4I know this is late (reason at the end), but I saw all the things about Anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and thought I would complete this chapter. Please go and follow my Instagram (it is in my profile description.) authorofbooksisi/
When she woke up in the morning, it took her a bit to work out where she was, she saw the light her coming through the window and heard Hermione snoring lightly. She checked her watch to see that it was around 7 O'clock. Her first class was at 9:30 and she needed at least 20 minutes to find her first class in this massive castle! She grabbed her towel and dressing gown, walked to the bathroom, and hopped in the shower. She wrapped her freshly washed hair in a towel, put on fresh underwear and wrapped her dressing gown around her body.
When she arrived back in the room, she found Parvati and Lavender facing each other, sat on their neighbouring beds. Hermione was still in her pyjamas but getting her books for that day and putting them in her satchel. Lavender got up and grabbed her shower things as Ella moved towards her bed. She first put on her skirt underneath her dressing gown, then climbed onto her bed and pulled the hangings down as she took her dressing gown off, put on her shirt, and buttoned it up. She got out of bed and retied her bed hangings. She got out of bed and opened her trunk taking out all her books for the day and put them in her rucksack. Her watch said it was 7:30 and she had agreed to meet Neville at 8:15 so she still had the best part of an hour before she went to meet him.
She decided to write a letter to her family telling them the news of her sorting and what the hat had said. She told them about Neville and added a small bit about Ron, Hermione, and Harry. She signed it off with all her love then put it in her bag for when she eventually found either her owl, or the owlery. At this point it was 8:10 so she decided to put on her jumper, cloak, and tie, grab her rucksack, say bye to the girls and go down to meet Neville.
She saw him walk into the common room and sit on the armchair by the fire, just as she walked down the girl's staircase. "Hi Neville." She greeted him and fixed bit tie which he had managed to mess up spectacularly.
"Thanks. Never had to tie one of these before, it's a good thing you're here." He said giving her a small smile.
Ella blushed slightly at his words.
"You're welcome. Now, I think it is time we had breakfast, today's going to be a long day." Ella responded.
Just as she said it Neville's stomach rumbled making them both laugh.
"Do you remember the way to the hall?" Neville asked her.
"No. But I'm sure Sir Nicholas can help us or one of the other Gryffindors."
"Ok, let's ask them over there."
After bothering a few people for directions, they found themselves inside the Great Hall once again. They had never come in from this entrance and the room's beauty struck Ella all over again. Neville was stopped by Seamus and Dean about something in the dorm by the entrance, so Ella carried on to the Gryffindor table. On her way, she bumped into someone.
"I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking." She spoke.
"You weren't, were you? Sorry, that was rude" said the person "Scorpius Malfoy, nice to meet you." He offered her a handshake.
"Durelle Tonks. Nice to meet you too." She said taking his handshake.
"It's nice to meet you Druella, I'll see you around." and with a small smile and a nod of his head, he left before she could say anything else.
"So, you and Malfoy?" Lavender asked when she sat down.
"No! No! We are not even friends. Besides, he is... he is, my cousin!"
"Cousin! That explains why you look so similar. Well, if you don't go for him, I will."
"Umm... go for it! But he doesn't strike me as the sort that's interested in all that stuff" and decided to leave the conversation at that.
She turned round as Neville sat down on the bench next to her.
"What do we have first class?" he asked her.
"We haven't gotten our schedules yet. We'll get them soon I'm guessing." she replied.
He just nodded as he was cutting up his bacon and spooning baked beans on to his toast. When all the First years had eventually found the Great Hall and were sat down tucking into breakfast, they all had a bit of a shock as the birds flew in from the windows. This shocked the new students as they suddenly heard macxfe4wssive squawks and lots of wing flaps. She recognised her Dad's owl flying in and she rested on Ella's shoulder. She dipped her beak down and dropped a package in Ella's lap. Ella looked at the label and instantly recognised Dora's writing. She ripped the box open to find a box of Ted's signature brownies. She offered one to everyone with only Dean refusing one. She still had over two thirds of the brownies left and knew the box probably had an airtight spell on it so the brownies would keep for a while. McGonagall came round with everyone's schedules and wished them a good first day.
"Well, potions first!" she said to the other Gryffindors. There were no prefects or ghosts around so they just started walking in the direction of the dungeons and hoped someone would hope them when they got closer. They walked closer as a group of new Slytherins joined them from behind.
