A/N As promised, another chapter.
Just a quick comment for anyone who was wondering about my portrayal of Neville as markedly different from canon - this is down to him having his parents around to raise him and Madame Longbottom not having such an influence. He's still going to be mostly the same, struggling with magic and nervous/quiet around everyone he's not comfortable with i.e. anyone other than Harry and Hermione at present, though this will change as this moves on.
Personal replies to follow to the latest reviews, but for the rest of you... No definite final pairing for Harry as yet, though I have an idea or two... The other comments from Jamnaz 79 about the Weasleys should mostly be answered with this chapter, and on Cochrd's mention on running jokes: if anyone has a suggestion for if/how/when Hermione should finally swear, I'm more than willing to listen and credit will be given where it's due.
Speaking of which, props to The Reader and Writer for his suggestion on the double barrelled surname.
/
Harry stood with Fiona, Remus, Sirius and Arcturus, watching the crowds on Platform 9 and 3/4s ebb and flow, tearful goodbyes from a few of those not wanting looking forward to being away from home juxtaposed with the happy reunion between friends who hadn't seen each other for the summer. Harry tried to spot the ones who were fakes and though he thought he saw one or two, he couldn't be certain. Some of the Higgins Security Group team members had taken polyjuice to blend in with the crowds, some of them become prospective students, others the parents - Dumbledore had agreed to their demands on Harry's schooling but flat out refused to allow any of the students to have personal security details on either the train or in the grounds. He had, however, consented to asking Minister Fudge to assign two Aurors to guard the students on their way to the school who were now ensconced in the guard's carriage, starting their second cup of tea and having absolutely no intention of doing anything for the journey.
"Well." Began Harry awkwardly, searching for a way to say goodbye.
"Have you got everything?" Asked Fiona.
"Yep." Confirmed Harry. "Besides, you guys are just down in the village, so if I've forgotten anything I can always grab it on the first Hogsmeade weekend or Arcturus could bring it up for my potions lessons."
"That's true," agreed Arcturus "but I would encourage you to spend as much time as possible with your school friends on those weekends, when we haven't scheduled extra classes for you of course."
"Of course." Harry's dry tone made them all smile, except Sirius, who was looking rather distracted and giving Harry some very odd looks.
"I also have no intention of being your pack mule." Harry grinned and then looked towards the train as the first students began to board. He turned back to the others and took a deep breath. "I guess it's time to say goodbye then." He gave Fiona a hug and she slipped a carefully wrapped book shaped package into his hands.
"I think you might like this one," she said with a smile "Remus helped me to choose it." Harry thanked her and grinned at Remus, hugging him as well.
"Catch you soon, pup." He ruffled Harry's hair affectionately and Harry swiped at his hand with a grin. "Don't let up on your defence training either, you still owe me a re-match."
"Only because you're a sore loser." The response came with a friendly smirk.
"No," corrected Remus "it's because you cheat even more than Sirius does." Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Arcturus. Despite the fact that he had become a central member of their odd family, he had retained a level of aristocratic disdain for expressing his affection in public, and so Harry held out his hand. His great-grandfather shook it formally, eyes dancing with amusement as he firmly shook Harry's hand.
"Do try to avoid getting in to as much trouble as your godfather did."
"No promises." Arcturus smiled despite himself.
"Just do me a favour and send back anything the others gave you that's too dangerous." Despite Arcturus' cautions and repeated comments that Harry was going to a school and not a war zone, several of the HSG mercenaries had given Harry gifts before he left that were distinctly unsuitable for a boy of just thirteen, and he had no doubt that some of them would have snuck one or two extra presents in as well when he wasn't watching.
Lastly, Harry turned to Sirius, who was shifting uncomfortably. They stood and stared at each other for a moment.
"Well." Began Harry.
"Well." Agreed Sirius. Harry sighed, sadly.
"Well." Sirius gave a soft sniff.
"Well." He agreed.
"Oh for goodness sake." Huffed Fiona, as they pulled each other into a hug.
She could barely hear Harry's muffled "You're such a pussy." But she could have sworn it was slightly thicker with emotion than Harry's voice was normally. Maybe it was just that he was speaking into Sirius' chest.
"You started it pup." Muttered Sirius to the top of his godson's head. He carefully slipped a letter into Harry's pocket that he would find later on, before they extracted themselves from their embrace. Harry grinned up at him and he smiled back down.
"Well." Said Harry, much more cheerfully.
"Well." Agreed Sirius with a nod.
"Oh just get on the fucking train would you?" Said Remus with a smile, earning himself a reproachful look from Fiona.
With a grin and a wave, Harry turned and began walking towards the train, clicking his fingers at his trunk. With a shudder, a dozen small legs on either side kicked out and lifted the trunk off the floor, ready to walk by its owner's side. It had been one of Arcturus' gifts to Harry, having been the travelling trunk of a many-greats uncle that had been gathering dust since the last Black children went to school.
The first few compartments Harry looked into were already taken, groups of students chatting away about their summer. Eventually he found one with only one person in it, a nervous looking boy with short, dark hair, fiddling dejectedly with a disk-man and headphones. He glanced up at he as he knocked and Harry gave his best friendly smile.
"Mind if I join you?" The boy nodded before returning his attention to the disk-man. Harry whistled once to his case and, after flexing its many legs a couple of times, it sprang onto the shelf above the opposite seat with a loud thump before the legs retracted into the case. The boy's eyes widened in amazement before slowly returning to his disk-man. He stabbed at a couple of the buttons and then sighed in frustration, face crumpling miserably as he stared out of the window at the thinning crowds on the platform. "It wont work." Harry said after a minute or two. The other boy looked up at him and a blush coloured his face even as it twisted into a scowl. "It's the magic" Harry said helpfully "it interferes with the electronics."
"Oh." The boy said quietly, the anger fading back to misery.
"I'm Harry Black-Potter."
"Daniel Skeens."
"A pleasure. Would you like me to have a look at that?" He asked, holding his hand out for the disk-man. He gave him a suspicious look and Harry tried to smile reassuringly. "I might be able to get it working." Daniel hesitated before handing it over. He popped it open and removed the CD which he handed back to him before standing on the seat and reaching up to open one of the draws of his chest, rifling through it to find the book he was looking for.
"There you are!" He glanced over to see Hermione's smiling face beneath her bushy hair. She directed a cheerful "Hello!" to Daniel who gave a little wave that Hermione smiled at as she turned back to Harry "We've been looking everywhere for you, what are you doing? Mind if we join you?" He grinned at Hermione before winking at Neville, who was following behind her.
