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Chapter 9: Year Continues     Quickly looking at the Hud floating in front of me I relaxed when I noticed it wasn’t actually the teachers co

Chapter 9: Year Continues

Quickly looking at the Hud floating in front of me I relaxed when I noticed it wasn’t actually the teachers coming but somebody else.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take the blame for this.” said Daphne in a small voice probably assuming we had been caught.

“No, I will. This is all my fault anyways.” Hermione let out with a determined look on her eyes, this being the first time she had talked since I rescued her.

“It’s alright you two, it’s not the Professors.” I said and resumed my walk dragging the girls behind me.

True to my words we caught sight of Ron, Harry and Rose running our direction all with their wands pulled out.

“Aether!” they all yelled at once.

“Thank goodness you’re okay!” said Rose in relief before jumping into my arms once she was within reach forcing me to let go of Daphne and Hermione in order to catch her.

“Whoa! Easy, there Rose. I almost didn’t catch you.” I said with a smile once I managed to regain my balance.

“See, I told you that Aether would be okay.” said Ron once he managed to catch his breath due to their running not even noticing Daphne and Hermione yet.

“Guys, I really appreciate your concern for me but can we please leave now? I really don’t fancy serving detention with Filch.” I pleaded making Rose finally release me from their hug.

“Yeah, let’s go. Thank goodness you didn’t run into the Troll on your way here. I’m sure the Professors will have taken care of the problem by now.” said Rose with reassuring nod before blinking finally taking in the forms of Hermione and Daphne behind me.

“Oh! Are these two friends of yours Aether? I believe it was Granger and Greengrass right?” Rose asked curiously not noticing how Ron immediately let a scowl show on his face when she mentioned the latter.

“Ye-”

“What are you doing hanging out with a Slytherin, Aether?” Ron asked abruptly cutting off everything I was about to say.

“I think you owe someone an apology first before anything else.” I responded back with a raised eyebrow pointing my head to the still silent Hermione at my back who was looking off to the side.

“This ‘Slytherin would also appreciate it if you didn’t talk about her as if she wasn’t here.” Daphne said with a small scowl.

“I…I’m sorry.” Ron stuttered for a bit before finally apologizing after noticing Hermione.

Hermione for her part didn’t speak but did nod her head at the boy making him slump his shoulders in relief.

Our peaceful walk back to the Great Hall however was interrupted as some of the Professors appeared in front of us just as we were about to reach the Grand Staircase. As soon as they saw us, they immediately inspected us to make sure we were alright before McGonagall exploded in anger.

“You five! What are you doing out of your dormitories with a Troll on the loose? Didn’t Professor Dumbledore explicitly order everyone to go back to their common rooms?” asked McGonagall with an angry look on her face.

“It’s my fault Professor.” said Daphne as she took a step forward bringing everyone’s attention to her.

“Miss Greengrass? Explain yourself!” asked McGonagall in surprise before shaking it off.

“I was in the lavatory when the order was given to return to our dorms so I never heard it. If it hadn’t been for Aether who came to my rescue I wouldn’t be here right now.” explained Daphne with a soft voice surprising everyone not in the know about how close she had been to death.

“The same goes for me as well Professor McGonagall.” Hermione added in.

“Mister Cordelia? Is this true?” asked McGonagall with a much calmer look now as she looked at me for confirmation.

“That’s correct Professor. The food didn’t agree with me tonight so as I was making my way to the loo, I saw the Troll heading inside the girl’s lavatory and then heard a scream. Luckily, I managed to distract the troll by banishing some debris his way giving Daphne and Hermione enough time to escape.” I explained calmly.

“I see, that was very brave of you Mister Cordelia.” said McGonagall calmly as she couldn’t help but give me a small smile. “Let’s be thankful that you managed to evade the Troll and made it to safety. How do you three fit into this however?” asked McGonagall now looking at Harry and the others.

“We came looking for Aether because we were worried Professor. Since he wasn’t informed about the Troll, we thought he might be in danger.” Rose answered.

