After breakfast, I made my way to the greenhouses for Herbology. Even with the direction to my classes yesterday, this was by far the easiest class to find. All you have to do is step out of the castle, look across the grounds and you’ll see the rows of greenhouses. I walked down to them, and the first one I got to, Greenhouse 1, was the one I was looking for.
I was the first to arrive, which pleased me more than it should, but it wasn’t long before others started showing up. About half of the Ravenclaws were punctual and the other half showed up just as Professor Sprout unlocked Greenhouse 1 and told us to go inside.
Once inside, Sprout smiled at all of us warmly.
Sprout: “In my class, we will study the properties and uses of magical, and non-magical, plants and fungi. We will start with the least dangerous and work our way up to most dangerous. As first years, you’ll have nothing to worry about most of the time. We will stick mainly to lectures, and you’ll learn to tell the difference betweens plants.
“I’ve laid out trays that have poisonous, healing and just normal plants on them. I am going to pair you up, one Slytherin with one Ravenclaw, and I want you to arrange them into three groups: poisonous, healing and normal plants.”
Sprout looked at a list of students and began to call out a name when a Ravenclaw girl raised her hand. Sprout nodded at her, indicating that she should speak.
Ravenclaw girl: “Professor, how are we supposed to arrange them if you haven’t told us which ones are which yet?”
Sprout: “Well, Miss—what’s your name?”
Ravenclaw girl: “Huffman. Elwyn Huffman, ma’am.”
Sprout: “Well, Miss Huffman, I want you to guess. Try to figure it out on your own. I want to see how good you can do and what you try to figure out which is which before I teach you.”
Sprout smiled even though her entire class was looking very nervous now. I was sure that someone would end up poisoned before the end of class. Sprout went back to looking at the list, and she began to pair us together.
Sprout: “Avery, you’re with Burrow. Burke with Clearwater. Crouch and Franklin. Goodnight and Higgs. Miss Huffman, you’re with Mister Kline. Landin with Lestrange. Marbles with Moore. Mayberry and Prewett. Newhart and Rosier. Lastly, Selwyn and Serpens.”
I enjoyed that she was pairing us by alphabetical order by last name. Instead of being random or letting us pick, she let our names pick. I looked over at Selwyn, her brow was wrinkled, and she was biting her lower lip. I guessed that she wasn’t sure whether she was okay with our pairing or not.
We stepped up to a tray that Professor Sprout had indicated we should go to and began looking through the different leaves, flowers and roots on the tray.
Selwyn: “My name is Isobel, and you’re Meissa, correct?”
I nodded.
Selwyn: “I thought so. Mother had me memorize most of the Pure-Blood names that are currently attending Hogwarts.”
Me: “My mother had me do that too. And their parents.”
Selwyn pushed up her round glasses and studied me closely. I thought she was going to say something more about learning Pure-Blood names, but instead, she held up a leaf and asked me what I thought it was.
We spent the rest of class trying to decide if we dared touch a certain flower. Sprout hurried around the greenhouse, giving hints and occasionally yelling something like DON’T PUT THAT ONE IN YOUR MOUTH. Anytime she said something like that, we would all hurry to put the plant she was talking about in our poisonous pile. If I hadn’t been so afraid we were all going to die, it would’ve been quite fun, I think.
At the end of class, Professor Sprout looked at all our trays, counting how many we got right.
Sprout: “It looks like you two lads, Dean Avery and Randolph Burrow, got the most right! Congratulations!”
Dean looked very smug like he had known it was going to be him, and Burrow looked pleased with himself but not nearly as smug as Dean.
Sprout: “And the least correct was Bryce Landin and Toby Lestrange. I don’t know how you managed to get absolutely none correct.”
Landin gave the appropriate sheepish grin, but Toby looked completely bored. I shook my head. The difference between these boys was astounding. Sprout then told the rest of us how we did. Isobel Selwyn and I didn’t do that bad—we got about half right and half wrong. This made sense though, since we had been guessing the whole time.
After Herbology was over, the Ravenclaws went off to Transfiguration and us Slytherins went to History of Magic. Sadly, it wasn’t anymore interesting today than it was yesterday. I tried to take notes again, but I ended up drawing a picture of Calypso with her head on her desk. It didn’t look much like her, but I got her hair pretty good, I think. Her hair is always a big, curly mess.
I wish I could find more to write about History of Magic than just a paragraph, but there seriously is nothing else to say about it. I think it would be interesting if Binns’ voices didn’t make all of us want to sleep.
Thankfully, after History of Magic was lunch. Today at lunch, I noticed that not everyone was there at the same time. I guessed there was more than one lunches. I asked a second year girl if there were more than one lunches. She told me that there were three lunches, and that the first lunch (the one we were in) was the one with the youngest students whereas the last lunch was mostly sixth and seventh years.
