Muggle In Hogwarts

Chapter Five

'Good morning, Draco, how are you doing?' I greeted him as I went down the stairs to the Common Room. At first it had been quite strange to see him there but by now she was getting used to it. It had been several weeks after Fang's death, and his funeral next to Hagrid's hut. Since then, there hadn't been a sign of Voldemort, so Hogwarts students relaxed again.

'How am I doing? Hmm… let me think. It's snowing outside, it's Christmas vacation and the first person I see is an example of South American beauty,' he said jokingly. I punched him playfully in the arm and sat down in the couch next to him.

'Guess who's up and walking?' he asked me.

'Who?' I asked.

'Your sister,' he said.

'Really! Oh, I'm going to see her, join me?' I asked excitedly. He shook his head.

'Waiting for Harry and Ron,' he said. 'We're going to play Quidditch.'

'Ok. I'm gonna go see Laura. How did you find out? Did Madam Pomfrey let you in?' I asked.

'Nope. But Grace saw her,' he answered as his owl flew to him and nibbled his ear affectionately. I rolled my eyes and left the Common Room, running as fast as I could to the Hospital Wing. Even before I got through the door I could hear my sister's voice complaining, as usual.

'But I'm OK! I've got to find my sister so we can go back home! I'll be OK! I'm not ill!' Laura said to an exasperated Poppy.

'You've been hit by a very powerful Dark spell, you've only been two months in bed, you're lucky to be alive,' Poppy replied. I ran right in, not caring if I disturbed other patients.

'Laura!' I almost yelled as I threw myself on top of her. At first she hugged me but then she started pulling me off.

'You've gotten fatter, Chimi!' she said critically. 'Have you been eating all the time I was going in and out of coma?' she asked exasperated.

'Out, out! This patient needs rest!' said Poppy trying to pull me away.

'Please, Madam Pomfrey, please. Just five minutes,' I pleaded.

'Well, ok, but only five minutes,' she said huffily, hesitantly leaving us alone.

'So, are you awake awake? Not like the other times when you'd fall asleep every two seconds?' I asked.

'I'm up, I'm up,' she said. 'Now, tell me, where am I?'

'You're in the Hospital Wing of the Hogwarts school for witches and wizards.'

Uh, and that's where?' she asked looking at me blankly.

'I don't know where it is. It's unplottable.'

'You sound like you've swallowed a book,' she said skeptically. I laughed.

'Well, there is a book about this place in the library. Oh, the library is huge, and it's so cool. It has all these books about-'

'Now wait a minute. I woke up to be lectured about books? I want you to tell me where can I find myself a cute wizard my age, not all that crap about the library. Do they have dances? Do you have a new boyfriend you didn't tell me about? Come on! I've been practically dead for two months! Enlighten me!' she said exasperated. I laughed again.

'No, you woke up so I could bother you all day long, and no, they don't have regular dances. But last year they had something called the Yule Ball. They said it was real cool. No, I don't have a boyfriend, what do you take me for? I've only been here two months!

'Well, I'll be here two seconds and find myself a good cute boyfriend. Want one yourself?' she said teasingly.

'Oh, it's so good to have you back,' I said.

'Now don't start crying. Oh, what the hell, you always cry,' she said resignedly. 'You cried in Bambi, in Little Women, in The Lion King, in Dumbo, in The Little Mermaid, and in a billion other movies I can't even remember. You never listen to me. Last time I woke up I told you not to cry and here you are, the Niagara Falls again.'

'Well, sooooo sooooooorry, Ice Queen,' I replied. Laura always teased me about that.

OK, OK Enough. Help me get up and out of this place. I can't stand being still for another second.' She grabbed my hand and I pulled hard, forcing her to a sitting position 'thanks.' and she jumped out of the bed and we both walked carefully out of the Hospital Wing.

'I'm free!' she almost yelled as she followed me through the corridors to the Gryffindor Common Room.

'Guacamole,' I said and the Fat Lady let us in.

'Hey, can I borrow clothes from you? Cause I'm not planing on going around the school with this on,' she said signaling the hospital pajamas she was still wearing. 'Another promise you broke. I asked you to bring me some clothes and I wake up in the same garbage.'

'Hey!' I looked at my sister indignant. 'Madam Pomfrey say that for the time you were in the Hospital Wing you would wear the pajamas. And you'll be happy to hear that the ministry sent over your luggage, so all your things are in my room but they'll be moved once you've been sorted.' I led her to my room, where she almost screamed with joy when she started digging in her bag.

'Oh, thank good I decided to go to the cabin with lots of jeans! Oh, and my shoes! And my necklace!' and on and on she went, exclaiming over all her things until she finally changed.

