Disclaimer: "J.K. Rowling" as an anagram is: "jowl kling" in Trollish, which translates to "this isn't mine."

Chapter 8 - Transfiguration and Potions

Lily's eyes were shut, the warmth of the blankets she was wrapped in leaving her in a sleep-induced state between wakefulness and sleepiness. Slowly, she became aware of a poking at her left forearm. She brushed it away, then groggily opened her eyes.

"Whasit?" she asked, mumbling.

A girl with curly hair was standing too close to her bed, grinning and rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Class starts in four hours! Aren't you excited? Can't you wait to get there?"

Lily groaned, then sat straight up in bed. "Where am I?"

The girl laughed. A pillow sailed towards her from somewhere else in the room, and promptly hit her in the head.

"Ow!" she said, rubbing her hair and making it stick up with static electricity. "What did you do that for?"

Lily laughed. At least someone else was trying to sleep, too.

"What time is it?" she asked sleepily.

The girl consulted a silver watch. "It is precisely 5:04 am. Class starts in exactly 3 hours and 56 minutes. You better hurry if you want to get there on time."

"Would you all just shut it and let me SLEEP!" another girl called from behind a curtain.

"No, I won't," the first girl said, coming over to the girl's bed and pulling open the curtains.

"Light! Get it away, get it away!" she shrieked, covering her face with her hands.

"As much as I love all of you yelling and screaming, it IS only 5 am, and other people might want to still sleep," Lily pointed out, getting out of bed and heading towards the bathroom. "If anyone asks, none of this noise was my fault."

"And what was your name, in case someone asks?" the first girl questioned. "I know I came over here on the boat with you, and you said it last night, but with so many people I don't know I forgot."

"I'm Lily, and you are?"

"I'm Elisa, but you can call me Elie. I've been waiting to come to Hogwarts forever, and now the day is finally here. I mean, technically, the day was yesterday, when we got on the train, but today we start proper lessons, and then-"

"Elie?" the girl who had originally shouted for sleep said. "Could you do us all a favor and calm down?"

"Calm down? Calm down? This is the happiest day of my life! I'm going to be learning magic, Mary! Aren't you excited?"

"A little, but I'm also tired. We'll see if you're so excited to be learning magic after you get homework tonight."

"Homework? Shouldn't they call it dormwork?" Elie snickered at her own joke.

At this, Lily rolled her eyes and went to the bathroom to prepare for her first day.

*****

Three and a half hours later, Elie, Mary, Lily, and two other girls in their dorm who had slept through the noise, Caroline and Anna, were standing in the Great Hall. All five peered down at identical schedules.

"Does anyone know where the Transfigurations classroom is?" Elie asked. "We only have half an hour to get there, and I don't want to be late for my first class on my first, well, technically my second, day at Hogwarts."

"I don't know, but perhaps if we start walking up the main staircase, we'll find it," Caroline said.

Lily shrugged, and the rest of the group murmured their approval of the plan.

"Where to now?" Anna, who was slightly pudgy, asked.

Lily sighed, casting her eyes around and trying to rationalize her thoughts. "Well, Transfiguration is the art of changing one thing into another, right? So the classroom can't be down the main corridor, because then it would be where we expect it. And if it's the art of changing, it should be where we least expect it. I say we go down the stairs to the dungeons."

"That made total sense, in a very weird sort of way," Caroline said, still rubbing sleep from her eyes.

So the girls turned around and went down the staircase they had just climbed.

"Uh oh," Mary said. "Does anyone know where we are? This isn't the entryway anymore."

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do? We might be late, and then we'd get points taken off on our very first day, then everyone in Gryffindor will hate us, and then we'll never get the House Cup, and then-"

"Would you please SHUT IT for one second, Elie?" Mary said through gritted teeth. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"It's just so frustrating. We're at a MAGIC SCHOOL. Why isn't there a magical solution to this problem?" Lily said, exasperated.

