This Animal I've Become

A few seconds later, the hat shouted a house name, the one name the Marauders didn’t want to hear come out from the hat.

“Slytherin!”

“What?!” the four Marauders gasped. They all had believed her to be in Gryffindor, or even Ravenclaw really, but Slytherin? She didn’t seem the type. They had come to the conclusion that she didn’t care about blood status, she had no signs of being cunning or sly, and she was certainly no pompous bitch. If anything, she was what the Slytherins hated, and they would definitely hate the fact that she was hanging out with the Marauders beforehand.

Some had given the Marauders a look of sympathy as Addie made her way down from the front of the room towards the side of the clapping Slytherins (who were mainly doing it to be polite). Truthfully the Slytherins were wary of her. She was just on the Gryffindor side of the room, and now she was considered one of them.

As Dumbledore started a short speech before starting the feast, Addie walked alongside the wall towards the opposite end where she saw a larger gap in the seats, trying to distance herself from having to make friends with the wrong people. Many of the Slytherins were staring at her as she went past. The girls looked at her as if she was competition, or simply as ‘the new girl’; which meant someone they could pick on. The boys mainly judged her upon her appearance, liking what they saw, and ready to shove the fact that they had someone as attractive as her in their house in the other boy’s faces. Most of the better looking girls ended up in the other houses.

Addie had made her way to a rather empty spot on the farther end of the long table. One girl with short brown hair sat in the middle, with a rather large empty ring around her. Addie didn’t ask to sit, but figured that it wouldn’t be a problem, so sat down just as the food appeared on the tables.

The girl had eyed her before grabbing some food and putting it on her plate without a word. Addie had followed her lead and started grabbing some food. The younger looking girl rarely looked up from her plate, only to grab her goblet or grab more food. Addie didn’t say anything to the girl, she had the feeling that she was not much of a talker, or maybe she just was not friendly.

Addie looked up across the room to watch the Marauders. They looked to be having a good time, laughing and enjoying themselves. It was as if she hadn’t phased them at all, which was good in a sense, but at the same time she had felt a little letdown in the fact that she probably wouldn’t be able to be friends with them again simply because she was placed in the rival house. In all honesty though, she thought that the rivalry was stupid, since it was based upon people’s egos (which could fill up the entire room she thought) and prejudices.

After about fifteen minutes into the meal, one of the Slytherin boys had gotten up from his seat, after little encouragement from his friends since it was his idea in the first place, to go and talk to Addie; persuade her to join them.

Addie had seen the boy getting up out of his seat in her peripheral vision and had gotten ready for the confrontation. She ignored him as felt him sit down beside her, straddling the bench between his legs.

“Hello, Adelaide,” he greeted informally, “My name’s Evan, Evan Rosier. I’m a sixth year as well, and a prefect. I just wanted to let you know that if you need anything you can come and ask me alright?”

At the end of his question she had finally looked up to him. She could tell he was rather tall and a little muscular. He was relatively tan with short dark hair and matching dark brown eyes. Evan was a good-looking boy, probably the heartthrob of the Slytherin house if the girls of Hogwarts had anything to say about it. Even girls of the other houses could not deny his charm and good looks that could rival Sirius Black himself. The only difference between them was that Evan held more of an arrogant presence around him and held more mystery than Sirius did. His words were smooth and subtle whereas Sirius was cheeky and straightforward.

Addie smiled politely and nodded. “Sure thing,” she replied. “But call me Addie.”

“Of course, Addie,” Evan replied giving her a crooked smile, which almost appeared to be smirk before saying, “You know-” he glanced at the girl across the table, “-you can come sit with us if you’d like. Get to know more appropriate people.”

Addie glanced to the girl lonesome girl who had briefly paused in her eating, glaring at the base of her goblet. Her fork was stopped in midair before diving into the side of her mashed potatoes. “Uh, no thanks,” she politely said as she watched his face contort in from the rejection, “I’ve already settled down here, but maybe some other time, yeah?”

Slightly disappointed, but pleased with the answer none the less, he smiled and nodded, “I’ll hold you to that.”

She gave him a weak smile as he got up and walked back to his original spot. Addie had no real plans with sitting with him and his friends, but came to the conclusion that Evan was one of those boys you should not get on the bad side of. Was it really wise to make enemies on your first day? Even if you could tell that they were trouble? But maybe Evan was exactly the person she was looking for.

A few minutes later both girls had finished their rounds of food. The girl still didn’t say anything to Addie. “Hi, I’m Addie,” Addie said, introducing herself to the unknown, quiet girl.

The girl looked up to Addie and just stared for a few seconds. This was the time where Addie could see all of her features clearly. The one feature that stood out the most was her red, full, pouty lips. Most of the time those type of lips were not an attractive quality, but for this girl, she seemed to pull off the look. She had straight, chocolate brown hair that reached just past her shoulders with bangs that touched the top of her upper eyelid along with light brown eyes that both went well with her pasty skin tone. Her face was also round with high cheekbones. Addie could tell that she was hesitating before answering back. “Lucy Goldstein,” she said quietly.

