Chapter 2 Time Flies
She woke to an obnoxious growling. Ryn's eyes opened. She was face to face with an annoyed feathery one. "Wake up and feed me."
"Muh?" She blinked stupidly. Food? She sat up and stuck her feet over the side of the bed, stuffing them into slippers. Then she walked over to the supplies shelf and grabbed some Griffy-chow baby Griffin food. It clattered into a bowl and the bowl banged on the floor loudly as Ryn stumbled around groggily. Angry moaning from a near by bed made her glance over.
Blue. Celesta was a beautiful sky blue...This wasn't right. "Oh Bloody Broomsticks! I can't believe I'm still asleep."
Celesta picked her head up with a groan and blinked at her. "Would you shut up? Some people are still trying to sleep." A pillow was lobbed in her direction, missing by several feet.
"We are awake now. Might as well get up." Fayal got to her feet and stretched.
"But I'm asleep."
"Why do you say that?" Fayal got her clothes off of the chair and put them on.
"She's blue!" Ryn was nearing her hysterical tone.
"Didn't I tell you to take ah shower?!" Celesta was yelled at immediately.
"I stained. It won't come off."
"Cool, I want to be blue to!"
"Ok, let's go!" Celesta bounded out of bed and started for some clean clothes.
"Wear the ones already dirty." Fayal objected. Her wishes were met and they dashed out the door, breakfast forgotten. She got up with a sigh and washed the table off, made the beds, picked the wet towels off of the floor, and opened the window. She sat down and ordered herself up some scones and tea. A knock at the door startled her. She sat down her teacup with a rattle and stood. As she crossed the room to the door she pulled her robes on over her pink dressing gown. She turned the knob and pulled open the door and found to her surprise Madam Hooch standing at the door.
"Good morning. I've come to fetch my daughter." She said this briskly, hands folded in front of her.
"Good luck, she isn't here."
"Where is she?" The suspicious look she gave Fayal annoyed her slightly.
"Don't know." She shrugged. "If you'll excuse me, me tea is getting cold." The door was firmly placed between them. She didn't need torture this early in the morning. They didn't get along well. Madam Hooch had decided Celesta's faults had been as a result of Fayal's influence. She was older and therefore it was all her fault.
She got dressed and finished eating, giving her scraps to Bob. "Well, I'm going to get moving. I've opened the window for you. Have a good time exploring." Fayal hung out a colourful towel over the windowsill. "This is so you can find your way back. Later!" She went off to Snape's office.
She tapped softly on the door. "Open." It swung away from her to reveal he was putting away papers. "Good morning Fayal."
Lunchtime was a little less then usual. Fayal had been persuaded to come eat in the great hall because the sun was not shining. Her fair skin burned so easily that the enchanted ceiling would prove more sun then necessary for it to happen. She hardly ever showed herself in the great hall, preferring to eat in her room or in a teacher's office.
In seven years of varying attendance neither Ryn nor Celesta had learned the simple spell to bring food to their plates. This brought them into the room looking grumpy. Dumbledore grinned at them. "Ah, blue is such a nice colour on you both! I do hope though that you will be normally pigmented for the arrival of the new students. Have a seat." He patted the chair next to him. Everyone was spread out down the table looking like they could use naps. "Masque, wriggle, plump, thicket. Lovely words, don't you think?"
"Forest, summer, ping-pong, lattice." Celesta said in reply as she sat down and helped herself to some Potato soup.
"Ah yes, those are nice too. Lattice...Sum-mer...yes..." Dumbledore nodded to her.
"Are you sure you should be spreading yourself out in so many directions Miss Wood?" Professor McGonagall continued to speak with Fayal as they ate. "I mean, with your NEWTS and Salem Witches' Village of Learning preparing, do you really think it wise?"
"Ay got every OWL with top marks every year though I was taking Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle studies, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Divination. I am thinking of dropping Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies though I would like me NEWTS to include these subjects also...Would that be ok?"
"You git! I can't believe you still want NEWTS on subjects you aren't going to be taking." Celesta looked at her in disgust.
"I'd rather know if I can do it or not." She frowned. "And I like taking tests."
"Then by all means, take mine too!" Ryn offered generously from Celesta's side.
"Thanks, but I'll jest deal with what I have." She picked up an ice mouse from the plate and dispelled it before nibbling at the sweet. She hated for her food to protest to being eaten.
"I don't see what it would hurt for you to take my NEWT. If your scores in the class are unsuitable I will simply leave them out of your reports." Professor Vector smiled at her. The Arithmancy teacher was most supportive in her insane study schedule over the last several years. "You did most of this year's work over summer holidays anyway, didn't you?"
The question could have come from no other person. She was always popping up with piles of papers to be reviewed. That is how she unwound at the end of a busy day, or reciting potions. "Actually I finished the book." She looked sheepish. "The last chapter was amazing."
"Did you really understand the relationships?"
"Oh, Aye! I was surprised at how it fits in."
"Stop that! I can't eat with all this smart talking." Ryn whined into her pumpkin juice.
"Oh Hagrid, I must say, I think your text book is so sweet. I have learned loads from it. Not the usual Unicorns and fairies." She rolled the conversation along. "I believe you'll make an excellent teacher."
Hagrid beamed at her. She smiled back before noticing her toe was tapping something under the table as she wiggled it. She glanced down to see Snape's shoes. "Sorry! I didn't mean to!" She sat up properly.
He continued to look at her with a thoughtful air to him, then he returned to watching Ryn and Celesta being rowdy.
The time passed quickly, the girls helping teachers until the afternoon when they would go play flying-games on the Quidditch fields. In the evening they explored while Fayal read in the library or helped teachers. She was still getting ribbed for playing footsie with Snape at the table, even as they made their way in to mix with their tables as the Hogwarts students arrived. They where required to go to the opening feast.
They watched as the first years filed down the center of the room, looking scared to death. McGonagall lead them to stand before the head table and the sorting hat. Its mouth opened and song sprang forth from it.
I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
You can try me on with ease.
For I will tell you where to go,
Which house it ought to be.
Better Ravenclaw then Slytherin?
Of Gryffindor be thine?
Hufflepuff is a friendly lot,
Whose house will be made divine?
Now Ravenclaw is brainy,
They think things through and through.
Study, stead, right of mind;
Is Ravenclaw for you?
Then again there's Slytherin,
Ambition is the key!
Not matter what it takes,
They make sure they succeed.
Gryffindor is for the brave;
Heroics shining through!
If you rush in when things begin,
Then this house is for you.
Then there is one you'll find,
Friend even when you're in a bind,
Loyal, just, and always kind,
Keep Hufflepuff in mind.
Step right up and stick me on,
So the Sorting Hat will see;
Which house is meant for you,
The place you ought to be.
Everyone cheered as it finished singing. "Ambrosia, Abigail!" And so the sorting began as the forty new students found their home.
Fayal was remembering her sorting. She was a very shy child, but was excited about going off to school. Her eyes stretched wide as she took in the castle as the enchanted boats took them across the lake. Then they entered the school and her overly pale face had gone whiter as McGonagall spoke to them. A test?!? She had stayed still, frozen to the spot in shock as they had been called to enter the great hall.
She had read Hogwarts; A History several times but it had never spoken of this ritual sorting. A boy came back and seized her by the hand and dragged her along. He had large ears that stuck out oddly, but she greatly appreciated his hand. She had hidden behind him as the teachers eyed them from the great table. The crowd dwindled until a handful stood around her. "Shunpike, Stanley." The boy left her with a smile, marching off.
"Hufflepuff!"
She was suddenly standing alone. Everyone was looking at her. She examined the floor. "Wenderstil, Pernadina." McGonagall looked at her. She turned red and shook her head. "Where is she?" She looked around. "Hagrid, did you loose one?"
