CHAPTER FIVE

The rest of Saturday passed rapidly; Sunday, too. And then finally they were entering the Great Hall before their first day of class.

"Oh, God. I'm so nervous. Touch my arm. See? It's shaking…"

"Katie, relax." Lucille coaxed her. "You're not the first – "

"– Or last – " Natalie interrupted.

"– Muggleborn to attend Hogwarts." Lucille finished.

The four other girls had been listening to their friend worrying about how she might do because she had not grown up near magic.

"Kate, my aunt Hermione is muggleborn. Greatest witch of her age." The three girls stopped to look at Albus, joining them.

A few feet behind, the rest of the guys chatted, and even more far were Nina and Hayden – both of whom had come down a bit later, because the first one had been playing around with her cat while the other tried to convince her to come down.

It was a rather nice morning, with the prospect of seven years ahead of them. They could think about everything and anything, without worrying one bit.

"Monica!" Hayden called to a girl remarkably like her – she had the same long brunette hair, pale skin and electric blue eyes as Hayden.

"Would be nice not to be interrupted." Nina muttered under her breath.

"Sorry." Her friend told her, lacing her arm with the other girl's, and quickening her pace.

"Hayd!" The new girl smiled, her eyes sparkling.

"Morning." Hayden answered, coming to a halt. "Nina, this is my twin sister Monica. Mo, this is my friend Nina Blotts."

"Hi." Monica said to her sister's friend.

"Hey." Nina smiled.

"You don't happen to have any idea about anything, right?" The brunette asked, clearly impatient for class and finally settling down.

"Sadly, nothing." Nina shook her head, feeling the same thing.

"My sister here is like, my opposite." Hayden smiled. "Much more proper."

"And prettier." Monica grinned.

"And modest, obviously." Her sister retorted

Nina laughed at their antics, "What about we actually get some breakfast and continue this conversation in class or, rather, later?" The twins nodded. "Nice meeting you, Monica."

"Same here."

"She seems nice." Nina commented once the three had parted ways.

"She is nice." Hayden smiled. "Like I said before, we are very much different, but we get along, well, I guess you could say flawlessly."

"Really?"

"Yeah." They both sat down and Hayden winked at her friend.

There was a clink in the front of the hall, and everyone fell silent. Headmistress McGonagall rose from her seat as people turned their heads towards her.

"Good morning, everyone. I hope you had a rather refreshing weekend, and are looking forward to starting your classes in a while. Especially you, first years." She took a moment to hold eye contact with several, most of who blinked or looked down, but Nina held her gaze, wondering once again why this woman seemed more familiar than normal. And then the Headmistress continued, "I want to ask you first years to stay in the Great Hall after breakfast, for the distribution of schedules. Bon appetite."

She sat down and the food appeared in the plates. As she served herself, Nina thought back to last Friday, on the welcoming speech.

"I have a feeling this will be a surprising year for some, and I expect quite a rush of activity someplace in the year." Headmistress McGonagall held her gaze with Nina for a second after this, and then she looked up. "I trust you will all be having a very good year, full of achievements and no problems." She punctuated these words with raised eyebrows, and turned her head to James and a redheaded boy in front of him, both of who were now smiling innocently at their headmistress. "Now, I believe you are all very tired, and it is getting a tad late. Prefects, please escort the first years to your common. Rest well."

Nina held the same doubts she had held that night: why had the headmistress looked at her when she talked about surprises and activity? Did she mean activity as in stress or simply that – activities? Why was she so familiar?


Nina stood in line in front of Professor Longbottom, chatting with Peter and Albus while they waited for their schedules. The others had already gone off to find their classrooms – not by will, but because they had been dismissed. These three were the last ones in line.

"Uncle Nev." Albus held his hand up for a high five.

The professor shook his head, chuckling. "Albus, please. We talked about this in the summer. Professor while we're here."

"All right." The boy sighed, dropping his arm.

"Let's see… Albus Potter, Peter Davies, and Nina Blotts." Longbottom distributed the only schedules left. "Al, meet me in my office later on."

"Okay." The boy said, and they were off for class.

Nina glanced down at her schedule. She was starting with Defense Against the Dark Arts today, following with a Charms hour and a break. After the break, she had Herbology, lunch, another break, and Double Transfiguration.

"Where's the Defense classroom?" She mused out loud.

"Right over here, my fair lady." Inwardly, she groaned as James put his arm around her, turning her into a hallway she wouldn't have gone through.

"This is getting real old, real fast, Potter." She answered.

"Hear that, Al? You being friends with her is getting old." James called to his brother.

"I believe the lady meant your 'crush' on her, Jimmy." Fred smirked.

"Shut up, Freddie."

"Will do."

"Don't you have classes to attend to?" Peter asked, next to Nina and Albus.

Both of them shrugged and replied simultaneously, "It's near yours, either way."

After a few minutes of walking, they spotted a door that read DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS.

"It was our pleasure, young ones." Fred proclaimed once we stood in front of the door with other students.

"Thanks, guys." Peter said, but when we turned around they were gone. "Where did they –?"

"Dad's Invisibility Cloak." Albus shrugged.

At that precise moment, a tall man with dark brown hair and yellow eyes opened the door. Wait… Yellow eyes?

"Good morning, you can all come in now." He stated, before retreating into the room so the students could fill in.

"Was it me or are his eyes yellow?" Nina asked her friends as soon as the professor was out of earshot.

"They were."

Interested, the three kids made their way into the classroom, taking seats near the front. While Nina and Albus sat together, Peter took a seat behind them next to Hayden.

When she directed her view to the front, the blonde girl noticed words appearing magically into the blackboard. It read PROFESSOR L. STEIN.

"Welcome, first years, to your first of many Defense Against the Dark Arts class. My name is Lewis Stein, and before I start teaching you anything, each of you will teach me something." He smiled.

"Well, at least it's starting off somewhat interesting." Albus whispered to Nina.

"And it's only the first of many." She winked, while the first student stood up.


I KNOW I KNOW. IT IS EXTREMELY SHORT.

You guys don't know how disappointed I am with myself right now. I know some of you [ehemm, Cici] would like to kill me right now. It was originally like 10 pages or something, but I just had to upload something. I don't know if I'll be able to until around June 10th because of finals.

So here's a little something, and I am so deeply, terribly sorry.