When Arthur woke up the next day he was aware this was his very first day and time in his whole life he went to school, so of course a few things would be hard in the beginning. The fact Hogwarts was a gigantic castle with over seven floors didn't help things, especially when he was hungry and after thirty minutes still hadn't found the damn staircase to the Great Hall so he could eat breakfast already! Who was the idiot who thought it was a good idea with moving stairs in a school for children again? Rowena Ravenclaw, the one who was supposed to be the smart one, did. If she hadn't already been dead Arthur would have killed her for coming up with such a stupid idea, consequences be damned. Obviously none of his earlier murderous thoughts helped his current situation though, and eventually he would be forced to admit he was painfully, utterly-
"Arthur?"
"I'M NOT LOST!" he yelled out in frustration, only to turn around and come face to face with none other than Hermione Granger.
To Hermione's credit she didn't even flinch at his raised voice and only rose a single, skeptical eyebrow while a portrait could be heard snickering in the background. Meanwhile Arthur was busy with his desire to sink through the floor and die of embarrassment.
"I guess that explains what you're doing on the third floor then," Hermione commented dryly, clearly not impressed by Arthur's outburst.
THIRD floor? How the hell did he end up on the THIRD floor!? Arthur was pretty sure he only climbed up for one staircase, and that was the one in the dungeon he thought would lead him directly to just outside of the Great Hall. Never mind that though, he needed to swallow his pride and do something about his outburst against Hermione.
"Sorry about that," Arthur muttered and suddenly found his shoes very interesting while he tried in vain to force back the red colour he knew covered his face by now.
"It's alright," Hermione answered with a shrug and gave him a small smile as Arthur looked up in surprise.
"I'm on my way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Do you want to come with me, or do you want to stay for a while and continue to curse the moving stairs?"
Oh god, did he say parts of his earlier mental rant out loud? Apparently that was the case, since Hermione now knew about his problem with moving stairs. Arthur didn't even know it was possible, but his face flushed an even deeper red than before and was only able to splutter out unintelligible noises in answer. He still followed her though, after sending a deadly glare to the still snickering portrait, and Hermione was quick to throw them into a conversation about a new book she read the night before. Arthur was thankful for the company and distraction she provided – it made it much easier to ignore the staring and the whispers which seemed to follow him wherever he went in the corridors.
"Do you see him? He ended up in Slytherin..."
"Who?"
"The Kirkland kid - you know, the one with the huge eyebrows."
Arthur snapped around to glare at two first-years from Hufflepuff, who at least had the decency to look guilty when they realized Arthur heard them, but he didn't get to do anything else about it before Hermione pulled him away and asked him about what subjects he wanted to learn the most. Their conversation only came to a stop when they arrived to the Great Hall, and despite the fact Arthur earlier spent over 30 minutes in his search for the Great Hall he found out they still had more than enough time to eat breakfast before their first classes would begin. Arthur was just about to say goodbye to Hermione and walk over to Slytherin's table when she surprised him with another question.
"Would you like to meet me in the library when our classes are over? We can compare notes and do our homework together."
"Sure," Arthur accepted the invitation with a happily surprised smile.
It's n-not like he was happy about the invitation, mind you! He just didn't have anything else planned for the afternoon, that's all. Really.
"Good, I'll see you then!" Hermione beamed back and began to walk over to the Gryffindor table with a little skip in her steps.
A little amused and confused over the fact she looked so happy just because he agreed to come to the library with her, Arthur then began to walk over to Slytherin's table for breakfast. Both Jack and Katlyn already sat together and ate while Jade sat a little further away and seemed to have a quiet, but heated, discussion with an older girl who Arthur didn't recognize. Perhaps her older sister? They looked very alike.
"There you are!" Jack grinned when Arthur sat down to his left. "I was beginning to think you got lost or something, considering how late you are even though you left the dorm the earliest of us."
Arthur tried in vain to not blush in a mix of frustration and embarrassment. "Of course not! I just wanted to take a look around."
