Devan sighed impatiently while standing behind a group of babbling first years. Six years of school completed, top of her class every year, and here she was in her final year stuck with the first years. She could have just stayed at her school in Canada, but the idea of coming to Hogwarts was endearing. Well, at least it was. If she knew she would end up being treated like a child then maybe she would not have come at all.
More importantly, she missed her best friend. Jessie was supposed to be here with her, facing the torture of what they referred to in Canada as "the Twinkies." But Jessie had won an amazing trip to Romania to study dragons and she would not be joining Devan here until after the Christmas holidays.
An extremely large, rather dirty man with a ratty brown beard walked up to Devan and smiled. "Hullo there, you must be Devan. My names is Hagrid." He shook her hand with his dust bin sized fist. "Sorry to have you jammed in here with all the first years, but unfortunately we still need to sort you before you can carry on with your studies. We'll do you first before the first years even enter the great hall, and you can just take your seat at your house."
Devan smiled and nodded because she really had no idea what Hagrid was talking about. Back in Canada, the magic school ran just as any normal muggle high school would, except of course with magic lessons.
"Listen to me ramblin' on," Hagrid chuckled, "Just stick by me and I will make sure you get two other extremely tiny first years squeezed into a small row boat together. Hagrid muttered an enchantment, and their boat took off magically, with the other first-year boats following behind them.
Hagrid continued to tell her many different things about the school. He told her of the four houses she could potentially stay in: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Ravenclaw sounded great, but Devan was worried about always having to think. Sometimes she liked to just unwind with a good book and a bit of music. Gryffindor sounded the best, but she didn't have a choice in the matter. This annoyed Devan. She didn't like not being able to make her own decisions.
The boats came to an abrupt stop and Devan and the first years were led up a steep hill and into the castle. They stood silently in a dimly lit hallway while Hagrid talked to a rather stern looking witch in a pointed hat. The conversation ended with Hagrid shrugging his shoulders and pointing at Devan. He then gestured for her to come forward. She scuttled over quickly and was ushered into a side room by Hagrid and the unidentified witch.
"Sorry about all the formalities Devan," the rather old and tired looking witch said, "My name is Professor McGonagall and I will be your Transfiguration professor for this year. We are really excited to have you, and hope that you can bring a more academic mindset to your fellow classmates. Unfortunately this school does run on a four house system and we do need to sort you into a house before you can begin your classes." McGonagall pointed at a rickety stool, and instructed Devan to sit.
A tattered wizard's hat was placed upon her head, and before she could even realize what happened, an unrecognized voice shouted, "Gryffindor!" and the hat fell limp on her head. It was torn off quickly and she was ushered out of the room by Hagrid who then led her into a massive room with four long tables facing one way, and a shorter stage that already had many teachers on it facing the other. "Wow," Hagrid said, "We made really good time." He showed Devan to a table that was decorated with red and gold and left her to sit there on her own. She chose to sit at the end of the bench, as far from the teachers table as she possibly could. She didn't want to be seen as an ass-kisser before the school year had even actually started.
The other students came in a huge rush, and Devan watched as her fellow Gryffindors came and sat down at their table, starting at the end farthest from her, and getting slowly closer. Devan felt her skin go hot as she fumed over the fact that she had clearly sat at the wrong end of the table. All the tables were almost full now, with only a few seats left. This left Devan sitting alone and even more embarrassed then before. Then, as if she was sent angels, three rather dirty looking students came in, and headed straight to the Gryffindor table.
"I told you to hurry up Ron," the one female snapped.
"Oh bugger off, won't you Hermione? It's not my fault my damn trunk fell open. I would have just left it, but you kept whining about how the House elves would have to clean up after it and I needed to shut you up somehow." The girl frowned, and sat down across from Devan. The other boy who hadn't spoken yet, sat down next to her which left the boy who was now known as Ron to sit beside her.
Devan couldn't help but notice that Ron was actually really cute. Very tall, and a little lanky. But what really got her attention was his flaming red hair which he kept shaggy. He was also covered in freckles and Devan found herself staring a little longer than she should have. Ron gave her a quizzical look and Devan blushed and looked down.
Devan was grateful when the Headmaster began to speak. He was an extremely old, rather odd looking man wearing half-moon spectacles and sporting a rather long but well-kept beard. His voice was kind and soft, and Devan decided that she already liked him. He said his name was Professor Dumbledore, and he spoke of the happenings at the school this year.
"And finally, as always, Mr. Filch would like me to remind you that under no circumstance is there to be a student heading into the forbidden forest." Dumbledore announced, and waved his hands. Devan looked down again and the entire table was laid out with food. Ron had already begun piling his plate high, as well as the other boy but Devan was surprised to see the other girl holding out her hand.
"My name is Hermione," she announced while shaking Devan's hand. "Sorry about our rather rude entrance before but someone," Hermione shot a dirty look at Ron, "decided that it was more important to organize his trading cards rather than change into his school robes. We had to walk all the way here!"
