The next day, everyone was still staring in awe at the scrawny kid. Envy was confused, but he wasn't about to ask someone about it—that would be embarrassing. He just wished he knew . . .

The first month of classes was odd—well, to Envy, at least. He found it very hard to remember the way around, and he discovered many things while wandering: there were steps that you had to jump over because they vanished at inopportune moments, and several of these resided on the many staircases, which were all very different. The portraits talked and moved, and they could visit each other if they wanted to. There were doors that wouldn't let you through unless you asked nicely or tickled them, and some doors weren't doors at all. On occasion, ghosts would glide out through a wall or and straight into you—literally. It was rather a shock, as it felt like a bucket of ice cold water being poured on your head. The first time this had happened to Envy, he had started to scream at the ghost who had done it—a tall, proud woman. She had completely ignored him, much to his chagrin. This little outburst was part of the reason that knowledge of Envy's short temper spread so quickly.

Worse than the ghosts, however, was that Peeves they had been talking about, who turned out to be a poltergeist. True to his kind, he caused all sorts of mayhem—pulling carpets from under students' feet, throwing bits of chalk, dropping ink bottles—and it was quite irritating. Then there was the caretaker, Argus Filch, who was always wandering the corridors and sneering, trying to find excuses to punish students. He had a cat, Mrs. Norris, and if she thought you'd done something wrong she would go running to her master, who would be there within seconds. Envy had managed to avoid detention for his shouting at the ghost—the Gray Lady—and was let off with only a warning. However, despite that, he was given detention the very next day for reasons unknown to him.

He had been quite tempted to kick the cat at the time.

Classes were different from those of a normal school, of course. While Charms surprised him (Flitwick made objects fly around the room!), he was pleased with Transfiguration, as it reminded him of his own lessened abilities. They had been made to turn matchsticks into needles during the first class, and Envy had succeeded along with a 'Miss Granger' from a different class that had taken place earlier.

Astronomy was very boring, in his opinion. All you did was stare up through a telescope and learn the names of different stars. Herbology took place three times a week, and was marginally more exciting than Astronomy. He still had to learn names for things, but the plants had uses, and some of them (more like half) were even a bit dangerous.

History of Magic was even worse than Astronomy—Envy couldn't go fifteen minutes through that class without falling asleep. That was just how boring Professor Binns was.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a disappointment. Envy hadn't been looking forward to it anyway, he would have preferred it to be 'Offense Against the Dark Arts', but it was completely lame. Quirrel was always stuttering and was extremely jumpy. The classroom smelled like garlic, presumably to ward off vampires, and the teacher seemed afraid to go anywhere near dangerous topics—not that he didn't try.

Envy turned out to be very bad at Potions. He dawdled too much in examining the potion ingredients and left cure for boils to simmer for too long, and he was unfamiliar with this world's measuring techniques. It didn't explode or melt his cauldron, unlike Neville Longbottom's, but it smelled horrible and looked somewhat similar to vomit. The teacher, Snape, chose not to comment. It seemed he had used up his malicious words when he had been picking on the scrawny kid (Harry Potter, if the whispers and Sorting were anything to go by). The fact that they seemed to dislike each other surprised Envy—everyone other than the man, himself, and several of his fellow Slytherins seemed quite enamored with the boy.

Speaking of his fellow Slytherins, he hadn't managed to make friends with any of them yet, and it was very difficult for him to tell himself that he wasn't getting a bit lonely. But he still ignored the little (loud) voice that kept telling him he wanted friends and continued going about as usual. This meant that the days that passed by were very boring (lonely) until a notice appeared on the bulletin board in the Slytherin common room announcing that the first years would be having flying lessons with the Gryffindors, who they seemed to have a rivalry with. Why they were being put in classes together when they so obviously hated each other, Envy had no idea.

In the days leading up to the flying lessons, Envy discovered that broomsticks were very popular—and that the brats were more than happy to spill anything they knew about flying and their 'adventures', which weren't nearly as dangerous as some things Envy had been through. When the day finally arrived, Envy found himself staring skeptically at a broom and wondering if it could support his weight—it looked about ready to crack.

Madam Hooch had told them all to stick their right hands over their brooms and say 'up'. Unlike everyone else, he had yet to perform either action.

"Is something wrong, Novus?" Hooch called.

Envy looked up. "Yeah, how are these supposed to fly?"

Madam Hooch raised a single eyebrow. "Magic. Now, follow the instructions."

Envy rolled his eyes and looked around. Seeing a broom fly into someone's hand, however, he let out a sigh and did as he was told. A few tries later, he was firmly keeping hold of his broom as it attempted to fly away. He briefly wondered if it disliked him before pushing the thought out of his mind. Brooms weren't sentient.

Once everyone had their cleaning appliances—or perhaps that was not what they were—off the ground, Madam Hooch showed them how to mount them properly and walked along the rows correcting grips. Envy was quite amused when the blond brat was told he was, and had been, mounting his broom wrong for years. He noticed that Harry Potter and his red-haired companion (Ron Weasley, he thought) seemed to find it funny too. He really didn't get this rivalry . . .

They were about to lift off, but Longbottom, nervous and jumpy, kicked off from the ground before Hooch finished counting down. About a minute later, the round-faced boy was lying on the ground and clutching his broken wrist. Several students seemed concerned, but Envy didn't care. If the Fullmetal pipsqueak could deal with losing limbs at the same age as Neville, then the boy should be able to deal with a broken wrist.

They were told to stay on the ground or "be expelled before they could say 'Quidditch' (what was that, anyway?) and Hooch rushed the boy off to the Hospital Wing.

