Author's note: Well here it is, sorry it took me a while to get this up, but you know how these things go. I apologize for any typos that are in here, I did the best I could to find them all. Well read on!
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Chapter 11: Classes Begin
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The next morning Ron, Harry, Hermione and Celia sat at breakfast looking over their schedules.
"Look at this Monday!" Ron was exclaiming. "No Potions! We don't have to see Snape until tomorrow!"
"What's so bad about potions?" Celia asked, looking up from her own schedule. "I'd think it'd be fun!"
"Well, the subject's fine, it's the potions master we don't like." Hermione explained.
"Don't like?" Ron questioned. "Don't like? That's the biggest understatement of the year! The man is pure evil!"
"Wow, is he really that bad?" Celia looked to Harry to even out the extremes of Ron and Hermione.
"Oh, I imagine he's not so bad to the other houses, he definitely likes Slytherin a lot. But I suppose he just hates all of Gryffindor house; especially me."
"Wow." was all Celia could say as she looked back down at her schedule. "Lets see, history of magic, transfiguration, Herbology, Care of magical creatures? That sounds cool, and then I have lunch, Charms, hey wait a second! Ron lemme see your schedule!" She commanded, grabbing it from him.
"What's wrong?" Asked Ginny, sitting down next to Celia. "Hey! You're in my potions! Look!" She said, pulling out her own schedule.
"Yeah you're right, but -" Celia looked over the three schedules "I'm in 5th year potions as well!"
"They put you in every day? That's rotten luck!" Ron said, comparing the two. "It looks as though they've given you an extra Defense Against the Dark Arts as well." Ron finished.
"You've got a bit of extra transfiguration too." Harry pointed out.
"Man! I'm going to be working all day!"
"No, look, they haven't given you any divinations, and you've only got History of Magic twice a week, you only have as much class time as everyone else." Hermione showed her. Celia was noticeably relieved at this and the 5 of them went about placing when and with whom all of her classes were.
"Let's see, I've got History of Magic, transfiguration, and Herbology with you," Celia listed, motioning towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Then Care of Magical Creatures."
"Harry and I have divinations then," Ron told her.
"I have arithmancy." Hermione said. Celia turned towards Ginny
"You're not with me either; I have History of Magic before lunch."
"Then who do I have it with? I'm not alone am I?" Celia wondered aloud. Just then Fred and George sat down across from Celia.
"Hey guys, do you have Care of Magical Creatures right before lunch?"
"Oh, hello to you too." George quipped while Fred went digging for his schedule. Celia smirked at him.
"Sorry, did you sleep well? No nightmares about being turned into birds or anything right?" Celia teased.
"No actually, I dreamt up a great prank to pull on you, you might want to watch what you're drinking for a few days." Never putting anything past them, Celia grabbed her cup from the table and peered inside. George snorted and began to laugh when Celia realized he was joking.
"Very funny." Celia said, feigning curtness and flushing a little. Fred had his schedule now and was studying it casually.
"Yeah, that's it, why?" He asked. Celia looked shocked.
"How did I manage to be 2 years ahead in that when I have extra of everything else?" Celia asked.
"Well, Care of Magical Creatures is a pretty easy class; I guess Dumbledore figured you'd do alright in it. And you get to be with your own age for a bit." Ginny suggested.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Celia agreed. "Okay," She continued "so then we all have lunch right?" The group nodded. "Then after lunch I have charms with you 3" Again indicating Ron, Harry, and Hermione. "Potions with Ginny, and Defense Against the Dark Arts with, oh, Ginny again." She said, looking over the schedules. "Then tomorrow it's the same except I've got potions and Dark Arts with you 3 instead of Ginny. Am I right on that? Yes." She said, checking the schedules and answering herself.
"Potions everyday? That's rough!" Lee commented, having heard her last bit as he took a seat at the table. Celia let out a short laugh.
"Man, this teacher must be really horrible! I almost want to go just to see for myself." Celia commented finishing up her breakfast.
"Trust me," Harry said. "You won't want that for long."
