Day Breaks
Lucia woke up as sun from the open window invaded the room. "Ragglefraggle," she muttered, getting out of bed and shivering at the cold stone floor beneath her feet. She was the first one up. Quickly climbing into her uniform and robes, she threw her hair back into a low half-pony and packed her satchel. She walked into the Common Room, where a few students had fallen asleep on the couch the night before. Sighing and walking through the entrance, she pulled out a piece of parchment that had a map on it. "Let's see... I could go to breakfast early, or..." she remembered Dumbledore's words the night before about the Third Floor and West Wing... it was strictly forbidden, which of course, made it all the more appealing. Looking at her watch, which had a series of moving stars and planets on it, she sighed. "Not enough time now, I guess just go to the Great Hall for breakfast and wait a bit."
She entered the Great Hall, where she found, to her surprise, Professor Snape.
"Ah! One of my students. Punctual, I see, good, good. That's a way to set the example. Slytherins, of course, are sure to abide by the rules... and keep the other houses in line."
Lucia smiled, somewhat confused… he clearly had not looked at her well enough. If he had, he would have recognised that she was the first year he had spent all last year trying to keep in line.
"Alright," she said, getting a seat and pulling out a book to read.
Snape walked out of the Great Hall and through the corridors.
"Hello, Severus," Elsinore Pepinegré, Lucia's aunt said, coldly behind him.
Snape turned. "Els," he nodded curtly, trying to walk past.
"Do call me Elsinore. Only my friends call me Els."
"You mean called you Els," Snape said maliciously. He looked around them. "Well, where are your friends now?" he asked, as though he half expected to see them come around the corner.
Elsinore narrowed her eyes. "And what did your friends call you? I could imagine your nicknames were far more amusing than mine. What are they calling you now? Perhaps the more appropriate question is not where my friends are, but where yours are... if you ever indeed had any." she gave him a threatening stare and walked into the Great Hall.
"Hello, Aunt Elsie!" Lucia called.
"Don't call me that." Elsinore said bluntly, brushing past her.
"I- sorry." Lucia said, going back to quietly reading her book, trying not to show her hurt. The others would be arriving soon.
Hermione woke up early and made sure her books and uniform were in order. She was sitting on the couch by the dwindling fire when Neville came down, fumbling around, in an apparent hurry. "What's the matter, Neville?" Hermione asked. "You still have a half hour." Neville looked at his watch. "I- I do? I thought I was a half-hour late!"
Hermione laughed slightly and shook her head. "No, but the others should be waking up any minute now. I want to get a head-start on things today. A new school. A clean slate. I want everything to be perfect!" she said with invigoration. "I'm looking forward to our classes, aren't you? I hope I've studied enough, I still don't understand chapter 21 in Transfiguration nearly as well as I should." she said, quite distraught.
Neville's eyes became large. "We... we had to study?"
"Well, no, not exactly, but see, you come from a wizarding family, so you already know say… who first invented the Self-stirring cauldron."
"I... I do?" Neville asked.
"Why, Carlton Chedrey, of course! Well, I suppose that was a questionable one, since Lilia Pewter also claimed to have made one before him… Well, what I mean to say is that I have to work all the more harder in order to keep up with the borne-wizards and witches. You know…"
Neville nodded, feeling terribly stupid.