Author's notes:

Okay, here's chappy 9. This chapter immediately displays my weakest point in writing. I really lack the ability to just sit down and plan my character ahead of time. You'll see that in the new characters I'll be introducing now. Apart from that, I like this chapter. Enemies are fun to introduce, even though it's very hard. Especially if you don't want it to be a too stereotypical enemy. Let's hope I succeeded.

Read on!

Chapter 9: In every life there are enemies…

Gabriel woke up well before the others boys in his dorm. Seeing on his watch that is was still two hours before the beginning to the first class, he rummaged about quietly. He quickly picked out some fresh jeans and a clean, blue t-shirt and donned his school robes over them. He grabbed the books he needed and dropped them unceremoniously in his bag. Grabbing a quill and some extra papers, he headed down to the common room and wasn't surprised to find that is was quite empty.

The fireplace was still burning, no doubt by magic, but the fire was low, as not to heat the place up too much. Too much warmth was never a nice way to wake up. The place seemed a lot emptier at this time without the bustle of the students. Sitting in one of the chairs near one of the tables, Gabriel began to think about what to write his mother and best friend.

Well, arriving safely seems like as good a place to start as any. And about being sorted into Gryffindor… well, without the part about the Sorting Hat acting weird. No sense in worrying anyone when it's not necessary.

When he was about halfway through his letter, there was still hour and half to the first Defense Against the Dark Arts-class. Thinking about the person that was supposed to teach him, Gabriel shuddered. He couldn't help but remember the way she was staring at him during dinner, studying him, assessing him. It made him very uncomfortable and he hoped that it wouldn't happen during the class again.

After Gabriel just finished his letter, he noticed someone coming down from the girl's dormitories. He was greeted with the sight of Gloria coming down the stairs, still looking rather sleepily.

"Hey, Gloria." Gabriel waved to his classmate.

"Uh… good morning, Gabriel." Rubbing the last sleep from her eyes, Gloria sat down next to him at the table. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Just slept well. Didn't feel like sleeping much more, so I came down. But I'd think that people should be starting to wake up around now?"

"They are. I just have the bad habit of setting an alarm clock and waking fifteen minutes before it. But the rest of the girls are still trying to decide what to wear under their school robes."

That made Gabriel laugh. Leave it to girls to worry about stuff no one is going to notice anyone. Who was going to was what they were wearing while wearing school robes?

"Nice to see that our girly antics make you laugh, Gabriel. What were you doing right now, writing a letter?" Gloria eyed the paper and quill that still lay on the table.

"Yeah, to my mom and Julia. Didn't get a chance last night, because I was too tired, so I just decided to work on it now.

By now some more students had come down from the dormitories and were relaxing a bit before going down to breakfast. Tina and John came down after awhile and they went with Gabriel and Gloria to get some breakfast.

"Good thing the others woke me up," sighed John. "if not, I probably would've slept through the entire breakfast and first class. I was beat."

"Well, good thing you did then," replied Gabriel. "I don't think teachers will take too kindly to students not showing up on their first classes."

"Well, you should've woken me up. I mean, you had to be up and about well before the others, to be chatting with Gloria in the morning."

"I was up a good time ago, you would've hated me for waking you at that time."

The group entered the Great Hall, where the tables were already laden with all kinds of tasty food. Gabriel had had time to get used to the scent while walking, letting it enter his nose gradually, together with all the other scents of the castle and his new friends. Without the huge impact the smells had when they appeared suddenly, he could enjoy them at his leisure, his stomach growling at the thought of the food. But still, Gabriel cast a look at the magnificent ceiling the Great Hall had. The weather outside must've been great, seeing how the ceiling showed a clear blue sky with only a few puffy clouds.

"You know," Tina mentioned to Gabriel, while nibbling her way through a sandwich. "it's funny. I don't even notice the ceiling anymore. Rather odd to see someone that never saw it before."

"Well, it's a great ceiling." smiled Gabriel.

"Doesn't it make you want to skip classes right now and just lie down in the grass?" Tina asked mischievously.

"And miss our first class of the year? Shouldn't that be considered academic suicide?"

"Well yes, but it would've been fun anyway."

"Next time I'll take you up on your offer. It will be nice to do absolutely nothing with a pretty girl next to me." Gabriel gave Tina a slight wink, to which she blushed a little, but still managed to grin.

Gloria and John watched the exchange with interest. Tina had always been the more outgoing one of the group, so they're were somewhat used to her antics when it came to new people. But this seemed more like flirting than just getting to know each other more.

"Well, are all of you done with your breakfast?" asked Gloria. John quickly stuffed his last sandwich in his mouth and nodded yes.

"Yup," said Tina in a rather giddy tone. "let's see what this new DADA-professor is all about."

That was something Gabriel wanted to find out as well. Miss Sankeur made him uncomfortable.

I hope she won't make me feel that uncomfortable again. Especially not in a class. Come to think of it, I wonder what will be covered in DADA. My own tutor was a bit of a softy, so anything he taught about it was written down.

John's voice cut through Gabriel's train of thought. Apparently something that he just noticed by the classroom didn't please him at all.

"Oh great, we're together with the Slytherins again. Why is it that every year we have DADA with them?" John complained.

