Cast:
Amber Brooks (Alexis Bledel)
Rachel Gilbert (Sophie Turner)
Holly Rosebird (Emilia Clarke)
Moosh Monroe (Julianne Hough)
Celine Howard (Bethany Joy Lenz)
Margot Stevens (Ashley Benson)
Ale Roberts (Troian Bellisario)
Laura Summers (Zooey Deschanel)
Albie Tyler (Chyler Leigh)
Ade Matthews (Blake Lively)
Aline Johnson (Karen Gillan)
Atie Anderson (Leighton Meester)
Zoe Woods (Amanda Seyfried)
---
Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia)
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)
Clark Kent (Henry Cavill)
Sawyer Ford (Josh Holloway)
Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin)
Alex Karev (Justin Chambers)
Robb Stark (Richard Madden)
Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley)
Castiel (Misha Collins)
Toby Cavanaugh (Keegan Allen)
Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan)
Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer)
Isaac Lahey (Aaron Johnson)
Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder)
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans)
Meg Masters (Rachel Miner)
Seth Cohen (Adam Brody)
Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola)
Lydia Martin (Holland Roden)
Emily Throne (Emily VanCamp)
Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki)
Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley)
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 2 - Sophomore Slump or Comeback Of The Year
The next morning Rachel was woken up by Holly, who was sitting on her bed, going through her luggage.
“What are you doing?” she muttered, sitting up on the bed. “Holly!”
“I cannot believe I forgot to pack a hairbrush. What is wrong with me? We’ve got that hot teacher’s lesson first, and I wanna look nice”, she explained.
“For what purpose?” Rachel yawned. “He’s your teacher.”
“Don’t be such a buzzkill. Of course he is our teacher but he can still be hot, can’t he?” Holly smiled as she grabbed Rachel’s brush from her bag. “So, Aline and Celine told me something.”
“Told you what?”
“That you like Clark”, Holly said, and Rachel groaned.
“Those bitches.”
“They only told me after I made them. It was last night after all the chocolate puddings, you know what sugar does to Celine”, Holly said.
“Well, there is nothing to talk about”, Rachel stumbled up from the bed, ready to wake Z and Margot up.
Holly sighed. “I know you think that no one likes you and you like no one, but that’s not true.”
“Holly, I think I made it very clear I do not want to talk about this”, Rachel said sharply before shaking Z awake.
Holly nodded, knowing her well enough not to push it.
Meanwhile in the Ravenclaw chambers Aline opened her eyes, feeling happy about the start of yet another school year. Hogwarts felt like a second home to her and she couldn’t imagine living without it or her friends.
Moosh was already dressed in her Hogwarts uniform and she smiled at Aline.
“Hey”, she said. “Did I wake you up? We still have a few minutes before we meet the girls for breakfast.”
“No, it’s fine”, Aline said, rubbing her eyes. “I’m hungry anyway.”
“That is seriously so weird. One of us is always hungry”, Atie said as she got up from her bed, smiling. “We have Defence Against the Dark Arts first. With the Gryffindors.”
“Yes, we do”, Moosh said. “With the hot new teacher.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a hot teacher”, Atie said.
“I like Robb’s dad!” Aline said.
“Yeah, but he’s not that hot, is he?” Moosh smiled. “Nice isn’t code for hot.”
“I suppose it’s not”, Aline snorted before getting up from the bed. “Come on. Breakfast awaits.”
In the Hufflepuff chambers Laura was woken up by Amber, who was looking at the time.
“Come on, the girls are probably already waiting for us”, she said.
“I want to sleep”, Laura announced, burying her head in the pillow. “Last night was”, she yawned. “Tiring.”
“Maybe so, but we’ve got lessons soon, and we have Herbology first with the Slytherins”, Celine said as she put on her robes. “And I, for one, would like to get something to eat before we go spend time with that lovely group of people.”
“It’s not like there’s a rivalry between the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins”, Amber said. “It’s the Gryffindors.”
“And half our friends are Gryffindors”, Celine said.
“You’re just saying that because Stefan is a Gryffindor”, Bee said as she got up from the bed. “Since you like him.”
“Oh, come on”, Celine snorted. “I’m not that desperate.”
“That’s what us girls always like to tell ourselves”, Ade said as she put on her shoes. “Now, come on, we’re gonna be late.”
Meanwhile Ale was heading out of the Slytherin common room, followed by Damon.
“Are you going to go sit with the girls again?” he asked.
“What do you mean, again?” Ale asked.
“You sat with them on the train, didn’t you?” Damon snapped. “Look, we love you, and you love them, but I just.. I don’t know why you hang out with them.”
“Because unlike you guys, I think this stupid rivalry has gone on long enough”, Ale said. “Why do you think us Slytherins are still seen as the bad guys? Even after the Battle of Hogwarts?”
Damon said nothing, just waited.
“Because we act like the outcasts”, Ale said. “That’s why, Damon”, with that she walked off, not looking back.
Finally the Hufflepuff girls entered the Great Hall and spotted the other girls at the Ravenclaw table. During breakfast, students were allowed to sit wherever and with whoever they want. It was the only time during the day where there wasn't any separations due to the houses.
“Finally!” sighed Margot while hugging Celine. Out of all the girls, they were the ones that knew each other the longest so they were really close.
“Guys, you're a bit late” added Z, smiling.
“Yeah. Sorry about that” said Amber
“But Laura here wanted some extra sleep” teased Ade.
“That's not my fault if I'm really tired” complained Laura.
“Oh no!” cried Aline “You can't be tired. We have the slumber party tonight!”
“Don't worry” said Ale “It will be okay.”
“I don't want it to be “okay”! I want it to be perfect!” said Aline loudly.
“Aline, come on. It will not be ruined just because Laura is a bit tired.” explained Rachel.
“What did you do anyway?” said Aline turning her head towards Laura. “Couldn't you have updated your diary another day?!” she said bitterly but she sounded mostly exasperated.
“Stop it. You're being a bitch” said Moosh.
“and we all know that you get full on HBIC when you're panicking, but tonight is going to be fine.” tried to calm down Celine before Aline could say a word.
“Yeah you're right.” muttered Aline. “Sorry Laura.” She stand up and went to her friend so she could hug her.
“It's okay.” replied Laura while hugging her back “I know you don't mean it.”
“Oh. Can we invite guys?” asked Bee when the two girls sat back at the table “I was thinking going to Seth to inv-...”
“NO!” interrupted Aline “The sleep over by the lake is about us being a family. –“Us” meaning us girls.”
Rachel, Moosh, Holly and Celine chuckled at that.
“What?” asked Aline “What's so funny?”
“You're being bitchy again” replied Moosh and the other girls started to laugh.
“Ugh.. “you're being bitchy again” muttered Aline while mimicking her friend's voice and then stick her tongue out.
“Then everything is settled for tonight” said Z after the girls stopped laughing.
“Talking about HBICs. Damon is always bothering me about staying with you guys...” started Ale “So I was thinking that if you girls could make an effort towards the Slytherins, maybe we could end this rivalry once and for all.”
“What makes you think that we can end this?” asked Ray “Gryffindors and Slytherins are enemies for centuries! Nothing will be resolved if I suddenly start talking to Damon Salvatore...”
“Well, you're friends with Meg and she's a Slytherin” Amber pointed out.
“That's different. She's not... a pain like Damon is” replied Ray
“I'm not saying that he should start braiding your hair or something” snapped Ale a little “Just try to be nice if they talk to you. Please. Girls?”
Moosh looked at Ray and then at the Ravenclaw girls and said “We'll try”
“Yeah. Us Gryffindors too.” replied Margot
“Thanks girls” said Ale “Seriously. This means a lot to me”
“Now, who's excited about the new teacher?” asked Holly with excitement.
“I am” replied Atie with a smile “He seems qualified.”
“Yeah. I wish we could have DADA with the Gryffindors right now instead of Herbology with the Slytherins – no offense Ale” sighed Celine.
“I wonder why's that” said Moosh knowingly.
“Yeah. Does it have something to do with Stefan by any chance?” teased Amber.
“Haha. Very funny but no. I'm just curious about the new teacher” said Celine while her face suddenly turned bright pink.
“Hey there ladies” said Robb while approaching the Ravenclaw table with Alex, Steve and Toby. While Toby sat next to Ale so he can talk to her, Alex took a seat between Atie and Moosh.
