Within You, Without You

The three months at Hogwarts seemed to pass by quickly. It seems I got there only days after the school year ended for everyone else. Shortly after I got there, Hagrid brought me to a place called Diagon Alley. The first stop was to the bank, where I found out that my parents left me more gold than I thought could ever be left. Seriously, even Hagrid seemed to stare at it for a bit, transfixed by the glint every piece gave off, bringing light in the darkness. I got myself a wand at Ollivander's. It turns out to be a 13 inch made from the wood of a Willow Tree, and had a Dragon Heartstring Core. After that I ended up getting myself an owl as a pet. He was dark black and I named him Nox. I got all the books I would need during the summer for my studies, and also the books I would need for the year as well. I was thankful for my parents keeping all of this money of our world in the bank for me; I have no idea what I would've done otherwise.
I wanted to stay in Diagon Alley longer, but we needed to get back to the castle. I followed Hagrid and many people around my age said their 'hellos' to him as they went passed. I just stayed behind him, looking at everyone. I was part of their world. I was a part of this world. These kids that said their hellos to Hagrid, some would most likely be my classmates. I smiled a bit, and kept on following Hagrid.

For three months, Monday through Friday were filled completely with learning subjects that I never thought would be possible to learn about. Mondays I learnt Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall and Charms with Professor Flitwick, both of them taking up usually at least four hours each. These two classes were the easiest for me, as I found out that I am very advanced with spells for someone my age, let alone one who has just officially joined the Wizarding world. Tuesday was filled with History of Magic taught by a ghost Professor Binns, and I had a break every two hours, which was much needed. I found everything about this new world interesting, but still, a history class is a history class, and whether the war is between giants or muggles, it is still filled with dates and battles I have to memorize. Defense Against the Dark Arts with Dumbledore was on Wednesday, and that was always exciting, even if it was textbook work. Thursday I had Potions in the dungeons with Professor Snape. Potions wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, and although Professor Snape never went out of his way to help me, he made sure I would understand what I was doing. Fridays I had Herbology with Professor Sprout, which is a great way to end a crazy and stressful week. It felt good to be able to be in the greenhouses learning about strange and amazing plants, and I usually stayed an hour extra, just to learn a bit more about it. During the nights of Thursday and Friday I had Astronomy with Professor Sinistra. I took Astronomy last year back in the states so I was informed, but this was a completely different country, let alone world I know was in. Still, there was a correlation of the two and these classes only took up about two hours each night.

During the week when I wasn't in my classes or buried in books, I took the time to explore the castle. The place was vast and held a lot for me to find. There were a couple of passages I stumbled upon that went who knows where, but I decided I would explore them once school officially started and would have a chance at having someone come with me. I found corridors upon corridors linking different areas of the castle together. When I couldn't sleep, I sometimes walked throughout the castle. I stumbled upon Dumbledore once, and he said that for now it was fine but come school time I would need to stay in during after hours. I agreed but couldn't miss the smirk on his face when he said that. And of course, I found the ghost named Peeves. Peeves was a poltergeist that liked to play pranks and was overall a wiseguy. Little did he know who he was dealing with (me), and soon enough in my off hours (he wouldn't dare disturb me when there were teachers around that could go off and tell the Bloody Baron about his misbehavior) I found myself in a sort-of prank war with him. It was a bit unconventional, seeing how I was against a poltergeist, but still, it went on throughout the months and no defined winner came out in the end.

I may have been the only student in the castle, but I did not feel alone. Everywhere I looked I was surrounded by something that would spend time with me. I would sometimes talk with the ghosts as I walked to the classes I needed to do. Sometimes I would eat my meals with a Professor, and they made sure to talk about things other than classes knowing that my head was spinning. While exploring I found most of the thousands of Portraits to be very amiable, although there are some malevolent ones and I will try and make sure that I don't annoy them again. Creatures were living throughout the grounds, and although we didn't speak a similar language most of time, we enjoyed each others company. I have never felt so alive and surrounded by life in my entire, well, life. Which was good. It felt good to not just get lost in my thoughts and memories, like I always ended up doing back in the states. It was very good that I wasn't doing that.

By the weekend, I was spent. The homework I always got was only reading in the books, and I did that the day I had the class to try and keep my mind together. I have never been so overworked in my life, but I was glad for it. I spent my Saturdays either laying by the lake with Nox or Volatillis who would find me on the grounds and he would lay with me, sometimes both, enjoying the day. On Sundays I would go to Hagrid's hut and what started out as just me being curious became him teaching me Care of Magical Creatures. Although it was done quite casually (books were used, but there was barely any outside reading), I learnt the truth behind things that were considered myths or part of the imagination mere months ago. We would sometimes go into the Forbidden Forest to see the creatures, which was always fascinating.
Every day the sun was shining bright, usually with no cloud in sight. It always made me smile. I can't even remember that last time I saw the sun without clouds clambering over it and blocking it from my view.

