Lily's Journal 3

10/16/14 - 11/16/14: Chapter 3

Year 1; Part 1

The first Monday of the school year, started like most others with Harry waking up early and having his nutrient potion before breakfast. He was already prepared for his early morning Herbology class that they shared with the Slytherins, which was followed by History of Magic which he figured would be more of the same monotone droning from the ghost Professor Binns. Neither class had anything special happen other than an introduction to Herbology which wasn't too different from working on his aunt's garden just with magical plants, and the afternoon double Charms class was similar to the previous week's lesson and builded on it with the excited Professor Flitwick that was quickly becoming Harry's favorite teacher and class.

They learned the sparks spell that most everyone used to alert others of their location and to call for help, and learned how to change it's color as well which was pretty fun and easy for most of the class to learn. Harry really liked the double Charms class, and was happy to note that all of his main five classes had a regular and double class each week, with only History having two regular periods and no doubles, and Astronomy just meeting for one double on Tuesday nights giving them a late start on Wednesday.*

In the break after his last class which ended at four pm until dinner started at six, Harry managed to get most if not all of his homework done for the classes he just had, and after dinner was able to read ahead to prepare for his next day's classes as well as work a bit on his meditation. He was a little nervous since he had both DADA and Potions the next morning, and knew he was not ready to even begin true Occlumency, but the books had given him a great hint to avoid direct eye contact until his defences were in place.

Tuesday was Harry's busiest and most difficult day of the week, as he had DADA first period, followed immediately by Potions before lunch. After lunch was Transfiguration, and then late in the evening was Astronomy from nine to midnight. Luckily the following morning was free until after lunch due to the late night Astronomy class, but it was still a long day to get through especially with both DADA and Potions as he felt several instances in both classes where he felt the now familiar pressure of a Legilimancy probe.

Harry was only moderately pleased with Astronomy as the teacher was very friendly, though it seemed that the magical world was behind the muggle one in terms of understanding of the universe and even the quality of their magical telescopes didn't really hold a candle to some of the ones he had seen in the muggle world. The more interesting aspect of the class had to do with planetary alignments, star charts and placement, and phases of the moon during rituals, potions, and some of the more esoteric magicks of old that they would learn about years later.

He was never much to sleep in though no matter how the night before went thanks to his time spent at the Dursleys, and was up early Wednesday morning without much to do but go down to breakfast with his Herbology book to prepare for his only upcoming class of the day. At breakfast, Hedwig returned from her latest trip to Flourish & Blotts with the three old out of print books he purchased that had him put aside his school text and give them all a quick once over.

The old Hogwarts: A History looked like it would be a great read all about the school and its history, and he would love to compare it to a modern edition too when he had the time. The Wards Broken book by what he assumed was one of his ancestors was way over his head and filled with what he learned was Ancient Runes and Arithmancy that made up a discipline of magic called warding and ward breaking, two professions that paid very well according to Penny when he asked her a bit about it. The final book he thought would be more like the Wizarding Nobility book Daphne had recommended called Bloodline Gifts of the Noble Families, but it actually went more into very specific magical talents or specialties that tended to run along family or blood lines.

One of the things that really interested him about that book, was the chapter dealing with the Potter family's affinity for wards, the Boot family's affinity for Charms, the Greengrass family's affinity for Herbology and Potions, as well as many other family names that he recognized from around the school. There were also certain talents that were only associated with specific families, like Slytherin's Parceltongue, Black's metamorphmagus, Peverell's Enchanting, Franklin's Technomancy, and Mordred's Necromancy. He set the books aside to return to his room, but put that Bloodline book on the top of his desired reading list just after he got a handle on Occlumency, and then the Wizarding Nobility one from Daphne.

He spent the rest of his time until his afternoon double Herbology lesson, in his room practicing meditation and finally getting to the point where he could clear his mind for a short moment. He attributed his early success to his time with the Dursleys where he had to keep his emotions to himself and all the time he spent alone in his dark cupboard under the stairs doing a lot of introspection that served him well. Knowing that the next step was to get to the point that he could clear his mind at a seconds notice, and then maintain that clarity during actual activities he knew he was in for a long road but felt he was at least on the path and could start looking into the other things that interested him.

That evening, having already done the weeks Herbology homework Harry was able to get through most of the Wizarding Nobility book Daphne recommended, and actually found it pretty interesting as a who's who type of book on people and families in the wizarding world. He learned that the foundation of the Wizarding Government was long before the Foundation of Hogwarts called the Elder's Council, which consisted of the twelve leading families in Britain at the time of which the Potter's were one along with Bones, Boot, Black, Crouch, Greengrass, Longbottom, Nott, Lestrange, Ollivander, Peverell, and Smith. After the Norman invasion of England many other families were added to the then Wizengamot like Abbott, Brocklehurst, Crabbe, Davis, Dumbledore, Goldstein, Goyle, Lovegood, Marchbanks, Macmillan, Ogden, Parkinson, Prince, Rosier, Selwyn, Turpin, Weasley, and Zabini. Also added at this time were the houses of the four founders, and over the next few centuries several other houses in good standing were added to the Council like Bagshot, Belby, Corner, Doge, Fudge, McClaggen, Moon, Proudfoot, and Rookwood.