For the rest of breakfast, the group talked about their plans for the year ahead and Harry, Fred and George took their bets on who would be made new captain of the house team, as Wood had graduated last year, it left a spot open on the team, as well as a need for a new captain. The three of them guessed that the tryouts would be announced within the coming week. When breakfast was finished, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Celia made their way to their first class; History of Magic, with Professor Binns. Walking in, Celia noticed the professor at the front of the room.
"He's a ghost?!" The rest of the class didn't seem too surprised at the condition of their teacher, but Celia nearly couldn't believe it.
"Oh yeah, don't mention it to him though," Ron told her. "we're not sure if he's noticed yet."
"What?" Celia asked suppressing a giggle. The 3 of them smiled.
"They're only saying that because they think he's a little boring." Hermione told her.
"A little boring is not the word Hermione," Ron began. He turned to Celia to explain. "He was in the teacher's room when he kicked it. Word has it he was sleeping in his chair and died in his sleep. Then when it was time for class his ghost stood up and headed off to class; leaving his body behind." Celia looked as though she couldn't contain her laughter.
"That poor class! Walking in to a ghost for a teacher!" Celia exclaimed. "What on earth killed him?"
"Old age definitely, the man's been here longer than any other teacher. We're not even sure if Dumbledore's been here as long as him." Harry explained. Something about what Harry said gave Celia an idea.
"So, you'd definitely say he's the oldest professor here right?" Celia asked, feeling excited.
"Oh I'd say so, without a doubt." Hermione answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, you remember the sorting hat's song last night?" The three nodded. "Well, I asked the hat when it was sorting me what the legend was about, and it told me to ask the oldest professor at Hogwarts about it; he thought that person would know, so if this professor is the oldest, then I'll ask him." She told the three of them who were looking at her as though approving of something.
As Celia moved into a row of seats, Ron leaned into Harry and Hermione whispering "I think we've already had a bad influence on her."
"You two are just a bad influence on everyone aren't you?" Hermione said jokingly, moving to follow Celia to her seat. Harry just shrugged at Ron and the two of them followed to their seats.
This class, like so many others, they had with the Slytherins. Celia and the others saw Malfoy walk in with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle. The two groups exchanged glances but had no time for anything else as Professor Binns had already begun lecturing on the battle for what was called middle earth and the banding together of elves & dwarves, wizards and muggles, and these strange mini-creatures called hobbits. The subject would have been interesting it if was being taught by anyone other than this teacher. He was going on about a Balrog demon when Celia raised her hand. Celia assumed that this was not something that happened often, because it wasn't for a few minutes of staring silently at her that Professor Binns even realized what she was doing.
"Yes, Miss Alanus, did you have something to say?" He asked her cautiously, as if expecting her to say that she was only stretching or give some other reason for her hand being in the air. The whole class was now watching her. Apparently, the break in his speech had given some of the more asleep students the impression that class had ended already.
"Well, yes, you see, I was wondering if you know anything about the Legend of Alana?" At the finish of this, many of the students looked like they didn't know what she was talking about, though they looked keen for Binns to get off topic and quickly assumed positions of paying close attention to this new conversation.
"Where in the world did you hear about that?" The professor asked, genuinely curious.
"It was the legend that the sorting hat sang about last night. It told me that you would know about it." For a moment it looked as though he hadn't heard, but then he looked very pleased with himself.
"Yes, well, I suppose I would know about it." He said, inflating somewhat. He glanced at the time. "Well, I suppose we have the time for me to tell you about it. Celia smiled and straightened in her desk. Many of the students in the room did the same. To her side, Malfoy, without looking like he cared, was also paying attention to what Binns was about to say.
"In the time of Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin, there was a prophecy made about dark times that would lead to the destruction of the world. It was said that there would be a time when a small fight made would determine the future of not only wizards but all life. Back then, there was a group of wizards who were devoted to the protection of life. One of which was Godric's son Garret. This group awaited the time when the one who would save the world would arrive."
"When did the savior arrive?" Hermione asked, taking a nervous glance at Harry.
"It never did. If they were alive today, they would still be waiting. I can however, make a guess as to who exactly is going to cause the destruction."
"You mean Voldemort?" Harry questioned. Binns, despite the gasps around the room made no sign of fear at hearing the name. Hearing the gasps around the room, Celia looked at Harry and suddenly realized that there was a factor to this world of which she was totally unaware.
