Chapter 4: Identity
After much meaningless and mindless chatter after lunch the train ride finally ended. Harry, Ron and Hermione invited Liandra to ride in their carriage but she declined and left them with a soft, playful smirk.
Boarding the carriage, the trio exchanged curious glances. The wonder wore off quickly for the boys as soon as the subject of quiddach was brought up. Hermione simply rolled her eyes and stared out the window. For once it wasn't rainy, there wasn't even an over cast. Instead the sky had only a few thin clouds and the rest was dark and filled with fluffy, glowing orbs.
Upon entering the castle, all three froze. The castle, always glorious upon sight, was now gleaming and at it's best.
Before any of them could reach, Professor McGonagall came striding toward them. Previously was directing the classes on where to line up in front of the castle. Once everyone was settled, although there was a great deal of murmuring because no one knew what was happening.
Then Professor Dumbledore spoke out among the crowds. He explained that a special guest would be arriving shortly.
A ripple once again spread through the crowd. Everyone was curious on who the guest was and how he, she, or they would arrive. Some suggested that another Triwizard Tournament was being held that year. Others said that the new defense against the dark arts teacher was arriving, and for once in a dramatic was.
"Well its one person arriving this time, so it's not like she's going to come around like Beauxbatons and Drumstrung. How do you recon she'll present herself?" Ron asked.
"Who knows, maybe a giant animal of some sort, or some way by land. I mean we've had arrivals by air and water so that leaves earth," Hermione reasoned.
Someone behind them scoffed, followed by an arrogant voice, "My, my Granger, I'm surprised by your logic, I though you had none. But for once you're wrong, after all the answer doesn't come in the form of a book," Malfoy taunted. The brainless idiots behind him snickered like demented cats.
"So you know how she's getting here?" Harry snapped back.
Malfoy simply smirked and pointed to the sky.
Many students around them looked up and soon the ripple effect took place. They stared anticipating without even thinking it might be a trick. Luck for them this wasn't the common prank of someone pointing and saying "look" whilst nothing is there at all.
At first there was only a soft shimmer of silver. Then suddenly a roaring line of transparent silver appeared out of nowhere.
"It's a flying snake," a gullible first-year cried out.
"No it's a line!" another idiot yelled out…Goyle!
"Wait..." Harry said quietly as he squinted to get a better view, "It's a dragon!"
Then the uproar began, some students screamed and attempted to run unto the security of the stone castle, the number luckily was scares. Most stayed and watched either out of awe or petrification.
Soon all were able to view the magnificent scene as the dragon came closer and a figure came into view. Within seconds Harry realized Liandra was soaring on it. She stood there smirking as she stood there calmly not perplexed by the situation below ground. She was still wearing all black, a turtleneck with deep fissures in them, leather pants and boots. To top it off, and for the usage of keeping her warm, a cape soared out behind her, not like superman, thank goodness, but more like a soft ocean wave. On each hand she wore black gloves with holds for her fingers. One hand rested on her hip lightly and the other held a white gold scepter with a transparent orb emitting a silver glow brighter than the stars yet much softer.
A few seconds later the dragon landed lightly hovering above the ground a few inched. Its body moved in slow waves as its head touched the ground lightly in front of Dumbledore. Liandra jumped off lightly. She kissed the dragon lightly, clicked her tongue and pointed to the sky. The dragon dropped its head in a bow, this time toward its master and flew off, turning invisible as its elevation increased.
Striding lightly toward the crowd she pulled off her right hand glove, scepter still at hand. The students clapped and she beamed lightly. She allowed Dumbledore to extend his hand first and they shook with a familiarity.
"Ah, Miss Liandra Dao, Welcome to Hogwarts," he gleamed.
"Thank you. The castle is absolutely gorgeous; I saw it flying over head. But enough of that, how are you? You look great."
"Blooming, my dear, blooming."
"It's great to hear that."
The young teen tugged on the collar of her cape to take it off and seconds later it sucked into her scepter. With a gleam of white light the scepter became a wand with a silver substance swirling around in it before it's appearance changed into a normal wooden wand.
"Spectacular show, would you care to warm up inside the castle?"
"That'd be cool."
She blended in with the rest of the students as they walked inside. There were curious stares and whispers as she entered.
Once inside she sat next to Hermione at the Gryffindor table. "So what did you think? Good, bad or too melodramatic?" Liandra asked her.
"It was gorgeous but a bit more color would give it a more glowing effect, maybe galaxy blue."
"You know what that's a good idea. You're right though…too much of a black and white effect," Liandra said.
Hermione was about to respond but the hall was silenced as the sorting began. Eleven-year-old after eleven-year-old was sorted and when it finally ended Liandra was called up. She left the table with a shrug and walked up quickly. It took longer than normal to classify her but finally the hat cried out "Slythrin!"
