A/N: Pretty long chapter this time. Talks about all of their classes and stuff and you get to meet the teachers. Please REVIEW!!!!!!
DISCLAIMER: I own Leanne O'Flaherty, Claire Spinnet (well…she obviously exists but not specifically as I make her), Professor Jigger (he's also mentioned briefly, but not as a professor), Professor Elena Pimea, Anna Wilkes (it says in the fourth book that there was a Death Eater whose last name was Wilkes, but that's all), Professor Ritznan, Gardenia Ritznan, Professor Moira Rusalka, and the planets Hera, Zeus, and Regiza belong to me and Serena. All the other stuff either I already mentioned or it belongs to others.
That was a REALLY long disclaimer.
R & R!!
Q U I L L S I N T O C L O C K S
Siandra woke up early in the morning, anxious to start her classes along with the rest of her roommates, and it was only in the morning that she actually figured out who they were. She shared a dormitory with Lily Evans, Molly Annast, Elizabeth Noita (who insisted on being called Betty), Leanne O'Flaherty, (the sandy-haired girl that she had sat across from at the feast), also Claire Spinnet and a very pretty girl named Gina Rosmerta.
It turned out (after they were half and hour late to breakfast) that the map of Hogwarts did not help out at all in the matter of finding their way. Actually, it complicated the matter as it did not show the whole of Hogwarts, and all of the doors kept blinking on and off, all 142 staircases they knew about kept blinking on and off and changing around, and the classes were not clearly labeled. Betty and Siandra discarded their map in a suit of armor on the eighth floor as to not confuse themselves.
When they finally arrived back in the Great Hall, panting, they felt very silly as all of the other Gryffindors including James Potter and the rest of the first year boys were seated there already looking perfectly content.
"Here, they left some schedules for you. And where have you been? Your eggs are getting cold, we've been waiting for you forever!" said a concerned third year girl.
"Oh, never mind that, now where are those schedules?" asked Siandra, embarrassed that they had taken so long.
The third year girl pointed to seven empty plates with small slips of parchment by them. Siandra sat down and looked at her schedule which read:
Day
9:00 – 10:00
10:20 – 11:20
11:20 – 12:40
1:00 – 2:10
3:00 – 4:00
Monday
DADA
Transfiguration
LUNCH
Potions
Charms
Tuesday
Herbology
Charms
LUNCH
DADA
Magic History
Wednesday
DADA
Magic History
LUNCH
Transfiguration
Herbology
Thursday
Potions
Herbology
LUNCH
FREE
Charms
Friday
Transfiguration
Magic History
LUNCH
FREE
FREE
Astronomy will be held Wednesday night at Midnight in the tallest tower.
"I've got Defense Against the Dark Arts first, what do you have?" asked Siandra, turning to Lily who was reading her own schedule.
"Yes, I think that all the first years in Gryffindor have the same classes…" Lily paused to peer over the edge of James's schedule, "Yes, I was right," she said as she confirmed that he had Defense Against the Dark Arts too.
After they had eaten their breakfast, they hurried off to Defense against the Dark Arts. It turned out to be in a secluded classroom on the fourth floor and it took almost a full half an hour to find it, which was much more than the passing time allowed. Siandra dreaded the thought of being late to her very first class, any class for that matter. However, (much to Siandra's reputation) most of the class was late. At the head of the classroom a teacher with short blond hair, and deep red robes who also turned out to be the Gryffindor head of house.
"My name is Professor Pimea and I will be teaching you one of the most important classes that you will learn at Hogwarts: Defense Against the Dark Arts. I will start by taking roll…"
They didn't do anything that was particularly in their first class with Professor Pimea; mostly just heavy reading from their books.
After lunch, they attended Potions class on the second floor with a smart; rather young teacher named Professor Jigger. He immediately admonished them never to fool around in his class because in potions, things could go seriously wrong. Then they went to work in pairs trying to make a simple potion to get rid of Horklumps, a very invasive plant-like animal that took over gardens. Siandra was paired with Betty and they used Betty's cauldron and Siandra's potion making set to measure out Streeler venom and weigh Puffapods. Peter Pettigrew, the boy who was in front of Siandra during the sorting, had been paired with James Potter, which, in Siandra's opinion, was a very good thing because it seemed like Peter didn't know how to do much. By the end of class, most of the people had managed to come up with a rather iffy version of the potion and consequently were given loads of homework on it. As they tried to find their way back to the common room, the first years started wondering about the Whomping Willow.
