Instead of waking up to the sound of creaking stairs and a ticking clock, Noah awoke to the sound of silence, interrupted habitually by someone’s snoring. Replacing the warm sunlight that usually shone down on him from the window in his room, was the cold darkness of his chamber-like bed: an unfamiliar dampness made permanent by the surrounding curtains that still lay closed. Not only was the scent of coffee�” something his father and mother lived on�” gone, as well as the recognizable aroma of cleaning supplies and a good mopping, but instead Noah smelled nothing. Nothing to help him familiarize himself with the area or to let him remember the place.

Noah awoke to a silent, dark and damp, unfamiliar place with only the sound of birds chirping to confirm what he already knew was true: It was morning.

Stretching and letting a slight groan escape with his sigh, the boy sat up and pushed aside his velvet curtains�” the only barriers keeping him from the outside world. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes grudgingly, yawning slightly as he did so and slipped on his glasses to admire the room around him once again.

It had not changed much over the course of a night, not that he had expected it to. Dirty clothes, closed bed curtains and more snoring coming from an imperceptible source were the only things to greet him. There were indeed small rays of sunlight slanting in through the window closest to him and Noah stood to look out it and study his surroundings further.

A slight mist had settled upon the grounds during the night. Tops of trees, roofs of fellow buildings and only the sky above were left to view beyond the fog’s blanket. There was no more life or movement outside the window than there was inside the room Noah was stuck in.

Sighing from slight boredom and desperation, he turned to see the curtains surrounding Benjamin’s bed moving. A muffled thump could be heard behind the velvet walls and a moment later, a slight curse under the boy’s breath as he emerged clutching his head and scowling.

“Stupid head-board,” he muttered, glancing at Noah and then continuing on into the boys’ bathroom. Obviously the boy’s good mood had disappeared during the night.

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Noah turned to sit back upon his bed, opening his Defense Against the Dark Arts’ book: his first class for the day. Quietly, while waiting for his friend to return, he skimmed over the different spells and curses mentioned in the book along with the paragraphs of information accompanying each one.

He had never felt overwhelmed by a lot of text. Gradually over time he always managed to catch on and build understanding and knowledge at his own pace, which would end up being much faster than the teacher’s. They had always moved so slowly through their lessons in school. It was as if the teacher was stalling for the bell at the end of the day that set them all free.

A flush could be heard behind the wall and Benjamin emerged again, looking not quite as grumpy but still rubbing at his head all the same. Noah watched him make his way down the isle and sit upon the bed opposite him, getting comfortable before evening looking at Noah.

“’Morning,” he said sleepily, and yawned despite himself.

“Did you sleep well?” Noah asked, trying to make small talk as best he could. Yesterday the conversations had seemed to flow easily but now he felt as though he didn’t know what to say to his new friend.

Benjamin raised an eyebrow as if he saw right through the pathetic question and nodded slowly. “I suppose so. I have a large family back where I live in London so I’m not use to having my own bed to sleep in. That was a plus, I guess.”

Noah nodded, but not knowing what else to say simply returned to his book after a moment of silence, during which they both stared out the window which was frosting over.

“Did you dream of any blonds last night?” he heard Benjamin ask innocently, and though he knew that his friend wasn’t necessarily referring to Luna, that’s where his mind automatically went. Benjamin laughed as he sputtered for words and held up a hand to stop him. “I was kidding, Noah, geez. Don’t have a heart attack!”

He continued to snigger to himself while Noah pouted down at the page of his book. After another 10 minutes of silence, his stomach began to growl and he was still looking at the same page and the same sentence. Zechariahs still hadn’t woken up but other boys around them were beginning to wake and talk quietly amongst themselves, not bothered in the slightest by how late it appeared to be getting.

Benjamin on the other hand seemed to read Noah’s thoughts and groaned aloud, sitting up and clutching his stomach. “When is Zach going to wake up? I’m starving!”

“Do we have to wait on him?” Noah asked innocently, hoping his question didn’t seem too rude, or too bold. The boy across from him didn’t seem bothered by it at all though and in fact rolled his eyes, apparently wishing they didn’t.

“My mum and aunt made us promise before we left that we would stick together. Like there’s really going to be muggle gangs at Hogwarts, or something,” he said with a snort of disgust and another eye roll. “So yeah, we do have to wait for the sissy.”

“We could… always wake him up…” Noah said slowly, once again not sure how forward he seemed to Benjamin. A faint spark seemed to ignite in his eyes though and Benjamin smiled at the comment, sitting up straighter.

“You’re a genius, mate!” he cried, and then stared down at the floor in hard concentration. Noah didn’t understand why he was getting so excited about such a simple comment, but he accepted to compliment gladly and with a faint blush of pleasure. “But what could we do?” he muttered to himself, and Noah blinked in confusion.

