Chapter Eight – The First Day
Damien awoke slowly, feeling the sunshine on his face. He awoke to find that all of the other beds were empty. After a moment of thought, he finally realized that he was late for breakfast. He quickly got out of bed, showered, clothed himself and ran down the stairs and out of the common room. He ran so fast he didn't notice a few pictures on the walls yelling at him to slow down.
When he finally got to the Great Hall, he noticed that some of the people were leaving. Don't tell me I missed breakfast on my first day, he thought. He went over to where Neville was sitting and smacked him on the back. Neville, who had been chewing something, promptly spit it out on the table.
"Are you mad?" Neville said, turning to him.
"Sorry, buddy, but looks like somebody didn't tell me when to get up or try to wake me," Damien said. "Did you know that I was up there?" Neville gave him a sarcastic look.
"Of course I did," Neville said and pulled a plate filled with breakfast foods over to Damien. Damien's mouth dropped open. "I didn't know what you liked so…" Damien dug into all of it quickly. "…I got a little bit of everything." Damien stopped for a moment.
"Thanks, Neville," Damien said. "Sorry I doubted you." Neville gave him a weak smile.
"Well, we only have 15 minutes to get to History of Magic. It's our first class." Damien picked up a few items and got up from his seat.
"Let's get going, then," Damien said, as Neville got up and led him out the Great Hall. After going up 2 staircases and turning down 4 hallways, they got to the class with a minute or so to spare. The ghost that taught it was writing something on the board as they came in and sat. As the class started, Professor Binns introduced himself and started off talking about the 1827 Hippogriff Trials. In a few minutes, Damien was asleep. Neville noticed him and nudged him awake.
"What was that for?" Damien whispered as he awakened.
"You shouldn't fall asleep in class," Neville said back.
"But it's boring…"
"Everybody knows that. But you still can't sleep." Damien rolled his eyes and rested his head on the desk in front of him. If he was going to be staying awake in these type classes, then he must be crazy. Damien sighed and tried to stay awake for the rest of the class.
At the end of class, they both got up and out of that classroom, Damien feeling drowsy. When they got to their next class, Damien's sleepy mood went away really quickly. It was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. She had a stern face about her, as if she had always had, and started class exactly on the dot of the time.
"Welcome to Transfiguration, I am Professor McGonagall. I hope all of you have reviewed your studies over the holidays because we will start today's lesson with the basics of last year. Could everyone please pick up the plate in front of you?" Everyone did so and showed her. "Very good. Now set them down. I'd like for you to transfigure this plate into a golden goblet. If you remember the spell and turn the plate into a goblet correctly, you will receive an A. I will look at the goblets you make to make sure you make it completely golden. You may begin, call me when you are ready for me to deliberate."
Damien sat in his chair for a moment looking at the plate in front of him. Okay, now what was that spell again, Damien asked himself. Think, think, think. Now he wished that he hadn't been asleep so much in his old classes. Then he saw a girl raise her hand a few people down. It was that girl…Hermione, Hermione Granger. McGonagall came and checked her goblet over and gave her an approving look. Hermione smiled broadly and sat up in her chair, her hands folded in front of her.
Was she always this smart? The assignment must have just started a moment ago and she already had finished. But now he realized that he was procrastinating. He had to focus on his own goblet now. What was that spell? Then, it hit him. Obrevious Transfite. He took up his wand and pointed it at the plate. But then her remembered it had to be gold. What was that word for the color gold? It was…um…Sebre. Now, he pointed his wand again and cleared his throat.
"Obrevious Transfite Sebre," Damien said and the plate started to shake a bit. In a moment, it started to transfigure. The plate started to "melt" away and the goblet was starting to form from it. Damien tried to keep concentrated on the plate turning into a goblet and nothing else. He was almost distracted by the girl sitting next to him, but he kept his ground. He didn't want the thing to be half-plate, half-goblet.
After a moment, the plate was all the way gone and the goblet was just about to finish forming. Suddenly, Neville's half-goblet tipped over and distracted Damien, making him move out of the way.
"Neville! You made me lose my concentration," Damien told him. But before Damien could say anything else, there was a yelp from the girl in from of him. They both turned to see that her brown long hair had been turned to a metallic gold. "Oh, no!" Damien just realized that while he had been distracted, his wand had turned to her head and the gold that was supposed to be on his goblet had transferred to her head.
