On Wednesday morning, Ginny sat at her new vanity trying to decide if she wanted to wear her hair up or down for her first ever day of classes. Glancing around the room, Thaliana was the only other girl in the dorm also already awake this early. She seemed to be in the same conundrum as Ginny.
Deciding to ignore Thaliana’s bossy tone the night before, Ginny called to her with a friendly smile, “So what do we do? Down and free or up and ready for action?”
“I don’t know,” was Thaliana’s resigned reply. “I don’t know what classes we’ll be having, if we’ll be outside or not. Are we going to be sitting and taking notes all day so I can wear it loose and curly?” She sighed, “Are we going to be in the greenhouses so I should have it up and out of the way?”
Ginny decided to pull hers into the side-part ponytail she worked on all summer, and sprayed the Muggle hairspray in her hair to get started.
“What’s that?” asked Thaliana.
“THAT is the smell of nasty, cheap, Muggle hairspray!” announced Richelle Ruiz, yanking back her four poster hangings and simultaneously waking the other girls in the dorm room. “And it’s the sound of you Pure-blood ladies needing some professional help!”
Within a half an hour Richelle had all her Muggle hair tools out and was curling and straightening where it was needed or wanted.
She gave all the Gryffindor girls a nice down look for breakfast and individual accessories to put their hair up later if necessary. In Ginny’s hair she placed a small metal barrette to hold her side part in place and made her wear black hair ties on her wrist that would blend in with her Hogwarts robes.
Since Richelle had curled Thaliana’s hair, she clipped a toothy, plastic, butterfly looking thing to her bag strap and then then told her, “If I see a rubber band anywhere near your hair today, I’m going to cut if off! You come find me if you need help putting it up!”
Takara Himura was the only one who declined Richelle’s assistance, pulling the top half into a ponytail at her crown like she had worn it at the Sorting yesterday. “How did you learn all this?” she asked Richelle while watching her finish with the last Gryffindor girl, Charlotte.
Richelle tilted her head in Takara’s direction and said, “Mi madre is a Muggle hairdresser. She owns her own salon.” She showed off her slight Spanish accent when she said ‘Mi madre,’ but otherwise Ginny never would have noticed it. Richelle was just finishing the last touches on the tips of Charlotte Deverill’s light blonde tresses. When she deemed her finished Ginny was reminded of the way little yellow baby ducks’ feathers would curl up at the tips of their tails. The look went well with Charlotte's layered hair.
Just before seven, the first-year girls heard other Gryffindors outside their dorm on their way downstairs and rose to follow them.
Ginny found Colin in the common room with the first-year boys, a prefect collected them all and led them downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. Thaliana and boy named Blake Sullivan from Colin’s dorm volunteered to get maps and go with the prefect to their Head of House to get their schedules once they were all at breakfast. With the prefect busy giving those two instructions, this gave Ginny and Colin time to lag behind the group.
“Why do you have a bag with you?” asked Ginny. The boys didn’t know what classes they had today any more than the girls did, so he wouldn’t know what text books to bring either.
“It’s just my camera,” replied Colin. He took his light off the top of the camera and carefully placed it in one of the bag’s compartments. “You shouldn’t take pictures of portraits with the flash,” he said when he saw Ginny watching him curiously.
Down in the Great Hall the tables were full of food already. Colin glanced at where the prefect was seating the first-years together, but beckoned Ginny a few seats down from them.
“What are we doing?” she asked, though she had a feeling she already knew. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were only a few seats away.
“After that story you and Ash told me yesterday, I want to get a picture of Harry,” Colin said sheepishly. “He’s friends with your brother Ron, can you introduce me?”
“No!” replied Ginny, turning slightly pink. “I’m not friends with him. Only some of my brothers are!”
Thaliana came over then, “There you are Ginny! You’re so far away I thought I lost you for a second. Are you Colin Creevey?” she asked turning towards Colin. He nodded. “Blake! He’s over here!” she shouted to one of the boys Ginny had seen Colin sitting with this morning.
