Ellie had one uncomfortable trait, uncomfortable for others, of course. She is snoring. It was the same thing in Slytherin dorms. Cold and dark dungeons would have created a feeling of loneliness, if constant sounds from girls' rooms haven't reminded you about completely opposite. It was even worse for her roommates. Other girls somehow managed to fall asleep, but by the morning it became clearly annoying. One of them, Pancy Parkinson, decided to wake Ellie up. She looked at the others, who grinned in anticipation of revenge. Pancy thre the pillow right into her face. Then Ellie just raised her hand lazily, still asleep. The pillow just stuck in the air, surrounded by green glow, and fell on the ground.

Ellie didn't understand why everyone stared at her the whole morning.

It was hard to find a way to the classes. 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. Curious? Yes. Practical? Not a little bit. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot.

People kept talking about how big of annoyance was Peeves the Poltergeist. Ellie didn't understand why, this guy was funny, plus he was WAY too afraid to mess with Ghost Princess. Peeves also didn't bother Harry, since he knew that he was a member of that family as well. It only increased everyone's curiosity, but they couldn't get a straight answer.

There was the caretaker, Argus Filch. Harry, Ellie and Ron 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, nasty 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) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick, which was fulfied by Ellie, who sneaked from behind, invisible. She is benevolent, yes, but as every ghost she can hold a grudge.

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. Harry and Ellie liked it very much, came from their father, who took them stargazing every weekend. 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 stuff, 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. It was a shock to everyone, that even Professor Binns knew who Phantom was.

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

Professor McGonagall was just as everyone expected. 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. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger and Ellie were able to change their matches, Harry's shone with silver, but that's all. Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave them a rare smile.

DADA lessons, taught by Professor Quirell, were a torture for Ellie. Garlic smell was unbearable, it hung from every place possible. Even his turban smelled weird. Weasley twins suggested that it was to protect himself from vampire all the time, which, by Professor's words, was still after him since he was in Romania. Phantom siblings were suddenly reminded about their fruitloopish gruncle.

Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.

"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them...we'll be able to see if it's true."

"Wish McGonagall favored us," said Harry. Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.

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.

Hedwig fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a letter onto Harry's plate. It was white, with green stamp in the middle, which had Phantom's symbol. Harry broke the stamp and opened it, reading aloud, so Ron heard him.

'Dear Harry

Congratulations on being Griffindor! If you are wondering how we know that, ask your sister. I hope you are doing well, we want to know how your first week is going, write back sooner.

Byyyy the way, this letter will be destroyed in three...two...'

Harry threw it away, before the letter burst into green fire and burned up.

"I hate when he does that," he said.

Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.

At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry, no, he hated him.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

Snape, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.

"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new...celebrity"

Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word, like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort, "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death...if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach"

More silence followed this little speech. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. Ellie snickered at funny word.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"Er... make a sleeping potion," Harry answered. Ellie buzzed about potions the whole summer, of course he remembers some things. Snape blinked.

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" He asked another question.

"A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat"

"Looks like you deigned to open the book. Why aren't you writing it down?"

Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to make a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to take liking. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor. Students retreated on their stools, since this stuff burned like acid.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with the wave of his wand, "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ellie, who had been working next to Neville.

"You, Potter, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's one point you've lost for Gryffindor"

This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ellie kicked him behind their cauldron.

"Don't push it," she muttered, "I've heard Snape can be a big meanie"

-Laterr-

Ellie returned to the dungeons, being in her usual peppy mood, and fuming some tune. She then noticed how some girl tried to open the way into the common room, naming different things, but to no avail.

"Hey, problem with door?" Ellie asked. The girl nodded.

"Yes, should have learned the password better"

"Oh, who needs doors," she grinned and held her hand. The girl took it reluctantly.

The second later they just went THROUGH the wall. Everyone stared at the two girls in shock.

"How did you do that?" The girl asked, equally surprised. Ellie shrugged.

"Everyone in our family can do that. I even went through my bed a few times when I was sleeping. It doesn't happen now, thankfully. Falling on your butt on the floor below isn't funny. What's your name, anyway?"

"Daphne Greengrass"

"Wanna be friends?"

"Alright"

A.N. That was fast, Ellie.