**Disclaimer: I have the feeling someone's going to be bugging me about this, so here goes: I do not own any of these characters, except for the obvious ones that never appear in the books. The rest belong to J.K. Rowling and her brilliantness.
Chapter 3: You Are What You Are
"Shae - WAKE UP!" a familiar voice yelled into my ear, driving through the sleep crowding my mind and seemingly jabbing it with an invisible pitchfork.
"Uhnnnn..." I muttered groggily, rolling over in my bed and swatting the air with my hand.
"Shae, breakfast starts in 5 minutes! You need to get up NOW!"
"Huh? Hermione, that you? You sound like my mother..."
She gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, it's me, Shae. Now get UP!"
"Hermione, why are you in the Slytherin dormitories?"
"Does it matter? But, well... first of all, I was worried about you - you know, because of what happened on the train yesterday - and second of all, I knew you would never get up with out someone telling you to!"
"I'm perfectly capable of waking myself up, thanks. And, anyway, I think someone would notice if I didn't show up to any of my classes." I threw the covers off of myself, shivering at the absence of my warm blanket. I blinked in an attempt to clear the bleariness out of my eyes, shuffling over to my trunk only to remember that I had already put on my robes the night before and that changing was unnecessary. "I need a shower."
"There's no time for that!" Hermione yelled, wringing her hands. "Why don't you use that spell you read about over the summer - Madam Malkin's Instant Cleaning Spell or something?"
"That was meant for robes, Hermione, not humans. You, of all people, should know-"
"Oh, well, sorry - take one after breakfast, then. We're getting our schedules and we need to get down to the Great Hall."
I harrumphed theatrically - although my ears did perk up a bit after I heard the phrase 'getting our schedules' - and decided that showering could wait another hour or so. "Let's go, then," I said. "Accio hairbrush," I mumbled as an afterthought, running the brush through my already-glossy black hair and then tossing it back in my trunk, one foot outside the door.
"Come on, already! Is it possible to go any slower?" Hermione remarked for about the fiftieth time as I continued my slow lope up the several flights of stairs leading away from the dungeons, completely ignoring her comments.
"Yup," I said, demonstrating just how slow I could go by stopping mid-stride and inching my toe a bit farther every few seconds.
"Oh, Christ, Shae, I get it. Now can you please -"
"All right, all right," I said, quickening my pace so much that Hermione had to practically jog just to keep up with me.
At long last, we reached the Great Hall where the first breakfast of the school year was being served. Long lines of sixth years stood in front of the seats of each of their Heads Of Houses, and other students took advantage of the teachers' distraction by participating in various forms of tomfoolery - levitating silverware off of tables and hitting each other in the backs of the heads with them, using Incendio on other students' hats, and plenty of risky stunts they wouldn't dare pull in front of their professors.
"These lines are effing gigantic," I said, slightly miffed that I hadn't gotten up earlier and that I hadn't listened to Hermione while she was telling me to go up the stairs faster.
"Well, maybe if you had actually-"
"I know. Whatever. Let's go."
Walking over to Professor Snape's line (thankfully, the shortest one) and giving a quick wave to Hermione, who was making her way over to the opposite side of the room where Professor McGonagall was assigning the Gryffindors their classes, I folded my arms and leaned against the stone wall in wait.
Abruptly realizing that I was starving, I looked around to see which platters looked appetizing. Choosing one piled with bacon, I spoke the Wingardium Leviosa charm and chuckled quietly at the bewildered faces of the second years sitting near the platter as I urged it towards me. I grabbed a few select pieces and, with an almost imperceptible flick of my wrist, placed it back where it lay seconds ago.
I munched quietly, growing more impatient with every minute that passed and with every person that walked down the aisles, schedules in hands. Some were softly smiling, and others were positively grimacing. I only hoped I wouldn't be grouped with the latter.
Finally, the student in front of me was finished, and I approached Snape, half-anxious, half-excited as to what classes I'd have this year.
"Ah, Miss Finchley, I thought you'd never arrive. Late, as always."
"Sorry, Professor."
"I must say, I was hoping your perpetual tendency to be behind schedule may have dissipated, but I suppose my hopes were too far-fetched. No matter, we'll fix you up this year," he said, the ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. "I am sure you've seen your O.W.L. scores from last year, but maybe you need to, shall we say, refresh your memory?" he turned the paper he was holding in his hands towards me, and slid it slightly, so I could see better.
Astronomy -E
Care Of Magical Creatures -P
Charms -O
Defense Against The Dark Arts-O
Divination - D
Herbology- E
History Of Magic - A
Potions - E
Transfiguration - O*
*Eligible for seventh year course. See Head Of House for details.
