"That's her?"
"You sure she's the one ?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Who is that? I've never seen her."
"A first year. She's Sadie Murray."
Two bold signs followed Sadie into the Central Hall on Monday morning. The first sign was her fast-growing popularity throughout the Salem grounds, heard in curious murmurs and whispers throughout the Hall. Naturally, every first year (except the Lupas) boasted and bragged about how Sadie Murray, the Muggle-born who had never been on a broom before in her life, beat the famous Grace Slick in a race. The news spread through the school like wildfire, and it would have been startling if someone on the campus didn't know.
The second sign was Grace, who reluctantly entered the Central Hall that morning. It took about five seconds before the truth hit every single student in the hall: Grace Slick STUNK. As agreed, Grace lost, and had to wear Tonpyon Perfume on the following Monday. Sarah Hansen had sent an owl to her mother saying that her class was having a show and tell of rare objects, and on Sunday, an owl arrived with the perfume phial. It was a murky brown liquid in a beautifully made glass phial with a sprayer equipped on top.
"You'll only need one spritz," Sarah informed Grace. "It's very potent."
Potent indeed, the smell that exuded from Grace was so strong and so foul that students who were eating breakfast quickly became sick to their stomachs. It smelled like a dead skunk, mixed with curdled milk, rotten eggs, and the smell from a zoo. The smell was so atrocious, most of the students left the Central Hall to their first classes without breakfast.
"Grace is going to smell like that for over a week," Kelsey said from behind her hands, which she had cupped over her mouth and nose. "It doesn't matter what you do, that stuff doesn't wash out. My great-grandmother wore that perfume all the time. She would spray it on herself once a day, every day, for as long as I can remember. The cemetery where she's buried has never smelled the same since."
"Wow, I didn't think about it until now, but we'll be sharing classes with her," Sadie noted, now losing inspiration to finish her bacon.
"Thankfully not until tomorrow. The potions teacher hasn't made their grand appearance yet. I wonder where they could be?"
Sadie got a particularly strong waft of Grace's perfume and choked before she spoke again, "Amna, what is that you're reading?"
Amna put down a large newspaper that she was perusing, "The Morning Magus. Wizard newspaper."
"Can I see it?"
"Sure..." she mumbled with a hacking cough, "J-Just give it to m-me in Ch-Charms. I'm about to d-die." Amna quickly collected her bag, trying not to choke on the smell, and beat a hasty retreat from the table. Sadie put her nose in her robe as she looked at the front page of The Morning Magus. In the centre, there was a large moving picture of a man in an Administration robe waving in a negative manner toward the camera. She read the article.
Old York Crime Spree
Two murders on Orthogon Avenue; Administration Officials Attacked
Administration officials have shut down the south side of Low Street on Orthogon Avenue, along with Gringotts Bank, when two bodies were discovered murdered in the streets Sunday morning.
At 6:32 on Sunday morning, Mrs. Erica March, who was seeking to make a deposit at Gringotts Bank, located the body of a man who has not yet been identified by the Administration. "I always like to get out to Orthogon Avenue before it gets too crowded. But I dropped my bag when I saw the man lying still on the ground, as white as snow, and as cold as ice," Mrs. March says. "Well naturally I contacted the Administration immediately."
Administration officials have confirmed that the first victim was killed by the Killing Curse. This is following a similar attack in the same location only three weeks ago. Department of Magical Law Enforcement officials searched Orthogon Avenue for further clues, only to find a second body, reported to be Mr. Sergio Perez, citizen of Gallows Hill, Massachusetts.
"Mr. Perez's body was located underneath the tree in Walpurgis Circle, in Orthogon Avenue. We have recently confirmed that the deceased did not pass away due to magical causes, and was in fact said to have been stabbed by the unknown assailant," says Fredrick Pullman, Senior-Executive of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at a press briefing on High Street.
Earlier the same night, Magical Law Enforcement officials were attacked in a separate event in Old York during a routine warranted investigation. The suspect and assailant was Mr. Francis Randall, local business owner, who was apparently under the influence of the Imperius Curse.