She took off the hat and walked toward her assigned table. Some of the Gryffindors made hissing sounds, so she turned toward them and stuck her tongue out. If one looked closely enough, there was a cleft on her tongue, not like a slit tongue but much lighter, kind of like a but chin (hehe).
She sat next to Draco and after Dumbledore made his announcements, the two began a conversation on quiddach.
"What's the chance of me getting on the team?" she asked before taking a bite of her steak.
"Low. We haven't had a girl on the team since the ice age. In other words never has happened," Draco replied.
"Oh, so I have to be the barrier breaker and blah. Funzies…"
"Don't be so depressed. You're good and stuff, you're a chaser right?" Draco asked chewing on his roll.
"Amazing you can eat and talk at the same time without grossing me out. Not to mention you haven't choked yet. Oh yeah um, answer, yeah that's the position I play but I'm flexible. I've played your spot before and the snitch nearly whacked you on the face."
"Hey! That was an iniquitous game; you were the one playing around with it and nearly got hit by that blood bludger. I just happened to rescue you and somehow you caught the snitch and smacked it on my face at the same time," Draco reasoned.
"Yes, and I'm grateful you saved my fine ass, but I won," she said faking a scoff.
"More like your non-existent ass."
"Hey! I do too have an ass. You're the one that lacks one," she teased.
Scoffing Draco laughed, "My ass happens to be very fine."
"Dude, no guy has a butt. And the think you call an ass is not fine it's a paper butt."
"Hey what does that mean!"
"It means it's really pale."
"It is not! And how would you know? Bloody hell you better not be spying on me."
"Ew…no. And first advice, look in the mirror. You're face is pale and that body part has exposure to the sun. Your ass doesn't. Therefore because your face is whale bone your ass must be paper," she reasoned.
"Hey! Why are you hanging yourself all over my Drakie!"
"Oh no…" Draco mumbled.
Liandra gave him an odd look before looking at her attacker. As she turned she felt a slap graze her forehead. "What the"
"Stay away from my Drakie! He's mine!" Pansy exclaimed as she clenched the exasperated boy. He just rolled his eyes giving up. There was no arguing with Pansy. She was one of those spoiled brats that it you hit her with a glove and she thinks it's a rat she will continue calling it a rat.
"Yes the personal possession was stated in your first sentence. You didn't need the statement that followed, it's the same as repeating yourself, in fact you used the same letters as in your first sentence. God what are you a dumb ass," Liandra sneered.
"How dare you! Do you KNOW who I AM?" Pansy streaked.
"Ugh…it's like a broken record."
"How dare you?"
"Uh scoff I dare to dare. And form what I've gathered yeah I know who you are, at least I know what you are. You're nothing but a common street ho with no life but to hang on a guy that obviously is disgusted by your touch, much less your voice. So why don't you go find yourself someone who'll pay you for your services and leave the boy alone," she said. "And you," she snapped at Draco, "Why the HELL are you going through all this torture of having a bitch lean on you 24/7? Would you tell her off instead of having me stand up for you?"
"I've tried," he replied melodramatically as he pretended to faint.
"Well you've heard him. Get off!"
"No! He's lying because you're pressuring him. Aren't you Drakie," she cuddled, "As for you. I'm a Parkinson so if you mess with me I'll-"
"-Attempt to destroy my life no doubt. Are you deaf girl? Didn't you listen to Dumbledore as he announced me?"
"Who would listen to the old coot besides a bunch of besieged losers and people that are bored?"
"OMG do you even know the meaning of besiege? Oh and by the way only pathetic, stuck up morons don't listen to a man who's a little off. Oh and before you argue, I'm Liandra, Liandra Dao."
Pansy could do nothing but stand there awe struck. Finally her already distorted face scrunched up to make it seem like some malformed sort of monstrositious pug. "Oh the tomboy everyone should be scared of," she sneered getting up, "Well you don't intimidate me. Liandra followed suit.
"Oh, oh…" Draco laughed in an undertone.
Liandra's face went completely dark, scaring the shit out of her opponent. Then she pretended to lug at her but stopped mid way. Pansy out of pure fright ran the other direction tripping over some one's foot. Luck for her she didn't fall. Liandra just stood there looking superior with a bit of an evil aura around her, a smirk playing against her lips. She turned grabbing her plate and walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Harry.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked her face perfectly re-brightened.
"Don't you want to join your friends at the Slythrin table?" Ron asked roughly.
Harry elbowed him hard but Ron just shrugged glaring down at his food. A hurt look was on Liandra's face the second he looked up.
"So it's a justification system thing here?" she asked.
"No, no it's just we aren't used to having people from other houses join us," Hermione explained quickly.
