Chapter 2 - Wonderland Classes

Gryffindor. She's in Gryffindor. Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff she can imagine but Gryffindor? Louise trailed after the prefect, Percy Weasley, herding the first-year Gryffindors to their house.

"Hey." Elbow nudged her side painfully. "You keep zoning out. Did something happen?"

"Ron, stop that, that hurts. Nothing happened, I'm just daydreaming." Waving his concerns off we stopped in front of a painting. "Wait, did you take note of the way go around? I sure hope they have a map for students. Harry?"

"No, sorry I was distracted by the paintings they're moving." Harry stared at a painting nearby who's resident is waving at us. The silly boy waved back.

"Well, of course, they're moving, pictures do that." Ron stared at Harry and h

Louise in disbelief.

"Ron, I'm a muggle-born, I don't know things normally as you do. In the muggle world pictures are stationary unless its a video."

"And while my parents are both magic, I was raised by my relatives who likes... normality," Harry said. "They didn't really care for magic so I only discovered I'm a wizard on my birthday. Hagrid gave my relatives a scare, he was the one who delivered my letter."

"Oh. Then if you have some questions just leave it to me." Ron pointed at himself, proud that he'll have something to offer to his friends.

"First years, this is the Fat Lady she's the one guarding our Common Room. You have to say the password for her to allow you through. Do not forget nor give the pass to anyone. Are we clear?" Receiving nods from the students he faced the painting. "Caput Draconis."

The inside is very... home. Chairs scattered, tables with games and parchment on them, the fireplace with the fire still lit. Professor McGonagall comes in through a door at the corner.

"Thank you, Mister Weasley." Her stern gaze swept through the first years. "I am Professor McGonagall, the Head of House Gryffindor. For your seven years of stay in Hogwarts, Gryffindor will be your second home. All students under this house must be treated like family. Bullying will not be tolerated. I expect you to do your best in your studies and help others that are struggling. If you need any help or have any concerns you may ask a prefect or me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall."

"Boys' dormitories on your left, girls on your right. Do not attempt to go to the opposite dormitory, we will know if you do. Settle in for the night, you will have a busy day tomorrow. We will give you your schedules in the Great Hall at 8 am. Do not be late."

"Professor!" Louise raised her hand. "Is there any map to help us navigate in the castle?"

"I'm sorry Miss Stephens. A map is hardly helpful the castle likes to change around the rooms and corridors but you may ask for assistance from the prefects if needed. 10 pm is the curfew do not be late, there will be consequences."

She waved at Ron and Harry as the boys and girls parted ways. The first-year girls' room was the farthest room from the stairs. Very logical since the seventh years will be notified immediately if an emergency happened.

Once inside the room, she noticed her luggage situated by the bed in the middle.

"Why am I in the corner?" The unnamed roommate complained. Girly pins making her hair flat.

"Can we exchange?" Louise volunteered, that corner bed looks isolated and comfy. "Louise Stephens."

"Lavender Brown. Thanks, I hate being in the corner."

"My name's Pavarti Patil. If you see someone who looks like me with Ravenclaw robes, that's my twin, Padma." Another roommate from the other corner bed said.

"Fay Dunbar." Nodded someone just beside Patil.

"Hermione Granger. Have you read any of the books? I've read all of them but some books are a bit limited on the information." Silence ensues. Hermione's face becomes red as the others' disbelief stares continue.

"I already read some. Might as well come prepared. We still don't know the attitude of the Professors. They might call us for recitation or something." The other paled at this. "It will be embarrassing if we can't answer basic questions. We did have the summer to read them. The Professors will expect us to read ahead, after all, all teachers do."

First and hopefully last dorm room crisis averted. Hermione looks at Louise, grateful for the explanation she came up. "Bookworms have to stick together, yeah?" She winks at Hermione. "I have to write a letter to my parents so I'll leave you guys to talk."

With that said, she settled on her bed with a muggle pen and paper.

"Dear Mom and Dad, -

*****

"Tempus." 6 in the morning. Why. She rolled out of bed in an attempt of waking herself up. She thought with this new body she can wake normally but no she's still a zombie upon waking up.

