Chapter 4: Time for Class
Draco lay awake after the feast, thinking about Mara, about her actions on the train, at the table, the Sorting… pretty much the entire time he had known the girl.
I insulted who she'd thought were her friends, and she retaliated. Even when they were prone to that, they hadn't put up much of a struggle when they were held back. If she's trying out for Quidditch, she must be mildly good at it, or she wouldn't bother. She's not stupid. If anything, she seems very bright. She wouldn't set herself up for something both potentially embarrassing and disappointing. I don't know too much about her, but I probably know maybe a little more than Potter, Granger, and those Weasleys. I saw she acted pretty happy and bright, but I understand what that's about. I used to do it myself, when I was younger. Deep down, she's… most likely, got a bit of darkness. But it's probably hidden from the world, maybe even herself. I can help her bring out what's always been there. Help her truly be herself, the self she might not realize exists, he thought as he drifted to sleep.
The next morning, they got their schedules at breakfast. Draco and Mara were talking about their classes.
"Great!" Mara was saying excitedly. "We have double Potions twice a week."
"You'll find Potions is one of the best classes. Our Head of House is the professor. You can be my partner this year."
"Thanks. Um… it says here that we have Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, and of course the double Potions today."
"Yeah, Potions is our first class… By the way, Transfiguration is taught by the Gryffindor Head, and Herbology by the Hufflepuff Head."
"Interesting," she said. She looked up to see the rest of the students getting up and leaving the room. "I guess we'd better go, then?"
"Yes." He stood and they walked to the dungeons together.
When they got to the Potions room, Draco led her to a table near the front. They both sat down and talked a bit more, Draco explaining some of the things about the school. Then the professor walked in. He strode to the front of the room.
"Welcome back," Professor Snape said. "Let's get on with our work. No sense in just sitting here. Today we'll be brewing a Caracou Potion. Can anyone tell me what it is used for?"
Hermione's hand went up just as Mara's had. Their gazes locked, and Mara looked at her as if she were some horrible thing, perfectly expressing how her old friends had hurt her.
"Yes, Miss…" Snape looked at his paper, seeing a new face in the room. "Whitman."
"A Caracou Potion is used to make the drinker feel as if they are sick for a few hours, fever, aches, and other common virus symptoms."
"Precisely. Ten points to Slytherin. The directions are on the board."
Draco and Mara got to work, along with the rest of the class. At the end of class, they put their potions into flasks and left it, labeled on Snape's desk and went on to Charms.
Professor Flitwick, whose size struck Mara as very funny, taught them the Merriment Charm, which made the thing it was cast on laugh. They worked with feathers and small boxes.
Mara was first to get it, even before Hermione, who had been busy re-explaining to Ron. "Joyous totus," she said, waving her wand and tapping the feather she'd been given. A light, soft, rippling laughter came from the white feather. Mara smiled as Flitwick announced she had gotten it. She looked over at Draco, who was frowning at his small box.
"Draco! You're not tapping it." He tried again. The box lid opened slightly and gave a deep, low chuckle. Draco smirked. They were the only two so far. Flitwick beamed at them both. Then, slowly, the others began to finally get it right.
After that, they walked off to McGonagall's room. After she did her little welcome speech, she began the lesson. "Today, we will be turning these wooden blocks into gold. In the Muggle world, this was tried for many years, centuries ago, under a study known as alchemy."
Again, Mara was first, then Hermione, Draco, Harry, then the rest of the class.
Finally, Draco and Mara went to their last class for the day: Herbology. It was a pretty boring class, nothing exciting happened.
That night, in the Slytherin common room, the number of students were dwindling, most of them going off to bed, until Draco and Mara were the only ones left. They were both sat on the couch, talking.
"How'd you like classes today?" He asked, smiling.
"It was much better than being taught at home. I've got friends here, and I could never talk to anyone there. My parents had some rules like that."
He nodded, understanding the strange rules parents tended to set. "Quidditch trials are this weekend. You still trying out?"
"Of course." She told him the story of her taking the ball right from Ron. He laughed, and suppressed the insults, thinking she may still harbor some likeness for her former friends, though they had betrayed her.
By the end of it, she was laughing too. "Thanks," she said. "I need that—to laugh. I acted happy in front of them, that entire week. But it was only because Dumbledore was asking me, without speaking. And he was the most important wizard I knew. Actually, the only one."
"I understand. Some people only want to see smiling faces. And those people are often the worst to hang around with. Life is not smiles and daisies, as much as they want to think it is."
Mara nodded, and said she was going up to bed. "See you at breakfast."
The rest of the week passed quickly, and it was soon Saturday. After breakfast, Draco reminded her Quidditch try outs were that day. She smiled and asked "When?" excitedly. He told her they started in about half an hour.
On the field, Mara saw a few Slytherins she knew, and a lot of them Draco had introduced her to in the stands. When the Slytherin captain called out her name to try for Chaser, she smiled and did as told.
She grabbed the ball whenever, zoomed in and out of the other people, and scored a goal. When she came flying back to earth, she was laughing.
She went over to stand next to Draco, who seemed impressed. "So," she said, breathlessly, "what do you think?"
"I think…" he began slowly, "that that was amazing."
She smiled, and looked curiously at the strange look on her friend's face. "Thanks. So you think I made it?"
"If not, then Flint needs his eyes checked. I think they're announcing it now… Let's go see."
When they went, first Chaser announced was Mara. A lot of people in the stands cheered, along with Draco. Mara eyed him suspiciously, while laughing and yelling excitedly with the crowd. He just shrugged and she almost thought she saw a tinge of pink creep onto his face.
That night, Draco lay awake in his bed again, thinking about Mara.
She really is amazing at Quidditch… Better than I'd guessed she would be. And she was the first to get anything right in any of our classes. She's amazing. He almost gasped as he realized something. Am I… beginning to… like her?
And this question kept his mind puzzling until he drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Yes, I know this "Am I beginning to like her?" Draco is weird, but look at it this way. Most of the girls Draco "likes" he didn't really know too well. He er… liked their looks. Even if he thinks Mara is hot, he liked her as a person first. He got to know her. Plus, her parents are Muggles, and that's new for him too. But one has to wonder… how did one of Muggle descent get into Slytherin? Hmm… I'll let you speculate. But to dispel some of the things you may think of, her family is Muggles, she was not adopted—she is blood related to the people who raised her. Yes, she was born in England. Now… on to the puzzling.