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'Thought'
"Speech"
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Harry Potter, only my OC(s) and some plot twists...
"They're all around Professor Sinistra now…" came Luna's abrupt comment, causing me to almost spew my coffee out "The Wrackspurts I mean, and they seem quite lively as well" she clarified as she sat next to me "Why do you think that is?"
Note to self, even in places like this, be more aware of your surroundings 'A mistake committed once is enough…' I quickly shook my head to clear that train of thought from going any further as I turned to answer her.
"Huh, really? That's interesting… unfortunately, I haven't the slightest clue why though" I began, giving her a wry smile "And a good morning to you too! Luna" she wordlessly regarded me with her gaze before turning away and beginning her breakfast.
I signed, my poor attempt to steer the conversation didn't fool her but unlike a certain someone she didn't pry, though she did ignore me for the rest of the meal. I chuckled at her antics, technically she's still an eleven-year-old, or at most maybe twelve 'Can't fault her for being juvenile' I mused.
I then turned towards the Professor in question, my mood sobering and my expression turning more than a little apologetic as I did so. Almost reflexively, her eyes met mine... lingering on me for barely a second, before turning towards the teacher next to her - the lady that taught Ancient-Runes, Septima Vector I believe her name was - as I let out another sigh.
Roughly a month (or thereabouts) had passed since my sorting, and things have been okay… so far. Naturally, the first few days had people mostly talking about how the Boy-Who-Lived and his trusty friend had crash-landed a car - from the mundane world, of all things - on the Whomping Willow.
I suggest you read the original works, if you want a better idea of what I was talking about.
Anyhow, it gave me the assurance that I was in the 'canon' story so to speak, so my foreknowledge was relevant and hence, would come in handy. I can also safely say that I'd more or less settled into this world, as far as being Colin Creevey goes, and had begun the slow process of equipping myself and becoming stronger.
The keyword here being slow, and I mean trying to get through the day without your first cup of coffee slow.
On the other hand, as a side note: I'm happy to report that I'd only (almost) managed to botch things up - and risk exposing myself - on one occasion... just after my second week here actually. I gotta admit though, the rickety old castle had somehow managed to grow on me, and I for one was loathed at the thought of it becoming a battlefield.
Oh, you'd rather I elaborate on the previous comment? Alright fine...
I'd done a fair bit of exploring during my first week here, with Luna accompanying me sometimes. The two of us had formed a tacit friendship of sorts at this point, seeing as I was one of the few people in her year and house, that would talk to her in more than a few curt words. As an added bonus, being around her meant that the rest of these louts would give me a wide berth as well - which suited me just fine, thank you very much - no complaints there!
Luna made for a much better companion in anycase.
On the day in question though, I'd gone exploring on my own. I went in search of a particular room, whose existence was only known to a numbered few… The Room of Requirement.
Long story short, I got in without much effort and managed to make it seem like my finding it was completely accidental. I knew there was some portrait beside it, so - should something about this particular venture reach the Headmaster's ears - I wanted to be able to plead the plausible deniability card in my defence. I was fairly certain, however, that he'd be too busy keeping an eye on his favourite martyr to care all that much, about little old me.
What was I thinking of before I got it open you ask? Well, something along the lines of 'I need more knowledge in ways to get myself stronger, and some way out of this whole fucking purebloods-treating-me-like-dirt-since-I'm-of-mundane-descent-which-would-plaster-a-target-on-my-head-later fix!
Okay, that might not be exactly verbatim but damn did it work! Towering piles of books lay in front of me by the dozens! As far as I could see! The room I entered basically looked like a graveyard for books and. It. Was. Huge.
I have no shame to admit that I ran about like a happy camper. I knew I wouldn't be able to stay for long so I randomly chose a pile and as luck would have it, the first book I laid my eyes on had Occlumency in its title 'Fuck yeah!' and I immediately tried to wrestle it out from the pile.
