The bad omen everyone thought i was
Quiet but audible chatter filled the stairwells, most students knew at least someone, but Enid didn’t, as a 15 year old first year, she didn’t really understand or know anyone, the blonde hesitantly looked among the crowd of students, she was standing in the middle of the crowd, squeezing her arms by her side to make as much space as possible so she didn’t bump into somebody who was messing around, she was imagining her classes, and more importantly, her house, her mother would be disappointed if she didn’t get one that fitted her standards, anxiety filled her mind, memories of yelling, arguments and inflicted wounds of the claws of that elder women against her own daughter.
But, a light tap brought her out of the trance, she whipped around, her eyes meeting sunglasses, her hair filled in her face so she tucked it behind her ears lightly.
“The name’s Yoko Tanaka, what’s yours, pup?”
The girl blinked, Yoko was as pale as a ghost, her smile brightened the room, her fangs just slightly sticking out, it was given that she was a vampire, her pitch black sunglasses, her long black robe, and black tie with white stripes, her hair fallen neatly by her shoulders, the werewolf was nervous to say the least, she nervously smiled, and scratched the back of her head.
“It’s, uhm, Enid, Enid Sinclair”
The blonde immediately held out her right hand, the colorful nails on display. The stuttering was a given that she was nervous, Yoko must’ve sensed her anxiety in the crowd and tried to ease that.
Soft footsteps caused the crowd to shift their attention back to the top of the stairwell, Professor Thornhill was standing there with a wide smile on her face.
“Come along now children, everything is prepared”
With the shuffling of the crowd moving forwards, the vampire and wolf moved forward and followed, when reaching the tall wooden door, the red head snapped her fingers, using her thumb and index finger to do so, and the door opened with a creak.
Enid couldn't stop the excitement, her mouth dropped and immediately smiled, unable to contain herself, she held her hands up to her chest.
The hall was huge to say the least, 4 huge long tables filled with older students, Each table had a chandelier, it was black in color and lit all around the base, among one of the tables, a raven with a tiny green scarf amongst the neck, hung above the Syltherin table, peering down at her and only her, she only noticed the bird after looking at the ceiling in awe, ghosts flew above the tables and into the walls, the girl thought it was weird to see a bird only staring down at her, she didn’t say anything however, but it still made her nervous.
The group stopped in front of the long horizontal table that had a golden aspect to it, and lots of teachers, 4 teachers had the house on their robe, most be the people in charge of the houses, she glanced back only to be met with peering red eyes of the same raven, she immediately whipped her head around to face the front again, the group shuffled a bit, so Enid followed suite, after a second she bumped into somebody in front of them who stopped
and the girl didn’t see.
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry- i didn’t see where–”
Enid immediately bowed to show sincerity, when the tall figure turned around, it was a boy wearing a gray beanie with a nervous smile.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it”
“But i bumped into you- i should at least apologize–”
“Really, it’s fine’
Enid sighed of relief after hearing it being repeated, her eyes beamed as the boy held a hand out to her for her to take.
“It’s Ajax, Ajax Petropolus, and you are?”
Enid immediately took the hand of the boy.
“Enid, Enid Sinclair, nice to meet you Ajax!”
She was a little loud, but after that interaction, Yoko snickered and lightly bumped her with her elbow twice with a smirk, and was lightly slapped on the shoulder by the blonde.
A tall but older woman stood from the middle seat at the table with a bright smile, keeping eyes on the crowd of first years.
“Welcome to your first year of Nevermore, and to all you older folks, a new year is upon us and we are glad to welcome you all back, but before we get into this fantastic feast we have prepared, let us sort the new rookies into houses.”
Chattering among the older students and snickers, some watching with wide eyes staring at the bunch from their house table.
“This is how it’s gonna work, you will take a card from the table here, and tell us what you see on the card, the symbol of your house will appear on the card indicating your personality and creativity, any questions? Good, let's begin.”
The students watched with fascinated eyes, Professor Thornhill laid down the cards face down, Enid only now realized she was a Hufflepuff, the Hufflepuff caretaker, her robe was black and yellow, her tie was yellow with thin black stripes, her undershirt was a white collared shirt.
“We’re going to call you by Last Initials.” The professor held out a brown scroll, taking a look at it first, then taking a breath. “Bianca Barclay.”