The next major addition came during the French Revolution as several magical families immigrated from across the channel, including Avery, Bulstrode, Carrow, Edgecombe, Macnair, Malfoy, Mulciber, Pince, Scrimgeur, Thicknese, Travers, Umbridge, and Vance. Then in the 1800's, the Order of Merlin First Class recipients were also awarded a seat on the governing Wizengamot, but it was not hereditary like the other families. The book then gave little bits of history of all the families mentioned, with a few notable names among them.

Harry also prepared a little for his classes the next day, and was pretty pleased that he had made it through one whole week of classes keeping up without any problems. He did wonder how much he would have struggled to catch up to his peers if he hadn't found and read his mum's journal which had provided the basic knowledge and instructions to become more prepared for this new world he found himself in.

Harry was quickly settling into the wizarding world over the next few weeks, having no problems keeping up in classes and with his homework, and also reading through several books to get a better understanding of the history and world of magic he found himself in. He continued to practice the clearing of his mind and maintaining it, getting better every day but still had not progressed to the next step and figured it would be a couple more weeks until he did. He had finished the Wizarding Nobility book, the Bloodlines book, and Hogwarts: A History, and was now reading through all of his textbooks again and some of the supplemental books he had picked up mostly for Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration.

Those three classes were by far his favorites, and although he knew Professor Snape didn't like him, he had yet to be singled out like in his first class and always showed up prepared and acted respectful and courteous to the dour Potion Master. In an effort to stay off the man's bad side, he had started researching and reading even more about potions, ingredients, and reaction tables to the point where he would always be prepared for anything the man asked of him, and was becoming one of the better brewers among his year mates.

Transfiguration was also coming along well, and the bit of supplemental reading he had done for that class along with his mum's notes about visualization and will power had proved amazingly helpful, especially coupled with his growing focus and ability to concentrate brought on by his Occlumency exercises. Charms though was still his favorite class, probably because his Head of House was so energetic and fun, and every class had them learn a new spell that had practical applications for everyday life in the magical world. Unlike Transfiguration which built on the same basic principles with only larger masses and more detailed changes that were built upon the last, Charms was new and different every day, and Harry simply loved learning about them all.

He was getting along fine in Herbology and Astronomy, although he wasn't going above and beyond the very basics for either of them yet, they were at least enjoyable classes and pretty straight forward. History was a lesson in boredom, and he quickly learned that Professor Binns did nothing but read the textbook in the most monotone voice imaginable, and he simply used little pieces of cotton in his ears to ignore him while he read on his own, both his History textbook as well as several other history books he stumbled across and checked out of the library.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was the only class that Harry truly didn't like attending, as he never learned anything from the stuttering Professor Quirrell, he constantly got headaches from Legilimancy attacks he could never figure out, and the Professor always seemed to be paying him more attention than the others so he couldn't even work on his own. He had gone through the textbook, as well as a few more beginner books he found in the library but having never seen any of the spells he had a hard time trying to learn them on his own, and was resolved to ask someone for help though he didn't know who.

While he had maintained his acquaintance with Terry and Anthony, all of his extra reading and studying of Occlumency in the beginning had not left him a lot of spare time to hang out with the other First Years in the common room, and likewise he only really knew them by name and not much else about them. Part of that was due to the Ravenclaws' mentality of studying and not just hanging around all the time, many of them tended to be socially awkward and loners more intent on learning than making friends. The other part was due mostly because of his time with the Dursleys, as he was never really allowed to have friends or even interact with others his age aside from Dudley and his gang whose only interacting with him was trying to beat him up.

He was probably the closest to Su Li as they were desk partners or neighbors in several classes, but she was almost painfully shy and despite them spending a good bit of time together neither of them really knew much about the other. He did know that she was scary smart, and excelled in Charms and Astronomy which were her favorite classes, but other than that didn't know much about her other than she was shy and quiet. The only other person she spent any time with was Padma Patil, who Harry knew favored Transfiguration but had only actually spoken to her a few times mostly in class or revising in the common room.

As it was a Saturday where all the Ravenclaws were just getting back from lunch, Harry caught up to Su who was walking with Padma just in front of him before they reached the entrance to their common room, and asked if he could talk to her about something. Both girls moved off to the side to let a few others pass and looked at Harry with a bit of curiousness, as he wasn't usually one to start conversations or even speak much to his fellow housemates, usually running off to study on his own.

"Um ...Su," began Harry nervously, not used to asking for help and even more nervous as Padma too had stuck around to hear what he had to say. "Do you know any Defence spells? Professor Quirrell hasn't really taught us any, and I was looking a few up ...but I ...need help."

"W-Well, my family taught me a few spells I could show you," responded Su shyly, as Padma excitedly asked if she could join them as she knew a few too and would love to practice them some.

So the three of them went to an unused classroom not far from their common room that a lot of the Ravenclaws used for spell practice, and luckily found the room empty. Harry asked about several spells he read about, like expelliarmus, tarantallegra, leg-locker curse, petrificus totallis, stupefy, flipendo, trip jinx, impedimenta, and incarcerous. Su only knew four of the nine, as did Padma but they weren't the same four so they had six of the spells covered between them. Over the next hour, Su showed Harry and Padma the petrificus totallis, impediamenta, flipendo, and incarcerous, while Padma added the leg locker and tarantallegra to the mix.

