Nina's Destiny

The Start of Classes

Nina's POV

I woke up a little before sunrise, like I always do. It was around 6:15. Too early to wake the other girls up, but also too late to go back to bed. I decided to just get ready and then head down to breakfast early.

I sluggishly got out of bed, grabbed my robes, and went into the bathroom. The jet lag was killing me, but I also could never manage to sleep in. I would just have to go to bed early tonight. That would hopefully help.

Yawning, I exited the bathroom. Hermione was just starting to stir. I waved to her and made my way downstairs.

There were only about five other students in the Great Hall when I got there. I sighed and sat down. There were no other Gryffindors down here. I filled my plate with eggs, sausage, and bacon, not really sure what anything else was. It's not that I was scared to try new things. I just like to know exactly what I'm eating before I try it.

By the time I had almost finished my breakfast, Lilly, Lavender, Parvati, and Hermione had all sat down.

"Morning," I yawned.

"Tired?" Lavender asked with a wide grin.

"Jet lag," I replied. "Gotta love it."

Lilly giggled. "I know the feeling. My cousins live in Ohio. We go to see them all the time."

"I can't say I've ever been farther than New York and New Jersey," I sighed.

"I've never been anywhere except Ohio," Lilly said.

"I wish I could go to another country," Lavender sighed. "Even just to somewhere else in Europe like Spain or Italy."

"Sounds nice," Parvati agreed sadly. She perked up almost immediately, pointing over our heads. "Look, the mail is coming!"

I looked up and was excited to see Skittles in the mass of owls. She landed next to my plate and stole a piece of sausage. I groaned.

"I never should have let Percy feed you that doughnut. Now you only eat people food and rodents." Lavender, Parvati, and Lilly started giggling as I talked to my owl.

This stuff is way better than owl pellets, my owl replied in my mind. If you think I'm going back to that garbage you're crazy.

I groaned. I should have known my owl would be sarcastic.

When McGonagall passed out the timetables, I was really excited.

I had read through most of my books and had found most of them interesting. I was especially excited for potions because Professor Snape was teaching it.

I found most of my classes as interesting as the books. I loved the myths behind all the constellations, and the night sky had always reminded me of Diane, just like the sun always reminded me of Morgan. Herbology was lots of fun, especially with Neville next to me. Neville could tell me every little fact about each of the plants, and it was incredible. Where the book for History of Magic was interesting, the class was not. It was near on impossible for me to keep my eyes open in that class. Lavender, Parvati, Lilly, and I split the class into equal quarters where three of us would sleep and the other would take notes. Then, after the class, we would all copy the notes from each other.

Charms was another fun class. Some of the charms Professor Flitwick talked about were absolutely ridiculous. Transfiguration was another good one. On the first day, Professor McGonagall had turned into a cat! The magic was extremely complex in that class, and we took notes for the entire first class. In the second class, we turned matchsticks into needles. It took me a few tries, but eventually I got it around the same time as Hermione did. Defense Against the Dark Arts didn't meet my expectations. I had been hoping to learn about different ways to defend myself, but instead I got a teacher who was afraid of his own shadow. It made me wonder why he was teaching Defense.

As the week went on, I grew close to Lavender, Parvati, and Lilly. They were quickly becoming really close friends. Neville was another close friend. I had also met Parvati's twin sister Padma. She was nice, and I could see myself becoming friends with her in the near future. The Weasley twins were also growing on me, as were Ron and Harry. I struggled to get along with Hermione, but we were amicable with each other.

It was finally Friday, and I was almost bouncing up and down in excitement for potions. This was the class I had most been looking forwards to.

Our class was in the dungeons, and I had made Lavender, Parvati, and Lilly leave lunch early to come with me to find it since we had never been down there before. There were already several Slytherins in the classroom when we got there. My friends and I sat in the second row from the front.

Professor Snape started the class by calling roll. When he said my name, I caught his lips twitch ever so slightly, and I smiled slightly. When he got to Harry's name, he paused just like Flitwick did, just for other reasons.

"Ah, yes, Harry Potter. Our new-celebrity." Several of the Slytherins snorted in laughter. Professor Snape went off on a long speech about potion making.

"Potter!" he said out of nowhere. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" I knew the answer and saw that Hermione knew it too. I didn't bother raising my hand. Professor Snape was talking directly to Harry.

"I don't know, sir," said Harry. I tried not to roll my eyes. I knew most people didn't have the same work ethic as me and didn't read through any of their books this summer.

"Tut, tut-fame clearly isn't everything. Let's try again. Where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar?"

"I don't know, sir." Hermione was now standing, attempting to get Snape's attention.

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter? What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape was still completely ignoring Hermione, much to the Slytherins' amusement.

"I don't know, I think Hermione does though, why don't you ask her?" Many people laughed at this comment. I didn't. No matter how much you hate a professor, you shouldn't talk to them like that unless they were completely evil

"Miss Jackson, perhaps you know the answers?"

"Yes, Professor," I said. "Mixing an infusion of wormwood and powdered asphodel gives you the Draught of Living Death, a bezoar can be found in the stomach of a goat, and monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, which also goes by the name aconite."

"Very good, Miss Jackson. Five points to Gryffindor." I smiled slightly at the praise. "Miss Granger sit down." Professor Snape glared at the entire class. "Well, why didn't you all copy that down. I expect all of you to copy that down."