OOPS!! Thank you bibphile for pointing out that Penny is a year younger. Oh well, nobody's perfect! Right now, I'm brainstorming on how to fix it, but then again I don't have to! But I want to…oh well… Who knows what will happen? I do! MWAHAHAHAH! Lol, getting a little cuckoo here…I hope you like this chapter so happy reading!
Chapter 4: Meeting New Enemies
"Isn't this wonderful?" Oliver said lying back in his new four poster bed, the hangings drawn back. He had already changed into his new pajamas and was ready for bed. "We've got this whole room to ourselves!"
"It is quite satisfactory," Percy said, writing a letter at his desk. "But to tell you the truth, I was afraid I'd be the only one here tonight."
"I know! What was up with that?" Oliver said, sitting up. "Where are all the other brave boys of Gryffindor?"
"In other years," Percy joked. He just finished his letter and rolled it up. "I've got to send this back home."
"It can wait for the morning," Oliver said. "It's so late already." He let out a great yawn.
"You're right," Percy said. He lay in his own bed. "I'll just do it after breakfast."
"It's a shame Penny wasn't put in Gryffindor with us," Oliver said.
"Yeah…Penny," Percy said dreamily.
"What was that, Percy?"
"Oh…nothing," Percy replied, pulling the covers over himself.
"Yeah, nothing all right," Oliver said. "You're thinking about Penny."
"What?!" Percy said. He was growing red again and sounded offended. "I wasn't…I was-"
"Never mind, Percy," Oliver said, laughing. He lay back down and soon both boys were fast asleep…
Ting-a-ling-a-ling! Ting-a-ling-a-ling! Percy's small red alarm clock was ringing very early the next morning. Ting-a-ling-a-ling! Ting-a-li-
"Percy!" Oliver moaned from his bed, sounding annoyed, having recently smashed Percy's clock. "I think…your clock…is broken…"
"Why's that?" Percy said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He reached for his horned-rimmed glasses and put them on.
"It's going off at 7:00 in the morning."
"Then it's working perfectly fine," Percy said, climbing out of bed and opening his armoire for a crisp, clean set of clothes and robes.
"Why'd you set it for so early?" Oliver slurred, rolling over in his bed. He let out a big yawn.
"Classes start at 8 o'clock," Percy said.
"That means I still have 45 minutes to sleep!" Oliver groaned into his pillow.
"Sorry, didn't hear you," Percy said, buttoning up his white collared shirt. He then pulled the sweater vest over his shirt and his head came out with a pop.
"I said," Oliver spoke, lifting his head. "Oh never mind…" He rolled off his bed and landed with a loud thud onto the wooden floor.
"Hey! What's going on up there? We still have 45 minutes to sleep!" a muffled voice shouted from the dormitory below. Oliver lay sprawled on his back atop the floorboards and grumbled at this remark. He slowly got up, using the bedpost as support and dragged his feet and arms to his armoire for the day's set of robes.
"Well, I'm ready," Percy said, pulling his arms through the sleeves of Bill's old, starting-to-fade Hogwarts wizard robe.
"You go ahead," Oliver said, resting his head on one of the higher shelves and staring mindlessly at the neatly folded button-up uniform shirts. He was hoping that they'd put themselves around him by themselves. "I'll catch up later."
"So you can go back to sleep, I don't think so," Percy said. He tried to help Oliver get ready and picked out the top most shirt, vest, slacks, tie, and robe from each pile in the armoire. "Here, you can do the rest." Oliver had no choice since everything was already laid out. He slowly dressed and was ready by ten after. Together, they went down the stairs, into the common room and through the portrait hole, the entrance to the rooms of Gryffindor Tower.
"So, are we going to class now?" Oliver asked. "It's still way too early…" He yawned again and stretched out his arms.
"We're going to breakfast of course," Percy replied as they quickly descended down a moving staircase.
"What's breakfast?"
***
"Good morning! Wow, you're up early too," Virginia said, eating a bowl of corn flakes and reading an enormous book. Besides a few prefects, Virginia was the only one at the Gryffindor Table. A small group of Ravenclaws was there, though to Percy's dismay, Penny wasn't with them. There was a crowd of Hufflepuffs and absolutely no one at the Slytherin's table. The head table for teachers was full, even Hagrid was up.
