Chapter 14 - Back to School
It was, once more, time to return to Hogwarts.
Once on the train, Hermione met up with two of her three friends; Neville and Luna. Hermione looked over her friend's summer homework after they had all introduced their new Pokemon to their friends.
About three quarters of the way through the ride, the train slid to a stop. The lights went out while the windows fogged up. It was suddenly very chilly.
Uncertain of what was happening, the trio called out most of their Pokemon, just in case. Almost a half hour later, the lights turned back on while the fog cleared up and the train continued on its way. They were confused as to what just happened, but they figured there would be an announcement at Hogwarts.
When they arrived at the train station, it was to the sight of all of the teachers there with their Pokemon out and ready. The older students were hurried into the carriages while the new first years were escorted to the Laprases. In the middle of the ride to the castle, the temperature dropped sharply before slowly rising.
Once it was time to disembark from the carriages, the trio huddled together to try to warm up on their way to their house tables.
After the Welcoming Feast, the Headmaster stood to make the Start of Term Announcements. Amount the standard stuff was a warning.
"...to account for the prison break and the assumption that the escaped prisoner is apparently targeting Hogwarts, there will be Pokemon guards surrounding the castle's lands to protect the students. Be warned, however, that the Pokemon guards cannot be persuaded of your innocence and will attack if approached..."
Hermione stared at the Headmaster in disbelief. What kind of idiot put dangerous creatures that couldn't tell friend from foe around a school?
While looking at her schedule the next morning, Hermione noted that Monday through Wednesday were the core subjects while Wednesday and Thursday were for electives and Friday was an off day.
As today was Thursday, Hermione got to have some of her electives first and then the core classes the beginning of next week and end each week with her electives.
First up was Potion Making. The first year of the elective would be spent learning about the ingredients and different techniques used in potion making. The teacher, Professor Snape, was supposedly very strict. Next was Connecting With Your Pokemon taught by her head of house, Professor McGonagall. It was supposedly a class that took quite a bit of extra work, so fewer people took the class. The first class, they were told to put a Revival Herb that the Professor gave them into their mouthes and leave it there without swallowing it. After everyone had the bitter herb in their mouthes, the stern teacher lectured about what they would learn that year; why they had to have the herbs in their mouthes for every class period they had Connecting With Your Pokemon, about the process of changing into a Pokemon, Pokemon behavior and anatomy, and choosing your first form.
On Monday, they started the week with Battle Class. Professor Lupin appeared to be barely making ends meet before landing the job. He, like Lockhart, started them off with a test. Unlike Lockhart, the test had to do with actual battling to see where they were. After the test, they were informed that they would demonstrate their battling skills against their classmates. Next was Pokemon Identification, Information, and Statistics where they would continue to learn information on different types of Pokemon. After that they had Survival where they would learn even more types of navigation.
On Tuesday, first up was Herbs and Berries where they would learn how to grow and raise the plants without accidentally killing them. Tracking was the same as the year before. After Tracking was PokeHistory, so Hermione got some time off as she had already finished the course.
On Wednesday, they started the day with Pokemon Breeding where they continued learning to care for their Pokemon friends. After that, was Coordinating where they met with the groundskeeper turned Professor, Hagrid. Finally, they had Pokeball Making where they were to learn about the parts of the Pokeball.
