Disc.- So I still don't own Harry Potter. That's an ongoing thing and all.
This Story…- And here's the third chapter, the children easing into school life, getting a general feel for things. I'd also like to say that Lily isn't an awful person, no, but that she definitely doesn't understand things from Pet's point of view and she can't see the difference in the way they're treated which only makes a larger gap between them. And again- if it seems like I am bashing certain characters, this is through Pet's pretty immediate viewpoint, and they're only eleven right now. We don't see every little bit, we only see things she mostly perceives. And I'm sure that while the Marauders are bullies (because they were), Snape certainly wasn't pristine in his time either. Neither party could be considered innocent and that's fine because in the end. Again. Who they are at eleven certainly doesn't mean that they'll always be the way I'm portraying them right now.
Also also- be prepared for vicious Ravenclaw. And I am repurposing certain things, you'll see as you read.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Due to a curse on the position itself? How does someone even put a curse on a job like that?" a boy whose last name Pet vaguely remembered as Wildsmith asked as they were led by the Prefect boy. He'd introduced himself as a sixth year Prefect Simon Spiers, babbling along cheerfully about this portrait they'd passed or some anecdote about that statue. Naturally, the inquisitive children listened but it was sort of a background noise.
"It's not cursed," Vi spoke up, "It's just jinxed. Has been since Professor Merrythought retired."
"Read that in one of the books? In Flourish and Blotts?" another girl piped in curiously and Vi nodded along easily. "The one I read said it really only brings the worst out of whoever was dumb enough- er, brave enough…" she hurriedly tacked on, "To take the job. I mean, I couldn't really understand some of the things it was saying about why they thought that might be but it was really interesting!"
"I say it's all rubbish." another girl groused, scowling. "There's no way it could be cursed or jinxed or whatever! It's probably just that Dumbledore is really bad at hiring people."
"But Professor Dumbledore isn't the only one evaluating and reviewing applications and their subsequent applicants." the Prefect suddenly butt in. "It's certainly not just Dumbledore who runs the school y'know. We've still got a Board of Governors, still have Ministry mandated subjects and regulations to follow and it's not as if any of the professors hired here are just dunces and dolts. They have to go through a lot of screening to be professors in the first place." he lectured them. The girl who'd had the bad attitude (since she was sorted, Pet thinks) scowls harder, staring down at the floor in furious embarrassment. Pet doesn't think they'll be getting along with her, and good riddance to the potential friend if that was how she was going to be when they hadn't even been here for a full day. It'd certainly be her loss anyways.
"Say, how long is it going to take getting to our new common room? How long will it take do you think, for us to get from the Great Hall to it? Or back to the Great Hall?"
"Excellent question, five points to Ravenclaw for strategic forethought." he grinned at them with a wink.
"But Prefects can only deduct points can't they?" Wildsmith frowned at him and he grinned a bit more widely.
"Correct. And only from their own House. Just seeing if anyone would catch that but since we're Ravenclaw I suppose I should know better. Either way, for your little legs it will only take maybe twenty minutes from the entrance to the Great Hall. But, if you use a few shortcuts you'll get there within ten minutes."
"Will we be shown those shortcuts?" Snape asked warily, standing close to Vi given she was the only one he really knew besides Pet and Pet had made clear that she would be ignoring him for what he'd said earlier.
"Not from me you won't!" he told them gleefully and Pet was definitely getting the strong feeling that he wasn't a cheerful person in a friendly way but a rather sort of mean way. And that she might not believe everything he said. "But by all means, you can certainly ask the other prefects or Ravenclaws. Just don't expect to get that favor without having to return one. Welcome to the hierarchy kids, and you're at the bottom of it." he grinned again, "Prepare to be bossed around and run errands for older years, since the first year and especially your workload is so much easier and lighter than the other years. In fact, until Third Year you likely won't be climbing up the ladder, so to speak. Look at that, I was just nice enough to explain it. Some Prefects don't do that and it's a nasty shock."
"We won't be doing any of that," Vi murmured gently enough to a nervous looking Snape that only Pet overheard. "I've already got the shortcuts we need."
"…How?"
"Research." she said easily. "If an older year tries to bully you into something though, tell me." Snape looked about to ask what she would be able to do about it but nodded anyways. Pet glanced at her sister, touching her elbow to get her to lean closer so Pet could whisper in her ear. Vi considered it for a moment before turning her eyes back to Snape. "By the way, you never did say whether or not you knew any magic."