“So...” Alex whispered to Atie “We should do something about your crush” He winked at Moosh.
“Is he for real?” thought Moosh while smiling at her friend who was blushing.
Steve however seats next to Ade and Amber in order to talk to them about Quidditch practice. Z, seating in front of them, started staring at him longingly.
So, Robb took the only seat available next to Margot and asked “How are you all doing?”
“Do you mind to leave us alone for once?” said Margot abruptly “Don't you have any other friends besides Aline?” she added a bit harshly.
The girls were shocked at this since Margot was never mean to anyone without motivations.
“Oh o-okay... I'll see you in class then” said Robb a bit confused and leaving the table in order to sit elsewhere.
“What the hell?!” cried Aline “What was that for?!”
“Why does he always has to be the one joining us huh? Why not other Ravenclaw?” answered back Margot. “You know what? See you in DADA” and at that she left.
The girls remained silent but they knew it had something to do with Castiel.
At the same time, Stefan and Sam passed by the girls' table
“Hey man, where have you been?” asked Stefan to Alex.
“I'm talking to this two lovely ladies” replied Alex while pointing to Moosh and Atie.
“If he's bothering you, let me know so I can rescue you” Sam told the two girls, joking.
At that they started to laugh but they were interrupted by Isaac, who arrived near them as well.
“Sam. Clark and Bruce are waiting for you at the Gryffindor table.” he said “They want to talk about Quidditch before the classes start”
“Should we go as well?” asked Z talking about her and Ray
“Nah. It should be fine” said Isaac, smiling “Besides Ray seems busy” he added while looking at her. She was seating next to Aline but she was whispering something to Holly. It looked like they were planning something.
“So let's go.” said Sam “See you, my lady friends” he added with a smile and he walked away with Isaac.
Holly and Ray were indeed planning something and were glad that they had come to an understanding.
“So it's settled. Tonight then” said Ray.
“They're going to be so surprised” replied Holly with an evil laugh.
The classes were about to start so the girls stand up and exited the Great Hall. The group parted as the Hufflepuff girls and Ale went to the Herbology greenhouse and the Gryffindors and Ravenclaw headed towards the first floor.
Rachel noticed Holly stopped and was going through her pockets.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just searching for something” replied the latter “A-ha! Found it.” she added while pulling out a small tube out of her left pocket.
“Oh my God.” said Ray, rolling her eyes as she recognized the object.
“What?” asked Holly as she started applying her lipstick. “I want to look pretty” she added with a wink.
*****
The Slytherin and the Hufflepuff students were waiting for Professor Longbottom to arrive. He was one of the most popular professors in the school since he had a central part in the fight against Voldemort at the time.
But the class didn't start until at least ten minutes so the students were quietly chatting outside.
Neal was discussing with Damon about what Ale told them earlier.
“She's right, you know” he started “We never tried to mix with the other students”
“What are you saying?” replied Damon harshly “You want me to go to my brother and have a game of Wizard's chess with him? Buy bunk beds or something? You know Gryffindors and Slytherins are not meant to be friends. They're just not supposed to.”
“Come on. I'm sure those girls are not awful” said Neal “If they were, do you really think Ale could put up with them?” he saw Damon's hesitation.
“I guess not” Damon admitted “But that doesn't mean we have to hug each other and exchange friendship bracelets”
“Of course not” replied Neal, rolling his eyes “but you can at least talk to them.”
“Why are you trying to make us all friends?” said Damon suspiciously “Slytherins and Gryffindors hate each other since the beginning of Hogwarts. Why change now?”
“Why not? Are we suppose to follow the status quo that four wizards established centuries ago because they hated each other? Come on, be nice. For Ale. Besides, they can't be that bad.”
“I'll do my best. But only so you can leave me alone with this”.
As Professor Longbottom let the students enter the class, Neal spotted Albie talking to the girls and decided that he should talk to her.
“Okay, cool. I'll be right back.” he said absently to Damon.
“Yeah sure” his friend replied.
“Hey” said Neal while grabbing Bee's wrist and pulling her outside while she was about to go in the class.
“Hey” she replied surprised by the fact that he was talking to her nicely.
“So... I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for what happened yesterday in the Great Hall”
“Did Ale force you to say this?” replied Bee amused.
“Hum. No. I mean this. You didn't do anything wrong so here it is: I'm sorry.”
“Well I guess it's not your fault if you're a jackass. It's your nature.” replied Bee with a sigh.
“Nice” said Neal with a smirk “I guess I deserve that don't I?”
“Yeah.” added Bee with a smile “I appreciate the apology though”
After that, she turned around and entered the greenhouse. Neal just stood there with an idiotic smile on his face. Suddenly he remembered why he was there in the first place and entered the classroom as well.
Meanwhile in front of the DADA classrooms, the students were waiting excitedly for the new teacher.
Except Aline who was waiting for her best friend, Robb. As soon as she saw him in the corridor, she joined him.
“Robb! I'm so sorry for what happened this morning. I just don't know what happened to Margot or what made her say this things to you bu-...” started Aline quickly
“It's okay. It's not your fault” said Robb
“You're not mad?”
“At you? Of course not! You're not responsible for what other people say, you know.” replied Robb, a bit amused.
“I know. But I feel guilty since she's my friend you know. Even though I'm mad at her, she still means a lot to me”
“I'm not even mad at her Aline. You know she may be right. I mean, I do spend a lot of time with you and maybe you want to see less of me.”
“Don't be ridiculous” replied Aline, while she slapped his arm “You're my best friend. Of course I want you around.”
“But if I start bothering you, you'll tell me right?”
“Yeah but it will never happen. Love you too much” said Aline and she hugged her friend “Besides..” she continued “I'm the one always bothering you, not the other way around”.
“True.” replied Robb laughing.
They made their way back to the group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Aline noticed that Isaac was staring at her with what seemed to be an angry look but didn't have time to ponder it as she was taken away by a beautiful blonde girl named Caroline Forbes, another one of her closest friends.
“So, you come back and you don't even say “hi” seriously?” said Caroline while pretending to be mad.
“I know. But you know how it is” replied Aline with a smile “The first day is always the worst one Care Bear.”
“Yeah, that's why I was only fake mad at you” she smirked
“I noticed. We have to catch up though. Is after class okay?”
“Absolutely” smiled Caroline.
At the same time, Rachel was determined to get to the bottom of what happened with Bruce the day before. So as soon as she saw him with his friends, she went to him.
“Hey Bruce. Can I talk to you for a second?” said Rachel as she interrupted his conversation with his friends. Seeing his hesitation, she added “It will only take a minute, I promise”
“Okay” replied Bruce reluctantly.
“So” began Rachel when they seemed far away enough from the group. “I just wanted to know what happened yesterday.”
“What happened?” asked Bruce with an expressionless face
“Well, we were talking and suddenly you ignored me”
“I thought our conversation was over.” replied Bruce, shrugging his shoulders.
“You seemed mad” said Rachel
“I wasn't” said Bruce “I just thought we had said everything we had to”
“How could you think that?” cried Rachel in disbelief, angry by the fact he tried to ignore what was going on. “We barely talked about anything!”
“I guess that we don't have anything to say to each other then” he replied harshly.
“I suppose not.” snapped Rachel.
She spotted the new teacher approaching the class so she decided that for once, he'll be the one left behind in confusion. Without a word she walked away from him and joined her friends.
As every student entered the greenhouse, Professor Longbottom started his class.
“Welcome to the first class of the year. As you already know, by June, you'll have to pass the OWLs. For Herbology, you'll be asked about plants you've studied in the past years. So today, as an introduction, you could choose either to study Devil's Snares or Mandrakes. I already choose with who you'll be partnered up so we won't waste time. So Steve will be with Adeline” he started while reading his list.
“Hum. Professor?” interrupted Ade “Steve was called in the headmistress office because he's the Quidditch captain.”
“Oh yes” responded the teacher “Professor McGonagall told me about this. And before I forgot, she told me that you have to go to her office after this class” he added talking to Derek.
After that he continued announcing the duos: Ade therefore got paired with Seth, Dan with Lydia Martin, a Slytherin student, Meg with Ale, Klaus with Laura, Albie with Amber and Damon with Celine. At this Ale smiled encouragingly at Damon, letting him know that everything was okay between them.
