Chapter Four

The First Day

Luka wakes up to the sound of rustling and hushed voices. He opens his eyes to see the

dormitory flushed in even greener, but much brighter light than last night. Most of the boys in

the dormitory are awake, but a few still lay in their beds, covering their heads with their pillows

as the others try to kick them off their mattresses. Scorpius and Albus are sleepy-eyed and slowly

getting dressed, not talking to each other. Luka starts getting dressed, too. He packs his school

bag with all the books and supplies he needs, making sure his wand is in his robe pocket. He

follows the other boys out of the dormitory and into the common room, where most of the

students are already bustling about. It doesn’t take long for Luka to spot Dahlia, her golden hair

shining in the morning light. She’s talking to a girl with long, curly black hair. When she sees the

three boys, she says goodbye to the girl and walks over.

“Hey guys,” she says warmly. “Let’s go check our schedule.”

The four of them go to the board and see that they have Transfiguration first.

“Are you nervous?” Scorpius asks Dahlia quietly as they follow the other first years out

of the common room.

“About class?”

“Yeah.”

Dahlia looks at him.

“Yeah. I am. I think we all are.”

 “Okay good,” Scorpius breathes. Albus looks relieved, too, even though he doesn’t say

anything.

The first years climb the steps out of the dungeon, landing in the Entrance Hall, then

wind through even more halls. As they walk, Luka notices that people are staring at him. Then,

after determining that can’t be right, he realizes that it’s not ​him ​they’re staring at; it’s Albus.The

students whisper and point and some of them laugh. Luka wonders how they could be so

blatantly rude. Albus acts like he doesn’t notice, but the lack of blood in his face and the way his

eyes fall to his feet is rather conspicuous.

They turn another corner and finally stumble towards the Transfiguration room. “Thank

Merlin,” Dahlia says. “I thought we were going to get lost.”

The Transfiguration classroom is large and lively. Five rows of desks are precisely placed

in the center of the room, with plenty of space between them, but the edges of the room are busy

and crowded. There are cages hanging from the ceiling with exotic birds inside. The far wall is

lined with shelves covered with all sorts of strange objects. There are cabinets and drawers

everywhere, and small portraits quietly conversing. Standing in front of all the desks is a short,

dark-skinned woman with long, black hair hanging behind her head in a neat braid. She is

tapping a candlestick lightly with her wand, and each time the wood meets the brass, the

candlestick changes color.

When the room is full, the professor at the front of the room checks the clock and says

with a soft, bright voice, “Hello, students. I’m Professor Patil, Head of Ravenclaw House.

How’re you all doing this morning?”

 The class, even though many students seem tired, greet their professor eagerly. Everyone

is itching to do some magic.

“Good! Welcome to your Transfiguration class. Transfiguration is the magical discipline

of transforming one thing into another. It’s a very powerful form of magic, one that you should

all be excited to learn. But it’s also the trickiest, so I expect you all to work very hard in order to

develop your skills. Now, since I know all of you are dying to do some magic, we’ll begin using

a simple spell to turn matchsticks into needles. I don’t expect anyone to get this right today.

Right now, the goal is to learn the importance of a proper incantation and a precise wand

movement. You all contain magic within you, and just about all of you have seen it accidentally

at work at some point. But focusing magic through the instrument of a wand is more difficult

than you might imagine. Now the incantation here is ​Acufors. ​And the wand movement for this

spell is quite simple. Begin with your wand pointed slightly above the matchstick on your desk,

then bring it down to point at the matchstick. Do this in combination with the incantation, and

you should begin to get results. I will walk around and help each of you. You may begin.”

Luka pulls out his wand, points it at the match, and says the incantation. He feels the

magic running through his arm like when he first held his wand, but nothing happens. He tries

again and gets the same result. He looks around to see that no one else is having any luck, either.

As he looks, his eyes catch on Dahlia, her pale face pursed in a look of utmost concentration.

When Luka holds his wand, he can feel the subtle magic flowing into his hand. But looking at

Dahlia, it’s as if the magic lies in the focus of her deep-brown eyes, in the space that narrows

between her eyebrows, in the bite she makes in her lip. He tears his eyes away and attempts the

spell again.
 As the students continue their work, trying over and over again, Professor Patil gives

them tips on how to properly hold their wand, how to correctly pronounce the spell, how to

concentrate on their matchstick. By the time she announces that they only have five minutes left

in class, no one has transfigured anything, but they’ve definitely learned a lot about the

mechanics of magic. And then, Scorpius pipes up.

