Chapter 11

The second day started much better than the first. When the prefect poked his head in on the way to his breakfast, only Evan was still asleep, and even he woke up a second later after Wayne tried a spell to pour water over him. Wayne didn't quite manage it, creating bubbles instead for some reason, but the loud pop his wand made as they appeared did the trick. Prefect Percywell gave the boys a short nod before going on his way.

"Well thank goodness he doesn't seem the uptight type!" Ernie exclaimed in a disapproving tone toward Justin and Wayne, "We aren't supposed to do magic in between classes!" Justin and Wayne didn't seem to hear; they were too busy laughing as Evan pulled himself up from the tangle of blankets off the floor.

"But if we can't do magic outside of class, how can we practice?" Harry asked, watching his roommates' antic's nervously. He was already dressed and had one of his new wizard fantasy books open in his lap. In fact, he had woken up nearly an hour before the first of the other boys stirred. Ernie turned towards Harry with a slightly confused expression as he didn't know the answer. Justin jumped boisterously onto Harry's bed, throwing an arm around him.

"That's right, how are we to practice?" he demanded. Harry managed not to drop his book at Justin's sudden move. Ernie rolled his eyes at the two of them. Justin laughed again and moved away, getting his own books in anticipation of the day's classes.

"What did he do, inhale a bag of sugar when he got up?" Wayne asked as he walked past Harry's bed and on towards the bathroom. Harry shrugged, unsure how he was supposed to respond. He looked back towards his book and then marked his place, grabbing his own backpack just in time for Justin to come back and grab his arm, pulling him towards the door.

"Shouldn't we wait on the others?" Harry asked, glad he had already taken the time to get ready for the day. This time he had made sure to stick the map at the very top of his pack.

"Nah, we don't have to," Justin answered, "We only went together the first few days because this is all so new. We had to make sure we knew the way."

"This is only the second day," Ernie remarked, having left close behind them, "We're still in the first few days." Justin shrugged. He had finally let go of Harry's arm once he was sure he was following. The three came into the common room just as three of the first year girls came out of their tunnel.

"Lisa!" Justin cried, jumping towards them enthusiastically, "Megan! Other girl I've forgotten the name of!"

"I'm Hannah," the third girl answered, eying him nervously. The other two girls merely looked bemused.

"What's with him this morning?" Lisa asked.

"We don't know," Ernie answered, "He's been hopping around all morning."

"Wayne thinks sugar is involved," Harry added helpfully.

"No sugar," Justin answered, "It's just, I'm at a magical school learning to do real magic!" The others stared at him.

"We've been at a magical school learning magic," Ernie pointed out, "We learned magic all yesterday."

"Well, yeah, but...we're really learning magic!" Justin answered, and he turned and bounded eagerly towards the door, only stopping on the threshold when he saw the others hadn't followed.

"He's gone insane," Hannah said in an awed, serious tone, her eyes wide. Harry shrugged and went after him, Lisa a step behind him. Ernie and Hannah hesitated to follow too closely. At breakfast, Justin finally slowed down so that he could eat. Wayne joined them a few minutes later and the final two girls showed up a few minutes after that. Harry vaguely remembered their names as Susan and Raven. Evan came in at a run just in time to grab some toast before a prefect began calling for the first years. It wasn't George Percywell this time, it was a girl Harry didn't recognize. She led them out to the greenhouses where the bushy haired Gryffindor was already waiting on the doors to open. She was standing alone, studying their Herbology textbook.

"A bit keen on studying, isn't she?" Wayne whispered, softly so she wouldn't hear. Unfortunately Megan did, as she was standing right behind him, and she whapped him lightly on the head with her own opened text.

"But she's studying magic!" Justin whispered back gleefully, not noticing the person he was whispering to had stumbled off to the side.

"Oh no, he's at it again!" Ernie cried, watching Justin waving his own book around excitedly, as though it might explode at any second with its wonders of magic. Harry edged around him and walked over to Granger.

"I have my schedule, if you still want to know the time of the Culture classes," he said once she looked up from her book, "I don't know if you ever got it." She looked somewhat startled.

"Oh, no, it sort of slipped my mind when I was talking with...Evan, isn't it?" she answered, glancing over Harry's shoulder.

"Evan Branstone," Evan answered, "And you're Hermione Ranger. Your parents cut up people's teeth with a drill."

"They're dentists," Hermione said quickly to the rather shocked expressions she was getting, "And it's Granger." Then Harry pulled out the parchment Professor Sprout had given them so Hermione could copy it. After that they all stood a bit awkwardly while the rest of the Gryffindors slowly arrived. Harry smiled towards Ron and Neville when they approached. Then Eric Otter came pushing his way towards their group.

"Hey, Harry!" he cried "How's Hedwig, then?"

