Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters apart from Leah.
A/N: Hey everyone! I had a fun time writing this so I hope you're having just as much fun reading it. sorry for the delay, but for the confusion in the first chapter, I didn't know that Blaise Zabini wasn't a girl, and once I started writing it, it all became too much to change it all over again. So, in this story, Blaise will be a girl. Happy reading! Mia xx
Chapter 2: The Ritual
Leah woke up the next morning to a shrill scream. She abruptly sat up and faced Pansy, pale faced and shaking, a comb stuck in her knotted hair, pointing at one of the poles of her four-poster bed. Leah's eyes took time to fucus onto the pole, which started out into a blurry black line that rapidly formed into a pole with something rapped around it.
It was Krysta. Leah jumped out of bed, memories of last night rushing to her head. As she neared her snake, pansy screamed, "Don't touch it! It'll bite you!"
Elise who had also woken up at the sudden scream, trying to suppress her giggles, said, "Don't worry Pansy. It's Leah's. Her name is Krysta – don't you think she's lovely?"
"You have a name for that thing?" Pansy said eyeing the snake as if it was a dragon, as Leah gently brought the snake down to her arms, the snake protectingly coiling around Leah.
"Yes, I do. By the way, your comb's stuck in your hair. Do you want me to take it out for you?" Leah offered, taking a step towards Pansy.
Pansy rushed to her bed and took out her hand mirror, and pointed it to Leah threateningly, "Not with that thing on you."
"Look, I'm sorry that Krysta gave you a fright, but she's the friendliest of creatures if you let her be one. See," she said as she stroked under the head of the snake with her finger. Pansy gave a shudder and put her mirror down on to her bed side table.
"Ok, but don't let that thing get near me, or I might kill it." Pansy gave the snake a gingerly look, and turned to getting her comb out of her tangled hair.
Elise was smiling as she came over to Leah. "Can I hold it?" she asked.
"Sure," Leah said as she untangled Krysta from her arm and placed her around her neck. Krysta lifted her head to meet Elise's and came close to her nose. Krysta slithered her tongue out just enough to tickle her nose, and lowered her head to rest it on her shoulder. Elise looked please at this, and Leah said, "She likes you, you know." Elise's face positively glowed at her comment and gave Leah a huge grin.
Leah walked out of the great hall with her timetable in hand and the taste of fresh strawberries and toast in her mouth. She checked her timetable to see she had Divination first. She would have known better if she had been a student there, but unfortunately, no one warned her of their mysterious teacher. She walked in the direction in which the Slytherin common room was from her memory, but soon found herself very lost. She started to worry that she may never find herself out of the maze-like corridors. Thoughts of never ending corridors leading her further and further away from the people she knew, kept on lingering in her head, until she met Malfoy in dark green robes – Quidditch robes. He hurried back towards her, hot and sweaty, and showed off his perfect teeth as he growled at her. "What do you want?"
"Sorry, I need to find my way to the Slytherin common rooms, do you think you could help me?" she tried to put on her 'helpless and clueless' face to persuade him to get her there.
He walked past her and got to the end of the corridor. He turned and said, "Well, what are you waiting for – an engraved invitation? Are you coming or not?"
Leah ran to catch up to him and silently followed behind him.
They reached the common room, to find Pansy sitting on the couches with her group of friends. Pansy looked up said, "Ooh, you've got a girl friend now, Draco," her voice sounding a little poisonous than mocking.
Draco narrowed his eyes at Pansy and said, "It's always polite to help out a guest you know, Pansy. I thought you were meant to look after her."
Pansy glared at Malfoy as he walked past her and down a different stair case to the boys' dorm. Leah made her way to their group and sat down at one of the couches. "So, um, what's this 'ritual' thing you were talking about last night?"
Pansy looked up, her eyes glinting, "Funny you should say that. We were just discussing when we should do it."
Leah suddenly felt a pang of uneasiness. Pansy continued, "Our group is quite close, you see – "
"We're practically sisters," piped the broad-shouldered Millicent.
Pansy continued, annoyed of Millicent's little insert, "Yes. As I was saying, each of us had to prove our loyalty, and perform a task that the other group members set you. And we were wondering if you were game. So, what do you say? It's not everyone that gets this opportunity you know, and we'll grantee you that we'll stay loyal, if you stay loyal. I suggest you choose very carefully."
Leah sat silently, aware of all five girls looking at her, waiting for her critical choice. Melissa interrupted her thoughts and said, "So, what's it going to be?"
Leah took in a sigh and only said, "Alright."
If she had looked up, she would have noticed Pansy's eyes glimmer dangerously at her proposal. "Ok, we'll let you know what you have to do, tonight."
Leah stayed sitting down, while everyone got up, all except Elise. She looked weary as if persuaded in what she didn't want to do. Leah looked up to see her coming over and sitting next to her. Leah could feel her struggling to find appropriate words in which she wanted to tell her. Leah waited patiently.
"You're going to have to be careful you know. I almost wished you hadn't chosen to accept the task. But I'll try and help you, ok? How about you stick with me for today, and I'll fill you in on what you need to know."
