Zhenya hid behind her mother’s long coat as she stepped into the classroom. 26 pairs of big eyes looking at her made her very scared and shy. Her mother had forced her to come into class with her, just to see if she liked it. Of course, Zhenya had grown up around magic her whole life, so it was a shock stepping into a muggle classroom.

Her mother had sat her next to Lucy, who was very nice, and Zhenya enjoyed talking to her. She had to keep reminding herself that Lucy was a muggle, and Zhenya was a witch.

Zhenya was walking down Hogsmeade when she saw the familiar person that was Raven, her best snake friend. She smiled, and had a thought. Wouldn’t it be great to scare her? She was holding her camera, so Zhenya made sure she didn’t freak her out too much that she would accidentally drop it.

Walking up behind her, she poked her and said “BOO!”

She didn’t think she scared her best friend, so she sat down across from her. She ordered a cup of tea and drank it, marvelling in the deliciousness that was that tea. It felt all warm inside.

Zhenya was in her dormitory getting ready for the first Muggle Studies lesson on dinner table etiquette. She had picked out a pink dress, which wasn’t what she would ever wear usually. She liked the more blacks, navy, reds and dark, earthy colours.

But this pink wasn’t over the top, in fact she might think it’s the ‘Girly Salmon,’ as her mother put it. Initially, Zhenya refused to put it in her trunk, but when she tried it on it did look nice.

She topped it off with high shoes and wobbled her way up to the Muggle Studies lesson.

Zhenya pulled her mum by her hand as she made her way to Ollivander’s Wand Shop. She waited patiently for the assistants to see her, and whilst she waited, she was measured at all different spots for her wand. She thought it was odd, but smiled nervously at her mother as she tried not to get too ticklish.

After a while, and a few wands, she finally found the one that let off sparks, and made her feel… complete. It was 11” wand, made out of Oak, with a Unicorn Hair core, and it was of a sturdy quality.

“So why did you have to see the Headmaster?” Zhenya asked her father.
He laughed and said, “I was naughty. I accidentally set fire in the prefect’s bathroom when I snuck in.”
Zhenya’s jaw dropped, “You did WHAT Daddy?” She couldn’t believe that her father would have ever done something so bad. First to sneak in to somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be and then set fire to it!?

“Cool,” said Dimitri, admiring his father. “Maybe I can sneak in there this year and see what damage has been left,” he said, and started laughing.

“Absolutely NOT” said livid Lisabel.

Zhenya was in Eyelops Owl Emporium with her mother looking for an owl. She walked up and down, looking at them, until there was one. Just one, it was white, fluffy and… well it looked like it was a baby. It was so cute, and fluttered over to Zhenya. It was like they were instant friends.

“This one, mummy, this is the one I want!” Zhenya said happily. She looked up at her mother, letting her know she should probably pick up the cage and go to pay for it. Did she expect Zhenya to?

Now, what to name her?

Zhenya is presently nervous. Inside her stomach, there are butterflies doing back flips and all kinds of acrobatic tricks. She had made her way to the best place on the Hogwarts grounds to make her calm; The Duck Pond. She didn’t even know that was where she was going - but there she was, at the pond.

She sat on the ground and put her feet in the freezing water, slowly feeling like she was back in Russia. That really helped in calming her down.

She eventually stood up and made her way to the Slytherin locker room to get ready.

The word Dungeon wasn’t pleasant, in Zhenya’s opinion, but that was where she was walking. Down to the dungeon, where their common room was located. And even further down into the ground were the dormitories. Well, she was glad the dormitories would be cold, because she was used to cold climates.

As she made her way into the girls dormitories, she saw some girls eating… lollies. And one girl was a… was a… a dragon? Snake? Something green and scaly? Zhenya thought that was really odd, and made sure she went to the Healer.

Those dungeons don’t seem pleasant.

One day… well no THE day; New Years Day, Zhenya had decided to read the dictionary. It was her new years resolution, but the only problem was that it was utterly boring. Even though it was her Grandpapi’s Russian dictionary, she couldn’t help but micro sleep. She had settled on reading a letter a day, and was three pages in to the letter A.

