The next morning, at breakfast, the topic turned to families. Dora and Eugine explained that their dad was Professor Longbottom, and that they lived just down the road in Hogsmeade.
"So are you a pure blood, then?" asked Millie?
"Nah, half blood," said Eugine. "But we don't really care either way. What about you?"
"Me? I'm pure blood," said Millie, "but like you, I don't really care about blood status. Mum wanted me to go to Durmstrang like dad did, but dad put his foot down. He said he wanted us to move to England, so I could attend Hogwarts, because he had great memories from the year he was here as a Triwizard champion. He did tell me that one boy died, but he made some great friends and never forgot the kindness Professor Dumbledore and the other teachers showed them all, how they welcomed them in. We have been in this country for about 5 years now."
"Do you like it here?" Orla asked.
"It's a lot colder here, especially in the winter, but everyone is so friendly," Millie replied, tucking into a large bacon sandwich.
"So what do you think we are doing today?" asked Orla. "Hopefully we will get our timetables soon." As she said this, the Gryffindor Head of House came round with the first years time tables.
"Thankyou Professor Pond," Rose said, as she got hers. "Ooh look, Transfiguration first. Come on, let's get going." She grabbed her bag and set off with her three friends to find classroom 1B.
By the end of the week, the first years had started to find their way around, feel comfortable in the castle and were starting to find their feet pretty well. The first lesson that following Monday was Flying, with Madam Hooch and the first year Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. Eugine and Albus were really excited. They had played on their parents broomsticks, but they were finally going to get in the air.
"Good morning, class," she said as she arrived. The students were lined up in two rows, facing each other, a broomstick lying on the floor in front of them. "Are we all ready? Good. Now, I want you to step forward and stand to the left side of your broom. Hover your right hand over the broom, and say 'up'."
The school brooms weren't the best, and the 40 eleven year olds weren't exactly confident, so there was alot of shouting and brooms half jumping up into the air. When Rose said "up", her broom jumped straight into her hand. Scorpius Malfoy, who was stood next to her, grinned, then called for his broom, which also jumped straight into his hand. Once everyone had their broom hovering in their hand, Madam Hooch spoke again.
"Now, I want you to gently kick off the ground when I blow the whistle, hover in the air for a few seconds and then touch back down on the ground. Ready? Three, two, one." She blew her whistle with a loud PEEP. As Eugine kicked off, he was a little too enthusiastic and shot 50 feet into the air, then straight back down. Madam Hooch went to check him over, but thankfully nothing was broken.
"Ooh, ooh, ok, you're fine. I remember your father doing that too," smiled their teacher.
Their next lesson was Herbology, with the Ravenclaws. Dora wasn't sure how she would do with her dad teaching the class, but she was still looking forward to seeing him. When they all arrived at Greenhouse One, Neville had already set up a practical lesson, learning about Dittany; its uses and how to care for it. Neville asked them all to get into groups of four, to work with the plant, so Dora and Rose ended up at a table with two Ravenclaws. The one with black hair introduced himself as Lee Chang and the blonde one introduced himself as Lorcan Lovegood. Neville tried to keep a professional head about it, but when it came to his only daughter, it was hard. He did manage to sneak few glances over at her though, and to his relief, she seemed to be enjoying herself.
By the time October came about, both Dora and Eugine were really pleased to be here at Hogwarts. They each had plenty of friends, they were well-liked and they were looking forward to watching their first game of Quidditch - partly because James Potter had made the house team this year as Seeker. They had even managed to work out how to get about the castle easier. They saw their dad every day aswell, but each of them had settled into a routine now, where they were teacher and student during weekdays, and father, son, and daughter at weekends and evenings. It suited them all.