She also told me her name is Gemma Farley. Her friend sitting next to her introduced herself as Honey Barnum.
Honey Barnum: “And yes, my name is seriously Honey.”
She said it with so much exasperation and a giant eye roll that it made Gemma and I giggle. Honey explained that she had been trying to convince people that Honey is her real name since forever. However, I think Honey suits her well. Her hair is honey blonde, and there’s something about the way she talks that reminds me of honey as well. Her voice is sweet and somehow thick. I honestly cannot find words to describe Honey’s voice, so I think I’ll just say that Honey’s voice was honey-like.
Gemma and Honey asked me a few questions, which I answered politely, but they soon returned to talking to each other. I listened in for a while, it was interesting to hear the gossip which was already circulating the school even though the term had barely begun. Apparently, Gryffindor prefect Bill Weasley had been caught snogging Ravenclaw prefect Hazel Hopkins. This was only really shocking because Bill Weasley had been pretty friendly with Hazel Hopkins’ best friend, Terri Lawless, just last year. What possibly changed over the summer?
When I left to go find my next class, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Gemma and Honey were still discussing possible reasons for switching Terri Lawless for Hazel Hopkins. They seemed to find it more interesting than I did, but that didn’t take much.
I was glad I had left lunch a bit early because it took longer to find the classroom than I had expected. Once I opened a door to find solid wall behind it, and another time I got my foot stuck in a stair. Thankfully, an older Slytherin student had seen, and he ran over and pulled me out. He whispered don’t want a Gryffindor to find you like this before he ran back to his friends to go to their class.
I made it to class right on time, and I slid into a seat in the back next to Dean while the teacher, who had her back to us, wrote on the blackboard. Dean wrote on the corner of his note paper:
I wrote back:
At that moment the teacher finished writing on the blackboard and turned to face the class; the blackboard read in curly writing:
She’s a large woman, and not, well, not very pretty. She looks like she might have been when she was young, but now she is just big. The fact that she was wearing robes that were pea green and magenta didn’t help much either. She stood there in silence, watching us all watch her. It felt like it lasted forever, but then silence was broken by a sudden bark.
Two Crups ran out from behind the professor’s desk and ran around the classroom. One was clearly very angry with the other for it was chasing it and trying to bite it. As they ran by me, I was surprised to see that they both still had their forked tails. I thought that under wizarding law, owners of Crups were required to cut the tail off of the Crups when they were babies. Otherwise, Muggles freak out that a Jack Russell terrier has a forked tail.
Professor Mary Panhu yelled at the Crups to stop running with a voice that was deeper than most women’s.
Panhu: “Hedda stop chasing Lorcan! You’ll hurt him! Oh my poor babies! Come here! Come to mummy!”
Many of my classmates were stifling giggles, even Dean looked like he might smile, but then she turned her attention back to us.
Panhu: “Do you think this is funny?!”
And with that, we were all stone-faced and shaking our heads.
Panhu: “You!”
She pointed at Dimitri.
Panhu: “Do you think this is funny?”
Dimitri: “Why, Professor, I thought Hedda and Lorcan must be playing. I was merely taking pleasure in watching two beautiful Crups’ enjoyment. With the realization that they were fighting not playing, I can honestly tell you that I no longer find it amusing. Please, Professor, forgive me for I will not be able to forgive myself if you don’t.”
Panhu stood there looking at him blankly, and even the Crups stopped fighting to look at him. I thought that he had completely overdone it and would get into trouble, but then she smiled and chuckled a little.
Panhu: “You’re a bit of a toady, eh? Cheeky bugger.”
She bent down to pick up Hedda and Lorcan, giving us all a lovely view of her sizable bottom. Amelia rubbed her forehead, and Terrence had to put his hands over his mouth to keep from laughing. I could hear Eden stifle a groan, and Toby looked interested in what was going on for the first time since breakfast.
Dean wrote another note to me on the corner of his parchment:
I wrote back:
He responded with:
I smiled down at the parchment. I think I am starting to like Dean Avery. Maybe he will be my first friend?
Once Professor Panhu had gotten her Crups in her lap and was happily giving them drinks of her tea, the actual class part of the class started.
Panhu: “I will forget your names, but you will not forget my name. I am Professor Mary Panhu, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Member of the Wizengamot, Former Assistant to the Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and this is Hedda and Lorcan. In this classroom, Hedda and Lorcan are to be respected as much as I am. I will not stand for animal cruelty!”
She slammed her fist down on her desk with a loud bang. Looking back on it, I think it’s a little ironic that Hedda is so fat, but Panhu won’t stand for mistreating animals. Over-feeding counts as mistreating.
