Mechanical kitchen timers don't have batteries allowing them to work in magic areas, so it was to a shrill ringing that both girls woke up that morning, well I say 'woke up ' but Susan was the only one who slept that night while Hannah cuddled with a purring John and plotted in the confines of her mind. Orange rays of light streamed through a window between the girls beds , as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. It was all things considered ,quite an early hour to wake up but Susan wasn't complaining, in fact she leapt out of bed and dashed into the bathroom before Hannah could even tell her good morning.
Hannah let out a small chuckle at her roommate's morning antics and went through the arduous task of freeing herself from the heavy duvet, ignoring John's pleas for more affection. Eventually the feline grew bored and padded over to the 2 bowls by her bed , one filled with water and the other cat food. It definitely didn't escape Hannah's notice that the bowls weren't there yesterday.
'I better thank the elves when I see them ' thought Hannah as she pulled on the set of uniform that she wore yesterday. They weren't freshly cleaned but they weren't dirty either, plus perfect hygiene wasn't her biggest concern right now. Although it did raise the question in her mind about how often the house elves did the laundry , not that it was a priority right now but when stressed, Hannah had a habit of analysing the smallest details
Once she was dressed , she pulled her long hair in a tight bun.
A couple minutes after Hannah got dressed Susan bounded out of the bathroom in a large white bathrobe.
"Morning Hannah, are you ready to kick some magic ass?" Susan asked, hands on her hips, striking a pose, causing Hannah to giggle despite her mounting anxiety about what came next.
"Sure Susan , by the way do you remember how to get to the lunch hall? 'cause I don't remember very clearly" said Hannah
"Yeah I have a killer sense of direction don't worry bout it" Susan chirped.
Assured that she wouldn't spend hours lost in the castle by herself , Hannah went about sorting out her supplies while Susan got dressed. After some needling Patricia had told her that for her first year there were 5 lessons per day and that all of them were the core subjects- Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration and Herbology. There was also one period spent in the study hall, overseen by a teacher. This made packing a lot easier since she just needed to bring all her books and not memorize what classes she had each day , although the order they were taught still changed .
Fortunately Patricia had transfigured the backpack that she had when she visited the Weasleys into a satchel and charmed it with a feather-light charm and a minor expansion charm , making the internal size as large as her trunk . This was probably the only reason that the large list of items she wanted to bring was somewhat realistic. This included and was not limited to
1) a notebook for her observations on magic,
2) copies of Fantastic beasts and where to find them by Newt Scamander and An introduction to the healing arts by Jacqueline Mauntel
3) A metal water bottle(filled with the tap in the dorm's bathroom sink) since she found pumpkin juice repulsive, she had planned to use it on outings but it seemed she'd need it now not later.
4)A steak knife she sneaked out from her 'home' , so if Quirrell got too close for comfort , she had a back up plan if she couldn't reach her wand in time. She probably wouldn't have a chance to use it but it was comforting to have nonetheless .
5) bandages and plasters
6) a pair of dragon hide gloves for potions
7) brass scales also for potions
8) a few empty vials with blank labels
9) a yarn of string
10) An introduction to the art of healing by Jaqueline mauntel
11) a metal lunch box , also for trips (or if she got a bit hungry)
12) Oh and don't forget the textbooks for all 5 of her subjects
You're probably wondering what that plan is , and I would be delighted to inform you. Hannah wanted to get rid of the basilisk. Early.
Simply because that would leave second year free of any distractions, giving her more time to focus on killing the horcruxes and preparing for her 4th year and the shit storm that would accompany it. The only issues with her plan was that she didn't want to kill the basilisk if she could help it but it followed Tom riddle's orders even in the presence of another parseltongue speaker and had been bound to the Slytherin line for hundreds of years , indicating some powerful magic that Hannah knew she had little chance of undoing in just a years time.
She closed her bag with a heavy sigh ,'this was gonna be a long year' she thought. A very long year indeed.
—
Despite the large size of the castle it was surprisingly easy to find the great hall again after the two girls realized that even though the inhabitants of the paintings move , the backgrounds stay the same. Using the portraits as a guide , it wasn't too long until they arrived in the great hall, the night sky glamour was now gone , revealing intricate patterns in the aged stone, light crept in through the large window, it still carried a pinkish hue , indicating the early hour.