Snape jumped a little, paling and wearing a startled guilty look. Vi's continuous, unblinking stare; the few people she'd forced to endure it were always quick to give whatever she wanted from them before, Pet had noticed, and it was no different now.
"It…It was mostly potions. And mum's old books." he mumbled, twisting his robe in his hands nervously. Vi's stare didn't let up as they continued their trek to their tower. He winced, then reluctantly spoke again, "Sometimes, I may have…May have used her wand when she wasn't paying attention…I wasn't very good though."
Well of course not, Pet snorted to herself. Not only was he using a wand meant for someone else, but he was only eleven! Their magic was still weak- like Vi had continuously told her, it was like a muscle and consciously using it with a wand would slowly help it along. And that it would of course be weaker now than say, this time next year. Even if it was only a little bit stronger. Practice makes perfect and all. Not that she was going to say any of that to that berk.
"I heard that Ravenclaw is the most cutthroat House." someone spoke up.
"Slytherin is-" the girl with the bad attitude (Pet was a bit happy that she hadn't bothered remembering her name) began.
"Ah ah ah, little Vaisey. Slytherin is the House of fraternity." Spiers grinned again. "And the 'acceptance' in our list of official Ravenclaw traits is in regards to new knowledge and theories, not to our social lives. We are the most vicious House. You'll see that soon enough, trust me; sabotaging a fellow 'Claw or other students for a higher spot in academics is practically a House quality. Oh sure, Slytherin can be cunning all it wants. But Ravenclaws are the ones who sneak about the most, dig into the most things we aren't supposed to, the ones planning out ways to get ourselves ahead the most. They play social games. We don't." then he shrugged, his vicious grin being replaced for the friendly cheerful one of earlier. "If you want a politician, go to Slytherin, if you want charisma and mine fields to tiptoe in for conversations, go to Slytherin. But knowledge is power. Ravenclaw is for those who don't care for all of those politics and niceties because we know where the real power is. Why do you think people associate gossip with Ravenclaw more than any other House?"
"Blackmail?"
"You bet your Ravenclaw crest blackmail!" he laughed happily, as though they weren't talking about being morally disinclined somehow. But Pet could see that because if it benefitted her and Vi, she would amass all the knowledge she could and the rest can rot.
"But…But I thought that kind of stuff was for Slytherin? Ambition and-"
"Pfft. They have ambition but you certainly don't see, in any year, a Slytherin in the top five in any classes. Those are almost solidly occupied and monopolized by Ravenclaws. With a few exceptions of course, but those exceptions are few and far between." he waved off idly. "In my opinion, Slytherin ambition is either shortsighted or based on stupid cultural traditions."
"…Blood purity?" another muggleborn girl asked timidly. Diane Williams, Pet remembered her for her interesting beauty moles.
"Exactly. We're going to straighten this nonsense out right now, let me tell you because while we can be awful to eachother we don't like people in our House holding onto stupid ideologies." Pet saw quickly who made faces at that, ones that spelled that they might just have those said 'ideologies'. "Doesn't mean there aren't people like that in our House but generally, we're just plain too smart to believe in those kinds of things. Now, because our History professor is a ghost who teaches about nothing but the Goblin Wars with outdated material I will tell you that way, way back in the day, Slytherin was right to fear muggleborns."
"What?" one boy gasped, not the only one shocked. Vi and her had already talked about things like this before coming here.
"Religious nuts tend to try to kill magic folk and there were helluva- er, quite a great number of them back then. It was an extremely valid concern back then, that the muggleborn families would spill the secret because there had been a lot of cases where a child born with magic in a muggle family was killed by their family for it. However, Slytherin turned his anger and fear on the muggleborns irrationally, he decided that muggleborns weren't worthy of the magic they were born with. It didn't help that many of the muggleborns of the time were raised to believe that witchcraft was evil and generally recoiled from the traditions already in place and not many of them were schooled beforehand, leaving a good chunk of them illiterate. A few even outright detested magic, claiming they were all going to be condemned, that they were all freaks, yada yada yada."
"They thought that? Even when they had magic?"
"A few were convinced they were kidnapped and possessed. Because if the family was deemed dangerous to their magical child or if they abandoned their child, they were kidnapped to the magical world. Not all of them were nutters, but there were a good deal of them that thought it was the magical world's fault that they were cast out, not because their families were in a mad cult."
"Mad cult?"
