NOTE: Bold = Anastasia's written response Slanted = Anastasia's mind-link response
I finally find out what happened to my brother the next morning. This morning, Draco and I walk into the Great Hall for breakfast when I notice the messy mop of black hair that is sitting with the rest of the lions. Before even glancing back at Draco, I rush over to my brother and hug him.
"I see you are back, P-Harry," Draco says from behind me. I smile when I realize that he is trying to become friends with my big brother. When Harry pulls away from the hug, he looks surprised at my honoree big brother for actually calling him by his first name. Before my big brother can say anything to Draco, I hear an intake of breath and look over to see the Weasel is about to say something, but thankfully Hermione smacks him in the back of the head. He looks at her with a glare but decides to continue eating his breakfast.
"What happened to you and the Weasel, big brother?" I ask him while completely ignoring the fact that I should be eating breakfast. He sighs but moves over so there is room for me to sit at the table. I look back to see if Draco wants to sit down as well, but instead of being behind me he is now being dragged back to the Slytherin table by Pansy. I'll talk to him afterward, I guess. Oh! I also need to talk to Pansy and hopefully become friends with her.
"It's a long story, Asia," Harry says, and I briefly smile at the new nickname, "The short version of it is that when Ron and I tried to go through the barrier behind the rest of you, we ended up hitting a solid brick wall. In order to reach Hogwarts, we decided to take the flying car. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Hogwarts, we ended up crashing into the Whomping Willow and the car disappeared. Snape and Filch found us and we almost got expelled. Thankfully, Dumbledore and McGonagall came and didn't expel us. I believe that's it." I sit there for a couple of seconds as I process his shortened story. That is a lot to take in, but honestly, I'm not surprised that my brother has found himself in his past experience. Things always happen to my brother.
"Wow, Harry! There is never a dull day with you," I jokingly say to him, but my stomach growling loudly makes me blush before standing up. Giving my brother one last hug, I start making my way towards the snake table when a small body collides with me. Thankfully, neither of us fall, but I do take a few steps back.
Quickly looking down, I notice Hufflepuff colored robes and long brown hair before the person pulls away. Kitty smiles up at me while rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Oh, no! I completely forgot to congratulate her on making it into Hufflepuff. I think it is official, now. I have at least one friend in every house, well, besides Ravenclaw.
"Congrats on being Hufflepuff! Are they treating you well in there? Have you made any new friends, yet?" I quickly ask her, and she laughs at my enthusiasm. Giving her a playful glare, and she instantly stops laughing with a pink tint appearing on her cheeks.
"They are all nice, but I haven't made any friends other than you," Kitty says with a sad look on her face. With a reassuring smile, I give her a hug while informing her that she should go eat breakfast before it disappears. Her eyes widen in terror before rushing off to her table. Laughing at her reaction, I decided to take my own advice and head over to the Slytherin table.
Smiling briefly at Draco and Pansy, I turn to the plate in front of me that is filled with pancakes and other delicious food. While I start to eat my breakfast, I try to come up with the right words to write to Pansy. After a couple of minutes, I start to write down my first sentence when all of the food disappears, and people start to head to their first classes. I guess I'm going to have to talk to Pansy at another time.
Grabbing my stuff, I look around until I spot Draco trying to get away from Pansy but, apparently, is failing big time. Once they leave through the door, I sigh before walking towards my first class without anyone to keep me company. Before I can get too sad, I feel two pairs of arms circle around my shoulders. Smiling, I look up at the two fourteen-year-old boys.
"You looked lonely-," George starts to say to me.
"And we couldn't have that, can we?" Fred finishes with smiles on both of their faces. Nodding my head quickly, they decide to escort me to the Greenhouse before going to their classes and I honestly really appreciate it. The ginger twins make me laugh throughout the walk, and they even told me about some pranks they are planning for later.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end and we finally reach the Greenhouse. I'm pretty sure they're late for their classes but they seem to not mind or care. Smiling, I thank them before giving them hugs as I walk into the building.
Looking around, I notice that my brother is standing on one side of the table with Ron and Hermione while Draco is standing on the other side. Waving at my brother, I head over to an empty place when Big Brother Draco grabs my arm before dragging me to his spot. Laughing softly, I realize that he must have gotten away from Pansy and does not want her to be next to him. Dra gives me a glare but there is a smile on his lips which lets me know that he also finds his situation as amusing as I see it.
