The End of Year One
The end of Connie's first year at Hogwarts:
The word “fast” takes on new meaning as my months at Hogwarts are marked by events rather than detailed recollections.
January 30th- Lily’s twelfth birthday. Eleanor let me borrow her record player, enchanted to play all night long. Dorcas, Marlene, and I made Slughorn’s classroom look like a discotech. It was mostly first years standing around drinking pumpkin juice, but it was fun anyways.
February 19th- The big quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Slytherin won. We are undefeated this year. Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and even Remus had hung a giant banner over the side of the stands emblazoned “Snakes Suck” that flashed the Gryffindor colors and had a Lion eating a Snake on it. When the Slytherin seeker caught the snitch, Severus actually jumped for joy. If I am being honest, I was pretty smug about it too. I wanted to be on that team.
March 10th- Remus Lupin's birthday. His roommates somehow convinced the entire Great Hall, including Dumbledore to sing him happy birthday. He looked mortified the entire time, but spent the rest of the day with the brightest smile I’d seen on his face yet. He and I often worked together in DADA and had a standing breakfast date on Saturday mornings. Apparently, his roommates were all late risers.
April 1st- Less than ten hours into the day, someone (although everyone was blaming Peeves the poltergeist) released hundreds of cornish pixies in the castle. They were rounded up by professors in a couple of hours, but throughout the day, one that they missed would be found tearing books to pieces or pulling student’s hair.
April 15th- I was heard by a small panel of witches and wizards at the Ministry of Magic. They ruled on my application, and I was given access to all of my family’s wealth and property. Professor McGonagall, who had helped me travel to and from the Ministry took me for celebratory ice cream at Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor in Diagon Alley. She also brought me to the wizard bank, where a terrifying goblin named Gornuk showed me my vault. To say that it was overwhelming is not accurate. I had nearly fainted at the sight of it all.
May 4th- I celebrated my birthday for the first time surrounded by friends. I had successfully found a way to never return to St. Joseph’s. I would move into my family home, where house elves and a long employed housekeeper named Mrs. Yarborough would help take care of me. Lily gave me a pair of earrings shaped like sprigs of lavender. Severus surprised me with a blank recipe book for potions of my own creation.
June 15th- The day I took my last exam. They had all felt fairly easy. I had a study partner in every class, ensuring I had no questions heading into the tests. I felt strangely sad after they were over. At the closing feast, Eleanor sat next to me, telling me it was a one time thing and that next year she wouldn’t have time for me. I knew it wasn’t true, but I’d let her pretend.
Time flew so quickly, but there was so much left to do. So much left to learn. Lily and Severus promised to write to me every week and Lily and her roommates invited me on a trip to Bath near the end of Summer. Boarding the Hogwarts Express to go collect my belongings from St. Joseph’s felt incredibly surreal.