Chapter Seven

School Begins

Alaw wasn't the only one who got up bright and early the next day. She showered and spent a few minutes in front of her mirror trying to make her school robes as presentable as possible. She only let them be after her mirror unexpectedly cried, 'you look fine dear!', scaring the shit out of her in the process. When she stepped out into the common room she found herself in a bit of a traffic jam for the exit so she stood about waiting her turn.

Cameron wasn't far off, he had the sleeves of his robes rolled up to show off his tattoo and was running a comb through his jelled hair.

"Morning," Alaw said. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation and perhaps Camron noticed this because he smiled.

"Morning, excited are we?" he asked and Alaw nodded vigorously.

"Can't wait! How do we get our time tables?"

"I think we get given them by Snape."

"Ok cool, so I'll just sit-aw!"

Alaw stumbled as an elbow jammed into her back. Gregory Goyle, closely followed by Theodore, Vincent Crab and Pansy Parkinson, pushed past her.

"Watch where you're going muggle," Goyle said aggressively and Alaw wisely didn't rise to the challenge.

After a week of petty verbal jabs she'd come to the conclusion that she should learn some defensive magic before she tried arguing back too much. Besides, she didn't want to get into trouble and if Fred and George were to be believed, there was a duelling component to first year Defence Against the Dark Arts. She'd get her chance to kick their arses legitimately.

As she straightened out her robes, Theodore turned to glare at the Slytherin emblem on her chest.

"Good God, it really is true isn't it? It's actually happening. And here I was hoping it was all a bad dream," he said viciously. "My uncles have already written to Dumbledore you know."

"Have they," Alaw said boredly.

"Yes, and so have a lot of other people."

"Fascinating."

Theodore squared up to her and looked down his nose like she was a sticky infant.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable muggle, you'll be out of here in a week I can guarantee it," he said in a low and menacing voice. Alaw didn't flinch, she know how to deal with bullies and she glared back at him.

"Really? Want a bet?" she said through gritted teeth.

The pair stood nose to nose, with the eyes of the common room on them, until Theodore turned his back haughtily on Alaw and pushed past the crowd so he could climb out of the hole in the wall first, followed closely by his cronies. Alaw let out the breath she'd been holding and muttered darkly,

"Little shit."

She had been wrong, he wouldn't get over her parentage; he really was just a spoilt twat. Everyone avoided eye contact with her as the queue to leave reformed and people discussed what had just happened. Alaw shrugged off the argument fairly easily, she'd still suffered worse bullying in secondary school and Theodore was a pipsqueak in her pecking order. No, nothing would ruin this day.

When she finally got to the Great Hall she took her customary seat at the end nearest the door so she could leave quickly if need be. Well, she assumed it would become customary since she'd spent a lot of the past week sitting with Hermione at the Gryffindor table, or whichever table they fancied really, they didn't care much for the stringent house divisions.

But, if she wanted her timetable, Alaw had to sit with the Slytherins for now. She wasn't particularly hungry so she only picked at a bowl of Pixie Puffs, allowing the pixies to hop around her bowl playing kicky bag with the puffs. Her eyes were trained on the staff table, particularly Professor Snape who was talking to Dumbledore. They seemed to be arguing, well, Snape was arguing, Dumbledore was being dismissive.

After a few minutes the Potions Master gave up and pushed back his chair. Professor McGonagall did the same and they walked around the staff table in opposite directions towards their houses. Snape stopped at the head of the long line of students, a stack of papers in his arms, and waved his wand once. The papers flew to their respective students and Alaw caught hold of hers before it could land in her cereal - the pixies squealed and dove for cover into the milk.

The name space was blank so Alaw rummaged in her backpack for a biro to fill it in. Then she ran her eye eagerly down the Monday column. She had five one hour lesson slots a day but some were blank, obviously free periods.

The bareness of the timetable surprised Alaw. She was used to seeing almost every slot filled but it looked like they only had one lesson a week of all their subjects. It was probably to encourage them to pursue their studies in their own time and Alaw smiled to herself as she scooped up a last mouthful of pixie puffs and got up.

The timetable said Transfiguration was on the fifth floor so Alaw took to the stairs with her bag slung over her shoulder. She hadn't ventured so far up the marble staircase yet and on the second floor her fear of heights kicked in. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she kept going, whilst keeping a tight hold on the banister nearest the wall. The key was not to look down and prey that the stairs didn't move.