“Usually, at least in the Muggle world” �” wince �” “We simply tap people on the shoulder or speak to them. Do wizards do it different?” he asked.

His friend snorted and shook his head. “Noah, have you never pulled a prank in your life?”

He shook his head, still confused.

“Well, it just so happens that right now I’m trying to think of a rather interesting way to wake my cousin up; just in case I need the extra kick to get me going later.” He winked at him and then went back to thinking, only to snap his fingers a moment later. “Got it!” he said confidently and stood up to come and sit by Noah.

“Ok,” he said in his ear. “Here’s the plan: I’ll go around to one side of the bed and you’ll go around to the other. When I mouth ‘Go’ we’ll both jump on the bed and hop up and down like crazy, screaming and ranting like bloody fools. Kay?”

He had spoken it so quickly that Noah couldn't help but stare at him with an open mouth glancing around at the other people in the room with a doubtful look. “But�”“ he started to protest. Benjamin covered his mouth and then patted him on the cheek.

“Don’t worry. It’s a piece of cake.”

Hopping casually off the bed and dragging Noah with him, he pulled them both over to the bed where Zechariahs slept and positioned his friend before the open flap on the far side. Then Benjamin moved to the other side of the bed before his own flap and mouthed silently through the opening, “1…”

Noah’s heart beat in his throat from the excitement of the simple, yet profound moment before him and he couldn’t help but grin, though he still had no clue what he was planning on doing.

“2… 3!” In one, sudden motion they both seemed to jump and fly through the flaps of curtains separating them from Zechariahs and simultaneously landing with a thud, freezing for an instant to see if they had woken him.

The boy before them stirred slightly, licked his lips and rolled over onto his back. Benjamin rolled his eyes as though his cousin’s reaction was pathetic and made movements that indicated that he would move closer and Noah should prepare to begin bouncing up and down. Noah nodded, licking his own lips nervously as though the simple motion of hopping on a mattress was something he had to think about.

Benjamin crawled cautiously closer and turned around to nod at Noah. With a fluttery sigh, he breathed deeply and jumped. The first thing he thought of as he flew upward in what felt like slow motion was that the ceiling might be closer than he thought. But as he came back down with a thud, Noah saw that indeed it wasn’t. Laughing, he crouched and sprung upward again, forgetting about the two boys below him as he simply enjoyed this new found pleasure.

Then, suddenly, there came a scream from below him that was shrill and short. Noah lost all concentration as he reached the height of his bounce, hitting his head upon the ceiling and falling rapidly back down. His landing was awkward from his still shocked state of mind, and before he had a chance to balance himself, he fell completely off the bed.

He was aware of someone laughing above him, while in the background another voice ranted a stream of cuss words. Noah glanced up to see Benjamin looking down at him, beaming and then wink at him. “That was brilliant. We should do it again sometim--” he whispered, unable to finish as he was yanked backwards by someone’s hand.

“What the bloody hell is wrong with you?” Noah heard Zechariahs yell, and he sat up to see what was going on. Benjamin was in a head lock, still laughing though in a slightly hoarser way while his cousin pinned him to the bed, slightly purple in the face from obvious anger. “Can’t a person sleep around here? Why does everyone always think I’m the bad influence? It’s so obvious you are!”

At that comment Benjamin gave another choked giggle and Zechariahs let him go with a sigh. “You’re hopeless…” he muttered, making a move to go lay back down. His cousin grabbed his arm, though, receiving a glare in the process.

“Oh, grow up,” Benjamin said. “Noah and I are hungry but we can’t go eat until you get your fat arse out of bed. Come on!”

“Fine,” the boy consented. “But you guys owe me!”

“Sure, Zach,” Benjamin agreed, following his cousin into the bathroom only to wink backwards at Noah.


Breakfast went almost exactly the same way it had the night before. Except that as Luna talked Noah’s ear off during the meal Benjamin would nudge him during certain parts, making it extremely difficult for Noah to pay attention or at least pretend to.

After that, all four of them set off for their first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Noah personally feeling confident and prepared. However, he left the class feeling confused and rather disappointed as the teacher had spent the entire hour talking about himself with a pathetic demonstration of magic at the end, “To show you first years how it’s done,” he had claimed.

All of the boys had agreed that the professor was obviously a conceited moron with no talent whatsoever, but the girls had left the class almost in a trance, giggling amongst themselves and paying no attention to the boys in the slightest. Zechariahs had gone from disliking the teacher to loathing him, which Benjamin has found somehow amusing.