"Louise, what are you doing?" Hermione looked down at her newly showered and dressed. "May I call you Louise?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm not much on formalities unless I like the sound of your last name. As for why I am here on the floor, well I'm not a morning person. It's hard for me to get up with my soul still sleeping." She grumbled at Hermione. She stood up afraid she might sleep again, this time on the floor. Seeing Hermione walking up to the sleeping roommates, Louise warned her. "Don't wake them up yet. I doubt they'll appreciate waking up at 6. I'll wake them up after I shower."

The shower is great. All hot water and the bathtub is also amazing. She walks out drying her hair and dressed then styled her hair in a simple half-assed bun, loose hair framing her face.

"Oh, you're still here? Let us wait for the others to finish. We have to stick together so we won't get lost." She slid open the drapes of their sleeping roommates. "Rise and shine, princesses. It's 6:30 in the morning Professor McGonagall said to assemble at 8."

"Waah. Why wake us at then? It's still not 8."

"What? You guys not going to shower?" She raised her eyebrow at that.

"Point taken." Lavender rushed to the bathroom. Hopefully, she won't take long 'cause there are people waiting for her to finish.

In the end, they managed to gather up with time to spare. Surprisingly, Ron and Harry are still in the Common Room.

"Harry, Ron, why are you still here? It's already 8. Where are the other boys?

"They already left. We were waiting for you, you slowpoke. Just how much time do you girls need to prepare." Ron carelessly said. The girls fumed ready to retort back. Louise brightened when she saw a diversion.

"Prefect Weasley! Escort us please." Everybody straightened at this.

"Oh of course. Do not hesitate to call me if you need any help. Ron." The prefect greets his brother. "Follow me."

The twist and turns are manageable but the moving staircase is a bit tricky. Prefect Weasley explained that they don't have any specific time intervals to move and that they just move if it wants to. So much for safeness. When we arrive at the Great Hall it was already bustling with students and professors giving out schedules.

"Excuse me, Professor McGonagall! Have you called for us yet? I'm sorry if we're late." Hermione received their schedules and distributed them. "We all have the same schedules."

"Your schedules will be the same until you get your electives which is in your third year, Miss Granger." Explained the House Head. "MISS ANGELINA JOHNSON!"

"Hurry up, let's eat." Said Ron impatiently.

"The food won't go anywhere you pig." Lavender surely is still angry on Ron's comment earlier. "C'mon girls."

Hermione fidgets unsure who to stay with. Louise pushed Hermione's back gently. "I'll see you later." She winks at the other girl.

"If it isn't our dear baby brother." Arms reach out to Ron who's relentlessly trying to escape his brother. "Harry Potter, our own celebrity in Gryffindor. It is an honour to meet you." Twins saluted the increasingly reddening boy.

"Let's just eat guys. We have Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall first. I doubt she'll appreciate her own students being late for the first day of classes." Catching the boys' collar, she dragged them to dine. Unfortunately, the twins didn't leave them alone.

"And who is this Ronniekins?" The one on the left asked.

"Your girlfriend?"

"The names' Fred-"

"And George Weasley."

"At your service, Miss Girlfriend." They finished with a bow. God help me.

"Please just ignore those two. Hopefully, they'll leave us if we don't react to them." Ron whispered. His plate already full and the food on it disappearing fast.

"MESSRS WEASLEYS!" Thank God for Professor McGonagall.

"They're your brothers? Just how many siblings do you have?" Harry asked the redhead.

"Six of them. All boys, one girl. I'm the sixth one. Two of them already graduated and our only sister starts next year."

"Must be nice having a big family." Harry mused eyes shining at the thought of it.

"No, its- Ouch." Louise glared at Ron. She pointed her head at Harry. "Why'd you kick- Oh, I mean yes, its okay but sometimes they're too much of a handful. Always messing with me because I'm the youngest."

"And all of you are wizards?"

"Yeah, in the wizarding world I'm what they call a pureblood. Some though would say my family is a blood traitor since we accept muggle-born, unlike the Malfoys."

"If you're a pureblood and Louise is a muggle-born, what about me?"

"Well from what I know your mom's a muggle-born so that makes you a half-blood then. As long as your grandparents are all wizards that makes a pureblood... pureblood."

