Odd One Out

Elijah felt his chest lighten a little with relief as Lily spoke. For the first time, he was grateful for those formative years at Durmstrang. Those books were dry and dull, the illustrations faded, the leather on the covers marled and pealing after all of the years of use. A new book every year for the subject seemed quite something, indeed, but Elijah had heard of the biting book and he was infinitely grateful to have not had to deal with that as a thirteen-year-old.

“I suppose it keeps it, what, fun? Is fun the word?” He looked down at his bag, imagining the infernal book that had plagued him so curled up amongst his other, non-sentient, tomes. It was probably quite happy there in the warm.

He grinned a little at her last sentence and reached up to curl his hair behind his left ear before telling her, seriousness in his voice: “I’ll hold you to that, you know.”

In fact, if the book was anything as wild as the ones he had heard about from past years, he would insist on Lily accompanying him to Flourish and Blott’s to acquire what they needed – though he decided he wouldn’t mention that unless the situation arose. He, thankfully, had a year before he had to worry about that.

Without a doubt, Elijah was reassured by her smile but, in many ways, he didn’t feel as though it had been a rejection. He would not have blamed her if she had ducked out. He wasn’t always sure that he made for the most diverting company but he took her words as assurances that perhaps, just maybe, he could come to count on her as a friend. That is to say, if he didn’t already, and one suspects Elijah Krum – all-too-keen to cleave to someone, anyone – already did count her within his small catalogue of valued companions.

“Well, a plan is worth something at least,” Elijah chuckled, trying to imagine himself like Newt Scamander. He knew the likelihood of his plan actually panning out the way he wanted it to was slim in the least. His father was head of their family, the custodian of everyone’s interests. It was expected that Elijah would follow in his footsteps as his eldest child. Part of Elijah hoped that perhaps Viktor would insist Adelina take his place so that Elijah could do as he wished but Viktor was a stickler for tradition. If only Elijah had been the younger child …

“Do you have any ideas for yourself? Like, what you want to do, where you want to go? I think you might enjoy travelling. The world is … quite the place.” He chuckled and shook his head at himself. He had not been entirely sure how to pick his words. He was sure his sentiment would have been better articulated had he been speaking Bulgarian. “I don’t think you should miss it.”

"Fun is a word. How much it applies here is up to you, I guess," she said, finding her smile was coming more easily now. Something about the reassurance of offered friendship was doing her wonders. It was hard to not feel marked, especially with a physical reminder on your hipbone, and even if no one could see it, she was often paranoid they could feel it, that they could sense she was the other. Her last name set her apart but her condition would guarantee that she was a girl out of place, not fit to be amongst the civilized. It was nice to be treated like any other person.

The ground was beginning to slope downwards, their feet clopping against the ground as they kept an even pace, and she could see students gathered around the paddocks, their professor among them all. Lily had been curious - what kind of creature was appropriate to teach to all ages, something everyone could handle, but her question was answered even from here, as a centuar man engaged the students in conversation. It made sense - a centaur wasn't going to attack anyone, at least one who understood that kids were stupid and would probably offend.

"And if the plan doesn't work, it doesn't work," she offered, shrugging. She probably had no right to advise. It's not like she knew what she was doing any better than he did.

The question turned on her and she tried to minimize her panic, swallowing down the last of the sandwich. "Well," she said, considering it seriously. "I'm not sure. Something with Potions, though. I think it might be nice to work for Mungo's, creating all manner of Potions they need." His suggestion of travelling was one she had considered, and she tilted her head at it. "I've thought that, too. Might be nice to try living somewhere... not here. Most people tend to stay in the places they're born in. I think it'd be interesting to pick somewhere, make that your new home, or at least something like one." They were nearing the crowd of students now, so she added quickly, "I don't think anyone should."

The professor stepped away from the centaur and turned to address the crowd. "Thank you all for being here. With the classes mixed, I'm going to go through attendance as quickly as possible." Lily spoke at her name, and Jack Dyllan came running down the hill mere moments before her name was called, and she panted out a 'Yooo!' which got a few giggles from the crowd. The professor wrapped up, "So all here but Ariel Greyback? Excellent, well as you can see we have a special guest here today, and I thought we could get acquainted with centaur culture. Briarfoot also knows much about the creatures within the forest, so I'm sure he can answer any curiosities you may have there."

((Feel free to jump in Godric!))

Godric strolled up with a slip of paper in his hand stating that he was being transferred to this class of CoMC due to conflicting scheduling. With out a word he handed it to the Professor.

He glanced around, taking in the students around. Eli, whom he shared a house with now, but was aware of back at Durmstrang. A Gryphondor girl he didn't know, and then came Jack. Godric had noticed her around, but never interacted with her. She was, after all, competition. She played for his rival Quddich team after all.

