Chapter 2 Book I Arc I
Nathaniel John Underwood prided himself on being an example of the perfect Slytherin. He was always immaculately dressed, his hair was always in perfect place, and he always, always prepared for whatever life might throw his way. He was the top of all of his classes (take that Jane Farrar!), and he was the favourite of his head of house, the potions professor Jessica Whitwell. Everything in his world was always ordered and precise, and that was just how he liked it. He gave a quick nod at himself in the mirror to check that his uniform was neatly pressed and hung perfectly from his skinny slender frame, before pulling on his robes and pinning his brand new prefects badge to them. He left the dorm room satisfied, to head up from the dungeons for breakfast. He allowed himself a small smile as he walked through the hallways. He always missed Hogwarts over the break. Sure he was fond of his adoptive mother, and to an extent he respected his adoptive father, but they were nothing compared to Hogwarts, with her library and centuries worth of knowledge hidden away. Hogwarts was his home, his solace, and it had been for four, now five, years.
He nodded stiffly to the other fifth year prefect, Jane Farrar, as he sat down at the house table, moving some food to his plate and pouring himself a cup of tea. He added a large amount of sugar and cream to it, before drinking it slowly, as other students filtered into the hall. The owls flew in and he looked up from his tea, a vague half-smile flitting across his face as he watched his screech owl, Ascobol, fly in and drop a copy of The Daily Prophet into his lap. The owl was fed a few pieces of bacon, before being shooed off so Nathaniel could open up the newspaper and skim it for the twenty minutes he allotted himself for breakfast.
"Underwood. Here's your schedule for the year. I expect you to keep up your previous in class achievements." Ah, there was professor Whitwell, just on time with his schedule. He smiled politely up at her, carefully taking the piece of parchment she handed to him as he nodded.
"Of course professor," was all that he murmured, knowing that she wouldn't listen to anything else he said by this point. A quick glance at his silver pocket watch told him that he was now five minutes ahead of his predicted schedule. That was always a good way to start the school year, and so he stood up, folded his newspaper neatly, and picked up his schedule. He then turned to make his way out of the great hall, so that he could go and pick up his books for his first few classes. He was stopped on his way though by the one person in the school that he currently counted as a friend, fifth-year Hufflepuff Rebecca Piper. Nathaniel couldn't help but grin at her as she smiled at him.
"Good morning Nathaniel. I hope that you had a good summer! I'm sorry I didn't get to see you on the train, I ended up having to comfort a few upset first years," she said, joining him as they left the great hall.
"Don't worry about it; I spent the ride reading through this year's textbooks again anyways. My summer went as usual. How was yours? Which classes do we have together this year?" He let himself fall into the easy small talk he always had with her.
"I don't see why you keep reading them; you have them memorized by the middle of the summer. And mine was fine, we spent a month out in the country with my grandparents. Now let's see..." She took hold of his schedule, reading it over. "We have Arithmancy on Mondays and Wednesdays, Transfiguration on Tuesdays and Fridays, Double Herbology on Thursdays, and Ancient Runes on Tuesdays as well. We've got a pretty good couple of classes together this year for once."
"Well, that's good then," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching a little as he held back a smile. He glanced at his pocket watch again; 8:45 AM. He had fifteen minutes left to get his things for his first two classes, and go to, he thought as he looked back down at his schedule, History of Magic.
"Mmhm. Anyways, you'd better get going, don't want to be late when you get to have Tchue's replacement first thing in the morning. I'll see you for Arithmancy Nathaniel," Piper said, before leaving with a quick wave, presumably heading back down to her own dorm to collect her things. Nathaniel nodded at her as she left, before turning towards the dungeons and efficiently making his way down to the Slytherin dorms.
He grabbed his bag, making sure that he had both his history of magic textbook and his Arithmancy one, knowing that he wouldn't have time to return to the dorm between classes. Another quick glance at his watch showed that there was a mere ten minutes left before class started, and so, off Nathaniel went. He was after all, just as unsure as anyone else about what the replacement History of Magic teacher was going to be like. No one had heard of Simon Lovelace before, whereas Tchue, their usual professor, was an internationally renowned magical archeologist, and went on digs often, which is why he wasn't there this year in the first place.
