Chapter two- First day of term and meeting a crazy lady...
When Erik awoke, he didn't feel the hard mattress he used to sleep on, but a soft warm bed. He didn't realize that his mask was off until he went to rub his eyes and felt the twisted flesh underneath.
He looked around until he found the mask under his pillow. 'I must have taken it off in my sleep and put it under there as a habit...' He thought as he tied it in the back. He untied the curtains on his bed to find everyone else was still fast asleep.
Erik smiled to himself and got out of bed, went into the bathroom and got ready for his first day. As he exited the bathroom, he saw everyone else was getting up and ready. A blonde haired boy knocked into Erik, almost making his mask fly off, he hadn't tied it as tightly when he got his robes on. He sat on his bed, getting his books, quills, and parchment into his bag and heading down to the great hall.
As he neared the hall, he heard Remus call; "Hey Erik!" Erik looked up from his book and saw Remus almost running down the stairs.
"Hello. How are you this lovely, fine morning?" Erik asked sarcastically. Remus smiled to himself and said, "Tell me what classes you have and hopefully we'll have one together." Erik nodded, as Remus made his way to the Gryffindor table. Erik slowly made his way to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Amanda.
"Here. I saved a schedule for you. You have Potions first with me and those annoying Gryffindors." Amanda said. Erik grabbed a piece of toast and started to nibble it.
"When do classes start?" He asked. Amanda looked at her schedule and said, in 5 minutes. We better get down to the dungeons." Amanda said, grabbing Erik's arm and dragging him down to the dungeons.
They made it down with a minute to spare. They sat down in the available seats and waited for the professor to come into the classroom. When the bell rang, he came through the door, 'rather difficulty' Erik noted.
"Hello class. I'm Professor Slughorn. I'll be your teacher for this whole year. Before I explain anything. I will pair you up and that person will be your Potions Partner for the rest of the year. Let's see... Sirius Black, you will work with... Miss Luxember."
Erik heard Amanda groan as Sirius sat down next to her.
"Humm... Mr. Potter, you will be with, Mr. Malfoy." Slughorn said. Sirius almost laughed at his friends luck... "Ok then... , Mr. Valadarus ,... you shall work with,Miss Evens." Erik got up and moved to a red haired girl that Slughorn was pointing to. "Hi. I'm Lily Evens. You are?"
"Erik Valadarus... can I lay down a few rules?" Lily nodded. "Don't make any comments about the mask, don't touch it, and don't ask about it. Please do some work; I'm not doing all of it." Erik said. "If you follow those simple rules. We will have a happy year... if not, we will have a cruddy year..." Erik said.
Lily nodded and turned her attention to the front of the room. Slughorn continued to put students with their partners, until everyone was sitting with a member of the other house.
"Ok. Now, for your first day, I would like you to take your books, work with your partners and find some herbs around the castle, after class. Please try not to use your books. But use them if you don't know in case they are poisonous." Lily's eyes lit up. "We can do this during break..." She whispered to Erik.
"When is your break?"
"After Lunch... before Charms." Erik whispered to Lily as Slughorn went on about how to behave in the classroom. Lily smiled at him and turned her attention back to the front of the room.
Erik sighed. His attention was slipping away as Slughorn continued on. The only one who was really paying attention was Lily who was writing everything down. 'Is this girl crazy?' Erik asked himself.
After enduring the rules of the classroom, the bell finally rang. As Erik was gathering his things up, Amanda was standing there.
"Go away..." Erik muttered, walking out the door and away from her. "I have one question for you, why did you even talk to me?" Erik almost shouted.
"You looked lonely..."
"Maybe I like it that way! I can already tell you who my real friend might be. He's someone who doesn't judge me just because of my mask. I heard you and your friends on the train. 'Who's that freak with the mask?' 'Just some weirdo who got accepted here just because he did one thing magical...' 'I bet you can't befriend him.' Well, I guess you lost that bet!"
"Who is this friend who didn't judge you? I bet he's as much as a freak you are..."
"A Gryffindor named Remus Lupin..."
Amanda laughed. "You hang out with those mudbloods and Mudblood lovers?" She said, smirking. Erik nodded. "You're a Slytherin... Slytherins hang out with other Slytherins." Erik rolled his eyes and walked away from her and up to History of Magic.
As he sat through the wonderful class, his mind wandered. He didn't realize that he was writing music notes across his paper. 'Maybe Remus really isn't my friend... Maybe he is just trying to be friendly... how could I actually believe that he would want to be my friend...' He thought while writing music on the piece of parchment that he took out, for this reason, and half paying attention, writing down the important things Professor Binns said.
When the bell rang for their next class, Erik almost ran into Remus who was heading from Transfiguration to History of Magic, from where Erik just came out of.
"Hello, Remus..." Erik said, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.
Remus smiled. "Be careful in McGonagall's class... all she really does is lecture you about how to use Transfiguration the right way and not the wrong way..." He said.
"Thanks for the warning. Binns just talks about something I really want you to see for yourself." Erik said, grinning.
Remus gave him a look that said 'You're evil, but Erik just grinned and headed down to Transfiguration class, almost being late from his conversation with Remus.
