Haunted
By Be Boring
Chapter 3: First Day
With all the laughing students surrounding her, Necia had to calm down a little bit. Everybody seemed to get along so well, she couldn't believe she had ever been nervous. When she commented about this to Hermione, she turned to her with a more serious look on her face than Necia had expected. "You're in Gryffindor, which means you'll get along pretty well with our house and with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses, but you've automatically made an enemy of the Slytherin house. Watch out for them, they can be pretty nasty, especially to new students. I can't ever remember a transfer student coming here for the last six years, so I don't know how they'll treat you. Other than them, you can look forward to a pretty good time."
'The Sorting Hat said that because I was running from my family, Slytherin wouldn't be a good place for me. Do I have family in that house? Am I making enemies of my own relatives?' she thought nervously. Her eyes flashed over the students swarming around her, trying to pick out who was from which house. Since she didn't know much about Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, the only students she could pick out were the ones from Slytherin. At least, they looked like they should be from that house. Many had looks on their faces that suggested their thoughts of all this weren't pleasant. Suddenly, a pretty redheaded girl came running up to them with an eager smile on her face.
"Hey, you guys. Can I sit with you? Every other compartment is full right now, unless I felt like sitting with Malfoy and his bodyguards." Everybody laughed and easily let her in except for Necia, who was startled by hearing her own last name.
"Who's Malfoy?"
Ron rolled his eyes and pointed down the hallway. "He's the worst git to come into this school since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but he's more stupid than evil. He's been competing with Harry ever since our first day of school, and the best part is he's been losing most of the time. He can't insult me too much this year though, not since my dad became the Minister of Magic. That's the job his dad was going for the whole time he worked at the Ministry. It's really got to burn when Lucius Malfoy looks at the papers and sees all the news on how great of a job my dad's doing."
Necia was taking all this information in as carefully as she could. She popped her head out of their compartment door and looked down the hall to see a very handsome seventeen-year-old boy with slicked back blonde hair, incredibly blue eyes, and a smirk on his face that looked as though it rarely ever left. She could easily see the resemblance between that boy and her mother, he looked more like Cassandra than she did. So, that kid was her second cousin? If he was the son of a Death Eater, he had to be bad news. "Yeah, he looks like a git. I take it those two thick-bodied guys right next to him are the bodyguards?"
Ron peered out with her and chuckled. "Yeah, that's them. The one on the left is Crabbe, and the one on the right is Goyle. They're strong, but only from the neck down. Everything above the neck is pretty useless as far as they're concerned." Their speculation ended when the three boys stepped into their own compartment. Just before he stepped through, Malfoy paused and glanced in their direction. First he gave a look of disgust that was obviously meant for Ron, then his eyes landed on her. The blue eyes that looked so much like her own connected with hers and became confused. Either he had just realized that he didn't know who she was, or he had seen his own eyes reflected in hers. This was the moment however that Ron chose to pull her back into their compartment.
"What's his whole name?" she asked, feeling dizzy and wishing that she hadn't seen him.
"Draco Malfoy. Fitting, huh? It's as nasty sounding as he is. Don't think about him too much, it'll just ruin your day. Here, we haven't introduced you to Ginny yet." Necia's attention was brought to the redheaded girl that had joined them. "This is my baby sister. Her name's actually Ginevre, but she prefers being called Ginny. It's kind of a baby name in my opinion." She could tell he wasn't being very serious, just trying to get on his sister's nerves.
"It's not a baby's name, I happen to like it," Ginny huffed, her red hair bouncing with her indignation as she glared at him. Then she turned to smile at Necia. "Hi, I guess you just got introduced to me, so who are you?"
Necia somehow automatically liked the other girl, and she smiled back. "I'm Necia Holt. I was home schooled before, so this is my first year in Hogwarts. Are you a seventh year? I don't mean to be rude, but you don't look quite old enough and I really don't think you and Ron are twins."
Ginny didn't seem to be offended at all. In fact, she laughed. "No, I'm a sixth year. If Ron was my twin, I think I would have killed myself years ago."
"I heard that," Ron snapped as he sat down next to Harry and playfully knocked the tiny bag of coins he was holding out of his hands with his elbow. "Oh, gold!" At this, both boys dived to the floor in a desperate attempt to scoop up all the money before the other one did. Their bickering as they grabbed at coins made the other three watch with smiles.
"Are you completely insane? This is my money!"
"You don't need it!"
"Neither do you! Your dad just became the Minister of Magic! You'll have gold flying in by the bushels!"
"Those bushels will be his, not mine! Besides, aren't friends supposed to share?"
"Share, perhaps, but not steal!"
