I've Got You // Perciver

Chapter 2: Greetings and Ghosts

The train ride was uneventful.

The boy — Oliver, he silently corrected himself — had made surprisingly nice company.

He'd prattled on about quidditch for so long without stopping that Percy had worried whether he had remembered to breathe. Percy didn't mind though because he hadn't gotten this much attention in awhile and actually rather liked quidditch.

Percy had taken the hearing charm off about an hour into the ride, forgetting that Oliver didn't know he couldn't really hear. He'd closed his eyes in relief and slumped in his seat, only to jump when a loud bang had rattled the compartment. His eyes had snapped open to see Oliver staring at him, confused and apologetic. Percy had tried to read his lips but the other boys accent made it practically impossible. Sighing in frustration, he'd started signing aggressively only to come to a halt as Oliver held up a hand, grabbing a sheet of parchment and a quill out of his trunk. He scribbled something on the paper before handing it to Percy.

'Are you deaf?'

The other boys words looked half connected like they'd all tried to spill out at once. Percy grabbed the paper, writing his response in his usual loopy cursive.

'No, I am hard of hearing. I was born with severe hearing loss.'

'You were signing, right? With your hands?'

'Yes. You did not seem to understand.'

'I know what it is but I don't know how to do it. Will you teach me?'

'Yes.'

They'd sat in comfortable silence the rest of the ride; Percy reading one of his many novels and Oliver reading a book on quidditch. Percy had begrudgingly put the charm back on when the train stopped, knowing it would make it easier to hear any instructions he was told.

The boat ride had almost had to stop when a fellow first-year had gotten too excited and tried to lean over the boat to pet the Giant Squid-something Percy learned was, in fact, in the lake.

They were split up into two boats with the groundskeeper-a giant of a man with long bushy black hair and a beard that hid most of his face-taking the third boat for himself.

Percy secretly wondered what sorts of charms were used to keep all the boats afloat and moving as there was nothing mechanical that moved them. 'Perhaps a locomotion charm?' Percy thought as they were all led up a set of stairs to a side door of the castle. He'd read about them in one of his books.

('Locomotion charms were a group of charms that were used to affect the movement of the target of the spell; whether it was to restrict it, move heavy objects...')

He kept the train of thought to himself; none of his family liked to hear them so he was sure none of the other first-years would either.

The groundskeeper knocked on the door which opened a few moments later to reveal a tall, stern-looking witch in emerald green robes. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun at the base of her neck.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the groundskeeper.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Her glasses were perched low on her straight nose as she looked down at them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall. Follow me."

Percy knew all about her. She was the Transfiguration Professor, Head of Gryffindor House, Head of the Transfiguration Department, and the Deputy Headmistress-all for Hogwarts. She'd been an Auror for a short time before becoming a teacher and she was an animagus-a tabby cat, to be exact. She excelled in Transfiguration during her school years, and had been a chaser for Gryffindor as well as Quidditch Captain during her last three years of school.