Chapter Two:
"If I ever look like that Danica freak, kill me." Narcissa Black laughed looking across the hall as Danica Shardae sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"It'll be my pleasure," said a young man going at her with his fork.
"Oh ha ha Lucius," Narcissa sneered, rolling her eyes. "I was serious. I mean look at her. Her hair is limp and looks mouldy, her skin is the colour of dead man's face, and could she look anymore anorexic?"
"No. Not anymore than you anyway," muttered Severus Snape, his black greasy hair hanging limply in his pale face.
Narcissa looked traumatised while everyone sniggered into their hands.
"Good one Sevvy." Lucius patted his friend on the back. A whisper of a smile flickered across Snape's face.
"Good one Sevvy?" Narcissa snapped, glaring at Lucius. "You're supposed to be my boyfriend."
"And that means?" Lucius asked, smiling devilishly.
Narcissa hit him on the shoulder. "That means you're supposed to protect me. So protect me!" she commanded.
"You've got to cool down Little Sis," said a young woman with straight black hair and a deep smoky voice. She wrapped her arm around Narcissa's shoulder.
"Easy for you to say Bellatrix," Narcissa whined, looking jealously at her sister. "Your boyfriend does everything you say."
Bellatrix smiled and rubbed her other hand across her boyfriend's leg. "Of course he does. He's scared of me. Isn't that right?" She gave Lestrange a wide playful grin.
Lestrange blushed. "Well you all have to agree she is kind of scary. Right?" He looked around hoping that someone would speak up and his man-hood wouldn't be completely crushed.
Lucius shook his head laughing. "Lestrange from one man to another. Don't ever let a girl control you. It's kind of a sissy thing to do. And it spoils them. Then they'll expect good behaviour from you always." He grinned at Narcissa.
"Lucius pour me some pumpkin juice," Bellatrix commanded, winking at Narcissa.
Lucius looked at Bellatrix's face and thought better of disobeying her. "Right away," he muttered, picking up her goblet.
Everyone laughed as Lucius poured Bellatrix's drink. She smiled and took it from him.
"Good boy." She smiled evilly at Lucius and he felt embarrassment rise on his face.
"Well that kind of contradicted your point, didn't it?" Lestrange took a sip from his goblet.
"And with that may you all sleep comfortably. Good night." Dumbledore's voice boomed through the room and everyone stood up feeling slightly tired.
Narcissa, Lucius, Bellatrix, Lestrange, and Snape all got up to leave but a stern voice called told them to sit back down. Angrily they all fell back into their seats.
"You five talked all through the Headmaster's speech." Professor McGonnagall said in a reprimanding voice standing over them. Her lips were thinly drawn and her black hair was pulled into a firm bun. "Twenty points from Slytherin and I hope that this won't set an example of your behaviour for the remainder of the school year."
Bellatrix smiled sweetly. "Don't worry Professor we'll all be extra good this year. Won't we gang?"
Everyone else pulled their tired lips into very similar eat my heart out smirks.
"Get to bed. The lot of you," McGonnagall instructed, her dry voice resounding throughout the great hall.
"Yes Professor," Bellatrix said in a little school girl tone. "Holy cricket you guys I sure am tired. Let's all go to bed."
Everyone giggled inside their hands.
"Good night Bellatrix." McGonagall's voice had a tone of warning in it. She walked off, her heels clicking angrily against the stone floor.
"Gee whiz guys and maybe we can all roast marshmallows with our wands," Bellatrix's voice again became velvety and seductive. "God she pisses me off. Lestrange if I ever become like her you have my permission to end my life."
"Okay," Lestrange agreed.
They all laughed, pushing open the doors and walking out into the entrance hall.
Narcissa put a finger to her lips and pointed over into a dark corner. Standing there was James and Sirius.
Quietly the group hid behind a statue nearby and listened in on the boys' conversation.
"She's perfect James I'm telling you," Sirius whispered, pushing his hair away from his forehead. "She's the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen in my life."
