Golden Stars

Chapter Three: Trust

Harry Potter POV:

Potions carried on boringly. After taking notes on a boring chapter on Swelling Solutions in my boring textbook, Professor Snape said:

"We will now be starting Shrinking Solutions," and with a smirk, "And we will be testing them on our wonderful classmates,"

Then after surviving yet another amazing lecture on how such solutions are forbidden to use at Hogwarts for pranks and stuff, blah, blah, blah. But when we went over the ingredients Sophie walked into the room, causing the whole room to go silent. Everyone turned their heads towards the door

"Ahh...Welcome back Miss Foster," Snape said "You may partner with anyone in the room to practice making the Shrinking Solution,"

Ron paired up with Hermione, so I decided to pair with Sophie.

I awkwardly walked towards Sophie while she tried to find a partner.

"Hey, you're Sophie right?" I said, trying to start off smoothly.

She nodded."That's right, Sophie Foster," she said nervously.

"I'm Harry. Partners?" I asked.

"Sure. Where do we start?"

* * *

After class, I told Ron and Hermione about how I befriended Sophie.

"You were working with Sophie!?" Hermione exclaimed.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked.

"Don't you realize?" Hermione asked "Isn't it odd that the elves are coming to study our magic? They would only do that to use and steal our magic for their benefit!"

"Where did you get that from?" Ron asked her "I think she sounded pretty nice,"

"That's because they're all Elves and they're all gorgeous, Ron!" Hermione said "No one really knows what they're up to.. wherever they're from," she grumbled.

"Well I think we should meet her and get to know her first, then start judging her." I said

"Yeah! Let's meet her!" Ron said.

"Fine, but don't say that I didn't warn you," Hermione said.

We all walked towards Sophie in the bustling crowd of students. When she saw me, she waved.

"Hi," she said nervously.

"Hey, Sophie. These are my friends Ron and Hermione," I said, as Ron and Hermione waved. "What's your next class?" I asked Sophie.

"Ummm.." she stammered,"I think Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall,"

Me, Ron and Hermione shared amused looks.

"That's what we have too," I told her.

"That's great!" she said, smiling.

And before we knew it all of us were on our way. Ron asked Sophie about a million questions, and Sophie tried to answer them all, but when Sophie asked Hermione a question, she replied with a short answer, clearly still not trusting Sophie. But things actually got interesting at the end of Transfiguration.

"One quick announcement before you leave children," Professor McGonagall said, stopping everyone in their tracks.

Ron and I shared looks.

"In Hogwarts tradition, we usually honor our guests with a school-wide event," she said,"So this year, Hogwarts will be hosting a ball. The Yule Ball."

The room was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop.

"Further details from Professor Dumbledore will be arriving soon. You are dismissed,"

When we walked out of the classroom, nearly everyone was talking. Even Hermione, in her I- refuse-to trust-Sophie mood.

"Well that was unexpected," Sophie said.

"Yeah," I said,"Hogwarts has never hosted a ball before though, so I have no idea how this is going to go,"

Sophie nodded.

This is going to be a very interesting week I thought.

Our next class was Care for Magical Creatures, so we all headed there, happy to be seeing Hagrid.

But when Hagrid came into sight, I surprisingly heard Sophie call:
"Hey Hagrid, it's me Sophie!"

Hagrid turned and smiled at all of us, "Hello Sophie, hello you three!"

"Hey Hagrid!" I said. Hermione and Ron waved.

I turned to Sophie, "You know Hagrid?"

"Yeah, I met him while arriving at Hogwarts," She said.

"For me, Hagrid is the one who found me and told me I'm a wizard," I explained.

"Oh," Sophie said,"That's nice. It was Fitz who brought me out of the Lost Cities for the first time," Her expression turned a bit sad.

She probably misses the Elven world. I thought, looking at her gazing into the sky. It's hard to adjust to something new, even if it's just for a week.

Soon enough, Hagrid declared the start of class.

"Today we will be reviewing the study of hippogriffs, from last year," He said, "But sadly, we will not be able to have them here to study in person,"

Everyone glanced at Draco Malfoy, who had gotten an injury last year from provoking a hippogriff. Next to him was the Elf Tam Song. Sophie waved to him, and he nodded back.

"Who is that?" Sophie whispers to me, looking at Draco,

"That is Draco Malfoy. He is a pain. Ignore him," I told her.

"Yeah, but Hermione slapped him across the face last year, didn't you, Hermione?" Ron said.

"Yeah, and he totally deserved it," She said.

Sophie smiled, but then zoned out and looked into the distance.

But then I started thinking about the elves' abilities. I wondered what Sophie's ability was. Didn't all elves have abilities? Then why didn't Sophie tell us about them? I looked back at Sophie and then decided that maybe elves are more mysterious than I would've ever thought.