"Er, alright," Harry answered, trying not to look too much like he was hiding behind Hermione and Evan, even though he was.

"Is that Ron, then?" Lisa asked him, "I thought you said he was a red head." Eric stuttered a bit while Justin and Wayne snickered.

"Ron is," Harry answered, "A redhead I mean. I mean, this is...um...he's from Switzerland."

"Eric Otter!" Eric cried, somehow managing to sound hurt and enthusiastic at the same time.

"I knew that," Harry hastened to say, and he had, it just had all gotten mixed up in his mind. He wasn't used to introducing people, or explaining things, or actually speaking to anyone. No one had ever wanted to speak to him before. The Dursleys generally spoke at him.

"Otter?" Evan asked, "There's some Otters that live near us. Any relation, do you think?" And thankfully Evan managed to draw Eric away into a conversation and Harry slid out from behind Hermione. Somehow he found himself in the middle of the girls.

"Where do you think Professor Sprout is?" Hannah asked, "It's nearly time for class." She sounded nervous, as though the teacher's absence was a sign of something sinister going on.

"She's your head of house, isn't she?" Hermione asked, "What's she like?"

"She seems nice enough," Lisa answered her, "My brother says she likes to keep an eye on us, not like the other house heads. And not in the strict, I'm watching you way, like I hear Professor Snape watches the Slytherins."

"We haven't had him yet, have we?" one of the girls Harry had hardly seen asked, though he thought she was called Raven.

"He teaches potions," Megan answered while half of them were still pulling out their schedules to find his name, "He is rather strict, I hear."

"We already had that class yesterday," Hermione remarked, "Or we were meant to. Something weird came up, though, and he wasn't there. There was a note on the door that told us to return to our common rooms and read through the first chapter." Then at last Professor Sprout arrived, bustling them all into the greenhouse.

Of all his classes he had had so far, Harry thought he liked Herbology the best. It reminded him of the garden back home, except the plants were more exotic and tended to be more responsive. This interest didn't seem to be shared by many people, however. After the first quick tour of the greenhouse half the class was falling asleep. Of course, this could just as well have been because they weren't morning people. On the other hand, Neville looked just as enraptured at the array of potted plants their professor was showing them. It turned out he had also left a garden at home. It was one of the few outdoor activities his grandmother allowed him to do unsupervised.

After Herbology was they once again had Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws. By the time class was over, the same headache had returned throbbing just over Harry's eyes. Luckily, lunch came after that and he had time to lay his head down for a bit until the throbbing went away. Justin and Wayne suggested that he go to see the nurse, but Harry felt better almost as soon as he left the room. After lunch was the Astronomy Theory, a class that was to be supplemented by a practical lesson that night. Apparently the professor kept extremely odd sleeping hours to make up for giving lessons half the night. The Theory was held in a large lecture hall and Harry's entire year attended. For the practical, they were meeting by house. Harry found Astronomy even duller than History of Magic, but Justin couldn't stop giggling about the sort of things wizards learned, and whispering what he would probably be taking if he were off at Eton.

They had one hour of break after that, during which everyone began to swap horror stories they had heard from the upper years or other houses about Potions. Everyone was agreed that after Gryffindor, Professor Snape hated Hufflepuffs the most, and there was nothing he loved better than making them cry. According to Lisa's older brother, Snape once had a Hufflepuff in detention who was never heard from again. But there was supposedly a new ingredient listed in the ingredients cabinet that was that student's name. They were told to look for it when they went there.

"Come on," Justin said, "Don't you think it will be brilliant, sitting over boiling cauldrons? I can't believe we really do that!" Everyone else looked nervous and apprehensive when Prefect Percywell arrived. In fact, half of them jumped when he announced his presence.

"Don't you worry," the prefect said, "As long as you listen to what he says and follow the directions, you'll be fine. Just don't goof off in his class, or your cauldron might explode." And with those parting words he left them at the door amidst cold stone and torchlight. Hannah swore she saw a bat swoop by in the shadows. The door opened.

Author's note: I know, according to the books that Gryffindor's first Potions class was on Friday. But when I made up a schedule for Hufflepuff (Rowling never really does give exact schedules of Gryffindor, let alone Hufflepuff), it didn't make sense to use what little Rowling did give us as it somewhat clashed with my set up (I assumed the students would have Potions more than once a week...and for that to happen Gryffindor has to have it on another day besides a Friday). So I sort of kept it cannon by canceling their class (it works with the plot as well...as will be revealed...eventually.)

Also...I got a helpful review pointing out Harry has two first DADA classes. It wasn't a mistake that he had a dada class then (as I said, I created a weekly schedule for Harry to follow), but I shouldn't have written it like it was his first one. Oops. I've fixed that now. And thanks for everyone who reviewed the story!