The Great Hall was filled with lively chatter, first years getting to know each other, and the older years catching up with friends about what they did during summer.
Nymphadora had returned to her seat amongst the sixth years, saying she wanted her little cousin to socialize and make friends in her own year, but not before she had tried her best to embarrass Gardenia.
"Your cousin seems nice." Cedric, who was sitting in front of her, remarked.
"Yes, she is, but she takes her job of making sure I have enough mortifying memories down the lane way too seriously."
Cedric chuckled, and a girl with short brown-reddish hair joined the conversation. "She's a metamorphmagus, isn't she? Her hair changed colors twice!"
Nodding, Gardenia turned her attention to her fellow first year. She decided to introduce herself in a manner most people around her would hear, thus limiting the amount she would actually have to do so.
The girl with the short hair grinned and extended a and for Gardenia to shake. "Heidi Mcavoy, future Hufflepuff Quidditch team captain."
Gardenia quirked her brow at the girl's confidence, but shook her hand, and Cedric looked affronted. "I'm sorry to inform you, but that is going to be me."
Heidi scoffed playfully, puffing her chest. "We'll see, first you have to make it into the team next year."
"Ditto, let's see who'll be better then," Cedric replied good-naturedly.
"What is a metamorphmagus?" The girl sitting to her left, the same one that had been sorted before her, inquired with a rather meek voice.
"Oh, you must be muggleborn, right?" Heidi said, leaning a little into Gardenia's personal space to get a better look at the girl.
She gave a small nod, shyness radiating out of her. Heidi didn't let that stop her, and started explaining to the best of her abilities what that type of wizard was, sparing no expenses when it came to enthusiasm. "What's your name, by the way?"
Looking startled as if she had forgotten that she had not introduced herself, the girl blushed. "Annabel Entwistle."
Conversation flowed, and soon people's bellies were filled, and it was time to head down to the common room. Two students got up and approached the section of the table where they were, calling for everyone's attention. They were the two fifth-year prefects, and so tasked with their first duty after being nominated for the position, taking care of a bunch of kids, or at least guiding them to the common room.
"I'm Gabriel Truman, and this is my fellow prefect Beatrice Haywood."
They both looked nice enough, Gabriel with his curly hair and kind smile, and Beatrice with a pixie cut that made her face look fairylike and bright blue eyes. Gathering the group of first years, they started to make their way out of the Great Hall and down a flight of stairs.
"Our common room is located in the basement of the school, and if I'm completely honest with you all, it's the best located one." Gabriel smiled impishly, and while most of those around her took it for house pride, Gardenia knew that he probably meant it being located so closely to the kitchens.
She always wondered if the Hufflepuff students knew about the entrance to the kitchens, and this seemed to confirm that it was common knowledge amongst the badgers.
They arrived in the basement, and stopped in front of a stack of fairly big barrels, which was located in a nook in the right hand side of the corridor. Gardenia could see several paintings lining the walls, most of them depicting some kind of food, and at the end of the corridor, a gigantic painting of a silver fruit bowl, which was way less inconspicuous than what Gardenia expected.
"Hufflepuff is the only house that doesn't have a password, what we must do instead is tap the second barrel from the bottom, in the middle of the second row," Beatrice pointed at the barrel. "And tap it in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff."
She did so, tapping once of every syllable, with pauses that mimicked how you would say it out loud.
The lid of the barrel swung open, and a passage was revealed. It looked a bit like a cave entrance, and a few steps had appeared to make it easier to enter it, since it was a little above the floor. "Don't worry about the rhythm, it's really easy to do it after you try it out a few times, I just don't recommend practicing it in the actual barrels, for if the wrong rhythm is used, or you tap the wrong barrel, you'll be doused in vinegar," Gabriel said, grimacing. "And trust me, you do not want that to happen to you."
That seemed a bit extreme if you asked Gardenia, as far as she knew, this was the only common room which would punish a wrong attempt at entering, while the other houses simply barred access. It showed that Hufflepuff was not all that passive, and Gardenia liked that a lot.