"Well, like I said Mr. Potter, it's only a guess." He continued. "Now, this group of wizards consisted of 4 wizards and 2 witches. They called themselves 'The Aude Arlene' meaning 'the blessed promise.' These 6 made a pact that when the savior did arrive, they would be there to serve him."
"But how is that possible?" Celia asked.
"Descendents, obviously Alanus." Malfoy said snidely. On instinct, Celia turned to say something back at him but then realized what he had said.
"Of course!" She said genuinely "I didn't even think of that!" Malfoy looked somewhat taken aback, as though expecting her to make a snide remark. When he saw otherwise he just shrugged at her and she turned back to Professor Binns smiling.
"Yes, Bravo, as Mr. Malfoy said, they promised that their descendants would be there." He paused here as though catching up to his story. "Anyway," He began again, "no such savior has ever arrived." It was clear that this was the end of his story, and so, as time had run out, the students began gathering their things to head to their next classes. Celia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione left class together discussing the legend.
"It's strange isn't it?" Hermione began, "I mean, why would the hat pick this year to tell us about a legend?" Celia shrugged.
"Legend awareness month?"
"That's not it," Ron declared. "It felt bad for us having to hear about the ring wars of the past. And speaking of which, what was wrong with them? Four hobbits, 2 muggles, a dwarf, and elf and a fully grown wizard, and the brain-dead troll still got a shot at him! Harry and I took on a mountain troll when we were 11! And we didn't get ourselves stabbed did we? Honestly! It's a disgrace!" Ron continued to rant about the evils of boring lectures all the way to transfiguration. Celia spent that time smiling and half listening to him complain. Mostly she was thinking about the legend. When they arrived at transfiguration Celia began to get excited. Professor McGonagall came in and announced that in preparation for the O.W.L.s that they must all take at the end of the year, they would spend the week reviewing the first 4 years of class. Celia saw her glance her way and she smiled and silently thanked her for it.
Their next class was Herbology, during which they learned about the many properties of the Jub-Bubble plant which, they were told, they would be planting and caring for starting next week.
"Now," Madame Sprout was saying, "The Jub-Bubble plant is rather small and needs to be around it's planter in order to fully develop, so you will all be taking them with you wherever you go. Which brings us to your assignment. Because you will all have to keep your plant alive and in good health in order to get passing marks I want you all to write for me an essay, only one parchment long, discussing properties of, and proper caring techniques for the Jub-Bubble plant, to be handed in to me at the end of the week."
After Herbology, Celia was to report to Professor McGonagall for some extra lessons in transfiguration. She told Harry, Ron, and Hermione to head on to lunch and that she would catch up a bit later. On her way back to the Transfiguration department she heard something that sounded like a struggle. Two people were arguing about something.
"No! You can't do that Pansy! That's rotten!"
"Oh she deserves it Patsy! Making a huge scene like that! Draco was sour about it for the rest of the night!"
"She seemed nice enough to me! Maybe she was really just happy to be in Gryffindor!"
"Oh grow up! You are so naive! Don't worry though, just a bit of this and I'm sure not even a Weasley would date her!"
Celia could not believe what she was hearing. The voices were definitely those of Pansy Parkinson and her 1st-year sister Patsy. 'I don't know what her problem is with me but I don't see why she has to insult the Weasleys! They are the kindest, nicest people I know!' She thought, anger swelling up inside. She was about to storm in ranting about it when she heard another voice.
"What are you doing?" It was Malfoy.
"Oh Draco, it's so wonderful, I'm making a Wartcap potion to give to that silly little git that Fred Weasley is dating. She'll think twice before upsetting you again." There was a strange pause, during which Celia wondered whether or not she should interrupt.
"Dump it." She heard Malfoy say.
'What?' She thought as Pansy shouted the word.
"You heard me, dump it; she's not an enemy." Celia was in as much shock as Pansy was.
"But, but Draco! What she did to you!" As she was saying this, Celia heard footsteps followed by the sound of liquid being dumped into a drain. Malfoy had just defended her, to another Slytherin no less. That one event alone was enough to dissolve all the anger that had built up inside her. Maybe Malfoy wasn't really as bad as he acted most of the time. Deciding that she had heard enough, she ran the rest of the way to her transfiguration lesson trying not to be too late.
