Disturbances
At the Great Hall, students awaited headmaster Dumbledore's announcement before the feast. Everyone's annual reunion on the first day caused a stir in the area with talks about their summer adventures. The Slytherin table, however, particularly wreaked more havoc than the other houses, all in the name of Juliet van der Hart.
Everyone stuck their nose as close as possible near Juliet's to get a whiff of her deisgner perfume: amber and vanilla with a hint of a smoky musk. They tuned in to every word she said, though slurred and nonsense. It was mainly her voice, so sultry and bittersweet, or how she never failed to look each of them in the eye and make them feel included.
Juliet had started a tradition. Every first day of school, be it the start of the school year, the first day after holidays, first day after winter break, first day after spring break, the Slytherin table would sneak shots around to commemorate. She'd gifted every Slytherin with a magical flask which masks every beverage as water to those who don't own it. So if a professor had taken a sip off a student's flask to test its legitimacy, they would see and taste water.
It was brilliant, actually. Juliet never failed to demonstrate a streak of intelligence when it comes to sneaky antics. However, one Slytherin in particular, was not very fond of this tradition. Draco Malfoy was not meant to attend parties and lose control or let off steam that way. He'd thought it a disgrace the way his Slytherin peers tarnish the house's reputation to have 'fun' the way they do.
Most of all, he hated Juliet. She always smelled of alcohol, raging with stimulants, or slumped on downers somewhere in the castle. Once, he had gone to the astronomy tower for a quick breather and there Juliet was, half naked, passed out on the staircase at half-past-midnight. He ridiculed her in his head, excessively at that.
Beside him sat Blaise Zabini, who, like Crabbe and Goyle, was also captivated by Juliet, dozing off on the sidelines secretly watching from afar. Draco thought them dimwitted. Why would anyone waste their precious time on that? On her? The very idea disgusted him.
"Knock it off before your jaw falls off, Zabini," cleared Draco, setting down a cup after taking a sip.
Blaise scattered to construct himself and be mindful of Draco's insistence that Juliet was a disgrace to her family name, the Van Der Harts. Her family was very well known, to be downplaying it. They were pure-blooded aristocrats with a deep-rooted history embedded within the wizarding world. A reputable family that everyone, even the Malfoys, fear and adore. In fact, they were probably the most powerful family in the wizarding world.
When everyone buzzed in the first year of a Van Der Hart attending Hogwarts, Draco couldn't contain his curiosity and interest. His father had always told tales about the Van Der Harts and their enormous amount of successes. They excelled in every industry and remained prominent in everything they do. Every donation, every investment, every decision, every negotiation, they've all triumphed. There has never been a Van Der Hart that has failed—except Juliet.
Time and time again, Juliet had shown that she had no respect for societal laws and regulations, school policies, authority figures, and worst of all, her family name. And Draco loathed that about her.
"And then you twist it, and the cork pops off and these bubbles come out and blow up the champagne!" Juliet explained to the group whose heads hung on her every word, tongues slipping out in the process — a group that Draco hated to be associated with, let alone be friends with.
Her summer expedition landed her to the muggle world of Spain, where she told tales of sunbathing in the beaches topless and popping bottles of champagnes in "clubs" with "foreigners" for kicks. Normally, the elitist, blood-supremacist Slytherins would've curved her right then and there. But Juliet Van Der Hart was always another story.
"Are Spanish boys cute?" perked Pansy Parkinson, Juliet's beta girl who everyone knew secretly disliked Juliet and resented how much more popular Juliet was.
"Like fine dining dish!" exclaimed Juliet, whisking whipped cream off a pie topping and smearing them against Pansy's button nose.
"Oh God," Pansy groaned, brushing the tip of her nose to wipe the whipped cream off, excusing Juliet's actions for her drunkenness. "Did you.. you know?"
Juliet gave her a sly smile and Pansy swore all the boys grew boners beneath the seams. "Did I.. spend quality time with them?" she continued, dragging on her words to ignite excitement within the crowd that followed her.
"Jules!" Pansy squeaked and covered her face, appalled by her friend's indiscretions.
Draco snubbed his nose from their conversation, cringing at the idea Juliet had alluded to. "You know what I never understood?" he asked his friends.
Crabbe and Goyle leaned to hear him out for yet another complaint about the ongoings at Hogwarts.
"Why Dumbledore's yet to rid Hogwarts of the likes of her."
"Perhaps—" began Crabbe, to which Goyle would subtly nudge his knees to as it would ignite a hysterical fit from Malfoy. Crabbe quickly lowered down and scratched the rest of his sentence.
Malfoy hadn't noticed. "It's a shame, really. A shame for Slytherins above all."
Blaise hadn't been listening to a word he'd said. He'd been stuck in adoration on girls a few seats down. He couldn't choose which girl was even more fascinating. Juliet with her pale hair, addicting laughters and long legs that would go on for miles; or Pansy Parkinson with her fox-eyes, dark feminine aura, and the fact that she had remained untouched.
Maybe if Draco had stopped digging into everybody's actions resulting in the failures of everything, he would've scored Juliet or Pansy. But Thank God he was out of the running, though.