A/N important! I'm usually against chapter/author notes as a rule, but it seems that I have a riot forming if I don't do something fast...
In case you're wondering, the reason I haven't updated Shadow Flower, is because I'm doing a complete re-write. This was my first attempt at writing a story, and I feel like I know the characters and the situation well enough to go about doing it right this time. The major epiphany I had to bring this about, was concerning the romantic-ness of the story. Yes, this is a Snape/OC fic, but suddenly it felt like that didn't work. I know Adell well enough to realize that she isn't his type, and he isn't hers. Yes, I'm sure I'm disappointing plenty of you Snape-shipers, but that just isn'nt right for this story. Okay, maybe I'm being picky, but I can't help it.
Just because I've been keeping you waiting for so long, and in complete disregard for the terms of , I'm posting the first draft of the first chapter for Shadow Flower REDUX. So without further blathering, here it is.
chapter one: "I'm Nobody! Who are you?"
Adell Sanctamonia sat in the fifth compartment of the sixth car on the Hogwarts express, that was otherwise empty. She had a straight back and crossed ankles as she waited for the train to take her back to school after the winter holidays. She read her book (some strange auror thriller,) with about as much emotion as a damp towel. The only movement she made was to reposition her overgrown bangs behind her ear only to have it fall back down thirty seconds later. If you walked in between these aggravating hair repositioning sprees, you might think that she was a corpse. Something about her pale skin, greying clothing, and dead-looking, chin length blonde-ish hair set off the cadaver effect. Fortunately, Nathaniel Zambini walked in just as she was moving, so he was spared the inevitable heart-attack caused by walking in on a dead body.
Most people in his position would follow his entrance with an awkward "Hullo," but not Nathaniel. No, he was never awkward. Ever. Confidence was his middle name. He continued to stride into the compartment and sit down, looking bored and uninterested with his surroundings and anyone who resided in them.
Adell, however, was not gifted with such effortless calm and superiority. She looked at him over the top of her forgotten novel with large grey eyes, bearing an expression similar to that of a rabbit sensing danger.
"H-hi, Nathaniel," she said nervously, not able to stand the silence any longer. He gave her a quick going over before confirming that he had never seen this girl in his life.
"Do I know you?" he asked her suspiciously. She blushed and put her book gently beside her.
"I... er, I suppose you don't know me..." she said tentatively. Zambini felt a nagging feeling that he should know her name.
"Did you date my younger brother last year?" he tried. Her eyes widened even more.
"You mean Trevor Zambini? Isn't he a third year?" she inquired with the tiniest hint of embarrassment and shock in her voice. Nathaniel rolled his eyes.
"No. I mean the other little brother I have. Of course I mean Trevor!" he snapped. She shook her head, mortified. He raised his eyebrow. "What year are you in, then?" he asked venomously. At that moment Adell considered abandoning her luggage and just making a break for it. No, she had to be brave.
"Fifth," she said nervously. "You know. Because I'm fifteen-almost-sixteen. Like you," she trailed off nervously. How mortifying. Of course, it wasn't anything new. She'd been mistaken for a thirteen-year-old before. Even a twelve-year old. Instead of feeling embarrassed, like any other normal human, Nathaniel was unfazed.
"What house? Hufflepuff?" he asked, still convinced there was a logical reason he'd never seen her before. She blushed again.
"Slytherin."
"Are you new?" he tried. She shook her head. Now he looked a little shocked.
"So you've been..."
"In your year and house since we were eleven," she almost whispered. His brow furrowed. Adell sighed and bit her lip, looking out the window at the stationary platform. This had happened before, but usually the person was in another house. Of course, Nathaniel was an extremely focussed person. She didn't blame him for not knowing her. He was also popular and smart. Already two things she wasn't. She could add to that lengthy list, "beautiful, fashionable, funny, likable, intellectual, brave, and calm." And then there was the whole thing where she was afraid of everything and never spoke in class and had a weird talent for staying unnoticed.
The only extraordinary thing about her was her unchangeably low Transfiguration grade. That and her knack for wearing clothes the color of lint. Depressing? Yes. Yes she was.
Nathaniel just shrugged and took out the Prophet and began to read. Adell looked up and glanced at the headline.
