She's awoken by a furry tail brushing across her face.

Scrunching up her eyes, but groaning and sitting up all the same, Isabelle allows the fluffy white cat to crawl into her lap, stroking her fur as Célia rolls over and stretches, purring at the French girl's touch.

Isabelle took Célia in only a couple of months ago, taking over from her previous owner, bringing her here to Hogwarts with her as her only friend from France.

Yawning and rubbing her eyes, the French girl slowly lifts Célia off her lap, swinging her legs down off the bed and onto the floor, standing up. She heads into the bathroom that backs off her bedroom, sleepily undressing and stepping into the shower, letting the warm water wash over her and wake her up properly.

Isabelle pulls on some black tights and a short, dark grey skirt, tucking a light beige knitted jumper into it, after she finishes her shower and dries herself off. She then pulls her long, wavy, golden hair back into a half-up, half-down braided style, letting some loose hairs down to frame her face.

Before she heads out the door of her chambers, she grabs her school bag, slinging it over her shoulders, letting Célia run out from between her feet into the castle, her white fluffy tail disappearing around the end of a corridor. Isabelle closes the door to her chambers behind her, heading down through the Hogwarts castle towards the Great Hall.

There's one hundred and forty-two staircases here in total, as she found out from reading Hogwarts: A History, which she finished within two days of borrowing it. There's wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that lead somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you have to remember to jump.

Then there's doors that won't open unless you ask politely, or tickle them in exactly the right place, and doors that aren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending.

It's also very hard to remember where anything is, because it all seems to move around a lot. The people in the portraits keep going to visit each other and Isabelle's sure the coats of armour can walk.

The ghosts don't help, either. It's always a nasty shock when one of them glides suddenly through a door you're trying to open.

Isabelle made friends with Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at lunch on the first day, Maisie introducing her to him, and ever since, he's always been happy to point her in the right direction.

Peeves the poltergeist, on the other hand, is worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you meet him when you're late for class. He drops waste-paper baskets on students' heads, pulls rugs from beneath their feet, pelts them with bits of chalk or sneaks up behind them, invisible, grabbing their noses and screeching, "GOT YOUR CONK!"

Even worse than Peeves, if that's possible, is the Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch. He owns a cat called Mrs Norris, a scrawny, dust-coloured creature with bulging, lamp-like eyes, just like Filch's. She patrols the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'll whisk off for Filch, who'll appear, two seconds later.

Filch knows the secret passageways of the school better than anyone, and can pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hate him and it's the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs Norris a good kick.

"What have you got on today?" Ollie asks, sitting down next to Isabelle when she arrives in the Great Hall, starting to eat his eggs.

"'Erbology up first and zen a spare before lunch. After zat I 'ave Care of Magical Creatures," the French girl replies.

"Hey, we have a spare before lunch today, too!" Ollie says excitedly. "We can hang out all together!"

"I can teach you how to play Quidditch!" Noah pipes up, leaning across the table towards Isabelle.

"We can have a duelling competition," Maisie says with a mischievous glint in her eyes, a smirk gracing her lips.

"Or," Ollie says, rolling his eyes, "we could just hang out and talk with the poor girl, instead of forcing her to do the stupid things you guys like."

Isabelle chuckles at that, finishing up her croissant with boysenberry jam, licking her lips and grinning. She's been hanging out with this group of three for the entire week, today being her first Friday at Hogwarts.

"Whatever," Maisie rolls her eyes, smirking all the same. "We have to head off now, anyway, or else we'll be late for Potions," she adds.

Noah groans.

"But I haven't even finished my toast yet!" He complains.

"Not my problem," the Gryffindor girl chirps, grinning, before jumping up and grabbing her bag.

"See you in a bit, Isabelle!" She waves, heading off to the dungeons with her two best friends.

Isabelle smiles at their retreating backs, having become rather fond of the trio in the four days she's known them. She stands up, picking up her bag and heading off to the greenhouses behind the castle.

Professor Sprout, a dumpy little witch with a patched and crooked hat, greets her like usual, the woman's cheeks constantly flushed. Isabelle smiles, heading into the greenhouse, where a girl with bright pink hair, clad in yellow and black, grins at the French girl.

Nymphadora Tonks, a Hufflepuff who hates her first name, is one of the most troublesome seventh-years Isabelle's met in her first week at Hogwarts, but she likes the strange girl all the same.

Tonks is a Metamorphagus, meaning she can change her appearance at will, without the help of a spell or potion. Isabelle enjoys seeing her every Herbology lesson, as the Hufflepuff girl looks different every single time.

Today, Tonks sports bright pink hair in a pixie cut, which is different from her short, wavy bob of blonde hair two days prior, and she also has a few new freckles dotting her rosy cheeks.

