A Halliwell at Hogwarts: The Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter Love Story)

III - The Potion Master

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall kid with the red hair and the pretty girl with different eyes?"

"Wearing the glasses?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day and, as a consequence, also Persephone. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring, but it was clear that this attention bothered Harry.

"GET A LIFE!" she had snapped once in the hallway. From that moment people stopped murmuring, or at least they did in her presence.

Much to her dismay, Persephone discovered that neither her nor her two new friends had any sense of direction. Ghosts and portraits tried to help, but with Peeves the Poltergeist it was useless even trying to ask. He was rather annoying, but as long as he didn't set himself against Persephone, she didn't need to do anything to stop him.

That was his error, though. Once Persephone met him alone in the hallway and he tried to trip her, so she grabbed him from his ectoplasmic collar and threatened to exorcise him if he only dared to bother her again. Obviously, he didn't believe her at first, but things changed rapidly when she started to chant the words.

"A fool's ghost damages of this castle the grace, this witch's magic casts you out of this plac—".

She never get to finish her spell, because Peeves's screams bounced off the walls of the silent hallway. The spell was working, frightening the poltergeist to no end; and that was all she needed. There was no reason to get rid of the ghost — especially if Dumbledore had never bothered to do it before. Making him understand that she wasn't the right person to mess with was more than enough for her. Before letting him go she lowered her voice in a growl and said, "If you tell anybody about this, you know what will happen."

Peeves nodded his head frantically and zoomed away from her. Maybe the hat was right, she would've done good in Slytherin.

Even worse than Peeves — if that was possible — was the caretaker, Argus Filch. He and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were as annoying as the poltergeist, but he was human and a member of the staff, so there was little that Persephone could do against him.

Persephone thought that almost all her classes were amazing. She had Astronomy every Wednesday at midnight with Professor Sinistra. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout.

Without any doubt, the most boring class was, History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost, Professor Binns. Persephone didn't even try to stay awake after the first ten minutes. She let her head rest on her arms, ignoring completely the rambling of the ghost.

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.

Professor McGonagall was again different. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class. Persephone loved her.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again, leaving all very impressed. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Persephone and Hermione had managed to completely change the match into a needle; Professor McGonagall gave them a rare smile.