“What the hell is that?”
“I don’t know, but”look out!”
“Crap, the bloody thing is fast! Ouch! It spits fire too!”
“Oh great! Nobody told me the Gryffindor common room had a mini monster!”
“SOMEONE HELP US!”
Star groaned, automatically knowing it was late in the morning. Her memories were a tad bit fuzzy, but an aching head indicated she had hit it at some point. Lovely first day at Hogwarts. And what a lovely way to wake up one the first day of school. Star rolled out of bed and stumbled down the stairs to the common room, where an assortment of shouts and curses were emanating from. As she finally reached the common room, a strange sight met her eyes.
“I think I got it”Argh! No, bloody thing bit me!” James shouted, opening his cupped hands and examining his bleeding finger. Most of the furniture was in disarray, and Al, Eric, Rose, and a few other first years were all running around, trying to catch a little white thing that was flying around and occasionally spitting fire and dive bombing the others.
Still confused, Star’s only response was, “Whah?”
“Star! Blimey, good thing you’re up! Can you help?” Al shouted, ducking as the white creature flew low over his head, snapping at his tousled black hair. Star tried to focus on the creature, and immediately recognized him.
“Comet! What are you doing!” she shouted, her hand going to her pocket where she had last had her. She smacked a hand to her forehead, suddenly remembering…she had passed out at the table, and Comet must have escaped in the time they had entered the common room to her being put in the dormitory. At the sound of her name, the creature froze in the air, allowing James to jump up and clasp her tail in between his hands. Outraged, Comet screeched and once again bit James’s hand, though this time he held on.
“Star, is this bloody thing yours?” He panted, his tone irritable. Star just nodded, completely speechless. Stonily, James walked over to her and dropped the little dragon in her cupped hands, where she immediately curled up and peered over the edge of Star’s fingers in calm wonder, looking as if she had no idea why the others were acting like buffoons.
“Um…good morning,” Star said weakly, earning herself a round of incredulous glares. The few other first years Star didn’t know huffily made their way down to breakfast, and the Potters and Weasleys gathered around her, staring at the ‘monster’ in Star’s hands.
“What is it?” Eric asked at the same time Rose said, “It’s a dragon!” Star sighed, ruffling her hair with a hand and putting Comet on her shoulder with the other hand.
“I’ll explain later; sorry guys. I’ll be down in a bit,” she said tiredly, turning to go back up to the girl’s dorm so she could get dressed. As she slowly climbed the staircase, she thought wryly, Yes, a great first morning.
“Star! Get your arse down here right now! I’m starving!”
“I know Eric! You’re always bloody hungry!” Star hollered back down the staircase as she hopped around on one foot trying to get on her shoe. The other shoe was already on her foot, but untied. Comet watched her from the comfort of her pillow, still looking as unruffled as if she had never been harassing the poor Gryffindor first years. Star had found out that the older students had all run away when the dragon had first attacked; only the first years (and James) had been dumb enough to try to catch it.
“I’ll deal with you later, missy!” she growled to the dragon, who looked up at her with beautiful, lustrous eyes. “I’m serious!” She grumbled again as she tripped her way down the staircase, stumbling down the last few steps and barely managing to catch her balance against the back of a chair.
“Nice one, I’ll give it an 8,” Eric said cheekily, heartily slapping Star on the back. His tone was lighthearted and cheerful, but the slap was a bit harder then necessary; clearing the boy was remembering the morning’s misdemeanor. “Could have been a bit more graceful on the landing though,” he continued as she followed him, Rose, and Al out the portrait hole.
“Where’s James?” Star asked, realizing he wasn’t part of their small group.
“He couldn’t wait for your lazy bum, so he went down to breakfast on his own,” Eric replied, chuckling wickedly. Star stuck her tongue out at him, but couldn’t hold back a laugh. It was hard to believe that she had met these people only yesterday, for she already felt like she was part of a new family. Already, the homesickness she had felt on the train was fading away.
“What’s for breakfast you think? I’m dying of hunger!” Al complained, earning a reproachful look from Rose.
