A/N - Sorry it's been so long between updates - I've been so busy the last few months, and its going to continue to be that way unfortunately. Here's another chapter, not as long as some of the others but introduces the remainder of the new lessons, so is quite important. Next chapter, Quidditch and Hogsmeade - so it starts getting exciting! Don't forget to review - it encourages me to spend more time writing, so the chapters come quicker and longer! (Disclaimer in Chapter 1).
Chapter 15 - New Lessons
The morning of the fourth of September found Harry awake bright and early. Like the previous morning, he took his shower first and changed into one of the sets of clothes he had brought down the night before, before watching Ginny peacefully sleep for a while, until he finally decided he had to wake her up if they were going to get to breakfast at any reasonable sort of time.
Dropping a quick kiss on her forehead, he gently whispered in her ear "Ginny, it's time to wake up." Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked at him sleepily. "Come on, have a shower, then put on some of the clothes you brought down yesterday. We'll need to go back to the dorms to get into our uniforms, and breakfast starts soon."
"Ok" Ginny murmured, heading for the bathroom, via the wardrobe to collect some clothes to wear.
When she returned, Harry checked the Marauders Map before they left the study through the door into the seventh floor corridor, and made their way along to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Luckily, it was still early enough that most people were still inside their dorms getting changed, so they didn't look suspicious entering the common room early in the morning. Once inside, they parted to go up the separate staircases to their respective dormitories, in order to chang into their school uniform.
Meeting each other back in the common room as soon as possible, weighed down by their school bags, the pair headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast, managing to be some of the first there. They wanted to get an early start as they would need to eat as much as possible - Monday was their busiest day with all six periods having a lesson. An hour into the meal, Harry and Ginny spotted Ron and Hermione entering the Great Hall, but luckily they decided to sit a good distance down the table. It wasn't long anyway before Harry and Ginny finished eating, and left early to give themselves a bit of time to get to their first lesson, Ancient Runes.
They made their way up to the sixth floor, where the Ancient Runes classroom was located, and waited outside the door. They were a little surprised that Hermione had been so late to breakfast, as normally she would be the first to a lesson in the morning, but didn't think much of it. After all, she had entered the hall with Ron, and knowing him, despite his eagerness to eat all of the time, he would have struggled to get out of bed that morning, after a summer of lying in.
Just before the start of the lesson, Harry and Ginny saw most the class walking down the corridor, and so took the opportunity to enter the classroom. They'd waited outside to give themselves a bit of time on their own, rather than the possibility of them being in the room with their professor. They made their way to the front of the room and sat at one of the desks with only two chairs, taking their quills, ink and parchment from their bags, along with Ancient Runes Made Easy and Ancient Runes: First Dictionary.
Soon, the rest of the class filed in behind them, with Hermione near the back of the group. She looked slightly put out at being one of the last in and so having to take a seat in the middle of the room, sharing a desk with a Hufflepuff rather than near the front as she would have preferred. Her look changed to one of shock when she saw Harry and Ginny watching her from the front row of desks.
Suddenly, the door opened again and in walked Professor Babbling, calmly making her way to the front of the room, levitating a pile of sheets of parchment in front of her. Hermione quickly looked away from Harry and Ginny, and set about removing her things from her bag, aghast at the thought that she might miss taking notes at the very start of the lesson. She was a rather tall, slim woman, however she had forgone wearing a witch's cap with her black robes.
"Good morning class." She said loudly, silencing all the murmuring from near the back of the room. Hermione gave an audible sigh of release as she managed to get herself sorted ready to take notes just as the professor deposited her pile of parchment onto her desk. Moving to the board, she began speaking again, but in a softer voice.
"In this class we will be studying the use of Ancient Runes in the current age. For the OWLs, you need only have studied Gorchantt's Runic Principles, and the Eldar Futharck Runic Language. These are covered in the two textbooks I hope you have with you this year. You will struggle severely if you do not possess these, as the Dictionary especially will play a major role in the topics we cover before Christmas.
"After the OWLs, should you choose to continue with this subject, you will have two choices available to you. The first is to study the Eldar Futharck Language, amongst some others, in greater detail, and the other is to delve into the mysterious depths of Ancient Hieroglyphs and Logograms. This choice will be especially important when considering future career paths. Both options have their own NEWT Exam, so knowledge of the other is not required to get a good grade. I wish to see each of you do your best in this subject as we foray deeper into the world of runes, however be warned, I will not continue to teach any slackers beyond the OWLs, so I expect you all to try your hardest. Understood?"
"Yes Professor." The class chorused, while Hermione hastily attempted to scribble down everything the Professor had just said, while still listening.
