Disclaimer: Nope still own nothing.
Morning came fast. I woke to sunlight creeping around the curtains of my four-poster. I ripped them open. I was the only one left in the dormitory. They must have already left for breakfast. I pulled on clean robes before heading down to the common room.
It was virtually empty except for some 5th years frantically trying to finish summer assignments. I just started making my way over to them when…
"Hey Amira! You're still here! We only have a half hour until breakfast! And Neville only just woke me up!" Rigel sounded frantic and with good reason. We had to be in the Great Hall to get our schedules and the food was honestly too amazing to miss. I doubt we could even find the great hall in 30 minutes.
I ran back upstairs and grabbed my backpack, now holding my textbooks, before throwing the portrait door open.
"That's right just throw me around. Honestly, no respect these days," the Fat Lady muttered.
"It won't happen again," Rigel replied as he caught the swinging portrait and closed it gently.
"Oh look Violet! I finally have a gentleman in my house." The Fat Lady said to one of the neighboring portrait. The girl in the portrait batted her eyelashes. Rigel's face went a bright red.
I really couldn't waste the opportunity. It was too perfect. "Well, little gentleman, if we're going to eat something, we have to get going."
The color deepened. But instead of turning to follow me, Rigel continued talking to the admiring portraits. "Do either of you know how to get to the Great Hall from here?"
"It's just down those stairs sweet heart. It's impossible to miss." Rigel's face was doing a brilliant imitation of a tomato.
We took the stairs two at a time. After running for ages, I came to the conclusion that we some how missed it. The conclusion was furthered by the fact that I was now staring at a blank stonewall.
"We're lost." Rigel panted.
"Thank you Captain Obvious." I checked my watch. We had 20 minutes. There wasn't a soul in sight, either living or dead. The corridor was lined with windows and doors; so there were no more portraits to ask for direction. Though I'm not sure I would follow what they did tell us because it worked so well the last time.
We wondered down corridors, hoping to find someone, anyone. Never mind maybe not anyone.
"Oooooh Ickle Firsties wandering round dark scary hallways." The poltergeist teased.
"Peeves, can you tell us how to get to the Great Hall?" Trust my brother to ask for directions. Peeves would probably send us off in the wrong direction anyways.
"Maybe I can. Maybe I can't. Why do you want to know?"
"We just want to-"
"Annoy Filch." I cut in. It was the only reason I could think of that Peeves might actually listen to.
He appeared to think about it but his eyes sparkled with mischief. "Follow me!"
Peeves whizzed down the corridor. Rigel and I began to run again, chasing after the possibly dangerous ghost. To my surprise, we actually ended up at the Great Hall.
"Thank you," Rigel and I said.
"Now what are you going to do?" Peeves leaned against the doorway.
"I have a plan." Rigel lied.
Peeves seemed to get more excited.
"Just let us eat something first."
Before Peeves could answer, we made a mad dash for Gryffindor table. We were actually able to eat some eggs and sausage before all the food disappeared again. Professor McGonagall handed out our schedules. We had History of Magic, Charms and Herbology. Peeves started making rude gestures at us and I doubt we would be able to leave without pranking Filch.
Fine, if that was the way he was going to play it. I drew out my wand and pointed it at Filch. With a flick, Filch stood there in a pink fluffy bunny suit. I glanced at Peeves. He was giving me gleeful smiles.
"Come on," I said. Rigel was staring at my handiwork.
"That was awesome."
"I'm so glad you approve. But we better hurry up, we wouldn't want to miss History of Magic."
I almost wish we had. History of Magic has to be the most boring class ever invented. The teacher, Professor Binns was a ghost who droned on and on. There was only one good thing about it. We had it with the Hufflepuffs. Harry, Ron and Rigel sat in the seats in front of us. They all appeared to be asleep. Eloise and I tried to take notes. After about five minutes, it was apparent that it was a lost cause. The rest of the class was more enjoyable. Passing notes, I learned a lot about Eloise. She was an only child, a muggle-born, her parents were divorced and she lived with her dad. Eloise loved the old fairytales and would question me about what actually existed. It lasted until the end of class.
"So there really are unicorns?"
"Yeah, I think there might be some in the forest."
"What do you have next?"
I pulled out my schedule. "Double Charms"
"Oh, I have Transfiguration."
"I'll see you later then."
"Yeah, see you."
I sped up to catch up to Rigel, Harry and Ron.
_. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. _
The rest of the week was uneventful. Charms was taught by Professor Flitwick, who was absolutely tiny. I rather liked Herbology. Professor Sprout told us all about magical plants, fungi and their uses. The kajid plant would be handy. It was supposed to cause extreme boils. Professor McGonagall gave us a lecture before we did anything else.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
She turned her desk into a pig and back again. I was so excited to get started. Think of all the trouble we could cause by changing the beds into rampaging animals. And then, we took a bunch of complicated notes. I'm not very good at transfiguration. By the end of the lesson, my match was charred and blackened.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was a big joke. The classroom was dimly lit and smelt strongly of garlic. It was supposed to ward off a vampire from Romania, though I'm not sure why anything would want to attack Professor Quirrell. He was small and fidgety. A strange smell came from his turban. It was almost like something had died in there. The turban was supposedly from some African prince as a thank you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. I really doubted it though, especially after Rigel asked how he fought it off. Quirrell had gone pink and started talking about the weather.
