Begotten

Hogwarts quickly became Moriah’s favorite place in the entire world (not that she’d had a chance to travel very much). When she wasn’t in class, she spent her time with Sheila in the common room. She was the least shallow out of the other eleven-year-old girls. She also enjoyed playing with Klaus, doing her best to teach him to not play with the green canopy that hung over her bed. Every once in a while, she would talk with Harry after the classes that Slytherin shared with Gryffindor. Of course, his sidekicks were always at his side, but Moriah didn’t mind much, though Ron still seemed suspicious of her given her house. She yearned to be better friends with them, but Pansy and Draco made it very clear that Slytherins did not associate with those blood-traitor Gryffindors.

She did well in most of her classes, Transfiguration, Charms, and History of Magic being her top three, but she still wasn’t very skilled in Potions. Professor Snape wasn’t as hard on her as he was on the Gryffindor students, but he would still tsk at her oozing creations.

On the day of Halloween, she had double potions which she was less than thrilled about. They were supposed to be making a simple pepper-up potion, but as everyone else had a nice, clear mixture that smelled of actual peppermints, Moriah was stick with a light green liquid that bubbled occasionally.

The girl sighed, tempted to just drown herself in her cauldron when Draco, who still sat next to her, leaned over and frowned. “Here, you didn’t add enough pixie hair.” He nodded to the small pile on the table in front of them, not daring to add it himself in fear of Snape catching him.

Moriah eyed him sideways before getting just a pinch of the tiny hairs and adding it to the mixture.

“Now, stir it four times clockwise and once counter-clockwise.”

She did as she was told, wondering why Draco was helping her at all considering all he seemed to do was swear about muggle-borns, talk about his father, and bully other first-years with Crabbe and Goyle.

The potion lightened considerably, and before long, it began to emit a faint peppermint scent. She looked at Draco and grinned, whispering a very appreciative, “Thanks!”

He showed a small smile and nodded, then looked back to his cauldron.

After Snape walked around and examined each of their assignments, he let the class out slightly early.

“Are you excited about Halloween?” Moriah heard the posh voice beside her. Draco was still next to her.

“Um, yes and no. I doubt wizards go trick-or-treating, am I right?”

The blond boy made a face. “What’s trick-or-treating?”

Moriah laughed. “It’s when kids dress up and knock on doors for candy.”

“And they get it?”

She nodded. “It’s a holiday! People prepare for it. I guess it’s a muggle thing, though.”

“You’re not muggle-born, though. You can’t be. You’re in Slytherin!”

The girl refrained from rolling her eyes and began to explain. “I live in an orphanage when I’m not here. I’m the only witch there, I guess. Our caretaker takes us out every year to go trick-or-treating. We never had nice costumes, but it was still fun.”

Draco had a strange expression on his face, somewhere between surprise and affliction.

“Hold on,” Moriah stopped. “If you don’t trick-or-treat, what are you excited about Halloween for?”

They began walking again, immune to the cold of the dungeons. “Every year, Hogwarts has a really big feast! The Great Hall gets decorated with floating jack-o-lanterns and the ghosts fly around and have loads of fun. And, believe me when I say, there will be treats, too many to eat.”

Moriah grinned, excited about the desserts that would no doubt be delicious. All the food at Hogwarts was.

As they approached the common room, a familiar voice rang out: “Draco, hold on!”

Pansy jogged up to the two of them and smiled, batting her eyelashes at Malfoy. The other girl just covered her mouth, a small laugh escaping, then looked at Draco almost apologetically. “I’ll see you around, Draco.”

His lips curved upward, and Moriah turned her back, reciting the password to the Slytherin common room and stepping in.



The feast did not disappoint. Moriah sat between Sheila and Draco stuffing her face with everything from mashed potatoes to baked ham to treacle tart. The chatter was extremely loud in The Great Hall, everyone excited and hyperactive. The ghosts swooped around—the Bloody Baron swinging his sword playfully at the students, and Draco was right about the jack-o-lanterns, only he forgot to mention how big they would be. They hung in the air, more than a hundred of them, all of them with candles lighting them up from the inside.

Everything was perfect until the large doors opened with a bang and Professor Quirrel sprinted in screaming.

“TROOOOLL IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEOUN!” He looked at Dumbledore with wide eyes. “Just thought you ought to know.” Then he passed out cold.

All of the students seemed to look around, bewildered, before one screamed, causing absolute pandemonium.

Everyone got up, scrambling to step over the benches. Food flew about the table messily, spoons and forks dropping noisily. Moriah watched, unsure of what to do. Pansy looked to be on the verge of tears, Draco looked like he would pee himself any moment, and Sheila was just screaming with the rest of them.

