Despite being the last to fall asleep on the night of the welcoming feast, Harry had been the second of the Hufflepuff boys to wake up the next morning. The only one who had woken up before him had been Wayne Hopkins who apparently grew up on a muggle farm and was used to waking up as early as half five in the morning.
Harry himself had woken up at half past six and had taken the spare time awake to do some quick last minute reading on the classes he had today. He couldn't help but chuckle knowing his sister would approve.
Of course, unlike her, Harry actually needed the quick brush up. Hermione may have been a natural genius (at least in his opinion) but Harry had to work hard to keep up with her constantly, being nowhere near as naturally inclined to the academic path as she was.
Shaking his head, he focused on the first chapter of the Standard Book of Spells as surely that was where they would start, his bet being on either the spell to create sparks or the wand lighting spell, as they seemed to be the most basic and simple spells in the entire book.
Soon enough, he was finally getting bored with reading the book a second time, having just finished reading the first chapter of both his Herbology and History of Magic books. He wondered if Magical Theory was its own class or if it was just an extra thing taught in Charms to First Years only.
Based on his timetable, he assumed the latter, as it was only held on the very first period of a Monday and was paired with Charms in the same period.
He'd just been considering one of his old quizzes with his sister when everyone else had finally woken up in time for seven o'clock and had all gone out to find the prefect, a blonde haired sixth year who was quite quick and efficient in showing them around.
He showed them the main route to each class each of them had as well as telling them exactly which nearby rooms were which so they'd know for the future. He helped them time the steps to know when and where they were supposed to climb on to get to certain areas—he caught Jason Turner just in time when said boy was about to plunge his foot straight through a trick step—and finally, he'd shown them the 'unofficial' routes of a select few secret passageways they could make use of if they were running late to get to certain floors faster.
By the time they were done, it was nearing eight o'clock and they headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast, although the walk there wasn't uneventful. As they'd gotten near the bottom of the steps they'd heard a loud clattering sound followed by the very annoyed voice of McGonagall shouting "PEEVES!"
Harry would be a liar if he said watching the usually composed woman chasing after the flying form of an outlandishly clothed man with black hair and a mad cackle wasn't amusing. The prefect looked a tad more exasperated than his first year charges, however.
"That was Peeves the Poltergeist. He might seem funny from this perspective but trust me, you won't find him so fun once you end up on his radar. He doesn't help anyone but himself and just causes havoc everywhere." The prefect sighed, opening up the door to the Great Hall. They followed the older student inside and Harry's eyes briefly went over to the Gryffindor table where he saw Hermione already sitting with the round-faced Neville Longbottom, as well as Ron.
Harry sat down once he saw his other housemates doing the same and felt his stomach growl when he realized Hogwarts didn't skip out on food even when a feast wasn't going on. Plates upon plates of different and delicious looking breakfasts just waiting to be eaten on the tables.
He gladly scooped up some mashed potatoes, some sausages, and a strip of bacon and started eating, looking over to see his sister had finally noticed him. Both smiled at each other and Hermione fondly rolled her eyes at her brother's large breakfast while she herself was only having cereal by the looks of things.
Harry swallowed and looked around, curious what else there was to see in the Great Hall during the morning. He noticed Ron seemed too distracted with his own massive helping of food to notice anything else, Harry's dish looking like a rat's dinner next to Ron's plate. It seemed all the teachers joined the students up at the high table even if not all of them were eating. Hannah just a few seats down from Harry smiled when she caught him staring and waved making him nod back politely.
His eyes briefly glazed over the Ravenclaw table where some form of debate seemed to be going on regarding their breakfast that Terry Boot seemed to have started and finally, Harry's eyes landed on Slytherin's table. Based on some of the glares from the few who noticed, he had a feeling his gaze wasn't welcome so he was quick as he could be, looking out for Daphne. He spotted her at the same time she looked up and…
She looked away, acting as if she hadn't seen him even though she must have. Harry frowned and though he kept his gaze on the table for a few moments more, hoping he was just imagining the slight, she didn't look his way again while his gaze was on her.
With a frown, he turned back and met Hermione's gaze, who looked confused with a frown of her own. So it wasn't just him who saw it...
An odd sound like some kind of muffled siren rang through the air eventually about five minutes after Harry finished his plate and the older students began to rise, encouraging the younger students to do the same. It was the alarm for their first period beginning in ten minutes.
Harry fell into step with Hannah on the way to their Charms class, knowing she had the same time table as him. They made idle chit chat along the way about what they thought it was going to be like or what they were expecting to do, as well as discussing who their teacher might be when they finally arrived and walked into the classroom along with Justin and Ernie who had been a few paces behind them.
Harry's eyes lit up when he saw Hermione sat in one of the chairs, a gap on either side of her. Ron was sitting in a seat behind her to her left and Neville was on the other side of the room, along with two girls Harry remembered were Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.
The short man at the front of the class briefly looked up and smiled. "Ah excellent, the Hufflepuffs are here. Now we just need the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws to arrive. Hufflepuffs, make sure to sit on any of the seats I've marked with yellow tape only."
The students nodded and Harry noted each chair had some tape corresponding to a house colour. That explained why everyone had gaps between them, it must have been the teacher's seating plan.
Harry sat down on the first yellow chair he found, a blue chair beside him on one side and Neville to the other side.
"Nice to meet you," He said quietly, holding out a hand. The boy nervously took it.
"Nice t-to meet you too," The boy said nervously, though Harry didn't think it was due to his fame. The boy seemed to have a general nervous disposition anyways. "Neville Longbottom."
