Tuesday 3rd September
At least this morning, already knowing our timetable, was
easier to know what books I needed to carry for the day. First off was History
of Magic. I honestly don’t see the point of writing about any of this class in
here ever, because it was just so boring. It’s a good thing that we only have
it twice a week (the other time is second on Thursdays). The one incredibly
strange thing though, is that our professor is… well, he’s a ghost. His name is
Professor Binns. He speaks in such a monotone voice; he really was boring me to
sleep. Okay, so maybe the fact that I keep staying up late at night to write in
here doesn’t help, but this guy really is something else. How anyone can
possibly learn anything from him, I’ll never know. I guess it kind of annoyed
me too that this lesson was a lot like the school lessons back home. There was
absolutely no magic involved whatsoever. All it is, is this ghost droning on
and on about stuff that no one probably even cares about anymore. So, it would
be nice to learn a little bit more about the history of how witches and wizards
came to be and why I have these powers, but my family don’t… it’s just
Professor Binns is just so grrr! There we go, that’s a good word to describe
him: grrr! Even strict Professor McGonagall would have been a much better
choice than this guy.
I found out later (on
the way to Transfiguration) from Jed and Blondie that Professor Binns used to
be a teacher at Hogwarts years ago. Apparently, he fell asleep by the fire in
the staffroom and somehow the fire grew and engulfed him. It seems kind of
creepy that he supposedly had no idea about the fire and slept through the
whole thing. By the time someone came to extinguish the fire it was the next
morning and the ghost of Professor Binns just casually got up out of his
armchair and went to his classroom to teach and he has been doing that ever
since. It makes me shudder just thinking about it.
*
Like I mentioned, after History of Magic we had our second
instalment of Transfiguration. We didn’t get to use magic this time, which was
a shame; although I am a little bit glad, because trying, but failing, to turn
a matchstick into a needle so many times was so frustrating. By the end of
Professor McGonagall’s last class, I think we were all nearly pulling our hair
out. Today, however, it was all theory work. It is so complicated too. You have
to pronounce everything too clearly and precisely. It’s funny, because
Professor McGonagall gets really frustrated with Jed, because of his thick
dialect. The spell that we were using yesterday involved saying the word,
“Alteareh,” whilst swishing our wands from right to left in a sort of ‘U’ shape
before tapping the object.
Professor McGonagall
had taught us that the correct way to pronounce the spell was, “Al,” which
rhymes with pal, “tear,” as in to cry, which rhymes with here and it ends in,
“uh,” which kind of rhymes with the way you pronouncing a capital ‘D’. So it
sounds like this: “Al-tear-uh.” But the way Jed says it; it sounds more like,
“Al-tear-ah.” He gets the ‘Al’ bit right, but he pronounces the ‘tear’ bit like
how you tear a piece of paper and he says the end syllable like how you
pronounce a capital ‘A’. It’s so funny. This morning, Professor McGonagall
spent over five minutes with Jed saying, “Al-tear-uh,” just to have him repeat
his version over and over again. But what made it even more hysterical was that
Jed couldn’t see the difference. As far as he knew, he was pronouncing the word
exactly how the professor was. It was just his accent getting in the way. Oh,
it was so funny. Then to make it even better, just before we left, Professor
McGonagall turned her desk into a pig. I thought that my eyes were going to pop
out of my head. I think she did it as a sort of incentive to get us to
concentrate in her class and to do our homework (which she has already promised
us loads of after our lesson tomorrow), then one day we’ll be able to turn our
desks into pigs… well I’m not too sure about a pig, but I wouldn’t mind turning
mine into a dog. That whole class definitely made up for our boring History of
Magic lesson this morning.
*
After lunch we had our second Charms class. This one was
quite interesting. Professor Flitwick gave us a quick introduction as to one of
the spells that we will be learning this year. “Now,” he said as he towered
over us on top of his pile of books. “So that there isn’t any cheating between
houses, like in the past, I am giving each house a different spell to learn
first.” This kind of made his class seem like a competition. It made it more
exciting too, to know that we were going to learn a charm before all of the
other houses. “Like with all other spells, this one takes precise
pronunciation.” Jed and I looked at each other when he said this and sniggered.
“Are we ready? Your first charm is: Wingardium Leviosa. That’s win-gar-dee-um
lev-ee-oh-sa. Now I want you to keep saying this. Without wands. I’ll be giving
you your object to charm in due course. Just keep saying it boys and girls.
Come on now, with me.” He looked around the room and raised his hands,
signalling for us to join in with him.
“Wingardium Leviosa,” we all repeated
in a bit of a jumble. It really was a mouthful to try and say. He got us to
keep repeating it over and over whilst he went away to a little cupboard in the
corner of the classroom.
I have to admit, this one seems a lot
easier to say, even though it’s a lot longer. It’s actually pronounced exactly
as it’s spelt too. So, when Professor Flitwick came back from his cupboard of
mysterious lesson-related paraphernalia, he was carrying a stack of feathers.
