Dressed for Ruin

chapter three

Once the train stopped, most people fought to be the first ones out, but we really didn't mind the wait. In the queue to exit the train, Blair was telling me all about this new Quidditch book she had gotten for her birthday at the beginning of summer, but I wasn't really paying attention because I was wondering where Eve had gone. I wondered out loud and nobody knew. Whatever, I'm sure we'd find her by the time we got on the carriages. "I'm so excited for the Quidditch tryouts, I have a feeling this year is our year to win the House Cup." I said to Blair. "No, yeah, for sure it is. We would have won if it weren't for those extra points Dumbledore always gives to the perfect little Gryffindors." she said, sarcasm clear on her voice. "Tell me about it." I mumbled. 

As we got off the train I heard my brothers voice chastising a few first years for being too loud. Draco was all ready having fun with his prefect duties. "You aren't really supposed to do that out of a need for entertainment, you know." I said to my smiling brother. "I know, but what would be the fun of even being a prefect if I didn't." he shot back. "Well, you do have a point there." I agreed. We linked arms and walked all the way to the carriages that brought us to Hogwarts. It was a pretty quick ride, I was simply enjoying the view I had been missing for the whole summer.  When we got off and made our way to the Great Hall, I got even more excited. Even though in my house, we had the same never ending stream of food, it was different at Hogwarts. More magical. I sat down next to Eve and Blair, we were all just catching up. Our conversation, was cut short by Professor McGonagall leading the way for the first years. At the front sat the Sorting Hat on a wooden stool. I remembered my own Sorting, I was way nervous. before we'd even come to Hogwarts, Draco and I knew we'd belong to Slytherin, there was no other choice. My father had made that quite clear. Draco went first, and was as expected sorted into Slytherin. So when the Sorting Hat had been deliberating between putting me in Gryffindor and Slytherin I had nervous sweats, until finally I heard it say Slytherin, and saw my brother's huge smile. Professor McGonagall was reading the names of the first years off a long strip of parchment, while the Sorting Hat did its thing. The Slytherins cheered loudly every time we got a new student to join us. 

The sorting ended after what felt like a year, and soon the tables were all filled with as many dishes as you can imagine. I was starving, so I pilled a bunch of steak and kidney pie on my plate, while trying to be ladylike, thinking of what my father had said to me only this morning. Soon it was over and Professor Dumbledore was giving his annual start of term speech. He announced the return of Professor Grubbly-Plank, as Hagrid seemed to be missing and someone needed to teach his class. I had no ill will towards her, I thought she was an okay teacher and was far more safe than Hagrid during the Care of Magical Creatures lessons. And he introduced Professor Umbridge who would be taking over our Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. I knew her because she worked in the Ministry with my father. As Dumbledore was about to announce when the House Quidditch tryouts were going to take place, Professor Umbridge interrupted him with a sqeaky "hem, hem", everyone looked puzzled as no one dared to interrupt Dumbledore. Clearly this woman did not seem to know how things were done in Hogwarts. She started to give a rather patronizing welcome speech in a voice that perfectly suited her looks, short, toad-like, dressed from head to toe in a dreadful shade of pink. I wasn't really paying much attention to her speech but it sounded like the Ministry was now interfering at Hogwarts, which was not good, because the Minister for Magic hated Dumbledore, and had spent the last summer printing out false stories about Dumbledore and Harry, making them out to be crazy for suggesting that the Dark Lord was back. Even though he was.

Once this dreadful speech was over with, my brother and Pansy Parkinson, the Slytherin prefects, led the way towards our common room, that was located in the dungeons. "You must remember the password, or else you won't be able to come in, and no one is going to come out to help you." he said in a menacing way, surely to scare the first years. "Yes, well the password is fairly simple, 'mudbloods'" Pansy said in a clear voice while smirking, trying to catch my brothers eye. "How pathetic, she is." I mumbled to Eve and Blair while sniggering, causing a fit of laughter. "Quiet in the back!" Draco scolded, making us laugh even harder. 

It was weird seeing all the first years so excited about coming into our common room, it felt like only yesterday it was me being impressed by all the green and silver decorations. Eve, Blair and I made our way to our dorm that we shared, along with that cow, Pansy Parkinson. As annoying as she was, I wasn't worried because she was very outnumbered in our room. Pansy was one of those girls who said hello in the fakest voice she could muster, and you had no choice but to be fake back. Pansy and Draco had a bit of a fling last year and it seemed like Draco only payed her any attention when there was no one else. Even though I disliked her, she deserved someone who actually liked her. But sometimes when she was getting on my nerves, I was glad my brother was an arsehole to her. 

As Eve and I were walking towards the bathroom, I told her all about my little encounter with Harry. She's one of the only people I can count on not to judge me. She raised her eyebrows at me and said, "Be careful, you don't want to get your brother all riled up for nothing". "Of course not, it was nothing. It's not like I like him or anything." I assured her. After that, I quickly went to bed, suddenly exhausted. Anyway, I would have a big day tomorrow.