Indigo by C C
Summary: When loyalties clash and their hearts are torn apart, how will the students of Hogwarts ultimately choose? Read to discover what is hidden beneath all the masks, deceit, and lies, but, most of all, how strong friendship and, ultimately, love, truly is.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling
Chapter II "A Wet Welcome"
At Rise … the ghost of (Christmas) past lifts the velvet curtains to reveal a stage set for the enactment of the next scene of our drama
The train began to slow down as it neared a winding road up a small yet tall mountain. Resting magnificently upon that mountain was a mysterious castle filled with intricate turrets and marvelous verandas that seemed to beckon to the gleaming night sky encrusted with silver stars. Few seeing this fairy palace that day could have imagined that it would live out the true meaning of the creed of its race and become a citadel of good – drowning in an ocean of evil.
Hermione glanced anxiously down at her watch and stifled a tiny gasp, which caused both Draco and Blu's eyes to snap up at her. In response, her own eyes traveled down over Blu's attire and she uttered another small cry.
"Blu! Blu! You need to go get changed, now!" she began pushing Blu towards the restroom as she spoke, "Here you've been with the two Heads and neither have thought to have you put on your school robes!"
"To hear is to obey, but I still need something to change into!" protested Blu laughingly as she grabbed a black robe from her luggage and let Hermione usher her out. Draco smirked.
"You know, you could always change in here. Hermione's a girl and me, well, I don't mind." He chuckled. Blu gasped and slapped his arm playfully.
"You pervert! You mayn't mind, but I do!" with that, she pretended to storm out of the compartment. The moment her friendly presence disappeared down the corridor, all of the old animosity that had been forgotten for the course of a few hours came rushing back with redoubled ferocity. Glaring at Draco, Hermione seated herself at the far end of the compartment, as far away from him as possible and took to looking at the nightscape spread out before her while maintaining a frosty silence. Taking no measures to amend matters, Draco also shifted away muttering about being stuck with a mud-blood under his breath. To make the present circumstances worse, Harry and Ron chose that unpropitious moment to barge in and demand Hermione's help to amend the effects of a spell Ron had attempted to shut Pig, his owl, up. This resulted in Draco sneering about the inability of Ron to perform a simple spell and more verbal attacks from both sides finally culminating in the whipping out of four wands. It was to this general state of affairs that Blu returned, looking slightly bewildered, but as lovely as before with an inky black Hogwarts robe over her dress.
"Um … did I miss anything?" she smiled hesitantly at them. All looking more or less guilty, they slipped their wands back into their robes and grinned sheepishly. "Why don't we all sit down and chat?" she motioned towards some empty seats and they all obeyed. Draco smirked as he sat down.
"Now, who died and left you boss?" he inquired teasingly, "'Cause last time I checked, Granger and I were the Head Boy and Girl." Blu grinned back.
"When all of you decided to try and attack each other. Now, if that were to reach a professor's ears …" she purposely left the sentence unfinished. Ron stared at her blankly.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked dumbly. Harry also looked up expectantly.
"Who the hell are you?" Blu mimicked sarcastically, "God, that's polite." Ron flushed a deep shade of scarlet.
"I didn't mean, I mean, it wasn't …" he muttered incoherently. Hermione glowered at him,
"Sure Ron, that was the smartest thing you ever said!"
"Well, that's rich, coming from you!"
"Explain!" Seeing the couple bicker angrily, Harry intervened.
"Ron! Hermione! What about Malfoy?!" he hissed, resulting in both of them immediately shutting up and glancing self-consciously at a smirking Draco. "So, Malfoy, seen that little slut that's your girlfriend, Pansy, much?" Harry derided. Draco's lip curled,
"Don't talk about things you don't understand, Potter." Daggers flew across the compartment as the two engaged in a silent battle of wills. Their attention was diverted, however, when Blu threw up her hands and sighed audibly.
"You know what? Tell me when you four resolve this issue, I'm leaving!" she banged open the glass door and stormed out, muttering about immature imbeciles underneath her breath. Immediately, Draco stood up to stop her.
"You know what, I'll go with you and let them resolve this on their own, okay?" he inquired with the most charming smile he could muster. Blu whirled on him.
"Come with me? With me?! Don't you have a few problems to deal with yourself? And you!" she snapped, facing Harry, Hermione, and Ron, "You three are as bad as him! Good bye!" She disappeared down the corridor.
"Now look what you've done!" reproached Draco as he too left the compartment. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other in confusion, shrugged, and pulled out some Exploding Snap.
Stepping out into the chill night air, Blu shivered in the damp cold as she dragged her luggage along behind her. Now she sincerely regretted leaving Draco and Hermione behind – at least they would know what she should do and she wouldn't be standing here freezing to death. It was on such evenings that she missed the warm romance of Venice the most. Mulling over what to do, she spotted the figure of the man who helped pick her up from Italy and finish all her school supply shopping and hurried over.
"Hey!" he greeted, "I remember yeh, lassie, yeh're the one comin' from tha' Venetian school!" Blu let him pull her into a bear like embrace.
"Well, Hagrid?" she asked tentatively, "What should I do? All the other students are either piling into the boats or the carriages …" Hagrid pulled at his bushy brown beard thoughtfully and frowned.