"It was just a typical patrol," says Detective Angel of the Old York Magical Law Enforcement. "We had a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Randall for not paying his fines for illegally tampering with a Muggle object. When we arrived, he seemed kind and understanding, and even invited us in for a drink while we were to read him his rights."
Mr. Randall then produced his wand, stunning two detectives before Detective Angel stunned Randall. "I was lucky to not be hurt, and am glad that no further harm was done," says Detective Angel. Randall was later diagnosed with the Imperius Curse, and is now receiving treatment at the Mantel Hospital For Magical Maladies. (More on Page 12...)
Sadie jumped with a start when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Turning around, she saw an ugly man with a huge wart on his nose. He was hunched over, and had yellow, rotten teeth. "May I speak to you, Ms. Murray?"
"Who are you?"
"Gary Oak, Disciplinarian of the Salem Institute. This way, Ms. Murray."
Sadie told Kelsey they would meet again in class, and followed the hobbling Gary Oak out of the Central Hall. He lead her into the foyer, and down a side hallway that branched off from the foyer. He stopped halfway down the hallway and began pacing before her, leaving Sadie wondering what this was all about.
"I know what you did," Mr. Oak said very nonchalantly.
Sadie had to admit she was very confused. "Excuse me, sir?"
"I heard the little story about your little race on the broom. You see, Ms. Murray, I've worked at Salem for a long time, and I like to pick out those students who are most likely to cause me the most amount of trouble early on. That way I can deal with them in the most appropriate manner. I've already picked out the Quint brothers, but I believe I should add you to that list. Should I, Ms. Murray?"
Mr. Oak leered at Sadie ominously, bringing his face very close to hers. "Do you know what I do to kids like you?" he threatened menacingly.
Sadie gulped, "No."
"We have extensive chambers in the basement of this facility. Dark chambers, where we hang miscreants by their legs until they learn their lesson! Do I need to hang you by your legs, Ms. Murray?"
Sadie shook her head, terrified.
"That's the idea. Now run along to class, without getting in trouble, eh?"
Sadie told Kelsey what had happened when they met for Charms. "Oh, he's just an old fart. Mr. Oak can't do that to anyone. He's not allowed. No parent in their right mind would allow it."
"You don't know my mom too well then," Sadie quipped. "She'd probably start to get a better opinion of the wizarding world if she knew that's how I was punished."
Kelsey tried to hold back a loud laugh as best she could. "Anyway, he's just trying to scare you into being good. Don't let it bother you... Oh, uh, Wingardium Leviosa."
A pillow that Melissa, who stood across the room, was holding flew lightly out of her hands, but fell softly onto the ground in between her and Kelsey. Today in Charms, they were practicing their Levitating Charms further. They practiced with pillows, which Professor Ellicot thought would be safe to use so nobody would be hurt and nothing would break. Most of the Noctowls seemed to have mastered the spell, and performed it perfectly, while Timothy proved horrible at it, once accidentally levitating Melissa's hairbrush from her pocket.
"Wingardium Leviosa," Sadie cast, and for the first time, all class successfully guided her pillow in a straight line to Amna who stood waiting across the room.
"It was all just really scary," Sadie continued to Kelsey. "If there's anyone at this school I want to stay away from, I'm betting it should be him."
Defense Against the Dark Arts was dreadful to share with Lupa, since Grace made the room unbearably smelly. This prevented Sadie from learning how to efficiently parry incoming spells, which they attempted to learn in class when they weren't burying their heads in their robes for clean air. She lost Steda ten points after coughing mid-parry, getting hit full-force by Professor Wynter's Tickling Charm, which he refused to use the counterspell on before giving her a long-winded lecture about paying attention.
But later that day, rumours began to spread around the school. Word had it that the new Potions professor was finally on their way to the Salem Institute. A buzz of intrigue wound its way from the common rooms to the classrooms as theories about the new professor abounded.
"Hold on..." Kelsey whispered to Sadie as they sat in US History of Magic.
Professor Fitzgerald asked his question to the class a second time. "Come now, nobody knows? What was the most important event in US wizarding history to happen during the 17th century? Mr. Wright, do you know? Mr. Simpson, haven't you done your reading? Ms. Ali? Ms. Murray? Don't remember? Surely someone must have read chapter seven the whole way through... Didn't it have something to do with... V.V.?"