"Druella!" she heard a voice shout from behind.
"Hello Scorpius."
"Do you want us to show you the way to Snape's classroom? We found it earlier on the way towards the Great Hall."
"That would be great," she told him relieved, they would have been late if they carried on being lost and that was not the first impression Ella wanted to give. "Let me introduce you to my friends." he suggested. "Daphne Greengrass," he gestured to a blonde girl on his side. "Theodore Nott," an amazingly handsome boy near Scorpius flashed a smile that signs make most girls swoon." Tracy Davis," a tall girl with beautiful, slanted eyes, waved at them shyly." And Claire Flint." A girl with rich, dark skin.
Then Ella introduced the Gryffindors, "Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown," they all nodded or waved when their name was called." Seamus Finnegan, Hermione Granger and Dean Thomas" Ella noticed Scorpius narrowing his eyes at Hermione and Dean and raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at him.
Conversations crossed between the Gryffindors and Slytherins as they walked through the corridors to the dungeons. They stood outside the Potion's classroom door chatting amongst themselves loudly, when the door opened a hush spread rapidly." Come in," he said before moving to sit behind the desk. Once everyone had sat down, he took the register. He stopped when he came to Harry's name "Ah, yes. Harry Potter. Our new-celebrity." This made some of the Slytherins snigger and smirk but soon quietened down after the Gryffindor's sent them glares.
Then when it came to Ella's name, he looked up at her and fear momentarily flashed through his facial features before they quickly became neutral again.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he said in whisper, but they could hear every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I do not expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory and stopper death-if you aren't as bigger dunderheads as I usually teach." Silence followed his speech as if everyone were in awe of him-more like terrified Ella thought. Then, suddenly Snape was quizzing Potter for answers Ella only knew two of. Snape then made fun of Harry's fame which led to Harry suggesting, "I think Hermione knows, though, why don't you ask her." Ella joined on the chuckles at the witty comment. They ceased as soon as Snape barbed, "Sit Down!" at Hermione.
"Black!" he said whirling to face Ella.
"Black?" Ella questioned. She looked up to glare at him in the process and noticed both Draco Malfoy giving her a weird look.
"Tonks. I meant. Anyway, do you know the answers or are you just as simple as Potter."
"The answer to question one I do not know." Sanoe scoffed and opened his mouth to start speaking, no doubt a comment about how stupid she was.
"But the answer for Question 2 is that a bezoar is taken from the stomach of a goat. And for your third," she waited a moment for dramatic effect, "monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant."
Snape gave her a look of pure hate before he turned round to the rest of the stunned class-except Hermione, she looked annoyed she didn't get called on for the answer- "Well," Snape said in a dangerously low voice, "why aren't you writing any of that down. 5 points for your cheek, Potter. 1 point for your pure luck, Miss Tonks."
And from that moment Ella's gut told her one thing- Snape would either hate her forever or, he would tolerate her and respect her slightly. Things did not much improve for the Gryffindors from then on. They were put in pairs, Ella with Hermione. They were tasked with creating a potion to cure boils-simple enough for them, it was not for others. Snape had just been telling the class to look over at how Malfoy perfectly stewed his horned slugs when lots of green smoke and hissing filled the room. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus' cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class were standing on their chairs while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion, whined in agony as red boils erupted all over his body. Snape did not do anything, just shouted at him about his mistakes. He then instructed Seamus to take him to the Hospital Wing.
At the end of the lesson, Ella gathered her things and raced up to the seventh floor where she knew the Hospital things were. He was sitting on one of the beds and his boils had gone away. He walked over to him just as Madam Pomfrey told him, "You can leave now."
"Where too now then?" Neville asked her. "I've lost my timetable. Sorry!"
"It's fine, we have charms now."
And they set off there. They bumped into Percy Weasley who walked them there. The classroom door was already open when they walked their
"Come in." Flitwick squeaked. "I'll take the register now."
And for the first time-Ella noticed he was standing on a pile of books; he was still tiny.
"Good Morning!" Flitwick started after the register." Welcome to your charms class. I will be your charms class for at least the next five years. Charms is a difficult subject that requires precision and practice. To explain what charms are, you have to understand a few charms."
"Well, that's helpful" Ella muttered under her breath making Neville laugh.
