Their Common Room was in the Dungeons, Fallon soon found out. It was rather different from the other Common Rooms, which were all located in towers, but Fallon appreciated uniqueness. Rodney Pritchard the Prefect led them to an ornate picture of a snake-charmer, and uttered the word, "Reptilian."
Next to Fallon, Morrigun shook her head and muttered to herself, "You'd think that a Slytherin would come up with a much less OBVIOUS password..." Fallon snickered lightly, and Pritchard turned and glared at the noise.
Unphased, Fallon glared right back at him. As other students filed past Pritchard through the portrait hole, the first-year girl and the 5th-year boy found themselves having a glaring contest. Fallon fixed her scowl unblinkingly on the 5th year boy, determined to stare him down. First Year or no, she was NOT going to be bloody stepped over, not even by a Prefect!
"Hey Fallon, got a new crush, I see..." an obnoxious voice reached her ears, and Fallon spun around, glaring contest forgotten, as Cassius Warrington sneered at her. She turned her scowl upon him instead.
"Why, you jealous? Oh I'm sorry, Warrington, I didn't know that you fancied him," she retorted, then smiled as a few students burst out laughing. She gave Warrington an almost-flirtatious wink, side-stepped the still-glaring Pritchard, and walked through the portrait hole after a tittering Kate.
As it was quite late in the evening already, Fallon did not get a chance to explore the Common Room in detail before it was time for bed. She merely took in the classic elegance of the enormous room, with the silver and crystal chandeliers, the green marble panels, the silver-tasseled velvet couches and chairs, and ebony tables and bookshelves around the place, and smiled before she followed the other girls down the few steps leading to the dormitories. This place was just as nice as home... well, a certain unnamed swarthy git aside.
As she changed into a green satin nightgown and brushed her teeth in the girl's lavatory, Akasha, next to her, gave her a mischievous smile, "Someday, you're going to end up fancying Warrington. See if you don't!"
Had her mouth not been full of toothpaste, Fallon would probably have shrieked something extremely profane right then and there. As it was, the washroom walls echoed with laughter as Fallon, flailing her toothbrush wildly, glared at the older girl, who darted out a moment later, still giggling merrily.
Fallon scowled as she stalked into her dormitory. Fancy Cassius Warrington? Was that even bloody POSSIBLE?
* * *
The first class that Fallon went to the next morning was Transfiguration, with the bespectacled witch, someone who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall.
That venerated professor somehow found Fallon's response of "Yes, I'm physically here" when her name was called for attendance objectionable, and told her not to be insolent. Fallon shot Kate, who was sitting next to her, a "what-the-devil-I-was-NOT-being-insolent!" look, and Kate shrugged. The class just went downhill from there.
Although Fallon did a tolerable job of changing her ladybird beetle into a button (albeit a button with antennae), the teacher seemed to find her an unsatisfactory student, and when Fallon, somewhat irked, had rolled her eyes, the teacher took a point away from Slytherin for disrespect. Fallon seethed all through History of Magic until lunchtime, when a sympathetic Malice had told her not to worry; she could earn the points back somewhere else.
* * *
That "somewhere else" turned out to be Potions class, in the afternoon. The First-year Slytherins had potions with the Hufflepuffs, and the first thing that Professor Snape, Potions Master and head of Slytherin house did after taking attendance, was to fire out a random question to quiz the class.
"Can somebody tell me... what type of poison can be found in the seeds of apples?"
Fallon grinned and raised a deceptively dainty hand into the air, the same time as a priggish-looking Hufflepuff boy with limp mousy hair. Professor Snape's eyes settled on her, and he nodded.
"Cyanide, sir."
Snape gave a half-smile, "Good... very good, Miss Anderson. A point to Slytherin. Now, can anyone tell me where else one can obtain cyanide?"
Once again, the Hufflepuff raised his hand, as did Fallon. Once again, Snape ignored the boy, and called on Fallon.
"Cyanide is also found in the seeds of bitter almonds, plum, peach and cherry pits."
"Excellent, another point to Slytherin." Fallon glowed, and smirked across the room at the Hufflepuff, who was looking miffed.
Snape went on to assign them a common cold potion, quite easy to make, with only seven ingredients, to be done in class, in pairs. Fallon worked with Kate, and led the process.
Finally, as she added the last ingredient (a chopped snake gallbladder) and watched the potion simmer a pale gold, Snape walked by and gave an approving nod, taking her cauldron up to the front of the class and telling everyone to see the perfect color and consistency of the potion, awarding Slytherin house another three points.
Fallon got more than a few glares from the Hufflepuffs, and the boy who had been so pointedly ignored said, quite loudly, as they filed out of the potions lab, "Slimy teacher's pet Slytherin."
A moment later, Fallon's fist had connected with his stomach, and the boy found himself lying on the ground. The other Hufflepuffs raised a ruckus, and Professor Snape, wearing an angry scowl, stormed out of the classroom, demanding to know what was wrong. The boy, blubbering, pointed at Fallon and declared that the little bint had punched him. Snape had looked from one to the other, and then asked Calypso, who was standing behind Fallon, exactly what had happened.