"Vanek! Vikenti Vanek!" proclaimed Nakin, who was hastily flipping through his notes as Timothy napped beside him.
"Right, right, Mr. Parikh. But what did this so-called Vanek do that was ever-so relevant to the culture of our government's history?"
"He took over the Administration in a revolt," Nakin proudly answered with an almost pretentious grin.
"Exactly right, Mr. Parikh. In fact, Vikenti Vanek, one of the most ruthless wizards and nastiest dictators around, revealed himself for the second time to the wizarding world in 1685. And by 1687, Vanek rose to power when he took over the government in a political upheaval, replacing it with the infamous new political power, The Magistrate...."
As Professor Fitzgerald continued with his long-winded lecture, Kelsey and Sadie resumed their conversation about the new professor.
"Anyway, like I was saying," Kelsey picked up from where she left off, "Tristan told me that Rachel something - I think she's the beater for the Horribilis Quidditch team - said that the new Professor was apparently from California, and they've won tons of awards for something."
"Really?" Sadie asked bewildered. "I had heard at lunch that from an older girl, Diane Houston, that the professor was this recluse from the Rocky Mountains. And then there was Amy Paige, the sixth year, who said that it's going to be a professor who's transferring from that school Professor Fitzgerald was talking about a week or two ago."
"You mean that school Hogwarts?" Kelsey replied. "But that's stupid. Hogwarts isn't in California."
"I know! That's why I was really confused."
"What are you two whispering about?" asked Jennifer, from behind them, while Joey Pantaleo scribbled notes in a daze next to her.
"The new Potions professor," Kelsey explained. "We've heard so many things about them, and we don't even know if they're actually coming."
"Same here," she said as she moved her hand through her long brown hair. "I've heard a lot. Mary-Kate Pharis from Horribilis is sure that whoever the professor might be is famous. She heard that they used to be a professional Muggle body-builder... whatever that is. Amandeep Khela said the professor is a werewolf, but I think that's just stupid. And to top it off, you know Karu Mishra, from Noctowl? His sister, Vrinda, is saying she knows whoever it is personally."
Sadie sighed and glanced at the chalkboard to assure she wasn't missing any important dates. There were far too many rumours, and she wasn't sure which to believe, because she didn't know how quirky any teacher could possibly get. Though Sadie and Kelsey didn't have classes with some of the other professors at Salem, they had seen them in the Great Hall and around the campus.
Of course, there was Professor Reynolds, the Astronomy professor, who was never seen on campus until after sunset. He wouldn't even join the other professors for breakfast or lunch, and always seemed full of energy during his lessons at ten o'clock. Then there was Professor Hazlewood, teacher for a class called Care for Magical Creatures, who looked like the female version of Mr. Miller without the cowboy hat and boots, and was always covered in mud. There was a middle-eastern man who taught a class all about Muggles, named Professor Ahmadi, who was very popular with the older students; a quirky man with long hair, Professor Vreeland, who taught Foreign Magic; and a pair of black haired twins, Professors Tegan and Allegra Hartley, though nobody could distinguish between the two, who taught two strange classes called Divination and Arithmancy.
"Why don't you girls just wait until the professor gets here?" Joey interjected. "I'm completely confused, and I don't even care who the professor is."
"Well where's the fun in waiting?" Jessica replied, sticking out her tongue.
"Ms. Bogue, Murray, and Yates," Professor Fitzgerald called out to the girls. "Please save the gossip for the common room. Three points from Steda." The girls moaned , and Joey laughed at them until Professor Fitzgerald took another point from Steda for him joining in with the girls.
That Thursday, during dinner, rumours spread from some fourth years in Horribilis saying they saw someone entering the building in an overly extravagant stretch-carriage. They suggested it might be the Potions teacher finally arriving. Sure enough, Friday morning, Dean Bojovnic, who looked very stressed for some unknown reason, announced that all Potion classes would resume their regular schedules.
