The next week flew by as if someone had taking the hands of a clock and spun them around a few hundred times before Nora's eyes. Though Nora's mother had told her that Hogwarts would be a little more than she was used to at the Wizarding Primary School she attended, Nora could never have expected what was thrown at her during her first five days at Hogwarts. There was simply too much to absorb, though Nora was glad that her parents had taken the time to prepare her with descriptions of teachers they had had, from whom Nora would also be learning. Therefore, she braced herself before entering her very first lesson, which was Transfiguration.
Stern Professor McGonagall was exactly how her mother had described her, though Nora held an immense respect for the ancient Headmistress - she had stood by as Dumbledore's right hand woman until the end, then taken his place as Headmistress of his beloved school.
"The study of Transfiguration will prove extremely useful throughout your life as a wizard," Professor McGonagall said by way of introduction. "It is not merely turning one thing into another - there is a lot of theory, power and hard work behind it. I doubt that most of you would be able to successfully Transfigure something on your first try, but we shall see." She set to handing each of the eight Gryffindor first-years a match. As she gave Nora her match, the professor commented, "Your mother had a particular talent for this task. Perhaps you will match it."
Nora bit her lip, and was able to successfully produce a needle on her fourth try, earning her a warm smile of encouragement from Professor McGonagall. She hoped it would not be the last smile she received.
Her father had admitted that Professor Sprout was also one of the better professors; she was kind, didn't play favourites, and knew her subject well, though she informed Nora's Herbology class - which the Gryffindors had with the Ravenclaws - that after the next year, she would be retiring. It was their first lesson, but Nora already knew that she would miss the elderly witch.
"Today we'll be working with Lunaskils," Professor Sprout announced after her introduction to Herbology; it was a double period.
A Ravenclaw girl that Nora recognized as Pallas Austin from the Sorting raised her hand. "I'm sorry, but don't Lunaskils only have magical properties at the full moon?" she said, confused. "I think it's only half moon tonight..."
"Precisely, Miss..." Sprout glanced down at her attendance sheet. "Austin. Take five points to Ravenclaw. We're not going to work with any magical plants today, but I wanted to get you lot used to repotting them as regular plants before we have to do it next week at full moon. You'll need partners for this, one to hold the jars and one to transplant them. Off you go, then!"
Alexandria and Sandrine had already set to work together, so Nora shot Pallas a friendly but questioning look. Pallas immediately walked to Nora's side, and they set to work.
"So, are you happy being a Gryffindor, then?" Pallas asked good-naturedly.
"Of course," said Nora. "My whole family's been in it. I wouldn't have minded Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, though, I hear they're very good."
"Sure, everyone's nice in my house," Pallas agreed, "But we're so far from everything, in this tower at the very corner of the castle."
"Us too," said Nora. "And our year has the top dormitory."
"Ooh," Pallas winced. "Sorry about that. I know a great Foot-Healing Charm, you'll probably need it before long."
"Thanks so much," said Nora, flashing Pallas a dazzling smile. The two girls spent the rest of the period discussing curriculum they'd already read before arriving at the school, as repotting the Lunaskils was work that did not require much concentration. After the lesson, she bade Pallas goodbye, and felt a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach at having formed what she knew to be a lasting friendship.
'Mum would be proud of me,' she thought to herself contentedly. 'She was also on at Daddy for not going out of his way to make friends with people outside Gryffindor.'
With a pang she realized that she had yet to write her parents, but she supposed that they had, somehow or other, found out about which House she'd been placed in. Nora turned to Morag Alcott, who was walking beside her. "What have we got now?" she asked.
"Charms," Morag responded at once. Morag, a half-blood, had been very enthusiastic about all the classes, as she lived in an entirely Muggle neighborhood. She had already memorized their timetables - Nora, who was busy taking in everything about the school she'd been waiting to attend since childhood, knew that if she just followed her fellow Gryffindor first-years, she would end up where she needed to be.
Nora also knew that most of the older-generation Weasleys held the tiny Professor Flitwick very dear. But Nora, whom Hermione had advised to read ahead in her Charms texts, had to wonder if the small Charms teacher had placed a perpetual Cheering Charm on himself.