"Let's talk later. It's already 8:30. The others are already gone. We have to go." This prompt the two to finish their meals. She just hopes they won't get lost.

*****

Nothing. Still nothing. She glared at the matchstick that won't turn into a needle. Picture the stick turning into a needle, Professor McGonagall says, what a load of bollo-. At the frustrating wave of her wand, the matchstick turned into a needle. Blunt but silver and not wood.

"Keep practising Miss Stephens. Good job but you missed making the tip sharp enough."

"Yes, Professor."

"How did you do that?" The two boys leaned over observing my blunt needle.

"Well, you know, 'imagination'." Louise cracked, tracing a rainbow in the air with her hands. At the blank looks her friends are giving her, she remembered that the show she's hinting is non-existent yet. "Never mind what I said. I don't really know what I did right but maybe you need to will it to change. Intent and imagining the matchstick turning to a needle."

She laughed at the constipated looks the other two called concentrating.

*****

Charms with Professor Flitwick was fun. Seamus Finnigan lights up the classroom, literally, with explosions.

"Wingardium LeviOsa." Waving her wand, the feather wiggles levitating for a moment then drops. "C'mon, intent and imagination. Wingardium LeviOsa." The feather progressively goes up, there's one thing though, she doesn't know how to cancel the spell.

"-its LeviOsa, not LevioSA. See." Hermione sets an example for Ron who's definitely not grateful for the help.

"Good job Miss Granger, Miss Stephens!" Professor Flitwick excitedly clapped.

BOOM!

Her concentration halted. All levitating feathers dropped at the explosion. Just a few spaces away Seamus got a brand new look with ashes. Well, at least she got the feather down.

*****

The knowledge that someone is in the back of this stuttering teacher's head is killing her. And the fact that someone is a mass murderer doesn't help.

"W-We are h-here to le-learn spells a-against th-th-the Dark Arts." Most students are already bored. The students behind the Professor are making fun of his stuttering. "N-Now, as we a-all kn-know the Dark Lord h-has dealt great d-d-destruction in our w-world and th-that i-is why the M-Ministry ha-has de-deemed Dark Arts a-as for-forbidden ma-magic."

Surely not the entirety of Dark Arts? Her face turned sour at this.

"Any p-pro-problems, Miss Stephen?"

"A-Ah, no-no, it's just that. Are all Dark Magic addictive? I heard they are but....."

"Not all them. Some traditions of purebloods are with Dark Magic, not addictive, not dangerous, but they are still banned by the Ministry."

"Mister Zabini is right. The entirety of Dark Arts is not addictive. Most of them focus on the heightened negative emotions of the caster. But, yes, not all are necessarily evil." The possessed professor explained, his stuttering has stopped.

"Louise, don't listen to them. You-Know-Who was a dark wizard and look at what he did to the muggles and muggle-borns. To Harry's parents!"

"I'm not disregarding those. Besides what I'm asking is not about the Dark Lord. I'm asking about magic itself. Earlier we learned about the levitation charm, one would say its perfectly harmless but what if it was cast to lift a person then drop them off a high cliff! Would you consider that as Dark Arts then?" She didn't look at her friends' eyes. "What I'm saying is, its all about the caster's intent. Like muggle guns, it can be used to protect and kill. Evil is in the person not in the magic."

Nobody argued after that. Bell chimes and she hurriedly fixed her things and ran for the door.

*****

Why is she in this table again? Oh yeah, she was avoiding her friends which resulted to her getting lost and getting inside Potions at the last minute. And seeing the only available seat is this one she just sat. So now, she's sharing a table with Zabini. And Malfoy and Parkinson of all people.

"Well, why aren't you copying all that down?"

"What is that?" Zabini looks at her pen brows furrowed.

"A muggle pen."

"Don't you have a quill?"

"It seems practical to use a pen since I'm more comfortable with it. Is there a reason why wizards use a quill?" She asks genuinely curious as to why wizards, even muggle-born, still use the quill when a pen does the job.

"Well no, we just do. How does that pen have ink? I don't see you dipping it in an inkwell."

