4
Gabrielle was easily overwhelmed her first day after studying her student schedule and the handbook to the layout of the castle. Although her Uncle Jerry had trained and prepared her well and her Cousin Justin had both devoutly studied their spells, she was not prepared for the sudden responsibility thrust upon her. She had a six-class schedule in addition to hour lunchtime and an hour quiet study time in either the library or the assembly hall. The classes were not that bad, but the teachers were unpredictable. When two young boys were late to Miss McGonagal's Spell's and Hexes Class, she thought she was very nearly going to toss them out, but at the last second… she just warned them and sent to their seats. Professor Snape was most frightening. He charged the room closing the windows to sunlight in his old dark pilgrim period garb and immediately set the rules for his Potions Class then confronting a young student in glasses and making him an example to the others. It was Professor Lupin's Defense Against The Dark Arts class just before lunch that she liked the most. He brought in the most interesting artifacts from his adventures and told the best stories about the creatures he had battled in his career from American Vampires to Zombies in Haiti. After class, Gabrielle and Troy headed onward to lunch with their friends. A thirty-minute break to catch her breath, Gabrielle joined Kelsey to head back to the Commons Room for private study.
"Eye of rabbit and harp string hum…" Ryan Evans was seated at the Hufflepuff Table across from Troy and Chad. "Turn this water into rum." He tasted his water. It was still not rum. Troy and Chad just kept watching him and trying to encourage him.
"Keep trying, buddy…" Standing up, Chad patted both of Ryan's shoulders.
"Thanks…" Ryan looked up as Gabrielle and Kelsey joined Troy and Chad at the table. They looked to Ryan and took their seats wondering where Taylor was. She was probably in the library.
"How are you guys doing?" Gabrielle sat with her books and notebooks.
"Well, I've gotten lost in the castle about three times…" Chad spoke up. "And misplaced Walter twice…"
"How do you lose a turtle?" Kelsey asked.
"He's faster than he looks." Chad answered. "I think I'm going to have to put a bell around his neck." Walter was Chad's familiar. Usually perched on Gabrielle's shoulder, Maddie either was in the owlry or maybe in her cage back in the hall. Kelsey's white rat, Mimi, was usually curled up in her backpack when she was not climbing over her shoulders. Troy had an owl like Gabrielle, but his was a much larger barn owl named Horace. All of their pets were at the risk of Taylor's cat, Emma, a sleek golden Siamese cat with bright blue eyes. As Gabrielle thought of Maddie with the other owls, she looked up and saw one enter through the windows of the roof and then another and then another. Eventually there were several owls and they were all dropping mail or packages. It was postal delivery at Hogwarts… their first one. Chad got one from his parents and a small parachute came from a package dropped to Kelsey. Troy got a letter from his Aunt Carolyn and Maddie swooped in delivering a letter right into Gabrielle's happily waiting hands. The dropping letters and packages continued only a minute more and then gradually abated as owls searched for their owners in the castle.
"My mom is excited that I got into Gryffindor." Troy read his letter. "She says my dad would have been so proud."
"Mine too." Chad read his letter. "I've got a little sister who will be coming here next year, and my mom is hoping she'll make Gryffindor too." He noticed Kelsey pulling her box open. "What did you get?"
"It's my mom's Remembrall." Kelsey grinned a bit. "She said she'd send it after I got into Hogwarts. It turns red whenever I've forgotten something." She looked at it, but in her hand it was instead turning a bright blue.
"What's blue mean?" Gabrielle looked up from her letter.
"It means I'm embarrassed." Kelsey blushed a bit. "Green means I'm being secretive… I couldn't get away with anything at home."
"Gabrielle…" Troy leaned over the table. "What's your letter say?"
"Well," The cute brunette smiled a bit. "My Uncle Jerry goes on and on about my aunt missing me and my Cousin Max being obnoxious. My Cousin Justin just made the Quidditch Team at Wiz-Tech so if they make the tournaments he'll try to say hello when they come to play Hogwarts. He also says my Cousin Alex is getting in trouble a lot at Wiz-Tech as if she was trying to get expelled." She sighed a bit. "I don't think she's going to make it as a Wizard."
"Just so long as she isn't here." Chad shook his had in disbelief. "And I thought my sisters were bad…"
"Chad…" The sisters in question came strolling into the Common Room. Both attired in their Hogwarts school uniforms and stunningly attractive, Jessica and Jerrica Danforth came into the grand chamber to confront their brother. "We're going into Hogsmeade… with our class."
"With our class…" Jessica echoed. "Do you want anything?" She finished for Jerrica.
