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⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙ chapter three ✷ painted nails
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BY THE FIRST WEEK, APOLLO WAS UTTERLY LOST AR HOGWARTS. Luckily, Hermione found him on the first day racing to his lesson and they never left each other's side since. Hermione had commented on Apollo's nails, saying that the beautiful periwinkle, although simple, looked lovely on his nails.
He found it quite embarrassing, especially when Hermione asked if he could do hers, but he simply couldn't refuse. It what sparked their friendship, a simple compliment over painted nails.
And Apollo was certain that without his friend's extraordinary brain, he wouldn't have made it to any of his classes at all — let alone on time.
The stair-cases were considered a bad luck for Apollo. There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot.
However, Hermione had managed to figure it out, of course. And although they had been late for a few lessons the first couple of days, Hermione soon had it all planned out (much to Apollo's relief since he couldn't even remember the way to the Great Hall).
The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick and the Fat Frier were always happy to point new Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in the right direction, but Peeves the poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop waste-paper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"
Worse than Peeves was Argus Filch, the Hogwarts' caretaker, an old man with a face that seemed permanently set in a scowl. He had a tabby cat called Mrs. Norris, and together they patrolled the corridors, eager to catch anyone stepping even a toe out of line.
The students all hated him and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs Norris a good kick. And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the lessons themselves.
They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learnt how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found out what they were used for. Professor Sprout was also Apollo's Head of House, and by his politeness, she grew fond of the boy, tapping his nose and saying he was exactly like his father.
