The following morning, Velvet woke up earlier than either of her three dorm
mates. She yawned, and stretched, looking around the room, Tikki was curled
up against her chest, head nustled into his paws. She smiled lightly, and
stroked him, "Wake up, Tikki." The kitten stirred, opening his eyes, and
yawning to bare his oh-so-frightening kitty fangs, and stretched to bare
his oh-so-frightening kitty claws. He stood up, and looked at her, blinking
his eyes up at her. "Mrrroww.." He told her, nuzzling his head against her
chin. "Good morning to you, too!" She giggled, and kissed him on the
forehead.
She got up, and pulled out her set of robes, and uniform for the day, before taking her toiletries into the bathroom, and taking a shower. She stepped out, and dried off, before putting on her uniform. The uniform consisted of a grey pleated skirt, coming above her knees, to her mid- thigh, a crisp white button up blouse, grey sweater-vest, and her gold and scarlet tie. She pulled a pair of white knee-socks up to her knees, and buckled on her black Sunday Shoes, before looking into the mirror, and towel-drying her hair.
Excuse me terribly, for previously I did not give you a description of Velvet here. Velvet is tiny for her age, she is eleven years old, and 4'2, very thin, and not developed at all. Though she IS only eleven. Her hair is cut to her chin, and dyed peroxide blonde, though it changes every year. The previous year it was dyed a dark merlot color, and now white blonde. Her eyes, were a dull, bland, boring blue. Just blue. Like everyone else's. White. With a blue dot in the center, and a black dot in the center of that, repeat on the other side.
She pulled her hair back into two stubby pigtails, and brushed an eyelash off of her cheek, before walking out. The other three girls were getting ready as well. "Morning Velvet!" The chorus rang out, "Morning Ginny, Christie, Jennifer." She yawned.
A sudden brush against her leg made her jump, and she looked down to see Tikki rubbing against her back. She smiled, and nodded. "Sorry. I should have fed you when I got out of bed." She opened her trunk, and dug around, fishing out two bowls. One bright yellow porcelain, the other lime green porcelain. One said "WATER!" In wavy letters, and the other said "FOOD!" in big stretched out letters. Velvet went into the bathroom, and filled the bowl with water, and brought it back out, placing it next to her bedside table. After that, she moved back to the trunk, and pulled out a bag of KITTY! food, which she placed into the other bowl, and placed that next to the water. "There. You have your food." She blinked, and looked over at Ginny "What are you writing, Gin?" Velvet asked, Ginny looked up sharply, "Nothing!" She snapped, and hurriedly placed the black, leather bound book into her bag. Velvet shrugged, "If you say so."
Velvet stood up, and pulled the robes off of her bed, Gryffindor patches already sewn into them, and undid the buttons on the inside, slipped it on, and left the buttons undone, until classes started.
"C'mon!" The girls called, "Let's go down to breakfast!" Velvet nodded, pulled her bag over her shoulder, and ran after the girls.
Classes began shortly after breakfast.
First was transfiguration, they were turning beetles into buttons, Velvet was having a particularly rough time, but Jennifer seemed to have it down pat. "Jenn." Velvet asked shyly, "Yeah?" She answered, "Would you help me? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.." Velvet looked helpless as Jennifer moved over, "Go ahead. Try it." Velvet nodded, and pointed at the beetle "Backaroffte" |A/N: Just making up spells here, don't mind me .| She moved her wand, and watched as the beetle was stunned for fifteen seconds, then started scuttling around the table once more. "I see what you're doing wrong!" She suddenly said, "It's not Backaroffte, it's Barackoffte." Velvet blushed, "Oh." Jennifer nodded and smiled, "Go on. Try it now." Velvet cleared her throat, and pointed her wand at the beetle, "Barackoffte!" And suddenly, the beetle stopped moving. Standing stationary, though it wasn't a full button, it had holes in it, and had a plastic-y texture to it. "Well done, Miss Thorne." Professor McGonagall complimented, and Velvet smiled. "Thank you, Ma'am."
