Authors Note: this is the longest chapter i've ever written so i'm splitting it into half. i'm still working on chapter 4, which is all about the subjects she's taking, this is just the start :) there would be more in the future IF you guys review ;)
The next few weeks flew by in a blur, I notified my friends about my mum's sudden decision of putting me in boarding school, which they were pretty dejected by. I didn't exactly specify that I was being sent off to a magical boarding school, which I doubt they would have believed anyway.
Just to make them feel happier, I left them a few of the pimple vanishers and told them that they worked wonders, clearing any blackheads or severe acne whatsoever. Hoping that it wasn't a prank product that tripled the amount of dirt on their face.
My best friend Kylie offered to send me off at King's Cross station to board the train to Hogwarts. She and Tina were also the only people I told where I was actually going to. Surprisingly, they both really understood the situation. But Tina's little brother, Tim, was hosting a birthday party on September 1st as well, so she wasn't able to send me off; though I was envious of the fact that they still had another week until school rolled around.
I nicked a few of the fever fudges and fainting fancies from my brother's skiving snack box and gave one each to my best friends.
The night before leaving, Kylie had a sleepover at my place, saying that it would be months, or possibly a year before I would see her again; therefore she was going to make the most out of it.
We stayed up all night, chattering. She seemed very accepting and cheerful about the fact that I was being sent off to a magical school, not accusing me of lying to her, doubting me, or even jealous by the fact that I wouldn't have to take mathematics or chemistry anymore. In fact, she was the one who encouraged me to have the best time I possibly can and to be optimistic about having such a rare and unusual experience in my life. I loved how she was so encouraging and optimistic about everything, she never discouraged me or advised me not to go so that I won't be leaving her. She wanted me to experience the best things in life, she wanted me to have a new opportunity, a fresh start at meeting new people, she was never controlling and she didn't wasn't the type of person that would dwell over the fact that I was moving on and might be replacing her (my best friend) with someone else, so you can guess where my loyalties lie. To somebody who always stuck up for me and wanted me to be happy.
In between talking with me, she fell asleep. I supposed she had a pretty rough and tiring day, considering the fact that we went to the mall and played around together that day. So I decided to have my rest as well, knowing that tomorrow was also going to be a long day.
On the next morning, I was awaken sharply at nine thirty, my alarm clock bleeping repeatedly, piercing my fragile eardrums. I slammed it off in annoyance.
I brushed my teeth and did my usual morning routine drowsily, then I plopped on my school robes and tucked my wand safely into one of the big, loose inside pockets of my robe. My wand stuck out of my dress robe slightly.
Kylie apparently was awake an hour before I was, so she already had breakfast. I just had a classic bowl of cereal with milk to keep my energy levels up for the day.
I completely forgot about my makeup and I would've liked to look decent and to give a good impression of myself on the first day of school. So I coated some mascara over my lashes, which gave an accentuated look to my baby blue eyes that I possibly inherited from my father since mum had brown ones. I decided to keep it light, not wanting to look overly dramatic.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. One thing I didn't learn to love about myself was my gap tooth. My friends told me to embrace it and to accept my own flaws, but it brings down my self esteem sometimes. I use to dread about it every single day, coming home from school and weeping my eyes out. I was young, foolish and mentally weak, and I absolutely hated myself for being so self conscious and insecure. Mum told me that it appealed to her, but she was just saying that because we didn't have the money to get it fixed. And well, we weren't exactly the wealthiest most fortunate family.
The gap in my teeth has became wider, but I wasn't really concerned about it anymore. I've finally learned to embrace myself for who I was. And when I was subjected to ridicule by my classmates, I just stuck my middle finger right in their faces and told them to get their noses out of my business. Maybe the gap in my tooth made me grow mentally stronger as a person.
Realizing that it was almost ten twenty, I rushingly applied a lipbalm on my lips that gave my lips a natural glow and a peachy tint to it, then dabbed a bit of concealer on blemishes and under eye circles, and finally sweeping a light coral blush over my cheeks. I hung a rose gold necklace with an amethyst gem intwined in the middle around my neck, which was the only heirloom my father ever left me.
On the day he left us, I remembered him giving me a last hug and a peck on my forehead, he unbuckled the clasp of the necklace and tied it around my neck. The feeling of his warm fingers fidgeting around my neckline, like he was having trouble fastening the necklace onto my small, skinny neck. It use to be long and dangly, but as I aged, it started to fit me perfectly. The memory was so vivid, I hate to admit, it kind of scared me.