"You should know," he squeaked at the class, who could not help feeling warm at the kindness of their professor, "That we'll be starting with Levitation spells. You can take this time to look up this spell in your Standard Book of Spells texts." He bustled off to sit on his mound of cushions, and began working on something at his desk.
Nora flipped open her textbook, but didn't bother reading - it had been one of the first things that her mother had advised her to read. Only one other person appeared to have read it, a boy Nora remembered was called Jeffrey Kingsley. He was staring absentmindedly around the room while the other first years fervently copied definitions onto parchment. Nora caught his eye and they grinned at each other. He pulled a stool over to her and whispered, "Already read it, then?"
"Yes," said Nora, equally quietly. "My mum said I should try to get ahead a bit, and she mentioned that this charm was the first we'd be learning..."
"Same here," said Jeffrey, nodding. "Although I didn't really want to at first, but it was so fascinating that I read ahead two more chapters before I got called to dinner."
"Absolutely," said Nora enthusiastically. Reading, especially when the subject at hand was interesting, was one of her favorite activities. "And this was right after I'd gotten my wand, so I practiced for a bit in my room, and it worked perfectly!"
"It took me about a half an hour," Jeffrey admitted, a bit embarrassed.
"Which is customary," said Nora, remembering this from the reading. "Actually," she confided, "I was so excited, I ran downstairs to show my mum. She started crying!"
"Minister of Magic crying, eh?" Jeffrey teased her, a bit louder than their previous tones.
Alexandria shot the two of them a dirty look before going back to her reading.
"She's one to stay away from," Jeffrey said, grinning, before dragging his stool back to its original position, taking the book out, and flipping it to the middle. But not before he gave Nora a wink. This day was just getting better and better.
'I've never really had friends my age,' Nora realized suddenly. 'I've had enough cousins to tide me over, and there are lots of kids in the village that were older than me who I'd play with, but I've never really had friends that weren't related to me in some way or other.' This made her even happier, that only today, she had already made friends with two people, without even trying.
The bell rang suddenly, and Nora snapped out of her reverie. "Next lesson," Professor Flitwick squealed, "We'll be trying the Charms, so you can practice if you find any free time!"
As everyone was packing up, Nora turned to Morag once more. "And next is...?"
"Potions," said Morag. "I heard the teacher's nice, but I've never seen her."
"Hmm," said Nora. Potions was one of the classes that was taught by a teacher her parents hadn't had, so she had no forewarning. It made her rather apprehensive.
Potions, the Gryffindors found out, was taught by a young woman called Professor Marin. All that Nora knew about her was that she was Professor Snape's replacement - her parents would go, every year, to Snape's grave to commemorate his sacrifice. He hadn't survived the war against Voldemort, though Hermione refused to tell Nora the details of his death. "Wait a few years," she would always say, to Nora's displeasure..
Professor Marin was a jovial-looking witch somewhere in her thirties; she wore her thick blonde curls in a loose tail at the nape of her neck. "The main thing to remember," she winked at the rapt class, "Is that there are potions for everything, really, but it can be fun to make them. Just like cooking!"
At this, Alexandria Townsend whispered to Nora, "I heard that before this job, she wrote magical cookbooks." Nora took in this information and stored it for future reference.
"Well, I don't think we have enough time to brew anything today," said Professor Marin. "But I think this is the only class that Gryffindors have with Slytherins, so why don't you take the time to get to know each other?" she suggested brightly. "Carry on!"
Indeed, Nora was so unfamiliar with the majority of these faces that she barely distinguished the Slytherins from those in her own House. An awkward pause followed Professor Marin's request, and instead, Nora found herself in light conversation once more with Jeffrey Kingsley, as well as a boy called Nathan Davis. After a minute, however, a call from the other side of the room made Nora's head snap up.
"Oi! Red!"
Nora hated herself for reacting to the name 'Red,' but it was Uncle Harry's favorite nickname for her - Nora's mum would bite his head off any time he attempted to call her Sneaks, which was what the majority of the Weasley family referred to her as.
The shout was coming from a boy, whose hands were in his pockets. He had black hair that fell casually into his blue eyes. Nora remembered that Sandrine had pronounced him very attractive the night before, and remembered that his name was Kincaid Court. On his left was the boy Sorted before Nora, Robert Van Gellis, and on his right was a girl called Agnes Emerson, whose fat, lamp-black curls looked to be about as thick as Nora's own hair.
