Dinner Time In The Great Hall.

A typical day has ended with me, Cormac, and Katie eating our dinner in the great hall with the other students. As always there's an assortment of food, both vegan and non-vegan in nature. Wow, Hogwarts really caters to all sorts of people.

"Oi, Sol, pass me the drumsticks.", said Cormac with a mouth full of food. Which results in him spitting bits of food everywhere.

"Finish what you're eating first then talk, basic manners Cormac.", I reprimand as I pass the drumsticks.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do as you say, mom.", he jokes.

Haah~

"Listen to what Sol says, you brute. You're spitting everywhere.", Katie sides with me.

"Fine.", Cormac relents.

Dinner soon ends. Me, Katie, and Cormac chat as we head to our dorms.

"Sol, give me your Potions homework.", asked Katie.

"What have you been doing in class? Hell, you're my partner, Kate.", I ask.

"Snape's class is hard and w-what's with you calling me 'Kate'?", she asks, a bit surprised.

"What, it's just shortening your name or what you'd call a nickname. What you don't like it?"

"No, it's fine but you don't call Cormac with a nickname.", she points out.

"Sure I could call Cormac 'Mac' but do you really think he's a 'Mac'?"

We look at Cormac's face, sort of analyzing him.

"What's wrong?", Cormac asks not knowing the reason why we were staring at him.

"Yeah, you're right, he doesn't look like 'Mac'. We should just stick with 'Cormac'.", she concludes.

"See?"

"What are you two on about?", he asks.

What the hell were you doing? We are literally right next to you.

"Don't worry about it.", I wave it off.

"But we don't have a nickname for you, Sol.", Kate brings it back up again.

"What nickname?", asks Cormac.

"My name's just three letters, what are you going to shorten?", I ask just hoping this doesn't take a bad turn.

"Cormac, we don't have a nickname for Sol.", she turned to Cormac hoping for input.

"Do you have one then, Katie?"

"Yep, Sol calls me 'Kate'."

"That sounds good, I'll do the same."

"Now onto Sol.", she steers the topic back to me.

"Please I'm begging you two, my name's already the shortest it could be. Don't shorten it any more.", I fold my hands at them.

"Hmm~ maybe we should call yo-"

"Hey, we're here.", I divert their attention with the fact that we've reached our dorm.

We say the password and enter the common room. I see the Weasley twins and Lee, huddled together on a sofa. Yep, they're definitely planning something. We stay in the common room, chat for a bit and I see some other students playing Wizard Chess.

Hmm~ I still feel a bit peckish. I don't think there's anything to eat here. Let's go to the kitchen. But where is it?

I think for a bit. But have no leads. I really didn't bother with the kitchen as it had no use for me. I conclude as it's better to ask.

"Oi, Fred, do you know where the kitchen is?", I ask.

"Yeah, I do.", he briefly replies.

"Well, then tell me where it is."

"You go through a door near the entrance hall-"

"-and take the stairs down.", George chimes in.

"Then?", I urge them to continue.

"There's a painting of a pear on a bowl of fruit-"

"-you tickle that pear, it'll giggle and-"

"-turn into a doorknob for you."

"Wait, wait, wait. Tickle what now?", I ask a bit flabbergasted.

"Tickle the pear on the painting of a bowl of fruit" they both repeat, "then it'll giggle and turn into a doorknob."

Why?

"T-Thanks.", I say as I start to leave the common room.

"Oi, Sol, are you hungry or something?", asked George from behind.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing, just wanted to tell you that when you enter the kitchen, house-elves are going to surround you.", he warned.

"Why?"

"Don't know. But I've warned you out of goodwill. You have to help me out sometime."

So this was his aim.

"Fine. Now let me go."

"Yeah, yeah go ahead."

I leave the common room and head to where the kitchen is.

So, house-elves huh? I just want to see how in the hell did they let themselves become slaves? If they're now called house-elves instead of just 'elves' then that means they've been in servitude for quite a while now. Damn, just what the hell were your ancestors thinking? Where did your unbreakable pride do? You fuckers would drone on and on about 'dying rather than serving'. Now, look at you.

I actually should've read about the races or asked Hagrid about Magizoology. The lug's a big encyclopedia. Well, I'll do it after today. No rush.

I tickle the pear inside the painting of a bowl of fruit. And as they said, it giggled and turned into a doorknob. As I enter the kitchen, I see a huge room with 5 long tables and benches just like the Great Hall.

