The first day of classes was a blur. Merope woke up late and barely made it to the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat down with her roommates, who were poking fun at her sleeping in. There was barely room on the table to move around, it was beyond packed with food. Full English breakfasts, every kind of egg imaginable, pancakes, toasts and just about anything anyone could want to start the day with.
After they finished breakfast they walked to their first class, which was located in the greenhouses. Over breakfast, the older Ravenclaws were telling the newbies that Herbology was a good class, though can be difficult once the plants start becoming dangerous.
"Really though, how can plants be that dangerous? I mean my cats can't be near the foxgloves at home but theres nothing that harmful to humans. . . . . is there?" Lisa babbled nervously. Merope and the other girls from wizarding families elected not to tell her about their experiences with common garden plants that snap at your fingers when you would water them.
The girls shuffled into the Herbology green house, followed by the group of Ravenclaw boys that were sorted with them. They all sat on one side of the table, with the Hufflepuffs on the other side. Both houses talked amongst themselves until a stout woman came in to the room and introduced herself.
"Hullo you lot. I'm Professor Sprout, and I'll be teaching you Herbology while you are here at Hogwarts. I trust that you will find my class to be quite enjoyable as long as you listen to directions and keep your fingers away from the Fanged Geranium" Merope giggled as she saw Lisa's face pale out of the corner of her eye.
"Today is going to be a little test to see how much you know already. I've set out some different plants in the middle of the table and want to see how many you can identify, now you muggle borns don't have to worry: there's some ones that you may already know from your gardens at home. What you may think were just ordinary plants may be quite extraordinary! The witch or wizard to identify the most plants will get 20 points for their house, now get to it!"
After Herbology, the girls had a little break before their next class, in which they spent time in the common room writing letters to their family about school so far. Merope added on to her letter from the night before about her first Herbology class and how she had won the house points for identifying the most plants. Leora excelled at Herbology when she was in Hogwarts and she knew it would make her proud. The girls went up to the Owelry to find their owls or borrow one to send their mail. Padma helped Lisa secure an owl to send her letter.
"My mum is going to have quite a fright to see this fly through her window," she noted, making Padma laugh.
"I can't be as bad as the one time our owl landed in my sister's hair. She screamed for a good 5 minutes before we could get him out," The girls giggled, except Felicity who was too preoccupied with trying to not step on owl dung.
"How do they keep it in this condition? Why don't they bring some house elves to clean up this vile mess so that we don't step all over with it on our shoes," Isobel glanced at Merope with such an incredulous look that she had to stifle her laugh with a coughing fit. Felicity noticed and sent her a glare.
"Although I'm sure some of the students here must be used to living in filth," she said, sending another look the way of Merope, who felt her heart thud at those words.
Her house wasn't dirty. Leora would track some dirt in sometimes from the garden but they would clean it up later. How could she ever say something like that? Felicity hadn't even known her for 24 hours. Merope let her hair fall in her face as she tried to cover her embarrassment and anger. She chose an owl and let it carry her letter away, and then grabbed her bag and muttered a quick goodbye as she left the owlery.
She ran down the stairs and started making her way to her next class, walking alone through the halls. Occasionally, she would see a group of older kids moving around and talking but for the most part she was alone. Merope watched the paintings move and go about their daily lives, some even said hello to her and she'd give them a little wave back.
"What are you waving at?" A voice came from behind her. She turned around to see Draco and two other Slytherins coming towards her.
"The- uh- the portrait," she stammered, not knowing if she should be talking to him.
"They don't want anything to do with you," he sneered, stopping in front of her with the two hulking boys blocking her path. She didn't know what to say.
"Crabbe, give me her bag," Draco said with his grey eyes gleeming. One of the boys pulled Merope's bag from her shoulder and threw it to hi before she could protest.
He shook all of her books and papers out on to the floor and threw her bag down the hall, then looked back up at her and grinned like a wolf.
"Lets go, there are better things to do around here," he said to his friends, ipushing her as he walked past. The boys laughed down the hall as Merope stood there, too stunned to pick anything up.
Her friends had found her in the hall picking up her books a few minutes later and asked what had happened. With her pride hurt and not wanting anything to arise from this confrontation, she told them that she had tripped and asked to move on to class.
Transfiguration was with professor McGonagall, the woman who had brought them in for the sorting ceremony. She was a stern woman who expected her students to follow every rule to perfection. They spent the period trying to turn matches in to needles, with some students more successful that others. Merope was not in the mindset for class and almost started a fire in the process or transfiguring. A Hufflepuff boy actually did start a fire and got quite a sour look from McGonagall. Merope was glad when class was over and it was dinner time.
Her and her Ravenclaw classmates made their way to the Great Hall, where many of the other houses and years were already eating. Out of the crowd of red and gold Merope spotted Carla and Seamus and walked over to where they were sitting.
"Merope!" Carla exclaimed. "How are you! I didn't get to speak to you last night after we got sorted,"
"I'm fine, getting used to my house mates. You?"
"I'm great! Me and Seamus have been having a great time! I wish you were in Gryffindor with us,"
"Come eat with us," Seamus said, motioning to her with a drumstick in hand. Merope smiled and sat down across from them and was just about to tuck in when she felt someone's presence behind her.
"Excuse me, but the Ravenclaw table is that way," a tall boy with red hair and a prefect badge said.
"Yes, I know, but I wanted to eat with my friends," she managed to say, pointing to Carla and Seamus.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to eat with your own house," he said firmly, motioning for her to get up. She looked over at her friends for help, but they were not about to question a prefect. Embarrassed, Merope got up and walked over to her own table and sat next to Padma.
"What are you doing back here? I thought you were going to eat with your Gryffindor friends?" she asked. Merope's face grew red.
"I'm supposed to eat with my own house according to the prefect," she mumbled, placing a piece of bread on her plate to pick at.
"Well thats just ridiculous, you should be able to eat with whomever," Padma bristled.
"Well, I can't," Merope looked over to her friends at Gryffindor who seemed to have already forgotten about the ordeal and were laughing away.
Hi readers! I hope you're liking the story so far and would love some feedback! It keeps me writing with confidence that I'm not the only one reading this (: