Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

this will be a remarkably short fic compared to the fanfic this is inspired off of.

(this section will be updated as the fic is updated!)

Part One

Time Period- Sorcerers/Philosopher's Stone

Chapters: 1-15

Part Two

Time Period- Chamber of Secrets

Chapters: 16-?

Part Three

Time Period- Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapters: ?-?

Part Four

Time Period- Goblet of Fire

Chapters: ?-?

Part Five (this will be the part with the most action in it, so stay tuned)

Time Period- Order of Phoenix

Chapters: ?-?

Part Six 

Time Period- Half-Blood Prince

Chapters: ?-?

Part Seven

Time Period- Deathly Hallows

Chapters: ?-?

Chapter Text

Uzi Doorman was far aware of the wizarding world. To say that she knew of it was an understatement- because her mother had been killed by Death Eaters, her father Khan had told her all about it. She had been dreaming about Hogwarts since she had learned about the famous wizarding school. Khan had said that it was paradise for even the most misbehaving magical child- Uzi could only hope that he would send her there soon as possible. Khan tolerated Uzi’s rebellious nature, but for how much longer? Today was her eleventh birthday, and she could only wait for the letter. Uzi scrambled all around the house while her father could only powerlessly sit on the couch. Khan wasn’t magical himself.

Knock, knock, knock. Someone was at the front door. “I’ll get it!” yelled her father as he got up from the couch and hurried to the door. It opened effortlessly, the well-oiled hinges a product of Khan’s obsession with doors.

A rich Scottish accent filled the air. “Good morning,” said the woman at the door. “I’m one of Hogwarts’ professors, and I’m here to discuss your daughter’s situation.”

“Sure-” Khan stammered. “Come in.” Uzi took a few cautious steps backwards as her father closed the door behind the woman.

“It’s nice to meet you…” Uzi said slowly, pronouncing each word carefully. “Here, we can sit at the living room table.” Khan raised an eyebrow at his daughter giving an order to an adult, but he followed them to the table.

“My name is Minerva McGonagall. Please, call me Ms. McGonagall.” McGonagall smiled, which only made Uzi more distrustful of the mysterious woman. “Your situation is unique as in that you’re a half-blood. If my sources are correct, you’re a half-blood, which means that you’re half magical, half Muggle.” Uzi blinked and might have rolled her eyes.

“I will perform a simple spell. You’ll be able to do the same thing soon, with enough practice at Hogwarts.” McGonagall muttered some words and cast a spell with her wand, words and motions that Uzi was too amazed to catch. She took a meaningful glance at her father and saw that he didn’t seem to match her amazement. Mum must have done magic like that in front of him for him to not be amazed.  

“This letter contains a list of all the supplies needed for your first Hogwarts year and much more. I strongly advise that you and your father both read it.” McGonagall had pulled out a letter and handed it to Uzi. Khan read it over her shoulder.

When they were both done, McGonagall spoke again. “Now we’ll teleport to Diagon Alley to purchase these supplies. Mr. Doorman and Uzi, are you familiar with the spell of Apparation?”

“Yes,” her father answered. “Nori used it quite a lot.”

“Teleportation?” Uzi asked excitedly. “You can do that?”

“Of course,” McGonagall responded pleasantly. “I suggest you pack some things and meet me back here in, say, a few minutes.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Uzi quickly said. “I’m already packed.”

 “Alright then. Fair warning, this is your first time, which makes you have a chance of vomiting. Best case scenario, you’re a little dizzy. Now if you’ll just join hands with me, Uzi…” McGonagall took Uzi’s reluctant hand in hers. “One, two, three…” She waved her wand and Uzi’s house disappeared around her as she began to feel dizzy.

Chapter Text

It was only a brief moment of nausea for Uzi until the world finally settled and she saw that she was in a room. “Where are we?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“The Leaky Caldron, where they let people Apparate in this side room that leads to Diagon Alley’s entrance. If you’ve recovered, shall we proceed?” Uzi hummed a reply and they marched forwards until they reached a seemingly insignificant wall.
“Past this wall is Diagon Alley,” explained McGonagall. She had her wand out again and tapped some bricks in a clockwise manner. The wall began to shift, rotating and then simply leaving a hole for McGonagall and Uzi to pass. They stepped out and the wall returned back to its original state.
Uzi let out a gasp. “Wow. It’s amazing.”
“Much better than the stories your father told you,” McGonagall agreed.
What appeared to be a wizarding cobblestoned shopping area was in front of Uzi. Wizards and witches passed by her as she and McGonagall walked.

“We’d better hurry,” the Hogwarts professor said. “We should buy the supplies- don’t worry I’ll pay for them- and a pet of your choice. Which pet would you prefer the most, toad, cat, or owl?”
“Owl?” Uzi awkwardly responded.
“Great, we’ll head to Eeylops Owl Emporium first.”
—
The so-called “Emporium” was relatively small and dark inside. The sign read: Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. Uzi pressed her face nearly an inch away from an owl in its cage. The advert above the many owls like it read: Screech owls are extremely agile and regularly feast on rabbits, voles, rats, mice and reptiles.
Sounds badass, Uzi thought. I think I’ll get one of them- but I’ll look at the others first.
She moved on to the barn owls. The Barn Owl is common in Europe and has an acute sense of hearing. Their binocular vision and superb directional hearing make brown owls great night hunters - rodents and voles beware, read the brown owls’ advert. Then she was observing the large snowy owls, whose piercing stares followed her all the way to the tawny owls’ cages.
Tawny owls have excellent hearing and are famous for their 'twit-twoo' call between females and males. In the end, she decided on her first choice, the screech owls. McGonagall patiently watched as Uzi walked over to a screech owl that had caught her eye.
“Hey there,” she murmured, checking the dangling sign on its cage. Male, it said. The owl had a mouse in his beak.
Thinking of a specific weapon in mind, she decided on a name. “Forty-Seven,” Uzi said.

Two minutes later, Uzi and Ms. McGonagall walked out of Eeylops Owl Emporium, Uzi carrying Seven’s cage beneath her right arm, the screech owl having finished his snack of a rabbit.
The next stop was a palace called Ollivanders, which McGonagall explained was a prestigious shop for wands. A magic wand… This was what Uzi had been really looking forward to. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that neither of the two sat on to wait. Uzi felt strangely as though she had entered a very strict library; she swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to her and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of her neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Uzi jumped with a hiss.
An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. “Who might you be?”
“Uzi Doorman,” she said. The man moved closer to her. Uzi wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.
To her relief, the old man’s attention switched to McGonagall.
"Minerva! Professor McGonagall! How nice to see you again.... 9 1⁄2 inches long, made of fir wood, and a dragon heartstring core, wasn't it?"
McGonagall smiled. “Yes, it was.”
“Elegant, refined and very powerful, just like its owner!” the man declared. Then he turned back to Uzi. He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Well, I'm left-handed," said Uzi.

