Chapter 8 -The Potions Master

[Ms. Elsewhere]

And so classes begin.. and the famous Harry Potter is being watched by all!

Harry and Ron get lost finding classes
Transfiguration and Potions classes are introduced
Moving staircases
Talking and visiting portraits and suits of armour
Notes by owl (from Hagrid)
and a particularly nasty experience with a new teacher...... Snape!

So.. as such...

Our topic discussion shall be..

Have you ever felt that someone has instantly hated you, or have you instantly hated someone for
1. A reason
2. No direct reason

AND

How was your first day of.. let's say, High School?

As we don't know why Snape hates Harry so much YET, please be careful with your responses. We are looking for your experiences!


xx Distortia and Riley

[*Riley*]

Hi all!
Stepping into the school grounds immediatley made me stick to my mum and burst into tears, I did NOT want to go to school. And even now I burst into tears when stepping into the school grounds, ( J/K )
The first teacher I saw was my Art teacher, a tall, skinny, strict woman who was much like Mcgonogal (sp?), except for she couldn't smile. She looked at me and frowned, "Tuck that shirt in and wipe that Milo from your chin!" she yelled while rougly pulling my collar down. I'm describing this in such detail, because I was so scared of her, it stayed in my memory forever. Of course, by then I was wobbly at the knees, so I ran off to find the other children -It wasn't much better there-.
A kid much like Dudley stared at me with such hate I looked away, I did not know at the time, but I think he hated me because I had friends and he was just known as the mean bully.
So before I plunge deeper into my life story, I'll pass it over to you to talk about instant hate.

[choki]

Well, instantly hating someone~
There are times where you simply loathed a person without even knowing the person actually. Hahaha first impression? Whether did the person give a very bad/poor impression.

I did kinda had a bad impression (not hate, it is hard to hate someone w/o knowing) on someone before, that was before I know her... but once we knew each other, we are like friends.
I sure hope nobody hates me before knowing me hahaha

Well, if I'm Snape, talking to the class and finds a boy looking down at his paper writing, I would think the boy was not paying attention in the class and hence a poor impression of the boy.

[Q.Araignee]

Okay, I can honestly say I don't think I've ever taken an instant dislike to someone. There are people I dislike, one I even hate- but after years of knowing them, not straight off. People have taken one look at me and decided they disliked me or were a little intimidated by me, but I don't think anyone's gone so far as hate on that just yet.

Now...first day of high school...having the front cover of the book I was reading ripped off, being pushed around and teased for so many reasons- having no friends coming from my junior school, being really short, being more interested in listening to the teachers and getting some work done than chatting about make-up or fashion or giving people answers...

Yeah, my year- bar about 6 people- made the first 5 years a living hell. And that's just during school time.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Good point, Choki, about bad or good 'first impressions'. We never have a second chance at one of those, but we do have the chance to change it, if people are willing to get to know us. For me, I've found the people I thought the worst of in the beginning turned out to be the best people in the end. Some of my best friends today are people I couldn't stand at the start.... but of course I would never tell them that! I suppose we should always seek the best in people FIRST.

Heya Q, there are always people out there who seem to find joy in making other people miserable. Over here in Australia it's called "Tall Poppy Syndrome", where people insist on cutting each other down, competeing, bullying and being hurtful just to make themselves supposedly look better. I'm so grateful that after High School, you can choose who you hang around with every day, and if you work with a jerk, you can file a complaint to your human resource department! Some adults STILL think they're in high school and they STILL bully, be cruel, chuck tantrums and form groups in the work place. ARG!

Riley... I know what you mean about tears! I started primary school without any that I can remember, but I remember dozens of kids curled up in the corners sobbing.. and I wanted so much to make them feel better. I remember reaching to one child in the playhouse in our classroom, my heart was breaking for him/her. We spend the first few years with our parents full time (or in daycare... which at least gets us ready for the same stuff in school), and then we're left with a bunch of strange people telling us what to do and how to do it. And they're not all Miss Sunshine's either... a lot of them are scowl faced grumps who hate their job... I hope I'll never be like that when I'm a teacher...

Along the hatred issue, I had an experience where I got the funny feeling that people had stopped talking to me and were giving me 'death' looks as I walked by. It was a terrible, dreadful feeling. I kept wondering what was going on. It seemed like it went on forever, but I think it only lasted a few days. Turns out a 'friend' of mine had told some 'popular' girls that I thought they were 'slutty and alcoholics and druggies'. Hmmm.... This was a friend I had drifted away from because I had joined another friendship group and she didn't like it. I guess that's why she said that about me. I remember the conversation I had with her which included me saying that I didn't think drinking alcohol was a good way to get popular. So after confronting a girl at my work about it so I could find out what was going on... I finally sorted it out and told them it was a lie.. People were going to beat me up about it! (As in PUNCH and such) Then they asked if they wanted me to have them beat up this girl who lied about me.. I said no. Today, her and I are friends again, and all is forgiven... the things we do as children are hard to explain, and often done using our emotions more than our heads..

High School! First day... I had grown over the holidays and did not fit any of my clothes, my hair was frizzy from a head perm, and I had terrible acne. I kept to myself and prayed no one would notice me and make fun of me. Another girl who was a neighbor of mine got pushed around by some boys i didn't know and called a 'fat pig'. I was so scared they were going to start on me next. (NOt that I was fat.. I weighed 110 pounds when I was 13.. and I thought I was FAT. Sigh... to be that little now! Well.. 125-130 would be great!) A fun song about highschool is by the Barenakedladies called "Grade Nine".

But... eventually I found some friends who were nice to me, and who enjoyed the things I enjoyed. Our High School was a mixtured of 5 primary schools, and it was amazing to find in such a small town (I grew up in a town of 5000 people) there were so many kids my age I hadn't met yet. And they had heard of me too! I found I never made the effort to think about or persue things any more than what was necessary. Other people found it important to know EVERYTHING about everyone and anything. Talking to old friends lately has revieled to me... there was so much going on I had no idea about.

My final thought in this post is..... If you can make it through High School , you can make it through anything!

[DucksRMagical]

Ah, so much I wish I could say about Snape.... I did hate him from the moment I read about him, though.

My 5th grade teacher took a distinct dislike to me. To this day I've got no idea why. I was a quiet kid in elementary school, so I have no idea why she didn't like me. But she didn't. She even told my mom at parent teacher conferences 'You're going to have your work cut out with Sarah when she's a teenager.' My mom thought it was totally inappropriate for her to say that. Plus, I was only 9 at the time...

I can't say I've ever taken a dislike to someone just from looking at them.

My first day of high school was not that memorable. My district was small. 2 elementary schools, which then went to 1 middle school in 6th grade. Then everyone went to the same high school. So it was the same kids, just a different building. Middle school was the big transition for me, since I got to meet kids from the other elementary school. Plus I was drifting apart from most of my elementary school friends. I wound up getting a whole new circle of friends in 7th grade, with the exception of my 2 best friends which I am still friends with to this day.

[Q.Araignee]

Ah, now dear old Severus. I was always most intrigued by him- I wanted to know exactly *why* he took that instant dislike to Harry. Something about this chapter bugged me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Or maybe I'm just a paranoid person who thinks there's always something else there even if there isn't

[*Riley*]

I took an instant hate to Snape, although I know why now ( Not saying ) It was a mystery those years ago.
Speaking of hate, I would say I haven't ever hated anyone at first glance, I took a dislike to some creeps on trains, but other than that, I tend to get to know people, then judge them.
As the saying goes:
'Don't judge a book by it's cover'