*******Author's Notes*******
Yes, I did bring in Dr. Vink from the Are You Afraid of the Dark series. I just saw him there so well.
I feel like punching myself for bringing in a relative of Professor McGonagall, but Rowling definitely said that she wouldn't be there by the time Harry's kids are at Hogwarts, and I really wanted to have a stern/strict mistress there. But now I'm being haunted by Ursula's sister because of it. (If you ever saw Little Mermaid 2, you'll know what I'm talking about.) I promise I won't bring in some Snape incarnate, though. But rest assured. I haven't forgotten about photos in the Wizarding World.
Who knows if Fred actually passed over into the Afterlife or stuck around? I figured that some of those who died in the battle in Book 7 would hang around Hogwarts.
It makes sense that Americans can go to Hogwarts, too. I picture it as being better quality than the school in the States. Maybe I'll mention the reasoning behind that in a chapter.
*******End Author's Notes*******
That evening in the girls' dormitory of the Griffindor Tower, Lily, Elizabeth and Katy sat on Elizabeth's bed. "So, have you noticed any cute boys yet?" Katy asked the other two. She was absent-mindedly stroking an orange cat who was lying in her lap and purring.
"Leave it to her to start thinking about boys," Elizabeth sighed.
"That third year boy that sat across from me at dinner was kind of cute," Lily said.
"Oh, he has a girlfriend," Katy said.
"And how do you know this?" Elizabeth asked.
"I saw him totally liplocking with a Hufflepuff girl after dinner."
"Just because they kiss doesn't mean they're going out," Elizabeth said. "Remember two months ago at Jenni's sleepover when you kissed—"
"Lizzie!" Katie exclaimed. "Let's not go there!"
"What's this about?" Lily wanted to know.
"Nothing," Katy said quickly. Then to change the subject she said, "We should start boy books!"
"What's a boy book?" Lily wondered.
"It's where we write down boys we think are cute and compare them every week or so. Katie swears by them," Elizabeth explained.
"Hey, gotta do something until I'm old enough to date," Katy explained.
"So who do you think is cute?" Lily wanted to know.
Katy looked around quickly, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Professor Shamash."
"He's too old for you," Elizabeth reminded her.
"Who wants a boy my own age?" Katy laughed. "They're all so juvenile."
"I don't know," Lily admitted. "He seems kind of creepy."
"Nah," Katy said, "Professor Nutbag is creepy. Professor Shamash is mysterious."
Just then, the Griffindor Prefect whose name they learned was Emily joined the group. "You three better go to bed," she said.
"We are in bed," Katie said.
"Your own beds," Emily said pointedly. "Professor McGonagall will be along in a few minutes."
"I thought she died," Katie said.
"Weren't you paying attention?" Elizabeth said, "her niece Athena is the head of Griffindor now."
"I remembered her first name," Katie said.
"And she's on her way up here," Emily said. "Besides, the first day is usually pretty stressful for first-years, so I suggest getting some sleep."
"Ok," Katy said, picking up the cat off her lap. "Let's go, Circe." And with that, she climbed into her own bed.
Mozenrath sat in his office with a pile of books and scrolls on his desk. Most of the castle's inhabitants had gone to sleep, but this was the best time for the sorcerer to do research. "Xerxes," he called to his familiar. "What did you uncover?"
The flying eel emerged from another pile of books with a rather old-looking one in his mouth. He dropped it in front of his master. "Found this," he said. The book in question was written in a script known as Ancient Runes. Mozenrath grabbed the book and began studying the title, using another book to help him translate. The sorcerer, though well-versed in languages—a necessary skill when one collects and studies all kinds of magic—was not quite skilled in Ancient Runes. But that soon would change.
"The Tales of Beetle The Bard?" Mozenrath asked after decoding the title of the book. "Xerxes! You imbecile! I'm not here to read fairy tales!" He threw the book at his sidekick, just barely missing the eel's head. The book sailed past and hit the opposite wall. "Now don't interrupt me again unless you find something useful!"