"Damn! Talk about twigs for arms! The kid's a skinny piece of shit!" I cursed when I'd finally gotten the wretched book in my grasp. I'd say it easily took me ten minutes, having also dislodged a few other books in the process as well. I quickly packed the book on Occlumency safely in my bag, after flipping through a few pages to confirm that it was still readable. Then out of sheer curiosity, I bent to pick up the other two books in question... noting that both of their covers looked a good deal more worn than the one I'd just bagged.
My arms were practically jelly at this point though "Fuck my achin–" I'd just registered the words I was reading, and cut myself off mid-rant. The first one was titled 'The Arts to an Animagus' which would have otherwise had me drooling... but unfortunately, the second one had completely ensnared all of my attention.
It was smaller in size but weighed a good deal more than the Animagus book and by the looks of it, was thicker too. It seemed to be like a diary or journal of some sort, leather-bound (kinda reminded me of another diary, which I'd been meaning to 'procure' at the earliest) and completely blank… save for the first page.
It had an intricate almost life-like depiction of a snake, though it wasn't the Slytherin symbol. It was that of a cobra, frill out and fangs exposed. The light inside wasn't bright enough to make anything else out. So I decided to forego everything else, in favour of packing both books into my bag and heading back to the Ravenclaw common room, with due haste.
It was only as I entered the tower that I remembered that a nifty Lumos would have sufficed instead 'Well I can't exactly go back now…' and I signed, maybe I hadn't gotten used to everything in this world just yet. Today was a Saturday, so the majority of the senior students were at Hogsmeade, 'Or probably in a broom closet somewhere' I reasoned, as I walked into the common room.
I remembered to fish one of the books, that I'd issued from the Library a little earlier - Hogwarts: A History - out of my bag, and held it in hand. One of the reasons of course for appearance's sake, the other was because my bag would have looked a little too bulgy if other otherwise.
My house was filled with people who were all kinds of smart, so a little discretion wouldn't hurt me. I gave Bob a nod and excused myself from a game of gobstones by saying that I wanted to get an early start on my Transfiguration essay.
Another fact I figured I might as well point out at this point, is that Colin had quite the magical prowess. I'd steadily managed to get through most of my classes with comparative ease, as opposed to my peers. Sure, having the mind and focus of a thirty-year-old probably helped, but that simply wouldn't make up for raw talent... save for maybe adding an extra 'oomph' factor.
Oh and F.Y.I. that Transfiguration essay? I finished it yesterday, but I kid you not when I say that McGonagall was a slave driver, not to mention writing with a quill (and inkpot) was damn annoying!
Also, if you're wondering, yes... the Hogsmead visits were bi-monthly. I'd always wondered why they'd been so sporadic in the original books, but I chalked it up to the author only focusing on the ones that Potter - or his friends - went to.
Anyhow, it was in the confines of my shared bedroom, with my four-poster curtains drawn around me that I was able to go over the diary properly... and almost ended up killing myself.
How, you ask? Well, I'd just opened up the journal to the page depicting the snake, so I could observe it under better lighting. It was then that I noticed the small circular indentation at the centre of the Snake's mouth, I surreptitiously ran a finger over it - a very stupid move, in hindsight - when I felt something akin to a needle poking me.
"Ouch!" and I looked to see that the fingertip was now bleeding from a tiny puncture wound "Fuck! What the he-!" I almost didn't notice when a series of Symbols, appeared at the bottom of the page.
The words were obviously not in English, nor any of the common languages a general wizard or witch - muggleborn or otherwise - from this country, would learn.
It was a version of the Devanagari script, originating from the faraway land of India. I'd learned the basics in my last life, fortunately... though I still needed a moment to decipher its meaning.
'Fucking, shit!' was the general consensus I'd reached, at the end of it. I continued to read through the remainder of the journal with a zeal that would easily have left a certain Gryffindor girl's eyes, bulging out in shock. One could say that I was quite motivated, you see. Since the meaning conveyed, but those few lines of text, was roughly something like: 'You have until midnight before the poison, currently running through your veins, kills you…' or along those similar lines.
