AN:
"" means outloud
'' means inside head
_ or more means to be determined
xxxxxx (underlines) means reading what the book said
() means me making a note
(I'm not going to try accents just yet, maybe later). Please send a review so I know how to write better.
Chapter 2: Classroom Madness
"Tempus," A 7:30 popped up in front of me.
Looking around as I got up, I could see that Neville was the only one up.
Going to my trunk and pulling out my clothes, I headed to the bathroom to change.
A few minutes later, I came out of the bathroom carrying my pj's to my bed, and I dropped them on the floor.
In the silence of the dorm, I could hear the other forth years sleeping, and I could hear muffled conversations downstairs.
'I guess I should finish up here,' grabbing my sheets, I pull them around the corners of my bed.
Looking at my finished bed, I nodded to myself. I picked up my dirty pj's off the floor and put them on my bed, I look at Neville, who has been sitting on his bed this whole time, 'If he needs something he'd ask me.' I looked back to him again, then walked downstairs.
Hermione was, as always, sitting on the couches in front of the fireplace, studying.
"Learn anything of interest, Hermione?"
She finished the page she was on before she started packing up, "you ready for Herbology?" She asked as she made sure she had everything.
"Nooo. it's too early for this." I complain as I wait for her.
She looked at me, "Quit complaining." She puts the bag on and starts walking towards the doorway. "Do you have your gloves, earmuffs, and textbook for Herbology?" She stopped and looked towards my bag.
"I do, I do. Let's just go get some breakfast." I take my wand out and mutter, "Tempus," and a 7:40 appeared in front of me. "Now hurry up, so we don't miss Hedwing." I say as I rush through the doorway. 'Hedwing'll be mad if I don't give her my daily offering.'
Nothing special happened during breakfast. It was like any other meal since Halloween, I just messed with my food.
As we made our way towards the Greenhouses, I could hear what people were saying about me.
"I heard he used dark magic to get past Dumbledore's age line." A sixth year Ravenclaw was saying to a friend as we were walking.
"I heard that Dumbledore helped him get past the age line." A third year Slytherin whispered.
"He's and attention-seeker, who stole Cedric's glory." A fourth year Hufflepuff said to a seventh year Hufflepuff.
The rumor-mill was just getting worse and worse.
As we rounded a corner in the endless maze of hallways, we saw Malfoy and the other fifth year Slytherins.
"Do you like it? Potter." Malfoy said, holding up his robe, which had a pin on it.
The pin said, Support Cedric Diggory, The Real Hogwarts Champions then the words started twisting and when it was done it had a picture of my head with green gas coming from it and it said, Potter Stinks.
'Couldn't he have thought of a better insult. Also, why were they all just sitting here? Were they waiting on me?"
I looked the pin over, and then I looked at each of the Slytherins there. The majority of them were wearing the pins, but three of them, one boy and two girls, weren't.
Malfoy put his hand into his pocket and pulled out another pin, "Why don't you have one. So everyone can know who the real champion is." Malfoy smirked while holding it out for me to take.
"Thanks," I shake my head, "But I don't think I want one."
Malfoy not taking no for an answer forced the pin into my hands, "You shouldn't refuse. After all, they usually cost a knut each." Then he and his posse walked away laughing.
I flipped the pin over and put it into my pocket. Looking at Hermione, I could see the frustration building up.
"At least I got it for free."
Hermione looked at me before she started laughing, "If he keeps giving the pins away, he won't make any profit off of them."
We continue on our way to the Greenhouses, ignoring the snide comments and rumors as we talked about what plants we will probably be messing with.
"Tempus," and I see an 8:30 popped up.
"Hermione, we're 30 minutes early." I look around the greenhouse, "There's almost no one here."
"Look over there." She pointed to three Hufflepuffs, each wearing Potter Stinks pins and talking amongst themselves.
"I could be messing with Hedwing still, Hermione." I start heading towards a pots
"Professor Sprout won't be here until 9. What should we do while we wait," I put my bag under the table, and Hermione did the same.
"Get prepared." She said while making sure to get what she needed out from under the table.
So I crouched and started rubishing through the cubby.
The noise of the Hufflepuffs talking slowly dwindled, allowing silence to take its place.
I continued to look through the underside of the table, trying to ignore the feeling of being watched. After trying and failing to ignore the feeling, I looked up. The Hufflepuffs that were talking amongst themselves now glared at me. They straightened their robes, cleary trying to show me the pin that they were wearing. Not wanting to bring any more attention to myself, I looked back into the cabinet.
"You think you're better than everyone else, don't you?" I looked up and saw the Hufflepuffs making their way towards me, "Think the Hufflepuff don't deserve this chance, do you?"
