"But what is Transfiguration isn't your first class?" Anora asked curiously. "We haven't gotten a class list or anything." She pointed out.
Ingred, a second year who had been sitting just up the way with her group seemed to overhear Anora's statement. "You won't get one till after breakfast." She explained to the group. Looking to her fellow Gryffindors she said "Your first class will be Transfiguration, each first class is the head of the House you're in. At least in your first year. They go over the rules and such before giving you your list. After that you'll just find it on you bed."[b/] Ingred shrugged. [b]"I did."
"Herbology, then? Whew. I need to work up to Transfigurations," said H.B. with some relief.
Vincent slipped in quietly behind the others as he listened in on what was going on this morning. It was rather annoying that things weren't more prepared for their first day, but perhaps that was by design.
He nodded "Potions for us then...Wonderful, I rather like the concept of your brains being more worthy than something you and your wand must work together to produce. But it's a shame that our first lesson isn't a true lesson it seems. At least we'll find it easy with it being close to our dorms." he said smiling, his tone purely matter of fact.
He stared a bit at his fellow first year Slytherins "The Professor is Professor Snape if you didn't know. Very intelligent man, I've heard he's simply brilliant in the world of potion making." he said looking eager about the topic.
The bells rang to tell the students Breakfast was over and it was time to get to their first class. As the hall was emptied Professor McGonagall stepped up and placed her wand against her throat. "First years, up here please. The heads of your house will take you from here."
Next to her was Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick, while a few steps from them was Professor Snape. The three Professors closer together gave a warmer welcome than their distant colleague. Once all of the first years had gathered the four parted ways with the students in their House.
"Why don'y each of you take a place around the tables here." She instructed as she made her way to the far end of the tables. Once everyone settled she took out a small bag and started to pull out pieces of paper. "Take one and pass the others down, these are you class schedules." Professor Sprout explained.
William tooks a paper and mutered to HB sitted next to him "Great! Two days where we start with potions. I´ve heard some pretty bad rumours about Professor Snape from my brothers, saying that he favored his own and despised the other houses. Why can´t we all be friendly in one big community?"
He then turned to Professor Sprout and asked "Professor, I have a question. Whe is the Quiditch season going to start? I would like to see how the current members of our house team are fairing." followed by a checky smile and a rustled of his long hair as he combed it backwards, maybe it was a strange tick he had.
Serafina breathed in the smell of moist soil with a smile. "Hmmm, I remember my Mum saying that our Houses are supposed to bring forth the best in us, and the other ones are supposed to drive us to improve in what we're lacking. So if being in Hufflepuff means we value being loyal, fair and hard-working, we could learn from the others how to be a bit more cunning, brave and curious."
"Then again, she said Slytherins and Gryffindors see it as a competition and try to one-up each other every chance they have. So make of that what you wish. I wish we had more DADA, though. And the dinner is so early!"
She pointedly ignored the Quidditch remark. Her personal record on a broom was three broken windows, no less than seven bruises and one splintered Comet 220.
Ken motions Greg to a desk and looks over the schedule. "Look at that, Flying starts this afternoon, excellent. Lots of Charms class, too. I'm looking forward to that, and Flying. Transfiguration classes should be fun as well. I hope Potions isn't as bad as we've heard though. First thing in the morning on Wednesday, too. Ugh."
Raising his hand and waiting to be called upon, Ken asks, "Professor, will the teachers be giving us directions to each classroom as we leave? I don't want to be late getting to my classes because I got lost."
"Hey, at least we get it over with first thing," said HB. "Professor Snape can't be that bad, can he? I don't mind a little challenge. Er, in Potions, at least."
He then rolled his eyes at William's impatient question about Quidditch, preferring to wait at least a minute or three to see what the Herbology lesson would be.
Greg takes a seat next to Kenneth, leaning over to look at the schedule. "I've looked into potions a bit in my free time before I got here. Not a whole lot, but I think I have some of the basics down. Hopefully we can get through it if we put our heads together."
"In return, could you give me a hand in Flying? A bit nervous about that."