“It’s because you guys slept in so late! The dragon didn’t attack anyone until you guys had come down, and I was waiting for you for ages,” she retorted in exasperation, though Star could tell it was friendly teasing. Al started to protest, but Eric clipped the back of his head.
“Oh, do shut up! You guys can argue later, hmm?” he said in an irritated voice, though once again the tone was underlined with laughter and good intentions. She doubted any of them could seriously get angry at each other.
The four of them took their seats as they arrived at the Great Hall which, despite Rose’s protests that they were late, was still full of starving students. Star sat down in between Eric and a girl who looked vaguely familiar, though Star was too hungry to worry about remembering her now. She eagerly pulled forward the nearest three platters of food, piled up her plate, and began to eat voraciously.
“Looks like Star’s competing with Eric in an eating contest!” The guffaw from James, who was a few seats down, had Star sitting up straight and glaring in the older boy’s direction. Eric either didn’t hear or didn’t care, because he continued to eat his way through his mountain of food.
“I will have you know that I need a good, hearty breakfast, or I’m absolutely useless for the rest of the day,” Star replied haughtily, before daintily returning to her own mountain, which wasn’t quite as big as Eric’s, despite James’s claim.
James muttered something along the lines of “seem pretty useless anyways,” so Star flicked a grape in his direction. Her aim wasn’t too great, but it hit him in the shoulder, causing both Star and the girl next to her to giggle. James looked thoughtful for a moment, as if deciding whether he would seek revenge or not. Apparently, he decided on not, though he gave Star a devious grin that made her think she would face retribution sometime soon.
“Oh, he’s sooooo cute!” the girl next to Star murmured, causing Star to give her an dubious glance. The other girl giggled and blushed, before extending a shy hand. “Hi, I’m Carmen. Carmen Turner. I’m in your dorm, though you wouldn’t have seen, ‘cos you were passed out.” She giggled again, seeming to find that amusing. Star didn’t know what to think about this girl yet, but she decided that there was no point being unfriendly.
“I’m Star. Star Cylene,” she replied, warmly shaking Carmen’s hand. Star started to return to her mostly full plate of food, but a heartfelt sigh from Carmen made her turn and give the other girl a long look. Carmen wasn’t paying attention; instead, she was staring misty-eyed at James. After the boy James was busy talking to nudged James and pointed to Carmen, he turned to look, and gave her a dazzling smile. Carmen gasped, then giggled in a rather annoying high-pitched voice. Star raised an eyebrow.
“Um, are you going to be doing that a lot?” she asked rather bluntly. She normally wasn’t this rude, but it was hard for her to be kind in the morning. Carmen started, as if she hadn’t realized she was acting like an airhead.
“Sorry, but you know, it’s James…” she sighed again, and Star shrugged and once again tried to return to eating, figuring Carmen would go into a dreamy silence. Once again, her attempts to eat in peace were thwarted.
“That’s my brother, Nathan, he’s talking to,” she whispered to Star, as though it were a secret. Star took another look at the other boy and saw that there were certain similarities…okay, they looked almost exactly alike, both having the same straight, blonde hair and shining green eyes.
“Carrie, hush up and eat,” her brother, Nathan said loudly, causing James to snort with laughter. “Your professors aren’t going to forgive you if you’re late because you kept yapping at breakfast!” Carmen stuck her tongue out at Nathan, who replied with an odd, cross-eyed stare. The exchange was so funny to watch, Star choked on her mouthful of fried potatoes, which caused Eric to helpfully pound her on the back.
“All right, that’s enough!” she wheezed, swatting at Eric with a hand. She took a deep breath, glancing up at the big clock in the Great Hall as she did so.
“Blimey! We’re gonna be late!” she groaned, hastily grabbing her bag and looking longingly at her only half-empty plate. I’m gonna die of starvation… she thought moodily, rushing down the length of the Gryffindor table with her bag half slung over her back. She could hear the slap of Eric, Al, and Rose’s feet as they followed her out the Great Hall, down the corridor, and up the stairs for Transfiguration, their first class. Star fervently hoped the professor would be in a forgiving mood.
