Author's Note: Sorry that it took me a long time to update. I was busy with other things in my life, and lost some interest in this fic until I watched the movie Matilda again a few days ago.

The next morning, Matilda woke up at five thirty and couldn't fall back asleep again as she was too excited to finally be learning magic. So she got up, showered, and brushed her teeth, then got dressed in her school robes and tied a crimson ribbon in her hair. After that, she went down to the common room with her Potions textbook and read until seven. That was when some other students came downstairs. One of them, a third-year that introduced herself as Alicia Spinnet, gave her directions to the Owlery and from there to the Great Hall.

At the Owlery, Athena flew down from her perch near a number of other owls and hooted softly. "Good morning, Athena," said Matilda. She found an owl treat in her pocket and handed it to the owl. Once she had eaten it, Matilda tied the letter and asked the owl to deliver it to her adopted mother. Athena hooted again and then flew out the window.

On the way to the Great Hall, Matilda ran into Hermione and Lavender, who looked slightly confused as where to go. They had asked an older student the direction to the Great Hall, but the directions hadn't been completely clear, and now the two girls didn't know whether to go left or right. "Alicia Spinnet gave me clearer instructions," said Matilda. "Just follow me."

The three girls made their way to the Great Hall and found empty seats at the Gryffindor table. Several minutes later, Harry, Neville, and Ron came in. Ron looked slightly disgruntled. "We got lost," he said, sitting down across from Matilda. "Then we tried getting through a door, thinking that it might be a shortcut, but it wasn't."

"It was the out-of-bounds corridor," added Harry. "The caretaker, Filch, caught us, and wouldn't believe us when we told him that we'd gotten lost."

"Luckily Professor Quirrell, the one in the turban and with a stutter, was walking by and rescued us," finished Neville. "Or Filch would probably have given us detention."

Lavender frowned. "Why wouldn't Filch believe that you were lost? It's not like you three were purposely trying to get through the out-of-bounds corridor."

"My brothers said Filch hates students," answered Ron. "He doesn't believe anything students tell him, especially when he catches them at something."

"Then we'll just have to avoid Filch and try not have him catch us doing anything he thinks is against the rules," said Matilda philosophically. "And no Ron, I'm not going to do anything to him. I don't go around using magic on every unpleasant person I come across, and anyway, Filch isn't the ultimate authority at Hogwarts."

Ron looked a little disappointed, but then dismissed it as he applied himself to his breakfast. Schedules were handed out and Matilda looked at hers. "We have Transfiguration first," she remarked. "After that is Defense Against Dark Arts. Defense really sounds fascinating." The others agreed.

After breakfast, the six of them headed for the Transfiguration classroom. Fortunately Lavender had asked Percy for directions before leaving the Great Hall, so they didn't get lost. When the lesson started, Professor McGonagall gave the class a stern talking-to, warning everyone that anyone who misbehaved would leave and not be asked to return. Then she turned her desk into a pig and back again. Everyone was impressed, but then became disappointed when they were informed that they wouldn't be learning to turn furniture into animals for a few years. After taking some complicated notes, each person was given a match and instructed to try to transfigure it into a needle.

As Matilda, Lavender, and Hermione had practiced it for the previous month, they were able to turn their matches into needles on the first try. Professor McGonagall looked impressed, gave them a rare smile, awarded five points to Gryffindor, and then handed them each a beetle and instructed them how to turn it into a button. Hermione was the only one to succeed by the end of class. Matilda managed to remove the antennae and legs and make the beetle round, but otherwise it looked and felt like a beetle. Lavender transfigured it into something that was plastic like a button, but it was still the same shape as the beetle.

Nobody else was able to turn their matches into needles, though Harry did manage to make his match silvery towards the end of class, and Parvati made her match as thin as a needle and with a point, but still made of wood. As they left the class, Ron asked the girls how they were able to turn their matches into needles on the first try. "It's only because we did some practicing," replied Lavender. "And it took me ages to finally succeed. Hermione was able to do it in like a dozen tries. Matilda got it before me, but not as quick as Hermione."

