Chapter 4
Later that afternoon, Caroline found herself once again trying to manoeuvre her way around the seemingly endless dungeons, this time in search of her first potions class. Though she was certain she was hopelessly lost, she consoled herself with earlier memories from the day. After changing into her second outfit of the day, she had felt the attention of the school turn even more towards her. She laughed to herself thinking of the petty jealousy these Hogwarts girls could display when their "Slytherin Prince" was, as she overheard a girl in the halls say, "being threatened by an icy cold bitch from up north". One Pansy Parkinson had literally tried to tear the shirt off her back! Well that was fine, she wasn't intending to steal away the object of their fictitious love affairs, just his clothes for the day. But thinking of their faces again made her wonder at the possibilities…
...
Draco looked up from his seat next to his best mate Blaise in time to catch Caroline enter the potions classroom, a teasing smile playing on her features. A smile he felt was contagious, until he watched her sit down in the first open seat by the door, putting her right to Harry Potter.
"Stupid git," he muttered to himself.
"Ya, it seems unfair all the luck Potter has," replied Blaise who had been intrigued as to what had caught his friend's attention. Draco straightened quickly at the comment, surprised.
"That's my shirt she's wearing there, mate."
"Easy, Draco. Just because you've already staked your claim, doesn't mean I can't enjoy the presence of said sexy lady!" joked Blaise. Draco flashed him a look of warning. "Hey, sorry there mate, didn't mean to offend you're girl," Blaise replied holding his hands in front of him innocently.
"She's not my girl," Draco shot out, quickly regaining his composure. "She'll be a nice shag, that's it."
"A bit harsh, don't you think?"
Draco audibly scoffed, "That's rich coming from you."
"Hey! You know I'm a decent human being, mate! Ask anyone at this school." Draco smirked at this, but was ignored by Blaise who continued. "I was talking to her earlier today and she was telling me some pretty funny stories about her previous school. And that stunt with Snape at breakfast! Priceless! You have to admit she seems like a pretty cool girl."
"Ya, she does…" Draco replied absentmindedly returning his gaze to the object of their conversation. 'Uh oh,' he thought seeing Snape making his way towards the girl in question. 'Looks like she's going for round two with Snape!'
...
Harry was hyperaware of the Caroline's presence, mere inches from his own. From her long hair, brushed over her shoulder, drifted the scent of her floral smelling shampoo. He found the smell extremely pleasant, and started to feel it overwhelm his senses. But he was also painfully aware of the eyes of his two best friends on his back, watching him carefully to see how he would react to the given situation. 'Well I mustn't be rude, after all,' he inwardly decided.
"Hi, I'm Harry," he greeted with a friendly smile.
"Caroline," she replied facing him, allowing her hair to waft over a fresh wave of its scent to Harry's nose.
"Mhhhmm…" his nose replied.
"Sorry what was that?"
"Oh, um… uh, I said nice to mhhmmeet you…" Harry trailed off his face slowly reddening. Caroline started at him for a second, nodded, and turned back to face the front of the class. Just in time to get a face full of Professor Snape.
"What's the matter with you Potter?" Snape jeered. "You look like you just swallowed a flobberworm."
"As for you Miss Logan, I thought I had made myself clear about the proper attire for this institution," he continued turning to look at Caroline.
"Yes sir, but technically-"
"No, buts, and no technicalities," Snape chided. "You'll just have to see the headmaster to plead your case, and let me tell you he takes pride in our school's values and traditions." Caroline looked at him in disbelief. "Miss Granger!" Snape called over to Hermione, who was sitting behind Caroline trying to stifle a laugh. "I trust you can show our new student to the headmaster's office."
"Of course, sir," Hermione replied begrudgingly. And the two girls stood up to leave, Hermione with a sullen face, and Caroline, who still looked outraged at the Professor.
...
"Can you believe the nerve of that man!" spat out Caroline. "Thinking he has the right to choose what I wear! This is bull shit!"
"You'll learn to live with it," sighed Hermione, as she continued walked down the corridors with the Slytherin.
"I don't think so. You think I'm going to roll over like a dog and be forced to wear that for the best of my life," she answered disgusted, gesturing at Hermione's ill-fitting uniform.
