Ficool

Chapter 3 - Year 3 | The Slytherin Four

The lights had returned inside the train, and it gradually took off.

"Blackwood," Malfoy said sternly, glancing at the Weasleys and their friend with uncertainty as he stood up. "You're coming with me."

He grabbed my arm and began to walk out of the compartment, but I yanked my arm out of his grasp, saying, "No."

"Maeve," he said, a bitter blend of disconcertment and confoundment in his voice.

I simply shooked my head, avoiding his gaze.

"Fine," he said. And with one last glare directed at me and the others in the compartment, Draco Malfoy shut the door forcefully and furiously behind him.

I was stood in front of the door, mutely holding my head low, and awkwardly looking at my intertwined fingers. I felt the Weasleys and their friend's eyes on me.

"So, is Malfoy her ex-boyfriend, or something...?" asked the Weasley's friend.

"I don't know..." said one of the twins. "I just met her. But I thought I heard Fred say he was friends with her."

"I only said that to piss off Malfoy," Fred said quickly, "I met her a just few seconds before you did — I don't even know her name."

They spoke as if I wasn't in the same room as them, and that gave me such a weird feeling of discomfort, and so I said, "I'm Maeve."

"Huh?" they said in near-perfect unison.

I lifted my head up and turned around, facing them properly.

"My name is Maeve," I repeated. I purposely avoided saying my surname. I knew they wouldn't be very fond of hearing it.

"Oh, right, well I'm Fred, this is George, and that's Lee."

I nodded sheepishly. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but as far as they were aware, I was not a Blackwood. They definitely knew I was a Slytherin though seeing as I was wearing my uniform this whole time (I can't be bothered to change in the train, therefore, to make my life easier, I usually arrive at Platform 9 and 3/4 already wearing my school robes.)

"How d'you get blood on your shirt?" Lee asked. I looked down and saw the reddish-brown bloodstains that he spoke of.

"Oh, right, I forgot about that," I responded with a silent chuckle. "Well, I tripped on some people's feet in another compartment and hit my face against the window and then had this massive nosebleed."

"Oh, I thought Malfoy had beat you up, or something of that sort," Fred said, both of his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"No way, Malfoy may be a prick, but he's too much of a coward to do something like this himself," I giggled at the thought of Malfoy trying to beat up someone by himself.

"Right, I reckon he'd ask Crabbe and Goyle to do it for him," he added, and I nodded knowingly at that.

"May I... sit?" I asked suddenly.

"Er... of course, go ahead," Fred said, whilst George and Lee said a low, "Yeah, sure."

I gingerly sat next to George, in front of Fred and Lee. I bit my lips uncertainly, feeling intimidated by them as they were older students (I reckoned around Aiden's age). Surely, they were thinking I was such a strange little kid.

"Are you really in Slytherin?" George asked dubiously, motioning at my robes. I gave him a half-smile.

"Yeah, I am."

"Well, we're all Gryffindors, so I reckon we legally hate each other now," Lee informed me, a bite of sarcasm in his tone. I huffed a soft and low laugh.

They remained quiet, staring at me with curiosity, whilst I tried to avoid their gazes by mindlessly looking around. I felt that my presence was the cause of their surely unnatural reticence, and for a split-second, I pondered leaving, but then the train began to slow down, signalling its near arrival at Hogsmeade.

"Oh, bugger, we forgot to change into our robes," George said abruptly.

"We'll have to change now — Maeve, wait for us at the train's doors, we won't take long." Fred's implication that I was going to take a carriage to Hogwarts with them puzzled me slightly as I was so certain they couldn't wait for this bloody Slytherin girl to leave soon. But I didn't let them see my disbelief. I simply nodded silently and promptly left the compartment.

As told by Fred, I stood by the train doors that were closest to their compartment and waited for them. When the train came to a halt, I reckoned it'd be much smarter to wait for them outside, but it was raining very heavily out there so I opted to wait inside, knowing I'd have to jump out of the train if it suddenly started to move again.

Someone suddenly and silently linked arms with me and pulled me forward with them, outside the train and into the pouring rain.

"Hey!" I protested, looking up at my side to see who it was. It was Adrianne Pucey, one of my brother's closest friends. She wore the same two long black french braids that she always wore. Her eyes were a vibrant blue, and her lips bore a crooked mischievous smile. "Where are you taking me? I'm waiting for some people."

