Chapter 11:
(Echo P.O.V.)
We went to the dorms to switch out our books before going down to the common room. The Great Hall was filling with people, but wasn’t as full as it was the night before during the shorting. Elissa and I found a relatively empty spot on the Gryffindor table and sat down. For lunch today there were sandwiches. Anything you could imagine you could put in-between two pieces into bread was on the table. There were all kinds of bread as well. I even saw one tray that had a ‘Gluten Free’ sign in front of it.
“So what do you think about Hogwarts so far?” Elissa asked.
“It’s like school, but really cool,” I replied.
“Haha, that rhythms,” Elissa laughed. “Oh, no!”
I looked up from my bread. “What is it?” I asked, and I followed her eyes to a guy Elissa appeared to be looking at. He was looking at us and appeared to be walking over to us. “Oh, Esca. Why is it you and he don’t get along? He is really nice.”
“He’s also really annoying.”
“Hello,” Esca said as he sat down across from us a few seconds later. “Did I hear something about annoying?”
“Yes,” Elissa said. “You are every annoying.”
Esca just gave her a smile and then looked at me. “How is your day going?”
“Good, thank you, and yours?”
“Fine I guess,” he replied. “I have had Potions already today, so that really messed up my day.”
I tilted my head to the side. “What do you mean? Is Potions bad?”
Esca rolled his eyes. “Bad doesn’t even begin to describe it. Snape is the Potions Master and he hates Gryffindor. He is also the Slytherin head of house teacher thing whatever. He takes whatever chance he gets to take points from Gryffindor and he loves to put us down.”
“Oh, right, that was the teacher you pulled that prank on last year.”
“Yup,” he said with a nod. “Though please don’t talk about it so loud, I don’t want people to hear about that. He still doesn’t know it was me and he said when he found out who did it, they were going to expel them.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth.
Esca laughed with a sigh. “You don’t have to cover your mouth, just don’t tell anyone about it. The only reason the twins and their friend know is because no prank goes on in this castle without them knowing about it.”
He made himself a sandwich, and the three of us ate in silence for a while.
“So,” I said getting tired of Elissa glaring at Esca and him rolling his eyes in response. “What are Transfiguration and Charms like?”
Esca swallowed his food. “Well Professor McGonagall teaches Transfiguration. She was the lady who brought you in for the sorting.”
“Great,” Elissa moaned.
“Anyway,” Esca went on, “she is the Gryffindor head of house, and very strict. Oh, and she loves homework. Don’t worry though, at first it is simple stuff like changing a match into a needle, plus a lot of reading up on things. Some essay work and note taking. Charms is taught by Professor Flitwick. He’s really short and nice. He doesn’t give too much homework at first, but then after a few months he starts to give more and more. It is mainly learning spells though.”
“Thank you,” I replied. “This all is pretty amazing.”
“What?” they asked together and then glared at each other before looking back at me.
I smiled at them. “Magic.”
“Oh, right,” Esca said with a nod and went back to his food. I knew he was referring to the fact that I was muggle born. Elissa on the other hand just stared at me looking confused.
“My parents are muggles,” I explained hoping she wasn’t someone who judged people because of that like that blond boy.
“Oh,” she replied. “That’s cool. Both my parents are wizards and so are my three siblings. Two of them are older than me and are in Hufflepuff, which is why Gryffindor was a bit of a surprise for me. What are muggles like? How do you know about the Weasley’s if you were muggle born?”
I was so relieved I didn’t catch much of what she said other than the questions and something about three siblings. “Muggles are…different. If you ever walk into my house vs. the Weasley’s house you would see the differences pretty quickly; as for me knowing the family, we live in the same village and I went to school with Ron, who was the one that found out about me being a witch first. He said he saw a few things that tipped him off. Fred and George actually looked into it a bit too from what I heard, but I didn’t really meet them until I went over to the Burrow.”
“The Burrow?”
“That’s what the Weasley’s call their house. Now tell me about your siblings.”
Elissa shook her head. “You didn’t tell me about muggles yet.”
“It would take forever for me to tell you all about muggles. They are so different from wizards. Then again at the same time, they are very similar.”
“Okay, fine, I’ll tell you about my annoying siblings,” she sighed. “As I said; I have three. My sister, Tina, is the oldest. She is in her 4th year now. Then there is my brother, Kyle, who is in his 2nd, me, and then my little sister Penelope, who is nine. Over all they are all dull and annoying.”
“I’m sure they aren’t,” I laughed. “I don’t have any siblings.”
“Lucky.”
“Lucky? That means I have to do all the chores and my parents always pay attention to just me. There are some up sides to it, I guess, but there are also down sides to it. If it wasn’t for the twins I would get bored. Though they can get annoying.”
Esca spoke up. “They open their mouth and they are annoying.” He then turned to Elissa. “Did you say you have a brother named Kyle that is in his second year?”