All three of them managed to learn all six spells relatively easy after seeing someone else perform them, and they all had a pretty enjoyable time trying the spells on a dummy that was in the room that the older students used. Since they didn't know the counters or how to shield, they were reluctant to test them against each other but felt pretty confident that they were doing what they were supposed to, and actually had a real fun time trying them out. Over the course of their impromptu practice session, Harry and the two girls all relaxed enough to actually talk to and get to know each other a bit and they all agreed that the practice was both fun and informative and that they would try to do it more often.

Harry decided after dinner to hang out in the practice room after hearing about some of the older years making plans to practice their own Defencive spellwork, and wanting to check out what they were doing. It ended up being several fifth year students practicing their shields and offensive spells, including the prefects Penny and Arthur. After they practiced for a bit and seemed to be breaking up, Harry asked them if they could show him a few spells he was interested in, as well as the shields and spells they were using to see if he could figure them out.

Penny quickly walked him through the three spells he wanted to learn earlier that Su or Padma didn't know, and was able to pick them up fairly quickly after seeing the older girl show him how they were done. He was then showed the protego basic shield spell, the ennervate spell to revive stunned people, the finite incantatum which counters most minor jinxes, hexes, and curses. She also showed him the immobilis, langlock, obscuro, and rictusempra spells figuring they were all pretty basic and definitely easier than stupefy or protego were which he had already got down. After they were done, Harry really thanked the older prefect for all her help and promised her he would be careful when practicing these spells.

The next day after breakfast, he told Su and Padma that he got help with several more spells that he would show and teach them if they wanted, to which both girls instantly agreed and followed him back to the practice room. When they got there, a pair of seventh years were practicing and getting ready for a duel so the three first years quickly settled into the corner and watched the older students trading spells back and forth most of them without a single word being said. When the duel finally ended with the two older students both breathing heavy and sporting a couple cuts and bruises, Harry asked them about some of their spells and mostly the wordless magic that they explained wouldn't be taught until sixth year and a lot of their spells were too advanced for the three first years.

After the older students left, Harry showed Su and Padma the spells that Penny taught him, and they were eventually able to work them all except for the protego shield which they only partially managed. After a good while of practicing, the three first years were a little winded and happily went off to lunch to rest and refuel. After lunch they all went to the library to prepare for the next week of classes, or to read about whatever struck their fancy at the moment, which for Harry after watching that duel was about silent casting.

He knew he was a long way off from doing it himself, but he was interested in the process as so far all of the teachers had been stressing good pronunciation of their spells to make them work, and then to all of a sudden realize that words weren't necessary was kind of surprising. He was also going to look up dueling rules, as the small duel he watched was incredibly entertaining, and looked like a great way to practice and test your magic. He would have to practice a bit more so he could even keep up with another older student in a duel, but felt it was a good goal to have to work towards.

During the month of October, Harry spent a lot of his free time practicing his spells in the unused classroom, and when older students were in there he was watching and asking for pointers or help although not everyone was actually helpful. During that time, he had finally managed to maintain his clarity of mind while doing other things and was almost to the point where he could maintain it through everything and could then move onto the next step. He was already thinking about how to arrange his mind library in preparation, and was anxious about having to review and sort all of his memories but also excited to be moving closer to the final goal of a protected mind.

Near the beginning of October, he also had his meeting and check up with Madam Pompfrey, the school nurse as per Healer Stevens wishes and was happy to learn that he was done with the nutrient potions as his height and weight were now to their optimal levels, as were his bones and other deficiencies from his time with the Dursleys all corrected. Oculist Johnston also stopped in to examine and adjust his glasses telling him that his eyes had really gotten better and may even get to the point where the corrective lenses wouldn't even be needed but he may want to keep them anyway because of the many enchantments he had put on them. Madam Pompfrey also scheduled him for his last round of inoculations before Christmas so he would be completely up to date on all medical needs.

One of the other nice things in October to happen, was his little group of himself, Su, and Padma continued to meet in the evenings after dinner and were joined by Anthony and Terry near the beginning of the month to get together in the library and study. Near the end of the month, their group was made even bigger when Daphne, Tracy, and Blaise also decided to join in their nightly studying sessions after it became clear that their group was consistently outperforming all of their fellow first years in terms of written and practical work. So their evenings after dinner were spent in the library studying and reviewing their homework, while the weekends were spent in unused classrooms practicing magic until they were too tired to continue.

Harry and the others soon learned that the more they practiced doing magic the easier it became to perform, and that slowly over time their stamina and ability to perform more magic was continually increasing like a muscle they were working out to get stronger. It was really apparent the first weekend the Slytherins joined their weekend practices, as Harry, Su, and Padma especially could continue casting the same spells for twice the time as the others could due to exhaustion, and made them all decide to continue pushing themselves to get stronger and better.

The morning of Halloween on October 31st, Harry woke up feeling a bit depressed understandably, but went through with his normal Thursday schedule of morning History then Charms followed by lunch and double Potions. While it seemed that the entire school was excited and happy to be celebrating the holiday and anniversary of his defeat of Voldemort, Harry wasn't as happy with the reminder of his parents' deaths and went through his classes with a little less enthusiasm than usual. Surprisingly, the only person to really notice Harry's lack of enthusiasm was Professor Snape, who after giving him a long look merely nodded his head once and continued on with class without singling out or bothering him throughout.

