I woke up around seven the next morning. For me this was like sleeping in since I had to wake up at six for my mundane school. In the end I still had to rush because I had to get dressed, and brush my hair and teeth. I had no clue what books I would need for the day so I left my bags behind and left my dorm. I wondered how difficult it would have been to get ready if I had roommates.

Down in the common room I found Edmund waiting impatiently by the fireplace. When he saw me his features lit up, and I wondered how he could be so cheery. "Good morning Alex!"

I raised a brow, but nodded back, "Edmund."

I left the common room with Edmund running after me. We ended up walking together, and I had to endure his endless chatter. "What's your favorite color? Mine is brown. Isn't it funny how close that is to bronze! It's like I was meant for the house. Both my parents thought I would be put in Hufflepuff, but no-sir-e I was put in Ravenclaw. Did you want to be put in Ravenclaw? I couldn't have cared less, but the Sorting Hat sorted me where I'd fit best."

"Edmund!" My yell shut him right up, "Please stop talking and help me find the Great Hall!" We'd been walking for a few minutes and nothing looked familiar.

"Why not just ask for directions?"

I pointedly looked around to show that nobody was around, "Who are we gonna ask?"

Edmund pointed to a random painting, "Ask one of them."

I opened my mouth to tell him what a stupid idea that was, but I immediately shut it. It was actually rather brilliant. "Excuse me!" I walked up to the nearest painting of a woman drinking tea.

The woman set her tea down, "Yes?"

"Could you please direct us towards the Great Hall?"

"Oh of course! Such a polite thing! Nobody talks to us portraits anymore. Yes, just go straight down this hallway, take a right, then a left, and you'll run into the main staircase. When you reach the bottom floor go right and you should see the Great Hall doors from there."

I smiled widely, "Thank you Madam!" Grabbing onto Edmunds sleeve I rushed him down the corridor. If we waiting too much longer we would be late to get our timetables. The Prefect said they were passed out at seven thirty. I needed to eat a quick breakfast, then find my way back up to the Ravenclaw common room to get everything I would need, then I had to traverse the school in an attempt to find my classroom.

It was five minutes of running before Edmund and I made it to the Great Hall doors. The were propped open, and the tables already had students filling up the benches. The two boys sorted with us last night were sitting across from each other.

"Hey guys!" Edmunds cheeriness seemed to irritate the surrounding people, but I was learning to ignore him.

Instead I decided to learn my other classmate's name, "Hey guys." They didn't look up. "Eleven year old with the black hair, and you with the bronze, I'm talking to you."

THe one with black hair looked at me with haughty blue eyes, "Who are you?"

I smirked, "You asked wrong."

The haughty look was replaced by confusion, "What?"

I chuckled to myself but didn't explain. Only Sirius really knows how to approach a girl, "I just wanted to know your name."

He seemed to weigh me with his eyes, and I just sat there with raised brows, munching on a piece of toast. "It's Gabriel."

"Nice. I'm Alex." I looked into the darker blue eyes of the bronze haired boy. He just gave me a calm smile, "Brady." The conversation ended at that.

A short man with brown hair and a mustache suddenly handed me a sheet of paper, "Your time table, Miss Palmer." He had a nasally voice as well.

I took it, "Thank you Mister…?"

He chuckled, "Filius Flitwick. I'm your head of house and charms professor."

Professor Flitwick continued passing out the timetables, and I waved to him as he walked down the table, "Thank you Filius!" He just chuckled and waved back.

Another student from down the table said something that caught my attention, "Hey, look at that!" I looked to see them pointing at the Slytherin table. I followed the finger to see Lily's bright red hair sitting across from Severus. "Doesn't she know Gryffindor's don't hang with Slytherins?"

The guys friend snorted, "Guess not."

I sighed tiredly, "I'll see you guys in class." Standing up from my seat I grabbed my time table and walked over to the Slytherin table with my head held high.

"Hey guys," I sat next to Lily, ignoring the looks my actions received.

"Hey Alex," Lily sounded relieved. My presence must have reassured her. No doubt she noticed the looks everyone was giving them.

Though to be honest we made an interesting sight. A Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw actually sitting at the Slytherin table. Everybody automatically sat at their respective tables.

"You're going to sit here to?" Severus was sneering–as usual.

I just smiled at him, "Don't be like that. You know you love me." I stole a piece of his bacon, "I've got to go and get my stuff ready for classes."

"That's right!" Lily jumped up from her seat and grabbed her own timetable. "I'll come with you. Bye Sev." Severus gave a small wave goodbye, but didn't say anything.

Lily and I left the Great Hall, ignoring the looks everybody was giving us.