Next on her schedule was herbology. She walked down the grassy slopes to greenhouse one where a dumpy little witch with frazzled hair stood waiting for them. "Good morning, class!" She said with a bright smile, "I am Professor Sprout, your herbology teacher. It shouldn't be too hard to remember seeing as herbology has to do with plants." She smiled again as she though she made a little joke. A few forced laughs were heard, which made Velvet and her roommates giggle. Footsteps were heard as students bearing Slytherin Crests on their robes. "Sorry we're late." A familiar voice said, turning around, Velvet noted it was Ward. "Professor Snape kept us late because some Hufflepuff knocked over a whole cabinet of potions supplies, and he made us stay until they cleaned it." Professor Sprout nodded, "Ah, I see. Well. Come along then, into the greenhouse!" All of the twenty students entered the room, Gryffindors on one side of the large table in the center, and Slytherins on the other side. "Now." Said Professor Sprout, "Today I am going to teach you about bubotubors. This is what a bubotubor plant looks like." Professor Sprout lay an absolutely disgusting looking potted plant onto the table. "Today. We are going to be potting these, and later on in the semester we will squeeze them for their pus. Madame Pomfrey needs to keep a healthy supply of it for the older students who cause." Professor Sprout sighed, "Acne spells on each other. The pimples can grow up to the size of pennies, it's absolutely horrific." The students made faces, "Yes. Well. Each of you will be potting one of these plants today. We have seedlings there in the center of the table." Professor Sprout's voice was pushed out of Velvet's head as she looked at the tiny plants. They were a noxious yellow in color, and about two inches tall, with large, banana leaf-like leaves, protruding from the top of the stem, was a teeny tiny little bud. It was a slightly dark yellow than the rest of the plant, and was where the pus would come from when it was time to squeeze them. "Now take one of the plants, and place them in your pot. Add some dirt, and some water, and you're done.. Begin." All at once, twenty hands reached for the little plants. Velvet just stood back, and watched as this happened. Once everyone had a plant, Velvet reached forward, and took the last one left. It was puny, and looked like it would die soon. "Great. I'll get low marks in this class as well." Though she was quite sure the little plant would not make it, she filled the pot halfway up with potting soil, placed the little plant in, and filled the rest of the pot up. Then she watered it. With a little bit of water, she noticed a small difference in the plants disposition, it sat up taller, and straighter. Someone believed it had enough of a chance to pot it, so it might as well try. "Nice plant, Cloth-Girl." She heard a familiar voice call out, and narrowed her eyes. "Well look. If it isn't Mr. Non-Original himself." She scowled. Was that the best she could do? Honestly. She was losing the small touch that she had. "Why don't you hack it up and put it in the compost pile. That thing won't last a week." Velvet looked at him indignantly, "Well I'll show you. My plant'll live. You just watch. And plus, I'd rather have a plant that grows well on it's own than feeding it steroids." She commented, pointing to the now half empty jar of "QuickTaGrow" that was directly in front of Ward's pot. "Oh shutup." She mumbled, and turned away from her. "You may remove your gloves now." Professor Sprout said, "Deposit them into this box, and you may leave for your next class."
Alas. One more class, and then half an hour break for lunch.
Next class on the agenda, was potions. The class all Gryffindors had been dreading. Dun dun dunnnnnn. This would be quite interesting. The twenty students |Once more joined by Slytherin| entered the dank, dark room that was Professor Snape's class. Standing in front of the class, was a tall, scary man with a huge nose, and hair that looked like someone had taken motor oil and washed his hair with it. Eeeew! She shuddered, "I." He paused for added drama, "Am Professor Snape. I am your Potions Master, and you will respect and obey me. You must listen, for I will not tolerate mistakes in my class. Do you understand?" No one said a word. "That was NOT a rhetorical question." Ooooh. Now the students got it, a few mumbled "Yes's" and some people nodded their heads. "You will call me Sir, and Professor at ALL times." Professor Snape then returned to sit behind his desk, pulling out a roll of parchment, and looked at students, one by one. He called out students to sit next to each other at the tables, setting a Gryffindor next to a Slytherin, much to the dismay of the four roommates. "Huntington, Thorne. First desk. Center row." Velvet sighed, and moved her things to the front desk in the center, and Ward Huntington the Third sat down next to her. "Not you!" They chorused, and looked at Professor Snape. "Professor this is unfair!" Ward argued, "I can't sit next to him! He's a prat!" Velvet nodded, looking at Professor Snape with a pained expression. "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Looks like both of you could learn a lesson in common courtesy. So you WILL sit together." The two looked at each other skeptically, and sighed, plopping down. Jennifer got paired up with a girl named Lucy and sat in the row over, but two seats back. Christie was paired up with another girl named Tarinn, and was put in the same row as Velvet, but four three seats behind, and Ginny was paired up with a boy named Jason, and was placed in the very back row. The rest of the class was extremely boring. Ward and Velvet spent half the time kicking each other under the desk, and by the end of class, Velvet had received several bruises from the sharp heel of Ward's boots, and the boy had an equal amount of battle scars on his shins. Professor Snape adjourned the class, and told them he would explain about the fundamentals of potion making the next day. "Great." Muttered Velvet as she, Ginny, Christie, and Jennifer left the dungeons. "Another boring class of being abused-"She was cut-off "And abusive." Christie added, giggling. "And abusive.." Velvet added, "It's going to be terrible." The other three girls nodded in agreement.
