Chapter 3- Starting Classes, Secret Suspicions
The castle was a huge, beautiful, and utterly confusing place to live. Lydia had received her class schedule that morning, and, at first, she was pretty confident she could find all her classes with ease. 'Besides, stairs can't really change, can they?' she thought, while reading over it at breakfast in the Great Hall. She was sitting alone, figuring it all out, when she felt like she was being watched behind her back. Lydia had been a bit jumpy since her night on the stairs, where she had over heard a strange conversation between James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. 'What if they knew I was there? Did I leave any clue that I was? Why am I always asking myself nervous questions?' She kept thinking over and over. Although she was ashamed of eavesdropping on her friends, there was one element to the conversation that she couldn't get off her mind: Remus. Why had he said he was dangerous? He didn't look very dangerous to her anyway. And also, why was he leaving school? Nothing would add up for her, and she sat there in deep thought until suddenly…
"GOOD MORNING LYDIA!" the very cheery, and loud, voice of James Potter made her jump right out of her seat.
"I didn't hear anything!" she said in a panicked voice when she realized who it was.
"What are you talking about?" Sirius said as he came around the other side of the table and sat down.
"N...nothing, sorry." She breathed out and sat down once again.
"Ooookay?" James said, as he to sat down on the opposite side of the table. "Sorry if I scared you there, I'm a bit of a morning person" he grinned, and took a piece of toast from the center of the table.
"Oi, James, here comes Mr. Sunshine, and Morning boy as we speak." Laughed Sirius, as a very pale, tired Remus, and sour looking Peter approached the table. Remus looked horrible, white as a ghost, and bags under his eyes. Peter, on the other hand, just looked upset that classes were starting, and he had to get up so early.
"Remus, you look…" Lydia searched her mind for a word that would cover his present state, but she was too slow.
"Just a cold, nothing more." Came his quick response, and a flash of a smile.
"It sure doesn't look like a cold…" She started, only to be interrupted by the arrival of hundreds of owls delivering the post. Many people had received packages and letters from home. Her parents, who still didn't know how to use wizard post, didn't send her, or Drea, anything. Drea, who was over chatting with her friends, kept looking up to see if James and Sirius were really laughing and talking with Lydia. 'Serves her right' she thought, and shot Drea a wicked little smile.
"So, Lydia, you going to be okay getting to your classes?" asked Peter, who sounded concerned. "My first day was horrible! I wouldn't have gotten to McGonagall's class with out James to help me." He added, while taking a look at her schedule.
"Here." James mumbled through a mouthful of bacon and eggs, which he had apparently stolen from Sirius's plate.
"The platter is like five inches away! Get yer own eggs…." Sirius trailed off, and muttered something about lazy and rude. James just laughed and handed her a piece of parchment with scrawled directions to each class on it.
"Thanks James." Lydia said, also smiling at Sirius, who had refilled his plate. Remus wasn't eating anything, and had barely said a word since the beginning of breakfast. Lydia didn't want to bother him about it, so she left him alone; all her questions from last night were left unanswered.
James's direction's had saved Lydia's life. She found out, that in fact, staircases at Hogwarts did most certainly move. Most of her classes went fine that day, just normal stuff, like rules and basic's. The only thing that could impose a problem for Lydia was transfiguration. Not only had she not turned her teacup into a mouse, but also she had been so violent with her wand, that she accidentally flung it at Chelsea Rindona's back, the Slytherin girl from before.
"And just what do you think you are doing? Do you realize I could have you thrown from this school? Do you understand?" Chelsea demanded as several other Slytherin students snickered.
"I'm…I'm sorry" Lydia felt her neck get hot as she managed to stutter the apology.
"You better be. Watch your back little girl." Chelsea sneered and went back to transfiguring her teacup. Not wanting to get caught up in a battle, Lydia just shrunk back in her seat, and remained quiet for the rest of the class.
On her way back to Gryffindor tower, she met up with James, Sirius, and Peter in the corridor. People stopped long enough to stare and wonder who she was, and why she was with James Potter.
"How was your first day?" James asked, not noticing the rude stares, and apparently seeing that something was wrong.
"It…it was fine." She lied.
