Great. I'm gonna be late on the first day at Hogwarts. Late on the first day of school. I'd heard that one teacher had turned a student into a ferret as a form of punishment. Oh, shit.
My mom was speeding on the freeway. Was that even possible? She sped down the exit ramp and screeched to a halt at the train station. I shot out of the car before she could speed off again, possibly with one of my legs still in the car.
When I finally got to Hogwarts, I was handed a small, square blue piece of paper by a woman in a black robe. "You'll need this to excuse your tardy, dear," she said, and vanished.
Inside, there were these weird talking paintings hanging on the walls. They kept telling me where to go so I could get to my first class. A few gave me shortcuts, like a thin little girl who told me to follow her to a blank painting that would drop me off right outside the hall to my classroom. I watched her jump from painting to painting with amazement. Before that there was a really weird one, a knight that had a bushy red beard, red eyebrows to match, and was completely bald. When I showed him my schedule and asked where to go, he told me, "Go to hell and don't come back!"
Wow. Paintings that tell you to go to hell. I was starting to have to remind myself why I was here, why I couldn't turn around and make my mom take me back to Tokyo.Gotta find her, gotta find her, gotta find her.
Once I reached my class, I opened the door quietly, hoping the teacher wouldn't notice. Then I remembered the blue paper that the witch had given me (you had to be a witch to disappear, right?). She'd said it would excuse my tardy. So I walked right up to the teacher and gave him my paper. Without looking up from the scroll he was reading, he nodded and said, "Excused…" (He paused to look at my name, which was printed on the paper)"…um, Soran?"
"Syaoran, sir," I offered.
"Right, right, Syaoran!" he nodded again and gestured towards the desks.
A girl's head had shot up when he'd said my name. Now she was whispering fiercely to the girl next to her. She looked none too pleased.
"My apologies, Syaoran, I had a student back at my old academy in Europe. His name was Sora. He turned into the main character in some video game. Huge disappointment, he was. A great wizard who now uses his talents to perform silly tricks at anime conventions for children who just think he's a freak with a great costume." He shook his head. "Anyway, welcome to Hogwarts. Take your seat."
I started towards the seat in front of the whispering girl, which was the only open seat in the room. She squeaked and ducked behind her textbook. Wondering what her problem was, I tried to look over the book. Immediately, she ducked down and began digging through her bag. Her hair kind of fell to the side when she turned to scold her friend for giggling. (She did this without lifting her head from her bag.) It was then that I saw her face. Slowly, I started to grin. "Saku-chan!"
From there, it only got worse. We ended up in a mini-war. Finally, I said something that pissed off both girls. Both Sakura and her friend leaned forward and flicked my forehead. Her friend had surprisingly sharp nails. I raised my hand and complained to the teacher, asking if I could switch seats. He asked them if they had done anything to me, but said nothing about the switching seats.
"Oh, no, Professor Moody, nothing he didn't deserve." Their voices were in perfect unison and their faces mirrored the same faux innocence, making me wonder if they got together and practiced. Then they turned on me. "Syaoran, how could you accuse me of that?" Sakura asked with what seemed, to the untrained eye, to be genuine hurt. I would have fallen for it, but I could see that her eyes, beyond the fake hurt, were more fiery than Hell. So instead I mumbled an apology and ignored her.
A kid who sat behind me, who I later learned was named Malfoy, started to taunt me. He kept on until the teacher scolded him. Whatever he said shut Malfoy up for the rest of class. Something about a flying ferret. Oh, god. Was Malfoy the student who'd been punished by being turned into a ferret? Then that meant Professor Moody was the one who turned Malfoy into a ferret…and was now teaching my class. Oh, god. But seeing Sakura was worth it. Right?
"Welcome to WW III," her friend whispered, interrupting my thoughts. She spoke a little too gleefully. She seemed to be seriously enjoying my misery. WTF?
Not the first day I had imagined. Not at all.