This Animal I've Become

Addie took in her new environment quickly, memorizing every turn and corridor that they walked down. She knew it would be easy to get lost in this large castle. How embarrassing it would be to herself if she could not even find her own dormitory. Addie was good with directions though, and would find no problem finding her way around the castle once shown the halls at least once or twice.

After a few turns, Lucy and Addie followed a small group of Slytherins through a passageway in the stone wall, which Lucy had pointed out was the main door to get into the Slytherin house and told her the password was ‘Serpensortia’. As they stepped into the common room, Addie had noted the dark, almost green glow about the room. The fireplace that sat against he left wall even had a green glow about the flames. The ceiling was low and the room was long, filled with dark green, almost back leather armchairs and sofas along with dark green lamps. There were various tables with dark colored chairs place around them as well. Addie wasn’t surprised in the least to see various skulls placed around the room as decoration. Along the two side walls were windows with distorted glass that made it unclear to see into the lake that they lived under.

“This is the common room,” Lucy told her as they took a few more steps into the room and stopped with Addie on her left.

“Homey,” Addie muttered as she glanced around as some of the older kids took up the seats around the fire and some of the younger kids sat around the tables. A good half of the students had gone off to bed. Addie could feel some of the people staring at her, the new girl. She knew that they were trying to figure her out and some were trying to figure out why she was with the Slytherin reject.

Lucy chuckled. “It certainly has character,” she replied with a small smile. Lucy then pointed at the two separate, dark hallways on the far end of the room, that were stacked on top of each other and were separated by a set of stairs leading to the upper hallway. “The top hallway goes to the girl’s dormitories and the bottom for the boys. Boys aren’t allowed in the girl’s dorms.”

“And what stops them from going in?” Addie asked curiously, looking at her new found friend.

“The stairs turn into a slide so they fall back towards the common room,” Lucy explained. “It happens relatively quickly, so the girls have to be careful if they are being chased or anything. But no one has gotten hurt for as long as I’ve been here.” Addie nodded as the first years were brought passed them and finally shown where their next seven years of their lives were going to be spent.

All of a sudden Rosier had stood up from his spot on the couch with his friends and approached Addie and Lucy who were still standing a few feet away from the entrance. His actions did not go unnoticed by the two girls and both went quiet as he approached them with a casual demeanor.

“Addie,” Evan greeted with a small smile before he came to a stop before them, pointedly ignoring Lucy. “Join us will you? You could meet some of my friends.”

Addie looked over to Lucy who subtly nodded, letting Addie know that it was okay. Addie gave her an appreciative smile before looking back at Evan. “Sure,” she replied with a nod and a faint smile, thinking that it would be better to not turn him down twice in one night. “That’d be nice.” Evan smiled his crooked smile, which of course looked more like a smirk in most people’s eyes, before turning and leading Addie back to where he was previously sitting.

“I’ll see you later, Lucy,” Addie told the younger girl who nodded and headed off towards the dormitories. Addie sighed and began to follow Rosier back over to the seats that surrounded the fireplace.

Addie stopped and saw that the only open spots were on the floor, she was about to sit down on the floor beside Rosier, seeing how he was the one who invited her over, but Rosier spoke up quickly from his spot on the loveseat. “Wilkes, the lady needs a seat,” Rosier demanded. The boy with the last name Wilkes frowned at Evan, but complied anyway by moving down off the sofa from Evan’s left and onto floor next to the armrest. Rosier looked up to Addie with a lopsided smile and gestured to the now open spot beside him on the loveseat. Addie faked a smile and sat down next to Evan, making sure she sat up straight and that her legs were crossed in a relaxed fashion.

“Addie, everyone here is a sixth year. Over here we have Susan Tavern and Penelope Gordon,” Evan said, introducing her to two girls who sat in separate armchairs. Susan, who sat to Evan’s immediate right, had medium length blonde hair, with brown eyes and a slender, gentle face. But she held that look like she could intimidate anybody who came across her path. Penelope sat in an armchair on the other side of Susan. She had long, almost curly, dark brown hair and matching brown eyes. Penelope also had a slightly rounder face with a small cleft on her chin. Addie could not help but notice the beauty that both of the girls possessed.

“And on the floor is Michael Avery.” Avery was sitting on the floor between Susan and Penelope, and had straight blonde hair that hung in his steel blue eyes. He had the sharp looks of a model. Addie had witnessed his mischievous smile when he nodded to her in greeting.