A young woman stepped forward, her short black hair, her golden piercing eyes, she picked up a card sitting in the middle, the card was blank to other students, protected by magic to the eyes of another student.
“I see, a person being protected by a broad but dark figure, by spells?-”
Before the siren could get another word in, the card went blank and showed the symbol of a Lion, representing the house of Gryffindor.
“Gryffindor!”
The professor yelled and the house of Gryffindor broke out into a fit of clapping and roars of cheer, but something she just noticed, another raven flapped its wings above the the table of Gryffindors, it had a red scarf, the bird caws loudly, representing excitement.
In fact, all the houses had a raven, Hufflepuff had one, the bird had a yellow scarf, Ravenclaw had a Raven with a blue scarf, all peering down at the staff members seated at the horizontal golden table up from, but the Slytherin bird, just kept looking at her, and she didn’t understand why.
The new Gryffindor member skipped along down the steps from the table and seated herself at the table with all the older grades happily congratulating her and speaking to her.
The blonde was deep in a trance, she didn’t notice her name being called until an unknown student standing next to her jabbed in her side with their elbow to bring her out of the trance.
“Sorry!”
The students in front of her moved out of the way and stared at her and rushed forward, leaving the professor to eye roll at the student.
Enid hesitantly grabbed a card, she was absolutely amazed when she flipped it over on the blank side, the image slowly making its way onto the page, the image was moving, it was moving! The card was also colorful, and it featured herself and a raven in her grasp, running, she was obviously dirty and tired, the poor bird was wrapped in her long robe, shielding the bird from any further attack.
And she told everyone just that, but what did it have to do with her?, she looked up after explaining what she saw, the principal, Larissa Weems, a former Slytherin, lean over and whisper something into Professor Galpin’s ear, the house caretaker of; Gryffindor, and look back just quickly enough to be looking back at the blonde when the symbol appeared.
A symbol of a badger, its golden and gray colors dancing around the card; Hufflepuff.
“Hufflepuff!”
She couldn’t help but smile, the broad and loud voice boomed and announced itself greatly, the house of Hufflepuff broke into a fit of cheer and clapping, even someone yelling positive remarks to show support, some standing while clapping., But, she wasn’t focused on the cheer, not entirely, her focus was on the bird above, cawing and flapping its wings, moving its clawed feet in a circle while cawing.
It was unusual.
She raced down the small but short steps towards the table full of Hufflepuffs, they were bright, smiling and congratulating her, but for some unknown reason, those birds interested her greatly.
—
When Enid says she adored her new look, she meant it, the bright yellow of the edges of the robe, the Hufflepuff symbol sewn into her robe on the left, her brightly colored yellow tie striped with black stripes, the white collared long sleeve underneath, and gray vest. Her gray skirt, with yellow tips at the bottom, her long white socks that almost go up to her knees and black dress shoes.
She made a few friends since day 1, Ajax, Yoko, Divina, and Bianca, her own little circle of friends, and that's all she needed.
Her popularity skyrocketed the past few days of her stay at Nevermore the school of witchcraft and wizardry.
Enid; The School Gossip Girl
The girl LIVED, for the gossip, she talked and talked, but she never shit talked anyone, that was her limit.
And what made her break that limit;
Was that Raven.
—
“C’monn, can I please borrow your notes?” Enid pleaded, causing the vampire’s eyes to roll, taping her sharp black nails against the wooden bench in quad. “Fine, you owe me though”
The pale figure ducked down, leaning to the right, sticking her hand into the small bag that contained her notebooks, she pulled out a black leathery book, “Defense against the dark arts Notes”.
“Oh thank heavens! I’ll make it up to you, I swear!”
The blonde immediately pulled out her own leathery notebook, she opened a blank page, and began writing with her inky black pen.
“Damn bird! Get away already!”
That voice caused Enid and her friends at the bench to whip their head around, look up and stare.
“Listen, Damnit! Shoo!”
The Gryffindor werewolf boy was yelling at something out of her view due to the amount of people, she tried looking through the crowd with different angles, instead she saw something. The boy picked up a stray rounded rough rock, throwing it in the air lightly a couple times before throwing it at the creature, gasps were heard throughout the quad.
That Raven.
The Raven fell from the tree branch that was hanging slightly above the table with the Gryffindor Werewolf Boys, the bird fell with a thud, the scarf that was once around the neck of the feathery creature, was loose. The bird fell onto its left wing, some heard a crack, but none did anything, they didn’t want to be involved or get suspended for taking part in injuring the poor bird.
