Chapter 7: With Friends Like TheseChapter TextSkyla awoke earlier than usual for her first proper day of school, helped along in no small part by the fact that the group of Gryffindor girls had all crashed out rather early the previous night. She blearily opened her eyes and looked around the room to see that she was still lying in her bed within the Gryffindor girls' dormitory of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; it turned out that she hadn't been dreaming after all, as she feared may have been the case.
She looked around to see that despite her rather early rise, a certain someone had already beaten her to it and a cheerfully looking Hermione was sitting cross-legged and fully dressed on her own bed, though the two other girls who shared their room, Parvati and Lavender, were still fast asleep.
"Good morning," Hermione said happily, "sleep well?"
"Good morning," Skyla replied, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, "not too bad. What time is it?"
"Around six," Hermione said nonchalantly.
"Bit early to be studying isn't it? Even for me," Skyla commented as she noticed the open text book that was lying in front of Hermione on her bed. Hermione blushed slightly for a moment, but replied evenly, "well, I was just refreshing on the content that I thought the first classes might have."
"But we could potentially have any of seven subjects."
"Well, six, since we won't have an Astronomy class until it is night-time."
"So six, then. Still a lot to study for."
"Which is why I'm up bright and early," Hermione replied contently.
Skyla laughed slightly as she headed to the bathroom with a yawn, "well, you'll forgive me if I don't join you this time."
When she returned after a long (and soothingly warm) shower, she found that Hermione was nowhere in sight and she could only assume that the excited girl had already departed for the common room; perhaps now that a few bands of golden light were gradually starting to make their way in through the tall, arching windows of Gryffindor tower, it didn't feel as strange or awkward to be the first and only one in the common room.
Skyla finished pulling on her school robes and headed down to find her friend, eventually spotting the bushy-haired brunette sitting on one of the comfy lounges. Hermione had rather cleverly lit the fireplace with an impressive display of magical skill (and judging by her satisfied expression she was quite proud of it too). She was currently sitting with her legs tucked up underneath her on one of the large maroon sofas, hugging her knees and staring out absently into the flames while her textbook lay open beside her. Skyla thought it made for a rather cute sight; her excitable first-year friend was simply having a moment before the world around her came to life once more, and it was oddly soothing to watch. She paused in the doorway that led to the girls' stairs and simply watched for awhile, until Hermione eventually looked around and realised that Skyla was standing there.
"Oh, hey. I thought it might be nice to try using the common room when it was empty," Hermione explained as she indicated towards the fire, "it's quite nice down here."
"It certainly looks cosy and relaxing," Skyla said with a small smile.
"Do you think breakfast is being served yet?" Hermione wondered aloud.
"We should probably wait and go down with the rest of the house, since we haven't actually seen what a breakfast here is like," Skyla pointed out, "maybe it's customary to go down as a house or something?"
"I suppose… breakfast in our house was usually a piece of toast that was eaten while rushing out the front door, but I know some families have sit-down meals in the morning," Hermione considered.
The two girls both got cosy on the lounge next to each other and pulled their textbooks out of their bags, having decided to wait. Skyla did enjoy studying in general, but even for her it was far too early to get straight into the heavy books. Still, she was quite tempted by the prospect of sitting and studying with Hermione in front of the warm and comforting fire, so, a little reluctantly, she dragged her potions textbook towards her and set about refreshing her memory on what she had read previously.
Her sacrifice was rewarded in the end as she did find it quite pleasant to sit and study with Hermione; both girls sat close together so that they could compare their notes, with their knees tucked up underneath them and their books resting on their raised thighs. They were both quite small, especially when compared to the large sofas, so there was a certain comfort to be found in huddling together over their books and notepads. Skyla could feel her thigh pressing up against Hermione's whenever either girl leaned over to compare a note or passage of text, and she wasn't entirely sure why she found that to be such a nice feeling, but it was. Perhaps it was just the simple fact that it was a physical reminder to her that she was both awake and alive; something that she was still coming to terms with.
They had been sitting and studying for some time when Hermione changed the topic away from potions and transfiguration, which they had been discussing.
"Skyla…" she began hesitantly after dissecting a few of Skyla's notes, "I was just wondering… what's up with your handwriting?"
"What do you mean?" Skyla replied, confused.
"Well it's… I really don't want to sound mean, but it's not… very good. Did you… did you not learn how to write properly when you were younger?" Hermione asked as delicately as she could.
"Oh, well, I did learn how to write when I was younger but I just never got to practice it very much over the last few years," Skyla said with a shrug, "I've only been writing again for the last month or so."
"I see."
"Sorry if it's hard to read. I didn't realise it was that bad…"
"No, no, I can read it just fine," Hermione quickly said, "it's not illegible or anything it's just… maybe I can show you a few things that might help it look a little neater, if you like?"
"Sure, if you think you can help," Skyla replied, nodding. She didn't even realise her handwriting was that bad, and was actually rather grateful that Hermione had noticed before she had to submit anything in to a teacher.
"Okay, well see here, how your 'a' is quite large at this point, but short here? You actually want it to come down like this instead…"
Skyla did admittedly feel a little embarrassed about having to relearn how to write her out her letters properly, however she also felt quite warm and cosy having Hermione lean across her repeatedly and point each mistake out in her book, so that certainly took the edge off her emotions. She knew that a little embarrassment with Hermione was far more preferable than having a teacher, or other classmates, laugh and ridicule her handwriting in public.
Eventually the sun had risen high enough that the other students had begun to slowly emerge from their dormitories with yawns and stretches, so the girls packed up their cosy setup and prepared to head down to the Great Hall. They weren't fast enough to escape the notice of Lavender and Parvati however who had finally emerged from the bedroom, dressed in their black school robes.