"Now, how many of you have already looked inside the Runic Dictionary?" Professor Babbling asked. Harry, Ginny, Hermione and most of the Ravenclaws raised their hands. The rest of the class shifted uncomfortably. "No matter, I didn't really expect you to before the first lesson." She said kindly. Hermione looked aghast at not opening a book before its use in a lesson. "If you would all open it to the first page now please." There was a sudden burst of rustling as they all moved the items on their desks around and opened their dictionaries in front of them.
"Now, what can you notice about the runes on the first page?" The Professor asked. Hermione's hand shot up, followed by Harry's and Ginny's, along with a few Ravenclaws.
"Yes Mr Goldstein?"
"They're not arranged in alphabetical order Professor."
"That is partially correct. What showed you that this was the case?"
"Well, here one of the first words in the dictionary is hidden, which is in no way the first word in the language, and that is closely followed by missing."
"That is quite right, so I'll give 2 points to Ravenclaw for a partially correct answer. Now can anyone tell me why this is the case?" Professor Babbling asked. Harry, Ginny and Hermione put their hands up again, although Hermione looked a little unsure, but less of the Ravenclaws did so. "Yes Mr Potter."
"They are in alphabetical order, but by their Latin translations, not English. However, the dictionary doesn't show Latin."
"That is correct, Mr Potter. Five points for Gryffindor for a fully correct answer." Hermione was shocked, she was only guessing, but couldn't risk not putting her hand up or she wouldn't be seen as the smartest witch in their year anymore. However, the Latin translations wasn't anything she had considered before. "Now, let's look at those words you selected again shall we Mr Goldstein?" She flicked her wand at the board, and chalked writing started to appear. "Hidden translates to absconditus in Latin, while missing translates to absentis. Now can anyone suggest why this might be the case. Yes Miss Weasley?" Ginny's hand had risen again, as had Harry's although he knew she wouldn't pick the same person twice.
"When most Ancient Runes were originally created, Latin was a more generally used language, so that is the order that they have been kept in now. It is quite similar to the way most of our modern day spells have some basing in the Latin language."
"That's correct Miss Weasley - another two points for Gryffindor. But what does this mean for you learning Ancient Runes? Miss Abbot?"
"We can't just look every rune up - we need to know where about it will appear in the dictionary, due to its Latin translation, before we can find out what it translates to in English."
"Correct. Two points for Hufflepuff. You must have a basic understanding of what any rune means when you see it, before you can look it up to make sure you have got it correct. Thus is a quirk of the Runic Dictionary, however even if it was not ordered in Latin, but in English, it would help very little. True, there would be no intermediary step to the translation, but you would still need a basic idea as to where it is in the dictionary to find its true translation."
"That's stupid!" A Slytherin boy commented. "How are we meant to know what the runes are then?"
"That will be 10 points from Slytherin for shouting out, Mr Zabini!" Professor Babbling said sharply, her eyes flashing as she turned to face him. "However, to answer your question, you practice. As you will soon learn over this course, Runes have many similarities and differences that help with grouping those with similar meanings, and distinguishing those with opposites. It is my hope that the most able among you in this subject will be able to tell the most basic runes apart, and even their meanings, by the end of this academic year. Indeed, if you have not learnt a sufficient number to a high enough standard by the end of your fifth year, you will struggle come the OWLs." The more runes you learn, the easier it will become to predict the translations of those you haven't seen before, and to find them in the dictionary."
With another flick of her wand, the sheets the professor had levitated into the room were distributed amongst the class. "Now then. On this sheet you will see there are some runes, and also English and Latin meanings. You will notice that the meanings in the two languages are already paired together. Your task is to pair these meanings with their corresponding runes using your Dictionary. Once this is completed, you will have a few runes remaining. These must be found by yourself. You are not expected to go through the entire dictionary, but instead use what I just told you - the runes can be grouped together into sets with similar meanings."
The rest of the lesson was spent on the exercise, with the class trying to match the sets, and work out the remaining runes. Harry and Ginny were among the first to finish, while Hermione took a little longer, making sure she wrote down everything she could about the runes first. At the end of the lesson, Professor Babbling announced, "Right class, Homework! For next Monday, I'd like six inches from each of you on the arrangement of runes in the Runic Dictionary, and how we can find runes like you have done in today's lesson. Also, those of you who didn't finish it, please complete this exercise by the next lesson. Dismissed!"
At the beginning of transfiguration, the class as a whole was more subdued than usual. Professor McGonagall changed back from her animagus demonstration to see a class full of glum-looking faces. "Now what!s the matter you lot? That's the first time my transformation hasn't gotten a round of applause from the class!"
