"What's this?" Asked Tris, pulling out a long, thin stick from the inside
of her robes.
"Your wand," said Lavender, then she added, "wow, it's really weird to see you not even knowing what a wand is, Hermione!"
"I see," Said Tris, "so, what do I do with it?"
"Er- you cast spells." Said Lavender, pulling out her own wand. "For example: Petrificus Totalus!" She pointed her wand at an unsuspecting Neville Longbottom, who was answering more of Sandry's questions. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell to the ground with a thud. Lavender smiled. "I learned that one from Harry last year."
"Oh." Said Tris, staring at what Lavender had done.
"You can do pretty much all spells imaginable, but they are a lot more difficult than they look." Lavender informed Tris expertly.
Tris looked over to Sandry and Briar; Daja was in the Slytherin common room. Sandry had her eyebrows raised in disbelief at something Ginny had said. Briar was watching Neville and was wearing the same kind of expression as Tris: complete awe.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So, do we have to go to one class every day?" Asked Sandry
"Well, not every day- and usually we have more than a few classes," replied Ginny, rubbing her arms and legs as she got up off the floor.
"What are the classes we will have? What are they about?
"Well we have charms, we learn lots of things like levitating objects in there, we have transfiguration, and there you turn things you don't need into things you can use, we have potions, you remember that, right? Well in there we make all sorts of potions. You have Divination, you won't like that- it's all future-telling and crazy stuff like that. Care of Magical creatures is another class. That is out on the grounds. You'll learn to take care of magical animals in there. We have history of Magic- that is extremely boring, and you will be asleep in no time. Herbology is something you might like. You get to learn about all sorts of magical plants," said Ginny.
"Oh, Briar will like that one!" Said Sandry, chuckling.
"Yeah-okay," said Ginny.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Why did Daja have to turn into the Slytherin? She had been stuck getting questions answered by this ugly-faced idiot of a Slytherin named Pansy Parkinson for two hours already. Daja now understood this place a little bit better, but she had decided that she HATED Pansy Parkinson.
"So, what is quid-itch?" asked Daja, "I heard someone say something about that."
"Draco, you're usually the best quidditch player at Hogwarts, you are seeker. The seeker tries to catch the tiny golden ball."
"What's so magical about that?" Asked Daja, rather rudely.
"It's played on broomsticks. And I think most of the balls fly."
"So you sweep the floor, do you?" Asked Daja sarcastically.
Pansy's eyebrows rose. "Well, obviously they're flying."
"Oh."
"You seem really stupid now." Commented Pansy, "And Draco, if you still had your memory, you'd be practicing quidditch right now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What?" Asked Draco in disbelief. Why did they have to keep these people's schedule? Now he was stuck with this man, named Frostpine, who scared Draco severely.
"I said could you hand me that slab of copper?" Said Frostpine pointing again at the piece of metal lying in the middle of the forge fire.
"But there's nothing to grab it with!" Said Draco.
"Use your hand." Replied Frostpine.
"But-but that'll hurt!" Whimpered Draco
"You'll live," Frostpine sighed sarcastically.
"Er-um-okay," Draco slowly lowered his hand toward the flame. 'This man is crazy,' thought Draco, before bracing himself and thrusting his hand into the fire.
He drew back with a yelp. No pain! Frostpine rolled his eyes. Draco examined his hand. It looked the same as it had ever since he had turned into the girl.
Draco carefully put his hand in the forge again and felt a soothingly warm sensation. He wrapped his fingers around the slab of red-hot metal, pulled it out of the fire, and handed it to Frostpine.
Turning around, he thrust his hands and forearms into the blaze. For a few moments, he felt only mild heat, comforting the skin that had been nearly frozen earlier that day. Then he began to realize that his long-sleeved blouse no longer had any sleeves- they had been burned off! The cloth was ablaze up to his shoulders and a ways down his back and sides.
"Whoa!" Draco yelped, startled. "I-whoa! Help- Postyfine, no Frosty Pine- Fire!"
Frostpine turned to face Draco and sighed in a way that made it obvious that Daja would never have bothered him with such an unimportant comment. Then Draco added dejectedly, "but it really didn't seem that hot!" "It's doesn't matter! Sandry can always make you another tunic."
"Yeah, but- "
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I hate this." Said Ron angrily after the tenth time his work had come undone. "Sewing is for girls!"
"Don't worry, dear. Its not that bad." Said Lark kindly.
"I got stuck here because of Malfoy and what do I get? Sewing. And HOW am I supposed to work with these claws for fingernails!?" said Ron, eyeing them with dislike. " How do girls live with that?? And whenever I actually TRY to concentrate, this STUPID HAIR falls in my way." He yelled, his fists full of light brown hair.