"Yes?" Nora said politely. Though Ron gnashed his teeth at the mention of the word "Slytherin," Nora's mother begged her to attempt to be kind to the Slytherins. "It just makes life easier," she told her confidently. Nora was determined to heed her mother's advice.
"You're a Weasley, aren't you?" Kincaid asked her. A few of the Gryffindors had stopped conversing in order to observe the first offical Gryffindor/Slytherin exchange.
"Yes, but you can call me Nora," she supplied.
"Alright then," said the boy, grinning. "My name's Kincaid Court, nice to meet you." And, to Nora's amazement, the boy strode over to her and extended his hand. Nora saw that, behind him, his two companions looked at each other, before nodding and also walking in Nora's direction.
Nora decided to place her trust in the fact that Kincaid was simply attempting to be kind. She took his hand and shook it politely. "Pleased to meet you. This is Jeffrey Kingsley, and Nathan Davis." Kincaid nodded to the two boys, who nodded back. He stepped back and gestured for the girl and the boy to introduce themselves.
"Rob Van Gellis," the boy said at once, also holding his hand out for Nora to shake. She took it and smiled.
"I'm Agnes Emerson," said the girl. As Nora grinned at her, she grinned back, and Nora took in her face: creamy white skin, with a slight smattering a freckles over her perfectly straight nose, which was situated right above soft, pink lips. Nora took particular notice of her eyes, which were swirls of very light gray, and then she felt a pang of envy - the girl was beautiful.
"You know," Agnes whispered, as the four boys fell to discussing the latest Quidditch match, "You have the most gorgeous hair. What hair potions do you use?"
And as Nora began discussing various hair products with the Slytherin girl, she couldn't help but be amazed. Whatever happened to condescending Slytherins being nasty to the Gryffindors? Where was the famous Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry?
'Perhaps,' Nora thought to herself, 'This is just another example of Slytherin ambition. Maybe they've figured out that to get far, you need to be nice to people, forging as many profitable friendships as you possibly can. That's certainly how I'm going about it.' She marveled at this realization, but the bell rang and Nora didn't have to ask Morag to know that dinner was next - her stomach was already rumbling.
After dinner, where Nora continued the Quidditch conversation with Nathan Davis and Finny Roark, the Gryffindor first-years headed off to the common room to start their light homework. Nora opted to take a short nap before Astronomy. She awoke at 11:30 to Morag shaking her gently. Yawning, the eight Gryffindors headed over to the Astronomy tower.
Astronomy was under the instruction of Professor Baird, a portly man with permanently half-lidded eyes and large square spectacles. "The planets can tell you many things, and sometimes are very crucial to magic," he began. "Some spells function better when the planets are in certain positions. This is why it is crucial to know what the planets are, what their properties are, and how these things will affect your own magic."
The rest of the period was spent with Professor Baird, who seemed to Nora a very lazy man, asking the class if they knew anything about Astronomy. Nora labeled this as an attempt on Professor Baird's part to figure out what he would NOT have to teach the class later.
At one o'clock, the class filed out an Nora found Pallas conversing with some of her Ravenclaws. "How did your day go after Herbology?" she asked.
"Not too bad," she said. "Fancy a trip to the loo?"
"Yes," Nora said gratefully; she hadn't managed to relieve herself since morning. "But now I'm scared that I'll be too busy to go to the bathroom every day."
"We'll have to go at night every day," Pallas moaned. They giggled together. Nora loved the feeling of a new friendship.
"Honestly, I could just never understand what my parents meant by 'It's a lot of work,'" Nora commented.
"I know the feeling," Pallas agreed. Suddenly, she stopped. "What is that noise?" she hissed.
For Nora, too, had heard a small shuffling noise. She put a finger to her lips, before warily glancing around the corner.
Someone walked briskly past; Nora recognized the confident stride of Professor McGonagall. Suddenly, she realized that the Transfiguration teacher would be walking right past the hallway where Nora and Pallas stood. Looking positively petrified, Nora frantically motioned Pallas to stand back against the wall.