Huu~ this is big. Why are there tables here? Wait, we're right below the Great Hall. These must be how the food just teleports on the tables. The tables must coincide with the tables above and act as a gateway. Interesting. I can see why this system has been implemented in the school. There are too many students and doing it by hand won't meet the demand. By doing it this way, you'd save time. Good application of magic for the occasion.

As I try to approach the tables, I suddenly get swarmed by some creatures. On a closer look, they're short bipedal creatures with big eyes, long eyes and ears.

These are goblins! But why aren't they green? And why are they here? No, wait.

"Oh nothing, just wanted to tell you that when you enter the kitchen, house-elves are going to surround you."

No no no no no. You're shitting me. Please god no.

I look at short guys with an expression that's half despair and half hope.

"What do you need, sir?", one of them fidgets as they ask me.

I open my mouth but have a hard time forming the words. After a bit, I ask, "W-What are you guys?"

"Why we're the house-elves living in Hogwarts, sir"

I hear those words come out of its mouth and fall into a depressed daze. I sit down on a nearby bench with my face in my hands. The house-elves start fidgeting even more, clearly terrified. Some gasp.

"S-Sir?", the previous house-elf asks, showing concern.

I stay like that for a while, before lifting my head from my hands. I take a deep breath and say, "Just bring me some shortcake and milk."

"Right away, sir.", the house-elf sighs in relief and goes away to bring me what I asked.

No amount of words on God's green earth can describe the shock I've received just now.

So, these goblin-looking creatures are house-elves. Haha... the fuck happened?! Did years of inbreeding result in this or did you guys just breed with goblins to achieve this? I can see why they're enslaved. What the hell happened to this race? How did a beautiful and prideful race such as elves turn into a bunch of bootlicking goblins? I really should've read a book on the races. Fuck, I've neglected this for power. No, this won't do. If I receive shocks like this time and time again, I'm headed for an early grave. I have to read more.

As I come to terms with whatever this situation is, my shortcake and milk arrive. I quickly eat my snack and leave after saying my thanks. I enter the common room and just head straight for bed, not caring about the voices of Kate or Cormac calling me.

As I drift off to sleep, my thoughts concluded that I was truly ignorant in some aspects.

The first years are on the field in front of the castle today. Today is our weekly Flying class or as I like to call it, 'Slytherin-Superiority Showcase'. Jesus Christ, the students from Slytherin are really good at flying with broomsticks. And for some reason, they act like they're on a high horse because of it. I mean there's nothing wrong with that. If you are good at something, you have every right to brag. But brag moderately. The other houses seem to be sick of their constant bragging. In our house, only Kate can ride well. I mean I can too but I don't want to stick out. No, guys, I can. I'm not shamelessly bragging, I really can. It's just I don't want to stick out.

I can see why Kate practices so much. She became absolutely enamored by Quidditch. You can occasionally see her asking questions or hanging out with second-years, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet who were in the Gryffindor main team and reserve respectively. I'm friends with them too. But I really don't care about Quidditch so much. I mean what's so good about people flying on brooms and tossing around balls. The only part of the game I like is when you beat people with the bludgers. Catching the snitch is really tedious and the whole rule is just a game-ender. I mean it basically makes your efforts useless. You could just sit around do nothing and just wait for the snitch to come out before catching it. See, totally boring. But, if you want to watch a good game, Gravity Ball is where it's at. Fuck, eating chicken and drinking a bottle of Magicola with the lads while watching a game of Gravity Ball is all one needs in a day. What a shame it doesn't exist in this world.

The flight lessons are really basic, the first class was just picking up the broom. You had to concentrate on your broom and say 'up' for the broom to come up to your hand. I mean sure that's cool and all but I can do that without the chant. However, I didn't do that. I stood around a bit and when Madam Hooch went to other students, I tried to see how the others were doing. The students got their brooms on an average of 4 tries with some exceptions like Kate. I did exactly that. In the first class, I posed as an average student and continued to do so in the later classes. I'd get it right after 4 tries and sometimes fall for better believability. However, purposefully falling is a bit hard to do. I hope they haven't noticed me repeatedly break my fall at the last second.

I'd like to think that I've successfully integrated myself as an average student in this school(with some exceptions). The professors don't pay that much attention to me. Except for Professor McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and for some reason Madam Pomfrey. I mean other than professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey, professor McGonagall and Flitwick view me in a favorable light. Professor Snape doesn't care about me and Madam Pomfrey looks at me like I'm going to lose my arm any time.

I blew my face up one time, Madam Pomfrey! I've learned my lesson. Probably...