Ok, so its been a like a couple of weeks since last updated, and I forgot my disclaimer:
I own an army, a passle of souls and a harem of beautiful men, however, I do not own Harry Potter or anyone written about in the books…
I do own Kari, Brangienne, Alyssa, Myrim and Sarai…no stealing…
Chapitre II
Classes and Divulgences
When Kari woke up in the morning, the sun had still not risen, but remained a promise behind the horizon. She could still hear the deep breathing of the other girls and so rose, dressed and took the unopened letter from last night while she headed down to breakfast.
When she reached to Great Hall, it was nearly deserted, a scattering of people were at the Ravenclaw table, and the rest of the tables were empty. Kari picked a seat at the Ravenclaw place and was ignored by the bleary eyed occupants. She started eating her breakfast and opened the envelope. It was her schedule. She scanned it, noticing that her Arithmacy, Anchient Runes and Transfiguration classes were all doubled with Ravenclaw while she had Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures with Gryfffindors. She sighed and readied herself for her first class of Arithmacy with Proffessor Vector. She shoveled the remaining food into her mouth and rose, trudging off to her class to get some last minute studying in before she went to class.
Having finished the section of Hogwarts, A History where they describe all of the staircases, she was only delayed by two, the one that you had to wait for the right cycle before you could go anywhere and the one that you had to stroke the banister the whole way or it dropped you knee deep into the stair. She was waiting almost fifteen minutes until a Ravenclaw girl came by to pull her out.
"Which class do you have" She asked briskly, tossing her black plait over her shoulder. She wasn't very friendly, but then again, neither were many people towards the Slytherins.
"Arithmacy with Proffessor Vector." Kari said, pulling up her knee socks from where they had fallen down. The Ravenclaw giggled.
"You know you can tighten the top of those so they don't fall down all the time." The Ravenclaw giggled and showed her where to pull on the cord so it tightened to keep itself up. "My name's Padma Patil." The girl said, straitening up and smiling.
"Mines Kari." She said, not volunteering her last name. Padma nodded, her face blank as she tried to place Kari. "I'm new." She offered, tightening the other sock.
"Oh, well, I have Arithmacy as well, so you can come and sit with me." Padma offered, striding off down the hall. Kari followed her and Padma kept up a string of endless chatter that Kari was only half listening to. When they got to the Arithmacy room, Padma took a seat in the middle of a bunch of other Ravenclaw girls that were sixth years as well and Kari felt very young and very Slytherin.
"This is Kari, she's a new Ravenclaw who's a year younger than us." Padma said and Kari jumped. She was a Slytherin! The girls descended in a flock, all of them proclaiming how 'precious' she looked in her little uniform. Kari opened her mouth to say that she was a Slytherin and nothing came out. She closed it again, looking irritated.
Something strange was going on indeed.
"Class, order" Professor Vector said, clapping his hands. They all settled down and class began. It was one of the hardest Arithmacy classes she had ever had and she actually had to pay attention instead of being able to let her mind wander like she normally did. Arithmacy came easy for her, always had, and now she had to work to get it. She wasn't sure she liked this feeling. Padma came with her as she went to go get her Potions books, but left before she got to the Slytherin comman room by being called over by a pretty girl with long black hair, her twin sister.
"I'll see you later" Padma called, and vanished with her sister. Kari again touched to wall to gain access into the comman room, but nothing happened. She frowned and touched it again, but still nothing happened. Footsteps sounded behind her and a girl she recognized as Morag came up behind her.
"Forgot the password" Morag asked, her smile stretching wide but not quite reaching her eyes.
"Yes."
"Late for your class"
"Not really." Morag seemed to pause after this.
"How much will you give me to get you the password" She asked, drawling like Draco. She was horrible at it, but the drawl did give Kari an idea. She took Daris' advice.
"Nothing, I'll just wait here until my cousin Draco comes by...And then I'll tell him how you made a poor girl like me stand in the cold corridor and catch a cold." Draco's temper with people who were cruel to the younger Slytherin's was fierce. "And then I'll tell him that you're in love with Harry Potter." And then again, blackmail always works. Morag's face was surprised and then angry.
