The wind that came through the window of the backseat was cold against my pale face. My parents sat in the front seat of my father's car. As much as they hated Muggles, and Muggle things, they still used cars when absolutely necessary. They hadn't spoken the entire time. I didn't care though. I hated them, though they still had hopes I would grow up to follow in their footsteps. Like that was going to happen anytime soon! Anyway, the car finally came to a stop and the windows of the car were rolled up. I opened the car door and stepped out to see Muggles of all kind boarding trains, unloading trains, and to the trained eye…witches and wizards slipping through the throng of Muggles to get to Platform 9 and 3/4. My father unloaded my trunk from the back of the car and my owl, Serenity. Then we proceeded down to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10.
It was my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up on the train. I kissed Mother good-bye, a tall pale witch with brown hair and green eyes. Then my father, a tall wizard with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. Considering this, I looked nothing like I was their daughter. I had dark, dark blue hair with silvery eyes. Of course, I was a Metamorphmagus. I normally looked like this though. My hair went down to the small of my back, today anyway. I quickly shortened it and put it up into a ponytail. Before clambering aboard the train.
I walked all the way down before finding a compartment with only one lonely girl sitting there. I opened up the compartment door and the girl's head shot up from Hogwarts, A History. She had shoulder length red hair and brilliant green eyes. She smiled at me.
"Hi, mind if I sit here?" I asked cautiously. She smiled wider and nodded her head vigorously. I smiled in return.
"My name's Lily Evans, what's yours?" the girl asked.
"Melanie Rain, and it's nice to meet you Lily," I replied. She smiled and went back to the book. "I must've read that book a thousand times by now." I said trying to make conversation. Her head shot up so fast I thought maybe she had heard a wand shot. (lol)
"You've read this?" she asked holding up the copy of the book. I laughed slightly.
"Yeah, I've also read all our spell books," I said. She looked positively stunned.
"Really? M-me too!" she stuttered excitedly. I smiled. We got to talking about all sorts of subjects, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, and Hogwarts in general. About halfway through the train ride I decided to just change into my robes, and since Lily was already in hers I went to go change in the bathrooms. On the way back to my compartment I bumped into somebody.
"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" I said quickly. I looked up to see this pale boy with kind of longish black hair.
"No, it's my fault I wasn't paying attention," he said offering his hand to help me up. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. "Sirius Black." He said once again holding out his hand. I shook it.
"Melanie Rain. Nice to meet you," I said. He smiled at me.
"You want to come meet some friends of mine?" Sirius asked. I smiled.
"Sure, why not?" I answered and followed him down the train. We walked down about halfway before he stopped and opened the door to his compartment.
"Guys, this is Melanie Rain. Melanie this is James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew," Sirius introduced them. James had unruly black hair and gray eyes. Remus had light brown hair with brown eyes while Peter had these kind of black beady eyes with brown hair. I shook their hands and said hello to each of them before sitting down between Sirius and Remus.
"So, Melanie, your hair and eyes…kinda weird, huh?" James asked. I laughed a little. Remus turned to look at me as if examining me.
"Are you, by any chance, a Metamorphmagus?" he asked. I stopped laughing and stared at him.
"Yeah, how did you know?" I asked astounded. He just smiled. I looked at him suspiciously. He laughed.
"Alright, I saw you and your parents and since you looked nothing like them and had such an unusual color of hair and eyes, I just assumed," he answered. I started laughing. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter exchanged looks before joining in the laughter.
"You know, for a girl, you're pretty cool!" James said after about an hour of talking, laughing, and falling out of our chairs.
"Thanks…I think," I replied. We laughed again before I realized I'd been gone for an hour! "I have to go you guys! See later!" I said before dashing back to my compartment. I opened the door and Lily looked up.
"Where did you go?" she asked. Guilt flooded through as she stared at me with those piercing green eyes.
I…kinda…got lost," I said. 'Jeez, could I come up with a worse excuse!' I thought miserably.
"Oh, really? How funny!" she said and actually started laughing. I joined in.
"I know! How did I manage to get lost on a train huh?" I said through the laughter. Lily laughed harder. Suddenly the train stopped and we both stopped laughing and exchanged nervous looks.