“I see. However, we have wasted enough time already with this talk. Please get back to your common rooms as soon as possible.” ordered McGonagall with a shake of her head.

The other professors who remained behind didn’t see a problem with that so we quietly made our way up the moving staircase.

“Aren’t you going to tell them anything about the unconscious troll inside the girl’s lavatories Aether?” asked Hermione in a whisper.

“Of course not. While we were lucky to not get detention this time, I still don’t want all the attention it’ll bring me if we let them know I took down a troll as a first year.” I said with a shrug before directing a gaze her and Daphne’s way.

“I’m sure it’ll get out eventually but can you please keep it a secret until that time comes?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. It’s the least I can do after you saved my life.” said Daphne with a nod.

“Me too.” Hermione nodded her head. “Thank you by the way. I never got to say it before.”

“Thanks Daphne, Hermione.” I thanked them with a smile. “And don’t worry about it Hermione, I’m just glad I made it on time.”

“Oh! It looks like this is where we part ways. The Slytherin common rooms should be in that direction, the Gryffindor in that one and us Ravens that way.” I pointed out when we came to a crossroads.

“I won’t even ask how you know where our dorm is, so farewell. And…Thanks again for saving me.” said Daphne with a shake of her head as she walked away before stopping and muttering a soft thanks and continuing on her way.

“Hahaha that was very tsundere of her.” I chuckled quietly.

“What the heck is a tsunare?” asked Ron with a confused look on his face. “Still, I don’t know how to feel about you hanging out with a Slytherin of all people.”

“It’s tsun-dere. Though I admit I don’t know what it means either. Is it some form of Spanish slang?” asked Hermione curiously not even noticing when she mindlessly corrected Ron.

Ignoring Ron’s last words, I turned to Hermione instead. “Don’t worry about it, you wouldn’t understand and it’s actually Japanese.” I said waving my hand in disinterest in her direction as that slang wouldn’t become popular until much later and we were currently in the 90s.

Hermione only pouted cutely at not getting an answer before shaking her head and turning to me. “Thanks again for saving me tonight Aether.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I shook my head with a smile before offering the girl a handshake. “Friends?”

Smiling at what I said, Hermione nodded her head and shook my hand. “Friends.” Then after saying that she quietly excused herself and left for the evening.

Finally, it was only myself, Rose, Harry and Ron left in the hallway. Before we could depart for the evening Harry asked us a question.

“Did you guys notice that Snape was bleeding from the leg? I wonder what could have caused that?” Harry muttered quietly to us.

‘Fuck. Give it a rest already kid.’

“Snape? I don’t know, to me the most suspicious teacher so far has been Quirrel.” I responded back getting confused looks from everyone.

“Quirrel? That guy is afraid of his own shadow!” exclaimed Ron in a whisper.

“Yeah, besides Snape seems to hate my guts for some reason. Though it’s weird that he never says anything to Rose from what she’s told me.” Harry turning to look at Rose curiously who only shrugged in response.

“Never mind that for now. It’s late and we still have one more day left before the weekend.” I said in dismissal and headed off to the Ravenclaw Tower with Rose after bidding the guy’s goodnight.

=====

The days came and went and with them the November air turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake looked like chilled steel. Every day there was frost on the ground and windows. All in all, it looked like a winter wonderland.

As someone who always enjoyed the cold, I was enjoying myself immensely, always heading to the Kitchens and asking Ilulu for a hot cocoa and some cookies something that Rose had gotten wind of forcing me to share with her.

Let me just say that the girl had quite the sweet tooth and leave it at that. As it was, I would be forced to take a trip to Hogsmeade soon to refill my stash.

With the change of the weather also came Quidditch season where we currently found ourselves at the moment. It was the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin and we were here to support Harry in his first match.