"Oh, can it Logan! Does it look like I care about your menial problems! I have more important things on my mind than the latest fall fashions, like maybe attending potions so I can learn how to brew our hardest assignment yet!"
"Please Granger, you can't mean Draught of the Living Dead! I thought that was left over from a third year potions class," replied Caroline.
Hermione fumed, "You think you're such a bloody hotshot don't you? You prance around in your American outfits thinking you already own the place."
"What you're threatened now that I'm going to steal your place at the top of the class?"
"Of course not! As if some Slytherin, who's obviously too preoccupied with herself, could ever stand a chance at beating me academically"
"You'd be surprised, Granger. But, if that's your theory it sure explains the reason you do so well. Just by looking at you I can tell you don't spend a second preoccupied about how you look."
"Well you'll soon see Professor Dumbledore doesn't care for twits in short skirts with about as little intelligence as a fruit fly!"
"You don't know anything about me! And frankly I don't see why you've got such a problem with me. At least Parkinson thinks I'm trying to steal her boyfriend. Or are you also trying to find a way into his pants? Because I doubt even he'd screw a scrawny nerd such as yourself." Hermione looked like she had been slapped in the face.
"Lemon drops!" she screamed at the statue of the eagle, and stormed back in the opposite direction.
...
"And bloody hell, you should have seen Granger when she stalked into the classroom! She looked like she had been runover by a bus!" recounted Blaise animatedly across the table to Taylor. Blaise and Taylor had become quite close in the last couple years. They had originally planned for their only interaction to be a single hook-up, but once that was behind them, they had each found themselves missing the other's company. To say that Taylor was a female version of Blaise was a slight exaggeration, but the point was that they understood each other, and had grown to be great friends. But only friends, they would say over and over to Draco, who was always suspicious that there was more.
"It was absolutely hilarious!" Blaise continued, laughing. "Tell her Draco!"
"It's true! The beaver looked far worse than I had ever seen her, and that's saying something," Draco, laughed along.
"Wow, I wonder what had gotten to her in such a short time frame too! You said the two of them had only left ten minutes earlier?" inquired Taylor, looking for every detail of the incident she had the misfortune of missing.
"Yes we're sure!" replied Blasie, equally enthralled.
"That girl has some talent, getting Granger in such a state in less than ten minutes," declared Tayor. "And there she appears, the magic-maker herself! Caroline, come join us!" Caroline did as was asked and sat down next to Taylor at the table.
"Nice to see you all," she smiled at them.
"You as well," Draco answered, curling up the left side of his mouth to meet her smile. Taylor and Blaise shot each other a look.
"So I see you're still sporting Malfoy-chic," remarked Blaise.
"Well once Dumbledore heard my argument about how the way I dress is my home-country's tradition, and how I feel comforted by it in a new environment, and how this a culturally diverse school, and how my fellow classmate would benefit by the exposure to culture from overseas, and so on, he was very lenient on allowing me to alter the dress code as I see fit." Caroline replied, still beaming with victory. "'As long as it is appropriate for a respectable academic institution', and I still have to incorporate the tie somehow every day."
"Impressive," congratulated Blasie.
"Which reminds me!" Taylor burst out. "I hear you turned Granger into the slime she really is. That's a real reason for congratulations."
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about…" she replied innocently. Draco raised an eyebrow at her, while Taylor looked at her in disbelief. Caroline continued: "Come on, you should know that a lady never disses and tells!" The four Slytherins burst into laughter, finding the fact that anyone would ever keep this story a secret absolutely hilarious. "Alright!" she said fighting back her laughter. "The girl just doesn't like me, she said some things I found offending, and I let her know how I felt about it."
"Aka you dished it back to her tenfold until she cracked and had a meltdown," rephrased Taylor. She was imagining the scene, seeing her least favourite prefect (She had been written up far too many times by the Gryffindork for being out at night around the castle with various boys.) being taken down a notch by the girl sitting next to her. "Caroline, I can tell this is the start of a beautiful friendship!"
VC
A.N. Sorry it took so long to update! The next chapter will be up soon! Please review!