Chapter 3 - The First Semester
When the train finally arrived at Hogwarts, Gwen shoved her books back in her trunk. Her brothers led her out of the compartment and directed her to Hagrid, the groundskeeper who would be taking her up to Hogwarts. She climbed into an empty boat right away and waited to go.
"Excuse me?" a timid voice asked, "But can we sit there?" A trembling hand pointed at the boat Gwen was sitting in.
"Sure," she said. A small, pale girl stepped into the boat, followed by a boy who looked even older than Gwen herself.
"Hi," the boy said pleasantly. He was a strong contrast to the shaking little girl next to him. "My name's Emmeris Trevin, and that's my little sister Morgan. We just moved to England from the United States. I used to go to Menlo Park there, but my parents wanted me closer to them. Are you a transfer student too?"
"Um, no actually. It's kind of a long story," Gwen said. "What about your sister?"
"Morgan's just a first year, so she's kind of nervous."
Gwen leaned over to the girl. "Don't worry Morgan, I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm new here, but my brothers went here last year, and they really loved it."
The girl barely nodded her acknowledgement of Gwen. Just before the giant Hagrid was about to lead the boats across the lake, and voice hollered "Wait!" A tall thin girl with dark auburn hair ran towards their boat and lept in.
"Hi!" she chirped. "Whew! I thought I was going to miss the boat and have to swim across." She grinned at the others. "Who're you?"
"I'm Emmeris Trevin, and that," he said pointing at this sister, "is my sister Morgan. I'm a transfer student from Menlo Park, and Morgan's a first year."
Gwen found that everyone was looking at her. "Oh, I'm Gwenevere Haberdash. I'm new here too."
"I'm new here too. My name's Bethy - well I guess I should just go by Beth now - Dumbledore," she said.
*****
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall, anxiously awaiting dinner.
"I hope this doesn't take too long," Ron grumbled. "I'm hungry."
At that cue, Professor McGonagall marched in, leading the first years. Three kids, too tall to be eleven, walked in with them.
"Hey guys," she whispered. "That's the girl from the train."
Professor McGonagall called through the roll, but Harry and Ron didn't pay much attention until she called out "Dumbledore, Elizabeth." Instantly, they and everyone else in the Great Hall leaned forward and stared as a rather tall, thin girl with dark auburn hair pulled into two fat pigtails walked over to the stool and pulled the hat over her head. Almost instantly the hat screamed "Gryffindor!" making her the first one. She walked down the steps to the Gryffindor table, and only then did the eyes stop following her.
She sat down near the front of the table, still watching the Sorting, so Ron, Harry and Hermione did the same. The next surprise came when that girl from the train, "Haberdash, Gwenyvere," was called. She was clearly much older than the other first years, but she walked over and put the hat on like the rest of them. She sat there for quite a while before the hat finally called out "Gryffindor!"
After Gwenyvere, they waited patiently the rest of the students were Sorted. Harry didn't really remember much of it, except that an especially nervous looking blonde girl named "Trevin, Morgan" became a Gryffindor, much to the Slytherin's delight. Finally only two students remained on the stage. One was a tall, solid boy with blond hair. The other was a girl, rather tall and thin with black hair pulled back in a straight braid. She looked very familiar.
"Welcome!" Professor Dumbledore said. "This year, Hogwarts is pleased to welcome two transfer students. They come all the way from Menlo Park School of Magic in America. I hope that everyone tries make them feel at home here. Now," he said, pulling a piece of parchment from his robes, "I'm going to call their names to be sorted." He looked at the parchment and said, "Dumbledore, Victoria."
More whispers filled the hall and everyone stared at her. She marched to the stool with perfect posture, but Harry could see that her cheeks were flaming. She pulled the hat over her head, which shouted "Gryffindor!"
Once "Trevin, Emmeris" had also become a Gryffindor, everyone settled down to eat. At one end of the table, sort of near Harry, Ron and Hermione, Beth, Morgan, Vicky, Emmeris and Gwen were sitting together.
"Well Gwen," Emmeris said, "I'm glad to see at least one friendly face in my house."
"What about me?" Vicky asked from his other side. "Don't I count?"
He grinned. "But you're not friendly."
