(A/N: The beginning of this chapter is just an intro to the room mates... not much plot... but there IS a plot in there... really!)
The early morning sun streamed through the sixth year girls dorm, much to the annoyance of one Gwen Gradigh.
"Mmmuffgrrr..." Gwen growled into her pillow, yelling at the sun to go away. She lifted her head up from under the pillow, her eyes squinted against the glaringly cheery light, expecting to see her midnight blue carpeted bedroom back at her house in London. Instead, the room was circular, and done in a deep shade of crimson. There was a golden lion emblem on the carpet in the middle of the circular room. Six beds stood, each with the headboard against the wall so that the end extended out to the middle, almost touching the edge of the giant golden lion.
Gwen's attention was soon diverted from the layout of the dorm. A group of girls whom Gwen assumed to be her room mates was scattered around the room. One was sitting on the edge of her bed, a notebook clutched tightly and resting on her knees which were drawn up to her chest. She had a faraway look on her face, and every few seconds would scribble something down with a look of triumph in her blue eyes. Someone else was sitting on the widowsill, one foot up, the knee drawn to her chest, arms folded over the knee and her head resting on her arms. Her head was bobbing to music that played from her headphones as she looked absently over the grounds.
Yet another was sitting on the floor with a furry... it could only be described as a "thing" in her lap, brushing its long dark brown fur. This girl was dressed all in black, a long black skirt, and laced up knee-high black boots.
On the bed near the door, a blonde girl sat with a jar of salsa in her hand. She was actually eating it plain with her finger, straight from the jar, and seemed to be enjoying herself wholly.
The final girl was seated at a desk, reading from a large textbook. The salsa-girl looked up from her delacasy and raised an eyebrow at her.
"What the heck are you doing, Rissa? We haven't had a class yet, and it's Sunday. We don't have classes today at all." she asked her incredulously. The girl called Rissa looked up from her book and made a face at the salsa girl.
"I was reading up on the Fidelius Charm. Flitwick hinted before the summer that we'd have a quiz on it in the beginning of the year. I wanted it to be fresh in my mind."
The girl with the unidentified animal in her lap rolled her eyes, while the one with the headphones continued to bob her head.
Gwen figured now was as good a time as any to make her appearance, so she sat up in the bed. Rissa smiled when she saw her, and stood up from the desk. She moved across the room and sat on the bed next to Gwen's.
"We were wondering when you'd wake up. I'm Amaris. You can call me Rissa." she said. Before Gwen could respond, salsa-girl spoke.
"I'm Bree." she told Gwen, smiling.
Gwen nodded. "I'm Gwen. "
Rissa spoke again. "That's Keelin," She said as she pointed to the writer, who smiled shyly.
"Adriana," was the girl with the animal, who merely nodded, "and over there is Rae. She'd say hi, but... she probably has no clue whats going on right now. Once she puts those things on," she tapped her head with a finger, "Nothing gets in."
Gwen glanced around the room again. "So... what do you people do for fun?" She asked no one in particular.
"Salsa? What? Oh right... well we're thinking of going to Hogsmeade. Wanna come?" Bree said cheerfully.
Adrianna shot Bree an icey glare. "Don't invite her, Bree." Adrianna said coldly, and the creature in her lap meowed in echo. The blue fluffball that was Draco Jr. growled back from Gwen's bed.
Gwen glanced at Adriana with an annoyed look on her face that was half hidden by a smirk, and automatically went into defense-mode.
"Now tell me something. What could you possibly have against me already? I haven't said two words yet and you're already the Ice Queen. What is it? You don't like the way I sleep?" Gwen asked sneeringly. "Cause that's all I've done here that I can think of."
Adrianna raised her middle finger at Gwen. "Fuck you." she said, and the spikey-haired animal in her lap growled at Gwen,
"Hey, hey you guys, how many times do I have to tell you? Violence is not the answer! Just ignore her Gwen." Bree told her.
Gwen rolled her eyes at Adriana, and turned smiling to Bree.
"So... anyway, about Hogsmeade. Thanks for the offer, but I have to meet someone today. Maybe some other time?"
"Course. At least come with us to breakfast?" Bree answered.
"Sure."
***
Adrianna hurried out of the dorm in front of all the other girls. Her heavy black lace-up boots were clonking as she went down at top speed.
"What's she in such a rush for?" Gwen asked.
"Seth Patterson." the rest of the girls said in unison.
"Her boyfriend. She's obsessed." Amaris said.
When they got into the Gryffindor Common Room, they were greeted by the sight of Adrianna and Seth kissing in front of the fireplace.
"AHEM!" Rae cleared her throat. "Get a room."
Adrianna giggled and pulled away from Seth, flashing Rae the middle finger.
Besides her room mates and Seth, a group of guys about Gwen's age sat around the fireplace waiting. The girls made their way over and said hi.
Rae turned to Gwen and said, "Gwen, this is Jack." She pointed to a sandy haired guy, who was grinning and talking to the guy sitting next to him. They were both laughing, but Jack stopped to greet Gwen.
"And that's Max Hunter." she told Gwen, indicating the other laughing guy.
He smiled, nodded and said, "Hi Gwen."
