Chapter Four
"We've got double Potions first with the Ravenclaws. At least they're not idiots like the Gryffindorks and Hufflepoofs. I swear if one more of those idiots come up to me, I'm hexing them into next week. Then we have Transfiguration and Charms. Then it's History of Magic-" Serena listened to Faith's rants as the latter read the first years their class schedules aloud, while Serena picked at her blueberry muffin and sucked on a sugar quill. The letter she was writing seemed a bit boring. Then again, it was only the first week and the first day of classes.
"Crow, hand that sugarquill over right now." Serena looked up from the letter she was writing and rolled her eyes. Handing over the quill to Professor Sinistra, she waited until the latter left, and searched her bag for another one. Suagrquills had been banned from the school after an incident concerning said quill, a bowtruckle, and Headmaster Gaunt's dinner. Finding an unused Sugarquill, Serena smiled in triumph and stared at the piece of parchment. "Where was I? Oh, yeah," humming the latest song from The Weird Sisters, Serena finished her letter, and rummaged once again in her bag for something.
Serena rolled up her letter, tied it with the deep blue ribbon from her backpack, and waited for the morning post to arrive. Blackwind was sure to be with the other owls and such. It had been such a painstaking ordeal to have the Headmaster agree that Serena be granted a crow and not an owl. But Serena had insisted that if Ostaris was allowed a hawk hybrid, then she was allowed a crow because of this and that and some things about student equality. One thing had led to another, and then Serena had paved the road for different types of flying birds to be let into the school. This was annoying to the headmaster because she hadn't even started school yet.
Upon hearing a mad whoosh and fluttering of wings, Serena looked up in utter awe as hundreds of birds flew into the Great Hall, some carrying a package or letter, and some just looking for a good treat. Among many owls, flew a slick, black crow with icy blue eyes and talons that didn't seem it, but were very sharp. Cawing, the single crow hovered over the Slytherin table and beat its wings slowly to descend. Landing with a final plop on the table, it laid cold eyes upon Serena and nipped the fingers she held in front of him. Blackwind saw the roll of parchment in Serena's hand, and stuck out a leg while helping himself to some bacon. Finishing tying the parchment to Blackwind, Serena hummed to herself, and sat back, petting Blackwind. "So, you want to leave for Potions right now? That way, we can see who else we've got." Faith had turned to Serena and held a pastry in front of her face. The two laughed and stood. Serena flung her bag over her shoulder and moved towards the Great Hall's massive double doors. At her sides were Faith and Rayne. The three had become inseparable in a matter of minutes.
"Hey Serena, Ostaris is your only sibling?" The mentioned turned to Rayne. "What?" "I said: Ostaris is your only sibling, right?" Faith shook her head before Serena could answer. "Remember? She has that sister. What's her name? Madison, right?" Serena froze and nodded slowly. Rayne raised an eyebrow. "Then why isn't she at Hogwarts? Is she younger than you or older than Ostaris?" Faith rolled her eyes. "No you idiot. She's at Morgan's Institute for Witches, right Serena?" Serena nodded. That's right. That's the story mother made up. "That must be really weird. Do you see your sister much?" Faith asked. "Actually, I only see her for three weeks at the most when she comes home from school."
Rayne sighed as they walked down the stairs to the dungeons. Serena twirled her wand in her fingers. "So are any of you going to try out for the Quidditch team? Helena is gone, so we need a seeker, and so is Lee, so we need a chaser too. D'you think they'd let us try out?" Rayne looked at Faith. "They have to. It's not fair that the Potters got to try out when they were first years and we don't. But I'm sure Diana would let us try out even if it was against the rules. Tryouts are scheduled for next week." Serena smirked. "I'll have that seeker position, you'll see." Faith smiled. "And there goes Serena." Rayne had a pensive face. "If Serena were seeker, she'd be up against Damien from Ravenclaw, Primeva from Hufflepuff and Madison from Gryffindor. Madison, same name as your sis." Serena shrugged. "It's not my sister. I could knock her off her broom for all I care."
Faith laughed as they reached the dungeon corridor where Professor Dane's classroom was. Everything was dimly lit and damp in the dungeons. The only colors down here were black and gray with the occasional orange and red from the torches along the stony walls. Serena, Faith, and Rayne had spent most of their time the past week walking around the grounds and the school corridors, sometimes with guidance from Vianaiv. Opening a large wooden door, Serena stepped inside to see a handful of Gryffindors and Slytherins already throwing death glares and exchanging insults.
Taking a seat close to the back, Serena, Faith, and Rayne all joined in on the Gryffindor bashing. Their shouts and obscene gestures were soon stopped by an iciness filling the room. Many of the Gryffindors shivered, but the Slytherins just waited calmly for Professor Dane to enter the classroom. Tall and pale like Professor Snape, Dane seemed to be his cousin of sorts. Piercing black eyes with flecks of red and dark brown hair tipped with bloodred fell around his face in a messy look, but his black robes were immaculate. Many a student had said he was a vampire, and many more believed it. Considering he almost never appeared outside of the dungeons and didn't like going to dine with the other teachers, he certainly gave more the reason for others to believe the rumor.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for that foul remark made by Gaiman, and another ten for disturbing my house when you thought I wasn't listening. The mentioned Gryffindor gawked at Dane and sputtered incoherently. "But but but I- it's not- I-" "Gaiman!" Dane roared. "You will stop your unintelligible excuses for speaking unless you want those ten points to turn to fifty." A girl next to the mousy haired Gryffindor put her hand over Gaiman's mouth and shot him a glare.
