I awoke before dawn the next day. For a second I was confused on my surroundings, until the events of last night caught up to my brain. I lay back in the bed, excited for a day of classes and leaning magic. I decided to get a head start in getting ready this morning, so I quietly slipped from my bed and made my way to the bathroom. On the way there I noticed that my robes were neatly folded on the chest at the foot of my bed. The inside lining of them had changed to a midnight blue, just like the blue in the dorms and common room, and my tie was now blue and bronze. The Hogwarts crest that used to be on the robes was now the Ravenclaw crest.
Deciding to explore more of the castle, I grabbed my wand and my watch. It was one of the only things I had from my father and mother and had been left with me at the orphanage. As quietly as I could, I crept downstairs and out the common room door.
Once on the steps, I made my way quickly hoping to get as much exploring down as I could. It was only when I reached the bottom of the stairs that I realized my cat, which I had decided to name Griso, had followed me out of the common room. When I reached down to pick him up, he ran out of the doorway and through the halls. Annoyed, I followed him as closely as I could as well as as quietly as I could. When I reached the bottom of the third staircase, I realized where we were, the dungeons. Hesitantly, I walked toward where Griso had last turned when I heard a yelp. I rushed forward and turned the corner to see Griso and a pale boy. The boy had pale skin and almost white blond hair. His robes were also adorned with the Slytherin crest and green lining. He was clutching his hand and looking angrily at my cat.
"I'm so sorry if my cat bit you, he is a bit of handful today." I said, trying to be as polite as I could to the Slytherin.
"That filthy animal is yours. Guess I should have known it would belong to someone in Ravenclaw... can't even tame a cat... so much for the house of intelligence." He muttered back. Suddenly, I felt no reason for being sorry. If he wanted to act like a prat that was his problem, not mine.
"Well, did you every consider maybe you were the reason he attacked you. Maybe Griso can just sense when a prat like you is nearby." I said annoyed that he was blaming the cat when I could as well just been him.
"What did you just say? My father will be very upset to hear someone of your station talking like that to me." He replied, though it only made me more annoyed.
"You're seriously going to tell your father that a cat bit you. What is he going to do? It's just a cat bit, it probably will be gone by tomorrow, if not by dinner." I snapped back.
"We'll see about that." He said with a huff of anger before turning and heading toward the Slytherin common room. Sighing, I picked up Griso and headed back toward the common room.
I really need to go running sometime with all these stair I need to climb. I thought as I finally reached the knocker.
"What has an eye but cannot see?" the eagle questioned. I thought back to all the lessons I had on solving questions and decided process of elimination would probably be my best bet at any of these riddles. An eye... at first glance it would be an animal, but all animals that have eyes can see... maybe a tool or something that has a part called the eye... the eye... the eye of a needle!
"A needle." I said.
"Blunt, but acceptable." the knocker replied as it opened up into the common room.
At 7:45, I made my way out of the common room with Padma and the other girls in our dorm. The boys had also joined us in the common room. Once we entered the Great Hall, Padma and I sat across from Terry Boot, another first year Ravenclaw. We struck up a conversation about our families, our classes, and our hobbies. All of us shared a lot in common with the others. We all liked to read, mostly fiction, and also all loved the winter. Terry was a half-blood like my self, and we all thought the best classes would be transfiguration, history of magic, and potions. By the time breakfast was over, we were all close friends.
Professor Flitwick passed out our times tables while we were talking. We had Charms with the Gryffindors right after breakfast followed by our first Defense against the Dark Arts class with the Slytherins. One of the older Ravenclaws, the prefect Tom, offered to show us first years where the classroom was, so once everyone was finished with breakfast we headed out of the Great Hall in one big group. Once we got the the third floor charms corridor, Tom left us to go to his class. Padma, Terry, and I all found a table together in the middle of the classroom and we talked quietly while we waited for class to start.
Overall, Charms wasn't that bad although today had just been a theoretical lesson instead of a practical lesson. We went over what charms are and the uses of them as well as why the wand movement and the pronunciation of the spell is important. We were also given an essay, 2 feet long, on some common household charms and their uses.