"Actually, some people are waiting for you. I'm bringing you to their carriage," she said, dragging me forward much faster than before. Did this mean that she knew Fred, George and Lee? Was she friends with them? Did they tell her to come and get me?

My questions were soon answered when she pushed me inside a carriage (without following me inside) and closed the door behind me, triggering the carriage to move on its own.

"Maeve, I'm glad you could join us," said the blonde prick, smiling smugly. He was sat with Crabbe and Goyle.

"Did you ask her to do this?" I glowered at him, my eyes demanding an answer.

"You're dripping with water, let me dry you," he said, ignoring what I said. He muttered a spell I wasn't familiar with and hot air momentarily wrapped my robes and me. The bloodstain, which had spread across the front of my robes due to the heavy water from the rain, had dried, leaving the front of my robes covered in a dark brownish-red colour.

"Wow. Thanks for that."

"Why didn't you change robes before?" he asked bitterly as if it was my fault.

"I didn't think it was that bad before," I snapped. Malfoy rolled his eyes in displeasure.

"Well, sit down," he said, motioning to the seat in front of him next to Crabbe. I crossed my arms as I took a seat. "So, have you heard? Harry Potter fainted on the train. Pathetic scar boy is scared of dementors."

Crabbe and Goyle laughed stupidly and Malfoy smiled in satisfaction of their reaction. I ignored his eyes which seemed to be imploring me to laugh along. I gazed outside, instead.

The rain was quite violent. Splashes of water could be heard at the bottom of the carriage, and drops of water fiercely hit the windows. There was a bright flash of light outside, momentarily followed by a growling rumble.

"What'd you do with that Weasley boy anyway?" Malfoy suddenly interrogated. I didn't respond. "Why did you pretend to be friends with him?"

I looked over at him to glare but didn't say a word.

"Why are you so upset with me? What did I ever do to you?"

I shut my eyes tight, wanting to ignore what was currently happening. I just felt so furious with him, and I couldn't seem to find the right words to describe it. For many years, I did consider him a friend. Sure, there were times in our childhood where we were often at each other's throats, but that was often resolved as time went by. This time around, however, I realized I would never be capable of being a proper friend of his.

"It's just that... we have different opinions," I said simply, picking at my nails.

"About what?"

"About life."

"I don't understand," he said.

"Just, ignore me when we get to Hogwarts, and forget we were ever friends. Please." I said, quietly steadying my breath and biting my lips.

"What?" his eyebrows were arched in perplexion. He looked disgusted and surprised at what I had just suggested he do.

"Malfoy, I mean it. I don't want to be friends with you anymore," I asserted with the most sincerity I could muster.

"So, you did change."

"I didn't change! Stop saying that I did!"

"But you did." Malfoy had a look of fury on his face. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were gradually filling with animosity.

I was glad that the carriage stopped at that moment because I simply did not want to look at his pale face again. I knew that ceasing friendship with him would prove to be difficult in the future, with our mothers being such good friends and all, but I thought I'd deal with that later. Right now, I just wanted to quickly get out of the carriage and walk up the steps to Hogwarts.

My curly hair and clothing were wet again because of the hammering rain outside, but I ignored that as I dashed up to the large front doors of the castle, ignoring Daphne who was calling my name multiple times.

The Entrance Hall was just as magnificent as the last time I had entered it with its flaming torches and portraits hanging on the walls, but I didn't ponder over its beauty for much longer as I rushed into the Great Hall through an open door on the right. I bumped into a few students on my way, but I didn't look back to apologize and just sped off to sit at the Slytherin table.

I sat next to students I had never really spoken to before. As strange as that was, I wasn't in the mood for bants with my friends, or with my brother. The students I was seated next to did not speak to me, and rather discussed amongst themselves, ignoring my presence, and that was exactly what I preferred at the moment.

I mindlessly paid attention to the Sorting, which was directed by Professor Flitwick this year. He was shorter than most of the first years, but he managed to place the Sorting Hat on their heads just fine. My thoughts easily drifted off to something else, and before I knew it, the Sorting was over, and Professor Flitwick carried the Sorting Hat and the three-legged stool out of the hall.

The school headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, stood up to address us all. He had a very long silvery beard with half-moon spectacles and as always, he was beaming at all of the students who looked up at him curiously.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore said. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast."

He cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business.

He paused for a few seconds.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the ground," Dumbledore resumed, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks and disguises — or even Invisibility Cloak," he added blandly. I wasn't aware that students could even own one of those. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I, therefore, warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no students run afoul of the Dementors," he said.