Blake walked down to them and dropped a schedule in Colin’s lap. “Here,” he said as he checked a box on a list he had, “make sure you follow me when we leave to get our stuff.” Then he abruptly turned and strode away again.
Thaliana furled her eyebrows at Blake and then she looked at Ginny, “This morning is probably going to be all note taking and this afternoon we are outside. Bring extra quills and a sharpener and dress for the weather, I think it’s going to rain a bit later,” she glanced up at the enchanted cloudy ceiling. “So make sure you pack a jumper. I’ll be over there if you need me.” She pointed in the direction the prefect had sat the other first-years and gave Ginny a copy of the schedule Professor McGonagall was handing out then went to sit for breakfast herself.
“Well, Blake is a real mother hen,” said Colin sarcastically.
“Wanna trade?” asked Ginny, “Thaliana’s probably going to write out a whole itinerary with sub-categories for the week.” They both laughed and started piling their plates with food.
She started to look at their schedule when Colin jumped in alarm. Hundreds of owls were swooping into the Great Hall to bring the morning mail. He took out his camera and snapped some pictures of the flurry, and his last one he took of Ginny.
She gave Colin a look of exasperation to which he smiled and said, “What? It’s the first time you looked like you saw something new since we got here.” Shaking her head, they went back to watching parcels falling into people’s laps and then Ginny noticed a familiar grey owl descending towards her brother Ron.
“Look, that’s my family owl, Errol,” she pointed him out to Colin who again raised his camera when he looked over and took a picture of him. That’s when Ginny noticed everyone around Errol was leaning far. Clamped in his beak was a bright red envelope.
“Colin! Put your camera away! That’s a Howler!”
Colin stuffed his camera into the bag and started to ask, “What’s a…?” but he didn’t need to finish. Ron had just opened the letter and everyone in the Great Hall clapped their hands over their ears at once.
“RONALD WEASLEY! …”
Ginny glanced over at her brothers. The Weasley kids seemed to be the only ones capable of looking around through the shouting because the twins were smirking at Ron while they covered their ears and Percy looked a combination of embarrassed and of expecting nothing less from their matriarch.
Meanwhile, Ron had turned bright red and had sunk so low in his seat Ginny could only see the top of his head. Everyone else in the vicinity had their eyes as tightly clamped shut as their ears.
When the shouting stopped at last and some laughter broke out around the hall, Ginny glanced over at Colin, “So, … that was my mum.”
“She seems nice,” said Colin, with a hint of a grin. “But we’ve met. Remember, at Ollivanders?”
“Oh, yeah,” laughed Ginny. Relieved that Colin had had a good first impression of her mother, she went back to their schedule, “Oh how fitting. Our first class about magic is History of Magic.”
They headed out of breakfast early with the rest of the first-years to pack their bags in their dorm rooms and then followed Blake and Thaliana to Professor Binns’s classroom.
When Professor Binns turned out to be a ghost and floated through the chalkboard many of her classmates looked around at each other excitedly, including Colin. However, half way through the lecture Colin was the only one still paying attention and taking notes diligently.
Ginny had expected this after her talk with Percy on her birthday, but she never imagined a class could be this boring. It was the first time she never asked for a topic to be further explained for curiosity’s sake.
Charms was much better. Professor Flitwick gave them an overview of all the charms they would be working on this term and flicked his wand at various objects to give examples of what he was looking for.
They spent the rest of the hour taking copious amounts of notes and practicing wrist movements and pronunciations. Ginny was completely taken by surprise when Professor Flitwick singled her out and brought her to the front of the class. He motioned for her to go through the basic wand swishes and flicks and then asked her to pronounce a few complicated-to-say spells for practice.
Little Professor Flitwick was absolutely overjoyed when Ginny nailed everything he asked of her, and set her with walking around the room and correcting her classmates with him until the period ended.
“Any other hidden talents I should know about?” asked Colin on their way to lunch.
