Chapter 5: School Daze
Cypress was anxious eating at a table without her brothers, because she was used to eating with them. They didn't have friends at the Muggle schools to eat with, they ate with the Dursleys, and they ate at the cafés and pub.
The thing was that they were always together; dealing with the Dursleys together, getting their letters together, going to Diagon Alley together, and a bunch of other stuff that they did together, like being born together.
Knowing that they weren't together kind of upset her.
She had seen Tristan and Harry walk into the Great Hall, wearing their robes with their house crest and different ties. They gave Cypress a one-armed hug, which was relieving. Tristan ended up having to go to the Hufflepuff because his head of house was passing out timetables.
Harry looked at Ron, "Should I save you a seat in class?"
Ron nodded, looking surprised and relieved, "Sure."
Harry gave Cypress another one-armed hug before he went to sit with Terry Boot, Michael Corner, Stephen Cornfoot, and Anthony Goldstein.
"Your timetable, Miss Potter," said Professor McGonagall.
"Thank you, Professor," replied Cypress. She looked at it, and had to do a triple-check because she never saw one like it before.
It didn't look at that complicated to figure out, with the days helpfully added to it.
Neville joined her at the table and smiled at her, almost in a shy way. Cypress smiled back at her. He was her friend after all.
She only reached out to him because she heard that they shared a birthday. Yeah it was a stupid reason to befriend someone, but how many people do you meet in your life that shared the same birthday?
Professor McGonagall passed Neville a timetable who took it.
"Oh, all the houses have classes together," Neville said, looking relieved.
"You too, huh?" asked Cypress. She ran her thumb along the beads on her beaded bracelet, telling herself that she and her brothers were always united. Of course she had seen her brothers wearing the bracelets, and they were still wearing them.
"What do you mean?" asked Neville.
"Doing everything together only to get separated from your twin?" asked Cypress. "I feel the same with my brothers."
"Yeah," replied Neville. "Although there are some stuff that Abigail and I don't do together. As our Gran says, there are some things that you have to do alone."
Cypress had to reluctantly agree. It was a good thought process. There were things that they had to do alone.
"I'm kind of excited for History of Magic," Cypress said looking at the timetable.
History of Magic was taught by a ghost, which made Cypress even more excited for the subject. Unfortunately Professor Binns opened his mouth and took the class roster in a monotone.
"Potter, Tristan," called Professor Binns.
"Present," replied Tristan.
"Are you and your siblings perhaps related to Fleamont Potter?" asked Professor Binns.
"Don't know," replied Harry. He was sitting next to Ron, like promised.
Cypress hoped not, because it'll be awkward being related to someone named Fleamont. She needed to look into her family history considering that they were wealthy in the wizarding world. How exactly does one acquire that much wealth?
They took notes, and Cypress was sure that she got Emeric and Uric mixed up. She wasn't sure if Emeric was evil or if he was the oddball.
Professor Flitwick was the Charms teacher and head of Ravenclaw. Cypress was surprised that Professor Flitwick was very small. He had to stand on a stack of books just to see over his desk.
Like Professor Binns, Professor Flitwick had taken the class register. He gave an excited squeak and toppled off his books when he reached Cypress's name.
He got back up on the books and sounded proud when he read Harry's name, because Harry was in his house of course, and he sounded a little excited when he read Tristan's name. Professor Flitwick had them took notes.
Professor McGonagall was different. When they walked in for her class, she said, "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," Professor McGonagall said. She changed her desk into a pig and back again, thoroughly shocking and delighting Cypress.
She couldn't wait to do that.
"You have a very long time to go for changing furniture into animals," said Professor McGonagall.
After taking notes, Professor McGonagall gave them a match. "You will turn this match into a needle."
It took a while for Cypress to make a small difference by turning one half of her match silver. Tristan made his match pointy by the end of the lesson. Harry and Hermione, however, were the only ones that turned their matches into needles. Professor McGonagall showed off the needles and gave the two a rare smile.
Cypress couldn't stand Defence Against the Dark Arts, because Quirrell's classroom smelt strongly of garlic, he wore a large purple turban that was a distraction.
When Faye Dunbar asked Quirrell how he got it, he said that he got it from a grateful African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. Cypress didn't believe the story because, due to the reading that Harry made her do, she never read anything about zombies existing.
Seamus Finnigan asked Quirrell how he got rid of the zombie, Quirrell turned pink and stammered something about how nice the weather is.
It also didn't help that the scar on her neck was itchy throughout the class.
At lunch, Cypress complained, "I can't stand that purple turban that Quirrell is wearing."
"It's stuffed full of garlic so Quirrell can be protected by the vampire he encountered in Romania," said one of the Weasley twins.
Neville moaned a little at that. Cypress looked at her timetable. Astrology was on Wednesday at midnight. They had double-potions on Friday, were they got Friday afternoons off.
On Friday, they went down to the basement where Potions took place.
Snape took the roster, but he paused on Cypress's name, before saying, "One of our – celebrities. Harry and Tristan Potter – our other two celebrities."