“And Neal you'll be with Derek. So now everyone get to work.” announced Pr Longbottom. “If you encounter any difficulties, let me know.” and at that he let the students choose whatever they wanted to study.
“Derek, man. We're so going to rock this year” said Neal while grabbing his friend by the shoulder and walking towards the Mandrakes section.
Ale joined Meg who was near the exit. “So what do you want to do?” she asked
“I was thinking we could go to the Devil's Snares. Since we don't have to wear the earmuffs, we could talk.” replied Meg
“Yeah sure. What about?”
“I just wanted to say that I find the fact that you're friends with so many people outside the Slytherin house awesome.” As she finished her sentence, they had already reached the section.
“Really? Wow. Thanks” said Ale with a smile “You're like the only Slytherin to think that though” she added while looking at Damon who was sitting next to Celine near by.
“I'm sure it's not true. You know your friends will get use to it eventually”
“Maybe” admitted Ale “But you know it has been three years that I talk to the girls and they still bother me with it”
“My guess is that the guys might be afraid that you'll leave them for the group” replied Meg amused.
“If they really think that, they are idiots” Ale said laughing.
“They are boys” said simply Meg.
“True. What about you though, does anyone bother you because of the fact that you're friends with Ray?”
“Nope. Not since I've punched this guy back in 4th year.” said Meg smirking.
“Oh yeah, I remember” said Ale. “That was bad ass.”
“Yeah. I actually enjoyed it” snorted Meg “But it's really different from your situation though. I'm only friends with Ray and it has been hard at the beginning. You have the other girls, I can't imagine what it must feel like.”
“Oh I don't mind, they are amazing. I wouldn't trade them for the world.”
“They do seem great.” added Meg nicely.
“They are. You know, you could hang out with us sometime.” said Ale
“Really?” Ale nodded “I'd love that.” said Meg with a smile.
“Great. I just hope that Damon isn't too hard on Celine” said Ale while looking at her friends from afar.
“I'm sure he'll bahave” replied Meg.
And at that both girls, started to laugh at how unlikely this idea was.
The truth is that these girls couldn't been more wrong. It had been twenty minutes since Damon had been working on the Devil's Snares with Celine and so far he acted nicely.
Actually Damon was surprised by the fact that Celine was nice. They barely talked though and their conversation revolved mostly around the plant.
“Hum. So you girls sure are a big group. How did you become all so close?” asked Damon awkwardly.
“Oh!” said Celine surprised by the fact that he tried to talk to her. “Well, some girls knew each other before Hogwarts and after we've been dispatched in the houses, we became friends with the other girls. After a while, we came together as a group.” explained Celine “It all came together naturally really.” she added.
“Cool. Your friend seems nice. The Ravenclaw one” said Damon but he thought it will be better if he pretended not to care all that much “The name's Atina or something” he added.
“Oh. You mean Atie?”
“Yeah. That one” said Damon, pretending to be vaguely interested.
“Yeah she's a sweetheart.” said Celine smiling “You know what?” she added after a long pause “You're not as bad as I thought you were.”
“Nor do you” replied Damon with a smile.
Albie, on the other hand, was looking cautiously at her friend Amber. She had noticed, at the beginning of the hour, that her friend seemed tired. She had pale black circles under each eye and therefore Albie was wondering about what could keep her friend from sleeping.
“I might as well ask her” thought Albie
“Hey. Are you alright?” she asked while staring at Amber.
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“You seem a little tired. What's wrong?”
“Yeah I didn't get that much sleep” said Amber very slowly.
“Why's that?” asked her friend, concerned.
“I was thinking all night about Jess Mariano. Stupid I know.” Amber sighed.
“Oh. I didn't know you liked him that much”
“Yeah. The thing is he hits on every girl but never me” admitted Amber shyly. “I just wonder who will be his next crush or something”
Albie thought of the moment she saw between Jess and Aline the day before at dinner but decided not to tell Amber. Instead she just shrugged her shoulders.
By the Mandrakes section, Laura couldn't take it anymore. It has been forty minutes since she had been stuck with Klaus and all he had done so far was hitting on her - even the fact that they were both wearing earmuffs didn't stop him.
“So I was saying what about a date at Hogsmeade?” asked Klaus playfully taking his earmuffs off.
“You should wear those” said Laura “Besides we don't even have the dates for Hogsmeade yet.”
He put the earmuffs back on “So what? I'm just asking before any other guy has the chance to, love” replied smirking.
Laura closed her eyes and took a deep breath “Don't call me love, please.” she gave him a glare “And who said anything about other guys?”
“Come on sweetheart. With eyes like these, I'm surely not the only one.”
“That's so not the point. And don't call me sweetheart either.”
“What should I call you then. Sugar?” he asked still smirking.
“It's even worse” thought Laura. After a sigh she responded “What about Laura? It's simple and it's my name so you can't be wrong with that. Anyway I'm going to pull the Mandrake out”
She did as she finished her words but she pulled too strongly and therefore spilled all the mud on Klaus' face. After she put the Mandrake in another plant pot, she turned to Klaus.
As soon as she saw him covered in dirt, she started laughing loudly. Klaus looked back at her in disbelief.
“Sorry” she managed to say between laughs “But it's just too funny” and she laughed even more loudly.
“I guess I must look ridiculous right now” he said starting to laugh as well.
They both laughed for some time until they calmed down. They look each other in the eyes until Laura broke the silence.
“I like you better this way” she said calmly “Now help me with the Mandrake.”
Klaus didn't say a word but he kept smiling at her until the rest of the class.
Meanwhile in the DADA classrooms, Professor Ford was introducing himself to the students. “I'm Professor Sawyer Ford and I'll be teaching you Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. As you may already know, the topic of your OWLs will be defensive spells. Today, we'll start with the basic Shield Charm and later in the year, you'll learn how to cast a Patronus Charm. I know that last year, everyone was already paired up with someone else but since I don't know you, I took the liberty to change them and it will stay this way until this year's end. So let's begin.”
Stefan got paired up with Caroline, Atie with Alex, Moosh with Z, Robb with Emily Thorne, a Ravenclaw student, Holly with Toby, Jess with Isaac, Aline with Sam, Rachel with Bruce and Margot with Castiel. Clark being called in the headmistress office earlier because of the Quidditch, was left out of the pairings. Everyone was quite pleased with who they ended up. Except maybe Rachel and Bruce.
Margot, in the other hand, couldn't be more happier. She couldn't believe her luck! She got to be paired up with Castiel so she can finally talk to him. After the teacher had spend some time instruct them how to cast the spell Protego, the students had been left alone in order to practice. As Castiel look through his books, she spoke to him.
“So you're friends with Aline” said Margot hesitantly.
“Yeah. She's nice” he replied absently.
“Yeah. My name is Margot by the way.”
Castiel lift up his head “I'm Castiel. Nice to meet you” he added with a smile while shaking her hand.
Margot was a bit taken aback at this formal introduction but as we already established, Castiel was a bit special. Therefore she didn't mind.
“So what spells should we start with?” she asked.
“Hum I was thinking we could start with some harmless ones like Rictusempra or Tarantallegra and see if we can protect ourselves with these ones. Is that okay?”
“Perfect” she replied.
“You know, I've read the book entirely and the most interesting part is how to create Patronus Charms.”
“Yeah I can't wait for that”
Suddenly Castiel stopped moving and asked her “Do you want to be my friend?”
Margot was surprised by the question but replied immediately “Yeah, of course”
Castiel then smiled “You're ready?” and Margot nodded. She sure was. “Rictusempra!” he cried.
At the same time, Holly was dueling with Toby. However she pretended she couldn't cast the Shield Charm so Professor Ford's attention was concentrated on her. He then spend twenty minutes showing her the right hand movement and incantation. As he did so, Holly couldn't stop staring at him. He was indeed really hot and she started mentally complaining how unfair life was because he was a teacher and all. After awhile she started to try to counter his spells but she faked that she couldn't until eventually she forgot to pretend. As she succeeded casting the spell for the first time, the teacher smiled at her and told her he would give ten points for Gryffindor. Holly smiled as he walked towards his desk.
On the opposite side of the classroom, Aline was having a great time with Sam. They succeeded casting the Shield Charm fifteen minutes ago so now they were having fun, using the various charms on each other.