"Sure, let's say that," Jack laughed, clearly not believing him.
"Who was the girl you talked to?" Katlyn asked in curiosity and handed over the bacon to Arthur.
"Hermione Granger. I first met her on the train to Hogwarts," Arthur replied and added three bacons to his plate before he reached for the eggs.
Jack looked thoughtful. "The girl from Gryffindor? I don't mind it, but you might want to be careful with that one."
"Why?" Arthur asked in surprise. "She's nice."
"I'm not saying you can't be friends with her," Jack smiled. "You should just be a little careful. I was serious when I mentioned the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor last night."
Afterwards Jack and Katlyn went back to talk about whatever they discussed before Arthur arrived, but Arthur couldn't help but to wonder how bad the rivalry must be if Jack felt the need to warn him about it. Even when a man with greasy, black hair to his shoulder came and handed over their schedules Arthur couldn't stop thinking about it.
"That's Professor Snape," Jack explained to Arthur and Katlyn in a whisper once the man was out of earshot. "He's the Head of Slytherin."
Katlyn then took the oppurtunity to check their schedule.
"Looks like we will begin with Defense Against the Dark Arts," Katlyn exclaimed in excitement, and finally broke out Arthur from his thoughts.
"Really?"
Arthur finally decided to take a look at his own schedule and saw to his excitement Katlyn was correct – their very first class was going to be Double DADA, as the class was called. Unfortunately the excitement quickly died out shortly after Jack kindly helped them find the correct classroom for their first lesson, because to both Katlyn's and Arthur's great disappointment Professor Quirrell's lesson turned out to be a bit of a joke. The classroom smelled strongly of garlic no matter where you sat and the whole lesson was more or less spent on theoretical nonsense. As the day progressed Arthur's excitement was only brought back by Herbology with Professor Sprout, lunch and then Charms with the tiny wizard Professor Flitwick. The short man gave away an excited squeak and almost fell off the chair he stood on as he called out Arthur's name when he took the register, but otherwise Professor Flitwick turned out to be a great teacher who was happy to give them a few demonstrations of what they would get to learn throughout the year.
It was a tired, but happy, Arthur who after his classes for the day somehow managed to find his way to the library for his meeting with Hermione.
(Hah, take that stupid stairs!) It turned out she was already there, sitting at a table and working on the homework she must have received during the day.
"Hello," he greeted with a small smile.
"You came!"
Why did she sound so surprised? He agreed to come, didn't he? Maybe Hermione just thought he would get lost (again).
"Yes, of course I came," Arthur replied, unsure what else he was supposed to say, and sat down beside Hermione before he took out his own homework.
They talked quietly together while doing their respective homework and then, when didn't have any other homework to finish, they began to practice some of the easier spells they knew they would be taught throughout the year. Hermione, who apparently had Transfiguration earlier in the day, also showed Arthur how they practiced turning a match into a needle. Arthur felt almost a little bad when he only could show Hermione his detailed notes from the DADA and Charms lessons, but it turned out Transfiguration was almost the only class who actually did any practical magic this day, and it wasn't exactly the easiest to practice anything for Herbology in the library. Hermione didn't seem to mind though, and she even praised his handwriting for being neat and easy to read.
By the time it was dinner they walked down to the Great Hall together, and Hermione invited him to meet up in the library again the next day before she went and sat down next to Neville at the Gryffindor table. Since Arthur already finished his homework in the library he took the opportunity to walk around the castle after dinner and try to get to know it better (so he wouldn't get lost in the future), but eventually he made his way back to the common room, where he decided to take the time to relax and read a book until it was time for bed.