"No ma'am, couldn't have, counted them as they got in the boats and when I handed them off to you." The giant man told her. "Had all forty."
A tall man with dark stringy hair stood and exited a door to the left. "I'll look for her." And so the room sat and looked at the nervous country girl that had never been away from home in her life. A century later the teacher came back with a girl her age that was sobbing her eyes out. "Peeves had her on the ceiling." He said simply as he released her and went back to his seat, wiping his hand on a handkerchief as though she was dirty. Hushed whispering broke out among the students.
"Wenderstil, Pernadina." The deputy head mistress tried again. The girl staggered up and climbed onto the stool.
Silence was so thick Fayal could taste it. "Hufflepuff!"
The students all clapped and an older girl gave her a hanky and a hug.
"Wood, Fayal."
She walked quietly up the steps and sat on the stool. It wobbled slightly, being on a crack in the floor between stones. The hat fitted over her head. It spoke quietly to her, knowing her turmoil over which house would be suitable for her "Hummm...So unsure. Ambition! Ah yes, but fairness...Shy and quiet...but I see that will not last long. I could put you in Hufflepuff, but no, you will not enjoy it for long. Perfectionist that you are...Slytherin could be your house but think. You believe in equality, fairness, and sharing...now that is not the Slytherin way. Gryffindor is a definite no. You are cautions and fearful. Ah yes Ravenclaw is so right. Thinker, logic, study, passionate for learning... Don't you agree?"
"Aye." She whispered.
"Ravenclaw!!!" The hat announced as something hit her on the head. She shrieked and fell off the stool clutching the now bulky hat. She pulled it off to find a very large and heavy book in it. She blinked at it.
"You show great promise, it is a gift from Rowena Ravenclaw." Professor Dumbledore smiled at her. She wasn't sure how he got to be standing over her but she accepted the hand up he offered her. "Once you have finished your years at Hogwarts, please give it to a teacher so I may put it up for the next time someone is chosen." His eyes twinkled merrily. "Run along to your house table now."
She looked up as food appeared before her. "Did I miss anything Winnie?" She asked the nearest student. She had been far from this time.
"The usual, except for the dementors on Ministry of Magic business -because of Serious Black I believe- and Professor Lupin is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher-I think he's kind of cute, don't you-, and sweet old Hagrid is our Care of Magical Creatures teacher." Winnie, her friend told her.
"Mmm." She shrugged. "I guess he's cute. Dementors?"
"On the way here they got on the train, didn't you notice?"
"I wasn't on the train."
"Oh really? Well, anyway it was really terrible! They wore these big black robes and they smelled like death and their flesh was rotting and they sucked the happiness right out of you." She shuddered in her re-account of it.
"I'm glad you weren't hurt!" She smiled.
"I wasn't but that Potter boy, Harry I think is his name? Well he went and passed out on everyone when the dementor confronted him."
Fayal looked at the famous Harry Potter, who was looking rater pale, then glanced up at his least favorite teacher, only to see Snape looking loathingly at Lupin. "Hum, they must have been classmates."
"What?" Winnie looked at her.
"Uh, Professors Snape and Lupin. Nobody gives that look to a stranger. Don't you think?"
"Snape gives me that look every time I mix up pixie dust and ground unicorn horn. I doubt there is anything between them. Pass the bread."
"Sure." Fayal picked up the basket and offered it around. "So everything was ok, even though the dementors got on the train?"
"Yeah, but it was really creepy." Winnie brushed a strand of honey blond hair behind her ear. "Have you read 'An Expert's Guide To Transfiguration': chapter ten yet?"
"But of course! They could have gone a little more in depth before now. Have you decided if you will try it?"
"Oh yes, I'm certain that I will be an Animagus." Winnie looked quite set in her belief of her abilities.
"I hope you will be. I'm not trying. Just one more thing to complicate matters. I've never been great at transfiguration anyway. The only OWL I flopped completely." Fayal shrugged. "Which reminds me, I've got ah few papers to finish for McGonagall tomorrow. If you'll excuse me, I should get to the common room."
"Tomorrow? But it's the first day! Don't tell me you've put off our homework until tonight!?" Winnie looked at her incredulously as she followed her out of the great hall.
"Nonono! It's a study retreat entrance paper of some kind to complete. I'm not sure exactly what they want out of me, but I've got stacks of papers to write and I suck at transfiguration." She explained herself quickly as they went along. "The teachers are helping me by getting everything ready to send off before Christmas when it's due. You know, avoiding the rush is best."
"Well, I'll proof read for you. Let's go!" They made their way to the Ravenclaw common room. I can't believe you want to go to that village. They are twice as strict as Hogwarts."
"Book Worm Wit!" She told the painting before stepping through the wall. "And the best Witches' school in the world aside from the African one and the Bermuda Triangle. I may take some classes with them as well. Just Herbology and Potions, but I do hope I am able." They flopped down on a cushy couch. "Both Professors Snape and Sprout are sending letters and examples of my work to the schools to see if they will make allowances for me."
"If Snape is writing a letter of recommendation, then you know it's in the bag. Now let's see those papers."
Starting off the first day of school was the ideal way for everyone to begin their years except for McGonagall and Celesta. Professor McGonagall nearly made everyone cry at 9:05 the first morning. "Oh no, Professor McGonagall, PLEASE?!" Ryn wailed as she was handed a quiz. She chewed her lip, knowing her life was over.
"That's enough out of you. I know you can do this." Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Hsu, get the anti-cheating quills out of the cabinet." She continued to hand out the papers.
A small oriental girl from Hufflepuff got up and went over to the storage area. A moment later a scream pierced the air, echoing down the halls. The horror in it made several students break out in goose pimples and seize their wands. Mass confusion began.
"For heaven sake Laura Hsu, what is it?!" McGonagall looked furious as she turned around. Little green worms were inching their way across the stone floor.
"Inch worms are so cute!" Celesta got one to climb on her finger and began playing with it. Yes, this was the way she liked life.
"Robbins, turn them back this instant!"
"Me? Turn what back? What did I do?" She looked at the flaring nostrils and burning eyes and looked meek.
"The worms, return them to quills this instant!" Any sane person would have done it right then, and then died after soiling themselves, but Celesta was never accused of being sane.
"How? I didn't do this! I was all the way over here and my wand is in my bag! I haven't been near that cabinet in three days and those little things would have crawled out the cracks before now." She resorted to grumbling. She wasn't someone that people believed easily. "I'm not the only one that plays practical jokes around here." Her lip was poked out.
"Fine, ten points to the house that is first to bring back one of our quills." McGonagall went to her desk and began reading. Ryn actually won the ten points for Hufflepuff and then told everyone the spell. Before they could start the test class was over.
Everyone thanked Celesta as they left the class. "Thank you! I'll be here all year. I do parties. Oh and pretty boys..." Her eyes drifted down a prime piece of beefcake she passed in the hall. He grinned back at her. Yes, there were a few good things about Gryffindor...Very good.
Maybe Celesta had a little too much sugar before the next class. Ok, so a five-pound bag liquefied and fed directly into her bloodstream would have been less of an indulgence. Potions was a quiet class with little to no moving aside from bending over the tables and cauldrons. Sugar and quiet don't mix well.
She drummed her fingers as Ryn's eyes watered with barely contained tears. "I'm going to fail. I can't cook..." The liquid was supposed to be pink but it was shocking red. "What did I du?!"
"Reduce the heat. Add the candlum." Fayal was working on another project in front of them she had started in the last class. After clearing it with Flitwick through the fire and floo powder method she had picked something that threatened to take until lunch to complete. Despite that she was muttering helpfully when they needed it. "Stop banging on the table!" She looked annoyed at Celesta.