Faith snickered. "Gods Tara, don't you ever feel like puking when you touch that filthy thing? Oh, but then again, you're as dirty as he is so I guess there's no problem just as long as you stay twenty feet away from me. " Rayne chuckled, and Serena noticed the faintest smile hover over Professor Dane's lips. The Gryffindor Faith had named as Tara went a beet red and turned back to face the board at the front of the class.
Professor Dane walked to the front of the class and looked everyone in the eye quickly while calling roll. This seemed to make some uncomfortable, and when Serena's name was called, she could have sworn that he could read minds. Finishing roll, Professor Dane stood and addressed the students. "In this class, if you cannot keep up with the curriculum, then you shall be tossed out. I have no need for brainless idiots. Today we shall be taking a small test to see what level you are in for potion making. By the end of this class, I expect you all to at least know how to make a decent boil curing potion. Any of those who shall fail this simple small test, I hope you have your parents hanging their heads in disgrace when they come pick you up the day after school starts."
The Slytherins laughed at the shocked looks on the Gryffindor faces, and quieted down after Dane turned to look at his house members. "Well then, now onto pairs." Serena listened as Dane called out pairs of twos and wasn't surprised when she got paired up with Ivory Lex. The Slytherin boy had white hair and green eyes, and he was tall for his age. Serena noticed he'd been sitting with Anton Gregor, but the two had barely looked at each other. He brought his book bag over, and settled himself next to Serena as she waved to Faith and Rayne. She turned to Ivory as Dane tapped the blackboard and made the instructions appear.
"Ivory Lex right?" he nodded, and motioned towards the board. "Hey, you want to go to the pitch with me and Rayne next week? We're going to see if we can squeeze onto the team." Ivory laughed. "Yeah, all right then." Serena smiled as she readied up her cauldron, and sent Ivory to look for the ingredients they were going to need. When Ivory came back, the two chatted while making the potion and time flew by.
About ten minutes before the end of class, they finished, and put their potion into a vial, labeling it and presenting it to Dane. The Professor nodded, and was telling them about the class course when a large explosion was heard from the back. Whipping around, Serena felt laughter rising in her throat. Faith, who had been paired up with Gaiman, was covered in a thick green goop along with he partner. A screech of anger was heard, and then she was on the floor, on top of Gaimnan. Faith punched him in the face and stood, intentionally stepping on his fingers in the process. Dane stood, walked over to Gaiman, and motioned for Tara. "Get him out of my sight. Take him to the hospital wing." Tara nodded vigorously and helped the other Gryffindor up, then started for the door. "And I want you here for detention for a whole week Gaiman."
Serena walked over to Faith, and stood next to Rayne, who was rapidly turning pink because of the effort not to laugh. "Scourgify!" Faith huffed, and ran a hand through her now-clean hair. Professor Dane waved his wand, clearing up the mess Gaiman had made. "Class dismissed."
After their classes had finished, Faith had ranted more about 'that idiot Gryffindor', Serena had sworn she could never stay awake for History of Magic, and Rayne had stayed in the common room, saying she wasn't hungry and wanted to go to sleep. So Faith and Serena were both a few of the students that had showed up for dinner, and they were soon accompanied by Ivory, who walked them back downstairs.
Upon entering the common room, Serena was called over by Ostaris, and she settled in a chair next to him in front of the roaring fire. "What?" Ostaris seemed deep in thought, and looked up when Serena had poked him. "I said what do you want?" Ostaris turned to look at her. "You know that vampires are real, right?" Serena almost laughed at the absurdity of the question. "Of course they're real. Kuron doesn't drink blood just because he feels like it, does he?" said Serena, referring to a family friend that was a vampire. Ostaris laughed. "No, you're right. Anyways, what I actually wanted to tell you, was that if you need someone to tallk to or something, I'm here okay?" Serena gave her brother an incredulous look. "Are you turning into a Gryffindor?" Ostaris laughed. "Nervermind."
Running, running towards something. Then suddenly, she stopped. She was calling out to it, coaxing it to come out of the shadows. She wasn't sure if it was human, but they needed help. It was wounded. Serena cooed and made reassuring sounds. 'Come on now, I won't hurt you.' Whatever had been hiding in the shadows moved a bit closer, and Serena could see the ivory white of its skin. Red flecks caught the light, and Serena could somehow tell they were eyes. 'Come on.' Serena patted the hand that has slithered out of the hiding place and smiled. 'I'm not going to hurt you, Come on, I can help you.' Another hand snaked out of the shadows and was enveloped in two of Serena's. The hand was covered in a dark crimson liquid, and before she could do anything, the thing in the shadows had launched themselves at Serena and fled straight through the Quidditch pitch. Serena raced towards the lone figure, noticing the slight limp that overtook it after a while. Stopping to catch her breath, she looked at the thing in front of her now. Serena was sure it had a human body. "Who are you?" The figure stopped and turned quickly. "Adany"
Ostaris woke up suddenly and cursed. "Bloody hell. Are they ever going to let me sleep!" Walking over to the common room portrait, he opened it just in time to see someone duck into the shadows. "Serena?" A surprised laugh came and Serena stepped into the common room quickly. "Ostaris," Serena stood in front of the last embers the fire had left and addressed her brother. "I had a dream and it was really weird because I was acting like a bloody Gryffindor, and-" Serena stared at Ostaris. "You wanna talk about it?" Serena nodded, and Ostaris ran a hand through his rumpled hair as he stared back. "Serena, I think it's time to introduce you to the world of coffee.