Slytherin's Girl

Chapter 2

Chapter 2
A loud screech pulled me out of my slumber. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around in attempt to spot what caused the disturbance.

Pansy was standing on her bed on her tiptoes, trying to get away from the bright green snake situated on the floor close to her bed. The snake looked quite disinterested in the squealing girl and was rather more focused on the little black ball of fur at her feet.

“~Stilio, no eating other pets. We talked about this. Get over here,~” I hissed in parseltongue.

The emerald tree boa gave a disappointed hiss and slithered over to my trunk where she situated herself between my fluffy socks. He was outright furious at me for ruining his breakfast.

“That, that’s your pet!” exclaimed Pansy, still to shocked to take on a more dignified position on her bed instead of clinging to the bedpost.

“Yep, and he seems to be in a horrible mood this morning,” I snapped in the direction of my sleeping snake. “He’s usually much more friendly towards others.”

“Sure,” agreed Pansy. She finally managed to pry her fingers from the bedpost and settled back on her covers. Her pitch black kitten settled itself on her lap and she absentmindedly started to pet the feline.

I smiled at the sight before frowning at the rumbling sound coming from my stomach. “Get dressed, I’m hungry,” I commanded.

The girl made a little salute motion and then grabbed her robes from her trunk to get dressed. Once finished we met with Draco in the common room and together headed out to breakfast.

Draco seemed in a really bad mood this morning. After he snapped at Pansy and I for taking to long I decided it was nothing a cup of coffee couldn’t fix.

After he drank his coffee, he seemed to head back to being almost human. A smirk situated itself on his face as he served himself with bacon and toast.

“How did you sleep, first night away from home and all?” asked Pansy.

“Great,” answered the blond. He stuffed bread in his mouth and turned to me for a response.

“Well, I slept amazing. Not to brag, but I see myself as a pro in that section. I can sleep with my eyes closed, that’s how good I am.”

Pansy stared at me for a second to determine if I was serious. I wanted to keep a cool face, but her expression made me burst out in a fit of giggles before I could get anymore of a reaction out of her. Draco just smiled fondly at my actions and took another bite from his toast.

Soon the early morning owls arrived. Talons full of letters congratulating first years on being sorted into their respective houses and packages full of items forgotten at home in the family's rush to get to the Hogwarts Express on time. Draco's eagle owl dropped of a letter that landed gracefully on his lap before he stole a piece of bacon from my plate and then disappeared the way he came in.

I stared after the bird with a tinge of dislike in my profile. Why did he always have to take of with my food? I know there was always more than enough to refill the gap the owl left, but it got irritating after a while.

“Oh, mother is most delighted with our sorting. She mentioned that father had a fit after hearing you were a hatstall for Griffindor and Slytherin. He kept going around the house yelling about being right,” laughed Draco, his gaze still fixed in the letter in his hand. I could make out the beautiful, neat handwriting of Narcissa Malfoy.

“Most undignified of him,” I answered in the most sarcastic rich-people-voice I could master.

Pansy scoffed, but the laughter was audible in her tone as she answered, “I would have expected more from him.”

Draco just read further, ignoring the cheap shots we took at his dad. The slight colouring of his ears warned me when it was a good time to stop and change the topic to something that did not insult the people he loved most. Pansy did not see the warning signs, but went along when I guided her away from the insults.

I finished my breakfast and stood up with Draco close on my heals. Instead of heading for the doors like he planed, I made my way over to the Griffindor table.

He grabbed my arm and hissed, “Where are you going? We have class I  a few minutes.”

“I won’t be long. Just going to say good morning to my other friends.”

“You mean the Griffindors, right?”

“Yes,” I answered, just a little to sharp to be casual, “that’s exactly who I meant.”

I planted myself in the open spot next to Harry at the lions' table. He beamed at me, but his read headed companion did not look at all happy that I was in so close proximity to him.

“Go away snake,” he sneered.

“Ron!” scolded Harry before shrugging helplessly.

I ignored Weasley and focused my attention on the raven haired boy next to me. “Morning, how was your night?”

“Quite nice actually, thought I did sleep through most of it,” he answered with a smile. “Yours?”

“Quite enjoyable, it seems I had the same problem as you thought. I don’t know who’s in charge of the night's entertainment, but they are doing a horrible job. So far everyone I talked to fell asleep at some point.”

