The Following

Chapter Two: The New Girl

Like a single entity, the Great Hall occupants gasped in surprise. Remus turned to James, his usual calm and collected façade replaced with a more confused, even scandalized one, "Did the Hat just say what I think he said?"

James replied with a mute nod of his head as his, and the rest of the students', attention became once again focused to the front of the Hall. Dumbledore had left the High Table and was now situated in front of Thalia, who, surprisingly, looked fairly unruffled for one who had just stumped the unstumpable Sorting Hat. He said something to her that was lost beneath the buzz of voices, and then plucked the Sorting Hat off her head, removed his own blue and gold starred hat, and then placed the latter on his head.

The crowd fell hush again as they watched their Headmaster intently. For what seemed like an eternity, he stood there, arms crossed, brow creased in deep thought. The entire population of the school was holding its breath; the tension thicker than a dragon's hide. Suddenly, Dumbledore spoke.

"After a quick council with the Sorting Hat, we have come to a conclusion about Ms. Yonkers house placement," Dumbledore looked around at the students reassuringly. "She will be a Gryffindor."

Sirius looked at James, who in turn looked at Peter, who in turn looked at Remus, who just shrugged and mouthed, "What? Am I supposed to know everything?" The boys smirked and nodded vigorously, then swung around to watch the new girl as she went and sat down at the end of the table. She still had not lost that nonchalant, almost uncaring, look about her, almost like the unprecedented events that had just happened were everyday occurrences for her and she was bored with the repetitiveness. It made the rest of the Gryffindors a tad uneasy, but not uneasy enough not to investigate.

"Hey, Thalia, is it? Welcome to Gryffindor," Sirius flashed his most charming smile and extended his hand. Thalia just looked at it, her deep green eyes empty of emotion.

"Thank you," she said simply, her voice a very deep timbre with a hint of an Irish accent, but still very feminine. She did not take his hand, but just turned away, ending any hope of continuing the conversation. Sirius wore a puzzled a look on his face as he returned to his place next to James. All at once, that end of the table exploded in questions for him about Thalia. "Odd one, that is. In more ways than one," he told them.

"What? Didn't drool all over herself when she saw you?" James teased good-naturally.

"No, besides that," he rolled his eyes. "She seemed so, I don't know how to put it. Conflicted?"

"All that analysis from "thank you"? Aren't you judging a little bit?" Mundy snorted.

"Maybe I am, or maybe I'm right."

"What's your basis for this judgement? Did she look conflicted?" Remus questioned him, curious to figure out this new girl.

"That's just the thing: she didn't look like anything! Not scared, not happy, not even really bored. It's like, I dunno, she's hiding herself or something."

"Ok, now you're jumping to conclusions. And when did you become so insightful to people's inner feelings, Freud?" Arabella raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I can't explain, but that's just what I felt, ok? You can stop berating me now; food's here." All talk ceased as food started popping up on the gold tableware. Everyone promptly began stuffing his or her faces with the great feast. Everyone, except Thalia.

*****

"Ah! Sun!" Remus shielded his eyes as one by one the curtains were being thrown open by a rather over-enthusiastic Frank Longbottom.

"I thought the sun only bothered vampires, not werewolves," Frank grinned. "Besides, it's the first day of school! Time to rise and shine so we can learn, learn, learn!"

"Why the hell do you have to be such a morning person?" Sirius swore as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, blinking a few times to clear his vision. "Every year it's like this. Why can't you just get up and leave the rest of us alone?"

"Then I'd be lonely," his cheeky answer was retorted with five pillows to the head. "Ouch, watch it you guys! If you act like this, I won't ever wake you up again!"

"Done and done," James said, then tossed another pillow in Frank's direction.

"All right, all right! You win!" Frank retreated into the showers as the rest of the seventh year boys yawned, stretched, and cursed their way out of bed. Remus and James fumbled around sleepily, pulling open their trucks and started getting dressed, which is not the best thing to do while still half asleep.

"Um, Moony, that's a sock you're trying to force onto your head, I hope you know" Sirius pointed out from across the room, where he was busy combing the tangles from his unruly black hair.

"Oh, right. I knew that."

It took nearly an hour and a half for the six boys to get dressed and ready, mainly because Peter stole James' glasses and hid them for a good laugh. James, however, didn't find this funny at all and Peter suffered the consequences.

"C'mon James! Use the Piccaso Counter-jinx already! I can't eat if my mouth's next to my ears!" Peter begged for the umpteenth time as the group walked down the corridor for breakfast. A group of first years saw the state of the cursed fellow and began laughing at his expense. Peter glared at them, and with his altered facial features, scared them so badly they ran away.

"I dunno, Peter, I kinda like your face this way. Sort of a conversation piece, wouldn't you say, Remus?" James smiled thoughtfully towards the boy in question.

