As I took my seat in Astronomy, I was a little confused about why this was a mandatory subject at Hogwarts. Don't get me wrong, it's a fascinating subject, but what are the practical needs to have ever wizard and witch study the movement of the stars and planets. It wasn't just studied here at Hogwarts either; it was studied at most institutions as well, Aunt Nefret told me that Astronomy classes at Uagadou were really advanced.

The class filled up with Ravenclaw and Slytherin students, sitting on either side was Roger and Anna. When the class started, a middle-age witch with dark hair introduced herself, "Good afternoon, I am Professor Aurora Sinistra. In this class, we will be studying the movement of the heavens.." As if sensing everyone's lack of enthusiasm for the subject, as there was no magic involved, she smirked knowingly and set a small glass globe down on the table.

Tapping the globe with her wand, it projected out an illusion of our solar system which filled the entire classroom. I looked wonderingly at the illusion; it had every planet, their respective moons, even the asteroid belt. Next to me was Jupiter, with its seventy-nine moons floating around it.

Seeing that she had captured the classes, attention Professor Sinistra continued, "As you can see, while there may be no magic done with our wands, we will be using magical items to study and track the heavens."

Ok, maybe this class won't be so bad after all, I thought to myself. After Astronomy classes, I headed to the Herbology classroom, which was in the giant greenhouses of Hogwarts. Out of all of my classes, Herbology was my least favorite, the class wasn't difficult, or anything and Professor Sprout was nice, But I couldn't get over the creepy feeling magical plants gave me. In my mind, plants should be still, not be able to move or even attack. Maybe it was from the nightmare experience I had in my Moms greenhouse when I was younger, but the study of magical plants, while interesting, wasn't my cup of tea.

The next day, was a class I was greatly excited about, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hopefully, there was a competent teacher, teaching the class this year. In the books, half the time, the teachers were incompetent.

As soon, as I walked into the class, I noticed, a fiery red-headed witch leaning against the table, a small scar running down her cheek, everything about her screamed danger, this was not a witch to underestimate. Her eyes met mine, and she briefly scanned me up and down to assess if I was a threat. after sitting down, I noticed she did the same thing to every student that walked in.

As soon as everyone was seated, she barked out "I am Professor Patricia Rathpick, I was invited to come and teach this year, and as I needed a break from curse breaking, I decided to accept the position."

Cedric and I made eye contact, both of us already impressed with her.

She went on, "Now, this class is all about teaching you how to defend yourself from all manner of beast and wizards alike." Pointing her wand towards the board at the front of the room, three words etched themselves out in descending order, Jinx, Hex, Curse.

"These are your primary forms of magic you will be defending yourselves. Let us begin with the most forgiving of the three. The jinx is the lowest form of malicious magic, with most effects being instant. A good example is a tripping jinx, it causes a person to trip and fall, but that is the end of it. Next up is the hex, the hex is often a longer-lasting spell, and while they are not as dangerous as most curses they are significantly more malicious than jinx, they also temporary, with some effects going on from minutes to days depending on the type and the amount of strength used when cast. Finally, curses are the most dangerous of the three types, some curses may be permanent. Now, not all curses are permanent, sometimes healers, or curse breakers, discover or create a counter curse which can reverse the effects of a curse. There is also a great deal of grey-area in all of this, I have seen some wizards refer to the same spell differently, these are just general guidelines."

There was a flurry of feather quills as the whole class was scribbling down her words as fast as they could. Near the end of the class, she said, "Now, one of the best defenses is to not let them be cast in the first place," Pointing towards a girl in the front she said, "Ms. River, up here if you please."

Nervous, the blond-headed girl got up and went to the front. Professor Rathpick said, "Good, now pull out your wand," Sandy River pulled out her wand and held it loosely by her side.

"Expelliarmus" Professor Rathpick softly chanted, a red beam of light hit Sandy's wand and it was gently pulled from her hand and flew across the room. Turning, Professor Rathpick faced the class and instructed, "As you can see, now that my opponent has lost their wand, they cannot cast a spell against, me. While this is one of the most basic defensive spells there is, it is still worthwhile learning. For the last 30 minutes, I want everyone to divide up into pairs and practice."

After all the chairs were pushed to the side, Cedric and I lined up against one another, I said, "You go first."

With a look of deep concentration of his face, Cedric pulled out his wand and pointed it towards me and said, "Expelliarmus."

Instantly, a scarlet red burst of light erupted from his wand and hit me, and my wand went flying across the room. Throughout the room, maybe 3 or 4 other succeed their first time. As Cedric retrieved my wand and through it my way, I mused to myself, that I shouldn't be surprised Cedric was able to easily cast the spell. In the Goblet of Fire, he was selected to represent the whole school, meaning he should be rather talented. As he threw me my wand, a grin appeared on my face and I chuckled, "My turn."

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"Expelliarmus" I ordered in a loud voice.

As Cedric was hit by a burst of light his whole arm was yanked up, almost like it was trying to detach itself from the body, his wand went shooting across the room. Glaring at me, I shot him an apologetic look.

Coming up behind me with Cedric's wand, Professor Rathpick said, "As you can see, you can put different amounts of energy into a spell. Although I am sure you didn't mean to overpower that spell, good job. However, the mark of true mastery is being able to control just how forceful your spell is, I have seen some masters cast that spell with enough force to throw someone across a room while disarming them or just barely disarm someone. Keep practicing, until you can control what level of force you project in your spell."