"Were you two up studying all night?" Lavender asked in shock.
"You were with us when we went to bed, silly," Hermione pointed out with a laugh.
"How long have you been up?" Parvati asked curiously.
"Since around six," Skyla shrugged, neglecting to mention that Hermione had been up for an unknown amount of time before that.
"And you've been studying all this time?"
"Well, not the 'entire' time…"
Lavender and Parvati both simply shook their heads at their dedicated (though they may choose a different word) dorm-mates.
Several older Gryffindor students were starting to periodically emerge and trickle out of the common room in small groups, so the girls collectively agreed that breakfast at Hogwarts must be a 'come and go as you please' affair, based on the casual behaviour. They navigated the self-moving staircase without much difficulty, thanks to the older students that they were loosely trailing behind, and the four girls arrived at the Great Hall to find various students already scattered among the house tables, eating from the rather impressive buffets that were spread out in front of them. It seemed that at Hogwarts, breakfast was a rather casual affair as the students of all houses had clearly come down at different times to eat; some had books propped open in front of them while they ate and others were clearly still half asleep, with their elbows on the table and their heads lying on their arms.
After a delicious breakfast, which comprised of a rather colourful fruit yogurt for Hermione and sourdough with poached eggs for Skyla (who reveled in the warmth and taste of the satisfyingly fresh bread), the four girls chatted idly together until they spotted Professor McGonagall making her way down the Gryffindor table with a stack of parchment in her hands.
"Oh this must be our timetables," Hermione realised.
"Good morning girls," McGonagall said briefly when she reached the group and began to hand out four copies of the first year timetable, "big day ahead of you, make sure you stay well fed and hydrated."
"Yes mum," Lavender muttered quietly under her breath. Parvati snickered slightly, although McGonagall didn't seem to have heard her (fortunately for Lavender).
"Let's see… so today it is Charms first, then Transfiguration," Hermione commented after McGonagall had finished handing over the timetables and departed, "then Herbology after lunch. How exciting!"
"Exciting is one word for it," Lavender said with a hint of despair in her voice, "we don't even get any time off until Friday afternoon! What kind of cruelty is this? All week without a break?"
"We still have hour-long lunch breaks," Skyla reasoned, pointed them out on the timetable, "and it might be nice being able to finish early on a Friday."
"Yeah, if we survive that long," Parvati sighed, shaking her head as she sided with Lavender on this one, "three classes every day, two hours each? PLUS extra study? It's too much. What do they think we are studying here? It's magic…"
"It's not that bad," Hermione said, "on Tuesdays we don't have a class in the afternoon slot since Astronomy is in the evening, and Potions is our only class on Friday which is three hours and then we are done for the day. I'd say that's pretty good."
Lavender and Parvati were not convinced however and continued to grumble to each other for the remainder of their time at the Gryffindor table. Skyla could do little more than shrug; on one hand she did have her own concerns as to whether she was going to be able to keep to an organised schedule as she had never really needed to be organised before, but on the other hand she was rather keen to start studying magic properly and she was more than happy to spend her entire day on it if that was what it needed. At least she had Hermione, and Skyla was starting to get the impression that Hermione was going to be very helpful in terms of organisation and scheduling, at least from what she had garnered when they had compared their notes.
"-clear instructions with a very specific time! Furthermore-"
A rising voice caused the girls to pause and look over to see that Ron and three other boys were being rather publicly dressed down by an annoyed looking McGonagall, as they had only just arrived, well after the eight a.m. assembly time. Many of the students in the Great Hall had already left after receiving their timetables, and the girls had finished eating quite some time ago.
"But Professor, it's the first day, can't you cut us some sla-"
"Five points from Gryffindor," McGonagall said sternly, "and let that be a lesson to you. Organisation and discipline are not only the traits of Ravenclaw, but the traits of all Hogwarts students. You boys best get your act together now; we have seven long years ahead of us and you do not want to make your stay here an uncomfortable one."
The group of boys, which was comprised of Ron, Neville and two others that Skyla did not know, all slumped their shoulders and sat down to pick at the remainders of the breakfast that was left on the table, looking rather glum. The remaining students of Gryffindor House that had not yet left the table, all scowled at the group with obvious annoyance.
"What was that about points?" Skyla asked, confused.
"It's written on your timetable," Hermione pointed out as she leaned over, "right here. Down the bottom."
Skyla looked to the bottom of her timetable where Hermione was pointing and read the small, neat, cursive words;
'House Points; teachers, and the Head Boy or Girl, may allocate or subtract points from a house based upon student behaviour. Acts of academic achievement or of personal integrity may gain points, while any rule breaking and immoral behaviour will result in the deduction of points.
At the end of the year, the house with the most House Points will win the House Cup.'
"Do you get anything for winning the cup?" Skyla asked curiously.
"The honour of winning, I suppose," Hermione shrugged, "seems like a way to cause more division to me. I think it would be better if the points were given to students individually, you know? To reward those who go the extra mile. Maybe you could use it like a currency to buy things within the school or something?"
"That would make more sense," Skyla agreed, "it would be nice to have something tangible to win."
"It's about building teamwork," Parvati pointed out, "and about everyone pitching in to beat the other houses."
"Is it?" Hermione wondered as she wrinkled her nose in the direction of the boys who had already lost them points before classes had even started, "or is it just a way for the superior students to drag the undeserving to victory, ensuring that they learn nothing for themselves?"
