Breakfast was always a very busy time at Hogwarts, especially on that first day. First Year's were amazed by all the wonderful food, and by owl post, even those from wizarding families. Indeed, the only first year not awed by the whole thing was Kathy, but as she had attended many breakfasts over the years, she knew what to expect, kind of. As the 6 Gryffindor first years made their way along the table, Kathy greeted many of the older students she had got to know before she became a student. Sitting down in between Fred and George, she stated piling her plate high with crumpets, chatting away to George, Lee and Alicia, while Fred tried to get the shy Angelina to open up slightly by cracking jokes.
"Timetables." Charlie called to them from several seats up the table, nodding in the direction of Professor McGonagall who was heading along the table handing out pieces of parchment. As she drew near to the first years, she gave Kathy a note along with her timetable, smiled slightly, and carried on along the table.
"Wow. Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and History of Magic today." Alicia announced.
"Yeah but Potions is with Slytherin." Groaned George.
"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Angelina asked, "I mean, I know they're meant to be bad but we don't know them yet."
"Snape always favours his Slytherin's over Gryffindors." A second year answered, before turning back to her own conversation.
Kathy groaned, and hit her head on the table.
"Whats wrong?" Fred asked his friend. Kathy flung the note McGonagall had handed her at Fred and indicated he read it aloud, without lifting her head. "Kathleen, I hope you enjoyed your first night in your new dorm, and you find your dorm mates pleasant enough. Please try not to get yourself into to much trouble today and turn up on time for classes. If anyone can manage that it should be after all the time you have spent here. I would like to have a chat with you this week, just to make sure you are settling in alright. I will see you in my quarter's on Friday afternoon (you're afternoon off). With love, Aunty Minnie."
"What's wrong with that?" Alicia asked, confused.
"Yeah, I thought you were in trouble or something." Lee added.
"Are any of you being summoned to your parent's for a review of the week?" Kathy groaned, "and I bet that cow will tell on me and my 'inconsideration for other peoples sleep' before Friday. I am so dead."
The boys shared confused looks, while Alicia and Angelina were quick to reassure Kathy.
"Don't worry, we'll stick up for you."
"Yeah, we'll tell professor McGonagall what really happened."
"Thanks." Kathy smiled at her friends, "I suppose we'd better get to Transfiguration. Aunty Minnie will kill me if I'm late to her class."
As they headed for Transfiguration, Kathy leading the way, the girl's filled the boys in on what had happened in the dorm that morning.
"What did she mean by that?" Lee interrupted Alicia's narrative when she mentioned that the girl seemed to have an issue with the fact Kathy was a Potter.
Kathy shrugged slightly, "I'm not really sure. I know my dad used to be a trouble maker in school, but why would that mean I'm bad to room with?"
"Your dad was a trouble maker?"
"Yes, so I'm told. He, along with his best friend, hold the record for most detentions over the seven year period. You should hear some of the stuff they got up to." Kathy grinned, "Of course, Aunt Minnie would say I was giving you ideas."
"Us? Do you get the feeling that she doesn't think we can beat her father Gred?"
"That I do Forge."
Kathy smirked, shook her head and winked at the others. "I don't think you have it in you to beat the great James Potter. Me however, it's in my genes."
Fred and George looked at each other and silently communicated, in the way only twins can. "What say you Potter? How about we beat these records together?"
"Done." Kathy smirked, and held out her hand, which the twins took, shaking on their arrangement before walking into the classroom.
"Wow. First here. Even beat McGonagall." Alicia said looking around the empty classroom.
"Shhh," Kathy said, nodding at the cat.
"Aww look Fred, a cute little Kitty."
"George…" Kathy started to call to her friend, but he was already rubbing the cat behind the ears. The cat let out a very unimpressed sound at being touched and George jumped back, only to find Kathy stuffing her fist into her mouth to stop herself laughing.
"What?" He asked, glaring at the cat. He'd always felt he had a way with cats; none had ever reacted like that before. But Kathy couldn't, or more likely wouldn't answer him. He took his seat next to Fred, behind Angelina and Alicia and in front of Kathy and Lee, and waited for Professor McGonagall and the rest of the class to turn up.
When everyone had arrived, (they shared this class with the Ravenclaw's) and Kathy had finally pulled herself together, she sat looking at the cat on the teachers desk. Her friends tried to get her to join in plotting, but she refused to pay any attention, staring straight at the cat. Slowly, the classroom grew louder and louder, until the bell rang for the start of class.
"Where is she?" One of the Ravenclaws asked.
"Right here Miss Quitinity." Professor McGonagall answered through gasps that swept the classroom. She had just transformed from the cat that was sat on the desk. George's mouth fell open, and he turned around and hissed at Kathy, "You knew?"
Kathy smirked, and nodded, before pulling out some parchment to make notes. Or at least, that was what she appeared to be doing to Professor McGonagall. Lee, who had been watching could see she was clearly paying little or no attention to the welcoming talk, and was drawing a picture of George petting a cat that transformed into and very angry looking McGonagall and George wetting his pants. As soon as she got a chance, she passed it to Fred without McGonagall seeing.
"Ok then everyone. I'm going to hand out a match. You will spend the remainder of this lesson attempting to transform it into a needle." As she turned her back to grab the box, Fred flashed Kathy a quick thumbs up before passing the drawing onto the girls in front, not letting George see it. Alicia and Angelina both started chuckling, and struggled to stop before McGonagall heard and demanded and answer. Alicia slipped the paper into her bag before the teacher reached them with the matches. Glancing sideways, Lee was amazed to see a page of notes Kathy had apparently written in the tem minute talk at the start of the class. How had she managed that? He'd been watching her the whole time and she'd spent it all drawing the picture of George. Lee decided to watch his new found friend carefully to see what her secret was.
The class proved long and tedious, only three people managed to make any change to their matches, two Ravenclaw students, and Kathy. Of course, the brown haired girl from Gryffindor had plenty to say about her managing it once they were out into the corridor.
"Of course she'd manage it. She's been brought up by a transfiguration teacher. It's not like she's anything special, she's probably really thick, but even a monkey can replicate something with practice."
Kathy's face fell when she heard what the girl was saying, and to her surprise, the first person from her group to say anything was Angelina. "Who the hell are you, and what's your problem with Kathy?"
Fred, George and Alicia stared open mouthed at the quiet girl.
"Patricia Stimpson. And my father has told me all about her family." Patricia sneered the last part of the sentence.
Fred and George made to follow her when Kathy reached out and stopped them. "Just leave her." The other five looked at Kathy as if she'd lost her mind, "I think we've just found our first victim for a prank. Prepare to prove you're worth Weasleys"
The twins smiled evilly. "I thought you'd never ask!" Fred answered.
"I'm in!" said George, and surprisingly Lee, Alicia and Angelina.
"Well, we're not going to let you guys have all the fun." Alicia explained to her friends.
A/N - A Huge thank you to everyone who reviewed. The next chapetr wont be up as quickly, I'm still struggling with Snape at the moment. A huge thankyou to islay12 for their idea on how Snape handles Kathy. I probably wont be finishing the next chapter until Saturday if anyone else has any ideas on how Snape may react. Let me know, you know you want too!!
Cheers, Becca