Chapter 15
Classes were going fine for Buffy, and although she was never going to be an Outstanding or even an Exceeds Expectations student in most of her subjects, she'd be able to pull off an Acceptable in most of them.
Except Care of Magical Creatures, that is.
Buffy's relationship with Professor Ramsay had not improved in the slightest, and she would even go as far to say that it had probably gotten worse. She wasn't sure why the man seemed to call her out above all of the students, smirking in sick satisfaction when she didn't know the answer. It wasn't like she was trying to be stupid, but the class was the one she disliked the most. Even History of Magic was more intriguing to her, even though the professor, an ancient man named Professor Binns, droned on like a vacuum and had a voice that made Ben Stein sound like he had the exuberance of Billy Mays.
She sighed as she hitched up her bag, heading towards the first floor classroom where Care of Magical Creatures was being held for the winter. With November only days away, the temperature was really beginning to drop. The grass was normally dusted with a light covering of frost in the morning, and the ground was frozen hard most of the day. Professor Ramsay had finally bowed to the comments of his students and had brought the lessons indoors until the weather was warmer.
"Hey Buffy," Quentin greeted quietly as she sat next to him at their table at the back of the room. The boy had protested at the placement in the classroom, but one pleading look from Buffy and he quieted down. He knew about the animosity between Buffy and Professor Ramsay and decided keeping Buffy out of the line of fire was better than getting a decent seat to see the blackboard.
"Hey," Buffy greeted, just as quiet. Their friendship was still a little strained after the whole post-Hogsmeade almost kiss debacle, and they weren't the only people who were aware of it. Minerva and Augusta had both noticed and had asked Buffy about it, numerous times, and each time she deflected their questions. They might have been her friends, her only female friends at Hogwarts, but it wasn't something she wanted to talk about.
"How was Divination?" Quentin asked as Buffy settled in, taking her textbook and notes from the previous class out of her bag. Following that was a pot of ink and a quill; Buffy had finally gone through her collection and had put the inks that she knew that she would never use in the bottom of her trunk so that she wouldn't grab one of them by mistake. She had taken to colour coding her notes so that she could tell at a glance what a classes her notes were from.
Her Care of Magical Creatures notes were black.
Her Potions notes were green. Some would say Slytherin green.
"It was okay, I guess," Buffy replied with a shrug. She wasn't having many odd Slayer dreams, or any dreams at all, really. She was sleeping soundly when she went to bed, dreamless sleep taking over as soon as she hit the pillow. She wasn't sure why, seeing as when she was in Sunnydale she didn't sleep as much and when she did she was plagued by vivid Slayer dreams. She supposed that she could ask Professor Giles about it, even though the woman was still holding Buffy at arm's length.
"That's good to hear," Quentin said. "Is Ursula still bothering you?"
"No more than usual," Buffy replied. "I think she's finally realized that I don't think you're a loser and that I won't stop hanging out with you."
"Yay me," Quentin said as Professor Ramsay stalked into the room. Now that the classes were held indoors, he was far more cranky than he had been when the classes were held at the paddock outside.
"All right, settle down," he said as he stood at the front of the classroom. "I have a long term assignment for you, on top of anything else I might give you. Each of your wands has a core that comes from a magical creature. The most common ones are dragon heartstrings, phoenix feathers and unicorn tail hairs. Other wand makers have used other materials for cores. I would like you to turn in a paper on the kind of creature that provided the core to your wand. I will be giving you the rest of the lesson to work on this assignment. You may go to the library to work, if you wish. Just make sure you get a pass from me so that you don't get a detention from another teacher who might catch you out of class."
"Looks like I'll be heading to the library," Quentin said as he packed up his books. "I'll be doing my report on dragons. What's in your wand?"
"Vampire blood," Buffy replied as she, too, packed up her books. While she knew a lot about vampires, she still had to keep up appearances of actually doing the research. Besides, the more time she spent away from Professor Ramsay, the happier she would be.
