Scotland, Hogwarts School
Of Witchcraft and Wizardry
The long dining tables were filled with endless supplies of meats, vegetables and all kinds of potatoes, drinks and almost anything you could think of. (Y/n) dug her spoon into the pile of mashed potatoes on her plate, humming with delight at the delicious taste in her mouth. To her right was Neville, to her left was Hermione and across from them sat Harry, Ron and Seamus. After a while, Professor Dumbledore stepped up to him pedestal where the golden owl on the front spread its wings, hush fell over the large hall.
"Welcome all to another wonderful year at Hogwarts! Now before we all become too befuddled with the excellent desserts that have been prepared, I would like to say a few words. First, I am pleased to welcome professor R J Lupin who's kindly consented to fill the post of defence against the dark arts teacher, good luck professor" the old bearded man announced as he motioned towards a man who (Y/n) recognised from the train. He had checked on her after the dementor attack and, as Hermione mentioned, had fended off the dementor that attacked Harry.
The hall broke out in applause for the new professor who stood up with a humble smile. The long, black haired man beside him looked incredibly bemused by the situation, so nothing out of the ordinary. Whilst everyone was applauding, a voice called over to the table "Potter....Potter! Is it true you fainted? Like you actually fainted." Malfoy sneered as his fellow Slytherins mocked the raven haired boy. "Shove off Malfoy." Ron retorted, pulling Harry to face Hermione and (Y/n) who both had inimpressed looks on their faces for the platinum haired boy.
"Secondly, I must inform that professor Kettleburn who has taught care of magical creatures for many years at Hogwarts, has decided to retire, in order to spend time with his remaining limbs." The headmaster declared. This news made (Y/n) sigh, she had grown fond of the slightly loopy professor Kettleburn, he always loved to rant about all of the creatures he kept on the grounds, always praising the girl for being so dedicated to this rather underated subject. "Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that the position will be filled by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid!" He beamed as he said the name.
The hall erupted with cheers, especially from the third year Gryffindors, Seamus was whistling while (Y/n) and Harry were stood up applauding the friendly Half giant who had been prompted to stand by professor McGonagall. Unfortunately, as usual, Hagrid had seemed to forget how much bigger he was that the rest of the staff, bumping the table forward and rattling the cutlery, earning some laughs from the students. "Finally, on a more pressing note, as requested by the ministry, Hogwarts this year, will until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban, until such a time that Sirius Black is captured."
The atmosphere in the once joyous hall became serious and thick, students murmured amongst themselves about the current events. "The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds, now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disturb our day to day activities, a word of caution." The man's voice grew low. "Dementors are vicious creatures and will not distinguish between the one they hunt, and the ones that get in their way, therefore I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you, it is not in the nature for a dementor to be forgiving. But you see, happiness can be found in the darkest of times, when only one remembers to turn on the light."
The Headmaster's words hung in the air for the rest of the feast until it was time for the students to make their ways to their dormitories. The students made their way up the stairs in pairs until they reached the seventh floor where the fat lady was practicing her opera. Seamus ran up to the painting as said "Fortuna Major!" But the lady just hushed him and continued to sing at her glass goblet. "Ugh she won't let me in!" Seamus complained. Harry stepped forward, "Fortuna Major!" But the lady frowned "No no! Wait wait!" She replied before she started shrieking an ear piercingly high note.
The students covered their ears while (Y/n) winced, trying not to be rude to the painting. After a while, the lady realised that the goblet wasn't going to shatter and instead smashed it against the wall and gasped "amazing! Just with my voice!" She beamed. "Fotuna major" Harry exclaimed in frustration. The lady turned to the group of students and tsked "yes all right! Go in!" She said rolling her eyes. "Thank you" Harry said in exasperation. The students made their way up to their dormitories to find their trunks had been brought up already. Upon her pillow, (Y/n) found Snowflake curled up next to a fluffy ginger cat.
"Oh my gosh Hermione! Come see this!" She squealed as her bushy haired brunette friend came through the door and cooed at the sight. The pair of felines were asleep, making it even more adorable than expected. "Oh Seamus brought sweets from a magical sweet shop in Galway, want to join?" The honey blonde girl offered. "Oh no thanks, I want to get a headstart on this term's subject materials." Hermione said excitedly. (Y/n) grinned "mione you're still the same as you were in first year, you never give yourself a break." Hermione looked confused "(Y/n) I've had all summer to rest, even then I couldnt, I've nearly read all of the transfiguration notes for this year." She admitted proudly.
The shorter girl smiled and shook her head as she changed into her pyjamas and went through into the boys room. She sat on Neville's bed and leaned against her best friend's back as he rested his feet on the post of his bed. Seamus had his Gryffindor night gown on with his Gryffindor Tie knotted around his forehead. Her twin had a large bag of sweets in the middle of the floor filled with small spheres of every colour imaginable. Everyone was laughing and having a great time, joking and enjoying the sweets. Seamus grabbed a sweet and chewed it "oh that's a monkey!" Ron exclaimed before Seamus started making real monkey noises which made his sister giggle.
Dean dug through the sweets and threw one to Neville who caught it, "here try an elephant" Dean said as the boy popped the sweet in his mouth and started making trumpeting elephant noises, making (Y/n) jump a little as he leaned towards her making the noises causing her to clap with delight. Just then he dug into the bag and threw one to Ron who was sat in his tasseled winter hat and pyjamas. He chewed the confectionary before letting out a proud roar of a lion and took the stance of a male lion in front of its pride. The rest applauded as Dean said "I think we have a winner."
