Chapter Five

Bree awoke the next morning feeling very refreshed, she looked around and saw that she was the first one up. She pulled on her robes and ran a brush through her hair, then let it hang loose, she had become used to her ghostly reflection and was glad that no-one was awake to see it. She knew it wouldn't be like this everyday and eventually would have to come up with an excuse for the pale image in the mirror. With one last look at her sleeping room-mates she headed to the common room.

It was only seven o'clock so the common room was fairly quiet with small clusters of people gathered around the room. Bree spotted Justin and Ernie sat by the fireplace and joined them.

"I just want to get started!" Ernie said excitedly, he was almost bouncing in his seat. Justin didn't seem to share these feelings, he gave a weak smile then returned to looking apprehensive.

Faith and Robert the prefects from the previous night came up to the trio and sat with them, "So, how's everyone feeling?" Robert asked.

"A bit nervous." Justin admitted.

"Don't worry too much." Faith patted his arm, "As long as you stick together and help each other out it'll be fine." Faith spotted the rest of the first years and waved them over.

About five minutes into the tour Bree had decided she would never be able to find her way around on her own. The staircases moved and some were hidden behind walls, paintings and tapestries and had trick steps that vanished, one would even turned into a slide if users didn't hum Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture! There were doors that wouldn't open without a tickle or a compliment and some doors weren't even doors. Then there were the rude portraits shouted out the wrong directions, Bree struggled to remember which ones Robert had called trustworthy. They bumped into the Fat Friar and warned them against standing still for too long in the west corridor on the sixth floor because that opened a trapdoor that dropped students into a dark chamber for an hour before letting them go. The highlight of the tour was the trip to kitchens which was only a five minute walk away from the Hufflepuff Cellar. The location of the kitchen was a secret to the rest of the school but it was well known among the Hufflepuffs who passed on the knowledge every year. Faith fondly recalled the time when the Weasley Twins had proudly announced that they had discovered the location of "that most elusive place" to a group of bemused Hufflepuffs who struggled to keep a straight face.

It was time for breakfast and the Hufflepuffs went to the Great Hall. Bree poured herself some orange juice and grabbed some toast, Bree pulled a small pot of jam from her pocket. Her mother made it with a mixture of strawberries and rabbit blood she spread it on her jam then quickly put it back in her robes.

"What was that Bree?" Justin asked as he spread marmite on his toast.

"Oh, it's just…um, some special jam. It's strawberries and tomatoes and erm radishes."

"That sounds…interesting."

Luckily, Professor Sprout was giving out timetables so the conversation ended rather quickly. Today they had Potions with the Ravenclaws, Charms and Transfiguration by themselves. Professor Sprout smiled down at them and said she was looking forward to their first Herbology lesson together the next day. Justin was now studying his timetable with great interest and Ernie and Hannah were chatting about magical plants, Bree was glad to be able to eat her toast without any attention on her. She inhaled the sweet smell and took a bite letting the jam rest on her tongue for a second before chewing and swallowing. She felt a wave of euphoria wash over her.

"Wow Bree, I don't think I've ever seen someone enjoy toast that much!" Hannah giggled.

"It's from home," Justin interjected before Bree could speak, "some special family recipe that sounded quite…um, innovative."

"Is that a polite way of saying disgusting?" Hannah joked.

"Probably," Bree said, "Radish, tomato and strawberry isn't most people's cup of tea."

"Urgh!" Ernie pulled a face and returned to his bacon and eggs. Just then, hundreds of owls flew into the Great Hall screeching and hooting, circling tables looking for their owners. Bree looked over to Justin who had almost jumped out of his skin as the owls appeared. A rather plump barn owl landed on the table dropping a letter in front of Bree. She recognised to owl immediately, it was Pandora. Pandora actually belonged to their neighbours the Gamps, but she was used by Bree's mother quite a lot. The owl dipped her beak in Bree's orange juice and Hannah offered her some bread, she gave a happy hoot and flew away. Bree tore open the letter -

Bree,

I thought I'd send a quick letter before I go to work. I hope you're feeling better than you were before you got on the train. Send me quick letter when you've got the time, I want to hear all about your first day!

All my love,

Mum.

PS What House are you in? How could I forget to ask that!

Bree smiled and folded the letter into her robes, there was no time to write now, Hannah wanted to make sure they were at their first lesson early, especially since it was Potions. Faith and Robert hadn't exactly been complimentary towards the Professor during the tour that morning. At around quarter to nine the four of them left the Great Hall and headed towards the Potions classroom, they headed down a narrow stone staircase. It immediately struck Bree how very different this part of the dungeon was to the Hufflepuff part. It was stone and cold and dimly lit, there was an eerie quiet broken only by their echoing footsteps.

