CHAPTER THREE
Saturday morning I found myself sitting with a few Gryffindors at a table for breakfast, surely breaking some ancient unsaid rule or balance of all that is equal. Roman hadn't made his way to the great hall when I had gotten here, so I had found a spot alone, reading through some notes. Hermione had noticed I was sitting by myself, and sat next to me shortly after, though. We talked a bit, and compared our notes from potions this past week, recapping to each other some highlights from the lectures we each thought were important to remember. Harry and Ron had made their way down about a half an hour later, and I felt almost as if I was in the way, throwing off their balance of three. I also think Ron was wary of my serpent crested robes and I. They were friendly nonetheless, though. As we discussed potions, Ron tuned us out, reading through The Daily Prophet. Harry chimed in a few times to our discussion, correcting something, which made Hermione's cheeks turn red as she insulted the book his nose had been stuck in since the first day, according to Hermione. About a half hour later, I watched as Theo, Blaise, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle all walked into the great hall together. Theo nodded towards me, Blaise gave me a smile, and the other three? Not even a glance in my direction. Not that I expected one, to be fair.
"He really just thinks he's better than everyone, doesn't he?" I huffed. "You've been going to school with him for years now, surely you know what is up that kid's ass?" I nodded my head towards Draco.
"Who, Malfoy? He's a cockroach, I wouldn't pay him, or his goons, any mind." Hermione said with a pointed face, quickly moving her eyes from Draco back down to her notebook.
"He's a pure blood elitist, who thinks his family is the best to ever grace the wizarding world. Also, his father is a death eater." Ron informed through bites of his toast.
"And that's why his father was sent to Azkaban" I pieced together, as I stole another glance behind me, towards where Draco was now seated.
I had read a few articles from the Daily Prophet, but it was harder to keep up with everything happening out of the country. But, I remembered reading about what happened in the department of mysteries, and I remember hearing that some arrests were made.
"You're not missing much there, don't worry." Harry said.
Sunday was quiet, I slipped through the common room early in the morning to avoid running into anyone, and then to the library where I spent most of the day, until dinner with Roman and Uncle Gio. The night slid into morning quickly, and I decided I wouldn't let Draco Malfoy and his stuck up groupies bother me. He had shown up late to the class though, and when he did show up, he kept to himself. After potions, I found myself sitting in Charms class, listening to Hermione rant to Parvatti and myself about some Gryffindor boy who had been showing a little interest in her a little too straight forward.
Professor Flitwick clambered in as Hermione and Parvatti were filling me in on the first day of quidditch tryouts that happened over the weekend.
"Good morning," Professor Flitwick announced over the chatter.
"Good morning," Most of the class returned.
"I hope you all had a good weekend, and are ready to start this morning. I'm excited to go over the project I had mentioned during our first class, this is a project that will be worked on throughout the year. You will be paired into groups of two, where you and your partner will decide on various advanced charms in certain areas of study. I would like your partner and you to pick the area of charms you would be most interested in studying to work on for your project, before next class. We will do periodic check-in's, as I evaluate your progress with these advanced charms. You can start to look through your textbooks to see what may be of most interest to you.
I could hear chatter break out around the room, people finding partners. I kept my eyes forward, not really sure who I would ask to be my partner.
"I am going to assign partners for this proj- settle down, quiet please!" Professor Flitwick piped up over the groans. "It is best if you work with someone from your own house for convenience, as this is a long and important project!"
At least him picking my partner for me would make this process less painful.
"Potter, you work with Miss. Granger here," he pointed between them with his wand, while standing on the top of a pile of books. "Miss. Serpico, why don't you work with Mr. Malfoy."
He continued to talk but I stopped hearing him. Hermione and Parvatti glanced over to give me a sympathetic look. I had to refrain from every impulse in my body that was telling me to roll my eyes right now. How cliche was that? If this was a show, I'd look at the camera and make a face into it right now, just for the audience to see.
He pointed around the rest of the classroom, pairing the rest of us off, and then continued on with the lecture for the day. When it was finally over, I rose from my seat and looked at Hermione.
