It's the next day and Aleena got woken up to someone gently shaking. "Aleena, it's time to get up" Draco said softly.
"Five more minutes" she groaned, pulling the blanket over her head.
"Come on, Lee, it's almost time for breakfast" Ron said, pulling the blanket it off her, which made her shiver and try to pull the blanket over herself, but Ron threw it onto his bed.
"Now that's just mean" she mumbled, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked at Ron and Draco and saw that they were already in their school uniform. Then she notice that Dean, Seamus and Neville weren't in their beds.
"They have already gone down for breakfast" Ron said, when she saw her looking. "Anyway, we will wait outside while you get ready" he said, before he and Draco left the room, closing the door behind them.
Aleena got out of bed and grabbed her school uniform out of her trunk. She quickly got change and put her hair into a ponytail. She then picked up her wand off the nightstand and smiled. She couldn't wait to start doing magic. Aleena walked over to the door and opened it. She jumped back when she saw Ron and Draco stood there, they jumped too because they didn't expect the door to suddenly open.
Aleena closed the bedroom behind her and she, Ron and Draco walked down the stairs, into the common room and out through the portrait.
Aleena, Ron and Draco got lost at least four time as they tried to make their way to the Great Hall. Hogwarts wasn't exactly small and there was a lot to remember.
There were hundred and forty-two staircase at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there was the doors, some of the doors wouldn't open unless you asked politely and some of them needed to be tickled in exactly the right place.
Aleena, Draco and Ron learnt the hard way that some door aren't really doors and just solid walls instead. They thought it was an open door but they ended up walking head first into a wall. The three of them couldn't stop laughing for a good ten minutes.
They met Peeves the poltergeist on their journey to find the Great Hall, he was throwing bits of chalk at a few Hufflepuff first years who were also trying to find the Great Hall. Aleena, Ron and Draco quickly turned the other way so Peeves didn't start on them.
They manage to get on the wrong side of Argus Filch, who is the caretaker of the school. He found them trying to force their way through a door which unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out of bounds corridor on the third floor. He didn't believe them when they told him they lost.
Filch was convinced that they were trying to break into on purpose and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Quirrell, who was passing. Filch mumbled something under his breath as he beckoned his cat, Mrs Norris, to follow him. She was a scrawny, dust-coloured creature with bulging, lamp like eyes.
She patrollers the corridor alone. Break a rule in front of her and she will whisk off for Filch, who will appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageway of the school better than anyone (except the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts.
"Thank you for helping us, Professor" Aleena said, smiling at Quirrell, who looked less nervous than he did when Aleena saw him at the feast last night.
"Could you show us to the Great Hall, Professor?" Ron asked. "We have been walking the corridors for half an hour and I'm starving."
"Y-yes, of c-course. Follow m-me."
As Aleena, Ron and Draco followed Quirrell to the Great Hall, Aleena could hear people whispering about her as they passed.
"There she is."
"Where?"
"There, she's in the middle of these two boys."
"Can you see her scar?"
Aleena looked around and could see people turned back around so they could walk past her again. When Aleena and the boys walked into the Great Hall, everyone was already sitting down at their tables. They all stopped talking and looked at Aleena, which made her tense up a little.
"Come on" Draco said, leading her over to the Gryffindor table. "Just try and ignore them and eat some breakfast."
They sat down and Aleena helped herself to some pancakes and chocolate sauce. Aleena was too busy talking with Ron and Draco that she didn't noticed that most of the girls were now glaring at her from different tables.
It was mainly because of Draco Malfoy. It seems that most of the first year girls have become smitten with him after they saw him at the feast last night, and they weren't very happy that Aleena Potter had somehow gotten his attention.
Aleena looked over at the Slytherin table and saw Harry sitting next to Ethan and Hermione, who were talking happily. Harry didn't look very happy, then again, he's not really much of a morning person and needs a good two hours to actually wake up properly.
After everyone was finished with breakfast, Professor McGonagall came over to the Gryffindor table and handed out their table time for the week. Just then the bell went off and everyone got up to leave. Aleena was about to walk out the Great Hall with Ron and Draco when someone called her name.
She turned around and saw McGonagall walking over to her.
"We will wait outside for you" Ron said. Aleena nodded and he and Draco walked over to the Great Hall doors.
"Is everything ok, Professor?" Aleena asked, feeling a little nervous as to why the teacher wanted to talk to her.
"No, it's regarding your bed, the house-elves still haven't managed to remove it from the boys dormitories, so until we figure something out, you will have to stay with them I'm afraid. I'm already spoken to Mr Longbottom, Mr Thomas and Mr Finnigan and they are more than happy to let you stay, and I'm sure Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy will be happy to let you stay too."