"Well, here we go," I said. We both exited our compartment and went with the rest of the group out of the train.
"Firs' years this way!" a very large man in a moleskin coat called over the heads of everyone else. Lily and I made our way through to the giant man where he was directing people into boats. We climbed into a boat and were soon joined by two other girls.
"Hi! I'm Jenna Lee and this is Jayla Jackson," the girl said. Jenna had long curly brown hair and green eyes and Jayla had short black hair and brown eyes.
"Hi! Melanie Rain," I said. Lily also introduced herself. The rest of the ride was complete silence as we all looked around to see a large castle loom in the distance. The lights were lit and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life! We docked and everybody began getting off their boats and following the large man we heard was named Hagrid. He led us to these giant wooden double doors, and we all stepped into this an entrance hall that looked like it was bigger than most people's houses! A stern looking witch in velvet green robes came over to us.
"I'll take it from here, Hagrid," she said. He nodded and went through another door. "Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall, the deputy Headmistress. In a few moments you will join your fellow students in the Great Hall for a Start of Term feast. But, before you can do that you must be sorted into your houses. There is Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. I will be back in a moment to bring to the Sorting." The stern witch left us and we all burst into conversation. Everybody wanted to know how we were to be sorted; Lily and I exchanged looks and giggled.
"If only they had a read Hogwarts, A History," Lily giggled. I nodded and we both started giggling. I looked across the Entrance Hall and saw Sirius with James and the others. He saw me and smiled. Then he nudged James in the ribs and he smiled as well before turning his attention to Lily. He looked at her stupidly for a while, until Sirius finally pulled him back around and I giggled. Lily gave me a strange, but then we started talking about what house we thought we would be in.
"Maybe we'll be in Ravenclaw. Or Hufflepuff. Oh I do hope I'm not in Slytherin!" I said quickly. Lily laughed.
"Why not Slytherin? What's wrong with it?" she asked. I had totally forgotten that Hogwarts, A History had failed to mention how horrible Slytherin house was.
"Well, there isn't a witch or wizard yet that has come out of Slytherin on the "good" side. Everyone who comes out of it is "evil" I guess you could say. My parents have their fingers crossed…" I trailed off. Lily looked at me strangely, and was about to ask when…
"We're ready for you. Follow me," McGonagall said. Everybody looked extremely nervous as the followed her into the Great Hall, where their fates awaited them. "When I call your name please step forward and put on the Sorting Hat. Then join your Houses' Table." She said to the nervous crowd of First Years. Most looked ready to either collapse, or throw up.
"Allen, Kaitlin." A tall girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes stepped forward. She picked up the old hat and put it on. We all waited for a few moments with baited breath until…
"Ravenclaw!" the Sorting Hat shouted out to the Great Hall. There was applause, loudest from the Ravenclaw table of course. After Kaitlin went and people saw that nothing terrible happened to her, they weren't quite as nervous. The line started dwindling done. I hadn't really paid attention until…
"Black, Sirius." I looked up to see Sirius make his way up to the hat and pick it up. He stood still for a moment before…
"Gryffindor!" The old hat yelled. Sirius seemed to thanking God that's what the hat said. As soon as he sat, I stopped paying attention again. That was until Lily got called up. She gave me a small smile before approaching the hat carefully, as if it were going to attack her any second. She gently picked it up and put it on her head. She stood there, after what had to have been three minutes it finally said, "Gryffindor!" she sighed and walked toward the table. Remus, James, and Peter were all put into Gryffindor as well. I was starting to get worried. 'What if it puts me in Slytherin? I would die!' I thought desperately. Then my name was called. I sighed and walked up to the hat. I put it on and waited.
"Hmmmm…where to put you?" the hat thought. "History in Slytherin, but not an ounce of evil in you. Hmmm…difficult, very difficult. Smart, but not Ravenclaw either. Well, it'll have to be…"
"Gryffindor!" it said loudly. I sighed with relief and left for the table. I sat next to Lily who looked ecstatic that I was in the same House as her. Sirius waved his arms wildly trying to get my attention. I looked over and laughed. He waved and so did the others. I waved back and smiled.
