Chaper 4
First Day
The next day both Sirius and I were supporting bruises on our shins. Our war at the table had turned out to become quite violent. Then again it was war. Sunday was very similar to Saturday, we practically did nothing all day again. I even had time to write a little in my journal. You see whereas Lils wants to be both a muggle vet and a magic one, I wanted to be a writer. Not the type that's in the Daily Prophet – which is basically propaganda – but the type that I'd love to write is novels about adventures, quests, damsels in distress that type of thing. I'd love to travel the world and just write, some dream huh? So every time I get an idea, I jot it down in my journal. And no. It isn't a diary, there's nothing about feelings or boys in there. Just no. Dinner on Sunday night was the same as the one before, we ended up joining the Marauders again, it was pretty fun and this time Sirius decided to sit next to me to avoid another foot war. Wise man. Unfortunately for me, he discovered that I was ticklish. So I can definitely say that I now also support bruises not only on my shins, but also my ribs. Just saying, thank Merlin for stockings.
Going back to the present, it was the earliest I had ever risen. 7:30AM. AM. Did you see the little am there? Then again I got to experience this wonderful meal 'breakfast' I believe they call it. It was an absolute ripper I tell you!
Halfway through brekkie, a teacher Mc-something came down and started handing out our timetables. The subjects I decided on were; Defence against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms and Astronomy. The reasoning behind my choices were that for COMC (Care of Magical Creatures) the farm that I lived on back in Australia is both a farm and sort of a zoo type thing. We keep lots of animals both magic and non-magic. The farm is huge and no muggle can step a foot inside it. For their own safety. But seriously we have so many animals it's not even funny. Growing up on the farm was awesome though, we grew up among a herd of centaurs, hippogriffs and if we were lucky a unicorn, but they mostly stayed away from the farm house. Since our farm is a magic farm, it's broken up into different sections for each animal. Although most animals just live in the forest which is similar to the forbidden forest. So Lils and I both love animals, she even wants to be a muggle and magical vet so she can help animals. Also, even though it's not even an animal, we have a whomping willow near the middle of the property. But since we have a willow we know all the secrets in befriending them. We even named it Lucy. Just because it's a tree, that doesn't mean it doesn't have feelings, it took a while but eventually we got through, now that we befriended Lucy she acts sort of like a mother hen to us. That may sound odd but anything is possible with a little hard work and patience. Lils and I have already made plans to befriend the willow here.
The other subject I chose was Astronomy. The reasoning behind this subject was that at home, I spent so many nights out with the centaur herd learning about the stars and the meanings. They got me so excited and there was just something special that I loved about star gazing, just looking up at something that's millions of light years away. When you look at stars, you're literally looking into the past. I find them so beautiful. The herd leader of the centaur pack Lorenzo tutored me himself because I was 'one of the best'. Lils and I had a very strong connection with all the animals on the farm. The hardest part about leaving the farm was leaving our family, all those animals were part of that family.
Aside from everything else, star gazing was my favourite hobby. At Blumont I was top of the class (mostly because of Lorenzo), so of course I would be resuming it here. Apparently the stars are supposed to be more beautiful over here. Well, we shall see.
Unfortunately, today I did not have Astronomy or COMC, which sucked. Although I did have my third favourite class Defence Against the Dark Arts! My day went like this:
Double Charms
Defence against the Dark Arts
Double Transfiguration
Free Period
Great.
Thank Merlin I had a free period last. It turned out I had all of Monday with Lils and Alice. At least I had some people that I knew, then again I should probably be starting to meet new people. The good thing about having Alice for the whole day was that she could help us to find where our classes were. Looks like we wouldn't be arriving late for class today. But pressure on Alice.
The charms classroom thankfully was near the Hall of Greatness, so it wasn't that difficult to find. Our teacher – who I'm pretty sure was half elf or something – was Professor Flitwik. Quite a fitting name if you ask me, just saying. The lesson was basically and introduction into what we were going to be doing for the year. So of course it was going to go for the whole lesson. Seriously just give us a piece of parchment or something. I was bored shitless. After doodling on my desk a couple of ninja turtles, I let my eyes wonder around the classroom. Much to my joy, I saw three out of the four Marauders (minus Peter) in the row behind us, since we were in the second row to the back. Remus wasn't quite lounging but swiftly taking notes, similar to Lily beside me. She was also copying down Flitwik's tips on what was going to be taught. Looking to my other side, Alice, at first glance seemed to be actually listening to Flitwik's every word. Under inspection I realised that she too was zoning out. Even most of the Ravenclaw's that we shared the class with had zoned out. Weren't they supposed to be the studious ones of the bunch? Or did Marlene lie to me…
Something then interrupted my pondering, a small ball of parchment had landed successfully onto my desk, near the drawings of my ninja turtles. Curious, I opened the note up, I must admit I was expecting a love letter from an anonymous secret admirer but eh this was better than nothing.