Nathaniel made it to class with five minutes to spare, snagging his usual seat in the front row, closest to the door so he was able to watch everyone else file in slowly as nine AM drew nearer. At exactly nine, the sound of a clanging bell echoed throughout the school, letting everyone know that the first class of the year had begun. And with that, one professor Simon Lovelace swept into the classroom, elegantly tailored navy blue robes sweeping in behind him, as he shot the students what Nathaniel supposed was meant to be a charming smile. The fifteen year old boy let his eyebrows rise skeptically as he looked over the teacher. Honestly, he didn't see how they would learn anything from a man who seemed to pay as much attention to his hair as many of the Slytherin girls did when they were going to their formal pureblood events. Well, obviously Headmaster Uraziel thought that he would make a good enough teacher, or he wouldn't have hired the man. So Nathaniel settled into his seat, staying silent.
"Good morning class! My name is Simon Lovelace, and I will be your replacement professor for History of Magic until Professor Tchue returns from his dig in Egypt. I look forwards to teaching all of you," he said, still smiling. Nathaniel wondered if his cheeks didn't start to hurt from the amount of smiling he was doing. Also, when did some Gryffindor girl start sitting next to him? He shot the dark haired girl a pair of raised eyebrows, noting the two moles on her face, the density of her hair, and her stocky stature. Yes, this was one of the girls who had been in the carriage to the castle. She was also the Gryffindor chaser, he realized as she shot him her own two raised eyebrows. Thankfully, Lovelace told them all to get out their books just then, so that they could go over what they would be learning, and what would be expected of them on the O.W.L. exams, ,successfully catching the attention of the entire class. As books were shuffled around, parchment was pulled out, and quills were inked to take notes, their professor began to speak.
"Well that was a waste of time," Nathaniel grumbled to himself, hoisting his bag over his shoulder as class ended. The girl he had been sitting next to looked over at him again.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, causing him to roll his eyes.
"Lovelace is just going to reiterate everything from the textbook and assign essays. This class is basically going to be a joke this year unless Tchue comes back soon," he said, giving her a look that plainly told her what he thought of her intelligence, or lack thereof. He could almost hear her growl at him.
"Well isn't that all that's going to be on the stupid O.W.L.'s anyways?" She said, trotting to keep up with Nathaniel's long stride. He inclined his head, even as he wondered why she was following him.
"Technically, yes, much of what is in the textbook will also be on the exam, but that does not mean that we will actually learn anything from Lovelace. He seems to be the type to just make us read through the textbook on our own, and not actually teach us about the things we are reading about." He said slowly, causing her to nod slowly.
"How you managed to get that from just one class with the man, I'll never know," she said. Nathaniel pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Why are you talking to me anyways? Aren't you Gryffindor's 'star chaser' or some other such nonsense? Don't you have brainless oafs to chatter at, instead of bothering me?" He asked, glancing down at her from the corner of his eye. She scowled.
"Well excuse me for wanting to get to know the idiot that I'm stuck sitting next to in that class for the rest of the year. Or did you not hear the part where Lovelace said that where we sat today was going to be our permanent seat?" she snapped, causing his eye to twitch.
"I heard him, I just don't care about who I'm stuck sitting next to. So if you will kindly leave me alone Ms. Jones - " he was cut off as a dark-skinned Hufflepuff came bounding down the corridor, talking loudly at a small, frizzy haired Ravenclaw about... cursed amulets?
"I'm telling ya Ptol! That amulet you wear is cursed and that's why you can never go on a date with a girl!" the Hufflepuff was exclaiming. Nathaniel's eyebrows rose again, before he smoothly interjected.
"You do know that that is an impossible thing to get cursed for? Besides, why would the…" he glanced down quickly at the amulet the shorter boy was wearing, briefly assessing what culture it was likely from before looking back up. "…Egyptians care about whether anyone goes on a date or not?" he said this, getting a stifled laugh from the Ravenclaw.
The Hufflepuff scowled at him. "Oh butt out kid, what do you know about cursed amulets anyways?" he snapped.
