Harry Potter and The Academy of Heroes - Chapter 7

-|A|-

On Monday, they were all told to meet their teacher at P.E. Ground. Aizawa greeted them there with his usual hobo look and tired face.

"Sensei? Shouldn't we be going to the official orientation?"

"At U.A., teachers are given a certain degree of freedom with how we teach things. I already told you to read the information you were given. As such, I find the orientation redundant. Unless, of course, you're trying to tell me you didn't read the assigned material?" His glare caused the unlucky recipient to backtrack quickly. "That's what I thought. Today we'll be doing the standard Quirk Apprehension Test. I assume most of you had something similar in Middle School. The government still tries to pretend that everyone's fundamentally equal. It's a lie. That's why, you're not only allowed, but encouraged to use your quirks to full capacity today."

Harry raised his hand, but Aizawa ignored it.

"Bakugou." The request earned a dissatisfied grunt from the boy. "What's your record in ball throw?"

"56 meters." The boy grunted.

"I want you to throw it, but use your quirk."

Katsuki walked over into the circle and took the ball. "Anything goes?"

"Just stay in the circle," Aizawa responded in the most sleepy voice they've heard.

Bakugou tossed the ball up to test its weight once before he leaned back. He channeled every bit of frustration from the last few months. The anger on his parents, on that Snape guy, on the school. And most of all, anger on himself. The meeting with the principal on Friday only fueled his rage.

"DIE!" The explosion created by his quirk sent waves of pressurized air in all directions. The ball vanished far in the distance.

For a moment, everyone remained speechless.

"707.5 meters." Aizawa showed them the phone with the registered score.

"It doesn't look that hard. In fact, it looks like fun!" Ashido cheered.

"Fun?" Eraserhead's red eyes swept over the class. "Then what about this: the one with the lowest score… gets expelled."

The murmur of outrage carried over the crowd of surprised students.

"Kero, sensei wouldn't expel anyone on the first day, right?"

This made Harry chuckle lightly, attracting everyone's attention. "You're talking 'bout the guy who ended up expelling his entire class last year."

"I find this hard to believe that the teacher at such a prestigious academy would expel an entire class and spreading unfounded rumors about our sensei is unbecoming." Iida scolded Harry, who just shrugged.

"Mate. He literally told me that himself. It's not a rumor. He then proceeded to up my 'remedial classes' to eleven." The Wix shuddered at the memory. His muscles weren't that sore even after the worst of Wood's training.

"But… I thought… surely it would've been just a way to… motivate us to do our best?" Momo looked especially shaken at the revelation, her previous confidence gone and replaced with terror.

"Now that Potter finished scaring you all gray, we should begin." Aizawa cut any further discussion.

"Sensei?" Harry apparently wasn't done yet. "I already did this all with my quirk. Quite recently. You supervised."

The grin on Aizawa's face would cause little children to cry and haunt the nightmares of 1-A for foreseeable future. "That just means I can judge your progress that much better and judge you that much harsher, right?"

It quickly became apparent that while many of the 1-A students had practiced with their quirks, most simply weren't on the same level as the top five.

The training Harry did throughout the last two years under Snape and later Aizawa showed in both his confidence with his quirk and the level of control he had. For example, during the 50-meter dash, he used the same trick as during recommended students exam, where he flashed just behind the starting line and appeared centimeters before, allowing the momentum to carry him forward. The system was unable to properly measure his score and kept displaying error until Aizawa wacked it and it displayed zero. Similarly, during the ball throw, he began to flash it just as it left his hand, allowing it to vanish without stepping out of the circle himself. The score ended up being infinite again as the GPS couldn't locate the ball's location and it was supposed to be able to find it anywhere near Mustafu.

Midoriya simply powered through all the exercises. The enhancement side of his quirk was incredibly powerful. His speed, strength, and endurance put him beyond everyone else and the cat traits further helped. He definitely won the flexibility part, but in Harry's opinion, the girl with dirty blonde hair was pretty close.

Then, there was Bakugou. While his approach was brutally simple, the sheer power of his quirk easily carried him through most of the tests. And it was obvious that he was also in peak physical shape even without his quirk taken into the account. Quite possibly the fittest person in the class (excluding Midoriya).

What surprised some was that Momo was also so far above others. Most of the class got a feeling that she was more of a 'rich-girl' type. Still, she did get into the U.A. Hero course on recommendation, so perhaps it shouldn't have been that big of a surprise that she was very skilled both with her quirk and beyond it. She was quite fit, although Harry would argue that riding a scooter on endurance training should be considered cheating.

Finally, Todoroki's quirk was powerful. Crazy powerful. Right up there with Midoriya and Harry. His control was also far above what would've been expected of a first-year student. Even so, he mostly overpowered the challenges with the sheer amount of ice he tossed at everything. That said, his physical endurance was also at its peak, meaning that he didn't rely on his quirk for everything, unlike some others.