“Yea,” she said. “Why?”
“What is your last name?”
“Claymore,” she replied looking a bit annoyed and confused.
Esca laughed. “Wait a second, are you telling me you are related to Kyle Claymore? The Kyle Claymore? The one that helped me catch the frogs to put in Snape’s office?”
“What?” Elissa asked. “My goodie-two-shoes brother played a prank on the teacher? Oh, this is great. My parents will love this. Wait until they find out. Finally they will see he’s not the prefect boy they think he is.”
“You can’t tell your parents!” Esca shouted, and then his voice dropped. “Remember about the being kicked out if Snape finds out. You want to get your brother kicked out of school?”
Elissa thought this over for a minute. “Fine, you win. I won’t tell.”
“Good,” he replied. “Now, I have to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts, so I will see you two in later I guess. Have a good rest of the day.”
Esca got up and walked out of the Great Hall. Elissa seemed to be happy about him being gone. I really wasn’t sure what about him bothered him and I didn’t really want to read her aura to try to find out. I have been reading auras a lot today, but I didn’t really mean too. It was more because I was a bit uncomfortable due to the fact that I wasn’t used to my surrounding and I seem to use my powers without even really realizing it when I was uncomfortable.
“We should probably get going as well,” Elissa said standing up and grabbing her book bag.
I nodded and followed her example. “Yea, there are Dean and Seamus. Maybe they will let us walk with them so we can use their map.”
The boys let us walk with them to Transfiguration. Elissa and I sat by each other as usual. Professor McGonagall was defiantly the strictest teacher so far.
“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,” is what she said the second after the bell rang. “Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.” The way she said it made be believe not only would you leave the class, but she would kill you if it ever came to that. Though she just changed her desk into a pig and back then gave us a very small, but kind, smile.
We spent the rest of the period trying to turn a match into a needle. Hermione Granger was the only one that got her match to change at all. The rest of us were staring down at the same normal match at the end of the class, well all but Elissa.
Elissa and Professor McGonagall didn’t get along right off. First off, Elissa wasn’t saying the spell right, then she was being too loud, and she went back to saying the spell wrong. About half way through class I started to wonder if she was trying to annoy the Professor, and it she was, she was doing a great job at it. Her match changed more than most, but not quite as much as Hermione.
“I have to see I thought she was rather annoying,” Elissa said as we followed Dean and Seamus to Charms. “I hope the next teacher isn’t the same way.”
“She wasn’t that bad,” I said. “She just is strict and serious about her work. There is nothing wrong with that is there?”
“I’m sure I can come up with something.”
I laughed. “I’m sure you can.”
Charms was pretty boring. Professor Flitwick was a very short man that stood on top of a stack of books to speak. He got excited when he read Harry’s name off the attendance list. The same blond haired I had met in Diagon Ally when I met Harry rolled his eyes at this. He still seemed as snobby and rude as ever, yet he was kind of cute. After Charms Elissa and I headed back for the Gryffindor tower to get started on homework and get more organized.
“Well, I must say,” Elissa said as we walked down a corridor, “for a first day at a new school it wasn’t that bad.”
I smiled. “No it wasn’t.”
“I hope the rest of the classes aren’t so bad either.”
“Me too. I have a bad feeling about Potions, but other than that I think it’s going to a great year.”
“Same here.”
We smiled at each other and then went to common room.
The next few weeks went smoothly. Classes were fun, well other than Potions, which was like torture. Poor Harry though; Snape seemed to hate him. He took points off Harry left and right. Over all I think he just hated Gryffindor in generally. At first Elissa and I got to hang out a lot in the common room, the grounds, and the Great Hall, plus a few other spots we liked to go too, but then we started to get some much homework that it was impossible to do much other than it. On Wednesday nights the first years had Astronomy at midnight. That seriously messed with my Thursdays.
Fred and George started to spend time together less and less. We ate breakfast and dinner together every day, but we didn’t sit around in the common room with each other as much. They started going around and pulling pranks on Ms. Norris and such so they were landed with a lot of detention. Esca and Elissa didn’t get along at all, so it was either be around one or the other and sense Elissa was in my grade and could help me with my homework I usually ended up studying with her. Thought Esca could help with just about anything the two of us couldn’t figure out.
One Saturday the first years found themselves standing on the grounds. It was a clear, beautiful day, and it made me think about the day when George had handed me a broom and had me get on it. Then I was face first on the ground with a bloody nose.
Madam Hooch came out. “Well, what are you all waiting for?” she barked at us. “Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.”
“Well she’s nice,” Elissa muttered as we all hurried up to stand by a broomstick.
They were pretty raggedy looking, like the Weasley’s but I didn’t mind. In fact, I thought the one I had, which had the end twigs were sticking out all over the place, was kind of fun looking.
“Stick out your right hand over your broom,” Madam Hooch called to us, “and say ‘up.’”
