Fortunately, Waylon's attempts at persuading the underclassmen to swiftly head to their cabins had been a success. Every compartment throughout the hall was crowded with kids. Even the fifth and sixth years, as rowdy and slack to the rules as the soon-to-be-graduating seventh years, were sitting down in their seats. Unfortunately for Natasha, that meant she couldn't find a seat of her own.
"Excuse me, is this compartment full?" she asked a group of students who she recognized as fourth years.
One of them curtly rolled his eyes at her. "Piss off, mudblood!" he yelled, swatting her away like a fly. She glared at him, eyes tightly furrowed. "Yeesh, okay then...I will..."
Natasha was not a mudblood. In fact, she was a halfblood. Her parents were both muggles yes, but she had been born out of wedlock. The man her mother had met on that night her father would never forget...that man was a metamorphmagi himself. However, Natasha could never reach that part of the story before judgmental Arietems quickly pointed their fingers at her.
Natasha was a bastard, and it seemed as though her father, as well as the world around her, would never let her forget that. It only made her powers all the more agonizing to use...
Something gleamed on the floor below. The seventeen-year-old looked down, finding a lone newspaper with moving pictures of politicians and celebrities. Clearly, someone had lost it. She picked it up, attempting to find its owner, but the front page struck her fancy...
|{ Dementor attacks plagued the city of Annapolis, Maryland, and other parts of the East Coast said investigators yesterday. "We've never had an outbreak this bad before," claimed 24-year-old auror, Phyllis Dragonfyre. "It was a nightmare trying to drive them away." Generally, dementors do not attack the general public, let alone muggles. However, this case seemed to be different. "We had to do a giant wipe on all of them (muggles), and it wasn't fun in the slightest. Plus, I'm pretty sure one of 'em might have even gotten kissed..." said renowned auror Ted Spittleson. The situation is currently under investigation by members of the Auror Office, as well as the Ministry of Magic. Dementors are soul-sucking creatures used before 1998 to prevent unwanted fugitives from escaping Azkaban prison. However, once Kingsley Shacklebolt was made Minister of Magic, the government use of dementors was revoked. Their whereabouts are currently unknown, however, ministry members fear that more attacks like these could happen again in the future... }|
Natasha shuddered. She had never come face-to-face with a dementor, let alone heard of one before, but she hoped that none of them would be making a surprise visit at Magnus Grexx. Realizing that she still needed to look for a free cabin, the girl opened the first door to her left, and smiled once she saw Nora Gray's ski-sloped nose hidden inside a book.
"Hey Nora," she greeted, "would you mind if I, as well as four or five other friends of mine, were to share this cabin with you?"
Just then, a jolting force rumbling throughout the floor made her lose her balance. She caught herself on the door frame, but Natasha could feel an invisible bead of sweat drip down her forehead once she realized that the ship was starting to set sail.
"Also, uh...it's kinda sorta urgent." she added as an afterthought.
"Hey Tasha!" said a cheery Vulpes girl Natasha recognized as a third year, "There's a compartment open right behind you!"
"Oh thank Merlin..." she breathed with relief, turning around and placing her broom and luggage in the large cabin behind her. She faced Nora again, still smiling. "It looks like we're neighbors, then! You can join the rest of us if you'd like...I'm sure there will still be room, and I mean, in my opinion, it beats being alone for however many hours we're on this trip...but y'know... that's just me." Natasha gave a chuckle and winked at the reserved fifth year. "See you around..."
In seconds, she was back at the quarterdeck. It was a bit shaky because the whole vessel was moving, but it was nothing a person would lose balance over. "Found a compartment. It's a rather big one, so we have to hurry before it's taken." she said to the group, as well as Stephen Schwarz, who seemed to be a new addition to the semi-circle.
"Follow me."
With that, Natasha sprinted down the stairs. Her hair, which started to produce streaks of light blonde pigment, flapped wildly in the wind as she led the group, and in a good minute or so, Natasha took a seat in the cabin, one leg crossed charismatically over the other. She grinned once she realized that her seat was the closest to the window. In delight and calm disposition, she waited for the others to arrive.