Hazel sat at the Gryffindor table early that morning. Despite returning to her dorm room at 1 am, she didn't get a wink of sleep and got dressed in a warm, thick jumper and jeans before heading down to the Great Hall at 6 am, a whole hour before breakfast would be served.
As classes had been cancelled, students had gotten into the habit of sleeping in on weekdays, something staff tried to discourage but couldn't put a stop to. Hazel had also been doing it up until the tasks started. Now she was more often than not one of the first to enter the Great Hall. No one was ever earlier than the Ravenclaws, she noted. Though she supposed the Ravenclaws didn't really count in that aspect. They were always there, reading as they distractedly ate their food.
Hazel halfheartedly chewed on a slice of toast, eyes wandering the length of the hall as more students filtered into the hall to tuck into their own breakfasts. Something in her heart still pinched painfully when Hermione and Ron entered the room, glares hard in her direction and sat as far away from her as possible from her while still being seated at the Gryffindor table.
Half an hour and a now stale, half-eaten slice of toast later, Hazel decided she didn't want to deal with the undisguised looks of disgust on the faces of those she considered her best friends. She knocked back her glass of pumpkin juice before standing up and purposely avoided looking in Ron and Hermione's direction, already knowing what she'd find within their expressions.
As she walked past the Slytherin table, she again noticed that Malfoy was looking at her. Deciding she had had enough, she stopped and looked him dead on, blinking in surprise when he flashed her a small smile, barely a lift in the corner of his lips, and a discreet nod. Confused, Hazel hesitantly nodded back before rushing from the hall to the grounds out by the Whomping willow.
She took out the Gringotts letter from her back pocket and read it over for the sixth time before pulling her wand out from where it was, keeping her copper hair in a messy bun at the back of her head. As her hair fell down her back and around her shoulders in long, wild curls, she thought about Lily. Everyone had always told her how much she looked like her mother, down to the pattern of freckles on her nose. The only resemblance she bore to James was found in the unruly behaviour of her hair and the need for glasses.
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and tapped her wand to the parchment. She spoke the word "gold" clearly before she felt the tug behind her navel that she had felt only once before when attending the Quidditch World Cup. She still hated the crushing, tube-like feeling of portkeying. She imagined it to be what being sucked up a straw would feel like.
The portkey spat her out ungracefully on the floor outside Gringotts's main entrance. Onlookers watched her in pity as she groaned on the floor before stumbling to her feet and attempting to right herself. Taking a steadying breath to try and chase away the nausea, she made her way into the massive building that was Wizarding Britain's Bank.
Walking into the building, there seemed to be a sudden hush; the overall expected chatter dulled to whispers and quick, weary glances her way. Hazel sighed and dipped her head, allowing the sea of her red hair to shield her burning face. She should be used to it by now. She had been looked at all her life, as far back as she could remember. She hated it, but short of plucking out people's eyeballs, she could do little about it.
Shaking the nerves off, she quickly made her way to the first available goblin; trying not to cower under his gaze, she politely curtsied as she had learnt to do three years prior. The goblin grunted in a way only a goblin could. Hazel sighed and shook her head slightly.
"I am here to speak with Ludlig," Hazel said, noticing how every goblin's head turned to look at her, despite how quietly she spoke. She presented the letter she received as proof to the goblin, whose eyes opened impossibly wide before he nodded frantically and scrambled down from the stool.
"Follow me", the short creature rasped to Hazel before he led her to a partially concealed door. The door led to a single cart, similar to the ones used to get to vaults, only this one was painted a deep blue, almost black and had cushioned seats. Hazel carefully climbed in after the goblin, and as soon as her rear touched the cushion, they were off, the speed pulling the air out of her lungs and whipping her hair around her head.
The tunnel, dimly lit and perfectly straight, appeared to have always existed as if the stone of the walls happened to have a wide artery. The tunnel was long, but the goblin magic made it, so you were in the cart for minutes rather than hours, and soon the cart stopped in front of a set of large, imposing double doors.
The goblin scrambled out of the cart, nearly falling in his hastiness, before nervously knocking on one of the doors.
It was silent for a while, and it felt like an eternity had passed to Hazel before a voice boomed from behind the doors.
"Enter."
YOU ARE READING
Snakes and Ladders (Fem!HPxLM) (DISCONTINUED)
Fanfiction-DISCONTINUED- After the Triwizard Tournament, Hazel Potter goes through an early inheritance brought on by now being considered an adult through the tournament. Through this, she learns secrets Dumbledore never intended for her to know and she vows...
