Chapter 6 – Lessons Anew

Emma hadn't closed the curtains on her bed since she was now incapable of sleeping. Instead she moved quietly to one of the tall, thin windows between each bed and looked out over the grounds. Hogwarts was vast and Emma could see the mountains and the forest from her point in the tower. She wanted something to distract her from her thoughts, and wondered if searching the castle for secrets would help. She supposed it would, but remembered that wandering the castle after hours is forbidden.

It wouldn't do to get in trouble on her first night at school. That would set a bad precedent. Instead, Emma decided she would explore what little she could of the castle, the Gryffindor Tower. She quietly left the room, glad her bed was nearest the door, and sneaked down the spiral staircase. Emma supposed that every dormitory would look alike so she skipped the other rooms and went into the common room.

This room was much nicer than she remembered it being the first time. It was circular and filled with tables and comfy chairs. It was coloured just like the dormitories in the Gryffindor colours of red and gold. There was a big fireplace on one side that had all but burnt out, a few smouldering embers remained and on the opposite side were two doors leading to the boys and girls bathrooms. After having a good look around, Emma sat down in a chair near the fireplace and stared at the glowing coals.

What the Sorting Hat had said was sinking in and Emma had begun to resign herself to admitting that she was a vampire. She didn't know how it could be possible. She'd never been bitten, at least, not that she remembered. She had even checked her body for scars in the mirror while at the orphanage and hadn't found anything. She certainly found the smell and taste of blood irresistible. She'd never forget those memories so soon. She also never slept any more. That must be indicative of something.

Emma got up in a fit of irritation and started pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. She was starting to feel caged again, something that happened regularly at the orphanage whenever something was bothering her. After a minute or two, she stopped pacing and went straight to the portrait hole. She was going to explore whether she got in trouble or not. She could always make up an excuse if she got caught. Emma was careful not to wake the fat lady as she opened the portrait.

Emma thought it would be best to make sure she remembered the way back to the Great Hall. So she left the way she had come following Percy. That wasn't to say she didn't take a few detours along the way. On the way down from the seventh floor where the Gryffindor entrance was, she had discovered many rooms. A boys lavatory on the sixth floor, the library on the fourth floor and the out-of-bounds-unless-you-want-a-painful-death corridor on the third floor. She also found an out of order girls lavatory and a strange corridor that led to a Gargoyle on the second floor. It was half past six when she eventually made it to the grand staircase near the Great Hall, just as a couple of other students were making their way down to breakfast.

Emma went into the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table.

'You're very early, Miss Pearson.' said Professor McGonagall, who was carrying a small pile of parchment.

'Couldn't sleep, Professor.' replied Emma.

'Well, I do hope you are rested enough. Classes will be starting today. Here is your timetable.'

Emma took the parchment and said 'Thank you.'

On the timetable there was Herbology, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions and Astronomy. There definitely seemed to be a lot more to magic than just waving a wand around.

Emma found Astronomy very interesting. They studied the stars and planets, their names and their movements across the sky. She found it funny, in a way, that she seemed to be the only one awake enough to pay attention during those lessons. Even Hermione nodded off once or twice.

There was also Herbology three times a week with a small witch called Professor Sprout. The greenhouses were behind the castle and there they learnt about magical plants and fungi.

History of Magic was one of those incredibly boring lessons where the teacher droned on and on. This teacher was called Professor Binns and also happened to be a ghost. If Emma had any chance of sleeping ever again, it would be by sitting in this lesson.

They had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. She seemed to be the only teacher so far to control the class with little effort. She began the lesson by putting everyone in their place.

'Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magics you will learn at Hogwarts,' she said. 'Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.'

She then turned her desk into a pig. Emma couldn't help but like and respect Professor McGonagall. She also liked Professor Flitwick, who taught Charms. He was a very small wizard who had to stand on a pile of books so that he could see over his desk. He was quite a twitchy person too. When he was calling out the register at the beginning of the first lesson, he fell off his pile of books after reading out Harry Potter's name.

That was something else to get used to. Emma knew Harry Potter was famous. He was stared at and followed wherever he went, but Emma still didn't know why. She knew he was in some books, and knew that the scar on his forehead had something to do with it, but that was about all she knew. It wasn't her business so she never inquired.

Emma was sat at the Gryffindor table at breakfast on the Wednesday morning, the third day of classes. She had noticed the night before that her weight loss was getting much worse. She had been losing weight steadily over the summer, but now that she was at school, she was losing it far more rapidly. It didn't help that her stomach was in constant pain as it was so empty. She wanted to speak to Hagrid about it, but just like the first and second mornings, he wasn't at the teachers table. Emma selfishly thought he was avoiding her.