"Why did you sit by him Lily?" I wanted to know why she stayed after getting all of those odd looks.

"Because he's my friend. Just because he's from another house doesn't mean I shouldn't sit by him."

I nodded in agreement because that explained everything. Had Sirius realized it was me then I would have sat near him as well. I still had to figure out what to do about that.

"So do you know why Black didn't recognize you?"

Seems like Lily wants to know too, "Well we've only seen each other twice, and I guess each time he didn't get a good look at me."

Lily didn't seem to believe that, but I wasn't going to explain my morphing abilities just yet. Maybe when we grew to be closer friends I could tell her. "Well what are you going to do about it?"

I sighed, "I'm not sure." The situation would have bothered any other eleven year old, but as time went on I started to find it a little funny. Here I was, a girl he said was his best friend, and he didn't even recognize me.

"And don't forget he spelled your hair away."

"He's a prankster Lily. That's the kind of stuff he does."

"But it's not right!" She burst.

I set a hand on her shoulder and stopped us in the middle of the empty corridor, "Lily I want you to stop worrying about it. At least for now. I'll think about what I'll do, then tell you. Just know that I won't wait until seventh year to tell him I'm here."

Lily nodded, "That's good."

We continued walking, and made it all the way up the marble staircase to another hallway. I had to go down the hallway to the left while Lily had to keep going straight.

"I'll see you later Lily," I waved her along and started jogging the same path I took to get to the Great Hall. If I kept up this pace I should make it to my first class just in time.

The eagle knocker gave me another one of his riddles, and I stared at him for a few moments before guessing, "Nothing?"

Thankfully I was correct, and I was able to run up to my dorm room and pull out my bag. Just because I was a Ravenclaw didn't mean I was good at riddles.

Pulling out my timetable I looked for today, Wednesday, and found what books I would need. Apparently I had double Potions with Hufflepuff, then at midnight I had Astronomy with Gryffindor. Attaching my wand to my arm I grabbed my bag and shoved my potions book and astronomy book inside. I wasn't sure what else I would need (parchment and a pen), but I put the crystal vials inside of my cauldron, along with the brass scales, and carried them out of the tower.

I knew potions was somewhere in the dungeons, but once again I had to ask a nearby portrait where it was. The knight was more than happy to point me in the right direction, and I ended up being the fifth person to class.

"Ah!" A jolly man with a pudgy stomach smiled at me when I walked in, "Another Raven I see. Take a seat, take a seat!"

I sat at the table closest to the door. That way, if an explosion happened, I could get out first.

"Um, sir?"

The overly joyful man strolled over, "Yes Miss?"

"Alex Palmer, sir. I was just wondering if I needed anything besides these?" I pulled everything out of the cauldron, and set my potions book down on the desk.

"Ah. It seems you have everything you'll need."

I sighed in relief, "Thank you, sir. I wasn't sure what I needed for the class."

"You have everything you were required to bring. I provide the ingredients and other necessary tools." He walked away and I looked at his back oddly. Tools?

At eight thirty only two more people came in, and they were Brady and Gabriel. Edmund seemed to be missing, and the Hufflepuff's were looking around for their own missing housemates.

"That's quite alright! I didn't expect everybody to be on time for the first day. Hogwarts is a large castle you know."

No, I thought sarcastically, I hadn't noticed.

"I am Horace Slughorn, though you may address me as Professor, or Professor Slughorn. I will be teaching you about the art of potion making. But, for today, I will be telling you the name of each ingredient you will be using this year, what each ingredient looks like, and what it does."

He turned to the chalkboard behind his desk and flicked his wand towards it. "These are frog eyes…"

I grabbed my pen and the first journal I came across to immediately begin copying the words magically written on the board. I didn't have time to re-write the picture into my notes, but with the description of the eyes I figured I'd be able to pick them out.

Slughorn was halfway through his explanation of Mandrake roots when the rest of the first years burst into the room. They were huffing and puffing–sprouting various apologies–but Slughorn just smiled jovially, "It quite alright! Everybody gets lost the first few days. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

He returned to his lesson like nothing happened, and the late first years breathed sighs of relief.

I heard the chair next to me be pulled out, and I looked up to see Edmund taking out his own journal with ink and a quill.

I went back to my note taking, but I felt eyes staring at the side of my head. "What is it Edmund?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

"Where's your quill?"

I shrugged, "They're too much hassle. Besides that, I've never used one before."

We grew silent as Slughorn looked across the room while explaining the merits of frog eyes compared to beetle eyes.

"How much easier?"

I paused in my writing to give him a long look. "Find out for yourself," reaching into my bag I grabbed another ballpoint pen. I had a whole pack of these in the color black to last me (hopefully) the whole year. Maybe longer.

