Wednesday, 2nd of September, 1987.
Slytherin Common Room.
Well, my first day is over, and I think it went really well.
I got up at 6am and quickly turned off my alarm. My alarm was the first to go off, and I didn’t want to wake the others. All because I wanted to get up extra early, doesn’t mean they do too, and I am sure they do not want to get up early. I set about quickly and quietly getting my stuff sorted out. I got my books out of my trunk—school books went in a bag that I would take to class with me, and the books I had brought with me for pleasure reading went on the little shelves on my nightstand. Then I put some quills and ink into the bag along with some parchment, and everything else I could possibly need in class on my first day.
After I was satisfied with my unpacking, I got dressed and made my bed. Then I hurried into the common room, trying not to wake anybody. I was surprised that there was only one person in the common room. I’m not sure if I was surprised that only one person was there or surprised that anyone was there at all. As far as I knew, the earliest classes were at 8am.
It was a boy looking at the notice board. He was just standing there staring at it. I stood there watching him for awhile then slowly walked forward; I wanted to see what he was looking. Also, my class schedule was on the notice board.
He had dark blonde hair which was shaggy and somewhere between curly and straight. His round, light blue eyes were completely unreadable. If he was happy or sad, his eyes gave nothing away. When I was very close to him, he turned and looked at me. He smiled a little smile and talked to me.
Strange boy staring at the notice board: “You’re still early for your first class, firsty.”
Me: “I know that.”
Strange boy: “Then why are you up?”
Me: “Why are you up?”
Strange boy: “I asked you first.”
Me: “Who are you?”
Strange boy: “Matthew Stokes. Why are you up this early?”
I blushed. I know I blushed, but I didn’t want to admit why I was up!
Me: “I wanted to make sure I would be able to find all my classes.”
The boy just nodded and went back to staring at the board.
Me: “What are you looking at?”
Matthew Stokes: “The notice board.”
I decided it was too early in the morning to pursue it any further. I glanced over the notice board in order to find my schedule. There were seven different schedules on the board; one for each year. I quickly found the one for the first years, but I wasn’t sure what do with it. There was only one, so I couldn’t just take it, but there was no way I could memorize it. Then the boy spoke again, but didn’t look at me again.
Stokes: “Just rip it off, a new one grows back so the next person can take it.”
I reached up and ripped it off, and, sure enough, a new one started growing back right away. It was weird to watch the paper grow out of the pin in the board. I thanked Stokes, and looked over my time table. History of Magic every day. I hoped it was interesting.
After one last check to make sure I had everything I would need for my day, I left the common room and headed towards the Great Hall. I heard Stokes call, “Good luck, firsty!” after me, but I didn’t answer; I was too busy trying to remember how to get back to the Great Hall. That was when I ran into a ghost. Or, rather, ran through a ghost.
It was so cold, I started shivering. It makes me shiver just to think about it. The ghost I had run into was the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin Ghost. I had met him briefly at the feast the night before. He was gaunt and his eyes were blank and staring, but the worst part about him was that he was covered in blood and carrying chains. Whatever the Baron had done in life must have been terrible. I apologized to him.
Me: “I’m very sorry, sir, I was not paying close enough attention.”
Bloody Baron: “It is no matter.”
His voice was nearly as chilling as walking through him was.
Me: “I don’t suppose I could ask a favor, could I?”
Bloody Baron: “The Great Hall is down that corridor, up the stairs and to the right.”
Me: “Thank you, sir.”
I hurried past him, not wishing to stay and speak with him longer. He didn’t seem to want to speak to me anyways. Following his instructions, I made it to the Great Hall without any trouble. There were a few students and teachers already there. I took a seat at the Slytherin table and happily started filling my plate with food.
As I ate, an older student sat down across from me. He was tall with dark hair and eyes, and he had a badge pinned to his robes. He was Head Boy and he was looking at me with raised eyebrows. I guess it was really, really rare for first years to be one of the first at breakfast on their first day. He introduced himself as Keegan Zimmerman and asked if he could sit with me. I thought it was strange that he asked me after he had already sat down. What if I had said no? I didn’t though, I just nodded.
Zimmerman: “What classes do you have today?”
I grabbed the time table at of my bag, and glanced over it again.
Me: “Umm, History of Magic,”
Zimmerman: “Ouch, hate having that first thing in the morning.”
I ignored him and continued: “Charms, a free period, and then double Potions with Gryffindor.”
Zimmerman: “That’s nice though, having a free period on your first day. Do you need any help finding your classes?”
Me: “Yes please.”
He gave me quick directions to each classroom, and I wrote down the directions on the back of the time table. No more worries about not being able to find class! What a relief. I thanked him several times, and he just grinned at me. For the house that has the worst reputation, they’ve all been rather nice thus far. Other than Amelia Rosier, anyways.
By the time he was finished giving me directions, the Hall had filled quite a lot. Sleepy-eyed students were eating eggs or calling out greetings to each other. I watched the different houses slightly amused.
