Keeping it in the Family

III

The Sorceress and the Squib

The first week at a new school is always the worst, and Keira was sure that her week fitted that description aptly. Aside from all the homework that the teachers had piled on them, there was of course the problem of her fellow students. She had no idea that they could be so childish! Frowning, she tried to recall everything that they had done to her the past week. Her cloak had been 'accidentally' stepped on, the floor suddenly grew slippery just as she walked by, a sniggering first year had tried to give her a Puking Pastille, saying it was good candy, and someone had told her that Peeves was a helpful and friendly ghost and to believe everything the poltergeist told her . The pranks had slowed somewhat though, after she had cracked at an especially practical joke-filled dinner and blasted an empty pumpkin juice jug into fine powder. After a glare from Keira, it had become a jug again, but the damage was done. Everyone had started backing away from her again, making Keira feel that she was a weird sort of escaped circus animal or a freak.

They're afraid of me, she thought savagely. They're afraid of me, when they don't even know half of what I can do. They're afraid of my power, my name, even my sorceress badge! If this was all that they could do... pulling practical jokes on her, behaving like kids, she was very disappointed in Hogwarts students, very disappointed. But I'm also afraid of them, a little voice in her mind said. Because even though the jokes they play on me are simple and foolish, they still hurt...

Correct, she thought wearily. That was why she was doing her homework here in the Owlery, sitting cross-legged among regurgitated remains of voles and owl droppings and trying not to knock over her lamp. It was better than trying to study in the Gryffindor common room, where someone was sure to set her parchment on fire or upset her inkstand, or even at the library. At least she wouldn't have to put up with other people's judging stares.

Sighing, she reached for the heavy Potions tome on the top of her homework pile, pulled it out and began to flip through the pages, pulling her quill, ink, and parchment toward her with another hand. Snape had assigned them to write a seven foot essay on Niveus Venenum, the most potent antidote that could be prepared by students.

"I hope he doesn't make us do this," Keira muttered, looking at the 12 pages devoted to its preparation, all covered in tiny print. Hmph, she thought. Knowing Snape's nastiness, this would probably be the next potion that he would assign to them! She shook her head she started taking notes from the tome. Under any other teacher, she would have been delighted to make it, but under Snape, it would feel like torture.

Keira worked steadily on her homework, most of the time spent on her Potions. She had just finished reading the required 6 pages on animal Transfiguration when she looked up and realized that the sky was already pitch black and almost all the owls were flying away, ready for another night of hunting. I've been doing homework for three hours straight?!?, she thought, gazing at her ink-splattered hands and robes. She, who used to tire after 30 minutes of writing essays? Unbelievable...what's wrong with me?

Just then, she heard someone's footsteps. Someone was coming to the Owlery! Keira hurriedly scooped up her books and hunted for the last page of her Potions essay. If anyone discovered her hiding place, she would have no rest from the Hogwarts students anymore. Stuffing some of her books under the hay, she surveyed all the things still scattered about and bit her lip. There was no way she could say that she was just looking after her owl, not with all the giveaways. Half-heartedly, she continued cleaning up, even as the footsteps grew nearer and nearer. Oh well, she thought. I'll just have to face the consequences, then.

The door creaked open as Keira gripped her cold hands. By the faint light of her lamp, she could see someone ambling in... it looked like a boy, with a roundish face. Suddenly, the figure stepped partly into the light, and she smiled nervously in relief. It was Neville Longbottom, who suddenly stumbled over one of her scattered books.

"Oops... Sorry Neville!" Keira said, hurriedly picking up the book.

"Keira? Is that you?" Neville's voice, a bit muffled, called out from somewhere in front of her. "I can't see too much..."

"Yes, it's me," Keira answered. "I'll move the lamp a bit, hold on..." She tugged the lamp into the open, where it immediately brightened the Owlery.

"Thanks, that's better... Um... what are you doing here?" Neville's voice sounded slightly suspicious as his eyes took in all the studying paraphernalia on the Owlery floor.

"Er... I'm doing homework here..."

Neville started to look for a school owl, but Keira could see that he looked puzzled.

"Why here? Isn't it cold, dark and smelly? You'd be more comfortable in the common room, Keira, that's where everyone does their homework." His voice became dreamy. "Soft, comfortable armchairs in front of a warm crackling fire..."

Shaking her head sadly, Keira bent down and started dusting the hay off her books.

"I can concentrate better here, and there are less... disturbances," she said, with a touch of sarcasm

Neville cleared his throat. "Don't get upset, they're just funning with you, I think..."

Keira grimly banged the book she was dusting on top of a small pile.

"I'm sick of it," she snapped. "I wish they would stop acting like a bunch of preschool kids and grow up!"

"I don't think all Hogwarts students are like that," Neville said simply, as he got on his knees and started helping her.

"Don't bother, Neville, I'm fine..." But he took no notice and silently began rolling up some sheets of parchment, so she shrugged.

"Thanks... I wish more Hogwarts students were like you, Neville." Keira said wistfully.

