Rules of The Game: Hogwarts Years

Chapter 4: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The train ride was magical.

For the first few minutes, then the novelty wore off and Margaret realised that she was in a cabin with four idiots. However, Crabbe and Goyle were oddly quiet. Margaret swore she heard some sniffling coming from Vincent, but she didn't say anything. Unlike Draco and Theo, Vincent and Greggory didn't dare look at her. Ever since her accident, they averted their gaze.

"I know for sure I'll be in Slytherin," Draco said confidently. "Both my father's and mother's families have almost all been in Slytherin. Then, by next year, I'll be on the quidditch team, and by fifth year I'll be chosen prefect and quidditch captain."

"It sounds as though you have all seven years already planned out," Margaret drawled, tearing her gaze from the scenery out the window.

"Well, what about you, then?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows in question. She shrugged, returning to the countryside view.

"I can't say I have nearly as detailed of a plan as you," Margaret admitted. "As for my house, all the Ravens have been in Slytherin, but my mother's side had plenty of Ravenclaw. As far as quidditch goes, my parents never allowed me to be remotely near a broom. They considered it too barbaric of a sport for me."

"You're a halfway decent flyer when you tried my broom," Theo encouraged, and Margaret remembered one of the Nott banquets years ago. She was unsure what qualified for halfway decent. If anything, she didn't fall off the broom like Greggory who went wailing to his mother after falling a mere two metres, in turn getting them all in trouble. "Perhaps you should try out your second year. We all have first year flying lessons anyway. Who knows, you might be better than halfway decent with a bit of practice."

"My father attempted to have me excused from that course," Margaret said bitterly, recalling a late-night argument between her parents about disadvantages. "My parents want me to join the embroidery club." Draco snickered and Margaret gave him a glare.

"Embroidery club?" he asked with a mocking smile on his face.

"According to my mother, it's a club mostly pure-blood witches join. She said it would be good to surround myself with so called 'like-minded students'," Margaret said, letting out a huff of annoyance. She should be more excited about the next seven years; however, it was difficult enough attempting to plan past even her first few weeks of her first year. Besides, there were many other matters that pulled her attention away from the excitement she should be feeling. She didn't have time to think about being prefect or quidditch captain.

"Well, what about you, Theo?" Draco asked.

"Oh, Slytherin, 100 percent," he said. "Both families have been almost all Slytherin. My father said it's tradition. I'd be a disappointment should I be sorted into any other house, frankly."

"What house do you think Harry Potter will be in?" Draco asked in a low voice and Margaret straightened at the mention of the boy who destroyed the Dark Lord. She had heard stories from her parents about this boy. But, because they could only show their emotions to a reasonable degree, Margaret couldn't say how they felt about the boy who lived an unforgivable curse cast by the most powerful wizard of all time.

Whenever Margaret asked her tutors, they only shifted about nervously, looking around the room as though searching for the answer. The responses were the same every time. It was a regurgitated story from her history books.

So, Margaret wasn't so sure how to feel about the boy who vanquished the Dark Lord. He wasn't good or bad. He was simply... a fact of history.

"What's his family like?" Theo asked. "What houses were they in?"

"Beats me," Draco said with a shrug. "My parents never told me much about Potter. Just that he was a child, and he was able to defeat the Dark Lord. Some say he's the one to replace the Dark Lord one day."