“On the floor beside you is Gregory Wilkes, then Harvey Mulciber in the chair, and on the floor, Severus Snape,” Rosier concluded. Gregory Wilkes was on the chubby side with short brown hair and large brown eyes. Harvey Mulciber had dark hair that reached the bottom of his ears and looked as fit and tan as Rosier. He had a long nose with light brown eyes that sat close together on his face. Severus Snape was skinny and pale with long, greasy, black hair that contrasted with his pale skin tone. He had a long hooked nose and a thin set of lips.

“Everyone, this is Addie Ferrari,” Rosier said to reintroduce her once again. Addie had given everyone an unsure smile. She didn’t know the dynamics of the group, but so far she could tell that Evan was the leader of the group; whatever he says goes. Then Susan was the main girl, ahead of Penelope, seeing how Susan was eyeing her warily.

“So tell us, Ferrari,” Avery asked from the floor with an amused look on his face. “What was it like, being home-schooled in America?”

Addie shrugged. “Not too bad,” she replied. “My mother was very keen on my education. I probably received a better education than those who went to Salem.”

“What’s her status?” Mulciber asked bluntly, getting straight to the answers he wanted.

“Status?” she repeated. They certainly did not beat around the bush in this house. “You mean blood status, correct?” He nodded. “Pureblood.”

“And your father?”

Addie raised her eyebrows and said smoothly, “Muggle.” There was a grimace that went through most of the people around her which did not go unnoticed by Addie. “I highly doubt that I am the only one here who’s half-blood.” She kept her tone cool and unbothered; this was not the time to show any signs of weakness or inferiority.

Evan chuckled. “Right you are,” he replied looking at Addie before gesturing to two of the people in his company. “Penelope and Severus are both half-bloods. The rest have at least one pureblood and half-blood parent. Avery, Mulciber, and I are the only true purebloods here.”

Addie faintly smiled at Evan, “Glad to hear I’m in such an elite environment.” Evan smirked before changing the topic to something that had to do with the Gryffindors.

And just like that, she was in.

It was not for another hour that they all decided to head off to bed. Addie had followed the two girls up the stairs and down the long, dimly lit hallway. There were three doors on the right and three on the left and finally one at the very end of the hallway. Penelope had explained that each room was for each year starting with the first years in the first right room, the second years in the first room on the left, the third years in the second room on the right, and so on. Addie followed Susan and Penelope down all the way to the end of the hall and entered the last door on the left. She noticed that she was the tallest out of the three with Susan reaching her ears and Penelope reaching her shoulders.

Inside the room were five, four-poster beds in the rectangular room, three on the right and two on the left. The beds were adorned with dark green sheets and curtains, and silver canopies. There were black, wooden nightstands which stood to the side of each bed. At the foot of the bed lay the trunks of each occupant on top of a footstool. Opposite the door were three separate vertical, rectangular windows that were similar to the one in the common room. On the left there was an open door that led to the bathroom which held a large vanity mirror, along with a large, floor length one behind the door, two bathroom stalls, two sinks, and two shower rooms.

There were two girls sitting in the room already, sitting on their respective beds on the left side. Both of them were brunettes, but the one on the farther bed was shorter and tanner than the closer one. “That’s Sally Cutts, and Wendy Frampton,” Penelope said, pointing at the closer girl than the farther. The girls smiled lightly before giving Addie slight wave in greeting. Addie repeated their actions in return.

Suddenly the door had slammed behind them, causing four out of the five girls to jump in surprise. All four girls turned towards the door to see Susan standing with her arms crossed over her chest, a look of disgust upon her light face. “We’re going to get one thing straight here, Ferrari,” Susan warned in a cold tone and took slow steps to get closer to the taller girl. Addie raised her eyebrows a little, not too surprised that she had gotten a confrontation from the girl so soon; she had felt the girl’s glares all night. “You are to stay away from Evan, got it? It took me three years to get where I am now with him, and his group and if you think I’m going to let you weasel your way in by simply acting prim and proper, you’ve got another thing coming. You, are the new girl. Don’t forget that.”

Addie stared down at Susan for a few moments and blinked; the blonde girl still had not backed away yet. “You don’t scare me, Tavern,” Addie replied in firm voice and a scoff. “And if you think that you can keep me away from being friends with Evan, who, by the way, keeps on approaching me, then you certainly are as dumb as you look.”

The two girls, Sally and Wendy, watched with their jaws dropped slightly as Penelope backed away slowly, not wanting to be caught in the middle of a fight or a duel; if the time came for one. Susan was leader of the girls in Slytherin, even before the seventh years; she was the one girl you did not want to get on the bad side of.

