Henry, Emily, and Renee were shocked to hear that they were related to Harry Potter of all people. They had a million questions for Lily.
Julia spoke up and said, "Whose Harry Potter and how do you guys know of him before now?"
Lily said, "For one, Julia, Harry Potter is my father. And two, he's famous for defeating a very dark wizard in England."
Henry said, "More than once at that!"
Lily then did her best to explain to Julia what happened in the 70s and then when her father once again defeated the darkest wizard of all. Julia was of course dumbfounded. She said, "But how can a baby defeat a powerful wizard?"
Lily said, "We may never know the truth to that."
Emily said, "Is your father going to contact Grandpa and Great-Grandma?"
Lily said, "That's what he messaged me."
Renee said, "If I remember correctly, there are three of you children right?"
Lily replied nodding, "Yes. My brother, James is fifteen and in his fifth year as a Gryffindor. He plays on the Quidditch team, is the captain and is also a house prefect. Albus is thirteen and is in Slytherin but as a third year at Hogwarts."
Everyone was surprised. After they finished their discussion, they went to lunch.
After lunch, Lily, Julia, and Renee split off from Emily and Henry to map out their routes for their classes. Lily was thankful for the maps, and that they got fifteen minutes in between classes to use the restroom and get to their next class. After mapping out their classes, Lily and her friends went back to the girls dormitories, where they lounged in the grass in the courtyard.
That night, Lily packed her bag. She was thankful that her father and Aunt Hermione had put a lightweight charm and expansion charm on her bag, so that she could fit most of her books in her bag. She put her notebooks, folders, and textbooks for Charms, Transfiguration, Dark Creatures, and Herbology along with her notebook and folder for General Studies since there was no assigned textbook for that class. Lily figured she would use the binders for her notes and returned assignments. She also thought that after her study time, she would head to the dorms again to grab the things she needed for her potions class.
The next morning, Lily showered and dressed. As she was doing up her hair, Brenda came in and yawned. She said, "You ready for class?"
Lily replied nodding, "Yep. Packed my school bag last night. I do have a question. How come there isn't any assigned textbooks for General Studies class?"
Brenda said, "You get those in class. Each day you have a different subject taught. Mondays is English Literature, Tuesdays are Writing, Wednesday you have science, Thursday is government, and on Fridays, you get to learn a foreign language."
Lily said, "What kind of Foreign Language?"
Brenda said, "First year, you are taught Spanish, Second year you are taught French as those are the most common at Ilvermorny. Starting in third year, you get to choose your foreign language or you can continue studying French or Spanish."
Lily said, "Nice."
Brenda nodded. Lily finished up with her morning routine. She then grabbed her bag and her map. On the way downstairs, Julia joined her on the elevator.
Julia said, "I'm so excited to learn magic!"
Lily smiled. In the dining hall, they found Renee sitting with Deidra and Brandy. Renee smiled at them. Renee had Transfiguration first. Deidra and Brandy had general studies with Lily and Julia along with Transfiguration and Potions.
After they finished eating breakfast, the five of them made their way to their classroom. Renee left them at the staircase to go up to the third floor. The school had magical elevators just like the dormitories, but Renee said she preferred to take stairs.
In their classroom, Lily took a seat and took out her notebook and folder for the General Studies class and waited. Five minutes later, the teacher entered.
He said, "Welcome students! We'll give everyone a few minutes to get here before we start taking roll call."
The tardy bell soon rang, and the teacher closed the door. He said, "Welcome to Ilvermorny first years. My name is Mr. Wilms. Go ahead and laugh if you want. A little bit about me. I'm a squib, my parents were a witch and wizard, but sadly, I was born without magic. I went to school in the non-magical world, and graduated from Boston College with a degree in teaching. Mrs. Allen was kind enough to allow me to teach here at Ilvermorny. So, you all are probably wondering what we are going to be learning in General Studies?" Several people murmered their yes. "Well, we don't want you to forget your origins, so we teach you in the non-magical studies also. You learn all these subjects through all seven years at Ilvermorny. This way if you want to continue onto university in the non-magical world you can…"
Mr. Wilms went on to talk. He went over what they would be studying each day of the week, and then he passed out the English Literature book that they would be studying out of. He told them to read the first chapter, and write a short summary on what they read. Lily quickly wrote down the assignment in her planner just as the bell rang to switch classes.