"Oh yes, quite. Tell me, how can you see properly if your eyes are on the same side of your head and parallel to one another?"

"I can't!" Peter protested. "Now please change me back James! I promise never to steal your glasses again! Please? We're almost to the Great Hall!"

"Oh, all right," he gave in. "Fini Piccamora!"

Peter felt his face with his hands to make sure everything was where it was suppose to be as they all walked into the Great Hall. Going straight for the Gryffindor Table, all six sat in a group: James, Sirius, and Remus on one side, and the other three across from them. Being it was so early, hardly anyone else was down there. They all helped themselves to the apples, cereal, porridge, Danishes, and pumpkin juice that were the breakfast meal. As they thoroughly stuffed themselves, Professor McGonagall walked by and handed them each their schedule for the new year.

"Damnit! Double Potions with the Slytherins again!" moaned Sirius. "Can we ever escape this?"

"Probably not," Remus said thoughtfully. "I've got NEWT level Transfiguration afterwards, then Apparation Lessons. How about you guys?"

"Same here," said Sirius and James simultaneously.

"I've got NEWT level Herbology second," noted Peter.

"I'm with Pettigrew," said Mundy.

"I don't have last hour with you guys," informed Frank. "I've got NEWT level DADA."

"Well, well, it seems I'm with you all day, Sirius," Arabella said suddenly, making Sirius jump. She was behind him, reading his schedule over his shoulder.

"Sweet Merlin! Couldn't you have told me you were there? You've scared two years off my life!"

"Hello, I'm behind you," she said sarcastically, reaching between him and Remus and grabbing an apple. "Does that work?"

"Not really."

She messed up his hair in frustration and retaliation, which caused Sirius to yelp in protest. "It will have to, Black. See you guys in Potions."

"You know what, Sirius? I think she fancies you," Frank said after Arabella was out of earshot.

"Yeah, or hates you with an undying passion," piped up Peter.

"Let's hope it was the last one," he grumbled, trying to fix his hair with his fingers.

"Speaking of girls who irk people something horribly," James looked down the aisle between tables. "Here comes the thorn in my side."

"Good morning James," Lily said stiffly as she approached him. "I've just came to remind you that there will be a Prefect meeting before dinner tonight."

"Yes, yes, I know," he told her, flashing a winning smile.

"Good. There's also the issue of setting an example," she looked tenaciously at his untucked shirt and loose tie.

"Don't worry, MUM, I've got it all under control," he said, keeping the smile, although now strained. He waved his hands at her, "Run along dear, you don't want your breakfast to get cold."

Lily's amazing green eyes flashed with contempt for a second before she turned on her heel and left. James slumped onto the table and ran his hands through his raven hair, "I dunno how I'm going to put up with her for an entire term. She's incorrigible, she is."

"Just thank your lucky stars she's a Ravenclaw and you only have one class with her," Mundy pointed out.

"That's true," he said vaguely. Then it dawned on him, "Wait a second! One class? Which one?" James' eyes darted across his schedule.

"NEWT level Charms on Thursday," Remus read from his schedule. "I've got it too."

"Fan-bloody-tastic," James said flatly.

"Guys, we've got to get moving!" Peter abruptly got up from the table, staring at the clock on the back wall. "We only have ten minutes to get to the dungeons! You know how Wormwood gets!"

The boys quickly got up from the table, picked up their knapsacks and began the trek to Potions.

*****

As the six approached the Potions room, a crowd bunched up near the door stopped them from getting any further. They could just make out a couple of very familiar voices through the melee.

"Hey look everybody! It's the freak girl!"

"Go home, freak, you don't belong here. That's what the Sorting Hat was trying to tell you."

"Maybe we should fix you, freak. I know a good curse that would help."

"Oh, great, just what we need this morning," muttered James, as he, Remus, and Sirius pushed their way through the mass of people. "Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape."

The three got to the two fairly quickly, considering, and soon sized up the situation. The tall, blonde, gray-eyed boy and his hooked-nosed, greasy-haired partner were glowering over the new girl, Thalia, with their wands pointed at her menacingly. She had a look of terror and embarrassment on her face. Remus, who felt immediate sympathy for her, as he knew what it felt like to have people label you a freak for something you couldn't control, instinctively darted between her and Malfoy and Snape.

"Leave her alone!" he shouted as the two Slytherins looked at him coldly.

"Or what, Lupin? Going to lecture us to death?" Malfoy drawled.

"No. I'm going to kick your ass," Sirius growled from behind him, poking his wand into his back. Snape whipped around to deal with him, but came face to face with James.

"Oh, fancy seeing you here, Potter," Snape said softly.

