Riddled
By Killing Curse Eyes
Chapter 7: A Matter of Class
-o-
"Hermione!" Harry waved the aforementioned girl over to her table. "Come sit with us!"
Pansy looked ready to protest, but Harry shot her a dark glare and she remained quiet, though a disgruntled look graced her face. Hermione too looked hesitant but dutifully made her way over.
"Sorry I didn't sit with you on the train," Harry apologized. "I was really late and didn't want to search the whole train for you."
"It's okay." Hermione forgave her easily. She had feared that Harry had changed her mind about being friends.
"Oh! This is Pansy Parkinson." Harry pointed to the blond girl. "We met in Madam Malkins."
"It's nice to meet you." Hermione said politely and held out her hand. Pansy reluctantly took it.
"A pleasure, I'm sure."
"You never told me you were Harry Potter!" Hermione accused. "Though I'm a bit confused about why all the books referred to you as a boy..."
"I never told anyone I was Harry Potter." Harry shrugged. "And books are wrong. It happens."
Hermione looked scandalized and ready to protest, but realized it would be fruitless, all things considered.
Before they could converse further the door slammed open and Severus Snape made his way to the front of the class and immediately started taking roll call. He paused at Harry's name and looked like he wanted to comment but reigned it in and continued until he called on Zabini, Blaise.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," Professor Snape began. His voice was quiet but he had the entire class entranced. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
Professor Snape turned to Harry. "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
She didn't answer immediately, instead taking a moment to think. If she remembered correctly, this was covered in the introduction to her potions books. "The Draught of Living Death, sir."
"Indeed." Snape paused. "And if I were to ask you to find a bezoar, where would you look?"
"The stomach of a goat, sir."
"Explain its use." Snape challenged.
"It is an antidote to most poisons."
"The difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"Nothing sir. They're the same plant, also known as aconite."
"Name an ingredient of the wiggenweld potion."
"Err... I- I don't know. I don't think that was covered in the textbook." Harry admitted.
"True." Professor Snape agreed. "Very well, 10 points to Slytherin for answering most of my questions correctly."
Harry let out a sigh of relief. Being singled out like that terrified her. She wondered why Professor Snape did so. Tom also did not look too happy with her treatment, but knew there was nothing he could do at the moment. If the professor continued however, he'd make sure to make him regret it.
The rest of the class was spent copying notes off the board and practising different methods of preparing ingredients. Most of the purebloods seemed to have some instruction in this already, however others like the Weasley boy seemed to be as new to it as Harry and Hermione were.
"On Wednesday we will begin preparing the boil cure potion. I suggest you study it in your potion books beforehand." Snape advised. "Dismissed!"
Harry was the first to have her things packed and be out the door. She didn't mind the class so much as the teacher. He seemed to dislike her for some reason, though he tried to hide it.
She checked her schedule and saw she had transfiguration next. She turned and asked her Gryffindor friend what class she had and was promptly informed that it was defence against dark arts. They went their separate ways once they left the dungeon and Tom led Harry and Pansy to the transfiguration room.
"How do you know the way everywhere?" Pansy asked her.
"A magician never tells her secrets, my friend." Harry teased, avoiding the question.
"What?" Pansy's brow scrunched up in confusion.
"Sorry. Muggle saying. We're almost there."
Harry entered the classroom and saw that the teacher was once again absent, though a cat sat on the desk. Her and Pansy took a seat near the front of the class and took out their textbooks, quills, and parchment, anticipating note taking.
Soon the rest of the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs filtered into the classroom. The students conversed as they waited for the teacher to appear. The beginning of class came and went without the teacher entering the class. Two Hufflepuffs ran into the classroom almost ten minutes late and commented about being lucky the teacher was not there yet. The cat on the desk leapt off the desk and transformed midair into Professor McGonagall. The students gaped.
"I'm afraid that's not the case, Smith." McGonagall frowned. "Would you care to tell me why you're almost ten minutes late to my class? Should I transfigure one of you into a wristwatch?"
"We-we got lost." A boy named Ernie MacMillan admitted sheepishly.
"A map then."