It wasn't that the other classes did poorly. They all found one spot or another to shine in, with only a few exceptions. Overall, the performance was not terrible. When they were done, Aizawa presented them with the scoreboard.

Midoriya Izuku

Potter Harry

Yaoyorozu Momo

Todoroki Shouto

Bakugou Katsuki

Iida Tenya

Tokoyami Fumikage

Shouji Mezo

Ojiro Mashirao

Kirishima Eijiro

Ashido Mina

Uraraka Ochako

Kouda Koji

Asui Tsuyu

Aoyama Yuga

Sero Hanta

Kaminari Denki

Jiro Kyouka

Hagakure Toru

Shinso Hitoshi

"I knew being here was too good to be true. Guess that's it then…" Shinso sighed and put his hands in his pockets.

"As you can see…" Aizawa began. "Everyone passes."

The cries of relief echoed across the area. Most of the students missed the look of disbelief on Shinso's face. Midoriya looked him dead in the eyes though, right before he smiled and showed thumbs up.

Aizawa also noticed that expression. "That doesn't mean you're safe. Shinso. You'll be having remedial classes with me on Saturday afternoons until your physical performance is satisfactory." Once more the class was treated with a hellish grin. "Unless you're eager to pack your bags so soon."

"I guess it's not really a choice. I'm here to become a hero."

"Good. Class dismissed."

-|A|-

The first part of the next day was very much so a normal school for most people. Harry found himself thoughtfully confused at many simple intricacies of school life in U.A. High. The school was so bright that it by itself threw him off. Then there was that they stayed all day in the same classroom. The teachers came to them, not the other way around. It was weird. The subjects weren't by themselves all that different than what Snape had him study to catch up on material, but they were definitely tougher than anything he did back at Hogwarts. The sheer volume of things to learn was greater and the subjects were overall more heroic-oriented. The Art was focused on heroes' costumes and styles for example.

By lunch, Harry was already feeling tired. The previous amount of studying that he did during the Tri-wizard tournament only just so compared to being in the top school in the most coveted of courses.

"Please tell me you're just as exhausted?" He begged Yaoyorozu as they sat down for lunch in the cafeteria.

"While the classes are indeed engaging, I don't think I'm exhausted. Maybe slightly tired?" She offered, chuckling at his dismay.

"I feel ya', bro." Kaminari joined in. "I thought the entrance exam was hard, but this is torture!"

"As aspiring hero students-" Iida began, only to be interrupted.

"Iida, I wanted to ask," Harry's eyes bored into the other student with a clear message of shut up. "Isn't your brother the hero Ingenium? Iida Tensei?"

"Indeed, my brother is a brilliant hero who embodies the values that should lead all in this noble profession. I strive to one day follow in his footsteps and be exactly the kind of hero he is."

"That was… intense." Kaminari broke the silence that followed the declaration.

"That reminds me." Harry turned toward Todoroki, who was sitting a bit away from the small gathering of students. "Oi! Ice-boy."

"What?" He looked up with irritation on his face.

"Your name's Todoroki, right?"

"Yes. And before you ask, I'm related to-"

"Hiro Todoroki? The quidditch player?" Harry once more interrupted him. His passion for quidditch overwrote his usual reluctance at initiating human contact.

For a moment, Shouto stared at the Wizard with wide eyes. Finally, he spoke again, albeit his voice wavered slightly. "Yes. He's my uncle. Dad doesn't like to speak with him much though since he was born quirkless. I think the only reason we're even in touch is because he turned out to be a wizard."

"Cool." Harry nodded. "I saw one of his matches. He's a seeker for Mustafu Basans. You know perchance when they'll be playing next?"

"I… would have to ask." Todoroki was completely unused to anyone being interested in anyone but his father. He knew his uncle was something of a big deal among wizards, but he didn't exactly meet many wix his age before. It was… refreshing.

"Potter, you play Quidditch?" Yuga Aoyama suddenly appeared next to them.

"Yeah, back at Hogwarts I was the seeker for my house team."

"'ogwarts… My cousine vizited 'ogwarts not long ago." He put his finger to his lips. "You're ze 'Arry Potter! I can't believe I 'ave not recognized you!" He suddenly shouted in accented English.

Harry, for his part, shrunk immediately. There goes the lack of recognition he so enjoyed. Then, his brain started again. If Aoyama recognized him, it meant he had connections to the European wizarding world. No one from Japan visited Hogwarts recently to his knowledge, so he probably meant someone from France. The delegation from Beauxbatons arrived for the tri-wizard tournament.

"Moi cousine eez Fleur Delacour." Aoyama explained, noting the focused look on Harry's face. "She told me about you. You won ze tournament, right?"

"Yeah… But I also kinda developed a quirk so it's not like I could've stayed there." He consciously chose to speak English, disabling his translatory aid tattoo. "Look, they all think I'm dead and I'd really want to keep it that way. If you'd just… ignore that whole 'the-boy-who-lived' shit, I would appreciate it."

