For the next few weeks Euphemia was subjected to whispers and stares from the majority of the Hogwarts population. Even the portraits stared at her. 'You'd think they'd realise I'm going to be here for the next seven years' she grumbled to her housemates at lunch. Thankfully they seemed to realise that Euphemia didn't like all the attention, and sent glares at the more obvious culprits.
The layout of the castle was incredible. Full of trick steps, staircases that moved and walls pretending to be doors. Most of the ghosts were quite friendly, apart from Peeves who made it his mission to torment the first years. The Hufflepuffs were quite lucky as the older members of their house went out of their way to help didn't think the other houses had this system, as many of them were late for their first few classes.
They had Astronomy every Wednesday at midnight, which Euphemia was really enjoying so far. Thankfully they hadn't had much writing so far. They had Herbology with their head of house, Professor Sprout, three times a week with the Gryffindors. Euphemia didn't really like plants, because of all her time gardening at the Dursleys, but the class was bearable as it was almost completely practical.
History of Magic was by far her most boring class. Euphemia had tried to listen for about ten minutes of the first lesson. After that she simply could not be bothered anymore. She alternated between spending her time sleeping, catching up on other homework or whispering with her friends. This earned them glares from a girl in Gryffindor named Hermione Granger, who seemed to be the only one capable of paying attention.
Defence against the Dark Arts was another subject Euphemia didn't like. She honestly didn't know how Quirrell had managed to become a teacher. She vowed to learn as much as she could about the subject in her free time, as it was obviously important.
Although they hadn't done much practical work yet in charms, it had potential to be fascinating, and Euphemia diligently worked her way through the theory necessary to be good at the practical aspects of the subject.
Transfiguration was definitely her favourite subject, probably because it was the one she was best at, and because it was the first one they had actually gotten to use magic in. It was the subject most similar to what she had imagined magic to be like. After copying down a large amount of difficult notes, they had each been given a match and instructed to attempt to turn it into a needle. Euphemia, who was a firm believer in the importance of learning from your mistakes managed to transfigure it on her third try. The first time she had simply waved her wand and said the incantation. The second time she willed as hard as she could for the match to turn into a needle and it had turned silver. It had been an improvement, but certainly not the fluid progression that McGonagall had achieved. She tried again, imagining the match turning rapidly into a needle and managed to complete the transformation.
Megan saw her needle and gasped. 'How did you do it', she exclaimed, drawing the classes attention to Euphemia's success. 'This is excellent work Potter' echoed Professor McGonagall. 'Fifteen points to Hufflepuff. It is very rare for anyone to complete the transfiguration on the first day. Your father also managed it. It seems you also have the imagination and willpower necessary for transfiguration.
Euphemia absolutely glowed with the praise. She had never really gotten any compliments from a teacher before, nor had she been compared to her parents. She decided right then that Professor McGonagall was going straight to the top of her favourite teachers list. Hermione Granger was the only other person who managed to at least partially transfigure her needle that day.
The class that Euphemia loathed more than any other was without a doubt Potions. Along with Charms and Transfiguration it was one of the classes that Euphemia had been looking forward to most. The reason for her dissatisfaction was certainly not lack of talent, but the fact that the teacher seemed to hate her. Professor Snape singled her out in class, asked her advanced questions that she did not know the answers to, and was generally unprofessional. Euphemia vowed to be extremely prepared for class in the future but no matter how hard she tried he always found something to pick on her for.
Euphemia continued to make friends with the Hufflepuffs in her year, Neville and Draco. Draco was more of a casual acquaintance whereas Neville spent a lot of time with them as he hadn't really gelled with the first year Gryffindors. She also spoke with some of the older Hufflepuffs from time to time. She knew the names of everyone in her year, as her year was very small. They had been born at the height of the war against Voldemort.
The lesson Euphemia was looking forward to most was flying. Something about it had always appealed to her. They would be learning with the Ravenclaws. Everyone who had grown up in the wizarding world spoke of flying and Quidditch constantly, apart from a rare few like Neville and Hannah. Neville had never been allowed on a broom growing up and Hannah had fallen from a broom once and avoided them since.
On the day of the first lesson Euphemia was nearly hopping from anticipation combined with ADHD on her way to the pitch. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws lined up beside rickety old broomsticks on the ground. After learning the basics they were allowed to fly around and test their abilities. Euphemia launched into the air. She soared higher and higher and then swooped down to the ground. Never in her life had she felt such a sense of freedom. She whooped and laughed, not noticing a lot of the less confident flyers watching her in awe.