"Lemme see, well, yeh ain't a firs' year an' I wouldn' fancy a ride 'cross yonder lake in this weather, personally, so, into a carriage yeh go!" Blu grinned as he helped pile her into a Thestral-drawn carriage with her belongings and draped his heavy moleskin coat around her shivering form.
"Thanks, Hagrid." He winked at her and said,
"Anytime, lass, jus' tell me ef them other students ain't nice to yeh," as he ambled away to heap the nervous first years into the boats.
The entrance hall was wet with dripping first years, and, predictably, Peeves was there to greet them. The poltergeist pretended that they were still outside in the rain and showered them with icy water. Harry stepped in with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione and gazed apprehensively up at the little man.
"Heh, heh, heh," leered Peeves, "poor little 'icky students all wet? Awww, how sad. Heh heh heh." Students screamed and scrambled around, trying to dodge the torrents of water rushing down at them. Pushing Ginny out of the way of another onslaught of water, Harry felt the freezing liquid slosh over his sneakers and drench his socks.
"Peeves!" an angry witch in her mid-fifties screamed at the irrepressible poltergeist, her tall frame toppling precariously to one side, "Come down at once!"
"Shan't!" teased Peeves, dumping more water.
"Don't you shan't me! I shall have to tell Dumbledore about this shameful behaviour!" Peeves sulked and, cackling as he dumped the last of his water, disappeared to find other miserable souls to tease.
Draco searched through the rapidly filling Great Hall for Blu, but found no trace of her. Ever since she'd left them angrily, he hadn't seen even her shadow.
"What's wrong, pal? Why put on such a melancholy face? Lighten up, there're plenty of girls out there!" Blaise Zabini patted Draco consolingly on the shoulder. Draco sighed; it was just like his friend to get to the heart of the matter. "So, old buddy, what's she like that she's got ya moping around like a sad rat who lost his cheese?" Blaise teased with a twinkle in his eye. "I thought you were the Slytherin Prince, the man who could get any woman he wanted?"
"Fuck off, Blaise, every problem to you is a girl problem," retorted Draco sullenly.
"Well," replied Blaise brightly, "that is true." Together, they meandered over to the Slytherin table. The moment Draco sat down, Pansy was there, crawling into his lap. Feeling too dejected to push her off; he silently waited for the Sorting to begin.
Using a flap for a mouth, the Sorting hat began its song, ending in general applause. One by one, the first years took the hat placed it snugly around his/her ears and awaited the decision that would influence their fate for years to come. After all the first years were sorted into their respective houses, Dumbledore came forward.
"Now, as you may or may not all know, this year we have a new friend amongst us. I would like all of you to welcome her in true Hogwarts fashion." With that, he led Blu to the Sorting hat.
"Blu Nero, ha! I remember that name, very clever it is, nobody'd guess in a million years. Well, I'll just put you where I should've put him in the first place … SLYTHERIN!" Smiling in a slightly forced way, she made her way to the green and silver table amidst the tumultuous applause.
Draco grinned as he shoved Pansy off him and pulled out a chair for Blu as she walked over. Leaning over, as if to look behind her, he whispered,
"Sorry about earlier, we can't quite help it." She frowned.
"Yes you can," she whispered back.
"Well –"
"Just forget it," she murmured.
"Really –"
"Forget it." Draco smirked as he draped his arm casually around her shoulder.
"Gladly, with a price."
"What?" she looked suspicious. He leaned closer.
"What do you think?" A small involuntary smirk tugged at her lips.
"In your dreams, pretty boy."
At the Gryffindor table, Hermione frowned slightly – it wasn't right, she really seemed like a Gryffindor, there was nothing Dark about her whatsoever … Glancing surreptitiously at the Slytherins, she saw Blu smile as she whispered something to Draco. Well, at least he seemed to have been forgiven.
Beaming at his staff and students, Dumbledore rose.
"In this time of impending darkness," he began in his deep voice, "we must all remain together more strongly than ever. And that, includes the Slytherins and Gryffindors." He allowed his words to sink in. "Remember, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided," he paused, "On a lighter note, the Forbidden Forest is still exactly that, forbidden," this was directed meaningfully at Harry, Hermione, and Ron, "and now, I only have two more words to say – tuck in." At this, the originally empty golden plates became heaped with mouth-watering food and the students dug in hungrily.
"Now," mumbled Ron between mouthfuls of mashed potatoes and turkey, "what do you think the Sorting hat meant by 'where I should've put him'?"
"Beats me" answered Harry, helping himself to some garlic bread. Hermione just shrugged as she pored over her course list, checking to see if all her classes were correct – Arithmancy, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology …
As the last morsel of delectable pumpkin pie vanished from the platters, Dumbledore rose again.
"Prefects lead your fellow students to the dormitories. No pushing, please leave in an orderly manner. Good night everyone and sleep well." Upon these words, the students rose and began clamoring out of the Great Hall and towards the various towers.
Waiting quietly at the entrance of the Slytherin tower, Blu saw Draco push his way through the throngs of black-robed students.
"The password is 'Charmed Pride'" he told the portrait of Puck, the Norse god of mischievousness and one of the earliest wizards. Puck nodded in agreement.
"That's right, pride's the word." He swung open revealing a comfortable room through the portrait hole." One at a time, the weary students clambered in and into their dormitories to sleep. And the ghost of (Christmas) past drew the curtains of enchanted sleep about them once more …