The Marriage Decree

Chapter 55: She Makes It Easy

For the first twenty minutes, Pansy and Sophie have a lovely time sitting at the kitchen table, eating their bacon sandwiches and reading their books. However, Pansy has fallen under the false pretence that the whole morning would be like this. As soon as Sophie has finished her sandwich, she places her book down on the table and stares at Pansy until she sighs placing her own book down.

"Yes, do you need something?" Pansy asks, hoping it's just a question about the book.

"You're a witch?" She states but it comes out as a question.

"Yes, and so are you." Pansy nods.

Sophie shakes her head. "I'm not a real witch. I can't do any spells or anything. You can." She points out.

"Of course you're a real witch. My parents' taught me the incantations of some spells before I went to Hogwarts but you nobody's allowed to cast a spell until they've got a wand which you don't get until you go to school." She explains.

"Your parents know magic too," Sophie asks, seemingly shocked at the news.

"Well, yeah, most of us have magical parents. You're like Hermione though. You're a Muggle-born."

"What's that mean?" Sophie frowns.

"It means both your parents are Muggles. Have no magical blood." Pansy explains, starting to get a headache.

"I don't have a mum." The girl states.

Pansy stares at her. "You must do. You didn't just appear out of thin air."

"I had one but she left us when I was a baby so now I only have a dad." She explains. "Now he's left me too." She stares up at Pansy with teary eyes.

"Of course he hasn't." Pansy answers quickly. "He's a muggle. He's probably just scared of magic. There's a long history of muggles being scared of us." She explains.

"The witch trials?" Sophie questions. "My dad's a history teacher." She adds.

"Ergh, I hate history." Pansy groans in complaint. "At Hogwarts, it's taught by a ghost. He used to be a professor but he died one night. The next day, he got up to teach and left his body behind and he's been there ever since." She explains.

Sophie's eyes widened excitedly. "Ghosts are real. That sounds cool. He must know tonnes of stuff about history."

"It's not, trust me. He's got such a boring voice. Most people use his class to catch up on sleep." She laughs.

"That's not very nice." Sophie frowns. "He liked teaching history so much that he became a ghost to carry on but nobody listens to him anymore. I'll listen to him when I got to school." She says adamantly.

"Alright, I'll remember that?" Pansy laughs.

"What are the other professors like?" Sophie asks her, eyes bright with fascination. "Wait, what classes do you have?"

"My favourite lesson was transfiguration, even though Professor McGonagall was the head of Gryffindor and we were in a bitter rivalry with them," Pansy explains.

"What house were you in?" She asks.

"I was a Slytherin." She admits proudly.

"Like Draco," Sophie says. "I want to be a Ravenclaw."

"You don't choose. You have to wear the sorting hat and he decides where you go." Pansy tells her.

"I know that. Hermione told me." Sophie rolls her eyes. "What other classes do you have?

"You have to take seven core subjects until at least fifth year. They're transfiguration, charms, potions, history of magic, defence against the dark arts, astronomy and herbology. In third years you can choose to take some other classes like Arithmancy, care of magical creatures, divination, muggle studies and study of ancient runes. Then in the sixth year, you can take Alchemy if enough people want to and once your seventeen, you learn how to apparate." Pansy drawls on in explanation, boring herself but Sophie's staring at her in interest even though she probably can't even remember everything she just told her.