You're not lost on your own -- September 1987

It was the first day of classes and I had already been warned about everything that the potions maaster would do to us Gryffindors.  I was dreading it.  I wa sup in the common room making my way to th eportrait hole to head down to the dungeons.

I saw another first year -- I believe it was Percy Weasley, by the red hair -- getting around for class.  I caught up to him.  "Hey, your name's Percy right?" I asked, hoisting my bag on my shoulder a little better as we clambered through the hole.

I was slightly startled by the eagerness of this boy.  I could nto remember his name.  It did not surprise me that he remembered mine -- I was Bill an dCharlie's dorky little brother.  "Yeah," I said.  "I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."  I felt bad for not knowing since he knew mine.  It just seemed rude.

I smiled at him.  "I'm Oliver," I said.  "Can you introduce me to CHarlie?  I'm a huge quidditch fan."  Then I realized how I sounded.  "That's not why I'm talking to you, though.  I've driven everyone else insane with Quidditch talk... so I haven't made many friends yet."

I nodded, understanding completley.  I really had o idea why my brothers thought I woudl be fine.  I had to live up to them which was nearly impossible.  "Everyone expects me to be popular like Bill and Charlie," I told him.  "But I'm not.  Anyways, why are you following me?"

I chuckled at him.  "Potions," I reminded him.  "I figured we could walk together.  And at least we don't ahve it with the Slytherins.  Snape should be fair to us with being grouped with Hufflepuff first years."

I shook my head.  "I wouldn't count on it.  Bill and Charlie told me that no matter who you're with, he's evil towards Gryffindors," I explained.  It was going to be horrible, I knew.  But maybe not so bad as I expected since I seemed to be getting along with Oliver.

I groaned as we continued down the stairs to head towards the dungeons.  "We need to be partnered up down there.  It'd make it more tolerable though, right?" I said.

That would be really nice.  "Hopefully," I agreed.  We continued walking in some silence.  "What do you think we'll have to do in there?" I was worried he would start us off on something more advanced than it should be for the first day of classes just to embarrass us all.  Naturally, I read up on everything already, but what if he went way out of what I read from teh book?

I shrugged as we continued down the stairs.  "I hope nothing major.  I've only read the first couple of chapters.  So hopefully it's within those first two or I'll be wholly unprepared," I said.  I looked over at him as we got to the dank corridor for where the classroom was.  I hoped I would ot seem too nerdy to him for having read a couple chapters already.

"Well, I've read a lot more than that," I told Oliver.  "So I can help you if there's omething you haven't read yet."  We found seat together near the front and waited for the potions master.  When he came swooping in, I knew he meant business.  He started with just a little bit of lecture and then we got to pairing off to make a decently easy potion in my opinion.  "Did you read up on this one?" I asked Oliver.

I nodded at Percy.  "yeah," I answered.  We started to work on the potion.  We actually got along easily together.  No one really spoke during the entire class period.  If anyone did, then Snape would swoop in and sneer at everything you were doing.  I was grateful when the bell went off signaling the end of class.  We packed our things and escaped the dungeons as quickly as possible.  "Want to grab food before we head off to Herbology?" I inquired.  There was always food in the Great Hall.

"Sure," I said.  Today, thus far, had ot been entirely bad.  I was actually making a friend, I thought.  Or I hoped so.  There was no way I would start calling him that yet.  I did nto want to get my hopes up.  We walked into the hall quickly to eat before running our potions things upstairs so we did not have to lug our cauldrons to the greenhouses.  "We're going to have to figure something else out for our stuff," I said, panting slightly as we jogged across the grounds to the greenhouses.

I agreed, though we still were ot the last ones there.  "It's the first day of classes, so they should be somewhat lenient, right?" I asked, hoping that was the case.

I shook my head as we entered the greenhouse.  "My brothers told me they were strict about it," I warned in a whisper as Professor Sprout started to lecture us a little bit before we started to get our hands dirty.  I quickly realized that Herbology was my least favorite subject as I hated getting dirty like this.  It was ridiculous.