"Yep, well now you've found me, fixing a disk-man so it works around magic, Daniel was here first so you have to ask him." Neville grinned back as Hermione worked her way through the answers. She turned towards Daniel, who gave a nod and another nervous smile. Harry flicked through the pages of the book before finding the page he was looking for. "Got it!" He rummaged again and pulled out a pencil.
"Wait!" Cried Daniel, reaching to snatch his CD-player back from this strange boy who looked like he was about to doodle all over it. Harry glanced up, shock giving way to a guilty look that flashed across his face.
"Oh. Um... Sorry." Hermione was now sat next to him, watching him curiously, while Neville had adopted a put-upon expression and began man-handling both their cases onto the shelves as Harry showed the title of the book to their young travelling companion: Wards, Runes and How to Use Them. "So the magic interferes with the electronic signals, happy?" His audience nodded at him "This series of runes here that absorbs magic - ward breakers use it to sap the magic of a ward-scheme, usually carving into metal or rock or something similarly solid that can hold a lot of magic." He showed them the page he had marked open as they nodded their understanding. "What I'm going to do, if you're happy" he said to Daniel "is change the rune slightly, pairing it with this one," Harry flipped open to another page "which is reflective. Paired together, they give a magic repelling rune which should mean that your CD-player works properly."
"Should." Said Hermione skeptically. Harry nodded.
"Should." He shrugged apologetically to Daniel. "It might not do anything, but it's the only thing I can think of short of making a Disk-Man out of moon rock."
"Moon rock?" Interrupted Hermione "And exactly how do you know about runes and ward breaking?
"Yeah, magic doesn't work on it," Harry said absently, ignoring Hermione's shocked expression at this revelation and her second question "unfortunately" he added with a grin "I don't think Sony are quite there yet." Daniel gave a very small laugh at the bad joke. "Do you mind if I give it a shot?" The boy nodded and watched intently as Harry carefully began to stencil on the designs to the disk-man. As soon as the pencil marks were completed, he put the took the disk back from Daniel, carefully placing it in and closing the case before pressing play, holding one earphone to his ear to check it was working. After a moment he grinned and pressed stop. "So that works, now I'll ink it in so that it doesn't smudge - and don't worry, I'll use a clear ink so you wont even notice it's there. Unless you have a favourite colour you'd prefer it in?"
"Umm... do you have blue?"
Harry rummaged in the chest drawer again before coming up empty. "Sadly no, I don't have a blue. Would green work?"
"'s fine." Daniel replied in a quiet voice. Harry fished out the green ink.
"Nail varnish?" Came Neville's bemused question as he sat down next to Daniel, having finally finished with the cases. Harry shrugged.
"Don't knock it if it works. Small brushes and a bitch to get off, just what you want for rune carving."
"Stop!" Hermione interrupted Harry, before slapping Neville lightly on the shoulder "Grab my case for me?" He glared back at her.
"I'd only just gotten it up." Neville complained. Harry snorted in amusement.
"Phrasing!" Hermione got it fastest and blushed furiously, her jaw dropping in horror at the connotations. Neville was next and sniggered, while Daniel just looked between them all.
"I don't get it." He said.
"Ignore them, they're being childish." Said Hermione as she huffed at Neville and Harry's laughter, standing on the seat to hide her blush as she rummaged in the drawers of her trunk.
"She's right," said Harry to Daniel "we are being incredibly childish. Probably because we're thirteen year old boys and we have a right to be."
"Got it!" Hermione sat down with a smallish sponge bag and extracted a small bottle of sky blue nail gloss that she handed to Harry.
"Why do you have blue nail varnish?" Asked Neville, confused. Hermione gave him a look that would have done just as well for someone who had asked her if she would like to eat a newborn child for lunch and if so, how would she like it cooked?
"Because I'm a girl." She explained very slowly "Girls have nail varnish. I like the colour. Does that make sense, you imbecile?"
"Alright, alright, I'm not an idiot." Hermione huffed at Neville's statement before turning to watch Harry at work. Just as he finished and handed the disk-man back to its owner, the whistle sounded and the train jolted into motion. Daniel tried it out and grinned as the tinny sound of music could be heard from his headphones.
"Thanks."
"My pleasure" replied Harry sincerely "I'm new to Hogwarts too, so I know how scary a new school can be. It's nice to have something that reminds us of home." The others gave Daniel friendly smiles and nodded.
"But you're... you're not a first year."
"Nope" grinned Harry, "I'm a transfer, I was at a muggle school 'till the end of last summer" only Hermione caught the slight flicker of emotion as Harry's smile began to look a little forced "you might call me a late bloomer."
"Oh" said Daniel "Does that mean you'll be in the same year as me?" He looked a little nervous at this prospect, having seen Harry apply the runes and not having the faintest clue about what magic could do, let alone how to use it.
"'fraid not, Danny-boy" replied Harry cheerily "I had private tuition to get me up to the level of the other kids my age. But don't worry, we'll see each other around - we might even be in the same house." The younger boy brightened at this prospect.
"Hang on a minute," interrupted Hermione, a predatory gleam in her eye, "you still haven't told us what house you're in. Or how you know about runes and ward-breaking, it's not even taught at Hogwarts until third year. That's us, by the way." she added for Daniel's sake, waving at herself, Neville and Harry.
"Haven't I?" Asked Harry innocently.
"Nope." Replied Neville with a smile, suspecting that he knew where this was heading.
"Oh." Harry let the silence drag on, a placid smile on his face, watching Hermione get increasingly frustrated, Neville's own curiosity was tempered by his amusement at Hermione's irritation. "Would you like to know?"
"Yes." Snapped Hermione, not seeing the funny side of it. Harry rolled his eyes at Daniel, whose smirk rapidly disappeared when Hermione directed her glare his way.
Harry's reply was cut off as the door slid open again, a red-headed and be-freckled boy and a younger girl, equally red-headed and equally freckled and clearly his sister, stood there. Without waiting for an invitation, the boy heaved his trunk onto the rack above their heads and with a "Shove over" directed at Daniel, plonked himself next to Neville.
"Who are you?" He asked Harry. Harry stared back at him levelly, wondering if he should make an enemy this early on in the term. The red-headed girl pushed her trunk under the seat that Harry and Hermione were on and smiled at him as she sat down.
"Please excuse my brother..."
"Don't make excuses for me!" She ignored his interruption and waved at him to be quiet.
"I'm Ginny, that's Ron. He might be the older one, but I'm smarter" She held out her hand and Harry smiled, liking the insult to the reddening older brother.
"Better looking too." She blushed slightly at the compliment, and Ron made as if to stand, before being stopped by Neville.
"Hey now, I don't know who you think you are..." Harry ignored the big-brother-blustering and kept his focus on Ginny. He didn't find red-heads particularly attractive in general and besides, he had Victoria, but he decided that he'd be willing to flirt to wind up Ron.