"Mean," she said. "Maybe I shouldn't help you with your History of Magic homework this year."
"Oh Vic," he said, falling to his knees melodramatically with his hands in a fist as if he were begging, "what will I ever do without you?"
She shoved him playfully. "Oh you," she said. "Get up and eat your dinner."
As Emmeris picked himself up and dug into his dinner, Vicky looked around him. "So what's your story Gwen?"
"Huh? What'd you mean?" Gwen asked, looking up from yet another book.
"Did you transfer?"
"No."
"Well are you a first year, or a - how old are you?"
"I'm fifteen."
"Or are you going to be a fifth year?"
"Professor Dumbledore told me that I'll be doing a lot of independent study this year to catch up to the fifth years. At the end of the year, I'll be taking the O.W.L.s with the rest of you if he and I think I'm up to it."
"Do you think you can handle it? That's a lot of work," Emmeris said.
"Yeah," Gwen said. "I know it'll be hard, but I'm willing to do it."
"We'll help you, right Vicky?"
"I'm not sure you'll want Emmeris' idea of 'help,' but I'll help you."
"Thanks," Gwen said, and she didn't return to her book for the rest of the evening.
*****
The following month went by in the whirl of activity for Gwen. She began the year in all first year classes, and at night her friends Vicky and Emmeris and her brothers Teddy and Alexander helped her get ahead. Mainly it was Vicky and Emmeris who tutored her. For some reason that Gwen didn't completely understand, everyone was so worked up in the Inter-House Competition that they didn't think she should get help from her brothers, who were in different houses.
In fact, Harry and Ron came up to her one day to talk to her about it during lunch. Earlier that morning she had gotten in trouble with Professor Snape and had lost a total of twenty-five points from Gryffindor. All together, she'd lost quite a few points during that first month.
"Hey Gwen," Ron said, "can we talk to you?"
"Sure," Gwen said, looking up from her copy of "Quidditch through the Ages."
"It's just that we were wondering why you never seemed to mind when you lose points."
"Oh. Should I?" she asked.
"Well yes," Ron exclaimed. "The Inter-House Competition is a really big deal."
"What Ron's trying to say," Hermione cut is, "is that it might be good if you would get into the spirit more around here. You know, attend Quidditch matches, try not to loose points from your House, that sort of stuff."
"Look guy," Gwen said, "I know that this is important to you, but it really isn't to me. Ever since I was little, all I ever wanted to do was attend Hogwarts. And now that I'm finally here, I find it ridiculous to spend all my time worrying about Snape taking ten points from Gryffindor."
*****
The other kids at Hogwarts definitely thought that Gwen was a weird one. She was older than any other first year, she studied non-stop, and she didn't care about the House Cup or getting points taken away.
Besides Vicky, Emmeris, her brothers, Beth and Morgan, Gwen really didn't have any other friends. She did like to spend time with Hagrid though.
It was Vicky who'd first introduced her to Hagrid. Friday afternoon, when they didn't have any classes, Vicky and Beth took her down to Hagrid's cottage for tea, taking Emmeris, Morgan, Teddy and Alexander with them.
"You'll love Hagrid," Beth assured her.
"But I have to study," Gwen protested weakly, knowing that she should study but not wanting to on her first free afternoon.
"You can afford to take a little time off," Vicky assured her. "I've never seen anyone study as much as you do."
"Yeah, you know what they say: All work and no play makes Gwen a dull girl," Emmeris said. He was excited about meeting Hagrid for tea; he took his Care for Magical Creatures class, and said Hagrid was "really cool."
"Are you sure we can come down here?" Morgan asked. "Won't he get mad?"
"Nah," Vicky said. "He likes company. Beth and I used to come down here all the time before I went to Menlo Park, and she got sent to our Uncle Apollo's house."
"Why did you get sent to your uncle's house, Beth?" Morgan asked.
"He convinced Mom that Hogwarts was too unsafe for a kid as mischevious as me," Beth said, grinning as she usually did. The girl was, as her father put it, a cross between a whirlwind and a dynamo.
"Teddy and I went to see Hagrid a couple times last year," Alexander piped up. "He's nice. He cheered me up after I got two detentions from Snape."
"I need cheering up," Beth said with a sigh. "I got in so much trouble this morning."
