Chapter 3: The Lonely Ravenclaw
Mia sulked in the Ravenclaw common room. She pretended to read her History of Magic textbook on the couch. She's been reading the same paragraph over and over, and still hasn't retained the information. Everyone in the common room is always either reading or studying. Mia found it odd. Shouldn't students be doing other things? Most of them didn't look like they are particularly enjoying themselves. Like they're only reading to seem smart because they were sorted into Ravenclaw. Well, if that's the case, then Mia looks like she fits right in. Reading a book and not enjoying it.
Just when Mia had enough and was about to leave early to her dormitory, Madison plops down next to her on the couch.
"Hey sister sister! Why so gloomy?" Madison was practically glowing. Her smile so bright and cheeks so rosy from being outside.
"Oh, I'm fine. Just tired." Mia tried to fake being okay. It was a 50/50 shot that Madison would buy it. Madison can be perceptive sometimes.
"Mia. It's 8:00pm and you're 11 years old. You're not tired. Come with me." Madison sighs as she stands up from the couch. Madison does this sometimes. She tries to help but makes you feel guilty about needing help in the first place. Madison is the definition of tough love, but Mia didn't care about that. She just needed a pick-me-up, even if it was out of pity.
Mia followed Madison all the way down the five flights of stairs to the ground floor. Mia was worried. She hasn't yet memorized the path to the Ravenclaw common room and she knew it would take a while to get back without help. She dredged on behind Madison anyways.
Madison put a comforting arm around Mia. She remembers her first week at Hogwarts and how difficult it was. Her brother, Mason was in Hufflepuff and she couldn't be seen with him anymore.
Mia looked around as they finally reached their destination. The Great Hall. People were all scattered around. Some were eating, but most were huddled in small groups scattered across the Great Hall.
Madison recognized the group of students in the Slytherin table. They waved her over and Mia quickly followed. Slytherins? Madison? It didn't add up in the slightest to Mia.
Mia and Madison joined the group. Most of them Mia didn't recognize. She only recognized the boy across from her. He looked her age, with bleach blond hair, and skin so white it looked translucent. He put a devilish smirk on his face and Mia remembered where she knew him from. On the way to the sorting in the first night, he and Potter were arguing with each other. Mia didn't think anything of it at the time, but now she appreciated it. One person who isn't going gaga over Harry Potter.
Madison chose this time to introduce Mia to everyone at the table. "Mia. This is Graham, Pansy, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus". She gestured to everyone in the table and gave a flirting smile to the guy she introduced as Marcus. Mia understood it now. She was with this Marcus guy.
As soon as Madison finished her introductions, she talked in a hushed voice with Marcus. No longer interested in Mia. Marcus had taken up her attention completely.
Draco was in between Crabbe and Goyle. Goyle was insanely huge. Mia suddenly felt very small and intimidated by these people. They're Slytherins, after all. Can Mia trust them?
As if sensing her uneasiness, Draco decided to introduce himself.
"Hi. I'm Malfoy. It's nice to meet you. I think we're in the same year, right?" Draco said and lifted his hand to shake.
Mia was flustered. He'd recognized her? She's noticed in the last week in Hogwarts that Gryffindor and Slytherin were the impromptu main houses, and that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were often forgotten. The fact that Draco, a Malfoy, had singled her out was big.
Mia realized that she was taking an embarrassingly long amount of time to respond.
"Hello! Hi! I'm Mia, Madison's sister. Yeah, we're in the same year. By the way, I think it's quite cool the way you talked to Potter. You'd think he owns the place with the way people have been reacting to him", Mia responded in a rush as she shook Draco's hand.
Draco's face lit up at Mia's words. He held on to her hand for far more than necessary. Mia blushed as he released her hand, but only after he kissed it.
"Where have you been all my life?" Draco practically purred. Mia giggled at the compliment. She could get used to this.
The group spent the next couple of hours chatting and laughing and Mia was having the time of her life. This is what she imagined having friends was like. They were teasing each other at times, but still were nice and always listened to Mia.
