Freckles || Drarry

iv

Dear Petunia,

You were right! I am in Hufflepuff. My friend, Draco, is in Slytherin like he wanted. It was so strange! There was an old leather hat and it sang! It sang about the houses. It was brilliant. When I sat down it spoke to me in my head. It was strange.

The common room is round, earthy and low-ceilinged. It feels sunny, and it has circular windows with a view of the grass and dandelions. There is a lot of copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. Our Head of house, Professor Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting plants (some of them dance and talk) to decorate our room. Apparently that's why most Hufflepuffs Are good at Herbology. Our sofas and chairs are yellow and black, and our dorm room entrances are round doors in the walls of the common room.

We have four poster beds with patchwork covers and copper bed warmers hang on the walls. Instead of lights we have copper lamps. I'm in a dorm room with five of the other first year Hufflepuff students. I get along with them pretty well. Everyone is really nice. This boy two years above me called Cedric taught me how to play wizard chess! Cedric is nice.

There's a ghost for every house! My house ghost is called the Fat Friar. He's nice, and he's always really happy. I didn't see him much in the common room, but during dinner he was waving to everyone at the Hufflepuff table.

I bought lots of sweets on the train, so I'll give you some of the best ones. Be careful with the chocolate frog! It hops around a bit... Literally!

We start lessons tomorrow, so I'll send another letter to tell you how it went. I think I'm going to draw a picture of the common room for you too, so you can see what it looks like.

I hope everything is okay at home. How is it going with convincing Vernon? Well, I'd assume. You're pretty persuasive most of the time. I hope everything is okay. I'll see you in a few months!

~Harry
P.s. Could you give Hedwig something to eat and drink before she comes back? I don't want her getting too tired.

I attached the note to Hedwig's leg along with a box with some of the nicer sweets, those being a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, a Chocolate Frogs, a packet of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and some Fizzing Whizzbees. I asked Cedric to make the box lighter for me earlier, so it would be easier on Hedwig.

"Can you take this to Petunia for me? Number 4 Pivet Drive. Where we were before. That's a good girl. When you get back I'll give you some treats." I let her feathers and sent her on her way. I waited until she flew out of sight before I closed the window.

I get dressed in my uniform quickly and head down to the Great Hall for breakfast (with the aid of Cedric, who I bumped into on the way down to the common room). I sit as close to my friend as I can. It's annoying being in different tables...

"What class do you have first Harry?" Ron asked.
"We all have Potions with Slytherin, so Draco is in our class."
"I have Transfiguration with Ravenclaw. My teacher is Professor McGonagall, she's your Head of House isn't she?" I ask before eating some more.
"Yes. Well, I hope you enjoy your class." With that we all finished our meals and headed to our classes.

~ - ♦ - ~

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned. Today we will be turning matchsticks into needles. Picture what you want your needle to look like and feel the magic flow through you."

The students looked down at the matches on their tables and attempted the incantation. They were glad to be doing practical work after taking a lot of rather complicated notes. Harry remembered all he had read in his books and pictured one of Petunia's elegant sewing needles. Once he had a perfect image in his head he focused on it, and the feeling of the magic inside him. As he spoke the incantation he put his mind into pushing the magic, and the picture through his wand towards the match. It morphed into a perfect sewing needle. It was silver and pointy, with an elegant swirling pattern in yellow up the side. He raised his hand.
"I've done it Professor McGonagall."

She walked over to Harry's desk, surprised. Most students weren't able to do the spell in the first lesson, let alone on their first go. She picked up the needle and was surprised to see how well it was done.
"Very good Mr. Potter! I would like you to try to turn a mouse into a snuffbox. It's significantly more difficult, but I'd like to see if you're capable." She conjured a mouse and told Harry the incantation. He pictured a black snuffbox with yellow swirling designs, like one he'd seen in Vernon's room once. He spoke the incantation clearly and did the same thing again. There, where there was a mouse, now sat a perfect snuffbox.

"Well done Mr. Potter! It doesn't even have whiskers! Students don't usually cast this well for their end of year exam, let alone first lesson! Fifty points to Hufflepuff!" Harry smiles proudly and pushed some ginger hair behind his ear.
"How would you like to try some second year transfiguration?"
"That would be brilliant Professor." McGonagall walked to the front of the classroom and came back with a jar filled with beetles.
"Try and turn these into coat buttons. I'll come check on you at the end of class.

When Harry tried the first time it didn't work. The beetle just scurried about avoiding the spell. When Harry did eventually hit the beetle, and it did turn into a coat button, but this coat button had legs and was still scurrying around the table. When he tried the second time he made sure to better picture the button in his mind. Then he had a perfect solid black button on his desk. By the end of the lesson the hard that was filled with beetles was filled with many shapes, sizes and colours of buttons and Hufflepuff had a hundred more points than it did at breakfast.