Teacher's Pet
George was greeted with another long corridor with many wooden doors on either side, each of them was numbered starting with one and probably ending at around thirty. He had no problem walking down the corridor and finding the door marked with the number thirteen which was written on a plack in silver.
Upon entering the dorm room, George noticed the room shared many of the characteristics found in the common room. The space was larger than average but cold in atmosphere. The room was round with a fireplace on the far side with two windows on either side of it, there was a rack for hanging clothes to dry next to the fire.
Just like in all the other house's dorm rooms, there were four-poster beds for each of the occupants along with a wardrobe and a cupboard. However, the Slytherin dorm differed from the other houses in their investment in high-quality materials and exceptional craftsmanship for each piece of furniture, everything had the same consistent shiny black finish with silver metal trim which reflected George's face like a mirror.
George could immediately tell which bed was his as it was the only one undisturbed. All the others were left messy from the night before. The other big giveaway was the owl in a cage that was constantly blinking in his direction, he was surprised to see that Blinkie hadn't been placed in the Owlery. Half of the duct tape had been chewed through, so he wasn't wrong to assume that bird would try to escape.
He checked his suitcase and found it looked in the same condition he had left it in. The charms protecting the suitcase, which he had asked Remus to apply, still hadn't been activated. When he opened his suitcase, all of his uniforms inside started to change colour. He also noticed that the uniform he was currently wearing had changed subtly since he had entered the room. His tie had turned green with the inner lining of his robe; the robe had also gained the Slytherin badge.
George decided to have a brief look around and try to work out who he was sharing the room with. He saw the trunks of the other students placed under their beds but that didn't restrict him from checking their name tags to see if he recognised them. Unfortunately, there was only one name that he recognised and it was Theodore's.
There was a scroll placed on George's bedside cabinet, he presume this had to be the timetable that Gemma had mentioned earlier. George picked the scroll up and unravelled it, the paper it was made of felt more like cloth and seemed hard to tear unless he tried to do it deliberately. It read;
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Student TimeTable
Name; George Linwood
Year; First
House; Slytherin
Head of House; Professor Snape
WEEK ONE:
MONDAY
Morning - Transfiguration - Professor McGonagall - Third-floor Room No; 34
Afternoon - Astronomy - Professor Sinistra - Seventh-floor Room 7A
TUESDAY
Morning - Herbology - Professor Sprout - Greenhouse One/Two
Afternoon - History of Magic - Professor Carrow - Third-floor Room No; 72
WEDNESDAY
Morning - Defence Against the Dark Arts - Professor Quirrell - Third-floor Room 3C
Afternoon -
THURSDAY
Morning - Charms - Professor Flitwick - Third-floor Room 2E
Afternoon -
FRIDAY
Morning - Potions - Professor Snape - Dungeon Room No; 5
Afternoon -
WEEK TWO:
MONDAY
Morning - Potions - Professor Snape - Dungeon Room No; 5
Afternoon -
TUESDAY
Morning - Defence Against the Dark Arts - Professor Quirrell - Third-floor Room 3C
Afternoon - Astronomy - Professor Sinistra - Seventh-floor Room 7A
WEDNESDAY
Morning - Transfiguration - Professor McGonagall - Third-floor Room No; 34
Afternoon - History of Magic - Professor Carrow - Third-floor Room No; 72
THURSDAY
Morning - Herbology - Professor Sprout - Greenhouse One/Two
Afternoon - Flying - Professor Hooch - Practice Field No; 2
FRIDAY
Morning - Charms - Professor Flitwick - Third-floor Room 2E
Afternoon -
NOTE: Astronomy Students may be asked to attend lessons at MIDNIGHT at their teacher's discretion.
The schedule was more generous for spare time than George had anticipated. The late afternoons would be free, which he assumed was intended to be used for study and personal research in the Library. George committed the timetable's content to memory and then placed it inside his pocket. He left his dorm and returned to the common room where he found Gemma still lying relaxed on the sofa and smiling to herself.
Gemma spotted George and looked surprised, "you've only been gone three minutes. Did you get lost or something? Do you need me to hold your hand and show you the way?"