"Oh!" Adrianna exclaimed, pointing up. "How could I forget? Mimi-bunbun!" Adrianna said, and
the spiky haired little creature appeared in her arms.
"Gwen, this is Mister Bunny, but he likes it when you call him Mimi-bunbun." Adrianna said.
Gwen looked sceptically at "Mister Bunny."
"You know... he's actually kinda cute." she said, glad Adriana had decided she was acceptable. "But... mimi bun-bun?" Gwen laughed, but not in a rude way; as she didn't want anyone on her bad side, at least for now.
"I dunno." she answered, smiling.
Gwen shrugged, "If you say so."
The group went down to the Great Hall, found seats, and started in on the mountains of food prepared by some of Britain's finest house elves.
As the others discussed who the new DADA teacher might be this time, Gwen was talking to Max about life at Hogwarts. The conversation stopped when Gwen heard a familiar drawl from behind her.
"I'm ashamed, Mudblood. I never thought you'd get sorted into Gryffindor, let alone hang out
with the Gryffindor scum. I guess I was wrong about you." Draco said, so coldly it seemed to freeze Gwen's blood.
Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice, but she'd never let him see that. She narrowed her eyes at him and spoke in a purr that was filled with the sickly sweet of false sentiment.
"You once called me a pureblood, remember? It's really too bad things have to be like this, it really hurts." she put on a tragically pouty face. "At least stay for poor Draco Jr."
Gwen was a fabulous actress, and she made it obvious to anyone listening that her words were laced with a poisionous sarcasm, though in her heart she meant them. It was her nature to come back with an insult when given one, no matter who it came from, no matter how much she didn't mean it.
Adrianna chimed in from no where, "Yeh! So fuck off Malfoy!"
Draco shook his head and narrowed his silver-grey eyes. "You're not going to last too long when you don't know when to bow to someone." Draco snapped. He turned on his heel and stormed back to the Slytherin table.
Gwen laughed as he left, trying to hide the hurt.
"Like I would EVER bow to anyone, let alone him." Gwen said haughtily as she turned back to her toast and started up her conversation with Max again.
"So how do you like Hogwarts?" Adrianna asked Gwen before shoving a entire muffin in her mouth.
"So Far so good." Gwen said, poking the jelly dish idly with her butter knife.
Gwen's eyes wandered to the Slytherin table.
Draco was back there with Allison and a few other girls, looking a bit bored as they all told him how wonderful he was.
"What's up with you and Malfoy, anyway? When you came you were all buddy-buddy, now you hate each other." Bree inquired, taking a swig of pumpkin juice.
Gwen shrugged.
"He hates Gryffindors." she said simply.
"Well why did he like you before you were a Gryffindor?" Adrianna asked while she was scooping bacon off the plate in the center of the table and putting it in a bag labeled "Mister Bunny's Nummy-Nummy".
"Well, that's obvious, isn't it? I wasn't a Gryffindor then." she said.
"But if the hat put you here, you have the heart of a Gryffindor. Didn't he see that?" Adrianna said.
Gwen looked down at her plate and poked the jelly again, making it wobble like in the Jell-O commercials.
"He thought for sure I'd be a Slytherin... and to tell the truth, so did I."
Adrianna shook her head. "You're no Slytherin, girl," she said, looking with hatred at the table across the Hall.
Gwen shrugged, not really buying it.
She spent the rest of the morning getting to know the other Gryffindors. By the end of the meal she knew that Bree had a very large fear of clowns, she knew that Rae hardly ever took off her skates if she could avoid it, that Adrianna never admitted she was wrong, and that Mister Bunny preffered Premium A Goat Blood over the brands that use preservatives.
***
"AAaaachoo!" Draco sneezed loudly. All the girls that were sitting around him at the Slytherin table exchanged looks.
"Uh-oh, Draco. They say when you sneeze, someone's talking about you." one girl said.
"That can't be good." said another.
"Maybe they're talking about how hott he is!" chirped another.
Draco shook his head. "I don't believe in those stupid superstitions." he said, standing up and leaving the Great Hall.
***
Gwen hung around the lake all afternoon, waiting for him. She had no idea who "he" was, she just knew she HAD to meet him here; that terrible things would happen if she didn't, or so she thought.
The sunlight glinted off of the lake, throwing light like glimmering shards of broken glass. The trees had begun wearing their fall wardrobe, and they burned fierce shades of ochre and crimson.
In the midst of this beauty and color Gwen sat lifeless, oblivious to her surroundings, emotions shut down completely. Some unknown hand had pulled the master switch, and she was out. The world was painted over in shades of grey and she knew nothing as she waited numbly, all her life and sparkle gone until that hand saw fit to give it back.
A shadow fell over her form. She didn't look up. Instead, Gwen got on her knees and bowed her head low, her nose touching the moist grass just above her knees.
"Master." she said quietly, still not looking up.
A low chuckle that held no joy; rough and sounding like metal, emitted from the man that had caused the shadow, the one she called master.
"Now here is a servant I know will never betray me." He seemed to find some irony in his words, and his wit amused him so much he allowed himself another of his horrible laughs. Gwen stayed perfectly motionless, still bowing. She no longer remotely resembled the proud girl who had, just that morning, stated that she would bow for no one.