"Goodness! You seem to be rather out of breath Miss Alanus, I don't hope to believe that is because of your desire to learn." Professor McGonagall commented as Celia entered the room. "Perhaps you got lost?"
"No. Sorry Professor, I got distracted on my way here and ran when I realized that I was late."
"Well, had this been a real class I would be taking 5 points from Gryffindor house, but being just a one on one lesson, I daresay we can afford to be more informal. This is not an invitation to be late again however, you realize that don't you?"
"Yes, professor, sorry, it won't happen again."
"Good. Now, I noticed that you were having some trouble with your transfiguration today." Celia looked down and felt a little out of place. "Oh there's no need for embarrassment, not many students get it right away. You have to remember that your classmates have been doing transfiguration for 5 years and you have only just started today."
"Maybe if I had more magic in me-"
"Oh nonsense, Mr. Longbottom is as pure as they come and he was having just as much trouble as you were." Celia felt a great surge of relief at hearing this. She really was having trouble with the magic bits and she was so sure it was on account of her lack of magical ability. It was this fact that fuelled her next question.
"Excuse me professor, could you tell me how you can tell that there is any magic in me at all?" Professor McGonagall sighed before answering this new question.
"Well Celia, I have to say I was expecting you to ask me this question eventually, and I have to tell you that there is no doubt that you are as much a witch as I am." Celia, who had been expecting an unwanted answer, looked at McGonagall, now intrigued. "There are a great deal of precautions set up as to avoid muggles ever laying their eyes on this school. But that is only a small part of it. I daresay you have ridden the broom that your parents got you?" Celia nodded. "And when you bought your wand, did it react with you?" Celia again nodded. "And I along with the rest of the school saw you get sorted last night. None of these things would be possible had you been a muggle. The only thing a muggle can do with a broomstick is clean their floors!" Celia laughed at the tone of voice professor McGonagall used when she had said it. As if cleaning your floor with a broom was the most absurd idea she had ever heard.
"Believe me Celia, had you been born here and not in the States, your name most definitely would have been on the list with everyone else your age. You just have to believe in your own magic."
During the remainder of the lesson, Professor McGonagall gave Celia numerous things to transfigure and when it was time for her to go to lunch she was doing infinitely better than she had been in class. When she reached the Great Hall, she had just enough time to eat before heading off to Care of Magical Creatures with Fred, George and Lee.
On the way down to class, she told the three of them about the incident with Malfoy and Pansy.
"Maybe he's not as bad as he lets on." Celia said finishing her story.
"Or maybe someone has him under an Imperius curse" George joked for a lack of a better explanation. "Look, I don't mean to doubt you, but that doesn't sound like something he'd do."
"Maybe." Celia said thoughtfully. "There must be some explanation for it." She said, now speaking mostly to herself "I guess I'll just have to watch him for a bit -- Wow! Look at that man! He's huge!" Celia exclaimed, seeing Hagrid.
"Yeah, he's half giant, but that's not something he's all too proud of." Fred told her.
"What? Why not?" Celia asked.
"They're not the friendliest of beings; giants, oh no, not Hagrid, he's as gentle as they come, but lets say it's not a fact people want buzzing around." Celia nodded in understanding.
"'Ello Fred, George, oh and you must be Celia! Nice to meet you, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Oh! And I'm the Care o' Magical Creatures professor, great man your uncle, it's what I've always wanted." At this point Hagrid got a little teary eyed. Celia smiled; he really was one of those 'mush-on-the-inside' types. "Oh, sorry Lee, didn't see you there." Lee nodded a greeting and said, "Hello Hagrid."
"Well let's start class then shall we? I've got sumthin' great fer ya today, got special permission from Dumbledore fer this one, sees as we just got one on grounds this year. But I'm gunna need some help from one o' you" Celia looked around at the expressions on the students around her. Some students looked anxious; most of them looked downright scared. Fred and George were purely excited. Celia wanted to know what it was.
