Leo et Serpentia

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, in the early year of a decade not too long before our own . . . the author of this fic was attacked by the plot bunnies. This is the horribly mangled result.

Cheers!

-Rayne

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CHAPTER ONE: The Bathroom Door

    “Where the hell is Fred?” George Weasley asked his best friend Lee Jordan angrily. The two boys were sitting in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express. “He left for the bathroom over an hour ago!”

    “I know, I know . . . hey, aren’t twins supposed to be telepathetic or something? You should know better than I do.”

    “The word is telepathic, not telepathetic, you git.”

    “In your case, it’s definitely telePATHETIC.” Lee smiled at his own joke. George rolled his eyes.

    “That was not funny. For such a brilliant prankster, you’re a complete moron.”

    “Hey, who was the one who came up with the idea of putting Filibuster Fireworks in McGonagall’s shoes first year? I’ll have you know that it wasn’t you.”

    “Yeah, I think that was Fred.” George grinned and saluted Lee. “All hail the mighty first-year genius. Too bad it couldn’t last!” With that statement, Lee tackled George and started mock-punching him. “Ah! Ah! The pain!” George finally escaped and stood, only to have a door connect with the side of his head a few seconds later. “Oy! Idiot, couldn’t that have waited?”

    Lee shrugged. “Wasn’t me.”

    George, gingerly examining the side of his head, turned to the identical red-haired person standing in the doorway. “Fred – whoa, what’s that you’ve got there?” Carefully concealed in Fred’s arms was a girl. George raised both his eyebrows. “I guess now we know why you’ve been taking so long, eh?” Lee let out a snigger.

    “Oh, shut up you two prats,” Fred sighed, “and give me a hand with her. She’s heavier than she looks.”

    “Yeah, so what’d you do this time? What’s wrong with her? Lee said, still fighting to hide a smile. “Don’t tell me you . . .”

    “I wish,” said Fred mischievously, “but no, it’s nothing like that. Yours truly was idiot enough to barrel through the bathroom door, and she happened to be standing right outside. Poor kid. Won’t wake up.” He laid the girl gently on the couch. She was rather pretty but not overly so, about fourteen, with long brown hair and milky skin sprinkled with cinnamon freckles. Her green Carolina Craze Quidditch Club jersey and khaki skirt were loose but attractive, revealing a small and slightly stocky frame.

    “Yeah. So in the meantime . . . what are we supposed to do about her?”

    Fred shrugged. “Wait until she wakes up, I guess. I doubt if that’ll take very long. She’s one of Hermione Granger’s friends and they tried to bring her in their compartment, but people are always coming and going and it’s rather noisy. We decided she shouldn’t wake up until it was absolutely necessary so I volunteered our compartment – rather quiet when you two aren’t beating each other up.”

    “Fifth Year, huh?” Lee asked quickly.

    “Yeah.”

    Lee looked almost disappointed, but then brightened. “Wonder if she’s got a boyfriend.”

    “Probably not – from what Hermione said, she’s a transfer student from the Salem Institute in the United States. She’s brand new.”

    George grinned. “Cool.”

    Fred considered for a moment. “Hey George, why don’t you go get her an ice pack or something? She’s bound to have a headache when she wakes up. Bathroom doors aren’t exactly made of goose down, you know.”

    “All right. Be right back.” He exited.

    “Think I got a chance?” Lee asked excitedly. “With her, I mean?”

    “Somebody mind telling me what happened?” The two boys jumped and turned around, Lee turning a pale pink color. The girl’s eyes had opened, revealing them to be an odd golden color, and now she was staring in surprise and alarm.

    “Erm . . . you had a little run-in with a bathroom door,” Fred explained quickly. The girl raised her eyebrows.

    “Ah. I see. So . . . anyway . . . oh, I don’t know. What’s your name?”

    “Fred Weasley.”

    “Fred Weasley, hmm?” She studied him, eyes narrowed. “You must be Ron’s brother. The twin, right? Seventh Year? Where’s the other one, George or Frank or whatever his name is?”

    “He went to go get an ice pack for your head. We thought you might have a headache when you woke up.”

    She leaned back against the seat, as though her head had suddenly started pounding. “I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it.”

    “Sorry. Who’re you?”

    Her reply was cut short by George’s entrance with the ice pack. He saw the girl, raised his eyebrows, and scanned her appraisingly. “Got the ice,” he said.

    “We noticed,” the girl replied dryly. “Anyway, where were we?”

    “Your name,” Lee said helpfully.

    “Right. I’m Riley O’Connor.”

    “Riley.”

    “Yeah.”

    “Just that?”

    “Yeah, why?”

    “Well . . .” he blushed, “it’s kind of a rather masculine name.”

    She shrugged. “So?”

    “Well . . . I dunno, actually.”

    “Don’t worry,” a drawling voice said from the doorway. “I’m sure we’ll think of something that will suit you.”

    “Malfoy!” Fred hissed, stepping so that Riley was blocked from view.

    “Malfoy? Is that your real name?” Riley said in disbelief. “Move over, Fred, I can’t see.” He refused to move more than three inches to the left.

    Malfoy was tall – a little over six feet, Riley decided. His gray shirt wasn’t that tight, but she could definitely detect some serious muscle action. His white-blonde hair fell alluringly over one eye. Very attractive, she thought matter-of-factly, but even Riley couldn’t help noticing his cruelly amused facial expression.

    Malfoy raised one eyebrow. “So you’re the one who got slammed with the bathroom door. Just like a bloody Yank . . . don’t look where they’re going.”

    Riley stood up quickly. “Pardon? I’m pretty sure I just heard you insult me, but I wanted to make sure, in case I ended up body-checking an innocent person.”

    Malfoy’s grey eyes had gloated down her face to the green Carolina Quidditch jersey. “So,” he said snidely, “I suppose you fancy yourself some kind of Quidditch player, himm?”

    “Maybe . . . why do you care?”

    He stared down his nose at her – it wasn’t very hard; he was that much taller than she. “Let’s just see if you end up playing for your house team.”

    “See you on the Quidditch pitch then?”

    “I’ll be there.” He retreated and carefully closed the door behind him, but not without a parting sneer.

    Fred exhaled loudly. “Oy, Riley, I thought you were going to bite his head off or something.”

    “That’s not to say he wouldn’t deserve it,” Lee muttered darkly.

    Riley frowned. Who was that “Malfoy” person and what was his problem? Two seconds in the same room and he’d automatically seemed to despise her. Sure, he was good- looking and she’d always liked the bad boy type; she just couldn’t understand what gave him the right to pass judgement so quickly. There was just no accounting for some people’s rudeness.

    She sighed and turned to the boys, all looking at her expectantly. “So . . . what do I need to know about Hogwarts?”