"I think most religions are cults but that's a personal opinion." he explained briefly before jumping back into his explanation. "So anyways, Slytherin had a reason for his anger and whatever. But then, because he began to hate them and hate does funny things to perception, he decided witches and wizards born from muggle families or with muggle blood weren't good enough to have magic. Now anyone with a brain will realize that not adding muggle blood every so often will mean inbreeding. And because this section of Europe- Blighty, Ireland, Scotland- tends to stick to itself, it means a smaller gene pool."
"A what?"
"Who can, in simple terms, explain this?"
"The gene pool is where we get our genes from and we get our genes from our parents. Anything hereditary, looks, health, magical traits can be attributed to the genes we get from our parents that they got from their parents and so on." One boy answered cleanly. "Mum's a science educator." he tacked on.
"Very good, Mr. Powell." Spiers nodded. "And when Purebloods inbreed; marrying their first or second cousins, uncles or aunts, any of that; there's a higher chance of producing a squib or those whose magic levels can't be invited to Hogwarts. For example, when a 'bloodtraitor' goes off the main family and has a child with a muggle or muggleborn, that child's magic will likely be stronger than if the 'bloodtraitor' married another Pureblood. And when I say Pureblood, I don't just mean a first or second generation because a real Pureblood would scoff and still call them mudblood, I'm talking about the old school families."
"You- you said-"
"Mudblood is a derogatory term for those who don't know and very much frowned upon. I don't care for it but it's a stupid way to call someone, especially if the person they're calling mudblood likely has stronger magic."
"What? There's no way mudbloods are stronger than a Pureblood!" the sour girl whose name was apparently Vaisey spit out.
"Of course you'd think that, little Vaisey, of course you would. But if you'll read anything published by the Confederation of Wizards in the past forty years, you'd really know better than to think that."
"My daddy says the Confederation is nothing but a bunch of useless mudblood upstarts." she hissed. What the hell was she thinking, mouthing off at an older student who'd only just earlier talked about how vicious Ravenclaw was? She was going to make herself a target, more than she did before. And not just for him. She could see other faces looking at her in either outrage or shock. Pet knew her own mouth was turned down in hostility.
"But those same mudbloods, as you say, have power from all over the world, have access to all over the world and has witches and wizards from all over the world. They are the strongest magical power in the world and they hold power over our own Ministry. If they were useless and weak, they wouldn't have that power now would they? For that matter, if anyone goes out of the country they can expect their blood purity to drop in value. As in, no one cares about it because most magical communities have dropped that useless and oftentimes detrimental ideology. But because Hogwarts is the only magical school in Britain and Slytherin was a Founder, we still have it going strong."
"Durmstrang-"
"Durmstrang doesn't allow muggleborns, yes. Durmstrang isn't the only school in that area. It's just the most famous one over here because again, blood purity fanatics who hate muggleborns run rampant here so that's the only school there they pay any attention to. And it's not Pureblood only because of blood purity. In case it's escaped your notice," he said with a vicious undertone but with kind smile still in place, "The muggle and magical worlds are separated. Of course they're going to have separate schools, since Purebloods already know things that muggleborns wouldn't. The separate schools ensure that muggleborns learn everything they need to alongside regular classes. How to use a quill and parchment, about the legal systems, about the banking systems, anything that deviates from the muggle world to the magical world. And their own government is chock-full of muggleborns and halfbloods and their laws are much friendlier to creatures and beings and yes, Dark magic because of it."
"But then what about halfbloods? Hm? Because they can't go to Durmstrang!" Vaisey argued hotly.
"…Who in the nine hells told you that rubbish?" he asked after staring at her for a few quiet moments. "Of course they accept halfbloods, as long as they were raised in the magical world even partially. And in Durmstrang, their 'muggle studies'? Is actually accurate. Ah, another warning about classes- don't take the Muggle Studies course when it's offered because it's so backwards I can gag. Only thing it's good for is a laugh and even then it's not worth it."
He grinned and stopped the group who'd, for the most part, become distracted during their chat.
"Welcome to Ravenclaw Tower!" he said cheerfully. "As some of you may have noticed, it's in the west side of the castle, and on the fifth floor we have here a set of stairs! If you'll all follow me up these lovely stairs- hope none of you get vertigo easily-" he babbled as they began an ascent up a tightly curled spiral staircase, hidden in an out of the way and very thin corridor. "We'll get to the entrance! C'mon, c'mon, no pushing, don't want to fill the Hospital Wing before classes even start!"
"Ugh, why are there so many stairs?"
"Ow! You stepped on my foot!"
"Quit shoving!"
