Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

06 - The Remembrall

The first week and a half of school for me went off without a hitch. It was always a little tough getting back into the groove of things when returning from a long summer break, but I was happy to be back and learning again nonetheless.

In Potions, Professor Snape was starting off the term by teaching us what was known as the Shrinking Potion. We students quickly discovered we had to be extra careful when concocting it because if it were to be brewed incorrectly, it was poisonous. However, luckily for me, I sat beside Adrian and he was a natural when it came to potion-brewing. He never made any mistakes and always earned excellent grades, so I wasn't worried.

A sliver of me had hoped this year would go differently, but unfortunately Snape didn't hesitate to continue making his snide comments about my father and my family's situation in class. Of course he also refused to punish any of his Slytherins who decided to make a joke out of it any chance they got as well. However, now three years in, I'd learned decently well that holding my tongue and suffering silently when it came to Snape's bullying was the best approach. Talking back only ever got me in trouble. And, besides, everything nasty he had to say about me or my family had already been thrown at me many times before in my life. At this point there were hardly any new insults to be made and I was used to them all, so doing anything but let them roll right off my back was pointless.

Adrian knew I couldn't say anything about this unfair treatment towards me or else risk losing House points or even receiving an unjust detention, so he was the one who always stood up for my brother and me. Snape didn't necessarily like this, but given Adrian was both a Slytherin and one of his most gifted students, he didn't ever reprimand him much beyond a snarky eye roll or a firm, "Silence, Mr. Pucey." It was useless of Adrian in the grand scheme of things given Snape wouldn't dare change his behavior and suddenly decide to treat us nicely, but Jasper and I appreciated the gesture from him nonetheless.

In Charms, Professor Filius Flitwick was teaching us the Cheering Charm, one that made a target feel elated. I sat at a desk with Flora and Callie for this class, and the three of us couldn't keep it together one lesson when Fred's charm casted onto George was overdone and caused the latter to erupt in uncontrollable fits of laughter. George was chortling so hard for the whole hour until it wore off that he had tears streaming down his face. Afterward, at dinner that day, he'd made it known to everyone that his cheeks were sore from grinning so much and for so long, to which I'd, of course, told him he'd deserved the pain.

I got to spend Herbology with Hufflepuff and consequently Isla. She was in her element with this course and knew quite a bit about it which benefited me and my other friends a lot. Professor Sprout was actually quite fond of our group simply because of her. In this class, we were talking about Puffapods which produced large pink seedpods full of bright, shining beans. Sprout had warned us to be extra careful about the spores of the plant which apparently cause dizziness, but only after Jasper had already touched them and fainted.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was always the class I looked forward to enduring the most each year. I loved the subject and actually aimed to become an Auror one day, a highly trained government official that defends the Wizarding World against practitioners of dark magic. However, unfortunately for me, the class seemed like it was going to be a total joke this year because it was Professor Quirrell that was teaching it. He'd been the Muggle Studies professor here at the school for a number of years prior to accepting the position that was open for DADA this term, but I never much liked him. He'd always been a disorganized, paranoid mess that also had an unfortunate stuttering condition on top of everything else.

I was certain I wasn't going to grow fond of him this year either. On the very first day of lecture, the classroom smelled entirely of garlic upon entering, which the twins claimed was because he was trying to ward off a vampire he'd apparently come across in Romania. Needless to say, I didn't have very high expectations and wasn't expecting to learn much from him.