With that, McGonagall began class. She started by having them take notes as Pansy and Harry had anticipated. She lectured on the dangers of transfiguration as well as the necessity of incantations and wand movements. She told them of the differences between animate to animate, inanimate to inanimate, inanimate to animate, and animate into inanimate transfiguration. She demonstrated an inanimate to animate transfiguration by turning the desk into a pig. Inanimate to inanimate was the easiest to do, and inanimate to animate was the most difficult. She spoke of the different things they'd learn that year, including turning matches to needles, mice to snuffboxes and the switching spell.
Once finished her lecture, she passed out the aforementioned matches to be turned into needles and demonstrated the spell, emphasizing the incantation and wand movements. She had them practice as a class before she turned them loose on the matchsticks.
Harry muttered the spell and jabbed her wand at the matchstick. It became a shiny silver, but still looked like a match.
"You pronounced it wrong." Tom told her before correcting her. She nodded and tried again. This time she'd done it.
"No way!" Pansy gasped. "How did you do that so fast, Harry?"
"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "I just used the spell and wanted it to happen. I learned early on that magic responds well to our wants."
"Where did you learn that?" Pansy asked.
"That would be telling." Harry winked. Before Pansy could protest McGonagall wandered over and saw Harry's needle.
"Ah, look here everyone," she said picking up the needle. "Miss Potter has done it. Very nice work. Ten points to Slytherin. It would seem you have your father's talent for transfiguration."
She gave Harry a rare smile and continued on.
"No way!" Pansy whispered. "I heard she almost never gives out points to Slytherin."
"Well, it sounds like she was fond of my dad, so maybe that's why." Harry guessed.
"Maybe."
Harry spent the rest of the class helping Pansy and Tracy Davis with the transfiguration. By the end of class Pansy's match was silver and metal, though it lacked the eye of the needle. Tracy's had the eye and felt like a needle, but otherwise resembled a match. Still, it was more progress than anyone else had made. They began packing up their books when McGonagall dismissed them. Harry told Pansy to go on ahead as she had some things to speak to McGonagall about. Pansy nodded, assuming she had some advanced question to ask, though that was far from the truth.
"Professor?" Harry called hesitantly. "May I speak with you about something?"
"Of course Miss Potter. How may I help you?"
"I was wondering if you could tell me anything about my parents. You were their head of house, right?"
"Indeed, I was." McGonagall smiled. "Here, take a seat. I don't know as much as their friends would know, but I think I have some interesting things to tell you. You look like a female version of your father, though with your mother's eyes."
Harry listened with rapt attention as McGonagall told her about her parents. Apparently her mother excelled at charms and potions while her father was near prodigy level in transfiguration.
"Your mother was very kind and unprejudiced. She had friendships beyond house lines and cared greatly for others. James was quite the prankster, much like the Weasley twins. He was always getting himself stuck in detention. He loved quidditch and played as a chaser on the house team." McGonagall told her. "At first Lily cared little for James, but he adored her from the beginning. He was always trying to win her over and usually failing. Eventually he matured and Lily gave him a chance. The rest, you could say, is history."
"Do you know where I could find pictures of them, ma'am?" Harry asked desperately.
"I don't have any myself, but I could write to some people and see if they can send copies for you." McGonagall offered.
"That would be great! Do you know anyone I could ask for more about my parents?"
"...I suppose you could ask Severus." The professor admitted.
"Professor Snape? He knew my parents?" Harry gaped.
"Yes. He and your mother were childhood friends, I believe. Though I'd avoid asking about your father. They did not get along well."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you professor.
-x-
Harry hurried to the Great Hall and ate a quick lunch of soup and sandwich before grabbing Pansy and heading for defence against the dark arts. Usually the class was on the third floor corridor, but Tom informed her Dumbledore announced the corridor was off limits to anyone who didn't want to die a particularly painful death. He also told her that he would be investigating it tonight while she slept.
Harry was looking forward to this class, as it had been Tom's favourite. He told her of the hexes, jinxes, and curses learned in the class, as well as ways to defend oneself. Of course, he disliked the name of the class for obvious reasons, and studied many of the so called dark curses they learned to protect themselves against, but overall it was a stimulating class with lots of practical work and Tom promised to teach her many of the "dark" curses that wouldn't be taught in the class.
