Alex was the first to wake in the morning. He turned over in his four-poster bed and saw the sunlight pour into the room. Sitting up in his bed, Alex glanced over at the clock on the wall. 7:05 A.M. Alex decided to get dressed. He opened his trunk to find all of his clothes imprinted with the Gryffindor sign. He dressed the same as the day before, figuring it looked casual. He stood in front of the full-length mirror and smiled at himself. Alex walked back to his bed and found it already made. He shrugged, retrieved his wand and closed his trunk. As he closed the lid, William stirred in his bed. Alex grinned and had the "this is going to be fun" look in his eyes. Walking over to the center of the room, Alex pulled his wand out.
"Accio Blankets," he said and with a flick of his wand, all of the blankets came off the beds, revealing the four sleeping boys that hadn't woken up yet. They stirred slightly and felt around the beds for the blankets but felt nothing but the sheets underneath them. William was the first to get out of bed. He fell off the edge and mumbled something under his breath. Alex howled with laughter as William got up from the floor and got dressed. Damien was getting dressed as well. As the two of them got dressed, two of the blankets on the floor flew up and went back on top of William's and Damien's beds. Jack was snoring loudly and Elliot was talking in his sleep. Alex couldn't understand if he was saying evil potatoes or evil tomatoes. The three boys who were awake decided to leave them there and leave to go to breakfast. Before they left, Alex and Damien decided to levitate Jack and Elliot above their beds. As they walked out of the room, they slammed the door as hard as they could. Muffled screams came from inside the bedroom. The three friends went down to breakfast, laughing hysterically.
Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, orange juice and milk were sitting on the tables in the Great Hall. A handful of students were already up and sitting at the tables, eating. Alex, William and Damien sat down at their table and helped themselves to the assortment of food in front of them. Alex and William had bacon and eggs with milk while Damien had eggs and toast with milk. As they ate, each of their owls had come and dropped off mail for them. None of them had gotten The Daily Prophet, although William had gotten a letter from his mother and Damien recieved some money from Gringotts. Alex had gotten a package sent by his father with a card that said, "This might come in handy. Love, Dad".
"A charms book!" he said excitedly as he opened the box. He set it beside his plate and returned to eating his scrambled eggs.
"Don't you already have a charms book?" William asked, holding a piece of bacon.
"Yeah, but this one has spells that they don't teach in school," Alex replied, grinning. "Which is good because our first class is Charms," he said, looking at the schedules that appeared beside each of their plates. "Let's see, first is Charms, then Tranfiguration, Potions, and Quidditch and lastly, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Wait, Quidditch? I thought we weren't allowed?"
"It's not really Quidditch, it's just flying on brooms and fake practice games," Damien explained with a mouth full of toast and butter.
"Well, at least we get to fly, right?"
"Yeah."
As they talked about their classes for the day, Jack and Elliot appeared at the door. Jack was still half-asleep and Elliot looked really angry. They came over and sat down. Jack grabbed an empty plate and began filling it with his breakfast. Elliot stared at Alex, still clenching his teeth.
"Nice prank this morning," he said, still staring at Alex. Alex looked up from his plate, smiling. "Very funny."
"Why, thank you. I would like to thank my assistant in this devious act," Alex replied, patting Damien on his back. Damien tipped his glass of milk towards Elliot and nodded.
"I'll get you back," Elliot threatened.
"I'd like to see you try," Alex said, finishing his cup of milk and reaching for a "Pearly Whites" mint. As he reached his hand over, a silver translucent head popped out of the table. Alex quickly withdrew his hand.
"And you are?" he asked, staring at the face in front of him.
"Aren't you a ghost?" William asked, attempting to poke it with his fork.
"Yes, I'm ghost. What do I like? A werewolf? And get that thing away from me. It's highly unlikely you'll be able to prod me with it," the figure said and floated from under the table, revealing the whole height of his ghostly body. He brushed his shoulders and as he did so, his head slipped off and hung by his neck on a tiny piece of skin. They all looked disgusted as the ghost propped his head back on his shoulders. "Sorry about that. I hate it when that happens. Anyway, I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. Ghost of Gryffindor tower," he said proudly.
"You mean, like you haunt the tower or something?" Elliot asked.
"Heavens, no! Nothing like that. Far from it. I simply represent the Gryffindors as a ghost, that's all. All the houses have a ghost. Gryffindors have me, of course. Ravenclaw have the Gray Lady. Slytherins have the Bloody Baron and Hufflepuff have the Fat Friar. Well, I must be going. Nice to meet you all," he said, tipping his head off his neck and floated off the table into the wall. Alex hadn't noticed it when he walked in, but around all four tables, there were ghosts floating around talking to the students.