Parvati looked as though she wanted to argue for a moment, but seemed to think better of it as she just shrugged slightly and turned to engage Lavender in conversation about her hair troubles that morning.
"Well, we better head to class," Hermione said a few minutes later in a quiet voice, "before we're late."
"Oh, you guys go on ahead," Parvati said with a smile, "we'll catch up with you."
"Uh, okay," Skyla replied with an indifferent shrug as she grabbed her backpack. Hermione sighed softly and did the same, though she looked a little downtrodden as she did so.
After navigating the unpredictable stairs once again, Skyla and Hermione arrived at their classroom on the third floor alongside the Hufflepuffs with which they were sharing the class, and waited outside for their teacher to arrive. A few amicable nods and greetings were given to Skyla and Hermione, however the Hufflepuffs seemed to have already formed strong groups together and they all-but clung to each other in their groups of four or five. Skyla found it interesting that there didn't seem to be anyone left out within Hufflepuff; she rather admired the apparent openness and welcoming nature of the house, as every student seemed to be involved with their group discussions in some way. The Gryffindor students weren't overly hostile or anything so far, but as she stood to the side with Hermione and watched Parvati and Lavender arrive, chatting away with Ron and his friends, she did wonder if perhaps there was merit to what the hat had said to her about her potential experiences within each house. Still, it wasn't as though either Skyla or Hermione were particularly interested in being a part of the conversation anyway, once they overheard Lavender loudly complaining about how it was very unfair of McGonagall to take points from her own house, which Ron wholeheartedly agreed with.
"The name's Ron Weasley, I didn't catch yours?"
"Lavender. Just like the flower."
"Pretty name, almost as pretty as you are."
"Oh… why thank you! That's super sweet of you."
Hermione raised an eyebrow to Skyla with a nauseated expression on her face, which made Skyla chuckle slightly.
'Excuse me, coming through, yes down here, yes yes…"
An incredibly short, older man came waddling through the crowd of students, attempting to make his way towards the classroom with some difficulty. Skyla thought that he almost looked like a little goblin; he certainly had the height for it. Unlike the goblins that Skyla had met however, this little old man had a very welcoming smile on his face as he made his way to the classroom door, despite his difficulty in navigating the students, and opened it wordlessly with his wand. Skyla and Hermione followed him in, followed a few seconds later by the rest of the students as no-one else had even noticed his arrival. The two girls took front row seats and eagerly took out their books, quills and ink pots, both resisting the urge to grab one of the many ballpoint pens that were in their bags since they both wanted to fit in with the magical world, as inconvenient as it was to still use quills. Skyla hadn't actually tried to use a quill yet, though she had bought several just in case.
While the students were getting themselves ready, their teacher positioned himself at the front, standing on top of a chair in order to see comfortably across the classroom.
"Welcome to Charms class!" he called out warmly, "for some, a class where you will learn useful spells for every day life. For others, a class that will start you down a lifelong path towards understanding the deeper arcane and all of its intricacies! I am Professor Flitwick, and no matter which path you choose to go down, I will be there to guide you!"
"This is super exciting!" Hermione whispered quietly to Skyla once Flitwick had finished his introduction.
"I know!" Skyla whispered back with a grin, feeling a little giddy about her first class.
"Now, the first thi- oh, you boys back there, could you focus, please?" Flitwick called out cheerfully to the Gryffindor boys in the back row who were loudly squabbling over their seating arrangements.
"Honestly," Hermione sighed.
"At least we didn't lose more points," Skyla reasoned.
"As I was saying, the first thing that you need to know about Charms is that it is a very broad subject," Flickwick continued, "it can encompass many avenues of magic. Spells that change moods or affect the senses, spells that alter properties such as gravity resistance or cause physical changes in size, or even spells that animate the inanimate. We will be studying all kinds of spells in this classroom and as such, it is important that we focus not on a singular-"
A loud snickering burst forth from the rear as the Gryffindor boys attempted to stifle their laughter at some unknown joke, to no avail. Skyla felt a little awkward once she realised, after turning around to look, that the Gryffindor boys, and both Lavender and Parvati, were all staring at her and Hermione with very poorly hidden amusement.
"Now, really boys," Flitwick said exasperatedly, "I know it's your first day and it's all very exciting, but please."
"Sorry," Ron said as his red face emerged from behind his hands, still giggling at whatever had been said.
Hermione met Skyla's eye and gave her a very unamused expression in response to the antics.
"Perhaps we should move past introductions and straight onto the more hands-on part…" Flitwick said with a small sigh, "we're going to start with something very simple today, but it is an excellent starting point to allow you to begin practicing your control of magic. Here, would you kindly take a feather and pass the rest back, Miss…?"
"Granger," Hermione said as Flitwick handed her a stack of feathers, "Hermione Granger."
After a moment, more snickering came from the rear of the classroom and Hermione snapped her head back towards the group in annoyance. She wasn't alone, however, as many of the Hufflepuffs were also clearly starting to get annoyed at the group by the disapproving looks being sent towards the back.
"I am afraid I will have to deduct five points from Gryffindor for the interruptions," Flitwick said sternly, "and if you need to take a few minutes outside to calm down I would recommend doing so as what we will be doing shall require focus. It is simple magic, but all magic has its own complexity under the surface and it may prove trickier than you think."
"Now," he continued after silence eventually returned to the classroom and the feathers had been passed around, "the charm that we will be learning today will be the 'levitation charm'."
"Ooh!" Skyla and Hermione both exclaimed excitedly as they recognised the spell.
"I take it that you are familiar with this one, then?" Flitwick chuckled at the girls reactions, "it's fantastic when students come prepared."