“Shut it. That was embarrassing,” replied Ginny. It had been disconcerting to have people she barely knew hanging on her every word.
“How did Professor Flitwick know you would do well?” asked Colin.
“I have six older brothers and a mum who trained us all in that stuff since we could talk,” said Ginny. “He was probably expecting it.” Like how Mr. Olivander had been expecting me this past summer she thought to herself.
On the way back to the Great Hall, Thaliana and Blake announced for everyone to meet in the Entrance Hall after lunch so they could all go down to the greenhouses together for Herbology. Ginny and Colin had some time to kill after they were finished eating and Colin noticed Ron, Harry, and Hermione walking out to the Courtyard, away from the crowded Great Hall.
“Come on, mother hen and barely-there dad will have to walk right past us to go to the greenhouses! Let’s follow them and see what they’re up to!” said Colin.
“I know what they’re going to be up to,” Ginny tried to say, “nothing.” But Colin wasn’t listening. “Wait!” she yanked him back, “A bunch of Slytherins are coming!” she hissed.
“So what? Ash is a Slytherin and she’s cool.”
She tried to explain quickly, “Not Malfoy! He hates Harry!”
“Why?” asked Colin. He attempted to drag her closer to hear what Ron and Harry were talking about, but Ginny wouldn’t budge any further.
“I don’t know, it seemed like he was jealous last time I saw them together…” she didn’t know what exactly Malfoy didn’t like about Harry but she knew he was trouble. Colin moved forward to eaves drop on Ron and Harry but Ginny stayed by the door where she could see everything going on.
Ginny watched Hermione sit down and prop open one of Lockhart’s fancy new books and ignore Ron and Harry completely. The only time Ginny saw Hermione do that in Diagon’s Alley was when the boys were talking about Quidditch.
Eventually Ron and Harry stopped discussing whatever they were going on about and looked over at Colin, who had been staring at them from a little way away. “All right, Harry?” I’m — I’m Colin Creevey,” he said breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward. “I’m in Gryffindor, too. D’you think, — would it be all right if — can I have a picture?” he said, raising the camera hopefully.
“A picture?” Harry repeated blankly.
“So I can prove I’ve met you,” said Colin Creevey eagerly, edging further forward.1
Ginny watched in horror as Colin began rambling at this point. Oh please, please, she thought to herself, don’t look at his scar! Ugh, he looked at his scar. That’s when Ginny heard a now familiar drawling laugh coming from behind her. Draco Malfoy and a couple of his cronies were coming out to the courtyard.
Colin was still rambling on to Harry Potter, “…maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?”
“Signed photos? You’re giving out signed photos Potter?”
Loud and scathing, Draco Malfoy’s voice echoed around the courtyard. He had stopped right behind Colin,2 who looked wide-eyed at the size of his cronies who flanked him.
Now that whole courtyard was listening, including the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first-years getting ready to go to Herbology, Malfoy continued to mock Harry and tried to goad him into fighting.
“You’re just jealous,” piped up Colin,3 who was trembling slightly in the shadow of the Slytherins.
“That’s a Gryffindor for you,” whispered one Hufflepuff boy to another, “they don’t know when to back down.”
Thankfully, Malfoy didn’t lash back out at Colin directly, instead he addressed the general audience while he continued to make fun of Harry’s scar and the Weasleys’ finances. Ginny clapped a hand to her mouth when Ron whipped out his wand and she noticed the tip was taped back on with Spellotape. She’d seen magic at family reunions performed with a broken wand, it never turned out well. It must have happened during the car crash into the Whomping Willow.
Everything stopped the moment Hermione snapped her book shut. At first Ginny was impressed, until she realized everyone noticed what Hermione had noticed and that was Gilderoy Lockhart was striding into the courtyard wearing turquoise robes, of all colors.