"Harry Black-Potter, a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ginny." The girls eyes widened and she froze, still holding his hand. Harry made to let go but hers was frozen in shock around his own. Her brother's eyes widened and his jaw dropped open at the introduction. After a moment, Harry reached forwards with his spare hand and gently extracted his other from Ginny's grasp. "Was it something I said?" He asked Hermione. "Please shut your mouth" he added to Ron "you look like an oik."
Neville glanced at his watch. "Less than ten minutes, I win." He said to Hermione.
"Doesn't count," she replied, "it wasn't to me." Neville glared back at her.
"We never said it had to be to you, just that he'd say it." Harry looked between the two of them, his eyes narrowing accusingly. Daniel just looked confused, while Ginny was still frozen, staring at Harry, and Ron's mouth was still open.
"You guys made a bet on me." Harry asked, wondering if he should be offended. Neville nodded, completely unashamed.
"It's what friends do?" Tried Hermione by way of excuse. Harry shrugged and then frowned at Ron. He sighed.
"Do you mind?" He asked Neville, who glanced at Ron and with a grin, pushed the other boy's mouth closed. Ron shook his head to clear it and then continued staring at Harry.
"You're Harry Potter?" He asked incredulously.
"Nope," corrected Harry "I'm Harry Black-Potter."
"Eep." Came the small noise from Ginny.
"Oh please tell me that not every girl at this school has some sort of speech defect." Groaned Harry.
"What do you mean?" Asked Daniel, who had been quiet for some time.
"She can't swear," he explained, pointing at Hermione "it's fucking tragic really, she tries but it just comes out in an odd sort of stutter where any profanity should be. And apparently she" he waved at Ginny "has used her quota of words for the day and has resorted to non-sensical noises." Daniel looked between the two of them nervously as if it might be contagious.
"Eep." Said Ginny.
"Just because I choose not to swear, doesn't mean I can't!" Protested Hermione.
"Fine" said Harry "just give us a 'shit', 'fuck', or 'bollocks'. Hell, even a 'flip' or a 'damn', and we'll believe that you can swear." He folded his arms and leant back against the window, waiting for Hermione. She glared at him as everyone else watched, holding their breath in anticipation.
"I am not going to stoop to your level." She growled out through gritted teeth.
Harry shrugged and turned to Neville "Worth a shot."
"Two years and I've never heard her swear." Commented Neville.
"Ten sickles says I manage to get her to swear by the end of the year." Challenged Harry.
"Hey!" Cried Hermione, just as Neville said "Deal" and stuck his hand out to shake on it.
"What?" Asked Harry "You guys bet on me - it's what friends do, remember?" She glared at him and he grinned back. He could see that winding Hermione up would be an entertaining past-time for this year, and it might even make it easier to win his bet with Neville. "How about you, Daniel, can you swear?" The younger boy nodded.
"Yep."
"Don't - " Hermione tried to stop it but was cut off by the younger lad's next word.
"Fuck. See?" He grinned at Harry, who was rapidly becoming his new hero. Harry nodded approvingly.
"At least you seem to be ok."
"Wait just a minute!" Interrupted Ron. "You're Harry Potter."
"No."
"What?"
"I already told you, my name is Harry Black-Potter." Harry's opinion of Ron had not been particularly high to start with his rude entry to the carriage and his continuing lack of manners. "It's hyphenated." He added helpfully. It didn't seem to be much assistance however as Ron was still looking confused. "That means it's joined together."
"But you were born Harry Potter." Now Harry was starting to get annoyed.
"Yes, and then I was adopted by Sirius Black, and now I'm Harry Black-Potter. It's really not that difficult to understand." As Harry tried to explain this to Ron, his younger sister had tugged at Hermione's sleeve and was now whispering in her ear. Harry directed his attention towards the girls. "You do realise that whispering is incredibly rude, don't you?"
Hermione glared back at him. "She's intimidated by you, you plank. Not everyone survives a killing curse as a baby you know."
"Killing curse, shmilling shmurse." He said dismissively "There's no need to be literally gob-smacked by my presence. Though I am pretty fantastic." He brushed off a non-existent speck of lint from his tee-shirt.
Hermione sighed, before explaining. "You've been relatively isolated from the wizarding world for the last decade or so, so perhaps you should know that a certain 'cult of the personality' has grown up around you. And I realise this will probably just inflate your not-inconsiderable ego already, but various books have been written about you in that time, most of which involve you going on ridiculous adventures and are directed almost exclusively towards young girls. Hence... this." She waved at Ginny.
"Eep." Said Ginny.
Harry had to admit that he felt a little uncomfortable at the idea, but was quickly distracted by the possibilities that early fame offered for later in life. He would just have to pray that he didn't burn out like Macaulay Culkin. His day dreams of rising to the top echelons of wizarding society on the shoulders of adoring fan girls were interrupted by the appearance of his favourite student at Hogwarts.
"I see you've made yourself at home amongst blood-traitors and mud-bloods." The sneering voice came from the doorway. Harry looked up at Draco and his two goons stood in the corridor and staring in at them.
"Ladies and gentlemen" said Harry quickly before anyone else could react, standing and stepping to the doorway "proof that breeding exclusively amongst pure-blood families reduces the gene pool and leaves you dumb" he pointed at Crabbe, or possible Goyle, "ugly" he pointed at Goyle, or possible Crabbe, "or both." He pointed at Draco. "Now do be a good chap and fuck off." He directed his last comment to a stunned Draco Malfoy, who found himself uncertain as to how to proceed when faced with anything other than students cowering in terror before him, and Harry slammed the compartment door shut in his face, casting a locking charm on it before sitting back down.
There was a shocked silence as the occupants of the carriage looked between Harry and Draco, who was now mouthing threats through the glass of the door. Harry smirked at them and reached up to pull the blind down, blocking the view into their compartment.
"You... um..." Hermione began awkwardly "might not have wanted to do that." There was a silence in the carriage, Harry and Daniel looking curious, everyone else wishing that they had been somewhere else and feeling a little guilty for it.
"OK... Why not?" Asked Harry, failing to see why he shouldn't have put the arrogant pure-blood in his place. Granted, he probably could have been a bit more diplomatic, but then he had never been particularly fond of bullies, which is what Draco was rapidly proving himself to be. Hermione shifted awkwardly in her seat.
"Well, he's a Slytherin." She said, as if that explained everything.
"So?" Asked Daniel, not really understanding the different houses.
