Chapter 3: Galaxy's First Day
Galaxy's first night at Hogwarts had been fairly uneventful. Of course, Scorpius wrote a letter to his parents, and requested that he use James's owl Mercury to deliver it.
"That way my parents definitely know I am going to be friends with the Potters, no matter if they want to stop me!" he had declared. Surprisingly, James had agreed, mainly because he had some of his own letters to send, mainly to his own parents and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, telling them where Rose and Albus had been sorted.
The next morning began like normal in the Great Hall when the owls filled the room, delivering mail to the students. Scorpius wasn't too surprised when he received a letter that was from his parents, and he opened it.
"I'm disappointed that you're not in Slytherin, but if the Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor, there's nothing we can do about it. I will be reluctantly hoping Gryffindor wins the House Cup, but only because you're in it," he read aloud. He stared at the letter, surprised.
"That's not too bad. Is your father really that bad a guy? I mean, from the way you yell about him, I thought he would give you a Howler," Galaxy commented.
"I did too. Mum might have something to do with it, though, she was never as intent on turning me into a 'perfect little Slytherin' like Father was," Scorpius mused. Along with the letters were their new class schedules. Galaxy grinned when she noticed what her first class was.
"All right! It's Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws! That means I get to see Rosie again!" she cheered, "And then we have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and Bunny's there!"
"Several of these seem to be mixed houses," Scorpius noted, "I guess the professors want to make sure we don't get into the rivalries that my parents' generation was infamous for." He then looked at the class list again, and pouted. "Or not. I think the Transfiguration teacher, Professor Amanda Quigley, is the head of Slytherin. She better not try to make me feel guilty for not being in her house."
"Well, we'll just find out soon. And Transfiguration sounds like fun, I wonder if we'll get to turn into different things?" Galaxy wondered excitedly, "Maybe she could teach you how to turn your hair black or something." Galaxy and Scorpius soon found out the answers to their questions, since Transfiguration was the first class they had. Galaxy noticed a certain chubby, redhaired friend of hers, but the seats near Rose were already taken when she and Scorpius arrived. In the spirit of getting to know people from other houses, Galaxy sat next to a dark-haired Ravenclaw girl named Daisy Puff. When Galaxy opened her textbook, she almost gasped in surprise. She had been using a Chocolate Frog card of Severus Snape as a bookmark, and she stared at the card, and then at Daisy. The hooked nose, the sallow skin, the skinny build...Daisy looked like a female version of Snape! She then noticed that Daisy was glaring at her, causing her to resemble the former Potions Master even more!
"Hi, I'm Galaxy Baghill!" Galaxy greeted the other girl cheerfully, "I was just thinking that you look a lot like this guy." She showed Daisy the picture of Snape, and Daisy turned away abruptly.
"He was my cousin," she muttered. Cousin?! No way, Galaxy thought in shock, Daisy's a first year, like me! She didn't dwell on her classmate's appearance much longer, though, because it was at this time that Professor Amanda Quigley entered the room.
"I didn't want to! I didn't want to join your house, and you're not going to make me feel guilty for it!" Scorpius suddenly shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Amanda, who just looked surprised by this outburst.
"Obviously not," she said dryly, "I frankly don't care which house you're in, Mr. Malfoy, as long as you pay attention and listen in class. It may be hard to do something as difficult as transfiguration when your mind is worrying about other things."
"Who'd want to be a Slytherin? I bet you're just jealous you're not a Ravenclaw like me," bragged Andrew, the boy who had insulted Bunny at the sorting.
"I'm not jealous! I LIKE being a Gryffindor!" Scorpius shouted back.
"Be quiet, you two, or I'll have to take points from both your houses," Amanda scolded. Scorpius and Andrew stuck their tongues out at each other, but then took out their textbooks and decided to pay attention to the lesson.
"Boys," Galaxy giggled, "They're so loud and silly. Not like us girls, right, Daisy?" Daisy stared coldly at Galaxy, but didn't say anything. Professor Amanda rolled her eyes, and then she passed out matchsticks to everyone.
"As I said, this class is Transfiguration, which is the art of changing the form of objects and even living creatures," she announced. She then waved her wand and turned her desk into a tiger. Several students clapped in awe, except for William Apple, who screamed in fright and hid under his desk. Luckily, no one was hurt, because Amanda turned the tiger back into a desk quickly.
"So what do we have these matches for? Can we set things on fire?" David Longbottom asked eagerly.
"No, I don't want anyone setting things on fire in this lesson. Your first assignment is to turn your matchsticks into needles, which is a relatively simple transformation," Amanda sighed. She sincerely hoped no one would set anything on fire, that would be very dangerous, even more than the tiger. The students all set to work in their task, although, since it was their first time, most of them still ended up with either a silver matchstick, a brown needle, or some combination thereof. At the end of the period, the two students who had produced the best needles were a Ravenclaw boy named Rigel Green and a Gryffindor girl named Electra O'Blarney. As the students separated to go to their next classes, Galaxy noticed that Rose looked rather upset about something.
"Why couldn't I do it completely?" she whimpered softly, "Mum was able to do it on her first try, and she didn't even grow up with magic!"
"It's okay, Rosie. Neither you nor Scorpius has to live up to your parents. Just be yourself. I'm sure there will be some classes you'll do great in," Galaxy reassured her cheerfully.
"That's right! I refuse to be like my father!" Scorpius exclaimed, joining Galaxy as they set out for the greenhouses for their Herbology lesson with the Hufflepuffs.
"I think it's a little different, Scorpius. Rose's parents are great heroes, while your father was a nasty Death Eater," said a brown-haired Gryffindor girl named Electra O'Blarney who spoke with an Irish accent.
"I know that! Why does everyone want to remind of it?!" Scorpius shouted.
"Because you make it so obvious, you little Malfoy clone. You're the one who yelled about being expected to be a Slytherin in class," Electra pointed out with a smirk.
"I am NOT a clone!" screamed Scorpius, lunging at her in a flying tackle. Electra shrieked in surprise as Scorpius knocked her to the ground, his fists flying. Galaxy glared at him and sprang on top of him and Electra, yelling at him to stop. She then felt herself being dragged roughly away from the other two, who were grabbed and picked up by a very angry Hagrid.
"What is the meaning of this, you three?!" bellowed the man who had grabbed Galaxy. It was Neville Longbottom, the Herbology teacher. Most of the other Gryffindor students were in the greenhouse, and he had went to check on the latecomers.
"They started it! I was just trying to get them to stop!" Galaxy yelped, annoyed that she was being blamed.
"She called me a clone!" Scorpius protested.
"You didn't have to hit me for it!" Electra shot back, both of them squirming in Hagrid's grasp.
"20 points from Gryffindor for both of yer. And detention with Professor Longbottom here for delaying his class," Hagrid growled, "An' no more trying ter stop fights like that, Miss Baghill. I'll take no points off this time, though."
"You can put them down now, Hagrid. I will make sure they serve their detentions Friday afternoon," Neville stated.
"But that's our free time! Why am I being punished?! He's the one who attacked me!" Electra whined, "He's just as evil as his father!" Scorpius tried to lunge at her again, but Hagrid held him back.
"It's because yer sayin' stuff like that to him," Hagrid snapped at her, "Neville, make sure these two don't sit near each other in class." He dropped both Scorpius and Electra on the ground, and they glared at each other before entering the greenhouse and going to opposite sides of the room. Galaxy found Bunny, who was glad to see her fiesty little friend again, and the Herbology class proceeded surprisingly peacefully.