It wasn't long before each day seemed to fall into a familiar pattern. Konata and Shiro didn't often see Blaze besides at the Great Hall, though Konata did have Herbology class with her. Lucky for Konata, Shiro was her lab partner in Potions; without him, she'd probably cause an explosion daily. Still, Snape wasn't awfully fond of either of them.
"You're Shotaro's son, aren't you?" Snape said during one class. Shiro glanced up from his potion, reluctantly leaving it to Konata, and offered a smile.
"Yes, sir, I am."
"Your brother is exactly like him… The boy sickens me. I never did like your father," Snape growled. Shiro could feel Konata shaking beside him.
"Don't worry, I'm nothing like either of them… If anything, I'm the polar opposite of Satoshi. I'll be sure to be a much better student, I assure you." Snape gave a small nod, turning with a swish to his robes.
Flying didn't appeal very much to Konata or Shiro. Blaze was already showing to be a fantastic Quidditch player- nearly as good as Harry- but Konata and Shiro didn't have such luck. Konata had to shout "Up" at her broom 13 times before it flew into her hand; it took Shiro 6 tries. Once on the broom, he wasn't terribly talented. He could hold onto the broom and everything, but felt too uneasy. Konata, on the other hand, liked the feeling of confidence she received, yet she couldn't keep control over her broom and soon slipped off. Shiro dived to catch her, but missed by a few inches. Instead, Konata fell into the arms of Zacharias Smith, causing the faces of both Konata and Shiro to go brick red.
Herbology and Astronomy were much easier for Konata. She had quite the green thumb, and a knack for all things astronomical. Shiro was rather gifted in these areas as well. Blaze managed to keep up a Ravenclaw-material performance in all subjects, but still, nothing highlighted her talents like Flying.
Shiro mastered the basics of most Charms and Transfigurations within 10 attempts, while Konata had much more difficulty. Instead of turning a pin into a bug, she managed to turn the pin into a raisin, and when she was supposed to make a feather float, all chanting "Leviosa!" did for her was shove the feather off her desk. Consequently, she stayed up hours after her roommates studying under her blanket (she did manage to master lumos), only getting to sleep after she felt she'd made some reasonable progress.
Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) was, surprisingly, one of her better subjects. Their stuttering, scaredy-cat professor Quirrell didn't make lessons all that enjoyable, but they did find that Shiro had quite the talent in magical defense. Being tiny and lacking much skill earned Konata the nickname "Little Quirrell" as well as a wimpy reputation. Konata used this to her advantage, though: nearly everyone wanted to be paired against her when they practiced dueling, so after extra practice with Shiro, she knocked many of her partners on their bottoms quickly.
History of Magic was, by far, the worst of the 8 subjects. It was taught by Professor Binns, who just happened to be a ghost. Students tended to look at this period as a time for catching up on rest. Blaze and Shiro did try hard to participate, but their eyelids drooped within 10 minutes of Binns droning on about events in the textbook. The only student who enjoyed History of Magic was Konata. Having never known of the existence of magic besides in fairytales, she was eager to learn all she could about the wizard world; even the boring, seemingly insignificant facts.
On the 15th of September, Konata turned 11. She didn't tell anyone, but Dumbledore announced it at lunch that morning. She went beet red as all the first years (except the Slytherins) and some older students sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Shiro wanted to buy her something, but she flat out wouldn't allow it and insisted he go on with his day as if it wasn't a special occasion.
Despite every day consisting of basically the same events, none of the students could say they weren't overjoyed to be a Hogwarts student.