"The early bird gets the worm," Percy said, taking his seat across from Virginia. He was right, because they got first pick of cereals, that had not been crumbled and messied by later, careless diners. Oliver was still very tired and leaned on his arm, dozing off. "What's that you're reading?"
"I got it out of the library just now. It's a law book by the Ministry of Magic," Virginia said, reading very miniscule print on very thin yellow paper.
"Why?" Oliver said, sitting up properly.
"I'm reading how to divorce from my family," Virginia said. "Did you know that there are exactly 73 laws for Wizarding families concerning Muggles and with at least 8 by-laws for each?" Oliver shook his head and decided to start eating. He chose a colorful cereal with bits of sugar clusters, but Percy insisted on mixing half of it with the oat bran. As the hour rolled by, many more students arrived and soon the Great Hall was buzzing with chitchats, making it impossible for Virginia to continue reading.
"These are your class schedules, first years," Professor McGonagal said, handing out slips of parchment. "Now, you have hour long sessions each day, though there are some classes only a few days a week. Some days you may have double sessions, resulting in two hour classes."
"Two hour classes?! What?!" Oliver said, snapping into attention, for he had still been quite out of it, even among the loud chit-chats.
"Yes, Wood. But only on certain days, though you don't have as many classes as those in higher years," Professor McGonagal explained. "Just the basic classes in the curriculum. Also, today, I believe you have all your classes as an introduction to Hogwarts School."
"Let's see," Virginia said, taking a deep breath. This meant she was going to be talking very fast pretty soon. "For today we have Transfiguration with Professor McGonagal at 8:00. Then we have History of Magic with a Professor Binns at 9:30. Ooh-wee, a thirty-minute break! Then we have Charms with a Professor Flitwick at 11:00. Wait, so that means 9:30-10:30 is History of Magic, then another thirty-minute break. That's wonderful! Thirty minutes between classes! That means we can save our homework for right before class, but that would be unwise since we would end up rushing and worrying about the time. No wait…this is just for today. Oh well, it was a nice idea anyhow. Moving on, we have a 12:30 class with that new teacher, Professor Quirrell, for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Then we have lunch at 2:00-3:00 (that's late!) and then we go out into the green houses at 3:30 for Herbology with a Professor Sprout. Then we've got Potions at 5:00 with a Professor Snape, this is a very long day! And tonight we've got Astronomy with a Professor Sinistra! Hmmm, I wonder how many of these professors are female? I really don't know. And it will be really quite awkward or quite fun in class since there's only six of us. What do you think? Well, you boys haven't said a word at all. Speak up, please."
"Well, actually," Percy began, "We have classes with other houses, since some house sizes aren't all that big to be a class by itself."
"I think Hufflepuff is," Oliver said. "Honestly, there all a bunch of fraidy cats, not being in Gryffindor."
"I don't understand that either," Virginia said. "I mean, the world seems perfectly safe these days. True the Hogwarts Ghosts took me by surprise last night when they all just popped out, but they're not too scary. But did you hear some of the Hufflepuff girls squeal? It was the same girls who I first sat with on the train. Well anyway, there isn't really nothing much to be 'unbrave' about. You-know-who has been gone for years and everyone knows he's gone! Then again there was that big 'explosion' that killed 13 Muggles when I was five, but that guy was put in Azkaban. BUT, then again, who feels safe knowing those awful Demental things are guarding him? My father has told me all about them. They're awful creatures that literally suck the fun out of everything. He said that they're tall and menacing and hide their faces inside hoods, but he could be making it up, seeing as he runs that stupid magazine and changed our last name to Daiquiri."
"My goodness, you talk an awful lot," Patsy Owens said, who was sitting a little ways from Virginia. "You were so quiet last night."
"Her quiet?" Oliver said. Before Virginia could argue, Percy interjected.
"Oh look! Penny's coming!" Percy said as Penny wove her way through the tables to get to Gryffindor's table. She sat down next to the empty seat by Virginia and Patsy.