“Who’s giving out signed photos?”4 he asked. Ginny rolled her eyes, of course that’s what he heard. “Shouldn’t have asked! We meet again, Harry!”5 Lockhart put his arm around Harry’s shoulders and pinned him to his side while Malfoy and his cronies slipped away, “Come on then, Mr. Creevey,” said Lockhart beaming at Colin. “A double portrait, can’t do better than that, and we’ll both sign it for you.”6
Lockhart dispersed the crowd and Thaliana and Blake rounded up the first-years to go to Herbology. While she was waiting for Colin to pack away his camera again so it wouldn’t get dirty in the greenhouse, she watched as Lockhart steered Harry back into the castle.
“He makes me so mad,” said Ginny, as her and Colin began making their way down to the greenhouses, following their classmates.
“Who? Malfoy?” asked Colin.
“Yeah, him too,” said Ginny, “but I was talking about Professor Lockhart.”
“What? Why?” asked Colin, "What'd he do?"
“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. He just seems way over the top. Almost like he’s fake.”
“But he’s done all those cool things in his books,” said Colin.
“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure that out,” said Ginny.
When they arrived at the greenhouse door where their classmates were queued up, Ginny noticed that most of the windows were all steamed up. She made a quick glance in the direction of the other Gryffindor girls and sure enough Richelle was helping Thaliana use the butterfly clip to pull her curls up off her neck.
“Will you hold my bag for a sec?” Ginny asked Colin.
He dutifully swung one of the straps over his shoulder and said a very drawn out, “Okay.”
Ginny took one of the black hair ties off her wrist and pulled her hair into a pony tail. Since the barrette had held the side-part in place all day it went up much easier than usual. Ginny repositioned the barrette to hold up some of the really short hairs underneath the pony tail to keep them off her neck while she would be in the sweltering humidity of the greenhouse.
Colin handed her bag back when she held out a hand for it, “What was that all about?”
“You know when to put your camera light thing away, I know when I need to put my hair up,” she grinned.
“It’s called a ‘flash,’ and why did you tell me to put my camera away before that Howler exploded at breakfast?” asked Colin.
“I didn’t want you to drop it and break it, although now that I think about it someone probably would’ve been able to fix it,” said Ginny thoughtfully.
“Not the film if had been exposed to light,” said Colin seriously. “Jai told me all about how to make the development potion last night so that my pictures will move and he said it’s just like when Muggles develop their film. You can’t let undeveloped film get overexposed to light, it’s too powerful of a force for most wizards to fix easily.” He said this all very fast.
“Which one's Jai?” asked Ginny.
“Jai Misra? He’s another Gryffindor that I share my dorm with,” Colin said. “He’s a Pure-blood,” he finished, as though that explained everything about how Jai knew so much about the wizard potion for film development.
Professor Sprout arrived then and ushered them all into the greenhouse. It was just as warm and sticky as Ginny thought it was going to be, but it had a pleasant clean smell of rich earth as though it had just rained.
Even though Herbology was a double lesson, it didn’t distract Ginny much from her rekindled anger towards Gilderoy Lockhart who had been in the back of her mind during her conversation with Colin.
She hadn’t formally studied plant life cycles before but she was already familiar with the basics from helping her mum out in the family garden throughout every season. After taking a very short amount of notes which mostly consisted of the terminology for the basic parts of all seed plants, they were shown a pot of fluxweed. It looked as though it were already half dead.
Professor Sprout showed them all, for the benefit of the students who’ve never worked with plants, how to tell the difference between parts of the plants that could be removed and what needed to stay. Ginny had been deadheading for as long as she could remember so when Professor Sprout finished her demonstration she rushed Colin over to one of the sections of the greenhouse that only had two other students working in it. She realized only after they’d gotten there that they were the two Hufflepuff boys talking about Colin being a typical Gryffindor back in the courtyard.
“Have either of you two ever deadheaded plants before?” asked Ginny, rather a bit more sharply than she normally would have. They both shook their heads no. “Well, I have and the sooner we finish our section the sooner we can be dismissed.”
“Sounds good,” said the blonde one, the one who had whispered to his friend about Colin.
