Hey Everyone! It's good to be back after so long. Thanks to everyone who's waited patiently for the next chapter. This one's short and sweet, but the next chapter will be action packed! Enjoy.
Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own anything, except Rikki. If I did, Hermione would've wound up with Malfoy instead of Ron.
So, you know how Scor said that it would be fine to explore the castle so long as we didn't get lost? Yeah, well, you could probably guess what happened.
"Didn't we already go down this hallway?"
"No Mary. That suit of armor wasn't in any other hallway we walked through, so we couldn't have gone down here. At least, I think it wasn't down here."
"Are you sure Rikki?"
"We are so lost."
"Yeah we are Scor, but we haven't seen anyone else down here…well speak of the devil." I said while looking up ahead at the most unlikely person walking down our hallway.
"James? What are you doing down here?"
"Oh. Hey Lily and Lily's friends. What are you guys doing on the fifth floor?"
"We're on the fifth floor? But we started out on the second floor. How'd we get this far up?" Is it even possible to jump three floors?
"Did you guys happen to go through any portraits?"
"Um…I think we went through one with a dragon on it. Was that how we got lost up here?"
"Probably Lils. Anyway, you guys want to help me with something?"
"I thought you had an evil look about you. What evil prank are you trying to pull now?" Come on. I told you I can practically smell a prank.
"Evil? Never. I choose to think of them as fun and harmless pranks that bring joy to me and those who witness them." he said with smile on his face. Oh yeah. He definitely gets in a lot of trouble. Detention here he comes.
"Uh huh. Let's pretend for a second that I believe you. What exactly are you planning on doing and to whom?"
"Well, if you must know. I was thinking of pranking the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor since her classroom is around here."
"Are you out of your mind? How you haven't gotten yourself expelled yet is beyond me." I have to agree with Lily on this one.
"Oh come on Lils. Wouldn't it be a nice gesture? A 'welcome to Hogwarts' if you will."
"Let me ask you a question James. Do you ever get away with any of the pranks you've pulled?" My guess is no.
"Umm…no."
"That's what I thought. Well, I'll give you a little bit of advice since my brothers and I have prank wars at least one month out of the year. Never prank someone that you don't know since they may not find your pranks funny and may actually get violent. So if you want to keep all of your appendages, I'd stay away from her for now. Have you even had her class yet?"
"No, but there's no way she'll know it was me that pranked her!"
"Are you the only person in this school that pranks people?"
"Well, Fred helps me sometimes, but it's mainly me who pulls the pranks around here."
"Yeah, then don't pull a prank on her. You have no one to blame it on. But, you're probably not going to listen to me, are you?" He really doesn't seem like the brightest crayon in the box.
"Nope." he said with a pop. Yeah…definitely not the brightest.
"Alrighty then. Have fun getting detention. But, before you do, can you tell us how to get back to the staircase so we can get to Transfiguration?"
"Yeah, sure. Head down this hallway and go right. The staircase is right past the door at the end of the hallway."
"Gotcha. Thanks James. Have fun with your prank."
"Thanks midget. See you guys…" he never got to finish that sentence because he was running from me while Scor held me back (while laughing I might add). I don't like it when people make fun of my height.
"Scor, you can let me go now. And stop laughing!"
"Sorry Rikki, but you have to admit. It was really funny. Ok. Maybe not." It's amazing what a simple glare from me can do.
"Whatever Scor. Let's just get out of here and head for class. We only got ten minutes before we're late."
And with that, we finally headed down to the grand staircase before we heard some explosion from nearby. With one look, we all shrugged and started for the Transfiguration classroom. Whatever James did can wait until lunch. [A.N. I told you guys I'd try and throw a prank in this chapter. You'll find out exactly what happened later in the chapter.]
Surprisingly enough, we actually made it down there with two minutes to spare (this is starting to become a trend now). The classroom was about twice the size as the one in the dungeons with small bookshelves lining the walls close to the door and larger ones along the windows on the other side of the room. The windows bring in a lot of light compared to the dark dungeons which is quite I nice change. As I looked around the room, I noticed that we would be having this class with the Slytherins. This can't end well. We took what I think is starting to become our usual seats in the back on the Gryffindor side (since the classroom was split in half) while Headmistress McGonagall began talking about the class.