"I understand. My story is not disseemilar" Aoyama nodded. "Although being born a squib would mean I do not need to fear anyone finding me."

"You're part-Veela, like Fleur?"

"Oui."

"Cool-"

"Um, guys?" Momo finally chimed in. "I think I speak for everyone when I ask for some minor explanation."

"Ah…" Harry looked around to confused glances. Todoroki appeared completely disinterested though and just kept staring at his plate and eating. "Well, you know I'm from England, right?" Seeing everyone nod, he sighed. "Do you know how the quirks are approached in England, or Europe in general?"

"Oh!" Midoriya raised his hand. "Europe has the highest population of quirkless people in the world. It's also the only place besides Central Africa where people with 'pure' quirkless family trees can be found."

"Yeah. It's in large part because people with quirks are considered second-class citizens at best. Worse if you're also a wix. If people back there learned I had a quirk, I would be either tossed in prison as a 'dark creature' or outright killed."

The looks of horror on his classmates' faces somewhat reassured him. He noted that even Bakugou (who sat on the other end of the table than Todoroki) appeared disgusted.

"That's barbaric."

"That's European Wizarding Society for you." Harry shrugged. "They're still stuck in Eighteen century."

"It saddens me to hear of such injustice occurring in broad daylight." Yaoyorozu proclaimed.

"Thanks. Anyway, yeah, the reason I faked my death and run was exactly that."

"That got dark surprisingly fast…" Uraraka looked down up from her plate. Seeing his saddened look she quickly spoke again. "Don't worry, Potter-chan. We'll be by your side."

"Yeah, man!" Kirishima smiled, showing off his pointy teeth. "What you did was totally manly. No one here's gonna blame you"

After they finished eating in the somewhat somber atmosphere, they returned to their classroom. As they took their seats, the doors opened with a loud whiff of air and Snape strode in his full hero costume, with cape billowing after him. Harry really needed to learn that spell.

"Welcome to Counter-magic Heroism Class," he began while waving his wand and making the words appear on the blackboard. "With the increased integration of witches and wizards into the society, a similar process began in the underworld. In addition, the number of wizards and witches developing a quirk is rising each year. The aurors, magical law enforcement, are not equipped to deal with either of those cases properly, thus the need for heroes to step up and fill the void. Each licensed hero is granted the authority of a Hit Wizard, which is in many forms similar to that of an auror. In fact, Hit Wizard codex was in part the base for modern Professional Heroes code of conduct. With the rise of criminal elements blending magic into their repertoire, Heroes need to be prepared to deal with such challenges. U.A. was the first to notice that need and this course was implemented to all Hero Classes. Am I boring you miss Ashido?" His tone never changed. It took some of them a moment to even properly process the question he just asked.

"Uh… No sensei?"

"Was that a statement or a question?" His red eyes seemed to bore into her very soul.

"No sensei. It's just that… I've seen some wizards fight. How are we supposed to do anything without magic?"

Snape looked at her for a bit longer before breaking eye contact and turning to the board.

"Wizards and Witches almost always fight using only spells." A wave of his wand caused two figures to appear on the board. They were dressed in overly-simplified robes and carried sticks/wands. "A magical duel is often fought between only two fighters, where each stands in one place and throws spells at each other. Rarely if ever will any form of martial arts or other weapons be implemented." Another wave of his wand caused one of the figures to lose their stick and robes, instead gaining a cape. "What many magicals fail to realize is that spells are, objectively speaking, painfully slow and inefficient." The caped stick figure easily avoided colorful beams and projectiles until it got close and defeated the wizard with one good kick. "An average spell, while at first glance might appear fast, is in fact much slower than most quirks. Fighting a wizard or a witch is often a challenge of agility as much as quick thinking. A good wizard will implement the environment and the very reality against you, but most of those do not join simple criminal organizations. A dark lord or lady, title equal to S-rank villain and awarded to only worst and vilest criminals, will often have the aid of several other magicals and those truly clever will implement dark creatures and mundanes into their army. In this class, I hope to teach you how to deal with magical threats…"

The lecture carried on and Harry found himself invested. It was very close to DADA back at Hogwarts, only taught in an entirely muggle… sorry, mundane way. He even helped somewhat with demonstrations, both offensive casting and shielding. Seeing his golden barrier crack under Shouji's punches made him reevaluate spells he needed to learn. Standard Protego was often weak to physical force and would crack under enough pressure.

-|A|-

The next day, they were supposed to have their first true Foundational Heroics Studies. As they eagerly sat inside the classroom and waited for the teacher to arrive, Harry amused himself by reading the quidditch magazine he owl-ordered thanks to Todoroki. The boy didn't speak with him anymore since the lunch the day before, but he gave him an address for ordering Japanese Quidditch Weekly.