"This year, we will learn many charms including the locking and unlocking charms, levitating charms and wand lighting charms. Charms is the very basis of magic; it also helps you show off your powers." He finished with a wink.
"I will put you in pairs and you will learn the proper wand movement and incantation for the wand-lighting charm. However, do not use the together yet."
He walked up and down the aisles putting everyone in pairs. "Mr Potter and ahh Ms Tonks."
Ella collected her things and moved them Ron Weasley's newly vacated seat.
"Nice to meet you properly. Harry Potter," he introduced himself.
"Ella Tonks. And don't worry I won't fangirl." She half-joked which made him sigh relieved, "do I strike you as a fangirl, Potter?" she teased.
"Not really, but you can never be sure."
"Well, we better get started, Lumos" and then she tried the wand movement. After repeating those words many more times and most of the lesson had passed, Flitwick walked over," Well, Ms Tonks, I think you're ready to try the spell."
"Really?" she asked excited.
"Yes, just remember to imagine the light emitting from your wand as you cast the charm."
"Lumos" she said clearly, her wand emitted a light from its tip which looked like a bright spotlight against the wall.
"Beautiful, I haven't seen a first attempt that powerful in years. You need to learn to alter it, control how much magic you are putting in the spell, think about the spell and how you say the words and do he movements. Do not worry if you do not get it straight away. We will spend a few lessons on this charm. Your magic seems very strong, so you need to learn to harness and control it. Carry on practicing Potter, practice makes perfect."
Ella could barely contain her shriek of glee at his praise. Her first spell and she had got it right first time! She knew Andi would have many letters this week. She made a note of what Flitwick had said on some parchment and added anything that she found made a difference in the spell. By the end of the lesson, only two others had managed to do it, Scorpius, and Hermione, though hers was the strongest.
She put her wand and notes in her bag and met up with Neville by the door. "Right, lunchtime! I'm starving what about you?" she asked him.
"Starving, let's go." He set off down the corridor, so Ella had to run to keep up." Wait up, Nev."
The smell of food hit Ella as soon as she set foot into the room. She sat down at the Gryffindor table, grabbed a cheese and onion pasty, a glass of pumpkin juice and tucked in. When they had finished lunch, Ella suggested they get a head start on their homework. They had to practice their wand-lighting charm and Ella wanted to have a look if there were any books too altering her charms' strength.
"Ugh, work. How do you have the energy to do more work?" Neville asks her.
"Only if it interests me. You'll have to drag me to the library when we have Potions' homework."
"I'll make sure to remember that." He remarked chuckling at her dramatics.
They finished dinner and headed to the library, she asked Madame Pince what she needed and was given three books which she was told were not too advanced but went in too enough detail that she would get the information she needed.
"Right, Defence Against the Dark Arts next." Ella directed because she was the only one with a timetable. "I don't know anything about this teacher because he's new to the school after going on a three-year trip to Hogwarts so Dora couldn't tell me much about him."
"Well, we'll have to see for ourselves. You're so lucky to have siblings."
"I'm lucky to have Dora, some people aren't as lucky and have horrible siblings." And they walked along the corridor in silence just trying to memorise their route.
"We have to go up this staircase, DADA is on the third floor." She instructed. When they got on the staircase it started moving in the opposite direction, they needed to go in, so they had to get off and wait five minutes until it moved to right place. They would have been early before but would now get there just in time if they ran.
The lesson turned out to out to be a joke and the smell of onions the classroom emitted lingered on them for hours after. Apparently, it was meant to smell like that to ward off a vampire he had met in Romania and was afraid it would come back to get him. A load of bull if you asked Ella. The class dragged by all he had done was tell stories.
And before Ella knew it, she was in History of Magic and attempting to make notes while Neville slept next to having stopped paying attention 10 minutes in. She made notes on Emeric the Evil, Uric the Oddball and the dates of important times in their lives which would help them with the 11-inch essay they had been set for homework. She knew she would end up helping Neville and probably most of the other Gryffindors, but she did not mind.
The bell finally rang meaning that the school day. "Nev." She said shaking his shoulder to wake him up." Neville wakes up."
"Wha-what. I fell asleep?"
"Yep, I took notes don't worry."
"Phew! You are a lifesaver. What homework have we gotten today?"
"Practicing the Lumos charm and writing an 11-inch essay for History of Magic."
