Here is chapter two. I apologize for the typos. I am exhausted! Hope you love it!
Chapter Two Another Laugh
Sunday night was the night the students first arrived on the Hogwarts Express. The staff was waiting, already sitting at the long staff table.
"There are four Houses," Professor Longbottom told Ella. He had proven to be very friendly and had helped her put her classroom together, given her a tour of the castle, and even shown her his greenhouses.
"The first years will be sorted tonight," Neville added.
Ella nodded. The high ceiling was showing a very starry sky, rare for England, and she wished she could show Marie and Giselle that they were wrong about England being dreary. A moment later the far doors opened and a wave of students rushed to get to their tables.
"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." Neville pointed to each table.
After the students were settled in, a line of smaller, younger students walked in and stood uncertainly before the staff table. Professor McGonagall walked in behind them carrying a stool and a battered, patched hat.
She set the hat on the stool and took her place in the middle of the staff table. Abruptly, the hat began to sing. Ella had never seen anything quite like the hat before and she listened as it described each of the four Houses. Gryffindor was brave, Ravenclaw was intelligent, Slytherin was cunning, and Hufflepuff accepted all the rest.
Professor McGonagall stood again, this time holding a roll of parchment. "When I call your name step forward and take a seat on the stool."
The first name was called and a small girl with a long, blonde plait down her back sat on the stool. Professor McGonagall dropped the hat onto her head and it covered the girl's eyes completely.
"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted.
The girl stood up and hurried to her new table, its old occupants cheering loudly for her.
Professor McGonagall read the rest of the names and then the stool and Sorting Hat were taken away.
"Now for a quick introduction before we begin our feast," Professor McGonagall said. The statement was met with quite a few groans. The headmistress pressed on. "Professor Hawthorne will be taking over History of Magic this term as Professor Binns has decided to retire."
Ella stood up and the groans turned into cat calls and wolf whistles.
"Bet she'll make that class more interesting!" A rowdy, older Gryffindor yelled to his mates.
"That's enough!" Professor McGonagall said sternly and with those words food appeared on all the plates.
"I think they like you," Neville said with a slight chuckle.
The next morning, Ella was sitting at her desk waiting on her first class. She had arranged and rearranged her papers in her nervousness. Finally, the children marched in nervously, trying not to be the first one in the classroom. The class consisted of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first years.
"Good morning," Ella greeted them. "Take a seat."
The students did so quickly and quietly.
"Please take out your books and read the first lesson. We'll start our discussion in fifteen minutes."
Ella's first class went by incredibly smoothly. Most of the classes of younger students went the same. However, as the students got older they became harder to manage.
The last class of Ella's day was seventh years from Slytherin and Gryffindor. On top of hating each other, they were anxious to be done with their first day back and they only had a new teacher to try and control them.
"So what are you gonna teach us?" A good looking Gryffindor boy asked.
"Are you talking to me?" Ella asked. "If you are, you will address me as Professor Hawthorne."
"You don't look like any professor we've ever had," the boy replied.
"What's your name?" Ella asked.
"Ethan," the boy said smoothly.
"Alright, so now I can call you by your name and you can call me by mine," Ella said, a little irritated.
"You haven't told me your name though," Ethan winked at Ella and all of the other boys, including the Slytherins, burst out laughing.
Ella did her best to try and teach for what remained of the class.
By the time her last class on Friday, the same group as Monday, was over Ella was ready to hang it up. Her younger classes had continued to behave for her, but the older ones, as if sensing her lack of experience and control on the situation had only gotten worse.
She sat in her desk with her head in her hands, almost ready to accept defeat.
"Come back when you need another laugh." The red haired man popped into her head and brought the faintest smile to her lips.
Ella certainly could've used a laugh and since she was a Head of House she didn't have any weekend obligations at the castle.
Standing up and leaving her classroom, Ella decided she was going back to Diagon Alley. She went to her rooms and changed into her normal clothes.
She walked right out of the Entrance Hall and down the path to where she could Disapparate away.