Harry and Ron had just come down when the post arrived. It was quite a shock on the first morning when hundreds upon hundreds of owls flew into the Great Hall carrying post, swooping around looking for people and dropping their post into their laps.

Emma jumped a little when a fifth-years post landed near her when an extremely beautiful snowy owl landed next to Harry that Emma hadn't seen before. A thought occurred to Emma while she offered the owl some ham.

'Harry?' asked Emma.

'Yeah?' he replied, still sleepy.

'Is this your owl?'

'Yep.' said Harry smiling. 'Her name is Hedwig.'

'If you don't mind, would she be able to send a letter for me?'

'Sure, go ahead. If she'll let you.'

'Thank you.' said Emma. 'You don't mind do you Hedwig?'

Hedwig gave Emma a little nip on the finger as if to say she didn't mind.

Emma wrote a letter quickly, making sure no-one could read it.

Dear Hagrid,

I need to speak to you. I'm withering away here. I know you know what's wrong with me. Please see me, as soon as possible.

Emma Pearson.

Emma rolled up the parchment, tied it up and gave it to Hedwig. 'Please send that to Hagrid.' she whispered so the others wouldn't hear. Hedwig hopped over to Harry and nipped his ear to say goodbye and then flew out of the Great Hall. Hagrid wasn't going to be able to pretend he didn't get that.

Emma continued exploring the castle as long as she thought she could get away with it. She left her dormitory at five o'clock every morning to explore, hopeful that if she got caught she could simply say she couldn't sleep and was headed to breakfast early. She had luckily still not been caught though. By now she knew most of the upper floors, but was still a little unwilling to explore the lower floors and dungeons for risk of getting caught.

The lessons were going well and happily she was getting a lot of homework. This meant that she could use her insomnia to great potential. Like Hermione, Emma enjoyed working. Hermione was far more intelligent of course, but they seemed to be on the same wavelength most of the time. While Hermione was a know-it-all, and showed that fact off at every opportunity by answering every question a teacher asked in class, Emma preferred to keep it hidden. She never did like drawing attention to herself.

Although Emma still couldn't really say she had made any friends, she was definitely closest to Hermione, and they sat next to each other during nearly every class. She was even a little friendly with Harry. She didn't know what to make of Ron though. He seemed to dislike Hermione and was sometimes a little rude and obnoxious and he never seemed to stop eating. He seemed pleasant enough to Emma though, most of the time.

Thursday morning Emma sneaked out early again to roam the castle. By now she knew exactly where all her lessons were and she'd discovered a number of secret passageways. Some were easy to find, and others, much less so. There was one with a vanishing step on it that you had to remember to skip, there were some doors that only opened if you spoke nicely, or tickled them. There were some walls that were pretending to be doors. There were also some stairs and doors that moved depending on the time of day. Emma thought the castle had a life of its own.

By ten passed six, Emma was just making her way into the Great Hall. She was the only student there. She decided to wait there in case Hagrid replied to her letter. As there was nothing else to do, she decided to finish off her Astronomy homework from the night before. The hall slowly filled with people, and before she had finished her work, Hermione arrived.

'Morning, Hermione.' said Emma.

'Morning.' replied Hermione, groggily. 'Why are you always here so early?'

'I try to get here before anyone else so I can get something to eat.' lied Emma.

'Really?' said Hermione, giving Emma a sideways glance. 'You don't look like you've eaten anything in days. Are you feeling alright?'

'Yeah, I'm alright.'

Emma tried to change the subject before Hermione could say anything else.

'So, how did you find the Herbology homework?'

Hermione looked suspicious at the subject change for a second, but quickly went into her typical fast talking mode. Emma already knew that Hermione could always be counted on to talk about work.

When the post arrived Emma was looking expectantly around for an owl that was going to drop her reply from Hagrid. Hermione who was eating breakfast and doing some homework looked curious, but didn't ask. Eventually an owl swooped down and landed right into Emma's empty plate with a letter for her from Hagrid. His writing was very untidy and Emma could barely read it.

Dear Emma,

You have Friday afternoons off. Come see me then if you still want to. Send a reply with this owl.

Hagrid.

