Harry and Dudley walked up the stairs to the large and forbidding stone wall that the school was named for. Harry's periphery caught Dudley turning and waving to his parents as they drove away. Rumor had it that the stone wall around the school was supposed to have been built against an invasion of Romans and had survived all the way until now. That the students of Stonewall were to be trained as rigorously as the soldiers who had first erected and then fought for the wall. Harry did not believe a shred of that story. But he did believe that Stonewall would test him and his gang and that, through rigorously holding themselves to the plans Harry had set for them, the wall would eventually fall.

Harry took another step forward and placed a hand against the wall and felt its texture and strength. After taking another moment to look at the wall, he turned and gestured to Dudley to follow him and the two walked through the wrought-iron gate into Stonewall High.

Harry looked around once inside and saw two long rows of classrooms on either side of a long, open walkway that opened into a circular quad at the end of the classroom rows. There were some tables and benches, along with some various thin trees, in the middle of the walkway. Some students were sitting at the tables and talking, others were walking around towards unknown destinations. Harry drank it all in, knowing he'd have to get uniquely familiar with the layout if his more ambitions plans were going to come to fruition.

"Hey Harry?" Dudley's voice broke into Harry's reverie.

"Yeah, Dud?"

"Where are we meeting Piers and the rest?" Dudley's voice sounded unsure.

Harry smiled and looked at his cousin. "We're not, remember? After school, we're challenging the Wolves. We'll see Piers then."

Dudley nodded and looked like he usually did when solving a math problem. A shrill bell rang and made both boys jump. "Alright, Big D. Your classes are over there." Harry pointed at the left hand classrooms before walking to the ones on the right. The buildings were divided by normal and advanced classes. Harry had, at the beginning of the summer, thought himself extremely fortunate to have warranted being in the advanced class, but that was when he and Dudley had been enemies. Now he was almost reluctant to leave the big oaf by himself. Harry walked up to the door that was his class and took a deep breath before entering.

There were only a few kids sitting in the room at this point, two boys sitting in the back and talking profusely and a girl sitting in the third row, steadfastly ignoring them. Harry looked around the room before sitting next to the girl and relaxing against the rigidly backed chair.

"You shouldn't do that." The girl's voice was crisp and clean.

Harry reflexively sat up before frowning at the girl who, indeed, was sitting up and whose back was ramrod straight. "Why not?"

The girl's condescension was withering. "Well. Ignoring the relevant health concerns, the teachers will punish you for it. Did you not read the manual before coming here?"

Harry was not used to being on the defensive verbally. "Um, no. I did not." He rallied quickly. "So what of it?"

The girl finally deigned to look at him and he was treated to, perhaps, the coldest rolling of eyes he'd ever seen. "Ughh. I thought the people in this class were supposed to be smart."

Harry quickly looked around for any end to the conversation, but there was no one sitting near him and the teacher still had around five minutes before the class started.

"I am smart," retorted Harry, "I just don't spend all my time reading manuals." The girl rolled her eyes again and Harry became convinced that she practiced in the mirror at home. He quickly changed tactics. "So, is there anything else I should know?"

The girl looked at him again and raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. "Hmm, you do show some redeeming qualities. We shall have to wait and see if they are enough to outweigh your shortcomings." She reached into her bag and pulled out a small book that had obviously been well-used. "Here. The relevant information is high-lighted in green."

As Harry took the book, he extended his other hand in an offer to shake. "I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

The girl dropped another withering look at the extended hand before daintily taking and shaking it. "Jennifer Nywell. A pleasure." Harry almost winced at how much sarcasm was placed on the word "pleasure."

Before Harry could become any more skewered on Jennifer's wit, the teacher came in and dropped her briefcase on the desk at the front of the room. Harry quickly glanced around the room and saw that there were at most twenty people in this class; much smaller than he had anticipated. He directed his attention back at the professor when she introduced herself as Mrs. Smith and called roll. There were, it seemed, three extra students who had lost their way in the class and Mrs. Smith quickly sent them on. With these distractions gone, Mrs. Smith began her lecture on what math they should have covered previous to the class and what they could expect in the future classes. Harry paid strict attention to what was considered the "remedial" math work and was relieved that he had gone over it all in the last few weeks. He began to tune the teacher out when she started in on the future work, thinking he would be able to simply deal with it then. He looked around at the classroom and found the repeated wallpaper calming. His visual tour of the room brought his eyes back onto Jennifer and he frowned as he noticed that she was steadfastly taking notes.

Harry blinked and looked up at the professor, worried that she had started new material already. His fears were unfounded; apparently Jennifer just liked taking notes. Harry shook his head, but began paying attention regardless. He did not want to fall behind, especially with Jennifer being right next to him and liable roll her eyes at him again. Dudley's beatings had been one thing. This girl's withering looks were quite another.