Neville shakily raised his hand, and Professor McGonagall turned to look at him. "Yes, Mr Longbottom?"
"Professor, we've just arrived from Divination. Professor Trelawney, she, well..." Neville trailed off.
"Say no more, I understand. Who did she predict was going to die this time?"
"Um, Harry, Professor." Neville said, looking over at his dorm-mate apologetically.
Parvati Patil spoke up. "She was upset that he wasn't taking her class, and said she could see a tragic death in his near future."
"I see. Well, I assure you Mr Potter, that Professor Trelawney has made the prediction of a student's death every year since she arrived here in 1981 - this is the twelfth year. None of them have come true yet. Are you feeling under the weather at all?"
"No Professor." Harry answered honestly.
"Then you will forgive me for not excusing you from today's homework. Of course, should you pass away before our next lesson, you need not hand it in." There were a few nervous chuckles around the room.
The rest of their double transfiguration class passed quickly, with Professor McGonagall first, teaching, then asking the students to attempt to perform, a transfiguration to turn a tortoise into a teapot. None of the students were very successful, although Hermione's tortoise was decidedly rounder than it had been to start with. The professor informed them that it was a step up from their transfigurations the previous year, and so they would be continuing wit hit for at least the next lesson. She did however set them homework to study the theory behind the transformation carefully, as "it is easier to perform a spell when you know the background behind it".
After lunch, the Gryffindors accumulated in the potions classroom, deep in the dungeons. Every Gryffindor third year was accounted for five minutes before the start of the lesson, but when the lesson did actually start four Slytherins were missing. Professor Snape stalked in with his cloak billowing around his legs, slamming the door behind himself. He gave a few sharp jabs of his wand at the board, and a list of potions appeared.
"These are the potions we will be studying this year. It is highly likely at least one of them will come up on your OWLs in two years time, so I should hope you pay attention! 5 points from Gryffindor Miss Granger, I expect you to look at me whilst I'm speaking." He looked towards Hermione, who was busy scribbling down the potions listed on the board. She looked up quickly to see the Professor's angry face pointed at her, and hurriedly lowered her quill to the desk.
"As I was saying, it is highly likely that some of these will appear, either in the theory or practical, of your OWL examination. This year, we will be brewing potions on Mondays in this lesson, and studying the theory behind them on Thursday, in our other period together." He sounded sarcastically thrilled as he said this. "Now, why are you not taking notes Potter? Another 5 points from Gryffindor. How do you expect to remember anything I tell you if you don't right it down? I don't do this for my own benefit you know." Harry quickly looked down at his parchment, dipped his quill in his ink, and started writing down everything Snape had said so far, ignoring his hypocritical comment, as he had just ordered Hermione to stop taking notes.
Suddenly, the door opened and Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson hurried in, taking their seats near the front of the room. Snape just glanced their way, but made no comment on their tardiness. "Now, as we have not studied the theory behind any of these potions yet, it would be foolish for you dunderheads to attempt to brew any of them, therefore I will be issuing a quiz. It will be interesting to see who remembers anything about last year, and who has read ahead. I have no doubt that most of you will know the answers to next to nothing on this test. I will be quite surprised if anyone gets above an Acceptable Grade."
It was obvious to Harry that he wanted to try and catch Ginny out, by giving her a test on potions that she never should have seen before. However, he wasn't worried. He and Ginny had had a lot of spare time over the summer, especially after going to the Leaky Cauldron, in which they had studied their textbooks - both second and third year. Potions was something they had concentrated on, as Harry had expected Snape to try something like this. Hopefully, the Professor would be sorely surprised, not just at Ginny's performance, but his own improvement too.
With another quick, precise flick of Professor Snape's wand, a stack of parchments distributed themselves around the room on everybody's desks. The board was also cleared of the list of potions it had held. "You will have until the end of the lesson. Begin!" He strode around his desk to his own personal cauldron, and started stirring it, while adding a pinch of powdered frog spleens. Harry looked down at his parchment, and turning it over, started to write.
"So how do you think that went?" Harry asked as he left the room with Ginny, on their way to their first Arithmancy class.
"Pretty well - I couldn't work out what some of the potions were though." She replied.
"No - Snape's set us another impossible test. We always think when he says 'read ahead' he means into the next year - some of those potions were only mentioned in passing and others not at all. I think there was at least one in there from NEWT level!"
"But why would he set us something that we would have no possible way of completing? I mean, I know he dislikes Gryffindors in general, but that seems a bit, I don't know, excessive."
