Misadventures at Hogwarts: Chapter 1

I narrow my eyes at Wright and repeat my previous statement. "You're move, Wright…"

Wright opens his mouth to retort but, before he can, Headmaster Fortiter shouts, "Mister Potter, Mister Weasley, Mister Potter and Mister Wright! Put your wands away now or DEAL WITH the consequences OF YOUR CHOICES!"

Wright and I glare at each other for a few more moments, both with our wands still pointed at the other, before he lowers his wand and says, "We'll settle this later, Potter…"

I lower my wand and smirk at him. "I'm counting on it, Wright…"

He storms past us, walking further into the Great Hall, making sure to bump Freddie and me with his shoulders as he does. I glance over at Freddie and Al and grin. "Thanks for backing me, mates."

Freddie nods with a grin as he leads us over to the Gryffindor table to sit. "He's a wanker… Any excuse to curse him into next week is good enough for me!"

I grab a plate and load a pile of food onto it then grab a glass and filling it with pumpkin juice before looking over at Al and saying, "I thought you were just here to learn how to control your magical abilities?"

He shrugs his shoulders while spreading jam on a slice of toast. "We're family and family sticks together. Simple as that."

I dip my head to him and say, "Well, thanks."

I see him smile slightly as he nods. I look back at Freddie, who is stuffing forkfuls of egg into his mouth, and grin. "Are you ready for Friday's match against Ravenclaw?"

He swallows the food in his mouth and reciprocates my grin. "Absolutely! The first match of the season is always the best!"

A girl with long, fiery red hair pulled into braided pigtails and brown eyes clears her throat before saying to herself, "Why is every guy obsessed with quidditch? It's just a bloody stupid sport…"

I stare at the girl for a moment before saying, "You're Arys Hastings, right?"

She nods with a smirk, clearly pleased that I know who she is. Freddie chokes on the copious amount of egg in his mouth as he asks, "Hastings? As in Kenneth Hastings' daughter?!"

She nods again, this time a bit of bitterness apparent on her face, but Freddie fails to catch it as he continues. "How could you not like Quidditch?! Your dad played as a chaser in the Quidditch World Cup in 1994 for the Australian National Quidditch team!"

Arys rolls her eyes before narrowing them at Freddie and sharply saying, "You think I don't know who my father is? Believe me, I know! Therefore, I don't need you to inform me! Yes, I have a father who played quidditch, but that doesn't mean I have to like the bloody sport!"

Freddie narrows his eyes at her and opens his mouth to say something but I cut him off before he can get any words out. "Freddie, you know how we hate when people talk about our parents and everything they did? I'm sure it's the same for her…"

Freddie rolls his eyes and scoffs before murmuring, "She wasn't even involved in our conversation…"

I resist the urge to laugh as I look down at my plate and stab at my eggs. The rest of our breakfast is spent in awkward silence between the three of us; Arys, Freddie and me. Once we've finished our meals, Freddie and I bid Al farewell then exchange a cursory glance before getting up from the table and rushing out of the Great Hall. The moment we get into the corridor Freddie bursts. "Who does she think she is? I'm allowed to be a fan of her father! He was a brilliant player! She has no right to tell me I'm not allowed to talk about him!"

The rest of our walk to our first class of the day, Herbology, I nod absentmindedly as Freddie continues to angrily rant, however, my thoughts are on the Forbidden Forest. What could be going on in there? What could be so bad that Fortiter would need people to go check it out?

"JAMES!"

I snap out of my stupor as Freddie grabs my robes and yanks me backward just as a staircase begins to move, covering up the far drop that I had been walking toward. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and look back at Freddie graciously. "Thanks…"

He looks at me suspiciously and nods. "Anytime mate… You alright?"

I nod but, before I can vocalize anything, Arys pushes past us and says, "Probably too many Bludgers to the head…"

I look over at Freddie in shock. "Where did she come from?"

Freddie grits his teeth and mutters, "I really can't stand that girl…"

I nod my agreement and say, "She's really… something, huh?"

Freddie groans loudly, throwing his head back and his hands up in exasperation as we walk down the stairs toward our class. "Mate, don't tell me you fancy her…"

I whip my head to the side and look at him through wide eyes. "I don't need Arys! I have Lunetta!"

Freddie lets out a guffaw and points at me as we walk outside and says, "You don't have Lunetta! You asked her out every day last year and she turned you down every day!"

"Alright, so last year wasn't my year with her… But this year is going to be different! I'm a second year now and more mature!"

Freddie laughs again, this time louder and longer than the last. "You?! More MATURE?! You're an absolute nutter if you think that's true!"

I punch him in the arm as hard as I can and scoff. "You're no more mature that I am you wanker!"

He smirks at me as we walk into the Herbology greenhouse. "True, but I never claimed to be…"

We both walk past Professor Longbottom, waving to him as we walk to the long table in the center of the room covered in both big and little pots and earmuffs. We stand next to each other and, as Freddie throws angry glances at Arys, who is standing at the end of the table by herself, we continue to talk while we wait for the rest of the class to file in and take their places.

Once everyone's inside the greenhouse, Professor Longbottom loudly clasps his hands together and says with a smile, "Alright, today we will be learning about mandrakes. Now, while the adult mandrakes cries are fatal, the baby mandrakes cry will only temporarily knock the user unconscious, so that's what we'll be using today. Today I will have you move a baby mandrake from the small pot into the big pot. You simply grasp the stalk and pull it out of the soil, then move it over into the bigger pot and cover it with soil. Any questions?"

Nobody asks any questions so Professor Longbottom continues. "Everyone please put on your earmuffs. And please make sure they are securely in place! I don't want anyone passing out when we pull our mandrakes out of their pots. Is everyone ready?"

He holds up his thumb questioningly and the whole class reciprocates his gesture, signaling that we're all ready. He grabs his mandrake and yells, "NOW REMEMBER, SIMPLY PULL AND REPLANT."

Once he's stated that one last time, he firmly grips his mandrake and pulls it out of the soil in the little pot and immediately moves it over into the big pot, making sure to push the soil in the big pot over the mandrake until its head is completely covered in soil. After doing that, he gestures to us and yells, "NOW, YOUR TURN!"

All at once, every student grabs the tops of their mandrakes and yanks them upward, quickly placing them into their large pots with panicked expressions on our faces as we all cover our mandrakes with soil. Once Professor Longbottom sees that everyone is done and no mandrakes are exposed, he gestures for us to take off our earmuffs and grins. "Congratulations on successfully moving your first mandrake. I can tell you from experience that it doesn't always go that smoothly…"

The rest of Herbology class is spent discussing the different used mandrakes have and can be used for. After Professor Longbottom dismisses us, I go to the rest of my classes for the day; Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, and History of Magic.

As Freddie and I walk out of our History of Magic class we run into Wright and three of his cronies, who happen to be pinning a couple of terrified first years in a corner. I pull out my wand and nudge Freddie with my shoulder, nodding my head toward Wright. Freddie follows my gesture and grimaces, pulling out his wand when he sees what I see. I clear my throat and walk toward the gang, my wand extended in front of me, and say, "Leave them alone, Wright…"

Wright turns and looks at me through narrowed eyes then turns back to the first years, who are looking from me and Freddie to Wright with wide eyes, and shoos them away before turning back to me and pulling out his wand. "Ah, Potter and Weasley. Just the two I was looking for… I think it's time we finish what we started this morning…"

Alright y'all! I would LOVE to hear your thoughts about this story and this chapter! :)

Thanks!

-Tx