. 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

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CHAPTER 4 - SUSPICIONS - September 2, 2019

RED, ORANGE, AND YELLOW beams of light covered the walls of the dormitory as the sun rose. A single spring crocus, which Hana had put there herself, sat on the window sill, coated in a gentle yellow glaze. Hana's golden hair was tangled and littered across the sheets. She hesitantly opened her eyes as a loud beeping came from the side of her bed. She groaned and rolled over to turn off the alarm. She sighed and stared at the ceiling, contemplating if it was worth it to get up. She eventually realized that she had to meet Oliver, Elizabeth, and Linnea in the Great Hall, and sat up.

She looked around and saw that her roommates were already awake and getting ready for the day. She stood up and stretched a bit. "Well, sleeping beauty is finally awake." Her roommate, Lisa, chuckled. The others giggled and snickered. Lisa was the kind of person that, if you didn't know her, you'd think was a bully, but she was just severely sarcastic.

Hana walked over to the wardrobe, grabbed her clothes, and quickly changed in the bathroom. She quickly lathered on a layer of her pink lipgloss, and rushed out of the dormitory, to the Great Hall. About halfway there, she ran into someone's torso. Hana looked up to see a woman with incredibly pale skin, striking, curly red hair and blazing blue eyes. She immediately recognized her as Professor Walker, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The Professor's face was pulled into a scowl, clearly showing that she wasn't thrilled with a petite teenager running into her. "Watch where you're going, child!" She scolded with a menacing glance. "S-sorry, Professor..." Hana stuttered. As soon as she saw the woman turn around the corner, Hana scurried to the table to meet her friends.

When she arrived at the mostly-occupied Great Hall, she found Elizabeth and Oliver at the Gryffindor table. Hana plopped herself down next to the redhead. "Where's Linnea?" She asked as she sat down. "I thought maybe you would know, but maybe she'll show up later?" Elizabeth said with a shrug. "I hope she comes soon, breakfast is almost over-" As soon as Elizabeth finished her sentence, the group of friends saw Linnea sulk over toward the table in her typical poised, yet uninterested fashion. She then slid into the chair next to Oliver. The group just stared at her.

"What?" Linnea hissed irritably. "You're late! There's only 5 minutes left of breakfast!" Elizabeth yelled in shock. Linnea was the kind of person who was never late; She was always early, so you could imagine their surprise when after three years of knowing someone, they are late for once. "Where were you?" Elizabeth questioned. "That's...none of your business." The Slytherin mumbled. "None of my business?" The ginger laughed. "You were late. You're never late. Ever! Come on, tell us. Please? Just tell-" "That's ENOUGH!" Linnea snapped. The three others took a long and worried look at her. She quickly composed herself and cleared her throat. "I apologize. Could we please change the subject?" She murmured. "Okay, sorry." Elizabeth shrugged. After what felt like hours, Hana finally brought up a new topic.

"Well, since classes are just about to start, what are all of your schedules like?" She chirped. "Today, I have..." The Hufflepuff quickly took a sheet of paper out of her pocket and skimmed through it. After a few seconds, she finally announced, "History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and then Care of Magical Creatures! What about you, Olive?" Of course, he already had his schedule memorized. "Astronomy and Defense Against the Dark Arts in the morning, and then Potions and Care of Magical Creatures after lunch." Hana gasped excitedly. "Oh my gosh, we have two classes together!" She squealed. She turned her head toward Elizabeth. "What about you?" After a moment of trying to remember, she said, "I have Quidditch before breakfast, Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Ghoul Studies in the afternoon." Hana smiled, "All three of us have a class together!" She bounced in her seat, barely able to control her excitement. "Linnea?" She sighed and grumpily took out her schedule, but the three others were able to catch a small smirk. "Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts-" Before she could finish reading it, Hana jumped up and screamed in exhilaration and victory.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! We all have a class together! YAY!" Other students began to look confusingly at her, but she didn't seem to give a care in the world. Oliver, Elizabeth, and Linnea couldn't help but smile. "Ms. Nilsson!" A stern voice yelled from across the Great Hall. She looked in its direction and found the stern gaze of Professor Walker.

"No yelling!" She scolded. "Sit down! Five points from Hufflepuff!" Hana's face suddenly turned from euphoric to red cheeked and embarrassed. "Yes, Professor." She quietly sat back down on the bench as the other students began to giggle. As soon as she turned back toward the group, though, her face instantly lit up with a smile again. "We all have a class together!" She happily whispered. "How exciting!"

After a few more minutes of chatting, eating, and laughing, students began to exit the Great Hall to go to their first classes. Hana made sure to give all three of her friends a hug before they left. Oliver quickly grabbed his bag and walked off to Astronomy. Elizabeth scarfed down her last scotch egg, mumbled something about how boring Charms was, and reluctantly traipsed to her class. Linnea quickly grabbed a green apple, and rushed off to Transfiguration. Hana looked over to wave goodbye, and saw that Linnea was glancing around nervously and fidgeting with her hands as she walked off. Hana knew something was wrong.

Hana finally made it to Charms, only having the basic class supplies and textbooks of introductions and reviews. She was mainly just excited for Defense Against the Dark Arts; The last time they all had a class together, was History of Magic in their first year. It was a very boring class, but at least Hana had her new best friends. Of course in all her classes, she had friends. She made sure that everyone was her friend. It was hard at first, with some of the Slytherins not wanting anything to do with a first year Hufflepuff, but they all gave in eventually.

After catching up with some friends in Charms, it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hana had made her way to the classroom, talking to fellow Hufflepuff, Pierce Ansion, along the way. He was a first year student, and his next class happened to be a door down from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She said her goodbyes, and entered the classroom. Professor Walker had not yet arrived and students were talking amongst themselves. She spotted a familiar Slytherin and skipped her way over to her. "Hey Linnea!" She greeted "Olive and Liz are not here yet, huh?" "No, but I presume Oliver will arrive soon, I doubt Elizabeth will though." Linnea said, flatly. Hana hummed, sitting next to the brunette, kicking her feet under the table.

Oliver had soon arrived, saying his hellos, then going to the empty table behind them. The door had then burst open, startling everyone in the classroom, Hana nearly teared up from the surprise. "Open your books to page 78!" Professor Walker demanded as she stomped into the classroom. "What? But it's the first day, Professor." A Gryffindor pleaded. The red-headed woman looked over to the boy. "Do I look like I care? 10 points from Gryffindor!" She shouted, glaring. The other Gryffindors in the class groaned, already not liking the teacher.

The students quickly flipped to the page as the door opened again, revealing Elizabeth Williams. "Young lady, you are 7 minutes late!" The professor screeched. Elizabeth flinched. "10 more points from Gryffindor!" She shook her head. Elizabeth quietly walked over to the group of friends, and sat next to Oliver. The others looked at her in pity. "Hurry up, we don't have all day. Page 78!" The professor yelled.

After a while of Professor Walker dragging on about the death spells, class coming to an end. Students started putting their books away until the professor yelled, "Did I say you could put your things away?" "But professor, it's almost time to leave" A student interrupted. "That's too bad. You lot, in the back," She pointed at the four friends huddled together. "I saw you packing up first, detention, the four of you." Linnea and Oliver looked at her in disbelief and shock while Elizabeth and Hana just groaned, having been the only two in the group that had previously received detention. The four friends quickly grabbed their bags and left the classroom, Oliver and Linnea still trying to process what had just happened. Hana and Elizabeth both sighed and began to talk about this week's assignments.

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