"Not where I'm concerned." Harry said. "He hates me, and is always trying to find any way possible to mark me down. He must know something about what happened last year, and so hates you now as well. He'll see it as a personal insult that a Weasley was advanced a year. I think he's trying to catch you out. While it was only a small number, there were some potions in that test that we should have known from last year. If we hadn't read the textbook over summer, you'd have no chance of knowing them." Harry said sadly, wrapping one arm around her shoulders.
"I guess its a good thing we anticipated something like this and concentrated on Potions when reading the textbooks over the summer - and bought all those extra books to help too." Ginny commented. "He's going to be so surprised!"
Ron walked sullenly out of the Potions classroom, near the back of the crowd. Up ahead, he saw Hermione disappear quickly around a corner. He didn't think he minded too much - while she might be his only good friend at the moment, he wasn't sure he could stand her disapproving looks when she heard how badly he'd performed. He was sure he'd failed the potions test - he'd only known for sure the answers to three of the fifty questions. He had given a good guess for another 5, but the rest he had been completely lost on. Ron had always seen the summer holidays as a time to forget all about school, to ignore any work and mess about having fun before September. Luckily for him, most teachers seemed to understand that not much would get done - sure they set summer homework, but there was never too much. Snape however, was completely different.
It was the same pattern every year - they would come back to Hogwarts excited to learn more magic. However when they got to their first potions lesson, that excitement would be completely wiped out as Snape systematically denigrated every Gryffindor in the room - making them feel inadequate for not reading the whole of the next year's textbook without being asked to over the summer. Ron never did any more work than was absolutely necessary.
This year, the insulting was in the form of their test. The previous year it had been a surprise practical on one of the harder potions from first year - the forgetfulness potion. It had been on the First Year Final Exam, but as the entire year had performed poorly, he had decided to have them brew it again. Unfortunately, it required a certain ingredient that while on the first year ingredients list, did not feature for second years - nobody had it, and Snape was less than pleased when he had to allow them all to use some from his stores - "You should always be prepared and have any ingredients you may need on hand!"
Their first year, it had started with Snape immediately asking Harry those three questions - none of the answers had even come up yet, now two years,p into their course. But no - Ron wasn't even thinking about Potter at the moment, while the boy was probably off snogging his sister somewhere. Startled, Ron realised that he inadvertently shared something in common with the Greasy-Haired Git of a Potions Teacher - they were both experiencing a dislike of Harry Potter. Shuddering, Ron turned his thoughts back to the corridor he was walking down.
"Ron. Ron! RONALD!" He heard behind him as he started up the stairs. Stopping, he turned to see Hermione running towards him.
"How did you get there?" He asked. "I saw you ahead of me when I left Potions."
"Bathroom." Hermione managed to get out. Getting her breath back, she asked "How did it go for you? I think I got question 34 wrong, and I could have written the answer better for question 50, but I was running out of time. Of course, there were also the ten questions from NEWT level that I only partially knew the answer to, but I hope I can manage an Exceeds Expectations."
"Abysmally." Ron said, dismal once more. He had hoped to avoid this conversation.
"It can't have been that bad." Hermione said sympathetically. "After all, only 50% is needed for a pass, and any pass is good in Professor Snape's class."
"I knew the answers to three questions, all right Hermione? Three bloody questions! I guessed another five. There is no way I'm getting above a Troll!" He stormed off ahead, angrily muttering about persistent witches, while Hermione watched his back, upset with his attitude.
In the Arithmancy classroom on the seventh floor, Harry and Ginny once again took a pair of seats at the front of the room. Soon after them, Hermione came in, looking worried about the previous lesson's test. She took a seat two desks down from them, with a Ravenclaw they vaguely recognised but couldn't put a name to.
Suddenly, Professor Vector strode in purposefully. Her red robes flowed around her as she made her way to the front of the classroom, and she wore a matching red witch's hat on her long, thin black hair.
"Listen up class - there will be no misbehaving in my lessons, and I expect you to always pay attention. That being said, taking notes is a very important part of the subject of Arithmancy. Many of even the simplest calculations can easily be gotten wrong from lack of taking notes. To this extent, I will assume that anyone scribbling anything down while I am talking about something important is paying close attention, while anyone looking away from their parchment and out the window," she said specifically looking at a Hufflepuff near the back. The other person at his desk, one of his housemates, shoved his arm slightly to get his attention focused back onto the strict Professor. "will be considered to be ignoring me. Ignorance is not something I tolerate in my lessons, so if this is you, I invite you to leave now." Nobody moved.