On and on the mindless argument went, until finally they both had the money cleaned out and Ron handed his portion back to Harry good-naturedly. Everybody sat down as the train finally started to pull away, then Ron and Hermione went to go to the first two compartments where the prefects were meeting, promising they would be back in a little while. It didn't bother Necia too much, she actually was in the mood for a nap. Ginny said something about wanting to go say hi to a couple of her other friends. Necia couldn't help but think it was a little sad that she was so close to people in the year above her. What would she do next year when they were gone? Pushing that from her mind, she leaned against the side of compartment and closed her eyes, squirming around a little bit to get comfortable. She could vaguely hear some movement, then she felt the seat move as someone sat down next to her.
"I take it you didn't sleep well last night?"
She opened her eyes and looked over at Harry, who had sat down a foot to her left. "I haven't slept well for the past few nights. I guess I was nervous about today. I think I'm feeling a little better now that I have some people to talk to, though."
"I know how you feel. My situation wasn't really the same, but I guess the feeling isn't that different. I hadn't met anyone from here before I started school, and I'd never met a wizard before except for Hagrid. Don't ask, you'll meet him soon enough. I kept thinking that when I went to the Sorting Hat, it would say that there had been a mistake and that I'd have to go back to my aunt and uncle, who aren't the most wonderful people in the world. I was scared out of my mind, but Hogwarts ended up being the most wonderful place I've ever been. Probably my next favorite place is Ron's house, because I feel like I have family then."
Necia felt the tears behind her eyes again as she realized that he had found what she now desperately wanted. Her mother was gone, so she needed some sense of family right now. "You know, I think that's exactly what I needed to hear right now."
He blushed deeply, suddenly refusing to meet her eyes. "That's weird, I'm not really good with inspirational talks. Hey, I don't want to make you feel like I'm putting my nose where it doesn't belong, but I'm kind of curious about what Hermione asked before, but I interrupted because I got the feeling you felt uncomfortable with the question. Why weren't your parents here to see you off?"
Should she really tell him? Well, he had opened up to her in a very touching way just a few moments ago. Why not? "I don't know who my father is, and my mother died last month. She was the one who taught me, so now I have to go to school."
That seemed to take him by surprise. "I'm really sorry for prying, I didn't mean to offend you. I guess I was just curious."
"That's ok, it's not like it's a secret. So, what's with this thing between you and that Draco Malfoy kid? Ron didn't really tell me much."
"You know, I think he started hating me the second I refused to be his friend. Kind of childish, wouldn't you say? Poor guy can't take rejection. For a little while last year I felt sorry for him because I'd been responsible for sending his dad to prison. But he only got nastier, so I stopped feeling bad. I think his mother has been spoiling him even more now that Lucius is gone. He only seems to have gotten worse, and the worst thing is that he's had at least one night with over half the girls in the school. Sometimes it's not even a night, just lunchtime in an empty classroom. Even if I hate him, I've got to admit he knows how to completely overwhelm a girl. Most of them come out of it pretty happy."
'Great, I'm related to a walking dick. Hell, he might have even been checking me out earlier.' "I'll keep that in mind. Do you think he's doing it to prove he's better than you at something?"
"At seducing girls? Hell yeah, he's doing it to prove he's good at something and it's true, he is really good at charming them. That's not my area of expertise. I'm not good at talking to girls."
"That's not the way I see it. You're talking to one right now, and you haven't done anything wrong yet." Somehow her voice sounded strange when she said that, and it hit her suddenly how he could misinterpret that. "Besides, you're friends with a couple girls, you can't be that bad." 'I am such an idiot!' she thought sadly.
At that moment, a loud crashing sound came from the hallway. Harry jumped to his feet and went to the door, then came back in with a huge grin on his face. "Pansy Parkinson just got cursed by a Ravenclaw girl and it looks like something nasty. I'll be out there for a little while, ok?"
Necia just nodded and leaned back against the wall. Although she could hear the commotion in the hallway, it didn't take long for her to doze off. Suddenly, she was at home with Cassandra, trying to help her make a decent meal. They were laughing and talking about what lessons she would have to learn later in her schooling. Then, all the light in the house went out and the door flew open, revealing Professor Snape's dark form framed by the occasional lightning strike. Necia felt her arm being gripped and all of a sudden her mother was growing distant as Snape pulled her away. She struggled against his strength, but to no avail. Her house disappeared into the distance and then Hogwarts was in front of her, its lighted windows staring down at her like evil eyes awaiting her entrance. "You will never leave this place, I will keep you here," Snape hissed in her ear.
Things seemed to change very rapidly. He kissed her ear gently, then moved his lips down to her neck. The unexpected gentleness brought about an immediate reaction, and she turned towards it. She pressed her lips against his, opening her mouth slightly to allow his tongue entrance. Why was there a wall behind her now? Nevertheless, it was there and he was pressing her feverishly against it, his kisses becoming deeper and more passionate. Her arms circled his neck, and this was when she noticed something wrong. Snape should have felt thicker than this, but he was much more slender. Her eyes popped open curiously, and she was forced to shove the person in front of her away.
