Nico x Reader Hogwarts AU (Discontinued)

Chapter 5: The Potions Master

        "Hey did you see him?" "Next to the girl." "The one wearing the glasses?" "Did you see his scar?" You were getting tired already. People tiptoed in lines out of class hoping to get a glimpse of Harry Potter, you two were followed by whispers, as soon as you walked out of your dorms. You were having enough trouble as it was trying to find your classes so you really wished that you could be left alone. At some point, you began to want to inch away from Harry but then you realised you would be the shittiest friend if you did that.

          There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: of all different descriptions, some were narrow and rickety others vanishing on certain days, always in constant motion, others were wide and had missing steps on certain days so you had to remember to take a leap. The doorways were no easier. Some had to be touched in the right places, others needed polite remarks, some were actually walls masked as doors. The place was impossible to memorise, everything was always moving even the freaking portraits and armours.

         The ghosts were absolutely no help, especially when gliding through a door or wall right through you. Some ghosts like Nearly Headless Nick were happy to help at times, but others like Peeves the Poltergeist were the last thing on earth you would want to see when you were late for class. It would be better and quicker to come across a maze than Peeves. Whether it was hair pulling, becoming invisible to give frights or just being loud and screeching, he was never, ever a sight for sore eyes.

        The only thing worse than Peeves, if that was even possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch, a sorry excuse of a person. It was as though he was out to get you, Ron and Harry. The first day of school and you were already on his bad side. You accidentally tried to get into the forbidden areas and he didn't believe you guys were just lost. His cat Mrs Norris was weird, it was as though it was his wife as they were always together, they had a similar personality and had the same limp. She patrolled the corridors alone. It was as though she could tell you off as soon as you did something wrong in front of her. They had the ability to appear as quickly as ghosts, probably due to their familiarity with the secret passageways, being only bested by the Weasley twins, maybe. This 'special' skill caused them to be hated by students who also developed the urge to kick the blessed cat. To your delight and Harry's despair, magic wasn't only waving your wand and saying a few funny words. Take, for example, Astronomy with moving planets and stars, and Herbology with Professor Sprouts about magical herbs, plants and fungi, and their uses. Easily the most boring class, to most, (*cough cough*  except Hermione <probably>) was History of Magic, which was taught by the only ghost teacher; Professor Binns who died at the table which he fell asleep on at a very old age. (A/N-- The boredom finally got to him-_-)

       Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was such a tiny wizard that he had to use a pile of books as a stepping stool to see over the desk. The makeshift stepping stool of books couldn't have been very stable as when he took attendance, he squealed at Harry's name and he toppled over. You couldn't help but try to muffle your laugh. Professor McGonagall was... well, let's just say you wanted to be permanently stamped into her good books and nowhere else. The best words to describe her are "strict and clever". Before class even started she gave a rather... strict speech, warning you about the complexity and dangers of Transfiguration and if she sees any tomfoolery, you were out of the class straight away and there was no way back. The speech was punctuated with a rather impressive spell of turning her desk into a pig! A series of complicated notes and classwork of transforming a match into a needle later, no one was successful, except, of course, say it all together now, Hermione Granger. This earned her a rather rare smile from McGonagall. Is it wrong that sometimes you felt a tang of jealousy every time Hermione excelled over you?