Edmund took the pen with a confused furrow of his brows, "There's no tip."

Reaching over I wrapped my hand around the length and clicked the end with my thumb. Edmund gasped when the tip of the pen came out, "Genius."

"If, by the end of class, you find you like it, then you can keep it."

He looked at me excitedly, "Really?!"

I shushed him but nodded, "Yes. Now pay attention. I'm trying to learn." For the rest of class Edmund stayed blessedly silent.

Since it was a double class we had potions for a continued hour and forty minutes. It wasn't so bad since I was learning new information, but to be in a classroom for three and a half hours straight with no breaks taking constant notes, you get tired of it. Edmund almost fell asleep a couple times, but I always nudged him to wake him back up.

When the bell rang for the end of class, everybody sighed with relief. Our hands were cramping, and our butts were sore. Slughorn's happy attitude lasted through the whole lesson, and I internally applauded him for being able to stay standing for that long. Though I could tell he loved what he taught, so that was in his favor.

"Wow," Edmund was looking at me in admiration. "How could you stay awake so easily? You didn't even fall asleep once!"

I smiled at him, and in return he beamed back. It was the first time he'd seen me smile at anything, and it was because of him! "I enjoy learning new things, and potion ingredients is one of those things. Not to mention some of those ingredients could help in Herbology class."

"You're right. I hadn't thought of that," Edmund looked at the ground thoughtfully.

"I see you kept my pen," I was grinning now.

He blushed, "You were right. It was easier to use." He looked at me with wide light green eyes. "Where'd you get them?"

"They're from the mundane world. You know, just because they don't have magic doesn't mean they can't do amazing things." It was quite a spectacle to watch as Armstrong went to land on the moon. I was only three at the time, but I remembered watching it on tv with my parents.

"Well thank you."

I looked over to see him blushing. It made me raise my eyebrows, but I didn't comment on his unnecessary embarrassment, "You're welcome."

There was nothing else for me to do until Astronomy, but that wasn't until midnight. I ended up going to the library–which was absolutely magnificent–and going to the shelf nearest to the door and grabbing the first volume of a set of fairy tale books.

"What are you doing here?" Edmund hadn't stopped following me after Potions.

"I'm reading," my voice held an obvious 'duh' tone.

He blushed, "I meant why are we in the library."

I sighed, "I came here to kill time. You just decided to follow me."

"Oh," Edmund continued sitting across from me in silence until he sighed in boredom, "Cant we do something else."

Now I sighed with frustration, "Edmund if you want to do something else I'm not stopping you. I'm going to stay here and read for a few hours."

Thankfully he stopped pestering me, but he did end up leaving after a few minutes of doing nothing.

I ended up reading the entire fairy tale series. It was pretty good, and as I looked around the library my eyes lit up with an idea. I had seven years in this school, why not try reading every book in the entire library? Most people would think it mad, but my entire being lit up at the challenge.

Until the library closed I could be found in the darkest corner of the library with my wand tucked behind my ears and a Lumos lighting up the end. I found any book that was first year level, and stacked them up next to my chair.

A woman cleared her throat form beside me, "Hem hem."

Looking up I saw the librarian staring at me sternly, "It's passed closing time."

I blinked owlishly, "Oh." I gazed at the formidable stack of books still beside me. "Is it possible for me to check all these out?"

She stared at me doubtfully, "No."

"Then can you keep them on hold for me? If someone needs one then you can give it to them, but I've decided I want to try and read every book in this library before I graduate. I'll most likely be in here during any free time I have."

The woman pursed her lips and thought about it for a few minutes before sharply nodding, "I will hold them behind my desk, but if another student needs one then I won't hesitate to give it to them."

I nodded graciously, "Thank you. But I will check out this one, if still possible." I held up the book I was currently reading, and she flicked her wand at the stack of books to make them float behind her.

She set the stack behind her desk, just like she said, and wrote down my name and what book I was checking out. "You have a week to return it. Now off to bed, it's almost curfew."

"Thanks," grabbing the book I jogged out of the library and headed for Ravenclaw tower. It was becoming a little easier to find my way towards the tower, and I no longer needed to ask for directions. I made sure to find certain portraits or statues to use as landmarks to find where everything was.

The eagle asked another one of his riddles, and I thanked my lucky stars I knew what it was. I made a mental note to have a fellow Ravenclaw walk with me because I wasn't going to get these right all the time.

I walked up to my dorm room and switched my potions book for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. I wouldn't have Potions again until next Wednesday, same with Astronomy.