I had been able to keep Harry and Ron from finding out about the Philosopher stone so far but it was becoming harder and harder to do so as Harry seemed adamant that Snape was up to something. It seemed as if Fate herself, the bitch, was pulling strings in the shadows in order to guide Harry to the forbidden corridor. Hagrid wasn’t helping matters either as the man or half-giant I should say, couldn’t keep a secret to save his life.

If things continued as they were, I would have to resort to other measures to keep those two idiots from finding out about the stone.

What the fuck did they expect to do against a full-grown wizard anyway? Tickle Quirrel to death? Levitate a fucking feather in front of him? Turn a matchstick to a silver needle?

Nothing!

The answer was nothing. The only reason Harry, Ron and Hermione survived through the years in canon was because they had plot armor and having ludicrous amounts of luck.

That no longer applied here as my presence alone made that meaningless. Those two idiots were just making work for me, Maya and Ilulu and making my Stress Defense work overtime on keeping me calm. At this point I was considering just learning the obliviate spell and being done with it.

Now that I think about it, Rose and Hermione must have picked up on my frustration with the 2 boys as they always seemed to distract the two when they got it in their heads to investigate the forbidden corridor.

Speaking of the bookworm, ever since the troll incident she seemed to form somewhat of a friendship with the two Gryffindors giving birth to a version of the Golden Trio. I say a version since this Hermione preferred to spend her time with either Rose or myself most of the time with Rose not having much of a problem with it since Hermione had mellowed out since then.

Another welcome addition to our normal routine had come in the form of Daphne now joining us, well mostly me, whenever she could. She had asked me if I could teach her some defensive spells and I agreed with Rose and Hermione joining in a bit later.

Harry and Ron didn’t want to join as they saw it as too much work and could always learn them later according to them so they mostly goofed off in their free time. That and Ron still didn’t feel comfortable hanging out with Daphne, something which the blonde shared with him.

I focused back on the match currently going just when Harry’s broom gave a sudden jerk. Looking around it seemed that nobody had caught it yet so I tapped Rose and Hermione’s shoulders who were flanking my sides.

“What is it Aether?” asked Rose loudly over the cheers of the crowd.

“Something’s wrong with Harry’s broomstick. Someone probably jinxed it.” I said making them widen their eyes and look back at Harry to see him making random turns in the air.

“He’s right!” exclaimed Rose looking scared. “What do we do?”

“Don’t worry if for some reason he falls Dumbledore or one of the teachers should be able to help him.” I reassured the two girls making them relax a bit.

“Take a look at Quirrel though. Doesn’t he seem to be strangely focused on Harry?” I got closer and said in their ears, making sure only they heard it.

Hermione suddenly seized the binoculars from Hagrid, who had joined us for the match, and searched the stands for the man.

“Both Snape and Quirrel seem to be staring at Harry without blinking! Leave it to me.” said Hermione before running off.

“That git! But why would he want to curse Harry’s broom?” asked Rose in anger while looking through the binoculars.

“I have no idea.” I lied putting a hand on Rose’s shoulder in a show of support.

“Look, Hermione’s done it! She set Snape’s robe on fire! Way to go Hermione!” Rose said.

“Haha who would’ve thought that the bookworm that we previously knew of that was such a stickler for the rules had such a mean streak?” I laughed in amusement at the commotion currently happening in the stands where Quirrel and Snape were.

“Of course, she has a mean streak Aether. She’s a girl after all.” said Rose now back to normal seeing as Harry had stopped making random movements in the sky.

With Harry’s broom no longer being jinxed it didn’t take long before he caught the snitch and Gryffindor won the match. Instead of going off to a celebration however, we now found ourselves sitting in Hagrid’s hut with a strong cup of tea in front of us.

“It was Snape,” Ron began. “We all saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn’t take his eyes off you.”

“Haah, like I keep repeating. We are not sure it was Snape. Quirrel was also doing the exact same thing.” I explained in exasperation.

“Rubbish,” Hagrid dismissed. “Why would Snape or Quirrel do something like that?”

