Declaration: I write for my own pleasure and not for profit. I do not own Harry Potter Universe.
With You by My Side
Chapter 7- Learning the ropes
Harry and Hermione were in high spirits going into their first class of their magical lives; they were brimming with enthusiasm and hoped to learn something 'cool'. However, in their first class in transfiguration they did not even touch their wands. The entire period was dedicated to warnings about the dangers of magic and threats of dire punishments should they misuse the spells taught in the school. Harry understood the necessity for safety and caution but his hand hurt writing several feet of parchment and that too with a quill, the school could use a lot of pens.
Harry decided to use the prescribed parchment and quills for his school work but he was not shy about using the good old paper notebooks and pen outside the class, particularly in the library. He feared that his hand may fall off if he struck to using quills there as he was determined to learn as much as he could and was guaranteed to use a lot of notes.
Scene Break
Their first potions lesson was scheduled in a couple of days from the start of term and Harry anticipated a lot of entertainment in that class. Every one of the new students heard about the favouritism shown by the professor Severus Snape for his own Slytherin house and his disregard for either the education or fair treatment of the students from other houses. Neither Harry nor Hermione could understand how a teacher can act in such a callous manner with the students in his care. Despite the warnings from the older mates of their house, they were determined to do their best and so redoubled their efforts to read all they could about potions.
Entering the potions class room ironically situated in a room that was devoid of any ventilation, Harry and Hermione grabbed the work bench closest to the teacher's table. They briefly debated if they should split up to partner with another of their house mates to prevent any mistakes from them, but decided against. They did not want their own work to be compromised by paying attention to the others and not on their own work.
The teacher breezed into the class room and not even acknowledging the 'Good Afternoon Professor' from the students sat at his table pulling out the roll call. With his slicked up hair lying flat and unmoving and his cloak billowing behind him, Professor Snape reminded Harry of the crime fighting bat from the comic books that he occasionally read.
Snape's eyes lingered a little longer than normal on Harry Potter, he so desperately wanted to sneer at him. His own resolution to give the little titch a chance to prove himself in addition to McGonagall's warning ringing in his ears stilled his hand or rather his mouth.
Finishing the roll call he questioned the class in general, "What will you get if you added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"
He noted that only Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, both Gryffindor students raised their hands, "Mr. Potter" he gestured. Harry stood up from the seat and answered, "along with a stabilizing agent, we would get a very powerful sleeping potion called 'Draught of living Death' Sir."
Well it was only a first year question and now to up the ante and looking at Harry he asked, "Where would you get a Bezoar from?" Hermione still had her hand in the air while a couple of Slytherin students also raised their hands this time.
"It is found in the stomach of a goat professor, and is an antidote to most common poisons."
'Hmm…. interesting he did make an effort to read ahead' he though before shooting the question that would normally stump most new students, "What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?" Most of the hands went down including that of Hermione but she had a small smile on her face.
Here Harry had a perplexed look on his face, "I am not sure Sir, but I think that they are the same" he finished with an apologetic smile on his face.
"Ms. Granger would you care to answer?" the professor asked.
Hermione also stood up, "They are the names of the same plant professor, and it is also known to muggles as the medicinal plant, Aconite."
"Well done you two, 10 points to you Mr. Potter and 5 points to you Ms. Granger" he allowed.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and beamed. "Oh! You need not stand to give your answers, but that does not mean I will allow any disrespect" and then "Why are you not writing this down" he barked to the remaining students.
Harry and Hermione were the first to finish their potions just beating Draco Malfoy and another Slytherin student Daphne Greengrass. It looked as if both of them had some practice making potions if the fluidity of their movements was any clue. Judging by the colour of their potions, Harry could see that his and Hermione's were definitely superior, and the colour of their own creations was only a little off. He was sure that he and Hermione would share the top score.
Instead of the praise they were expecting, Harry and Hermione got only an 'Exceeds Expectation'. They learnt about the grading system on the very first day that they got hands on 'Hogwarts: A History' and knew that it was still a higher grade but was less than perfect. Hermione especially was disappointed, "may be the older students were correct after all, he might not like to praise non Slytherin students" she whispered in Harry's ear.
