Summary: Anthony experiences Hogwarts for the first time
Characters: Anthony Goldstein
Word Count: 886
Lipstick Day: 29. Alien
AN: This started out as me thinking about how someone studies for their Bar Mitzvah while at Hogwarts.
Sometimes Anthony felt like he didn't quite belong—an odd sentiment for a white, male, half-blood wizard. His family may not have made the Sacred Twenty-Eight list, but they could trace their wizarding origins several generations back to Germany on his father's side. Still, the transition from Hogwarts was strange for Anthony. Not difficult, but strange.
Sure, his experience did not seem to reflect that of muggle-borns who had to learn to adjust to a brand new environment. The wizarding world was nothing new to him. He grew up alongside self washing pots and quidditch games. Yet, he somehow found trouble adjusting, encountered a niggling in the back of his mind telling him that he was missing something.
It wasn't until a few weeks into his first year that he realized what was wrong. On Friday morning September 21, an owl flew in for Anthony with the rest of the morning post. Attached to its foot was a letter from his mother inquiring about his studies and detailing the mundane events of his parents' week—nothing out of the ordinary. His eyes skimmed the neat cursive before zeroing in on the closing.
שנה טובה
Mum and Dad
Three years of Hebrew school may not have taught Anthony much in terms of understanding the language, but he could definitely read it (especially given the crack down with his upcoming bar mitzvah next fall).
Shanah Tovah
Happy New Year
How had he missed Rosh Hashanah? The Goldstein family may have been reformed Jews, but they always went to synagogue on the high holidays. Surely someone at Hogwarts must have mentioned it?
Anthony neatly folded the letter back up and placed it in his pocket. What did it matter? He was too young to fast next week anyways.
Fall flew by without any other incident. As the grounds grew colder and cloaks became thicker, Hagrid the groundkeeper began decorating the castle for the upcoming Christmas break. When the second week of December rolled in, the deputy headmistress began tracking down the students who were to remain behind during the break. Many of his year mates started gossiping about how Harry Potter's name had appeared on the list, but all of that chatter remained background noise to Anthony. Again, the feeling of something found its way into his thoughts.
Finally, it all came crashing down a few days before the end of the term. The first year boys in his dorm all found themselves packing their belongings for the break. Anthony listened as Michael griped about having to see his cousins. The dark haired boy had been lamenting about his two young cousins who trailed after him everywhere.
"And I forgot to get them a Christmas present! My mum is going to go barmy!"
"Just transfigure them something on the train. Little girls love everything, mate." Terry Boot cut in. The two boys had become Anthony's closest friends at Hogwarts after having been invited into their potions study group, of which he was still hopelessly lost at.
Michael, seeming to finally have been appeased turned to Anthony, who was rummaging through a pile of clothes on the floor looking for a missing sock. "What are your plans for Christmas?"
Anthony, not stopping in his search, responded casually saying, "oh, my family doesn't celebrate Christmas." He hardly noticed the chatter in the room had stopped. It was only when he triumphantly lifted up the argyle sock to match the one already on his bed that he noticed the silence. "What?"
"I've never met a full-blown Wiccan before," one of his muggle-born roommates stated, "What do you do instead on Christmas?"
Anthony laughed. Some of the preconceived notions that muggle-born wizards held were so ridiculous. "No respectful witch or wizard would ever admit to practicing Pagan Witchcraft. Only nutters believe in that." Some of the other boys in the room made noises of agreement, "and my family doesn't really do anything. It's just another day except most shops are closed and we have to load up on food the day before. Sometimes if Hanukkah—"
He stopped. Hanukkah! He had completely missed Hanukkah! Merlin, what was wrong with him? Hanukkah?! A holiday that really was not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but...
Everything suddenly became much more focused. Anthony hadn't worked on his Torah portion for well over a month and even then, he was so swamped by all the new Latin words entering his vocabulary that he barely had time to memorize the Hebrew ones. The Hogwarts school calendar did not keep track of Jewish holidays and Anthony himself had never had to deal with that before. He always had his parents or shul to tell him when important dates would land on the Gregorian calendar.
Not until this very moment had any of these points crossed his mind. Before Hogwarts, he never had to think hard about these things. They were a natural part of his life. Now, if he truly wanted to maintain his identity then he would have to work for it.
Anthony always felt like he was lucky. He could belong in both the Magic and Muggle worlds. He had a lifetime of experience with both. But Hogwarts was something of itself. The school was an isolated bubble of its own. A place that he understood, but did not understand him.
AN: I didn't even end up answering my original thought because I only focused on Anthony's first semester at school. If a lot of this doesn't make sense, I apologize. I'm kind of projecting with this if you couldn't tell. I'm about the leave for University soon in a completely different country and I'm very nervous about leaving my little Jewish community for the big city.