Chapter 2: Of Cats and Snakes
"Meow."
"Celine, we need to get to the prefect's carriage."
"Meeeeoowww…."
"I know that! He just won't let me leave him!" Celine said exasperatedly, trying to remove the little Mainecoon from her lap.
The kitten hastily named, 'Rascal', had been a gift from George. The lone twin had waited at King's Cross for the Weasleys to arrive with Harry and Celine so that he could present the kitten to her as well as say farewell.
Celine felt her spirits lift the moment she laid eyes on the beautiful kitten that has a dark mahogany colored undercoat, black markings and huge forest green eyes. She could've kissed George on the cheek if he didn't so achingly reminded her of Fred.
"Celine!" Hermione Granger prompted impatiently from the door of their compartment.
"Here. Let us have him. You lot better get going." Ginny carefully unhooked Rascal's claws from Celine's soft grey sweater. With a grudging sigh, Celine slid out of her seat following the swish of Hermione's wavy hair. Ron was talking rapidly to Hermione he had not been as enthused when she had announced just after the War that she wasn't interested in becoming an Auror. He was apparently still trying to change her mind.
"How's your father, Celine?" Hermione asked ignoring Ron's comment about Aurors being 'the best fit for us four'.
"I don't know. He writes often enough but he's not the most descriptive of writers." Celine replied. "Your family doing alright?"
"They were rather surprised to find themselves in Perth." Hermione pushed her hair back with a flick of her wrist. The lock of hair was persistent and she kept repeating the motion every so often. Her hair was no longer the same frizzy mess that Celine had known and loved since they were thirteen. In fact, it seemed as if she had gotten them professionally done since she last saw her. "But I explained to them it was to protect them. I mean, I could hardly be of much help if I was going to be worrying about my parents every day."
"Now you know what it was like." Ron mumbled darkly. Celine felt her heart tightening.
"You know, I'm really nervous about this Head Girl thing. Professor McGonagall really caught me off guard with the letter…" Celine prattled on, eager to change the subject. Not that the topic she had chosen was much of an improvement. Already she could feel the butterflies in her stomach race a little faster. "-I wonder who the Head Boy is? Professor McGonagall hinted to some changes being made to Hogwarts's student government-…"
They came to the entrance of the prefects' carriage located near the front of the train, right after the kitchens. The door which had a painted Hogwarts badge slid open silently revealing the handful of prefects that had already arrived. Celine recognized most of the faces who greeted the trio with gusto and warmth. Ernie McMillan was pumping Ron's hand quite furiously that Ron looked worried he was going to have his entire arm ripped off. The younger Slytherin prefects that Celine vaguely remembered were watching her with narrowed eyes, noticing her new prefect badge that had 'Head Girl' emblazoned beneath the customary design. Noting the slight greenish tinge that had appeared beneath Celine's powdered cheeks Hermione gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
Led by Hermione, they took seats on one of the empty rows of benches lined with soft silk pillows of black and white. The crystals from the chandelier above bounced merrily to the momentum of the train threatening to spill hot candle wax onto the unsuspecting occupants below. There was still another five minutes before they were appointed to start and Celine was mentally going over her speech, practicing the breathing techniques her yoga instructor had taught her.
She heard the swoosh of the door followed by footsteps.
"Is everyone here?" asked a voice that she was only too familiar with.
Celine's eyes flew open and she found herself staring at Draco Malfoy. His platinum blonde hair was longer, shaggier than the last time she had seen him. She was surprised at how gaunter and paler he had gotten. With a jolt she remembered that Lucius had been one of the first Death Eaters to be thrown into Azkaban after the War and what she was witnessing was probably a direct result of that.
All of a sudden she felt pity wash over her as memories from the War began to play out in her mind. With a hard shove Hermione quickly brought Celine back to reality and she found herself out of her seat.
"I uhm… Suspect so." Celine's eyes were drawn to script beneath his prefect's badge. "You're Head Boy?"
"Your literacy skills impress me, Van Allen."
Celine felt the heat on her cheeks as gentle titter spread throughout the room.
"We can begin then since you're the last to arrive."
She stood up and took her place beside him facing the carriage-filled prefects, trying to disregard the bubbling anxiety that was threatening to spill onto her facial features.
