Destinia: First Year at Hogwarts

Chapter 2: The First Pages

Draco woke up the next morning by Goyle calling him to 'hurry and get dressed, breakfast's about to start!' He grunted and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with one hand, while his other searched blindly for his wand. Instead of his wand, his hand touched something different, something with a weird, wooden texture.

     He raised his eyebrows, took it and looked at it. He recognised the pencil Dumbledore had given to him the day, more like night, before. He looked down at his bedside table at the other things; all of them were still there: the notebook, eraser and the sharpener of which he had forgotten to ask the exact use, and the book. The book was still there, the book Dumbledore had asked him to study, the book of which Draco got the feeling was something full of extremely difficult and powerful magic.

     He dismissed it and searched for his wand, finding it at last underneath the notebook. He took it and put it in his pocket before realising he was still wearing his robes from the day, or night, before. He dropped the hawthorn wand back on his bedside table and disposed off his robes. He took new ones from his trunk, put them on, took his wand, and was planning to leave the room before his eyes fell back upon the book.

     He wondered for a second if he should take it with him, but decided against it. Either way, they got their timetables today, so he'd have to come back for his school books. He'd have the chance to take it with him then.

Down at breakfast, they got their timetables at eight o'clock. Draco looked down at his and searched for Potions. The Slytherins had their first lesson Potions on Friday morning, double Potions with, Draco groaned, the Gryffindors. He looked back at Monday and saw they started with Charms, and then Herbology. He got up, deciding he had eaten enough, and went down to the Slytherin dormitories again to get his books. Classes started at nine, so he only had about half an hour to get his book before having to start the impossible quest of reaching his first lesson in time.

     In his dorm, he took The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore figuring he'd come back after his second period for those of Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration for the afternoon. He wanted to leave and start his search but his attention was pulled away, for the third time that morning, to the book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on his bedside table. He stood there for a good five minutes, contemplating. His Headmaster wanted him to study the book, page 1 to 139 before Friday no less, but he would look flat-out ridiculous walking around with a book about Potter in his hands.

     Draco sighed and put the book in his bag. Maybe, maybe, he'd get a few minutes off during the lessons so he could start reading.

Draco soon found out it would be impossible for him to actually read the book during the lessons. Flitwick had almost immediately, after taking the register, started with a bit of history about wands and a few magical laws. He hadn't given them any homework yet, but Draco thought it wouldn't be long until they got foot-long essays to write and difficult assignments to fulfill. It was the same for Herbology. Although it was a calmer lesson, and Sprout gave them a full fifteen minutes free at the end of the lesson, Draco didn't deem it safe to take out the book. While everyone was talking about their lessons or lunch, Draco sneaked out and went back to the castle, down to his dormitory in the Dungeons.

     There, Draco switched his books for A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switchand and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble. Figuring Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration would be the same as Charms and Herbology, he took the book Dumbledore gave him out of his bag and put it in his trunk. He walked over to his bedside, took the four other things, and put them with the book.