She was back in the train compartment, the commotion was still going on in the hallway, but there was someone here with her that she hadn't expected. Draco Malfoy was staring at her, a dark smile playing around his eyes. "Why did you pull away? I know you were enjoying it."
The shock of finding out that she hadn't been really dreaming turned quickly into anger. "What right do you have to come in here and start kissing a sleeping girl? I thought you were someone else, otherwise I never would have done that. Besides, you're…" She had to cut herself off quickly before she said "family." He wasn't supposed to know that.
"I'm sorry, but you looked so wonderful sleeping there that I had to do something," he said sincerely, but she could see straight through him. Even he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering down her body, picking out the ways that her robes clung to her body to accent her figure.
"You have a hand, you could have taken care of any unexpected feelings all on your own." She mentally cheered for how quickly that comeback had come to her mind, she'd never been able to insult someone so readily before.
His eyes flashed angrily. "You're just too proud to admit that you enjoyed it. You wouldn't have turned towards me if you didn't like what I was doing. I got a special feeling about you the moment I saw you. I think it's your eyes, there's something so familiar about them."
Ok, she believed that last sentence because she had felt the same way, but the only difference was that she knew the real reason why she saw that familiarity. It was like looking into her mother's eyes, although now at a second and closer look she could see that his eyes held none of the warmth that her mother's had. They were only lustful and slightly confused. "If you don't go, I swear to God I will scream at the top of my lungs and bring every kid on the train in here."
"Oh, give me break, you don't really want me to leave." With that said, he leaned forward and kissed her again. For some reason, she responded momentarily, but then shoved him off and did something that she'd never done before; she punched him with all her strength. The force behind her fist actually sent him into the opposite wall, and she couldn't help but imagine the black eye he would have later. For a moment she felt bad, but then he lunged at her with the sudden rage of a madman. She kicked him in the stomach before he could reach her, then ran out the door as he doubled over. He was much stronger than her, in a fight he would be sure to win. She had hardly gone ten steps out the door before Hermione was next to her.
"What's wrong? Why did you come running out so fast?" she asked, the concern evident in her eyes.
"Malfoy," she whispered in response, wiping off her mouth with the back of her hand. "He decided to put the moves on me while I was sleeping. He's not going to be happy when he gets out here, I hit him pretty hard."
Suddenly, a group of people appeared behind Hermione. Harry, Ron, Ginny, a short seventh year boy who looked as though he had just recently lost a lot of weight, and a loopy-looking sixth year that had a very dreamy expression on her face, although she was staring fixatedly at the compartment door behind Necia, all showed up almost immediately after Hermione made a simple gesture to call them from the mass around a pair of girls, one of which looked as though she was from Slytherin. Necia looked from one to another, feeling slightly apprehensive.
"Calling in the cavalry now, are we?"
The boy she didn't know crossed his arms as he stared at the compartment door. "You don't know Malfoy very well. When he gets angry, you need a group around you for protection. We're the best of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, so we generally end up keeping him under control."
They were the best of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class? The two people she didn't know looked as though they weren't really the best of anything. Then again, the boy had a hard look in his eyes that showed how much he really disliked Draco. The girl was still a mystery, however. "You guys, I can take care of myself, I think I already gave him a black eye."
At this, Harry and Ron snickered and rushed forward to open the compartment door and rush in. She could just barely hear Ron whisper, "I've really got to see this!" before they disappeared into the compartment. There was a loud and sarcastic "Someone finally smart enough to turn you down, Malfoy?" from Harry and suddenly there was a crash and the three boys came tumbling out into the hallway, fists flying furiously. Draco was by far coming off worst in the fight, seeing as how he was already hurting from her attack earlier. Ron and Harry pulled back and climbed to their feet, brandishing their wands. However, it was the boy she didn't know that snuck his wand out and glanced around peevishly before whispering something under his breath. An instant later, Malfoy's eyes bugged out and his hands started twisting around in his lap, then he jumped to his feet and tore down the hallway towards the end with the bathrooms. Everyone laughed, then Necia turned to the boy.
"What did you do to him?"
The boy smiled hesitantly and replied, "I, uh, hit him with a rash that's going to be pretty uncomfortable for a couple days. Plus no girl is going to want to sleep with him when she sees what's down there right now." Harry and Ron burst into hysterical laughter, closely followed by the rest of the nearby students as they caught on. The boy blushed and smiled at her. "By the way, I'm Neville Longbottom."
