One Knight Stands

by Smite Thou Face

David "Sparks" Clarke is a first year Hogwarts muggleborn student. Straight off the Hogwarts Express and placed into Hufflepuff he can't do spells without setting something on fire. Within his first week he finds makes two "good" friends, Ivory and Scorpius. All we really know for sure is that someone spiked the punch at the first annual Muggle Appreciation Ball.

1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

They call me Sparks, it's mostly because instead of normal wizards who can control their spells I usually end up setting things on fire instead. As you can probably guess, I'm apart of Hufflepuff.

1st year and muggleborn so I'm basically the lowest of the low on the totem pole of Hogwarts, though I heard that in Native American culture the lowest on the totem pole is actually like the chief and all so maybe I might end up as famous as the well known auror Harry Potter.

Anyway, I guess my story starts in my first Herbology class, with Professor Longbottom (still haven't stopped laughing about that surname). As the last class of my terrible first day I was stressed, at least as stressed as an 12 year old could be. I couldn't count how many times the Slytherins had laughed at me in potions or how terrified I'd been of all the smart Ravenclaws in Defense Against the Dark Arts and how overwhelmingly rowdy all of the Gryffindors were.

I was introverted, and everything about Hogwarts was overwhelming in that perspective as well as every other one, after all I'd only known magic existed for like 2 months now and it still felt like I was in a dream. Or an institution.

The only person I knew was Scorpius Malfoy, most people avoided him like the plague but even as a branded 'muggleborn' I make it a point not to judge people on other people's opinions. We met on the train before he was sorted into Slytherin and so we got to know each other and I liked him, he was actually quite kind for a Slytherin. In fact he was the one who told me about the second Great Wizard War, and he seemed to be a big fan of Harry Potter considering the fact that his father was briefly a Death Eater and apparently had a rivalry with Potter for their 7 years at Hogwarts.

Since the Slytherin took Herbology with Hufflepuff we sat across from each other at the wooden table that was set right in the middle of the greenhouse. Plants were scattered across the worn oak planks that lay perfectly symmetrical. Scorpius smiled from across the table and I smiled back, he was the one who'd started calling me Sparks when we'd walked out of Charms together, after I had made my feather catch on fire with I tried the Wingardium Leviosa charm for the first time.

Professor Longbottom cleared his throat before talking, "Welcome first years, to Herbology. Today we will be learning about the use of Yellow Candervals, a rare herb that grows on the edges of goblin infested forests. Yellow Candervals can be used to heal any kind of non-magical burns, though not useful in duels or any other magic fights it is very helpful in healing potions and other medical applications..."

The flowers looked like pale yellow daffodils, they were very fragile and delicate and they had many unique properties other than healing I learned as Professor Longbottom went on, we learned how to pick them properly and boil them to create a salve. As Professor Longbottom walked around the room he offered advice and compliments to the students, I felt a knot in my stomach as he got closer. I got nervous about stupid things like that, a teacher's approval, you could blame it on my parents or something, they weren't too great which is one of the reason I was so excited to get away by going to Hogwarts, an escape of sorts. Finally the Professor stood over my shoulder, "Very nice Mr. Clarke," he said excitedly, "I love your technique." He moved onto the next student but I felt myself grin because I'd only put a pinch of salt to make the water boil quicker.

I guess I had finally found something I was moderately good at, it was quite fulfilling when I thought about it because it was like suddenly I had actually become a part of Hogwarts, that I had actually become a wizard. That high lasted me all the way through the rest of the class and all the way to the Hufflepuff dorm.

It was located in the same corridor as the kitchen, something that I found very comforting as the house elves were very kind and generous to us Hufflepuffs, I quickly tapped the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff on the barrel two from the bottom and middle of the second row, the prefect specifically told us to do that or else we'd be rained on by barrels worth of vinegar and I was not going to do that to myself. The barrels moved to reveal a slightly uphill passage into the cozy Hufflepuff Commons. It was a nice earthy room with wood furniture and a moving portrait of the first head of house, the ceilings were short but added to the homey feel of it all, and I enjoyed the smell of the mass of green plants scattered around the round room. My first night the beds had been the most amazing thing of all, their quilts and wooden bed frames were elegant and casual at the same time, and the mattresses were soft as clouds. I hadn't got much homework except for in potions, though I wasn't surprised on that one.

I decided to go exploring, though I didn't know anyone except Scorpius and I wasn't really into talking to strangers, a social butterfly was one of the many things I was not. I set my books down in my room and ran back out, only a few people had actually come back to the dorms to set their stuff down so there weren't many people to interact with which was nice.

I walked past the kitchen and through the tall halls of the castle, each one seemed oddly different than the other and everything was unique in its own way. It was a magical place literally and metaphorically and I was starting to love it, even with the rising problem of no wifi.