Early the next morning, before breakfast, Draco and Nat were tapping a bit hesitantly on the door to Professor Snape's room

Nat Sue
Chapter 3

Early the next morning, before breakfast, Draco and Nat were tapping a bit hesitantly on the door to Professor Snape's room. 'Maybe he's gone up to breakfast already?' Suggested Nat after Draco had been knocking for a solid three minutes. 'No, I seriously doubt that.' Stated Draco, continuing to knock. 'Then you must not be knocking loud enough!' Said Nat, before pounding the door with her fist three times. 'Do you want to make him mad?!' Draco exclaimed. Before Nat could reply, the door opened and a very bedraggled looking Snape glared out at them. 'What do you want?' Demanded Snape in a threatening tone. Nat took a step back, but Draco held his ground and said quite calmly: 'We need to see the Headmaster, but we don't know the password.' Snape arched an eyebrow; didn't Draco hate Dumbledore? 'Why do you want to see him?' Snape inquired. 'Nat needs to talk to him about something… Nat has a… condition… that Dumbledore needs to be aware of, as do all the professors…' Snape narrowed his eyes; obviously these two were up to something. Why was Draco now helping Nat after getting into a fistfight with her the night before? 'Well, if all the professors need to be aware of this… condition… then why don't you go ahead and tell me what it is?' Draco swallowed; he now seemed a bit nervous, how was he going to explain this to Snape? Draco took a deep breath and plunged into his explanation.

Fifteen minutes later found Draco and Nat outside Dumbledore's office. They had gotten the password from Snape after much insisting that Nat's old school had also made this exception, and it really was important that Hogwarts did as well. 'Why don't you come with me? It's your damn idea anyhow!' Nat protested as Draco physically pushed her towards the door.

'Because, it's YOUR problem… You have to be the one to tell him or he'll catch on that it's a prank!'

'But I don't want… It was your idea!'

'But YOU have to go along with it. Otherwise no one in Slytherin will accept you, stupid Mudblood…'

'Hey! At least I'm not a jerk like you are!'

Draco finished pushing her towards the door, and even knocked for her, before jogging off down the steps. Nat was about to follow him, there was no way she wanted to do this, but the door opened and there stood the headmaster. No escaping now…

'Good morning, Nat. Something you want to talk to me about?'

'Uhm… Yes... I…'

'Oh, come in, don't stand out there.'

Nat stepped into Dumbledore's office, where he gestured for her to take a seat by his desk, before seating himself on the other side. 'So, sleep well?' Dumbledore asked.

'Actually, I haven't slept yet.'

'Oh? Why not?'

'Well, I don't normally go to bed until about two in the morning my time… Which is in about an hour… So like, I figured that if I stay up all day, I'll be able to get on a proper sleeping schedule over here.'

'That makes sense, don't fall asleep during classes if you can help it though.' Said Dumbledore with a smile. Nat grinned back a little, but was feeling nervous about the real reason she was here. Was it right to lie to the headmaster? He seemed like a nice guy… But Draco would surely make her life a living hell if she didn't go along with his plan.

As if sensing her uneasiness, Dumbledore began: 'So, what was your reason for coming to my office so early in the morning? Not that I mind, I've been up for quite a while already, I'm just not used to students coming by at this hour.' Nat chewed her bottom lip, how was she going to start this? 'I uhm… You see… I was wondering if… Damn… I'm not sure how to phrase this…' Dumbledore smiled encouragingly, whatever Nat was trying to say must be important, although embarrassing as well. Somehow, Dumbledore smiling made Nat want to pull this prank. Besides for a few minor details, it really would be fun. Nat made herself blush and look as embarrassed as possible before continuing. 'Uhm… So like… I would really… really… uhm… appreciate it if… you and the professors… uhm…'

Nat paused for effect, looking around nervously, and making sure she didn't make eye contact with Dumbledore. 'If you all didn't… use… gender specific terms… when addressing me…' Nat glanced up at Dumbledore, who was looking at her questioningly. 'Why don't you want us to use gender specific terms?' Nat almost fell out of her chair. She hadn't thought that she would have to give him an explanation. 'I uh…' It was then Nat realized Dumbledore was playing with her. Oh damn, he doesn't know I'm pulling a prank, does he? Nat felt a bit of panic rising up in her chest.