"Necia Holt," Necia replied, giggling at the thought of Malfoy trying to sit through a class with that rash irritating him. "Are things usually this interesting around here?"
"It's never been boring," commented a pretty black-haired girl behind her. Necia almost instantly felt jealous, this girl was a natural beauty. Her friend seemed to be rather pretty as well, but she didn't hold a candle to the first girl.
"Well, I'd say not," cracked Ginny. "I was kidnapped by a preserved memory of You-Know-Who in my first year, and things have only gotten wilder from there. I'm thinking that maybe this year will be calmer than most since nobody has to be worried anymore."
'I wouldn't say that. I've already made an enemy out of one of my teachers, plus I'm going to have to make my way around this giant school while being stalked by my own second cousin. Is that calm?' Necia thought bitterly. She didn't let it bother her though, neither Snape nor Draco could get into Gryffindor Tower, so there wouldn't be anything there to upset her. Hopefully.
Snape had been stalking around more than usual today, wishing that he had something constructive to do. He'd already completely prepared everything for his classes, now the only thing left to do was wait. He both dreaded and looked forward to the arrival of the students. He dreaded it because of how much he hated most of the students, even his own. He just pretended to like his own more because he liked to piss off the other students. Tomorrow was when he'd have to start dealing with stupid excuses for tardiness, ridiculous behavior, and four students he was not going to look forward to seeing: Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, and Necia Holt. The funny thing was that before he'd only hated the thought of three students' arrivals, now it was four. Granger always insisted on being a know-it-all and helping Weasley and Potter cheat through the makings of different potions, while those two did nothing but goof off the entire time, and now he had Ms. Holt to deal with. Other than Harry, he'd never hated someone so automatically before. The difference was that although he knew why he hated Harry, he didn't really know what made him dislike Necia so much. She wasn't any more annoying than the other students, nothing made her stand out other than her beauty, but for some reason just the sight of her made him feel like blowing up.
The reason he was partly looking forward the students' arrival was because they would be a distraction from the monotony of his life. During the summer, every day seemed the same as the last. Eventually they all blended into each other until he couldn't distinguish one from the other. Dumbledore often requested that a house elf bring down his meals so that he didn't accidentally skip one, or ten, which was more likely. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to eat, it was just that he forgot. School ensured that he would eat three meals a day. Also, the antics of the students would keep him busy so that he wasn't left with the emptiness that always seemed to fill him when he was left alone with nothing to think about. He always felt like he was missing something inside that everybody else had. Even the other Death Eaters had been a lot happier than he was, so it didn't seem to have anything to do with good or bad intentions. It was just something that he was lacking. 'Perhaps all the inbreeding to keep some families purebloods has finally taken its toll. I think I've been born without a soul.'
Even though he didn't really believe that, it seemed to make the most sense. What else could there possibly be that he was missing? Maybe the thing that had left him empty was an absent soul. It often felt like he was incapable of any true emotions other than hate, which he was starting to think was a defense mechanism rather than an actual emotion. Wasn't that the usual description of a soulless being? He almost laughed at himself right then, he was being so depressing that he couldn't believe he was still living.
A knock on the door startled him out of his gloomy little world. "Severus? Why are you taking so long? The Sorting Ceremony has just begun."
'Doesn't Flitwick know how to mind his own business?' he thought grouchily. "I'll be there in a moment," he replied, just barely making his voice loud enough to be heard. Did he really want to go? Well, he may as well. He'd have to see the new students sooner or later.
The Great Hall was filled with students hungrily devouring their food when he entered; he had taken so long that the Sorting Ceremony was already over. He glanced over at the Slytherin table to take in the new faces, then took his place at the teacher's table. Dumbledore cast a curious look in his direction, but he merely ignored it. As he started filling his plate automatically, without really looking at what he was grabbing, he started looking down the tables and picking out the first years. As usual, it was easy to see just by their faces that they were in their rightful houses. The Slytherins always looked like they wanted to make someone explode with their eyes, Hufflepuffs generally had a gentle, kind look on their faces, Ravenclaws usually had an eagle-sharp intelligence in their eyes, and the Gryffindors often had a self-confident appearance, although not always in the beginning. He could remember a time when Longbottom had appeared to be a frightened child whenever his eyes landed on Snape, but now he just brushed him off with a stiff politeness. The fact that he didn't have Snape as a teacher anymore seemed to have given him more confidence.
This was when Snape's eyes landed on the Gryffindor trio, but realized to his horror that they were no longer just a trio. Now Necia was sitting with them, chatting away as though she'd known them all her life. Her eyes flashed up in his direction momentarily and they gazed at each other for a split second, but then she went back to talking to Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger, who she seemed to have made an immediate connection with. 'Great, this year is going to be more than horrible,' he thought miserably.