Ken shrugs. "I've never flown before, but I'll do what I can. I figure the physical aspect just comes with practice - like riding a bike or playing a sport. The important part is probably mindset. You decide what you're doing with your broom, and then you do it and don't try to overthink yourself. Unless you decide to try out for the Quidditch team, I don't think you'll need to worry about anything too intense. I'll probably be more helpful with Charms - I looked into a lot of it over the summer, and have a pretty good grounding in it."
H.B. raised his hand. "Professor Sprout, will we begin working on plants today? The schedule looks self-explanatory enough." He looked keen to get into some combat--er, gardening.
"Oh plants it is, yes?
Really looking forward. I read quite a bit and my father has loads of funny things growing in our basement - but he uses it mostly to feed some or another of his pets or treat some of their illnesses.
Mother 's into potions. Says it is important to know ones ingredients well."
"'Funny things,' eh?" H.B. waggles his eyebrows.
Vincent picked up the bit of parchment that the professor handed out. He had thought it odd that they hadn't had a copy available yet when the other Houses had but it seemed it was another teacher's fault.
He nodded at Professor Snape and began getting out a bit of parchment and quill. He doubted their first lesson would be beyond what he'd already learned corresponding with Professor Snape over the last two summers.
"A little yes." She answered with a nod. "We'll be starting with the simple more easy things such as wolf's bane, basics first after all." Professor Sprout gave a small chuckle. "Now, can anyone tell me what wolf's bane is used for?" She asked
Anora scrambled to grab the items that this professor demanded they get out. The parchment, quill, and well of ink made it to the table rather easily... her book on the other hand... Anora pulled it out of her bag but the end tapped the edge of the table and knocked it from her hand. It fell to the ground with a loud 'thud'.
Embarrassed, Anora swiftly reached down and snatched up the book feeling so small from the glare that their professor was giving her.
Book, ink, parchment, and quill made their way to the desk, while the map was carefully folded up and placed in a pouch on the bag so he could easily consult it to hopefully find his classes.
With everything arranged in his desk, he opened his book to the first chapter, and unscrewed his ink bottle to take notes.
wolf's bane ...
A yeah, right it is ...
Francis lifts his hand a few seconds after Prof. Sprout asked the question.
"It can be used for poisons and potions that make you fall into a death-like sleep.
Graphorn's love to eat them.
They are mostly resistant to its effects."
"I, uh, from the name I thought it was used to keep wolves at bay, maybe even werewolves?"a
H.B., as he had no clue what the plant is for, had his quill poised to see was Serafina is correct. Time in military-style elementary school had taught him to not guess!
"
Vincent quickly has the prepared materials in hand. He had hoped that Professor Snape would have delved right into actually brewing a potion but he knew better than to think it was a good idea to let people who have probably only just now opened their books for the first time touch ingredients.
He scratches and scrawls fervently at his parchment while his off hand thumbs the pages to the correct materials.
Because of her embarrassment from before Anora threw herself into the assignment. She knew nothing of this world so kept her eyes focused upon book for each ingredient in the potion ensuring that she wouldn't miss a single thing. When Snape was off at another table, Anora leaned over to Vincent and whispered "Am I doing this right?"
Ken copied what Professor McGonagall wrote on the board. He suspected that transmutation was incredibly complex, and that everything McGonagall wrote was important to success.
Serafina grabbed the sproutling with her dragonskin gloves, placing it carefully in the pot and sprinkling wet soil around the roots. "I guess that's why she's the Head of Hufflepuff." she whispers to her classmates around her. "It looks like Herbology is heavy on simple, patient work. Although I guess that we will find weirder plants later, harder to handle."
She raised her hand to ask a question to Professor Sprout as a thought went through her head. "Excuse me, Professor, how will the exam be? Will we be graded on both theory and the plants we are tending to right now?"
"You are probably right. But I guess it is not as simple as it might appear.
Father used to warn me from entering his greenhouse quite thoroughly.
Said that I ought be the one eating vegetables and not the other way round.
I thought he was joking back then, but I am not that sure nowadays..."
Francis nods at Serefinas question and faces Professor Sprout with interest.
Pragmatic thing to ask.