She didn’t ask us our names the whole class. In fact, she didn’t talk to us at all. She had us read the first two chapters of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Professor Quentin Trimble while she and her Crups had tea.
Dean scribbled one more note to me before opening his book:
The rest of the class was spent reading. I enjoyed it. I like reading, and Professor Trimble was good at writing. It also helped that the contents were interesting. Well, I found it interesting. Differences between curses, jinxes and counter-jinxes and the appropriate time to use them.
At the end of class, Panhu told us to pick a curse, a jinx and a counter-jinx to practice and then write about our experience in a short essay to be ready by the next class.
Eden: “You want us to practice a curse?”
Panhu: “Yes! I just said that! Now scat!”
We all hurried out of the classroom with Hedda and Lorcan barking at us from on top of Panhu’s desk, and we headed to our next class: Magical Theory. This class is another class with Ravenclaw, and we found them already inside the classroom when we got there.
Penelope Clearwater stood at the front of the class waving a piece of parchment.
Clearwater: “It’s a note from Professor Frode! It say that he is running late, and he wants us to start the class without him!”
Ambrose Crouch: “How do you start a class without a professor?”
Clearwater: “The note says he wants us to discuss our ideas for where magic comes from, and that’s all it says.”
Bryce Landin: “Toes. Magic comes from my toes.”
Amelia: “Your toes?”
Landin: “I dunno, but anytime I use a spell, my toes tingle.”
Amelia: “That’s ridiculous.”
Crouch: “I’ve never heard a more ridiculous notion.”
Terrence: “Really? You must have not heard that the reason the Chudley Cannons lose all the time is because they wear orange and broomsticks don’t like orange.”
Elwyn Huffman: “I like orange.”
Landin: “You’re not a broomstick.”
Leonard: “Or are you?”
Isobel Selwyn: “Can we get back to the topic we’re supposed to be discussing now?”
There was silence then, and it seemed like everyone was seriously considering the question we had been tasked with answering: Where does magic come from?
Calypso: “It’s all in the bloodline. Magic has been in my family for centuries.”
A few people murmured their agreement and a few looked cross.
Randolph Burrow: “Where does my magic come from then? My parents aren’t witches or wizards.”
I am still so proud of myself for this. I actually spoke up.
Me: “It had to start somewhere. Maybe we all came from Muggles at one point.”
There was a brief silence where my classmates considered my idea, but it was soon broken by the door of a wardrobe that was sitting in the corner of the classroom slamming open. We all jumped as a man stepped out of it. The man’s expression was serious, but I’d swear there was a twinkle of amusement in his eye.
Wardrobe Man: “Sorry I’m late! I am Professor Bardolph Frode, and that was very well said.”
He said that last part to me. I could feel the heat rise in my face.
Me: “Thank you, sir.”
Frode: “Quicker than usual, too. Last group of first years had me in that wardrobe all lesson.”
He shook his head, tutting.
He is a tall man, Professor Frode, with long, dark grey hair pulled back into a ponytail. He wore blue robes with puffy sleeves and a matching blue top hat. The most unusual thing about his appearance is his mustache which is rather large and curls up at the end. I love it.
Frode: “We have another class together tomorrow, and I want everyone to come in here ready to talk about where you, personally, get your magic. Example; your toes.”
He glanced at Landin with one eyebrow raised. Everard Newhart nudged him, grinning.
Frode: “Because Miss Serpens came up with the idea I was looking for, you all get released early!”
Frode looked over the class briefly, and then he turned and walked back into the wardrobe, closing it behind him.
Leonard: “He’s bonkers, isn’t he?”
Frode (from inside the wardrobe): “I heard that!”
We all ran out of the classroom, grinning and laughing. Prossor Frode might be a little bonkers, but I enjoyed him. The Ravenclaws and Slytherins talked for a moment outside the classroom before we started parting ways. Some headed off to dinner early, some went to their common room, some went to the grounds for a walk.
I headed for the Common Room so I could drop off my bag before dinner. I was walking behind Eden, Leonard and Adeline. They were laughing and happily discussing the classes today and what they would do tomorrow. Second day of school and Leonard already has friends. He pulled on one of Adeline’s pigtails playfully, and she swatted his hand away, sticking out her tongue at him as she did.
When I got to the Common Room, I promptly sat down in a big, leather armchair and started recounting the day in my journal, and that is where I am now. I really like the Common Room. It’s sleek, and I feel important sitting in this big armchair. It’s a nice feeling.
I think I am going to ask this sixth year with a prefect badge if I can leave my bag here while I go to dinner or if I need to put it in my dorm.
He said I can leave it here, and if anyone takes it, he will personally find it and curse the thief. I may just leave my bag here to see if he really would curse someone for me. I think he probably would. Anyways, I am going to dinner now.
The sixth year prefect’s name is Eric Murley, by the way.
