Colin left for Hagrid soon after the four of them exited the train, and Envy, Hermione, and Neville all followed the flow of older students.
Rather than taking the boats across the lake as they had in first year, this time they got to ride up to the castle in a carriage pulled by a pair of skeletal black horses with bat-like wings. For some reason, Hermione was unable to see the creatures, but Neville gave them a strange look, so Envy assumed that he had noticed them as well.
Harry and Ron were still nowhere to be seen once they arrived at the castle. Envy had to split off from Hermione and Neville then and sit at the Slytherin table. It was hard to see from there, but he wasn't able to discern Ron and Harry from the crowd of students filtering in. They still weren't here; at this point he could only hope that they would dramatically fling the doors open in the middle of the feast.
After finishing his meal, Envy began observing the teachers to see if they noticed that there were students missing. Snape's seat at the head table was noticeably empty, and soon after the Sorting ceremony Dumbledore and McGonagall left through a door to the side.
Harry and Ron had not kicked open the doors to the Great Hall by the time the food disappeared.
The feast was concluded by a returned Dumbledore, and the houses stood as one and began shuffling their way out of the Hall, conversations interrupted every so often by loud yawns. Envy was unable to get near Hermione as he was dragged along in the river of his fellow Slytherins, and so resigned himself to wait until tomorrow morning to talk to her.
'-'
Envy woke with a start in the morning as he was jerked foot-first into the air by an invisible rope.
This was not an unusual wake up call for him in Slytherin house; it had started sometime late last year, but despite his irritation with his housemates, Envy was grudgingly thankful because this kept him from sleeping in, as he had done several times a couple terms ago.
As usual, he was dropped once the blood had rushed to his head and Malfoy and his henchmen strolled leisurely out of the dormitory, laughing their heads off.
Envy waited until he had reoriented himself before standing up and getting dressed.
He noticed a lot of giggling on the way to the Great Hall, not directed at him, fortunately—it seemed more incredulous and entertained than anything.
The first thing he did once he reached his destination was look up at the owls flowing in through the windows. The second thing he did was search the Gryffindor table for Ron and Harry; he was not disappointed.
Ron was gazing in terror at the smoking bright crimson letter in his hands.
Envy began walking closer, noticing Neville saying something with a nervous look on his face. He was several chairs down from the rest of the Quad when Ron opened the envelope and there was an explosion of noise.
A very loud female voice—Envy was pretty sure it was Mrs. Weasley's—started berating Ron for . . . for stealing the flying car. . . .
Envy couldn't keep back the chuckle that forced its way out of his mouth. He was soon laughing as hard as the rest of the school, but it seemed the distance between he and his friends was enough to keep them from noticing he was there.
By the end of the letter's tirade, Ron's ears were as red as tomatoes and he had sunk so low in his chair that only his hair could be seen. Harry looked embarrassed, and Ginny joined him in this sentiment when Mrs. Weasley's voice congratulated her on getting into Gryffindor, thereby involving her in the situation.
The laughter began dying down soon after the letter finished, and it was replaced by normal chattering, although the subject of many people's conversations had changed.
Envy was still chuckling when he sat next to his ashamed friends. "What the hell happened to make you mum send you something like that?"
Ron straightened up in his chair, staring sullen-faced down at his breakfast.
"They stole Mr. Weasley's flying car to get here because the barrier wouldn't let them through," Hermione answered matter-of-factly.
Envy groaned. "I shouldn't have gotten there so early; maybe I could have gone with you."
"It's a good thing you didn't!" Hermione sniffed. "You could have gotten into serious trouble."
"Lighten up, Hermione!" Envy sighed, piling some sausages onto his plate. "The worst that happened was—well, whatever happened."
"They both have detentions."
Envy raised his eyebrows, adding a slice of toast to his plate. "That's a light punishment if I ever saw one. Are the professors playing favorites?"
Ron shrugged. "Could be. Harry is the Boy Who Lived after all."
"But McGonagall never plays favorites unless it's Quidditch," Harry protested. "Besides, they wouldn't let me off of something this big just because I'm famous."
Hermione nodded in agreement.
"Now," Envy started. "What happened after you stole the car?"
Ron's expression brightened. "It was brilliant! We could have done without the heat, though—"
He continued into a lengthy explanation of their time in the car, with Harry adding in some details he missed, making Envy wish more than ever that he'd been able to go with them, consequences or none.
Halfway through, Mcgonagall came by the Gryffindor table to pass out schedules, and was followed soon after by a sour-faced Professor Snape with Envy's schedule.
