Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Every Star has a Silver Lining ❯ Naomi ( Chapter 4 )

A/N: Okay, if you read this, please leave a review! I have NEVER had a review. That's right, nobody has ever taken the time to review. I apologize for the overall suckiness and boringness of this chapter. Mally bullied me into posting it, even though this is only like my first draft. I'm horrible at writing in first person, so please leave a review and tell me if you'd rather have me write it in third. Oh, and just to settle any questions, when you key somebody into wards you make them able to get pass them. I think that's it.

Lurv,

Bella

 

DISCLAIMER: JKR's sandbox. I'm just playing with her toys.

 

Chapter 1: The First Day

 

There's more to me than meets the eye. You look at me and you see a girl, like any other girl. Perhaps quieter, perhaps with paler skin or darker hair, taller or shorter, but a girl. Just like every other girl. But I'm not. I'm not your average girl, if such a thing as an “average girl” exists. From how I see it, all people are different and complex, and how can you find an average from something more complex and varied than anything else in the world. But then, I'm not one to ask about averages. I've never been a mathematician. You can't describe beauty, life, suffering, pain in a series of numbers.

 

I was certainly more than “met the eye.” I was not only a powerful witch, but an Elemental. An Air Elemental to be exact. My mother, Jane Alvarez, had been a powerful Water Elemental. My father, Harold Alvarez, had been a mortal human. Unfortunately, I remember almost nothing about either of them. They both died when I was four, killed in a disease that swept the Vales (forested areas that look like Lothlòrien from Muggle literature. Please tell me you know what Lothlòrien is. If not, stop reading this and go pick up The Lord of the Rings.). And so I had lived almost all of my life with my father's two best friends, who he requested in his will take care of me if anything ever happened to him or my mother: Jeff Shales and Sam Newman.

 

My upbringing was…unorthodox…to say the least, growing up a female with two decidedly male men. But somehow I survived, mostly unscarred, and grew up living a mostly regular life. Of course, being a witch somewhat interfered with that. See, Jeff and Sam had decided that there was no way I was getting any kind of lax education. No, I went to a Muggle school until I was in eighth grade.

 

I was the kind of girl who was classified as a “loner.” It's kind of hard to have friends when you can't ever really open up and tell anyone about your life, tell them your secrets, when you can't have anybody over to your house because everything there is magic…

 

Of course, I ended up meeting a couple of kids at one of the convention things that Sam and Jeff went to. Both Sam and Jeff were part of the American Magical Law Enforcement, also known as AMLE. AMLE operates much differently that their English parallel. See, in America there are more species of magical creatures. It had something to do with a fight between one of England's kings and representatives from several magical races, sometime in the sixteenth century or so. You would think it would have blown over by now, but since all the magical races have indefinite life spans there are still members of some races who remember the quarrel.

 

Anyway, in America it's not unusual to see a vampire or two or some goblins helping out with AMLE work. After all, they live here too, and they are equipped to handle dangerous cases much better than most humans. Anyway, so when Sam and Jeff were forced to go to one of those parties where you are expected to bring along your family and act like you're having a good time when you're really just wishing you could go home, I met a couple of kids. Vampires. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with vampires. There are nice ones and mean ones, but they are honestly not that different from most of the Muggle people I know, except for the fact that they are very…promiscuous. In other words, they see nothing wrong with going to bed with one person one night and another the next. It's not my style, but that's okay.

 

Anyway, when I met the Sangre (the vampires) Sam and Jeff got to know Mr. and Mrs. Sangre. That's when they first learned about Shadowstar. I had already heard from Brianna and Will (the vampire kids I was friends with.)

 

Shadowstar Academy for Magic is the lead school of magic in the world. It's also very unorthodox. It starts at thirteen, rather than eleven, and teaches magic that Hogwarts and the like only ever dreamed of. Of course, it's also got the highest death rate of any school, most of the student body and staff are either vampires or werewolves, and anybody who goes there practically reeks of ambition. It's not a school for beginners, or anyone who isn't almost insanely brilliant. I've been told you had to be almost a child prodigy to get in there.

 

So of course, I had immediately set my sights on going there. After all, Brianna and Will were eventually planning to go there. And, one of the first things you'll learn about me is when I want something, I work my ass off to get it. Whatever it takes.