It's at times like this that I would wonder why the Hat put me in Ravenclaw, but I had more pressing concerns at the moment. Truth be told though, as I skimmed through the rest of the book, I kinda forgot that my life was under threat here.
Almost all of the pages were filled with the tiny print, of whomever the journal belonged to… and it most definitely wasn't someone formerly from Hogwarts. It took me a while, but by the time I'd finished, my face had broken into a classic Cheshire-cat smile.
"The damn room really outdid itself!" I looked at my watch, dinnertime was fast approaching. I'd already skipped through lunch, but no one other than Luna - maybe Bob - would have noticed, or cared, since I wasn't the 'talkative' or 'mingly' type.
This fact was only accentuated when I walked back to the near-deserted common room, only to find Luna, waiting for me at our usual corner. She was reading the day's edition of the Quibbler but wordlessly got to her feet upon meeting gaze. The two of us promptly made it to the Hall, with barely a few moments to spare before the plates were filled.
We returned back to the common room with no incident, though some of the second years - mostly the guys - were going on about how old Gildy's class was beyond shitty and something about the upcoming Quidditch trials.
Let me tell you, I absolutely loved flying and was eagerly looking forward to my next flying lesson. I knew though, that it would be a good while (probably a year or two) before my seniors took me seriously. I'd heard that the current team was quite formidable but knew that Cho Chang wasn't that great of a Seeker (F.Y.I. she wasn't currently even on the team yet) and had resolved to start attending tryouts for the position starting next year.
'Ghasp!' I hear you exclaim, 'You're actually going to waste time playing Quidditch and actually try to enjoy being a kid again!? No training, or cramming your head with all manner of advanced spells!? The travesty!'
To answer those of you that asked, yes, yes I am... so deal with it.
"Good luck…" was all Luna said, before heading into the girls' dorm rooms, presumably to turn in for the night.
"Thanks…" I muttered, not bothering to wonder what (or how much) she knew, though my eyes narrowed upon noting her miss-matched shoes 'Seems I'm due to have a little talk with my dear housemates' I mused, but then remembered that my current stature wasn't exactly what one might call imposing 'Better convince (drag) her to go see Professor Flitwick' I sighed as I walked back to my own dorm-room, pretending to get ready for bed 'Small steps...' I reassured myself.
One can't simply turn into a badass overnight and even then, there were titans like Albus "For the Greater Good!" Dumbledore and Tom "I am Lord Voldemort" Riddle to look out for, not to mention Severus "Seriously Mopey" Snape, though I kinda felt for the guy. Don't get me wrong, he was an absolute douche especially when it concerned Potter, but I'd say he at least deserved better in life.
I shook my head once more, I could already feel some of the poison's effects by now... one of my hands was slowly starting to go numb but otherwise, I felt fine. In fact, a part of me was actually looking forward to what I was going to do.
I understand if at this point you're wondering if I was mental, well… I won't disagree with you, nor will I try to defend myself, so knock yourselves out!
I should have gone back to the RoR (Room of Requirement) but I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it before midnight, nor was I sure I'd be able to get it to work like I wanted to. The book said something about being exposed to the light of the moon, and don't get me started on what would have happened if today had been the day of the new moon instead of the full moon, or if I hadn't been able to comprehend what the diary's words meant... I'd already exhausted a lot of time mulling over it in vain.
So with all things considered, I made my way to the Astronomy Tower, which was closer to the common room and by far the tallest one in the castle. Plus, according to the books, it was the easiest to access as well... a decision which, in retrospect could have potentially ruined everything for me.
What do I mean? Well...
I'll end the chapter here, and call it a wrap!
Any reviews and/or suggestions are welcome and appreciated, as is constructive criticism, though any and all flames will be ignored.
I've decided I might as well continue with this story, since it won't leave me alone, so until next time...
BerserkSpectre out