Peeves was more than willing to help us get to class. It seemed that all you had to do to befriend the poltergeist was prank Filch in the middle of the Great Hall. I even convinced him to follow Malfoy around pelting him with pieces of chalk.
Between Fred, George, Lee and Peeves, Rigel and I knew are way around the school by Friday. We were able to make our way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.
"What have we got today?" Harry asked as he poured sugar over his porridge.
"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them-we'll be able to see if it's true."
"I think he just hates them less. They're the lesser of four evils in his mind." Rigel said
I spread marmalade on my toast. Whatever the reason, I still think I'd rather not have to deal with a biased teacher.
"That could be. Still Wish McGonagall favored us though." Harry said.
Despite being the head of Gryffindor, she still gave us a horrendous amount of homework the day before.
"Mails here." I said glancing up at the swarm of owls flying into the Great Hall. I scanned the pack for a large gray one. I didn't see it but I did see a beautiful snowy white owl soar down and landed in front of Harry. He looked genuinely surprised to see she had a letter. He tore it open at once.
I was able to read over Harry's shoulder. The letter was written in very untidy scrawl:
Dear Harry,
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us at answer back with Hedwig.
-Hagrid
"Do any of you have a quill?" Harry asked.
I handed him mine. He scribbled 'Yes, please, see you later.'
"Can we come?" I asked. Rigel sent me a look saying quite plainly stop being so rude but he looked just as eager to meet Hagrid as I was.
"I don't see why not."
I hate potions, absolutely hate potions. Well, maybe I don't hate potions. They can be rather useful at times. But I hate Professor Snape and the feeling is mutual.
Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Professor Snape began with roll call. He paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new-celebrity."
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands until I sent them a glare. Snape continued on with the roll call. He paused again when he reached my name.
"Amira Tonks," he sneered. His cold black eyes locked on mine. They glimmered with something. It almost looked like vengeance. I made a mental note to ask Nymphy what she did to get on the potion master's bad side.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. Snape spoke in barely more than a whisper, but we caught every word. No one wanted to give Snape an excuse of detention. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that crept through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death-if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
It was almost a good speech until the dunderheads bit. That was just insulting.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Mum's a healer for St. Mungos. Of course I knew what the Draught of Living Death was. She hated giving it to patients but it would put them into a long enough sleep to heal. I raised my hand. Maybe Snape would treat me decently if I wasn't one of his usual 'dunderheads.'
"I don't know, sir," said Harry.
"Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
"Tut, tut – fame clearly isn't everything.
Snape ignored Hermione's, Rigel's and my hands.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Easy, stomach of a goat. Bezoars were cool too. They were the antidote to basically every poison. I might need one after what I attended to do. I pulled out a sheet of parchment. I wrote "STOMACH OF A GOAT" on it in large letters. I passed it to Rigel, who gave it to Ron, who tried to angle it so Harry could see it but it was out of Snape's view. Ron failed.
"Well what's this?" said Snape grabbing the parchment.
Harry calmly (or as calming as you could with an angered potions professor in front of your desk) said, "My answer, sir."
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter? Going to rely on your classmates to do your work for you?"
"No, I-"
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
That's a trick question. They're the same plant. I think there's another name for it too. I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure it starts with an 'a'.
"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"
A few people laughed. Snape looked deadly. I wanted to run and find my bezoar before he could try anything.
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a person make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
Because you didn't tell us to.
"And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter and 20 from Miss Tonks for attempted cheating"
It didn't improve at all. I was paired with Rigel to make a simple potion to cure boils. Snape then swept around the room like an overgrown bat, watching us weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, commenting on our many apparent faults. It was rather unnerving. I was surprised an accident hadn't happened already.
I spoke too soon. Neville somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was seeping all over the floor. It burnt holes in people's shoes. I jumped on my stool trying to avoid the steaming potion. Poor Neville had angry red boils all over his body, where the potion had spilt.
"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking it off the fire?"
Neville whimpered. The boils on his nose burst spraying the room with pus. I blocked it with my copy of Magical Drafts and Potions.
"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on us.
"Potter, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? Not that you would be able to do anything without Tonks passing you instructions. That's another 5 points the two of you have lost for Gryffindor."
That was so unfair. I meant to lunge at Snape but Rigel restrained me. "Don't it'll only cause more trouble." As if to prove Rigel's point, Snape sent me a chilling glare. The rest of the hour dragged on slowly and painfully.
A.N: Hey everyone updates are going to be kind of sketchy for a while. My family is currently driving halfway across the country to Myrtle Beach for Dance Nationals. (We're stopped at a hotel in Asheville, NC.) This is good news and bad news. The good news is that I'll have ample time to write with the 20+ hour drive. The bad news is that I'm not sure when I'll have Internet access again. So just be warned.
Thanks as always to my lovely reviewers MissSadieKane and BookAddiction24. Honestly what would I do without you guys?
By the way, MissSadieKane has a really awesome story about Regulus. He gets sent back in time by his mother and is raised by the Grangers. It's called Finding Family. You should really go check it out.