"Wotcher, Issy," she says, nudging the French girl with her elbow in greeting, winking.

Tonks is the first person to give Isabelle a nickname at this new school, and she has to say, she enjoys it a lot.

"'Ello, Tonks," she replies in her soft voice, the pink-haired girl grinning, but quieting down as the lesson begins.

"Good morning, class! Today we will be continuing on with our study of the Venomous Tentacula," Professor Sprout says in her loud, yet cheerful voice.

"Now, just a recap of what we know so far... who can summarise our last two lessons for the class? Ah, Olivia, thank you."

"The Venomous Tentacula is a green, spiky, toothsome magical plant with mobile vines that try to grab living prey. It expels venom from its shoots, and its spikes are deadly. Its bite is highly venomous and can easily stun or kill. Its juice is also a less than lethal poison," Olivia, a rather pretty Ravenclaw girl with glasses and brown hair, answers.

"Precisely! Ten points for Ravenclaw!" Professor Sprout exclaims. "Is there anything she missed? Yes, Isaac?"

She points to a Hufflepuff boy with dark brown hair, who's also covered in freckles. He has kind eyes, and often smiles at Isabelle from across the greenhouse.

"The Venomous Tentacula has a giant, eyeless head with fangs, though the shape of its mouth tends to vary, along with many leaves surrounding it. It also has many large vines for appendage, that act like arms and can be severed by the Severing Charm, some of which have separate heads of their own at the ends," he says.

"Excellent! Take ten points for Hufflepuff!" Professor Sprout says happily, clasping her fingers together across her belly.

"Today we will be working with Venomous Tentaculas for the first time, but before we do, please pay attention to the next few pieces of information. Occasionally, aside from biting, some forms of the plant can also fire spiky spore-like balls from their mouths at their targets. If this does happen, stay calm and get someone else to remove the ball from your skin with their dragon-hide gloves, and come to me immediately and I shall put some of this ointment on it," the teacher instructs, holding up a small bottle filled with purple substance.

"Now, when dealing with these plants, they do have a tendency to grab you from behind with their vines, trying to strangle you. Therefore, you have my permission to shout or swear loudly if this happens, as it can be quite a fright," Professor Sprout says.

"Sweet," Tonks grins from beside the French girl.

"The leaves of the Venomous Tentacula are home to stinging nettles that also hurt quite a lot. Make sure you're wearing your dragon-hide gloves at all times during these next few weeks when dealing with these plants, or else you can get even more severely injured," Professor Sprout continues.

"Chizpurfles, Doxies and humans are all part of the Venomous Tentacula's diet, which is why they're so deadly and dangerous to handle. Now," the teacher continues loudly, "what we will be aiming to do over the next few weeks is collect the poisonous juice from these plants, as well as some of their leaves, both of which are extremely useful in potion-making, and have been requested by Professor Snape. Alright then, class, make sure to listen to me very carefully and do what I say, and let's get to work!"

It's one of the most exhilarating classes Isabelle's ever attended. As soon as the dangerous plants are brought out, loud cries of pain and lots of swearing can be heard every five seconds by various students.

The French girl is almost strangled on several occasions, cries of "Fils de pute!" escaping her each time. Next to her, Tonks swears loudly non-stop with a large grin on her face, even when the Venomous Tentacula is many feet away from her.

It's almost a relief to hear the bell ring, Isabelle trudging back up to the castle, luckily all still in one piece.

"You look shattered," Noah says bluntly as soon as the French girl catches up with the trio in the courtyard.

"Herbology hectic today?" He asks, taking a juicy bite out of an apple.

Isabelle sighs and nods, sinking down into the spare seat in between him and Ollie, exhausted.

"We 'ad to try not to get killed by zee Venomous Tentacula," she says, rubbing her temple.

"Ooh, ouch," Ollie winces. "Get strangled?"

"Oui, a few times," the French girl replies tiredly.

"Looks like there's no duelling or Quidditch today, then," he says happily, munching on an apple of his own.

Maisie rolls her eyes and Noah scoffs, but smirks all the same.

"You're the laziest person I know," Maisie says, before lying back down on the cobbled stone ground, her hands under her head.

"She says as she lies down," Ollie snorts, grinning.

Maisie simply gives him the finger, causing the French girl to chuckle.

Isabelle stands up, moving to lie down on the ground next to the Gryffindor girl, looking up at the perfectly blue sky, the white fluffy clouds, her golden hair fanned out around her head.

After a moment, both boys join in, earning them sniggers from the two girls, the four friends just lying down on their backs together, silently watching the clouds.

Isabelle can't help the smile that spreads across her face. Despite the crazy lessons, despite how different and strange Hogwarts is from Beauxbatons, she thinks it's safe to say the first week has been a massive success.