She stood up...from her seat on the table. A few boys got an eye full as she loomed over them from her new perch. "I'm bigger then you!" She chimed childishly. "Hi boys, look, leopard print!" Money was exchanged under the tables and mutters of tiger and checks.
Snape snapped his chalk in two at her yelling. He turned and nearly got his eyebrows tied together in the middle of his face scowling. "Get down!"
"Oh no it's Snapezilla, dun dun, dun dun, wahhhh!" She ducked as Snape sent a bolt of lightening in her direction. "What are you trying to do, kill me?!"
"Why no Miss Robbins, I wouldn't want the netherworlds plagued with you before they absolutely have to. I was just trying to get you off of the desk. Please take your seat."
"Ok Daddy." Celesta did as she was told, sitting more properly in her seat then ever before. Her hands folded neatly in her lap as she smiled up sweetly at Snape.
He blanched. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" His voice seemed choked and strained as he over-pronounced his words.
"What ever do you mean? I didn't call you anything Daddy." Showing how truly remarkable she was, she managed to keep a strait face as his mouth twitched at the corner and his eyebrows twisted unnaturally.
"I am not your father. I detest that word and I will not allow you to call me that." He didn't hiss his words, but rather grumbled them.
Laura was hiding behind her cauldron least she be noticed. Jen Veagan was wincing. This was very bad.
Fayal had stopped writing to watch the show. She had never noticed it before but their teeth where similar as well as the hair that always looked kind of overly shiny and hung in clumps that flipped on the ends. Then there were their nasty streaks. Both had large ones. This probably is what gave her pal the idea for the new teacher torture.
"But don't you like me Daddy?" Some how she had tears in her eyes. The ham!
His hand covered his face. It was his "You have given me a head ache" stance. "Class, finish your invisible ink potion, then write your name in it on a piece of paper and leave it on my desk. Anyone's who isn't on my desk gets a zero for the day. You may leave when you are done." He turned and stormed out the door.
"Well, that was a new twist." Ryn blinked. "So all we have to do is put paper on his desk?"
"Budge-up your brain. He's got ah visible potion. Make the potion and go." The Ravenclaw girl put some green liquid in a vile. It cooled and turned teal. "Perfect..." She completed her work and began cleaning up.
"I don't get this...He didn't finish writing the ingredients!" Someone wailed behind her.
"Nice going Robbins!" A dried toad was hurled across the room. Robbie- one of the Ravenclaws- had managed to stop flirting with his partner long enough to notice it wasn't Nathan's- a Slytherin- fault that they had a problem with getting their work done.
"Everyone's a critic." She frowned at them.
Tim chuckled at the situation, before shrugging to Ryn. He was one of the least noticed Hufflepuffs.
"Ok people, I think we should start with discussing which plants have invisibility potential." Fayal stood up and turned around to the class. "There are three ways to identify them. Who knows one?"
Everyone began working together to live through the class except Celesta who had lost her quill and was hunting for it under her desk.
They made it through the class and were writing their names on paper when Fayal took her leave, racing down the hallway and off to Flitwick's class. Breathless and flushed she made it to his classroom as her cousin Oliver preformed a spell. "Ah Fayal, how good of you to join us." Flitwick teased her. "You've missed your turn, but you may go now."
She stood up and preformed the charm gracefully. "Wonderful, exemplary spell casting Mister and Miss Wood."
She looked over to see her Ravenclaw friend Aurora smiling at her.
Fayal filled the plate in the room and left it for the girls. She was eating in the Great Hall since it was dreary and Tobes was going to give her notes on Charms. She met him in the hall and he led her to the table. They sat together and took out their supplies. She glanced over the papers he had before turning back to the first page. "I've never thought of doing it that way."
"Professor discovered it by accident a number of years ago. Most people don't trust that way though."
Fayal scrawled a few sentences on the parchment she brought before looking up as a boy flopped down in front of him. He looked up. Thomas Bumble...He got up hurriedly with his hand clamped over his pocket and went to the other end of the table. She went beat red in remembrance.
It was a little over a month into lessons her first year and she sat across from Thomas. They were eating when something cold, with scrabbly feet, and rough skin went up her skirt. She shrieked and tried to jump out of her seat. Instead with the movement of her hands she cleared the end quarter of the table with an unbridled power, while she went flying across the room and crashed into the wall next to Slytherin table. Her eyes were wide with shock as the room looked at her startled. Then her eyes had rolled up in her head and she had fallen the twelve feet to the floor.
She had been told by Winnie that Snape had hurried over to her and checked her pulse, magicked a stretcher and took her to the nurse before anyone else reacted. It could have been that he was the closest, but she liked to believe it was her first day, telling him that she would be the best in potions no matter what he thought of her after his condescending speech. Dumbledore magicked the food off of the Ravenclaw students and new food appeared, not that most of them were up for eating it.
Thomas had been afraid of her ever since and she was prejudice against toads. For his had caused the scene. It had also made her a feared child. Even though everyone knew her family, there were rumors of her being you-know-who's daughter. She began Divination almost immediately because her third eye was developing quickly and she needed control.
Fayal stuck her things in her room and went skipping off to Herbology with a big rimmed witch's hat on to shield her from the sun. "Good morning class, to day we are going to be working on dancing fox glove. They are tricky to prune properly since they are so jumpy but I believe you are ready to try. So get in pairs and we will begin." Logan O'Neal asked her to be his partner. She accepted and they went to work. Before long the Fox Gloves had begun to lob dirt at them. Celesta was the first to become nothing but a mound of dirt, her glasses were all that remained of her. Her partner had to dig her out.
She felt a pang of guilt for making Aurora her partner. She was a major in Herbology and having such an uninterested partner was a crime. She did think it was amusing though, her teeth showing as she grinned. Her light brunet hair was swept back in a ponytail as she set to finding her lost partner.
Her extremely curvy figure caught the attention of several boys as she worked and Sprout realizing nothing was going to be done by the male students with her bending over like that lent a hand. Finally a very muddy Celesta was retrieved, though Aurora had dirt smudges on her face. Her green eyes dawned a golden hue.
"Now, let's actually do it this time." She tugged playfully on a piece of Celesta's hair.
"No Problem MacGahee, I'm done playing I'm the buried treasure." Then she smacked Nathan for saying something dirty. Robbie was encouraged to say something more naughty. He defended himself by hiding behind his Fox Glove.
Mean while in Defence against the Dark Arts Lupin had set a couple of Catermongs on the class after giving them instruction. He neglected to tell them that Catermongs were cat-sized coach-roaches that spit acid.
It was an amazing sight as most of the female students and a few males all screams and started running in circles. Ryn started crying and tried to get away as they all decided to chase her. Oliver Wood dived in front of her and cast an ice spell. She clutched the back of his robes, burying her face in his shoulders as he held them off before Lupin finally petrified them and put them away. Oliver held Ryn until she calmed down. "It's ok, they are gone."
Lupin sighed. "I suppose we will have to try that again next week."
"I don't want to see those things ever again!" A Girl told him emphatically.
"Oh dear, this isn't something we can just skip. If you can't handle Catermongs, how will you ever hold a match to a Kibberwakie?" He smiled kindly at them. "For the rest of this week, we will practice spells to use on one."
Oliver walked with Ryn to History of Magic and they passed notes while the teacher tried to bore them to death. Hey, he bored himself into the next life, they knew he could do it to them. He wrote of Quidditch strategies with her commenting on them. After that they began discussing the history of Quidditch.
Celesta and Fayal scrubbed up and went on to Defence against the Dark Arts. Lupin gave a lengthy lecture on Catermongs then let one out. The thing was so frozen that it would take hours to thaw. He let the rest out and soon they all stood motionless. "Well, I am impressed. Or perhaps I should be disappointed in my other class?" He leaned against the wall.