 

And now, I was about to depart for Shadowstar. Yeah, that's right. I slaved away, studied charms, transfiguration, potions, everything, and got accepted. But, I was told getting in was the easy part. The hard part was surviving.

 

*~*

 

I waited patiently while Brianna and Will received their hugs from their parents, Mrs. Sangre shedding a tear or two.

 

“Ready?” I asked, a small grin on my face. Will nodded. Brianna grinned back at me. We touched identical rings, worn on the fourth finger of the right hand. They were silver with a plain black stone in the middle. They were also Password Portkeys.

 

“Shadowstar Academy,” we said in unison, touching the rings. Shadowstar Academy was the password that activated the Portkeys. I felt a familiar jerk behind my navel, and then was propelled forward. The world spun, and I landed with a thump on the stone floor. Reflexively I used my Air Elemental powers to flick open the catch that held knives on my forearms. Twin black-hilted weapons thumped into my hands. Sam and Jeff, along with Mrs. and Mr. Sangre, had drilled me until it was a reflex to go for my knives whenever startled. I moved forward, constant training telling me to scan all areas for a potential foe. We were in some kind of a main hall, with long tables stretching from end to end. Beside me I could see Brianna and Will tensed, ready to fight. I looked at them, just as a voice startled me, coming from one of the many entrances to the hall.

 

“Welcome to Shadowstar,” a woman said, her voice liquid and cool. I looked at her. She had dark hair, pale skin, and light eyes. Together, they were enough to probably make her a vampire.

 

“I'm Nilda Perrichi, Headmistress of this establishment,” she said. I nodded.

 

“Will Sangre,” he said. She regarded him with a curious expression I couldn't read for a little while. I figured it was a vampire thing. See, vampires have this incredibly rigid social order, one that's almost impossible to understand if you weren't a vampire. I knew the basics, but not much. (A/N: Said social order is in the chapter before the prologue. Did you bother to read it?) All I really knew is that the Sangres were somewhere just beneath the Masters of New York. They basically controlled the area around New York, and reported to the Masters.

 

“Brianna Sangre,” Brianna said. Perrichi nodded and looked at me.

 

“Naomi Alvarez,” I said quietly. I got the feeling that she was analyzing me, and checked my Occlumency barriers. They were still up, thank Merlin. Perrichi nodded again, her face impassive and smooth.

 

“Excellent,” she said, and then snapped her fingers. A house elf popped into existence, wearing a sort of a tunic-y dress in black and silver. I guessed that these must be the Shadowstar colors.

 

“Dagney, please take these people to their rooms,” she commanded. Dagney bowed.

 

“If Misses and Mister would please follow Dagney?” she squeaked, gesturing. We did. Dagney led us up through a complicated path, but we were generally heading up. That was good. I was an Air Elemental, and as such liked to be up as high as possible. See, being an Elemental for any element was more complicated than just being able to control the element. It changed you, and ruled you almost as much as you ruled it.

 

“Mister, this is being your room,” Dagney squeaked, pausing outside of a door marked 69. “Misses, your rooms are being on the floor that is being after this one.” We followed, up another staircase, take a left, and then to a room marked 71.

 

“Miss Sangre, this is being your room. Your roommate has been being here for the half-hour being before now.” She led me forward to the room next to it.

 

“Miss, this is being your room. Your roommate is not being here yet.” I nodded.

 

“Thank you, Dagney,” I said carefully. It would be good to get a house elf or two on my side, and a little respect could certainly not hurt.

 

“Dagney is being very welcome,” Dagney said. “Goodbye Miss!” she squeaked, and Dissaparated in that disconcerting house elf way.

 

I checked the room for wards. I had been taught that you could never be too careful. Seeing none, I entered. A sitting room of sorts greeted me, with two doors leading out of it. One read “Naomi”, the other “Willow”. I entered the one with “Naomi” on it. All seemed to be in order. It was pretty simple, a bed, a bookshelf, and a desk, all in plain wood. I nodded and drew my wand.

 

*~*

 

A couple of hours later, my room was looking much better. All my stuff was unpacked from the trunk it had been in. Said trunk had formerly been transfigured into a plain silver ring that I had on. My room had been redone in green, blue, and silver. The walls had been enlarged, and after I discovered that one of the walls was on a tower, a whole wall had been transfigured into a window. Of course, from the outside, it looked just like the rest of the wall. It really wouldn't be good to give the whole world a window into my private room. I like my privacy. I had warded my room and the entire suite with a complicated curse. Unless your magical aura was keyed into the wards, you would be hit with seventeen curses at once. I had found the spell, a complicated piece of Ritual Magic (magic that involves a ritual to perform), in one of the books in the Sangres' library.