"You'll get used to it. Eventually." Said Lark, trying to suppress a grin. "Let's try this again."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Er- um- Rosethorn?" said Harry hesitantly "um- this plant is- er- attacking me."
"Be firm with it. Tell it to get off." Said Rosethorn, grinning at what looked like Briar getting tied up with a vine that was particularly fond of him.
"Um- how?" Asked Harry, for all he knew, he might just accidentally get suffocated by this plant. Harry could somehow tell that the plant was just being naughty. Rosethorn didn't answer him.
Harry thought for a moment, and then firmly willed the plant off of him. It didn't budge. Harry willed it more sternly still, until finally began to recede into the stem.
"OK. Follow me." Said Rosethorn, leading him to a patch of plants that were growing slightly wildly over the edge of the patch of ground. "Now, weeding."
"Er- okay." Harry had only weeded a few times in Aunt Petunia's patch of flowers, but those were muggle plants, he had no idea what would happen if he tried to weed like that. None of these plants were even close to the ones in the greenhouses at Hogwarts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"We're going to start meditating today." Said Niko, sitting cross-legged on the floor and indicating for Hermione to do the same.
"Okay," said Hermione, after she had sat down like Niko, "is this going to be hard? Do you have a book I could read on it?"
"I do not have any books on meditation, and the difficulty varies from person to person. Breathe in, hold, and breathe out for counts seven, concentrate on your breathing, and try not to think about anything else."
"How can I think of nothing?" asked Hermione, "there's too much to think about!"
"Just try your best." Said Niko.
Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath for a count of seven like Niko had said.
She was doing quite well for three breaths before her thoughts began to wander. 'I wonder if we'll ever get back to Hogwarts.' Hermione thought helplessly.
'Hermione! Can you PLEASE keep your thoughts to yourself!' Thought Ron. 'I'm TRYING to concentrate on my needlework!'
Hermione burst out laughing at Ron's last comment. She was having a very hard time picturing Ron doing needlework.
"What is the matter?" Asked Niko, startled at Hermione's sudden outburst.
"Ron- n- needle- needlework! HA!" Choked Hermione.
"Hmm- yes- well he'll get the hang of it sooner or later." Said Niko.
"Alright," said Hermione, settling down, "What do I do again?"
"Count to seven- in-and hold-now breath out." Niko's voice became softer and more distant. "Good, Tris, now feel for your magic. Calm it, collect it together inside you." Hermione could feel her magic gather inside her body.
She gradually began to feel smoother and longer. She was moving very fast, and then slowly again. She was the wind. The wind/Hermione raced along the knolls and up hills. She could feel the unease of a thunderstorm coming closer to Winding Circle. With her magic, Hermione searched the air for water droplets and found them a few inches from where she/the wind was hovering. Finding them comforted her. She beckoned them toward her. Wrapping them around each other and herself, she formed a small cloud of water. Letting it go, again, they rushed to the ground as if in one large raindrop. Amazed, Hermione stretched out her magic to take hold of another handful of water, she felt someone calling her from a very long way off. Reluctant to leave Hermione slowly turned around and rushed back to her body.
Feeling her stiff limbs cramping up Hermione could hear Niko's voice, now.
"Hermione?" Niko's voice asked calmly, "Are you alright?"
"Wow." Hermione whispered.
"Good. Could you please move your rain cloud away from me?" Hermione's eyes popped open to take in a drenched Niko sitting in a rather large mud puddle beside her. Looking up Hermione noticed a small black cloud, hovering directly over their heads. Then glancing down at her own clothing, she realized that she was wet from head to toe and shivering slightly.
"Uh- er- I guess I could try," said Hermione.
Trying to collect her magic, Hermione shoved the little black cloud across the yard. Sighing, Niko thanked her saying he had to leave.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I think I've got the hang of this!" Harry yelled to Rosethorn. She grinned at the section of garden she was weeding. Suddenly Harry yelled, "Get it off! I didn't mean to hurt it! Aaargh! Rosethorn! Help!"
Rosethorn turned to look at Harry, who was struggling with a large plant that was stationed three feet from where he was supposed to be working.
"Just say you are sorry, Harry." Rosethorn said.
"S-s-sorry," stuttered Harry facing the attacking plant. "I d-didn't mean to bother you or-or anything like that."
Rosethorn sighed. He was very new at this.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AN:
Sorry it took so long. And don't worry- Briar will be in the next chapter! Also sorry this chapter's so long. There was just sooo much to say! PLEASE R&R! REVIEWS ARE GOOD! (lol)
"Your wand," said Lavender, then she added, "wow, it's really weird to see you not even knowing what a wand is, Hermione!"
