A/N I used google translate for the Hindi, hopefully it's correct. I don't own the rights to Harry Potter. Or the rest of these characters.
Chapter Four: The Redhead
Harry James Potter was a werewolf on a mission. Three missions in fact. Two of those missions were decided by him and Remus before he even arrived at King's Cross the day before, the other was decided by him at the feast last night. They were Operation: Map, Operation: Snivellus and Operation: Third Floor. Operation: Third Floor was going to be renamed as soon as possible. He was currently on his way to the third floor corridor so he could think of a new name, when he was stopped by a voice. "An ickle firsty awake this early?"
The second red-headed twin spoke up. "Now, now, brother. Dumbledore did look at him immediately after us in his Forbidden Forest warning. He's probably up to mischief."
The twin's apparent friend grinned. "Well, we should probably warn him about the competition." He turned to Harry. "I'm Lee Jordan. These two are Fred and George Weasley, your guess is as good as mine as to which is which."
The twin on the right spoke. "I'm Fred, he's George." Harry nodded, memorising the slight difference in smell only a werewolf could notice.
Harry grinned at them. "Well, it's nice to meet you, but I'm not 'the competition', as you put it. I have no intention of pranking anyone. Unless they give me reason to." Fred and George grinned.
"So, our reputation precedes us?"
"We ought to be flattered."
"But just because you won't prank people,"
"Doesn't mean you aren't the competition."
"You could still get more detentions than us,"
"Or lose more House points." Harry laughed.
"The first thing my adoptive father taught me was: don't get caught. So, you're going to be safe with the detention record." Harry smiled. "Now, I must be off. Rules to break and teachers to hide from." He gave the three boys a wave and disappeared out of the portrait.
"Wonder what he's up to."
Fred and George looked at each other before answering their friend in unison. "Let's follow him and find out." They hurried out of the portrait and saw Harry turn the corner. The threesome hurried after him and turned the corner to discover that Harry had disappeared.
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A Cerberus. A goddamn Cerberus. Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table trying to think of why the absolute fuck they'd have a Cerberus in a school.
"Morning, Potter." Harry looked up at his acquaintance. He didn't feel like he knew Malfoy well enough to call him a friend yet, but he felt comfortable calling him a friendly acquaintance.
"Good morning, Malfoy." Neither Remus nor Ramrao were Pureblood traditionalists, though both had a very good understanding of Pureblood traditions. Ramrao had made sure that both his daughters and Harry knew the traditions some of their classmates might follow, one of which was the use of someone's surname as a means of showing respect, until they gave you permission to use their first name. He knew he had Malfoy's permission the day before, but that might have been because of the blond boys recently ended friendship with Crabbe and Goyle.
"Please, Potter, you can call me Draco, if you want." Harry smiled.
"Then, please, call me Harry." Harry hoped the distance between the two that now existed because of the House separation wouldn't be the end of their association. He knew it wouldn't end the friendship between him and Padma, but the association with Draco was much more recent and less defined, so the extra distance could end their relationship before it could even began. Draco suggested that they find a time to meet up to do homework and hang out after classes, to which Harry readily agreed. Draco returned to the Slytherin table shortly before Neville and Parvati joined Harry at the Gryffindor table, Padma waving at them before sitting down with the other Ravenclaws to wait for her timetable. It didn't take long for the timetables to be handed out. "Charms with the Ravenclaws first. It'll be nice to have a class with Padma immediately. Hopefully, we'll all be able to sit together."
"If we get split up into pairs, then I'm going to sit with my sister. It's going to be hard being in separate Houses." The trio looked up at the Weasley boy in their year as he ran in and started to cover a plate in bacon and eggs. As well as most of what was on offer. He looked as though he'd just got up and got dressed on the way down. The trio turned away as McGonagall began scolding him for his attire and lateness. "Are we going to try to be friends with Draco? He's a Malfoy, which makes me want to just let the distance of the Houses end things, but he seems like he's burned quite a few bridges with his actions yesterday. He could probably do with some friends."
Harry finished his mouthful of eggs. "I actually had a conversation with him just before you guys arrived. He seems to want to be our friend. We were going to plan a time after classes to hang out and go over our homework and stuff. Assuming we get homework on the first day." All three of them pulled a face at the thought.
"H-hopefully not. I wouldn't want t-to have to work on that s-so early on." Harry and Parvati exchanged a look at the return of Neville's stutter. It had disappeared over the course of the train ride, but it seemed to have come back with a vengeance.
"We can see if we can find Draco during the free period after Charms." Harry and Neville agreed with Parvati's plan and finished their breakfast, before the three walked over to the Ravenclaw table to greet Padma. Once she'd finished the last few bites of her breakfast, they set off for the Charms classroom. They waited together for the rest of the class to arrive and for them to be allowed in. Weasley, stuffing one last bit of toast into his mouth, barely managed to make it to the classroom before Professor Flitwick opened the door to let them in. Once the door was open they realised they'd have to split up into pairs as the tables only seated two.