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Uzi from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round her head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Doorman. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Uzi suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between her nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.
"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Miss Doorman. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."
Uzi took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of her hand almost at once.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try-" Uzi tried- but she had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.
"No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."
Uzi tried. And tried. She had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here
somewhere- I wonder, now- yes, why not - unusual combination- pine and dragon heartstring, ten inches, nice and supple."

Uzi took the wand. She felt a sudden warmth in her fingers. Uzi raised the wand above her head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. “-Holy hell!”

Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good.” He put Uzi’s wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Bravo..”

Professor McGonagall paid seven gold Galleons for her wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop. Uzi admired her sick-as-hell wand which she thought was much like a railgun.

Next, they headed to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, clear?" she said, when Uzi started to speak. "Got the lot here- another young woman being fitted up just now, in fact. "

In the back of the shop, a girl with brunette hair was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up her long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Uzi on a stool next to her, slipped a long robe over her head, and began to pin it to the right length.

"Hello," said the girl in a Russian accent, "Hogwarts, too?"
"Yes," said Uzi.
“Where are your parents?”
“My mother’s dead and my father’s a Muggle.”
“Oh. Mine are dead,” the girl answered. “They were magical.” Uzi decided not to press further.
Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Uzi hopped down from the footstool.
...I’ll see you at Hogwarts.” The girl seemed almost sad now.

The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Uzi and McGonagall made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Uzi didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; she didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the screech owl asleep in its cage on her lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Uzi only realized where they were when McGonagall tapped him on the shoulder.

She helped Uzi onto the train that would take her back to her father, then handed her an envelope.
"Your ticket for Hogwarts, " McGonagall said. "The school year starts first of September -King's Cross- it's all on your ticket. If you get any problems, send me a letter with your owl, he'll know where to find me. I hope to see you at Hogwarts, Uzi.”
The train pulled out of the station. Uzi wanted to watch McGonagall until she was out of sight; she rose in her seat and pressed her nose against the window, but she blinked and McGonagall had gone.

Chapter Text

Uzi’s last month with her father wasn’t fun. She did almost nothing except for the basic necessities while she waited for the first of September. Her father ignored her for the most part and Uzi inspected the faded paint in her bedroom while lying on her bed. She kept to her room with Seven for company, skimming through her new school books that were a little interesting. Every morning she let Seven out and went downstairs for breakfast. At lunch Seven returned with dead prey, clamped shut in his beak. When it was time to go to bed Uzi once again opened the window so Seven could swoop in and out of it as he pleased.  She counted down to September the first in the very last minutes she was awake.

On the last day of August she thought she'd better speak to her father about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so she went down to the living room where Khan was watching a carpentry show on television. Uzi cleared his throat to let him know she was there, and her father opened his eyes. “What is it?”

“I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to go to Hogwarts. Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" she asked.

Her father answered. “Of course.” Uzi supposed that he had realized that she would be off of his hands for a school year. 

“Thank you.” And she meant it this time. She didn’t want to admit it, but her father had done so much for her, especially because her mother was dead. Uzi walked up to him and gave him a hug. Then she went back upstairs.

Uzi woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. She got up and pulled on her jeans because she didn't want to walk into the station in her wizard's robes- she'd change on the train. She checked her Hogwarts list yet again to make sure she had everything he needed, saw that Forty-Seven was shut safely in his cage, and then paced the room, waiting for her father to get up. Two hours later, Uzi's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into Khan’s car, Seven was eating rabbit again, and they had set off.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uzi’s father dumped her trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for her. Uzi thought all was normal until they reached the platforms. Khan frowned. “Hold on- there’s no platform nine and three-quarters.” He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.

“But it’s on my ticket,” Uzi said, equally confused. They continued walking until her father apologized and said that he had to go and left.

At that moment a group of people passed just behind Uzi and she caught a few words of what they were saying.

"-packed with Muggles, of course-"

Uzi swung round. The speaker was an elegant woman who was talking to three children, all with black and light amber eyes that were almost yellow. Two of them were pushing a trunk like Uzi's in front of them- and they had animal companions. Heart hammering, Uzi pushed her cart after them. They stopped and so did she, just near enough to hear what they were saying.

“Nine and three-quarters,” continued the woman. 

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also dark-haired, who was holding the boy’s hand, "Mother, can't I go... " The girl had her hair in two twin tails, a big black bow, and a black dress.

"Be quiet, Cynthia. You're not old enough. All right, Josephine, you go first."

What looked like the oldest child, a girl, marched toward platforms nine and ten.

Uzi watched, careful not to blink in case she missed it- just as the girl reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, she went right through it like she was a ghost.

"Nathaniel, you next," the elegant woman said.

“Cyn, let go,” the boy said kindly. “I’ll be off now- be good, Cyn.” With that, Nathaniel marched off towards the barrier and walked through. He was taller than her by about a head or so.

"Excuse me," Uzi said to the woman.

"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Nathaniel's new, too."

"Yeah," said Uzi. "The thing is- the thing is, I don't know how to -"

"How to get onto the platform?" she said gently, and Uzi nodded.

"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now."

Uzi pushed her trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.

She started to walk toward it. People jostled her on their way to platforms nine and ten. Uzi walked more quickly. She was going to smash right into that barrier and then she'd be in trouble- leaning forward on her cart, she broke into a heavy run- the barrier was coming nearer and nearer- she wouldn't be able to stop- the cart was out of control- she was a foot away- she closed her eyes ready for the crash- It didn't come... she kept on running... she opened her eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. Uzi looked behind her and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. She had done it.

“Uh, wow, okay. Just gonna leave then! Cause this worked so weirdly well!” she said, talking to herself. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Uzi pushed her cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat.

She passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.

A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.

"Give us a look, Lee, go on."

The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.

Uzi pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. She put Seven inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. She tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice she dropped it painfully on her foot.

"Want a hand?" It was the boy she'd followed through the barrier.

"Yes, please," Uzi panted. With Nathaniel’s help, Uzi’s trunk was at last tucked away in a corner

of the compartment.

"Thanks," said Uzi, pushing her sweaty bangs out of her eyes.

They sat down next to the window where, half hidden, Uzi could watch the

dark-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. 

Uzi heard the little girl’s voice. “When will N be back? I miss him already…”

A whistle sounded. "Hurry up!" their mother said, and the final child, the oldest sibling, clambered onto the train. She leaned out of the window and uttered words to her mother, and her younger sister began to cry.