After Charms, everyone was excited for our Defense Against the Dark Arts class, however, Professor Quirrell was a huge let down. All we did was listen to him talk about a vampire attack in Egypt last summer, but with his stutter is was hard to follow what he was saying. Luckily, he didn't assign any homework on the lecture, for which we were all glad about. The only interesting that happened in DADA was that I found out the name of the Slytherin from that morning, Draco Malfoy.
After DADA, Padma, Terry, and I went back to the common room to exchange our books for our afternoon classes. We then headed to lunch. On our way there we saw two red-heads that looked kind of familar, round the corner laughing hysterically. When we passes and we decided to ask what had happened.
"What is so funny?" Padma asked.
"Hmm, ohh look what we have here Georgie, three little Ravenclaw firsties." the twin, for we now saw they were identical, on the right said. "You want to know what exactly?"
"We wanted to know what was so funny?" Terry repeated for Padma. I was staring curiously at the two twins, I was sure I had heard about them from one of the older kids in the orphanage, but I couldn't remember what they had said about them.
"You're on your way to lunch right?" the one of the left said. He barely waited for a nod from us before continuing. "Just make sure you stear clear-"
"-of the pumpkin juice and the soup-" the one on the right carried on.
"-or you will be blown away." the one on the left finished.
"Have fun!" they said together before rushing off.
Padma turned to Terry and I. "They were joking right?" she asked.
"I don't know, but best be safe rather that sorry." I said, still trying to place who they were.
It wasn't until the next day that we had the class I was looking forward to the most: History of Magic. I had always loved the history books at the orphanage and was excited to learn more about magical history. However, the class was huge letdown. It wasn't even the class that was the problem, it was the professor, Professor Binns, the only ghost professor who only lectured. I had taken a huge amount of notes, while most of the class slept or passed notes.
The only other classes I was excited for were Potions and Flying. Luckily, Potions came the next day right after breakfast. When we entered the dungeon, there was definitely and atmosphere of both nervousness and slight fear. We had all heard about the horrible Professor Snape. He entered the classroom with a swish of his black robes and strode up the the front of the classroom. He, like our head of house, started class by taking role. When he got to my name, I could have sworn I saw him sneer. After role call, he addressed the class.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. His voice, while quiet, caring across the room. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death-if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
When he had begun his speech, I had briefly thought maybe the other students were exaggerating, until the end. It still sounded as if this would be one of the most interesting classes. Once he was done speaking, he assigned us to make a simple cure for boils potion and put the directions on the board.
I pulled out my book and turned to the right page to start brewing. I had made it all the way to the end of the potion, when I had a feeling. the directions said that after you add the porcupine quills, you had to stir 6 times counter-clockwise. I, however, had a feeling that if I added a 7th clockwise stir it would work better. Not only did the stir direction help placate the venom we had added earlier, but it would also help to completely mix in the quills. I decided to test my theory and added the 7th stir. As soon as I had finished stirring, the potion changed color to match the exact description in the textbook. I was even more surprised when Snape actually complemented my potion. I could also hear a bit a surprised tone in his voice as well.
Flying was the last new class we had and was the one that was most looked forward to. The Ravenclaws had it with the Hufflepuffs and we all headed down to the field after lunch. There were two lines of broomsticks facing each other. Terry, Padma, and I quickly grabbed three on the end next each other. We then listened for directions from Madam Hooch. When instructed, we all held out our hands and said "Up". My broom was the only one to come directly to my hand. Some of the others' brooms simply rolled over and some didn't move at all. Both Terry and Padma managed to get their brooms up on the second and third try. Once we all had our brooms up, Madam Hooch showed up how to mount and grip the broom. She then let up hover a few feet from the ground before, at the end of class, she let us fly laps around the field. I was the best flyer in the class and was able to fly quite a few laps at a higher speed than some of the other students. I was excited to be able to fly every week.
Overall, the first week was exciting and I was looking forward to a long year ahead of me.
Author's Note:
Hey fanfic world,
So, I'm sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, my summer has finally kick started and I had a lot to do. I will probably try to update twice a week. Also, I originally intended for this fanfic to be a FredxOC fanfic, but I was wondering what you guys thought. I can still do that, but let me know what you think about that. Next chapter we will be seeing some familiar faces so stay tuned. Thank you to every one who has followed and favorited, it really means a lot.
See you next time...