"Well, I haven't actually tried it before," Hermione admitted, "but I think I understand the basics well enough. I hope so, anyway."
"I've done it a few times," Skyla commented, "but I'm probably doing it all wrong."
"You've already achieved it, have you?" Flitwick asked curiously, "well then, would you care to demonstrate the spell for me?"
"Uh…"
Skyla suddenly became very aware of all the eyes that were bearing down upon her, even Hermione's, and she felt herself seize up slightly. She already had a strange, creeping feel running down the back of her spine from the odd looks she had been receiving earlier, and the idea of performing the spell in front of everyone caused her hands to start sweating and her heart rate to increase significantly.
Had the windows always been this bright inside the classroom…?
"It's okay Skyla," Hermione said softly as she gently touched Skyla on the arm reassuringly, "you can do it."
Skyla looked at Hermione and strangely felt her sudden sense of panic starting to ease. The reassuring physical contact from her felt quite nice and it was almost as if Hermione was absorbing all of her anxiety out of her body with her comforting touch.
With a deep, shaky breath, Skyla slipped her wand out from her forearm holster inside her right sleeve, and aimed it toward the feather that was lying on her desk.
"What a charming wand," Flitwick commented, "how unusual."
"Imported wood," Skyla explained quietly, "though he never did say from where."
"Exotic indeed, how fascinating," Flitwick said with an eager smile, "go on! Show us what both wand and witch can do!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Skyla said slowly and clearly, swishing her wand from side to side and ending with a little flick, as she had read and practiced several times before.
The feather began to slowly, but surely, rise off the table and using her wand to direct the feather, she lightly floated it several feet above the desk, before letting it fall gently back down again.
"Oh, very good!" Flitwick said happily, "I see you've been doing your reading! Excellent pronunciation and perfect wand movement. Take ten points to Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindors whispered among themselves in approval of the points, since it meant that Ron and his friends' blunders had effectively been wiped off the board. Skyla didn't exactly get any words of appreciation for her efforts but, she felt rather satisfied nonetheless. She did receive some praise from Hermione however, and to Skyla that meant far more than it would have from anyone else.
"That was really good!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly, "I mean, I really can't fault anything there. It was perfect!"
"I'm sure there was plenty I did wrong," Skyla said a little awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her neck, "I was just trying to do it like it said in the book."
"And as such, it was a textbook result," Flitwick said with approval, "there's no need to reinvent the wheel in your first year. You need to know how it's supposed to be done, before you can think about doing it any other way. Walk before you run!"
"I hope the rest of you were paying close attention, because you'll all be doing it next."
There was a slight scramble as the students all pulled out their wands from various locations.
"Now, the key is in the nice clear pronunciation and a confident, 'swish and flick', just as Miss Potter did," Flitwick called out.
"So you know my name too," Skyla said quietly, "and here I was thinking someone might not recognise me."
Flitwick simply chuckled in response.
"Of course, my dear. Everyone knows you, especially the staff. Even if you hadn't been famous by your own right, many of us taught your parents and would have known you from that. A spitting image of your mother you are, minus the hair of course. But that's a topic for another time."
None of the other students seemed particularly eager to be the first ones to attempt the spell after Skyla's impressive display, based upon the many students who had their wands held idly in their hands with no words forthcoming from anyone. It was clearly noticed by Flitwick and he decided to change tactics.
"Alright, let's do it together then! On the count of three; swish and flick. Ready? One, two, three-"
A chorus of "Wingardium Leviosa!" rang out among the students, however Skyla looked around in shock to see that absolute chaos had broken out in the classroom. Some feathers were sent flying across the room while others had spontaneously ignited in flames; one feather had even been transfigured into a small bird; a very impressive feat of magic, had it been done intentionally (and had the bird not looked a little… disturbingly deformed).
There was only one feather that was gently hovering in the air, and Skyla wasn't surprised at all to see who it was that had managed to successfully cast the spell.
"Nicely done," Skyla said with a smile to Hermione, "I guess doing all that extra reading paid off in the end."
"I'm just glad that it worked," Hermione admitted, "I wasn't sure since that it would since I haven't actually done it before."
"I didn't even get it on my first try," Skyla pointed out, "I messed up several times at first when I was doing it in my room. So you've done a much better job than I have, if you factor that in."
"It's not a competition Skyla," Hermione said pointedly, although her little smile at Skyla's words seemed to betray her thoughts to the contrary.
"Maybe not… but you still win anyway, and you deserve to. You're far more talented than me," Skyla said with a small shrug. Hermione smiled warmly in response as she let her feather slowly drift back down to the table.
"That's very sweet, you know," Hermione said, "for someone who is rich, famous and clearly quite talented yourself, you are a very humble person."
"I… if you say so… I don't really think about what I say sometimes," Skyla admitted, "I just… kind of say whatever comes to mind."
Hermione laughed, "that's what makes it so sweet."
"Shame you didn't get any points for that, though," Skyla said, indicating to the feather.
"Oh… well… it's not like I was hoping to get any…" Hermione said rather unconvincingly, "but… I guess I can't really blame him, can I?"
The two girls looked over to see a frantic Flitwick running around the room, attempting to extinguish small fires and return feathers back to their original forms.
"I don't want to speak too soon," Skyla said slowly, "but I think maybe we didn't need to worry so much about being behind the others."
"I'm starting to get that feeling too," Hermione agreed with a small laugh as she watched Ron attempt to throw his feather into the air and pretend he was levitating it, looking hopefully in Flitwick's direction.
