The Other Castellan

The Slytherin Head of House

Chapter 5: The Slytherin Head of House

  "There, look."

  "Where?"

  "Next to the tall kid with the red hair."

  "Wearing the glasses?"

  "Did you see his face?"

  "Did you see his scar?"

  As Lucas passed by Harry and Ron in an attempt to get to his classes on time, whispers followed Harry the entire day. People waiting outside classrooms would stand on their tippy-toes to see him properly, and several people doubled back again, staring at him. Lucas almost felt sick. Didn't they have better things to do? Didn't they realize that they were making him uncomfortable?

  And that was only part of it.

  There were a total of 142 staircases in Hogwarts. There were wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led to someplace different on a certain day, and then there were some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Some doors wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or unless you tickled them in exactly the right place, or doors that were only walls pretending to be doors. It was almost impossible to remember where everything was since everything seemed to move. Fred and George gave him the Marauders' Map, a map that would show a map of Hogwarts, the secret passages out, and everyone in Hogwarts.

  The ghosts weren't much help either. It was a terrible right when one of the ghosts suddenly floated through the wall in front of you and Lucas nearly killed one out of fright. Luckily no one saw. Some of the ghosts were alright, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if he caught you on your way to class. He would drop baskets on your head, pull rugs from underneath your feet, toss bits of chalk on you, or grab you from behind and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!" It was terribly amusing if he did it to someone else, but not so much when it happened to you.

  And then, once you found the classes, it wasn't all wand-waving and magic words.

  They had to study the night sky through their telescopes at night every Wednesday and learn all the names of the stars and movement of the planets, which Lucas caught on pretty quickly, even if it wasn't his favourite subject. Three times a week they went to the greenhouses behind the castle to learn Herbology with a little witch named Professor Sprout, where they learned about all the different sorts of magical fungi and plants and their uses.

  Easily the most boring subject was History of Magic, which was the only class whose Professor was a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old when he fell asleep in front of the staff room fire, where he left his body behind as got up the next morning to teach. Professor Binns droned on and on, and Lucas could only keep up by scribbling the topic on a piece of parchment, then reading up on it later.

  Charms was also different. It was taught by Professor Flitwick, a tiny wizard that had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. The spells were fairly easy to remember for Lucas, especially since most of them had Latin or Greek roots.

  Professor McGonagall was different as well. Lucas's impression that she was not someone to cross was right. Stern and bright, she gave them a speech as soon as they entered the classroom.

  "Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she informed them. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."