Susan’s eyes narrowed and sneered, “You better sleep with one eye open, Ferrari.” She then walked past Addie and shoved her shoulder into her arm. It was something Addie didn’t flinch at, only made her eyes roll at the action; it was a childish jab.

Soon enough all the girls had settled down and gotten ready for bed. Addie had received the bed closest to the door, across from the bathroom door. She was glad that Susan didn’t sleep in the bed adjacent to hers and slept in the bed on the other side of Penelope; she was not sure about how much of the girl she could take. The girl was mental.

The next morning, Addie had gotten up first, before all the other girls had, and used the bathroom at her own pace. She did her normal routine and grimaced slightly when she looked at herself in the mirror because of the uniform. As she headed towards the door, both Sally and Wendy had stumbled in through the door and mumbled their good morning pleasantries before getting ready for the first school day. Penelope and Susan were finally waking up and getting ready to leave the warmth of their beds.

Addie didn’t know if she needed her bag or anything, so she left without it, deciding that she could claim the ‘new girl’ excuse if there were any problems. She followed the slightly familiar path out of the dungeons and towards the Great Hall.

Once up in the Great Hall, Addie became aware of how early she actually was. There were a few teachers up, eating their breakfasts at the head table, and only about a two handfuls of students sitting in an array of spots amongst the tables. She glanced around and saw no one that she had befriended before so decided to get a seat near the doors with her back facing the wall. Addie began eating by grabbing a waffle with syrup poured on top of it. Needless to say, the food was delicious.

Addie went to pour herself a glass of water, seeing as how she had forgotten to get some before she started digging in. As she brought it up to her lips, she had taken a deep breath in and had gotten a whiff of something that was not meant to be in water. Water did not have a slightly sweet smell to it; at least it didn’t during the feast. So she stopped before the water could even hit her lips and placed her goblet down. She stared skeptically at it before glancing around and saw how no one else was bothered with the drink. Addie pulled out her wand to vanish the water from her goblet and then went to grab some orange juice. She poured a little into her cup and then sniffed the contents as well. The orange juice had the same sweet smell that usually did not associate itself with the fruity smell of the juice. Again Addie put down the goblet and wondered why the drinks all smelled a little funny.

As she picked up her goblet again to smell the contents again, she glanced at the main doors and saw that the Marauders were making their way inside the Great Hall. Normally she would have looked away and gone back to what she was doing before, but it was the fact that Sirius’ eyes had glanced over to the Slytherin table that had stopped her from looking away. His eyes rested on the goblet in her hand and then turned to meet her gaze; he then had the audacity to smirk at her. Addie raised her eyebrows slightly at his expression. She watched as Sirius nudged Remus, who was walking beside him, and told him something. If it was not for the fact that Remus had turned and glanced at her with a slightly worried look that he had tried to hide, she would have told herself that she was becoming paranoid. Sirius had slapped Remus on the back of his head as soon as he had turned back around, and from where she was sitting, could see that Remus had a sheepish expression on his face.

The boys had told her that they were pranksters. What’s to say that they had not put something in the drinks? Addie had connected the dots. There was a potion in the drinks placed there by none other than the Marauders themselves. It would explain Sirius glancing at her cup and smirking at her, and Remus’ almost worried expression. Although when she glanced around, she could not see any affects being taken place yet. She then deduced that since it was a potion that maybe there was a time delay in the affects; perfectly plausible since a lot of potions needed time to take full effect.

Addie again vanished the contents of her cup and used another spell to clean out the inside of the cup to make sure all remnants would be gone, not to taint the liquid she would place in the cup next. She then murmured Aguamenti and filled up her goblet to an appropriate amount. It wasn’t until she had put her cup back down had she noticed Lucy standing beside her and that the Great Hall had started filling up even more.

“May I?” Lucy asked politely while gesturing to the seat next to Addie.

Addie smiled and nodded, “Of course.” Lucy gave her a tired smile in return before sitting and grabbing food for herself.

“Don’t drink any of the drinks,” Addie advised Lucy. Lucy looked at the girl beside her as her eyebrows knit together in confusion. “I think the Marauders put something in them.” She then grabbed Lucy’s goblet and filler hers with water as well.

Lucy smiled, “Thanks. Those boys do the most annoying things sometimes. I was actually waiting for something to happen last night though. Wait a second, you know them already?”