McGonagall gasped and turned to Damien with a scowl. He had never seen a meaner looking face before. She came over to him and looked down to the girl with a much nicer face. She mumbled some words and the metallic gold vanished from her hair. The girl thanked her before McGonagall turned back to Damien. Damien kept his head looking downward so he didn't have to look at her face as she spoke.
"Five points from Gryffindor for this mishap. I hope it will not happen again, Mr. Finch," McGonagall said.
"Yes, Professor McGonagall," Damien said and she went back over to her desk. "Nice going, Neville." Damien nudged him. Neville shrugged and turned back to his goblet. Great. He actually was starting off the school year with a bang. Hopefully, things would get better…but they probably would get worse first.
*****
After Transfiguration, they had Arithmancy with Ravenclaws, but Hermione had Ancient Runes, since she had already passed this class last year. It was pretty boring, but Harry found need to stay awake anyway. Ron, who was actually taking notes, was half-asleep already.
"Do you get any of this stuff?" Harry asked him.
"Well, some of it, I do. It just numbers, you know," Ron said, and yawned. "But there are a lot of numbers…" Harry looked around the room to see that Damien was sitting over with Neville near the front of the room.
"I wonder why Neville and him are so friendly," Harry said a little bit too loudly.
"Mr. Potter!" said Professor Vector from the front of the room. "Since you like talking so much in my room, why don't you come up here and tell the class about these trans-linear equations." It seemed like the whole room had turned to him.
"No, thank you, Professor," Harry said.
"Then please stop talking and start taking notes," Vector said.
"Yes, Professor," Harry said and took out a quill and piece of parchment. Vector turned back around and started speaking again.
"What were you saying?" Ron whispered to him. "Neville and who?"
"Neville and Damien," Harry whispered back. Ron craned his neck to see where they were sitting then looked back at Harry.
"What's wrong with it? We always sit next to each other or Hermione," Ron said.
"But how fast can you be with friends."
"We became friends on the Hogwarts Express," Ron said, "Maybe that's how they met. And why are you so into Damien? What's so wrong with him?" Harry shrugged. He didn't know really. There was just something about him. He didn't know what was about him, but he knew that he had a feeling that Damien wasn't normal. Maybe it was just a false premonition. He hadn't done anything that really put him as a suspect to do anything wrong.
He tried to let it go by the end of class, but it still nagged at him. They got up from their seats and exited the class together, finding Hermione down the hall getting out of her class.
"How was Arithmancy?" Hermione asked them.
"Don't ask." Harry said as they went down the hall and headed for Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.
*****
Damien went down the hall and into the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, which was rapidly filling up. He and Neville found some seats near the middle of the room and took them. A few minutes after everyone had come in, a man in long purple robes went up to the front desk and sat casually on top of the front of it.
"Hello everyone," said the man, "I am Professor Sebastian Linquist, and I am your Defence teacher, if you haven't already noticed. Well, let's get started.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts is a very complicated subject, but it can work out for the best if you are in a particularly bad situation. Now, I know most teachers would give you complicated work to do and be off with you, but let's just say I'm not that type. Everyone put away your books and quills and parchment, but not your wands, and move your desks to the walls. Quickly please." Everyone put away their things, and moved their desks, leaving the middle of the room clear. "Very good, now if you were sitting on the side" pointing to the right "please stand on that wall, and if you were sitting on this side, move to that wall."
Once they had all been situated, they looked thoroughly confused. Damien and Neville were both on the left side of the room, looking at each other, eyebrows raised. What could we be doing that involved the room being clear, thought Damien.
"Right, then. Today, unlike other days, we will be playing a game, and yes, I did say a game. The winner will receive 20 house points and the praise of the classroom. Now, then, Longbottom, Denrege, move up to near the center of the room. Leave some space between you." Neville and a boy from the other side of the room moved up. "Now in this game, you will only use one spell. Encolore. This spell will cast a random color at your opponent. If you are hit with the color your opponent casts at you, then you lose and will move to the front of the room. And don't worry, these colors will come off." A girl on the right side of the room raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Granger."
"How will this help us? Are we going to shoot colors at our attacker if we are attacked?"
"No, no. This is only a fun spell, although I'd like to see the attacker's face if you do use it. This is just to show me how well and fast you cast, to see how much I need to teach you. Now, let's begin, on my mark. 1, 2, 3, GO!"
Both Neville and the boy cast Encolore at each other. Neville dodged, while the other boy was hit with a bright red color. Linquist smiled.