Pet sighed at all of the noise around them, one hand in her sister's and the other in a tight fist as she scowled darkly. When she glanced back at her sister to make sure no one was crowding her, she briefly saw her other hand being held tightly in Snape's who looked downright squeamish to be packed in so closely with the others. There were, after all, twenty new First-Years cramming up a tiny set of spiral stairs together behind a boy Pet was now entirely sure was a sadist in some form. And while she listened to him, she took his warnings about their new House with a grain of salt because there was no way it was as immediately ruthless. Because unlike some of their new yearmate's, they'd read from previous students. While she believed that they would be pushed about, she didn't think they'd be outright treated as servants. Though there were cases of that in the letters and essays, it wasn't exactly an 'all-of-the-youngest' type thing. And it was mostly just helping rather than being a servant. So really, she thought he was just trying to unnerve them. But she trusted his words on blood purity and about Durmstrang. They might not have many books on the other magical communities of the world but Vi had managed to acquire a few and while they haven't gone through them together (having been too occupied reading up on the home turf and new school), Pet did think the whole blood purity thing was cockamamie shit.
Still, they followed him up the steps.
"Alright! Can everyone see this door here?"
"It's a door? It doesn't have any knobs or handles!"
Pet peeked over a few heads to try to see.
"Yes, very observant of you! But do you see this huge eagle knocker? It talks! I call him Barley, like barley sugars but y'know, some people have their own names for it." he shrugged and Pet huffed.
"I'm going to call it Dip Dab." Vi said behind her and Pet sighed.
"I thought you liked lemon sherbets more?" she asked. Truthfully, Violet was a sugar fiend. She loved any and all candies but she was especially a sucker for chocolate or lemon sherbets.
"Well I can't just call it Lemon, Pet, that'd be strange." her sister answered her and Pet shook her head, some of the aggravation of being cramped in with others easing because she would call it Dip Dab but not Lemon?
"Alright, alright, listen up!" and they turned to attention as Spiers turned to the knocker. "Right then. Barley, something easy for the kids will you?"
"What has no beginning, middle, end and touches every continent?"
"The ocean." he answered confidently and Pet blinked. She'd thought it'd be some sort of intangible thing, like war or knowledge or something. Not something so…Literal.
"Sometimes we overthink and feel all the more silly for it, but not everything has a difficult answer." her sister told her. "Don't worry too much, I'm sure it won't be hard if it gives out riddles like that. If it is, we can just collect a books of riddles or something."
"I heard that, black haired Ms. Evans! That's usually what the knocker does- gives riddles with easy answers to remind us that not everything has layers upon layers beneath it to figure out." Spiers said, even as the knocker said something or other and the door opened up.
When they were ushered in, Pet found herself a little amazed, even more than she'd been in the Great Hall. It was a wide, open circular space with a domed ceiling painted with stars that she believed were charmed as they twinkled above them. The floor was plush and midnight blue with more stars and constellations but didn't look faded or dirty, even with all of the Ravenclaw students. Pet wouldn't lie and say she wasn't interested in those charms or runes or whatever managed that because never cleaning or having to buy a new carpet or rug would really make their home so much better. The windows were pretty and arched delicately and even in the dark, oh Pet just knew that whatever the view was it must be incredible in the light. The bookshelves were light colored and curved to fit the walls, walls that when not made of bookshelves were covered in blue and bronze silk tapestries. Tables and chairs that looked comfortable but not so much that one might be distracted from work to, say, nap. Directly across, there was another door and beside it, Pet was able to make out what must have been a statue. It was tall and of a woman. But Pet was squinting to see even that much because this room was so large.
Well. And she had some bad eyesight.
"Welcome to the Common Room! We've got so many books here but honestly, you're more likely to find Ravenclaws in the library to read because a lot of what's up here is pretty advanced stuff. C'mon, enough gawking at the older kids here- and for you to stop gawking at my kids!" he spoke louder to some of the older students watching them. "This door we're coming up to will be the entrance to the dorms- men cannot go into the women's dorms but they can come into the men's. This is where we'll be splitting the boys from the girls. Oi, Vane! Not you second-year, your sister!" he called out as they got closer to the dorm entrance.
"It's a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw." Vi whispered to her and Snape.
"I thought she'd be prettier." Pet said after a few moments. She was actually pretty plain in face on the statue.
"Well they were still just people Pet. Gryffindor got quite fat in his time teaching, Helga was mostly known for her outrageous bosom size and shortness and Slytherin looked like a gorilla." Vi whispered in her ear, this time solely for her to hear. Pet sniggered at the images her mind made.