"Now, there's many different qualities that are common to phowls." There was a murmur of surprise and excitement among the class. Fred and George looked at Celia and winked.
"I wonder whose help he'll need?" Fred asked knowingly.
"Now, first thing you've got tuh know about phowls is they're one of the loyalist of creatures." Hagrid was saying. "They'll only answer the call of their owner."
"Well, what are you waiting for then?" A Ravenclaw asked. "Call it Hagrid!"
"Can't" Hagrid answered. "The bird's not mine, 's hers." Celia felt her face flush when Hagrid pointed her out. The entire class now had their eyes on her.
"Go on!" Fred said. "Get up there!" Celia stood up and walked over to Hagrid.
"Okay, now all you have to do is call his name."
"Her name you mean, Pegasus is a girl." Celia told him
"Blimey! Well ain't that sumthin'? Well alrigh' Celia, go on an' give 'er a call then."
Celia turned toward the castle and called. For a second she thought she'd done something wrong. Finally she heard Pegasus' cry. Looking in the sky, she saw the silver streak coming towards her fast and put out her arm for the bird to land on. The whole process couldn't have taken more than 10 seconds. Pegasus had flown to her as though flying to her rescue. Celia smiled at her and stroked the feathers covering her throat. The rest of the class looked on in amazement.
"Well, now," Hagrid began, "ain't she a beauty? Well done Celia, she came right to you. I imagine you ought to get on rather well with each other." Celia smiled and moved Pegasus to her shoulder.
"Now," Hagrid began again. "Celia do you mind if I take her for a bit?" Celia nodded and lifted her shoulder toward Hagrid.
"Go on." She told the bird, who obeyed and few to Hagrid who pet her gently, and then put her on the perch he had set up.
"Now," he repeated. "One of the most important things to know about these creatures is their loyalty. If a phowl has got a good relationship with its owner, it'll do pretty much anything for them. They can be very helpful to a witch or wizard that's in need of help I can tell you that. They have very many qualities of both owls and phoenixes which includes their ability to lift heavy loads, and they can find their owner no matter where he or she may be. After the two have been together for a bit, if there is a good relationship, the bond between the bird and its owner grows so much that some say it's very much like the bird can read your thoughts." Celia looked around at the class. They had all been alternating stares from her to Pegasus to Hagrid and back again. Celia was amazed at what she was hearing.
'Pegasus,' she thought, looking at the bird, 'you can read my mind?' Celia didn't imagine that she could, she had only had her for a little less than a month after all, but at that moment, Pegasus turned and their eyes locked.
"So," Hagrid was saying. "Does anyone know any defining characteristics of a phowl?" Celia broke her gaze with Pegasus and looked up at Hagrid who was addressing the rest of the class.
"They make really good flares!" George offered. Celia smiled at him
"Yeah they let off that silvery glow; show them what we mean Cel." Fred told her. Celia looked at Pegasus and nodded. Somehow understanding what she wanted, Pegasus flew off its perch straight up into the air and began to spin in the same way she did a month ago above Celia on the beach. When Pegasus returned to her perch, the same silvery glow was left in the air. Celia pet her praisingly.
"Good, good! Anything else?"
A Ravenclaw boy raised his hand.
"I read somewhere that they can be somewhat clairvoyant, and that explains their reflexes." The boy kept his eyes on Hagrid, waiting for confirmation.
"Well, yes, some people do say that, but it's hard to tell whether it's them seeing the future, or just reading minds. That brings up a good point though; Phowls have excellent reflexes, some of the best of all magical creatures. Bein' half phoenix though, you can't really be all that surprised." Hagrid answered.
For the rest of class they discussed the many traits of phowls and the best way to care for them. Because many of the class wanted to hold her, Celia took to sending her out to her classmates on occasion. At the end of class, Celia sent Pegasus back to the owlery, and she, Fred, George and Lee headed back to the castle.
"Pretty good lesson today huh?" George asked.
"I really liked it!" Celia answered excitedly. "I didn't know all those things about Pegasus! She's amazing!"
"Yeah, plus we didn't have to avoid talons or fire-breath today." Fred added. Celia looked at him in surprise.
"What do you mean fire-breath?" She asked.