"But there is a magical solution to your problem, fellow Gryffindors." The prefect who had led them all to Gryffindor Tower last night was leaning up against a wall, smiling. He winked at Lily's amazement.

"The spell is actually a charm. You simply utter the incantation, Point Me, and you're directed the right way. But since you haven't taken Charms yet, since this is the first day, I'll have to lead you. Now, where is your first class?"

"It's Transfiguration, but we don't even know where we are, and we'll never get there in time, and then we'll be punished, and I've never had a detention at Hogwarts before," Elie wailed.

The boy smiled reassuringly at Elie, and Lily felt a slight stab of jealousy. Then she noticed that Elie's teeth were yellow and crooked as Elie smiled back at him. How had Lily not noticed that before? Probably because I was half-asleep, Lily thought to herself.

"So which class is your favorite?" Caroline simpered at his elbow.

"I really enjoy Transfiguration, but Charms is an okay class, too. I think all the Gryffindors agree that Potions is the worst, though."

"Why?" Lily asked before flashing a huge grin.

"Because Potions is taught by the most evil, foul man ever in existence, Professor-"

"Ah, the rest of my Gryffindors. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Now, you should get to your class before Professor Maleficus takes points off. We have to beat Slytherin in the House Cup this year, it's been six years since we've won, as he reminded me last night."

"I'll try, Professor."

"Thank you, Jones. Now off to class." Professor McGonagall turned to her first-years. "I trust you will not be late again, now that you know the way. Now follow me to class." The Gryffindors followed without comment, though Elie was wringing her hands from nervousness.

When the girls arrived in the classroom, they quickly took seats. Anna and Caroline sat together, as did Elie and Mary. This left the only open seat next to a boy with light brown hair and dark shadows under his eyes.

Lily smiled at him as she sat down. He smiled back, weakly, then turned his attention to Professor McGonagall.

"In front of you all there is a match. You will attempt to turn this into a needle. The theory is in your book, on pages 2-26. You will write an essay explaining the theory on one roll of parchment, due next Friday, but for now, you will attempt to practice the theory."

Lily exchanged a look with the boy. He looked pale at the thought of so much homework. Lily brushed aside her inhibitions and pulled her wand out of her pocket, concentrating on silver.

By the end of class, Lily's match was still a match. Only one boy in the class, James Potter, had done anything to his match at all. The ends of his match turned pointy and silvery. Professor McGonagall had smiled at him and given 5 points to Gryffindor.

*****

After lunch Lily followed her dormmates and the boys she had taken Transfiguration with to the dungeons. Lily shuddered at the walls, which were covered in spiderwebs.

"What's the matter, Lily? Scared of spiders?" Elie asked, plucking one from its web and placing it in Lily's hair.

"Eww! Get it off! Get it off!" Lily said, clawing frantically at the top of her head.

"What's the matter, is the ickle Muggleborn afraid of spiders? Do they not have them in the big, bad Muggle world?" Severus cooed behind Lily.

"You-You leave her alone!" James said protectively, curling his hands into fists. "She can't help what she is!"

"Excuse me! I can't help what I am? Would you like to know what I am, Mr. Potter?" Lily asked, in a threatening tone of voice. "I'm a female who practices magic, the same as Caroline, Anna, Elie, Mary, or Narcissa over there."

Narcissa's face turned red, and her eyes narrowed.

"I'm not the same as you, Evans. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be," Narcissa spat, brushing past Lily into the classroom.

"If you'll excuse me, the hallway's air is getting polluted," Severus said, sweeping past the group of stunned Gryffindors.

Lily forced herself to breathe slowly, in and out. "Are you okay, Lily?" Elie asked. Elie had turned red and had crescent moons in her palms from where she had pressed her nails against them.

"I'm fine, Elie, thanks," Lily said.

"If that git ever threatens anyone because they're Muggleborn, I'll-I'll feed him to the wolves!" Sirius said, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"We better go before we're late," Anna said, looking at her watch.

The rest of the group nodded, then ventured bravely forward through the doorway.

