Chapter Two
Minerva McGonnagal peered sternly down at the students now sitting in the great hall.
"As usual, I have but a few reminders for you concerning school rules. Students are reminded that the Forest at the edge of the grounds is off-limits, being in the forest without explicit permission from a teacher will result in no less than Fifty points from your house.
"Also, the caretaker, Mr. Matthew LeRuse has asked that students refrain from transfiguring other students in the hallways. Also, the use of Fanged Frisbees are not allowed inside.
"We would like to welcome the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Abbot. Thank you for listening. Now, dig in!" said Professor McGonnagal.
"Dig into what?" whispered Erin into Albus's ear. He was just about to express his wonder when she gave a great gasp of delight. Food had appeared on the plates in front of them. As Albus was starving, he grabbed one of everything and began to eat. While dinner went into its second course, the talk turned to families.
"My dad's a wizard, mom's a witch," said Rose to Erin.
"My dad's a wizard, but my mom's a muggle," said Erin. "Dad only told her because she kept wonderin' why she was literally walkin' on air whenever they saw each other. And why Dad could make things explode by accident."
"My dad's a wizard too, but I think he's muggle-born." Said Rulna, her eyes sliding in to different directions. "His dad left him before he was born…doesn't know if he's a wizard or not."
"My mom's a witch and so is my dad," said Adrian, "but they split up a long time ago. I kept my mom's last name. I guess My mom and dad went to school here, and they know your dad!" he exclaimed, pointing at Albus.
"Yff, mf mfm vnd dad fwenf foo zcool fere ckoo," said Albus, his mouth full of chicken and rice.
"We're cousins," said Rose. "My dad is his mom's brother." As she said this there was a general noise of awe slipping out of the people around them. Albus felt slightly uncomfortable that everyone knew who his parents were and kept his eyes down, eating as much as would fit into his mouth.
When the feast was finished, everyone stood up. Among the hustle and bustle of the hall, they heard a loud voice yell "First years, follow me please, come on, don't dawdle! First years!" and followed it. They came up behind a tall fifth year boy wearing a silver, shiny badge and trying to look very important. They followed him as he led them up several flights of stairs, finally turning into a corridor on the seventh floor. They stopped in front of a portrait of a very large woman in a salmon colored dress, and upon the sight of them she stared at the fifth year.
"Password?" she said in her high, shrieking voice.
"Lemon Drop." He said impatiently.
The portrait swung forward and several people said "Oooh!"
They were stepping into an enormous rectangular room with a roaring fire on one side and a large Gryffindor lion on the other. There were people all around the room, talking about summer, comparing chocolate frog cards, eating sweets, playing chess.
"This is your common room!" said the fifth year. "You will generally spend time here when you are not in your dormitories or in classes. Please be notified that nobody is allowed outside of the common room after eight o'clock on any night. Boys dormitories are on the left, Girls, yours are on the right. On behalf of the whole house, we would like to welcome you to Gryffindor!" he finished, with a triumphant look on his face. The first years all split up and started to talk to each other. Adrian, Rose, Rulna, Albus and Erin all gathered in a corner and expressed their excitement at what the new school year would hold for them. At a quarter to eleven, everyone bade each other goodnight and headed up to their dormitories; Adrian and Albus to one, Rose, Rulna and Erin to another. As Adrian and Albus stepped into their dormitory they saw they were sharing it with three other people. One was called Evan Keros, he had extremely short red hair and looked as though he had been hit with a stretching jinx. Another was called Hayden Ford, he was American and he loved to talk about nothing else but the country. The third looked vaguely familiar to Albus but he could not tell from where, his name was Edward Wood and he, like Erin, had a prominent Irish accent. He could talk about nothing but Puddlemere United.
"Well, yeah me mom and me dad were both Quidditch captains," He said proudly.
"My dad was too, in his sixth year," said Albus.
"Yeah?" asked Edward, an intrigued look on his face.
"Uh-huh!" said Albus eagerly. They all stayed up a few more hours and talked, until they finally were so tired that Evan nodded off and banged his head on one of the posts of his bed. At this, they thought they all ought to get to sleep. Albus laid his head down. His thoughts faded and he quickly fell into slumber.
The next morning they all got up and went down to breakfast. As they sat down, owls swooped over their heads and dropped a nicely rolled up piece of parchment onto their laps. As Albus opened his, he saw:
Class Schedule of Mr. Albus Severus Potter
9:00-10:00: Transfiguration
10:00-11:00: Potions
11:00-12:00: Charms
Lunch
1:00-3:00: Double Herbology
3:00-4:00: Def. Against Dk. Arts
He quickly found Adrian, Erin, Rose and Rulna and compared schedules with them. He had Transfiguration with Rulna and Rose, Potions with Erin, Charms with Adrian and Erin, Herbology with Rulna, and Defense Against the Dark Arts with Rose. As nervous as he was, he was at least glad to have classes with his friends.
After finishing his bacon and eggs, he waved goodbye to Erin and Adrian and set off up to the fourth floor for Transfiguration with Rulna and Rose. As he looked over at Rulna he suppressed a laugh; she had gone to such lengths to keep herself calm that it seemed to be impairing her sense of direction. Every few feet they had to stop and make sure she hadn't walked into a wall or been convinced that she was going the right way even after walking past the way Rose and Albus were going. As they arrived on the fourth floor corridor they spotted the large room they were to report to. They stepped into the classroom, found seats and began to chat animatedly. Their talking was interrupted by a loud neighing sound from somewhere behind them, and they started, looking for the source of the noise. Albus saw it at once; a chestnut horse with a beautiful mane and large, brown eyes. She walked into the room gracefully, and as she did, began to transform. She became an average-height woman with the same chestnut hair as the horse and small, brown eyes. As the class looked on in awe, she stood up in front of them and began to speak.
"Hello, class," she said pleasantly. "My name is Professor Zeller." She wrote it on the board with a wave of her wand. As she began introducing the course, the class rummaged through their bags for their wands, quills and parchment.
Transfiguration was extremely difficult, and Albus was lost ten minutes into class. Rather than try to catch up, he tried to look on with Rulna, who's hand was moving so fast across her parchment that Albus could not see anything but a flesh colored blur moving around on the paper.
Albus met Erin outside on the staircase and bade goodbye to Rulna and Rose, who set off for charms. They walked all the way down to the dungeons and sat down in a classroom with no windows and a distinct odor of what could have been coffee, although this was highly unlikely.
"Sit!" said a firm voice, coming from the open door at the other end of the room. A very short man with wispy grey hair and a very large belly. He waddled out from his classroom and walked in front of the class.
"Good morning everyone," he said, in a much more pleasant tone, "I am professor Horace J. Slughorn. Today we will be concocting a simple potion, It is called Hyscerizo. Does anyone know what it does?"
To Albus's surprise, Erin's hand shot up. "It causes the drinker to become inexplicably happy!" she said brightly.
"Excellent," said Slughorn. "You remind me of a student I had nearly twenty years ago. What's your name?"
"Erin Finnigan," she replied happily.
"Well Erin, take ten points to Gryffindor!" said Slughorn, beaming at her. She beamed back at him, but as he turned away she whispered:
"Easily impressed, isn't he?"
"I suppose," said Albus, snickering quietly.