The Boy who died - Ready for Anything

The first history class

POV of Parvati Patil

Finally, it was lunchtime! I can't even describe how much I was looking forward to it, since my stomach had been growling during the last class. When we arrived in the Great Hall, we said goodbye to our Ravenclaw table neighbors and then took our seats at our house table. Today's lunch was steak and kidney pie – or alternatively, vegetable stew. I must say, the food at Hogwarts, despite the huge quantities the house-elves had to cook, was just as good as Wanda's at home. I wondered how she was doing. Now that Padma and I were no longer home except maybe during the holidays, it must be lonely in our house.

"Aren't you hungry, Parvati? You've barely eaten anything," Hermione's concerned voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, I am hungry!" I replied and continued eating. I hadn't even noticed that I had been pushing my food around more than eating it. I think I missed our house elf. Especially over the last few years, she had been there for me more than my parents, who were almost always away. It was a wonder that Mum had even taken the time to go shopping with us in Diagon Alley instead of leaving it to Wanda.

"Parvati? Parvati! Ariana just suggested we head to the next class! Are you coming?" Hermione's voice snapped me out of my thoughts for the second time.

"No, you go ahead, I'll catch up," I replied and watched them as they hesitated briefly before standing up and leaving the Great Hall.

Shortly after, Bella hurried into the hall, looked around, and then sat down with me at the Gryffindor table.

"Where did you come from?" I asked her, puzzled.

"Professor Quirrell went over time!" she muttered, annoyed, and immediately served herself some steak and kidney pie, then hurriedly started eating.

"But the other Slytherins and Quirrell himself are already here?" I pressed further.

"Mmmh..." Bella replied and swallowed her bite. "Well, and on the way to the dormitory, I got a bit lost... I had to swap the books from the previous classes for the ones for the next. Otherwise, my bag is just too heavy!"

Shaking my head, I decided to change the subject: "Nice gloves, by the way. The only question is, why are you wearing gloves?"

"The question is: Why not? Otherwise, my hands do tend to get cold."

"Oh," I said, thoughtfully examining her thin emerald-green gloves.

Bella was certainly strange, but it was none of my business what clothes she wore or didn't wear. It occurred to me that it was odd that I hadn't wondered about the gloves yesterday or earlier, but with all the new impressions, I probably hadn't paid attention to such an insignificant detail.

Growing increasingly impatient, I waited for Bella to finish eating, as I didn't want to be late for class. Especially not for a teacher I didn't know yet and therefore couldn't assess. As soon as Bella's plate was empty, I jumped up, grabbed my bag, and half-dragged Bella behind me. She was still completely calm and looked at me in confusion.

"What's the rush, Parvati? We still have...," she paused briefly and then asked, "What time is it again?"

"12:56," I replied after glancing at my wristwatch.

"...4 minutes left. That's enough to... get where?" she continued.

"We need to get to the 4th floor. Come on, Bella!" I replied, annoyed, and ran up the stairs with her.

Completely out of breath, we came to a stop in front of the classroom. The door was slightly ajar, so we cautiously peeked inside to see if our History teacher, Professor Binns, was already there, which we doubted due to the chatting students and the open door. So, we breathed a sigh of relief and entered the classroom. Since we were 5 minutes late, the only seats left were the two in the front row next to Hermione and Cat-Lee. Ginn and Ariana were sitting in the back row, as were James and Oliver.

I thanked Hermione for saving us seats next to her, but she hissed at us angrily, "Where were you?!"

"I had to finish eating..." Bella replied. Shaking her head, Hermione motioned for us to be quiet.

Puzzled, I turned to the front and was startled to see a ghost right in front of me, who had suddenly started speaking in the most monotonous voice I had ever heard. I looked around, unsure of how long he had been in the classroom. Apparently, he had just floated in, judging by the way the other students were eyeing him.

He spoke so monotonously that after just a few minutes, Hermione seemed to be the only one still following him. Bella and I had given up and were playing Tic Tac Toe on a piece of parchment, a game Bella had seen Muggle children play and was new to me. We ignored Hermione's reproachful look as best we could.

The lesson dragged on endlessly, and I was relieved when the bell rang for break. The games in the last 10 minutes had all ended in draws without exception, and both the front and back of the parchment sheet were scribbled all over. Luckily, I noticed that Professor Binns assigned us an essay on the history of Hogwarts as homework before he simply floated through the blackboard to leave the room.