Some Witches are Insane by Lily of the US
Chapter Notes: Sorry it took me so long! I had writer's block... and a severe case of laziness... ALSO- I edited this to fit more with DH.
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Ria woke up in the morning and rolled over in bed- and found herself face to face with Punita. She half groaned, half laughed when she though of the previous night’s events. Turning back over to face the window, she saw that the sun was just barely peeking out over the ridges of mountains that dotted the horizon. Ria tried not to disturb Ellie, who was lying, once again, on top of her, as she got out of bed and went to sit on the window ledge.
The grounds were beautiful. Morning dew glistened on the grass that stretched as far as Ria could see, and smoke curled from the chimney of a small cottage across the grounds. Beyond the forest at the edge of the grounds were mountains that stretched across the whole horizon. She sighed, and heard movement behind her. Ria turned and saw that Punita had woken up. Ria smiled, and Punita smiled back as she crawled out of bed and ran over to the window, hopping lightly so that her feet barely touched the ground. To Ria’s puzzled look she only replied, “The floor’s cold.”
The two girls sat in silence for a while, watching the sun rise, each lost in their own thoughts. The sky was painted all shades of red, pink and orange, giving way to blue as it rose above their heads. As the sun rose higher and higher, the blue disappeared and reappeared; lower in the sky, and in a lighter shade. They looked away from the window only when they heard people moving about in the common room below.
“I guess we should wake the others now,” whispered Ria.
“We don’t want to be late on our first day,” agreed Punita. Then, as if sharing the same thoughts, the two girls ran to Punita’s bed with a war cry and begin to beat the other girls mercilessly with pillows.
During breakfast, Professor Weasley handed all the Gryffindors their schedules. The Gryffindor first years’ first class would be Herbology with the Ravenclaws. As they ate, Punita explained what each class on the schedule was.
“Well, Herbology is the study of magical plants, Transfiguration is turning one thing onto another, Potions- well, that’s an obvious one, and then you’ve got Defence Against the Dark Arts- again, obvious, and Charms, er, make things behave in different ways, like- maybe floating.”
Ria grinned. “And this one- flying lessons?”
“That should be the best one. They don’t start until next week, though. After they start, if you want, you can try out for the House Team, but first years never make it. There’s only been one first year on a team in the last hundred years, and that was-“
Ria knew what Punita was about to say, and cut in- “Harry Potter!”
Punita nodded, grinning. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess… and it was on the Chocolate Frog card. By the way… what were you talking about when you said he survived a Killing Curse?”
Punita lowered her voice. ”Avada Kedavra,” she whispered. “It’s instant death. Harry Potter was the only one to ever survive it.”
Ria shuddered. The bell rang, and suddenly the Great Hall was filled with students heading for their first class of the year.
In Greenhouse 1, the students gathered around a large table with their Herbology books, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, in front of them. Ria stood between Punita and Ellie.
A rather awkward looking man with brown hair and a round face entered the room and said, “Good morning, class. I’m Professor Longbottom.”
“Good morning, Professor Longbottom,” the students chorused, among a few snickers at the name.
“Who do I have today? Is this the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws?”
The students nodded. And so began their lesson. Professor Longbottom told them about what they would be learning- how to care for magical plants. He spent most of the class explaining safety procedures in the greenhouse, with particular emphasis on how they were not allowed to touch anything without his permission. He talked about the tools they would be using, and told them that he expected them to be mature with the tools, giving a hard look to a tall black boy and a slightly chubby boy with blond hair, who had been whispering and laughing. (Ria thought their names were Kayonga and Stephen)
She rolled her eyes at Punita, who nodded. The bell rang then, and Professor Longbottom dismissed the students.
Putting her Herbology book back into her bag, Ria pulled out her schedule. “We’ve got Transfiguration next,” she said to Punita. “Is that any good?”
“Should be,” replied Punita. “The teacher’s Professor Weasley.”
“Let’s hurry!” exclaimed Ria. She had liked Professor Weasley as soon as she had met her the night before.
The two girls hurried to get seats together and in the front. Veronica, the Ravenclaw girl that they had met on the train, smiled at them from the next table over.
