CHAPTER 3 – FIRST DAY IN CLASS
Jude woke up in a daze. The dream last night was really weird beyond words. Max nuzzled her cheek and whined to get her up. She eventually did. As she washed and changed into her school uniform and robes, she couldn’t help feeling bedazzled about the whole dream. She wanted to look for someone to talk to about her dream, but then she realized that in her house, her Slytherin friends were pretty hostile to each other. As she was the new student in her Slytherin house, she decided to bottle it up for the time being.
She joined her housemates from behind to the Great Hall to have breakfast. This was the first time she ever set foot into such a huge dining room. By then she realized that Tony, whom she and her friends met in the Hogwarts Express, was also in her same house. She ran over to greet him.
“Good morning, Tony!” Jude said, trying to sound lively.
“Ah! So you’re a Slytherin too!” Tony exclaimed as they took their seat at their house table. “So, had a good night’s sleep?”
“Not really. I sorta had a weird dream last night.”
“Nightmare?”
“No. Not a nightmare, really. It’s just really weird. I can’t explain it.”
“It’s normal to have weird dreams, Jude. You’re from Asia, right? That’s like a few thousand miles away from home. Probably in your subconscious mind, you’re quite homesick.”
“I guess you’re right. I was…”
“Excuse me! Step aside, please!” Her conversation was rudely interrupted by a very hard shove from a fat shoulder. She looked up saw that it was Malfoy and his fat, dorky henchmen Crabbe and Goyle. She had to shift aside a little. No point fighting with seniors.
“You must be the new intern I met last night, eh?” Malfoy said with a really cunning smirk. “Well, there are some ground rules here. You do your best in our house, never leave space for screw-ups, don’t you dare mess around with me, and don’t you even dare have anything to do with that goody two-shoed Potter boy!”
“You mean Harry?” Jude was surprised. “He’s seemed like an upright guy. Why can’t I be friends with him?”
“So you rather hang out with Mudbloods and Halflings instead of with the genuine magical-blood wizards and witches like us? Are you denying your own bloodline?”
“Look! All I know is that…” Her words were cut short by Tony cupping her mouth. Tony gave her a warning look and signaled her to sit at a further corner of the table.
“You don’t argue with the well-known Draco Malfoy. He’s rich and his father is one of the important people in the Ministry. You’ll be in deep shit if you dare to tamper with his temper.”
“So what if he’s a filthy rich boy? I don’t give a damn!”
“You will give a damn when he makes his father expel you from this school. You can’t afford to go home now, can you? Besides, it’s been a tradition in this school that Slytherins and Gryffindors are the worst enemies around. You’ll just have to bear with it.”
So Jude had to put up with that Draco Malfoy’s rules. Without him noticing, she craned her neck to make sure Rach and Becka were there in their houses enjoying breakfast as well as she did. They jerked their heads, acknowledging each other and giving out their good mornings through eye-contact.
Classes were conducted as scheduled in the timetable. Her first class was DADA, taught by the so-called re-employed Prof. Remus Lupin, which was a very interesting subject. Prof. Lupin was quite a nice guy—firm but nice. Then was the boring History of Magic by the ghost teacher Prof. Binns (Jude almost fell asleep throughout the subject). Herbology was next, by Prof. Sprout. A few times, she was caught by surprise at upon seeing some of the roots in the Herbology green house that were actually alive, and almost made a fool of herself looking horrified at things her other housemates thought normal. Draco gave a really stern look at her and she tried to resume her calmness. Charms was interesting too, taught by Prof. Flitwick. It was a combine class between Jude and Becka’s class, and Becka sort of levitated her own housemates, including Harry, Ron and Hermione and Prof. Flitwick instead of levitating the toothpick they were supposed to levitate in the first place. Jude couldn’t help pretending she never knew her at all.
Potions was the most challenging subject of all. It was a combined class with the Ravenclaws, so Jude had the chance to meet Rach. As Prof. Snape entered the class, there was a sudden hush. It was like everyone shrank down at his presence. She didn’t expect that this teacher had so much impact on every student in this potion lab. Although she was still quite peeved and a little scared of this cold professor, she made no attempt shrink like the rest of the class. She remained sitting up straight.
After taking the students’ attendance, Prof. Snape started the class with a small lecture on potions. His voice was barely a whisper, but Jude was surprised that she could hear every word he said. She couldn’t help paying attention to every of his features from head to toe. She was struck back to reality when she heard Prof. Snape said, “As you can see, we have a few new students whom we have chosen all the way from the East. Introduce yourselves, please.”
Jude and Rach stood up and nodded to each other. Jude started first, “Hi, guys. My name is Judith Light. I may have a Western surname, but I’m mostly Chinese.”
“So am I,” Rach replied. “My name is Rachel Yearne. Pleased to meet you.”
“That’ll be all, girls. Sit down,” Prof. Snape ordered. The duo obeyed. Jude thought she saw most of her Slytherin housemates going quite blue. That goes to Rach’s Ravenclaw housemates. Jude decided to put it aside for the time being.