And now, it was the night that I was dreading and excited for now for over ninety days. It was September First. All of the other students would be coming in. I sat nervously at the long and empty Gryffindor table, knowing it wouldn't be long until I was surrounded by people who knew everyone but me. Dumbledore sat at the Professor's table in the middle of the table, along with some of the other Professors while others were still making there way up to the Great Hall for the Feast. Dumbledore told me how to get into the kitchens and usually I would just go in and sit with the House Elves who worked there and they would talk and feed me. They were extremely nice and friendly, and I can only imagine how they were running around to get ready for tonight.

I was wearing the uniform robes as I sat there, and I fiddled around with the sleeves to try and get rid of my nerves. All before as I stayed in Hogwarts, I was allowed to wear whatever I want. Now, with all of the kids coming back, I had to go in uniform as well. I spent some time getting ready today, looking at myself in the uniform in a mirror, the sight before me weird, and yet it seemed like it fit my look.

Professor McGonagall stopped over by me before going to sit down. "Nervous?" She asked, with a thin smile daring to play on her lips.

I looked up at her. "You can say that," I stated, laughing uneasily, and running my hand through my hair.

She then let a full smile out. "Don't be. Gryffindor is a terrific House and everyone will welcome you. I know that all of this is so different for you, but soon enough everything will fall into a routine."

I thanked her, and she went on to sit next to Professor Dumbledore. I looked up at the enchanted ceiling, which depicted the sky. The moon was out and the clouds churned around the sky, much like the feeling of my stomach, might I add.

Everything I learnt in the passed three months swirled around in my mind. I was evaluated earlier this morning, and each professor had said that I was ready for the school year, much to their surprise. I was happy for that, but still. The information that swirled around me would help me from tomorrow on. Tonight though, I was on my own with dealing with people.

Suddenly, out of the quiet came some footsteps that seemed to tell me that the people were running. I didn't know how many were part of the first wave coming in, but I heard laughter. I turned to watch, as two kids, around my age, came running in. They both had red hair, and from my distance, looked identical. When they got to the front of the Great Hall, they stopped laughing, and saluted Professor Dumbledore. "Good to see you again, sir!" They both stated grandly.

Dumbledore just chuckled. "Good to see you two as well. Now if you'll just take a seat and try not to start any trouble before the term starts all will be good." I saw McGonagall eyeing the two, as if ready for them to slip up. These two must be quite troublemakers. I noticed that they were wearing red and gold. They're in Gryffindor then.

The two nodded at Dumbledore, and turned to the Gryffindor table. I caught their eyes, and they looked surprised. I quickly turned back around and sat back at the table face forward. I soon felt them sit down, one on each side of me.

"'Ello there!" The one on my left said.

"Hi," I said, not as enthusiastically but laughing none the less.

"My name's Fred-," The one on the left said, shaking my right hand.

"-And my name's George," The one on the right said, shaking my left hand. I was quite jumbled.

"We're the Weasley twins!" They said together.

I laughed. Well, they were quite a welcome wagon. "My name's Lucy Maude. Nice to meet you two."

"Lucy Maude, what year are you in?" The one on my right, George asked.

"I'll be going into my fifth."

"Why, we haven't ever seen you before. Now how is that?" Fred asked.

"Well, this is my first year here-" I started off, but they beamed at that first part and went off.

"A transfer student then, eh?" Fred asked.

"What fun!" George said.

"Where did you used to go?"

"Somewhere around here?"

"Are you exotic? Your accents a little off to be a Brit, 100%"

"You two can give her some breathing room now," I heard Dumbledore's voice say.

They nodded, said their sorry's to me. I laughed. "It's fine. And I was born here, but I moved to the states when I was two and made my way back just this summer."

"Wicked," They both said. Yeah, wicked. People were starting to fill in now. I heard Peeve's laughter and I knew he was up to something, happy that he had new people that wouldn't fight back now.

"So you two are identical twins. How many times do people switch you two up?" I asked.

They laughed. "Loads of times. Sometimes it's annoying-" Fred started.

"-Othertimes it's just fun to mess around with them then!" George finished.

"Hmm," I said, looking back and forth from the two. "I won't mess you two up," I said, matter-of-factly. I have met identical twins before, and I always felt bad when people mixed them up, so I have a trained eye to pick out the differences.

They laughed. "We'll see."