Disclaimer: I still can't make felix felicis, I'm still broke, I still don't own Doctor Who or Harry Potter.
AN: Writer's block, crap life, each on it's own is hard on a writer. Teamed up with an absolutely uncooperative chapter, well, you get a delay like this. And I am SO sorry for it! SO MUCH love to all my reviewers and readers who've stuck with me during this hellacious delay! Also, I accidentally wound up nipping SPEW in the bud. Oops. Oh well, I wasn't going to argue with the chapter just when it was going well, and there will be more important stuff to worry about when I get that far anyway.
And yes, Snape's pop quiz is included in this chapter. I think it's a law that every fanfic covering first year has to include it. :D
Chapter 12: Limning the Pattern
It was a good thing that Dean, Hermione and Neville stuck by Harry whenever they were out of Gryffindor tower, because otherwise he would have gotten a bit shouty at all the people gawping at him as he went down the halls. Even his friends couldn't stop him from being snide at them though, and one particularly annoying person who'd doubled back four times -did- get shouted at to 'take a picture, it'll last longer and you won't be late for class'.
Another thing that annoyed him was that his dad's work on his mobile had all been for naught. It had shorted out right after he'd sent a text to tell them he'd arrived safely and had been sorted into Gryffindor. So he'd had to wait until Tuesday to hear from his parents, and the frustration of waiting had made him just about useless in History on Monday...not that Professor Binns noticed, being a ghost with the most soporific voice ever. The most annoying thing about Binns, though, was that he lectured straight from the book and didn't allow for discussion. Well, that and the book he was reading from was almost a century old - how were they supposed to learn anything about new discoveries in history if they were taught by a ghost using an outdated text?
Herbology had calmed him down though, and he'd started to make another friend or two in Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley, since they shared this class with Hufflepuff. He'd tried making friends with Ernie Macmillan and Hanna Abbot too, but either they were really shy or they were still overwhelmed with a 'famous' person talking to them. Neville was the real star of Herbology though, answering any question asked of him and helping out when Dean had trouble repotting a seedling because he lived in a flat and hadn't really had experience with plants, so the pair of them took good fun in the teaching and learning. Hermione just tried to do everything perfectly, and he just copied what Neville did because it was more efficient than what he knew to do.
Tuesday brought the eagerly-awaited letter, and Harry gave Hedwig several rashers of bacon and petted her, and murmured praises until she hopped up on his shoulder to have a chat with Quaiz. He then opened the letter and snickered to see his mum had written in High Gallifreyan, and wondered if she'd done it from habit or just to keep people from reading over his shoulder. He'd ask when he wrote back.
My dear son,
I presume from your lack of response, that your mobile ceased operation at some point after you sent your message. Regardless, we are all relieved that you arrived safely, although I had hoped you would be sorted into Ravenclaw, rather than Gryffindor. I suppose I can blame the Doctor and his influence on you for that. He claims you're a natural-born trouble-magnet though, and insists I ought not blame him. I'm sure you can imagine the scoffing and eye-rolling he received for that. Pestiferous idiot.
I am pleased, despite my failed hopes, that you can continue the close companionship of your friends, and presume you and they are doing well and learning everything you can. I wish Hedwig could fly faster as I miss you quite a bit, and without a working mobile, I find myself in a state of worry. Don't let my missing you influence you as regards to letting her deliver letters for your Dean and Hermione though. Also, the Doctor would like you to send what Donna has declared to be 'the poor dead mobile' back with your letter so he can see what happened. And, hopefully, do something beyond even my own skills to convince another to work better.
We would all like to hear about the classes you have had thus far, and whether you've managed to restrain your temper with all those who, I have no doubt, have been gawking at you like brainless cretins. However, violence rarely solves anything, as I'm sure you remember. And I am confident that you will discern some means to keep the cretins from interfering with your enjoyment of the school and your education in magic.
Also, do try and keep a balanced diet, and don't neglect your exercise. I am aware that there must be a multitude of staircases, since your school is in a castle, but that will only keep your legs fit. Mens sana in corpore sano is a universal truth even for Time Lords, after all. I will close this letter now lest I become disturbingly maudlin, but never forget that I love you very much.
Your mother.
