SCREAM | ginny w.

SCREAM | eleven

Ginny, quite literally, ran into Vera that same day. Vera could only assume it was the kind of plotline a bad romance writer would sneak in so there could be some witty banter between the characters.

"Hey, watch where- oh, Vera!" Ginny said, her tone changing instantly, beaming at the blonde. 

"Sorry," Vera apologized. She held up the map she had shoved in front of her face to try and decipher where she was going. "Wasn't paying attention."

"It's fine," Ginny waved Vera off. "So... Slytherin."

"Yes," Vera replied, not meaning to sound disappointed, though that was how her words had come out anyways. 

"That bad?" Ginny asked teasing. Vera shrugged. 

"That Draco Malfoy boy is a pain," she replied, and Ginny threw her head back in pleased laughter. Vera couldn't help but smile at the redhead's infectious laughter. 

"Well, glad to see you didn't immediately throw yourself at his feet like most other people in your house," Ginny smiled. "Though it would have been nice if you had ended up in Gryffindor."

Vera couldn't help but silently agree, though she knew expressing this outwardly would just be a steak through the heart. She liked her house well enough, she liked her friend in her house as well. But part of her wanted to be with Ginny, in Gryffindor. "Not my thing," Vera said simply. Ginny shrugged. 

"Suit yourself," she said. "See you later, Vera. Try not to 

And with that Ginny was strolling away to her next class, the brief interaction lending power to the confusing feeling in Vera's chest. As it welled in her heart, frustration followed along with it. And like a good soldier did, Vera steeled herself, corking the bottle in her chest, trapping the new emotion inside, and locking the bottle away in a long forgotten box.

If Vera had ever thought that escaping her past would be as easy as leaving the warehouse, she would have been dead wrong. And yet, it would seem, that was what everyone around her expected her to do.

She had barely found her charms class and sat down in the seat when a small boy came rushing in, handing a note to the professor, and running out again, his shiny, red face only a glimpse as he sped back out. All of a sudden, Professor Flitwick was beckoning Vera to the stand where he stood, class not yet started, and Vera stood, her spine a steel beam down her back and her fingers fishing in the pocket of her robes to where her only nugget of comfort sat.

She could tell herself that even if she was in trouble, it would not be as it had been in the compound. There would be disappointment, yes, but the harsh words would be soft in comparison to what she was used to. There would be no pain following the mistake, no hours alone in a dark room. A shiver ran down her neck as she approached Professor Flitwick and the wound in her shoulder where she had been stabbed panged with phantom aches.

"Professor Dumbledore would like to see you," Flitwick said, handing her the note, which she read very quickly and discerned nothing more than the password to his office, though that would be of little use, seeing as she didn't even know where it was.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked, keeping her voice soft.

"I doubt it, Miss Smirnova," Flitwick assured her. "Run along, see me when you return and I'll catch you up."

"Sorry, where is his office?" she asked, her voice small now, frightened because she did not know. Flitwick did not glare at her, or raise his wand to strike her, rather, he smiled, and offered her directions.

She found Dumbledore's office easily enough with the instructions, figured out how to get in with the password, and was knocking on the door before she could be entirely sure why Dumbledore wanted to see her.

"Come in." Vera obliged, and Dumbledore smiled when he saw her. "Ah, Miss Smirnova, I was expecting you."

"Good morning, Professor Dumbledore," Vera greeted, politely. He gestured for her to sit, and she did.

"I called you in this morning to make sure your assimilation back into the populous went smoothly enough," Dumbledore explained. Vera balled the fabric of the wrist of her jumper, the sleeves too long for her, into her palms.

She was a soldier, not a student. She was an assassin, not a carefree teen. These were not things that disappeared with a good night's sleep, not that she could claim that she had one of those in almost a decade. But what would she say? 'No, sir, I have murderous thoughts about my captor, that makes it a bit difficult to walk around with these people like I have no past.' What would Dumbledore say? Sorry that you feel like that? Perhaps you should return back to Remus and be homeschooled? 

"As well as it can, I think, Professor Dumbledore," Vera lied with a smile. Professor Dumbledore smiled back, Vera couldn't tell if he had seen through her lie or not. 

"I also wanted to inform you that the school is assigning you a tutor, since you are a bit behind on some basic magic," Dumbledore continued. "I don't believe you two have met, though do correct me."

"Who is it, if I may ask?" Vera asked.

"Her name is Hannah Abbott, she's a sixth year in Hufflepuff. She volunteered to help," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "If my memory serves me correctly, Professor McGonagall is going to put the two of you in contact some time shortly."

"Alright," Vera replied, having no predisposition to who Hannah Abbott was. She would ask Arson when she next saw them. "If that's all.."

"Yes, I've kept you from your classes long enough," Dumbledore said, waving his black, dead-looking hand at Vera. She stood and nodded her head as a goodbye, turning to leave the room. As she made eye contact with a strange ring, a chill ran down her spine, making her head twitch slightly as the shiver manifested. She did not hesitate to leave again after that.

School was far too odd for her, she decided. At least as an assassin, she always knew why she was there.

a/n: guys this chapter is all over the place this frog is right outside my window and it's been nonstop croaking since six in the morning and we're about to fight

anyways please let me know what you want to see because I have such a vague plot-line for this story that has plenty of room to fill in the gaps