BITTEN BY A SNAKE

NORRY THE TOAD

That was it. It was the day, well the very early day, actually the night before Hesperia officially joins Hogwarts. Of course her mother was going through it way more than the girl. Especially now, the night before Hesperias leaves. Belladona was unusually quiet after dinner, she probably realized its her last dinner with her daughter for the next almost 4 months. After dinner her mother instead of going outside again to look for Red Junglefowl eggs they would eat for breakfast the next day, she chose to stay inside and sit in the living room couch scribbling something in her notebook. Hesperia didnt know what her mother was writing but she could tell it was something upsetting for Belladona because of the soft gasps of air she could hear from her room. She didnt like seeing her mom like this, but what could she do? Shes leaving anyway, she will basically be away from her mother for 7 years. not including the summer break and the Christmas break but still thats not even 3 full months home.

Hesperia didnt feel like talking to her mother about it and let her be as she continued scanning through her herbology textbook which was surprisingly, like a picture book for toddlers. The girl raised her eyebrows at every plant she saw on the page knowing how much information is missing from the pages and how much that class will slow her down. Maybe the teacher will let her deal with the more advanced plants, for additional grades or something? The girl signed and decided to open a more exciting book, her potions textbook. Which to her relief was better than the herbology textbook. It had nicely written recipes while also explaining what each ingredient is doing and why it does. The girl softly raised the corners of her mouth as she carefully turned the pages scanning through the content she would consume for the next 10 months. To be fair she doesnt know what her Potion Teacher would be like, she just hopes it wont be anyone too colorful or flashy. Potions are about precision and sticking to the recipe, not painting with ingredients. She wished for someone fair and maybe even hardhanded to teach her. Its like working with chefs in different restaurants, if the chef doesnt care or isnt paying full attention to his craft, it will fail and it will taste like burned toad eggs. Speaking of Toads, Hesperia decided to bring one of the Toads from her garden pond. The toads name was Norry, He was an insanely proud Amphibian with a kind of quirky brown almost orange sparkly skin that he was extremely proud of. He keeps himself clean and is a fan of fat juicy larvas that the girl feeds him every day, an occasional fly or a mosquito here and there but larvas were his stuff.

The girl turned her head at the toad who was currently sitting in her window seal, happily croaking while watching the outside world through the opened window. Even though it was getting dark, the wind never stopped being hugging warm. The girl wasnt a fan of the summer warmth, she much preferred the cold winter nights or the rainy autumn days. She raised an eyebrow at her companion who was launching his tongue at the flying bugs and missing mostly which made him annoyedly stomp his little foot. She didnt mind the bugs in her room, usually, she would call her mom who would swoosh her wand and bring all of the insects into a little jar for the toads to snack on the next day, but now she could do that herself, that action didnt even need a spell, the simple swoosh and the somewhat quickly growing connection with her wand she was able to capture the mosquitos into her freshly taken off sock just for that. She glanced again at her pet toad who turned his body towards her in an almost menacing way as she accidentally unsticked one of the bugs that he had captured and was about to munch on. She gave him an apologetic shoulder shrug and quickly released her tight grip from the sock, letting a couple of bugs fly towards their freedom, which ended fast because the toad greedily caught all of them in a matter of seconds and happily trilled at his owner.

As she stood up from her hardwooded desk she decided to finally close the window and while doing so she carefully picked up the hand-sized toad and placed the menace on the nook of her shoulder that he balanced on easily. He liked her a lot, especially the smell of her hair and body wash which was familiar to him, a floral scent, almost meadow-like. The girl quietly hummed at the guy as he unintentionally tickled her by getting himself more comfortable on her bare neck. She was wearing an old sleeping gown which reached down to her ankles, it was made from a nice soft material, without any ruffles or buttons that could bother her at night, basically a very long stretched-out cotton shirt which was dyed in an ugly dirty green color by her mother. She didnt mind it, she kind of got a liking to that color after she noticed nobody likes that shade of green.

As the girl turned off the almost pearl-like bedtime lamp, her room became comfortably dark and cozy, she gave the last look to her toad who was happily crawling to his little in-tank pond with magically running water, which was just the thing she needed to get lulled to sleep.



***


Draco's night was kind of bumpy but still exciting for him, He couldnt sleep, partially because of his expectations for this year but also because of the people he would be going to school with. Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived. His whole life, Draco heard the greatest things about him, How he lived the instant death spell. Draco wanted to know the boy and befriend him his whole life, he had everything planned. Meet him in the train, join his seat, tell him everything about Hogwarts and how Having a Malfoy as a friend would ease his life.

