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Chapter 8 - The First Day

Morning came and Steven and his four friends quickly got ready and met up with the other Ravenclaw first years in the common room. Penelope came out of the girls hallway and led the first years back to the Great Hall. On the way there, Steven met back up with Megan and Padma. "How was your first night's sleep, Steven," asked Padma.

"Alright," he said, "and yours?"

"Just fine."

"How many first year girls are there, Megan?" Steven asked.

"There are two others, besides Padma and myself. Mandy Brocklehurst and Lisa ... Lisa ... oh, what's her last name, Padma?"

"Turpin. Lisa Turpin. How about boys, Steven?"

"Well, there's myself and then Terry Boots, Victor Brent, and Frederick Glick."

By the time the three of them has discussed the dynamics of the Ravenclaw first years, Penelope had successfully guided them to the Great Hall by only getting lost once. She had another prefect with red hair guide her in the correct direction. "Now, after breakfast, you all head back to the common room for Introduction to Magical Studies with Professor Flitwick, okay?" she said before she sat down by the other prefect.

The first years acknowledged this and went on about breakfast. On one side of the table sat the four boys, on the other sat the four girls. They all introduced themselves and made small talk until everyone started leaving breakfast for their first class. "Well, I suppose we should head back to the common room," said Megan.

The eight of them were able to get back to the common room without getting lost, which seemed weird because the prefect couldn't accomplish it. They entered the common room expecting to find Professor Flitwick waiting on them, but he wasn't there. "I'm going to get some parchment and my quill to take notes," said Victor.

The eight of them left the common room to get supplies and when they returned they did find the professor waiting on them. "Welcome to your first class at Hogwarts," he started. "It's my pleasure to be able to instruct eight fine students. Now, let's get to it. This course is called Introduction to Magical Studies. What we'll be doing in this class is making sure you are progressing through your other classes as you should be. You can usually work on homework in here with my help. But for the first few weeks we'll be getting you used to Hogwarts and its professors."

As Flitwick said this he pulled out his wand, "Now, then, I am Professor Flitwick. Head of Ravenclaw house and Charms instructor." He flicked his wand in the direction of the corner and out floated a picture. "This is our Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore..." and Flitwick went on and on introducing them to the various professors by paintings of them.

Megan and Victor took multiple notes, but the rest of them just seemed to sit there and absorb the information. "Well, that's all for today," Flitwick concluded in his high voice. "Next week we'll take a trip around the school grounds to familiarize you with them. This week, however, I will guide you to your classrooms the first time and you should be able to find them the next."

Flitwick dismissed them to lunch and then he led them to his own classroom a bit before class time. "This is my classroom where you will be taking Charms." He showed them all the nooks and crannies where he kept his various instructional tools and said, "If you ever need a place to study or what-not throughout the day, feel free to stop by. I'll usually be here or in my office if you need me."

At this point, Slytherin first years started to arrive, guided by their head of house Professor Snape. "Hello Flitwick."

"Ah, Severus. I have that Charm you were wondering about," the tiny professor said as he hurried over to his cluttered desk, picked up a piece of parchment, and handed it to Snape.

"Thank you," he said to his fellow professor then spoke up to the Slytherins. "This is Professor Flitwick, your Charms professor. Show him the same respect you would show me."

He then squatted down to the small professor but Steven couldn't hear what he said. Snape then left and the class began. As Flitwick went over the basics to Charms, Steven looked over the Slytherin crowd. There were twelve of them. Most of them looked rather melancholy, or just plain outright mad. But there was one rather pretty girl seated on the end who caught Steven's eye. She didn't look mad, or even glum; she even had a smile on her face. She was paying absolute attention to the professor and didn't even cast a glance when Steven "accidentally" dropped his wand.

"Now then," squeaked Flitwick, "I would like everyone to prepare for your first test." Steven's heart dropped. It wasn't that he wasn't paying attention, it's just that he hadn't caught what could possibly be a test. "Everyone pull out your wands so I may take notice of them. And yes, I was joking. This is not a test."

Flitwick went over the Slytherin wands first, ending with the girl that Steven had been trying to get to pay attention to him. "Ah, very nice wand, Brittney. Looks to be very good for Charms. Now, over to the Ravenclaws." And Flitwick gave a look at each of his house's wands. He stopped with Steven, "Oh my, Mr. Pront, what a wonderful wand," he said, taking Steven's wand. "This looks to be an excellent Charms wand, with a bit of good Transfiguration power too, I might add. I look forward to teaching you."

As the light outside began to diminish, the professor called the class to a close and allowed the students to return to the Great Hall for dinner. Trailing closely behind the last Slytherin, Steven kept an eye out for Brittney. Frederick walked beside him. Steven asked, "I thought all Slytherins were supposed to be mean, cruel, and downright mad?"

"Well," Frederick said, "most of them are. Did you see that one boy, Malfoy? Seems like he could kill Flitwick just by looking at him."

"What about the girl on the end? She didn't seem to be angry."

"Oh, I saw her. Very pretty. Maybe she was sorted into Slytherin because she wants to prove herself," Frederick suggested.

That sorta slowed Steven. It answered his question of why she was different.