A Secret Lake and New Friends
After the sorting and the feast had ended we all headed back to our common rooms. While we were walking I watched as the Black sisters, Lucius and Severus walked next to me talking about the year and what classes they were going to take.
“So Ezra right?” Lucius says walking on my right and I nod and he smiles. “What electives are you taking?” I think over his words and we talk about the classes for a while as we walk down the hall. Throughout the next few days I got to know them. Bella is in 7th year and is a troublemaker and gets detention every other day. Andy is a lot more serious and is pretty smart too, she’s also in 4th year. Narcissa is sassy and she knows she's beautiful and she makes sure everyone knows but she’s also pretty funny and she’s in 3rd year with me.
Lucius is also in our year and he acts like he’s the king of the world but he’s also a gentleman and insists on opening doors for all of us. Severus is in our year also and he’s really quiet and soft but is nice overall. They were all kind of nice but we weren’t really friends until the other day, because no way was I going to become friends with a bunch of the biggest death eaters, besides Andy.
I was awake late at night running over the details. So, my time turner is busted and won’t send me back to my time for who knows how long. Great. I’m stuck in Slytherin and now I’m the heir of the House of Gaunt. Also great. So far the closest thing I have to friends are a giant squid, a hawk, a younger McGonagall, and a bunch of future death eaters. Oh that’s great for my social record. I groan out loud then open my eyes when I hear my curtain pull open and see Narcissa standing there with Andy and Bella.
“Hey Ez, get up.” I blink at Bella’s words.
“Why?”
“Because you look like you need to relax.” I look over at Narcissa when she says that.
“I’m fine.”
“No you're not, you need a distraction.” I groan at Bella and she laughs pulling me up.
“Where are we even going?” I sigh and start to get dressed into jeans and a green hoodie that Victoria sent me.
“Somewhere fun, trust us.” I nod and pull on my shoes and follow them out of the dorms and into the common area where Lucius and Severus were waiting.
“Come on, let's hurry if we want to be back and get some sleep before classes start tomorrow.” I yawn at Lucius’s words and let Narcissa drag me along while we walk out into the dungeon hall and sneak through the halls until we get to a statue of a one eyed witch and he says a word and it slides open to reveal a set of stairs that we all go down one at a time and Narcissa leads me down.
“Hurry, I’m hungry.” Bella whines at the front.
“Stop whining Bella.” Cissa snaps at her.
We keep walking for a while on the path and we go onto a cut off that leads to a part of the cave filled with water. I look around on the rock for chairs and boxes and a couple tables. I look at Bella.
“What is this place?” I ask curiously.
“Our hangout spot. There’s a spell on the path that keeps people from finding this little side path.” I nod at the explanation and look at the water.
“How deep is it?” I wonder out loud.
“Deep enough to jump in and swim.” I look over at Lucius and nod.
“We come here to swim, hangout and play games when we’re bored.” Cissa says from next to me.
“And since you seemed to be in your head so much we decided to bring you with us.” Andy says while pulling off her shirt. I blink.
“But you guys just met me like a few days ago?” I say, confused.
“Yeah but we think we’ll be good friends and you don’t seem to have any.” Severus says while taking off his shoes and I blanch. Even they think I don’t have friends. I sigh and look around at Narcissa’s encouraging smile and Lucius with a satisfied grin as he had just pushed Bella into the water. Bella is laughing and pulls Lucius in after her. Andy is laughing and helps shove him in. Severus is sitting on the edge with his legs in the water and I finally grin and pull my shirt off and I hear Narcissa cheer and do the same.
A few minutes later, Sev is on Lucius’s shoulders, Narcissa is on my shoulders and Andy is on Bella’s and we’re all trying to shove each other into the water. I laugh when Cissa pushes Sev off and we cheer as she gets Andy and Bella too and she drops off and hugs me and I hug back.