I shoved some of my cosmetic products into my makeup pouch and packed it into my luggage, along with my school robes, a scarf my grandmother knitted me before she passed, all of my spell books, my favorite novels, school materials and my hair charmer that gives my hair a luscious glow. I also slipped my mobile phone and a portable charger along with headphones into my pocket, though there's definitely no reception, I decided to bring it along with me just in case.
I contemplated my reflection in the mirror one last time and left my room.
I was leaving so much behind, my dozens of bottles of nail polish, my collection of books, my jars of aroma candles. "This is it!" I shrieked like a little girl as little Oceana started purr in her cage. I couldn't believe I was actually going to a school that taught magic and leaving everything behind me here. And the fact that I would have to make new friends frightens me a little. What if they all dislike me? What if I don't fit in? What if we have nothing in common and nothing to talk about? I snapped out of it, you'll be fine, I told myself reassuringly. But I always aimed for being settle and sticking with a few friends just because I was terrified of change and difference, yet just then, half of my world was going to switch around.
"Let's go now! We have to be at platform nine and three-quarters before eleven o'clock," Mum reminded us. "It's already ten twenty." She tapped on her watch.
Jake came rushing down the stairs, dragging his trunk behind him sloppily. His trunk bumped down each step making huge banging noises, owl cage in his hands.
We all gave him terrified looks, preparing for his trunk to practically flip over and roll down the stairs and for his owl whom he had named 'Kiwi' to die a tragic death from falling down the stairs. But since Jake was the insightful one in our family, he still had full control of his trunk.
We all sighed in relief as he came down safely without harming anyone and more importantly, himself. "I can't wait!" He yelped ecstatically, bouncing around, his owl extremely annoyed with his prancing and shaking its cage violently.
"Stop it Jake, or your owl will be unwilling to help you send your letters. Or even worse, lose its memory due to you shaking the living daylights out of it - and send your letters to the wrong people!" Mum exaggerated. She was brilliant at imagining worst case scenarios and being pessimistic. Couldn't she apply her imagination to something more useful? Like being optimistic, or something that could benefit our general lives?
"She has a name you know, it's Kiwi. And she's a living thing, just like us, therefore she has a gender. And in this case, she's a girl." Jake replied drolly.
"Whatever." Mum rolled her eyes and unlocked the door.
I took one last glance at my home. This was it. All these years, I came back every night to sleep on my comfy and perfectly resilient mattress and now, I was going to miss my bed a bloody lot. I would also share a dorm with five other girls my age, from the look of it; I saw the word 'drama' written all over it.
Kylie tapped me on the shoulder. "We should go now. You don't want to miss your train, do you?" She gave me a little push as I snapped back into reality.
"I'm really going to miss this place." I walked out of the house and locked the front door. Being the last person to exit the house, I had the responsibility of keeping thieves away from it. I stashed the key into the pocket where my phone and wand was, just for remembrance of the beautiful house that I had lived in for the past fifteen years of my life, still not believing that I wouldn't be coming 'home' to this place for the next year or so.
We took a bus to Kings Cross station and soon enough it was already ten fifty. We were stuck in the middle of platform nine and ten and there was no sign of platform nine and three-quarters.
We were about to question the people surrounding us when this girl seemed to spot us struggling, so she called for our attention and started charging towards this wall in between platform nine and ten. Before we could've warned her about injuring herself, she dashed through the wall and vanished out of our sight.
Kylie's jaw fell open as she stood there in shock.
To be honest, I was slightly mind blown by the fact that magical portals really did exist in real life. Though it looked nothing like the loopy and swirly hypnotizing sucking portal I was imagining. We were practically running towards a wall, going through it and magically arriving at another destination. A portal designed this way was something I would've never anticipated or predicted.
"Come on, we've got to go through the wall." Jake gestured towards the wall the girl had just gone through.
"Can I actually get pass? I mean, think about it, if any ordinary person can get through it, wouldn't that be a problem?" Kylie suddenly started worrying slightly, which was pretty odd, because she was normally the daredevil that pushed me into going on a roller coaster.
"She might be right." I said, though I really didn't want to say goodbye to Kylie yet. But mum seemed to have already gone through the magical portal.