"Obviously more than you if you're dense enough to think that anyone would curse an amulet to prevent someone from going on a date with a girl," Nathaniel replied stiffly. The Gryffindor girl decided now be a good time to step in between the two boys.
"Calm down. No one's amulet is cursed anyway, so it doesn't matter. Alright?" She said this, looking from Hufflepuff to Slytherin, before the Ravenclaw interjected.
"I'm sorry, but I beg to differ; my amulet might indeed be cursed. Miss, would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade next weekend to test that theory?" he said, grinning impishly up at her, even as the Hufflepuff gaped at him.
"Ptol! You can't just do that! That's not fair!" he whined, causing the Ravenclaw's eyebrows to raise, eyes sparkling with mirth.
"Oh can't I Rekhyt? After all, it would prove to you that my amulet is indeed not cursed to keep girls away from me," he said, grinning. The Hufflepuff scowled, and turned to Nathaniel.
"Don't call me that in public. And he's not going out with your girlfriend," he said flatly, causing Nathaniel to start up in shock.
"Wait - what? She's not my girlfriend! I don't even know her name," he protested, waving his hands out in front of him.
"Yeah, like I'd ever date this idiot," she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, regardless, Miss...?" The Ravenclaw trailed off, waiting for her name.
"Jones. Kitty Jones," she said shortly.
"Miss Jones, would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade?" That 'Claw sure was persistent, Nathaniel noted, crossing his own arms over his chest as the boy turned to him.
"Or perhaps you would like to go with me, to prove to my friend Rek - Bartimaeus here that there is no curse keeping me from having relationships."
"Nonono! You're not taking a random kid to Hogsmeade Ptolemy! Besides, they're both probably only like, twelve and that's just gross," the Hufflepuff said, pouting at the Ravenclaw.
"I am not twelve thank you very much. I happen to be a fifth year. Regardless, you're the one acting like you're twelve. Leave me out of your lover's spat," Nathaniel said scathingly, frowning at the Hufflepuff as he brushed a few black curls away from his face.
"Psh, are you sure about your age, squirt, because you certainly don't look fifteen. Have your balls even dropped yet? And it is not a lover's spat!" he shot back at Nathaniel, and just like that, wands were drawn. Nathaniel's pointed at Bartimaeus, Ptolemy's pointing at Nathaniel, Kitty's pointing at Ptolemy, and Bartimaeus' pointing at Kitty. This was the scene that Professor Lovelace walked into, as he entered into the hall.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A bunch of upperclassmen, oh, and women, fighting in the halls on the very first day?" He said this, even as the four of them hurried to stuff their wands away, trying to lessen how bad the scene had looked.
"Oh no prof, not fighting! Ya see, Ptolemy and I had overheard these two fifth years coming from DADA and talking about the proper way to hold a wand and worry over whether it might come up on their O.W.L.'s, so naturally, being the older students, we felt that we had to help them, both by showing them the proper way to hold their wands, and assuring them that there was only a very slim chance that it would show up on the exam!" Bartimaeus said, all in one breath as he somehow managed to wrap his arms around the other three, grinning cheekily up at the tall professor.
"You, Mister Uruk, are from what I hear, not the most trustworthy of students, and by association, I am obligated to not trust your ah, friends here completely either. And since I assume that I'll get nothing but the same story from the four of you, I shall hand out the punishment that I see fits the crime. Yes, I think it will be four Saturdays of detention for fighting in the hallways, another two for drawing wands on fellow students, and oh, yes, let's see, another two for lying to a professor about it. So that will be eight Saturdays of detention for the four of you. Just be happy that I am not bothering to take house points for such a trivial matter. Now, run along to your classes, before you do get points taken off for being late," Professor Simon Lovelace said, grinning down at them from behind his glasses, blond hair slicked back. Before he turned, his robes swirling behind him as he stalked back to his classroom, leaving four gaping students in his wake.
(A/n: So here's chapter two, as told from Nat's POV. Hope y'all enjoyed it, please leave comments or whatever, suggestions are lovely (and will usually make their way into the story somehow). I don't own anything that you can recognize as the work of Jonathan Stroud or J.K. Rowling, and like, half of the ideas in this story come from people on tumblr. Beta'd for me by the wonderful Jojo.))