She was disappointed to learn that the teacher planned on spending the whole class lecturing, and on top of that he had a stutter so bad you could barely understand him. Tom was appalled at the state of his favourite class and wondered how on earth such a pitiful teacher was hired. To make matters worse, Harry developed a searing headache as class progressed, though not long after they were dismissed it disappeared.
"Preposterous! I can't believe Dumbledore hired such an incompetent teacher." Draco Malfoy fumed.
"Malfoy, you were the one who said Dumbledore was letting the school go to the dogs." Harry pointed out.
Malfoy blushed and picked up his pace so he was walking well ahead of them. Pansy glared at Harry, to her confusion.
Herbology was better than defence, at the very least. They did a bit of theory before Professor Sprout had them start on identifying various plants. The jade-eyed witch did alright, and overall she thought herbology would be one of her favourite classes. Garden work had always been one of her favourite chores.
Classes were soon over for the day and Harry felt a sense of relief; she had made it through her first day of magical school.
-x-
Harry knocked on the door to Professor Snape's office.
"Enter." The man intoned. Harry opened the door and let herself and Tom in, closing it behind her. Snape was sitting at his desk drinking a cup of tea and marking essays.
"What do you need, Miss Potter?" Snape seemed annoyed by her very presence. Tom was annoyed by him.
"I- I talked to Professor McGonagall earlier today," She began. "About my parents. She said you were childhood friends with my mum... I was wondering if you could tell me about her?"
Snape took a deep breath and for a brief second pain flashed across his face before he controlled his expression. "I suppose Petunia didn't tell you anything growing up?" Harry nodded. "I'm not surprised. She was always terribly jealous of Lily.
"Your mother and I met when we were nine. We both lived in the muggle community of Cokeworth. I saw her doing accidental magic and told her about the magical world. She was incredibly eager to learn about the magical world; though she was afraid being muggleborn meant she wasn't good enough.
"Lily and Petunia were once close, though Lily's magic and Petunia's lack thereof tore them apart. Upon realizing that she'd never be like Lily, Petunia decided her sister was a freak. Lily tried to repair their relationship, but ultimately failed." Snape paused and took a sip of tea. Harry was listening with rapt attention, and even Tom seemed curious about the history between Snape and Lily.
"When we went to Hogwarts we were separated into different houses. Despite the rivalry our houses were famous for we remained friends for several years. Lily was particularly talented with charms, it was her favourite class. She was often found standing up for others and stood up for herself when necessary. Because of this she was made prefect in our fifth year. She was a very forward thinking woman, a feminist even. However, Lily could be very petty and unforgiving, as well as stubborn.
"At the end of our fifth year our friendship fell apart. I insulted her in the heat of the moment while I was being bullied and she never forgave me for it, despite how much I tried to earn her forgiveness. She spent the rest of our Hogwarts years avoiding me." Snape's voice was cold by the end of his tale, as if he were bitter about something.
"Why do you seem to dislike me so much if you were friends with my mother, sir?" Harry asked boldly. "Is it because she never forgave you?"
"Are you sure you want to know? I shan't sugar coat anything for your delicate sensibilities."
"I understand, sir. Please, tell me."
"While I've always cared about your mother, your father and I did not get on at all." Snape answered. "He was a bully. Constantly pranking and harassing Slytherin students. Myself in particular. I spent at least three days a week in the hospital wing because of him and his friends. They seemed to find me a particularly amusing target. That's not to say I never fought back, but four on one was hardly fair."
"... My father was a bully?" Harry whispered.
"Yes. I won't go into details about what he did, but I shall tell you he targeted me "because I existed". I'm sure he had his... decent qualities, but I never experienced them." Snape went on to say.
"Did he ever stop?"
"No. He bullied me until we graduated, though once he started dating Lily he was more subtle about it."
Harry thanked the professor for telling her honestly about her parents and left.
-x-
Tom led her to a deserted classroom knowing she needed time to process things.
"Are you okay, dearest?" Tom asked as gently as he could muster.
"I don't know. I don't want to believe my dad was a bully." Harry admitted. "I hate bullies. But I don't want to hate my dad."