PS - Your mum was being a pest, so I had to steal the letter. Love you, Harry, and don't forget to have fun as well as learn everything. Especially do your best to learn what the teachers don't teach as that's always the most fun! Love, your Doctordad. Oh, and Donna says 'Hi', and see if you can start a footie league and a West Ham fanclub up there in shivery Scotland.
Harry grinned as he folded up the letter, then looked at his curious friends. "Just mum wanting to know how things are, being disappointed I'm not in Ravenclaw but glad I can stick with my friends, you know, the usual. She probably would've let Hedwig drop by your homes for letters if she hadn't been a bit worried because of the mobile dying right after I sent my text."
"Well, it's amazing that it lasted long enough for you to even send one text, Harry. After all, Hogwarts, a History does say that Muggle technology won't work at Hogwarts." Hermione commented, then returned to neatly eating her omelet.
"Yeah, but my dad swore it would work anywhere, so that it died here was a bit of a surprise. I'll have to wait to send my reply until I can retrieve my mobile and package it anyway, so if you two want to write letters home and send them along that's cool."
"I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that your mum's impatient to hear from you but doesn't want to make us use strange school owls?" Dean grinned and speared another sausage link from the platter nearby, earning a glare from Weasley, who apparently thought he should have the whole platter to himself.
"Pretty much. She knows Hedwig, and doesn't have a clue if school owls would even deliver to non-magical addresses. So after classes today, you two write if you want and I'll send Hedwig off tonight with everything." Harry grinned and speared two sausage links from the same platter, just to see if Weasley would glare at him too. Which he did, and got a group eye-roll for. Well, feline and avian versions of eye-rolls added to Harry's, anyway. Dean, Neville, and Hermione were too busy just then to join the crowd.
Pity, that. It would've made a brilliant picture, six pairs of eyes rolling in unison at one greedy ginger.
Transfiguration on Tuesday mostly served as an introduction to the theory. They did get to practice a little, and Harry found himself having a trifling amount of difficulty. Well, to be honest, he actually was having a rather large problem with telling his magic to go through his wand instead of just doing what he wanted it to.
He finally managed to squeeze some of his magic through his wand about ten minutes before class ended...but wound up with a foot-long needle instead of the matchstick sized needle he should have had. "Huh," he muttered as he stared at what would have been a lethal weapon if he hadn't made a foot-long embroidery needle. "Well, at least I've got that part figured out."
"Indeed you did, Mister Potter. And if you can return it to at least matchstick size, take five points for Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall said as she paused by his desk to see if he could manage the trick.
Returning it was much easier, and he grinned cheekily at the Professor as he first returned the needle to a matchstick, then shrank it back to proper size. Of course, he did wind up cheating just a bit on the shrinking by using his magic the way he was used to, but she didn't notice and it was nearly end of class anyway.
Defence was another class that, unless something changed soon, was going to be very dull and annoying. And again, because of the professor. Why would someone who stuttered so much be hired? It was hard to understand him, and he became very nearly completely unintelligible whenever talking about so-called 'dark creatures'. The Ravenclaws seemed equally annoyed, but they mostly just stuffed their heads in their books except for the rare times a question was asked.
After that class, Hermione huffed. "Honestly, he could at least see a speech therapist so we could understand him. Did anyone else understand more than two words out of five?"
"Before Seamus asked him about the zombie, I could. Well, mostly," Harry said with a shrug. "Met a lot of people harder to understand than him."
"Well, except for Hermione, the rest of us will be borrowing your notes then," Dean grinned and ducked a half-hearted swat from their bookworm, female variation. "Hey, it makes sense to let the ones who can get sense out of what the professor's saying to get the notes and share them around, right?"
With the discussion about notes and attempting to decipher a stammer, they were nearly late to Charms. Despite that, Charms was brilliant. All theory at the moment, yes, but it was amazing how much their comparatively tiny Professor, Flitwick, knew. And as Harry found out at the end of class, he was extremely competent at answering questions that attempted to plumb the depths as well as teach the basic theory to a class-full of children of variable intelligence. He was really looking forward to Saturday and his chat with the Headmaster and Professor Flitwick.