Beatrice went in first, the first years following behind her, while Gabriel stayed behind to make sure there were no stragglers. Gardenia was at the front with Heidi, who was jumping in excitement.
The cave-like passageway was short, and at the end, another set of steps led down into the actual common room. It was a round room with circular windows at the top of the walls, from which you could see rippling grass and dandelions outside. On most the windowsills, potted plants were placed, as well as various hanged ones from the ceiling. The room had a nice, warm and welcoming feeling to it, the ceiling not being very high like it was in other places around the castle, providing a cozy atmosphere to the room. Around the room were overstuffed sofas and armchairs decorated with yellow and black blankets and cushions, with center and side tables placed around them. In the middle of the wall directly facing the entrance, there was a fireplace with a large, honey-colored, wooden mantelpiece filled with carvings of badgers, and above it, a portrait of a kind looking witch with brown hair and blue eyes, sporting a smile and wearing a yellow dress and a black cloak.
"Boys and girls have separate dormitories, and you'll be sharing rooms with those in your year," Beatrice explained. Pointing to two round doors, each on one side of the room. "You can access them through those doors, girls to the right, boys to the left."
Gabriel, who was now standing beside his fellow prefect, gave them a smile. "And before any of you even try, boys should be aware that without permission, trying to enter the girl's dorms will result in vines physically restraining you, and any attempts of magic to free yourself will not help your case."
It seemed with every new thing Gardenia learned about her common room, she found more ways in which Helga Hufflepuff had been rather wicked when designing the place.
"Do you know that from experience?" One of the boys asked, Anthony Rickett if she recalled correctly from the sortings.
Laughing, Gabriel shook his head. "I haven't tried that myself, but every once in a while someone will try it, even if it is just to see if what was said is true."
Beatrice narrowed her eyes at him. "Now, I seem to remember an instance in our third year when you had the brilliant idea to place flowers and chocolate for Valentine's in my sister's bedside table, and were found in the morning held up by vines."
The first years laughed, and Gabriel blushed.
"If you have any questions, you can always come to either one of us, of any of the other prefects. Have a nice first night in Hufflepuff!"
They smiled so brightly it felt like looking at the sun, and Gardenia smiled back. She was starting to think her house placement was indeed the right one, and she was glad for it.
Heading to her dorm room with the rest of the girls in her year, they entered the round door and started walking until they reached the — also round — door that had a carving of a 1 in it. The whole setup of halls, round doors, and earthy feeling reminded her of the Shire, and how she imagined Baggin's End was. They were also technically living in a hole in the ground, just like hobbits.
The room was circular, also decorated with plants in the windowsills, and the five poster beds lining the walls, the headboards against the wall. Their trunks were in the foot of the beds, and Gardenia saw hers in the one on the middle, Hecate curled up in a ball in the center of the bed.
"Can I trade beds with you?" Heidi asked the curly-haired girl who was now sitting on the bed on one of the ends of the semi-circle, closest to the bathroom. The girl, who was called Caroline Purvis, raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"I get up a lot in the middle of the night to use the loo, so it would be nice to not have to walk the whole room in the dark." Heidi's bed was the one next to Gardenia's on the opposite side of where the bathroom was.
Caroline didn't look too pleased but agreed, and they moved their trunks. Heidi gave her a hug as a thank you, and Caroline stiffened, patting her back twice and sporting what can only be described as a grimace.
As they settled for the night and made small talk, the other girl that shared their dorm, Maxine O'Flaherty, started to organize a bag of cosmetics on her bedside table, the bag being small, but the number of items being pulled out could only mean it had an extendable charm on it. "Where did you get that bag?"
Maxine's eyes brightened, and she answered excitedly. "I got it in Paris, my mother took me there for Fashion Week this year, it's a Chanel necessaire."
"Did you put an extendable charm on it, then?" Gardenia inquired, such charms were heavily controlled, and usually only certified shops could sell them. Gardenia hadn't found one in Diagon Alley that sold small bags like that, only trunks and tents.