"Well if wizards are the only ones that can get through, how did Mum do it?" Jake replied logically. It was always good to have someone around that had the brains to think before we reacted impulsively.
"Alright then." Kylie raised her hand out for me to hold onto.
"In three." I puffed. "Two." I closed my eyes as the three of us linked our hands together. "One." We dashed towards the wall. Oceana was hung on my shoulder uncomfortably as we pushed our trunk-loaded trolley.
It was a rather magical feeling, like I was lifted off the ground and floating in mid air as I felt my sense of control taken from me.
In the blink of an eye, I was standing ahead of a wall identical to the one we just went pass. Kylie and Jake were still next to me. I saw a hanging banner that had 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters' stamped on it.
It was exactly 10:58 when we arrived at platform nine and three-quarters, the train hadn't arrived yet so I shared my last words with Kylie and Mum before boarding the train.
I spotted a tall boy with platinum blonde hair staring at me constantly which left me feeling extremely self conscious about myself, wondering if I had grown a beard. He was with his family, I believe. His dad had flaming red hair, freckles spread all over his face and these deep oceanic blue eyes that the boy seemed to have inherited. Yet he had definitely inherited his mother's pale complexion and silvery blonde hair. She was incredibly pretty, and her eldest daughter (who had probably already graduated and was just sending her brother off) looked exactly like her, yet her second daughter didn't seem to look anything like her mother, with strawberry blonde hair and freckles identical to her father's dashed across her face.
The two minutes flew by in a flash and soon, everyone was boarding the train.
I dragged my luggage off the trolley while I readjusted Oceana's position on my shoulder. He was surprisingly an obedient cat so I didn't have problems of him escaping from me. That would've caused a lot of problems - for instance, I might've missed the train trying to find him.
"Be careful, and have fun, okay?" Kylie was starting to get slightly emotional and so was I. "Don't do anything naughty and be a good girl okay. I will miss you." She gave me a regretful look and pulled me into a hug. It was brief but very heartwarming.
"Goodbye Kylie." I wiped away the tears in my eyes and pulled her into one last hug
"I can't believe I will be living by myself for the next year of my life." Mum faked a sob. "I will miss you guys." Jake and I both took turns to give her a hug.
We gave them a wave and finally boarded the train, standing and queuing to get into compartments.
The train started moving as we continued to wave at Kylie and mum through the windows on the train. We started searching for compartments to settle down in as the train ride got slightly bumpier.
The first compartment was filled with first years that were playing some kind of wizard card game, one of them signaling towards Jake to come over. "Oi, wanna come over and play exploding snap together?" Jake gave me a look that said 'you decide', as I responded with an approving look. I didn't want to be the selfish and greedy sister that kept him from meeting new people just because I hadn't found anyone yet. Especially because he hardly had any experience with making friends back where we lived, and it would've been stupid to pass on a bundle of opportunities that were right in front of us.
So he ambled towards them, quickly setting his trunk into one of the upper cabinets and taking a seat next to a boy that spoke in a really enthusiastic manner. He seemed like the type of person that was always in a joyful mood and who always managed to put a smile on everyone's face.
And now I was all alone hunting down an empty compartment to settle down in so I could make new friends and be the happiest person in the world! Not likely.
I looked through the train compartments but they were either filled entirely to the point where I would have to squeeze into the overfilled compartment like a sardine and stick to them like glue during the whole journey, wobbling around with them whenever the trail was uneven and bumpy, and it would've been uncomfortably awkward. Or they were filled with unwelcoming snobby little brats that were too busy engaging in their inner circle to be friendly with anyone else. I guess this was the disadvantage of not starting off as a first year.
I reached the last few compartments of the train and at long last, I found a compartment with no more than two students chattering loudly or discussing the latest news. In fact, both of them were reading so it was quiet and peaceful. I finally settled down next to this familiar looking boy with blonde hair.
I pushed my trunk upwards with an effort and tried squeezing it into the upper cabinet, yet I was unsuccessful at doing this simplest of things. I even saw Jake doing it earlier, it seemed so effortless and easy, and for goodness' sake I was four years older than him. But considering Jake, he probably packed light and brought along as few things as possible so I guess we were even, since my trunk was ten times larger than his and I practically had to sit on it forcibly in order to zip it up.
If only I knew a spell, it would've been so much easier for me. But this was my first year here and I knew nothing about magic; so there were all the disadvantages of starting my wizarding education at that late point of my life.