"Very good, Mr. Longbottom. Please return to your side." Neville nodded and returned to Damien's side, Damien reassuring him. "And Mr. Denegre to the front of the room." The boy nodded and walked to the front, looking rather defeated. "Next, Finch and… Finnigan."
Damien walked up a bit to see a boy of his age walk up too. The boy smirked at him and he chuckled. "Ready, GO!"
"Encolore!" Damien said just as the other boy did, Damien quickly moved to the right of the spell and shouted it again, seeing the other boy dodge also. The boy, who hadn't expected this, was hit with a dark green color.
"Nicely done, Mr. Finch." Damien returned to the right side and gave Neville thumbs up. All through the class, Linquist called on random people to go against each other. Ron Weasley was easily hit with a aqua color, but Harry Potter dodged a pinkish color to hit his opponent with a dark yellow. Hermione hadn't moved quick enough and was hit with a light orange. Neville and Damien made flew pretty good through their matches, although Neville was hit with a purple near the final rounds.
At last near the end, at the front of the class was mostly people covered in all the colors of the rainbow, cheering on the people that were on their side. On the right were Damien and a girl from Hufflepuff, her last name was Abbott. On the left were Harry and a boy with the last name of Finch-Fletchey.
"It is now down to the last 3 matches. Next, Finch and Potter." Damien and Harry both moved up. "Ready." Both of them readied their wands. "GO!"
They both said Encolore and moved around saying it again and again. Damien and Harry moved every which way shouting the same spell at each other until…
"Oof!" Damien said as he hit the floor. He had tripped over his robes and had fallen. Harry easily said Encolore and hit Damien with a dark purple color. Damien got up in defeat and nodded his head at Harry. Harry nodded at him and went back to the left side
Damien did feel pretty stupid for falling like he did but he didn't think anymore of it as the next match between Finch-Fletchey and Abbot began. They did also have a minute long match but Abbott won splating light green on the boy.
"Now for the house points it's Potter and Abbott." Harry moved up to Abbott and smiled, which she smiled back. "Now. Ready?" Both of their smiles faded and they nodded. "GO!"
They both immediately shouted out the words and dodged quickly saying the words over again. There were lots of quick movements during this match although Harry seemed to be moving slower than the girl. Suddenly, as luck would have it, the girl had made a wild cast and had missed Harry completely, giving him the chance to get at her.
"Encolore!" he shouted, pointing his wand at her. She gasped in horror and was hit with a greenish-blue color. Linquist clapped his hands, as did everyone that watched, and smiled at Harry.
"Well done, Mr. Potter, very good work. 20 house points to Gryffindor for your great efforts. And 10 house points to Hufflepuff for yours, Ms. Abbott. All of you did well." Linquist looked at a clock on the wall that only had one hand and made a short gasp. "Well, can we put all of our desks back as it's almost time for the class to end. Oh, and yes, about the color. Trolocre!" With a wave of his wand, all of the color dissapeared from their robes. All of the desks were put back and the room was filled with chatter until the class ended. On the way out, Harry stopped Damien for a second. Damien told Neville to go along and turned to Harry.
"I just wanted to say that you were pretty good," Harry said to him. Damien nodded.
"Thanks, but why did you stop me like that?" Damien asked. Harry looked at him for a moment.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean stop me like this. You could have told me this at the dinner table."
"Oh, I don't know. Well, I'll see ya."
"Yeah, see ya." Damien watched as Harry exited the room. For some reason, Damien felt a surge that Harry didn't trust him. But why? Why couldn't he trust him? Damien brushed the idea off, and left the room.
*****
Damien sat at the dinner table, eating his food, occasionally glancing at Harry. The vibe from earlier hadn't worn off and it had caused him to think differently about him. Not so much that he didn't trust him.
"How long have you known Harry, Neville?" Damien suddenly said to him. Neville looked at him, bewildered.
"Five years, I guess," Neville said. " Why?"
"No reason. Just, what has he been like?" Neville looked at him again.
"He's been a good friend, very brave. What are you getting at?" Damien shrugged.
"Nothing. Just wanted to know." Neville didn't seem to be conviced.
"Are you sure?" You seem pretty focused on Harry." Damien shrugged again and returned to eating. After a moment Neville also returned to his meal. Damien didn't want to offend Neville, he seemed to be almost the only real friend he has at this new school. He didn't want to lose him.