"Sorry, Boss," Xerxes said. He wouldn't have known what the book said, but the weird symbols had suggested to him that the book housed some old magic. But Mozenrath usually knew better than he did. Xerxes flew back into the pile of books and continued his search.
The next day was the usual hustle and bustle of the first day of school. The halls rang with the song of course loads, scheduling conflicts, and potential homework responsibilities.
"I can't believe Professor Binns is still teaching here," Katie said. "I think my grandmother had him."
"I can believe it," Lily said. "My parents said he'd get everybody's names wrong back when they were in school, too."
"Yeah, that's gonna get old real quick," Katy said, irritated.
Just then, the two ran into Elizabeth, who was looking pretty frantic. "I'm glad I finally caught up with you!" she panted. "The walls and stairs have been playing tricks on me ALL MORNING!"
"They'll do that sometimes," said a voice. The three turned to find a ghost hovering overhead.
"Uncle Fred?" Lily asked. She knew it was her uncle, because even in ghost-form, he still carried a resemblance to what her Uncle George might've looked like years ago.
"That would be me," he said. "I hang out here from time to time, but I spend a lot of time at Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade as well."
"I haven't been there," Katy said, "but I did visit the shop in Diagon Ally. My dad wouldn't let me get some of the stuff there." Katie laughed somewhat mischievously.
"She went back when he let us wander around on our own," Elizabeth explained.
"Tattletale," Katie whispered.
Fred's ghost laughed. "Well, it's good to hear you like the shop so much," he said.
The three girls walked, while Fred hovered overhead, when Lily spotted something. "Hey, isn't that—" she began.
"The portable swamp my brother and I created when we left Hogwarts?" Fred finished for her. "Sure is. And still there after so many years. In Albus's first year at Hogwarts, his older brother dared him to jump in."
"Did he do it?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't think the Swamp was quite deep enough.
"No," Fred said. "There was a crowd around the swamp at the time. They were all waiting for Albus to make the big jump. Athena was passing by, and noticed all the commotion. She sent everybody on their way, deducted points from Griffindor and Ravenclaw, and gave Albus and James each a detention. Watch out for her. She's about as strict as her aunt was."
Suddenly, Katie got very rigid. "DEMENTORS!" she screamed, pointing one direction. Everybody else looked.
"Those aren't dementors," Fred explained. Coming down the hall were about four shambling half dead mamlucks.
"Katie, have you ever even seen a dementor?" Elizabeth wanted to know.
"No, but my brother said that they petrol the halls of Hogwarts sometimes," Katie explained. "He came here for a year while he was in school."
"They don't petrol the halls of Hogwarts," Lily explained. "They guarded the school one year while my parents were in school, but other than that, there haven't been any around here lately."
Katie breathed a sigh of relief. "So then, what ARE those things?"
"Mamlucks!" Xerxes said, flying from behind the undead creatures. "Mozenrath's guards."
"Can he do that?" Katie asked.
"Get to class!" Xerxes barked.
"Who died and put YOU in charge?" Katie demanded, stepping in front of Lily and Elizabeth.
"MOVE!" Xerxes ordered. "Or lose points!"
"Hey, he can't—" Katie began, but Elizabeth put a hand on her arm.
"Let's just go," she said. "Defense of the Dark Arts is next, and I'm pretty sure Professor Shamash doesn't put up with tardiness—or at least, that's what Eric said."
Katie went with Elizabeth and Lily, but not before glaring at Xerxes. She didn't like being told what to do by house elves or familiars.
A few minutes later, the three were seated towards the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Elizabeth had wanted to sit up front because she liked sitting closer to the teacher in order to take more accurate notes, but Katie insisted on sitting in the back, and Elizabeth didn't want to sit by herself while she still didn't know a lot of people. She'd finally agreed to sit towards the back as long as Katie didn't talk the entire time.
