Chapter 9
Buffy sprinted as fast as she could to the group of students gathered around a teacher and some creatures that Buffy couldn't quite describe. Half horse, half eagle and rather interesting looking, Buffy was sure they weren't demon because they weren't setting off her Slayer sense. However, it was obvious they were magical creatures because she had never seen or heard of such things back home.
She was about twenty feet away from the paddock, slowing her stride so that she didn't collide with the people on the edge of the group, when she slipped on a patch of mud. She windmilled her arms in an attempt to regain her balance, but it was too late. Buffy fell into what had to be the squishiest, wettest patch of mud in the entire Hogwarts grounds, landing with a loud, wet squelching noise.
The entire class turned at the sound. Titters started breaking through the crowd, then giggles, and then all out laughter. Buffy rolled her eyes and got up from the mud slick with as much dignity as she could muster, managing to slip a couple more times in the process.
"Okay, a little help here?" Buffy asked, gesturing to her mud-splattered clothes. "Someone's gotta know a cleaning spell or something."
"I've got it," Quentin said quietly, coming to the front of the group. He waved his wand and muttered a couple of words that Buffy couldn't make out, and she was instantly clean, if feeling a little violated.
"I see you have deigned to grace us with your presence," the Professor said, arching an eyebrow. "Miss Summers, I presume? I hope you have a good excuse for being late, otherwise I'm going to have to give you detention."
"Madam Trelawney kept me a couple of minutes after class and I got lost on my way down here," Buffy replied, chewing on her lip and looking apologetic. "I'm sorry and it won't happen again."
"Perhaps you should have someone to show you around for the first couple of days so that this will not happen again," the Professor said with a withering look at her before he launched into his lecture.
Buffy sighed and made her way to where Quentin was standing near the back of the group, idly wondering why because of his height. She just hoped that after this class Minerva wouldn't pile on the tutoring work. While she knew that there was a lot of work to be done before she was even remotely up to scratch with the magic making, but she was feeling so overwhelmed with everything that had happened today.
"What happened to you?" Quentin asked when Buffy reached him.
"What do you mean what happened to me?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow. "What happened to you? I told Ursula to tell you that I would be right down and to wait for me."
"That's not what she said," Quentin replied. "She told me that you said to go on without you and that you would be fine on your own. I guess you weren't fine on your own?"
"No," Buffy replied with a sigh. "Riddle found me and showed me where I needed to go. Still would have preferred to find it on my own, but he just wouldn't leave me alone."
"I would call you lucky because he doesn't really pay attention to anyone except Slytherins, but you're really not," Quentin said quietly.
"I'd be more than happy if he would just leave me alone," Buffy said with a sigh.
"Miss Summers!" the professor said sharply, causing Buffy to jump, startled.
"Yes, sir?" Buffy asked, uncertain.
"One more peep out of you and you're in detention. No excuses!" the professor all but snarled. Buffy snapped her mouth shut and began paying attention to the lecture. He was talking about Hippogriffs, which were large creatures, apparently a combination between an eagle and a horse. As the professor went on about different aspects of Hippogriffs, Buffy leaned over to Quentin.
"Is he always that grouchy?" she whispered to him, hoping that her voice was soft enough that the professor wouldn't be able to hear her. As Quentin shook his head and shrugged slightly, the professor turned, his eyes blazing and his nostrils flaring, obviously angered.
"That's it, Miss Summers, detention. You will meet me in the Entrance Hall after dinner at eight o' clock. I'm sure I'll be able to find something for you to do that will make you think twice about speaking out of turn," he said quietly. Buffy gulped, wondering if there was anything she could say or do right now to plead her case, but nothing came to mind. He didn't seem like the kind of man who would take excuses, either. Kind of reminded her of Principal Snyder, only not as short and actually kind of intimidating.
Buffy remained silent for the remainder of the lesson, which thankfully wasn't that long at all. When the loud gong sounded across the grounds signifying the end of class, Buffy let out a sigh of relief when the professor dismissed them for dinner.
"And remember Miss Summers, detention, eight o'clock. If you're late again, you'll be in detention for the next week," the professor said. Oddly, Buffy hadn't found out what the professor's name was during the course of the lesson. It was something she'd have to ask Quentin during dinner if she got a chance.
"Rough break, Buffy," Quentin said sympathetically as they walked back up to the castle, avoiding the slippery mud patches scattered throughout the grass less they end up like Buffy had at the beginning of the lesson.
"I don't think this day could get any worse," Buffy groaned, leaning slightly on Quentin in mock despair.
"It probably could," Quentin replied. "Minerva isn't going to be too happy that you got detention on your first day."
"Ugh, I wanted to get out of tutoring tonight, but this totally wasn't the way I wanted to do it," Buffy said with another groan. "This is the last thing I need, seriously."