"Oh - erm yeah, yeah that's fine. I don't mind sharing with them."
"Ok, I will let Professor Dumbledore know. Now, off you go before you're late for your first lesson."
Aleena nodded and walked out the Great Hall where she saw Ron and Draco talking quietly to themselves. Aleena smiled to herself and walk over to them.
"Thanks for waiting for me" she said.
"It's not a problem, we are friends after all" Ron smiled.
"What did McGonagall want?" Draco asked.
"The house-elves still can't get my bed out of your room so I've got to share with you until they figure something out, and what is an house-elf, by the way?"
"They are little elves that help around the house" Ron said.
"So they do things like the cooking and cleaning?" Aleena asked.
"Yeah" Draco nodded. "I have an house elf. His name is cookie and he's the sweetest elf ever."
"Cookie?" Aleena laughed.
"Hey, don't laugh. I named him when I was three."
As the day went on, Aleena learnt that there was a lot more to magic than she first thought. It wasn't just about waving your wand around and saying a few funny words.
She found out that they would be studying the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and will have to learn the name of the different stars and the movement of the planets. Three times a week they would be going to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learnt how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found out what they were used for.
The most boring lesson was History of Magic, which was the only class taught by a ghost called, Professor Binns. He had fallen asleep one day when there was a fire in the staff room and when he wake up to teach the next day, he left his body behind.
His voice almost put everyone, but Sarah-Jane Smith, asleep. Sarah-Jane was the only person who took down notes on what Professor Binns was talking about. Aleena wished she did the same, because at the end of his lesson, he gave them a little quiz on what he spend all lesson talking about.
Safe to say, that Aleena failed the quiz, along with everyone else, but Sarah-Jane, who got full marks. Professor Binns was very impressed and awarded Gryffindor house 20 points.
When Aleena walked into Charms, she saw a tiny little wizard standing on a pile of books so that he could see over his desk. He started off their lesson by taking the register, and when he reached Aleena's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.
Everyone is the class quickly put their hands over their mouth to stop themselves from laughing. Aleena felt bad that Professor Flitwick fell over because of her and went to check on him.
"Are you ok, Professor?" she asked, piling up his books back up into a neat pile.
"Yes, yes, thank you, my dear" he squeaked.
After their Charms lesson, it was time for Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. She took the register at the start of her lesson and Aleena was glad that she didn't react to her name. Once she was finished taking the register, and gave the class a talking to.
"Now, Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. Everyone was very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realised they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After making a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle.
By the end of the less, only Sarah-Jane Smith had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Sarah-Jane a rare smile.
"Well done" Aleena whispered to her as they left the class. "I can't believe you managed to do it on our first lesson, you must be a very skilled witch."
Sarah-Jane blushed at Aleena's kind words. "Thank you, Aleena. I work very hard and read lots of books."
Defence Against the Dark Arts was their next lesson and the one that everyone had been looking forwards to, but Quirrell's lesson turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to warn off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days.
His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African princess as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.
The rest of the week went by so fast that Aleena didn't even realise that it was Friday till Ron told her. It was a good day to, Aleena, Ron and Draco had finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall without getting lost.
The house-elves still couldn't figure out how to remove Aleena's bed from the boys room. They said that the castle was rejecting their magic and was reusing to remove Aleena's bed from the boys room. McGonagall and Dumbledore couldn't understand why that was happening. In the end, Dumbledore said that Aleena could stay in the boys dormitories since there was nowhere else for her to sleep.
"What do we have today?" Aleena asked Ron, as he poured sugar on his porridge.
"Double Potions with the Slytherins. Snape's Head of Slytherin house. They say he always favours them - we'll be able to see if it's true."
"Wish McGonagall favoured us" Draco said. McGonagall was Head of Gryffindor house, but it hadn't stopped her giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.
Just then, the post arrive. Aleena had got used to this by now, but it had given her a bit of a shock on the second day, when about a hundred of owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners and dropping letters and package on to their laps.
Aleena looked up and saw Hedwig flying over to her, and to her surprise, she had a note in her beak. This is the first time Hedwig has bought her anything. She normally would fly in to nibble on Aleena's ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls.
Hedwig fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped the note on Aleena's plate. She tore it open at once, desperate to know who would be writing to her.
Dear Aleena,
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.
Hagrid.
Aleena used Draco's quill, scribbled 'yes please, see you later' on the back of the note and sent Hedwig off again. Aleena sat there smiling, happy that she's got something to look forward to later. Once Aleena, Ron and Draco finished their breakfast, then headed off to potions, which was down in the dungeons.
They walked into Snape's classroom and shivered. It was a lot colder down here than the main part of the castle. Aleena, Ron and Draco sat down in the middle on the room and waited for everyone else to turn up. Aleena looked at the door when she heard it open and saw Harry walk in with Ethan and Hermione following him.
