So This Is How It Is

Chapter 4

'What's our first class?' Ron questioned Hermione.

'Double Herbology with Hufflepuff,' she answered instantly.

'Good....I wouldn't want to be with Malfoy or his gang for our class,' he replied.

'Don't be ridiculous, Ron, we have that on Fridays.'

'We do?' He turned his head back to the schedule which Hermione was holding.

'D'you really think I'd lie to you?' was her reply.

Harry was up ahead, deep in thought. They didn't say much as they ran across the grass, wet with dew, to the rest of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, with Professor Sprout barely above their heads; she was even shorter than some of them.

'We're doing Greenhouse #1 today,' she said. Everyone groaned. They had only once been in Greenhouse #3 once before, and they (as you, the reader, can probably tell) intended to go there again...but they were out of luck...for today, at least.

'Hurry up, now,' said Professor Sprout. 'Get in there. Is everyone in there? OK.'

~*~

Zia and the rest of the Ravenclaw's first class was Charms. Professor Flitwick was the teacher and the head of Ravenclaw. Everyone arrived very noisily, putting down their wands with a bang.

'Silence!' Professor Flitwick shouted. No one heard or paid attention, as the tiny wizard was around 4'6" or so.

'Be quiet!' some boy sitting across the table from Zia hollered. Everyone listened.

'Thank you, Terry,' said Professor Flitwick.

Terry just shrugged.

'Now! Take out your wands and practice this spell...now, I trust you all know the Flame-Freezing charm. Good! Take your wand, and point it at the grate I have given you--there were grates on every desk that students had been questioning about--and say, "Incendio!" A flame should pop up into the grate. If you fail, please alert me immedately. And you all know the Flame-Freezing charm so that will help you as well. Come on, do as you're told.'

Everyone obeyed. Ziara's fire went straight into the grate, and so did Zia's, but Tonya was not so lucky. The desk was burning. She quickly backed away from it and uttered the words to the Flame-Freezing charm. Slowly the flames died away. Tonya was so relieved, and Zia could tell she was close to fainting. 'Zia...Cho...' came out of Tonya's mouth. The two girls of which she had spoken immeadately caught her before she fainted.

'Take her to the hospital wing, please, Miss Zimmerman and Miss Chang,' said Flitwick.

Flitwick had told both of them to take her was because they needed to carry her. They couldn't very well bewitch her to make her light. What would she think? More importantly, what would Madam Pomfrey think?

They finally reached the hospital wing. Zia was panting furiously, and Zia was sure Cho was about to faint herself any minute now.

'Thank you, girls, you may return to your classes' was all that came out of Madam Pomfrey's pursed lips.

Zia and Cho were each trying to lean on the other one, and the only thing they succeded in doing was tiring themselves both out even more and falling on the floor. Add the millions of staircases and they were ready to fall down by the time they got back to class.

'You are dismissed,' said Flitwick.

Zia was so glad that she could fall asleep in her next class (History of Magic), because she was wiped out.

~*~

Harry and Ron were also panting from going up so many stairs, to the North Tower. 'Hermione is lucky,' they thought. 'She has Arithmancy now. She doesn't have to climb so many stairs.' But they also thought, 'Not that I would want to take Arithmancy.'

As they climbed the ladder, they saw Lavender and Parvati behind them. Harry went first.

'Uh, hi, Lavender, Parvati,' Ron said. As soon as Harry had gone halfway up, Ron scrambled up after him, Lavender close behind him, Parvati close behind her.

Ron and Harry sat at the same table, in the usual foggy room. Professor Trelawney made her usual dramatic entrance, out of the shadows.

'Welcome back to Divination,' she said in a misty voice. Today we will be doing palm reading.'

As usual, Lavender and Parvati looked at her from their own table in awe. Professor Trelawney was their idol and their favorite teacher.

'Please take your partner's palm--that was the reason only boys and boys were at a table, and girls and girls--and open your Unfogging the Future book out and open to pages 6 and 7. There you will find the symbols you need.'

Harry opened his book, as did Ron.

'OK,' Ron said, taking Harry's palm.

'What do you see?' Harry asked.

'Lines,' Ron replied, laughing. 'Try my hand.'

'Lines.' Harry repeated Ron. 'OK, so what are we supposed to tell her?'

'Just tell her that we saw a lot of bad stuff,' Ron replied.

~*~

Next class was Transfiguration for Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

'Please, everyone, take a seat' was McGonnagall's first words, exactly when they entered the classroom.

'Mr. Potter, please sit next to Miss Patil. Mr. Weasley, Mr. Finigan. Miss Granger, Miss Brown. Miss Brown, separate from Miss Patil. I'm sorry, Misters Potter, Weasley, Miss Patil, Miss Brown, and Miss Granger, but I cannot have your talking interrupting our classtime.'

'Today we will talk about a very important issue for this year, next year, and the year after that--'

'Not O.W.L's,' said Seamus to Dean.

'No, Mr. Finigan, not O.W.L.s, how to turn into an animagus. Anyone who wishes to do so please stay in your seats. Ah! Here comes Ravenclaw.'

Indeed, all of the people in Ravenclaw entered the classroom.

'Now, as I was saying, all the people who wish to be able to turn into an animagus please stay in your seats. Everyone else please come take a seat by my desk. Thank you.'

Practically everyone in both houses stayed in their seats.

'I'm sorry, everyone, but we can't have this many people turning into animaguses. All right. I will pick 6 names from out of this hat.' She conjured a hat from thin air and it immediately had everyone's names from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor in it.

'Hermione Granger!' Hermione stood up.

'Ronald Weasley!' Ron stood up.

'Tonya Walter!' Tonya stood up.

'Cho Chang!' Cho stood up.

'Harry Potter!' Harry stood up.

'Terry Boot!' Terry stood up.

'These people, and these people only, will become [registered dun dun] Animaguses. Everyone else please take a seat in your seat.'

~*~

A/N I'm rushing myself. I can't think of anything to write, so sorry, it'll be awhile before I write something else. Please review, tell me what you think of it, tell me my suggestions that should be made, and tell me if I'm paying too much attention to Zia, I gotta know cause I wanna improve, but PLEASE PLEASE don't make a chat room in my review area. Thanx! Peace and love to all.