Hey guys! I know you all were waiting for this chapter so, I don't own Harry Potter, and on with the show!
Chapter 9:
I Take a Thoroughly Pleasant Class
Before we could eat, however, the stern woman made a speech.
"Boys and girls, we welcome you today to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry! Now, although the school offers many activities which most of you would deem 'cool' I hope that you, as usual, will not allow them to become, ahem, distractions. Remember, this is a place of learning. As such, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is strictly off-limits. Also, the first-years had best become acquainted with the points system on which this school runs. Each House starts the year with zero points. Good behavior will result in addition of points to your House; bad behavior will result in a detraction of points. Now, the House with the most points at the end of the year shall be awarded the House Cup! Now, I do not wish to keep you from your dinners, so, eat up!"
The food was delicious. Steak, chicken, some delicious biscuits, and then for dessert, tarts and pies the likes of which I had never tasted. It also improved my experience that all the other Hufflepuffs sitting at the table smiled at me, as if I was already their best friend. Emma, of course, had the brilliant idea to show all the other Hufflepuffs my weirdness.
"Look what Jennifer can do!" she announced. I rolled my eyes and made my hair long and blonde. Then, with a degree of difficulty, I made my skin pale green, and my ears elf ears. There was a mix of laughter and astonishment. I had definitely made an impression. I shrunk my hair back and changed it purple, a color I liked, and then opted to stick with the ears until someone made a comment.
After we had all eaten our fill, one of the older boys at the other end of the table stood up. He began to call us over. "Hufflepuff first years over here please! I'm a Prefect, so I have to show you how to get to the common room!" he called, herding us into a line. We hurried up several flights of stairs, chatting. Occasionally we halted when the boy called; "Don't use that step, you'll fall through!" or "I wouldn't mess with that portrait, he's mean!" or "No, Peeves, NOT NOW!" But soon enough we made it to a large still life of a fruit bowl. The Prefect stopped here.
"Okay, I'm supposed to let one of you lot do this." He scanned the gaggle of first-years before picking me out of the crowd. "You. Shorty." He called, and I indignantly grew several inches. "Tell it 'Quidquid tuae titillat Pech'" he told me. I repeated it to the painting, which swung open. I turned to the Prefect.
"What does that even mean?" I asked him
"Quidquid tuae titillat Pech? I think it means 'Whatever tickles your peach' in Latin." He shrugged, and we headed into the common room. It was a fairly spacious room, filled with couches covered in fuzzy blankets. There was a fireplace, in which a fire burned brightly, and several tables covered in weird wizard games. The Prefect boy showed us the round doors to the boys' and girls' dorms. I found my bed, which had my trunk stowed underneath, and promptly fell asleep on its warm softness.
I woke up the next morning to Lila dropping items on my face. Wait, was that a hairbrush? Groaning, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Lila's face was that of extreme joy, and she poked me until I was fully alert.
"What?" I moaned, trying to lie back down, but Lila punched me efficiently in the gut.
"Get up already!" She commanded, and I swung my legs to the side of the bed and stood up. "It's the first day of classes! Come down to breakfast! Mum says that the pancakes at Hogwarts are brilliant!"
I hijacked her brush to comb out my still purple hair, and then changed into a fresh robe. Lila tossed a bit of striped yellow and black fabric at me and I caught it. It was a tie. "What's this?" I asked her.
"Put it on," She told me. "We got them last night when you were asleep." I wrapped the tie around my neck and murmured to myself that yellow really didn't go with purple. After I had dressed, Lila practically dragged me to the Great Hall for breakfast.
The pancakes were EPIC. And so were the waffles, toast, scrambled eggs, and everything else I could stuff into my tiny little stomach. My housemates raised their eyebrows and I decided to slow down just a bit. By the time I had finished eating, all I could say was, "Galloping gargoyles, that may have been the best breakfast I've ever had."
"Galloping Gargoyles" was a phrase I had picked up from Jean on the train. Yes, Jean was an, ahem, interesting person.
So after that, we got our schedules. I muttered to Lila, who would know these things. "I have Herbology after breakfast. What's that?"
She smiled. "Me too. It's like, the study of magical plants, which are way more interesting than normal plants. I think you'd like it." I wasn't so sure, but we grabbed Emma and Emmick who, it turned out, also had Herbology. I guess the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were doubling on this one. We started down the big hill outside the main building. There was a convenient path leading down to the greenhouses. It was sunny that day, which put me in a very good mood.
Finally, we made it to the greenhouses. I opened a door and was greeted by a blast of hot air. We headed in, and the teacher, a tall man covered in scars, showed us to our seats. I really hoped those scars hadn't come from plants.
He cleared his throat and the class fell silent. Then he spoke. "Hi. My name is Neville Longbottom, well actually, Professor Longbottom to you. I am your Herbology teacher." Suddenly, in the middle of his speech, someone raised their hand.
"Is it true you fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, the last battle of the Second Wizarding War?" Professor Longbottom smiled patiently.
"Yes, I did, but that's hardly the subject matter of this-"He was cut off by a Ravenclaw girl, who stood up and asked,
"Didn't you resist the Carrows when they were in charge? Didn't you destroy Voldemort's last Horcrux?" He nodded again, and when everyone started chatting excitedly, he buried his head in his hands, went over to a corner of the greenhouse, picked up a small tree, and whacked it against the edge of the desk. The class fell silent again.
"This," he announced, slightly peeved, "is a rare HerbaVeneni. See these thorns?" He gestured to some 3-inch long spikes sticking out of the trunk. "One puncture on these thorns will kill you instantly. I trust that you will now pay attention to this," he gestured again to the Herba Venini, "And save your accounts of great battles and feats of heroics for History of Magic. Now, I need a volunteer."
I raised my hand tentatively, and sincerely hoped I wasn't volunteering to stab my finger on the Herba Venini. He called on me, and pulled out a plant which was covered in great big sacs. "Now, if you could just take this, and figure out how to make it purr. Don't worry, it's not deadly."
I found Emmick at her seat and mouthed, purr? To her, but she just shrugged. Carefully, I stroked one of the sacs and immediately, the plant let out a soft purring sound like a happy cat. Apparently, the plant wasn't the only happy one. Professor Longbottom practically jumped for joy. "Bloody brilliant, Miss Fitzgerald! Ten points to Hufflepuff!" I grinned and returned to my seat. Lila raised an eyebrow at me.
The rest of the class, I found to be excellent. Although the plant's weren't easy to memorize or take care of, I thought it was extremely fun.
Wow. That was long. RandR please!