"In Transfiguration, you will learn how to transform objects into new ones, disguise different objects, and even how to disguise yourselves. This will not be an easy class by any means. It takes time and skill to master the spells you will learn here and by no means should you slack off. Now, please turn to page 5 so that we may begin today's work."
For an old woman, she seemed very nice. She didn't give off that vibe of 'I don't want to be here' that teachers usually give off. Her light gray hair was styled into a simple bun that made her look more like a librarian than a teacher. Her green robes were quite old-fashioned, but they seemed to work well for her.
I must've been spacing out because out of nowhere, Professor McGonagall started handing out matchsticks. I wonder what we're going to set on fire.
"As you can see from page five, the most simple and basic transfiguration spell is the one used to turn a matchstick into a needle. Now, point your wand at the matchstick and say the small incantation. If done correctly, the matchstick should turn into a needle. If anyone can accomplish this before the end of class, their house will be awarded 10 points per person."
10 points doesn't seem like much, but it's better than nothing. Instead of starting right away, I decided to look around the classroom and see how my other classmates were doing. So far, no one has even changed the wood of the matchstick to metal. One kid form Gryffindor that was up in front of Lily and Mary did get his matchstick to move although it flew all the way to the front of the classroom. I can't see if anyone…oh my god! Dude that Thomas kid couldn't get any thicker. He nearly blew himself and his table partner up. I wonder what spell he accidentally used. Well. McGonagall does not look pleased. That kid is so getting detention today. I wonder if he and James'll have it together.
While I was looking around the room, I hadn't realized what Lily, Mary, and Scor were doing. Both Lily and Mary had their matchsticks about halfway between a needle and a matchstick, while Scor was almost there. I think I better try and see if I can't get this spell right. As I pulled out my wand and muttered the spell, I was shocked to see my matchstick instantly turn itself into a needle. I was so surprised that Scor actually looked up from his matchstick to see mine completely transformed.
"Wow! You've already got it?" His blue eyes couldn't have gotten any bigger. Unfortunately, his voice had attracted the attention of everyone around me, including Professor McGonagall.
"Well done Miss Corvine. I think 10 points for Gryffindor are well deserved." she said with a pleased smile on her face. I guess I would've been happier with my accomplishment if everyone in the classroom hadn't been staring/glaring at me.
"Thank you professor." I said shyly. It's funny how the second I know someone, I can take a compliment. But when I don't know someone and they compliment me, I just want to hide.
I couldn't help but give a sigh of relief when she had walked away to stop Thomas from blowing himself up (again). I looked at Lily and Mary who gave me encouraging smiles before getting back to work on their own matchsticks. When I looked over at Scor, he just smiled at me before concentrating even harder on his own. Within two minutes, he had turned his matchstick into a needle and right before the end of class, so had Lily and Mary. No one else had even come close. What are we, the smart kids?
Either way, Gryffindor got 40 points which made everyone in Gryffindor happy at lunch. We barely got to eat our lunch since so many of our fellow Gryffindors wanted to know how we did it though. Can't a person eat in peace around here? One person who didn't really ask us what happened was James. The idiot was sitting right near us, but instead of being happy about the 40 points, he looked a little put out.
"Hey, prank-boy, why so sad?"
"I got caught after I pranked Professor Sinistra and got detention every night for the next month." he said with the saddest look on his face.
"Wait. You pranked a teacher with the last name Sinistra? Boy, you are just asking for trouble." I said with a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You tried to warn me, but the prank I pulled was awesome…before she put me in a body-bind and hauled me to McGonagall. You see…"
*Flashback to Right before Transfiguration*
*James POV*
I don't care what that one girl says, I'm so going to prank that new professor. This opportunity is just too good to pass up. As I walked back down the hallway where the little munchkins had been, I saw the portrait that would lead me to the third floor where her classroom is. I quickly made my way through the portrait, turned right, and I saw the door for the DADA classroom. Making sure that no one was around, I slowly pulled out the brand new WWW product that my Uncle George wanted me to test out. Could I have a better uncle than him? According to Uncle George, it's supposed to explode when someone walks under a door and stain their hair pink while making you smell like a skunk. Oh this is going to be good!
