Chapter Three: Pleasantly Draco
After the sun rose the next morning, Crede was awoken by his cat. She had run off to do whatever cats do the night before, but now she was back and had pounced on his stomach. As she let out a hungry yowl, he opened one eye. The white feline blinked at him and meowed once more. Crede picked her up with one hand while swinging his legs out of bed and stood to get dressed.
Duncan, a dark skinned boy with pale blue eyes looked over from where he had been putting items into his trunk. "Crede, what does that cat want anyway?"
Once he had finished pulling his shirt on, Crede glanced at the cat and shrugged. "Food, I guess." He was rewarded by an affirmative yowl from the animal in question.
Nodding at that, Duncan rubbed his stomach. "Me too. See you later." He turned and hurried out the door, taking the stairs down three at a time even as Crede picked up the cat and started down. He arrived in the common room in time to see Megan and Nara already nearly out the door.
Slightly ahead of Nara, Megan turned back to smile at her. "Come on. You don't want all the good stuff to be eaten already. Then we'd be stuck with gruel, which would be cruel." Both girls grimaced and giggled.
Megan waved upon noticing Crede. "Good morning, is that your kitty? What's her name?" She pointed to the feline currently attempting to burrow into the boy's robes.
Looking down, Crede gave a nod and replied. "Yeah... she kinda found me rather though. And I haven't exactly named her yet."
"You should name her something pretty." With an affirmative nod, Megan tugged on Nara's arm. "Come on." She looked to Crede again. "You too, we need to hurry. I smell bacon." The other two followed as she skipped happily down the stairs towards the Great Hall.
Just as they entered, a horribly loud voice filled the air around them. "--STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE--" Though they covered their ears and looked around in confusion, it wasn't enough to drown out the screaming. "... IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."
Swallowing unsteadily, Nara looked at Megan with wide eyes. "Wh-what was that?" She continued to glance around as though expecting an attack from any side at any minute.
Pointing to an empty part of the Ravenclaw table large enough for them, Megan walked that way while explaining. "That… was a howler. It's a letter that people send when they're really mad. You… heard the results. That's right, you wouldn't know what one was. You said your dad was a wizard, right?" She took a seat and began piling a plate high with food.
As they ate, a flurry of activity attracted their attention upwards. A great cloud of owls had entered the room and set about delivering envelopes to all of the students present. One of them, a small tawny with lighter speckles across her wings landed on top of Nara's head, eliciting a squeak of surprise from the girl.
Giggling, Megan reached over and helped the owl off of her head. "You're cute when you squeak." Pulling the schedule from the leg of the bird, she opened it and took a look. After comparing it with her own schedule she blinked a couple of times. "Wait a minute. We all have the same schedule. Why couldn't they just announce it or something?"
"W-We have the S-same schedule!...er...I mean.." Nara blushed and tried to lower her face to hide the bright smile that had come over her features. In a slightly more calm voice, she added. "How...c-cool."
Nodding with a smile of her own, Megan picked up her cookie. "You want half?" She waved the treat under Nara's nose, and giggled as the other girl promptly bit half of the cookie away.
Meanwhile, Crede continued offering bits of his breakfast to his cat. She picked at a few bites and then squirmed free of his grasp. Dropping to the floor, the little feline darted off. With a shrug, Crede turned back to his plate and finished eating while looking at his own schedule. "They must send out individual schedules because they like to use the extra parchment."
After a few more minutes of eating, the clock sounded the hour and all three realized they needed to hurry in order to get to class on time. As Nara jumped up in surprise, tripping on the bench and falling backwards, Megan attempted to grab her. Unfortunately, Nara ended up pulling the other girl down with her and both landed on the floor.
Looking at his schedule intently as he walked away from the table, Crede failed to notice that the two girls weren't with him. "What class do we have now anyway?"