"Harry Potter-Granger." Harry smiled, letting go of the other boy's hand while Hannah sat down beside Ron across the room. A minute later robes of both green and blue arrived and Harry had very mixed feelings.
Well honestly almost completely negative feelings about the group he saw he had been paired with for Slytherins. There was a pug-faced and mean-looking girl with brown hair that Harry remembered as Pansy Parkinson, the girl who had made Malfoy uncomfortable at the feast. It seemed she was still content to try to hang onto him as she was walking very near to said boy who was also part of the group, with his bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle staggering along stupidly.
Maybe Parkinson wouldn't be as bad as Malfoy but Harry had his doubts already based on her wearing a matching sneer almost as if imitating Malfoy. The only upside Harry could see was that, at the back of the group, Daphne walked in while keeping a bit of distance from the rest of her housemates.
Harry caught her eye and she looked… apologetic, but it quickly disappeared as she took a seat beside Hermione. The other Slytherins kept their distance and shot her questioning looks.
Harry was perturbed when after a shrug she shot Hermione a look that definitely didn't seem as friendly as it was before. Before anyone could worry about it though, the Ravenclaws also took their seats and the short brown-haired bespectacled Ravenclaw sat on Harry's side.
"Hello." He quickly introduced himself and Harry held a hand out, which the boy took. "Terry Boot."
"Harry Potter-Granger." He said and the other boy nodded, clearly already well aware. Before anything more could be said there was the sound of a clearing of the throat and the tiny little teacher that was their Charms Professor (who sat atop a pile of books on his chair) looked around them all.
"Welcome class, I am elated to see you all and see none of you have disappeared to do something else on the first day. I never do find it all that charming when my students make a bad first impression." The tiny wizard said, chuckling at his own joke and the reactions it got. "Now, let us just quickly deal with roll call. First, the Ravenclaws: Terry Boot? Anthony Goldstein? Su Li? Padma Patil? Lisa Turpin?"
He waited for a 'here' or 'present' from each student before continuing onto the next name. "Excellent now the Hufflepuffs. Hannah Abbot? Susan Bones? Justin Finch-Fetchley? Ernie Macmillan? Harry Potter-Granger?"
"Here," Harry answered clearly and the small professor looked over before suddenly letting out a startled squeak and falling over, making the whole class jump in surprise.
"Oh dear, are you alright, Professor?" Lisa asked concerned and the small man nodded, quickly clambering back up into place.
"Oh I'm just fine, just surprised is all. Sorry about that Mister Potter, I thought I'd just seen your father for a moment, hadn't seen you properly yet. Moving on, Gryffindors!"
Soon enough, he'd ascertained for sure that everyone was present and hopped up onto his desk, clapping his hands together.
"Wonderful! I am Fillius Flitwick but I would prefer Professor Flitwick," He joked, earning a few chuckles. "Now, let us truly get to the heart of this class. I believe you'll have it marked down as Magical Theory?" He asked the room and they all nodded. With a smile he pulled out a wand that looked rather large in his tiny hand and gave it a quick wave, papers appearing in front of them all. "This isn't common reading material but I feel it's best for my students to be up to snuff right away. This is the latest ministry approved and peer-reviewed report on Magical Theory, written in nineteen eighty-two. Don't worry about some of it going over your head, I will be simplifying it as I explain. Is there anyone who can tell me what the five commonly accepted Classes of Magic are?"
A few hands were raised, including Hermione who nearly slapped Daphne by accident with how fast her hand went up. Harry had to suppress a chuckle and a good-natured eye roll.
Some things never change.
Harry himself didn't raise his hand, much preferring to observe during a lesson than take an active role when it came to theory. Amongst the others who raised their hands, there were all the Ravenclaws, a slightly shy looking Daphne (if you looked close enough) and a very smug-looking Malfoy. Flitwick surveyed them all with a smile before pointing at the female Granger in the room.
"Miss Granger?"
"The five commonly accepted Classes of Magic in the Wizarding World are Charms, Transfiguration, Enchantments, Conjuration, and Dark Arts. Bewitchments are often confused for their own Class of Magic but are just Enchantments with more negative connotations and Illusions though very unique are a subset of the Charms class of magic. Conjuration is also often considered to be just Transfiguration despite being a unique Class of Magic in and of itself, sir."
Harry smiled slightly as some people looked at the girl in shock at her in-depth answer. The blonde Slytherin beside her lips twitched up very briefly but you'd have to be looking very closely to notice. Professor Flitwick let out a delighted squeak as he clapped his hand together.
"Excellent, a very astute answer. Ten points to Gryffindor, Miss Granger!" He said, making the bushy-haired Gryffindor beam. "Now, can someone else tell me other fields of magic that some might confuse for a Class of Magic, especially students at this school?"
Harry had a small amused smile come onto his face at the minor hint the teacher gave and it grew at seeing his sister looking put out at being unable to answer every question. A bit of good old friendly teasing of his sister wouldn't hurt, so for once, he raised his hand. He noticed fewer people looked confident in answering this time, only Daphne, the Ravenclaws, and Ron daring to raise their hands.
"Mister Potter-Granger." Flitwick nodded at him eagerly. He had picked the raven-haired boy almost immediately the second he saw the student had his hand up. Harry got an odd feeling he'd been waiting for Harry to move to answer a question and his eyes were watching him as if appraising his worth.
Harry didn't let it make him falter though in his answer.
"Potions, Herbology, and Astronomy." He answered clearly, with confidence. Unable to help himself, he turned to his inner-Hermione to match said girl's answer from before. "Even Care of Magical Creatures in some cases. They are obviously classes here at Hogwarts that teach magical subjects, but they are not Classes of Magic, as Classes in that instance is being used similarly to the way one would use the word field. It refers to a specific type of magic we're capable of doing, while Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, and Magical Creatures are all external sources of magic and therefore not Classes of Magic a Witch or Wizard is naturally capable of."