Silver plates and metal jugs coated the four tables. There were Croissants, scotch pancakes with syrup , porridge, cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs with bacon, scones (with clotted cream and jam), jugs of tea ,milk and water.
Hannah was drooling.
She was quick to sit down and start eating , having not eaten much at the feast, she felt famished. The next 2 minutes were spent in quiet (and in Hannah's case contemplative) chewing. Hannah's thoughts strayed to Harry , she was honestly quite worried about him, If it were feasible she would steal away Harry ,spoil him rotten and use the immense powers of puppy eyes to convince Patricia and Robert to adopt him.
But that currently wasn't possible.
So for now she has to question how moral it is to use slave labour to obtain food , clothes and protection for an abused child over the summer. She came to the conclusion that she wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it but definitely some because the treatment of house elves was wrong on so many levels and the fact that only Hermione thought so in the books was something she found disturbing.
Hannah swallowed the last morsel of her third cinnamon roll and let out a quiet sigh.
Why couldn't her life be more simple she wondered as she went to reach for a jug of tea , which led to her questioning how witches and wizards serve tea , sadly she was unable to complete that last line of thought before Susan asked her something (through a mouthful of pancakes).
"So what are you plotting " joked Susan
(Hannah choked on her tea)
HANNAH's POV
I swear this girl will be the death of me. How the hell am I supposed to do anything with this (weirdly) perceptive girl literally sleeping in the same bloody room as me. I guess there goes my plan of dealing with this Voldemort shit alone. The whole point of my approach was to avoid putting people in danger (well except myself that is) but Scooby-doo over here is smart and I'm not the best at lying ( that's not to say I'm terrible at it either).
Judging by the (feral) grin that Susan is sporting in response to my shock , I don't think she's gonna let up anytime soon and I can't afford to delay my plans for weirdly perceptive roommates. Ugh I'm too young for this cra-
—-
As you can probably see, Hannah wasn't having the easiest of beginnings but every hero faces an obstacle before they get to slay the dragon and she definitely planned to slay something this year.
Hannah was saved from having to answer Susan as a very tired looking Amanda Grant dumped their timetables in front of them.
"Oh ,sweet!" exclaimed Susan.
"What do we have first ?" asked Hannah.
"Potions" Susan replied
Hannah just sighed as she slung her bag over her shoulder, grabbed some cinnamon rolls which she stuffed into her metal lunch box and begrudgingly made her way out of the hall.
"Are you coming Susan?"
"Yeah just give me a second " Susa huffed as she tried to inhale one last pancake.
Hannah found herself smiling at her roommate (again), maybe Susan being part of her plans wouldn't be as bad as she thought .
—-
I feel it's important to tell you that Hannah didn't hate potions , but prolonged exposure to Professor Snape wasn't something she was looking forward to, in some ways he was one of her favourite characters, in others he was someone that she wanted to punch in the face . A lot.
So it really was anyone's guess on how things would unfold.
"Jeez slow down Hannah" said Susan , panting while trying to keep up with the taller girl.
Hannah just huffed as she carried on walking (sprinting but who cares about the semantics) down the corridor , narrowly dodging a couple of third years.
"Trust me Susan , for this class we don't want to be late"
In the end they weren't late, just very out of breath, in fact ten minutes passed before Snape arrived, making Susan give Hannah a deadpan look which made the taller girl shrug her shoulders sheepishly.
"There will be no silly wand waving in this class"
The tone in which the words were said left no room for argument.
"What are you waiting for? Open your books to page 13. Class has begun"
—-
The potions classroom was a dreary place , the windows at the front of the class were grimy making the lighting a murky grey. The lesson however was fine , Hannah and Susan's potions turned out so good that they only got a half glare from Snape which Hannah was more than ready to count as a win. Overall Snape wasn't that bad, just really grumpy . 'Kinda like a hungry cat.' thought Hannah.
It probably helped that none of the kids in their class had messy black hair or a Lightning bolt scar.
