LIFE OF SHADOWS
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Chapter 6-
Befriend your enemies
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"I lived a life of shadows, never felt the sun on my face."
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"What are you doing here Weasley?" Malfoy sneered, flanked as always by his would-be body guards, Crabbe and Goyle who both looked a little less threatening than usual with porridge all over their face. Malfoy however had somehow managed to stay spotless throughout the whole fight.
"Shouldn't you be off somewhere, begging for money for your next meal?"
"Ron! No!" Hermione said, struggling to hold a ketchup soaked Ron back from pouncing on Malfoy.
Hermione sank into the nearest available chair on Gryffindor Table, immediately followed by Harry and eventually Ron.
"Not you again." She moaned, holding her head in her hands, not seeming to notice the jam.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione asked, sighing audibly, a strand of hair falling over her face. Without realising what he was doing Ron leant forward and tucked the strand of hair behind her ear. Hermione looked at him suspiciously, wondering whether he had planted something like a mini dung bomb on her.
"Sorry…" He muttered, his face turning red.
"And you should be," Malfoy said, a disgusted look on his face. "Seriously, keep your disgusting displays of affection out of sight. We really don't want to know what a mudblood and a Weasley get upto."
"How dare you…you…"
Ron stood there spluttering, his face flushed of its usual freckled complexion, reminding Harry of an over ripe tomato, which Dudley had sat on, yet hadn't burst. He wondered how much more Ron would take before he exploded…
"What's the matter Weasley?" Draco said grinning, casually raking a hand through his hair as he picked up a glass of pumpkin juice on the table.
"Get your own stinking pumpkin juice Malfoy." Ron said, eyes narrowed. Hermione nodded emphatically, grabbing the goblet back from him and spilling some down his front in the process. Draco scowled, grabbing a napkin and attempting to rub it clean. Throwing it down in defeat he shot them all a trademark glare, spinning around and stalking out of the hall, shooting them a last remark over his shoulder.
"By the way, we have a new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher. Father recommended him."
The trio looked at each other with raised eyebrows, each privately debating whom it could be.
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"Crap it, crap it…" Katrina muttered, hurrying along the narrow corridor, her hair swinging out behind her in a curtain of russet. "My first day and I had to forget my books." Hurrying past a group of giggling Second Years she ran up the stairs, glancing at the slender band on her wrist. It was pure chance that she took the stairs two at a time and so missed out the sinking step. Pausing, she frowned looking at the two identical corridors that extended from the point where she was standing. "Crap… why do they all look the same?" She muttered to herself.
"Something wrong?"
Katrina spun around in time to see a tall, slender raven-haired girl standing about two feet behind her. How Katrina had managed to miss her she would never know. The girl seemed to make a statement just standing there. Her skin was as pale as Katrina's' but the look in her eyes was the complete opposite. Katrina's eyes flicked immediately to the Slytherin snake present on the front of her robes. Her face remained impassive although she had tensed, ready to plunge her hand into her robes and whip out her wand at a seconds notice. The girl watched her calmly, her iridescent optics gleaming surreptitiously.
'She was someone not to be taken lightly.' Katrina thought, her blue grey eyes narrowed. "Name?" She said shortly, eyeing the girl warily. The girl leant against a pillar looking at serenely. When she didn't answer Katrina made an exasperated noise, spun on her heel and began to ascend the stairs that had just kicked into place in front of her. She had the uneasy feeling of being watched all the way upto her dormitory.
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Books clutched to her chest the brunette took of for the Great Hall at a steady pace, keeping an eye out for the black haired girl. Bursting into the hall she paused, blue grey eyes flicking around the room to find the source of her discomfort. A frown appeared on her face yet again as she found nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, she hadn't been a student long enough to realise what could be classed as 'out of the ordinary' at Hogwarts.
Sighing, she hurried to the Gryffindor Table and slid into her seat just as she glanced down and came to the realization that although she had retrieved her books, she'd forgotten to grab her quills and parchment. The only quill she could find in her bag was snapped in half and the only piece of parchment… well, there was none. Groaning the brunette got to her feet, about to make the journey to Gryffindor tower once again.
At the sound of her moan a sandy haired boy looked up, a minute piece of scrambled egg stuck to his chin. "What's the matter?" He asked, and Katrina was surprised to notice that apart from being curious he was actually willing to help.
"Well if you really want to know I just took a trip to Gryffindor tower to get my books and now I've got to go back again because I've forgotten my quills and parchment up there. Katrina Milano." She added as an after thought, eyeing the guy uncertainly.
"Seamus Finnigan." Seamus said smiling and shaking her hand enthusiastically, reaching into her bag at the same time. "Here you can borrow mine, I've got Herbology first thing and we never have to write notes in our first lesson."
Katrina reached out and took them, a slight smile on her face. "Thanks." She said softly, touched. Here was someone who didn't even know her but was willing to help anyway by giving her his stationary just so she wouldn't have to make another trip. If she had known what would be the consequence of his kindness she would have gotten as far away from him as possible. Unfortunately Katrina was not physic and therefore accepted the quill and parchment.
"No problem." Seamus said, waving a hand. If befriending someone was this easy then befriending your enemies couldn't be much harder. She spoke too soon.
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