The cheerful-looking girl replied, in an arch, lilting voice, "He insulted Fallon and called her a 'slimy teacher's pet Slytherin', and Fallon felt it necessary to make him aware that it was an unwise and impolite thing to impugn her honor."
"I see," Snape muttered, "A point from Hufflepuff for your provocative name-calling, Holden. Anderson, do try to avoid fighting in the hallway in the future if at all possible."
"Yes, sir," Fallon chirped in her best 'good-girl' voice, "I will not fight unless necessary, sir."
"Good. Off with you lot, the 5th-year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors are coming." Snape walked back into the potions lab, and the Slytherins sailed away, blithely ignoring the death-glares of the Hufflepuffs. IF those pathetic pseudo-threatening looks could even be called that.
Their house really WAS the best house.
* * *
Things soon settled into a routine. Fallon went to classes: scowled through Transfiguration, dozed through History, went through Charms and Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts at a decent pace, breezed through potions, ate her meals, did her homework, talked with the girls, and quarreled with Cassius Warrington. Pritchard the Prefect soon gave up trying to stop these quarrels, after one time when both Fallon and Cassius had turned upon HIM and told him to sod off, they weren't finished, blast it! The Anderson/Warrington spats generally lasted for half an hour every evening, until one out-insulted the other, and triumphantly swaggered away. They were generally harmless, for neither Fallon nor Cassius did anything to anyone else but each other. An older boy and a Chaser on the Quidditch team, Marcus Flint, took to tallying "wins" in the daily spats, and posting the tally on one of the walls.
It was all a harmless form of entertainment for the rest of the house, so no one stopped them.
The months flew by, and soon, the world outside was covered with snow, and it was Christmas. Both Fallon and Cassius received numerous presents from their parents, as well as long, stern letters reminding them that it was Christmas, do NOT be mean to each other!
The very next day, after the receipt of said letters, Warrington dipped Fallon's hair, which was down and draping over the chairback, into a cup of eggnog, and Fallon snatched said cup out of his hands and threw it at his head.
It took the combined efforts of Morrigun, Montague, Malice and Pucey to stop the two from having a brawl in the middle of the Common Room.
* * *
By the end of the year, Fallon Anderson went home satisfied. She had passed all of her classes with decent marks, even the ruddy Transfiguration, gotten the highest marks in her year in Potions, and all of the girls left King's Cross station with promises to owl each other over the summer. Of course, Warrington was still a git, and always would be.
Oh well, one needed some constants through life.
* * *
End Chapter Two
* * *
Wheee! More soon!! *muah* to all SOBettes!
Next to Fallon, Morrigun shook her head and muttered to herself, "You'd think that a Slytherin would come up with a much less OBVIOUS password..." Fallon snickered lightly, and Pritchard turned and glared at the noise.
Unphased, Fallon glared right back at him. As other students filed past Pritchard through the portrait hole, the first-year girl and the 5th-year boy found themselves having a glaring contest. Fallon fixed her scowl unblinkingly on the 5th year boy, determined to stare him down. First Year or no, she was NOT going to be bloody stepped over, not even by a Prefect!
"Hey Fallon, got a new crush, I see..." an obnoxious voice reached her ears, and Fallon spun around, glaring contest forgotten, as Cassius Warrington sneered at her. She turned her scowl upon him instead.
"Why, you jealous? Oh I'm sorry, Warrington, I didn't know that you fancied him," she retorted, then smiled as a few students burst out laughing. She gave Warrington an almost-flirtatious wink, side-stepped the still-glaring Pritchard, and walked through the portrait hole after a tittering Kate.
As it was quite late in the evening already, Fallon did not get a chance to explore the Common Room in detail before it was time for bed. She merely took in the classic elegance of the enormous room, with the silver and crystal chandeliers, the green marble panels, the silver-tasseled velvet couches and chairs, and ebony tables and bookshelves around the place, and smiled before she followed the other girls down the few steps leading to the dormitories. This place was just as nice as home... well, a certain unnamed swarthy git aside.
As she changed into a green satin nightgown and brushed her teeth in the girl's lavatory, Akasha, next to her, gave her a mischievous smile, "Someday, you're going to end up fancying Warrington. See if you don't!"
Had her mouth not been full of toothpaste, Fallon would probably have shrieked something extremely profane right then and there. As it was, the washroom walls echoed with laughter as Fallon, flailing her toothbrush wildly, glared at the older girl, who darted out a moment later, still giggling merrily.
Fallon scowled as she stalked into her dormitory. Fancy Cassius Warrington? Was that even bloody POSSIBLE?
* * *
The first class that Fallon went to the next morning was Transfiguration, with the bespectacled witch, someone who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall.
That venerated professor somehow found Fallon's response of "Yes, I'm physically here" when her name was called for attendance objectionable, and told her not to be insolent. Fallon shot Kate, who was sitting next to her, a "what-the-devil-I-was-NOT-being-insolent!" look, and Kate shrugged. The class just went downhill from there.
