Chapter 7
The First Few Days in Saint Acute
Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.
Harry and Hermione both had nothing to do, since they didn't have their text books yet.
"Maybe none of the staff in Saint Acute expect any students to study beforehand," Harry said.
"Once I get hold of the books, I will study anyway," Hermione said.
"And I hope that there's no magic inside the text books that stops us from studying as much as we like," Harry said.
"I hope so," Hermione said.
As the first school term of Saint Acute Academy was drawing nearer, Harry and Hermione wondered if they were going to be sorted into houses.
Harry thought what happened to his clone, he also wondered what happened to Albus Dumbledore. He questioned himself about if Dumbledore has been sacked from the role of Headmaster yet.
Sirius also wanted to know what had happened to his clone, though he had nothing to worry about.
/Scene Break/
On the 8th of January, Harry and Hermione arrived at Saint Acute at five o'clock in the afternoon, they brought their trunks with them, just in case if they need it.
They saw crowded students in front of them, and entering the school grounds. They followed the crowd of students, and arrived at the school entrance.
A man stood in front of the entrance, with a paper in his hand, and he looked up, saw the students, then he pulled out his wand, and waved it the trunks that the students were carrying, and then the trunks were labelled with their names.
A second wave of his wand, the trunks vanished.
"To everyone who are here the first time, don't worry, your trunks are in the storeroom, and I will show you where to locate it later."
"When are we going to enter this school?" asked a first year student.
"We will wait for another fifteen minutes, this gives opportunity for others to arrive," he said, and he stared at the list. "Three more to come."
Fifteen minutes later, three more students appeared.
Then the man glanced at the list again, and said:
"Now everyone, please follow me."
The students followed him, and they arrived into the Hall.
The Hall was almost as big as a fast food restaurant, and there were tables of all shapes, circle tables, square tables and rectangle tables, and they were not all in the same colour either. There was a long table at the end of the Hall, reserved for staff.
As soon as everyone took their seats, they waited for a few minutes.
Harry looked at his watch, and discovered that there was still ten minutes left.
A man in his seventies stood up.
"Welcome to another year at Saint Acute. To those of you who do not know me, my name is Professor Adrian Baker, the Headmaster of this school."
He paused.
"If this is the first time that you attended this school, please remain in the Hall after the feast, this include but not limited to first year students, except if they repeat their first year."
Harry and Hermione knew that they would be the ones required to remain the Hall after the feast.
Harry looked up again, and he saw that the man who was leading the students to the hall was standing on the right side of the Headmaster.
"To all the first years, and any students who had just transferred here," the Headmaster said. "The school rules are placed on the wall of the student common rooms, and students can observe them. The common rooms can be used for studying."
At this point, Harry wondered how many common rooms this school had.
He checked his watch, and found that there's five minutes to half past five.
"The feast will start in five minutes," the Headmaster said, and he pointed at one side of the hall.
A long table appeared.
Then he whispered something to his fellow staff, and he went into a door behind him, and vanished.
Five minutes later, the door behind the staff table opened, and a group of people appeared, wearing gloves, and taking dishes and dishes of foods, and placed them on the long table, and then walked back to the door, and disappeared.
The Headmaster got to his feet again, his eyes gazed on all the students in the hall.
"Now you may come and take your plate and fill it with food, and go back to your table to eat," he said.
The students got to their feet, and they formed a line, taking food as they reached them, and then they walked back to their table, and began to eat.
After everyone had eaten, a few students went back to the long table, and took another serve of foods, and they went back to their table and started eating again.
Meanwhile, someone had patted Harry.
"You can go and get some more food if you want them."
Harry turned around, and discovered a boy with black hair was patting him.
"I don't want to eat any more of it," Harry said. "If there are desserts later I will have some."
"The dessert will come later," the boy with the black hair said.
"What's your name?" asked Harry.
"Herbert Weaver," the boy with the black hair said.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Harry Potter," Harry said.
"You don't seem to look like a first year, though," Herbert said.
