Across any Divide

Chapter 16

She was lost. Well and truly lost this time.

Every damn corridor looked the same, and this one didn't have live portraits she could ask for directions! Casey huffed, scowling in indignation at herself for not thinking more ahead. She trudged down the corridor towards the next hallway, accepted her fate and knowing she'd probably truly be late for Transfiguration now.

Five minutes later she was so thoroughly lost that Casey nearly screamed in indigence. Where was a damn Maurader's Map when you needed one?

"Lost?" A cheerful voice called to her, echoing down the corridor.

Casey spun around so quickly she nearly fell over, shoulders sagging in relief when she saw a student dressed in Slytherin robes standing a ways away from her.

"So fucking lost," Casey answered as she trotted towards the boy, a sheepish smile on her face.

The boy was handsome - brown hair flecked with light streaks, hazel eyes. He could probably have made a killing in the muggle world as a model. Casey came to a stop in front of him, sticking her hand out. "Casey Bonaccord."

"Ah, the new girl," the boy shook her head with a mischievous grin. "Theodore Nott, pleasure to finally meet you."

A genuine smile broke out across her face, "Likewise."

"Where were you trying to go?" Theo asked as he directed her down the corridor.

"Transfiguration," Casey said with a sheepish smile. "I found it yesterday, but I went wrong somewhere today."

"Somewhere very, very wrong," Theo chuckled. "Two floors wrong, and it's the west corridor not the east."

"God damn it," Case cursed, rolling her eyes and scrounging her mind for what she had done incorrectly. "All these corridors look the same!"

Nott laughed out right, looking down at her with a glee sparking in his eyes, "You aren't what I expected at all."

Casey rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue at him as she asked, "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Theo shrugged innocently as they came to the foot of a stairway, "You might live in America, but your family name is known. When you hear the name Bonaccord you think of the prestige and influence that comes with that. I assumed you'd be more... proper, I suppose. Snooty, even."

Casey's nose wrinkled, but her green eyes twinkled with merriment. "You're rich and don't seem snobby. Why would I be any different?"

"Ah, yes, but I'm a rarity in our world," Theo said knowingly, "You'll understand when you meet Malfoy and Riddle. They're as snooty as they come."

Casey barely managed to control the flutter of excitement that surged through her, but she managed to answer sarcastically, "They sound delightful."

They reached the top of the stairs and continued down another hallway that looked the same as the other one had, only with more windows. Theo smiled, but it was strained. "They could have been really good people, but the war changed a lot."

Casey didn't feel it was her place to question that statement any further, despite the burning curiosity to understand what he meant. "I suppose something traumatic like that would change a lot of things about a person."

Theo managed a grimace, "Yes, well, that's how we got in this whole mirror mess to begin with."

Right - the infamous, mystical mirrors. She nodded knowingly, as if she understood his predicament and carefully phrased her words to sound as inconspicuous as possible. "How's yours going?"