On his way back to his desk, he began handing one out to each of us. “This is
what you will be using the charm that I just taught you on,” announced the
professor as he returned to his spot on the top of his stack of books. “Now
just give your wrist a little flick,” he said as he swiped his hand from left
to right. “And say win-gar-dee-um lev-ee-oh-sa.” We all gasped as Professor
Flitwick’s feather began to float in the air. He hadn’t actually told us what
the charm was going to do, so to see this happen was super exciting and it made
me even more determined to get it right.
After the count of three, Professor
Flitwick got us all to try the Wingardium Leviosa charm. We tried and we tried,
and we tried. This one was a lot more fun than trying to change a matchstick
into a needle. I actually felt like my feather twitched a little. It was
difficult to tell though because Crabbe and Goyle started blowing on everyone’s
feathers to make people think that they had managed to actually do the charm.
By the end of the class though, I was surprised to see that Blondie was the
closest to actually succeeding. He managed to get his feather to hover a good
couple of centimetres above the desk, before drooping back down. When the
professor saw, he gave a little squeak of excitement and then broke into a
round of applause. Although I was impressed, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
This would only make Blondie’s ego expand.
I have to admit that I really like the
idea of this spell. I know that I can’t do it just yet, but I have a feeling
that this may be one of the first spells that I might actually be able to get
my head around. How cool would it be to be able to make things float about in
the air? I could make something float towards me, or away from me. Yes, I
definitely need to learn this spell.
*
The last lesson of the day was Defence Against the Dark
Arts. The classroom was so far away from anywhere that we had ever been in the
castle. Okay, so we have only been here two days, but still. I was scared of
getting lost. The whole class was lost. We had all gone together from Professor
Flitwick’s Charms lesson to try and find our Defence Against the Dark Arts
classroom. I swear, if I had been on my own, I would have cried. It was so
difficult to find. It must be the furthest possible classroom from the
Slytherin Dungeon that exists in the whole school. I was scared at first that
we would never find it with how far away we kept going. Then, once we got there,
I was worried that we would never find our way back again – it is a good job
that Defence Against the Dark Arts was our last lesson for the day.
To find the classroom
we had to go up a staircase with steps that weren’t really there. Some, no, most
of the steps were an illusion (like Ivy warned us about the other night). When
you put your foot on the step, it disappeared, and your foot just fell through.
It was so scary. In fact, absolutely terrifying is the word for it. My heart
thudded against my chest the entire time and my palms got so sweaty that I was
scared of dropping something down the hole in the stairs. Your foot just drops
into a hole and you go down with it. Luckily, I only fell through once, but
poor Priscilla fell four times. I’m glad that wasn’t me, but I can guarantee
you that it will be next time. I know that sounds mean of me, but it was the
scariest things I think I have ever had to do. I will never be able to remember
which steps disappear.
We eventually found
our classroom at the top of a winding staircase. Our teacher was the man that I
saw talking to Professor Snape in ‘The Leaky Cauldron’. He was still wearing
the same dusty-mauve coloured turban and sash that I saw him wearing at ‘The Leaky
Cauldron’ and at the welcoming feast the other night. He appeared to be wearing
the same marled-grey suit that he was wearing at the feast too. I wonder if all
of the teachers here have an endless supply of clothing in the same colour.
That seems like an interesting idea: find an outfit that you love and buy loads
of it. Or maybe witches can wash and dry their clothes instantly. Now that
would be a cool spell to learn. You wouldn’t need a washing machine or washing
powder or fabric softener. You wouldn’t have to hang your clothes out on the
washing line either and have all of your neighbours see your underwear. Okay, I
really need to learn this spell.
So, back to Defence
Against the Dark Arts. The pale-faced, purple-turban-wearing professor was
named Quirrell. I actually felt sorry for him. It’s like he was scared of…
well, everything. As we filed into the classroom he jumped, twitching his head
towards the door. He stuttered all the while and at times his hands shook so
much that he couldn’t even hold his wand out steady. And this guy was going to
teach us self-defence? What happened to him? Some guy in our class, I think his
name is Blaise Zabini, said that Professor Quirrell used to be really brave,
but he took a year out and supposedly fought against vampires. Blaise also said
than an African prince supposedly gave Quirrell his turban as a favour for
getting rid of a zombie-type beast. It’s rumoured that Professor Quirrell is
hiding a stash of garlic inside his turban to warn away the vampires that he
encountered during his absence from Hogwarts. The story sounded rather
far-fetched to me, but then again what do I know about the wizarding world? It
does explain the classroom’s stench of garlic though… and why Professor
Quirrell is so jumpy. I guess something really bad must have happened to him on
his travels that scarred him for life. The poor guy.
