A/N: I will add in some characters from the original Harry Potter books later on, but only in passing. I am too loyal to the books to want to make up a seperate story about the characters I know and love. Please accept that I made up my own characters to write about, not wanting any of my writing to conflict with information given in the book, or to become invalid once the 6th and 7th books come out. Thank you.
She awoke the next day with a feeling of great excitement rushing through her, much as she had felt the day before, waking up to get on the Hogwarts Express. She savored the warmth of her bed for a moment--the morning air was much chillier than the day before--and then slowly climbed onto her knees to look out the window once again. The sun had risen recently--Christina guessed it to be about seven o' clock--and the sun's warmth was shining down on her. She opened the window and inhaled deeply, smelling pine and flowers and the fresh, dewy grass that was quickly drying off in the sun. The Hogwarts Grounds looked even more majestic in the sunlight: the forest stretched on for miles it seemed, its dark green tree tops swaying ominously in the breeze; the lake, which Christina could just see the edge of to her left. It was shimmering in the morning light; Christina wondered if it would get so hot later that day that she would be able to go for a swim. She breathed deeply again, smiling at her immense luck to be here, and turned around.
Christina slipped out between the hangings around her bed and to her trunk. She opened it and pulled out her Hogwarts robes, rubbing it's silkiness for a moment between her thumb and forefinger. Then she slipped back into her bed and put them on, leaving her pajamas discarded between the rumpled sheets. When this was complete, Christina opened the hangings and looked around the room. She was the first one awake--or, so it seemed, as all the other four-posters' curtains were pulled tightly shut around them.
Tip-toeing, not wanting to wake her friends up, she grabbed her little white bag and exited the dormitory and climbed down the spiral staircase. The common room was empty except for a few older students in the corner, talking happily. There was a fire in the fireplace, but Christina assumed it was just there to look nice, rather than to provide heat, for the windows were open as well. She entered the Gryffindor's girls bathroom off of the common room and looked at herself in the mirror.
I should really take a shower, she thought, peering closer at her reflection. She looked around the bathroom and saw several doors marked "SHOWER". She opened one of them and entered a small room with a bathtub sunken into the tiled floor. A showerhead was above it. Christina carefully took off her robes and folded them safely away from the edge of the tub and turned on the shower.
Ten minutes later, Christina emerged from the showerroom in her robes, hair dripping but face shining. She went over to the mirror and scooped her wet hair up into a pony tail. Bending closer to the mirror, she applied eyeliner, but left her lips bare. Lip gloss wasn't nessecary.
Christina left the girl's bathroom and exited the common room through the portrait hole. She wasn't quite sure how to get to the great hall, so she stood around in a big, impressive looking corridor, waiting for someone to come along that she could follow, until she heard footsteps behind her. She turned and saw that it was Richard, the prefect she had met the night before.
"Good morning," she said brightly, keen to make a pleasant impression. The boy smiled.
"Same to you. Your name is Christina, right?"
"Yes. And you're Richard?"
"Yup. Richard Peterson." A moment of silence, again. Then, Richard spoke. "Do you need help finding your way to the Great Hall for breakfast?" he asked her.
"Oh--well--yes, if you wouldn't mind..."
"Oh, not at all." They began walking. "So," he continued, "you're new?"
"Yeah, I am. I moved here from America last July."
"Really? Whats it like in America?"
They continued this pleasant conversation all the way down to the Great Hall, Christina greatly enjoying telling an eager-looking Richard about fast food restaurants and popular bands. Richard was surprised to hear that Christina listened to both Muggle music and Wizarding music. Christina explained that this was because she grew up in a muggle neighborhood, and would play with muggle children, and so consequently listened to their types of music. They arrived in the sunny Great Hall to find it already filled with many people, laughing and yawning and talking over their breakfasts.
Christina and Richard walked over to the Gryffindor table and took a seat on the bench. Christina breathed deeply, yet again, to smell all the delicious food in front of her. She stopped, mid-breath. She smelled bacon.
Beaming, she helped herself to a very large pile. Bacon twice in two days! It was a miracle.
"You know," said Richard, smiling slightly, "the bacon isn't going to get up and leave or anything. It's here every day."
Christina turned to him. "Really? You eat good food like this every day?"
"Yup."
"That is so cool! At my house my mom would have us make ourselves cereal or toast if she didn't feel like cooking!" Just then Christina felt two hands on her shoulders. She twisted around awkwardly and saw Jett standing behind her, Simon next to him.
"Getting a little excited over bacon, don't you think, Christina?" Jett grinned at her. Wow, he is so cute... Christina thought. And he remembered my name! Simon, behind Jett, was grinning also.
"Hey," Simon said, "here come the scheduals!" Indeed, Professor McGonagall was walking down the tables, handing students sheets of paper as she went. She came to where they were all congregated and passed out a schedual to each of them. Christina looked at it. She recognized a few of the same classes she had taken in America; Potions, Charms, Transfiguration...she hadn't taken, however, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, or History of Magic. Astronomy was a new one, too. Christina looked at her schedual for the day under Monday.
