Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Harry Potter or Oh My Goddess.
The first class of the year for the second year Gryffindors was double Herbology with their peers from Hufflepuff. Professor Sprout met them all outside, near the greenhouses.
"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" Professor Sprout said cheerfully, turning and striding off to the named greenhouse. Harry glanced at Neville as they walked past the other greenhouses, noting how his friend was much more animated than in other classes.
Once they were in greenhouse three, they saw Professor Sprout standing next to a bench that was covered in ear muffs. Once the students were all in place, the Herbology Professor gestured to the plant beds behind her.
"We're working on Mandrakes today. Can anybody tell me anything about them?" The teacher began, prompting Hermione to put her hand in the air immediately.
Harry knew a great deal about Mandrake from his lessons with Urd, who had explored the unusual plant in some depth thanks to its use in many healing and restorative potions. He had even helped Urd repot several Mandrake plants in one of the greenhouses that she sourced ingredients from, Urd deciding that the best way to learn about the dangers of the plant was from practical experience. Harry tuned out as Hermione rattled off the properties and dangers of Mandrake in response to Professor Sprout's questions, deciding to examine the Mandrake plants more closely. They looked rather juvenile to him, not being nearly as large as the plants he had worked on with Urd.
"These Mandrakes are still very young," Professor Sprout declared, confirming Harry's observation, "but they are still dangerous. Everybody grab a pair of ear-muffs and put them on. Make sure they're on tight, we don't want anybody hurt! I'll give you a thumbs up when it is safe to take the muffs off."
The class watched carefully as Professor Sprout deftly removed a Mandrake from the soil, then swiftly transferring it to a new pot and covering the screaming root with soil. Once she had finished she turned to the class and gave them a thumbs up. Harry dutifully removed his ear-muffs, as did the rest of the students.
"The cry of a young Mandrake won't kill you, but it will knock you out for a few hours. Let's avoid that, shall we? Make sure your muffs are on securely at all times. Now, four to a tray and let's get to repotting."
Harry found himself at a tray accompanied by Hermione and two Hufflepuff students. The two quickly introduced themselves as Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Justin seemed eager to chat about all of the latest gossip in the school, while Hannah just blushed every time Harry looked her way. Remembering how Ginny had been when he had visited the Burrow, Harry did his best to keep Hannah involved in the conversation as they prepared their pots. He had not made much progress before they were told by Professor Sprout to put their ear-muffs on again. The magically enhanced muffs blocked all sound out, making further conversation impossible. Communicating via gestures, the four quickly transferred their Mandrakes into their pots and waved to bring Professor Sprout over to inspect their work. Everybody was dirty and sweaty by the time the class was over, so the students headed back to the castle at a brisk pace to clean up a bit before their next class.
The second year Gryffindors had one more class before lunch, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. The task for that lesson was to transfigure a beetle into a button, something Harry found quite easy once he recalled his lessons with Aunty Bell. Ron was having a much easier time of it compared to his performance in Transfiguration the previous year, something Neville commented on.
"It's the new wand," Ron explained, gesturing with it, "it is a match for my magic and that makes it a lot easier. The wand I had last year felt like it was fighting with me for every spell."
Once the class had finished they headed for lunch. Hermione was trying to discuss the finer points of the theory behind their first Transfiguration class for the year, but everybody else was still feeling a little tired from the morning in the greenhouse and were only interested in taking some time to recharge before the afternoon's classes. As they sat down to eat, Harry looked at his friends across from him.
"What have we got after lunch?" Harry asked as he picked up a pitcher of pumpkin juice.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts." Ron replied, grinning at Neville. The Longbottom Heir smiled back.
"I'm looking forward to it." Neville said simply as he grabbed the butter dish.
Harry and his friends finished lunch early and went outside into the courtyard to get some fresh air before their next class. They had not been outside for very long before they were approached by a first year student wearing Gryffindor colours.
"Hello Harry. I'm Colin Creevey." The first year said as he came close.
"Hi there, Colin. I think I saw you at the Sorting." Harry replied.
"Really? Cool!" Colin exclaimed, fumbling behind his back before he produced a camera that was hanging on a strap around his neck. "Say, can I get a picture with you?"
Harry blinked. "Er, sure. Why?"
"Just so I can prove that I've met you," Colin explained, "I've read so much about you and I'm a big fan."
"Ah," Harry said thoughtfully, "be careful with anything you read about me, a lot of it is wrong. Hermione can tell you about that."
Hermione looked up when Harry mentioned her name. "He's right, Colin, I read a lot about Harry before I came to Hogwarts. When I checked it with him, a lot is either complete fiction or total speculation."