In the end, once Flitwick had control of the classroom once again, he assigned everyone with a short essay to complete on the correct method of casting the levitation charm to be handed in next week, along with a physical demonstration of the completed spell. Everyone except for Skyla and Hermione, who had demonstrated her spell to Flitwick once he was less flustered, and they had evaded the homework assignment altogether.
"I won't make you two do it," Flitwick said thoughtfully to Skyla and Hermione, "since you have both clearly demonstrated your ability to perform the spell. Instead, try and do a little pre-reading for next week and we'll see if we can come up with something a bit more challenging for you. Really put you to the test!"
"I'm a little disappointed," Hermione admitted once they had left the classroom and stepped out into the corridor, "it could have been fun to write that essay, but I suppose we better use that time to practice. Who knows what he'll have for us next week."
"You're disappointed?" Ron said incredulously from behind them as they stepped out into the corridor, "fun to write the essay? Well if you're so eager you can do mine for me then. Problem solved."
The two boys behind him laughed loudly, although Neville, who was tagging along in the back, didn't seem to find it quite as funny as the others.
"Dean and Seamus," Ron indicated to the two boys, "meet our resident book lovers, Hermione Granger and Skyla Potter."
"Haven't had a chance ta' talk yet," Seamus said with a nod towards them, his Irish accent strongly coming through in his speech, "but 'tis a pleasure to meet you, Skyla."
"Oh, uh thanks," Skyla said a little awkwardly, while Hermione frowned and looked away in annoyance.
"Ron won't shut up about you," Dean, a rather tall, dark skinned boy with a strong east-end accent laughed, "always bangin' on about his friend Skyla Potter."
"Yeah well you wouldn't understand," Ron said exasperatedly, "you're from a muggle home. She's a big deal in our world."
"Fame is fame, right?" Dean shrugged, "don't matter whether you are famous in the muggle or the magical world. Don't mean nothin' if you can't back it up."
"Well clearly she can," Ron pointed out, "she did the spell perfectly."
"And pulled your arse out of the fire with those points," Dean laughed.
"If you hadn't made me laugh we wouldn't have lost them," Ron said, annoyed, "it's just as much your fault as it is mine."
"Hermione did the spell just as well as I did," Skyla pointed out quietly, "better even, since she did hers on her first try. If anyone is important to know it's her not me-"
"Oh, don't worry about it, Skyla," Hermione said with slightly reddening cheeks, "I don't need their admiration."
"Potter's got a point though," Seamus said, "both of you girls seem to know what you're doing."
"Yeah… and I hear you're giving away free essays," Dean winked, "wanna do mine? I'll make it worth your while, trust me."
"I think it best that you boys sort yourselves out," Hermione said with a frown, "after all, how else are you going to learn if we do everything for you? No-one else was able to perform today."
Ron whispered something quietly to the boys which caused Seamus and Dean to snicker and start nudging each other in the ribs, though Hermione and Skyla just stared at the baffling behaviour with confusion.
"Come on, we'll be late for our next class," Hermione said briskly, grabbing Skyla by the arm and heading off down the corridor, leaving the boys to continue bantering on their own.
"They seem… friendly?" Skyla suggested hesitantly.
"They seem like boys," Hermione said with an eyeroll, "just like the boys from my old school. Loud, rambunctious, immature-"
"Neville doesn't seem to be like that though," Skyla pointed out, having noticed Neville standing in the rear and hardly saying anything at all.
"Maybe he doesn't really fit in with them," Hermione considered, "but if they share a room, then he probably just wants to try and get along."
"That makes sense," Skyla said with a nod, "we should probably try and do the same with Lavender and Parvati."
"Yeah…"
Neither girl had to express their shared concerns about the unspoken divide that seemed to be forming between the two pairs of girls. Even Skyla, who was not particularly experienced with social interactions, could tell that the other two did not seem overly eager to be close friends, especially after the interactions during breakfast.
Thankfully they weren't late to their transfiguration class, and there were still spaces free in the front row, which the girls eagerly took. They had back-to-back classes with Hufflepuff, which meant that the seating arrangements appeared to be much the same as it had been within Flitwick's classroom; a mostly empty front row, densely populated middle rows and an empty back row that the Gryffindor boys would no doubt occupy. Skyla and Hermione chose the very center of the front row and began to take out their books, until Hermione noticed that there was a large black cat sitting idly on the teacher's desk at the front of the class.
"Oh! How cute!" Hermione exclaimed fondly, "I love cats…. you're a gorgeous little thing aren't you…?"
"I've never really had much to do with animals," Skyla admitted, "there was a dog once, but…"
She wondered briefly what that dog was up to now. She hoped that he was doing okay, though he may not even be alive anymore. A cheerful thought.
"What are all those tabs in your book?" Hermione asked curiously, pointing to the pieces of paper that were sticking out of Skyla's transfiguration textbook.
"Oh, I went through and made tabs to help me find things easier, the red ones are for the sections that talk about spellcasting specifically," Skyla explained, "the blue ones are for theory. The green ones are more background facts or pointers that are good to know, but probably not essential."
"That's a good idea, I've got a similar system but mine's a bit different. Let me see what you've marked…"
The two girls hunched over Skyla's textbook and eagerly discussed the contents for some time, comparing their notes and theorising over what they may encounter in their first lesson, and what parts of the textbook they might use. Eventually, the distinctive clap of shoes on stone could be heard coming from outside the classroom and the frantic breathing of several boys running grew louder and louder.
Hermione rolled her eyes without even looking at the source of the noise.