Harry thought he was slowly winning over Professor Snape by proving he was smart, a good brewer, and most importantly not a prankster like his father was according to his mum's journal at least. It might have also had something to do with befriending three of his Slytherins, but whatever the reason he was happy to at least not be on the dour Potion Master's bad side and resolved to do everything he could to keep the man happy with him and his work. After class, he returned the the common room and hung out in his room for a bit until dinner, not wanting to be in the common room socializing with the other happy students while he was in this depressed mood.

He did go to the Halloween Feast even though he wasn't in the mood to celebrate, he knew that he needed to eat as ever since he started his nutrient potion regiment his appetite had grown considerably and the constant working of his magic also contributed to his seemingly constant hunger. He was there early with most of the Ravenclaws and Slytherins enjoying the extras that were provided during a feast, occasionally talking with his friends who were sitting around him at the Ravenclaw table and just behind him at the neighboring Slytherin table.

All of a sudden, Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know."

He then sank to the floor in a dead faint. There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects, " he rumbled, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

"What?!" shouted Harry in shock, already a little on edge and causing several people close by to stop their scrambling for the doors to look at him in surprise. "Slytherins LIVE in the dungeons! We are safer here!"

"He's right!" exclaimed the nearby Slytherin Prefect, a somewhat trollish looking boy named Marcus Flint who then shouted into the confusion. "ALL SLYTHERINS STAY HERE!"

His yell caused several of the other students and prefects to realize that the Slytherins were staying put, and realized that it was probably safer to remain where they were and started calling all of their students to remain in the Great Hall. Marcus then looked to Harry and gave him a nod of thanks causing several of the nearby students to look at Harry with a bit of awe for his helpful suggestion, and Harry to smile in thanks and blush a bit. Penny then came over to Harry and gave him a warm smile and told him she was very proud of him for thinking of others, and he responded with another smile.

"Is everyone from Ravenclaw here?" he then asked her, causing her to look at him in wide eyed shock having not thought of that herself and somewhat embarrassed to be reminded of her job by a first year.

"All Prefects, we need to do headcounts!" she shouted and caused several prefects to immediately jump to their feet and begin counting their house mates to make sure everyone was accounted for, all seemingly frantic for not realizing the need immediately.

Penny only took a minute to count and realize they were only missing a seventh year named Jonathan Creaville, who rarely left the library for anything and probably lost track of time as he was often doing. Slytherins and Hufflepuffs quickly added in that they were all present and accounted for, while Gryffindor seemed to be scrambling with many people talking at once. It took an extra minute, but Percy Weasley, the Gryffindor fifth year prefect that Penny was good friends with eventually had all the years count off and realized they were missing a first year named Hermione Granger, who two of her roommates said was crying in the second floor bathroom after being made fun of earlier by Percy's youngest brother Ronald.

Luckily, Professors Sprout, Vector, Sinistra, and Burbage along with the groundskeeper Hagrid were all still in the Great Hall watching over the students after they had refused to leave. Surprisingly, Professor Quirrell had also left during the confusion of counting students, although nobody still present seemed to notice or care. Professor Sprout quickly gathered Professor Vector and Hagrid to go track down their missing first year student, while telling Professors Sinistra and Burbage to stay behind and watch over the kids along with the Head Boy and Girl and Prefects.

Professors Sinistra and Burbage tried to keep the remaining students calm by asking them all to continue with dinner and to await word from the other professors and that everything would work itself out. They only had to wait another fifteen minutes until Professor Vector returned telling the students that the troll had been dealt with and the missing first year student was going to be okay, but had received quite the scare and was currently with Professor Sprout in the Hospital Wing. Another ten minutes later the rest of the teachers came back into the Great Hall looking relieved to see the students happily eating and everything going smoothly, and after getting a quick update from Professor Vector, a few of them left to apparently assist Hagrid in cleaning up after the troll attack.

By the end of the meal, the story of how Hermione found herself in the girls bathroom crying was circulated, and most people started giving the youngest Weasley furious looks until they saw him happily shoveling food into his mouth and becoming quite disgusted. Harry had had a few run ins with the loudmouth red head, once being told that he should of been in Gryffindor and that he had betrayed them all by being a know it all bookworm. Since then he had made a few other insulting remarks about being a dark wizard, a know it all, or too cowardly to be a Gryffindor.

Harry wasn't very impressed with Ron Weasley, and didn't think he had any room to judge Hermione on how many friends they had as the loud mouth didn't seem too friendly with anyone either, mostly just hanging around Stephen Cornfoot. Harry did feel bad however for Hermione, as he perceived her experience in Gryffindor much like his mum's as the young bushy haired muggle born was incredibly intelligent and new to the wizarding world, trying to prove herself by being a bit of a know it all, and having to put up with housemates who were far more interested in pranks and having fun than they were studying.

He asked Terry and Anthony how well they knew Neville Longbottom, as he also seemed like a first year Gryffindor loner who was incredibly shy from what he gathered and totally lacked confidence or any close friends. They agreed that Neville was really nice, but had grown up with a very dominating Grandmother who belittled him and always compared him to his Head Boy and Auror father. When Harry suggested they invite Neville to their library study sessions, they agreed that he would probably fit in well and really benefit from the extra attention and help, and agreed to do it before or after DADA tomorrow afternoon.

