Several students with red-trimmed robes had already seated themselves in the right half of the classroom, though two latecomers arrived as the Hufflepuffs crowded in and scrambled for seats. Hari allowed the small crowd to move around him, unconcerned with which seat he ended up in, and finally settled toward the middle of the room.
The teacher, John Kendricks as he'd been introduced at dinner the previous night, emerged from his office only moments after Hari seated himself.
"Good morning, class," he said, his accent crisp and clipped. He sounded perpetually in a hurry, and perhaps even slightly irritated.
A few students replied back, and Hari answered, "Good Morning, master," before pausing to think it through.
A few other younglings looked at him curiously, but most either didn't notice or didn't care.
"Though in your early years of study Defence Against the Dark Arts may seem to be less about 'Dark arts' and more about common sense, I assure you that the foundation we establish this year will be built to a rounded and complete understanding of how, where, and most importantly when to protect yourselves from all but the very darkest of magics. There are some which must be avoided at all costs, but as I highly doubt any of you will have call to encounter them until well after graduation I would not concern yourselves with them at this time."
Master Kendricks took a pair of books from his desk and held them up, one in each hand. "You have been assigned two books for this year's class. 'The Dark Forces: A Guide To Self-Protection' by Quentin Trimble is an absolute mainstay. You should study this book until you know it by instinct."
Hari hadn't found it to be particularly informative, but he brought it from his bag and set it on the desk in front of him anyway.
"Second, my personal addition to the curriculum, 'Against the Fangs of Darkness' by Kimiro Liu. This book will form our primary text for the practical lessons, though you will be required to refer to both books for your homework assignments."
Some Gryffindors groaned at that. Hari frowned at them. Cross-referencing between two books was hardly something to be bothered by.
Master Kendricks seemed to agree, as he continued, "I expect you all to read the first chapter of each book before class next week and write a brief summary of the topics covered. Five inches will suffice."
Hari scribbled the homework assignment onto his noteparchment.
"Quentin Trimble begins right up front with the most dangerous thing you are likely to encounter in common life: werewolf bites. This is a particularly essential thing for every single witch and wizard to know since the early treatment and removal of the werewolf venom is the sole preventative measure available. Once the disease takes hold, it cannot be excised by any power known to wizardkind. This topic will be covered in the end-of-year exams, but I expect you to know the treatment techniques to a practical degree long before that."
He set down the book, held up the other.
"Kimiro Liu, on the other hand, begins with the most basic of all defencive magic. Lumos, whose light is inherently positive, can be used as a deterrent against several common Dark creatures of low to moderate danger. It is one of the most versatile of all known spells. In its purest form, it is a simple point of illumination, but it can also be thrown, stuck to objects, narrowed into a beam, or overcharged into a blinding flash. It is the basis for several more complicated illumination spells, and is one of the few spells not proscribed under the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, and thus can be used at need even at your young age."
Hari wrote this down, though he recalled already hearing something along these lines.
Master Kendricks set down that book as well. "Today, you will all learn to cast 'Lumos'. Next week, we will be going into detail about the treatment of werewolf bites, and I expect you all to be familiar with the basics by that time."
He stared pointedly around the room to ensure his point was taken, then began demonstrating and lecturing about the correct way to cast the illumination spell Lumos.
As they began the practical portion of the class time, Hari flourished his wand as instructed and spoke the incantation. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.
He hesitantly reached out to the Force, the contact allowing it to crash through him so strongly he nearly dropped his wand. He took a moment to recover, to center himself within the raging torrent of energy that flooded through him and out and back so strongly and chaotically, then raised his wand and tried a second time.
"LU-mos," he said, his pronunciation perfect, his wand movement nearly so. Again, nothing. He practiced the motion several more times (the Force was pressing against him, urging him to do something, its wild uncertainty a constant distraction) until he could perform it almost flawlessly, then tried yet again.
Nothing. Still nothing.
He pushed the Force away, closed himself back into his own calm. Concentrating on the wand he held, he tried to reach out to it as though it were the Force. A different power, an echo, something he'd sensed before only faintly. He was wary of it, but how many powers could there be on this world? So he reached to it, straining and fumbling clumsily, like a youngling unsure of the Force.
Hari sensed no change. He waved the wand and recited the incantation, but it was equally useless. He wasn't truly connected to this shadow of Force, even if it were the source of magic on Earth. It skittered away from him, or he slid around it, neither of them truly reaching toward the other. Both equally wary, or so it felt to Hari.
Across the room, other students began to succeed in lighting up their wands. Hari tried again, but he knew even before looking that he'd failed again. And there was no trick of the Force he could substitute. Not that he had any desire to cheat, but it did rankle a bit to see this clear evidence of his own inferiority. In a room full of untrained younglings, only he couldn't perform the simplest of protective charms.
