Magic and Hellfire

Chapter Three: Meetings and Come Backs.

The following day came almost too soon. I did not want to get up. 'I have to start today, or either Professor Sage or Professor McCarthy will come to find me and drag me out of bed.' I thought, groaning as I rolled out of bed. Walking into the standard room after I got dressed felt like I was in a completely different world. The standard room was beautiful. It had chandlers and overstuffed black couches. Tapestries line the walls with images of the founders. The ambience was perfect. I was still wondering who that boy was from last night. 'Maybe I'll meet him today.' I thought.

I met Kade Hanlon, and a random Honey Badger named Matty, Raegan MacKinnley, and Darcy Reyes. I knew three out of the four would be great friends, and that one was just the girl who told me to shut up during a panic attack.

Kade was reading a book very intently by the fireplace, pacing back and forth, almost yelling at the text in his hand. I decided to talk to him first. "Hi, I am Lyra. It is nice to meet you." Kade looked almost angrily annoyed at first, and then, after his chestnut brown eyes focused on me, his expression softened. He put the book in the chair next to him. "You must be the new fifth year. I am Kade," he said. "Kade Hanlon. For some odd reason, people call me my middle name, Sebastian, instead. Not every day a student gets a Ministry escort." He looked as though he was trying not to smile too big, knowing how the carriage ride went. "It's too bad about Mr. Leoric."

The look in Kade's eyes screamed, 'I'm glad you survived.' I quickly explained that the dragon had gone rogue for no apparent reason. "That's weird. I have never heard of a dragon attacking a carriage before. Anyway, welcome to The House of Serpents." He said welcome, like he knew I had talked to him first. The girl in gold piped up next. "Hi, you'll have to forgive Seb; he's awful at introducing others." The girl said with a playfully irritated look on her face. "I'm Matty." Kade could not help but pipe in. "It's short for Matilda." He said, grinning from ear to ear. I think he realised that he was thinking out loud. "But if you call me Matilda," Matty said as she elbowed him hard in the ribs. "you'll be sipping soup out of a straw for a month."

I looked at her with all the understanding I could put on my face. "I wouldn't dream of it." I could see Kade's slight pain and wanted to hug him. With the fact that I had just met him, that action would be unwarranted. "You will have to excuse my brother and me. He needs to learn a lesson in introductions." I felt like there was more to it than that, but I did not want to get my hopes up. "It was nice meeting you both. I hope we can be friends." As I turned to walk toward the windows looking into the Black Lake, I could not help but notice Kade's demeanour change. Matty started talking to him in a calm voice, and I could not help but see him blush as he looked away from her toward me.

Matty followed his gaze to me. She had to of noticed that she did not register. I could not help but melt under his watch. 'This boy is going to be the death of me.' I wanted to return to him and have him hold me for the first time in months. I knew he wouldn’t remember the last time we had met. The moment he looked into my eyes; I had all the memories flood my mind. I remembered how I had met him in the Silver City and how he had jumped with me to be free. I remembered how many times I had been a doctor or nurse to get him healed after his uncle would beat him. Seeing him in front of me now allowed me to forget the pain he had gone through. His amber brown eyes, curly dark copper blonde hair, and tall stature were different but fit him perfectly.

Raegan stood against a pillar by the window, looking into the Black Lake. One of the first years said something about mermaids, and Raegan looked away with clouded eyes, smiling sadly. I walked up to him and said hi after leaning on the opposite pillar. "By all the chatter, you must be the new Fifth-year. I am Raegan, Raegan MacKinnley." I asked about the first years looking for mermaids, and his sad smile returned. "One of my good friends and I would convince the first years that mermaids would come to the window. We know that the mermaids will never ever come near the dorm windows or anywhere near us." He seemed very distant talking about his friend. "You sure like to make an entrance. I heard you flew in the path of a dragon. Is there any truth to it?" I replied, "We didn't exactly fly in its path; I believe the dragon was being controlled to hurt us." I could not back it up, but I just knew that the dragon was being controlled by someone who wanted to hurt me, Professor Sage, or succeeded in hurting Mr. Leoric. I am unsure if I can trust anyone outside the soon-to-be friend group. This boy in front of me seemed trustworthy, though. "The dragon had a collar on that had some powerful magic." He had not looked at me the whole time; I then realised Raegan was blind. "Raegan, would it be rude to ask about the deal with Kade and Matty?" I asked more hesitantly than I intended. "They grew up together; their relationship is that of siblings, and no, it's not rude to ask about the deal with Kade and his sister." I could not help but smile. "Thank you, Raegan. It was wonderful meeting you." I knew Raegan MacKinnley would be the only one to keep us out of trouble. He always did his best to get myself and Kade from getting into trouble and succeeded most of the time. I knew the MacKinnleys were an immensely powerful family with generations of Dark witches and wizards. I did not care who his family was. I knew that everything would fall into place once his soul remembered who I was.