Chapter Text

The little girl whined another time before the train started moving. Houses flashed past the window. Uzi felt a great leap of excitement. She didn't know what she was going to do but it had to be better than what she was leaving behind.

"Wake up, idiot."
The oldest child and another girl were there. The other girl had black hair but didn’t look related to N- Uzi thought that she must have dyed it to fit in with what seemed to be her best friends. Or, at least Uzi thought that she was friendly with N and J. The new girl glared at her with sharp, piercing chestnut brown eyes. Normally people described more blue eyes as intimidating than brown eyes, but this girl’s gaze would seem hostile in any eye color.
"N, listen, we're going down the middle of the train- Lee Jordan's got a
giant tarantula down there,” the oldest child snarled.
"Right," mumbled N.
“Bite me!” Uzi grumbled.
“Huh? Oh god who are you?!” the new girl hissed. “Ew! What the hell are you?!”
“Hey, you,” the pig-tailed one said, facing Uzi with her hands on her hips. “Did we forget our introductions? I’m J and this is V.”
“The sad purple one lets us in, 'cause she has no friends,” V said. J slid the compartment door shut behind them and walked out.
“Hey! I heard that. Bite me!” Uzi snapped back.
V sat down next to N and sneered.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked N, who found Uzi just as interesting as Uzi found him, judging by how he was looking at Uzi’s Muggle-dyed purple hair.
“My family lives in a Muggle town- well, it’s just me and my dad now, my mother was killed by Death Eaters. My dad’s a Muggle handyman.”
"That’s… nevermind. I live in a haunted mansion. It’s probably just a mansion, but all the rooms have expensive furniture.”
"You said that you live in a Muggle town," said V. "What are they like?"
"My dad’s obsessed with doors- he could have done with marrying a door instead of my mum, I suppose. And the rest are decent, although the classmates I went to a school with teased me all the time. I wish I had siblings like you.”
"I only have two," N said. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the second child. J- Josephine- is my older sister and Cyn- Cynthia’s my younger sister.”
“Was she the one that was waving to you and J?” Uzi asked.
“Yes,” N confirmed. “She’s nicer than J. Most days J’s mean to me.”

It was then that Uzi suddenly noticed that there was a golden retriever puppy resting on N. “I didn’t know you could bring dogs to Hogwarts.”
N gave the dog a head scratch, which made it pleasantly bark. “They made an exception.”
“What’s its name?”
He answered, “Elkton. I’m only allowed to keep him until the winter holidays. After that, I have to bring him home.”
Suddenly, the dog got up and strolled into his lap. Uzi could see it more clearly now, and noticed its silky fur, which was clearly well taken care of. Elkton nuzzled Uzi’s hand, thankfully not leaving saliva behind.
“Did you see a certain Theodore Nott?” N quietly asked Uzi. “Tell him his cousin Nathan’s here.”

While N had been explaining Quidditch to Uzi, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past until V broke the silence with another discussion. She began on the topic of wizarding families. “My family’s one of the oldest,” she said proudly. “I live in Rowle Manor.” N joined in with knowledge about Death Eaters.
“They’re dangerous,” he clarified.
“Uh exactly. Shut up, N,” V hissed. “The Death Eaters kill everyone, and they’d pop your little head off!” She stated that part looking at Uzi. “So don’t mess with them!”
“You’re hiding something,” N said. “You’re being secretive again. What about-” He lowered his voice to a faint whisper. “Voldemort?”
“N! You suck!” V accused. She turned to Uzi. “He’s cuter when he’s smarter than this.” N blushed in embarrassment. There was more to V and N than what Uzi had thought, Uzi realized.

They talked about the Weasleys.
“Blood traitors,” N told Uzi. “I think they’re still pure-blood, but they interact with Muggles on a daily basis, or at least that’s what J told me.”
V sneered. “My mother said that they live in a dirt shack with no money and certainly no education.”
“If we avoid them we should be fine,” Uzi said. “If they’re really as awful as you say.”
“N’s made friends with rocks, by the way.” said V. “When he was younger.”

Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Uzi, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to her feet. She went out into the corridor. Uzi had never had much of an allowance, relying on her father instead, but N reassured her that he would be able to pay for what she’d buy. What the woman had were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Uzi had never seen in her life. Not wanting to miss anything, she got some of everything and N paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

N stared as Uzi brought it all back into the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.
"Hungry, are you?"
"Starving," said Uzi, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. “This tastes so good!” Her voice was muffled by the pasty.
V got up and snatched a Cauldron Cake from Uzi’s stock. “Mine!”
“Ugh! Bite me!” Uzi exclaimed.

N had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. Inside were exotic gourmet foods like caviar. V took a package similar to his but hers was more stylish and had pastries and cake.
“Sorry, I can’t share,” N quickly apologized, frowning. “Usually she packs a lot more.”
"Here, have a pasty," said Uzi, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with N and V, eating their way through all Uzi's pasties, cakes, and candies (the gourmet foods lay forgotten but not V’s desserts).

After they had eaten most of it, N rummaged through his trunk and pulled out a shiny, well taken-care-of wand. It had been polished and appeared to be of the highest quality. V smirked and brought out her own wand.
“Chestnut,” she told Uzi, hand over her chest and a smug expression.
Meanwhile, Uzi looked at her own wand, which was slightly less in quality.

She had just begun to show it to N and V when the compartment door slid open again.
The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was
already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. Oh no. Uzi recognized her.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one. Hermione’s spreading the word, but no one can seem to find it," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, light blonde hair, and rather unhappy-looking amber eyes.

"That’s weird and concerning," said V, but the girl wasn't listening, she was inspecting Uzi's face.

“Hey, aren’t you someone I know?” Lizzy asked.

Uzi gritted her teeth. “I’ve been in your class for years. All the way until now. It’s Uzi. Doorman.”

"Oh. Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." And Lizzy left.

This started a discussion between Uzi, N, and V on Hogwarts houses. Uzi preferred Ravenclaw; it seemed like all the students there were quiet. But she wouldn’t mind if she ended up in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor either. N would definitely be in Hufflepuff, and he thought his younger sister Cyn would be a Ravenclaw.

“What house is J in?” Uzi asked. “I think she’s a year older than you?”

“Slytherin. Wait- that’ll make them stay away from me!” he exclaimed. “Mum and Dad were in Slytherin too. I suppose they all think that I’ll be in Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff isn’t too bad, it’s better than Gryffindor. It’s where all the hard-working students end up. I’ll fit right in.” He flopped back into his seat.

V joined the conversation. “I’ll be in Slytherin. I don’t just think I’ll be in there- I know it! Being a prefect would be nice.”

N was explaining the concept of Quidditch to Uzi when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Lizzy Walton this time. Four boys entered..