"My father did, I loved it so much but it could barely fit my hair products," Maxine explained, she then frowned. "He told me not to tell anyone though, it's illegal or something? Pretend I never said anything." Maxine looked nervous, the girl obviously wasn't used to being secretive at all, and Gardenia felt bad about indirectly making her fess up, so she patted her hand and reassured her it wouldn't leave the dorm room.
"Wait, those are only hair products? It looks like you have a whole store's worth of it there." Heidi exclaimed.
"My hair is my best feature, I need to take good care of it." Maxine flipped her glossy black hair over her shoulder, and Heidi looked horrified.
The prospect of her first day of classes was incredibly exciting. Gardenia was not someone that was particularly enthused over school when it came to tests and scores, she didn't really care about those things. What she did like was learning new things, especially ones that interested her, and to a reincarnated soul like her, magic was the ultimate wonder.
Professor Sprout handed them their schedules over breakfast, and not even the double potions on a Friday wiped the grin off her face.
"I've never seen someone look so happy over receiving a class schedule," Heidi commented, before glancing over at the Ravenclaw table. "Or at least, someone that wasn't one of them."
"I'm excited to learn about magic! Aren't you?"
Heidi shrugged. "I guess, but classes are usually boring. I am looking forward to the flying classes though, I'm going to ace them!"
Gardenia smiled, that seemed on-brand for what she had seen of Heidi so far. Annabel, who was sitting next to her and munching on some toast, was looking at their interaction quietly. "What about you, Annabel?"
She looked like a deer in headlights at being asked a question, and swallowed her toast quickly, choking a bit on it and triggering a coffing fit. Gardenia patted her on the back and handed her a glass of water.
"Hm, I'm excited," she said after getting better. "It's all so new to me though, I don't even know what we'll be learning in some of these classes."
That was the perfect opportunity for Heidi to explain to Annabel everything she knew about their curriculum, she might've not been overly excited at the prospect of learning it, but she sure was about explaining it. Gardenia pitched in now and then, mostly when Heidi didn't have a very clear explanation about the topic, and that continued until they reached their first class of the day, Transfiguration with Gryffindors.
They were relatively early to the class, which meant barely any people were inside, and the two familiar redheads Gardenia was hoping to sit next to were absent. What was present in the room, however, was a tabby cat sitting upon the table, and she smiled knowingly at it, receiving what she swore was an eyebrow raise from the feline.
Students started to arrive, Gardenia had ended up choosing a seat next to Heidi, who had Annabel on her other side.
Only one minute before class was scheduled to begin did Fred and George arrive, slightly out of breath and with wide grins on their faces. Even if Gardenia didn't know their tells of when they did caused trouble, it was obvious that they had just pulled a stunt somewhere.
They sat down at the back of the class, George caught Gardenia's gaze on them and winked at her.
Not one minute after the clock marked the start of class, and the students began wondering were their Professor could be, after all, the witch had made an impression of being rigorous, and being late did not match that, did the tabby cat leap from the table. Transforming back from her Animagus form, Professor McGonagall appeared, causing gasps and exclamations from her students.
"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," McGonagall looked pointedly at the back of the room, and Gardenia could tell she made eye contact with her two favorite gingers. "You have been warned."
The lecture that followed gave Gardenia a headache, who would've guessed there was a mathematical formula for Transfiguration? It was purely theoretical, but it existed. The most impressive part of the class, not counting McGonagall's Animagus form at the start, was her transforming her desk into a pig, which did nothing other than awe the students, but considering how boring notetaking in that first day was, McGonagall probably did that to entice them, just so interest could be kept in the subject, thanks to the promise of great feats in the future.
The first task of turning a match into a needle was met with failure all around, but Professor McGonagall told them that was normal, and not a reason for becoming unmotivated.
Gardenia tried taking that to heart, but couldn't stop the small feeling of disappointment that bloomed.
Next was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Gardenia was curious to see who would be teaching it.
