Evelyn woke up earlier than expected, probably due to nerves. She was up by 7, even though breakfast didn't begin until 8.

So, she quickly dressed herself in her uniform, complete with her new Gryffindor tie and cloak, and looked at her schedule.

"Let's see," she whispered to herself, looking at the timetable, "first period, potions. Second period, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lunch, then…that's it for today, wow."

First year Gryffindors had two classes in the morning, and after lunch, had a study hall, and then their final period was a free period. Feeling good about her first day, she grabbed her Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts books.

Walking as quietly as possible, as not to bother her roommates, Evelyn made her way down to the Gryffindor common room, where she sat in a rather large, cozy armchair. She opened her potions textbook, Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, and opened to a random page.

"Wideye Potion," she said quietly to herself, "ingredients: six snake fangs, 4 measures of Standard Ingredient, 6 Billywig stings, and 2 sprigs of Wolfsbane…"

She then read through some of the instructions. "…heat on medium temperature for 30 seconds…stir 3 times, counterclockwise…add 2 sprigs of Wolfsbane to your cauldron…Wow…"

Evelyn was so engrossed in her potions textbook that she didn't hear Fred, George, Angelina, and her roommates walk down from their respective dormitories.

"Moooorning," George drawled playfully, pushing the textbook down with 2 fingers.

Evelyn chuckled.

"Morning," she replied, closing her book and putting it in her bag, "off to breakfast?"

"If we can remember how to get there!" Juliet replied quietly, making everyone nod and chuckle.

The group of seven did get lost along the way, but met up with Fred and George's oldest brother, Bill, on the way, who led them down to the Great Hall.

"Just make sure you make a left at the statue, not a right," he said, as the Great Hall came into view, "just some advice."

"Thank you, Bill," Angelina said kindly, prompting the rest of the group to say their thanks as well. Bill smiled. "No problem. Head Boy, here to help."

"Oh, you're Head Boy?" Fred asked sarcastically.

"We never knew!" George continued.

"Shut up," Bill replied, joking pushing his younger brothers forward a little.

The group laughed again as they took their seats at Gryffindor table. The hall was a bit emptier than last night – some students must not always eat breakfast. Evelyn, however, was not one of those people. There were pancakes, waffles, fresh fruit, applesauce, yogurts, slices of meats and cheeses, bacon, rolls, multiple kinds of juices, and much more. Grabbing a waffle, some fruit, and a couple slices of bacon, Evelyn began to eat, occasionally sipping on a goblet of apple juice.

"So, what's first?" Fred asked out loud as he stuffed his face with ham.

"Potions," Evelyn replied as she started on her blueberry yogurt, "and then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lunch comes after, and we end with study hall and then a free period."

"Wow, we definitely got lucky with our first day," Juliet said as she bit into a cranberry muffin.

"Well, don't get too cozy. We have double charms tomorrow, flying lessons after three classes on Wednesday, double Transfiguration and astronomy at midnight on Thursday, and double Potions on Friday," Evelyn recited. A couple people groaned. The group continued to eat their breakfast in relative silence until Evelyn looked at her watch.

"It's 8:45 already," she said, "we should head out and, you know, try not to get lost on the way."

"Yeah, best we get there on time," Fred said darkly, "I heard Professor Snape does not like Gryffindors, as head of Slytherin house and all…"

The group grumbled as they stood up, each grabbing his or her bag. The walk to the dungeons was surprisingly uneventful, and they didn't even get lost. The group walked into the dark classroom, where multiple students were already sitting.

"Blech, Slytherins," George whispered rather loudly. The Slytherin students rolled their eyes.

"Blech, Weasleys," one Slytherin replied, making her housemates cackle.

Fred and George sat at a table in front of Angelina and Evelyn, who sat in front of Alicia and Wendy. Juliet sat behind them.

Over the next 15 minutes, more and more Gryffindor and Slytherin students piled into the classroom. The room was full of lively chatter, laughter, and banter until the door swung open violently, making everyone shut up immediately. A rather angry looking man walked through briskly, flicking his wand three times, which shut each of the large blinds. He faced the class with a rather unpleasant look. Evelyn gulped.

This must be Professor Snape…

"There will be no foolish wand-waving here in this classroom," he said in a dark voice, barely above a whisper, "you are here to learn everything about potionmaking, a rather glossed-over art in the world of magic. I expect hardly any of you to care to fully understand and respect this rather delicate and beautiful of simmering cauldron with its soft fumes, the underrated power of a seemingly harmless liquid that can bewitch and control you within seconds…I can teach you many things – from bottling fame to curing poison to brewing truth at your very fingertips, as long as you aren't the normal brainless gits I usually have to teach."

Lovely, Evelyn thought to herself as Snape began rollcall.

He called everyone's names in a rather toneless; that is, until he reached Evelyn's name, upon which he paused.

