I'm a Wizard?

Chapter 7

I turned over on my side and felt the heat of the sun on my eyelids. I sat up and looked around. What time is it? I looked around for my alarm clock, but could not find it. I swung my legs over and felt a bare stone floor beneath feet.
“Shit that’s cold!” I exclaimed.

Suddenly, I remembered where I really was. I am a witch, I’m at Hogwarts, it’s the first day of school, and I’m a Hufflepuff... I sighed and looked at all of the other four post beds with their curtains drawn shut. I must be the first one up.

I went to my trunk, pulled out all of the things I would need for today, and walked over to the door that I presumed lead to the bathroom. I pushed the heavy door open and felt my jaw drop. The bathroom was humongous! Not to mention that everything was extremely well decorated. I walked past the long row of sinks and found an isle of showers. I put my stuff down and stepped inside. The hot water was very relaxing and I almost forgot where I was until I heard the bathroom door swing open and a bunch of voices echo off the walls. Guess it’s time to get out… I shut off the shower and changed as quickly as I could.

My hair and teeth were unfortunately still unbrushed. I turned the corner and all of the talking stopped. I put down my things on the ledge of the sink and just did my thing. Once my teeth were brushed and my hair pulled back into a simple braid I walked out and got my bag, which conveniently had my schedule in it already, and went downstairs to the Great Hall.

I pushed open the door and saw that the Hall was practically empty. I went over to the Hufflepuff table and sat by myself. I poured myself some orange juice and took out my schedule. I had Asronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures. Oh boy.

As I continued to look down the schedule I saw I had Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Arithmancy with the Slytherines. I raised my eyes to see if Albus was there but he wasn’t. Instead, a handsome blonde haired boy was sitting there with two dopy looking guys on either side of him. Suddenly he looked up and it was too late for me to look away and pretend I wasn’t staring. His stare was so intense that I had to break the connection between our eyes. I knew my cheeks were flaming red and I felt like such a wimp. Maybe I do belong in Hufflepuff afterall, I thought to myself.

More people spilled into the hall, breaking the uneasy tension in the air. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Mira walk through the door with a bunch of other Gryffindors. I saw how content and comfortable they looked, and immediately envied them. They’ve always known what they were, always had friends who understood, most likely had perfect parents, and they’ve been at this school for ages. Here I am struggling to find where my classrooms are with no real friends by my side, and for God’s sake I can’t even meet the gaze of a boy from Slytherin.

I didn’t bother trying to say hello. I just kept my head down and took out one of my textbooks and tried to read it. It all looked like Gibberish. I sighed and closed the book in defeat. I saw Chara walk in and to my surprise she came and sat down next to me.

“Morning,” she said taking a slice of toast and tea.
“Morning,” I replied as happily as I could.
“Having a rough morning?” It’s like she can read my thoughts…
“Yeah, I guess it’s the jet lag…”
“Mhm,” she replied taking a bite of her toast.

“Can I introduce you to some of my friends?” She asked me.
“Sure,” I replied.
“You’ve already met Chase, but that’s Agena, Robert, Maia, and Alex.”
“Hello,” I smiled.
“Nice to meet you!”
“Good morning!”
“Welcome.”
“Hullo.”

From then on we made small talk and 15 minutes later, as if by magic (no pun intended), everyone knew that it was time for classes to start soon. I looked at my schedule and saw I had Charms with the Gryffindors first. As we were walking towards the doors of the Hall Chara turned to me.

“Just stay with us, we’ll show you the way.” I nodded and followed, trying to remember where we turned and which staircase we took. However, this task was particularly hard due to all of the talking pictures, enchanted suits of armor, and fellow students pointing at me and shouting things at me. A few comments stood out to me in particular:

“Hey Hufflepuff, are you lost?”
“See? I told you Americans are wimps.”
“Wow; just wow.”

In the end, I just gave up on trying to remember everything and was relieved when we reached the classroom.

“Are we allowed to pick our own seats?” I asked Robert.
“It depends on the teacher but for now just sit anywhere.” I nodded and walked to the front of the room. I wanted to learn as much as I could so that hopefully, I could catch up and be able to do the normal curriculum. Attempting to learn five years worth of knowledge in one year would be difficult, but I was ready to accept the challenge.

“Hello,” someone said sitting next to me. I turned to see a Gryffindor girl with brown hair, and emerald green eyes sitting next to me.
“Hi.”
“I’m Phoenix,” she smiled.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lena.”
“Don’t be too worried about this class, it’s not difficult if you pay attention.”
“Thanks,” I smiled.

As I was getting out my books and parchment, I saw Rose sit down at the desk next to mine. I caught her eye and waved. She smiled and waved back but seemed a bit annoyed. Maybe it was because someone was bothering her. I decided not to ask about it and finished setting up my things.

