Harry's first week was a disaster. He found that he had a horrible sense of direction, as he had the hardest time finding his classes. He'd had to ask so many upperclassmen that Higgs had told him off about it. Apparently a Slytherin asking for help was 'weak' and 'an action undeserving of a Slytherin'. By the time he was reprimanded, he was beginning to get a hang of the layout of the castle. He and Draco were getting around Hogwarts without too many wrong turns by Monday, though. Just in time for them to have their first potions lesson.

Potions was taught by Professor Snape, someone that Harry and Draco were very familiar with. Snape was Draco's godfather so he came around the house sometimes to check up on their mother. He also brought them potion supplies for Draco and their mum. Harry still got the creeps when he saw the man, though, and he suspected that Snape felt the same way about him. Snape had talked to him directly maybe five times, all of which had not been very nice encounters.

Harry sat with Draco during potions as Snape went on a lecture about potions. He's kind of a prick. "Potter!" Harry sat straight up in his seat as if shocked when he heard the professor bark his name. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Harry stumbled, he knew this, he knew he did. He had studied it with his mother. It was on the tip of his tongue. As he took too long to answer, Snape continued. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Now this one Harry did know. Draco was a herbology nerd, which meant that by association, so was he.

"There's no difference between them, sir. They're the same plant. It's also called wolfsbane and is used in the potion under the same name." Harry replied, feeling all eyes on him.

"Well, at least there is one student in this class who isn't a blubbering idiot." Satisfied with his questioning, he turned towards the rest of the class. "Well, why aren't you all writing this down?" He barked, a mean look on his face.

They made a cure for boils for their first potions class. There were at least two cauldron explosions, and most people couldn't produce a satisfactory one. The only groups able to produce a satisfactory potion were Draco's and Hermione's, who were paired up with Harry and Theodore Nott, respectively. When Snape passed their potion, he muttered a mere "This is acceptable." Which Draco told him was the highest praise that Snape could give.

Harry didn't believe that. Snape had something against him, he was sure of it. Confronting him in his very first potions class? That was just rude. He said so to Draco on their way out of the class only to be told off by Pansy who was walking with them.

"You know, not everything is about you, Potter. He probably does that to a first year every year, don't think anything of it." Pansy remarked next to him, her black bob bouncing.

"I agree with Pansy here, Harry. Snape's always been tough on first years apparently." Draco popped up next to him. "Besides, at least you knew the answers to the questions he asked."

Harry nudged Draco's shoulder with his own, commenting "It was only because you're such a nerd Drake."

"Hey!" Draco pushed him into Pansy, who let out a small shriek. "I am not a nerd! You're a nerd!"

"You're both nerds. Now, can we please actually go to lunch? I'm starving and I actually know how to get to the great hall from here." Pansy straightened herself up as she talked, sneering at a pair of Gryffindors that were passing them. They made it to the Great Hall without much preamble and that was where Harry encountered his first taste of how mean teenagers could be.

Everything was fine, until about halfway through his meal when he felt a strange sensation. He went to ask Draco if he felt it too when he realised that he couldn't speak, he could only make noises. He slapped Draco's shoulder multiple times, and when he turned around out of annoyance, he handed him a piece of paper. Draco raised his eyebrows looking down at the paper, then slipped it into his pocket. Harry could tell that he was trying to hold back his laughter and he glared at him. This wasn't a laughing matter, he couldn't speak!

"Don't worry too much about it, it was probably just a tongue-tying jinx. You just have to wait for it to wear off. I'll cover for you, but we have to get going unless you want to be late to charms." Needless to say, Harry did not want to miss charms. It was one of his favorite classes, he excelled in it. He was already learning all the charms in his textbook, and it made him feel useful for the first time since they had been at Hogwarts. Flitwick liked him so far, too. Sure, he had only had a few charms classes so far, but Harry could tell that he would love it. He wrote another message to Draco, this one asking how long it could take for the jinx to wear off. "You'll probably be okay in charms class." And so, they went off to charms class. Luckily for them, they didn't run into Peeves on the way there, and by the time they got to class, the spell had worn off. Though Harry still had a hard time talking after it wore off, stuttering in odd places, he was just glad he could talk again.

That afternoon, Harry took out his parchment and ink, and set down in the library to work on his homework. Binns had assigned them 10 inches on the first goblin rebellion, and he had no idea how to start it. They hadn't even gone over the rebellion in class, how were they supposed to know what happened? He got up from the table he was working on, and browsed the shelves until he found the History of Magic section. His fingers skimmed the spines of the books, searching for anything that could help him, not even looking where he was going when he bumped into a hard chest. Harry scrambled backwards, and two hands gripped his shoulders. He looked up into the chest of a Hufflepuff. A tall hufflepuff, he realized, having to look up to see the Hufflepuff's face. He was pretty. He straightened himself out and the stranger let go of his shoulders, taking a step back.

