AS I sat in the classroom, listening to my history teacher tell us dull facts about the World War II, I longed to escape from the boring lesson. I shut my eyes tightly and wished and wished that I was somewhere else where life was much more exciting.

When I opened my eyes again, I was shocked. The whole scene had changed. I was in a room full of children but they weren’t my classmates. They were wearing long black robes and pointed hats.

Sitting next to me was a girl with bushy hair, speaking urgently in hushed tones to two boys. One of them had a scar on his forehead and the other one had red hair, a long nose, freckles and hand-me-down robes.

I looked ahead and to my utter amazement I saw a ghost floating in front of the blackboard, droning on and on about goblin wars. He didn’t seem to notice that the class was half-asleep.

I shivered with excitement. I was actually at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron Weasley were my classmates. I was going to have lessons from Professor McGonagall, learn how to do spells, play Quidditch and maybe even meet Professor Dumbledore.

Wow! I was so thrilled! I slipped a hand into the pocket of my robes and pulled out a long wooden stick. My wand!

Just then the bell rang. I followed the other students who were going down to the dungeons for the Potions class.

“It seems we have a new student,” said an unpleasant voice. I could only stare in bemusement. It was Professor Snape. His lip curled in distaste as he glowered at the class through the curtain of his black oily hair.

“What are the 12 uses of dragon’s blood?” he suddenly barked at me. Stuttering, I stood up.

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Detention. And five points from Hufflepuff. (Hufflepuff? I wanted to be in Gryffindor!) “Did you think you didn’t need to read any of the textbooks before arriving, did you?” I opened my mouth to argue but the girl sitting next to me elbowed me hard and I sat down, fuming.

That evening, I stumbled through the Hogwarts grounds for detention. I was supposed to be doing something with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid took me deep inside the forest. The trees were packed so closely together that with every step, I grazed myself against them. I could hear strange sounds and once I even heard the howling of a werewolf.

Soon, we came upon an opening. This part of the forest was much darker and more silent. I saw a huge silvery cobweb in the distance. I heard a clicking sound. Suddenly, I knew what all this was about and felt a shiver running up my back. Something forced its way through a bush towards us. Something huge and hairy, with pincers and many legs.

“Meet Aragog!” beamed Hagrid. “He’s my pet spider. Had him since he was a baby.”

I stood rooted to the spot in horror.

“So, our job is to help him take a bath. He’s blind, you see.” I made a strange rasping noise, turned on my heels and ran back towards the castle. On the steps leading to the castle, I saw a squat shadow waiting for me.

It was Umbridge. As if I wasn’t in enough trouble already.

She leered evilly at me and spoke in a sickly sweet voice, “Out of doors after dark? That means detention. You will help Professor Lockhart with his fan mail.”

I went gloomily to the Defense Arts teacher’s office.

“Why, hello, there!” said the Professor. It was remarkable how he could show off those brilliant white teeth even when he wasn’t talking. “I am Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile Award." I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. “I thought you could help me a bit with my fan mail. Just put the letters into the envelopes, lick and seal them,” he gestured to the table behind him.

My heart sank when I looked at the table where 4000 envelopes waited for me to be licked and sealed.

Hours later, going to the bathroom to wash the taste of glue from my mouth, who did I meet but Moaning Myrtle. She glided around me, bombarding me with annoying questions and wailed when I told her to go away. She even floated through me … I felt as if someone had flung a bucket of ice-cold water over me.

To be very honest, I was liking it less and less. Where had Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron gone? I asked a couple of students and they sent me to the corridor on the third floor. I searched about in the dark and then remembered my wand. I took it out and muttered, “Lumos!”

A fountain of water shot out of the tip, soaking me. I stuffed the wand back into my pocket. Wandering around the labyrinthine corridors, I found a door set discreetly in the wall. I opened the door with great trepidation. An awful sight met my eyes.

There was Fluffy, Hagrid’s three-headed dog standing over a trapdoor. Saliva dribbled out of all its three mouths. It saw me, raised his many heads and barked furiously.

I backed away from the door and ran as fast as I could. I decided to meet Professor Trelawney and have my future read in her crystal ball. I trudged up the tower. Up and up I went and suddenly a dementor jumped out at me. It was actually Malfor dressed up to scare me. I yelled and ran and suddenly I fell with a big thud on the tiled floor.

Everyone around me was laughing and to my amazement I was back in my own school. I had fallen from my chair and landed ignominiously on the floor. My history teacher was not pleased and gave me extra homework to make up for the lesson I had missed while sleeping. At least she did not put me in detention!