Author Notes:
Well, haven't updated in quite awhile… Everyone that was eager to read how the story will progress, thank Kapricia for holding a gun to my head (well, not really, but I seriously felt threatened by her review).
As for excuses, let me think of some. Well, I've been busy with university (being busy with obligated stuff sucks).
I've also been busy with creating a yearbook myself with a team. This takes a lot of time, but the end result is so worth it. Nothing better than seeing something you contributed highly to coming oud in solid, hardcover book format. But it's a yearbook, so only available to peeps in my… what's the English word… study-society (closest translation I can come up with).
And lastly, I've been in an emotional rut for too long (I'm still in it, but recovering. Alas, the price we pay for love!). Emotional ruts are not conducive to writing or doing fun stuff at all.
Anyway, on to my new chapter. It's a pretty unoriginal 'meet the new friends'-chapter, so bear with me. Review replies at the bottom.
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Chapter 8: More people to be met…
After being sorted, Gabriel walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Gloria.
"Hi, Gloria," he said. "guess I'll be joining you then in Gryffindor."
"Yup, it'll be nice, you'll see."
But before they both got another word out, a blond girl that was sitting next to Gloria reached out in front of her and extended her hand. Gabriel recognized her as the girl who had grabbed Gloria for questions when she tried to greet him during his entrance.
"Hi," she greeted happily. "welcome to Gryffindor. My name is Tina Heston."
"I'm Gabriel Rayon," Gabriel answered akwardly, taken a bit aback at her enthusiasm.
"Oh, I know," she responded. "I mean, we al heard about a transfer student attending before we even started this year. And we al heard your name when you were sorted."
"I guess I'm being a bit conspicuous then?"
"Yup, though I was surprised that Gloria already met you." She looked at Gloria with a grin on her face. "You'd think that after all the time we've known each other, she'd tell me if she met nice people. I mean, friends are supposed to share, aren't they?"
Gloria blushed at the implication that she had wanted to keep Gabriel to herself. Gabriel found the situation rather amusing, already liking Tina. She obviously was the type of person that you do not feed too much sugar, lest they do irreparable damage to themselves and their environment. But Gabriel thought it was a bit mean to tease Gloria like that, so he cut in to explain.
"I met her while shopping in Diagon Alley for my books. She told me that badmouthing Snape would be a bad idea as he's a professor here."
This time, Gloria felt inclined to talk along as well, as they were now on safe territory. Safe being everything besides Gloria's taste in boys.
"Snape is the one you see sitting at the left side of the Head Table. The one with sullen look and the extremely greasy h…"
Gloria was interrupted because Dumbledore stood up again and addressed the students with a clear, though strong voice.
"Now, I have to bore you all with the necessary announcements before we start with the banquet. First of all, every student is forbidden to enter the Forbidden Forest without proper teacher supervision. Anyone feeling foolish enough to test the wisdom of this, might find himself going home in a casket."
The students shivered a bit at this, though they were obviously used to the Headmaster addressing this matter that way.
"Also, our caretaker, Mr. Hogge, wants me to tell you all that on that Face-eaters, Soaking Flowers and Mini-trips are now added on the list of items forbidden within the corridors. If any students want to review the entire list, I suggest that you seek him out in his office and ask him about it."
Dumbledore now paused a little to let the children moan at the fact that another few of their favorite toys have been blacklisted by their uptight caretaker.
"And lastly, as most of you know, Professor Mandelin has retired from his teaching position at Hogwarts, having accepted a position at the Ministry of Magic. I'm sure we wish him all good luck on his new job. To fill the empty position in our staff, I have accepted Ms. Sankeur's application. She will henceforth teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts-class." The Headmaster turned to the women sitting next to Professor Snape and asked her, "Ms. Sankeur, if you would be so kind to give a few words at the beginning of your employment here at Hogwarts?"
"Certainly, Headmaster," said Ms. Sankeur.
She stood up and waited for a little while until the excited murmurings from the students would quiet. Meanwhile Gabriel took a good look at this teacher. She looked young, just over twenty years old. She had a rather pale face and flaming red hair that reminded him a little of Julia. Instead of the usual teaching robes, she wore a red robe that fitted nicely around her upper body, being more like a dress than a robe. She also wore a black cape, giving her a very mysterious and eerie air. Around her neck a necklace could just be seen, glinting when the light caught it.
Now that most students had taken a good look at her, she addressed them in a clear voice that carried over the entire hall.
"I'll refrain from introductions, since the Headmaster has already mentioned my name. I'd like to say that I am delighted to be your new teacher and that I'm sure that we'll get along in my classes."
At this there was an applause from the students, as was customary when a new teacher arrived. After Sankeur sat down again, the applause quieted down and Dumbledore again addressed the student body.
"And now, let the feast begin!"
