The Mudblood

Chapter 4 : Year 1

The rest of my classes were not nearly as eventful. None of the Slytherins would talk to me, so I'd resorted to sitting by myself in the back of every class. I'd thought that Defense Against the Dark Arts would be my favorite class, but Lockhart had ruined that for me, so now Transfiguration was my favorite. I liked Professor McGonagall even though she was strict. Charms class was interesting as well, but we had that class with the Hufflepuffs, and all of the Slytherins were just way too malicious toward them for it to be enjoyable.

At dinner that evening, I wasn't really sure who to sit with. All of the Slytherins refused to talk to me—except for Ashley, who only ever wanted to talk about beating her brother—and Ginny had been giving me the cold shoulder all day because of how rude I was in D.A.D.A. I wanted to talk to her, but when she had walked by me in the corridor she'd given me a very nasty scowl, so I decided it was probably best to wait it out a bit.

As I stood in the entrance hall, trying to find someone I could sit with, Ron Weasley walked up behind me.

"Oh, hey Lainey," he greeted glumly.

My brow furrowed. "Er—what's wrong, Ron?"

He let out a sigh as he held up his broken wand, which was only held together by some messy tape. "This."

"What happened to it?" I questioned, studying it with my eyes. "And what happened with you and Harry last night?"

"Well, we couldn't get through the barrier to the platform, so we took my father's flying car here and crashed it into a tree and my wand broke—"

"A flying car? Those exist?"

"Well, one did...until we crashed it into the Whomping Willow...and it drove off into the woods..." Ron replied, shuffling awkwardly.

I bit my lip in contemplation. "So...that's why your mum was so mad."

He nodded gravely. "Yeah... But—er—thanks for socking Malfoy this morning. I would have done it myself, but—er—"

"Anytime," I replied briskly. "I do feel a bit bad about it, though. Do you think it was too mean?"
Ron shook his head. "Nah, Malfoy's pretty foul. I nearly jinxed him today for making fun of me and Harry but...Hermione stopped me. And my wand doesn't work anyway...so..."

I smirked coyly.

"I'm glad one of us got him, though," Ron went on. "You want to come sit with us? I know you're in Slytherin, and all, but—"

"I'd love to—but—er—it's probably best if I don't," I replied as I glanced over at the Gryffindor table. Harry and Hermione were already seated, and Ginny was sitting with a few of the first years, including Colin Creevey. "Ginny's a bit cross with me at the moment."

Ron's brow contorted. "Ginny? Why would Ginny be angry?"

I let out a sad sigh. "Well, I was a bit rude to Colin Creevey during class today. Ginny said that I do belong in Slytheirn after all—"

"Oh rubbish! Colin's a bit annoying if you ask me. He and Ginny would get a long, though—considering they're both obsessed with Harry."

I looked down, hoping he wouldn't see my smirk. "I feel bad about it, though. Colin doesn't seem to care, but Ginny does."

"Oh, she'll get over it," he assured me. "Besides, you can't sit with the Slytherins. Just look at them."
Ron and I both gazed over at the Slytherin table to see that almost all of them were glaring at me. I sank as low as I could.