Now it was Harry's turn for impressed looks from some of the students. Malfoy especially had a look on his face that made Harry want to grin, clearly the boy had thought one of those subjects had qualified as a Class of Magic. Hermione, when no one was looking, briefly stuck her tongue out at him though it was clearly playful and Harry couldn't mistake the look in her eyes.
'You're on!'
So much for not answering questions in class.
Flitwick looked very excited, clapping happily even more so than he had with Hermione. Harry wondered if he had some personal reason for wanting Harry to be good at this based on his reaction. "Tremendous! A stellar answer! Ten points to Hufflepuff. You are both absolutely spot on. What Mister Potter-Granger has listed are external magic just as he said, items and objects which contain magical properties." He managed to calm down and began surveying the room with an excited glint in his eyes and a smile on his face betraying his excitement to be teaching. It was an odd sight to see a teacher not tired but instead happy to be teaching, to Harry.
"Now, I would ask what magic is but even some of the world's most esteemed researchers can get barely any further than it being an… energy of sorts we all have in us and that is in the air. It is said there are different types of magic in there, based on emotions, conditions, and other such stuff but for you all, all you truly need to know is you have a naturally high amount of magic in you. That's how you are all witches and wizards; for the sake of the muggle-born students here, you were born with such a high amount that it started naturally replenishing itself and it's at that point you can be considered a Witch or Wizard," He explained and a few eyes lit up in sudden understanding, from those who hadn't yet read or heard about that. Flitwick waved his wand and the papers on the desk flipped open. "Now, due to how potent the magic in you all is, you are able to call upon it and thus manipulate it. That is what spells are and now that you understand that, we can begin to get a basic understanding of the five Classes of Magic and how they differ from one another. Let's start with the best shall we and read the Charms section?"
There were a few chuckles at that cheeky grin the professor gave them all before he cleared his throat. Harry turned his gaze down to the paper before him while the teacher's simplified explanation rang out through the classroom.
"When dealing with Charm-based spells, one must be sure to cast their magic. What this means is that you must imagine the desired end result, call forth your magic, and then cast the spell. Once this is done, a successfully cast charmed will do what the user wants immediately, though results will vary from person to person due to how potent one's magic is and how active their imagination may be at that moment." Flitwick explained, his little white beard quivering as he reached the next part, looking amused. "As a result, the Charms Class of Magic houses some of the most… eccentric spells you'll encounter when learning here at Hogwarts. That is not to say they are not useful but Transfiguration requires a certain level of… discipline that will keep the spells from being too extravagant in most cases. Can anyone give me an example of a charm?"
Terry was called on this time and once he was he adjusted his glasses quickly before answering. "The Amplifying Charm, sir. It amplifies the volume of the sound of anything it's cast on, including a person's own voice."
"Excellent Mister Boot; Ten points to Ravenclaw. Now, speaking of Transfiguration, that Class of Magic is next in the list. What you must understand is that when you are casting spells related to this kind of magic, you don't cast your magic like you do in charms but mould it. What this means is that instead of merely imagining the end results you wish to achieve, you must visualize in your mind the entire process from start to finish. Every little detail needs to be accounted for during Transfiguration spells. This is why they are considered some of the hardest spells to master, as even a single detail unaccounted for can cause serious issues with whatever it is you've tried to Transfigure. Can anyone give me an example of a Transfiguration spell?"
It was Hannah who was called on next, chewing at her lip nervously as she shyly answered "Multicorfors?", sounding as if she wasn't entirely certain of herself. Flitwick however beamed.
"An excellent example, the colour changing spell. Quite a simple one but useful, especially if you happen to be a tailor." Flitwick's eyes twinkled for a moment. "I assume that's where you know it from?"
Hannah perked up, looking relieved she hadn't messed up. "Yes sir. My mother's a tailor."
"Well done then on remembering it; five points to Hufflepuff!" Flitwick cheered happily. "Now, moving on, Enchantments are next in the list. Many consider these to be nothing more than a subclass of Charms and often get confused when they are listed as their own Class of Magic, but what one must realize is that a Class of Magic is defined by how the form of magic is cast and Enchantments are suitably different enough from Charms to be defined as their own class. Whereas Charms come entirely from your own imagination and magic, Enchantments need to feed on the natural magical energy in the air itself to work. This makes them much harder to perform. It also makes them far more permanent than most normal charms which all will usually wear off with time, unless you will them to latch onto another's magic which is still somewhat easier than willing an item to feed of the general magic in the air around it, especially to maintain a specific imagined effect. Can anyone give me an example of an enchantment?"
"Arlean Volo!" Ron called out, with a smile on his face once he was picked, sounding very confident. Flitwick beamed.
"Oh very good indeed, I do enjoy that spell, the flight enchantment. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, following up from Enchantments is Conjuration. Just as Enchantments are often merely lumped in with Charms, the same occurs with Conjuration and Transfiguration. However, it is separated for similar reasons as Enchantments is. Can anyone take an educated guess as to how these types of spells might be performed?" The teacher questioned, surveying for more hands. He got quite a few this time, it seemed his style of teaching had put everyone at ease and encouraged them to try to answer, even if they weren't certain. He smiled in Harry's direction and the raven-haired teen only just noticed the Gryffindor beside him had raised his hand. "Mister Longbottom?"