Vincent looked pleased with the result. His handwriting he could work on, being correct especially on the first assignment was ideal. However, his slight smirk soured as his mystery asked him to review hers only to find that she had referenced materials he hadn't thought to bring.
He narrowed his eyes a bit at her, trying to see if she was attempting to make him look foolish. He decided that perhaps she just wasn't confident and he nodded "It will do well, continue to study like you have and you'll have high scores. Perhaps you'll even beat me for top of the class." he said. There was no smugness in the proclamation, perhaps there was even a bit of a daring to challenge him for the spot.
Anora seemed to beam at Vincent's praise. She was glad to hear that she had done things properly as this was all still new to her. Thus she finished the paper up and made it ready to be turned in.
To his own astonishment, Francis find that gardening magical plants really is not that different to looking after the (more calm) creatures of his father.
Maybe it is even easier, since the plants do not move (as much) in comparison.
He is so eager to write down and scribble scratches of the plants they work at, that he accidentally spills water from an watering can over his notes and has to start over.
He is still faster than most.
Serafina's patient work in replanting the wolfsbane sprout goes to waste as she turns around to get a trowel, sending the pot to the ground, where it breaks into minute pieces.
Ken looks over his notes, hoping they are complete enough for the homework. He also intends to read over the chapter in the book, too. He didn't want to screw up his first homework assignment.
He considers asking about when they will practice the spell, but decides against it, as Professor McGonanagall would probably not appreciate the question.
Francis positively jumps as Serefina drops the pot.
A small smile appears on the young boys face as he points his wand and mutters 'Reparo'.
The broken pot restores itself within a second and he lifts it back on their working bench.
"Here you go.
I ... I know how it feels to be a bit careless with ... stuff.
Mum taught me the charm to repair things after I broke them two years ago...
He trails off with a nervous look and red cheeks.
"Thank you!" beams Serafina at Francis' spell. She places some more soil around the sprout, patting it together, but it still looks sort of limp.
"Hmmm..." H.B. narrowed his eyes in concentration. "Root ball..compost...oh say, this isn't that bad. I had a pot-bound Squeaking Frond as a kid once," he said, chuckling. "Bit of a black thumb then but ey, you're doing ok, little fella," he said, finishing up after easing the seedling into the larger container and patting the soil around it gently.
H.B. noticed Serafina still struggling with her wolfsbane. "Cheer up, we all make mistakes," he said, smiling. "Just relax, that's the most important thing." H.B.'s dark eyes sparkled in the candle-lit classroom.
Francis cheeks now positively emit heat and the turns back to his seedling, mumbling to Serefina: "you're welcome."
Serafina smiles at HB before heading to Charms. Despite his kind words, the wolfsbane fiasco makes her feel a bit down, until Flitwick asks the question.
"Uhm, they are, well, useful things! Practical applications of magic, like for moving things, or spells for cleaning things, or Vanishing them, right? Ah, and repairing stuff, of course! Francis did it earlier!"
H.B. raised his hand. "Professor, Charms are spells that alter an object or person without changing their fundamental nature," he said crisply, then added, "Although there are a few exceptions that puzzle me and seem to be exceptions to that rule, like a Memory Charm."
After herbology, Francis follows the other Hufflepuffs back up to the castle and up several flight of stairs. He was glad that he was walking with the others and thus his abyssal sense of orientation had no chance to make him go lost in the huge magical castle. He takes a seat in the back. Not way back, simply not in the front.
He did not like to have lots of people staring at his back.
As their professor entered, a load of questions erupted in Francis' head.
Did he charmed himself small? Isn't that a transfiguration?
Maybe a potion? Or is he really that small?
Did he maybe have a kobold for a great-great-grandpa?
Smiling, Francis nods at Serefina and H.B's answers adding something of a summary.
"Pretty much any spell that isn't a transfiguration, curse, counter-curse or jinx is called a charm, isn't it?
So charms are as varied as magic comes, yes?"
Ken was quite glad he'd read his schoolbooks over the summer. He raises his hand, and once called upon, he says, "Wolfsbane, also known as aconite, is a wild herb whose root and flowers are used in potion-making. The leaves are highly toxic, though."