It was day four of classes and Anna already wanted to quit.
Every class made her feel like an idiot – having no clue about anything about the magical realm. She felt very much like a foreigner in a strange land. There were times she even missed the orphanage.
She was lonely – with no real friends – like back at the orphanage. At least there she was familiar with the world around her.
Like all the other classes, she followed Lily and the other Gryffindor girls down the wide hall to their next class – Transfiguration.
Transfiguration was taught by none other than Professor Slughood. Classes with the woman lasted two hours – pure torture for Anna.
"Good morning, class." The tall woman moved with elegance around her desk to stand closer to the students. "Yesterday we wrapped up the magical alphabet. Today, we'll begin discussing the fundamental differences between animate and inanimate objects. Can anyone tell me what's the main difference between them?"
Several hands shot up. Anna kept hers down. Her assigned partner, Rolf Maurdon, a Hufflepuff, was raising his enthusiastically.
Professor Slughood nodded at him. "Mr. Maurdon?"
In a deep baritone voice, he answered. "Animate is alive while inanimate is not."
The woman nodded. "Yes, thank you, Mr. Maurdon."
Rolf leaned back in the hard chair, a smile creasing across his lips.
Since they were first assigned as partners, sharing the same desk, she couldn't help admiring the darkness of his skin when compared to her own.
"Ponder on this." The woman clasped her hands together. "Can an inanimate object become animate, or vice versa?"
Several seconds of silence settled over the classroom before a few hands went up.
'Yes, Miss Crisshour?"
"No. How can a nonliving object become living? B-but, on the other hand, I think an animate object could become inanimate." Marlena replied, obviously nervous.
"Thank you, Miss Crisshour." Professor Slughood pursed her lips and went to the blackboard on the back wall, picked up a chalk, and began writing. "Animate – living. Inanimate – nonliving. Inanimate cannot become alive while animate can become nonliving, for example – death. Thank you both Mr.Maurdon and Miss Crisshour."
The woman drew a line separating the written section from the blank portion of the blackboard.
"Let's look at these two in a different way." Began scribbling on the board once more. "Animate is a moving object whereas inanimate is unmoving." Setting the chalk down and turning her attention back to the class. "Now answer this question. Can an inanimate object become animate, or vice versa?"
Anna saw several students slowly nod yes to the questions.
"Alright, for the next half hour, on your parchment please list ten inanimate and ten animate objects – one set as living/nonliving and the other set as moving/unmoving."
Mimicking the others, Anna pulled out a roll of tan-colored parchment from her bag and a leather pouch containing a quill and an ink bottle and laid them on the desk.
She still couldn't believe how backward this school was – still using quills and parchments for writing while the rest of the world had pens and computers.
Was it too late to request a transfer back to the school she was previously attending? The thought repeated over and over in her head as she painstakingly dipped the quill into the ink and pressed the metallic tip to the paper.
At the end of the class, Anna waited in line to hand in her parchment. She noticed nearly everyone's parchments were twice as long as hers.
Bringing up the rear, Anna tossed hers on the desk instead of placing it in the teacher's outstretched hand.
"Thank you, Miss Anna Mae." The woman smiled. "I trust your –"
Anna wouldn't hear the rest as she brushed past the woman and out of the classroom.
She walked by the gawking Lily and her four friends.
"That was rude." She heard Ashe say.
"Yeah, it's no wonder she doesn't have any friends," Lily muttered.
"Thought you two were friends?" Marlena asked.
Anna rushed away before she could hear Lily's answer – tears filling her eyes.
YOU ARE READING
The Temperamental Orphan - a Harry Potter book
FanfictionTwelve-year-old Anna Mae has no clue of who she really was or where she came from. The only life she knew was the past five years she spent at the orphanage in Dublin, Ireland - she remembered nothing prior to that. Everything changed when a stra...