To some people this day might sound boring and uneventful, but it suited Arthur perfectly fine. The next days continued in a similar manner, with the addition of sometimes visiting the owlery to send his brothers a letter or two, (Arthur didn't like to admit it, but after searching for hours without finding it he was eventually forced to ask Jack where it was – who was happy to show him the way), and as the days went by Arthur quickly found out magic was easy to use. It was as if magic was already a part of him, just as easy to use as it was to breathe. He couldn't understand why his brothers rarely used their magic at home – it felt so great to use it! The meetings with Hermione in the library also soon became a habit, and the practice they did together was without a doubt also a great help for the both of them. Without thinking too much about it they even exchanged schedules with each other, so it would be easier to meet up in the future. Not that he would admit it aloud, but Arthur also found great pleasure each time he saw Malfoy's envious face when he managed the spell the Professors told them to do within his first three tries.
"We have Double Potions with the Gryffindors today," Katlyn all of sudden commented and took a bite of her sandwich while she examined their schedule for the day closely.
"Yes, I look forward to it," Arthur replied and poured himself a cup of tea. "How about you?"
"Mm, but I hope Professor Snape will not be as bad as the rumors say."
"Don't worry, Professor Snape isn't a particular good teacher, but at least you're not from Gryffindor, so you'll be fine," Jade told them from the seat on the opposite side of Katlyn.
Neither Katlyn nor Arthur were sure if Jade's answer reassured them, but Arthur decided to not worry about it at the moment. They would find out soon enough either way. It was Friday morning, and Arthur could hardly believe he had been at Hogwarts for nearly a week already, and since this would be his first class together with Hermione he was even a bit excited at having Potions, despite the bad reputation their Head of House seemed to have in the school. Once the post arrived Arthur kept an eye open in case any of his brothers had sent back an answer to his latest letter(s), but since it didn't look like this was the case both Arthur and Katlyn soon left the Great Hall and made their way down to the dungeons for the Potions class.
The air was a little colder down in the dungeons, but to Arthur - who was used to the air in the dungeons by now - it felt refreshing from the stagnant air on the floors above. However even Arthur was forced to admit the floating, pickled animals in the glass jars inside of Professor Snape's classroom were a bit creepy. Arthur gave Neville a small wave as he walked past and sat down in the front to Hermione's left with a quiet greeting, while Katlyn took the seat on his other side. As soon as everyone were inside Professor Snape closed the door with an ominous thud, strode forward to the black board and immediately began to take the register. Maybe it was just Arthur's imagination, but when Professor Snape reached his name there was a moment's pause where the man looked up and stared at him with cold and empty black eyes before he continued to call the names. However once Professor Snape called Harry's name the paus was obvious to everyone.
"Ah, yes, another - celebrity," Professor Snape spoke softly. "Seems like our class will be full of them this year."
Arthur could hear Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle snigger behind their hands somewhere behind him while Professor Snape finished the register and then looked out over the class.
"Here you will learn the subtle science and exact art of brewing potions," Professor Snape began barely louder than a whisper, but they could still hear every word perfectly.
"Many of you will hardly believe this is magic, because in this class there is no foolish wand-waving. I don't expect any of you to truly understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with it's enchanting fumes, the delicate power of liquids which can seep through your blood, bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even how to delay death. At least if you aren't as stupid as the idiots I normally get stuck teaching."
More silence followed Professor Snape's speech and Hermione sat on the edge of her chair, looking eager to prove she wasn't an idiot.
"Potter!" Professor Snape called out. "What do I get if I add powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Arthur frowned while he tried to recall the answer. He knew he had read about it. Next to him Hermione's hand shot up at once.
"I don't know, sir," Harry told Professor Snape from the seat behind Arthur.
"Pity," Professor Snape said as his lips curled into a sneer and then turned to Arthur, ignoring Hermione's raised hand.
"Kirkland."
"Asphodel and wormwood make a strong sleeping potion known as the 'Draught of Living Death'. It's the most powerful sleeping potion in existence and is very dangerous unless it's used with great caution," Arthur hurried to answer, and gave a mental sigh of relief at having remembered the answer in time.
"Correct," Professor Snape replied with another sneer, and Arthur somehow got the feeling Professor Snape hadn't actually expected him to know the answer, which made him wonder why Professor Snape even asked in the first place.