And that was when that boy offered to assist me. I swear he could've just used a spell but he chose to lift it up with his toned arms as he placed it next to his trunk.
I pitied myself for being such a dependent little twit that needed someone else's help on something as simple as holding my trunk.
"Thank you so much." I replied gratefully.
"You're welcome. My name is Louis Weasley." he asked charmingly. At this point, a normal girl would have been drooling, but he wasn't really my type. But I guessed we could be really good friends.
"And I'm Chloe." I smiled, though I normally wasn't much of a smiler.
"Hmm, I've never seen you around before, are you an exchange student?" His almost invisible eyebrows shot all the way up to his hairline.
"I'm not exactly an exchange student; Professor McGonagall came barging into our house one day demanding to speak with my mum in private. Then she brought us to Diagon Alley to get school supplies." I explained.
"That's what they do with Muggle students; the headmaster comes to explain to your parents about the wizarding world and their invitation to Hogwarts."
"But my mum told me that my dad was a wizard. I'm half-blood."
"What's your dad's name? I would know if he worked in the Ministry."
"Seamus Finnigan."
"Hmm. I think I've heard my uncles, talk about him before." He tapped his chin in an Ollivander like manner, not that he was scruffy and old looking of course.
"I know this might be very complicated but I know nothing about magic and I'm going into my fifth year. My mum is a muggle and my dad is a wizard, and when Dad left us, actually when mum kicked him out of the house, I was only five years old so I knew nothing about my wizard heritage until last month. Mum told me that I should come here to control my magic a little and at least learn how to use it because it's a very special talent to have."
"That's very unusual." He commented, as he fiddled with his blonde tips as the girl sitting across us started snickering.
"Oh don't mind her; she's just my annoying little bookworm Cousin Lucy." He scoffed.
"I'm not laughing at you. I was reading my book, you idiot!" Lucy shot back, irritated. "And by the way, I'm not little. And if you weren't a bookworm yourself, how did you get the highest amount of OWLs in our year and do so well in class?" She put her book down and marked it with a bookmark.
I guessed he was the perfect person to ask for homework advice on.
"I don't actually like reading in my spare time, the good grades just come to me naturally." Louis said cockily.
"You conceited little brat," Lucy snorted. "Do you have any idea how hard I worked for my OWLs?" She was obviously displeased by Louis's attitude.
"You're head girl and head boy?" I interrupted, trying to stop them from arguing even more, a bit of shock and worry in my voice. And I also might've gone into the wrong compartment; I mean, annoying prefects badgering me about discipline was not something I wanted on my first day at a new school.
"Yes, I never expected the badge, but it came. So don't worry about me being a tattletale or an annoying little git, I was never head boy material anyway." Louis replied. "Lucy is." He gave a triumphant grin as Lucy smacked his arm. He hissed in pain as he started rubbing the area Lucy had hit. Lucy just started teasing him and chuckling.
"Hey not trying to inflate your ego any more than it needs to be inflated by but speaking of your relatives, your mum looks so young and beau-" I paused. "For her age." I said, not trying to sound like I was a philocalist or something. I was just curious about why his mother was so extraordinarily prettier than any normal girl's entire pretty factor combined.
Louis just stared at me, looking stunned, as it hit me that he now thought that I was trying to express how 'good-looking' he was indirectly, by using his family members as a reference. I mentally punched a wall. How could I be so stupid?
Lucy started snickering. "Victoire, eh? Veela blood," she responded simply.
"What is a Veela?" I asked, assuming that Victoire was Louis's blonde sister.
"They're simply the most elegant and beautiful creatures on earth. And dear Louis is one-eighth-Veela. And his mother Fleur is one-quarter-Veela." Lucy remarked.
At first I thought that Lucy had fabricated the story, but then I started thinking of elves, giants, goblins... so maybe Veelas DID exist after all. That also explained why his mother was so drop dead beautiful, not trying to be shallow or anything because I'm really not overemphasizing my observations here.
"I don't wanna sound egotistic or arrogant in any kind of way but-" Louis was cut off by Lucy's '"But you are!" He virtually disregarded her and continued babbling on. "Yes, I'm eighth-Veela, but blood gets thinner as generations pass and I usually don't let it get to my head. And besides, Dominique doesn't look Veela at all; she looks exactly like any other Weasley." Louis was probably regarding his second sister, the one with strawberry blonde hair. She had looked extremely energetic and cheerful.