"You're not serious, are you?" Quentin asked, looking at her in surprise. "Who made your wand?"
"That's what Ollivander told me," Buffy replied. "He wanted me to try it because I literally tried every wand he had. He made it as an experiment and wasn't even sure it was going to work."
"Lucky. You got an interesting wand core," Quentin said as he got up and headed towards Professor Ramsay.
"More like something that makes me more of a freak," Buffy called back, hitching up her bag onto her shoulder. "Could you grab me one of those passes while you're there?"
Quentin waved at her over his shoulder, indicating that he had heard her. She waited for him to come back, adjusting the bag on her shoulder as she did so. It was a quick and painless procedure to get the library passes, although Professor Ramsay narrowed his eyes at Buffy from his position behind his desk as he handed Quentin two passes. Before long, they were on their way to the library, a slightly awkward silence between them. They hadn't talked about what had happened after Hogsmeade, both choosing to pretend it didn't happen. It was working, so far, but there still was that slight air of tension between them. It was getting better, though; at least they were talking again.
The library was nearly deserted, the only occupants being some sixth and seventh years who had a free period to be used for extra study. Buffy could feel a pair of eyes on her and sure enough, Tom had spotted her nearly the moment she had walked in the door. His lips quirked up in a small smile, but gave no other indication that he had seen her. However, it was a big enough action for Quentin to notice, and when he did he scowled darkly.
"Why don't you tell him to shove off already?" he asked as they headed to a table away from Tom. Quentin glared meanly at the Slytherin as they passed by.
"Funny, he's been telling me the same thing about you," Buffy muttered with a snort as they dropped their stuff onto a table. Her friends didn't say too many disparaging things about Slytherins in her presence, but when they did it got her hackles up. "Are you against me having friends in different houses?"
"No, just Slytherins," Quentin replied.
"Has he made fun of you at all?" Buffy asked.
"Not since you got here," Quentin replied after thinking for a moment.
"Has he done anything to physically harm you?" Buffy asked.
"Not since you got here," Quentin repeated.
"Has he interacted with you whatsoever?" Buffy asked.
"Once, but that was only because he was wondering where you were," Quentin replied. "Don't you see the common factor here? He's acting differently because of you!"
"Isn't that a good thing, then?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow. "As long as we're on good terms, it means that he won't be bothering people. I might be blonde but even I can see that that's definitely of the good."
"That's just what he wants you to think," Quentin said. "Look, he's a Slytherin. Slytherins are sneaky and manipulative, and they will do whatever it takes to get what they want from people."
"So you're saying people don't change?" Buffy asked.
"People change. Slytherins aren't people," Quentin retorted.
"I can't believe how freakin' close minded you're being," Buffy hissed, narrowing her eyes at him. The librarian, a woman who looked a bit like a bird, glared in their general direction. "I have half a mind to march right out of here and do my research later."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Quentin said. He really did sound apologetic. "Let's not fight. Things are just starting to get back to normal. Are you going to the Quidditch game this weekend?"
"That's on Halloween, right?" Buffy asked. Thinking about Halloween made her nervous. While it was supposed to be a supernatural day off, so to speak, she'd had rotten luck with that and only hoped that this year her luck would change.
"Yep," Quentin replied. "And after the game there's a huge feast and lots of sweets. It's brilliant, almost as good a Christmas dinner here. Are you going home for Christmas?"
Buffy chewed her lip, not wanting to show how upsetting not being able to go home was for her. She didn't have any choice; she had to stay at the school. She didn't have anywhere else to go, although her friends didn't know about that yet.
"I think I'll be staying here," Buffy replied. "It's just too hard to get back home for a couple of weeks, what with the mystical conversion and everything."
"Well, I'll stay with you then," Quentin said.
"You don't have to do that," Buffy replied quickly. "Don't you want to spend time with your family?"
