You Only Live Once

CHAPTER 9

 "Okay, I wasn't expecting this turn of events"

The sorting had taken place just half an hour ago and Mira had found herself, once again, in a corner , surrounded by the same people she was earlier. Mira had walked in with the first years and patiently waited for her name to be heard.. Once she was up there, sitting on that stool she felt everyone's eyes on her. A sixteen year old getting sorted wasn't something they saw every year. When the sorting hat shouted the word 'Slytherin' she couldn't help but gasp. Nothing could prepare her for that, in her mind she was more of a Ravenclaw. Pandora had waved at her to join them at the Slytherin table which she did, hesitantly. Turns out her guesses earlier were right. Pandora introduced her to the four boys as she did with the Carrow twins (making a face behind their back). Barty and Pandora were the ones that talked the most , with the additional comments of Evan and Theodore. Regulus hadn't said a word despite a few sniggers here and there.

"Well no one was Ro" Lily said with a sad smile.

'Well I did" Sirius said proudly. While everyone else was worried about Mira and how she would deal being on her own in the Slytherin common room Sirius had a smug grin on his face.
'Ignoring that" Marlene stated, flipping him of.

"Look guys. The way I see it, it's a good thing. Being one of them might actually give me a chance to survive all this. They wouldn't hurt one of their own."

"Ro's right, guys" Mary agreed with Mira, while everyone was still deep in thought.

"Mira" a voice sounded behind them. It was Barty who walked alongside Pandora. "Everyone else has gone to the common room. Are you coming?"

"Just a minute" Mira replied giving them a smile. 'See? It'll be alright" No one still said anything, until Remus sighed deeply.

"Alright , come here" he said and he engulfing her into a hug. "Sleep with your eyes open" he whispered in her hair making her chuckle.

"See you in the morning , guys"

....

The Slytherin common room wasn't nearly as warm and welcoming as the Gryffindor one. Maybe it had something to do with its location. The dungeons were chilly and darker than any other place of the castle Mira had seen, she almost shuddered, feeling a cold going through her as soon as she entered that dimly lit corridor. Although the windows , from which you could see the inside of the black lake, gave the room a majestic look. Mira couldn't help but daydream about sitting by one of those windows, reading one of her books.

Everyone muttered a 'goodnight ' to one another before Pandora took Mira's hand once again to guide her to their dormitory. Thankfully the bed closer to Pandora was unoccupied, so they could be close to each other. Alecto occupied the other side of the room, something that both Mira and Pandora were grateful for. Pandora had shown Mira everything she needed to know and they chatted in whispers sitting on the floor between their beds until they were too tired to form a single sentence.

Sleep wasn't interested in Mira though. When she opened her eyes again it was still dark. She thought maybe the morning had come but they weren't able to see it from the dungeons. Much to her disappointment it was still four in the morning. Knowing that it was no use trying to sleep again she wore her shoes and decided to go down to the common room to explore everything she could. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep though. Someone was sitting on the couch, their figure illuminated by the fire's light.

"Potter?"

"Nott?"
"What are you doing up?"
"Could've asked you the same thing" They were now staring at each other waiting for someone to break the silence between them.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Nott suggested , standing up from the couch and moving a little too close to Mira.

"Sure" she shrugged . 'Sure' she said when everything inside her had said no or run or find any excuse. He wouldn't do anything to her right? Not at her first night there. Not on school grounds.

"So, where did you come from exactly?" Nott asked and Mira replied with the made up story Dumbledore had instructed her to, that she was home schooled until recently that her mother and brother died and her father decided it was best for her to go to Hogwarts.

"Well...I'm sorry?" even at the form of a question Mira couldn't help but be surprised . Had the Theodore Nott just say...he's sorry? After that, she tried to change the conversation, which was easy because as it seemed Theodore wasn't too keen on talking about family stuff. They went from one topic to another, in whispers of course, while carefully roaming through the corridors, which were surprisingly empty. Mira even found herself laughing , which she couldn't believe she was doing. For just two hours she had forgotten who Theodore Nott was.

"It's 6:40" he announced at some point.

"Yeah, we should probably-"
"Take my jacket so you won't get cold and come with me" Mira, who had expected him to say that they should head back to their common room just stared at him , feeling quite surprised. She had imagined he wouldn't want to bee seen with her or spend so much time with her for the matter. "I wanna show you something but it's outside. We wouldn't want you to get sick during your first day, would we know?" he explained, before passing her his quiditch jacket.

She followed him outside and she had to admit , it was quite chilly. The Hogwarts grounds were beautiful, especially this time in the morning when they weren't crawling with students and everything was peaceful She quickly realised they were heading to the Quiditch pitch, which was a million times bigger that what she had imagined. He got a broom that was laying around and mounted it, waiting for Mira to join him.

"I won't let you fall, I promise" so hesitantly Mira mounted the broom as well. "You got hold on Potter" he said in a sing-song voice and Mira held his waist with shaking hands. Before she knew it, they were on the air and on the bleachers where they sat.

"You get the best sunrises here" he stated once they were sitting, making himself comfortable

"I didn't have you for he kind of guy who watched sunrises , Nott"

"I didn't have you for the girl that sneaks out on her first night at school with a guy she barely knows but here we are"

But she did know him. And that should have been enough reason to stay behind, but she didn't. And she enjoyed it.