Luckily, Professor McGonagall seemed too absorbed in her destination to notice the two girls pressed in terror against the stone wall she'd just passed. When the footsteps died away, Pallas leaned across Nora and saw that Professor McGonagall had disappeared.
"I wonder what that was all about," she said suspiciously.
Nora shook her head. "I'm sure it's none of our business." She bit her lip. "Though I'd really like to know."
"Well, I don't need to go to the loo anymore," said Pallas shortly.
Nora laughed at the implication.
"Oh, I didn't wet myself," said Pallas, mock-annoyed. "I've just got other things on my mind...Why don't we head back to our dormitories? Mine's this way." She gestured at the direction Professor McGonagall had just come from.
"Me too," said Nora. She fell silent, thinking about where McGonagall could be going so late at night. Abruptly, she decided to ask Pallas something that had been bothering her.
"Pallas," she began, "Have you also had Slytherins being rather more friendly than is to be expected?"
"You know," the blonde Ravenclaw said thoughtfully, "There were a few of them in Defense Against the Dark Arts who went out of their way to introduce themselves to Jessica Sorben. My mum told me that Slytherins usually left Ravenclaws alone, though, so it was a bit odd."
"Even stranger," Nora picked up where Pallas had left off, "Is that Slytherins usually HATE Gryffindors, and today three of them made sure to introduce themselves to me, and these two boys I was talking to."
"You'd think they'd keep to themselves, mostly," said Pallas, the thoughtful note still strong in her voice. "Well, I suppose times are changing. But I'll be on the lookout for more odd behavior. I have to turn here," she said.
Nora shivered, but she didn't know why. "I'm going the other way." She bade Pallas goodnight, smiled encouragingly, and set off to find her dormitory, thankful that torches burned bright even in the dead of night at Hogwarts.
"Bumpkin muffin," she announced as she arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait.
As Nora finally walked into her dormitory, she felt a wave of icy wind wash over her. Annoyed, she hugged herself and walked quickly to the window above her bed, which was open for some reason. She put on a nightgown and snuggled into the warm covers.
'That was certainly a productive day,' she thought as she drifted into sleep. 'I can't believe that the rest will be even more enthralling...'
But when she awoke, she did not notice that the window was once again ajar.
--------------------------
A/N. Hee. What a long chapter. It's 11:59, so no review songs right now. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it anyway!
--Renee
P.S. Anyone want to beta this story? Mine went on vacation for a week.
Stern Professor McGonagall was exactly how her mother had described her, though Nora held an immense respect for the ancient Headmistress - she had stood by as Dumbledore's right hand woman until the end, then taken his place as Headmistress of his beloved school.
"The study of Transfiguration will prove extremely useful throughout your life as a wizard," Professor McGonagall said by way of introduction. "It is not merely turning one thing into another - there is a lot of theory, power and hard work behind it. I doubt that most of you would be able to successfully Transfigure something on your first try, but we shall see." She set to handing each of the eight Gryffindor first-years a match. As she gave Nora her match, the professor commented, "Your mother had a particular talent for this task. Perhaps you will match it."
Nora bit her lip, and was able to successfully produce a needle on her fourth try, earning her a warm smile of encouragement from Professor McGonagall. She hoped it would not be the last smile she received.
Her father had admitted that Professor Sprout was also one of the better professors; she was kind, didn't play favourites, and knew her subject well, though she informed Nora's Herbology class - which the Gryffindors had with the Ravenclaws - that after the next year, she would be retiring. It was their first lesson, but Nora already knew that she would miss the elderly witch.
"Today we'll be working with Lunaskils," Professor Sprout announced after her introduction to Herbology; it was a double period.
A Ravenclaw girl that Nora recognized as Pallas Austin from the Sorting raised her hand. "I'm sorry, but don't Lunaskils only have magical properties at the full moon?" she said, confused. "I think it's only half moon tonight..."
"Precisely, Miss..." Sprout glanced down at her attendance sheet. "Austin. Take five points to Ravenclaw. We're not going to work with any magical plants today, but I wanted to get you lot used to repotting them as regular plants before we have to do it next week at full moon. You'll need partners for this, one to hold the jars and one to transplant them. Off you go, then!"
Alexandria and Sandrine had already set to work together, so Nora shot Pallas a friendly but questioning look. Pallas immediately walked to Nora's side, and they set to work.