As quietly as I could, I walked up to her door and placed the WWW product at the top of the door, knocked on said door, and quickly walked around the corner before she could see me. And, to my sheer delight, the second Professor Sinistra opened her door; the product exploded and covered her in pink goo that I could smell all the way around the corner. I probably would've gotten away with the prank too if I hadn't accidentally laughed louder than I should have. I knew I was screwed when Professor Sinistra looked straight at me with a glare that could've sent me to an early grave before casting a body-bind spell on me and floating my sorry butt to Professor McGonagall's Headmistress office. Unfortunately, I had to wait with a seething professor for an hour before McGonagall showed up. And she was anything but pleased.
I don't remember much of the scolding since over the years I've learned how to tune her out, but I did hear that I had detention for the next month with Sinistra. Ah crap. Alright, maybe that girl was right. I couldn't help but practically run from the Headmistress' office (more to escape the smell rather than Sinistra). I am so getting a howler from Mum again.
*End Flashback*
*back to Rikki's POV*
"You're such an idiot James. You're just lucky you didn't lose any house points."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
James was saved from another one of my 'you're an idiot' scolding by Scor telling me that we have Herbology in 10 minutes. At least this time we got to leave with plenty of time to get to class. As the four of us neared the Herbology classroom, we saw some Slytherins harassing a poor Hufflepuff girl.
"You think you're better than us don't you little mudblood? Let's show her what we do to people who think their better than us Flint." said some unruly boy who looked more like a troll than an actual boy.
"Hey. You over there. What do you think you're doing?" Scor yelled before I could.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Potter half-blood, the mudblood, and the two blood-traitors." the boy named Flint said.
"Excuse me? I don't know who the hell you think you guys are…"
"Oh. Sorry. We forgot to introduce ourselves. My name's Marcus Flint Jr. and my colleague over here is Damien Goyle. We're from the PUREST Slytherin families in all of England and Slytherin third years. Unlike Malfoy over there." For two guys from the 'purest Slytherin families', they sure were ugly. Flint had short, greasy brown hair with beady little black eyes that reminded me of a rat. Flint's not buff by any means, but rather lanky (almost too skinny if you ask me). The troll boy looked, well, like a troll with dull black hair and blank black eyes. He doesn't seem too bright either.
"You watch your mouth Flint. I may be in Gryffindor, but I can still fight like a Slytherin." Wow. I didn't think Scor had it in him to threaten a mouse let alone two Slytherin third years.
"Or what? Is a little blood-traitor like you going to do something?" he said with a sneer while pulling out his wand. Luckily, before Scor could get his wand out, Professor Longbottom came down the hallway.
"What's going on here? Flint, Goyle, shouldn't you be heading to Potions?"
"Yes sir. We were just on our way. See you later Malfoy. This isn't over." Unfortunately, Professor Longbottom didn't hear the last part since he asked us if we were all alright instead of giving those two idiots detention.
"We're fine professor. Luckily, they kept Flint and Goyle from hurting me." said the little first year Hufflepuff girl. Actually now that I look at her, she may actually be taller than me. Curse my shortness.
"Since I can't put Flint and Goyle in detention for something they didn't do, I'll just have to award 20 points to Gryffindor for helping out a fellow classmate. Come on you lot, let's head to class." he said with a smile. Sweet another 20 points!
As we arrived at Green House 1, we found out that the girl's name was Emily Bones. She seems pretty nice, but she ended up sitting with her friends after thanking us profusely. As Scor, Mary, Lily, and I sat down at four available seats next to the door, I got a chance to look around. The room felt humid and I realized why. There were plants lining the walls and even hanging from the ceiling. I think I can even see some venomous ventacular plants in the back corner near Professor Longbottom's office. I was snapped out of looking around the room by Scor again. Apparently, I had missed whatever Professor Longbottom had told us since everyone had already started putting on their goggles so they could try and find the red center of the poisonous hydrangea and draw it on a piece of parchment. Good thing I got Scor around to update me.