At the mention of a Greyback Godric scoffed.
"Hopefully in the pound?" His snide tone was every bit that of a Malfoy. "Or cleaning bunny blood off." He turned to the others, judging their reaction to his commentary. He was hoping to find at least one snickering, but if not then he wasn't really worried about it.
Turning to the Professor he introduced himself. "Godric Malfoy, year seven, Slytherin, transfer from Durmstrang." His face was a mask of disinterest. He hated CoMC but had to take it as per his Uncle's orders.

He ran a hand through his blond hair, his icy eyes raking across the gathered souls, a small smile of impish delight playing at the corner of his mouth. "Anyway, I'm sure he can just catch our scent and follow like a good little lap dog."

The companionship that now seemed to exist between Elijah and Lily was immeasurably reassuring to the young man. Like Lily, he felt his smiles come quicker and his laughter was all the more forthcoming, too. Even the idea of his plans falling apart around him didn’t make Elijah feel scared or worried because he felt as though he wasn’t alone anymore. He had someone.

“Well, if you ever need someone to bolster you up and bounce ideas off of in that regard, I’m your guy,” Elijah told her jovially. “We’ve got a year or so before we have to decide, though. Just … don’t hesitate. Follow your dreams. It’s a cliché but a good one. One worth heeding.”

As they reached the class, Elijah finished up his sandwich. He clapped his hands together to get rid of the stray crumbs and took a mouthful of water from the bottle that took a few moments to fish from his bag. Then, he followed Lily into the small cluster of students. Again, multiple year groups had joined together but after Transfiguration, Elijah felt less daunted by the prospect of performing magic in front of the older years or the younger ones.

He had never seen a Centaur before. Elijah was, for a few minutes, stunned to silence as he took in the silent majesty of the creature before them. From that day forward, he would never understand why they were classified as Beasts. Elijah knew, just to look at him, he was more than just that. They were all more than that.

Elijah piped up his name when called upon, offering the professor a hesitant smile. He tried to link some of the names and the faces together. There was quite a number of seventh years. He recognised one of the Gryffindor ones from the Quidditch team. A Chaser. Finnigan, he thought. She was stood amongst some of the younger Gryffindors. Mud was already up and over her boots, covering quite a bit of her trousers up to her knees. Elijah suspected she had already been at the paddock some time.  

Another Gryffindor followed. This one was another Quidditch player, too. The laughter she caused also bubbled up in Elijah’s chest and he shook his head, attempting to stifle himself. There were also plenty of Slytherins but that did little to make Elijah feel at home. Lily was enough in that regard. Still, they did draw the eye. Perhaps it was the vague familiarity of them. One of them, though, Elijah would know on sight anywhere.

Godric Malfoy. Their lives seemed to run parallel, one always visible to the other but the streams of life never quite touching together. This afternoon seemed to be the exception – almost as soon as the professor mentioned Ariel Gryeback.

Elijah had spoken to the rumoured – but likely – werewolf only once. Accidentally, too. He had been lost the year before and happened to be pacing down a corridor when he had spotted the elder student sitting quietly by himself, his nose in a book. The green striping on his robe made Elijah feel brave enough to ask. Greyback had directed him and even offered what looked like a ghost of a smile but it didn’t quite make it to his lips, let alone his eyes. It was only after, once Elijah returned to the common room, that a Prefect explained who he was.

Pack mentality dictated that Elijah was to avoid Greyback lest he find himself at the wrong end of a grizzly werewolf muzzle but in reality the situation in which Elijah would need to, in theory, actively ignore the other boy never arose. He was often ill, absent from class, and forever absent from the common room. Their paths never crossed so any opportunity to thank him again for that day never came and neither did the opportunity to ignore him as the Prefect had advised or, rather, ordered with fear in her wide eyes.  

But where there was not fear, there was ridicule. Or perhaps there was a healthy dose of fear behind it as well. Elijah did not know Godric’s mind.

Elijah swallowed as he made his first remark and he cast his eyes briefly down at Lily before glancing around at the other students. Some tittered. Of course they did. Their hands coming up to stifle their giggles and hide their smiles. Others looked uncomfortable, shifting their body weight from one foot to the other, their eyes falling to the slick mud and sparse grass.

A breath of air hissed out between Elijah’s clenched teeth.

He would have been a liar if he had claimed the Malfoy didn’t frighten him.

If it had been a different time, if he had been older, maybe, or a slightly different person, he knew he would have said something. He was desperate to, in truth. But fear … fear that the forked tongue on the blond boy would be turned on him, or worse Lily, kept him silent. Instead, he sufficed to mutter under his breath, mostly to the other girl: “Merlin does he have to be such a git?”

Every year, Teddy told her things would get better. He tended to temper his optimism around her, knowing how toxic idealism had become to the youngest Potter, but in a few regards he couldn’t help himself. He always believed she was doing better than she gave herself credit for, that if she only believed she would feel it too, and that this year, whichever year it was, would be her year. She had heard that every year, with the promise growing stronger ever since she told Teddy her secret. It hadn’t happened yet.