“SILENCE!” Dumbledore roared. It was extremely effective. Everyone stopped, dead still, and looked at him. He stood at the staff table, lips pressed together with his hands up. “If everyone would please not panic. Prefects, would you please escort the rest of your house to their dormitories.”

Benjamin Wuickey, a fifth year Slytherin, stood up and motioned for everyone to follow him.

The students all began to file out of the hall in a not-so-organized manner and Moriah continued to be confused and a little too curious for her own good.

“Slytherins, follow me to the dungeons.”

The blonde walked slowly, nibbling on her lip until she saw two students stop in the corridor. She was not surprised to see that they were Harry and Ron.

Without thinking, she rushed over to them. “What are you doing? You should be getting out of here!”

Both boys looked shaken and Harry quickly explained. “We had a row with Hermione. She’s in the girl’s bathroom. We’ve got to get her!”

“Come on, then!”

Moriah began running with them, wand in her hand. They rounded a corner and came to a stop, Ron running into the girl on accident so that she stumbled forward.

In the hallway perpendicular to the three was a very large, sickly green monster. It wasn’t exactly what Moriah ever pictured as a troll, but it was definitely ugly. It dragged its feet on the floor, holding a huge club in its enormous hand.

“I think the troll’s left the dungeon,” Ron mumbled.

“It’s headed straight for the lavatory,” Moriah pointed out. “We need to get in there.”

Quietly, they ran on tip-toes to the end of the corridor, watching as the troll disappeared into the bathroom.

“Oh, this is not good.”

Moriah waved them forward, checking the hallways before walking forward and stepping into the danger zone. Harry and Ron were hot on her heels, and as soon as they got to the scene, all of them were screaming.

“Hermione!”

“Watch out!”

“Troll!”

The bushy-haired girl stopped wiping her eyes and looked up just in time to jump out of the way of the troll’s club. She shrieked and dove into one of the wooden stalls, not that it would do much to protect her.

With a great roar, the monster swung its club again. The wood broke into pieces, splintering and falling on top of the trapped Gryffindor. She covered her face and crawled further to hide under the sinks.

Ron and Harry began throwing planks of wood at the troll, finally getting it to turn around and stop smashing the porcelain sinks.

“Hey, pea-brain!” Ron chucked another piece at him.

The troll frowned, if that was even possible for them to do, and swung at all of them. Moriah jumped back and yelled when it seized Harry, picking him up off the ground and holding him upside down.

“No!”

“Do something!” Harry screamed, blood rushing to his head.

The green giant swung his club at him, missing when he simultaneously moved the boy out of the way of it. It must have been really stupid.

“What?” Ron asked in a panic.

“Anything!”

Another swing and a miss.

Hermione, still under the sinks, was trying to coach Ron on the floating spell from afar, but Moriah had a better idea. Raising her wand at the troll, she screamed, “Stupefy!”

The hex hit the monster square in the chest, and he stumbled backward, dropping Harry. The blonde ran forward despite the fact that she knew well she wouldn’t be able to catch him. He landed right on her, sending her toppling to the ground, but she was still glad he hadn’t landed on his head.

The troll was still swaying, though it looked to be unconscious, then finally fell forward with a crash.

The four students looked at it wide eyed. How did they just survive?

Breathless, Harry looked at Moriah. “Thanks for that.”

She nodded. “Yeah, no problem.”

All of them stood up and turned to the doorway just in time for a slew of professors to come running in.

“Oh my! What are you thinking?” McGonagall raised a hand to her mouth. Behind her was Snape and Quirrell, the latter still looking queasy.

“Explain yourselves!”

“Well, uh, you see—“ all of them seemed to stutter.

“It was my fault professor,” Hermione stepped forward, surprising the other three students.

She cleverly rattled off a bogus story about her hearing about the troll and wanting to take it on herself, ending with a convincing note about probably being dead had Harry, Ron, and Moriah not found her.

McGonagall’s lips were still pressed together, barely even there. She docked five points from Gryffindor for “Hermione’s Foolishness” and demanded she go to the hospital wing to be looked over, then turned her attention to the remaining three students.

“I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full grown mountain troll. You two win Gryffindor five points each and five for Slytherin, Miss Priel. Professor Dumbledore will be informed. You may go.”

The three of them trudged out, Moriah earning a slap on the back of the head from her head of house. The two boys snickered, and the blonde really couldn’t help herself. She burst out laughing as they walked. “I can’t believe we just survived that, and only five points docked!”

Harry and Ron were grinning ear to ear on either side of her, locking their arms around her shoulders.

“You know, you’re not so bad for a Slytherin.”