I soon learned what a confusing place Hogwarts could be. With staircases that moved, walls that pretended to be doors, and other strange things it was a wonder I hadn't gotten trapped somewhere. Part of me was still expecting that to happen though. But other than the occasional wrong turn I really liked this school. Everyone in my house was being very nice to me, or at least pretending to be. And with all the focus being on Harry Potter I had hardly heard anyone mutter my family name. I did feel bad for him though, I knew what it was like to be looked at like that, not as a person but more as display. You was something to look at, maybe even admire, rather than a human being. Frankly, it was demeaning.
"Would you hurry up? If you stay there too long the staircase will move and you'll get lost again!" Draco called as we made our way down to Potions. He wasn't angry with me, he just had a way of speaking that made people think he was. Because of this he eventually embraced the character others made him out to be, "the bad boy". But to me he'd always be as cute and cuddly as a puffskein.
"I'm going" I said and rushed to take his side. I had heard from other students, some of which included Fred and George, that Professor Snape was strict. But he did favor his house, which to them might be a problem but in my situation it was an advantage. So far I had done fairly well in my classes. Everyone had a different pace they went by but I was just a little above average. Draco had already accused me of cheating but we both knew that wasn't true. I was nothing if not honest, about my studies at least.
We walked in to find that Professor Snape was a rather quiet person, yet the kind whose presence demanded attention. The class stayed rather silent as he prepared to begin the day's lesson. Looking around the room I saw that some Gryffindor students had this class alongside us. I saw the girl from the train whose name, I heard, was Hermione. I had been right to thing that she wasn't as bad as she let on to be. She reminded me a bit of Draco the way the things she said sometimes came off rougher than she would've probably liked them to. She caught me looking at her so I smiled and waved politely. She was a bit surprised at first but did the same.
"Well, well, look who it is" Draco mumble to the boys sitting on the other side of him.
I turned to the direction he was looking at and saw Harry Potter walking through the door, with Ron Weasley not far behind. They went to sit down next to Hermione and I turned back just as Professor Snape began class. He started off with roll call but stopped when he got to Harry's name. He didn't seem to like Harry very much. Draco and his friends sniggered along as he mockingly praised him. I kicked Draco under the table and gave him a look. He returned my look but stopped laughing.
Professor Snape went on to explain that while we weren't using the kind of magic that required a wand, Potions was still a very good skill to have. This caught my interest; I had always been especially interested in potions. This was an admirable skill, being able to do powerful magic without the need of even a wand. It was more than just learning a few spells and gestures; potions required at least general knowledge in the ingredients to be used, their effects, and how they worked with one another. The whole thing was a balancing act. He asked some questions to the students, well Potter in particular, which he did not seem to know in the least. Our professor decided to take some points away from their house in disappointment before continuing with the lesson.
We began working on simple potions in pairs and, as we did, he began to walk around the room analyzing everyone's work. Our professor seemed to think this was a good opportunity to criticize some of his less knowledgeable students. When it came time for him to come and look at our work he was actually rather nice to Draco and I. Some students weren't so lucky, especially a certain one of the Gryffindors. It was the round faced boy toad boy, Neville I think someone said, who had somehow managed to brew up a potion which spilled over and began to burn holes through some students' shoes. He had everyone standing on their stools trying to avoid this potion within seconds. Professor Snape was not pleased. He began to scold not only him but his partner and Harry and Ron who had been working next to them. As the class ended the Gryffindor students seemed very saddened by their loss of points while most of the Slytherin students looked more than pleased with our new professor.