“Protego !” cried Aline as Sam tried to hex her with the Tickling Charm “Levicorpus!”
Sam didn't have time to counter her charm and ended up hanging in the air by the ankle.
“Gotcha” said Aline smiling.
Jess, who was dueling with Isaac next to them, stopped and come over to Aline.
“Wow! I don't even know this Charm” he said in awe.
“Actually, Charms is my area of expertise so I know a few spells that the teachers won't teach us” she explained with a smile.
“Hum. I hate to be the buzzkill here, but I'm still in the air” interrupted Sam
“Oh right. Sorry about that.” said Aline “Liberacorpus” she added and Sam fell loudly on the floor.
Jess smiled at her in awe and Aline felt herself blushing.
"It's no big deal, though, anyone can learn it", she said quickly.
"I doubt that", Jess smirked.
What Aline couldn't see was that a few feet away from them, Isaac was looking at them sadly.
Sam, however, noticed and said: "Hey, Isaac, you have a cool wand, can I see it?"
Isaac looked at him in confusion before understanding what he was getting at and walked over to them.
Aline, to Jess' disappointment, also turned to look at Isaac, who handed his wand to Sam without saying a word.
"Cool", Sam said lamely. "Yeah, it's.. it's longer than mine."
"You have no idea how weird that just sounded", Jess snorted.
Isaac blushed a little and then turned to look at Aline, who smiled at him.
"You have that party tonight, right?" he asked.
"Guys aren't invited, sorry", Aline rushed to say. As much as she wanted to invite him, and Jess as well, she had made a promise. Guys always came crashing, though, so she wasn't holding her breath in believing the night would end with only the girls.
"I should go", Jess said. "Isaac, we should get back to practising", he had noticed that the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere from that point.
Isaac turned to give Aline one last smile before Sam handed back his wand and off they went.
"Looks like you've got two guys in your pocket", Sam said after they were gone.
Before anyone could say anything, they heard an enormous sound and turned to the left side of the room, where Rachel and Bruce were.
“WHAT THE HELL?!” shouted Rachel “You could have hurt me!”
“You countered the other spells, I thought you could handle this one.”replied Bruce, angry as well.
“What if I didn't have? We agreed on doing only harmless spells. Stupefy isn't one of them!”
“You would have been fine. You have like 1% of chances to get actually hurt with this spell”
“Oh yeah. It's totally secure” replied Ray bitterly “Why not using Unforgivable Curses as well then?” she added with a snort.
At this point, every students in the classroom were looking at them.
“You're dramatizing this” said Bruce exasperated
“I'm dramatizing this?! SERIOUSLY?” she shouted.
“Yeah. Next time, why don't you work with your Clark and leave me alone.” replied Bruce harshly.
And before Ray could say another word, he left the classroom.
Everyone remained silently staring at Ray. No one dared doing anything. As Aline and Moosh made a move towards their friend, the bell rang and Ray run out of the classroom.
"Should we go after her?" asked Aline to Moosh
"I can't right now, I have this Quidditch meeting" replied her friend and they stayed there looking at the classroom door.
Rachel also had a Quidditch meeting, and unfortunately she knew Bruce would be there as well, so she stalled before going, standing on the steps outside the empty classroom where the meeting was supposed to happen. She was still wondering what the hell had happened.
"Are you ok?" she suddenly heard a familiar voice and turned around to see Sam looking at her.
"Yeah", Rachel snorted, trying to look okay. "Guys are just.. weird."
"I think I know why he said those things, though", Sam said quietly.
"Shut up", Rachel snapped. "He tried to kill me!"
Sam snorted. "Of course he didn't. Stupefy can't kill."
"Well, it isn't exactly a spell to do good, either", Rachel said, wanting to change the subject. "We have a slumber party by the lake tonight. Do you wanna come? You could bring Stefan, too."
Sam smiled. "Isn't that a place only for girls?"
"Yeah, but guys always crash", Rachel snorted a little. "You could actually come invited this time."
"Come where?" suddenly the door to the classroom opened and Clark was standing in the doorway.
"Nowhere", Rachel muttered, walking past him into the room, Bruce's words echoing in her mind.
While the Quidditch players were in their meetings, the rest of the girls went to eat lunch.
"What do you think that incident was between Bruce and Rachel?" Bee asked. Since it was lunchtime and not a lot of people were around, they were all sitting together in the Hufflepuff table.
"Maybe Bruce is having a bad day", Holly said as she ate her food. "What do we have next?"
"History of Magic", Celine groaned. "Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs."
"I hate History of Magic, it's so dull", Bee groaned. "What do you have next, Aline?"
"Transfigurations with the Slytherins", Aline made a face. "I know Ale said we should try to be nice to them, but.."
"Hey, Damon wasn't that bad", Celine said. "He was actually quite nice to me."
"Oh, yeah? Maybe it was a bet or something", Holly said.
"Come on", Celine smiled. "We promised we'd try, didn't we?"
"Yeah, I suppose we did", Aline said, picking on her food.
Atie and Moosh got out of the room where they'd had the Ravenclaw meeting and begun to walk down the stairs to eat some lunch.
"I am starving", Moosh complained.
Before Atie had time to say anything, Alex Karev walked past them in the steps, turning to look at them as he walked.
"You do know that Gryffindor is going to kick your sorry asses this year in Quidditch, right?"
"You keep dreaming, Karev", Moosh snorted. "You aren't even on the team."
"You don't have to be on the team to know if they're good or not", Alex smirked at her before walking off.
"He is extremely cute. I think you should invite him tonight", Atie said.
"No, Alex is just a friend", Moosh said.
"Well, are we not allowed to invite friends?" Atie smirked.
"We're not allowed to invite boys", Moosh reminded her as they got down to the dining area.
"Oh, that is right", Atie made a dramatic sigh. "However will we survive?"
"Like we do every year. We'll just wait for everyone to crash", Moosh smiled as they joined all the girls at the Hufflepuff table. "Are Z and Ray not here yet?" she asked as she noted that Ale, Laura, Ade and Amber had joined, but the Gryffindor team was still missing.
"You know the Gryffindors, always stressing about being the best in Quidditch", Celine smiled.
"Clark Kent doesn't strike me as a guy who stresses about anything", Holly said as she took a sip of her drink.
Just then Rachel and Z walked into the hall, talking, but the talk ended as soon as they sat down.
"What's going on?" Moosh asked.
"We were just talking about Quidditch stuff", Z said.
"You mean strategies", Holly said.
"Oh, come on, we're friends, we're not going to tell anyone", Amber said.
"That's exactly what a spy would say", Z said in a serious voice, which made everyone crack a smile.
"Is everything ready for tonight?", Rachel asked.
"Yeah, we've stolen food, gotten all the blankets and stuff ready and we've got all sorts of games in mind", Laura said.
"We sound like we're 4 years old", Ale said.
"Well, there are only a few moments we can use to take the edge off around here", Ade said. "We might as well take them."
Everyone agreed on this and somehow the rest of the day went by faster than the first half. They were all waiting for the night eagerly.
The girls did it the same way they always did. They got outside, right down to the lake even before it was time for bed, then hid behind trees and large rocks, reading books and chatting until it was sure that everyone was inside, sleeping. And then they settled on the beach - if you could call it that. Some of the girls sometimes even went swimming. But the water was quite cold and you never knew what hid in the water.
Meg, Caroline, Lydia and Emily had also joined. Since they were their friends. And girls.
"So, the first game is easy", Holly announced. "Truth or dare. Sit down, all of you."
"I cannot believe I was a part of planning these goddamn games", Rachel muttered as they all sat down. "I hate truth or dare."
"And as I told you, it's a horribly entertaining game in a big group", Holly smirked.
Some of the girls had even brought balloons, mostly muggle ones, but some of them, once you blew them, they would blow up into fireworks. The girls were quite worried they'd make too much noise, though.
"Who goes first?" Holly asked. "Aline", she smirked. "I saw you talking to Jess Mariano today in class. Tell me, is he cute or not?"
Amber turned to look at her in shock, and Aline tried to think of whether it'd be easier to lie or say the truth.
"Yeah, I think he's cute."
Before anyone had time to comment on this, they heard noises from over at the castle. Just as they'd guessed, the guys were coming.