Harry laughed at me before taking the last bite of his own breakfast. He shouldered his bag and asked politely, “Are you coming?”

“Sure, I agreed.”

Ron shouldered his bag as well and the two of us followed the boy out the hall and into the corridors. He stopped outside the doors of the hall and looked at the hallways. It was all quite intimating, I could understand why he stopped.

“Any of you know the way to Transfiguration?” he finally asked after realising that staring at the walls weren’t going to help us at all.

“Nope, I said.”

A older Hufflepuff boy walked out the hall at that moment and I seized the opportunity.

“Good morning!” I called at him.

“Morning, who might you be?” he asked politely.

“Salaza Slytherin, first year, and you?”

“Cedric Diggory, third year. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yes please. We have Transfiguration first period and we can’t seem to find the way there.”

“If you follow me, I’ll be happy to escort you. It us on my way anyway.”

I beamed at the older boy and called Harry and Ron over. At that point I saw my Slytherin friends exit the hall as well and signalled them over.

I made small talk with the older boy, who I learned was a pure blood. He was terribly friendly and merely shrugged of my thanks, saying that he was just as lost his first day of school.

I honestly don’t know how they expect us to navigate the halls and actually get to our classes in time. The first years got no map, no direction and no guide unless we asked. The ever changing stairs didn’t help one bit and I had no idea how we were supposed to find our way to the dungeons again.

Throughout the walk I ignored all of the whispers that followed us. I mean Salaza Slytherin and Harry Potter was walking side by side like old friends. Throw in there that the scrawling face of Draco Malfoy tagged along it was probably a scene to see.

Words like, “There look.”
“Where?”
“Next to the tall kid with the red hair.”
“Wearing the glasses?”
“Did you see his scar?”
Was aimed at the Boy-who-lived next to me.

“There she is, the one with the blonde hair.”
“Catting to Diggory?”
“Yeah, probably sucking up.”
“Did you see her face?”
Was probably aimed jabs at me. Luckily it seemed that Cedric decided to ignore them as well. They stopped once we reached the classroom.

Professor McGonagall was not at the class, but the door was wide open, inviting us in. We claimed our seats and waited for the rest of the class, as well as the professor to arrive. Draco, Ron and I took the time to explain what each class was most likely to be about to the muggle raised Harry. Every now and again I had to slap Draco at the back of his head in attempt to keep him from starting a fight with Weasley. The red head did not help at all with my effort.

The professor’s pet cat seemed to find our conversation extremely interesting, because she stared at us for a long moment. Once everyone was in class, the cat on the desk jumped down and transformed into a regal looking older woman. Professor McGonagall glided forward gracefully, like the fact that she was a cat just a few seconds ago was not surprising at all.

“That was bloody brilliant!” exclaimed Ron.

“Thank you, Mr Weasley, I presume.”

“Yes ma’am,” answered the red head.

The teacher gave a stiff nod and then proceeded to warn us about foolish behaviour and thrown out of class… something in that line. I was very much distracted by Draco trying to turn his quill into a stick and back. My attention was abruptly pulled back to the teacher at the front when she turned the desk into a pig and back again.

The pig excited most of the class, but our spirits were quickly dampened by a bunch of notes and the realisation that we wouldn’t be changing furniture into animals in the very near future. Instead we were instructed to turn a match into a needle.

Not realising that the smaller object would use a lot less magic to transfigure, I used to much and the class was stopped in order for Professor McGonagall to put out the fire from our desks and send the few kids who came in to too close contact with the flames to the hospital wing. Luckily, she was not paying attention to me when I caused the scene and I got of scot free.

The rest of the week played of mostly in the same matter. Well, except for the fact that it wasn’t me that caused the other fires. Magic is dangerous!

Soon we found ourselves on the way to our first potions class. Professor Snape swept into the class with a dramatic billow of his cloak. He took attendance and then started a speech on the class and what can be taught.

After a sneer his tone changed and he swooped in on Harry, who was busy writing something instead of listening. The questions he asked the poor boy was irrelevant and unnecessary for him to know.

I found it disturbing that a professor would treat a kid like that when he didn’t really do anything to earn the professor’s wrath. I understood the need for him to listen, but insults and sneers are not acceptable behaviour for a professor.