"Calm down, Spier, I'm right here." a young woman spoke up. She turned to them. "I'm Agatha Vane, Sixth-Year female Prefect. I'll show you to the girls dorm."
"Goodnight Snape." she heard her sister say.
"Good night Evans." he sighed, nervous again.
"Don't forget to feed Rolo again. And we'll wait for you before we go to breakfast." she said next and Pet sighed.
"Right. Erm…Thanks, Evans." he said quietly but with a disgusting little bit of appreciation before they were being gestured through the door and splitting at the fork. One stairway leading left and the other leading right.
"Can't we just ditch him, leave him on his own?" she asked her sister as they followed Vane.
"If he proves useful…" her sister tapered off meaningfully and Pet sighed.
"He's a nervous little twit! I don't think he can even make friends."
"People change over time Pet, don't be silly. Now that he's here and away from his parents, I think it'll do him a world of good."
"If you say so, Vi. But I swear if he disappoints us, we chuck him straight back with Lily."
"I don't think he will." she answered and Pet made a frustrated noise. Her sister wasn't often wrong.
"Alight, here we are."
"Why are our dorms at the top?"
"You're firsties, and if anything should for some reason happen, you'll be safest back here. I'll bet you my entire trunk that Spiers is telling the boys it's to make the firsties suffer for being firsties so they have to walk longer." she huffed. "Don't take anything he says too seriously unless it's about history. Otherwise, he tends to exaggerate ridiculously just to mess with people. The prick." she snorted.
"He tried to say Ravenclaw is the most vicious House." Vaisey spoke up and Pet glared at her. So did a few of the other girls.
"Oh, we are. I said he exaggerates, not that he lies." the older girl said flippantly, opening their dorm door. "But things shouldn't be too hard on you yet so don't worry too much. At worst, you might be asked to run a few errands when it's testing time for the older years. In you go, you can choose your own beds, your trunks are by your beds but feel free to switch if you want." She told them and Pet looked around. The carpet was the same midnight blue as in the common room but without the stars and the room itself was large and split into two with a divider, a wide arch leading to the connecting room of more beds with trunks. The beds were marvelous and huge and the blankets were deep blue, curtains around it to shield them from either light or cold.
Pet was quick to find her and her sister's side by side, pleased they were by a large window.
"Oi, Evans!" came the call as the female Prefect left. "I want that bed!", it was that Vaisey girl, dragging her trunk behind her as she came to a stop in front of Vi's bed. Vi looked at her blankly.
"No." she said after a moment.
"Excuse me?"
"I said no. This is my bed."
"No," Vaisey scowled, kicking her sister's trunk threateningly, "It's my bed."
Pet watched from where she sat on her own bed passively. So she had a perfectly good view of the way her sister's wand slipped into hand and the muttered spell as Vaisey yelped, collapsing to the ground. It was harmless really, the jelly legs jinx and Vaisey was lucky she didn't get something worse done as Vi pet Cleo contentedly. "This is my bed, Vaisey. Go back to your own."
Pet was pleased at the snickering from some of the other girls as Vaisey glared angrily, shakily trying to get up but falling again before she crawled back to the bed her trunk had originally been by, the one by the door. That girl, Pet thought, would be a problem. She shared a glance with her sister before the girl starting waving her wand, security jinxes and traps being put in place if any of the others got the idea to try anything and Pet carefully, precisely copied her actions and mutters. Her sister seemed to just know how to do everything and sometimes she even used magic without using any words at all.
But if she was clairvoyant, maybe that explained some things. Pet didn't really know but it was in their favor anyways so she didn't really feel the need to question it. She was sure her sister would explain some day but for now, they were fine.
Pet felt a wave of drowsiness, frowning. She'd wanted to stay up a bit longer…
"We should get some sleep Pet. That way we'll be well rested for the first day." her sister said reasonably and Pet nodded, moving to dig out her sleep clothes, her sister and a few other girls doing the same before they migrated around, using the bathroom, making sure everything was taken care of before they chatted together. There were twelve girls in their year, hence the way there were two room for their beds; Diane Williams, Charlotte Vaisey (ugh), Beatrice Bloxam, Irene Rackharrow, Deborah Blortt, Isadora Rosier, Macy Twiddle, Veronica Brocklehurst, Maryanne Greengrass, Marlene Dearborn and her and her sister. Pet was sure she would forget more than half of their names by the time morning comes but still. But only they, Diane and Deborah were muggleborns. Pet climbed into her bed, taking part in the various goodnights to the others before turning to look to her sister.
"Goodnight Vi."
