Hot Rod
Tav ate breakfast at a leisurely pace. While everyone woofed down their food she took her sweet time inspecting every piece of bacon.
“What class do you have next?”
“Study hall” she said smugly.
“Lucky” Al grumbled, giving her a small feeling of satisfaction.
Everybody laughed at her for failed care of magical creatures. How did you fail that? It’s the easiest class. Well how to they like cleaning hippogriff shit at nine in the morning.
Tav made her way to the library empty handed. It was only the first week of school so she didn’t have any work to complete yet. Monday went by easily, except for ancient runes. It seems she has forgotten everything she learned last year. Fortunately most of the class was equally lost so Professor Babbling promised to review next lesson. Of course Jack had no problem remembering everything. Somehow his memory is even better than Scorpius’.
After six years at Hogwarts Tav still managed to get lost in the library. The bookshelves create a complicated maze. After a while of wondering Tav figured she was walking in a circle since everything looked the same. The books were all covered in dust, no matter how frequently used. Everything had the same two hues of brown. Every wooden desk had a penis craved into it. And they were all drawn similarly.
She began to get frustrated when she heard a pair of foot steps. Tav turned around to see a girl who looked to be her age. She had a Ravenclaw tie wrapped around her waist like some sort of belt. More noticeably she had long multi colored braids trailing down her back. They were various different shades of pink, blue, and purple. In a way it reminded Tav of a bouquet of flowers.
“Sorry” she said. Her voice was soft but she didn’t appear shy. “I thought you knew the way out”
She seemed rather shameless for someone who just admitted to stalking. Then again Tav couldn’t really blame her, she would do the same.
“I’m just as lost as you are”
The Ravenclaw giggled and said, “well at least I won’t die here alone”
The two girls wondered around and talked for some time. Tav learned that her name was Lovie Mcdell. The name Lovie was unusual but it sounded nice. Besides, she has heard far weirder names. Lovie was in fact in her year. It wasn’t surprising that Tav never met her before since their year was rather large compared to previous ones.
The pair made fast friends. Tav explained speed drifting and Lovie was thrilled by the idea. Lovie told Tav about her band. Apparently they started preforming at the Hogshead. Tav promised to go to their next concert.
They finally exited the library at ten-thirty, giving Tav ten minutes to sprint to Alchemy.
——————
Alchemy is by far her favorite class. Most students struggle with it. Albus quit halfway through last year, along with a handful of other students. Octavia doesn’t look down on Albus, she knows he’s smart. He could write brilliant essays, teachers fawn over his papers. But Albus can’t pull off practical magic for the life of him. Its not like he cant do anything. There’s many spells and hexes that he’s picked up over time. It takes him a lot longer to get the hang of it. So it was no surprise that he sucked at Alchemy.
Alchemy is one of the most ancient forms magic. It involves elements and manipulating matter. On their first day back in sixth year Tav made the comparison to Avatar. Of course Albus didn’t know what that was, having grown up almost entirely in the wizarding world. The comparison actually helped her understand the subject better. It was all about instinct and a deep connection to nature. You can’t overthink it, you just need to feel it.
Jack was overthinking it. Tav held back a snort as his face contorted into frustration at another failed attempt. She succeeded second try of course.
“What?” Jack snapped after noticing her watching.
“Nothing”, she tried to keep a straight face but her amusement shone through her voice.
Jack glared at her before returning to review his page of notes. He finds most subjects easy so this must really be annoying.
——————
She had double transfiguration next. There are four transfiguration teachers at the school, one for each house. After comparing with Scorpius and Olivia it’s clear that each professor has a different teaching strategy that works for their house.
Their teacher, professor Audron, likes to engage them by creating competitions. Which is both a great and terrible idea. Its great because everyone is definitely engaged. Its terrible because someone always ends up in the hospital wing. But since this school has few concerns over student safety, its no big deal.
Tav took her seat next to Albus in the back. Their was no assigned seating but everyone sat in the same place anyways so it was an unspoken rule. Aurelia and Ember in the front (because they’re teachers pets), then Millie and Jack (because they’re show offs), then Goyle and Flint (for no particular reason), and the back belongs to Octavia and Albus
(so no one can see them crying). Slytherin is by far the smallest house in their year (and arguably the most studious) so Audron really lucked out. Tav pitied whoever had to teach roughly twenty Griffindors.
Tav smacked her head against the table. Her rat turned teacup was hairier than Goyle’s which means she lost.
“Well good try Ms. Greengrass but it seems Mr. Goyle won this round so you may return to your seat” said Professor Audron in an overly cheerfully voice.
Tav stomped to her seat, bitter about loosing to fucking Goyle. She heard Jack snort as she passed him. She shot him a death glare.
Millie and Jack were let out five minutes early so they had time to prepare for Quittich practice. Audron wished them the best of luck with the up coming match. Tav watched them leave and promised herself that she would be so fucking good at speed drifting that no one would bother watching Quittich. They’re going to be watching her, not Jack.