Defense Against Dark Arts turned out to be something of a joke. For one thing, Professor Quirrell was scared of practically everything, and as a result had a stutter, which made the lecture take twice as long, and sometimes it was a bit difficult to understand him. For another, his classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward of a vampire he had met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. The rather ridiculous turban he was wearing, he said was a thank-you gift from an African prince for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. Nobody really believed that story, for when Seamus Finnigan eagerly asked how it had happened, Quirrell turned pink and began talking about the weather. Also, there was a funny smell around the turban, and later the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed with garlic so Quirrell would be protected wherever he went.

The week progressed, and Matilda found the rest of her classes very interesting, except for History of Magic. That was the only class taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep by the staff room fire one night. The next morning, he had gotten up to teach as usual, leaving his body behind. He apparently didn't even seem to notice that he was dead, other than his habit of floating through the chalkboard to enter the room. His lectures were extremely boring, as he spoke in a monotone voice that would make the most exciting tale put someone to sleep. After the first ten minutes, Matilda gave up trying to pay attention to the lesson, and began reading the textbook instead.

Three times a week, Herbology was held, in the greenhouses on the grounds, and taught by Professor Sprout, head of Hufflepuff. That was the one class Neville really excelled in, and while Matilda and Hermione were his equals in the theoretical portion, Neville outshone them in the practical part. Charms was taught by Ravenclaw head of house Professor Flitwick, who was so tiny that he had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of the very first class, he took the register, and when he got to Harry's name, he gave a squeak of excitement and toppled out of sight. Astronomy, taught by Professor Sinstra, was held every Wednesday night at midnight in the tallest tower.

Fortunately the sextet had the sense to ask an older Gryffindor student, usually Percy (and never Fred and George, who would no doubt give them misleading directions), how to get to their classes, so they rarely got lost. However, no matter where they went, there were students whispering and pointing out Harry to each other. They were queuing outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. This got annoying really quickly

On Friday was their very first Potions class, held with the Slytherins. During breakfast that morning, Ron said that he'd heard from his brothers that Professor Snape, the Potions instructor, favored his own house of Slytherin. "I guess we'll see if that's true."

"Wish McGonagall would favor us," muttered Harry.

Matilda raised a brow. Well, he did have a point, as Professor McGonagall hadn't let being Head of Gryffindor stop her from assigning them a load of homework the day before. While Matilda didn't really mind doing homework that much, neither did she love doing it like Hermione did.

The mail arrived at this point and Athena flew in with a package and letter from Miss Honey. Matilda removed the burden, gave Athena some toast, and then read the letter. When she was done, Harry said, "Hagrid invited me and my friends over for tea this afternoon. Do you guys want to come?"

The others said yes, so Harry borrowed Ron's quill and wrote, "Yes, please," on the back of Hagrid's note and sent it off again with his owl Hedwig. Matilda opened the package, which turned out to be a new book and a tin of biscuits made in the shape of witch's hats, brooms, and wands.

Potions turned out to not be as great as she had hoped. Professor Snape started the class by taking attendance like Professor Flitwick did, and when he got to Harry's name, he paused. "Ah yes, Harry Potter, our new- celebrity." Malfoy sniggered, and Matilda suppressed the urge to use wandless magic to make bring him down a peg.

Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," 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. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

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

Harry exchanged puzzled looks with Ron, while Hermione's hand shot up in the air.

"I don't know, sir," said Harry.

Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut – fame clearly isn't everything." He ignored Hermione's hand. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?

Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry clearly didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter. "I don't know, sir."

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching towards the dungeon ceiling. Malfoy and his cronies continued shaking with laughter. Matilda got thoroughly fed up with their behavior, and before Harry could say that he didn't know the answer to that question either, she moved their chairs back slightly so that the three fell to the ground. Snape, thus distracted, turned to look at them. "What happened here?" he asked in more pleasant tone of voice.

Malfoy got to his feet and replied, "The chair somehow moved under me and I fell, sir."

While this was going on, Matilda leaned over to Harry and whispered, "They're the same plant, also called aconite." Hermione frowned, but didn't say anything.

Harry blinked in surprise, then mouthed 'thanks'. When Snape turned his attention back to his question, Harry answered, "They're the same plant, sir. And it also goes by the name of aconite."