Fayal was looking rather green. "May we be dismissed?" She asked weakly.
"Yes. Run along. Have a good day."
Celesta, Fayal, and the other students lumped out the door and out side. "Let's have a game of Quidditch!" Celesta called her broom before anyone could agree or disagree.
"I'm not sure..."
"Come on, Snapekins made you that potion in case, use it and let's have some fun." Celesta grinned. "I'll go ask mom for the balls."
Fayal sighed as everyone else began teaming up. Fun and flying had not been used together in the same sentence since her catastrophe in the great hall her first year. She had never felt safe on a broom again, though her wonderful potions Professor made her a remedy for temporary courage boosting. She hardly needed to take it any more, but in nine years she had never gone back to enjoying flying, much to the disappointment of her family. Wood and Finnigan, the two largest Quidditch families in Europe and she was afraid of flying.
Madam Hooch had been less understanding of her fear then Snape, making her so hysterical she was ill all down Hooch's robes. This was a relationship doomed from the start and she -who had been competing in Junior Quidditch Leagues since she had been six- failed flying lessons in the first hour.
Despite failing she was on the Girls' Quick Quidditch team as beater and coach. Basically anyone could be on it, but your year had to have seven players at the least of your sex. There were five backups and two from Slytherin and one from Ravenclaw had a chance to play since Gryffindor and Hufflepuff houses were still in classes. The boys had just as many backups playing. No first, second, or third year teams existed at the moment.
There was a rumor that McGonagall was making rules so Quick-teams couldn't be formed anymore. It was not fair if it was true since only seven students per house could play in real games, really, twenty-eight students out of two hundred eighty? That is only one in ten and not very entertaining for anyone else who wants to play.
As Celesta and a Slytherin boy carried the chest onto the field she took out a little bottle and swallowed the thick blue liquid inside. It was horrid and nearly took the curl out of her hair as she shuddered. The boys pulled on orange robes as the girls got their brooms and cleared up who was what. Aurora was playing, which made Fayal happy.
A boy volunteered to be announcer and he climbed up to Lee Jordan's seat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, today's Quick-match is the first of the year and no wonder because it's the first day of classes! On the Orange team are the Seventh year boys. On the black team are their opposing girls. Captain of Girls is in class, so Coach Wood is taking her place. Let's see a good game everyone! Right so Parker is releasing the balls. Here is the pitch and the Quaffle goes to Black team! Great move by MacGahee! It takes talent to move like that on a Comet 260!"
She swirled around and passed the ball. "The ball moves down the field. First to Douglas, then Perry, back to MacGahee oh fake! Perry gets it to Douglas who shoots. The Quaffle made it by Orange team temp keeper Leagues, despite a great weaving technique! Ten points Black team!"
The cheer was lousy since only four spectated. Three where girls. "Oh! With out waiting a second Orange captures the ball! Chrispin is zooming down the field. Ooh, Bludger sends him veering off course. Nice shot by F. Wood! MacGahee has intercepted the Quaffle! Now they are moving back up the field! Oh, good Porskoff Ploy! MacGahee faked Chrispin and Bumble into flying up and then dropped the Quaffle to Douglas. Brilliant! " Then came a thud and a curse as the announcer fell off his seat.
"Ouch! That's going to leave a mark! A wild Bludger hit Bumble as he went for the Quaffle! Well that's one Orange Chaser out of the game! And bloody amazing the Black team is today, scoring once more. The score is twenty to zero and that elusive Snitch seems to be hiding today. Robbins from Black and Smiles of Orange are seeking but they aren't having much luck. Just fifteen minutes before the Hufflepuff team is scheduled to have the field and the game will end. Will this be a to be continued or can they rap it up in the unlikely span of a quarter hour?"
"By the way Orange has the Quaffle and are approaching the goal post. Watch out! Close one Bidao. Black is very mean with those Bludgers..nice backhand Miss Caulkons. Oh it looks like Smiles has spotted the Snitch! He's diving! Robbins is after him. I don't see anything! Is it a very cruel Wronski Defensive Feint?"
"They are moving so quickly! Is someone going to pull up? The ground is nearing! They are neck and neck! There is the Snitch! Just a little farther! And Robbins gets it, oh and the crowd gets a nice view of her undies as she flips off her broom! Wow, go Black team! I'm sad to say I'm male after a game like that. One seventy, no wait, one eighty to zero. MacGahee scored during the Snitch dive! Terribly sorry to have missed it! Well good bye for now!" He finally finished, winning himself a smile from the ladies as he exited the booth. Brushing back his hair he grinned. "So, do you want me?"
"We all do. It's hard to control ourselves you sexy man you." Winnie Caulkons teased him.
Classes let out and the seven Hufflepuffs appeared in a neat little row. "You were playing without me!" Ryn looked at Celesta in surprise. "And I'm the captain and everything!"
"You get to play now, so be happy." Celesta handed her the Snitch. The Bludgers got shoved back in their box before the previously playing teams dispersed.
In the end Ryn forgave them, then set off in her uniform to impress Oliver Wood with a little fancy flying before he was chased off for spying on their team.
Fayal went to her room and checked on her familiar. The small white ferret bounced out of it's hiding place under her bed and came to her at her whistle. "How are you doing sweetie?" She picked her up and kissed her on the nose. "Nwyfiant, what have you been in to?" She was filthy.
"Must have found a mouse hole Aye?" She crawled under the bed and found a very large hole. She looked in and found a passage. "I'll have to investigate later. Well, let's seal that thing up for now." She made a magic wall patch before taking her dirty familiar in and giving her a bath.
"That will teach you. No going out on your own." She set the hopping mad ferret down and watched her spring up off the floor and do flips and rolls disgruntledly.
She met her friend and fellow Ravenclaw study girl MacGahee for dinner in the Ravenclaw common room. She was sitting before the fire, her womanly frame curled up in a chair. Her light brunet hair was parted smartly down the middle and flowed in waves to graze the chair just barely. Her fair complexion was lit with the firelight, accenting its rosy glow and gave her eyes an olive cast. She looked up and smiled as Fayal entered. "Hello!" She didn't have the deep accent Fayal did, but they both lived in the same region. In fact she was from the Muggle Village just a mile or so from Fayal's family home in the forest.
"'Ello, I hope you haven't been waiting long." She sat down and elves brought them food.
As soon as the last class of the day was over Fayal and Aurora scampered down to Hogsmeade and into the candy store. The owner of Honey Duke's looked up and smiled at them as they came in with a flush to their faces after their run. "Arrived this morning by a fleet of owls." He informed them as he reached under the counter.
A moment later he plopped a twenty-pound bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans on the counter. It made a nice thump as it landed. "I do enjoy your magazine ladies." He nodded at them.
They squealed and pounced on the bag. "Thank you!" They chimed before the two of them set off, lugging the bag back to Hogwarts. Once in the castle Aurora grinned at Winnie. "Round up people."
Soon the Ravenclaw common room was being treated like a club. Winnie charged three Sickles admittance. Even Flitwick came to play "Guess that Bertie Bott."
The old flavors that the girls didn't care for got used for the game and anyone could play. Then they tried the other flavors, getting 99% accuracy. Everyone thought it was interesting when Aurora tried a vomit flavored one and got excited because it was a different flavor vomit then before. "I think it was chicken noodle vomit."
"That is disgusting." Fayal frowned. "Oh my gosh, it's a soul flavor. And this one is happiness...Dementors!" She sprang to her feet and the two of them went skipping off.
"Mister Dementor, I've got a present for you!" Aurora held out her hand. The jellybeans were taken in utter confusion. Who give dementors presents but these freaks anyway? The dementor twitched and started moving away. "Awe, I think he liked it! Bye for now!" They skipped off.