"There are many sides to a person, Harriet." Tom said softly. "Your father may have been a bully but he died for you. You don't have to forgive his actions. You just have to accept them. You know I've done horrible things, Harriet. You know I've murdered people without a second thought. If you can accept me despite that, you should be able to accept your father as well."
"You make a good point Tom, but it just seems so different with you. I don't know how to explain it." She confessed. "I know I would do a lot of things that other people see as wrong, too. But I would never bully someone."
"I understand, dearest." Tom assured her. "The issue is your sense of morality is skewed. You were bullied severely, so it seems wrong to you. But you've been desensitized to murder."
"I guess so. I mean, so long as the murder has a purpose, like revenge, or the death is necessary to go forward with your plans, I don't mind it. I don't think I could ever kill someone myself, though."
The corners of Tom's lips twitched into a small smile. "We'll see, my dear.
-x-
Harry and Tom talked for another hour before she reluctantly walked back to the common room. She decided against taking the Slytherin passages because she needed time to clear her head. After discussing her father Tom had taught her the reductor curse and the bombardment hex. She practised on stray items in the classroom until she could turn them into a fine dust with reducto and cause a large explosion with bombarda.
Once she reached the common room she gave the password and stepped through. As soon as she entered Pansy was upon her.
"Where were you? I was so worried when you missed supper." Pansy fretted.
"I spoke to some of the professors about my parents and needed time to clear my head." Harry explained. "I didn't mean to make you worry."
"Well, don't skip supper next time. It's important to keep up your energy when using magic." Pansy lectured.
"I know, I know. Tom's told me the same thing a thousand times." She fabricated. She decided it was time to mention Tom, as per his instructions. Pansy looked confused.
"Who's Tom?" she asked.
"My friend. He introduced me to magic when I was nine. We met in London." Harry technically wasn't lying.
"Oh? How old is he?"
"Seventeen on Halloween." Tom supplied for her. She repeated this information to Pansy.
"And why haven't you introduced me to him?" Pansy demanded. "I haven't even seen you with any upperclassmen, now that I think of it."
"Tom is home schooled."
"Oh, why?"
"Well... he has some unfortunate relations and his father was worried about how he'd be treated because of them." She invented and eyed Tom who nodded in approval.
"Oh? Who?" Pansy wondered.
"The dark lord." she said this as if she didn't just drop a proverbial bomb. Pansy choked and looked at her like she was crazy.
"And you're friends with him!?" she exclaimed.
"Yes. He doesn't agree with his grandfather about a lot of things. Oh, he hates muggles, but he tolerates muggleborns perfectly fine. He doesn't like his grandfather's methods, either. He agrees that not all the so-called "dark arts" are bad and should be banned, only the violent stuff that has no other use. He believes intent matters more than the spell. He thinks we should separate ourselves from muggles completely and muggleborns should be forced to adapt to our culture, not the other way around." Harry told her. "I agree with him on most accounts."
"Really? You're dark?" Pansy queried.
"Mmm. No. Because there's no such thing. Dark is just a classification the ministry came up with to make us believe certain magics are bad. So no, I'm not dark or light. I'm a witch who's not too weak to seek power."
Tom stared on approvingly.
-x-
Harry tossed and turned into her sleep, occasionally letting out small sounds. Tom had left to explore the third floor corridor and wasn't there to wake her immediately as he normally would have. Instead he returned to find her twisted in her sheets and drenched in a cold sweat. He ran his hand up and down her arm and called to her in an attempt to wake her up.
It worked. Harry shot up with a gasp. She looked around wildly before her eyes settled on Tom and she burst into tears.
"Shhh." Tom soothed. "It was a dream. You're alright."
Harry mutely shook her head and proceeded to tell Tom about her dream. She told him how she had dreamed of the night her parents died. How her point of view seemed to keep switching from her baby-self and Voldemort. She told him how Voldemort-her killed her unarmed father while her mother ran. She shared how her mother begged for her life as Voldemort told her to stand aside. She told him of firing the killing curse at herself and intense pain as it rebounded and Voldemort-her was torn apart.
"I wonder..." Tom murmured.
"What?" Harriet asked him.
"Nothing, dearest. Don't worry about it." Tom brushed off her question. "How about I tell you what I discovered to take your mind off things?" Harry nodded.