When she made it to the fifth floor, Alaw stepped as quickly as she could into the corridor and positioned herself outside the door to 5B. She was the first one there and over the following ten minutes her fellow Slytherins and Hufflepuffs joined the queue she'd started. Everyone seemed quite as excited as she was and they all stood up straight when Professor McGonagall arrived.

"Nice to see everyone is prompt," she said in her clipped, no-nonsense tone, and she opened the classroom door with a flick of her wand.

The students waited until she had entered before following her in. It was a typical classroom, with rows of wooden desks and isle down the centre towards the teacher's desk and the blackboard. Alaw took a seat somewhere in the middle, not too near the front but close enough that she had a good view. She automatically took out a notebook and a biro, earning her a few titters from the nearest Slytherin girls.

"Quiet please," McGonagall called sternly, silencing the girls with a hawk eyed stare.

Once she was sure everyone was paying attention she began.

"As I hope you are all aware," McGonagall began, "Transfiguration is the art of changing the form and appearance of an object. There are limits to Transfiguration, which are governed by Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, something I recommend you all familiarise yourself with sooner rather than later. There are many branches of Transfiguration, including Cross-Species Transfiguration and Human Transfiguration. Now I must warn you, this is not an easy subject. It requires a keen and logical mind and can be very dangerous if you do not pay attention to what you are doing."

Everyone sat up a little straighter in their seats, as if posture would prove they were all responsible young adults. McGonagall pointed her wand at a box on her desk, and dozens of small, brown objects flew out. One matchstick, as it they turned out to be, landed on each student's desk.

"Today you will learn the basic theory of form and material transfiguration. I will explain the theory and later you will all attempt to change your matchstick into a needle. Now I don't even want to see a wand in someone's hand until I have finished talking, understood?"

A few people who had already taken their wands out quickly put them aside and Alaw left hers in its holster. Instead she poised her pen expectantly on the paper before her and waited for McGonagall to begin. It only took a few minutes for Alaw to realise that this was going to be a very difficult class. She only managed to follow the first few sentences out of McGonagall's mouth before losing the plot of the whole exercise. She tried to keep frantic notes, her writing getting messier and messier until she'd filled a page with a chicken scratch that was barely legible, as well as some squiggly diagrams.

There was a lot more maths involved than she'd expected. You had to hold in your mind the exact chemical composition of the material you were trying to transfigure, as well as the composition of the end goal. You also had to calculate angles and have just the right amount of concentration, otherwise you'd either damage the object, or yourself.

After half an hour of talking and filling the blackboard with these points, McGonagall demonstrated the correct wand movement, before transfiguring her match into a needle in the blink of an eye. The class simply stared at her blankly.

"You'll note that Transfiguration does not generally use incantations," she said once she'd put the needle aside. "Contrary to popular belief, it is not the incantation which causes magic to happen, but rather the will of the caster. A word or phrase is merely a tool we use to focus the mind, much like a wand focuses the magic. In this class we'll try to wean you off using incantations, for I find them a hindrance in later life when we try to teach you more subtle means of casting. Now, does anyone need me to repeat any of the instructions?"

Most of the class looked like they wanted to say, yes, but were too scared to admit this. McGonagall waited for a moment and when no one piped you she nodded.

"Very well, if you need to check the wand movement, please consult the blackboard."

She flicked her wand at the illustration of a hand holding a wand, and it began to move. Like a meme, it simply repeated itself over and over again and Alaw watched it carefully as she took out her own wand. Then she dropped her gaze to the matchstick in front of her and took a deep breath. Like many of the people around her, she tried transfiguring it straight away by simply imagining it to be a needle and waving her wand.

McGonagall had already warned them against this but since she didn't scold too much, it seemed she'd expected them all to do it anyway.

It was the strangest lesson of Alaw's entire life. The class was silent but for the rustling of sleeves as people repeatedly flicked, waved and twirled their wands. Occasionally someone (including Alaw) would drop their wand after flourishing it too zealously and it would clatter loudly. McGonagall walked between the students, occasionally offering some guidance or a telling off.