Two things happened at that moment. The first was the one that everyone expected, save for Gabriel. All the plates on the table were suddenly laden with plentiful and delicious dishes from which the students could eat their hearts delight until they could eat no more.
The second was that Gabriel's very sensitive nose received a battery of tantalising but nonetheless very strong scents of the aforementioned delicious food. He felt his stomach rising up to his throat and quickly clasped both his mouth and his nose in his hands in an effort to avoid hurling. Noticing that that didn't work all too well, he resorted to more extreme measures. The extreme right now being banging his head against the table in an effort to cause enough pain so he could concentrate on that instead of his stomach.
It worked, though his sickness was now replaced with a very steady and extremely painful headache. Oh well, nothing a quick spell couldn't fix. Muttering a small pain relieving spell under his breath he took care of his headache and focused again on what was happening around him.
Gloria and Tina were both looking at him oddly, Gloria looking rather worried and Tina as if he had grown a separate head. He noticed he had drawn the attention of a lot of other students as well.
"What happened to you?" Gloria asked. "Are you sick?"
"You're not some crazy psycho, are you?" asked Tina.
Both Gloria and Gabriel glared at her, before Gabriel got to explaining why exactly he had been attempting to split his head on the table.
"Sorry about that. I've got a sensitive nose and the food suddenly appearing surprised me. I thought I was going to hurl." Gabriel saw Tina drawing a look of disgust on her face. "So I banged my head to concentrate on something else than my stomach."
"Oh." Gloria said simply.
"You're weird." Tina concluded.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Gabriel smiled.
"But you're okay now?" Gloria asked.
"Yeah, I'll manage. Now, I'll grab some of this food."
And with that, the three fourth-years started to gather food on their plates. Gabriel mostly piled as much meat as he could fit on his, accompanied by some salad and potatoes. After munching through the first two chicken fillets he looked at the Head Table again. Seeing as he didn't about most of the teachers, he turned to Gloria and asked her about it.
"Ah, I'll show you who they are. There's Dumbledore in the middle, but you already know him and Professor Granger. Then there's Professor Flitwick, the small one, our Charms teacher and Professor Sprout, she's the Herbology teacher. Next to them is Professor Vectra and Trelawney. They're our Astrology and Divination teachers. Professor Sinistra is over there, that's the Arithmancy teacher. There's also Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher. You'll remember who he is, even if he won't do the same thing about you."
Gabriel nodded, trying to take in all the names. It wouldn't do to run into embarrassing problems because he couldn't remember his teachers. Meanwhile, Gloria continued her introduction of all the teachers.
"Professor Snape is sitting on that far end of the table, next to Ms. Sankeur. You know, he's who I warned you about not badmouthing his book within his hearing range. And next to Ms. Sankeur is Professor Hagrid. He's our Care of Magical Creatures-teacher. You know, I wonder what kind of teacher Ms. Sankeur is going to be. She seems awfully young to be teaching DADA, she can't be older than twenty-five."
The boy on the other side of the table, opposite to Gabriel piped in.
"I at least hope she's going to be a change of pace from Mandelin," he said.
"Come now," responded Gloria. "Professor Mandelin was an excellent DADA teacher."
"True, but he always went on about the same subjects. I mean, there's only so much dark potions and minor dark spells you can defend yourself against. He never taught about the more serious stuff, like Unforgivables or Dark Creatures."
The boy had short, black hair. A bit on the scrawny side, he still managed an air of confidence. Clearly he was comfortable with who he was and that he was quite happy to stay that way. His brown eyes were the only thing that were different in their demeanor, betraying a hint of curiosity that wouldn't easily be satisfied. He extended his hand over the table and Gabriel took it.
"My name is John Diggory, pleased to meet you, Gabriel Rayon." He said, shaking Gabriel's hand in greeting.
"Seems like I won't be able to tell anyone my name. They all know it already."
"And if they don't, they'll soon know you as the New-kid-that-bangs-his-head-on-the-table. Quite a show you gave there."
"Heh, not something I plan on doing often."
"You shouldn't. They'd brand you a madman, if they haven't already."
Gabriel once again began to eat his dinner again. He talked with John, Tina and Gloria throughout the rest of the meal and found them fun to talk to. They chatted about lots of things, mostly to do with Hogwarts and how things worked around the place. John asked Gabriel if he was going to try out for the Quidditch team, but Gabriel declined promptly, preferring to stay on solid ground.
Somewhere through the eating and the conversation, Gabriel couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He looked around, but found that none of the students was looking directly at him, though he noticed that Helena turned away as soon as he set eyes on her. Apparently she had been watching him and Gabriel found himself smiling at the thought. But still there were eyes on him and he couldn't shake the feeling of unease… somehow it made his skin prickle and put him on edge.
Turning his eyes on the Head Table, he found the source of his discomfort. Professor Sankeur was looking at him intently, not even bothering to hide it from him. Gabriel had the sudden feeling of being turned over and around in her hands, being assessed as to how she should handle him. He shivered.