"Of course I do," Quentin said with a shrug. "But my mum and dad will understand. They'd probably even insist on me staying here to keep you company. Or, you know, bringing you home to meet them, but they won't enforce something like that."
"Well… thank you so much. It's very sweet of you," Buffy said, grateful for his kindness and ignoring the little voice in the back of her head that was saying that the only reason why he was offering was because he was hoping that he still had a chance with her. Shaking her head slightly to clear those negative thoughts out of her head, she got up from her seat. "I'm going to head over to the vampire section, see if they have any information that I can use in my report."
"I have that Vampyre book you can borrow, if you like," Quentin said as she turned and left, waving a hand over her shoulder to indicate that she had heard him.
As soon as she rounded the corner and was out of Quentin's sight, someone grabbed her wrist. She was about to cry out but a firm hand covered her mouth. Buffy's hazel eyes met a sparkling pair of dark blue ones, the owner of said eyes smirking in amusement.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Buffy hissed when Tom had taken his hand off of her mouth.
"What, did I startle you?" he asked, his expression innocent. Well, as innocent as a Slytherin could get.
"You know damn well you startled me," Buffy retorted, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Proper ladies don't swear, you know," Tom informed her.
"Sorry," Buffy said as she turned and headed towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts section.
"I never said I liked proper ladies," Tom retorted with a smirk. "I don't remember getting an assignment for Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"I'm not getting information for a Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment," Buffy replied as she stopped at the vampire shelf. She picked up a book entitled Notable Vampires in History and hoped that it might have information about Angel, or Angelus, in it. If she was going to do this report, she was going to go all out. Maybe that way Professor Ramsay would be impressed with the level of work she went into her report and he wouldn't shoot death glares at her anymore.
"Doing extra research, then?" Tom asked, gesturing at the book.
"Nope, Care of Magical Creatures," Buffy replied. "We have to write a paper on the creature that supplied our wand cores."
"Shouldn't you be looking at phoenixes, dragons and unicorns, then?" Tom asked, trying to glance at the title of the book Buffy was now holding to her chest.
"My eyes are up here," Buffy said, noticing where Tom's gaze had gone, arching an eyebrow at him.
"I'm looking at the book, I swear," Tom said, averting his gaze from her chest area, his eyes meeting Buffy's.
"I know, I'm just messing with you," Buffy retorted with a playful smirk, trying to ignore the alarm bells going off in her head. When had Tom turned into someone to flirt with? She would admit, he was rather good looking, but that didn't mean she should flirt with him. Hell, she shouldn't be flirting with anyone, although the pain of sending Angel to Hell was diminishing by the day. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was with that revelation.
"But still… Ollivander wands are made with phoenix feathers, dragon heartstrings and unicorn tail hairs," Tom said. "Why are you getting books from the Defence Against the Dark Arts section?"
"Because the core of my wand doesn't come from a phoenix, unicorn or dragon," Buffy replied as she turned and headed back to the table she was sharing with Quentin.
"Ah, so the plot thickens," Tom said as he followed. "Now, what is at the core of Miss Summers' wand, if it is not phoenix feather, dragon heartstring or unicorn tail-hair."
"You'll just have to add it to the list of things I'm not going to tell you and figure it out for yourself," Buffy retorted as she reached the table she was sharing with Quentin. The other boy was nowhere to be seen; he must have been off getting his own books on dragons.
"That list is getting mighty long, Buffy. I don't know if I'll have room for anything else," Tom said. "You know, you could give me one little hint about something I'm trying to find out."
"And make it easy for you? I don't think so," Buffy said, arching an eyebrow. She made a shooing motion with her hands. "Now get out of here before Quentin gets back. I don't want him crankier than he already is."
"Why do you hang around with that tosser?" Tom asked. "It's obvious the only reason why he hangs around you is because he fancies you."
"That's not the only reason," Buffy said, trying not to sound hurt. She knew it was one of the main reasons, but it definitely wasn't the only one. "He's my best friend, Tom."
