The summer holidays were over, and Layla was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts again. This time, her brothers would go with her, and she was glad. She hoped that they would be in the same House. Manuel said he doubted it, though. When they were on the Hogwarts Express, she looked for Hermione. She wanted Hermione to meet her brothers.
"This is Hermione."she told them. "Hermione, these are my brothers, Manuel and Macario."
"Hello."said Hermione. "You're starting this year, are you?"
"Yes."said Manuel.
"That's good. I'm sure you'll like it at Hogwarts. There's a very big library there."
"They don't read that much. They don't read, period. I'll never understand why. I love to read. I always try to get them to read, by showing them interesting books. Like the Isis ones, since they love aliens, and space, and things like that, but no. That didn't work, either."
"That's quite a pitty. You do miss out on a lot. You'll have to read quite a bit at Hogwart, though, if you want to do well in all your classes."
"I know Manuel will do well. He's very smart."
"Have you seen Harry and Ron, by the way?"asked Hermione.
"No, I haven't. I thought they would have been with you."
"I haven't seen them anywhere on the train. I've been looking everywhere for them."
When they got to Hogwarts, and Hagrid called the first years, Manuel and Macario went towards him, and Layla and Hermione got into a carriage that took them to the castle. When they got to the Great Hall, Layla sat down at the Slytherin table, and Hermione went towards the Gryffindor table.
Layla watched the first years being sorted, and Manuel went to Ravenclaw, and Macario to Gryffindor. She was disappointed that neither had gone to Slytherin, but she clapped for them, even though they had not gone to Slytherin like her.
The next morning, she heard that Ron and Harry had arrived in a flying car and that they had crashed into the Whomping Willow. Malfoy was furious that they had not gotten expelled. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and a woman's voice was shouting at Ron.
It's a Howler she thought. She tried to ignore it, but it was too loud. Finally, it stopped. Good, she thought. People began to talk again, as if nothing had happened. They had a new teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. Layla had not really read his books, but since he was a celebrity, she thought it would be exciting. They had their first lesson with him on Thursday, and he started with a quiz. The quiz turned out to be on himself.
Shouldn't it be maybe on the plot of the books, or something, she thought. How are we supposed to know? We don't know him. She passed her up, sighing, sure that she had failed her first quiz with Professor Lockhart.
Lockhart was not very pleased with the way the quiz had gone, but he dismissed them, anyway, asking them to read his books more carefully. Layla met Hermione in the corridor.
"Did he give a quiz, too?"she asked.
"Yes."
"I failed it, I'm sure."
"Why? It was actually quite simple."
"It was all about himself! It's not like we're friends, or anything. I hope that was just the first class. I hope not all his classes are like that."
"It was a good class."Hermione said.
"I guess so, for the first class. Did you hear? That Draco Malfoy was accepted on the Quidditch team, and his father bought all new Nimbus 2001s for the Slytherin Quidditch team? They were going on about it all last night in the common room. That they'll beat the Gryffindors and all that. Those brooms are supposed to be really good."
"I haven't heard."Hermione said.
"Well, they did. Maybe they're convinced that they don't even have to practice, because I haven't been able to hear when their first practice session is going to be, or anything. But I thought everyone knew by now, you know. They probably want everyone to know."
"So Malfoy bought his way into the team?"
"I guess so. I've never seen him playing, so I don't know if he's even any good. I already told Manuel and Macario."
"Hmm."
Lockhart's classes didn't turn any better. He just read from his books to them, which Layla found extremely annoying, since she hated to listen to people reading out loud. She couldn't understand very well. She liked to read silently on her own, instead. Sometimes he reenacted some parts, but she didn't pay much attention to those, either.
Soon, Halloween was there. She looked forward to the feast. She liked the feasts. She went down to the Great Hall, and regretted that Hermione and Manuel were at the Gryffindor table, and Macario at the Ravenclaw table. Here, she didn't really enjoy talking to anyone. When the feast was over, they got up and headed back towards the common room. Suddenly everyone stopped, and she craned her head to see what was happening.
"You'll be next, Mudbloods."said Draco Malfoy from somewhere in front.
What, she thought, confused.