"Good. Now then, the study of Arithmancy is a complicated branch of magic, but extremely useful all the same. For example, have you ever wondered why the precise duration of a wand movement, or the number of constituent parts a wand contains, matters? These are not things many witches or wizards know, but are just two of the many topics we will be investigating in the next three years. In addition, we will be looking into the magical numbers and what they mean for us, and for those of you who remain on this course at NEWT level we will even find the strengths of our own magical cores.
"Many of the topics we will cover in this course require exquisite knowledge of several complex calculations, or you will find it impossible to keep up. To that extent, we will be spending the first month of lessons concentrating on the main calculations that will help in the year to come. For example, with simple maths and also more complex calculus methods, we will be able to go on to calculate numbers to tell our personalities, and also to predict future events, just as the Ancient Greeks did.
"I have found that my students tend to come into my lessons with different amounts of knowledge of the basic subject of mathematics. I have found that those raised in the muggle world, attending school before Hogwarts, have a base understanding of the calculus methods we will be extending our knowledge of, while the Purebloods tend to have only an understanding of the simplest mathematical principles. I mean no disrespect to your parents' teaching methods, but 8 have found this to be the general case in years past, as subjects are only taught to a basic level and not more in depth such as they are at a muggle school. For this reason, we will all be starting with some of the simpler principles this week, and will move onto the more complicated calculations when everyone is ready, to keep the class in the same place."
Hermione looked put out at having to wait potentially several weeks to get to anything complicated or challenging, as Harry had no doubt that she already knew everything that they were about to be taught. On the other hand, he realised he probably know most of it too, despite not being allowed to try when he went to school, lest he do better than Dudley in any tests.
Suddenly, Harry felt a feeling of sadness wash over him in the background of his mind. Glancing at Ginny, he saw she looked worried. Recalling what he had heard Professor Vector say about Purebloods, he remembered that that was Ginny's position, she potentially knew next to nothing about what they were about to learn. He knew she wanted to be able to prove herself, and didn't want to be behind the majority of the class. Harry wasn't too concerned, he knew she was naturally smart and would pick it up in no time, but when he saw her going slightly pale, he silently vowed to talk to her after the lesson. He didn't want her to go putting herself down because she was starting behind some of the others in the class.
For the remainder of the period, Professor Vector gave them some exercises to do with Pythangoras' Theorem and Trigonometry, as "Triangles are very important in the world of Arithmancy. The entire unit on predictions is worked from different triangles, so this understanding will help you greatly in the future."
At the end of the lesson, Harry and Ginny left the room near the back of the group and noticed Hermione ahead hurry into the Girl's Bathroom. Not thinking anything of it, they made their way down to dinner.
After returning to Godric's Study that night with another set of clothes each from their dorms, Harry pulled Ginny down onto the couch next to him. "What are you so worried about?" He asked softly.
"Who said I was worried about anything?" Ginny retorted, though Harry could see she didn't mean it.
"Come on Ginny, I saw you in Arithmancy when Professor Vector was explaining that some people might currently know more than others, and Purebloods usually knew the least. Does it bother you that you might not know everything that our classmates do?"
Ginny visibly wilted under his gaze. "Yes, Harry. I'm used to having a basic understanding of what's going on, but today I was completely confused. I've never even heard of Pythagoras before and now I find out there's some important theorem we need to know that he came up with? Most of that lesson made no sense to me!"
To Harry's dismay, he saw some tears start to well up in the corners of her eyes. Turning slightly, he pulled her onto his lap and gently wiped the tears away. "There's no need to cry Ginny, I didn't understand a lot of it either. We learnt Pythagoras at school before my first year, but its been so long I barely remember it. And the Trigonometry was completely new. I can't imagine its very different for most of the others. I think I even saw Hermione confused at one point."
"But I don't understand it at all, and Professor Vector seems to think that everyone will just understand it when they see it. How am I supposed to learn if I can't talk to her?"
"She does seem a bit strict, doesn't she." Harry agreed. "But as for how you can learn - I can help you. I know I don't understand it much more than you do, but maybe if I explain what I do know to you, it might help you with the rest. You very smart naturally, after all - I'm sure with my current knowledge and your natural smartness we can help each other to understand the rest in no time. There must be some books in the library on it too."
Ginny blushed at the compliment, and replied shyly, "Thanks Harry, you always know how to make me feel better."
"I'm glad - I've not got a clue how to do it for myself. Now try and give me a smile, and we'll go to bed. We've got a long day again tomorrow, and we can start our Arithmancy homework in our free lesson in the afternoon." Professor Vector had asked them to finish the exercises they hadn't done already in time for the next lesson.
"That sounds like a good idea - I'm knackered." Ginny agreed.