Dumbledore paused again. He looked around the hall very seriously, and nobody moved or made a sound.

"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.

"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

A middle-aged man with rather shabby-looking robes stood up momentarily and was greeted by fairly unenthusiastic applauses. As per every year, we got a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. This time, I just hoped we actually learned something.

"As to our second new appointed," Dumbledore continued as the half-hearted applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of the last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

A giant man with dark hair and beard surrounding his rosy cheeks like a lion's mane stood up, knocking a few goblets down in the process as his large belly hit the table. The Gryffindor table cheered especially louder than the others for this teacher.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," Dumbledore said once students stopped clapping for Hagrid. "Let the feast begin!"

As it did every time there was a feast, the golden plates and goblets on the long tables suddenly filled with food and drink. I felt particularly ravenous all of a sudden and helped myself for as much food I could fit on my plate. It was strange for me to eat alone especially at a feast such as the Start of Term Banquet, but I realized now that I liked this solitude. It was unusual, yet quite peaceful.

I resulted in observing my surroundings as I ate. The group of Slytherins beside me, whom I had never spoken to, continued to ignore me, and I was satisfied with that kind of invisibility. Farther down the Great Hall, I noticed the Weasley twins and their friend Lee who were eating and laughing together with the other Gryffindors.

One of the twins suddenly noticed my eyes on him, and he winked, making me look away immediately.

"I heard Malfoy saying that Potter boy fainted on the train," one of the Slytherins next to me said to the others. I kept quiet, munching on my food and pretending to be having my own thoughts rather than be eavesdropping on other people's conversations.

"Oh, yeah?" one other responded, snickering.

"Ha! What a wimp!"

"I thought Gryffindors were meant to be brave," another commented.

They laughed amongst themselves.

I hadn't looked at their faces very well when I sat by them earlier, especially since they were behind me, while the Sorting and Dumbledore were in front of me. I sneaked a few glances at them, trying to see exactly who they were.

"What are you looking at?" one of them said, his dark eyes boring into mine. His hair was very dark, flat, and parted to one side, partly covering one of his eyes. His face was pale and pointed, and he was very handsome — not that it mattered, of course.

"I — er, what? I wasn't —" I stammered stupidly.

There were four of them, and they all raised their eyebrows at me.

"Aren't you Aiden Blackwood's sister?" another one asked. His hair was bright blonde, and he had a nasty look of disgust on his face as he looked at me.

"Wait — isn't she Draco Malfoy's girlfriend or something?" another said before I could muster a response. This one had black and flat hair with a blonde streak above one of his vibrant blue eyes. His face held a look of curiosity rather than derisiveness, and he was quite handsome as well — I mean, they were all pretty decent looking — I was just describing what I was seeing.

"Yeah, what are you doing over here? Your boyfriend is over there." And now, this guy... He appeared to be built a lot smaller than the others. He had vibrant red hair — it looked unnatural, perhaps he was a metamorphmagus — and a small round face.

"He's not my boyfriend, nor was he ever my boyfriend," I affirmed, starting to feel very annoyed that so many people assumed that he was.

"So, what do you want?" asked the one whose dark hair partly covered one of his eyes. He appeared to be the leader of this group. He was tall and poised.

"What?"

"Why were you looking at us?"

"Maybe you've got another secret admirer, Elijah," the bright red-haired one said, giggling as he slapped Elijah's arm. Elijah — apparently that was the one with the vibrant blue eyes and a blonde streak on his otherwise dark hair — shrugged and chuckled dismissively.

"I wasn't — I was just dozing off — like in the moon and stuff." Maybe I was a terrible liar, but they seemed to have bought it and just shrugged, suddenly uninterested.

That was the only interaction I had during this feast, and I thought that was going to be all I would get for the evening completely, but as soon as Dumbledore dismissed us, Daphne Greengrass came dashing towards me with an immense grin on her face.

"Merlin, Maeve!" she squealed, hugging me. She kept me in her arms and whispered in my ear, "You never told me you knew the S4!"

I pushed her away from me, dumbfounded. "Who?"

"The S4!" she said in her regular voice, intertwining her arm with mine and guiding me out of the Great Hall, following the other Slytherins. I gave her my what-in-the-hells-are-you-talking-about face. She sighed. "The Slytherin Four."

"What?"

"Those guys you sat next to... How do you not know who the S4 are?!"