"They basically run the school, win the School Cup most years, go on to get the best jobs, etc etc, and while they're doing that, they also manage to get away with bullying and intimidating the rest of the school with little to no opposition." Explained Neville, providing a little more detail. He shrugged, a little embarrassed at Harry's incredulous look. "And Draco basically has them all under his control as he has the richest and most influential father."
"Oh." Said Harry thoughtfully. Daniel gulped nervously, wondering just what it was he had gotten into by welcoming Harry into his train compartment. "Well, we'll have to see what we can do about that." He smiled serenely back at the incredulous stares he was getting from everyone.
"About Draco's father being one of the most powerful and richest wizards in Britain, or about Slytherins being all... Slytherin-y." Asked Ginny, finally finding her voice. Harry considered this for a moment before reaching a decision with a firm nod.
"Both." The stares continued.
"Huh." Ginny's sound, though small and completely lacking words, seemed to adequately convey everyone's feelings of morbid curiosity at exactly how Harry intended to go about this, mixed with a modicum of hope that he would be successful.
As the train made its way North, Harry and the other occupants of the carriage chatted away about Hogwarts, Daniel taking every opportunity to quiz them about the school and the magical world in general and in the end decide that, regardless of the fall-out from the interaction with Draco Malfoy and his henchmen, he was glad that it was Harry Black-Potter of all people had come to share his compartment. Even Ginny seemed to have gotten over the initial shock of sharing space her childhood hero, though it took much longer for Ron to get his head around Harry's name. Eventually, they started to pull on their school robes, boys and girls taking it in turns to stand out in the corridor while the other changed and Hermione's question about which House Harry was going to be in was finally answered as he revealed his red and gold edged robes and Gryffindor tie. By the time they had finished, the train was slowing and once again Harry clicked his fingers, his chest's little legs popping out and jumping off the shelf to follow him onto the platform while he helped Daniel and the girls with their cases.
"Alrigh' firs' years! Over this way!" The booming voice came from the far end of the station. "Alrigh' Harry!" The half-giant grinned and waved at Harry, who grinned and waved back.
"See you in the castle Hagrid!" He called as he made his way towards the coaches.
"How do you know Hagrid?" Asked Hermione, her curiosity getting the better of her again, no matter how many infuriating non-answers Harry gave her previous questions.
"Every one knows Hagrid." Countered Harry, offering his hand to help her into the carriage. She glared at him and made her way up without his help. Ginny, however, accepted with a furious blushing and a smile all while Ron glared at the two of them and everyone else wondered who the new guy was.
Desperate to change the subject to something that Harry wouldn't be able to irritate her over, Hermione turned to Neville.
"So do you have any idea who the new DADA professor is?"
"Umm..." the other boy began evasively, "I have a vague theory." He turned to stare out of the window, avoiding any further questions and completely missing Hermione's glare, which she promptly turned on Harry, who shrugged and gave an innocent smile.
Hermione Granger didn't swear, ever. But if she did, she would have been thinking For flip's sake, now both of them are flipping doing it!
When they reached the castle, they all filed in, Harry taking a seat with a good view of the staff table next to Neville and opposite Hermione and Ginny, who every now and again would glance at Harry and blush. He ignored this, much as he ignored the curious glances he was getting from his new house mates right up until two red-headed twins sat down, one next to him and one next to Ginny. He eyed them cautiously.
"Hello." He tried warily.
"Hello." They replied in creepy unison, faces grim as they stared at him, then at Ginny and then back at him. There was an awkward silence that was broken by Neville's nervous introduction.
"Harry, meet the twins, Fred and George Weasley. Fred, George, meet Harry Black-Potter."
"How do you know I'm Fred?" Asked one of the twins. "More to the point, how do you know he's not Fred?"
"Does it matter?" Asked Hermione with a weary sigh. Apparently both twins took offence to that, staring at each other in horror and then back to Hermione.
"How dare you?!" Asked the one next to Ginny.
"We are each our own unique individual!" They both cried in unison, before glaring at each other. "We have our own minds." They said together and glared at each other again. "Stop it." Again they echoed each other. "It's my turn to talk." They both insisted, and Harry's amusement increased as the odd argument continued.
"You're right," he said to Hermione "I don't think it matters that much." Unfortunately his observation reminded the twins of their initial mission and just as they turned their attention back to Harry, the Headmaster rose, clapping his hands to call attention.
Dumbledore gazed out across the packed hall, eyes twinkling away as he surveyed the fresh faces before him, eager minds ready to learn and, hopefully, be guided along the right path. It might have been Harry's imagination, but he was certain the gaze lingered a little on him.
"Welcome back, one and all, I hope you have had a restful summer. Once again, we are within these hallowed halls to start a fresh term. Before this, however, bring in the First Years!" He called the last line out just as the doors opened and a troop of very nervous looking students entered under McGonagall's gaze. Dumbledore smiled at them all and then signalled to one side, prompting Argus Filch to scuttle forward with the Sorting Hat on a stool. "Now, as is tradition, our new students will be sorted into the houses they will call their own for the next few years and our very own Sorting Hat will now introduce itself."
Having met the Hat on a one to one basis, Harry's only thought was Well, this should be interesting.
The Hat let out a 'ahem' clearing whatever it used for a throat before beginning.
"You are all here for a sorting,
On this you have been waiting,
Until this very day
Stick my body upon your head,
Empty your minds of dread,
No secrets am I looking for,
I'm only on a tour.
Looking for the real you:
Eager for learning and studious
Or brave and courageous
Love of honour and companionship
Devious and ambitious
For each of you I have a home
Out of four I must pick,
Our meeting will be quick
Let us begin and soon we'll know, just where you I will stick."
"Huh" said Hermione.
"What?" Asked Neville. She shrugged.
"It's just that was a lot shorter than usual, I was expecting something... more."
"Yeah," agreed one of the twins "the rhymes just seemed..."
"... a bit below par?" Suggested the other twin.
The first one shrugged and raised a hand before him, wobbling it from side to side. "I was going to say 'shit', but below par also works."
"I think you have it, dear brother" Conceded the second "Shit it was. Let us not call it anything but." Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Harry, meanwhile, was moving his lips and twitching his finger every now and again while staring at the Hat. Eventually he stopped and smirked at the others.
"What?" Asked Hermione, narrowing her eyes at him. Everyone else turned to look at him as Thomas Andrews walked forwards to take his seat on the stool and place the Hat on his head. Harry politely clapped as he was sorted into Ravenclaw.
