The sunrise was a particularly fiery one that Sunday morning. Light lanced through the air and right onto the sleeping face of Monica Reed. She was lying diagonally across her bed, still fully clothed. She opened her eyes, winced and threw an arm across her face to block the light. The other girls were all still asleep and she suspected they would stay that way for a couple hours more at least. She guessed that she'd only had about four hours of sleep. She had talked with Draco long into the night. Any sensible person would still be asleep. Of course, she wasn't being very sensible, at least not since she'd arrived at Hogwarts. She'd been here less than a week and had somehow managed to get herself connected with the Bad Boy of the school. Not that he seemed that way most of the time... at least with her.
She rolled over to stare at the canopy above her head. He'd told her many things… horrible things really that he'd done and said in the past. When he'd finished, she had seen that he'd fully expected her to be disgusted and never want to speak to him again. Or maybe hex him first, then never speak to him again. She remembered his expression as she sat there and stared at him. He'd looked extremely nervous and sad after just five minutes. She'd been busily going over what he'd said in her mind. What he hadn't known was that her housemates had already filled her in on his misdeeds. Having him confirm them as truth decided her actions then. She'd smiled at him.
The memory of his expression made her giggle out loud. He'd looked positively stunned. Then he'd scowled and those crystal blue eyes of his had narrowed. He'd asked her why she was laughing at him. She'd smiled and said, "Because you called it your past." He'd looked stunned again. Then she'd kissed him. She was still quite surprised at herself about that. She wasn't a shy girl in any sense of the word, but she'd been remarkably… forward with him. It was as if they had known each other before… though she had never been to England, and he had certainly never been to California. With a sigh, she sat up. That was a puzzle for another time. If she wanted the bathroom to herself, she'd better get moving. Even if she still suspected that none of the other girls would even stir for at least another hour.
Since she'd arrived, and a bed had been crammed into the room for her, she'd tried to stay out of everyone's way. So, to continue to do so, she got up and headed for the shower. An hour later, when she came back into the room freshly showered, clothed and generally ready for the day she ran smack into a sleepy Cho. Her sleep-mussed hair and thoroughly unpleasant glare combined to produce a rather unattractive sight. Still, Monica tried to be friendly. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry Cho, I didn't see you there," she exclaimed, though the incident had been as much Cho's fault as hers. She didn't like the girl, but if she wanted peace in her dorm room she had to appease her. "I'm very sorry."
"And well you should be," Cho snapped and swept into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Monica went to her trunk, grumbling under her breath about the indignities she was suffering just to safely get some sleep. She had the oddest feeling that if she angered Cho, something would happen. Something that no one would like, and especially not her. Before Cho returned, Monica went to the Raven's Nest, otherwise known as their Common Room. She waited there for Ana or the twins… either would do. She didn't want to go down to breakfast alone.
*
Ana and Daniel somehow managed to come down the stairs together. Which set Monica to thinking about what was going on with them… He was whispering something in her ear that had her blushing and smiling. Their dannikits were actually walking on their own this morning, rather than perched on shoulders or in their arms. As they got nearer, Monica could see why. They were now the size of fully grown house cats, though Segan was fluffy and Phantom short-haired. It was as if they had doubled in size overnight. "What the…?" Monica asked standing up and openly staring at the drastically changed kits.
Daniel grinned. "Yeah, it was quite a shock to wake up with such a heavy weight on my feet. He knelt down to give Phantom a pat. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yes of course," Monica said, still staring.
Ana smiled at Segan. "Apparently dannikits grow in spurts," she said.
"I'll say. In the eight hours I slept she doubled in size," Daniel said with a laugh.
"I wonder if the others did the same?" Ana asked.
"We're about to find out," Daniel answered her. "My sisters are coming."
Sure enough, when the twins came down the stairs their kits closely followed them. Ikarus and Anondir had also doubled in size. Both girls looked relieved to see that their kits weren't the only ones to have done so. "Let's hurry up and get to breakfast. I want to know if it's just our twelve or if it's all the kits." Lynne said as soon as she and Reggie joined them. So they headed for the Great Hall before anyone else even came down the stairs.
***
"Hagrid, look at him! He's doubled in size!" Rose exclaimed. "You didn't mention anything about this to me, or anyone else for that matter." She took a deep breath to calm herself. The apple cider in the glass she was holding had started to boil. The giant was staring at that glass. She narrowed her eyes at him as a hint of a smile creased his beard.
"I dinna tell ya, 'cuz I dinna know myself," Hagrid said. "I've never worked with Agoradans this young before. And they must grow some way ya know."
