Capitolul 4

First days at Hogwarts

After the end of the sorting ceremony, the first years were taken by the Prefects of their respective houses, who showed them the school's interiors, ending of course with the Common Rooms and the bedrooms.

Cyrus Findel, the fifth year Prefect, was tall and athletic, with piercing blue eyes. He immediately spotted Albus Potter in the crowd of young Gryffindors, much to the latter's displeasure. He was already being given too much attention. It was annoying.

Once in front of the fat lady's portrait, Findel said the password:

- Sleeping dragon powder.

The Common Room door opened, allowing the curious kids to enter. Every one of them took a seat, trying to get used to being in Hogwarts. Albus was probably the only one who didn't know other boys his age – well, except for Scorpius, but he was in Slytherin. So, while others formed groups around the chairs or on the floor, he sat near the fireplace, observing in a fascinated way the dance of the flames which gave him a warming feeling of home. At that time, his sister, Lily, was probably in her bed, while mother was reading her a fairytale. He was too old for stories, but that didn't mean he didn't miss his family.

But, as usual, he didn't get to be alone for too long. About four Gryffindors his age approached him and introduced themselves. He shook hands with them, having to listen to all their questions about his family. He actually began to think that he was only appreciated for what his parents had done and not for himself. He had to admit that there was a positive side to all that: now he had a group to belong to. Now nobody could say anything about his shyness or lack of friends.

Half an hour later though, it was time for bed, and the Gryffindors all went to their dormitories. Just as he was heading there, Albus felt a touch on his shoulder:

- Hey, Al.

- James!

His brother and his friends were behind him. In a strange way, he was happy to see them.

- I knew you'd do a good job. I was sure you'd be in Gryffindor.

- Now you'll get to know the real fun, Apollo also said.

- Let's hope we won't see you all day long with your books next to you, Albus, boy, Evan added.

- Well said. Ah, good I remembered. What was on your mind – being friends with that Malfoy? his brother asked.

- What does it matter who my friends are? The important thing is they appreciate me for what I am. What's the problem in it?

The four of them exchanged quick glances. Little Albus used some mighty words…But James replied in his own style:

- Easy. Because you mustn't. Because he's a Malfoy and that's it. But, well…You do what you want with your life.

And then, as a subtle comment, he also added:

- I hope you do get better marks than him.

- Meh, I will, said Albus half-heartedly to please him, after which he continued heading towards the bedroom. If he did everything his brother had suggested him, he'd have already become the fifth Marauder. He couldn't understand why he established his preferences so arbitrarily – for example, why he had something against Scorpius Malfoy just because he was a Slytherin. But, as he had said himself: he did what he wanted with his life.

In the Gryffindor tower, most of them were already sleeping, being dead tired. Inside one of the dormitories, however, two girls were still awake, whispering to each other so as not to disturb their roommates who were probably dreaming at that point.

The red-haired, freckled one spoke to the girl with ruffled hair:

- I can't wait to see how classes are here, at Hogwarts.

- Me too, Rose.

- I heard Halkyone is an excellent teacher. Well, at least that's what I heard from James.

- Which one? Potter?

- Yeah, that's him. You know, my parents and his are childhood friends. They went together at Hogwarts. In fact, my dad is his mother's brother.

- Great! So you know the Potters! You must be a very lucky girl! Hey, but…doesn't he have a brother our age?

- Yes, Albus is in Gryffindor, with us. Didn't you hear his name during the sorting ceremony?

- That's right, she said thoughtfully. Did you see how the Slytherins stood up when Malfoy was sorted in their house? We gave as good as we got, she also said, feeling suddenly even more attached to her own house.

- Well said. Those arrogant Slytherins…They'd be proud of any pureblood.

- Let's change the subject…Hmm…What other teachers do we have this year?

- Well…at Herbology we have Neville Longbottom, who…

- Who's a family friend as well, right? the enthusiastic girl asked.

- Yep, that's right. And at Transfigurations we have Professor Rachel Haltfire. I heard she's so strict that even Enwen is afraid of her!

Resmould Enwen was the school's caretaker. All the students knew him, and a great number of them had had to deal with him…in a way or another. It was likely that Hogwarts had an unwritten law of perpetuating its caretakers' personality, since Enwen too had a cult of persecuting students just as his predecessors.

- By the way, what classes do we have tomorrow? Look at the timetable, Rose.

For a few moments there was silence in the room.

- First class: Transfigurations.

Speaking of the wolf…

- Oh, and that's not the worst part. That's a common class with Slytherin.

- Hmmm…What a great start of the schoolyear…

…..

The Slytherin dormitories were in the dungeons, well under the lake. In this nearly menacing place – to anyone else but its residents, that is – three roommates were gossiping avidly in a whisper which seemed just loud enough for the fourth one to hear.

- She's so weird, isn't she, girls?

- She only dresses in black, did you see that?

- And she's always carrying her weird books! I actually saw…a fifth year Potions book near her bed!

- Then what is she doing at Hogwarts, if she already knows everything?

- Or perhaps she's just pretending to read, to make us feel inferior!

The girls chuckled when hearing that.

- Thank Merlin she's sleeping, otherwise she'd hex all of us!

