Chapter Four:
"Yeeesssss!" Draco shouted, grinning wide as he watched proudly as his sister took of the Hat and made her way over to join him. Now everything would be perfect.
"Sera, you did it! I knew you would!" Pansy said loudly, bobbing up and down as her best friend smiled over. Pansy was always getting overly excited these days thought Draco. Well then again, they all were. It's not every day that you are freed from your overbearing, controlling, psychopathic fathers.
"Not at all Pansy. You, and I for that matter, said that she could have been put in Ravenclaw, just to piss Draco off of course." Blaise pointed out, earning a scowl from Draco. Not that either of the girls were actually listening to a word he was saying. They were too busy now hugging and laughing and talking in that girl's manner that is so fast Draco couldn't tell what it was they were actually saying.
At this though, Draco was losing his patience.
"Get out of it Parkinson! I get the right of first hug! After all," and here Draco switched to a sophisticated posh voice, "I am her family." And with that he shoved Pansy aside and grabbed his twin.
The whole school watched with awe as the twins embraced. They made the perfect couple, no, perfect halves to a whole. Both complemented each other perfectly. Many were thinking that if that's what their parents looked like, there was no wonder that they got together.
"Finally someone to help me overthrow Granger from her high and mighty throne of 'smartest of our generation." Draco said, releasing his sister from the hug. They all sat down at the table. "After all," Draco continued, raising his voice and shooting a mischievous grin over to the Gryffindor table, "it was only with your help, after all, that I was able to overcome the issue of muggle items not being able to work in magical areas this gone summer."
"Draco shut it. You know that's nothing to brag about. After all it was just the simple issue of replacing the electrical source of energy without interfering with the internal systems of hardware, software and circuits of each unique device." Seraphina said now to Pansy and Blaise. "After that, it all runs pretty straight forward with the added bonus of being able to modify the devices to degrees that muggles would never have been able to dream of achieving. I just can't believe you didn't think of it sooner."
"Sera. You know we care as much about engineering work as we do about Draco's beauty regime." Pansy said dryly.
"Ie: not one little ounce. We've heard it all before and you kind of lose interest after the hundredth time." Blaise finished.
Seraphina sighed prettily and with a mournful, sympathetic look on her face turned to Draco who she was sitting next to. "Oh, Pumpkin, is this what you've had to put up with all these years? You never said a word."
"Sweatpea, I didn't want to cause you any pain. I knew that such sad words from myself would have only brought you to tears. You know I can never have that. Not one thing more abhorrent exists in my life than the thought of you sad." Draco said quietly, gazing into his sister's eyes with such pain across his face that both twins had their eyes glistening with the shine of tears.
Their act was stopped a fork hit Seraphina's head and she stuck her tongue out at the two opposite her. And similar treatment was received by Draco by way of a flying spoon.
"Just you wait Blaise. I will have you listening to Justin Bieber for a month." Seraphina said, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"You wouldn't."
"Oh? And what makes you think not?"
"Don't forget that I know you. You are far too happy to see me to do something like that." Seraphina simply shrugged and Blaise smirked in triumph.
Then the headmistress got up and they turned to the front. This was what would be most exciting. The announcements of the Head Boy and Girl, Prefects and Quidditch Captains.
Of course, thought Draco, I got Head Boy, but it will be interesting to find out who got Head Girl. Hope it isn't Granger. Don't think I'd be able to work with her very well. And I know who's got the Slytherin Quidditch Captain.
_ 786_
I looked up at the headmistress. It felt so good and right to be sitting with Draco, Blaise and Pansy. We are going to have so much fun this year. No more will I feel left out by letters of their antics. Now I'll be a part of them.
"As many of you already know, this year is marking the change of the Prefect system. We are now sending letters out to the Head Boy and Girl and the Prefects, informing them of their appointment. We are however asking them to keep their appointments relatively secret. The same goes for the Quidditch Captains. The rest of the school gets to find out the appointments tonight."
I sat up straighter. Pride filling me with the knowledge of who the Head Boy and Slytherin Quidditch Captain are. Of course, Blaise and Pansy know too. Things like that aren't kept secret between us.
