The next morning, Harry opened his eyes and had to take a moment to allow his mind to take in the fact that he was at Hogwarts (had been for a whole night) and had been sorted into Ravenclaw. Harry sat up in his bed that was tucked into a nook in the wall of his dorm that he shared with the only other first year Ravenclaw boy: Terry Boot, a plain looking boy with short brown hair. Harry gave Loki a pet as he looked around his part of the dorm. There was a window over his bed; a blue curtain that, when shut, separated his bed from the dorm room. To the left of is bed, just outside the nook, was a dark mahogany wardrobe and across from it sat a desk made of the same wood as the wardrobe.
With a sigh, Harry slid out of his bed and pulled his trunk out from underneath his bed and went to pull out a change of clothes only to find his clothes missing. In a panic, he ran to his wardrobe to find his clothes were there. After calming his heart, Harry reached out to grab a shirt when he noticed a beautiful navy-blue button up shirt hanging in the wardrobe along with black pants. Carefully, Harry pulled the shirt and pants out and laid it on his bed, figuring that it had to be important or his uniform if it was placed in his wardrobe, before opening the draws of his wardrobe and found a blue and silver necktie. He also found a vest that was black and lined with navy blue, silver buttons, and a crest of an Eagle taking flight with the words 'Ravenclaw' across the top on the left breast. He also found shiny black shoes and brand-new black socks.
Once Harry had gathered all of his new clothes and robe (that had the Hogwarts crest changed to the Ravenclaw crest) he left his dorm and headed down the stairs all the way to the bottom of the tower in which the Ravenclaw dorms were located and to the bathrooms dedicated for the boys. After a quick shower (and wondering where his dirty clothes had gone off to) Harry dressed and made his way back to his dorm, stopping a cute Asian girl named Cho (noticing she was wearing the female version of his uniform) to ask if his uniform was on correctly.
Back in his dorm room, Harry went to his bed to grab Loki and noticed a white parchment laying on his desk. Knowing that hadn't been there when he left and curious as to what it was, Harry picked it up only to see that it was his school schedule. He quickly memorized it, which didn't take long thanks to his almost perfect memory. After grabbing the books he needed for the day and placing them into his book bag, he gave Loki a pet before leaving the Ravenclaw tower.
The moment Harry left his dormitory, the other students lined up outside classrooms and stood on their tiptoes to get a good look at the brother of Haiden Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry even noticed that some students even doubled back to pass him in the corridors to see him again. It unnerved him. All of his life he had been treated as if he were practically invisible. Harry wished that the students wouldn't pay so much attention to him, it was hard to concentrate on finding his way to his classes making his first week all the more stressful.
There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that lead somewhere different on Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump over. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely or tickled them in exactly the right place or doors that weren't even really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and, as Harry passed the same suit of armor for what seemed like the tenth time, he was pretty sure the suits of armor could walk.
And the Ghost didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided through a door Harry was trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, was always happy to point first years in the right direction. But Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were lost or late for class. Not only that, but he would drop wastepaper on students' heads; pull rugs from under students' feet; pelt students with bits of chalk; or sneak up behind the students (invisible), grab their nose, and screech "GOT YOUR CONK!"
But even worse than Peeves (at least in Harry's opinion) was the caretaker: Argus Filch. Without meaning to, Harry had gotten on the wrong side of Filch on his first day. Filch had found Harry trying to persuade his way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. Filch had not believed that Harry was lost, very sure that Harry was trying to break in on purpose and had threatened to lock him in the dungeons. Thankfully, Harry had been rescued by Professor Quirrell, who had been passing by.
Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny dust-colored creature with bulging lamp like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of place, and she'd whisk off for Filch who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins who had taken to teaching Harry them after the third-floor corridor incident) and could pop up as suddenly as any ghost. The students all hated Filch, and it was the dearest ambition of many (mainly the troublemakers) to give Mrs. Norris a good kick.
And then, once Harry had managed to find his way to them, there were the classes themselves. Harry had quickly learned that there was a lot to magic than waving his wand and saying an incantation. Harry had to study the night skies through his telescope every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and movements of the planets. And three times a week, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years went out to the greenhouse behind the castle to study Herbology with a damp little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found what their effects were.
Easily the most boring class was History of Magic (this the Ravenclaw first years had with the Slytherin first years) which was the only class taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. Harry was sure that had Draco (who had decided to forgive the hat for mistakenly placing Harry in Ravenclaw) not been sitting next to him keeping him entertained, he would have fallen asleep.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms professor (a class Ravenclaw also shared with Slytherin) and the Ravenclaw head of house, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. Professor McGonagall was, again, different. Harry had been quite right to think that she wasn't a professor to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years sat down in her first class.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts." She said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." She then changed her desk into a pig and back again. Harry had been impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized that they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Harry had been able to make any difference to his match. Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Harry a pat on the back and five house points.
The class everyone besides Harry had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, the third and final class the Ravenclaws shared with the Slytherins. Professor Quirrell's class turned out to be a bit of a joke, just as Harry had predicted it would be. The classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone assumed was to ward off a vampire Quirrell had met in Romania and was still afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but no one really believed that story. For when Morag had asked how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather. Also, there was a funny smell hanging around the turban, and the Weasley twins were sure that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.
The one thing that Harry had been happy to learn that first week was that he wasn't miles behind everyone else in the magic area than he had feared. He may not know a lot about the magical world and its magic; however, he wasn't alone.
Friday soon became an important day for Harry, he had finally managed to find his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once. It was also the day he had his first Potions lesson. A lesson he had been looking forward to after hearing about all the wonderful potions he could make from both the Weasley twins and Draco. It also didn't hurt that Severus Snape, the man who had helped him in Diagon Alley, was the professor for the class.