Unfortunately for them, Rosabella Mortrand wasn't asleep. She was used to going to bed late at night. On one hand, she enjoyed pretending – that way, she got to know things she wouldn't have learned of otherwise. That gave her a feeling of domination. But on the other hand – she didn't quite enjoy what was being said about her. So what if she was a freak and liked reading advanced books? So what if, not having had money, she'd brought to Hogwarts her father's old ones? Even her robes were old, being enchanted to appear at least decent. Well, at least she could confort herself with an old Muggle saying – which was the only one she liked - : what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

After her roommates finally fell asleep, Rosabella reached out for a book in the huge pile near her. This one was entitled „Duel Spells. How to manipulate your opponents". She silently looked for page 23 and covered herself with the blanket. She then grabbed her wand and whispered Lumos.

A faint light appeared from the tip of the wand which allowed her to read. She could finally do so without being bothered by anyone or anything. Not even by the stamp with a greenish glow that kept appearing and disappearing from the back cover of the book which said "Forbidden by the Ministry of Magic".

...

After a breakfast that went without incidents, each student went to the room he or she had classes next. Albus was overly enthusiastic about his first lesson at Hogwarts, which happened to be Transfigurations. His brother had told him professor Haltfire was an extremely tough woman and she only gave low marks, but he knew fully well not to trust him completely.

His first thought was not to get lost through the many stairs and corridors in the school, but luckily for him, his roommates offered to join him. When he reached the front of the door, not all Gryffindors were there, but definitely the Slytherins were. He could sense their envious and hateful looks. He greeted Scorpius, then scanned the first-year Slytherin crowd, not knowing for sure if he was even searching someone, when he did see an interesting person. That girl he'd seen at Ollivander's...Rosabella, that was her name. In the very next moment she turned her head towards him. Noticing an unpleasant surprise, she threw him a stinging glance that hurt him harder that those of her colleagues, then turned back to stare at her Transfigurations textbook. He suddenly didn't feel as calm as before.

Professor Haltfire arrived in about ten minutes and opened the door. She was a middle-aged, austere witch, dressed in black and red robes and had long, dark hair and deep blue eyes.

The students entered the classroom, with Albus hurrying to get the first desk. Not that anyone would particularly claim it, being strategically place so that the teacher could see your every move from there. Looking at the right side of the room, where the Slytherins were, he noticed that Rosabella had also chosen the first desk, along with three other unfortunate kids who had probably not had other choice. Rose Weasley and her new friend, Fredricca Spinter, sat in the second desk, right next to Albus, who recognized them and said hello.

- Good morning, dear students and welcome to your first class at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This part sounded too much like Velfinna's inaugural speech for Albus' taste.

After she taught them some pretty abstract notions that the students wrote on their parchments, Haltfire suddenly said:

- Stop.

Staring at each other, the kids set their feathers aside and did as they were told.

- The last sentence I dictated was...

One of the Gryffindors offered to read.

- "...using Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration".

- Thank you. So, Gamp's Law tells us what power magic has on creating or destroying matter.

Then, the witch smiled faintly.

- But, this rule has several exceptions. Does anyone know them?

Both Gryffindors and Slytherins seemed thunderstruck. How could Haltfire expect them to know the exceptions to an obscure magic law they had just found out about?

In the row on the right though, Rosabella turned around and sighed. Obviously, no one else knew...and she'd be an even greater freak if she answered. But...well, she wouldn't be respecting herself if she didn't.

So she rose her hand. Everyone in the class stared at her, which she hated, but she kept her hand up. The teacher raised an eyebrow, surprised that someone actually knew – either that, or she had did so in a lame attempt to boast about herself.

- Be quiet, she said to silence the voices of the other intrigued students. You can answer now, miss. But be aware that 10 points are given for a correct answer, indeed...but 30 are taken for a wrong one. So?

She took a deep breath and answered:

- There are five exceptions, Professor. Knowledge, money, life, food and love.

For a few moments there was silence in the Transfigurations room. Haltfire blinked a few times, after which she seemed to recover:

- Very well, miss. 10 points for Slytherin.

Rosabella was unbelievably happy to have brought the first points to her house. All those hours she had spent reading instead of...well, whatever young witches her age would've done instead were finally starting to pay off.

During the rest of the class, the teacher asked to transform their own feathers into buttons. Rosabella got it from the first attempt. To his own amazement, Albus also managed the third time, as well as Scorpius, who was seated at the middle of the Slytherin row of desks.

- All right, children. The class is nearly finished. I regret to say that the generations here at Hogwarts are less and less talented. Of course there are some exceptions – so I'll give 20 more points to Gryffindor and 10 to Slytherin, she said in a proud tone. You are free to go.

Scorpius seemed to hesitate to leave, though. Haltfire passed near his table, pretending to have a totally different purpose than to see what his problem was. She stopped next to him and asked him:

- Mr. Malfoy, is anything wrong? Oh, I see you can't transform the button back.

- Well, yes, that's...that's kinda true. Could...uhm...could you help me, Professor?

He had been too proud to ask the teacher before. But Haltfire had something else in mind. She raised her voice and asked:

- Miss Mortrand?

Rosabella was getting near the door when she heard Haltfire calling her name. What did she want now?

- Yes, madam?

- Would you please help Scorpius? He has a problem.

She didn't quite feel like turning around, but...well, whatever. She approached Scorpius' desk and immediately noticed. She took out her wand and instantly retransfigured the feather. Scorpius muttered a "thanks", then gathered his things and got out. That girl was intriguing. She knew more than was obvious. And Albus had the same feeling.