The night was short. Because of the jet lag, I had fallen asleep very late, but I had slept like a rock.
It was Min's energetic knock on the door that made me realise it was morning and that I could no longer curl up in my bed.
"It's half past six Daisy, breakfast starts in half an hour. Don't forget the school uniform includes the tie, it has to be tied neatly. So get up, now!" she shouted from the other side of the door.
"Good morning to you too", I grumbled under my breath.
Thirty minutes later, freshly showered with my hair tied in a loose bun, my new school uniform with perfectly tied tie and my school bag over my shoulder, I was standing in the Great Hall for breakfast.
I sat back down at the end of the Huffelpuff table and started eating a bowl of cereal while I continued reading my book.
The students were restless, the conversations were jumbled, it was all too loud for me.
Damn amplified hearing.
I finished my breakfast as quickly as possible, because I had to find the arithmancy room and I certainly wasn't going to let the stupid map show me the way.
The room wasn't hard to find and so I waited in front of it leaning against the wall and continued reading my book.
Gradually more students arrived and again there were too many voices for my head.
The last free seat in the room was in the front row.
Of course no one wanted to sit there. So I dropped into the chair and put my book on the table, along with the parchment and quill.
Writing with quill on parchment, Hogwarts was absolutely old-fashioned when it came to writing utensils.
In Ilvermorny we also wrote on parchment, but at least we were allowed to use pens. But I guess that's not magical enough for Hogwarts.
So I would have to get used to writing my exams with such an impractical writing utensil.
The teacher, Professor Vector, began her lesson much like Professor McGonnagal had last night's opening ceremony, with a speech about casualties of war and how important cohesion is in such times.
"As you know we have two seventh year classes this year, you will share all of your classes together, so these faces will not be unknown to you for a long time.
However, we also have a completely new face...".
I sighed.
I would have to do that in every class now.
"Ms Harper, do you mind introducing yourself to the class before we start our lesson?"
Slowly I Rose from my chair and turned to face the rest of the class.
I looked into many curious but friendly faces and took another deep breath.
"Hey, I'm Daisy Harper, I'm 16 years old. I'm from Portland in the US and went to Ilvermorny. I'm doing a year abroad here and will be graduating with you guys."
Not too bad, no stuttering, no trembeling over words and everything important said.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, I'm sure you will make new friends here very quickly".
New friends. That assumed you had old friends, which I didn't. So if I did I would just make friends but even that wasn't what I wanted, I was doing pretty well on my own after all.
The lesson was good, I kept up quiet well and was already further along than my classmates.
That was a subject that would go well, I was more worried about Potions this afternoon.
I was never bad but not particularly good either. Solid acceptable, that's how my teacher always described my performance. But whether that would be enough here, I didn't know.
But for now I was happy, care of magical creatures would be my next lesson.
The best subject there was here at Hogwarts.
I would shine, because I had grown up with my grandfather, who worked with magical creatures. So they were to me as rabbits or hamsters were to No-Maj children.
I could identify each familiar one, could tell where they came from, how dangerous they were, how to catch them and knew how to behave towards each so as not to be seen as a danger.
Many of the creatures also sensed that I was not quite human, it put them at ease and so I could form bonds with them more easily.
Besides, the professor in this subject was Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant and old acquaintance of my grandfather. When he was in London, the two of them would often meet and talk for hours about magical creatures.
I had never been there, but Grandpa always spoke highly of him, so I was sure that this lesson would be good.
Hagrid's hut was not so easy to find, unlike the arithmancy Room.
I knew it had to be somewhere on the Hogwarts lands.
The stupid map was no help either and I certainly wouldn't ask him for directions. I could do better asking one of the students, it would be less awkward.
"Come on Draco, we shouldn't be late, it's a bit of a walk to Hagrid's hut, if McGonnagal finds out you're playing truant she'll kick you straight out of school!" Shouted a girl with short black hair behind me.
She was followed at a distance by a tall boy with blond, almost white hair, walking upright as if someone had tied a broom to his back.
They seem to have to go to Hagrid's too, I'll just follow them, I decided without further ado and walked behind the broom boy at a distance.
The girl was constantly talking to him, but all she got from him was an incomprehensible grumble.
Hagrid's hut was on the edge of the hogwarts grounds on the border of the forest.
Min had already told me yesterday that it was forbidden to enter the forest, but she didn't tell me why.