"I-Is it t-that you'd h-have to mould m-magic a-around you into a r-real shape instead of c-changing a-an actual object?" He took a wild guess, stuttering badly with nerves. Flitwick smiled kindly.
"You're close young man, certainly you have gotten a component of it correct although rarely will you mould magic around you. Even Albus Dumbledore cannot do that without great strain upon himself." Flitwick explained. "You are, however, right about transfiguring magic itself instead of an actual existing object. This is why it's often mistaken as a sub-category of Transfiguration magic, however, there is also a component of Charms work to it that makes it its own thing. You see, you will merely imagine the non-physical properties of whatever you create, which is casting like charms and not moulding. It is a sort of hybrid of the Charms and Transfiguration Classes of Magic if you will. For example, were you to conjure up a snake, it's scales, its length, all of its appearance would have come from the transfiguration portion of the magic. The personality of the snake, however, its life, how it chooses to move, perhaps even unique powers it may possess should you be so creatively inclined, would all come from casting in the same way you would a Charms spell."
He once more asked for an example of a spell and it was answered again by Hermione who offered up Serpensortia, the snake summoning spell. She'd gotten another ten points for that.
"Finally, the last Class of Magic is... perhaps in need of a split between its more severe spells and it's more mild spells into different classes. Nevertheless, the final Class of Magic is Dark Arts. Professor Quirell will be explaining more in-depth what is involved with the dark arts so I will merely inform you now that if a spell is known as a Jinx, Hex, or Curse, it is by definition a form of Dark Arts. Of course, there are far, far more harmful sides to this branch of magic than mere tripping jinxes, such as rituals. I do find it best not to dwell on this subject however you must understand them if you are to defend against them, hence why you must know the definition of them. Any spells designed to make another suffer, whether minor or majorly, is a form of Dark Arts. I ask you save questions for this branch of magic for your Defense Against the Dark Arts classes."
It didn't escape anyone's attention that he didn't ask for an example this time. Harry wondered if this was a deliberate move on whoever designed this class' part to avoid students learning more about such magic.
"Now, I will save the in-depth explanations of those other types of magic to your teachers, aside from Charms which I will of course be teaching myself. I will also leave Potions, Astronomy, and Herbology to your other teachers, as they will prefer to start such subjects from the very beginning as though you have no prior knowledge, I am sure. So I will wrap up with two final questions. First, can anyone tell me at least some of the five I's of spell casting?" The professor looked around curiously and met Daphne's eye who was looking more confident than ever with her hand held high, practically demanding his attention. "Miss Greengrass?"
"I can tell you all five, professor." She smiled, looking genuinely happy to share. "Incantation, the spell words that help guide the spell. Intent, our intent is what determines what our magic is trying to do. Imagination, the better we are at imagining what we want to happen the more successful the spell is likely to be. Immersion, the more immersed we can make ourselves in our imagination of the spell, and therefore the better we can picture it, the more successful and accurate it will be. Finally, improvement, constant practice of successful spells will reinforce how we want them to happen and so make sure they are less likely to fail in future, establishing working spells firmly in our mind."
"Oh, absolutely outstanding! Textbook answer, Miss Greengrass, ten points to Slytherin!" The professor squeaked happily, looking around. "She is right of course. To be a bit more in-depth, incantations help condition your mind to make you think a certain way, conjure a specific picture in your mind. The goal is to ensure you can always cast the spell correctly when you say or hear those words. This is also one reason why they are often in other languages. It prevents accidental spells from happening when you're having normal conversations with a wand in hand. Hearing someone say 'explosion' in a conversation and having your magic react would not do, you know." Everyone chuckled lightly at his example. "Aside from that, there is another reason so many spells rely on another language. It is also why many sound, at the least, like faux-latin. Can anyone tell me why this is?"
It was Harry's turn to raise his hand again.
"Mister Potter-Granger?"
"It's because, at least according to the most popular theory, Latin is a dead language from one of the times when magic was at its most prominent. The language, having not been used for so many years except in passing, has been quietly absorbing magic for a long time. Because it is all but dead, it also doesn't come up often in general conversation at all. Finally, due to being inundated with magic, there's a theory it helps guide magic to be more accurate by using accurate translations to help your own magic determine your intent more accurately."
"Splendid! Another ten points to Hufflepuff!" Professor Flitwick clapped, nodding. "You are right as well. While it might seem omnipresent to us, in reality there are multiple places in the world devoid of magic. Even in places where it does exist, it can fade, and most forget to account for the fact that magic is not simply one universal singular thing that knows all. It is of many different types, of many different things, and can appear seemingly out of thin air. For all its wonders, magic is not omniscient, not all-knowing. This is why using words from Latin or at least parts of words determined to hold suitable magical power, will help ensure spells are far more powerful. Are there any other questions?"
Everyone shook their heads and Flitwick smiled.
"In that case, it wouldn't do for you all to leave without knowing how to actually use your wands. We'll finally get started on the simplest spell for any witch or wizard, the spark shooting spell. Now repeat the incantation after me: 'Igniculus!'"
The spell was repeated by the students loudly.
"Excellent! Now, let us work on actually producing some results…"
The class would spend the next two hours all taking turns performing and perfecting the spark shooting spell, which had a very simple wand movement of simply jabbing the wand upwards to the sky. Professor Flitwick was determined to make sure every single member of his class could perform this spell before they'd leave, so they'd all have at least one successful spell under their belts.
He'd also explained it was the most commonly used spell in general situations to alert others when you were in need of help and what kind, simply by sending up different coloured sparks. So the second period had been dedicated to them all making sure they could send up sparks in nearly every single colour of the rainbow. (In fact, Harry had sent up a rainbow spark that kept shifting between colours by accident when the thought had gone through his head as he was casting. Everyone else had been briefly entranced by the light show.)