A friendly woman walks out from the back room and tries to get the classes attention. The key word in that sentence is try because no one even glanced towards the woman. Professor Sprout speaks even louder than the rest of us, which finally captures everyone's attention.
"Good morning, Professor Sprout!" everybody says together while I simply just wave with a smile.
"Welcome to the Greenhouse, second years! Gather around, everyone!" the head of Hufflepuff tells us, and we walk towards the long table, so we can see her better. She seems to get more excited as she explains what we are going to do today, "We are going to be re-potting Mandrakes, today! Now, can anyone tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?"
My mind briefly flashes to a book that I read during the summer. Even though I can't speak I decide to raise my hand anyway. Just in case, I start to write down my response while I wait to see who she calls on. I mean, she doesn't have that many choices because the only people raising their hands are myself and Hermione. Surprisingly, Professor Sprout calls on me and I quickly finish my answer before passing it to Draco.
"She says, 'Mandrake, or also known as Mandragora is most commonly used to return people or creatures that are in a petrified state to their original state. Unfortunately, Mandrakes are also quite dangerous because their cries are fatal to anyone that hears it.'" Draco finishes and gives me back my notepad. I look up and notice that the Professor is giving me a smile.
"Excellent explanation, Ms. Potter! Ten points to Slytherin!" she says, and I nod my head in thanks. While Sprout goes on to explain that because the Mandrakes are seedlings their cries are not fatal, I look over at Draco and he gives me a smile while giving me a thumbs up. Quickly glancing at my brother, he gives me a smile as well before focusing on the professor. As I start to tune back into the professor, I got the tail end of her explanation, "…Which is why I have given you earmuffs, for auditory protection. Can you all please put them on now? Quickly!"
Not wanting to dawdle when it comes to safety, I quickly grab a pair of earmuffs from in front of me and quickly place them on my ears. Pressing down on the flaps, I make sure that the earmuffs are completely covering my ears before turning to Draco. Fixing his earmuffs, I give him a smile before turning to look at everyone around the table to make sure they all have their earmuffs. Feeling confident that everyone has their earmuffs on correctly, I focus on the professor as she starts to explain what we have to do, today.
Unfortunately, during the demo, Neville turns a sickly pale before fainting on the other side of the table. The Mandrakes must really have frightened him or something. Sadly, some of the Slytherins start to chuckle at the fact that the poor boy fainted, and slight disappointment fills me because of my housemates. Looking at my honoree big brother, he is smiling slightly but for the most part, he just looks bored of the situation. Feeling somewhat proud that he is changing from the boy that laughed at other people's misery last year, I give him a giant hug and he glances down at me with a smile.
"Well, just leave him there," Professor Sprout says after learning that Neville only fainted. Clapping her gloved hands together, she turns to look at the rest of us and continues the class, "Alright! Grasp your Mandrake and pull it up."
After she says that, I pull up the baby like plant and it instantly starts to cry. The earmuffs dampen the noise to the point that I don't hear anything. Giving the plant a smile, I quickly put it into the pot in front of me while putting some soil into it. Huffing in satisfaction, I turn to see Draco about to put his finger a little bit too close to the Mandrake's mouth. Grabbing his arm, I shake my head when he looks over before pointing to his pot. Honestly, if I wasn't paying attention he could have just lost a finger. Rolling my eyes, I start to ponder about boy's inability to think before doing something for the rest of the class period.
By lunchtime, Draco and I are sitting at the Slytherin table with bored looks on our faces. Even though I love learning about magic, classes are still boring every once and awhile. Dra and I start to talk about Potions because even though I have read the entire potions book, I can't seem to grasp how to make them. My honoree big brother offers to help me because, surprisingly, Professor Snape is his godfather and has been teaching him potions since he was small.
As we continue to talk about potions, an owl screeching makes most of the students look up at the lone owl flying in. This is slightly abnormal because it isn't mail day yet there is an owl heading towards the Gryffindor table. I catch a glimpse of a red envelope before the owl crashes in front of the red-headed Weasel. Most of the Slytherins laugh at the dumb owl, and I'll admit that I slightly giggle but for the most part I'm wondering if the bird is alright. Thankfully, once the bird stands up and flies away I laugh a little bit more because no one got hurt.
"Look, everyone! Weasley's got himself a Howler!" one of the Gryffindor boys shouts out to the rest of the table. Everyone falls silent as they hear that last word. Giving Draco a confused look, he smiles at me and starts to explain what a Howler is.
