Chapter Three
A/N: Thanks to my reviewer, MusingTabby.
Merida had spent the night in the spare bedroom situated in Professor McGonagall's private quarters and the redhead had awoken that morning surrounded by new things.
Laid out on the desk were about four dozen leafs of parchment, three bottles of ink, five quill pens and a large pile of books, with a satchel resting on the chair in front of the rosewood desk. As she hauled herself out of bed to survey the array of objects, she caught sight of two leaves of parchment set apart from the rest. The one on top, she spotted straight away, had her school timetable inked onto it. The other, which she had pulled out from underneath, had a message scrawled on it in red ink.
Dear Merida,
If you are reading this note at eight o'clock in the morning, stop reading it and get dressed because you are going to be late for breakfast!
Other than that, have a brilliant first day, darling,
Lots of love,
Mum.
Merida laughed out loud as she read, then realised the importance of her words and scrambled across the room to her wardrobe. Flinging it open, Merida gaped for a moment before reaching through the rosewood doors and pulling out her new uniform for the day, which consisted of a white shirt, a black skirt and tights, a grey cardigan and a robe and tie, each bearing the colours of her new house, Gryffindor, which she had been sorted into by the Sorting Hat the previous evening. She dressed quickly, then grabbed her newly packed satchel and flung herself through the door, bolting for the Great Hall.
It took Merida another quarter of an hour before she reached the table, her face flushed as she sat down and helped herself to a soft-boiled egg. She spent most of the time looking up at the staff table, where her mother was sat, deep in conversation with the Charms master, Professor Flitwick. In fact, Merida was concentrating so hard on her mother that she didn't notice that most everyone had left the Great Hall to go to their lessons. When she finally noticed, she jumped to her feet, gasping as she bumped into another redheaded girl, knocking them both a little off balance. When they'd recovered, it was the girl who broke the silence.
"I'm sorry, I'm quite clumsy sometimes."
"Don't worry, so am I, it was my fault, really." replied Merida. A look of deep interest crossed the girl's face.
"Are you Scottish?" she asked, seeming genuinely interested.
"Native, yeah. Even my name has a Scottish influence."
"What is it?"
"Merida. It's the name of a fiery Scottish princess. My mum loves fairytales, really." she smiled. The girl's face flashed with something that looked like realisation.
"You're Merida? Merida Ross?" asked the girl. Merida stood in confusion for a moment, forgetting her new name, before sighing for a little as she realised what she meant.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I am. Who are you?" asked the Scottish girl, cringing a little at how rude the question sounded outside of her head.
"My name's Ginny, Ginny Weasley. Our Head of House, Professor McGonagall, asked me to show you around and help you with anything, really. We're in the same year and house, so we'll have all the same classes."
"Thanks. I think that'd really help me." Merida smiled.
"Okay, so what've we got first?" Ginny asked, noticing that Merida still had her timetable on the table. The Scottish girl scanned it for a moment, before tapping one point of the parchment.
"Potions, with Professor Snape. Oh, and Ginny?"
"Yes?" the girl replied.
"Seeing as Ginny is a nickname, can you please not call me Merida?"
"Okay, Meri."
"Let's go." both said in unison, laughing a little as they began to walk from the hall, arm in arm as new best friends.
Finally, Merida felt that she truly belonged at Hogwarts.
A/N: Review!
