Harry woke the next morning and all but jumped out of bed.
I haven't been this excited for school since I was a kid.
He rushed out the door and into his shared bathroom to get ready. After a quick shower and shave he went back to his room to get dressed. The whole process took about ten minutes and he was ready to go.
He was about to make his way to the great hall for breakfast when Neville finally opened his door, rubbing his eyes and heading towards the bathroom.
"I hope you're not this excited every morning."
Harry laughed before replying.
"This is just so different for me. It's been a very long time since I've had something to be excited about."
Neville looked at him with a curious expression. Eventually he decided not to go deeper and just nodded.
"Have fun then. See you at breakfast."
"See you."
Harry looked across the giant common room to the girls balcony on the other side. He could see a few of them walking towards their stairs on their way to breakfast. For a moment he worried about accidentally looking through one of their open doors and seeing something inappropriate but after a second he noticed the open doors seemed to blur. He could see movement in them but that was about it.
A few minutes later he made his way into the great hall. Even though it was early, there were quite a few students already eating. He sat on the Gryffindor side of the central table and began filling his plate. He'd barely taken a bite when two tall redheads sat down on either side of him.
"Well if it isn't Harry Potter," said the one on the left as he stole a piece of bacon.
"You wouldn't know this," said the one on the right, "but the Hogwarts rumor mill has been running at full steam since you showed up."
"Really?" Harry said, somewhat sarcastically. "And what do they say?"
"That you grew up being trained by Merlin himself and that you are here to take over the wizarding world."
"Also that you were a fan of the Manchester City football club."
Harry just blinked at the two, utterly confused.
"In the case of the first rumor we'd like you to consider the mighty Gryffindor house for next year. And if it's the second, you can kindly sod off."
"Yeah, only Liverpool fans in Gryffindor."
Harry had no idea how to continue the conversation before blurting out, "I follow Leeds."
The one on the left huffed at that.
"I guess that's acceptable. I'm George by the way."
"And I'm Fred."
"Ron's brothers right?"
"Oh, he's a smart one George, maybe he'll end up with the 'claws?"
"I don't know, Fred, he is a Leeds fan…"
"You're right, Hufflepuff it is." He turned back to Harry, "Good luck Harry, enjoy your first year, it's the easiest."
"Thanks, I guess," Harry said as they got up, still not sure what had just happened.
He wasn't bothered again during breakfast, although he could sense eyes on him from around the room. Eventually, he was finished and looked at his schedule.
First up is Composition 101.
He made his way back up to the second floor and turned down the classroom corridor. Walking through it now he realized how similar it looked to every other school corridor. Clearly marked doors with standardized classrooms. Even the teachers looked to be dressed in muggle clothing but with a robe thrown over the top.
Eventually he made his way to his classroom and walked in the door. He was the second one there. Hermione had already established herself in the center seat of the front row. He made his way to the seat next to her, just as excited as she was.
Well, maybe not AS excited, he thought.
She was scribbling into a notebook at speeds he thought only a computer could reach. Her focus was so all encompassing she didn't even notice he'd sat down. Harry took out his own notebook and a pen, and waited for class to start.
A few minutes later the class was beginning to fill. Blaise and the blonde boy he'd seen the day before settled into the seats at the back of the class. Daphne and Tracy came in and sat down behind him and Hermione. Neville took the seat next to Harry and the Patil twins sat on the other side of Hermione. More students came in before the teacher finally arrived.
She was a young woman with dirty blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore jeans and a Hogwarts sweatshirt under a black robe with blue trim and a Ravenclaw crest. She set her things down on the desk and removed the robe, laying it across the back of the teachers chair. After getting everything organized, she turned to the class.
"Good morning, everyone," she began, "I am Rachel Smithers and I'll be your comp one teacher for the semester. I'm in my seventh year-"
Suddenly the door slammed open and Ron stumbled in, his clothes were disheveled and he only had one arm through his robe and the other was clutching at his books. He hunched down under the scrutiny of the teacher and sidled into a seat at the back of the class.
Rachel stared at him for a moment longer before continuing.
Like I was saying, I'm in my seventh year here at Hogwarts and am almost done with my mastery in Arithmancy. Hopefully we will get to know each other over the next couple of months."
She walked around the front of the desk and sat down on the edge leaning forward a bit.
"The goal of this class is to get you all acclimated with the writing styles for the magical world. In your previous schools, you have been taught how to write in the different styles, how to cite sources, and the general formatting for an essay. In this course I'll show you how the magical world expects you to write. It's fairly easy and incorporates many of the different aspects of the styles you are used to so don't worry too much.
"For now, why don't we go around the room and each of you tell me your name, where you're from and what style you are most accustomed to writing in."
