Hello, here's a new story. This is going to be somewhat AU as I introduce a sort of class system to wizards. This starts in fourth year and you can assume the main events of previous years still happened similarly.
Harry Potter loved the Hogwarts express. He loved how it was hidden on its own secret platform and how it was old but lovingly cared for. It was the place he'd first met his two best friends, even if they hadn't all gotten along instantly. Mostly though, it was the train that would take him to Hogwarts, his true home.
Hermione didn't really seem to agree with his points, muttering about how it was all a ploy to force them to make friends. They had not had the best start and even Neville hadn't really wanted to talk to her for a whole train journey so she'd spent much of her first one reading alone, scared.
"You were really bad at first impressions, you know?" Ron pointed out.
Ron had enjoyed his first journey very much, claiming that Harry's company had been more than he'd ever hoped for. If the journey hadn't encouraged them to make friends, as Hermione claimed, then they'd have quite possibly not found each other at all. Harry's attention would have been claimed by a better wizard, attracted by his fame.
"I wasn't that bad! I introduced myself and started talking about magic," Hermione retorted. "I thought everyone would want to talk about magic."
"Hermione, you went on about how good you were at magic and how you'd read all your textbooks - and you wouldn't stop talking." Despite his words, Ron was smiling fondly.
"Well, I didn't want to fall behind-"
"And then you freaked out about my blade," he added.
Hermione flushed. "Fine, I was bad. I didn't know it could be normal to carry around a sword."
Strapped to Ron's side at all times was a long steel sword, signifying his status as a Spellblade. It meant he specialised in channelling magic through weapons, allowing the sword to be far more dangerous and versatile than the simple blade looked. It still left him far less effective than the average wizard with a more normal specialisation.
"I still don't know my specialisation," Harry said. On the last three train journeys, they'd both asked if he had worked his out. This year, it seemed they'd chosen not to mention it.
In first year, a large portion of wizards hadn't yet known their specialisation. Hermione hadn't worked out her specialisation then either and Harry had simply been eager to work out what his expertise would be. All wizards were born with a specialisation in one field of magic. All wizards could only advance so far in the basic general magic taught to everyone. Not knowing yours meant it was probably a very obscure branch of magic that didn't have many everyday uses.
"Maybe you're a beastmaster, with a natural talent at one kind of creature," Ron offered. It wasn't the first time he'd suggested it, for his brother Charlie had apparently only discovered his specialisation was dragons after he'd left Hogwarts.
"Yeah. Maybe I'm an expert in magically controlling doxies." Harry doubted he'd be lucky enough for something like dragons.
"Maybe you've got a really rare gift Harry. I've been reading up on a few obscure branches over the summer. There's this one called a Diviner – not related to divination thank goodness – it involves spells effecting how you see the world so you see could magic and detect things others can't…"
Harry glanced towards Ron and they exchanged smiles. Hermione was the same as ever. Harry did mentally take notes of each of the magical arts she mentioned though, just in case one of them really was his specialisation. It was his fourth year now and it was getting to be really worrying that he hadn't worked out his gifts yet.
He leaned back in his seat, even as Ron took up Hermione's attention with some cutting remarks on her obsessive reading that were clearly intended to rile her up, not that she realised. He loved the Hogwarts express, he really did. He could look forward to Hogwarts because it could only be better than where he'd come from. He could enjoy the company of his two best friends knowing they wouldn't judge him. And it was still too early to face the realities of life in Hogwarts.
The perfect atmosphere lasted right up until Hogsmeade station, where Harry was forced to exit wearing his generalist robes. It was a mandate that everyone had to wear robes which indicated their specialisation. He hadn't worked his out so he was stuck in the plain black uniform while Hermione wore her beautiful purple dress robes, it signalled her specialisation as an Enchantress, someone who could permanently imbue items with special properties, though it took her a great deal of time and effort to properly enchant something. Ron's outfit wasn't really robes at all, instead the material was far shorter to aid in greater mobility as a rare close-range fighter.