"Did you see that? The new girl getting stuck with the cockroach?" I joked.
"I'm so sorry. As Slytherins go, there's not too many great choices." She laughed, sympathetically. "If it makes you feel better, as insufferable as he is, he's always done well in classes. You could've been stuck with Crabbe or Goyle."
"Ya know, I have yet to hear them speak actual words," I snorted.
I sat in the library after classes were done for the day. Roman was meeting some of his friends to most likely cause trouble. Even though he had insisted what they had planned was 'purely academic'. Uncle Gio had a conference with some other teachers, so it was just myself and Noctorun tonight.
"What topic do you want to do this on?" I heard the voice only seconds before realizing the chair across from me was being pulled out.
I looked up, being met with gray eyes, and a small smirk.
"Oh I bet you're loving this, stuck on a project with the dumb American." I raised my brow, bringing my hand up to rest my chin on my palm.
"Couldn't be any worse than the usual company I keep," He drawled.
"So I've been told," I scoffed.
"What's wrong with your bird? Can't find the owlery?" He asked, eyeing Nocturn.
"There isn't anything he can't find," I smirked. "Besides, he's good company. Probably smarter than your usual company."
He chuckled, and leaned forward towards me. "And what are you good at, Serpico?"
I leaned forward, leaving less than a foot of space between us. "What do you want me to be good at Malfoy?"
"You need to stop hanging out with Gryffindors, you're adopting their mannerisms." He sneered, keeping his face close. "And their language."
"Ah but the Gryffindors don't act like there's a 12 inch stick up their ass," I smiled.
"I can take an inch out, if that's easier to manage," He taunted, mimicking my use of the word 'inch'.
"Cute," I replied, scrunching my nose at him. "You never answered my question, what do you want me to be good at, Malfoy?"
"How versed are you in advanced repairing charms?"
I watched her walk away from the table that I still sat at, lingering for a minute longer to avoid having to walk out together.
An American girl with daddy's money, there was a possibility she paid her way into this school to be accepted so late, but the impending war gave me the impression she wasn't just here simply because she could be. That left only one other reason I saw realistic as to why she had just been sitting across from me with an advanced potions book at the end of her nose; she was smart. Too smart for at home tutors, but wasn't going to the magic school they had in her country. So she needed to be out of America for whatever reason. That part I didn't care about, though.
And I was right. I had an idea, a suspicion creeping into the corners of my head that I couldn't ignore. Borgin had said without seeing the cabinet himself, that it would be a very difficult job, nearly impossible. But, it must stay where it is, so I needed someone who could come to where the cabinet already was. To lend their brain, and who wouldn't raise suspicion. I'd considered Blaise, or even Theo, who was handy with inventing, but it was too risky, they were too close. It didn't help that the only person to ever top me in classes was not only a mudblood but Harry Potter's pet, so really what were my options? I needed someone who had no idea, someone new, someone just like her. So I looked into her, into her life in America, into the marks she had received, and the specializations her magic family had in potions and alchemy. It was like the Dark Lord himself blessed me with a version of Granger that wasn't a disgusting, annoying mudblood. No way could I get Granger to sit here and go back and forth with me on a discussion of complicated charms for my own benefit, nor would I be able to bear it anyway. But this girl? I had seen the plan unfold before my eyes, and I had to take it. She would be an easy target. Far, far away from home, desperate to make friends.
I relaxed my face, realizing my jaw was tense as I stared at a row of books. This row of books that would witness our study sessions we planned out before she left. Which we had set to start the following night, 8 PM, the furthest table near the non- fiction section.
It had been raining all day, lightning rolling in as I sat at the same table the day prior, waiting for my new companion to arrive.
When she did walk in, punctual enough to impress Malfoy's everywhere, that bloody owl sat on her shoulder.
"Is he your bodyguard? Afraid to be alone with me?" I tried to sound as bored as I could.
"As if I would be afraid of you," she scoffed, placing her bag on the table and sitting down in the seat across from me.