Leah nodded silently, feeling a heavy weight sink in her stomach. This was the last thing she wanted to admit, but there was no denying it. She was scared. Leah gave Elise a friendly smile to show her gratitude and asked, "So, do you have Divination first?"
"Yeah, we do, and don't be too excited – it's really boring. But then again, it's a real bludge," she said showing a little more colour.
Elise and Leah came out of their first Divination lesson, feeling slightly off touch with the smell of incense lingering around their noses. But that soon was replaced and Elise said, "lucky you. You are definitely now her new victim. But I guess Pansy's happy about it – she's been taking a lot of slack from Trelawney for the last four years. Trelawney always has a victim in her class and she pretends to see things and so on about that person's death. But in the last 17 years or so that she's been doing her routine, no one's ever gotten a worse injury than a broken bone."
Leah gave a quick laugh and said, "Well, maybe we can't blame her. Imagine spending day and night in that room. That incense is strong enough to get a dragon to see stars." They made their way down the corridor.
They walked down the corridor stepping rhythmically in time, occasionally bathing in sun light for a moment and back into the shade, until Pansy stepped her way in front of them. She had one hand on her hip which made her look like 'the boss' which was precisely what Pansy wanted.
"Elise, Girls' meeting, now. In the Transfiguration room," she turned towards Leah, "Sorry, we just have to steal her for a sec and you can have her back. It's just a little private, you know, just between us girls. But don't worry, you'll be just like one of us… when you finish the task," and turned and left.
Since Leah still had 15 minutes until her next class, she decided to sit on one of the sunbathed ledge of the corridor, took out her book and started reading.
She was managed to be interrupted by two girls who had spotted her shortly after she started the next chapter of her book. The two girls wore black cloaks with an emblem of a lion embroided to the breast. The shorter of the two shot out her hand with a wide grin and said with very clearly articulated words, "Hi, my name's Callisto Reid and this is my friend Annie Griffiths. We're both Gryffindor House sixth-years. So how are you enjoying Hogwarts?"
"Fine," Leah said shaking the hand, a little overwhelmed of the sudden appearance. "It's really nice here – definitely not as cold," said Leah.
Annie, who looked a little disappointed said, "I thought you'd have an accent."
"I live in England," Leah added and Annie just quietly said, "Oh…"
It was at that moment that Elise returned and saw the two Gryffindors standing, talking to Leah. She instantly rushed up to her, took her by the arm and pulled her away, as Leah quickly said good bye over her shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Elise asked seriously.
"What are you doing?" Leah asked, confused.
"Saving your -"
"And I was just talking to them. Is that so bad?" Leah added now a little annoyed.
"As a matter of fact, yes. They are in Gryffindor and we are in Slytherin. Those two don't match. We don't talk to them, they don't talk to us. We're as different to them as chalk is to cheese. It's a big boo-boo if a Slytherin mixes with a Gryffindor or vice versa," Elise said, still grasping firmly at her arm.
Leah retorted, "But I'm not a Slytherin. What's your business got to do with mine?"
"Because you are looked after by us. It would mean that you would put a stain on our reputation."
Leah ignited at her comment and said, "Is that all you care about? Your reputation? God, I thought you weren't as shallow as those other girls in your group are. I thought you had more morale." Leah felt her anger subside as each word left her mouth, but with each word, it lead to another spark in Elise's temper. Her ears reddened and she tried with all her might to keep her voice from erupting, which in turn, was made into a growl, "Look, I don't like it either, and I think it includes my friends too. Don't start judging us before you know us, alright? I'm just trying to keep my head low enough so that it doesn't get cut off my some other Slytherin who cares, ok?" At these words, Leah felt a pang of guilt and quietly said, "Sorry," which Elise returned gruntingly, "It's ok."
The day somewhat passed slowly after that, and things remained a little awkward between the two, but Elise stuck to her promise and showed Leah the way around the huge castle. The awkwardness continued until dinnertime, when Elise and Leah had met up with Pansy, Melissa, Blaise and Millicent. However, Pansy had been enjoying her chat with the rest of the group and left Elise and Leah to talk quietly to themselves in which Elise took the opportunity to continue to giving out information on the school; including the ghosts and the people. Leah gave all her attention to Elise that dinner seemed to have gone so quickly like sand through open fingers. As the group returned to the common room, Leah could steadily feel her nerves fluttering about in her stomach. But it wasn't until they had gotten back into their dormitory that the issue was faced.
Pansy turned and faced Leah, wearing a sinister grin. Everyone else stood behind her, as if not wanting to address the challenge that was coming. "Ready?" asked Pansy.
Leah gulped and said, "Ok, I'm ready. What do I have to do?"
Pansy widened her grin, "You have to get yourself into Gryffindor. Then, when you have, you have to take something back with you, as proof of your being there."
A/N: So, everyone enjoying themselves so far? I hope so. ;) Well, you might have noticed that this story isn't for the light-hearted reader. They're all relatively the same length as the previous chapters and I'm planning on having twenty or more chapters, so make sure you're up for a big read!