"You know them?" Lily asked. I looked at her, then back at them.
"Yeah, I ran into them when I got lost on the train. Couldn't help me though," I said casually. She nodded and we both looked back to the Sorting.
"Snape, Severus," McGonagall said. A very pale, skinny boy approached the hat. He had black, greasy hair with black eyes. The Hat barely touched his head before it yelled "Slytherin!" He looked proud of himself and sat down at the Slytherin table. When the Sorting had finished an old wizard with silver hair, beard, and half moon spectacles. Lily and exchanged looks and knew he must be Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! And for our First Years, Welcome! I would just like to give a few start of term announcements. First off I would like to tell the first years the Forbidden Forest is indeed forbidden. Also, wandering the corridors after dark is out of the question! Our caretaker, Mr. Argus Filch, would like to remind all students that there should be no magic in the corridors between classes. And we would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Alex Rowling," there was scattered applause here and there. "And…that's it! Tuck in!" He clapped his hands and food filled the empty plates, drink filled the empty goblets, and everyone started piling on food.
"So…Gryffindor…are we happy or sad about this one?" I asked Lily after Professor Dumbledore had finished speaking. She seemed to think about it before answering.
"Well…I like it here. Why? Did you want to be in a different house?" Lily asked you. Sirius seemed to also be listening to the conversation without making it known that he was.
"Oh! No, I wanted to be here. Actually, any house other than Slytherin was fine with me! It's just that my parents won't be to thrilled about it all," I said shaking my. Lily shrugged and Sirius went back to laughing with James and Remus. Peter didn't seem to talk very much, but what difference did it make to me? Anyway, as the feast drew to a close the house prefects were leading their houses to their own Common Rooms. Lily and I got up and followed the rest of the first years to the common room. We went up many flights of stairs, the whole way Lily and I were trying to memorize it. We all finally came to a stop outside a portrait of a fat lady.
"The password please?" she asked to the group of first years. Some were very excited and scared about the talking, moving pictures, but I always found them quite amusing.
"Wingarduim Levioso," the prefect answered and the portrait swung open to reveal a round hole in the wall. Everyone started climbing through and a few people needed a boost up. "Girl's dormitories up the stairs and to your left, boys the same to your right." The only problem with the prefect, Will Callings, telling us this now was that nobody had any plans of going to bed at the moment. Well, except for Lily that is.
"Well, I'm going to bed. I want to be all rested for the start of classes tomorrow," she said before walking off up to the girl's dormitories. I walked over to a couch in front of the fire where James, Sirius, and Remus were all sitting. Peter of course too, but he never seemed to catch my eye while looking at the group.
"Hey guys! Interesting how we all got in Gryffindor, huh?" I said while sitting down with them. They all laughed and looked at each other.
"Yeah, maybe it is kind of strange how we all happen to meet on the train and then all of us get into Gryffindor. But I'm just glad I wasn't in Slytherin," Sirius said. I looked at him, and we exchanged a look that we both took as an "our-parents-aren't-going-to-be-happy" look.
"I think it was just coincidence that this all happened the way it did. I don't believe in destiny stuff," James said. I laughed slightly.
"I didn't say that it was destiny that this happened, all though maybe it was. All was saying was that it was a little strange," I said.
"Yeah, well…whatever it was, we're here aren't we?" James said. I laughed and nodded. Then I pulled out a piece of parchment, some ink, and a quill. They all looked at me strangely.
"Letter, to my parents. They want to know what…house I'm in," I said. They all said, "Oh." And carried on with what they were doing.
Dear Mother and Father,
I am adapting well to Hogwarts. I have already made a few new friends. As for which house I'm in, they put me in Gryffindor. Funny, huh? Anyway, I shall keep you posted on how things are here at Hogwarts, and don't bother to remind me about our little secret. It's always safe with me, you know that. Well, I hope to hear from you very soon!
All My Love,
Melanie"Well, that ought to make them semi-happy," I said sadly. "Do any of you guys know where the Owlery is?" They shook their heads. I sighed unhappily. "Excuse me, ummm…Will? Is it too late to go out to the Owlery?" I asked the prefect who got us here earlier.