She woke to an obnoxious growling. Ryn's eyes opened. She was face to face with an annoyed feathery one. "Wake up and feed me."
"Muh?" She blinked stupidly. Food? She sat up and stuck her feet over the side of the bed, stuffing them into slippers. Then she walked over to the supplies shelf and grabbed some Griffy-chow baby Griffin food. It clattered into a bowl and the bowl banged on the floor loudly as Ryn stumbled around groggily. Angry moaning from a near by bed made her glance over.
Blue. Celesta was a beautiful sky blue...This wasn't right. "Oh Bloody Broomsticks! I can't believe I'm still asleep."
Celesta picked her head up with a groan and blinked at her. "Would you shut up? Some people are still trying to sleep." A pillow was lobbed in her direction, missing by several feet.
"We are awake now. Might as well get up." Fayal got to her feet and stretched.
"But I'm asleep."
"Why do you say that?" Fayal got her clothes off of the chair and put them on.
"She's blue!" Ryn was nearing her hysterical tone.
"Didn't I tell you to take ah shower?!" Celesta was yelled at immediately.
"I stained. It won't come off."
"Cool, I want to be blue to!"
"Ok, let's go!" Celesta bounded out of bed and started for some clean clothes.
"Wear the ones already dirty." Fayal objected. Her wishes were met and they dashed out the door, breakfast forgotten. She got up with a sigh and washed the table off, made the beds, picked the wet towels off of the floor, and opened the window. She sat down and ordered herself up some scones and tea. A knock at the door startled her. She sat down her teacup with a rattle and stood. As she crossed the room to the door she pulled her robes on over her pink dressing gown. She turned the knob and pulled open the door and found to her surprise Madam Hooch standing at the door.
"Good morning. I've come to fetch my daughter." She said this briskly, hands folded in front of her.
"Good luck, she isn't here."
"Where is she?" The suspicious look she gave Fayal annoyed her slightly.
"Don't know." She shrugged. "If you'll excuse me, me tea is getting cold." The door was firmly placed between them. She didn't need torture this early in the morning. They didn't get along well. Madam Hooch had decided Celesta's faults had been as a result of Fayal's influence. She was older and therefore it was all her fault.
She got dressed and finished eating, giving her scraps to Bob. "Well, I'm going to get moving. I've opened the window for you. Have a good time exploring." Fayal hung out a colourful towel over the windowsill. "This is so you can find your way back. Later!" She went off to Snape's office.
She tapped softly on the door. "Open." It swung away from her to reveal he was putting away papers. "Good morning Fayal."
Lunchtime was a little less then usual. Fayal had been persuaded to come eat in the great hall because the sun was not shining. Her fair skin burned so easily that the enchanted ceiling would prove more sun then necessary for it to happen. She hardly ever showed herself in the great hall, preferring to eat in her room or in a teacher's office.
In seven years of varying attendance neither Ryn nor Celesta had learned the simple spell to bring food to their plates. This brought them into the room looking grumpy. Dumbledore grinned at them. "Ah, blue is such a nice colour on you both! I do hope though that you will be normally pigmented for the arrival of the new students. Have a seat." He patted the chair next to him. Everyone was spread out down the table looking like they could use naps. "Masque, wriggle, plump, thicket. Lovely words, don't you think?"
"Forest, summer, ping-pong, lattice." Celesta said in reply as she sat down and helped herself to some Potato soup.
"Ah yes, those are nice too. Lattice...Sum-mer...yes..." Dumbledore nodded to her.
"Are you sure you should be spreading yourself out in so many directions Miss Wood?" Professor McGonagall continued to speak with Fayal as they ate. "I mean, with your NEWTS and Salem Witches' Village of Learning preparing, do you really think it wise?"
"Ay got every OWL with top marks every year though I was taking Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle studies, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Divination. I am thinking of dropping Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies though I would like me NEWTS to include these subjects also...Would that be ok?"
"You git! I can't believe you still want NEWTS on subjects you aren't going to be taking." Celesta looked at her in disgust.
"I'd rather know if I can do it or not." She frowned. "And I like taking tests."
"Then by all means, take mine too!" Ryn offered generously from Celesta's side.
"Thanks, but I'll jest deal with what I have." She picked up an ice mouse from the plate and dispelled it before nibbling at the sweet. She hated for her food to protest to being eaten.
"I don't see what it would hurt for you to take my NEWT. If your scores in the class are unsuitable I will simply leave them out of your reports." Professor Vector smiled at her. The Arithmancy teacher was most supportive in her insane study schedule over the last several years. "You did most of this year's work over summer holidays anyway, didn't you?"
The question could have come from no other person. She was always popping up with piles of papers to be reviewed. That is how she unwound at the end of a busy day, or reciting potions. "Actually I finished the book." She looked sheepish. "The last chapter was amazing."
"Did you really understand the relationships?"
"Oh, Aye! I was surprised at how it fits in."
"Stop that! I can't eat with all this smart talking." Ryn whined into her pumpkin juice.
"Oh Hagrid, I must say, I think your text book is so sweet. I have learned loads from it. Not the usual Unicorns and fairies." She rolled the conversation along. "I believe you'll make an excellent teacher."
Hagrid beamed at her. She smiled back before noticing her toe was tapping something under the table as she wiggled it. She glanced down to see Snape's shoes. "Sorry! I didn't mean to!" She sat up properly.
He continued to look at her with a thoughtful air to him, then he returned to watching Ryn and Celesta being rowdy.
The time passed quickly, the girls helping teachers until the afternoon when they would go play flying-games on the Quidditch fields. In the evening they explored while Fayal read in the library or helped teachers. She was still getting ribbed for playing footsie with Snape at the table, even as they made their way in to mix with their tables as the Hogwarts students arrived. They where required to go to the opening feast.
They watched as the first years filed down the center of the room, looking scared to death. McGonagall lead them to stand before the head table and the sorting hat. Its mouth opened and song sprang forth from it.
I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
You can try me on with ease.
For I will tell you where to go,
Which house it ought to be.
Better Ravenclaw then Slytherin?
Of Gryffindor be thine?
Hufflepuff is a friendly lot,
Whose house will be made divine?
Now Ravenclaw is brainy,
They think things through and through.
Study, stead, right of mind;
Is Ravenclaw for you?
Then again there's Slytherin,
Ambition is the key!
Not matter what it takes,
They make sure they succeed.
Gryffindor is for the brave;
Heroics shining through!
If you rush in when things begin,
Then this house is for you.
Then there is one you'll find,
Friend even when you're in a bind,
Loyal, just, and always kind,
Keep Hufflepuff in mind.
Step right up and stick me on,
So the Sorting Hat will see;
Which house is meant for you,
The place you ought to be.
Everyone cheered as it finished singing. "Ambrosia, Abigail!" And so the sorting began as the forty new students found their home.
Fayal was remembering her sorting. She was a very shy child, but was excited about going off to school. Her eyes stretched wide as she took in the castle as the enchanted boats took them across the lake. Then they entered the school and her overly pale face had gone whiter as McGonagall spoke to them. A test?!? She had stayed still, frozen to the spot in shock as they had been called to enter the great hall.
She had read Hogwarts; A History several times but it had never spoken of this ritual sorting. A boy came back and seized her by the hand and dragged her along. He had large ears that stuck out oddly, but she greatly appreciated his hand. She had hidden behind him as the teachers eyed them from the great table. The crowd dwindled until a handful stood around her. "Shunpike, Stanley." The boy left her with a smile, marching off.
"Hufflepuff!"
She was suddenly standing alone. Everyone was looking at her. She examined the floor. "Wenderstil, Pernadina." McGonagall looked at her. She turned red and shook her head. "Where is she?" She looked around. "Hagrid, did you loose one?"