"Oh I'm sorry, if I knew I would have asked the hat to join your house. It was a tie on the hat's mind whether I should go into Slythrin or Gryffindor. See I figured your house was totally accepting from the books I've read and Slythrins are really narrow-minded. I thought I should go to the snake house to hang with my relatives and join you guy whenever. I'm sorry for being presumptuous. And I've said too much and made you all embarrassed and somewhat insulted you. It happens when I express myself. I'm sorry; I'll shut up now and see you guys around."
She got up to leave the table. A sudden pull on her sleeve dragged the girl back down in her seat.
"Don't leave you're totally welcome here. I don't mind," a first year girl said.
"No it's alright-"
Soon she was cut off by the whole Gryffindor house. Some recognized her as the popular American break-dancer for a muggle team while others were her relatives. The whole table was excited and soon Ron apologized for being an ass. Liandra laughed and said it was all cool.
"So why did the hat want to put you in Slythrin?" Colleen (a second year) asked.
"Oh…I can be pretty evil at times, mostly when I'm insulted. And I'm easily peeved. Oh and I'm kind of vengeful. It's a really bad habit, but I rarely go through with my plans, I feel guilty. Oh yeah, that reminds me."
She took out her wand and blue ribbon came out of the tip curving themselves into words reading:
I've climbed a mountain for you
Crossed a thousand seas
Just to get to you
And I still haven't found what I was looking for
Cuz' all I got was a short stick
Later,
Or preferably not.
Of course only a few students could read it: mostly Slythrins. And that was because she had places a read only spell on it so that selected people could interpret it, everybody else just saw scribbles.
Then the chaos started. The words dissolved and rumors started going around. Some students knew that the boy Liandra was referring to was Adrian Pucey, a Slythrin in her year. There was a scramble around the two tables. Some Slythrins were trying to get Adrian to tell them what was going on. He just had a stunned look on his face, so much for the calm Slythrin face.
"You're right Hermione, blue is a nice color. I like it," Liandra said.
"Um…"
"Liandra Yuet-Huang Dao!"
"Oh boy…"
Draco Malfoy literally stormed over to the Gryffindor table. He grabbed her by her lower arm and pulled her out of the hall. Shoving her against the wall he yelled, "What the bloody hell were you thinking pulling off a bloody stunt like that!" Fire was coming out of him mouth as he spoke startling the young girl.
"I-"
"He barely does anything! Not to mention he'll probably quit the Quiddach team! Bloody Hell! What the heck did he do to you that could have deserved that!" he ranted, through his speech he made the wildest arm movements.
"He cheated on me!"
Malfoy looked stunned for a second. "OMG that's it! You're making a big deal out of that! We're teenage, Slythrin guys! We have sexual ADD! You know that! All Slythrins cheat!"
"He cheated on me six times with a guy!"
Now Malfoy looked a little more than stunned. First he moves his mouth in the 'huh' position. Then he looked confused like he was trying to comprehend what was going on. Then he pouted in a 'are you sure you know what you're talking about or were you mistaken.' Finally he crossed his arms and said, "You have to be mistaken he cannot be gay."
"Hey there's nothing wrong with gay people. They're really nice and stuff. Not to mention they're willing to help you without pulling off the muscle man stuff. There's something wrong with dating me, telling me that you're perfectly straight, lying to me, and having me walk in on you fucking a he-she," she clarified.
"Are you sure it wasn't another girl?"
"Does that matter? Six times with the same guy! I'm sorry but I'd rather he fuck six different girls once than have sex with a guy six times. He may as well have declared the guy his boyfriend. He could have at least broken up with me. But no he wanted a three-some. And awe hell naw," she said decently calmly, hey she's still a snake house girl, but the venom was comprehendible if you listened closely enough.
"Oh…well, still, public embarrassment is a bit far."
"I know but, you know me. I kind of have a knack for vengeance when I've been humiliated. So I think it's equal, we both ended up with the same effect," she said. But even when she heard it, it sounded wrong to her ears.
"You know it's not always the effect that makes an action bad, it's the intention. That's why people that attempt to kill others get put in jail. They tried killing someone, and sure the person didn't die but they still could try again," Draco reasoned.
Looking down in guilt, she said, "I know…"
Her actions only caused Draco to feel bad too, not that he would ever admit it, but he felt like a complete ass having literally attacked her and making her feel bad. Trying to add some light in the dark he said in a joking voice, yet he was dead serious in a way, "hey you aren't going to cry on me now are you?"
She shook her head.
Kneeling down, he picked her chin up lightly. "You okay?"
"Mhph…"
"What?" he asked having the most confused face (which was cute).
"Yeah, I'm good, I'm good."
Standing up he held her close and started leading her down a random corridor. "How about we talk back in my common room?"
Looking up slightly she gave him a confused look, "Isn't it our common room?"
"Nope, I got made head boy."
They heard a gasp in front of them and they both looked up to see who it was. Standing there was Hermione Granger.
"You're head boy?" she asked eyebrows furrowed.
"Oh bloody hell," he mumbled looking toward the ceiling.