"Hey!" Someone called from one of the greenhouses as Ella walked by. She turned to see Neville. "Are you going somewhere?" He asked.
"Just away from here for a while," Ella replied, smiling at her newfound friend.
"The first week is always the hardest!" Neville shouted to her retreating form.
Ella made it outside the gates and in a second she was in Diagon Alley again. It was a very lively place on a Friday evening.
Pushing against the crowd she tried to make her way to the joke shop and it took her a while to finally get there.
When she did get there she was again pushing against a crowd. A black man with braided hair was ushering several people out of the door.
"Sorry love, we're closing," the man said.
"Oh alright." Ella nodded and turned to leave.
"Lee, she can come in!" The red haired man appeared above the crowd.
The other man reached a hand out to Ella and pulled her through the bustling crowd, shutting the door on the cobbled street.
"I was worried I wouldn't see you again," George said.
"Luckily for you I always need a laugh." Ella smiled.
George seemed to study for a moment. "You do seem to be in need of a good laugh," he observed. "Maybe more so than the last time I saw you."
Ella laughed. "It's much worse than last time."
"Then perhaps you could use something stronger than a laugh."
"Are you a mind reader, Mr. Weasley?" Ella asked.
"Mr. Weasley is my father. Call me George." He grinned down at her. "And no I am not a mind reader. There's a bar right down the street though."
"Great." They began to leave the store.
"Can you lock up, Lee?" George called over his shoulder.
"You got it, mate!" Lee yelled back.
"So what has you so stressed out?" George asked, his sentence trailing at the end as he didn't yet know her name.
Ella realized she hadn't introduced herself yet. "I'm Ella Hawthorne," she told him. "And I am extremely stressed because I started a new job this week."
George nodded. "What kind of job?"
"You're actually looking at the new professor of History of Magic at Hogwarts." Ella walked through the bar door that George held open for her.
"How old are you?" He asked, leading her to the bar.
"Old enough to be a professor," she retorted.
George laughed out loud. "That's not what I mean. I don't remember you from school is all."
Ella laughed with him. "Oh. That's because I went to Beauxbatons."
"But you're English?" George seemed confused.
"Yes I am, but my parents though Beauxbatons would be better for me." Ella shrugged.
"I knew I would've remembered you," George said smoothly.
Ella ignored the comment. "So what House were you in?" She asked.
"Gryffindor," he responded proudly.
"Those are the boys that are giving me the most problems!" Ella exclaimed.
"We are a rather arrogant sort." George grinned.
The bartender finally took their drink orders.
"I'll just have a Butterbeer, please," George said.
The bartender looked at Ella. "Same?"
"No thank you. I'll have a firewhiskey please. Make it a double."
George was looking at her, nodding his head. "Impressive."
Their drinks came and Ella tossed hers back with ease. "So what should I do about those Gryffindor boys?"
"Shut them down. They're probably good looking; decent Quidditch players who have never had anything go wrong for them." George sipped his Butterbeer.
"Okay."
They parted ways a couple of hours later.
"Let me know how it goes next week," George said just before Ella disappeared.
The time for Ella's last class on Monday rolled around and her palms were sweating.
"You're looking good today, Professor Hawthorne," Ethan said as he strolled into the classroom.
Ella ignored him until everyone was sitting down.
"Ethan, let's have a talk," Ella said calmly.
"You sure you want to do that in front of everyone?" He gave her one of his signature winks and there was a roar of laughter.
"Look, I understand that you're probably a very good Quidditch player and an above average looking kid that most girls would die to be around. Now what you have to understand is that my classroom is not the Quidditch pitch and I'm not one of those fan girls." Ella took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye. "So when you enter my classroom I expect to you sit down, shut up, and not say anything unless it has to do with History of Magic. Got it?"
There was burst of laughter on her side now and Ethan stared, dumbstruck.
"Now let's move onto our discussion about the giant wars, shall we class?"
There you have it, hope you liked it. Reviews are very much enjoyed. No hate comments or flames please!
Happy reading,
Avonmora