Two

The first day of classes back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been quite uneventful, and July Merriwether was relieved when the final bell of the day sounded. She hastily bottled her Adrenaline solution and cleaned up her working area at the last table of the classroom. Potions had never been easy for her, and she knew, before handing the small vile over to Professor Slughorn, that she most definitely had failed. Somehow, the year previous, she had managed an Outstanding O.W.L to her great surprise. Slughorn, as foul as he could be, managed to sneak a snide remark after every one of her terrible potions lessons that July did not belong there. Today was no exception.

"As usual miss Merriwether," he sneered taking the vile from July's hand and plunking it unceremoniously beside the others, "Your inability to brew a competent potion never ceases to amaze."

July glared back, biting her tongue as not to say what was truly on her mind. Instead she angrily walked back to her things, wrenching her bag over her shoulder without a word, the last to leave the classroom. It was not until she was out into the hall that her twin sister April caught up with her.

"Oi! Jules!" She grabbed a hold of July's backpack, "What's wrong? Never mind. Comon', we need to get to the Common Room!"

"What's so great there?" She asked, as April guided her through the halls until they had reached the Fat Lady—the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Because I've just heard something," there was a hint of excitement in her voice that made July cringe. Usually she and her sister had very different views on what was good, and what was bad.

"Grappledirk," April said absentmindedly to the Fat Lady who swung open at once. She had still not let go of July's bag and pulled her through the entrance. "Go on," she said at once, nodding to four boys sitting next to the fireplace. "Tell her!"

July wrenched herself free from April's grasp and put her bag down beside her favorite comfy chair by the fire. A timid-looking third year hastily grabbed his things and moved to the other side of the Common Room. Under normal circumstances July would have apologized and allowed him to stay where he had been, but potions had put her in a foul mood.

"All right Merriwether?" Asked James Potter looking up from his copy of the Evening Prophet as though he had not heard April at all.

July shrugged noncommittally, "How'd you get up here so fast?"

"Moony," James replied simply.

Remus Lupin gave July a guilty smile. She sighed greatly, "Can I please sit with you next class? I'm rubbish at potions, and that awful woman is out to make me fail! I shouldn't have passed last year! I really should have listened to my mother when she told me not to become an Auror. But did I listen? No! Of course not! And now—"

April gave a loud, hacking cough from behind the group (and cleared her throat several times for good measure), all of whom turned to look at her. "Thank you," she said staring pointedly at July, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Potter, tell her!"

"Tell me what?" asked July, curious, though her frustration with potions had not disappeared.

"Oh!" Said James. "I was telling April in potions, Filch has an assistant!"

There was a dull pause following this statement. July blinked at the self-proclaimed 'Marauders' and frowned, "What do you mean Mrs. Norris?"

"No, not that bloody cat," said Sirius Black, stealing a handsome grin to April, who blushed furiously. "A person, a squib from the looks of it."

"Why on earth would Dumbledore allow that man to have an assistant?"

"Maybe Filch is leaving soon?" Suggested April hopefully.

"Filch will stay here forever out of spite."

"Then why!"

"No one knows!" Piped up Peter Pettigrew who had already taken to copying Remus' notes from that day's History of Magic lesson. "I heard he's actually a Muggle…"

April scoffed from behind her sister, "Don't be stupid! Muggles can't come in Hogwarts, it's impossible."

"You've finally read Hogwarts, A History, I gather?" asked Remus.

"No, I just listen to July."

"Look," said July, sounding tired. "What does it matter if there's another Filch roaming the halls?"

"It may not matter to you July, but this could put quite a damper on this years high jinks." said James.

Sirius' gray eyes glinted with a malevolent smile, "Or he could make this year much more enjoyable."

July had gone to bed that night in a much better mood after forgetting about potions. The night before Sirius and April had gone off to 'talk', though July knew that they had gone off to some empty classroom to snog. James and Peter were thinking of new, more complicated ways of making Filch's job harder, especially now that he had an apprentice of sorts. But July and Remus had been able to speak freely, which was hard to come by. He was quite good in potions and had suggested that he help her during free time. She had of course accepted, and they had planned to have their first lesson the day after next. She lay in bed, watching the sun rise, as she thought about having decent marks in Potions for once.

On other matters, as far as she knew the idea of Filch having a new assistant just seemed to be a bit out of character for the school and their headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. And this new guy couldn't be a Muggle unless some sort of miracle had occurred that allowed this one Muggle into the school. How could that possibly be though? She didn't buy it for a minute and she was convinced that it was all just clever gossip.

July felt a wand poke her arm and looked over from her bed to her twin who was grinning. "We've got Defense Against the Dark Arts in a half hour and you're not out of bed yet. Studying late with Remus last night were you?"

The cheeks of July's face tinged red. "What's it to you? There's nothing between us Apes," she replied hotly, using her twin's least favorite nickname. "As much as you think there might be there is not. You hated the lot of them until last year."