Addie nodded, “I met them in Diagon Alley a week back. They were telling me some of their crazy stories. I found most of them to be hysterical. Like the one where they told me that they got a bunch of ghosts to haunt the Slytherins for a week. Following them everywhere, into the bathrooms and into class, and even hanging over their beds as they slept.”

Lucy grimaced with a slight shiver running through her spine, “I remember that. That was awful.”

“Oh yeah,” Addie apologized, “Sorry, forgot that it might’ve happened to you.”

Soon the Great Hall was almost filled up to full capacity with students. Most of the professors had also arrived and were chatting up at the front table. Some of the Head of Houses had also begun handing out schedules.

Forty minutes before classes were set to begin, Rosier and his small band of friends walked in through the doors. Unfortunately there were not enough seats around Addie to fit all five of the boys, but Evan did not mind; he didn’t want to sit anywhere near the scum who sat next to the new girl.

Evan knew that Addie was easy on the eyes. She had certainly proved herself during their small conversation that she was worthy of their time. Addie had poised herself like a true pureblood, and even acted like one throughout the whole discussion. Evan was impressed at how quickly she had adapted to being around them, although he could tell that acting like a pureblood was not the only thing she knew how to do; especially since she had seemed to be taking pity upon the younger, abandoned Slytherin. But not even her actions towards the loner had deterred Evan from thinking that she could be his, even though he was to be betrothed to another woman as soon as he was of age and out of Hogwarts. He could certainly use Addie to pass the time, albeit she was only technically half-blood, she acted like a pureblood and that was all that truly mattered.

So as Evan passed behind her, he had leaned in close to her ear on the opposite side of where Lucy was sitting and whispered in a deep tone and in a more than just a friendly way, “Morning, Addie.” He let his breath trickle down her ear and across her cheek. And as he did this, he placed his hand lightly on her back and let it slide dangerously low across her back as he passed. Addie had shivered involuntarily as she turned her head to see Evan’s slightly flirtatious smile thrown at her. She gave him a small smile in return before he had turned his head away and continued on to his destination.

“It appears Rosier has his eye on you,” Lucy commented dryly before setting down her fork in completion of her breakfast.

Addie sighed. “I’m definitely not looking for a boyfriend at the moment,” she grumbled.

Before they could go any further, a man stood on the opposite side of the table with various pieces of parchment in his hands. “Ah, Miss Goldstein,” said a short, fat, balding man who, according to Addie, looked to be a relative species of the walruses. “I finally found you, here’s your schedule.” The man then handed Lucy a piece of paper. “I hope you study hard this year for your OWLs at the end of the year. Maybe even receive close to all Os like your siblings,” he then said with a chuckle.

Out of the corner to her eye, Addie could see Lucy visibly tense up at the word ‘siblings’ before nodding slightly. “Sure thing, Professor Slughorn,” she replied pleasantly with a forced smile.

“Miss Ferrari,” the man then said, turning his attention to Addie with a large grin on his face. “You do not know how proud I am to have you sorted into my house. I am Professor Slughorn and I’m Slytherin’s Head of House. All problems and questions at that cannot be sorted out with the prefects or the Heads should be brought to me. Now, for your schedule this year…I am aware that you received all Os on your OWLs, am I correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Addie confirmed with a nod.

“Those are very impressive mark indeed, young lady, maybe you’ll even get an invite to my club sometime soon,” he boasted with a large grin, using big hand gestures as he spoke. Slughorn had a second chin that would wobble sometimes, which Addie could not help but glance at every now and then. “Now since you qualify for all of the NEWT level courses, which classes would you like to enroll in?”

“I’d like all the classes except for Divination, Muggle Studies, History of Magic, and Astronomy,” she replied promptly.

“Good, good,” he chuckled while waving his wand over a piece of the parchment that sat in his hands. “Excellent. Here is your schedule for this year.”

Addie smiled and took the paper from his hands, “Thank you.”

“If you ever need help finding your way around, I can have one of the prefects show you to your classes,” Slughorn suggested. “I’m not sure if Tavern will be taking a lot of the NEWT courses, but I’m sure Rosier will be taking most of them. I can-”

“Oh no, professor,” Addie said, cutting him off. She did not want to spend any more time with Evan than she had to. “I’m sure I’ll get around just fine with a little help from Lucy and everyone else.”

Slughorn frowned softly, “Well, if you’re sure…”

“Yes, sir, I’ll be fine. I promise,” she replied giving him a smile.

He nodded in defeat, “Very well. I hope you enjoy your stay here and don’t hesitate to ask around if you have any problems.”