'It's alright,' stated Dumbledore, 'I had a feeling you might make a special request about something like this when I first saw you.' Nat almost fell out of her chair, What?! Do I really look that much like a guy?! Nat forced herself to smile in appreciation. 'Thank you,' Dumbledore smiled back at her, but the twinkle in his blue eyes made Nat feel a bit uneasy. Was he on to her? 'Not a problem. I'll be sure to inform all the professors.' Said Dumbledore. 'Now, breakfast will be starting shortly, why don't you go catch up with your house?' Nat nodded and skipped towards the door. 'Oh, and Nat?' Nat turned back towards Dumbledore, 'Try to stay awake.' Said Dumbledore with a grin.

+++

Nat hopped into the great hall on one foot. On a whim she decided to hop on one foot all day, just for fun, or just to annoy people. Hopping over to the Slytherin table, while holding her robe up a few inches so not to trip on it, she spotted Draco making one of the other Slytherins move so that she could sit next to him. Hopping to her place at the table she sat down next to Draco, and jabbed him with her elbow in the process.

'Ouch, why'd you do that?' Draco demanded. 'Because of the pink ponies!' said Nat ecstatically. 'You have mental problems…' began Draco. 'Yup!' Nat exclaimed a bit too loudly, as all the other tables looked over. 'Oops…' Said Nat more quietly. 'So how did it go?' Asked Draco in a whisper. 'Well, I think… He said he expected me to make a similar request… What did he mean by that?!' Draco smirked but didn't answer. Nat leaned back in her chair and watched the head table where Dumbledore was talking to the rest of the teachers. Nat smirked, nudged Draco, and gestured towards the table. Draco nodded, smirking, and turned to the breakfast that had appeared on the table.

+++

Several hours later found Nat hopping very slowly towards her next class: Care of Magical Creatures. Nat was certain that this was going to be one class that she despised, the reasons being that Hagrid, that big oaf was teaching it, and that it was outdoors. Outdoors?! Unheard of. Nat hated being outside unless it was raining or night, and currently it was neither. Nat could see the group of students already gathered near the back of Hagrid's hut. Hopping a bit faster, Nat made her way over to them. Her leg was really starting to hurt, but she'd already annoyed several people by hopping, so she had to keep it up. She was also very tired, she had now been awake for almost thirty hours, and normally she slept quite a lot. Finally reaching the rest of the students, she stopped hopping and stood next to Draco. 'What are we doing?' Nat whispered in Draco's ear. 'Shh, you'll see,' came the reply. Nat half-listened, half-dozed through whatever Hagrid was going on about. She could barely understand his dumb accent anyway, so what difference did it make? The next thing Nat knew, Draco was poking her in the ribs trying to get her to wake up, she'd evidently fallen asleep standing up. 'Hey, stupid, we're getting paired up.' Draco told her. 'Oh, right… What?' Draco rolled his eyes, 'We're paired up with the bloody Gryffindors. What Hagrid is thinking, I don't know, he's an idiot.' Nat rubbed her eyes, 'What's wrong with being paired with Gryffindors?' Draco shot her a look of disgust, then pushed her into line as Hagrid began pairing the houses up up.

Nat snoozed until she heard her name called. She was being paired with some girl with some freakish name. Nat began to hop over, but Draco grabbed her by the shoulder. 'This is perfect!' he hissed in her ear. 'Try and get to be friends with her. Talk about being Muggle-born and shit like that!' Nat started to ask why, but Draco's name was called and he sauntered off to join a boy named Seamus, looking very ticked at the whole thing. Nat continued towards a girl with frizzy brown hair, forgetting to hop as she did so.

'Yellow,' greeted Nat lazily as she stopped in front of the girl. 'Hello,' the girl replied not looking too thrilled about the pairing. Nat rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake. 'I'm Hermione,' the other girl said after a pause. 'You're what?' Nat asked, 'Hermione.' The girl replied. 'Uhm… Is that, like, a real name? Or some kind of impairment?' Hermione frowned before replying, 'Yes, it is a real name.' Nat raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. 'So you're Nat, right?' Hermione inquired. Nat nodded. At that time Hagrid said loudly: 'Arright, now yeh' c'n see t' yer critters. Now mind yeh' are careful!' Nat looked around, 'What 'critters'? And why is Draco so upset about being paired up with you guys? And why are we paired up with you guys anyhow? And what ever happened to the rabbits? Do you have any magic white powder on you?' Hermione opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again as she wasn't sure which question to answer first. She did this twice more before she began: 'The Slytherins and Gryffindors have always been rivals, and pretty much hate each other. But Hagrid paired us together because the creatures we're looking after today must be taken care of by two people who don't like each other. You see, they thrive on the negative energy coming from the people; it's their food source in a way. If the people like each other and there's positive energy between them, the yazlews will wither and die. The yazlews being the creatures we're taking care of… And no, I don't have magic white powder; you shouldn't do drugs they're bad for you. What rabbits? Are you asleep? Uhm…' Hermione prodded Nat in the ribs. Nat jerked her head up, 'Oh, right, no white powder, rabbits… yes. Okay.' Hermione sighed and walked off towards a pen. Nat followed slowly, wishing she could curl up and sleep somewhere.

