Chapter 3: Learning the Ropes

Lydia sighed as she woke up. It was now Friday, the last day of her first week. She got dressed and walked down to the Great Hall, grabbing a muffin and pumpkin juice before going to class.

Professor Robbins was waiting at the door with a bowl. "You have to choose a slip," Professor Robbins informed her. Lydia reached into the bowl and pulled out a slip of paper. It had a number five on it. Rachel sat down next to her a few moments later.

Professor Robbins began class shortly afterwards. "You all will be working with a partner for the rest of the year. Oftentimes in the workplace, you will have to work with people you do like and even people you don't. That is why after your partner is assigned, there will be absolutely no switching. Don't even bother to ask. And don't try to switch numbers either. I will know if you do. Go find your partners."

Lydia hung back and waited for the others to find their partners first. Finally all that was left was she and a tall boy with dark brown hair and deep green eyes. "Five?" she asked. He nodded. Lydia looked at him as they sat down at the nearest table. He was wearing Hufflepuff robes.

Professor Robbins produced sheets of paper. "I want you all to spend the rest of the period getting to know your partner. I want you to answer all these questions and then continue from there. Have fun."

She passed out the sheets. "All right," Lydia said, looking at the sheet. "What's your name?"

"Adrian Burke. Yours?"

"Lydia Serrao." She watched as he scribbled down her name, spelling it incorrectly. "Why don't we just fill out each other's papers? It'll probably be easier."

Adrian agreed and they exchanged papers. She crossed out her last name and rewrote it. Hometown: Leicester. Future profession: Dragon handler. Favorite activity: being outdoors. Lydia continued to fill out the questions. When she was done, she handed it back to Adrian.

"A dragon handler? Really?" he asked, looking at her paper as he handed his over to her.

She read through his answers. "Treasure Island? Wouldn't have expected most people here to have ever even heard of it."

Adrian shrugged. "Your mom doesn't speak English?"

Lydia grinned. "Not very well. My family's from Spain originally and she grew up in a rural Spanish town. Everyone there spoke Spanish. My siblings and I already knew English because our dad knew English. He's half-English. But when we moved to England, she had to learn."

Adrian's eyes were fixed on the paper. "You have a tattoo?" he asked, looking up.

Lydia laughed at his expression. "Yes, I do."

"What of?" he asked.

"A phoenix."

He looked mildly impressed. "Never much pictured you as the tattoo type but then again, you do have what," he looked at her, "five piercings in one ear?"

"That I do."

Adrian shook his head. "You're definitely not the average Ravenclaw."

Lydia shrugged. "I probably was at one time. I used to be a prideful girl who knew she was smart and always had to be better than everyone else. I used to always feel the need to prove how smart she was."

"So what changed?"

"I grew up."

They were dismissed from class after that and Lydia made her way to her Transfiguration class.

Lydia was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, talking with her roommate Mary Brown, when she saw someone take the empty seat next to her. It was Remus Lupin. She looked at him. He started talking with Rachel. "Remus," Rachel started as she noticed Lydia, "have you met my friend Lydia?"

"Briefly, but not officially. So, you're new here. Where were you before?"

"I went to a private wizarding school."

"Ah, really? That's cool. Why'd you leave?"

"It's a long story," she said, "I don't really want to get into it."

He respected her wishes. "Fair enough. What classes are you taking this year? Besides Defense, of course."

"Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology – "

"Really? In your seventh year?"

"Yeah, it's actually really interesting."

"Cool, so are you in Care too then?"

"Yeah, I'm currently planning to become a dragon handler."

"Brilliant."

"Yeah. What about you?"

"Well, I don't really know yet. I'd like to teach."

Lydia smiled at that. "What would you want to teach?"

"Maybe Charms or Transfiguration. Or even Defense."

Lydia looked down at her watch. "We really ought to be getting to class soon."

Remus smiled. "Okay, I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah," Lydia responded.

He watched as Lydia picked up her books and walked away, her waist length brown hair flowing behind her. He turned and walked to his next class.

As her roommates prepared for bed that night, Lydia laid on her bed, reading a book. Rachel was in the next bed over. "So how was your first week?"

"It wasn't too bad. Exhausting though. I wanted to pass out on the couch as soon as I entered the common room."

Rachel laughed. "Yeah, Hogwarts can have that effect on you."

"So do you know anything about an Adrian Burke?"

Rachel gave her an odd look. "Why do you want to know about him?"

"He's my partner for Healing."

"So?"

"You have Adrian Burke as a partner?" Heather interjected.

"Yeah…" Lydia said slowly.

"Lucky. I always get stuck with people like Williams or Snape."

"I really don't know much about him except that he's James Potter's cousin," Rachel said.

"James?" Lydia said, trying to look inquisitive.

"You're joking, right?" Rachel asked, incredulous. "You've been here a week already!"

Rachel looked at Lydia before giving an exasperated sigh. "James is one of Remus's friends. Chaser. He hangs out with Sirius Black, the really tall beater. I'm surprised you haven't already grown tired of them with how often girls talk about them."

"Why would girls talk about him?"

"Because they're teenage girls stuck in a boarding school and James and Sirius, and probably Remus as well, are among the best looking guys at school. Girls like James and Sirius though because they're tall, slightly muscular, Quidditch players."

Lydia laughed. "It's nice to know that some things never change."