"Good Morning," Penny greeted. "What have you three got first?"
"Transfiguration," Percy said at once. "You?"
"Herbology," Penny replied. "How about after that?"
"History of Magic," Percy said.
"Oh. We've got Charms."
"After History of Magic we've got Charms."
"Well, after Charms, we've got History of Magic."
"Do we have any classes together?" Virginia said. They held their schedules side by side and compared.
"Well, we have lunch!" Penny said happily.
"But this is only for today, right?" Oliver said.
"Right!" Virginia said. "Who knows? Maybe tomorrow it will be different." Suddenly, the same girls who squealed from the ghosts squealed again as hundreds of owls flew in through the windows with mail.
"Oh, that's right. I have to send my letter home," Percy said, opening his bag and taking out the scroll of parchment. Letters and packages dropped from the owls as they delivered. "Oh, where is he?"
"Who?" Penny asked.
"Errol, my family's owl," Percy said. "He hasn't been flying very well, now that he's getting old." Just then a very fat, gray owl came charging in through one of the closed windows with a few letters, packages, and a small cage with an animal inside. All the Slytherins started laughing when they saw it. Well, who wouldn't laugh at that ridiculous sight?
"Is that him?" Oliver asked, pointing up at the fat, gray bird. It kept dipping up and down, trying to glide normally. He hovered over at the end of the table and dropped a letter in front of Bill and moved down and dropped a few packages to Charlie and collapsed in front of Percy.
"Errol, are you all right?" Percy asked, lifting him upright. Errol hooted and shook himself. "You should rest in the Owlery before you go home." Percy fed him some bacon and let him sip milk from his empty cereal bowl. The small cage started squeaking.
"Is this your rat, Percy?" Penny asked, looking into the cage. A plump, fluffy gray rat was sitting peacefully in his cage and clicking his teeth. "Aww, he's kind of cute."
"If you like rats," Virginia said, moving her breakfast plate and cereal bowl away from it.
"You can go now, Errol. You know where the Owlery is," Percy said. Errol flapped his wings, but couldn't lift himself. "Come on, Errol, everyone's staring!" Errol tried again, but just couldn't lift himself into the air. Charlie got up from where he was sitting.
"You need to help him a bit, sometimes," Charlie said. He lifted up the poor gray owl gently, then chucked him upward towards the blue sky in the ceiling. Errol started flapping his wings and soon was in a nice glide out the window and towards the tower of the Owlery.
***
They had a very long first day. Even with 30 minute breaks, the day was a burden. They had all their classes, each an hour long, each only explaining what they'll be doing over the year. The only exciting parts were when each the teachers demonstrated a few things they'll be learning, but that only took a fraction of the hour. They were finally free from the dungeons of Professor Snape, a grisly, dark, and gloomy man, at 6:00 and they had very little left in the day to themselves until 9:00 for Astronomy. All the houses would be at the North Tower since everyone had Astronomy that day.
"Welcome to Astronomy, first years," a witch greeted them as they all squeezed in the balcony. "I am your teacher, Professor Sinistra."
"Good Evening, Professor Sinistra," they all greeted.
"Why, aren't you all polite little ones," Professor Sinistra said happily. "Now, in this class we will be studying the movement of the planets and the mythology behind some of the constellations. I hope you've all brought your telescopes, now find a spot on the ledge and try to find a constellation. Consult Exploring the Night Sky if you have trouble. I'll walk around and check on your progress." The first years scrambled around to get a spot. Percy, Oliver, Penny and Virginia found a spot together and started work.
"This is far better than what today's been," Oliver said. "We get to actually do something."
"Ugh, I hate telescopes and microscopes and any scopes!" Virginia said. "I always have trouble keeping one eye shut!"
"Just hold your hand over your other eye," Percy suggested. "I think I've found Pegasus. There's a box arrangement and…" He double-checked his book. "Yes, that's supposed to be his head."
"Oh, have you found one already?" Professor Sinistra asked as she stood behind Percy.
"Yes! I think its Pegasus!" Percy said. He moved aside so Professor Sinistra could look through his telescope.
