Haunted
By Be Boring
Chapter 4: How Bad Can It Get?
At first Necia felt a rush of panic as she returned to the waking world and didn't recognize her surroundings, then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes again when she remembered that she was at Hogwarts. Hermione, Lavendar, Parvati, and Gladys were in the other beds, and their heavy, peaceful breathing helped her relax again. She couldn't remember much about her mother's death, but she was sure that was what she had been dreaming about. The sight of her mother's face and a feeling of panic were the only things really forthcoming in her mind at the moment. 'Who am I kidding? I know I'm not going to get any more sleep tonight. I might as well go down to the common room by the fire.'
Fire had always fascinated and calmed her, and she decided that it might be the only thing to make her feel better right now. As soon as her feet hit the cold stone floor, she was even more determined to get down to that fire. There was no movement from any of the other girls as she wrapped a robe around herself and left the room, although she thought she heard something from behind the first years' door. 'They probably are too nervous to sleep, just like me,' she thought wistfully, then breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the common room and saw that the fire was still going strongly. She hurried to sit in the most comfortable chair right in front of it, then curled her legs under her body and stared into the flames.
When she had first come into the common room, she had vaguely noted that it was midnight, but the next time she looked at the clock again she realized that it was nearly two o'clock. She had started to lift herself out of the chair when a voice came from the corner. "Leaving so soon?"
Necia jumped and ended up landing back in the chair, looking wildly around for the source of the voice. After a few seconds, Harry rose out of the chair he'd been seated in and held his hands up as if in surrender. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I just didn't say anything earlier because I didn't want to disturb you. I've never seen anyone so focused on a fire before."
She took a few deep breaths and sat back, laughing a little as she tried to release the sudden stress he had created. "I just like fire, that's all. What are you doing down here? I doubt it's because you're so nervous you can't sleep. If anything, you should be more relaxed than in any other year, right?"
He shrugged, sitting back down and turning his eyes to the fireplace. "You'd think so, but I guess it's just that I'm so used to being afraid of something that I feel uncomfortable not having anything to worry about. I think the most terrifying thing I'll have to deal with this year is Advanced Potions. I absolutely hate Snape."
"Really? I take it he's not popular? I already don't like the guy, and I only met him last week."
Harry chuckled, turning back to her. "Well, he was always enemies with my dad when they were in school, plus my dad saved his life when my godfather pulled a really nasty trick on him. Since my dad died before that debt could be repaid, Snape is really nasty towards me. How did you meet him?"
"The first time was when I ran into him in the Three Broomsticks and I didn't even know he was a teacher, I just didn't like him. We had an argument, then yesterday when I came here and Dumbledore came up with the idea that I should be on the train ride to meet kids before I started school, Snape was the one he assigned to help me pack. Let me tell you, that has to be the most uncomfortable I've ever been in my life. I get the feeling that he automatically didn't like me, but I'm not sure why. I don't think he liked what he saw when he stared at me."
Harry studied her face closely for a moment, then said, "You know, you look a little like my godfather, Sirius. Maybe that's why he didn't like you. Then again, the resemblance isn't that great, you just have similar hair and there's something in your face that makes me think of him."
"Are you talking about Sirius Black? Didn't he die a little over a year ago? I remember that whole ordeal now, he was accused of killing all those Muggles and a wizard sixteen years ago, escaped from Azkaban, died fighting Death Eaters, and then it was announced that he had been innocent the whole time. That was your godfather?"
"Yeah, and we were really close just before he died. I actually saw it happen, so it's taken me a long time to even feel halfway normal. Now the only person left that was close to my dad is Professor Lupin. You'll meet him soon enough, he's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Before you hear it from anyone else, I may as well tell you that he's a werewolf, but he's the best guy I've ever met after Sirius. In my parents' eyes, he was probably next in line to take care of me anyway." He looked a little unsettled, then said, "As long as we're sharing deep, dark information here, what happened to your mum? Was it an accident, was something wrong…?"