"Pride." She hissed and the door opened. Morag stalked in and Kari followed. So, implying that Morag liked Potter touched a nerve...Interesting. Maybe she wasn't the only Slytherin who liked a Gryffindor. She filed that away for future use and then gathered her Potions books and headed off to the dungeons. She had met Professor Snape on one occasion, when he had visited her parents and he had then been found out to be a spy for Dumbledore. This class was not a double class, it was only Slytherins from her year, but it was both boys and girls. She was obviously late, seeing as the rest of the class was sitting down and Snape was up at the front of the class, calling role. He looked up sharply as she entered and she quietly went to a seat in the back by herself. The four girls in her room turned back and looked at her reproachfully for coming in late.
"You must be Kariama Mason. For anyone who's been here for more than a year knows not to come to my class late." Snape said darkly. Kariama weighed all possible responses in her mind and then remembered how Snape had reacted when her mother had started crying at the dinner table. Kari sobbed.
"I-I'm sorry
Professor, I-I didn't know the password, someone let me in last night and I tried to get my books and no one was around an-an -an" Kari said all of this in a panicked voice and then broke down crying. She took out Daris' handkerchief that he gave her and started really crying. She missed Daris, and Goddy and only having Daris teach her and him making her go out and play when she would rather study. She was not expecting that such a cathartic release would take away the tension that she didn't know was there.
"There erm. there..." Snape said, looking uncomfortable. The girls in the room were now looking at him reproachfully for making her cry. "Just take a seat, it's your first day, I'm sure we can excuse it this time." He waved her to sit down and she did, sniffling. She was sitting next to a Slytherin boy whom she didn't pay any attention to as Snape continued on with his class, slightly off balance from her performance. "We'll start the day by making a Strengthening Solution, all right everyone, get your materials out." Kari spent the rest of the period making the solution, and for someone who's worst class was potions, her Solution was great. It was only green when it was supposed to be blue instead of a bright shocking pink like it normally was.
"Dismissed." Snape said, flapping his hands at them. Kari gathered her stuff and fled, wanting to get lunch before anyone else did. Rather than stopping at her room, she stuffed it all in her bag, grabbed a sandwich and a drink from the Gryffindor table which was the closest and headed off to the library. The library was quiet and Kari stood in the doorway for a moment, drinking in the smell of old books. She smiled, closing her eyes and she could pretend that she was home. Any minute now her father would burst through that door looking for another book to help him hex someone and she would hand it to him without looking up from her Arithmacy book.
"Hey! Kari" A voice jolted her out of her wanderings and a book fell off of the shelf next to her. Madam Pince gave her a glare as she came out from behind her desk to replace it. Kari looked around to see where the voice was coming from. It was Ron's and he was sitting with Harry and Hermione. Kari drew closer and joined them.
"Hey Kari" Ron said, grinning at her and she gave him a shy smile back.
"Hallo Kari" Hermione said, beaming at her. She had a large book on her knees and Harry didn't look up, he was engrossed in his writing.
"Hermione! You stopped reading..." Harry looked up frantically and then noticed Kari. "Oh, hallo Kari."
"Harry forgot to get his summer assignment finished for Snape's class." Ron explained, eyes were laughing.
"I've only got two more inches." Harry protested. "Hermione, keep reading." Hermione rolled her eyes but obeyed, reading the passage about Mandragora potions.
"So how was your first day so far" Ron asked, ignoring as Harry and Hermione bickered about a fact in the book.
"It's okay. I went to Arithmacy and then was late to Potions because I forgot the password to my comman room." Both Harry and Hermione stopped what they were doing and looked up.
"And you're still alive" Harry asked incredulously.
"Snape started yelling at me and I cried. He's terribly unnerved if a girl cries." Hermione looked as if her birthday had just come early but Ron and Harry looked disgruntled.
