Disclaimer: I do not own POTO, just my stories! :)

Do not copy to other sites.

Year One: First Meeting

Christine looked around in wonder as her and the rest of the first year students were escorted into the Great Hall in front of the rest of the school. She was overwhelmed by everything around, nearly crashing into the boy in front of her when the woman escorting them had come to a stop. The boy gave her a rude scowl, which Christine gladly returned, before turning to face forward again.

Christine had never thought such a place existed. A school that taught their students about magic! It had been a major event in her household when a strange owl came and delivered a letter to her. As soon as she finished reading it, of course in disbelief, there was a knock on the front door. When her father had answered it, Christine had jumped at his loud gasp. Running to the front door, she gaped at the sight of the man at the door.

He had been tall. Very tall but fit, wearing strange black clothes that flowed around him. His hair had been neatly slicked back and he had the most startling gold eyes, yet that wasn't what took the eleven year old by surprise. The man had worn a mask. One that was white and almost completely covered his face except below his cheekbones.

The man had given off an imposing presence but had politely asked to come in a soft and almost musical voice.

Her father had stuttered his acceptance and the man had nodded in thanks as he entered, his gold eyes instantly landing on Christine. Christine had been terrified at the strange man but then the man did something that instantly put her at ease.

He had smiled.

"Hello." The man had greeted her politely with kind eyes. "My name is Erik Destler and I am here to tell you about something important."

This important something had to do with the fact that Christine was a witch. Mr.—Professor Destler, as the man soon explained, was a teacher at a school of magic called Hogwarts. He had gone into a lot of detail that had overwhelmed Christine but her father had been able to keep up with the strange man. By the end of it, her father had agreed that going to Hogwarts would be the best thing for Christine and the professor had left them with instructions and a list of everything they needed. It had been a busy summer and Christine was finally there, she almost couldn't believe it.

There was a sound of a cane hitting the floor and silence cut through the Great Hall. Christine saw an older man with short gray-black hair and extravagant clothes, robes as Christine had been told when she had bought her own for school.

"Hello everyone." The man greeted with a tender smile as he looked out at the students and first years. "For those do not know me, I'm Andrew Webber and I'm the headmaster of this school. It does me great pleasure to welcome our new students and hope that every house will welcome their new members."

Headmaster Webber indicated a stool that Christine noticed to be in the middle of the tables and the head table. The woman that had escorted them was standing next to it and held what appeared to be an old hat in her hand.

"Professor Giry, if you would."

The woman, Prof. Giry, nodded towards the headmaster then faced the first years. "When I called your name you will step forward and take a seat. I will place the sorting hat on your head and it'll announce which house you will live in the next seven years. Let's begin."

Christine waited in anticipation for her name to be called. She was nervous because she had no idea how the sorting worked but she was sure that it had to do with something. For once she was grateful that her name was early in the alphabet, meaning that she wouldn't have to wait a long time before she was called. However, doubts began to leak into her mind. What if she didn't fit into any of the houses? Would she be able to stay? Would they send her back? Would they—?

"Christine Daae."

Christine blinked, jerked out of her thoughts at the sound of her name. She hesitated for a moment but forced herself to take a step forward and then another, other students letting her pass so that she could get to the front. As she stepped out of the crowd of first years, she was suddenly aware of everyone's eyes on her. The feeling caused her breath to stutter and her heart to pound. Unsure, she looked up at the head table and saw Headmaster Webber grinning at her in encouragement and then her eyes met Prof. Destler's.

The gold eyes regarded her coolly for a moment but Christine saw the barest hint of a nod given by the professor. That gave Christine courage and she went to the stool. Prof. Giry placed the hat on her head and Christine felt a strange sensation in her mind. Almost as if the hat was going through all her memories.

"Courage beyond measure and a gentle heart filled with love." Christine heard in her head. "I know just where to put you."

"Gryffindor!" The hat exclaimed and one table filled with people in red robes immediately began to cheer.

Christine beamed as the hat was taken off and she stood. She went to the table where the lions were and several of the close members welcomed and congratulated her. She felt a wave of warmth fill her and she turned back towards the head table. She saw Prof. Destler whispering something to another professor with a grin. As if feeling her stare, the professor's eyes slide to hers and the grin turned into a smile.

Feeling her cheeks warm up, Christine turned away. As she tried to calm the redness of her face she couldn't decide why she had turned red in the first place. Was it because she was embarrassed at getting caught? Or was it because the professor had smiled at her?

Raoul groaned as he tried to make his way back to his common room.

He knew that he shouldn't have tried to stay out pass curfew, but he had wanted to see how easy it was. Apparently it was extremely easy, however, the castle went completely dark at lights out and Raoul had a hard time finding his way back. That was the maze of the school and the confusion of navigating it that was being a first year. Plus, those darn moving staircases didn't help him. It was like they knew he was out after curfew and were determined to make his life miserable by causing all the more trouble for him.

If he got caught, he was totally going to take the stairs down with him. Of course, he was trying his best not to get caught. The last thing he wanted was to be found by a prefect, or worse, a professor.