"I wonder why they planted it. I mean it's dangerous and it doesn't even have any use!" said Molly.
"No idea," replied Remus, bending down to pick up a book that he just dropped.
"Maybe it's hiding something!" added Siandra.
She thought that it was probably the only use for something so violent and sudden.
"No! I mean, I don't really think so. Maybe it has a use like its bark is used in potions or something. That must be it," said Remus.
Siandra wasn't convinced that the Whomping Willow wasn't guarding something. Anyway, how could any teacher get near enough to that thing to take the bark from it?
By the time that they had reached the Gryffindor common room on the seventh floor, they were all very tired and it was already half past two. Siandra dropped her books in the large purple armchair in front of the fire (narrowly missing someone's owl) and collapsed with exhaustion in the chair next to it.
"Hey," Siandra realized, "We just survived our very first morning!"
There were a few unenthusiastic "yeahs" from some of the other chairs as Siandra pulled out her homework (a potions pre-test) and started trying to remember all the names for aconite.
* * *
On Wednesday they also had their first Transfiguration lesson with the Slytherins. It turned out to be a great surprise.
Most of the class was a little late, as was common in the first week of school, and the professor of the class, like most of the other teachers on the first week, didn't reprimand them. Instead, she waited until they were all seated and then began her speech.
"Now, some of you may think that transfiguration is an uncomplicated, unnecessary art, but you will find, that in my class, you will each find your own way in transfiguration. Now, I shall pair you up and I will figure out how much you have read over the summer, rather like a pre-test. You will all hand in your books and yes, Mr. Snape?"
Severus had put up his hand, and whispered something to Professor Comora.
You may certainly not keep your textbook! I am in shock that a student would ask me such a question! No student no matter who they are is allowed different attention from the rest. Ten points from Slytherin, Snape, and I shall hope that next time you use better judgment than that to count on a teacher helping you cheat!"
Snape was also in shock. Any other Slytherin alumni's considered themselves benefactors of the Slytherin house and it was practically unknown to him to have a Slytherin teacher take away points from Slytherin house, especially the head of house. He was paired with a Slytherin girl named Anna Wilkes and they weren't having much luck turning their seagull quill into a clock.
Siandra was paired with Gina Rosmerta. Most people weren't having much success with their quills; they were just prodding them with their wands and, occasionally, setting fire to them and having to get Professor Comora to put them out with a spurt of water from her wand. Siandra tried to concentrate, which was very hard to do with feathers bursting into flame all over the classroom, and, when the lesson was over, managed to turn hers into a perfect pocket watch and helped Gina, Sirius, and James transfigure theirs. By the end of the class, they remained the only people who had done so. Snape, James and Sirius were pleased to see, was no exception, having managed only to turn a pair of quills into rather feathery-looking clock hands. Siandra just wished that she had time to help some of the other Gryffindors with theirs.
Peter, for instance, who kept shouting, "El Clockis!" at the top of his lungs and then looking disappointed when he saw that he still had a sad-looking quill resting on his desk. When they had all returned what they had produced to Professor Comora and she had graded them, she announced to the class what she thought of their results.
"Only four people have managed to turn their feather into a satisfactory clock! All of you, except those who managed this test perfectly, will write an essay on this subject! Those who have earned themselves a break from homework include Gina Rosmerta, Siandra Lorington (ooh, it's antique), Sirius Black, and James Potter."
Snape slumped down on his charred desk. It seemed to Siandra that him and James Potter's friends were practically rivals already. She wondered what made them dislike each other that much so quickly.
* * *
Herbology was in the greenhouses outside of the castle. Lily, Siandra and Claire all walked together to it. There were five greenhouses there, but there was a bright-red-haired witch with large plastic goggles herding people into the first one. It was very humid inside. The top was an onion dome with made with greenish-tinted glass. It had a high ceiling and there were rows and rows of plants behind the small area that was marked off for seating. The Professor's desk was at the front of the greenhouse. It had a little pool built into it, which housed water lilies. There was a very pretty fountain near the door. Claire splashed her face with the water from it.
"Whew!" she said, fanning herself with her schedule. "I'm sure hot!"
They stopped dunking their heads in the stone fountain when the Herbology professor came into the class. With their hair dripping onto their hot black robes ("Oh, why did they ever choose to assign us black robes in the summer?" whined Claire) they quickly scurried into their seats. The desks were set up in twos. Siandra sat at a desk with Lily and Claire sat right next to her in a desk with a curly brown-haired Hufflepuff girl that had an overly wide smile on her face.