Nat leaned over the fence and poked the creature with a stick. It was a slimy, yellow creature, about the size of a cat, but walked on short, claw-like legs, and rather resembled a slug. It had antennas, which it kept waving about, as slime dripped from them. It didn't have any eyes, that Nat could see anyway, and was, in Nat's opinion, the most disgusting thing she had ever seen, short of that porno site she had ended up at by typing in a URL wrong. 'Don't do that!' Hermione hissed, trying to take the stick away from Nat. 'Why not?' Nat demanded, she was getting a migraine, the outdoors did not agree with her, and she was dead tired. 'Because you'll hurt it!' Hermione said, glaring. 'Who the hell cares? It's a gay-ass creature that is so disgusting it shouldn't be allowed to live!' Nat declared a bit too loudly, for all the other pairs turned to look at her, as did Hagrid. Draco glared at Nat, if she didn't become friends with Hermione; his plan was going to be ruined. But Nat wasn't paying attention to anyone; she just wanted everyone to shut up so she could sleep.

Hermione had gotten a leash on the yazlew, and was walking it around, with Nat slowly hopping along behind. Nat was nearly asleep, and didn't notice where she was going until she bumped right into Vincent Crabbe. Without thinking, Vincent turned and slugged Nat as hard as he could in the stomach. Being nearly twice her size, he easily knocked her flat on her back, and Nat had the wind knocked out of her. Trying to catch her breath, Nat was now fully awake, and furious. As soon as she could breath she pounced on Crabbe, catching him off guard and knocking him to the ground. Once she had Crabbe on the ground, she kneed him hard in the stomach, and gave him her best left-hook in the jaw. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Goyle rushed over and pushed Nat roughly off Crabbe before punching her across the face. Nat wiped the blood that was now all but flowing from her nose, and gave Goyle a swift kick right where it counted. Unfortunately for Nat, Crabbe was now back on his feet, and after her again. A crowd of both Slytherins and Gryffindors were gathered around Nat, Crabbe, and Goyle, chanting 'Fight! Fight!' over and over.

Nat wondered offhandedly where Hagrid was, and if he was going to break up their fight before she caused any real damage. Draco was pushing through the crowd trying to reach Nat; it did him no good if Nat and his flunkies hated each other. Nat picked a rock up off the ground and threw it at Crabbe, nailing him dead between the eyes with it. Crabbe fell backwards, holding his head, and the crowd quickly back-stepped to avoid being crushed by him. Draco reached the center of the circle and tried to hold back Goyle, who was getting up again to go after Nat, with no success. 'Goyle! Stop it!' Draco yelled as his flunky. Goyle ignored him and grabbed Nat, pinning her to the ground. Nat was in trouble now, although she was faster and smarter than both Crabbe and Goyle, she was no match for their strength. Nat wriggled under Goyle, trying to get free. She was vaguely aware of Draco screaming for them to stop, but was thinking of a way to get out of Goyle's grasp. Gathering both mucus and saliva in her mouth, she spit in Goyle's face, hitting him in the eye. Many of the girls watching screeched at this gross tactic, but a few of the guys applauded. Now that Goyle was distracted, Nat was able to wriggle out from under him and as soon as she was standing she gave him a good kick in the head, knocking him unconscious. Standing amidst both Crabbe and Goyle's unconscious forms, Nat smirked and straightened her robes.

'What the hell?! Nat, what in the fucking hell were you fighting with them about?!' Draco exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. Being shaken hurt like hell, Nat seemed to be more injured than she had thought and Draco wasn't helping any. Not to mention the fact he was yelling at her, which would have pissed her off if she had been having a good day, which she wasn't right now. 'Shut the fuck up!' Nat yelled back at him, before punching him across the jaw. This infuriated Draco, and he nailed her back as hard as he could, causing her to take several steps back. The crowd resumed their chant of 'Fight! Fight!' Nat threw herself at Draco, tackling him to the ground, where she pinned him and punched him repeatedly. Draco brought his knee up and kneed her in the stomach, knocking her off of him. He then pinned her to the ground and punched her until she reached up and grabbed his hair and pulled him off her. Pretty soon, Nat and Draco were just a ball of black robes as they rolled around, hitting and clawing at each other.