But after the Diagon Alley, it seemed his parents wanted him to befriend the Hesperia girl more than Harry Potter. He was conflicted by this, He had met the girl, he figured he was probably the only boy she had any contact with after he found out from his mon that the Morel family was very closed off. Making Hesperia his friend would be like stealing a lollipop from a child, yet he has to admit, that Hesperia was very pretty. Thats when something clicked in his brain.

His parents had an agreement with the Morel family that they'd marry off their heirs. Of course its what Draco is speculating but the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense. When he eavesdropped his parents conversation he heard they both were wondering about the Darkwood girl, how she acts, what she eats and how she exists.

He thought back to the time he glimpsed through the curtain, the girls long and somewhat curly hair majestically resting on the girls lower back, he remembered her firm yet pretty face, how her eyes sparkled when she had met his gaze and the feeling as if he was struck by hex.

The boy couldnt help but fix his sleeping position and fluff up his pillow before burying his face in it. There was something about that girl Draco couldnt put into words, or feelings in his head. He supposed that marrying the girl later in his life wouldn't be so bad, If she grows up to be more beautiful than she is now, it would be nothing but a pleasure.

He wondered again about her personality. She said hello to him and his mother back at Madam Malkins, so he assumes shes raised well and respectful, she seemed to be somewhat quiet overall, it wasnt a bad trait at all. Draco smiled remembering the surprised face of the girl after he waved to her. He didnt mean to look away so fast though, He mentally cursed Madam Malkin for making him go to the changing rooms so fast.

Maybe hed be able to sit with Hesperia and Harry in the same carriage? The boy sat up instantly, They would be the unbreakable trio. The Silver Three. Harry Potter a Slytherin Prince, Hesperia Darkwood a somewhat majestic yet mystic Slytherin Nymph and Draco Malfoy the Dragon of Slytherin.

Draco looked at the clock in his nightstand, 6:57 am. He smiled widely. He could get ready for the train now. With Draco's almost crazy-like movements, he almost fell on the floor because of his tangled foot in his sheets. He looked at the already packed bags in his room that hes taking with him to school. Such a shame they arent allowed to bring their brooms for the first year in school. It wasnt anything new to know that Draco loves flying, he feels like a dragon in the sky every chance he's on his broom.

Draco made sure to wear one of his most comfortable yet distinguished robes for the train ride. He wanted to make the greatest impression on the two people he hoped to be friends with and hearing his parents' footsteps heading to the dining room was his call to start putting on clothes faster.


***



Hesperia and her Mom were one of the earliest people to get into the platform. She saw a couple of families already there that she didnt know but she recognized 2 families to be true. The Malfoys and the Weasleys. Her mom told her about the Weasley family, that theyre blood traitors and how crazy it was to her that Molly Weasley, one woman, the mother, was able to give birth to 7 kids. That one fact made Hesperia kind of respect the woman. After all, how much do have to love someone to give birth to 7 of his kids? Exactly, that kind of love was rarer than a fairy wing on sale.

While walking by the Weasley family to go talk to the Malfoys the girl made sure to nod to the gingered-haired woman with a slight smile, the woman didnt seem to notice. After all, how would you notice a girl nodding to you when you have 4 kids to put on a train and remember that one has to come back with you? Even though Belladona could care less about the woman, Hesperia still wanted to know how she, a blood traitor, was able to find such a love in this world.

"Hello again Narcissa, Lucius, and you too Draco." Her mom spoke out as Hesperia quickly turned her head to look at the two adults and their child. Next to the elegant lady was standing a tall, somewhat thin but of firm statue man, with long white hair and a serious almost washed off of emotions face. He was wearing a very expensive-looking suit and a cane he used to help himself walk with. That cane had a snakehead for the place of the handrest. The girl looked up at the man's eyes, after a second of the man and the child staring into each other's eyes the man smiled and looked back at his wife and nodded at her.

"Hello Belladona. I see you also have someone leaving for their first year?" The man said taking his eyes off his wife and looked back at the girls mother.

"Yes I do indeed Lucius, as im sure your wife had informed you that Hesperia will be in the same year as Draco, yes?" Belladona said while resting her hand on the girls shoulder. That made Hesperia look at the boy who was longingly staring at the girl, he hasnt said a word since her and her mother came to talk, to be fair she hadn't either.

After a while of the adults talking the girl kind of faded out of their conversation and joined the boy in looking at each other with breaks to look at the missing train. The boy was pretty to her, he wasnt very masculine looking, he looked very aristocratic. With white skin, white slicked-back hair, a small nose, and firm small lips not to mention very bright eyes the boy had. They were like magnets for the girl. It was really hard for her to stop looking when the boy looked away, all she wanted was for him to look at her again.

"Why do you look away?" To the girl's surprise, she asked him something. Right after that she cleared her throat and looked at the boy who was also held by his parents with a rested hand on his shoulder. Draco seemed kind of shocked by the girl's question. He was supposed to be the one to say something first.