"Let's try this again, Potter," Professor Snape said and returned his gaze to Harry. "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione's hand shot up again, this time almost leaving her seat in her attempt to raise her hand high enough for Professor Snape to notice her.
"I don't know, sir," Harry answered, and once again Professor Snape ignored Hermione's hand and the badly hidden laughter from Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Kirkland."
"A bezoar is a stone inside the stomach of a goat and is something which can cure most poisons," Arthur answered and tried to sound confident about it.
To be honest he couldn't recall exactly what he had read about the bezoar, but hopefully Professor Snape wasn't going to ask for any details.
"Correct again," Professor Snape admitted, this time with just a hint of a smirk in the middle of the sneer.
Perhaps he was warming up to Arthur. Maybe. Nope, not a chance - but you were allowed to dream, right?
"Your last chance to prove you're not a complete dunderhead, Potter. What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
This time Hermione stood up from her chair and stretched her hand up as far as she could while Arthur frowned.
Why did Professor Snape continue to insist giving Harry the questions? It was clear Harry didn't know the answers.
"I don't know, sir," Harry quietly answered. "It looks like Hermione knows though, why don't you try her?"
A few scattered laughs could be heard in the classroom, but they quickly died out at the look on Professor Snape's face. The man clearly wasn't pleased, Arthur noted.
"Sit down," Professor Snape snapped at Hermione and ignored the mixed look of hurt and confusion on her face.
She most likely wondered what she had done to deserve such treatment, and Arthur couldn't help but to wonder the same.
"Fame clearly isn't everything, Potter, but at least one of you had the common sense to open a book before you arrived to Hogwarts. For your information monkshood and wolfsbane is the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."
Arthur didn't turn around to look at Harry's face, but he was pretty sure he could make an accurate guess about how it looked right now.
"Well? Why haven't all of you copied down the answers already?" Professor Snape continued, and everyone immediately began to rummage through their bags for quills and parchment.
"Five points will also be taken from Gryffindor for your cheek and laziness, Potter. Maybe this will teach you to open the book and read before our next class," Snape added over the noise before he put them into pairs and told them to mix up a simple potions to cure boils.
Arthur and Hermione were put to work together, Katlyn was paired with a boy from Gryffindor who Arthur heard present himself as Dean Thomas, while Harry and Ron set off to work next to Neville and the Gryffindor boy Seamus Finnigan. Everything went fine for a while, but there was no doubt in Arthur's mind Professor Snape was a difficult teacher to please. He swept around in his black, long cloak and criticized almost everyone except for Malfoy - who he for some reason seemed to like - as they added dried nettles and crushed snake fangs to their cauldrons. Alas this was, as mentioned before, the part of the lesson which actually went well, and it was over the moment acid, green smoke and a loud hissing sound filled the dungeon.
Somehow - though Arthur to this day still had no idea how it happened - Neville managed to melt Seamus' cauldron to a twisted blob. The result? Their potion escaped and now seeped across the floor, burning holes in the shoes of those who weren't quick enough to jump up on their chairs to get away from the potion. It didn't take long until everyone, including Arthur, stood on their chairs. However Neville's bad luck seemed to be contagious, because while the drenched Neville moaned in pain when angry red boils sprang up over his body Arthur without warning slipped and lost his balance. Arthur only had the time to yell out in surprise before he with flailing arms grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of in a desperate attempt to stay on the chair. Turns out cauldrons aren't very good, nor steady, to grab when you're falling off your chair - so not only did Arthur land painfully hard on his back on the floor soaked by Neville's failed potion, but not even a second later his own cauldron filled with his and Hermione's potion also fell over and drenched him in their unfinished potion.
"Arthur!" both Hermione and Katlyn shouted at the same time as his cauldron (literally) grew legs and ran away to hide under Professor Snape's desk.
With a groan of pain Arthur then stood up from the floor - his hair and clothes dripping of the two mixed potions - while he both felt and saw sickly green, purple and black boils appear on various parts of his body.
