Hogwarts Carriage
December 17, 1975
Terra Lancasters' P.O.V.
A grand silver carriage carried a single person through the forest and down a path, towards the large castle like school of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The single figure in the carriage was me -Terra LeAnn Lancaster- a year five in magic school and an expert at sneaking in and out of places.
I looked up from the book I was read, Hogwarts: A History, and gazed at the castle in front of me. I stared at the largeness of the school as I wasn't used to the school being so large. Of course, my dad had brought me to the school the day before to get me sorted into a house, but it was so speedy I didn't get to see the whole school, only Professor Dumbledores' office and the outside areas.
I looked back at the book in my hands and closed it, before sliding it into my bag. My owl, Eden, sat in her cage with her head tucked under her wing, sleeping. She was a Ural owl, with black eyes, white feathers that were speckled with tan stripes and a tiny orange-yellow beak. I poked my finger through the bars of her cage and stroked her feathers.
Little streams of light shot through the leaves of the trees and danced along the forest floor. Many little creatures raced across the ground below watching the carriage, thestral and I go by. I sighed and looked at the little group of mice eating a pecan nut before they dropped it and ran, as they saw me watching.
The thestral leading the carriage stopped in front of a long, narrow bridge like structure that led to the castle doors. I pulled my trunk out of the carriage and set it on the ground, before reaching back in and carefully picking up Edens' cage and setting her down. I walked around and stroked the thestrals' snout before retrieving my things and taking the walk towards the castle.
I pulled my trunk behind me and carried Edens' cage in the other hand and walked forever before I came up to the grand doors. The doors opened to reveal a smiling Professor Dumbledore and two other professor. The first professor was a woman and the other professor was a short man.
The woman was a tall, rather severe-looking woman. She was wearing a emerald green robes, and also wore a pointed hat cocked to one side, she had a very prim and serene expression. She had her hair combed back into a tight bun, underneath the pointy hat she was wearing.
The man was rather short -maybe he was part elf or goblin?- he was wearing a dark blue cape and a rather nice looking suit. He had brown hair and a funny looking mustache. His eyes darted behind his glasses, examining me before he let out a smile.
The woman waved for me to enter and so I did. She stuck her hand out and I took her hand. She then introduced herself to me.
"I'm Professor Mcgonagall, head of Gryffindor house and Transfiguration professor, and you must be Terra Lancaster. It's a pleasure to meet you," She said in a welcoming tone before walking off backing to the school. The short man walked up to me and shook my hand then introduced himself, just like Professor Mcgonagall.
"I am Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house and the Charms professor, and it's nice to finally meet the new member of our family," he smiled at me before turning towards Dumbledore. "I am going to show Miss Lancaster to the Ravenclaw tower." I grabbed my things and followed Professor Flitwick up some stairs that started moving on us and to a dead end where a door was located. I looked closely at the door and saw no lock or doorknob.
'How the bloody hell do I get in there then?' I though confused, until Professor Flitwick grabbed a golden knocker and banged it on the door. One of the golden eagles, that was resting on a podium above the door, ruffled its' feathers and then spoke.
"I live above a star, that doesn't burn. Eleven neighbors surround me, They don't even move. What am I?" The eagle riddled and then waited. I thought, then my eyes bulged out of their sockets and I went to answer but the Professor beat me.
"The answer is 7," Flitwick chuckled and the door opened; I follow him inside and examine the room.
The Ravenclaw common room was a wide, circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows hung with blue and bronze silks, and a domed ceiling painted with stars. I walked to the window and looked outside. I had an excellent view of the school grounds, including the lake, Forbidden Forest, Quidditch pitch, Herbology gardens and the surrounding mountains. The room was furnished with tables, chairs, and bookcases, by the door leading up to the dormitories stood a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw made of white marble.
I was in awe. I looked back at Professor Flitwick and he smiled at me, while lifting his hand and pointing up a set of stairs. "There are the dormitories for the girls. Your dorm room is going to be the first door you see. Go on up and get comfortable."
I dragged all my things up the stairs and opened the door at the top. The dormitories were fairly roomy and wide. Five beds -three of which were being occupied- sat scattered around the room. The five beds were, four-poster beds covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns, trunks were placed at the foot of each bed, probably filled with clothes and personal belongings.
Quietly sneaking over to the bed to the left of the door, I started placing my items in the open and empty trunk at the foot. One of the girls in the bed across from mine groaned and groggily got out of the bed. I froze in place and watched the girl stretch, rub her eyes then look around the dorm.
She had long brown hair, that reached to the middle of her back. Chocolate brown eyes, that changed colors as the sunlight reflected up from the floor. Her eyes swept the room then the floor and she finally locked onto me.
"Uh, hi," I waved nervously. She looked confused then nodded and smiled. She reached into her trunk and pulled out the same uniform I was wearing.