"What'd you do this time Beth?" her sister asked.
"Nothing. Well, nothing that bad. I mean, under the circumstances - "
"She kicked Mrs. Norris down the stairs," Morgan interrupted, knowing that her friend would spend hours telling a story if allowed to.
The boys and Gwen laughed.
"She kept hissing at me," Beth protested. "And she spent the whole week following me around, just waiting for me to screw up."
"Mom and Dad are going to be so mad at you," Vicky warned, but even she was fighting laughter.
"I know, but it was worth it," she said stubbornly.
Tea with Hagrid was wonderful. He asked them all about their classes and their families. And even though Gwen nearly broke a tooth on his rock cakes, she enjoyed the break from her studies. She began going down to see him often, sometimes even by herself.
*****
At the end of the first month, Gwen was called into Professor Dumbledore's office for a meeting.
"Well Miss Haberdash," Dumbledore began, "we are all very impressed by your progress so far this year. I think I speak for everyone hear when I say that you are one of the most disciplined and intelligent students who has even gone to this school. How are you doing?"
"Fine sir," Gwen answered.
"How are you keeping up with such a heavy studyload? My daughters tell me that you never seem to sleep or take a break."
"I'm fine sir, really. Some of my friends are helping me catch up with the fifth years."
"Miss Haberdash, on the basis of your hard work, we believe that you'll be ready to take your O.W.L.s at the end of this year with the other students your age, instead of waiting until next year. Do you want to do that?"
Gwen nodded.
"It means a lot of work, but if you do well on them, you'll be a sixth year next year."
"I think I can do it."
"Good, that's settled. If you need any additional help, you can always consult one of us."
"All right. Thank you. May I go back to dinner now?"
"Certainly."
Gwen ran down the stairs and back into the Great Hall. Dinner was almost over, but she managed to sit down by her friends and grab some dinner.
"So where were you?" Emmeris asked. "You almost missed all of dinner."
Gwen swallowed the mouthful of food she'd just crammed in. "I was talking to Professor Dumbledore."
"Were you in trouble?" Vicky asked teasingly.
"Remember," Beth said, leaning across the table. "Deny, deny, deny!"
Gwen smiled. She adored her friends. They were the most eclectic and wonderful group of kids she'd ever known. After spending her childhood as a social leper due to her lack of magical talent, it was a relief to have friends. "No. He just wanted to let me know that he's letting me take my O.W.L.s at the end of the year."
"What a great honor," Emmeris remarked.
"It'll be nice to have a normal year next year if I do well enough," Gwen said. "No more constant studying. Maybe I'll finally be able to attend a Quidditch match or learn to ride a broom."
"You've never ridden a broom?" Vicky asked incredulously. "Beth and I've been riding brooms since we could walk."
Gwen shrugged. "I never got to before," she reminded them. "Everyone thought I was a Squib." After much deliberation, she'd decided to tell them everything that had happened last summer.
"I guess," Emmeris said. "Do you want us to teach you? Vicky and I have great brooms."
"That's okay. I really should study. I've barely gotten through Intermediate Transfiguration."
"Oh god," Emmeris said.
*****
On Saturday afternoon of that week, Gwen was sitting outside, reading Hogwarts, A History from the library.
The Founders' Chamber
According to legend, when the four founders built Hogwarts,
they included a special chamber of power. In there they each
put a sacred artifact that would protect the school and bind
the houses together. Goderic Gryffindor placed his Sword of
Light. Helga Hufflepuff placed her Scales of Justice. Rowena
Ravenclaw added her Orb of Knowledge. Salazar Slytherin
contributed his Wand of Power.
Gryffindor's Sword of Light was gold and could cut through any
substance, including dark spells. Hufflepuff's Scales of
Justice were made of ebony and could always tell the truth.
Ravenclaw's Orb of Knowledge was sphere of saphire in which
all truths could be seen. Slytherin's Wand of Power was made
of crystal and could either draw power from someone else or
amplify one's own natural talent.
Now, however, there is no evidence of the Founder's Chamber
or their treasures. If they once did exist, they probably
passed into other families or were lost forever.