Necia shook her head. "No, Mum was perfectly healthy." She froze for a moment, then tipped her head to the side in frustration. "You know, I honestly don't know what happened. That day is just a haze for me, even though something tells me I was there. Everybody's telling me that it might be dangerous to push it and force my memory to come back before it's ready, but I hate not knowing. To make things worse, people aren't letting me know what happened to her because they're afraid it will make me remember too quickly, but doesn't that immediately make you think that her death was traumatic?"
Harry looked at her with a mix of pity and understanding. "I guess that's what I would assume, but I think everyone is right, you shouldn't force your memory to come back. I don't know much about this kind of thing, but the shock might be too much for you if the memories come back and you find out that it truly was something horrible. I'm not saying that it was, just that you can't hurt yourself over that possibility."
"Yeah, I've been told that no matter how she died, the shock of losing her would have been enough to make me suppress my memories whether it was horrible or not. Still, my gut's telling me that I would have remembered by now if she had died from something like an aneurysm. You know, maybe we should just stop talking about this. It's rather depressing, and I don't want to start my classes with something like this at the back of my mind. This might not exactly be a lighter topic, but at least it's a change of subject. Why are you taking Advanced Potions if you hate Snape so much?"
"I want to be an Auror, and Advanced Potions is a required class. Trust me, it took every last scrap of brain material I have to get what I needed on my Potions O.W.L. It's funny, because I had really been looking forward to not having to see him every week in class, and the only future I see for myself involves him for the remainder of my days in school."
She grinned. "In other words, it sucks."
He laughed and glanced at the clock. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I'm sorry, I wouldn't have started a conversation if I had known it was this late. You'll hardly be able to stay awake in class tomorrow."
"That's okay, I was too nervous to have gotten any sleep anyway. At least I wasn't spending the entire time alone."
Harry stood up and walked with her to the stairway leading up into the girls' dormitories. "I guess this is goodnight then."
She gestured towards the clock. "Actually, it's a little closer to morning, but goodnight." They were silent for a moment, and Necia could have sworn he was about to kiss her, but then he smiled uncomfortably and headed back towards his own stairs. A warm flush crept into her face, and when her head finally hit her pillow, she fell asleep almost immediately.
Snape had never had such a horrible night's sleep in his life. His entire body was stiff, his head throbbed, and his eyelids felt as though they had cauldrons hanging from them. Once again, he had spent the entire night fitfully dreaming about the last time he saw Cassandra. Why was she on his mind so much lately? All the little details about her were slowly coming back to him; the way she flipped her hair over her shoulder, how she chewed on her lower lip when she was concentrating, and most of all, the way her eyes sparkled whenever he complimented her. She had always known more than anyone else that his compliments were rare treasures, something that couldn't be taken for granted. He was someone that wouldn't just hand them out freely, they truly had to be earned, and she had deserved every last one that she elicited from him.
By the time that Snape finally made his way to the Great Hall, his mind was swarming with confusion as to why he couldn't get Cassandra out of his head. So many years had passed since he had seen her, this was absolutely ridiculous. He wasn't the type to dwell on the past, although he was rather gifted with holding a grudge. Cassandra was just another person who had disappointed him in his life, what should make her the forerunner in his memories? It was a relief to finally hear the eager buzzing in the Great Hall as the students talked about everything that had happened over the summer. Some Slytherins sent a polite nod in his direction, which he returned out of habit but otherwise ignored. He could feel some cold eyes on him from the other tables, and at one point he heard a sixth year whisper, "I'm so happy I don't have him as a teacher this year!" He was half-tempted to take twenty points from Hufflepuff, which was the table where the remark was made from, but was once again reminded of who had once been at that table so many years ago.
"Didn't you sleep well, Severus? You're not your usual, upbeat self," Dumbledore commented jovially, his eyes letting Snape know that his joke was not meant to be cruel.
