I thought I was dreaming when I heard someone shouting my name. Once I finally got opened my eyes I saw Jean jumping up and down between mine and Cissy's beds. She was shouting 'FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!' Cissy just groaned and rolled over on her bed. I groggily yawned and sat up. Jean grabbed my shoulders and shook me for a while.
"I'm awake!" I responded holding my hands up in a friendly surrender.
"She's just excited," I heard Leci tell me from behind.
Once we got Cissy up, we all got dressed. Jean wondered off, away from us. We all grabbed a bit to eat then did our best to find our classes. I noticed that everyone was whispering and searching for Harry Potter. I just shook my head and followed Cissy. Hogwarts had 142 different staircases, Cissy informed me. She did her best to explain their variations, but I wasn't able to catch a word of it. What I found most confusing were the doors. Each seemed to do different things. Some doors waited for you to ask politely, or wanted to be tickled, and some walls had painted doors on them.
Everything appeared to be moving. The people in the portraits would move into different pictures. Cissy asked Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, where to go a few times. I enjoyed watching the ghosts appear out of the doors we were trying to go through. The moment that caught me off guard was when Peeves grabbed my nose and shouted 'I GOT YOUR CONK!' He eventually flew off laughing loudly to himself. We passed by Argus Filch, and his cat Mrs. Norris. He just watched us walk by and didn't say a word. Cissy warned me about Mrs. Norris as her being Filch's hall monitor. She would warn him if she caught a student doing something wrong.
I quickly learned how tough a wizarding school was. We had to observe the night skies, every wednesday at midnight, to study the stars and learn their names. We had Herbology three times a week. We also had History of Magic, taught by a ghost, and was the most boring of them all. Rema told me that he fell asleep on night and was burned to death. Then his soul left his body and continued teaching. I just hoped that nothing like that happened to me. We had a Charms class with Professor Flitwick, the smallest person I'd ever met. When he called Harry's name he got over excited and fell off the books he was standing on.
Professor McGonagall taught Transfiguration. She was rigid in her mannerisms, and seemed like a person you didn't want to cross. She informed us about the subject. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." I took the sentences to heart, and never made a mockery of myself in her class.
She impressed me when she changed her desk into a pig, and then back into a desk again. She informed us that we wouldn't be changing furniture for a while. Instead we were given matches and told to change them into needles. I felt frustrated that I couldn't change my match into anything. It just made me wonder if it was true that I didn't belong here. If so, then how long until I was told to leave? I felt slightly comforted that the girl, Hermione Granger, was the only one able to transform her match. She smiled at her for having been able to change the match.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was something else. Quirrell wore a purple turban, that he claimed was given to him from an African Prince, and was used to ward off zombies. He refused to tell the story of how he fought off a zombie though. His classroom smelled of garlic. Henry told me that it was to keep the vampires away; especially the one that he met in Romania and was going to come back for him. I didn't argue, I just tried to follow along with the lessons.
On the morning that I was going to have potions, I tried to talk to Draco and his friends. Instead of even saying a word to me, he just walked away. I shrugged my shoulders and met up with Cissy. Cissy told me that it was the damned Slytherin pride and made her way into the Great Hall. I was beginning to understand the basic layout of the castle, and began feeling confident that I'd be able to find my way around soon. I enjoyed watching the owls fly overhead and give students their mail.
Potions was the only class we had in the dungeons. I passed by Jean on my way inside the classroom, she seemed to be looking for something. Cissy just pulled me inside ignoring Jean. It was colder here, and caught my interest. I wasn't sure why, but everything here amazed me, even the darker things. I wasn't sure how to react when I saw Snape. I knew he had been my savior from the dreaded orphanage. However, he was the head of the Slytherin House, and I was sorted into Gryffindor. I figured I'd just follow his lead.
He started with roll call and paused at Harry's name. I felt that stab of jealousy again, but shrugged it off. He said", Ah, yes Harry Potter, our new celebrity." Draco and his friends giggled to themselves. Once Snape was finished with roll call he went on to introducing us to the class.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making." Even though he spoke in a dull whisper, everyone managed to catch every word. He and McGonagall had a way of keeping a classroom silent. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly shimmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death-if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually teach."
I looked away from him. I got the sudden sense that he wouldn't want to hear from me again. There was a moment of silence. I just glanced down at my few blank pages and waited to see what would happen next. I closed my eyes for a split second. I saw myself in a desert, not the one I'm originally from, an Arabian desert. I was there casting spells with a cauldron sitting over a fiery flame under the starry sky.
Then Snape brought me back to reality by shouting "Potter!" I looked up at him as he looked down at the famous boy named Harry. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" I knew there was no way he was going to know the answer. I was just glade Snape hadn't picked me.