“UP!” we all shouted together.
Mine didn’t even more. Harry’s and Elissa’s shot up in their hands. Ron’s came up on the second try. Hermione’s kept rolling around on the ground. Neville’s, like mine, didn’t move at all.
“Come on Echo,” Elissa said with an encouraging smile. “You can do it.”
“Up!” I yelled. Yet again the broom didn’t move. I let out a sigh. “Up,” I groaned quietly. The broom shot up in my hand making me jump.
“There you go!” Elissa cheered.
“Now,” Madam Hooch said over the chatter, “when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly.”
This was not going to go well for me, I thought as I mounted the broom.
“On my whistle – three – two –“
Neville was suddenly he was in the air. Madam Hooch began to yell for him to come down, but he kept rise. Soon he was over twenty feet in the air. He face was white as snow, and then…he slid of the back of the broom. I closed my eyes, but I heard the ‘thud’ when he hit. When I opened my eyes Madam Hooch was standing over him and examining his wrist.
“Broken wrist,” she muttered to herself. “Come on, boy it’s all right.” She looked at the rest of us. “None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing. You leave those brooms where they are or you’ll be out of Hogwarts before you can say ‘Quidditch.’ Come on, dear.”
She and Neville went off towards the school.
“Did you see his face, the great lump?” I heard none other than Draco Malfoy say.
Some of the other Slytherins joined in of this.
“Shut up, Malfoy,” Elissa yelled at him.
Pansy Parkinson laughed. “Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought you’d like fat little crybabies, Claymore.”
“Look who’s talking,” I replied recalling seeing her the other morning with tears in her eyes because her mother was upset with her because of a complaint she had gotten from a Professor.
I felt Pansy’s emotions change from entertainment to embracement.
“No one asked you,” she snapped looking angry, but I saw the pink in her cheeks.
Elissa fist clinched and she took a step forward, but I stretched my hand out to stop her. She relaxed a little seeming to see my reasoning in stopping her.
I glared at Pansy. “No one asked your face to be so ugly either, but hey it is. I guess some things just happen without people asking for them. It is part of life, get used to it.”
A few of the people in the crowd snickered. Pansy was now on the verge of crying. I could feel it, if I pushed her a little farther there would be tears in her eyes. Her face didn’t read much other than angry, but her aura had drabbed with humiliation. That was as far as I wanted to push her. The last thing I wanted to do was make someone cry, even if I didn't like them.
“Look!” Malfoy cut into the staring contest going on between Pansy and I. He picked up something up off the ground. “It’s that stupid thing Longbottom’s gran sent him.”
Neville’s Remembrall was resting in Malfoy’s hand.
“Give that here,” Harry said stepping forward with a glare on his face.
“I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find,” he replied with a nasty smile. I could feel the amusement radiating off him. “How about up a tree?”
“Give it here!” Harry yelled.
Malfoy just leapt onto his broomstick and took off. He was rather…good actually. His flying was smooth. He wasn’t as good as Fred or George, but he was slightly better than Ron. A minute later he was hovering over a tree.
“Come and get it, Potter!”
Harry mounted his broom. His aura was flooding with angry and infuriation.
“No!” Hermione shouted. “You can’t! Remember what Madam Hooch told us? Not to move! You’ll get us all in trouble!”
“And Malfoy won’t?” Elissa pointed out.
Harry kicked off the ground. I don’t think he caught a word of what Hermione said. When he was in the air I saw a thin green glow appear around him. A small serge of joy went through him. His aura then disappeared, but I could still feel the joy and now surprise in it. I was surprised as well though, his flying was amazing! Had he even ever been on a broom?
“Whooo!!!" Ron and Elissa stared cheering. “Go Harry!”
I quickly joined in.
We watched and cheered as Harry flew up gracefully and faced Malfoy. He was shocked by Harry’s flying. I could feel it. It sent a burst of satisfaction through me. The two of them talked for a minute and then…Malfoy, the git, threw the Remembrall. Harry dove after it. A few of the girls screamed as he got so close to the ground. He pulled up right on time, and hoped off the broom. Harry raised his hand and there was the Remembrall. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor cheered, but it was short lived.
“HARRY POTTER!”
Professor McGonagall came running towards us with wide eyes. My heart sunk. I felt Harry fell with horror.
“Never in all my time at Hogwarts –“ She seemed quiet speechless. Quickly reading her aura to find out just how angry she was, I nearly laughed. She wasn’t angry. She was in awh. “ – how dare you – might have broken your neck.” Well, maybe a little angry.
“It wasn’t his fault, Professor –“
“Be quiet, Miss. Claymore –“
“But Malfoy –“ Ron tried.
“That’s enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now.”
Harry followed Professor McGonagall to the castle. I had a funny feeling, though, that Harry was not about to get in trouble. Something about Professor’s aura told me that that was unlikely.