"Let me have some caffeine, Albus, and I'm sure I'll be more upbeat than you could ever imagine," he replied dryly. The food that was on the table looked less appetizing than ever, but he managed to get some of it down. Even bacon, which he usually enjoyed, held no pleasure for him this morning. Instead, just as he was about to take a bite out of one of the strips on his plate, the four Gryffindors he least wanted to see entered the Great Hall and took their places at the Gryffindor table. They were some of the last students to enter, so in a few more minutes he was forced to go down to the Slytherin table to hand out schedules. It was something of a relief that Draco Malfoy was not in Advanced Potions. Although he had always been one of Snape's favorite students, he was truly hopeless with Potions. He could follow directions well enough, but it all left his head the moment he stepped out of the classroom. His test scores were abysmal, and you couldn't possibly expect him to know what a certain ingredient was used for.
He heard a slight groan come from the Gryffindor table, and a smirk made its way onto his face when he saw that it had come from Necia, Harry, and Ron. Hermione didn't exactly look pleased, but she had some more restraint than the others. He had no doubt their reaction was from finding out that Advanced Potions was their first class of the day. Although he wasn't pleased about it either, he decided that he would enjoy this class in his own way. He would just have to make it fun for himself, even if that wasn't particularly good for his students.
Necia felt slightly sick as she followed the others down into the dungeons. She was honestly surprised that Ron was taking Advanced Potions, but he was only doing it because he was more interested in being an Auror than anything else, even though she didn't feel that he was suited for it. She was only taking it because she wasn't sure what she wanted to be, but she had always been gifted with Potions. It was one of her mother's favorite subjects to teach, so it had naturally become one of her best classes. She just wished that her mother was still teaching it to her rather than Snape.
"Are you okay?" Harry whispered, seeing the nostalgic expression on her face.
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just want this class to be over with. How bad was he last year in this class?"
Before Harry had a chance to answer, Ron did it for him. "Are you kidding? He had only half the students in the class that he had in regular Potions, so he could spend more time insulting each one of us at a time! Not many Slytherins made it in there, so he has practically the entire class against him. It's the worst hour you could possibly spend anywhere."
Necia groaned and desperately wished that the stone floor would just open up beneath her and suck her down into the depths of the earth. "Thanks for the pep talk, I'm feeling so much better now." They all laughed and walked into the classroom, quickly wiping the smiles off their faces as they sat down in pairs; Harry with Ron and Necia with Hermione. There were only around twelve students in the class, and every last one was perfectly silent when Snape entered the room. His dark eyes swept over them, pausing slightly in the direction of their group. A gloomy cloud seemed to have fallen over everyone as they watched Snape shuffling through his papers. He seemed to enjoy taking his time with everything, making them all wait for the horrible silence to be broken.
The first words that were spoken ended up being, "I truly hope for all your sakes that you studied your old notes over the summer, because I intend to find out right now just how much knowledge you have retained from my class. Clear everything off the desks."
Everybody just barely managed to restrain their groans as they set everything out of their way. Necia felt her jaw tense as much as it could as he set a test down in front of her. Her eyes widened as she flipped through it and realized that it was five pages long. "Who the hell does he think he is? He knew perfectly well that I was home schooled and might not be at the same level as everybody else in here!' She shot him a look of pure venom before reading the first question. Suddenly, a slow smile spread over her face as she paged briefly through the test. She knew all of this! In fact, nobody here had probably even learned half of what she had. Her mother had continued to learn about the art of potion making long after she graduated from school, but Necia had never taken that into account. She had always assumed that she was being taught at a similar rate as other kids her own age, but apparently she had been learning things much more advanced than what she should have.
Although she could almost hear everyone else's brains straining to understand and answer what was in front of them, she was finished within a half hour. Holding back a confident smile, she strode up to the main desk and set her test down in front of Snape. He had been flipping casually through the Daily Prophet and looked surprised that someone had come up to him. He picked up her test and flipped through it, his eyebrows raising as he quickly scanned over her answers. "Come with me into my office, Ms. Holt," he said softly, but in a voice that indicated he was suspicious. Necia followed him into his office, ignoring the stares of the other students. As soon as the door had shut behind them, Snape said, "Are you sure you didn't have anything that might have allowed you to cheat on this test, Ms. Holt?"
Necia was startled, then her pride came rushing to the surface. He thought she had been cheating on the test? "No, sir. I just knew all the answers.