Lunch went alright. Velvet couldn't help but notice that Ginny wasn't eating. She was writing in that little book AGAIN. What could she possibly have needed to write about since that morning? Nothing interesting happened.
The rest of the day went well, boring. But well nonetheless. Homework was light for the first day, but History of Magic and Charms weren't the most exciting class. Defense Against the Dark Arts though, was truly an interesting experience. Professor Gilderoy Lockhart must have been THE most self-centered prat she had EVER encountered in her entire eleven years of existence. He made them take a quiz on him. Such as "What his favorite color was" and "Name the Thirteen Books That Have Been Published About Me". Honestly. Ginny and Velvet sat together, and Christie and Jennifer sat behind them. "Mum fancies Lockhart." Ginny said, giggling. "Can't see why though. I doubt he's ever fallen in love with anything other than a mirror." "Indeed." Velvet agreed, grinning up at the blond man.
The first day at Hogwarts came to an end at dinner time, where the girls giggled and talked, and ate. And Velvet had the chance to meet THE Harry Potter, the one Ginny had talked about for half an hour straight.. Some. Time. oO; Yeah.
The girls all trudged up to the dormitories, and Ginny, Velvet, Christie, and Jennifer all got ready for bed. Yawning, they crawled into their beds, Velvet looked over to Ginny's bed. The curtains were drawn, and her wand tip was lit, casting the shadow of the girl across the scarlet curtain. She was hunched over that little diary again, and giggled once or twice. "Ginny. What ARE you doing?" Velvet asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing, Velvet. Just. Writing, that's all." Velvet shook her head, and made a mental note to find some way to get the diary, and read it. Just to see what was so interesting about it that made Ginny want to write in it twenty- four-seven. "Goodnight." Velvet called, and she received two replies. Shaking her head, she leaned over, and blew out the oil lamp next to her bed, before drawing the curtains, and falling asleep.
During the night. A dream pierced Velvet's mind. It was like she was seeing it through someone else's eyes. Her father's eyes. She looked out of the brown hued eyes at a woman with dark blonde hair lying in a hospital room bed, a baby with a tuft of dark hair on her head, and blue eyes. "Let's call her Velvet, Thomas." The woman said, and "Thomas" nodded. "It's a perfect name, Claire." Flashforward. The man stood there, "Claire. Please stay! For Velvet's sake!" The woman, now around 4 years older, shook her head. "No Thomas. Things just AREN'T working out!" She grabbed her suitcase, and walked out of the house. Flashforward "Now Velvet. You are going to live with Grandmother and Grandfather." A small girl with shoulder- length dark hair looked up at the man with wide eyes. "But where are you going, father?" She asked, "I. I am going away." He said, tears leaked from his eyes as he looked down at his daughter. Everytime he looked at her he felt like he was stabbed in the chest, she looked so much like her mother, and he just couldn't stand it anymore. "Now when I leave, you knock on the door, and wait for someone to answer. Stay here until Grandmother or Grandfather comes to the door." He said, and hugged her tightly as he cried. "I love you, Velvet. Remember that, sweetie." He kissed her gently on the forehead, and walked back to his car, sighing heavily, and got in, turning the ignition, and pulling out of the driveway. Flashfoward. Ten minutes later. Thomas Thorne stood in his living room, a pistol in his hand. He had left no note, just the few words to his daughter that he loved her. He sighed, took a breath, and pulled the trigger. Black. Everything went black.