If he had any thoughts regarding Professor McGonagall's decision with her placement as Head Girl his face certainly didn't betray it. Instead he took it into stride and eyed the rest of those in attendance. Draco immediately launched into a speech he had clearly pre-wrote and memorized. His voice had the tone of a bored school teacher who wanted to be rid of their students as soon as possible. He went through the general guidelines of what is expected as a prefect efficiently and failed to hide his irritation when one of the newly appointed fifth year prefects interrupted his stride.
"Are we still allowed to hand out detentions?" The Hufflepuff asked, his eyes were narrowed on Blaise Zabini.
"Professor McGonagall has yet to debrief Van Allen and I so until then, I cannot phantom what she has in store for us this year including the sort of punishment we are allowed to minister. Especially with….what recently occurred…"
The tension in the room became palpable as everyone leaned forward in their chairs expectantly. Celine hadn't been in school the last year having been on the search for horcruxes with her best friends. Though from Ginny's description, Hogwarts had been a very dismal place where the Cruciatus curse was handed as punishment instead of detention.
"-anyway… Van Allen, do you have something you would like to add?"
"I-uh…" All eyes were on her now and she was suddenly hyper aware of how loud her breathing was. Her mind was as blank as a new piece of parchment. The words she had practiced so hard had somehow vanished. "Not much. Just that…the uhm… The prefect meetings would still be held in the Great Hall on Wednesday evenings. Please inform your Head of Houses or Quidditch Captains, if you plan to participate in Quidditch this year," there was a rush of muffled excitement at this. Quidditch had been a distant memory when the Carrows had been in charge of Hogwarts. "-and… Don't forget to patrol the carriages every hour. The rotation rounds are on the bulletin board." She waved in the general direction of the display case that held a piece of thick creamy paper that held their names next to allotted times and carriage number.
"Inspiring." Draco remarked. "Right. Well what are all of you still doing here? Dismissed. Or something of the sort."
He straightened the black silk jacket he wore and headed out the door, Blaise close on his heels. The rest took this as a signal to leave, most were eager to go back to their friends and discuss the glittering new information: Draco Malfoy was Head Boy to Celine's Head Girl.
"Snarky git. I swear, McGonagall has officially gone off her rocker. Malfoy? A flobberworm could do a much better job at Head Boy than him." Ron went off as soon as they were out of earshot of the rest of the prefects.
Hermione looked thoughtful. "Hmmm…I don't know. He seemed to be rather in control of things. I expected him to be a lot worse!" She added when she caught Ron shooting a dirty expression at her.
"I still feel like we should've left him in the Room of Requirement." Ron muttered darkly.
"Ronald!"
Celine left the two of them to bicker. Between getting accosted from old classmates that had returned to take their NEWTs along with old members from DA and her mind swirling with the fact that she was going to have to work alongside Draco for the rest of the year, she couldn't find the energy to make her friends stop arguing.
Rascal greeted with a soft meow and immediately began climbing all over Celine trying to burrow into her lap.
"Neville! It's so good to see you again." Celine greeted, scratching Rascal's ears. Neville grinned back at her. The scars on his face had healed and all that remained as a reminder was the nasty bruise on his arm that he acquired from wielding the Gryffindor sword.
"Good to see you too, Celine. How've you been?" He asked, eyes widening when he realized the absurdity of his question.
Celine shrugged but her hands tightened around Rascal a little causing the kitten to squirm. She relaxed her grip and side-stepped the obvious. "I've been better."
"Neville's been telling us about how he's applying to become a teacher at Hogwarts once we finish our NEWTs." Ginny added quickly sensing the tension.
"That's great Neville! Will you be teaching Herbology?" Hermione questioned. Neville looked relieved to move on from his faux pas and immediately launched into a tirade of how he would definitely love to teach Herbology but Professor Sprout is still at the prime of her time and he felt it would be rude if he just swooped in and demanded for her job.
"Personally I think a job as her assistant would be just as good. I'd be able to work closely with the plants. Which is frankly, all I care about." Neville smiled. "She said she has new seeds for a hybrid between a venomous tentacula and a poisonous orchid. I can't wait to see them."
Ron frowned. "That doesn't sound safe."
"They actually make good watch plants. They can recognize your scent and attack intruders."
"But how do they distinguish between friend or foe?" Harry asked.
"Oh…errr…Well… That's why they're still in the experimental stage. Herbologists are still studying them."
Celine settled back against her seat absent-mindedly stroking Rascal letting their conversation float over her. Her eyes glazed over as her thoughts went back to the one thing she didn't want to linger on: memories of Fred.