Author's note: I was writing chapter 14 when I realized that I had done something stupid. so anyone who has already read this chapter before the 30/03/2015, you will find that a few changes have been made to this chapter and the next two as well (especially chapter 13).
Chapter Eleven: Hogwarts, a Whole New Ball Game
Harry woke at his normal time the next morning – four o'clock. He could not go for his run because he did not know the way to and from the common room so he spent two hours in his potions room. He decided to make some burn past since he had the time and ingredients for it.
At six o'clock Harry left the potions to cool and left his trunk. He went into the bathroom and showered before changing into his school robe. He woke his dorm mates and then packed everything he might need into his school bag (potions equip, all his books, parchment, ink, quills…). Just as he finished packing everything his dorm mates sleepily grabbed their things and stuffed random items into them before following him into the common room at quarter to seven in the morning.
Hermione had just walked down the stairs, looking more awake then most of the boys but she was still rubbing some sleep out of her eyes that she had missed when having a shower (her hair was still wet making it more tame when she tied it up).
"Good morning Hermione, are the other girls up?" Harry greeted her with a smile.
"Morning" she chirped with a smile. "The others are still waking up. Parvati said to go without them when I asked if they wanted me to wait for them in the common room."
"Alright then, let's head down to the great hall." The others murmured their agreement.
The walk to the hall was an interesting one, but between Harry and Hermione they had remembered the rout that was taken the night before. The portraits also confirmed that the rout they were taking was right when asked.
The few other people wondering the corridors that early in the morning, mostly Ravenclaws, stared and whispered as they passed. Apparently there was a lot of hype about Harry coming to Hogwarts. With the easy of dealing with the Dursley's Harry ignored them all and continued on. He hated attention but he was more than able to avoid or ignore it if avoiding is impossible.
For breakfast that morning Harry had an amalgamation of chopped fruits, seeds and oats. He wanted something light and yet filling to get him through to dinner without eating lunch. Hermione just had simple porridge with reduced strawberries on top. Neville went with chopped banana on toast with a sausage wrapped in bacon. Ron looked at them all in shock before pilling sausages, bacon, toast and egg onto his plate. Harry placed an apple next to his plate and removed some sausage and bacon from his plate. He may be a growing boy but if he continued eating like that he was going to end up the size of an elephant before he's even thirty. Ron pouted but ate the fruit.
Twenty minutes into breakfast and all the tables were slowly beginning to fill with people when Professor McGonagall came down from the teacher's table. She handed everyone present their time tables and if they were not present she handed it to their friends. Luckily Lavender and Parvati had already made it down to the hall.
Since it was a Wednesday they started the day with Double Transfiguration, lunch, Potions and then Charms. At midnight they had Astronomy. Despite being up until at least one in the morning the night before they have to be up in time for History the next day at eight thirty. Who ever made these time tables obviously did not put any thought in to the amount of sleep normal children need each night – insomniacs being the only exceptions.
"We should head out now," Hermione suggested, "Gives us half hour to find the classroom."
"It doesn't have a room number, it only says Transfiguration classroom. How are we meant to know where that is?" Harry asked staring at the time table. Who the hell decided not to give the classrooms numbers? There were over ten thousands rooms in the school and at one time there was probably enough students here to need more than one transfiguration classroom.
"I guess we have to look round for Professor McGonagall, she's left," Neville said motioning to the staff table where only the headmaster, the flying instructor and Hagrid the half giant were left.
"I'm sure the portrait would help if we asked nicely enough." Harry added thoughtfully as they all grabbed their packed bags and began the trek around the school.
Ron grumbled about not having enough to eat but they ignored him since he had had two full plates of breakfast before they dragged him away. The portraits were very helpful in telling them where they needed to be so that it only took them ten minutes to reach the fourth floor, left hand side, fourth classroom down. Harry marked the way in his mind, like he had down for the common room. The quicker he learnt his way to and from his classrooms the quicker he can go about exploring the rest of the castle.
The Gryffindor students were first to arrive in the classroom so they all took a seat along the back two rows. Since the seats were laid out so that each row was going up a step so they were able to see the teacher's desk perfectly. Behind the teacher's desk was an open space, a door and bookcases. Sat on top of the desk was a cat, her tail lazily swinging behind her.