"No, the Owlery, by the way, is at the top east tower. Not too far from here," he said. I gave him my thanks and was about to go out the door when Sirius stopped me.
"We were about to go explore the castle ourselves, would you like to join us?" he asked. I smiled and nodded as James and the others came over. We walked out of the portrait hole and into the hallway.
"1,2,3,4,5…I think we'll all fit," James said. I gave him a puzzled look.
"All fit under what?" I asked. He pulled out this shining material I soon realized was an Invisibility Cloak.
"This," he said. I shook my head and smiled. We all got under the cloak and started walking quickly and quietly to the Owlery first. After a few minutes of searching we finally found it. We walked up the stairs to the room that was filled with owls of every size and color. I spotted Serenity and ran over to her. She was a black owl with silvery wings, almost like the moon, thus her name. I tied the letter to her leg.
"Take this to Mother and Father straight away. If they give you a Howler, drop it somewhere along the way," I said to her. She nipped my finger affectionately before spreading her wings and flying off into the night.
"A Howler? Why would you parents send you a Howler?" Remus asked. I turned around to see the serious expression on his face and laughed.
"My parents won't be happy I was "thrown" into Gryffindor! They will be most distraught. Me! Their daughter in Gryffindor! It'll be a disgrace! I'll be the only white sheep of the family! A long line of pureblood Slytherins and I just ruined that by being put into Gryffindor! They will be so beyond angry it won't even be a tiny bit funny! That is why they would send me Howler!" I said all very quickly. They all just looked at me and James actually started to laugh, but then I shot him a death glare and nobody was laughing with him so he quickly shut up. "Lets just go before I hurt someone." This time they all laughed and I just smiled and went back under the cloak.
We all started wandering around the castle, but as the clock struck eleven I started panicking.
"We should go back!" I said quickly. James laughed.
"Why?" he asked still laughing. I turned to glare at him. He cowered away slightly.
"Maybe you all want detention on the first day of school, but I'd rather not!" I said in a yelled whisper.
"But…we have the Invisibility Cloak!" Sirius interjected. I turned my glare on him. He backed away a little.
"If you look closely…you would be able to see us! You would have to have a very good eye and stuff, but they can still hear us!" I said a little louder than necessary.
"Well if you would just keep it down…" Sirius started but I cut him off.
"Shhhhhhhh! I hear someone," I said barely above a whisper. They all shut up quickly as we saw a shadow round the corner followed by its owner………Professor McGonagall. I immediately started panicking.
I motioned for them to follow me. We started walking back to Gryffindor Tower, before somebody slipped up and I wanted to kill him! As we were walking up a staircase Peter stepped on his shoelace and fell over pulling the cloak off of all of us and he fell down the stairs and landed with a loud thud. I cringed and didn't dare to turn around.
"What in Merlin's name are you all doing out here past curfew?" she said. We all slowly turned around and I mouthed to them "Told you so!". "Explain! Please!" she said. We all looked at each other and then back at her. "Anybody! Please?" she said again. This time I stepped forward.
"See Professor it was my fault. I-I wanted to go to the Owlery, but I didn't know where it was and I didn't w-want to go alone," I stuttered. She looked at me, before talking.
"I see, but that still does not excuse the others for following in your foolish footsteps! All of you, detention, my classroom on Saturday at 7:00. Do not be late!" she said. "Oh, and back to your dorms please!" We all walked off sulking and Peter rubbing his behind.
"Thanks for trying to take the fall, Melanie. Too bad it didn't work," Sirius said sadly. I laughed sadly.
"Detention on my first day! I cannot believe this! My mother will so kill me if she wasn't planning on it already!" I said. They laughed before I gave them the death glare and then they all shut up quickly.
"So, what do you think she'll make us do?" James asked. I shrugged.
"Hard to say. I've never had detention seeing as this is MY FIRST DAY HERE!" I yelled. They flinched before saying, "Shhhhhh!" I stuck my tongue out at them.
"Oh, very mature Melanie," Sirius said. I turned around and smiled my most innocent smile.
"I know! Thank you Sirius!" I said sarcastically. Then turned back around and huffed off.
