The next day Eleanor woke up with the biggest smile on her face, and she didn't even mind it was only seven-thirty in the morning.
She got up and put on her brand new Gryffindor robes, her heart overfilling with joy and excitement.
"Have you got everything, have you checked your bag?" said Doris nervously.
Eleanor nodded and the two of them went down to the common room where they met up with the other two Gryffindors.
They made their way over to the Great Hall for breakfast, where Professor McGonagall was handing out their schedules for the term.
"Good morning ladies," she said while handing them their pieces of paper. "I hope you've had a good night's rest, I will so you this afternoon in your first Transfiguration class." she sort of smiled before going over to the rest of the Gryffindors.
They checked their schedule: first, Charms with Hufflepuff, then double Potions with Slytherin, lunch, Transfiguration with Slytherin, and lastly, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw.
"Great!" she said, and the others agreed. She spotted Remus and went over to him, eager to show him her first classes of the year.
"Hey Remy!" she said, apparently too excitedly.
He sighed, probably hoping she wouldn't hear it, but she did nonetheless.
"Well someone's not having it today," she said, raising her eyebrows and taking a seat next to him.
"Morning sis, what have you got there?" sounding fake interested.
She rolled her eyes and showed him her schedule.
"I can't wait for Potions!" she jumped up and down.
"Mhm..." Remus mumbled, feeling very embarrassed.
"Ugh, fine I'll leave you alone," she said before snatching the piece of paper from his hands and getting up to sit with her friends.
She had some breakfast and they then went to their first class, which was Charms.
"Merlin did you see his face when his book exploded!" Amelia said, and they all laughed.
The four of them were making their way over to the dungeons for their Potions class with Professor Slughorn, who turned out to be a very nice professor.
Because she couldn't help herself, Eleanor had been looking through their Potions book during the summer, so she already knew lots of things.
"Now," Professor Slughorn began, "who here can tell me the ingredients in a Wiggenweld Potion?" he clapped his hands together.
Eleanor looked around and saw that everybody was looking down at their books, avoiding Slughorn's gaze. She hesitantly raised her hand and Slughorn smiled.
"Yes, miss...?"
"Lupin, sir, I believe the ingredients in this potion are Asphodel root, shredded Dittany, and Wiggentree bark..." she said, biting her lip.
"Splendid miss Lupin! Ten points to Gryffindor," he smiled.
"Good job El," Kathy whispered, who was sitting next to her.
Eleanor smiled.
Slughorn then gave them a roll of parchment on the Wiggenweld Potion as homework, so naturally, they all got to work.
She looked around the dimly-lit classroom, her gaze finally landing on a table with two Slytherin students.
One of them was Regulus Black. She knew that the Black family was one the most ancient ones in Great Britain, having a family tree that goes back hundreds of years.
Regulus looked a lot like his older brother, although he had cut his hair short, while Sirius' was longer compared to most boys.
There was no denying that he was rather handsome for his age.
Eleanor reckoned she had been staring too long at the boy because he looked up from his parchment and met her gaze. He frowned and Eleanor quickly looked down, blushing slightly.
The rest of class went by quickly, and soon the four young Gryffindors found themselves in the Great Hall for lunch.
"POTTER!" she suddenly heard someone yell.
She looked up and saw the red-headed girl from the train standing up, her school uniform soaked with pumpkin juice. Remus chuckled from behind his book and Sirius was crying of laughter. Peter was looking at him like he was his biggest hero.
Pathetic, she thought to herself and shook her head.
"It was an accident Evans, come on I'll help you get out of those-"
But before he could stand up Lily had smacked him across the face, leaving him in shock. She then stormed out of the great hall, followed by one of her friends who shot daggers at James.
"I think she took it quite well don't you?" he sniggered.
With that Sirius spat out his pumpkin juice, coughing up a storm.
But the fun didn't last long, because McGonagall walked up to them.
"The four of you, detention tonight with Mr. Filch!" she said angrily.
"The four of us? But professor I didn't do anything!" Sirius retorted while cleaning his face with a napkin.
"The pumpkin juice on your face suggests otherwise, Mister Black," she said coldly, before heading back over to the professor's table.
Sirius laughed and then caught Eleanor's eye, as she was still looking at the bunch of misfits with disbelief.
"What's the matter, Ella, enjoying the show?" he grinned.
She rolled her eyes.
"It would do you well to apologize to her, she looked really upset," she said with a serious face before getting up to leave for their Transfigurations class.
"Okay miss goody-two-shoes," she heard him say behind her back.
Ignore it, Ella, just walk on, he doesn't deserve your attention.
She was the first student to get to the classroom, seeing as she didn't join her three friends because she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
But McGonagall wasn't there yet, only a cat which was sitting on the desk.
Odd.
She bent down to get her stuff out of her bag when she heard a familiar voice.
"Eager are we miss Lupin?" McGonagall said, walking over to her.
"H-How- When-" Eleanor shook her head, but Professor McGonagall was quick to explain.
"I was already here," she smiled, "I am what they call an Animagus, miss Lupin, something you will learn about in I believe your third year," she smiled down at her.
"S-So, you were the cat on the desk?" Eleanor asked, her eyes big with amazement.
McGonagall nodded, then walked back to the front of the classroom.
"Wicked," she whispered to herself as the rest of the students started to fill the empty desks.
Kathy sat down next to her.
"Kathy, you won't believe what I just saw-"
"Quiet please," McGonagall announced.
"I'll tell you after class," Eleanor whispered.
Kathy smiled and nodded. Their class was interesting, learning the very basics of Transfiguration, but Eleanor was more excited to tell her new friend about her latest discovery about their head of Gryffindor House. So, as they reached their common room after a long first day of school, she sat down with Kathy on the sofa in front of the fireplace.
"Did you know McGonagall is an Animagus?!" she blurted out.
Kathy chuckled and nodded, "My brother told me when he was in his first year, she's very skilled at it and had help from Professor Dumbledore to become one," she smiled.
"YOU CAN LEARN TO BECOME ONE?!" she gasped.
Some other Gryffindors gave her weird looks and Kathy laughed.
"Well yes," Kathy explained, still laughing a bit, "One is not born an Animagus, but someone can be born as a Metamorphmagus. Those are two completely different things though, mind you."
"I wish I could be one," Eleanor sighed, leaning back into the sofa.
"Become what?" she jumped up when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
When she turned around she rolled her eyes when she saw Sirius grinning at her.
"None of your business," she said, grabbing her homework from her bag and laying it out on the table in front of her. "Do you want to do this together, Kathy?" she smiled at her, ignoring the annoying boy behind her.
Sirius chuckled, "Fine, ignore me, Lupin," he stood up and sat down across from them.
Eleanor sighed, "Fine, I said it would be cool if I could become an Animagus," she said without looking up from her homework.
Sirius burst out in laughter. She frowned and looked up at him.
"Look, if you're going to sit here and make fun of me, you could also just leave, I've got better things to do than wasting my time on your nonsense," she said irritated before going back to her homework again.
Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"Black! I just got an owl from McGonagall," said James, walking over to him, "We have to meet up with Filch in ten minutes in the kitchens," he threw the letter on Sirius' lap.
"Sure, let's go," he said flatly, then got up and walked over to Remus and Peter.
"What was that about?" she heard her brother say to him, but Sirius just shrugged and they left for their detention.
"He's so stupid," she mumbled under her breath.
"All boys are stupid Ella," Kathy said, shaking her head, "All of them."