Harry told his three Slytherin friends that he was inviting Neville to join their little study group, and was going to encourage him to reach out to Hermione too and hoped they didn't have a problem with it. He could tell they weren't happy about the bossy muggleborn's inclusion, but accepted that at least she was smart and wouldn't hold them back and would probably be a good fit with Neville. That evening after dinner when Neville arrived, Harry was properly introduced to the boy he had seen around a lot but never really got the chance to talk to, and was pretty happy that he didn't make too big of a deal about who he was or the other members of the group, knowing all of them at some level before coming to Hogwarts.

During that night, Harry slowly worked on Neville encouraging him to reach out to and befriend Hermione, as rumor had it she was very unhappy and friendless and they could both gain something very positive from a mutual friendship. Daphne laughed and asked Harry how he kept the Sorting Hat from putting him in Slytherin with that kind of thinking, and Harry just smirked and said any truly cunning person knows not to flaunt it causing the tall blonde haired girl to scowl good naturedly while Tracy laughed hysterically and almost got them thrown out of the library. Harry then pointed out that Hermione was very smart and organized which would help direct and push Neville, while his calm and quiet nature would help pull back some of her bossiness and that they could both use a good friend within their house and age group or it would be a long seven years.

Neville was kind of shocked to have things spelled out like that to him, but after thinking on it a bit he realized that he really didn't have anything to lose and only could benefit from having a smart friend who was also somewhat ostracized by their shared house. Harry encouraged the boy to seek her out and invite her to tomorrow's library study session, and that everyone agreed to be courteous and respectful as they got to know her. He also suggested that if Neville wanted they meet after breakfast on the weekends in an unused classroom near the Charms classroom to practice spellwork and that it had proven immensely beneficial for all of them and he was welcome to join.

Neville did join them the next day after breakfast, and was amazed and somewhat apprehensive about all the spells they all seemed to have learned and performed so easily. Harry, as the furthest along, offered to coach Neville and try to get him caught up to the others and worked almost exclusively with the shy brown haired boy for most of the time. Harry noticed that Neville had a real confidence problem which affected his ability to perform many of the spells, and that lack of success fueled his lack of confidence in a negative cycle to where even the spells he could perform at the beginning he was struggling with later.

At that point, Harry started paying much more attention to everything Neville was doing, as he had never seen such inconsistency from one casting to the next of the same spell, and soon discovered the problem. Neville was using his father's wand, and if Harry remembered all the stuff Olivander went on about, the wand was not a match for him. Neville insisted that his Gran didn't want to buy him a wand because he should be able to use his father's if he wanted to live up to being as good as him and to remember him by.

Harry was somewhat appalled about some of the stories he learned about Neville's Gran and family, but didn't want to judge them too harshly for now, but did want to help his new friend succeed and make something of himself. Harry encouraged Neville to approach his Head of House and ask if he couldn't make a trip to Ollivander's and get his own wand, and if he wanted to remember his father to make a nice plaque that would hold and store the wand, or to use it as a backup wand was Daphne's suggestion and at Harry's inquiring look mentioned how she had a backup that belong to a long dead great aunt.

Blaise, Tracy, Padma and Terry all had backup wands too although they hardly ever used or even carried them, and Anthony was planning to pick one out after his first year as per his family's traditions. Only Harry and Su didn't have a backup, but Harry was hoping to fix that next year as he immediately saw the benefit of having another wand if he was ever disarmed. Daphne went on to explain that because the backup wand she used was so old, it didn't have the underage trace on it anymore and she could do magic with it whenever she wanted without anyone knowing even though she could do magic at her house like all other magic families but Harry was very interested in trying to exploit the second wand loophole.

When they left for lunch, Neville's head was spinning a bit after all the information that was unloaded on him, but for the first time since he arrived at Hogwarts he felt like he just might make it after all, and went to go see his Head of House. In no time he was being escorted out of the school and to Ollivander's where he was fitted for his primary wand which provided a real strong reaction that had him wide eyed in astonishment and feeling incredibly happy. He thanked his Head of House several times on the way back to school, and when they parted ways ran back to his dorm to gather his things for dinner and make sure Hermione was going to come to the library study session.

When the now ten first years met in the library after dinner Saturday night, they had to squeeze a bit around the table they usually used to get everyone to fit. Harry was a little nervous about how the group dynamic would work now that another very strong personality was joining, and also how the three Slytherins would tolerate her strong muggle views. It was easier for him, as he wanted to forget everything muggle and immerse himself in the world of magic, but he had heard the bushy haired girl speak often about how much more advanced the muggle world was and was hoping this didn't completely backfire on him.

It was pretty quiet once everyone had settled in around the table, nobody really knowing or wanting to interact or make the first move so to speak, and Harry wished they held this first meeting somewhere they could get away with being louder as it might end up in a shouting match. SInce it was technically his idea to bring in Neville and Hermione, he started off welcoming the two Gryffindors and explaining that they usually just worked on their own homework, and offered suggestions or shared books to look up information and save time. Also, that some of them had favorite subjects or topics that they always seemed to be able to explain better than others and that they usually all ended up helping each other and had so far worked really well for everyone.

It was pretty rough going that first night, as Hermione tended to dominate conversations and very rarely took advice from anyone else and thought she always knew best. She was pretty brilliant though, and was easily on par with Tracy and Anthony in Transfiguration even if her strengths laid in theory and book learning as opposed to practical application. He didn't know if she would work out with the whole group, but felt he owed it to her to include her and let her know that not all magical people were ignorant bullies even if they weren't going to be best friends.

