11. The Trevor Incident

The next day at breakfast, Snape went around the Slytherin table handing out everyone's new schedules. "Muggle studies, Warbeck?" he commented when he handed Callie hers. "Hoping for an easy O, are you?"

"No, sir," she replied.

Before she could explain herself, Daphne cut in, "You grew up with Muggles. What do you need that for?"

"I thought it would be interesting to read about Muggles from a wizard's perspective," Callie said.

"I can give you a wizard's perspective on Muggles," Snape said. "Rather a soft option for someone who so enjoys a challenge." With that, he continued on down the table.

Callie looked over her timetable, happy to have chosen the "soft option" of Muggle Studies. She found it unlikely that any of her housemates would want to take the subject themselves, so it would be nice having one class without them.

"Hello, sister!" a cheerful voice greeted, and Callie looked up to find one of her newest housemates, Astoria Greengrass, bouncing over to Daphne's side.

"Stori," the older girl greeted politely, but rather coolly for sisters. "How was your first night?"

"Merlin's beard, the dungeons are freezing!" Astoria replied. "'Course they throw us in the worst part of the castle. What do you have there?"

"My timetable."

"Ooh, let me look!" She snatched the schedule right out of her sister's hand. "Arithmancy? Ancient runes? Gosh, how boring!"

Daphne snatched it back. "Give me that!"

Callie had set her schedule off to the side. Astoria slid over to have a look at it. "Care of Magical Creatures," she read. "Bloody hell, Daphne, you could've taken that?"

"Maybe she's afraid," Callie suggested. "Ought to see the book. Thing's a magical creature itself. It's got teeth."

"Teeth?"

"Yes, teeth. Wanna see it?"

"Let her alone, Stori," Daphne spoke up. "Warbeck's a prat."

"You could've gotten a book with teeth," Astoria shot back. "Ancient runes? Bloody hell!"

Care of Magical Creatures was Callie's first class of the day, so she let the girl follow her back to the common room while she fetched the book.

"Bloody hell, it does have teeth!" Astoria noted excitedly. "What's with the blouse?"

One of Callie's mother's shirts was wrapped around the Monster Book of Monsters. "Had to tie it shut so it wouldn't bite me," she explained.

"How you s'posed to read it?"

"No idea," Callie shrugged. "Hopefully Hagrid'll tell us."

Astoria gathered her own books before they returned to the corridor. "What other classes are you taking?" she asked as they made their way up to the ground floor.

"Aside from the usual ones, Muggle Studies."

"That's a class here?"

Callie was surprised that the girl sounded interested rather than disdainful. "Yeah, if you're third year or up."

They were both quiet for a moment, before Astoria asked, "Can I take a look at that too? Your Muggle Studies book, I mean?"

Callie arched her brow. "You're not going to burn it or something, are you?"

"Wh- No. Just curious, is all."

Callie eyed the girl skeptically. "Isn't your family all purebloods? Wouldn't expect you'd be interested in Muggle Studies."

Astoria shrugged. "Never really seen any," she said. "Kind of fascinating, I guess. Like this whole other lifeform."

Callie smirked. "My mum's a muggle."

"Bloody hell!"

"Yeah, I'm half and half."

"Wicked! Tell me what they're like." The girl was practically jumping right out of her skin. "Is it true they use broomsticks for cleaning?"

Callie smiled to herself. What a difference between the two Greengrass sisters, she thought.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Oh, he barely touched you," Callie said to Malfoy when he returned from the hospital wing with his arm in a sling.

During their first lesson with Hagrid, the new teacher had introduced them to one of the coolest animals Callie had ever seen - a half-eagle, half-horse creature called a hippogriff. Malfoy had said something to piss it off, and the animal scratched him. Enough to draw blood but not nearly as harrowing an injury as he wanted everyone to believe.

"Great old oaf is gonna be sacked, I promise you," Malfoy said. "Wait 'til my father finds out."

"Fuck your father," Callie whispered under her breath.

"Does it hurt terribly, Draco?" Pansy asked, cuddling up next to him on the sofa and rubbing his good arm. Callie rolled her eyes at the display. Made for each other, she thought, the twit and the twat.

"When did they get so close?" Tracey asked. "She's practically sitting in his lap."

"Don't know and don't care," Callie said, looking over her Monster Book of Monsters.

"What's up your arse?" Tracey asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Callie said, facing her, "Was I supposed to be friendly to you after blowing me off on the train?"

"It's not my fault Pansy wouldn't let you sit with us."

"No, it's your fault for not sitting with me. You could've left them."

"I don't want to be on their bad side like you do," Tracey argued. "I can play nice, unlike some who will remain nameless."

Callie glared at her. "Play nice," she repeated. "Yes. You're good at that." She stormed off to the dormitory, happy to just be alone rather than socialize with a backstabber.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Thursday was their first Potions class, and Callie scowled her way through it as Tracey finally broke the camel's back, choosing to sit next to Daphne instead of her.

Today they were brewing a Shrinking Solution, and despite Tracey's slight against her, Callie found she actually preferred working alone, not having the girl gabbing away at her side. Potion-making was somehow both mindless and distracting at the same time. As long as she knew what she was doing, she could work almost as though it were second nature, even with a recipe that was new to her. However, it required a focus that took her mind off other things. Callie thought this must be what a skilled painter felt when he made a picture, sure enough of himself to get lost in the work without screwing it up.

"Orange, Longbottom," she heard Snape say somewhere behind her. Callie looked down at her own potion, noting it's bright green color, and wondered if she had done something wrong.