"Oh," Colin said, sounding disappointed, "can I get a picture anyway?"
"Sure," Harry said, "can you take the photo, Ron?"
Colin was soon walking off with a happy smile, while Harry and his friends headed to their DADA lesson.
Belldandy looked up as her sisters entered the living room. She glanced at Keiichi, who immediately caught her intent.
"I'll take the children upstairs and read them a story," Keiichi said as he stood up and crossed the room to where Týr and Takano were drawing on large sheets of paper spread out on the floor. After a few minutes to pack up the children's things, Keiichi left the room with his children comfortably ensconced in his arms. Skuld and Urd seated themselves in a pair of arm-chairs across from Belldandy as Keiichi departed.
"Now, what did you find out about the barrier?" Belldandy asked once the door had shut behind her husband and children.
Urd looked pensive. "Not a lot beyond what you already found out. A house elf disrupted the charms on the barrier, temporarily disabling them just at the moment when Harry tried to go through."
"It looked very deliberate," Skuld added, "it would have been a lot easier to just destroy the charms completely and leave the barrier completely disenchanted. Whoever did this wanted to only disable the barrier for a short time."
"So, a house elf intentionally tried to stop Harry from accessing the Hogwarts Express," Belldandy concluded, "which could mean a number of things."
Urd nodded in agreement. "Right. Either somebody ordered their elf to stop Harry, or an elf decided to do it on their own – which seems a bit unlikely."
"Or somebody tricked an elf into doing it," Skuld pointed out, "which could be useful for somebody looking for an alibi."
"Though why anybody would go to that kind of trouble for something as trivial as blocking the barrier to Platform 9¾ is puzzling." Belldandy pointed out. Skuld conceded the point with a shrug. "What about our wards here?"
Skuld pulled out a piece of paper that was covered with complicated formulae that looked mathematical. "That was a good suggestion on your part, big sister. We found signs that somebody, probably a house elf, tried to access our property several times during July and August. I'd be willing to guess that it was the same person who blocked the barrier."
"Or at least was working with them," Urd added, "there's nothing we've found to say just how many people were involved."
"At the same time we have nothing to suggest that there's anything more than just one house elf doing this," Skuld replied, "and I like Occam's Razor."
Belldandy cleared her throat to forestall any arguments. "Let's leave that for another time. We should let Harry know about what happened to the barrier, and that he should be on the look-out for any house elves that are acting suspiciously."
Urd smirked. "That could be a challenge. I don't think I've ever met a house elf that could be considered 'normal' by human standards."
"There is some truth to that," Belldandy admitted, "but it wouldn't hurt for Harry to be vigilant."
"Fine," Skuld said as she stood up, "you'll write the letter, big sister?"
"Of course." Belldandy replied as she stood up and headed for the door, intent on joining her husband and children.
The Gryffindor Second Years' first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson for the year proved to be very different from how the course had been run before.
"Hello. My name is Frank Longbottom, and yes I am Neville's father. In this class you will call me Professor or Professor Longbottom. You should find on your desk a syllabus for this year's DADA course," the retired Auror said once the class had settled down. Everybody glanced down and saw pieces of parchment that had a broad outline for the course ahead.
Professor Longbottom slowly walked over to a free-standing blackboard at the side of the classroom, speaking as he went. "I am given to understand that the teaching of this course has been a bit haphazard over the past few years. To better understand where you all stand with the material, the first thing you will do is…"
The DADA Professor gestured with his wand and more parchment appeared on everybody's desk.
"…take a quick test on last year's course. This will not be graded, it is only meant to give me an idea as to how far along you all are. You may start now, it should only take fifteen minutes so try to be quick."
Harry dutifully worked through the test, finishing ahead of everybody apart from Hermione. Professor Longbottom clapped his hands to get everybody's attention after a few more minutes.
"Right, finish now. Could you please collect the test papers and leave them on my desk, Miss Granger? Thank you."
As Hermione walked around the desks collecting test papers, Professor Longbottom started to write on the blackboard he was standing next to.
"Now we will spend a lot of time looking at dangerous creatures and how to handle them, but before we start I want to go over the basic rules of wand safety. Everybody, copy this down once I've finished."
Once Professor Longbottom had finished writing, he stepped away from the blackboard. Harry quickly read the list of rules and copied them down. Once he finished he re-read them on his parchment, checking against the version on the blackboard to make sure he had copied them correctly.