"No ma'am, couldn't have, counted them as they got in the boats and when I handed them off to you." The giant man told her. "Had all forty."
A tall man with dark stringy hair stood and exited a door to the left. "I'll look for her." And so the room sat and looked at the nervous country girl that had never been away from home in her life. A century later the teacher came back with a girl her age that was sobbing her eyes out. "Peeves had her on the ceiling." He said simply as he released her and went back to his seat, wiping his hand on a handkerchief as though she was dirty. Hushed whispering broke out among the students.
"Wenderstil, Pernadina." The deputy head mistress tried again. The girl staggered up and climbed onto the stool.
Silence was so thick Fayal could taste it. "Hufflepuff!"
The students all clapped and an older girl gave her a hanky and a hug.
"Wood, Fayal."
She walked quietly up the steps and sat on the stool. It wobbled slightly, being on a crack in the floor between stones. The hat fitted over her head. It spoke quietly to her, knowing her turmoil over which house would be suitable for her "Hummm...So unsure. Ambition! Ah yes, but fairness...Shy and quiet...but I see that will not last long. I could put you in Hufflepuff, but no, you will not enjoy it for long. Perfectionist that you are...Slytherin could be your house but think. You believe in equality, fairness, and sharing...now that is not the Slytherin way. Gryffindor is a definite no. You are cautions and fearful. Ah yes Ravenclaw is so right. Thinker, logic, study, passionate for learning... Don't you agree?"
"Aye." She whispered.
"Ravenclaw!!!" The hat announced as something hit her on the head. She shrieked and fell off the stool clutching the now bulky hat. She pulled it off to find a very large and heavy book in it. She blinked at it.
"You show great promise, it is a gift from Rowena Ravenclaw." Professor Dumbledore smiled at her. She wasn't sure how he got to be standing over her but she accepted the hand up he offered her. "Once you have finished your years at Hogwarts, please give it to a teacher so I may put it up for the next time someone is chosen." His eyes twinkled merrily. "Run along to your house table now."
She looked up as food appeared before her. "Did I miss anything Winnie?" She asked the nearest student. She had been far from this time.
"The usual, except for the dementors on Ministry of Magic business -because of Serious Black I believe- and Professor Lupin is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher-I think he's kind of cute, don't you-, and sweet old Hagrid is our Care of Magical Creatures teacher." Winnie, her friend told her.
"Mmm." She shrugged. "I guess he's cute. Dementors?"
"On the way here they got on the train, didn't you notice?"
"I wasn't on the train."
"Oh really? Well, anyway it was really terrible! They wore these big black robes and they smelled like death and their flesh was rotting and they sucked the happiness right out of you." She shuddered in her re-account of it.
"I'm glad you weren't hurt!" She smiled.
"I wasn't but that Potter boy, Harry I think is his name? Well he went and passed out on everyone when the dementor confronted him."
Fayal looked at the famous Harry Potter, who was looking rater pale, then glanced up at his least favorite teacher, only to see Snape looking loathingly at Lupin. "Hum, they must have been classmates."
"What?" Winnie looked at her.
"Uh, Professors Snape and Lupin. Nobody gives that look to a stranger. Don't you think?"
"Snape gives me that look every time I mix up pixie dust and ground unicorn horn. I doubt there is anything between them. Pass the bread."
"Sure." Fayal picked up the basket and offered it around. "So everything was ok, even though the dementors got on the train?"
"Yeah, but it was really creepy." Winnie brushed a strand of honey blond hair behind her ear. "Have you read 'An Expert's Guide To Transfiguration': chapter ten yet?"
"But of course! They could have gone a little more in depth before now. Have you decided if you will try it?"
"Oh yes, I'm certain that I will be an Animagus." Winnie looked quite set in her belief of her abilities.
"I hope you will be. I'm not trying. Just one more thing to complicate matters. I've never been great at transfiguration anyway. The only OWL I flopped completely." Fayal shrugged. "Which reminds me, I've got ah few papers to finish for McGonagall tomorrow. If you'll excuse me, I should get to the common room."
"Tomorrow? But it's the first day! Don't tell me you've put off our homework until tonight!?" Winnie looked at her incredulously as she followed her out of the great hall.
"Nonono! It's a study retreat entrance paper of some kind to complete. I'm not sure exactly what they want out of me, but I've got stacks of papers to write and I suck at transfiguration." She explained herself quickly as they went along. "The teachers are helping me by getting everything ready to send off before Christmas when it's due. You know, avoiding the rush is best."
"Well, I'll proof read for you. Let's go!" They made their way to the Ravenclaw common room. I can't believe you want to go to that village. They are twice as strict as Hogwarts."
"Book Worm Wit!" She told the painting before stepping through the wall. "And the best Witches' school in the world aside from the African one and the Bermuda Triangle. I may take some classes with them as well. Just Herbology and Potions, but I do hope I am able." They flopped down on a cushy couch. "Both Professors Snape and Sprout are sending letters and examples of my work to the schools to see if they will make allowances for me."
"If Snape is writing a letter of recommendation, then you know it's in the bag. Now let's see those papers."
Starting off the first day of school was the ideal way for everyone to begin their years except for McGonagall and Celesta. Professor McGonagall nearly made everyone cry at 9:05 the first morning. "Oh no, Professor McGonagall, PLEASE?!" Ryn wailed as she was handed a quiz. She chewed her lip, knowing her life was over.
"That's enough out of you. I know you can do this." Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Hsu, get the anti-cheating quills out of the cabinet." She continued to hand out the papers.
A small oriental girl from Hufflepuff got up and went over to the storage area. A moment later a scream pierced the air, echoing down the halls. The horror in it made several students break out in goose pimples and seize their wands. Mass confusion began.
"For heaven sake Laura Hsu, what is it?!" McGonagall looked furious as she turned around. Little green worms were inching their way across the stone floor.
"Inch worms are so cute!" Celesta got one to climb on her finger and began playing with it. Yes, this was the way she liked life.
"Robbins, turn them back this instant!"
"Me? Turn what back? What did I do?" She looked at the flaring nostrils and burning eyes and looked meek.
"The worms, return them to quills this instant!" Any sane person would have done it right then, and then died after soiling themselves, but Celesta was never accused of being sane.
"How? I didn't do this! I was all the way over here and my wand is in my bag! I haven't been near that cabinet in three days and those little things would have crawled out the cracks before now." She resorted to grumbling. She wasn't someone that people believed easily. "I'm not the only one that plays practical jokes around here." Her lip was poked out.
"Fine, ten points to the house that is first to bring back one of our quills." McGonagall went to her desk and began reading. Ryn actually won the ten points for Hufflepuff and then told everyone the spell. Before they could start the test class was over.
Everyone thanked Celesta as they left the class. "Thank you! I'll be here all year. I do parties. Oh and pretty boys..." Her eyes drifted down a prime piece of beefcake she passed in the hall. He grinned back at her. Yes, there were a few good things about Gryffindor...Very good.
Maybe Celesta had a little too much sugar before the next class. Ok, so a five-pound bag liquefied and fed directly into her bloodstream would have been less of an indulgence. Potions was a quiet class with little to no moving aside from bending over the tables and cauldrons. Sugar and quiet don't mix well.
She drummed her fingers as Ryn's eyes watered with barely contained tears. "I'm going to fail. I can't cook..." The liquid was supposed to be pink but it was shocking red. "What did I du?!"
"Reduce the heat. Add the candlum." Fayal was working on another project in front of them she had started in the last class. After clearing it with Flitwick through the fire and floo powder method she had picked something that threatened to take until lunch to complete. Despite that she was muttering helpfully when they needed it. "Stop banging on the table!" She looked annoyed at Celesta.