Snape looked slightly taken aback, then snapped, "Correct, but you still were unable to answer the other two questions. For your information, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful known as the Draught of Living Death. As for a bezoar, it is a stone found in a stomach of a goat and can save you from most poisons. Well? Why aren't you all copying it down?" There was instantly a flurry of parchment and quills being taken out. Over the noise, Snape continued, "And a point shall be taken from Gryffindor for your not looking through your books before coming, Potter. Miss Honey, why aren't you writing the information down?"

"Because I already know it, Professor Snape," responded Matilda respectfully, though she didn't think him a fair teacher at all. "If you had been asking the questions to the class in general and not to Harry, I would have raised my hand to answer them like Hermione did."

"So, you are knowledgeable, are you? Well then, can you tell me what the Polyjuice Potion is, Miss Honey?"

"It is a potion that allows you to take the appearance of another person for an hour, sir. It takes about a month to brew, requires something of the person you are turning into, usually a hair, and is not meant to animal or partial human transformation, such as a person who has goblin ancestry."

Snape blinked, then snapped, "What color is a Shrinking Solution supposed to be?"

"Green," replied Matilda, who felt relieved that she had read ahead, since Professor Snape was asking about potions that they wouldn't learn about until second year or later.

Snape now looked distinctly annoyed. "A point shall be taken from Gryffindor for your being a know-it-all, Miss Honey." He then turned brusquely away and with his wand, magically wrote the directions for making a simple potion to cure boils on the chalkboard. Matilda hid her annoyance at Snape's unfairness. It wasn't as if she was trying to be a know-it-all. And it wasn't her fault that she happened to like reading and learning, and was able to retain almost everything she read or learned the first time.

The class was then put into pairs and directed to start brewing the potion. Matilda was partnered with Neville, who did pretty well in preparing the ingredients, but appeared to be too nervous of Snape to do a good job in the actual brewing part. Matilda ended up doing most of it, and actually had to stop Neville from helping once because he was about to add the porcupine quills too early, which would have had disastrous results.

Snape swept around the room, inspecting everyone's work and criticizing everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like, and Hermione and Matilda, who didn't do anything that he really could criticize. When everyone was done, he looked at each potion and complimented Malfoy on his. When Snape got to Hermione and Lavender, he didn't make any comment at all, which meant he couldn't find anything wrong with their potion, and did the same with Matilda and Neville's potion.

On the way to lunch, Ron and Harry began complaining about how unfair Snape was. "Why did he have to ask me all those questions like that?" wondered Harry.

"I don't know," answered Matilda. "But I don't see why he had to ask you about stuff that we don't learn until next year or later. Not everyone reads ahead, after all."

Ron turned his head to look at her. "You mean we weren't supposed to learn about bezoars and the rest yet?"

"Not exactly," said Matilda. "A teacher can decide to teach something whenever they want. It's just that the material covered is something considered more appropiate to learn later on."

Harry sighed. "Maybe I should read ahead in Potions like you and Hermione did if Snape's going to be asking me questions about stuff we haven't learned yet all the time."

"That's a good idea," said Hermione brightly. "I'd be happy to quiz you on the stuff you're reading."

"Er, perhaps I should do that, Hermione," said Matilda diplomatically. "You might be too busy with your own work." In actual fact, it was because Matilda would be more patient, since Hermione struck her as the kind of person that could get impatient with people when they didn't know something she felt that they should know.

At three o'clock, the sextet went down to visit Hagrid. He cheerfully greeted everyone and set out tea and rock cakes. The rock cakes turned out to be literally as hard as rocks, but they pretended to enjoy them as Hagrid asked how their first week had been. Matilda found that she liked the gameskeeper, and wondered if he might have some giant ancestry, because of his height.

Ron was telling Hagrid how his brother Charlie was doing when Matilda saw that Harry seemed to be interested in a newspaper clipping that was on the table.

"Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"

The girls gave him a confused look, as they had no idea what he was talking about. Neville leaned over and explained in a whisper, "There was a break-in at Gringotts at the end of July, but nothing seemed to have been taken." Hagrid wouldn't look Harry in the eye and merely grunted and offered everyone another rock cake.

When the group was heading back to the castle for supper, Harry told them what he had read in the clipping and Hagrid's errand at Gringotts when taking Harry to get his school supplies. Matilda and Lavender exchanged looks, wondering if the vault had been emptied just in time and why someone was after the package that had been in it.