Nikolas stormed into the Great Hall and sat down at the Slytherin table. He knew the headmaster was watching him, but he didn't dare look up because he knew he would end up glaring at the old man in absolute fury. It was the headmaster's fault he was in this house. It would have been so much easier to go back to Gryffindor when the year started. Why in the hell had he gone along with this ridiculous plan?
"Hey. Good job!" Blaise laughed and sat down next to Nikolas. "It's about time someone put the little blond rat in his place." The elder Slytherin filled his plate and then turned back to the boy beside him. "Calm down. You're calling attention to yourself, and trust me you are getting plenty of it. I can't wait until tomorrow."
"Why? What's happening tomorrow?" Nikolas asked, willing himself to calm down as he spoke.
"Nothing. Except the entire school is going to know how you took out a bunch of your housemates and helped a Gryffindor. Though I doubt any one is going to care that you helped the red head because you threatened her as well. Either people will love you or hate you, but either way, they'll all be intimidated by you." Blaise finished. Nikolas looked around as he took all this in, and sure enough people at the Gryffindor table were all either watching him or crowding around Ginny. The look on Ron's face was absolutely priceless. He looked as if he weren't sure whether he should hate the dark Slytherin because he threatened Ginny, or be thankful that he helped her. Nikolas sighed and stood.
"I'll see you later." Nikolas said to Blaise before he turned and left the great hall. "Damn. I forgot to ask for a pass to the restricted section. I knew there was something I needed to do today." Nikolas frowned and let his head fall back as if to let out a howl of frustration. "Today is not going well."
"Maybe I can help?" Came a familiar voice. Nikolas turned and saw a smiling Remus Lupin. "Why do you want a pass to the restricted section?"
"If they are restricted then they are bound to be interesting, and I could use an interesting book right about now. None of the other books in the library seem very appealing." Nikolas replied figuring maybe Lupin would give him a pass as long as it didn't seem like he was planning to use the things he learned against anyone else.
"I see." The man looked Nikolas over with interest. "Have I met you somewhere before?" He asked curiously, the boy's scent seeming very familiar, but he didn't recognize the boy.
"Yes, I met you when I was walking with Hermione over the summer."
"Oh! I remember now. Well come with me and I will give you a pass. I trust you are not going to misuse the information you learn from those books, right?" The professor smiled and walked into the nearest classroom, which happened to be McGonagall's, and quickly scrawled a pass on a piece of parchment.
"I won't. Thank you professor." Nikolas said as he took the parchment.
"Oh, and thank you." Remus smiled as he watched the boy stop and glance at him questioningly. "For helping Ms. Weasley." Nikolas simply nodded and left.
"Well. It seems the books in the restricted section aren't as interesting as I'd thought. They are probably put back here because they are prone to send you to the hospital wing." Nikolas scowled as he watched a book zoom from the floor to its place on the shelf again after having burst into flames when Nikolas opened it. "All they do is scream, bite, and self destruct."
He started walking down the aisles again and found himself at the very back of the restricted section in front of a door. 'Odd.' He thought to himself as he pushed the door open. He found himself standing in a rather small room. The walls were covered with portraits, some empty, others with men and women staring at him with interest. In the center of the room stood something that caught Nikolas' attention; atop a wooden pedestal sat an extremely thick book. Nikolas stared down at what appeared to be the last page. On it was a bunch of photos and little captions beneath them that said the name of the person depicted.
"It's like a yearbook." He thought to himself as he flipped through the pages. He was shocked to find that when he reached the very first page that everything he had just flipped through had vanished and in there place was hundreds of more pages.
"I must go all the way back to when the founders created the school." Nikolas marveled. As soon as he finished speaking the pages seem to flip back of their own accord until it rested on the very first page with five images on it. In the center sat a picture of Hogwarts, and in each corner there was a picture of a person; Godric Gryffindor stood draped in robes of red and gold, Salazar Slytherin proudly wearing a serpent around his neck, Rowena Ravenclaw sitting in her robes of blue with a book in her hands, and Helga Hufflepuff smiling happily in her robes of yellow and black. He pushed a few pages back and saw an image of three of the founders, a small caption beneath the photo reading 'after the departure of Salazar Slytherin.'
"Wow. I wonder if there are pictures of my parents in here." He moved to continue through the pages, but they seemed to have heard his request and the pages moved once again on their own. It rested on a page with a photo of the hospital wing. In the picture Nikolas could see Lupin and Snape both lying down and around Remus stood James, Lily, Sirius, and Pettigrew. He laughed as the image of young Severus got out of bed shakily and moved out of the frame. He looked for a caption explaining the photo.
'Students (James Potter, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Sirius Black) following werewolf attack.'
Nikolas smiled and watched as Sirius playfully flirted with Lily, James yelled at his friend while his face turned bright red, Remus laughing at the trio's antics, Peter sitting on a chair next to Lupin, and Severus stalking in and out of the photo glaring at Sirius.
"What are you doing back here?" Nikolas jumped and turned to look in the direction the voice had come from. Severus glared at him then looked down at the picture. With a quick motion he closed the book. "You are not allowed to be here. Get out!"
"I am allowed! Professor Lupin gave me a pass to the restricted section. You can ask Madam Pince!" Nikolas replied in his defense.
"Be that as it may. This room is off limits to everyone except the headmaster himself."
"Then why are you back here?" Nikolas was hardly able to finish his sentence before the elder Snape grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of the room.