“We are one hell of a team huh, Ezra?” I grin and nod with a laugh and cough when Bella jumps on my back shoving me under, when I come back up I throw water at her.
By the time we are getting back to our common rooms, Cissa has her arm thrown around my shoulders and Sev and Lucius are walking on my left.
“Welcome to the squad Ezra.” I smile at Bella’s words.
I think that through, I mean what can go wrong? I have a different name, different identity and besides they don’t seem that bad right now. There’s also the fact that if I’m going to be here for a while I do want to have some friends and I need to fit in the best I can. So why not?
“I’m happy to be part of it.” I say to them and gasp as Bella lifts me up and spins me.
“Good, cause I like having you around Ez.” I smile and laugh. After that we say good night to the boys and then go up to our dorms. When we get there I see Azrael and he caws and goes back to sleep and I roll my eyes teasingly and get changed back into my pajamas and lay down in bed.
“Good night Ez.” Bella says from her bed.
“Night Ezra.” I hear from Andy’s bed.
“See ya in the morning Ezra.” Cissa says before laying down.
“Night guys.” I say back to them and close my eyes.
The next day, saying we’re all tired is an understatement however I choose not to acknowledge it that much. As we walk to Breakfast together we stop when Sev gets shoved into a wall by a Gryffindor with shaggy black hair and hazel eyes, James Potter. I feel the moment we all freeze and look over. Bella stiffens from her spot in front and I have to grab Lucius to keep him from punching the boy.
“Leave him alone Potter.” Cissa says stiffly.
“Why should I listen to you stupid snakes, when he won’t back off Lily.” James snaps back.
“She’s my friend. I'm not going to stop being friends with her.” Severus says easily.
“Bullshit, Snivellus you like my girl and I don’t want you around her.” James snaps back, shoving him harder and Lucius tenses even more, but before he can do anything the rest of the Marauders show up. Sirius Black, a boy who could be considered handsome if you liked the rugged troublemaker look, he had black hair and black eyes and his tie was loose and his shirt untucked. Remus Lupin, he had a much more put together look but with shorter sandy colored hair and then Peter Pettigrew who was considerably short and seemed younger then he probably was.
“Leave him alone, cousin.” Bella says from behind us and Cissa and Andy nod. Sirius rolls his eyes.
“Then tell Snivellus to leave Lily alone cause she’s James’s.” I almost gag at how objectifying that sounds.
“It's up to her about who she wants to hang out with for one, and second off all she’s not some object you can control everything about.” I say coolly, letting my thoughts out. I watch as James snaps his gaze to me and tilts his head.
“And you are?” He says that in a way that says he just wants a reason to insult me.
“Ezra Gaunt of the Most Noble House of Gaunt.” I say evenly, putting more steel in my words. He blinks and laughs.
“So you're the new snake that’s related to Salazar huh?” His eyes harden and he pushes Severus over to us and Lucius catches him. “Listen snake, no one cares that you're more snakey than the others. So watch what you say cause you have no right to talk to us. So shut your scaly mouth.” I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes.
“Hey shut up.” Cissa says steely, pulling me closer to them.
“Cousin, if you don’t want that friend of yours in the infirmary you should get him to shut his stupid mouth.” Bella says through her teeth and the energy shifts dangerously as Sirius stiffens and thinks then grabs James’s arm.
“Let’s not waste our time on them, come on James.” He says quickly.
“Fucking Fine, but watch your mouth Gaunt.” James says to me with a glare before letting Sirius pull him along.
“Yeah, watch it snake.” Peter says then runs after them as Remus glares and flips us off before following them.
“What the hell is wrong with them?!” I say loudly after they leave.
“Sirius and his stupid friends think they're above everyone else just because they're in Gryffindor.” Andy says while checking Sev for bruises.
“I have half a mind to beat the shit out of them for talking to you two like that.” Lucius growls between his teeth. I sigh and rub my forehead. So, Harry’s dad is a complete asshole, noted.