Amber Brooks (Alexis Bledel)
Rachel Gilbert (Sophie Turner)
Holly Rosebird (Emilia Clarke)
Moosh Monroe (Julianne Hough)
Celine Howard (Bethany Joy Lenz)
Margot Stevens (Ashley Benson)
Ale Roberts (Troian Bellisario)
Laura Summers (Zooey Deschanel)
Albie Tyler (Chyler Leigh)
Ade Matthews (Blake Lively)
Aline Johnson (Karen Gillan)
Atie Anderson (Leighton Meester)
Zoe Woods (Amanda Seyfried)
---
Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia)
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)
Clark Kent (Henry Cavill)
Sawyer Ford (Josh Holloway)
Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin)
Alex Karev (Justin Chambers)
Robb Stark (Richard Madden)
Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley)
Castiel (Misha Collins)
Toby Cavanaugh (Keegan Allen)
Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan)
Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer)
Isaac Lahey (Aaron Johnson)
Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder)
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans)
Meg Masters (Rachel Miner)
Seth Cohen (Adam Brody)
Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola)
Lydia Martin (Holland Roden)
Emily Throne (Emily VanCamp)
Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki)
Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley)
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 2 - Sophomore Slump or Comeback Of The Year
The next morning Rachel was woken up by Holly, who was sitting on her bed, going through her luggage.
“What are you doing?” she muttered, sitting up on the bed. “Holly!”
“I cannot believe I forgot to pack a hairbrush. What is wrong with me? We’ve got that hot teacher’s lesson first, and I wanna look nice”, she explained.
“For what purpose?” Rachel yawned. “He’s your teacher.”
“Don’t be such a buzzkill. Of course he is our teacher but he can still be hot, can’t he?” Holly smiled as she grabbed Rachel’s brush from her bag. “So, Aline and Celine told me something.”
“Told you what?”
“That you like Clark”, Holly said, and Rachel groaned.
“Those bitches.”
“They only told me after I made them. It was last night after all the chocolate puddings, you know what sugar does to Celine”, Holly said.
“Well, there is nothing to talk about”, Rachel stumbled up from the bed, ready to wake Z and Margot up.
Holly sighed. “I know you think that no one likes you and you like no one, but that’s not true.”
“Holly, I think I made it very clear I do not want to talk about this”, Rachel said sharply before shaking Z awake.
Holly nodded, knowing her well enough not to push it.
Meanwhile in the Ravenclaw chambers Aline opened her eyes, feeling happy about the start of yet another school year. Hogwarts felt like a second home to her and she couldn’t imagine living without it or her friends.
Moosh was already dressed in her Hogwarts uniform and she smiled at Aline.
“Hey”, she said. “Did I wake you up? We still have a few minutes before we meet the girls for breakfast.”
“No, it’s fine”, Aline said, rubbing her eyes. “I’m hungry anyway.”
“That is seriously so weird. One of us is always hungry”, Atie said as she got up from her bed, smiling. “We have Defence Against the Dark Arts first. With the Gryffindors.”
“Yes, we do”, Moosh said. “With the hot new teacher.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a hot teacher”, Atie said.
“I like Robb’s dad!” Aline said.
“Yeah, but he’s not that hot, is he?” Moosh smiled. “Nice isn’t code for hot.”
“I suppose it’s not”, Aline snorted before getting up from the bed. “Come on. Breakfast awaits.”
In the Hufflepuff chambers Laura was woken up by Amber, who was looking at the time.
“Come on, the girls are probably already waiting for us”, she said.
“I want to sleep”, Laura announced, burying her head in the pillow. “Last night was”, she yawned. “Tiring.”
“Maybe so, but we’ve got lessons soon, and we have Herbology first with the Slytherins”, Celine said as she put on her robes. “And I, for one, would like to get something to eat before we go spend time with that lovely group of people.”
“It’s not like there’s a rivalry between the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins”, Amber said. “It’s the Gryffindors.”
“And half our friends are Gryffindors”, Celine said.
“You’re just saying that because Stefan is a Gryffindor”, Bee said as she got up from the bed. “Since you like him.”
“Oh, come on”, Celine snorted. “I’m not that desperate.”
“That’s what us girls always like to tell ourselves”, Ade said as she put on her shoes. “Now, come on, we’re gonna be late.”
Meanwhile Ale was heading out of the Slytherin common room, followed by Damon.
“Are you going to go sit with the girls again?” he asked.
“What do you mean, again?” Ale asked.
“You sat with them on the train, didn’t you?” Damon snapped. “Look, we love you, and you love them, but I just.. I don’t know why you hang out with them.”
“Because unlike you guys, I think this stupid rivalry has gone on long enough”, Ale said. “Why do you think us Slytherins are still seen as the bad guys? Even after the Battle of Hogwarts?”
Damon said nothing, just waited.
“Because we act like the outcasts”, Ale said. “That’s why, Damon”, with that she walked off, not looking back.
Finally the Hufflepuff girls entered the Great Hall and spotted the other girls at the Ravenclaw table. During breakfast, students were allowed to sit wherever and with whoever they want. It was the only time during the day where there wasn't any separations due to the houses.
“Finally!” sighed Margot while hugging Celine. Out of all the girls, they were the ones that knew each other the longest so they were really close.
“Guys, you're a bit late” added Z, smiling.
“Yeah. Sorry about that” said Amber
“But Laura here wanted some extra sleep” teased Ade.
“That's not my fault if I'm really tired” complained Laura.
“Oh no!” cried Aline “You can't be tired. We have the slumber party tonight!”
“Don't worry” said Ale “It will be okay.”
“I don't want it to be “okay”! I want it to be perfect!” said Aline loudly.
“Aline, come on. It will not be ruined just because Laura is a bit tired.” explained Rachel.
“What did you do anyway?” said Aline turning her head towards Laura. “Couldn't you have updated your diary another day?!” she said bitterly but she sounded mostly exasperated.
“Stop it. You're being a bitch” said Moosh.
“and we all know that you get full on HBIC when you're panicking, but tonight is going to be fine.” tried to calm down Celine before Aline could say a word.
“Yeah you're right.” muttered Aline. “Sorry Laura.” She stand up and went to her friend so she could hug her.
“It's okay.” replied Laura while hugging her back “I know you don't mean it.”
“Oh. Can we invite guys?” asked Bee when the two girls sat back at the table “I was thinking going to Seth to inv-...”
“NO!” interrupted Aline “The sleep over by the lake is about us being a family. –“Us” meaning us girls.”
Rachel, Moosh, Holly and Celine chuckled at that.
“What?” asked Aline “What's so funny?”
“You're being bitchy again” replied Moosh and the other girls started to laugh.
“Ugh.. “you're being bitchy again” muttered Aline while mimicking her friend's voice and then stick her tongue out.
“Then everything is settled for tonight” said Z after the girls stopped laughing.
“Talking about HBICs. Damon is always bothering me about staying with you guys...” started Ale “So I was thinking that if you girls could make an effort towards the Slytherins, maybe we could end this rivalry once and for all.”
“What makes you think that we can end this?” asked Ray “Gryffindors and Slytherins are enemies for centuries! Nothing will be resolved if I suddenly start talking to Damon Salvatore...”
“Well, you're friends with Meg and she's a Slytherin” Amber pointed out.
“That's different. She's not... a pain like Damon is” replied Ray
“I'm not saying that he should start braiding your hair or something” snapped Ale a little “Just try to be nice if they talk to you. Please. Girls?”
Moosh looked at Ray and then at the Ravenclaw girls and said “We'll try”
“Yeah. Us Gryffindors too.” replied Margot
“Thanks girls” said Ale “Seriously. This means a lot to me”
“Now, who's excited about the new teacher?” asked Holly with excitement.
“I am” replied Atie with a smile “He seems qualified.”
“Yeah. I wish we could have DADA with the Gryffindors right now instead of Herbology with the Slytherins – no offense Ale” sighed Celine.
“I wonder why's that” said Moosh knowingly.
“Yeah. Does it have something to do with Stefan by any chance?” teased Amber.
“Haha. Very funny but no. I'm just curious about the new teacher” said Celine while her face suddenly turned bright pink.
“Hey there ladies” said Robb while approaching the Ravenclaw table with Alex, Steve and Toby. While Toby sat next to Ale so he can talk to her, Alex took a seat between Atie and Moosh.