Trembling, Gwen pulled her wand out of her backpack and stared at it. It certainly fit the description of Slytherin's Wand of Power. "But that's impossible," she thought. "How could a legendary artifact get in my possession?"
*****
Gwen tried to put the passage out of her mind, but it stayed with her throughout the next week and the weeks after that. When she would study for Transfiguration, she would think about it. When she would study for Potions, she would think about. And the same went for every class, especially History of Magic.
The school year pushed on. Rather than getting easier, the classes got tougher. Gwen was determined to catch up to the rest of her class by midterm break, and that left little time for socializing.
A few weeks before Christmas Break, Professor Dumbledore called Gwen into his office once more and told her that beginning after vacation she would be able to attend classes with her peers, although she would still have a lot of catch up to do. That started her thinking about the break. She and her brothers should go home to their father, but she personally would much rather stay there with Vicky and Beth. Emmeris mentioned that he and his sister would be staying too since their parents were going to visit their grandmother in France. Gwen didn't know what to do. But an owl solved this dilemma in a very unusual way.
One morning, Gwen was, as usual, eating and studying at the same time at breakfast. The owls flew in, but she didn't even bother looking up. She never got mail. So she was quite surprised when a brown owl flew near her and dropped an official looking letter into her breakfast. Surprised, she put down her book and opened it.
"Dear Ms. Haberdash," it read.
"I regret to inform you that the other night your father, Thomas Haberdash, was found dead in his home. He seemed to have been the victim of the Killing Curse. There was nothing that could have been done.
"As stated in his will, you and your brothers are now owners of his estate. Enclosed are official documents recognizing you as such. Once again, I am sorry for your loss.
"Sincerely,
William Davis, Attorney"
Gwen was stunned. She had never thought that her father could ever die. But mostly she felt - numb. And cold. She was guilty for not crying or feeling more remorse, but her father had never been an integral part of her life. He'd always just been that distant male presence who had worshipped her mother. Up until that past summer that is. Then he'd shone himself to be a loving father. But other than that, well, she really didn't have any other great father-daughter memories of him. Quietly, she stood, letting the letter fall to the table. She walked over to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables and pulled her brothers aside. Trying to avoid excess attention, she told them the news.
When the train finally arrived at Hogwarts, Gwen shoved her books back in her trunk. Her brothers led her out of the compartment and directed her to Hagrid, the groundskeeper who would be taking her up to Hogwarts. She climbed into an empty boat right away and waited to go.
"Excuse me?" a timid voice asked, "But can we sit there?" A trembling hand pointed at the boat Gwen was sitting in.
"Sure," she said. A small, pale girl stepped into the boat, followed by a boy who looked even older than Gwen herself.
"Hi," the boy said pleasantly. He was a strong contrast to the shaking little girl next to him. "My name's Emmeris Trevin, and that's my little sister Morgan. We just moved to England from the United States. I used to go to Menlo Park there, but my parents wanted me closer to them. Are you a transfer student too?"
"Um, no actually. It's kind of a long story," Gwen said. "What about your sister?"
"Morgan's just a first year, so she's kind of nervous."
Gwen leaned over to the girl. "Don't worry Morgan, I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm new here, but my brothers went here last year, and they really loved it."
The girl barely nodded her acknowledgement of Gwen. Just before the giant Hagrid was about to lead the boats across the lake, and voice hollered "Wait!" A tall thin girl with dark auburn hair ran towards their boat and lept in.
"Hi!" she chirped. "Whew! I thought I was going to miss the boat and have to swim across." She grinned at the others. "Who're you?"
"I'm Emmeris Trevin, and that," he said pointing at this sister, "is my sister Morgan. I'm a transfer student from Menlo Park, and Morgan's a first year."
Gwen found that everyone was looking at her. "Oh, I'm Gwenevere Haberdash. I'm new here too."
"I'm new here too. My name's Bethy - well I guess I should just go by Beth now - Dumbledore," she said.
*****
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall, anxiously awaiting dinner.
"I hope this doesn't take too long," Ron grumbled. "I'm hungry."
At that cue, Professor McGonagall marched in, leading the first years. Three kids, too tall to be eleven, walked in with them.
"Hey guys," she whispered. "That's the girl from the train."