As they boarded the horseless coaches that would take them to Hogwarts, the three of them were joined by Colin Creevey. Despite being a year younger, he'd long since worked out his specialisation as an Aeromage, someone who specialised in spells to with manipulating air. Where Harry could lift a feather with magic, Colin could cause an implosion or prevent an inferno.
"Hello! Hope you don't mind me sitting with you guys, I lost my friends in the crowd and your carriage had space," Colin said.
"Hey Colin," Ron said, unenthused.
"This is my third year so that means I finally get special classes on my speciality, right? Are those classes difficult? What if they don't have a teacher for me? I think I'm the only Aeromage in my year," Colin continued, looking eagerly at the three of them.
Harry glanced over to Hermione. He was fairly certain Ron's classes wouldn't apply to the majority of wizards. "Any wizard whose speciality is a particular element will have classes together, under an experienced elementalist, who can use all of them to an advanced degree, it's just like any other class though so expect lots of homework and studying even if it has fewer students than you're used to," she explained, dutifully.
"Cool!" He cheered.
"Hey Harry, you're still in General robes? I heard you were a protector," Colin piped up.
"Uh, no. Where'd you hear that?" Harry asked. Protectors specialised in protection charms, usually directly on people, as opposed to warders who usually charmed areas. He was not either, regretfully.
"Oh I just heard you stopped all the dementors from attacking you 'cause you knew some really strong protections."
"Hermione's work," he admitted. Dementors had had a strong effect on Harry and he'd asked Hemrione if she could enchant anything to keep them away. The project had taken her ages as she hadn't exactly been suited towards making items to stop magical creatures. She managed though and thanks to her they'd saved Sirius.
"Oh. Cool, I guess."
Colin was nice enough, he was hardly about to start looking down on him for his lack of Specialisation, not like many of his classmates who had expected him to be really powerful, not below average. Even so, his disappointment was evident. Colin was probably wondering the same thing everyone else did. How could Harry Potter, the boy who lived, not even have a specialisation?
Colin soon changed the subject. "So, my brother's coming to Hogwarts this year. We totally didn't expect it – maybe my parents are secretly wizards after all. But he's definitely got magic, he even already worked out his specialisation. He's a battlemage!"
"Really?" Ron wasn't bothering to hide his irritation. Battlemages could do pretty much anything a spellblade did – except they didn't have to channel the effects through a weapon meaning they could launch powerful curses at a range. They were pretty much better than a spellblade in every way, as Ron had oft been reminded.
"Yeah, I hope he gets sorted into Gryffindor too – and that he makes it to Hogwarts at all." There was a hint of concern in his voice.
They all glanced outside where the lake looked diabolical in the stormy rains. It was chilly and wet and windy and generally a day best spent inside. Harry didn't envy the first-years forced to get to Hogwarts by boat.
"Don't worry, I'm sure the boats are perfectly safe. Most of the first years will survive," Ron consoled.
"Ron! All of the first years are going to make it across, Dumbledore will make sure of it," Hermione snapped.
The four of them thankfully arrived at Hogwarts then, before Ron could frighten Colin anymore. Hopefully Colin would stay with his friends from there, because Harry simply didn't know how to deal with the overly eager boy.
"Don't suppose you brought an enchanted umbrella?" Ron asked Hermione, looking at the distance between the carriage and the great doors leading into the entrance hall.
"How would I even enchant it? I don't suppose you have a regular umbrella?" Hermione replied.
"Anti-theft enchantments?" Harry suggested quietly, looking at the crowd of students hurrying through the rain.
"Let's just get this over with, I can't wait to get to the feast," Ron sighed.
They hurried out of their carriage, running for Hogwarts. It was, very literally, their shelter from the storms, their safe haven. Harry could only wonder at what this year would bring.
A somewhat short first chapter, just introducing the idea. You can expect future chapters to be a little longer.
I mentioned that Hermione was more instrumental in the resolution of book 3, I won't go into details but due to the AU nature, she wasn't allowed to take all those extra classes so she wasn't so stressed and distracted.
Anyway, feel free to review!