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Title: Talks in the Halls

Contributors: chochang___, ___neville___, peeves_trouble, wings_of_charm, boy_who_lived2, ginny_ginger, starkravenluna, pb_prince

Edited by: Carla Lute

Posted: 2006-01-05 to 12

Game Date: September 1^st and 2^nd

Disclaimer: No one at Levicorpus owns Harry Potter, the world or its characters. We just like to play in J.K. Rowling’s world.

Note: Multiple threads.

* * * * * * *

Cho’s first night sleeping at Hogwarts was definitely not what she expected it to be. She couldn’t fall asleep. It was so weird not being in the dorms with 3 or 4 other girls giggling and studying all night long. She was so nervous about teaching her first class in the morning. What if she messed up? What if the students didn`t like her? She had her fair share of teachers she didn’t like when she was a student. What if one of her students got hurt? What if she taught them wrong and for the rest of their life they were doing it wrong? Cho was so nervous about the next day.. but she knew all she could do was wait and teach her best. She tried to go to sleep for about 30 minutes but finally she just decided to get up and take a walk.

Neville was on his way to the Gryffindor common room when he noticed that Cho was walking around by herself. He normally avoided teachers when he wasn't in class, but he didn't think of Cho as a teacher. In his mind, she would always be a fellow student.

"Hi Cho!" he said, walking up to her. "Where are you headed?"

Cho was happy to see Neville walking around too. She would finally have someone to talk to.

"Nowhere really, I just cannot fall asleep. I’m so nervous about tomorrow." Cho whined.

"Nervous?!?" yelled Peeves as he threw water balloons on Neville and Cho.

"We all have problems!" he muttered as he floated away.

Now wet, nervous, AND infuriated Cho decided she’d just go back to her room.

"I’m really sorry, Nev," Cho apologized "Go back to your room and dry off and get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow."

"Alright," he said. "But don't stay up worrying about tomorrow. You're gonna do fine! Just don't leave the class unattended for any reason. That's what happened at my first flying lesson and...well let's just say the only good thing that came out of it was Harry became seeker, but he's lucky he didn't get detention instead."

"Alright, I won’t." Cho laughed. "Thanks for talking with me Neville."

* * * * * * *

It was Harry’s first morning at Hogwarts, in his 7th year. He had awaken in a good mood, knowing that his friendship with Ginny might be stronger than ever. So he walked with a smile in his face to the corridors, waiting for his closest friends, Ron and Hermoine to show up...

Blaise was not a morning person. He wasn't really much of an evening person either, but he was even less a morning person. After yesterday's feast, he was not feeling particularly hungry, so after he had his schedule, he headed in the general direction of the library.

He spotted Potter in the corridors. Normally, Blaise wasn't one to start anything, that usually involved talking to people he preferred to think didn't exist, but he found something about Potter's easy smile highly offensive. "Walking the corridors alone?" Blaise asked Potter in a voice that indicated mild interest. "I thought the Chosen One had to have an escort."

"Why do YOU care, lousy Slytherin!", Harry replied.

Blaise was slightly taken aback by Harry's sudden anger. "Bit touchy, aren't we?" Blaise said coolly. At least Potter wasn't smiling now. "Don't let it worry you, scarhead. It's certainly not a matter of caring." With that Blaise turned his back on Harry and walked away.

* * * * * * *

Ginny, having woken up just a little earlier than she would have liked to this chilly September morning, got ready in an agitated manner, nearly putting her shoes on the wrong feet and thinking busily about those damned prefects duties she expected she'd have to start performing.

Once she was ready, she looked at the prefects badge for a long while in an unspoken staring match. The badge wasn't going to crack, so Ginny put it on resignedly and looked at herself in the mirror. Oh no, she looked like Percy. Oh, what would Fred and George say? Ginny gave an audible sigh, bypassing the other sixth years in favor of the stairs and marching in the direction of breakfast, wondering if she'd meet anyone worth talking to on her way to breakfast.

She'd told Draco she'd try to be civil with the Slytherins, even not think about the house difference if they were nice first, and to keep an eye on a few of them. And Ginny had obliged - they were, after all, in some sort of relationship at the moment.

Walking out of the portrait hole, Ginny smiled and shrugged. Just another year at Hogwarts.

Luna had overslept - again. She knew there was supposed to be a meeting of some sorts somewhere, or maybe not. So she just shrugged and rushed to breakfast. The girl loved her muffins.