Malfoy (that was his surname, as it turned out) burst out laughing. "Did you see his face, the great lump?"

Envy didn't really pay attention to the ensuing argument, but his attention was caught when Malfoy darted forward and held up a small ball that was about the size of a large marble. A Remembrall. Ironically, he remembered seeing one in the shop where he had bought his brass scales and other supplies.

Next thing anyone knew, Harry and Malfoy were mounting their brooms and flitting into the air, ignoring Granger's shouts of warning. Watching them, Envy shrugged and did the same, levitating a few yards. He found that the two children were making balance look easier than it really was, and he almost had to flatten himself to his broom to stay on. He watched the kids as they shouted each other—he couldn't quite hear what they were saying—then the blond threw the Remembrall and Potter raced after it. Envy thought the boy was going to crash, and so did the other students, judging by their shrieks. But he didn't. He pulled up just in time, clutching the small ball in one hand, and landed on his knees.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Envy recognized McGonagall's voice and he turned his head so he could look at her.

"NOVUS, GET DOWN FROM THERE! TEN POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN FOR FLYING WITHOUT AN INSTRUCTOR! Potter—"

Envy removed himself from the air with a sulky attitude, not bothering to listen to the Professor's tirade—it was directed at Potter, after all, not him. But for some reason, he almost wish it was he who was being yelled at.

'-'

Rather than tiring him, the marginally greater excitement of the day had made Envy restless, and pacing the common was not enough to fulfill his needs.

But, as the saying goes, rules are made to be broken, so he ventured out into the dark halls. He knew several routes well enough by now, so he wasn't worried about getting lost, but more about being caught, which was why he was out here—dodging Filch would be much more fun than sleeping.

Not long after midnight, he strolled along a corridor near the armory, humming to himself. Envy was still having a rather boring time—he had at first been able to see a bit more, but the portraits had demanded he put his wand out. And so, the most exciting thing that had happened so far was him tripping over some book someone had dropped. This boring time which came to an abrupt halt when, just as he was about to step into the next hall, four figures that looks suspiciously like Ron, Harry, Neville, and Hermione whizzed by without pausing. Grinning, as running probably meant action, he bolted after them and caught up within seconds.

"Hey! Who are ya running from?"

They paused for a moment, staring at him in surprise before they continued to sprint down the corridor. "As if . . . we . . . would tell . . . a Slytherin!" Weasley gasped out.

"Don't be . . . stupid!" Granger scolded, then turned her head slightly in Envy's direction. "We heard . . . Filch coming . . ." she panted.

"Ah! Great!" They ripped through a tapestry and down a small passageway, coming out somewhere near the Charms corridor. Envy frowned. "Is the action done already?" He looked at the panting kids, who were all doubled over trying to catch their breath or leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, I think we lost him," Harry said.

They started talking, something about Malfoy tricking Harry, then started down the corridor again. Envy stared after them for a moment before following in the hopes that there would be more excitement.

Ron turned to glare at him. "Why are you still fol—"

He was cut off when the doorknob next to them rattled and Peeves shot out of the classroom. He caught sight of them and started cackling, and the students began pleading for hims to quiet down—except for Envy. He sat back to enjoy the show. If Peeves was loud, Filch would come running, which was exactly what he wanted and just what the other students didn't.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves hollered, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

The first years ran for it, and Envy followed. They made it to the end of the corridor and started trying to open the door that stood there. They seemed to be failing miserably, and Envy was just about ready to step in and break it down when Granger shoved her way through.

"Oh, move over!" She grabbed Harry's wand and tapped the doorknob. "Alohomora!"

They piled inside, and after a moment of hesitation, Envy followed. He had just been hit with the realization that if he was caught, he would be brought before Snape, probably gain a detention, and lose some house points, and while those Gryffindors wouldn't mind (apparently, he was scum), he certainly didn't want to deal with that right now.

With the door shut, they all pressed their ears to it and listened. Filch had a rather funny conversation with Peeves before running off, and the students (excluding Envy) sighed in relief.

Except for Neville, who whimpered and tugged Harry around. Envy followed his gaze

Over them stood an enormous three-headed dog, drool dripping from its jaws. It was frozen, likely from surprise, and the students seemed petrified in terror. Envy, on the other hand, was muttering curses under his breath, wondering why the stupid, forgetful kid had noticed the monster before him.

He was scared, of course, he knew that the dog could easily crush him and he was starting to wonder if this was how people felt looking at him in his world when he transformed, but he wasn't quite as frightened as the other four.

Someone turned the doorknob, and they all fell out and back into the Charms corridor. The Gryffindors scrambled to their feet and started running, and Envy called, "See you later!" and started back to his own dormitory. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him, and he had gotten some of that excitement he had wanted. It was about time to head to bed.

'-'

Full Name: Envy Novus

Birthday: 7 May 1980

Wand: Hawthorn and Dragon Heartstring, ten and a quarter inches, flexible.

House: Slytherin.

Parents: Connor Novus (half-blood) and Lucy Novus (muggle).

Sorry this took longer than usual! I've discovered that at times writing this flows, and at others it doesn't. I also thought of something very sad while writing this chapter. What if Neville's broom had never stopped rising? The poor little first year would have frozen to death and run out of air. ;-;

This chapter felt kind of rushed to me . . . :/ Oh well. I thought it would be fun if Envy were to be wandering and bump into the Golden Trio and Neville. XD

I noticed that I forgot about the Hogwarts song last chapter. Whoops . . . but it's okay. I was pretty desperate to finish it at the time.

Please review!

-The Leaf on Italy's Head