Rose sighed. "I know Hagrid. It's just a big surprise that's all." She leaned closer to him as students started coming into the Great Hall. "Is it all of them, or just ours?"
Hagrid looked past her. "All of 'em I'd say," he muttered. Rose whipped around to see Monica, Daniel, Ana, Reggie, Lynne and Chris Emmortal enter the hall. All of the kits were larger, Chris's obvious because of it's pale gray fur and rather kittenish antics. The four Guardian kits were much more decorous, though Phantom was batting at Misty's tail whenever it came into reach. Rose looked at Vestan. He was sitting statue-still on the high table. With a sigh and a shake of her head, Rose waved her hand towards the Hufflepuff table. The brilliantly colored Vestan was graceful in his leap to join the others as they sat down to breakfast. Rose smiled an irritated farewell to Hagrid and followed her kit. She was curious to see Monica with them, until she realized that with Draco still absent from the Hall, she wouldn't be sitting at the Slytherin table. After last night, Rose wondered if that even mattered anymore. With a smile she decided to wait and see.
***
"What the… Beauty! What happened to you?" Seamus' voice split the morning quiet of the Gryffindor Tower.
"Wha'?" Neville mumbled.
"It's too early Seamus, go back to sleep," Dean said, his voice muffled by his pillow.
"Something's happened to Beauty! She's huge!" Seamus exclaimed.
"What are you talking about Seamus?" Harry asked, sitting up and pulling his draperies aside. This let the sunlight fall on the two cat-sized furballs on his bed. "Whoa! Kalona, you've grown!" Both Shadow and Ka'lina lifted their heads to look at him. Both the kit and the cat had the same expression on their faces. One that clearly said, 'Well what did you expect?'
After Harry's exclamation, the others woke up more fully and pulled aside their own drapes.
"See? I told you. My Beauty's done it too. Do you think it's just that they grew overnight?" Seamus asked worriedly.
"I suppose that makes sense," Neville said, petting a whirring Andra from head to tail. He looked over at Ron. "Oy Ron, what's the matter?"
Ron was sitting up, red hair sticking out all over the place, almost as bad as Harry's. He was staring at Fianna, where she was curled asleep on his bed. She had grown, but was obviously smaller than the others. "Do you think it's Malfoy's fault?" Ron asked the room at large softly. He, Neville and Harry felt their Shards warm, but they weren't' zinged.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Seamus said. "As badly hurt as she was, there was bound to be some kind of damage."
"She's not damaged!" Ron yelled.
Seamus was immediately apologetic, but Ron ignored him. Instead he just scooped up his kit. She started whirring and nuzzled his neck. "I'm sure she's fine Ron," Harry said. "Maybe she's just supposed to be small."
"That's right, we don't know how big they are normally anyway," Neville said. "She might be the average, and ours are the giants."
Shadow stood up just as Harry did the same. Giving him an odd look, the cat jumped from his bed to Ron's. She purred her comfort as she sat next to Ron and Fianna. The kit and the cat seemed to have some kind of conversation. Shadow meowed at Ron. Ka'lina immediately started whirring. Harry smiled. "Fianna's fine Ron," he told his friend. "She's just small."
"How do you know?" Dean asked Harry.
Harry frowned. "I'm not sure… Shadow and Ka'lina told me I guess."
"Talking to cats now, are we Harry?" Seamus asked with a grin.
"Hey, she talked to me," Harry said. He grinned despite the memories that brought of his second year.
"I'm for the shower," Neville said, grabbing a towel.
What followed was a race for the best of the five showers in the bathroom. The shedding of pajamas seemed to cause Shadow some distress where she sat next to Ron on the bed, because she tensed and her purring stopped until the other four were in the bathroom. Ron smiled down at the cat, whose eyes were tightly closed. "Don't worry about them girl," he said. Ron patted her on the head and stood up himself. "Look after Fianna for me, will you?" he asked her, placing the still sleepy kit on the bed next to the cat, before he headed for the bathroom himself. As soon as the door was shut, Shadow let out a yowl that startled Beauty into a panic pose. It took loud whirring form the other kits to calm her down again. Shadow took up a stiff guard at the end of Ron's bed. She kept one eye on the door and the other on Fianna.
Everyone else was nearly finished with his or her own breakfasts before Rhia hurried in. Her cheeks were flushed a lovely pink. When Harry smiled his greeting to her, she blushed more and barely managed a smile. A bit confused by her unfounded embarrassment, Harry took her hand and pulled her to sit on the bench beside him. "Good morning Rhia. Having a bit of a lie-in?" he asked softly as he handed her a slice of buttered toast.
