Love found in malice

Chapter 6: Clare Beddor

My eyes fluttered open as I stretched removing the remaining blankets from my body. The blinding light seeps through the singular window casting itself on my face. I peer over to the girl who also is just waking up. As if noticing my stare she turns to face me.

"Your that girl from the sorting ceremony, your name was..." she pauses in thought, "Oh, yeah Hermione". I guess being a 6th year participating in the sorting ceremony is rather uncommon. I bet a lot of people remember me or at least recognize me.

"Yeah that was me. I didn't catch your name though, tom never mentioned it" I say.

"Of course he wouldn't, he's a miserable sort of thing isn't he. Apparently I'm too friendly to be a Slytherin student which is why he dislikes me so much. I'm Clare Beddor a 6th year student such as yourself" she says outstretching her hand to shake.

I grab her hand as I say "Well it is very nice to meet you too. I'm relieved to know your not as volatile as I have heard Slytherins can be", giving her hand a firm shake. She smiles at me in acknowledgment showing her two dimples. In the light I can actually get a better look at her. She has long locks of brown hair with piercing blue eyes. Among them are small specks of purple that glimmer when the light catches them. Her skin looks tan and rough in comparison to her dainty feminine hands. Her face hardly has any fat on it which gives her protruding cheek bones. If it weren't for her tan her form would be skeleton like. She was way to thin to be deemed normal and her height made it even more noticeable. However, she still was beautiful but in an odd way.

"Classes start in an hour, we should probably get ready and grab a quick breakfast"she says. I check the clock on my nightstand and it indeed shows its 8am, classes starting at 9am.

"What exactly do you wear under your robes"? In the Gryffindor house we were required to wear grey sweaters with maroon embroidering and white button down undershirts. But that was in the future, I'm in the past and I assume the dress code is probably different.

"Most houses wear the same thing but substitute the colors for there houses. You'll wear a white button down and a grey sweater vest. The green embroidering should already be on your items" she says. Apparently the dress code never changed.

"Thanks, we dress a bit differently at my old school". She hums a short response.

I turn to my dresser opening it. There lies my many robes and button down dress shirts. I put the appropriate uniform on transforming a pair of ugly looking black shoes into a small shiny black heel with a small bow on top.

"Can you do that to my shoes?" Clare asks. I swish my wand transforming hers into a pair similar to mine minus the bow. "You'll have to teach me how to do that". The shoes make her grow a bit taller but not drastically. The robes she wears almost make her look normal in size and not like a twig one could easily break.

"Its really simple once you get the spell down. I read about it in a book for transfiguration a few years ago. Changing inanimate objects is easy compared to transforming a living thing"I say.

"Maybe I actually should start reading the textbooks instead of using them as coasters"she says nodding towards her stack of texts holding a variety of crystal glasses on top.

"I suppose you should" I say laughing.

"Come on then"she says ushering me into the hallway. Even in the daytime the hall is casted in darkness. A few candles flicker on the wall but give off little to no light.

"Is it always this dark?" I ask Clare.

"Unfortunately yes. Not even an incantation will make these halls brighter. I guess its another unpleasant aspect that Salazar Slytherin himself added. At least it isn't as bad as the mural in the common room"she says.

"I'm assuming you don't agree with its depiction either"I say

"Absolutely not. I may be a Slytherin but that doesn't mean I believe in pure-blood supremacy like the others" she says.

"I think you and I will get along great then" I say smiling.

"Piece of advice, don't go around sharing your views to the others. You won't find anyone else who agrees and if it's any consolation most of the Slytherin students are tattle tales who take pleasure in the suffering of others. The second they hear anything going against the ideologies of Salazar Slytherin they go running to the nearest member of the Malevolent Society; pure-blood supremacists who deem torture as the best form of punishment".

"Thanks for the warning"I say

We continue our walk down the corridor and enter the common room. It is buzzing with the sounds of many talking amongst there groups.

"Look over by the fire" Clare says. "Those are the Members of the society. Ever student in here yearns for their attention. The girls more than the boys. Every girl wishes to be involved with at least one of the boys. That girl with them now, her name is Raven Goyle. She is nothing more than a groupie who's passed around to each member. She's been pining after Tom for years now but he denies her every time she makes any form of advance on him".

The group of boys stand by the fire laughing. Each holds attractive features and if it not for there involvement in the society I could have found myself pining for one of there attentions.

I notice one of the boys from the sorting ceremony. His bright white hair giving him away. Now that he's closer I can see the features of his face better. His hair is truly the color white but shines even in the darkness almost like a beacon. His skin looks smooth and soft. No fine lines or wrinkles of any sort are present on his face. His smile is even more mesmerizing up close. His teeth are perfectly straight and white as can be. My dentist parents would approve. He's tall and lanky but any indication of muscles is hidden under the large robe. He would have been the type of boy I would be interested in if I truly went to school in this time period.

"I wonder where Tom may be lurking" I say to Clare. As if on cue he appears from the boys corridor with a scowl on his face. His hair is in a perfect quiff a top his head with a straggling piece dangling on his forehead. I wish I could just push it back in place. For some odd reason I enjoy the fact that his hair is untamable even with his efforts to put hair grease in it.

His entrance to the room makes the area even darker if possible as if he has his own source of darkness. The murmuring in the room dims as every pair of eyes lurks on him. I even notice a few people bowing at his presence. He ever so swiftly joins his group and just like Clare said, Raven makes her advance on him while he brushes her aside clearly uninterested.

"I think I found him" Clare says. I laugh in response earning a smile from her. When I look past her back towards Tom, his whole circle of people are staring at me. The white haired boy looks my way in amusement, some look as if they are trying to decipher me and Tom, Tom just painstakingly stares with no emotion. Uncomfortable with there looks I turn to Clare.

"Can we leave now?"

She grabs my arm and escorts me to the door. But before we can leave I hear his voice.

"Clare, why don't you bring your new roommate over to introduce herself" Tom says. I look at Clare with pleading eyes as if saying please don't make me. She sighs giving me an apologetic look before bringing me over to the pack of wolves looking ready to pounce on me.