Emma was happy to hear that Hagrid was willing to talk, but not so happy that it would have to be tomorrow afternoon. She didn't think she could cope that long. Either way, she quickly wrote on a piece of parchment, 'See you then.' and gave it back to the owl.

That day Emma had a subject that most people had been waiting for. Defence Against the Dark Arts. This year it was on the first floor as the third floor corridor was out of bounds. As Emma and Hermione were nearing the classroom, Emma was assaulted by an incredibly disgusting smell. It was one of those strange smells that seemed to seep right into her brain and give her a headache. It made it difficult for her to breathe, and she felt really dizzy, nearly falling over.

'What is that smell?' asked Emma, painfully, clutching her forehead with her hand.

'Garlic, I think.' sniffed Hermione, helping Emma balance herself.

She was right. The whole room was filled with the smell of garlic. It turned out that Professor Quirrel was very afraid of a Romanian vampire that he thought was coming to get him and the garlic was supposed to repel vampires. Emma thought to herself mockingly that if she didn't have to be here, she certainly wouldn't be. Her head felt like it was going to split in two, and even breathing through her mouth didn't help. She wasn't sure she could put up with an hour of this, let alone a year.

Not that Emma noticed, but the lesson itself wasn't much better. Professor Quirrel was afraid of everything, even his own shadow, so he never really taught them anything.

The rest of that day went very slowly for Emma. She handed in the homework she had been given, and received some more to work on. By the next morning she had finished all of her homework simply as a distraction to make the time pass faster. She was desperate to meet with Hagrid, especially as she could hardly stand up straight due to the pain in her stomach and now only double potions stood in her way.

Emma knew to expect bad things from Professor Snape but wasn't quite prepared for just how bad. The first lesson was spent with Snape dictating things, picking on Harry and deducting a point from Gryffindor when Harry answered back. They spent the next lesson making a potion to cure boils, which ended in catastrophe when Neville's potion exploded and just because Harry was nearby, Snape had deducted another point from Gryffindor.

Before the bell had rung for the end of lesson Emma was already packing her things as fast as she could without being noticed and when the bell finally rang, she ran out of the class at full pelt. It didn't take her long to get to Hagrid's. When she had finally gotten to Hagrid's hut, gasping for breath, she knocked on the door a few times.

There was the sound of quick scratching on the door and then Hagrid's voice. 'Fang! Get back!'

He opened the door slightly and he saw that it was Emma.

'Hang on a moment,' he said. 'Backoff Fang!'

Hagrid appeared properly now, his face as wild and hairy as ever, as he opened the door. He was holding the collar on a huge black boar-hound.

'Have a seat, make yerself at home.' he said as he closed the door, and let go of Fang, who promptly ran up to Emma, knocking her over into one of Hagrid's massive chairs and started licking her face.

'Calm down, Fang.' she said fussing him so that he stopped trying to lick her.

'Yer good with animals I see.' said Hagrid, beaming.

'He just wants some fuss, that's all.'

'Not just fang. I hear Hedwig took a shine to yeh too.'

'Well, Hedwig is really pretty!'

'Aye, that she is!' said Hagrid.

Emma was a little impatient to talk about her condition but Hagrid seemed to not want to.

'How was yeh first week then?' he asked kindly. 'Would you like a rock cake?'

Emma stared at Hagrid unbelieving.

'Hagrid!' she shouted, starting to cry, 'I'm a vampire! I can't eat!'

'Yeah... sorry.' he said, looking very awkward. 'I thought yer might be.'

'How did you know?'

'Thought yeh were, soon as I saw yeh.' he looked serious now. 'Was yeh teeth and eyes what gave it away. I couldn't be sure yeh were o'course, that's why I said nothin', see.'

'But what do I do? Look at me, I weigh half what I did last time you saw me.' she said, crying even more. 'What do I eat? I mean, I can't exactly go around biting people, can I?'

'Not unless yeh wanna be expelled, and most likely put down by the Ministry of Magic fer bein' a dangerous magical being.'

'Put down?' she asked, hysterically.

'The Ministry of Magic don't take kindly to half-breeds. You an' me, we're half-breeds see. I'm half giant, as I'm sure yeh guessed. And you're a vampire. So you attack anyone, they won' hesitate to execute yeh.'

'Great.' Emma sobbed. 'So what do I do? If I don't eat something soon, I'll die anyway.'

'Likely as not yeh thirst'll get yeh first. Would only take a cut finger and that'd be that. Yeh'd have no control.'

'That almost happened on the train.'

