It was a huge house, it had obviously once been magnificent, now however it lay a ruin, a mess of gray wood board nailed haphazardly and various signs stuck into the ground at odd angles bearing the warning "Not Safe" and "Beware" and "Turn Back At Once You Idiot" in peeling paint. But I was too preoccupied to stop, they were coming after me, with their guns, the house was my only hope of safety.
You can imagine my surprise when I slid under one of the rotting boards and found myself inside a magnificent marble hall. It seemed very much like those I had visited with my parents as a child. I heard the shouts of the men outside though, so I stopped admiring and hurried deeper into the building...and onto a staircase.
To say that my reaction was surprised would be a huge understatement, I mean, the staircase i moved i . It flew high into the air, my heart had stopped beating, when it landed I made sure to get off of it as soon as possible.
Once on solid ground, I took a few moments to recollect myself. I proceeded on through a long dark hall. The place was like a maze; it was far larger than any of the houses I had gone to with my family when we were attending parties. I wandered through many such corridors until I lost complete track or where I was, and I was feeling very tired.
I just want to sleep,I thought drowsily. I spotted a door opposite a tapestry showing a man being clubbed by some ugly, trollish creatures wearing tutus. The room I came into was like my dream room. All I really saw, though, was the huge comfy bed that lay in one corner. I lay down and was asleep instantly.
That was my first night at Hogwarts. Now, I could go on to describe in great detail the shock I received the next morning when I saw that the trolls were still clubbing poor ol' Bartholomew the Barmy, and that the children there could enchant the pictures to do the same, that witches and wizardsexisted . But that would be boring, and I'm not here to bore you, merely to explain how I got suckered into this huge mess.
I remember the first time I met him. I was leaving Potions class; you see I could do perfectly well in the classes that did not require a wand. I loved standing in the dungeon, tipping the odd looking ingredients into the cauldron, watching it bubble and simmer and change colors. It was even better than Chemistry, my favorite Muggle subject. That was the word for normal people here, Muggle, its a silly name, but these are silly people. The think that making granite blocks float is perfectly logical, they find electricity unlogical.
The best thing about the classes I took was that the teachers rarely took much notice of me, Potions especially, Professor Snape, an odd greasy fellow with a sinister smile and poisonous attitude, glided about the room to torment students. He never bothered me, he even complimented me a few times. And graded me fairly. Unlike some of the other students. True, the Longbottom boy was rather hopeless at the subject, but he needed encouragement, not critisism. And the Potter kid, he should just learn to read the instructions, it's really not difficult.
That day I left Potions class feeling especially pleased with myself. I had concocted a very good Truth telling potion that was second only to Veritaserum. There had been a paper attached, but I hadn't done it. That's the beauty of living in a school, you can attend whichever classes you please and not do the homework.
After being stuck underground though, I felt like going out for a breath of fresh air. I decided to attend a Herbology class. I jauntily began to cross the grounds, eagerly gulping in the fresh air. That's when I noticed the pale blond boy staring at me. It wasn't a friendly look either.
I ignored it and continued on to Herbology class, wondering why he was staring at me. He was the Slytherin (part of a house system they used to organize their students) hotshot, some rich snot who bought his followers. I was rather surprised to see that his two cumbersome cronies and simpering girlfriend weren't around him. Then I remembered that they were in the Hospital Wing, afflicted with green pimples or something. I had been unfortunate to witness the jinxing.
He followed me, I walked faster, he walked faster. Suddenly I realized what it was.Shit, I thought. I was wearing Slytherin robes today. You see, that's another problem of sneaking into a selective private school, the uniforms are hard to come by. Especially in the right size, these kids are all so rich that a misfitting robe gets easily noticed. Normally I wore Hufflepuff robes, seeing as the House members were so good natured and accepting, but today those were dirty and the only fitting robes had been Slytherin.You should have realized this, I scolded myself, You should have anticipated that sooner or later you were going to get caught. But another foolish part of my brain was saying i maybe if i make it to Herbology before he catches up with me... i But it was too late, he grabbed my elbow and hissed into my ear,
"You don't belong here."