"Melanie! Wait!" Sirius yelled after me. I just kept walking. "Melanie come on! I was just joking! Melanie!" the last word was whined and yelled. I started laughing hysterically, rolling on the floor laughing at his whininess. He just smirked and walked over. "Was it that funny?" he asked me. All I could was nod. He started laughing too and soon we were all laughing on the floor. Until…
"What are you doing on the floor?" we all stopped at the sound of the Headmaster's voice. I was the first to jump up and dust myself off.
"Ummmm…we were just on our way back to our common room on Professor McGonagall's orders when…well…ummmm…Sirius did something terribly funny and we all started laughing. And it was so funny we all ended up on the floor," I ended kind of weakly realizing how stupid we must have looked.
"Ah, I see," he said nodding. We all exchanged nervous glances. "Well, you better hurry back then. Try not to do anything terribly funny Mr. Black so you don't distract them." Professor Dumbledore finally said. We all nodded quickly suppressing more giggles. We started walking quickly until I turned around for a minute.
"Goodnight Professor! See you later!" I said back to him. He smiled and waved to me. I smiled and continued to walk.
"What was that all about?" Sirius asked. I shrugged.
"Just wanted to say goodnight. It's only polite to!" I said. He chuckled and we kept walking until we reached the Fat Lady.
"Wingardium Leviso," Remus said. We all climbed through the portrait hole. "Well, that was fun!" he said sarcastically.
"Hey! It was for the most part! Until we got caught!" I said in a whisper. They laughed.
"Well, for me it was more painful!" Peter said. We all laughed some more.
"Well, I'm going to bed before we get in trouble again! Goodnight!" I said and walked up the Girls Staircase. I opened the door and quietly closed it. I changed into my pajamas. Then climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep.
"Melanie! Wake up!" Lily yelled as she whacked me upside the head with a pillow. I groaned and pulled my covers over my head and tried to go back to sleep. "Melanie!" this time she pulled the covers off of my bed and I curled up into a ball and groaned. She hit me with the pillow again and I tried to swat at her but missed. "Melanie, we're going to be late for Breakfast if you don't hurry up!" Lily said.
"What time is it?" I moaned. She sighed and paused for a moment.
"It's six o'clock, why?" she said in a tone that said "just hurry up!". I sighed and sat up rubbing my eyes. I saw a triumphant smile on her face. I saw those two girls from earlier, Jenna and Jayla, sharing the dorm. I also happened to notice that they were still sleeping. I sighed and rolled my eyes but stumbled out of bed anyways. I walked into the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, and get dressed. The uniforms were horrible, but on weekends you could wear normal clothes. I sighed as I looked at my hair. What to do with it today? I thought for a second before scrunching up my nose and it became completely straight, same color, but with silver streaks and it went a little past my shoulders.
"Well, let's go," I muttered sleepily, stifling a yawn. She just stood there for a second. "What?" I asked.
"Your hair…" she said. I looked at her puzzled for a second before it dawned on me.
"Oh! Yeah…I'm a Metamorphmagus," I said. She said looked at me and nodded.
"Oh, I like it! It matches your eyes!" she said. I smiled and followed her out of the room. We descended the Girls staircase and into the Common Room. Surprisingly, there was nobody else there! NOT! I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. She, somehow, didn't notice and we both walked to the other side and through the portrait hole.
"What time is breakfast supposed to start?" I asked. She checked her watch.
"Well, in half an hour seeing as it took you so long to finish getting ready!" she said. I just smiled innocently. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"So what are we going to do for half an hour?" I asked. She looked at me for a second. Then her eyes lit up.
"The library!" she said. I laughed but followed her there anyway. When we finally reached the library we probably only had about twenty minutes. Since we were new it took us awhile to find it! We went in there and we were searching through the shelves of books when a fat, short little ghost came hovering by Lily and she screamed. I jumped and turned to see it.
"Well, well, well…what have we here?" it asked. We just continued to stare at what I assumed was a him. "Ickle first years in the Library before they have even had their first lesson? How strange. You must be up to something! DUMBLEDORE!" he yelled. Lily and I exchanged nervous looks. A woman, we assumed to be the Librarian came over and saw him and sighed deeply.