Snape gave the entire class a glare but directed his eyes on Harry, "Well Mr. Potter, you bragged that you were well versed with the art of cooking and that potions is similar to that" Harry ducked his head in a mixture of embarrassment and shame to sniggers from the Slytherin contingent, Malfoy was especially vocal.
They were silenced by a glare from the clearly annoyed professor, "Can you tell me why your potion was not perfect even if you followed all the instructions?"
Harry was also thinking the same thing and ran his finger on the inside around the edge. He immediately deduced what went wrong.
Seeing the light of recognition in Harry's eyes, Snape drawled, "None of you even bothered to clean your equipment before starting your work. None the less it is quite an accomplishment you two. You have the highest ever recorded grade for the very first lesson in my class. Ten points each for that and Mr. Potter five more points for enlightening the students of a common mistake. "
Harry and Hermione's looks of chagrin turned to beaming smiles at what effectivey were accolades from Snape if anything they heard about the professor was true.
"Never repeat it again. Dismissed" He scowled at them.
The students began to scramble to get out of his sight and Snape saw that Harry was swinging Hermione's obviously heavy book bag onto his shoulder, 'and quite the gentleman too' he scowled at no one in particular.
Once out of the room Hermione exclaimed, "Wow!"
"Yeah wow, talk about a complex" Harry grinned.
"But he does know his stuff."
Overall they were satisfied with their first potions lesson. Poor Neville bore the brunt of the irritable professor's ire when he melted his cauldron drenching both himself and Ron who was sharing the table with him. Harry summed it up nicely, "He could scowl less and teach more though."
Both of them sniggered at that thought and holding hands started towards the grounds to enjoy the last of the sunshine before dinner.
Scene Break
"Hey Hermione, how long is your essay for Charms?" Harry asked her at the lunch table. They finished their lunch and were waiting to go to the charms class.
Hermione beamed at him, "Three feet Harry, Yours?"
"Three feet!" Harry exclaimed. The professor asked them for eighteen inches and his was about two feet which he thought was a bit excessive but could not resist putting some of his thoughts into words.
He passed his rolled up essay to her while accepting her work. Reading through it Harry had to admit that Hermione worked hard but he still was not overly impressed it was mostly a repetition of textbook.
Scrolling through his work Hermione absently replied, "Yes there was a lot of information."
"There was a lot of information, but was it relevant to the essay?" Harry countered.
Hermione was puzzled not only by his words but also his work; it was vastly different from her own. Harry used a lot of examples and his own ideas about the topic of the essay.
Seeing her hand gesture which meant to elaborate, Harry launched into his explanation, "Hermione, the idea of an essay is to understand the topic and then try and put your own spin to the matter. What is the point in regurgitating the text book word for word? This is what I meant when I said that we should apply the knowledge for something useful."
"I can see that you have covered almost everything that I myself included in my essay. I have to admit that your use of examples makes it easy to understand."
"Almost?" Harry queried.
Hermione's face graced a blush, "OK I admit, everything that I wrote. I see your point Harry your method of writing an essay has its merit and requires a lot of innovative thinking." She sighed taking her own scroll form Harry and glancing at it morosely, "but it is too late for me to change anything as we have to submit the work. Next time I will follow your advice."
Harry saw her dejection and as the bell tolled to warn them of the time to leave the great hall for classes, gave her hand a squeeze, "For what it's worth you will get an Outstanding on the essay."
That comment brought a small smile, "Thanks Harry." Reaching over she gave him a tentative hug. Though Harry was surprised a bit by her display of affection, he recovered quickly and hugged her back. Parting from their hug, they looked at each other with beaming smiles, and after Harry picked up Hermione's bag and she his', started for the charms class hand in hand.
Scene Break
Friday evening was their first flying lesson to be held on the quidditch pitch. Hermione who was terrified of heights was trying to think of ways to avoid the experience. The weather very inviting, picture perfect sky with a warm sun and a gentle wind was blowing across the grounds. This did nothing to quell the fluttering in her stomach and it was only made worse by Harry's enthusiasm. He was looking forward to fly on a broom since the time he learned that his father was a member of Gryffindor quidditch team. Harry was not sure if he wanted to play the game, but it was a moot point as first years are not allowed on the house team.