Addie smiled brightly. “I thought you might’ve been a mute,” she said as Lucy force a small smile onto her face.

“They aren’t going to be friends with you if you hang out with me,” she admitted quietly.

Addie eyed the girl carefully. “Who said I wanted to be friends with them?” she asked kindly.

“If you want to survive in this house you would,” she replied just as quietly as before.

“Maybe I can be friends with all of you.”

The girl smirked, the first true facial expression Addie had seen come from her. “It doesn’t work that way here,” Lucy explained.

“And how exactly does it work here?” Addie asked, genuinely interested.

“If you join them, you have to be like them,” she admitted just so that Addie could hear. “I was once like them, but I decided that it wasn’t worth it and look at me now.” Lucy gestured to the empty spots around her. “You associate with me, you’ll get the wrong kind of reputation with the house,” Lucy explained further. “They won’t take kindly to you.”

“Don’t worry about them, Lucy,” Addie smiled gently, taking in all the new information. “Being the middleman is one of my fortes.”

Just then the dessert arrived. Addie had noted that Hogwarts had gone all out during the first big feast. Addie and Lucy continued to converse quietly, Addie learning more about the Slytherins and what they were known for; what Lucy was once involved with. Addie had learned that they would sleep in the dungeons under the lake (something Addie was not too fond of), the severity of the Gryffindor Slytherin rivalry from a different perspective, and that Lucy was actually fifth year.

Addie could tell that Lucy was naturally a quiet person, only answering Addie’s questions, rarely asking her own. But the girl would laugh good naturedly at Addie’s comments of the English cuisine. She had questioned the looks of certain foods and asked why they drank pumpkin juice.

As soon as the dessert had disappeared, Dumbledore had stood up to give his speech.

The Marauders watched Addie get up from the stool and walk straight to the designated Slytherin side, without even a spare glance in their direction. James and Peter had to stop watching her since watching her would strain their necks, whereas Remus and Sirius had watched her make her way past all the older groups of Slytherin, at least the more dangerous ones, and sit in an empty area with one other girl sitting there, they couldn’t tell who it was sitting there.

“Who’d she sit with?” James whispered as Dumbledore stood up to say some more welcoming words before the start of the feast.

“Dunno,” Sirius mumbled. “At least it wasn’t Dolohov and his cronies. She’s sitting with some girl, I think. Oi, Moony, isn’t that that one bird who stopped hanging around with Rosier?”

Remus looked closer, trying to get a better look at Addie’s company through other student’s heads. His height advantage didn’t help him too much this time. But once a Ravenclaw had moved her head, Remus saw that it did look like the one Slytherin outcast. “Yeah, actually, I think that’s her,” Remus whispered.

“Let’s just hope that Dolohov doesn’t get to her,” Sirius murmured. “Then she’s gonna be fucked for sure.”

“I think she could hold her own,” James countered in a low voice. Once his last word escaped his mouth, the food had appeared on the table in front of them. The starving boys smiled widely before diving in.

“So what do you reckon she’s over there for?” Sirius asked to no one particular as he grabbed some chicken from the center platter.

“Maybe she’s actually a supporter of Voldemort,” James suggested before taking a bite of his food quickly. “Assuming that we actually don’t know much about her and we were just going off of first impressions. I mean, maybe she’s just so good at being crafty that we didn’t even know we were being played.”

“That’s very thoughtful, James,” Peter commented with a side glance to his friend as he finished piling up his plate, full to the edges.

“Thanks, Wormy,” he replied with a toothless smile, his mouth full of food. They continued to eat in a relative silence, only pausing to ask for someone to pass something over to them. They were hungry boys, talk was not necessary at the time.

“So are you planning on talking to her?” Remus questioned about Addie, directing his question at SIrius, after filling his goblet full of pumpkin juice for a second serving.

“Merlin, Moony!” Sirius exclaimed with a look of shock on his face. “Who do you think we are? We do not associate with the enemy, whether or not they’re bloody gorgeous; a Slytherin is a Slytherin.” He paused as something dawned on him. He turned his head towards James who looked up to Sirius. Sirius gagged, “I flirted with a Slytherin.”

James and Peter had started laughed at the now stammering Sirius, his mouth opening and closing rapidly as he looked as though he was about to be sick. Remus had smiled and shook his head.

Remus knew that he himself was displeased with the fact that she was in Slytherin, although at the same time, he was happy with the fact that she would now be off-limits. Gryffindors and Slytherins did not date; nor are they remotely friendly to one another. Obviously this should have deterred his feelings for Addie, but he had felt the pang of jealousy in his chest as he took a subtle glance over in her direction to see her being chatted up by none other than Rosier himself.

Remus hadn’t even noticed that he had made a noise of disproval until Sirius had questioned him about it. “Oh, um, Rosier,” Remus stammered making a small gesture to the opposite side of the hall, keeping his head down towards his food.