"Peeves…OUT! Before I have to call the Bloody Baron!" she yelled. The ghost looked frightened and flew away. "Peeves, always causing trouble. You girls better hurry before you're late for breakfast," she said. We nodded and started to walk back to the Great Hall.
"Who was that?" Lily said, still a little pale from the encounter with Peeves.
"Peeves I assume," I said shrugging. She just nodded and kept walking. We walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. I picked up a piece of toast and buttered it before taking a bite out of it. I saw Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter walk in. Peter seemed to still be rubbing his bottom from last night. I choked on my toast trying to keep from laughing. Lily looked at me strangely but ignored it for the most part. James and Sirius smirked at me, Remus smiled, and Peter tried to smile but didn't succeed. I smiled back them innocently and they all laughed while I put on a fake pouty face. That just caused them to laugh more. I just giggled and went back to my toast. Then…the owls came in.
"Uh-oh," I said as I saw Serenity fly in with a letter. She landed gracefully next to me and I took the letter from her, glad it wasn't a Howler.
Dear Melanie,
While your Father and I are very disappointed in you for not being in Slytherin…we knew you would tell Serenity to drop a Howler so we didn't bother. We are glad that you're settling in well. Even if it is with Gryffindors. Update us whenever you can! And we know you won't let it slip to soul because you know what would happen to you when you came home for Christmas, don't you? Well, we love and be a good girl!
Sincerely,
Mother and Father
I sighed audibly and Lily leaned over to read the letter. She seemed puzzled by something and I quickly folded it and put it away.
"What do they mean, '…you know what would happen…'?" she asked.
"Nothing. She was just having some fun with me. They like to do that!" I said quickly. She gave me a look that said she didn't believe a word of it. I finished my toast and sat there waiting for our schedules. Will then walked by us and handed us our schedules. Lily and I compared and we had all of our classes together. Since that was the case I assumed that all of the first year Gryffindors had the same classes together. I smiled when I thought of the guys and I looked over there to see that Peter wasn't sitting at all. This time pumpkin juice almost came out of my nose. I quickly averted my gaze to the teacher's table. I was scanning them before Lily yanked me from my chair.
"Come on! Let's go! I don't want to be late to my first lesson!" Lily exclaimed. I laughed and followed her out of the Great Hall.
"What do we have first?" I asked. Lily checked her schedule. It took her a few seconds before she answered.
"Potions. That's in the dungeons with Professor Slughorn," she said. So we walked down a staircase we assumed lead to the dungeons. Finally we came to a door and Lily knocked on it. We heard a noise from the room and then a short, balding, fat man answered it.
"Ummm…is this where we have Potions?" I asked timidly. The man seemed surprised for a second, then he got over it.
"Well, yes it is. First years I presume?" he asked. We nodded. "Well why don't you come in and take a seat?" he said. He stood aside and Lily and I entered the dark Potions room. We found seats right in the front and sat down waiting for the beginning of class. The next student to enter the classroom was one of the boys you remembered from last night, Severus Snape. He glared at Lily and looked at me for a moment before sitting down quickly in another desk up front. The Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter entered the room. They all sat in the back of our desk. Somebody poked me and I turned around.
"Hey, looking forward to Saturday?" James asked me. I glared at them.
"Why yes James! I just can't wait!" I said sarcastically. They laughed and I smiled and rolled my eyes. I turned back around to face the front. The room was starting to fill up with people.
"What was that all about?" Lily asked me in a whisper. But before I could answer…
"Welcome! To Potions!" Professor Slughorn said gleefully. Everyone stopped talking to listen to the Potions Master. "Together we shall discover the magical art of Potions Making. Some of you may be able to do it…but for some I'm afraid it might not come as easily," he said. "And, for those of you who don't know, I am Professor Slughorn. I've been teaching a long time and who knows…maybe one of you may take my very position here at this school!" he said. I laughed quietly about that last comment. Lily glared at me, obviously wanting to pay very close attention. I shut myself up by grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill and some ink. I started copying down some notes he had written on the board.
"Now! Can anybody tell me what the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?" he asked. Lily's and my hand shot up at the exact same time. We looked at each other and giggled quietly. "All right…Ms. Rain?" he said. We both put our hands down and Lily looked a little upset.