“Because Snape hates me perhaps? And I still find it hard to believe Quirrel had anything to do with it.” said Harry with a shrug while dismissing Quirrel without a second thought.

“Can we please not talk about this yet again?” I asked. “The holidays are approaching. How about we think of that instead of conspiracy theories when we have no proof on the matter to say otherwise?”

“Fine.” Harry relented.

No talk of Forbidden Corridors, famous alchemists or three headed dogs happened that day to my relief and our talk turned to who would be staying over the holidays.

Before too long only a day remained before the holidays. With only Hermione and Daphne leaving the castle for the two weeks break, we now found ourselves enjoying lunch with them on the kitchens.

“I can’t believe that half a year has already passed since we started Hogwarts.” said Rose with a far-off look in her eyes.

“Tell me about it. I still have trouble believing we’re in an actual school of magic sometimes. I can’t wait to tell my parents about everything I’ve learned.” said Hermione next.

“I would invite you all to my home but it’ll have to be over the summer when everyone is available.” I said while eating an apple.

“Oh, Aether’s home! I wonder how it looks like?” Rose said to herself in excitement.

“I would happily take your home anytime over the Dursleys.” said Harry with a happy smile.

“Your welcomed to my home as well.” added Ron thankfully remembering to swallow before speaking though everyone by now knew that one person was excluded from that list.

A certain Slytherin sitting to my side. Despite no longer outright scowling in her presence, Ron just couldn’t let go of his irrational dislike of the house of Snakes.

“You guys can come over whenever you want over the summer. You can either come over directly over the Floo Network or I can have my elf bring you over if your home is not connected.” I offered while looking at everyone with a smile.

“Floo Network?” asked Rose in confusion.

“Think of it like the muggle telephone. You speak the name of the place you want to travel to and you throw some Floo powder down on the chimney before you step through and arrive at the location. You can also use it to talk with someone just like a telephone.” I explained.

“Wow, that sounds amazing! Being able to travel over long distances with only a few words.” said Rose with a smile.

“Aether? There’s something I’ve been curious about for a while now. Are you a half-blood perhaps? You seem to know a lot about both the wizarding world and the muggle one unlike most other pure-bloods.” asked Hermione in confusion.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know anything about Aether’s family?” asked Daphne with a curious look directed at everyone. “Did you never tell them Aether?”

“I didn’t really see much importance in it.” I said with a shrug before looking at the others with a small smile. “I don’t mind explaining a bit if you’re all curious.”

Seeing everyone nodding their head in agreement I closed my eyes for a moment before sighing and reopening them.

“My family, the Cordelia Family, is actually one of the oldest families in Europe. Over the years they have been able to amass a vast fortune by owning shares in various companies in both the wizarding world and the muggle one.” I explained to them before pausing and seeing that everyone was still paying attention I continued.

“It might surprise you but I’m actually a Pureblood. However due to my parents being workaholics before they passed, I would spend the majority of my time as a child visiting and exploring the muggle cities surrounding our old home while they were away. It was thanks to that, that I came to learn a lot about muggles and their culture.” I finished with a sad smile.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” said Rose with her hand covering her mouth while looking at me almost on the verge of tears.

“Oh Aether!” said Hermione with a gasp while also covering her mouth.

Ron and Harry looked uncomfortable now as they couldn’t even look me in the eyes as they also muttered a low ‘sorry’.

Looking to my side, Daphne, who was partly responsible for the topic of this discussion was also looking sad as she refused to look at me with her face bowed low. I smiled before wrapping my arm around her shoulders and bringing her in for a hug getting a cute squeak from her.

“Think nothing of it. I’ve had time to reflect on it and have accepted their deaths, so please don’t feel bad about it. I chose to tell you about it after all.” I explained trying to bring the mood back up.

It took me reassuring them a few more times before the topic turned pleasant again and we talked about our plans for the summer.

More importantly though, I think it was about time for a certain Professor to have an accident. Harry was just too nosy and every day he kept getting closer to the truth.