"Hello Harry" Aleena said. She hasn't talked to Harry all week. "How's your first week going?"
"It's going good" Harry answered, rather nicely.
"Good, I'm glad your having a nice week."
Harry didn't say anything else and sat down at the front of the class. A few minutes later, everyone else turned up, but there was no sign of Snape. About a minute later, Snape burst into the room and walked to the front of the room. He turned to face them all, then pulled out the register from his desk.
He paused when he got to Aleena's name.
"Ah, yes" he said softly. "Aleena Potter. Our new - celebrity."
Ethan and Hermione sniggered behind their hands, whilst Harry sat there annoyed. He still couldn't get used to the fact that Aleena was famous and he wasn't.
Aleena blushed and lowed herself in her seat when most of the class looked at her. Snape finished calling the names off the register, then looked up at the class.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making" he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper.
"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."
Ron and Draco exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Sarah-Jane Smith was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.
"Potter!" Snape suddenly said. Aleena jumped and quickly sat up in her seat when she saw that Snape was looking at her. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death" Aleena said at once. Thank god she read her potion book the night before or she wouldn't have had a clue what the answer was.
Snape looked taken back, but he quickly recovered and asked her another question. "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Sarah-Jane stretched her hand as high as it would go into the air, but Snape ignored her and looked at Aleena. Sarah-Jane put her hand down and gave Aleena an encouraging smile.
"You can find a bezoar in the stomach of a goat."
"Correct, and what does a bezoar do?"
"It can save you from most poison."
"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"There isn't any difference, they are the same plant, which sometimes goes by the name of aconite."
Snape must admit that he was very impress with Aleena, but instead of giving her house points, he gave her a little nod. Aleena couldn't help but feel proud of herself. She got the answers correct on her first try, but she did wonder why Snape only asked her questions and not the rest of the class.
"Such a little show off" Harry said, a little louder than he meant to. He was only meant to say it to Ethan and Hermione, not the whole class.
Snape looked at him. "You think you can do better, Mr Potter?"
"Yes! I can do anything better than that freak can!" he hissed, pointing to Aleena. The Gryffindor's were shocked at how Harry talked to his sister. Even Snape was a little taken back.
"Oh really? Then tell me, Mr Potter, what does the potions Skele-Gro do?"
Harry sat there and thought about it for a moment, but he couldn't figure out the answer. Aleena looked at Harry, she couldn't understand how he didn't know the answer. The potion is called Skele-Gro, it's not that hard to figure out what it does.
"I don't know!" Harry growled angrily.
Ron and Draco smirked at each, happy that Snape put Harry in his place.
"Miss Potter, do you know the answer?" Snape asked, smirking smugly. He was happy that he managed to embarrass Harry in front of the class.
"I think so, sir. I think the potion Skele-Gro mends broken bones."
"That would be correct, Miss Potter."
Aleena smiled happily, but it quickly faded when she saw Harry glaring at her. The answer was so obvious now that Aleena had said it and Harry felt stupid for not realising what it did sooner.
Snape put the class into pairs and asked them to mix up a simple potion that cures boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticising almost every except Ethan, whom he seemed to like.
He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Ethan had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon.
Hermione had somehow managed to melt Vincent Crabbe's cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was sweeping across the stone floor, burning hole in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class were standing on their stools while Hermione, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as red boils sprang up all over her arms and legs.
"Idiot girl!" Snape snarled, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
Hermione whimpered as boils started to pop up all over her nose. "Take her to the hospital wing" Snape spat at Crabbe. Then he rounded on Harry, who had been working next to Hermione.
"You - Mr Potter - why didn't you tell her not to add the quills? Thought she'd make you look good if she got it wrong, did you?"
"No!" Harry growled. "Aleena did something to Hermione's potion. I saw her put something in her cauldron!"
"That's not true, Professor, I was busy making my own potion" Aleena pleaded, hoping that Snape would believe her and not Harry, like everyone normally does.
"She's lying, sir. Ethan saw her too, didn't you?"
Ethan looked at Harry, a little surprise that he bought him into his argument. He looked at Aleena, who felt like she was about to cry. She didn't want to get into trouble for something she didn't do.
Ethan smirked at her. "It's true, sir. She put an extra ingredient into the cauldron!"
"No she didn't!" Ron and Draco argued.
"She hasn't left our table!" Ron hissed.
"Yeah, she was busy making her potion when Granger's cauldron collapsed" Draco said, glaring at Harry and Ethan.
"Enough!" Snape snapped when he saw Harry opening his mouth. "Don't worry, Miss Potter, I know you didn't do anything to Miss Gangers cauldron" he told her softy. Aleena sighed in relief, glad that someone believed her for once.