"I'm Andrea. Andrea Rivers, and you are?" She had a soft yet firm voice. I smiled, stood up and stuck out my hand, for her to shake. She grasped my hand and shook it, before she took a step back and looked at me.
I was wearing my Ravenclaw robes, like we were expected to, with my brown, natural highlighted hair, loosely flowing down my back. I bore no make-up except for the lip balm on my lips. I was wearing a multitude of earrings on one ear and on the other I was wearing only a sterling silver dragon that came to life when tapped, and a tattoo that had music notes flowing out of my ears whenever someone or something spoke. Hidden underneath my robes and blouse, on my neck, was a tattoo of a moon that changed with the moon cycle. I winced thinking of the story behind the tattoo and brought myself out of thought.
"You're really pretty, you know that? Anyways, I'll be back after I change and I'll show you to the Great Hall," Andrea grinned and walked to a door and entered it. I returned to putting my things away, and while doing so the other girls woke up and greeted me. Carrie, Lisa, and Andrea led the way to the Great Hall. When we entered the Great Hall, you could immediately say the place lived up to it's name.
The Great Hall was a large hall with four long tables where students of each House sat during mealtimes, as well as the staff table at the front, where the entire Hogwarts staff was seated. There was a throne-like chair in the centre of the table where the current Headmaster was seated. The ceiling of the Great Hall was covered with candles and was enchanted to look like the sky above.
There was also a large window behind the staff table at the front of the hall where the light shined through, and a podium carved with an owl right in front of the Headmaster's chair where the Headmaster makes his announcements for the school year.
Andrea informed me about the room, while turning towards the left and leading me over to the Ravenclaw table, which was beside the Gryffindor table. Many students were already seated at their tables and eating. Andrea sat us down at the end of the table closest to the staff table. Carrie and Lisa sat facing the rest of the tables while Andrea and I shrugged and sat facing the Slythrin table.
The plate in front of me filled up with three perfectly browned pancakes covered in syrup, dotted with two blueberries for eyes and a banana smile. I laughed at the gesture the cooks -who I was informed were house elves- made. I looked back up at the two girls in front of me and saw them not even eating, but looking over my shoulder at something behind me. I turned around and followed their eyes and looked at four boys who were goofing around.
A long black haired boy, with grey eyes, wearing the Gryffindor robes, was nudging a boy with brown hair, and caramel eyes, who was wearing the same robes as the black haired boy. Two other boys, one with black hair and the other with sandy blonde hair were messing around and then disaster happened. The black haired, grey eyed boy picked up a scoop of whip cream and smashed the cream into the sandy blonde guys face. My eyes widened and I let a smile turn my lips upward.
"Who are those four guys?" I turned around and asked Andrea. She looked behind her and then turned around with a scowl on her face.
"I'd avoid those four if I were you. Those are the Marauders, those four are the kings of rule-breaking and mischief making. James, the one with the black hair facing away from us, he's, like, the leader of the Marauders ; though he's more mischievous than diligent, James is the Chaser for Gryffindor's Quiddicth team. For the vast majority of his time at this school, he has been an obnoxious toe-rag, with a love of showing off and exceptional self-confidence that's arrogant.
"Peter Pettigrew, the one beside James, he's like their personal little pet. He's sometimes the scout when they prank people, trust me, I know. He just really follows them around like a lost puppy, it's sad really. Not much to say about him though.
"The one that smashed whip cream into Peter's face, that's Sirius Black. Sirius, along with James, is immensely popular: teachers respected his intelligence, though not his behaviour, and girls, like Lisa and Carrie over there adore his dark handsome looks and his especially rebellious attitude. He finds a new girl from somewhere almost every week, it's absolutely disgusting. Many teachers regarded him, James, Remus and Peter as troublemakers or practical jokers.
"Last but not least is, the one beside Sirius, that's Remus Lupin, who is considered to be a good student, but he's also a prankster. He and Peter usually join Sirius and James in detention for mischief-making, though they don't get into as much trouble as James and Sirius. He's a bookworm, always does his work, overall he's a good person, but every month he usually goes and visits his mum, who's ill.
"Though they may not seem bad, they are. They bully random underclassmen and people in other houses, like Severus Snape, for entertainment so be careful and promise me to avoid hanging out with them," Andrea said, grabbing my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. I nodded and pried her hands off my shoulders.
Someone sat down beside Andrea and smiled at her. Andrea rolled her eyes and slapped his hand from her plate.
"Sod off, Howie," Andrea frowned at the boy. He had ruffled blonde hair, and chocolate brown eyes. He laughed at Andrea then his eyes locked on me he stood up and came between Andrea and I, before squeezing between Andrea and I. I fell of the bench with a loud yelp, causing the entire Great Hall to quiet down and look at Ravenclaw table. I landed on my back and started to laugh, while the embarrassment was taking it's toll.