"Reid, Evelyn," he said in a slightly softer voice.

Evelyn nervously raised her hand. Snape looked at her curiously before asking, "Miss Reid, do you happen to be the daughter of Seongsu Oh?"

Rather shocked by Snape's question, Evelyn simply nodded. "Yes, Sir."

Snape didn't reply. He continued through rollcall, and once he was finished, he placed the scroll of parchment down on his desk.

"Excuse me," Fred said quickly, making Snape sigh, "you didn't call my name. Or his."

"I don't need a roster to tell me who you are, Weasley," Snape replied in a rather snarky tone, making a few Slytherins snicker, "now. Open your books to chapter one on The Forgetfulness Potion. We will learn the history and theory behind it and then apply said knowledge on Friday, when we will concoct it…Assuming everyone is paying attention, isn't that right, Mr. Jones?"

A rather tall Gryffindor with blonde hair and lanky limbs stared up at Snape with wide eyes.

"I will not tolerate interruptions while talking. You are all to be silent when I am speaking, and will speak only if you raise your hand, is that clear?" Everyone nodded except this 'Mr. Jones'.

"But Malfoy over there was talking with his friends earlier while you were talking," Mr. Jones said defiantly. Snape sneered.

"As Mr. Malfoy is in my house, I will deal with him appropriately. 10 points from Gryffindor, for your childlike pettiness and snarky tone."

With those final words, Snape walked up to the front of the classroom once again and began his lecture.

"Blimey, what's go his wand in a knot?" George grumbled as the lot walked out of Snape's classroom. The latter had taken another 10 points from Gryffindor after George snickered at something Snape had said.

"I know Charlie warned us about him, but I never expected him to be that bad," Fred added.

"First day here and you Gryffindor is already 20 points down," a rather venomous voice said, amused, "I think that's a new record."

"Sod off, Flint," George spat to a rather unattractive fellow, with large front teeth and creepy eyes.

"I don't know what's worse," this Flint boy drawled, gaining a rather large of Slytherins behind him, "being a blood-traitor like the Weasleys over here, or a Mudblood, like that little girl there." He pointed to Wendy. Mudblood?

Evelyn knew that Flint had said something really awful, because it took a number of Gryffindors to hold Fred and George back by their robes.

"You take that back!" Fred screeched, walking up and grabbing Flint by the collar, "you nasty piece of rotten dragon dung-"

"What is all the commotion?" Snape's voice echoed suddenly, making everyone shut up instantly. His tall, intimidating demeanor towered over all the students as he looked down on them disapprovingly.

"Professor, Flint here called Wendy a…a…"

"Spit it out, Weasley, I have much better things to do than listen to your rambling."

"He called Wendy a Mudblood, Sir," Evelyn said in a rather quiet voice.

Something in Snape's eyes flickered for a moment; however, he maintained his composure perfectly.

"It's true though, isn't it?" Flint snickered, his Slytherin friends following suit, "Mudbloods and blood-traitors hanging out together all-"

"That is enough," Snape growled, making even Flint shut up. He turned to Fred.

"You will not touch my students again, Weasley, is that clear?"

"But Sir-"

"Is. That. Clear?"

"Sir, that is one of the-" Angelina started.

Snape sighed audibly. "Must I ask again, Johnson?"

"No," she replied in a salty voice.

"No?"

"No…Sir…" Angelina said through gritted teeth.

"Good," Snape replied as he turned to Flint, "you. Follow me."

Flint gave the Gryffindors one final nasty smile before following behind Snape, leaving Angelina, Fred, and George fuming.

"C'mon, guys, they're not worth your time," Alicia said, leading the group of Gryffindors away, "we have to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts, anyway."

Deciding that she would ask Fred what a Mudblood was later, she merely followed her friend in silence. The walk to their next classroom wasn't too terrible. Their schedules allotted them 10 minutes to get to each class, which was generally enough.

The classroom they entered was relatively dark with an iron chandelier and a skeleton of a giant creature hanging from the ceiling.

"Percy told us it's a dragon," Fred said to the group as they took their seats. Fred and George, as usual, sat together. Evelyn sat next to Wendy this time, while Angelina and Juliet sat next to each other as well. Alicia decided to sit next to another friend of hers. More and more Gryffindors piled into the room over the next couple of minutes, and it wasn't until 5 minutes after the start of class that the professor scurried into the room.

The rather young-looking man was quite pale and had a rather short stature. He wore black robes and a rather attractive looking purple turban around his head.

"W-welcome, c-c-class," he said in a delicate voice, his voice and body trembling, "m-my n-n-name is Pr-Professor Quirrell. I w-will do ro-roll call n-now. A-Adams, T-To-Tobias."