“Professor, am I doing this right?”

Scorpius calls Professor Patil to his desk, and she smiles when she sees his match.

“You are, Mr. Malfoy. It’s not a full transfiguration, but with more practice, you’ll get

there. I must say, I’m impressed. Five points to Slytherin.”

Scorpius beams, a little uncomfortable at the attention but obviously proud of himself.

Luka turns back to his match, but then notices the way Albus is glancing at Scorpius, a scowl on

his face. He purses his lips and swings his wand down with more force than ever.

There’s a cry, but it’s not Albus’. The girl that Dahlia was talking to this morning is

sitting in front of Albus. It takes Luka a moment to notice that the entire middle portion of her

long black hair is cut in a clean, straight line, leaving a rectangle of empty space on her back.

Albus’ eyes go wide and horrified, while the girl confusedly touches the back of her head and

screams.

“What? You cut my hair!”

“No, I didn’t mean to, I think my wand--”

“You think this is funny?” the girl demands. Albus just looks stunned.
 Professor Patil comes over to the table. At first, she looks concerned, peering at the place

where Albus cut the girl’s hair to make sure nothing worse happened. Once she realizes it really

was just the hair, the professor says, “Okay, Ms….”

“Arabella Armenius,” the girl says, annoyed.

“Ms. Armenius, it looks like it was an accident. Besides, it’s just the hair.”

“​Just ​the hair?! It’s my hair! The Potter boy cut it! Go figure.”

Professor Patil looks bothered by that last statement, but she says, “Not to worry. Class is

almost over, you can go to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing. She has a rather effective

hair-growing spell.”

“Can’t you do something about it?” the girl says.

“I could, but it’s not my place to cast spells on students. You may go.”

The girl beelines for the door, covering the gap in her hair with continued horror. Luka

looks over to see Albus leaning low in his chair and probably trying to think of a spell that could

turn him invisible. Unfortunately, Professor Patil looks at him anyways.

“It was an accident,” he says in a small voice.

“Yes, I understand, Mr. Potter. Accidents happen. But I do ask that you try to keep your

wand aimed away from… people.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Professor Patil walks away and mutters under her breath, “You’d think he’d be a little

more adept, having a father like his.”

It’s loud enough for Albus to hear it.

 ***

After Transfiguration, the first-year Slytherins go to History of Magic, which is way

more boring than Luka ever imagined it to be. The class itself is taught by a ghost with a droning

voice that could make anything sound insipid. Luka is thankful when the class finally ends and

he puts away the few lines of notes he was able to get down between periods of daydreaming.

He’s also thankful to hear everyone’s complaints mirroring his own thoughts as they leave the

classroom.

After History of Magic, they head towards the dungeons. They flood down the stony

steps that lead to the Slytherin common room, and walk through the same cold hallway, but then

make a right turn away from the common room and go down another hallway. Before they know

it, they’ve reached the Potions classroom. It’s a well-sized, stony room lit by torches lining the

walls and the pre-noon sun as it tries to peak in the through a few glass panes adjacent to the

ceiling. There are six tall desks positioned across the room with bottles, flasks, beakers, large

cauldrons, and ingredients gathered around the center. The far end of the room is carved out into

a circular corner, where ingredients, bottles, and books are sitting on shelves around a central

table. This is where Luka sees an exceedingly old, particularly stout man standing. The man

smiles when they enter, stretching his bushy white mustache across his face.

“Welcome, students! Welcome to Potions! Come in, come in. Make yourselves

comfortable; but don’t touch anything quite yet. Let’s wait for our dear Gryffindor class to

arrive.”
 Luka files in and takes one of the tables. Dahlia and Scorpius follow him, but Albus tries

to take a different table. Dahlia waves him over anyways, and he reluctantly stands next to Luka,

trying to avoid Scorpius’ eyes. It only takes a few more seconds for the Gryffindor class to walk

through the door, bustling quietly. Luka immediately spots Ardeo, who looks back at him with a

cocky smile. Luka turns to Albus, rolling his eyes, but sees that Albus’ attention is on the fiery

red-headed girl who Luka recognizes as his cousin Rose.