"Oh my Godric, are you okay?" Andrea punched Howie's arm and helped me up off the floor. I was still laughing and just hid my face on her shoulder.
"Bloody hell, that was so embarrassing," I whispered trying to contain my laughter.
"You don't seem very embarrassed," she said pulling me away by my shoulders. I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and eventually stopped laughing all together.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to push you off the bench," Howie kept apologizing over and over again. I placed my hand over his mouth shushing him.
"It's fine. Stop apologizing or you're going to give me a headache," I said, grinning. I took my seat again and just ignored the laughing from other students. Howie immediately sat where Andrea was going to sit and began to properly introduce himself.
"The name's Howard Reeses, but my friends call me Howie, I'm fifteen years young and I'm in my fifth year. What's your name? Also, I see you're new so, how about I show you around the school grounds?" He said coyly. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm Terra Lancaster, I'm sixteen, and I'm in my fifth year as well. And she's already going to show me around. Besides the only thing I need to know where it's at, is the kitchen," I answered all of Howie's questions. "But if it's alright with Andrea you may come if you'd like."
"Yes!" "Bloody hell, no!" Andrea said the later. I laughed and stood up.
"Do any of you know where Charms class is?" I asked pulling out my schedule, from my pocket. Howie immediately stood up, grabbed my hand and ran out of the Great Hall dragging me by my wrist. My eyes widened as I almost tripped but I started laughing. Howie dragged me up a series of stairs all the while yelling.
"Charms class is held in Class 99 in the South Tower and Classroom 2E along the Charms Corridor on the third floor, near the Third Floor Corridor. Classroom 2E has three rows of desks, all facing Professor Flitwicks' table," Howie stops for a breather. "Two blackboards flank his table, and behind them is a small shelf with books and other objects, beneath a pair of windows," Howie stops in front of a classroom and enters after being so descriptive.
"I have Charms, too, so, I decided why not get to class," he was cut off by the bell ringing, "early, too," he smiled.
"You're really hyper, how does one hold that much energy without exploding?" I asked jokingly and poke his head. He laughed and then went completely silent. He held up three fingers before slowly putting his ring finger down, then his middle finger and finally his forefinger down. As soon as he did that Andrea tripped into the room with a red face and an angry expression.
She stomped towards Howie and started threatening him. "You lil' arsehole, you stole her from me and then just ran off, leaving me to the mercy of Carrie and Lisa gushing about bloody Seriously Black and James Pooper! Who the hell do you think you are!" Andrea ranted, and messed up the Marauders names.
"Uh, Andrea you messed-" Howie began to correct her.
"I know, I messed up their names. I did it on purpose," she cut him off. I busted into uncontrollable laughter as people started to trickle into the classroom.
**~**Time Skip**~**
After Transfiguration, I went to the area where the kitchen was supposed to be and tickle the pear. I entered the kitchen and began to eat with Andrea and Howie, who had began a conversation about smuggling a baby hippogriff to Hagrid, the man that breeds the beasts and threstral, but then quickly decide to get baby dragons. I rolled my eyes and joined the conversation giving them pointers on how not to die, while shedding my robes and setting them in my lap.
"So, where you from?" Andrea turned towards me. I froze in mid-chew, while eating a sandwich, that was shaped like a stereotypical witch.
"Uh, I'm from Ilvermorny, in North America," I answered after swallowing the bite of my sandwich and unconsciously brought my hand to my neck. Andrea looked confused, as did Howie.
"You don't sound like your from North America, you sound like your from England," Howie said, taking a bite out out of an apple, he grabbed from the fruit basket in front of him.
"Oh, yeah! Everyone gets confused about my accent. I just never adapted to their accent, ya know," I laughed and answered, before taking a drink of the orange juice in front of me.
"That makes more sense," Howie shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me. Andrea reached across the table and grabbed the PB&J sandwich from Howies' plate.
"Oi, mate! The hell! Get your grubby hands off my food!" He scowled at her and snatched his mangled sandwich out of Andreas' hands. I laughed and took the last bite of my sandwich, while rolling my eyes. A house elf, named Fitzgerald, came around and picked up our empty plate.
"Thank you," I nodded towards him. Fitzgerald paused for a second before bowing with a pleased smile on his face and walked away.
The kitchen door opened and four people entered. The Marauders. I swallowed the gulp of pumpkin juice in my mouth and watched the four boys: James, Sirius, Peter and Remus enter the kitchen laughing then they stopped once they saw someone already there.
James smiled and walked in a little more to make room for the rest of the boys. His eyes locked on to me making me uncomfortable. I cleared my throat, picked my robes out of my lap, I put them on and fixed the neck of my blouse and the robes. I sat back down beside Howie again and looked down at my hands.
"What do you want, James?" Andrea hissed at James, who was pouting at her.