Rhia ducked her head and said, "Something like that."
"Has anyone seen Draco?" Monica asked suddenly. "I haven't seen him all morning." As one, they all looked to Draco's usual seat between the hulking lumps that were Crabbe and Goyle. The two Slytherins were looking a little lost and confused. "Where do you think he could be?" Monica asked. She was getting worried.
"I'm sure he's just sleeping in," Ginny said. "Like Rhia."
Rhia looked up hurriedly at Ginny, eyes wide. Then she started laughing. She laughed so hard she had to hold her stomach. Just as quickly, she sobered. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what was so funny."
Blue swirled in Rose's eyes as she looked at her sister. Then Alaster approached from the Head Table. The blue faded abruptly and her eyes were once again warm gold. "Are you all ready to go?" Alaster asked them.
Harry looked at Rhia. She nodded. Everyone else was already finished as well. "We're ready," Harry told the man, " But Draco hasn't come down yet."
"Well someone go get him. We have a lot of work to do today." Alaster said, exasperated.
"We can't," George told him. "None of us are Slytherins. We couldn't get into his dormitory if we wanted to."
"What do you mean?" Alaster asked.
"He lives in the Slytherin Dormitory. Only Slytherins can get in, because only they know the password." Ana said.
"That's not… entirely true." Hermione said, biting her lower lip. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "I can get in there, if I need to. It's part of being a prefect."
"You have the passwords for all the dorms?" Fred asked, eyes suddenly alight with mischief.
Hermione frowned. "Don't even think about it you two. I'm not going to tell you, no matter what you say. It's prefect business."
"Besides, you can just ask the person in the painting if Draco has come out yet, or if he's still inside. You may not even have to go in." Neville suggested.
"Well, who's going to go with Hermione?" Rose asked. "It has to be a guy, just in case they have to go up to the boys rooms."
Harry was about to volunteer, but Rhia stopped him. "The portrait wouldn't let you into that dormitory Harry." Smiling sheepishly, he nodded.
Neville shook his head vehemently. Hermione flatly refused to let either of the twins go. Ron's blue eyes were still stormy from his suspicion that it was Malfoy's fault Fianna was small, so he was excluded. This left Daniel. He grinned. "Sounds like fun. I've always been curious about the Slytherin dormitory. I'm not even sure where it is."
"I'm going too," Monica said firmly. It was not a request. Hermione nodded.
"Get going then. Meet us in the classroom." Alaster said grumpily. " Let's go the rest of you, we have preparations to make."
Daniel stared at the stone carving of a Snake. "They really went all out on this hallway, didn't they?" he muttered to Hermione. She nodded and pulled her prefect badge from her pocket, pinning it to the front of her robes.
"What do you mean?" Monica asked. "It's not any more extravagant than any of the other dorms, is it?"
"It's not that… It's the atmosphere." Daniel said, "And there are snakes everywhere."
"We've got ravens all over the place," Monica said. "What's the difference?"
Daniel looked at her. She really couldn't see it. Maybe that came from being a transfer student. She didn't know the Slytherin reputation. The hall was dark, though the morning sunlight shown through the window at the end of it, there didn't seem to be much effect. They relied on the light of the ever-present torches.
Hermione stopped in front of a painting of a very tall, thin, dark haired man. "Pardon me," she said primly, but has Draco Malfoy come through yet this morning?" The man in the portrait looked down his nose at her. His lip curled slightly, but he had to respect the badge pinned to her robes. He shook his head just enough to acknowledge the question. Hermione took a deep breath. "Then I must insist that you allow us to come in to fetch him."
"What's the password Prefect?" The portrait asked with a sneer in his voice.
Hermione was quite suddenly, just as imperious as he. "You doubt the intentions of a prefect?" she asked, her voice hard.
The man narrowed his eyes at Hermione and Monica suddenly realized that his eyes were a familiar, icy blue. This was a portrait of one of Draco's ancestors. No wonder he had such pride. The portrait and the prefect continued to stare at each other. Finally, Monica could stand it no longer. She put her nose in the air and tried her best to imitate Draco's icy tone as she said, "I am Monica Reed and I want to get in there right now." She glared at him. "You [I] will[/I] let us in."
"Why didn't you say so?" The man asked, his tone annoyed as he swung himself aside to let them into the Slytherin Common Room. Hermione and Daniel stared at the violet-eyed young woman. She stared right back.
"I guess… Draco must have… Let's go get him," she stammered finally. She moved through the doorway. Daniel followed her, thinking as he did so that he could really use his knives about now. There was no telling what sort of nasty things awaited them in The Snake Pit.