His face told her that he didn't believe that for an instant. "Really? I find it hard to believe you knew all the answers on the last page, for they aren't anything that I would ever teach my students. They are for a higher level of students, but I included them on the test to give everyone a scare. In fact, you shouldn't even know anything on the page before that, because it's all material that we will be covering this year. I wasn't planning on actually including this test as part of the grades, but it seems that you would like it to be. How did you know all of this material?"
"You know I was home schooled, and my mother enjoyed anything to do with potions. She took extra classes after she finished school, and I guess she taught me ahead of schedule. Is there a problem with that?"
"Not really, it's just that I'm not quite sure what to do with you now. Obviously it would only be repetitive, boring, and utterly useless to teach you all of this again, but seeing as how it's a class that you are taking and you must receive credit for passing it, the only conclusion I can come to is that you will have to be taught separately from the other students. I will have to start teaching where your mother left off, but since I will have to spend this time working with the other Advanced Potions students, your schooling will have to take place at a time that is more convenient for both of us."
Necia couldn't believe what she was hearing. She would have to learn Potions alone with him? "So what am I going to do during the time I would normally be in this class?"
He shrugged and pulled a form out of his desk. "Well, seeing as how you're in your seventh year, you can take this time as a study period as long as the time is made up later. At the moment, because I'm not sure what I'll be in charge of this year, I don't know what kind of time I'll have in the evenings, so we can't set a definite appointment for each week just yet. Right now, keep coming to classes and I'll give you a more complicated potion to make than the others so you won't grow idle. I'll let you know when I'm available for real lessons."
Necia's stomach felt like someone was juggling it around. "May I go back to class now?"
He stared directly into her eyes, once again giving her the feeling that he was reading her mind very carefully and was rather disgusted with what he was finding. After letting her squirm uncomfortably under his gaze for a little bit, he nodded and tipped his wand at the door, which opened automatically. Grateful to be away from him, she rushed back into the classroom and took her place next to Hermione. She waved off her friend's questioning look and pulled out one of her other textbooks to glance through it. She had Care of Magical Creatures next, and it sounded like it had become a class to look forward to after last year. Apparently Hagrid had started taking advice from Hermione on the animals that not only would be interesting to learn about, but something that they would be able to use in the future even if they didn't plan on a career with magical creatures.
After class, the questions started flowing. "What did he want?" "Are you ok?" "He didn't try to eat you, did he?" At that, everybody froze and turned to look on Ron. He blushed so deeply that Necia could have sworn that his head was on fire. "You guys know what I meant," he mumbled, refusing to make eye contact with her.
"You're all overreacting, and no, he didn't try to eat me," she teased, making Ron's face flame up again. "Actually, it turns out that my mother taught me so far ahead of schedule that I won't be able to take the class with everyone else. Unfortunately, that means I'm going to have to take private classes with him once he knows when he'll have available time."
Harry looked absolutely horrified. "You're going to have to sit with him for an hour alone?"
She nodded, starting to catch some of his dread. It had already been bad news for her before, but the looks on her friends' faces were starting to make her more nervous by the second. "Yeah, but hopefully not for a while yet. For now I'll still be in the classes with you guys." Everyone finally seemed to catch her discomfort and stopped talking about it, but it wasn't like their minds were allowed to stay on that particularly unpleasant subject. Instead, their attentions were turned to Malfoy.
"What made him decide to take this class this year?" Ron groaned as Malfoy's blonde head glimmered in the distance. "He hates Hagrid, and he does miserably every year. I can't believe his mother would let him stay in one of his worst classes when his entire family probably wants him to work for the Ministry of Magic someday. I don't see that happening since I think he's failing nearly every class."
"The day Malfoy takes part in running this country," Necia said, "is the day that I announce my engagement to him."
"Gross!" was the reaction she received. 'You have no idea,' she thought with a quiet chuckle to herself. Not even ten seconds later, she found herself face to face with him. His ice blue eyes burned straight through hers.
"How's that rash doing?" she asked sweetly, tilting her head to the side innocently. She noticed that Madam Pomfrey, the woman who Harry had told her was in charge of the infirmary, seemed to have taken care of his black eye, for it was hardly noticeable.
