Maybe it was the unfamiliar surroundings, or maybe she had eaten too much and the bed was too soft. Either way, Eliana slept deeply and did not open her eyes until 7:15 the next morning.
The moment she saw the time, Eliana scrambled out of bed.
I can't believe I got up this late. I went to sleep before ten last night!
Today's the first day of school!
I haven't even gone over my textbooks again!
Eliana, Eliana, how could you let yourself go like this?
Eliana rushed into the bathroom.
Eliana rushed out of the dormitory.
Across from her, Parvati muttered sleepily, "What on earth just shot out of here?"
Lavender did not even open her eyes. "Someone's giant black rat must've run into the wrong dormitory."
Eliana was already at the Gryffindor table, stuffing fried egg, mashed potatoes, and sausage into bread before making quick work of breakfast.
"We have Transfiguration Class this morning." She studied the timetable they had just been given. "I can still go over the details of the first chapter. Damn it, I know the words by heart, but I don't understand what some of them mean. It's because I've never encountered any of this before. I'm behind!"
She tugged anxiously at her hair. "Where's my notebook? My pen, my wand... good, I've got them all."
Having counted her supplies one by one like a general reviewing her troops, she declared, "Now, hurry back to the dormitory for the books!"
Eliana raced back to the dormitory, then hurried straight on toward the classroom.
True, she had no idea how to get there. But she could ask.
The portrait guarding the entrance to Gryffindor Tower was clever enough to be a gatekeeper. Surely the portraits in the corridors were not so stupid that they knew nothing about the place they were buried—no, the place they lived?
The portraits were enthusiastic, too, especially a young woman wearing a wreath. Eliana had merely glanced at her while passing, and the woman had followed her through other frames to keep chatting. By the time Eliana reached the second floor, she knew Dumbledore's underwear was red today.
Why did she need to know the color of Dumbledore's underwear? Could she sell that information for Galleons?
But Eliana loved to chatter.
The two talked all the way there. Sometimes other portraits joined in as she passed their frames, then followed along because they were not done talking. By the time she reached the Transfiguration classroom, a dozen portraits of all ages were crammed into the frame beside the door.
"What are you doing?"
The frame's usual occupant was a nineteenth-century sailor. Squashed against its edge, his face distorted, he cried in alarm, "Don't you have frames of your own? Has the drive to establish overseas colonies spread to portraits now?!"
"Oh, shut up, idiot. Do you think we're like you?" The wreath-wearing young woman took off her wreath and swatted him with it. Then she turned a dazzling smile on Eliana. "Well, sweetheart, this is where we leave you. Goodbye!"
"Goodbye!"
Eliana plunged into the Transfiguration classroom and looked around. Excellent. She was the first to arrive!
Triumphantly, she slapped her books onto the desk in the front row, directly opposite the teacher's podium. The bang was so loud that a cat's ears twitched above the podium, and its head popped up.
"Well, would you look at that. It really is a magic school." Eliana looked up at the tabby cat. "That cat looks sharper than Ron."
Perhaps she was imagining it, but the cat seemed to be giving her a stern look.
See? I knew this cat was smart. It even glares at students who don't start studying the moment they enter the classroom!
Eliana remembered that witches in stories usually had cats. Then she noticed that the markings around this cat's eyes looked almost exactly like Professor McGonagall's glasses. It all clicked.
This cat is a teaching assistant! The professor's using it to observe how students study between classes without anyone suspecting a thing!
For some reason, the tactic felt familiar, as though she had seen it many times before. But there had been no surveillance cameras in the orphanage classrooms. They had to ration the electricity for the lights, so where would they have found money for cameras?
Is it from my old memories?
Annoyed, Eliana punched herself in the head. Stupid brain, losing her memory over a little fever!
If you're going to forget, forget everything! Why keep dropping little scraps that make me curious when I can't figure out what they mean no matter how hard I think?