"Be careful what you wish for," Neville snorted. "If all students were like me, all the teachers would go mad and everyone would get stuck in trick staircases and trip over everything in sight, don't you think?"

"Well, at least they would be nicer, right? You can study all those spells and wand movements and potion ingredients to perfection, but you can't change your personality that easily."

"Whatever you say, Keira." Neville stacked 3 spellbooks on top of each other, and carried them. "Going back to Gryffindor Tower?"

Surprised, Keira tried to take the books from Neville. "You don't need to bring these for me, Neville, I'm fine, really...."

Neville looked a bit hurt. "You're tired-looking and nervous, I just thought I could help and all-", but Keira shook her head, a bit impatiently.

"It's not you Neville... well, maybe a part of it is." His face started to fall, and she continued quickly. "No! I mean- if you help me or people even just see you with me, you'll be teased and be played practical jokes on, too!" She started walking down the staircase and he quickly followed, looking at her as though she was crazy.

"I'm an almost-Squib and the Hogwarts klutz you know, I think I'm used to teasing and stuff like that, I get it everyday," he said in a firm voice. Keira stole a look at him. Neville's chubby face didn't look sad or bitter, just resigned and a bit determined.

Some people are just too nice, she thought. "Thanks for helping me, then..." she smiled, a bit uncertainly, at Neville.

He looked a puzzled. "I'm not playing a joke on you, you know."

"You wouldn't play a joke on me, you're too nice!" Keira grinned at the face he made. "Keira, I'm not as nice as you'd think, I-"

"You're nicer than Draco Malfoy, at any rate," she said, with a half-smile on her face. "Don't say that isn't true!"

"Anyone is nicer than Draco Malfoy," he said, rolling his eyes.

She scrunched her forehead, pretending to think deeply. "How about Snape?"

Neville shuddered. "Don't mention his name, please! I don't even want to think about what he'll do to me when he sees how my Truth Serum is turning out..."

Keira sighed dreamily. "I wish I was allowed to turn them both into frogs or something, and then I could dump them in the Forbidden Forest and never see them again..."

Neville chuckled. "Our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher 2 years ago turned Malfoy into a ferret and bounced him up and down on the floor before McGonagall stopped him!" Keira burst into hysterical laughter.

"Really!?!? I wish I was there, I wish I had seen him! He'd have never lived it down if I was there!" she said between giggles. "Now I have something to throw back at Malfoy when he makes those stupid snide comments..."

Neville looked at her sideways. "So you do fight back..."

Keira nodded. "I can't take all of all the students' tricks and jokes lying down, you know. I'm just keeping all my anger inside me, sooner all later I'll have to let it out!" she said, grinning devilishly. "But I haven't reached my limit yet, and it's a bit hard fighting back when practically the whole school is against you. I'll just wait, I s'pose."

Neville suddenly grew a bit quieter. "How will you fight back?"

She shrugged. "Nothing major. Just answering back when they make comments to the air, making their jokes on me backfire, simple stuff like that." Seeing the look on Neville's face, she smiled. "Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to spray-paint the castle with pink hearts or do something major that will have me expelled! I just want to teach Malfoy and all the students a lesson in giving people a chance, that's all...."

Her shoulders suddenly sagged and her voice grew quieter. "To tell you the truth, some of their comments have been really cutting deep. All I wanted was for them to give me a chance. I didn't ask to be born a Lestrange! I didn't get to choose my relatives or their loyalties. I - I just thought that here at Hogwarts people would look at me as an individual, not as a Lestrange. It's not been happening. I don't know - maybe that that was just too much to ask."

She suddenly realized that she'd been prattling on and on in Neville's ear about her problems and stopped quickly. What was she thinking? Maybe he didn't care about what she thought. Maybe she'd offended him.

"Neville, I'm sorry that you had to hear all this, I -"

But he cut her off. "Keira, I don't mind. Really, I don't. Thanks- thanks for telling me how you feel." His chubby face broke into a smile.

Keira opened her mouth to reply, but was jolted rudely into the world of Hogwarts by a whiff of scented hair gel and expensive Muggle cologne.

"Well, well, well," drawled the voice Keira hated hearing the most, "The Sorceress-" here he paused as he looked Keira up and down while the crowd around him chuckled- "and the Squib. This is a new one."

It was Malfoy, with his Slytherin posse who had more air in their heads than substance.

Ordinarily Keira would have swept on by without pretending to hear anything, but right now she stopped, raised an eyebrow at Malfoy, and looked at him and his crowd scathingly. "Last time I checked, Malfoy, Hogwarts wasn't a menagerie yet."

He looked at her, his sneer permanently fixed on his face, and she thought that she would have slapped his pale face already if her hands weren't full. Something in her cracked.

"Get out of my way, ferret boy," she snapped. "Now."

Malfoy, who looked too shocked to think of a comeback, stepped back two paces, and Keira swept through, as regally as a queen, and Neville followed. The whole hallway was silent.

Just as they were about to turn at the end, Malfoy suddenly called out, "You'll be sorry, Lestrange!"

