THE FIRST night, I barely slept. All I could do was toss and turn about my bed, asking myself billions of questions I had no answer too. Luckily, at least I was up early, and wouldn't be late to breakfast or any of my classes.
I went to my trunk and grabbed my robes, the Gryffindor emblem sewn in new and shiny on the breast alongside the red trim. They came with a skirt, some black trousers, a sweater, and a red and gold house tie. I ran to the bathroom, opting for the trousers instead of the skirt, and tried not to wake the other girls. Quickly, I changed out of my pajamas, and, when I was done, walked out of the small room holding my clothes in one hand.
Looking in the mirror and fixing my robe, I brushed the Gryffindor patch, making sure it could be seen on my long robes. Joking about, I pulled out my wand and began to pose in the mirror, feeling giddy with excitement for the first day.
I actually get to use my wand today!
The door opened suddenly and Hermione walked in, holding her own robes. She paused briefly before she giggled, "I didn't see anything." she said with an amused smirk, walking to an open stall. I laughed nervously, grabbing my pajamas and rushing out the door.
The other girls were still sleeping as I walked out, so I quietly opened my trunk and put my pajamas back. As I slid it across the floor back underneath my bed, Rosalie sat up, startled at the noise.
She looked down at me on the floor with sleepy eyes, "What are you doing?" she asked with a groggy voice.
"Getting ready for my first day, as you should be." I said walking over to her bed, a small smirk growing on my face.
"It's still dark outside!" she complained looking out the window.
"It's 6:40," I stated, crossing my arms. "Breakfast is at 7:30."
She let out a groan and flopped back down on her bed, "Wake me up at 7, please." she said, face down on her pillow.
"Will do!" I walked away and sat back onto my bed, getting ready to write to Mum. I saw that Violette and Genevieve had woken up and were getting dressed, so I looked back down at the piece of paper and began writing.
I took the piece of paper and folded it up neatly, tucking it into an envelope. "To the Williams' house, thank you." I gave the envelope to my owl, Oliver, who held it, gently, in his beak.
Opening the window, I watched as he flew over the great lake and into the distance, disappearing into the fog. I turned to my clock again, checking the time: 6:50. Looking back at the room, I saw that Violette and Hermione were sitting on a bed across from each other, talking and giggling. They both had their robes on and were sat with their legs crossed into a pretzel shape. Hermione's hair was still frizzy, even more so from the incoming fog, while Violette's was pulled up and out of her face. Seeing Genevieve on her bed writing, I decided to skip over and sit on the bed.
"What are we talking about?" I asked Violette and Hermione.
"We were just talking about how Draco was upset that Rosalie didn't get into Slytherin," Violette said, lowering her voice trying to hide her grin.
Hermione chuckled lightly, "I know! Why was he so mad?" she added.
I laughed with them. Truthfully, I wasn't all that overjoyed by the pesky boy's presence, especially with his pointed insults, but he was rather... interested in Rosalie's sorting before he turned on me.
"I can hear you!" Rosalie yelled to us.
"I thought you were sleeping?" Violette called back, still grinning with amusement.
"Well, I guess I'm up now," Rosalie grumbled, finally getting out of bed, grabbing her uniform, and heading to the bathroom.
When she shut the door, the three of us burst into laughter.
"But, honestly, why was he so mad?" I asked, stopping the laughter. They both shrugged their shoulders and continued grinning.
When Rosalie stepped back out and headed over to her trunk, it was 7:15.
The four of us made our way to the common room. Most of the boys were up and about and were all spread out across the room, waiting for breakfast to formally start up. Rosalie had yet to follow us downstairs.
I saw Harry and Ron sitting with two other boys who I hadn't met before, so I walked down the steps and sat next to Harry.
"Morning, Harry" I greeted.
"Good morning." He replied easily, looking over at me with a boyish grin.
I turned my attention to the two boys sitting in front of him. "I don't think we've met yet." I said, holding out my hand. "I'm Marlene Williams."
One of the boys had dark skin and black curly hair. He also seemed to be rather tall compared to Harry and especially next to the boy next to him.
"Dean Thomas," he said, taking my hand and shaking it. When he smiled, little dimples appeared in his cheeks. He seemed as excited as we were, and his smile felt warm and kind.
I nodded to him and turned to the other boy, who was rather pale and had a splattering of freckles all over his face. "Seamus Finnigan." He said, grinning as I shook his hand. "Pleasure." Seamus had a strong Irish accent, but his swagger felt charismatic and witty.