"Lucky duck." Harry said, his voice dark. Kari looked down at her watch.
"Well, I've got to go, I've got Ancient runes and you'd better start cracking on that essay, you've got ten minutes until class." Kari got up, waved goodbye and they waved back except for Harry, who was scribbling furiously.
"One. More. Bloody. Line" Harry said viciously.
"Harry! Language" Hermione's shocked voice followed Kari out.
The rest of her classes went normally and strangely enough, all of the Slytherins knew she was a Slytherin, but all of the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors thought she was a Ravenclaw. And in double classes with Ravenclaws, she was almost always ignored by the Ravenclaws, it was almost like they didn't even know she was there. Meals she snatched on the run for fear of being found out and asked questions and finally after two days, she decided it had to stop. She went to the head of her House.
"I want to talk to Professor Dumbledore now" She threw her books on the table and Snape looked up with mild surprise.
"May I inquire as to the reason for this request" Snape asked, his black eyes annoyed.
"That's between him and me." Kari said, her eyes furious as she had been pushed past the breaking point.
"That's not a good enough reason." He now looked only mildly irritated, and it seemed as though it was only because she was interrupting his personal time than anything else. Kari closed her eyes for a moment and prayed for patience.
"There are some strange things going on at Hogwarts. And they involve me and I think that Dumbledore knows about them and they are driving me crazy." Snape looked at her with sudden interest.
"Do they involve Harry Potter" He asked his voice dripping with pleasure.
"Why would they involve him" Kari asked, momentarily distracted by surprise.
"Because I have found out that sooner or later everything involves Harry Potter. And every time he manages to squirm out of trouble." Kari was taken aback by the venom in Snape's voice.
"Well" Kari thought for a moment. "It might involve Harry, that's why I have to talk to the Headmaster." She felt sort of dirty for playing off of Snape's weakness, but then again, she excused herself, she was a Slytherin...
"All right, follow me." Snape swept off, and she picked up her bag again. He lead her down a large corridor to a door with two gargoyles in front of it. Kari looked around her with interest as Snape marched up to the Gargoyles. "Sherbet Lemon." He said briskly and motioned her in. "I'll go find the headmaster. Sit down and don't touch anything." He left.
Kari looked around with avid interest, noticing the beautiful phoenix and the headmasters on the walls. They glared down at her, obviously thinking that she was some sort of rule breaker. Then her eyes alighted on the hat. It was the Sorting Hat and just the thing she needed to talk to at the moment. She picked it up and put it on her head.
Wha? Oh, you. Hello. It said, and she could hear it's annoyance at being woken up.
Hello. Could you please tell me what is going on? Kari asked, her voice stretched with annoyance her self.
No. Not my business to. Dumbledore will tell you what you need to know, and until then, I was currently thinking of a rhyme for before. Can you think of one?
You're not telling me anything, I'm not telling you anything. Kari snarled, feeling perturbed and just faintly childishly rebellious. She snatched the hat off of her head and put it back. She found a globe on Dumbledore's desk and picked it up to look at it. It was a little miniature girl inside with brown hair in pigtails and she was hugging another girl with red hair. The girl looked an awful lot like the woman in the globe next to it. She picked that one up next. The woman winked and blew a kiss at her before turning back to her conversation with the young man. There were little gold letters stamped on the ball at the bottom and if she just squinted like-
"You have an interesting way of not touching things." Dumbledore's quiet voice disrupted her concentration and she jumped, looking sheepish. She replaced the globe where she had found it and sat back down. Dumbledore gave her a smile, went over to his desk and picked up the globe himself. "My daughter. Lauriana Dumbledore and her husband." He smiled fondly at the globe next to it. "And my granddaughter with her best friend." He caught her quizzical look. "I adopted Lauriana, I never married." He said, smiling gently. Somehow she felt as though she had been granted a gift with that knowledge. "Now what did you need to speak with me so urgently about." The look on his face was unsurprised and she had a sneaking suspicion that he already knew.