"Oh nothing!" George answered. "It's just that Hagrid tends to favor animals that are really cool -- so long as they don't kill you. Dragons, Hippogriffs,"
"And don't forget the blast-ended screwts. Not one day went by when you didn't see loads of people with loads of burns." Fred added. "They were pretty cool though."
When they got back in the castle, Celia bid farewell to the boys, and went to find Ginny so that they could head down to potions together. This was the class she was most excited to get to. Aside from being interested, she really wanted to see what was so horrible about the potions master. When the two girls reached the dungeons she saw that they had potions with Hufflepuff house. When the potions master, Professor Snape, came in, the class hushed and sat attentively in their chairs. 'Wow,' Celia thought to herself, 'If the teachers back home could see that!'
Professor Snape wasted no time in beginning class. They took notes for the first 15 minutes of class followed by Snape magically putting the ingredients and the directions for making an antidote for boils on the chalkboard. Setting them to work he announced that at the end of class he would be giving someone boils and testing their antidote to see if they had gotten it right. Making sure to be as precise as he instructed, Celia went about making her potion. She was feeling very at ease in this class because it seemed that no magic was needed. All she had to do was add the ingredients at the right time -- it was just like cooking. 'This isn't so bad.' she thought preparing her ingredients.
By the end of class Celia's antidote was the exactly the right color it had to be and was letting off a light blue steam. The steam was supposed to turn periwinkle but she still had 3 stirs left. 'C'mon turn!' She thought. 'Okay, one, two, yes!' On her last stir her potion's steam got just enough red in it to turn periwinkle. Steadily, she lowered the flame under her cauldron until it was off, and placed her stirrer down next to the extra ingredients. She looked up to find that Professor Snape was standing in front of her, looking down upon her. The look on his face was unreadable.
"Yes professor?" She asked wondering if she had done something wrong. Professor Snape was looking at her potion.
"Did you prepare this potion on your own Alanus?"
"Yes sir." she answered. "Is there something wrong?" Snape took a ladle and filled a tube with her potion, closing it with a stopper.
"We will test your potion Alanus. If you have indeed added all the ingredients and in the proper order, you should have nothing to worry about." He paused here watching her face. Celia went over her steps in her mind. "Are you willing to risk it?" He asked her. Celia nodded slowly, going down the list on the board. "Don't worry Alanus, should your antidote not work, I will provide you with the proper antidote. Your assignment however, will receive failing marks." Celia nodded again, this time with more confidence. Snape motioned for her to come to the front of the class and she slowly obliged. Taking another vial from his desk, he handed it to her and told her to drink it. As she did, boils appeared on her face and hands.
"Ah!" Celia put the vial that had contained the potion down and tried to stop the pain from the boils. It wasn't much; more like a hot tingling, but it was very uncomfortable, she felt as though her entire body had fallen asleep and she was experiencing the pins and needles from it waking up. The class gasped as they saw her and Celia heard them beginning to talk.
"Okay Alanus, lets see if the antidote you made is correct." Celia took her own antidote from him and swallowed it down fast. She felt almost immediately that the tingling feeling was gone. After a minute, the last remains of the boils had vanished. The antidote had been correct. Snape seemed to be debating something. Then finally he looked her over. She thought he saw his mouth move, but she couldn't distinguish between a smirk or an annoyed look. She stayed silent waiting for him to comment.
"Well, done." He told her. "You managed to mix the antidote correctly. You receive full marks for this." He told her indicating the bottle which had previously held her antidote. It was what came next that he seemed to have the most trouble with.
"Five points, are awarded to Gryffindor House," Snape announced. There were gasps throughout the room from both houses. "for a well-made antidote." He finished. Celia beamed with pleasure that she had done it right. For the first time since her first class, she felt as though she really belonged in this school.
"Thank you professor." She said. Snape's only response to this was a short nod.
"Alanus, you may empty the remains of your antidote and go. Everyone else, bottle and cork your antidotes and bring them up to my desk."
"He means magically," Ginny whispered to Celia when she came back to her place next to her. "The spell is Evanesco"
"Thanks." Celia whispered back. Taking out her wand, she pointed it at her cauldron and firmly spoke the incantation. In an instant, the rest of her potion had vanished. 'Awesome!' Celia thought gathering her books.