Finally, class came to an end and everyone else was piling out when Harry heard Professor Flitwick call for him to stay. The room emptied out and Harry walked up to the small wizard.
"Sir? Is something wrong? I'm not in trouble for the rainbow spark am I?" He asked, a tad worried. The tiny man immediately shook his head.
"Hardly, Mister Potter! If it wasn't for my desire to make sure you get this spell down pat perfectly I'd have been tempted to give you a few points for doing a more complicated version of the spell, albeit still one of the easiest in the book." He explained kindly, sizing the boy up. "No, I wanted to talk to you about your… Unique talents that the headmaster has informed me of."
"You mean my telekinesis, sir?" Harry asked and the man nodded.
"Would you be so kind as to give a demonstration of this ability? I have never heard of such a phenomenon before."
Seeing no harm in it, Harry gave a shrug and lifted up his left hand, pointing it at a book on a shelf across the roof. The book immediately lifted up into the air. Harry let it hover for a few moments before having it zoom to him, for him to catch with ease.
"Oh my goodness! A wandless Wingardium Leviosa is impressive enough but a wandless summoning charm too? What an extraordinary ability!" Flitwick cheered in amusement. Harry looked confused. "I suppose it may not seem much like a big deal to you, as you have not experienced how difficult what you've just done would be to other Wizards. You see Mister Potter, wandless magic is rare and difficult, for the simplest of spells. Merely levitating the book up is impressive enough that had you not been born with the ability but learnt it, you would be in possession of at least fifty more house points now and that would be for a first year charm. I plan to have the rest of your class learn the levitation charm by the time Halloween rolls around. The Summon however is advanced magic, not taught in theory until fourth year and not truly put to use until fifth year. To be able to do it so casually…"
The tiny wizard was bouncing around excitedly. "Sir? What does this mean then? Is this all you wanted to know?"
"Well, not just that. Is levitation all you can do, Mister Potter?" Flitwick inquired with a raised brow, his eyes dancing madly with an uncontained desire to find out everything he could.
"As far as I know sir."
"Hmm… Well, I wonder if you perhaps might not be able to learn to perform other spells using this? At least other Charm spells, as it seems you have a connection to that branch of magic through your telekinesis." Flitwick pondered and Harry went wide-eyed at the implication. "Ah, there is only one way to find out and I believe I have most certainly kept you long enough. If you are agreeable Mister Potter, I would like you to meet me after dinner tonight so we may discuss some extra lessons regarding your abilities."
"That would be brilliant sir!" Harry said, a smile breaking out on his face at the thought. Flitwick returned it.
"Glad to hear it, now off you go. You don't want to be late for lunch." The teacher smiled and shooed him off. Harry hurried out, being happy to find his sister as well as Hannah waiting for him. He promised Hermione he'd tell her what he wanted him for later and they set off, chatting excitedly about their first lesson as they hurried down to the Great Hall.
As Hermione grilled Hannah for information about what wizarding tailors were like, wanting to know more about the Multicorfors spell the blonde Hufflepuff had mentioned in class, Harry was content to sit back and listen as they walked, observing different groups walking by.
Most of them were unfamiliar faces of course, as Harry had still only been in the school for one day. He did recognize Cedric Diggory walking by with a group of older Hufflepuffs at one point though, the good looking Hufflepuff showing them all his wrist which had a very interesting looking bangle on it with little jewels glinting off them. In fact, several of the Hufflepuffs were wearing some, Harry noticed.
"Yeah, George Weasley sold me it. Or was it Fred?" He heard Cedric saying to his friends. "Ah well, either way, just like you said Richard. They're calling them Dark Deflectors. They're insisting they're enchanted to deflect all common hexes, without any need for a wand."
"You really believe them though? The Weasley twins?" Another Hufflepuff asked skeptically.
"Actually, yeah. If it were anyone else, I'd call rubbish, but we all know just how good the twins are at enchantments and one thing they've always taken seriously is their 'business' selling stuff. Can't think of any time they've lied about a product they've been selling, especially when they're expensive."
"Well, hopefully, we won't need to put them to the test." Another Hufflepuff shrugged as they disappeared around the corner, just as Harry, Hermione, and Hannah reached the Great Hall for lunch.
Classes all week had been interesting for Harry. Completely by accident, he'd found himself making quite a few friends, simply due to seating arrangements and who he was often partnered with.
After lunch on Monday, he'd gone to History of Magic with his group and it took them only half the class to realize that with a teacher like Professor Binns (a ghost who supposedly had just continued to teach even after his death), even the most studious students would struggle to get anything done.
Hermione was the only one who managed to actually focus and even then, Harry swore he saw her head lull once or twice, the ghost professor's droning voice being too boring for even her. Harry had found a simple solution, though.
Binns merely read from the textbook and did essentially nothing else, so he'd ended up striking up a conversation with the people near him, albeit in whispers, while merely copying down notes by just reading the book in front of him. It made the lesson a lot more bearable.
Although it was kind of odd that all his conversational partners were female in that class, as he was sat between Lisa Turpin on one side of him, the Patil twins on the other, Lavender Brown right behind him, and Hermione in front of him. Aside from his sister, they were all quite keen to talk with one another and, due to his desire to not fall asleep, Harry found he'd simply have to get used to ending up in conversations with the lot of them.
Honestly, it wasn't as bad as he thought it might be, aside from when they were complaining about make-up. Lisa and Padma Patil usually helped keep Harry from being too bored, however, not being as overly girly as Lavender or Parvati. Plus the former of the two overly girly girls did have a funny sense of humour when she wasn't being too focused on girly things.
