Disclaimer: The only character in this story that is entirely my creation is Sara Barrett. The rest are in some way influenced by names provided by J.K. Rowling, along with many that are solely her creations and possessions. I tip my hat to that inspirer of young artists.
A/N: This chapter is a little longer than the others have been…I had an idea in my head and couldn't seem to get where I was going until I realized I'd written a lot more than previous chapters. I beg your patience.
Chapter 10: In the Broom Cupboard, Part 1
The next morning, I went to Herbology, where the six of us Slytherins were joined by a handful of Ravenclaws. There were some competitive attitudes between the boys of the houses, while the Ravenclaw girls watched as if they were cheerleaders at a school game. I sat at my bench clearing grubs from a bucket and adding them to the soil in a plant-pot beside me, thinking about the flying lesson I was going to have this afternoon.
I remembered flying on a broom as a small child. It was one of few memories I had, but it was overshadowed by the memory of what happened the first time I tried to get on a broom at the orphanage. I wondered if it would be as fun as I remembered it, and whether or not I'd be any good at it.
Leaving the Greenhouses around mid-morning the Slytherins and Ravenclaws went separate ways with a few threats that when we'd learned a few hexes the Slytherins would bury the Ravenclaws. I shook my head as we made our way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Vagan.
We arrived in classroom 14 right on time, and Professor Vagan ushered us into the room with a smile on his face. "Come in, Come in!" He said, sounding pleased to see us all. We all took our seats and I noticed that the group of us all seemed to sit in the same formation, two columns of three boys, and me in the front on the side closest to the door. We sat this way for every lesson.
I thought about this for a second, and then shrugged it off as Professor Vagan told us to take out our books and take a look at the introduction.
"If you have any questions about the material, there will be time at the end of the lesson to discuss them." He commented, and then sat down. It was obvious that he intended us to spend the hour reading the book, and that the chances of us performing magic of any sort were minimal in our first lesson.
I sighed as I bent my head over the pages of "The Dark Force, A Guide to Self Protection." I spent the next hour reading about spells such as Protego and Expelliarmus, and their use as defensive incantations, the method of performing such protective spells, and their disadvantages in wizard duels.
When I finished, I lifted my gaze to our instructor. Professor Alloysius Vagan sat at his desk writing intently on a roll of parchment. He was average height and build with short black hair that was kept neatly under his wide brimmed pointed hat. Around his neck he wore a burgundy scarf that made him look somewhat feminine. His face was smooth. He almost looked too young to be a teacher without the beard most of the wizards who taught here wore. I wondered how old he was.
At the end of the lesson, Adrian Pucy raised his hand and waited to be recognized by Professor Vagan. I coughed to get the professor's attention since he seemed quite interested in his writing.
He looked up and seemed surprised to see the entire class looking at him. I smiled, amused by the look on his face. He looked for a moment like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.
"Yes, ah, Adrian is it?" He asked, before breathing heavily on the parchment he'd just written on to dry it a little faster.
Adrian sat a little straighter. "Professor, is it true that you can use the disarming spell offensively? Can you show us how to do it?"
Professor Vagan looked slightly taken aback. "I cannot show you how to do it, young man. I will not attack one of my students…." He glanced around at the array of hands that went up. Several of the boys were eager to volunteer so they could see how it was done. "No, I will not demonstrate that spell today. Perhaps later this term when you understand the properties of the spells you read about today."
He glanced at his pocket-watch, and then addressed the entire class. "Your homework for tonight is to read chapters 1-3, and write a summary of your reading to demonstrate your understanding. Class dismissed."
The bell hadn't rung yet, so we were the first to reach the Entrance Hall. A couple of the boys split off and headed straight for the Great Hall for lunch, but I turned down the dark corridor that lead to the Dungeon so I could deposit my bag in my dormitory and feed Sneaker, since I'd forgotten to that morning.
I met Fred and George in the Entrance Hall just as the lunch bell rang. They both smile. They walked to either side of me as we walked into the Great Hall, and I felt almost like I had an escort. Fred was talking to Lee, who had come up behind us, as we walked to the tables. All I heard was something about the Forbidden forest and tomorrow night. I raised an eyebrow and looked over at them and try to listen, full of curiosity, but George took that moment to speak.
He nudged my arm as we reached the table. "So Sara, I was wondering if you'd like to sit beside me for lunch?" He asked, his voice sort of shaky, as if he was nervous.
I shrugged and sat down at the Gryffindor table once again, looking up at the head table to see if there was anything wrong with doing so. None of the teachers seemed disturbed by my sitting there except perhaps Professor Snape, but when I looked up at him he merely turned his gaze back to Professor Sinistra who was talking to him as if there'd been no interruption in his attention.
George seemed to want to ask me something, but Fred kept nudging him and the two of them would bend their heads together and whisper, excluding me. I debated getting up and going over to sit at the Slytherin table, but dismissed the thought after seeing Edward Nott holding what appeared to be a dead snake over one of the second year Slytherin girl's shoulders, only to be blasted back by a disarming spell.
I smirked, and turned my attention to my plate, onto which I piled a few scoops of mashed potatoes, a slice of juicy steak, and some gravy over all of it. My mouth watered at the looks of the food on my plate. Margaret Barrett cooked this meal for her husband once a week, on Tuesday night after what was usually the longest hardest day of the week. It was just what I needed.