The lesson was almost cancelled even before they got the chance to try their hand at a broom when Neville, in his nervousness lost control of the broom and shot into the sky before plummeting to the ground from nearly ten feet.
Madam Hooch, their instructor warned them "not to get your feet off the ground or you will be on the train home before anyone of you can say quidditch" before taking Neville to the hospital wing.
Draco Malfoy picked up Neville's rememberall and began tossing it up in the air and playing it with it all the while mocking Neville and taunting the others before lifting off the ground on a broom all the while insinuating that he would leave it on the top of the astronomy tower. The entire Gryffindor first years growled at him clearly upset at Neville's accident and Ron even went as far as daring to fly after the arrogant blonde.
Harry himself wanted to go after Malfoy, his broom was still in his hand. Though he never flew before, he was confident that he could chase Draco down easily but before he could even move, Hermione grabbed on to his hand restraining him. He wondered if Hermione had some sixth sense when it came to reading his intentions.
"But Hermione" he started to argue even while trying to release her grip on his arm.
"No buts Harry, you could get into trouble or worse. I do not want to lose my first friend"
That effectively killed any excuses he might have had. Hermione's actions were soon vindicated as they saw Professor McGonagall thundering down on them and after ordering Malfoy to land, gave him a detention scrubbing the hospital toilets without magic for the next two nights. Hermione now had a smug smile on her face but was feeling generous enough to not rub it in Harry's face by saying 'told you so'.
When Madam Hooch gave them the go ahead, Harry guided Hermione up in the air still holding hands, steadying her broom whenever he felt it wobble. With Harry by her side Hermione enjoyed her first flying experience though she landed as soon as Madam Hooch called them down. Harry managed to get a couple of laps around the quidditch pitch before the end of the class.
Taking a leisurely walk back to the castle after their lesson, Hermione commented about the dangers of the game and ended it by saying, "who wants to play sports any way."
Harry immediately contradicted her, "No Hermione, playing some sport actually calms the mind. Not only that I have learnt that paying some kind of sport actually increases your mental faculty."
"What kind of sports did you play?" she wanted to know.
In reply Harry shrugged his shoulder, "I did not get a chance to play anything as my cousin used to frighten the kids away, but I run every morning at 6 and then do some light exercises. I usually spend about an hour on that and since I started doing that I did find some improvement."
She nodded her head, that is something she could do too, "OK, can I come running with you?"
"Sure."
Hermione thought for a moment, "I read somewhere that organizing our thoughts increases the power to remember things and speeds up our recall."
"Oh!" Harry said non-committal.
"Yes, it is called occlumency and its basis is in meditation."
"Ah! That may be true, because I read in my primary school library about meditation techniques that can organize your thoughts and improve recall. I have been practicing it every night from when I was 7 years old to sort out my memories."
Now it was Hermione's turn to be surprised, there seems to be some common practices in both the worlds, "How do you organize your memories?"
"I put them in trunks, one trunk each for every subject, then one for important facts, one for personal memories etc."
Hermione gushed, "That's very good you have completed the first step according to the book, now you only need to imagine building walls and other fortifications around your trunks." She added a little wistfully "I wish I could do it."
Harry was confused, "But you have amazing recalling power how do you do it?"
"Oh! I think in terms of the books that I read" said Hermione not realizing that it was nearly the same as putting memories into trunks.
Harry smiled at her, "See that's exactly what I mean, I put in trunks while you use books, you just have to sort your personal memories. Meditation certainly helps speed up the process, it can only help you."
Hermione let out an excited squeal something Harry had rarely seen her do, "will you help me and teach meditation?"
"Sure, it is always better to meditate in your bed just before going to sleep as you can fall asleep sometimes, but I will help you initially. May be we can find an empty classroom or something and make it our office" Harry supplied with a grin.
Hermione hugged him and taking his hand continued their walk into the great hall for dinner.