“I utterly and completely fail at being a witch!” Star groaned, flopping down on a chair in the common room with tears in her eyes. Al, Eric, and Rose trailed after her into the common room, and James was already there, talking to Nathan. Noticing Star’s distressed state, they all came over to talk to her.
“What happened to you?” James asked, sounding perplexed. The other three, who had shared classes with her, exchanged sympathetic glances. They knew exactly what the problem was, but they weren’t sure who should be the one to tell.
Turns out, they needn’t have worried. “What happened? I failed everything!” Star shouted, lashing out at everyone with the anger she felt at herself. “I don’t think I’m even a witch! Maybe I’m just a Muggle, or a Squib! Whatever a bleeding Squib is.” She buried her head in a pillow, trying her best to fight back tears.
“She…she didn’t do so well,” Rose whispered to James, who was now looking totally confused. “In Transfiguration, she couldn’t even get her wand to spark, let alone turn the matchstick into a needle. Professor Lovegood was rather kind about it, but it all went downhill from there.”
“Charms was the worst,” Al took up the story morosely, slouching in a couch across from Star. “That was with the Slytherins, and that’s where she heard ‘Squib.’ She finally got angry enough and sent out a stream of red sparks, but Professor Vanger said that wasn’t what we were supposed to be doing. She tried to explain, but she couldn’t. We don’t know what’s wrong.”
A gloomy pall hung over the group of friends; an island of silence in the otherwise loud and cheerful Gryffindor common room. No one was more upset than Star, who was still struggling to keep from crying. She should have known, or guessed, or something. Hogwarts life was going so great, so something had to come and make it completely miserable. She couldn’t do anything! Even when Eric hadn’t been trying, he had set his match on fire with magic. She had concentrated until she was blue in the face, but nothing had happened. She just as well have been waving around a piece of wood she found on the ground.
Star moodily pulled her wand out of her pocket to examine it. She could remember exactly what old Ollivander had told her when she had chosen that wand. 10”; silver oak wood; mermaid scale core. An unusual choice, Miss Cylene. Mermaid scales are rather finicky, especially in wizard wands. But the wand chooses the wizard…the wand chooses the wizard…Star had thought that ‘unusual’ would mean she would have special powers, or something. Who knew it would just mean her and her wand would fail at magic?
In a sudden burst of rage, Star flung her wand across the common room, clipping Eric on the ear as it passed him. Ignoring his cry of protest, she buried her head in her arms, sobs wracking her body with a suddenness that was quite frightening. The others exchanged worried glances lined with panic: was this just a simple temper tantrum, or was something seriously wrong?
“Maybe…maybe you should get her up to the dorms,” Al suggested nervously, his eyes flicking rapidly from Star, to the stairs to the girls’ dormitory, to each of the others’ faces.
“Good idea,” James said quickly, immediately grabbing Star under her arms to drag her up to the girl dorms. “Nathan, grab her feet! Come on!”
“James, guys aren’t allowed up”“ Rose began, but she trailed off helplessly as James rounded the corner of the spiral staircase, dragging a still-sobbing Star. Seconds later, they could hear James yelp, followed by the distinctive sound of bodies sliding along stone as both Star and James slipped down the stairs-gone-slide. Star was screaming her head off now, and James looked horrified.
“I’m sorry…I didn’t know…Star, come on,” he pleaded, seeing the look of fury on her face. But this latest humiliation was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. Star’s whole day had been full of shame and disappointment, and she was tired of it.
“You idiot! Of course boys can’t go into the girl’s dorm, you ignorant, self-absorbed moron!” she shrieked, hardly caring that the entire common room was staring at her in amazement. “Even I knew about that, and I’m only a first year! Some Gryffindor you are!” She ended her tirade with a slap across James’s face, then stomped up the newly formed staircase on her own, her face bright red and sparkling with tears.