"Goodnight Pet." and both girls shut the curtains around their beds.
xXx
The first two weeks of school, Pet was able to dodge her Gryffindor sister entirely; too busy making friends, learning the names a little better and the layout that Vi was already so familiar with and their new classes. She didn't even have to really deal with Snape either in all the commotion and he usually stuck to Vi rather than her anyways. Classes weren't too difficult and what minor spells and work they did do were things she and Vi had already gone over before coming here. And the history class was the chance to study even farther, if not studying actual history besides what Binns droned on about. Why keep a ghost on anyways?
But anyways, she couldn't avoid Lily forever. She'd caught them one day, Vi and Pet, on a free period. Normally Snape would detach himself from the safety of Violet free periods to spend time with Lily but it looks like Lily found them, Snape slinking on behind her.
"Tuney!" Lily greeted her cheerfully and Pet grit her teeth. "Lettie! Wow, it's been so long already! I was trying to get to you both earlier but you kept on disappearing!"
Pet shooed along Diane, Macy and Marlene, the girls they usually hung out with to turn to her sister when it seemed Lily didn't just want a quick greeting. The three girls looked at Lily curiously- their new friends had been relatively quiet on the other Evans girl in their year but ultimately nodded and went ahead to the library. Pet and Vi would meet them there as soon as the airhead was done talking.
"How are things in Ravenclaw? Sev says some of it's terrible but that it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be," she asked, a bit worried at the end.
"Everything is fine." Pet sniffed. Vaisey had made herself into a bigger target, sometimes snapping at older students who were unafraid of hexing the young girl. She just would not learn to keep her mouth shut and while she felt like Greengrass and Rosier might have some of the same views, those two kept it to themselves. So most antagonism that would be directed at First-Year girls was directed at Vaisey. She knew Spiers and his buddies tended to take advantage of the male firsties though, Vi would sometimes tell her about what Snape would tell her about who was made to do what for the older boys. But even though Snape clung to Vi most of the time, he did seem to be making friends and maybe, just a little, settling in.
"James Potter and his friends are still prats but Remus is nice if you get him alone and so is Peter." Lily babbled on, "I swear, whenever he opens that big mouth of his, nothing but stupidity comes out! And Black only ever talks about how evil Slytherin but did you know, the Blacks-"
"Are a traditionally Slytherin Pureblood family. Yes, we did know." Pet cut her off sharply. "It was in Pet's book of famous families."
"Oh- right. I forgot you had that book honestly." Lily smiled sheepishly. "But isn't everything amazing here? I'm having a blast! I'm still not so good with the quill and parchment but Sev here is teaching me!"
"You mean you didn't try to practice at all before coming?"
"I thought it'd be like paper and pencils or pens." Lily shrugged, "But it's so difficult sometimes! I wish I could have gotten one of the charmed ink pots instead so I wouldn't keep spilling the ink or putting too much on my quill." Lily sighed and Pet shared a loot with Vi. She'd grabbed ink wells, pretty fancy ones in all sorts of interesting colors and qualities. Pet's favorite so far was a shimmery pink one. But on their essays and homework they were really only allowed to use plain black ink.
And yeah, learning to use a quill was hard but that's why Vi had looted them practice quills to help. A very small part of her debated on giving one of the charmed practice quills to her redheaded sister but the thought was gone as soon as it had come. No way was she sharing with her. She could go on as she had. Besides, if that was why Snape left them alone free periods, she wasn't about to do something that might have him staying with Violet otherwise. Even if it was likely that he would still go to Lily instead, there was always the possibility.
Snape might be making some friends but Vi was still a safe spot.
"Do you have help in Ravenclaw to help you learn?"
"We practiced before coming here. Practice makes perfect." Pet responded automatically than scowled a little. She didn't want to encourage Lily's talking.
"Oh! Like you said with the wand movements? Maybe when we go home, Sev and I can practice with you?" Lily asked brightly and Pet stared at her. Because no, she did not want Lily and her dewy-eyed puppy interrupting her and Violet's time together.
"But we're only at home for two weeks during winter hols," Vi spoke up. Since coming to Hogwarts, she had taken over social interactions regarding people Pet didn't like so much, a drastic change to how she was before coming along. Maybe it was her clairvoyance thing, that she simply just fit in better with the magical world than with the muggle one. Ah, but in the magical world it was called being a Seer. Pet didn't think her sister would be spewing out prophecies but she did know a lot of odd things. "So we'll probably spend most of it with mum and dad."
"Oh…Well that's true I guess…" Lily frowned.