Ron was just finishing with his recounting of the incident with the Whomping Willow, something Envy was glad not to have been there for, when Hermione informed them that they should leave for classes at once is they didn't want to be late.
Envy had Charms first, while the Gryffindors had Herbology, so the parted ways in the entrance hall.
'-'
The moment Envy walked into the Great Hall for lunch, he was figuratively pounced upon by the bubbly camera boy who was Colin Creevey.
"I didn't know you were in Slytherin, Envy! I've heard they have a really awful reputation and they all hate people like me. Is that true? Can you introduce me to Harry Potter?"
"Slow down," Envy groaned, continuing to forge his way to the Gryffindor table where he could see the distinctive heads of his friends. "I can't answer your questions if you spew them all at the same time."
"Right, right, sorry!" Colin suddenly let out a little, "Eep!" and jumped behind Envy as if to hide.
"What the hell—"
"He's right there!"
Envy glanced up at where Colin was pointing. "Who, Ron?"
"No, Harry!"
Envy sighed. He never took Colin to be the shy sort. "He's not going to bite you head off for asking for a photo," he reassured him, glancing down at the camera the boy was clutching. "Just ask him, maybe he'll agree." At this point he reached a seat by Hermione and plopped down next to her.
"Hello, Envy," she greeted him.
He grunted in response, reaching for a sandwich.
Envy split his attention between Colin, who was tentatively greeting Harry, and Hermione, who was telling him how her classes went and asking about his. Just like last year, she seemed to have memorized his schedule with a glance that morning, because she asked about each of his morning classes by subject.
Envy muttered something about being late for Charms, still trying to keep an ear on Colin's stutterings, and Hermione nodded understandingly. "Professor Lockhart held Harry back from Herbology. I wonder what they were talking about. . . ."
Lockhart chose this moment to strut by (Envy couldn't abandon the sneaking suspicion that the idiot was going by the Gryffindor table just to see what Harry was up to), just in time to hear Colin say, "Can I have a picture?"
Having passed them already, Lockhart swung around.
By this time Envy was already standing, sandwich in hand. "I'm out of here," he informed Hermione before rushing off to escape the torment that was his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
'-'
Envy was joined in the courtyard ten minutes later by a frazzled Harry, a disgruntled Ron; an amused and exasperated Hermione, and an embarrassed but elated Colin, who was trailing behind them.
Upon seeing the inquisitive look on Envy's face, Hermione immediately explained their disastrous encounter with Lockhart.
"—So now Malfoy's spreading about that Harry's giving out photos. It's a good thing he didn't hear the part where Lockhart said he'd sign Colin's picture."
Envy sighed. "So he's still an idiot. And I thought that maybe he'd have changed after coming in contact with Dumbledore," he said sarcastically. "The old man's intelligence is contagious, you know."
Hermione bristled. "He's not stupid! Look at all the things he's done, he's written all about them!"
"Some people are just really good at lying, y'know?" Envy shrugged, smirking. "Maybe he is telling the truth, but he's still a moron."
Hermione huffed, then pulled out her copy of Voyages with Vampires and buried her nose in it.
Envy yawned, listening as Colin started a one-sided conversation with Harry, who was looking awkward. Having gotten over the incident in the Great Hall, Ron appeared amused.
After Colin had mentioned Envy three times, Harry finally managed to get a word in. "Did you know Envy before you came to Hogwarts?"
Colin beamed. "Of course, he's friends with Ian!"
Harry just looked confused, so Colin elaborated further.
"One of the kids at the orphanage."
Ron and Harry's faces lit up in understanding, and Hermione, who had climbed out of her book, had an expression which clearly stated that she had already figured that out.
The bell chose that moment to ring, rescuing them from Colin's chattering while simultaneously plunging them back into the fiery pit of interesting and dangerous classes.
Well, Envy's next lesson only dangerous if Professor Binns's voice turned out to be capable of sending someone into a coma, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione all had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Lockhart, and Envy was having a hard time believing that his friends would make it out of the classroom with their brain cells intact.
Envy said mum instead of mom at some point. This is a sign of his long stay in England affecting the way he speaks. Hooray!
Anyway, this chapter should have been out a few days ago, but I was trying to finish a good book and I just felt completely spent every day, so I didn't end up editing for a bit. But it is now complete and out of the way. Yay.
Hope you enjoyed, and please review! Feel free to point out any mistakes. :)
-Quiet Leaf