"So, are you happy being a Gryffindor, then?" Pallas asked good-naturedly.
"Of course," said Nora. "My whole family's been in it. I wouldn't have minded Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, though, I hear they're very good."
"Sure, everyone's nice in my house," Pallas agreed, "But we're so far from everything, in this tower at the very corner of the castle."
"Us too," said Nora. "And our year has the top dormitory."
"Ooh," Pallas winced. "Sorry about that. I know a great Foot-Healing Charm, you'll probably need it before long."
"Thanks so much," said Nora, flashing Pallas a dazzling smile. The two girls spent the rest of the period discussing curriculum they'd already read before arriving at the school, as repotting the Lunaskils was work that did not require much concentration. After the lesson, she bade Pallas goodbye, and felt a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach at having formed what she knew to be a lasting friendship.
'Mum would be proud of me,' she thought to herself contentedly. 'She was also on at Daddy for not going out of his way to make friends with people outside Gryffindor.'
With a pang she realized that she had yet to write her parents, but she supposed that they had, somehow or other, found out about which House she'd been placed in. Nora turned to Morag Alcott, who was walking beside her. "What have we got now?" she asked.
"Charms," Morag responded at once. Morag, a half-blood, had been very enthusiastic about all the classes, as she lived in an entirely Muggle neighborhood. She had already memorized their timetables - Nora, who was busy taking in everything about the school she'd been waiting to attend since childhood, knew that if she just followed her fellow Gryffindor first-years, she would end up where she needed to be.
Nora also knew that most of the older-generation Weasleys held the tiny Professor Flitwick very dear. But Nora, whom Hermione had advised to read ahead in her Charms texts, had to wonder if the small Charms teacher had placed a perpetual Cheering Charm on himself.
"You should know," he squeaked at the class, who could not help feeling warm at the kindness of their professor, "That we'll be starting with Levitation spells. You can take this time to look up this spell in your Standard Book of Spells texts." He bustled off to sit on his mound of cushions, and began working on something at his desk.
Nora flipped open her textbook, but didn't bother reading - it had been one of the first things that her mother had advised her to read. Only one other person appeared to have read it, a boy Nora remembered was called Jeffrey Kingsley. He was staring absentmindedly around the room while the other first years fervently copied definitions onto parchment. Nora caught his eye and they grinned at each other. He pulled a stool over to her and whispered, "Already read it, then?"
"Yes," said Nora, equally quietly. "My mum said I should try to get ahead a bit, and she mentioned that this charm was the first we'd be learning..."
"Same here," said Jeffrey, nodding. "Although I didn't really want to at first, but it was so fascinating that I read ahead two more chapters before I got called to dinner."
"Absolutely," said Nora enthusiastically. Reading, especially when the subject at hand was interesting, was one of her favorite activities. "And this was right after I'd gotten my wand, so I practiced for a bit in my room, and it worked perfectly!"
"It took me about a half an hour," Jeffrey admitted, a bit embarrassed.
"Which is customary," said Nora, remembering this from the reading. "Actually," she confided, "I was so excited, I ran downstairs to show my mum. She started crying!"
"Minister of Magic crying, eh?" Jeffrey teased her, a bit louder than their previous tones.
Alexandria shot the two of them a dirty look before going back to her reading.
"She's one to stay away from," Jeffrey said, grinning, before dragging his stool back to its original position, taking the book out, and flipping it to the middle. But not before he gave Nora a wink. This day was just getting better and better.
'I've never really had friends my age,' Nora realized suddenly. 'I've had enough cousins to tide me over, and there are lots of kids in the village that were older than me who I'd play with, but I've never really had friends that weren't related to me in some way or other.' This made her even happier, that only today, she had already made friends with two people, without even trying.
The bell rang suddenly, and Nora snapped out of her reverie. "Next lesson," Professor Flitwick squealed, "We'll be trying the Charms, so you can practice if you find any free time!"
As everyone was packing up, Nora turned to Morag once more. "And next is...?"
"Potions," said Morag. "I heard the teacher's nice, but I've never seen her."
"Hmm," said Nora. Potions was one of the classes that was taught by a teacher her parents hadn't had, so she had no forewarning. It made her rather apprehensive.