So focused was he that he didn't see the blond boy from earlier until the older boy spoke up. "Have you tried actually reading the schedule? That tends to help, that is… if your muggle parents actually taught you to read. But if they didn't, I'd be glad to point you in the right direction"
The look on the boy's face convinced Crede that trusting him wasn't in his best interest, so he just put his schedule away with a sigh. "Don't do things you're not acclimated to, like... being pleasant in your case."
Over by the table, Nara and Megan had clambered to their feet. Looking over to where Crede and the older boy were, Megan whispered, "Who's that guy?"
While she brushed herself off, Nara glanced up and frowned, whispering back. "I-I dunno...he was bothering us on the train yesterday"
She was trying to decide if there was a way of getting around the boy without attracting his attention when a sudden loud voice from behind startled them all. "I believe you all have places to be?"
Jumping and spinning around while letting out a squeak of surprise, Nara found herself looking at the greasy haired man from the night before. Then she remembered his name, Professor Snape. She tried to shrink back behind Megan as he glowered at her.
Turning, Megan began to speak rather indignantly "Hey, what's the big i-" She saw Snape and paled. "…I... I... think I'm late for class."
Ignoring her, Snape looked to the boy. "Draco, I believe you have Charms this hour. Go along. You wouldn't want to be late." He watched as the boy walked away with a nod and then turned his attention back to the three first years. "As for you three... yes, I believe... you have my class now. You have now made me late for the first day. Therefore... ten points from Ravenclaw... each."
Stammering a bit, Megan protested. "That's not fair. That guy was here--" A glare from Snape shut her up as Nara grabbed her hand and gave her a pleading look to be quiet.
After a long look at Crede, Snape spoke again. "Down those stairs, to the dungeon. All of you." When Megan gaped, he sighed. "Oh stop it. I'm taking you to potions class. Don't test my patience further, unless you'd like me to make it twenty points each." As they walked, Megan made a face and he glared at her. "Do you have something to say, Miss Rheese?"
Shaking her head, the blonde girl answered quickly. "No… no sir." Once Snape had turned away, she looked to Nara with wide eyes and mouthed, "He knows my name."
Eventually the group reached the potions classroom. Snape left them at the door and strode to the front of the room while the trio stood and looked around for three empty seats together. When he reached his desk, he whirled around and slammed a book down on the desk so loudly that the resulting crack echoed about the room. "If... the Ravenclaw students in the back could SIT DOWN. We might begin."
Blushing mightily, all three slid into the nearest seats as the entire room turned to stare at them. Satisfied, Snape went on. "Potions is a very... exacting part of magic... requiring much thought, effort, and precision."
Leaning over to Nara very slightly, Megan whispered. "So that blonde guy must be horrible at it."
As Nara stifled a giggle, Snape continued. "I fear that most of you will utterly fail at this. There are very few who are up to the... rigors this study demands." He cast a glance around the room, his gaze making it clear exactly what he thought of most of the students present.
"Is he talking about potions or dealing with his attitude?" Megan's whisper brought another giggle from Nara and then a cough and grimace as Snape glared at them both.
Slouching in his seat, Crede glanced casually over at the girl next to him. She was a Slytherin girl, with long, mostly straight brown hair and emerald eyes that seemed to reflect deep intelligence. Unlike most of the other Slytherins, she smiled softly at him before quickly looking away while Snape went on. "If I see anyone flashing around a wand, that person will immediately fail that day of class. Now... if you will all take out the potions book you should have brought with you..."
As the class proceeded, Crede experienced something curious. Twice in the time they had, the girl next to him from Slytherin very quietly corrected him as he was about to add a wrong ingredient to his sample potion. When he tried to thank her, or acknowledge her in any way, she simply ignored him. When the class ended, she vanished into the crowd before he could even attempt to find out her name.
On their way to lunch, Megan poked Crede in the shoulder. "Hey, did you ever name that cat of yours?"
Considering that for a long moment, he finally nodded slowly as they passed by a painting where a rickety old knight was apparently attempting to teach a pair of Hufflepuff boys how to joust correctly. "Yeah, I think I'll name her… Nautica."
Megan smiled at the name, and the three of them continued on to lunch before proceeding to their first flying lesson.