"I AM HERE! WALKING THROUGH THE DOORS LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" All Might arrived. His entrance was about as far away from a 'normal person' as humanly possible.

"All Might?" Midoriya beamed in his chair. "You're our Heroics' teacher?"

"Indeed, young Midoriya. Now. This class will make you face trials that will help you become better heroes in the future. Today we will begin with… Battle Trials!"

The excited murmur traveled through the class.

"But first!" He raised one finger. "Your costumes. The support department made them to the specifications you provided while filling the paperwork. Put them on and meet me on the ground Beta" The wall slid open to reveal twenty suitcases that contained their new costumes. "From this moment on, you're all heroes."

Harry picked his box and walked to the changing room. His outfit wasn't fully made by the support department. Instead, he had to order various parts from artisans both Japan and (anonymously) outside. Mostly because nothing the support department would make could withstand the phoenix fire in any prolonged capacity. The parts were then given to them to modify with what he had in mind. The exception was his new glasses, which were 100% made by them. Instead of his old, mismatched wire glasses, he now wore more sleek and pronounced frames. They were made to stay firm on his head and he added personalized sticking charm to the nose and ears himself. The lenses were still circles, but now he had them slightly darkened, with a barely-noticeable green tint.

As he opened the suitcase, the first thing that caught everyone's attention was a pair of white boxer briefs with light-red spots all over them.

Seeing all males of 1-A send him questioning looks, he blushed lightly. "I would like to see how'd you deal with a quirk that can set your entire body on fire that can burn through almost every material in existence."

"Totally manly, but what are those then?"

"I have no idea what are these made of and honestly I don't want to know. The important thing is that they are entirely and utterly inflammable. It's literally impossible to burn them. I could drop them into the sun and they would survive. At least that's what the Persian trader boasted."

"Cool!"

"Magic is indeed magnifique."

"Okay, boys. Time to rock." Harry smirked and with an intricate move of his wand, they were all instantly dressed in their outfits. Magic was very cool.

-|A|-

When Momo designed her costume, she might've made a mistake. Her quirk required a lot of exposed skin, but she was cold. The wind that day was particularly irritating. She would need to get something that didn't restrain her quirk but shielded her from the cold. Maybe a cape? That could work. She focused to a moment and a dark-red cape sprouted from her neck and settled over her shoulders.

Just as she was finished, the boys walked out of the changing room together. They marched confidently forward in their costumes and Momo had to agree with Hagakure that some of them were indeed in peak physical condition. Or in layman terms 'shredded'.

She then noticed Potter's outfit and felt her cheeks flush. He wore black leather combat boots in a rather old-fashioned style. They were both capped with black metal reinforcement and had large silver buckles. Next, he wore dark-gray leather cargo pants with several pockets. The belt was deep red with a buckle in the shape of what she recalled was the Hogwarts crest. He wore no shirt, revealing his muscular body. All the training he did through the last two years, combined with potion regime and finally eating properly-sized portions gave him a true athlete's body. Over his naked torso, Harry wore a black leather long coat with silver buttons. As he walked, the bottom of it billowed after him. All the leather had a visibly scaly texture. She couldn't see it at the moment, but there was a Union Jack stitched onto the coat's back.

Harry, for his part, watched the costumes of his classmates with an appreciative look. They all had one theme or another going on. Or at least didn't look terrible. Aoyama's armor was somewhat comical, but he wasn't exactly in the position to criticize. His own outfit was made in ninety-five percent out of dragon leather. It was the only thing that would withstand his phoenix transformation. He did try a leather jacket, but it wouldn't work with his serpent transformation on the other hand. He also decided to add a bit of national pride to his image. Snape had the whole 'European Noble Vampire' schtick going on for him, so Harry settled on something closer to 'British Punk'. He refused to go all in, but according to Midnight, even that much as he had would go long way to help him on his way to be recognizable.

Then, he looked to where Momo stood and let out a highest-pitched "MEEP!" Anyone in 1-A ever heard. Then, he promptly set himself on fire while turning away and pointedly staring at some point in the distance.

"Potter-Kun, is something wrong?" All Might looked at the foreign student and started to worry if something happened.

"She's naked." He managed to squeak.

"My outfit is indeed somewhat revealing but I…"

"Not you. Her." He waved his hand somewhere in Momo's general direction. Yaoyorozu looked around, but the only girl near her was Hagakure, who was invisible. Wait… if she was invisible but wore gloves and shoes, did that mean…"

"Hagakure, are you wearing some high-tech camouflage bodysuit?" She asked, just to be certain.

"Oh!" The girl giggled. "No. The support department couldn't really get me anything like that. The tech is simply too complex to make into a flexible material that would be needed for my suit."

"Ah. Um… Sensei?" Yaoyorozu turned to All Might. I think I know what happened. Potter-chan can see Hagakure despite her quirk. Hagakure doesn't exactly have… costume on herself right now."

"Wait! He can see me?" The invisible girl squeaked and her gloves moved to cover her.

