William sat straight up in bed, his mind unusually clear for having just woken up. He had dreamed something last night, he was sure of it. As it usually was with dreams, however, he couldn't remember a thing. He looked over to his right, where, in the next four-poster bed over, Alek was mumbling something that sounded like, "Hu...ngreh" before falling back over, asleep. Apparently he hadn't slept well. In fact, it appeared everyone his room hadn't been able to sleep at all. After putting on the clothes he had gotten in Diagon Alley, he walked out to the common room. A line of tired students was shuffling glumly towards the Great Hall.
He was pushed by the crowd through those soon-to-be familiar huge doors, and found a seat next to Maximus Abbott, who nodded before turning to the staff table, where whom he assumed was the Headmaster, Professor Drentwood, was tucking in to a plate heaping with food almost as tall as the professor himself was. But then, it wouldn't take much, the man was tiny. Alek sat down beside Will, muttering, "I must say, I had expected a bit more..", and gestured towards the headmaster. Will just shrugged. At the moment, he didn't really didn't care what the headmaster looked like, but he had to admit he wasn't exactly awe-inspiring, being rather short, fat, and with a large grey beard that combined to make him resemble a dwarf. As the other pupils dove into a sizeable breakfast, Will wasn't hungry. He wandered out into the hallway to try and find his first class, Defense against the Dark Arts. After wandering the castle for some time, he eventually ran into a helpful fourth year, who pointed out that William had walked past it twice.
Once inside the room, William noted that there was an absolutely massive menagerie of various creatures, magical and mundane, in cages hanging over the desks. Lining the walls were glass cases containing various artifacts, the most bizarre being a small, black rock and a severed hand. "Early, I see?" William spun around to face the professor, who had entered behind him. He was the same man who had greeted them at the Great Hall before the Sorting, the one with green hair. The man stuck out his hand. "Aurelius Bellamy, your Head of House and Defense against the Dark Arts professor." Will shook it, and mumbled, "William Snape, somewhat inept first year student." Professor Bellamy laughed, and said "You are far from inept, Will. Our research confirms that." Wondering what he meant by "research", Will just nodded. "The other students will be here soon." Said the professor. "They usually have a hard time navigating the castle the first day." Sure enough, in approximately five minutes the rest of the class tromped through the door in pairs or small groups. Cassandra was walking with a pair of nearly identical girls with blonde hair and freckles. A bit after they arrived, Aleksander strolled in with Maximus by his side. They went to sit by Will. After the last confused pupil rushed in, murmuring an apology, Professor Bellamy waved his wand, and the words, "Take out your wands" appeared on a chalkboard Will could have sworn wasn't there before. The sound of rustling robes filled the room as wands were drawn. One of the girls Cassandra was sitting with accidentally sent a stream of sparks out of her wand, which Professor Bellamy quickly transformed into a flock of songbirds, which promptly flew out the nearest open window. "Now, class." He began briskly, "You will learn to diffuse hexes."
He had the students form a line facing him, after which he would cast a low-powered hex or jinx, and the student would attempt a shield charm, which he had demonstrated for them. The first in line was Cassandra. Bellamy raised his wand, and without a moment's notice fired off a jinx. Cassandra shouted "Protego!" which caused the spell to redirect towards William, who promptly dived out of the spell, which then fizzled against a wall. "Try to diffuse it completely, Potter, not just redirect it. Next!" Maximus stepped up. The same jinx was conjured, but this time Maximus waved his wand and mispronounced the spell, causing the jinx to explode, singeing the floor around it. "Almost, Maximus. Work on your pronunciation. You're next, Will." As he stepped forwards, he too late realized that the spell was already hurtling towards him. He unconsciously flicked his wand, and, to his great surprise, the spell disappeared. "Excellent, excellent! Next!" Aleksander stepped forward, and effortlessly diffused the jinx almost immediately after it left Bellamy's wand. "Very good, Alek. Next!"
The rest of the class had less success, but luckily for them the jinx didn't actually cause any damage. The rest of the morning classes, History of Magic and Divination, were completely uninteresting. At lunch, Will still had no appetite. But he sat with Maximus and Alek anyways and discussed their experience so far. "It's brilliant!" said Max, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Like nothing I ever imagined." Aleksander nodded, and Will felt the same as well. "I quite like Professor Bellamy. He doesn't mess around." As the other two expressed affirmative feelings, Will nearly jumped out of his skin as a ghost sailed through him. "Ugh, that felt horrible!" He shuddered as the other two boys laughed. It felt as though all the blood in his body had been frozen momentarily. Trying to shake the dreadful feeling, he spun around, but nothing was behind him. He could have sworn he felt someone touch him, and it didn't feel like a ghost.
As usual, leave a comment with any suggestions you may have. And before you burn me at the stake, yes, I know it took forever for this to come out. I'm a busy person, so I'm sorry again if this seems short. I'm a concise person.