Because of Professor Quirrell's bad stutter, rollcall took a lot longer than it did in Potions. However, Professor Quirrell was much more enjoyable of a teacher. He was rather pleasant, albeit seemed to fear everything in the room. They began their lesson by reading about some simple creatures, such as gnomes, doxies, and imps.

"We have a bit of a gnome infestation at our house," George whispered to Evelyn, who was studiously taking notes on what Quirrell was saying, "de-gnoming a garden is quite fun, you should try it sometime."

"Okay, okay," Evelyn whispered back, not looking away from her notes and Quirrell.

The rest of the class went smoothly, with Quirrell assigning a short essay on the history of imps, due next class period.

"Well, that class was definitely more enjoyable than being in Snape's dungeon," Juliet sighed as the group walked to the Great Hall for lunch, "minus how long it takes him to say things, poor man…"

"Well, with his field of study, he probably got badly spooked while doing research in the Forbidden Forest or something," Alicia commented, making everyone chuckle.

The group arrived at the Great Hall within minutes, and once comfortable, everyone began to dig in, Evelyn included. She helped herself to a rather generous serving of fish as she looked over the chapter on imps in her textbook.

"It's called homework because you do it at home," George's teasing voice said as he, once again, pushed down Evelyn's textbook with two fingers, "c'mon, don't tell me you're a good student!"

"As a matter of fact, I am," Evelyn retorted, though she couldn't help but smile.

"Well, don't be too good. You'll make us all look bad," Fred added jokingly.

The group enjoyed another hearty laugh as they continued eating, talking, and, in Evelyn's case, studying.

"You know, there is also a lot of Muggle folklore about imps," Evelyn said out loud to no one in particular, "it's quite fascinating how two very different worlds interpret magical creatures…"

"Muggles know about imps?" Fred asked with a piece of chicken in his mouth. Evelyn nodded.

"There's a famous German tale about an imp-like creature called Rumpelstilzchen who makes deals with people needing assistance. However, the deals aren't always favorable for the person asking for help, mind you. Maybe I can incorporate this into my essay…"

Fred sighed loudly as he rolled his eyes playfully, joking making fun of Evelyn's studious demeanor.

The Gryffindors then made their way to a room near the library for study hall. There were books available to use for studying; however, since it was the first day, they didn't really have much to do. Still, Madame Pince, the librarian, made them all stay quiet and work on something productive. Evelyn, for example, began her essay on the history of imps, while Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia passed notes about quidditch.

During Evelyn's mental breaks, she thought about her family back at home, and a part of her heart hurt a little. She missed her mom and Oliver a lot, so she decided to write a letter to them.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Greetings from Hogwarts! I absolutely love this school! The castle is gigantic and absolutely gorgeous. The grounds are incredible too. There's the Great Lake, where apparently a giant squid lives, among many other fauna, flora, and creatures. The Forbidden Forest, or as it's sometimes called the Dark Forest, is large as well, and apparently is super creepy. No students are allowed to go into the forest, though, so there's no need to worry about me being eaten or anything.

The train ride was lovely! I met a bunch of new friends, and when we arrived at Hogwarts, we were all sorted. We first years put on an enchanted talking hat, and it decided where to put us. There are four houses – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. I got sorted into Gryffindor, and that's where all my friends are too. I almost ended up in Ravenclaw, and apparently, I was what people call a Hatstall, where the hat takes more than 5 minutes to decide. I'm very happy with where I ended up.

My classes so far have been pretty good. Potions class was a bit rough because the professor is heavily biased and overall quite unpleasant. Still, I'll just do my best and keep my head down. Defense Against the Dark Arts was much more enjoyable, including the professor. I'm not sure what happened in his life, but he has a heavy stutter and won't look anyone in the eye. Probably got spooked by something in the Forbidden Forest. I still have Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Herbology, Astronomy, and Flying this week. I think I'm looking most forward to Charms and Transfiguration, even though we won't be doing much exciting. Still, everyone has to start from the basics.

The food here is amazing as well. Every meal is a feast, especially dinner. The goblets and plates refill themselves, which is totally awesome. It's mostly normal food; however, there's a drink here called 'pumpkin juice', and even though I don't like pumpkin much, the drink is very tasty. Besides food, there is a whole world of magical candy too, which I tried on the train. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean has to be one of my favorites, and, like my friend Fred said, they mean every flavor bean – I got nice flavors, like chocolate, peppermint, and banana. However, I also got flavors like pepper, grass, and dirt. Poor George got skunk flavor, yuck.

I am so happy right now. I have amazing friends already, even more house-mates (Gryffindor is like a second family), and I really couldn't see myself anywhere else.

I do still miss you two a lot, though. I'll try to write every week, and maybe I'll send something small back, if I'm allowed.

Love you both!