Although Fallon did a tolerable job of changing her ladybird beetle into a button (albeit a button with antennae), the teacher seemed to find her an unsatisfactory student, and when Fallon, somewhat irked, had rolled her eyes, the teacher took a point away from Slytherin for disrespect. Fallon seethed all through History of Magic until lunchtime, when a sympathetic Malice had told her not to worry; she could earn the points back somewhere else.
* * *
That "somewhere else" turned out to be Potions class, in the afternoon. The First-year Slytherins had potions with the Hufflepuffs, and the first thing that Professor Snape, Potions Master and head of Slytherin house did after taking attendance, was to fire out a random question to quiz the class.
"Can somebody tell me... what type of poison can be found in the seeds of apples?"
Fallon grinned and raised a deceptively dainty hand into the air, the same time as a priggish-looking Hufflepuff boy with limp mousy hair. Professor Snape's eyes settled on her, and he nodded.
"Cyanide, sir."
Snape gave a half-smile, "Good... very good, Miss Anderson. A point to Slytherin. Now, can anyone tell me where else one can obtain cyanide?"
Once again, the Hufflepuff raised his hand, as did Fallon. Once again, Snape ignored the boy, and called on Fallon.
"Cyanide is also found in the seeds of bitter almonds, plum, peach and cherry pits."
"Excellent, another point to Slytherin." Fallon glowed, and smirked across the room at the Hufflepuff, who was looking miffed.
Snape went on to assign them a common cold potion, quite easy to make, with only seven ingredients, to be done in class, in pairs. Fallon worked with Kate, and led the process.
Finally, as she added the last ingredient (a chopped snake gallbladder) and watched the potion simmer a pale gold, Snape walked by and gave an approving nod, taking her cauldron up to the front of the class and telling everyone to see the perfect color and consistency of the potion, awarding Slytherin house another three points.
Fallon got more than a few glares from the Hufflepuffs, and the boy who had been so pointedly ignored said, quite loudly, as they filed out of the potions lab, "Slimy teacher's pet Slytherin."
A moment later, Fallon's fist had connected with his stomach, and the boy found himself lying on the ground. The other Hufflepuffs raised a ruckus, and Professor Snape, wearing an angry scowl, stormed out of the classroom, demanding to know what was wrong. The boy, blubbering, pointed at Fallon and declared that the little bint had punched him. Snape had looked from one to the other, and then asked Calypso, who was standing behind Fallon, exactly what had happened.
The cheerful-looking girl replied, in an arch, lilting voice, "He insulted Fallon and called her a 'slimy teacher's pet Slytherin', and Fallon felt it necessary to make him aware that it was an unwise and impolite thing to impugn her honor."
"I see," Snape muttered, "A point from Hufflepuff for your provocative name-calling, Holden. Anderson, do try to avoid fighting in the hallway in the future if at all possible."
"Yes, sir," Fallon chirped in her best 'good-girl' voice, "I will not fight unless necessary, sir."
"Good. Off with you lot, the 5th-year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors are coming." Snape walked back into the potions lab, and the Slytherins sailed away, blithely ignoring the death-glares of the Hufflepuffs. IF those pathetic pseudo-threatening looks could even be called that.
Their house really WAS the best house.
* * *
Things soon settled into a routine. Fallon went to classes: scowled through Transfiguration, dozed through History, went through Charms and Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts at a decent pace, breezed through potions, ate her meals, did her homework, talked with the girls, and quarreled with Cassius Warrington. Pritchard the Prefect soon gave up trying to stop these quarrels, after one time when both Fallon and Cassius had turned upon HIM and told him to sod off, they weren't finished, blast it! The Anderson/Warrington spats generally lasted for half an hour every evening, until one out-insulted the other, and triumphantly swaggered away. They were generally harmless, for neither Fallon nor Cassius did anything to anyone else but each other. An older boy and a Chaser on the Quidditch team, Marcus Flint, took to tallying "wins" in the daily spats, and posting the tally on one of the walls.
It was all a harmless form of entertainment for the rest of the house, so no one stopped them.
The months flew by, and soon, the world outside was covered with snow, and it was Christmas. Both Fallon and Cassius received numerous presents from their parents, as well as long, stern letters reminding them that it was Christmas, do NOT be mean to each other!
The very next day, after the receipt of said letters, Warrington dipped Fallon's hair, which was down and draping over the chairback, into a cup of eggnog, and Fallon snatched said cup out of his hands and threw it at his head.
It took the combined efforts of Morrigun, Montague, Malice and Pucey to stop the two from having a brawl in the middle of the Common Room.
* * *
By the end of the year, Fallon Anderson went home satisfied. She had passed all of her classes with decent marks, even the ruddy Transfiguration, gotten the highest marks in her year in Potions, and all of the girls left King's Cross station with promises to owl each other over the summer. Of course, Warrington was still a git, and always would be.
Oh well, one needed some constants through life.
* * *
End Chapter Two
* * *
Wheee! More soon!! *muah* to all SOBettes!