"Do you think that's Professor McGonagall's familiar?" Ron asked, nodding to the tabby.
"I don't know, could be." Lavender answered.
Before they could continue their conversation most of the Hufflepuff first years came into the classroom and took the seats at the front. From what Harry could see there were two people missing: Anthony Scott and Tracy Davis. A few moments before the bell was scheduled to go Tracy walked in.
"Is this where Transfiguration is meant to be?" she asked looking round the classroom.
"Yeah, you should take a seat the bells about to go." Hermione smiled kindly at the girl.
"Thanks I got separated from the group on my way here." She said before taking a seat at the front.
The class sat in silence waiting for Professor McGonagall to arrive but the bell went and she was still not in the classroom.
"Harry, why are you staring at the cat?" Ron asked.
"I don't know but ..." Harry trailed of in thought. The magic surrounding the cat was coming across as more human than cat. But that's impossible, unless...
The classroom door banged open and Anthony Scott stumbled in out of breath. "Oh, thank God the Professor's not here." He said.
However just before he could collapse on a seat at the front of the classroom the tabby cat jumped of the desk. When the cat hit the floor it was no longer a cat – it was professor McGonagall.
"That was awesome." Ron exclaimed after the class stared at their professor in shock for a few moments.
"Thank you Mr Weasley. Mr Scott, would you care to explain why you are late to my lesson?" Professor McGonagall turned her narrowed eyes on Anthony.
"I was walking with the other Hufflepuffs when I got distracted by the painting of Sir Detornatry the Third. By the time I looked away the others had gone. I ran to catch up and took a wrong turn. One of the Prefects told me how to get here when he found me by the library." Anthony muttered, bowing his head.
"Which prefect?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"I don't know, she looked to be about five or sixth year and was a Ravenclaw."
"Miss Natalie Robins or Miss Mary Peakes, sixth and fifth year Ravenclaw prefects; I will be speaking with them later today, if you have lied I will take ten points from Hufflepuff." Professor McGonagall said before turning and facing the class as a whole.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." Professor McGonagall's voice did not once change from the no-nonsense tone she had been using when talking to Anthony or them the night before.
After a demonstration of the six stages of transfiguration they will be learning at Hogwarts Professor McGonagall launched into a lecture about the dangers of transfiguration. This took about half an hour and then she started explaining uses and then the theory behind transfiguration. By the time the lesson was other the students had over five feet of notes. Luckily Professor McGonagall did not feel the need to give them homework since it was only their first lesson of the school year.
From the transfiguration classroom they walked back down to the great Hall however Harry broke off from the group and walked outside. He hated being cooped up inside a classroom for so long. Especially with so many people sitting close to him.
The lunch break was only forty five minutes but he used it to walk the length of the Black Lake. The Black Lack was too big to walk around in such a small amount of time but the time spent walking one of its sides was very relaxing for Harry and prepared him for his next lesson of potions.
Harry met his friends in the Entrance Hall.
"Were have you been? We didn't notice you had left until we all sat down." Hermione asked as they started walking towards the dungeons.
"I was outside. I don't generally eat lunch and I needed to stretch my legs." Harry answered easily.
"Well tell us next time. We thought you might have gotten lost or something." Ron said shoving Harry's shoulder good-naturally.
They had the potion lessons down in the dungeon because it was colder down there. Heat could make the volatile potions explode and so it was safer to do it in a chilled environment. Along the walls of the dungeons were jars filled with pickled animals and plant pieces. Most of the things along the walls were not very expensive nor could they react with a potion negatively which was probably why the professor had those ones on display.
Harry noticed that the smell of past potions lingered in the room because the ventilation had not been updated and fixed in a while. Meaning that the professor was obviously using banishing charms in an attempt to get rid of the fumes before they become harmful. However banishing charms do not work very well on gasses and so some of the fumes remain behind. It seemed the people in charge of the school budget had no concept of how dangerous potions fumes could be.
Once all the class was sat in their sets – Harry between Ron and Neville with Hermione in front of them next to Parvati who had Lavender on her right – Professor Snape started to take roll call. He spoke softly, barely more than a whisper but he had learnt the art of making his voice travel and because he had a very maleficent present the whole class was silent.
