Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or related characters, all JK Rowlings. I will take credit for all my OCs though.
AN: Sorry about the delay guys, got a little distracted reading a few fics and work. Plus I got convinced to start playing wow again...yeah. Anyway enjoy new chapter of a new world.
Waking up early as he was accustomed to Harry woke up Neville since he said he wanted to join Harry in his training. They each got changed into some muggle tracksuit pants and left to head down to the Room of Requirement to do some morning exercises. Walking into the common room he was surprised to see the five first year girls sitting on the couches gossiping he assumed. "Hey guys, you're all up early" Said girls turned around and all blushed when they saw the boys just in tracksuit pants, singlets and joggers.
"Are you going for a run guys?" Hermione asked the boys. Harry nodded "Yeah I've been exercising for years. Can't stop now just because we're at school and Nev decided to tag along to keep me company. Any of you ladies want to join us?" He added as an afterthought not actually expecting them too. But he was surprised to see both Alyssa and Lavender perk up at the idea while the rest looked uninterested "Sure Harry let me go change quick" Alyssa said racing upstairs. Lavender blinked, looked to Neville blushed then to the stairs and ran following after Alyssa.
"Where we going to run anyway Harry, it's a bit cold to go outside" Harry laughed "Nah not to worry Nev, Dad told me about this cool room they have in Hogwarts. I want to find it and try it out. If it doesn't work I've been practicing warming charms so we should be right to go outside." Hermione perked up at that "But we don't learn about that this year, I've read all the first year textbooks. How can you know about it?" Harry sighed, of course Hermione had to pick that up "I borrowed some of my Mum's old charms books. So I know the theory well, I've practiced the wand movements so I'm confident I'll be able to do it"
Hermione huffed but didn't comment on how unfair it was he knew more than she did, she wasn't used to being the know-it-all. Harry Potter was just as smart as her, maybe even more so but he was fun and not bossy. She envied him and she had only known him a day. Her musings were cut short when Alyssa and Lavender came down the stairs wearing tight leggings and tank tops. Both boys and the two girls blushed when they noticed each other. Both had eyes for only one of the others. Shaking his head Harry asked
"Alright you girls good to go?" Getting nods he held out his hand and Alyssa came to take it, Neville saw Lavender's hopeful gaze so did the same but instead of taking his hand he latched herself to his arm causing Harry to laugh at his friends. He led them out of the portrait hole and too the blank wall opposite the Barnabas the Barmy's portrait. Harry let go of Alyssa's hand and walked in front of the wall thinking 'I need a large room to exercise...' on the first pass and he ignored the inquisitive glances of his friends. '...that has muggle exercise equipment' on the second pass 'with books on various exercises to do' on the final pass and a door appeared.
Alyssa, Neville and Lavender looked on in surprise as a door suddenly appeared where Harry was pacing on the third pass. Harry went to the door and opened it and was pleased to see what he did, poking his head out he called out "You guys coming then?" Alyssa shook her head and ran in while Neville and Lavender following. They looked around in awe at the room. A 50x50m room with many different types of muggle exercise equipment and a bookshelf full of books. The room seemed to split the room into sections for certain forms of exercises. Strength, flexibility, endurance, balance, coordination, speed, power, stamina. Everything they would need lay in the room now.
"Harry, what is this room?" Alyssa asked her best friend looking around in awe, smirking at her reaction and the awe looks on his other two friends he stated "This guy's is known as the Room of Requirement. It's a room designed to become whatever the user desires, it activates after the third pass of thinking along the same train of thought. I asked for a room to exercise on the first pass, with different exercise equipment on the second pass and books to aid us on the third pass. This is the result of my request.
Chuckling at their faces he stated "Alright it's up to all of you what you want to do, I'm going on the treadmill for 20 minutes then I'm going to do some weight training. If you're not sure on how to work something ask me or go to that bookshelf, it should have everything you need." The three nodded and got to work. It became apparent fairly quickly that Alyssa and Lavender weren't quite as fit as they liked to believe and it was a bit of an eye opener when they saw their favourite boys going hard at it.
An hour later had them all sweaty and tired, they walked back into the common room where many more students were up and the four got questioning glances. "Exercising" Harry stated simply and most nodded, many more looking at them curiously still. "Alright guys how about we shower and meet in the common room before heading down to breakfast." The girls smiled and nodded and they left to do just that.
