Slytherin Poison

nine

I loved Hogwarts.

For the first few days, we had our schedules completely full.

Every Wednesday at midnight we had Astrology and three times a week we had Professor Sprout at the greenhouses. History of Magic was the most boring class. All we really did was watch as Blaise kept trying to put his arm around Daphne. Charms came easily to me and Draco, but his enthusiasm for Professor Flitwick fell flat when the small wizard toppled at Potter's name on roll call. 

"Defense Against the Dark Arts was a complete joke," Theo sighed the moment we left Quirrell's class. "The garlic smell was disgusting."

"And I thought that was you letting out gas," Blaise grinned in response.

"There's something... off about him," Draco frowned as he spoke to me. "Almost like his stutter is..."

"Fake?" I offered, nodding.

The only reason we knew this was because one of my Gran's old friend came and she had a stutter. The way she stuttered was completely real but Quirell seemed to add it on like a second thought. 

It just wasn't genuine.

"Maybe we're looking into it too much," Draco sighed as we followed Theo and Blaise to our next class in Transfiguration. Pansy and Daphne were behind us a bit and they looked like they were in a heated argument that I did not want to join. 

I nodded thoughtfully, "Why would a professor pretend to stutter? It just doesn't make sense."

Whatever Draco was going to say faded away because we came up to face a sterner woman in emerald robes. 

"Take a seat, everybody," she stated the moment we all got in. The chatter we had completely stopped from her expression. "As you all know, I am Professeur McGonagall. I will be your transfiguration teacher for the year."

She demonstrated changing something to a chicken before handing us a quill each. Her assignment was to change it to a needle and it was harder than I thought it would be. I had thought McGonagall would be prejudiced against us but she seemed to be the most credible teacher so far. 

Even Theo and Daphne, who had always been raised like pureblooded socialites, grudgingly respected her not unkind tips. 

"I don't know how the both of you did it," Daphne huffed to me when we descended to the great hall. "I couldn't even get a bit of silver on my quill."

"I only got rid of the feather and made it silver, Daphne," I responded, amused, "Draco actually turned it to a needle."

"Please," Daphne scoffed. "Draco excels at everything, the blood idiot."

Draco probably had the highest marks of all of us and though I wasn't remotely surprised, Daphne always groaned about how unfair it was.

"Let's eat quicker," Blaise came up to us, excited. "We finally have potions later."

I exchanged a grin with Draco. 

We've been waiting for that class the whole week.

"Oi!" Blaise suddenly yelped as a package dropped out of nowhere, nearly hitting him on the head. "I always knew Grida had something against me!"

Grida was Blaise's owl, one he seemed to dislike greatly. Eagerly, Daphne pointed up and we saw flocks of owls fill the great hall. Bear was immediately there with a letter in his beak and a huge package in her claws.

"Here," Draco handed me the pumpkin pastries his mother gave as I automatically handed him the chocolate frogs. "Mother keeps sending me them."

Blaise groaned and passed Daphne the bonbons his mother gave him. "Not this again. I told mother I didn't like the bonbons but the-"