"Phew! We made it!" Ron announced happily as the boys came sprinting into the classroom, "can you imagine old McGonagall's face if we were lat-"
He trailed off as in front of him, to his immense surprise, the large cat on the table suddenly sprang forward and transformed into the living, breathing, 'old McGonagall'. The class collectively gasped at the impressive display of magic, though McGonagall did not seem terribly impressed by what she was looking at in return.
"That was bloody wicked!" Ron exclaimed.
"Five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness," McGonagall said stiffy, "and five points from Gryffindor for your language."
"What!"
"That's so unfair!"
The boys protested loudly for a second, however they were almost immediately silenced by a very stern look from McGonagall.
"I will warn you now," she said through her pursed lips, "I will not tolerate any disrespectful or immature behaviour within my house. As your Head of House and Deputy Headmistress, you should be very aware of the fact that I may remove points, assign detention, write to your families and hand out suspensions or expulsions. If you do not begin to demonstrate the ability to study responsibly and respectfully, then I fear for your chances of making it through the seven years of your stay."
The boys all stared at her with open mouths while rooted to the spot. None of the boys had ever been spoken to so harshly by an adult before (with the exception of Neville, who had been on the receiving end of his incredibly stern grandmother). They were only shocked further when, without turning around or looking, McGonagall added;
"Five points to Gryffindor for Potter and Granger's diligence and commitment to their studies."
The boys stared incredulously at the two Gryffindor girls, who simply looked back and shrugged. Skyla looked away a little awkwardly while she did so, however Hermione met Ron's stare and smirked directly back. Her smirk slowly faded however and she brought her hand up to her cover her mouth, with her cheeks turning red.
"What is it?" Skyla asked, alarmed; she thought for a bizarre moment that Hermione might have been choking on something.
"If she was listening to us…" Hermione let out from between her fingers in a muffled voice, "she would have heard me call her c-cute and g-gorgeous…"
Hermione buried her face back into her book in embarrassment while Skyla snickered at the realisation.
"I suppose that is the danger of being able to change into an animal," Skyla mused, "you may just be treated as one."
"... so embarrassing…"
Skyla chuckled once again at Hermione and after a moment, she looked up to see that McGonagall had returned to her desk at the front. She wondered whether McGonagall might take back those points she just gave them, however the stern older woman was rather pointedly ignoring the two, and almost looked as though her lip was twitching slightly.
"Transfiguration," she eventually began after the two girls had settled and the boys had taken their seats, "is a branch of magic that is concerned with the rapid changing of matter. Every subject that you will study at Hogwarts will be difficult and will require a good theoretical understanding, however you will find that this subject is perhaps the most difficult of them all. Transfiguration is far more than waving a wand and saying a few words; you will need to have a good understanding of how your target works, in order to change it into another form entirely. This year, we will be working with inanimate objects that have very simple properties, however if you do not stay on top of your studies you will quickly fall behind when we begin to move onto more difficult transformations. I would advise each and every one of you to allocate the appropriate amount of time that this subject deserves, as you will certainly need all of it."
Skyla and Hermione eagerly soaked in every word that McGonagall spoke, both rapidly jotting down notes as they went. Skyla noticed out of the corner of her eye that Hermione had already pulled out her timetable and was making a few adjustments on it.
"By the end of this week, you will all have transfigured this, into this-"
McGonagall held up an ordinary matchstick, followed by a simple sewing needle.
"A deceptively simply task that you will find to be more difficult than you think. Everyone always does."
A few murmurs spread throughout the class; it sounded like interesting magic to be able to do and a few students seemed quite eager to begin, even if McGonagall did say it was difficult.
"Now, before we can even think about attempting the transfiguration, we need to understand the basics. We will start with chapter one in your book; understanding matter," McGonagall said, indicating for them to open their textbooks.
A few groans and sighs spread throughout the class; the interest seemed to immediately evaporate once it became apparent that it was going to be a theory heavy class.
Even Skyla and Hermione both had to admit that the class was more intensive than they had expected, however unlike the students around them who were muttering murmurs of discontent, they both enjoyed the challenge and the unexpected difficulty.
Despite it being more difficult than expected, both girls still raced each other to be the first to answer every question, and had scored themselves (or more to the point; scored for Gryffindor) another twenty points during the process. McGonagall eventually had to point out that she needed to get some answers from the other students in the class and simply informed the two that they could work ahead on their own, as long as they didn't disturb the others.
"This is really neat!" Hermione commented quietly to Skyla as they spread their matches out on the desk and got to work, "it's like a combination of muggle science and magic in one subject, which makes sense. You need to understand how things are fundamentally constructed in order to transfigure them, and the properties of objects and materials don't change between the muggle and magical world. An atom is still an atom and a molecule is still a molecule, no matter how what you do with it afterwards."
"I haven't really done a lot of science before," Skyla admitted, "I get the magical side of this stuff, but the muggle side… I don't exactly have a lot of experience with it."
"I can help you," Hermione said happily, "if something comes up that you need to know I'll be happy to explain anything to you."
"Thanks, Hermione," Skyla said quietly with a small smile, "you're such a wonderful person."
"Oh stop it, you'll make me blush."
"Right, Professor McGonagall might get jealous-"
Hermione ducked her head away as the bright red colour returned to her cheeks.
The two girls worked in a comfortable silence for awhile after that (once Hermione had calmed down again), gradually turning each match into a long, silver needle. Eventually, Hermione raised her hand.
"Professor?"
"Yes? What is it?" McGonagall asked as she walked over to their desk.
"Can we get some more matches please? We're out," Hermione asked, indicating down to the desk which now had an entire matchbox worth of needles lying on it.
Both of McGonagall's eyebrows met the top of her forehead in surprise at the sight.
