Given
Wanda: I'm so freakin giddy, you can hear it in my voice.
Tyene: (raises hands) Hey, you did this to yourself. Don't cry to me.
Wanda: (sulks) I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 12: First Classes
I didn't sleep a single wink my first night at Hogwarts. I had expected it, but it wasn't a fantastic way to start off my first classes – nearly falling asleep on my feet at multiple points in time.
Turns out I wasn't the only insomniac. Pyromaniac Heather Cross also had trouble sleeping, something I noticed because we were bunking together – our quadrant of the first years tower included me, her, Tessie, Lily and Amber. Sarah Redfield, Sandra Alegurv, Diana Dust and Sigrid Grimm – our fellow Gryffindor first years – were at the other end of the first year tower.
I kept tossing from side to side, closing my eyes and failing to get my brain to calm down enough to go to sleep. But my mind was assaulted by disaster scenarios and the shadows seemed to hide away any number of monsters I could end up seeing here, making any sort of rest seemingly impossible.
"I don't suppose you have over-the-counter pills I could use as well," Heather asked lowly, as to not wake anyone. I sat up in surprise and looked across the room.
Heather's bed was the one directly parallel to mine, and its sheets were in a similarly rumpled state.
Heather had the look of a tough punk girl – she had darker skin attributable to her Vietnamese heritage on her father's side. Her hair was dark red and braided back away from her face and cold storm grey eyes. She had come to school wearing ripped camo jeans under her robes much to the discontent of the Fat Lady and Daria. There was a scar on the back of her right hand she claimed to have gotten during a grocery store holdup.
"No, sorry." I said. "Or I would have used them already."
Heather clicked her tongue. "Pity."
"Cassie Potter," I offered, half expecting to be rejected.
"Heather Cross," Heather said. "No offence, but I was expecting you to be...I don't know...more banged up when I first saw you. With the way the papers go on, I figured you were at least missing an arm."
"The Daily Prophet is always being overdramatic." I answered uneasily; that felt distinctly like a challenge. "It was bad...but not that bad."
"Huh." Heather said. "Well, now that we've got the obligatory kids who lived conversation out of the way, got any other way we might sleep?"
"Search me," I said, disappointed. "I figured I would just draw zen tangles and hope my eyelids would start drooping before too long."
"Never heard of those." Heather remarked with a hint of curiosity.
"Free form art style. I can't do anything too complicated, so I stick to abstract." I explained, wincing a bit when I remembered some of my attempts to draw realistic humans and animals when I was young. They looked more like the drafts of creatures for horror movies than anything else.
"I usually go out for a run outside." Heather said. Scowling, she added, "Or at least I did, except we're not allowed to leave the tower after curfew."
"Isn't it dangerous to be outside after dark?" I asked, brushing stray hair away from my eyes.
Heather gave me a dry look. "When you think about it, everywhere is dangerous." She retorted. "You could be moseying down the street one day, minding your own business when a car will run a red light and turn you into paste. Or you could be at college when some whackjob breaks in and starts shooting people. More people are killed by car accidents yearly then some armed conflicts. But what can you do about that? Stay inside your whole life?"
I was stunned silent for a moment before I ended up nodding thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right. I'd be lying if I said I've never thought like that..."
Heather's smile looked more like a grimace in the dark, though it was hard to tell. "Well, you have more reason than most. I take it that's why you can't sleep?"
"...Yeah. It just feels...dangerous to be here. I know that must sound silly to you, but it just keeps nagging at me."
"Heh, what's the worst that could happen?" Heather asked me. I really wished I had somehow prevented her from saying that, not that I could be certain it would have stopped things from going as toes up as they did in the end. "Hey, how about showing me these zen-tangle things?"
"Uh, sure. There's only two pens, though."
/The Next Morning/
Myself and Heather eventually managed to go to sleep some time after three, so neither of us were exactly bouncing off the walls the next morning.
Tessie had enough energy for the both of us in that department.
"Wakey wakey! It's morning, it's morning, it's morning, we're going to learn transfiguration!" Tessie sang, shaking me and jumping on the edge of my bed. I muttered some creative words as I half fell off my bed, rubbing at my eyes and nursing a terrible headache.
Struggling into my robes, I dragged my feet as Lily lead me down the stairs towards my first class. The school was bustling with activity as kids ran to find their first rooms for the year.
I was not looking forward to having Professor McGonagall teaching me at the crack of dawn every other day.
It was either that or Defence Against the Dark Arts, but I'll get to that later.
"Good morning, class." The woman said coolly.
"Good morning Professor McGonagall." ...Well, it was starting out like the school I remember. Maybe I could get comfortable in this place after a little while.
Hahahaha. I was never good at jokes.
"Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magics practised today. Anyone caught messing around in my class will not be coming back. Understood?"
"Yes Professor." I'd prefer not to be transformed into some horrid half animal. I like my limbs where they are.
Oddly enough, the first lesson she gave me was the same lesson I saw first in the book – trying to turn a matchstick into a needle. I managed a smile at this, despite my drooping eyelids and pounding headache.
I managed it first in my class. McGonagall was excited at this; James had been very good at Transfiguration in his day.
Is that how me and Harry are always going to be? Will everyone look at us and see our mother and father without seeing us?
**Later**
I got paired up with Lily and Sarah Redfield for Herbology in the afternoon, while Tessie next to us was paired with Heather and Amber.
Sarah was...well, if it were a decade from now I would describe her as a punk rocker chick, but I suppose now it was more of a biker girl sort of thing. She had a lot of energy and confidence, and she wasn't afraid to share it.
She and Sandra were good friends, had been ever since they were children – she mentioned it while we were struggling to replant our project.
(it kept trying to strangle our hands with its roots. I wonder if there's anything here that won't automatically try to kill anyone that disturbs it.)
**Later**
"I still can't believe you managed the transfiguration on the first try!" Tessie ranted as the three of us helped ourselves to the meal.
"I told you I did practicing at home," I said with a smile. Dinner tasted wonderful – there was almost every sort of food you could shake a stick at here, managing to please even my stomach's very strict diet. "Don't worry Lily, you'll get it soon. I just over prepare. A lot."
Lily managed a small smile at that.
I gave myself a second helping of desert as an 'atta girl!' for getting through my first day at Hogwarts without any incidents, while also planning my letter to Harry for the evening.
Lily also wrote a lot of letters to her father, so the two of us usually gave Elsa the load at the same time so I didn't have to trek out to the Owlery every day. As I sent her off that evening, I let out a content sigh and headed back to the dorms.
So the first day wasn't too difficult. It was tomorrow that I was worried about.
Tomorrow – potions and defense against the dark arts.
Yay.
End Chapter
Next time, I reveal some of the meat of the violent plot for my first year at Hogwarts! It's going to be rough, folks - it's a good thing I'm paranoid and learned stuff before school.
Read and Review please!