"I think you already know sir." She asked, folding her hands in her lap.
"One can only assume that it has something to do with the fact that your badge is switching from Ravenclaw to Slytherin and giving me a headache." He said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Yes sir. And that every time I try tell a Ravenclaw that I'm a Slytherin, something stops me." Kari was leaning forward earnestly. "I'd like whatever's doing it to stop." Dumbledore was silent for a moment.
"Kari, you know that the Dark Lord has risen once again. Your family has been approached, and you think that is why you have come to Hogwarts. You would be wrong." Dumbledore sat down with his fingers steepled in front of his eyes. "Kari, you have come to Hogwarts to be a bridge. A bridge across the houses which are currently so divided that we sometimes have to keep Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy at opposite sides of the room to keep a fight from breaking out. We need these houses United and only you can do it." Kari opened her mouth to say something, but Dumbledore held up a hand. "Hear me out." She fell silent. "You have the intelligence of a Ravenclaw, and if not for the fact that we need you in Slytherin, you would probably be in that house. However, we need you in Slytherin because you are a Mason, and in Slytherin, where the heirarchy of the blood is most important, you outrank everyone but Master Malfoy. You are liked by the Gryffindors because you are quick and you are loyal and they do not yet know of your prechance for lying."
"I do not have a perchance for lying" Kari protested. Dumbledore leveled his gaze at her and she shifted around in her seat uncomfortably. "I just like lying. It's a lot easier than telling the truth." Her eyes narrowed. "And who told you that" She asked angrily. She hadn't told any lies since getting to Hogwarts!
"I have been in correspondence with Daris since the day he was employed at your household." His voice was quiet, but his words struck her like a knife.
"Daris never cared about me did he." She asked dully, looking down at her hands.
"On the contrary. He cared about you too much." Dumbledore said, his voice soothing. "You were supposed to have an unhappy childhood and be glad to come to Hogwarts where you would make friends with everyone across the four houses and unite them. But Daris loves you like his own daughter and could not bear to see you unhappy, so he defied my plan and raised you to be a happy, well adjusted child with slight tendencies towards lying."
"I think I got the lying part from my parents not him." Kari said, looking up.
"Ah, your parents. The brilliant Masons, a family of purebloods that can trace their lineage back to the first witch and wizard without any muggle blood anywhere in their bloodlines. Also so inbred that they hardly produce daughters anymore. And don't value the ones that they do produce. You were a neglected child, pushed aside by your brothers and valued only for who you would get married to."
"Can we not talk about my family" Kari asked, her voice tight and her hands clenched in her lap. Her teeth hurt from where she clenched them as a surge of anger threatened.
"But your family has made you who you are. Ruthless, cold and filled with anger when you need to be. And it is your family who gives you power." Dumbledore said, his eyes now filled with sadness and pity.
"I don't need their power. I just want a normal life." She said, her teeth clenched. She looked up at Dumbledore angrily. "Something that your little 'plan' is messing up entirely."
"Child, you would never have a normal life, even if I didn't interfere. There are some things about you that are too extraordinary. Like Harry, you can either take charge and make your life interesting, or interesting things can happen you, and when destiny is forced to show it's hand, things can get dangerous." His eyes were fixed on her. "Are you willing to pay the price"
"I'm a Mason, I can pay any price." She said flippantly.
"But what if it isn't you that does the paying, but someone else" She opened her mouth to say 'well that's their lookout isn't it?' but then closed it again. "You can think on it, or if you'd rather, I can wipe your memory so you don't know what's going on and you can live your so called 'normal life.'" This was a generous offer. He was offering exactly what she wanted, there had to be something more.
"I think..." She paused for a moment. "That I'd like to be able to tell someone what is going on. Some Gryffindors should be able to know what's happening. And stop the Ravenclaws from thinking I'm a Ravenclaw...And whatever else happens, happens."
"Done." Dumbledore said putting out his hand over the table. She shook it, feeling very much like she had just made a deal with the devil.
