BITTEN BY A SNAKE

THE FREE FISH AND THE SILENCE

The way to the Slytherin common room was brief, but it was still twisty in some ways. Hesperias common room was in the dungeon of Hogwarts. Not very deep thankfully but still deep enough where the only thing visible from their windows would be the great black lake near Hogwarts. And that view of the lake was marvelous.

After the Prefect had shown them the way and explained where their rooms were the firstyears were free to roam the common room or to just go to bed. Most of them chose to go to their dorms and get a good amount of sleep. Hesperia wasn't one of those kids. She noticed a comfy-looking chair which was positioned right in front of the Huge windows. They were long enough that if the girl decided to look all the way up she was sure she would snap her neck. The girl smiled at the dark green velvet chair and decided to sit down for a bit.

Staring at the dark lake and the quiet life behind the window gave the girl somewhat of a peaceful feeling. Oh to be a free little small fish, no worries no stress, just swim. Hesperia sighed at the little silver fish which happily swam right across the windows, but still smiled silently and decided to take out the now awake toad which was trying to climb out the girl's pocket after the whole day of napping.

Norry croaked at the girl after finally being released from the thin material and looked the his owner who wasn't paying any attention to him. He shuffled in Hesperias lap as he turned around to see what the girl was looking at. The sight overwhelmed the poor frog. The green algae and the fish and the water shimmered beautifully. The toad fell silent as he and Hesperia both stared into the dark yet reflective waters of the black lake.

***

Draco was impatiently waiting for someone to show up at the great hall. He wasnt even able to eat his breakfast. He was worried that she'd be late for her first day of classes.

"Come on Draco we won't be able to choose seats before everyone else! To hell with her, she probably got lost, that girl really gave me the creeps last night. She sleeps with her toad on her pillow you know!" Pansy yelled out to him frustrated that he wont listen to her. She sat in Hesperias seat at breakfast to Dracos disappointment. Sighing the boy gave up and stood up with his dark leather bag already over his shoulder.

"Alright Pansy calm down." He said quietly hoping she would stay silent on their way to the potions classroom. Sadly the boy was wrong and the girl yapped his ear off till they turned to the last corridor on the way to the classroom. On the end of the Hall they saw the same girl Draco was, maybe, worrying about most of the morning, but there she was, safe and sound, quietly reading the potions handbook, while sitting straight and her back resting on the rough cold walls of the dungeons hallway. She seemed to be sitting there a while. Her bag was carefully placed to not slide down next to her and an white empty plate, the same one everyone ate from today in the great hall.

Draco jogged up to the girl quickly and stood right at the girls feet and folded his arms on his chest motherly.

"Why weren't you at breakfast? We were waiting for you!" Draco said kind of bummed out but still loud and clear.

"I woke up earlier than everyone, I went alone." The girl said turning the slightly yellowish paper of the textbook as she was finishing the last bite of whatever it was that she took with herself from the great hall.

"Just!-... Let one of us know next time. I didn't know if you got lost or something..."

"I'm much more capable than you think I am Draco. Don't worry your white head with my whereabouts." The girl said bluntly not really caring that it came out rather rudely out of her mouth. She made sure she hadnt made him mad by finally looking up at the boy who still hasn't moved at all.

The dark gaze of that girl gave Draco a slight shiver when she looked up at him. He immediately forgot what he was mad about and unfolded his arms just to put them in the pockets of his robes. He paid no mind to Pansy who he had abandoned at the end of the hall who was angrily kicking the hard wall and muttering something about that he had left her for the weird girl.

"So where's Norry?" Draco said slightly swaying on his feet not turning his head back to Hesperia.

"I thought you dont like him. He was fine, he also had a big breakfast and i set him down on my nightstand which is right next to a huge window. He will be entertained with it until the end of classes today i think." Hesperia said slightly smiling to herself remembering the look of disgust at the boy's face the first time she showed Norry to him. She was surprised he had remembered her toads name.

"Ah." He answered.

That was it. Their whole interaction. Until the dark figure showed up to open the Potions classroom.

"Miss Morel I'm glad you showed up so early, yet i don't know if i should be flattered by your squad or disgusted by your choice of sitting on the dirty floors of the Hogwarts dungeons."

"Oh, I'm fine Professor." The girl said quickly and scrambled herself up from the floor while grabbing her bag and quickly grabbed her wand, turned the plate back into a small white shiny button, and put it back into her robe pocket.

"I know the refreshing spell in case I get dirty from the floors." She added and looked up at the solemn face of her Professor and head of her house. He pierced the girl with his gaze and slightly raised his eyebrow at the mention of her knowledge of the spell.

"Very well then. Come in, but be quiet. I do not want to hear any screams in my classroom. I have some papers to look at." Professor Snape said sternly and now switched his gaze to Draco who only gave his Professor a slight smirk and confidently marched into their class.

The girl carefully made sure her skirt wasn't stained by anything and quickly rushed behind the boy to not make Professor wait long for her. She stood aside and the man strutted his way to his big desk which was full of papers and different kinds of potion-making tools.

She noticed the fair-haired boy was setting up his station already. She thanked herself for taking her own tools with her today morning, not forgetting them. Hesperia quietly took a seat near Draco but closer to the windows. She became weirdly obsessed with the gorgeous view of the lake in such a short time.

The boy gave her a somewhat half-friendly smile as she took a seat next to him and continued on his unpacking. Hesperia decided to follow his lead but chose to set up her tools somewhat differently than the boy, she put them in a way she liked, the way she was used to from all those years of brewing potions she already had her favorite set up. After she was done she noticed the boy had his eyes fixated in one place, his mind seemed to be somewhere else. She quietly snickered and picked up her Potion textbook and looked for the folded corner of one of the pages to find her last read sentence.

She liked that silence. Slight shuffling of pages and quiet dings of metal tools that met together on accident from time to time from her professors desk. A slight hum here and there, the quiet song of the lake happily slushing behind the windows, the crisp sound of a turning page.

She could sit in this silence forever.