The Butterfly Effect

Zwolf: Thrown to the Snakes

"Purity!" Daphne almost hissed into the wall. Her body language had become progressively more hostile as she guided William to the dungeons. It didn't help that he'd purposefully asked questions at every corner to rile her up. By the time she was at the door, she had just about lost all of her limited Occlumency shields.

As soon as they had entered the common room, a final witty remark from Will had sent her over the edge. He didn't even get to finish turning the dungeons into an innuendo before she drew her wand and touched the tip of it to his cheek. She had to extend her arm, however, and as such was not in the best position for quick reaction. Will quickly summoned his hand to his hand making a weird hand gesture and hit her wand with his, sending hers flying as she was not expecting the force of a metal wand on hers.

Everyone stared at him in shock as they saw the speed at which he had summoned his wand. He looked around and studied the astonished faces. Becoming nervous, he said, "What? It's a magnetic summoner. It works because the wand is metal. I have an electromagnet in my wrist. The pose was just a Spider-Man reference!"

The crowd awkwardly dispersed, leaving just Harry, Daphne, and Tracey standing there. Of course, the other Slytherins stayed at a distance to hear the inevitable confrontation. Fortunately, or unfortunately for the spectators, the Ice Queen had managed to control her emotions while William was being eyed critically for his comment. She said nothing, fixed him with an icy glare, picked up her wand, and stomped to her room with as much grace as she could muster.

"Damn, maybe this isn't the place for me," he said to himself. "Not even one person got the reference. What is this? The wizarding royalty?"

Little did he know, he was partially correct. He also didn't know that a certain raven-haired Halfblood had heard his remark. Tracey Davis snorted and invited him to sit on a couch. "Hey Spidey, looks like you're making quick friends. I'm Tracey Davis!"

Though he was initially shocked at the personality clash between Tracey and the rest of the Slytherins, he gave her a shy smile and accepted the offered seat. The rest of the Slytherins returned to their previous activities, but Will still felt a tingling sensation in his neck whenever he felt that he was being watched. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily depending on who you asked, it was hard to keep your guard up around Tracey Davis. While they made small talk and introduced themselves, he slowly found himself relaxing until she made a statement that caught him off guard.

In true Tracey fashion, she flipped the conversation on its head by saying, "You know you created quite a splash at the Greengrass house on Christmas. I don't think I've ever seen her that angry. And when you slapped her wand away, that was priceless! She has never, and I mean never, lost control of her anger like she did today. Not even with Malfoy. I should be supporting her, but she needs to loosen up a little more. Keep it up, and maybe she'll lose that ice queen persona."

After being bombarded with information about Tracey's best friend, Will tried his best to formulate a suitable response. He had not expected to go from small talk to his impact on his new family, after all. However, he quickly replied, "I thought that was normal behavior for her. She's been mad at me since before I even arrived, apparently. Is that her way of saying 'welcome to the family' or is it just a British thing to glare at the American?"

Tracey's eyes actually watered because of the ensuing laughter. "No, we don't all make a habit of glaring at the colonials, however, you'll find that Slytherins are a lot more reserved than the other houses. Sometimes it feels like a literal snake pit. If it weren't for Daphne, I would have gone insane in here. I'm glad someone else knows the Muggle world though, even if you only know the colonies."

"Hey now, its been over 200 years, you guys can get over it! To be honest, I thought I'd enjoy Britain a lot more than I have so far. I thought I'd love the accent, but it's kinda hard when everyone glares like and sounds like a James Bond villain. At least in here. Well maybe everyone besides you, and perhaps Daphne. I could get used to that."