"Given that he's set himself on fire in embarrassment, I would say so," Kaminari joked.

Harry meanwhile managed to calm his initial shock and pulled his wand. Without even looking, he swished it a few times. "Bracamorpho."

A pair of clean female underwear and a sports bra appeared and floated in the air in front of Hagakure. It was white and very plain, but it would do the job. The (not quite) invisible girl quickly leaped to put it on. It fit perfectly. "Nice. Can I keep it?"

"It will vanish in about twelve hours or so."

"That's a very specific spell if I understood it correctly," Sero commented.

"I told you that my fire often burned through my usual underwear during training? Learning this spell was a must. By now I can use it while half-dead, poisoned, and running from three angry bears."

"That's… oddly specific."

"You don't wanna know." Harry dismissed it.

"Oh-kay?"

"Aaanyway!" All Might regained the class attention. They watched with amusement as he fumbled a bit with flashcards. "Ah! Here! Today, you'll be practicing one of the most important parts of being heroes!"

"Is it going to be like the entrance exam? Are we going to fight robots again?"

"Close, but no! Today, you'll be doing indoor fighting! While the big fights on the streets are what get the most media attention, the most dangerous villains are the ones that stay in the shadows. It's often up to the heroes to stop them before it's too late."

He shuffled through his cards once more before finding the one he was looking for.

"Today's scenario is as follows: Villains hid a nuclear device inside the city. The heroes found their hideout and now must stop them before it's too late. To win, they need to either capture the villains or touch the nuclear device. The villains win if fifteen minutes pass or if they capture the heroes. I will now divide you into groups of two."

Immediately, everyone scrambled to stand close to those they wanted to pair up with. Harry found himself moving near Yaoyorozu.

"Sensei, what method of sorting will you use?" Iida looked at their teacher. He was the only one who didn't move. Even the usual loners made effort to stay away from groups of people so they aren't mistaken for part of the said bunch.

"Good question! We're going to draw lots!" All Might excitedly pulled two boxes.

"Isn't this inefficient and negatively impairing our ability to participate in the battle trials?" Tenya continued.

"No, it actually makes a lot of sense," Jiro spoke. "Think about it, the pros must often work with whoever arrives on scene first."

"Indeed. Please forgive me, sensei." He bowed.

"I like your enthusiasm, young man!" All Might's eyes glinted. "Now! Team A: Midoriya Izuku and Todoroki Shouto. Team B:..."

After the teams were assigned, All Might drawed two balls with big letters A and D.

"Wait… that means…" Harry looked between himself, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugou. "The four of us… Sensei, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Whatever do you mean!?" All Might's cheerful tone made it clear didn't see the problem with that matchup.

"You want to pit four objectively speaking most powerful students against each other?"

"Yes?!" Now the confusion was palpable in his voice.

"This place won't survive…" Harry shook his head, amazed just how their teacher could miss the obvious landmine.

"Now, destruction of the hideout is not very heroic and the villains wouldn't want to destroy their own base." All Might schooled them.

"That's incorrect All Might. Sensei. All Might-sensei." Midoriya fumbled with words. "I mean in about ninety percent of cases villains would be more likely to go all out on the heroes if their base was threatened. A good example is Ryukuro's fight with Ryukyu, where the two dragons destroyed part of Kourscanta ward. It was the final attempt to stop the dragon villain that only just succeeded. Another example would be Endeavor's fight with Fire Spirit and the subsequent fall of her organization. While the hero himself claims that the fight began on the street, if one reads the police report carefully, they will notice that there is seven minutes gap between Hero's arrival and when the first signs of open battle were sighted. There is also the case of Gang Orca's battle against Thunder Horn. In this case, the hero openly spoke that initially, he attempted to contain the fight to villain's main base, only for Thunder Horn to keep escalating the fight." Midoriya had his notebook in hand and kept paging through it, looking for more proofs. "The point is, when both hero and villain have highly destructive, flashy quirks, the villain will usually go all out, forcing the hero to retaliate. Pairing explosions, ice, Potter-chan's, and my quirks in one fight is like asking for a disaster."

"You'll be fine!" All Might proclaimed. "Team D are the villains. You'll have five minutes to prepare."

"What about magic, Sensei?" Harry asked before they left, just to be safe.

All Might paused for a moment. On one hand, Potter's magic was an incredibly versatile tool that would help him one day be a great hero. But he also knew that the limit was often only knowledge and imagination and from the recording of School Festival last year, Potter had at least imagination in spades. Thus, he doubted his classmates were quite ready to deal with a fully-trained wizard in addition to his powerful quirk.

"For now, refrain from using any magic for the duration of this exercise. Your classmates are not yet trained in fighting against it. After more classes with Lord Nox, I believe they will become fully capable of combating it."

"No problem. Kinda guessed it would be like that." Harry shrugged while dismissing his idea of notice-me-noting the bomb.