She got up, and pulled out her set of robes, and uniform for the day, before taking her toiletries into the bathroom, and taking a shower. She stepped out, and dried off, before putting on her uniform. The uniform consisted of a grey pleated skirt, coming above her knees, to her mid- thigh, a crisp white button up blouse, grey sweater-vest, and her gold and scarlet tie. She pulled a pair of white knee-socks up to her knees, and buckled on her black Sunday Shoes, before looking into the mirror, and towel-drying her hair.
Excuse me terribly, for previously I did not give you a description of Velvet here. Velvet is tiny for her age, she is eleven years old, and 4'2, very thin, and not developed at all. Though she IS only eleven. Her hair is cut to her chin, and dyed peroxide blonde, though it changes every year. The previous year it was dyed a dark merlot color, and now white blonde. Her eyes, were a dull, bland, boring blue. Just blue. Like everyone else's. White. With a blue dot in the center, and a black dot in the center of that, repeat on the other side.
She pulled her hair back into two stubby pigtails, and brushed an eyelash off of her cheek, before walking out. The other three girls were getting ready as well. "Morning Velvet!" The chorus rang out, "Morning Ginny, Christie, Jennifer." She yawned.
A sudden brush against her leg made her jump, and she looked down to see Tikki rubbing against her back. She smiled, and nodded. "Sorry. I should have fed you when I got out of bed." She opened her trunk, and dug around, fishing out two bowls. One bright yellow porcelain, the other lime green porcelain. One said "WATER!" In wavy letters, and the other said "FOOD!" in big stretched out letters. Velvet went into the bathroom, and filled the bowl with water, and brought it back out, placing it next to her bedside table. After that, she moved back to the trunk, and pulled out a bag of KITTY! food, which she placed into the other bowl, and placed that next to the water. "There. You have your food." She blinked, and looked over at Ginny "What are you writing, Gin?" Velvet asked, Ginny looked up sharply, "Nothing!" She snapped, and hurriedly placed the black, leather bound book into her bag. Velvet shrugged, "If you say so."
Velvet stood up, and pulled the robes off of her bed, Gryffindor patches already sewn into them, and undid the buttons on the inside, slipped it on, and left the buttons undone, until classes started.
"C'mon!" The girls called, "Let's go down to breakfast!" Velvet nodded, pulled her bag over her shoulder, and ran after the girls.
Classes began shortly after breakfast.
First was transfiguration, they were turning beetles into buttons, Velvet was having a particularly rough time, but Jennifer seemed to have it down pat. "Jenn." Velvet asked shyly, "Yeah?" She answered, "Would you help me? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.." Velvet looked helpless as Jennifer moved over, "Go ahead. Try it." Velvet nodded, and pointed at the beetle "Backaroffte" |A/N: Just making up spells here, don't mind me .| She moved her wand, and watched as the beetle was stunned for fifteen seconds, then started scuttling around the table once more. "I see what you're doing wrong!" She suddenly said, "It's not Backaroffte, it's Barackoffte." Velvet blushed, "Oh." Jennifer nodded and smiled, "Go on. Try it now." Velvet cleared her throat, and pointed her wand at the beetle, "Barackoffte!" And suddenly, the beetle stopped moving. Standing stationary, though it wasn't a full button, it had holes in it, and had a plastic-y texture to it. "Well done, Miss Thorne." Professor McGonagall complimented, and Velvet smiled. "Thank you, Ma'am."
