I woke up later than anyone else. It was probably due to the fact that no one had bothered to wake me up, either purposefully or they just forgot.

    I trudged down the hall and awkwardly tried to creep in through the doors of the eating/meeting hall, only to find it nearly empty already. I sighed and dragged myself over to the Slytherin table, sitting on the unoccupied end and staring blankly at the empty plate in front of me. I took a sneak glance at the few other people clustered together at the same table; a few of them were staring at me, and the rest were trying to ignore me. I grabbed a waffle and stuck it in my mouth before leaving. I couldn’t eat with people staring at me.

    The halls were wide and empty. I reluctantly decided to walk around a bit before heading back to the dorms to get ready.

    I found a place to sit in some random hall near the Ravenclaw dorms. I had nothing to do. I hadn’t been given any instruction, and Jackson had been on no help the day before. I wondered if I could figure out some spells with my wand in the meantime. Since no one was around, I decided it was safe and that nothing bad could happen if I tried out a few spells on my own. I dimly remembered Jackson muttering a few things at home over his summer break; I knew he had to catch up a lot since he at everything but Quidditch. Let’s see, I thought, he learned how to make fire out of thin air. Well, what could go wrong?

    I tried to remember what he had said as he flicked his wand. Inchentio… Incentio… Incendio! I grinned evilly and looked around one last time to make sure I was truly alone before pulling out my wand. It was a medium-sized wand, a reddish brown with a gold tint. Accompanying the sinister black handle was a carving of a bird; its wings curling around the wand. I had no idea what kind of bird it was, but if I had to guess, I would have guessed a kind of eagle.

    Standing up confidently, I pointed the wand at the ceiling above me, whispered: “Incendio!” and flicked the wand just as I had seen Jackson do. What came was quite a surprise.

    A small ball of fire spurted out of the tip of my wand and began rolling it’s way towards the ceiling at an incredible speed. On instinct, I yelled, “AGUAMENTI!” and aggressively flicked my wand towards the fire, hoping it would douse it. Luckily, a small ball of water shot out of my want and quickly enveloped the ball of fire. I sighed in relief and sat back down. I decided that it was a good idea if I didn’t try anymore spells outside of class. I had no idea where the incantation for the water spell had come from, but I was just glad that I didn’t have a mess to clean up later.

    I grinned unexpectedly. Hadn’t Jackson said that it had taken about three months to learn it? Yeah, he had. I laughed to myself and put my wand away. I didn’t want to cause anymore trouble on the first day of school than I already had. I was probably late to something anyways.

    I rushed to the dorms with a new sense of urgency, quickly gathered everything I needed, then left with the same sense of urgency. I had just remembered that we had to meet someone for our schedules in five minutes, but it was at the other end of Hogwarts, so I was screwed. I contemplated stealing a broom from a broom closet but I didn’t know how to ride one. My first day, and I was already making a great impression.

    I rounded the last bend in the corridor and came upon the small group of students still waiting to receive their schedules. Luckily my last name was Wang, so I hoped that they were handing them out in alphabetical order. I heard them call out the last name Thomas, then Underwater, and I knew I was safe. Only a few names later and I heard my name called.

    “Izara Wang!” called out the teacher. The teacher had short blonde hair and a small scar the size of a single Yen coin, but shaped like a blur, just below his left eye. The scar looked like it had been burned by a small piece of ash that had caught his face. I couldn’t deny that he looked somewhat attractive. He looked positively evil, and I knew I would hate him the moment I saw him. He smirked at me as I approached.

    “Late, I see. Just as you were late waking up and getting to breakfast. I hope this does not become a habit, Wang.” So he had noticed me come late. I inwardly cringed. He looked like he was a sadistic person. What had Jackson called him? Oh, yes. This must be the teacher he called the school’s biggest . He was the head of the Slytherin house and taught potions. Jackson said it was common in history for the Slytherin heads to also teach potions. I remember he gave Jackson a zero on a potions test for accidentally dropping some of his on the ground. It hadn’t been dangerous or had any odd effects, but the teacher had still dropped his grade from a C to a D. I remember because Dad was pissed at Jackson until Jackson told him what had happened. Eventually his grade had returned to a C, but it had taken time. I didn’t remember the teacher’s real name, so I decided to just call him in my mind until I remembered.

    As I took the schedule from the , I nodded in answer and he rolled his eyes, then glared at me.

    “I know your brother. He’s quite the , isn’t he?” I didn’t know we could use language at Hogwarts. Probably only teachers could.

    I sighed and tried not to look too insubordinate. I just nodded in agreement, which gave him a satisfied look. It was true he was a but that was still rude.

    “You’d better not be one too. I don’t want to associate any of my house with the Gryffindor filth. They think they’re so much better than the rest of us, especially Slytherin, just because they had Potter.” I nodded again mutely. I knew it was a little bit true but not all of Gryffindors were that bad. He looked away down the hall for a moment, then back at me.

    “You’re going to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts,” he said darkly.

    “What?” I asked stupidly.

    “I can already see the resemblance with your brother,” the groaned.

    “Look at your classes. Goodbye,” he said, then began walking down the hallway away from me. I looked down at my schedule and nearly cried. My first class of the day was Defense Against the Dark arts, and it would begin in three minutes. I exasperatedly retraced my steps back in the direction I had come from. Luckily, the classroom was closer than my dorms.

    When I had arrived, I was only one minute late. The teacher wasn’t even there yet. I sat in an unoccupied desk at the back and looked around. The class was split into two, fourth-year Slytherins congregating on one side and fourth-year Skeletons and stuffed animals littered the classroom, a few live animals floating around in aquariums or flying in cages. It looked very interesting and I got a little excited. I loved animals, even if I might have been a little scared of some of them.

    The teacher took a while to come out, but when he did, everyone got excited. He stood at the front of the class and introduced himself.

    “Hello. I’m Harry Potter, and I will be substituting for your current teacher.” A few students looked sad when he said he was only the substitute for the class, but overall, the class was in a fairly good mood.

“Unfortunately, your current teacher is occupied at the moment. I was meant to give this lecture another day, but it has come today instead. I hope you all will not be disappointed,” Professor Potter continued. So, he’s the famous one, I thought. I wasn’t too interested because I knew nothing of wizard history, but I knew that he was important.

"Now, I'm going to need two volunteers for this lession. Any one?" he called. I just sat smiling in my seat as everyone else stood in their seats and started waving their hands wildly. there was no chance he would pick me-

"Alright, calm down, everyone. Kim, you, and..." Potter paused and looked around.

"Wang, is it? You too. Come on up, both of you." 

I froze.

Did he just call my name?