Lisa Turpin found herself sitting at her breakfast table again the next morning. She had pulled her hair into a stiff bun. Not a hair was out of place. She pushed around her cornflakes in a bowl. Her coffee was black and bitter, just like her mood. She stabbed her cornflakes with her spoon. The spoon hit the bowl with a distinct scratch. Her father looked up at her.
"If you're done eating you can bring your bowl to the sink instead of playing with your food" her mother said. Lisa got up and dropped her bowl into the sink.
"What's up with you this morning?" Her mother asked
"Nothing" Lisa washed the bowl before putting it in her dishwasher
"Uh huh, you've been in an awful mood since last night. Are you sure that's nothing"
"Well it is," Lisa said with a forced smile. Her mother rolled her eyes
"What happened?" Lisa dropped the bowl
"Besides the people in my grade being crap, nothing"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really"
"Were you at least nice?"
"I don't want to talk about it"
"I'll take that as a no?" Lisa grabbed her backpack and stormed out of the house, she drove to school and got out of her car. She ignored her classmates as she walked. She found her way to her locker without any help. She opened it and grabbed her materials. She had Advanced Latin first today. Her only class with Harry and Kathryn. It was going to be a fun class. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her latin textbook and notebook. It was on the 3rd floor. She knew that from Kathryn of all people. Room 306. She found it. She stepped into the classroom decorated with all sorts of Roman memorabilia. She took a seat in the far front corner of the class. She was one of the first people there. Harry Potter walked into the classroom with Kathryn Morris hanging off of his arm. It was nauseating to watch, probably because they were both awful. She had to give him credit though. He actually looked like he was interested in that two faced bitch. While she was busy observing Harry's approached, she did not notice someone come up to her
"Hey Lisa right?" He asked. She turned to face him. He was fairly good looking, with coily hair and bright, sparkling eyes.
"Yes," she said.
"Oh sorry I didn't introduce myself, Noah."
"Lisa"
"Nice to meet you Lise" she bristled at the pet name. Another one of her pet peeves "so, I know you're new but I was wondering if you'd want to sit with me at lunch?" Lisa fought the urge to roll her eyes. He would be the third person to ask her in two days. She would rather not, given her current track record with sitting with people.
"Let's guess, you think of yourself as a charmer?" She asked him. Harry caught her eye.
"Is it working?" He asked
"Maybe" Harry smiled at her. Great, she thought
"So what do you think?" He said
"Fine, I'll sit with you and your friends at lunch" She said with mock exasperation
"Great, I'll see you there. '' Their teacher stepped into the room. He called the class's attention. Everyone took their seats. Noah sat behind her. Harry and Kathryn were sitting together in the back with a couple of people from Kathryn's friend group. She honestly could not understand how Harry tolerated them, even temporarily. Their teacher stood at the front of the class and wrote his name and a sentence on the board
"Hello class, my name is Mr. Dean Whiteford, you all can call me Mr. Whiteford. As you may be aware I am your latin teacher for the year. For your first assignment, I want someone to read what I wrote on the board" Lisa raised her hand.
"Marcus Mortius. Alea Jacta Est" she said in flawless Latin
"Good job Miss-"
"Turpin"
"Right, can you translate the sentence?" He asked her
"The Die is Cast. Julius Caesar"
"Exactly Miss Turpin. For your first assignment, you will come up with a Latin prenomen to use for the class. For example, mine is Marcus. You will also write down your favorite Latin phrase" the rest of the class took out their paper and pens. Lisa grabbed her own. Her cheeks turned a pale shade of pink as she dipped her pen into an imaginary ink well. No magic, no ink. She reminded herself. She really needed to get used to the little difference between her old world and her new one. She glanced behind her and noticed that Harry was having the same problem. She tried to ignore it as she wrote.
"Alright class, who wants to read their sentence and name first?" Mr. Whiteford said
"I can" Harry said
"Go ahead, Mr. ah"
"Potter, sir"
"I'll make sure to remember that"
"Nomen mihi Leonardo est"
"Salve Leonardo, what is your sentence?"
"Nemo Sine Vitio Est. No one is without fault"
"Excellent choice, Mr. Mcmichaels?"
"Nomen mihi Felix est." Noah stood up on his chair and spread his arms out "Acta est Fabula, Plaudite!" He sat down. Lisa fought down a genuine laugh.
"The play is over, applaud! Very funny Felix. Miss Morris"
"Nomen mihi est Amora. Amor Vincit Omnia, love conquers all"she looked at Harry. Lisa rolled her eyes. She was so clearly fake.
"Very sweet Miss Morris, Miss Proditor." He pointed to a girl with dark brown hair and heavily lidded eyes. Lisa recognized her from the bathroom. One of Kathryn's minions.
"Nomen mihi HarmonÃa est. Vivamus, Moriendum Est. Let us live, since we must die"
"Miss Turpin?"
"Nomen mihi est Silvia. Exitus Acta Probat. The result justifies the deed" She said. She glanced at Harry who rolled his eyes at her. The rest of the class went. Lisa did not know who was going when she saw a tiny stream of silver liquid land next to her ear. A non-corporeal patronus.
"I can get away from Kathryn at Lunch. Meet me in the library."
Before long, the class was over. Noah came up her when class ended
"See you at Lunch Lise" Merlin. Of course Harry could only speak to her then. She was actually rather disappointed.
"Actually, I have to cancel," his face fell.
"Oh" Harry saw her and mouthed be nice. That alone almost made her not want to be.
"It's totally my fault. I forgot that I have to study for my Oxford Admission exam"
"You're applying to Oxford?"
"Yeah," She shrugged
"Well no wonder you need to study. I hear that the entrance exam is insane. Don't worry about it. We can always have lunch tomorrow,"
"Sure," She said. She sat through the rest of her morning classes. She hated having to keep a fake smile plastered on her face. After the last morning bell rang, she made her way to the library. She did not see Harry at first. She walked around the library until she found him hidden in the back corner.
"Great spot isn't it?" He said
"Why do I need to be here?"
"I made a list of new teachers so we can start ruling people out"
"How long is it?"
"About seven names. We can rule out a couple because they can't be Nott"
"What do you mean?"
"We've got two women, and two non-white male teachers. We know that Nott is a white man in his early 40s. He might be able to make himself look slightly older or younger so we can't rule out late 30s or late 40s. We can rule out anyone who doesn't fit that criteria."
"That would be smart if you actually thought for once"
"What did I do wrong this time, Lise?"
"Don't call me Lise"
"Noah did," he teased. She ignored him
'You forgot one major point?"
"And what would that be?"
"We're dealing with a wizard, not a muggle. He could be using polyjuice potion, a disguise spell, literally anything"
"So it could be any of the new teachers" Harry sighed
"Nott could be pulling a Moody"
"A Moody?"
"Using some sort of magic to disguise as a teacher" she said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world
"Disguising himself like that would require something exact. Like Polyjuice potion"
"Great, where does that leave us?"
"With a suspect pool of 115 teachers"
"So we have nothing"
"No Lisa, we do have something" he smiled at her
"What do I have to do?"
"Nothing for now, except being nice. I, on the other hand, have polyjuice ingredients to find"