Dear Mum, Dad and Aunt Donna
I'm fine, really, and I miss all of you lots. Now, I'm sure you want to know about the trip to school as well, so here goes. The train ride was awesome, and we met another nice guy named Neville Longbottom on the train. Looking for his lost toad, and yes, people actually do keep toads as pets. I think it's because he's scary good with plants and toads eat bugs, but I'll have to do a survey or something to see if that's worthy of being an hypothesis.
Also met two gormless gits on the train, bleh. One decided he had to call me a liar when he tried to force his way into our compartment, and we went round and round for several minutes, bloody arrogant p'zakyic. Still, at least he was brave enough to come on his own - the other annoying git had to have two apparently moronic cretins as bodyguards, the whinging ponce. 'Bow down and worship me because my daddy's rich and can kill your parents' and all sorts of other nonsense like that. I was -so- tempted to give him our address just so I could give him smug looks in a couple of weeks when his precious murdering father never made it back home. Hmm...I wonder if the father uses as much hair product as the son, and what affect that would have on the wanker becoming a tree?
As for the school itself - it's amazing! Awe-inspiring, brilliant...there simply aren't enough superlatives to add on to tell you just how absolutely fantastic this castle is! It's got hidden passages (though I haven't found any on my own yet. Send sonic screwdriver when you figure out how to keep it from shorting out!), fake doors, doors that only open on certain days or if you tickle them or answer a riddle or any other of a number of things, and the portraits move and talk! Soooo cool, especially with the nicer ones that give directions. I really need to find out what sort of magic allows for that, because they all have personalities and can move to different portraits to visit! There's lots of suits of armour about the castle too, but they haven't done much yet where I could see them. Shame, that - it'd be brill to see them do a quadrille or march in formation or something.
As for classes...honestly, it's only Tuesday. I haven't had a chance to have sampled all my classes yet! But of the ones I have, I like Herbology and Transfiguration and Charms, though it took me nearly all of Transfiguration's practice time to figure out how to channel my magic through the wand instead of doing it naturally. Did finally do it, and though it's harder to use, it's also stronger that way, so wands really are amplifiers. I wound up with a foot-long embroidery needle because of the amplification effect though - I pushed the amount of magic through my wand that I would use if I was changing a matchstick to a needle without it. Oops. I did get complimented though, and five points for undoing it. Hermione got five points too, she managed to make her matchstick into a needle before I figured out how to channel my magic through my wand.
History, though, is deadly dull. Seriously - it's taught by a ghost, and he's teaching straight out of the book too - I had to point that out to Hermione, or she'd have nagged Dean, Neville and I to annoyance about not paying attention. Though we might have had more luck trying subliminal learning like most of the rest of the class. Shall bring pillow next time and test it. And yes Mum, I will actually read the book too. Send more history books to save me from death by dull recitals from a hundred-year-old text!
Defence against the Dark Arts was supposed to be a brilliant class, but the teacher stutters and stammers so badly that he's very hard to understand, even with TARDIS translation helping. Still, the book is decent, and as long as he can contain his linguistic difficulties when teaching us the spells, it should be bearable.
Charms...oh, charms is going to be SO much fun! We had a completely theory lesson, but the teacher is very very good at explaining the theory,and answering all my more in-depth questions, and we should be starting to learn the magic classified as charms soon. Will send my notes home if you want. Also, I'm going to be seeing him again on Saturday, so I can show him and the Headmaster my light-globe so we can figure out how it's different from the established spell.
Not looking forward to Wednesday, but at least there aren't any afternoon classes. It's so we can get a nap before taking Astronomy at midnight, or that's my current hypothesis. Either that, or it's a built-in essay-writing time. Which is what I'll be doing, if I'm not exploring the library, which is huge, by the way. Thursday is going to be sensible, no early-morning classes and Charms and Transfiguration in the afternoon.
I have to confess, I'm a bit worried about Friday. Potions with the Slytherins, which is where the wanker and his bully-boys went. And the professor is Head of Slytherin, and supposedly despises Gryffindors and favours the Slytherins to an extreme. Am brushing up on all the texts you let me bring, and being ever so thankful that we've actually brewed all the way up to third year. Shall see if Dean, Hermione and Neville want potions theory and ingredient preparation practice before then. And that'll be followed up by Herbology, yes, we get to play with plants three times a week, and it's currently Neville's favourite class. Fitting, because he's -brilliant- with plants! And then Friday afternoon is completely free, with no classes on the weekends.