Seamus smirked before digging into the sack and throwing the sweet to his sister, "do it Saileach" he nodded to (Y/n) who grinned back, understanding the task and flicked the sweet into her mouth. She rose from her place and hung onto the bed post and let out a melodious howl of a wolf. The rest of the boys wooped and cheered as the girl did a theatrical bow before sitting back next to Neville who was smiling at the girl he hadn't stopped thinking about all summer.
Just then, Harry grabbed a sweet out of the bag and put it in his mouth before anyone could stop him. Everyone jeered as steam flew out of his ears making the sound of a steam engine whistle. After that point was absolute chaos, pillows flying everywhere, the room was filled with laughter and the sounds of the springs in the mattresses. Soon (Y/n) had completely forgotten about what had happened on the train, and instead looked forward to the term ahead of them.
The next morning, the third year Gryffindors were greeted with their first ever divination class with an odd looking woman with wild hair and incredibly thick goggle like glasses. There were many tables on the large steps in the room that curved around the room. Each table had two tea cups on saucers which had rather pretty designs on them. (Y/n) sat down at a table and pulled out her divination book 'unfogging the future' and Neville sat across from her, smiling showing his bucked front teeth and, in (Y/n)'s opinion, his beautiful hazel eyes.
"Welcome my children" the woman spoke with a rather dazed voice. "In this room you shall explore the noble art of divination, in this room you shall discover if you possess the sight!" She rose from her seat but immediately bumped into the table, earning a few laughs from the students in the room. "I am professor Trelawney, together we shall cast ourselves into the future" she spoke proudly. She continued to explain what would happen when all of a sudden, (Y/n) noticed Hermione had mysteriously appeared in the room.
This was extremely odd as she knew that ancient Runes happened at the same time as divination, so it was extremely weird to see her in this class as well. "Now I want you to take the cup of the person opposite you, and tell what you see" she instructed as everyone did as they were told. (Y/n) took Neville's cup and he took her's and stared at the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup. Suddenly the woman pointed at Neville, "ah dear boy! If your grandmother well?" She asked.
Neville looked a little nervous, "um..I think so" he answered. (Y/n) looked in his cup to see a small shape, she handed it to the professor who look sighed "oh pity" before putting the cup back down. Neville's head whipped around to her before picking up the cup to look in it. The seer walked past the girl across from him but stopped and turned, "sweet girl, lots of confused feelings I see." She spoke gently. (Y/n) looked at the table before looking towards Neville who had given the professor the cup. "oh such dismay is in store for you, your mother isn't telling you everything." She spoke gravely.
The girl swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling unsure of her feelings. "What do you mean our mam isn't telling us everything?" Seamus spoke up with a confused tone. "Oh not you my dear, just her I'm afraid." She replied. From that point, (Y/n) had started thing back to what Neville's grandmother had said to her at St Mungo's. Could this be what she was talking about? (Y/n) shook this thought from her head and tried to pay attention to what Neville was saying as they made their way to Hagrid's hut.
"This bloody book keeps on giving me evil eyes, I'd hate to try and open it." he said, holding up the same large book that Hagrid had given her at the end of first year. She giggled, "the trick is to show it that you're not afraid, be assertive, but don't forget to stroke the spine, I gets comfort from the sensation and fall open." She explained grinning. "You really expect me to not be afraid of a book with eyes and literal teeth?" Neville asked in disbelief. The girl beside him smiled, "look if you have trouble, I can always help you with it." She spoke.
Neville shook his head, "that'll only get me picked on more, people already think I'm scared of my own shadow, I can't seem to get the Slytherins to leave me alone, all Malfoy does is pick on me." Neville's fist clenched. (Y/n) looked up at him with a sad smile, "everyone else seems to get picked on but me, I am sorry that this has happened to you Neville." She said as she grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight. Neville's cheeks went bright red as he look to the smaller girl with a goofy smile.
Once they made it to the bottom of the hill, the students gathered around Hagrid who explained that their lesson would take place in the lighter outskirts of the forest, where the outdoor care of magical creatures area welcomed the students with the smell of dead rodents and other creature food. "I want ye all teh open yer books teh chapter 1" Hagrid announced to the students who were putting their bags and cloaks down near some trees. "How exactly do we do that?" Draco scoffed as he held his book up by the leather strap wrapped around it.
"Just stroke teh spine o'course" Hagrid said as if it were the most obvious concept in the world. As (Y/n) was taking off her cloak and open her book, she overheard some yells of fright and a thud on the ground. She saw that Neville had been attacked by the book while most of the students laughed, "don't be such a wuess Longbottom" Draco sneered. (Y/n) ran over to him and grabbed the book and stroked the spine. Gradually, the book calmed down and flopped open to the first chapter. Once she had placed the book down, the girl hauled the boy on the floor up and helped him brush off any dirt he had on his cloak.
Ron chuckled, "you're supposed to stroke it!" Neville was still a little short for breath as he replied "yeah. I did!" The Slytherins were still cracking jokes, "I think they're funny." Hermione retorted sarcastically to her Gryffindor friends. "Oh yes terribly funny! Really Witty! God this place has gone to the dogs! Wait until my father hears that Dumbledore has got this oaf teaching classes!" Draco sneered as he laughed to all his friends. "I think the words you're looking for are intelligent and incredibly kind man." (Y/n) piped up from beside Ron. "Yeah, shut up Malfoy!" Harry added.