Thirty minutes and one lecture later they started brewing their first potion. It was honestly not as hard as she thought it would be, Susan was fast and efficient at preparing the ingredients while Hannah decoded the confusing (and often contradicting ) instructions in the textbook. In the end they were the second to last pair to finish but they got the least scrutiny. A few threats and a homework assignment later , they were set free and began to make their way to their next class, Transfiguration.
HANNAH's POV
"Oh god that class was horrid, I've never been so tense in my whole life" groaned Susan once we were out of earshot of the human equivalent of a grumpy cat (with a dramatic cape collection).
"Don't worry Susan, judging from the pained expression he had for the whole lesson, I'm sure he hated the last 50 minutes as much as you did." I said half serious, half joking.
Susan gave a light laugh and nod of agreement before returning to the arduous task of finding the transfiguration classroom while I trailed after her in the hopes of not getting lost in the castle or as I call it , death trap.
As we made our way to class , my mind started to wander.
I didn't exactly disagree with what Susan said, the class was tense …..but also underwhelming. I guess a small and admittedly childish part of me expected , well actually I'm not sure what I expected. I just thought that my first Potions class taught by one of the most important/iconic characters would change me somehow or have some sort of significance or anything really.
But it was , if I'm being honest rather plain, mainly because of the teacher, not the subject. Potions was a fascinating subject but getting sneered at consistently for almost an hour gets old after a while. Snape didn't inspire any emotions apart from some pity ,he just looked so unhappy to be there in that classroom. I'm now convinced that Potion lessons are just as painful for him to teach as they are for the other students to experience .
It was easier when he wasn't real , it made it easier to hate him , to sympathise and to simply not care because who reads about a character like Snape and honestly thinks that they're one day going to have to meet him? or reconcile their admiration and their disdain for the man ?
The answer is a madman.
I decided to try not to think about it. There were so many emotionally stunted and broken men in this story, I shouldn't have to fix them all . I didn't have the time. Even if I wanted to do something, I had no clue what that something was ,besides I had other things to worry about , starting with finding the bloody transfiguration class.
—-
As Hannah and Susan would soon find out, the transfiguration was actually on the other side of the castle, leading to a mad sprint across the building only to just barely make it in time.
The transfiguration was like the rest of the castle, in other words, ancient. The walls had intricately carved pillars and embellishments protruding from their surface. Large windows almost five metres tall and two metres wide , allowing light to flood the classroom. Instead of individual chairs there were long wooden benches and along the edge of the room was an array of bronze bird cages that held various birds, some with vivid colouring , the largest being a toucan. It was weird and bizarre to say the least.
Hannah loved it.
"Where's the teacher? " asked Susan as her eyes searched the classroom and stopped on a grey tabby sitting stoically on the desk at the front of the class as it watched the remaining students trickle in through the door .
Before Hannah could stop her , Susan let out a squeal and began to attack the poor cat with a barrage of cuddles and forehead kisses while cooing at an obscenely high pitch.
It took Hannah a few seconds before she realized what Susan was petting or perhaps it would be more accurate to say who she was petting.
Hannah quickly pulled her roommate away from the (fluffy) teacher before Susan started trying to give her belly rubs and dragged the girl to a bench in the back of the classroom to minimize the impending mortification that would occur when McGonagall transformed in front of the class.
But she never did.
The grey tabby simply walked out the classroom and Professor McGonagall walked in a few seconds later.
What Hannah didn't see was Susan's attempts to stifle her laughter after she looked at McGonagall's disgruntled face as she began to address the class. The Weasleys twins weren't the only ones who liked a good prank it seemed.
Transfiguration was a lot more engaging, after the register McGonagall was quick to explain the dangers of transfiguring objects without supervision.
" please refrain from transfiguring objects into food or drink, it will only end in pain"
' Well that wasn't ominous at all ' Hannah thought sarcastically, getting out her notebook and pen (quills be damned) , ready for the beginning of class.
—
"Now class" began McGonagall as she paced in front of a black board situated at the front of the class.
"Transfiguration is easily one of the easiest subjects you will learn as well as the hardest, in this class wand movements and incantations will only bring you so far. To truly excel in this subject you will need control, creativity and practice "
Walking up to one of the bronze cages , McGonagall selected a small white dove , she positioned the creature to perch on her arm and readied her wand .