But apparently Neville was the one who'd messed up.

"Tell me, boy," Snape admonished, "does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours?"

Fucking arsehole, Callie thought.

The boy looked like he was about to cry. Hermione stepped up to try and help.

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," Snape spat at her. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."

Neville was now not only embarrassed, but scared.

Bloody hell, he won't really do it... will he?

Eventually, Snape came up to Callie and looked over her work. "A little behind your classmates, Miss Warbeck," he commented.

"Just trying to be careful, sir," she replied. "Better not to rush things."

Apparently he disagreed. "Pick up the pace," he said, walking off, "I don't want to be here all day."

A short while later he called out, "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now. This potion needs to stew before it can be drunk. Clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's."

"You don't think he's seriously going to do it?" Callie asked Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown as the three washed their hands in the corner of the room.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Parvati replied, eyeing the potions master. "He's vicious."

"Everyone gather round," Snape called, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."

Neville looked on the verge of a heart attack, and Callie could see the tears in his eyes. Snape picked up the toad and dipped a spoon into the boy's potion, bringing it dangerously close to the amphibian.

"No, you can't!" Callie suddenly called out. "You'll kill it!"

"Only if Longbottom has chosen not to follow a simple set of instructions," Snape said. "Now quiet, Miss Warbeck." Again he brought the potion towards the toad.

"Don't!" Callie cried.

Snape glared at her and said in a dangerous tone, "Speak out of turn once again, Warbeck, and we'll try it out on you next."

Callie looked from Snape, to Neville, and back to Snape, shaking her head and scoffing. "You're just cruel," she breathed.

Snape would've hexed her if not for the roomful of witnesses, she was sure of it. "Detention, Warbeck," he practically growled. "My office, Saturday. And five points from Slytherin."

Her housemates groaned while a couple of Gryffindors snickered to themselves.

"Now silence yourself," Snape demanded. "Or I'll do it for you."

She kept her mouth shut, throwing Neville a sympathetic glance.

"Right then," Snape said, bringing the spoonful of potion to the toad's mouth. Everyone waited with bated breath, Neville grasping the edge of his table so hard that his hand turned white. A small popping noise, and a tadpole was flopping in Snape's hand.

The Gryffindors broke into cheers. Callie half-chuckled, half-sighed, a huge smile spreading across her face. Neville brought his hands up to his face in relief and disbelief, then he met Callie's eye and the two exchanged a smile.

Snape looked entirely pissed, but restored the tadpole to its fully-grown form. But he just couldn't let it go at that. "Five points from Gryffindor," he said. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"That was amazing!" Callie exclaimed as they headed up to the ground floor. "Did you see his face? I swear, nobody's funnier when they're pissed off than Snape!"

Neville looked a little bit dazed, as though he had just walked through a battlefield.

Callie squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, you can breathe. It's over, he's good," she said, nodding to Trevor.

"I really thought he was gonna tear your head off," a Gryffindor named Seamus said behind them. "Never seen anyone stand up to Snape that way."

"Thanks for that," Neville said, his cheeks slightly pink.

"Well, his bark is worse than his bite," Callie said. "I knew he wouldn't really feed me that potion. I was this close to offering myself up for sacrifice."

"Yeah, but detention with Snape?" Seamus mused. "Think I'd rather off myself."

"Warbeck!"

There was that ear-splitting voice she knew so well. Callie turned to find Pansy, flanked by Daphne and Millicent, as always, walking towards her.

To Neville, Seamus, and their other friend, Dean, Callie said, "Go on, you don't need to be here for this." She then rounded on Pansy, who stopped before her. "What?" Callie barked.

"Thanks a lot," the girl said. "Five points from Slytherin? From Snape? Snape loves us."

"I find it hard to believe Snape loves anyone," Callie argued. "But if you wanna score some points, go up and give him a big kiss, why don't you?"

Pansy glowered at her. Nodding in the direction the three Gryffindor boys had just gone, she said, "Making new friends, are we? I can see why you'd want to buddy up to Saint Potter, the Golden Boy. Longbottom though? Really? Even you could do better than that fat little cry-baby."

"Wanna talk cry-babies? 'Oh, he's killed me! Oh, I'm dying!'" Callie said, mimicking Malfoy's dramatic display from the other day.

"You just wait and see how fast that great dimwit Hagrid is sacked. Mr. Malfoy'll see to it, he will."

"Sure, Pansy," Callie said, unbothered. "Whatever you say."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Callie looked back on the celebratory feast they'd had last year, the night Harry saved Ginny Weasley from the Chamber of Secrets. How she'd joined the Gryffindors at their table, and how she wished she could do that now. No one had seemed to mind before, but that had been an unusual set of circumstances. Too many more important things going on for anyone to care where she sat.

Watching the group at the table farthest from hers, she was quite envious. Neville, Hermione, and all the others had been so lucky to end up in a house where everyone was all right. Where no one gave a damn about blood, and no one was a loathsome little git. Looking around the Great Hall, she could see that everyone, no matter what house they belonged to, seemed so much more cheerful than she ever had at Hogwarts. What with her row with Tracey still going strong, she didn't even have anyone to talk to at mealtimes anymore.

Bloody hell, I want to go home! And it's only the first week! At least she was wanted there, by her mum and dad if no one else.

She did have one thing to look forward to. Tomorrow would be her first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year, and there was a glimmer of hope that the new professor would be halfway decent. Remus Lupin, his name was, and she'd recognized him as the man she'd knocked into on the train.

"Sorry, love," he had said as he brushed past her.

At least he's polite, Callie thought.