Professor McGonagall called through the roll, but Harry and Ron didn't pay much attention until she called out "Dumbledore, Elizabeth." Instantly, they and everyone else in the Great Hall leaned forward and stared as a rather tall, thin girl with dark auburn hair pulled into two fat pigtails walked over to the stool and pulled the hat over her head. Almost instantly the hat screamed "Gryffindor!" making her the first one. She walked down the steps to the Gryffindor table, and only then did the eyes stop following her.
She sat down near the front of the table, still watching the Sorting, so Ron, Harry and Hermione did the same. The next surprise came when that girl from the train, "Haberdash, Gwenyvere," was called. She was clearly much older than the other first years, but she walked over and put the hat on like the rest of them. She sat there for quite a while before the hat finally called out "Gryffindor!"
After Gwenyvere, they waited patiently the rest of the students were Sorted. Harry didn't really remember much of it, except that an especially nervous looking blonde girl named "Trevin, Morgan" became a Gryffindor, much to the Slytherin's delight. Finally only two students remained on the stage. One was a tall, solid boy with blond hair. The other was a girl, rather tall and thin with black hair pulled back in a straight braid. She looked very familiar.
"Welcome!" Professor Dumbledore said. "This year, Hogwarts is pleased to welcome two transfer students. They come all the way from Menlo Park School of Magic in America. I hope that everyone tries make them feel at home here. Now," he said, pulling a piece of parchment from his robes, "I'm going to call their names to be sorted." He looked at the parchment and said, "Dumbledore, Victoria."
More whispers filled the hall and everyone stared at her. She marched to the stool with perfect posture, but Harry could see that her cheeks were flaming. She pulled the hat over her head, which shouted "Gryffindor!"
Once "Trevin, Emmeris" had also become a Gryffindor, everyone settled down to eat. At one end of the table, sort of near Harry, Ron and Hermione, Beth, Morgan, Vicky, Emmeris and Gwen were sitting together.
"Well Gwen," Emmeris said, "I'm glad to see at least one friendly face in my house."
"What about me?" Vicky asked from his other side. "Don't I count?"
He grinned. "But you're not friendly."
"Mean," she said. "Maybe I shouldn't help you with your History of Magic homework this year."
"Oh Vic," he said, falling to his knees melodramatically with his hands in a fist as if he were begging, "what will I ever do without you?"
She shoved him playfully. "Oh you," she said. "Get up and eat your dinner."
As Emmeris picked himself up and dug into his dinner, Vicky looked around him. "So what's your story Gwen?"
"Huh? What'd you mean?" Gwen asked, looking up from yet another book.
"Did you transfer?"
"No."
"Well are you a first year, or a - how old are you?"
"I'm fifteen."
"Or are you going to be a fifth year?"
"Professor Dumbledore told me that I'll be doing a lot of independent study this year to catch up to the fifth years. At the end of the year, I'll be taking the O.W.L.s with the rest of you if he and I think I'm up to it."
"Do you think you can handle it? That's a lot of work," Emmeris said.
"Yeah," Gwen said. "I know it'll be hard, but I'm willing to do it."
"We'll help you, right Vicky?"
"I'm not sure you'll want Emmeris' idea of 'help,' but I'll help you."
"Thanks," Gwen said, and she didn't return to her book for the rest of the evening.
*****
The following month went by in the whirl of activity for Gwen. She began the year in all first year classes, and at night her friends Vicky and Emmeris and her brothers Teddy and Alexander helped her get ahead. Mainly it was Vicky and Emmeris who tutored her. For some reason that Gwen didn't completely understand, everyone was so worked up in the Inter-House Competition that they didn't think she should get help from her brothers, who were in different houses.
In fact, Harry and Ron came up to her one day to talk to her about it during lunch. Earlier that morning she had gotten in trouble with Professor Snape and had lost a total of twenty-five points from Gryffindor. All together, she'd lost quite a few points during that first month.
"Hey Gwen," Ron said, "can we talk to you?"
"Sure," Gwen said, looking up from her copy of "Quidditch through the Ages."
"It's just that we were wondering why you never seemed to mind when you lose points."
"Oh. Should I?" she asked.
"Well yes," Ron exclaimed. "The Inter-House Competition is a really big deal."
