The Spark of Fate

Chapter 4

The next morning Sophie was dressed in her new school robes ready to start her first day at Hogwarts. She walked out of the girls bedroom and headed into the common room where she saw a boy named Amit Thakkar staring into a telescope. As she approached him she heard him talking to himself, "Just brilliant Amit, brilliant!" he noticed Sophie was behind him and turned to her, "Why hello. Would you like to take a look?" he nudged the telescope towards her and shrugged his shoulders, she went along with him and bent down to have a look, "Can't see too much in the day well, except for stars like Sirius, Canopus, Vega and Arcturus. I'm Amit it's a pleasure to have you in Ravenclaw, never met someone who's been so close to a dragon before". Sophie raised her eyebrow unsure of how he knew about the dragon, "You heard about the attack?" Amit replied, "Yes everyones heard about it. News travels fast around Hogwarts. Nice to see you made it here in one piece!" not wanting to go into too much detail about what happened she quickly changed the subject, "It's nice to meet you Amit. I take it you like Astronomy?" Amit replied, "Oh yes. So much to be learned from the stars. You will adore astronomy, Professor Shah is incredibly knowledgeable...speaking of class I should probably go, good luck on your first day" she thanked him and took a quick wander around the rest of the common room before she left.

As Sophie headed down the spiral staircase she saw Professor Weasley waiting patiently for her, Weasley gave her a soft smile and said, "Good morning. I trust you slept well?" she replied, "Yes Professor. I'm eager to start my first day at Hogwarts" Weasley said, "As you're starting after a new term has already begun you will need some help in catching up to the other fifth years. I will make some arrangements and let you know when I have everything in order" Sophie nodded, "Thank you Professor". As they walked towards a statue on one of the walls that had the face of a woman and a small bowl with a green flame, "This is the statue of Ignatia Wildsmith, the inventor of floo powder. We use this network of floo flames to get around not only the Castle but many areas outside the Castle grounds". Sophie was impressed, they didn't have anything like this at Beuxbatons. "Let's see you give it a try, take the floo powder and throw it into the flame and say Central Hall" she did as she was asked and within seconds they appeared at another floo flame statue located at the top of the stairs of Central Hall, Weasley called out, "And here we are, quite the time saver. You can get to anywhere in the Castle quickly from here". As they walked towards a beautifully crafted fountain in the heart of Central Hall Professor Weasley wanted to discuss a few things before Sophie headed to her first class of the day. "Now then, you'll be expected to attend both Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts classes today and I'd like to get you to Hogsmeade as soon as possible to replace the supplies you lost on your way here". Sophie suddenly remembered the horrific way the dragon had feasted on her suitcases and realised something, she shouted, "Professor! My wand! It was inside one of my bags, I'd completely forgotten about it!" Weasley placed her hand on Sophie's arm, "Oh dear. That is unfortunate. Perhaps I can send an owl to Mr. Ollivander, he has a wand shop in Hogsmeade I'll let him know to expect you in the next couple of days but I'm sure Professor Hecat can provide you with a spare one until then" Sophie sighed, "Yes Professor" as she went to walk away Weasley stopped her, "Erm, one more thing...Professor Fig has been terribly vague about the reason for your arrival at Hogwarts. My suspicion is there's more to the story than he would like to share" she scanned her eyes from left to right and quickly replied, "No Professor I simply requested a transfer to Hogwarts because I wasn't quite happy at Beuxbatons. I'm afraid that's all there is to it" Professor Weasley gave a smirk knowing she wasn't being completely truthful but didn't want to question her any further, "Very well then. Good luck on your first day" she smiled and replied, "Thank you Professor".