When she came by Alaw's desk, the Slytherin was bent over her notes, tugging at her bottom lip as she tried to absorb what was on the page.

"Let's see you try then Miss Jones," McGonagall said and Alaw glanced up at her in alarm.

"Um, ok," she stuttered.

She then dropped her eyes to the matchstick and concentrated. All the matchstick did was twitch a little and roll away towards the edge of the desk. Alaw grabbed it quickly back.

Behind her, she heard Theodore Knott sniggering with Vincent Crab.

"She's muggle-born Professor," he supplied helpfully, as if that explained everything.

Alaw blushed furiously and twisted around to glare at Theodore. How dare he embarrass her in front of a teacher! McGonagall looked unimpressed.

"I am fully aware of that Mr Knott, though I don't see its relevance. Back to work if you please," she said coldly and the smirk slid from Theodore's face.

McGonagall turned her back on him and said to Alaw,

"I think you may be concentrating too hard Miss Jones. Take a moment to calm yourself and then try again. Remember to bare the angles and composition in mind. I'll come back in a minute to see how you've got on."

She moved away to swoop down like a hawk on Theodore's group who had been whispering amongst themselves mutinously. Alaw dipped her head and smiled at the row they were getting. She then took McGonagall's advice and read over her notes.

When she'd taken a breather she picked up her wand again, called up the numbers of the angles she wanted in her mind, and tapped. The matchstick shuddered, and the red end vanished, making it pointier. The barrel also lost its corners and became a slim cylinder.

Alaw's heart leaped and she looked around eagerly to see if anyone else had seen, but they were all still busy turning red in the face and jabbing their wands with increasing frustration.

"Uh, Professor?" Alaw called, trying not to sound too proud of herself.

McGonagall came back to her and took the matchstick, well, pointy piece of wood by that point, from Alaw.

"There now you have the idea," she said passively. "It's always easier to change the shape rather than the colour or material. Keep trying Jones."

This wasn't exactly gushing praise and by the end of the lesson, Alaw still hadn't managed to make any further difference to the damn stick. She watched it fly back into the box feeling disheartened. Still, no one else had managed to do anything at all with their matchsticks. McGonagall told them all to practice the spell ready for the next class, and to read the first chapter of Transfiguration For Beginners, particularly the part about metal work.

They had Charms next and since it was with the Gryffindors, Alaw practically skipped down to the second floor so she could get there early and tell Hermione all about her first lesson. Unsurprisingly, Hermione was already standing outside the door of Professor Flitwick's, the tiny teacher they'd seen at the Start of term feast, classroom.

In fact, the other muggle-borns who'd been sorted into Gryffindor, Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown, were early too.

"Hermione, I did it! I did magic! Well, sort of," Alaw gushed as she bounded up to her friend.

"Well done!" Hermione cried. "What were you doing? Is Professor McGonagall nice? Is it difficult?"

Alaw recounted every detail of the class to Hermione and only stopped when Professor Flitwick opened the door in front of them. After a stream of older students had come out, he invited the first years inside.

Hermione headed straight for the front of the class, apparently unaware of how overly keen this looked. As Alaw sat and took out her Standard Book of Spells she heard her last name muttered somewhere behind her and she cocked her head to listen.

"Well of course McGonagall was going to fawn over Jones! What do you expect from a muggle lover?"

Ah, Theodore. Alaw rolled her eyes and opened her book to the first chapter, though still keeping half an ear on the conversation.

"Have you heard anything yet?" asked someone, Alaw thought it was probably Crab.

"Of course not!" Theodore snapped. "Do you think I'd still be sitting here quietly if we'd had the go ahead? No, Mother and Uncle Alphard told me to wait until they'd petitioned Dumbledore."

"Surely he won't allow this farce to continue, it's not natural! My Mother must have been quite distraught when I wrote to her." said Pansy Parkinson.

"Well, we all know what a senile old moron Dumbledore can be. He's soft in the head when their kind is concerned," Theodore said darkly.

Alaw got the feeling she was supposed to hear this conversation because none of them were being particularly quiet. They shut up once Flitwick tapped his wand on the teacher's desk like a conductor calling his orchestra to order.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen," he said pleasantly. "You're all probably dying to do some magic, and don't want to listen to me going on and on forever. So let's get right into it, today I'll be teaching the simplest ability of a witch or wizard, how to move small objects about."

OoOoO

"So, how's your first day going kiddos?" Fred Weasley asked as Alaw gestured Hermione over to his and his brothers' end of the table.

Ron gave them his customary weary look and busied himself with hoovering up his shepherd's pie.

"It's great!" Hermione said glowingly, throwing a leg over the bench. "Professor Flitwick is so nice."

"Yeah! He gave me and Hermione House points," Alaw boasted unashamedly before yanking a pie dish towards her and spooning out liberal amounts onto a plate.

"Wow, on your first day?" George asked in surprise around a mouthful of peas and carrots. "What for?"

"We did the spell the best," Hermione explained and her cheeks went slightly pink.

"Hermione did it first, mine was a bit off, but I managed to drop the book on Goyle's head so it wasn't too bad."

At her words Ron grunted something incoherent and stuck his fork in his mouth a little too forcefully. Alaw gave him a slight frown but decided not to pick a fight. Instead she asked,

"What's the deal with House points anyway? Are they just like character-building bullshit?"

"No," Fred said, shocked. "Blimy didn't anyone tell you? Whichever House has the most points at the end of the year gets the House Cup, and every student in that House gets about twenty galleons each."

"Bloody hell, that's like a hundred odd quid right?"

"Uh, yeah sure…" George said slowly. "Anyway, it's pretty good motivation to behave ourselves, at least when the teachers are around."

"Not that you two care much," Ron interjected moodily. "Slytherin have won it for the last seven years, we can't let those prats get it again."

"Oi, watch it," Alaw said playfully. Ron looked stony faced at her.

"Oh, have I offended you? Sorry," he snapped, not sounding very apologetic at all. Akaw stopped smiling and raised her hands.

"Jesus, that was a bit of over-reaction," she said. "There's no need to be so touchy."

"Why can't you just sit with your own House?" Ron demanded. "Slytherins aren't supposed to hang out with Gryffindors!"

"Oh my god why is everyone so childish about this bloody house issue? What have I done that's so bad?"

"Yes leave her alone," Hermione chipped in, giving Ron a look of great dislike. Fred and George also ganged up on Ron.

"Stop being a tit, Ron," George said flatly. "She's right, you're acting like a five year-old."

"Why's everyone picking on me?!" Ron spluttered, brandishing his fork at Alaw angrily. "She's the weirdo who can't pick a damn house already!"

Alaw had had enough. She got stroppily up once more and snatched up her things, including her plate.

"Well if it bothers you so much I'll clear off! Come on Hermione," she said bluntly.

Hermione was only too happy to leave and as they headed towards a quieter and less stand-offish end of the table, Alaw glanced back. It seemed Fred and George were still giving Ron a piece of their mind and the latter smacked the back of his brother's head sternly.

Alaw only let Ron's attitude bother her for about ten minutes. After that she fell into easy conversation with Hermione and Neville (who'd been sitting alone until they turned up) about their final class of the day. Neville expressed a jealous admiration for their prowess in the Charms class to which the girls had modestly blushed.

"We did sort of cheat," Alaw said dismissively. "We'd been practising all week."

"That's not cheating, that's just good sense," Neville objected. Then he looked down at his open text book and sighed. "Wish I'd prepared more for this Potions class, I'm dead nervous."

"How prepared can you be?" Alaw pointed out. "Surely he won't pick on us on the first day."

"Oh, you clearly don't know Snape do you?" Neville laughed humourlessly.

"We haven't had the pleasure yet," Hermione confirmed dryly. "Why? Do you know him?"

"No, but everyone says he's sadistic with the Gryffidors. He's head of your house though, maybe he'll like you."

Neville nodded at Alaw and it was her turn to snort.

"Me? The intruding muggle-born? Oh yeah, he's going to love me."

The three of them spent the time until their Potions class in the Transfiguration courtyard, so named for the statues of famous Transfiguration teachers at its four corners. It was quite full given how pleasant a day it was and Alaw people-watched idly as Hermione helped Neville with the Wingardium Leviosar charm which he'd struggled with in class. There was a group a few metres from them playing cards except as Alaw watched, some of the cards blew up with sounds like fire-crackers.

