A Magical Journey Begins

The Potions Master

Some parts in this chapter have been loaned for an undetermined amount of time from Gittiekittie's A silver and green lion, because copying it with permission isn't stealing :)

"There! Look!"

"Behind the blond one!"

"Is that the Slytherin mudblood?"

"Look at his clothes! He's definitely not a pureblood!"

Whispers followed Tom from the moment he left his common room the next day. They were in shrill contrast with the silence that awaited him with his classmates. The other Slytherins didn't talk much to him at all. He had been sitting alone at the table in the Great Hall until Hope Knight decided to join him and start some light conversation. She was joined by her twin for a short moment, who introduced himself and told Tom to ignore the 'Supremacist prats' before turning back towards Malfoy and the Black twins. It was obvious they didn't like him much, and they were close friends with the Knights.

That was the reason why he was walking a bit behind his classmates at the moment, looking around himself a bit bored. He didn't really need to focus on how they were going because he had a photographic memory. He understood that it would be hard for most other kids around though since it was a very large and magical castle. The ghosts, he had noticed, were no help at all and it was always a nasty shock when they swept through you. And then of course, there was Peeves. The Poltergeist was always somewhere in the castle scaring first years or teasing the older students, he would pull rugs from under your feet, or sneak up behind you and grab your nose, screaming "GOT YOUR CRONK!"

But Tom didn't really care for all that. He stayed out of the way of the ghosts, remembered all the little tricks and traps of the castle and Peeves hadn't bothered him at all yet. He did care a great deal about the lessons themselves though, especially when he realized there was more behind it than waving your wand and speaking in Latin.

Every Tuesday evening they had Astronomy where they had to study the night sky and study the names of all different stars. The Black twins had laughed about that and drawn up a family tree during first class on their star charts. Turned out that most all of their relatives were named after stars and constellations.

Three times a week they had History of Magic with an old, greying wizard called Professor Binns. They learned about the Goblin Wars and the Migration of the Giant Colonies. It only got better since they had that class together with Ravenclaw, so he got to sit with Gwen and catch up while they wrote their notes.

But the worst class had to be Herbology, taught by Professor Beery, who was overly cheerful and plump. It was probably the one class Tom hadn't immediately taken to and actually struggled to keep up. Plants had never really been his strong suit and it seemed that everything he touched in the green house died.

Charms was fun too and again together with Ravenclaw. The teacher, Professor Shaquin, was a stern witch with her dark hair in a tight bun on the back of her head and glasses perched on top of her hooked nose. She made sure they all knew she wouldn't let them get away with messing around before starting the lesson.

Professor Dumbledore, head of Gryffindor, had been entirely different again. For starters, he was some ten minutes late in his own class with the excuse that the teacher's bathroom had vanished just when he needed it desperately and he had to search half the castle before he found its new location. Several of the students, mostly Gryffindors who they shared the class with, laughed at the story. Only then did Dumbledore start the class with a short explanation of what Transfiguration was.

"Transfiguration is one of the most complex an dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," he told them.
"Anyone messing around in my class and will not come back. You have been warned."