If only she knew.
"So Miss. Serpico, where do we start?" I asked, folding my arms in front of me.
"Well, I started looking into reconstruction and repair charms. But, I think in order to do that we have to decide what we want to repair." She pulled out a textbook, where yellow colored tabs stuck out at pages she deemed as important.
"Your last name sounds like Serpent," I studied her, as she flipped through some pages.
She didn't look up, her eyes still sliding across the page, "It's a variation of the last name Serpe, which does mean serpent in Italian."
"It's like that Slytherin crest was made for you," I snickered.
"Back at home, we have large snake crests on the door handles, funny enough." She looked up, running a hand through her dark hair and smiling.
"My father has one on his cane," my lips curled into a smile.
"Sounds like both our fathers have a snake complex."
"Or they're compensating."
"Sounds like you're projecting," she smiled slyly, tossing a small ball of paper at the ring cresting my finger.
"It's my family ring," I informed, spinning the ring around my finger with my thumb.
"Does your family mean a lot to you?" She asked.
I scoffed, lifting my eyes back to hers. But the mock smile she wore before wasn't there anymore.
I think I hated the sincerity more.
"It means I'm a Malfoy. Which means a lot more than you can imagine."
"Actually," one side of her lip pulled up, just enough to bring out her dimple, "I think I can relate to that in my own way."
I leaned back, ready to shoot down her ridiculous comparison between the two of us when she continued. "Being a Serpico in New York is like having a giant target on you at all times. Everyone knows who you are, who your family is, what your family does."
"Expected to act as such too, right?"
"Oh of course," she made a face. "I have to make sure I make a good impression. I have to be the top notch daughter that a Serpico family would have. Seems most people have already decided who I am before they even try to get to know me."
"Daddy ever bring you to his big work meetings?" I asked, thinking back to my dining room. To the voice slithering next to my ear as I kept my eyes down on the same spot on the table, afraid to look anywhere else.
"No, my dad tries to keep the details away from Roman and I. Not that I don't figure it out anyway." She looked past me, as if her head was somewhere else, chewing her lip.
"My father loves to drag my mother and I into his business. Drags us right down into the barrel of shit."
"Sounds like your father needs to learn to separate home and work life," her eyes moved back to me, studying my face.
"I don't know if 'work' is the right term," I scowled. I didn't want to talk about this anymore. I wanted a drink.
Almost as if she had read my mind, or maybe she was just as uncomfortable as I was becoming, she switched the topic. "So what do you want to repair for this project? Some walls that angry teen boys have punched? Our broken idea of families? Some kitchenware?"
I tried to hide the smile that tugged at my lips, "You think they have a spell for that?"
"Maybe we can make one," she smiled, scrunching her nose slightly.
"Not sure if I want to put in that much work, Serpico."
"Fine," she lifted her hand to rest her chin in her palm. "Have any suggestions Mr. Malfoy?"
I sat and pretended to think, even tapped my arm with my fingers to look extra convincing.
"How about…" I started. "Have you ever heard of a vanishing cabinet?"
She furrowed her brow. "Yeah, I have. I heard they were really popular during the first wizarding war, a good way to get away from death eaters."
"They have one here at the school. Menace of a ghost named Peeves broke it back in my second year. Why don't we try to fix that? It can be like- like a symbol of hope. You know, with everything going on now." I said, trying my hardest at sincerity.
Merlin, would she actually buy that bullshit line?
"That's a really good idea," she tilted her head slightly, chewing her lip again.
Apparently, she would.
"But how would we do it?" She asked.
"There's an incantation for it, off the top of my head I'm not sure what it is," I lied. "But I can figure it out."
"Okay," she smiled, grabbing a pencil. "I'm putting it on the list. We just need four more charms to work on."
"Why are you writing with that?" I smirked, pointing at the pencil in her hand.
"No you're right, I should just get out my quill and inkwell instead for the sheer convenience."
"You…"
"Have a point?" She eyed me.
"Are weird." I smirked back.
