A Typical Hogwarts Education
1971
My first experience of quidditch was incredibly boring. It was a match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Slytherin was up by 200 points and neither team's seeker had any idea where the snitch was.
Severus and I stayed for nearly two hours before he suggested we leave.
It was a good thing too, because almost immediately after we reached the castle entrance, the skies opened.
“They’ll keep playing in this?” I ask Severus as we find seats in the great hall for lunch.
“Until one team catches the snitch.”
Buttering a blueberry scone, I picture myself in a Slytherin quidditch uniform.
“Would you like to play for the house team?” I ask.
He guffaws and shakes his head.
“No way. It’s terribly dangerous. And a waste of time. All that practice would eat into my studying time.”
He has a good point. Still, I love flying. Madame Hooch had started incorporating the quaffle into some of our lessons, and the feeling of making it through the hoop was spectacular.
“Besides, Potter and his fool friends will play for Gryffindor.”
Severus had decided that James Potter was the worst person he had ever met. They were constantly butting heads. Where Lily and I were happy to share the title of top girl in our class, Potter’s show-offish attitude drove Severus mad.
And Severus would never concede to the fact that Potter was better in Transfiguration and Charms.
“Could be a chance to show them what we are made of,” I point out. He just shrugs.
I drop it, reminding myself that I can do things on my own. I always have.
“Connie?” A voice over my shoulder startles me.
“Sadie, what’s wrong?” I ask the crying girl.
She looks between Severus and I nervously.
I stand up and tell him I’ll see him for dinner later.
Sadie and I walk all the way to our rooms in silence.
She still hasn’t said anything after checking all of the rooms and the bathroom.
Once she is convinced we are alone she bursts into a fresh round of sobs.
“What’s wrong?”
“Valeria and Patricia did something awful. I am so sorry. I told them not to do it, but Valeria just said I’d be next,” she blubbers.
“Sadie, calm down. What happened?”
Her breathing is rapid and it is making it hard for her to form words.
“Breathe.”
“I’m sorry,” she wipes her face. “Connie, they are going to jinx you and Lily in charms.”
I laugh. She looks at me like I am crazy.
No part of me is worried about whatever jinx those vapid witches think they know.
“Why are you laughing? You could get hurt! She despises you,” Sadie has gone a bit hysterical now.
I stop laughing and smile.
“Thank you for warning me, Sadie. Don’t worry about Lily and I. We are smarter than those girls.”
“You know, you aren’t like any of the witches I grew up around.”
I can’t quite tell if that is a compliment or not. Sadie blows her nose in her sleeve and I stand up.
“You don’t have to be friends with them,” I say.
She shakes her head. “Yes I do.”
Unwilling to argue with her, I walk back out of our room to go find Lily. She may not have approved of Potter and Black’s antics on Halloween, but perhaps she would be up for a little poetic justice. Valeria needs to be taken down a few pegs.
I find her reading under the porticos, listening to the afternoon storm.
“Anything good?” I ask.
“My parents sent me it,” she holds up a muggle book with an orange cover. “Judy Blume.”
I’ve never heard of the author, but I smile anyways. The book is so muggle.
“Can I borrow it when you finish it?” I sit on the stone bench beside her.
She nods.
I tell her about the impending threat of my roommates.
“Why can’t they just avoid us like normal people?” She asks.
“I think it’s the training bras. Too tight.”
“Driving them mad? An excellent hypothesis.”
We laugh.
It doesn’t take much to convince her to deliver the first blow.
“If we could figure out exactly what they are planning, we could come up with something karmic,” Lily actually writes down notes on a piece of paper torn from a pale blue journal.
“I’ll bet it has to do with our unnatural friendship,” I bite out sarcastically.
Lily fidgets with her skirt.
Guilt bubbles up inside me. She doesn’t deserve to feel like less than just because her parents are muggles.
Laughter emerges from below the hill as mud covered students race towards the castle doors.
The quidditch match has ended.
From the waving green banners, Slytherin has won their first match.
Lily and I watch as everyone piles inside.
“Oi, Evans, careful or Fawley there might curse you,” Black calls as he and James reach the crest of the hill.
James and a short blonde boy laugh.
“Sounds to me like you might be projecting Black. Worried I might get you back?”
“Ignore them Connie. They are complete idiots,” Lily mutters, glaring at Black.
“Yeah right! Anytime, Fawley!” he calls. Except he doesn’t wait for me to accept the invitation before ducking into the castle.
“We should prank them too,” I look at Lily.
“They’ll only escalate things. Besides, they are below us. We should give them a couple years to catch up with our brilliance,” Lily says.
“Fine. Listen, I’m going to see what I can figure out about Valeria and Patricia and I’ll let you know what I find out.”