“Burtie, vot are you doink?” her Grandpapi asked her when he noticed her reading his dictionary.
“I’m reading,” she said. “It’s my new years resolution, to read the dictionary.”
Without saying anything, he turned to leave.

The day before Zhenya got on the train to go to Hogwarts, her mother had prepared a feast. Her brother was there too, he had come home for a week just to spend time with Zhenya.

There were all her favourite foods there, especially the seasoned roast potatoes and honey pumpkin. But the best part, better than any main meal - dessert! Her mother was an amazing baker, and she had made some of her best things for the feast. There was sticky-date pudding, fudge cake, Apricot and Strawberry Danish, scones, Pavlova, M&M cookies… there was everything she loved!

Coming home to Burton Cottage after her first year of Hogwarts, she was most excited to see her bedroom. She ran up the stairs, and leaped onto her bed. It was the most comfortable bed; like clouds. She lied on her back, letting her fluffy quilt engulf her. She fell asleep, but didn’t know how long for.

When she sat up she went and looked at her library; the shelves on her wall, full of books of all kinds. Most of them were ones her grandparents had passed down to her, and a lot of them were her own work.

The first match of the year was between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Zhenya was on her broom and was flying really well! She was flying hand having fun, swinging her bat around and trying to find the Bludger.

Whoops - she accidentally made contact with the Quaffle. It was a penalty! She was so disappointed, she almost whacked herself on the head with her own bat.

But then - she didn’t need to. The BLUDGER made contact with the side of her face and she fell off her broom. Then, just as she remounted her broom - her foot made contact with something golden.

“What’s a patronus?” Zhenya asked Dimitri. He was in his last year and was practicing the patronus charm.
“It’s just an object you can conjure from your wand that acts as a protection against Dementors. You remember those don’t you?” he asked.
She nodded slowly. They terrified her.
“Expecto Patronum,” he said loudly and confidently. Out from his wand burst a Lion! It stood there, looking around; probably for a Dementor.
When it spotted Zhenya, it walked over to her and stood a small distance away from her.

She was frightened.
“Pat it,” Dimitri said.
She held out her hand.

In front of Zhenya stood Dimitri’s patronus lion. It looked at her, blinking occasionally, and it was beautiful. She did what Dimitri said and held out her hand, allowing the Lion to approach her and smell. She thought this was odd; he wasn’t a formed and real animal - just some kind of silvery substance.

She smiled at it, and he took a step back and blinked again. Then, opening his mouth he let out an ear deafening ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR which scared Zhenya so much. She screamed loudly, feeling the strain in her throat, and tried to run up the stairs.

Zhenya was running away from the roaring lion. She made her way across the carpet, but fell backwards onto her backside when she made contact with the floorboards. Her mother kept them polished well, and she was wearing fluffy socks.

But there was a LION! She scrambled up and leaped onto the first foot of the stair. However, those too were highly polished and her foot slipped. She went down and hit her knee badly on the stairs. She tried to get up again, but when she fell for the third time she felt a burning pain on her toes.

The sock was getting wet - she could feel it. She winced in pain as she tried to stand, but ended up knocking her toes lightly on the stairs. She called out for Dimitri, who ran towards her and scooped her up in his arms. Good big brother he was.

He took her to the lounge room and propped her on the lounge chair. He went to get a towel and put it on the lounge so no blood would stain it, and all the first aid supplies, he gently pulled off the very fluffy sock that had caused this damage.

It hurt a lot! The material of the sock seemed to have pushed itself into the cuts on Zhenya’s toes. Those horrible stairs! She winced in pain as it slowly came off, and Dimitri looked at her apologetically. She looked down and saw all the toes on her left food were cut and bleeding. It was not a good sight, and Zhenya started to hyperventilate.

“Zhenny, you need to calm down. Really! Just ignore the pain if you can, imagine going to Hogwarts,” he said.
That was easier said than done once Dimitri started applying lotion to the cuts.

Lisabel had just put up a new portrait in the lounge room. It was of a very familiar couple, who smiled warmly through the glass of the frame. The day Zhenya got home and saw that it was up she ran over to it and cried.