She popped open the pen at his question. Louise can see Malfoy glancing in their direction. "Muggle pens have this plastic inside that is filled with ink. It delivers the ink at the tip and the tip has a ball inside so when you press it, it releases the ink evenly." She assembles it again then wrote a few sentences. "See? No need for an inkwell. No mess either."

"Hmmm, I'll get the ingredients, read the instructions."

*****

She distantly spaced herself from Ron and Harry. Ron isn't over their 'argument' judging by his glare. At least Harry seems understanding by the looks of it. Harry keeps on talking quite heatedly at Ron while waving at her direction.

"Hermione why is the wizarding world so backwards? The muggles already stepped on the moon." Louise complained to her friend. Said friend ignored her comment still taking notes. "Also thank you for earlier, I kept on dozing off in Herbology and History. The plants didn't like me at all and History... well it was boring. I'm surprised you managed to stay awake for the whole class."

"Miss Stephens will you please pay attention."

"I'm sorry, Professor. It's just... Do you know that the muggles already sent people to the moon?" There is a wave of nods from the muggle-borns present.

"That's impossible, Miss Stephens. The moon can't be reached by a wizard much less by a muggle. No wizarding equipment can take you that far."

"Professor, I think I'll lend you my book about the subject." The professor haughtily nodded.

"Why would you bring a muggle book?" Whispered Hermione.

"It seems logical since said book has descriptive diagrams of the constellations." She whispered back. "You do know you can't just drop everything from the muggle world just because we're witches and wizards now.

Hermione stared at me gobsmacked.

*****

Louise wobbles in the air, why is flying required for this school? It only makes her inner acrophobic self known. She wobbles again, this time hitting someone in the process.

"I'm sorry! I'll go down now!" She panics. Afraid she'll throw someone off their brooms.

"Lou, relax." Surprisingly, it was Harry. He holds her shoulder to steady the errant witch. "You won't fall if you relax."

"How can I relax?! There are no safety measures like mats on the ground and these brooms are old! Even I can see that."

"Come on, let's get you down."

"Thanks. Ron permitted you to talk to me?" She eyed Harry and Ron who's lazily flying a few yards away.

"I don't need permission to talk to you. You're my friend." Harry stared at her for a few moments. "So you accept Dark Magic?"

"We talking about this now?" Harry continues to stare. "I'm open-minded, okay? I condone practices that don't hurt people. Besides we muggle-borns are allowed to bring muggle culture in the wizarding world but most forget that this world already has its own culture and traditions. We shouldn't think that all wizards will accept us when we don't even accept what they are. You know, give and take."

"But how about the purebloods who discriminate because of blood?"

"They're shit. There's one important thing that I know though. Treat people with kindness, even the people that hate you. It'll throw the stick out of their asses... hopefully."

Harry laughed, gathering the attention of the students around them. "Lou, don't ever change, got that? And also, Ron and I won't hate you for having a different mindset about things. Ron just... he needs his time to think first."

"Yeah, I know." Harry blurred in Louise's vision. She hastily turned back rubbing at her eyes. "You idiot. Tell him to hurry up 'cause I won't apologise."

"MISTER LONGBOTTOM!"

"See what I told you about safety measures." Both of us and the whole class watched horrified when Neville began to fall. Thankfully, his fall was softened as his robe got snatched by a statues spear then by an unlit torch. All he got was a broken wrist.

"All students will be punished if even a single broom is in the air. I will take Mister Longbottom to the Hospital Wing." The professor leads Neville away.

"It's that lump's Rememberall." Malfoy snickers. "I'll give him a challenge of finding this useless trinket." The blonde soared with Neville's gift in his hand.

"Malfoy, give it back." Harry immediately took the bait.

"Get down! We'll get in trouble if Madam Hooch sees you!" Hermione yelled. "Don't be an idiot!"

"Want this Potter?! Go and get it!" The blonde throws the Rememberall. Harry, the senseless idiot, chases after it. At least, he'll get to be the Gryffindor Seeker after this.

Professor McGonagall strides into view calling for Harry.

Louise called out to Harry. "Harry! Don't worry! And congrats!"

The boy stared at her confusingly as he was led away.