Thanks for your patience.
-hb
Avila and Elgin had went to bed early following the dinner last night. There had been much more conversation than at the opening feast. The night had passed quickly, and soon Avila and Elgin found themselves sitting back at the table for breakfast.
A black owl landed in front of Avila and knocked over her pumpkin juice. She sighed and Elgin helped her mop up the mess. Once the mess was clean, Avila got the letter off the leg of the owl. It was addressed to her. She pocketed the letter. They went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
A man with blonde hair walked in and took his position at the front of the class, steel grey eyes gazing at the boisterous Gryffindor students at the front of the room. As the man cleared his throat to start class, a few more Gryffindor students slid in and into the seats across from Avila and Elgin. He frowned deeply at the almost tardy students. They all looked down, embarrassed. Avila thought she glanced silvery white hair, but knew that she couldn't be chummy with Kane in every class they had together. The professor cleared his throat, again, and started class.
This class, it seemed was going to be practical. They received a schedule that showed then when they were going to learn new spells and when they were going to be tested on them. The first such spell was Protego. They spent the remainder of class listening to the professor.
Once it ended, Avila and Elgin ducked out of class before they could be stopped.
'Why do Fridays have to be three classes?' Elgin complained, as they were walking to Arithmancy. Avila shrugged.
Once again, they were the first to get to class, so they had free choice of seats. Avila glanced at Elgin and they sat down near the door, so they could be one of the first ones to get to lunch. They chatted quietly, until Zaf and Becky walked in. The two Ravenclaws greeted them, and went back arguing.
'I'm telling you, Bug, there aren't any passages to Honeyduke's!'
'Of course there is! My mom used it when they were escaping during the Battle of Hogwarts. She's told me all about it.' Becky argued back.
Avila said calmly to them, 'There is a passage, but it's to the Hog's Head. My dad helped get everyone out then went back to fight.' Zaf's head snapped to look at her.
'What house was your dad in? Maybe our dads know each other.'
'Both of mine were in Gryffindor.' Zaf looked crestfallen.
'Both of mine were in Ravenclaw.' Becky looked up as more Ravenclaws entered the room, carrying breakfast. The Slytherins stopped talking to Zaf and Becky, but it didn't stop Becky from talking to them. She kept up a running commentary of all of the books she had read and which student reminded her of which.
At the point that Elgin looked like she was going to fall asleep from boredom, a ghost entered the classroom. Avila smacked Elgin in the arm, waking her up. Elgin sat up, startled and blurted out, 'Here!' The other students snickered, and the ghost looked amused as well.
'I'm glad you decided to join us this morning.' He said, voice slightly echoing. 'I'm Professor Eastley, this is Arithmancy. Please pull out your books, and we'll get started.'
The class ended with 4 pages of notes. Avila stuffed them into her bag and walked with Elgin, Zaf and Becky to the Great Hall for lunch. They separated and ate lunch. After lunch, Avila and Elgin had a short break before their last class of the week, Charms.
When they walked into class, it seemed like they shared the class with the Hufflepuffs. They saw Jack and went to sit with him. A small man came into class, and introduced himself as Professor Flitwick. He climbed up on several cushions. He began teaching. They briefly touched on the schedule and broke out into groups to practice their first spell, Accio. As they got started, the small man made his way over to Avila and Elgin. 'Avila?' He said, rather questioningly.
'Yes, sir,' Avila answered. He smiled at her.
'Professor Weasley told me of your Accio. Might I see it?' She nodded, then looked at the pillows. She whispered 'Accio', flicked her wand back to herself, and the pillow lifted from the other pillows and me its way to Avila. Flitwick tittered in delight. He said to her, 'I am very impressed. The last person that had that graceful of an Accio was Hermione Weasley herself.' Avila was shocked.
Now all eyes of the students were on Avila. She blushed. The Professor realized the interruption he had caused, and said to the watching students, 'Back to practicing. Maybe with enough practice, you can be as good as Avila.' The students, caught, turned and started practicing again. Flitwick asked Elgin to show him.
'Accio.' The pillow she was focused on lifted, though haltingly, and floated to their table. Right as it reached the edge, it exploded. Shrieking from the majority of the tables matched the feathers that were floating down. Flitwick picked himself up of the ground and laughed. 'That is why we practice with pillows.' The rest of the class tittered, still pretty shocked that a pillow had exploded with that much force. By the end of class, no more pillows had exploded, and Elgin had managed to get the pillow to her, with only a few stops.
The two Slytherins had a break before dinner, so they went back to the Common Room.
Avila and Elgin walked to the dormitories. After a long day of classes, it was nice to flop on the bed. She sighed heavily. Crinkling came from her pocket. She had forgotten about the letter. She pulled it out and opened it. It was from her parents. Her mother had written it, as she could see the loopy fancy writing on the envelope.
Avila,
While we are not exactly pleased with your sorting, this is not the worst thing that could have happened. We will talk more about this over Christmas break.
Mother
Avila read through the letter twice. That was all she said? Well, it could have been worse.
'Avila, can you help me with this Potions essay?'
That was how they stayed until it was dinner time.
As they were going to dinner, they ran into Zaf and Becky. The two were arguing about what they had heard in Astronomy.
They stopped long enough to greet Avila and Elgin, then went back to arguing. Avila smiled. They got to the Great Hall, said good bye to their friends and joined the Slytherin table.
'Avila! Elgin! You are coming to the first year party tonight, right?' A dainty voice asked. The two turned. A blonde haired girl was sitting turned around at the Hufflepuff table. They looked at her, stunned. 'Oh, I'm Macyn. The party will be in the Room of Requirement, at 9. All first years are invited.' The Slytherin first years looked at each other. They shrugged, then nodded. 'Okay, we'll be there.' They finished eating the headed back to the dormitories to change. Avila put on a shiny green top and a skirt. She came out of the bathroom to find Elgin debating on a pair of jeans or a skirt. Elgin looked at her and settled on the skirt. Once changed, they headed up to the Room of Requirement. Entering, they found the party in full swing.