It was unfortunate no one seemed to be able to hold down the position for more than a year, and she wondered if it really was cursed by Tom Riddle, or if that was just a coincidence. It seemed to have happened too much for it not to be caused by a curse, and if that was the case, maybe there was a way to reverse it?
It would be nice to have someone hold down the position for once, and that might prevent Umbridge from ever taking up the position, a prospect that was very appealing.
She decided to look into it, maybe they could keep Remus as a professor permanently?
Entering the classroom, which they would be sharing with the Slytherins for this class, Gardenia saw Celeste already seated and went to talk to her.
"Slytherin, eh?"
Celeste looked up at hearing Gardenia. "Yes, the hat takes your opinion into consideration, thankfully."
Gardenia wondered where the Sorting Hat might've wanted to sort Celeste into, but it didn't matter now.
"I'm glad you're where you wanted to be." Celeste smiled and asked if she wanted to sit with her.
"My brother has his own friends, and I don't want to cling to him during every class."
Gardenia nodded and sat down, pulling out her book, and waited while talking to Celeste about their experiences so far. It didn't take long for everyone to arrive, and soon the only person missing was the Professor. Maybe he was already in the classroom like McGonagall had been, and was waiting to surprise them?
He wasn't, for a ragged looking man entered the classroom a few minutes later, looking out of breath. He looked relatively young, probably in his late twenties, his hair was long, reaching his shoulder blades, and tied in a ponytail that was so messy it looked like he went for a broom ride in a tornado. His clothes were disheveled like he hurriedly put them on, and one of the sleeves of his shirt was ripped.
"Oh, students! Is it time for class already?"
Everyone looked around confused, was this man really their Professor? He looked like a hobo, and a very scatter-brained one at that.
"What year are you lot in?"
No one answered right away, being too shocked to manage cognitive speech. "First year, sir," a Slytherin boy sat at the from of the class answered, having recovered before the rest of the class. "Aren't you supposed to know this?"
"Yes, yes, but it's the first day of classes, and Silvanus needed my assistance with containing a nasty Chimaera he brought for the fifth year's lesson," he was ruffling through the papers on his desk, searching for something. "Aha! Here it is, lesson plan for First year," he turned the paper around to show the class, a proud smile of his face.
It seemed Dumbledore had run out of qualified people to teach this class, if this was who he was hiring.
"Let's begin, shall we? My name is Calvin Lawson, but call me Cal, or I'll give you detention," he smiled, but Gardenia had a feeling it wasn't a joke. "Professor Cal will do just fine, my last name doesn't suit me, so I forget about it sometimes and don't tend to answer to it."
Gardenia and Celeste looked at each other at that moment, eyebrows raised. They weren't going to learn anything useful this year, were they?
"Now, how about we start with some fun stuff? Defense Against the Dark Arts is a very specific name for a class, isn't it?" Professor Cal started, walking around the room. "In reality, it could be called just Defense, because not everything you'll be learning is specific to counter a dark spell or dark creature," he twirled his wand in his hand, before turning toward a Hufflepuff student in the back of the class. "If you wanted to blind someone, what spell would you use?"
Anthony, who seemed rather like a confident boy, was at a loss for words. "I don't know, a blinding curse, I guess?"
"You could, but that would be a very specific spell, and as you said, a curse," Professor Cal started walking again. "I myself would use a Lumos Maxima, which if pointed at someone's face directly, can cause temporary lack of slight, or perhaps an Avis, summoning a flock of birds and directing it to pick out my enemy's eyes."
The class looked taken aback, but the man was starting to gain their attention in a good way, and Gardenia herself was becoming very interested.
"My point is, you'll not always be in need to defend yourself from obscure dark magic, like the name of this class eludes to. You need to learn how to respond to attacks of various natures, be it a jinx in an altercation with another student, or a well done Expelliarmus in the middle of a life or death duel. I will be teaching you how to do that, and also, to use spells in ways you wouldn't have ever thought of before to defend yourselves."