Hermione's hand shot up into the air. I now knew that I would have to try and become friends with her. Harry responded with ", I don't know sir."
Snape gave a sneer. "Tut, tut-fame clearly isn't everything." In a few moments he went on with the questions. "Let's try again-Potter. Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Again Hermione's hand shot up into the air; Draco, and his friends, were laughing hysterically. I wonder why Draco wasn't getting into trouble. I also wondered why Snape wasn't asking Hermione for the answers. I also wondered if Draco, who was laughing at Harry, would know the answers himself.
"I don't know, sir," Harry responded again. I was beginning to feel bad for him.
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter? What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Hermione's hand stretched into the air.
"I don't know," Harry looked over to the girl. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"
I agreed with Harry on that. I just wished that Snape didn't turn his attention to me. I probably knew even less than Harry did. A few people laughed. I did my best to show respect and not giggle.
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione; even though she was sitting. "For your information, Potter, Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful that it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezaor is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for Monkshood and wolfsband, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well, why aren't you all coping this down?"
In truth I had already begun writing. The other students followed suit and began scribbling away. I was still trying to adjust to using quills instead of pens and pencils. I glanced up and saw Snape looking down at me, and I smiled before looking back down at my paper. I still didn't want to be asked a question for which I had no answer to.
We were all told to make a potion that would cure boils. I quickly fumbled through my book and found the potion. We were placed into pairs, I was paired with Cissy. We were both having trouble figuring out what to put in next and how to do it the right way. I got the impression that I was in a chemistry class. Snape walked around investigating our potions, all except for Draco's. Eventually he complimented Draco on his. I was a little hurt, but went on. One of the Gryffindor boys had managed to melt their pot and the potion spilled out. It burned a hole in my old shoes. I noticed that the boy was soon covered in boils from the potion he had concocted. I was just glade that it hadn't happened to me.
Snape yelled", Idiot boy! I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" The boy only whimpered as the boils began to pop. "Take him up to the hospital wing," he told his partner. "You-Potter-why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."
We've already lost points. Shit! I was glade when the class was released. I probably should have stayed to say thanks or something, but I chickened out. I hide myself amongst the other students and left. In my rush to get out of the dungeon I bumped into Jean. She had a worried look on her face.
"My Fradlend is missing! I CAN'T LOSE HIM!" Jean shouted at me.
"What's a Fradlent?" I asked calmly.
"My pet, he looks kind of like a small fuzzy puppy. You saw him in Diagon Alley."
"Well, where did you see him last?" I asked.
"What's going on now?" Cissy asked beside me. Rema, Henry, and John were beside her.
"Jean has lost her pet," I responded.
"I'm sure we could find it?"
"HIM!" Jean corrected.
"Him," Henry went on. "Where do you think he'd most likely be?"
"I don't know." The panic didn't fade from Jean's face. She took off and we followed hesitantly.
We were led out of the dungeons and around the castle. I was having trouble keeping up with Jean, as were the rest of them. Jean finally stopped and was looking up at the ceiling.
"What are you looking at?" Cissy asked.
I looked up and saw tiny paw prints on the ceiling. "Is that from your pet?" I had already forgotten his name.
Jean nodded.
"Acrobatic lil' thing isn't he?" Rema asked.
"Then all we have to do is follow the prints and we'll find him," John said.
Jean began following the prints, and we followed her. He had found a small opening in one of the walls and appeared to be trapped inside. Jean began crawling through before any of us could say another word.
"Should we follow her?" Rema asked.
I shrugged my shoulders and crawled in after her. If there was a danger factor here, I didn't want Jean to be alone. Even though I knew there couldn't possibly be anything that dangerous at a school. This was a school for witches and wizards though. I heard the others follow behind me.
"I don't think this is exactly safe," John said from behind me.
Jean gave an excited squeal. I assumed that she had found her pet and was happy. I paused when I heard the wood below us begin to moan. This wood wasn't strong enough to support all of us.
"Stop!" I shouted, but it was too late.
The wood gave way and we were falling downward. I screamed, as did my friends, before we landed on the hard floor. I forced myself to sit up and realized that I was in the Great Hall. It wouldn't have been bad except that it was lunch time. Jean was sitting up clinging to her pet. I eventually stood up as did the rest of my friends. I smiled at the on looking students and waved. I swallowed when I looked at the teacher's table.
We didn't get into a lot of trouble. McGonagall gave us all a saturday's detention. Jean was also instructed to give her pet to Hagrid for safekeeping until winter break. She was allowed to visit him whenever she got the chance. I was glade to hear that Rema had found an old abandoned classroom where we could hang out later. She told me that she would see if Draco still wanted to be friends with us. All in all it was an interesting way to begin at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
