"You're what!?" says Cho, dropping her chocolate frog on her chest in shock as she's lying on the couch. "How the heck did you convince McGonagall to let you do that?!?"
"Hey, you guess is as good as mine." I confess, scratching out a mis-spelling of the Expanding spell in my Charms homework. "She probably feels sorry for me because I'm a Muggle."
"By the way, it's a figure-of-8-movement." She says, pointing at my parchment. She sits up, catching her frog before it jumps on the floor. "Hmm…" she mutters, biting the frog's leg off. "Wonder what you'll be. You'd be cute as a Labrador." She smirks, winking at me.
"How I laugh(!)" I say, rolling up my work. "D'you think three paragraphs are enough, or should I say more?" She raises an eyebrow at me. "Yeah, that's overkill." I say, taking her hint. "Anyway… Did you see Harry today?"
"Potter?"
"Who else?"
"Yeah, saw him going into the Potions dungeons. I wonder what Snape did to them?" She puts her hands behind her neck, looking at the ceiling.
"What's up?" I ask, sitting down beside her. "Thinking about how cute a couple you two'll make(?)"
"No!" she says quickly, turning and frowning at me.
"Oh yes!" I laugh, sliding along the sofa away from her. "I can see the future! Your name in lights: Cho Potter!" I put my hands up for emphasis.
"Shut UP!" she snapped, hitting the side of my head. "He's in your year!"
"Maybe he likes older girls?" I asked innocently, rubbing the side of my head.
"Hadn't you rest up?" she asks, leaning over and taking my timetable out of my pocket. She opens it and scans it quickly. "Especially since you have Snape first thing tomorrow." She adds, pointing at a square of it.
"Aw, smeg…" I say, taking it back off her.
"Smeg?" she asks, eyebrow raised.
"I picked it up somewhere." I explain. "It's when I can't think of anything else to say."
"So it's the same as 'Merlin's Beard?" she asks.
"Kinda."
"Anyway," she says, glancing at the clock. "It's 10 to 11. I'll see you tomorrow." She gets up and walks to the dormitories.
Next day.
"Who knew dungeons could be so cold?" I ask, rubbing my hands together in the corridor. It's about a minute until Snape's first lesson. We're banded together with the Hufflepuffs for this torture.
"It's supposed to add effect." Says Justin, from Hufflepuff, shivering. "Makes people even more scared of him."
"You may enter." A drawling voice says behind us. We quickly go in, whispering amongst ourselves. Then we hear the door click, then everyone's noiseless.
"I am not here to teach you irrational wand waving." He says, swooping to the front. "Potions is a precise art form, not a drama class, so foolishness will not be tolerated. Are there any questions?" No, Count Dracula(!) After the register, he looks round the class.
"Ravenclaws are supposed to be amongst the brighter portion of this school and the Hufflepuffs are supposed to be able to cope with any situation put up to them. I sincerely hope you will prove me right. For your sakes." He stresses the last part.
"Your aim for this lesson is to concoct one of the simplest potions there are: A cure for boils. The instructions are on the board, get started." He flicks his wand and the words write themselves. "Well? What're you waiting for?" For you to get a nice personality(?) We start off.
"(This is supposed to be simple?!)" Justin whispers to me, measuring out ground up nettle stings. "(If this is simple, I'd hate to do the hard ones!)"
"If that's you're attitude, you will not go far in my class. One point off Hufflepuff for your cheek." Snape says as he walks past. I blink, glancing round at his back.
"(Did I just miss something there?)" I ask, spilling a drop or two of Lionfish poison. They send up slight puffs of smoke as they land. "(How fast was that!?)"
"(It was a passing comment!)" He says exasperatedly. "(I didn't really mean it!)"
"(Mean it or not, it's a point less.)" I shrug.
"(The unfairness!)" He snorts, folding his arms.
"(Hello? Snape equals unfair!)" I whisper, looking round. Luckily, he wasn't passing then. He's too distracted by the fact that luminous orange smoke was puffing up from another person's cauldron.
"What does the board say about the grated pigeon feathers…?" he asks, folding his arms in a menacing manner.
"Um…" the blonde-pony tailed girl whimpers, reading the board. "Add no more than- (50… grams…)"
"And how much did you add…?"
"(…60, sir.)" She whispered, twisting the fabric of her robes in her hands, looking near tears.
"I thought as much. 5 points off Ravenclaw for your ineptitude." He stalks away, leaving the girl with tears in her green eyes.
"(Who's she?)" I ask Justin, not recognising her.
"(She's Mandy Brocklehurst. Your house. Kinda shy person, if you get what I mean.)"
"(You mean, 'Stay-away-from-everyone-because-they'll-pick-on-me' kinda shy?)" I ask. Justin nods, turning back to the brew. Shame. Why he has to pick on her I've no idea.
After that, during the lesson, I keep glancing over to Mandy. Y'know, just to see if she's OK. She's looks alright, but whenever Snape goes near her, she cowers slightly, looking away. When the lesson is almost over, Snape asks for corked Vials of our potions to mark. (It's supposed to go gooey, isn't it?)
"You are dismissed." He says as the bell goes. I pack my things up and start to walk out. Then I see Mandy again. She's looking really down at her 5-point loss for Ravenclaw. I walk out of the classroom with her on the way to History of Magic.
"Hey, Mandy?" I ask, tapping her shoulder. She looks round, slightly surprised.
"Are you talking to me?" She asks. "Who're you?"
"Seth. Fellow Ravenclaw. I just wanted to see if you're OK after…" I nod back to the Dungeon.
"Oh, yeah, fine…" She says, looking the other way. "But five points on the first day!" She says suddenly, turning back. "What kind of first impression is that?!?"
"Hey-whoa!" I say, stepping back slightly. "Calm down a bit. Cho's lost loads more than that."
"Cho?"
"Second year. Talkin' about first impression, who's his Tailor? Dracula?" She laughs, wiping her eyes slightly. "Hey, why don't we sit together at lunch? Just… Chat or somethin'?"
"Are you trying to get me to like you?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. "Cause if you are, I don't fancy you."
"What? Ew! Naw!" I say, exaggerating my shivering. "I don't even know you yet!" She frowns a second longer, then smiles.
"Alright then." She says, smiling at me.
Number of friends: 4. Cho, Justin, Dean and Mandy.
I foresee something… A… Possible group forming? Who knows? (I don't, Anime gives me the ideas.) Reviewer replies:
Shendothepowerful: Thanks, but I was being sarcastic. It's my trademark, apart from having a Seviper muse and drawing people's L&S Experiments.