Master Kendricks watched them, nearly all the students holding their lit wands triumphantly. Some flickered out, some only flared up briefly to begin with, but only Hari found no success whatsoever.
"LUmos," he said, perfectly, waving the wand with precision. Nothing.
"Alright," Master Kendricks said. "Enough. Remember, five inches on the introductory chapters of both books, and I expect you to be prepared to discuss werewolf bites next week."
The omni-distant bell rang out, signaling the period end, and the students began chattering among themselves as they started from the room.
"Mr. Potter, stay a minute."
Hari waited as the other younglings departed. Master Kendricks strode over to stand a few feet away.
"Your wandwork seems flawless. Cast the spell for me."
"LUmos." No result.
"Your pronunciation is not to blame either." The Defence master frowned slightly. "Keep practicing. Try to manage it by next week. You may go."
Hari bowed respectfully. "Yes, master."
Master Kendricks regarded him with a raised eyebrow as Hari turned to leave.
He really needed to research wizard etiquette, but there didn't seem to be any readily available books on the subject. Did Hogwarts have a library? As an academy of learning, it surely must. What did wizards address their teachers as?
Not 'master' it would seem.
He had twenty-some minutes to locate C-102 for Charms class, after which there would be nearly two hours free if he skipped lunch.
Fortunately, C-102 - along with C-101, C-103, and C-104 - remained in the same easily-located position from year to year. A group of Ravenclaw girls were just coming up from the Charms corridor and were happy to give Hari directions, giggling the whole time. But then one asked for him to sign a page of her noteparchment, and when he agreed the others promptly asked as well, and by the time he extricated himself from them he'd wasted nearly half his remaining time.
Thankfully, their directions had been correct, and he reached C-102 on time and without incident.
Charms class went much like Defence had; a master lectured and taught, the students attempted to perform the magic spell assigned. The movement was more complex this time, the incantation simple enough, but Hari was no longer the only student unable to complete the spell successfully. Only two succeeded, in fact, despite Charms having a much longer practical portion than Defence.
As soon as the class let out, Hari set off on his own to survey the castle. He walked with calm measured steps, taking great care to observe everything as he went. Though the interior was complicated, as though several different architects had designed parts of the overall structure without any concern for what the others did, each area had its own logic to it.
One section contained many wide, shallow staircases, each leading directly to a classroom. One area had balconies and arching pathways and high-ceilinged rooms which reminded him of the Jedi temple back on Coruscant. Another section was painted all in shades of teal, though half the walls were stone and half wood, and the doors all seemed to be made of textured glass.
A corner of the fourth floor connected directly to the middle of the sixth floor by a small doorway that could only be opened every other minute - odd numbered minutes downstairs, even-numbered minutes upstairs.
Just past the Transfiguration classrooms the hallway became extremely narrow and sloped downward to a blank wall, surrounded by four heavy doors without latches or knobs which could not be opened.
The distinctive suit of red and glowing-orange-striped armour that had been outside the Charms corridor that morning was positioned beside the second-floor connection to the grand staircase by lunchtime. Hari doubled back to the Charms corridor to check, and it was indeed missing from its former location.
He only managed to search perhaps a third of the castle before the end of the lunch break, so he returned to T-302 for Transfiguration class.
After Transfiguration - a class which was mostly lecturing and only a very brief practical section, during which no one made any progress - Hari followed the group of first-years to the Lecture Hall. A large semi-circular arena, the classroom could have easily seated hundreds of students, not just the few dozen present. All the houses were present for this class, History of Magic, and it was taught by. . .
Hari leapt from his seat as the teacher floated through the blackboard. A Force-ghost? But as he opened himself to the Force and allowed it to crash discordantly through him he couldn't sense the spirit's presence at all.
Disappointed, he moved to sit, but the ghost teacher stared directly at him with a puzzled expression, and Hari thought he did sense something. Faint, fainter than he could have ever heard if he hadn't been straining day by day in his meditation for that lost thread that he'd found his first day.
Seizing on it, Hari focused in on that faint whisper, closed his eyes and pushed Force toward it through his mind as though trying to create a Force bond. A blunt, clumsy, inelegant move at the best of times. But amplified with the chaos of Earth's influence, the mental thread snared itself around Master Binns with the strength of unassailable surety and fused into place without time for him to even try resisting.
Oops, Hari thought, as the full impact of his impulsive move dawned on him. In his eagerness, he may have gone too far.
He opened his eyes, to find Master Binns still looking directly at him. The faintly-glowing spirit was bound to him now, somehow, though the exact nature of the Force bond was unclear. The connections between beings were as individual as the beings they connected, the nature of each bond unique.
Hari grinned ruefully and slid back into his seat, hoping he hadn't just made a terrible mistake.