Gryffindors were the loudest, often calling out, “GOOD MORNING!” to each other. Hufflepuffs were the nicest, giving each other hugs and well wishing. Ravenclaws were busy telling each other which kind of food is the best to have for breakfast. While here at the Slytherin table, it was really common to see older students helping first years and telling them how to find their classes.
Me: “Zimmerman, can I ask you a question?”
Zimmerman nodded, his mouth was full of toast.
Me: “Slytherin has such a bad reputation, but the older students are being so helpful. Why is that?”
Zimmerman laughed and said: “It’s because we consider ourselves to be brothers. We in the Slytherin house are very close to each other and help each other whenever we can. We look after our own. We protect our fellow Slytherins, which includes protecting first years from looking foolish for showing up for class late. The corridors of Hogwarts can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you’ll be glad you’ve got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school. As far as we’re concerned, once you’ve become a snake, you’re one of ours – one of the elite. We’re not overly friendly towards the other houses, though, which is probably where our bad rep came from. That, and everyone thinks we’re all Dark Wizards. But to other Slytherins, we’re the best.”
We look after our own. I think I will like being in the Slytherin house—part of the elite. I thanked Zimmerman, and he nodded, going back to his toast. I watched the students again for awhile. Gryffindors often got hissed at as they walked by our table. One of the Gryffindors flicked Zimmerman in the back of the head as he walked past. Zimmerman completely ignored him.
Right when I started to feel like things were relatively normal, the mail came. Now, I’m used to owls, my family has several and I have a big Barn Owl, but I had never seen this many owls before. With a loud WHOOSH owls flew into the Great Hall and started dropping packages and flying low to grab people’s toast.
One of the owls landed in front of Zimmerman. He traded five Knuts for the Daily Prophet, and the owl flew off again. The owls flew in out and for awhile, still stealing toast whenever they could. Since I was finished eating, I grabbed my bag and left the Great Hall.
I found the History of Magic classroom without any trouble, and I sat down on the floor outside of it, reading A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. It’s a huge, thick book, and I could easily believe that it had the entire history of magic within its pages. When other Slytherin first years started arriving, I stood up and patted the wrinkles out of my robes.
One of the boys, Toby Lestrange, opened to door and peaked in.
Lestrange: “One of the prefects told me that Professor Binns won’t notice if we’re there or not, so we just have to go in. Apparently, he won’t notice, or care, if we’re late or don’t show up either. So basically, we can skip this class if we want to.”
Adeline Moore, the girl whose bed is next to mine, asked the question we were all thinking as we took our seats in the classroom.
Moore: “Why wouldn’t he notice or care? That doesn’t sound much like a good teacher to me.”
Before anyone answered, a ghost glided through the blackboard. Everyone gasped. The ghost took no notice of the gasp from his students and announced that his named is Professor Cuthbert Binns and that we would be working in Chapter 32 of A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. He then went on to lecture us without even looking at notes.
I’m sad to say that History of Magic isn’t interesting in the least. I tried to take notes, but I gave up halfway through it and just stared at Binns. I wasn’t the only one doing this either. Terrence Higgs had even fallen asleep. We were all glad when the class was over, and we could hurry to Charms.
Professor Flitwick gave attendance which is where I learned everyone’s names.
Flitwick: “Avery, Dean!”
A thin faced, blonde boy raised his hand.
Flitwick: “Burke, Leonard!”
A pale boy with dark eyes and brown-ginger hair raised his hand. (I should mention Leonard is my cousin, so I already know him.)
Flitwick: “Franklin, Eden!”
A dark skinned girl with twists in her hair that formed a halo around her head said here confidently.
Flitwick: “Higgs, Terrence!”
There was no response from Terrence. The boy sitting next to him whacked his arm and nodded towards Flitwick.
Higgs: “Ouch! Oh. Here, Professor!”
The boy who had hit Terrance shook his head exasperatedly, and said: “Dimitri Kline, Professor, I’ll be next on your list.”
Dimitri gave a winning smile to Flitwick. His smile paired with his dark hair that seemed to know exactly where to go to look good and his baby blue eyes made me think that in a few years half the girls in the school will be in love with him. Eden was already eyeing him.
Flitwick: “Yes, you are next on the list. And now it’s Lestrange, Toby!”
Toby pushed his curly black hair out of his eyes and said here lazily.
Flitwick: “Moore, Adeline!”
A golden blonde girl with blue-green eyes and tan skin raised her head.
Flitwick: “Prewett, Calypso!”
Calypso raised her hand. Her hair is nearly as ginger as Weasley’s, but not quite.
Flitwick: “Rosier, Amelia!”
Amelia raised her hand and smiled, though her grey as remained cold. She was beautiful with her pale blonde hair and full lips, but she still looked mean.
Flitwick: “And last, but not least, Serpens, Meissa! I suppose that must be you.”
He smiled at me and I smiled back, shyly.
Me: “Yes, sir, I’m Meissa Serpens.”
I heard Amelia whisper to Dean: “Last and least, I think.”
Dean raised his eyebrows and grinned. I ignored them both.
The rest of the class was uneventful, but still interesting. Flitwick told us about Charms and what we would learn to do, and started us practicing saying Wingardium Leviosa.