As Sophie entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom she saw two boys named Leander Prewitt and Sebastian Sallow were busy having a duelling match with no sign of a teacher around. After a couple of basic spells back and forth Sebastian bellowed, "Bombarda!" Leander quickly cast protego to shield himself but the spell ricocheted and hit the head of an enormous Dragon skull hanging from the ceiling above him. Just as it fell Professor Hecat emerged from her office and cast levioso stopping the Dragons head from squashing Leander just in time. "Perhaps you'd be good enough to blast eachother to pieces in your own time. I get new students every year but I only have one Hebridean Black skull". She walked into the middle of the classroom and reattached the Dragon skull, "Now then we're going to review the spell I just cast, levioso" she used her wand to pull a training dummy from the side of the classroom and gestured for Sophie to come forward. As she approached the training dummy Hecat said, "Let's see if our new arrival can show you how it's done" feeling slightly embarrassed Sophie leaned in and whispered, "Professor, I'm afraid I don't have my wand with me. I lost it when the Dragon attacked my carriage" Hecat replied, "Ohh. How unfortunate. I'm sure I can find you a spare one, give me a moment". Professor Hecat returned from her office and handed her the spare wand, "Now. Let's try that again shall we". Sophie stepped forward and cast levioso, the training dummy propelled into the air and Hecat called out, "Well done. Now, the best way to practice is by duelling" she pointed at Sophie and Sebastian "We'll start with you two" they looked at eachother and smiled, Sebastian went to take his position at one end of the classroom and rather arrogantly said as he walked past, "Time for a proper Hogwarts welcome". Feeling pretty confident about her skills with a wand she smirked and took her position on the opposite end of the classroom. The floor raised them up onto a platform and Sebastian immediately readied himself for the duel, he cast levioso but Sophie quickly cast potego followed by stupify, Sebastian stumbled to the floor, he yelled "Lucky shot!" She yelled back with attitude, "Nothing lucky about it!". He stood up and cast levioso again, Sophie returned it with protego and Sebastian shot up into the air, knowing she had him right were she needed him she cast a couple of basic spells sending Sebastian flying off the platform. The other classmates cheered as Professor Hecat said, "Well done! I do enjoy a lively duel". Sophie walked over to Sebastian and put her hand out to help him up, he gave her a brief look of defeat before taking hold of her hand, "Nicely done. You might be the first person to ever beat me in a duel. I'm impressed. Names Sebastian Sallow by the way" she smiled, "Nice to meet you, I'm Sophie Hawkins. I hope I didn't go too hard on you" he brushed himself off and answered, "Not atall. I enjoy a good challenge" as he walked away she couldn't help feeling rather pleased with herself for winning her first duelling match infront of her new classmates.

Sophie attended her next class, as she entered the Charms classroom she looked around wondering where to sit. A girl named Natsai Onai called out to her, "Here! Behind you...there is an open seat here" Sophie smiled and sat down next to her, "Thank you" Natsai said, "Hello, I'm Natty. So you're the new student. Have you met Professor Ronen yet?" Sophie shook her head no as Ronen appeared from his office and with a cheerful attitude he called out, "Ahem! Shall we begin?" he walked to the front of the classroom and crossed his hands behind his back, "Now then with the arrival of a new student and a lack of enthusiasm from the rest of you to practice your charms so far this term, we are in dire need of review!". The students looked at eachother knowing none of them cared much for Charms class, being in their fifth year it wasn't as exciting as it used to be. "Everybody out of your seats and get into pairs. One of you grab a book and let's see you each cast accio". After they proved they could cast the summoning charm accio Professor Ronen suggested they were to take the rest of the lesson outside and have a game of Summoners Court. Once outside Ronen exhaled and said, "Ahh. Some friendly competition should help you all with your practice of the summoners charm" he chuckled and said, "First let's have our new student and Natsai Onai take on the first match". Sophie still feeling elated from her win against Sebastian earlier was eager to prove herself once again infront of her new classmates. Ronen explained, "The aim is to get the ball as close to you as possible, the closer you can get it the more points you will score". Sophie took her position on the Summoners Court next to Natty and let her take the first go at summoning one of the balls laid out infront of them, Natty fist pumped the air as the ball landed perfectly infront of her scoring her 50 points, "That's how you do it". Sophie went next and called out, "Accio!" the ball instantly flew into the air towards her at high speed, everyone gasped as she swiftly dodged it, it flew over her head straight into a group of students stood behind them. They all huffed as she shouted over to them, "I'm so sorry!". Professor Ronen slightly choking on his words in shock said, "Ahem. Miss Hawkins, I suggest you don't use so much force when casting Accio this time" she looked at Natty with her eyes wide in surprise and humility as to what she had just done, Natty laughed, "That's okay we will just pretend that never happened" and gestured for her to take her turn again. Sophie realising the spare wand she was using was becoming rather menacing decided to take things a little easier and ended up finishing the summoners match with a measly score of 40, Natty won by a mile scoring a nearly perfect 120. After they got back to the classroom Natty stopped Sophie for a quick chat before they finished for the day, "Well that was an interesting lesson!" she laughed, "I do have to thank you for making this class fun for a change, I'm afraid it lost it's "charm" ever since we were told we weren't allowed to learn anymore than the basics" Sophie gave a proud yet sarcastic look at Natty, "I suppose I'm glad to be of service" they both laughed. She was pleased to have found a genuine friend in Natty and with everything going on she definitely needed someone like her to ease the nerves, as they were walking out of class Natty said, "I'll hopefully see you in the great hall later for dinner? I'll save you a seat" Sophie replied with a smile, "Thank you Natty! I'll see you there".