Prof. Snape scribbled a long list of ingredients on the blackboard and told them to start making their potions. She then realized that Prof. Snape had a thing for his Slytherin students. He criticized a lot on the Ravenclaws and put more praises on the Slytherins. Of course, he didn’t attempt to say anything when it comes to Rach or her, which made the whole situation even weird for her. Draco noticed her staring at Prof. Snape and nudged her on her sensitive waist. She shrieked suddenly and dropped the spider legs that she wasn’t supposed to do so before putting the bats’ eyes into her cauldron and the cauldron began to bubble and boil, spilling the potion all over the table. Tony squeaked in horror and backed away.
“Fool! Look what have you done!” Prof. Snape snapped at her and waved his wand to clear the bubbling mess. “I thought I made it very clear to you that you’re supposed to put in the bats’ eyes first and drop the spider legs one by one, not drop them all at once!”
“Sir, it wasn’t her fault,” Tony tried to speak for her. “It was Draco! He nudged her and…”
“Silence, Brixius! You are to speak when you are spoken to. That’ll be 3 points from you. And 5 points from you, Light, for being careless.”
Silent sniggers were heard from the Ravenclaws. Rach sighed. First day of school and already her best friend had made a mess of things. Jude felt quite bad herself. She had to redo the whole thing again. She wanted to kick Draco down to China but remembering that he was her senior and she was on her first day in Hogwarts, she kept silent.
Suddenly she heard Draco hissing at her, “Nice going, new kid! We’ve lost a few points right at the first day of school! Sooner or later you’re gonna make us lose more points!”
Tony glared at him. Jude was infuriated. Not only he didn’t apologize, but he put all the blame on her! She was so angry that she felt the fire inside her burning to the point of a massive forest fire. She turned and glared angrily at him. She felt as if she wanted to curse him and turn him into something horrible. Somehow, she felt as if she wanted to just kill him. Her anger grew and grew to the point where she couldn’t control…
When she got back to her senses, there was a sudden commotion. She saw Draco’s cauldron exploded into pieces and he was drenched all over in bluish-green goop. Draco was staring wide-eyed at her in disbelief. Jude suddenly fell in a daze. Her anger was replaced with confusion and severe fatigue, as if she had done an 11-mile run. She felt like she was going to black out sooner or later if she didn’t get out of the lab and have some fresh air. She couldn’t hear anything else around her. All she could see was everyone, including Rach and Tony, gaping at both her and Draco in surprise and horror. She lost her grip and fell to the lab floor.
Prof. Snape’s face above her was the last thing she remembered.
“Are you OK now, Jude?” Becka asked worriedly.
“Sort of,” Jude replied. She was now in the Hospital Wing being taken care of by Madame Pomfrey. Max was beside her, whining as he stared at his mistress. Jude massaged her temples and asked, “What happened back there?”
“You were in shock,” Rach said, allowing her Slipper coil around her body. “Senior Malfoy’s cauldron suddenly exploded and sent the potion flying all over the place. You went pale like death and your eyes gone blank. What’s gotten into you? What have you done to his potion?”
“Nothing! I was just feeling a little ticked off at Senior Malfoy and then the next thing I know, I was staring at him covered in green goop…”
“He looks kinda funny like that anyway,” Rach grinned.
“So…how did I get here?” Jude asked, sitting up.
“Guess what? It was that tongue-lashing Prof. Snape,” Rach looked at her slyly. “He practically rushed up to you before your head hit the ground and carried you all the way here. Uncanny, huh?”
“Ooh~ Looks like our little Jude here has made a really ‘good’ impression on her house teacher,” Becka teased, stroking her Salem.
“Shut up!” Jude punched Becka playfully on the shoulder. “I feel awful enough to mess up my potion during my first class with him. I’m not in a mood for jokes.”
“Did you notice that our housemates actually went quite blue when we introduced our names?” Rach asked.
“You noticed it too?” Jude was surprised. “I thought I was the only one to see it!”
“So am I! My housemates went blue too when I introduced myself during Transfiguration class,” Becka exclaimed. “This is getting weirder and weirder by the minute.”
“Conspiracy theory, remember? We gotta find this out quick or we’ll be kept in the dark forever,” Jude replied, then cheered up and said, “but we can put this aside first. I’m kinda hungry.”
“Bakasaru (stupid monkey)!” Rach and Becka said together. Sometimes they wonder where all the food Jude has eaten went down to. She was quite a glutton yet she was still able to maintain a reasonable figure.
After lunch at the Great Hall, Jude made a dash to Transfiguration class, which was taught by Prof. McGonagalle. She was almost late because she spent too long staying back in the Great Hall chit-chatting with Rach and Becka and not realizing that her Slytherin housemates have already left. Tony had to come back and get her and they were almost caught by Argus Filch, the spindly caretaker of Hogwarts. Tony said that everyone hated him and his tabby cat, Mrs. Norris, because she was such a nuisance.
When she reached the Transfiguration classroom, she was first greeted by the presence of a black tabby cat, which a few seconds later, jumped off the desk and changed into an unsmiling woman with her hair tied in a bun. Jude gawked in amazement and horror.