Enid gasped and immediately stood up and pushed the crowd to get past, the bird was laying on its side, on its left wing.
"What are you imbeciles doing?!” The girl yelled at the crowd who stood there, not showing an ounce of sympathy for the creature.
Enid tried picking up the bird, the raven flapped its right wing in protest but it was a fatal attempt, the blonde wouldn’t budge, she wrapped the bird in her robe, making sure not to let the bird free but not an ounce of pressure against the bird’s wing,
“Get out of the way” some students shuffled back to make space as the girl rushed towards the entrance, the bird making low caw sounds, its taloned feet hanging in the feet slightly, curling.
The Raven would be ok, right?
—
“That should do it” Dr. Fleur was holding the bird’s left wing out slightly, wrapping the wing entirely, the entire time the bird was feisty, trying to not let the person touch them, but it was a futile attempt as Enid held the bird still. “Make sure to not let her use that wing.”
“Wait- you want me to take care of her? I don’t know the first thing about Ravens!” Dr. Fleur shook her head lightly, rummaging through her cabinets, making an “aha!’ sound when finding a dark covered book. “This will have everything you need to know, I trust you will take good care of Wednesday.”
Enid was handed the book, and flipped through some of the pages lightly. “Wait, her name’s Wednesday?” The blonde was puzzled, what an odd name for a Raven, but it sort of matched the aesthetic, but it was kinda familiar. “Of course, she has a brother in the hufflepuff section, named Pugsley, I take you’ve seen him? He’s quite small for his age.”
Enid blinked, were the birds named after the infamous Addams Family? It couldn’t be, right? “Wait, you mean as in, Pugsley and Wednesday Addams? Am I hearing this right?”
“Yes, I’m quite surprised you don’t know this actually. There's Gomez, in the Gryffindor house, and Morticia, in the Ravenclaw section.” Enid felt incredibly stupid, really stupid.
Wednesday cawed at the blonde, being bored and wanting to leave.
“Patience Wednesday.” Dr. Fleur warned, rolling her eyes at the bird who cawed at her with a wing flap. “Anyways, i’ll have the necessary supplies for her up to your room.”
The blonde nodded, grabbing the small slytherin scarf, and loosely wrapping it around the Raven’s neck as it once was the first day.
Enid held out her arm and the Raven hesitantly crawled onto the arm with her taloned feet, her head cocking to the side ever so slightly.
—
“Aren’t you so sweet?” The blonde cooed softly as she dragged her finger along her feathery neck, rubbing it. The Raven made a mimicked purring sound. The Blonde and the raven were sitting at the bench once more, Wednesday was standing on the blonde’s arm, stretching her neck out ever so slightly, leaning into the blonde’s touch.
“Is that Wednesday? Accepting affection?” the vampire asked from over the blonde’s shoulder, it was lunch time, holding two trays, the bird stared up at the pale figure and cawed and flapped her good wing before cocking her head, making Enid giggle.
“She’s just a big ol softie underneath, aren’t you sweetheart?” Enid rubbed the top of the bird’s head with her index finger before booping her beak. The bird was puzzled before cawing looking offended at the sudden remark before cawing and flapping her wing again angrily.
“I know, I know, you’re so mean and scary right?” the bird gave a calm caw.
The two girls spoke about gossip, food, anything they could. Wednesday walked carefully up to the blonde’s shoulder, cocking its head while watching Yoko.
“Alright, that's enough wends, let’s get you settled.”
The blonde said, rubbing her head, the bird cocked to the side following the sense of touch.
—
The Hufflepuff common room was no joke when it came to aesthetics, the entrance was located in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor, the best part was that it required no password.
The room itself had a naturey aspect to it, the wooden details, the plants hanging over the ceiling, it was spacious, an entrance to bedrooms were underneath staircases and its balcony overlooking the lounge, bottom entrance was for the boys, the top was for the girls, which was useful, the room was beautiful, in each room, plants hung from the ceiling, a large badger against the wall, the green and brown coloring, the yellow bedding, it felt like home.
Enid shared a room with Yoko, it made it exciting, and a few others, Enid’s bed was the closest to the wall on the left. A dark green circular bird cage with a snake detailed on the handles, on the bottom, revealed the name “Wednesday.” in silver lettering. It would be strange to have a Slytherin bird in the Hufflepuff common room, but no one would question it, maybe except Pugsley, The Hufflepuff Raven
.