She rolled her eyes. "It took him that long to think and that was all he could manage? He didn't even think to use that prefect badge of his and take some points off Gryffindor!"

"Thank goodness," Neville said, his pink face looking relieved. "If he had done that, the Gryffindors would probably disown you."

Keira snorted. "They're disowning me already, judging from their reactions when I walk into the common room and their comments! Especially that Harry Potter! He's the worst..."

Neville suddenly looked down at the floor. "Do you know why he's like that to you?"

She shook her head. "No, actually. You know, don't you? Tell me!" she said eagerly.

He still refused to meet her eyes. "I was there when it happened, and-" he shook his head, his face sad-looking. "I didn't see it itself, but the way Harry looked afterwards and when I knew I-"

Keira pressed her lips together. "This is about one of my relatives, right? Something that one of them did to him?"

Neville nodded slowly at the first, and paused at her second question. "Ye-yes and no."

"Yes and no? To one of his close friends? No? To one of his relatives, then."

He remained silent.

"That means yes. Okay, to one of his relatives. Then who did the deed... it was probably my uncle and aunt. No, my aunt always thought that my uncle was too soft. She was way more dastardly and evil than him... It was my aunt, right?"

He still didn't make a sound and Keira sighed with impatience.

"So my aunt did something very bad to one of his relatives, and you were there when it happened. Can't you tell me what she did? I won't tell anyone that you told me!"

Neville cleared his throat. "I think Harry should be the one to tell you."

"Alright, fine." Unknowingly, they had already reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and stopped. Keira walked over to the portrait and cocked her head.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhhhh..... Good, seems like no one's there. Probably they're all eating dinner already... Purple Puffskein!" The last was directed at the Fat Lady, who winced.

"You don't need to say it so loudly, dear," she said, visibly irritated, and the door swung open.

Keira immediately dumped her books and parchment on one of the tables in the empty common room.

"Great, now even the Fat Lady is annoyed with me... Ow, my arms hurt from carrying all that stuff!"

Neville suddenly tripped on a table leg, went down with a crash, and sent the books and parchment rolls that he had been holding flying into the air.

"Hey Neville, are you OK?"

He was rubbing his leg, wincing. "I'm fine I guess... Sorry about your books..."

"Are you kidding? None of them are torn or anything, you know! I guess you're more important than a bunch of books.... I'm sorry."

Neville looked up, surprised. "For what?"

"For making you late for dinner, for talking you to death most of the way here, for pressuring you to tell me what my aunt did to Harry, maybe I made things worse for you when we ran into Malfoy..." she ran out of steam and stopped.

A grin stretched across his chubby face. "All of that's fine. I was the one who volunteered to carry your books, right?"

"Well I guess." she said ruefully. "I wish there was some way to thank you..."

"For just carrying your books?"

"No... for being nice to me and all, even though my aunt- you know-"

He stood up gingerly, testing his leg. "No problem. At least I can prove to you that Hogwarts students aren't immature and horrible."

"Wait, I know!"

"Know what?"

"How I can repay you! You're uh, having trouble with your studies, right?"

He nodded, his face a bit fearful.

"Why don't I help you? I won't do your homework, but help you with spells, Potions techniques, advance research, stuff like that." The words were barely out of her mouth before she realized how boastful and ridiculous she must have sounded. "If you don't want to, I understand..."

His face brightened. "Really, Keira? Where would you find the time?"

"After dinner, breaks, anytime you're available."

"But you'll have homework and stuff to do, too..."

She shook her head. "I'm from a school with only six years, remember? All the topics we're discussing right now I've taken up at Rosehill, even if the lessons there were only skimming the surface. As long as Snape and McGonagall don't pile it up all the time, I think I can handle it." She smiled encouragingly at Neville, who smiled back.

"You don't mind, Keira?"

"I'm the one who offered to, remember? Do you mind?"

He shook his head. "Are you kidding? Of course I don't! My gran was disappointed with the number of OWLs I got last year, she told me I needed to work harder."

"So... when would you like to start?"

"Is after dinner fine?"

"Fine with me. I've done all my homework, anyway," she said with a grin, while starting to pick up a book near her. Suddenly, her face turned pale and her hands started shaking slightly.

"What's wrong, Keira?"

"Urgh. Grand entrance at the Great Hall... I bet the Slytherins will have thought of a way to pay me back. Oh no..." She looked apprehensive.

"You'll have to face him again sooner or later, might as well be now. Don't you lose your nerve, Keira!"

She sighed. "You're right, Neville. I can't keep running from them forever. I'll just load my plate with food so I can ignore them all for now, I guess..."

He clapped her on the back with a book. "That's the spirit. Now, hurry up and get these things in your dormitory, I'm starving!"

"So am I... Must be a result from too much studying!"

Neville shook his head sadly. "So this is what happens when you're too smart..."

She frowned and punched him lightly. "Am not."

Inside, Keira was so happy she could hug maybe even Draco Malfoy. Finally, a friend! At least things were starting to look up for her at Hogwarts... May this be a sign of better things to come, she said quietly to herself as she climbed the stairs to her dormitory. Please let it be.