"Well done, Mr.…"
"Weasley. Percy Weasley."
"Look here class! Mr. Weasley has already successfully located Pegasus! If you all turn your telescopes east and point it up at exactly 57º, you should be able to see him," Professor Sinistra said out loud to the class.
"*cough* Show off *cough*," a Slytherin, next to Percy, coughed as he pointed his telescope. It was Boris Bowman, the lazy Slytherin First year that drags his feet and keeps his hands in his pockets. Percy didn't say anything and tried to ignore him. Number one, Percy knew better than to talk back to those kinds of people, and Number two, Boris was much bigger than Percy was.
"Now for a little first homework assignment," Professor Sinistra said. "I'd like you to pick out a constellation, draw it as you see it now, and correctly name each star. Now don't just trace it from the book. I'll know.
"You still have 45 minutes, so get to work. Oh, and I'd like a picture of what the constellation is, outlined around the general shape. Color for bonus points!" The students all quickly set to work, taking out a sheet of parchment. It was too thick to use it to trace from the book anyway, so many drew Pegasus, since he's already been found.
"Is this Pegasus, Percy?" Virginia asked.
"Here let me see," Percy said, taking a look through her telescope. "Try a little more east. This is Ursa Major."
"Do I have it, Percy?" Penny asked. Percy crouched down to look through her telescope.
"Sorry, Penny. I don't think this is anything." He then turned the telescope around to find a certain constellation. "Here, look there."
"Oh," Penny said. "Silly me. Is this Pegasus?"
"No, I found you Anrdomeda. You know the myth about Andromeda?" Penny shook her head. She stood up from looking into the telescope and faced Percy.
"The Greek gods found the woman, Andromeda to be so radiant," Percy said, looking into Penny's eyes "that they put her in the stars for everyone to see."
"Oh, Percy, that's so beautiful," Penny said. They were looking at each other for quite some time, forgetting they were in Astronomy class. Oliver, who was peeking at them from the corner of his eye saw sparks fly…until…
"Yo Weasley," Boris Bowman interrupted. Percy turned around to see what stupid Boris wanted. "Did I find Pegasus right?"
"Er…let me see…" Percy said standing in front of Boris's telescope. "Yes, I think you found it all right." He tried to smile encouragingly, but frowned at Boris's mean looking face.
"How do I know it's right? What if you're lyin'?"
"I…er…I'm quite sure, that I'm correct. I wouldn't lie," Percy said, feeling his ears grow red.
"Well, what if you're lyin' for the first time? How am I supposed to know? I don't know you," Boris said.
"Look, just check your textbook! It's all right there!" Percy said, losing his patience.
"Whatever," Boris said, opening a book for the very first time [haha]. "You can go now, Weasley." Percy turned back to his telescope to find another constellation to draw for his homework.
"He doesn't seem very nice," Virginia commented as she finally found Pegasus. "That's supposed to be a winged horse? I just can't see it…"
"Well, it's really just the general shape," Percy explained. "See the string of stars flowing off from the square is the wing and-"
"Yo Weasley! This is just a box! I don't see a winged horse! You didn't find it right at all!" Boris interrupted. "You tryin' to make me look stupid?"
"Just use your imagination, Boris," Percy tried to say calmly. "And look at the picture in the textbook. It's really outlined for you."
"I'm sorry, Weasley. My imagination is broken. Can you start my picture for me?" Boris said, shoving a piece of parchment and a quill into Percy's arms.
"No, I will not do your homework. They're individual assignments and-" Percy heard Boris's knuckles crack "Don't think you can intimidate me."
"I'm just cracking my knuckles, Weasley. I can make bones crack just as well."
"Uh…uh…" Percy said, nervously looking up at Boris. "I guess it won't hurt to help you get started." Percy made the general shape and outlined a very quick head and wings and told Boris to do the rest.
"Hey, that's not too bad," Boris said. He swiped the quill from Percy and he added eyes and nostrils. "Good job, Weasley." Percy turned back and found the dog, Canis Major. He opened his bag for a leaf of parchment and quill and began drawing.