"So, let's see" Snape went on, "that will be five points from Slytherin for your lying, Mr Potter and Mr Vega, and yes, I think you both deserve detention for tonight, my office, 7 o'clock, don't be late!"
"You got us a detention, you little bitch!" Ethan spat angrily at Aleena. She flinched at the harshness in his voice. Draco saw this, and pulled her away from Ethan whilst giving him his nastiest glare he could master.
Half an hour later, their lesson was over and they were climbing the steps out of dungeons.
"I can't believe your own brother tried to get you into trouble like that" Ron said.
"I can" Aleena mumbled. "He was always doing that in Muggle school, and the teachers always believed him."
"Well, I'm glad that Snape could see through his lie" Draco said, putting his arms over Aleena's and Ron's shoulders. "And don't worry about Vega. If he starts on you, then just tell me and Ron and we will sort him out."
"Is that right?" Ethan's voice echoed behind them. They turned around and see him stood there with a very angry looking Harry. "And what exactly are you two filthy little Blood-Traitors going to do?"
"Call us that again, and you will find out" Draco hissed, reaching for his wand.
"Filthy little blood -"
"McGonagall, three o'clock" Harry whispered, making Ethan stop talking immediately. They all looked where three o'clock was on the clock and saw McGonagall stand there talking to a student.
Ethan looked at Aleena, Ron and Draco. "See you around, losers" he said, pushing past them. Harry smirked and followed Ethan down the corridor.
"What does Blood-Traitor mean?" Aleena asked, when Ethan and Harry were out of ear shot.
"Blood-Traitor is a foul name for someone who is Pure-Blood like me and Draco who doesn't mind Muggles and Muggle-Borns" Ron explained.
"You see, Ethan is a Pure-Blood too, but unlike us, he thinks that all Muggles and Muggle-Borns are scum and that Muggle-Borns don't deserve to be in the wording world" Draco added.
"That's horrible. I can't believe he thinks that way" Aleena said, a little shocked that there are people who actually think that way.
"Same" Ron and Draco agreed.
"Can we come to see Hagrid with you?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, sure" Aleena smiled. "He will be happy that I've made some good friends."
At five to the three, Aleena, Ron and Draco left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. When Aleena knocked on the door, they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks.
"That must be Fang" Aleena gasped. She completely forget that Hagrid had a dog. "I can't wait to see him" she said excitedly. Ron and Draco smiled at each other.
"Back, Fang - back" they heard Hagrid say. Hagrid's face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "Hang on. Back, Fang."
He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of a enormous black boarhound. "Woah" Aleena whispered when she saw Fang. He was almost as big as her.
There was only one inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire and in a corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.
"Make yerselves at home" Hagrid said, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Aleena and started licking her ears, which made her laugh.
"This is Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, by the way" Aleena told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes on to a plate.
"Another Weasley, eh?" Hagrid said, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the Forest."
The rock cake almost broke their teeth, but Aleena, Ron and Draco pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their lessons. They were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch 'that old git'
Aleena went on and told Hagrid all about Snape's lesson and everything that happened with Harry and Ethan. Hagrid couldn't understand why Harry was so horrible to his sister. Aleena couldn't understand it either, but she's used to it by now that she doesn't even question it anymore.
"I can't work out if Snape likes me or not though" Aleena admits. "I mean, sometimes he looks at me like he likes me, then other times, it's like he hates me, but I can tell that he don't like Harry. I can see the hate in his eyes every time he looks at him."
"There's a reason for that" Hagrid mumbled, but Aleena didn't hear him. She was about to ask him to repeat what he said, but he started talking again. "How's yer brother, Charlie?" he asked Ron. "I like him a lot - great with animals."
While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Draco picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cosy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:
'GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of a dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in face been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep you noses out if you know what's good for you" said a Gringotts spokes goblin this afternoon.'
"Hey, Lee, check this out" Draco said, showing Aleena the paper. She took it off him and read it to herself. Aleena remembered Ron and Draco telling her on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but they never mentioned the date.
"This happened on my birthday" Aleena told Draco. "I wonder if it was happening while we were there?"
"Did you see anything when you were there?"
"No. I got money out of my vault, then Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults" Aleena looked down at the paper and read the story again.
"Look, it says here that the vault was emptied that same day. You don't think it's the same vault Hagrid emptied, do you?" Draco asked.
"I'm not sure. All Hagrid took out the vault was a little brown package" Aleena looked at Hagrid, but he quickly looked away from her, which made her frown.
Did he know something about this? What was that package anyway? Was that what the thieve were looking for? Had Hagrid collect the package just in time? Where was that package now?