'Hey, Cecilia, could I borrow your-' came a voice from the outside the door. Jasmine came in and cut the phrase there, gaping at Laura, all dressed in funky clothes. Laura smiled.

'Hello, I believe we haven't been introduced. I'm Laura, Cecilia's sister.'

Jasmine still didn't react.

'You know what, Laura?' I said, decided to make her pay from spreading stupid rumors, 'She said that you were a corpse that I was hiding under my bed,' I commented calmly. Laura looked at the girl disgusted.

'Well, only stupid people that don't know us would think that,' she said.

'So immature,' she mumbled as she searched through her bag for a pair of socks. Jasmine looked as if petrified.

'So, you were saying, Jasmine?' I said turning to her. She shook her head and ran out of the room, almost throwing Hermsy down.

'God, she was quite in a hurry, what did you do to her?' she asked laughing. Then she saw Laura. At first she looked surprised, but then she smiled.

'Hello there, Laura. Nice to meet you again,' she said holding out her hand.

Laura, unaccustomed, directly gave her a kiss on the cheek, as is done in Argentina. Hermsy blushed slightly, and only then did Laura notice and shake her hand, blushing slightly herself.

'Sorry, it's just that I'm not used to this formal handshaking,' she said apologetically. 'You must be Hermione, right?'

'Yeah, I am,' said Hermsy, still a bit embarrassed.

'I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry. Shall we go down for breakfast?' I said trying to break the ice.

'Sure, I'll go tell the guys,' said Hermsy.

'We'll go with you,' said Laura with interest. She always liked to meet new people, it didn't matter if they were guys or girls, but she always joked pretending to be a man-eater, though she was pretty cool on the subject. So all three of us went to get the guys, though we didn't have to look much, since Ron and Harry were playing wizarding chess, and Draco was watching.

Most of the students were packing since at ten they left for King Cross on the Hogwarts Express, but as usual the Weasleys and Harry stayed. Draco and I stayed for obvious reasons and Hermsy decided to keep us company. So the six of us went down to the Great Hall to get breakfast. Since all the kids who were leaving already had to be at the front to take the carriages to the Hogsmeade Train Station, there was only one long table where both students and teachers sat.

'Nice to see you've come and joined us, Ms Laura Politi. Please come to my office when you finish breakfast to be sorted into your House,' said Dumbledore as greeting. Laura nodded politely and sat down next to us.

'Who's that guy?' she asked.

'Oh, that's Professor Dumbledore, he's the Headmaster, he's real nice. Next to him is Professor McGonagall, she teaches Transfiguration…' said Hermsy giving a short explanation to the introduction of every professor at the table.

'Where's Snape?' I asked Ron.

'No idea,' he said looking up from his plate full of food. 'Perhaps he's gone for the Christmas break too!' he said, looking hopefully.

'No such luck,' Harry whispered next to Laura, pointing at the door to the Great Hall where the greasy professor stood, just outside. I hadn't met him yet, but I had heard enough to know that I shouldn't get in his way, so I just looked at my plate and shivered slightly as he passed by.

'Who are you?' I heard him ask. I doubted the question was directed to me, so I didn't move. Suddenly I felt cold fingers grab my arm and turn me around, forcing me to look into those dark eyes in that pale face.

'Do you know it's bad manners not to answer a question, and pretended to be deaf?' he said coldly. 'I repeat, who are you?' I repressed another shiver and held my head high, correcting my posture. I stood up and looked directly into his eyes. Now, I don't know why I said it, the words just popped out of my mouth, I couldn't control what I was saying from then on until I sat down again.

'Phyntom, Ingenuita Phyntom. At your service, Mr. Viper,' she said with a voice that wasn't her own, giving a graceful curtsy. I noticed just for a second that no one was looking at me except Draco. Nobody was even breathing. I almost fainted, but my other self didn't let me. I heard a voice in my head say, "Don't be a coward. Stand up to him. There's a reason you're in Gryffindor." I shook my hand in the air muttering strange words, felling safer automatically. Snape looked at me not surprised.

'Well, Ingenuita,' he snarled. 'If that truly is your name, I'd like you to please accept my regrets for having treated you that way, and accept to truly be at my service.' Draco stood up and calmly walked around the table to my side, still nobody else moved. 'Do be kind enough to leave Ingenuita alone. It's hard enough to surface after all that time of co-domination. Are you tired?' Draco asked me in a voice that wasn't his own. I shook my head, nodded curtly at Snape and sat down again. Draco looked disgusted at Snape and then sat down again.

'Wait a minute, I am not refused so easily,' he said.