"You'll be fine," Quentin said reassuringly. "Professor Ramsay was just in a mood today, probably because the weather's getting worse. He doesn't like teaching in a classroom using diagrams and illustration, preferring to give us a hands-on experience with the creatures."
"I see," Buffy said as they reached the castle doors. They entered the castle and joined the rest of the students heading to dinner, moving with the rest of the Gryffindors to their designated table. Buffy plopped down into a seat near the middle of the table and Quentin sat next to her.
"Mmm, all of my favourites," Quentin said with a smack of his lips. Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with enough gravy to smother the food several times over. "I wonder if we'll have roast beef sandwiches and chips with gravy for lunch tomorrow?"
"I dunno, I guess we'll have to wait and see," Buffy replied. Her eyes traveled over the serving dishes piled high with food. Even with the Slayer metabolism, if I keep eating stuff like this I'm not going to be able to fit into my cheerleading uniform, Buffy thought. That is, if I ever do get to go home. She became subdued after that, the reality of never being able to get back to her own time beginning to hit her She surveyed the food again, wondering what she should take first when her gaze fell on a platter of bread-like things she had never seen before. She pointed at the Yorkshire pudding. "Quentin, what are those?"
"You've never seen Yorkshire pudding?" Quentin asked, incredulous. Buffy shook her heas, smiling slightly when he began to get a little worked up as he explained the wonder that was Yorkshire pudding. He was just at the end of his explanation and in the process of pouring some gravy on the two Yorkshire puddings he'd put on her plate when Terrence, Augusta and Minerva arrived.
"You're not going to cut her meat for her too, are you?" Terrence teased, arching an eyebrow and glancing pointedly at Quentin's hand, which was still holding the gravy boat over Buffy's plate.
"No, of course not," Quentin said quickly, blushing slightly as he put the gravy boat down and folded his hands in his lap. "Buffy'd never had Yorkshires before, and I was just showing her the best way to enjoy them. I guess I just got a little overexcited, that's all."
"So, how did you enjoy your other classes, Buffy?" Minerva asked, changing the subject after several moments of slightly awkward silence.
"Divination was kind of interesting," Buffy replied with a shrug. Minerva snorted, but said nothing else. "Madam Trelawney kept me a couple of minutes after and by the time I got back downstairs everyone was gone. Tom Riddle found me and showed me where to go, but I think I might have been better off just skipping class."
She went on to describe what had happened next, culminating with the revelation that she had detention that night.
"You have detention tonight?" Minerva repeated, arching an eyebrow.
"I'm impressed, Summers. Even I haven't managed to get detention on the first day!" Terrence exclaimed, earning him a glare from Minerva and a smack on the arm from Augusta. "And some days I wonder why I'm friends with you two. Today is one of those days."
"It's not like it was my fault the professor was in a bad mood," Buffy replied. "If someone had done what they were going to do, I probably wouldn't have been late and I definitely wouldn't have ended up in the mud."
"Hey, don't look at me!" Quentin exclaimed defensively, holding his hands up in surrender.
"Wasn't you I was talking about," Buffy replied, glaring down the table to where Ursula was sitting. The girl spotted Buffy and smiled, wiggling her fingers in greeting, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. Buffy turned her head away from Ursula, her attention back to the seventh years in front of her and the sixth year sitting beside her.
"Oh, you've had the pleasure of meeting Ursula Brown," Augusta said sagely, nodding once.
"I'm guessing you have, too?" Buffy asked.
"Unfortunately," Augusta said with a slight grimace. "I don't want to speak ill of others, but that Ursula is a real piece of work. She can be nice, but usually only if you can do something for her. I'd be careful if I were you. A good shopping buddy and someone to share small talk, but I wouldn't trust any deep, dark secrets with her."
"I see," Buffy said with a small nod before she finally started eating. Terrence stared as she began to clear her plate; besides the two Yorkshires, Buffy had loaded her plate with roast beef, mashed potatoes and vegetables, smothering everything in gravy. After swallowing a couple of bites, she glared at the boy. "Seriously, you watching me eat is kind of creepy. Quit it."
"I'm sorry, it's just that I haven't seen that before," Terrence replied, gulping a little when he saw Buffy's expression. "Come on, Quentin agrees with me. Right, Quentin?"
"Hmm?" Quentin asked, glancing up from the book that he had pulled out sometime in between pouring Buffy's gravy for her and the current moment.
"Have you ever seen a girl eat so much?" Terrence asked, gesturing towards Buffy's plate.
"Seriously, it's really creepy that you're making such a big deal about this," Buffy said quickly, making a mental note to tone down the portions from now on to keep Terrence from drawing attention to how much she ate. It didn't help that the other two girls in the group were beginning to look jealous, although they did their best to hide it. Buffy wildly looked around to find something to distract from the food in general and spotted Quentin, who had gone back to his book. "Hey Quentin, what are you reading? It looks interesting."