Rounding the corner to the Great Hall, Luna ran smack dab into Ginny.

"HEY! Ginny! How did I miss you on the train? You look great - and a prefect, too. You know, you kind of look like that Head Boy our first year, do you remember him...oh, what was his name? Anyway, it doesn't matter. I have a surprise for you!" Luna started looking through her robes and bad of books frantically.

"Shoot, I must have left it in my dorm. No worries, I'll be right back." And without waiting for a reply, she ran back to the Ravenclaw dormitory.

Bloody hell, Ginny knew she looked like Percy, and now, Luna had just reinforced the thought, "You mean Percy?" she said through clenched teeth before forcing them to unclench and adding, "Oh, um, alright. I'll see you in a moment, then?"

Cho was walking to breakfast, when she saw Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley talking. Luna ran off somewhere leaving Ginny all alone so Cho decided she would go up and talk to her for a bit. She never really knew Ginny that well, she had talked to her a few times, but nothing more than that.

"Hi Ginny !" Cho said looking at Ginny’s badge, "A prefect? WOW! Congrats on that! You are destined to be the head girl. Are you nervous or excited for your first day back? I was excited up until last night I got soo nervous. So I decided to take a walk and I ran into Neville and while we were talking, Peeves came by and threw water balloons at us! " Cho noticed she was talking too much and blushed. " I’m sorry Ginny, ill let you answer my question... I’m so nervous right now talking is the only thing I can do to get my mind of teaching my first class."

"Oh, hey, Cho," Ginny replied, regarding the girl far more warmly than she would have last year as her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, "I'm nervous, really. A little bit excited, but I'm not so sure about head girl. That's something we'll have to wait and see about, you know? Are you excited to be teaching?"

"I’m sure I’ll be excited, but as of now, I’m nervous. I can’t seem to sit still or do anything at all . I hope it all goes well I really do."

"I'll be rooting for you. When's your first class? If I'm free, maybe I'll come watch."

"It’s at 11:30!" Cho jumped at the offer. She definitely would be less nervous with someone she knew there. But Ginny probably had class, because it’s the first day and all so she tried her hardest not to get her hopes up.

"You know," Ginny started, trying to figure out her schedule, "I think I'm free from 11:15 - 12:00, so I could probably stop by for at least the first bit of your lesson. Would that be alright?"

"Yes, that’s fine with me. Actually it’s more than fine. I’d be happy to have you there for some of my class. Thanks Ginny. Well, I’m going to leave to breakfast now, but I’ll see you at 11:30." Cho said as she started on her way to breakfast. Now, Cho was more relieved that someone she at least sort of knew would be there at her class. She didn’t know why, it just made her relax a lot more .

After sprinting all the way back to her dorm and all the way back to the Great Hall, Luna nearly collapsed with exhaust. She leaned over right at the door grabbing her knees with her hands - blocking the entire door way. A few first years stared, not quite sure what to do. After a few moments of oblivious awkwardness, Luna finally recovered.

Looking around, she spotted Ginny. Once again, she sprinted.

"GINNY! HEY GINNY!" She yelled, turning more than one head. "Hey, Ginny, I found this in the attic over summer and figured that with your sordid love life - you know the whole Harry, Death Eater thing - that you might need it." Luna pulled out a fairly plain looking hand mirror with a smiling sun and moon engraved on the back, extending it to Ginny. Despite its odd presentation, the mirror was really pretty.

"My sordid love life? Death Eater? What are you talking about?" Ginny asked, confused. No one knew about Draco, they'd kept their relationship very quiet so far. She accepted the mirror and looked at it, noticing that it was a beautiful mirror.

* * * * * * *

Promise woke up earlier than anyone else in the dormitory, got ready, and popped out the portrait hole then slunk outside to feed Eclipse. It was colder than she would have liked but she didn't bother going back to get a jacket. She brought her horse out for a morning run then fed her before she headed back inside for breakfast.

As she entered the great hall she looked around. People were just filtering in for it was still pretty early. She wondered if she should sit at another table that day and looked around for someone she knew.

Harry walked towards the Great Hall, after the encounter with Blaise. He was looking for Demelza, when he suddenly saw Promise.

Promise was continuing to look from one table to another, pondering where to sit. She didn't see any of her new friends if she could even call them that yet. She hadn't seen Seamus around at all, not even on the train. It had disappointed her. He was very nice and she felt very comfortable with him.

