Chapter 7 First Day Blues

Damian slept well that night, dreams of dragons and trolls keeping his mind thoroughly entertained. However, early the next morning he was rudely interrupted from his deep sleep by a sharp pain in his stomach.

Damian slowly opened his eyes to reveal Edwin Renick standing at the top his bed prodding him with his wand.

"Up you get now, there's a good fellow."

Rubbing his eyes in disbelief Damian looked around the dormitory to see the other three boys in a similar state of confusion to himself.

"C'mon chaps we can't be late on the first day," said Edwin clearly not put off by their lack of enthusiasm.

"Dude its six o'clock," said an appalled Chris Fairbanks.

"Yeah what the hell, lessons don't start till nine," said Hugo who had already turned back over and placed his pillow over his head.

"You've got to get showered, dressed, down for breakfast and then find the room for our first lesson. C'mon you don't want to give Gryffindor a bad name by being late on our first day," said Edwin.

Reluctantly, and muttering darkly to each other Damian and Hugo got out of bed, soon followed by Chris and Blaine.

As Damian had suspected, the early morning wakeup call had not been necessary. Two hours later and after a lot of time wasting he was sat in a classroom with Lily and Hugo still waiting for the first lesson of the day to start.

"I can't believe him, we could have had at least an extra hour in bed," said Hugo not bothering to lower his voice much.

"For the last time can you please shut up about your lack of sleep," hissed Lily, who whilst finding the story initially hilarious had rapidly become bored with Hugo's complaints.

"I'm just saying I'm never going to get that hour back," said Hugo looking to Damian for support.

"So what are the rest of the girls like," asked Damian, lowering his voice to a whisper and ignoring Hugo.

"Well I'm not judgemental but nice, quiet, bitch, bitch," she whispered back indicating the four girls sat together at the front of the class. "We didn't really get much of a chance to chat but for some reason I don't think Tanya and Annabel like me very much.

"Maybe they were offended when you told them that you didn't like them," said Hugo innocently.

Lily didn't get a chance to respond to Hugo's comment as their gossiping was interrupted when the doors to the classroom swung open to reveal Professor Sterling.

"Good morning class," said the professor striding to the front of the class room. "As you will no doubt recall from last night's feast my name is Professor Sterling and I will be instructing you in the art of Defence against the Dark Arts. I have spent my life travelling the world researching and practising Defence against the Dark Arts, it will now be your privilege to reap the benefits of this. I am unsure how long I will decide to remain in this job but I suspect I will prove to be one of the better teachers you will ever have. I suggest you make the most of your time with me. Pay attention and study hard."

Sterling's confident speech contrasted sharply with his appearance. His pudding bowl hair cut and horn-rimmed glasses gave him a very geeky look that didn't quite fit with how Damian had imagined a defence professor would look like.

"Not exactly short on confidence is he," muttered Hugo.

That was definitely true but Damian didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing. Learning how to protect yourself from getting killed by evil wizards seemed a fairly useful skill set to have. So being taught by someone who knew what they were doing was probably no bad thing even if they did seem to have a touch of arrogance about them.

Professor Sterling spent the rest of the lesson making them aware exactly how important it was to learn defence against the Dark Arts. The lesson was certainly interesting and Sterling was definitely an enthusiastic teacher although Damian was alarmed by quite how many threats a wizard could possibly encounter in his life.

The Gryffindors finished the lesson in high spirits and there was an air of positivity around the group as they made their way over to their transfiguration lesson with Professor Garrow on the over side of the school. As they walked into a new corridor Damian spotted Fred and James who appeared to be getting told off for some misdeed or other.

"Oh god what have they done now," said Lily.

"Wow detention on the first day, I think they may have broken their own record," said Hugo grinning.

"Who's that shouting at them," asked Damian.

"I think it's the caretaker Ackart. Only member of staff with his personal house elf," said Hugo.

As they got closer to them Damian could indeed make out what looked like a tiny green monster standing next to the old man. Ackart having finished his rant turned his back on Fred and James, who promptly disappeared, and headed over towards Damian, Lily and Hugo.

As the caretaker approached the group Damian looked curiously at him, there was something so familiar about Ackart's appearance. Damian strained for a moment struggling to place where he'd seen him before. He was about to forget about it when just as Ackart walked passes him, he saw the caretakers eyes. Those stone cold eyes that had haunted him all summer, Damian would have recognised them anywhere. He froze in horror. He knew that face, he knew that body. He'd seen it lain out cold in a puddle of blood on a stony floor. Damian turned to stare after him but found he couldn't move, his body rigid with shock.

"Hey Damian, what you waiting for? Come on," said Hugo.

"Sorry, just though I saw something," mumbled Damian struggling to regain his composure.

He just had to block it for the moment. Get through the next lesson then figure out what the hell had just happened to him. Damian stayed silent as Hugo and Lily discussed Filch and his house elf.

"I'm telling you that house elf gives me the creeps," said Hugo.

"I thought it looked cute," said Lily.

"Cute! Cute! Didn't you see its eyes? That thing looked like it wanted to murder us," said Hugo who looked like he wouldn't have minded returning the favour to the house elf.

Damian concentrated all he could on not fainting, reminding him very much how he'd felt the previous night approaching the Sorting Hat.

Walking into the classroom Damian quickly realised that today was not going to be his day for already in the classroom was John Costello and the rest of the Slytherins.

"Well come on in you four," said Costello with a false smile placed on his lips.