Herbology had proven to be a very fun class and Harry immensely enjoyed being taught by his head of house, whose kind demeanour was able to put the whole class at ease while keeping them respectful and heeding all warnings she gave with understanding.
Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors had been paired up at one table while Slytherins and Ravenclaws were paired up at another and Harry ended up with Neville Longbottom as his Herbology partner. Harry was surprised to find that in Herbology, Neville practically became a whole other person. He was more sure of himself, more understanding of the subject before him. He wasn't shy to answer questions in this class and he had a quiet confidence he didn't seem to have anywhere else.
All in all, it was a nice side to the boy and Harry was hopeful, especially as Neville was knowledgeable and quite pleasant to work with, that he'd be partnered up with the Gryffindor more in future Herbology classes, learning more about Wormwood and Dittany.
In Defense Against The Dark Arts, Harry had gotten a chance to finally sit with his sister, near the back of the classroom. They'd both arrived and Harry had dragged her into a seat nearby straight away before he could end up partnered with someone else as he wanted at least one class where he could work in tandem with his sister. Plus, while it was nice to make new friends, doing it by finding yourself forced into a seat beside strangers every time was a bit annoying.
In that class, they'd finally learnt the difference between jinxes, hexes, and curses. Apparently, it was severity of suffering. Jinxes were only meant to cause mild suffering, Hexes moderate, and curses extreme. It was however noted that due to personal perceptions, there was a lot of debate over which spells qualified as which.
That was the most informative part of the lesson before Quirrel had walked over to Harry and his entire body had set alight with a nervousness, his magic prickling under his skin the whole time. Something in him shouting to run like it had at the welcoming feast.
Harry squashed it down, assuming it was just the atmosphere in the room. Quirell probably had to perform Dark Arts all the time with his class and Harry's magic was just sensitive to it. It made sense to him.
What made less sense was how Quirrell could stand the overwhelming stench coming off his turban, that completely threw Harry's focus for most of the rest of the lesson.
Harry didn't look forward to the double session of it tomorrow if Quirell was going to keep standing so close to him. However, the new class he had the next day he found really enjoyable.
It was Astronomy, which took place at midnight. While it was late and of course everyone was a bit tired, Harry still found the class utterly relaxing despite Professor Sinistra being fairly strict. It was just nice and calm, watching stars and planets and a calm note-taking of where it was. It was peaceful and he spent the class working with Hannah, who he'd been partnered with. Between the two of them, they were able to maintain a moderate pace with some occasional friendly chatting that made the activity very enjoyable for them both. Harry had the best sleep he'd had so far after that class within his dorm room.
Transfiguration only had two periods in the week and that was the double period held on Thursday. Harry found himself sitting beside Ron Weasley and found he had to guide the redhead quite a lot too. Harry wondered if the boy might not have some mental problems affecting his concentration, as Ron hadn't done too bad at charms but was struggling very badly with the matches to needles assignment they had to work on come the second period. Mind you, everyone struggled at first, keeping concentration and focus for the Transfiguration spells was hard after all.
It had been Hermione who had done it successfully first, followed by Harry who had used his telekinesis as an internal guide. He thought about how he used his ability and adapted it to the Transfiguration spell and with some trial and error he'd gotten a perfect needle. He'd soon been followed by Terry Boot and Daphne.
Malfoy had gotten close but the bell had rung signalling time was up, while his needle was still made of wood. He couldn't stop glaring at the four different house members on the way out.
Sadly, though, one thing that had become apparent with the lessons was that something had certainly happened with Daphne. Now, when she entered lessons, she outright ignored all the people she'd spent time with on the train.
She only ever looked when other Slytherins weren't and though her face showed conflict, when the snakes around her looked, it instead showed contempt. She'd glare at others with a look similar to Malfoy's until her housemates would stop staring. Harry would be a liar if he said it didn't hurt.
Hermione was probably hurting more, however. Malfoy and Parkinson had a nasty habit of verbally demeaning everyone else they thought was beneath them and though Daphne never added to it, nor did she seem to believe it but neither did she ever try to stop it. She just ignored it, letting it continue on. Seeing as Hermione was a favourite target at first…
Still, Harry had made sure a textbook that smacked Malfoy upside the head when no one was looking, a collapsed desk, and a wand that flew across the room right into the back of a teacher's head, came together to ensure that the Slytherin's thought twice before talking out of worry for another incident. They still hadn't figured out it was Harry yet.
Still, Harry wanted to know what happened to the Daphne he'd met in Diagon Alley and the train. She hadn't acted like this before, he was certain she didn't agree with it, so why was she doing this?
As if summoned by his thoughts, as he ate at breakfast that Friday morning, the sound of muffled shouting reached him and he looked up to see Daphne bursting in, looking very annoyed, followed by a sneering Pansy Parkinson glaring at her retreating form.
Harry clenched a fist. Unfortunately, sometimes he had a feeling he knew what the answer was. That Daphne had already told him why and he'd just never expected it would have to go this far…
He was surprised when Daphne looked right at him, her facing morphing from annoyance to sadness, and mouthed 'sorry' as if reading his mind. Her eyes showed a genuine level of remorse.
She knew what she was doing then. That just became apparent. Before he could think more on it, however, several owls came swooping down from above. This was a common occurrence at Hogwarts it turned out. Every morning, owls would come swooping down during breakfast to deliver mail to everyone who had something to receive, nick some food from the recipients, and be off back to the owlery or wherever they'd come from.
