Chapter 3-
There, look."
"Where?"
"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."
"Wearing the glasses?"
"That girl with the red hair?"
"Did you see their face?"
"Did you see their scar?"
Whispers followed Lily and Harry from the moment they left their dormitorys the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at them, or doubled back to pass them in the corridors again, staring. Lilywished they wouldn't, because she was trying to concentrate on finding her way to classes.
There were a hundred and forty-two staircases in Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Lily was sure the suits of armour could walk.
The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"
Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. Lily, Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning. Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing by, fortunately.
Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. If you broke a rule in front of her, or put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick, To which Lily has already fulfilled, and would gladly do it again.
And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Lily quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.
They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.
Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. When Lily had that class, she'd use it as an opportunity to catch up on sleep, much like everyone else, except the very studious kids, like Hermione, who Lily didn't actually mind, when she wasn't spewing out facts about magic, or being stiff and uptight, or just lacking the general tactness.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry and Lily's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight. Harry had just plain blinked, but Lily scurried over to help him up. 'Five points to Gryffindor, For helping your teacher.' Professor Flitwick had rewarded her. Lily hadn't stopped beaming all class, much to the amusement of Harry, and Ron.
Professor McGonagall was again different. Lily had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. Lily was very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized she wasn't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione and Harry had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione aand Harry a rare smile.
The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.
Lily was very relieved to find out that she wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like her, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start.
Friday was an important day for Lily, Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once, Much to the disappointment of Lily, who wasn't able to search for an excuse to ask Percy to 'Escort' them down.
"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.
"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them - we'll be able to see if it's true." "Well, I'm quite looking forwards to it, it sounds very similar to cooking, you know.' Lily said as she buttered some toast. As soon as she heard that Hogwarts had a potions class, she had been very interested in it.
"Wish McGonagall favored us, " muttered Harry. Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.
Just then, the mail arrived. Lily had gotten used to this by now, but it had given her a major shock on the first morning, when more than a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.
Hedwig or Pickles hadn't brought Harry or Lily anything so far. They sometimes flew in to nibble their respective owners ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, Hedwig and Pickles fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Lily and Harry's plate. Lily tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:
Dear Lily,
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?
I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.
Hagrid
Harry had the exact same letter, so Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled a 'Yes, please, see you later.' on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig and Pickles off again.
It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.
At the start-of-term banquet, Lily had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked her brother, for reasons unknown. By the end of the first Potions lesson, she knew she'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry - he hated him.
Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity."
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Lily shot them a glare, which seemed to stop them at once. When Snape called her name, he flinched very badly, and most of the class wore confused expressions. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word -like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead, and Lily was trying hard to keep a manical grin from taking over her face.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" 'Er, which Potter, Professor?' Lily asked politely.
"Mr, Potter." Snape snapped. Lily saw Harry glance at Ron, who looked as stumped as Harry was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air, with Lily's following.
"I don't know, sir," said Harry.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
"Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything."
He ignored Hermione and Lily's hands.
"Let's try again. Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, though Harry clearly didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. Lily shot the bird at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.
"I don't know, sir." "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Lily forced herself to look straight into those cold eyes. Her and Harry had looked through their books at the Dursleys', but did Snape expect Harry to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?
Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand, and Lily's still hand.
"What is the difference, , between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.
"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione and Lily do, though, why don't you try them instead?" 'Yes, why don't you try us instead? And can you honestly expect for a first year to know fifth year work?' Lily snapped.
A few people laughed; Lily saw Harry catch Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was shocked.
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter." 'Which Potter? And what cheek? Oh, I see, it's the cheek I'm about to give you, isn't it?' Lily snapped again. Some of the Gryffindors let out a few sniggers, and Snape seemed- No, that couldn't be regret, could it? Lily asked herself.
Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors (apart from Lily) as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs, though he let Lily work on her own for some reason, not that she was complaining, and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy and Lily, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs, after he had finished praising Lily,when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.
"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.
"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.
"You - Potter - - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."
This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.
"Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty." Lily on the other hand... 'Well, maybe you should take some points off of your own slimy snakes, like that great bullying, prat over there.' Lily gestured to Malfoy, who scowled. Snape just sneered and walked away.
At the end of the lesson, Lily swore she nearly had a heart attack. 'Twenty points to-to Gr-Gryffindor, for not being a dunderhead.' He shuddered, but when he looked at Lily, She could see a but of warmth in his eyes. How strange...
The whole class was shocked into silence. Snape hated Gryffindors, and He only ever took points off of them, never giving points. Snape must really like me then,Lily thought to herself as her, Harry and Ron walked out of the dungeons.
"Cheer up," said Ron to Harry, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?" 'Yeah sure, but he really seemed to hate me, not Lily though...' Harry trailed off. 'Weird, isn't it?' Lily asked.
At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were sitting outside the front door.
When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang,back."
Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.
"Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang."
He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.
There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.
"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked."This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.
"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."
"That doesn't surprise me at all, for some reason.' Lily grinned.
The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first -lessons, whilst Lily politely refused, saying she wasn't hungry after all the food she had eaten at lunch, which wasn't a lie, she really couldn't eat anymore. Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes, whilst Harry scratched behind his ears.
Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git.", though probably not as happy as Lily.
"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Fitch puts her up to it." "I'll giver her a kick from you next time I see her.' Lily grinned. Hagrid smiled widely and patted her on the back, which sent her forwards, sloshing tea all over the table cloth. 'Oops, sorry 'bout that.'
Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron and Lily, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students. 'Bu' it is strange he likes Lily 'ear.' Hagrid admitted.
"But he seemed to really hate me."
"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"
Yet Lily couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet her and Harry's eyes when he said that.
"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot - great with animals."
Lily wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. It did seem that way, she'd have to ask him again when he least expects it. While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Lily picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cosy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:
GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.
Lily showed Harry, who remembered Ron telling Lily and Himself on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.
"Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on our birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"
There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet their eyes this time. 'I wonder what he's hiding...' Lily thought.
He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?
As Lily, Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Lily thought that none of the lessons she'd had so far had given her as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry and Lily? Both about Snape, and The Gringotts break-in.
That night in the Great Hall was full of people asking her why Snape liked her so much, enough to give her points. 'Yeah, why does he like you so much, but despises Harry?' George asked her. 'I don't know!' Lily snapped. She blinked and took a deep breath. 'Sorry. I don't know why. All I know is that I look like my mother. So unless he and my mum were friends in Hogwarts, than I don't have any idea. Or that he hated our dad, because Harry looks just like him, apparently, and me like Mum.' Lily spoke loudly, so that everyone around her could hear and stop nagging her. George shook his head, before conversing in hushed whispers with Fred. Percy looked intrigued, but he was probably the only Gryffindor that didn't ask her about it. I should probably thank him...
'Oh, and Percy, thanks for not asking.' Lily said with a kind smile. She did like Percy, no matter how much Fred and George seemed to tease her about it, Which was an awful lot. Even Ron couldn't understand it.
'Anyways-Actually never mind, just pass me the treacle tart!' Lily had a manic look in her eyes, she got it every time she saw the delicious, sweet tart. 'Back away from the tart everyone! We repeat, back away from the tart!' Fred and George called out. Some people laughed, and some pushed the treacle tart towards her, or backed away from the plates of it near them. 'Ah, perfect...' Lily mumbled in content as she bit into a slice.
