Set Fire to Rain

There was a palpable edge of uneasiness at the slytherin table. Many of the students threw sideways glances at me, not sure whether I should be worshiped or if they should be disgusted with me. Draco seemed pleased to have me by his side as we ate- Pansy seemed even less pleased than she was before. In fact, I could feel the hate roiling off of her, which made everyone else at the table snicker every time she looked away.

Ignoring the glances was difficult, but I showed no emotion towards those that stared. Most tables were quietly talking, not wanting me to over hear what they were saying about me. The probably didn’t want my oh so beloved brother to hear either. His feelings were quite too dainty. And I say that with nothing but loathing.

The food served to us was amazing, far better than anything the house elves at the Malfoy Manner served us, and that was saying a lot. I interacted with any slytherin’s around me willing enough to talk to me, which was a fair few. Any small anxiety I had about coming into this school vanished along with thoughts of my brother. He could rot for all I cared, so I continued my life with my back facing him. That’s all he ever needed to see.
“All he can do is stare at you,” Draco whispered without looking at me. I didn’t turn to see who he was talking about. I could feel his green eyes boring into my back.
“I know,” I replied, taking a sip of my pumpkin juice. “I can feel him. I’m simply showing kindness by not hexing him.”
“Such a little tigress, you are.”

Just then someone clearly cast some kind of charm on a girl’s fork sitting across from me. Her fork went limp before she could even take a bite and frowning, tried again and again but it kept bending like rubber. She blushed and looked down, clearly not knowing what to do when everyone began to laugh and snickers were heard through Pansy’s pug nose clearly. I threw a nasty glance at Pansy and pulled out my wand, pointing it at the limp fork. “Duro.” The fork became solid again and the girl glance up at me, green eyes giving me a silent thanks.
“Typically,” Draco said airily, I would laugh at something like that.
“Let me guess,” I murmured, finishing my plate and sitting back from the table a little. “You don’t find happiness in the simple things now anymore, do you?”
He looked at me. “You know as well as I do.”
“I do,” I replied quietly. “I do.”

*
I believed my brother attempted to catch me when I left the dinning hall, but I was like jack. I was nimble and quick yet I did not jump over a candle stick. Draco, Blaise and myself excused ourselves early from dinner so that they could show me the simple things I would need to know about, like where our dorms were and were the room of requirement would be, and the statue that was rumored to leave to Dumbledore’s office. Surprisingly, I was interested.

What I didn’t understand though, is why the dormitories were kept so secret. No one really knew where the others were, except from speculation. Houses were not allowed to go into other houses. Ours, of course was near the dungeons in a random part of the wall. We stood there for a few good minutes before the image of a serpent appeared.
“Passsword?” it hissed, blinking it’s yellow, slit eyes at us.
“Salazar.”
The wall shifted brick by brick then until it formed an archway. We walked inside and I glanced behind us as the bricks shifted one over the other to return to their normal state. There were only a few kids sitting around the common room so while Draco spoke to them arrogantly, I took a look around the room.

It was and cold, and glancing out the windows I noticed was greenish water, that was quite murky. We were clearly under the Black Lake. I didn’t even want to know what kind of creatures flit past the windows at night. With the things I’d seen, I could only imagine what I hadn’t. silver and green banners were drapped around the room with the crest of Salazar Slytherin, and the couches were a black leather. The fire place crackled with green fire, and I noted the room was just a dark place in general.

“What do you think?” Blaise asked me. I hadn’t even noticed him looking at me but I responded honestly, “It looks a lot like Draco’s room, and most of the manor. Dark, but in an elegant way. I bet it really feels like home though, to you?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes it does.” He cast a look at Draco who made first years get up as he draped himself over a couch. “Sometimes though, things changed.” I could only guess that he knew this year was going to be different, with Malfoy running is mouth off and that load of rubbish. But I knew that it was going to be different for Blaise too. It was going to be very, very different for all of them, and most of them were completely ignorant to it.

I slept easily that night, with no nightmares like I often had. I had been tired that day. I thanked Merlin that I was not sharing a room with Pansy. I was sharing a room with three girls I hadn’t met, but they introduced themselves kindly enough. But not kindly enough that I did notice the fact that they seemed either completely terrified of me, or completely befuddled. They tended to rotate around me, as if I wasn’t there or as if they wish I wasn’t.

I didn’t care to make friends, I had noted to myself when I got up that morning and they were all gone. They had probably gone to breakfast with each other, but I didn’t care. Draco was enough a friend to me, and I had other things that I needed to take care of. None of those things required friends, just mere acquaintances. It wasn’t that I was trying to be antisocial, or maybe I was, but not purposely. It didn’t matter if I made friends here. Soon enough, half of them could be gone , dead, my enemy, or a death eater like myself. I was a realist.

I woke up the next morning to find the other three beds empty and a note on my nightstand. I picked it up and almost smiled, appreciating the attempt at being kind from my three roommates, that left me a towel out, and warned me that the first two minutes of water would be freezing. They also mentioned that I should get to breakfast before 8.

I got up and showered quickly, taking their advice not only to get to breakfast before 8, but to wait for the water to warm. I walked out of the shower, smelling my citrus shampoo and walked into the dorm. I grabbed my wand and circled around my head absently, drying my hair into beach-like waves. I got dressed quickly and began to make my way towards the Great Hall.

It was while I was walking across the common room when I stopped suddenly. The strangest sensation came over me and I rotated my shoulder as it increased. I could feel the burn of my scar, the tingling sensation and it increased and became hot, so much that I was sure my robes were about to catch fire. I hised in pain and grabbed my shoulder, but it was gone so quickly that it was as if I had imagined it. But I didn’t. Something was up with Harry. That much I knew.

I strode out of the room as if nothing had happened and made my way to breakfast. All the while though, I had the thought that I was about to find something very interesting going on in the great hall, particularly to do with my brother.