Chapter 7

The first week of classes were interesting for Gohan, it was so different getting to be in a room with a bunch of other kids his age while learning. Gohan had always been good at book learning, but because he'd been taught mostly through workbooks and textbooks by his mother, getting to hear the teacher's opinions, as well as the other students questions was eye opening to the young scholar.

Now for all that the half-saiyan was good at listening to lectures and reading textbooks, nothing could prepare him for the actual hands on, or rather, wands on, practical work of classes like Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Gohan hadn't had much time at all to even hold his wand before being thrown into the flow of Hogwarts so really the first week was a steep learning curve.

In their second Charms class, the students were told they were learning the usual first First Year spell, Wingardium Leviosa. Gohan thought it was pretty cool that he would be able to float an object that wasn't his own body with just a few words and his wand.

During the lesson, which consisted of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs he found himself seated next to Dwayne and Sebastian from his dorm. During the last few days, Gohan had gotten more comfortable hanging out with his roommates, Dwayne was a tall thin boy with short dark hair and dark skin. He was a studious boy, already taking meticulous notes even when no one else in the classroom was. He had told his dormmates that first night that his mother and father had both been Ravenclaws when they were at Hogwarts, which Gohan noticed seemed to make sense to the other boys. I guess he does sort of remind me of Scorpius with all the note taking, and he's in Ravenclaw.

Dwayne was quiet, but Sebastian was completely the opposite. During dinner after the first day of classes, the boisterous boy had decided to tell Gohan his life story which involved his family who were originally from Southeastern District China, moving to LondonCity when he was a baby. Gohan was continually confused about the geography of the wizarding world. He knew that he was technically from the East District which was what the wizards called his home, but no one he talked to had any idea where anything he knew was and he was at the same loss. So it surprised Gohan when Seb, as he like to be called, talked about the food from his home country and recognized many of the same dishes and customs he was used to at home.

Dwayne and Seb had already became fast friends, they had ridden together on the train themselves and they were great foils for one another. Seb was shorter and rounder than most of the boys in the class compared to his lanky friend, but best of all he made the more serious Dwayne come out of his shell with his jokes and his goofball attitude.

They were a nice change of pace from sitting next to Eddie who wouldn't stop asking Gohan questions about Albus. It wasn't that Gohan didn't like Eddie, he was easy to be around and was definitely the most outgoing of all the Gryffindor boys which made him sitting with a group of Hufflepuff girls and boys this day in class unsurprising. But Eddie was obviously wary about Gohan's friendship with Dark Potter, which is what he had started calling Albus. Eddie actually seemed to like Gohan and kept bugging him to stop talking to Albus and come hang out with him instead. Gohan being the stubborn boy he was, wouldn't stop being friends with someone just because someone else told him to. Not even his own mother could stop Gohan from idolizing his mentor Piccolo, so there was no chance an eleven year old boy could make him change his mind about his friend Albus.

After Professor Flitwick finished his lecture about the spell, the First Year class was encouraged to practice the spell on the white feather placed in front of each of them. Gohan was reluctant to be the first one to try the spell (it would be the first official spell he would perform with his very own wand after all) and decided to watch Seb as he tried instead.

Seb managed to get the feather off the table and make it flutter a bit before falling back to the wooden surface. Dwayne gave it a try next, with precise movements and studied wand work, he was able to make the feather float up above their heads before settling gently back down on the desk.

"Alright then, enough showing off D, we all know that's not the first time you've done the spell." Seb joked in pretend anguish while Gohan just looked on at awe. "Go on Gohan, show up Dwanye and I've got a chocolate frog in it for ya," Seb encouraged the other boy, Dwayne just rolled his eyes at his friend and went back to studying his textbook. With the idea of a treat on the line, Gohan couldn't help but smile, focusing all of his attention on the white feather.

Gohan decided to try and channel his energy much like he would to form a Ki blast, except instead of forming an energy attack he tried the spell. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Gohan bellowed trying to remember to incorporate the wand movement the professor had shown.

The result was unfortunately much too reminiscent of a Ki blast, the feather flew forward off the desk and exploded in a puff of smoke just before it hit the students on the other side of the room. Gohan quickly dropped his wand, arm habitually retracting behind his head while his face turned a dark shade of red. "Sorry!" Gohan squeaked out an apology towards the surprised students who had just managed to avoid an exploding feather to the face.

"Woah Gohan, that was awesome!" Seb exclaimed, clearly not as put off by the danger of an exploding projectile as most of the students. "Definitely way cooler than D's!" Seb searched around in his school bag for a chocolate frog, pulling it out and slamming it on the table in front of the embarrassed half-saiyan.