Harry stared blankly at Snape.
Cypress and Tristan glanced at each other.
It was fine with her, having an adult dislike her. She had put up with the Dursleys for ten years. She can handle seven with Professor Snape.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. 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 shimmering 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."
He seemed to glare at all of the students, seeming to focus on Cypress and her brothers. "You and a partner are to brew a simple cure for boils. Read the instructions carefully." He flicked a wand and instructions instantly appeared on the blackboard. Cypress partnered with Faye Dunbar, while Harry, of course, partnered up with Ron. Neville partnered up with Abigail.
Snape was walking around, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs.
"You're not supposed to crush the fangs like that," Snape had said to Tristan and Susan.
"Pay attention to how you stew the horned slugs. It's blackening on side," Snape had said to Harry and Ron.
"Your going to catch your hair on fire by having in front of you shoulder," Snape said to Cypress. "I doubt your vanity won't allow you to let you catch your hair on fire."
Cypress put her braid over her shoulder. "I'm not that vain, Professor." She rolled her eyes when the professor's back was turned.
Professor Snape continued criticising everyone except for Malfoy.
After class, Cypress waited for her brothers to appear so she can do some homework with them. It felt like it had been a while since she last spent time with them, even though they had classes together.
Harry put his arms around Cypress's and Tristan's shoulders. "Hey, have you two seen that guy in that hut by the edge of the Forbidden Forest?"
"What about him?" asked Tristan.
"I was thinking that we can visit him," replied Harry.
"Why?" asked Cypress.
Harry removed his arms from his siblings' shoulders. "It seems like he's lonely, you know? I kind of want to visit him. Give him some company. He seems friendly."
"I guess," Cypress mumbled.
Tristan shrugged, "Sure."
"We'll go round three, how does that sound?" asked Harry.
"Sounds good to me," replied Cypress.
"Yeah," said Tristan.
Harry took Cypress's arm, "Come on. We should go to the library. We could study together."
Cypress took Tristan's arm and allowed Harry to drag her and Tristan to the library.
At five til three, Harry led Cypress and Tristan across the grounds towards the hut.
Cypress didn't get why Harry wanted to talk to the groundskeeper.
They got to the hut and Harry knocked on the door.
There was a scrambling from inside and several booming barks startled Cypress so much, she stumbled backwards into Tristan, nearly knocking him to the ground.
"Back, Fang – back."
The door opened a crack and a big, hairy face appeared in the crack. The man seemed confused to see three first-years standing there. "Hang on. Back, Fang."
He let them in, struggling to keep a hold of the boarhound's collar. The man seemed confused, "Hello. What are yeh three doing here?"
"It was Harry's idea," said Tristan quickly.
"We thought we should visit you," Harry said. "This is our sister, Cypress, he's Tristan, and I'm Harry."
The man seemed to smile, "It's good to met you three, I'm Hagrid, Rebeus Hagrid. I haven't seen you three since yeh were babies."
"You knew us when we were babies?" asked Tristan.
"Took yeh from the house meself," said Hagrid. He looked sad at the reminder.
"Oh," replied Harry.
"Yeh want some tea?" asked Hagrid. "I wasn't expecting visitors."
"Sure," replied Cypress.
"Make yerself at home," said Hagrid. He let go of Fang's leash, who immediately knocked Harry over onto the nearest chair to lick his face. It looked big enough to fit both of Cypress's brothers on it.
"You said that you took us from our house?" Cypress asked.
"Yeah, took you three on Dumbledore's orders," said Hagrid.
"Oh," replied Tristan. "Did you know our parents?"
Hagrid seemed to smile. "I did. They were a good witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an' Girl at Hogwarts in their day! Yer dad was a big prankster and yer mum was a studious one."
He looked at Harry's blue-and-bronze tie. "I see that yeh take after her." He looked at Tristan's tie. "I'm still not entirely sure where yeh got the Hufflepuff from, though."
"What can I say? I'm one-of-a-kind," replied Tristan, getting a chuckle from Hagrid.
"How did yeh like yer classes?" asked Hagrid.
"It's good," said Cypress. "I'm more neutral on Potions though. I think Snape doesn't like us very much."
"I wouldn't take it personally," said Hagrid. "He hardly likes any of his students."
"He likes Malfoy," Tristan said, "He kept complimenting him for stupid reasons."
Hagrid shrugged, "Tell me, did yeh have a run-in with that ruddy cat, Mrs Norris?"
"No," said Cypress.
"Yes," replied Harry and Tristan.
"You first," said Harry looking at Tristan.
"Susan, Alex, and I were walking down the hallway to get to Charms early, but Peeves knocked over a suit of armour, and Filch came out of nowhere, accusing us of purposely knocking it. Apparently Mrs Norris 'told' Filch about it."
"Michael, Padma, and I got turned around. Stopped to ask the Grey Lady directions to a class, but Filch thought we were ditching, even though the bell didn't ring. The Grey Lady told him off," Harry explained, looking amused by it.