"What Ron's trying to say," Hermione cut is, "is that it might be good if you would get into the spirit more around here. You know, attend Quidditch matches, try not to loose points from your House, that sort of stuff."
"Look guy," Gwen said, "I know that this is important to you, but it really isn't to me. Ever since I was little, all I ever wanted to do was attend Hogwarts. And now that I'm finally here, I find it ridiculous to spend all my time worrying about Snape taking ten points from Gryffindor."
*****
The other kids at Hogwarts definitely thought that Gwen was a weird one. She was older than any other first year, she studied non-stop, and she didn't care about the House Cup or getting points taken away.
Besides Vicky, Emmeris, her brothers, Beth and Morgan, Gwen really didn't have any other friends. She did like to spend time with Hagrid though.
It was Vicky who'd first introduced her to Hagrid. Friday afternoon, when they didn't have any classes, Vicky and Beth took her down to Hagrid's cottage for tea, taking Emmeris, Morgan, Teddy and Alexander with them.
"You'll love Hagrid," Beth assured her.
"But I have to study," Gwen protested weakly, knowing that she should study but not wanting to on her first free afternoon.
"You can afford to take a little time off," Vicky assured her. "I've never seen anyone study as much as you do."
"Yeah, you know what they say: All work and no play makes Gwen a dull girl," Emmeris said. He was excited about meeting Hagrid for tea; he took his Care for Magical Creatures class, and said Hagrid was "really cool."
"Are you sure we can come down here?" Morgan asked. "Won't he get mad?"
"Nah," Vicky said. "He likes company. Beth and I used to come down here all the time before I went to Menlo Park, and she got sent to our Uncle Apollo's house."
"Why did you get sent to your uncle's house, Beth?" Morgan asked.
"He convinced Mom that Hogwarts was too unsafe for a kid as mischevious as me," Beth said, grinning as she usually did. The girl was, as her father put it, a cross between a whirlwind and a dynamo.
"Teddy and I went to see Hagrid a couple times last year," Alexander piped up. "He's nice. He cheered me up after I got two detentions from Snape."
"I need cheering up," Beth said with a sigh. "I got in so much trouble this morning."
"What'd you do this time Beth?" her sister asked.
"Nothing. Well, nothing that bad. I mean, under the circumstances - "
"She kicked Mrs. Norris down the stairs," Morgan interrupted, knowing that her friend would spend hours telling a story if allowed to.
The boys and Gwen laughed.
"She kept hissing at me," Beth protested. "And she spent the whole week following me around, just waiting for me to screw up."
"Mom and Dad are going to be so mad at you," Vicky warned, but even she was fighting laughter.
"I know, but it was worth it," she said stubbornly.
Tea with Hagrid was wonderful. He asked them all about their classes and their families. And even though Gwen nearly broke a tooth on his rock cakes, she enjoyed the break from her studies. She began going down to see him often, sometimes even by herself.
*****
At the end of the first month, Gwen was called into Professor Dumbledore's office for a meeting.
"Well Miss Haberdash," Dumbledore began, "we are all very impressed by your progress so far this year. I think I speak for everyone hear when I say that you are one of the most disciplined and intelligent students who has even gone to this school. How are you doing?"
"Fine sir," Gwen answered.
"How are you keeping up with such a heavy studyload? My daughters tell me that you never seem to sleep or take a break."
"I'm fine sir, really. Some of my friends are helping me catch up with the fifth years."
"Miss Haberdash, on the basis of your hard work, we believe that you'll be ready to take your O.W.L.s at the end of this year with the other students your age, instead of waiting until next year. Do you want to do that?"
Gwen nodded.
"It means a lot of work, but if you do well on them, you'll be a sixth year next year."
"I think I can do it."
"Good, that's settled. If you need any additional help, you can always consult one of us."
"All right. Thank you. May I go back to dinner now?"
"Certainly."
Gwen ran down the stairs and back into the Great Hall. Dinner was almost over, but she managed to sit down by her friends and grab some dinner.
"So where were you?" Emmeris asked. "You almost missed all of dinner."
Gwen swallowed the mouthful of food she'd just crammed in. "I was talking to Professor Dumbledore."
"Were you in trouble?" Vicky asked teasingly.
