Imperative (A Marauder's Era Fanfiction)

Chapter Three - Potions

She must have stood facing the window for almost half an hour now. Her ears were deaf to the commotion going on around her in the small room and her eyes blind to all but her reflection, distorted by the oversized mirror. She longed for a window or a view of the Hogwarts grounds but instead she was gifted with the heavy stone wall carpeted with slippery green drapes. 

Her eyes reflected back at her in the glass, brown ghosted with a dull look of shock. Staring down at her white blouse she began to straighten her tie, pulling the green fabric closer into her collar. Her hair was released from its restraint as it flowed freely down to her shoulders in small brown honey coloured waves. 

She stopped for a moment to wonder... where was Remus right now? The image of Remus dressed in red robes, slung lazily over an armchair as he threw his head back in laughter appeared in her mind. She shook her head slightly to try and clear it, she couldn't think about him now. Perhaps during Potions she could try and talk to him. Yes. She nodded her head intently as she smiled slightly at her resolution. Thats what she would do. Looking up at her reflection she attempted another smile, watching as the corner of her lips drew upwards. 

"Madeleine are you coming?" A squeaky voice giggled from the door, laughing with the rest of her new dormitory. The girl was hanging in the doorway surrounded by several other first year girls, all bouncing up and down on their feet. 

"Yes." Madeleine cleared her throat with a small cough, "Just a second." 

The girl at the door rolled her eyes before bounding out of the room with her books clutched eagerly in her arms. The gang of girls followed their leader excitedly. Katie was a funny sort of girl, Madeleine thought to herself as she finished off shrugging the loose black robes over her shoulders. Her pudgy face was always graced with a smirk as she resolved to making other student's lives a misery... from day one. 

Madeleine panicked suddenly as she searched for her copy of the First Year Potions book which should have been sitting on her bed. She pulled at the green silk bedsheets and removed her belongings from the small bedside table, to find it nowhere. Running her hands through her hair she started breathing hard, noticing the silence which had now come over the Slytherin dormitories. She would be late on her first day. 

Then she saw it, the hard red cover peeking out from behind the Slytherin scarf which lay perfectly folded on a wooden chair beside her bed. Sighing in relief she pushed the scarf aside and gripped onto the book as if it were her lifeline before rushing hurriedly out of the girls dormitory.

Her footsteps echoed around the empty halls as she hurried quickly along the stone corridor. Making up for lost time, she ran around the corners before steadying herself to avoid crashing into a locked wooden door. There was a slightly chill to the air around the dungeons which caused a shiver to run down Madeleine's spine but it wasn't anything compared to the realisation that this was where she would be living for seven years.

She pushed open a heavy wooden door, stumbling awkwardly into the room behind it. Madeleine sighed in relief, wiping her brow with a chuckle before raising her glance to the rest of the classroom. Every pair of eyes was fixed intently on her as they blinked in either confusion or laughter. 

"Oh." A middle-aged man spoke from the front of the classroom, taking a step away from his desk in order to take a better look at Madeleine. "We have another student do we?" His voice sounded kind but slightly agitated as he looked her up and down. "A Slytherin?" He beamed, "Why welcome Miss-" He trailed off, looking at her for a prompt. 

Her eyes looked at every face in the room, stunned by the sudden attention. It wasn't until she met a certain pair of eyes however that her breath caught in her throat. Remus. The crimson and gold reflected off his robes with pride as he sat on the right hand side of the room between two of his housemates. The boy beside him started at her curiously, a smirk playing on his face as he tilted his head to the side. His unkempt hair lay lazily over his eyes as his gaze lay fixed on her. His smirk was playful and kind, almost pitiful, whereas the snickers from the Slytherin side of the room suggested that their laughter was not so well intended.