"It was a message." He said cryptically. Everyone began to look confused and stared around them to see if anyone else had picked up on it, with the exception of the twin sat next to Ginny, who had shut his eyes and was now mumbling the Hat's song back to himself. "Take the first letter of each line." The twin got to the end of the song and stared at Harry, disbelief clear on his face. He slowly turned round to look at the teacher's table. The others followed his gaze, remaining non-plussed as nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"No way." Whispered the twin who had figured it out. Harry grinned and nodded, clapping again as Susan Bardelle was sorted into Gryffindor. The rest of their group followed his lead and gave some absent-minded applause as the Sorting continued.
"What?" Asked the other twin, who hadn't caught on.
"The Hat just called Dumbledore..." he nodded at the twin in the know.
"A senile old fool." Hermione gasped aloud and the rest of their small group looked equally surprised. "George." Added the twin reaching over to shake Harry's hand "Fred" he said, pointing at the twin on Harry's side of the table.
"What?" Asked his brother, a little miffed that they hadn't continued their song and dance while everyone tried to work out which one of them was which, but more hurt that his brother had finished someone else's sentence.
"The Hat just pranked Dumbledore in front of the entire school." George whispered in awe.
"I wouldn't call it a prank," argued Harry "more of a very thinly veiled insult."
"What would you know about pranking?" Asked Fred suspiciously. Harry just smiled and didn't answer, clapping much more enthusiastically as Daniel was Sorted into Hufflepuff. As the last of the new students sat down and the applause died away, Dumbledore clapped his hands twice and the food appeared on the table in front of them.
As they ate, Harry eavesdropped on the conversations around him of various summer trips - the Weasleys had been to Egypt, where one of their apparently numerous brothers worked as a curse breaker, and Hermione had been to Spain with her parents. Neville had spent much of his time in South America with his parents.
When the food was finally cleared, Dumbledore rose to his feet, calling for silence.
"Now then, before you all disappear off for a well earned rest, there are a few announcements that must be made. Firstly a very warm welcome to our new first years." there was a resounding banging of fists and cutlery on the tables as everyone showed their enthusiasm. Dumbledore smiled and waved down the applause. "We also welcome two new joiners to our third year, Josef Gragarochev, who joins our Slytherin House for this year on an exchange from Russia, and Harry Black-Potter, who will be joining Gryffindor, hopefully for slightly longer." There was a hushed silence and a large number of eyes turned in Harry's direction as those who didn't already know who the new boy at their table realised who he was, before another outburst of banging on tables erupted, taking much longer for Dumbledore to quiet down. "The last, but by no means least, of our warm welcomes, I would like to extend to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, a veteran Auror and exceptionally talented magician, Professor Frank Longbottom." There was a much more subdued round of applause and everyone turned their attention from Harry for a moment as they assessed the new teacher, wondering if this one would break the curse on the position. A middle-aged wizard pushed himself slowly to his feet, keeping his hands on the table in front of him for support. Though Harry knew him to be the same age as Sirius, he looked significantly older, brown hair lank and thinning, showing streaks of grey, the handles of two walking canes showing on either side of his chair. Harry had seen a photo of him from when the Marauders had been at school, but he struggled to match the laughing, healthy looking young man from the photo to the haggard man before him who slumped rather heavily back to his seat, as if the mere effort of standing was more than he could manage for long.
"A vague idea?!" Hissed an outraged Hermione at Neville, who shrugged awkwardly and mumbled an excuse that was lost as Dumbledore continued his announcement.
"Professor Longbottom will be continuing the duelling club this year, to be assisted by professors Snape and Flitwick, and quidditch try outs will take place during the second week of term. Lastly, the Forbidden Forest remains both a forest and forbidden. On that note, I bid you all a good night. Prefects, please take charge."
They filled out, the general hubbub continuing as the students made their way to their respective dorm rooms, and Harry soon found himself in the Gryffindor common room, staring around at the room where Sirius, Remus and his father had spent much of their school days.
"Not bad, huh?" Said Ron "I bet it's better than wherever it is they've been keeping you up till now."
"Not really," replied Harry absently "the Black Mansions may be slightly smaller than the school, but they don't lack for comfort."
"Mansions?" Asked Hermione, her voice rising comically.
"Plural of mansion." Responded Harry casually as he admired the paintings, politely waving back at them as they eyed him with equal curiosity. "It means more than one."
"I... I..." Hermione tried to speak and failed miserably, turning to Neville for help.
"Don't look at me, we have more than one as well." Ron huffed indignantly and muttered something about golden spoons not particularly subtly as he disappeared up the stairs towards the boy's dorm room. Hermione gave up on Harry for the evening and remembered one of the other new additions to the school. She narrowed her eyes.
"Why didn't you tell us your dad was the new Defence against the Dark Arts professor?"
Neville shrugged awkwardly and looked away. "Does it matter?" he asked, before continuing without waiting for a response. "He knows his stuff and he'll be a good teacher." There was a short pause while Hermione waited hopefully for more. "Anyway, I'm off to bed. Catch you in the morning 'mione, You coming up Harry?"
"Sure thing" Harry moved to follow. "G'night Granger." As Harry made his way up the stair to his new room, he wondered idly why Neville seemed so uncomfortable about his dad teaching in the school before filing it away as something to ask him about later. Despite how well they were getting on so far, they had still only just met. Besides, Harry had his own secrets, he could hardly begrudge someone else for wanting to keep theirs.
Neville led him to a large room with four four-poster beds, draped in the red and gold of Gryffindor, Harry spotted his trunk placed by the side of the only unoccupied bed, suppressing a groan as he discovered that Ron Weasley was one of the other occupants. The fourth introduced himself as Seamus Finnegan, a muggle born wizard from Ireland, and they chatted away about football and rugby as they all unpacked their things. Despite Ron's repeated insistence that quidditch was a million times better than any muggle sport, Harry was moderately successful in ignoring him, which served to annoy the ginger even further, prompting Harry to renew his efforts purely for his own entertainment.
Eventually, with all of their things ready for their first day of classes and a small pile of packages from the Higgins Group mercenaries tucked carefully into the most secure of the magical trunk's compartments, Harry and his new room-mates settled in for the night.
/
Susan Shaw was up early, proudly buffing the new badge attached to her robes before heading down. She was the first up from the girls' dorm and was expecting to be the first from Gryffindor tower, if not the rest of the school, having woken half an hour before most people's alarms went off, so she was understandably surprised to have the portrait of the Fat Lady swing open before she reached it to admit a red-faced and sweating Harry Black-Potter dressed in a tight fitting t-shirt and a pair of shorts, muddy trainers clutched in one hand and his sock-clad feet clean to the ankles but splattered with mud from there up. He grinned at her and gave a slightly puffed but cheerful "Good morning!" as he moved passed her. She stared in shock before her new role kicked in.
"Wait!" He stopped and turned back.
"What's up?" He asked.
"Where have you been?" She demanded suspiciously "No one is normally up at this hour."