"Now, class," said the Professor, standing in front of her desk. "I am Professor Ritznan! In this very greenhouse you will learn the secrets to nature and magic and how they mix! I see that some of you are very hot in here and have taken certain measures!" she looked at Siandra, Lily, and Claire pointedly. She seemed to say everything with an exclamation mark. "It'll feel nicer in the cooler months! Feel free to bring bottled water and fans next lesson! Now, let's see…it looks like the temperature is thirty degrees! Perfect for fairy lilies!"
The class groaned.
"I will hand out a bowl to you each! Fairy lilies are very fragile and like to cling to things! Your job is to transfer the lilies into a larger bowl, with more room to grow! All right, work in groups of four with the table to the right of you, I'll pass out the bowls…"
Siandra was paired with Lily, Claire, and the Hufflepuff girl.
"Let's start working! I know a lot about these plants! I can help you three out!" said the Hufflepuff girl.
"Er…are you two related?" Claire asked, waggling her finger between the Hufflepuff girl and Professor Ritznan.
"Yes!" she said, "How did you know?!"
"Ah…" Claire said, "Guessed."
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! Gardenia Ritznan! Nice to meet you!" she said, sticking out her hand. They all shook it in turn. "I'm all wizarding! How about you?! And what are your names?!"
"I'm Lily," said Lily, "And I'm not all wizarding."
"I'm Claire, and I'm all wizarding."
"My name is Siandra, and I'm all wizarding."
"Good!" said Gardenia.
The fairy lilies turned out to be quite hard work. They wanted to stick to the bowl and the twigs in it and absolutely did NOT want to go and be in a bigger bowl. Not only that, but because they were so frantic for something to cling to, they clung to Siandra, Lily, Claire, and Gardenia. The first time this happened, it was something of a surprise.
"AHHH!" screamed Lily. "It's leeching me!"
"Don't worry!" consoled Gardenia.
"Why? The thing is attached to me!"
"Just pull it off!" said Gardenia as though this was something that one learns in second grade.
"Oh," said Lily, already embarrassed about the fuss she made.
After they had transplanted all of the fairy lilies, they went over to the fountain to rinse off their hands and then hurried off to Charms.
* * *
Siandra woke up. It took her a moment to figure out exactly why. Then she saw that Lily and Claire were both prodding her.
"It's not time for breakfast yet!" she moaned, and scooted back under her covers.
"Astronomy!" hissed Lily.
"All right then…I'm coming…." she moaned groggily.
Siandra got up and dressed silently into her black Hogwarts uniform. It was a little sweaty from the Herbology lesson that afternoon, but she put it on anyway and just put a small black dress underneath. She started poking the other residents in her dorm.
"Molly, come on…" she coaxed. Molly was refusing to get up.
" — but — but, it's still dark!" she protested.
"So? It's supposed to be! Astronomy, remember? It's at midnight in the tallest tower. It's eleven fifteen now and you still have to change!"
"Oh, fine." Molly said grumpily as she pulled herself out of bed.
Meanwhile everyone who was up was having difficulty with Leanne. She wouldn't even wake up enough to talk clearly.
" — I must've picked up the jelly slugs…" mumbled Leanne.
"YES, YOU MUST'VE, NOW WAKE UP!" yelled Gina.
Leanne stayed fast asleep under the moon and star coverlet.
Lily ripped the covers off of her. Still no reaction from Leanne.
"Mm…those acid pops sure are good…" trailed off Leanne.
All at once the girls decided to jump heavily on Leanne's bed. There was still no response from Leanne until Betty accidentally on purpose fell over Leanne's feet.
"NO, I HAVE NO OWL TREATS!" yelled Leanne as she jumped out of bed. "Oh," she said, awake now, "It's you. I'll get dressed for breakfast now."
"Astronomy," corrected Claire.
"Okay, then, Astronomy class."
Once they were all changed and ready, including Leanne, they ascended the long flight of stairs to the Astronomy tower.
"Ah…" panted Leanne, "I wish we could ride on those suits of armor. I know they can walk, why can't we just ride on them?"
"I'm no common mule!" protested a tinny voice projecting from a suit near the right wall.
"I didn't know they could talk!" said Leanne to the armor.
"I didn't either," it said.