The list was not long, with only five rules. They all seemed to be fairly obvious to Harry, as he went over them again in his head:
1. Never point your wand at anything you do not intend to cast a spell on
2. Be sure of your target and what's beyond it
3. Keep your wand safely stowed away unless you are about to use it
4. Always keep your wand in good condition
5. Learn your spells and understand them before casting
Professor Longbottom stood to the side of the blackboard and glanced over the classroom. "Everybody finished? Good. These rules were drummed into us when we trained to be Aurors and it is never too early to start. So let's go over these and explain them in turn.
"The first rule should be obvious, but I'll explain it anyway. Magic can be very dangerous, even spells intended to be beneficial can be nasty if used improperly. We should always be careful with our wands, as even adults can have accidental magic episodes under the right – or wrong – circumstances. To that end, you should only ever point your wand at something when you genuinely intended to cast something on it.
"The second rule is related – magic can be dangerous, so make sure you know what you're casting on. You do not want to cast a cleaning charm on an old painting only to find that you've magically cleaned all the paint off the canvas. Likewise, you do not want to hit somebody with a cutting charm that you intended to use on a piece of wood.
"The third rule relates to the first. If you aren't actively using your wand, put it away in a safe place. I have a proper holster to keep my wand stowed, and you'll note that it stays there unless I'm actually casting. I do not want to see people walking around casually holding their wands as if they were just harmless twigs.
"The fourth rule is practical. A wand in poor condition can be a danger to everybody near it, particularly the person holding it. Take good care of your wand and replace it if it gets damaged. You are better off not casting magic at all than risking death or injury by casting with a wand in poor condition.
"Finally, the fifth rule. Know what it is that you are casting before you cast it. And practice! Even simple spells can be dangerous if they are not cast correctly – I'm sure Professor Flitwick has already warned you of the perils associated with the levitation charm.
"Now, before we go on, are there any questions?" Professor Longbottom concluded. Harry looked around the class and saw that everybody was just sitting quietly.
The Professor smiled. "Then let's start on exploring these rules in depth, with a few case studies to illustrate each one. At the end of today's class, you'll be ready for the report I want on each of these rules, why they are important and what the implications are. No more than three inches per rule. So, back to the first rule…"
At the end of their first day of classes for the year, the second year Gryffindor boys trooped back to their dormitory to relax for the evening. After a full day of lessons that had started with repotting Mandrakes, the boys were tired and anxious to get to their beds.
"I don't recall any of our lessons being this tiring last year," Seamus muttered as he went to his trunk, "even broom lessons weren't this bad."
"I think it was those bloody Mandrakes," Dean replied as he took off his shoes, "even with the ear-muffs it was a lot of effort."
"I think you're right on that, Dean," Harry said as he opened the curtains around his bed, "it wouldn't have been so bad if we just did one, but we were at it for ages."
Ron sighed as he carefully placed his wand in a bedside drawer. "What did you guys think of DADA? A bit different from last year."
Neville blushed lightly as the other boys all glanced at him. Seamus grinned after a moment.
"Yeah, your dad sure knows his stuff, Neville. Pretty strict in the classroom, but I can't say that he didn't have a point about safety." Seamus concluded.
"He was an Auror for many years," Neville said softly, "and I know he's been reading a lot of his old books to prepare for this."
"A long sight better than Quirrell," Dean put in as he grabbed his towel on the way to the bathroom, "if only because he doesn't stutter."
Harry grinned at the laughter Dean's comment elicited, before he looked back to his bed. There was a letter sitting on his pillows, addressed to him in Aunty Belldandy's distinctive handwriting. Harry was not sure why Hedwig would have delivered the letter to his bed rather than to Harry in person, deciding that the best thing to do would be to read the letter in private.
Harry soon realised why the letter had been sent with privacy in mind. His family in Hinckley had investigated the problem with the barrier at Kings Cross Station and had determined that a house elf had been involved. It was not certain whether the elf had been acting on its own or if someone had ordered it to block the barrier. Either way, there was a chance that the elf might try something else in the future. Aunty Belldandy warned Harry to stay alert for any house elves that were acting suspiciously.
This left Harry wondering just what suspicious behaviour in a house elf looked like. He had met a few house elves briefly through his interactions with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, but he did not know a great deal about them. He resolved to ask his family about it, and sat down to compose a letter before he went to bed.
Albus Dumbledore gently sucked on a lemon drop as he read through the file he had received from the DMLE. It contained all of the briefing material the DMLE felt he should have in the lead up to trial of Gilderoy Lockhart.
Considering that Dumbledore's role in the trial would effectively be that of the judge, the file did not contain a great deal. For the most part it was just the paper trail required to demonstrate that the accused had been arrested according to the legally mandated procedure, had been held according to the legally mandated requirements, and had been charged as per the legally mandated procedure.