"I wonder who it's going to be," Melissa and Sadie discussed while waiting in the Potions Room for the professor to arrive later that Friday. "I hope she's not strict. We already have enough work as it is."
"Ugh, hopefully she'll have a anti-stink potion or something," Cole complained from the table in front of them, glaring toward Grace on the other side of the room. "I can still smell that perfume." Though the smell of the Tonpyon Perfume had died down significantly as the week progressed, it still lingered wherever Grace was, always sitting angrily and silently, talking to no one.
The class heard a pleasant humming floating down the hallway, and all turned toward the door. It was clearly a woman, and judging by the voice, she sounded young. Through the door, a witch entered, fumbling through a very large, stylish, and expensive purse, which coincidentally forced her to look away from the class. The suspense built as she crossed to the front of the room.
When she plaintively placed her bag on the table and turned to the class, a delightful smile across her face, an immense silence filled the room.
"NO WAY!" Kelsey hollered in harmony with Deborah MacLeod of Lupa.
A dainty lady with a huge smile stood beaming at the class. She had reading glasses dangling on a necklace, and very extravagantly curled blonde hair. She wore a very low cut, short, and extremely fashionable pink robe that cut off above her knee, which matched her large purse, as well as her equally pink high heeled shoes. Her lips gleamed with a bright red lipstick, and many golden bangles adorned her wrists, as well as several jeweled rings on her fingers.
"Yes way!" she replied happily to the class. "Hello!" she took a long pause before speaking again in the same way a cook lets their food simmer.
"Hello, my young pupils. I am so glad to be the latest professor to receive the privilege to teach here at The Salem Institute. I sincerely hope you'll excuse my absence in the past few weeks. Busy bees have busy lives. I..."
"You're Kallie Couture!" Kelsey exclaimed, still in complete shock.
A new murmur filled the room. Even from those who were new to the wizarding world had heard of certain wizard celebrities. And at least every girl in the room, whether Muggle or wizard, knew Kallie Couture was the fashion designer known for the robes she sold for Haute Couture, the high end fashion boutique on Orthogon Avenue. She spoke with an almost disturbingly happy tone that made Sadie's mother look as if she had been faking all along.
"Yes, ma'am! You are correct! Oh, how I am so glad to already be known by my students. I am, for those who are still not aware, Kallie Couture. Oh, but of course, you must call me Professor Couture now. Must be official, mustn't we?"
She waved her hands around at the room, or at nothing in particular, for it was hard to tell which. "As you may very well know," she continued. "not only am I famous for my lovely designs of dresses and robes in the fashion industry, I am also very famous for my two autobiographies, as well as my active modeling career."
She took a deep breath of happiness and beamed at the class. "Well, you children will be the first to know that I am entering the realm of the culinary arts. That's correct, yes, I have taken my skills into the kitchen, and have recently acquired a lovely restaurant in my hometown of Crystal Peak, Washington.
"Then, all of a sudden, I learn that Salem needs a Potions teacher. Well, making food, brewing potions, it's all sticking ingredients in a pot and cooking them! Why not volunteer my well-sought services where they're needed? And here I am."
Many of the students, particularly the girls, were shifting between shock and awe of their new Potions teacher. Most of the boys couldn't concentrate out of boredom, and didn't know what all the fuss was about. "She's just some lady who is really weird," Keith Troitter mumbled as Professor Couture yammered about more of her personal life. "I don't see what the big deal is."
"Clearly you don't know anything about fashion," Amanda replied before returning her gaze dreamily to their new teacher.
Sadie wasn't sure she liked Kallie Couture as a Potions professor. The first potion she asked them to brew, which would apparently cure bronchitis, garnered different results from nearly everyone in the class. Sadie's group with Kelsey, Amna, and Timothy earned Steda ten points for their potion, even though they had not added Tissle Leaf, which they couldn't locate in the supply cabinet and were convinced didn't exist. The smell of burnt marshmallow filled the room when Keith, Joey, and Amanda's potion turned completely black, billowing an ugly gray smoke.
"No, my dears, the directions called for you to brew it for twenty minutes, stirring it every fifth minute counter-clockwise six times. Five points from Steda... though... if you add some Giddylip I'll give you the points back. If you let it brew when you leave class, it'll make a facial cream that does wonders for the skin."