When he finished calling role he looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they appeared to be cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels - endless and unfathomable. But in the very depths of them there were sparks of emotion that he appeared to be surpassing.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. His eyes scanned the class, and Harry felt the touch upon his mind again and he once again allowed a 'natural' shield to gently push him out. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper to death — that is if you aren't as foolish as the class I usually have to teach."
"Patil," Professor Snape said suddenly making a few members of the class jump. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Parvati looked pale and glanced briefly at Lavender before looking back at their professor. "I don't know, sir."
"Miss Granger?" Professor Snape asked since he noticed she was barely keeping her hand down to answer the question.
"Powdered root of asphodel added with an infusion of wormwood are two of the main ingredients in the potion known as the Draught of Living Death. The Draught of Living Death is an extremely powerful sleeping potion." Hermione answered her voice sounding like she was quoting from a book.
"Mr Goyle, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Professor Snape said after nodding once to Hermione to let her know she was right.
"Er, a stomach of a goat?" Goyle muttered.
"Are you answering my question or asking me one Mr Goyle?" Professor Snape answered.
"Answering, sir." Goyle muttered when he saw Malfoy's nod of approval to let him know that he had gotten the answer right.
"Mr Longbottom what are the uses of a bezoar?" Professor Snape asked next.
Harry felt Neville shaking next to him and so reach over and gently touched his arm in an attempt to calm him down.
"It-It stops most poisons sir." Neville stuttered out refusing to look him in the eye.
"Mr Potter, what is the different between monkshood and wolfbane?"
"They are different parts of the same plant, scientist call it aconite. Monkshood is the stem of the plant which is used to stabilise a lot of potions because it does not react with most things unless grinded down to a powder. While the wolfbane is from the leaves, picked on the night of the full moon it has very powerful healing properties." Harry answered.
"Correct." Professor Snape then returned to the front of the classroom where he split everyone into pairs so that they could make a potion to cure boils. Because the tables were in three Hermione ended up working with Parvati while Lavender turned round to work with Neville. Harry working with Ron while Dean and Seamus worked with eat other behind them. The Slytherin side of the classroom splitting into similar groups although Harry noticed how the Slytherins automatically split Goyle and Crabbe up.
Harry was just about to add the porcupine quill to his potion when he heard Neville and Lavenders potion bubbling behind him. "Neville, Lavender move." Harry ordered as he pulled Ron away from the potion. Neville and Lavender scrambled back while everyone turned to face the commotion.
Professor Snape alerted by Harry's order turned from Goyle's cauldron that he had just corrected and cast a shield charm on Neville's. Luckily he did it just in time because it exploded and started to eat away at the bottom of the cauldron. With a second wave of his wand Professor Snape banished the potion and cauldron.
"Thank you for ordering them away from the cauldron because otherwise that would have been a very painful way for Mr Longbottom and Miss Brown to find out what happens when you do not follow the instruction clearly marked out both in your books and on the board. You two may clean away your work station and leave. The homework for next lesson is to write the process of how to cure boils down and explaining why each step is needed." Professor Snape said before ordering everyone back to work.
The lesson finished fifteen minutes later and everyone tidy up, pack away their things, took a note of the homework and then left the classroom. Everyone was silent until they left the dungeons.
"Does anyone know the way to charms?" Hermione asked.
"No but I'm sure we can just ask the portraits like we did the last time." Harry answered. It turned out that the charms classroom was on the third floor, directly below the transfiguration corridor but it was six classrooms down as opposed to four. Neville and Lavender were already waiting outside for them.
"Hi," Harry greeted them. It appeared they had spent the last twenty minutes standing in silence since they did not know what to say to each other.
"Hi, Professor Flitwick said to wait outside for the rest of the class." Neville answered, blushing at having the whole of Gryffindor First year's attention focused on him.
Professor Flitwick was a tiny man who stood on a pile of books just so that he could see over his desk. Harry didn't understand why he did not just have steps leading to his seat or make everyone seat in a Chinese style because it would be easier and more comfortable for him. He started of the lesson by taking roll before launching into a lengthy explanation into what charms is and why curtain spells are classed as charms and not hexs, jinxs or causes.