Harry and Hermione had agreed to wait until the end of the first week to send a letter to their parents so it was a surprise for them when both spotted Hedwig, easily visible with her brilliant white feathers in amongst the brown and grey owls around her, coming down to Harry. She landed with a happy hoot and held out her foot.
Harry, surprised, quickly untied the letter and handed her a small part of his breakfast, thanking her. She let out a proud hoot, rustling her wings.
Quickly opening the letter, Harry was surprised to find it out who it was from.
Harry
We didn't get to talk much at the station. If you want, I'd love to have you and your sister round for tea after school, around four? Would love to talk properly. You can invite any of your friends as well, more the merrier.
Hope to hear about your first week. Send us back an answer with Hedwig. (Beautiful owl, she is.)
Hagrid
Harry smiled in surprised delight and quickly pulled out a pen, writing out a quick answer. He was getting used to writing with a quill but if it wasn't for his school work he was still using a pen for the moment so his messages would come across clearly until he was better with a quill.
He wrote down he'd be happy to visit before giving the letter to Hewdig who took off immediately with her new task and Harry couldn't stop grinning for the rest of breakfast.
He had only one more new class today. Potions.
Harry had been excited for this class all summer but certain things here or there had chipped into his excitement. The way others reacted to the subject, especially in regards to how it was taught. The way said teacher, Severus Snape, seemed to glare any time he saw Harry out and about, even if that was rare.
The way Malfoy seemed to be snickering all morning about how good it would be to see Harry in this class had been especially worrying. Then finally it had begun and Harry's excitement for the subject all but evaporated almost immediately when Snape came storming in.
Oh, at first he'd seemed just a normal, understandably strict if a bit unpleasant teacher as he'd begun his opening introduction even as he was walking down to the front of the class.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he had begun. He'd spoken in barely more than a whisper, but they were glued to every word. Snape seemingly had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "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 stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach!"
Unpleasant ending aside, it was an effective opening. It established him as someone who knew what he was doing, someone who commanded their respect, someone who they should be paying attention to. Hermione was on the edge of her seat, enraptured.
Harry had first let his excitement rise a bit, then Snape had begun role call and reached Harry's name. His next words were an unexpected punch to the gut. "Ah yes, Mister Potter…. Granger? Our new celebrity." He practically spat out the word 'celebrity'. "Already trying to cause a stir by using a muggle family to change your name?"
Harry's jaw nearly dropped as Snape sneered. Hermione instantly went from enraptured and eager to shocked, before pushing back into a glare. Harry didn't say anything though, too shocked by the sudden and needless attack on him. He felt a bit of anger bubble up inside him, as he did his best to ignore the four Slytherins snickering at him. How dare this complete stranger insult his connection with his adopted family like that?
Snape continued on unperturbed when he realized he wouldn't be getting a reaction from the shocked boy. Finally, he finished and it seemed he would move on until…
"POTTER!" Harry jumped a mile in his skin as Snape stormed up to him, glaring at the boy. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Harry blinked in shock. The man was just going to call him out in the middle of class like this? Harry had read his books, he knew this wouldn't be a question until near the end of their first year at the least. The man was deliberately setting him up to fail.
Swallowing and steeling himself, Harry met the man's eyes and answered, as calmly as he was able to, refusing to let the man win whatever mean-spirited game he was trying to force upon him. "The Draught of Living Death, sir, a sleeping potion that makes whoever takes it appear dead from how deep a sleep they fall into. There is no known cure."
Malfoy's snickering stopped and he gaped at Harry. The Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors watched on with confusion, though they seemed to be silently cheering Harry on with smiles when he answered while looking at the Professor as though he was something foul. It seemed no one was particularly agreeable to the man's game except some of the Slytherins.
Daphne, however, was nodding and giving Harry a very rapid nod of the head, out of sight of the other Slytherins. Snape looked slightly surprised before he covered it up with a worse sneer than his previous one. Harry was suddenly very glad for his and Hermione's quizzes and recalling what she'd told him about detailed answers, he made sure to recall every single thing he could.
"So, you could take that arrogant overgrown head of yours out for five minutes of reading. I suppose those glasses had to be good for something other than making you look a fool." He snapped, making more than one person gape. Hermione looked like she was actually considering reaching for her wand. "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"In your supply cupboard, as all Herbologists and Potions Masters keep one on hand for emergencies. If I had to find one raw, however, I'd look around for it in the stomach of a goat, because it is a stone-like mass that forms into a marble shape, made out of things like hair, plant fibre, or similar ingredients that can't be digested. It is a cure to most poisons, though doesn't work on everything." Harry explained, never once taking his eyes off the man, who looked like he was very much not pleased with how this interaction was going.
"Stole notes from another student before coming to class, Mister Potter? Now that just is unacceptable." Snape glared. Harry felt his stomach do a flip in sheer indignant anger. Hannah now also looked like she wanted to speak up which was even more surprising. While Hermione disagreeing with a teacher or authority was rare, she'd always been as protective of her brother as he was of her. Hannah however had proven very nervous in class over the past week, similar to how Neville could be, and so it was a surprise to see her genuinely glaring at a teacher. Even Daphne was starting to give her head of house dirty looks. "I'll see to it that is dealt with. What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"Nothing, sir. They are the same plant. They also go by the name of aconite and can be extremely toxic to anyone who comes into contact with the leaves of them. The root however is used in several potions that prevent transfiguration like effects from occurring, depending on the potion and other ingredients."
"Very well." Snape snarled, clearly annoyed Harry was answering correctly before looking around. "Well? Why aren't you copying this down!?"
Everyone quickly began scribbling away, writing down what they'd heard. Snape meanwhile stood up, glaring down at Harry and announced the most infuriating thing so far.