“I’m Ginny, this is Colin. We’re just a couple of Gryffindors who don’t know when to back down,” she said calmly while looking the blonde one right in the eye. His friend broke into a huge toothy grin and backed up two steps with his fist in front of his mouth trying not to laugh too loudly.
The kid with the blonde hair’s jaw dropped open, he looked as though he was trying to think of an excuse to back up what he said but in the end he simply let out a breath of air and said, “I’m sorry.”
“I’m Joshua," he said, "this is my friend Keishawn,” Joshua extended his hand out to Ginny. Colin, who had been watching the intensity of the conversation, looked at Ginny and jerked his head in the direction of Joshua’s hand. Conceding, Ginny reached out, took it, and forced a smile.
“Good,” said Colin, “I’m going to go get started.”
Keishawn walked up and slung his arm around Joshua, Ginny noticed it was different than when Lockhart did it do Harry, Joshua didn’t seem uncomfortable with the gesture, he didn’t seem to look trapped. “Hey, I gotta explain. My boy here, he just helping me figure out this wizard world. All day he been showin’ me things people do that match up with what House they in. He been showin’ me the ropes, protecting me like.” Ginny took in Keishawn's close shaved head, his dark skin, his bright brown eyes that crinkled into a real smile when he smiled.
She finally gave a genuine smile back, “Well, that’s all I’m doing for Colin, he’s in the same boat you are.”
“There, see,” he said, “we understand each other now.” The two of them went to working on their section.
Ginny hesitated, “I’m sorry too.” Both of the Hufflepuff boys looked back around at her from where they had started deadheading the plants. “I was mad before I got to class, at someone who isn’t even here.”
“That blonde boy? From Slytherin?” Keishawn pressed.
“Yeah, at him too.”
Keishawn and Joshua looked at Colin inquiringly, hoping he'd explain her answer, but when Ginny shook her head slightly at him, he just shrugged and said, “It’s complicated.”
“It’s the first day,” Keishawn mumbled loud enough for them all to hear, “it’s only going to get more complicated.”
“Yes, it is,” replied Ginny. She had been deadheading with speed and they were all nearly done with their section by now. The boys watched her rhythm she was using to methodically get through their potted plants and began emulating her urgency. Ginny gave their area a quick second pass over and nodded her head in approval that it looked done.
Keishawn and Joshua seemed happy they were the first group finished and when they spotted Professor Sprout all the way across the greenhouse, Keishawn took it upon himself to get her attention, “PROFESSOR SPROUUUUUUT! WE DOOOOOONE!” he shouted across the building.
“Keishawn!” whispered Joshua, Keishawn whipped back around to look at him, “It’s Professor Sprout, ma’am when you address her.”
“Oh, I MEAN PROFESSOR SPROUT MA’AAAAAAAAAM! WE DOOOOONE!” Keishawn repeated.
Professor Sprout meandered her way back to their section, stopping every now and then to point something out to one of the other groups. She gave their fluxweed plants a thorough look over and pronounced them healthy again.
Ecstatic that they got their first group project done on the first try, the boys took their bucket of leavings to the compost pile, dumped it, and cleaned it out. Then the four of them walked back up to the castle.
“Uh, oh, we didn’t wait for instructions from Blake or Thaliana!” said Colin laughingly.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” said Ginny. “We’ll see them in the common room before we have Astronomy at midnight.” They were approaching the steps of the castle doors, from up here Ginny could see what must be Hagrid’s hut in the distance near the Forbidden Forest.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what instructions?” asked Josh.
“You know,” said Colin, “the ones that the volunteer first-year leaders tell you when everyone is leaving for the next class about what to bring and how to dress.” Both Keishawn and Josh stopped and stared blankly at Colin.
“Maybe it’s a Gryffindor thing?” Colin said inquiringly and glancing at Ginny.
“I think it’s a Thaliana and Blake thing,” said Ginny blithely.
Quote References:
1 CoS Page 96
2 CoS Pages 96-97
3 CoS Page 97
4 CoS Page 98
5 CoS Page 98
6 CoS Page 98