"I would like to introduce that cat to Fang. She follows me everywhere every time I go into the castle," said Hagrid a little darkly. "Filch puts her up to it."
Cypress was a little horrified. "I have a cat you know."
"Nothing wrong with yer cat," said Hagrid quickly. "It's just Mrs Norris." He looked at the two boys, "How 'bout yeh two? How do yeh like yer classes?"
It was on Thursday when they finally got their flying lessons. Of course the four houses had it together.
"How are the girls supposed to fly on a broomstick if we're wearing skirts?" Cypress asked Faye.
"The girls wear trousers for Quidditch," said Faye. "The trousers are a hideous brown colour. I reckon that you won't look good in them."
"But we're taking flying lessons," Cypress said.
Neville came over and looked at the notice board and moaned, "My gran wouldn't let me near a broom. Abigail refused to ride a broom because it wasn't fair."
It was most likely a good thing since Neville was sort of accident prone. He kept getting stuck in a trick staircase even though Cypress kept telling him about it. He was also forgetful, so Cypress took it upon herself to help Neville keep track of his things. It was strange that girls were allowed in the boys' dormitory, while the boys weren't allowed in girls' dormitories.
Ron had latched onto her, mostly because he was friends with Harry. So she and he usually walked to the Great Hall together, along with Neville and Faye.
She tried to talk to Hermione a bit, but Hermione was usually busy with homework or reading. A few times Hermione talked to Cypress (which was mostly about homework), but the most that Cypress would say was that they were acquaintances, not friends. Hermione was a nice girl, but she had this habit of being a know-it-all, which was annoying, but Neville liked Hermione, so Cypress felt like she had to like Hermione too.
Malfoy and Parkinson bragged about flying; as if Cypress was suppose to be impressed or insulted, even though she wasn't on either.
"You three have never flown on a broom before, have you?" Parkinson told Cypress one day. Cypress was minding her own business, reading Quidditch Through the Ages because Harry recommended it to her. She will admit that Quidditch sounded like fun. She should try out in her second year.
"I bet you're going to fall off and break your neck," Parkinson sneered.
Cypress tried to ignore her. She had loads of practise by ignoring Dudley and his 'witty' insults that really weren't any funny or witty.
"Should I get the Slytherins to hold a mattress under you when you fall off?" asked Pansy.
"If you think you're insulting me, it's not working, because I don't value your opinion," Cypress replied. "Nice try though."
Parkinson stayed silent on that, thankfully.
When it was time for flying lessons, they hurried across the grounds to where the broomsticks were lined up.
Neville seemed anxious, even though Abigail smiled at him and said that it was okay and there was nothing to be worried about.
Madam Hooch arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes.
"Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up," Madam Hooch ordered.
Cypress looked down at her broom, which some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.
"Stick out your right hand over your broom and say 'Up!'"
Cypress did as she was told and was surprised that hers jumped right into her hand at once. Harry's and Tristan's were one of the few that did. Hermione's simply rolled over and Ron's jumped up and hit him in the face. Neville's stayed put, but it took two more times for Abigail's broom to actually jump into her hand.
Madam Hooch went down the rows, showing them how to mount their brooms without sliding off. Cypress was glad that she wore dark coloured leggings.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle – three – two—"
Neville shot off like a bat flying out of its cave.
"Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch shouted.
Cypress noticed that Neville dropped his Remembrall, which was a gift from his grandmother. She picked it up and pocketed it.
Harry shot after Neville on his broom.
"Harry! You idiot!" Cypress shouted. "Get back down before I ground you!"
"You can't ground your brother," Hermione pointed out.
"Yes, yes I can, watch this," said Cypress taking off.
It was interesting feeling, flying on a broom. Harry and Neville seemed like they were racing each other. Cypress caught up and managed to grab the tail of Neville's broom, halting him as he aimed for the wall of the castle.
Harry took Neville's arm and together they managed to turn the broom round and they headed back to the grounds.
When they landed Abigail ran over to check on Neville, who was turning red.
"You two could have seriously injured yourselves. You could have broken your neck," Tristan ranted at his siblings, "You're lucky that you didn't fall off. You could have died and left me alone to deal with the Dursleys. Do you want me to deal with them alone? I'd rather get disemboweled—"
"We get it, Reese," Harry interrupted before Tristan can finish his rant.
"I agree with what Mr Potter said," said Madam Hooch, "You two could've gotten seriously hurt by your stunt."
"Sorry Madam Hooch," said Cypress.
"They went after me. I could've gotten seriously hurt if they didn't come after me," said Neville.
Abigail nodded.
"Well, since you're not hurt and I feel like you two should be punished, I give you two a detention," said Madam Hooch.
"That's fine with me," said Harry.
"Yeah, me too," said Cypress.
"All right, back to the grounds," said Madam Hooch. "We still have a lesson to get through. Mr Longbottom, I think you'll do better with both feet on the ground."
Neville nodded and Abiail decided that it would better if she sat on the ground with Neville. Cypress handed Neville the Remembrall.
Neville smiled, "Thanks, Cypress."
Cypress smiled, "You're welcome."