Chapter Three:
With a quick jolt, Indigo jerked awake. She blinked her eyes blearily and assessed her surroundings. A four-post bed, scarlet colored drapes, a hooting owl… was this some kind of joke? "Jared this isn't funny," she grumbled before cowering back under her blankets. "Indy wake up, first day of classes," sang a voice that definitely didn't belong to her older brother. Indigo peered over her covers. "Katie? Why are you here? And why do you have to be such a morning person?" Just as the question left her mouth, it dawned on Indigo. "Hogwarts!"
The girls laughed as their still tired friend scrambled out of bed. "Oh shut up," she grumbled, making her way to the bathroom.
Katie and Isabelle were already fully dressed in the uniform and Makenzie was battling with the Gryffindor tie. "Indigo, if there's time can you curl my hair?" asked Makenzie as Isabelle swatted the Southern girl's hands away from the crumpled tie so she could do it correctly. "Sure, sure," called back Indigo from the bathroom.
Katie impatiently shifted her weight from foot to foot, and pulled at the pleated skirt. "I hate skirts," she grumbled for what was probably the tenth time that morning. Too much of an athlete, she was entirely out of her comfort zone in the feminine article of clothing. "You know you should wear more skirts. You're a track runner, you have great legs that should be showed off," remarked Makenzie, watching her friend's discomfort. Katie blushed and mumbled a thanks.
Indigo stumbled out of the bathroom, pulling on her knee high socks as she came. "Come on Kenz, I'll curl your hair," she huffed out, throwing back her own black and purple hair into a ponytail. The two girls disappeared back into the bathroom.
Isabelle and Katie looked at each other, used their friend telepathy, and yelled to the two other girls, "We're hungry! We're going to go down to breakfast!!"
Without waiting for a response, the two took off to the Great Hall.
A redhead they recognized as a girl who had introduced herself as Ginny Weasley waved them over. "Morning," she said cheerily, already having helped herself to breakfast. "Morning," they replied, both sitting down across from her. "McGonagall's passing out schedules," she said as way of conversation. "Sweet! I hope we get some good ones," Katie responded as she looked around for the severe looking headmistress.
After filling their plates to a wonderful display of pancakes with powdered sugar and maple syrup, a ham and cheese omelet, and hash browns to each, the two girls began to drill the youngest Weasley on the teachers of Hogwarts. They were interrupted by the arrival of Hermione, Indigo, and Makenzie. "Hey y'all," Makenzie said with a grin as she sat down next to Ginny. Before the conversation could continue, McGonagall walked up. "Your schedules ladies," she said kindly, passing them to their appropriate owners.
The girls, minus Ginny because she was a year younger, instantly began comparing schedules and found that they had most classes together. "Oh this should be fun," Indigo said happily, taking a big bite of her chocolate donut. "Thank goodness we have Potions together," Hermione said, taking another glance at the schedules. "Why's that?" asked Isabelle. "Professor Snape's the teacher and he's a right old bat," growled Hermione, looking up at the line of teachers at their table. They all looked up then to observe the said professor.
Snape was currently stabbing the sausage links on his plate with his fork, before bringing them to his scowling mouth. His black hair hung to his shoulders, definitely on the greasy side. With his hooked nose and piercing black eyes, he somehow managed to make the mere task of eating look unpleasant. He indeed resembled a bat with his black robes that buttoned all the way up to his chin, leaving the only skin showing his extremely white face and spidery hands that clutched his drinking glass.
"Joyful looking fellow," Katie said dryly before returning to her breakfast. Makenzie shivered. "He does not look like a nice guy at all." Hermione shook her head. "He's not. He plays favorites with the Slytherins, mocks us Gryffindors and takes house points away from us for stupid reasons, and he's just a git in general," she said spitefully.
"We talking about Snape?" Harry asked, taking a seat next to the ranting bookworm. "Yeah Hermione was just introducing us to him," Indigo told him with a roll of her eyes. "He seems like a douche," she finished. Harry nodded. "Oh he is, that is for sure."
More students had sat down during this and more introductions went around. As they all shared their schedules, they discovered that they all seemed to have a lot of the same classes together.
"So first up is double Herbology with Professor Sprout," said Isabelle, taking another look at her schedule. "And it's with the Hufflepuffs so it shouldn't be too bad," added Dean Thomas, a tall black teenager that had just joined up with the group.
**
"Welcome students to another year of Herbology," trilled the tiny professor.
The students were lined up along a string of wooden tables. The tables creaked under the weight of several dozen ceramic pots that were filled with a dark brown, almost black, soil. All the students had changed up into their Herbology robes as to not ruin their new, clean robes.
"As a reminder, Herbology is the study of magical plants and fungi, including their care and their magical properties and uses," Professor Sprout told the class as she pulled on her stiff, worn brown leather gloves.
"This here," she said, sifting her hands through the large pot in front of her, "is dragon dung compost. It's best for planting and pretty easy to come by if you know the right people," she added with a chuckle.
"Now then," she said, snapping out of her private moment. "Today we will be planting Screechsnap, a semi-sentient plant that tends to wriggle and squeak uncomfortably when given too much dragon dung manure. Your job will be to successfully plant four pots each in the span of thirty minutes. Afterwards, we will begin our next project. Now then, hop to it!"
The students began to work and immediately the wails could be heard from the distressed plants.
Two hours later, the bedraggled Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs made their way out of the Greenhouses.
"Urgh," groaned Makenzie, pulling a clod of manure out of her hair. "That had to be the messiest class ever," Katie said, attempting to rub the dirt streaks off of her face. They all laughed at each other's faces before Indigo finally dug out their schedules. "Right, looks like we have Charms now."
The four girls made their way to the classroom, along with the Golden Trio, Dean, Seamus Finnegan, Lavender, and another girl who was introduced as Parvati Patil. After seating themselves around the classroom, and the tiny Professor Flitwick introduced the class and himself, the students began to work on charming their school supplies to grow and shrink.
Soon they had not only finished Charms and History of Magic (all four girls, who were unused to the monotone teacher, fell asleep during the lecture to Professor Binns' voice), but a delicious lunch had ended as well.
"Oh great, Potions next," cursed Ron, as the group of seven made their way out of the Great Hall. They all groaned, and dragged themselves back to the dormitories to gather their stuff before making their way down into the dungeons.
"Shit."
"What?" Harry asked Isabelle.
"It's double Potions with the Slytherins," the tall girls replied unhappily. Katie shook her head in disgust. "It's going to be a long two hours then." By the time this conversation ended, they were standing in front of the dark stained doorway to the classroom. "Well we can't just stand here can we?" asked Hermione briskly, pushing open the door with a creak. The group crowded into the smoky room and took their seats.
Snape's voice sliced through the air as he emerged from the smoke. "Welcome to Potions class," he said silkily, his spider-like fingers twirling his wand.
"Or in other words, welcome to hell," growled Harry, just as Snape turned to face the Boy Who Lived.
**
So this chapter finished a lot faster than I had thought it would, so I'm very happy! Normally I would have tried to put the whole Potions class in this chapter but I thought it deserved its own chapter so that will be next!
Read & Review please!