FicWad

Walden walked quickly down the hall, his big black boots clicking all the way. I hurried after him and tried to forget about that cold, chilling look Lucius had gifted me with. For some reason, I felt like he was upset or angry at me for some reason. I tried to think what might had caused this. He seemed nice enough to me last night when we had met. So what had changed this recent attitude adjustment towards me? Had I done something wrong?

I became so carried away with my thoughts that I completely forgot to watch where I was going and ended up running smack into something hard and solid. I kind of ricocheted off of it and stumbled backwards, fighting for breath. When I looked up, I saw a big, blonde guy who looked like he was a year or two older than me.

Still struggling to get a normal gulp of air, I stammered an apology, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." Instead of frowning at me, the big blonde smiled and laughed. He waved my apology aside and looked me up and down with interest as he said, "Hey, no need for apologies. Say, aren't you Bellatrix's little sister? What's your name again? Natalie or something like that maybe? Sorry, my memory sucks."

Now that I had managed to get my breath back, I was able to reply without stammered. Brushing off my robe from my little tumble from earlier, I stuck out a hand with blood red fingernail polish and introduced myself politely, "I'm Narcissa Malfoy and yes, I'm Bella's younger sister. How about you?"

The blonde leaned down and shook my hand so vigorously that it almost hurt. I guess I was lucky he didn't rip my hand off in the process! As the two of us shook hands, the blonde went ahead and introduced himself to me as well, "I'm Wilkes. I'm from Slytherin as well. I think we'll get to know each other very soon. What class are you going to now?"

"Transfiguration," I replied honestly. As soon as the words were out of my lips, I felt a protective arm clamp down around my shoulders. Caught off guard, I jumped slightly to see who had just touched me. It was Walden, giving Wilkes a deadly look. Wilkes' genuine smile turned nasty and he glared at Wilkes.

Finally, Walden broke off the staring contest and said to me, "What are you doing, Cissy? We're already almost late for Transfiguration. Hurry up, won't you? This isn't a party where we stop and talk to everyone we meet." From Walden's gruff voice, I could tell he wasn't fond of Wilkes. It seemed like they had a grudge against each other.

Feeling like I had just done something wrong, I blushed and said, "Oh...well...I accidentally ran into Wilkes and so I thought I'd introduce myself." At my little, meager apology Walden's face softening and he nodded, "I see. Anyways, come on. I don't want you to be late on your first day. That would be kind of embarrassing."

With that, Walden grabbed my arm and pretty much started tugging me down the hallway and away from Wilkes. Looking over my shoulder, I turned and gave Wilkes a haphazard smile and wave. Wilkes returned the smile and wave before turning down the hall and marching away in the opposite direction.

Just before we turned into the Transfiguration classroom, I turned to Walden curiously and asked in a quiet voice, "Do you not like Wilkes or something? No offense, but you were kind of rude to him back there." At the mention of Wilkes' name, Walden's jaw stiffened. I guess I already had the answer to the question I had just asked.

"I don't trust him," Walden admitted to me. "He's just...I don't know. I just don't like him. Come on, here's the Transfiguration classroom. Let's go on in. The professor is called Professor McGonagall. Just act like your sweet self and all will be fine. She'll just love you." With a confident pat on my back, Walden proceeded into the classroom.

I hesitated before following him. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go into the classroom. It was obviously filled with lots of new, unfamiliar faces. That thought really scared me. Feeling really nervous, I slowly shifted through the doorway and into a large classroom. As soon as I was inside, I was tempted to run right back out the door. All pairs of eyes seemed to be staring directly at me. Oh god, I wanted to become invisible so bad right now.

Before I could run right out the door, a matter-of-fact voice sounded from the front of the classroom, "You're the new one, right?" Figuring the voice was probably talking to me since I was a "new one", I turned and looked nervously up at a tall woman with long, straight brown hair and glasses.

"Um...yes, I'm new," I managed to say in a very weak, almost inaudible voice. Luckily, Professor McGonagall still managed to hear what I was saying. In her loud, brusk voice, she continued on, "Welcome to Transfiguration, Miss Black. I hope you'll enjoy the class. Go ahead and have a seat in the very back there between Severus and Remus."

I nodded and proceeded to the back of the classroom with all those pairs of eyes following me. I kept my eyes on the floor until I reached my desk. At that point, I decided I might as well look up and see who I was sitting next to. Remus Lupin had long brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Severus had a curtain of dark hair, dark eyes, and pallid skin that looked sickly. Severus made no attempt to look at me while Remus sought for eye contact. I didn't dare give it to him though. Instead, I looked at my desk and slid quietly into my seat before returning my eyes to the front of the classroom.

From the front of the classroom, I could see Walden winking at me. A little smile appeared on my lips as I saw him. He was like the only familiar person in the entire person and I guess just seeing him made me feel a tad bit better. From next to me, Remus gave up trying to make eye contact and looked towards Professor McGonagall as well. I guess I might have seemed stuck up for refusing to look at him, but it was really just my shyness.