His lip curled up into a sneer as he stepped so close to her that his breath drowned out all the fresh air around her face. "It cleared up nicely. Would you like to see?"
"Thanks for the invitation, but I left my microscope back in the dungeons." There was a wave of silence as she stepped around him and headed towards where Hermione was standing, then everyone burst out laughing. Necia didn't even have to look back to know that Draco's face was quite a sight to see. Just looking ahead at Harry and Ron told her that. Both boys turned to her as though she was some kind of miracle sent from another world.
"That was brilliant! I don't think I could have done better!" Ron commented with the same awed expression still on his face. "It's just another one of those moments that I'll always have to lock in my mind. There's a few of them involving him getting what he deserves, and this has to be right up at the top along with the ferret incident and the time Hermione slapped him."
Necia turned around and clucked her tongue in mock disapproval at the now grinning girl. "Hermione, I'm shocked at you! For someone to turn from rational, methodical ways to using violence, well, let's just say it blows my mind."
Hermione shot a blameful but joking glare in the direction of the boys. "That's what happens when you stay around these two for too long!"
Now Harry cast a playful look in her direction. "Aw, c'mon. You know that you loved being converted into a bad girl." There was some more chuckling at the look on Hermione's face at being called a bad girl, then Hagrid called the class's attention to himself.
"Well, it's good ter see you all again, and I'm hopin' we'll have a good year since I have some good stuff planned out. Now, can anyone 'ere tell me what Flequorns are, and perhaps how they're bred?"
Both Hermione and Necia put their hands up at the same time, which seemed to be a genuine shock to Hermione. At an urgent nudge from Ron, she lowered her hand and gave Necia the chance to be called on. Hagrid nodded in her direction. "Yes, uh, what's that name now, um, Nessa?"
Everyone laughed and surprisingly, Draco answered. "Her name's Necia, Professor." Even the quartet were stunned speechless by this; not only had Malfoy offered something useful about a Gryffindor, but he had also referred to Hagrid as "Professor." Hagrid seemed slightly pleased by this and smiled in the boy's direction, although if anything it just made Malfoy's sneer more concrete, then turned to Necia again.
"Sorry 'bout that. So, do you have the answer, Necia?"
She ignored the feel of Draco's eyes and smiled. "Yes, sir. A Flequorn is a mix between a dragon, a unicorn, and the average Muggle horse. First, a unicorn and horse are crossbred, then milk from the adult offspring is used to nurse baby male and female Black Halshner dragons. When those dragons breed, the result is a Flequorn."
Hagrid looked delighted at the amount she knew about Flequorns. "Yeah, couldn'ta said it better meself. Well, I'm sure you all knew I wouldn't just leave it to tellin' you about 'em, I have to let you see 'em. I only have two females, the males tend to be a little rough. They're not that much bigger than yer average 'orse or unicorn, and from a distance they could be mistaken for a black 'orse, but anyone who gets close 'nough can tell the difference. I'll warn ya 'bout the eyes right now, so listen carefully. If you look too long into their eyes, which are blood red and will nat'rally get yer attention, you might get a little confused. Not much different from havin' a few drinks, ta tell ya the truth, and it can leave ya with a nasty headache. So be careful not to look too long at the eyes, got it?"
Everyone nodded and followed him around behind his hut, them came to a crashing halt. In front of them, tethered to a few thick posts, were two very tall horses. At least, that's what they looked like at first. On second glance, everybody noticed the red eyes and hints of smoke escaping their flared nostrils. Both Flequorns seemed to be in a bad mood, making Necia wonder if Hagrid had simply caught them out of the forest. It was true that they were extremely tall, though not as thick as draft horses, and were coal black in color. When she finally slipped to the front of the group with Hermione to get a closer view, she realized that their coats weren't entirely hair, but included some scales as well. While the back feet looked like normal hooves, the front feet split off to reveal two toes, which looked rather awkward at the bottom of horse legs. Their manes and tails were bushy, giving them an even more wild appearance that made Necia once again wonder about how Hagrid had acquired them. She also had to wonder about why they looked so much like horses when they really didn't have any horse blood in them. As if she sensed her question, Hermione said, "They're amazing, aren't they? Unicorn milk is such a dominating substance, if it wasn't for the regular horse blood mixed with the unicorn, I wonder what we'd be looking at? These are some of the few creatures that are somewhat like a half-blood witch or wizard, and I think they're more proof that having less magical blood in them doesn't make them any less powerful. I'd love to see one of those things put Malfoy into a daze, it would serve him right."