YOU SEEM TO BE THINKING PRETTY HARD… I BET IT'S ABOUT ME ;) S.B.
Trying hard not to laugh or snort in amusement, I wrote back a reply.
YOU WISH MATE ;) IN YOUR DREAMS SWEETHEART. J.E.
Carefully and stealthily 'yawning' I dropped the parchment onto Sirius's desk. Moments later I had a reply.
YOU WOUND ME :'( I THOUGHT WE… HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL. I GUESS NOT ): S.B.
I smiled he could be so dramatic.
ANY PARTICUARL REASON THAT YOU DECIDED TO INTERRUPT MY PONDERING WITH YOU 'IMPORTANT' CONFESSION? J.E.
I returned the note once again to Sirius. To no one's surprise, Flitwik was still droning on. By now I'm positive that he was talking about NEWTS. Seriously?! They were next year! I really don't want to think about that right now! I mean the stress levels would be through the roof. Anyways I just got here, strewth. Then Sirius replied and it was very short and straight to the point, no bush bashing here.
BORED. ENTERTAIN ME? ALSO WHO SAYS PONDERING ANYMORE? S.B.
Really? I'm a form of entertainment? Yeah sorry mate, not today. I made a show of scrunching up the note and making it vanish, I heard of gasp of horror. Smirking I looked over my shoulder and stuck out my tongue at him. When charms finally ended, Alice helped us to find the DADA classroom.
"Did you know, there's a 'supposed' curse on the defence teacher position? Not one professor has lasted more than a year, some even leave earlier." Said Alice as we waited outside the classroom in the corridor.
"Really? Spiffy! Nothing ever happened at Blumont. Well… except the Manticore infestation. Other than that, nothing happened though. Same teachers year after year. I swear they are never going to leave. I reckon some are just still there, fighting off the Manticore. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised."
Just then a quiet elderly man came and shushed us inside. Turns out this year's teacher was Professor Oaken. He looked pretty cool, around his late 70's I reckon, no spring chicken though. But he had this badass appeal and atmosphere around him, as if he had fought in tonnes of wars and battles. I mean he had battle scars and everything. I immediately liked him. After his introduction it sort of clicked, he must have been an auror back in his youth. Yep. Definitely badass then. Instead of giving us a long ass speech about how important school was and shit, he got up and with a wave of his hand, pushed all the desks to the side of the room. This guy just keeps getting cooler and cooler! Wandless magic is beyond being the bomb! Man I wish I could do Wandless magic. Although I would miss the smooth wonkiness of my own wand. We have a connection you see. The wand chooses the witch remember? Anyways, the lesson was entirely Prof Oaken choosing random people to verse each other in a duel off. I'm assuming it's so he can assess where certain people are up to and seeing their ability for duelling or just because he can't be fucked teaching anything. Either way… LOVING IT! Since all the girls were in this class plus all of the Marauders it was a pretty fun class. Especially seeing Sirius and Remus duel it off. They were extremely well matched and it was really interesting to watch, in the end Sirius just beat Remus through a leg-locking curse, causing him to fall over. Barking out a laugh Sirius walked over and helped him up (after taking off the curse of course) he clapped him on the back and they walked back to the others. Unfortunately neither Lils nor I were chosen to duel during the lesson, which was disappointing but we had only gotten through half of the class. Some duels took longer than others. For example, James was picked to verse a girl in Hufflepuff. She was a bit of a ditz and kept drooling over him, not realising that it was supposed to be a duel, James easily stupefied her and the duel was over. He looked a little disappointed, probably since he didn't get a proper duel like the others. Normally I would feel sorry for the girl, but since she wasn't paying attention, she kinda got what was coming for her. It was a duel, remember? Not that I'm judging her or anything…
Defence was definitely my favourite class after Astronomy. The class was fun and educational, we were sort of learning from each other's mistakes and learning for ourselves. Prof Oaken didn't say much during the class just giving a few pointers here and there, deffs my favourite teacher. Towards the end of the class the duels kept getting longer and longer. The last pair to duel it off was our very own Dorcas and Marlene. They were extremely evenly matched as well and I was literally on the edge of my seat (sitting on the bench near the window) wondering who would win. In the end, the bell went, so Prof Oaken announced that they would go again next lesson to determine a winner. For now they considered it a tie.
"Woah guys, you were amazing! Good on ya mate!" I thumped them both on the back.
"Yeah I started to break out a sweat there, giving me a run for your money weren't you Cas?"
At first I was a little confused who Cas was… then it clicked, DorCAS. Cas. Hm… smart, I see what she did there, smarty bums.
For Transfiguration we had it all together again. The desks were all in twos so Lils and I stuck together and so did Marlene and Dorcas. Alice went with a boy who I presumed was her boyfriend. The marvellous 'Frank' boyfriend, my prediction was proved to be correct when they started holding hands. Aw. They did look bloody cute together.