"I said I was sorry! Sheesh!" Ron said through a full mouth, "My names Ron by the way, Ron Weasley," he said to Devan after swallowing his mouthful. Devan also shook the other boy's hand, and found out his name was Harry.
"My names Devan," she said shyly. She was grateful for the three of them introducing themselves, because that enabled her to listen and nod along to the conversation without looking like a total weirdo. Unfortunately for Devan though, the conversation soon turned to her and Harry, Ron, and Hermione started asking her questions. Devan answered as politely as possible, telling them her name and that she was from a wizarding school in Canada. She had come here to finish her last year of school abroad for a new experience and she was looking forward to seeing how school worked over here which was already vastly different from what she was used to. She also spoke of her friend Jessie, who was currently studying Dragons in Romania. This piqued Ron's interest.
"She's studying dragons in Romania? So is my brother Charlie!" Ron announced. He began speaking animatedly about all the things he knew about what was going on over there, and how his parents planned to visit there during Christmas break. Devan couldn't help but noticed how Ron almost seemed to glow when he was talking about things he was passionate about. He truly loved his family.
As the last of the desserts starting fading from the table, Dumbledore made his way to the centre of the stage again. He pointed to the Prefects so the first years would know who to follow to get to their respective dorms. "Well I guess I better go," Devan said sadly. She didn't want to go back with the first years. She didn't want to stick out again.
"Don't be silly," Hermione chirped, "You and I will be in the same dorm anyways so you might as well come with us." Devan smiled. She was grateful that she didn't have to go through that humiliation again.
While they were starting to get up, Hagrid walked over to them. "Hullo Harry! And Ron and Hermione too o' course! I see you met our new student Devan. Sorry again about before, but we never really get exchange students and we had no idea how to approach that situation."
"It's fine," Devan said. "You guys did what you had to do." Hagrid beamed at her. "Well you couldn't have picked a finer group of people to have your first meal with. These three are my favourite students, but I will deny it if you tell anyone!" Hagrid chuckled. "Anyways I best be going. Lots of preparing to do for tomorrow!"
Hagrid sauntered off, creating a huge gap through the crowd of students as he went. This made Devan laugh and she followed along behind her three new acquaintances as they steered their way through the gap that Hagrid left behind. The castle was decorated magnificently, with large royal looking tapestries on the walls and suits of armour every few feet. She noticed the ghosts above her head, but wasn't afraid. Before arriving, Devan had read Hogwarts: A History three times before arriving and knew that there were many ghosts staying in the castle.
Devan found herself being brought out of her train of thought by Hermione announcing "Fortuna Major" very loudly to a picture of a fat lady dressed in an ugly pink dress. "That's the Fat Lady," Ron murmured in Devan's ear as they crossed the threshold into the common room. The light wisp of Ron's breath on Devan's neck sent shivers down her spine.
"Well I'm not even a little bit tired," Harry stated. He flopped down on the dark red leather couch next to the fire and gestured for Ron, Hermione and Devan to join them. Devan perched in an arm chair awkwardly, while Ron and Hermione got comfortable sitting with their backs to the fire. "So Devan, what classes are you wanting to take?"
"Well," Devan said, pausing for a moment to think about it, "I can't really remember all the courses I signed up for. It's everything you need to take to be an auror. Potions, Defence against the Dark Arts, and Charms for sure.
The trio smiled. "We're going to have a lot of classes together," Ron laughed. "We all training to be aurors too." Devan didn't want to tell him that she actually wanted to be a teacher. He seemed so impressed that she wanted to be an auror too. She decided to keep quiet.
The night progressed and Harry and Ron began to play Wizards chess. The conversation and laughs were so stimulating that Devan didn't even notice that the common room had emptied, and the fire had begun to die down. "It's getting pretty late," Devan stated wistfully. She wished it wasn't. She was having too much fun.
"Devan is right," Hermione agreed. Hermione slowly got up, which made Devan jumping up enthusiastically seem awkward, so she found herself blushing again. Devan shot a glance at Ron, who was smiling at her. Devan's stomach did a flip and she quickly and quietly bid goodnight to both boys. Hermione echoed her words, and they started up the spiral staircase towards their bunks. Hermione was quiet, but smiled politely at Devan when they made eye contact.
After they were all settled into their bunks, Hermione whispers to Devan, "Tomorrow night if you're interested, Ron, Harry, and I will be ahem…celebrating our first day of classes. It would be really cool if you could join us." Devan wasn't entirely sure what Hermione meant by that. But she wasn't about to pass up an invitation to make friends.
"That sounds awesome," Devan whispered. "Goodnight Hermione."
"Goodnight Devan, Sweet Dreams." Hermione murmured sleepily.
Devan laid awake for a while, thinking anxiously to tomorrow when she finally started her classes. She was nervous and excited at the same time. She felt the same way about the new friends she had made. She wasn't looking forward to spending the time leading up till Christmas alone, and having some friends would be a great way to pass the time. Devan smiled to herself and she thought of hanging out with Harry, Hermione, and Ron tomorrow evening and then she slowly drifted off to sleep.