"Alright class, today we're going to learn a simple spell called 'wingardium leviosa'. It's a spell that makes an object rise into the air. Even if it doesn't sound all that useful right now, you will indeed me using it in the future. Therefore, it is an important spell to master. Let me show you how it is done," Professor McGonagall announced to us.

With that, she turned and tapped a book on the table with a long, thin wand and commanded in an authoritative voice, "Wingardium Leviosa!" At her words, the book lifted a good five feet of the desk it had been sitting on before the Professor retrieved it and laid it back down on the desk. Returning her eyes to the class, she gave us all a stern look and said, "This is what you're going to be doing for the rest of class. Get out your wands and a book to practice with."

There was a rustle as everyone rooted through their bags for a book and their wands. Once those were retrieved, we spent the rest of class trying to raise our books into the air. The first thing I have to say regarding this spell is that McGonagall made it look far easier than it actually was. Even after spending a whole hour practicing the simple spell, I only managed to lift the book a mere inch of the table twice. Nobody else was really having that much luck either. Remus Lupin from next to me was doing a really good job, but besides for him, nobody else was doing very well. I don't even think Severus managed to lift the book off of the table once.

By the time class ended, I was totally exhausted and wanted to take a nap. Frustration was also pounding through my veins. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to accomplish such a simple spell! Professor McGonagall's voice rang out and silenced the class, "That's it for today. Nice work, class. These spells take a lot of practice. We'll work on them more next week. Go ahead and go to your next class now. Second-year students, I would like you to help the first-years find their next classes."

Several heads nodded and Walden was by my side almost instantly. Chatter broke out among students as they packed their bags back up and got ready to go to their next classes. Walden stuffed my book and wand back into my bag for me and asked, "How did you like Transfiguration? It looked like you were doing a really good job!"

I couldn't resist rolling my eyes at Walden as the two of us stepped out of the classroom and out into the hallway. Speaking loudly to be heard over all the chatter, I said, "Um...what? I only got the book off the table once or twice during that whole hour! I don't think I'd consider that a 'good job'. You're being too nice to me."

Walden shrugged and blushed, taking my hand as he walked me along the hallway to my next class. Obviously not wanting to continue to discuss the previous subject, Walden changed the topics, "So it looks like your next class is Potions. Oh, that stinks. I'm in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so I guess I'll have to drop you off at the class. Are you going to be okay by yourself? I suppose I could ditch Defense so I could be with you..."

"Oh no, don't do that!" I said, frowning. The last thing I wanted was to get Walden into trouble for ditching class for my sake. Squeezing his hand, I gave him a fake confident smile and said, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides, I'll see you right after this for lunch. Isn't lunch break after this?"

"Yeah, it is," Walden confirmed, stopping outside of a wooden door. His frown deepened and his brow creased as he asked worriedly, "Are you sure you're going to be okay? And are you going to be able to find the Great Hall for lunch after this? I hate leaving you here by yourself. Professor Slughorn is really nice, but still."

Trying to worm my hand out of Walden's suffocating grip, I tried to look serious as I nodded, "I'll be fine. I'll see you in an hour, okay?" After a long hesitation, Walden nodded and released my hand, still giving me a doubtful look. Luckily, he finally left and turned the corner to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Now I was all alone.

Before I could freak out too much, I pushed the door to Potions open and stepped inside. The first thing that met me was a putrid smell. My nose immediately wrinkled up and I looked around curiously, wondering where the hell the smell was coming from. From the front of the classroom, a rotund man gave me a smile and said, "Ah, Narcissa! It's great to have another Black in the class. Go ahead and find a seat somewhere. I'm just trying to clear up this potion..."

Professor Slughorn was leaning over a cauldron that had smoke spewing out of it. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the smell was coming through the thick clouds of smoke. I turned my eyes from the cauldron to the class to find an empty seat. Surprisingly enough, there was only one left.

I weeded my way between chairs until I reached the empty seat. I sat down delicately there and then proceeded to look at my neighbors. To my right, a chubby girl with curly red hair and a kindly smile was sitting. She looked like she was maybe a year or so older than me, but it was kind of hard to tell. To my left was...none other than Lucius! My breath kind of caught in my throat as I looked at him and my stomach started fluttering for no good reason.

Lucius was staring ahead stonily and didn't bother looking in my direction. I decided to do the same thing and attempted to bring my gaze over to Professor Slughorn and his smoking cauldron as well. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't resist glimpsing back at Lucius only a moment later. My eyes traveled over his perfect jawline, down his body, and over his legs...my god, what was I doing? This was not a people-watching class!

Before I could whip my gaze away from Lucius, he jerked his head in my direction and gave me a cold stare. I froze guiltily as if I was caught doing something wrong. How was Lucius always able to detect when I was looking at him? Maybe he had a sixth sense or something. Who knew? As Lucius continued to fix me with that cold stare, his lip curled into a smirk. I immediately felt slapped in the face. He was smirking at me. But why? What had I done?

From the front of the class, Professor Slughorn's voice rang out, "Greetings class! Now that I've managed to get this smoke cleared up, let's get started..."