Monday, Wednesday
am 9:00Potions 4
am 10:00Potions 4
am 11:00Break
am 11:30Divination 4
pm 12:30Lunch
pm 1:30Defense Against the Dark Arts 4
pm 2:30Defense Against the Dark Arts 4
pm 3:30Break
pm 4:00History of Magic 4
Tuesday, Thursday
am 9:00Transfiguration 4
am 10:00Transfiguration 4
am 11:00Break
am 11:30Charms 4
pm 12:30Lunch
pm 1:30Care of Magical Creatures 4
pm 2:30Care of Magical Creatures 4
pm 3:30Break
pm 4:00Astronomy (written) 4
Friday
am 9:00Charms
am 10:00Divination
am 11:00Break
am 11:30Herbology
pm 12:30Lunch
pm 11:00Astronomy (practical)
Christina leaned sideways to see Jett's schedual.
"The only class I'll have with you is potions," Jett said, "cause I'm in fifth year."
Richard interrupted him. "Why would you have fourth year potions, fifth year?"
Jett looked a little embarrassed. "Not so good at it. Snape said that in order to pass my O.W.L.'s this year, he was going to keep me back so that I can learn the basics. But, I'll probably move up mid-year."
Richard looked incredulous. "Snape would never do that for anyone in our house!"
"Well, I'm not in your house, now am I, Peterson?" Jett used a cold tone; Christina wondered why. Just then, Rachel came over to them, looking excited and holding her schedual.
"Ooh, Christina--" she waved the schedual in front of her and the two friends bent to compare.
"They'll be exactly the same," drawled Simon from behind them. "Unless, of course, one of you is slightly retarded, like Jett here, and you have to take a younger class." Jett punched him in the arm, but Christina could see that they were both grinning.
"Well," said Jett, "see you girls in potions, then." He walked off, motioning for Simon to follow him, giving a dirty look back at Richard as he went.
"How do you know him?" Richard asked immediately. "They are Slytherins, its not a good idea to associate--"
"They seem nice," cut in Rachel.
"Fine." Richard looked as though he didn't want an argument. "Well, I warned you."
Rachel sat down in between Richard and Christina and helped herself to pancakes and scrambled eggs. Christina, mean while, was savoring the bacon and sausages she had piled onto her plate.
"Try dipping them in syrup," Rachel offered, glancing at Christina's plate.
"Ew!"
"No! Its good," said Rachel, laughing.
Whether it was good or not, Christina never got the chance to find out, because just then, a great mass of owls came sweeping into the hall via the great open windows near the ceiling. Looking up, Christina was startled to see that the Great Hall appeared to have no roof, revealing the steadily brightening blue sky. She assumed it was an enchantment, and turned her attention back to the giant peck of owls that was bearing down on the students.
A large white owl landed in front of Rachel, carrying a heavy envelope. "Ooh, yes--" began Rachel, ripping off the packaging. The owl flew away, exiting through the same window it had entered from, Christina watching it. She turned back to Rachel, who was withdrawing a small heap of gold from the envelope.
"My birthday money," she explained, "from LAST year. Mum forgot to give it to me. I told her that she better get it to me before my next birthday." She laughed.
"When's your birthday?" Richard asked over his toast and marmalade.
"November 9th." Rachel pushed away her empty plate. "When is your birthday, Christina?"
"February 13th." The bell rang overhead, signaling the end of breakfast.
"Oh, lets go get our school stuff and head to"--Rachel checked her schedual--"potions! Come on." The two girls bid Richard farewell and exited the hall with the rest of the student body.
Rachel led Christina to the Gryffindor Common room, Christina paying very close attention to the path she took, in case she was faced with getting there alone sometime in the near future. "Bashful Pixie," Rachel said, and they entered the common room and made their way up to the dormitory.
"You'll need your wand," called Rachel from over by her bed, "and Potions & Concoctions: Grade 4." She emerged from her trunk holding the items. "Our cauldrons have already been moved down into the dungeon." Christina collected the needed materials and followed Rachel down the spiral staircase and out through the portrait hole once more.
Rachel led the way down seven floors to the main floor, and then down several more to reach the dungeon.
"It's kind of creepy down here," Christina commented. Rachel pushed open a large, wooden door to one side of the hallway. Christina followed her into a large stone room with torches in brackets lining the walls. There were chairs, desks, and cauldrons lined up in neat rows, behind the teacher's desk. Sitting at this desk was a greasy-haired man with a hooked nose that Christina thought looked quite unpleasant, but striking at the same time. Rachel led her over to a table in the back and they took their seat.Just then, Jett entered the room, looking embarrassed and slightly out of place. He saw Christina and Rachel in the back, and went to join them. Snape raised his eyebrows, seemingly disgusted.
The tardy bell rang, and the man stood. "Welcome to potions."