Nikolai Van Der Griend sat down in the Great Hall next to three gossiping Third Year Slytherin girls. They immediately stopped talking as he sat, making him suspicious.
"What were you talking about?" barked the Fifth Year. The girls yelped.
"W-we were talking about Harry Potter," said a redheaded girl with green eyes.
"Yeah, t-there's a rumor going around about him," said a second girl with black hair and brown eyes.
Nikolai, being a guy who liked a good laugh about Potter, smiled viciously. "Oh really? Anything good?" he asked.
The third girl with curly brown hair and blue eyes shrugged. "I-I mean, it's probably just talk-"
"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley rode a flying car to Hogwarts," the black-haired girl admitted.
"And then they crashed into the Whomping Willow," the redhead added on.
"Which is why they're not here right now," the brown-haired girl said.
Nikolai looked over to the Gryffindor table, where kids were already wearing their House scarves and yelling and cheering. Really, all their House pride reminded Nikolai of some sort of lowlife poor people. He shuddered just thinking about it.
But, sure enough, Potter and his ginger friend weren't there. There was the bushy-haired girl eating with the scared boy with the nickname of 'Schlongbottom.' But there was no Potter. Was it too much to hope that he had been expelled?
"Yes, I see," Nikolai said. Just as he went to say more, Dumbledore started his speech. The Sorting Ceremony followed and Nikolai noticed that there was yet another Weasley in Gryffindor House. She was the only girl Weasley he'd ever seen (save for the matriarch), and she wasn't much to look at.
And then the Feast began. There were heaps of food for everyone. Nikolai's friend, Kimberly-Anne of the noble House of Sylvestra, sat down next to him, pushing the Third Year girls out of the way. Moments later, Malachi Trytell, Nikolai's other best friend who was deeply rooted in Wizarding history, but nice enough, sat down next to the duo.
"You heard about Potter, right?" said Kimberly-Anne.
Malachi shoveled a plateful of food into his mouth before answering. "Yeah," he said, "heard he was expelled and everything. Wand broken and all."
"The question is, where did he get that flying car? He obviously isn't smart enough to know spells like that," Nikolai said.
Kimberly-Anne said, "I heard it was Weasley's father's enchanted car."
"Well that's delicious," Nikolai said. "Weasley's father is in the Department of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts." The kids laughed momentarily, before Malachi pointed to the Professor's table.
"Where's McGonagall gone off to?" he asked.
"And Snape's missing as well," Kimberly-Anne pointed out.
"Dumbledore's leaving too," Nikolai said. He pointed to Dumbledore's retreating figure, heading down the side of Gryffindor table towards the doors. "Despicable. If Potter comes back, we'll know just who the favorite is."
The three ate their dinner, chitchatting about their summer half-heartedly. They were acutely focused on the three empty seats at the Professor's tables. Fifteen minutes later, Dumbledore and Snape returned. Dumbledore looked disappointed and Snape looked downright pissed. They took their own seats at the Professor's table. Dumbledore grabbed about a dozen custard tarts, shoved them into a bag and cleared his throat.
"Attention students," he said, his voice amplified throughout the Great Hall. Nikolai was so looking forward to hearing of Potter and Weasel's expulsion, but seeing Snape's forlorn face, he knew it could not be true.
Professor McGonagall slipped into her seat just as Dumbledore began to speak. "I will inform you of tonight's events before rumors begin to spread," he said. Little did he know, each and every student had already heard of the events and they were either extremely awestruck or extremely disappointed that Potter and Weasel had not died.
"Two Gryffindor students who shall remain nameless decided to take a flying car from Platform 9 and 3/4 to Hogwarts. They crashed into the Whomping Willow, causing a fortune in property damage. These students were not harmed. Fortunately for them, this took place before term started. Therefore, no points will be taken from Gryffindor." The Gryffindors cheered and the Slytherins hissed. "And they have not been expelled or suspended either. Now, if you would all please return to your dormitories and get a good night's rest, I'm sure your teachers tomorrow would be very pleased. Chop chop! Goodnight all!"
The students began to shuffle out. Nikolai, Kimberly-Anne and Malachi stuck together.
"This is preposterous!" Malachi said. "How can Potter get away with this?!"
"Just because he beat the Dark Lord twice before he turned twelve..." Kimberly-Anne muttered angrily.
"Believe me - the Minister will hear of this. My father has very good connections in the Ministry. In fact, we had dinner with the Head of the Auror Department only a few nights ago," Nikolai said. "He will be none-too-pleased when he hears about the favoritism going on around here."
"Our Quidditch team had better break Potter's arm this year," Kimberly-Anne said bitterly, as they entered their common room. The rest of the Slytherins seemed to be in an uproar about the nights' events as well.
"My older brother got expelled for using magic outside of school, but they don't even get suspended for destroying school property, missing the Feast and missing the train?" one Third Year girl said.
"Not to mention enchanting a Muggle car to make it fly!" a Sixth Year boy chimed in.
"And, ugh, those Gryffindors are proud!" Malachi said. There was a House-wide scoff and they all separated into their own little cliques to complain more.
Nikolai yawned. "Well, I'm going to retire for the night," he said. "Don't wake me when you come in, Malachi."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Nik," he said. "I know you'd curse me before I could apologize." The two laughed and Nikolai headed off to bed.
Once he was under the covers, he thought about Potter once more and scoffed silently.
A lot of scoffing going on in this chapter, it seems. Hmm it'll have to do for now haha
Review please :)