"Ummm…I forgot," I said quickly. Lily gave me a strange look before raising her hand again. She was called on and answered the question correctly. All we did that day was take notes on what we would be doing this year in Potions. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to particularly like this class…but I guess I would just have to wait and see.
"Class dismissed!" Professor Slughorn said when the bell had rung signally the end of this class. I quickly packed up all of my things and stood waiting for Lily to finish up packing. She soon stood as well and we checked our schedules for the next class.
"Ugh…History of Magic…great!" I heard from behind us. I turned to see James scowling down at the ink on his schedule and suppressed a giggle. James looked up anyway and smirked at me. I rolled my eyes at him and he pretended to pout, then all the guys burst into laughter. I started laughing quietly too.
"And just what is so funny?" I looked to see Lily looking at me strangely. I suppressed more laughter.
"It's nothing…laughs it was just…laughs this kid outside tripped over a broomstick and landed flat on his face," I said quickly and started laughing when I heard the guys laugh at my feeble excuse. I glared at them and they quickly shut up. I smiled triumphantly before turning back around.
"So, how do you think History of Magic will be?" Lily asked. I shrugged.
"Hopefully it'll be interesting," I said. I loved history…strange I know. But somehow it fascinated me to see how things ended up the way they were now. Everybody else however always said the same thing in response to that. "Who cares, it's history! It happened…it's over!" I hated people like that. I wanted to know why things happened and how and when. I found it fascinating, so hopefully this class wouldn't be bad. We walked into the classroom to find something quite interesting floating by the chalkboard. It was a ghost…and it was the professor too! Maybe this class wouldn't be that bad! Lily and I sat down in the front row like last time and the rest of Gyrffindors sat down as well. We had this class all to ourselves, no double class, thank God. The final bell rang telling us that it was time to shut up and telling the people in the corridors "You're late! Hahahaha!" or at least that's how I always saw it! The professor stopped what he was doing and walked…floated to the front of class.
"Welcome to History of Magic. I will be your professor, Professor Binns," he said. His voice told me everything I needed to know about this class. Whether I like history or not…I was going to die in this classroom…die, of pure unadulterated BOREDOM! "If everybody will please take out a quill and parchment you will need to take notes on today's lecture. I sighed openly and took out the quill and parchment. Lily did as well, although not with such enthusiasm as last class. She must have noticed the same tone as I did.
Half an Hour Later
"…Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah…" was all I could hear now. Most of the class had easily fallen asleep. Lily was actually taking notes although she also looked bored. I had given up on the whole notes thing and was sitting there with both elbows on the desk and my head in my hands. Somebody kicked my chair and I seemed to come out of a trance. I shook my head and turned around in my chair.
"What?" I whispered to Sirius who had been the culprit. He handed me a piece of folded up parchment and mouthed, "It's a note genius," at my puzzled look. I glared at him and turned back around. I unfolded the note and started to read it.
Dear Melanie,
Hey! Boring isn't? James and Peter have actually fallen asleep! Can you believe those lazy bums! I can! I feel like taking a nice nap man! But…how are you? I see your friend there is actually taking notes. That is amazing considering how ungodly boring this class happens to be! I see that you have stopped though. I never started…couldn't handle it! Anyway…wow is this guy boring as hell! He doesn't seem to shut up either. You think if I threw a paper ball at him he would notice it? Do ghost notice when things go through them? Hmmm…I'll have to research that one. Well, write me back soon!
Sirius
I started to laugh quietly as I was reading it, checking every once in a while to see that Professor Binns hadn't noticed yet. He didn't seem to notice much of anything actually. Like Sirius said, he just wouldn't shut up. I shook my head at this thought and took out a clean sheet of parchment and started writing my reply.
Dear Sirius,
Hey to you too! And God yes this class is boring! I love history and I can't even sit through this! Remus isn't sleeping huh? I'm not surprised; he seems to be the more responsible one of the group. But it is indeed believable that James and Peter are sleeping. I'm actually surprised I'm not sleeping too! Lily is a little bit of an over achiever. Like did you see the look she gave me when Professor Slughorn called on me to answer the question? Weird. I'm just going to do the homework and never answer questions. She is really nice though. I don't know if a ghost would feel it if you threw a paper ball through it. Maybe you should try and find out! Anyway, I wrote you back!