She wondered what they were playing and felt a twinge of sadness that she, as a muggle-born, was clueless about so much of wizarding culture. She supposed that was what the 'Wizarding Word' class was for on Fridays. Charity had mentioned she ran a kind of social studies class for those who needed a bit of filling in on everything from fashion to basic history.

In the corner of the courtyard there was a large willow tree, under which there was sizable collection of Slytherins. Theodore Knott was at its centre which Alaw found odd, for many of them looked to be older students. Why would a nobody first year command such politician-like attention?

As if sensing her gaze he lifted his head to stare directly at her. There were a tense few seconds and then he began to get up from the knot in the tree where he was perched.

"Uh, do you want to head down now?" Alaw asked quickly of the other two.

They agreed, and she led them quickly from the courtyard and back towards the front doors. She was by no means afraid of Theodore, or unprepared to face off with him if need-be, but somehow she thought it unwise to pick a fight on her first day. There were more important things to do.

There was no need to ask directions to their Potions class as Alaw knew it was just down the corridor from the Slytherin common room, so the other two followed her down to the dungeons. Despite the warmth outside, the subterranean levels of the castle were chilly and Alaw found herself enjoying the inclusion of a robe in her uniform. The door to the classroom was slightly open when they arrived but there was no one inside, not even Snape. After a muttered debate, the girls and Neville decided they'd better wait inside for the rest of the class so Hermione pushed the door wider.

It creaked as they ventured over the threshold and they looked around, slightly nervous. Instead of desks, the room was filled with workbenches which seated about four each, judging by the number of cauldrons. The walls were lined with shelves, upon which rows and rows of glass jars were sitting. Each jar contained a creature or plant pickled in a different colour of luminous liquid. This, and the guttering candles floating above their heads was the only source of the illumination in the gloomy room.

"Bit creepy," Alaw said under her breath.

She perched on a stool and kicked her dangling legs absently whilst Hermione tried to second guess which chapter of their text book they'd need. The room slowly began to fill up over the next few minutes. Ron Weasley sat at the station next to theirs before he realised they were there. He glanced over awkwardly then engaged Dean and Seamus in conversation, turning his back on Alaw.

"The men here are real charmers," Alaw snorted. "No offence Neville."

"None taken," he replied with a grin.

The smile was wiped away a moment later when the door behind the teacher's desk opened and Severus Snape appeared. His piercing gaze was enough to silence the whole class in a matter of seconds.

"Settle down," he said, sweeping the room once with his dark eyes to make sure everyone was sitting still and paying attention.

He walked to stand before them all and picked up the register. As he started calling off names, Alaw took out her notebook and pen, and turned to a new section where she had already scrawled 'Potions' at the top of the first page.

"Jones," Snape called and Alaw glanced up to find Snape already looking at her.

"Here," she said.

"Clearly," Snape drawled. "So, you are our new celebrity. Ingenious way to make a name for yourself, to become the only muggle-born Slytherin in the House's history. Why are you sitting with the Gryffindors?"

"We - they're my friends," Alaw said, startled. She hadn't been aware of a specific seating allocation, there hadn't been one in Charms or Transfiguration.

"I don't think so, Jones," Snape said quietly. "My students sit with their own House. Come and sit, let's see, ah! Here beside Mr Knott will do I think."

Alaw recoiled at exactly the same time as Theodore. Both looked utterly disgusted at the prospect of sharing a table and it was Theodore who protested first.

"But sir! She's muggle-born, she won't know anything about Potions, and she'll be a disruptive influence!"

"I understand your concern Mr Knott and I apologise for the inconvenience. But I believe Jones will benefit from a more experienced working environment."

Alaw knew she shouldn't glare at a teacher, so instead she threw Theodore the filthiest look she could muster. He returned it in equal measure. When she didn't immediately move, Snape grew impatient.

"Now, Jones," he snapped and with a barely contained huff, Alaw collected her things and carried them to the front of the class.

Theodore made a great show of shifting himself to the very edge of his stool and leaning away as she dumped her stuff and sat beside him.

"Now that Miss Jones has decided to act her age," Snape said nastily, "We can begin."

He began to walk slowly around the dungeon, reciting what sounded very much like a prepared speech. Fred had warned Alaw he might do this and she smile ruefully.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. 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 simmering 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 have to teach."