“Good morning, class! Settle down please!” Peeped a voice from the head of the classroom. There he was, tiny Professor Flitwick.
“You may keep the seats you have chosen for now, but if there are any problems I will change the seating arrangements as I see fit. Let’s take attendance,” he squeaked.

One by one he called out a name and a reply echoed back. I knew that when we got to my name there would be a big fuss over everything, I squirmed in my seat not really paying attention to any of the names being called. When he got to the last names beginning with “S” I fidgeted more. Finally,

“Oh! Let’s not forget our new exchange student, Miss Lena Smith!” My cheeks flared crimson as I felt all eyes turn to me.
“Welcome to Hogwarts!” Professor smiled at me.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“I see you’ve decided to sit in the front! Very smart! Maybe some of you should follow in Miss Smith’s footsteps and move up a row?” I saw the Professor throw a glance to the far left o f the room, where the troublemakers must be. I shrank down in my seat even more.
“I hope your first day goes well!” He squeaked at me.
“Thank you Professor.”
“Best move on with the lesson! Please open your text books to page one.”

The lesson was mainly review and I was thankful for that because I needed all of the notes I could get. I noticed Rose had her hand up for every question and when the Professor called on her, her answers were thorough and right on the dot. She should have been in Ravenclaw, I thought to myself as I scribbled down her last answer.

Phoenix tried to explain everything to me as well, but it didn’t all make sense. I thanked her for her time nonetheless. She always looked for a reason to talk to me, which I didn’t mind but if I had too many classes with her sitting next to me I know I’d be lost.

The lecture ended and before I could even pull out my schedule Phoenix turned to me and said,
“We have the next class together! It’s Herbology.” I smiled politely and since I didn’t know where anything was, followed somewhat sulkily.

When we arrived at the Greenhouses, a young man was standing outside waiting for us. He had a long face and brown hair and wore a ragged apron and worn out boots.

“G-good Morning, everyone! Welcome to Herbology. My name is Professor Longbottom and I will be your teacher this year.” He wrung his hands nervously before continuing.

“We are going to be in House 1 today-” there were a bunch of groans from the other students “-for a quick review.” We all followed the Professor to the first house and stood inside.

“Please break up into groups of four,” The professor instructed as he took his spot at the head of the green house. There was a tiny podium and moveable black board in the front of the room. The black board read “Welcome to Herbology” and had a few diagrams on it. The podium held a beaten up textbook, a quill, and a piece of parchment.

I didn’t know where to go exactly, so I kind of just stood there. I didn’t want to be with Phoenix but I didn’t want to bother Rose either…

“Oh! We have one more student left over.” I felt my face flush again.
“Does anyone have an opening in their group?”

“I do Professor.” We both turned to see Rose sitting there with Chara and another Gryffindor boy I didn’t know. I had totally forgotten about Chara! I felt awful.

“Perfect! Have a seat there, a-and let’s begin!”

I sat down at the table awkwardly and took out a piece of parchment. I saw the Gryffindor boy look at me strangely but Rose and Chara said nothing. After 40 minutes of the Professor talking he let us have 10 minutes to ourselves to get packed up and talk.

“Thanks for letting me sit at your table,” I said to the group.
“It’s no big deal,” Chara said.
“Let me introduce you to Christopher,” Rose said.
“Hi Christopher,” I smiled politely.
“Hey.”
“He’s the Gryffindor Keeper,” Rose went on further.
“Oh okay awesome!” I never talked to a Quidditch player before!
“Ha ha thanks,” he was probably laughing at how I got excited about Quidditch.

“What do you have next?” Rose asked me.
“I have Defense Against the Dark Arts,” I replied.
“I have History of Magic.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you where the classroom is,” Chara said.
“Okay, thanks,” I smiled gratefully. “Well... see you around?” I said to Rose.
“Yes, see you later.” With that Chara and I walked towards the castle.

“So what do you think of Hogwarts so far?”
“It’s not that bad.”
“I bet it must be hard for you.”
“It is but if this is a part of what I am then I am willing to push myself.”
“That’s cool that you have so much determination.”
“Thanks!” I smiled.
“Okay so this is our fifth Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”
“Oh my.”
“Yes, oh my would be the correct terminology.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s some guy from Whitby. He’s okay, but we’ve had better.”
“Oh okay.”
“Yeah.”

We walked into the classroom and saw a man standing at the front of the classroom. “If you could all just stand against the wall. Hufflepuffs on one side Slytherins on the other.”

“Oh God,” Chara sighed.
“What?”
“He’s going to pair up the Hufflepuffs with Slytherins.”
“No.”
“Yeah.” I felt all of the blood drain out of my face. Albus was a Slytherin. That boy who scared me this morning was a Slytherin. Oh God is right.

“There we go! That’s perfect! I’m Professor Hapburg and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year.
“I believe that when you are placed in a different setting other than the ones you are used to, your senses are more alert so I am going to, hopefully, place each of you next to someone you don’t know or aren’t close with. Having your wits about you is the most important thing when defending yourself against someone, or something. Plus, it will help you to know your fellow classmates better.
“So umm…. you there! What is your name?” He pointed to the boy who so frightened me this morning.

“Scorpius.”
“Scorpius! Have a seat right there in the front. And you!” -he pointed to Chara- “Come and join him, please.”

I saw Chara throw me one more glance before she took her seat. The look was one of absolute terror. I felt so bad for her.

Though he knew no better, the Professor had ended up paring everyone with the wrong people. Albus, Maia, Chase and two other Slytherin girls were left over.

“What’s your name?” He pointed to a Slytherin girl with dark hair and dark eyes.
“Mirzam.”
“Mirzam! Lovely name. Have a seat right there and you!” He pointed at Chase.
“Come and join her…” he paused to wait for Chase to say his name.
“Chase.”
“Chase, okay!”

I took a deep breath. I was either stuck with the Slytherin girl or Albus. I didn’t know who I would be more embarrassed in front of so I just silently prayed for the best outcome, whatever that would be.

“Next! You there!” He pointed at Maia.
“Maia.”
“Maia! Have a seat and you!” he pointed at the Slytherin girl with blonde hair and green eyes.
“Hydra.” Between her voice and the name itself, I couldn’t help but shiver. She sounded like trouble, but her looks wouldn’t tell you so. She was actually quite beautiful.

I looked over to Albus, and saw he was staring at the girl, not even noticing we were the last two people left. I guess he must fancy her. I felt my heart sink the tiniest bit. I knew I wasn’t as pretty as she was, and that I was actually starting to fancy Albus myself. Even if I tried to deny it I knew it would be a false statement. He was just so handsome! But I could see them being such a pretty couple, Hydra and Albus and it made me feel so terrible about myself…

“So that leaves you two!” Professor Hapburg said waiting for our names.
“Albus,” Albus answered, his face flushing the tiniest bit.
“Lena,” I replied not getting as embarrassed and scared as last time.
“Very well! Albus and Lena! You both obviously know where to sit!” He turned and walked back to the podium. The poor Professor had basically started World War Three without even knowing it.

I sat down without saying anything to Albus. I knew he didn’t like to talk much. On top of that, my self-consciousness had gotten the better of me and I felt the need to not let anyone see my face, for it couldn’t possibly compare to Hydra’s.

Like the other classes, we did a review and I was scratching away at my parchment the entire time. Albus, like Rose, seemed to be very knowledgeable of magic and when called on, answered the question clearly and thoroughly. Only then did it occur to me that Albus and Rose could be related. Maybe I will ask them later…

The class ended and I tried to pack up as fast as I could. However, as I was packing a few of my books fell into the aisle. Before I, or anyone else who knew me could help me, Scorpius, who was already heading towards the door, reached me first. He didn’t bend over to help, or give a smile. Instead, he gave me the same intense look identical to the one he gave me earlier. I blushed and muttered apologies as I picked them up as fast as I could. Before I could even pick up the last book he stormed past me and out the doors followed by his two companions, Hydra, and Mirzam.

I left before anyone could say anything to me and followed behind another Hufflepuff boy who I believed was Robert, but I couldn’t be sure. Either way we got to class before the teacher had. I went straight to the front of the classroom and sat down by myself.

The classroom was quiet for a good 2 minutes before I heard the Ravenclaws approaching. I knew it was them because I didn’t recognize any of the voices that echoed off the walls. Suddenly, I heard the footsteps quicken and out of nowhere there was a mad dash to get the seats in the front. Two boys actually almost got into a verbal argument over it before the other stormed off to the second row. I barely suppressed a laugh, because they all looked so serious about getting the seat in the front. Well, I guess that’s life when you live with nerds, I thought to myself.

Next to me was one of the boys I had met on the train. I believe his name was Connor. He turned to me out of breath and nodded politely, acknowledging my presence. I smiled in return. Once all of the hustle and bustle quieted down, I realized there was still no teacher here.

I tapped Connor on the shoulder,
“Um, where is the teacher? Aren’t they supposed to be here by-“ I was suddenly cut off by a ghost walking through the chalkboard. I gasped in shock. Connor and a few other students near me chuckled. Then I remembered that History of Magic was taught by a ghost named Professor Binns, and relaxed a little.

Unlike the other classes, he jumped straight into the lesson and began teaching. Also unlike the other classes, this class was terribly boring and dry. Back home, my History teacher was the best! I learned and remembered everything and I had a 99 average because of it. And also to my horror, we got a homework assignment! On the first day?! I almost fainted: 17 & ½ inches of parchment, lengthwise, in writing about today’s lesson.

**Fast-Forward to end of class

I had never felt so happy to leave a lecture in my entire life. Lunch would surely be much better than this last class…right?