"I was retrieving you. Now come along." Snape turned on his heel and headed out of the library, his robes billowing behind him. Nikolas ran a hand through his hair and watched the man go for a moment before following.
Severus slammed the door shut and locked it, then placed a silencing charm around the room. He looked down at Nikolas and his angered expression faded to one of exhaustion. Nikolas simply threw himself down in a chair and waited to be yelled at, putting up walls around his mind in case the professor chose to test him again.
"How do you always manage to get yourself in so much trouble?" Snape asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice as he sat down at his desk, rubbing his temples as if the motion was going to rid him of his headache.
"Trouble finds me, I don't go looking for it." Nikolas replied as he pulled a vial from his pocket. He watched Snape eye it suspiciously as he set the glass container on his desk.
"What is that?"
"To help with your headache." The teen replied. He knew how irritable the potions master was normally, and he figured that it would only be worse when the man wasn't feeling well. He was surprised when the potions master uttered a quiet thank you and drank the potion.
"If I find it wasn't a headache potion you are will have detention for a month." Snape warned. "As for why you are here. I heard about your encounter with Draco and the other Slytherins. Do not interrupt me." Snape glared at Nikolas as the teen opened his mouth to speak. "It will not happen again. You are to stay on friendly terms with all of them, and avoid the Gryffindors. You have no choice in the matter. Also, you asked me about borrowing a book. Why?"
"I want to read more about hexes and potions. I found potion making is actually enjoyable when you aren't hovering over me and criticizing everything I do. Now can I go?" Nikolas stood; ready to leave as soon as possible.
"I will make a deal with you, and you better take advantage of it because it is very rare that I make deals with students." Snape started. "You bring me a batch of these headache potions every two weeks, and I will leave you alone during class."
"Fine." Nikolas replied and nodded slightly, liking the effect the potion had on the professor. Unbeknownst to the potions master, the potion not only would get rid of headaches but it had a sort of soothing effect, making whoever drank it become calmer and occasionally drowsy.
After leaving the dungeons Nikolas went back to the common room, but only for a moment. He retrieved his broom, a small bag of drawing supplies, and Nyx then left. When he got outside he released Nyx to search the forest, and then he soared into the air. He landed on top of the school at the highest point he could find. Sitting on the flat square surface of the roof he pulled out his sketchpad and a pencil and began drawing, his wand illuminating him in the dark.
. § .
Knock Knock
"Who's there?" Nikolas grumbled, toppling out of bed with a groan.
"Draco. Can I come in?" Nikolas grimaced but pulled open the door wearing black silken pajamas.
"Yeah, come in." Draco stepped into the room. The blond began to look around, the open sketchbook catching his attention. "What do you want?" Nikolas snatched the book and shut it, pulling Draco's eyes away from the picture Hogwarts from a bird's eye view.
"That's pretty good, but I came here to talk." Draco faltered, and though Nikolas doubted that the boy was preparing to apologize, he was curious about what the other boy wanted.
"About what?"
"We got off on the wrong foot. I'm prepared to overlook everything from these past couple days and start again if you are, but this is a one time thing." Draco replied quickly.
"Alright. Just know that I'm not about to become one of your minions and take orders." Nikolas extended a hand, and the two shook hands signifying a truce. "Nikolas Snape."
"Draco Malfoy. Pleasure meeting you." The blond replied, introducing himself on friendlier terms. He then turned to leave. "Oh, and you might want to hurry and get dressed. Class starts in ten minutes." With that the boy left, and Nikolas rushed to get ready.
. § .
Nikolas skidded to a stop as he rounded one of the corners on his way to Transfiguration. His books flew forward due to his sudden stop. He picked up two of them and bent down to retrieve the third when a hand reached out and gave it to him.
"Thanks." He took the book and looked up. Ron Weasley stood before him.
"I don't like you." The red head started, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're a Slytherin and you threatened my sister, but you also didn't curse her and stopped Malfoy from cursing her as well. So, thanks."
"Sure, whatever." Nikolas scowled and continued forward, angry that his best friend had just said he disliked him on the mere grounds that he was a Slytherin. "I help your sister again and the first thing you say is 'I don't like you.'"
"What do you mean 'again'?" Ron asked. Nikolas swore under his breath, he had been thinking about the Chamber of Secrets. Now he had to do some quick thinking.
"Yes, again. If you remember I was the one who allowed you and your sister to sit with me on the train. Now if that is all, I'm late for class." The excuse was pathetic, but he walked into McGonagall's class before Ron could say anything more.
McGonagall assigned a simple report that day, and Nikolas decided he would do it later as he took out his book on hexes and began reading. He grinned as he came across a few that proved interesting and toyed with the thought of trying them out later.
After classes that day he decided to go to the Room of Requirement to test a few hexes, and possibly find a few more books. He walked towards the hall. 'I need a place to practice and books on hexes, I need a place to practice, I need books on jinxes. Please just give me that. ' He thought to himself. A grin slid across his lips as he pulled open the door to the room of requirement. His grin vanished as quickly as it had come though, and he stared inside the room with a look of surprise.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter six done! I feel so accomplished. XD
Hope you like it. Guess what he saw in the RoR. ^-^
He and Draco have a truce now.
And Ron didn't make a very good impression, but he said thank you.
Zachiliam: If you want the picture AIM me at Chii No Kirei or email me. Just so you know the picture is of Shirtless young Lucius and Severus.
Thanks to every one for the reviews! I love you all!!! Thank you!
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REVIEW SOME MORE! FEED MY EGO! MAKE THE AUTHOR HAPPY AND REVIEW!
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