VOLDEMORT: GRINDELWALD AGAIN?
Adell chewed on her lip. She didn't really get this "dark lord" guy. She wasn't too fond of any muggle-borns, but she didn't see what harm they were either. She thought they should just stay out of pureblood business and leave it at that. The idea of a bunch of guys running around in masks practicing justice as they saw fit frankly scared Adell out of her mind. Couldn't they just pass a couple of laws or something? Must they go around so... spookily? She was paranoid enough as it was. She hardly needed to add a group of half-crazed vigilantes to her list of fears. Even if they were on her side.
Adell was jolted out of her worrying by the compartment door opening. And in walked... Miranda Hathaway?
She knew that Miranda was good friends with Nathaniel, but that didn't stop her from feeling surprise and fear at being in such an enclosed space with her. "I mean, she's Miranda Hathaway," Adell thought with wide eyes.
Including all of the houses, there were nineteen girls all together in her year. Miranda wasn't necessarily the most popular (that would be Gondola Hendricks, a Gyrffindor with a set of five giggly disciples) but Adell considered her to be the coolest. She always seemed at least two years older than she was. Her aura reeked of sophistication and superiority. She didn't have many friends in the sense that most did. Instead she possesed the respect of almost all the girls in the school, even most of the older ones. She always had a small handful of admirers, although she wasn't the whore of her year (Dorcus Meadows, ravenclaw), or the flighty temptress (Velvet Parkinson, slytherin.) You could say what you wanted about her, but one thing was clear: no one fucked with Miranda.
Despite sharing a dorm with her for four and a half years straight, Adell couldn't help her rising anxiety that she could possibly be in an inescapable situation where she would be forced to talk, actually form words at Miranda Hathaway. She gulped.
"Miranda, can you believe that this girl has been in our year since we were eleven? I didn't even recognize her. And in our house no less!" said Nathaniel, still reeling. Miranda turned to Adell with cold indifferent eyes. Adell felt like she was physically shrinking under her gaze. Miranda stared at her for a moment before looking sharply back at Nathaniel.
"Yes. Sanctamonia. I share a dorm with her. Honestly Nathaniel, do try to pay attention to your surroundings," she drawled in an utterly bored voice. Nathaniel huffed, but didn't seem terrified of her patronizing tone like Adell felt he should. He was obviously used to it. Miranda hoisted her trunk up and settled down with a fashion magazine that (much to Adell's shock and awe) was written in french. Adell just tried not vomit out of anxiety. The train slowly started to pull away from the platform and chug on it's way merrily. The two people currently sitting across from her paid her no head and went about their own bussiness. Despite the fact that she was being so obviously snubbed, Adell couldn't help but be releived they didn't expect her to talk to them .
She had just gotten used to the strong smell of popular filling the compartment when the door opened a third time to reveal the one and only Regulus Black: the well known Slytherin Seeker, Black Heir, and nominated "Swoon Object of The Future." Adell tried to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. He ran a hand through his black hair before yanking his trunk through the door.
"Back from the prefects compartment, are we?" Miranda asked without looking up to see who it was. It was a little eery. Nathaniel jumped up, happy to see his best friend, and eager to receive backup in his predicament. He gestured to Adell as he spoke.
"Regulus, I find myself in a position of scrutiny and judgement appointed by one lovely Miranda K. Hathaway. Can you please back me up? This girl here is most defiantly not in our year, correct?" he articulated, his vocabulary increasing with his embarrassment. Adell's heart skipped a beat as he turned his dark eyes towards her. "Oh, here's the part when he tells me he had no sodding clue who I am and I better leave his friends alone," she thought hopelessly. His head tilted to the side a little.
"Yes, I know you. Adell Sanctamonia, right?" he inquired. Nathaniel made a noise of disbelief before sweeping his best friend into a political debate. Miranda continued to read and occasionally join in the conversation. The train continued to chug through the country, and somewhere in a nearby compartment, an owl hooted. But all through this, Adell Sanctamonia stayed stock still. One thought reeled through her mind;
"He knew my name."
A/N So, do you love it? Hate it? Wish to stab me with pointy sticks? I must know!