The boy on the right looked at N and then Uzi. He had almost-white blonde hair and was pale. Uzi was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. "Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Uzi was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Draco’s eyes swiveled back to N. “Nott, is it? Tessa told me all about your family. You’ll be fine at Hogwarts, being a pure-blood. Can’t say much about that for the mudbloods, though.” He was
observing Uzi again. “What about you? Mudblood, half-blood, or pure-blood?”
Prepared for this question, Uzi answered, “Half-blood.” She didn’t want to explain more.
“So a half-blood,” Draco said with a sneer. “That’s alright in my family’s book. Shame you’re not a pure-blood.”

Chapter Text

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Uzi and N crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Uzi heard a big, booming voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Realization clicked in her mind. The Harry Potter N had told her about would be at Hogwarts?

The large man’s big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.
"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed the man down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Uzi thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," the man called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" the man called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Uzi and N were followed into their boat by Lizzy and Thad.
"Everyone in?" shouted the giant man, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled the man as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said the man, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after the man's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge oak front door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"
The man raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Uzi's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,' ' said the man.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Uzi could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right- the rest of the school must already be here- but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They
crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin
shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.”

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.”

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on a boy’s smudged nose.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber. Uzi swallowed.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" she asked N.
"Some sort of test, I think. That’s what J said. She refused to elaborate anymore.”

Then something happened that made Uzi jump about a foot in the air.

"What the-?"

Uzi gasped. So did the people around her. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.
Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to
Start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though her legs had turned to lead, Uzi got into line behind N, with V behind her, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Uzi had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Uzi looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. She wondered if the ceiling actually opened up to the heavens. Uzi quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and
extremely dirty. She noticed that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It
bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

N had been silent this whole time. Uzi thought that he was a bit overwhelmed by the theatrics.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to
be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Uzi saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin.
Uzi remembered being picked for teams during gym at her old school.
She had always been last to be chosen, not because she was no good, but because no one seemed to remember that she was in their class.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Uzi noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.

When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag." Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!" As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"
“The Harry Potter?"

Uzi herself whispered to N. “He looks so nervous.”
N whispered back. “I know.”

After a few more names, including a “Weasley, Ronald!” and a “Blume, Cressida!” there was a “Doorman, Uzi!”

Uzi scrambled up to the stool and sat on it. Before the hat dropped over her eyes, she saw bored-looking children and guessed that nobody really knew her yet except for maybe N. Next second she was looking at the black inside of the hat. She waited.

Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "Rebellious. Very rebellious. Clever, though. Where shall you go? Gryffindor or Ravenclaw?”

Ravenclaw, Uzi thought.

“But Ravenclaw would be too competitive for you, eh? The students there fight over grades and such.”

But Lizzy and Thad will be in Gryffindor! She protested.

“Why worry about your former classmates, eh? This isn’t a Muggle school, you know. But if you really insist… Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?”

RAVENCLAW! I TOLD YOU ALREADY- Uzi internally yelled.

“RAVENCLAW IT IS!”

Uzi heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. She took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Ravenclaw table. The other Ravenclaws cheered.

And now there were only three people left to be sorted. “Zabini, Blaise” became a Slytherin.
"Arbatova, Dorothy," became a Ravenclaw, joining Uzi at the Ravenclaw table. Uzi recognized her as the brunette girl from Madam Malkin’s shop. And then it was N's turn. He looked sick by now. Uzi drummed her fingers on the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Uzi clapped loudly with the rest as N collapsed into a chair. She looked around and saw that V was in Slytherin and was sitting next to J and that Draco boy.

Uzi looked down at her empty gold plate. She had only just realized how hungry he was. The food on the Hogwarts Express seemed ages ago. Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. “Welcome,” he said. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! “Thank you!” He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered.
Uzi checked her plate again and her mouth fell open. The dishes in front of her were now piled with food. She had never seen so many things she liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding… As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.

“I’m muggleborn,” said Cressida. “My parents nearly leapt out the window when my letter was delivered.” The others laughed.
“What about you, Uzi?” said Lisa Turpin.
“Well, I’m a half-blood,” Uzi responded. “My mum’s dead, killed by Death Eaters. My dad taught me about magic and I live in a Muggle town.”
On Uzi’s other side, Dorothy and Padma Patil were talking about lessons. At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
“Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of term notices to give you. “First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.” Dumbledore’s twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. “I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. “Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. “And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.”
“He’s not serious?” Uzi muttered to Cressida, or Cress as she liked to be called.
“Must be,” said Cress, frowning at Dumbledore.
“And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!” cried Dumbledore. Uzi noticed that the other teachers’ smiles had become rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. “Everyone pick their favorite tune,” said Dumbledore, “and off we go!”

And the school bellowed: “Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please, Whether we be old and bald Or young with scabby knees, Our heads could do with filling With some interesting stuff, For now they’re bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff, So teach us things worth knowing, Bring back what we’ve forgot, just do your best, we’ll do the rest, And learn until our brains all rot.”

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest. “Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!”

Chapter Text

The Ravenclaw first years followed Robert Hilliard the Prefect through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up a spiraling marble staircase. Uzi’s legs were like lead again, but only because she was so tired and full of food. She was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Robert led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries.

Finally, they reached a door without a doorknob or keyhole, but with a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Uzi dozed off while Robert might have answered a question, and she quickly jolted up when the door was open. She followed the rest of the first-years.

The Ravenclaw common room was a wide, circular room, airy and the definition of grace. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue- and-bronze silks: By day, the Ravenclaws would have a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars, which were echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. There were tables, chairs, and bookcases, and in a niche opposite the door stood a tall statue of white marble.

Robert turned to Uzi and the others and began to speak. “Congratulations! I'm Prefect Robert Hilliard, and I'm delighted to welcome you to Ravenclaw House. Our emblem is the eagle, which soars where others cannot climb; our house colors are blue and bronze, and our common room is found at the top of Ravenclaw Tower, behind a door with an enchanted knocker. The arched windows set into the walls of our circular common room look down at the school grounds: the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch and the Herbology gardens. No other house in the school has such stunning views.” He pointed to the windows.

“Without wishing to boast, this is the house where the cleverest witches and wizards live. Our founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, prized learning above all else – and so do we. Unlike the other houses, who all have concealed entrances to their common rooms, we don't need one. The door to our common room lies at the top of a tall, winding staircase. It has no handle, but an enchanted bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. When you rap on the door, this knocker will ask you a question, and if you can answer it correctly, you are allowed in. This simple barrier has kept out everyone but Ravenclaws for nearly a thousand years.” Robert gestured to the room.