"A Howler is what people send when they are angry. It's a letter that is charmed to sound as the sender and they will shout out the letter. For the most part, they are hilarious to watch but very embarrassing to receive," Draco says, and I nod along with his explanation. When I turn back to look at the Weasel, I notice that he is opening the letter.
"Ronald Weasley!" the Howler shouts out with Molly's voice. In surprise, Ron drops the red envelope onto the table in front of him. The Howler floats up and forms a paper mouth and tongue with the envelope. It continues to shout at the Weasel, "How dare you steal that car! I'm disgusted! Your father is now facing an inquiry at work and it is all your fault! If you so much as step another foot out of line, we will bring you straight home!" The letter seems to have finished yelling at him before it turns to Ginny. Surprisingly, the letter doesn't yell at her but actually congratulates her for making it into Gryffindor. Finally, it turns back to Ron and sticks out its tongue before shredding itself up into tiny pieces. The dining hall stays silent for a few more minutes before returning back to the loud conundrum that children usually make.
As I turn back to eating my lunch, I notice that Pansy isn't seating too far away from me. Remembering my earlier mission, I go back to the page that has my explanation for Pansy on it. Taking a deep breath, I stand up from my seat before slowly walking over to the black-haired girl. As she notices my approach, she gives me a glare while turning back to a girl that she is sitting next to. Tapping Pansy on her shoulder, I wait for a few minutes before I tap her on her shoulder again. She makes a loud sigh before turning to me.
"What do you want?" she says with venom in her voice. Flinching slightly, I give her a friendly smile before handing her the paper. Taking a minute to read the paper, she crumbles up the explanation before tossing it at me. My smiles falls a couple of inches as she leans closer to me.
"Do you think that I'll ever be friends with you? You are nothing but a mute orphan who shouldn't have been placed in Slytherin. You may have Draco wrapped around your finger, but you are just an attention seeker that should just go away. Nobody will miss you," she finishes, and I flinch back as each word hits my eardrums. My smile completely disappears and tears well up inside my eyes.
Nodding, I slowly head out of the hall before running into the abandoned girl bathroom. Launching myself into the nearest stall, I lock the door before I start to cry my heart out. I don't understand why she is so mean. Even though I explained to her that Draco and I are basically siblings, she is still so hateful. Why would she say all of those horrible things to me? It's not like I wanted to be mute or have my parents die. If I could, I would do anything to have my parents alive and well. Nobody ever wants to live their lives not knowing anything about their parents and living with relatives that hate everything about you. And sure, I may not act like a normal Slytherin, but I can still be cunning when I need to be. Just because I am more compassionate than most of the people in Slytherin doesn't mean I'm a bad person either.
Before I can think further, I hear the bathroom door open, which is then followed by a female voice calling my name. Sniffling, I listen to the person and a couple more times before I realize that it is Hermione. Knocking twice on the stall door, I open the wooden door while keeping my head down.
"Are you alright, Tasia? People are heading off to their next classes now," the bookworm asks me as she walks closer. Silently nodding my head, I start to walk by her before she grabs my arm. Briefly forgetting about the fact that I'm still crying, I look up at her before I can stop myself. Hermione gasps as she looks at my face and rushes me towards the sinks to clean my face.
"What happened, Tasia? Why are you crying?" she worriedly asks me while she washes my face with water. Shrugging, I try to keep my problems to myself because I don't want to seem like an attention seeker.
"Does it have something to do with Pansy?" Hermione asks me, and I give her a nod before hearing a bell ring, which is signaling that classes are about to start. My friend finishes cleaning my face before giving me a look that says that we will be having this conversation later. Sighing, I follow after my friend as we head to our very first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with our new professor, Mr. Goldilocks. I don't know if I should be excited or not.
Hey, everybody! I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to upload another chapter. Ever since summer hit, I've been having a difficult time with doing anything creative. Not only have I been having a bad time with my fan fictions, but I've also been having a difficult time with my Senior Project. If you do not know, a senior project is something that all senior have to do at my high school in order to graduate. So, whenever I have just a tiny bit of creativity I've been using it on that. I'm sorry, but at least this chapter is long. Please, comment below what you think about this story/ what you think might happen/ if you find a problem! I love reading your comments even if it just the word 'update'. Also, comment below if Pansy is acting like Pansy or if I'm making her too oc. Thank you all for reading and I really appreciate your patience! :-)