Elynn sailed into class ages before the late bell rang. The first thing she heard when she walked in the door to the Herbology class were two excited male voices exclaiming
"Elynn!"
'Oh no.' Elynn said jokingly in her head. Sure enough, there were the twins running toward her, with ecstatic smiles on their faces. Each one grabbed an arm and started to drag her to a four-person desk, talking non-stop.
"Oh my goodness!" Said the one on her left, (Fred?), "We thought you would never get here!"
"We didn't even know Griffindors had classes with Ravenclaws until we walked in." Said the other (George?).
"But when we realized, we saved a seat for you with us, so you wouldn't have to sit alone."
"And then we realized you might feel weird sitting with all boys, especially with us being Griffindors and all so we got a Ravenclaw girl to sit with us too."
"She's really nice and she said she knows you so we figured you'd like that." Elynn glanced at the seat they were dragging her to and saw Avela sitting there, smiling at her. Thank God for small blessings. Elynn smiled back as the boys continued to ramble about anything and everything. Suddenly the one on her right (George?) said something as they were taking their seats that immediately caught her attention,
"…And after Percy had kind of explained to us who you were, we realized that you must be smart with a grandfather like that and we've been hoping to see you all day so that we could ask if you would be willing to help us with homework since we failed this class last year, which explains the presence of two second years in your class…"
"Wait! Stop, what did Percy tell you?" Elynn asked suspiciously.
Left Boy piped up immediately, "Only that your last name was Dumbledore and that your grandfather was the Headmaster and that you were a Ravenclaw, but he wouldn't tell us why…" Elynn clapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up.
"That'll do." She said and sat down quickly. The two boys looked at each other and shrugged at her strange behavior, before they followed her example taking their seats just when the bell rang. Elynn began to take out the things she would need for this class.
Avela leaned in and whispered, "Did you get kidnapped too?"
Elynn glanced up and, seeing the girl's friendly smile, giggled, "Yeah. Sorry about them. They're a little…well, you know…odd."
Avela laughed, "Oh, I don't mind." Just then the professor of Herbology walked in.
"Good morning, first years!" She said cheerily. She was a short, stout woman, with gray hair up in a beehive bun.
"Good morning." The students replied.
"My name is Professor Sprout and I will be teaching you the basics of most of the plants you will come into contact with in the wizarding world. So if you will please open your textbooks to page three, we will begin." Everyone took out his or her books and Professor Sprout began to read aloud, making comment as she went.
Elynn was busily scratching notes on her parchment when she noticed unusual activity on her right. She glanced at the twins and noticed them messing with something under the desk. Elynn just shook her head and ignored them. A few moments passed and Elynn was digging in her robe for more parchment when she felt something crawling down her back. Something with a lot of legs! She sat up straight and heard a giggle escape one of the twins. She smiled and discreetly, reached back and grabbed the spider that was inching it's way down her spine. She hid it in a pocket of her robe with her quills and waited. Oh those boys would rue the day that they had played a prank on Elynn Dumbledore! She saw her chance and sent the multi-legged beast scurrying across the desk in front of the boys. They of course hadn't been expecting that and neither had the professor. So when Fred and George made exclamations of surprise and Professor Sprout observed the large arachnid scampering across the desk, complete chaos followed. The teacher screeched and, reaching for the first book handy, leaped forward and began to viciously attack the poor spider. Every girl in the room, except for Elynn, began to scream and climb on top of things to get away from the creature, even if it was no where near them. Elynn however, made a mad dash to save the beast from the insane tirade of Professor Sprout. The teacher had the arachnid cornered and was about to go in for the kill, when Elynn lunged forward and captured the defenseless bug in her hands, pulling it safely out of harms way. With the spider safely caught and out of sight, things began to settle down again. The girls in the room returned to their seats and the professor smoothed her hair, which had been thrown into disarray by the disturbance.
Immediately after the hysteria had settled, Professor Sprout began trying to determine who had set the creature free.
"All right, who did it? Who set that monstrosity loose in my classroom?" Silence, "If someone doesn't speak up, all of you will have a two page paper due tomorrow on the importance of wormwood to a wizard or witch." Still no answer. Elynn snuck a look at the twins, who both looked at her at the same time. They smiled smugly and one even winked at her, reminding her suddenly of Percy. Elynn just shook her head. If they didn't plan on giving themselves up, then she certainly wouldn't rat on them. Besides, Elynn had thought the commotion rather funny herself, and worth the torture of a two-page paper.
The professor sighed and smoothed her hair up again, "Fine! Those papers will be due at the beginning of class tomorrow." The class groaned, but the professor held up her hand, "No, I don't want to hear another word about it! Now, where was I? Oh yes, golden-rod…" But she was interrupted once again by the bell this time and everyone began to gather their things. Professor Sprout looked like she might say something else, but at the last minute chose not to and just went around her desk and sank into her chair with a sigh.
Elynn gathered her books, quill, ink and parchment and was flying out the door, when she felt two familiar pairs of hands grab her and pull her back down to earth in the hall.
"Ok, now where is she?" Asked George. Elynn had finally figured out how to tell them apart. George bit his nails and he had a small gap between his teeth and Fred kept his nails well cared for and didn't have a gap.
"I don't what you're talking about." Elynn said, innocently, batting her lashes at the twins. They rolled their eyes.
"Oh you do too!" Fred replied, exasperated, "Our spider! We saw you save her and we want her back now."
"Oh! Do you mean this spider?" Elynn asked pulling the arachnid out of her pocket and holding it carefully before their faces. George smiled and reached out to take it, but Elynn pulled her hand out of reach, "Ah, ah, ah not yet. First, let's make a deal."
Fred and George exchanged glances then George asked suspiciously, "What deal?"
Elynn smiled, "Let's see, you escort me to my next class and I give you your spider back. Deal?"
The boys smiled and stuck out their hands, "Deal!" They said together. Elynn shook each hand and handed over the spider. Then the three new friends began to walk down the hall together.
"Wait!" Cried a voice. Elynn turned around and saw Avela running toward them, "I'm afraid I don't know where our next class is and I was wondering if you could help me find it." She asked straightforwardly. Elynn smiled and nodded.
"Sure! The boys are going to escort us." Avela smiled.
"Great! Do we have another class together?" She asked as they began to walk down the hall again.
"I dunno. What do you girls have?" Fred asked.
"Divining." They said together.
"Oh well we have History of Magic, so that's not too far away." Said George.
They walked in silence for awhile, before Fred summoned up his courage and asked the question that had been gnawing at him since they had left Herbology, "Elynn, why weren't you afraid of Stacy? Our spider I mean. Everyone else but you was."
"Oh, I don't know. I've never been afraid of spiders." Elynn replied, casually. The boys and Avela stared at her, "What? Is that a crime?"
"No!" Both the boys exclaimed at once. They liked this girl Elynn even better now.
"It's just…" Avela started, "Well, I've never met a girl that wasn't afraid of spiders. And I've definitely never met anyone that would try to save one like you did."
"All life is precious. I hate to see a creature killed needlessly."
"Really? Me too. I can't even stand to kill a fly, literally." Elynn smiled, aware that she had now made three new friends and one was even in her own house! Grandfather would be proud. The four companions walked down the hall, laughing and talking like old friends.