Harry Potter and the Original Tribrid

Chapter 6 - Parselmouth

"Wake up!" shouted a voice in her ear. "You are going to be late for your first day."

Hope slowly opened her eyes and found Hermione's face hovering above her head. Without thinking, she got out of bed startled, hitting their foreheads in the process.

"Ow!" exclaimed Hermione as she sat back in her bed rubbing her head.

"Sorry," said Hope as she sat up on her bed. She looked around and saw Hermione was already in her uniform, while others were in the same state as Hope, woken up by Hermione against their will. "What time is it?"

"It's half past six."

"What! We don't have classes until nine! Why would you wake me up this early? And what are you doing in uniform this early?"

"That's what I want to know as well!" said Lavender from across the room.

"Are you guys that thick?" said Hermione. "We need to have breakfast in the Great Hall. And if you haven't noticed the last two days being at Hogwarts, it's not easy to navigate this castle. And that's not mentioning the sheer size of it."

She had a point. They had arrived at the castle on Friday night, the first of September. They had two whole days to explore the castle, only it didn't amount to much. Hermione had figured it would be a good idea to be familiar with the library, so they wouldn't have much trouble navigating it later on. Hope thought it wouldn't hurt and had accompanied her. But it took them the whole of Saturday to reach the library. The staircases had all changed from what they had seen the day before. And Hermione had got herself caught on a vanishing step somewhere along the way, only to be dumped head to toe with water by the poltergeist, Peeves. By some miracle, Peeves had run away as soon as he saw Hope, and Hope had the vague impression that Peeves knew who she was and her family and that it was the reason he went away, not the Bloody Baron that he had apparently seen. They had even accidentally stepped onto the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Fortunately, Hermione, as observant as she was, had picked up on it straight away. On Sunday, Hope didn't want to spend the whole day indoors and wanted to explore the castle grounds. And as luck would have it, they got lost again on their way from the Great Hall.

Hope said nothing as she slowly got up.

"Glad you could see sense," said Hermione as she picked up her books and turned to the door. "I'll be in the common room. I'll wait for you until seven. After that, you're on your own."

Hope sighed and started to get ready. Professor McGonagall had said they would be getting their class schedules at breakfast. She wondered what classes they would be having that day. She was looking forward to her lessons on Potions. She was, after all, an indirect byproduct of one of the most strongest potions ever made, and she believed it would hold some answers on how she could save her family from the nightmare known as the Hollow.

She was also vary of Defense Against the Dark Arts as it was taught by Quirrell. She had contacted her Aunt Freya the previous day via astral projection; her smartphone wouldn't work as no muggles were capable of setting up a mobile tower anywhere in range, because of the anti-muggle enchantments surrounding the castle grounds. Freya had told her that her concerns were not entirely unfounded and that she would look into why Harry's scar flared up. She also told her to be careful, but wouldn't tell her what happened between them, that it didn't matter.

Hope walked down the spiral staircases and found Hermione in one of the couches with her focus firmly on one of the books she had taken from the library the other day. Hope saw there were other students who had also gotten up early, but none of them had any books with them.

"Oh, good! You're here," said Hermione. "I was just about to leave without you."

When they reached the Great Hall, Hope found that there were a lot more people there already than she expected. They got their schedules and Hope saw that every lesson, two houses attended at the same time. The first lesson that day was Charms, paired with Hufflepuff. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their lesson, he took the register, and when he reached Hope's name, he trembled slightly which did not go unnoticed. However, he squeaked and toppled out of sight when he reached Harry's name.