From charms, Harry, Neville, Hermione and Ron all went to the library although Ron joined them reluctantly. The library was on the fifth floor to the right of the castle and some of the windows overlooks the Black Lake while the other windows look down on the forest. Harry went to a table in the back corner, out of Madam Prince (the librarians) eye line and away from the door. The table was also positioned in such a way that no one could spy on then because the seats are all facing the bookcases in one way or another.
Harry sat with his back to the wall and pulled out his potion's homework. Neville sat next to him with Hermione opposite. Ron reluctantly sat down next to Hermione.
"I don't understand why we have to get our homework done now. We have until Monday to hand it in." Ron moaned.
"Get the homework done and out of the way as soon as you get it and you will find that you have more time to do things you enjoy. Also the knowledge will stick in your brain because you are not always rushing to get it done. Because it is already in your brain it also means that you have slightly more time to go over notes closer to the exams." Harry explained calmly.
Ron pouted but made no other comment as they all got round to writing the essay. They all asked questions at some point to do with the work but it was finished within forty minutes and they had another two hours until dinner.
They spent that time exploring the castle, trying to find their way to key points like the Gryffindor common room, the astronomy tower, the entrance hall and their classroom. They were somewhat successful but it would take a while before they all memorised their routes around the castle.
Dinner that night was slightly better than the night before. There was less junk food because it was not a start of term banquet but Harry also noticed that there was very little truly health, or vegetarian options, on the table. He settled with a bed of rice and cod. It seemed that the person who decided the meals was doing so to accommodate the general likes of the school population as opposed to what was most healthy.
The Gryffindors returned to their common room to await eleven thirty when they would then make their way to the astronomy tower for Astrology. Harry spoke with Daisy for a little while before he went down to the common room and started writing in his Diary. As the heir to three of the four founding house – taking into account the fact that House Hufflepuff did not have an heir after the death of Hepzibah Smith and that any remaining blood relations were far too distant to take the title – he had the right to take control and make changes.
In his diary he was writing menu changes he would like to make, and after a couple of weeks he would start writing other changes he would like to make to the way Hogwarts was run. With the board controlling the budget and lessons taught at Hogwarts the standards have dropped in the last one to one and fifty years. From one of the best magical school in Europe they were now one of the worst and he was planning on changing that as soon as he had a better understand of what the school was like internally.
Astrology that night was fun. Every house was together, which only happens in their flying lessons and history. Harry noticed how all the houses went to seat in hour distinct groups but he made his little party of four sit next to Hanna Abbott and Susan Bone of Hufflepuff just to be different. The astrology professor was a nice women who caught the classes attention as she explained about what they would be studying the rest of the year. Most of the class were having trouble paying attention by the time she had finished her introduction because it was unusual for them to be awake that late at night.
The next day Harry got up and went for his morning run, but instead of going outside he decided to run around the castle so that he could use the opportunity to learn his way around. Since he was only a first year, he decided to cast some silence and disillusionment charms on himself encase one of the teachers were still wondering the corridors.
He once again woke the boys in his dormitory and met Hermione in their common room before heading down to breakfast. He had the same he had the day before but this time Hermione went with toast as opposed to porridge. Ron went to have a complete English breakfast once again, with extra meat, but Harry added fruit to his plate before he could add any more than two pieces of bacon and a sausage.
History was extremely boring, the ghost that teaches the class spending it droning on about goblins but Harry just pulled out his history book and started reading that. Taking notes so that he could check it against other history books in the library – he did not like writing only one view because it was someone's interpretation of history and so it held a certain bias to it.
After lunch that day they had their first Herbology lesson. Herbology took place in the greenhouses that were around the back of the school, just before the Quidditch pitch. They were only allowed in greenhouse one because they were first years. Professor Sprout was a plumb witch who was already covered in soul. She had a bright smile on her face and a very kind attitude. The lesson consisted of an introduction to magical plants and how to handle some of the more basic ones. They would be learning identification of basics and most common plants, soils and what the uses of curtain plants are throughout their first year. There was very little practical outside of replanting a few of the common herbs – some of them not even magical.