"My name is Mozenrath," Mozenrath was saying, "but you will refer to me as Professor Shamash. I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher while you're here at Hogwarts. This class won't be easy. In fact, I suggest you study hard, because I don't cut any slack for anybody. Additionally, I don't put up with tardiness, insubordinence, or laziness."
As Mozenrath continued, Katie scribbled a note:
[[I don't care for his eel, or his undead guards, but he's still kind of cute. I think I'll enjoy this class.]]
She passed the note to Lily, who read it and then passed it to Elizabeth, who read it, then on the other side wrote:
[[I'm not going to sit by you if you pass notes. I don't think I want to make this guy mad.]]
She passed the note to Katie.
[[You said that I couldn't talk to you in class. You said nothing about passing notes.]]
"There will be no food, talking, gum-chewing, sleeping, or passing notes—" Mozenrath was saying, when he noticed Katie, who was about to pass a note to Elizabeth. "Miss. . . Marovich?" He had had Jessica earlier that day, so it was easy to remember her name. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
Katie quickly hid the note, and pulled her notebook closer to her. "Taking notes, sir," she lied. "I want to learn everything about this subject, you know."
"Oh, do you really?" Mozenrath smirked. "Then I guess you wouldn't mind helping me with my first demonstration."
"Well, I. . . that is—on the first day of school?" Katie stammered.
"If you love this subject so much, and have been paying attention, then it should be easy," Mozenrath continued to smirk.
Katie hesitated, and looked around. Everybody was looking in her direction, waiting for her to make a move.
"Come up to the front of the room, Miss Marovich," Mozenrath ordered.
Katie took a deep breath and walked to the front of the room. No sooner had she gotten to the front than Mozenrath let a blue and black fireball loose from his gauntlet. Katie swore and hit the ground, the fireball just missing her and setting fire to the wastebasket on the opposite side of the room.
"Not bad," Mozenrath said, extinguishing the flames with his magic. "But I don't allow that language in my class." He sent another blast in Katie's direction. Katie jumped to the left to avoid it, and felt the heat as it sailed past. The rest of the class erupted in applause.
"Return to your seat," Mozenrath told Katie, "and I expect you to write a report on the first five chapters of the textbook by the end of the week."
"But that's not fair!" Katie protested.
"I never said I was fair, did I?" Mozenrath asked.
"I told you not to cross him," Elizabeth said, as the three headed down to the dungeon for Potions.
"He was pretty cruel," Lily said, "assigning you that report out of nowhere like that."
"I don't have problems writing," Katie said. "But five chapters by the end of the week?"
By the way, where'd you learn to move like that?" Lily asked.
"Dodgeball," Katie said, as they entered the Potions room.
"Good Afternoon," Professor Vink said, once he entered the room. "My name's Professor Vink. I'll be teaching you the fine art of Potions. Today, you will learn a simple potion for removing boils, but by the end of the year, you'll learn more advanced concoctions." Then, he looked directly at Lily, Elizabeth and Katie. "And I am NOT a nutbag," he said, before turning to the board to write down the list of ingredients each student would need.
That evening at dinner, Katie helped herself to a third helping of potato salad. Lily and Elizabeth had purposely left her alone all afternoon, so that she could get all that assigned reading done. Her brain was tired, and she was very hungry.
"So your dad comes to speak in the Defense Against The Dark Arts classes sometimes?" Elizabeth was asking.
"He certainly does," Lily confirmed. "In fact, he'll be coming in next Thursday."
"What? Are you serious?" Katie asked through a mouthful of potato salad.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Jessica said, as she walked up to the table. "Hey, Katie, I heard you were passing notes and then said a bad word in Professor Shamash's class."
"Like it's any of your business," Katie said after swallowing her mouthful. "Besides, how did you find out about that?"
"Everybody's talking about how quickly you dodged his attacks, and then when I asked about it, Crystal Garcia—a Slytherin who's friends with Jennifer Montez, who is in classes with you told me what Jennifer told her."
"I'm sure they twisted the whole thing around," Katie said.
"Well, they had their own version, but I do know you. Did you really swear?" Jessica wanted to know.