I looked up, 'Are they speaking to me?' I looked around the greenhouse, and the only other person was Hermione. "Um, no, I don't."
They were about to start again but stopped when Professor Sprout walked in.
She looked around and saw us, "Good. Can some of you help me bring in the equipment we'll need?" She continued to look at us, waiting for volunteers.
"We'll do it!" Hermione said while grabbing my arm and pulling me along with her.
"Thank you. Right this way," She started to lead us out of her class and towards Hagrid's Hut. "I need you to help move the fertilizer, and you can't use magic to move it."
Arriving at Hagrid's Hut, Professor Sprout led us to the little storage off to the side. Opening the door, we saw pots, gardening tools, bags of seeds, and bags of fertilizer.
"Grab two bags of fertilizer each, please." She said as she grabbed one of them.
The bags were about the size of a couch cushion and as thick as a stuffed pillow. 'How does she expect us to carry two at the same time?'
Going through the storage room, fine shed, I pull out a wheelbarrow. "Is it alright if we use this to bring them up?" I inspect the barrow, making sure it's sturdy enough.
"That's fine, Mr. Potter."
I picked up a bag of fertilizer and put it in the barrow, then I picked up a second bag and put it in the barrow, "Do you want to put yours in here too?" I look towards Hermione. She nodded, then picked up her first bag and placed it in the Wheelbarrow, then did the same with the next one.
I started wheeling it back towards the Greenhouses, catching up with Professor Sprout quickly. "Do you want to put your bag into here to ma'am?"
She looked at me before shaking her head.
Walking back to the Greenhouses me and Hermione, mainly Hermione, talked about Herbology and Transfiguration.
"Tempus," and an 8:55 popped up.
"Where do you want us to put the fertilizer?" I ask, looking for a place to set it.
"Over here." Sprout points to the corner behind her gardening table.
I pushed the wheelbarrow to the corner and started unloading the fertilizer. "Can I leave the wheelbarrow here for now? I'll take it back after class."
She nodded, then announced, "Class is about to start. Get to your stations!"
At the station that I normally used was Ron and Seamus. They were talking amongst themselves, and not wanting to bother them, I made my way to an empty station.
"Today, class. We are going to check on our Flitterbloom and then learn about Shrivelfigs." Her eyes flowing over the students. "When everyone is ready, put your gloves on the table."
Everyone started talking to their station mate while they gathered their gloves from the cubbies under the stations. I crouched and went for my bag.
My hand didn't feel anything and I didn't see my bag. 'My bag's at the other station.' I looked towards Ron and Seamus. 'I'll just wait.'
After waiting for about 5 minutes, they were still there, and they were still talking. 'They aren't going to move, are they?'
I look around to see who has and doesn't have their gloves, and there were about 3 or 4 people, other than myself, who didn't have their gloves. So I started walking to Ron's station.
As I approached, Ron looked towards me, "You coming to apologize?"
"No. I'm here for my bag, it's under the station." I continued until I was in front of them. "Can I get it?"
Seamus grabbed my bag and held it out for me, but before I could grab it, Ron snatched it from Seamus. "Why should we give you this? Does it have the way you got past the age line?" He started looking through my bag.
"All it has is my school supplies. So can you hand me my gloves? You can keep hold of my bag." I hold out my hand. Seamus saw the gloves and handed them to me, "Thanks." I muttered and walked away.
"Let's go check our Flitterblooms." Professor Sprout left the Greenhouse.
"Mr. MacMillan, do you want to explain why your Flitterbloom died?" Professor Sprout asked sternly as we walked back to the other greenhouse.
The Hufflepuff that came up and questioned me before class answered nervously, "It's because I didn't water it enough?"
He clearly didn't know why
"Is that a question or a statement, Mr. MacMillan?"
"It's a question, ma'am." He looked around, his hand rubbing his neck.
"Mr. Longbottom." The plump professor said, knocking Neville out of his thoughts, "Do you know why his plant died?"
"It's because it was overfed." He looked away. Before Sprout could congratulate him on being correct or tell him he's wrong, Hermione interjected, "But how was it overfed? Solis Effusio should've made that impossible?"
Neville looked around, clearly not wanting to answer, but Professor Sprout looked at him, "Well, Mr. Longbottom?"
"Well, in order for the Solis Effusio spell to work, it needs sunlight. The sunlight powers the spell that we put on the plant, giving it the necessary mana it requires to perform what we want from it, and if it has excess mana, it stores it." Neville stuttered his explanation out, "By overfeeding his Flitterbloom, MacMillan forced the spell to use up all of the available mana it had gathered and since it was inside the greenhouse with all of the other plants that had the same spell on them, it couldn't absorb enough sunlight."
Hermione nodded, "That makes sense. But doesn't that mean if we gave them too much water just once, they'll die?"