Finally they arrived, panting, at the highest tower. They were, to their great disappointment, paired with the Slytherins for Astronomy.
The astronomy room was very pretty. It had a high domed ceiling, which showed a velvety black sky with silver stars twinkling on it. It looked exactly like it could be real, but it was not, and you could rotate it by the press of a silver button shaped like a full moon near the doorway. The doorway was arched upwards and was decorated with twinkling stars around the arch. The doorknob was in the shape of a golden five-sided star. It lead out to a circular stone deck with gargoyles stationed at the sides and about seventy-four telescope stands stationed around the edges. Inside it was decorated with quite a lot of silver. A silver lion head had an open mouth that showed the moon in it. Across from that was a coiled up snake, which held Betelgeuse in its coils. The Ravenclaw eagle held North Star in its talons and the Hufflepuff badger stood on the Big Dipper and sniffed it.
Siandra took her seat with Lily, Claire, and Betty since the desks were in fours. The only desk not fully occupied was James's gang's desk, because Remus was absent. Then the Astronomy teacher came in. She was very pretty and had shimmering black hair past her waist. She had the deepest blue eyes that Siandra had ever seen; they looked almost purple. At first she thought the teacher was rather scary.
"I am NOT a night owl," Leanne said rather loudly.
"Good," said Lily, "Because it's morning."
"Hello, class," she said. She had a very flowing voice. "My name is Moira Rusalka, but you may call me Moira. Now, start off, let's see if anyone knows all the planets in order."
Lily immediately popped up her hand. Here was something that you did not need wizarding experience for.
"And what is your name?"
"Lily Evans." she answered promptly.
"And you will tell us the planets, young lady?"
"Yes. They are as follows: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the recently discovered Pluto."
There was a snort from across the room. It was Snape.
"And?" he said, gleefully anticipating the answer.
"Well everyone knows that there are only nine planets in the solar system," said Lily.
"And now everyone knows that some people are stupid enough to not open a book before they come here."
Lily turned bright red.
"Aw, shut it, you." James said, chucking a telescope lens at Snape. It hit him on the hand.
"OW!" he said, "Professor!" he whined.
"James, we do not throw precious science objects at hard places where they might break. That is a point from Gryffindor. Snape, we do not make fun or provoke people. Ten points from Slytherin."
James settled in his seat. He had decided that he definitely liked Moira.
"Now, for everyone's information, after the first nine planets Lily so correctly named for us, there are Hera, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Regiza.
Full moon tonight, then, let's get out and do some moon gazing! I trust that you've brought your telescopes? Yes? Chop-chop, then!"
She hustled the students out through the arched doorway and onto the large deck. The moon was very bright and glowing that night.
"It's a harvest moon," she told them, "Even though it looks bigger, it actually isn't. Harvest Moon is a good time for moon gazing, but bad for stars because of all the light. Focus your telescopes in on the moon and study the craters. After you have, get your quills and inks out and draw a picture of it for me. Study this for the rest of class. Your homework is to name and describe the four closest stars to us. To get us started, what is the nearest star to us? Can anyone name it?"
"The North Star!" shouted Leanne.
"Don't be silly, it's Alpha Centauri!" corrected Anna Wilkes.
"No," said Moira, "The closest star to us is our own sun, now get to work, homework is due next Wednesday!"
"Oh…" said quite a few people about the sun. Doubtless it had never occurred to them that the sun was actually a star.
* * *
By the end of the week Siandra had been to all of her classes twice and had a big Herbology essay that was due next week. Lily and her were partnered together for this essay and they still had to find about thirty more herbs around the Hogwarts grounds. They were both, at the moment, pouring over large dusty volumes in the library trying to find out where they might find some herbs. They didn't know for sure how the other people were doing, but Siandra was sure that her and Lily were far behind, but the only reason that she thought this was because of her personal standards.
Siandra gazed absently from the window, her eyes wandering from the old Herbology textbook and saw a small person walking around with Ogg and surveying the grounds. She looked again and decided that "small" wasn't quite the right word for he quite towered over Ogg. No, she thought, the right word was "young" because he couldn't be more than 25, probably younger. And at the edge of the green lawn, she saw something that made her mind click.
"Lily!" she whispered loudly in Lily's general direction.
"What?" asked Lily, turning from her thick, leather-bound book.
"Over at the edge of the grounds! Why didn't I think of that before? There must be millions of herbs in there!"
"Of course!" said Lily, "The forest."