"Idiot boy, none of this would have happened if you hadn't added the porcupine quills before you took of the cauldron off the fire!" Professor Snape snarled angrily at poor Neville who whimpered in pain as boils began to pop up on his nose.
Professor Snape cleaned away all the spilled potions with a wave of his wand.
"Take them up to the hospital wing," Professor Snape then spat at the Finnigan-boy and Hermione, and with a fearful nod Hermione quickly jumped down on the now safe floor and began to lead Arthur towards the door, careful of not actually touching him or his soaked clothes. Neville and Seamus followed closely behind.
Arthur then heard how Professor Snape rounded on Harry and accused him for trying to look good by not telling Neville to not add the quills, which Arthur thought was ridiculous, but couldn't do anything against. Why would Harry even be responsible for what Neville put in his potion in the first place? If anything Professor Snape should have been the one who made sure everyone made the potion correctly. By the time they were out of the classroom Gryffindor had lost another five points though, no matter how unfair Arthur thought it was. This was perhaps also partly the reason why Neville began to cry loudly the moment they were out of earshot from the classroom.
"I'm sorry! I swear I didn't mean for it to happen! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"
Neither Arthur nor the others had the heart to be angry at Neville. It had clearly been an accident, and it was not even Neville's fault Arthur slipped and fell down from his chair in the first place. Arthur attempted to tell Neville this, but it turned out boils had begun to pop up on his tongue, which in turn made it difficult to talk, so he opted on to turn around and try to give Neville a reassuring smile instead. He must have failed miserably though, because Neville took one look at him and then began to cry even louder while he begged Arthur for forgiveness. Hermione tried her best to reassure Neville no one was angry at him, but to be honest Arthur wasn't sure if Neville even heard her over his crying. Meanwhile the other Gryffindor-boy, Seamus Finnigan, awkwardly walked beside them and looked like he had no idea what he was supposed to do. Arthur didn't blame him.
Thankfully there weren't a lot of people in the corridors when they got up from the dungeons, since most of them were in class, but there were still too many outside in the corridors for Arthur's liking. They openly stared at them all the way to the hospital wing, and despite Arthur's attempts to glare at them for doing so the effect was drastically lowered because of the many and quite painful green, purple and black boils which by now were all over his face. It didn't help when Arthur and the others realized they didn't even know the where the Hospital Wing was yet, but Hermione was fast to make use of the courage Gryffindor was famous for and asked for directions from a friendly-looking Hufflepuff in her sixth year. The girl was then kind enough to show them the way and only left them once they stood in front of the door to the Hospital Wing.
To her credit Madam Pomfrey didn't even blink at what must have been an unusual sight when they finally entered the Hospital Wing. Instead she just quickly led Arthur and the now only sniffling Neville to two beds next to each other, told them to lay down and then listened when Hermione explained what had happened. When Hermione was done Madam Pomfrey was quick to mix up two slightly different potions for both Arthur and Neville to drink (Arthur suspected it was because he had got two different potions over him, instead of only one), which tasted horrible, and told them the boils should be completely gone in 2-3 hours. However she also warned them the side effect of the potions would leave them sleepy and a bit dizzy for at least another three hours after the boils were gone, so therefore Madam Pomfrey would need to keep them in the Hospital Wing over the night to keep an eye on them. It was hardly how Arthur imagined how his first Friday at Hogwarts would turn out and it didn't get better when Hermione was sent back to the Potion class with the Finnigan-boy. At least Hermione promised before she left she would come back and visit them both when class was over and bring them their bags, which they had forgotten in the dungeons.