15 minutes later Neville seemed deep in thought on his bed, Harry got changed and asked "Hey Nev, you alright mate?" Looking startled for moment he said "Uh, hey Harry what do you think of Lavender?" Harry sniggered for moment before saying "Look I'm going to lay it out straight for you Neville, we met Lavender when we were young so we know she's known you for quite some time. She's also not obsessed with the boy-who-lived idea. She seems interested in Neville Longbottom, the guy who likes Herbology and doesn't like attention brought to him. The real Neville not the fabrication that fangirls have created, in my opinion Nev become her friend." Neville smiled at that and seemed to like the answer immensely "Thanks Harry". He just smiled back "Anytime Nev"
"Come on, the girls are probably waiting for us" Neville nodded and followed Harry out of the room, as expected the two girls were indeed waiting for them. "Ready to go ladies?" Harry asked once he reached them, Alyssa simply grinned grabbed his hand and began walking to the portrait hole, Neville thought over Harry's words and took Lavender's hand earning a bright smile from the girl. The smile got even bigger when she saw the scowls of other girls in the common room before she turned and pulled her new friend out of the common room to follow after the other two.
Once they got to the great hall Harry looked around looking for his fellow first year friends at the Gryffindor table. Spotting them he smiled seeing Parvarti waving frantically at them to come over, seems her sister, Hermione and the 3 boys were driving her insane. "Hey guys, miss us" Parvarti screeched "YES" causing Harry and Neville to chuckle and Alyssa to giggle while Lavender sat down next to Neville and went into gossip mode with Parvarti. "Jeez Parvarti we weren't that bad" Padma exclaimed "Speak for yourself Padma, it was torture for me dealing with, with" She was eying Ron with disgust as he was scoffing food down and trying to talk to the other two boys with spittle flying out.
Harry couldn't figure out how exactly he learnt to eat like that, all the other Weasley's ate with at least mild table manners. How did Ron ever get so bad, he couldn't ever remember it ever improving either from this old life if Hermione's constant book beatings at the Gryffindor table were any indication. Shaking his head of those thoughts Harry began talking to Alyssa and Neville about their thoughts on Hogwarts so far. "So what you guys think of Hogwarts so far?"
Neville looked over "It's great, we haven't seen much of it yet but so far I'm impressed. That room you showed us, the great hall here, the grounds on the way to the castle. This is going to be a great way to spend the next 7 years I think." Alyssa got a cheeky grin "Aww Nev almost sounds like you looking forward to spending the next 7 years in a situation similar to the one you in now" She said looking pointedly at Lavender causing Neville to blush slightly and suddenly pay attention to Lavender again. "Now play nice Miss Black, I could say the same line to you right now."
Alyssa blushed before suddenly remembering what she saw the night before "Harry there's something I've been meaning to ask you about" Harry looked at her curiously and she was studying him intently, she got right up in his face making him slightly nervous "What did you do to that Ghost yesterday?" Harry looked confused "I told him to ask a teacher for help, why?" She narrowed her eyes "Not that one, the one we met on the way to the tower" Harry panicked internally but showed nothing outwardly. "I didn't do anything Alyssa" She couldn't tell if he was lying or not, it was like a brick wall on his emotions had suddenly been thrown up. "Are you sure, you know you can trust me Harry" Sighing he leaned over into her ear and whispered "I cast a spell at Peeves"
Her eyes widened in shock before whispering back "Harry James Potter, what magic could possibly scare a ghost like that" She hissed. Knowing he couldn't tell the truth he smirked "Hey now, I'm a prankster, you need to be able to prank anything not just flesh and bone." She groaned at such a marauder answer, she sometimes thought he looked up to his father and her own far too much. "Fine don't tell me then" She then began dishing her plate and he shrugged before doing the same. Soon enough Professor McGonagall came around with the class schedules, he took a quick glance at it:
Monday: 9-11 History of magic with Ravenclaw
11-1 Lunch
1-3 Defence against the dark arts with Hufflepuff
3-5 Charms with Slytherin
Tuesday: 9-11 Herbology with Hufflepuff
11-1 Lunch
1-3 Transfiguration with Slytherin
3-5 Free Period
Wednesday: 9-11 Free Period
11-1 Break
1-3 History of Magic with Hufflepuff
1-3 Defense against the dark arts with Ravenclaw
12am Astronomy
Thurs: 9-11 Charms with Hufflepuff
11-1 Lunch
1-3 Herbology with Ravenclaw
3-5 Free Period
Friday: 9-11 Transfiguration with Ravenclaw
11-1 Lunch
1-3 Potions with Slytherin
3-5 Potions with Slytherin
Letting out a grown when he saw the first class was History of magic, he was very tempted to cast his strongest exorcism curse at Binns, it would save so many people the torture of his droning lectures. But since the damn ghost is a ghost because of his wanting to teach Harry knew if he did that an enquiry would appear as to why he suddenly moved on during a first year class with the boy-who-lived. Too much attention for Neville and himself, so he opted to just stick it out once more "Hey guys let's head down now, get a good seat, at the back of the class."