"Lily Oh, are these your sisters?" a girl called to them and Pet thought she very, very vaguely might recognize her?
"Alice!" Lily grinned. "Alice, this is Petunia and Violet! Tuney, Lettie, this is Alice Meadowes!"
"The girl from the train, looking for the toad." Vi murmured to her and Pet nodded.
"Wow! Lily talks about you two a lot and while I got to meet Severus, it's nice to be able to meet her sisters!" the dark-haired girl grinned at them kindly.
"Nice to meet you as well." Pet said accordingly. She didn't care about Lily's friends though so she couldn't really express any real feeling into the words. Not that she or her airheaded sister seemed to notice. Snape winced behind them, apparently having caught on to how Pet's voice would be slightly different around people she didn't particularly care for. It makes sense Lily wouldn't recognize it considering it was usually the tone she used with her. But Snape was in their House and often around Violet, thus Pet as well by extension.
"Hello." Vi greeted. While she was certainly more social, her voice didn't change much with her emotions. She was still soft spoken and mellow in tone. Whether or not she meant what she said was impossible for Pet to figure out but she knew her sister well enough that it was likely that she was only politely interested.
"Maybe we could all spend some time together?" Alice suggested with a happy smile and Pet pursed her lips to not say something mean to the girl. She hadn't done anything to earn her ire yet other than be Lily's friend.
"We were actually on our way to the library," Pet said, "We're studying." and this had the intended affect.
"Studying? In a free period?" Lily frowned.
"We're Ravenclaws." Vi put in.
"Maybe we could join you?" Lily asked after a few moments of internal debate between having to study but also spend time with her sisters. Pet frowned, jaw clenching.
"Our friends," Vi spoke up, "Are nervous around the different Houses."
"Really?"
"You wouldn't talk to a Slytherin would you?"
"No way!" Alice balked at the idea. "But those are Slytherins!"
"What? But Alice, what about your cousin in Slytherin?"
"Well that's different." Alice waved off easily. "Marcus is my cousin and all but he's still a Slytherin!"
"We really need to go. Maybe some other time." Pet spoke up, grabbing Vi's hand to drag her along.
"Oh! Sure…" Alice startled.
"I'll see you later! Tuney, Lettie!" Lily called as they hurriedly escaped. When they made it to their claimed table, their group looked to them.
"I've never really looked closely at her but your sister's eyes are green too." Macy said, looking at Violet. "But they're not like your eyes at all."
"I look more like my great aunt." Vi shrugged.
"You haven't really talked about your other sister very much?"
"We don't get along so much." Pet sniffed.
"Isn't Snape friends with her too?"
"He was friends with her far longer than he started hanging around us." Pet scowled and they traded looks. It'd become apparent that Petunia and Snape had no love lost between them.
"So he wasn't like how he is now?"
"Oh, he was still a hanger-on; he just followed Lily around when they ran off. The only reason he hangs onto Vi now is because she's in a different House." she scowled. "But I figure, once he's a bit more comfortable that will taper off. He was Lily's follower, not Vi's."
"Really?" Daisy asked, already sliding over books for the two. They'd gotten quite close to Daisy, Macy and Marlene so far but they were passable friends with Irene Rackharrow and Deborah Blortt. They'd also made nice with a few of the boys as well; Albert Davies was fairly friendly, as was Marty MacDougal and his brother Morty. They hadn't really gotten around to making too many friends outside of their House but in classes, Pet liked to think they had a few acquaintances by now. Ravenclaw got along pretty well with the other three Houses, even if they were sometimes called dry bookworms. The same way the Slytherins were called slimy liars, or the Gryffindors brash idiots or the Hufflepuffs (poor, poor Hufflepuffs) were called useless. Just stupid mean things.
Oh sure, their teachers so far try to tell them to get along but she knew a moment later they'd pit them against eachother for the House Cup, for Quidditch, any of that. Not so much their own Head of House, the amazing Professor Flitwick and she didn't much think Professor Sprout was exceptionally competitive but Slughorn and McGonagall must've been because there was no way the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin would be so strong if they weren't.
"Say, what's your favorite class so far?"
"I like Charms." Diane smiled at Macy, who smiled back.
"I think I like Transfigurations more."
"I liked the Flying Lessons. But if I had to pick an actual class, I'd say History because it's really just a free period." Marlene grinned at them. Pet sniggered with Macy while Daisy sighed.
"Well, you know Vi's favorite is Potions."
"She does have some sort of sixth sense about it doesn't she?" Marlene hummed, plopping her head on her hand. "What about you Pet?", ah yes, and her roommates have taken to her nickname nicely.