Sirius grunted. “Slag,” he said sharply before returning to his food. Remus threw him a questioning glance, but said nothing. Not a week ago Sirius had been chatting Addie up, wanting her to give into him; which she hadn’t. Now she was just simply talking to another boy and Sirius had jumped to conclusions.

Remus did not look over to Addie for the rest of the evening. If he had he would have seen Rosier leaving her alone. He would have seen her trying to make friends with the Slytherin outcast. But he had already made up his mind about knowing that Addie Ferrari ever existed.

All too soon dessert had arrived and disappeared. The four boys were stuffed up to their throats in food and were looking forward to making it back to their dorms and sleeping until the next morning.

After the dessert disappeared, Dumbledore had stood up from his chair and began his speech. The first part was the same as usual. He made remarks about banned products that Filch had listed, eyeing the Marauders who were giving him wide, innocent, grins; talked about the Forbidden Forrest being forbidden like usual; and reminded them about Quidditch try outs being handled by the Head of Houses amongst a few other topics.

“Now, as many of you know, we are still in the midst of dark times,” Dumbledore spoke clearly and slowly, his deep voice vibrating around the room loudly. His eyes traveled over all his students who looked up to him as he spoke. “Outside of these walls lies a harsh world. Here at Hogwarts, I wish that you students make the right choices, make the right allegiances, and find refuge within each other. You may never know of the common ground that you share with a stranger. This bond can become strong and unbreakable, even to Voldemort himself. Find strength in yourself, and put trust in others.”

He had paused and returned his gaze from the Slytherin table to all his pupils. “I wish everyone a good night’s rest and another wonderful year at Hogwarts. Now, off to bed. Pip pip,” Dumbledore concluded with a smile. With Dumbledore’s last words, the majority of the students stood up and began to head off to their respective dormitories. Some of the prefects and the Heads began to lead the first years as the students went to their houses at a leisurely pace.

The Marauders stood up and made their way to the Gryffindor dormitories.

“Sometimes I don’t even believe half the shit that comes out of Dumbledore’s mouth,” Sirius commented as the four boys stepped out of the Great Hall.

“He probably hopes those stupid Slytherins will actually screw their heads on straight one day,” James replied with a mock laugh as walked next to Sirius. Peter trailed behind them, trying to get in on their conversation. Remus took up the rear, like usual.

Remus felt a tug on his sleeve, and turned to look to see who it was. His soft brown eyes were met with a set of icy blues. Addie was looking up to him with a slightly remorse look on her face. “I’m sorry about…you know,” she whispered nodding over to the Slytherins. Remus just continued staring at her as she continued with nodding to his friends in front of them as they walked together. “Tell them I’m sorry too.”

Addie connected her eyes with his as she started to step in the opposite direction and he stopped in the midst of the walking students. He was wondering why she felt the need to apologize of something she virtually had no control over. Remus watched her back ad she mixed in with the other students, towering over her new friend, and disappeared along with the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs.

“Remus!” Remus jerked his head around to see his friends just about to head towards the staircases. “You coming or what?” Sirius called. Remus shook his head lightly as he went to follow his friends up the stairs.

Addie held a straight, blank face as Dumbledore looked upon her near the end of his speech. The fact that he was directing the end of the speech to her sent a stream of uneasiness and annoyance through her system. Who did Dumbledore think he was? Albeit he was one of the most powerful wizards of all time, but he didn’t even know her at all. All he had to base his presumptions on were talk of others who knew her, her mother, and the little conversations that they had had together.

Addie stood up along with Lucy and the other students and began to follow them out of the Great Hall. As they headed out to their respective houses, Addie saw the Marauders joking around like they usually did when she was in their presence. She saw that she would come up right behind them in the sea of people. Addie knew that the boys, no matter how unruly they may seem, were good kids at heart, but would not be too surprised if they were quick to turn away the friendship that they were quickly making. Though, their feelings on friendship was not heavily weighing on her mind as were more important things she needed to attend to.

Unfortunately, she actually had to walk a little faster in order to reach at least Remus, who trailed behind the others, in time. Lucy had easily followed her route since Addie was tall enough to cut through other students effortlessly.

Once she was close enough, Addie reached out and tugged on Remus’ sleeve once again. Part of her was glad it was only Remus she could grab the attention of; she had a feeling the other boys would not be as inclined to talk her or even give her a second to tell them what she wanted to say.

She felt her heart pound a little faster as Remus turned his head and gazed upon her with a curious expression. “I’m sorry about…you know,” she whispered while nodding her head towards her right to the Slytherins. She then turned her gaze to the two brothers and the little boy who looked up to his friends a great deal. “Tell them I’m sorry too,” she said with another nod. It was a weird feeling to Addie to feel guilt, it was something she hadn’t felt in a while, but she felt as though she had led them on to believe that she was actually going to be in Gryffindor with them. They did not know was that she was already destined for another house before she even knew who they were.

Addie met Remus’ eyes one last time before turning in the opposite direction and following the rest of her new house.