“Alright, let’s get started. I am Professor Slughorn, the Potions master. Now, you may

have heard a few myths about Potions before coming to this class. Some people believe that you

don’t end up using it in the real world. Well, I can say for a fact ​I ​use it everyday-- granted, I am

a potions ​teacher. ​Others challenge the idea that Potions is even magic at all! Of course, this is

just a myth, circulated by those not particularly predisposed to this branch of magic. But I can

​ agic. In fact, there is something far more magical about it than just its
assure you, Potions ​is m

classification, something you will only be able to discover for yourselves. But now! It’s time for

us to begin. I decided to start off class with something a little more hands-on than usual. So

today, we will learn about different types of cauldrons, beakers, and flasks, and how to properly

use them, and then we’ll put that knowledge to the test while we attempt to make ​Ceramedor, a​

potion for healing lacerations. I don’t expect any of you to make a perfect potion today. In fact,

I’m ready for the worst. But hopefully a practice potion will help you all familiarize yourselves

with the process. Now, let’s get started!”

For the next few minutes, Professor Slughorn goes over everything on the table, stating

its name and function. Usually, Luka would be bored, but the old man is so lively and amusing
that Luka pays attention the whole time. When he finally finishes the lecture, he writes the recipe

on the board and directs everybody to get started.

Luka starts immediately, following the directions step-by-step. He pours the first

ingredient in his cauldron, then lights it. He adds a second ingredient and brings the potion to a

boil. Then, he simmers it while he adds the third ingredient. He stirs for five minutes, first

slowly, then quickly, then counterclockwise. As he works, he realizes that he’s already

discovered the other magic Professor Slughorn was talking about. His potion simmers, the heat

warming his hands and face, and he robotically stirs as if it were his second nature. He doesn’t

even look up at Scorpius, Dahlia, or Albus until Dahlia says, “Wow, Luka. Good job. How did

you do that?”

Luka’s face burns, so he stands back from his potion. It still burns.

“Um, I don’t know. I just followed the instructions.”

Luka looks over at Dahlia’s potion, which looks a bit dull and goopy. Then he sees

Scorpius’, which is arguably just as beautiful as Luka’s. When he looks over to Albus, the boy

isn’t even looking at his potion, which has started to become viscous and off-color. Instead, his

head is turned to the table across the room where Rose sits, chatting with her tablemates and

grimacing down at her cauldron. Luka sees Rose look up. Albus whips his head away from her

and pretends to be busy with his potion. Rose’s eyes linger somberly on Albus, her lips tilted in a

frown. Luka almost wonders if she’s going to walk over to them, but she never does.

“What were you guys talking about?” asks Albus distractedly.

Dahlia opens her mouth to reply, but just then, Professor Slughorn glides towards their

table and lands between Albus and Luka, the top of his head only a few inches higher than theirs.
He’s close enough for Luka to see the deep lines in his face and smell sugar on his breath. The

professor leans towards Albus, glancing at his cauldron.

“Hello, Mr. Potter. I see your potion-making skills do not disappoint.”

“Oh. Thanks. It’s not great, Luka’s is--”

“Oh, no, dear boy, it’s wonderful for your first day. You know, your father was an

extraordinary Potion maker. I wonder if you have his gift.”

“I really don’t know, but--”

“Ah, I’m sure of it. Any boy with your genes is destined for greatness! Speaking of, I am

so pleased to have you in my house. I was sure that Professor Longbottom was going to snatch

you up into Gryffindor, but what a twist of fate! Anywho, it’s good to meet you, and keep going!

You’re doing great!”

Albus’ cheeks flush red and he looks apologetically at Luka as if to say, ​You deserved

​ uka notices Ardeo staring at Albus, eyebrows narrowed with jealousy at

that more than I did. L

the professor’s praise. Luka smirks.

And then Professor Slughorn stops and turns around to look at Luka.

“For the love of Merlin, my dear boy, is that your potion?”

Luka nods.

“Incredible! Impeccable! It’s rare that I see a first year brew such an exquisite potion.

What is your name, son?”

“I’m Luka Jones.”

“Ahh, I’ll have to remember that name. What natural talent you have. Five points to

Slytherin!”
 Professor Slughorn moves away from their table, but he keeps looking over, unable to

contain his joyous grin. Scorpius stares at him and whispers, “What a lunatic.”

Dahlia scoffs and whacks his arm.

“You’re just jealous that he didn’t notice your potion.”

“Well, if he had, maybe we would’ve gotten more points,” Scorpius grumbles.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll come to adore you.” Dahlia laughs.

Scorpius shakes his head, his eyes suddenly turning sad. “Not if I’m a Malfoy, he won’t.

I’ve heard that Slughorn only cares about names, connections. If he wants popularity, he’ll stay

away from Draco Malfoy’s kid.”