"Nice fellow, isn't he?" he said, turning his head back to his own plate. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Alex reached over and got his piece of candy and was relieved to see that no ghost came up. He unwrapped the candy and popped in his mouth. Enjoying the clean feeling in his mouth, he headed up the stairs to the dorms. Arriving at the Fat Lady, he gave her the password and entered the common room. It was really quiet with everyone down at breakfast. He entered the room to see that all the beds made and knealt down by his trunk to get his books and school bag. He unlatched it and got his books, some parchment and a quill and stuffed it all in the bag. As he closed the lid on his trunk, William walked in, followed by Damien. Alex sat on the edge of his bed and put his feet up on top of his trunk.
"So, you guys ready for class?" Alex asked, pulling his wand out and waving it around in the air.
"Yeah, just let me get my stuff," William replied, opening his own trunk and retrieving his books, parchment, quill and wand and a similiar school bag. Damien was by his bed doing the same thing. The two of them finished getting their stuff and the three of them, once again, descended the stairs and headed for their first class of the day, Charms.
They arrived in the classroom, which was filled with books stacked high on the tables and loose sheets of parchment everywhere. Several of the students had already arrived and were talking amongst themselves. Most of them were wearing robes that had the Ravenclaw sign on them. Others had the Gryffindor lion. At the front of the room, a short wizard ran around, rearranging stacks of books and picking up piecees of parchment. He looked very flustered and was in a hurry. Each of the three friends sat down at a desk and noticed that there were jewelry boxes on each of the desks. Alex tried to open his and it seemed to be locked so he gave up on it. As they the clock chimed eight times, other students hurried into the room and tried to find a desk to sit in. The last two people to come in were none other than Jack and Elliot. Both of them were panting as they sat down at the two reamaining desks.
The short wizard running around stopped and climbed on top of a stack of books in the center of the room, holding a box that looked like the ones on the desks.
"Welcome, first years. I am Professor Flitwick, most of the Ravenclaws know me, for I am their Head of House," he began and then he called roll. Everyone raised their hand as their name was called and everyone was present. Alex's heart gave a flutter as he heard the name of Ava Nichols. He turned to look if she was really there and there she was, sitting two seats diagonally behind him. When he turned around, she quickly looked away, blushing. "Today, we will learn a simple charm to open locks." Some excited responses came from the students. "In front of each of you are locked boxes. Now, before we began, I want all of you to get your wands out and do as I do." He paused to let everyone get their wands. Jack raised his hand. "Yes, what is it?"
"I," he hesitated a little to finish his sentence, "forgot to bring my wand."
Professor Flitwick sighed. "Go get it," he said, ushering him away with his hand. Jack got up from his desk and left the classroom while Professor Flitwick continued on with the lesson. He raised the box with one hand and in the other, he held his wand and pointed it at the keyhole of the lock.
"Alohomora," he said. The box rattled for a moment and the lid flew open. The class applauded as confetti came out of the box and dusted the floor with with many different colors. "Now, it's your turn. Inside each of your boxes, there are chocolate frogs just waiting to be eaten. Remember, just point your wand at the lock and hold it steady. Don't forget to talk clearly," he said and jumped off the stack of books. The room filled with sounds of the students trying to open their boxes.
Alex looked down at his box and raised his wand. He took a deep breath and said, "Alohomora." The box rattled a little, but didn't open. Alex was determined to et it open. He took another deep breath and tried again.
"Alohomora," he said, more clearly this time. The box rattled again and this time, it opened, revealing a chocolate frog sitting inside. Professor Flitwick was back on top of the stack of books.
"Well done, Alex. Ten points for Gryffindor," he shouted excitedly. Alex smiled at himself for being the first one to open their box. He sat back and enjoyed his delicious reward as he watched his friends achieve what he had just done. First to follow him in correctly using the spell was William who's frog jumped out and landed in his lap. Alex laughed when this happened and William threw him a nasty look. Alex and William spent the time talking after they had finished their chocolate. Some of the Ravenclaw students had their boxes open and also began talking. The bell rang for the next class and only a few of them had not opened their boxes. Professor Flitwick told them to practice their new spell for homework. The next class was Transfiguration. Alex couldn't wait; he left Charms feeling cheerful as he swung his school bag over his shoulder.