Hermione was beginning to panic; they were really going to hurt each other if they weren't stopped soon. Sure she didn't like Draco, and Nat didn't seem to be a person she would ever want to hang out with, but she couldn't just let them kill each other. Where was Hagrid? Hermione dragged her yazlew back to the pen and shoved it inside, frantically scanning Hogwarts grounds for Hagrid. Where…? He wouldn't just leave during a lesson! Where is he?! Then Hermione spotted him, he was quite a ways off, with Lavender and Pansy whose yazlew had run off towards the whomping willow. Hermione took off towards him, running as fast as she could. She hoped she could get him to break up the fight before anyone died.

Normally Nat enjoyed a good fistfight, but fighting Crabbe and Goyle had taken its toll on her, and she was having trouble keeping up with Draco. She got a few good punches in, but was losing the fight. I will not lose to a stuck up albino ferret! Nat thought angrily, hitting Draco in the left eye. Draco retaliated by whacking Nat's head repeatedly against the ground. Nat flipped over abruptly, putting Draco underneath her. Going for his neck with her fingernails, she clawed at him, resembling a rabid animal. Draco flipped them over onto their sides, Nat continued clawing, but it wasn't doing a lot of good, so she started biting instead. Shortly after getting a good bite in on Draco's neck, Nat was yanked one way, and Draco the other, and they were both held up, about two feet off the ground, by the backs of their robes. 'Wha' are yeh' fighin' 'bout now?!' Hagrid demanded as he held the two apart. Neither Draco nor Nat answered, they were both struggling to get out of Hagrid's hold and reach each other. 'Ron, go geht Pomfrey. 'Arry, you an' 'Ermione go geht the 'eadmaster and Snape.' Hagrid said, turning towards three of the Gryffindor students, who quickly headed towards the castle following Hagrid's orders. 'The rest of yeh 'ed back t' yer common room. Class is dismissed.'  The rest of the students reluctantly filed towards the castle.

Hagrid was still holding Draco and Nat up by the robes when Madame Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Snape, Harry, Ron, and Hermione reached him. 'Oh my! What happened?!' Exclaimed Pomfrey as she bent down to check on the unconscious Crabbe and Goyle. 'These two were fightin' agin'.' Hagrid said grimly setting Nat and Draco on the ground, but not letting go of their robes. Nat was wiping at her bloody nose and spitting blood on the ground; while Draco had one hand cupped over his left eye, and his other hand clutching at his ribs. Madame Pomfrey summoned some stretchers and got Crabbe and Goyle moved onto them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were watching Nat and Draco with interest. Why did they hate each other so much? They were both Slytherins, it just didn't make any sense. Nat was trying to avoid meeting Dumbledore's eyes, she almost felt bad for fighting, even if it hadn't been she that had started it. Draco was likewise trying to avoid meeting Snape's eyes; his head of house could be quite harsh, although he usually favored Draco. Dumbledore sighed, and then turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. 'You three head to your next class. Thank you for getting me.' The three nodded and headed off towards the castle, talking excitedly about Draco getting the hell beat out of him and Nat not being afraid to fight both Crabbe and Goyle, without magic of any kind. Dumbledore turned back to Nat and Draco, 'Now, what am I going to do with you two?'

Note: Well, that chapter wasn't all that funny, I know. But I had to set some stuff up. Next chapter is either potions or transfiguration, I haven't decided yet… Those will be a lot funnier. Uhm, okay, is Draco OOC? And I don't think I have Hagrid's accent right… Help? Also, did I get the name of Hagrid's class right? I feel so blonde… I couldn't find it in the books, so I'm not sure if I got it right or not… How am I doing on Dumbledore's personality? This is the first time I've tried writing a lot of these characters, and I'd like them to stay in character, with Nat being the only real nutcase. How am I doing? Please, please, please, let me know if I need to change anything! Thank you to my lovely reviewers and the three people that have this fic on their favorites list. *Huge hug* Please feel free to criticize anything you don't think works too well in this fic. Just no flames if you can help it. ^_^ Thanks!

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. If I owned them, the series would be called 'Severus Snape'. I own Nat and the yazlews (stupid name, I know). Please don't use either elsewhere without my permission. Do not consume alcoholic beverages or magic white powder while reading this fic.