Chapter Two
I walked numbly over to the Slytherin table, not quite believing it. How could I have been placed in Slytherin? Hadn't I been told all my life that I 'belonged' in Gryffindor? Yes, but the hat didn't agree, a niggling voice in my head argued.
I was the first Weasley to have been placed in Slytherin since- well, ever. It had never happened before. All Weasleys were Gryffindors- everyone knew that. Haven't you always wanted to be different? The voice asked. I sighed- this would be a sure-fire way to get mum and dad to notice me.
I looked over at the Gryffindor table, beyond the Ravenclaws. I could see Travis, smirking at me and mouthing, 'freak'. Was that what I was? A freak of the family? I didn't care, anyway, I told myself huffily. I didn't care about our family. I never had.
A little way down from Travis I could see Julius, chatting eagerly with his friends as if nothing had happened. I decided that from now on, I would completely ignore them until it was time to go home. Then, when the holidays were over I would resume my no-associating-with-anyone-related-to-me rule. Besides, it wasn't like I even talked to them at home, anyway.
"Hey," the person said next to me.
I nodded tersely in response. "Hey."
"Cameron Avenell," he said, resting an elbow on the table. He had short black hair and green eyes that stared at me curiously.
"Melissa Weasley," I answered, not saying anything more than what was expected.
"A Weasley?" Cameron asked, the disbelief written on his face.
I shrugged and rolled my chocolate-brown eyes. "Yeah," I had to say. In this house I could expect to be known as many things- a mudblood, a blood-traitor, a mudblood blood-traitor. Which doesn't even make sense, but hey- we're kids, we can call each other any cruel names we want.
"Weird," he managed, before the food appeared on the table and he dug in. In between mouthfuls, he asked, "So why're you in Slytherin?"
"Because she's evil, like the rest of us," a girl opposite us answered for me, grinning wryly at me.
He shrugged. "I'm not evil…" He glanced around but when he saw someone staring hard at him he straightened up, and didn't say anything more.
"Lacey Patterson," the girl said, flipping her smooth blonde hair. "And just so you know, if you ever call me Lace I will personally crucify you."
That was how things were done in Slytherin- curses were taken lightly, treated as an everyday part of life. It was strange, in my family if we ever even mentioned it our mother would wash our mouth out with soap.
I lifted the corners of my mouth in what could pass as a smile for me. "Fancy being called Lacey."
"Fancy being a Weasley," she returned.
"Touche," I replied bitterly.
It turned out Lacey Patterson's father was a rich business mogul who expected to marry her off. Lacey saw no need to study or even look remotely interested in school work, because as she said, "why study when I'm never going to be allowed to get a job anyway?"
Halfway through dinner, a stout boy with blonde hair and cold grey eyes further down the table called out to me. "Hey, mudblood," he laughed cruelly.
"Yeah inbred?" I asked coolly.
"Why you-" He jumped off his seat and marched straight up to me. "How dare you," he began, holding his wand in front of my face.
"How dare you call me a mudblood," I said, drawing out my own wand. But I didn't defend my family, either.
"Well you are!" he insisted, poking me with the wand.
"And you're an inbred!" I mimicked in the exact tone he had used. By then most of the Slytherin looked on in interest, curious to see how the 'blood-traitor' would react. Some Ravenclaws were surveying us inquisitively, too.
"Children, play nice," I looked up to see a prefect smirking lazily at us. I wasn't stupid- contrary to what the battered old hat thought- I knew that if I just left it at that, I would be picked apart by my classmates until I couldn't stand it any more. But I also knew if I did anything, I would get detention and lose my house points. Did I really want to do that and have my house mad at me?
Sure I did. I jabbed the kid again with my wand and went to walk away, before turning around and yelling, "Laconus!" It happened to be a spell my dad and Uncle Fred invented. It made red love hearts appear on whatever you aimed the spell at- in this case it was his cloak, which was instantly covered in little red hearts.
"Detention! 30 points off!" A teacher snarled, whom I hadn't noticed until then. Obviously though, he had noticed my little 'trick' and me.
I turned triumphantly to Cameron and Lacey, but they averted their eyes and stared at the table. Evidently everyone in Slytherin was going to be siding with this idiot instead of me. I had not collected any admirers, unlike this kid who was almost bawling his eyes out at the sight of his cloak.
Slytherin was now in the 'minus' range for points. I hadn't even been here for a day and was already making my house come last.
The feast was over by now, and students had begun to slowly trickle through the doors back to their common rooms. I started to follow a prefect who announced that she would show the first years where the common room was, put stopped when someone put a hand on my shoulder.
"Mum isn't going to be happy, you know," Travis said idly.
I snorted. "Since when is mum ever happy?"
"She'll cross you off the family tree, just like those stuck up purebloods," Trav said, still chewing on something.
"We don't have a family tree, Einstein," I informed him acridly.
He glanced back at me. "Yeah, we do," he said. "Camellia made it one year. It's got everyone on it, even that aunt in Africa we never see."
Well, of course Camellia made it. Perfect, pretty Camellia. Prefect, Head Girl, graduated with top honours. She was the golden girl, everyone else were merely the 'others'. It was always, "so where is Camellia and the other children?" "How are you, Camellia? Oh, and you lot." "Camellia, dear, how wonderful to see you! And all you, too."
"Whatever," I dismissed him with a wave of my hand and went to keep following the others when he said,
"I bet Stephen's already owled mum."
That stopped me. "I don't care," I told him harshly.
I could hear the grin in his voice. "Yeah you do."
"Don't talk to me," I said brutally, walking away before he could say anything more. I made a mental vow never to speak to him again during the term.
