Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did I would be rich and not writing fan fictions.
Chapter 7: First Encounters And Odd Reactions
It had been an odd first two month at Hogwarts. The first class Harry had with McGonigal was just weird...
Harry and Hermione(GASP) wandered into class about three minutes late and were greeted by a cat jumping up and transforming into McGonigal. She frowned down at the two of them. "Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, perhaps I should turn the both of you into poc..." McGonigal trailed off as she looked down at the little black kitten that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. It was sitting on the floor in a seemingly harmless position to the students but, thats not what McGonigal saw. No, she saw the intelligence behind those eyes. The merciless, dark intelligence of a man eater. But, that was impossible. This was only a little kitten. There was no sign of it being an animagus and there certainly were no animals that had little kittens with a look like that. Well, with the exception of...but, that was imposable. They were huge and yellow with brown spots. Quick as a bitting snake, Mittens' posture and look changed from aggressive dominant cat to helpless little kitten. The little cat even did its watery eyes thing. Hermione twitched violently. Half of the girls in the class swooned and McGonigal's stern look disappeared. The little kitten was just so cute.
As the class became a cat petting session Harry's mind wandered. Hmm. Was Ter taking proper care of Spike?
Ter walked by Spikes bowl and without looking dumped another serving of canned meat onto the ever growing and moldy pile of meat spilling out of Spike's bowl.
In the higher portions of the castle Spike finished off his latest meal. He didn't know where all those little squeaky things kept coming from but, that big fat thing would keep him well fed for weeks. Despite its massive size one well placed sting to the head and BANG! Instant all he could eat buffet. If only he could find another.
The first charms class proved to him that his wand did in fact have some power to it...
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Harry's feather shot up to and through the stone ceiling. It continued up until it embedded its self in the left butt cheek of Dumbledore.
"SHHHHHIIIIIIITTTTTT!" It would take years for Dumbledore to live that down.
After that class was over an odd occurrence happened.
Sam had taken to fallowing Harry around the castle. That was the case now. The large reptile had imprinted on Hedwig but, saw Harry as something of an uncle. While on the way to the great hall for lunch Harry and Sam came across Susan Bones.
"Squueeee!" Sam had no time to react before he was swept up and being cuddled by an overly enthusiastic Susan. The heads looked at each other, shrugged their mutual shoulders and let the attention be rained down upon them.
Potions...that was an experience.
"Well if it isn't Mr. Potter, our resident celebrity." Snape sneered down at the boy. "Why is your owl here Potter? I do not allow pets in this class! 10 points from Gryffindor for that!"
Perched atop Harry's head, Hedwig narrowed her eyes. She did not like this greasy human one bit. He moved out of range before she could head-but him thought. She'd just have to get him latter.
Harry narrowed his eyes as well, ever so slightly. It felt as though something was pushing against his contacts.
"Well Mr. Potter, were would I look to find a beezor?"
"In the stomach of a goat sir." The feeling became more noticeable.
Snape narrowed his eyes in anger, "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"There is none sir. It is also called aconite." The feeling became intense. Harry's eyes began itching.
Snape was shaking with rage, "So you think you know everything do you? 10 points from Gryffindor for your arrogance. You are just like your father! Can do no wrong at all! Well, not in this class! Here you are no better than the other muggle raised idiots! You probably cheated to know those answers! Another 10 points from Gryffindor for your dishonesty." Snape suddenly looked slightly panicked and ran into the bathroom that was recently added to his class.
Harry just sat quietly and nodded, his mind awash with ideas of how to react to this.
Two days latter in the Headmaster's office...
"I assure you gentlemen and lady that there is no problem with the potions curriculum. Severus is a fine teacher and is fair in his grading, your presence is not needed here." Dumbledore was panicking. He had been blocking all the complaints about Severus to the board of governors throughout the years. Because all the complaints were given to him first he would either edit the complaint or simply throw it out. Now one of the members of the board was here with what could only be called hired goons. The person from the board of governors? Well, someone had brought Snape's attitude to the attention of none other than Augusta Longbottom.
"The letter I received not only claims that Severus Snape's grading is completely unfair but, that he specifically targets first year Gryffindors and blames them for things that are not even remotely there fault. And that when a Gryffindor does well he doesn't reward them but instead accuses them of cheating and punishes them without any real reason. Not only that but the person who wrote the letter, who shall remain nameless, indicated that Snape uses Legitimens on the students. As you know that is an offense that will earn him a loss of his retirement portfolio. I will personally be questioning Snape regarding this."