After I had put on my goggles and started to draw the red center, Thomas, I don't know how, but he set the poisonous flower on fire. Four words…THE. THING. WAS. PISSED! It started screaming in anger (don't ask me how) and started spraying a purple liquid everywhere. The only good thing about this was that my friends and I were right next to the door so we didn't get sprayed. In the end, it took Professor Longbottom over 35 minutes to put out the flaming flower and send everyone who got sprayed to the hospital wing because apparently, the purple stuff was a poison that created boils wherever it touched you. Remind me to never sit next to Thomas unless I want to skip a test or a week of classes. Since only Mary, Lily, Scor and I had come out of the disaster unscathed; he canceled the rest of class. But, since their was only 10 minutes of class left, we just decided to head on to DADA. There's no point in getting lost again.
"Did anybody actually see how Thomas started his flower on fire?" I asked still wondering how that kid is going to survive the next 7 years of school.
"No, but that kid is lethal. He's nearly set himself on fire in all of our classes today. Remind me to never sit next to him."
"Trust me; I'm not sitting with him either Scor. Hey, does anyone remember where the DADA classroom is?"
"Maybe we should ask James? I'm sure he remembers where." Lily said while all of us laughed.
"There's no need. I know where it is. We passed it while we were lost on the fifth floor."
"Awesome Mary. Let's hurry up and find it."
When we arrived at the DADA classroom, we were met with an unfortunate smell. [A.N. If any of you have seen the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry's car has that bad B.O. smell in it, that's the kind of smell I'm talking about. If you haven't, well, it's really bad.] This smell was so bad that we all had to cover our noses just to stand it. I saw Professor Sinistra standing in front of the class next to her desk with a look of anger etched on her face. I'm surprised James is still alive after pranking her. Her pure black hair was stained pink from James' prank. Even her pale skin was slightly pink. She must be at least 5'8" because she was almost the same height as her blackboard and her black robes only accentuated the pink goo that was still on her.
"Good morning class. Don't bother to sit down because class will be canceled today due to a student pulling a prank. Please read chapter one from your book and be ready for class on Wednesday. I will explain the class and start you all on a few exercises then. Have a good day."
I may actually have to thank James later. Without DADA class, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. All the Gryffindor first years (myself included) thanked James for getting Professor Sinistra to cancel class. We had dinner while Flint and Goyle glared at us (no shocker there), started reading the first chapter of the DADA book, and Lily and Scor played three games of Wizard's Chess (Lily beat Scor badly, 3-0). For the first day of classes in a foreign country, it was actually pretty cool. I think it may have been made more interesting by the walking disaster named Thomas though. As I was about to fall asleep, I knew I'd enjoy my time here at Hogwarts.
Somewhere In England
"Master, ******* reported that the chosen has become friends with the Potters and the Malfoy boy."
"Interesting. How soon before ****** can start the preparations for the attack?" I need to have her now before the change occurs. After that, the chosen will be near impossible to defeat.
"Not long my master. Should only take a few weeks before we are ready."
"Well done ********. Soon, the chosen will be under my control and the laws of nature will no longer apply."
End of Chapter 3
Dun, dun, dun. Left you guys with another cliffhanger. What does the mysterious bad guy mean by saying that the laws of nature will no longer apply? Keep reading and find out. Well, since I didn't get any suggestions for the DADA professor's name, I came up with my own. I think it'll work. I know I moved through this chapter pretty fast, but this was mainly a filler chapter. There wasn't much development beyond Rikki and her friends meeting some new enemies (the Slytherin idiots) and meeting the three professors. I had to at least get through her first official day of classes before I could move on and trust me I will.
And once again, let me know if you want something or someone added into the story. You can even add yourselves if you like. So please review and send me some constructive criticism if you've got time.
Next Chapter: I'm speeding up to December since going into such detail for every class is quite a strain and I need to move this story along. Although, I will be spending a little more time than I thought in her first year. There will be an attack on the school, you'll meet Harry and the other Aurors, and you'll read another secret meeting from Somewhere In England in the next chapter. Wondering who's going to attack the school and for what reason? Me too. I have no idea right now. Lol. But, I'm going to start righting the chapter tonight and if I can, you guys and I will find out by tomorrow.
Laters and Happy New Year Everyone! ^_^