“I miss you so much.”
“Burtie, it’s okay. Ve are alvays here, in your heart. Ve are so proud of you, our darlink granddaughter,” said her Grandpapi.

She sobbed harder. The sight of her deceased grandparents was almost too much to bear. She fell backwards onto the sofa and cried into a pillow.

Zhenya jumped on the couch next to Dimitri as he was having a nap. She woke him up on purpose, and when he started to whinge at her for doing so, she said “Hey Dima, wanna hear a joke?”

“Zhenya ‘msleepng,” Dimitri muttered. Luckily Zhenya didn’t care what he was saying.
“So, two men walk into a bar,” she stared.
He nodded, and yawned, and said “and?”

“And… the first man says Ouch,” she said, and cracked up laughing.
Even Dimitri, who was half asleep, couldn’t help but laugh. Okay the joke was fairly lame, but it was incredibly funny.

Lisabel’s muggle classroom was nice and clean. But it also had the décor of a home cottage. She walked into her classroom every morning with a smile on her face, because this was the classroom she had designed.

Zhenya, on the other hand, thought it was boring and plain. She asked her mother to put starry curtains up and witch hats, with bats and pumpkins - to show everyone what she was. To show all them WHO she was, but she refused.

Zhenya sat in the boring classroom and heard her mother talk about boring muggle stories that made no sense.

“Now Burtie, this is a Flobbervorm,” her Grandpapi said to her one day. He had decided to compile a group of tame, easy to handle magical creatures to educate her on.

“Ew it’s… a worm!” she said, poking it.
He frowned at her, whilst half laughing. “It’s a vorm, yes, but it’s much more than just a vorm. They can secvete a thick liquid vhich ve use to thicken ze potions. It can be quite helpful, my dear girl,” he explained.

She frowned at him and said “But Grandpapi, it’s not interesting. I want to learn about blast-ended skrewts.”

“No, we didn’t have Defence against the Dark Arts,” Lisabel told Zhenya.
She looked at her mother in shock, “But mama how did your school expect you to defend yourself against dark magic?” she asked. Really - they didn’t learn it?
She smiled at Zhenya and said, “We didn’t have Defence against the Dark Arts, but we had a Defence topic. It wasn’t specialled to dark arts, but all spells. We learned how to repel any spell we wanted.”

Zhenya thought about that but decided she liked her Defence against the Dark Arts topic. She wouldn’t like just a defence class.

“Are you going to a Ball?” Zhenya asked Dimitri.
He looked up from his homework. Dima was always doing homework! Never stopped on holidays. So Zhenya made it her mission to learn what he was learning.

“No, Zhenny, I just have to write a paper on the Yule Ball that occurred at Hogwarts when Harry Potter competed in the Triwizard Tournament,” he explained, handing her the notes he had taken.
“I KNOW THIS ONE! I read all about it once. He dated Fleur, and then they were made Yule King and Queen.”

“Uh no, Zhenny. He didn’t, and they didn’t.”

“Yes they did,” Zhenya said. She HAD read that Harry took Fleur to the Yule Ball and they were made King and Queen. She had definitely read it.
“Zhenny, Harry Potter took Parvati Patil -”
“NO HE DIDN’T!”
“-And there were no Kings and Queens.”
“YES THERE WERE!”

Dimitri stood up, went to his room and came back down with his History of Magic textbook. He opened it up to the page on the Yule Ball, a page he had already looked at, and let Zhenya read it.
“But it’s wrong, Dima - they did and there WERE!” she said.

“Wait, Dima - what is… there were Leprechauns?” she said, holding the picture in the book away from her face. What was a Leprechaun? “They steal money from you.”
Dimitri laughed and said, “They’re just small thing.” He looked over at what page she was on in his History of Magic textbook.

“Ah that was the Quidditch World Cup in 1994, where Harry went and attended. The Leprechauns were the mascot of the Irish team,” he explained to her. “And they don’t steal your money… they just give out fake money that disappears.”

“I want some leprechaun money!” Zhenya said happily.