"You'll need some background first, my dear. A long time ago alchemy was thriving. A man named Nicholas Flamel achieved two of the three major goals of alchemy. He created a philosopher's stone. With it, he managed to turn anything to gold and create the elixir of life, a potion that grants eternal youth." Tom told her. "And it just so happens Flamel is on good terms with our illustrious headmaster. So good in fact, he gave the stone to him, which Dumbledore hid in this very school."
"Why would he do that?" Harry wondered.
"No idea. The best part is that your defence teacher is after it." Tom said gleefully. "He wants it for my other self. I doubt he'll obtain it, Dumbledore has gotten several teachers and staff to help hide it. As much as I loathe the man, he is a formidable wizard."
"So what will we do?" she asked.
"Nothing. I won't have access to the school and I doubt you'll have the skills to get past all the protections." Tom admitted to her.
Harriet was a bit disgruntled at his doubt in her abilities. It was then that she decided she'd steal the philosopher's stone and give it to Tom.
-x-
The next morning Tom let Harry sleep in a bit because of their late night discussion. He woke her at quarter to seven so she could still beat the other girls to the shared bathroom.
Harry moaned about wanting more sleep, but when Tom threatened to lay on her again she got up and ran to the bathroom with her toiletries and clothes in seconds. She took a quick shower and brushed her teach and hair before dressing and leaving the bathroom. She looked at her schedule and grabbed her books for history, charms, defence and transfiguration.
She made use of Slytherins passages to get to the great hall to eat breakfast. She grabbed some toast and spread some baked beans on it. Half way through her breakfast owls flew into the hall, startling her.
"It's just the post, Harriet." Tom assured her. She continued to eat in peace until Marcus Flint tapped her on the shoulder.
"Thought you might want to read this, Potter." He said while holding out a newspaper. "You made the front page."
Harry took it and read the headline, "The Boy-Who-Lived, A Lie!" The article went on to discuss how Harry Potter was in fact Harriet Potter and speculated that the public may have been misled on other accounts too, such as her survival of the killing curse.
"It's mostly rubbish of course," Flint assured her. "Skeeter just tries to stir up trouble. See the headline? Entirely misleading."
"I don't really care. I wasn't the one who declared I survived the killing curse, defeated a dark lord and should be famous for it." Harry shrugged. "It's irrelevant. Probably something my mum did, anyways."
Flint shrugged and went on his way. Harry picked up her bag and left for history. She wasn't in the mood to wait for Pansy.
When she arrived she saw a ghost sitting at the desk at the front of the room. Realizing this must be the professor she grew excited. A ghost must have been around for a lot more history than the average person. Perhaps they had an inside perspective on it.
"I wouldn't get to excited, my dear." Harry looked at Tom questioningly. "He's a horrible teacher as you'll soon see. You're better off reading your textbook to get an idea of what's going on in class."
Her head drooped, but she resolved to see for herself before she made judgements. Tom always preferred practical work and the fact that this was a class without any might have fuelled his opinion of the professor being subpar.
While she waited for the other students to arrive she doodled on a spare bit of parchment. Soon Pansy arrived and interrupted her.
"Why didn't you wait for me?" she demanded.
"I guess I didn't think to. I'm not used to waiting for people to do things." Harry half-lied.
"Well, I'll forgive you this time." Pansy's eyes turned to a glare as she warned Harry. "But next time it won't be so easy!"
"Alright. I get it."
Class begun shortly after their exchange and Harry hated to admit it but Tom was right. The professor was horrible. He droned on and on about useless events and nothing of any real value. Who cared about Emeric the evil? What about the formation of the Wizengamot? The history of the statute of secrecy? She knew her textbook didn't have the answers, she'd have to find another one if she wanted to learn useful history.
Charms though was much more interesting. They learned the theory behind wand movements and how they were usually drawing a runic symbol. Harry thoroughly enjoyed it even though she'd covered a lot of it the previous year in her textbook.
After Charms was lunch. Harry let Pansy know she'd join her in a second and made her way to the Gryffindor table. She searched it up and down until she saw Hermione sitting at the end closest to the head table. She quickly made her way over to Hermione and sat down beside her.
"Hello there." She greeted. "How's Gryffindor treating you?"