Gardenia smiled, she liked his way of thinking. That could actually help her immensely, there would be the day where she would be facing situations that required her to be able to fight, and his approach seemed like a very clever way to do so.
"We'll first be learning about the famous Knockback Jinx, which can knock your target backward. First we'll look at the theory of it, and at the end of class, I want each of you to practice it on a dummy at least once."
As they made their way out of the DADA classroom and headed toward the Great Hall for lunch, excited chatter could be heard from almost every single one of them.
"I can't believe I know how to do a jinx! And a cool one too," Heidi said gleefully. "Now I can throw it at anyone who talks crap about our House, and finally get Hufflepuff the reputation it deserves!"
"Please don't start throwing jinxes at people, you'll lose House points!" Caroline exclaimed, looking mortified.
"And you'll get detention," Gardenia added.
"But people need to stop calling us duffers."
"And you want them to call us short-tempered buffoons instead?" Caroline inquired indignantly.
"No! I just want to show we have a backbone."
Gardenia agreed with Heidi's want of changing the way others viewed their House, but violence wasn't the way to go.
As they arrived in the entrance to the Great Hall, Gardenia spotted two identical red-haired boys coming down the steps toward them, and told everyone to go without her, she would join them in a moment.
Gardenia waited for Fred and George at the end of the stairs, and when they saw her, they waved and rushed to get to her.
"So, what did you two do?"
Fred, and she was sure that is was Fred because of the way he smiled, put a hand over his heart in mock offense. "Are you accusing us of something, my dear badger?"
"Is that any way to greet your two life long friends after a whole day of establishment mandated separation?" George put an arm over her shoulders, a look of pretend hurt on his face.
Gardenia chuckled. "Hello Fred, hello George, how are you guys enjoying life as Gryffindors?"
Fred smiled. "Now that's more like it. We're enjoying it just fine, but are a little sad over not being able to enjoy it with our best friend."
Aw, that was sweet. "I'm sorry you guys, it seems I'm just not brave enough to be a lion," she shrugged, and George squeezed her in a side hug.
"And we're not nice enough to be badgers, apparently."
She frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I tried convincing the Sorting Hat to place me in Hufflepuff, but it was very annoyingly telling me I wouldn't do well in it, no matter how much I argued with it," Fred explained.
"And when it came to me, I think the hat had quite enough already of our antics, because it was a very rude piece of clothing."
Gardenia was shocked, they tried to get the Sorting Hat to place them in Hufflepuff?
"Why would you do that? You've always said Gryffindor was the best House."
Fred shrugged. "It is, but you're not in it, and we wanted to at least try to be in the same House as you."
Gardenia looked at them with wide eyes, and she could feel tears gathering in it. "Don't cry Nia! Look what you did Forge, you made her cry," George mockingly scolded.
"It looks like little Garden can't handle demonstrations of affection very well."
"Oh no, what should we do about that?"
"How about we demonstrate our affections publicly?"
They both hugged her, one of each side, and Gardenia laughed.
"I'm happy to hear you wanted to be in the same House as me, but Gryffindor is where you belong."
"Eh, you're not wrong," They started making their way into the Great Hall, one twin on each side of her. "But don't think that means you'll be getting rid of us."
George nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, you're stuck with us for life, no way around it."
"Damn, are you sure about those terms?" Gardenia inquired, trying to keep a smile off her face.
"Yep."
"Our friendship is non-refundable—"
"And non-returnable."
And she wouldn't have it any other way.
Her first Potions class was on a Friday morning, and Gardenia headed down to the dungeons with all the excitement that seemed to be missing from the rest of her classmates. The rumors about Snape's sour attitude were quickly spread, and all the first years with an older magical sibling had been told about the mean Potions master.
Gardenia was well aware he favored those in his House, but knowing so much about him, his past, most of his motivations, and some of his worst actions, even those that had yet to happen, made him seem less intimidating than he was to her peers. You were less likely to be afraid of something when you knew what lay behind the facade presented to the world.