"You shouldn't have done that for him," Virginia said to Percy as she finished her drawing of Pegasus. "Boris Bowman may look stupid, but he's not that stupid." She dropped her voice and spoke deeply, "'I'm Boris Bowman and my imagination is broken…' Oh, give me a break!" Percy and Penny laughed as they continued their work. By the end of class, everyone had finished their homework early and were just chatting. Oliver was still hard at work, trying to get his drawing just right. Professor Sinistra announced she was going to collect their work now since practically everyone seemed to be finished. Oliver started labeling faster and kept messing up.
"Which one are you doing, Oliver?" Percy asked.
"Canis Major," Oliver said, still scribbling away. "I wish I didn't do such a hard one. This has been taking all period! There's too many stars!"
"Here, I did the same one," Percy said. "Maybe I can help." He took out his quill and started to correct Oliver's mistakes. "Here, hold mine up so I can see." Oliver held up Percy's perfect diagram of Canis Major and compared it with Oliver's. Professor Sinistra was approaching and she had just collected Boris Bowman's, who had been listening to Oliver and Percy's conversation.
"Professor Sinistra! Oliver Wood and Percy Weasley are copying off each other!" Boris Bowman shouted. Oliver snapped his head around and gave surprised look at Boris. Percy looked quite alarmed.
"What's going on, boys?" Professor Sinistra asked, also surprised with cheating students. "Were you wasting time during the period?"
"We weren't cheating!" Oliver said. He waved the parchment around. "See this one's Percy's! He's not copying off mine! It even has his name on it! Besides, look at him, Professor. Is this the face of a cheater?"
"I was just helping him," Percy said. "Honest. You did say this was homework and now you're collecting it."
"Well, you're right…Canis Major is a very complex constellation…" she said. She looked at Percy's innocent face. "You had every right to help a fellow Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley. I think I shall award you 5 points…" Boris Bowman stared in shock and his mouth hung open. "But, I do not tolerate cheating at all. Homework and class work should be individually completed unless noted otherwise. It is the student's responsibility to do his or her own work. If someone else does it for them, they'll never learn…But I understand. We all do need a little help sometimes. Good work you two." She collected their work after Oliver printed his name on it and let them go.
"Stupid Boris Bowman," Oliver said as he, Percy, Penny, and Virginia climbed down the spiral staircase of North Tower. "He tried to get us in trouble."
"He's just jealous of Percy," Virginia said. "I heard him on the platform complaining about your family and how perfect you all are." Virginia deepened her voice again. "He was all 'Those Weasleys are so perfect that it's bad for their health. Grumble grumble…' then he saw your mum kissing you good bye and he was like 'Haha…Mama's boy…' and like then I saw him kissing his mum good bye and he was practically crying. He's such a hypocrite!"
"And he's stupid," Oliver said. "Stupid and lazy, making Percy do his work."
"He's just a big bully," Penny said. "You two shouldn't let him push you around."
"He did not," Oliver said. "We were brave weren't we, Perce?"
"Er…yeah…" Percy said, looking down. "But he was being a bit rude and-"
"Percy, you started his homework for him!" Virginia said. They reached the foot of the stairs and strolled down the corridor.
"I was just helping a fellow student in need," Percy said. "He didn't intimidate me."
"Yeah, and I'm not afraid of Boris Bowman one bit!" Oliver said.
"Well, you're pretty stupid," Boris Bowman said from behind them. "Now get outta my way." He pushed through between Oliver and Virginia and rushed away from them.
"You don't think he heard us, did you?" Oliver asked.
"Well, we were talking about him," Percy said to them. "I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about me."
"He's not going to come to get us now, is he?" Oliver asked, sounding a little nervous. "I mean I don't think he's that stupid. He's kind of swell. I mean…"
"He's gone now, Oliver," Penny said. "No use sucking up to him now."
Soon they came to a fork in the corridor and Penny had to leave and go the other way Ravenclaw's tower.
"I've got to go this way," Penny said. She ran a little to catch up with Portia Bolkin. "Good Night, you three."
"Good Night, Penny!" Percy said, waving good-bye. He stood to watch her until she turned into another corridor.