"How about some Anti-Sister Repellent?" He asked.
"When do we get to go?" Kelsey asked.
"First Years don't get to go until they are Second Years." Jerrica answered. "Any requests?"
"Excuse me…" Gabrielle looked up. "My uncle said he would like some exploding licorice pops from Honeydukes. I'll gladly pay you back."
"It's on us, sweetie…" Jessica smiled to her brother's friend.
"We'll bring you all some goodies." Jerrica shined to Jerrica and looked back. "Oh, and Chad… Here's your Wizards Monthly."
"Please tell me you did not do the sudoku…" Chad sounded annoyed as Troy read over his shoulder. His sisters turned and headed out quickly as Chad checked his weekly magazine. "Please tell you did not do the… They did the sudoku. Tell me they're not doing it to annoy me!"
"Look at this…" Troy was always interested in stories that caught his interest. "It says here that Gringotts was broken into by someone pretending to be a Dementor." He showed the article. It had a wizard photo with the figures moving back and forth and around as if it were a muggle hologram card.
"Isn't Gringotts supposed to be impenetrable?" Kelsey placed her Remembrall into her pack.
"Only one chamber was broken into…" Chad read. "Whoever it was went straight to Vault 136 and broke it open… however, that vault had already been emptied otherwise security would have been tighter."
"136?" Gabrielle thought that number sounded familiar. "I think I was near it when I went to Gringotts. Hagrid took something out of it. He said it was Hogwarts business."
"He took it out just in the nick of time." Kelsey paused from studying her spells and hexes. "Almost as if someone predicted the robbery…"
"I wonder what was in it." Troy wondered as at the next table Ryan attempted his spell one more time. For some reason, none of his spells were working. Instead of casting his spells, he summoning a lot of energy from incanting the same spell over and over until it finally burst, destroying the object he was working on before him. His cup of water exploded in his face.
"I'm not getting any better at this." He opined in class after study period. After his private study time, he had Professor Flitwick's levitation class with Gabrielle. Troy was off to his Defense Against The Dark Arts class, and Gabrielle sat next to him. Flitwick was a short white-haired teacher who taught while standing atop a short stool to see all of his students. Reportedly the son of both muggle and faerie parents, he'd been teaching levitation at Hogwarts for almost fifty years.
"Levitation is one of the most basic spells a Wizard has." He spoke in a high-pitched quirky voice. "Now, take your wands and do a simple just basic swish and flip and say Wingardium Leviosa."
"Wingardium Leviosa!" His pupils started incanting. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Gentler… gentler…"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ryan sat next to Gabrielle trying to rouse his feather to move. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"I think you're badly distracted." She spoke to him to try and help him. "Is there something bothering you?"
"Yeah…" Ryan confessed to her. "My sister and I go through pre-magic training together our whole lives and we only get one class together, and when we're not in class, she hanging around with those other girls…" He looked to her. "I don't have any friends here."
"My friend, Kelsey, is in your house." Gabrielle revealed. "I'm sure she'd talk to you if you tried, and I'll talk to you."
"Really…" Ryan lit up a bit more relaxed as he looked to her. "I think I feel a bit better now." He tried levitating the goose feather again. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Chad was next to him trying to levitate his feather too.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ryan tried to get his feather levitated first.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Chad could not let Ryan levitate his feather before him. He wasn't even swishing his wand. He was batting it as if he was trying to kill the feather.
"Stop it. Stop it." Taylor stopped his swinging. "This isn't baseball. You're going to put somebody's eye out." Chad stopped and looked annoyed at her.
"And besides…" Taylor continued. "It's Wingardium Levio-SAA, not Wingardium Levio-SAH." She lightly and very ladylike cleared her throat to show him. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She swished her wand lightly to the feather and it alighted lightly, seemingly catching an existing wind as it rose and wafted, rocking lightly to and fro like a tiny ship buffeted by invisible waves. She looked to Chad with a little smile as if she was better than him. All Chad could do was stare disgustedly at it with his head held up in his hand, but Professor Flitwick didn't see that. His little elfin face lit up with delight as Taylor continued controlling the feather. It was rising even higher that Gabrielle's.
"Well done, Miss McKessie!!!" Professor Flitwick applauded her. "Five points to Ravenclaw!!" He was then suddenly knocked off his stool by a light explosion near him. His startled face looked over to the other table where Ryan Evans sat in terrified shock, his face awash and tinged with black pieces of feather and his blonde hair even singed just a bit. Even Gabrielle sat in shock upon seeing that burst of light.
"Professor…" She looked up with a light grin. "I think we have a defective feather over here."