Surprisingly, Sadie's group was the second best in the class, only rivaled by Grace's group. Whether Grace was naturally talented at Potions, as she seemed to be in most of the subjects she studied, or if she was cheating somehow, her group with Tamara Lemoine, Danni Furlong, and made a potion that sent red steam puffing into the air. "Perfect! A perfect potion. What's your name dear?"
"Grace Slick," she gloated, with a proud smile.
"Oh, I'll be expecting good things from you," Professor Couture complimented, sniffing. "Hmm... something smells like... old cheese."
The worst group was the Quints with Tyler DeJarlais. Tyler felt he was too good to do the work, and sat back as the Quints, who were horrible at Potions, fussed over what to add and how to stir. When Tyler realized there were only a few minutes before they had to present a sample of their potion, he threw some strange black rock from the materials cabinet in their potion, making it turn a violent orange before exploding in every direction. The potion smelled delicious, but burned anything it touched. The Quints and Tyler's Omnicolour robes had disintegrated right off their bodies, and they were all quickly losing their uniforms.
"I don't even know what you did!' Professor Couture grumbled, scrubbing fretfully at people's robes who had been splattered with a rag which was burning just as fast, "But it was very silly of you! Now go to the infirmary in case it tries to eat your skin or something, preferably before you're naked."
Thankfully, Sadie's group wasn't assigned any homework, and were able to focus on their other assignments. All in all, as the weeks of school passed by, all of the students found less and less time to play, and were forced to the grindstone to complete their steady stream of work. Professor Wynter had them writing essays for every single class, even on the weekends, forcing students to pore through books for the cited information they needed on counter-curses and how jinxes and hexes are different. There were always new Astronomy constellations to learn, as well as plants for Herbology, and if Sadie had to try to transfigure her quill into a different type of feather one more time, she thought she was going to go crazy.
September progressed into October with rain and a cold wind. The leaves of the trees quickly began to change colours as if they wanted to take an early holiday to escape the oncoming winter. Charms was only becoming more difficult with an endless fusillade of new spells to learn and master. Professor Millan proved to be more than just a slowly aging woman, and though her directions in class were very ambiguous, the class members found they were actually learning something as their transfigurations slowly became more skilled.
The school was buzzing with excitement by mid-October, as the Quodpot and Quidditch season had started. Though the first of either game would not begin until November, teams had been recruited by all the houses, and were practicing nearly every night. It was perfectly normal to hear two or three loud explosions from the field consistently after school hours whenever a Quodpot team was on the field.
Two first years in Steda were accepted to the Quidditch team. Keith Troitter and Joey Pantaleo, though neither were terribly good players, were now going to be doing their best to fly on the ratty old school brooms.
"Joey is a reserve, though," Keith mentioned to Sadie one day while on his way to the Stadium, "I was accepted to the starting team! My broom isn't worth its weight, but I don't care much about Quidditch anyway. I just want the flying experience so I can join the Quodpot team."
"Why didn't you just sign up for Quodpot this year?" Sadie asked him.
"Tristan says the team only accepts kids in their third year and up. They say it's a hazard to put younger kids on the team because of the explosions. And apparently it's not a hazard for Tristan and Sean to be tossing live Quods around the common room. Pff!"
"How do the houses win the Quidditch and Quodpot cups anyway? Everyone's been talking about them," Sadie questioned.
"Quidditch has a building score system. The team with the most points collected through all of their games by the end of the season wins. But for Quodpot, they have a huge tournament at the end of the year, and the best two teams of the season duke it out for the cup."
Though Sadie knew she would never play Quodpot if someone paid her a million Galleons, she enjoyed watching it being played by others. If she had free time after classes, when she wasn't huddled up with the others in the common room working on a tricky Potions assignment, or reviewing a goblin slave revolt in the library for History of Magic, she would sit in the stands and watch the teams practice. She hadn't forgotten about her love of drawing, and now drew the Quodpot matches. She finally learned how to enchant her drawing tablet from Professor Ellicott, and now drew full motion drawings that would act like comics, except with live action.