Once the class had taken their seats, Professor Weasley stood up from her desk. Ria noticed a picture of a small girl with curly red hair on the desk. The girl waved. Ria jumped. She had known that Chocolate Frog Cards moved, but pictures?
“Good morning, class. You all know me from last night. I am Professor Weasley.” She smiled at the class. “Take out your books, please.”
The class pulled out A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration and waited expectantly.
“Now,” began Professor Weasley, “who can tell me what Transfiguration is?” Most of the hands in the room went up, but a few people (including Sophie, who was sitting next to Veronica) left their hands down, shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. Professor Weasley called on a Ravenclaw girl in the back row. “Yes, dear, and what is your name?”
“Laura Pradnis. Transfiguration is when you turn one object into another.”
Professor Weasley smiled again. “That’s correct. Please open your books to page five.” Hearing the groans from the class, she said, “Don’t worry, we’ll be doing some magic today.”
After reading Chapter One of their books and taking notes, each student was given a matchstick to try and turn into a needle. It was incredibly difficult, and no one succeeded. As they packed up their things to go to lunch, Professor Weasley called out, “That’s alright. Hardly anyone gets it the first day.”
“She’s just being optimistic,” said Punita as they left the classroom. ”She got it on the first day, and matchsticks-to-needles is the easiest of spells.” Ria sighed. This was harder than it looked.
The Gryffindors had their afternoon classes with the Ravenclaws as well, so Ria and Punita chatted with Veronica and Sophie as they walked towards Potions in the castle dungeons.
Ria thought Potions would be the easiest class. She could not have been more wrong. The potions teacher, Professor Patil, looked kind enough, but the class was extremely difficult. They began with a simple potion, and about half the kids in the class made it completely wrong. Luckily for Ria, she was paired with Punita, who seemed to have a knack for potions, or, at least, had steady hands and didn’t add the wrong ingredients nearly as often as the rest of the students.
The last class of the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Punita said she didn’t know who was teaching it. When she entered the classroom she gasped.
“What?” asked Ria.
“The teacher is Harry Potter!” Punita squealed loudly as she hurried back into the hallway and leaned against the wall. “I didn’t know he was teaching! But,” she added, “there’s no better person to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. He’s really done it all!”
Ria smirked, thinking, For goodness’ sake, she could be talking about a movie star with that dreamy look in her eyes.
Once in the classroom (Punita had shoved aside a tiny Ravenclaw to get a seat in the centre of the front row) the class was completely silent, waiting for Harry, or Professor Potter, to speak.
“Hello.” He smiled at them. “It’s alright; I’m not going to bite you!”
They didn’t begin any magic that day, only learned what Dark Magic was, and the difference between Dark Magic and counter-curses, and talked a little bit about what they would learn that year. All in all, Ria was rather disappointed. They had only actually performed magic in one class, and she hadn’t been able to do it. And Defence Against the Dark Arts, which Ria had been expecting to be very exciting, especially coming from Harry Potter, was actually very dull. She didn’t dare tell that to Punita, though, who had hung onto every word of the boring lesson.
That night in the dormitory, Ria was working on trying to Transfigure a matchstick into a needle. After about the hundredth try, she watched in amazement as her matchstick became slimmer, turned silver, and developed a point. “Punita!” she yelled excitedly.
Punita had been working on her own matchstick and looked up when Ria cried out. “What?”
“I did it!” Ria yelled.
Punita rolled her eyes. “Congratulations,” she said sarcastically. But a few minutes later, when she succeeded in her task, she began screaming just as excitedly as Ria, who remained at her desk, silent.
Punita got up from her chair and crossed over to Ria. She bent to whisper in her ear, “Ria?” Ria looked up. Punita had a pouty-face on. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
“Alright,” Ria said, “congratulations.” Then she ran to the bed, picked up a pillow, and smashed it into Punita’s face. Laughing, the two ran around the room and were soon joined by Ellie, who had abandoned the matchstick after a few more tries.
Once the other girls had gone to sleep, Ria whispered, “Punita?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for helping me today. I would have been so lost today if it weren’t for you.”
“You’re welcome,” said Punita quietly. Then, as if feeling the mood in the room grow to serious, she said, “But you were still pretty lost.”
Ria decided to let that remark go. Smiling, she rolled over and closed her eyes. She was still laughing quietly when she fell asleep.