With that, she summoned a notebook from her desk and opened it on the podium before nodding at Neville to begin.
Nervous, Neville stood.
"I'm Neville Longbottom, I'm from Leeds and I'm most familiar with Oxford."
Harry stood as Neville sat and spoke, "I'm Harry Potter, I guess I'm from Surrey and I'm most familiar with Cambridge."
He sat down, fully aware that the entire class, except Hermione, was staring at him.
Eventually, Rachel remembered what was happening and prompted Hermione. As the rest of the class continued, Harry did his best to remember their names. Finally, after the blonde boy said his name was Draco, Rachel closed her notebook and began passing out the syllabus. For the next thirty minutes or so she walked them through each page, explaining the daily goals and going over the bigger assignments and projects.
When she had wrapped up the last page she summoned two boxes from the back of the class.
"These are the official style guides for the magical world. These are provided by the International Confederation of Wizards and will be essential in passing this class and all of those beyond it."
She waved her wand and the books floated out and landed on each student's desk. With another wave she sent the remaining books to the back of the class and went back to her desk.
"That's all I have for today but if you have any questions I'll hang back for a bit. Good luck and welcome to Hogwarts!"
Harry put his notebook away and stood, ready to go to his next class. Neville was right behind him and Ron was doing his best to catch up.
He should have brought a bag or something instead of juggling all those books.
"Morning guys," Ron said, stepping up next to them. "I slept in a bit too late but couldn't bring myself to skip breakfast."
Neville laughed and shook his head guessing that this would be a normal occurrence with the redhead.
"I don't think the teacher noticed you," Harry said with not a little bit of sarcasm.
"Really?"
"No, I'm fairly sure the giant squid noticed you were late with how loud that door was."
Ron sighed, "a first impression is a lasting one. Hopefully I can make amends."
From there the boys went about their school day. They had the majority of classes together but were separate for a few. They knew it would take some getting used to the new environment but all were looking forward to getting to know one another.
Over the next week they were introduced to the many classes Hogwarts required of first year students. Harry had expected the usual classes such as comp 1, maths, chemistry, and physics but was quite excited about the new classes of Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration.
Each class was taught by one of the Mastery students and he was looking forward to seeing how the mundane classes were going to connect with the magical classes. Chemistry and Potions seemed to be the most involved but learning how the other magical fields interacted with the rest of the world would be interesting and exciting.
Not a bad first week, Harry thought as he got ready for bed on Friday night. I wonder what the next will bring.
If I never have to take a maths class again I'll be the happiest man in the world.
Harry was leaning over his maths textbook doing everything he could to absorb what was on the page. His workspace in the first year common room was littered with books and crumpled pieces of paper. He had claimed the table up against the massive window and right next to the giant fireplace in the corner by the boy's stairs.
His classes had been exciting yet challenging. Over the first few weeks of term he had gotten used to the school and was enjoying his time. He was looking forward to some of the extracurricular events coming up like Quidditch and the Dueling league.
He looked up as Ron dropped into the seat across from him.
"Blimey, they sure don't let up with the homework do they?" he asked, pulling his own books from his bag. "I swear, Physics is going to be the death of me."
Harry nodded and went back to his math book, determined to finish so he could move on to other subjects.
A few minutes later Harry heard someone giggling above him and looked up just in time to see a large red balloon falling from the balcony overhead. He grabbed as much of his work as he could and dove backwards just in time for the balloon to smash into the table and burst, coating Ron and all of his school work in a bright pink liquid.
Harry glared up from the ground, himself speckled with pink though not nearly as bad as Ron. He looked up to the balcony to see Fred and George grinning down at them.
"I'm going to kill them," Ron whispered, grabbing his wand from the table before spinning around. Before he could point his wand at his brothers a smaller, blue balloon smacked him in the face leaving a two-toned Ron to stand there in shock.
Harry got up trying to stifle a chuckle even though he was still pissed at the mess the older students made. Before he could get too angry he noticed the table was completely dry. None of their stuff had actually been damaged. Confused, he looked down at his robes. They too were totally fine, with not a speck of pink or blue. The only evidence he could see was on the outside of his arm which had been splattered with pink. Only his skin had retained the color.
He looked up to see Ron standing there, defeated. His robes were still completely dry with no coloring but Ron's face was entirely pink and his hair a bright blue.
Harry couldn't help himself. He laughed.
Ron glared at him before noticing his brothers approaching from the stairs, each of them holding their bellies in laughter.
"You should see your face, Ron!"
"It's PINK!"
Harry laughed with them while Ron looked like he would launch himself across the table and start swinging punches.
"You ruined our homework, you arseholes! I'm going to have to stay up all night rewriting my comp 1 paper!"