Harry raised his muddied shoes by way of an explanation "I went for a run." He clarified "And I'm normally up at this hour, so I guess now at least someone is." She stared at him in shock. Who on earth would go for a run voluntarily?
"But..." she tried, before words failed her.
"Tell you what" said Harry, when her further protests failed to materialise "you finish that thought, I'll go grab a shower and then see you down at breakfast. Sound good?" Susan nodded mutely and watched as the odd new addition to Gryffindor disappeared towards the boys showers.
Ten minutes later, Susan was sat in the Great Hall, the few other early risers munching away at cereals or reading through papers delivered by the morning mail owls. Sh glanced up and saw the freshly scrubbed Harry Black-Potter saunter in, making his way over to her before dropping into the chair opposite, eagerly helping himself to a sample of almost everything on the table until his plate was heaped high before digging in with relish. She took a thoughtful bite of her toast and watched as he began making his way through the food with considerably better manners than the vast majority of the rest of the boys at school. He swallowed and then met her eyes.
"You know it's really very disconcerting to have you watch me eat." He said mildly. She ignored the criticism and continued to study him with narrowed eyes.
"What were you running from?" Harry looked confused.
"Why would I have to run from anything here?" He began semi-rhetorically "I was just running for the pleasure and the fitness." He turned back to his breakfast.
Susan shrugged and returned her focus to her toast, completely unsatisfied with the answer but deciding, smartly, that it was probably easier to let it go. As the rest of the student body began to trickle in, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger joined them, making idle chit-chat with Susan and Harry before rest of the Prefects arrived, eating a hurried breakfast before deploying to hand out timetables to the students. Harry munched at a slice of toast as he scanned his timetable - Defence Against the Dark Arts first with the Slytherins, then Ancient Runes before lunch, Transfiguration again with the Slytherins, before a free period at the end of the afternoon. He scanned through the timetable, jotting in suggested times for his extra tuition with Arcturus and his other tutors that he could send back for their consideration later on.
They filled the remaining time before their first classes with idle chit-chat, comparing schedules and wondering exactly how Hermione intended to fit in every single class, before picking up their bags and heading off to their first class.
"So how good do you think your dad will be, Nev?" Asked Harry as they ambled through the corridors.
"Dunno." He shrugged awkwardly, "He was apparently one of the best Aurors of the time, right up until..." He trailed off, thinking of the night he couldn't remember, when the Death Eaters had paid his parents a visit. While his mother had suffered the least, she still suffered from persistent shakes and twitches and now spent most of her time campaigning and raising money for the treatment of other curse victims. His father had taken much more of the damage that night, and even now could only walk with the aid of the canes that were his constant companions, though his mind remained as sharp as ever.
By the time they reached the classroom, the Slytherins were already present, as was Professor Longbottom, sat behind the desk at the head of the class, elbows resting on the table, chin resting on interlaced fingers, one cane resting on either side of his chair. Harry glanced around and spotted Josef, the Russian Slytherin sat at the back on his own he smiled and walked towards him, receiving a carefully controlled look in return. The reminder of Pyotr made Harry grin and he dropped his bag beside the desk.
"Privyet," he greeted the other student in Russian, "mind if I join you?" The blank gaze turned distinctly suspicious.
"You speak Russian?" Josef asked in his mother tongue.
"Da" confirmed Harry, pulling the chair out and sitting down, continuing in the same language "though by all means please correct my pronunciation - I am a little rusty." He looked back to the rest of the class to see they had gained the attention of every other student there. "What?" He asked in English.
"You speak Russian?" Asked Hermione incredulously.
"Do you not?" Asked Harry, matching her tone.
"Is he any good?" Sneered Draco.
"Da, he speaks Russian" replied Josef to Hermione in thickly accented English before turning to Draco "and da, he is good."
"How very interesting." The soft voice of Professor Longbottom pierced through the class and everyone turned to assess the new teacher. Harry found himself pierced by the calm eyes of the ex-Auror, feeling very much like a small insect being examined under a microscope, right up until the man blinked and flashed the barest hint of a smile. "Now, to begin. What are the..." Hermione's hand shot up. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Sir, are you not going to call a register?" This time it was Hermione who found herself on the end of a piercing stare, and there was an overly long pause as if this question required particular consideration.
"No." Professor Longbottom said eventually. "Now Mr Black-Potter has shown us that he speaks another language... can anyone tell me what advantage this might give him? Other than making new friends, that is." He asked, indicating Harry and Josef with small wave of a trembling hand. There was silence in response as the students considered the question. Unsurprisingly to anyone who had shared a classroom with her before, it was Hermione who raised her hand first, while Harry kicked his chair back on two legs and folded his arms, smirking at the blank faces around him. "Miss Granger."
"If you speak another language you can cast in it too?" She tried cautiously. The older Longbottom gave her another long stare before gracing her with the same brief flicker of a smile and nodding.
"Indeed, a point, Miss Granger. And what are the advantages in casting in a different language? An answer from Slytherin this time, I think." He turned his gaze towards the Slytherin side of the classroom. After a much longer pause, an attractive young blonde witch raised her hand. "Miss Greengrass?"
"If you cast in a language your opponent doesn't understand, they wont know what spell they are blocking?"
"Also correct, also a point." Daphne Greengrass allowed herself a smile that quickly dropped from her face when she saw Draco's scowl at not knowing the answer. She knew she would receive snide comments about being the next Granger or some other such idiocy for not letting him answer the question, but if they had waited for the Malfoy scion to speak then they'd have been there all day. "Now, a pleasant diversion, but a little advanced for third year students. Let us continue with an outline of the lessons I have planned for you this term..."
Professor Longbottom outlined the course they would study for the remainder of the year, focusing on the more dangerous of dark creatures, and Harry found himself impressed. While he had covered much of the proposed material before, as they moved in to a brief over-view on boggarts, he found himself soon as engrossed in the class as he would have been to hear it the first time round and was only too happy to mutter the occasional translation in Russian for Josef when the other boy needed it. Though physically frail and rarely straying from behind his desk, Professor Longbottom proved to have a sharp mind, and was, by all accounts, proving to be one of the better Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers the school had had in recent years.
With the lesson drawing to a close, Frank Longbottom cleared his throat.
"Mr Black-Potter..."
"Sir?" Harry received another long stare that seemed to be either a habit of the new teacher or an effect of his over-exposure to the cruciatus curse all those years ago.