"Can't I just come to greet the new kid?" He pouted, while I let my glace flicker over the four of them. Two of the three were looking at James, while the boy, Remus, was looking at me. I quickly looked down before clearing my throat and looking back at my hands. "Anyways, I'm James Potter, this is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew," he pointed to each boy, then smiled at me. "And you are?"
I paused for a second before rambling. "Oh, uh, hi, I'm Terra LeAnn, you can call me Terri, Ter, Ter-Ter, or just T." James smiled even wider, if possible, and walked over to the table, sitting down on the right of Andrea. The others followed him; Sirius sat beside me, Peter sat on the other side of Howie, while Remus sat on the left of Andrea.
"Where ya from, Terra?" Sirius leaned on the table and turned his head towards me. His voice was smooth and husky, making me narrow my eyes at him, as he was too close to me, for my liking.
"Ilvermorny," I answered with the shortest answer as possible. Howie shifted uncomfortably beside me, making me squirm. I felt eyes piercing me being from almost every direction, while I sat there.
"Wow, your from North America. What's it like?" Remus asked. excitedly. James chuckled at his enthusiasm and rolled his eyes.
"Hot," I dully answered checking my fake watch on my wrist. "Look, I've got to get to class. It was nice to meet you all, but I don't fancy being late to class. Good-bye," I stood up and gently pulled Howie's arm and motioned for Andrea to follow. We exited the kitchen and I sighed in relieve when the door was shut behind Andrea.
"Oh my Godric, you just blew off the Marauders! You are my bloody hero!" Howie jumped around and shook me. I laughed and rolled my eyes, before I pulled my schedule out of my pocket.
"By the way, is the class Care of Magical Creatures by Hagrids' hut?" I asked, pointing to my schedule.
"Yeah, Professor Kettleburn is the teacher, he's nice-ish," Andrea informed me, while all three of us walked up the stairs and to the front of the school. I thanked them then pulled out my wand from my sleeve.
"Accio," I summoned my books and waited for a second before my Care of Magical Creatures books flew into my hands. I slid my wand into the sleeve of my robes and waved bye to Andrea and Howie. I turned around and trudged out the door and to Hagrids' hut, where other students were walking towards.
There was a fairly large group of fellow fifth year students surrounding a fairly average height man, who was standing in front of a huge pin. I pushed my way to the front and looked in the pin it was filled with -it had to be at least thirty- hedgehogs. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked closely at the hedgehogs, not even noticing that someone was standing beside me grinning.
"Today, we're going to be studying knarls," Professor Kettleburn said gesturing to the pin of hedgehogs. He looked smugly at the pin then proceeded to explain.
"A knarl is a creature that greatly resembles a hedgehog, so much so that there is only one known difference between them: when food is left out for a hedgehog it will appreciate and enjoy the gift; a knarl will see it as an attempt to lure it into a trap and hence savage the garden of the householder who left the food. Often muggle children have often been blamed for damage committed by a knarl," Professor Kettleburn explained what a knarl was.
"What do you want us to do then?" Some kid in a yellow dress robe, a Hufflepuff, asked.
"Mr. Diggory what a good question!" Professor Kettleburn said excitedly. "I want you to identify a knarl out of a large group of hedgehogs."
"Bloody hell," I murmured to myself.
"Bloody hell, indeed," A voice said beside me. I jumped and turned my head to see who it was and was not surprised. Sirius Black.
"Get started, class," Professor Kettleburn said watching us, with a smile.
"What do you want, Black?" I huffed and walked closer to the pin, and inspected the hedgehogs, before tossing a bit of carrot into the pin.
"Can't I just hang out with my new friend?" He threw his arm over my shoulder and pulled he into his chest. I pushed away from him and pin-pointed the knarl after a while, which had a darker fur colour on it neck and face and had refused to eat the bit of carrots that people were tossing into the pin.
"No, you can not hang out with me, because we are not friends, we aren't even acquaintances," I noted to him, before walking over to Professor Kettleburn.
"Professor, I found the knarl," I said pulling my wand out and pointing to the knarl. It started to levitate and squeak, while I made it come closer to me. Once the knarl was in my hands, I took my forefinger and scratched behind the creatures ear. The knarl purred then I handed it to Professor Kettleburn.
"Impressive, Miss. Lancaster! Twenty points to Ravenclaw," Professor Kettleburn said, walking over to the pin and placing the knarl into the pin.
"LeAnn, huh? Lie much?" Sirius nudged me with his arm, I clenched my fist and calmed down.
"I didn't lie, I'll have you know, I simply twisted the trust around to fit my needs. LeAnn is my middle name and Lancaster is my last name," I glared at Sirius.
"Calm down, there, Ter. I mean no harm. Just want to talk to ya and see how you like it here," Sirius said -excuse me- seriously.
"I like it fine. There, now you know, good-bye," I said walking away from him.