"What does that make me?" Tom asked. "I thought I was your best friend."
"Is the big, bad Slytherin insecure about something?" Buffy teased with a smirk.
"No, I just want to know where I stand with you," Tom replied. "Have to strategize, you know."
"Well, I haven't decided what you are to me yet," Buffy said, shooing him away again. "Now scoot! Things are just starting to get back to normal with me and Quentin and I don't want you mucking it up."
"You know, you being ashamed of being seen with me hurts my feelings," Tom said with a mock pout, but he turned and left. He hadn't gone far, settling at a table on the other side of the bookshelf. Buffy sighed and plopped down onto her chair, grabbing quills and parchment so that she could take notes.
"Hey, is everything okay? I thought I heard voices," Quentin said, his arms full of books. Seeing that he was about to topple over, Buffy got to her feet and grabbed most of the load, setting it down gently on the table.
"Yeah, everything's good. Just talking to myself," Buffy replied with a small shrug. It looked like he hadn't noticed the fact that she had taken on more books than someone her size should have been able to. Good.
"Interesting looking book," Quentin remarked, glancing at the cover of Buffy's book. "It's supposed to be a general research essay, on the creature in general. You know, like what other kinds of magic the creatures can be used for."
"Of course, I was going to include that too," Buffy said with a wave of her hand, glad that Quentin had said something about that. It would mean more research, but it would also mean that she had a better way to get into Ramsay's good books. "It's just that, I know the specific creature that provided the core of my wand, and I wanted to do a little more research on him."
"You do know that Ramsay's not going to believe you, right?" Quentin asked. "I mean, it's not the most common wand core."
"And if he wants proof, he can ask Mr. Ollivander," Buffy replied with a shrug. "If things don't get better, I think I might drop Care of Magical Creatures next year. I'll tough it out this year, but I don't need this kind of stress."
"Do you know if you'll take your OWLs this year?" Quentin asked. "I'm pretty sure they're a prerequisite for the NEWTs, but since you weren't at a magical school last year, I'm not sure how your situation would be handled."
"What are OWLs and NEWTs?" Buffy asked, certain that Quentin wasn't actually talking about owls and newts.
"Ordinary Wizarding Levels and Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests," Quentin replied, and he launched into a lecture about the various levels of testing Hogwarts students had to endure in their fifth and seventh years, as the two of them began their research for Care of Magical Creatures.
The rest of the week passed quickly and soon it was Sunday morning, which meant Quidditch. The iron grey sky didn't seem to deter the players or the students one bit. Breakfast was a loud affair, everyone chattering about the odds of the teams playing. Most people were saying that Gryffindor was going to win, but there were some who had seen Ravenclaw practicing who were saying that the blue and bronze team was going to be victorious. Even though she had sat and watched Gryffindor's practices since she had arrived a month ago, Buffy still didn't have a good handle on the game. Then again, she was never really interested in sports, even if said sport was played on flying broomsticks and had two balls that flew around and tried to unseat the players.
"Oh, you're going to love it, Buffy," Terrence said as they joined the other Gryffindors in the Great Hall. "I kind of hope that we don't catch the snitch too early, so that you can see all of the plays we have planned out."
"So, when someone catches the snitch, the game is over, right?" Buffy asked. "That's the little gold ball?"
"Not someone, Buffy, the Seeker," Terrence said, sounding slightly exasperated. He had been trying to explain the game to her since it had come up in conversation, which caused the almost blow up argument between Terrence and Minerva. "Honestly Buffy, haven't you been listening to me at all?"
"In case you haven't noticed, she's been a little preoccupied," Minerva said with a roll of her eyes. "Even I wouldn't expect her to be able to keep up with the rules of Quidditch and her studies at the same time. Give her a little more time to catch up with her studies and I'm sure she'll be able to follow the game a little more closely."
