I woke up to see warm sunshine on my bed. I stayed in bed for a few more minutes, then couldn't stand it. I wanted to get up and explore Hogwarts! And, I think today, we would be going to do our first flying lesson! I got dressed as quickly as I could, and shook Maggie slightly. "Maggie! Wake up!"
"Wha - oh. You," Maggie mumbled.
"Come on! Do you want to have breakfast with me? And I think we are going to do our first flying lesson!"
That got Maggie up. I waited until she had got dressed, and then we both rushed past the kitchen, and up a long hall, and then up the moving stairs, and then finally got to the Great Hall. Only a few students were eating breakfast. Obviously the others were sleeping in.
I grabbed some toast, but wasn't that hungry. Not a surprise. I had ate so much last night.
"I don't think we are doing flying lessons today," said Maggie suddenly. "I think we are doing them on Thursday."
"Oh," I said, disappointed. "But how do you know?"
"I think mum said something about it," replied Maggie.
After a brisk breakfast, everyone was up and had had their breakfast, when the bell rang. It was time for Potions.
Maggie and I walked nervously to the dungeons. What if I did really bad? Then I remembered about Felix, and he would be in the same potions class, and that thought cheered me up a bit.
We entered the dungeon. A man with straight black greasy hair, and a hooked nose with black eyes, snapped, "Well, sit down!"
"That's Professor Snape, I think," said Maggie.
We sat down instantly, and then I noticed Felix, who was looking at Snape nervously.
"Felix!" I whispered, as loud as I could. He saw me, and grinned. "Just stay calm, and don't stress up," I whispered again.
He gave me the thumb ups. I grinned.
" - and Harry Potter, our new celebrity," Snape was saying. The boy with the pale pointed face and his friends sniggered.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," Snape began. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
There was silence.
"Potter," said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
I watched Potter curiously, and he looked very puzzled. I had no idea either.
"I don't know sir," said Harry, and Snape said, "Tut tut, clearly fame isn't everything." His lip curled. "Let's try another one Potter. Where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar?"
"I don't know," said Harry again.
I saw the boy with the pale pointed face laughing. His friends were too.
Snape was asking Harry a question again. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
The Granger girl I noticed, was standing up, her hand held up high."
"I don't know sir," said Harry again, but I think Hermione does, though."
"Sit down," snapped Snape.
The rest of the class didn't go well, not for me, exactly, but for other students. Snape put us all into pairs, me with Maggie, thankfully, and said we had to make a potion to cure boils. The Longbottom boy had not done well, something had happened to his potion, but I didn't really listen, because I was concentrating on my own potion. The class finished, and I was grateful to be out of the dark dungeon. The next class we were doing was Professor Binns, who was the only ghost who taught a class, and who taught History of Magic. This was the most boring class, and today he went on about something, I wasn't making what he was saying out. Next class was Charms, one of my favourite subjects. Then after that, was Herebology, and the teachers name was Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff house. She was a nice cherry lady, and I liked her really much. And then after Herebology was Transfiguration, which I had been waiting impatiently to do. I liked the idea of turning animals into something and the other way round, and when we entered the class, I was giggling with excitement.
"Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magic you will ever learn at Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. Then she actually changed her desk into a pig, and we all were so excited, me most of all. But we all soon realised that it wasn't going to be that easy. We made a lot of complicated notes, and then we started trying to turn a match into a needle. By the end of the lesson, Granger was the only one who had made any difference to her match.
Frustrated and hot, we trooped to Defence Against the Dark Arts. The teacher's name was Professor Quirrel, who stuttered in every sentence her spoke.
He was talking about something, but I was so tired, I wasn't listening, and my eyelids were beginning to close.

***

Thursday came finally. Quidditch day! I had just had my breakfast with Maggie, and were still sitting at the table when the post came. Hundreds of owls soared through the window, and I tried to look for my owl. I still hadn't thought of a name for him, and I asked Maggie this now, and she replied, "What about Tawn, or Tawny?"
"Nah," I said. "I know! This kind of suits her, Cinnamon! Well, cinnamon is her colour," I said.
"Yeah, okay," said Maggie. "That's good enough."
"Cinnamon," I said. "Cinnamon. Yeah, that's good."
Then it was suddenly Quidditch time! Racing down to the pitch, I saw Madam Hooch standing there, with lots of brooms in a row. Tingling with excitement, I pulled Maggie by the arm, who was being a slowcoach, and when I reached Madam Hooch, I said breathlessly, "Hello, Madam Hooch."
"Good, you're here, and so are the other students."
She was right. A lot of people were walking down to us and Madam Hooch.
"Well, stand by your broom but do not pick it up," said Madam Hooch to us. We did as she said, and soon the other students were standing next to us, and luckily, Felix was near me so I could talk to him.
"Hi Anna," he said.
"Hi," I replied. "You didn't mind being in Gryffindor, did you?"
"Didn't mind it?" said Felix, gaping at me. "Of course I didn't mind it! I don't always have to be with you!"
"Yeah, I know," I said, "it's just that we could see each other more if we were in the same house. That's all!"
"Okay," said Felix. "'Listen, Madam Hooch's talking!"
"Ahem everyone!" she said loudly. "Hold your hand above your wand, and then say loudly and clearly, up!"
Everyone said, "Up!" Not one broom moved except Potter's. His broom flew straight to his hand.
Desperate to do it, I said loudly, "Up!" My wand wobbled a little but nothing else happened. The next person who had manged to get the broom up was Ron Weasley. But then it whacked him on his forehead.
The boy with the pale pointed face laughed.
"Up!" I said to the broom again. "UP!" This time the broom flew to my hand. Delighted with myself, I watched the other students struggle.
When they finally were all holding their brooms, Madam Hooch said, "Everyone, mount your brooms!"
We did.
"When I blow my whistle three times, you kick hard off from the ground, and try to keep steady on your broom!" she said.
She raised her whistle to her lips, but before she could actually whistle, someone had risen into the air. It was that Longbottom boy.
I gasped. Now he was rocketing backwards and forwards on his broom. Then it zoomed forwards, and then went upwards. I uttered a little scream. He was heading straight towards the castle wall. I covered my eyes, expecting to hear a crash but didn't. I peeked. Longbottom was in the air on the broom and he was looking anxiously down at the ground, and then he slipped sidways, and then he was falling - I looked away.
WHAM!
I peeked through my fingers again, and saw Neville sprawled on the ground, Madam Hooch bending over him. "Broken wrist," she said quietly. "Come on, Longbottom - yes, that's it. Get up." Then she turned to us. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'! Come on, dear."
When they were out of sight, the boy with the blond white hair burst out laughing. "Did you see his face?" he said. "Pathetic!" he laughed again, and a few more slytherins joined in with him.
"Shut up Malfoy," said one of the Patil twins.
One of the girl slytherins said something but I didn't hear her. I was getting really angry with Malfoy, who was now mocking Neville. I know I did not know the Longbottom boy, but if it was him, he'd probably be crying his head off.
I said this to Maggie, who laughed, but then suddenly turned grim. "Yeah, Malfoy always is so mean. Always! He bullied one of the students, and consistently finds a way to get the students into detention."
"How do you know all this?" I asked her curiously.
"Well, I made some of it up - but I'm sure he actually does that!" she said hastily.
"Of course," I said. I looked around at the students, and because of our conversation, we hadn't noticed that two students were on brooms in the air.