"Me? I suppose for now it's Astronomy. But I already know that as soon as we're able I'll take on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes at least." she said confidently. "So has anyone looked at the extracurricular classes?"
"I was thinking of looking into the one with the xylomancy."
"The divination with twigs thing? I suppose, if you put a lot of stock in divination." Pet shrugged. Sure, her sister is clairvoyant but honestly, Pet didn't think she'd ever be much interested in the subject and she knew Vi wouldn't be picking up that class. "I was looking at Magical Theory. I would like to be in the Orchestra but I can't really play any instruments. Yet." she went on.
"I think the Magical Theory class sounds interesting." Diane nodded. "And you could always join the Frog Choir- but you'll need to be able to sing."
"I can do that." Pet shrugged. Vi had struggled with it for a little while, seemingly tone deaf but in the last few years she'd gotten much better when they would sing with mum so if she did go into the Frog Choir, hopefully she could drag Vi with her.
"I think I'll try Ghoul Studies and Ancient Studies."
"Naturally." Pet nodded with the other girls.
"Well either way, let's get down to business then shall we?"
xXx
"I do like Transfigurations very much," Vi told them quietly as they left the classroom. They had the class with Hufflepuffs. "And the way she teaches." she added on.
"I like potions more." Snape admitted just as quietly and Vi nodded. Every few classes, Pet would partner with Macy or Daisy and Vi would partner with Snape when that happens. Professor Slughorn would watch him and her sister closely sometimes after the first two times they worked together. Which could be because their potions always came out perfectly.
"Potions is good," Vi agreed and Pet sneered a little. She didn't like how casually the two got along but damned if she would try to dictate who Vi should spend her time with. Then she'd be like that awful boy Lily was always complaining about when she wasn't mooning over the school in general.
"But I…" Snape hesitated, "Wish we had a…Different professor."
"I understand." Vi assured him. Well, Pet could agree with that at least. Professor Slughorn was nice and all but he was a little…Obnoxious. Professor McGonagall though, she was a wonderful professor, no-nonsense but she did help them as needed. It was professors like her that Pet liked the best but her own Head of House was also a favorite. Ah, and they'd already signed up for Frog Choir, her, Vi and Daisy. Macy crunched up her nose and Marlene said she couldn't sing to save her life. Pet wanted to insist that she could learn, like Vi did but let it go. Vi certainly wouldn't be getting any solos or anything but she'd gotten much better.
"Alright! Time for lunch!" Albert grinned, butting between Snape and Vi, slinging his arms around both of them. "In my opinion, lunch is the best. Well, it's competing with dinner I guess but still!"
"I swear I'd think you were a Gryffindor, the way you think with your stomach." Morty rolled his eyes, pushing him forward and making all three pitch forwards.
"Oi, it's more than just me here!" Albert scoffed, turning to the other boy. Snape slipped from his grip and Vi easily stepped out of it.
"Are we going or not?" she asked the boys.
"Yes, Ms. Violet." Marty skipped past his brother and Albert, hooking his arm with Vi's, her brother quickly taking up her other side. They were twins and at first, Vi was the only one able to tell them apart- they'd since taken to wearing different ties so they wouldn't get confused for eachother quite as much. But since Vi had always known which was which they'd taken to her nicely.
Vi always had been good at telling twins apart though. Pet huffed, rolling her eyes with Marlene.
"Halloween's almost here!"
"C'mon, you guys could be a bit more excited about it right?"
"I guess."
"I heard they do up the Great Hall." Albert told them with another grin.
"Sounds pretty." Diane said absently, glancing at Albert shyly. "I'll still miss dressing up and going out for treats with my dad."
"Did you really dress up and go out to people's houses? And they gave you candy?" Morty asked curiously. Apparently Purebloods and many Halfbloods didn't do that sort of thing in the magical world. "Easy as you please?"
"Of course." Pet waved off easily. They'd always gone trick or treating, either with one of their parents or with another group of kids when they had to work. Speaking of which, it was around time to write another letter home. They'd taken to writing at least one letter a week to their parents and included a letter for them to give to Mrs. Wyvern. "We'd get so sick in the next few days."
"They have candy, lots of it so you'll still have that." Albert pointed out.
"Sugar coma." Macy said solemnly. Pet shook her head, heading their group down to the Great Hall.
XXXXXXXXXX
Well here's this! It doesn't feel like it's that long but my document is telling me it's like seven thousand words. Happy holidays if you're celebrating!