CHAPTER SIX: The Start of Term

Ellie was the first of the group to wake up the next morning. She dressed silently, slipping on her robes and her checkerboard Vans sneakers. She ran a brush quickly through her long, dark hair, then made her way down to the common room.

To her surprise, the twins were already there, along with the boy with dreadlocks who had pulled them out of her compartment the day before.

"Morning, El," Fred greeted her cheerfully. "This is Lee Jordan, by the way. Lee, this is Ellie… well, I'd tell you her last name, but then she'd kill me."

Ellie smiled easily at Lee, who looked rather uninterested in meeting a first year. She glanced at the coffee table in front of them, at which they seemed to be working on some sort of assignment. "Little early for homework, isn't it?"

"Not homework," George said proudly. "Spell-Checking Quills. They fix your typos as you go… at least, in theory."

Ellie raised her eyebrows, impressed. "You created them?"

"They sell them at Zonko's, too," Fred explained to her, "but they're technically against school rules, and the Zonko's ones are too detectable. We're working on making ones more… under the radar."

She watched in fascination for several minutes as they worked, until finally Lee announced that he was starving and it was time for breakfast. She tagged along with them to the Great Hall despite Lee's pointed scowl in her direction.

"See that teacher there?" Fred asked her when they took their seats at the Gryffindor table. He pointed to the teachers' table, at which sat a pale-faced, dark-haired man who reminded Ellie a bit of her mother. "That's Professor Snape—Potions master and head of Slytherin. You'll want to tread lightly around him—he hates Gryffindors and pretty much anyone who has any fun at all."

Snape glanced up at Ellie as if sensing her eyes on him. Blushing, she quickly looked away. "And the other teachers?" she asked.

"You met McGonagall yesterday—she's Transfiguration along with head of Gryffindor House," said George. "Then there's Flitwick, the little one—he's Charms and head of Ravenclaw—and Sprout, the sort of bulbous-looking witch there on the end—she's Herbology and head of Hufflepuff. Then there's Quirrell…"

Ellie tried to listen as George continued pointing out the rest of the teachers, but she had a hard time focusing on anyone except Snape. He was still staring at her; he was barely even trying to hide it. He seemed to recognize her, though from what or where, she had no idea.

"El?" asked Fred, seeming to notice her silence. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said, tearing her eyes away from Snape and grinning at Fred. "Ever consider donating him a bottle of shampoo? Looks like he could use some."

Fred laughed. "Great minds think alike. We've left them on his desk anonymously at least ten times, but apparently he never took the hint."


"Welcome to first year Transfiguration. Please pay close attention and keep up."

It was very hard for Ellie to pay attention after having seen McGonagall change from a cat to a human, but she did her best.

"Today we will be turning matches into needles," McGonagall announced after prattling on about the "formula" for transfiguration.

Harry and Ron gaped at McGonagall as she talked them through the process, but Ellie watched with a more calm level of interest as she twirled her hair absentmindedly around her quill.

"Not exactly the same effect as twirling your hair around a pencil, eh?" whispered the boy to her left. He had friendly, brown eyes like the twins' and light brown skin.

Ellie grinned at that. "Not quite," she admitted as she disentangled her hair from the quill. "I'm Ellie."

"Dean," he replied. "Nice to meet you."

By the end of the Transfiguration lesson, Ellie managed to turn her match silver, and it even seemed to lose the ability to strike fire, but it still looked more match than needle. Ron, Harry, and Dean achieved even less than her; Hermione seemed to be the only student to actually succeed.

After Transfiguration, Ellie followed the gang into the dungeons for Potions. She sat between Dean and a boy who introduced himself as Seamus, then noticed with a wrinkle of her nose that they were sharing this particular class with Slytherins.

"Are you Muggle-born?" she heard Dean ask her.

She tore her attention away from Draco Malfoy's stupid sneer to smile pleasantly at Dean. "Not technically, but I grew up with Muggles."

His eyes bulged with excited surprise. "Same here, as a matter of fact."

She instantly found Dean much more interesting; their situation wasn't exactly common. She parted her lips to ask him more about it, but was interrupted by Severus Snape as he burst in through the dungeon door and began to speak.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. Potion-making is a divine art that will not be taken lightly by any of you, am I clear?"

He didn't wait for a response before droning on in a way that was clearly intended to make Potions sound appealing, but instead made it seem a bit sickening. Ellie doodled a picture of Snape with bunny ears and a devil's tail, which Dean and Seamus had to fight not to laugh out loud at. But it didn't matter; Snape's attention was on Harry, who was also scribbling something down.

"Mr. Potter," Snape said smoothly and darkly. "Our new celebrity. Tell me, what would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand shot in the air as Harry blinked and said, "I don't know, sir."

Ellie glared at Draco as he sniggered with his friends. She was virtually certain they didn't know the answer, either.

"Shame. And where would you look if I asked you to find a bezoar?"

Harry shook his head as Hermione's hand shot into the air again. Snape ignored her.

"And what is the difference between monkshood and wolfbane?"

No change, of course. Ellie could hardly believe Snape was asking Harry these ridiculous questions on day one; wasn't the point of Hogwarts to teach them all this?

"Pity," said Snape. "Clearly fame isn't everything."

Ellie added a bit of sheen and drops of grease falling from Snape's hair in the image, causing Seamus and Dean to snicker out loud.

Snape's head whipped around to find them, and Ellie started to panic; if he saw the drawing, she'd be done for. To her surprise, Dean subtly pulled out his wand, tapped it at her notebook, and whispered, "Concialo." In a split second, the drawings disappeared. She exhaled with relief.

"You three," Snape snapped, walking briskly over to think. "Do you find this lecture amusing?" He glanced at Ellie's notebook, but, of course, saw nothing.