 

A knock came at the door.

 

“Who is it?” I called.

 

“Brianna,” Brianna called back.

 

“Come in, the wards won't hurt you,” I said. “I keyed you in.” The door opening sounded, and Brianna walked in.

 

“Nice window,” she said. “Hey, you want to find Will and see if we can get some dinner or explore or something?” I nodded.

 

 

A little more about Brianna: She was my best, and only friend. I was an introvert, she was an extrovert. We were opposites. Brianna was good at academics and fighting, but in the end she just wanted to have fun. I was the opposite, always serious and very interested in my academics and fighting. I don't know how we became friends, but we fit together like puzzle pieces. Of course, there are always the times when puzzle pieces are hard to put together. But generally, we got along very well.

 

I don't want you to think that I'm a push-over, always allowing Brianna to lead. No, when I had a problem, question, or concern, I voiced it. Let's face it, I could kick Brianna's ass any day. But I didn't choose to. So the balance of power in our friendship is pretty equal.

 

“You coming?” Brianna asked. I nodded, following. Brianna and I found our way to Will's room and to the Main Hall, all with minimal difficulty. By then it was about six-thirty or so, and we were hungry. Luckily, there were people eating in the Main Hall. It didn't look like there was a set dinnertime or anything like that. Apparently, the platters on buffet tables had charms on them to refill when they were emptied. People came and ate as they pleased.

 

That's one of the reasons I wanted to come to Shadowstar. No, not the freedom to eat dinner at any time, not directly. It was the freedoms in general. There were no curfews, no attendances. You went to classes as you pleased, learning as much as you could. As long as you earned your mastery in three classes before you graduated and nobody was killed, nobody much cared what you did. It was my kind of a school.

 

Brianna and Will were waved over by a group of people who looked around their age. All vampires, of course.

 

“Hey Christine,” Brianna said. “Christine, this is my friend Naomi. Naomi, my roommate Christine.” Christine nodded, and I did the same.

 

Dinner was a noisy affair, filled with greeting all the people Brianna knew and I didn't. Honestly, she makes friends more easily than breathing. It's almost ridiculous. Altogether the girls I met were Cassandra, Christine, Jessica, Andi, and Marissa. The first three were vampires, Andi was a human, and Marissa was a werewolf. The boys were David, Jason, Mark, Mike, James, and Cole. The first two were vampires, the next three werewolves, and the last a Fire Elemental. Cole was the most interesting to me, an Elemental who lived in the Vales. Plus some more people. I honestly can't remember all the names.

 

After dinner, people began to arrive, all by Password Portkey. I stood with the others and made fun of all the people who arrived and went face first into the floor. Not my kind of entertainment, but it was a tradition. A sort of hazing for the new kids. Of course, older returning students didn't slam into the floor. Eventually Perrichi called for order and began to speak.

 

“Welcome! I hope all of you have had a good summer. Choosing classes will begin tomorrow, at nine o'clock here in the Main Hall. If you need to summon a house elf to see you to your rooms, simply snap your fingers. They are here to help you.” With that, she Dissapparated silently as we slowly drifted back up to our rooms.

 

“See you later,” Brianna said, and I left her outside my room and entered my own. A girl was waiting for me there, who I presumed was my roommate.

 

“Hi,” I said. “Naomi Alvarez.”

 

“Willow, but everyone calls me Will,” she said. She had a dark red, sort of auburn shade of hair and a purple shirt and black cargo pants on. Her eyes were an unusual shade, a bright purple. Lighting her finger (was she an Elemental?), she drew a line in front of her room.

 

“Cross this line and you're dead,” she threatened. I nodded. Honestly, could you do a worse job? I disliked her immediately, with her obviously pitiful imitation of intimidation. There were much better wards, and hers was weak. Oh well. Her loss.

 

“I've already warded the rooms,” I said. “If you want to set up your own protection, that's fine. I've keyed you into my wards. Key me into yours.” I departed for my room. I had had a long day, and had no desire to “hang out” with my roommate.