Write back soon, and I hope Dad can figure out how to fix the mobile so it'll work! And yes Aunt Donna, we're going to start feeling out how to get more people than just us interested in a game of footie. Not sure if we can set up a West Ham fan club though.
Love all of you!
Harry.
Harry smiled as he tied his letter to a small box that held his shorted-out mobile, then scritched Hedwig while he waited for Dean and Hermione to bring their letters for their families. Once they'd done so and Hedwig had flown off after preening his hair into standing spikes (rather like his dad, he thought), the four friends - when Neville had managed to escape Ron and Seamus' game of exploding snap - worked on the homework they'd already been given to get ahead, and Dean and Hermione started their Muggle coursework.
The rest of the week, except for Astronomy on Wednesday night, was pretty much the same, except for squeezing in potions review and he'd been right that his friends would need practice with ingredient preparation. The Weasley twins had been helpful in preventing waste of ingredients there - they'd overheard the four of them talking, and shown the group the way to the kitchens where the house-elves had been pleased to let them practice on vegetables.
Of course then they had to listen to Hermione being offended that they were slaves, which almost got them kicked out of the kitchens except that Harry and Dean had asked the right questions, which revealed house-elves to have a symbiotic relationship with wizards. Somehow - and Harry still wasn't quite clear on the mechanism - being bonded to wizards (or the school) stabilised the house-elves' magic so that it didn't go wild and drain away, thus killing them. It was sad that an entire race hid itself away to do cooking and cleaning and stuff, but the Hogwarts house-elves were extremely happy so that had to count for something.
Friday came way too soon, and Ron and Seamus, plus Hermione's dorm-mates Lavender and Parvati, who'd all turned down the preparation that the rest of them were doing, were fretting nervously. Neville was fretting nervously too, but that was because older students had taken to telling tales of how nasty Professor Snape could get and he was worried that he'd be singled out in class. Dean, Hermione and Harry himself were pretty calm, although worried that the professor would jump on Neville for being extra nervous. Although he did calm down somewhat when Hermione told him that either she or Harry would sit right by him, just in case.
They found the class easily enough, and Harry very nearly didn't make it back to his seat before Professor Snape entered, he was so busy looking at all the pickled animals up close. He did make it though, and got treated to a sarcastic roll call, followed by the most enticing introduction to the subject.
And then an impromptu pop quiz.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
One of Harry's eyebrows went up, and he thanked his recall abilities as he swiftly found the answer in his memory. "Along with other ingredients, an extremely powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death."
"Hmmph," Snape snorted. "And where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
That same eyebrow stayed elevated, but Harry replied calmly. "The stomach of a goat is what they are taken from, and will save you from most poisons. However, the book didn't say if the bezoar stone was only found in goats raised by wizards, or if it was found in the stomachs of all goats."
"It's found in the stomachs of all goats, Potter," Snape hissed. "How else do you think they eat anything and everything they get their mouths on?"
Harry let his eyebrow fall back to normal and nodded his head in an almost-bow. "Thank you, Professor. That will save myself and my mother a bit of a messy experiment."
This time it was Snape's eyebrow that went up. "Indeed? So, Potter. Perhaps you can also tell the class what the difference is between monkshood and wolfsbane."
Harry smiled at that. "The season in which it's harvested. They are the same plant, which is also known as aconite." He was tempted to ramble on about it, but it seemed rather like pushing his luck. Professor Snape was agitated by him for some reason, and he didn't want to tempt the man into removing points for answering too much.
For a moment it looked like Snape was going to take points anyway, but he refrained. Instead, he met Harry's eyes and Harry almost thought he saw approval in them for a microsecond. "I see you actually read a book, instead of expecting to coast through on your fame, Potter."
"I did indeed, sir. Because fame is unimportant, Professor." With the evidence before him that Snape was expecting him to be some sort of braggart, he thought that his reply was wisest. Respectfully let the man know that he himself didn't expect special treatment, and perhaps he'd ease up on the glaring a bit. Eventually. Harry hoped so, anyway, because he could feel Neville frozen in fear beside him.
"Quite so. There is no room in my class for swelled heads - and why aren't the rest of you writing down the answers to the questions I asked?" Harry watched as the entire class (except for Hermione) scrambled for quill and parchment as Snape turned in a billow of robes and stalked to the board to write the instructions for the day's potion.