"Five points, Mr Black-Potter, for your efforts in assisting Mr Gragarochev today... I would also like you to stay behind for a moment." Harry nodded, casting a questioning glance at Neville, who just shrugged, uncertain of his father's reasons. With the rest of the students filing their way into the corridor, Harry approached the desk, waiting patiently for the professor to speak first, the older man watching Harry with a carefully neutral expression, lips pursed behind fingers steepled together. As the last student left, the door closed quietly and the hands came down to rest lightly on the desk. "You look like your father..." he began, a faint smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. Harry gave a small smile of his own in return.
"But I have my mother's eyes."
"Indeed. But you do not need an old man reminiscing about his school days and parents that were sadly taken from you." Frank Longbottom continued his level gaze at Harry, who was beginning to feel increasingly like the other man was able to read everything about him and felt decidedly uncomfortable about that fact. "Your father, and godfather for that matter, and indeed Remus and your mother, were very good friends of mine when I came through here. I would be very grateful if you could send my fondest regards to Remus and Sirius... if they are ever here I would very glad to see them again, if they can spare the time, of course."
"It would be my pleasure, sir" he replied politely "I shall pass the message on the next time I write home to them." He turned to leave, joining Hermione who had waited impatiently for him before heading towards the Ancient Runes class.
Unlike the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, their Ancient Runes instructor, Bathsheda Babbling, did take a register. Harry estimated her to be in her mid-thirties and he wondered if the slight blush as she mentioned his name was due to his godfather's or his father's last name and the memories that it evoked.
"Now then" Professor Babbling began, smiling across the students arrayed in front of her. As an elective class, the students came from all four houses and though they were primarily the more scholarly students and consequently weighted in favour of Ravenclaw, Harry spotted both Hannah Abbot and Leann Dalsen from Hufflepuff, and Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin who had made better speed than they had and was already there when they arrived.
"Some of your class mates not here may well believe that Ancient Runes, not involving flashes of magic and extravagant light shows, is not real magic." The humour was obvious in her voice "However I would like to point out the importance of runes within the magical world – they form the basis for everything that we do, from the wards that protect this castle to the runes on your wand that allow you to cast magic in the first place. This class will give you an understanding of how the runes we use today have come about and how you can apply them yourself. Those of you who progress further will be able to study wards and ward breaking, a fascinating topic that could potentially take you around the world. Indeed, one of our alumni is currently working as a curse-breaker in Egypt for the local branch of Gringotts, and another is working on a scheme in Australia and the Antarctic circle to limit the effects of the what the muggles call Global Warming." Everyone's eyes widened eagerly at the possibilities this class opened up for them and Professor Babbling smiled apologetically at them. "First though, we must have a basic understanding of the runes that we use today. To that end, please copy down these Runes." She waved her wand towards the blackboard at the front of the class, revealing the long list of the runic alphabet. As they began to scratch away, she wandered through the classroom.
"I would recommend that you memorise these most basic of runes as well. They are the oldest known symbols and, while there are many hundreds more, these ones provide the building blocks for your later learning. Very good work, Miss Dalsen." She commented as she passed the young Hufflepuff. Harry scratched his way through the prescribed runes with practiced care – Remus had been his first instructor for ancient runes and had made him write these out what felt like half a thousand times. He was finished quickly and began doodling the rune scheme he had applied to Daniel Skeen's disk-man, flicking through his much-thumbed copy of Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms, trying to see how he could improve it.
"Very interesting Mr Potter" said the soft voice at his shoulder. He had been so absorbed that he hadn't noticed Professor Babbling move up behind him. She picked up the scheme and moved through it. She placed it back on the desk and looked at him with a curious smile "What was your intention for this scheme? It consists" she explained to the rest of the class, who had now turned their attention to the new boy and their teacher "of an interesting combination of what would normally be runes that absorb magic, combined with a reflector. I am curious Mr Potter, are you planning on building a magic free zone perhaps?" The class gave a small titter of amusement and Harry cursed himself for not even lasting a day without showing off his advanced learning.
"Umm... no Miss" he was desperately thinking of an excuse and had a deeply ingrained aversion to telling the truth that had been inspired by both Remus and Sirius' tales of their time at Hogwarts and his own pranking history and Westminster. "I was trying to work out a scheme that would allow muggle electrical equipment to work around magic so I could get a TV going in my room back home." Bathsheda Babbling shocked – several of her previous students, especially the muggle-borns, had attempted similar schemes before, though often not until the end of their first year or later. Even then, they usually over-complicating the matter by trying to re-create the action of the muggle device with magic. This, however, was the simple solution that she normally recommended – it acknowledged the fact that the muggle euipment functioned perfectly well without magic and that it was the magic that was interfering and by blocking the magic, the machine worked again.
"Very good, Mr Potter..."
"Sorry Miss," interrupted Harry, "but it's Black-Potter. Or Harry, if you prefer."
"Indeed, Mr Black-Potter" She looked back at the simple scheme. "Five points, for a very effective first scheme." He did not interrupt her again to inform her that this was far from his first attempt, and breathed a sigh of relief as the lunch bell rang out. "For next week I want a foot and a half on the ward scheme of your choice – its history, current use and component parts, as well as what, if anything, you would change and why." She called out over the scraping of chairs.
After lunch, sat in the Transfiguration class, Harry was bored.
After Professor McGonagall had given them the obligatory safety lecture, she had begun to teach them about switching spells. Applying his best I'm-definitely-paying-attention look, Harry tuned out the class and allowed his mind to wander, seeking out the bond from Victoria's locket and smiling at her in her own classes, equally as bored in a maths lesson. He made a mental note to thank Sirius for his pointers on how to daydream but also keep an ear on the back-ground as Professor McGonagall called his name.
"Mr Potter..."
"Black-Potter" He corrected out of what was increasingly becoming habit.
"Mr Black-Potter, perhaps you would like to be the first to demonstrate?" He looked up at her and could have sworn he saw a malicious glint in her eye that suggested she knew he hadn't been paying attention. Beside him, Hermione huffed at having not been chosen, despite nearly dislocating her arm as she raised her hand to volunteer.
"Me?" He asked innocently. Professor McGonagall nodded.
"The first?" He clarified.
"Indeed." A thin smile was on her face at having caught him out.
"To demonstrate switching?" He kept his face a careful blend of confusion and innocence.
"Yes." The smile slipped and changed very little to become an annoyed frown.
"In front of the class?" The frown deepened.
McGonagall gave him a frosty glare even as smiles began tugging at the corners of some of the other students' mouths. "Yes." She ground out.
"The legs of the table for the legs of the chair?"
"Yes."
"The first to demonstrate switching, in front of the class, switching the legs of the table for the legs of the chair?"
"If you can't do it, Potter, just admit it." Interrupted a sneering Draco Malfoy, earning a titter from the Slytherins. Before McGonagall could say another word, Harry, remaining seated but with his face split into a wide grin, whipped his wand forward to the front of the class, carefully enunciating the spell.