She left Dumbledore's office feeling sort of dazed and went to the library to collect herself. Ginny was sitting at a table and Kari made a decision.
"Ginny, can I talk to you" Ginny and she had been hanging out in the library recently, Ginny to see Harry whom she had a huge crush on, and Kari because she liked books. And to see Ron, but she hoped Ginny hadn't picked up on that.
"Sure." Ginny said, putting down her book.
"And after what I'm going to tell you, you have to promise to still talk to me and not be mad." Ginny looked suspiciously at her, but nodded carefully
"Ummm, alright."
"Promise"
"Promise."
"I'm a Slytherin. Not a Ravenclaw." Ginny looked shocked for a moment.
"That's not funny." Ginny said carefully.
"It isn't a joke." Kari sighed.
"But I can see the badge on your chest its...wait, it's all blurry." Ginny squinted at it and she saw the recognition dawn on Ginny's face.
"You're a Slytherin" She almost shrieked, but she remembered where she was just in time.
"Yes."
"But how come I couldn't see the Slytherin badge before, it looked like a Ravenclaw badge" Ginny glared at her accusingly. "Did you change it so you could take points off of the Ravenclaws"
"No" Kari exclaimed and Madam Pince looked over at them disapprovingly. She lowered her voice. "Do you honestly think that I would do something so low" She asked disgusted.
"The Ravenclaw you? No. But as a Slytherin"
"I'm the same person" Kari exclaimed, exasperated.
"But as a Slytherin you have different ideals."
"No, I don't...Get a grip Ginny" Kari closed her eyes for a moment and counted to ten. "Ginny, being a Slytherin, I am no one different."
"Are you sure" Ginny asked, suspiciously. Kari gave her an exasperated look and she nodded. "Alright, but I just want to make sure that I'm not giving my brother up to a psychopathic killer or anything."
"You don't...what" Kari asked, completely taken aback.
"I've seen the way that you look at him" Ginny said, elbowing her friendlyish. "You want him, and I can tell that he likes you back. He's just a little afraid of losing Harry and Hermione as friends if he gets a girlfriend, he's waiting until one of them gets a significant other first." Kari's mouth was working, but she was in such shock that she wasn't saying anything. Ginny rolled her eyes. "My brother is such a git sometimes."
"He is not..." Kari protested weakly, still thrown by the fact that Ron may like her back. Ginny grinned at her.
"Yes he is." She tossed her red hair over her shoulder and sighed.
"But...so you're not mad at me" Kari asked in a quiet voice.
"How can I? You never lied to me, you just didn't correct me because you couldn't. It's not like it changes who you are." Ginny said, grinning impishly.
Kari left the library feeling as though she had a great weight lifted off of her shoulders. She practically skipped to her Charms class and she took her seat next to Myriam.
That night, Kari felt strange, and her skin was itchy as if she didn't quite fit in it. She scratched absently at her arm as her silver eyes closed.
Darkness. A vague feeling of wrongness and something loosed from deep inside. A chaotic mansion filled with dark and twisted furniture, chairs that bite, doors that devour and an almost complete feeling of death darkness and pain. Kari ran, trying to find some other person in this oppressing building. Suddenly she was in Hogwarts, and there were two girls and a boy standing in front of her. They touched the mirror in front of them and vanished.
Kari was being shaken and someone was screaming, a high-pitched fear filled scream. It took her a moment to figure out that it was her and she stopped, trembling. Her dark eyes looked around feverishly, not even noticing her disheveled and chaotic state.
"Kari" Brangienne was shaking her.
"Wha-what happened" Kari asked, her heart racing in some unknown fear.
"I think you were having a nightmare...you were thrashing in your sleep and screaming." Brangienne's face was concerned and the other girls were looking over her shoulder, their faces filled with interest.
"I-I don't know..." Kari said, her heart starting to slow and her trembling finally stopped.
"Should we tell Dumbledore" One of them asked, but Kari shook her head furiously.