Inside, he and Bakugou looked around the empty room with a fake bomb standing in the center.

"Okay, we should discuss strategies."

"Tch. Stay out of my way while I beat the shit out of those two extras. Neku won't even know what hit him."

"Seriously? That's your plan?" Harry looked at his partner. "I'll tell you from experience that this plan would only get you killed. We can do that and fail, or we can actually sit down and try to win."

Bakugou wanted to explode that stupid extra who dared to question him. He felt the power of his quirk in his hands. It would've been easy.

Instead, he took a deep breath. 5. After counting to ten, he slowly released the air. Three such repeats later allowed him to get his temper somewhat in check. Enough to be able to plan something. "Fine. I assume you have a plan?"

"Midoriya was taught by Nedzu. He'll be ready for anything we might try to throw at them and predict every move we make before we do."

"So?"

"So we use the most un-optimal plan we can come up with. And act against what he'd plan. Here's what we'll do..."

About at the same time, Midoriya tried to get Todoroki to cooperate. He achieved about as much as if he tried to get Bakugou to shave bald. The boy just stood in front of the doors, creating an aura of cold with his quirk. Even his costume was cold. Okay, Izuku couldn't exactly point fingers. His outfit wasn't exactly all that better. He wore a dark-green sleeveless bodysuit with special space left for his tail. On his hands, he wore leather fingerless gloves with reinforced knuckles and metal armguards. His red boots were similarly toeless, leaving his paws to stick out. Both his shinguards and armguards were creating a small flame along the center. His belt had several pockets where he could store basic support items that every hero should carry, like medical supplies or a small camera (for evidence gathering). He had no mask to speak of, but instead he chose to wear a faceguard similar to Hawks, with headphones and glasses. Only his were green-tinted. He didn't need to worry about his headphones limiting his hearing with a second pair of working (cat) ears on top of his head.

"Begin!" All Might's voice carried over the ground. Immediately, all the cold aura focused to create a giant iceberg that smashed into the building, freezing everything inside as well. For a moment, Izuku deluded himself into thinking that this was it. They could enter the building and get to the bomb.

Right until there was a flare of green fire on the fourth floor, followed by an explosion on the third.

"They split up." Izuku realized. "Kaachan will rush me as soon as he can, but Potter-chan will likely stay near the bomb. Todoroki! The bomb is on the fourth floor!" It does make sense. We could've tried to enter from the rooftop and surprise them, so they chose one of the middle floors. Cold also has an easier time staying closer to the ground, which is why they picked the fourth, not the third floor. Clever.

"You done mumbling?" Todoroki snapped.

Before Mirodiya could answer, they both heard a loud hiss echoing through the corridor. They couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Every hiss sent involuntary shivers down their spines. Even though Izuku subconsciously knew that Potter wouldn't really hurt him, his body didn't listen to logic.

Then, the explosion happened.

"Neku!" Bakugou dashed forward from behind the corner, exploding large chunks of ice.

"I can take him, you get the bomb." Midoriya braced himself for impact.

Before Todoroki had a chance to do anything, a huge serpent burst through the wall and wrapped around the half'n'half teen. The tail was circling the left arm while the body wrapped around his torso. Potter started to wrestle with Todoroki, using the fact that he had practically total control of his left arm to smack him repeatedly in the face.

Midoriay allowed One for All to course through his body. He felt the power surge and grabbed the fire of the explosions nearby and shielded himself from Bakugou, who in turn flew right past him and delivered an explosive punch to Todoroki's midsection which Potter exposed just seconds ago.

Speaking of the serpent, he let go of Todoroki completely and was now coiling on the ground with heavy frostbite on his tail. He twisted and turned until a human stood in place of the basilisk. "That actually hurt."

"Stop wasting time and get moving you scale-ass," Bakugou shouted while detonating another part of the wall.

"Damn. Someone's got an attitude." Harry mocked before 'scaling up' again. Only this time, he was still humanoid. His exposed skin was now deep green and covered with scales, which was especially pronounced on his exposed chest that now sported increased armor of tough plating. His neck elongated and curved slightly while the head merged almost seamlessly with it. Around his face and in place of his hair he now wore a crown of boney spikes. His eyes got a sickly-yellow tint to them, with barely noticeable orange overlap. His hands were now ending with clawed fingers.

"Time to play kitteh" He hissed, making a provocative hand movement. The two students faced each other for a moment before Izuku dashed forward with One for All coursing just under his skin.

Potter managed to tank the initial assault with his quirk armor, but he had to rely more on his dragonskin long coat against Midoriya's claws. The armguards the cat student wore were designed to make it easier for him to draw a small amount of fire, just enough to add a burning effect to his claws. While basilisk's skin was nigh-impenetrable, the fire would still sting. Hence the dragon-skin coat, which was almost as good, but also resistant to heat.

As the fight progressed, Midoriya noticed that he was being drawn further and further away from Todoroki and Bakugou.

