Envy didn't talk to his (former) friends after "The Incident". Every now and then he would catch Ron shooting him a guilty glance from across a corridor, something which he ignored with barely a thought. As far as he was concerned, they were no longer friends.
He was completely fine with that, of course. Even if Harry and Hermione seemed concerned, they were always with Ron, who he refused to go near: besides, the empty space where they once stood was filled half the time by Colin, babbling away at his elbow about everything from classes to flying lessons to gossip.
"Do you know who the Heir of Slytherin is, Envy? . . . It's not you, is it?"
With that he would always respond with a laugh. "Who knows, maybe I am!" There were other times when he would quite bluntly say, "No."
He was only with Colin a part of the time, however; that boy had other friends, and was both in another year and a different house.
He never sat anywhere other than the Slytherin table during meals. Free time was spent wandering the halls, sitting in the library or abandoned classrooms, and sometimes helping Colin with his homework if he was pestered for long enough.
The first time he saw them more than just in passing was Potions class. Now, here the choice was two things; sit with the Slytherins, have some random incorrect ingredient thrown into his cauldron during a delicate stage of the process, have it explode in his face, and then unwillingly take all the blame. On the other hand, he could sit among the Gryffindors, where Harry would shoot him wary looks, Hermione would be worried, and Ron would just glare at him and mess up his own potion.
Slytherin almost sounded preferable.
He settled for a mixed option; sit on the border between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but as far from those three as possible. It seemed like a good idea—after all, then he wouldn't be able to see them from where he was. But even so, he could feel their gazes burning into his back every minute. Concentration thrown out the window, his potion ended as, rather than a sunny greenish yellow, a sluggishly bubbling mass of thick dark gray.
As such, instead of hurrying from the room in the end as he had been planning, Envy was forced to stay behind, scrubbing the last of the stuff from the sides of his cauldron.
As he was picking at a particularly stubborn lump, a sour, monotonous voice spoke behind him.
"I see that you've abandoned those three." Snape spat the last two words as if they were something for which one should feel strong malice. Well, Envy supposed that was his view on things.
"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't."
"Well, allow me to offer some advice."
Envy's scrubbing stopped. Advice? From Snape? What was the world coming to? He sighed, not turning from his cauldron. "Listen, whatever you have to say—"
"Value your friendships while you have them, Mr. Novus. Otherwise they may disappear more quickly than you expect."
. . . The hell? He certainly hadn't expected that. He'd thought perhaps Snape would say something like, "Join the Slytherins, we're all purebloods here," or something, anything that would encourage him to stay away from Gryffindors. This was exactly the opposite. "What do you mean?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like, Novus," Snape sneered.
Now sure that Snape would not be giving him a clear answer, he absentmindedly resumed washing his cauldron. Papers shuffled at the desk behind him. Time passed this way for—Envy glanced at his watch—about seven minutes before he decided it was all clean, with that thought, he finished packing up and left. Snape didn't so much as glance up to watch him leave.
He wasn't miserable throughout all this. Of course not. He had plenty of homework and classes to occupy his time and keep himself away from any miserable thoughts—not that he'd have any if he wasn't occupied.
The first Quidditch game of the season was drawing near, taking place between Gryffindor and Slytherin, as usual, and tensions between the rival houses were—well, not quite running high, more like they were running medium, or something. Anyway, people were occasionally jinxed in the corridors, which could be fun to watch, and this year he wasn't on the receiving end of any nasty spells.
When the morning of the match finally rolled around, Envy was pulled along to the field by the current of excited students. His opinions had been warped last year by his mixed house friendships, but now he was pretty sure that . . . well, he didn't particularly like Slytherin anyway, so Gryffindor was his bet. No, of course he didn't want Harry to win, it had nothing to do with that.
By now, no one was surprised to see him sitting in the Gryffindor section of the stands. There did seem to be some confusion from the less knowledgeable first years, however.
Unsurprisingly, he found Colin in the very top row, decked out with Gryffindor flags, two scarves, and a skewed red and gold hat with a Gryffindor lion emblazoned on the front. A bit overkill for the year's first match, but he supposed this was Colin's first time seeing a proper Quidditch game.
The first year greeted him with a great deal of enthusiasm, buzzing with excited energy. His friends, who were sitting in the seats next to him, seemed slightly less pleased to see him, but accepted him into their group nonetheless.
The sky was overcast with dark clouds, about the same color his failed potion had been, and the air was thick (like his potion) with the feeling of impending rain.
The moment the teams walked out onto the field, a great roar erupted from the crowd. Boos and cheers intermingled, and Envy joined in the cacophony. No doubt he was going to need some sort of remedy for his ears after this was all over, but that could wait.