“Some first-years are scared by having to answer the eagle's questions, but don’t worry. Ravenclaws learn quickly, and you’ll soon enjoy the challenges the door sets. It's not unusual to find twenty people standing outside the common room door, all trying to work out the answer to the day's question together. This is a great way to meet fellow Ravenclaws from other years, and to learn from them – although it is a bit annoying if you've forgotten your Quidditch robes and need to get in and out in a hurry. In fact, I'd advise you to triple-check your bag for everything you need before leaving Ravenclaw Tower.” Phew, Uzi thought.

“Another cool thing about Ravenclaw is that our people are the most individual – some might even call them eccentrics. But geniuses are often out of step with ordinary folk, and unlike some other houses we could mention, we think you've got the right to wear what you like, believe what you want, and say what you feel. We aren’t put off by people who march to a different tune; on the contrary, we value them!” The first-years, including Uzi, cheered at Robert’s statement.

“Speaking of eccentrics, you'll like our Head of house, Professor Filius Flitwick. People often underestimate him, because he’s really tiny (we think he's part elf, but we've never been rude enough to ask) and he's got a squeaky voice, but he's the best and most knowledgeable Charms master alive in the world today. His office door is always open to any Ravenclaw with a problem, and if you're in a real state he’ll get out these delicious little cupcakes he keeps in a tin in his desk drawer and make them do a little dance for you. In fact, it's worth pretending you're in a real state just to see them jive.”

“Ravenclaw house has an illustrious history. Most of the greatest wizarding inventors and innovators were in our house, including Perpetua Fancourt, the inventor of the lunascope, Laverne de Montmorency, a great pioneer of love potions, and Ignatia Wildsmith, the inventor of Floo powder. Famous Ravenclaw Ministers for Magic include Millicent Bagnold, who was in power on the night that Harry Potter survived the Dark Lord's curse, and defended the wizarding celebrations all over Britain with the words, ‘I assert our inalienable right to party. There was also Minister Lorcan McLaird, who was a quite brilliant wizard, but preferred to communicate by puffing smoke out of the end of his wand. Well, I did say we produce eccentrics. In fact, we are also the house that gave the wizarding world Uric the Oddball, who used a jellyfish for a hat. He's the punch line of a lot of wizarding jokes.”

“As for our relationship with the other three houses: well, you’ve probably heard about the Slytherins. They're not all bad, but you'd do well to be on your guard until you know them well. They've got a long house tradition of doing whatever it takes to win – so watch out, especially in Quidditch matches and exams. The Gryffindors are OK. If I had a criticism, I'd say Gryffindors tend to be show-offs. They're also much less tolerant than we are of people who are different; in fact, they've been known to make jokes about Ravenclaws who have developed an interest in levitation, or the possible magical uses of troll bogies, or ovomancy, which as you probably know, is a method of divination using eggs. Gryffindors haven't got our intellectual curiosity, whereas we've got no problem if you want to spend your days and nights cracking eggs in a corner of the common room and writing down your predictions according to the way the yolks fall. In fact, you'll probably find a few people to help you.”

“As for the Hufflepuffs, well, nobody could say they're not nice people. In fact, they're some of the nicest people in the school. Let's just say you needn’t worry too much about them when it comes to competition at exam time.
I think that's nearly everything. Oh yes, our house ghost is the Grey Lady. The rest of the school thinks she never speaks, but she'll talk to Ravenclaws. She's particularly useful if you're lost, or you've mislaid something. I'm sure you'll have a good night. Our dormitories are in turrets off the main tower; our four-poster beds are covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns and the sound of the wind whistling around the windows is very relaxing. And once again: well done on becoming a member of the cleverest, quirkiest and most interesting house at Hogwarts.” Uzi and the rest of the first-years cheered even louder.

And then they were scattered. Uzi followed Doll, who seemed to be friendly. Uzi knew she had to rely on her own skills, separated from N and V, but she also knew from her Muggle school that you should always have at least one ally. Robert directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with midnight blue, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed. 

Uzi rubbed her eyes and saw Doll on her phone, giggling and maybe texting. "What are you doing?" she hissed. Doll gave her a look and said something back in Russian. Uzi rolled over and fell asleep again. When she woke up the next day, last night had been so wild and extraordinary that Uzi could barely remember anything.

Chapter Text

“There, look,” N whispered when all three of them were back together and could get a good view of the very disoriented Harry Potter. From the moment Harry left his dormitory the next day, Uzi, N, and V joined the crowd of people lining up outside classrooms and stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. 

“Where?” Uzi asked.

“Next to the tall kid with the red hair,” V hissed. 

“Wearing the glasses?” said Uzi. “Oh, nevermind.”

“Did you see his face?” N said.

“Did you see his scar?” V said.

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn’t open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren’t really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and N was sure the coats of armor could walk.

The ghosts didn’t help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them gilded suddenly through a door you were trying to open. The Gray Lady pointed Ravenclaws in the right direction, although with a depressing tone, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, “GOT YOUR CONK!”

Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. V and J managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning. Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn’t believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.

Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp-like eyes just like Filch’s. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she’d whisk off for Filch, who’d appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins, Uzi had heard) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students, especially Uzi, all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick.

And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, Uzi quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words. 

They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. 

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 struggled to pronounce Doll's last name.

Professor McGonagall was again different. Uzi had been quite right to think she wasn’t a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class. “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. They were all very impressed and couldn’t wait to get started, but soon realized they weren’t going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. Apparently only V and one of Harry’s friends called Hermione Granger had successfully made any difference to their matches by the end of the lesson; V said that Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave her a rare smile. 

The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell’s lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he’d met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren’t sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Cress asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and Lisa Turpin insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.

Uzi was very relieved to find out that she wasn’t miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and some hadn’t had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like N didn’t have much of a head start.

Chapter Text

hey so ik i uploaded six chapters on the day i started this fic because i already wrote some of the fic on google docs
uh ill probably update throughout the week

I HAVE SOME EPIC CHARACTER ARCS PLANNED BE PREPARED

In the meantime, the theme song for this fic is Side Quest Song by Madeline Mei. Sorry if I'm breaking all the rules of Ao3-etiquette i joined like a day ago

Chapter Text

Friday was an important day for Uzi. She finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.

N gestured for her to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

“Can we do that?” Uzi asked. “Sitting at a different table that’s not your House’s?” N shrugged.

“It’s not encouraged by the teachers, as far as I know, but some students do it,” he said. “What have you got today?”

“History of Magic.”

“Yikes. I don’t want to be mean to Professor Binns, but the class he teaches is easily the most boring thing in the world.”

“I heard the Slytherins are having Potions with the Gryffindors,” Uzi said. “I don’t think V’s going to like that.”