"Oh, there you are," Lacey said when I caught up to her. "I was wondering where you were." I bet she wasn't, though. Again, this is when the social 'laws' come into effect.
"I just had a matter to take care of," I told her.
"Cool," Lacey replied, trying to sound interested. "So do you want to grab beds next to each other?"
"Alright," I said nonchalantly. Maybe Lacey wouldn't be so bad after all.
"There you are," someone puffed behind us. It was Cameron.
"Here we are," I replied sarcastically.
We were led down, were it gradually got colder. I didn't mind, though- I liked the cold. We stopped in a stone passage and the prefect said the password, "Blood-traitor". I tried not to let it affect me, though. The way I saw it, whilst at Hogwarts I was not a Weasley, but away at home I could rant about all the stuffy purebloods as much as I liked.
The common room was decorated excessively in green and silver. There was a fire flickering in the middle of one of the walls, with several armchairs surrounding it and couches, chairs and tables packed in the erst of the room. I was shocked to see that we actually had windows- high up, beyond my reach, and they didn't let any light in then, because it was dark. They were small- but they were there.
The walls were made of grey stone, with several tapestries having been hung and thick rugs on the hard stone floors. There were several chandeliers hanging overhead, but instead of being filled with light bulbs or what not, they were filled with candles, giving the room a soft glow.
The overall effect was not very homey, though. The cold draught could still be felt, and the leather chairs might have been something out of an extremely rich person's home for show and not use.
"I like it," Lacey announced, wandering in and seating herself gently down on one of the plush chairs. "It's just like home." I obviously had a few things to learn when it came to living in luxury.
"That's what's so bad about it," I heard Cameron mutter behind me. "It's just like home."
I sat down opposite Lacey, and Cameron sat down next to her. "Who was that kid?" I asked, remembering the fight in the Great Hall.
"Oh." Lacey looked around to check if anyone was listening. "That was Donell Rosier."
I snorted aloud at the name. I would never get over purebloods and their obsession with naming kids strange names. My grandmother had done it too- although all of their names could be shortened to something remotely normal.
"Don't mess with him, Mel," Cameron warned.
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, right. He's your third cousin?" I asked cruelly, driving the point home that all purebloods are inbred.
"Fourth twice removed," Lacey answered for him." He's my third."
I stared at her. "You know his relatives?" I asked in shock. I couldn't even come up with a mean comment.
Lacey nodded. "Father made me memorise all the pureblood lines."
"What sort of people are your family?" I asked coldly.
Lacey narrowed her eyes and glared at me. "At least they aren't mudbloods," she answered grimly, like it was a crime. In the world of Lacey Patterson, though, it was a crime. I was lucky to have been the only one in my family not born with red hair- I had mild brown like my mum- otherwise I'm sure she would have scorned me from the moment I sat down opposite her.
"What about your family?" I asked Cameron, settling back on the chair. "Why is their name so familiar?"
Once again, Cameron glanced around timidly before answering. "My uncles have been convicted," he said bitterly.
"Convicted?" I repeated, wanting to know more just so I could shove it in his face whenever he taunted me about being a mudblood.
Lacey rolled her eyes. "You know," she said arrogantly. "Azkaban? Wizard prison?"
I glared at her. "I'm not retarded," I answered hotly. "What did they do though?"
"They're supporters," Cameron said, all the while looking around.
"Of who- oh!" I exclaimed loudly, so several people turned to stare icily at me. "Oh."
"Get used to it," Lacey said, bored. "It's not something special."
"Damn right-" I began.
"Everyone here can boast that," she finished. "Well, except for you. And my brother was telling me about a blood-traitor in fifth year. Apparently he is against him."
"In case you've forgotten," I said bluntly, "he's gone. Nada. Not alive."
Lacey rolled her eyes, and even Cameron agreed. "So? People still want to carry on his work. And besides, some people still think that he might come back."
"And do you?" I challenged.
Suddenly Cameron's eyes blazed and he sat up straight. "You can never," he said roughly, putting his head close to mine, "ever speak of this conversation again. Okay? And forget about it. Forget everything we said." He stood up abruptly and walked off to the boy's dormitories without a backward glance.
I stood staring at the entrance to the dormitories. "What was that all about?" I asked Lacey, but she was busy staring hard at her nails.
"I think we'd better go to bed now," she said finally, carefully avoiding my eyes. We walked to the girl's dormitories. Inside the passageway were two staircases. One went down, whilst the other went up. "I think it's this one," she decided, heading up the staircase while I followed, still brooding about the conversation. Did that mean Voldemort would come back?
Lacey was right and we stopped outside a door that had a notice in barely legible writing, 'First year girls'.
She pushed the old wooden door open and it protested loudly, but we took no notice. Why would we care if we woke everyone up? Their own fault for coming to bed so early. Inside it was fairly roomy, rectangular, unlike the Gryffindor dormitories, which were round. There were five beds against the side of one long wall, with medium sized wardrobes at the foot of each bed. At one end was a door, to which I could only assume was the bathroom.
Each of the beds had rich green drapes around them, lined with silver. The bed covers were a brilliant emerald green, also embroidered with silver around the edges. There were several plush rugs on the floor, and a couple of armchairs against the short end of the room. There was a small bedside table next to each bed, with a single candle placed neatly on it.
"Which two beds are free, do you think?" Lacey was busy peering in the bathroom.
"These ones," I replied. They were closest to the dormitory door, but other than that they were the same as all the others. I let Lacey take the one next to the other girl; I would have the end one. At least I had a wall on which I could hang photographs.
"Night, Mel," she said softly, and I was struck by how she could be so cold and distant one moment and warm and inviting the next.
"Night Lacey," I replied, trying not to snigger. At least one thing could be said for the Slytherin dormitories- their beds were comfortable.