Necia laughed and moved closer so that she was only ten feet away from the nearest Flequorn. It turned to stare at her with those horrible eyes, forcing her to immediately turn away to look at the other one, which was too busy looking at the crowd to make eye contact with her. What Hermione had said was right, these were certainly powerful creatures. She knew that if one of them decided to kill a person nearby, they'd do it. 'Well, I guess I have to give Hagrid some credit, he's definitely good with what everyone else would consider to be monsters.'
Suddenly, a yelping noise could be heard from the hut. Hagrid immediately started pushing kids back so that they were out of sight of the Flequorns. "Sorry, I'll have ta go in an' check on Fang. Stay here, alright?" He didn't wait for an answer before rushing into the house, leaving everyone standing around without an idea of what to do. This was when Necia heard some snickering. As she turned around, she noticed Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle sneaking back around the side of the hut. Not bothering to alert the trio, she snuck out of the crowd after them. She figured that if she brought along Hermione, she might try and stop the boys from doing anything stupid. What would be the fun in that?
Although it was true that the boys had moved close to the Flequorns, it seemed that Crabbe and Goyle were nervous about actually stepping too close. Necia held a hand against her mouth to stifle her laughter as the thickset pair hurried back to the front of the hut when Draco stepped closer to one of the creatures. Rather than react like most animals would at being trapped with a strange being moving closer, the Flequorn actually took a few steps closer to him and stretched its head in his direction. 'You poor, sad fool,' she thought amusedly. Anyone who had heard anything about Flequorns knew that their best trick was to use their hypnotic effect to convince their captor to become distracted so they could escape, so all Necia had to do was lean back against the side of the hut and watch with pleasure as Draco's eyes became locked with the horse-like creature in front of him. It took longer than she had expected it to, but pretty soon he took on a rather glazed, empty look. He broke the eye contact, but didn't seem to be able to focus in on much else. Then, after trying to take a step, he overbalanced and made the mistake of reaching out and grabbing the withers of the Flequorn that had confused him. Without a second thought, Necia rushed forward and crashed into him, forcing him out of the way of the now furious creature. They rolled out of the way of any trampling hooves or claws, then she flopped her head back against the hard ground. "You have some issues, did you know that?"
"Really?" he replied. "I know there's one I'd like to take care of right now." Before she could say anything, he rolled over to pin her beneath him and brought his lips to her neck. As his hand moved down her body, she reached up and sank her fingers into his hair, pulled his head back, and punched him as hard as she could for the second time in twenty-four hours. This time her fist hit a much better target, his nose, and she could have sworn she felt it break. It was at this moment, however, that the enraged squeals of the disturbed Flequorn brought Hagrid and the entire class to the area.
"Necia! What're ya doin'?" Hagrid cried out. Necia realized that this all looked as though she had started it; she was sitting up with her fist still tightly clenched, and Draco was flopped out on his back holding his bleeding nose. 'Ugh, could this day get any worse? First I find out I'll have to take private lessons with Snape, then I get blamed for defending myself when my own family attempts to molest me! Nothing could be worse than this,' she thought while just barely restraining a groan. Why were Harry and Ron giving her such warning looks? It didn't take long to find out. Not even a few seconds later, Snape followed the group holding a flask of some steaming liquid.
"Hagrid, if you expect to me to give that dog the anti-venom alone, you'll soon find yourself with a dead pet." Turning to see what everyone was staring at, he smiled slightly at the sight of Necia on the ground, looking as guilty as sin. "Ah, I see there's yet another situation for me to deal with. Professor McGonogall will want to know about this as well." Necia finally released her groan, careful to make it quiet enough so the inquisitive crowd didn't hear it. 'I guess there is something worse.'
