It was going to take a miracle for Craig to tolerate his fellow first year Slytherins. He had been anticipating being sorted into Ravenclaw: Logic and facts are definitely his forte. When he was announced Slytherin, he wasn't necessarily disappointing, but a little shocked. The shock grew into disappointment after meeting his roommates. One of them, Eric Cartman, was a fat, bigoted piece of shit. The other, Jason White, was hardly around. Most of the older Slytherins were condescending or just plain rude. The others simply avoided him. Which would've been fine if he had any friends at all.
He had such a difficult time wrapping his head around how lonely he felt. Cartman had a sense of humour that Craig could appreciate from time to time, but more often than not he was just obnoxious.
"That ginger kid in Gryffindor is a Jew!" Cartman said, bursting with laughter while flicking his wand around carelessly. Craig was sprawled across his own bed,trying to read a letter his mom had sent him that morning.
"So?" He replied, growing more and more annoyed.
"Imagine being ginger and a Jew!" Cartman snickered, his laugh a hissy, obnoxious rattle in Craig's ears.
"Tragic" he replied.
Cartman's snickers faded into an ugly smile, and after a few minutes, he got bored of Craig and left the dorm.
Craig had been wanting to get off his ass and meet some people, but Slytherin didn't have a great name in the school, and he was so afraid of being rejected that he remained locked in his dorm whenever he wasn't in class.
Socializing was inevitable when he did have class though. And with such a small class, he was around all of the first years for majority of the classes. He stuck by Cartman, only because he was the only other person he knew. He never saw Jason enough to actually feel comfortable around him, and the only Slytherin girl seemed content by herself.
On the unfortunate days when Cartman decided to blow off class, Craig was left alone, feeling like the other students had beef with him simply because he's a Slytherin. And while that didn't affect his learning, the professors were actually concerned that Craig wasn't feeling to good.
After Potions class, PC Professor pulled him aside to check up on him.
"Tucker, what's up with you man?" He asked from behind a desk full of vials. Craig didn't know how to respond, so he gave a confused nod.
"You're such an odd kid"
"Thanks, Professor" Craig said monotonously, hoping he could just go to lunch.
"Would it make you more comfortable if I start movin' kids around so you have someone to sit by?" The Professor offered, twirling around an empty vial in his hands.
"Oh, that won't be necessary, Cartman should be back tomor..."
"I'll work on a seating chart, now get to lunch Tucker"
Craig furrowed his brows in frustration.
"Yes sir" he mumbled, before dragging his feet towards the Great Hall. He sat down next to Cartman who was chewing on a piece of bread.
"What'd we do in Potions?" He asked through a full mouth.
"Just learned some of the ingredients or whatever" he sighed.
Craig's eyes wandered to the other tables. Next to the Slytherins were the Ravenclaws. The four first years were chuckling over something one of them had said.
At the Hufflepuff table, the first years were chatting and laughing light-heartedly. The Gryffindors on the far side were going through a textbook that lay in the middle of the table, but they looked distracted. They we're all laughing and talking.
While he wasn't necessarily a jealous person, Craig wished he could have a little better of a connection with his house. They were fine, but none of them clicked enough for Craig to consider them friends. Cartman was loud and rude and obnoxious, Jason was never around, and the girl, Red, well she was just boring. And maybe if Craig wasn't so picky or judgemental, he would've been able to tolerate them more. But that's just not the way he is.
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"Looking for anything in particular?"
A large, saggy woman sat behind the desk of the library. At first glance, she looked grey and dusty, but upon second thought, Craig realized that he could see the makings of the background right through her. He had seen ghosts wander playfully through the school, but he didn't think they'd be employed at the school.
"No" he replied shortly and dashed around a bookshelf. Ghosts made him uneasy. He grabbed a book off the shelf just to busy himself, and found him reading about the history of a war he didn't care about. The truth was Craig wasn't big on reading, but he was running out of things to do without any decent housemates to befriend. An occasional chess game was about all the Cartman he could take, so he'd started avoiding his own dorm when possible. There wasn't much for a child to do in a castle like this though, so he'd been trying to force himself into reading.
"Did you see the boobs on that ghost?"
Craig whipped his head around to meet two enormous grey eyes. The boy those eyes belonged to was ragged, but beautiful. Freckles adorned his cheeks, and shaggy golden hair fell over his forehead.
"Uh, yeah?"
"I'm pretty sure those things touched her knees!" the boy announced, his eyebrows rocketing upwards in amusement. Craig glanced down at the boy's robes. They were clearly second-hand, but a shiny Hufflepuff crest was pinned to the chest.
"Who are you?" Craig asked, not caring if the kid took offense. He looked like he was enjoying himself enough.
"I'm Kenny" he said, still staring at the ghostly woman at the desk.
"And I'm Butters" a juvenile voice sounded from behind another bookshelf. A second boy revealed himself to Craig. He was shorter than both him and Kenny, and had much lighter hair. He had a more childlike appearance to him that reminded Craig of a cherub statue.
"And who are you?" Kenny asked, peeling his eyes away from the librarian.
"Craig"
"You're not talkative, are you?"
Craig was becoming annoyed. He didn't like the smug look on Kenny's face, and there was something about Butters that really grinded his gears.
"You room with Eric, don't ya?"
If these kids were friends with Cartman, that really said a lot about them. Craig gave a nod, and tried to send the signal that he was done talking to these guys. He didn't want anything to do with anyone who had anything to do with Eric Cartman.
"He's such an asshole. He shoved Kyle Broflovski into the Black Lake yesterday. Now the kid's got a bad cold" Kenny scowled. Beside him, Butters had a fearful expression on his face as he twiddled his wand in his hand. Craig cocked an eyebrow.
"Yeah he's a bitch" Craig muttered in response.
"Y'know, people tend to think all Slytherins are like him, but I doubt that"
Craig didn't really know how to respond. Sure, he wasn't a great bastard like Cartman, but he wasn't exactly Mother Teresa either.
"I guess"
"Well if he's ever being too intolerable, you're welcome to stay with us. We have an extra bed" Butters offered cheerfully, to which Kenny nodded in agreement.
"That won't be necessary, but thanks" Craig replied. He felt awkward being approached so openly by strangers. Deep inside, sure, he was grateful, but he'd never been one to express emotion of any kind. He'd suck it up and stay in the Slytherin house, because whether he liked it or not, that's where he belonged.
"Also," Kenny put a hand on Craig's shoulder, "you should go into the Prefects' restroom during lunch tomorrow".
Kenny flashed a mischievous grin, grabbed Butters by the arm, and slipped out of the library before Craig could say anything snarky.