"I have the great pleasure of announcing that the Heads this year are Miss Hermione Granger and Mr Draco Malfoy!" I looked around the room filled with polite applause from most and thunderous applause from the two rival houses. Quite a few of the Gryffindors were glaring over at Draco. That's going to have to change. "The Quidditch Captains are as follows: Hufflepuff is captained by Mr Jones," a pause to accommodate the clapping for an athletic looking tall boy, "Ravenclaw by Mr Smith," clapping this time for a preppy looking sandy blonde, "Gryffindor by Mr Potter," thunderous applause from the Gryffindors, approving clapping from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and deathly silence from the Slytherins, "And Slytherin is to be captained by Miss Malfoy." A moment of silence by all bar her friends and housemates, cheering loudly and thumping her on the back, before polite applause from the other tables occurred, along with curious glances and whispers.
Amongst the noise, I looked around and saw that Harry Potter was staring at me with an intense look in his eyes whilst Ronald Weasley was gaping like a drowning fish, his mouth hanging limply open as he stared at me. I winked at them and that seemed to shock Potter enough to elbow his friend & draw him back to reality.
"Now I realise that many of you will be wondering why a new transfer student has been appointed the Quidditch Captain for her new house. Professor Snape and I have discussed this decision at length and we feel that, as is tradition in appointing those who are most suitable and capable to the task, Miss Malfoy is the best qualified. She has been the captain of the Beauxbatons Quidditch A-Team for the last two years and successfully led them to two years of being the undefeated champions of the Inter-Euro School Games. If there are any queries that you have about this, please feel free to contact Professor Snape about his decisions as Head of House," most students quailed under her gaze and, sneaking a glance at my new Head, I saw him glowering at the student population, daring them to do just that. I held back a snicker, from what I've heard, only a fool (or an insane, block-headed, bold Gryffindor) would dare to do such a thing. "Now, I believe we have had enough excitement, let the feast begin!"
At her words, the tables were suddenly filled with food. Potato salad, roast chicken and beef, pumpkin soup, carrots and peas, gravy, fresh bread, mashed potato, gravy and a number of other cultural dishes; teriyaki beef and fish, fried bihan, stir-fried Japanese noodles, fried rice and a few other dishes that I don't recognise. Well, I thought, at least they don't let us go hungry. Beauxbatons barely gives you enough to get by on, trying to keep all the students looking 'their best', I'd always hated that, they only encourage girls to be self conscious about their bodies and it leads to discrimination and bullying. Thinking that, I took a generous helping of the mashed potato, gravy and chicken, filling my goblet with some water. I had never been all that fond of pumpkin juice.
"So Sera, you did bring some movies and things yeah?" Blaise enquired from where he was sitting opposite me, carefully manoeuvring a piece of pumpkin pie from his plate to his mouth.
"I have actually. Brought my laptop, some DVDs, my iPod, a docking system, and a portable internet wireless modem that will work anywhere in the UK and Europe, you know, just in case we suddenly feel the urge for a short holiday. Happy?" I asked, lifting one eyebrow over a delicate smile.
"Very," was his reply before he turned back to his dinner.
Pansy was looking curiously around her and, catching my questioning look, developed a humoured look on her face before answering. "I don't think I've seen all the students so focused on one person at the opening feast since Potter got put in Gryffindor. Except now they're all staring at you, and they'd better watch out, they didn't know you had a protective little brother with quite a few nasty hexes up his sleeves before. I heard some boys before talking about how they'd like to 'show you around.'"
"I bet they would!" Draco fumed from beside me, "but if they think they have one chance in hell of prying Sera away from us, they have another thing coming! After all," he continued after a slight pause in which an evil grin began spreading across his features, "I am the Head Boy, you guys are prefects and Sera is now Quidditch Captain. What other group has more power?"
"You mean besides Potter and his sidekicks?" I innocently asked, wondering what kind of reaction this might provoke in my brother.
"Well, maybe them… but only as everyone thinks they're soo great." Hmm, seems like he really might be maturing a bit. Good. He needs it.
"Anyway, so what do you think the other Quidditch teams will be like?"
They all focused on providing me with the best information they could. They knew the signs for when I'm determined to get something I want. And all sings are pointing to me wanting the Quidditch cup. I listened closely as Draco, Blaise and Pansy informed me all about the other teams' captains and past matches.