All in all, a lot of red tape that served no purpose other than as a way for the DMLE to tell the world 'look, we haven't pulled another Sirius Black here.'
The Headmaster looked away from the file for a moment to regard the view outside of his office window. While the reforms that had followed the "Black Scandal" had been necessary, they did increase the level of bureaucracy involved. Mostly because every Ministry employee involved wanted a paper trail to help cover their rear ends in the event that another inquiry was ever held. The Ministry had seen a significant number of quite senior officials either retire outright or get promoted sideways, as had happened to Barty Crouch Senior. Nobody wanted to end up like former Director Crouch, stuck in a nothing job with no prospect of ever progressing in their career.
Hence the rather thick file that Albus Dumbledore was now holding. A lot of parchment that did nothing much beyond giving a bunch of bureaucrats written evidence that they were not to blame for anything that might go wrong. Such was the price of progress. On the plus side, the chances of anybody slipping through the cracks, as Sirius had, were now so slim as to be non-existent.
Returning his attention to the file, the Supreme Mugwump wondered just what Lockhart's defence team thought it could achieve by challenging the competence of Gilderoy's various victims. Trying to cast doubt on the reliability of their testimony by citing the very damage done by the accused? Albus shook his head.
He'd been involved in the legal system for decades and he still did not understand the legal fraternity.
The rest of the week passed quietly enough for Harry and his friends, the familiar routine of lessons, homework and all that went with it soon settling in. Harry was looking forward to the first weekend back at Hogwarts, as he and his friends had made plans to visit Hagrid and catch up with what the Goundskeeper had been up to over the summer.
Saturday morning, however, saw Harry being shaken awake at an obnoxiously early hour.
"C'mon Harry, wake up!" Oliver Wood said as he saw Harry open his eyes. Harry glanced at the window.
"Wood, its barely dawn. What do you want at this hour?"
"Quidditch practice!" Wood said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We've got to get started!"
Muttering under his breath about over-enthusiastic team captains, Harry crawled out of bed and found his Quidditch uniform and broom. As he made his way down the stairs to the common room, he was intercepted by Colin Creevey, who was brandishing a camera.
"I thought I heard your name! Want to see some of the pictures I've taken?" the first year Gryffindor said breathlessly.
"No time, I've got Quidditch practice." Harry replied as he headed for the door out of the common room.
"Cool! I've never been to a Quidditch game! You're the youngest Seeker in a century, aren't you?" Colin exclaimed as he followed Harry out of the common room. Harry found himself being peppered with questions about Quidditch from his self-appointed number one fan, the young Gryffindor somehow finding enough to talk about all the way to the Quidditch pitch.
Harry ducked into the Gryffindor changing room to find the rest of the team apparently asleep on the benches, while Wood was standing by a blackboard covered in elaborate diagrams that seemed to describe Quidditch plays.
"Right, I've got some ideas for this year, listen up you lot…" Wood said as he turned and tapped his wand on the board. The chalk lines and arrows started to move as Wood described what Harry thought were overly complicated tactics. He noted that Fred and George Weasley were leaning against each other, half asleep, while Alicia Spinnet was resting her head on George's shoulder with her eyes shut. On the bench opposite them, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson were slumped against the wall, apparently having dropped off to sleep.
"…and that's it. Any questions?" Wood concluded as he turned around. He did not seem all that impressed when he saw that his team had apparently slept through his lecture.
"Just one. Why didn't you do this last night, when we were all awake?" Fred asked with a yawn.
Harry tuned out the argument that followed, mostly because he could see Fred's point. In short order the team trooped out onto the Quidditch pitch, and got into the air. Harry waved at Ron and Hermione who had settled into the stands, though the sight of Ron eating some toast that he had apparently brought with him from breakfast did spike some jealousy.
Partway into their practice session, George started to look around curiously.
"What's that funny clicking sound?" he asked, slowing down to hear better. Harry looked around and saw Colin Creevey in the top row of seating, following Harry's every move with his camera.
"Isn't that your new fan, Harry?" Fred asked with a trace of humour. Harry just groaned and ran a hand over his face.
"What are you lot just sitting around for? And who is that first year?" Wood demanded as he approached the trio. "Is he a spy for the Slytherins?"
"No, he's Harry's new fan." George said, grinning. "He's in Gryffindor."
"Plus the Slytherins don't need to send any spies, as they've turned up in person." Fred pointed out.
"And in full uniform, for that matter." George noted.
"What are they doing here? I booked the ground for the whole day!" Wood spat out, diving his broom towards the Slytherin team.
Harry followed behind at a sedate pace, landing in time to hear Wood arguing with Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team captain.
