Everlasting ⁂ Harry Potter [1]

Chapter Eight

Hannah, Susan and Olivia sat in the Hufflepuff common room before dinner, comparing all the notes they had gathered throughout their first day. Although, at the same time, Liv was working on writing a letter to send to her father and Amelia, wanting to tell them all about her first day and how her classes had been. She knew her father would want every detail, and even though most classes had only been a cover of what they would be learning about throughout the year, she still wrote it all down for him.

"He is a bit quirky isn't he? I mean he was always quirky but this year it's on a whole other level." A familiar voice spoke as Liv felt the sofa dip on both sides of her. The movements made her look up from the letter in her lap and give curious looks to Gwen and Cedric who had sat down by her sides.

"What do you think Olivia? Is Professor Quirrel weird or quirky?" Gwen asked, wanting the girl's opinion. Perhaps that would help settle this dispute between Cedric and herself.

"What class does he teach again?" Liv asked hesitantly, trying to remember herself, but with all the new names she had acquired throughout the day, she was having a bit of a hard time recalling the subject in which that was the name of the teacher.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts." Cedric told her with a smile.

"Oh, we didn't have that yet today. Our first class is tomorrow, maybe I can answer your question then." Olivia said apologetically.

"But I thought Quirrell was new? Some of the older students mentioned there is a new teacher in Defence class every year." Hannah spoke up curiously. Maybe she had misunderstood the conversation she had heard from the fifth years earlier that day during lunch.

"That's true, Quirrell is new to DADA, but he used to be a Muggle Studies professor. That class is now taught by Professor Milo Beauchamp." Cedric explained. Muggle Studies was an elective, and while he and Gwen hadn't been able to take it before they started their third year, they did remember some of the Professor's quirky, or in Cedric's opinion, weird traits from seeing him around the halls and during mealtimes.

"So how was your first day guys? You may not have had DADA, but it still must've been exciting." Gwen asked with a curious look on her smiling face, making it quite obvious which class was her favourite.

"It was so great, although Potions was a bit weird with the way Professor Snape focused on Harry." Susan stated, a small frown on her face as she thought back to the Potion Master's treatment of the Gryffindor first year. All three of them had found it quite odd and even rude in a way.

"Although I think tomorrow might be even better. We have our first flying lesson." Hannah said excitedly, a wide smile on her face as she thought of actually flying a broom for the first time.

"To me it all seems so fascinating and interesting. I'm writing my dad about it all right now." Liv said happily, pointing down to the letter she hadn't yet finished.

"Do you have an owl of your own which you can send it with? Because if you don't you can use ours, I'm sure Oli wouldn't mind." Gwen offered kindly, knowing that some of the Hogwarts owls had a tendency to take their time when delivering mail.

"Ah yes, the owl cursed by its name. It's no surprise that she's a fast flier, I'm pretty sure the other owls tease her." Cedric whispered loudly to Olivia making her give out a small laugh at the way he pretended like he was trying to avoid Gwen hearing him.

"Hey!" But she did hear him. "I didn't pick the name. None of us did. My mum said she came with it." Gwen defended the owl and the name. She quite liked it and considered it to be cute.

"What's the owl's name?" Hannah asked curiously, the way Cedric and Gwen talked rising all of their interests. How could an owl's name be so bad?

"Lady Hoot." Cedric said, unable to hold back a laugh as he spoke the name out loud. The three girls around them let out a small laugh. It was a pretty unimaginitive way to name an owl, but Liv still thought it was adorable.

"Well I named mine Caramel, and when you see her it's pretty obvious why. So I don't think Lady Hoot is that bad." Liv stated, unable to hold back the smile that appeared on her face as she thought of her owl. She was in the Owlery, along with all the others, and she couldn't wait to finish her letter so she could go see her and send it.

"Thank you Liv! See, not everybody judges the name." Gwen exclaimed, sticking her tongue out at Cedric in a teasing manner, making the three first years around them laugh once more.

"Even Oliver judges the name." Cedric pointed out with a raised eyebrow, remembering how Gwen's brother himself tends to tease the owl whenever they go to the Owlery to send their letters back home. But even though he teased the owl, Oliver was still the one to give her the most treats no matter how many times Gwen tried to tell him not to give her so much.

"Oliver loves that owl and you know it. Did you know he tried to come up with an idea to have her and Errol have chicks?" Gwen asked with a shake of her head. When he tried to do that in their second year, she was pretty sure it was another idea his best friends, Fred and George had come up with.

"Oh, imagine how cute it would be to have baby owls around." Susan commented with a soft tone as she imagined the idea. Any baby animal was the cutest thing in her opinion.

"Not if those babies are Errol's, you'd worry too much about the clumsy gene." Cedric said with a laugh, making Gwen giggle even though she tried to suppress it. That owl most certainly was unique.

"Fred and George would hex you if they heard you talk badly about their owl." The third year girl pointed out with an amused smile on her face. While she may not know the Weasley twins as well as her brother, after all they were his friends for the most part, not hers, she did know they were very protective of that owl.

"I would hex someone too if they insulted Caramel, it's important to protect your pets." Olivia supported the idea making both Gwen and Cedric turn to her as they faked shock and insult.

"After all that we have done for you. You take the Weasley's side. Oh Cedric! Where did we go wrong?" Gwen asked dramatically while Cedric pretended to sob and wipe a fallen tear. The reactions made Olivia, Hannah and Susan burst out laughing in amusement as they watched the older students.

"I don't know Gwen, I don't know." Cedric said with a defeated tone in his voice making Olivia shake her head at them with a smile on her face.

"Honestly, you two act like you're my parents and I just got expelled." She commented making their eyes snap to her.

"Don't you even dare do something to get expelled young lady." Gwen continued the act of a scolding parent.

"You shouldn't even be getting detentions, much less thinking of expulsions. You represent Hufflepuff now." Cedric pointed his finger at her as if he were threatening her, but she could see him trying to school his expression and prevent himself from bursting into laughter. Something Susan and Hannah were unable to do.

"Really? What would I even do to get into detention? I'm not much for rule breaking." Liv stated. She wouldn't dream of doing anything to land herself in trouble. She loved the common room too much to avoid being back in it after curfew, the idea of going into the Forbidden Forest seemed a bit too scary to her after reading about the types of creatures which roamed through it, and she doubted she would ever get into a fight with a student, or even worse a professor. There was no way she could get detention, it was her goal to be a model student after all.

Published: 04th July, 2020