Neville sniggered and Alyssa, Lavender and Parvarti giggled while Hermione glared seeming to somehow hear Harry's statement. That girl and her sixth sense to rule breaking was freakish, it was almost like she was a seer and knew when someone was planning to slack off. Sighing he grabbed Alyssa's hand and started to walk out of the hall. Neville following suit with Lavender and Parvarti decided to come with them.
A few floors and shortcuts later they stood at the entrance to Professor Binn's class. Walking in they took the chairs right at the back, luckily they were set up as 5 person benches so Parvarti didn't have to move. Alyssa sat on the end followed by Harry, Neville, Lavender and Parvarti. The latter two decided to continue their gossip from earlier. "Hey Harry how come you look so put out by this class?" Neville asked his friend, Harry explained "Professor Binn's is a ghost that's been teaching for Merlin knows how long. He died preparing a class and instead of passing on he stayed to teach it, my Dad and Padfoot explained in excruciating detail just how boring Binn's is."
Neville nodded sagely, something that boring for the two Marauder's must indeed be a scary sort of boring to have to deal with. The rest of the class started arriving soon after and the Lecture started, soon enough Harry felt drowsy, with the extensive exercise they did that morning mixed with Binn's monotone voice Harry couldn't help himself, he started nodding off to sleep. He awoke with a soft voice saying "Harry, wake up, it's time to go." But Harry was quite comfortable where he was, he was about to tell the voice to go away when he remembered where he was before he went to sleep.
Opening his eyes slowly he lifted his head and looked around to see most of the class walking out, Hermione giving him her famous glare for him falling asleep, he turned to his left to see Neville sniggering at him. Confused he turned to see Alyssa beet red, it was then that he realized it was her that was talking softly to wake him up. Something else confused him, the desk was hard, but when he woke up it was soft. "So have a nice nap in Alyssa's lap Harry" Neville stated, Harry blinked and the pieces began to fall into place and he blushed as bright as Alyssa.
"Umm, let's go to lunch" Before taking Alyssa's hand and walking out of the room with the other three either laughing or giggling behind him. He leaned over and whispered "Sorry about that Lyssa" She just smiled still with a slight blush "Its fine Harry, I'm just glad you didn't tell me no and snuggle in more, that would have been far more embarrassing." Harry ran his hand through his messy hair and grinned "Well I was about to do just that, but I remembered I was in class when I fell asleep so thought better of it."
Lunch passed fairly quickly with another round of Gryffindor females minus Alyssa staring at Ron in disgust with the way he eats. Harry decided enough was enough "Ron mate, seriously the food isn't going to go anywhere, look at the amount there is, slow down and talk when you not eating" Ron turned bright red in either anger or embarrassment, he then looked at all the girls staring at him in disgust and he felt true embarrassment. Harry was shocked when he actually slowed down. All he needed to do in his old world was point out how much eating like that disgusts girls. Since he never caught Hermione staring at him in disgust he obviously never got the message.
30 minutes later had them in the DADA room. Harry was curious if Voldemort would try to enter his mind being the other potential Prophecy child but shrugged it off. Neville was supposedly chosen the moment he survived the curse, he didn't need to worry. The group sat in the back again but this time was because the smell of garlic was stronger down the front. Neville wanted Harry's opinion once again on this Professor. Harry sighed internally on how much Neville wanted his opinions on things, but then again this is because Harry always had the answers to problems.
