Chapter Four:
Dusk slept fitfully throughout the night. Several times she awoke and looked at the screen on the small clock that sat on top of her nightstand. Finally, when the clock read four thirty, and she could not force herself to lay awake any longer, she got out of bed.
She quickly cleaned up for the day, pulling her hair back into a loose, messy bun. She slipped into a black, pleated skirt and a white button up shirt. Then she headed downstairs into the common room. Seeing that no one was awake, she took a seat on the couch. Watching the flames flicker, she could feel herself growing drowsy once again. She rolled over onto her side on the couch.
About an hour and a half later, she awoke to Jade's voice.
"Dusk! C'mon, we're going to miss breakfast!"
Dusk groans a little as she wakes up and sit's up on the couch. She stares at Jade through puffy eyes.
"What'd you do, get up and then go back to sleep?" Jade asks teasingly.
"Yeah, something like that," Dusk admits groggily.
"Well, I want to get some breakfast before class starts, so you're welcome to come along if you want."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Dusk says, getting up rather reluctantly. She had been quite comfortable on the couch, and it was the only sleep she had gotten all night.
Quite the opposite of Dusk, Jade seemed incredibly rested and alert. She was bouncing around the room like a mad woman, actually.
"What's up with you?" asks Dusk, somewhat concerned.
"I just can't wait for classes to start!" Jade exclaims. "I just know things are going to be awesome here! Way better than Dublin, at least!"
Dusk nods, still not fully awake. She follows Jade out of the common room and into the corridor. They continue on down the stairs until they reach the Great Hall on the first floor. When the enter the room, it is bustling with student activity. Old friends, reunited after the long summer break were sitting together, laughing and talking, and sharing stories about their vacations.
Dusk scanned the Great Hall for Draco Malfoy, and spotted him, sitting alone at the Slytherin table.
"Are you coming?" says Jade, gazing longingly at the Gryffindor table.
"Um…you go ahead," Dusk answers.
Jade nods and hurries off, taking a seat between Hermionie and Harry.
Dusk heads for the Slytherin table, hoping to grab the empty seat by Draco. On her way, two girls get in her way.
"Excuse me," she says, trying to edge her way around them.
They move so that they remain in her path.
"What?" she asks, realizing that they are doing this on purpose.
"Where are you going?" asks one of them. "That's the Slytherin table!"
"Yes, I know," snaps Dusk, now annoyed.
"Um…" the other girl begins. She glances nervously at the first girl to speak. "I'm Lavender Brown, and this is Parvati Patil. You must be new or you would know about the house rivalries."
"Right," says the girl named Parvati. "I mean, it's totally forgivable. You're just new. Only…you can't sit with Slytherin. Gryffindors hate Slytherin, and they hate us!"
"Well, I am friends with Draco Malfoy," Dusk replies cooly. "And I intend to eat breakfast with him."
Lavender looks at Parvati, who said, "Let's just ignore this one, Lav. C'mon."
The two take off for the Gryffindor table, where they take their seats with some other giggling girls. Dusk holds her head high and walks over to Draco, where she seizes the empty seat next to him. She looks up at the teachers and sees Dumbledore smile at her.
"Good morning, Draco," she says.
Draco looks up as though just now noticing that someone else was sitting with him. "Oh, hey," he answers, a somewhat surprised look on his face. "Um…sleep well?"
"Not really," she replies honestly.
And then they talked.
"Hey Jade," Harry greets Jade as she sits down next to him. "Where's Dusk?" He peers behind her, as though Dusk is hiding there.
"Oh, she's over with that Draco Malfoy boy," Jade replies, shrugging. She grabs a piece of French toast and pours some syrup over it.
"She's what?" asks Harry. Everyone around them goes silent and stares, waiting for Jade's reply.
"Um…" says Jade, somewhat confused by this reaction. She nods in the direction of the Slytherin table. "She's over there…"
"She's where?" asks the red haired girl, as though she didn't understand.
"Over there," repeats Jade. "And you are…?"
"Somewhat shocked at your friend!" the girl says. Then, shaking her head, "Well, Ginny."
Jade nods. "Nice to meet you, I guess…What's with this whole house rivalries thing, anyway? It wasn't like this in Dublin…"
"Well, you're not in Dublin, are you?" says Ginny.
"She has a point," Hermionie agrees. "She's just not very tactful in making it."
"Well, shouldn't the school be at least a little unified?" asks Jade, ignoring them.
"Yeah, probably," says Hermionie shrugging. "But it isn't."
Jade nods and continues eating her breakfast. Halfway through the meal, her breakfast is disrupted by a high pitched squeal coming from the Slytherin table. Jade turns and sees the same girl from the train the previous day, glaring at Dusk, who is doing her best to ignore the girl.
"Get out of my seat!" screams the girl.
Dusk replies nonchalantly, "I don't think so."