This year's Lupas were becoming slightly out of hand. The first years, along with the lower and upper classmen in every house except Lupa agreed that this year's Lupas were wilder than anyone could remember. Lupas were supposed to love a good joke, as well as being notoriously sneaky about pulling their tricks off on others, as well as being very smart, only rivaled by Noctowl students. But Andres and Alexandre were exceptions to the rule, preferring brute force when their minds failed them. Grace Slick, Tamara Lemoine, and Danni Furlong became a gang of sneaks in the halls. Danni was particularly good at spellcasting, and people had to be careful they didn't insult her or the others, in case Danni would hex them.
The Quints trailed after Grace as if she were their queen. She ordered them to do pranks she didn't want to get caught in the act performing. When they weren't stalking after Grace, they paraded with Tyler DeJarlais, who touted his fame to everyone, and attempted to follow his older brother, Daryl, around the grounds to little avail, as Daryl seemed to find numerous ways to ditch his younger brother.
Ever since the race between Grace and Sadie, they continued a campaign of bitter rivalry. Grace was very eager to get revenge, and she tried to jinx Sadie in passing through the hallway, as well as frequently sabotaging Sadie's potions during class when she wasn't looking. Sadie's group always performed on an even scale with Grace's group, which made them each rival to one another.
One particular confrontation garnered half the school's attention. Sadie's group had just completed a particularly difficult potion with astounding ease (thanks to Amna, who was always found studying with Nakin and Joey in the library), and were making their way to the Central Hall for lunch. Grace got angry and tried to curse Sadie in the back.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Grace yelled, waving her wand.
Sadie didn't have time to draw her wand, and did the only thing she could think of doing, which was to half-trip, falling to the floor in a duck. The curse sailed past Melissa, Kelsey, and Timothy, nearly hit the bystanders crowding the hall, and went straight to a mirror at the end of the hall. It ricocheted back over Sadie's head, and hit Grace in the shoulder. Her legs instantly came together, and she was knocked backwards into the Quints and Tamara, making them look like falling dominoes. Grace received a week's worth of detention from Professor Munroe, professor for Ancient Runes, who saw the entire scene.
The Steda upperclassmen brought Sadie to the front of the common room that night during their weekly Friday night party, and applauded her. "Three cheers to Sadie, for teaching that little brat Slick that we Steda won't fight back, and we'll still win!" Marcus cheered to the entire room. Stacy was bothered as usual during the parties, and returned to a book she was reading, while Kelsey laughed at Sadie, who was turning so red with the attention, she would soon match Lupa's house colors.
The upperclassmen, who held the parties in the common room constantly, never usually included first years, so the girls usually had their own miniature parties in their dorm room. But that night Sadie, Amna, Timothy, and Kelsey were allowed to join. Tristan, who was particularly glad Sadie had gotten Slick in trouble, offered her a drink called Butterbeer.
"It tastes amazing, I promise," he assured. Of course, Tristan was right, and Sadie loved it immediately. It tasted like a buttery kind of cream soda, with a twist that Sadie couldn't pick out that made her feel very warm.
"Is this stuff... alcoholic?" Amna asked suspiciously, swirling the light golden liquid in her cup.
"Only a little," Kelsey commented. "Kids aren't supposed to drink it before ten years old. But there's not enough alcohol to get you drunk. Well, maybe a little drunk if you drink a ton..." she admitted, watching Timothy who looked a bit woozy and was dancing awkwardly with some second years. "But only if you've never had any before. Tristan says it's so sweet that you're more likely to get sick to your stomach before you ever started feeling drunk."
The four stayed up late as the party drew onward, finally returning to their dorms well after midnight. The warm, soothing feeling the Butterbeer had given them a sleepiness that could not be kept at bay, and they soon went to bed.
Sadie Murray and the Enigma Scroll by star_sailor
Chapter Notes: Did you hear? Grace Slick raced some Muggle girl named Sadie Murray, and Grace lost! Everyone's been talking about it; I can't believe you haven't heard! Did you also hear about the rivalry between Noctowl and Steda? And what about the Potions professor? I hear whoever it is will be coming to school soon!