"Are you allowed to sit here?" Hermione asked.
"Uh... I don't think there's a rule against it. Besides. I'm just here to ask if you want to meet up in the library after class."
"Oh, well. That sounds fun. Is your friend Pansy coming?" she asked nervously.
"Nah. Don't worry about her though. She's not used to muggleborns. She has a bit of ingrained prejudice against them. She's nice enough aside from that though. I figure between the two of us we can root that out a bit." Harry said to Hermione's relief.
"Alright. Before or after dinner?"
"How about before? And if we want we can decide to meet up again after." Harry offered.
"Sounds good."
"Alright, I'll see you after fourth period."
-x-
Lunch passed by quickly and soon Harry was on her way to defence. She figured there was no point in paying attention if they'd only be discussing theory. She'd learned everything she'd need from the defence textbooks she owned. She decided that in the future she'd use the class as a work period.
Once she arrived she decided to take the third seat in the middle row so Quirrell wouldn't notice her not paying attention. Most people assumed they should sit in the back to avoid attention, but the seat she chose was actually better. The professor would likely stand in front of the middle row and she would be hidden behind the people in front of her.
Harry succeeded in avoiding the professor's attention, but the entire class she developed a pounding headache that kept worsening until she left the class and it disappeared completely. It was so bad she almost missed hearing the homework assignment at the end. The entire period Tom glared at Quirrell.
Next period she had transfiguration and they did more theory before the professor had them once again attempt to turn matches to needles. Since Harry had already succeeded at the task, McGonagall gave her the homework assignment early instead.
Finally, class was out for the day and Harry made her way to the library after informing Pansy she was meeting with Hermione. Pansy sneered, but didn't put up a fuss, saying she'd do her homework while Harry was busy.
Tom silently led Harry to the library where she found Hermione sitting at a table in a back corner with books spread out all over half of it.
"Oh, Harry," she seemed surprised to see her. "I wasn't sure you'd come."
"Why not?"
"Well..." Hermione began. "I never really had a friend before and it seems a bit too good to be true that you'd want to be mine."
"Well, I'll admit I do have some ulterior motives, but I do think you're a pleasant person and can imagine forming a strong friendship with you." Harry told her honestly.
"What kind of motive?" Hermione asked warily.
"Well, I did a blood test at Gringotts—it costs about five galleons. My mother was a muggleborn witch you see, so I didn't expect anything to turn up on her side of the family, but I found she was descended from magical families!" Harry explained enthusiastically. "So I wondered if it was similar for other muggleborns and decided to befriend one and convince them to do the test too."
"So I'm a science experiment?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Er. Yes?"
"Well, I suppose that's an admirable motive. I'll have to convince my parents to pay for the test. For science, of course." Hermione grinned.
Harry pulled out her homework and started working on it alongside her friend. Since she was ahead in the theory part of all her classes she finished before Hermione and pulled out her maths book to do some work on that.
"Is that a muggle textbook?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Yep. My friend Tom told me a lot of magical theory has to do with physics and chemistry, which is a lot of math, so I'm studying up on it. Plus it'll be useful for arithmancy in third year."
"Really? Perhaps I'll study it too." Hermione decided.
"Sure. I can make you a copy of my book since there's no copyright charms on it." Harry offered.
"Thanks, I'd appreciate that."
All too soon their stomachs grumbled signifying it was time to go to the Great Hall. Harryt ate a quick dinner and went off on a tour of the castle with Tom.
He took her all over the castle, showing her several locations of Slytherin's passages as well as the Room of Requirement and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. After his tour he took her to an empty classroom and her practice the gemino curse so she could duplicate her maths book for Hermione. It took her several tries but eventually she managed to perfect it with the help of Tom. He then proceeded to lecture her about the three unforgiveable curses and instructed her to practice them on mice in the Chamber of Secrets when convenient.
Harry was exhausted from all the spell practice she did and slid down Slytherin's passage to the common room. Something she noticed was that it didn't matter where she was in the school, she always started at the top of the passage and exited at the bottom. She said as much to Tom and he informed her that was because it was essentially a portal, not a regular hidden passage.
Harry ran to the bathroom to shower and change into her pyjamas. Once in bed she let Tom possess her and cast the silencing ward. When he was done she sat on her bed with her legs crossed hugging a pillow and asked him how he planned to establish his identity.