"You were only meant to do one," McGonagall pointed out with a small shake of her head in disbelief, "by the end of the week."
"Oh, sorry!" both girls quickly apologised, which simply caused McGonagall to shake her head even further.
"Well, I suppose we better give Gryffindor another ten points then…" McGonagall sighed dramatically, as though it pained her to do it.
"... each."
"Woah!" Hermione and Skyla both exclaimed. They had already worked up quite a few points for their house, and they were only halfway through their first day.
"That's not really fair," a Hufflepuff boy spoke up hesitantly from behind them, "they've already been given loads of points in both classes and no-one else has been given any."
"And do you have a entirely completed box of needles sitting on your desk, as these two do?" McGonagall asked seriously.
"Well, no, but-"
"And did you correctly, word for word, explain Roderick's laws of transfiguration as Miss Granger did?"
"No, but-"
"And did you read your entire textbook prior to class, AND properly organise it for easy referencing and navigation as Miss Potter did?"
"..."
"Then instead of awarding you points for nothing, Wilkinson, I shall await either your full-page essay on the fundamentals of transfiguration basics by the end of the week, or your entirely completed box of needles by the end of the day. Perhaps then, you shall understand just how far ahead of you these two girls are."
The boy stared at McGonagall in shock, however she refused to back down in the slightest.
"Would anyone else like to make a case for why they disagree with my allocation of points?"
The class stared at McGonagall, however no-one was willing to risk extra homework in the slightest. Eventually the students lowered their gazes and resumed their work, occasionally throwing the odd scowl in the direction of Hermione and Skyla, as if it were somehow their fault.
"You two can go," McGonagall said vaguely to the pair, "you've clearly got the hang of this. This was all we were working on today."
"Oh, no we couldn't do that," Hermione shook her head.
"I'm sure there's much more we can practice," Skyla added.
"Take the time off while you can get it," McGonagall advised, "this subject will quickly advance beyond even your formidable levels. Use the time to ensure that you are as advanced in your other subjects as you are in this one."
The girls looked at each other and shrugged slightly, not willing to directly reject the advice of their Head of House (and Deputy Headmistress). They packed up their bags and departed the classroom with almost an hour left to spare before lunch, under the mirthful gazes of the remaining students.
"What should we do now?" Skyla asked, "I wasn't expecting to have free time today."
"Well… I did want to go and check out the library at some point?" Hermione suggested, "I've read that it is the largest magical library in all of Britain! There are entire sections based on spellwork, theoretical knowledge, history and more, and I think it could be fascinating to compare to a muggle library, I wonder just how-"
"We can go and have a look," Skyla replied with a smile at the eagerness that was plastered all over Hermione's face. She had to admit that it did sound rather fascinating, and so the two girls headed down to the library for 'a quick look'.
They ended up missing lunch entirely, and almost missed their first Herbology class that afternoon.
"A quick look," Skyla scoffed as they ran through the corridors to the greenhouses on the grounds.
"You took out even more books than me!" Hermione countered as she huffed slightly while they ran, "just as much your fault as mine!"
They unintentionally discovered that Skyla was a much better runner than Hermione was as she triumphantly reached the greenhouses first, although they both hoped they wouldn't need to test that fact again in the future.
***************
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was a very clever man, even if he said so himself. He was lost in deep thought as he paced back and forth within the Headmaster's Office that he had occupied for the previous thirty years, attempting to make sense of things within his rather brilliant mind. An open bottle of brandy rest half-finished upon his mahogany desk and a few unsigned ministerial documents lay scattered nearby; he had been of a mind to finally get around to finishing the signing of the important documents until he had begun to think, and thus, begun to drink, as was practically his tradition by this point. He was a man of many titles; Order of Merlin - First Class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Certainly a mouthful, however he had never particularly cared for most of the titles that had been bestowed upon him over the years. The only title that had ever truly mattered to him was that of Headmaster, and his priority had always been the care of his students. He had always done his best to treat every student equally and fairly as he loved to teach and he hoped to create welcoming environments for the willing and eager young students to learn about both magic and life.
Yet now, it was only one student that he was thinking about it, and her situation baffled even his extraordinary mind.
Skyla Potter. Oh, the questions that he had. He was truly a very clever wizard so it did not take an extraordinary mental leap for him to put two and two together and work out that the girl had not been at Privet Drive, with her muggle family, as he had expected. The Hogwarts letters were powered by a magic that was far superior to his own and the address on the envelope never lied; it was always addressed to what was perceived as home by the prospective student.
Of course, therein lie the problem. Why was Skyla Potter living in a muggle orphanage, when he himself had gone to tremendous lengths to ensure her safety? He had dabbled in blood magic, the foulest of magic, to ensure that she would be kept safe at the muggle premises. He looked over to the spinning, silver instruments that lined the walls of his office and noted the two that were responsible for Skyla; one that monitored her life signs, and one that monitored the wards on Privet Drive. Both were spinning and thus, he knew that Skyla was alive and that the wards hadn't been breached. He had no idea how the girl had even left the property in the first place, as magic itself was keeping her safe there.
He paused as the thought struck him; had he truly ensured that she would be kept safe in the muggle premises? Or had he only ensured that she would be kept safe? He tried to recall exactly how he had worded the strong blood wards, but he couldn't quite remember. He supposed, in hindsight, that if magic had deemed the girl would not be safe at the premises, then it may have removed her by its own volition. Both black and blood magic were notorious for being desperately tricky to interpret, word, or understand, and it was why they were so taboo; one simple wording mistake could see a curse placed upon a family for a thousand generations, even though the caster may have only wanted to heal a mild sickness. Perhaps he himself had fallen prey to the trap of blood magic like so many before him; his own caution had given way to hubris and despair. It was why he had been so reluctant to use it in the first place and why he had refused to use it for James and Lily, yet in his haste to protect their daughter, he may have made a grave error.