"Your strategy is quite sound, Potter-chan." He complimented in-between jabs. "Kaachan's explosions were more help than a hindrance. But you might've overestimated yourself."

"I don't think ssso. After all, you're yet to get even close to the bomb."

An explosion rocked the building, quickly followed by a characteristic sound of a mass of ice forming quickly to replace whatever was lost.

"Bakugou. Do not use such an attack again. Villains don't destroy their own bases. If you choose to proceed, I will be forced to disqualify you." All Might's voice came from the unseen speakers that littered the building.

"Aaaand that'sss my cue!" Harry smirked before switching from basilisk to human to then phoenix. Before Midoriya got the wind of it, the green flames surrounded him and the next thing he knew, he and Potter were on the top floor.

"Why would you take me to the top floor? I guess now I'm the farthest possible distance from Kaachan and Todoroki, but that would bring me closer to the bomb. You could try to contain me for the remaining time, but that-" He was interrupted when Harry punched him in the guts, followed by more hits. Finally, Potter drop-kicked him. This attack was intercepted by Midoriya, who crossed his arms over his head. Harry found himself flying through the floor when Izuku used the break in the onslaught to retaliate.

"One minute remaining!" All Might announced suddenly, as if he forgot to do that before with other marks.

"Looks like you're about to lose and there's still no trace of your bomb."

"I… I don't get it. The fourth floor was almost guaranteed."

"Or we tricked both you and the candy cane," Harry chuckled. "When fighting sssomeone you can't outsssmart, out-dumb them."

A giant explosion rocked the building once more, causing rubble to fall around.

"The bomb is on the first floor!" Midoriya realized.

"Wha… how?" Harry was not prepared for this. How the hell did that cat realize it so soon.

"Todoroki! The bomb is somewhere on your level!"

"Heh. That's the beauty of it. It's ssslightly below!" Being already discovered, Harry decided to do the next best thing and play the role of the villain. "Too late, hero! Your own attack doomed you to failure! Our evil plansss cannot be ssstopped!"

"Below. You had to make a hole in the floor and ensure it would be covered by the ice… to do that, you needed space. The levels are all identical…"

"What are you talking about, Hero?" Harry even accented the words slightly. Although he was slightly panicking. Midoriya managed to look through his plan. Said student was now gathering power only in his fist, which was not a good sign. Harry dashed to stop him, but it was already too late.

"Get to the big room now! Hellpaw Smash!" On the last word, Midoriya punched the floor. The shockwave caused the entire building to shake at its base as the floors and ice were destroyed by one powerful punch. The chain reaction reached all the way to the lowest level, cracking the ice and revealing the bomb underneath the rubble. Miraculously, the prop was not damaged.

Midoriya would've probably jumped at it himself, but he was perfectly aware that Potter would tackle him, and with one arm broken and bruised from going over his limit, it would've already been too dangerous. It all rested with Todoroki now.

"Heroes win the exercise!" All Might proclaimed.

It was followed by a scream of rage that sent shivers down Izuku's spine. In his experience, it was almost always followed by pain. Potter must've noticed because the tackle was turned into a hug.

"I would offer congratulations, but we can't exactly shake hands now, so… This works too I guess? I hope Hermione was right..." Izuku was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear the last part.

Midoriya got up and Potter helped him get down to look for Recovery Girl.

-|A|-

The rest of the battle trials were certainly not that intense. Sure, they were all still pretty impressive, but nothing compared to the sheer destruction that the four first students wrecked. They had to relocate to another part of the city to perform the other exercises. Only a handful of buildings in Ground Beta had the necessary equipment (cameras, speakers) inside.

After class, Harry chose to do his homework with Momo while they could still move. The two agreed that it was quite possible that the next day they wouldn't be able to get up. Of course, they only did half of it, because Harry got carried away talking about some of his… milder adventures and lost track of time. Of course, mild is relative and Momo was horrified over the idea of crashing a flying car into a sentient plant fond of beating the living hell out of everyone that got close. Harry could only shrug, not yet ready to explain why he considered it 'a mild inconvenience at best'.

The next day, classes started mostly normal. Well, except Aizawa announced that they had a very important decision to make.

"You must choose your class representative."

While others groaned, Harry raised his hand. "What's a class representative?"

"You don't know?"

"But like… how can you not know?"

"Uh… Magical school? We didn't have classes, only houses. Each year had different subjects with different houses so we were all mixing together to an extent. There was a major feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin, like major major, but outside of that, it was pretty chill."

"As interesting as it is, class representative works toward improving the class, liaison between students and teachers, organize events, enforce duties of students in maintaining the homeroom and other assigned tasks, and is responsible for ensuring the continued functioning of-"

"So like prefects. Got it." Harry interrupted Iida before the blue-haired boy started yet another speech.

"We should vote!" Midoriya beamed.