"But I didn't do the spell right…" Gohan countered frowning and gently moving the treat back towards the excited boy.

"Doesn't matter, it was so much cooler!" Seb said shoving the chocolate back in front of Gohan, clearly not allowing him to retreat. Gohan heard a snort of laughter come from Dwayne's direction at Seb's antics.

"Uh alright, thanks Seb." Gohan muttered back, still confused about what had actually happened. How had he managed to make a feather, of all things, into something dangerous on his second day of class?

His other classes involving practical magic unfortunately went along the same lines as his attempt at magic in Charms, lots of power, but not much control. Gohan felt like he was trying to control Super Saiyan for the first time again. He was really confused about how to access his magic without losing control, it was so similar to using his spiritual energy, but also completely different. He couldn't help but wish that he didn't know so much about the Ki that channeled through his body. The other students were blissfully ignorant about all of the energy constantly surrounding them, and because of that Gohan noticed that quite a lot of the first year students mostly had trouble getting anything to happen when they said their spells. Gohan couldn't help but think that, that was probably better than constantly trying just to not explode too many things.

He was definitely not looking forward to the first Transfiguration class when they worked with animals, especially if he hadn't stopped blowing things up yet. But then again Defence Against the Dark Arts would be even worse if they started to practice spells on other students. Needless to say, wand magic didn't come to Gohan quite as naturally as the boy would have wanted.

Classes which didn't involve using his wand fared slightly better for the young saiyan. History of Magic was interesting, having no clue about any of the history or culture of the wizard world, Gohan found this class quite informative. On the plus side he got to have this class with Scorpius, who gave Gohan interesting insights any time his pen wasn't scribbling down notes.

"Did you know that History of Magic used to be taught by a ghost?" Scorpius had rattled off while the boys were packing up their school bags to leave the classroom after their second day. "My Dad said it was super boring, but I think it's so crazy to think of a ghost teaching, grading papers, remembering students names, really everything."

That was another thing that was surprising to Gohan, ghosts, just hanging out around the castle. Apparently some wizards had a tough time traveling to the Otherworld, instead dwelling for centuries amongst the living. Gohan puzzled that perhaps they just had a tougher time letting go, after all it didn't seem like anyone in the wizarding world had any knowledge of the Dragon Balls, so coming back to life was out of the question. Gohan couldn't help but agree with his friend though that the whole idea of ghosts was fascinating.

Leaving the classroom the boys continued down the hall towards lunch, Scorpius still talking, "Also did you know that when my Dad was at school they actually had to write with quills, and parchment? My Dad didn't think it was as funny as I did when I asked if he grew up in the dark ages." Gohan laughed along with Scorpius, he found that any time he hung around with his blonde friend, he felt lighter, also as a bonus he was always learning something new.

Gohan had been looking forward to Potions class because he had this class with Albus. At the end of the first day the professor had told the class to break up into partners, who they chose would be who they began brewing potions with. Gohan and Albus had turned to each other quickly with a smile. Unfortunely for the half-saiyan, Potions class despite not involving any wand work was destined to be a disaster in a completely different way.

"Gohan, I think it said crushed beetle shells, not powdered." Albus gently corrected, obviously trying not to make his friend feel bad with the critique.

"Oh sorry, I thought I only crushed them." Gohan blushed realizing that his physical strength was not under control, yet again. Potions had quickly reminded Gohan of cooking, and cooking was something that Gohan and his father had long ago been banned from partaking in by his mom because of the enormous mess and terrible results. The food situation during the father and son duo's time in the Room of Spirit and Time was definitely the worst part of the year for both of them.

"Um, I could read the directions instead and stir maybe?" Gohan offered, Albus seemed to be much more natural at Potions than the young saiyan, and he didn't want to wreck his friends' grade just because he couldn't control his strength enough. Albus took over the ingredient preparations while Gohan read over the directions, thus producing much better results to the delight of their professor..

After Potions class had ended Gohan and Albus decided to go up to lunch in the Great Hall together, on their way up from the dungeons the boys ran into a very large man Gohan hadn't seen before, but who apparently knew Albus by the warm greeting he extended the other dark haired boy.

"'ello there Albie! So 'appy to finally see ya. I got into a bit 'o a hiccup on my travel to get some new creatures fer class this year and just got back, missed my firs' two classes an everything." Gohan took a closer look at the extremely large man who apparently was a professor. The man had kind eyes which were focused solely on Albus at the moment, those were framed by weather made wrinkles, wild grey hair and a big bushy beard.