"I am afraid I cannot allow that, it would be detrimental to Severus' reputation among the student body." Dumbledore was confident she would leave it there.
He was wrong.
"He destroys his own reputation every day and he refers to any one not in Slytherin as an idiot in front of the class. And if you don't allow me to question him then I will contact Amelia Bones. I'm sure she would love to have to come here again, and see the learning environment Susan is in."
In the end Snape was set on probation. He was not allowed to take or give points at all. He couldn't assign detentions or any other punishments without the permission of at least three members of the Board of Governors. Every complaint about him was called up and they discovered that he was, in fact, a giant Bastard. By the end of the year he would be lucky to still have his mastery in potions. A few days after that he was discovered with a large bruise on his forehead and was mumbling about "Evil demonic birds sent by the spawn of Potter."
Flying classes were fun, as Harry had discovered. His love of flying was a boon to Hedwig as she was happily joined him in the air while her "baby" Sam and Mittens were given attention from the Gryffindor girls and, oddly enough, some of the Slytherins.
Madam Hooch had said that Harry was an absolute natural on a broom and should try out for the quidditch team next year. That's when Neville had fallen and broken his arm.
The boy had dropped his Remember-all and Malfoy had quickly snatched it up. This had turned into an argument between the blond and Ron Weasley as the ginger boy had decided to show his Gryffindor courage. After flying around clumsily for a few minutes in an insane game of keep away, McGonigal and Hooch had shown up. Ron had lost Gryffindor 20 points and Malfoy had lost Slytherin 50, as he was steeling something at the time. The red head challenged the blond to a duel and had said Harry would be his second. Harry had told them both to kiss his butt and keep him out of their problems. Malfoy had called Harry a coward and the boy responded, "I'd rather be a coward than an idiot." Weasley and Malfoy had set their duel for midnight and then left in opposite directions. Three minutes later Ron came back blushing in embarrassment and went the same way Malfoy had.
That night Ron was discovered out of bed and given detention for about the rest of the year.
Defense against the dark arts was pretty cool, here Harry was allowed to show off Sam, seeing as how Hydras and Nidhoggs were considered very dark animals. A crossbreed? Most of the male population considered Sam the Antichrist. On the flip side, most of the females seemed to love the little guy.
"P-pleas-se s-show t-the cla-ass what y-your p-pet c-c-can d-do M-mr. P-pott-ter." In all honesty Quirrell's constant stuttering prevented even the most diligent of students form getting much work done. It took him two classes to cover the mast basic of lectures. Harry's pets didn't much cape for him either.
"Thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhpppppttt!" Sam, particularly, loved spraying the man with his freezing spit. Especially when his back was being scratched by a girl, as was the case now.
"Who's a pretty lizard? Your a pretty lizard, aren't you?" Hana Abbot was stroking the thick fur on Sam's back as though he were a dog, an expression of wonder on her face.
Hedwig looked upon the event with pride. Her little boy was growing up so fast. SNIFF.
The lunches had been fairly entertaining too...
Most everyone looked at the Staff table in shock. Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was covered in bird poop. A lot of poop. Truly, words can not describe the sheer amount of avian feces that covered him. He was absolutely soaked to the bone in bird crap.
High above, hidden by the false ceiling, Hedwig, in Chimera form, let out a content sigh. That had to have been the biggest shit she had ever taken.
...but, it was a fun first two months. It was now Halloween and everyone was enjoying dinner in the Great Hall when Quirrell came running in. He seemed to be about to shout something when...
"Thhhhpppppppppppttttt!"
...he slipped on Sam's spit and tripped, knocking himself out.
Harry broke the silence, "Well it couldn't have been that important. Besides, we wouldn't be able to understand him anyway."
Pansy Parkinson walked out of the bathroom and froze at what she saw. A large black bug was eating a dead troll, head first. The thing had large pincers and a tail like a manticore's. It was also about the size of a small horse, not in hight but, body bulk. The bug just ignored her and continued to chew away at the troll, that she now saw had a large puncture wound in its back.
"Huh, now there's something you don't see everyday."
To Be Continued...