"Shut up Neku. Everyone would just vote for themselves." Bakugou snarled. "Besides, it's obvious I should be the representative."

"Actually, I think voting would be a great idea." Momo countered. "Whoever receives more than one vote is clearly worthy of the position."

"I don't get it. Why are we electing the prefect? Won't the most popular guy or gal just win?" Harry looked around people. "Wouldn't it be more efficient for the teachers to choose whoever they trust most?"

"It does hold some merit…"

"Midoriya will be class representative because I fear his sponsor, Nedzu. And his vice will be Potter because he trained the longest."

The cries of protest echoed through the class.

"Nice one, Aizawa-sensei." Harry laughed once the class settled.

"That was another of his logical deceptions?"

"Yes. Now don't wake me up again?"

"I…"

"Iida, sensei wanted to teach us a very important lesson." It looked like Midoriya finally figured out the key to the rule-lover. "We're to become heroes. We can't rely on others to make tough choices."

"And just because Aizawa-sensei is our homeroom teacher doesn't make him infallible. He wanted me to be a prefect." Harry chuckled as if laughing at some inside joke.

They agreed on voting. After counting the votes, Harry wanted to smash his head into the nearest wall. Repeatedly.

"How did I get four votes? I specifically mentioned me being a prefect was a bad idea."

"A-and I too… I'm h-honored." Izuku stuttered over the words. "But… I… Why?"

"You both showed great tactical skills and proved to be able to work under stress."

"Nope. I'm out." Harry waved them from his place in front of the class (where Midoriya dragged him, not wanting to be alone) and walked back to his chair. "Momo, you're up. You'll be much better prefect than I would."

He completely missed how his friend blushed when he used her first name.

"Kero. I didn't know you two were this close." Tsu could always be counted to speak up though.

"What?" He blinked twice, only now noticing the silence that permeated the room. He mentally recounted what he said and facepalmed. "Sorry, Yaoyorozu. Your name is kind of a mouthful though."

"No problem. Really." The heiress calmed down and returned to her usual demeanor.

"Can I stick to Momo though? It feels really impersonal to call you by your family name. You can call me Harry. That goes to all of you too, by the way. We're all living in the same dorms for the next three years."

"I… guess it is an acceptable resolution."

"Good. Anyway, Momo, you're the vice-representative." Harry grinned and acted as if it was always like that.

"Did you just…?" She glared at him for a moment before chuckling. "I guess I shouldn't exactly protest, as I got three votes. I'm honored with the trust placed in me and I promise to work hard to fulfill the duties vested in me and prove you right in choosing me."

-|A|-

Snape enjoyed the break in peace. Teaching DADA has always been his dream, which he now finally managed to fulfill, if in a slightly changed form. U.A. was his alma mater just as much if not more so than Hogwarts. And here, he didn't need to play triple spy games with Dumbledore and Voldemort. Students here weren't such a rowdy bunch. They wanted to learn everything he had to offer. People respected him for his various masteries and the rank he held among heroes. It was almost everything he wanted.

Then he felt a glaring pain in the back of his head right before alarms blared and Severus Snape was just about ready to murder someone. He casually opened the window and walked outside, only to see a crowd of reporters storming the campus.

Disabling that part of his quirk, he allowed the gravity to once more get a hold of him and fell seven floors down until he activated it again. By now, the reporters all saw him. Some of the younger ones screamed when they saw him fall in a perfect line, with his hands crossed in front of his chest and eyes closed.

"You're all being detained." He proclaimed, pulling his wand. Cries of protest became even more deafening than their previous incoherent rabble.

"You can't do that! That's attacking the freedom of the press! We have rights!" One of the louder reporters screamed. "We're live for everyone to see. You won't cover this!"

"Live? Very well. You're intruding on private property, the gate was destroyed using a quirk, and someone deployed a ward-bomb on that section. While the latter two must be investigated before charges will be pressed, under the authority of Pro Hero Lord Nox, you're all being detained for questioning. Illegal quirk use is a serious matter and ward-bombs are class-5 restricted items. Next time you break laws, try not to do it in front of the live public." Snape sneered at the harpy. He knew very well that she would get off with only a hefty fine, but her career would likely take a deep dive.

The reporters realized that they were in some big trouble and collectively rushed toward the exit, only to be stopped when a wall of fire sprouted in front of them.

"Resisting detainment and attempted escape from the crime scene," Snape added in a calm, albeit at the same time furious voice. Most of the reporters sighed and gave themselves up, realizing that there was no escape.

Later, as the police took them all in, Snape, Aizawa, and Nedzu watched the entire event.

"It was a planned attack. None of them has a quirk able to melt through our gate and ward-bombs are incredibly hard to come by."

"I agree, the question is, what purpose did it serve?"

-|A|-

A/N Well, that wraps it. Next comes the USJ! Oh, fun. Yeah, Harry can see Hagakure and there is a specific reason for that, but it won't come up until later, so be patient.