A/N: Thanks to PheonixFire; Jordan; Dadaiiro: All your questions with be answered in due time. And there is no such thing as too many questions! =^) White Rider: I will try, but 'm not the fastest typer in the world. A normal chapter takes almost three hours!; kateydidnt; WolfMoon; Bil; JerseyGirl; ER; maggie; LittleEar BigEar's sis; George Weasley; Lirael; Maikafuiniel; ryleeblack; Calani; and Lady Phoenix Gryffindor.

Okay, for all who mentioned it, I was originally going to put Harry in Gryffindor, but he has to be in Ravenclaw for a main part of this story. You will see later what it means (and Jordan, it has to do with the eye thing, *hint hint*). As for Ron, I can't say they will be friends at the beginning. I'm not that great with writing Ron, so he won't be that into the story. Sorry.

CH14: Classes

~"Wisdom and words to live by," called Maria Kensington, a 6th year Prefect. The tromped into their rooms and to bed. Harry fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow.~

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That night, Harry had the strangest dream. He was floating in a pool of silver. Professor Quirrell was there, but he slowly morphed into Snape. Then, Voldemort appeared, laughing coldly, and Harry's scar was burning. He woke up covered in cold sweat. The next morning he barely remembered it at all.

Harry, Draco, and the rest of the first years were led by Maria, Cho, and Sandy Hertman, a friend of Cho's, to the Great Hall. More alert today, Harry was able to marvel at the talking paintings and moving staircases.

Professor McGonagall passed out the schedules at breakfast and Harry realized with a sinking heart that they had potions first that morning.

"Mail's here," Cho said looking towards the enchanted ceiling. A whole flock of owls swooped down into the Hall, starling the first years out of their seats. As soon as the chirping and hooting died down, Harry turned to Cho and asked,

"That happen every day?" She just smiled and nodded.

The group ate their breakfastes, talking animately about what they would be doing that day. After almost a half an hour, the first years set off towards the dungeons.

They got lost about 7 times before they finally founds Snape's classroom, with only 3 minutes to spare. The Ravenclaws realized who they had class with as the Hufflepuffs filed into the class. Then, Snape came in.

.......Well, maybe, burst in would be a better description as he startled several of his students out of their seats. The professor stood there, his long black robes billowing out behind him. He looked incredibly intimidating. Harry calmly took out a quill and waited for the lesson to begin.

The potions master spoke with a quiet, cold voice that made the class silent more effectively than shouting. "Yes, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first years. Always an interesting bunch.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand-waving in here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will 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 and ensnaring the senses....I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Harry could see quite a few surrounding students eager to prove that they weren't dunderheads. He stifled a snort.

"Andrews!" Snape called out suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry was stumped for a moment. 'Powdered root of what..." But then it clicked.

"Draught of the Living Death, sir."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "And what is that?"

"A-a sleeping potion, sir?"

"What is the difference, Andrews, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry thought hard. "That's a trick question, right? I mean, they're the same plant."

"Which also goes by the name of....?"

"Aconite, professor."

Snape made a noise of annoyance in the back of his throat. It appeared he didn't think that Harry would know that. But, Harry wouldn't let the professor show him up.

"Where would you go if I asked you to find me bezoar and what does it do?"

"The stomach of a goat and it can save you from most poisons."

Snape gave Harry a hateful glare and turned to the students. "Well, why aren't you copying this down?" There was a rummaging of quills and parchments.

The rest of the lesson went on smoothly, if you ignore the fact that Snape took 5 points from Ravenclaw because Harry was working too fast. The boy just sighed. 'That man is incredibly vindictive,' he thought.

The week went by with out anything remarkable happening. Draco and Harry were having a hard time managing their way around the castle, but that wasn't surprising. There were about 150 staircases in Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some with vanishing steps; and even ones that led somewhere different on Fridays. There were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in the right place; and doors that weren't really doors at all, just solid walls pretending.

There were ghosts everywhere. Nearly Headless Nick was always willing to help a lost student find their way, but Peeves the poltergeist was unbearable. If he found you in a corridor, he would sneak up on you and pelt you with trash or pull the rug out from underneath you.

Perhaps even worst than Peeves was the Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch. Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, prowled the hallways looking for troublemakers. All you had to do was breath to loudly to set them off and Filch would give you a detention faster than you could say 'unfair'. Rumor was, the Weasley twins had a whole file drawer in his office to themselves.

Besides the twisting labyrinth off the castle and the creatures residing in them, there were the classes themselves. As Harry soon found out, there was a lot more to magic than saying a few funny words and waving your wand about.

They had to study the sky every Wednesday night at midnight for Astronomy. Three times a week, they tromped out of the castle to the Greenhouses with Professor Sprout.

Possibly the most boring lesson so far was History of Magic. It was the only class taught by a ghost, Professor Binns. He had a slow, droning voice and Harry wouldn't be surprised he had bored himself to death.