Evelyn

After finishing her letter with a cramped hand, Evelyn folded the parchment carefully and slid it into a small pocket in her bag. She glanced at her watch and noticed that it was 1:45 already – study hall ended at 1:50. She looked up at her friends and chuckled. Fred and George were asleep on their desks, heads resting on their arms. Angelina was reading a book about Quidditch, Juliet and Wendy were writing about something, and Alicia was drawing pictures of the room.

Madame Pince dismissed the Gryffindors at 1:50 sharp, and almost immediately did the group scatter. Evelyn, Angelina, Alicia, Fred, and George stood together after saying goodbye to Juliet and Wendy, who headed towards the Great Hall.

"What do you guys want to do now?" Alicia asked as they walked towards Gryffindor tower, "the weather is nice, we could take a stroll around the lake. Or we could check out the Quidditch pitch."

"I vote Quidditch pitch," Angelina said quickly, grinning. Everyone hummed in agreement.

"Let's go to the pitch," Fred confirmed.

The five friends quickly dropped off their stuffy cloaks in their rooms, and within 10 minutes, were off to the Quidditch pitch, chattering about days to come.

The Quidditch pitch was absolutely huge. Just like everything else at Hogwarts. Angelina, Fred, and George went on to explain everything about the game.

"The pitch itself is 500 feet by around 180 feet. There are five sets of spectators stands. Four, for each of the houses, and one for the faculty and staff," Fred explained, pointing to everything he talked about.

"Every second stand, as you can see, is decorated for one house, while every other stand is decorated for the opposing house, if you will," George continued.

"The goalposts are different heights, making scoring both more difficult and easier, depending on your team's strategy," Angelina added.

"There are four positions: chaser, beater, keeper, and seeker," Fred said, "chasers are the ones who score goals, keepers obviously protect their team's goals, beaters essentially defend their teammates, and the seeker, well…"

"The seeker has the most important job in the end," George finished.

"There are technically four balls in Quidditch," Angelina continued, "the quaffel is the ball the chasers use to score, and the ball the keeper tries to defend against. The bludgers, two of them, fly around and try to knock players off their brooms – hence, the need for beaters. Then, there's the golden snitch. It's a tiny ball that's very difficult for the seeker to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see."

"Each goal the chasers get is worth 10 points," Fred drawled, "and the seeker who catches the golden snitch in the end earns his or her team an extra 150 points. Usually, the team who catches the snitch wins the game."

The three Quidditch experts looked at Evelyn and Alicia, who looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Wow," Evelyn said quietly, "sounds complex."

"Once you play it, it's not too terrible," George replied, waving his hand carelessly in the air.

"You've played before?" Alicia asked as they 5 friends began to walk around the pitch.

"Freddie and I would sometimes play little scrimmages with our brothers in our yard," he explained, looking at his twin, "mind you, we were using old brooms, but they still flew regardless."

The five friends lapped the pitch twice as they talked about Quidditch, the World Cup coming up in five years, and everything related to the sport. The more they talked about quidditch, the more Evelyn wanted to fly and try the game.

"We have flying at 3:30 on Wednesday," Angelina stated when Evelyn expressed her wish to fly, "of course, we'll probably only be hovering for a few moments and then landing, but just imagine flying around the pitch at full speed. Gives me goosebumps," Angelina trailed off dreamily.

Once the sun showed signs of setting, the friends made their way back up to the school.

"I want to head up to the Owlery for a moment," she said once they got back into the building, "I have a letter I want to send my parents."

"We'll meet you in the Great Hall, I'm starving," Alicia said, nodding to Angelina.

"We'll join Evelyn for a while," Fred said, "don't steal all the chicken wings!"

Angelina and Alicia laughed out loud as they turned and walked away.

The remaining three somehow managed to get themselves to the Owlery in under 10 minutes, with the help from a few portraits.

The room was large and round with high ceilings and hundreds of perches for the hundreds of owls.

"Felix!" Evelyn called. She had let her owl out earlier that morning to give him a chance to fly around and spread his wings. Her handsome screech owl, Felix, flew down to outstretched arm immediately, hooting affectionately when she gently petted his head.

"I have a letter for you to take to my mum and dad," she said to him, all while tying her letter to his leg, "think you can do it?"

Felix nipped her hand gently and affectionately before he took off from her arm, soaring majestically into the vast skies above.

"He's a very smart owl," George commented as the trio left the Owlery moments later, "way smarter than our family owl, Errol. Poor thing's ancient and is pretty much blind in both eyes. Loses consciousness a lot, but manages to get from here to there. Most of the time…"

"Why don't you get a new owl?" Evelyn asked, immediately regretting her question when she remembered that not everyone was as fortunate as her. George didn't falter, however.

"He, uh, is just a member of the family. We couldn't get rid of him that easily…"

Deciding against telling Fred and George that she didn't care if they didn't have much money, she simply nodded, and they made their way to the Great Hall for yet another delectable feast.