"That's right, I and my friend transferred here for my fifth year magical education," Harry said.
"Who's the girl sitting beside you?" asked Herbert.
"Hermione Granger," Harry said.
Herbert smiled, and he felt grateful that he had met two new students.
"What had made you two transfer here?" Herbert asked curiously.
"We didn't feel good about the previous magical school we attended," Harry said.
Herbert frowned, but he decided to not question Harry about the school he had attended before at the moment.
Half an hour later, the food had disappeared from the long table, and then, the chefs arrived again, and placed desserts on the table.
The students got to their feet, and formed a line to get the desserts from the long table. After they had filled their plates with desserts, they returned to their table, and started eating again.
"What is the point for the students who had first arrived at this school to stay in the hall after the feast?" Harry asked.
"They just want to give out more information," Herbert said. "You will know more details later."
After they had finished eating their dessert, Harry checked his watch again, and discovered that it was quarter past seven.
"We are usually dismissed from the start of term feast at half past eight," Herbert said, seeing Harry checking his watch. "There's still one hour and fifteen minutes to go."
There was a short silence.
"What year are you?" Harry asked.
"I am only in my third year here," Herbert said. "I can hardly believe that there are students who had transferred here to be two years ahead of me."
"Had there been any transferring students in the past?" asked Hermione.
"I haven't seen any so far, apart from you two," Herbert replied.
Meanwhile, the other students around Harry, Hermione and Herbert, were talking as well, and Harry could not hear what they were on about.
He looked at the staff table, and discovered that the staff members were talking to each other in whisper.
They talked for one hour, and then there were only fifteen minutes left until bed time.
Then the Headmaster got to his feet.
"All right everyone, your beds awaits," he said. "If you had just transferred here or if this is your first year, remain in the hall, please, the rest of you, go to your dormitories."
The students got to their feet, and there were about two dozen students remained in the hall.
Professor Baker got to his feet as the students had left.
"Please raise your hands if you are not a first year student," he said.
Harry and Hermione raised their hands.
"First years, follow Professor Carl Chambers, and transferring students, stay here with me," Professor Baker said.
The first years got to their feet and left.
As soon as the first years had left, Professor Baker said:
"Come to the front you two."
Harry and Hermione walked to the front, and they wondered what would happen next.
"So you two are transferred here, right?" asked Professor Baker.
Harry and Hermione nodded.
Professor Baker took out two forms, and handed them to Harry and Hermione.
Harry and Hermione glanced at it, and discovered that it was the Uniform Order form.
"You will need to purchase your uniforms this week," Professor Baker said.
Then he gave Harry and Hermione their timetables.
Harry and Hermione looked at their timetables, and they discovered that each lesson only appeared once on the timetable, and there's no classes on Monday.
"You won't really be starting lessons until next week, this week is Observation Week, this applies to every student in this school," he said. "Be sure to check your timetable again next week, since it will be different, that each of your classes will happen several times per week, Monday will be filled, and it will remain so for the rest of this school year."
"That means we can learn something beforehand," Hermione said.
"You could," Professor Baker said. "There's no need to start studying yet, since you will have plenty of time afterwards anyway."
"Anything else, Professor?" asked Harry.
"No, unless if you have other questions to ask, we will take you to your dormitories," Professor Baker said.
"That's all for now," Harry said. "We can leave other questions until later."
Professor Baker beamed at Harry and Hermione.
"Very well, follow me," he said.
They walked past the door behind the staff table, and discovered that there was a long hallway.
Harry and Hermione walked slowly, since it was the first time they had set foot in this hallway. As soon as they reached the end of the hallway, they saw several doors. There were three doors in front of them, and two doors on their left and right.
The doors on their left labelled 'Girls Dormitory' while the door on their right labelled 'Boys Dormitory', whereas the doors ahead of them all labelled 'Common Room'.
Harry saw a button between the first door and the second door, labelled 'Attention'.
Professor Baker walked towards the button, and pressed it.
A few students came out of both the doors from the left and the right.
