed maliciously at her, then opened her book with ease by stroking it. Chloe followed suit, making her book sit open, and there they were, gazing at other pairs laughing and talking with eachother, although Chloe noticed a few like them, silent and occasionally shooting eachother icy glares while the other looked through the book. Finally Jessika slammed hers closed, careful to keep it closed by strapping it with a belt.
"So," she began, "Why did you do it?" Chloe looked at her with confusion, she hadn't really done anything.
"Do what?" she replied.
Jessika looked at her with exasperation. "You know, make friends with those Gryffindors! Don't you know about them? They all think they're so great and brave, that they're house is the best because of Harry Potter. Why would you want to be friends with them?"
Chloe, feeling not anger, but rather peeved at the girl. "Look, the people I talk to from there aren't like that at all, they're nice! I met Ginny on the train, she was the only one who'd help me with my trunk, and I've only met Hermione, Harry and Ron, but they seem nice too. PLUS, my sister is in Gryffindor. But, y'know, let's not count her, she's rather self-absorbed sometimes. It has nothing to do with her being in Gryffindor, she was like that before she started coming to school."
"Yeah, sure." Jessika replied. Chloe could tell she didn't believe her, but she didn't press on. Chloe sighed, and looked through her book again. Then she thought of something.
"Look Jessika," she began. "I don't want to be your enemy, we have to live with eachother for a couple more years anyway. Can't you just accept me being friends with the Gryffindors? I mean, really, I'm not making you be friends with them..."
Jessika looked at her with mixed feelings. Then she shrugged. "Yeah," she started, "I can do that." Then she looked down into Chloe's Monster Book of Monsters, as hers was snapping too wildly to even bother with. Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. Then she, too, looked down.
Very soon the bell signalling the ending of lessons was over. Chloe and Jessika still hadn't figured out what they're egg held, so Hagrid kept it with him until the next lesson. He gave them homework to keep looking for the species of they're egg, then write a short essay on the creature it held. Chloe walked to her next class, Transfiguration, with Jessika and her friends, who's names turned out to be Sara, Aerika and Ashley. The girls were nice to her. Chloe got the feeling they were rather like Draco's ogres, listening to what Jessika told them too. This, however, wasn't her problem, and she decided to ignore it.
At Transfiguration, Proffesor McGonagall called her over to her desk.
"Ms. Patil, I'd just like to test you on your Transfiguration abilities, to find out what level your at." Chloe nodded nervously, but took out her wand, prepared. McGonagall had her turn toothpicks into needles (easy, they'd done it in First year) pencils into pens, pincushions into hedgehogs, and textbooks into raccoons. The Professer looked up at her with surprise.
"My dear, it seems you are above a Fourth year level!" she said, sounding rather pleased. Chloe smiled, she'd always liked Transfiguration. She returned to her seat, only half listening to the talk on further cross-species switching. She was thinking of Roz, and how her hair was coming along. Finally, the end of class bell sounded, and Chloe headed towards the Infirmary, to visit Roz. She ended up getting lost, finding directions from a fat, jolly ghost, but eventually made it. She knocked on the door. The matron answered, looking slightly harassed.
"Ah yes my dear, I did say that you could visit her, didn't I?" Chloe nodded. Madame Pomfrey led her into the cubicle in which Roz sat. Chloe grinned at her, her hair had grown almost halfway back to it's normal length, but Roz scowled back.
"SO, I've had a visit from Draco Malfoy," Chloe looked at her, confused. "What's this I hear of you getting friendly with Gryffindors???" Chloe looked at her, exasperated, then sank into a nearby chair and groaned.
*(A/N)* So, there's part Five!! Hopefully Chloe won't become too crazy.......but things do seem to be looking up, don't they? Will they stay that way? Keep an eye out for numero six, but in the meantime, review with any ideas, comments and constructive critisism. My wrists hurt, I'd better stop now!! You know the rubric (I hope) It's just basically a school grading system, A+ being tops C being the worst. Thanks alot!!