“Now st, st,
students,” stuttered the professor from his desk. “I must w, w, warn you that
there, there, there are many, many evils of the wizarding world… although I d,
dare say being Slytherins you’d know all about, a-all about the d, d, d-Dark
Lord.” There were many gasps from around the room. Even I found myself holding
my breath. This was the first teacher to mention such things and to assume that
all of our families were pure-blood Slytherins too by the seems of things.
Professor Quirrell
turned his back to us as he faced the board. Picking up a piece of chalk, he
wrote the phrase, “Basic Defence,” on the board before spinning around on his
heels to face us. “Now he wore a huge smile. It was a really warm and sweet
smile, definitely not forced. “Right, now I am h, here to train you,” he told
us before asking for a volunteer to step up in front of the class and assist
him with a demonstration. A guy in our class named Trevor shot his hand in the
air.
“I’ll do it professor,” he cheered. No
doubt he was hoping to show off in front of the trembling teacher.
“Okay, okay,” chuckled Professor
Quirrell, as he appeared to be oblivious to Trevor’s game. “Come on up. And
bring your w, w, wand. It’s the most important part.” After asking for Trevor’s
name, Professor Quirrell asked him to place his wand where he usually keeps it
on his person and to face the rest of the class. Trevor obeyed. Tossing a fallen
part of his sash back over his shoulder, the professor circled Trevor. While he
did, Quirrell arched his finger around his chin and hummed. “Arh hah!” he
laughed. “The, the, this dear Trevor,” he said as he whipped Trevor’s wand out
from his back pocket. “This is very sloppy, v-very sloppy indeed. How easy for,
for your opp-ponent to steal. Again,” ordered the professor as he turned his
back.
With the professor’s back turned, a
thin line creased Trevor’s forehead while he tried to find a new place to hide
his wand. His eyes widened as he slid his wooden stick up his sleeve. “Okay,”
Trevor announced, once he was certain that his wand was securely hidden. The
professor spun around and began circling Trevor, who stood with his chest
pressed out and a smug grin on his face.
“Hmm… a cocky one, are we?” said
Quirrell with a grin. “Walk up and down p, please.” I can’t quite put my finger
on what it was that had changed about him, but you could tell that the spark in
Trevor’s eyes had gone. His smile looked more forced too. Yet he appeared
determined not to let it show as he strolled towards the back of the classroom.
As Trevor passed me, I noticed that he had balled his hands into fists, keeping
a tight grip on the cuffs of his cloak sleeves. Making his way back to the
front of the classroom Trevor held his grin as Professor Quirrell held out a
hand to him. “Congratulations b, boy. I’d like t’ sh, sh, shake your hand.” I
found myself biting my bottom lip as Trevor extended his hand. The professor
grabbed Trevor’s right hand with his own, before slapping his left hand over
the top. Their handshake was very vigorous. Professor Quirrell rapped his hand
up and down so hard and fast that I swear I thought he was going to shake
Trevor’s arm off. “Well, well done dear Trevor… oh!” said the professor
with a grin as Trevor’s wand slid from his sleeve. “What’s this?” Wow! A
sarcastic teacher! Now that was funny. I bet he knew where Trevor’s wand was
the whole time, that’s why he made him walk up and down, to try and get the
wand to fall sooner. Brilliant!
However, the whole
hiding of the wand exercise did start to make me worry: where am I supposed to
keep my wand? Where is a safe place? Luckily, Professor Quirrell spent the rest
of the lesson telling us how best to keep our wands safe from, ‘The enemy,’ as
he kept wording it. He also started rambling on about vampires and the living
undead, which was a little creepy. But, I did find out where the best place was
to keep my wand. Inside my robes there is actually a really narrow, vertical
pouch on the left-hand side on the torso. I’ve got my wand in there now. I
guess it does make for easy access. You can just throw your hand into your
robes and whip out your wand. That’ll be a cool idea, once I actually know how
to cast a spell. I’m getting there. I’m getting there! I’m kind of confused as
to where I’m going to keep my wand when I’m not wearing my robes though, like
after lessons are over, and on the weekends when we don’t need to wear our
uniform.
*
I was hoping to sit and talk with Josie this afternoon,
but she had her Flying lesson straight after classes. I did manage to catch her
in the Great Hall at dinner time, but she told me that she was in a rush to try
and get some homework done before her Astronomy class at midnight. She’s so
lucky getting to do both of those classes already. I’ve got my Flying lesson
tomorrow and Astronomy on Thursday. Even though I’m looking forward to flying,
so that I can imitate the cartoon of Samantha at the opening credits to
‘Bewitched’, I’m actually really scared. Every time I think about it, my
stomach spirals and my head spins. I don’t like heights. Oh, how on Earth did I
think I was going to be able to fly if I can’t stand being off the ground? I
think I’m going to need Josie’s help on this one. At least I have Herbology
with her second lesson tomorrow, so I’ll be able to talk to her about it then.
- Josie -
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