"Hey, sorry for that. I must not have been watching where I was going." The stranger grinned at him, with a row of straight white teeth.

"No, no it's okay. It was my fault. I was too focused on trying to find something that could help me do Binn's homework." Harry shook his hair out of his eyes, noting to himself that when he went home for Christmas he needed to get a haircut.

"Ah, good old Binns. What's your topic? Maybe I can help." He was leaning against the bookcase now, scrutinizing him.
"The first goblin rebellion. I don't even know where to start and I need ten inches by tomorrow." Harry shrugged, his eyes going back to skimming the books on the shelf.

"You're not likely to find much information over here. They're quite biased towards wizards in these books. I'd look in the magical creatures section, but be careful because some of the books bite." The boy winked at him. "I'm Cedric, by the way. Cedric Diggory. I'm a third year."

"Harry Potter, first year. Thank you for your help." Harry smiled up at him and turned around to go to the magical creatures shelf, the one right across from this one.

"Hey, uh," Cedric said behind him when he turned away. "If you ever need any help, come find me. Hogwarts can be tough for first years and I've been here long enough to know some things."

Harry turned around and walked backwards while talking. "Will do, thanks!" He bumped into the edge of the bookshelf and quickly turned so he could actually see what he was doing. He giggled slightly to himself. He had made a friend, who was really nice. And older, he couldn't forget older.

He found a book that looked like it might have some information he could find useful and brought it back to the table he was sitting at before. The library was pretty empty, only a few students being there, so he was able to work on his homework in peace. When he was almost at 4 inches of work, Hermione appeared at his table.

She cleared her throat next to him, and Harry looked up at her. "Can I sit with you? I need to do Binn's homework and I was thinking maybe we could work together on it."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Harry cleared off the spot next to him and for the next several minutes they worked in relative silence, only talking when one of them needed help.

That is, until a ravenclaw girl passed them, saying "Go home, Mudblood." And knocked her books off the table next to them. Hermione bent down to grab them, and Harry moved around her to help her pick them up.

"Does that…. Does that happen often?" He asked her in a low whisper, as if afraid the girl would hear them and come back.

Hermione nodded. "Pretty much everyday. I don't even know what mudblood means, but I'm assuming it's not good considering that it normally comes with my books being knocked to the floor. Really, it's very muggle-like of them." She giggled a little, though a few tears still sneaked their way down her chubby cheeks. Her hand moved quickly to wipe them away and they both stood up, making their way back to their chairs.

"Yeah, it really is." Harry agreed with her, "You know, I've been bullied for most of my life by classmates, but they really are a different breed of bullies here. I got jinxed earlier, and the worst part is, I don't even know who did it. At least with muggles they have to own up to their actions, but here they can do anything they want in secrecy. It's not fair."

"No," Hermione said next to him, looking back at the book they were sharing for information. "It's really not fair, but it's not like there's anything we can do about it. People will always be cruel to people they don't understand."

"Hermione," Hermione looked up at him to find a new intensity in his eyes. "They will get what they deserve, I swear to you."

"Karma will get them eventually, I know that. I just hate waiting for it." She looked back down at her parchment, "Can we just forget this happened and go back to writing, please?"

"Absolutely. So, do you really think…" Harry and Hermione discussed the goblin war in depth as they wrote their essays. By the time they had finished their essays, Harry's hand was cramping. They both put their things away, and Hermione waited by the door for Harry to put away the book they had borrowed for the night.

While he was doing so, another isle caught his eye. The Defense Against the Dark Arts isle. Thinking back to Hermione's bullies, Harry decided that it wouldn't hurt to be prepared the next time he was around her when that happened. He turned and headed down the DADA isle, spotting a couple books that he would like, and took a note of them in his mind. He still had a Flourish and Blotts catalog at home as well, and some light reading wouldn't hurt. Heading out of the aisle and back to Hermione, he felt a surge of protectiveness over the girl. She was incredibly blunt sometimes, sure, and maybe she was a bit of a swot, but that didn't mean that she should be bullied. She was smart, and nice to him. So, when he got back to his dorm, he filled out the Flourish and Blotts catalogue and brought it to the owlery, being careful not to be spotted by Filch or the mangy cat of his.

He gave Hedwig a treat, sent her off with the order, then descended carefully back to his dorms. He already couldn't wait to see what the books held for him. Those bullies would get what was coming for them, even if Harry had to do it himself.