'Well, Viper, we are saying just that: No.' Draco retorted in a fierce grave voice. 'Now disappear, before I decide to turn you into a squirrel. 'And with that he moved his hand around the table, using his middle finger and index finger as if they were legs moving them as if his hand were walking.

Snape moved at the same rhythm until he was out of the Great Hall and everybody woke up from his or her trance, finishing their actions. I fainted, but could still hear the little tap-tap of Draco's fingers on the table, until I heard a faint "splat" realizing that he must have fainted too before I completely lost consciousness.

'Are you OK?' asked Hermsy standing next to Cecilia's bed in the Hospital Wing. She tried to speak but her throat hurt, so she just nodded.

'What happened?' Harry asked, next to Hermsy. She shrugged her shoulders to show she didn't know.

'Dumbledore and the other professors were so worried. You and Draco were just eating breakfast and suddenly both faint? Too weird if you ask me,' said Ron. She looked at him quizzically. 'Cause both you and he are supposed to take care of Harry, and even though, both of you fainted. And also, remember that Snape was entering the Great Hall?' she nodded. 'Well guess what? The next second he wasn't there anymore, it was so weird. And later when Dumbledore asked him why he didn't enter the Great Hall he said he had had breakfast in the kitchens and he was all day long in his office doing a strange potion Dumbledore had asked him.' Ron shrugged. 'Too weird.' Harry nodded in agreement as Poppy bustled over and started with her usual this-patient-needs-to-rest speech. So Cecilia unstuck her throat and asked for five more minutes. Poppy agreed, but only under the condition she drank a potion that was to help her soar throat. "Strange," she thought to herself as she drank the concoction. "I only faint but end up with a throbbing head and a soar throat."

'So,' she said, finally regaining her proper voice. 'What happened? The only thing I remember is ... Snape entering the room -'

'But Snape never entered,' said Hermsy, looking at her strangely. Cecilia shook her head.

'He did, you just didn't see him. He asked me ... he asked me who I was and I can't remember much after that. I just remember a woman's voice, she said that I was in Gryffindor for a reason.' She fell silent. A minute later she continued. 'Then it stopped being foggy and Draco... he was leading him away. I couldn't move, but I understood everything that happened around me. After Draco fainted I lost consciousness,' she said thoughtfully.

'But when Draco fainted you had been out cold for a minute,' said Harry looking confused. She nodded.

'I know, that's what so strange.' All of the sudden she noticed the absence of her sister.

'Where's Laura?' she asked worriedly.

'She's in Dumbledore's office trying on the Sorting Hat,' said Hermsy giggling. She remember what happened when Cecilia had tried the hat. 'We should have warned her that it talks.' she commented, her giggles worsening. Cecilia smiled.

'Where's Draco?' she asked.

'Still out cold, last time we checked,' said Harry.

'Yeah, but that was fifteen minutes ago,' came Draco's voice from a bed on the other side of the room. All four looked at him. 'I was wondering when you'd remember me,' he said chuckling.

'Are you OK?' asked Cecilia and Hermsy worriedly.

'Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. But a little company wouldn't harm me,' he said looking at them reproachfully. Cecilia got up and grabbing Hermsy's hand went over to his bed. ‘Scoot,’ she told him and he made some space for her.

She snuggled in while the other three looked at them surprised. ‘Now you can keep both of us company and not have to move from one bed to the other,’ Cecilia explained. They looked at her doubtfully but shrugged.

'Something real strange happened after you guys passed out.' said Ron looking very confused. Cecilia looked at him quizzically-you know how the Great Hall is full of magically working things?' he asked her and Draco.

They both nodded. 'Well, they don't work anymore, and it was impossible to conjure stretchers in the Great Hall, and the ghost couldn't float through its walls, which had turned completely blue. Real strange if you ask me,' he said. Cecilia thought hard on this point. "Oh, silly me," said the female voice in her head. Cecilia lifted her head and looked all around her. "I'm in your head you idiot!" said the woman laughing. "I left the charm on after we fainted. We've got to reverse it. It's just Admantine, no prob there. It's just magic impermeable and makes it nearly impossible to make magic within it. A simple charm will have it down in the blink of an eye. "

Cecilia nodded and didn't speak for the rest of the conversation. The rest chatted on until Poppy came in and kicked them out. Cecilia immediately got to her feet, went to her bed, got dressed and left with her friends, Draco right at her heels with a complaining Poppy behind them.

As Laura left Dumbledore's office she saw her sister's crowd walk over towards her. She hadn't been chosen in Gryffindor as Chimi had but in Slytherin. What that meant, she had no idea. Once they reached her Chimi introduced her to a pale boy with pointed features called Draco Malfoy and asked her what had happened.