She hadn't felt confident approaching Blaise when he was with his friends. She was an outsider and she understood that. Promise didn't like to intrude, she'd wait until when/if she was invited. Cho was a professor and Promise couldn't exactly sit at THAT table.

She rubbed one of her eyes, Eclipse had kicked some dirt in it earlier and it still stung.

Cho thought she was late for breakfast or something ... but it was probably just her nerves. She walked in the Great Hall, and on her way to the teacher’s table, she tapped Promise on the shoulder, smiled, and said "Have a good first day and Happy Birthday! " she told her as she slipped a small box into Promise’s hands.

Promise looked surprised when Cho tapped her on the shoulder and just as she was about to say hello Cho said Happy Birthday and slid a present into her hands. Promise looked shocked then smiled brilliantly; she couldn't believe Cho had remembered after she had mentioned it so briefly. "Thank you, Cho. And good luck with your first day as well." She said. She slid the box into her pocket; she didn't want to open it at the breakfast table. She always thought that was so very rude.

Neville was in the Great Hall looking for his fellow Gryffindors. He wanted to compare schedules with his friends to see if they had the same classes. He saw Promise across the room, and she was looking slightly nervous, so he decided to talk to her.

"Hi Promise!" he said as he approached her. "I don't know if you remember me, but we met at Diagon Alley over the summer. My name is Neville."

Promise was still feeling slightly startled over the gift when Neville greeted her. Feeling suddenly much less unsure she smiled at him. He seemed like a sweet boy, despite liking Harry Potter so much. She cringed internally at the thought and felt evil for placing so much opinion on just a bad first impression.

"Hello, Neville, of course I remember you. Lovely to see you again." She said as she took a seat at the Gryffindor table finally. "Join me for breakfast?" She invited, not feeling that hungry. Of course she never really felt that hungry at breakfast. She usually only ate a bagel or something because if she ate too much in the morning she felt stuffed full all day.

"Sure!" replied Neville as he led her to the Gryffindor table. He hoped that more people would join them because he really wanted to find out what classes he shared with his friends. "So how are you liking Hogwarts so far? What's your schedule like?"

"Well, so far I like Hogwarts far more than Scattergood, my old school." Promise said with a slight smile after they'd become settled.
"I'm not too keen on a couple of my classes though. Arithmancy AND Divination...I hate them, I'm so terrible." She sighed theatrically then continued with a cheerful tone, "My other classes are lovely though. Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Transfiguration. It's a bit of a big load to take on, but since technically I've taken all of the classes before it won't be too bad."

Charm hopped down onto the table and cleaned a wing and a paw in that sequence as Promise spoke. "How about you, Neville? How is your schedule?"

Just then the owls began to flock in and drop letters and packages onto tables in front of students. Promise looked very excited while they passed but then her face fell slightly when she came out of mail time empty handed. Charm looked sympathetic, but Promise pushed through her disappointed look to await Neville's reply.

Neville didn't even notice the look of disappointment on Promise's face because he was too busy examining the package that had just landed on his lap. But he thought it would be rude not to answer her question so he didn't open the package right away.

"I have Transfiguration as well," he told her. "And Defense against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures. I also have Charms and Herbology. I'm most excited about those last two classes. I'm actually good at them!"

Promise chuckled, "I'm sure you're good at the other classes too, and you're just being hard on yourself. I considered taking Charms but my mother scolded me and said I had a heavy enough workload so I decided against it just to avoid the nagging. But hey, the first three classes are my best subjects here. If you have any trouble with something I'd be happy to help."

She then sat back and pulled Cho's gift out of her pocket so Neville wouldn't feel bad about opening a package in her presence. She then politely averted her gaze so he could do so.

Neville tore open the package. Inside the box was another small gift box with a green ribbon tied around it. When he opened that box, he found a gold watch with his initials engraved on the back. He looked in the box for a card or a note, but there was nothing else.

"Who could have sent me this?" he thought out loud. "It's not my birthday or any other special occasion." He looked carefully at the watch for a few more minutes before saying, "Promise, would you excuse me? I need to go write a letter to my grandmother and see if she sent me this watch."

Promise finished fastening the silver star necklace about her neck and looked at Neville calmly for a moment. Such a sloppy job if that watch was hexed, just sending an unmarked box. She continued to look at the watch calmly and Charm jumped on her shoulder, chirruping something into Promise's ear.

"I'd be careful about wearing that," Promise said quietly before standing and excusing herself from the table.
She waved at Cho before exiting the room.

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