The Unnamed Story
Chapter Five
Tiff woke up at six the next morning just as Athena was waking. They pulled on some muggle clothes and went to get their uniforms. When they came back Keety, Aislin and Phe were stirring. They pulled on their uniforms and robes. Tiff felt like one of the crowd as they walked down to the common room where the older students were sitting together chatting. All five of them followed some third years to the Great Hall to avoid getting lost, and they sat together and helped themselves to breakfast. The sky was a whitish grey with some blue poking through. A.J. was busily handing out schedules. When Tiff finally got her's, she studied it closely.
Monday:8:30- Charms (With Gryfindor)
9:30- Defense Against the Dark Arts (With Slytherin)
11:00- Transfiguration (With Hufflepuff)
12:00- Lunch Break
1:00- Potions (With Slytherin)
2:00- History Of Magic (Just Ravenclaw)
She stopped reading after she got through Monday. "This seems so fun!" she exclaimed. She grabbed some sausages and toast and began to eat.
"I hear the charms teacher is fantastic! Lucky thing it's our first class," said Aislin, fiddling with her "First Year" badge. After breakfast they wandered the halls trying to find the Charms class. They bumped into Tawny, who was staring into a map. "Hey Tawny!" said Tiff. Tawny shoved the map in her pocket.
"Hey guys!" she exclaimed, "Hey, listen. Filch is coming. Let's get out of here before he strikes. I'm pretty sure the class is on this floor somewhere." They ran around searching for a moment before they found it. They sat down in a group towards the front. Once the whole class had assembled, Professor Flitwick went to the front of the class. "Hello!" he said enthusiastically, "I am Professor Flitwick, your charms teacher. Today we'll be working on some simple wand movements. You must know those before you do your charms." He went on about the swish and flick technique. If any other teacher had been teaching this it would have been painfully boring, but Flitwick managed to get enthusiasm from everyone. Athena seemed very excited. She did the wand movements along with him.
By the end of the class it seemed Athena knew every wand movement by heart. Their homework was to practice the movements. Athena did them in the hall as they walked to their next class- Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Filch can get mad about spells," said Athena in the middle of her swish and flick practice, "But he can't get mad about wand technique!" She then laughed.
When they walked into the class some of the Slytherins were already assembled. Tiff had forgotten they were having class with the Slytherins. She sat in the front of the class next to Keety. On her other side was a girl with long brown hair and strangely enough- mismatched eyes! One was blue and the other was brown. She smiled warmly at Tiff.
"Hey," she whispered, "I'm Trixcy," Tiff grinned.
"I'm Tiff," she whispered back. The teacher smiled at the class. He was a tall man with crazy jet-black hair that didn't seem to cooperate. He also had glasses. He strangely resembled Athena as well. Under his untidy hair on his forehead, barely visible, was a lightning bolt scar. Their teacher was Harry Potter.
"Hello, class," he said, smiling, "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Potter. Today we will be learning about grindylows." He went on about the nature of the grindylow and what it did. He told them that they would be having a test on the creatures in a week or so. Apparently there was a lot more to know about the strange water demon then Tiff would have imagined and she was kept busy the whole time busily taking notes. When the class finally ended he assigned a paragraph about grindylows.
They then left and struggled to find the Transfiguration classroom. When they finally got there the Hufflepuffs and first year Ravenclaws who were boys were already assembled. "Hello," said a firm looking woman Tiff recognized as Professor McGonagall, "I am Professor McGonagall. Before we begin I would like to say one thing. 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." They began the class, struggling to turn a match into a needle. Hestia came over to sit with them.
"What class do you have after lunch?" she asked. Athena glanced over at her in a bored fashion. She had already turned her match into a needle about five times. She did it on her first try. "We have potions," said Tiff, reading the schedule,
"Potions with the Slytherins." Hestia shuddered. "You are so lucky so lucky that your in Ravenclaw. The teacher there and the students hate Gryfindors because they're enemies with Slytherin, and they don't like us Hufflepuffs either. They think we're a bunch of sissies. But Ravenclaw- the Slytherins figure it's the only house good enough to even compete with them and Snape doesn't mind them as long as they don't answer his questions before the Slytherins do." Tiff nodded. Athena successfully changed her match into a needle for the umpteenth time.
Class ended and Professor McGonagall assigned lots of homework. Everyone except Athena had to practice the spell, and they all had to write an essay on its creation. Athena seemed to be the only one excited to write the long paper.