***

Lunch comes after a class period full of praise from Professor Slughorn and deadly,

jealous looks from Ardeo. The four students file into the dining room and sit at the Slytherin

table. They all pile their plates with sandwiches and salad and Dahlia speaks happily about the

morning. While she and the others talk, Luka opens his bag under the table and pulls out the

bottle of his own potion that Slughorn insisted he take. He rubs some of the viscous liquid onto

the open cut on his arm, which is healing more every day, but very slowly. The potion cools and

numbs his arm, and he feels the healing process hasten immediately.

“What are you doing?” Dahlia asks, looking under the table at Luka’s arm. He tries to

hide it, but Dahlia grabs his arm firmly. He swallows.

“What’s that?” she insists.

“Oh, nothing. Just a cut.”

“That’s horrible, Luka, how’d you get it?”

 “I tripped. In the forest,” Luka says, just like he told his parents.

“Oh. Well, it’d better heal soon, that looks awful. Maybe you can get the nurse Madam

Pomfrey to help.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Lunch passes quickly and before Luka knows it, he and the other first-year Slytherins are

filing into the bright, airy Defense Against the Dark Arts Room. A smiley, short black man

stands at the front of the classroom, dressed in bright orange robes, waving at the incoming

students.

“Welcome,” he says, “to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Take a seat, children, take a

seat.”

The students file in, Luka sitting at the front of the classroom (where there is only one

seat available). The other three sit in the row behind him.

“I am Professor Vanderway, Head of Hufflepuff house. If you all would, please take out

your books and turn to page seven. We’re going to be starting right away with some basic

defensive spells, and first we must learn the theory.”

Professor Vanderway lectures excitedly for the rest of class, referencing the book often

but also pulling out his own anecdotes and experiences to dramatize his ideas. He mentions

offhand that he was an Auror for a few years before coming a professor here, and when he says

this, his dark brown eyes linger on Luka.

“Well, that’s all for today. I know you all want to do some practical work, so tomorrow

we’ll finish chapter one and then we can start practicing wand movement. Until then.”
 The Slytherins head out of the room, including Albus, Dahlia, and Scorpius, but they stop

at the doorway when Professor Vanderway says to Luka, “Mr. Jones.” Luka stops and stands in

front of the professor’s desk.

“Professor?” he asks, wondering how he knew his name.

“Yes, Mr. Jones, I wanted to introduce myself personally. You see, I am a friend of your

father’s. He told me you’d be in my class”

“Oh. I didn’t know.”

“That’s understandable. Our friendship is somewhat old. We worked in the Auror

Department together, back in the day. I know he doesn’t share much about that time with you, I

wouldn’t expect you to know my name. That’s why I wanted to say hello. If there’s anything you

need, in or out of class, please do not hesitate to ask. I am always willing to help the son of my

good friend Damon.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Anytime. You may go, I wouldn’t want to make you late.”

Luka nods and the man and leaves with Albus, Dahlia, and Scorpius.

“What was that about?” Albus asks.

“He’s a friend of my dad’s. They were Aurors together.”

“You’re dad’s an Auror?” Albus asks.

“Not anymore,” Luka tells him. “Only when he lived here. Back in California, he was

just some sort of manager at MACUSA. I guess Professor Vanderway’s known him for a long

time.”
 The four students make their way to the last class of the day, Charms. Luka likes the class

from the minute it starts. The classroom is comfortable and bright, just like the teacher. Professor

Tearbolt is kind and soft-spoken, but has clear instructions. She welcomes all the students to

their first lesson and introduces the first charm they’re going to learn: the Levitation Charm. She

reads a passage from their textbook out loud and elaborates on the technique required to cast the

spell. Then, she directs everybody to try it themselves with a feather on their desk.

Luka clears his throat, grips his wand firmly, and waves his wand as directed while

saying, “Wingardium Leviosa.” He thinks he sees the feather move, but it doesn’t levitate. He

tries again, and the same thing happens.

“Try waving your wand more swiftly,” Scorpius says. Luka looks over at him to see him

pointing his wand at his feather, which is a foot above the desk in front of him. Luka gasps.

“Whoa, how did you do that?”

“I don’t know, I just did.”

Luka, fueled by his determination to do what Scorpius did, waves his wand again and

utters the incantation. He smiles when he sees the feather slowly rise a few inches off his desk.

“Good job, boys, keep going!” Professor Tearbolt says to them. Luka is disappointed that

the Gryffindor class isn’t with them; Ardeo would be even more jealous at their talent. But then,

he hears someone whispering behind him.