"You mean how will I get the paperwork? The goblins should be willing to forge it and file it in the ministry for the right price. I'll likely have to steal the money somehow, so it may take awhile until I can make an official appearance." He answered.
"Why would you need to steal it? The money in my vault should cover it, right?" Harry asked.
"Well, yes, but I didn't want to assume you'd lend me the money, dearest."
"Not lend. My money is your money, you hear me?" Harry said firmly.
"If you insist." He agreed.
-x-
Wednesday passed in a blur. In potions they brewed the boil cure potion and in charms they covered more theory. History was a bore and Harry used it to do her potions essay. Finally, it was time for the much anticipated flying class. Harry hadn't expected to have it so soon, but when she saw the notice in the common room she was elated. Flying! On brooms! She'd been waiting forever to try it. She doubted it would be as nice as flying without a broom, but she wouldn't get a chance to do that for quite some time.
Tom watched as she stood next to a broom with Hermione and Pansy on either side of her. Madam Hooch stood in front of them and was lecturing them about basic broom safety. Finally, she gave the word to summon their brooms.
"Up!" Harry commanded. The broom immediately flew into her hand. She grinned and turned to look at Hermione who was having much more trouble than her. Observing Pansy next, she saw the two definitely had something in common.
"Alright!" Madam Hooch called after most of the children had successfully summoned their brooms. "Mount your brooms. On the count of three we'll kick off. One, two, thr—"
She didn't get a chance to finish as Neville Longbottom pushed off too early. He flew into the air and lost control of his broom, eventually falling off. Madam Hooch tsk'd and took him to the hospital wing seeing as he had broken his arm.
Draco Malfoy spotted a round object on the ground. Picking it up he laughed and announced that Neville must have dropped it.
"How about I throw it in the forbidden forest so he really loses it?" Malfoy jeered.
"Give it back Malfoy." Harry demanded.
"Make me, Potter." Draco climbed on his broom and pushed off. Harry immediately climbed on her own and followed him despite Tom and Hermione's protests.
"Give it here." She held out her arm.
"No thanks." Malfoy then through it across the field. Harry sped after it and managed to catch it and pull out of a dive just in time to avoid hitting the ground.
"That was wicked!" Weasley whispered, reluctantly impressed.
"Harry! I can't believe you did that! You could get in so much trouble!" Hermione chastised.
"Yeah well, Neville's an alright bloke. He didn't deserve to have anything happen to his rememberall." Harry defended her actions before she froze. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Professor Snape making his way toward her.
"Shite." She swore under her breath.
"Miss Potter, come with me." Snape ordered.
"Y-Yes, sir. How much trouble am I in?"
"Just wait, Potter." That couldn't be a good thing, could it?
Professor Snape led her to the Herbology greenhouses.
"Professor Sprout, may I borrow Flint please?"
Flint? Harry wondered. What was he needed for?
"Yes Professor Snape?" Flint asked once he arrived.
"I have found you a seeker. Higgs desired to work on his studies this year, did he not?"
"Yes. You're suggesting Potter take the position?"
"Indeed." Snape told him. "I saw her catch a rememberall after quite the impressive flight. As loathe as I am to admit it, flying is in her blood."
"Well, she can come to practice and we'll put her through the hoops, but if she isn't up to snuff we're not taking her, fame or not." Flint cautioned.
"I wouldn't expect anything else, Flint." Snape agreed.
"So I'm not in trouble?" Harry piped up hopefully.
"Oh no. You still have detention with me, Potter. That was quite the reckless stunt." He smirked. "Don't worry, Mr. Malfoy will be joining you."
The only thing stopping her from cursing was the fact that it would likely get her in even more trouble with the potions professor.
-o-
AN: Okay~ looong chapter. About 6K guys. That's long for me. I drew up a schedule for the first year Slytherins, if you're curious let me know and I'll share it. Today I also outlined up to chapter 17, which is the beginning of third year. I have a few things planned for second year, but it's still not going to be too long. Next chapter is Halloween. Who can guess what happens? If you guess correctly I'll... uh. Dedicate the chapter to you?
Edited October 17 2015