"I want one of you from each dormitory to look after these two, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," said Professor Baker, pointing at them as he introduced them to the students.
The students nodded.
"Follow them into the Dormitory, they will look after you," he said to Harry and Hermione.
Harry followed the boys into the Dormitory, and a moment later, the light were on. Then he saw lots of beds, and as he examined the dormitory, he saw a black square paint, with a white L on the wall, beside the door.
He didn't think about what that white L means, since he was tired.
"You can put your clothes in the box under the bed when you want to sleep, Harry," one boy said.
Harry looked under the bed, and discovered that there's a box.
"Your name please?" Harry said.
"Joshua Robinson," the boy said. "I'll introduce more people to you tomorrow."
Harry nodded, and then he began to take off his clothes, then he jumped onto the bed, and placed the blanket over himself.
A few moments later, everyone scrambled onto their beds, and lied down, then they closed their eyes.
One of the students walked to the door, and put his hand on the white L, then the light gradually went off.
Then Harry knew what the white L does.
A moment later, he fell asleep.
/Scene Break/
On the following morning, Harry opened his eyes, got out of the bed, and got down from his bed, and pulled his clothes out of the box under the bed, and put them on.
Then he went out of the dormitory, and followed the others to the Hall for breakfast.
As soon as he arrived at the hall, he noticed that there was food placed on the long table as usual.
Harry took his plate, and filled it, then he went and sat down on a chair, placed his filled plate on the table, and began to eat.
A moment later, Hermione arrived with her plate, and sat down next to him.
"Did you get a good sleep last night?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded.
After they had finished their breakfast, they took out their timetable, and examined it.
"Our first class is Charms, ten o'clock," Hermione said. "We also have Defense Against the Dark Arts at quarter to two in the afternoon."
Harry took a glance at his watch, and he saw that the hour hand had still not reached ten yet, while the minute hand only reached three.
"We still have forty five minutes," he said.
"Let's go to the common room for a bit," Hermione said.
Together, they made their way to the common room.
As soon as they arrived, they noticed that several students had already arrived in the common room.
They sat down, and they glanced around the room, then they saw a shelf, labelled 'Trunk Shelf'.
"I wondered how many trunk shelves are there in this school," Harry said.
"What made you wonder that, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"If there's only two trunk shelves, what if there's too many trunks?" Harry asked.
"I bet the trunk shelves have Undetectable Extension Charm attached to it, so that you can fit in as many trunks as you like," replied Hermione.
"What?" asked Harry.
"Undetectable Extension Charm will extend the inside dimensions of an object without affecting the outside dimensions," Hermione explained.
"It is not just the common rooms that contain these trunk shelves, there are trunk shelves in other locations of this school as well," one girl said.
A moment later, several students stared at them for a while, and then more students came in.
Joshua Robinson walked towards Harry.
"Do you want me to show you the Charms classroom?" he asked.
Harry hesitated, then he nodded.
"Come," Joshua said.
Harry and Hermione followed him out of the common room, and into the Hallway, then they reached a point where there's two staircases, one on the left and one on the right.
Joshua turned to the left staircase, and got up one level.
Harry saw two doors, one labelled 'Charms Classroom', and one labelled 'Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom'.
He checked his watch, and discovered that the long hand was pointing at five.
"We still have thirty five minutes left until our class starts," he said.
"What are you going to do now?" asked Joshua.
Harry looked at the timetable again, and he saw that he have Herbology first thing on the following morning, and he also have Arithmancy, and Transfiguration that day.
"You can show us the location of Herbology class, Transfiguration and Arithmancy classes today," he said. "I mean, after all of today's classes."
Joshua nodded.
"I don't take Arithmancy, but I do know where the classroom is, as I came across it several times when I go to Muggle Studies class."
"You are a Pureblood?" Harry asked.
"That's right," Joshua said. "But I am not saying that I am proud of being a Pureblood, because I know that someone's Blood Status doesn't determine their character."
"Apart from Muggle Studies and the compulsory subjects, what else do you take?" asked Harry.