"Yeah before I discovered just how good of a snogger Sirius is." She beamed mischievously. Sitting up in bed she threw her covers back away from her and stood, facing the floor length mirror in the middle of the circular dormitory. With a snap of her fingers she was dressed in her Hogwarts uniform. The gray cardigan, small female version of the crimson and gold tie, and her gray pleated skirt were all neatly in place. Always the fashion critic she had to dress herself nicely and to dress up her uniform a bit, she picked out shiny black, low heels to wear on her feet.

July grinned. "You really did pick up that wandless crap well last year," she mildly complemented her, not wanting to see her twin's head grow any larger than it was. "Why not just," she snapped her fingers, "Your shoes as well?"

"I haven't been able to get that to work yet," her twin frowned. "They end up on my hands and that does me no good. I can really only do basics without the wand," she sniffed snootily. A trait she was known for at school. "You're just jealous as it is.

"And hurry up; we've got to get going."

"You just like that class because our professor is cute this year."

"Well last year's was horrid, Jules! The man had a mole the size of a galleon on his cheek and a little black-"

"APRIL! Please. Don't remind us of that," came an amused voice from their bedchamber. Lily Evans had awoken as well and was hurriedly changing into her uniform for the day. "How did we all sleep in so late?"

July shrugged, happy that her friend was now awake. She and Lily Evans got along famously and she had, the previous night, agreed to also assist July with Potions before huffing angrily from the room after a rude remark from James Potter.

April frowned and walked to the dormitory doors. "Who knows? Well… I know why I did," she said, a gleam in her eyes as she walked out and shut the door to the dorm behind her. But before it shut with a quiet click, Lily and July heard a loud cat call as her boisterous twin entered the common room, the call more than likely coming from her boyfriend, Sirius himself.

July moved down the hall quickly, the last period of the day looming ahead. It had been a long day, this Tuesday of the week being the longest class day she had scheduled. First Defense Against the Dark Arts, then Muggle Studies, a free period, then Potions again, and lastly Charms. Ugh. Charms would be tedious for her, as it was her best subject and one she picked up on with little to no trouble.

She almost bumped into him before she noticed him. He was she had to admit, very handsome. Dark black hair that shone with what appeared to blue, as jet black hair did. He was tanned. Muscularly built, a big kid. She was about five foot five and the top of her head still only reached his chin.

"Sorry," he mumbled a quick apology. He then met her eyes. They too were very dark, almost black to the point where one could barely distinguish the iris from the pupil.

"That's alright," July said kindly as he made to move out of her way. She knew April would murder her later if she didn't find out who this new person was. April liked to pretend she knew everyone in Hogwarts. And sadly, July admitted, she seemed to. Her sister was the Social Butterfly (a cute little term she'd picked up in her Muggle Studies class) of the school. "I don't believe we've met. July Merriwether," she smiled and extended her hand to the handsome young man.

Aiden Burke frowned. The first student to actually pay him any mind. Odd. But then again after a full two days at this… school of sorts… everything in his life seemed odd now. Magic of all things. Bunch of rubbish. The Filch fellow he'd been assigned to help out around never talked about it, and seemed to be damned foul about it when it did come up. Proving that this Albus Dumbledore was a quack and all his supposed students with him. "Aiden Burke," he said slowly, shaking her hand in return.

"So Filch really does have an assistant then. Interesting." She bit her lip, tilting her head to the side. "You'll think I'm a complete prat if I ask you…"

Aiden shook his head, smiling at the pretty girl before him. (And pretty was an understatement. The girl before him had platinum blonde hair that hinted at shining silver and crystal blue eyes.) He was, after almost a full two days of being tailed by a suspicious cat, craving some human interaction. "No, go ahead."

"Well, it just seems logical…" She collected her question. "You can't be a wizard."

Just the fact that she asked him had him classifying her as a complete psycho as well. He'd yet to see any magic after all. "Err. No." She seemed relieved. Weird.

"Well I didn't think you could be or you'd be taking classes here at Hogwarts. So you're a Squib then?"

He squirmed a bit, uncomfortable now with her questions. He didn't need to interact with any of these people who thought they could do magic. Ridiculous. "I think the old guy called me a Muggle."

July shook her head, floored by the very idea. "You must be the absolute first Muggle to ever come in Hogwarts. I've never heard of that ever!"

"I know, no Muggles can get into Hogwarts, Dumbledore explained everything. Though he still didn't seem able to explain how I found this place—neither can I to be honest. It was just a broken down building when I first saw it, and then, when I woke up, there it was!"

She blinked several times, taking it in. "Fascinating," she said softly.

The enchanted bell rang throughout the hallway, the late bell. "Oh hell," July muttered moodily. "First day of Charms and I'm already late. Hey I've got to run, but I'll see you around okay? Stop by the Gryffindor table during lunch some time. You can sit with us if you'd like. And good luck with Filch."

He smiled. "I'll do that, thanks. And yeah, he's a laugh," he scoffed. "If I could do 'magic' he'd be the first one I went after. See you later," and he turned and walked down the hall.

And as July hurried off to class she was left with an uneasy feeling about this Aiden Burke, but brushed it away as she reached Charms and made a hasty excuse to the professor.