The next morning there was a feeling of excitement in the air, like Christmas time everyone was up and about long before needed. Kariana, being the only muggle-born who hadn't previously realized she was a witch was the most excited. She was practically jumping as she waited for the classes to start. Unlike the others she had seen very few spells and couldn't wait to try them herself. She and her friends raced down to breakfast at record speed and sat down at the long Gryffindor table. The table groaned as it bore the weight of the feast set out before them. Pancakes, waffles, toast, bacon, sausages, and foods she had no name for were spread out.

But Kari was too nervous to eat. What if she couldn't do magic? What if she was the worst in the class? What if the Sorting Hat made a mistake? What if…

Suddenly she spotted a plate of chocolate chip waffles, the ultimate comfort food. Grinning she piled her plate high and began to eat, worries driven out of her head at once. The four girls ate happily chatting together about the classes they would have and studying the schedules that were being handed to them by Professor McGonagall.

"Charms, Care of Magical Creatures (A/N In my little world they had C of MC available to first years until Prof. Kettleburn had the unfortunate accident in which he lost some of his limbs), Potions!" exclaimed Kariana in wonder "we don't have anything like this in the muggle world".

"I know" agreed Lily I can't believe it"

When the bell rang the four girls jumped up and ran to their first class of the day, Transfiguration. When the girls reached the class room only one other student was there, Remus Lupin Kariana noted, he was the only one who seemed to be more eager to start the lesson then herself. Looking around the room she saw many interesting and no doubt magical objects but no Professor McGonagall. In fact the only living thing in the room excluding the students was a tabby cat sitting on the professor's desk.

After all of the students had arrived there was still no sign of the Professor until the cat suddenly jumped of the desk, turning into professor McGonagall mid-air. Kariana yelped in surprise, her face growing hot as everyone turned to stare. "This" Professor McGonagall said ignoring the interruption "is Transfiguration. It is among the hardest forms of magic you will attempt in your years at Hogwarts. Fooling around will get you a one way ticket out of this classroom! Understand?" She proceeded after a mumbled agreement from the class. "The transformation I just demonstrated is a very complex form that I doubt you will ever achieve. However if you apply yourself it will be possible. Today we will start by turning matches to needles.".

With a wave of her wand a match appeared on everyone's desk. "Why are we bothering with this?" a black-haired boy Kariana recognized as Sirius Black smirked lazily. "It's not like we're ever going to need this spell when we can repair clothes with magic." Kariana swung around angrily, flabbergasted that anyone could be so insolent. Didn't he know that not everyone knew the basics of magic? Didn't he realize that this was to help them practice not something they really needed to do? "Because" she answered angrily unknowingly cutting off what McGonagall was saying "It's to help with Fredwern's First Law of Transmuting, turning an object into a different object of similar dimensions, we aren't actually going to need to use this. It's to familiarize us with the theory!"

Kariana turned around and blushed yet again as she realized that again she had caught everyone's attention. "What?" she asked embarrassed, "Well you're a muggle-born aren't you? How did ya know that, I doubt any of the pure-bloods could have answered that" asked a wide-eyed girl.

"I read the text book"

"Was I- Am I the only one to have read the textbook?" Kariana asked as she walked with her new-found friend Lily to their next class. "Well I skimmed them, but there is no way I could have known that, even McGonagall seemed really surprised. No one else seemed to even know what you were talking about."

"Great I'm going to be the class know it all again"

Kariana POV

My prediction came true; soon I was regarded as a Know-it-all and an outright nerd. It didn't help that some of the first year boys (and girls as well) and even some of the upperclassmen would spring a question on me and walk away in amazement when I infallibly got the answer right. A few times to my embarrassment my lengthy explanations were written down behind my back and uses as essays.

It's not my fault that I had a photographic memory; anything I saw written down was permanently etched in my mind. Unfortunately almost anything I heard was forgotten almost immediately unless I wrote it down or took notes.

I did have one advantage though; being smart meant I had quite a wide range of jinxes and hexes at my disposal.

Being smart didn't necessarily mean I was automatically good at everything. Potions was easily my best subject. Severus, Lily and I often competed for top of the class. Transfiguration and Defense were harder to me but I could usually maintain an O, due to the fact I had nothing better to do then perfect my spells.

I don't know why, but this was a really hard chapter to write, no interesting drama I guess. I kinda ramble on don't I, Oh well. Anyway I hated the ending. Advice on how to fix it is very much appreciated. As always REVIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW! Isn't flabbergasted a wondrous word?