With a high-pitched shriek, Draco suddenly dropped from sight and there was a crunch of breaking wood. There was a stunned silence.
"Huh." Said Harry, looking at the appearance of four chair-legs suddenly appearing on top of the desk at the front of the class.
"You tried to curse me!" Screamed Draco, as he leaped to his feet voice squeaking half-way through as he snatched up his wand and pointed it at Harry, face blotchy and wand trembling with rage. "You all saw it!" He insisted wildly "He tried to curse me!" Harry remained in his chair, and it was only Hermione's proximity to him that allowed her to notice the sudden tensing of Harry's every muscle and the slight change in his showing him ready to respond to any spell that came their way.
"MR MALFOY!" Bellowed McGonagall, summoning the irate snake's wand from his hand. "You will control yourself in my class-room!" His protests died as he saw the fury on the teacher's face and noted the lack of support that he was receiving from his still shocked classmates. "It would appear," she stated much more calmly "that Mr Pot- sorry, Mr Black-Potter" she corrected herself with a nod of thanks from Harry, who was trying desperately to hide a smirk "has made a common mistake amongst first-time switchers, and has mistakenly switched the legs of Mr Malfoy's chair for the pencils on my desk." Harry received wide-eyed stares from the rest of the class, the majority feeling sympathy for the new boy, knowing that his mistake would earn the ire of one of, if not the most, vindictive of students.
"Oops." Said Harry innocently. "Terribly sorry old boy," he said to Draco, his perfectly controlled face stark contrast to the fury on the other "wont happen again." Draco glared at him and seemed about to snap out a retort when McGonagall spoke up again.
"Very good. And also an example of why special care must be taken with switching spells." The class breathed a collective sigh of relief as the tension slowly eased. It lasted barely a second until Harry spoke again.
"Would you like me to try and reverse the switch, Professor?" There was a long pause as Professor McGonagall studied the boy staring innocently back at her, and a snort of barely repressed amusement from the Gryffindor side of the room. McGonagall barely repressed a sigh – she had wondered just how long it would be before the Marauders' influence on the boy's upbringing would show itself, and now she had her answer.
"No." She said carefully, "I think that would be a bad idea." This time there was an audible sigh of relief from the Slytherins. She enunciated the reversal carefully and the chair legs on her desk were replaced with broken pencils. "Please, Mr Malfoy, have a seat."
"I could have been killed!" He protested, flinging an arm out to point at Harry "Why isn't he being punished?!" McGonagall gave him a cool glare.
"There is no need for dramatics, Mr Malfoy, you are un-hurt." He seemed about to protest again and she raised her level of glare by a notch, cowing the young man "Unless, that is, you feel you need medical attention?" Draco realised that he was receiving little to no sympathy from anyone, even his Slytherin house-mates, and that stressing his status as a victim would be an unacceptable admission of weakness. With a huff that would have had his father most disappointed at his lack of control, he sat heavily down in his chair, wincing at the bruises that were now beginning to form from his sudden drop.
The rest of the lesson proceeded with significantly less drama, each desk being given a rubber ball and a tea-cup, with a careful repetition of the instructions on the wand movements and incantation for the switching spell. Harry, paired with Hermione, became quickly bored again – they both managed to switch the ball for the cup first time around and from then on entertained themselves by seeing who could switch what the fastest. As the class drew to a close, Harry finally became tired of the suspicious looks he was getting from his bushy-haired friend.
"What?" He asked. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head.
"We'll talk later."
"Well that sounds ominous." The bell rang and Harry grinned at her as he began to pack his books away. "Never ask for whom tolls..."
"It tolls for thee, John Donne." Replied Hermione, a small smile at the thought that there might finally be someone at the school who could match her for intellect "I have to get to Divination, but after class, you and I are going to talk."
"As you wish, m'lady." He said motioning her towards the door.
"Mr Black-Potter?" Called McGonagall as the class filtered out. "A word, if you please." A few of the Gryffindors gave him another round of sympathetic looks as they left him behind. Harry and the professor looked at each other in calm silence as the last of the class left and shut the door behind him.
"Despite having seen the grades you achieved in your exams, I must assume that today's little... accident, was exactly that, borne from a hastily cast spell and could have happened to anyone." Fortunately for Harry, his look of innocence was well practiced.
"Of course it was..."
"Good," she cut him off, stopping him from saying anything else and he had been through enough confrontations with teachers to know what was expected of him now.
"It won't happen again." He promised earnestly
"You are quite right," she agreed with a nod "because you will be seeing me tomorrow night for three hours after dinner, to practice your switching spells." Confusion worked its way across his face.
"Are you... are you giving me detention for accidentally switching Malfoy's chair legs for pencils?" He asked incredulously. She matched his shocked gaze with a mild one of her own, allowing the small smile to once again grace her lips.
"No Mr Black-Potter, I am giving a student who joined us late and is apparently not up to speed with our curriculum some extra tuition." She corrected him "Of course, if I thought you had intentionally endangered a fellow student with a prank, I would be putting you in detention, and I assure you, it would be for more than one night. Is that understood Mr Black-Potter?" He nodded. "Very good, you may go."
Neville was waiting for him out in the otherwise deserted corridor and Harry grinned and clapped him on the shoulder as he left and the two boys began ambling towards the Gryffindor tower.
"Hey Nev, cheers for waiting."
"No worries. What did McGonagall have to say?" He asked, curious to see what the outcome of Harry's slip up was. Harry shrugged and grinned back at him.
"Three hours extra tuition tomorrow night to go over switching spells." Neville looked at him in shock.
"She gave you a detention?" He asked in surprise. He always thought that their Head of House was firm but fair, but this seemed to be rather harsh, punishing someone for an accident with a new piece of magic. He had struggled himself with the spell, making only a ball shape with the same coloration of the tea-cup and a tea-cup that was the same colour as the rubber ball but otherwise without change.
"Nuh-uh," corrected Harry, wagging a finger back and forth "it's extra-tuition for a student not yet up to speed with the current curriculum." He parroted back McGonagall's answer from earlier "If she thought it was intentional..."
"It was intentional!" Snapped a voice, interrupting him. Draco, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, had moved from a side corridor in front of them. Behind them, two more Slytherin third years blocked the passage back the way they came.
"Aw, crap." Muttered Neville.
Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think. Incidentally, as I write this I'm frequently reminded that I haven't read the books in a while and any errors in character names are entirely my fault. On that note, I couldn't find a list of everyone in Harry's year, so where I've had to I've made up names. Hopefully have the next chapter ready and up soon.
YA
Notsoancientmariner.