The dungeons were dark and musty, and Gardenia was glad she hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, if only for the location. She sat down next to Annabel, and as the room filled with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, Gardenia became genuinely curious about how much of Snape's attitude was exacerbated by Harry's presence, and if he was more chill when if came to teaching the two more neutral Houses.
The answer to that was a solid no.
He made a fairly dramatic entrance into the classroom, dark robes flowing around him as he moved, and stared down at the group of eleven-year-olds sitting down in front of him with a very dour expression. Gardenia was disappointed to see he looked nothing like Alan Rickman, firstly by being much younger than the actor was in the movies, and secondly by being way less pleasing to look at. His hair really was greasy, would he be awfully offended if someone gave him a shampoo for Christmas? Probably, so she scratched that idea as soon as it formed itself.
Maybe she'd bring it up to Fred and George, they would use it to prank him, but maybe Snape would be tempted to actually use it.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. Damn it, his voice wasn't like Alan's either, Gardenia was hoping for that at least, it would make listening to his lectures way nicer. "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."
Something told her that had Snape been born a muggle, he would be a theater kid. He certainly had a flair for the dramatic and was moody enough to fit the role of one.
He didn't have a random pop quiz for any students though, so Gardenia suspected that was specifically to antagonize Harry.
"Form pairs, today you will be preparing one of the most simple concoctions in your textbook, if you can't manage to do it properly with the assistance of a peer no less, then you can be sure that you'll fare no better in any of the following potions."
Well, that was one way of scaring students out of enjoying the class.
Gardenia paired up with Annabel, and the two began preparing the potion to cure boils. Gardenia had already read through the first-year textbook on potions, but she still used it as a guide, she wanted to take no chances in screwing this up. Potions was something with the potential for her to actually enjoy, and not being on Snape's bad side was the first step towards that.
"I'll gather the ingredients, you read through it first to familiarize yourself with the process," Gardenia instructed Annabel, who seemed relieved that the blonde was taking control of the situation.
Gardenia went to the cabinet with the ingredients, letting the most of the students make their way there first, lest she is trampled by eager Ravenclaws. After gathering everything they would need, Gardenia returned to find Annabel reading with a concentrated look on her face. It seemed she wasn't the only one who wanted to avoid being on Snape's bad side.
She started measuring everything on the side while Annabel finished reading, looking over the instructions one more time. "You can crush these six snake fangs into a fine powder, while I slice the Pungous Onions."
Being used to cooking, it was easy to slice the onions finely as the book requested, but Gardenia didn't go overboard and make them too thin. She had thought about this from the first time she read a potions book, that the instructions on the textbook weren't exactly precise, and she knew that Snape himself had made various corrections to various potions during his years as a student, which meant they weren't necessarily the best way to do things, just the easiest for learning.
One had to think of the property of the ingredient, and which way it would best suit the potion. The onions, for example, it was the irritating gas that they expelled when cut that was important in the Boils Cure, because it reacted with water to create an acid, the same one that when in contact with the eyes made them burn. The acid was what the potion actually required, but the addition of onions was the best way to produce it.
Cutting the slices finely would result in less gas, which might be good when considering it was being done by children, but that severely diminished the acid generated, and in turn, the quality of the potion suffered.
So Gardenia made the executive decision to do it the way she thought it would best suit the potion, and chopped it like she would for a dish of steak with onions.
Making small modifications along the way, and writing down everything she did to compare it later, Gardenia led Annabel along with her, who seemed to have no problem in adjusting, mostly because she trusted the witch raised in a magical environment to know what she was doing.
There was only one ingredient missing for it to be complete, the porcupine quills, and Gardenia stopped Annabel before she could add them. "We need to take the cauldron off the fire first, otherwise it will cause the potion to melt the cauldron, and create a mess."