Even though it was only eight o'clock that was the curfew for first and second years. So I had four hours to kill. I ended up finishing my book from the library, and since I only took the one I grabbed my journal from Potions class and began studying everything we went over. According to Slughorn our next class would be all about how to properly slice and dice ingredients. Fun.

Studying only took about an hour, but that was all I needed. The other two and a half hours were spent reading a book from my trunk. I had yet to read it, and it was filled with random, but useful spells.

One of them was an alarm spell, and it made me think of my need for an alarm clock. I needed one since there was nothing in my dorm to tell time, and I currently had no clue what time it was.

That led to the usefulness of another spell in the book. It was called Tempus, and it showed the time and date. After a few tries I was able to get it, and saw it was 11:28.

I thanked any God up there for that spell and hastily left my dorm. I liked to give myself a half an hour to find my class since I had no idea where any of them were. They should at least have classroom numbers. Or maybe a map, or some directions.

Now there's an idea. I could make some sort of map. Or maybe a piece of paper that gave me directions when I needed them. Like a GPS! The ideas were endless, and I had the magic to do it.

Unfortunately I got lost again, and I had to wake up a grumpy portrait for directions. "It's a few halls down from here. By a portrait of Harriet stargazing."

Taking the vague directions I left as quick as I could. No need for the old man to get even more agitated.

Thankfully I was able to find the door leading to a spiral staircase. I took a few wrong turns to get there, but in the end I made it on time.

As soon as I walked in the door the woman directed me, "You will address me as Professor Vector. Please take a seat at the desk in the back of the middle row."

Not willing to make the stern woman wait I went right towards the desk she directed me to and sat down. I propped my telescope against my desk, then pulled out my pen and an unused journal.

More students trickled in, and Vector gave them the same introduction she gave me. They were all given various seats, and in the end is four Ravenclaws were seated apart. We had a rather dismal number of first years–especially with me being the only girl.

From the desk diagonal from me I saw Lily looking at me with an excited expression. She waved happily and I nodded back with a smile.

The person beside me chuckled, "You know Evans?"

I turned I my seat to see a familiar sandy haired boy with hazel eyes. "I do," I smiled, "You're Remus Lupin right?"

He looked surprised, "You know me?"

I smiled, but it lacked any humor, "Hard to forget the group of boys who made all of my hair disappear."

Remus stared at me for a few moments before recognition flashed in his eyes. It was soon followed by regret, "I'm really sorry that happened. It was James and Sirius' idea."

I hummed because I knew it was true, "How'd you guys meet anyway?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but Vector slapped a ruler against her desk, effectively ending all conversation. "As I said when you all walked in, I am Professor Vector. For tonight we will be learning about various constellations and what they look like."

"Excuse me, Vector?" Everybody looked to see none other than Sirius raising his hand, "Isn't it morning?"

Vector didn't look amused in the slightest, "As I was saying. Take out your quills and write everything I do." Just like Slughorn she flicked her wand at a chalkboard and had notes spread all across it.

When Remus asked why I was using a pen I wondered if it would happen with everybody I sat with, "I've never used a quill before, and pens are easier."

Remus actually knew what a pen was, unlike Edmund, "Huh. That's actually pretty smart. I think I'll get a pen next time I go to the muggle world."

"Here," I took out another pen, "you can use one of mine 'til you get one."

He took it gratefully, "Thanks, Alex."

I paused in my note taking to look at him, "You know my name?"

Remus smirked at me, "Hard to forget the bald girl who called my friends and I bastards."

I had to cover my mouth to prevent my laugh from echoing around the room. "Oh," I was able to choke out.

He patted my back, "It's alright. They deserved it anyway."

The rest of class was spent taking notes. Remus, Lily, and I were the only ones not yawning. Me because I never fall asleep until about two o'clock anyway, and the other two I didn't know.

By the end of class half of us were asleep on our desks, and Vector seemed to take pleasure in rapping her ruler next to their heads to wake them up. I actually found it funny as well.

"Goodnight Remus," I waved at the sandy haired boy as Edmund sleepily gestured for me to hurry up.

He waved back, "Night Alex."

On the way back to our common room Edmund was interrogating me about Remus. He was really getting on my nerves, and it was way to early to be talking to him. "I don't know what you want me to tell you Abernathy! He's just Remus!"

Edmund grew silent. I'd never called him by his last name before, and for some reason it bothered him.

We entered the common room and I immediately headed for the stairs to the girls dorms. Edmund called my name, but I just waved him off. I wanted to see if I had any books that could help me with my map idea.

AN: I am on fire with these new chapters. I'm even thinking of starting chapter 15 tonight. Should I? Or should I slow down?