Next on her schedule was herbology. She walked down the grassy slopes to greenhouse one where a dumpy little witch with frazzled hair stood waiting for them. "Good morning, class!" She said with a bright smile, "I am Professor Sprout, your herbology teacher. It shouldn't be too hard to remember seeing as herbology has to do with plants." She smiled again as she though she made a little joke. A few forced laughs were heard, which made Velvet and her roommates giggle. Footsteps were heard as students bearing Slytherin Crests on their robes. "Sorry we're late." A familiar voice said, turning around, Velvet noted it was Ward. "Professor Snape kept us late because some Hufflepuff knocked over a whole cabinet of potions supplies, and he made us stay until they cleaned it." Professor Sprout nodded, "Ah, I see. Well. Come along then, into the greenhouse!" All of the twenty students entered the room, Gryffindors on one side of the large table in the center, and Slytherins on the other side. "Now." Said Professor Sprout, "Today I am going to teach you about bubotubors. This is what a bubotubor plant looks like." Professor Sprout lay an absolutely disgusting looking potted plant onto the table. "Today. We are going to be potting these, and later on in the semester we will squeeze them for their pus. Madame Pomfrey needs to keep a healthy supply of it for the older students who cause." Professor Sprout sighed, "Acne spells on each other. The pimples can grow up to the size of pennies, it's absolutely horrific." The students made faces, "Yes. Well. Each of you will be potting one of these plants today. We have seedlings there in the center of the table." Professor Sprout's voice was pushed out of Velvet's head as she looked at the tiny plants. They were a noxious yellow in color, and about two inches tall, with large, banana leaf-like leaves, protruding from the top of the stem, was a teeny tiny little bud. It was a slightly dark yellow than the rest of the plant, and was where the pus would come from when it was time to squeeze them. "Now take one of the plants, and place them in your pot. Add some dirt, and some water, and you're done.. Begin." All at once, twenty hands reached for the little plants. Velvet just stood back, and watched as this happened. Once everyone had a plant, Velvet reached forward, and took the last one left. It was puny, and looked like it would die soon. "Great. I'll get low marks in this class as well." Though she was quite sure the little plant would not make it, she filled the pot halfway up with potting soil, placed the little plant in, and filled the rest of the pot up. Then she watered it. With a little bit of water, she noticed a small difference in the plants disposition, it sat up taller, and straighter. Someone believed it had enough of a chance to pot it, so it might as well try. "Nice plant, Cloth-Girl." She heard a familiar voice call out, and narrowed her eyes. "Well look. If it isn't Mr. Non-Original himself." She scowled. Was that the best she could do? Honestly. She was losing the small touch that she had. "Why don't you hack it up and put it in the compost pile. That thing won't last a week." Velvet looked at him indignantly, "Well I'll show you. My plant'll live. You just watch. And plus, I'd rather have a plant that grows well on it's own than feeding it steroids." She commented, pointing to the now half empty jar of "QuickTaGrow" that was directly in front of Ward's pot. "Oh shutup." She mumbled, and turned away from her. "You may remove your gloves now." Professor Sprout said, "Deposit them into this box, and you may leave for your next class."
Alas. One more class, and then half an hour break for lunch.
Next class on the agenda, was potions. The class all Gryffindors had been dreading. Dun dun dunnnnnn. This would be quite interesting. The twenty students |Once more joined by Slytherin| entered the dank, dark room that was Professor Snape's class. Standing in front of the class, was a tall, scary man with a huge nose, and hair that looked like someone had taken motor oil and washed his hair with it. Eeeew! She shuddered, "I." He paused for added drama, "Am Professor Snape. I am your Potions Master, and you will respect and obey me. You must listen, for I will not tolerate mistakes in my class. Do you understand?" No one said a word. "That was NOT a rhetorical question." Ooooh. Now the students got it, a few mumbled "Yes's" and some people nodded their heads. "You will call me Sir, and Professor at ALL times." Professor Snape then returned to sit behind his desk, pulling out a roll of parchment, and looked at students, one by one. He called out students to sit next to each other at the tables, setting a Gryffindor next to a Slytherin, much to the dismay of the four roommates. "Huntington, Thorne. First desk. Center row." Velvet sighed, and moved her things to the front desk in the center, and Ward Huntington the Third sat down next to her. "Not you!" They chorused, and looked at Professor Snape. "Professor this is unfair!" Ward argued, "I can't sit next to him! He's a prat!" Velvet nodded, looking at Professor Snape with a pained expression. "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Looks like both of you could learn a lesson in common courtesy. So you WILL sit together." The two looked at each other skeptically, and sighed, plopping down. Jennifer got paired up with a girl named Lucy and sat in the row over, but two seats back. Christie was paired up with another girl named Tarinn, and was put in the same row as Velvet, but four three seats behind, and Ginny was paired up with a boy named Jason, and was placed in the very back row. The rest of the class was extremely boring. Ward and Velvet spent half the time kicking each other under the desk, and by the end of class, Velvet had received several bruises from the sharp heel of Ward's boots, and the boy had an equal amount of battle scars on his shins. Professor Snape adjourned the class, and told them he would explain about the fundamentals of potion making the next day. "Great." Muttered Velvet as she, Ginny, Christie, and Jennifer left the dungeons. "Another boring class of being abused-"She was cut-off "And abusive." Christie added, giggling. "And abusive.." Velvet added, "It's going to be terrible." The other three girls nodded in agreement.