As soon as I nodded, signaling that I had finished reviewing my O.W.L. scores, Snape slid the paper back towards himself and reached for another sheet - my schedule.
"You will be moving on to become a N.E.W.T. student in Charms, Defense Against The Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Astronomy, and Transfiguration. Funny... all the classes and one extra that you need to become an Auror, Miss Finchley."
"Oh, I won't be becoming an Auror, sir. I don't think it would work out for me, personally..."
I could swear I saw a glimmer of approval cross his face. "What is it you wish to do, then?"
"Honestly, I'm not really sure yet, sir."
He gave a curt nod. "Here is your schedule. I expect you to be on time for my class this year. Detentions if you are not - oh, don't look at me like that, Miss Finchley, I know you expect me to let you... slide, seeing as it is your first day."
"Yes, Professor."
"Now, as you should have noticed, your Transfiguration score was perfect, and the undeniable skill you have demonstrated with the subject in the past has garnered you a recommendation from Professor McGonagall, making you eligible to enter her seventh year class. Professor Dumbledore has incorporated this into your schedule so that you have no choice but to take that particular course. I trust that the difficulty level and amount of work that goes along with it will not interfere with your performance in other classes. Is that clear?"
I pursed my lips and held back a groan. I had been hoping for a basically free Transfiguration class this year, since everything we would be learning I had already known how to do for at least a few years in advance. "Yes, Professor," I said begrudgingly.
With that, I quickly grabbed my schedule from Snape's waiting hands. Staring down at my it, I walked to my House table, half-paying attention as I sat next to a few of my Slytherin friends, Anna and Evelyn, who knew enough not to bother me while I was reading such important texts as this.
"Defense Against The Dark Arts first... then, oh no, Potions..." My face crumpled with disgust at the order in which my classes occurred. "At least it's a free period after that... but still, I wish I hadn't gotten into 6 N.E.W.T. classes..."
"Oh, come off it, Shae, at least you were smart enough to get that many! I only got into 4! And those are all the ones you missed in... except for Astronomy..." Anna said, leaning over to compare her schedule with mine. "And you don't have any free periods with me at all."
"What about you, Evelyn?" I asked.
She studied mine from upside-down. "I've got Charms, Herbology, and Defense Against The Dark Arts with you. I've also got Care Of Magical Creatures and Divination, which you don't..."
I glanced around the room. "What time is it?"
"It's 8:03," said Evelyn, quickly looking at her watch.
"I'm gonna go take a shower before Defense Against the Dark Arts. See you guys."
"Aren't you going to have breakfast?"
"My shower is more important. Plus, I stole some bacon from some second years while I was waiting in line."
Anna and Evelyn glanced at each other, both of them shaking their heads.
"What?" I questioned, wondering what the shakes of the heads were for.
"Nothing," Anna replied, a small smile on her face.
"Whatever," I said, shrugging. I turned quickly and began to weave my way through the tables and groups of students who had elected not to sit down. Due to a large congregation of rowdy seventh years (who I didn't wish to tangle with at the moment) blocking the easiest route out of the Hall, I reluctantly forced myself to pass by the dreaded Gryffindor table. Just because I was friends with three of the members of that House did not put me in favor of any of the rest of them.
Thankfully, many of the Gryffindors in my year weren't sitting at the table - either they were getting their schedules from McGonagall or they were standing up, comparing the afore-mentioned schedules with those of their friends. A few paces away from me, however, a group of boys who I recognized as being my age sat, most likely unconcerned with things like the order in which they would have classes. One of them subtly nodded in my direction and nudged another one with wiry, thick hair and a strong build, who I recognized as being Cormac McLaggen. Cormac turned his head toward me and winked suggestively, lips parted slightly, while his friends looked at him, laughing to themselves.
I looked straight ahead, trying to force down a smirk and failing halfway, shaking my head slightly. I passed them, finally appreciating how much of an ordeal it was to get out of the Hall when it was the first day and extremely crowded. Shoving the giant oak doors open, I raced down the stairs two at a time. Mid-stride, I realized that, since I hadn't been present when the passwords for the portraits were given, I wouldn't be able to get into the common room on my own. The only reason I could get in last night without knowing the password was because one of the other Slytherins had forgotten to close the door after entering, and I was able to capitalize on that mistake and waltz in without anyone noticing. "Maybe they gave it to us at the end of last year and I have it written down somewhere..." I said halfheartedly, opening my black bag and rummaging through crumpled papers and folded up notes I had jammed in there when I didn't know where else to put them. "Or I'll get lucky and it's 'pureblood' again, for about the fiftieth-"
In my distracted state, I didn't notice someone walking quickly towards me, looking distracted themselves, nor was I expecting to crash into that someone and drop all my things on the ground. Full-out ready to start screaming at whoever it was that should've been watching where they were going, I opened my mouth, only to realize that it was my one and only best friend, who I hadn't seen since the end of last year and who I trusted beyond measure, Azrael.
"Aze!"
"Shae."
We both said/yelled each others' names at the same time.
"Aze, where the hell have you been all summer? I sent something like twenty owls! I even Floo'd myself to your house once. Your mother screamed me for that one, but that's beside the point - I was so worried about you!"
"I was... around," he said cryptically, still managing to maintain the supreme calm he always exuded.
I arched an eyebrow, conveying in that single movement that the phrase 'I was around' was not about to cut it for his explanation for what he had been doing all summer.
Seeing this, and glancing around to make sure no one, not even the portraits on the walls, were watching, he leaned down and whispered as quietly as he could muster - more of a breath, really, "I'll tell you later, after classes. It's not exactly something I'd want to start talking about here in the open," he gave the barest hint of a grimace and his voice switched back to a normal tone. "Besides, I'm about to go and get murdered by Snape for being late, so... I guess I'll see you."
"Alright, but you'd better be prepared to answer every single question I can possibly think of when I ask you later. And I mean it."
"Shae, I know you too well to think that you wouldn't mean it. And don't think you're not getting questioned yourself - I heard about what happened on the train yesterday, even though I wasn't there myself," he said, walking away towards the Great Hall. Just as he was rounding a corner, I yelled:
"Wait! What's the password for the common room?"
He stuck his head around the corner. "It's Slughorn at the moment."
"What? Are you serious?"
"Of course not. It's Mudbloods suck."
"Aze!" I shouted, not being able to keep myself from laughing.
"Sorry. Phineas Nigellus."
"Thanks, Aze. See you."
Almost before I had the chance to take one more step, Azrael's head turned around the corner again. "Umm... just so you know, it might smell a little bit in there. I had one of my, err... episodes... with someone's pet again."
"What was it this time?"
He flashed me a devilish grin. "Pansy's cat. She's going to have to get a new one."
I rolled my eyes. "Nice one. I'll be careful."
At last, Azrael disappeared, and I bolted as fast as I could for the common room. When I reached the stretch of worn, ancient stone wall that would become the doorway, I spoke the password, Phineas Nigellus, and watched as the faint lines of a door appeared on the wall, finally rising slightly from the existing stone and opening on its own. I slipped inside and was immediately assaulted by the awful stench of a dead animal - literally. Putrid meat coupled with the unmistakable odor of old waste products and just a hint of something rotting was enough to make me want to run for my life - Azrael had made a fatal error when he had said "it might smell a little bit". It smelled a lot in there.
"Jesus Christ..." I said nasally, pinching my nose with my fingers. Staying in the main part of the common room seemed like a bad idea to me, so I swiftly climbed the stairs leading to each of the boys' and girls' dormitories. "Aze is definitely getting a little talk about conducting his experiments outside instead of in the damn common room..." I muttered, annoyed.
Half an hour later, I burst out of the common room, just in time to race into the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom, skidding on the floor as I came to an abrupt stop. I had forgotten - this year, Snape was the teacher. And Snape's class meant assigned seats.
"Nearly late again, Miss Finchley... pathetic. Take your seat." Snape motioned to a spot in the middle-right spot in the classroom, next to some nobody Ravenclaw kid called Matt Gretchen. I noted with perhaps too much glee that the seat was also on the opposite side of the room from Draco, putting a pretty sizable difference between the two of us.
Thank goodness... I thought, grateful for at least one thing that day.
"Any trouble and you will immediately be moved next to Mr. Malfoy. That animosity is no secret, I daresay..." he muttered.
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," I whispered as I sat down, earning a barely-concealed chuckle from the kid, Matt, next to me. I glared at him, my contempt for generally any non-Slytherin showing plainly on my face. That shut the kid up fast. Most people, even ones who weren't in my year, had a pretty good idea of how angry I could get and what I was capable of if the need happened to arise.
My eyes scanned the classroom and quickly found Azrael a few seats behind me. "I haven't forgotten!" I mouthed to him as sneakily as possible, then pointed two fingers towards my eyes and then towards his in an 'I'm watching you' motion.
The corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile, and his eyes flicked back to Snape.
"Since you have all had me for each one of the six years you have already spent here at Hogwarts, I expect you all to already know the rules you should use as your guidelines while inside this classroom. You are N.E.W.T. students now, and even though some of you have gotten here through skill," he glanced surreptitiously first at Draco, and then at me - I knew Snape loved the both of us, even though he pretended to hate everything I did, considering I tended to cause trouble, particularly where Draco was concerned - "others by cheating," then staring pointedly at the kid next to me, "and others by sheer luck," finally landing a short, sharp gaze at nearly everyone else in the room, "you will have to keep up, or else you will immediately be dropped from Defense Against The Dark Arts. This year you will learn about highly advanced concepts for defensive magic, discover how to ward off the most powerful Dark charms, and build up your arsenal of protective spells, among other things, all of them most likely out of your mind's capacity to grasp. Good behavior is a requirement, and any of the opposite will result in severe punishment. Am I clear?"
A murmur of agreement flowed throughout the room. None of us were particularly excited to be working with Snape for an entire year on advanced, difficult magic - that, I could certainly tell.
"Am I clear?" he repeated more slowly, eyes narrowing.
We all replied with the slightest bit more fervor this time, silently hoping Snape wouldn't punish anyone on our first day.
"Very well. We'll begin the year with a review of everything you've studied up to this point. I sincerely hope your previous lessons haven't completely escaped you, no matter how insufficiently they have been taught in the past."
We began with simple, easy charms like Protego and Expelliarmus that I had already known for quite a while - in other words, things that nearly put me to sleep, and which caused my partner to break out in a cold sweat because he had never actually known them in the first place. Then, we moved to more recently-learned topics, ones I still had almost no trouble with, and that again, Matt could barely even pronounce the incantations for. He's not going to last long, I thought.
That fact only reinforced something that had been in the back of my mind since I had begun learning the magical arts here: Hogwarts was cutthroat, and sixth was going to be the year when everything changed.
"You free the period after this?" I asked Aze, more curious than ever as to what he had spent his entire summer doing.
"Like I said, wait until later tonight. Less people around that might be listening," he said, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
I mocked a groan. "Can't even tell your best friend what you've been doing for months. No matter how mental you are, that's just pathetic."
"Not as pathetic as your annoying begging!"
I grinned then and punched his shoulder forcefully, causing him to stumble just a bit and almost drop one of his textbooks.
"You'd better watch it, Shae, or I'm not telling you anything," he said playfully, chuckling a bit.
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, just shut up, Aze."
It felt good to be back with my best friend, laughing and joking like we had done right from the moment we met, long before we even got our Hogwarts letters. But, naturally, nothing good could ever last, and before I knew it, Draco Malfoy was yelling at me from down the hall.
"Hey, Finchley! How many O.W.L.s d'you fail? I'm guessing all of them, besides DADA, and you only got in there because you cheated off Granger."
"Yes, I failed all of my O.W.L.s, that's why I'm heading towards the Potions classroom and not the common room. I've decided I'd like to spend some quality time with Professor Slughorn," I said, each word soaked in sarcasm.
"Just tell me, Finchley, what classes have you got? I'm trying to keep my talking with you to a minimum."
"Why do you care, Malfoy? Worried I'm going to Transfigure another one of your body parts by "accident" like I did last year?" I asked, forming air-quotes around the word "accident". There was absolutely no accident about what I had done - not by a long shot.
"No, but obviously you're worried I'm going to switch your Pepperup Potion with dyed Veritaserum for the third time in two years. Or I could always go with my original thought, that you're too embarrassed to admit you've failed all your O.W.L.s."
"I haven't freaking failed all my O.W.L.S., Malfoy - more than I could probably say for you."
Apparently Draco was tired of our insulting banter. In one swift movement, he snatched my schedule out of my hand and took out his own, comparing them while jogging down the hall for a few paces so that I couldn't simply grab it right back.
"I am so fucking sick of you, Malfoy! GO AWAY AND GIVE ME BACK MY SCHEDULE!"
He stopped, the smirk on his face managing to be both disgusted and amused at the same time. His eyebrows lowered and raised quickly, just another one of the annoying habits he had that I had noticed over the years. "Have fun with the schedule, Finchley. Glad to know I'll be seeing a lot of you this year," he said, loping off, his gait confident and sure. I hated that about him - his arrogance, his iciness, his smile that sent your mind reeling with everything that he had hidden behind it.
It surprised me to think that I was almost the exact same way.
"That stupid boy is going to be the death of me, I swear," I said with enthusiasm, my cheeks flushed with anger, watching him walk down the hall.
"You say that too often," observed Azrael.
"I know," was my only reply.