The book only had an asterisk next to the step saying to add the porcupine quills to alert of the paragraph on the bottom of the page, where it was explained that the cauldron needed to be taken out of the fire before the addition of the ingredient, which was ridiculous, it should be in big bold letters right at the top, considering the catastrophic consequences of messing it up. Whoever wrote these books was an idiot, she wouldn't be surprised if the author was a relative of Lockhart.
It seemed most of the other first-years caught the little asterisk, but two of her fellow Hufflepuffs did not, and soon their potion was all over their table and dripping to the floor.
"Dunderheads, the two of you!" Snape sneered, making them pale and look embarrassed. He vanished the potion and told them to head to the Hospital Wing since it had spilled on them and red angry boils were appearing in their arms and hands.
Gardenia felt sorry for them, Herbert was the same kid that had joined her and the twins on the boat, and he was already a scaredy-cat, Snape being mean to him didn't help. Malcolm, the other boy, glared at Snape as they were leaving, keeping a hand on Herbert's shoulder in reassurance.
The Potions Master made an enemy that day, she was sure of it.
As class neared its end, their potion had acquired a blue color and was emitting pink smoke, just the way it was supposed to.
Snape made rounds around the classroom, making snarky remarks about most, and even insulting a Ravenclaw by questioning their house placement if they couldn't even read instructions properly(who was this mean to kids? Damn but Snape made it hard to sympathize with him). As he approached their table, he stared at the potion, then at her and Annabel. "At least some of you badgers managed not to make fool of yourselves."
Was that supposed to be a compliment? Because if yes, he needed to practice doing that so it didn't double as an insult.
Studying in the library with some of her fellow fist years had become routine, Gardenia liked the atmosphere as Madam Pince made sure any troublemakers were thrown out, but unfortunately, that meat neither Fred nor George particularly liked the place. In the first few days they tried to join her but quickly gave up, preferring to catch up on their work in Gryffindor's common room, usually the day before the due date. That didn't suit Gardenia, so while she wasn't about to force them to do the same as her, she still frequented the library almost daily. She wanted to have a very good base when it came to her first-year subjects because if she started strong, she could more easily keep up when things became harder, and being good at magic was a necessary skill if she wanted to accomplish all she had planned.
Out of her housemates, Annabel and Caroline were definitely the most studious, but the latter had an aversion to Heidi, finding her way too loud for her tastes, and since Gardenia had gotten on well with the tomboyish girl, it was an unspoken thing that Caroline also didn't like Gardenia, if only for enabling Heidi. That left Annabel, who Gardenia had roped into having study sessions with her and Heidi, the calm manner of the muggleborn being a great help in reining in the more rambunctious badger.
"See you tomorrow Fawley." Looking up at hearing her name, Gardenia saw that it wasn't directed at her, but at a dark-haired boy sitting on a table not far from where she was.
That sparked a bulb in her mind, for there was only one other person that could possibly be named Fawley and was also attending Hogwarts at the moment. Excusing herself, she left her friends and went toward the table where the boy was sitting, stopping in front of him.
He didn't look up, in fact, it looked like he was purposely ignoring her, so Gardenia decided to initiate the conversation.
"Excuse me, is your last name Fawley?"
The boy sighed, not looking up from his textbook. "Yes, not that is any of your business firstie."
Gardenia furrowed her brows, who pissed in his coffee that morning?
"I think it is my business, since we're cousins." That got him to look up from his book, and lock eyes with her, two identical shades of hazel meeting. "Gardenia Fawley, pleased to finally meet you."
She extended her hand, a bright smile on her face, but the boy's face turned from a brief recognition to a frown, one that made her smile dim.
"Sawyer Fawley, not pleased to met you." He closed his book, staring at her with what she could only describe as contempt. "In fact, I'd appreciate it if you left, I know you badgers are all about the feel-good times, but some people like to actually study and get ahead in life." Gardenia's eyes had widened and her jaw dropped slightly, being very caught off guard by this reaction.
Sawyer made a shooing motion with his hands, and Gardenia scoffed. She turned around and went back to her table.