Darcy was situated on the opposite side of the room. I walked to the chess game that was currently being played, where she watched. "You should have listened to me." She said to the other student as he lost the game. "Hey, I am guessing you are the new fifth year from all the chatter. Bold of you to take all the attention away from the first years! Also, why did you wake up screaming last night? If I do not get a boyfriend by the end of the day, I'm blaming you!" All I could think was, 'this b***h is going to need to be put in her place, isn't she?' "I heard you had a run-in with a dragon. I could have lured the beast away with my broom flying!" I looked annoyed at that. "Your broom would have been kindling. Plus, the dragon was being controlled, so you would not have distracted it. Your death would have meant nothing." I could see Matty walking toward me with Kade in tow. Hearing Kade and Matty coming, Raegan also walked over from his pillar. "You cannot see situations for what they are if you listen to the rumour mill. Since you cannot get your nose out of it, I may as well push you in. A man died, and you have no respect at all. Even if you were a professional quidditch player, you still would not have been able to do anything to help. I woke up screaming because I relived it, you intolerant t**t! Who cares if you get a boyfriend on the first day of class? If you want a boyfriend so bad, find the most desperate boy here. If you would shut up, I have better things to do than talk to you." Darcy tried to talk, but all that came out was a squeak. "Go choke on it, b***h!" Darcy was dumbfounded as I walked away.

Matty gave me a high five as I passed her. Kade's jaw was on the floor. "You'll catch flies if you leave your mouth open, darling," I said with a devilish grin as I gently closed his mouth. His face flushed six shades of red as I continued to walk away from the scene to meet Professor McCarthy. Everyone who saw me walking away from Darcy and my new friends had many different emotions on their faces. Some looked confused, and others looked scared of my sharp tongue. The ones that stood in my way stepped out of it at once. I was not entirely sure if I liked this power or not yet.

Professor McCarthy was at the top of the stairs waiting for me. She handed me a book with the Serpent House emblem. "This is a field guide. It will keep track of your assignments and extra-curricular activities. I wish I had something like this when I was a student here." She wanted to learn how to use the Feather Flames just outside the Serpent Dorm. We used the Feather Flames to get to the central hall. We got to Central Hall extremely fast. Professor McCarthy told me how Central Hall "was the Raven's Crest version of Kings Cross Station." After that, she asked me about what happened before getting here, and I could not lie to her, but I didn't want to tell her everything since Prof. Sage asked me to keep the details to ourselves.

"I feel like you are not telling me everything, but I won't press. Oh, speaking of pressing, here's Professor Sage. Since I cannot force Lyra to tell me what happened yesterday, I can ask you later." Professor McCarthy looked back at me and told me what classes I had to attend that day. After that, she walked away to go back to her style or office. Professor Sage wanted to talk to me about what I told Prof. McCarthy. "I didn't want to lie to her, so I kept it as vague as possible, but she knows I'm not as forthcoming as she'd like." Prof. Sage expressed that Prof. McCarthy was a brilliant and astute witch and was not surprised she knew there was more to the events of yesterday than we were giving her. "Your new field guide has a map you can use to get to classes on time. If I heard correctly, you have Charms and Defense Against Dark Magic today." He said almost blankly. "Good luck today."