"Oh, this?" Quentin asked, gesturing to the big, old-looking book in front of him. Buffy smiled and nodded encouragingly. He held it up so that everyone could see the title. "It's a book my dad sent me, because I'm so interested in Defence Against the Dark Arts and he thought I might enjoy it."
Buffy read the title. Vampyre. It looked a lot like the book Giles had given her the first time they had met, only not as old. She gulped a little, memories coming back to her in a flood.
"So, ah, are vampires real?" Buffy asked, trying to keep her tone light.
"Yeah, they're considered dark creatures in this world," Quentin replied with a shrug as he placed a piece of paper in the crease of the book to mark his place. "But I guess you grew up being told vampires were the things of horror stories and nightmares, right?"
"Uh yeah, something like that," Buffy replied with a small laugh, becoming uncomfortable. She had kind of hoped that the Slayer side of her life wouldn't cross with the newfound wizarding side. It would be just too weird if someone other than Dumbledore and his trusted professors had found out that she was a thing of bedtime stories. She took another couple of bites of her dinner before changing the subject again. "So, who's going to show me to the dorms before I have to head out to detention?"
"August and I will," Terrence said with a wink to Minerva as he wiped his mouth with his napkin. "You're done, aren't you August?"
"Yes, that's right," August replied, winking at Minerva also. "Come on Buffy, we'll take you up there and get you back down to the Entrance Hall in plenty of time. Wouldn't want to give Professor Ramsay another reason to dislike you, now do we?"
The trio got up from the table, and with waves to the two people they left behind, they left the Great Hall. Buffy could feel a pair of eyes on her as she left, and when she glanced over her shoulder she saw Tom Riddle staring at her. Again. Seriously, doesn't he have anything better to do? Buffy thought, mentally rolling her eyes.
"So, what was with all the winking?" Buffy asked when they were out of the Great Hall and on their way to the seventh floor, where the entrance to the Gryffindor common room was.
"Oh, Quentin's had a crush on Minerva since the moment he met her," Terrence replied as he led her up the stairs. "I try to leave them alone as much as possible, to see if he'll drum up some of that Gryffindor courage and ask her out. So far it's been unsuccessful, but there's still a lot of year left before she's finished at Hogwarts."
"So, what's between you and Tom Riddle?" August asked as they hit the fourth floor. "I keep seeing him staring at you. What's the dish?"
Buffy tried to pay attention to where they were going so that she wouldn't have to ask someone to show her later, but it was difficult because all of the moving staircases. She was going to have a hell of a time trying to find her way on her own.
"There's nothing," Buffy replied with a shrug. "He was asked by Dippet to show me to his office on my first full day here, and he's been following me around ever since. Professor Slughorn made him my Potions partner because he's apparently the best student in the class and let's face it, I need the help. He's my own little stalker, turning up when I least expect it."
"I see," August said. They were rounding on the sixth floor now, almost there apparently. "Have you met anyone else?"
"Well, there's one more person I met," Buffy replied slowly. Maybe she could get some more information on one Rubeus Hagrid, if she asked carefully enough. "Rubeus Hagrid. Have you heard of him?"
"Oh, him," August said with a sad smile.
"I'm guessing you have," Buffy deduced.
"He seemed like a good kid," Terrence said as they made their way up the last, long staircase to the seventh floor. I feel sorry for any kid in a wheelchair who gets accepted at this school, Buffy thought, although she hadn't seen nary a wheelchair in sight. Then again, it was the 1940's; maybe children with special needs didn't attend regular schools, even if they were for magic.
"I never thought he'd turn out like he did," August said quietly, more to herself than to Terrence and Buffy. Buffy made a mental note to ask Hagrid about this the next time she saw him; she was getting conflicting information about him from two different sources, and she wanted the truth. She felt a connection of sorts with the younger boy, and would like to strengthen that friendship if she could.
"Anyway, here we are," Terrence said as he came to a stop in front of a portrait. It was a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress.
"Password?" the portrait asked imperiously.
"Would you like to do the honours, Buffy?" Terrence asked.
"Uh, sure," Buffy replied, straining to remember the password. Minerva had told it to her at breakfast that morning, but because of everything that had gone on since then, the information had been filed in the deep recessions of her mind, never to be seen again if she hadn't been reminded of it. "Umm… fiddlesticks?"
The woman in the portrait smiled and the frame swung open, much like the ballerina painting concealing the entrance to her former room had done. Terrence gestured for her to enter first, which she did, August following her and Terrence brining up the rear. The portrait swung closed behind them, concealing the Gryffindor common room from the rest of the castle.