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. During Harry first lesson, the professor actually congratulated the boy on his wonderful use of the Coluris Charm at the Welcoming Feast and winked at him.

The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off the vampire he met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him on 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 they weren't sure they believed his story. For one thing, when Mandy had asked how he had gotten rid of the zombie, Quirrell had changed the subject and started muttering about the weather. For another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban. Draco had put forth the theory that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that the DADA teacher would be protected wherever he went. That was one of the more logical stories.

There definitely was something odd about Quirrell, Harry was sure of that. But, whatever it was, it was making his skin crawl.

Friday was a good day for Harry and Draco. They, along with the Twins, had filled the top drawer of Quirrell's desk with spiders and had enjoyed the shrieks from around a corner for a good twenty minutes. Then, they headed down to breakfast.

The mail soon arrived and Circe swooped down with two letters for him and the paper. The first was from Mandy and Elle:

Dear Andy,

^Oh my god, I miss you so much!^

Me, too!

^It's not the same here without you.^

Some of the older students tried to steal Mr. Masons's desk and put it on the front lawn of the school, but it got stuck in the stairs. Not as good as we could've done. They all have detention for a month.

^We tried to tell them not to get caught, but would they listen to us? No.^

The point is, things are getting dull around here. I can't wait until you come home this break.

^You are coming, right? Don't make me come to Hogwarts and drag your butt back to London. I don't care if you can curse me, you won't be able to hold a wand when I'm done with you!^

And you know how she gets when she's angry.

^Okay, I'm calm now. So, how are things going up there in magic central? We need more letters. Write back how your first week went. And soon!^

Not that we didn't love hearing what you did to that Snape guy. It was hilarious! We told Miss Weston and she wants you to tell them she pities them now that you have access to a wand.

^We should really end this here, dinner is in a few minutes. Everybody here misses you and wants to hear from you, too.^

And she means - David, Mike, Brenda, Jill, Garret, -

^Like I said, EVERYBODY! Sheesh.^

Sorry.

^Anyway, say hello to all your new housemates, and Draco, Fred, George, and Cho.^

Replacing us already, huh? Just joking.

Missing you tons (as if you couldn't tell already),

^Manda^ and Elle

Harry snickered at the letter and handed it to Draco to read. Then he opened the next one.

Dear Andy, (it said in a very untidy scrawl)

I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send an answer back with Circe.

Hagrid

Harry borrowed a quill from Terry, scribbled 'Yes, please, see you later' on the back of the note and sent Circe of again. He then turned to the newspaper.

Emblazed in bold letters on the front page was

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN

Harry hurriedly scanned the article for details before turning back to his meal.

After breakfast, the first-years set off to their first Transfiguration class. They made it with a few minutes to spare.

Professor McGonagall gave them a lecture as soon as the bell rang. She, like Snape, had a way off keeping the class quiet.

"Transfiguration is some of the most dangerous and complex magic you will learn here at Hogwarts. Anyone caught messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She then changed her desk into a sheep and back. They were all very amazed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they wouldn't be changing furniture into animals for a long, long time. After taking lots of long and complicated notes, they were each given a match and told to change it into a needle.

Harry stared long and hard at the match, and noting every detail. In fact, he did this all lesson until McGonagall called them up one by one to show what they had accomplished.

No body could do much, although several made it silver. Finally, it was Harry's turn.

"Mr. Andrews," the professor called. Harry shuffled to the front. He hadn't been paying attention. He hadn't even tried it yet!

Harry pointed his wand and closed his eyes, envisioning the match he scrutinized turning into a needle. He was astounded when he heard clapping.

"Very well done, Andy." Harry opened his eyes and was shocked that the changes had actually taken place.

People were congratulating his when they left the class, but Harry felt uneasy. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had done it before.

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That afternoon, Draco and Harry strolled across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. Draco was a little intimidated about meeting the giant man, but Hagrid let them in with open arms.

"Andy! Good ter see you again! Who's yer friend?" Harry introduced Draco and the group started chatting about the week so far. Hagrid was proud when Harry told him about Transfiguration, but he got a little uncomfortable when the boys mentioned how much Professor Snape disliked him.

"Seriously, all I did was change his appearance a little. And you can't say he doesn't need it."

"Professor Snape had a difficult time at school 'ere. You jus' brung up bad memories," explained Hagrid, but he wouldn't meet Harry's eyes on that. Harry would've questioned him more, but thought it would be a bad idea with Draco there. He noticed a copy of the Daily Prophet sitting on the table. And he realized something he hadn't before.

"Hagrid," Harry exclaimed. "The Gringott's robbery took place the day we were there!" There was no doubt that Hagrid didn't meet his eyes that time.

Harry left the hut that day with very confused thoughts. The article had said, 'The vault in question had been emptied the very same day.' Hagrid had emptied vault 713 - if you really called it emptying by taking out a tiny package. Although he had no clue what that package was, Harry was sure that it was going to make this a very long and exciting year.