*****
Harry eerily glanced at Damien and Neville then back at his plate, on which he played with his food. His thoughts of Damien had still not changed. There was just something about him. Ron glanced at him playing with his food.
"All right there, Harry?" Ron said, looking over his shoulder. Harry blinked for a moment and looked over at Ron.
"Yeah, just first day jitters wearing off." Ron leaned back for a moment.
"First day jitters? Harry, we're sixth year. Are you sure you're all right?" Harry shrugged.
"Yeah." Ron patted him on the back.
"Well, you'd better be. We've got Potions with Snape tomorrow. And we've got to be on our toes."
"Right, who knows what tricks Snape has up his sleeves?" Harry looked up and down the Gryffindor table. "Where's Hermione?"
"In the Library," Ron said, rolling his eyes. Harry's mouth opened wide.
"But it's only the first day. We hardly have any homework."
"I know. But Hermione seems to think it's five weeks in, talking about the 5 feet long parchment essay we have to do for History of Magic." Harry rolled his eyes then thought of something. It made him chuckle unintentionally. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." Harry said, straightening his face.
"What is it, Harry?" Harry looked up at him, a scowl on his face.
"Okay." Harry paused for a moment then got closer to Ron. "You don't like Hermione do you?" Ron reared back in disgust.
"What?? Hermione and Me? How could you think of such slander? Hermione and I are nothing alike! And it's going to stay that way!" Ron said straight into Harry's face. He then noticed that he had been speaking a bit too loudly as a few girls over at the Ravenclaw table next to them broke out in giggles. "Oh, shut up." He said to them, leaving the table and exiting the room.
Harry wondered why Ron had yelled at him in such a way. It was such a simple question. Although he did have the feeling that Ron was being defensive. He let the thought go and continued eating.
By the time he had finished, a half-hour had passed and most people were leaving the Great Hall. He went with the crowd and left the large room and went up a few staircases until he got to the picture of the Fat Lady. "Password?" she asked.
"Hogswash," said a voice be hind him. It had been Hermione. The portrait swayed to the side and Hermione followed him into the common room. "Sorry for not attending dinner, I had much to look for in the Library." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Ron stormed off near the end."
"Really. About what?"
"You wouldn't want to know." Harry tried to go up the Boy's Dormitory stairs but Hermione stopped him.
"About what?" Hermione said with vigor. Harry shrugged. He looked around them, seeing no one listening, and got closer to Hermione.
"I just asked him if he liked you." Hermione burst out as if she was a Howler.
"What??? Ron and I?? Are you mad? Where would get an idea….argh! Just shut up Harry," Hermione said and stormed off like Ron had. Harry was just as surprised. It was like they both really hated each other. Harry quickly passed it from his mind and ran up the Boys Dormitory stairs, trying to keep it from his mind.
*****
Damien woke up in the middle of the night, sitting up in his four-poster. He rubbed his head for a moment thinking of what had just woke him up as it did. He could hear snoring from all the other four-posters as he looked out of his. He got out of his bed and went to a nearby window.
He looked outside of it to see the still night lurking down below in the schoolyard. It was nothing that he didn't expect but he almost felt like he was being watched. Not to his knowledge, he was.
Feeling safer than he had been, he crept back into his four-poster and laid in his bed. He closed his eyes sleepily and almost instantly went back to sleep.
*****
From a faraway place, Damien indeed was being watched. His every move being saw and his every breath being recorded. Not by just anyone, but Lord Voldemort himself. Voldemort watched as Damien went into a soundless slumber. To him, this was all according to plan. Just then Wormtail entered the room.
"My lord, how goes young Mr. Finch? Is he living up to his title?" Wormtail inquired. Voldemort looked over to him.
"In time he will," Voldemort replied. Wormtail gave no reply, just an inaudible grunt.
"How much time do we have, my Lord?" Wormtail asked. Voldemort glared at Wormtail for a moment.
"As much time needed," Voldemort said in a low voice. Wormtail cowered at the tone of his voice. He always wondered about him nowadays. Wormtail seemed to be getting bolder than he usually was, and Voldemort didn't like it. He figured that he would be extra hard on him from now on. "I need no more questions from you, now I'd like to be alone."
"Yes, my Lord." With that, Wormtail exited the room, closing the door behind him. Not only was Damien being watched by Voldemort, but Wormtail had a few tricks up his sleeve that, in time, would show Voldemort how truly loyal he was compared the that young boy.