An hour later the potion had begun to take effect, and just like he had been promised Arthur could feel how the boils were slowly beginning to disappear. Arthur was thankful the ones on his tongue were among the first to go, because it allowed him to actually talk again, and Arthur quietly began to try and reassure Neville it really wasn't his fault Arthur fell off the chair. It was clear Neville didn't believe him though, but it looked like the side effects of the potion Neville drank had already begun take effect, because Neville seemed to have a hard time to keep his eyes open. By the time Hermione returned with their bags Neville had fallen fast asleep, so Arthur and Hermione were careful to keep their voices down while Hermione informed Arthur about the homework they received. Eventually Hermione was forced to leave for lunch though, and Arthur was then left alone to his boredom.
At some point he must have dozed off, because the next time Arthur opened his eyes Katlyn, Jack and Jade were suddenly sitting around his bed and played a game of cards. At the moment it looked like they were playing Go Fish, and for some reason they had decided his legs made a great table.
"What are you three doing here?" Arthur asked sleepily and stifled a yawn.
"Fancy to finally see you awake," Jack grinned in a greeting. "Katlyn told us what happened, and so we decided we couldn't leave one of our own alone and bored on a Friday evening. So here we are, here to keep you company until Madam Pomfrey decides she has had enough of us and throws us out!"
"Which I will do right now if you don't lower you voice," Madam Pomfrey threatened further down the room.
"Sure thing, Madam!" Jack assured her, but forgot to lower his voice anyway.
Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes, apparently used to Jack's behavior, and then disappeared through the door to her office.
"How are you feeling?" Katlyn asked as she turned back to face Arthur, looking worried.
"I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey just wants to keep me and Neville for the night because of the side effects of the potions she forced us to drink to get rid of the boils."
"She's a great healer, but she can be a little overprotective towards her patients," Jade smiled slightly.
"When I ended up with that concussion and broken leg I was stuck here for a week!" Jack laughed.
"Wha- How did that happen?" Katlyn questioned in surprise.
"This idiot has been one of the Chasers in Slytherin's Quidditch-team since his second year," Jade explained with a roll of her eyes. "The matches against Gryffindor and Ravenclaw went fine, but during the match against Hufflepuff his broom was hit by a bludger and was shattered into pieces. He scared us half to death when he fell from that height."
"Well, let's just say that landing could have gone better too," Jack grimaced and unconsciously rubbed his right leg.
"You haven't ended up in the Hospital Wing because of Quidditch since then though," Jade added with a small smile. "So I guess you at least learnt to be a little more careful."
"Well, I'm not stupid. I rather lose the match than my life," Jack rolled his eyes in amusement, then added with a grin: "We still won the match and the house-cup though!"
"Yes, I know. You wouldn't shut up about it for the rest of the year," Jade snorted, looking amused.
"Come to think about it the flying lessons should begin for you guys soon," Jack said in excitement and turned towards Katlyn and Arthur.
"No, they are not going to try out for the Quidditch-team. First-years are not even allowed to have their own broom," Jade reminded Jack with a stern voice and with a glare which clearly said 'Don't even think about it.'
"That's a stupid rule."
Jade ignored Jack's pout while she took up the cards to blend them.
"Anyway, what do you say, Arthur? Do you want to join us for another round of Go Fish?"
Arthur nodded in agreement, and when Neville woke up a while later he was also invited to play with them. After dinner they were even joined by a surprisingly shy Hermione, who after she finished her homework decided to come and visit Arthur and Neville again. Together all of them then spent the rest of the evening playing different games of cards. Well, at least until Madam Pomfrey a few hours later loudly declared Arthur and Neville needed their rest and shooed out the rest of them from the Hospital Wing. By then Arthur was tired again (not that he would ever admit it, of course), so he didn't protest too much against it and said goodbye and good night to the others. The Hospital Wing was perhaps not the funniest place to spend his first Friday at Hogwarts in, but Arthur supposed it could have gone worse, and as he listened to Neville's snoring Arthur couldn't help but to fall asleep with a small grin on his face.
o.o.o.( End of Chapter 07 ).o.o.o
Author Note:
I would once again like to thank everyone who read, fave, follow and/or review my story -
it means a lot to me to know people actually read and like something I've written, so thank you! /Jezzica