"No" Kari yelled. She pulled herself under control. "No. It was just a nightmare. He doesn't need to know." She had a sneaking suspicion that all he would be able to say would be 'I told you so'. The girls went back to their own beds after giving her a couple of strange looks, and they quickly went back to sleep. Kari got up and went down to breakfast. Draco was up for once, reading a thick book at the breakfast table. Kari slid into the seat next to him. She looked down at her plate for a moment and began to push it around her plate with her fork.
"So, how is my favorite cousin's time at school going" Draco asked, smiling at her.
"Fine." Kari said shortly. She opened her mouth to tell him about the dreams, but then closed it again. It was probably a better idea if those were kept private. "Just fine."
"Been sleeping well? You've hardly touched your food." Draco said, his face filled with concern. Something inside of Kari snapped.
"There" She smashed her hands into her food. "There! I've touched it! Are you happy now" The Slytherin table looked at her in shock. She threw her bag over her head and stalked away. She went to the library and found a deserted section. She put her head on her knees and began to cry.
I can't handle this! Kari said to herself. I don't want to have a destiny! I want to do my Arithmacy, date Ron and graduate! That's all. No stupid lies about which house I'm in, no nightmares, and most especially no stupid headmasters who insist that I do things that I don't want to do! Kari stopped crying and sniffled, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. She looked at her watch. She had a half an hour before she had to get to class, and so she came out of the back of the Library. Ron, Harry and Hermione were sitting in front of the fireplace, looking up something for their Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. Kari joined them, slipping into an unused chair.
"So, when Quidditch practice does start up, do you think I should go for Keeper again" Ron was asking Harry, as Harry was flipping through a large volume full of curses and blocks.
"Yeah, you're loads better than you were last year." Harry didn't look up, but an impish smile stretched his mouth. "I mean, I can't see how you could get any worse unless you start playing for the other team." Ron shot him an annoyed glance and threw a wadded up piece of paper at him.
"That's unfair. I wasn't that bad. I saved a couple of goals." Ron said, and Hermione just smiled, deigning not to comment. Ron turned to Kari. "Do you play Quidditch"
"No. I don't know how to fly." Kari said quietly. She was never an outside type of person, and clambering on a broomstick that would take you far over the surface never really had much appeal to her. The trio apparently thought that this was a bad thing. Hermione dropped her quill, Ron dropped his wand and reduced the table to about half of its original size and Harry dropped the book he was holding with a dull thud. She paused for a moment as the three of them gaped at her and then sighed. "I'm afraid of heights."
"Oh." Said Hermione, looking thoughtful. She quickly returned the table to its original size.
"You're kidding." Exclaimed Ron as he picked his wand back up.
"No." Kari said, taking a deep breath. "I'm not." Kari was suddenly distracted by someone throwing open the library doors with a white face. It was Neville Longbottom.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione" He called, when he spotted them. "You'll never guess what I just heard" Madam Pince looked down at him from over her glasses disapprovingly. "Three students have gone missing! Two from Hufflepuff and Susan Bones from Ravenclaw." Kari didn't know Susan Bones, but she was immediately reminded of her dream. Ron glanced over at her and then looked again with concern.
"Kari? Kari are you alright" She could hear his voice as if from far away and there was a roaring sound in her ears.
"Yeah...I'm fine." Her voice sounded dull and as if through a fog.
"You're paler than the ghosts, are you sure that you're alright" Hermione asked, her voice full of concern.
"Fine...fine." She said, snapping back into focus. She forcibly made her hands unclench where they were wrapped around her bag's strap. "I think I'm going to go to my class now..." Her voice was faint and she wasn't even sure she was talking. She gathered her books in that leaden stupor and wafted off to class, leaving four very confused teenagers behind. To tell the truth, she was confused as well. The shock finally wore off and she settled back down to routine. A week rolled by.
Poor poor Kari…And yes, I realize that Snape is a little strange, but he has to have SOME weakness don't you think?
Please, if you care, caffinate! Or at least review…