"It's kind of hard to watch your language when you're being attacked with fire. And blue fire at that," Katie argued.
"Well, we're too young to be using that language," Jessica said.
"Oh, this from the girl who said the same word at our babysitter's two years ago when you got stuck by those nasty blackberry bushes in her back yard and then inadvertently set fire to them. You're lucky she's a squib and knows about magic."
"I was younger then," Jessica said, "and as your older sister, I want to keep you out of trouble."
"Oh, please!" Katie rolled her eyes. "You're only five minutes older than I am."
"Every minute counts," Jessica said smugly.
"Lily, I was going to go study in the library," Elizabeth said as the two sisters continued to bicker. "Wanna come?" She glanced at the two. "Trust me, they'll be busy for awhile."
Lily nodded, and the two headed out of the Great Hall.
"If it isn't the American and her filthy mudblood friend," said a girl with frizzy brown hair and rather large breasts for her age. Another girl, with red hair in the same style was beside her.
"FOR YOUR INFORMATION," Lily said, "neither of my parents are muggles. "She looked at Elizabeth, who was about to say something. "Not that it makes any difference. By the way, what happened to your hair? Have an accident in Potions class?"
"What happened to your face?" the brunet responded, "get attacked by a hippogriff?"
"Now that was lame," Lily said.
"Why don't you leave us alone, Crapstal," Elizabeth said.
"Oh that's original," the redhead said, but the brunet who Elizabeth was addressing looked annoyed.
"And why don't you go back to America with your trashy muggle father where you belong, LIZ?"
Elizabeth looked ready to explode, but by then, Katie and Jessica had finished their argument and came out into the hall.
"Hey, Crystal, nice boobs!" she said. "Are they silicon, or did you use magic?"
"What's sillycone?" Crystal asked, glaring at Katie. Beside her, the redhead who was the infamous Jennifer began to laugh until Crystal swatted her.
"Ok, take it to your common rooms," said an elderly witch, walking up the hall.
"I'm sorry, Miss McGonagall," Katie said, "we were just headed that way when—"
"That's Professor to you, Miss Marovich," she corrected. "Miss Garcia, Miss Montez. Don't forget you two have detention with me in an hour."
"Oh, we haven't forgotten," Crystal said, in a tone that was both mocking and kissing up. Together, she and Jennifer walked off.
"I wonder what they did," Katie said.
"I think you'd better worry about that report," Professor McGonagall said.
"I'm on it," Katie said, as she headed off. She liked and respected this professor, and didn't see any need to argue.
"We better head off as well," Elizabeth said. "I wanted to study in the library for a bit."
"Just stay away from the Forbidden section," Professor McGonagall advised. "Some of those books can be pretty dangerous, especially for first-year students."
"Oh, we will," Lily said as the two headed off.
"This way," Elizabeth said to Lily as the two walked down an aisle and turned to their right.
"Lizzie!" Lily gasped. "Be careful! We're too close to the Forbidden books."
"Oh, trust me, we're not going there," Elizabeth assured her. "I don't wanna get attacked by some random curse, or thrown in detention."
"Yeah," Lily said, "both are equally bad."
"The book I'm looking for is just near here, but I'm not going any further," Elizabeth explained. "Ah! There it is!" Elizabeth picked up the book in question.
"Hey, what's Xerxes doing over there?" Lily asked, pointing. Sure enough, Xerxes was flying around the Forbidden section.
"I don't know," Elizabeth said. "He's always sneaking around, it seems. Maybe he's just making sure we don't go over there. The two headed off to check out their books.
Xerxes flew from aisle to aisle. He'd seen the redhead and blonde from earlier, but thankfully, that mouthy brunette wasn't with them. The redhead had looked right at him, whispering something to the blonde, but the two had walked away. Did they suspect him? He'd better hide in one of the shelves until the coast was clear. Quickly, he darted into a gap between two books. Unfortunately, in the process, he'd knocked one book off the shelf. The book began to scream a loud, piercing scream as it hit the floor.