"Are you implying that all Weasleys look the same, including me?" Lucy crossed her arms.
"You don't even have the typical red hair Weasley trait!" Louis defended, like he was actually slightly paranoid by Lucy's crabbiness.
"Exactly how many cousins do you have anyway?" I asked, sounding intrigued since I had no cousins, or maybe I did but I just didn't know about their existence. I mean, my mother was an only child and I know nothing personal about my father.
"That's a question you won't want answered." He flashed me a smile as I noticed how attractive he actually was, with the 'Veela' blood and all.
Suddenly, the train started shaking violently as there were a few pebbles on the trail we were running on.
I was about to plummet out of my seat and hit my head harshly against the compartment table when Louis grabbed me by the shoulder and prevented me from tumbling over my seat.
His firm grip reminded me so much of Jake's little protective grip. Then it hit me, the fact that he was exactly like my brother, protective, attentive and cheeky, except for the part where he was playfully cocky sometimes, scared me. He's basically the ideal older brother figure I've always wanted. I was good at predicting how he would react to certain things, and I was also intuitive about how he thought and how to deal with him when things happened.
As the train stopped rocking so aggressively, I noticed a clammy hand holding onto one of the handles on our compartment door.
"Anything sweet for you, dear?" We heard a raspy old lady voice offer kindly.
"An acid pop and some fizzing whizbees please." Louis paid and collected the sweets he had ordered.
Lucy bought a Liquorice Wand. She ripped off the rapper and started licking it. "I swear, those acid pops burn holes in your tongue." she commented sloppily.
"Nah, I like the sour and sparkling sensation it gives," Louis replied, sucking on his acid pop, his face not even twitching slightly from the sourness of the candy.
"For you dear?" The old lady directed towards me.
"Anything with chocolate?" I questioned.
"You should try the chocolate frogs." Louis suggested as I gave him a look of disgust. "Relax, they're only shaped like a frog," he reassured.
I asked the old lady for one. As it turned out, it was just milk chocolate. It tasted creamy and rich, like the expensive chocolate that I never got to eat.
After Lucy and Louis were both done with munching down their sweet little snacks, Louis said "Well we have to do our jobs as heads so bye for now Chloe." Louis and Lucy both rose from their seats and left the compartment to have their first prefect meeting and to escort the first years later on.
I guess time flies when you're having fun.
"One last question." I tugged on his arm as he turned around, giving me a questioning look.
"What houses are there? And what house are you in?"
"There's Gryffindor that stands for brave and kind, Hufflepuff for loyal, humble and hardworking, Slytherin for sly (probably where they got the name) and ambitious and finally Ravenclaw for intelligent and creative, which both Lucy and I are in though I think I'm more of a Slytherin." His eyes glistened when he said something about him wanting to be in Slytherin, Lucy just snorted in laughter as he strolled out of the compartment along with her.
Brave, loyal, smart and ambitious. Where did I belong in?
For the rest of the journey, I stayed in the compartment all by myself thinking of the possible house I could be sorted into.
Was I loyal or hardworking? Definitely not, I'm the laziest person ever. Smart and creative? Never nailed any of the creative writing essays. Cunning and ambitious, well, I could be ambitious when it comes to my passions and the things I enjoyed doing, cunning? Hmm, not really I guess, that was more of Jake's thing. Brave and kind? I personally loved roller coasters and adventure but I hated taking risks and being spontaneous. Kind? I don't know; ask my friends. If I admitted to being kind, it would mean that I'm not genuinely kind.
After roughly an hour of overanalyzing, I was completely stressed out.
Before we arrived, the train started shaking violently, but there was no Louis or Jake to protect me, so as the weak klutz that I was, I shook along with the train hitting my back on the train seat numerous of times, my chest bumping against the table as I hissed in pain. I tried holding onto the tables and several other strategies to prevent myself from causing any major injuries but it was hopeless.
I've always thought of myself as an independent person, but I guess that was just what I aspired to be; so I started believing that I was independent, even though I was just insecure. I always failed to defend myself especially if it was physical. I don't do any type of sport regularly so I was generally just bony and awkward looking, no muscles whatsoever.
When we finally arrived, we were told that the house elves would help bring our properties up to our dorm rooms. I was grateful that I didn't have to limp around like an idiot carrying my cat and my luggage that probably weighed a ton.