"Divination," said Joshua.
"I took Divination when I was in Hogwarts, but I don't really think Divination is worth taking right now," Harry said immediately. "I hated it. The Divination teacher in Hogwarts keeps on predicting my death."
"I just think that teacher is a fraud," Hermione said. "I left before I even sat the first exam."
Joshua nodded, and he didn't say anything else.
"Everyone has their subject preference," he said simply.
/Scene Break/
At ten o'clock, Harry and Hermione arrived at the Charms classroom, and they found several students had taken their seats.
"Is the teacher here yet?" Hermione asked.
"No," Joshua said. "Hopefully he will come in soon."
Ten minutes later, more students arrived, and then, a young man in his forties arrived.
As soon as everyone took their seats, the young man said:
"Good day everyone, my name is Professor Eric Collins."
There was a short silence.
"Your textbooks will be issued to you on Thursday in the Hall, announcements will be given on the same day," he said. "Also, since quite a few of you had just transferred here from another school, you would need additional textbooks, which will also be issued to you at that time."
"This week, you will not be receiving any written homework from any teachers, because your textbooks are yet to arrive," he went on. "The only homework you are going to receive from any teachers would be practical homework."
Hermione raised her hand.
"Miss -"
"- Granger, Professor, isn't this year our Ordinary Wizarding Level year?" she asked.
"Yes, fifth years do take Ordinary Wizarding Level exams in this school," Professor Collins said. "Not to worry, I am going to get to that next week."
One hour later, the students were dismissed.
/Scene Break/
At quarter to two in the afternoon, all the fifth year students stood at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and a moment later, a young man who was in his thirties arrived, and opened the door.
"Come in everyone," he said.
The students trooped in, and they took their seats.
"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Professor John Bailey," the young man said. "I would like to give you a little introduction of this course in a moment."
"I happen to know that a couple of you are transferring students, by the way," he went on. "Please stand up."
Harry and Hermione stood up.
"Now you may sit down," he said, and Harry and Hermione sat down.
"There has been several transferring students a few years ago, from a magical school called Durmstrang, in Bulgaria," he said. "Some of them are in this classroom right now."
Harry remembered what Draco Malfoy had said that Durmstrang teach students Dark Arts when he was on the train to Hogwarts for his fourth year magical education, he couldn't help thinking how parents would feel about their children learning the Dark Arts.
"Since your textbooks are yet to arrive, you will not be receiving homework from me this week," Professor Bailey said. "This year, we will be learning more defensive spells, and you will be doing more practical work than last year."
Harry and Hermione both smiled.
"I do wonder if he is better than Lupin," Harry said in a whisper.
"I just hope that he is not worse than Lupin," said Hermione.
"Hey, maybe we could ask the other students about this teacher," said Harry.
"That sounds like a good idea, Harry," Hermione said.
As soon as they arrived back to the common room, they asked Joshua about Professor Bailey.
"He's quite good, to be honest," Joshua said. "I have been in his class for four years, and his way of teaching is quite outstanding."
Then Joshua showed Harry and Hermione the location of the classrooms that are on their timetable.
"Hopefully you won't get lost," he said.
/Scene Break/
After dinner, Harry and Hermione made their way to the library.
The library was full of students, they were reading books, and some of them were picking books to take out from the library.
Harry glanced around the library, and he realised that there's no restricted section, so he assumed that there were no books that are inappropriate to younger students.
He took out a book, and glanced at the title, which says 'A History of Saint Acute Academy of Magical Arts'.
He sat down, and started to read.
After he had read a few pages, the librarian, Elizabeth Jennings announced that the library will be closed soon.
Harry quickly went to the counter, and checked out the book he was reading, then he placed it in his bag.
After that, he turned around, and saw Hermione catching up with him. Together, they walked out of the library, and made their way to their dormitory.
"Good night, Harry," Hermione said as they reached their dormitories.
"Good night, Hermione," Harry said.
A/N: End of the chapter.