"Just walk away, Snape," James' hazel eyes bore into him until he turned away and motioned for Lucius to follow him.

"Are you all right?" Remus asked Thalia, as the other two boys made sure Snape and Malfoy kept their distance. Thalia just nodded, tucking a stray blonde hair behind her ear.

"You aren't much of a talker, are you?" he smiled kindly, hoping that she would do the same. She did.

"I guess not. I'm not used to being in a place with this many people you know," she told him, but her eyes didn't meet his. Remus had a feeling that she was holding something back, but she wouldn't say any more.

"Oh, I see," he ran his hand across the nape of his neck, his eyes catching sight of Professor Wormwood coming down the corridor. "Well, my teacher's here. I guess you should be getting on to where ever it was you were going before you were stopped rudely."

"What do you mean? I have class here now," she looked at him curiously, then proceeded to enter class with the rest of the seventh years. Remus just stood there until his friends caught up with him.

"What is it, Moony? You seem stumped by something," Frank put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thalia's a seventh year," he said simply.

"A seventh year? You must be mistaken," James looked at Remus as they sat down and got their Potions supplies out. "I mean, she just came to school this year."

"Well, she's over there, isn't she?" he pointed to the front of the room, where Thalia was sitting alone, supplies out and quill at ready.

"Well, I wouldn't have guessed."

"Quiet down class, quiet down!" Potions Master Philip Wormwood rapped a potion's ladle on his desk to get everyone's attention and began to take role. As he called off "Yonkers, Thalia", he made a slight noise in the back of his throat, and his eyes flashed her way. Wormwood placed the role parchment back on his desk and cleared his throat, "Hopefully over the summer, not everything you learned last term seeped out of your brains. To make sure of that, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Potter! What's the main ingredient in a Wit-Sharpening Potion?"

"Owl's feathers, two of them," he said slowly, hoping it was the right answer.

"Correct. Black! What's the name of the Potion used to change people into other people for the period of an hour?"

"Poly-Juice Potion."

"Correct. Snape! How long does a Love Potion have to sit before usable?"

"Three and a half days."

"Correct. Figg! What potion can cure you of frostbite?"

"The Jack-Frost Potion?" Arabella said meekly. Potions was her worst subject.

"No, you silly girl. It's the Defrost Potion. Ten points from Gryffindor. Goyle! What color is a Shrinking Potion?"

"Uhh, I dunno. Blue?" the fat, slow boy scratched his head in an apelike manner.

"Green, you imbecile! Two points from Slytherin." Wormwood looked around the room, noting the glares the Gryffindors were giving him for his House favoritism and matched them. His gaze landed on Thalia, who was frantically writing down notes. A nasty smile crept across his features. "Yonkers!"

Thalia looked up automatically, "What?"

He stroked his chin, "What are you writing?"

"Um, just notes, sir," she gulped.

"Hmm, interesting. Tell me, what are the names and functions of the four potions that make up the list that will get you sent to Azkaban and their antidotes!"

"What?" hissed Remus to James. "That isn't fair! We haven't ever learned that yet!"

"Of course we haven't. No one except for Dark Wizards knows all four of those potions. The Ministry forbids the teaching of them, you know, so we don't go and make them and whatnot," James hissed back. "He's just doing this to embarrass her."

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"I dunno, he's evil?"

"Point taken."

Thalia finally spoke, "The first is Drought of the Living Dead, which will slow down your functions so much, even a Mediwizard would pronounce you deceased, causing you to most likely be buried alive. Its antidote is the Everlife Elixir. Second is the Imperius Potion. It, like the Imperius Curse, controls your every action. Its antidote is the Free-Thought Drought. Third, is the Walking Poison, which stays inside your body for a maximum of three days. During that time, everything you touch becomes contaminated and if someone else touches the contaminated object, they get the poison as well. Its antidote is the Vanquish Elixir. And finally, the fourth is the Termite Serum, which eats your body from the inside out. It has no antidote." As she finished, there was a loud thud as Wormwood dropped the book he was holding.

"How do you know--?" he stammered.

"I guess I've just read it somewhere," she said quickly.

"Impossible. All books containing these potions were destroyed after Dark Lord Grindelwald's defeat in 1945, in hopes of preventing the use of them ever again. There is only two tomes left with this information: one at the Ministry, the other is on the floor of this very classroom," Wormwood stared at her as if she was something he couldn't understand, like a paradox.

"Well, well, well why would you ask me a question you didn't want the answer to?" Thalia huffed angrily, glaring daggers at the Potions Master. Suddenly, five glass flasks behind him exploded without warning. Thalia's face, crimson with anger, turned white quicker than you could say "What the --?" She grabbed her books and left the room, ignoring the fact that the students were giving her a wide berth.

"Sweet Merlin, this can't be good."