"In case you haven't noticed, she is standing right here," Buffy said pointedly from between her two friends. They stared at her, as if just remembering that she was there. "Has anyone ever considered what I want?"
"You can't be trusted to know what you want," Terrence said. "I mean, with the company you keep and everything."
"What, are you saying hanging around you is a bad thing?" Buffy asked, a little confused.
"Not us, we're one of your few good choices," Terrence said. "I'm talking about that evil Slytherin git, Riddle."
"Not you too," Buffy said with a groan. "I haven't been spending any more time with him than necessary. You know, the whole need a tutor for Potions kind of thing?"
"Please, we've all seen the looks between you two at meals and in the corridors," Terrence said with a scoff. "You've gone and started fancying a Slytherin!"
"So what if I have?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow. "Is his fascination with me such a horrible thing? I mean really, hasn't he changed for the better since I got here? Couldn't that be considered a good thing? Besides, I don't see how who I "fancy" is any of your damn business."
"Look, Buffy, I worry about you," Terrence said. "We all worry about you."
"Maybe you should listen to Terrence," Augusta said carefully. "He might not have any sense about a lot of things, but we all know about Riddle. He's charming when he wants something and nasty every other time. He obviously wants to get on your good side, so he's toning down all of the horrid things he does in secret so that he seems like the brilliant and charming sixth year almost all of the teachers seem to think he is."
"Look, I'll be careful," Buffy said with a reassuring smile. "After my last ex, he's practically a docile kitty cat. And who said I liked him anyway? He's my Potions tutor, and yes, we've gotten a little closer over the past month but I don't like him like that."
"Well, if you're sure," Terrence said, still sounding uncertain.
"Of course I'm sure," Buffy said firmly. "Now, isn't there a Quidditch match to be had? Maybe I'll be able to see what the fuss is about if I get to see a real game."
"Of course there is," Terrence said, appearing to forget all about their argument about Tom Riddle. "But first, breakfast! Can't go beating Ravenclaw on an empty stomach!"
After the Quidditch game, Buffy definitely knew what the fuss was about. She sat with Augusta and Quentin; Terrence was on the field, being Quidditch captain and all, and Minerva was sitting on the bench. The game had run long; both teams were evenly matched and the Seekers were unable to spot the Snitch. It was only when the Gryffindor Seeker got injured that the Snitch was caught; Minerva had stepped onto the field because the little third year that normally was on reserve was in the hospital wing with the flu. Ten minutes after Minerva stepped in, the Snitch was caught, earning Gryffindor one hundred and fifty points and securing the win.
The sky was darkening as the students and faculty made their way to the castle after the match. The Gryffindors were all together in one big mob, planning a party after the Halloween feast to celebrate their win. In the middle of the group was Minerva McGonagall, hoisted up on her team mates' shoulders, the star of the match. While it wouldn't garner her a permanent position on the starting line up, Buffy was pretty certain that Minerva would now be their go-to girl if they needed a reserve Seeker again.
Buffy was trying to get into the celebratory spirit, but something was off. She could sense something dark and sinister, far different from the buzz she had constantly felt since she had arrived at Hogwarts. It was coming from the direction of the Forbidden Forest, which was odd. During her first and only foray into the forest, she hadn't felt anything inherently sinister or evil emanating from the thatch of trees bordering the school grounds.
Seeing as she was on the edge of the crowd of Gryffindors, it was hardly difficult for her to slip away. As she headed towards the Forest, she thought that she had slipped off unnoticed. However, she had underestimated how aware certain people were of her, and as she headed towards the forest, three people followed behind her at a distance, two armed with wands and one very large fourteen year old armed with a crossbow.
Chapter 15 is here folks. To anyone who is even remotely worried about me abandoning this, fret not. I have plans, big plans for this story, and am already working on the sequel because I know exactly what's going to happen in this story. I just have to get it out on paper, hahaha.
Anyway, as always, reviews are appreciated and flames will be used to toast marshmallows.