A NEW SCHOOL
Chapter One: Aquaintances
"Well I'll be damned." I said loudly so that Snape looked up from his weekend work.
"Gwyn Braddock." He stated looking at the cause of the outburst. I smiled.
"Hello again Severus." I said, leaving Hermione standing there with her jaw on the floor.
"You two know each other?" Hermione asked. I smiled and nodded.
"Severus is a friend of my mother's, isn't that right?" I said. Snape nodded curtly. "I'm sure I'll be fine for this one on my own Hermione feel free to leave me here."
Hermione looked up at Snape to find him snarling at her, she quickly left the room.
"You're more like your mother every time I see you Gwyn." Snape commented as I approached the desk.
"I hope that was a compliment." I said flashing her professor a smile. He chuckled and nodded. "We left my dad so now I come here, what did I miss?"
"You missed half of a semester." Snape said his lips curling into a small smile.
"Thank you Captain Obvious, we'll now board the Space Shuttle DUH and jet to planet No Shit." I said rolling her eyes. "Do I have to make any homework up?" she asked giving the professor the best puppy-dog look she could.
Snape laughed quietly. "I suppose I could let it slide. You know you're mother could make me do anything with that exact look."
I nodded happily. "She told me."
"Oh sorry professor………" a student said walking into the room. I turned around and saw the most gorgeous boy I had ever laid eyes on.
"It's fine Mister Malfoy, just getting our new student up to speed." Snape said, noticing the familiar look in my eyes.
"And who might this be?" I asked licking her bottom lip.
"Draco Malfoy, this is the new student Gwyn Braddock." Snape introduced. Draco mirrored the same action Potter had only moments earlier. But this time I didn't pull away.
"I just came to pick up the ingredients for the potion." Draco said, his eyes never leaving mine.
"I'll leave you two boys to your work." I said walking to the door. "Play nice, I'll see you tomorrow Professor."
Hermione was waiting outside Snape's classroom. I walked out and smiled at her. I could tell she was brimming with questions but continued walking regardless.
"Where to next?" I asked.
"You know Snape?" she asked in an oddly hushed tone.
"I've known him my entire life." I said with a shrug. "So Defense Against the Dark Arts is where?"
"Sorry I just didn't know that Snape had friends." She said with a small smile.
"Not many, I assure you, but some." I said following a half step behind.
"Ah Ms. Granger, I was expecting you." A woman said motioning us inside.
"Professor Steele, this is Gwyn Braddock. She'll be joining us for the remainder of the year." Hermione said.
"Yes, I've been informed thank you." The woman said standing up to put a book on the bookcase behind her. "I assume you've taken a course similar to this?"
"Yeah." I said She stopped and looked at me strangely before nodding and dismissing us.
"That's our last class of the day. Anywhere else you'd like to see?" Hermione asked.
"Anywhere I should?" I asked.
"Not really. Shall we go back to the dormitory? See if all yours things are in order?"
I had to smile at her accent, it was too fitting.
"So you're a top student?" I asked as we made our way through the halls.
"Well yeah I suppose." She said blushing slightly. I smiled and looked at her robe.
'What's the H for?" I asked as we walked along.
"Oh! I'm Head Girl." She said blushing a little deeper.
"I used to be top potions at my old school." I said in an attempt to make her feel better.
"Hermione!" a group chorused form behind us. She spun on her heel.
"Who's your friend?" one guy asked. I rolled my eyes and turned around.
"Gwyn Braddock, I'm new." I stated.
"Dean."
"Seamus."
"Neville."
"British." I commented.
"Erm, Scottish actually." Seamus said with a smile. I nodded, because that information was clearly imperative to my staying here. Hermione looked at me with a smirk and began walking again, which I followed, as did our new friends, much to my dismay.
"So where are you from?" Dean asked walking up beside me.
"Canada." I answered and waited for the inevitable 'eh' joke.
"Canada, eh?" he said and laughed to himself.
"How original." Hermione commented as we approached the painting of the fat lady.
"What can I say?" Dean said with a self-satisfied grin. "I'm an original kind of guy."
They all followed us inside, confirming my fear that they were all in my house.
"Hey 'Mione!" Harry yelled running up to greet us. I felt the whole common room turn to look at us, and attempted to maintain a nonchalant look. "Hey Gwyn." He said in, what I assumed, was supposed to be a 'dashing' and 'seductive' voice.
"How about that dorm tour?" I asked Hermione who just nodded and practically dragged me up the stairs. We shut the door to our room before she burst out laughing. "I take it that they aren't always like this?" I asked in a hopeful voice. She nodded and sat down on my bed.
"I suppose it's the new kid effect." She said with a shrug. I opened my trunk and pulled out a couple pictures of friends and one of my dog before reaching and finding the vial of silver liquid that caught Hermione's eye.
I saw her quizzical gaze and pulled off the top letting a single drop fall onto the comforter. I smiled as it spread over the top of the comforter and then disappeared. Hermione was about the comment when the first snowflake fell right in front of her.
"Wha?" she asked as I sat on the bed and placed the pictures on the wall.
"It's snow in a bottle." I explained. "One of the random potions we learned in the first year honors course."
She watched as the snow fell steadily onto the bed. Luckily it was only a potion and the snow disappeared before it hit the sheets.
"Can you teach me?" she asked. I nodded with a shrug.
"If we have the right things."
She nodded and her gaze shifted to the pictures I had placed on the wall.
"Who is that?" She asked motioning to one of the pictures. It was the picture of me and my bestfriend Adrien after she'd won one of her Quidditch games.
"That's Adrien" I said with a grin before I remembered that it would be another 6 months before I saw her again. "And that is the best dog in the world." I said pointing to the picture of me and a HUGE Huskie. "His name is Puck."
