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Chapter 14
At break time, on the first academic day back, talk about the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Mad-eye Moody, was spreading through the school like an infectious disease. It was clear that he was no ordinary teacher, especially by the way he acted. Being an Auror - and an important one at that - meant that you had to be serious and obedient with rules; however, Moody seemed to be everything but responsible.
Instead, he pulled faces to senior members of staff and disobeyed the rules of punishments. He had no shame in turning students into animals, like Ferrets, as Alora found out on her first day.
Alora's first lesson at Hogwarts was Herbology in the large glass rimmed greenhouses. It was taught by Professor Pomona Sprout, though students weren't able to call her Pomona during lessons. She didn't particularly enjoy the subject of Herbology, though she found herself intrigued by her already extensive knowledge in the subject. It must have been a book she read, she thought. Another reason she didn't enjoy the subject was because Slytherin was accompanied by Gryffindors, which meant that Harry Potter was in close proximity of her, and that was becoming a recipe for disaster.
His name brought a wave of sickness and distaste to her lips, so much that she felt the feeling imbed itself into them, creating a never ending ball and rage of fire to caress her stomach.
She didn't like how it felt.
Being a Riddle came with many challenges, yet the most prominent one was staying away from the Potter boy. He and her shared a magnetic force that attracted the other towards them, they were like magnets, drawn to each other from their strength of attraction. Though it wasn't the kind of attraction she had read about, she didn't feel butterflies or fireworks when they conversed. Instead, she felt anger, and hatred, and annoyance.
Why was he so damn suffocating?
Her next lesson was Divination, a subject she had no control over picking. Unlike many of the diverse house students in that lesson, Alora believed in most of the stuff they started learning; something inside her encouraged her to listen to what was being said, through all of the waffle and nonsense, Alora felt like she actually was being taught something. Call it intuition or even superstition but, it was the way she was communicating with a force stronger than her.
They were trying to guide her.
Charms with the Ravenclaws was after Divination, and Alora finally felt like she could breathe again. She was sat next to a boy named Arlo Claybrooke, a boy that showed no excitement or fear to be sat next to Alora.
She liked that.
Unlike her past lessons, she had been sat next to people with too many questions she wished not to answer, though she didn't ignore the person completely; that would have been rude. Instead, she diverted her attention towards them.