"…I booked the whole ground for the day with Hooch, Flint! Your note from Snape means nothing, it is Hooch who controls the Quidditch pitch!"
"We need the time to train our new Seeker," Flint replied.
Harry glanced at the Slytherin team, noting the presence of Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin second year was the youngest member of the squad, and had a neutral expression fixed to his face.
"Plus we all got these new brooms," Flint said with a smirk, gesturing with his broom, "courtesy of a generous gift."
As Flint needled Wood, Draco caught Harry's eye and jerked his head off to one side. Harry walked over to talk to Draco out of earshot of the other players.
"Father bought the entire team a complete set of Nimbus 2001s," Draco said in a carefully bland tone, "so they all felt obligated to put me on the team."
"You don't sound very happy about it," Harry replied, looking at Draco's broom and failing to see anything that differentiated it from his own.
Draco scowled for a moment. "I want to be on the team, sure, but I want to have earned it. More than anything else I want my House Team to win, and we can only do that with the best players being in the team. All I wanted was to try out for the team this year, and hopefully get in. Then Father got ideas of his own, and here we are."
Harry nodded as he understood Draco's point. "Well, it looks like you'll have to practice hard then. Make sure that you're up for the position."
Draco nodded in turn. "Absolutely. But first I think I need to intervene…"
With that the Slytherin second year walked back to where the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams appeared to be on the verge of blows.
Draco cleared his throat as he approached, getting the attention of all concerned. "Captain, Wood there has a point that it is Hooch who decides who has the pitch for practice. How about we go to our team room and discuss strategy while this lot get themselves all hot and sweaty? I'm sure we can get the pitch for tomorrow if we ask now."
Flint eyed Draco carefully, before he nodded once. He promptly turned and stomped off in the direction of the Slytherin changing room, followed by the rest of his team. Draco caught Harry's eye for a short moment before he followed his team mates.
"Right, now that they're gone, let's get back to it!" Wood said with some satisfaction.
"Of course, my captain, but how about we get some breakfast before we all faint from hunger?" Fred asked sarcastically.
Wood was eventually persuaded to let the team go after lunch, as the female part of the team threatened to tie their captain to the goal posts and leave him there for the rest of the weekend if they did not get some time to relax.
Hagrid was happy to see Harry and his friends, with Neville joining them in time for afternoon tea. The small group in Hagrid's cottage talked about their experiences over the summer, before Hagrid showed the second year students the pumpkins he was growing for Halloween. To Harry's eye they looked to be far too big to be natural.
"Looking good, Hagrid," Ron commented as he inspected a pumpkin that was taller than he was.
"That's what yer sister said ta me," Hagrid rumbled approvingly, "met her jus' yesterday." Hagrid glanced at Harry with a grin. "Said she was jus' lookin' round the grounds, but I reckon she was hopin' she might run inter someone else at my house." He winked at Harry. "If yeh ask me, she wouldn' say no ter a signed —"
"Not another one," Harry sighed theatrically, to the amusement of his friends.
"I meant ta ask yer, Neville, can ye ask yer dad to come down to me 'ut some time? Haven't spoken with 'im since he left the school, be good ta catch up again." Hagrid said as he turned towards Neville.
"I can do that," Neville agreed, "you were here when my parents were at school, right?"
"Sure was," Hagrid replied with a chuckle, before he launched into a story about how he once caught Frank and Alice behind the stables when they were in their seventh year. Harry, Hermione and Ron found it very funny, while poor Neville seemed to want to try and vanish into the background. Unfortunately for Ron, Hagrid segued right into a tale about Arthur and Molly.
After a few more stories from Hagrid about Ron and Neville's parents, the four friends made their wake back into the castle for dinner. Colin Creevey was eagerly showing his fellow first years the collection of photos he had managed to develop already, though few of his peers seemed to be quite as enthusiastic about the "Boy-Who-Lived" as Colin was.
After dinner, Oliver Wood rounded up his team for another lesson on Quidditch tactics.
"After this morning's complaints, and the rather dismal display on the pitch," Wood began with a glare at the Weasley twins, "we'll try this again now that everyone is awake. Now please pay attention…"
Harry found that he was actually able to follow along this time, and took notes on what was expected of him as a Seeker. He just hoped that Wood's strategies would compensate for the speed advantage the Slytherins would have with their new brooms.
Author's notes: this took far too long. Writer's block is to blame. My apologies.
Frank Longbottom's spiel on wand safety was based on my own experiences of learning firearms safety. Rorscharch's Blot also did something similar in one of his stories, so credit where it is due.
Many thanks to the people at Caer Azkaban for providing ideas and proofing my version of the "basic rules of wand safety."
