The Marauders of Slytherin

Houses Of The Holy

Weeks quickly turned into months as the weather outside got colder and the schoolwork kept piling up. We had a test week coming up before Christmas Break, and in all the fuss I had forgotten that I would be back with the Malfoys soon. Draco must miss me a lot by now, I kept thinking. Here, I hadn't managed to make very many friends, but the thought of spending the holidays with my family, away from this place somehow didn't appeal to me. Mattheo was always around, and he was certainly entertaining, but he was always with Theodore and didn't really bother to be more to me than just a partner in crime. It was my duty to keep an eye on him, but I seemed to take that more seriously than he did. Astoria still turned a cold shoulder to me, and Lorenzo was sweet, but didn't really say much. I felt kind of bad for him, being stuck in a dorm with the inseparable duo. Seeing it that way, we had something in common.

In class, I had to sit next to students from other Houses, and the only ones who appealed to me were two Ravenclaw girls. Ophelia Ollivander (a great grandniece of some sorts of the Wandmaker), and Juniper White. Everybody – including the teachers – made fun of Juniper and my last names when attendance was taken. I liked them a lot, but we weren't going to be real friends. I was a Slytherin, and that was enough. They were nice to me, but they never were anything other than that. It became clear to me when we were talking after class, and they invited Rosalia Khanna and Julia Roberts (two Gryffindor girls) to join them for lunch.

"See you tomorrow, Thalia!" And they left. They probably didn't even know I wanted to join them as well, or just didn't even think of the possibility to invite me.

What I did love about this new life, was the amount of freedom I had. Alright, maybe schools aren't the perfect institutes to grant people freedom, but in contrast with my upbringing, I loved how much I got to learn and do every day. There were rules, but they didn't bother me. Not just because I frequently broke them, but because the rules were silly and didn't even have serious consequences. Still, the time seemed to bend toward the holidays, and the closer we got, the faster it went by. Until the day came that I stepped back into the manor, with a grumpy Mattheo at my side. Lucius had insisted that Mattheo would spend Christmas at Malfoy Manor, where it was safe. He had reluctantly come with me to the Malfoys, but only because Theodore had also left Hogwarts for the holidays. Apparently, he didn't like the snow, which turned him into Bocuk the Winter Witch. Her Balkan myth had been a question on the test of Defence Against the Dark Arts, which professor Rakepick had given me an A for.

"I'm heading up to my room." He stomped upstairs and left me and Lucius with all the stuff at the door. Dobby came to the rescue.

"Where is Narcissa?" I asked Lucius, who threw his wet coat over Dobby. He collapsed under the thing and Lucius tutted.

"I don't know, probably in the dining room. Why don't you go and deck the table. The Elf is too lazy to do it." The latter was snapped at Dobby, who whimpered at his master's disdain.

Dobby had started pulling the suitcases towards the stairs under a subdued 'hngmf'. He was probably going to break a leg. I went to the dining room, which was not even lit. In the darkness, my eye was attracted to a flickering yellow light coming from under the guest room's door, slightly ajar. When I came nearer, I could make out Narcissa's voice over the sound-muffling spells. I peeked inside through the small slit and saw her bent over the fireplace with her back towards me.

"What do you want me to do?" she hissed. "Tell him the truth?"

"I don't know Cissa–" I stiffened. It was Bellatrix. I had to take a step away from the door to not impulsively barge in and talk to her, ask her if she was alright, but quickly came closer again to hear her better. I didn't even know it was possible to make a fire-call from Azkaban. But the Malfoys were bribing-experts. I supposed they could arrange it just this once. "You're always the one lying to cover up –" Bella continued.