Freaks: Year Two

A Home For The Whole Earth

Alabaster had a sleepless night.

Not that it was necessarily a bad thing; it was a mix of nerves and upset because of what Theodore had said – the words just repeating over and over in his mind – but also excitement because he was finally at Hogwarts.

He fell asleep eventually, but it wasn't for long. He didn't know the time when he had woken up, but he couldn't stay in his bed any longer. He couldn't listen to Theodore's words being repeated over and over and over in his mind for one more second. He needed to get up and move on from the hard truth.

He slowly got out of his bed, and looked around blearily, trying to make his eyes adjust. It was hard to see in the dark, and he almost tripped, but he steadied himself using the bedpost.

He took a breath, thanking that he had not fallen flat on his face and he went to his nightstand, grabbed his journal, and as quietly as he could, went down the stairs.

The Slytherin common room was naturally cold, so Alabaster was not looking forward to when winter came along, but besides that, the common room was pretty cool – especially with the view of the lake.

He remembered how he had wanted to draw a fish and he was going to do so until he remembered his cousin saying how stupid it was and how fish weren't a normal thing to get excited about so he decided against it no matter how much he wanted to.

He saw Fiona sitting on one of the chairs reading, so he decided to sit beside her on the next chair over. "Good morning."

"Morning," Fiona answered. She looked up from the book she was reading and then to the clock which would make a hissing sound whenever it reached a new hour. "You're up early."

"I should say the same for you."

She put the book down in her lap and stretched, raising her arms up in the air and then cracking her knuckles before saying, "Well...the girls aren't too happy with me being there."

"In your dorm?"

She nodded.

"Well that's not very nice of them," Alabaster said with a shake of his head.

Fiona shrugged as she had been expecting it as soon as the hat had called out Slytherin. "It's fine."

"Still, I'll talk to Eve...if she'll listen to me, but I will try."

"She's your cousin right?"

Alabaster nodded. "Yup."

Fiona sighed and rubbed her eyes.

Alabaster bit his lip. "I guess you don't like Slytherin so far."

"Well...no," Fiona said. "The girls in my dorm are hard to talk to...I just can't wait until classes start."

Alabaster wasn't sure what to do. He knew Theodore had said there was no point in befriending anyone, but he didn't want Fiona to have a bad first day at Hogwarts. The people in their house didn't seem to like her because she was a part veela, but she did not deserve to be miserable. "Let's do something fun," he said in an attempt to cheer her up.

Fiona looked at him. "Like what?"

"Well...I don't know!" he exclaimed. "What do you like to do when you have nothing to do?"

"Annoy my brother, but he is not here." She closed her book and continued, "I like to stargaze, but that is impossible as it is morning. I also like to read and paint. What do you like to do?"

Alabaster chewed on his lower lip again, in thought. He didn't really know what he liked to do. He liked to draw and talk to his sister and brother, and he liked playing piano and ballet but that was about it and he was not sure if Fiona would like those hobbies so he decided to keep them to himself. "Well...I don't actually know."