We rode on a fancy looking carriage pulled by invisible looking creatures, which I suppose were charmed with magic for people not to see them. As we learned afterwards, turns out that they were pulled by creatures called Thestrals who were only visible to people who had seen death. The carriages were made out of cushiony, posh white leather material. Ropes were tied around them and hung around invisible necks. There were no seat belts or safety rails on the carriage so I had trouble trying to hold on when we were rushing along a rocky, rough path.
We hopped off the dizzying, speedy carriage, which wasn't as royal and soothing as it looked. It was one hell of a bumpy, hazardous and nearly life risking ride - if I hadn't been holding on to the hand of some kid next to me, which was pretty creepy, I would've flown out of the carriage, hit my head on some rock and died a pretty tragic death!
Next, we got on rowing boats that were charmed with magic to row by themselves. The paddles swooshed around in a repetitive motion, all four of the paddles moving in the same motion and timing.
I was sat next to different kids from a variety of year groups, all of them seeming like they barely knew each other. Nobody spoke a word until we saw a figure of a tall and overpowering castle; it looked like it was about a hundred years old, slightly rusty yet also somehow tidy and neat. It was tall enough that we could feel its shadow hovering upon us like an intimidating monster. There were a few gasps coming from the first years or possibly some returning students that forgot how Hogwarts looked over the course of their summer holiday. I was completely amazed by how big the school actually was; it left me stuttering and breathless. It had a slight spooky and dark look to it but it wasn't exactly scaring me, I guess it was only because the sky was dark and stormy, the sound of roaring thunder and sparkles of lightning shooting in the sky. But funnily, it wasn't raining, so we didn't have problems with transportation. I'm sure that the school would look much warmer and more welcoming on a bright day - which I hoped would be soon because sunny skies in general lighten up my mood.
I cautiously got off the boat by slowly putting my right foot on the land first for balance, then jumping off, the boat tilting back and forth unstably. The few unfortunate kids left on the boat behind me were holding on tightly as the boat started quaking rapidly, almost flipping over.
It was a long walk to the actual school as I started having trouble breathing properly, panting loudly. Nobody took me seriously.
The main entrance of Hogwarts was covered with banners of the four houses, red, gold and a fierce looking lion representing Gryffindor, green, silver and a devious looking snake for Slytherin, blue, bronze and a raven for Ravenclaw and yellow, black and a badger for Hufflepuff.
The banners were hung on the stony and brick built wall of Hogwarts; it was a charcoal grey color, a thin layer of dirt covering the walls that made the grey look darker. Hogwarts was strongly built and it gave this weird vibe that it would never collapse or break down even after a few centuries later. It gave me a feeling of protection as I stepped in, like we would never be harmed under this roof.
We were escorted into the Great Hall by some of the prefects. I spotted Louis and Lucy when they both waved at me and told me to walk along with the pack, leading to the Great Hall. The hall was filled with hundreds of students, all separated in four groups, obviously according to house.
As the remaining few students came rushing in, McGonagall made her announcement as Headmistress. "Welcome to another year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, we all welcome you and hope you have a wonderful year here! May I introduce you to this year's staff, our new teacher, Professor Stark." She motioned towards our potions teacher, who had an extremely aloof and frosty look on her face. Her expression practically wiped away all of the happiness and glee in the great hall, leaving some first years petrified and other students stricken.
"Professor Kreuk, our new astronomy teacher." He seemed like the humble and generous kind of teacher, the ones who don't have favorites or prejudices. Which brought back all the jabbering and glee back to the great hall.
"Professor Todd, our new Defence teacher."
The fact that none of them were actually new to me since I was practically new here as well got me feeling like I'm missing out on things and isolated mentally.
"And like last year, we have Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures, Professor Longbottom for Herbology, Firenze for Divination and I shall teach Transfiguration." Though the information was really crucial especially for me because I was new, McGonagall sounded so boring and monotonous that I nearly fell asleep.
Just then, a ghost like figure came swishing past me as I felt an unusual, indescribable sensation. A lively dead figure that wasn't supposed to exist had just come charging past me, not making a big deal out of it. Sorry if that sounded confusing because it was utterly confusing to me as well.
"Nearly Headless Nick! Nice to see you again!" One of the second years tried hugging the ghost in adoration yet the ghost looked perplexed and slightly dismayed, like he was disappointed that he could never truly hug anyone anymore.
**** pt2 will be uploaded as a separate chapter