'Well, at first it was kinda strange, 'cause the hat started talking to me in my head. Did you know the hat talked?' she asked Chimi accusingly. Chimi laughed.

'Yeah, sorry didn't tell you. It's more, when it started talking I yanked it off my head and McGonagall had to convince me it wouldn't bite my head off till I dared to put it back on.' Her friends laughed.

'Yeah and she had this strange look in her face and she just said "It talked." And everybody started laughing,' said Chimi's redheaded friend, Ron, and the rest burst in giggles. Laura felt better to know she wasn't the only one who had gotten startled by the thought-reading hat.

'Go on. What happened next?' asked Chimi, looking at her sister interestedly. Laura took a deep breath.

'It put me in Slytherin,' she said, bracing herself for the worst.

'Congratulations, Blue!' Chimi said happily. 'I'm so proud of you.' Laura could see her smile wasn't at all forced, though the others still seemed slightly surprised. Laura smiled almost shyly.

'How did you do that?' Laura noticed that Ron was looking quizzically at Chimi, and frowned.

'What did she do now?' she asked guardedly. Chimi put her hand on her arm reassuringly.

'Nothing. I just predicted that you'd be in Slytherin. By the way, Seamus now owes me 10 galleons so Blue, accompany me and I'll buy you some Chocolate Frogs, OK?' Laura looked at Chimi strangely for a second. Then braved to ask: 'Are they real frogs?' To her dismay Chimi grinned maliciously.

'You'll have to find out on your own,' she said, and her friends laughed.

'Don't worry,' said Hermsy comfortingly. 'They're quite yummy, even if they croak a little in your stomach.' Even Laura laughed as she realized they were just joking.

'I congratulate you on being in the best House of all Hogwarts,' Draco said, shaking her hand.

'Aha, so you're a Slytherin too, I believe?'

'Yes, I am, but at the moment I'm not going there since I have to take care of Scar-Head over here,' he said elbowing the tall guy named Harry who, as Draco said, had a strange lightning scar on his forehead. 'So I'll introduce you to the seventh years so that they tour you around.' She thanked him as they all headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

They all headed for the table, but Draco and Laura walked to one end and the rest to the other (Gryffindors and Slytherins are enemies so they stayed as away as possible from each other).

'Hey, Seeeeamus, ' Laura heard her sister counter. 'Look over at the Slytherin side and weep,' she said grinning. A cute redheaded boy turned around and looked at Laura then elbowed the brown-headed boy next to him, both with shocked looks on their faces.

'That isn't you sister,' said Seamus.

'Please tell us that that isn't your sister,' said the other one pleadingly at Chimi. She grinned maliciously.

'Yes, they do tend to act like fools. You shall get used to it,' said a bleached-blond at the end of the table. 'Though that Muggle girl is quite charming,' she said smiling at her sister, who was telling the boys off for drooling over girls they didn't even know. Laura laughed.

'She's my sister.' The girl who had talked to her looked at her interestedly.

'Really?' she asked. She looked Laura up and down. 'Yes, you two are quite similar, though you dress better than she does, but she dresses funnier than you do,' she observed scooting to leave some place for Laura. She sat down and they kept on talking. Laura liked her group more and more, though some of them were hideous and jerks. The girl, whose name was Carla Muchardoff, introduced her to some of her friends (because most had left for Christmas) and Laura had already made a tight circle of friends on her very first day of consciousness. "These guys are sooo cool and sophisticated!" she thought to herself as Carla led her to the Common Room.

'Your sister is real good looking,' said Dean, as he and Seamus guided Cecilia to the Gryffindor Common Room. They had decided to torment her until she promised to introduce them to Laura.

'That is, of course, if she is her sister,' said Seamus. Dean nodded gravely.

'But one way or another, she's a total babe,' said Dean. Cecilia sighed.

'You guys are incorrigible.'

'Why, thank you!' They said together laughing.

OK, OK I'll introduce you guys. And then you'll give me my ten galleons. Deal?' she asked. They nodded. 'Very well. See you at lunch.' Gleefully both boys left to their rooms. Cecilia hurried to hers and flopped on her bed sighing.

'Oh, Hon. Are you OK?' asked Brenda. Waking up suddenly and yawing. Cecilia petted her. 'You've been sleeping all morning?' she asked. Brenda nodded smiling sleepily. Cecilia sighed. 'Well,' she said. 'You better go down to the dungeons cause Laura's there. She woke up and got sorted into Slytherin.' Brenda got up and wagged her tail. Cecilia laughed. 'Go ask cute pale Draco for directions on how to get there,' she instructed Brenda opening the bedroom door, only to find herself face to face precisely with Draco, his fist in the air ready to knock.