"Remember," Beth said, leaning across the table. "Deny, deny, deny!"
Gwen smiled. She adored her friends. They were the most eclectic and wonderful group of kids she'd ever known. After spending her childhood as a social leper due to her lack of magical talent, it was a relief to have friends. "No. He just wanted to let me know that he's letting me take my O.W.L.s at the end of the year."
"What a great honor," Emmeris remarked.
"It'll be nice to have a normal year next year if I do well enough," Gwen said. "No more constant studying. Maybe I'll finally be able to attend a Quidditch match or learn to ride a broom."
"You've never ridden a broom?" Vicky asked incredulously. "Beth and I've been riding brooms since we could walk."
Gwen shrugged. "I never got to before," she reminded them. "Everyone thought I was a Squib." After much deliberation, she'd decided to tell them everything that had happened last summer.
"I guess," Emmeris said. "Do you want us to teach you? Vicky and I have great brooms."
"That's okay. I really should study. I've barely gotten through Intermediate Transfiguration."
"Oh god," Emmeris said.
*****
On Saturday afternoon of that week, Gwen was sitting outside, reading Hogwarts, A History from the library.
The Founders' Chamber
According to legend, when the four founders built Hogwarts,
they included a special chamber of power. In there they each
put a sacred artifact that would protect the school and bind
the houses together. Goderic Gryffindor placed his Sword of
Light. Helga Hufflepuff placed her Scales of Justice. Rowena
Ravenclaw added her Orb of Knowledge. Salazar Slytherin
contributed his Wand of Power.
Gryffindor's Sword of Light was gold and could cut through any
substance, including dark spells. Hufflepuff's Scales of
Justice were made of ebony and could always tell the truth.
Ravenclaw's Orb of Knowledge was sphere of saphire in which
all truths could be seen. Slytherin's Wand of Power was made
of crystal and could either draw power from someone else or
amplify one's own natural talent.
Now, however, there is no evidence of the Founder's Chamber
or their treasures. If they once did exist, they probably
passed into other families or were lost forever.
Trembling, Gwen pulled her wand out of her backpack and stared at it. It certainly fit the description of Slytherin's Wand of Power. "But that's impossible," she thought. "How could a legendary artifact get in my possession?"
*****
Gwen tried to put the passage out of her mind, but it stayed with her throughout the next week and the weeks after that. When she would study for Transfiguration, she would think about it. When she would study for Potions, she would think about. And the same went for every class, especially History of Magic.
The school year pushed on. Rather than getting easier, the classes got tougher. Gwen was determined to catch up to the rest of her class by midterm break, and that left little time for socializing.
A few weeks before Christmas Break, Professor Dumbledore called Gwen into his office once more and told her that beginning after vacation she would be able to attend classes with her peers, although she would still have a lot of catch up to do. That started her thinking about the break. She and her brothers should go home to their father, but she personally would much rather stay there with Vicky and Beth. Emmeris mentioned that he and his sister would be staying too since their parents were going to visit their grandmother in France. Gwen didn't know what to do. But an owl solved this dilemma in a very unusual way.
One morning, Gwen was, as usual, eating and studying at the same time at breakfast. The owls flew in, but she didn't even bother looking up. She never got mail. So she was quite surprised when a brown owl flew near her and dropped an official looking letter into her breakfast. Surprised, she put down her book and opened it.
"Dear Ms. Haberdash," it read.
"I regret to inform you that the other night your father, Thomas Haberdash, was found dead in his home. He seemed to have been the victim of the Killing Curse. There was nothing that could have been done.
"As stated in his will, you and your brothers are now owners of his estate. Enclosed are official documents recognizing you as such. Once again, I am sorry for your loss.
"Sincerely,
William Davis, Attorney"
Gwen was stunned. She had never thought that her father could ever die. But mostly she felt - numb. And cold. She was guilty for not crying or feeling more remorse, but her father had never been an integral part of her life. He'd always just been that distant male presence who had worshipped her mother. Up until that past summer that is. Then he'd shone himself to be a loving father. But other than that, well, she really didn't have any other great father-daughter memories of him. Quietly, she stood, letting the letter fall to the table. She walked over to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables and pulled her brothers aside. Trying to avoid excess attention, she told them the news.