It was the most ridiculous sounding bunch of crap Alaw had ever heard. Snape spoke in barely more than a whisper, and he took half a century to say a sentence. She found her interest waning almost immediately though the rest of the class were listening with rapt attention. Draco, who was sitting opposite Alaw at the same work bench was hanging on Snape's every word. Alaw began doodling absently in her note book and didn't notice that Snape had stopped talking and was standing right beside her.

"Although it would seem that some of you are so confident in your own skills that you don't think it worth your time to pay attention," he said and Alaw stopped colouring in stars at once.

Her cheeks reddened a little as Pansy Parkinson, who sat beside Draco, giggled annoyingly. Snape was gazing at Alaw and she felt herself unwilling to meet his eyes, for they were dark and seemed to suck in the light.

"So Jones, are you a skilled Potioneer? Do muggle schools even teach Potions?"

"No," Alaw said quietly. Then, thinking she could try and sound a little less pathetic, she added, "I did Chemistry until I was sixteen."

Few people seemed to understand what she was on about and Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he drawled. "Very well, tell me, what are the properties of the Hemlock plant when boiled for thirty minutes and sprinkled liberally with Ashwinder powder?"

Alaw stared at him. She had read her Charms and Transfiguration books countless times from start to finish over the summer, but the Potions volume had been a dull read. She knew what Hemlock was, it was a poisonous plant, and she thought she recognised the term Ashwinder from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but she hadn't a clue what they both did together.

"You don't know?" Snape asked and Alaw shook her head, her eyes fixed on her prim new school shoes. "Very well, could you tell me where I would find a bezoar?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Alaw saw Hermione's hand in the air. She turned her head slightly and Hermione mouthed something, but Alaw couldn't lip-read from so far away in such bad light.

"I don't know sir," she mumbled and the sniggering from the Slytherins grew in volume. Snape sighed.

"Third time lucky perhaps. What is the difference between Wolf's Bane and Monkshood?"

This time, Alaw raised her head and frowned at a spark of recognition. Wolf's Bane, she had heard of that before. Snape tilted his head and watched her struggle to remember whilst Pansy shook from trying not to laugh.

"Wolf's Bane is a poison," Alaw said slowly, "Emperor Augustus' wife Livia used it in -"

"I did not ask you what Wolf's Bane does, Jones." Snape interrupted coldly, "I asked you what the difference between it and Monkshood is."

Alaw had never felt more trapped. She looked around for help but no one else seemed to know either. No one except Hermione.

"Please sir!" she interjected and everyone turned to look at her. She still had her hand in the air. "Monkshood and Wolf's Bane are the same thing. They also go by the name Aconite, which is Greek for -"

"I don't remember asking you to help Jones, Miss..?" Snape growled.

Hermione blushed and lowered her hand slowly.

"Granger, sir." she supplied, "And I just thought, well, what Alaw said was right, Aconite is poisonous to humans but to Werewolves and Vampires -"

"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said sharply.

Hermione looked heartbroken and muttering broke out among the Gryffindors.

"Why?" Ron demanded indignantly. Snape turned slowly to look at him.

"Because I do not allow my students to interrupt me, or to show off. There is no need to ask your name of course, the Wealsey hair speaks for itself. I've already had to endure the antics of your brothers and I will not be doing so again. Another five point from Gryffindor, for speaking out of turn."

The Gryffindors looked outraged, and so did Alaw. She forgot her nerves and glared at Snape furiously. That had been so unfair! Hermione had been right and Ron's question wasn't that unreasonable.

Snape set them to making a simple cure for boils and as Alaw crushed up the snake fangs with her pestel, Theodore leant in and said in a low voice,

"Oopsie Jones, looks like you've pissed off the Gryffindors."

"That wasn't my fault!" Alaw hissed back, stamping on the powder so hard that some spilled out onto the bench.

Theodore kept up his flow of nasty comments, helped by Pansy, but Alaw ignored him so thoroughly that she developed a kind of deafness, so she actually didn't hear a lot of what they said. Draco didn't join in with his friends, instead he concentrated very hard on his Potion and by the end of the lesson, Snape had pronounced his work to be the best.

Feeling utterly exhausted by her first day, Alaw was glad to accompany Hermione after the class to Hogsmead and have a drink in Warlock's Nook.