"For your disrespect and arrogance, that will be one point from Hufflepuff, Potter."
The explosion of complaints was deafening and not just from Harry's fellow Hufflepuffs. The Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors too were quick to declare the point reduction unfair and nothing more than bullying at this rate. Even some of the Slytherins looked shocked at the point taken for a moment.
"Silence! I did not ask for the opinion of children without authority. Five points from each of you who complained." He declared, dropping several jaws. He managed to enrage them further with his smug smirk. "And ten points to Slytherin for them being smart and keeping quiet. The instructions are on the board! Begin!"
Everyone reluctantly got to work and Harry moved to Hermione.
"Oh, I hardly think I'm going to let such a young troublemaker be with his partner in crime." Snape sneered, looking around. Harry felt himself on the verge of actually shouting at the man but he was given a saving grace in the form of a voice he had been hoping to hear be friendly to him all week.
"Sir, may I request your help with a partner?" Daphne's voice called. The second Snape looked at her she gave Harry a glare that looked very mean-spirited and he felt his heart drop. "I have some trouble understanding the reading material."
"Take Potter," Snape smirked, sounding amused as he practically shoved Harry to the girl. "And don't blow up my classroom."
The Slytherins grinned, the other students watched the pair wearily and Snape turned, stalking off as noise began to rise in the room. The second there was decent cover and no one was looking, Daphne leaned in.
"Relax, I'm not going to do anything. That was… I can't believe they let that man teach." Daphne said quietly. "I'm sorry about how I've been pretending to be."
"So, it's just an act like I thought?" He asked, relieved and she nodded.
"Just an act. I know you'll ask why but just, I promise I'll explain soon. Let's not give Snape more reasons to go off on whatever the heck kind of tirade that was again. I'm hoping me and you together will cancel out any favouritism or bias and make him judge us fairly, and that he won't split us if he thinks I'll be trying to interfere with your work." She said and the two set to work. "I do like sharing classes with you though, I just wish it was more friendly."
"Me too." Harry nodded as they settled down and began quietly talking as they worked, doing an equal amount of work. Harry prepared ingredients, while Daphne watched over the cauldron and stirred it when necessary.
If it wasn't for Snape, it might have actually been enjoyable, but the unpleasant teacher hadn't yet exhausted his nastiness as he swept around the room, criticizing everyone as he went, especially Gryffindors.
He snapped at Ron about his 'inherent Weasley foolishness' showing itself when he mixed up one ingredient with another. Hannah had Snape breathing down her neck at one point and despite having done fine the rest of the lesson, his harsh glare soon got her shaking which hadn't pleased Snape at all. ("If this is your demeanour with your teacher looking over your results, I pity your future exam results.")
It took all Harry's self-control to not be taken by his temptation to use his telekinesis and throw the professor headfirst into one of the cauldrons. The only upside to the class was Daphne was talking to him, quietly and making it look as if she was being more unpleasant than she really was.
In fact, any time Snape looked their way, Harry would feel a small hand squeeze his wrist in comfort as he worked, hidden out of sight of judging eyes. Really, his Slytherin friend was what made the class worth getting through without just storming out the room, as she was the only thing giving him brief bursts of happiness as he finally got to talk to her properly for the first time since the train.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end and Snape wasn't content to let said ending be happy. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as painful-looking red boils sprang up all over his limbs.
"Idiot boy!" Snarled Snape, as he cleared the spilled potion away with a wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.
"Take him to the hospital wing." Snape spat at Neville's partner before rounding and storming up to Harry of all people. "Potter!"
"Yes sir?" Harry asked, trying his damnedest not to let his irritation show.
"Why did you not tell him not to add them?" Harry had to bite back his desire to snarl back at the man that they were on the other side of the room. He'd never wanted to snarl at anyone before but the professor was pushing him far more than anyone had before. "Thought it would make you look good, did you?"
"No sir, I was focused on my own potion—"
"Don't! Speak back to me!" Snape spat angrily, looming over the boy. "I see you've left Miss Greengrass to do all your work as well, hoping to steal all the credit? Detention, Potter!"
"What?!" Harry asked before he could stop himself, earning another glare.
"I don't tolerate laziness—"
"But sir!" Daphne spoke up before she seemed to be able to stop herself, surprising Harry and Snape. "We've been splitting the work evenly."
"I don't see any indication of that," Snape said coolly. "I see you standing dealing with the cauldron like a sensible Slytherin while your partner stands about lazily doing nothing. Dismissed! All of you! And don't think you'll be escaping punishment, Potter."
"….That man…." Daphne looked like she wanted to shout, shocked and angry. "I'm sorry, Harry."
"It's not your fault," He assured her, sighing. "He seems like he has it out for me…"
"He shouldn't." Daphne frowned, walking to the door. "I'll try not to let him get you next week…"
Harry blinked in surprise at the quiet promise. He saw her smile at him before suddenly changing to a sneer and cold words came out.
"And don't even think of telling Snape I messed up your potion on purpose. Besides, he won't believe you." She suddenly turned and stormed off. Harry blinked, before the Slytherins all snickered as they walked by.
That all but confirmed it then.
Daphne was scared of her classmates finding out about her friends. Hell, she was probably scared of her own head of house finding out now. That just made for yet another reason for Harry to want to scream, as he walked out and found his sister, along with a sobbing Hannah and angry looking Ron.
"Ignore him, Hannah. He's nothing but an oversized bully." Hermione told the girl firmly but gently, rubbing circles into her back. Harry scowled and that was the moment he decided it.
He was going to make sure Severus Snape got what he deserved.