11A/N FINALLY got the fourth chapter up and I don't even have any excuses this time. Gosh. Anyway I apologise for being so slow but my head was suddenly graced with a field full of plot bunnies so chapter five will likely be up quicker than usual! Enjoy lovely readers:)
Transfiguration turned out to be very difficult. At least it seemed that way to Albus, Tulluah and Amy. Scorpius and Rosie didn't appear to have any trouble at all. In-fact, they were the only ones in the entire class who didn't get homework. Professor Sabri turned out to be and excellent and kind teacher even if he was a tad strict. At the end of the lesson Albus's needle still had a circular crimson head, Amy's was the perfect shape but still wooden and Tallulah's needle was entirely metal but still in the shape of a match stick.
When the bell rang the friends collected their things, walked outside and checked their timetables. It turned out they had defense against the dark arts with the Ravenclaws. The five friends followed the rest of the Gryffindor first years to the class room and every one including the teacher (a tall slim women named Professor Tammy) had just settled down when suddenly the door burst open and three flustered looking Ravenclaws tumbled in. "Sorry we're late Professor" blushed the girl in the middle "we got lost you se-" she began but was cut of when Tammy smiled gently and asked them not to let it happen again. The three girls took their seats right in front of the row where Albus, Scorpius, Rosie, Amy and Tallulah where sitting.
Albus was disappointed to find that this lesson was mostly theory work. He supposed Professor Tammy was ok but the the actual work was very tedious. However, Albus got on with it thinking that it would be worth it once he actually got to disarm somebody. The class was silent for a good twenty minutes until another interruption in the form a fifth year student knocking on the door with a rolled up bit of parchment appeared. Professor Tammy looked up and beckoned the fifth year towards her. She took the note from him, glanced at the note and promptly strode out of the room with a few brief instructions to stay quiet and keep working. The class instantly burst into chatter. Even Rosie and Scorpius stopped work for a minute and and for the first five minutes the class was only relatively noisy.
But time went on and Professor Tammy still hadn't returned. Just about everyone had finished the set work and the class was in general uproar. Students were out of their seats and leaning across desks. The noise was unbelievable. Albus, Rosie, Scorpius, Amy and Tallulah were all huddled together along with the three Ravenclaw girls from earlier. Albus found that all of them came from magical families except for Tina, a short girl of Asian decent with a cute face, dark fly-away hair and a bubbly personality that was almost infectious. The other girl's names were Lucy and Heather.
Albus found himself enjoying the three Ravenclaw's company more then he would have expected from complete strangers. It seemed to Albus that Lucy was much more than she appeared at first glance. Lucy was a slim, short girl with ivory skin, neat mahogany hair, large brown eyes and a cute button nose that hosted a small sprinkling of freckles. Overall Lucy looked completely harmless but upon talking to her Albus discovered a strong sense of justice, quick wit and polite sense of humor. He also detected a touch of cunningness and from then on decided to do his best not to displease the tiny Ravenclaw.
Heather's demeanor on the other hand, was slightly more analogous to her appearance. Heather was a quiet and gentle girl who moved with grace and spoke as if she carefully considered every word she said. Like Tina, Heather was Asian but whose frame was more willowy than plump and adorable. Heather had long undulating raven hair that was kept out of the way and over her shoulder in a lengthy side ponytail.
Albus found himself, Amy and Tina relaxing into a soothing conversation about Quidditch with Heather who happened to own an Aria Lux 5'900. Meanwhile, Tallulah, Scorpius and Rosie were having a very serious discussion with Lucy over magical politics. Tallulah was delighted to find that same-sex couples had been getting legally married in the wizarding world for decades (as she was the adopted daughter of two loving mothers) but was not-so-delighted to find that there was still a bit of prejudice of blood status left over from the war.
As even more time passed and Professor Tammy still hadn't returned, the new Gryffindors and Ravenclaws began to mingle and form small bonds that were the beginnings of friendship.
Unfortunately the now even larger group of eight were not the only ones making alliances of sorts. Albus nudged his cousin and looked pointedly at a collection of ratty looking boys lounging in the far corner of the room.
They appeared to be watching Albus's group while they muttered amongst themselves with furtive looks on their faces. All but one of them turned away when they noticed they had been caught. The one that kept staring had watery gray eyes with blond lashes that never seemed to blink. Bits of crust formed around the lids and heavy purple bags were present underneath them. Albus got a bit lost in the ugliness of them until he noticed the rest of the boy. His body was lumpy and out of proportion with long arms, stumpy legs and a bit of a stomach. His hair was a lanky and unkept shade of dirty blonde.
"He keeps on staring at Scorpius" whispered Rosie.
"Huh"? It was only till Rosie said it that Albus realized it was the truth. By now the rest of the group had began to notice the unwelcome staring as well. Tina, Lucy and Heather slipped back together, Rosie and Scorpius moved a bit closer to each other and Albus, Tallulah and Amy all stepped in front of the group.
"Can we help you"? Asked Albus cautiously. The boy opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the bell. This reminded Albus that Professor Tammy still hadn't returned. Huh. Anyway, Albus made to move towards him but the strange boy was out the door in a flash. The Gryffindors said a brief goodbye to their new Ravenclaw friends, stepped out of the classroom and made their way towards the great hall for lunch.
"Well, that was a weird lesson" blurted Scorpius. The girls muttered in agreement and Albus couldn't have agreed with the Malfoy more.