After Charms, we had a free period. Most went to the common room because we didn’t have anything else to do yet. I decided I wanted to take a walk though and started heading to the Entrance Hall. Leonard stopped me and gave me a huge grin.
Leonard: “We’re both in Slytherin! Isn’t that great?”
I laughed at how pleased he was, and I was amused that he hadn’t said anything to me until now. That was like him though.
Me: “Yeah, Leonard, it’s great. And not surprising. Our whole family has been in Slytherin.”
Leonard: “There have been a few that weren’t. Mum’s got that third cousin or something that was in Hufflepuff. And you know, we’re related to most of the pure-bloods if we go back far enough so that includes the Weasleys.”
Me: “If you keep talking like that, Leonard, you’ll get yourself disowned. We are not related to blood-traitors.”
I grinned at him, and he stuck his tongue out at me. That was as far as our conversation went, and I left for the grounds and he the common room.
I had a lovely walk around the lake. I skipped a few rocks and tried to guess where the windows in the common room were. I thought it would be fun to swim to them and knock on the windows to scare the people in the common room. But since I didn’t know where the windows were, or how deep down they were, nor did I know what creatures lived in the lake, I decided I shouldn’t do that. It did sound like fun though.
After my walk, I went back to up to the castle and went to the Great Hall for lunch. Lunch was completely uneventful and I spent most of it watching people like I had breakfast. I was fine with this though, I like watching people.
Once finished eating, I headed down to the dungeons for double Potions with Gryffindors. We all lined up in the corridor outside the Potions classroom. Gryffindors and Slytherins eyeing each other warily. I saw Percy Weasley, but he was pointedly not looking towards the Slytherins. Everything was rather calm until, a minutes before class started, Oliver Wood ran down the corridor towards us.
Weasley: “You’re late!”
Wood: “Has the class started then?”
Weasley: “Well, no, but...”
Wood (grinning): “Then I am not late!”
There was some laughing in approval from the Gryffindors, and Calypso and Adeline giggled hesitantly, not sure if it was okay to find him funny or not. Wood seemed pleased with this response. He glanced at me and pointed at me.
Wood: “Journal girl!”
Me: “Excuse me?”
Wood: “You’re the girl from the train who was journaling!”
Me: “And you’re the boy from the train who released a bludger.”
A soft voice from behind us made all of us jump. It was Professor Snape, the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House.
Snape: “You released a bludger on the train? 5 points from Gryffindor.”
The Gryffindor students groaned. I mouthed sorry to Wood who just shrugged. Snape opened the door to his classroom and told us to go in, we all did. We took places at desks with our cauldrons over a small place for a fire.
Like Flitwick had, Snape gave attendance. It went much the same as it had in Charms, including Dimitri hitting Terrence to get him to say that he was there. The only thing that was different was that Gryffindor was there too.
Snape: “Avery, Dean. Burke, Leonard. Conley, Damian. Eastwood, Andrew. Franklin, Eden. Hatchett, Anwen. Higgs, Terrence. Kline, Dimitri. Lestrange, Toby. Moore, Adeline. Prewett, Calypso. Raoski, Aiko. Rolland, Aria. Rosier, Amelia. Schmidt, Aslan. Serpens, Meissa. Shade, Danielle. Travers, Cypris. Weasley, Percy. Wood, Oliver.”
Just from taking attendance it was clear that Snape favoured Slytherins to Gryffindors. Even for the Head of Slytherin House, it was a little ridiculous. I won’t complain too much though. I’m just glad that I am among his favoured. I don’t think I would like being on his bad side.
Snape gave a whispered lecture. It was eerie, his whispering. Or maybe it only seemed eerie since he was standing in front of a shelf with a pickled eyeball in a jar on it, and that was the thing that I could identify. The rest of it, I had no idea what it was.
After his lecture—which was about how Potions wasn’t like other classes and there would be no wand waving and how most of us would fail at it anyways—we jumped right into making a potion. It was difficult and took all of my concentration. Everything had to be just right or it would explode. This was proven by both Terrence and Eastwood. Terrence got scolded by Snape, Eastwood was docked points for not paying attention.
After class, I went to the common room and started work on an essay Snape had assigned that’s due Monday. I’m not sure it’s possible to do this long of an essay in just a few days, but I’m glad I have those few days. I suspect that if we had a class tomorrow, Snape would have said it was due then.
At dinner, Zimmerman came up to me again and asked me how my first day went. I told him briefly about it, and he nodded. He told me he was glad to hear I had a good day and that if I needed any advice or help, I could ask him. I believe he actually means it. It’s nice, and a little odd, that the Head Boy seems to really care what happens to a shy first year like myself.
Right now, I’m back in the common room. I can see Electra sitting by the fire with her friends. She hasn’t said anything to me since we got on the train yesterday. It makes me smile to realise that. She probably only cares about me not doing anything stupid that would reflect badly on her. That’s okay though. I feel about the same about her.
Since I’ve recounted my day, I think I will work on the essay for Snape more and then sleep. It may have been a good first day, but it was still an exhausting one.