The next morning, Hermione came with Neville to their practice session after breakfast and was quite amazed at the many different spells they all knew and practiced. Neville, now armed with a matching wand was quickly picking up all of the spells that Harry had been teaching him the day before, and by the time lunch came around he was capable of all of them except the protego shield charm as his waivered like his friends' had when they first learned it. Hermione did pretty well picking up some of the new to her spells too, but wasn't as interested in truly mastering them, and was more interested in simply learning as many of them as she could before moving on to the next and her stamina was even worse than Neville's.

Neville's confidence shot up tremendously during their practice, and by the end was smiling and happier than any of them who knew him previously had ever seen. Neville promised to keep coming to the practices and study sessions, as they had already proven so effective and helpful that he wanted to continue them. Hermione wasn't as sure about returning, thinking her time would be better spent in the library researching and doing homework and extra studying, and the others were all fine with that.

Over the next few weeks, Harry and his friends continued their studying and practicing together maintaining their top spots in almost every class and slowly getting even further ahead of their peers with every day. Hermione and Neville were only studying in the evenings with them about once or twice a week, other nights doing their own thing elsewhere. Neville though continued to come to the weekend morning practices and was a completely different kid by the time December rolled around, as his spellwork and confidence both grew astronomically in that time.

The rest of the group had gotten even closer over that time, and Harry now considered them all very good friends, even if he hung out with Su and Padma the most due to Terry and Anthony often doing their own thing. The Slytherins they only got to see at certain classes and after dinner, so the relationships with them weren't as close by virtue of house segregation which most of them thought was pretty stupid anyway and very limiting on their futures. Su had really opened up a lot, and was much less shy than the beginning of the year, often seen with Padma teasing Harry or trying to keep him in line.

Harry had really opened up to all of his friends, showing a much more outgoing and teasing nature mixed in with plenty of sarcasm and a very sharp mind which meshed well with all of his friends. Su and Padma had both become much more outgoing and playful than either would have thought when coming to Hogwarts, and blamed or credited it depending on the day to Harry's influence. Terry and Anthony were both also having a lot more fun than they thought they would at Hogwarts, and were still learning tons, and they too attributed it almost exclusively to Harry and the people he gathered around him and kept together.

As December arrived, the teachers had begun really piling on the homework and review for the semester exams that were coming up just before the holiday break. Some of the students were scrambling to catch up since they had slacked off so far, like Neville's four Gryffindor roommates, and others were like Hermione who thought they had to relearn everything in preparation for exams that she could probably already pass in her sleep which included most of the Ravenclaws and smarter Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. Others, like Harry and his friends weren't too worried about the tests themselves, feeling fairly confident that they were learning and remembering everything they needed for their exams and just continued along as they had been all school year.

One of the things that made Harry more confident was his improvement in Occlumency, which was slow and steady as he reached the point where he began sorting his memories and organizing his mind's library. This process was incredibly helping his recall, and also removing the emotions he attached to many of his memories so he could view them objectively and act without showing much emotion, something he knew Blaise and Daphne had long since mastered. Reviewing his memories was also a way of reviewing his lessons and with his greater organization and recall, he knew everything he would need for his first term exams.

A few weeks before the semester ended, there was a sign up for students planning to stay at Hogwarts that appeared on the notice boards of all the common rooms, and Harry quickly signed up knowing he did not want to return to the Dursleys. He noticed that as a few days passed no other names were being added to his, and he came to the realization that everyone else in his house would be going home to visit their families and didn't quite know how to feel about it. On the one hand, having the whole house to himself sounded kind of neat, but also incredibly lonely and made him sad that he was one of the only students to not have anyone to go home to.

"I would love to have you come home with me for the holidays, but we are going to visit my relatives in Xu Shou," spoke Su one day after she saw Harry check the signup sheet for the second time that day, feeling bad that her good friend would be all alone over the holidays.

"Thanks Su," replied a grateful and smiling Harry, "maybe another year ...but I am actually looking a little forward to having the entire common room and the library to myself."

"My parents already told Parvati that she couldn't bring a friend back to Delhi, so I doubt I would be able to either," added Padma with a reluctant smile at the messy black haired boy she and Su had come to really depend on and loved to tease and give a hard time to.

"It's alright," he responded with another wide smile at his two best friends, for thinking of him and wanting to include him in their families and vacations. "We've got plenty more holidays over the next seven years."

"Oh ...and Parvati said that all the Weasleys are staying at the castle too," continued Padma to a now groaning Harry.

"There goes my peace and quiet," he muttered good naturedly while throwing in an exaggerated pout, causing his two friends to giggle a bit at his words and dramatics. "At least they can't get into the Tower."

"I wouldn't be too sure, my sister says the twins know just about every secret in the castle ...though if you had to be stuck with any of them ...the twins are definitely the most amusing," finished Padma with a smirk towards Harry.

"What is it with you and twins?" asked Su sarcastically, causing the three friends to laugh again at Padma's mock affronted look as they continued their way to the Great Hall for dinner, the exams only a few days away now.

The week of exams came and passed very quickly, and Harry felt that he did tremendously well on everything including History. His friends all were happy, praising their nightly study group and weekend training as the reason they all did so well and were prepared for everything the teachers threw at them. With the exams now done, the talk quickly moved to everyone's holiday plans and travels, with Harry mostly just listening in and getting ideas for future travels he wanted to explore after school having never been anywhere before and hoping to change that.