"I see," Said Tris, "so, what do I do with it?"
"Er- you cast spells." Said Lavender, pulling out her own wand. "For example: Petrificus Totalus!" She pointed her wand at an unsuspecting Neville Longbottom, who was answering more of Sandry's questions. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell to the ground with a thud. Lavender smiled. "I learned that one from Harry last year."
"Oh." Said Tris, staring at what Lavender had done.
"You can do pretty much all spells imaginable, but they are a lot more difficult than they look." Lavender informed Tris expertly.
Tris looked over to Sandry and Briar; Daja was in the Slytherin common room. Sandry had her eyebrows raised in disbelief at something Ginny had said. Briar was watching Neville and was wearing the same kind of expression as Tris: complete awe.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So, do we have to go to one class every day?" Asked Sandry
"Well, not every day- and usually we have more than a few classes," replied Ginny, rubbing her arms and legs as she got up off the floor.
"What are the classes we will have? What are they about?
"Well we have charms, we learn lots of things like levitating objects in there, we have transfiguration, and there you turn things you don't need into things you can use, we have potions, you remember that, right? Well in there we make all sorts of potions. You have Divination, you won't like that- it's all future-telling and crazy stuff like that. Care of Magical creatures is another class. That is out on the grounds. You'll learn to take care of magical animals in there. We have history of Magic- that is extremely boring, and you will be asleep in no time. Herbology is something you might like. You get to learn about all sorts of magical plants," said Ginny.
"Oh, Briar will like that one!" Said Sandry, chuckling.
"Yeah-okay," said Ginny.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Why did Daja have to turn into the Slytherin? She had been stuck getting questions answered by this ugly-faced idiot of a Slytherin named Pansy Parkinson for two hours already. Daja now understood this place a little bit better, but she had decided that she HATED Pansy Parkinson.
"So, what is quid-itch?" asked Daja, "I heard someone say something about that."
"Draco, you're usually the best quidditch player at Hogwarts, you are seeker. The seeker tries to catch the tiny golden ball."
"What's so magical about that?" Asked Daja, rather rudely.
"It's played on broomsticks. And I think most of the balls fly."
"So you sweep the floor, do you?" Asked Daja sarcastically.
Pansy's eyebrows rose. "Well, obviously they're flying."
"Oh."
"You seem really stupid now." Commented Pansy, "And Draco, if you still had your memory, you'd be practicing quidditch right now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What?" Asked Draco in disbelief. Why did they have to keep these people's schedule? Now he was stuck with this man, named Frostpine, who scared Draco severely.
"I said could you hand me that slab of copper?" Said Frostpine pointing again at the piece of metal lying in the middle of the forge fire.
"But there's nothing to grab it with!" Said Draco.
"Use your hand." Replied Frostpine.
"But-but that'll hurt!" Whimpered Draco
"You'll live," Frostpine sighed sarcastically.
"Er-um-okay," Draco slowly lowered his hand toward the flame. 'This man is crazy,' thought Draco, before bracing himself and thrusting his hand into the fire.
He drew back with a yelp. No pain! Frostpine rolled his eyes. Draco examined his hand. It looked the same as it had ever since he had turned into the girl.
Draco carefully put his hand in the forge again and felt a soothingly warm sensation. He wrapped his fingers around the slab of red-hot metal, pulled it out of the fire, and handed it to Frostpine.
Turning around, he thrust his hands and forearms into the blaze. For a few moments, he felt only mild heat, comforting the skin that had been nearly frozen earlier that day. Then he began to realize that his long-sleeved blouse no longer had any sleeves- they had been burned off! The cloth was ablaze up to his shoulders and a ways down his back and sides.
"Whoa!" Draco yelped, startled. "I-whoa! Help- Postyfine, no Frosty Pine- Fire!"
Frostpine turned to face Draco and sighed in a way that made it obvious that Daja would never have bothered him with such an unimportant comment. Then Draco added dejectedly, "but it really didn't seem that hot!" "It's doesn't matter! Sandry can always make you another tunic."
"Yeah, but- "
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I hate this." Said Ron angrily after the tenth time his work had come undone. "Sewing is for girls!"
"Don't worry, dear. Its not that bad." Said Lark kindly.
"I got stuck here because of Malfoy and what do I get? Sewing. And HOW am I supposed to work with these claws for fingernails!?" said Ron, eyeing them with dislike. " How do girls live with that?? And whenever I actually TRY to concentrate, this STUPID HAIR falls in my way." He yelled, his fists full of light brown hair.