"You sure? You look a bit upset." Sirius questioned her. It was very hard to lie to these boys, so she decided to change the subject.
"Hey, where's Remus?" she asked, even though she knew he had been taken out of class earlier that day for some unknown reason.
"Oh, uh, he received word that his mum was sick." Said Peter instantly, as if he had practiced the reply over and over. 'Wait, how could he have known his mom was going to be sick last night? That doesn't make sense…' she thought, giving Peter a puzzled look.
"Yeah, she just fell ill this morning." Sirius said, not noticing the change in subject. 'Now it makes even less sense.' She continued to wonder. James had suddenly become very quiet and fidgety, he kept running his fingers through his hair, and he didn't say a word until they got up to Gryffindor tower, where he muttered the password to get inside the common room.
"Laidassion" James said, and the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open to let them pass. They crossed the room together and ended up sitting in the soft cushy armchairs around the fire. The very place they were last night when Lydia was spying on them, all except for Remus, who's chair remained empty.
"So what really happened in class today Lydia?" came James's voice, only this time he seemed upset about something, and he kept glancing out the window.
"Well I'm no good at transfiguration." She admitted. 'Well at least it's half of the truth right?' she thought, her conscious lightening ever so slightly.
"Oh transfiguration is easy," started Sirius. "Just concentrate hard on what you want the object to become, you'll get the hang of it." He finished with the same hollow expression James was wearing.
"What's wrong with you guys today?" she asked, she was beginning to worry, she had never seen any of them act like this.
"Huh? No…nothings wrong! Were just worried about Rem's mum." Peter said, suddenly becoming very jumpy.
"There's something wrong here, but I'll leave you guys to talk about." She said as she made to get up.
"No, Lydia, don't go, were okay I swear…" James tried to stop her.
"Seriously, I just want to go for a walk." She smiled and began to walk out.
"Okay, but you really don't have to leave Lydia, were just close with his, er, mom." Sirius called as she climbed through the hole. Lydia completely understood, they just needed some alone time to talk, they were worried about Remus, but that didn't mean that she couldn't try to satisfy her own curiosity. She had been trying to get a chance to explore the castle ever since she got there; this was her chance to do it. She walked down the foyer, and then through the grand entrance, outside into the evening air. While walking towards the lake, she noticed something that she hadn't noticed before when she was on the boat. There was a rather large, and rather evil, looking tree right out in the middle of the grounds. Maybe it was her eyes playing tricks, but every so often she could see it move from where she sat by the edge of the lake. After staring out at the lake, she noticed movement coming from behind the tree. A woman, dressed all in white was coming from the base of the tree. 'That's the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey…Why was she in that tree?' Lydia thought while looking at the nurse, confused. Madam Pomfrey was looking around, as if to make sure no one had seen her emerge. Sensing the trouble she could get into if found, she hid behind the tree she was leaning against. Madam Pomfrey was bustling up towards the school. She kept looking around, to try and see if she was followed, or seen. With her fears at rest, Madam Pomfrey entered the castle thinking she was undetected. 'Did she come from inside the tree?' Lydia thought as she ran up the hill towards the great tree. Once she got close enough, she realized that she was not imagining the movement among it branches. That tree had defiantly just made a move to hit her.
"I wouldn't go to near that tree, especially tonight, oh no." came a cold icy voice from behind her. It was that Greasy-haired boy from before, Severus Snape. 'Oh no, Iv been found!' Lydia thought frantically as she turned around slowly.
"You know, curiosity can get you into worlds of trouble, I know that for a fact." He said, a sinister smile played across he lips.
"I…I didn't mean to be here! I'm just…Um..." She stammered, becoming increasingly afraid of him.
"Sense you're so curious," He started, "Lets make a game of it shall we?" He said, and started to mumble some words under his breath. "I don't like anyone who hangs with that dirty showoff Potter and his gang. You won't feel the effects until the next full moon…" he trailed off, leaving her confused, scared, and alone.
She had made her way up, back to Gryffindor tower, where her friends rose to greet her. After talking and apologies, they retired to their dormitories, where she laid thinking about Severus's words. A long Howl sounded from the grounds, as she drifted off into slumber.
Sorry for the short chapter! Please review, and I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters.