Chapter Two
The dungeons were Derek Souza's least favourite part of the castle. He tried not to venture down the cold stone steps towards the Potions classroom unless he had to. Walking through those dark, shadowy corridors always brought up bad memories – memories of the years before Kit Bae had taken him in. He'd missed plenty of Potions lessons in his six years at Hogwarts, but the Potions Master rarely minded. Derek was a star pupil. He did his homework, he kept his head down and he had never disrupted a class.
Of course, there was another reason why Professor Davidoff had never confronted Derek about his truancy. Fear.
It didn't matter that Derek was the cleverest in his year. Didn't matter that he kept to himself, rarely caused any trouble and rarely ventured out of the library during his free time. No matter how hard he tried to seem unintimidating, some adults would always see him as a troublemaker.
Simon – ever cheerful – would say it was the constant scowl. Their dad would say it was his attitude. "You might not show it, but your professors can sense which pupils don't respect their authority," Kit Bae always told him. Derek didn't know if this was true or not, but if anyone would know, it was Kit. His adoptive father had been Hogwarts' Herbology professor for the last four years. And it was true enough that Derek didn't respect his professors. There were only two people in the world whose opinions really mattered to him – Simon and Kit.
Derek reached the Potions Master's office and rapped sharply on the door. It swung open immediately.
"Ah, Derek," said Professor Davidoff. The greying professor squinted up at him with an uneasy smile. "Good, you're here."
"You wanted to see me, Sir?" Derek asked. He tried to make the 'sir' sound sincere.
"Yes," Professor Davidoff said, opening his door wider and gesturing for Derek to take a seat inside. "There's a matter I wish to discuss with you. A project of sorts that I've been working on. Something that I believe could be beneficial to the both of us…"
xx
"What I don't get," Simon was saying as he, Liz and Chloe strolled through the grounds one frosty morning, "is why our Chloe here is a Gryffindor. I've never met anyone so hardworking and loyal. You're more Hufflepuff than half the people we have to share our common room with!"
Liz shook her head, laughing. "Oh, believe me, she's Gryffindor through and through. Just you wait and see."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Stick around Chloe long enough and you'll find out."
Simon raised an eyebrow as Chloe over Liz's shoulder. Chloe smiled and shrugged, veering to the side to avoid a ghostly woman. The Hogwarts grounds were always full of ghosts enjoying the brisk Scottish weather.
It had been two weeks since Chloe had run into Simon in the hallway and now they seemed to be crossing paths every other day. Whenever Simon saw Chloe in the hallway he would call out to her. The first time this had happened Chloe had jumped so high in the air that she'd actually lost her balance and fallen to the floor. Simon had helped her up – apologising profusely – and accompanied her to the Hospital Wing where Madam Levine had given her an ointment for her bruised knees. Since then, Simon had taken to complimenting her a lot. She told herself it was just to make up for startling her that day. It couldn't be anything else.
This morning she'd run into the two prefects as they patrolled the grounds, clearing ice from the paths and checking that any of the younger students venturing outside were wrapped up against the cold weather. Chloe liked to walk outside in the mornings. It cleared her head. Simon had called out to her and he and Liz had offered to walk with her back to the castle.
"Come on, I'm intrigued now," Simon wheedled, nudging Liz's shoulder. "I didn't know you two knew each other so well."
"We don't," Chloe said quickly. "I just… helped Liz out of a sticky situation one time. No biggie."
Liz snorted. "She's being modest. She was a first-year at the time and I was terrified but Chloe came to my rescue. No one else could've helped me."
Chloe shivered, but not from the cold. Dread seeped through her veins. No one else could have helped me. Liz didn't know how true her words were. Chloe hastened to change the subject.
"The Sorting Hat did consider putting me in Hufflepuff," she said. "Have all your family been in Hufflepuff, Simon?"
Simon laughed and shook his head. "Nah. Dad was a Gryffindor and my mother went to one of the European schools. And you know my brother, Derek, right?"
Chloe nodded, uneasily. Everyone knew Professor Bae's adopted son by sight, although Chloe had never actually spoken with him. She doubted many students had. He was something of an enigma. Hushed rumours swirled around the school about Derek Souza, the surly Ravenclaw boy.
"And dad's parents came over from Korea, so I'm actually the first Hufflepuff in our family," Simon continued, proudly.
"Me too," said Liz. "Both my parents were muggle-born Ravenclaws."
"My dad's a muggle," Chloe said. "But I'm pretty sure I've got some magical lineage on my mother's side. I mean, my aunt told me –." Chloe stopped abruptly and began to fiddle with the fraying ends of her scarf. "S-she said something like that."
Simon and Liz exchanged glances, but said nothing.
"I really love Muggle Studies," Chloe said suddenly, desperate to fill the awkward silence. "You know those moving pictures muggles watch? They're like enchanted photographs, but they play on a loop and tell a story. They're called movies."
Simon nodded. "Yeah, I've heard of them. Funny how muggles come up with these bizarre ideas."
"Well I love them," Chloe said defensively. "I used to watch tons of movies as a kid. I wanted to be a director. That's someone who makes movies. I don't know what I want to do now. I guess I still want to help the muggle world in some way."
"That's a nice idea," said Liz as they walked up the last few steps and through the grand arched entranceway. "I still have no idea what I want to do when I leave Hogwarts. I just wish I could stay here forever."
Simon grinned. "Professor Vegas told me yesterday that if I didn't get my act together I'd end up staying here forever. Don't know why she cares about her subject so much. I think she just makes it all up."
Chloe shook her head. It was well known that Professor Vegas, the stunningly attractive Divination teacher did possess some inner-eye. Before teaching at Hogwarts she'd travelled around the world performing séances and delivering very accurate prophecies to live audiences of witches and wizards. However, very few students could successfully read the crystal balls and tea leaves in her Divination class. Chloe happened to be one of rare few who could. Professor Vegas claimed that Chloe had a natural gift for the subject.
Chloe was about to reply in Professor Vegas' defence when they turned the corner and came to a halt. The corridor was in a state chaos. Peeves the Poltergeist was dangling overhead from a brick notch in the ceiling, waving two hardback books just out of reach of a very angry Ravenclaw boy. Peeves was cackling madly while the Ravenclaw let out a string of curses. Though the Ravenclaw was twice Peeves' size, Peeves was quick. Every time he lunged, the poltergeist would zoom to the other side of the corridor, leaving the boy growling in frustration.
"Uh oh," Simon muttered, his eyes on the Ravenclaw.
Chloe stepped forward and cleared her throat.
"P-Peeves!"
The poltergeist froze instantly, his cackle echoing hollowly through the corridor and fading as he turned reluctantly towards Chloe. His whole frame seemed to droop to one side as he fixed her with a baleful frown.
"Miss Saunders," he said silkily. "Didn't see you arrive, milady."
"Peeves," Chloe said again in a stern voice. "What exactly do you think you're doing?"
Peeves looked faintly abashed.
"Give him back his books, Peeves."
"C-Course I will, milady. Just as soon as we're finished here. Peevesy was just having a bit of fun. All in good humour, you know –"
"Now, Peeves."
The books fell to the floor at her command. The Ravenclaw boy scrambled to shove them back into his satchel before Peeves attacked again.
"Thank you," Chloe told the poltergeist. "Now leave. And I don't want to see you tormenting people in this corridor again, Peeves, d'you hear?"
Peeves dove down and pulled a grotesque expression that sent Simon and Liz jerking backwards, but he nodded stiffly at Chloe, as if he couldn't control the movement. Then he swooped away down the corridor and out of sight.
Chloe let out a shaky sigh and leaned back against the cold stone wall. She hadn't been sure that he would obey her. She still didn't understand why he did. Why all ghosts did.
Simon let out a low whistle and said, "Okay. Now I understand why you're in Gryffindor."