But they were a week into the school year and no one had yet brought up Ginny. Or her revoked Prefect-hood. The Potions professor had approved her request to come on as his T.A. And people, or rather at least one person, was being kind to her.

Maybe Teddy was finally right.

But, alas, nothing gold can stay. The name of the transfer was enough for the hairs on her arms to rise. Despite all the talks in her family of redemption, that name especially was not one often uttered with much understanding or kindness, especially from Uncle Ron. Merlin, she didn’t know there were more of them.

The color drained from her face at his comment. The giggles of the other students burrowed into her ears, the sounds working their way deep into her mind, where they would stay for months afterwards. Ariel had never hurt anyone, had never been open about being a werewolf, had never given anyone any reason to taunt or tease. It was... inhumane. It was cruel.

And it was what they would do to her.

As badly as she felt for Ari, it was fear for herself that robbed her of the life and light Elijah had briefly instilled in her. She didn’t dare imagine anyone would be kinder to her. This was what she could expect.

This year was just as bad as the rest.

Eli leaned towards her and her mouth tipped open, lips parting to say... something. But what? What could she say? She was still wracked with horror, staring into a future she was desperate to avoid. She didn't want to make it any more real than it was. She couldn't speak.

But there was someone who wouldn’t stay quiet.

Jack Dyllan looked a sight, though she usually did. Her hair looked especially windblown today and the fat lip she had earned from Matt Lestrange (who was sporting a black eye to match) was still days away from healing. He clothes were as haphazard as ever as she cleared her throat and stepped forward, and judging by the look in her eye, Lily could tell this class had just taken a wrong turn.

"Right. Professor, I'll take this one." Jack said, continuing without waiting for a response, raising her voice over the protests of the professor. She turned towards the Malfoy boy, her arm loosely at her side, though Lily could see them twitching as though waiting for any excuse to start flying. “Being an arse about something someone can't control might have been okay at Durmstrang, but it's not here. Ask Krum, he'll tell you, he's been good, and that's probably because he knows making fun of someone who isn't here to defend himself isn’t going to make him any friends. It is however a quick way to make some enemies. And it’s not wise for rats to make enemies of lions.” She cocked her head and smiled, amidst the tittering and ooh’s of a few students all too happy to egg on a fight.

"That's enough now," the professor warned.

“Careful talking about The Pound, Malfoy. I'd be more than happy to take you there." she said, lifting her fist, danger in her eyes as she blinked and offered a strained smile, as the students around her, Margo Richards principal among them, shouted in excitement.

The professor sighed. "That's 10 from Gryffindor, Dyllan. Next one is detention."

"It's a date," she said, her eyes still on the Slytherin.

Godric smirked as some of the students tried to hide there amusement. He was used to being the center of attention, which only fanned the flames of his ego. He noticed three students getting very uncomfortable however. Eli was, surprisingly enough, one of them. He cocked an eyebrow at the boy, as if to say What gives? Then it happened. Someone took the bait. It was Jack, to no surprise. She started in on him talking about being an arse, and his smile grew even bigger. But she kept on talking, and the more she spoke, the more the other students wanted a brawl or a duel of some sort.

"You're right, rats shouldn't make enemies of lions, at the same tip of the had kittens shouldn't take on cobras. As far as him not being here goes, I would have said it regardless. If it's a fight you want, I'll gladly oblige." He lifted his fists, squared off his shoulders, and positioned his legs for better balance. He didn't normally fight females, but this girl was squaring up to him, and he wasn't going to back down.

"I said enough once already!" The teacher bellowed. His face going a bit red from both anger and embarrassment due to his special guest.

"Ten points from Slytherin, and two days detention Malfoy!" Godric smirked at this. It was his first detention sentencing at Hogwarts. "How many days if we actually throw punches? Might be worth it. What do you say Kitten?"

(Eli gave my the go ahead to skip!)

Jack didn't have a fine tuned sense of morality. Some of the things she punished in others were the very routines she herself fell into. She was not a beacon of kindness or justice. She had provoked Matt Lestrange into another fight during the detention they served for the first fight, all from boredom. And Matt had never done anything to upset her either, she did it for fun. It was why she pushed buttons - she liked to see what reactions they would create.

But there were some buttons she didn't push.

She would never make fun of Lily Potter for her mother's bouts of insanity. Never mock Matt for not fitting in as a Slytherin. Never mention Professor Lupin's parents. And she would never taunt Ariel Greyback about being a werewolf. The things that gave a person privilege, that was fair game. But never the things that put someone at a disadvantage, those weren't funny, and they weren't fair. Not unless you deserved it.

And Godric deserved it.

Mostly it was because Godric seemed like a git. But it was kitten that put her over the edge.