"Wanna sit?" I asked, "We still got a bit of time before breakfast."
Looking at the boys, each made a similar expression, and we simultaneously sat down. I joined the boys in conversation as the other three girls retreated to their own.
"So," Dean began after a moment, "Are any of you muggleborn as well?"
"'M half 'n half," Seamus explained, "Dad's a muggle, Mum's a witch. Bit of a shock for 'em when he found out!"
At this, we all burst out laughing, and rightfully so. Seamus was very funny, and I could tell we would get along well. After our laughter cooled down, I explained my own blood heritage.
"I'm half blood too, but my Mum's muggleborn. It's probably got to be a bit confusing. All of this, I mean," I asked Dean.
"Yeah," he chuckled, "A bit. But I've got this bloke to explain it all to me, so I'll be fine," Dean finalized, gesturing towards Seamus.
"It doesn't really matter, but I'm pureblood," interjected Ron, "Don't worry, though, my family's not like the Malfoys or anything. Dad and I love muggle stuff!"
"Trust me, Weasley, I don't think anyone thinks you're alike at all to the Malfoys," I assured. It was true. Draco Malfoy was stuck up, and held his head too high. Ron, on the other hand, looked overwhelmingly friendly, his worn-in robes hanging a bit loose on his long limbs.
"Harry, you're half-blood as well, right?" I asked.
"I think?" The skinny boy replied, "I'm not really sure. Both my parents were wizards, doesn't that make me pure blood?"
"Not exactly," I explained, "There's these families, like the Malfoys, who think that the wizard bloodline should only have magical blood in it. Pure blood means there are no muggles in your family tree,"
"But what if someone's muggleborn?" Harry questioned.
"If a wizard has muggle parents, like Dean or my mum, and marries another wizard, their kid would be half-blood because there's muggles in the family tree."
"Oh, that makes sense," Harry finalized, looking at the ground.
"I think you're half-blood, Harry," declared Ron, "The Potters were a pureblood line, but I don't think your Mum was pureblood. I'm sure you could ask some teachers, they probably taught your parents. Mcgonagall and Dumbledore have been around for ages."
"Really? Harry asked, growing a bit less dreary, "Thanks, Ron, really-"
"Oh! We need to go," interjected Genevieve, pulling me out of my focus, "Breakfast is in five minutes."
"Let's go!" Hermione declared, grabbing Violette's arm and pulling her up from the sofa. In a hurry, we all spilled out of the common room, knocking elbows while others grabbed someone to stay steady. The eight of us dashed out and leapt out of the painting and into the hall.
We all ran down the moving staircases as fast as we could. Despite our hurry, I was smiling the whole way down.
First day and I'm already late for breakfast, I thought, amusedly.
We reached the bottom steps and jumped off the last few. Sprinting our way down the corridor, we only skidded to a stop when we realized a group of, what looked like, fourth year students were staring at us in utter confusion. We all simultaneously stiffened up, walking over to the Gryffindor table in a much more calm manner. Once we sat down and looked at each other, we burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of our rush.
A couple minutes had gone by when I saw Rosalie finally walking in.
Why is she so late?
She smiled at the Gryffindor table, but shot a quick look at the Slytherin table where Draco and his posse were still standing around the end of the table.
As if sensing her gaze, Draco yelled out, "Selwyn!"
Rosalie stopped and rolled her eyes, looking over at the boy. He sauntered over to her and started talking with her, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. At the very least, she didn't seem all that pleased with his interruption.
"What do you think they're talking about?" I whispered to the group around me. Dean shrugged and turned back to the table. Genevieve seemed to be watching their interaction curiously while Violette was too caught in conversation with Hermione and Ron to even hear.
Rosalie came over eventually, but didn't say anything. Rather, she sat down in the middle of Hermione and Harry silently, as if her conversation with the Slytherin didn't just occur.
"What did Malfoy want?" Ron asked her, sneering over the name. We all stopped eating our food and turned to her. She shrugged.
"It was nothing," she insisted, reaching out for a bowl on the table. She shrugged again, "He was just asking if. . ." She hesitated as all of our eyes were on her. She seemed nervous, I think. "He was. . . asking what classes I had. . . Yeah, he was wondering about classes," she said, pasting on a smile and picking up her cutlery.