"Ah, the Gryffindors. As you're each a minute late, I believe it will be ten points from Gryffindor, a point apiece for each minute you're all late. It will be twenty points if you all don't find seats now," the professor said when Sirius opened his mouth to explain.

The Gryffindors quickly took seats on the empty side of the room. This time, Elie sat with Lily and Mary sat with another Gryffindor boy.

"I am Professor Maleficus. I assure you the rumors you have heard about me are true. As our latest inductees to Hogwarts, let's see if you're all as thick as the lot I usually have to work with. I can teach you to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death-if you aren't as dunderheaded as your predecessors. Now, let's see. You there!" Here Maleficus paused, pointing at a round, frightened boy sitting with Remus.

"Tell me, what's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

The boy swallowed nervously. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"What is your name, boy?"

The boy gulped.

"I haven't swollen your vocal chords, now speak!"

The boy opened his mouth again and gave a pitiful squeak. "I'm Pet-Peter Pettigrew, sir," the boy said, a definite tremor in his voice.

"Ah, the boy speaks! Let him be known as the Boy-Who-Spoke! Now, Mr. Pettigrew, since you have proven your vocal chords are in order, please, enlighten us. What's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

The room was silent. Lily distinguished seventeen different people breathing before she stopped counting.

"Well, Mr. Pettigrew, I'm waiting for an answer."

"I-I don't know, sir."

"Perhaps if you read your books before you came to class, you would! As punishment for Mr. Pettigrew's ignorance, you will all write an essay, on five rolls of parchment, on the uses of monkshood and wolfsbane-if there is indeed a difference. This essay will be due in two weeks time."

Sirius Black stood up, furious. "But it's our first day, sir. Peter didn't know any better. He's trying, he really is, but he's nervous. Can't you see how nervous he is? Why don't you just leave him alone?"

"Ten points for speaking out of turn, Mr.--Black, is it? And you will also be serving detention with me, tonight, unless you already have a detention lined up."

"Now, who KNOWS the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane? Mr. Snape, how about you?"

"Monkswood and wolfsbane are from the same plant, which also is called aconite."

"Very good, Mr. Snape, very good indeed. Forty points to Slytherin."

Snape smiled superiorly at the Gryffindors as Sirius curled his fingers into fists.

"Now, who can tell me the properties of this plant?" Maleficus asked, as the Gryffindors settled in their chairs for a very long lesson.

*****

After dinner, Lily sat in the common room, books spread all around her.

"You cursed us, Elie. This is your fault. You HAD to say the homework wouldn't be that difficult," Lily moaned.

"I said no such thing. I said the DORMWORK wouldn't be difficult. There's a difference."

"My mistake."

The pair worked in silence for about five minutes, scribbling facts about transfiguring matches to needles for their essays.

"What's it like, Lily?" Elie asked suddenly.

"What's what like? Actually getting transfiguration right? I don't know, I'll let you know by my excited hollering when I accomplish it."

"No, what's being here, as a Muggleborn like?"

"It's-different, I guess. Everyone else has grown up with this totally different interpretation of the world. It's just hard to adjust to this being reality and all that other stuff being unimportant."

Elie nodded. "I couldn't imagine being Muggleborn. Not knowing about Hogwarts, or magic-I think I'd go crazy!"

"You wouldn't go crazy, you just wouldn't know that it existed, and when they told you it did, you'd just think it was a big joke."

"Is that what you did?"

Lily smiled at the memory. "Yes, but I really didn't know better. I'm glad I came here, though."

"I'm glad you're here, too. Now come on, let's leave all this dormwork and start a game of Exploding Snap. You think anyone else will play?"

Lily smiled, setting her books aside. "I'm almost sure of it."

*****

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, and to everyone who put me on their favorites list! I'm in the double digits for reviews. Yay! Your reviews really do help me to get this out faster, as I started writing this chapter today. Would you rather have shorter, faster updates, or longer between updates and longer story per chapter? Let me know in a review or email. 5 points to anyone who spots the Latin translation of some of these words.