“Chat group?” N asked, then he hesitated. “No. Wait. I don’t want to get in trouble. Plus, it cost my family a lot to get their hands on semi-Muggle technology.”

“It’s fine,” said Uzi, shoving more ultra-processed sugary cereal in her mouth. “V refuses to give me her phone number anyways.”

“Well, they say Professor Snape favors his House the most,” N said.

Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.

Seven hadn’t brought Uzi anything so far. He sometimes flew in to nibble her ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, he fluttered down between the marmalade and the salt dish and dropped a note onto Uzi’s plate. Uzi tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:

Dear Uzi,
Sup freak. Prepare to be popular. Tell Doll I said hi.
You look like garbage.
Lizzy

Uzi ripped the letter apart and let the pieces fall to the ground. She rolled her eyes. N didn’t say anything.

Chapter Text

V told them everything about the "incident" at dinner.

"Draco's been rambling on about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams. He keeps telling fake stories. Of course, I told him that he made all of that up and he acted offended. He said, 'That's only because you've never escaped Muggles in helicopters. What would you know?' I wanted to slap him." She scoffed. "Anyways, on Thursday it was the start of our first flying lesson with the Gryffindors. None of us were excited because Potter was going to be there, and we all knew how he had rejected Draco for that mudblood and blood traitor he wanted for friends."

N frowned. "It wasn't that bad, wasn't it?" V snorted. Uzi didn't get why her and N had to sit at the Slytherin table with V when V could have gone over to their House tables instead. At least N and her weren't Gryffindors.

"You think? I told everyone who would listen about my marvelous childhood full of zooming around in empty fields on a broomstick near the Notts' manor. N, have you thought about Quidditch yet? All the Slytherins are talking about trying out for the team, especially Malfoy."

"Not really," N said. "I know you don't want to try out because you don't want to play matches against Gryffindor. I'm a Hufflepuff, so I suppose our Quidditch team's first match would be against Ravenclaw. What about you, Uzi?" The height difference was visible as N turned around to face her, a head taller.

"I don't care about whatever this stupid Quidditch thing is," she snapped. "What's the quickest way I can break into the Restricted Section of the library?"

N and V exchanged looks. "Books?" V said. She gave a sharp laugh. "Seriously? That's so lame. Hogwarts has Quidditch and secret passageways and you care about books we're not allowed to read?"

Uzi shot her a glare. "Fine, I guess I'll go through all the secret passageways." In the background, Draco was harassing that Harry Potter again.

V continued her story. "So then this Neville kid- he has a brain the size of the Golden Snitch- he fails pathetically a couple of times and gets shoved into the grass from his broomstick. After Madam Hooch brings him out of the lesson for injuries, Draco says, 'Did you see his face, the great lump?' and we all start laughing so much our sides hurt. Then this random Gryffindor girl yells at Draco to shut up, so Pansy says, 'Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought you’d like fat little crybabies, Parvati.' And while Pansy is doing that, Draco picks up the stupid plaything Neville's gran sent him, the Remembrall. He says he'll stick it up a tree or something along the lines of that, and flies off on his broom. Potter follows him and the two have a fight in midair. Draco threatens to throw it down, and he does, but Potter catches it in time."

"Then McGonagall is on us, tracking our every move." V rolled her eyes. "She steals Potter away for some time and after she brings him back, he's the happiest I've ever seen him."

"I wonder what happened," N said, furiously shoving pie into his mouth.

"It's obvious," Uzi said. "McGonagall is going to punish Draco."

V scoffed. "I'll find out sooner or later by school rumor."

"Where's Draco gone to?" N asked, looking around. "Oh. Never mind. He's at the Gryffindor table, talking to Harry."

"The Hogwarts celebrity," Uzi muttered.

"Forget Potter, I want to punch that pathetic mudblood of his so badly!" V exclaimed. "She's such a know-it-all! I could tell you about what happened in Potions with the Gryffindors- Hermione would have answered every single question if Professor Snape hadn't been the one teaching!"

"Sorry about V," N apologized. "She can be a little too-"

"Insane?" Uzi interrupted. 

"Yeah, that."

"Hey," V growled. "I can hear you, you know."

Chapter Text

Apparently the Potter boy was going to be the youngest Gryffindor Seeker in about a century. Uzi didn’t think much of it- only N was much interested in Quidditch.

Uzi couldn’t remember the last time she had been this relaxed around other people. As she sat with V and N at the Slytherin table, the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual. She didn’t bother to turn her head around to see the commotion behind her at the Gryffindor table. Uzi noted that Draco had left again- she was sure that he was up to no good. His cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, had vanished with him.

Perhaps it was because she was now so busy, what with all her piles of homework, but Uzi could hardly believe it when she realized that she’d already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle felt more like home than her Muggle house ever had. Her lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.

On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they’d seen him make a frog zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. 

Uzi's partner was Padma Patil (which was a relief, because Terry Boot had been trying to catch her eye). “Now, don’t forget that nice wrist movement we’ve been practicing!” squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. “Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too — never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said ‘s’ instead of ‘f’ and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest.”

Doll, at the next table, wasn’t having much more luck. She mumbled something under her breath Uzi couldn’t quite catch. “You want me to try?” Michael Corner said. 

“Как мило... Но мне твоя помощь не нужна,” Doll responded. Uzi had no idea what Doll had said.

It was very difficult. Uzi and Padma swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. After what seemed like a million tries, Uzi flicked her wand impatiently and said, “Wingardium Leviosa!” Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads. 

“Oh, well done!” cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. “Everyone see here, Miss Doorman’s done it!”

On her way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Uzi overheard Parvati, Padma’s Gryffindor sister, telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls’ bathroom and wanted to be left alone. A moment later Uzi had entered the Great Hall and stared in awe at the Halloween decorations.

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet. Uzi was just helping herself to her plate of mashed potatoes when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore’s chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, “Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know.” He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

Chapter Text

There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore’s wand to bring silence.

“Prefects,” he rumbled, “lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!”

Robert was in his element.
“Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I’m a prefect!”
 “How could a troll get in?” Uzi wondered as they climbed the stairs. She passed a crowd of Slytherins and frowned. They joslted through different groups of people hurrying in different
directions. It seemed like the Ravenclaws were to be finishing up the feast in their common rooms. Uzi wasn't that hungry, so she sat at a table and didn't bother to get a plate. Everyone was eating the food that had been set up.

-

As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen outside defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaverskin boots. The Quidditch season had begun. On Saturday, the Potter boy would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.
Hardly anyone had seen Potter play as Seeker, but V had, and she said that his House would have to run around underneath him holding a mattress or two. 