Regardless, what was done was done. The girl was grown up and was now within the safe confines of the castle where he could watch over her until a decision was made of what to do with the girl. He sighed as he thought back to the conversation that he had with Hagrid regarding the girl, just after the sorting ceremony had been completed the previous night.
"Now, Albus," Hagrid had said, standing before the headmasters desk, "you know that you have nothin' but my deepest respect and admiration."
"For which I am eternally grateful," Albus had replied with a smile and a slight bow of his head.
"But I gotta know," the large man had pressed on, "what's goin' on with Skyla? Why is she in a muggle ora-pherege or whatever it is called? You made me take that girl off Sirius all those years ago and I brought her to you in good faith that you were gonna' look after her."
"Hagrid my friend," Albus replied with a sad sigh, "I wish I could tell you, but I do not know. I left her in the care of her muggle relatives as I thought it for the best that she be with family; how she ended up in an orphanage remains a mystery. Perhaps I was naive to think that family meant something in this day and age…"
He had eventually managed to placate Hagrid with soft replies and gentle apologies, although when the large and sometimes imposing man left his office, he still had a small frown on his face.
Albus did, of course, have his own theories that weren't far from the truth, as was expected from the greatest wizard of a generation, although he decided not to share them with Hagrid, lest Hagrid misunderstand and blame him personally for what had happened. The mere mention of blood magic was enough to send unspeakables to the door of any witch or wizard, so Albus needed to protect the information of what had, theoretically, happened to Skyla. If the public knew that Albus had used blood magic on the girl that had gone wrong, and landed her in a muggle orphanage where she was kept in a cellar and apparently underfed and neglected, well… he might as-well start digging his own grave.
It was unfortunate that he could not act any sooner and he lamented the fact that Skyla had been preregistered with Hogwarts as this meant that she had already been considered to be a future student of the school when the letters had been sent out. Had any other muggleborn students turned eleven in an orphanage, he would have been altered that the student may require introduction to the magical world. When Skyla was registered with Hogwarts however, she was considered to be a child from a magical family; the pureblooded Potters, at that (though she herself was only half-blood). Given her status as a member of a magical family, the school simply sent the letter off without a second thought and without any of the muggleborn instructions in place, and it wasn't until he was alerted that she had not accepted her offer that he had looked into her situation further and discovered the truth.
He did admittedly feel a sense of guilt at having left the girl to her own devices for ten years of course, however he still felt justified in the fact that he was under the impression that her muggle relatives had taken the girl in and raised her in a loving home this entire time. How was he to know that the muggles would take an innocent baby and dump it on the doorsteps of an orphanage? How bad did you have to be as a family for magic to decide that Skyla was better, and safer, being dumped somewhere else? He had spoken the truth to Hagrid on that subject; perhaps he was naive to think that family meant anything to the muggles.
He felt his expensive bottle of brandy calling to him and with a sigh, he sat down at his desk and poured himself another glass. He knew that it wasn't healthy for a man of his years to drink so much, but, he wasn't sure these days that he could get through another year without a little artificial help. He knocked back the magically cooled drink with another sigh, contemplating the upcoming year.
It wasn't all bad, he supposed. He had watched closely as Skyla had communicated with the hat for an incredible amount of time, before eventually being put into Gryffindor. She clearly had made a friend in the muggleborn Granger girl, though he knew little about her at all beyond her name. Ronald Weasley seemed to be close to the pair, for which Albus was grateful; the Weasleys were a good family and he had no doubt that their youngest son would make for a fantastic companion for Skyla, and perhaps even a future husband, he chuckled to himself with amusement. That was many years away however, so he wasn't terribly concerned about such things, but he thought it would overall be an excellent experience for her, being in Gryffindor. The last thing that he needed was for Skyla Potter to follow the path of the Dark Lord; the irony of her upbringing wasn't lost on him. It was the Dark Lord himself who had, in a roundabout way, put the girl into a muggle orphanage and set her on the path to follow in his footsteps. If placed into Slytherin, he could have easily seen Skyla becoming a future Dark Lord (or in her case, Dark Lady) by her own right. Perhaps that was the true danger of blood magic; it seemed to have a dangerous sense of irony and a rather cold sense of humour. To take the prophesised chosen one, have her strike down the most dangerous wizard that the world has ever seen, then place her into the very same orphanage that the Dark Lord had lived in, half a century ago? Only blood magic could come up with such an ironic fate.
With no real course of action available to him other than to watch and wait, he simply decided to sit back and observe the girl. If she sought him out, he would considered answering her questions but until she did, he would watch from the shadows and hope that he wouldn't have to intervene on the poor girl's life once again.
***************
That evening, in the darkest corner of the Forbidden Forest, far outside the castle grounds, a shadow began to stir as it slowly dragged itself through the dense foliage. A shadow that was much more than a ghost, yet far less than a man.
A shadow that was only capable of saying two words.
"... Kill… Potter…"
The shadow collapsed and its form split into two wispy clouds of unnatural black smoke that scattered into the wind. Once again, very slowly, the shadows gathered together and the wispy outline of what appeared to be the shadow of a man reformed on the ground and dragged itself a few feet closer to the unsuspecting castle that slumbered peacefully under the stars, blissfully unaware of the impending darkness that was painfully, agonisingly, dragging itself closer and closer, one broken shadow at a time.