The lesson finished far too soon for her liking. Euphemia simply had to find a way to fly more often, and informed her friends of this. 'You know, the rule isn't that first years aren't allowed to be on the Quidditch team' Susan said. 'They're simply not allowed their own brooms. I think it's so they don't go off flying by themselves without supervision. If you're good enough to make the Quidditch team, which most first years aren't, you can borrow someone else's broom or find some other loophole. You should definitely at least try out. You're a beginner and you're much better than lots of people who have been flying all of their lives.'
The Gryffindor/Slytherin lesson hadn't gone anywhere near as well. Neville had fallen from his broom and had to be taken to the hospital wing. Draco had stolen a Remembrall Neville had been sent by his grandmother. Ron Weasley, another Gryffindor had told Draco to give it back and they had started chasing each other on brooms. Draco had eventually thrown the Remembrall for Ron to catch. Ron, who was unsuitable for the seeker position had been unable to catch the Remembrall and it had smashed. They had been caught by Professor McGonagall and had points taken from their houses. Poor Neville's stay in the hospital wing was made worse by the loss of the gift from his grandmother. Euphemia was no longer speaking to Draco over the incident.
Euphemia had asked around the second year Hufflepuffs, and some of them allowed her to borrow their brooms on occasion. Word of her prowess had spread to their captain, a sixth year named Mark Bell who had invited her to trials. 'The only rule against first years is that they're not allowed their own brooms' he had said. Usually first years are nowhere near good enough to make the house team anyways. If you get on the team Potter, you can use my old Nimbus 1700. It's still the second best broom on the market.'
Euphemia had practiced, and practiced, and blew away all the competition at the trials. Her eyesight was excellent, she only wore her 'reading glasses' to help with her dyslexia. This combined with her constantly improving flying skills made her an ideal candidate for seeker. The other new addition to the team was a third year named Cedric Diggory who had tried out as both a chaser and a seeker. He was certainly talented at both roles, but given the availability of Euphemia Mark had decided to incorporate him into the team as a chaser. They began practicing three times a week. Euphemia and Cedric had become quite good friends as the youngest two members of the team, and as the other five had all been on the team together previously.
There had been an interesting occurrence in Charms when they had learned the levitation spell for the first time. Euphemia had somehow managed to levitate her feather without moving her wand or saying the words. Professor Flitwick had nearly fallen over in shock, and awarded fifty points to Hufflepuff. He had then had her do the same with heavier and heavier objects. She had managed to lift Susan a few inches off the ground just by concentrating. When she had eventually tried the spell with her wand it had felt very different. Flitwick, however, was convinced that she was a charms prodigy. The Hufflepuffs of course were delighted as it meant more points for them. It had also shut up a lot of the people who assumed she had been put in Hufflepuff because she was weak. On the other hand, it had caused the whispering which had died down a lot, to reignite.
Neville had told them about how in the Gryffindor Class later, Ron Weasley had made Hermione cry. Euphemia didn't really know what to think. She hadn't had much interaction with either of them. She had caught Ronald staring at her on more than one occasion, but he didn't seem like a bad person. He had tried to stand up for Neville against Draco which was another mark in his favour. In all honesty, Euphemia felt like she probably would have reacted similarly to Ronald. She worked extremely hard for the grades she got, and hated when people rubbed their superior knowledge in her face. Hermione on the other hand didn't seem to have made a good first impression on anyone. She hadn't made any friends, but that seemed to be at least partially her own fault. She was not being bullied, that Euphemia could see anyways. She refused to talk to the Gryffindors, apart from Parvati, Lavender and Neville, having fallen out with the other boys for some reason. Neville didn't like her much either, as like Euphemia he had a hard time in school and Hermione made him feel worse about it.
It was this and her parents anniversary that she was thinking about at the Halloween feast when Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Hall and sprinted up to Dumbledore. He gasped 'Troll in the Dungeons, thought you ought to know, and fainted.'
There was mayhem. When Professor Dumbledore eventually managed to quieten everyone they were sent back to their common rooms. No one went to bed. The prefects made sure everyone was there. An hour later Professor Sprout came in and assured them all that the troll had been removed from the castle.
When they were talking to Neville the next day he told them that Hermione had been in the bathroom crying when the presence of the troll had been announced. Parvati and Lavender had managed to tell the teachers this, and Hermione had been rescued.
Evidently, Ron and Hermione must have apologised to each other, because Euphemia saw them sitting together at dinner that day, and Hermione looked happier than Euphemia had ever seen her.
A.N. Just to reply to some guest reviews. I've had the general plot lined out for this story for a while but I've been fairly lazy about actually typing it up. I'm not going to commit to an update schedule, sorry, but I do have quite a bit of free time at the moment and I am hoping to use some of it to work on this story. To Cat, you are correct that different terminology is used in the books, and although I don't think principal is only used in America (as I am not American and it would be the term I use), head-master/mistress is more correct in Harry Potter and I will try to remember to use them from now on.
I hope everyone is enjoying. Please review.