SMILE » n. longbottom

xlix

"BROOKS"

Alana had barely recognized the boy that she had met last summer, now that he had walked the halls amongst Hogwarts. He had been wearing Slytherin robes, which slightly complimented his tanned brown skin, but it definitely complimented his eyes which seemed to be the same colors as the Slytherin colors — green and silver. The dark robes made his jet black hair seem darker than she had remembered his hair to be during last summer. But it was he who had reached out and she only saw him as an upperclass Slytherin who would only see her as dirt. But he had called out her name and she knew that something was off.

"What are you doing here?" Alana asked him, pulling him by his arm to an abandoned hallway. She seemed astonished, if he was already attending Hogwarts before now, she would have known.

"What do you mean, Wallace? I've always attended Hogwarts," was what he only stated. Jayden Brooks definitely looked older than any of the oldest students here attending Hogwarts; especially since he did not style his hair boyishly and carelessly and his confidence seemed to be bursting through the roof.

Alana only rolled her eyes and sunk down to the floor, covering her face in embarrassment, "Oh god, they found out. Didn't they? And that's why you're here, they sent you. To keep me in-line—"

"No..." Jayden shook his head. He sat down beside her, against the hallways' walls. "They sent me to protect you. And what do you mean 'they found out'?"

That left Alana speechless, as she had now known that her parents nor Jayden knew nothing about the detention that she had along with Harry Potter in Professor Umbridge's office. She uncovered her face and slightly revealed one of her arms which was covered in scars, as it had not completely healed. Jayden was surprised, to say the least. But it is now his duty to protect Alana from further harm while she is attending Hogwarts, so his voice had turned cold and serious, "Alana, who did this?"

Alana was about to answer his question but the faint sound of heels clicking on the floor of the hallway had preoccupied her from speaking. Both of their attention was guided towards the end of the hallway where no sunshine was shining. The hue of pink became more distinctive and clicking of heels became more sharp as a figure had appeared, staring at the two of them: Dolores Umbridge, with the face of a toad.

It was almost as if the two of them were the flies that the toad had preyed on.

"Miss Wallace, Mister Brooks, it is very suspicious as to why the two of you would be in a dimly-lit hallway like this one," Professor Umbridge croaked, smiling. Both Jayden and Alana knew that this was some way that she could imply for both of them to leave this hallway, since she had been suggesting that they were snogging.

However the Hufflepuff stood her ground and Professor Umbridge had only snorted snobbishly and continued to walk down the hallway. As soon as the woman had turned the corner, Alana motioned towards the end of the hallway, and Jayden understood, "It was her." He stared back at Alana's arm which she covered back up and hid. The newly-made Slytherin sat himself up and offered a hand to Alana, "Let's go eat."

The two made their way towards the Great Hall, since lunch at Hogwarts had just begun. As they entered through the hall's doorway, they nodded to each other as if to bid farewell; and they both left to their corresponding tables. Alana found her roommate Erise Wenbrell easily since she had secretly brought her cat, Buttercup, to lunch with her. The cat stood on beside her on the benches, where no other Hufflepuff would sit, so Alana tapped Erise on her shoulder and asked her: "Can I sit next to you?"

"Of course! Just let me move Buttercup," she picked up the grey tabby tomcat and set it on her lap. Alana sat where Buttercup had once stood, and the tomcat escaped Erise's grasp and stood instead on Alana's lap where he pawed at the plates of food on top of the Hufflepuff table.

She made an odd look towards the cat to her roommate, "Did you feed him, Erise?"

"Of course I did," the other Hufflepuff exclaimed. She leaned in towards Alana, "Anyways — we have better things to talk about. That boy you walked in here with, he's new isn't he?"

"Well, he is," Alana confirmed, she noticed how erratic Erise had became. She was uncertain whether or not she had became interested in the spy that her parents had planted into Hogwarts in order to protect her. "Why are you asking?"

Erise looked through the tables and to the Slytherin table where Jayden Brooks was clearly in sight, sitting next to all of the popular and conceited Slytherins that attend Hogwarts, "He's the talk of the school. Already has himself situated with the populars, I am just confused as to why he'd take interest in you instead of girls in his year when they all want him."

"You think so, Erise?" Alana asked sarcastically.

Jayden had noticed through the gaps of people sitting at the tables that the two Hufflepuffs had been staring at him, and he winked.

"No doubt about it."

A certain Gryffindor had been suspicious of their entire conversation since he had been sitting just nearby the two Hufflepuff girls, and he saw the new Slytherin wink at Alana and her roommate. It was almost as if he had been splashed with a cold bucket of water because a chill had been sent down his spine and his eyes blanked like static.