"He's got it bad," Virginia said to Oliver.
***
"Here are your normal schedules, first years," Professor McGonagal said, handing out slips of parchment the next morning at breakfast.
"I'm going to go see if Penny has any classes with us," Virginia said, getting up and heading towards the Ravenclaw table.
"I hope so," Percy mumbled.
"Percy, if you're trying to hide something, you're no good at it," Oliver said.
"What? What do you mean?" Percy asked, pouring himself a glass of milk.
"It's clear that you've got a thing for Penelope Clearwater."
"Is it really? I honestly just found this in my trunk last night," Percy said, holding up another Muggle novel. "I didn't know you knew I was going to give it to her."
"No I mean…It's just that…if you like her Percy, why don't you just admit it?"
"Excuse me, but what are you talking about!?"
"Like I said on the train, you're in denial," Oliver said. "If you won't talk, I will. It's obvious that you've gotten bitten by the love bug! The way you are around her on the train, during class, oh, and especially during Astronomy! The way you looked at her, though that was pretty good with the Andromeda myth thing. She practically melted on the spot, well until stupid Bowman got in the way…" Percy was glowing red and tried to change the subject.
"I'm glad we've got Potions early in the week. Through I don't really like the professor, I do like the class…"
"Nice try, Percy," Oliver said. "But it didn't work."
"I, uh, still don't know what you're talking about…"
"Oh look, Penny's coming this way," Oliver lied.
"What? She is? Oh, where's that book I was going to give her?" Oliver was laughing.
"Don't you see where I'm coming from?" Oliver said between laughs.
Percy gave up. He couldn't deny it any longer. "Well, now that it's out in the open…"
"Dearie, it's been out in the open!" Lucille McGillian said, two seats away from Percy. "Virginia just wouldn't stop gossiping about it last night! My goodness, when Patsy said she was quiet yesterday morning, she sure did a good job at being loquacious!"
"What else did she say?" Percy asked, a little annoyed that even Virginia was talking about it. "She does indeed talk a lot."
"An awful lot! Virginia Mary is such a riot!" Patsy Owens said.
"She has something to say about anything,"' Henrietta Newbourne added.
"And she knows something about everything!" said Lucille.
"But she knows when to stop," said Patsy.
"She really can tell when you get bored with her," Lucille added.
"She doesn't want to be known as a boring person," said Henrietta.
"But she's still fun just the same," sad Patsy.
"Just don't talk about her sister, Margarita," said Lucille.
"She really hates her," said Patsy.
"But she likes her little sister," said Henrietta. "What was her name?"
"Luna," said Lucille. "But it's so funny that her last name is always changing."
"Is that even legal?" Patsy asked.
"I don't know. I think that's what she was looking up in the Ministry book the other day," said Henrietta.
"She sure does rub off on her peers," Percy said to Oliver as the three other Gryffindor girls continued chatting.
"It's just girls, Perce," Oliver said.
"Please don't call me that. I am not a woman's hand bag," Percy replied.
"Whatever you say, Perce," Oliver said, laughing. Virginia returned with good news.
"We've got Herbology and Potions together!" Virginia said. "But that's just for today. Tomorrow we've got Defenese Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin. Then I compared schedules with Kat Candor of Hufflepuff and it turns out that the rest of our classes are with them since their class is so big and we're so small. They're a really big group when they're paired with either Ravenclaw or Slytherin. McGonagal says they're abnormally sized and she can't understand why the First Years for Gryffindor were so small this year. Then I said to her that there were an awful lot of Fraidy Cat boys in our year and she laughed and said she has high hopes for you two. Then I told her that you're afraid of Bully Bowman and you really weren't brave at all and-"
"You what?!?" Percy and Oliver both said at the same time.
"We're not scared of Boris at all!" Oliver said.
"You're still being stupid, Wood," Boris Bowman said as he passed behind them. Oliver froze and didn't dare to turn around.
"Don't worry, Oliver," Virginia said. "We've only got one class with Slytherin. And besides, you have four brave girls to protect you."
***
Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I really have high hopes for this story and I'd like to continue it! Have a Magical Day! ºoº