Her father didn't talk about his brother, it was a sore spot for him, but he had let it slip once that she had a cousin. Gardenia didn't even know his name before this, only that he was a year her older than her.
She had always wanted a sibling, someone to be there through thick and thin, that no matter how much you had petty squabbles with, at the end of the day, they were there for you. A cousin was no sibling, but it was the next best thing. Gardenia thought that maybe he would've wanted to get to know her, even if their parents weren't on speaking terms, but going by his attitude, the last thing Sawyer wanted to do was talk to her.
Sighing in defeat, she sat back at her own table, where Annabel and Heidi were looking at her with mirroring worried looks.
"What was that about?"
"That was my cousin."
Heidi frowned, looking at Gardenia with a questioning gaze. "Did you set his hair on fire at any point in your life?"
Chuckling, Gardenia shook her head. "No, our fathers aren't on speaking terms, so I never met him before, and apparently whatever grudge my uncle has passed down to him."
Annabel looked sympathetic, giving her a small smile. "I get that, my aunt left home to pursue her dream of acting and my grandmother stopped speaking to her." That being the first time the muggleborn had ever volunteered any information about herself, neither Heidi or Gardenia wanted to stop her. "My mother took my grandma's side, and even I didn't have a good opinion of my aunt."
Noticing the attentive looks she was being given, Annabel blushed. "I ramble sometimes, sorry."
The other two girls shook their heads vehemently, and Gardenia put a hand on one her arms. "No, don't apologize. I'm actually curious, what happened? Did they talk with her again?"
"Well, no, she committed suicide in Hollywood and we heard about in the news." That made Gardenia's eyes widen, and Heidi's jaw drop. "Oh, I'm sorry, I know it's depressing. My point is that both me and my mother only had grudges because of my grandmother, so don't take your cousin's rudeness personally, it's just his father's being projected."
Smiling at Annabel's try at consoling her, Gardenia nodded. "I know, it's just hard to do that when you're trying to be friendly and in response, you get a backhanded comment about your house and are dismissed like you're nothing."
"He insulted Hufflepuff?" Heidi was about to get up and most likely start a fight, which would definitely change some people's minds about their house being filled with pushovers but would not be very smart. Gardenia and Annabel simultaneously each held one of her arms, forcing the girl to sit back down.
"Basically half the school has insulted us at one point or another, you can't fight everyone that does that." Gardenia reasoned.
"I can try."
"I'm not letting you get expelled before you finish at least your fifth year and have some O.W.L.s to speak of."
"That's too long, can I fight at least one person before then?"
"Two maximum, and only after first year."
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Thank you for all the favorites and follows, and most especially, the reviews! It really makes me so happy to receive them, and they motivate me a lot, you can thank the lovely people who took their time to leave a comment for how this chapter only took a week, every time i receive an email telling me someone left a review, it makes me want to write even more.
In an unrelated note, I was considering finding a beta for this story, but my only experience with one was on a portuguese fanfiction site in my earlier days before ffn, so I have no clue how to go about getting one, the beta section of this site was too confusing for me, so if anyone has any tips as to how I should go about it, please either leave a comment or PM me about it!
Anyways, hope you guys liked this one, first-year will have quite a few more chapters before a jump to third year and the official start of the actual book plot happening in the background. I want to lay down the foundation for her relationships with everyone she will meet
To Carrow Alecto, who reviewed last chapter, firstly I want to thank you for taking the time to do so, it really motivates me so much. I did imagine this to be a light read, at least for the first dozen or so chapters, in part because it's one of the things that really caught my interest with the original series and its something I enjoy, a story getting progressively more serious. This will never become a dark fic, there will be more 'dark' topics so to speak, but nothing that exceeds the level the original work ended reaching.
To Minna Kivel, you guessed right! I totally get the language thing, my mother tongue is portuguese. I appreciate you taking the time to write a comment either way!
Thank you so much Evilhyperpixie13, akagami hime chan, Pamela Hutchins, bored411, SweetieCherrie and the Guest that reviewed since last chapter, i appreciate so much sz