"GET OUT OF MY SEAT!!!" repeats the girl, louder this time.
"I don't see your name on it!" Dusk argues, standing up.
The girl, Pansy Parkinson, makes a face and opens her mouth, as though she is going to make further arguments. Instead, she pulls out her wand.
"Expelli-" she begins to shout the disarming spell, but is interrupted by a third voice.
"Miss Parkinson! What do you think you are doing? Or don't you think?"
Everyone's eyes are drawn to the cold voice that had yelled out. It was a tall man with greasy black hair and all black robes.
"That's Professor Snape," Harry explains in a whisper to Jade. "The meanest man imaginable…well, next to Draco's dad." He chuckles a little, as though remembering a distant memory.
Jade looks back to the confrontation at the Slytherin table.
"This girl," sputters Pansy. "She's…she's…she's in my seat!!!"
"Perhaps it would be best," says Professor Snape, now looking at Dusk. "If you went to your own table now."
Dusk gets up angrily and storms out of the Great Hall. Not knowing exactly where she is going, she heads out of the building and onto the grounds. She walks hurriedly across the bridge and down the stone stairs to the lake. For a moment she sits on the small beach, thinking angrily of the episode in the Great Hall.
She stands up and takes off her button-up shirt, exposing the spaghetti strapped shirt underneath. Then she takes off her shoes and socks. She sits by the water once again and puts her feet in the cool water. She leans her head back onto the ground, and before she knows it, falls asleep right there.
Later Dusk awakes a few hours later. She glances at her watch and, seeing the time, panics. She hurriedly pulls on her shoes and button-up. Not even wanting to think about what she must look like, she dashes for the building. She reaches the Great Hall and, realizing that she has sand throughout her hair and on her clothes, decides to make a quick stop in Gryffindor tower to freshen up before going to classes. She goes up the stairs, too worried about her missing classes to be afraid of the stairs. Finally, as she reaches the next to the last floor before the tower, she resolves to tell her teachers that she was feeling ill, and make up the work she missed that morning.
However, before she can make it to the dormitory, she is stopped by the sound of two girls talking. About her. She hides in the corner of the landing and listens as the girls make their way down the stairs.
"That Hammons girl has no right to come in here and start trying to change things!" one girl says. Dusk fights her urge to confront the girl. "I mean, sitting with a Slytherin! And what about that Irish girl? What's her name?"
"Jade," answers a second voice.
"Right, well, who does she think she is? I mean, she just shows up and all of a sudden she's Harry Potter's new best friend. You should have heard him earlier, talking about her. How nice she was and everything! Merlin knows how the Irish are…"
Dusk suddenly recognizes the voice as Lavender Brown's. That did it. She had had enough. Forgetting her appearance, she trudges down the stairs once again, and into the Great Hall. Ignoring the curious stares of several students, she locates Jade and takes a seat on the bench next to her.
"Dusk!" exclaims Jade, looking Dusk up and down. "Where were you? And-why do you have sand all over you?"
"I sort of took a nap out by the lake," Dusk admits.
"All through morning classes?" asks Jade in a somewhat scolding voice. "You'll have to make them up."
"I know!" snaps Dusk, a bit more harshly than she had intended.
Jade rolls her eyes and takes a bite out of her sandwich. "It wasn't about that awful Slytherin, was it?" asks Jade, suspiciously.
"It was about a few things," says Dusk, moodily.
"God, I sure hope this is just because of your lack of sleep," Jade says, in reference to Dusk's foul mood.
"Well, people are just so…rude!" continues Dusk. "Like that Lavender girl from this morning…" she adds, as Lavender and Parvati sit down a few benches down.
"Ignore them," advises Jade, shrugging. "They just know how to get under your skin, that's all."
"Well, you want to hear what they had to say about you?" asks Dusk, slyly.
"Not particularly," answers Jade. "But I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyway."
Dusk nods. "Of course I am! That Lavender girl said you have no right talking to Harry and something like, 'Merlin knows how the Irish are.'"
Jade stared, sort of shocked for a moment, and then regained her composure. "Well, she had no right to say anything about me," she says cooly. "She doesn't even know me."
Dusk grabs one of the small sandwiches on the table and takes a bite out of it. She and Jade eat in silence for a while, until they are interrupted by an old professor with a lined face.
"My name is Professor McGonagall," the woman informs them. "I am your head of house. And you, I trust, are Miss Hammons?"
Dusk nods. "Yes, ma'am." Then, remembering that she had missed classes all that morning, "I'm so sorry about missing classes! You see, I wasn't feeling well, and…"
Her voice trails off as Professor McGonagall shakes her head.
"You need to come with me, dear," she says, placing a hand on Dusk's shoulder. Jade gives Dusk a questioning look, and she shakes her head, letting her worried friend know that she has no idea what is going on.
"The headmaster needs to see you," says the professor, as though that explains everything.
Dusk rises and follows Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall and up the stairs.