Lunch went alright. Velvet couldn't help but notice that Ginny wasn't eating. She was writing in that little book AGAIN. What could she possibly have needed to write about since that morning? Nothing interesting happened.
The rest of the day went well, boring. But well nonetheless. Homework was light for the first day, but History of Magic and Charms weren't the most exciting class. Defense Against the Dark Arts though, was truly an interesting experience. Professor Gilderoy Lockhart must have been THE most self-centered prat she had EVER encountered in her entire eleven years of existence. He made them take a quiz on him. Such as "What his favorite color was" and "Name the Thirteen Books That Have Been Published About Me". Honestly. Ginny and Velvet sat together, and Christie and Jennifer sat behind them. "Mum fancies Lockhart." Ginny said, giggling. "Can't see why though. I doubt he's ever fallen in love with anything other than a mirror." "Indeed." Velvet agreed, grinning up at the blond man.
The first day at Hogwarts came to an end at dinner time, where the girls giggled and talked, and ate. And Velvet had the chance to meet THE Harry Potter, the one Ginny had talked about for half an hour straight.. Some. Time. oO; Yeah.
The girls all trudged up to the dormitories, and Ginny, Velvet, Christie, and Jennifer all got ready for bed. Yawning, they crawled into their beds, Velvet looked over to Ginny's bed. The curtains were drawn, and her wand tip was lit, casting the shadow of the girl across the scarlet curtain. She was hunched over that little diary again, and giggled once or twice. "Ginny. What ARE you doing?" Velvet asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing, Velvet. Just. Writing, that's all." Velvet shook her head, and made a mental note to find some way to get the diary, and read it. Just to see what was so interesting about it that made Ginny want to write in it twenty- four-seven. "Goodnight." Velvet called, and she received two replies. Shaking her head, she leaned over, and blew out the oil lamp next to her bed, before drawing the curtains, and falling asleep.
During the night. A dream pierced Velvet's mind. It was like she was seeing it through someone else's eyes. Her father's eyes. She looked out of the brown hued eyes at a woman with dark blonde hair lying in a hospital room bed, a baby with a tuft of dark hair on her head, and blue eyes. "Let's call her Velvet, Thomas." The woman said, and "Thomas" nodded. "It's a perfect name, Claire." Flashforward. The man stood there, "Claire. Please stay! For Velvet's sake!" The woman, now around 4 years older, shook her head. "No Thomas. Things just AREN'T working out!" She grabbed her suitcase, and walked out of the house. Flashforward "Now Velvet. You are going to live with Grandmother and Grandfather." A small girl with shoulder- length dark hair looked up at the man with wide eyes. "But where are you going, father?" She asked, "I. I am going away." He said, tears leaked from his eyes as he looked down at his daughter. Everytime he looked at her he felt like he was stabbed in the chest, she looked so much like her mother, and he just couldn't stand it anymore. "Now when I leave, you knock on the door, and wait for someone to answer. Stay here until Grandmother or Grandfather comes to the door." He said, and hugged her tightly as he cried. "I love you, Velvet. Remember that, sweetie." He kissed her gently on the forehead, and walked back to his car, sighing heavily, and got in, turning the ignition, and pulling out of the driveway. Flashfoward. Ten minutes later. Thomas Thorne stood in his living room, a pistol in his hand. He had left no note, just the few words to his daughter that he loved her. He sighed, took a breath, and pulled the trigger. Black. Everything went black.