“So...” Alex whispered to Atie “We should do something about your crush” He winked at Moosh.
“Is he for real?” thought Moosh while smiling at her friend who was blushing.
Steve however seats next to Ade and Amber in order to talk to them about Quidditch practice. Z, seating in front of them, started staring at him longingly.
So, Robb took the only seat available next to Margot and asked “How are you all doing?”
“Do you mind to leave us alone for once?” said Margot abruptly “Don't you have any other friends besides Aline?” she added a bit harshly.
The girls were shocked at this since Margot was never mean to anyone without motivations.
“Oh o-okay... I'll see you in class then” said Robb a bit confused and leaving the table in order to sit elsewhere.
“What the hell?!” cried Aline “What was that for?!”
“Why does he always has to be the one joining us huh? Why not other Ravenclaw?” answered back Margot. “You know what? See you in DADA” and at that she left.
The girls remained silent but they knew it had something to do with Castiel.
At the same time, Stefan and Sam passed by the girls' table
“Hey man, where have you been?” asked Stefan to Alex.
“I'm talking to this two lovely ladies” replied Alex while pointing to Moosh and Atie.
“If he's bothering you, let me know so I can rescue you” Sam told the two girls, joking.
At that they started to laugh but they were interrupted by Isaac, who arrived near them as well.
“Sam. Clark and Bruce are waiting for you at the Gryffindor table.” he said “They want to talk about Quidditch before the classes start”
“Should we go as well?” asked Z talking about her and Ray
“Nah. It should be fine” said Isaac, smiling “Besides Ray seems busy” he added while looking at her. She was seating next to Aline but she was whispering something to Holly. It looked like they were planning something.
“So let's go.” said Sam “See you, my lady friends” he added with a smile and he walked away with Isaac.
Holly and Ray were indeed planning something and were glad that they had come to an understanding.
“So it's settled. Tonight then” said Ray.
“They're going to be so surprised” replied Holly with an evil laugh.
The classes were about to start so the girls stand up and exited the Great Hall. The group parted as the Hufflepuff girls and Ale went to the Herbology greenhouse and the Gryffindors and Ravenclaw headed towards the first floor.
Rachel noticed Holly stopped and was going through her pockets.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just searching for something” replied the latter “A-ha! Found it.” she added while pulling out a small tube out of her left pocket.
“Oh my God.” said Ray, rolling her eyes as she recognized the object.
“What?” asked Holly as she started applying her lipstick. “I want to look pretty” she added with a wink.
*****
The Slytherin and the Hufflepuff students were waiting for Professor Longbottom to arrive. He was one of the most popular professors in the school since he had a central part in the fight against Voldemort at the time.
But the class didn't start until at least ten minutes so the students were quietly chatting outside.
Neal was discussing with Damon about what Ale told them earlier.
“She's right, you know” he started “We never tried to mix with the other students”
“What are you saying?” replied Damon harshly “You want me to go to my brother and have a game of Wizard's chess with him? Buy bunk beds or something? You know Gryffindors and Slytherins are not meant to be friends. They're just not supposed to.”
“Come on. I'm sure those girls are not awful” said Neal “If they were, do you really think Ale could put up with them?” he saw Damon's hesitation.
“I guess not” Damon admitted “But that doesn't mean we have to hug each other and exchange friendship bracelets”
“Of course not” replied Neal, rolling his eyes “but you can at least talk to them.”
“Why are you trying to make us all friends?” said Damon suspiciously “Slytherins and Gryffindors hate each other since the beginning of Hogwarts. Why change now?”
“Why not? Are we suppose to follow the status quo that four wizards established centuries ago because they hated each other? Come on, be nice. For Ale. Besides, they can't be that bad.”
“I'll do my best. But only so you can leave me alone with this”.
As Professor Longbottom let the students enter the class, Neal spotted Albie talking to the girls and decided that he should talk to her.
“Okay, cool. I'll be right back.” he said absently to Damon.
“Yeah sure” his friend replied.
“Hey” said Neal while grabbing Bee's wrist and pulling her outside while she was about to go in the class.
“Hey” she replied surprised by the fact that he was talking to her nicely.
“So... I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for what happened yesterday in the Great Hall”
“Did Ale force you to say this?” replied Bee amused.
“Hum. No. I mean this. You didn't do anything wrong so here it is: I'm sorry.”
“Well I guess it's not your fault if you're a jackass. It's your nature.” replied Bee with a sigh.
“Nice” said Neal with a smirk “I guess I deserve that don't I?”
“Yeah.” added Bee with a smile “I appreciate the apology though”
After that, she turned around and entered the greenhouse. Neal just stood there with an idiotic smile on his face. Suddenly he remembered why he was there in the first place and entered the classroom as well.
Meanwhile in front of the DADA classrooms, the students were waiting excitedly for the new teacher.
Except Aline who was waiting for her best friend, Robb. As soon as she saw him in the corridor, she joined him.
“Robb! I'm so sorry for what happened this morning. I just don't know what happened to Margot or what made her say this things to you bu-...” started Aline quickly
“It's okay. It's not your fault” said Robb
“You're not mad?”
“At you? Of course not! You're not responsible for what other people say, you know.” replied Robb, a bit amused.
“I know. But I feel guilty since she's my friend you know. Even though I'm mad at her, she still means a lot to me”
“I'm not even mad at her Aline. You know she may be right. I mean, I do spend a lot of time with you and maybe you want to see less of me.”
“Don't be ridiculous” replied Aline, while she slapped his arm “You're my best friend. Of course I want you around.”
“But if I start bothering you, you'll tell me right?”
“Yeah but it will never happen. Love you too much” said Aline and she hugged her friend “Besides..” she continued “I'm the one always bothering you, not the other way around”.
“True.” replied Robb laughing.
They made their way back to the group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Aline noticed that Isaac was staring at her with what seemed to be an angry look but didn't have time to ponder it as she was taken away by a beautiful blonde girl named Caroline Forbes, another one of her closest friends.
“So, you come back and you don't even say “hi” seriously?” said Caroline while pretending to be mad.
“I know. But you know how it is” replied Aline with a smile “The first day is always the worst one Care Bear.”
“Yeah, that's why I was only fake mad at you” she smirked
“I noticed. We have to catch up though. Is after class okay?”
“Absolutely” smiled Caroline.
At the same time, Rachel was determined to get to the bottom of what happened with Bruce the day before. So as soon as she saw him with his friends, she went to him.
“Hey Bruce. Can I talk to you for a second?” said Rachel as she interrupted his conversation with his friends. Seeing his hesitation, she added “It will only take a minute, I promise”
“Okay” replied Bruce reluctantly.
“So” began Rachel when they seemed far away enough from the group. “I just wanted to know what happened yesterday.”
“What happened?” asked Bruce with an expressionless face
“Well, we were talking and suddenly you ignored me”
“I thought our conversation was over.” replied Bruce, shrugging his shoulders.
“You seemed mad” said Rachel
“I wasn't” said Bruce “I just thought we had said everything we had to”
“How could you think that?” cried Rachel in disbelief, angry by the fact he tried to ignore what was going on. “We barely talked about anything!”
“I guess that we don't have anything to say to each other then” he replied harshly.
“I suppose not.” snapped Rachel.
She spotted the new teacher approaching the class so she decided that for once, he'll be the one left behind in confusion. Without a word she walked away from him and joined her friends.
As every student entered the greenhouse, Professor Longbottom started his class.
“Welcome to the first class of the year. As you already know, by June, you'll have to pass the OWLs. For Herbology, you'll be asked about plants you've studied in the past years. So today, as an introduction, you could choose either to study Devil's Snares or Mandrakes. I already choose with who you'll be partnered up so we won't waste time. So Steve will be with Adeline” he started while reading his list.
“Hum. Professor?” interrupted Ade “Steve was called in the headmistress office because he's the Quidditch captain.”
“Oh yes” responded the teacher “Professor McGonagall told me about this. And before I forgot, she told me that you have to go to her office after this class” he added talking to Derek.
After that he continued announcing the duos: Ade therefore got paired with Seth, Dan with Lydia Martin, a Slytherin student, Meg with Ale, Klaus with Laura, Albie with Amber and Damon with Celine. At this Ale smiled encouragingly at Damon, letting him know that everything was okay between them.