Melanie
I folded up the piece of parchment and reached my hand behind my head to fix my hair. I then dropped the note onto Sirius' desk and put my arm back down. I heard a few laughs from Sirius and I smiled to myself. I grabbed a piece of my hair and scrunched my nose at it. I decided it needed a bit of a change. I closed my eyes and scrunched up my nose and my hair shrunk back to about shoulder length and it became a dark burgundy color. However now my eyes didn't match with my hair and I had to change those too! I closed my eyes once again and scrunched up my nose. My iris was now pure black. It looked pretty cool…or at least it should. I took out my mini mirror from my bag and checked. It looked gorgeous actually. I heard a few gasp from the students still awake considering my hair color had changed from dark blue with silver to burgundy. Now I heard more as people were waking up their friends. I laughed to myself and shook my head.
"Class dismissed," Professor Binns drawled like he had all class. I heard a lot of "Finally!" and "Yes!" scattered around the classroom. I stood up and waited for Lily. As we left the classroom Sirius slipped another note into my hand. I smiled at him and smiled back before joining James, Peter, and Remus. James and Peter had be shaken awake at the end of class. I decided I would wait until lunch to read the note.
"Jeez, was that class boring or what?" I asked Lily as we walked down to the Great Hall. She looked over at me.
"Oh come on! It wasn't that bad!" she said. I looked at her with skepticism written all over my face. "Oh, all right. It was pretty bad, I'll admit." I smiled once again in triumph. "Oh! By the way, love the new look. You must get bored of it easily."
"I usually never change it. Today I was just…in the mood to do something different," I said. She raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure you didn't just want to freak some of them out?" she asked. I smiled innocently.
"Why would I do such a thing like that?" I asked. She laughed as we entered the Great Hall and we sat down at the Gryffindor table. I put some chicken and mashed potatoes. I started eating and I opened up the note Sirius had written in reply to my reply…weird.
Dear Melanie,
Thank God this class is almost over! I'm actually starting to count the minutes until it ends! How sad is that? Oh well, I just can't wait for it to end. Are you looking forward to Transfiguration? We have that next, I looked out of boredom. I know I'm not. McGonagall looked rigid last night huh? Oh well…we'll get her back somehow! Fifteen minutes. God I'm bored. Whoa! Like what you did with your hair! Very cool! Are you a Metamorphmagus? I bet you are! That is so cool! I wish I was…I bet it comes in handy huh? Ten more minutes. I think I'm going to actually die in this class! What to do, what to do? Hey did you see that Slytherin in Potions? Severus or something like that. Can we say grease ball? And abnormally large nose? I think we can! Five more minutes. Well, I think I'll stop now. I can give it to you after class. Bye!
Sirius
I shook my head and laughed. Lily was about to read it so I folded it back up and put it away in my bag. She shrugged and went back to eating.
"So, Transfiguration next, huh?" I said. Lily dropped her fork and turned to me looking excited.
"Really!" she asked. I laughed and nodded. "Oh yes! I've been looking forward to that class!"
"Yeah? Me too. I'm hoping it'll be fun to do," I told her. She smiled.
"You know you're supposed to be really good at it?" she asked. I cocked an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" I asked her. She laughed a little. Apparently it was obvious and I just didn't know.
"Because you kind of do it every time you change your hair color or eye color or facial features," she answered.
"Oh! Duh!" I said stupidly. She laughed again. Lunch was going to be over in five minutes so Lily and I left to head up to Transfigurations. We walked up to the door and waited for the bell to ring. A few minutes later it did indeed ring and students started to fill the corridors going to class and such. A queue of Gryffindors and Slytherins stood outside the door until Professor McGonagall finally opened it and we walked in and took seats. Again the final bell rang telling us and the students in the corridors something.
"Quiet! Everybody please settle down! I'm Professor McGonagall and welcome to Transfigurations," Professor McGonagall began the class.
Ummmm...I guess...sorry it's so incredibly long?