“Why is Malfoy so good at magic?”

The voice belongs to Nathan, another first year Slytherin.

“I don’t know, maybe his dad bought him a special wand or something. I hear their

family is super rich.”

 “Really? Even though the dad doesn’t have a job?”

“It’s all family money. They live off it.”

Nathan thinks.

“Huh. I wonder if he’s just trying to impress everyone to get over the reputation.”

“Probably.”

The conversation ends there, Luka and Scorpius having heard every word of it.

***

The day eventually ends with a deep sense of relief and exhaustion from the students.

Albus, Scorpius, Dahlia, and Luka all go down to the Slytherin common room together. Luka

finds its dim, green light and black sofas much homier than before, probably due to feeling so

drained. He collapses on one of the last available chairs, swinging his legs over the side and

sighing deeply. Scorpius sits across from him in another chair, while Dahlia and Albus settle at

one of the tables. All four of them are silent for a while, still tired and a bit overwhelmed from

their first day of classes. After a minute or so of sitting by the quietly crackling fire, Dahlia

breaks the silence.

“We should probably write to our families.”

Albus, who is curled up in his own chair staring bleakly into the fire, groans.

“No way, I can’t do that.”

“Oh, come on Albus, you have to,” Dahlia says.

“How am I going to tell them?”

 Albus’ voice breaks, as though he’s about to cry. Dahlia walks over and rubs his back.

“I can help you. We’ll write it together.”

Albus looks at her, and the reflection of the fire in his eyes is blurred by a layer of

anxious tears.

“I appreciate your help, Dahlia, but I really can’t do it tonight. I need to time to think. To

let it… sink in.”

“Okay. Just let me know if you need anything.”

She turns to Scorpius.

“You, however, should write to your mother.”

“As should you,” he smirks.

“I think I’m the only person here who could get away with ​not ​writing home. My dad is

probably away on a fake business trip, and I wouldn’t want to interrupt my mother’s drunken

rejoicing.”

“Maybe a letter from her daughter will sober her up,” Scorpius replies, not all worried or

surprised by Dahlia’s grim prediction of what her parents’ behavior.

“Well, alright. I have some parchment, let’s write.”

Luka’s letter isn’t too long. He talks about his first day of classes, tells them that he was

Sorted into Slytherin (which, luckily, he knows they won’t be bothered by). He asks them how

they’re doing in their new house, and if they like their new jobs. He doesn’t tell them about

Professor Horthwrite, though. Something about the man creeped him out, and he needs to

evaluate him before telling his parents.

 After writing their letters and deciding to send them in the morning, the group starts on

the homework they were assigned that day. It’s not much, but they’ve never done homework

before, and none of them like it much. Luka notices that Scorpius, instead of reading out of the

book assigned in History of Magic, is reading his own book. He catches Dahlia, instead of

practicing transfiguration, in conversation with one of the other first-year girls. And Albus barely

even pretends to be working. Instead, he continues to stare at the fire. The sight of him is pitiful.

And Luka, instead of finishing the Defense Against the Dark Arts chapter, pulls out the

map he found in Caligo’s house, studying it. For some reason, Luka thought that Hogwarts,

mysterious, knowledge-packed, and secret-riddled Hogwarts, would just randomly present him

with information that could lead him to Caligo. But he now understands how naive that was. He

has to work to understand what this map means. All he knows right now is that he and Caligo

lived together at one of the X’s on the map, and now he lives at another. For some reason, he

feels it’s likely that Caligo is here as well, but not at Hogwarts- he wasn’t in the Sorting.

Although, Caligo never intended to go to Ilvermorny, either. He was going to be homeschooled.

So it’s possible that Caligo is somewhere else in the country, waiting for Luka to find him,

waiting to explain why he did what he did in the forest.

“What’s that?”

Luka looks up, alarmed. He realizes that he’s been lost in thought for a while when he

sees the mostly-empty common room. Dahlia and Albus are gone. Scorpius sits across from him;

he’s the one who asked the question.

“Um, nothing,” Luka replies, quickly folding up the map.

“It’s not nothing, you’ve been staring at it for half an hour.”

 “It’s just a bit of parchment that I found.”

“It looked like a map.”

“It’s not a map.” Luka doesn’t know why he’s denying that.

“What’s so interesting about it?”

“Merlin, nothing is interesting about it, would you just mind your own business?”

Scorpius looks a little hurt, but turns back to his book, the one he’s reading for pleasure,

and ignores Luka when he gets up to go to his dormitory.