It was really lucky that Uzi sat next to Doll in almost all of their classes. Doll was mostly on her phone texting people and didn't care if Uzi copied down all the answers from her paper. She had lent Uzi A History of Magic, but it turned out to be so boring Uzi slammed it shut in record time, one of the only books she had quit within the first chapter. From N, Uzi learned that there were seven hundred ways of committing a Quidditch foul and that all of them had happened during a World Cup match in 1473; that Seekers were usually the smallest and fastest players, and that most serious Quidditch accidents seemed to happen to them; that although people rarely died playing Quidditch, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara Desert. Life at Hogwarts had become relaxed.

The day before Potter’s first Quidditch match the three of them- Uzi, N, and V- were out in the freezing courtyard during break when V spotted something unusual. "Hey, what's that thing Granger's holding?" She managed to cast a spell that made the blue fire Hermione Granger had been keeping in a jam jar. Thankfully, they had a smaller mason jar of their own, or V might have set the entire Hogwarts on fire. 

The Ravenclaw common room was very noisy the next bright and cold morning. Uzi and Doll sat together next to a window, Uzi copying Doll's answers to her History of Magic homework. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

“You’ve got to eat some breakfast," N said.
 “I don’t want anything," Uzi muttered.
 “Just a bit of bacon,” wheedled N.
 “I’m not hungry.”

By eleven o’clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats might have been raised high in the air, but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes. Uzi and Doll joined the rest of their House. Doll snuck out of the seat next to her soon after. 

“And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor — what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too—”
 “JORDAN!”
 “Sorry, Professor.”
The Weasley twins’ friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall.
“And she’s really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood’s, last year only a reserve — back to Johnson and — no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes — Flint flying like an eagle up there — he’s going to sc— no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle — that’s Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and — OUCH — that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger — Quaffle taken by the Slytherins — that’s Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he’s blocked by a second Bludger — sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can’t tell which — nice play by the
Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes — she’s really flying — dodges a speeding Bludger — the goal posts are ahead — come on, now, Angelina — Keeper Bletchley dives — misses — GRYFFINDORS SCORE!”

Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins. Uzi raised her binoculars and peered skyward at the speck that was Potter. Way up above them, he was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. 
“Slytherin in possession,” Lee Jordan was saying, “Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the — wait a moment — was that the Snitch?”
A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

Potter had seen it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downward after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it, too. Neck and neck they hurtled toward the Snitch — all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in midair to watch.
WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below — Marcus Flint had blocked Potter on purpose, and his broom spun off course, Potter holding on for dear life.
 “Foul!” screamed the Gryffindors.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again. Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides.
 “So — after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating —”
 “Jordan!” growled Professor McGonagall.
 “I mean, after that open and revolting foul…”
 “Jordan, I’m warning you —”
“All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I’m sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinner, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession.”

Lee was still commentating.
“Slytherin in possession — Flint with the Quaffle — passes Spinnet — passes Bell — hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose— only joking, Professor — Slytherins score — A no…”
The Slytherins were cheering. 

Suddenly, Potter's broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd, including Uzi, gasped. Potter’s broom had given a wild jerk and he swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand. But after a moment, he managed to clamor back onto his broom up in the air. Potter was speeding toward the ground when he clapped his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick — he hit the field on all fours — coughed — and something gold fell into his hand. “I’ve got the Snitch!” he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

Lee Jordan was happily shouting the results — Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty.

Chapter Text

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the House common rooms and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape’s classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

It was true that Uzi wasn’t going back to her father’s house for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and she had signed up at once. She didn’t feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he’d ever had. N and V were staying, too, because N’s parents were going on an extravagant holiday for their wedding anniversary and V’s parents didn’t care about her at all, so Uzi wasn’t going to be lonely at all. During boring afternoons she snooped around in the library, carefully staying out of Madam Pince’s sight. It was easy getting to the Restricted Section with Potter and his friends there at the same time. 

Once the holidays had started, she, N, and V were having too good a time to think much about schoolwork. Most times, Uzi had the Ravenclaw dormitory to herself and the common room was far emptier than usual, so she was able to get the big windows by the fire. She sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork — bread, English muffins, marshmallows — and reading the books from the Restricted section. V and N wanted to teach Uzi wizard chess, but regular chess was already hard enough for Uzi and she wasn’t interested in watching a bunch of wooden figures move around. 

On Christmas Eve, Uzi went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. When she woke early in the morning, however, the first thing she saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of her bed.  Because no one else frequented the dormitories anymore, Uzi snuck into the Slytherin common room to find V and N. 

“Merry Christmas,” said N sleepily as Uzi scrambled to a chair.

“You, too,” said Uzi. “Will you look at this? I’ve got some presents!” 

“What did you expect, potatoes?” said V, turning to her own pile, which was a lot bigger than Uzi’s. 

Uzi picked up the top parcel of her pile. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and written in cursive across it was To Uzi, from Ms. Nott. Inside was a gigantic box of sweets, including cookies, fudge, Chocolate Frogs, and more wizard desserts Uzi hadn’t known existed before. 

“Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans?” N exclaimed. “Don’t try those- I got a booger flavored one once.” Uzi shrugged and set the box aside. 

“It was nice of your mum to send those,” she said. 

A second, very small parcel contained a note. I hope you’re having fun at Hogwarts! From, Dad. Taped to the note was a postcard, though Uzi didn’t see how a postcard could be used in her situation. 

N groaned, turning a bit pink and pointing to the box. “How’d she know to send you something? Don’t take this wrong, but I only mentioned your name one time and she somehow figured out that we were friends.”

“You can be so dense sometimes, N,” V snapped. “It’s obvious.”

Uzi’s next and final present was what seemed like a last-minute gift from Doll, consisting of a single tin of Exploding Bonbons. There was no note, but Uzi didn’t take it personally. V didn’t bother to unwrap her presents while Uzi was there.

-

Uzi had never in all her life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce – and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones her family usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Uzi pulled a wizard cracker with N  and it didn’t just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral’s hat and several live, white mice. 

Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard’s hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him. Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. The Gryffindor prefect nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. Uzi watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Uzi’s amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided. 

When Uzi finally left the table, she was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of nonexplodable, luminous balloons, and a set of fragile sugar-spun quills she hid away to eat later. The white mice had disappeared and Uzi had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris’s Christmas dinner. She saw Potter and the Weasleys spending a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they’d stolen his prefect badge. It had been Uzi’s best Christmas day ever.