A hushed silence fell over the entire common room. The air thrummed with questions, confusion, and even fear about the crazy first year. What had happened? Just seconds after the incident, rumors began to circulate. James had tried to kiss her, and she flipped out. Someone had cursed her, and it made her go insane. She was a werewolf, and the full moon was approaching, making her go wild. The gossip grew wilder and wilder, and eventually everyone went up to their dorms, still murmuring about this or that that had happened with Star. Well, almost everyone.
“Star?” Rose whispered softly as she came into the first year dorm room. Carmen padded up behind her, her eyes wide with apprehension. The girls were lucky, in that they got one of the ‘leftover’ rooms, so there was only the three of them. The two walked carefully around to the side of Star’s bed, though the curtain was drawn tightly around it. “Star?” Rose repeated, reaching out a hand to open the curtains.
“Go away!” Star shrieked, her outburst followed by the shoe she had been wearing. The two girls narrowly ducked that one, but its pair hit Carmen on the head seconds later. Clearly, Star wasn’t in the mood to talk.
“Okay. Good night,” Rose whispered, mournfully plodding off to her bed. Carmen followed suit, rubbing her bruised head and muttering slightly under her breath. Before long, their breathing slowed and evened out, clear signs that they were asleep.
Star, however, could not get to sleep herself. She lay awake, staring up at the top of her four-poster bed, tears rolling silently down her face. Now, along with her ineptitude at magic, she had alienated every one of her new friends. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this magic thing. Maybe she should just leave.
Restlessly, Star slipped out of bed and slipped down the staircase to the common room. She didn’t know what she would do, but she had to move around. Maybe she really would leave. Once she reached the common room, she flopped into her original chair, leaning back her head and closing her eyes. The fire had died down to embers, and it was dead silent.
“Hey, you!” The voice made Star jump up and scream, but a hand over her mouth shoved the cry right back down her throat. “Geez, calm down,” the voice continued irritably. “Or do you want to have another House-wide tantrum?”
Star looked around and saw a familiar face scowling at her a few feet away. Scorpius Malfoy let go of her mouth when he saw she wouldn’t scream anymore and stepped back a few steps, as if she carried some sort of disease.
“What do”“ Star began, but her mouth was too dry. She cleared her throat and tried again. “What do you want? What are you doing down here?”
“You tried to skewer me with that,” Scorpius replied, carelessly tossing a long, thin object onto her lap. It was her wand. For a moment, Star’s face lit up. But her face fell, and she weakly poked it back at the boy.
“Keep it. Burn it. I don’t care. I can’t use it,” she said dully, feeling tears well up in her eyes again.
Scorpius raised an eyebrow. “What would I want with it?” he sneered, shoving the wand back towards Star. “Just go to bed, girl, and keep your outbursts to yourself.” With that, he stood up and marched up to the boy’s dorm, slightly hunched over as if he were ashamed. Before Star could even think of thanking him, he was gone.
Sighing, Star gingerly picked up her wand, half expecting it to shock her or something. Instead, it grew warm in her hand, and glowed a faint, golden glow, exactly as it had done when she had first picked it. A slow, steady smile spread across her face, and she clutched the wand close to her. This was a sign; she was born to be a witch. She just…had to work harder at it than most. Feeling surprisingly well, she hiked back up the stairs to her dorm, quietly slipping in so she wouldn’t wake her roommates. As she settled into bed, Comet chirped questioningly from her bedside table.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she whispered to the little dragon. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
The Path of a Star by shooting_star42
Chapter Notes: Well, it's been a while, but here ya go! Chapter 5, where things actually start moving along.
Minor language warning. Just h*** once or twice, nothing horrible.
~A note to whichever moderator reads this: I wasn't approved before because of Star's pet dragon, Comet. The thing is, Comet isn't, and never will be, a full grown dragon. She is a minature dragon, about the size of an adult's hand and is already at full size. She is relatively harmless, unless annoyed, as it is with most pets. I would take the creature out of the story, but it already was approved in previous chapters. Sorry about that.~
Chapter Endnotes: Questions? Comments? Reviews always appreciated!