Potions, the Gryffindors found out, was taught by a young woman called Professor Marin. All that Nora knew about her was that she was Professor Snape's replacement - her parents would go, every year, to Snape's grave to commemorate his sacrifice. He hadn't survived the war against Voldemort, though Hermione refused to tell Nora the details of his death. "Wait a few years," she would always say, to Nora's displeasure..
Professor Marin was a jovial-looking witch somewhere in her thirties; she wore her thick blonde curls in a loose tail at the nape of her neck. "The main thing to remember," she winked at the rapt class, "Is that there are potions for everything, really, but it can be fun to make them. Just like cooking!"
At this, Alexandria Townsend whispered to Nora, "I heard that before this job, she wrote magical cookbooks." Nora took in this information and stored it for future reference.
"Well, I don't think we have enough time to brew anything today," said Professor Marin. "But I think this is the only class that Gryffindors have with Slytherins, so why don't you take the time to get to know each other?" she suggested brightly. "Carry on!"
Indeed, Nora was so unfamiliar with the majority of these faces that she barely distinguished the Slytherins from those in her own House. An awkward pause followed Professor Marin's request, and instead, Nora found herself in light conversation once more with Jeffrey Kingsley, as well as a boy called Nathan Davis. After a minute, however, a call from the other side of the room made Nora's head snap up.
"Oi! Red!"
Nora hated herself for reacting to the name 'Red,' but it was Uncle Harry's favorite nickname for her - Nora's mum would bite his head off any time he attempted to call her Sneaks, which was what the majority of the Weasley family referred to her as.
The shout was coming from a boy, whose hands were in his pockets. He had black hair that fell casually into his blue eyes. Nora remembered that Sandrine had pronounced him very attractive the night before, and remembered that his name was Kincaid Court. On his left was the boy Sorted before Nora, Robert Van Gellis, and on his right was a girl called Agnes Emerson, whose fat, lamp-black curls looked to be about as thick as Nora's own hair.
"Yes?" Nora said politely. Though Ron gnashed his teeth at the mention of the word "Slytherin," Nora's mother begged her to attempt to be kind to the Slytherins. "It just makes life easier," she told her confidently. Nora was determined to heed her mother's advice.
"You're a Weasley, aren't you?" Kincaid asked her. A few of the Gryffindors had stopped conversing in order to observe the first offical Gryffindor/Slytherin exchange.
"Yes, but you can call me Nora," she supplied.
"Alright then," said the boy, grinning. "My name's Kincaid Court, nice to meet you." And, to Nora's amazement, the boy strode over to her and extended his hand. Nora saw that, behind him, his two companions looked at each other, before nodding and also walking in Nora's direction.
Nora decided to place her trust in the fact that Kincaid was simply attempting to be kind. She took his hand and shook it politely. "Pleased to meet you. This is Jeffrey Kingsley, and Nathan Davis." Kincaid nodded to the two boys, who nodded back. He stepped back and gestured for the girl and the boy to introduce themselves.
"Rob Van Gellis," the boy said at once, also holding his hand out for Nora to shake. She took it and smiled.
"I'm Agnes Emerson," said the girl. As Nora grinned at her, she grinned back, and Nora took in her face: creamy white skin, with a slight smattering a freckles over her perfectly straight nose, which was situated right above soft, pink lips. Nora took particular notice of her eyes, which were swirls of very light gray, and then she felt a pang of envy - the girl was beautiful.
"You know," Agnes whispered, as the four boys fell to discussing the latest Quidditch match, "You have the most gorgeous hair. What hair potions do you use?"
And as Nora began discussing various hair products with the Slytherin girl, she couldn't help but be amazed. Whatever happened to condescending Slytherins being nasty to the Gryffindors? Where was the famous Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry?
'Perhaps,' Nora thought to herself, 'This is just another example of Slytherin ambition. Maybe they've figured out that to get far, you need to be nice to people, forging as many profitable friendships as you possibly can. That's certainly how I'm going about it.' She marveled at this realization, but the bell rang and Nora didn't have to ask Morag to know that dinner was next - her stomach was already rumbling.