“I will,” she replied with a curt nod. Slughorn smiled one last time before moving on down the table, looking for the other sixth years. “Well, he seems…” Addie said watching Slughorn’s back, the first time a while where words seemed to fail her.

“Outlandish, oh, I know, stupid,” Lucy ranted, a serious expression on her face. “Actually, he’s quite brilliant at potions and a little bit with charms and the like, but everywhere else not so much. He’s quite the pushover actually.”

Addie smirked, “I can tell.”

“So, what’s your first class?” Lucy asked looking over Addie’s shoulder to get a better look at the lightly colored parchment in her hands.

“I’ve got double Transfiguration first,” she replied. “Then double Herbology.”

“I’ve got double Divination first, so I can show you your class on the way up,” Lucy offered kindly. “Then during the break we can meet out in the Entrance Hall and I’ll point you in the direction of the greenhouses. They’re hard to miss usually.”

“You are a life saver,” Addie replied genuinely with a large smile on her face.

“It’s no big deal,” Lucy said with a small smile. She then nodded towards the doors, “Come on, let’s get our books and then we can be on our way.”

Addie nodded before taking one last gulp of water from her goblet and joined Lucy on walking back to their dormitories. They quickly grabbed their books and headed back up towards the upper levels, by the time they had reached the Entrance Hall the first bell had rung.

Neither girl had noticed the beginning of the slowly increasing, silent chaos that had started to ensue around them with many of the students. Students had become mute and, to communicate, started to dance. Out of their mouths, a string of insults, written out in red, would float into the air. By now, at least a third of the student body had fallen prey to the prank that the Marauders had set in motion.

“There’s a ten minute passing period between classes,” Lucy told Addie as they made their way towards the staircases. “And the break is thirty minutes.” Addie nodded in understanding. Lucy then warned as they began to head up the steps with the other students, “Watch out for the staircases, they move.”

Addie watched in a silent awe as the staircases moved around from various levels with different amounts of students on each staircase. As they passed each level, Lucy had explained what classrooms were where and if there were any other special landmarks that she should know about. About halfway, the fourth level she guessed, Lucy had led Addie off of the stairs and off to the side a little.

“The Transfiguration classroom is down this corridor, a right down the next corridor and it should be the third door on the left, if I’m not mistaken,” Lucy explained. She looked like she was about to say more, but her gaze was drawn to the people around her. Lucy’s jaw dropped slightly before she started to laugh a little. There were people who were walking around them…or at least trying to walk. They were trying to communicate with each other, but found that they simply couldn’t. Most had their arms and legs flailing about in an interpretive dance with their mouths moving with no sound coming out, and lines of angry red words streaming out. There were others who kept their mouths shut and tried to communicate with their friends by using natural hand gestures to get their points across, knowing what the consequences of talking would be. Some were angry that they couldn’t talk, and or understand the people around them. Addie had joined Lucy’s reactions and laughed good-naturedly as well.

“At least this prank didn’t harm anyone,” Lucy commented with a light smile.

“Why, do they usually?” Addie asked with her head tilted to the side a little.

Lucy nodded. “Ever since I’ve been here most of their pranks have been targeted at the Slytherins, and never really cared about the effects. Most of the time we ended up in duels in the corridors or on the grounds because of them. Both of the houses never showed any mercy when it came to the duels, but when they pranked us, they made sure that it was long-lasting and embarrassing. And a lot of the time, some of the things they did were not funny at all. They never really cared about who was on the receiving end of the prank or what it does for that person,” Lucy explained. She sighed a little before continuing on, “But lately, I guess after last Christmas, they’ve been getting a lot better of just pranking for laughs and not targeting just the Slytherins. Although there are many times when it is just the Slytherins, but it’s safe to say that we were asking for it anyhow.”

“Well,” Addie spoke, trying to grasp at what she wanted to say to something she never thought those boys could do. “At least they’re changing, right?”

Lucy smiled a little with a curt nod. “Right,” she replied. “I better get going before I get into Ophelia’s firing range.” She laughed a little.

“Right, thank you,” Addie said with a smile.

“No problem,” Lucy answered and turned away. Before she could get any further, she turned back around to Addie and reminded her new friend, “Entrance Hall, don’t forget.”

Addie smiled and nodded, “Don’t worry, I won’t.” Lucy gave her once last grin before re-immersing herself with the crowds on the staircases.

Addie sighed and began her walk towards her first class of the day. She was slightly nervous; it was her first class at a new school after all, with people she didn’t really even know, so she had the right to be nervous on what was expected to come. Addie took one last deep breath before entering the Transfiguration classroom.