Within two days of exams ending, the friends were all saying their goodbyes to Harry on the morning of Saturday December 21st as they loaded up in carriages that took them to the Hogsmead train station for the trip back to London on the Hogwarts Express. Harry was sad to see them all go, having never really had friends before, but also pretty used to being alone and not having any knowledge or need to spend the holidays with others as he was always alone in the past. As it was the weekend, he went to the classroom he usually practiced his magic in and went through his many spells trying to increase his speed and accuracy of casting

He spent his afternoon in the library, reading about wizarding history and making small lists of other topics that were mentioned that he wanted to read more detailed accounts of, like the Founder's era, Merlin and Arthur, Atlantis, Egyptian Pharaohs and Magi, and the Wizarding Renaissance of the sixteenth century. He also had a list of names he encountered that he wanted to look up more about as their contributions to the wizarding world were pretty neat and some quite far reaching, like the Peverell brothers, Nicholas Flamel, Ulric the Oddball, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Gellert Grindewald, and his Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He asked Madam Pince the librarian if she knew if the library contained biographies on any of the people in his list, and she pointed him to a few, but thought he would probably have better luck ordering those as they didn't have too many biographies even if they were probably all mentioned in several of their many history books.

At dinner, it was really apparent that most of the school was gone, as there was only a single table set up for all the teachers and the handful of students who remained in the castle for the holidays. There was a pair of third year Slytherins Harry only knew by name as Adrian Pucey and Emerson Montague that Blaise said were actually pretty friendly and both on their House's Quidditch team. Hufflepuff had a seventh year girl with bright pink hair he learned was named Tonks, and a pair of fifth year boys Jonathan Tress and Matthew Abrams. The four Weasley boys were the only Gryffindors that stayed, and it seemed all of the teachers remained as well, though Harry wasn't sure if they were required to or not.

When Harry was back in the Common Room after dinner looking through the bookshelves of the Ravenclaw library, he was interrupted by his Head of House Professor Flitwick stopping by to check on him and chat. He asked if Harry was getting along well in his classes even though he knew Harry to be one of the top students, and wondered if he had plans to get his friend's Christmas gifts. Harry was happy to talk to his favorite Professor about all his classes and ask some pointed questions about magic and spells he was learning, and admitted that he had owl ordered books for all his friends he was planning to send.

The short Professor, then surprised Harry by inviting him to accompany the Charms Master to Diagon Alley the next afternoon to pick up some last minute gifts and just see the sights of the magical alley that always looked really impressive for the holiday season. Harry instantly agreed to go, excited to see the Alley in winter, and also to get some more time to talk with and ask his favorite professor more questions about magic and the magical world. The small Professor pointed him to a really good basic dueling book in the House library that would answer several of his questions and promised to answer any other questions he had after he gave it a read tomorrow on their trip.

Harry split his time the next morning between practising his magic, and finishing the last few chapters of the dueling book from the night before having really enjoyed the book and the hints and spells it offered. By lunch time, he was real eager to explore Diagon Alley with his teacher, and was practically bouncing in his seat throughout the meal until the tiny Charms Master gave him a smile and told him he was ready. Professor Flitwick made sure Harry was dressed appropriately, and then cast warming charms on the pair of them before they headed off on foot to the school's gate.

Harry instantly began asking questions and discussing the dueling book with his teacher, and the walk passed in no time as the two were quickly swept up in talk of spells and strategies for dueling. When they reached the gates, Professor Flitwick explained apparition and side along travel, and told Harry to hold on tight to his arm and not let go until they arrived. Before Harry could ask more about it, he felt a slight squeezing sensation and heard a pop of displaced air before he was stumbling and grabbing onto his Professor's arm to keep himself steady as he tried to get his breathing back under control.

"It's not quite as unpleasant when you are the one doing the apparating," laughed Professor Flitwick at Harry's gasping and sputtering.

"That's apparition?" asked Harry breathlessly. "It didn't feel anything like when I did it. That felt awful."

"When have you apparated?" asked Professor Flitwick very curiously.

"A few years ago, I was hiding from my cousin and his friends, and just popped to the roof of my school," answered Harry with a shrug, not thinking too much about it. "It certainly didn't feel like that tube squeezing sensation."

"That is really impressive," responded Flitwick thoughtfully. "Like I said though, it's much better when you are the one apparating and not the luggage," he laughed, "It's loads better than Floo or the Night Bus either way."

"Everything is better than the Night Bus," laughed Harry, and getting an agreeable laugh from his professor as well before the pair headed off down the Alley.

For the next few hours, the unlikely pair wandered through Diagon Alley marvelling at the decorations, and stopping in at several shops to pick up gifts for others and some for themselves too. Flitwick, also knew of a second hand bookstore that was run by a former Ravenclaw student of his, that had the pair of ravens happily going through bookshelves looking for items of interest. Harry found a pair of books on warding, one pretty basic and the other slightly more advanced and seemingly pretty rare, a History of the Renaissance, a biography on Benjamin Franklin, along with a pair of Ancient Runes texts and one on Arithmancy.

Professor Flitwick asked Harry about his own book collection, and after learning that he was planning to continue to grow his collection brought him to the trunk store to show him some of the Ravenclaw options he should consider. Multi-compartment trunks with dedicated library compartments, and even house trunks that were pretty much entire houses inside of a trunk that was very interesting to Harry as it would come in handy when stuck at Privet Drive. Getting a catalogue and order form, Harry decided he would consider his options before placing his custom trunk order as it would take a few weeks to finish but knew he would be getting one before the summer began.