Both Patil's grabbed a seat together, whilst Harry took the table just behind them. Neville was just about to sit down, when Weasley shoved him out of the way. "Hi, Harry. My name's Ron. Ron Weasley." He seemed oblivious to Harry's glare. "It's so great, being in the same House and all. I'm sure we'll be great friends!" He smiled widely, showing off a few pieces of bacon still stuck in his teeth.
Neville began to dejectedly walk to another table, when Harry grabbed his arm to stop him. "I don't think we will, Weasley. Especially since you just shoved one of my friends out of the way to sit next to me." Neville stood up straight and smiled at being called Harry's friend. "Now, please get out of Neville's seat." Weasley scowled and got up to go and sit with someone else. There were only two unoccupied seats, one next to a Ravenclaw boy called Malone and one next to Hermione Granger. Weasley chose to sit with his own House.
"Thanks, H-Harry."
"No problem, Nev. You're my friend. Gotta look out for each other, you know?" Neville nodded in agreement. Padma and Parvati both turned around and made it clear to Neville that they were his friends too.
"Good morning, class. I hope you get along with the person you're sitting next to, because these will be your seats for the rest of the year." Malone groaned. "I'm sorry, Mr Malone, but someone had to be on their own. The tables are close enough to each other, however, that you should be able to talk with your neighbours easily enough. Don't use that as an excuse to slack off in my class, though. Charms are an important part of any young wizards knowledge. They can be extremely versatile, from creating light to read a book at night, to lifting a heavy piece of furniture through the house, to combat, to putting out a fire and even pranking a friend. You'll have to learn pranking charms in your own time, though. Now, time to take the register."
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"Ah, Harry! Glad I caught up with you! Sorry about that earlier, didn't realise you and Neville were mates." Harry and his friends turned to look at Weasley.
Neville was still somewhat expecting Harry and the Patil's to stop being his friend and didn't want to tell them what to do, although in his head he was still a bit annoyed at Weasley for his earlier rudeness. Weasley's lack of respect in calling Harry by his first name without permission was also rather insulting to his sensibilities. None of this showed, of course, because of Neville's horrendous nervousness. The girls were both still very angry at Weasley for shoving Neville and were not afraid to show it, but settled for sharp glares, in case Harry actually wanted to be friends with the buffoon. Their glares went completely unnoticed by the redhead. Harry was still a bit peeved at Weasley's earlier rudeness, as well as the implication that he was only sorry for pushing Neville because he was Harry's friend and that, had they not been friends, there wouldn't have been an issue in Weasley's eyes. However, he decided to give Weasley a second chance, just in case there was actually a decent person hidden underneath the rudeness. Plus, his older brothers had seemed alright when he'd spoken to them that morning. That thought made him realise he hadn't mentioned the Cerberus to any of his friends yet.
"That's alright, just don't do it again. We're just on the way to find another one of our friends, do you wanna join?" Weasley smiled and nodded. "How'd you guys like the lesson?" Weasley pulled a face.
"I found it quite interesting. A shame that we didn't get to actually do any spells, but it is probably for the best that we're focusing on theory first. It'll probably make sure no one makes any harmful mistakes." Parvati laughed at her sister.
"Of course the Ravenclaw is happy with theory." She shrugged lightly. "I found it quite interesting as well, though. Can't wait until we can actually start practising the spells for ourselves, though. What about you, Neville?"
Neville jumped slightly at being addressed. "Um, I e-enjoyed it too, but I'm n-not sure if I'll actually be any g-good at the spells." Harry slapped Neville on the shoulder.
"Of course you will, Nev! And if you find it hard, we'll help you out after class." Neville smiled appreciatively.
"Th-thanks, but my gran tried t-teaching me some spells before school. I could never get my dad's wand to work for me." Harry smiled reassuringly.
"Well, you've got your own wand now! That should help." Neville shook his head.
"No, this is m-my dads wand. I inherited it."
"What happened to your dad?" Neville looked down at the ground and muttered that he did not want to talk about it. Padma and Parvati scowled at Weasley for his tactless question. Harry frowned slightly, since he knew that it was important to get a wand that matched the owner, but before he could ask Neville if his fathers wand has chosen him, he heard a familiar voice greeting them.
The sight of Weasley in the group gave Draco a few seconds of pause, but he still approached. He even made the decision to treat Weasley with some degree of amicability, though he doubted he'd get the same response. "Hello, Weasley. I wasn't aware you knew Harry." Weasley's response was to spit out Draco's surname like a curse.
"What are you doing here, snake?"
Parvati smiled sweetly. A part of her was kind of glad Weasley didn't like Draco. "This is the friend we were looking for, Weasley." The redhead turned and looked at her in disbelief. The first time he'd really acknowledged her at all.
"A Malfoy as your friend?" Parvati nodded, the smile not leaving her face. "Are you mad? He's a dirty snake! You can't trust him, he's evil!"