"You'll get used to it. Eventually." Said Lark, trying to suppress a grin. "Let's try this again."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Er- um- Rosethorn?" said Harry hesitantly "um- this plant is- er- attacking me."
"Be firm with it. Tell it to get off." Said Rosethorn, grinning at what looked like Briar getting tied up with a vine that was particularly fond of him.
"Um- how?" Asked Harry, for all he knew, he might just accidentally get suffocated by this plant. Harry could somehow tell that the plant was just being naughty. Rosethorn didn't answer him.
Harry thought for a moment, and then firmly willed the plant off of him. It didn't budge. Harry willed it more sternly still, until finally began to recede into the stem.
"OK. Follow me." Said Rosethorn, leading him to a patch of plants that were growing slightly wildly over the edge of the patch of ground. "Now, weeding."
"Er- okay." Harry had only weeded a few times in Aunt Petunia's patch of flowers, but those were muggle plants, he had no idea what would happen if he tried to weed like that. None of these plants were even close to the ones in the greenhouses at Hogwarts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"We're going to start meditating today." Said Niko, sitting cross-legged on the floor and indicating for Hermione to do the same.
"Okay," said Hermione, after she had sat down like Niko, "is this going to be hard? Do you have a book I could read on it?"
"I do not have any books on meditation, and the difficulty varies from person to person. Breathe in, hold, and breathe out for counts seven, concentrate on your breathing, and try not to think about anything else."
"How can I think of nothing?" asked Hermione, "there's too much to think about!"
"Just try your best." Said Niko.
Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath for a count of seven like Niko had said.
She was doing quite well for three breaths before her thoughts began to wander. 'I wonder if we'll ever get back to Hogwarts.' Hermione thought helplessly.
'Hermione! Can you PLEASE keep your thoughts to yourself!' Thought Ron. 'I'm TRYING to concentrate on my needlework!'
Hermione burst out laughing at Ron's last comment. She was having a very hard time picturing Ron doing needlework.
"What is the matter?" Asked Niko, startled at Hermione's sudden outburst.
"Ron- n- needle- needlework! HA!" Choked Hermione.
"Hmm- yes- well he'll get the hang of it sooner or later." Said Niko.
"Alright," said Hermione, settling down, "What do I do again?"
"Count to seven- in-and hold-now breath out." Niko's voice became softer and more distant. "Good, Tris, now feel for your magic. Calm it, collect it together inside you." Hermione could feel her magic gather inside her body.
She gradually began to feel smoother and longer. She was moving very fast, and then slowly again. She was the wind. The wind/Hermione raced along the knolls and up hills. She could feel the unease of a thunderstorm coming closer to Winding Circle. With her magic, Hermione searched the air for water droplets and found them a few inches from where she/the wind was hovering. Finding them comforted her. She beckoned them toward her. Wrapping them around each other and herself, she formed a small cloud of water. Letting it go, again, they rushed to the ground as if in one large raindrop. Amazed, Hermione stretched out her magic to take hold of another handful of water, she felt someone calling her from a very long way off. Reluctant to leave Hermione slowly turned around and rushed back to her body.
Feeling her stiff limbs cramping up Hermione could hear Niko's voice, now.
"Hermione?" Niko's voice asked calmly, "Are you alright?"
"Wow." Hermione whispered.
"Good. Could you please move your rain cloud away from me?" Hermione's eyes popped open to take in a drenched Niko sitting in a rather large mud puddle beside her. Looking up Hermione noticed a small black cloud, hovering directly over their heads. Then glancing down at her own clothing, she realized that she was wet from head to toe and shivering slightly.
"Uh- er- I guess I could try," said Hermione.
Trying to collect her magic, Hermione shoved the little black cloud across the yard. Sighing, Niko thanked her saying he had to leave.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I think I've got the hang of this!" Harry yelled to Rosethorn. She grinned at the section of garden she was weeding. Suddenly Harry yelled, "Get it off! I didn't mean to hurt it! Aaargh! Rosethorn! Help!"
Rosethorn turned to look at Harry, who was struggling with a large plant that was stationed three feet from where he was supposed to be working.
"Just say you are sorry, Harry." Rosethorn said.
"S-s-sorry," stuttered Harry facing the attacking plant. "I d-didn't mean to bother you or-or anything like that."
Rosethorn sighed. He was very new at this.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AN:
Sorry it took so long. And don't worry- Briar will be in the next chapter! Also sorry this chapter's so long. There was just sooo much to say! PLEASE R&R! REVIEWS ARE GOOD! (lol)