After that, the class seemed to go all right. Snape was praising Slytherins, which they'd all expected from the warnings of older Gryffindors, Harry prevented Neville from adding his porcupine quills too early, Hermione's potion came out just about perfect, as did his own, Dean and Neville's potions were all right, and just as he thought they were all going to escape unscathed, Snape lambasted Ron and Seamus for putting their porcupine quills in too late. They lost five points for that, and Hermione was bristling at the unfairness of it all. Fortunately Dean stepped on her foot before she could complain and get more points taken off.
Finally the end of class came, and even the Slytherins were quick to leave. Harry murmured to Neville that he was going to ask the Professor a question, and smiled a bit as he passed it on which resulted in his friends waiting at the door for him.
Harry slung his packed bag over his shoulder, then approached the desk Snape was sat behind. "Sir? I've a few questions I wanted to ask you, if you have the time to answer them."
"Ask and be quick about it, Potter. I've another class in fifteen minutes," was Snape's snapped reply.
"Thank you sir. First question - are you the Severus Snape who wrote Potions Ingredients and Their Interactions, and likewise publishes articles in Potions Quarterly?"
"Technically that is two questions, Potter, but yes." Snape raised an eyebrow and sneered at Harry. "Surely, even as intelligent as the Headmaster claims you are, you don't understand those articles?"
"Not entirely, sir," was Harry's sheepish reply. "I get the general thrust behind each one though - it's my mother who fully understands your genius."
"Your mother is dead, Potter." The sneer was on full this time, but Harry thought he caught a picosecond's worth of sadness before the sneer refreshed itself.
"My birth mother, yes sir. But my mother is the one who raised me. And she thinks you're a genius, and she's never wrong about intelligence. Which leads to my second question - why is a genius teaching beginners? I'd think you could have an apprentice deal with all of us, and you could devote your time to those who know what they are doing and love the subject."
"None of your business, Potter. Now if that's all, I suggest you leave." Snape, even seated behind a desk, could pull off menacing very well.
And though Harry had faced down some menacing monsters in his time, thanks to his dad, he knew better than to push his luck this time. So he simply nodded, wished the professor a good day, and did his best not to rush on his way back to his friends.
"Did you find out what you wanted to know, Harry?" Hermione asked as they got outside the castle and headed for Herbology.
"Yep. Well, half of what I wanted to know, at least. I still want to know why a genius is having to get all annoyed at needing to teach a bunch of firsties basic stuff he could do in his sleep though. But he wouldn't answer that."
"Well, if anyone was still in doubt about why you're in Gryffindor, just tell them you asked Snape that." Dean snickered and shook his head. "That takes brave to a whole new level!"
"I couldn't...I wouldn't dare," Neville added, shoulders slumped. "Professor Snape's too scary."
"Ah, I'm sure you could ask him questions you really wanted to know," Harry said and slung his arm around Neville's shoulders. But they were nearly to Herbology by then, so he couldn't finish bolstering Neville's opinion of himself. Maybe he should ask Donna how to raise someone's self-esteem...next letter, he promised himself.
And of course after Herbology was lunch - and Hedwig arriving with a box and letter each for himself, Dean and Hermione. They were shrunken, which Harry thought was weird until he read the note attached to his. These are very handy boxes. Shrink on the spoken word, unshrink when tapped with a wand. Useful for sending treats from home. Love, Aunt Donna.
The three of them arranged to see what their parents had sent later on, and assured Neville that of course he could share with them. Especially after Dean waxed lyrical about his hopes of what his mum had sent him...but they were, after all, eleven. And sweets have a way of encouraging even the shyest young wizard to try something new.
After lunch Dean and Neville agreed to visit Harry and Hermione's second home, and they wound up agog for a quarter-hour at the sheer size of the library. Then of course they were off and hunting for their favourite subjects. Dean found out that Hogwarts didn't have much on art, but what they did have was fascinating, and they nearly had to drag Neville out of the Herbology section.
Then they did their homework, finding it much easier to work at tables than to try and write essays in the common room, even if the chairs and sofas there were much more comfortable. Which left two hours before dinner to explore the grounds and see if they could find a place to play a good game of football in.
