Chapter 5: The Seating Plan

Hope you enjoy this! I'm done up to chapter 7 on the rewriting front, I'm almost done with chapter 8 and I'm scrapping chapter 9. If anyone would like to Beta read this, that would be great!

Chapter 5: The Seating Plan

The sixth year Defence Against the Dark Arts class were made up of the students that had managed to get E grades or above at O.W.L level - and due to the teaching methods that Professor Lupin used, the class was large. However, like always, the majority of the students were Ravenclaws, as always seemed to be the way.

The exception to this rule was of course Potions, as Professor Snape always would favour his Slytherin students, no matter how many parents complained. And, of course, Professor Snape required an Outstanding grade.

Selene tapped her fingers against the desk, humming a tune under her breath, reading the first paragraph of their new textbook over and over again. How long would this take? Professor Moody was already five minutes late - it wasn't good form for a brand new teacher to show up even a few seconds late. Five minutes was just unheard of. Moody was sure to be an unconventional teacher, although it would be hard to measure up to Professor Lupin's famed prowess.

It was a shame that Professor Lupin had left. Selene had to hand it to the man, he'd done a lot to help them with their O.W.L. level course. The class was swollen to about thirty, whereas most N.E.W.T. level courses only took in about ten people. With the dwindling numbers of magical students coming in each year passing, the class was conspicuously high achieving.

Of course, Lupin had turned out to be a werewolf. Which wasn't his fault, naturally, but it still put Selene on edge. She hadn't expected the quiet, mild mannered Professor to have any secrets, let alone any he had to hide. Of course, her father had been the one to officially sack the Professor, in his position as Governor. Selene hadn't been let off the hook by her parents either, and she knew that they hadn't considered her black inked 'E' grade to have any founding.

Still. Selene felt like she needed to send a letter of apology to the Professor. Even though she'd already apologised in person for Draco's actions. And sent him a follow up letter over the summer.

She hadn't received a reply.

"Selene!" Cho's incessant voice cut through Selene's daydream, jarring her back to reality. "Listen to me, goddammit!"

"Sorry," Selene rolled her eyes. "I wasn't aware that my daydreaming directly affected you in any way… Guess I was mistaken."

"You'd better be sorry," Cho sighed, glancing around at the rest of the class before leaning in. "My period started this morning. The cramps are insane. It's horrible that we aren't allowed Muggle medication in school, I really need some ibuprofen right now."

Selene nodded sympathetically. "I don't know of any useful charms that could help… Maybe if you go to Madam Pomfrey after class, she might be able to give you some pain relief potion?"

"Good morning class."

Selene jumped, looking upwards and seeing the face of their new Professor, staring at the class, his false eye spinning in its socket. Selene swallowed, risking a sideways glance at Cho, who at least seemed equally as shocked as her. Professor Moody nodded, stumping up to the chalkboard and scrawling 'N.E.W.T. Level Defence Against The Dark Arts' onto it, in slightly scratchy handwriting.

"I am here to teach you how to handle Dark Curses, how to put Non-Verbal spells into practice, and how to survive attacks from deadly dark creatures," Professor Moody continued, voice harsh and barking. "If you're not prepared to behave yourself then you will find yourself OUT!"

No one spoke. Moody waited for a couple of seconds before continuing his speech. "First things first, you need to get to know each other- one wrong foot and you're OUT Belby!" he added, as the boy looked, aghast, at the band of Gryffindors. "Now… How about a good old fashioned seating plan? That's how they did it in my time."

"He hasn't taught before has he?" Cho said, in an undertone, just as Moody stomped towards his register. Selene only nodded, too wary to attempt speaking. "I don't know any class where that's worked out at all…"

Professor Moody picked up his register, running his finger down the lists of names, beginning to pair people together. "Miss Chang?" he looked around, his electric blue eye locating the girl's raised arm in a matter of seconds. "You'll be next to Mr Jordan."

Cho gave Selene a slight disconsolate glance, picking up her back and slowly walking over to the dreadlocked boy, who was positively beaming to be seated next to someone that was attractive. He pulled Cho's chair out for her, smiling a garish grin her way.

"Mr Belby, you'll be with Miss Johnson," Moody continued, not even waiting for the annoyed looking Ravenclaw to find his seat before continuing. "Miss Malfoy," he looked straight at Selene, even though she hadn't had time to raise her hand. "You'll be next to Mr Weasley."

Selene winced, risking a glance at the pair, who were sat up straight, wearing identical grins. "Which one?" they chorused, eyes twinkling. Both of them looked far too cheerful to be up to any good.

"George Weasley," Professor Moody eyed them both for a second, before one of them reluctantly stood up and made his way over to the other side of the classroom, where Selene was sitting, waiting for her imminent destruction. "Miss Harris, the other Mr Weasley. Miss Edgecombe…"

Selene avoided looking over at George, and instead busied herself with the textbook Cho had slammed on her hand, flicking through the index and running her finger down each letter. When she reached the one she needed, she turned to that page, still ignoring the gaze boring into her skull.

Everyone knew the Weasley Twins. Selene had been the unlucky recipient of many of their pranks over the years, whether Fred and George knew her by name or not. There was the incident of the green slime shower in the Ravenclaw Quidditch Changing Rooms, and the time when she had been covered from head to toe in a Muggle sweet called candyfloss. She didn't hate them for it, because you just couldn't. No one hated Fred and George Weasley, no matter how many times they got you.

Well, except for Professor Snape. But he was a notable exception.

"You going to talk to me then?"

Selene tensed, and she hurriedly slammed the book shut, almost catching her hand between its pages. She didn't want to talk to him, he was far too cheerful for a boy that'd just been sat next to the daughter of an ex-Death Eater, and she was too cautious to immediately trust him.