Dewey Smith was a sixth year Ravenclaw and was new to his captain-ship. He played Chaser and from the past had tended to be a decent player apart from when he dropped the ball. His strategies were to be looked out for, but, as many of the players last year had graduated, he'd have a relatively new team and might not sort that out until later in the season. Mark Jones, the Hufflepuff captain, was in the same year as them and played beater for his team. If he kept players from last year, he would only have two new additions to his team. As Hufflepuffs tended to work well in teams when they knew one another, this was going to be one of their strengths this year. And lastly there was, of course, Harry Potter, playing seeker from his first grade & rarely having been beaten to the snitch. He too, would most likely end up with a relatively familiar team, hence knowing all of their strengths and weaknesses. But Pansy pointed out that whilst he was a good seeker and motivator, he didn't tend to take to the authoritarian side of captaincy and this might lead him to playing 'safe' and not trying out too many new moves or pushing his team to do the same.
The upside of other teams sticking with players from previous years meant that the Slytherins too knew of individual and team strengths and weaknesses and how to use them to their advantage. I'll be able to pick apart every brain from my house to gain the information I want, and not having won the cup for the past six years should give them enough motivation to help me. After finishing dinner and desert over introductions to new housemates and swapping tales of the holidays with them, the others and I stood up to leave the table (them having to call out to the first years to follow them as part of prefect duties). As I was walking towards the doors, I saw that unmistakeable shock of red hair once again and stopped.
"You guys go ahead," I called out, not taking my eyes from the red head. "I'll catch up later."
"Sera, you don't even know the way." Pansy pointed out. I looked over at them at this. The three of them were standing there, looking a bit speculative as they guessed my intentions. I simply raised one eyebrow at them and pinned them with the stare that father taught to Draco and I before we could even walk (really, it's about the only thing I appreciate from the man, it is very useful in getting people to do what you want them to).
"Well, I'm sure I won't be longer than Crabbe and Goyle look set to be." The two of them still looked to have about two platers of deserts each to go through. Draco held my eyes for a bit longer before turning to the first years.
"Right, come along then! If you don't keep up, you'll no doubt get lost and trust me, you don't want to endure the walk to the common room with any of us if we've had to go out of our way to find you." The first years cowered a bit, missing the sarcasm that was in Draco's voice.
"Don't be too long, Sera," Blaise said with a wave. Pansy just smiled at me before they both turned to take up the rear of the first year troop.
As I walked towards Ginny, I noticed that not only had Jasper and Luna moved across to join her and Colin, but that the majority of students still left in the hall were unashamedly staring as I made my way over to them.
Colin was the first of the group to notice me. "Sera!"
The others turned to look at me, and after a second, they broke out into grins.
"So am I to take it that you're not too drastically upset that I didn't mention Draco was my twin and that Pansy and Blaise are like siblings to me?" I innocently asked the happy faces.
"We were shocked, to say the least." Jasper said, "I mean, and please don't take this personally, but we've never encountered a Slytherin willing to talk to 'wiredos', 'blood traitors', and muggle borns before."
I laughed a bit at that, but it had a bit of a bitter edge to it. "Well, I have to say that seems to be a very apt description of many of my housemates from what I've heard about them over the years. But personally, I think it's all rubbish. Like I said about Beauxbatons, labels and such are things that I personally despise. They limit a person's thinking and actions far too much and often blind them to things that are right in front of their eyes. But I will apologise for my brother and friends' actions in the past. I know the things that have been done and said, and whilst it is no excuse, I hope you'll understand the circumstances they were all experiencing from our fathers, who were all miserable, deranged bastards bent on controlling everything and moulding their unwilling children to be their idea of perfect."
"You know, your observation on labels is very accurate," Luna said, staring up at me with her large eyes. "Are you sure the hat didn't make a mistake putting you in Slytherin?"
At that I laughed, and all the uncomfortableness of the conversation left us, it was back to how it was in the train cabin.
"So, Sera," Ginny said, looking at me with curiosity splayed across her face. "What position do you play in Quidditch?"
"Uh uh," I said, grinning mischieviously at my friend and waggind my finger at her. "I'll not feed you any little tid bits about my team, little miss! I know that you, your brother and Harry Potter are close and always gun it for the cup! You'll just have to wait and see what is seen in the water once the waves still." And with a wink and a wave at the lot of them, I strode back over to Crabbe and Goyle, pulled them out of their seats and made my way to my common room.