“Then I will start brainstorming appropriate retaliation.”
“That we won’t get caught for,” I caution.
“Of course! Who do you think I am… Sirius Black?”
Lily and I were never pranked by Valeria and Patricia. Not that day in Charms, and not in all of our years at Hogwarts.
While neither of them could ever prove that it was Lily and I who made them grow bright green body hair everywhere- and I mean everywhere- they learned to focus their malice elsewhere.
It seemed like time was slipping through my fingers as the weeks of the term passed.
Sure enough, when Professor Slughorn announced that he would be collecting names of students remaining for the holidays, I had barely thought about Christmas.
Of course, I was the first name on the list to stay at Hogwarts.
The game keeper had brought in dozens of evergreen trees to fill the halls of the drafty castle.
I began spending a ridiculous amount of time in the castle kitchens, much to Bosky’s delight. The other house elves weren’t thrilled that I was always under foot, but Bosky loved to bring me fresh pastries as I sat beside the blazing fire.
The Slytherin common room was never cold, but it was definitely cooler than the rest of the castle. Eleanor had insisted on studying in the common room, beside the glass viewing window.
I’d taken to wearing two pairs of socks.
“You have a gift for transfiguration, Connie,” Eleanor compliments me as I successfully turn a teapot into a tortoise. “I didn’t figure that out until last year.”
“The book you gave me on properties of animation was really helpful. Besides, I don’t really have much going on. I’ve been practicing,” I pick up the tortoise who had taken it upon itself to walk dangerously close to the edge of the table and set it back in the center.
“Well I am impressed,” Eleanor smirks, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small box. “Happy Christmas, Connie.”
Staring, I try to think of what to say. I haven’t gotten her anything. I haven’t got any money.
“You didn’t have to get me anything, El. I didn’t get you anything,” I look down at the floor.
“Don’t be silly. It isn’t anything too grand. I found it in Hogsmeade a few weeks ago.”
Taking the small box, I untie the brown string and open the lid.
There is a small brooch sitting inside.
It is a crest with two flowers nestled on either side of a badger. I pull it out to get a better look and then turn it over, finding a latin phrase.
“Aere perennius?” I ask, looking up at her.
“It means more lasting than bronze.”
“Thank you, this is beautiful.”
“Those are your house words, Connie. The flowers? They are lavender. And the badger because a lot of your ancestors were Hufflepuffs.”
I stare at her. Then I look at the brooch. It is more than beautiful. It is my family. Tears threaten to spill as I think of the words. “More lasting than bronze. Guess they got that wrong.”
I put the brooch away in my robes and stand up, forcing Eleanor to hug me.
“Thank you,” I say again. “Although I am not sure I believe you just found this in Hogsmeade.”
“You can get me a Christmas gift next year,” she declares.
I nod, telling myself I will spend the holiday figuring out how to gain access to my family vault.
“You are welcome to take the tortoise,” I pick it up and push it in her face.
She doesn’t think it is all that funny. A small part of me thinks she might be afraid of the small creature.
“It was a lovely teapot.”
I agree. Except I don’t want to turn it back into a teapot.
“Eleanor, I really am so thankful for all that you have done for me.”
“You earned it. Besides, it makes me look good. There is no way I won’t be made a prefect next year.”
We go our separate ways and I take the tortoise to Professor Slughorn’s classroom. There is an empty tank I can set up for him to live quite happily.
“Connie, my dear,” Professor Slughorn emerges from his office, catching me in the act of scourgifying the tank, the tortoise crawling all over the potions station. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Apologies professor, I was just hoping to find a suitable place for this little guy to live,” I step aside to show him the tortoise.
“That didn’t happen to start it’s life as a teapot did it?” he asks, one brow cocked.
“You know I could never lie to you, Professor,” I shrug.
He walks over and looks at the tortoise and a smile blooms on his face. He stands to look at me.
“I missed you at my last soiree, Ms. Fawley.”
“I heard it was a wonderful time, Professor.”
“You’ll be in attendance at my holiday party this Friday, yes?”
I nod. Lily and I had both received our invitations the week before.
We had spent all of Saturday going through potential outfits. She had settled on borrowing something from Marlene, and I had decided to use my sewing skills to make my own.
“Splendid! I am so looking forward to it. I haven’t had such a talented student in Slytherin house in-,” he cuts himself off. “A long time. Anyways, just be sure that this tortoise doesn’t get out.”
I promise to be careful and he retreats into his office.
There are only a few days left of classes. Even still, once I find a shelf for the tortoise to live, I pull out my cauldron and work on brewing a sleeping draught. I want to be able to do it without any reference before the year is over.