"This is sort of creepy." Hannah whispered.

"Do you think we're almost there?" Justin asked, "Every door looks the same."

"We must be close, this is where Faith and Robert took us this morning." Ernie pointed out, "I recognise that painting." He said nodding towards the image of a rotting, pulsating mushroom. They turned a corner and found a group of other first years stood in line next to a door. "This must be it." Ernie concluded.

"Potions?" Bree asked the other students who nodded. The four of them took a place in this line and waited. They were soon joined by the other Hufflepuffs.

The classroom door opened, a man stepped out, "Enter." He said coldly. The class shuffled in and took seats around cauldrons. The man was Professor Snape, he had awful greasy hair, a hooked nose and he was looking at the class as though they were stupid. He began to speak. Bree got the feeling he had memorised this speech and gave it every year to scare the pupils. He fired off a round of questions mostly to the Ravenclaws. Afterwards they began to make a boil cure potion, Bree and Hannah worked together.

"Is it supposed to be blue?" Bree hissed as Snape stalked around the cauldrons making disparaging comments at everyone's efforts.

Hannah consulted the textbook, "It should be purple by now. Did we put the slugs in yet?"

"Obviously not, Miss Abbott." Snape mocked, adding two drops of clear liquid into potion. "Try again."

"That was the worst hour of my life!" Hannah admitted when the bell rang and they rushed towards Charms.

"The worst hour of your life so far." Bree pointed out, "We have seven more years of that!"

"It was awful." Hannah shuddered. The rest of the day was considerably better, Charms was fun and Transfiguration was challenging but enjoyable enough. One thing that was obvious after one day of Hogwarts was that the other Houses seemed to treat Hufflepuffs as though they were useless and were made up of the leftovers who weren't good enough to fit in anywhere else. It was the attitudes of the Slytherins that made this most often, they would role their eyes and snicker whenever the Hufflepuffs walked past them in the corridors.

That night Bree, Hannah, Ernie and Justin were relaxing in the common room. Justin and Ernie were playing Exploding Snap and Hannah was reading her potions textbook, she wanted to be prepared for the next lesson. Bree was writing a reply to her Mother's letter. She looked towards the clock, it was six o'clock. In half an hour she had to go see Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing to get her daily blood supplement.

Bree cleared her throat, "Um, I'm going to go to the Owlery and send this letter." It wasn't exactly a lie, she would be going to the Owlery as well.

"Okay, make sure you don't get lost!" Justin grinned, Bree waved and left. The Owlery was right at the top of a tower so Bree decided it would make more sense to go to the Hospital Wing first.

"You're early." Madam Pomfrey said, "Oh well, over here." She lead Bree behind a curtain, sitting on a table was a glass of thick red blood. She felt weak with joy just looking at it. She grabbed the glass and drank it all in one go, Bree felt it rush through her body and felt euphoric.

"Mmm…It's still warm."

"Well the rabbit was only killed five minutes ago. Vampires prefer the freshest blood. Same time tomorrow dear." Madam Pomfrey reminded her as she left. Bree started to walk towards the Owlery, she couldn't exactly remember the way but she was sure that if she kept going upstairs she was bound to come across it. She heard someone call her, Bree spun around. It was Harry.

"Hi Bree." He smiled. "Where are you off to."

"I'm looking for the Owlery, if I don't send my Mum a letter she'll worry."

"I could walk there with you."

Bree nodded and they set off together, "So, how was your first day." Harry asked.

"Not so bad. Have you had Potions yet?"

"No."

"Lucky you!"

"Why is it really bad? I got the feeling the Professor doesn't like me at the Welcoming Feast."

"Snape? Oh it's all rainbows and unicorns down in the Happy Fun Time Dungeon." Bree joked, "Oh, Harry it's awful! I don't think he likes anyone."

"Oh, well I'm glad I've got that to look forward to." Harry said miserably. "I think we have Defence Against the Dark Arts together tomorrow."

"That is something to look forward to."

"Well, this the Owlery." Harry gestured to a door, "Will you be able to find your way back?"

"I think so."

"Goodnight then, I'll see you tomorrow Bree."

"Bye Harry." Bree went into the Owlery, it was a cold room with many owls flying out to begin their night hunt. A tawny owl flew towards her and Bree gave him the letter. He swooped out the window, Bree stood and watched him until he disappeared from view.


AN - Sorry to everyone for the long wait, I've been quite busy with exams and stuff. Hopefully this was worth the wait, let me know!