LilMizzStarx: I know! I can't wait!

The-Evil-Cookie: She was talking about Draco. Even though she's not too happy with Ron either. And Draco is the teacher so, yeah, both.

Nemrut: I know but I like pointing out how useless Cedric is and how he can do nothing right. Plus he's the reason for most of Phobos' foul moods. Obviously they don't know Draco's the Professor. McGonagall's gonna have fits when she finds out!

z-nadka-zak: Thanks. I didn't know about any of that. I just knew I'd get dizzy. How old are you?

Guess what? It's my birthday.

Guess what else? I got what no one else got for their birthdays…Nothing!

Mind you, this is better than the last five years I had to endure. I'm born on the day the Chinese mourn the dead so ever since my grandpa died (followed by my grandma last year) my mom's been doing all kinds of weird stuff.

A friend said she's gonna make a cake and bring it in on Monday though! And this guy I like said 'Happy Birthday' three times today for reasons unknown since my other friend's new boyfriend (who I don't like because he hogs all her time) blabbed it to him and he knew because said friend blabbed to him. Wait…why am I telling you all this?

Chapter Nine Second Days Don't Improve

"We have so much homework," Irma moaned. "I mean, I don't know what a veela is, okay? And I don't really care." She slumped in her seat in defeat. She rather liked her common room. It was blue, like the dormitory.

Her tutor was kind of cute too with that Asian look but she was a little too busy to notice due to the fact that she had:

Just experienced owl post at breakfast

A demented teacher she couldn't stand who kept docking points (Sound familiar, anyone?)

Piles of homework from today, and the day before she didn't complete

And half a dozen textbooks she hadn't bothered to look at.

"Well that's why you have me," Ruotian pointed out. "And these books." He held one of them up, labeled Magic Beyond Humans.

"Whatever," Irma muttered. "You may notice any day now that I'm not good with schoolwork."

"You can't pull that one off," Ruotian said flatly. "You're in Ravenclaw."

"Ask Will," Irma insisted. Then something occurred to her. "Say, what happens if you don't do the homework?"

Ruotian's mud brown eyes widened in shock. "Don't do your homework?" he repeated slowly.

"Yeah," Irma said. What was wrong with him?

"Then you'd get detention, I suppose," he answered falteringly.

Huh, Irma thought. How am I supposed to loosen him up? And get his mind off my homework!

Unfortunately, it seems that when Ruotian is assigned something my McGonagall, he does it very seriously. "Now, what is a veela?" he asked after a few minutes of drilling information into Irma's unwilling head.

Irma sighed. Some really pretty magic thing that throws fire like Taranee, she thought irritably.

"What?" Ruotian asked with a slight frown on his face.

Irma gasped. "Did I just say that out loud?"

Ruotian nodded.

Irma cringed. After just two days, she blew it! After Will had specifically said not to. Or maybe not… "Uh," she stuttered. "Well you know my other friend, the one that's in Gryffindor?"

Ruotian nodded, the universal sign for 'continue.' "Well, uh, when we were young, she'd get really hot tempered and her brother would joke that she'd light us on fire if we weren't careful," she finished with a little nervous laugh. Admittedly, it was the lamest story she could have thought of but Ruotian seemed to buy it. So much for Ravenclaws being smart.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"You did what?" Taranee demanded. "How stupid can you get?"

"Shh!" Will hissed. "We're in the library! I never though you'd forget that."

"At least she covered for it," Cornelia pointed out.

"Yeah, but that was very careless," Taranee said. "And a dumb excuse."

"The important thing is, he believed it," Irma said defensively.

"Whatever," Will said. "Just don't let it happen again. Hey Cornelia, any hints on the makings of Amooortenntia?" she asked, reading with some difficulty from the scrap of paper she scribbled her homework down on.

"No, I'm supposed to meet that dratted bookworm tonight at six to discuss it," Cornelia grumbled.

"Well you'd better hurry up because Cho has totally forgotten about me and I don't want to start off the year with an F in Potions."

"Hey, you're lucky," Irma muttered darkly. "My work-obsessed Chinese guy won't leave me alone until I've memorized the exact use of veela hair."

"Oh!" Hay Lin piped up excitedly. "You can use it for wands, potions, and it's often confused with unicorn hair that costs a lot of money."

"How do you know that?" Irma wailed in exasperation. "You were never that much better than me at studying.

"Nuala is really nice," Hay Lin continued. "She tells me stuff instead of making me read them and puts no pressure on me or anything so I know I'll remember."

"I should go now," Cornelia said before Irma could complain about the unfairness of the world. "I don't want to be late." She got up and walked out.

"Wait!" Taranee hollered. "I though you said that was at six!"

Madame Pince marched slowly down the aisle to where the girls were sitting. "Where do you think you are?" she barked. "This is a library! Keep it down or leave."