"Herd ya was put in Slytherin, green matches yer eyes nice, jus' like yer dad. Come on down fer tea soon?"

"Er yeah that would be great, thanks Hagrid! How about this Saturday?" Albus smiled up at the man, Gohan thought it might be the first genuine smile he had seen from his friend towards someone other than himself or Scorpius since they got to school.

"Saturday it is, bring yer friends! I gotta be off Albie, already late for me firs' class." The large man Gohan now knew as Hagrid gave Albus a warm pat on the back and large smile before rushing off out the front hall through the entry doors.

"Wow, he could be my Grandpa's twin!" Gohan exclaimed once the familiarity hit him. That statement clearly surprised Albus.

"What, Hagrid!?" Albus asked wondering if they were talking about the same person.

"Yeah, not too many people are as big as my Grandpa, but he sure is!" Gohan thought in wonder, also realising his kind demeanor towards Albus was very much like how his Grandpa Ox was with him and his mom despite his intimidating appearance. "Umm... do you mind if I come to tea with you? He just reminds me of my Grandpa a lot." Gohan shyly asked his smile turning into a small frown realizing he was feeling a bit homesick for his family. "I know it's asking a lot…" Gohan continued realising how rude he sounded inviting himself to tea but was quickly cut off by Albus.

"Yeah sure, of course! Hagrid's super nice, I've known him since I was a baby, and I guess my Dad did too, and maybe my Dad's dad, I dunno. So basically he's family," Albus obviously catching on that Gohan was feeling homesick.

"Thanks Al, well we better get to lunch if we want to eat anything before our next classes start." Gohan thanked his friend with a smile How the other kids thought that Albus was evil because he was in Slytherin Gohan just couldn't understand.

Later that evening Gohan decided to make his way up to the owlery before his his first night class of Astronomy began. Gohan had yet to send the letter to his mom he had written with Ben the night before and was starting to feel guilty. Following the very faint but familiar energy of Hermes, his owl, Gohan soon found himself opening the door at the top of the tower. However just as soon as he pulled on the handle, a red haired girl with pale blue eyes pushed through the door straight into the surprised boy. Despite his surprise, Gohan's reflexes were in action as he quickly caught the girls arm, knowing that she would lose her balance accidentally running into a human brick wall. He also didn't want to see anyone topple down the flight of stairs he had just come up, they were quite steep.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I got lost and went into the wrong door!" The girl exclaimed in an accent very different than everyone else Gohan had so far met at the school. "Do you happen to know the way to the Divination Tower?"

"Um sorry, no." Gohan replied, genuinely feeling bad that he couldn't help, in fact he hadn't even heard of the Divination Tower.

"Oh sorry, you must be a First Year." The girl exclaimed finally looking at the boy she just ran into. She was was clearly older and more mature than Gohan who only came up to her shoulder. Gohan still was unsure what to say to the mystery girl but was saved by her own explanation.

"My brother and I transfered here this year from Ilvermory, and I'm still trying to find my way around the castle. Me asking you is like the blind leading the blind." The pretty girl laughed gently. "I'm Ava by the way" the girl offered out her hand which Gohan took and responded, "Gohan, nice to meet you."

"See ya around Gohan, and sorry for almost knocking you over!" The girl Ava quickly dashed down the stairs clearly in a rush to get to whatever the Divination Tower was, Gohan contained his chuckle at the thought that she could ever actually knock him over.

After attaching the letter to his mom Gohan gave Hermes a quick pat and a treat before watching the owl fly off into the darkening sky. Gohan realized he better head to the Astronomy tower if he didn't want to be late for the night class.

Gohan had officially found his best class, though if he was being honest with himself it wasn't much of an accomplishment. Astronomy found the group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws looking out into the night sky to identify constallations that Gohan had known since he was four years old, the only difference being their slightly different names. Gohan would have to learn the new names, but identifying the groupings was the hard part for most of the students.

It didn't seem that any of the other kids had the same experience of living alone for a year in the wilderness which had made star gazing one of Gohan's favorite activites. Gohan also doubted that any of the other kids could also say they had actually been out there in space and seen some of those distant stars up close like Gohan had.

Normally the young half-saiyan was a humble boy, never thinking much of his many extraordinary accomplishments. But after the disastorous first days of magic school he had, Gohan thought to himself, it was nice to finally be good at something.

Thank you as always for reading, let me know what you think!