George played along and pretended to be upset by her insinuation, he pursed his lips and crossed his arms.
"Of course I found it, the rooms are numbered after all. Do you think I'm that incompetent?"
Gemma seemed to be revelling in George's reaction, her smile only broadened at seeing his fake agitation toward her allegation. Then she gracefully got up from the sofa and walked up to George whilst holding out one hand, her fingers kept on wafting towards herself as if to hurry him along. He pulled out the timetable from his pocket and handed it over to Gemma, he waited patiently whilst she began to read it from top to bottom.
"I completely forgot how empty first-year timetables are, the school doesn't expect much from you. That being said, it's not the best timetable I have ever seen, you're going to have to be careful on Mondays. Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall have zero tolerance for late students and often make you pay for it by losing your break as punishment. Wednesday's look good though, I've heard that Professor Quirrell is a bit of a pushover so you can probably have a lie-in if you wanted to."
Gemma gave him the timetable back and rubbed her hands together, "we're gonna have to do the impossible so I hope you're ready. We have roughly half an hour to go to eight different corners of the school before the lunch break so we can't afford to mess around. It usually takes about five minutes to go from one classroom to another on average so we'll probably have to run to make up time."
The tour around the castle predominantly involved travelling up and down many flights of moving stairs which seem to take a heavy toll on Gemma. She was gasping for air by the time they reached the seventh floor. Due to a combination of Gemma slowing them down and getting lucky not running into Filch, they only just managed to reach the Great Hall for dinner with a minute to spare.
The atmosphere inside of the Great Hall had changed since the Sorting Hat Ceremony, the main difference being the room was practically empty. There was not a single student seated at any one of the four houses' tables, George and Gemma seemed to be the first ones to arrive. There were a couple of janitors dressed in similar clothing as Filch and a few professors seated at the teacher's table.
One of which George did recognise was Professor McGonagall. She was currently seated beside the headmaster's chair and was reading a copy of the daily prophet. George was aware that he had missed her class in the morning and felt it was in character for him to apologise for his absence, Gemma did say that McGonagall held punctuality in high regard. Speaking of which, Gemma was leaning against the large wooden door whilst panting for air.
George politely asked, "Miss Farley, can we go and see Professor McGonagall? I think I should apologise for being absent from her lesson this morning."
Gemma looked pained by what he'd said, "first of all, don't call me Miss Farley. You make me sound like my mother. I'm only sixteen, you know. Secondly, just give me a minute alright, I'm dying over here. I don't get how you're not tired."
Gemma started to take deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. After about twenty seconds, her breathing returned to normal. She walked over to George and gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder.
She looked at George with a suggestive smile, "you're smart for playing teacher's pet on day one. It's a good idea to work your way into some of the teacher's good books right from the start."
George acted confused after hearing Gemma's implication, "I don't know what you mean. I just wanted to check that I didn't miss anything in Professor McGonagall's class. What's wrong with that?"
Gemma's mischievous smile widened, "sure sure. I understand. You probably want to ask if there is any extra homework you can complete to help you catch up?"
Gemma was winking whilst nudging his shoulder with her elbow.
He decided to keep acting ignorant of her insinuation, "I don't see why not. Transfiguration seems like a fun subject anyway. A little extra work wouldn't be so bad."
Gemma's smirk didn't waiver, if anything, her confidence in his secret agenda seemed to grow with every word that left his mouth. She took the initiative to walk towards the teacher's desk whilst George timidly followed her from behind.
She stopped a few feet away from the table and called out politely, "Professor McGonagall, I hope I'm not interrupting your reading. George Linwood has asked me to inform you that he would like to discuss his absence from your lesson."
McGonagall lowered the newspaper and looked towards Gemma. She had one eyebrow slightly raised, but otherwise, her expression seemed to be one of indifference.
She folded the newspaper and placed it to one side, "and where would Mr Linwood happen to be at the moment?"
Gemma looked confused at first before she turned around and realised why McGonagall had asked that question. She saw that George was standing directly behind her which obscured him from McGonagall's view. She stepped to one side and both McGonagall and George's eyes met with a similar look of surprise.
