Chapter Text
Sure, the feast at the beginning of the year is neat and all, the food is great, and you’ve been looking forward to meeting people you haven’t seen since before the summer holidays. Such as Ben Copper and Tulip Karasu, and no one else in particular. However, the whole sorting ceremony is a bit tedious, and if you must be completely honest, you don’t particularly give a damn about which fresh-faced eleven-year-olds end up in which houses; it’s not like you’re going to have anything to do with them whatsoever.
As you enter the Great Hall, bidding Penny goodbye, and sitting down at the Slytherin table with Rowan, you’re greeted enthusiastically by Barnaby, another face you haven’t seen in about two and a half months.
“Hey!” he shouts, at a volume slightly above what can be deemed appropriate.
“Hi, Barnaby,” you respond, scanning the rest of the Slytherin table.
“How are you? Did you have a good summer?” he asks, as you and Rowan take a seat on opposite sides of the table, next to him.
“Yeah, I’m fine, summer was nothing special,” you say, distracted by the sudden realisation that a certain someone is missing from the table.
Barnaby nods, and Rowan dives into a passionate story involving Erumpents and her family’s farm of Hawthorn trees, to the great amusement of Barnaby, who encourages her by occasional shouts of “Woah!”, “Blimey, that’s something,” and “I wish I was there to see that for myself!”
“Wow, I can’t believe Snyde hasn’t shown up to the feast,” you say, as casually as you can, when it seems like Rowan has finished relaying her riveting tale.
“Oh, I heard from Tulip there’s a rumour going around that Snyde couldn’t come back this year because her mum’s mad about the whole vault business or something. But personally, I’m more inclined to believe all those rumours about her having to miss school because she’s a werewolf,” Barnaby says.
You’re not sure if he’s joking about the last part, but knowing Barnaby, he probably isn’t.
“What,” you say, because why the hell didn’t Penny tell you this on the train, while she was warning you about Merula’s wrath or whatever?
“Oh, that’s great news!” Rowan beams, “Then we don’t have to worry about her plans, right?”
“Right,” you reply, a small lump forming in your throat.
It’s not like you were actively looking forward to seeing Merula again, but then again, you remember how things were between the two of you last autumn, and okay, you totally were.
~~
“Yeah, I heard that rumour too,” Penny says when you see her again at the end of the feast. You haven’t really been able to concentrate after realising that Merula wasn’t going to show up at the Slytherin table, and now you’re more concerned than what you’re willing to admit to your friends (or to yourself).
“But you know how it is at this school,” Penny continues, “Everyone jumps at every opportunity to gossip about other people, no matter how ridiculous the rumours are. Like, you know there’s even a rumour going around that you and Snyde are in love? I heard some fourth years talking about it last term,” she says, smirking, and looking straight into your eyes.
“Oooh-kay,” you say, choosing to ignore the last part of what she just said. “But Mer--Snyde wasn’t at the feast, so then it must be true then, that she’s, you know, not coming back?”
“Oh, she wasn’t?” Penny asks, and at this point you’re pretty sure she is just messing with you. “I didn’t notice. But yeah, then it might be true, that she’s not coming back this year. I’ll have to consult my sources,” she smirks, not giving you any further information.
Slytherin could probably have been a good fit for Penny, you think, as she leaves you to sulk in the corridor.
The year doesn’t look quite as promising as you had hoped.