"How happy I am to see you all again," the half-giant called out a little too loudly for the not really large distance that was between him and his students were standing in front of him.
"I have prepared wonderful things for the next few weeks, come along!" He waved the students after him behind the house and a little way into the forest.
So when a teacher is with you, it doesn't seem to be forbidden.
We came to a stop in a clearing with a fenced pasture.
"What are those strange things?"
"Can't he bring pretty creatures?"
I heard some voices murmuring from the crowd.
"Can anyone tell me what kind of creature this is?" Professor Hagrid asked the crowd.
It wasn't difficult for me to determine, many times my grandfather had told me about them and a few times I was allowed to help him care for one.
The other students seemed to find the determination very difficult indeed, for no one came forward and so I decided not to let the poor professor be presented like that without an answer and raised my arm.
"Yes Miss ...?"
"Harper," I added quickly.
"A graphorn, lives in the mountainous regions of Europa. Its greyish-purple scales are harder than a dragon's. Often hunted for its horns because they find use in powder form in various potions."
"Very good Ms Harper, five points for Hufflepuff." Professor Hagrid smiled broadly at me and I grinned back.
I was sure I would enjoy the lessons.
Somewhere behind me I heard someone whispering not very softly.
"Another mudblood nerd, I thought we'd got rid of them all.
I wouldn't turn around to see who it was, but whoever it was, was even more old-fashioned than the quills.
The lesson went without further incident,
Professor Hagrid told us a few things about Graphorns and I supplemented with my knowledge.
I had really enjoyed the lesson and was already looking forward to the next one.
On the way back to the castle, I walked behind a group of students, one of whom was the broom boy from earlier.
I didn't listen to what they were saying until I heard my name and suddenly listened intently to their conversation.
"That Harper is getting on my nerves already, who is she anyway and why is she here?"
"She's from America" a female voice added and I wondered how she knew.
"Then she should bloody well go back there, we can't have any more mudbloods here, Hogwarts is already infested with them anyway".
That was definitely coming from the blond.
Seems like a really likeable guy, wants to skip class and insults new students because they're smarter than him.
"Don't let a silly little Hufflepuff who's a head shorter than you bug you. Give her one dirty look and she won't say another word around you," a dark-skinned boy nudged him with a laugh.
No chance, I said to myself and then stopped listening.
After lunch I found myself in a cold dungeon where potions was being taught.
Very cliché. Now I was sure to be joined by an evil grumpy professor with black hair who hated children more than contagious diseases.
I was wrong, the professor looked quite funny and not like he hated children.
My mood was about to lift when the blond broom boy and his friends came into the dungeon.
Great, I sighed, now they would be right about the silly little Hufflepuff after all, because I wouldn't be able to cover myself in glory in Potions.
Take a deep breath, it's going to be alright.
The lesson wasn't as bad as I expected.
I had to introduce myself again, which I had been spared in Professor Hagrid's class.
After that, Professor Slughorn told us about all the potions we would be working on this year and which ones would be important for our N.E.W.T. exams.
A very long introduction later, we actually started the lesson.
He wrote down the preparation of Felix Felicis on the board, which we would be working on in the next lesson.
I meticulously wrote everything down so as to make as few mistakes as possible in the next lesson.
I didn't hear any stupid comments from the blond boy and his friends during the whole lesson, which was probably due to the fact that hardly anyone except the professor got a word in edgewise.
I was very grateful for this, because it gave me time to prepare for the next lesson, so that I wouldn't look like the stupid little Hufflepuff.
The whole time until dinner I pondered whether small, stupid or Hufflepuff should be the biggest insult.
Yes, I was short, not super short, more like low average. I wouldn't call myself stupid either, I'm quite well-read in some subjects, so I'd call myself rather smart.
But what kind of insult should Hufflepuff be?
The way they had said it, it must have been one, although I couldn't make sense of why it was bad to be in a certain house.
Min had told me that Hufflepuff House stood for kindness, loyalty, fairness and honesty.
Not one of those attributes I would find offensive if someone attributed it to me. I was more likely to find them flattering.
I should just let it go, then they should think I'm small, stupid or whatever.
Rain pattered against the windows of my room and as hard as I tried to concentrate on my potion notes I could barely keep my eyes open.
I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I woke up in the middle of the night with my head on my open book.
I decided to spend the rest of the night in my bed, snuggled up in my blanket, which unfortunately didn't smell like home at all.