"Why am I evil, Weasley?" Draco deliberately kept his voice calm, so as to not escalate things too much. He'd have happily let Parvati deal with it all, but he didn't want Weasley to keep shouting at her, especially since she'd been nice enough to call him her friend.
Weasley glares at Draco. "You're a Slytherin! Everyone knows all Slytherin's are evil, racist gits! And you're a Malfoy! The Malfoy's are the worst of the evil, racist gits!" Weasley turned to Harry. "Tell this git to piss off, or I'm out of here!"
"If you wanted to be my friend, Weasley, you've done a terrible job of it." Weasley leaned back as though he'd been slapped. "Earlier, you shoved one of my friends out of his seat." Draco's eyes narrowed. "Now, you insult another one of my friends and tell me to get rid of him because you don't like him. Despite the fact that you've never met before. You know, I think I will take your advice and tell the git to piss off!" Weasley smirked at Draco. A few seconds passed. "Weasley, you are the git I'm referring to. Piss off, you idiotic git."
Weasley glared at Harry and Draco. "Fine! Bet your parents would be so ashamed of their son!" Harry reared back as though he'd been slapped, as the others gasped in shock. "They died fighting against the Slytherin's, they wouldn't want you to be friends with one of the evil bastards." He stormed off in a rage.
"I know you're a noble Gryffindor, Harry, but I know a few decent spells I could hit him with."
"No, don't stoop to his level with cheap shots."
"Harry, turn around and let Draco curse the haraamee." Harry chuckled at Parvati's instruction. He wasn't quite sure what she'd called Weasley, but he assumed it wasn't very nice.
"As much as I'd enjoy seeing that, he'd just take it as justification for his hatred and get us in trouble for it." Draco mumbled that it was too late, since Weasley had turned the corner. "Besides, there was something I wanted to mention to you guys." His friends all turned to look at him, intrigued by the statement. Draco even lowered his wand from where he'd been aiming in the hopes of cursing Weasley. "This morning, before I went to breakfast, I went up to the third floor corridor."
"R-really? But what about the p-painful death we w-were warned about?"
"I wanted to know what kind of painful death I'd face if I went there." Draco had a rather different reaction to Neville.
"I wouldn't have thought you'd go there. The Weasley twins, yes. Some of the older Slytherin's, sure. The famous Boy-Who-Lived, no." The girls quickly made it clear that Harry's guardian had been quite a rule-breaker whilst at Hogwarts, the same as Harry's father. Neither of them were surprised he'd gone, though they'd thought he'd have waited a little bit longer to get settled. "Alright, I guess I stand corrected. So, what painful death awaits us on the third floor?"
"A Cerberus." The others blinked.
Parvati laughed slightly. "Ok, sure, Harry. Now, what's really up there?" Harry merely looked her in the eye, deadpan. "Hagana, you're serious. What in Ganesha's name is a Cerberus doing here?"
Harry shrugged. "No idea. Just thought I'd mention it, though. Anyway." He turned to Draco. "We should figure out where the best place to hangout will be. Come on, we've got about an hour until we've got to go back to class. Let's go exploring!" They left the corridor they'd been in to look for an unused classroom or something that they could use as a sort of inter-house common room.
A/N: I thought I'd include the timetable for first year here. The times for the timetable are based off of one of my old timetables. I didn't bother to come up with a timetable for any other year and I'm sure it would be almost impossible to avoid overlaps if I'd done it for all 7 years. They have break time at 11-11:20 and lunchtime from 12:20-13:35.
Monday:
9-10: GR Charms/SH Transfiguration
10-11: Free Period
11:20-12:20: GR Transfiguration/SH Charms
13:35-14:35: GS Herbology/RH Potions
14:35-15:35: RH Flying
22-23: Sleep
Tuesday:
9-10: Free Period
10-11: GR Charms/SH Transfiguration
11:20-12:20: GH History of Magic/SR DADA
13:35-14:35: GS Potions/RH Herbology
14:35-15:35: GH DADA/SR History of Magic
22-23: G Astronomy
Wednesday:
9-10: GS Herbology/RH Potions
10-11: Free Period
11:20-12:20: GS Potions/RH Herbology
13:35-14:35: GH DADA/SR History of Magic
14:35-15:35: GH History of Magic/SR DADA
22-23: R Astronomy
Thursday:
9-10: Free Period
10-11: GR Charms/SH Transfiguration
11:20-12:20: GH History of Magic/SR DADA
13:35-14:35: GR Transfigurstion/SH Charms
14:35-15:35: GS Herbology/RH Potions
22-23: H Astronomy
Friday:
9-10: GR Transfiguration/SH Charms
10-11: Free Period
11:20-12:20: GH DADA/SR History of Magic
13:35-14:35: GS Flying
14:35-15:35: GS Potions/RH Herbology
22-23: S Astronomy