"There are only three of us," said Hugo coldly. He had clearly meant it when he had said he already disliked Costello.

"Oh but I felt it necessary to count Dursley twice," said Costello smugly "I mean I assume you'll be needing at least two chairs to fit that fat arse of yours on to."

The rest of the Slytherins hooted with laughter.

"You little shit," said Lily marching straight towards Costello who was not only a foot taller than Lily but holding his wand rather menacingly.

"Leave it Lily, you don't want to get in trouble on the first day," said Damian.

Lily looked like this wasn't a major concern for her but reluctantly sat down at Damian's words.

"Good decision, I'd hate to have messed up that pretty little face," said Costello.

Damian breathed in a sigh of relief the last thing he needed now was problems with Costello, there was too much going on in his mind. Why was the dead man from his vision with him at Hogwarts. It couldn't possibly have been real, could it? Did this mean he'd actually glimpsed something that was going to happen to him? Was he really going to walk shaking down a dark corridor to find the schools dead caretaker? Should he warn the caretaker, protect him. Maybe he could change his future.

"DURSLEY pay attention ."

Damian awoke from his thoughts to realise he'd somehow missed Professor Garrow coming into the room.

Unaware how Garrow even knew his name Damian mumbled a hasty apology. Garrow started to speak about transfiguration, how it was the most difficult subject and how they could only hope to master it by showing it the utmost respect. But Damian couldn't concentrate. Nothing he could do could get that image of Ackart's dead body out of his head.

"DURSLEY are you even listening to a word I say."

Damian looked up, aware that again he had got lost in his own thoughts and concerns

"Well Dursley what do you have to say," said Garrow staring down at Damian like he was a fly he wanted to swat away.

Damian struggled to think of an excuse, he suspected that just having seen a man who you know is going to die in the future was probably not going to count.

"Oh I wouldn't be offended sir, I've experience with Dursley. His last teacher thought his problems were due to a medical condition," said Costello again causing laughter from all the Slytherins in the room.

"Enough of this," snarled Garrow "Dursley, if I catch you not paying attention again you will have a detention and lose twenty house points for your pleasure."

Damian gulped, this really wasn't a very good day. He tried to stop thinking about Ackart and concentrate on the lesson, he was after all finally being taught some magic. Not that Damian was being particularly successful. He had so far only managed to make the feather they were supposed to be levitating gently twitch where as Costello appeared to be able to make his dance around the room with his eyes closed. Damian was relieved when the bell finally went to signal the end of class.

Once out of the lesson Damian realised he still had the rest of the day to go before he could get some peace and quiet to think about what on earth he was going to do. He stayed silent the rest of the day and did his best to concentrate on the rest of his lessons but he feared his performance with his wand was just as poor as earlier. He'd already almost injured Professor Flitwick and snapped Professor Longbottom's favourite plant. Eventually Damian was finished and for once skipping a meal he headed straight up to the dormitory.

Unfortunately once stretchered out on his bed Damian quickly realised there was no quick fix to his problem. If he accepted his vision had been real at some point in the future he was going to see Ackart die. The alternative was that he'd just gone mad. Damian suspected that if he told people back home that he was at a school for wizards and seeing visions of the future then they'd probably be inclined to believe the second option. Before he could contemplate his dilemma anymore Lily burst into the Dormitory soon followed by Hugo.

"Damian what's been the matter with you today. Something's clearly bothering you. I know we've not known you that long but we're your friends now so you need to tell us what's up," said Lily.

"Umm," mumbled Damian looking from one to the other.

"Look mate come on we can help you out," said Hugo.

Well he definitely wasn't getting anywhere by himself and the idea of sharing his problem did seem very comforting. "Ok, but this might sound slightly crazy," said Damian.

Lily and Hugo both listened attentively to him as he told them in detail what had happened in Diagon Alley and then his shock at seeing Ackart earlier in the day.

"Wow," said Hugo once Damian had finished.

"I knew it, Dad told me something wasn't right with you after Diagon Alley," said Lily.

"Harry knew," said Damian, surprised.

"Well I'm sure he never suspected anything like this but he knew something had freaked you. Me and Mum thought it was just shock at seeing all the magic or meeting Fred and George. Auror senses I guess," said Lilly shrugging,

"So what are you going to do then," asked Hugo.

"Well that's kind of the problem. I don't have a clue," said Damian honestly.

"I guess you've got to decide whether to tell Ackart or not," said Lily.

"Nah he looked a bit crazy and he'd never believe a student. I bet he'd just think you were winding him up," said Hugo.

"Maybe he could go and see Trelawney. I mean this is her area of expertise," said Lily.

"I dunno," said Hugo looking doubtful "Mum and Dad are always saying she's just an old fraud."

"Who's Trelawney," asked Damian.

"She's the Divintion teacher. It's not something you can take till third year but Divinition's all about seeing visions and looking for signs that stuffs going to happen. It's all a bit vague really and Trelawney's a bit of a joke, but like I said this is her area," said Lily.

"So is seeing visions and stuff normal for a wizard then," asked Damian thinking that perhaps he was not as different as he had feared.

"Err not really," said Hugo "I mean you do get some like Trelawney but it's not exactly common."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," said Lily seeing his concern.

"Well apart from the whole Ackart dying in front you thing," said Hugo cheerfully.

"So wait- you actually believe me, you don't think I'm mental," said Damian.

"Oh no I think your mental but I thought that before I found all this out," said Lily grinning.

Damian had never been so happy to be called mental before.