How is that any different from feeling like you need to poop, then sitting on the toilet and not being able to?
Eliana thumped her head with another punch. You're my brain. Don't think I can't deal with you!
She caught sight of the tabby cat's shocked expression and came to her senses.
You know teachers send little spies to secretly watch students between classes.
You know you're the only student here, and the little spy already has its eye on you.
If you're not going to put on a good show now, when will you? First impressions matter!
Eliana turned the pages of her book with affected delicacy, marked up the first chapter, then cleared her throat and recited it from beginning to end.
"I still remember what I studied over the summer, but maybe because I've never encountered this material before, there are lots of concepts I've memorized without really understanding. I'll have to pay close attention in class."
Eliana spoke to herself, then opened her notebook while stealing a glance from the corner of her eye.
Sure enough, the cat's whiskers twitched. It almost looked pleased.
Eliana tried to read the expression behind that furry face.
That's right. Nobody! Knows how to win over teachers! Better than I do!
Eliana proudly tipped her nose toward the ceiling.
After indulging in her triumph for a moment, she made herself stop and returned to her textbook.
When the bell rang, the cat leaped down from the podium and transformed into Professor McGonagall.
*!!!*
Eliana's eyes went wide. That's amazing! I want to learn it!
But Professor McGonagall did not teach them that.
Instead, she sternly went over the classroom rules: no disrupting the lesson, Transfiguration was extremely complex and dangerous, and so on. Eliana nodded vigorously at that last point. The chair Mrs. Brown had blown up could testify to it!
Perhaps because Eliana had said she did not understand the concepts before class, Professor McGonagall took care to explain each one while teaching the theory. Of course, they were still complicated and obscure, like a hopeless tangle of yarn, but at least everyone could begin to make out a loose end.
Eliana's confidence soared. It felt as if her brain had got it!
Professor McGonagall then gave everyone a matchstick and had them practice turning it into a needle.
Eliana ran through the theory in her head, recalling Professor McGonagall's explanation. Full of confidence, she flexed the wrist holding her wand. Ready—and with a bang, the matchstick flew into the air and caught fire.
Oh no. I blew up too many chestnuts before school started. I cast Little Firecracker as a warm-up on reflex.
She sheepishly went to Professor McGonagall for another matchstick.
This time, she did not dare try anything fancy. She silently repeated the spell twice to make certain she had it right, then copied the wand movement Professor McGonagall had demonstrated.
The familiar sensation rose within her. Warmth gathered in her body, then rushed down to her fingertips and burst from her wand.
The matchstick flickered and became a dull gray toothpick, as though it had been charred by an explosion.
That's not quite right. Damn it, that exploding matchstick got into my head!
Eliana pushed the image of the charred stick from her mind and drilled the right one into it instead. She wanted a silver needle, bright and gleaming and shiny... Oh, if only she could turn it into a little silver nugget.
She could not imagine how cheerful a little girl she would be then!
Eliana's mouth watered.
"Ah!"
Beside her, Neville grew so flustered when Professor McGonagall approached that he accidentally knocked his ink bottle to the floor. The loud crash made him spring up like a rabbit, bumping Ron, who had been secretly picking his nose, and sending him pitching forward.
The little snack Ron had loosened in his nose was about to fall out!
*!!!*
Eliana instinctively moved to poke Ron away with her wand, forgetting that she had already begun a spell and was nearing its end.
She heard Hermione scream. Little silver nuggets came tumbling out of Ron's nose, about to land on her.
Remembering what they had come from, Eliana's pupils shrank.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
She shouted the spell.
The silver nuggets halted in midair. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, they shot upward instead. Perhaps she had been too worked up when she cast the spell.
Bang, bang, bang, bang! One after another, they fired back toward their birthplace like cannonballs.
"Help!!!"
The silver nuggets rattled into Ron's nostrils. He managed one last wail before his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
Eliana lost one point for using transformed boogers to attack a classmate—no, for disrupting the lesson.
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