I woke up bright and early but only because Lavender was beside me shaking me awake while Parvati giggled in the background. I stretched and woke up and looked at the two girls while I yawned.
"We thought we could get to know each other before lessons started." Lavender smiled happily tugging us to the middle of the room and sitting down. We talked about the basics, family, and home, what lessons we had, what we were most excited for.
"I think we should get ready. We don't want to be late." Parvati reasoned standing up and motioning for us to do the same.
"She's very right, we have all year together!" I smiled standing up and offering Lavender my hand which she used to pull herself up.
"We have seven years together Ashlee, which is even better." Lavender said turning to get her robes on.
After I got my robes and put them on I brushed my hair and teeth and washed my face. I wanted to look good and make a remarkable impression on my professors. My grades would probably be average because I'm not extremely intelligent but I'm smart. It was Monday so we Defense against the Dark Arts. We got to skip first class because it was first day and Dumbledore wanted to ease the first years into Hogwarts. Lavender, Parvati and I walked to the common room and saw Seamus standing by the door.
"Ashlee! Come on, I was starting to think you had already left or something. Let's go get breakfast. Dean and Neville are saving seats for us all. Ron and Harry just left and I bet they'll sit with us." Seamus said pulling on my arm and I motioned for the two girls to follow us.
"Well hello to you too Seamus" Lavender laughed. "This is Parvati. Not that you care about anyone other than Ashlee." Lavender and Parvati giggled and Seamus dropped my arm instantly. He mumbled something that sounded like hello Lavender but one can't be sure.
We ate breakfast and went to Defense against the Dark Arts. Professor Quirrell was a jittery fellow. He jumped at the slightest noise and would always reach up and touch the back of his turban. I sat beside Lavender and Harry. Seamus and Dean were in front of me and Parvati was sitting beside Ron behind us. Both of them looked extremely awkward. I saw Seamus raise his hand and Quirrell pointed to him as if to say, you may speak.
"Sir," Seamus started looking at him curiously. "May I ask where your turban is from?" Everyone listened closely waiting for the answer to the question we'd all thought at some point.
"Ah yes, good question Mr. Finnigan." Quirrell glanced about the room before speaking. "It was given to me in Africa by an African Prince. He gave it to me out of thanks for fighting off a troublesome Zombie."
"That's so cool, how did you fight him off?" Seamus asked drumming his fingers on his desk.
"Lovely weather t-today isn't it? We're so l-lucky to have the beautiful colours of F-Fall." Quirrell said in his quivering voice. Lavender and I exchanged a curious glance and we gave our attention back to Quirrell who continued to blab about fall for a few minutes before returning to speak about the Vampire he'd met in Romania.
"I think he's lying about the Turban." I said to Seamus as we walked back to the Gryffindor common room.
"I know," Seamus said before quickly telling the Fat Lady our password. "He didn't fight a zombie. He probably is just losing hair or something."
"It just sounded so … rehearsed." I said sitting on the couch and pulling my knees to my chest. "I just get a bad vibe from him you know. Like he knows something we don't"
"That's sort of why he's the teacher and we aren't." Seamus joked but stopped giggling when I gave him a dirty look. "Sorry, I just don't think Quirrell is capable of anything other than good things. He's too scared of everything." He sat beside me and patted my knee. "You're over analysing things." Seamus said before I stood up and walked away from him. "Ashlee. Be reasonable here." He said and I just went into my dorm without as much as a goodbye.
I sat on my bed reading my book Tales of the Beedle and The Bard. I got to the tale of the three brothers and whispered the words. It was always my favourite. Lavender then walked in and sat beside me. Looking at the book over my shoulder, she giggled when she realized what it was.
"Okay, you broke Seamus." Lavender said falling back on my bed. "He's going mental down there."
"Good," I said closing my book and placing it on the nightstand. "He called me crazy." I said before thinking a little. "Indirectly." I stood up and washed my hands and face and crawled into bed. "I'm skipping dinner tonight. I'm not hungry."