"Ugh, off to the library then."
"Unfortunately."
They got to the library and got the books they needed about Emeric the Evil and the Elder Wand. Writing the essay was easy enough with Ella's notes about how he had been killed by Egbert the Egregious. It was already dark when they left the library, so they walked up to the common room to practice the spell. Neville practiced while Ella researched other light spells. There were three wand lighting spells in total: 'Lumos', 'Lumos Duo' and 'Lumos Solem'. It took her a while to perfect Lumos, but she got it and Neville had started producing small lights coming from his wand tip.
"Just imagine light coming from the tip of your wand." Ella instructed.
"Lumos!" he said firmly. And a bright light emitted from the tip of his wand.
"You got it!" she said excited, "You did so well."
"I got it. Thank you for helping me." Neville said gratefully.
"Carry on practicing so you can get it perfect."
"Sounds good, what time is it I'm hungry."
"It's 7:30. Dinner has ended, there's an hour left 'till curfew."
"Ugh, what do we do, I'm starving." Neville moaned.
"Starving?" said two voices behind them.
"Yes," she said, turning around to see the Weasley twins standing there.
"Well, we know where the kitchens are."
"Where?" Neville asked them.
"Have you seen that door a small way down the corridor from the Great Hall?" Fred asks them.
"Yeah, at least I think I have."
"Well," George started.
"You go through that door,"
"Down a twisting staircase" George picked up after his twin.
"Then the kitchen's right in front of you." Fred finished, "We'll take you there if you want."
"Please, that was confusing." Neville said looking confused.
So, the twins walked them there. They got there and asked if they had any food, House Elves came rushing to them with hot chocolate, gingerbread biscuits and ravioli packed in two baskets for them. "There's whipped cream and marshmallows in there if you want to add some. If any of your friends want anything just call 'Lottie' and I will come and see what they need. Leave the baskets in your common room, we'll collect them tonight." An elf (she guessed was called Lottie) told her.
"Thank you," Neville and Ella told them.
They grabbed the handles of the baskets and carried them up to the common room where they sat down on one of the squishy sofas and tucked into their baskets. They were joined by Seamus, Dean, Lavender and Parvati so they called Lottie who brought more biscuit and hot chocolate. Seamus still had to do his essay but finished it quickly with everyone helping him. They laughed and joked and for the first time Ella felt like she truly fit in. She loved her family but always felt like she was different to them, but she fit in and was one of these people, she loved it.
The week slowly progressed, and they had their new classes.
Tuesday started off with Charms and DADA. Charms went well and she got 5 house points for 'doing independent research'. DADA was as boring as it had been the day before. If it were going to be like this for the rest of the year, she would be brain dead soon enough. But to be honest: she pitied Professor Quirrell, he was so boring, so he probably was lonely and had no change in his life.
After Lunch they had Herbology for the first time. It was their first lesson with the Hufflepuffs, and she was looking forward to getting to know her sister's house. The greenhouses were big buildings with glass that created mini rainbows as the light shone through it. There were comfortable, wooden benches running round the edges of the building. Plants on shelves or on workbenches that were dotted around the room. They sat down on the workbenches and swivelled inwards to the middle of the room, away from the tables.
"Herbology is the study of magical and mundane plants and fungi, making it the wizarding equivalent to botany. In this class you will be learning about plants, how to look after them and how to use them in the real world. Plants are used in food, as medicines and in potions to name a few." She introduced her subject.
"Please get into partners before I introduce our first plant." She instructed and then added as an afterthought, "and try to partner with someone that's not in your house."
So, for what was like the tenth time this week (not really, it only felt like it) she gathered up her stuff, said goodbye to Neville then stood up. She was about to ask a girl with short brown hair when a tall boy with straight brown hair walked in front of her and asked if she was, "Looking for a partner?"
Funnily enough, I am." She replied giggling. GIGGLING? She had never giggled in her life.
"Well then," he threw her a charming smile, "would you like to be my partner?"
"That'd be great. Should we sit over there?" She asked him and pointed over to two seats on the table Neville was sat on with another Hufflepuff. They moved over to the table after Ernie agreed. Everyone was introduced and Neville's partner, Susan Bones was lovely. She always laughed at Ella's terrible jokes and they talked about family and parents. Ella could not help but miss her family, but she knew that she could chat with them through owl and floo if they really needed to. The lesson finished reasonably quickly, and they set off to their dorm rooms, everyone was given 30 minutes after Herbology.