Although confused, we all turned back to our plates and finished eating. I wasn't sure if she was in better spirits at all, but I suppose at least she was eating now.
Breakfast went on. We laughed, we gossiped, and expressed our nervous excitement for what was to come. We also talked of what classes we all had. Luckily, I had potions first with almost all my friends. Hermione cheerfully informed us that a 'Professor Snape' teaches potions.
Soon, we were required to head out to our first class of the day. I couldn't help but notice how fast time went by here. Despite the loss of time, I found it hard to stop the smile that spread on my face from my new friends and their presence.
We all grabbed our bags and walked to our first class, Potions. Professor Snape's classroom was on the ground level of the school, so it was a bit of a walk from the Great Hall, but I didn't mind it. I got to see parts of the castle I've never seen before.
Violette and I walked together in linked arms, a cool breeze flowed through my hair.
I don't think I'll ever get tired of this place.
We finally arrived at the classroom where a big wooden dark door sat with a scratched name on it: 'Potions.' Dean opened the door for us, letting us walk in.
The classroom was dreary and depressing, honestly. Everything was dark, other than the potion bottles, and there were rows of tables that had two seats for each.
Violette and I shared a look before we rushed to the front and took a seat. Harry and Ron sat next to us while Rosalie and Genevieve sat behind us.
As we all settled into our seats, we heard laughing coming from the doorway. Turning our attention, Draco Malfoy walked in with a smug look on his face. I rolled my eyes at his presence, groaning when he made eye contact with Rosalie and sat behind her and Genevieve. I watched only for a brief moment as Rosalie rolled her eyes and continued her conversation with Genevieve.
The windows suddenly shut, making a loud noise. I jumped in my seat a little.
Professor Snape came out from the back of the class, speed walking to the front. "Open your books to page seventeen," he instructed tersely, holding his wand loosely in his right hand. I quickly turned my pages and looked back up at him. He began some sort of speech about the content of the class, but stopped short when his eyes had begun to survey the classroom.
His attention was stolen by Harry, who, I noticed, just seemed to be taking notes. Suddenly, Harry was being quizzed on things I knew none of us knew. Except Granger, who kept her hand high in the air the entire quizzing session. I felt bad for Harry after the whole ordeal. He didn't look up in my direction at all, but I wanted to make him feel better.
Why was Snape so awful to him on the first day?
"Miss Williams." He said in a strict tone, making me jump and look away from Harry. I prayed he wouldn't start quizzing me, or worse, mention my father.
Did I do something wrong?
"Welcome to Hogwarts," he continued with no expression on his face.
I nodded back at him hesitantly, "Thank you, Professor. . ." I replied quietly, confused. He swiftly turned, and began speaking of class content once again
Class went on and Snape did a couple introductions about how the year was going to go. He continued on introducing the class for a large portion of our class time.
As he spoke, I spared a glance back at my friends. Ron seemed exceptionally confused, Harry quiet, Violette and Hermione at attention, Dean and Seamus passing notes between each other, Genevieve scribing down notes like Harry, while Rosalie was passing a note back to Malfoy.
I rolled my eyes.
How could she feel any sort of friendliness towards that ferret?
Genevieve seemed to spare a few glances at this interaction, but didn't intercept any note or comment on it. If anything, she seemed rather at peace with the whole thing. I shook my head and went back to my notes.
Minutes later, Snape finally ended his lecture. "Class you are dismissed for your second class. Be wise with this extra time." he said as he disappeared into the back of the class.
Quickly, I started putting my stuff away, but Rosalie and Genevieve already headed out the door.
I wonder what they're up to?
I started to follow them, but they stopped at a bench and sat down next to each other. Watching the two of them across the way, I was stuck between waiting for the rest of my friends and inquiring about Genevieve and Rosalie's curious behavior, all whilst tucked behind an arch.
Rosalie was quite troubled, gesturing with her hands as she spoke with Genevieve, who nodded along and responded to her with a much more calm attitude. She shook her head suddenly before letting her head fall into her hands. Genevieve seemed to sigh and place a hand on her back.
"Is she ok?" Violette asked, appearing next to me suddenly.
I shook my head. "I don't think so..." I trailed off.
"Maybe she's still stressed about not getting into Slytherin?"
I turned my attention back to the two girls just as a group of Slytherins walked up to them. I groaned quietly.
Of course, it was Malfoy and his goons.
"Here comes trouble," Violette muttered. She tugged on my arm to get us to go over, but I halted her and watched for a few seconds longer.
