Ayla Lupin

Chapter 3: First classes and new teachers

Behind the three kids was standing a tall and athletic man, with a dark skin and a wide smile. He was wearing dark green robes and brown leather boots, and he had a belt with multiple tools attached to it. Ayla thought he was rather young, maybe a bit younger than her dad.

"I'm Jacob Kettleburn, your Herbology professor at the Academy" he answered their silent question. "And the plant you were looking at is a Moly. It can be used to resist to certain enchantments or as a potion ingredient."

"Its flowers are really pretty," said Ayla. "Professor, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"One of my dad's old professors at Hogwarts had the same name as you, I can't remember what he was teaching though... Maybe you know him?"

"Oh, yes, indeed, my uncle still teaches Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts. I visited him there a few times actually. What's your father's name, Miss...?"

"Ayla Lupin sir, and my father is Remus Lupin."

"It sounds familiar, wasn't he always with James Potter?" asked Kettleburn, and Ayla felt the questioning looks of Leo and Amalia on her back.

"Yes, they were friends back then."

"I hope your dad is doing alright, all of this must have been hard for him."

"He's fine now."

"Well Miss Lupin, it was lovely to meet you," said the professor with a smile on his face, "see you three on Tuesday," he added with a look in Leo and Amalia's direction. He started walking towards the castle, while the three children continued their walk through the gardens.

"Ayla, you didn't tell us you were friends with Harry Potter!" joked Amalia.

"I don't know him actually, my dad tried looking for him after what happened but he couldn't find him... That's why he came to France," explained Ayla.

"I wonder where he is now..." stated Leo. "He is our age you know, so he must be in a magical school."

"Probably in Hogwarts then," said Amalia.

"I reckon so," agreed Leo.

Monday 9th September 1991

The rest of the weekend went by slowly. Ayla spent time with her new friends, wandering around the castle. Finally, the first day of class arrived. That Monday morning, at breakfast, Ayla received an answer from her father, reassuring her for her first day. Remus wrote how much he was proud of her and told her not to worry about him. He had found a new job at the local library, and Bubble took as always good care of him. Ayla reassured, she started eating breakfast. She gave Vega a few crumbs of bread, stroking her feathers. The boys entered the Dining chamber and sat at the girls' table.

"So, who's excited for potions today?" Asked Alan.

"Actually I'm more excited for history this afternoon," responded Leo.

As the group was talking about the new classes they were going to attend, a group of older girls passed next to them. In the middle there was a stunning young lady, with beautiful long blond hair. All the eyes were on her.

"I bet she bathes in the fountain every morning," whispered Amalia.

"Oh no, she's a Veela," answered Matteo. "She's in the same year as my brother Luca, he has a huge crush on her. Her name is Fleur Delacour."

"I think your brother is not the only one having a crush on her," joked Amalia, gesturing to the three other boys.

They all finished their breakfast calmly and made their way to their first class. The professor was rather nice, but Ayla discovered that day she wasn't really good at potion making. The history class that afternoon was way more interesting for her, as the History of Magic teacher was a retired Auror, and talked like she lived all the events she was narrating. That evening, Amalia had her first dance lesson, so she was late for dinner. Meanwhile, the rest of the group was eating in the Dining chamber. Alan and Remi talked about quidditch and wanting to get into the quidditch club even though they were first years.

Tuesday 10th September 1991

The second day of classes started pretty early with Herbology, with Professor Kettleburn. Ayla loved that class, and the professor seemed to be impressed by her. She paired up with Amalia and the girls had a lot of fun. Their next class was transfiguration, which turned out to be Amalia's favourite class. After lunch, they had some time off before their flying class later that afternoon. The group sat in the common room of the White Tower. They were all talking about their families and their life before coming to Beauxbatons.

"So am I the only one to have an annoying little sister?" asked Amalia.

"Well I have an annoying older brother if that helps."

"Thank you, Matteo, it really does." she responded sarcastically.

"I have two younger brothers, they're twins. I think that's even worse." Joked Sophie.

"Oh dear, how do you even survive?" asked dramatically Jade.

Saturday 14th September 1991

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly, and soon the weekend came along. They've had their first Astronomy class on Friday night and the group was quite tired, but they still woke up early to watch the quidditch try-outs that morning. In the quidditch club of the Academy, there were several teams that you could only enter in third year or older. Second years could join the club but not be apart of a team. Alan and Remi were not happy with this rule, but Ayla thought it was a good thing considering the number of students falling from their brooms during their first flying lesson.

During lunch, Ayla wrote another letter to her dad, telling him about her week. She started to feel anxious about the upcoming full moon, but she didn't want to worry him so she omitted that in her letter.

While Vega flew away into to sky, Ayla thought about her new friends and how lucky she was to have met them. Beauxbatons was far away from home, but she felt safe and happy in her new school, for once in her life.