Cornelia hurried down the hallway and met the eccentric portrait of that fat lady. "Password?" she inquired.

"Mandrakes," Cornelia said wearily. She didn't know what they were and really couldn't care less. The portrait swung open and Cornelia stepped into the hole and strode over to the common room. People were still staring at her as if she didn't belong but she was used to it by now. Oddly enough, she liked the attention, though today was not the day for it.

She went up to her dormitory, ignoring her fellow Gryffindors. She walked into the bathroom and locked the door, just in case. She leaned against it and sighed. Then quickly, before Hermione could arrive, she created a portal and dove in.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Elyon!" Cornelia called. She was in the dining room where she knew Elyon would be, indulging herself in an early dinner.

"Oh my god!" Elyon cried as she kicked her chair aside and ran to greet her. "Caleb told me about you going off to some magic school. He also told me you pressed him to tell me about forty-seven times!"

Cornelia laughed. "Well it's true!" Caleb said defiantly from a few seats away. Around the table were Caleb, Julian, and Miriadel and Alborn Brown.

"So," Elyon said, "visiting so soon?"

Cornelia just shrugged. "It's kind of weird. I get my room to myself though and it's totally cool."

"Then why is weird?" Caleb asked.

"There…aren't a lot of people there," Cornelia said, choosing her words carefully. "And tons of stuff hints that there used to be more."

"What do you mean?" Elyon asked worriedly.

"The train is too small and the compartments are half the size of normal ones. My room is huge even though it's only got one bed and doesn't need to be. Classrooms look like they used to have more desks, the Great Hall, where the meals are served, has tons of empty seats. It makes me feel like we'd come at the wrong time or something. Could I just be paranoid?"

"Maybe," Elyon said slowly. "So what do they teach you there?"

"Yeah really," Caleb commented. "This should be interesting."

"We have to learn spells and how to make potions and write essays and stuff. They even have a History class."

"What's that like? Anything worse than the last one you complained nonstop about?"

Cornelia gave Caleb a look. "I haven't had it yet but the others say it's boring."

"Are you sure that isn't just a bit risky, Cornelia?" Miriadel asked.

"What do you mean, Mrs. Brown?"

"Well, they sound like a complete different magical world. They could have their own crises and their own evils. Maybe that's why your school is so empty."

Caleb's eyes widened. "Really? Then, shouldn't you withdraw?"

"Don't get so worried, Caleb," Elyon teased. "Cornelia has powers too that totally outstrips whatever these people have. Hey, why don't you show us your room?"

Cornelia paused for a second. "Not today. How about the weekend?"

"Sounds good," Elyon agreed.

Cornelia went up to Caleb and gave him a brief kiss. "I'll see you soon."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ron are you sure you don't have a crush on one of those blasted girls because you just will NOT shut up about them," Harry exclaimed, tempted to grab a cushion and hurl it at Ron's face.

Hermione pursed her lips and Ron glared, turning slightly pink. "You won't believe me! Did Hermione and I always believe you when you thought of something crazy?"

Harry put his book down. "Really?" He cocked an eyebrow. "When?"

"Like that time you thought Hagrid got duped by You-Know-Who with the dragon's egg."

"Yeah, but that made sense," Harry pointed out.

Before Ron could dry something out indignantly, Hermione rose from her armchair. "Well I'm going to go and help one of 'those blasted girls' with the homework. Oh, and by the way, you're making a scene."

She was right. As Harry glanced around him, what was left of the Gryffindors had their eyes on them, including the other new girl, whose eyes narrowed maliciously.

Hermione slowly got up to the girl's dormitories and turned the knob to the one she would be staying in if she weren't Head Girl. She was very proud of her accomplishment and so were her parents when she got the letter.

She was surprised, though, to see that Cornelia's room was empty. At least, it seemed so. After only two or three days of occupation, the place already had a lived in look. Hermione could easily infer that Cornelia was very comfortable here, all alone. Then she thought she heard something coming from the bathroom. She pressed her ear against it, straining to hear what was being said.

"Yes, Saturday," she heard Cornelia say. "And-" But then she was cut off. Hermione tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. She fumbled in her robes to find her wand.

"Alohomora," she whispered and the lock clicked open. she burst in to see Cornelia, white in the face, staring at her. "I-uh," Hermione stuttered awkwardly. "I didn't know where you were."

Cornelia glared at her icily in a way that reminded her of Malfoy. "Now you do."

By the way, that stuff way on top was yesterday. I updated a day late. Being thirteen feels weird. You know how people say they don't feel different on their birthdays? Well it's like that lack of feeling is the feeling that really feels weird. Which doesn't make any sense. This chapter may be all chopped up but I try my best. And I'm half way through on my Shades of Grey chapter, I'm just not very good with quiditch matches. I also know that the word has an extra 'd' but since I already added it to my dictionary, spelled wrong, I figured I'd keep it that way.