"Looks like our cousin has a little girlfriend," Narcissa whispered to Bellatrix.
"I wonder who the slag is," Bellatrix answered, wrapping her arm around Lestrange.
"Shh…" Lucius angrily put a finger to his lips.
"You're out of your mind Padfoot. You can do way better than an ugly banshee… part banshee I mean. Merlin, Moony is getting to me. I swear soon I'll be carrying a book with me everywhere I go." James put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "I just don't want to see you make a bad choice. Think about it. Do you really want to wake up to her every morning?"
"Danica is not ugly. She's just… different. Different but gorgeous." Sirius sighed.
Narcissa and Bellatrix shared shocked looks. Lestrange and Lucius laughed quietly. Snape just stood there glaring at Sirius.
"Whatever man." James yawned. "Let's get to bed. I'm wasted."
"Okay." Sirius and James walked off.
Once they were gone Narcissa shrieked with laughter. "Sirius is in love with the new freak!"
"Poor man. Must be terribly desperate," Lucius laughed. "He mustn't have been able to clean his plumbing over the break." He grinned luridly at Lestrange, pumping his fist.
Lestrange chuckled.
"God, men are so crude," Narcissa said disgustedly, as they continued on their way to the dungeons.
"We're not crude," Lucius laughed, wrapping his arm around her. "We just have certain needs."
Narcissa pushed his arm away. "Well then go fulfil them by yourself."
"Tough luck mate," Lestrange slapped Lucius on the back.
"It's hard to believe Sirius has actually fallen for that new girl," Bellatrix said staring blankly at the stone wall. The air temperature dropped as they began to walk down the dungeon steps.
"Yeah she's so ugly," Narcissa shivered. "And a freak. Did you hear the way she screamed? It was like someone had ripped out her heart."
"And not human," Lestrange added. "Didn't you hear what Potter said about her being a Banshee."
"He said she was a part banshee. There's a difference," Snape interjected; his voice was withdrawn and sullen.
"Full. Part. Who cares? She's still an ugly freak. Does anyone know the new password?" They stopped in front of a stone wall with a painting of a snake hanging on it.
"She's not ugly," Snape snapped. Everyone looked back at him.
"What?" Lucius asked.
"I said 'she's not ugly.' I hope you can excuse my contradiction."
"I think you've been playing with your chemistry set a bit too much Sevvy. The fumes seem to have given your brain a bit of a turn. How could you think that Danica is pretty? She's possibly the ugliest girl I've ever seen in my life," Lestrange said, looking utterly baffled.
"As I said I'm sorry to contradict. Please forget I've even said anything," Snape lowered his eyes to avoid their gazes but he could still feel them.
"We'll do nothing of the sort," Lucius said, sauntering over to Snape and patting him on the back. "This is positively the most interesting turn of events in a while. Our little Sevvy is all grown up. So which one of us will give him 'the talk'."
"Oh stop being a prat," Severus said. "Now what's the password. I'm tired."
'Oh curse it all. Why did you have to say it Snape? Why couldn't you have kept your mouth shut? Usually no one can get you to say anything and now you've gone and said too much.' Snape reprimanded himself.
He looked up at all his friends. They were no longer looking at him. Good. He didn't like when people stared. He didn't like to think he was being judged.
'That's must be what Danica feels like right now. Like the whole school is judging her,' Snape thought following his friends into the Slytherin common room.
A small fire burning in the fireplace took the bite out of the dungeon air. Sluggishly Severus went with Lucius to their dormitory.
As he got into bed he couldn't help but think of Danica.
'I don't have a chance,' he told himself. 'Black likes her too. I know whom she'll pick. Black. The girls always do. Face it Snivellus you're just a pathetic loser. No girl will ever like you with your greasy hair and sickly looks. It's quite a shock you even have any friends for that matter.'
"Oh shut it," Snape muttered curling up in his blanket.
"What was that?" Lucius asked in a groggy voice.
"Nothing. Go to bed." Snape leaned over his bedside table and blew out the candle.