The First Class
After the star-of-term feast, the students were dissmissed to their common rooms. Seraphine and Scorpius followed the Slytherin prefect down to the dungeons, where they stopped in fron tof a solid wall. Seraphine looked at Scorpius. Had they reached a dead end? Did the prefect not know where his own common room was? Scorpius saw her confusion and smiled. He nodded toward the prefect who was explaining about passwords.
"Every house common room has a password to get in. It changes every week, so pay attention to your fellow classmates to find out what the new one is. No one will tell you out right. Slytherin teaches you to fend for yourself. You may get hints as to what the password is, but never the actual password. Now pay attention." The prefect then turned to the wall and said, "Pure."' A door appeared in the solid wall and swung open. The Slytherins filed into a spacious room, with polished black-wood floors and black stone walls. On the left side, there was a sculpted marble fireplace, with a roaring fire shedding light on the two overstuffed green chairs in front of it. On the right were bookcases, black with silver designs, filled with, of course, books. There was a green and silver rug on the floor in front of them, the edges framed by embroidered snakes. The cieling was sloped upward, and hanging from the center was a beautiful chandelier. There were large windows chedding greenish-light. The prefect said they were under the lake, which is why the color was strange. He then motioned to a staircase to the right, saying it was the way to the dormitories. After going up, the girls went to the left, the boys to the right. Breakfast would start the next morning at exactly 8 AM, followed by classes. they would recieve their schedules at breakfast. Then, they were dissmissed.
Seraphine followed the crowd up the stairs, saying goodbye to Scorpius and heading to the bed with her trunk at the foot. She opened it, changed into her pajamas, and took out her wand, yew and pheonix feather, 15 inches, It was the first time holding it since she went to Diagon Alley to get it. After it chose her, it was taken to be put in a 'safe spot'. Or at least, thats what Professor Ballard had said. He was there with her to get her supplies for Hogwarts. After getting her robes and cauldron and everything else, she handed it all to the headmaster, who hid it while she returned to the orphanage. She wasnt allowed to look at anything about Hogwarts for two weeks, until she got on the train.
Seraphine waved her wand a bit, sending green sparks out of the end. Professor Dippet had looked absolutely terrified when the yew wand had chosen her. She wondered why. She knew how to do some magic because of her father, but she had learned to control it. She wasnt randomly shooting out spells like she used to...She had hurt so many kids when she first got to the orphanage. Especially at night. Her nightmares caused her to lash out with magic, trying to destroy the awful images that came to her. She looked around at her sleeping room-mates and bit her lip. What if she hurt them? Would she be kicked out of Hogwarts? Ballard knew it would be mistakes, accidents. Seraphine had told him all about her nightmares. She sighed and put her wand away, then got into bed. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Seraphine drifted down a dark path, toward a large manor on a hill. It was immaculte, huge, and probably very expensive. All the windows were dark but one. Her dream self drifted up to the window and passed through like smoke. What she saw terrified her.
Sitting in a large chair by a fire was a human-like figure- but it wasnt human at all. It was pale, curled up, ugly...and terrifying. Seraphine didnt know why, but she did not want to get any closer the thing in the chair. Standing on one side was a short man with long fingernails and big front teeth. He was running his hands over his balding head with a hand that was missing a finger. She didnt trust the man, though she snesed he wanted to be loyal to the thing in the chair. He did whatever the thing asked of him- he must be very stupid.
On the other side of the chair was a handsome man, his tongue darting out nervously every once in a while. The thing in the chair spoke with a raspy voice, "Soon everything shall be in place. Then we can put our plan into action. The time is close. I can feel it."
The way the thing in the chair spoke sounded familiar. But it couldnt be... Seraphine, going against her better judgement, inched closer to the thing, and saw its face. She gasped.
No! It couldnt be him! She screamed and waved her hand, dispersing the vision... and woke up.
Seraphine lashed out, still screaming, sending sparks flying. She sat in bed panting. That nightmare was new... Usually they were repeats, the same nightmare over and over- flashes of light, the murder of her father... Shown again and agin...
Seraphine shuddered. Before her father was murdered, he could make the nightmares go away just by standing there. This made her think of her nightmare-free nap on the train. She wondered what made the nightmares go away. 'Maybe it was my father's spirit, with me on the train,' she thought with a smile. 'But then why isnt his spirit with me now? He spent more time at Hogwarts than on the train... The only other person with me was Scorpius...' Seraphine gasped. Scorpius made her nightmares go away! But he couldnt come into the girl's dorms. She could survive with nightmares for a few weeks, but usually after that they became unbearable... At the orphange she sometimes wouldnt sleep for a week or more, until she finally collapsed. If that happened at school,she would fall behind. That would not be good. She didnt want to get kicked out of her beloved school. She sighed and laid back down. She would talk to Scorpius tomorrow, and try to plan what to do. She hoped he woldnt ask too many questions. Seraphine sighed again and closed her eyes.
The next day, Seraphine got up at around two AM, woken by another nightmare. She was showered and dressed before any of her classmates were up. When Scorpius finally staggered down to the common room at a quarter to eight, she was starving, and very antsy. Scorpius walked up to her, rubbing his eyes and muttered, "Morning. When did you get up?" Seraphine said, "Around two. I wanted to talk to you about-" Just then there was a mad rush in the common room to get to the Great Hall. Seraphine sighed. She would have to talk about her nightmares later, when her and Scorpius were alone. She took Scorpius' hand and led him out of the common room, through the door, and followed the crowd to the Great Hall.
They made their way down witha minute to spare, and grabbed two seats across from each other. The prefect from last night came around and handed them the schedules. Seraphine looked at hers. Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy with the Gryffindors, Herbology and Charms with Hufflepuffs, and History of Magic and Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, not necessarily in that order. Seraphine looked angrily at the Gryffindor table. Three classes with the Gryffindors? She wasnt sure she would make it. She could see by the Potter boy that he wasnt happy with the schedule either. Seraphine shrugged it off and began to eat. She was the last to finish eating, Scorpius politely waiting for her. When they finally started to make her way to their first class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Scorpius asked amazingly, "How did you eat so much? I've never seen anyone eat that much before!" Seraphine laughed. "I was starved at that orphanage where i lived. I've never seen so much food, and i just ate..." Scorpius smiled and said, "Well, I'm glad you wont be starved anymore." "Thanks" Just then, they entered the DADA room, and found two seats near the back. The teacher entered.
He stalked into the classroom, black cloak billowing behind him. He had slicked back, dark brown hair and deep blue eyes, looking out coldly at the class over his pointed nose. His tight lipped mouth looked like it hadnt seen a smile in years. He spoke in a rough Scottish accent, "My name is Professor Frederick Archard. You will address me as either Professor or Professor Archard. In this classroom you will learn about the Dark Arts and how to stop them. No one shall be harmed in this room, this I promise.
"Now you may be wondering why you have to learn Defense after the Dark Lord was defeated. Though he was destroyed, some of his followers were not. You must be fully prepared. Now, open your books to page 12 and begin reading." and he walked to his desk and sat there watching them.
Seraphine glanced at Scorpius, pulling out her DADA book. She had imagined this class was going to be her favorite, like her father's. When her father told her about his classes, he talkd about them with reverence. He had loved this place. Seraphine had imagined herself enjoying them as much as he had. She had thought this school would have been everything she had ever wanted, everything she had dreamed about.
But little did Seraphine know, everything was about to change.