Their conversation seemed rather. . . civil. Malfoy was still leading his group, but there was no yelling or big, rude gestures. Rather, he looked between the two girls before Rosalie stood up. She crossed her arms over her chest and pointed vaguely in the direction of the field.
She shared some words with Genevieve and seemed to say something to Malfoy with a shake of her head and a pointed look before she leaned back into her seat.
Then, Rosalie walked off with the group of snakes!
Violette and I hurried over to Genevieve who was watching Rosalie walk off with a worried expression.
"Where is she going?" I asked loudly, as we all watched her walk away.
Genevieve's expression cleared suddenly as she looked over at us. "Draco said something about quidditch." She shrugged, "He needed her help with something."
She stood suddenly, reaching down for her bag, "It's something you two wouldn't understand." She spared us one last look that told me nothing of how she felt before she walked past us and back into the castle.
"I don't like that boy, not one bit." I mumbled, looking between our two separating friends. Something about Genevieve's words left a bitter taste in my mouth.
➣
Before I knew it, lunch already arrived. I just had class with Harry and he offered to walk me to the Great Hall.
Of course, I agreed.
The two of us walked around the school looking at the architecture, pointing to different things that interested us. I didn't ask about his family or about the scar I knew rested just under his fringe. I was curious, yes, but it felt weird to try and steer the conversation onto him. I would have wanted the same treatment truthfully, and, fortunately, he seemed to be giving me just that. Although, I wasn't sure if it was a credit to his morals or to his lack of knowledge of the wizarding world.
I chose not to think too hard about it.
Harry was a cool friend to have, I decided. A friend worth keeping around, one worthy of trust, just like Remus mentioned.
Soon enough we reached the Great Hall. Immediately, I saw Ron and Hermione sitting across from Genevieve and Violette.
But, no Rosalie.
Harry and I made our way over to the table and sat down together. There were choices of sandwiches and snacks in front of us. I dug in, taking a grilled cheese and some carrots. Per usual, Ron's plate was full.
We all talked for a while eating our food, halfway through lunch someone walked in from the hall. Rosalie walked in, bag hung over her shoulder. She didn't seem harmed or very upset...
She wandered over, taking a spare seat. She didn't update any of us or greet us. Instead, she filled her plate and began eating under the watchful gaze of her friends.
"Hungry?" Genevieve asked with a slight laugh. She seemed a bit lighter at Rosalie's new presence.
Rosalie nodded and chuckled.
Before things could progress any further, I cut in.
"Where were you?" I interrupted giving her a slight glare.
Rosalie stilled, sandwich half raised to her mouth. Her eyes flickered over to Genevieve, who was looking between Rosalie and I. "I...went with Draco to the quidditch field. We wanted to see it for ourselves." she replied slowly, finally taking another bite of her sandwich.
"Why are you hanging out with the Slytherins?" I demanded.
Genevieve rolled her eyes. "They can be nice," she muttered.
The whole group turned around and looked at the table behind us. Draco was picking apart pieces of bread and throwing them at his friends, soon they broke out into a food fight.
As if sensing our eyes on them, Pansy Parkinson caught my eyes and glared at me harshly. "What are you looking at?" she yelled at us. We all quickly turned back around and continued eating. Behind me, I could hear them snickering.
"Yeah, sure, they seem nice." I said, sarcastically.
Genevieve rolled her eyes, "Just, leave it." She said with a sigh.
Ron huffed, "But, Malfoy is a right prick!"
"It's not about Malfoy." Rosalie hissed.
"Well what else would you be doing with Slytherins, Rosalie?"
"None of your business, Weasley."
"Alright, then stop hangin' round the ferret!"
"Ron." Genevieve hissed.
"What? You too?" Ron asked angrily.
"Guys—" Violette tried to cut in, only to be cut off by Seamus mumbling, "Right prick he is."
Rosalie huffed out in annoyance before she stood suddenly, grabbing her bag and striding out of the Hall. The table fell silent for a few moments before Dean sighed.
"Bit harsh, don't you think?" Dean asked me.
"It's called sarcasm." I said with a roll of my eyes.
I heard Harry sigh just as Genevieve stood up, grabbing her plate and bag. "Yet again, this is something you just don't understand," she spit out. She strode down the table before she sat down in a free space between two other first years. I sighed, annoyed, before I returned to my food.
How could this be something I just don't understand?