"No, sir," the three of them said at once.

"So you laugh at things you don't find funny?"

"I… had a bogey," Ellie lied. "In my nose. You know how guys are—so immature. Sir."

Everyone in the class laughed that time. Ellie could only hope they were laughing with her and not at her.

"And you?" Snape asked her evenly. "Did you happen to have the answer to my last question, Miss…"

Desperate to avoid the use of her last name out loud, Ellie tried a random attempt at an answer: "Er—there is no difference?"

Snape blinked, looking surprised. Ellie realized in amazement that she must have guessed correctly. "Yes," Snape said shortly. "But knowing the answers doesn't give you permission to disturb my class. Five points from Gryffindor."

Gryffindors all around them sighed in disappointment as Ellie blushed.

"Your name?" Snape asked her. He seemed to be looking to confirm something.

"Ellie, sir."

"When a figure of authority asks your name, Ellie," he sneered, "they are seeking your full name, first and last."

God, she loathed him. She considered telling him she had recently learned that her last name wasn't real, but decided against it. "Ellie Bretherworth. Sir."

Whatever recognition she had noticed in him that morning seemed to spark again, but he didn't comment on it. Instead, he cleared his throat and said, "Well, then. If we're quite finished laughing and gossiping, I'd like to get back to Potions."


Defense Against the Dark Arts was surprisingly boring. Quirrel had a monotonous voice that seemed to quiver and stutter whenever he broached topics that made him nervous—which was anything remotely danger-related. All he really did was go over the first chapter of their book and promise to start spells in the next few lessons. Ellie left the class feeling a wave of disappointment; so far today, she'd barely used her wand at all.

Her spirits lifted when she remembered that lunch was next, which meant she would get to see the twins again.

"C'mon," Fred told her cheerfully when she reached them at the entrance to the Great Hall. "We prefer lunching in the courtyard."

"But… where do we get the food?" she asked, confused.

"We have friends in the kitchens," George explained cheerfully to her as Fred handed her a wrapped food product that she recognized immediately as a veggie sub. The sight of it reminded her of the night they'd spent in Molly's garden, and she smiled softly to herself.

"So, how's your first day going?" Fred asked her when they took their seats in the courtyard.

"Okay, so far. I did cost Gryffindor five points and nearly earn myself a detention with Snape, but…"

"Nice," the twins said simultaneously, reaching up to high-five each other.

"What happened?" Fred asked her.

"He was picking on Harry, and I doodled a little caricature of him that made my desk-mates laugh. Dean managed to hide the drawing before he saw it, but he knew I was up to something."

"Good for Dean," said George, sounding impressed. "I didn't learn Concialo until last year."

"It's not that hard," grumbled Fred. "But I'm glad you didn't get caught."

"What about your other classes?" asked George.

Ellie smiled as she launched into a deeper analysis of how her day had gone. Once she was finished, they filled her in on their latest Spell Check Quill developments, and then, finally, they said their goodbyes.


She had Charms next with Professor Flitwick. She decided to sit next to Hermione this time; Charms sounded challenging, and Hermione was clearly the best witch in their class.

"How's your day going so far?" Ellie asked Hermione casually.

"Good so far, though I'm a bit nervous about this particular class. I think I'm prepared, though… Transfiguration was brilliant, wasn't it? I didn't particularly fancy Defense Against the Dark Arts, though the book is fantastic…"

Ellie let Hermione talk for a while, grinning when Ron sent her a sarcastic look. A few minutes later, Flitwick stepped in, short, plump, and ready to teach.

"Good day, class—I am Professor Flitwick," he squeaked. "Charms is an eventful class that can help in everyday life as well as some more serious problems. It is the subject you will use most practically, and can be very fun to learn if you give it a chance. Today we will be attempting a rather simple charm called the Cheering Charm."

Ellie listened with rapt attention as Flitwick explained how to perform the spell, Liberno—emphasizing the need to smile and think happy thoughts when saying it.

"Now, then," said Flitwick. "Why don't you each start by performing the spell on the person you're sitting next to?"

Ellie glanced at Hermione, already feeling glad she had chosen her as a partner. "Do you want to show me how it's done, and I'll go after?"

Hermione beamed at that, taking out her wand, clearing her throat, and casting the spell on Ellie.

The effect wasn't huge, but Ellie did feel it. It was like a wave of nervousness, anxiety, and discomfort she hadn't even realized she'd been holding in took its leave of her all at once. Her cheeks even felt rosy with warm happiness. It was her turn to beam now. "Thanks, Hermione!"

Flitwick noticed Ellie's cheer and came over them to scan her expression. "Well done, Miss Granger. Five points to Gryffindor! Now it's your turn, Miss Breth—"

"I prefer Ellie," Ellie interrupted; even the outer layer of cheer couldn't keep her from hating her "disguise" of a last name. "Okay, let's see…" She pointed her wand at Hermione, thought of how much fun she'd had at the Weasleys' that summer, and said, "Liberno!"

A second later, Hermione was beaming, too.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Flitwick. "Bravo! You girls both have a knack for this class, don't you? Another five points to Gryffindor."

The Ravenclaws they shared the class with sulked as their fellow Gryffindors cheered.

Ellie left the class in such high spirits that even sitting in a hot Herbology greenhouse didn't bring her down. She had gotten a spell right on her first try, and it was finally starting to sink in that she was a real witch.


Makes you wish you could get your Hogwarts letter and join Ellie and her friends in their first year at Hogwarts, doesn't it? Well, all except for Potions class, anyway. Please remember to drop a review if you're enjoying the story, and I'll see you soon for the next chapter. Thanks for reading!