"Our stuff is fine," Harry said, gesturing to the table. Ron still looked annoyed but it was now much less angry.
"What was that stuff?" Harry continued, examining the coloring on his arm.
"Just a little prank item we've developed," Fred said, producing a vial of pink liquid. "It will stay on the skin for a couple of hours but won't damage anything."
Harry chuckled at the idea but still marveled at how wide ranging magic was.
"So, how's school been going?" George asked, taking a seat at the table.
"It's incredible," Harry replied as he sat down and organized his space a little more. "Magic is amazing and I'm blown away by everything. Although, I could do without the math…"
"I forget that you were raised by muggles," Ron said, still a little miffed at his brothers.
"Yeah, we take magic for granted sometimes," Fred added.
"It's hard to describe what it's like coming into this world," Harry said, leaning back in his seat. He took a moment to compose his thoughts before speaking again.
"The first time I saw magic was when Hagrid lit a fire. I don't think he was supposed to but in that moment the whole world changed. My excitement grew as he explained what Hogwarts was and the kinds of things I'd learn and be able to do. Then, he took me to Diagon Alley and it was like I was hearing music and seeing colors for the first time."
Harry wasn't paying attention but several people in the area had stopped to muggleborns were nodding along but those raised in the magical world seemed more curious on what he had to say.
"Since I came into this world it's all I can do to keep from gawking at the magic around us," Harry continued, shifting his gaze out onto the castle grounds below. "On our first day of Comp 1 our teacher summoned a box of books from the back of the class. I had to stifle the feeling of wonder I had at what I now know is some of the simplest magic. I am incredibly excited about what I am here to learn and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. Even if I'm not a very good wizard I think I will always have this amazement at what magic can do."
He hesitated, unsure of what to say next. After a moment, he continued, a little more somber in his tone.
"I didn't have the best upbringing," he said, not sure how much he wanted to share. "I was forced to work hard at things that I hated. Magic has given me the ability to complete those tasks with a thought and a wand wave, like it's nothing."
He paused again and the room was silent. Someone's cat was weaving through the crowd towards his table.
"But I don't think I can allow myself to be content with just using magic for mundane and trivial things. I've read about the incredible magics Witches and Wizards have discovered. I've heard about things done in this world that were all just fantasy to me. I want to see those magics and learn how to do them myself. I don't think I'll change the world or anything that grandiose but Magic permeates this world and I want to dive in, submerge myself in its unlimited potential."
Not sure how to sum up his feelings, he looked back at Ron and the twins who were staring at him with a look he didn't recognise. Ron nodded for him to continue so he looked back out the window to the Whomping Willow.
"I guess what I mean is there is so much out there that I don't know. So many things that magic can do that I can't even comprehend. This school has given me something that I always dreamed of," He looked back at the brothers, "something to strive for. Maybe I'll make it. Maybe I won't. But I'm sure the ride will be amazing nonetheless."
He smiled, slightly embarrassed at his words. He'd never spoken like that before and was suddenly self conscious.
"Bloody hell, mate," Ron said, shaking his head as if he'd snapped out of a day dream. "When you say it like that, homework doesn't sound half bad."
Harry jumped a bit at the laughter that rang out after Ron's statement, surprised at the number of people standing around him. Hermione gave him a smile from a table away while the Patil twins nodded at him enthusiastically. He saw Blaise Zabini a little outside the gathered crowd. He gave Harry a slight nod and a grin.
Draco Malfoy was a few tables away with a few other students who looked like they knew each other from before Hogwarts. He was looking at Harry with a strange look, almost like he was truly looking at him for the first time.
Harry turned back to his table and smiled sheepishly, unused to the attention. He was about to continue his maths homework when the cat he'd noticed earlier jumped onto the back of the chair next to him. He almost lept out of his skin when the cat transformed into the deputy headmistress, Professor McGonagall.
The room fell silent as she looked down on him with a smile.
"Very well said Mr. Potter," she said with a nod of approval. "I daresay any student who can keep such enthusiasm throughout their time here at Hogwarts will do very well indeed."
"Er, thanks Professor," Harry said sheepishly.
"Now as for you two," the professor said, turning to the Weasley twins who were backing their way out of the crowd. "10 points from Gryffindor for staining the skin of your fellow students, regardless of how temporary."
The twins looked like they were to complain before she raised her hand to silence them.
"However, 15 points will be rewarded to Gryffindor for the excellent potions work."
The twins grinned before bowing low to the professor.
"We are not worthy of such praise."
"Of course not," she replied with a smirk. "Now leave these students to study in peace."
Harry turned back to his schoolwork and the crowd dissipated. He would have appreciated a bit more distraction but he also couldn't help but feel somewhat energized about tomorrow.