She stood up...from her seat on the table. A few boys got an eye full as she loomed over them from her new perch. "I'm bigger then you!" She chimed childishly. "Hi boys, look, leopard print!" Money was exchanged under the tables and mutters of tiger and checks.
Snape snapped his chalk in two at her yelling. He turned and nearly got his eyebrows tied together in the middle of his face scowling. "Get down!"
"Oh no it's Snapezilla, dun dun, dun dun, wahhhh!" She ducked as Snape sent a bolt of lightening in her direction. "What are you trying to do, kill me?!"
"Why no Miss Robbins, I wouldn't want the netherworlds plagued with you before they absolutely have to. I was just trying to get you off of the desk. Please take your seat."
"Ok Daddy." Celesta did as she was told, sitting more properly in her seat then ever before. Her hands folded neatly in her lap as she smiled up sweetly at Snape.
He blanched. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" His voice seemed choked and strained as he over-pronounced his words.
"What ever do you mean? I didn't call you anything Daddy." Showing how truly remarkable she was, she managed to keep a strait face as his mouth twitched at the corner and his eyebrows twisted unnaturally.
"I am not your father. I detest that word and I will not allow you to call me that." He didn't hiss his words, but rather grumbled them.
Laura was hiding behind her cauldron least she be noticed. Jen Veagan was wincing. This was very bad.
Fayal had stopped writing to watch the show. She had never noticed it before but their teeth where similar as well as the hair that always looked kind of overly shiny and hung in clumps that flipped on the ends. Then there were their nasty streaks. Both had large ones. This probably is what gave her pal the idea for the new teacher torture.
"But don't you like me Daddy?" Some how she had tears in her eyes. The ham!
His hand covered his face. It was his "You have given me a head ache" stance. "Class, finish your invisible ink potion, then write your name in it on a piece of paper and leave it on my desk. Anyone's who isn't on my desk gets a zero for the day. You may leave when you are done." He turned and stormed out the door.
"Well, that was a new twist." Ryn blinked. "So all we have to do is put paper on his desk?"
"Budge-up your brain. He's got ah visible potion. Make the potion and go." The Ravenclaw girl put some green liquid in a vile. It cooled and turned teal. "Perfect..." She completed her work and began cleaning up.
"I don't get this...He didn't finish writing the ingredients!" Someone wailed behind her.
"Nice going Robbins!" A dried toad was hurled across the room. Robbie- one of the Ravenclaws- had managed to stop flirting with his partner long enough to notice it wasn't Nathan's- a Slytherin- fault that they had a problem with getting their work done.
"Everyone's a critic." She frowned at them.
Tim chuckled at the situation, before shrugging to Ryn. He was one of the least noticed Hufflepuffs.
"Ok people, I think we should start with discussing which plants have invisibility potential." Fayal stood up and turned around to the class. "There are three ways to identify them. Who knows one?"
Everyone began working together to live through the class except Celesta who had lost her quill and was hunting for it under her desk.
They made it through the class and were writing their names on paper when Fayal took her leave, racing down the hallway and off to Flitwick's class. Breathless and flushed she made it to his classroom as her cousin Oliver preformed a spell. "Ah Fayal, how good of you to join us." Flitwick teased her. "You've missed your turn, but you may go now."
She stood up and preformed the charm gracefully. "Wonderful, exemplary spell casting Mister and Miss Wood."
She looked over to see her Ravenclaw friend Aurora smiling at her.
Fayal filled the plate in the room and left it for the girls. She was eating in the Great Hall since it was dreary and Tobes was going to give her notes on Charms. She met him in the hall and he led her to the table. They sat together and took out their supplies. She glanced over the papers he had before turning back to the first page. "I've never thought of doing it that way."
"Professor discovered it by accident a number of years ago. Most people don't trust that way though."
Fayal scrawled a few sentences on the parchment she brought before looking up as a boy flopped down in front of him. He looked up. Thomas Bumble...He got up hurriedly with his hand clamped over his pocket and went to the other end of the table. She went beat red in remembrance.
It was a little over a month into lessons her first year and she sat across from Thomas. They were eating when something cold, with scrabbly feet, and rough skin went up her skirt. She shrieked and tried to jump out of her seat. Instead with the movement of her hands she cleared the end quarter of the table with an unbridled power, while she went flying across the room and crashed into the wall next to Slytherin table. Her eyes were wide with shock as the room looked at her startled. Then her eyes had rolled up in her head and she had fallen the twelve feet to the floor.
She had been told by Winnie that Snape had hurried over to her and checked her pulse, magicked a stretcher and took her to the nurse before anyone else reacted. It could have been that he was the closest, but she liked to believe it was her first day, telling him that she would be the best in potions no matter what he thought of her after his condescending speech. Dumbledore magicked the food off of the Ravenclaw students and new food appeared, not that most of them were up for eating it.
Thomas had been afraid of her ever since and she was prejudice against toads. For his had caused the scene. It had also made her a feared child. Even though everyone knew her family, there were rumors of her being you-know-who's daughter. She began Divination almost immediately because her third eye was developing quickly and she needed control.
Fayal stuck her things in her room and went skipping off to Herbology with a big rimmed witch's hat on to shield her from the sun. "Good morning class, to day we are going to be working on dancing fox glove. They are tricky to prune properly since they are so jumpy but I believe you are ready to try. So get in pairs and we will begin." Logan O'Neal asked her to be his partner. She accepted and they went to work. Before long the Fox Gloves had begun to lob dirt at them. Celesta was the first to become nothing but a mound of dirt, her glasses were all that remained of her. Her partner had to dig her out.
She felt a pang of guilt for making Aurora her partner. She was a major in Herbology and having such an uninterested partner was a crime. She did think it was amusing though, her teeth showing as she grinned. Her light brunet hair was swept back in a ponytail as she set to finding her lost partner.
Her extremely curvy figure caught the attention of several boys as she worked and Sprout realizing nothing was going to be done by the male students with her bending over like that lent a hand. Finally a very muddy Celesta was retrieved, though Aurora had dirt smudges on her face. Her green eyes dawned a golden hue.
"Now, let's actually do it this time." She tugged playfully on a piece of Celesta's hair.
"No Problem MacGahee, I'm done playing I'm the buried treasure." Then she smacked Nathan for saying something dirty. Robbie was encouraged to say something more naughty. He defended himself by hiding behind his Fox Glove.
Mean while in Defence against the Dark Arts Lupin had set a couple of Catermongs on the class after giving them instruction. He neglected to tell them that Catermongs were cat-sized coach-roaches that spit acid.
It was an amazing sight as most of the female students and a few males all screams and started running in circles. Ryn started crying and tried to get away as they all decided to chase her. Oliver Wood dived in front of her and cast an ice spell. She clutched the back of his robes, burying her face in his shoulders as he held them off before Lupin finally petrified them and put them away. Oliver held Ryn until she calmed down. "It's ok, they are gone."
Lupin sighed. "I suppose we will have to try that again next week."
"I don't want to see those things ever again!" A Girl told him emphatically.
"Oh dear, this isn't something we can just skip. If you can't handle Catermongs, how will you ever hold a match to a Kibberwakie?" He smiled kindly at them. "For the rest of this week, we will practice spells to use on one."
Oliver walked with Ryn to History of Magic and they passed notes while the teacher tried to bore them to death. Hey, he bored himself into the next life, they knew he could do it to them. He wrote of Quidditch strategies with her commenting on them. After that they began discussing the history of Quidditch.
Celesta and Fayal scrubbed up and went on to Defence against the Dark Arts. Lupin gave a lengthy lecture on Catermongs then let one out. The thing was so frozen that it would take hours to thaw. He let the rest out and soon they all stood motionless. "Well, I am impressed. Or perhaps I should be disappointed in my other class?" He leaned against the wall.