It wasn't long until all fourteen brooms zoomed into the air, taking their positions wherever they belonged, and the game was on.
Not more than one minute in, a Bludger went rogue. It just so happened to go after Harry, and it was then that it started to rain.
A timeout was called a little while later, and the teams flew down to meet each other. Envy, as well as several other people, stopped mid-cheer.
"This is great!" The grin on Colin's face was impossibly wide. "How many more games are there gonna be?"
Envy shrugged. "No idea, I don't keep track."
Colin opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle pierced the air, and the players took off again.
The Bludger followed Harry with renewed vigor now, and he had to dodge it even as he resumed his place in the air.
Envy's focus somehow drifted away from Harry, and he eventually found himself screaming, "GET THAT BASTARD!" as one of the Weasley twins hit the behaving Bludger at Adrian Pucey. He hated Adrian.
A startled gasp found its way out of the mouth of one of Colin's friends, and Envy followed her gaze to where Harry was close to sliding off his broom. His arm, even from this distance, looked . . . well, wrong, and the Bludger was now looping around to hit him for what was presumably the second time. Malfoy hovered nearby, sneering—the little shit—and an almost unnoticeable golden glint hovered over his shoulder, visible even through the pouring rain.
Ah, the Snitch.
Harry seemed to know it was there—that or he wanted to attack Malfoy, for he then dove straight toward him.
Malfoy swerved clumsily out of the way, but that didn't seem to matter to Harry. Everyone's eyes were on him now as he let go of his broom, snatched the golden ball from the air, and went crashing to the ground.
At this point, Envy realized that it had been unwise to choose such a high seat—everyone else was in front of him, allowing for them to be able to rush into the field first. Colin disappeared from his side sometime while he was attempting to push his way through the crowd, and by the time he made it onto the field, Harry had been carried off to the hospital wing.
He did manage to find Colin once he neared the edge of the field. The boy had already managed to reunite with all his friends by that time, and was now babbling away.
"—then Lockhart said this spell, and you know what happened?" He didn't wait for a reply before continuing. "Harry's bones disappeared!"
Envy, still a couple strides behind Colin, had a bit of trouble processing that sentence. After he had at last managed to comprehend what had been said, he marched straight past the babbling boy and his friends and continued his pace all through the castle.
However, just as he was drawing near, the doors to the hospital wing flew open. Ron, Hermione, and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team spilled out all at once, followed by Madam Pomfrey's unmistakable voice shouting about regrowing bones.
He dashed back around the corner immediately. For one, it seemed as if visitors were not being allowed at the moment, and for another, he did not wish to see or talk to Ron Weasley. A visit could wait.
'-'
Envy went to visit Harry right after breakfast ended the next morning. He had been rather surprised, and perhaps a bit disappointed, when Colin didn't come to say good morning like he usually did, but stubbornly brushed it off. It wasn't like he needed emotional support or anything.
He knocked once when he reached the hospital wing doors, then opened the them a crack.
Madam Pomfrey was bustling about with a breakfast tray, bringing it to Harry, who was sitting up in bed.
He opened the door a little wider, and the nurse, now done giving Harry his food, finally noticed him.
"Ah, Mr. Novus. What do you need?"
"Uh . . ." He glanced at Harry, who gazed back with a slightly surprised expression. "Just need to talk to that poor kid who got his arm snapped in two by a Bludger. What was his name again. . . ?" He put on a look of mock concentration, then snapped his fingers as if it had just dawned on him. "Larry Otter, that was it."
Pomfrey sighed at his antics. "Very well. Mr. Potter is just over there."
"Thanks." He skipped over, noticing one of the beds to be surrounded by curtains as he went, and stopped at the foot of Harry's bed.
They stared at each other for a moment. Envy was unsure of what to say—he hadn't planned this far. Harry seemed just as much at a loss for words, glancing down at his spoon and not meeting Envy's eyes. Envy had just opened his mouth to say something, anything to break the unbearable silence, but Harry spoke first.
"Look—" He paused and glanced up. "I'm sorry about—about Ron. He was being stupid, and I should have said something."
Envy groaned. "It's not your fault, you probably would have made it even worse." He was pretty sure he knew how human anger worked by now. "But you should be sorry about those looks you've been giving me."
"Oh, yeah . . . sorry about that."
They were both silent again. Envy tried to think of something to say.
"So . . . you have a boneless arm."
Harry shook his head. "Madam Pomfrey regrew the bones, it's a bit stiff now, that's all."
"Oh, come on! I would've loved to see that!"