Among the group that was assembled before the DADA classroom, you could see about half of them wearing the green insignia that belonged to the house of snakes, clashing or complimenting with the red from the lion-insignia of Gryffindor the other students bore.

"That isn't that bad, is it?" asked Gabriel. Aside from the three bullies that he had running like little girls, he didn't think that all of them would be like that. All houses have less than amicable persons running around.

"Yes it is. They're horrible, always looking down on everyone that isn't in their house." tiraded John. "And most of them have a big problem with Muggleborns. You know that there isn't a single Muggleborn in that house?"

Now that I think about, those three are with that group as well. So is the other one that seems to be somewhat their leader. Seems like they're in my year.

Gabriel sighed. Maybe John was onto something anyway. Even if he wasn't, he was sure that he wouldn't be popular with Slytherin if those people had been spreading stories already.

"Don't mind John." Gloria said. "It's true that a lot of them aren't completely civil against Muggleborns, but they're not that bad…"

John made an extremely sour face.

"… all the time. But with John and me being Muggleborns, they give us a lot of lip. Which they really shouldn't, even I admit that. I just ignore them."

"Sounds like a real prejudiced bunch." Gabriel commented.

"You don't know the half of it." John said angrily. "And every damn year we have this class with them. Why can't we get mixed with some other House, like Hufflepuf. I wouldn't mind having them with us."

Seems like that bully-group had noticed Gabriel. The one that stayed behind last time stepped up towards him, the other two trailing behind him. Now Gabriel got a more proper look at them. There was nothing unusual about them, if you discounted the expressions they wore, which ranged from contempt to loathing and – Gabriel was glad to notice – a certain wariness. Seems like they haven't completely forgotten how their previous encounter had ended.

"So new kid," The more daring, black haired one spoke up. "didn't take you long to find the sorriest excuses of people to have as friends. First sticking up for the freaks of Hogwarts and then socializing with the mudbloods like it's nobodies business. But I guess that you couldn't be accounted for having good taste anyway."

"Stay away, Avery." Tina said, her voice being uncharacteristically cold. "we don't want any of your lip today. Can't you at least wait a few days before acting like the little rat that you are?"

"Like I would listen to a dumb broad like yourself, Lovegood. You never picked your friends well."

"Well, I can say the same to you. I mean, how do you account for having to associate with those two misfits behind you."

"At least we know what kind of people are good to hang around with. Not like those two mudbloods." One of the boys behind Avery spoke up this time.

John finally looked like he had lost his temper. Gabriel was surprised though, because he expected to have exploded before him. One thing he couldn't stand was this kind of verbal abuse about something that no one could do anything about. John grabbed his wand and pointed it at the boy behind Avery that spoke up.

"Say that again, Crabbe. I'll make you eat those words."

All three of the Slytherins had their wands trained on John, the fight being a big spectacle to those around them. The Gryffindors seemed to find it all bad, but weren't about to jump in to help them. The Slytherins looked with interest to what was about to happen and were thinking about the excuses they'd use to help their housemates out, if worst came to worst. All Slytherins except for one, namely the larger, raven-haired leader of the bothersome trio.

"Avery, Goyle, Crabbe. Stop this embarrassing display at once. They're not worth it."

The three bullies shut up. The voice had come from the larger boy that Gabriel saw with them at the Sorting. He spoke clearly, using a tone of voice that was clearly used to commanding the obedience of others. His features were well-defined, accentuated by his raven-colored hair falling down the sides of his face, making him quite good-looking.

I can nearly smell the arrogance coming from him. He exudes it. This'll be big trouble if he's looking for it.

The black-haired boy sized Gabriel up, while Gabriel did the same with him. He was determined that this ended badly, it would end badly in his favor. Moving his body ever so slightly and nearly unnoticed, he positioned himself in such a way as he had practiced since he was a kid. His martial arts-training comes in handy in situations as these.

Something in Gabriel's demeanor must've been noticed by the other boy, who now found himself staring down at someone at equal height who did not cower nor displayed embarrassing outbursts when confronted with him. His grey eyes narrowed slightly as he himself at the ready, his right hand ready to grab his wand.

"So you're the new kid, Gabriel Rayon." The boy talked with clipped tones, betraying the fact that he didn't like Gabriel at all. "My name is Angelus Malfoy."

"You know my name already," Gabriel replied. "but at least I'm not at a disadvantage anymore, now that you've told me yours."

"I'll have to say that I agree with my three friends. Your choice of companionship is abominable."

"It is? I haven't noticed yet."

"Thick-headed, it seems. And I hear you've been saving damsels in distress already. A true Gryffindor. No wonder you got sorted into that house of fools. But allow me to give you a warning, should you decide to continue the heroics. Cross me and suffer the consequences."

Both boys glared at each other for a few more seconds, words no longer needed to show how much they loathed each other.

"Mister Rayon and mister Malfoy, detention for both of you if you wish to persist in this display."

Reviewer thanks:

2 reviewers this time.

Kapricia – Thanks for the review and the encouragement. Feel free to hold more guns to my head, should you feel it necessary

Crystal Lightning – All those caps. Well, they're extremely pretty in context, since you seem so adamant in cheering me on. Thanks loads!

Hope you two liked the new chapter. Look forward to the next one pretty soon (it's half-written already). Also, if you have any questions about the storyline, don't hesitate to ask them. Questions help me think out my story better.

Review!