Next was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, a class which Noah was less confident about since he had a hard time believing one could change the shape of an object into anything, using words and a stick. All of the first years seemed to enter the class hesitantly, taking their seats one by one. Noah somehow managed to end up sitting by Luna again, though a snigger behind him seemed to remove all confusion at once.

The bright eyed girl giggled next him childishly and felt the need to point out to him all the things decorating the room. Noah was on the verge of telling her that he could see just as well as she could, when the door behind them slammed shut and an elderly looking woman with a witch's hat atop her head strode to down the isle briskly.

Silence filled the air immediately and for a moment she said nothing, but simply stood there, seeming to study them all and giving Noah a chance to study her. Age lines creased her face in an elegant way and her very posture seemed to demand respect. Her chin was raised slightly, adding to her confident air and she stood with her hands clasped before her and her legs straight and stiff. At the last moment she locked eyes with him but the color of her iris' was obscured beneath her square-framed spectacles.

Then the moment was broken as she turned to walk behind her desk. She gently placed her finger tips on the wood beneath her, though Noah doubted she did it for support as she looked up once again.

"Welcome, First years, to Hogwarts," she began and Noah was surprised to see that she didn't even crack a smile.

They spent the first part of class simply taking roll and Professor McGonagall explaining the syllabus for the term. Noah found himself drawn to the woman and her unlimited knowledge in what she was teaching, as well as her obvious talent to lead. Her eyes seemed to catch every movement that happened around her, and every student in the room seemed to know without it being spoken that she was not someone to test.

"Please pay attention," her voice rang out and the sudden murmur among the students stopped as quickly as it had started a moment ago during her unexpected announcement. "Now, I know you probably weren't expecting a project to do during your first weeks of school, but to make it better I have assigned each of you a partner."

A kick came from underneath Noah's bench, distracting him for a moment from the feeling of dread growing in his stomach. He turned around and to watch his friend wiggle his eyebrows at him, and turned back around feeling a bit better. Usually school assignments didn't frighten him at all, but he wasn't use to this school and definitely didn't know where to begin looking for sources.

“Now,” Professor McGonagall said, a hint of irritation showing in her voice as the murmuring started again. “I'm placing the list up here on my desk. Table by table can come up to see who they've been paired with, but no complaining. Whining has never persuaded me to change my mind, so you can keep your comments to yourself until you leave my classroom and are out of ear-shot. I will not tolerate listening to that rubbish.”

Dead silence seemed to answer the challenge hidden beneath her words, and the older woman seemed satisfied enough with this response. Nodding, she moved to sit down behind her desk and �”eying the front left table above her square-framed spectacles�” she motioned for them to come up first.

Noah looked around to see that he was the second desk back on the right side. A feeling of anxiousness seemed to be growing in his stomach as he sat there, even though he was sure he and Benjamin had been placed together.

Luna sat calmly beside him, twirling a strand of hair around her finger with that familiar, vague look upon her face. As he looked at her, Noah realized that he had no idea who Luna would be paired with. Last he remembered, she didn't have many (if any) friends besides Benjamin and himself. A pang of guiltiness and pity seemed to sweep over him as Noah envisioned her working with some snobby 1st year who would make fun of her the entire time, and Luna �”simply being her innocent and naive self�” would be oblivious to it the entire time.

Noah (having also been picked on back in elementary school) felt a sudden way of protectiveness sweep over him for the girl beside him. Sure she was strange, annoying and a bit on the insane side in his mind, but simply from knowing her a few days he could tell that Luna was the kind of girl who only saw the good in people. Unlike the other kids his age that he had studied over the years, instead of judging and gossiping about the people around her, Luna simply saw their faults and their quirks and moved past them.

“Why is that?” he wondered as he sat there, watching a smile grow on her face as she continued to stare at nothing. Was she so desperate for love and acceptance that she accepted everyone in turn? Or had something happened to change her and mold her into how she was now? Remembering the day he had met her on the platform, Noah recalled that he seen her father but her mother had been nowhere in sight.

A pang of guilt rushed over him as he realized how alone she must truly feel, and just as Noah was moved enough by his newfound emotions to say something to her, Professor McGonagall's voice rang out through the room, calling the second row of tables to come to the front. As he walked up to the desk with Luna beside him, he couldn't help but glance at her only to find her staring back at him.

“You have lovely eyes,” she whispered with a giggle, flashing him a bright smile as she did so. Noah couldn't help but be caught off guard and Luna danced ahead of him, leaving him standing there and looking rather dazed and confused.

Blinking, he stepped up the Professor's desk in time to hear her saying, “Ah, Ms. Lovegood. Let's see here. Yes, it looks as though you'll be paired with a Mr. Wipple.”