We continued practicing until the end of class, as I concentrating furiously on casting, I could tell that part of what controls the amount of force that is used is willpower, but reducing or increasing it on purpose was difficult and would need more practice.

After lunch was our flying class with Madam Hootch, as we all piled out to a wide-open field, there were numerous broomsticks on the ground. Seeing some of the nervous expression on some of the student's faces, I realized that for some, this would be their first time on a broom. This is where the wizards who grew up out in the countryside had a distinct advantage over those who lived in a city. Most of us who lived in the country had been flying on brooms for several years, whereas those who lived in the city often didn't have as much as a chance to fly because of the possibility of being seen. Even more worried looking were the few muggle-borns in our year. They looked nervously at the old tattered brooms, lying lifelessly on the ground.

Doing a terrible job at reassuring them Madam Hootch said, "Come on now, nothing to be afraid of, don't worry if you break a bone or something, Madam Pomfrey will fix you right up."

Hearing her words, did nothing to comfort those who were already nervous, if anything it made it worse. Madam Hootch scoffed at there concerns and said, "Now the first thing you need to do, is stand next to your brooms, and give the command, UP!"

I groaned to myself, this class was going to be boring, I have been flying since I was 5 years old, there should be a way for those who already know how to fly to test out of this class. I reached ove my broomr and lazily commanded, "Up."

The broom shot up, and I noticed that around half of the first years were able to do it on the first try. The class went quickly after that, we never even really got to fly, mainly we just hovered over the ground a few feet. Before I knew it, the class was over.

Later that night at 11, we headed to the astronomy tower with our telescopes. By the time we got everything set up and ready to scan the night sky, I was ready to fall asleep. However, once I looked through my magical telescope, I was amazed by what I saw. Looking at the moon, it was like it was only less than fifty feet away. I could see fine details, of the surface, it was incredible.

Looking at my brass telescope in wonder, I couldn't believe it was able to provide such detail on something that far away. Professor Sinistra had us identify and mark the planets in our solar system. By the time class ended, I realized that I was going to love this subject.

When I was younger, I asked my mom if wizards had ever been to the stars and she laughed and said, "No need to go there, not when we can see them so clearly." I had always been confused by that vague statement, but now I understood her meaning.

Shooting the sky one last glance, I wondered if it would be possible to travel to another planet with magic. Would magic even work on another planet? Shaking my head, that was a goal for another time, maybe when I was much older.

The rest of the week went by quickly and before I knew it, the weekend was here. Cedric and I met up on our way to great hall on Saturday morning, "Where are Anna and Alicia?" Cedric asked.

"They said they would meet us at the great hall," I replied.

As we made our way to the great hall, as we rounded a corner I saw Anna and Alicia being harassed by four older students, Alicia looked like she was about to breathe fire. As we got closer, the one who appeared to be the ringleader was lecturing Alicia. As the larger brown-haired kid sneered at her he said, "What the hell is a Gryffindor hanging with the likes of a little Slytherin? You need to learn, Gryffindors and Slytherins are not friends."

Puffing up in outrage, Alicia angrily retorted, "Shut up Whithorn, no one tells who I can and cannot spend time with." Giving him another look, she viciously added "Ya Gazma."

I froze upon hearing the name Whithorn, I knew Delvin Whithorn had a son named Micheal at Hogwarts, but that was all the information I was previously able to gather.

Deciding to interject myself into the conversation I drawled, "You know Alicia, I don't think you could have better described him if you had tried, ya gazma indeed."

Cedric and I joined Anna and Alicia. Micheal's eyes narrowed as he sensed he was being insulted but was unsure how. Deciding to enlighten him I said, "Ya Gazma, means that you're a shoe."

Micheal's face scrunched up in confusion.

Rolling my eyes I clarified, "It means that your scum, shoes are really dirty, and that's what you are, a shoe covered in shit. Do you understand, or are you so dumb you need me to further explain."

Michael's face turned red, and for a moment it seemed like he was unable to breathe. His hand shot to his robe and drew his wand when Professor Snape rounded the corner. He took in the scene of the four of us, being faced some older students, one who had his wand pointed at us.

With a malicious chuckle, "Tsk, Tsk." Professor Snape drawled, "Isn't this a sight Mr. Whithorn, pointing wands at first years. How brave of you, you must be the pride of Gryffindor house, which is known for its bravery. Twenty points from Gryffindor."

A black-haired kid next to Micheal sputtered and argued, "But they called him a shoe." Alicia smirked, and Micheal winced at his friend's protest, knowing that it would only make things worse.

A delighted look appeared on Professor Snape's face as if he couldn't be happier that one of Micheal's friends spoke up in defense of him. That will be twenty points each, Mr. Sullivan. Now get out of my sight before I put you in detention."

Micheal and his friends left quickly, as he left, Micheal shot me a dark look, promising revenge. Smirking at him I mouthed, anyplace, anytime.

In a small voice, Anna asked nervously, "Professor Snape, is it true, that Slytherins aren't friends with the other houses? "

Professor Snape's dark eyes bore into Anna's big lavender eyes. His face unreadable, he replied, "Why the hell would I care who you choose to associate yourself with? If you're so worried about what other people think of you, you won't make it far in life."

Turning to leave, he paused and called out, "Ms. Lancaster, many people seem to forget, that once upon a time, Slytherin and Gryffindor were the best of friends." With his black robes billowing behind him he strode away.

The rest of the day was filled with exploration, as we made our way through the castle exploring each floor.