The next morning Today the classes were officially going to begin. Alex woke up, fed Erebus, washed up and was on his way to the first class when he met Daphne. "Hey, good morning" Daphne greeted Alex cheerfully, to which Alex nodded and walked past her. Seeing that Alex didn't even wait for her, Daphne chased after him. "Let's go for breakfast together," Daphne said while catching up to him. "Let's not" Alex denied right away. "Why? Do you not like my company" Daphne asked. "With you, I will stand out a lot" Alex explained. "What does that mean?" intrigued and feeling elated by Alex's reason she asked. "I want to keep a low profile, but with you, it won't be possible," Alex said. "Wow... you are a smooth talker. But what you did last night can be called keeping a low profile?" Daphne asked. "That was different, it was related to my sister and a one-time thing," Alex said. "Don't mind me I will just walk beside you" finally Daphne compromised. "Suit yourself, but I hope you do keep some distance," Alex said while walking away. "Fine! Fine! Mr 'one-timer'" Daphne said while throwing her arms in the air. And while bickering all the way they reached the 'Great Hall'. Daphne continued to pester Alex and bicker with him. After some time Alex just stopped responding to her, no matter how much she tried. After breakfast, both of them went for their first class, 'Transfiguration'. They were the first ones to arrive in the class. They were greeted by a cat on the teacher's desk. Alex slightly bowed towards the cat and walked to a seat. Daphne followed him and sat on his right. Soon students began to fill the class. A low buzz of chatter filled the classroom. Nicole and Hermione too came together, but unlike Alex, she just smiled towards the cat. Hermione saw daphne sitting beside Alex, and her face went stiff. She left Nicole and sat beside Alex on his left. With the sudden arrival of Hermione, both Alex and Daphne were surprised. "Hey, who are you? Why would anyone from Gryffindor sit here?" Daphne asked suspiciously. "Who are you?" Hermione counter questioned. "I asked first," Daphne said "But you will answer first" Hermione replied "Okay!... wait what did you...?" caught off guard Daphne said. "Now that we agreed to it answer first," Hermione said. "Fine I am Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin, Pureblood" Daphne introduced herself. "I am Hermione Granger, Gryffindor" Hermione said. "Now do you mind sitting somewhere else," Daphne asked. "I won't, Alex I am going to sit here" Hermione replied and said to Alex pointing towards the seat. Alex looked towards Hermione, then Daphne and finally towards his sister. Nicole was giving teasing smiles to Alex. Without saying anything to the two of them, Alex stood from his seat went past Hermione and sat beside Nicole. "Why are you sitting here? Are you going to ignore the two beauties fighting for you?" Nicole asked teasingly while pointing towards Hermione and Daphne who were still bickering with each other. "We are eleven, does this make any sense? You are a Bella at eleven you must be proud. Why don't you just manage your own affairs?" Alex said to Nicole while mentioning about what he heard last night. "Hey, don't bring that up" Nicole's face went red. As they were talking the gate of the classroom sprang open. Harry and Ron came running. "Made it," Ron said while coming in. "Can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?..." Ron said to Harry. As soon as Ron finished speaking the cat on the desk jumped and transformed into prof McGonagall. The whole class was left dumbstruck. "That was bloody brilliant," Ron said. "Well thank you for that assessment mister Weasley. Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr Potter and you into a pocket watch. That way one of you might be on time" prof McGonagall said sarcastically. "We got lost" Harry replied meekly. "Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find yourself a seat" prof McGonagall suggested. The class finally began, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. Alex turned the match into the needle on his first try. Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Alex a rare smile. By the end of the lesson, only Alex, Nicole, Daphne and Hermione Granger had made any difference to their match. As the class ended prof McGonagall awarded ten points to both Gryffindor and Slytherin. "Aside from the points for your successful transfiguration, I award twenty points to Mr Ashbridge for successfully identifying my transfiguration. Now you all may leave" prof McGonagall said while packing her stuff. "What about me? I also recognized you" as prof McGonagall was leaving the class she was stopped by Nicole, who stood in front of her. "Ten points to Gryffindor too. Now step aside Miss Ashbridge" prof McGonagall didn't want to drag her conversation with Nicole so she just awarded her points. "Why did he got twenty while I got only ten?" Nicole questioned. "He was the first one to recognise me. Now I am getting late for my next class if you please step aside" prof McGonagall said. "That was because he came early," Nicole said. "Fine ten more points to Gryffindor" finally prof McGonagall said. "Wait... you were unfair in your judgement because of your prejudice towards me. I need you to compensate me for that" however Nicole was not going to leave the matter so easily. "How many more points do you want?" prof McGonagall was at her wits now. "Well that's something you should decide," Nicole said innocently. "Five more points for Gryffindor" and without giving Nicole chance to say anything, she went past her swiftly. Alex could only shake his head. "Your sister is something else. She went head to head with someone like prof McGonagall" Daphne whispered to Alex. "I just hope prof McGonagall does not reach her threshold anytime soon," Alex said while looking at the retreating figure of prof McGonagall. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The classes in Hogwarts were more than just waving your wand and saying a few words. They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class, he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The days went by and it was Friday, today Alex had Double potions with Gryffindor. It was going to be another headache for him. For the past few days whenever Hermione and daphne met, there was a clash of words between them. Only one person enjoyed it and that was Nicole. In the class. Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name. "Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new — celebrity." Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death... if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. "Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was. Only Hermione's hand had shot into the air. Looking at Hermione's hand raised up Daphne too raised her hand. "I don't know, sir," said Harry. Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut — fame clearly isn't everything." He ignored Hermione's hand and turned towards Daphne "Tell us, Greengrass" "Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful that it is said that it can put a dragon to sleep for hours, hence it is known as the Draught of Living Death" "Five points to Slytherin" "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Again Hermione and Daphne stretched their hands as high into the air as it would go without leaving their seats, but it looked from Harry's face that he didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. "I don't know, sir." "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Snape looked at Harry with cold emotionless eyes. Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand. "Tell us, Mr Ashbridge" Snape asked Alex. "A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons" Alex replied. "Five more points to Slytherin" "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling. "I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?" A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased. "You find it funny Potter? Sit down Granger," he snapped at Hermione. "As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter." Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs. "Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose. "Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville. "You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor." This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron. "Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty." But Nicole, on the other hand, could not keep quiet. "Professor you are making it hard for the Gryffindors on purpose. How can a professor be biased..." "NICOLE!!" The class went silent, they were all looking at Alex. The guy was usually quiet, but right now he looked really angry. "Brother..." "SHUT UP!! Don't say a word more or else..." saying this Alex turned towards Snape, apologised to him and went out of the class leaving a teary-eyed Nicole behind. * * * * *