Harry thanked his Professor several times as they made their way back to Hogwarts in time for dinner to be served, and the tiny Professor was very appreciative and enjoyed the time spent with his young Ravenclaw who was very intelligent and inquisitive. He offered Harry to come to him if he ever had more questions, or if he wanted help with dueling spells as he knew a few himself. Harry knew that his Head of House was a former dueling champion, and was therefore very excited to possibly pick his brain and learn something from him.

The next morning, Harry was again practicing his spellcasting and accuracy in the unused classroom when he was interrupted, this time by a pair of twin red heads well known for causing trouble and also knowing an alarming amount about the castle. Harry spotted them enter his room, but continued with his casting at a nearby training dummy, and the pair simply waited and watched for a moment both pretty surprised at the young wizards spell repertoire. It was only another minute or so until Harry stopped and turned to the pair wondering what they wanted.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely, not wanting to offend the older twins known school wide as being pranksters and troublemakers.

"We were curious what you did up here every morning," answered the twin on the left.

"And wanted to invite you to a snowball fight we are having after lunch," continued the other twin seamlessly.

"Do you want to come?" asked the first twin.

"Um ...I'm not sure," replied Harry somewhat skeptically, having never really participated in a snowball fight where he could actually fight back, and not sure if he wanted to get involved with the troublesome twins.

"Come on," begged twin one.

"You'll have fun," continued number two.

"We got all the students," continued twin one.

"Who are staying at the castle to join," continued twin two.

It was like watching a bad tennis match with Harry's head turning back and forth between the two red headed twins, never knowing who or what was coming next as they traded off finishing and starting thoughts of each other enough to make his head hurt. Reluctantly, Harry agreed to go if for no other reason than to get the two to stop begging and talking, and also because he thought it would be fun and a good chance to burn off some of his extra energy.

Harry ended up paired with the Seventh year named Tonks with the pink hair, and the pair of third year Slytherins Pucey and Montague, since they wouldn't side with Gryffindors and vice versa. They went against the Weasley twins and Ron, plus the pair of fifth year Hufflepuffs named Tress and Abrams which seemed unfair until Tonks started casting magic fortifying their fort and mass producing snowballs to great effect and having the three younger year boys all grinning widely. The fight lasted for hours, and at some point devolved into a free for all after everyone had already been soaked through, though warming charms and some of the spells Tonks taught Harry, Pucey, and Montague came in really handy when they were on their own.

Tonks ended up helping everyone when they got back inside the castle with drying charms on their clothes before they all made their way to dinner where the teachers were all waiting on the laughing and happy students to start the evening meal. Harry sat himself next to Tonks, as he was planning to ask her about several other spells he had seen her perform and wanted to see if she would give him any other pointers that would come in handy. By the end of the meal, Harry had a bit of a crush on the seventh year Hufflepuff who explained to him all sorts of spells and hints for studying ahead all the while teasing him mercilessly and having him blush for most of the meal.

He learned that she was a fellow halfblood who lived in a muggle neighborhood and was a huge punk rock fan, mostly of the Clash, was hoping to enter the Auror academy after graduation, and was also a metamorphmagus which had Harry asking about her connection to the Black family as that was an inherited bloodline ability he read about. Learning that her mother was a Black before marrying a muggleborn and getting kicked out of her family for it, was a huge surprise as he didn't think the pureblood families would be quite that strict as her father did at least have magic, and had produced a rare metamorph which had all but disappeared among the Black bloodline over the last century probably due to inbreeding. It was just another aspect of the whole blood debate that confused and somewhat sickened Harry, and Tonks thought his analysis pretty accurate and insightful causing her to smile and wink at the young first year.

Harry asked and got Tonks to agree to show and teach him a few spells in the coming days, and returned to his common room with bright red cheeks after she gave him a large kiss on his cheek after dinner promising it was a date. It was the first kiss he ever remembered getting, and that it was from an older attractive girl left him very red faced and happy despite knowing she was just teasing him and was a natural flirt. Harry was anxiously awaiting getting to learn some more spells that she mentioned, and began making a small list in his head of the few he had read about and was hoping to learn, thinking she might be able to go over those too.

Settling into bed that night, knowing that tomorrow was Christmas Eve he reflected on how much his life had changed from a year ago, and knew that it was definitely for the better. He had real friends, friendly acquaintances, was learning magic, learned a lot about his mum and a little about his dad, had received his first kiss, and had his first crush. He couldn't wait for the next couple of days and the second half of the school year, and wondered what else it would bring and how it would affect and change his life.

*Ravenclaw First Years Schedule:

Monday 9-10:30 Herbology (R&S), 10:30-12 History of Magic (R&H), 1-4 Charms (double R&S)

Tuesday 9-10:30 DADA (R&G), 10:30-12 Potions (R&H), 1-2:30 Transfiguration (R&S), 9-12 Astronomy (All 1st Years)

Wednesday 9-12 FREE, 1-4 Herbology (double R&S)

Thursday 9-10:30 History of Magic (R&H), 10:30-12 Charms (R&S), 1-4 Potions (double R&H)

Friday 9-12 Transfiguration (double R&S), 1-4 DADA (double R&G)