"I thought not..." George continued sullenly, opening his identical textbook to the same page Selene had been reading from.

They were both silent for a while, Selene listening to Moody's description of their curriculum for the year and George doodling something in the margin of page 236.

Suddenly, George turned to her, raised a ginger eyebrow, and asked: "Why is a Malfoy in Ravenclaw?"

Selene looked up slowly, her eyes looking into his brown ones for the shortest possible amount of time before she jerked her head down again. Allowing herself a small shrug, she went back to her textbook.

"Okay - how are you in Ravenclaw?" George smirked, shaking his head. "The Malfoy heiress, a Ravenclaw. Who'd have thought it?" he added, as an afterthought.

"Does it matter?" Selene asked, giving him a slightly curious look. "Do you want to talk to me or something?" Maybe he needed to get checked out by Madam Pomfrey too.

"I'm not even sure why I'm talking to you," George admitted, pushing a hand through his red hair. Selene nodded, glancing up from her book again. "But..." he sighed, and held out one freckled hand. "I guess I am..."

Selene eyed his extended hand in mingled shock and trepidation. She didn't want this. But that didn't stop her muscle memory, the instated discipline that made her take his hand.

"I'm Selene Malfoy," she greeted, giving him a small smile.

"George Weasley," George replied, giving Selene one of his famous smirks. "Although you know that. Come on then, answer my question. Why are you in Ravenclaw?"

He was too easy to talk to. "Er, that's where I was Sorted," Selene began, raising her eyebrow. "What did you think?"

George chuckled, giving her a grin. "You're a fun one," he smirked. "Not quite funny, but fun. Was Daddy pleased?"

Selene rolled her eyes, and looked over at Moody, copying down the notes from the board. "I'm the first one in seven generations of the Malfoy bloodline to be sorted into a House other than Slytherin," she pointed out. "What do you think? But it could have been worse. They had Draco to fall back on though."

"Well, trust me, they fell back on Draco a bit too heavily," George snorted, flipping his textbook open to the right page. "No offence, but your brother is the most spoilt kid to ever live."

"Hey," Selene said sharply, giving George a somewhat heated stare. "You can slag off as many Slytherins as you want, but stay away from my brother. Just because Harry and Ron have a problem with him doesn't give you a right to bully him."

"Whatever you say," George sang under his breath, turning back to his textbook.

oOo

"You seemed to be having fun," Cho said suggestively, brushing past a few First Years to catch up with Selene, who was hurrying ahead, one eye on the watch on her wrist. "George Weasley, eh? All the hot guys are hitting on you now."

"I'm pretty sure he's in the anti-Malfoy club," Selene answered, trying her best to ignore Cho's incessant twittering in favour of actually getting to Ancient Runes on time. It was a shame. George had seemed rather nice. But Blood Traitors and Pureblood Supremacists didn't tend to get along. "I mean, my father kind of hates his father…"

Cho stalled in the middle of the corridor, raising her eyebrows as the Weasley Twins strode past, arm in arm, talking loudly about how awesome that class had been. One of them spared her a wink, making Cho's face flush up (Selene wouldn't let that go anytime soon), along with a smile in Selene's direction.

Even if the twins were identical, Selene was sure that the one who had smiled at her was George, not Fred. She didn't even know if Fred knew her first name. But she smiled back, nodding once for good measure, before watching as they disappeared around the corner.

"I think you're becoming a real person," Cho smirked, as she watched the twins walk away. "Not just a nerdy ghost. A real person."

"Shut up, Cho," Selene rolled her eyes. "It's only two people. And they're Weasleys, too. They don't like me, and I don't like them. It's twofold. Mad-Eye will move us, I just need to ask him."

Cho snickered. "You think? Selene, Mad-Eye Moody is probably the most abstinent teacher I've ever had. And you think he'll move you if you ask him nicely?"

"Yes!" Selene snapped. "I'm sure he will! I'll say George was… Sexually harassing me!"

"That's going a tad too far," Cho pointed out. "That's definitely going to make him hate you. And, honestly, if anyone's going to sexually assault anyone, my money's on Nott. Just flash Moody your boobs. That'll get him to move you."

"No," Selene immediately replied, shaking her head. "No, no, no. He's old enough to be my granddad, Cho. And I don't have any boobs to show him."

"Hello, ladies," a suave, swooping voice lilted from behind Selene and Cho, and the tall figure of Roger Davies wrapped an arm around the waist of both girls. "What are you talking about on this fine day?"

"Fuck off, Roger," Cho scowled, sweeping the Quidditch Captain's arm away. "I've told you before, I'm not interested in taking your Love Potions."

"Me?" Roger held one hand to his heart in mock offence. "A potioner? I'll have you know, I got a D at O.W.L. Needless to say, Snape didn't invite me back this year."

Selene rolled her eyes, and wriggled her way out of Roger's grasp (and his rather audacious hand placed on her rear). "I'm not interested either," she sighed heavily. "Leave us alone, Roger. Not every girl wants to fuck you."

"We'll see about that," Roger's eyes twinkled, as he started off down the corridor towards Alicia Spinnet. "Don't count your Thestrals…"

"She'll punch him for us," Cho smiled cheerfully, linking her arm with Selene's. "Now. Care of Magical Creatures?"

"For you," Selene pulled out her wand from her pocket and summoned her timetable from her bag. "I have Ancient Runes. I think…"

"Well, don't pine over George Weasley too much!" Cho grinned. "I know he's a catch, but he's bad news! A womaniser!"

"Nobody could be as bad as Roger." Selene muttered, but Cho was already walking away down the stairs, in the direction of the sunny grounds.