"It wasn't that funny," Harry chuckled. "It was really just useless."
"Still funny to me, though." Envy grinned. "So tell me, how did that happen? I only heard part of it."
"Oh, well, there's not much to tell. Lockhart thought he'd fix my arm, so he said something and the next moment it didn't have any bones." He glanced around and lowered his voice. "Madam Pomfrey was furious."
"Ha! I can imagine the look on her face." Envy plucked a bit of fried egg off Harry's plate.
"Yeah, it could've been funny if she wasn't so scary." Harry seemed to realize that he hadn't been eating and spooned a mouthful of porridge into his mouth. He ate in silence.
Envy glanced around, not quite wanting to leave. The feeling of relief when Harry apologized had been overwhelming, and Envy had to resist the urge to burst into hysterical laughter, but now he didn't know what to say again.
Pomfrey came over a short while later and began bending Harry's arm and fingers in different ways. Envy left then to wait outside the doors, and Harry emerged a few minutes later.
They wandered for a while without speaking. Envy was forced to wait outside the Gryffindor common room once, so he was guessing Harry was looking for Ron and Hermione. He was not looking forward to the conversation that was to come.
After coming upon Percy Weasley outside the library, Harry seemed to get an idea, and he and Envy both headed down to the second floor corridor. Remembering what Percy had said about hoping Ron wasn't hanging around a girls bathroom again, he realized exactly where they were going. Though why those two would be in there, Envy hadn't the slightest idea.
Sure enough, as soon as they opened the door, Hermione and Ron's voices were clear to hear echoing from one of the stalls.
"It's me," Harry called as Envy closed the door behind them.
There was a gasp and a splash from the stall, and a moment later Hermione's eye peered through the keyhole. She breathed a startled greeting and began to open the door. Then her eyes, now both revealed through the open door, fell on Envy. "Oh . . . hello, Envy," she said uncomfortably.
"Hi," he grunted. "So, is there a party I wasn't told about?"
"Well, sort of." She opened the door wider so both Envy and Harry could squeeze through. "It's nice to see you again."
"Yeah." Still didn't know what to say.
Envy made what he was sure were quite visible efforts to keep from ending up next to Ron. Harry seemed to notice this—that's why he was sure his attempts were noticeable—and so he put himself between them.
By now it was very cramped.
"What's this?" Envy asked, gesturing to the bubbling cauldron on the toilet seat.
"Oh, well . . ." Hermione then explained what they were doing. Ron glared at Envy the whole time, although there seemed to be an underlying layer of guilt.
Once she had finished, he finally spoke up. "Are you sure we can trust him?"
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but Envy broke in before she could speak. "Did you ever think that I might be able to help you? I am a Slytherin, I know where the common room is and how to get in."
"I thought of it," Hermione began, shooting Ron a glare. "But Ron wouldn't listen."
"Not surprised."
They were silent for a moment before Harry spoke.
"Did you hear about Colin? They brought him in last night—"
"We already know—we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning. That's why we decided we'd better get going—"
"Wait, wait," Envy interrupted. "What are you talking about? What happened to Colin?" He recalled the curtained bed in the hospital wing, and an inkling of dread and suspicion trickled its way to the forefront of his mind.
Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance, and Ron took to staring at the corner of the stall above Envy's head.
"W-well," Hermione started, "it's not like they won't be able to undo it, it just might take a while, is all—"
"Spit it out already."
"He—Colin was petrified last night." She said the words in a rush, as if to get them out as fast as possible.
Okay. Okay. He'd been expecting that. Nothing wrong.
"UGH!" No wonder he hadn't come over that morning. No wonder that bed was curtained.
Why was everything going wrong this year?
Well. Sorry this took so long. Over a month, eh? Hehehe . . . yeah . . . I'd like to say that I'll try to update more frequently, but I'm a bit busier with school now, I'm trying to finish my NaNoWriMo novel, I need to update Heist, and I want/need to get another original novel done before June. Which is difficult and time-consuming, if you didn't realize. This doesn't mean I'm going on hiatus or anything! I'm just not going to update too frequently. Not that I did before, or anything. . . .
As for why Snape gave Envy friendship advice, if you didn't already realize, Envy is similar at this point to how Snape was as a child; a Slytherin with friendship(s) in Gryffindor that disappeared due to stigma. He also has long hair, but that doesn't really matter. Anyway, I was thinking that Envy reminds Snape of himself and that he doesn't want this friendship to go the same way.
On another note, today is the one year anniversary of the day this fic was published, so . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NO LONGER ENVIOUS! :D
Please review! Point out any mistakes you come across so I can fix them. Until next time!
-Quiet Leaf