Chapter Three: The First Day of School
"Gryffindors, follow me, please." announced Percy. "Keep up, thank you."
Percy led the Gryffindor first years off to their tower after dinner, so they could go to bed and begin their first day of school the next morning. Riley caught sight of Tony as they left and they waved goodbye to each other. They were joined by the Ravenclaws, who were headed their way also. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Riley were near the front of their pack, and walked faster to keep up with their prefect. They headed up the staircase, where Percy instructed them about the path to their House. While Percy had stopped to let his House catch up, the Ravenclaws began descending down a set of stairs in the next room.
"This is the most direct path to the dormitories," he explained. "Oh, and keep an eye on the staircases. They like to change."
The first years looked up and down over the railing to see that the stairs were indeed moving. They were rotating from one corridor to another. Percy then called for them to follow him, and as the first years followed after him, they saw that the stairs weren't the only things moving. The subjects in the portraits were animate as well, and several of the paintings were from different ages in time. Some of the subjects greeted the students verbally, others had waved or curtsied. Percy continued to lead them until they reached a corridor with a painting of a fat, elderly woman with black hair in a pink gown. The lady then addressed them.
"Password?" she asked.
"Caput Draconis." Percy answered.
The woman gestured for them to enter, and the portrait swung open, revealing a room hidden inside. Percy led the first years into the room, and beckoned them to follow. They walked through the hole in the portrait and saw that they were in a large room, with a lit fireplace on one side, a staircase in the back of the room going upwards, and several sofas, chairs, and paintings here and there.
"Gather around here." Percy told the students.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and the others walked inside until they were all in the center of the room.
"Welcome to the Gryffindor Common Room." Percy explained to them. "Boys dormitories are upstairs and down to your left. Girls, the same to your right. You'll find your belongings have already been brought up."
Once he had them all sent to bed, Harry, Ron, Riley, Seamus, and two other Gryffindor boys named Dean and Neville headed into their dormitory, where they found their trunks were already waiting for them. They walked further inside their room, and started putting their things into their drawers. Ron was putting the cage holding his pet rat, Scabbers, on top of his dresser, when he watched Riley letting his pet cat out of it's carrier, and yelped in shock. Harry, Riley, and the others quickly turned to look at him, wondering what was wrong.
"What are you, mad?!" Ron demanded, pointing at Riley.
Riley slowly looked back down at his cat, then back at Ron.
"No." he answered, slowly.
"That's a cat!" shouted Ron.
Riley then pointed at Harry's owl.
"And that's an owl." he pointed out. "Your turn, Harry." he added, looking at Harry.
Seamus, Dean, and Neville laughed, while Ron stormed over to his dormmate.
"Cats eat rats!" he barked. "Don't let him on the loose when I've got Scabbers here!"
"Don't worry, Bubba's a good kitty." Riley reassured him. "He gets along with other animals."
They watched as Bubba leapt up onto Riley's bed, circled around the edge of it once, then laid down on it, purring. The boys then changed into their pajamas, and talked for a little bit, then went to bed. Harry, however, was the last to go to sleep. He sat by the windowsill, with his owl, and gazed out the window. He looked back at his owl, stroking the feathers on the side of her face a few times, then returned his gaze to the magnificent evening view.
The next morning, Riley stirred, hearing the quiet alarm on his watch go off, and sat up in his bed, yawning and stretching. Checking the time after he deactivated the alarm, he saw it was time for breakfast and got to his feet. He changed into his school clothes, tidied himself up, and placed his pajamas into the drawer. Bubba meowed once at him, and Riley scratched him behind the ears.
"Be good, Bub." he whispered.
Riley then walked over to Harry's bedside and shook him on the shoulder.
"Harry." he called. "Harry, wake up."
Harry turned over in his bed, and muttered something incomprehensible. Shaking his head, Riley then walked over to Ron's bedside.
"Ron, it's time for breakfast." he announced quietly. "Get up."
"Five more minutes, mum." Ron muttered, sleepily.