"Are you okay?" Gloria's voice broke through Gabriel's experience.
Apparently Sankeur noticed, because she turned to Snape again and tried to engage him in conversation, while he seemed much more interested in his food and was pointedly ignoring her.
"I'm okay, just got caught in a thought." Gabriel turned back to the conversation that Gloria, Tina and John were having.
The rest of the meal passed quickly and it was time for the students to go their respective dormitories. Gabriel followed his three companions to the Gryffindor Tower, until they arrived at a large portrait of a fat lady. The lady in question was eyeing them tiredly, while sipping some tea at her table.
"Did any of you three catch the password?" asked John.
"No, I forgot to ask one of the prefects." replied Tina, looking slightly crestfallen.
Gloria just shrugged and said: "Honestly, you both are incorrigible. Good thing I caught it before we left the Grand Hall. Courage."
The portrait swung open and the foursome walked inside. Gabriel was pleasantly surprised by the Common Room. There were several comfy couches and chairs to sit on and the carpet was plush, it's warm red and gold pattern looking inviting to just lay down on if the chairs all managed to be occupied.
The fire roaring in the fireplace made sure that the room was warm. There was also big round tables with several normal chairs, so students could sit together and either play games or do their homework. Now, most of the seats were occupied by students that had arrived earlier. Gabriel was tired now and yawned.
"Tired, mate?" asked John amiably.
"Yup, can't wait to turn in. Too much stuff happening in one day for my taste, though I don't regret anything yet." replied Gabriel.
"That's good. I'm feeling rather tired as well. All that good food settles heavily on the stomach. And what about you two ladies?"
Gloria raised an eyebrow and Tina smirked slightly.
"We're ladies now? Just last year we were no more than girls," said Tina. "Why the sudden change?"
John blushed a little. Obviously he hadn't even noticed that he had called them 'ladies'. Gabriel smiled, seeing John at a loss for words was amusing. Even so, he was tired and opted to save him.
"Just raging hormones, I'm sure," said Gabriel, think that saving him did not necessarily include keeping his pride intact. "Come on, I'm tired. I'll see you two ladies tomorrow?"
"Yeah," said Gloria. "We'll be up and about tomorrow. And don't forget John, we've got DADA first thing."
"Okay, okay. I only overslept once on the first day," whined John. "no need to keep badgering me about it."
"Goodnight, Gabriel."
Tina waved at him, before going up the stairs of the girl's dormitory. Gloria wished the boys goodnight also and left to join Tina. John just shrugged and nodded to Gabriel to come up with him to their own dormitory. It wouldn't have been hard to find anyway. Above all the dormitories hung big, bronze plaques with the year and the gender of the occupants.
When Gabriel entered the dormitory, he was glad to see his trunk was already placed next to his four-poster bed. He had actually wanted to write Rachel and Julia a letter, but tiredness quickly beat him into submission and drove him off to his bed. He gave his goodnights to John and a nod to the rest of the fourth-years that already were there, chatting or getting ready to sleep themselves. Merely removing his robe and upper clothes, he crawled under the covers, drew the heavy curtains to drown out most of the sound around him and fell into a deep sleep.
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Review replies:
Wow, I got a freaking 9 reviews this time around. Admittedly, one reviewer reviewed three times, but still, it's kinda nice to see your inbox explode with review alerts all of the sudden. Especially when you think you keep being pushed down to page 10 whenever you update ^^;;
Kapricia: Well, I have you to thank for finally posting this chapter. It's been sitting on my laptop for a month now, but now it'll be on the internet forever! And thanks for finding my story original, let's see if you still think so after I write some more (I'm easily influenced by stuff I like). Anashek: Well, I think I encountered some of your evil monkeys… but they were quickly banished by the people I usually hang out with, since they're scarier. Anyway, the answer is no. Gabriel is not able to see Thestrals because he was born while the mother was dieing. With a canon-reference, Harry couldn't see Thestrals either, even though he was physically there when his mother died (no explanation for this… I'm counting on him not actually seeing his mother die, but only seeing the green flash). Gabriel's reason for seeing Thestrals should be rather easy to figure out, but it's not because he's seen or experienced Death. Shadow67: Thanks for the vote of confidence. Hope you like the new chapter, even though it's unoriginal. Crystal Lighting: Thanks for the encouragement. Later than I hoped, but it has arrived. Enjoy! Ash17290: I know the curse is rather confusing. I haven't figured out all of the finer details, but it'll make more sense (or not) later on in the story. But remember, nothing like Gabriel has happened before, so the curse is not something common or logical. Nalia: Three reviews? Well, I hope you read the rest of my chapters as well, since you stopped reviewing after chappie 3. Hope to see you back and enjoy!Also, review please.