Chapter 6 - First week at Hogwarts part 1 (2/2)
Neal then asked, ”can I ask something? On the train, when we first met, I saw four of you stuck together. Did you know each other even before?”. Daphne replied, ”of course. All our families' children knew each other since we're little kids”.
As they were talking about various things, slowly, all the tables were filled with students. They started their breakfast with dozens of varieties of dishes that appeared all over the table.
Soon, several owls began to fly with letters and gifts in the Great Hall. Many of their deliveries belong to the first years as they just got sorted into the House.
As Harry was reading a newspaper which he got from Ron, meanwhile on the Slytherin table, Daphne, Tracey, Malfoy all received their letters while Neal hasn't received one yet. He felt a bit jealous of them at first but then shook his head after coming to his senses and continued to fill his stomach.
Just then, a letter was dropped by an owl on his shoulder which he caught before it fell. Malfoy asked, ”didn't you say you are an Orphan?”. Neal replied, ”well, there's someone who looked after me for a couple of months. Didn't expect a letter from him”.
He opened the letter and after reading it, he closed it calmly and put it in the pocket. Later Daphne, Tracey, and Malfoy went to visit Neal's room as girls are allowed to visit Boys dormitory although the boys can't visit the girls' dormitory.
As they stepped inside his room, the rest of the three were amazed and felt jealous of keeping such a big room to himself for the next seven years.
Then Neal spoke, ”well, there is a reason for that, you know”. Daphne asked, ”is it because of Isle?”. Malfoy asked, ”who's Isle?”. Neal replied, ”She's Isle”. The snake came out of the sleeve which made Malfoy jump in fear and scream.
After calming him down, Neal introduced Isle to them. While Malfoy and Tracey didn't dare to go near it, Daphne tried to pet it and Isle accepted it. Neal nodded, ”expected. After all, she's from the House of Greengrass, a pure-blood”.
Their classes started on Tuesday with ”Charms” that was taught by Professor Flitwick in class 99 in the South Tower. He was a tiny little wizard who would need lots of books to stand on top of, so that he may write the title at the top of the blackboard.
Because it's the first class, he just took the roll calls and gave an introduction to the subject he was going to teach.
After that, they went to the most popular subject Defense against the Dark Arts as it generally has a practical approach but it turned out to be a joke. The whole classroom is full of garlic and Malfoy commented that it is to ward off the vampire that Professor Quirell fought back in Romania a long time ago.
In the afternoon, they went for Astronomy class which is just looking at the stars, planets and study them with a telescope from the highest level in Astronomy tower.
The next day, Slytherin went to greenhouses behind the castle where Herbology is being taught by Prof. Sprout. Just like Prof. Flitwick, she too just gave an introduction about the subject and what they will be doing for the next year.
It isn't that the class is the most interesting or popular, it's just the older students urged them as they were scared of Professor Snape who hates Gryfindor and looks for every opportunity to cut their House points.
As Neal entered the room, whispers began among the Gryffindors which actually made Harry a little bit happy as someone successfully took away some of the attention on him.
It became very hard for Harry as from the moment he left the dormitory, everyone who saw him whispers among themselves and many older students stop their work and stare at him in curiosity while he was on his way to the dungeons not to mention, Slytherins, who for some reason hate him ever since the first day.