It turned out we had Mc-something for a teacher. Ah yes McGonagall, I'll stick with McGee.
"Ah yes, well seeing as we had a few… mishaps in class last year, you will be allocated seats for the remainder of your sixth year. This seat will not be changed no buts, no exceptions."
Her eyes narrowed slightly into the Marauders whilst she spoke, Hm I wonder what the 'mishaps' were. She started pointing at people to move, Lils ended up getting paired with Sirius and I was with Remus. Thank Merlin he was smart! Thank you McGee! I gave Lils a sad smile and moved my stuff next to Remus'.
"Hey there mate! How's it going?" I said cheerfully trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Yeah good, though don't tell the others, but I'm secretly glad that I won't have James and Sirius copying off me every second. Pains they were."
He smiled when both James and Sirius both yelled out "No we're not!" only to be shushed by Lily and another Gryffindor boy who I have yet to meet. Looking at Remus I decided that there's no time like the present to query him about his scars. He's kinda stuck with me for the next hour and a half.
"Rem? I can call you Rem can't I?" After he chuckled and nodded I continued.
"If you don't mind me asking, where in hell did you encounter a werewolf on a full moon and live? I've got absolutely nothing against werewolves, lovely people they are – well the ones I've met are – I've got a cousin on my mums side who turned when he was young, great guy though. Cutest thing when he was a little ankle biter. But on a full moon they do get a little hostile I do admit."
As I kept talking Rem went pale ad looked quite worried.
"Were- what are you talking about? These aren- what makes you think that these are from a we- uh from one of those?" he looked very nervous… hm.
"Rem it's no big deal, I mean I wouldn't want anyone to know to know if I got attacked, but it is a little obvious… the scars" I pointed to his face.
"The shape, depth, length its appearance all indicates that they came from a werewolf. Here look at my scar" I pulled up my sleeve as far as it could go and showed him the scar just above my elbow. This was one of the many injuries I sustained from the animals on the farm.
"I think this one was from a Hippogriff or was it Owen? Oh right Owen is Lils ferret. Yeah we have a lot of animals, anyway look at the difference, and do you see the differences between the appearances? Mines only about 10cm long. The shape is more jagged and not a clean cut like yours. Remus, each animal leaves a unique mark when they attack. The best mark is definitely from a dragon! They look awesome! I wanted a dragon but mum and dad drew the line there."
I sighed and looked up at his face. Remus just looked downright flabbergasted. He stared at where the scar on my arm was. After that I think he went into shock, because he kinda zoned out for a while. Uh alrighty then? I let him take his time and eventually he faced me once again.
"Sorry about that, I just went into shock." I nodded. It was understandable, I mean how many people can tell the difference between scars? Not bloody many.
"Your right though, I was attacked by a werewolf, it was a while ago though, I can't exactly remember it clearly. All I remember was being terrified and it kinda freaks me out when I talk about it, which is why I normally don't. Although why do you have such a passionate view on wer- them anyway?" He looked much calmer now, so I told him.
"Well you know since my cousin got bitten, he always came to the farm for every full moon because we can accommodate for him better, it's much safer for him to change there. But he has to be the nicest kid I have ever met, he didn't let the transformations get him down, he wants to be a healer you know? He's around 10 now and was bitten at 6 or 7. But he proves that just because once a month you lose your shit, it doesn't mean that it defines your life or who you are. The wolf doesn't decide who you are, it's a part of you. No werewolf should fight it, because it only gets you nowhere. I don't know but I've always judged people on who they really are as a person then what or who they seem to be. I guess it was just the way I was raised."
After my little rant I didn't notice that I had started looking out the window, shaking my head I turned my head and looked back at Remus. He seemed deep in thought but much happier.
"One question, isn't it just a little dangerous having a raging werewolf loose on your property? What if he accidently bites someone or gets lost?" I laughed.
"Oh that's simple, we dug a really large chamber type thing in the ground and planted a Whomping Willow over the top, it understands so she protects him. So basically he's boxed in and it's not like he can knock down the walls, it's a hole in the ground. But Justin prefers it that way, he loves the animals just as much as us, and he would be a danger for both him and the young ones."
Just then the bell rung and McGee dismissed the class. When we stood up I gave Remus a quick hug.
"What was that for?"
I smiled. I was feeling pretty chuffed.
"Sometimes people just need a hug to know that their not alone." Picking up my stuff, I skipped over to Lils who was waiting for me at her table. Looking back at Remus I saw him talking to Peter, James and Sirius, who looked quite shocked. Then Sirius turned and made eye contact with me, his eyes shone with amazement. Alrighty then… actually I'm getting a bit hurt that people doubt me like this.
Bloody Hell.