She crossed in two steps, cocking her fist and throwing the punch for his face. They collided and she knew she was able to hit him somewhere before she felt herself being dragged away by the neck of her robes, pulled back by the centaur as the professor yanked Godric away.

"Dyllan. Headmaster, now. Malfoy, we'll speak after class. 20 more points each." The professor's teeth were gritted and his eyes steady. "If you can't control yourself, we'll talk about whether or not your behavior means you can keep playing Quidditch."

Jack's eyes were hard on Malfoy's, but she pulled her arms from the centaur and turned on her heel. She began to walk towards the castle, her fist throbbing. That would mean three detentions in week one, nearly 100 points from Gryffindor.

Worth. it.

Lily's eyes slid towards Eli, wide eyed and surprised.

Protecting his face, Godric shifted slightly, throwing him slightly off balance, the blow glancing off his ear making it ring for a moment. But the biggest thing was him coming off balance. He and the feisty feline collided, but before any real fighting could take place he found himself pulled away. Godric didn't like to be touched on the best of days, least of all by people he didn't know.

"Get your hands off of me." His voice was low, and dangerous. His crystal blue eyes locking onto the girls for a mere moment before she headed back to the castle. "Really?" he said to the Professor. "You could've let it go on for at least another moment. Children needing to learn to solve their own problems and what not?"

Before she was out of ear shot, Godric shouted. "So, Quiddich on the weekend Kitten?" He had decided that he liked her. Even if her views were skewed about the mangy mutts. Maybe they could even be frenimies. Rivals that hated each other at times, but hung out at others. He was thinking Reggie and Archie from the old comic books.

He finally looked to the Professor and the other students. "Now that introductions are out of the way, what exactly is the plan for this class?" He acted like the entire encounter hadn't even happened. Not that he was afraid of the girl, but because it would cause every one there to question his sanity.

The Healer that had been parachuted into the Hospital Wing that morning was entirely unimpressed with the health and vitality of Ariel Damian Greyback. He would have been offended if he had not, in truth, felt as though death was rapidly coming for him. On the off chance he did survive past the end of the year, though, he knew he would have to put infinitely more effort into attending classes. Any future prospects that were still out there for him depended on him achieving his N.E.W.Ts. Otherwise, Ariel knew that he may as well occupy an Azkaban pre-emptively because he would end up with his father and that would be where he would ultimately find himself.

“Can I go yet?” He asked wheezily, eyeing the woman warily as she glared at the clipboard that held his notes. “I’m missing Care of Magical Creatures.”

“I really don’t think you should, Ariel,” she groused, not even bothering to look up from his notes as she lifted a page.

“A Pepper-Up Potion and I’ll be fine,” he assured her smoothly, even managing to conjure the same sort of reassuring upwards quirk of his lips that he levelled most Healers with.

Reluctantly, the young woman relented – perhaps not as familiar with his case as she thought she was becoming. Another Healer who had been around a little longer frowned as he shrugged on his outer robe and straightened his tie, on the verge of intervening but unable to quite bring herself to say anything. So, once again, Ariel discharged himself while strongly suspecting he would find himself back within the embrace of the Hospital Wing all too soon enough.

He picked his way down to the paddock feeling a little nauseous for his troubles. He reaffirmed his grip around the strap of his bag, though, and pressed on, ignoring the discomfort. He knew, just knew, that the woman had been right. Women often were. Well, in fact, more often than not. That didn’t mean that he heeded them, though. Ariel was more of a giver of good advice than a taker of it.

As he wandered down, he found himself passing a redhead whom he only vaguely recognised. She looked decidedly irate with proceedings, her Gryffindor robes as scarlet as the fury in her cheeks. Ariel didn’t know her name off the top of his head which was terrible, really, considering that he knew full well that they had done seven years together at the school.

“Everything alright?” He asked, his voice mild and only really sounding half-interested.

She felt miserable and trapped. Dyllan was storming away, leaving the rest of the class to suffer under the expressions of Godric Malfoy, who had nothing to say to make her feel any better. The professor was practically growling under Malfoy's words and he said, "Right, mo more out of you. We're going to be speaking with Briarfoot here about- oh, for the love of Merlin."

Lily looked towards where the professor was now looking and felt her stomach drop. Right. Ariel Greyback. Cool. Well. This was going to be fun. Or something like it.

For a moment, no one answered him. And then she heard Margo Richards' voice. "Yeah, mate, everything alright with you?" Lily glanced towards her and saw only that bright, cheerful expression that the Ravenclaw always had. Her chaperone, Molly, didn't seem to be paying attention, but was watching the centaur quizzically.

This was all too much. Lily wet her lips. "We're speaking with Briarfoot about centaurs." After the cacophony of big personalities, her voice sounded thin and fragile, but if it was what kept the class moving, that was all.