“And Neal you'll be with Derek. So now everyone get to work.” announced Pr Longbottom. “If you encounter any difficulties, let me know.” and at that he let the students choose whatever they wanted to study.
“Derek, man. We're so going to rock this year” said Neal while grabbing his friend by the shoulder and walking towards the Mandrakes section.
Ale joined Meg who was near the exit. “So what do you want to do?” she asked
“I was thinking we could go to the Devil's Snares. Since we don't have to wear the earmuffs, we could talk.” replied Meg
“Yeah sure. What about?”
“I just wanted to say that I find the fact that you're friends with so many people outside the Slytherin house awesome.” As she finished her sentence, they had already reached the section.
“Really? Wow. Thanks” said Ale with a smile “You're like the only Slytherin to think that though” she added while looking at Damon who was sitting next to Celine near by.
“I'm sure it's not true. You know your friends will get use to it eventually”
“Maybe” admitted Ale “But you know it has been three years that I talk to the girls and they still bother me with it”
“My guess is that the guys might be afraid that you'll leave them for the group” replied Meg amused.
“If they really think that, they are idiots” Ale said laughing.
“They are boys” said simply Meg.
“True. What about you though, does anyone bother you because of the fact that you're friends with Ray?”
“Nope. Not since I've punched this guy back in 4th year.” said Meg smirking.
“Oh yeah, I remember” said Ale. “That was bad ass.”
“Yeah. I actually enjoyed it” snorted Meg “But it's really different from your situation though. I'm only friends with Ray and it has been hard at the beginning. You have the other girls, I can't imagine what it must feel like.”
“Oh I don't mind, they are amazing. I wouldn't trade them for the world.”
“They do seem great.” added Meg nicely.
“They are. You know, you could hang out with us sometime.” said Ale
“Really?” Ale nodded “I'd love that.” said Meg with a smile.
“Great. I just hope that Damon isn't too hard on Celine” said Ale while looking at her friends from afar.
“I'm sure he'll bahave” replied Meg.
And at that both girls, started to laugh at how unlikely this idea was.
The truth is that these girls couldn't been more wrong. It had been twenty minutes since Damon had been working on the Devil's Snares with Celine and so far he acted nicely.
Actually Damon was surprised by the fact that Celine was nice. They barely talked though and their conversation revolved mostly around the plant.
“Hum. So you girls sure are a big group. How did you become all so close?” asked Damon awkwardly.
“Oh!” said Celine surprised by the fact that he tried to talk to her. “Well, some girls knew each other before Hogwarts and after we've been dispatched in the houses, we became friends with the other girls. After a while, we came together as a group.” explained Celine “It all came together naturally really.” she added.
“Cool. Your friend seems nice. The Ravenclaw one” said Damon but he thought it will be better if he pretended not to care all that much “The name's Atina or something” he added.
“Oh. You mean Atie?”
“Yeah. That one” said Damon, pretending to be vaguely interested.
“Yeah she's a sweetheart.” said Celine smiling “You know what?” she added after a long pause “You're not as bad as I thought you were.”
“Nor do you” replied Damon with a smile.
Albie, on the other hand, was looking cautiously at her friend Amber. She had noticed, at the beginning of the hour, that her friend seemed tired. She had pale black circles under each eye and therefore Albie was wondering about what could keep her friend from sleeping.
“I might as well ask her” thought Albie
“Hey. Are you alright?” she asked while staring at Amber.
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“You seem a little tired. What's wrong?”
“Yeah I didn't get that much sleep” said Amber very slowly.
“Why's that?” asked her friend, concerned.
“I was thinking all night about Jess Mariano. Stupid I know.” Amber sighed.
“Oh. I didn't know you liked him that much”
“Yeah. The thing is he hits on every girl but never me” admitted Amber shyly. “I just wonder who will be his next crush or something”
Albie thought of the moment she saw between Jess and Aline the day before at dinner but decided not to tell Amber. Instead she just shrugged her shoulders.
By the Mandrakes section, Laura couldn't take it anymore. It has been forty minutes since she had been stuck with Klaus and all he had done so far was hitting on her - even the fact that they were both wearing earmuffs didn't stop him.
“So I was saying what about a date at Hogsmeade?” asked Klaus playfully taking his earmuffs off.
“You should wear those” said Laura “Besides we don't even have the dates for Hogsmeade yet.”
He put the earmuffs back on “So what? I'm just asking before any other guy has the chance to, love” replied smirking.
Laura closed her eyes and took a deep breath “Don't call me love, please.” she gave him a glare “And who said anything about other guys?”
“Come on sweetheart. With eyes like these, I'm surely not the only one.”
“That's so not the point. And don't call me sweetheart either.”
“What should I call you then. Sugar?” he asked still smirking.
“It's even worse” thought Laura. After a sigh she responded “What about Laura? It's simple and it's my name so you can't be wrong with that. Anyway I'm going to pull the Mandrake out”
She did as she finished her words but she pulled too strongly and therefore spilled all the mud on Klaus' face. After she put the Mandrake in another plant pot, she turned to Klaus.
As soon as she saw him covered in dirt, she started laughing loudly. Klaus looked back at her in disbelief.
“Sorry” she managed to say between laughs “But it's just too funny” and she laughed even more loudly.
“I guess I must look ridiculous right now” he said starting to laugh as well.
They both laughed for some time until they calmed down. They look each other in the eyes until Laura broke the silence.
“I like you better this way” she said calmly “Now help me with the Mandrake.”
Klaus didn't say a word but he kept smiling at her until the rest of the class.
Meanwhile in the DADA classrooms, Professor Ford was introducing himself to the students. “I'm Professor Sawyer Ford and I'll be teaching you Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. As you may already know, the topic of your OWLs will be defensive spells. Today, we'll start with the basic Shield Charm and later in the year, you'll learn how to cast a Patronus Charm. I know that last year, everyone was already paired up with someone else but since I don't know you, I took the liberty to change them and it will stay this way until this year's end. So let's begin.”
Stefan got paired up with Caroline, Atie with Alex, Moosh with Z, Robb with Emily Thorne, a Ravenclaw student, Holly with Toby, Jess with Isaac, Aline with Sam, Rachel with Bruce and Margot with Castiel. Clark being called in the headmistress office earlier because of the Quidditch, was left out of the pairings. Everyone was quite pleased with who they ended up. Except maybe Rachel and Bruce.
Margot, in the other hand, couldn't be more happier. She couldn't believe her luck! She got to be paired up with Castiel so she can finally talk to him. After the teacher had spend some time instruct them how to cast the spell Protego, the students had been left alone in order to practice. As Castiel look through his books, she spoke to him.
“So you're friends with Aline” said Margot hesitantly.
“Yeah. She's nice” he replied absently.
“Yeah. My name is Margot by the way.”
Castiel lift up his head “I'm Castiel. Nice to meet you” he added with a smile while shaking her hand.
Margot was a bit taken aback at this formal introduction but as we already established, Castiel was a bit special. Therefore she didn't mind.
“So what spells should we start with?” she asked.
“Hum I was thinking we could start with some harmless ones like Rictusempra or Tarantallegra and see if we can protect ourselves with these ones. Is that okay?”
“Perfect” she replied.
“You know, I've read the book entirely and the most interesting part is how to create Patronus Charms.”
“Yeah I can't wait for that”
Suddenly Castiel stopped moving and asked her “Do you want to be my friend?”
Margot was surprised by the question but replied immediately “Yeah, of course”
Castiel then smiled “You're ready?” and Margot nodded. She sure was. “Rictusempra!” he cried.
At the same time, Holly was dueling with Toby. However she pretended she couldn't cast the Shield Charm so Professor Ford's attention was concentrated on her. He then spend twenty minutes showing her the right hand movement and incantation. As he did so, Holly couldn't stop staring at him. He was indeed really hot and she started mentally complaining how unfair life was because he was a teacher and all. After awhile she started to try to counter his spells but she faked that she couldn't until eventually she forgot to pretend. As she succeeded casting the spell for the first time, the teacher smiled at her and told her he would give ten points for Gryffindor. Holly smiled as he walked towards his desk.
On the opposite side of the classroom, Aline was having a great time with Sam. They succeeded casting the Shield Charm fifteen minutes ago so now they were having fun, using the various charms on each other.