Emma couldn't help but remember that smell, how nice it was and now that it was in her head, she couldn't get it out. She could feel herself unconsciously shift in her chair, her eyes looking around and nose sniffing the air, but she wasn't doing it. She was losing control.

'Emma? Can you hear me?' asked Hagrid, leaning forward. He put his hands on either side of her head and held her still, forcing her to look at him. Thankfully this was enough to bring her to her senses.

'Sorry... I...' she whimpered.

'We better do somethin', soon, or this'll only get worse.' said Hagrid. 'I'll tell Dumbledore, he'll know what to do.'

Emma shook her head violently. 'No! I don't want to be expelled!'

'Don' worry. Dumbledore's a great man. He'll sort it out. You'll see.'

At that moment there was a knock at the door which made both Hagrid and Emma jump.

'That'll be Harry.' said Hagrid, smiling. 'Don' worry, leave it with me. It'll be alright.'

Emma, still distraught, with red eyes, got up and went to the door. Hagrid had to stop Fang trying to scratch the door down again. 'Hang on. Back, Fang!'

Hagrid opened the door to let Emma out. Like Hagrid said, it was Harry, but Ron was with him.

'Hi Harry, Hi Ron.' said Emma quietly without looking at either of them before she ran up to the castle.

Emma didn't stop until she got to her bed and closed the curtains, not even bothering to change. She was still crying now, but silently. She had so much to think about. The possibility that she may soon be expelled and worst of all, the knowledge that she may attack someone if they so much as cut their finger. How lucky was it that she hadn't followed and attacked Malfoy's goon after the incident on the train? And how can anyone consider Hagrid to be a lesser-person, simply because he's half giant.

It was after the others had gone to bed that she decided to start on some homework. She opened her trunk to pick out the Potions homework but was surprised to see a white, opaque, ceramic bottle that wasn't hers. She went to pick it up and saw there was a note attached. The writing was in a very clear and elegant script.

Dear Miss Pearson,

Open with no-one present.

See me in my office tomorrow morning. Tell the gargoyle on the second floor what sweet was on the table during the feast.

Professor Dumbledore.

Emma read the letter through a few times. Dumbledore wanted to see her. She thought, with sadness, that he must be going to expel her. The sweet name must be a password for the gargoyle. Why would he tell her if she wasn't being expelled? She couldn't remember what they were though. She'd have to ask Ron, he'd probably remember it since it was food.

As for the bottle, the letter said to open it when no-one was present. Emma supposed that counted the four others in the room, even if they were fast asleep. She took the bottle with her to the common room. There was nobody else there, they were all asleep in their dormitories.

Emma sat down and opened the bottle. For a split second she could tell there was a liquid inside. A deep-red liquid. A split second was all she had, because a moment later she could smell the liquid. It was just like before, in Hagrid's hut, only much worse. She had absolutely no control what so ever.

The liquid was cold and she shivered as it chilled her insides, but she drank the entire bottle in one go, not spilling a single drop. After she had finished and finally regained her self control some twenty minutes later, she shakily set the bottle on the desk and closed it. She was still shivering, not from the cold now but from the feeling in her body, like adrenaline only subtler. She was starting to feel more awake, stronger, and the pain in her stomach was fading quickly. She went to look in the mirror and her face had already gotten some colour back. Her eyes also seemed to be a slightly brighter green than usual. She now looked and felt much healthier and since she didn't want to think about the empty bottle of blood beside her, she went up to her room and swapped the bottle for her Potions homework. Even if she was going to be expelled, it was something to do to pass the time. She was still working as people were getting up to go to breakfast. She thought, even with all this extra time, it still didn't make the work any easier, not that it mattered now she was going to be leaving today.

Breakfast had finished and it was a warm Saturday morning so most people were lounging around in the common room, or out in the grounds. Emma, however, had just finished her Potions homework and now had the dreadful task of seeing the headmaster. She still hadn't remembered the sweet that was there for the feast. Harry and Ron were nearby, having just come up from breakfast, so she walked up to them.

'Do either of you remember the sweet that was at the feast on the first day?'

'Not sure.' said Ron looking bemused.

'Mint Humbugs, wasn't it?' said Harry.

'Yes, that was it, thank you.'

'Why do you ask?' asked Harry with curiosity.

Emma just shrugged and made her way to the portrait hole. She could have sworn she'd heard Ron call her mental. Once she was out of the portrait hole she made her way to the gargoyle on the second floor taking the longest route she knew, trailing her feet as she went, trying to delay the inevitable.