"Well so far I'm not impressed. He obviously has a serious fear of vampires judging by this garlic. He is either an incredibly good actor or he is a coward the way he stutters at everything. So either he is extremely skilled and dangerous or extremely weak and pathetic, I can't help but think it's the former since Dumbledore hired him but why place someone like that at Hogwarts." Harry wanted to get them suspicious of Quirrel now, without Ron though there shouldn't be any 'It was Snape, the leader of those slimy snakes' comments at all.
Alyssa was looking at Harry curiously at that statement, sometimes like things as that opinion then Harry seemed older then he appeared, it almost seemed like he was placing a clue out for them when he said what he just did. His suspicions are similar to how her father reacts to certain things but he is an experienced Auror, Harry Potter always fascinated her. Smiling he kissed his cheek and gave a big grin, he just tilted his head to the side before watching the other students come in one by one.
The class ended up being pretty much a waste of time, his stuttering didn't let them cover much and what they did was common knowledge to even muggles, symptoms and weaknesses of vampires. Harry sighed and couldn't figure out why he was so skilled at defence when his only good teacher was Moony in 3rd year. They now found themselves in the charms room, Professor Flitwick standing upon a pile of books. Harry didn't even wait this time "Professor Flitwick, my mother's favourite teacher and a very skilled duellist, he is a teacher truly loyal to the students, he unlike many other heads who would go to the headmaster for advice. He does what is right for that student as long as they come to him personally. A trustworthy person"
Once again Alyssa pondered on the words her best friend just stated, he basically hinted at Dumbledore not having the best interests of the students at heart but this Professor did. By adding in that heads comment it was a statement that not all of them should be trusted or he didn't know if they could be. Considering their head was deputy headmistress she would tell the headmaster, Snape according to their parents was a death eater and followed Dumbledore completely. Another one not to be trusted, Professor Sprout was probably one that Harry was either unsure of or didn't care either way. Another clue to add to the puzzle she mused.
Harry saw Alyssa thinking over his words and couldn't help but smirk, his best friend had the intelligence of Hermione but didn't have any insecurities or obsession with following rules and faith in teachers. With those few words she will be careful in who she confides in with certain information. By stating Flitwick was trustworthy meant he would take a student's word seriously, such as checking on the Philosopher's stone. Whereas someone like McGonagall would just scoff and tell the headmaster, someone who as grandfatherly as he was tended to see people as pawns. He only felt guilt after the fact and never before.
The class went alright besides the Slytherin's or more specifically the boy's, Bulstrode and Parkinson. Harry couldn't help notice Greengrass & Davis seemed disinterested and focussed on the class, thinking back he remembered that they were neutral in the war. He began thinking of whether he should befriend them, Malfoy would likely make their life difficult but they didn't have to be friendly in public. He decided to think on this and decide on what to do. Professor Flitwick explained that every Monday class will be theory with every Thursday class would be practical. But the first week would just be them practicing wand movements in the Practical session.
They left the room with Harry watching the two Slytherin girl's with a curious gaze, Alyssa noticing it asked "Harry, what's so interesting about those two, I saw a contemplative look on your face in class" Harry looked over and gave her a cheeky grin "Been keeping a close eye on me Miss Black?" She blushed briefly before huffing "Tell me please" Harry let out a sigh "Their family was neutral in the last war, I was considering whether they would make good future allies that could potentially act as spies if anything happened someday." Even though his words were stated in a offhand manner Alyssa couldn't help take notice of the underlying tone there. Harry truly believed something could happen, the question was why.
Shrugging it off as another mystery of her favourite boy she looped her arm in his and stated "I see, well let's go to dinner then" Harry sighed at the girls sudden burst of energy, the morning's energy must have finally returned to her. Walking into the hall they took a seat and began making small talk with the other first years. Harry was pleased to see that Ron took his advice and ate like it wasn't his last meal and swallowed his food before speaking, he couldn't help but notice the girls had begun talking to him and not staring at him in disgust anymore. Smiling at their successful first day they headed up to the dorms. Harry did his customary kiss on cheek to Alyssa and headed to bed.