"Welcome to the Gryffindor common room, the best common room in the castle," Terrence said once they were all inside. Brightly lit and crowded with furniture, the large circular room was decorated in Gryffindor colors and looked very, very cozy.
"How would you know?" August asked, arching an eyebrow at him. "Have you visited any of the other common rooms?"
"Have you?" Terrence shot back.
"I've been invited into the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw common rooms a couple of times," August replied with a smirk.
"Who was doing the inviting and why haven't I been told about it?" Terrence asked, his voice a little stiffer.
"Please, can we have this talk later? Alone?" August said pointedly, jerking her head towards Buffy.
"Fine," Terrence agreed. Buffy was glad that she wouldn't be around to see that argument; she had a feeling there were going to be fireworks.
"Come on Buffy, I'll show you to the sixth year girl's dorms before we take you back down to the Great Hall," August said, leading her up a staircase that was clearly labelled "Girls". "You'll unfortunately have to share a room with Ursula, but hopefully she'll leave you alone. The other girls in your year aren't as bad, but since they're friends with Ursula it might be a good idea not to get too terribly close to them."
"Gotcha," Buffy replied, taking in the information as best she could. She vaguely wondered if she should get into the habit of carrying around a notebook and a pen to jot down notes every so often so that she wouldn't forget anything.
"Anyway, here we are," August said as she led her into the sixth room from the top. "Seventh years are one room above yours, and fifth years are one below. Your bed is the one closest to the door, it looks like."
A fifth bed had been added to the room, a shiny new trunk positioned at the end of it. The wood gleamed and the bedding was impeccable. The other four beds were made as well, but that section of the room looked much more lived in. A spare book on a table, a sock poking out from underneath the bed, that sort of thing.
"You should probably grab your cloak before you head out for detention," August said, gesturing towards the trunk. "It gets mighty chilly around here at night."
"Don't remind me," Buffy said with a grimace as she popped the latches of the trunk open before rooting around for her cloak, making an effort to keep everything orderly. There would be lots of time for her to mess everything up, but right now she wanted to have some time where all of her things were neatly in one place.
"Okay, I'm ready," Buffy said, pulling out the cloak that Dumbledore had given her the other day. Making sure her bag was on her bed, Buffy folded the cloak over her arm and turned to August.
Buffy was led down the stairs to the common room. Terrence had been sitting by the fire, but as soon as he saw them he shot to his feet, grinning broadly.
"All set, ladies?" he asked. Buffy nodded, smiling back. "Well then, let's hop to it. Ramsay gets quite cross when people are late, as you well have found out."
"Yeah, he promised me another week of detention if I was late tonight," Buffy replied with a wrinkle of her nose. "Please tell me he's the only teacher like that. I don't think I could live with more than that."
"Most profs are pretty decent, considering they're teachers," Terrence replied with a shrug. "Some are dead boring, but most are all right. Now come on, I don't want you kept from our company for an entire week."
Terrence turned and led them out of the common room and into the corridor. The trip back down to the first floor seemed to take far less time, and before Buffy was entirely ready they were in the Entrance Hall. Professor Ramsay was there, as was Hagrid. Buffy smiled at the large boy, causing him to smile back. Then her eyes fell on the last person in the group.
"Oh hell no," Buffy muttered under her breath.
Tom Riddle was there as well. He smirked at Buffy as she approached; she tried her best to make her expression neutral. There was no way she was going to let Riddle make this night any worse than it already is. Well, at least I've got Hagrid on my side, Buffy thought. And hey, I might be able to get some answers out of him tonight!
"Well, this is where we leave you, Buffy," Terrence said with a sympathetic smile. "What time do you expect to be back, Professor Ramsay?"
"Probably close to midnight, if we get everything done," Ramsay replied coolly. "You have my permission to come and collect Miss Summers at that time. Or, what's left of her."
Buffy gulped, hoping that he was just trying to intimidate her, frighten her. She wasn't going to let him get to her; she'd faced down people and beings far more terrifying than this professor, even though he was built like some of the larger vampires she had taken down.
"Come along, Miss Summers. We have much to do and not much time to do it," said Professor Ramsay, gesturing her to follow himself and the other two companions. Buffy glanced over her shoulder, shooting a pleading look at Terrence and August, but all she got was sympathetic looks in return. Resigned, Buffy followed the professor and his assistants out into the darkness, wondering what was in store for her next.
***
*dodges any projectiles thrown in my general direction*
I am SO SORRY this hasn't gotten out sooner. I'm horrible, I know. I'm addicted to the television and books, which really doesn't leave a lot of time to sit down and write fic. *le sigh* I promise I'll do better.
As always, reviews in general are loved, constructive criticism is helpful and flames will be used to toast marshmallows to make s'mores.