A Snake's Crutch Book 1

Part 23: Narrow-ish Escape

The ride back to Hogwarts wasn't as bad as y/n thought it would be. Blante was really the only Prefect who told her what she could and couldn't do. All the others seemed to be quite comfortable with her. At the moment, y/n was sitting next to a girl named Penelope Clearwater, a sixth year Ravenclaw Prefect. Y/N had the window seat 'So you can't escape!' 

Across the table, sat another sixth year Prefect, but from Gryffindor. His name was Percy Weasley, but this boy seemed the opposite of Ronald Weasley, his younger brother. This boy seemed very refined. Polished badge, ironed robes, immaculate hair. He seem the opposite of Ronald actually. 

Although Penelope was very kind, Percy seemed very agitated, and y/n had a feeling that Blante had thrown her at them and ruined a moment. He kept trying to give Penelope silent messages with his eyes to let someone else 'babysit' her, but she just ignored them and kept talking to y/n.

"So, you think you're supposed to be in Ravenclaw, but the hat put you in Slytherin, and now you're playing Draco Malfoy's mother?" Penelope was clearly intrigued. 

"Er...yes?" Both girls laughed. "I don't think you could say I'm playing his mother, more like he only seems to listen to me. It's quiet annoying really."

Percy stood up angrily and straightened his robes. "I'm going to go find something to eat."

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Sorry about him. He likes our alone time."

"That's okay," y/n laughed. 

"You know, it sounds to me like Malfoy wasn't going to try anything. I think he knew you'd come to stop him. He couldn't find you, so he wanted to cause a scene to get you to stop him. I think he just wanted you to show yourself. He was never going to do anything, which is why he tried to stop Blante from getting mad at you." Penelope gave y/n a smug look. 

"Uh, no. I don't think Draco is smart enough to plan something like that," y/n said, and again both of them laughed. 

"Well, maybe he's smarter than he acts." Penelope winked at y/n. "Well, too bad you weren't a Ravenclaw. I think you would have been a great asset to our house."

"Thanks. I--"

"Conductor says we are about five minutes from the station," Percy interrupted.

"I thought you were looking for something to eat?" Penelope gave Percy a look that softened him up a little bit. "Y/N, why don't you sneak out? I'll cover for you. Go." Penelope stood up next to Percy and grabbed his hand when he opened his mouth to retort.

Y/N escaped and went to find her fellow Slytherins when she ran into Neville. He was crying as he walked down the corridor.

"Neville, what's wrong?"

"I'VE LOST TREVOR," Neville wailed. "I can't find him anywhere! What if I left him at home!? Gran will kill me!" 

"Okay, okay! Calm down. I doubt you've actually lost him. Maybe he's in your compartment," y/n said, taking Neville's arm and walking him back. When they got there, Trevor was on the seat. 

"TREVOR!" Neville lunged for him and caught him right before he hopped away. "Thank you, y/n!"

She laughed. "That was pure luck! I was going to bring you back here to retrace your steps to the last place you had him! Hello Trevor!" Y/N looked up and noticed someone missing from the compartment. "Neville, where's Hermione?"

Neville didn't look away from Trevor, probably worried he would disappear again if he did. "She went off to ask the conductor when we would be arriving." He chuckled nervously. "You would think, with all the books she reads, she would have found a map of the tracks and memorized it," he said, followed by more nervous laughter, as if it made him uncomfortable to make such a joke. 

"Neville, if you're only saying that to me because I'm a Slytherin and you're worried I'll tease you, there is no need. If I can help it, none of my other friends will either."

Neville's nervous grin turned genuinely happy. "Thanks y/n."

Both of them felt a shift in the train's speed.

"Well, I'd better go find my friends! Don't loose Trevor again until you are actually in Hogwarts, how about?"

"Okay," Neville said with a small laugh. Then he waved her off. "Bye y/n!"

Y/n waved back and began towards her friends' compartment. As she went, she saw bustles of people, hiding away sweets in their trunks to be eaten later in their dormitories, and even ran into a few snogging seventh year Hufflepuffs. 

Finally reaching her compartment, y/n found all four boys, somehow squished together on the floor, and all seven girls, standing on their seats, yelling at the boys to knock it off. The boys had all managed to use the Leg - Locker curse on each other, but tangled themselves up to bad to get wands up to counteract the curse. 

"What in the devil--AH!" 

Crabbe had noticed y/n's feet on the ground and seemed to think Draco or Blaise had escaped their pile. Grabbing her ankles, he yanked, sending y/n backwards with a thwack!!! 

"Ouch! Crabbe, what are you doing?!"

The fight froze, and everyone turned to y/n.

"What are you doing here?" Blaise asked rudely.

"I thought Blante had you carried off to the Prefects car until they could turn you in." Sarah jumped off her seat to help y/n up.

"Actually, I met a really nice Ravenclaw Prefect and she let me sneak out."

"Nice?" Crabbe raised a large eyebrow. 

"Ravenclaw?" Goyle acted disgusted.

"Prefect?" Blaise grinned annoyingly. "Aren't they all just as snobby and annoying as Blante?"

"Oh, shove off! She was nice, and she helped me escape. Would you rather I was stuck getting in trouble and facing Snape because Blante is too big of a power-hungry git?"

The three boys hesitated, earning them multiple scowls and an elbow to the ribs as Draco finally broke free of the wall that was the two massive boys and Blaise Zambini. 

"No," Draco said scowling at Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle. "No one thinks that."

After a long moment of Draco glaring at the boys, Lillith broke the silence. "We saved you some treats! We didn't know what happened to you and we figured you'd be hungry,"

"Thanks!"

So they all dove into the treats and had a good time. None of them had a clue what they were in for when they got back to school...or rather, y/n didn't. 

As the train pulled into the station, Hagrid, along with a few other professors, bundled in heavy winter gear, guided the students back to the horse-drawn carriages. Even poor Professor Quirrell, shivering to death in his turban. 

"H-h-hello, Miss y/l/n! H-how was y-your Holiday?" Quirrell walked alongside y/n's group, getting confused looks from all the Slytherins. He had never showed any particular interest in any of the Slytherins, let alone a random group of first years. 

"Um...good, Professor. How was yours?"

Professor Quirrell laughed nervously. "Just st-stayed at school a-and gave you y-your m-m-marks. You should be v-very pleased to know th-that you scored v-very high on y-y-your most recent essay. But d-don't tell anyone I t-told you, ey?" 

Then Quirrell noticed Snape coming toward them from across the platform and turned around to leave. Y/N shared a confused look with all her friends as Snape sauntered over to them. 

"Good afternoon. How was all of your Holidays?" Snape didn't necessarily look happy, but he didn't seem at all angry either. All y/n could think about was her suspicions that this was only the beginning of a very odd end of term.