Both Draco and Mia seemed to have a shared interest in Potions. It really was her favorite class. The vast range of ingredients and uses of the potions baffled Mia to no end. It also helped that Professor Snape had it in for Potter. It brought her little spikes of joy every time the Professor snapped at him and took points away from Gryffindor.
Draco especially enjoyed hearing these stories because the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor first years had Potions together. Mia had paid attention and remembered every time Potter had done wrong in that class and was eager to tell Draco all about it.
"So Snape told us to open to page 394 in the textbook and Potter wasn't paying attention. Professor Snape totally yelled at him! Grilled him with a bunch of questions he didn't know the answers to. It was amazing! He looked so upset. It made my day", Mia said.
Draco almost choked on his pumpkin juice from laughing so hard. Mia finished her last Potter story to Draco's dismay.
"You have to hang out with us here more often! I don't know where you've been hiding, but I'm so glad you came out tonight" Draco said. Even Crabbe was in shock. It looked like Draco never gave out such praise so easily. Especially since Crabbe and Goyle so often try to seek Draco's approval.
"Thank you, Draco and everyone here, for being so welcoming. It's been hard to make friends since I've been sorted into Ravenclaw" Mia said to Draco and the others graciously.
"Oh well we're definitely familiar with that! Us Slytherins get a bad rap" Goyle says as he puts his large and warm arm around Mia. Mia laughed in agreement. She almost missed it, but Mia saw a flash of jealously in Draco as he eyed Goyle's arm around Mia. For a second she thought she was mistaken. Draco had so quickly switched back to his natural smirk.
Madison said her goodbyes to Marcus Flint and said she was headed back to the Ravenclaw common room.
"Mia, you coming?" Madison said to her. She smiled as she saw her enjoying herself with the Slytherin crew here.
"Yeah, of course!" Mia didn't need to be told twice. She'd never be able to get back by herself. Mia said her goodbyes to everyone and followed her sister out of the Great Hall.
Once Mia and Madison finally made it to the common room, they both took a seat in the same couch they were on earlier. The room was completely empty. Everyone's already gone to sleep. Mia was shocked to see the clock indicate it was 11:30pm.
"Hey. Madison. Thank you so much for introducing me to your friends. I really needed it. Especially after Hermione dropped me after she got sorted into Gryffindor" Mia gushed to Madison.
"Oh it was nothing. I was going there anyway. I hadn't seen my Marcus all day. He had Quidditch practice right after class." Madison brushed her off, but was clearly pleased that her sister was so grateful.
"Hey, and don't tell Mum and Dad about Marcus. They can't know that I'm dating. Let alone that I'm dating a Slytherin. But me and Marcus have been going strong for three years. I just can't let him go" Madison said.
"I understand, Madison. Don't worry. I won't say a word. You can trust me. I know how to keep a secret. I'm old enough. By the way, I think you and Marcus are really cute together" Mia replied.
"I love him! I think he could even be the one. Which is crazy, because I never thought I'd get married. I just thought I'd go through Hogwarts, and become the Minister of Magic until I died. Marcus was the last person I thought I'd be with. He's a Slytherin and he's really into Quidditch. But he makes me happy, and that's all that matters" Madison said with certainty.
Mia was jealous. She wished she had someone that thought of her in that way. She thought of Draco and how he looked at Mia with Goyle's arm around her. Could Draco be her Marcus? Slytherin. Check. Obsessed with Quidditch. Check.
As Mia was thinking about all of this, Madison said she had to head back to her room. She had plenty of homework to finish. Since Mia had been alone this whole week, she had her homework finished for the next two weeks.
Mia slowly got up, wanting to make the night last longer. Looking around the magnificent Ravenclaw room. The unreal moonlit sky on the ceiling. She finally gets to her dormitory and changes into her pajamas silently. As she crawls under the covers, she feels sleepy and fatigued. Mia hasn't been social in a while, and had forgotten how tired it makes her. But it's a good tired. It's a tired that makes you feel like you did something today other than sticking your nose up a book. With that last thought, Mia drifted off to a dreamless sleep. The best sleep she's had in weeks.