He came out into a main hallway and let out a groan of disappointment. He saw the main door to Hogwarts and realized where he was, which was the other side of the school he needed to be on. At least he knew where he was and how to make it back. Unless those darn stairs tried anything again.

Raoul began to make his way through the halls, finding the stairways he needed. He was about to get to the floor he needed when the staircase changed on him again. He sprinted to try to catch it but ended up having to crash into the rail to not fall serval floors below. He glared at the offensive staircase as he tried to get his breath back.

A sound echoed softly through the air that Raoul nearly didn't hear it because of his panting. But it echoed again and Raoul lifted his head and glanced around, trying to find the sound's location. It didn't sound like a person but he couldn't be sure.

With him regaining his breath the next time the sound came, Raoul was able to pinpoint it. Glancing up, he spotted what appeared to be a large black bird a couple staircases above him. Raoul grinned.

"Hey, you want to help a poor first year out? I'm completely lost now that I missed my ride." He asked, wondering if maybe he lost his mind because he was talking to a bird. But he figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

Said bird regarded him with glowing yellow eyes and cocked its head to the side as if thinking about his question. Seeming to make its decision, the bird flew down from its post and landed on the rail a few feet from Raoul. Raoul was startled by the movement and gapped at the sight of the large, recognizably black eagle in front of him. Raoul stared at the bird and it stared back before letting out a chirp like the sound that it had been creating earlier.

The eagle flapped a couple times and took off, flying to the floor below them. It raised its head and gave Raoul a look.

Raoul grinned. "You're going to help me?"

If eagle's can roll their eyes, Raoul was sure that this one would be doing it at that moment. But instead, the eagle gave off another chirp and Raoul found his way to the eagle. When he got to it, the eagle took off again and landed on another spot and waited until Raoul would get to it. This was how Raoul was able to get back to his house dorms. Raoul would be more suspicious of the eagle if it wasn't for the fact that it was helping him. There was one occasion during their mini adventure where they had come across a professor. Raoul was hiding with the eagle behind a corner, praying that the professor wouldn't come their way when the eagle flew up and high into the air.

It flew above the professor, high enough that he didn't notice a sound or movement and Raoul heard a thud at the end of the hall opposite to where Raoul was.

The professor turned with a frown and Raoul recognized the DADA professor, Prof. Khan. The man was scruffy in appearance but no one should let that fool them. Everyone knew that he was the DADA professor for a reason, one of them him being an ex auror, and Raoul certainly didn't want to be caught by him.

Luckily, Prof. Khan went in the direction the noise was made and soon was out of sight. Raoul waited and eventually his patience paid off because he saw a dark shape flying back and landed a few feet away. Raoul grinned at the eagle.

"You're amazing!" Raoul gushed.

The eagle tossed its head as if shrugging, yet Raoul was certain that there was a spark of amusement in the yellow eyes. The eagle took off again to lead Raoul back. When they got to the portrait that led to the Hufflepuff common room, Raoul turned back to thank the eagle but found that it was gone.

With a frown, Raoul spoke the password and entered the common room. Upon entering, he saw a young girl with blond hair sleeping fully dressed on one of the couches. The frown turned into a grin as he made his way over and touched the girl's shoulder as he crouched in front of her.

"Meg." Raoul whispered gently and the girl stirred. Meg opened her eyes and when she saw Raoul, she shot up on the couch.

"Raoul!" she practically yelled, causing Raoul to hush her quickly. She gained a sheepish look but observed him critically. "Where have you been?"

Raoul cleared his throat and glanced away. "Ah, I sort of got lost and couldn't find my way back. I'm telling you those stairs are evil."

He heard Meg chuckled. "How did you find your way back?"

Raoul turned back to her. "Strangely enough, I had help. An eagle found me and showed me the way back."

Both of Meg's eyebrows rose in surprise. "An eagle? That's weird. Are you sure it was an eagle?"

Raoul gave her a playful scowl. "I know what an eagle looks like. I was surprised that it was a black eagle."

"Huh." Meg trailed off and stared off to the side. Raoul frowned at that because it appeared that Meg knew something that he didn't but wasn't willing to share. He opened his mouth to ask but Meg beat him to it by sending him a grin.

"Well, what do you know? A badger getting the help from the Ravenclaw guardian. Maybe you should've been in that house."

Raoul snorted, distracted from his previous thought. "Yeah, right. Like I would ever be smart enough to be one of them. No way, I'm happy being a badger."

Meg smiled. "Come on. Let's get back to our dorms, before Professor Giry decides to come check on us."

Raoul protested as he stood up. "She's your mom! Wouldn't she cut you some slack?"

Meg gave him a look that told him exactly how that wasn't going to happen.

As Raoul laid in bed that night, his thoughts continued to go back to the eagle that had helped him get back. He wondered if he would get the chance to see the bird again, in hopefully better circumstances.

And I'm back with a new fic. Warning ahead of time that these updates might not be as regular because of my health, but we'll see. This pairing will be between Nadir and Erik but in the POV of Raoul and Christine. I like the outsider POV for this one. Let me know if you like it with a review! See ya next time.