Deciding that they weren't going to wake up, he grabbed his school bag and comic books, and walked out of the dormitory. Upon walking into the common room, he spotted Hermione also heading out, and raced over to her.
"Hey." he called, catching up to her. "Use some company?"
"I'd love some." replied Hermione.
They walked out of the common room through the hole in the painting, and made their way to the Great Hall.
"Where are Harry and Ron?" asked Hermione.
"I tried waking them up," answered Riley. "They're too out of it. Maybe they'll show up in a few minutes."
Hermione nodded, then noticed one of Riley's comic books sticking out of his bag.
"What's that?" she asked.
Riley looked down at his bag, and took out the comic book to show her.
"Something my mom's dad sent me." Riley told her. "It's the latest thing in the U.S.. They call him Superman."
Hermione opened the comic book, and flipped through the pages.
"So, this is an American comic book?" she mused. "The story's pretty good, and so is the artwork."
"I've just started to be honest." explained Riley. "Grandpa just wanted me to have a piece of back home to take with me, and he thought this was perfect."
"So, where does he live exactly?"
"California. He lived by a big park. I'd go there to read when I was finished with my homework. Tony and I used to live there during the school year since our parents worked together often."
Hermione nodded, then saw Tony heading towards them. They stopped to let him catch up and continued to walk.
"How's it going?" he asked.
"I've made some friends in Slytherin." replied Tony. "One's a Muggleborn, just like me. Another's a Pureblood, but he's real nice. There's a couple more, too, I'll introduce you guys later. So, what's your guys' schedules for today?"
Hermione and Riley took their schedules out from their pockets, and checked them.
"It says here...Transfiguration first, then Potions,...Potions again,...Herbology,..." Hermione listed. "And finally, Charms."
Tony checked his schedule, and nodded.
"Cool, we've got Transfiguration and Potions together." he observed. "So, see you in class. I don't think we can eat at the same table."
With that, Tony took off into the Great Hall, leaving Hermione and Riley behind.
"So, how do you two know each other?" asked Hermione.
"We grew up together." answered Riley. "We're practically brothers. Our dads are archaeologists. You probably have heard of them. 'Timothy Cross'? 'Carlos Gabriel'?"
Hermione's eyes widened, meaning that she did hear of them.
"I've read about them!" she exclaimed. "They're two of the greatest archaeologists of their time. I've recently read in the paper about their discovery of a magical artifact, and Prof. McGonagall was part of the excavation group."
"Yeah, that was them." Riley nodded, shyly. "So, what do your parents do?"
"They're dentists."
"'Dentists'? Do they have their own business?"
Hermione was just about to answer, when they heard a loud explosion from nearby where they were standing, and jumped. Slowly turning around, the two Gryffindor students saw that Seamus had somehow ended up looking like a singed marshmallow.
"Part of me wants to ask 'how'," commented Riley. "The other part just says to pretend nothing ever happened."
They joined their fellow first years at the table, and ate their breakfast. Harry and Ron had yet to show up, so after the two finished, they took off to Transfiguration class with the Slytherin students. After several minutes into the lesson, Harry and Ron had finally burst through the doors. From the way that they were panting heavily, it seemed as though they had to rush double time to make it to class. Upon reaching the teacher's desk, which had a small gray tabby cat sitting on it, Ron let out a sigh of relief. Prof. McGonagall was not seen anywhere, so they were safe.
"Made it!" he exclaimed. "Can you imagine the look on ol' McGonagall's face if we were late?"
However, the cat leapt off of the table and morphed into Prof. McGonagall, who strode over to the two tardy students. Harry and Ron's jaw dropped at what they saw, and Ron was the first to speak.
"That was bloody brilliant." he spoke, honestly amazed.
"Well, thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley." Prof. McGonagall responded, smiling. "Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocket watch? That way one of you might be on time."
Harry and Ron cringed a little, noting the slight irritation in her voice as she spoke.
"We got lost." Harry confessed, embarrassed.
"Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find your seats."
As their teacher walked away, Harry and Ron took their seats in the row in front of Hermione and Riley's. After class, Riley walked over to them.
"Where have you two been?" he asked.
"We slept in." replied Ron. "Why didn't you wake us up?"
"I tried, Mr. 'Five more minutes, mum'."
Later that morning, the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years sat in the dungeon where they would be waiting for their Potions class to begin. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Riley sat in the center row, while Draco Malfoy, his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, and Tony sat in the front row. The class was talking amongst themselves, while waiting for their teacher to start class, and then the door suddenly opened with a bang. The students craned their heads around to see who had walked inside, and it appeared that it was Prof. Snape, the dark-haired man in dark clothing from the previous night. The same man who was speaking with Prof. Quirrell.
"There will be no foolish wand-waving, or silly incantations in this class." he declared, swiftly.
Prof. Snape stopped to turn to glance at his students.
"As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making," he continued, slowly. "However, for those select few,...who possess the predisposition,..."
The Potions teacher was now looking at the Slytherin students for a brief moment, then crossed his arms over his chest.
"I can teach you to bewitch the mind, and ensnare the senses." he went on. "I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."
Several of the students looked up at him, interested at what he was talking about. Suddenly, Prof. Snape's gaze flickered over to one side of the room.
"Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention." he declared, the last few words in the sentence nearly shouted.
Hermione looked at Harry, who was sitting beside her, taking notes, and nudged him. Harry quickly looked up, and put his quill back into the bottle of ink, then resumed paying attention to the teacher. Prof. Snape walked to the side, unfolding his arms, and glanced at him.
"Mr. Potter," he spoke, softly. "Our...new celebrity."
Harry merely stared back at his teacher. He was expecting some sort of praise, the teacher to come by to shake his hand, or even a scolding for not paying attention. However, he was not expecting what was about to come out of Prof. Snape's mouth.
"Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" the Potions teacher asked.
Harry just stared at his instructor, confused, while Hermione thrusted her hand into the air. After a moment, Prof. Snape guessed correctly that he had no idea, and tried again.
"Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" he questioned.
Hermione's hand shot into the air, but Prof. Snape didn't call on her.
"I don't know, sir." Harry responded, quietly.
The next question Prof. Snape asked involved telling the different between monkswood and wolfsbane, but Harry did not know that either. However, Hermione knew, as he hand still remained in the air.
"Pity." Prof. Snape commented, even though his voice told that he was not at all disappointed. "Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter?"
Harry felt a little irritated. He didn't do anything to cause the teacher to act like this towards him. He looked beside him to see Hermione's hand was still up, and called his teacher on it.
"Clearly Hermione knows." he retorted, angrily. "Seems a pity not to ask her."
Several of the students began to laugh, while Riley and Tony held their breaths.
"Silence." Prof. Snape commanded his students.
He stared Harry down a moment longer, then stormed over to him. The teacher ordered Hermione to lower her hand, and took a seat on a stool in front of Harry.
"For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful, it is known as the drought of the living dead," he described, effortlessly. "A bezoar is a stone taken from a stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkswood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."
Taking note of the sudden silence filling the room, Prof. Snape addressed them.
"Well?" he asked, loudly. "Why aren't you all copying this down?"
The room was now filled with the sound of quills being withdrawn from the ink bottles, and then scratching the surface of the notebooks. While the students took notes, Prof. Snape returned to his desk.
"And Gryffindors, note that five points will be taken from your House for your classmate's cheek." he announced, as he began writing something down in his book.
Harry scowled in response, while Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle sniggered at him. Tony stared at his notebook, as he wrote down his notes, wanting badly to give a retort of his own, but decided against it.
Updating now because I'll be busy these next few days. Next chapter is halfway done though. So, first day at Hogwarts has begun, and Harry and Ron were already late for their first period class, and Harry's already made an enemy out of one Severus Snape. Will things get any worse from there, or better? Find out. Or watch the movie.
Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics or books that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.