Gemma spoke on his behalf, "sorry Professor McGonagall, George is just a little apprehensive after what happened yesterday. He's still feeling a little under the weather and may need a few…"
The aged professor raised her hand to interrupt Gemma.
Then McGonagall assumed a gentle smile as she asked George, "Madam Pomfrey has told me that you were under a great deal of stress yesterday. I have to say on behalf of the school that we're sorry we couldn't have been more proactive in noticing your condition deteriorating."
George stepped forward and waved his hands frantically, "no no no. It was all my fault, I should have said something but I kept it to myself. I am sorry for any inconvenience that I may of course during the Sorting Hat Ceremony."
McGonagall let out a light chuckle as her smile broadened on her face.
She told George, "you must be the first student in Hogwarts' history to apologise for having a stroke. To hold yourself accountable is absurd, I'll hear nothing more of it. Anywho, Miss Farley was just telling me that you wanted to ask some questions about today's Transfiguration lesson?"
George hurried to nod his head, "yes, Professor McGonagall. I wanted to ask you if I missed anything important during your Transfiguration lesson?"
McGonagall responded, "well, I'm very happy that you were brave enough to come to me in person and ask. Know that you can always feel comfortable coming to my office at any time of the day if you need something. You don't have to hesitate if it isn't related to Transfiguration, I will always try to help."
"To answer your question, in truth, you didn't miss anything too important. The class was predominantly summarising Transfiguration, you could ask another student to share their notes. I also conducted a few demonstrations to help everyone understand the basics, like this for example", she answered in a gentle and friendly manner.
McGonagall pulled out her wand from her robe and held it towards the pair of reading glasses she had taken off. Without saying a word, the wand glowed at the tip and the glasses expanded and changed form into a transparent glass goblet. George watch the magic transpire and excitedly pulled his wand out from his robe.
He held his wand over the newly created glass goblet and politely asked, "may I give it a try?"
McGonagall thought about his request before saying, "go ahead, but I must stress that Transfiguration magic isn't something a student can learn overnight. You shouldn't expect..."
She stopped mid-sentence as she watched his wand glow without him saying anything. Then a pure-red flame dripped down from the tip and suspended itself an inch from the bottom of the goblet. The light from the red flame glowed beautifully as it reflected through the goblet onto the surrounding table like a church's glass window. The flame continued to glow intensely as George put away his wand.
McGonagall picked the glass goblet up, held it close to her eyes, and looked back at George with a face of astonishment.
She appeared quite impressed, "that is some pretty advanced Conjuration magic you just demonstrated there, Mr Linwood. Did you learn that from your parents before you came to Hogwarts? I don't recall hearing of any Linwoods in the field of Transfiguration before."
George smiled as he corrected her, "that'll be because my adopted parents are muggles. I'd only been practising for a few months before I was even made aware that magic even existed."
If McGonagall was already surprised before George spoke, then now she was blown away. Her expression had frozen on her face as if her brain was struggling to comprehend the words he had just spoken. After a couple of seconds, McGonagall finally processed George's claim and looked to be barely controlling a giddy smile from forming on her face.
She cleared her throat before saying to George, "I don't think you're going to have a problem keeping up in my class. If anything, I fear you may be too advanced. Conjuration is a subject only taught to much older students."
George shook his head, "I fear that you have overestimated my abilities, Professor McGonagall. This is the pinnacle of my accomplishments in flame conjuration, I can do nothing more. I am probably below average when it comes to comprehending how to turn a pair of glasses into a goblet, my foundations in Transfiguration are non-existent."
McGonagall seemed to realise what George was trying to explain. Regardless, her happy expression seemed to not waver in the slightest.
"Do not underestimate your ability, Mr Linwood. I do not doubt that you will accomplish great things in the field of Transfiguration provided that you continue your studies and attend my classes. I'll be looking forward to seeing you in my next transfiguration lesson."
George nodded his head enthusiastically as he bowed and turned around to leave. He found a comfortable space at the end of the Slytherin table not too far from where he'd been seated the night before. At roughly the same time George sat down, some noisy older Slytherin students started to enter the hall in small groups.