She smiled and nodded before checking her watch. "It's time for supper, we should get down there."
I just nodded and followed her down out of the dorms. Ron and Harry were waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
"We were wondering if you were going to forget about food." Ron said with a small grin. His arm wrapped around Hermione's back and he led her out of the Griffyndor room. Which left Harry to walk beside me, which I wasn't pleased with.
"So what do you think of the classes?" he asked.
"I'm looking forward to Potions, other than that I can't really say." I said with a shrug. Ron and Harry stopped to look at me like I was growing an unusual limb from my face.
"Oh that's right!" Hermione exclaimed. "I forgot to tell you. Apparently we were wrong. Snape does have friends. Gwyn's parents are old friends of our dear professor."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Ron exclaimed. "You know Snape?"
"Yes." I stated, I really didn't want to delve into the details of Severus' relationship with my mother. Ron grabbed my elbow and pulled me up alongside him as we walked.
"Then you have to tell us what he's like outside of school." He said with a grin.
Harry caught up with us a moment later and soon we were at the huge doors, one of the few places I could recognize and a whole bunch of student were filing into the Great Hall.
"First time at the Great Hall?" a voice said from behind me. I turned with a smile to see the Draco kid from Severus' class.
"Yeah." I said, not noticing how my companions had taken to glaring at him. "You gonna show me around?"
"I would." Draco said with a smile that left me practically breathless. "But I'm not too sure that your sitters would enjoy it."
I looked over my shoulder and saw the looks of absolute hatred that the trio were shooting Draco and gave Hermione a questioning glance.
"Some other time then." Draco said and walked past us into the Great Hall. I watched him walk away and licked my lips. Damn but that boy was hot.
"Damn…" I muttered. Hermione grabbed my elbow and pulled me aside. Letting the guys go ahead to grab us a couple spots at the obscenely long table.
"Malfoy?" she hissed. I nodded and looked past her trying to get another glimpse. "No. I know I haven't known you long but take my advice and stay away from him."
"But he's gorgeous," I whined. She looked like she was about to throw up.
"He's an ass." She stated simply. I nodded, they always were. All of the good-looking guys that I was attracted to were assholes. But he was SO pretty. I wanted to keep him and lock him away and do multiple things that my mother wouldn't approve of.
"I'll try to stay away from him, but I'm not promising anything." I said with a sigh. This girl obviously knew better than I did. After all she had gone to school with him for seven years. She nodded and led me to sit in-between her and Ron. Apparently she had already noticed my dislike of Harry.
I spent the entire meal watching Draco eat and wondering what else he was good at, his hand to mouth coordination was astounding. And then I realized what I was thinking and clued back into the conversation that Ron and Seamus were having about Quidditch and rolled my eyes. Boys and Quidditch, I'd never understand it.
"So who plays what on the Griffyndor team?" I asked pretending to be interested.
"I play Seeker, I have since first year." Harry said and I pretended he wasn't alive.
"I play Keeper and Dean and Seamus are the Beaters." Ron said.
"Any of you play hockey?" I looked around to see blank looks on all of their faces.
"I played football before I came here." Dean said with a smile.
"Yes, and soccer shouldn't be dignified as a sport." I said before turning to Hermione who was finished her meal as well. "So the owlery is on the agenda?"
Hermione smiled and nodded before accompanying me up to the tower where the owls were kept.
"Which one is yours?" she asked.
"Do you know any Bob Marley?" I asked with a little grin on my face. Hermione nodded slowly.
"My parents are big fans." She said.
"Sing it. Anything by him." I said looking around at all of the owls. Hermione stood for a minute before starting to sing softly.
"No woman no cry…No woman no cry…"
I smiled as my owl came swooping down form the rafters and onto my arm.
"Hermione meet Bob, Bob meet Hermione." I said with a smile as the great horned owl pecked at my robes in distaste. "Yeah I know, they're black."
Hermione laughed.
"You can leave me up here, I might be able to find my way back down, I have a letter to send to my friends." I said producing a letter from my pocket. She nodded and left the owlery.
"Alrighty Bob, it's a long flight, I know. But can you take this to Aje? She's at Trudeau's," I said to my owl, not noticing when someone else came into the owlery. I tied the note to his leg and watched him fly out the window.
"Is that what they call the Canadian school?" came a drawl from the doorway.
"Possibly." I said watching Bob fly away. I turned and leant against the windowsill watching as Draco approached me. "You know they tell me that I should stay away from you."
He raised an eyebrow and took a step closer. "Is that what they say?" he asked and uncrossed his arms. I nodded as my tongue ran across my bottom lip and I thought back to his hand mouth coordination. "Then I suppose you should be leaving." He said and turned to the side so I could pass. But hormones got the best of me and I stayed rooted to the windowsill. He stepped back in front of me and took a step closer again.
"I'm not one to follow directions." I said with a small smile and he took another step closer, leaving him a foot away maximum. "So do you often hangout with the owls?" I asked. He grinned and chuckled to himself.
"I will if you're around." He said looking into my eyes with his piercing green ones. I nodded in approval.
"Good line." I commented and he shrugged. "I bet you say that to all the girls."
"Not all of them." He defended.
"Just to the ones you want to romp." I said with a grin and he shrugged and nodded. "Does it work?"
"Not too sure…is it working now?" he asked inching forwards. I nodded slowly.
"It has a certain affect."
And then he was right there, his lips inches away from mine when the door swung open.
"Gwyn!" Hermione yelled into the owlery. I swore under my breath and slid away from Draco walking into Hermione's view. "I didn't want you to get lost, so I thought I'd come get you."
"Of course you did." I said with my fists clenched, my heartbeat was slowing down but I wasn't all too pleased with her. "Thanks."