"Vera verto."
A shimmering grey light travelled over the bird's body, it almost turned translucent before it began to morph into the shape of a cup, the translucent form slowly turned bronze as the transformation reached its conclusion. The bird was gone, a goblet now took its place.
The class began to murmur and whisper, their voices filled with awe.
"Can anyone tell me what just happened there?" McGonagall asked.
The Room was silent for a few seconds before a Ravenclaw boy put his hand up to answer .
"Yes , Mr Goldstein?" Said McGonagall
"You turned the goblet into a bird" replied the boy , his tone almost condescending as if he thought McGonagall was stupid for asking such a basic question. So it was rather satisfying when McGonagall said he was incorrect and his face turned a bright crimson. A few more seconds passed before Hannah decided to try her luck and raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Abbott?"
Hannah took a breath before she answered, public speaking was always something she found scary.
"You made the bird goblet-shaped" said Hannah
A couple of Ravenclaw students scoffed and giggled at Hannah's seemingly fanciful response and were treated with a venomous glare from Susan, who cracked her knuckles . However the smile McGonagall bestowed on her was nothing short of radiant.
"That is correct, well done Miss Abbott . Transfiguration doesn't not change what an object truly is but the form and characteristics that it exhibits, 5 points to Hufflepuff"
Susan gave Hannah a high five while the other Hufflepuffs gave her a thumbs up. Hannah couldn't help but envy them a little bit, she wished she had the time to care about something as trivial as house points.
—
After a brief explanation of visualization, McGonagall handed out a box of matches to each student .
"You have until the end of the lesson to turn a match stick into a needle , once you have done successfully, you must raise your hand so I can give you the next task…... you may begin"
While the other students rushed through their matches , one failed transfiguration after another. Hannah just stared, hard. She hadn't spent the last two months studying herself to death for nothing.
Hannah's understanding of Transfiguration had changed somewhat from her initial understanding of the subject. As it turns out , turning a matchstick into a needle is a bit more complicated than shoving a matchstick into a needle shaped container made of magic instead magic is used to change the distance between the particles of the matchstick to form the eye of the needle and then to cover the matchstick in a thin layer that acts like metal. It was these two concepts she had to keep in mind as she held her wand , pointed at the matchstick in her palm. Hannah took a deep breath before attempting the spell. First a thin string of magic passed through the matchstick's head and slowly grew to form the eye of the needle then it flowed over the surface turning the rough brown a lustrous silver before meeting at the end of the matchstick and sharpening to form a sharp point.
"Yes" Hannah whispered as she pumped her fist in celebration. She then went on to transfigure the other 20 or so Matchsticks in the box . 'McGonagall was right , this definitely gets easier with practice' thought Hannah. She recognized that obviously practice made doing something easier but she was just surprised how much easier it was during her subsequent attempts. It took ten minutes of glaring at a matchstick, going over everything she remembered about transfiguration for her to turn the matchstick into a needle the first time. The second time took a minute and by the time Hannah had turned the last matchstick into a needle , it took less than a second.
Hannah felt so much lighter after having cast the spell, for the briefest of moments she didn't feel so helpless anymore, instead there was a sense of accomplishment that settled warmly in her chest. For a minute or so Hannah just stared at the pile of needles with a goofy grin on her face before she raised her hand so she could get started with the next task.
"Wait , you're already done!" exclaimed Susan, the wonder clear on her face.
"Yeah" replied Hannah sheepishly in the face of Susan's unfiltered admiration. Her cheeks flushed.
"Do you think you could help me after class? I didn't really get what McGonagall was on about when she started talking about visualization exercises" asked Susan , turning to face Hannah fully.
"Sure" said Hannah
—
McGonagall had seen a lot in her time as a teacher but a student completing the matchstick exercise in under thirty minutes without making a single mistake wasn't one of them. She quickly told the girl to write an essay on the importance of visualization before walking back to her desk (fighting the urge to skip). It had been a while since she had seen such potential (she couldn't wait to brag to Severus), she smiled inwardly when she dismissed the class half an hour later, 'This ought to be an interesting year ' thought McGonagall.
She had no idea just how true that statement would turn out to be.