BLACK {1} harry potter

Chapter Six

"There look," I heard someone whisper from the side of the wide corridor. "Did you see their scars?"

I glanced at the girl speaking, who looked about our age, as Harry and I walked through the hall. Her mousy brown hair was braided into pigtails and her eyes widened when they met mine. I raised my eyebrows at her to show her that I'd heard her remark. She rushed away, towing her nosey group of friends behind her.

Whispers seemed to follow us here. Hagrid had been right; everyone here knew our names--knew more about ourselves than even we did. They would watch us as we walked through the halls, some even made a circle to watch us pass again.

"I wish they would stop," I muttered to Harry, who was looking at our class schedules intently. 

He huffed, folding the paper in a rushed manner. "Yeah. I need to concentrate on finding this class."

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases in the castle, and it seemed they were always moving when you were halfway through ascending them. Some staircases had steps that were missing, which meant one wrong step could be disastrous. 

"What time is it," I questioned. "We won't be late, right?"

Harry shrugged exasperatedly. We'd already run into Peeves, that dreadful poltergeist from last night. He had pulled the rug from underneath our feet, making Harry's round glasses fall onto the floor. They were, in fact, now hanging crooked on the bridge of the boy's nose. 

Not to mention that one wrong turn had landed us in the forbidden corridor on the third floor. The castle's caretaker Mr. Flinch gave us a wary face as he yelled us away.

I heard a faraway clock chiming and cringed. "Bloody hell, "I muttered before tugging on Harry's robes. "C'mon Harry, we'll be late to Transfiguration."

We were, indeed, late as everyone else was nose-deep in their books when we arrived. However, Professor McGonagall was nowhere to be found. 

I gave a sigh of relief, not wanting to start the year off with a bad impression. 

Harry smiled, nudging my shoulder. "We made it! Could you imagine the look on McGonagall's face if we were late?"

I nodded in agreement, looking at the tabby cat sat on the desk. It was quite cute, until it transformed into a very stern-looking Professor McGonagall. I felt my face pale and saw Harry's do the same.

"That was brilliant," I sheepishly mused.

McGonagall raised a singular eyebrow behind her spectacles. "Thank you for that assessment, Miss Black. Perhaps it would be more useful if I transformed Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocket watch so that one of you might be on time."

I bowed my head awkwardly. "My apologies. We got lost and Peeves wasn't much help."

She cocked her head. "Then perhaps a map. I'm sure you don't need much help finding your seats." She gestured towards the two empty seats near the back of the classroom. I saw Ron waving from his seat besides them and we quickly joined them as the lesson began.

It seemed magic was more than just waving your wand about and saying a few cheesy words. Most of our lessons throughout the week were introductory and mere reading. Each subject was fascinating in its own right: from transforming objects and enchanting them to do something wild.