"I wasn't aware that their little clique had such a stupid name."

"It's not stupid — Salazar, Maeve, you are so ignorant about the social standings of this school — Draco even told me you said you were friends with the Weasleys! Merlin, that is repulsive to even think about."

"They're actually pretty decent people — and for the record, I may or may not have lied to Malfoy about that, but don't tell him I said that."

Daphne scoffed a laugh, "Why? Why would you lie to him?"

I huffed, trying to find the right words to explain it, "I guess I sort of want him to hate me so that we don't have to be friends anymore."

"Huh?"

I rolled my eyes, but mostly at myself for being incapable of properly explaining things to people.

"Forget it — So, tell me about those Slytherin Four," I said quickly, trying to change the subject to something I knew Daphne would love to talk about. She hesitated at first, giving me an I-know-you-just-want-to-change-the-subject look, but shrugged and told me about them anyway.

"They're only the most handsome, powerful, and smart men of Slytherin house — there used to be the Slytherin Princes before them, but these guys graduated, so this year we are blessed with the Slytherin Four," she added as a side note.

"The Slytherin Princes? I didn't even know we had that—"

"Ugh, of course, you didn't," she seemed genuinely annoyed with my lack of knowledge. "But anyway, the Slytherin four are fifth-year students who represent the four main traits of Slytherin House."

"Huh?"

"So, the leader is called Jamieson Lancaster. He's the one with the dark hair covering part of one of his eyes — he represents leadership, obviously. His father is a very rich businessman who owns a lot of shops in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. I heard he even does international affairs with other ministries. Anyway, James — he prefers being called James rather than Jamieson, his birth name — he's going to inherit everything when his father retires or dies."

"Ah. That's, erm, fascinating." I feigned interest, only because I didn't want Daphne to ask me about what happened with Malfoy earlier.

"Then there's Wyatt Nye representing determination. This lad is probably the biggest troublemaker in the house, and he doesn't give up either. Everyone knows he's up to no good, but he's so handsome that he always gets away with it. He's the one with the bright blonde hair and the greyish-blue eyes. Last year, he had this pink hue in his hair, and it looked so good, somehow? I heard, his hair isn't naturally blonde, it's dark blonde, and he uses some sort of spell to change the colour."

At this point, we arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room, located in the dungeons. The password was "Wolfsbane." Daphne resumed her talk about the "famous" S4 as we walked to the third-year girls' dormitory.

"But then, there's Elijah Hadleigh, who has a blonde streak of hair above his left eye, but he didn't use any spells for that. I heard he was just born like that — isn't that unbelievable? Some people say he's part Veela. Ah, his eyes are so captivating. It's almost like a glowing bright blue ocean — Anyhow, he represents the Slytherin trait of cunningness. Why? Because he always finds clever and cunning ways to make girls swoon!" she giggled at that, and I cringed uncomfortably.

We sat on my bed, and Daphne told me the rest in a lower whisper as the other girls went straight to bed. At this point, it was like a trashy bedtime story, and I was all for it. Any kind of distraction would do.

"Yeah, and lastly, we have Isaiah Ainsley, the metamorphmagus. He usually keeps his hair bright red or sometimes greyish pink — I reckon it depends on his mood. He's shorter than the other guys, which I guess you'd think if you could change your appearance, you'd make yourself taller, but who knows, maybe he likes to be the little baby of the group — ah, he's so adorable with his little face and his little black eyes too!" Daphne's voice went a bit higher due to her excitement, and Millicent Bulstrode groaned loudly and shifted in her bed. "But anyway, he's the most ambitious one of the group. He's good at practically everything — potions, transfiguration, charms, you name it, he's very talented."

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, that's it. The Slytherin Four. Jamieson Lancaster, representing leadership. Wyatt Nye, representing determination. Elijah Hadleigh, representing cunningness. And Isaiah Ainsley, representing ambition."

"Do they seriously call themselves the S4?" I asked, finding it hard to believe.

"Not them exactly. It started a few years ago when some girls in their year started calling them the Slytherin Four because they were always together. Eventually, people realized they represented the four main traits of Slytherin house, so the nickname stuck fairly quickly. The same thing had happened with the Slytherin Princes — Merlin, I miss them."

I took a moment to take in all of that new information. I couldn't fathom how there were ever any popular Slytherins that were in my brother's year, and I never even knew about it. Salazar, I was clueless sometimes.

More Chapters