Tiff, Athena, Phe and Keety went down to the Great Hall for lunch. Aislin went to the library to start her paper, though. After devouring a bagel, Tiff went out to the grounds. Some older students were playing quidditch. Keety, Phe and Athena went up to the common room, so she watched the strange sport alone. Her friends came back moments later carrying brooms. She laid her cloak on the ground and sat down. She was too nervous to fly with all of the experienced players, as she had never even mounted a broom in her life, but she watched with great interest. A Slytherin boy came running across the huge field.
"Hey 'Thena!" he yelled, "Catch this!" He released a golden ball with wings. Athena grinned and chased after it.
"Hi," he said to Tiff, "Do you know Athena?" She nodded, "I live next door to her at our houses."
"Oh… I'm her friend at school,"
He smiled. "Can I sit here?" he asked, pointing to the cloak.
"Sure!" she said, scooting over "What year are you?"
"Third. My name is Chris Resknick," They kept chatting. Soon Athena caught the snitch and soared down.
"I see you've met Chris," said Athena, smiling. Chris looked amazed.
"You caught the snitch that fast? That was only six or seven minutes!"
Athena beamed. It was almost time for classes to start again.
"We gotta go, Chris," said Tiff, "It's almost time for classes to start." Athena was already gath0ering her stuff together. She threw her old broom in the broom shed and waited for Tiff.
"Hey Tiff?" said Chris, "If you want I can teach you to play quidditch. Come on out to the quidditch field after classes tomorrow. There'll be some other first years I'm teaching." Tiff smiled and wandered away, trying to catch up with Athena. The dungeons were dark and damp. Tiff was rather nervous walking down there alone. She was eying the torches when she slammed into someone. She immediately looked up after falling to her knees. The person she had crashed into was a tall boy with red hair and deep green eyes.
"Hey," he said quietly, "Ya need help?"
Tiff shook her head. "Thanks though," she mumbled, then wandered off to class. Professor Snape was a tall man with long, greasy black hair. He gave her a bit of a glare as she walked in, but nothing more. Based on Hestia's description of the man, Tiff joined Athena in the back. The cauldron she had bought in Diagon Alley was already there. She took a seat and stared glumly at the chalkboard.
"Hello," said Professor Snape coldly, "I am Professor Snape. I would like to say a little something before I begin. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering 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. That is all," Many of the Slytherins sniggered. Without a second glance at the glass he began writing the ingredients for a rather complicated potion on the board. Athena began right away. It seemed she was doing everything perfect. Tiff struggled through, and her potion turned out all right. Snape had to give her a good grade. He did assign an essay for the students who couldn't make the potion. Only one boy in Ravenclaw couldn't make it perfect and so he had to write an essay on what he did wrong.0 They left the class grinning. "We really showed that dunderhead, eh?" said Keety, who had also made a wonderful potion. They all nodded in agreement.
They found their way to the history of magic classroom. The teacher was a ghost, and a very dull one. He rambled on and on about the Goblin Wars in Hogsmede. Athena was the only one who looked truly interested in what he was saying. He did assign an essay though. The first day of classes was finally over!
Tiff, Athena, Keety, Phe and Aislin went up to the common room where loads of students were gathered. Keety and Athena challenged each other to a game of wizards' chess, which Tiff watched with great interest. Instead of moving the chess pieces with their arms, they instructed the pieces, who gave them advice. Athena wasn't too patient with her chess pieces and they seemed to hate her. She was defiantly too hyper for chess. Keety's pieces on the other hand respected her and gave her well thought out advice.
"What's your trick to making them like you?" demanded Athena after Keety had won.
"It's easy," said Keety with a smile, "I talk to them in between games. They carry on some neat conversations," Athena snatched her chess pieces and ran to the library. "See ya around!" she yelled. "You want to play?" asked Keety.
"I don't have any pieces," Tiff told her.
"Borrow mine," said Phe, who had also been watching the game. Tiff smiled and went with Phe to get her chess pieces.
Phe's chess pieces were untrusting, making it almost impossible for her to win. She was excellent at muggle chess, but wizards' chess was different. She lost with only one pawn of Keety's.
Phe played her next. That was when Tiff realized wizards' chess wasn't about skill! It was about trusting your pieces and having them trust you. When Phe was playing her pieces behaved pretty well. They didn't talk much to her, but at least they showed respect. After a bit more chess, they decided to start on their homework. Athena happily wrote her History of Magic essay, while the rest of them practice their wand movements.