As Harry ate his breakfast, he was shocked when his brother suddenly made his way over to him with a letter in his hand. Harry and his brother hadn't spoken since Harry had left Haiden to hang out with Draco. Harry watched as Haiden stood awkwardly in front of him (along with every student in the Great Hall) as Haiden gathered his courage to speak to him.
"Hi." Haiden said and Harry felt as the students' eyes flew to him.
"Hello." Harry shyly said, happy when the eyes flew back towards Haiden. It was as if everyone in the Great Hall was watching a game of tennis.
"I got a letter from Hagrid." Haiden muttered shifting awkwardly, a light dusting of pink on his cheeks. "I was wondering if you'd like to join me and Ron as we visit him to have some tea and probably talk about our first week." Before Harry could even reply to Haiden, a moon-light pale hand suddenly slammed down on the table in between Harry and Haiden. The brothers looked over at the owner of the hand to find Draco glaring at Haiden.
"He's busy." Draco told Haiden coldly.
"How would you know if he's busy, you don't own him. If my brother wants to spend time with me then you can't stop him!" Haiden all but yelled. Sensing a shouting match was about to begin, Harry stood up causing both Haiden and Draco to look at him.
"Haiden, if I am free, I might join you." Harry said calmly before squeezing past the two boys. "Now, if both of you will excuse me, I need to get to my Potions lesson." With that said, Harry gave them a smile (which caused Draco to gain a pink tint to his cheeks), before walking around Draco and left the Great Hall. The Potions lesson took place down in one of the many dungeons. It was colder there than up in the main castle, and Harry made a mental note to wear a thicker robe for his next Potions lesson.
Severus, like Flitwick, started class by taking the roll call; however, unlike Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name and allowed his hard, onyx black eyes to flicker over to Harry before going back to the roll call. "I see that we are all here and no one was left behind." Severus commented causing Harry to bite back a giggle, and blushed when he earned a flew curious looks.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making." Severus began, he spoke in barely more than a whisper, but the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs caught every word – like Professor McGonagall, Severus had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper on death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." More silence followed his little speech and Harry could feel himself practically vibrating in his seat. It would seem that he had found what was going to be his favorite subject.
"Potter!" Severus suddenly called. "Let's see if you are smarter than your celebrity brother. What would you get if I added a powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" After getting over the shock of suddenly being called upon, it took only a few seconds for his mind to pull up the passage he had read in his potions book.
"Drought of the Living Death, sir." Harry told him quietly and received a small nod.
"Correct, five points to Ravenclaw." Severus said. "Bones! Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" The poor red-headed girl blushed and fidgeted before stuttering out that she didn't know causing Severus to tsk at her. Harry fidgeted, wanting to raise his hand but not sure if he was allowed to or not. "Potter, answer the question."
"I – um – a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons." Harry stuttered out, not having expected to be called out upon once more.
"Correct, again, Potter, shall we go for three?" Severus drawled out, walking over to Harry. "Tell me, Potter, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"Nothing, sir, Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, which also goes by the name aconite." Harry told Severus a little more confident that before. Why should he be scared to answer a question that he knew the correct answer to? Severus nodded, his stone like face almost looking proud.
"Ten points to Ravenclaw." Severus said before turning to glare at the rest of the class. "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" There was the sudden sound of rummaging for quills and parchment. Things only seemed to improve for Harry (helping him become more confident in himself) as the lesson continued. Halfway through the lesson, Severus put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. Severus swept around the classroom in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crushed snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Harry, who Severus seemed to favor.
"STOP!" Harry yelled to his potions partner (Terry Boot), catching the boy in time to stop him from adding the porcupine quills into the cauldron that was still on the fire. Harry rushed around Severus (who had been praising him for the perfect way he had perfectly stewed his horned slugs) and pulled Terry's hand (that had frozen over the cauldron) away from the cauldron. "We don't add the porcupine quills until after we remove the cauldron from the fire." Harry carefully explained to the frightened boy.
"Quite right, Potter, 25 points to Ravenclaw." Severus said. Harry had Terry carefully extinguish the flames from underneath the cauldron before he, himself, added the porcupine quills before stirring it clockwise five times and allowed Terry to wave his wand over the now complete potion.
As Harry left the Potions lab, he did so with an extra bounce in his step, a smile on his face, and the most confidence him himself than he had ever had. He had enjoyed his very first Potions lesson and had earned Ravenclaw 40 house points. Harry couldn't wait till next Friday when his next Potions lesson would be. Coming out of the dungeons, he spotted Fred and George huddled close together, whispering. Harry's smile grew and he shot off towards his two favorite twins that were quickly becoming like older brothers to him.
"Fred! George!" Harry cried happily as he squeezed under Fred's arm that had been wrapped around George's waist. In the week that Harry had known the twins, he had often found the two wrapped in each other's arms. At first Harry had hoped that him and his twin brother could become as close as Fred and George; however, that was until Harry had accidently stumbled upon Fred and George kissing. The red-headed twins didn't know that Harry had seen them kissing, because the second Harry had seen them, he had taken off, not knowing what to think. Uncle Vernon had always said that boys should be with girls, and Harry knew that you only kissed someone the way Fred and George were kissing if you were with that person. However, after a few hours of thinking, Harry had come to the conclusion that Uncle Vernon was a liar and could not be trusted. Uncle Vernon lied to Harry and Haiden about what happened to their parents and about them being wizards, so he must have been lying that boys should only be with girls.
"Hey Kitten," George said picking Harry up. Fred and George had given Harry the nickname 'Kitten' after Harry had fallen asleep outside with them one day. Apparently while he slept, Harry had looked like a little kitten.
"How was your first week?" Fred asked slipping his arm from around George's waist and began leading them down the corridor. Harry launched into telling Fred and George about everything that had happened to him and him earning 40 points in Potions.