As they were leaving the classroom, Lily heard her classmates talking about the class. Lily smiled. Lily and Julia bid Brandy and Deidra bye as they made it to the staircase. Deidra and Brandy had herbology next.
The rest of the day was spent learning what was expected with each class. During her study session, Lily got her reading done for General Studies and was working on her assignment, when the bell rang. Lily quickly went down to the dorms, and dropped off her books and gathered up her potions things.
In Potions, Mr. Snape said, "Welcome to Potions class. There is no silly incantations or wand waving in this class. There is only a couple of spells you will need to use in this class and I'll be teaching those to you in the next few days. First, you each will be assigned a locker for your all your potion making supplies. The lockers are just outside the room…"
Lily smiled as she listened. After class, Lily put her stuff in assigned locker. Lily then went back to her dorm with Renee where they met up with Julia. Everyone gathered up their books and went outside to the courtyard.
Renee said, "That was an interesting day."
Lily had learned that they would have lectures on Mondays and Tuesdays, and then on Wednesday and Thursday will be their practical work. Homework would be due on Wednesdays at the beginning of class. Potions was the only exception to this. Mondays, he would go over the potion or potions they would be covering that week, and then the rest of the week they would be brewing them. At first they would be just doing simple potions that would be easily made in the 45 min of class, but as time went on, they would need to have more time to brew, so they would use a stasis charm on their potions.
By the time they decided to go and get supper, Lily had her writing for General Studies and Transfiguration done. After supper, Lily returned to her room, where she continued working on her homework. She loved studying with her friends, but all they seemed to want to do is talk, and chat and not work on much of their homework. They said they had tomorrow to do it also. Lily wanted to know what they were going to be talking about the next day in class and thought that the teacher might ask questions to make sure they had understood the material first.
The next morning at breakfast, Lily received her first owl post. She tore it open with eagerness as she handed the owl a piece of bacon. She wondered who it was from as she didn't recognize the owl.
Ms. Potter,
My name is Mr. Thompson and I am the Horned Serpent house head teacher. I would like to meet with you on Friday at 430 PM. You are not in trouble in anyway, its just to see how you are doing in your classes, and to address any issues you may have. My office is located in room 506. I look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Sincerely,
Mr. Carl Thompson
Third Year Charms
Lily looked at Renee, who had been reading the letter over her shoulder. Renee said, "We need to show this to your house mother. Teachers are not to meet with students outside of class except for detentions, unless of course it's the hall teacher who is assigned to your dormitory, and since you are a female, it wouldn't be a male."
Lily said, "Its Mrs. Cutter."
Renee said, "After breakfast, we will head that way. She is sixth and seventh year transfiguration teacher."
Lily said, "How come she has two years?"
The teachers at Ilvermorny were set up to where each year had a separate teacher.
Renee commented, "Not as many sixth and seventh years continue certain subjects. If they do find that there is more, Mrs. Allen will step in and teach the seventh years. Mrs. Allen is one of the few that have several masteries including transfiguration and charms."
"Okay, that makes sense then."
They quickly finished up their breakfast, and left. Mrs. Cutter had already finished. They headed up to the fifth floor where the teacher offices were and found Mrs. Cutter's office. Lily knocked and they were bid to enter.
"Ah, Mrs. Potter. I hope you are finding everything alright so far."
Lily nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am. However, I received this note from Mr. Thompson this morning and my friend, Renee here mentioned that I should bring it to your attention."
Mrs. Cutter took the note with a questioning look. She looked at it and had a furious look on her face. Mrs. Cutter said, "You do not have to go to this meeting, Ms. Potter. Here is a note for both of your teachers in case you don't have the same class together. I will talk to Mr. Thompson and also make Mrs. Allen aware that what he has done. You have a wise friend, Ms. Potter."
Lily nodded.
After Lily and Renee left, Mrs. Cutter quickly put a note on her door that she would be away from the office for first period. Mrs. Cutter then went to the headmistress office.