The transfiguration classroom door was open when they arrived, so they walked in and sat in the classroom next to each other. As soon as they stepped into the classroom, they knew it would be different. The speech started after everyone had sat down," Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. Obviously, everyone was very impressed and could not wait to get started, but soon realised they were not going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. They made lots of notes and were given a match and attempting to turn it into a needle. "Acusignis! Hermione ended up being the only person to successfully transfigure her needle. So, Ella did the only logical thing to her. The library. She said bye to Neville and said she would see him at dinner.
There were not many tables being used so Ella picked the one in the middle- away from the door and close to the Transfiguration section. It must have been around 20 minutes after she sat down and spread her things out when she was interrupted out of her reading by a voice, "Sorry, Druella?"
"Yes?" she looked up "Oh, hello Scorpius. Would you like to sit down?"
"If you wouldn't mind." And sat down where Ella made a space for him.
"What are you working on?" Ella asked him after a few hours of reading that seemed to go by in minutes.
"Defence against the Dark Arts, the teacher is so incompetent."
"Tell me about it, do you mind if I work with you?" she asked him.
"Of course, I'm just going through the curriculum. First is learning the difference between the dark arts which is just theory, and you can do easily enough by reading a few books. Then you learn shield spells and carry on from there. Should we start, say next Tuesday?"
"OK, let me ask McGonagall if she knows a place we can practice."
"Sounds good. It's Dinner's just started, do you wanna walk down with me?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm starving like Marvin." She spoke.
"Starving like who?"
"Oh, it's this thing my Dad says. It always made me and my sister laugh."
"Oh, right your Dad's a mud- I mean muggleborn. Sorry I'm trying to get out of those habits."
"Right, well I'm ready to go down to the hall if you are." she said crisply but trying to keep an open mind.
At around midnight on Wednesday all the Gryffindor's walked up to the Astronomy tower for their lesson, they were standing on the Astronomy tower- telescopes in hand and excitement in their eyes.
They started off by labelling maps of the sky and their teacher pointed out different constellations until Ella's eyes were blurring with exhaustion. The Gryffindor's traipsed back to their common room and up to their dorms. She undressed and climbed into bed which must have been magically heated because it was the perfect temperature. Before long it was their last lesson of the week and they were on brooms getting ready to rise in the air… "1," Madame Hooch counted. "2," all of a sudden Neville was off the ground and rising shakily but speedily up. He crashed into a roof and with a thump he fell from his broom and straight onto the ground.
The Gryffindors ran to Neville with Ella leading and huddled around him," Mr Longbottom! Can you stand up?" Madame Hooch asked as she crouched down next to him. "Miss Tonks, would you escort Mr Longbottom to the hospital wing? You're not expected back in class after." Madame Hooch told her.
That night...
"Right so I got some cookies, I didn't know what kind you like so I got chocolate chip and these ones the house elves said were nice, honeycomb and white chocolate. I've got you a hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream and marshmallows 'cus who doesn't like whipped cream and marshmallows? If you need anything else tell me and I'll get it straight away..." she rambled on until she realised Neville had fallen asleep on the sofa with the fire dancing on his face and the jumper he wore. She picked up her quill and wrote her letter out for her Mum and Dad. She told them about Nev and how close they were getting, the other Gryffindors and how they welcomed her instantly. She didn't tell them about Scorpius or the other Slytherins or how Snape called her Black or what Draco had said on the train.
She signed off wishing everyone well and sending them all kisses.
As she settled into the sofa with Neville's soft snores in the background, she knew it was gonna be okay.
Little did she know what was coming..
I am so, so sorry this is so late, To be honest, I kind of forgot about this- do not get me wrong Ella's story has been floating around my head the whole time- but I just forgot to write it down. I kind of wasted my creative energy on Ella's storyline 3 years in the future – whoopsy! There will be one more (semi-)prologue which will span over Second year, the Summer of Second year and Third year. The next chapter will probably come out in a few weeks but the chapters after will have more regular intervals between releases. This doesn't sound like a lot but I am aiming for a chapter or two a month. I'm on summer holidays so I should be able to get ahead.
Anyway, please follow and review/comment and I'll hopefully see you all soon.
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