The next day I got dressed in robes quickly and walked down to the dining hall. Lavender was already there and saving me a seat in between her and Ron. I sat down and greeted them good morning.
"Is Parvati with Padma?" I asked Lavender before taking some food onto my plate.
"Yes, they went to the library after a quick bite to eat." Lavender said taking her time and slowly cutting up her egg and gracefully putting the fork in her mouth. As for me I just shoveled the food in my mouth not stopping to take a breath.
"That's what you get for skipping dinner." Ron said laughing a little. "Oh, here comes the lost puppy." Ron laughed pointing to Seamus.
Seamus caught my eye for a minute and smiled hopefully and I gave him a tiny emotionless smile before turning back to everyone else. "I'm off to potions, Lavender are you done?" She nodded taking her last bite and grabbing her bag off the bench.
We walked to potions talking about music and Lavender sat beside Parvati, who wasn't here yet but would probably be a little early, and I sat in front of Lavender saving a spot for anyone of my friends. Parvati walked in and Seamus dragged his feet behind her. He saw the empty seat beside me and shuffled over placing his books down and claiming it as his own.
"I'm sorry for the other day. You're not over analysing it. Maybe you're right, maybe he is bad, or evil or whatever. If he really creeps you out I'll ace his class so I can defend you from him okay? Just, don't be cross with me. I didn't mean to make fun of your thoughts and theories." Seamus ranted looking me in the eye the whole time. I heard Lavender and Parvati both giggle at us but stop and pretend to be casually talking when I looked at them.
"Okay, I'm not mad." I said raising my hands and Seamus pulled me in for a hug when Neville walked passed smacking him in the back of the head with a book but since Neville is so clumsy he dropped the book and it landed on the floor with a bang causing some of the punctual Slytherin's to look over at us.
Ron and Harry sat in front of me and Seamus and Dean and Neville sat in front of them. Snape came in ad began the lesson. Harry and he getting into a little verbal scrap.
Seamus and I were partners for brewing a cure for boils.
"Okay, first add six snake fangs into the martar and use the pestle to crush into a fine powder." I said telling Seamus what to do because he is 'so amazing at potions.' When he was done that I gave him the next instruction. "Now add four measures of the powder to the cauldron." Once he did that I did the heating to make sure it was just right. Just as I was doing that I heard Neville moan and saw the cauldron completely ruined. Neville was covered in gross disgusting boils.
"You idiot boy! You added the porcupine quills before turning of the heat? You two," He pointed to Seamus and I. "Take him to the hospital wing." I quickly shut the heat off before helping my brother to the hospital wing. We rushed down the hallways and Nearly Headless Nick joined behind us and wished Neville a quick fix before turning into a wall.
After the nurse had Neville drinking potion to fix him up Seamus and I left. We walked back to the dungeon to get ours and Neville's stuff. When we got there Snape was moving the cauldron away from the desk and using magic to clean up the spill.
"I'm sorry about my brother Professor." I said while putting my stuff into my bag and grabbing Neville's books that hadn't been covered in potion.
"Nothing I haven't dealt with before Ms. Longbottom and good on you to have the sense to turn off the heat before you left but mediocre gestures won't be enough to pass, I hope you're not as insufficient as your … brother." He said before leaving into another room. I raised an eyebrow before walking back to the common room with Seamus.
We saw Percy and he gladly help us set up a game of Exploding Snaps. We played for a few hours and headed to eat dinner. I sat with Lavender and Seamus and everyone else were in various seats but Harry and Ron scampered in while we were just getting our plates ready.
"Try this Ashlee." Harry said handing me a rock looking thing. "Hagrid made them I think."
"OW Harry!" I laughed throwing it at him after taking a bite and hurting my tooth.
We all laughed and ate until we all decided to go back to our dorms. We all walked together except for Parvati who went to say goodnight to her sister but promised to meet Lavender and I in our dorm for a late night gab session. Lavender and I waved goodbye to the boys and we walked into separate dormitories. These guys and girls were my family and I was loving every minute of it.