Fayal was looking rather green. "May we be dismissed?" She asked weakly.
"Yes. Run along. Have a good day."
Celesta, Fayal, and the other students lumped out the door and out side. "Let's have a game of Quidditch!" Celesta called her broom before anyone could agree or disagree.
"I'm not sure..."
"Come on, Snapekins made you that potion in case, use it and let's have some fun." Celesta grinned. "I'll go ask mom for the balls."
Fayal sighed as everyone else began teaming up. Fun and flying had not been used together in the same sentence since her catastrophe in the great hall her first year. She had never felt safe on a broom again, though her wonderful potions Professor made her a remedy for temporary courage boosting. She hardly needed to take it any more, but in nine years she had never gone back to enjoying flying, much to the disappointment of her family. Wood and Finnigan, the two largest Quidditch families in Europe and she was afraid of flying.
Madam Hooch had been less understanding of her fear then Snape, making her so hysterical she was ill all down Hooch's robes. This was a relationship doomed from the start and she -who had been competing in Junior Quidditch Leagues since she had been six- failed flying lessons in the first hour.
Despite failing she was on the Girls' Quick Quidditch team as beater and coach. Basically anyone could be on it, but your year had to have seven players at the least of your sex. There were five backups and two from Slytherin and one from Ravenclaw had a chance to play since Gryffindor and Hufflepuff houses were still in classes. The boys had just as many backups playing. No first, second, or third year teams existed at the moment.
There was a rumor that McGonagall was making rules so Quick-teams couldn't be formed anymore. It was not fair if it was true since only seven students per house could play in real games, really, twenty-eight students out of two hundred eighty? That is only one in ten and not very entertaining for anyone else who wants to play.
As Celesta and a Slytherin boy carried the chest onto the field she took out a little bottle and swallowed the thick blue liquid inside. It was horrid and nearly took the curl out of her hair as she shuddered. The boys pulled on orange robes as the girls got their brooms and cleared up who was what. Aurora was playing, which made Fayal happy.
A boy volunteered to be announcer and he climbed up to Lee Jordan's seat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, today's Quick-match is the first of the year and no wonder because it's the first day of classes! On the Orange team are the Seventh year boys. On the black team are their opposing girls. Captain of Girls is in class, so Coach Wood is taking her place. Let's see a good game everyone! Right so Parker is releasing the balls. Here is the pitch and the Quaffle goes to Black team! Great move by MacGahee! It takes talent to move like that on a Comet 260!"
She swirled around and passed the ball. "The ball moves down the field. First to Douglas, then Perry, back to MacGahee oh fake! Perry gets it to Douglas who shoots. The Quaffle made it by Orange team temp keeper Leagues, despite a great weaving technique! Ten points Black team!"
The cheer was lousy since only four spectated. Three where girls. "Oh! With out waiting a second Orange captures the ball! Chrispin is zooming down the field. Ooh, Bludger sends him veering off course. Nice shot by F. Wood! MacGahee has intercepted the Quaffle! Now they are moving back up the field! Oh, good Porskoff Ploy! MacGahee faked Chrispin and Bumble into flying up and then dropped the Quaffle to Douglas. Brilliant! " Then came a thud and a curse as the announcer fell off his seat.
"Ouch! That's going to leave a mark! A wild Bludger hit Bumble as he went for the Quaffle! Well that's one Orange Chaser out of the game! And bloody amazing the Black team is today, scoring once more. The score is twenty to zero and that elusive Snitch seems to be hiding today. Robbins from Black and Smiles of Orange are seeking but they aren't having much luck. Just fifteen minutes before the Hufflepuff team is scheduled to have the field and the game will end. Will this be a to be continued or can they rap it up in the unlikely span of a quarter hour?"
"By the way Orange has the Quaffle and are approaching the goal post. Watch out! Close one Bidao. Black is very mean with those Bludgers..nice backhand Miss Caulkons. Oh it looks like Smiles has spotted the Snitch! He's diving! Robbins is after him. I don't see anything! Is it a very cruel Wronski Defensive Feint?"
"They are moving so quickly! Is someone going to pull up? The ground is nearing! They are neck and neck! There is the Snitch! Just a little farther! And Robbins gets it, oh and the crowd gets a nice view of her undies as she flips off her broom! Wow, go Black team! I'm sad to say I'm male after a game like that. One seventy, no wait, one eighty to zero. MacGahee scored during the Snitch dive! Terribly sorry to have missed it! Well good bye for now!" He finally finished, winning himself a smile from the ladies as he exited the booth. Brushing back his hair he grinned. "So, do you want me?"
"We all do. It's hard to control ourselves you sexy man you." Winnie Caulkons teased him.
Classes let out and the seven Hufflepuffs appeared in a neat little row. "You were playing without me!" Ryn looked at Celesta in surprise. "And I'm the captain and everything!"
"You get to play now, so be happy." Celesta handed her the Snitch. The Bludgers got shoved back in their box before the previously playing teams dispersed.
In the end Ryn forgave them, then set off in her uniform to impress Oliver Wood with a little fancy flying before he was chased off for spying on their team.
Fayal went to her room and checked on her familiar. The small white ferret bounced out of it's hiding place under her bed and came to her at her whistle. "How are you doing sweetie?" She picked her up and kissed her on the nose. "Nwyfiant, what have you been in to?" She was filthy.
"Must have found a mouse hole Aye?" She crawled under the bed and found a very large hole. She looked in and found a passage. "I'll have to investigate later. Well, let's seal that thing up for now." She made a magic wall patch before taking her dirty familiar in and giving her a bath.
"That will teach you. No going out on your own." She set the hopping mad ferret down and watched her spring up off the floor and do flips and rolls disgruntledly.
She met her friend and fellow Ravenclaw study girl MacGahee for dinner in the Ravenclaw common room. She was sitting before the fire, her womanly frame curled up in a chair. Her light brunet hair was parted smartly down the middle and flowed in waves to graze the chair just barely. Her fair complexion was lit with the firelight, accenting its rosy glow and gave her eyes an olive cast. She looked up and smiled as Fayal entered. "Hello!" She didn't have the deep accent Fayal did, but they both lived in the same region. In fact she was from the Muggle Village just a mile or so from Fayal's family home in the forest.
"'Ello, I hope you haven't been waiting long." She sat down and elves brought them food.
As soon as the last class of the day was over Fayal and Aurora scampered down to Hogsmeade and into the candy store. The owner of Honey Duke's looked up and smiled at them as they came in with a flush to their faces after their run. "Arrived this morning by a fleet of owls." He informed them as he reached under the counter.
A moment later he plopped a twenty-pound bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans on the counter. It made a nice thump as it landed. "I do enjoy your magazine ladies." He nodded at them.
They squealed and pounced on the bag. "Thank you!" They chimed before the two of them set off, lugging the bag back to Hogwarts. Once in the castle Aurora grinned at Winnie. "Round up people."
Soon the Ravenclaw common room was being treated like a club. Winnie charged three Sickles admittance. Even Flitwick came to play "Guess that Bertie Bott."
The old flavors that the girls didn't care for got used for the game and anyone could play. Then they tried the other flavors, getting 99% accuracy. Everyone thought it was interesting when Aurora tried a vomit flavored one and got excited because it was a different flavor vomit then before. "I think it was chicken noodle vomit."
"That is disgusting." Fayal frowned. "Oh my gosh, it's a soul flavor. And this one is happiness...Dementors!" She sprang to her feet and the two of them went skipping off.
"Mister Dementor, I've got a present for you!" Aurora held out her hand. The jellybeans were taken in utter confusion. Who give dementors presents but these freaks anyway? The dementor twitched and started moving away. "Awe, I think he liked it! Bye for now!" They skipped off.