When I woke up the next morning, I first changed into my exercise clothes and made my way out of the castle. I wanted to exercise early in the mornings as I knew most of the students would still be asleep. I quite liked it this way as I got to see more of Hogwarts without other students getting in the way. I struck up quick conversations with the portraits I passed, learning when some of them got made into portraits.
When I got outside and made sure there was nobody around me, I first the called the elves. Last night was the first time in years I had not spent with the elves and I definitely missed them.
"Tipsy, Sebas, Albie, Nabel" I called out.
"Master Harry!" Tipsy shouted out and ran to hug me, but because of the height difference she was hugging my legs. The other elves were more subdued in their greeting but I could still tell they were very happy seeing me. I knew last night was going to be hard for them as well, especially considering their last stay at Hogwarts. I asked them about how their night back went. And just like last time, they had no work to do yesterday and were on the outside looking in. To help them out, I gave each of them specific activities that I needed help with.
Sebas was given the task to discreetly keep an eye on Quirrell, I still needed to confirm he was the one housing Voldemort. Nabel was given the task of finding the Marauder's map, I told her to keep an eye on the Weasley twins to find it. I wanted to get it earlier than canon Harry did so I could move about Hogwarts much more easily. Albie was given the responsibility of making sure the Room of Requirement was exactly where I thought it was. And then I wanted to her to keep an eye on it and see if any other students knew about it. Tipsy was given the task to find an unused classroom that I could make use of and not get in trouble for it. I wanted a room similar to the one I had at Potter Manor. After that, I told them to come meet here every morning so we could talk without anybody being a bother.
After they left, I stretched for a couple of minutes and then started a run around Hogwarts as I made sure to look at everything I passed by. After my run, I started on a full body workout that lasted me about 45 min. By the time I was done, I had worked up quite a bit of sweat. I then made my way back to my room, getting some odd looks from some of the students who were now out and about.
"Where did you go?" I heard Ron ask as I passed by his bed.
"I like to exercise regularly and just thought it would be better to do it before everyone else is up." I replied.
Ron looked confused but before he could question me further, I got my change of clothes and left for the showers. By the time I got back, the other three were also pretty much done getting ready so we all left to go to the Great Hall together. Ron kept asking me about my exercise routine, he just couldn't fathom a wizard wanting/needing to exercise. I had to tell him off a bit strongly before he stopped pestering me.
When we got to the hall, I noticed Hermione already at one of the tables and made my way to sit beside her, Neville taking the other spot next to me. Even though Ron tried to hide it, I still saw the scowl on his face when Neville took his seat. This was just ridiculous, now I really wanted Dumbledore to be manipulating the Weasley's so I could at least explain this behaviour away. When the most powerful wizard asks your family to do something, I would imagine most would do whatever to please him so in that case Ron's behaviour would make sense, otherwise it was just sad.
Neville and I made sure to ask Hermione how her first night went, while also telling her about ours. Ron would also jump into the conversation on and off when he thought his input was required. As we were finishing our breakfast, Prof. McGonagall came around with our schedules.
As she was handing mine, she told me that Headmaster Dumbledore would like to see me after classes were done. I made sure to keep my facial expressions in check when she told me that. I knew that Dumbledore wanted to see me because I wasn't living with the Dursleys. Although, I didn't know if he knew all along or only found out when I replied back to the Hogwarts acceptance letter. Oh well, no point stressing about it, I would find out when I saw him later. I told her I would meet her back here after classes so she can escort me.
The first day of classes was actually very different from canon and was more similar to a class in the normal world. The only thing we did was listen to the professors go through the curriculum for the year and then we were let out. We didn't actually do any magic in any of the classes.
As discussed earlier, Prof. McGonagall was waiting for me in the Great Hall when all the classes were done. I told Hermione and Neville that I would see them later on and then followed the professor.
Throughout the entire walk to Dumbledore's office, I could tell that she had questions she wanted to ask but was holding them back, probably waiting to be in front of Dumbledore. We made our way into his office after the professor gave the pass code to the statue that stood guard just like in canon.