Celia waited outside for Ginny to finish up and leave class and the two of them walked together to their last class of the day; Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"I can't believe what just happened!" Ginny exclaimed once they had made their way out of the dungeons.
"What do you mean?" Celia asked.
"Snape actually awarded points to Gryffindor! He never gives Gryffindor points! I don't think he ever has! You might have just made history!"
While they were waiting for their Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor to arrive, all the 4th - year Gryffindors congratulated Celia on winning points from Snape. Celia couldn't wait to tell the others.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was by far the most incredible person Celia had ever seen. The first thing she noticed about her were her eyes. They had a warmth about them that seemed to glow. Almost instantly she was more relaxed and calm than she had been since she was very young. Her eyes were brown, no, wait, there was a hint of something in them…orange? And they were a bit almond shaped, giving Celia the impression that she had Asian blood somewhere in her ancestry. Celia decided, however, that her hair was probably her most noticeable feature. At first glance, Celia was worried that perhaps her head was on fire. It took her a minute to realize that it was in fact orange. A dark orange. The tips were varied, with a lighter orange, a dark blond and a lighter blond. It was a color scheme that normally would make anyone look ridiculous but on this woman it was amazing. Her hair went a bit past her shoulders in length, and was styled in a way that looked like she had handed someone scissors and told them to have fun. It was thicker near her head, but thinner towards the ends reminding Celia of feathers. 'Witch or not,' Celia thought looking her over. 'I don't think anyone else in the world could pull it off.'
Taking her place at the front of the class, their new professor looked over her class of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. The entire room was silent, they were all looking her over, anxious for class to start.
"Good afternoon class!" She began, seemingly excited about class. "I am Professor Alastriona, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was some murmuring before she spoke again. "This year, I will be teaching you some very valuable information. By the end of the year, you will all be able to create your own spells, charms, curses, and shields." She was getting wide eyes, and total attention from her class. "However, it will be some time before we can move on to trying our own incantations. Before you can create your own spells, you must learn how spells are created, their origins, and why they work. Now if you would all take out your parchment and quills, I'm afraid you will have to take some notes."
They took notes for the rest of class about the first spells, as well as newer spells and who created them. Celia was surprised to find that many of the spells used today were created by her own uncle. When class was over, Celia noticed many of the students, particularly the males, were lingering around Professor Alastriona's desk. Celia looked again at the new professor. There was nothing extraordinarily beautiful about her. She was pretty, but aside from her eyes and her hair color, she was rather plain. As Celia and Ginny gathered their things and prepared to leave, the professor called out to her.
"Miss Alanus! Celia, wait a minute!" Celia turned to her professor wondering what it was she wanted. "Celia! I was waiting to meet you. Your uncle has told me a lot about you." Celia felt strangely at ease with her even though she was her professor, and they had just met. Her gaze seemed to penetrate into her soul.
"It's nice to meet you." Celia said, meaning it and smiling genuinely.
"Listen," She continued pulling Celia to the side where they were out of earshot of the rest of class. "I know we're both new here, and I figured it would be nice to have someone around. I know I am your professor, but if you ever need anything, I want you to know that you can come to me. Professor Dumbledore is like family to me, so that makes you like family as well." Celia nodded and thanked her.
"Thanks, that would be nice, the more people here I know, the better."
Ginny and Celia left class a moment later, and headed down to dinner discussing the events of their days.
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Author's note: So, what did you think? I will get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I go back to school in next week which sadly will slow production a bit. I will try to get at least one chapter up a week if not more. Please review! I really like to hear that people are reading, it helps me be motivated to write more. Let me know what you think.
By the way, what do you all think about the chapter previews? Do you like them? Should I keep doing them? Let me know~
A glimpse of what's to come: News of Celia's historic 5 points from Professor Snape has spread around Gryffindor House, giving her a name of her own. Celia confronts Malfoy about his defense of her to Pansy, and why are all the guys at school obsessed with Professor Alastriona? Also to come -- Time to fly! Quidditch tryouts are announced! Only one spot on the team, what to do? Coming soon in Chapter 12 : Flying Through Rainstorms. See you there!