“She wasn’t kidding when she said she was gonna send all the supplies necessary” referring to the bag next to the cage on her nightstand. The bird just cawed in response, but was immediately interrupted by a familiar pair of wings, Pugsley landed on Enid’s left forearm, flapping happily and cawing, then spinning around in a circle, that was a thing the bird just did.
Enid held out her right arm onto her bed, watching Wednesday walk down from her shoulder onto the yellow sheets, and was immediately tackled by her brother, Pugsley, they were like feathery puppies, rolling onto their back, playing playfully with each other.
The blonde watched the interaction giggling slightly.
She would be fine, for now.
—
The bird cawed from the bed, getting the bird’s attention, Pugsley left for some apple slices, Enid figured she was hungry, so she dug around in the bag, pulling out a small bag of apple slices, without the seeds of course. The bird happily cawed and took an apple slice between her beak, using her talon feet to hold the apple slice.
Wednesday crawled up to her shoulder again, the blonde just smiled and rubbed the neck of the bird, the raven rubbed its head against Enid’s as a way to show appreciation for such a small gesture.
“Such a sweetheart, you are so sweet” The relationship between a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff, was a mix you want to see, they balance each other perfectly.
The Raven blinked, what seemed like forever, the wheels in her head started to spin, Wednesday to trust her instincts, and so she did.
“What's the matter?” The blonde was concerned when she didn’t see the bird move or caw, so the bird did, she moved up the blonde’s shoulder, and tried getting on top of her head, but her talons got caught in the blonde fur.
“Ow, ow, ow! Wends, what's wrong?” She asked, pulling the bird from her hair, holding her with both of her palms, holding her up to her face, dark eyes meeting pale blue. Wednesday shuffled forward, her head meeting Enid’s forehead, and closed her eyes.
Millions of images flashed in the blonde’s mind that very moment, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, falling back against the white pillows on her bed, and she was startled.
—
“Where am i?” The blonde’s voice was echoing, the area was full of stone, and was dark.
Her gaze directed to the footsteps that were as light as a mouse, Mr. Howard Gravito, the teacher of Potions, slammed, Mr. Presley Ballenger, the teacher of Charms, by his white collared shirt, into the walls.
“As I recalled, Larissa said to keep quiet, is that right?” The voice raspy, it ignited with rage and disappointment.
“ANSWER ME” The booming voice yelled, as he spoke he slammed the teacher against the wall once again to demand an answer.
“I was informed, yes, but I refuse to keep our students in danger if it protects our asses” Presley gritted out through his teeth.
“We are not saving our asses, Presley, and I know damn well you know that. We have 3 bodies in the morgue right now, we do NOT NEED MORE STRESS, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
Enid was confused, her gaze widened, did they say, “bodies?” What was going on? Her vision was trampled, the area was right outside his classroom, but it was dark, the moonlight shimmering in, her gaze directed to something on the walls.
“When i rise, all hell break loose”
In the brightest red text, what seemed to be blood, her eyes widened and she genuinely felt scared, she heard the saying countless times from students at Hogwarts, but Nevermore? That's weird.
When her gaze focused back on the professors, Mr. Gravito held his detailed wand at the neck of Mr. Ballenger, who struggled to keep his composure, sweat peeling off his forehead.
“I do not want to have this conversation with you again, Presley, do i make myself clear” The red head nodded immediately and the wand was removed, his grip was removed from the white collared shirt, and Mr Gravito walked off, leaving Mr. Ballenger against the wall, mouth agape, panting to catch his breath.
She watched the two men compose themselves.
“An interesting sight, is it not?” The blonde’s head whipped around to see a student with a Slytherin robe, the full uniform, her hair split into two dark and neat braids.
“Wednesday?” The girl breathed out, she knew the girl from History of Magic, the Addams were a huge figure in magic, but to actually see the girl in person, she was stunning to say the least.
“Of course, but that's not important now, there’s not enough time, Sinclair, you are the key.”
Enid blinked, her mouth betrayed her as she tried to speak but nothing came of it. “The key? What do you mean?”
Wednesday raised an eyebrow, sighing before staring at the blonde.
“It’s time for you to wake up, Sinclair”