“Protego !” cried Aline as Sam tried to hex her with the Tickling Charm “Levicorpus!”
Sam didn't have time to counter her charm and ended up hanging in the air by the ankle.
“Gotcha” said Aline smiling.
Jess, who was dueling with Isaac next to them, stopped and come over to Aline.
“Wow! I don't even know this Charm” he said in awe.
“Actually, Charms is my area of expertise so I know a few spells that the teachers won't teach us” she explained with a smile.
“Hum. I hate to be the buzzkill here, but I'm still in the air” interrupted Sam
“Oh right. Sorry about that.” said Aline “Liberacorpus” she added and Sam fell loudly on the floor.
Jess smiled at her in awe and Aline felt herself blushing.
"It's no big deal, though, anyone can learn it", she said quickly.
"I doubt that", Jess smirked.
What Aline couldn't see was that a few feet away from them, Isaac was looking at them sadly.
Sam, however, noticed and said: "Hey, Isaac, you have a cool wand, can I see it?"
Isaac looked at him in confusion before understanding what he was getting at and walked over to them.
Aline, to Jess' disappointment, also turned to look at Isaac, who handed his wand to Sam without saying a word.
"Cool", Sam said lamely. "Yeah, it's.. it's longer than mine."
"You have no idea how weird that just sounded", Jess snorted.
Isaac blushed a little and then turned to look at Aline, who smiled at him.
"You have that party tonight, right?" he asked.
"Guys aren't invited, sorry", Aline rushed to say. As much as she wanted to invite him, and Jess as well, she had made a promise. Guys always came crashing, though, so she wasn't holding her breath in believing the night would end with only the girls.
"I should go", Jess said. "Isaac, we should get back to practising", he had noticed that the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere from that point.
Isaac turned to give Aline one last smile before Sam handed back his wand and off they went.
"Looks like you've got two guys in your pocket", Sam said after they were gone.
Before anyone could say anything, they heard an enormous sound and turned to the left side of the room, where Rachel and Bruce were.
“WHAT THE HELL?!” shouted Rachel “You could have hurt me!”
“You countered the other spells, I thought you could handle this one.”replied Bruce, angry as well.
“What if I didn't have? We agreed on doing only harmless spells. Stupefy isn't one of them!”
“You would have been fine. You have like 1% of chances to get actually hurt with this spell”
“Oh yeah. It's totally secure” replied Ray bitterly “Why not using Unforgivable Curses as well then?” she added with a snort.
At this point, every students in the classroom were looking at them.
“You're dramatizing this” said Bruce exasperated
“I'm dramatizing this?! SERIOUSLY?” she shouted.
“Yeah. Next time, why don't you work with your Clark and leave me alone.” replied Bruce harshly.
And before Ray could say another word, he left the classroom.
Everyone remained silently staring at Ray. No one dared doing anything. As Aline and Moosh made a move towards their friend, the bell rang and Ray run out of the classroom.
"Should we go after her?" asked Aline to Moosh
"I can't right now, I have this Quidditch meeting" replied her friend and they stayed there looking at the classroom door.
Rachel also had a Quidditch meeting, and unfortunately she knew Bruce would be there as well, so she stalled before going, standing on the steps outside the empty classroom where the meeting was supposed to happen. She was still wondering what the hell had happened.
"Are you ok?" she suddenly heard a familiar voice and turned around to see Sam looking at her.
"Yeah", Rachel snorted, trying to look okay. "Guys are just.. weird."
"I think I know why he said those things, though", Sam said quietly.
"Shut up", Rachel snapped. "He tried to kill me!"
Sam snorted. "Of course he didn't. Stupefy can't kill."
"Well, it isn't exactly a spell to do good, either", Rachel said, wanting to change the subject. "We have a slumber party by the lake tonight. Do you wanna come? You could bring Stefan, too."
Sam smiled. "Isn't that a place only for girls?"
"Yeah, but guys always crash", Rachel snorted a little. "You could actually come invited this time."
"Come where?" suddenly the door to the classroom opened and Clark was standing in the doorway.
"Nowhere", Rachel muttered, walking past him into the room, Bruce's words echoing in her mind.
While the Quidditch players were in their meetings, the rest of the girls went to eat lunch.
"What do you think that incident was between Bruce and Rachel?" Bee asked. Since it was lunchtime and not a lot of people were around, they were all sitting together in the Hufflepuff table.
"Maybe Bruce is having a bad day", Holly said as she ate her food. "What do we have next?"
"History of Magic", Celine groaned. "Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs."
"I hate History of Magic, it's so dull", Bee groaned. "What do you have next, Aline?"
"Transfigurations with the Slytherins", Aline made a face. "I know Ale said we should try to be nice to them, but.."
"Hey, Damon wasn't that bad", Celine said. "He was actually quite nice to me."
"Oh, yeah? Maybe it was a bet or something", Holly said.
"Come on", Celine smiled. "We promised we'd try, didn't we?"
"Yeah, I suppose we did", Aline said, picking on her food.
Atie and Moosh got out of the room where they'd had the Ravenclaw meeting and begun to walk down the stairs to eat some lunch.
"I am starving", Moosh complained.
Before Atie had time to say anything, Alex Karev walked past them in the steps, turning to look at them as he walked.
"You do know that Gryffindor is going to kick your sorry asses this year in Quidditch, right?"
"You keep dreaming, Karev", Moosh snorted. "You aren't even on the team."
"You don't have to be on the team to know if they're good or not", Alex smirked at her before walking off.
"He is extremely cute. I think you should invite him tonight", Atie said.
"No, Alex is just a friend", Moosh said.
"Well, are we not allowed to invite friends?" Atie smirked.
"We're not allowed to invite boys", Moosh reminded her as they got down to the dining area.
"Oh, that is right", Atie made a dramatic sigh. "However will we survive?"
"Like we do every year. We'll just wait for everyone to crash", Moosh smiled as they joined all the girls at the Hufflepuff table. "Are Z and Ray not here yet?" she asked as she noted that Ale, Laura, Ade and Amber had joined, but the Gryffindor team was still missing.
"You know the Gryffindors, always stressing about being the best in Quidditch", Celine smiled.
"Clark Kent doesn't strike me as a guy who stresses about anything", Holly said as she took a sip of her drink.
Just then Rachel and Z walked into the hall, talking, but the talk ended as soon as they sat down.
"What's going on?" Moosh asked.
"We were just talking about Quidditch stuff", Z said.
"You mean strategies", Holly said.
"Oh, come on, we're friends, we're not going to tell anyone", Amber said.
"That's exactly what a spy would say", Z said in a serious voice, which made everyone crack a smile.
"Is everything ready for tonight?", Rachel asked.
"Yeah, we've stolen food, gotten all the blankets and stuff ready and we've got all sorts of games in mind", Laura said.
"We sound like we're 4 years old", Ale said.
"Well, there are only a few moments we can use to take the edge off around here", Ade said. "We might as well take them."
Everyone agreed on this and somehow the rest of the day went by faster than the first half. They were all waiting for the night eagerly.
The girls did it the same way they always did. They got outside, right down to the lake even before it was time for bed, then hid behind trees and large rocks, reading books and chatting until it was sure that everyone was inside, sleeping. And then they settled on the beach - if you could call it that. Some of the girls sometimes even went swimming. But the water was quite cold and you never knew what hid in the water.
Meg, Caroline, Lydia and Emily had also joined. Since they were their friends. And girls.
"So, the first game is easy", Holly announced. "Truth or dare. Sit down, all of you."
"I cannot believe I was a part of planning these goddamn games", Rachel muttered as they all sat down. "I hate truth or dare."
"And as I told you, it's a horribly entertaining game in a big group", Holly smirked.
Some of the girls had even brought balloons, mostly muggle ones, but some of them, once you blew them, they would blow up into fireworks. The girls were quite worried they'd make too much noise, though.
"Who goes first?" Holly asked. "Aline", she smirked. "I saw you talking to Jess Mariano today in class. Tell me, is he cute or not?"
Amber turned to look at her in shock, and Aline tried to think of whether it'd be easier to lie or say the truth.
"Yeah, I think he's cute."
Before anyone had time to comment on this, they heard noises from over at the castle. Just as they'd guessed, the guys were coming.