After dinner, where Nora continued the Quidditch conversation with Nathan Davis and Finny Roark, the Gryffindor first-years headed off to the common room to start their light homework. Nora opted to take a short nap before Astronomy. She awoke at 11:30 to Morag shaking her gently. Yawning, the eight Gryffindors headed over to the Astronomy tower.
Astronomy was under the instruction of Professor Baird, a portly man with permanently half-lidded eyes and large square spectacles. "The planets can tell you many things, and sometimes are very crucial to magic," he began. "Some spells function better when the planets are in certain positions. This is why it is crucial to know what the planets are, what their properties are, and how these things will affect your own magic."
The rest of the period was spent with Professor Baird, who seemed to Nora a very lazy man, asking the class if they knew anything about Astronomy. Nora labeled this as an attempt on Professor Baird's part to figure out what he would NOT have to teach the class later.
At one o'clock, the class filed out an Nora found Pallas conversing with some of her Ravenclaws. "How did your day go after Herbology?" she asked.
"Not too bad," she said. "Fancy a trip to the loo?"
"Yes," Nora said gratefully; she hadn't managed to relieve herself since morning. "But now I'm scared that I'll be too busy to go to the bathroom every day."
"We'll have to go at night every day," Pallas moaned. They giggled together. Nora loved the feeling of a new friendship.
"Honestly, I could just never understand what my parents meant by 'It's a lot of work,'" Nora commented.
"I know the feeling," Pallas agreed. Suddenly, she stopped. "What is that noise?" she hissed.
For Nora, too, had heard a small shuffling noise. She put a finger to her lips, before warily glancing around the corner.
Someone walked briskly past; Nora recognized the confident stride of Professor McGonagall. Suddenly, she realized that the Transfiguration teacher would be walking right past the hallway where Nora and Pallas stood. Looking positively petrified, Nora frantically motioned Pallas to stand back against the wall.
Luckily, Professor McGonagall seemed too absorbed in her destination to notice the two girls pressed in terror against the stone wall she'd just passed. When the footsteps died away, Pallas leaned across Nora and saw that Professor McGonagall had disappeared.
"I wonder what that was all about," she said suspiciously.
Nora shook her head. "I'm sure it's none of our business." She bit her lip. "Though I'd really like to know."
"Well, I don't need to go to the loo anymore," said Pallas shortly.
Nora laughed at the implication.
"Oh, I didn't wet myself," said Pallas, mock-annoyed. "I've just got other things on my mind...Why don't we head back to our dormitories? Mine's this way." She gestured at the direction Professor McGonagall had just come from.
"Me too," said Nora. She fell silent, thinking about where McGonagall could be going so late at night. Abruptly, she decided to ask Pallas something that had been bothering her.
"Pallas," she began, "Have you also had Slytherins being rather more friendly than is to be expected?"
"You know," the blonde Ravenclaw said thoughtfully, "There were a few of them in Defense Against the Dark Arts who went out of their way to introduce themselves to Jessica Sorben. My mum told me that Slytherins usually left Ravenclaws alone, though, so it was a bit odd."
"Even stranger," Nora picked up where Pallas had left off, "Is that Slytherins usually HATE Gryffindors, and today three of them made sure to introduce themselves to me, and these two boys I was talking to."
"You'd think they'd keep to themselves, mostly," said Pallas, the thoughtful note still strong in her voice. "Well, I suppose times are changing. But I'll be on the lookout for more odd behavior. I have to turn here," she said.
Nora shivered, but she didn't know why. "I'm going the other way." She bade Pallas goodnight, smiled encouragingly, and set off to find her dormitory, thankful that torches burned bright even in the dead of night at Hogwarts.
"Bumpkin muffin," she announced as she arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait.
As Nora finally walked into her dormitory, she felt a wave of icy wind wash over her. Annoyed, she hugged herself and walked quickly to the window above her bed, which was open for some reason. She put on a nightgown and snuggled into the warm covers.
'That was certainly a productive day,' she thought as she drifted into sleep. 'I can't believe that the rest will be even more enthralling...'
But when she awoke, she did not notice that the window was once again ajar.
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A/N. Hee. What a long chapter. It's 11:59, so no review songs right now. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it anyway!
--Renee
P.S. Anyone want to beta this story? Mine went on vacation for a week.