Liz smiled. "I had some problems with a poltergeist back in second-year. It wouldn't stop following me around everywhere. No one wanted to go near me for weeks, but Chloe sent it packing in less than a minute. But I've never seen anyone stand up to Peeves before. Chloe, that was amazing."
Chloe shook her head and smiled. "H-he probably just mistook me for someone else," she said.
"Maybe," said Simon, but he didn't sound convinced. He turned to the Ravenclaw boy who was hanging back, standing in the shadows. "You okay, bro?"
Chloe started. She hadn't paid much attention to the huge, bad-mouthed boy Peeves had been tormenting before now – she'd been preoccupied with standing up to the poltergeist. But now that she saw him properly, she realised who he was.
It was Simon's brother. Derek Souza.
Derek stepped out of the shadow. Chloe had walked past Derek in the hallways before and she'd seen his hulking frame hunched over the Ravenclaw table plenty of times as he devoured twice as much food as the rest of his classmates, but she'd never seen Derek this close up before. The first thing she noticed about Derek Souza now was his eyes. She'd never seen eyes of such a vivid green colour. Even in the half-light they seemed to gleam, like the eyes of a cat.
Derek grunted something – probably a "yes" to Simon as he swung his satchel back over his shoulder. He stepped fully into the light and raked a hand through his black hair. Simon patted him lightly on the back.
It was a bizarre sight. Derek and Simon standing side-by-side looked as different as it was possible to be. Simon was on the short side but he was handsome and had plenty of admirers. It wasn't hard to see why – his exotic looks and easy smile always turned heads. His brother Derek didn't have the same appeal. Tall and wide, Derek Souza always seemed too big for his surroundings. Chloe felt tiny just looking at him. His robes were baggy, while Simon's were freshly pressed. And though Chloe knew that Derek Souza was the smartest in his year, no prefect badge gleamed on his uniform. His dark hair hung in greasy, matted clumps and looked like it hadn't been cut in a while. All in all, Simon gave off the impression that he really cared about his appearance, while Derek's appearance suggested the opposite.
"Um, hi," Chloe squeaked, feeling that she ought to be polite.
Derek glanced at Chloe. For all their depth, his green eyes were expressionless. He muttered something to Simon, slapped him on the back and strode away.
"A thank you would've been nice," Chloe muttered as they watched him leave.
"Don't mind Derek. We're still trying to teach him manners," Simon said jokingly, though his black eyes were full of worry as he stared after his brother.
"We've got to get back to the Common Room before breakfast," Liz reminded Simon, tugging on his arm.
"Right," he said, tearing his eyes away from the spot where Derek had vanished. "Yeah. Let's go. See you, Chloe. Oh, and next time I see you, you've got to tell me how to use that trick on Peeves, deal?"
Chloe grinned. "Deal."
He smiled at her and then sprinted off with Liz. Chloe let her grin drop as soon as they were out of sight.
Great. Two more people I've slipped up in front of. And if Simon Bae knows about me, the whole school might as well know…
But he didn't know anything, she reminded herself. Next time she saw him she'd gloss over the entire episode and convince Simon that Peeves had just reacted to her firm tone of voice or something. And if he didn't believe that, she'd figure something out. There was no need to panic.
She turned to head to the Great Hall when something caught her eye. Another book lay open on the floor with its pages bent like Peeves had thrown in away before they'd arrived on the scene. She picked it up, noting its surprising weight and yellowed pages. She turned it in her hands and read the faded title.
Experimental Potions-Making: Taking the First Steps towards Treating the Currently Untreatable (Volume 1)
She frowned. Had this book belonged to Derek, too? It must have, though she didn't think it was required reading for sixth-years. This text didn't look like something she'd read about in Potions classes. It looked advanced, far too advanced for a Hogwarts student. Still, she slipped the book into her own satchel and vowed to return it as soon as possible.
A/N: Theories, anyone? Feel free to guess where you think this story is heading in a review. As before, anyone who leaves a signed review will be sent a preview of the next chapter!