Professor Sprout answered, "No. Solis Effusio helps store the mana from the sun, and it helps power the absorption aspect." She went behind her station, Mr. MacMillan's plant just couldn't absorb enough sunlight since it was being divided into around 20-40 different plants." Everybody went to their stations as she spoke. "Let's get started on learning about Shrivelfigs and 10 points to Gryffindor for Mr. Longbottom answer."
"Tempus," and a 10:00 popped up.
"You're all dismissed!" Sprout exclaimed happily.
Everyone started talking at once and grabbed their bags. Some lingered and talked, while others rushed out, Ron was of the latter category.
'At least he has stopped bothering me.' I head to my old station, 'Where's my bag?' It wasn't in the cubby, so I looked around and saw it under the station. My bag was covered in dirt and grass stains, and my books and papers were scattered on the floor as well.
I hear snickering, and I groaned, 'Seriously Ron. Why couldn't they put it up?'
Pulling out my wand, I mutter a Reparo and watch as my bag repairs itself, I then muttered a Purgato and cleaned my bag.
I then mutter pertinentibus venire, and all my spilled belongings went to my hand, I organized them and then stuffed them into my bag.
Getting up and dusting the dirt of my clothes, I could see Hermione talking with Ron at the entrance. Getting closer, I realized that they were having a very heated talk. They were arguing over something.
"What's wrong?" They both looked towards me, Hermione with an annoyed expression, and Ron with frustration.
"None of your business!" Ron snarled, meanwhile, Hermione said, "Ronald here is trying to get me to stop hanging out with you."
Ron looked at Hermione and huffed, "Fine," and he walked away
"Too Transfiguration?" I ask her, and she nods.
"Tempus," and a 10:13 popped up
'With people trying to avoid me, it has become much easier to get to class.'
Turning a corner, we see Professor McGonagall open her door, allowing the few students entry into her classroom. Walking to the door, we could see a few Slytherins walking towards the class from the opposite hallway.
Looking at the tables, I saw Seamus sitting where I'm normally at, and the majority of the other seats filled.
Hermione walked to her seat, which Neville was already sitting at, while I looked for an empty spot.
The Gryffindors all had a partner, 'A few of them aren't here, that explains why there's no Gryffindor to sit with.'
I saw an empty table in the back and sat down. Looking around, I saw that all but one of the Slytherins were there, and that they were all sitting on their side, while around 3 or 4 Gryffindors were missing, not counting Ron.
Exactly at 10:15, Ron burst into the classroom, apologizing for being late
"Okay, class. Today, we are going to continue on what we studied yesterday and actually do the spell." Professor McGonagall looked around the class, noting who was here and who wasn't. "Does everyone remember the incantation for the switching spell?"
Hermione raised her hand, "movere maculis." She answered when McGonagall called on her.
"Correct, and does anyone know the wand movement?"
Hermione raised her hand again, "Point wand at first target, then move wand to second target, while moving from first target to second, the wand must go in a zigzag pattern."
"Good answer, five points to Gryffindor." McGonagall said as she wrote the wand movements on the blackboard. "Now that the wand movement is on the board and you know the incantation, please start practicing the spell. I have put a red button and a blue button on your desks for you to practice on. "
After about 20 minutes of trying, only Hermione managed to switch the buttons somewhat. Instead of them switching places, they moved closer to each other.
'It's supposed to switch when you say the incantation, but it isn't. Why?' I try the spell again, resulting in another failure. 'Am I not putting enough intention into my spell? Or is it because of another reason?' I try again. This time, I focused on my intent more. I failed again. 'It's not intention. So what could it be?' I mindlessly twirl my wand in my hand while I thought, 'Let's see, I'm doing the incantation correctly and the wand movement correctly, yet it still didn't work.' I heard McGonagall give Hermione 5 points for being the first to do it. 'I've tried using intent with it, but it still didn't work. What am I doing wrong?'
Looking around, I see a Slytherin female get the spell correctly, and Professor McGonagall rewarded her 5 points, to the annoyance of some, specifically Ron. He made his annoyance known, "Why are you giving a slimy Slytherin points? She didn't even do it first."
That got the points Hermione got to be quickly removed by McGonagall, "You make another comment like that, and you'll be in detention, Mr. Weasley." Ron nodded quickly.
Looking back to my buttons, 'What am I missing? What haven't I tried? Visualization. That's what I haven't tried. I need to visualize them switching spots when I do the necessary wand movement and incantation.' This time, when I did the spell, I completely focused on visualizing the buttons switching.
I failed again, but not completely. My buttons moved a bit, meaning I'm a step closer to properly doing the spell.
Sadly, I didn't make any more progress during class.