A Journey At Hogwarts

IV. Devil's Snare

Warnings: Description of injury, plant violence 

Their next class after their break was Herbology. It was led by the plump and friendly Professor Sprout. She recognised Juniper immediately but not because of Jacob, well a little, but rather her mother. Professor Sprout raved about her mother being one of the best Herbology students she ever taught. Juniper was thankful that the first year only consisted of lectures and no practical classes. The girl feared that she was going to bitterly disappoint the teacher.

The last class afterwards was defence against the dark arts. Something that Juniper was a little more eager to learn from. This class could be of value to her and help her seek the fabled vaults to find her dear brother. To her disappointment and others, their teacher was lacklustre and only handed out textbooks for them to study from. The hour seemed to last a lifetime. Juniper almost took a kip to pass the time, but Rowan kept her awake to motivate her to study a little.

Lunch was hell; to put it into basic terms. Seating was hard to find and crowded with people. Rowan and Juniper did find a quiet spot at the Ravenclaw table. Well it was more like people moved away from the moment they saw the blue hair. Looking around, she noted how many already have formed their clicks.

"Hey, do you wanna head to the common room after this, it'll probably be quieter," Juniper said in a low voice.

"That sounds like a good idea," Rowan shared Juniper's sentiment, "I can get some studying done."

It amused Juniper that Rowan took her studying so seriously despite only having their first day. They gobbled their food quickly to get out of the busy hall and headed towards the Ravenclaw tower. As they passed the Gryffindor corridor, where the fat lady portrait hung at the end of the corridor, stood a boy with sandy hair and an anxious demeanour. Juniper recalled the boy from the boat yesterday. She tried to glance away quickly, but he caught her stare. Nervously, he walked toward the two Ravenclaw girls.

"You're Juniper Moss, right?" His voice cracked a little.

"Aye, the one and only," Juniper started, realising that she forgot his name, "And you are?"

"Ben Copper. I'm a first year like you," He fiddled with his fingers as he stared at the ground, "I just wanted to say thank you for standing up to Merula Synde."

Oh, it was about Merula. At least she and Rowan weren't the only ones that found her a thorn in their backsides.

"Wait? How you ken about that?" Juniper asked, hoping that he wasn't some random stalker.

"I'm pretty sure, it was only Juniper, Merula and I in the corridor. And Professor Snape came a little later," Rowan added.

Ben quickly glanced at them, "I was watching from the end of the corridor. I've been following her so can't sneak up on me, and if she sees me, I'll at least have a chance to run away."

Surely there was more to this. Merula seemed to only care about anyone who seemed to threaten her in status.

"What she do to you?" Juniper queried.

"She tormented me the entire way here on the Hogwarts Express. She kept threatening me, and calling me a mudblood."

Oh, that explains a lot more. Not all, but some Slytherins seemed to view themselves higher than any muggle-borns, though that's usually a small portion. Jacob told Juniper that most Slytherins were actually pretty chill, it was actually the Gryffindors that were the most problematic. He told her how this gang of Gryffindor boys calling themselves the Marauders would bully him and his friends.

"You know what a mudblood is, right?" Rowan cautiously asked.

Ben nodded, "It's an insult for someone who is a muggle born, that's what Charlie told me," He explained but quickly added, "Um, he's my roommate."