“You are 5 minutes late, Judith. I had to ask Tony here to come and get you. I hope you don’t repeat this again. Many students lose points that way.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jude replied timidly before taking her seat. The class started. Her first lesson was to change a ball into an apple, but somehow she ended up changing it into a bubble. The Slytherins laughed at her antic and she felt even worse. She regretted not staying longer in the Hospital Wing and faking her illness even more.
Her last lesson was broomstick flying. The teacher who taught this subject invited the seniors from each house, namely Harry from Gryffindor, Draco from Slytherin, Darren from Ravenclaw and Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff to guide their juniors. They learned how to call for the broom into their hands and how to ride and steer the broom correctly. The trio (Jude, Rach & Becka) got quite the hang of it after a few practices. Harry rode his broom slowly towards Jude and said, “I heard about the incident in the potions lab. How did you do it?”
“What? How did you know about it?” Jude was surprised.
“Word spreads very fast here in Hogwarts, especially when it’s something to do with the person you hate,” Ron joined in the conversation, grinning from ear to ear. “The name’s Ron Weasley. Way to go, new kid!”
“Come on! I feel bad enough already. I ruined my Potions class and humiliated a senior. How much more trouble can I get into?”
“Don’t ever feel bad when it comes to Draco, Jude,” Harry said, reaching out to pat her back. “If anything goes wrong, just come to me. I’ll be glad to help.”
“Yeah! I’ve made my decision to like you. Our first Slytherin friend, Harry, imagine that! Wait till Hermione finds out about this! She might think we’re nuts!” Ron said out loud and laughed. Jude liked the two friends. They can so jolly at times like these.
“Light! You stay away from those two dunderheads!”
Jude went quite pale. It was Draco’s voice, and she could feel him coming closer to her with his fast-moving broom. He shoved Ron aside and tugged her robe sleeve, growling, “What have I told you about hanging out with the Gryffindors? You come with me this instance and don’t let me catch you with them again!”
“Hey, Malfoy, cut her some slack!” Ron shouted as he butted Draco’s broom with his. “She has the freedom to choose who to befriend! It’s not your shot!”
“Yeah, Malfoy. Leave her alone,” Harry agreed. “You’re not her master or anything. Why does she have to listen to you only?”
“Because she is in my house and she is my junior, so she lives under my rules! Come away with me!” Draco hissed and tugged her robe sleeve harder. Jude didn’t want to cause a riot like the one in the Potions class, and she definitely did not want to create anymore trouble. She followed him quietly.
“Unhand her, you creep!” Ron said, hitting Draco squarely on the shoulder to free Jude’s sleeve from his grasp. “You’ve done enough snobby damage for one day! She’s our friend!”
“No Slytherin intern of mine is making friends with Mudbloods, Halflings and poor penniless wizards like you!” Draco shouted and pushed Ron aside. Harry tried to stop them from fighting but they were too tangled with each other that it was hard for him to separate them. Draco still had his hand on Jude’s sleeve and unknowingly, when he tried to push Ron away with that hand, he accidentally pushed Jude too. Jude lost her balance and fell from her broom. She was well about 10 feet above the ground and she was falling fast. Harry was unable to catch her in time. She was falling closer and closer to the ground until…
Until she suddenly felt herself stop falling. Holding her legs was Becka and holding her armpits was Rach. The trio stared at each other in disbelief. They were on the ground surrounded by their astonished housemates. They were surprised to find themselves actually standing on the grassy field without even a scratch on them. Their brooms fell on the grass in a careless heap. Their housemates exclaimed one by one.
“That was incredible!”
“Such speed! Such accuracy!”
“You two were like a bolt of lightning!”
“You girls don’t even need the broom! Where did you girls learn to fly?!”
“We…We flew?” Rach and Becka asked.
“Yes, you did! You girls practically just jumped off your brooms and caught her in the midair, then slowly floated down to the ground! How did you do that?” Angelica exclaimed.
“I…I don’t know…We just saw Jude falling down and our first instinct was to save her. I have no idea…”
Becka’s explanation was cut short when Prof. McGonagalle appeared in the field looking quite furious.
“What is going on here?” she demanded. “You better have a good explanation about this misbehaviour in my office!”
“It was Malfoy, ma’am!” Ron said as he ascended to the ground. “He pushed the new kid off her broom and…”
“You started it!” Draco protested, also ascending to the ground. Harry came down last.
“Enough! Not another word! Come to my office and then explain yourselves! March, all of you involved!”
Quietly, Draco, Harry, Ron and the trio trailed behind Prof. McGonagalle. It was obvious that they’re going to lose a lot of marks for this first day of school. Jude felt quite down. This was the worst day of her schooling year.
“Don’t look now, but I think someone’s watching us,” Rach whispered to her girlfriends in front of and behind her. Jude and Becka turned to look. She was right.
There, at a distance away in the castle corridor, Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. Snape were watching the trio. Prof. Snape had those pair of cold, tunnel-dark eyes at Jude again.
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