Chapter Text

The weeks following Christmas settled into a blur until Uzi suddenly noticed the new hostility her Ravenclaw housemates had towards Harry Potter. The story spread to her: Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter, their hero of two Gryffindor Quidditch matches, had lost the Gryffindors all those points, him and a couple of other stupid first years. So even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were turning on him, because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup. Well, everyone except for Uzi, who hadn’t been raised in a wizarding household and thought the entire House rivalry thing was idiotic. Everywhere Potter went, people pointed and didn’t trouble to lower their voices as they insulted him. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as he walked past them, whistling and cheering, “Thanks Potter, we owe you one!” And then the absurdity of it was over. None of the Gryffindors bothered Potter anymore.

Practical exams soon arrived. In History of Magic, Uzi sat through a long, boring session of answering questions about batty old wizards who’d invented selfstirring cauldrons. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Uzi couldn’t help cheering with the rest. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tapdance across a desk. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion. Uzi did the best she could, but she doubted she could get good scores. Her very last exam was Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox — points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. One hour of Transfiguration and they’d be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. 

“That was far easier than I thought it would be,” said V as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. She boasted about the good marks she would get. 

Uzi sighed happily and sat down at the base of a tall tree. “No more studying!”

During dinner the three of them sat nervously at the Slytherin table. Nobody bothered them; none of the Slytherins had reason to say anything to Uzi or N, after all. V was skimming through all her notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments she was about to try to break. They didn’t talk much. Both of them were thinking about what they were about to do.

-

After a good night’s sleep, Uzi felt nearly back to normal. She couldn’t believe that the school year was almost over.

She made her way down to the end-of-year feast with N and V that night. The Great Hall was already packing with students. It was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin’s winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table, and V grinned when she saw it. When the Potter boy walked in there was a sudden hush, and then everybody started talking loudly at once. He slipped into a seat at the Gryffindor table. Uzi and N headed to the Hufflepuff table while V went to celebrate with the other Slytherins at their table. 

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away. “Another year gone!” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “And I must trouble you with an old man’s wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were…you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts.… “Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two.” A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Uzi could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight.

“Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin,” said Dumbledore. “However, recent events must be taken into account.” The room went very still. The Slytherins’ smiles faded a little. “Ahem,” said Dumbledore. “I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes… “First — to Mr. Ronald Weasley…for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.” Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy the Prefect could be heard telling the other prefects, “My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall’s giant chess set!” At last there was silence again. “Second — to Miss Hermione Granger…for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points..” Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves — they were a hundred points up. “Third — to Mr. Harry Potter…” said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. “…for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points.” The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy two points — exactly the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the house cup — if only Dumbledore had given Harry just one more point. 

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent. “There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.” Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Uzi nudged N in the ribs and pointed at Malfoy, who couldn’t have looked more stunned and horrified if he’d just had the Body Bind Curse put on him. “Which means,” Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, “we need a little change of decoration.” He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall’s hand, with a horrible, forced smile. 

It was the best evening of Uzi’s life, better than going to Diagon Alley, or the Hogwarts Express, or Christmas. She would never, ever forget the look on everyone’s faces.

Chapter Text

Uzi had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To their great surprise, both she and N passed with good marks; V, of course, had the second best grades of the first years. V had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as N said, you couldn’t have everything in life.
And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays; Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King’s Cross Station.
It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn’t attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.
“You must come and stay this summer,” said N, “both of you — I’ll send you an owl.”
“Thanks,” said Uzi, “I’ll need something to look forward to.” People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. She, N, and V passed through the gateway together.
“There he is, Mum, there he is, look!” It was Cynthia Nott, N’s younger sister. “N!” she squealed.
Mrs. Nott smiled down at them. “Busy year?” she said.
“Very,” said Uzi. “Thanks for the Christmas sweets, Mrs. Nott.”
“Oh, it was nothing, dear.”
“Uzi, are you ready?”
Uzi turned around to the sight of her father.
“You must be Uzi’s father!” said Mrs. Nott. Khan smiled.
“Nice to meet you,” he said.
Uzi hung back for a last word with N and V.
“See you over the summer, then,” N said. “Hope you have — er — a good holiday.”
"Have a fun time, loser," V said, rolling her eyes, but her tone was laced with affection. “Oh, I will,” said Uzi. “This time I have an owl with me.”

Chapter Text

so uhh my parents saw my sh cuts i accidentally cut too deep and had to have stitches in one of those cuts today

there won't be any updates for a while but stay tuned

in other words: abusive parents found out about my self-harm

update 2: i have to go to therapy for my sh too bad my parents are the cause of it

Chapter Text

Uzi Doorman was far from being a normal girl. She was a witch- a witch fresh from her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Uzi could barely describe in words how much she missed Hogwarts. She missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant stomachache. She missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts, her classes, the mail arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall, sleeping in her bed in the Ravenclaw dormitory, and, especially, the thrill of watching Quidditch, the most popular sport in the Wizarding world (six tall goalposts, four flying balls, and fourteen players on broomsticks).

Exactly a year ago, Hogwarts had written to Uzi, and she had taken up her place at magic school, but now that school year was over, she was back to being treated like a normal, angsty Muggle teenager. Her birthday had passed just a few weeks before, and she had half heartedly poked at her birthday cake while thinking of her friends. Uzi had no Muggle friends to send her cards or presents. What would N be doing right now? 

She had never felt so lonely. More than anything else at Hogwarts, more even than magic, Uzi missed her best friend and frenemy Nathaniel Nott and Verity Rowle. They, however, didn’t seem to be missing Uzi at all. Neither of them had written to her all summer, even though N had said he was going to ask Uzi to come and stay. (Uzi doubted that would happen anyways.)

Countless times, Uzi had been on the point of unlocking Seven’s cage by magic and sending him to N and V with a letter, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Underage wizards or witches weren’t allowed to use magic outside of school. The summer had gotten boring with the long silence from N and V having made Uzi feel so cut off from the rest of the magical world.

What wouldn’t she give now for a message from Hogwarts? From any witch or wizard? She’d almost be glad of a sight of an angry V just to be sure it hadn’t all been a dream. . . . Not that Uzi’s whole year at Hogwarts had been fun. The Potter boy and his friends had apparently defeated a troll in the girl’s bathroom, or so the rumors said.  Uzi was still surprised that her former Muggle classmates Lizzy Walton and Thad Mylner had even managed to get to Hogwarts.

While her father was busy washing dishes and watching television, Uzi fed leftover vegetables to Seven, tipping the soggy carrots at the bottom of the bowl into his empty food tray. He ruffled her feathers and gave her a look of deep disgust. “Don’t give me that look, you idiot!” said Uzi, offended. “Would you rather scavenge in a dumpster instead?” She looked out the window and decided that tonight she would get a full night’s sleep instead of staying awake, listening to the same My Chemical Romance songs. The room was growing dark. Exhausted, stomach rumbling, mind spinning over the same unanswerable questions, Uzi fell into an uneasy sleep.