I ate my supper, keeping to myself while the boys I was sitting beside conversed secretly. I wondered if they would deign to include me in their plans, but did not consider asking to be involved. A nosy kid was an annoying one, I knew from my days at the orphanage, and I didn't want to lose the friends I hoped I had.
Half an hour later, the bell rang for afternoon classes. First I had History of Magic, and then I had Flying with the Gryffindors which I was very excited about. History of Magic passed slowly. Professor Binns was depressingly boring, and no matter how hard I tried to listen to his lecture on Goblin-Wizard wars, I just couldn't focus. I kept thinking about how much fun it would be to learn how to fly alongside Fred and George.
When the class was finally over we were assigned a 9-inch essay on the Goblin Ulfric the Ugly, and his part in Wizard-Goblin relations prior to the war instigated by Gargon the Grievous. I doubted I'd finish the reading, let alone the writing.
When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Professor Binns seemed surprised that the lesson was over already. He looked at his opalescent pocket-watch, and then shrugged. "Off you go then." He ushered us out of the classroom, the six of us eagerly rushing down the hall to the stairs that led down into the Entrance hall.
I could see the red hair of one of the twins just moving through the door as I started down the stairs and failed to pay attention to which steps I let my foot fall on. I was unfortunate enough to feel the crunch of the step failing, and the short sliding feeling of falling. I was stuck in the trick step.
A few of the students around me laughed and continued on their way to their respective afternoon classes, but none stopped to help me out, and pull and shift all I might I couldn't get my foot loose. Eventually I was in the hall by myself, hoping a teacher would come through on their way to the teacher's lounge and lend their assistance.
I was surprised then, when a blue-haired Hufflepuff girl came rushing through the hall to the top of the steps. She was upset and wasn't paying attention as she rushed down the steps and, just my luck, right into me.
"Oi!" She yelled as she stumbled and I threw out my hand to keep her from falling down the steps. Luckily I had my hand on the rail, and was able to right both of us before any harm was done. When she had regained her balance, and made sure she hadn't lost anything down the stairs, she turned to look at me. "Wotcher kid?"
"My name's Sara!" I exclaimed, frustrated with her for knocking into me again. "And I don't think I'm the only one who needs to watch where I'm going."
She took a moment to size me up, which she spent rubbing the moisture from her eyes. "Yea, look, I'm sorry, uh, Sara." She said looking down. She noticed finally that my foot was stuck. "Want some help?" She asked, pointing down at my foot stuck in the stair.
I nodded. "If you wouldn't mind." I replied a little quieter.
She smiled, pointed her wand at it, and a second later I felt a push on the bottom of my foot as the stair righted itself, and expelled my foot.
"See ya kid." She said, before rushing down the stairs without waiting for my thanks.
I hefted my bag again and headed for the door. A few minutes later I was rushing out onto the grounds to join the rest of the Slytherins and the Gryffindors in their first flying lessons. There were two groups, the separate houses, standing each student beside a broom, and several students were shouting "up" at their broomsticks.
Madam Hooch walked over to me as I arrived with a scowl on her face. "Where've you been young lady?" She asked in a very sharp tone.
I eyed the rest of the students before looking back at her. "I got stuck in the trick stair on my way out here.."
She sighed. "I wish the Headmaster would fix that stair before someone gets hurt.." She muttered and then putting a hand on my shoulder she led me to a frayed and splintered broom. "Stand beside your broom then, hold your hand like this, and give the command "Up." Your broom should rise into your hand.
She looked at the rest of the students. Only Fred and George seemed able to get their brooms to rise into their hands. It looked like they had plenty of practice.
I had to try a few times before I saw any difference in the condition of my broom. When I did notice a change, it was that the bristles frayed a bit more at my command of "up."
Madam Hooch had gone around, testing out many of the brooms herself to ensure they were still capable of flight. She shook her head sadly when she came to mine. She stood over it with her hand held above it, and gave what must've been a silent command to rise, because after a moment, when nothing happened, she sighed. "You'll have to go in and fetch another from the broom cupboard."
Fred and George were flying a few feet off the ground, showing off their apparent skill by doing laps around the entire class.
I turned disappointedly back toward the castle and returned to the Entrance Hall. Under the stair was a door I'd never paid much attention to with a sign that said "Brooms." I assumed that this was the broom cupboard, and approached.
I could hear from within some strange sound, like someone sobbing. Nervously, I twisted the knob and pulled the door open. It was a large closet, with several brooms leaning up against each wall. They ranged in quality from frayed and nicked to rough, but usable. I took only a second to glance around at the brooms, because my eye was drawn to the center of the closet, where the same blue-haired girl sat.
She glared at me, as if I had followed her here just to watch her cry. "Sorry…" I said, holding up the broom I obviously hadn't had before. "Madam Hooch said I should come and get a different broom…"
She shrugged, and turned around, so she was facing away from me.
I put the broom I had brought with me against the wall beside the door and scanned the rest for a decent one. When I found one I thought looked better, I turned back toward the door, but a strange sensation in my stomach made me pause. I looked back over my shoulder at the blue-haired girl. "Are you ok?" I asked.
She turned to glare at me again. "Get to your lesson or I'll report you to Professor Snape!" She practically screamed at me, and fearing being reported to a teacher, I rushed out of the closet, letting the door click shut on its own as I half ran half walked back out to the grounds, hoping that some part of my lesson might be less disastrous.